Book Review: We have always lived in the castle - S. Jackson

“My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance. I have often thought that with any luck at all, I could have been born a werewolf, because the two middle fingers on both my hands are the same length, but I have had to be content with what I had. I dislike washing myself, and dogs, and noise. I like my sister Constance, and Richard Plantagenet, and Amanita phalloides, the death-cup mushroom. Everyone else in our family is dead.” 

What a little gem of a gothic, scary novel! 
Mary Katherine, known as Merricat, is a young lady who lives in this big house with her sister Connie and her invalid uncle. They are kind of recluse after Connie is accused of having poisoned and killed all the rest her family including mother.father, brother and aunt.  The story is told by Merricat herself and she has a very authoritative voice, even if she also sounds very young and immature for her age. She seems very fragile and gentle at the beginning, but then her wild side comes up pretty quickly.
A great Halloween read. creepy and weird, very well written.

“I can’t help it when people are frightened,” says Merrycat. “I always want to frighten them more”. 

Overall rating: 8,5      Plot: 8,5     Writing style: 8,5      Cover:  7

Title: We have always lived in the castle

Author: Shirley Jackson
Publisher: Penguin
Pages: 880
Publication year: 1962

Plot:

Living in the Blackwood family home with only her sister Constance and her Uncle Julian for company, Merricat just wants to preserve their delicate way of life. But ever since Constance was acquitted of murdering the rest of the family, the world isn't leaving the Blackwoods alone. And when Cousin Charles arrives, armed with overtures of friendship and a desperate need to get into the safe, Merricat must do everything in her power to protect the remaining family.

The Author:

Shirley Hardie Jackson (December 14, 1916 – August 8, 1965) was an American writer. She was popular during her life, and her work has received increased attention from literary critics in recent years. When her short story The Lotterywas first published in The New Yorker in 1948, readers were so horrified they sent her hate mail; it has since become one of the most iconic American stories of all time. Her first novel, The Road Through the Wall, was published in the same year and was followed by five more: Hangsaman, The Bird's Nest, The Sundial,The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, widely seen as her masterpiece. In addition to her dark, brilliant novels, she wrote lightly fictionalized magazine pieces about family life with her four children and her husband, the critic Stanley Edgar Hyman. Shirley Jackson died in her sleep in 1965 at the age of 48.

Book Review: 4 3 2 1 - P. Auster

“Why isn’t this little boy in school?, to which his mother replied, with a hard stare into the nosy man’s face: None of your business. That was the best moment of those strange two months, or one of the best moments, unforgettable because of the sudden feeling of happiness that rose up in him when his mother said those words, happier than at any time in weeks, and the sense of solidarity those words implied, the two of them against the world, struggling to put themselves together again, and none of your business was the credo of that double effort, a sign of how much they were depending on each other now. “

One thing is certain: Paul Auster can write, and he can do so as a master. He could write the shopping list and it would be interesting. Secondly, the plot is quite original, as it covers the life of this young Jewish, Archibald Ferguson, in four different ways, a bit like the movie Sliding doors, what would have happened if. And in this case there are four paths that Archie's life could have taken.
Reading the plot on the back cover of the novel, I though he had a mental health issue and the four people lived at once within himself, silly me! So at the beginning I was very confused, and then I suddenly understood what the plot really was about.
I really liked the characters, especially Archie's mother, Rose, positive, strong and a great maternal figure.
Nothing really happens in the book, it is the ordinary story of a family, to which tragedies happen, depending on which path it is, of minor or major gravity, but overall the novel describes the day to day life and thoughts of the main character. Which I found very interesting, For a bit. Then I wanted to skip pages to see if something more happens through the book, which is a thick one.

Overall, great original idea and superbly written, but too long in describing day to day life.

“That was the real difference, Ferguson concluded. Not too little money or too much money, not what a person did or failed to do, not buying a larger house or a more expensive car, but ambition. That explained why Brownstein and Solomon managed to float through their lives in relative peace—because they weren’t tormented by the curse of ambition.”

