The Faerie Tree, by Jane Cable

When I saw this book, I was intrigued, mainly by the striking red cover, but also because of the synopsis of the book - two people share the same event but have completely different memories of it - how can this be?

The story follows three main characters - Robin, Izzie and her daughter Claire. Once upon a time, Robin and Izzie met and fell in love, but their lives were torn apart by several tragic occurrences. Then, one winter's day, Izzie bumps into a tramp in town and realises that, 20 years later, Robin hasn't really changed. She buys him a coffee and is on her way.

What follows next are the events leading up to that incident, told from both Robin and Izzie's point of view. There is no deliberate mention that the facts they both recall are different, it seems quite normal to the reader and I was drawn in by finding out what led Robin to become a tramp in the high street and how Izzie came to bump into him again.

Claire is also a key character, as she is mainly the voice of reason throughout the book, trying to hold the adults together, but you are often reminded that she is also just a teenager.

I think that the author has done a brilliant job of recalling the events from the different perspectives and then joining the dots in the middle and at the end.

The only thing I was disappointed with though was that there was no real resolution as to why the recollection of events was different. It is quite vague, and although this is a minor point, it is also really the whole theme that the book is built around.

However, I really enjoyed this book and struggled to put it down at times. If you are thinking of reading it then please do - and don't be put off by the title. It isn't really a fairy story and isn't filled with pagan rituals and beliefs involving trees either. It is a lovely, heart warming, romantic story of two people who loved, lost and then found each other again, and has been brilliantly written.

Creature Comforts, by Trisha Ashley

I was given an advance reading copy of this book through Netgalley in return for an honest review.

I have read some of Trisha Ashley's books before and enjoyed them so when I saw that this was available from Netgalley I jumped at the chance. I needed a light read that didn't need too much deciphering and I thought this book would be perfect.

It started off well, with sketchy details of a car crash that happened several years ago. The story then jumped to the present day with the main character Izzy, being involved in a similar crash to the one she was involved in many years before. This shook her up and she returned to her hometown of Halfhidden to get involved in village life, set up her own business and unravel the mysteries of what happened in the original crash.

And I have to say, that's as far as I got. This book was like reading a soap opera and there was too much 'gossip' and chat at the beginning that I got bored and annoyed by it. I suppose it was just setting up the scene for whatever happens next, but there was meaningless information in there which the reader did not know about and probably didn't need to know. It was a bit like being involved in a conversation that you have no idea what's being talked about.

So I'm really sorry that there isn't much of a review here. I hate putting people off books just because I didn't enjoy them, so I would urge others to give it a go and who knows, they may enjoy it far better than I did!