JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

On A Beautiful Day by Lucy Diamond

Treasure every moment. Life can change in a heartbeat.

It’s a beautiful day in Manchester and four friends are meeting for a birthday lunch. But then they witness a shocking accident just metres away which acts as a catalyst for each of them.

For Laura, it’s a wake-up call to heed the ticking of her biological clock. Sensible Jo finds herself throwing caution to the wind in a new relationship. Eve, who has been trying to ignore the worrying lump in her breast, feels helpless and out of control. And happy-go-lucky India is drawn to one of the victims of the accident, causing long-buried secrets to rise to the surface.

On A Beautiful Day by Lucy Diamond is a novel that explores friendship, family and the importance of letting others in. The novel is set in England, and at its core, it is about unexpected events and wake up calls — it is about tackling the unknown and not being afraid to let others in.

When these four women — Laura, Jo, Eve and India — witness a car accident, they’re shook. The driver had a heart attack and unintentionally ploughed into multiple people. The four women were so close to where it happened — it could’ve been them pinned under that car. And so the accident affects them all in different ways.

“They hadn’t discussed IVF before, or undergoing any tests. As a sales manager for a medium-sized insurance firm, Matt could talk for Britain about claims and premiums; as a lifelong United fan he could bore on for hours with his mates about managerial tactics or the pros and cons of the 4-4-2 formation; but ask him to go into detail about his baby-making skills and he would fail uncharacteristically silent.”
LAURA

At first glance, these women may appear to lead perfect lives. But underneath, they’ve all got their struggles. Laura and her husband have been trying to get pregnant for years but they’ve suffered many miscarriages and it’s starting to feel like this will never happen for them. Jo has split from her husband and has just begun a new relationship with a man, but his step daughter Maisie is quite rotten and difficult. Eve keeps secrets from her husband, and she’s not even sure why. And India has long-buried secrets that she’s never told her husband and she must learn to face them so she can let go of this secret that is holding her back.

On a Beautiful Day is about being brave, confident and determined even when your whole world is in turmoil. The characters are full of emotion and passion, and despite the fact that I thought there were too many characters in the novel and I sometimes found it hard to keep track, I did read this book rather quickly and I enjoyed following the characters on their journey post-accident.

The novel alternates between the four different point of views, allowing the reader to follow each character as they confront the issues that they have been ignoring or keeping secret for some time now. Personally, I was more invested in Laura’s storyline. Her marriage and her hopes for a baby are shattered after the accident, and I kept reading because I wanted to find out what would happen to her.

“It wasn’t as if they didn’t talk — they did, all the time; anecdotes about work and friends, what to do each weekend, news and gossip. But not the big stuff. Not the exes.”
JO

Unfortunately, most of the men in the book are quite unreliable and pretty disappointing. The four women are fun and determined, but their partners are all very flawed and I wish there wasn’t so much of an imbalance. Laura’s husband is unable to cope with difficult conversations, Jo’s new partner likes to keep his head in the sand and doesn’t realise that his daughter Maisie is manipulative and troubled, India’s husband brushes her off all the time and she feels undervalued, and Eve’s husband is quite self-absorbed and doesn’t really pull his weight around the house. I found myself growing quite frustrated as the book progressed.

The book is set after ‘happily ever after’. All of these women have found love, had children, and are now facing what’s next. For some of them, it’s a new start, and for others, it’s about strengthening what they already have.

“Tuesday night was the one evening of the week when India actually peeled herself away from the sofa and TV in order to venture out for some self-improving Pilates with Laura.”

On a Beautiful Day might have some deep and important lessons for the reader, but aside from that, this is also a fun read. I think if you love reading novels that feature strong friendships, then you’ll love this novel. And if you’re the kind of person who likes historical fiction, then I think you’ll enjoy this read as well.

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

On A Beautiful Day
Lucy Diamond
February 2018
Pan Macmillan Publishers

The Book of Summer by Michelle Gable

Physician Bess Codman has returned to her family’s Nantucket compound, Cliff House, for the first time in four years. Her great-grandparents built Cliff House almost a century before, but due to erosion, the once-grand home will soon fall into the sea. Though she’s purposefully avoided the island, Bess must now pack up the house and deal with her mother, a notorious town rabble-rouser, who refuses to leave.

The Book of Summer unravels the power and secrets of Cliff House as told through the voices of Ruby Packard, a bright-eyed and idealistic newlywed on the eve of WWII, the home’s definitive guestbook, and Bess herself. Bess’s grandmother always said it was a house of women, and by the very last day of the very last summer at Cliff House, Bess will understand the truth of her grandmother’s words in ways she never contemplated.

The Book of Summer by Michelle Gable explores friendships, relationships, and one family’s connection to Nantucket’s Cliff House – and its secrets.