Overall rating: 6      Plot: 5     Writing style: 8      Cover:  6,5

Title: 4 3 2 1 

Author: Paul Auster
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Pages: 880
Publication year: 2017

Plot:

On March 3, 1947, in the maternity ward of Beth Israel Hospital in Newark, New Jersey, Archibald Isaac Ferguson, the one and only child of Rose and Stanley Ferguson, is born. From that single beginning, Ferguson's life will take four simultaneous and independent fictional paths. Four Fergusons made of the same genetic material, four boys who are the same boy, will go on to lead four parallel and entirely different lives. Family fortunes diverge. Loves and friendships and intellectual passions contrast. Chapter by chapter, the rotating narratives evolve into an elaborate dance of inner worlds enfolded within the outer forces of history as, one by one, the intimate plot of each Ferguson's story rushes on across the tumultuous and fractured terrain of mid twentieth-century America. A boy grows up-again and again and again.

The Author:

Paul Auster is the bestselling author of Winter Journal, Sunset Park, Invisible, The Book of Illusions, and The New York Trilogy, among many other works. He has been awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for Literature, the Prix Médicis étranger, an Independent Spirit Award, and the Premio Napoli. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Book Review: A question of trust - P. Vincenzi

Reading Penny Vincenzi's books is always a pleasure, like stealing half an hour of reading time eating a chocolate (maybe even more than one!) during a working week.
Her writing style is rich, smooth, captivating and enchanting. After few pages you travel right inside her world of gossip, high society, richness and fashion, let alone marriages, friendships and human relations in general.
And this latest novel does not disappoint either, as normal it is a thick book, over 600 pages, but you get so involved in the plot that you do not even realise it is so long.
The characters in the book are a lot, but it is easy to get to know them and start having preferences for one or the other. The main characters are Tom, the postman son who is smart and brilliant and sees in front of him a career in politics, and Diane, the rich and glamorous daughter of the village's lord and lady of the manor. They both go through very rough patches in their lives, but, even if very differently, they both survive and grow stronger because of them. In my view, while Tom is very likable at the beginning of the story, he then become not a very nice person, selfish and hypocrite; while Diana, a spoiled young girl at the start of the plot, becomes a warm, positive figure while the story evolves. My favourite people in the book are Jillie, a solar, strong woman that becomes a doctor and reacts in a very respectable manner to a very bad break up; and Ned, another doctor, who fights for the right of the children to have their mothers with them while in hospital.
In summary a very enchanting novel, rich and dark in its gossipy plot. A "guilty treat" if you want, to savour and escape from your day to day life.

Overall rating: 7      Plot: 7     Writing style: 8      Cover:  5

Title: A question of trust
Author: Penny Vincenzi
Publisher: Headline Review
Pages: 608
Publication year: 2017

Plot:

1950s London. Tom Knelston is charismatic, working class and driven by ambition, ideals and passion. He is a man to watch. His wife Alice shares his vision. It seems they are the perfect match.Then out of the blue, Tom meets beautiful and unhappily married Diana Southcott, a fashion model. An exciting but dangerous affair is inevitable and potentially damaging to their careers. And when a child becomes ill, Tom is forced to make decisions about his principles, his reputation, his marriage, and most of all, his love for his child.

The Author:

Penny Vincenzi is one of the UK’s best-loved and most popular authors. Since her first novel, Old Sins, was published in 1989, she has written fifteen bestselling novels, including The Decision and the number one bestsellers The Best of Times and An Absolute Scandal.Her first ‘proper’ job was at the Harrods Library, aged sixteen, after which she went to secretarial college. She joined the Mirror and later became a journalist, writing for The Times, the Daily Mail and Cosmopolitan amongst many others, before turning to fiction. Several years later, over seven million copies of Penny’s books have been sold worldwide and she is universally held to be the ‘doyenne of the modern blockbuster’ (Glamour). Penny Vincenzi has four daughters, and divides her time between London and Gower, South Wales.

Book Review: Dentro soffia il vento - F. Diotallevi

“Non lasciare che qualcuno ti dica in cosa credere, ragiona con la tua testa, segui l’istinto. Nessuno dovrà importi chi amare. L’amore non si insegna, è l’unica cosa che non posso spiegarti. Non posso dirti quali battaglie combattere, dovrai capirlo da sola e non sarà facile. L’amore non lo è mai, richiede coraggio e tenacia. Non si sceglie, è sempre lui che sceglie te.”

