5* Review - Found by Elle Field (Arielle Lockley series) GIVEAWAY

Available here from Amazon.co.uk

 Available here from Amazon.com

Goodreads link

"How did people even come up with the idea of these dizzying skyscrapers, let alone work out how to make them possible? Whoever built the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building, their legacy will live on forever. What sort of a difference will I ever make?"

Who knew one flight could change everything? When Arielle Lockley stepped on the plane at Heathrow, she never realised how different her life would be when she touched down in New York City. Now she’s dealing with that aftermath, as well as trying to find common ground with Etta, her new and unexpected business partner.

But, trying to sort out business in London whilst her fiancé, Piers, recovers from surgery in New York, is starting to take its toll on their relationship. Can Arielle and Etta work together to continue Felicity’s legacy without destroying it, and will Arielle and Piers even make it down the aisle to say "I do"?

Find out whether Arielle gets her happily ever after in the final part of the warm and wonderful Arielle Lockley series.

I have adored the Arielle Lockley series since first reading Kept, therefore it is with a heavy heart that I am actually reviewing the final book in Arielle's journey.

We join Arielle where we last left her, getting off the plane to Piers in New York after being called to say he was undergoing lifesaving surgery. As soon as Arielle's phone boots back up in the airport she receives dreadful news of her own though and has to face some devastating news.

Thankfully (as you will already gather) this is not about Piers, and he is waiting - albeit gravely ill in hospital for her. As he recovers he starts to feel like without work, which is deemed far too stressful in his condition, he is losing his identity which puts a huge strain on their relationship - along with the fact that they are meant to be planning a wedding and Piers is still too ill to fly back to Britain.

Back in Blighty Arielle's best friend, and as she describes him 'brother from another mother (and father)', Obelix, has news of his own, it pleases him but leaves Arielle suspicious and she is determined not to see him made a fool of.

Things aren't any better for Etta Millhouse either as her drug problem is nowhere near coming under control, and events take a turn that leaves Arielle in an incredibly sticky position, and one that she'd do anything to avoid being in.

We finally get to find out if Arielle and Piers make it down the aisle in Found, and discover if they get their happy ever after. 

I love these characters and have always had a soft spot for Arielle - even at times when she has made bad decisions that have left me shouting into my Kindle, and certain situations made me do that in this book. If she'd have listened to me early on in the book I could have made life a lot easier for her...

I loved the ending, although bittersweet for me as I'd have loved Field to squeeze in another book or two from Arielle, it was brilliant. I was pleased with the way things turned out but would have liked to see a happier ending for Etta who I went from viscerally hating to feeling extremely sorry for!

Well done, Elle on creating a wonderful world of fashion, fun, love and humour that has kept me hooked since first reading Arielle's story. I loved her progression from spoilt 'it' girl to sassy business woman who manages to build an equal relationship with love of her life, Piers.

There were some really sad, poignant moments along the way and a lot of laughs.

Arielle...I salute you and your snappy dressing wonderfulness! 

Many thanks to the author for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Giveaway:

To celebrate the publication of Found, Elle is running a giveaway. Prizes are an Amazon voucher, paperback copies of B-Side and Found, plus a handmade necklace from Vaux Street (x2).

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Author profile:

Elle Field writes coming of age romantic comedies, and is the author of the Arielle Lockley series and Geli Voyante’s Hot or Not. She grew up in Yorkshire, then moved to Scotland to study International Relations and Social Anthropology at the University of St Andrews.

Elle now lives in London with her boyfriend and their cat. She’s a massive fan of sunshine, giraffes, The Killers, Audrey Hepburn movies, playing Scrabble, musicals and tea. Oh, and reading, of course!

You can buy Elle’s books here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00CHIC1GE

5* review: My Husband's Wife - Jane Corry

Buy HERE from Amazon.co.uk

When lawyer Lily marries Ed, she's determined to make a fresh start. To leave the secrets of the past behind.

But then she meets Joe. A convicted murderer who reminds Lily of someone she once knew, and who she becomes obsessed with freeing.

But is he really innocent?

And who is she to judge?

Lily and Ed are recently married and not getting on as well as Lily would like, Ed is distant and displaying his artistic temperament a little too much for her liking. She is a defence lawyer and facing the task of proving herself in a particularly difficult case, representing convicted murderer, Joe Thomas, a man with a strange and addictive personality who reminds Lily of her late brother, Daniel. There are more secrets in that closet!

They live next door to Francesca and daughter Carla. They are Italian and Carla is frequently bullied for standing out and being very different to the other children. Her mother has two jobs, one seemingly more moral than the other, and does not give Carla too much of her time (although Carla clearly adores her) so is grateful when Lily and Ed take to babysitting her on Sundays. Something that will see their lives permanently interwoven and not in a positive way. 

Lily discovers Francesca's secret and shatters little Carla's life apart.

When Carla rediscovers them as an adult and sees their life through mature eyes she realises they were not the couple she first thought, and implements the plan she has been devising.

My Husband's Wife really is a good, multidimensional story to sink your teeth into. I was very quickly hooked by the alternating chapters narrated by Lily and Carla, and was endeared to Carla as a child, until a different side of her started to appear.

It really shines upon the fact of good and bad in people and who is the judge of who is what? Each of the characters has a balanced blend of both and I found myself liking characters I didn't think I should (Joe Thomas!).

Safe to say this is an excellent, dark psychological tale and one that I will enjoy rereading time and again.

Many thanks to the publishers for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Island Escape - Kerry Fisher 5* Review

Buy here from Amazon.co.uk

(currently in the Amazon 3 paperbacks for £10 promotion as of 14/06/15)

Octavia Shelton thought she’d have a different life. One where she travelled the world with an exotic husband and free-spirited children in tow.

Instead she’s married to safe, reliable Jonathan, and her life now consists of packed lunches, school runs and mountains of dirty washing. She’s not unhappy. It’s just that she can barely recognise herself.

So as Octavia watches her best friend’s marriage break up, it gets her thinking. What if life could be different? What if she could escape and rediscover the person she used to be? Escape back to the island she visited years ago? And what if the man she used to love was there waiting for her?

Octavia and Roberta are best friends, they have the kind of friendship that when the affluent Roberta rings from a police station in the middle of a winter's night and says 'bring me a tshirt - mine has blood on', Octavia does not question it - just hopes she has not finally killed off Scott, her loathsome and unsuitable husband - gets in her car and goes to her rescue.

It is clearly apparent that as perfect as Roberta's life seems from the outside, behind closed doors things are far from it. She is dissatisfied, unappreciated and emotionally bullied. She decides that enough is enough and leaves, taking teenage daughter Alicia with her. Her first port of call is Octavia who seems to have a strong and happy marriage, but Roberta's situation leaves her wondering if she is really as contented as she thought. Especially as people point out that she is just not the outgoing, unburdened free spirit she used to be, and it doesn't take long for thoughts of her first love to bubble up from the depths where she has buried them.

I absolutely loved my few days where I luxuriated in the pages of The Island Escape. It is beautifully written in alternating chapters from Octavia and Roberta, with empathy, humour and the most vivid description of the beautiful islands of Sardinia and Corsica.

Fisher delved into the early middle aged women's relationships and stripped them to their bare bones, letting the reader right into their souls. They are very different characters but the very closest of friends and would do anything for one another, and do. We also see how 'what if' moments can change our lives.

The ending of the book is perfect and things are resolved exactly as I would have liked, both characters going through huge developments and really finding who they are and what they are capable of.

I loved the book so much I went straight to Amazon and bough Fisher's debut The School Gate Survival Guide 

A definite 5* from me 

Review copy kindly provided by the publishers via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Where Love Lies by Julie Cohen - 5* Review

Buy HERE from Amazon.co.uk

When Felicity steps off the train on the way to meet her husband, she is so sure of everything. Where she is heading, what she will eat at the restaurant, the first words her husband will say when she arrives, their life together.

Then she catches a scent of perfume in the air. Forgotten emotions rush to the surface, memories of another man she loved years ago.

As it happens again and again, Felicity beginsto make decisions that no one can understand. What is happening to her? Is she losing a partof herself, or finding one?

How can she truly know where love lies?

Felicity is struggling with her life; her career as a children’s writer/illustrator is in jeopardy as she seems to be suffering from an unyielding writer’s block, and she feels suffocated in her marriage to Quinn. As lovely as he is to her, she feels stifled with the pressure and lack of privacy from his family. She seems to not know where she feels she belongs any more.

She begins to smell a the sweet scent of frangipani that evokes memories from her past – in particular memories of her recently deceased mother. She knows that the scent takes her straight back to Evan, her old love. Her heart tells her to seek him out to see if the feelings she is having about him are real, but her head tells her to stay where she is with a man who loves her. What does she trust more? Is it really fate at work?

I loved Where Love Lies almost as much as I loved Cohen’s Dear Thing, but don’t be deterred by the ‘almost’ – it really is the most wonderful story, beautifully written in a style that Cohen has marked as her own. She is a remarkable writer with the ability to draw the reader into the story with the most engaging plot and characters.

The characters are exceptionally well developed; Felicity is flighty, indecisive, and at times, infuriating with the decisions she makes, but then we understand why and in the third part of the book I felt a real, emotional tie with her and saw her stark vulnerability.

Quinn too was irritatingly suffocating at first and I found myself trying to escape from him too, and as for his mother… but as the book went on he grew on me a lot. In fact by the end the whole family are shown in a completely different light, as you become aware of the secrets they have been hiding under their Stepford exterior.

Fabulous book… highly recommended!