Bess Codman has just split from her husband and she has come home to move her mother Cissy out of Cliff House, which is now on the edge of its land and will soon collapse into the sea. Bess’ mother is stubborn and difficult, and the two women spend a lot of time together over the course of the novel.

Cissy and Bess are very different characters. Bess is reasonable, relatable, and level-headed. Cissy is a bull in a china shop and a dominant personality within the town. She wants to keep Cliff House and she has no problem fighting for it.

“Beth is pissed off. She can’t even track down the woman, as Cissy is about as reliable with her phone as Palmer Bradlee. Bells calls her mother repeatedly, but the kitchen counter never picks up.”

Their relationship is not perfect, and they both grow over the course of the novel and they learn to listen to each other.

Nantucket is a really lovely setting for the book; it feels enclosed and homely, but it doesn’t feel claustrophobic.

The book alternates between past and present, and we come to meet the people who have lived in Cliff House around the time of WWII. The dual storylines help drive the book and really drew me into the separate plots. I was definitely more interested in the past than the present, as truthfully, I found Cissy a little insufferable and I found the budding romance between Bess and her ex-boyfriend quite predictable.

“Evan’s voice has always been so persuasive. Deep, powerful, as if coming from his lungs, or his heart. And those earnest brown eyes, like precious heirlooms she left behind. Bless it, Bess is falling for his old schtick.”

The Book of Summer is dialogue-driven and quite slow-paced. I have to admit I didn’t fall in love with many of the characters, but I did like reading about newlywed Ruby’s story from the time of WWII. At times she came across as naive and gullible, but she also had heart and drive. I also loved Ruby’s friend Hattie Rutter, who is bright, wild, fun and a total spark. She’s a modern woman who has no interest in settling down.

All of the characters are flawed, which does make them more relatable. At times, their thoughts and actions are questionable, and you have to remind yourself that WWII was a very different time and certain actions were not considered acceptable back then.

“The photographs were, no surprise, exactly where she’d left them. Ruby removed the stack and flicked past the ones of Hattie, two of Mother unawares, and on down the the bottom of the pile. And there they were, same as before. All those pretty boys.”

I’d recommend this to readers who love historical fiction, but also small-town settings and stories from the war.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Book of Summer
Michelle Gable
January 2018
Pan Macmillan Publishers

The Christmas Secret by Karen Swan

They say that behind every great man, there’s a great woman, and behind London’s most powerful leaders, there stands only one—Alex Hyde, business coach par excellence. She’s the woman they turn to for advice and strategy when the pressure gets too much. So when Alex gets a call offering an unbelievable sum to discreetly manage a family member on the board of an esteemed Scottish whisky company, it’s business as usual. She can do this in her sleep. Only, she’s never met anyone like Lochlan Farqhuar before.

CEO of Kentallen Distilleries, he’s also the son and heir of the company’s founder, and a man for whom there is no “no.” He’s a maverick, and Alex needs to get inside his head before he brings the company to its knees. But as she tasks herself with finding a way in, she finds that for once, she’s not the one in control. And when she stumbles across a chance discovery that changes everything, she’s suddenly not so sure she should be.

The Christmas Secret by Karen Swan is contemporary fiction set on the beautiful island of Islay. There’s plenty of tension, romance, and whiskey for the reader to enjoy, and lots of great characters to discover.

The budding romance between Alex and Lochlan is definitely the best part of this book. Karen does a really great job of describing their actions and using relatable dialogue to really illustrate their growing feelings for each other. I could feel the chemistry on the page, and I kept reading the book just so that I could find out what was going to happen between them.

He held out a hand to help steady her as she walked deeper into the water, her fear ratcheting up another level. His grip tightened around her fingers as she gave a small gasp, her foot slipping on a loose rock. His hands were warm compared to hers and significantly bigger.
‘It’s okay,’ he murmured. ‘I’ve got you.

For all the whiskey lovers out there, you’ll love this book. It’s got a lot of detailed information about the alcohol and the production of it, and you certainly feel immersed in the distillery throughout the entire novel.

In saying that, unless the reader has some sort of interest or knowledge about whisky, there are definitely going to be parts of the book that they will skim read or glaze over. I quite like whiskey, and yet, all the description about the business and the different whiskeys and all the complicated dealings with the production just went way over my head. I actually found myself really disinterested in the actual plot of the book, and just kept reading to find out what was going to happen between Alex and Lochlan.

‘A hidden malt, huh?’ Alex asked, going over to Skye and walking alongside her. ‘It even sounds exciting. I imagine this is a blender’s dream come true, isn’t it?’
‘God yes, as Dad said, it’s the holy grail for any distillery. I’ve heard of hidden malts before, of course, but usually they’ve been deliberately hidden when a master blender hasn’t wanted them to be used in a blend, when he considered a malt to be too good for that.’