Di primo acchitto la trama di questo libro non mi attirava, lontana dai libri che normalmente piacciono a me, e un po' troppo "magia romanzata". Ma ho letto tanto recensioni molto positive, lettrici a cui questo romanzo ha commosso ed ha lasciato molto, quindi ho deciso di leggerlo mettendo da parte i miei pregiudizi sulla trama.
La prima cosa che voglio dire e' che e' scritto bene, la scrittura e' fluida e ricca. Ma la trama proprio non mi e' piaciuta! Troppo fantasiosa, troppi elementi non spiegati (del tipo ma Fiamma cosa mangia?), troppo sentimentale e banalotto nello svolgimento del trito e ritrito ci amiamo ma non vogliamo dircelo,.A me tutto quello che e' stregoneria, dicerie di paese, fantasmi non convince proprio, a meno che non abbia una spiegazioone o sia legato ad avventimento realmente accaduti nella storia. 
L'ambientazione nello sperduto paese valdostano di Saint Rhemy e' suggestiva, come lo e' il racconto del lavoro dei montanari. La figura del prete, per me, abbastanza inutile, nel senso che a parte un exploit di coraggio e cameratismo finale, non aggiunge ne' toglie nulla alla trama per gran parte del libro. 
In sintesi, purtroppo un libro che non mi ha lasciato nulla, di cui dimentichero' trama e personaggi gia' la prossima settimana. Scritto bene, ma la trama proprio non fa per me.

Overall rating: 6      Plot: 5     Writing style: 6,5      Cover:  6,5

Title: Dentro soffia il vento

Author: Francesca Diotallevi
Publisher: Neri Pozza
Pages: 180
Publication year: 2016

Plot:

In un avvallamento tra due montagne della Val d’Aosta, al tempo della Grande Guerra, sorge il borgo di Saint Rhémy: un piccolo gruppo di case affastellate le une sulle altre, in mezzo alle quali spunta uno sparuto campanile.
Al calare della sera, da una di quelle case, con il volto opportunamente protetto dall’oscurità, qualche «anima pia» esce a volte per avventurarsi nel bosco e andare a bussare alla porta di un capanno dove vive Fiamma, una ragazza dai capelli così rossi che sembrano guizzare come lingue di fuoco in un camino.
Come faceva sua madre quand’era ancora in vita, Fiamma prepara decotti per curare ogni malanno: asma, reumatismi, cattiva digestione, insonnia, infezioni… Infusi d’erbe che, in bocca alla gente del borgo diventano «pozioni » approntate da una «strega» che ha venduto l’anima al diavolo. Così, mentre al calare delle ombre gli abitanti di Saint Rhémy compaiono furtivi alla sua porta, alla luce del sole si segnano al passaggio della ragazza ed evitano persino di guardarla negli occhi.
Il piccolo e inospitale capanno e il bosco sono perciò l’unica realtà che Fiamma conosce, l’unico luogo in cui si sente al sicuro. La solitudine, però, a volte le pesa addosso come un macigno, soprattutto da quando Raphaël Rosset se n’è andato.
Era inaspettatamente comparso un giorno al suo cospetto, Raphaël, quando era ancora un bambino sparuto, con una folta matassa di capelli biondi come il grano e una spruzzata di lentiggini sul naso a patata. Le aveva parlato normalmente, come si fa tra ragazzi ed era diventato col tempo il suo migliore e unico amico. Poi, a ventuno anni, in un giorno di sole era partito per la guerra con il sorriso stampato sul volto e la penna di corvo ben lucida sul cappello, e non era più tornato. Ora, ogni sera alla stessa ora, Fiamma si spinge al limitare del bosco, fino alla fattoria dei Rosset. Prima di scomparire inghiottita dal buio della notte, se ne sta a guardare a lungo la casa dove, in preda ai sensi di colpa per non essere andato lui in guerra, si aggira sconsolato Yann, il fratello zoppo di Raphaël… il fratello che la odia.

The Author:

Francesca Diotallevi è nata a Milano nel 1985. È laureata in Scienze dei Beni Culturali e lavora in uno studio legale. Tra le sue opere Le stanze buie, Amedeo, je t’aime e il racconto pubblicato in e-book Le Grand Diable, prequel di Dentro soffia il vento.

Guildford Book Festival - Readers' Day - 14th October 2017

Just back from Readers' day at Guildford Book Festival last Saturday and what a great event!

Firstly, very nice organisation, a giant gazebo at the cricket club, which probably was not the best for sound, however it was furnished deliciously with a proper sofa and armchair (pink!) for the authors and bookshelves and chandelier. The buffet was gorgeous too!

