Book Review; The summer seaside kitchen - J. Colgan

A very pleasant summer read. I hadn't read "chick lit" for a while and it was quite refreshing to be on holiday and to read about love and loss in a "lighthearted" way.
The setting is stunning, the plot is predictable but funny and sweet.

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

Title: The summer seaside kitchen

Author: Jenny Colgan
Publisher: Sphere
Pages: 464
Publication year: 2017

The Plot:

Flora is definitely, absolutely sure that escaping from the quiet Scottish island where she grew up to the noise and hustle of the big city was the right choice. What was there for her on Mure? It's a place where everyone has known her all her life, and no one will let her forget the past. In the city, she can be anonymous, ambitious and indulge herself in her hopeless crush on her gorgeous boss, Joel.When a new client demands Flora's presence back on Mure, she's suddenly swept back into life with her brothers (all strapping, loud and seemingly incapable of basic housework) and her father. As Flora indulges her new-found love of cooking and breathes life into the dusty little pink-fronted shop on the harbour, she's also going to have to come to terms with past mistakes - and work out exactly where her future lies.

The Author:

Jenny Colgan is the author of numerous bestselling novels - Little Beach Street Bakery and the Top 5 bestseller Welcome to Rosie Hopkins' Sweetshop of Dreams, which won the RNA Romantic Comedy Novel Award 2013. Meet Me at the Cupcake Café was also a Sunday Times Top 10 bestseller, and won the Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance 2012.
Jenny is married with three children and lives in Scotland

Book Review: The couple next door - S. Lapena

“The wife is always the last to know, right?” 

I have circled around this novel for ages, attracted by the reviews but worried that it would be another psychological thriller, pleasant enough but nothing special.

It has a good pace throughout and the case of the missing baby is intriguing but the characters are quite weak, the plot quite predictable and the ending is quite unreal in my view.

A nice enough summer thriller, forgettable though.

“Her thoughts speed up and become less rational; her mind makes fantastic leaps. It's not that things don't make sense to her when she's like this — sometimes they make 'more' sense. They make sense the way dreams do. It's only when the dream is over that you see how odd it all was, how it actually didn't make sense at all.” 

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

Title: The couple next door

Author: Shari Lapena
Publisher: Corgi 
Pages: 368
Publication year: 2016

The Plot:

Your neighbour told you that she didn't want your six-month-old daughter at the dinner party. Nothing personal, she just couldn't stand her crying.
Your husband said it would be fine. After all, you only live next door. You'll have the baby monitor and you'll take it in turns to go back every half hour.
Your daughter was sleeping when you checked on her last. But now, as you race up the stairs in your deathly quiet house, your worst fears are realized. She's gone.
You've never had to call the police before. But now they're in your home, and who knows what they'll find there.
What would you be capable of, when pushed past your limit?

The Author:
Shari Lapena is the internationally bestselling author of The Couple Next Door and A Stranger in the House. She was a lawyer and an English teacher before turning her hand to fiction.
She lives in Toronto.