The book is really dialogue-heavy, but I think that’s a great way to emphasise characterisation. Karen has done a great job of crafting all of the scenes and even in certain chapters of the book where there are multiple characters present and speaking, I was never confused about what was happening.

I think Karen wove the past and present together really well – there are sections of the book that take place over one hundred years ago, and Karen brings the two storylines together really nicely towards the end.

I do have to admit that this book didn’t feel very Christmassy. Yes it may be set at Christmas time, and it may be snowing, but with a book that has ‘Christmas’ in the title, and a cover as gorgeous as this one, I was certainly expecting a very different atmosphere when reading it. You could’ve set this novel in a completely different season and I think it still would’ve worked.

I recommend this to fiction lovers, but also people who love whisky or the production of alcohol. You’ll find the context of the story and also the setting really gripping, as well as interesting. It’s an easy, fun read and certainly something light to read over the Christmas break.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Christmas Secret
Karen Swan
November 2017
Pan Macmillan Publishers

Leaving Ocean Road by Esther Campion

Twenty years ago, Ellen left her beloved Ireland to make a new life in Australia. Now struggling to cope with the death of her much loved husband, Nick, Ellen finds her world turned upside down when an unexpected visitor lands on her doorstep.

The arrival of Gerry Clancy, her first love from Ireland, may just be the catalyst that pulls Ellen out of her pit of grief, but it will also trigger a whole new set of complications for her and those she holds dear.

Leaving Ocean Road is a warm, funny, delightful romance novel for fans of Maeve Binchy, Cathy Kelly and Monica Mcinnerney — the story takes us across Australia, Greece and Ireland and explores a long lost love and the chance of reconnection.

Ellen Constantinopolous has been living in South Australia for twenty years, and she’s happy. Her family — her Greek husband Nick and her daughter Louise — live on a farm in a rural town in South Australia. But then Nick dies suddenly when his car veers off the road and hits a tree, and Ellen is in mourning. Louise heads off to university but calls her mother every night to check up on her. Ellen is struggling to move on with her life after her husband has died. She is still weighed down with depression and grief — she struggles to pay bills or check the mail or even get up in the morning.

But when Ellen receives a letter from Gerry Clancy, her first love back in Ireland, she is able to pull herself out of her grief. He still lives in Ireland, but is now in Adelaide visiting his son. He wants to see her. The two reconnect and with Ellen’s best friend Tracey pushing her to try to make things work, Ellen starts to resume her life and she feels like she is able to move on.

“Once inside the house, Ellen went upstairs to make the bed she’d been in too much of a rush to make that morning. It was the little things that would keep her sane, she realised. The small routines she’d let go in the height of her grief. Only suddenly and in a fit of shame at the thought of Gerry Clancy seeing the state of the place had she been spurred into action. Maybe the timing of his visit hadn’t been so bad.”

There’s a hurdle in their love story when a deep and buried secret comes out, and Gerry and Ellen must face their relationship and their future. Tension builds between Ellen and Louise, because she is still grieving the death of her father and she doesn’t feel ready to forget him. The family is fragile, and Ellen must work to save it.

“Last night both she and Jennifer had been so shocked they’d hardly said a word on the drive to Felicity’s. The crew were there when they arrived and the punch was flowing. Louise didn’t care how bad it tasted as long as it helped her forget about what happened at the Popes’.”

Ellen is a wonderful protagonist. She’s strong and determined, and also incredibly relatable and likeable. She is an anchor for the book, the entire plot revolving around her. The relationships between Ellen and Gerry and Ellen and Louise are well-developed and plausibly placed. Additionally, Tracey is a hilarious side character and I loved any scene she was in. She provided comic relief and helped break up an otherwise sombre and melancholic scene.

Leaving Ocean Road is about learning to let go of the past and embrace the possibility of a new future. There are romantic plots for both Ellen and Louise, and together they find hope and purpose amidst their grief and mourning. Esther has done a great job of capturing this and illustrating it effectively and realistically.

This book may be a romance novel, but it’s also about family and friendships and the importance of letting go of the past and embracing the future. It’s sweet, but not over the top. I recommend this to fans of romance novels.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Leaving Ocean Road
Esther Campion
August 2017
Hachette Book Publishers

Nineteen Letters by Jodi Perry

Nineteen. There’s something about that number; it not only brought us together, bonding us forever, it also played a hand in tearing us apart.

The nineteenth of January 1996. I’ll never forget it. It was the day we met. I was seven and she was six. It was the day she moved in next door, and the day I developed my first crush on a girl.

Exactly nineteen years later, all my dreams came true when she became my wife. She was the love of my life. My soul mate. My everything. The reason I looked forward to waking up every morning.

