Bluethroat Morning – Jacqui Lofthouse

An intricately written novel.

This book was provided to me from NetGalley, Blackbird Publishing and Jacqui Lofthouse in exchange for my honest opinion. To them, I send my deepest gratitude. 

Bluethroat Morning by Jacqui Lofthouse was beautifully written with intricate plot and sub-plots. It’s a rather long book, but I didn’t mind this and never lost interest once. 

Harry Bliss is a retiring school teacher who was married to a former super-model, Alison Oakley Bliss who turned best-selling author. Her book was very well received and she had many fans. Inexplicably, six years prior to the start of this novel, Alison had taken a writing holiday in a small town called Glaven. The Glaven River is in the eastern English county of Norfolk, is 10½ miles long and flows through picturesque North Norfolk countryside to the North Sea. Today, it is a popular tourist destination, but Alison rents a run-down cottage there to finish her second book without distractions. 

Harry is absolutely devastated by his wife’s unexpected suicide. He is determined to find out what transpired the last two weeks of Alison’s life. Harry is also going through a mid-life crisis. He has been somewhat of a recluse in the years since Alison’s death and thinks its time to come out of the shell. 

In comes Helen. Oh, lovely, 19-year-old Helen. The daughter of Harry’s closest friend at school where he teaches. Helen bears a strong resemblance to Arabella, who was his great-grandfather’s wife. Arabella also committed suicide by walking naked into the water and drowning for unknown reasons just as Alison did. Harry and Helen start a torrid, although inappropriate, affair and she travels with him to Glaven to try to find answers. Helen is also a huge fan of Alison, both through her modeling career and her author status. 

What transpires after that, I will withhold. This book is expertly written and intricate in detail, both of the characters and the surrounding area. My hat is off to Jacqui Lofthouse. She weaves a web of secrets and revelations that are shown to the reader slowly and deliciously. 

It is an excellent book. I enjoyed it very much. 

About the Author

Jacqui began her career as an actor touring India as Sheila in J.B. Priestley’s ‘An Inspector Calls’. She went on to study Drama and English at the University of Bristol and subsequently worked in radio production and media training. In 1992 she studied for her MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia under Sir Malcolm Bradbury and Rose Tremain.

Jacqui has taught creative writing in a broad variety of settings including from City University to Feltham Young Offenders Institution. She has also taught English and Drama in London secondary schools. 

In 2005, Jacqui founded The Writing Coach, a coaching and mentoring organisation for writers (www.thewritingcoach.co.uk). She is currently working on her first YA novel and returning to actor training at Identity School of Acting. (less)

29 Seconds – T.M. Logan

What would you do if someone, a complete stranger, offered to make one person of your choice disappear forever, with absolutely nothing to tie you to the disappearance? I, of course, as most people would answer a resounding “no way”. You could not do such a thing. 

Don’t be too sure. This book takes you into the mind and life of Sarah, a contracted, temporary professor at a university with an absent husband and children. Sarah is almost sure, to be offered a permanent tenured position at the university. But, there’s one hitch, her womanizing, sleazy boss, Alan, is a superstar at this university. He has two sides. One is cordial, professional and intelligent, a star fundraiser. The other is misogynistic, execrable and just plain sleazy. His reputation is known well by the women at the university. 

Now, I, along with thousands of other women have had to endure the obnoxious men that talked inappropriately, touched inappropriately and sometimes propositioned us. However, Sara’s boss, Alan also holds the key to her future, whether she continues as a contracted professor, loses her job completely, or whether she realizes her dream of advancing at the university. 

A chance encounter with a would-be kidnapper of a child manages to bring her to the attention of the intended victim’s father. An ultra-wealthy “business” man with somewhat shady dealings. As a way to pay her back, this man offers her the chance of a lifetime, to get rid of her detestable boss. 
As the story unfolds, it develops into a fascinating psychological thriller. I didn’t see the ending coming. I have given it 5 ***** due to the fact that I always seem to figure out the endings and this time I didn’t. Also, because it was beautifully written with great suspense.