Now to the important part; the authors (or authoresses, I must say!). What a pleasure to hear them talking about their new novels, how they became writers, how they piratically write, etc.

First on where two ladies - Polly Clark and Rachel Joyce - which novels are very different but one of the common theme is the community and the sense of or lack of it.
Polly Clark's Larchfield sounds amazing and I am very glad I discovered it as probably from the plot itself and the book cover I would have given it a miss. I thought it was going to be a slow, a bit boring book on a poet, instead it sounds witty and funny but also touching some themes that I feel very close to my heart such as maternity and all the feelings that come with becoming a mother. After having heard Polly reading a passage in the book, I could not  resist buying it and getting it signed too!
Rachel Joyce is very well known and at her third novel - The music shop. I must confess that I do have The unlikely pilgrimage of Harold Fry but I haven't read it as yet! anyway her books sound amazing and so does her last one, which is all about music and really listening to it and how music can help healing people. Rachel Joyce told us that the idea of the book came from the inspiration from a real bookshop where the owner suggested to her husband a CD to help him with his sleep issues.

Then was time to talk thrillers, with Fiona Barton and Lucy Atkins, both previously journalist and now both successfully queens in the genre called psychological thriller.
I recently read The widow from Fiona Barton and really liked it (read the review here), so I am really looking forward to read her latest novel The child, where Kate the journalist come back. And apparently she will be back for the third novel too, which Fiona is writing at the moment.
Fiona told us that she has always had the habit of cutting out from newspapers bits of news and then she uses them to take inspiration for her stories. She has also confessed that she writes in her bed, still in her pjs!
I have not read as yet any of Lucky Atkins' books, but I will for sure! She used to be a well-being/medical journalist so that's where she takes a lot of her inspiration. Her latest thriller - The night visitor - is all about dung beetles apparently! Well they figured in the book, which in reality is all about two women working together and their secrets!

After lunch, on the sofa was the turn of Veronica Henry and Kate Eberlen, authors of romantic novels, if we want to put them into a genre.
I liked Veronica Henry's How to find love in a bookshop, a very cozy, heartwarming novel. And I am very curios to read this latest book - The forever house - and also the novel she has written set on the Orient Express.
I never heard of Kate Eberlen before and again I am so glad I got to know her novel as it sounds very very pleasant so again I had to buy it and get it signed! It is all about a girl and a boy who keep missing each other - a kind of Sliding doors meets One day. Sounds exciting and it starts with a scene set in Florence!

Unfortunately the "star" of the show - Penny Vincenzi - could not attend the event for health reason. Disappointing as I love her books and I am reading her latest A question of trust at the moment.
However brilliantly the festival's organizers have managed to replace her with another brilliant lady, whose first novel made me laugh out loud (and the movie too!): Allison Pearson. She has just published the sequel of I don' know how she does it, with the title of How hard can it be? and the main character Kate is now dealing with teenager kids, menopause, going back to work and a husband in full mid-life crisis. The novel sounds hilarious, as the previous one was and the themes touched are so contemporary and actual. I actually read her previous novel before having kids so I really need to read it again now that I am going through what Kate was in the book!

It was a pleasant surprise at the end to receive a goody bag with a copy of Woman&Home - the sponsor of the event - and also two proof copies of novels!

I would highly recommend The Readers' day and I really hope to be able to attend it next year again!

The books presented at the Festival:

- Larchfield - Polly Clark
- The Music shop - Rachel Joyce
- The Child - Fiona Barton
- The night visitor - Lucy Atkins
- Miss you - Kate Eberlen
- The forever house - Veronica Henry
- How hard can it be? - Allison Pearson

Book Review: The widow - F. Barton

“I remember looking at him lying there in a small pool of blood and thinking ‘oh well, that’s the end of his nonsense” 

I definitely liked this psychological thriller, very gripping and engrossing. Told mainly from the "widow" perspective, this is a book about crime but also, and probably more, about dysfunctional marriages and unbalanced power in a couple. 
I personally find difficult to empathizes with the "widow", as in I don't think I could live in a such a bubble and not face the truth, however I know that there are a lot of women out there that are subdued to their partners and they are psychologically very dependent on them. So this story can happen, has happened before and this is probably what I liked in the book, it kind of explains the "how can these things happen", which is what we normally ask ourselves after reading the news.
The "monster" in the novel does not appear to be a monster at all, but he is actually thought as a loving, caring husband by his wife. And it is just when he is gone that she feels an impossible weight coming off her shoulders.
I appreciated very much the character of the journalist, who finally convinces the widow to release an interview. A person who can listen and can pierce through people and get them to confess their deepest secrets.
A very interesting thriller, read in a flash, and I will definitely read also The child from the same author. I am also very excited to meet Fiona Barton, together with other writers, on Saturday 14th October at the readers' day at Guildford Book Festival!!  