Then tragedy struck. Nineteen days after we married, she was in an accident that would change our lives forever. When she woke from her coma, she had no memory of me, of us, of the love we shared.

I was crushed. She was my air, and without her I couldn’t breathe.

The sparkle that once glistened her eyes when she looked at me was gone. To her, now, I was a stranger. I had not only lost my wife, I had lost my best friend.

But I refused to let this tragedy be the end of us. That’s when I started to write her letters, stories of our life. Of when we met. About the happier times, and everything we had experienced together.

What we had was far too beautiful to be forgotten.

Nineteen Letters is a romance novel by Jodi Perry, documenting the relationship between husband and wife Jemma and Braxton. They’re childhood sweethearts and newlyweds, but Jemma is in a car accident and loses her memory. Braxton — who doesn’t want to live his life without Jemma — writes her nineteen letters about their past in an attempt to jog her memory and bring her back to him (both mentally and physically).

“I screw up another piece of paper The first letter came easily — it made sense to start at the very beginning — but now that I know she’s actually going to read them, my approach has changed. I want to cram as much as I can into this one. There’s so much I yearn to say.”

The premise of this novel is perfect for a romance story — it’s the classic ‘girl forgets who boy is and boy must win girl back’ kind of story. It may have been done many times before, but Jodi has done a great job of making it feel unique to the characters and enjoyable to read.

The novel is well-paced, taking the time to really explore Jemma and Braxton’s history and their childhood, whilst also focusing on their journey together post-accident.

“When the accident happened, I worried she would never wake up, and I would lose her. Not once did I contemplate the possibility that she would wake up and I would lose her anyway.”

Jodi Perry is a skilled writer, perfectly balancing dialogue and prose and allowing the reader to get to know the characters without beating us over the head with backstory and emotion. I think that perhaps the book was a little longer than it needed to be, and at times I found myself skimming the the book until we got to the next letter.

Jemma is a strong character — intuitive and intelligent. She definitely grew on me over the course of the novel. I’ll admit, I didn’t like her that much after her accident. I think the reader was supposed to sympathise for her and acknowledge her fear and vulnerability, but instead Jemma just came off incredibly rude and mean to Braxton. She was blunt, harsh, and totally unwilling to let him into her life. However over time, she softens and the two begin reconnecting.

Braxton was the more relatable character of the two. He was patient, calm, loving and compassionate. He was definitely the stronger of the two characters, and he’s one of the reasons I really loved this book.

“I bend down and pick up a pebble from near my feet, then skim it across the water. As kids, Jem and I had competitions to see who could get the most bounces. I usually won, but there were times I purposely threw a bad one so she could beat me.”

I feel that the relationship between Jemma’s parents detracted from the overall plot. Because I was so invested in Jemma and Braxton’s relationship, I didn’t care enough about Christine and Stephen to really feel emotionally invested in them rekindling their romance. And the fact that friends Rachel and Lucas are ALSO having problems means there are three couples in the book and three relationships that need fixing. At times, it felt a little too much.

I think Jodi did a great job of pacing the relationship between Braxton and Jemma, slow-building their reconnection and making their friendship seem authentic. Braxton was patient and thoughtful, and Jemma was desperate to remember her old life.

In saying that, I quite often found the characters over-the-top sweet. Sickly sweet. At the beginning of the novel, Jemma and Braxton are just back from their honeymoon and Jemma is about to go back to work. It’s the morning, and they each stand in their bedroom/bathroom and for a good couple of pages, they just keep telling each other how much they’re going to miss each other:

‘I’m not ready to go back to work. I can’t stand the thought of spending the entire day without you.’

‘I’m going to miss you.’
I’m going to miss you too, Jem. The past four weeks have been my kind of heaven.’

“I wish you didn’t have to go,’ His warm breath on my skin leaves goosebumps in its wae.
‘Me either.’
‘The next eight hours are going to feel like an eternity.’
I sigh in agreement. ‘I know.’

Is it cold of me to think that this isn’t realistic? That the average couple aren’t this expressive/complimentary/sweet? At the beginning of the novel, their relationship is mostly conveyed through their dialogue and I think there could’ve been ways for their actions towards each other to show the same level of love but without the (sometimes cheesy) dialogue. However, as the novel progress Jodi illustrates their friendship and eventual romance mostly through description and prose (and letters!), which I think worked better.

While packaged like a Jodi Picoult novel, fans of Nicholas Sparks will love Nineteen Letters. It also reminds me of the movie The Vow with Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams. This book is for romance readers – there’s no doubt about that. If you like a good love story, then this is the book for you!

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Nineteen Letters
Jodi Perry
September 2017
Hachette Book Publishers

%d bloggers like this: