Love Struck by Chantelle Guertin

This novel tells the story of Poppy, a 27 year old who lives in Toronto and works as a style adviser. One day, her husband Parker gets struck by lightening and forgets the last 3 months of his life, which include having an affair.



The book follows Poppy as she tries to re-build her marriage after Parker turns into a different person, but also after learning of his affair, from the woman he was having it with!

It is a very tongue in cheek book and half of the things that happen in the book probably wouldn't happen to anyone in real life. It was a comedy of errors, with the biggest error being Poppy not communicating with her husband and trying to turn herself into someone she thinks he wants her to be.

I got through the book quite quickly, and that's partly because I really enjoyed it, and partly because some parts bored me and I skipped over them. There were several sections in which I didn't think it was relevant and lingered on the subject for slightly too long, but overall I enjoyed it. Poppy was built up to be a likeable character and there were times where I wanted to scream at her 'just talk to him!' She did some outrageous things in order to try and win her husband back and it was actually quite funny.

I would recommend this book to people who like an easy read - perhaps a book they can take away on holiday with them. I certainly enjoyed it and will look out for more books by the same author.

The Summer We All Ran Away by Cassandra Parkin

I received an advanced reading copy of this book from Net Galley, and I'm so glad that I did because I really enjoyed it.

It is written in the past and present, switching between the two in alternate chapters, and normally I don't like this, but I felt that it really worked in this book.

The story focuses around an old derelict house in which four people are living who have run away. They all have different stories to tell about why they ended up in the old house, and the house itself tells a story as well.

I thought that the characters were very likeable and I warmed to them all. There was not one character who I disliked in any way. The past linked to the present very well and there were lots that kept me reading, in order to find out who was who and what the answers were to the many questions that were going through my head throughout the book. I thought I had figured it out, but as always, there was a nice twist at the end, which left me feeling happy and contented.

It was quite an easy book to read, there was nothing complicated or boring about it. Sometimes when a story flits between past and present, things can get confusing, but I didn't find this with this book.

I will certainly be recommending this - it's a great summer read and will also brighten a dull winters evening. In fact, I think maybe reading it when there is a storm outside will give a better atmosphere as it will bring the empty house and it's ghosts to life. I certainly think that this book should be a must read for anyone!

This is a Love Story by Jessica Thompson

This is a Love Story stood out to me in the library because of it's lovely pale turquoise coloured cover, so I picked it up and checked it out. Now, I should have listened to those people who say 'you should never judge a book by it's cover'.

I hate to be so negative about a book so I will try not to, but I didn't enjoy this at all. I think I had some expectations about what would constitute a love story and this didn't meet any of them.

It is written about two main characters - Sienna and Nick, and swaps between each of their points of view throughout the book. They meet on the train one morning, and then just happen to be working for the same office, and the reason they didn't know this fact was that Nick had been away on holiday while Sienna had started her new job there.

The first thing that annoyed me was that the facts didn't add up. Maybe it was because I was skim reading through it and missing parts, but the time Sienna had been working at the company didn't match the time Nick had been on holiday for.

Each section kept describing how both of them really liked (and possibly even loved) the other one, yet there was the absence of any sexual chemistry, flirting or attraction. They were described as being just friends, and yes probably best friends, but I was disappointed at the lack of chemistry between them.

I've read quite a lot of romance novels, and there is usually some sort of hint of some attraction, which this book was lacking.

I have to say that I only got half way through it and then I got bored. There really wasn't anything exciting going on and nothing that would want to keep me reading it. I didn't really care if Sienna and Nick got together in the end, because their characters weren't built up to be like able enough to care much about them. So I took it back to the library.......

I'm afraid I won't be recommending this book as I can't really like of anything positive about it or who might like it. I feel that there are better, more heart warming romance novels out there instead....sorry!

Tampa by Alissa Nutting

I was lucky enough to receive an advanced reading copy of this book through NetGalley and when I saw that it was advertised as being the most controversial book of the year - I had to read it.

And my initial reaction to this book is - WOW! They weren't wrong.

It tells the story of Celeste Price, who is a teacher in Tampa, USA. She is married to a devoted husband and outwardly, leads a normal life. But she is attracted to 14 year old boys and has launched her teaching career for one reason only...so that she can seduce them.

Now, if you thought 50 Shades of Grey was graphic and controversial, then this is 100 times worse. Tampa makes 50 Shades look like a children's novel in comparison.

There were times when I was reading this book and I thought that I really shouldn't be. Sometimes it was easy to forget that the person Celeste was doing these things to was a 14 year old boy and that it is frowned upon and actually, illegal.

I don't really want to shout about this book too much, because is it wrong that I enjoyed it?! Surely it should have made me feel sick and twisted, enjoying reading about the things Celeste is doing, but I did actually get hooked, only for the reason that I wanted to know what would happen to Celeste and would she get her comeuppance?

The ending actually disappointed me. With the fast paced, exciting writing throughout the book, by the time is got to the last 10%, it dragged and really wasn't interested. I skipped thorough it, reading a few lines here and there and the actual last paragraph was awful. It was almost like the author had put so much work into getting the graphic details into place, the ending was just an afterthought in order to bring it to an end. I'm not sure how I would have made it different but I don't think it was right.

I think you have to be very open minded to be able to enjoy this book and it's certainly not for the feint hearted. I would recommend it, but only if you are willing to take it with a pinch of salt and enjoy graphic images and descriptions - because there certainly are a lot!