Overall rating: 7,5      Plot: 7,5     Writing style: 7      Cover:  6,5

Title: The widow
Author: Fiona Barton
Publisher: Corgi 
Pages: 400
Publication year: 2016

Plot:

Jean Taylor’s life was blissfully ordinary. Nice house, nice husband. Glen was all she’d ever wanted: her Prince Charming. 
Until he became that man accused, that monster on the front page. Jean was married to a man everyone thought capable of unimaginable evil.
But now Glen is dead and she’s alone for the first time, free to tell her story on her own terms.

The Author:

Fiona Barton (Cambridge, 1957)  trains and works with journalists all over the world. Previously, she was a senior writer at the Daily Mail, news editor at the Daily Telegraph, and chief reporter at the Mail on Sunday, where she won Reporter of the Year at the British Press Awards.

Book Review: The two-family house - L. Cohen Loigman

“Abe was a lucky man. He told himself that every morning while he dressed and every night before he went to sleep. Abe wasn't religious but every day he thanked God for his beautiful wife, his four healthy sons, his brother and his business. Sometimes he left out his brother, but only when Mort was being a pain in the ass.” 

I will truly miss the characters of this novel, I loved them so much. The altruistic Helen, the grumpy Mort, the bigger than life Abe, the bitter Rose, the smart Judith, the sweet Teddy, the pretty geek Natalie and all the others. I just loved this book, it is first of all a gripping story of the Jewish families of two brothers who live in a two-family house in Brooklyn and cover the late 40s, 50s and 60s, while the families grow, move, have quarrels, big tragedies, a lot of love and affection. And as underline there is the suspense created by  the mysterious circumstances of the birth of the cousins Natalie and Teddy, born on the same day, minutes apart, during one of NY worse storms. 
On top of a great plot, the characters, as I previously mentioned, are all great in their strength and weaknesses, they all have a very specific personality and they all have a particular voice, chapter after chapter, so you end up being so involved in their lives, at moment you think you are part of the families too! 
The novel is also written in such a smooth, linear way it is just a pleasure to read the words coming together.
I highly recommend this novel - one of the best reads for me this year so far!

Overall rating: 9      Plot: 9     Writing style: 10      Cover:  8

Title: The two-family house
Author: Lynda Cohen Loigman
Publisher: St Martin's Press
Pages: 304
Publication year: 2016

Plot:

Brooklyn, 1947: in the midst of a blizzard, in a two-family brownstone, two babies are born minutes apart to two women. They are sisters by marriage with an impenetrable bond forged before and during that dramatic night; but as the years progress, small cracks start to appear and their once deep friendship begins to unravel. No one knows why, and no one can stop it. One misguided choice; one moment of tragedy. Heartbreak wars with happiness and almost but not quite wins.

The Author:

Lynda Cohen Loigman grew up in Longmeadow, MA. She received a B.A. in English and American Literature from Harvard College and a J.D. from Columbia Law School. She is now a student of the Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College, and lives with her husband and two children in Chappaqua, New York.

Book Review: The Buddha in the attic - J. Otsuka

“We forgot about Buddha. We forgot about God. We developed a coldness inside us that still has not thawed. I fear my soul has died. We stopped writing home to our mothers. We lost weight and grew thin. We stopped bleeding. We stopped dreaming. We stopped wanting.” 

The first thing that really got me in this novel is the "choral voice" with which it is written, instead of the more common first or third person. So it is a WE were from, WE did this and WE said that. It is such an uncommon way to write a novel and yet it is, in this case at least, so powerful, as never like with a big WE you get all the emotions, the fears and hopes that these ladies are going through as individuals and as group of Japanese brides immigrating to the USA/
The story starts on the ship they take as new brides to reach their "just seen in a picture" Japanese living in America husbands. Then it proceeds explaining how the reality is different from their expectations and all the hard work they have to endure. It goes through how difficult, complicated, estranged their relationship with the husbands are. Then how their lives settle a bit more in America, even if the majority of the WE never really learn how to speak English and never really mix with anybody outside the Japanese community. Then the children arrive. And then the war and with the war the antagonism between Americans and Japanese.
It is such an intriguing story, a lot of stories within the story, I'd say. It is an open window on the lives of the Japanese immigrants at the time, their culture and their trials to adapt to such a different place and such different customs.
In summary, a great book which you can read in one sit, because it is short and because it is very engrossing. Highly recommend it!

"We loved them. We hated them. We wanted to be them. How tall they were, how lovely, how fair. Their long, graceful limbs. Their bright white teeth. Their pale, luminous skin, which disguised all seven blemishes of the face. Their odd but endearing ways, which ceased to amuse - their love for A.I. sauce and high, pointy-toed shoes, their funny, turned-out walk, their tendency to gather in each other's parlors in large, noisy groups and stand around talking, all at once, for hours. Why, we wondered, did it never occur to them to sit down? They seemed so at home in the world. So at ease. They had a confidence that we lacked. And much better hair. So many colors. And we regretted that we could not be more like them.” 

Overall rating: 8      Plot: 8     Writing style: 8      Cover:  8

Title: The Buddha in the attic
Author: Julie Otsuka
Publisher: Penguin
Pages: 144
Publication year: 2011

Plot:
In eight incantatory sections, The Buddha in the Attic traces their extraordinary lives, from their arduous journey by boat, where they exchange photographs of their husbands, imagining uncertain futures in an unknown land; to their arrival in San Francisco and their tremulous first nights as new wives; to their backbreaking work picking fruit in the fields and scrubbing the floors of white women; to their struggles to master a new language and a new culture; to their experiences in childbirth, and then as mothers, raising children who will ultimately reject their heritage and their history; to the deracinating arrival of war.

The Author:
Julie Otsuka was born and raised in California. After studying art as an undergraduate at Yale University she pursued a career as a painter for several years before turning to fiction writing at age 30. She received her MFA from Columbia. She is a recipient of the PEN/Faulkner Award, the Asian American Literary Award, the American Library Association Alex Award, France’s Prix Femina Étranger, an Arts and Letters Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and was a finalist for the National Book Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.She lives in New York City, where she writes every afternoon in her neighborhood café.

Book Review: Behind her eyes - S. Pinborough

“An ending and a beginning now knotted up forever. He expected the hues of the world to change to reflect that, but the earth and heavens remained the same muted shades, and there was no tremble of anger from the trees. No weeping whisper of wind. No siren wailed in the distance. The woods were just the woods, and the dirt was just the dirt.” 

Holy moly, what a twisted plot! So the book starts as your classic psychological thriller, a lot of secrets, a lot of unanswered questions and doubts about the characters, their relationship, who is the "bad guy/gal" in the trio. 
And really, in my view, it goes a bit too on and on and on, Louise, that in the novel has the roles of mother/secretary/lover/friend, blabbers and overthinks and I could skip pages of her rattling about her doubts. The tension within the novel builds slowly (too slowly in my view), so you know something will happen, you can make some guesses, but you are waiting basically.
Towards two third finally you start understanding more and you think you now know what's this big twist in the plot is, but no, do not be so sure, as you might still have a very final surprise. 
The plot is really something you won't think about even in your worse dreams, it has a bit of paranormal and a bit of psychopathic behaviors in it. Fore sure it will not bore you!
In summary, an engrossing, very twisted and a bit sickly novel, could have done with less blabbing on as I said.


Overall rating: 6,5      Plot: 8     Writing style: 6      Cover:  5

Title: Behind her eyes
Author: Sarah Pinborough
Publisher: Harper Collins
Pages: 384
Publication year: 2017

Plot:

Louise

Since her husband walked out, Louise has made her son her world, supporting them both with her part-time job. But all that changes when she meets…

David

Young, successful and charming – Louise cannot believe a man like him would look at her twice let alone be attracted to her. But that all comes to a grinding halt when she meets his wife…

Adele

Beautiful, elegant and sweet – Louise's new friend seems perfect in every way. As she becomes obsessed by this flawless couple, entangled in the intricate web of their marriage, they each, in turn, reach out to her.

But only when she gets to know them both does she begin to see the cracks… Is David really is the man she thought she knew and is Adele as vulnerable as she appears?
Just what terrible secrets are they both hiding and how far will they go to keep them?

The Author:

Sarah Pinborough is the number one Sunday Times Bestselling and New York Times Bestselling author of the psychological thriller Behind Her Eyes (Jan, 2017). During her career she has published more than 20 novels and several novellas, and has written for the BBC. Her recent novels include the dystopian love story, The Death House, and a teenage thriller, 13 Minutes which has been bought by Netflix with Josh Schwartz adapting. 

Behind Her Eyes has sold to nearly twenty territories so far and was sold at auction to the US in a significant deal to Flatiron, Macmillan. There are discussions on going with several movies studios about the film adaptation. You can follow Sarah on Twitter at @sarahpinborough.

Book Review: The dress (Nine women, one dress) - J. L. Rosen

“For seventy-five years I've made ladies dresses. That means that for seventy-five years I have made women happy. For seventy-five years I have made mature women spin around in front of the mirror like young girls. For seventy-five years I have made young girls look in the mirror and for the first time see a woman staring back at them. I have made young men's eyes pop out. I've made old men's eyes pop out. Because the right dress does that. It makes ordinary women feel extraordinary.”

What a lovely, refreshing, romantic novel! It has been a while since I read a "chick-lit" but I have to say I really enjoy this one. THE dress is the center of the story, the must have little black dress of the season, made by a gentle and kind man just before his retirement after 75 years in the fashion industry. And the dress passes from one hand to the other of nine women, whose destiny is changed (in better) through this dress in one way or another. 
Firstly, this dress must really be gorgeous and in my mind reading the novel I was trying it on as well and swirling around in front a mirror... Secondly some of the characters are just lovely, my favorite two being the lawyer and his assistant Felicia. 
I have devoured the book in a couple of days, it is written in a smooth and plesant way and my curiosity grew and grew to see how the various stories within the novel ended.
In summary, a very pleasant and refreshing read about love, friendship and little thing that can help fate! 

Overall rating: 7,5      Plot: 7,5     Writing style: 8      Cover:  8

Title: The dress (Nine women, one dress)
Author: Jane L. Rosen
Publisher: Arrow
Pages: 320
Publication year: 2016

Plot:
Legend has it that every season there is one dress. The dress that can make your career, ignite a spark with that special someone, or utterly transform your life. For Felicia, who has been in love with her boss for 20 years; for Natalie who has sworn off men since her ex dumped her – for them and for others, life is about to change. And all because of their brush with the dress of the season, the perfect little black number that everyone wants to get their hands on…

The Author:
Jane L. Rosen is an author and Huffington Post contributor. She lives in New York City and Fire Island with her husband and three daughters. She often takes inspiration from the city she lives in and the people she shares it with. She is the author of a young adult novel, The Thread, which she self-published with a print-on-demand company. In addition to her writing she has spent time in film, television and event production and is the cofounder of It’s All Gravy LLC, a web and app-based gifting company.

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September 2017 Wrap up

I love September! The month of starting school and also a month full of birthdays in my family. This September has also been a month of very good reads, here they are in a nutshell:

Touch & Go - L. Gardner

Lot of suspense, plotting, detective work - brilliant thriller!

Rating:  8 out of 10

Vinegar girl - A. Tyler

Anne Tyler never disappoints me, a very enjoyable novel, great characters!

Rating:  7 out of 10

Roseanna - M. Sjowall, P. Wahool

Good, solid, old fashioned detective story, a gem! 

Rating:  7,5 out of 10

Pulvis et umbra - A. Manzini

Torna il mio amore Rocco con un giallo davvero malinconico. Molto bello!

Rating:  8 out of 10

Behold the dreamers - I.. Mbue

A very enjoyable novel about immigration and the great American dream. Highly recommend it!

Rating:  8 out of 10

The dress - J. L. Rosen
Such a lovely refreshing rom-com. Very pleasant!
Rating:  7,5 out of 10

Behind her eyes - S. Pinborough
A very twisted psychological thriller, unexpected ending, however it goes on a bit too much for me.
Rating:  6,5 out of 10

The assistants - C. Perri
A very original plot, entertaining, maybe a bit exaggerated towards the end.
Rating:  6,5 out of 10

The Buddha in the attic - J. Otsuka
 Great impact with a very unusual writing style, a heart touching story. Highly recommend it!
Rating:  8 out of 10