Wow, what a book. A page-turner for me. I have had “Lies” by T.M. Logan on my Kindle app for a long time. I will now move it up near the top. If it’s half as good as “29 Seconds” I will love it. 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Netgalley and the Author T.M. Logan for providing me with a copy in exchange for my honest review. 

Bestselling author TM Logan was a national newspaper journalist before turning to novel-writing full time. His debut thriller LIES was one of Amazon UK’s biggest ebooks of 2017, selling 350,000 copies and gathering more than 1,400 5-star reviews so far. It was published in the USA in September 2018 and has also come out in South Korea, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Hungary, Serbia, Romania and the Netherlands.

His next thriller, 29 SECONDS, is a psychological thriller set against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement. What if someone offered you a solution to the biggest problem in your life – would you take it, if you knew you’d never be found out? Even if you knew it was wrong? What if a 29-second phone call could change your life forever?

The Fish That Climbed A Tree – Kevin Ansbro

I have had nothing on my mind but this book since I finished it last week. I’ve waited to write a review until now because I wanted to give the book all that it deserved. I loved this book. Five gigantic *! As I see it, it is a book about good at the extreme and bad at its worst.

First the good. The Reverend Ulysses Drummond had been appointed vicar of St Cuthbert’s Chuch in the London borough of Hackney. He and his wife, Florence lived quietly and only wanted to help everyone.

Henry Drummond is Ulysses’ and Florence’s 10-year-old son. On Henry’s 10th birthday, his Mother and Father are brutally murdered in the vicarage while Henry was at school. Henry is a most peculiar child in that he had an old-fashioned air about him. He was an avid reader and was the butt of the other children’s bullying. He was basically friendless while going through school.

Now the bad. Pascal Makuza had escaped Rwanda and arrived in London after a very dangerous trip. The Hutu death squad that he had been forced to join had sliced off his upper lip and fed it to a dog. Therefore, his appearance was somewhat that of a skeleton.

He was mentored by Yuri Voloshyn a Ukrainian who remains unpunished for his many crimes, including rape and murder in Odessa. Henry vowed to his only friend, Bertie, to hunt the men down and see that they are punished for the murder of his mother and father.

In the meantime, Ulysses and his wife are somewhere between earth and paradise. Now being raised as a Catholic, I imagined this is what purgatory would be like. Ulysses and Florence were having an argument. Florence wanted to go toward the light and enjoy paradise and Ulysses wanted to stay where he was so that he can watch over his son Henry. Florence stayed a while but then decided she would follow the light and go on to paradise hoping that Ulysses would soon follow.

There are other characters in this book, developed beautifully by Kevin. Much happens to Henry and I absolutely could not put it down. You have good, evil, love, and humor.

Who the characters are; does good overpower bad are all questions that I will leave unanswered. All that I can say is READ. THIS. BOOK. You will not be disappointed.

I have downloaded the other two books authored by my good friend on Goodreads, Kevin Ansbro, and intend to read them both in the near future. Kevin, thank you for writing this wonderful book.

Kevin Ansbro was born of Irish parents, and has lived in Malaysia and Germany:
He was educated at Hamond’s Grammar School in Swaffham, and at the Norfolk College of Arts and Technology, King’s Lynn.
Kevin also has a background in karate and kickboxing and has travelled extensively – particularly in the Far East.
He is married to Julie, and currently lives in Norwich, England.

Right, enough about me: my books are way more interesting.
http://www.kevinansbro.co.uk

The Need – Helen Phillips

I really thought I would like this book.  I expected to like this book.  Why didn’t I?

The main reason was I didn’t know what the heck was going on for about 85% of it.  Mol/Molly clearly is flawed.  She has two precious children, Viv who is 4 years old and Ben who is a baby.  Ms. Phillips simply wore me out with the lactating references in almost every short chapter.  I didn’t see the need.  Okay, you have a baby, who is walking BTW, and you’re a proponent of breastfeeding.  Hip, hip, hooray for you. 

The first 15% of the book was good.  After that, it simply fell to pieces.  I felt absolutely no kinship or affection for any of the characters, largely because they were never really developed.  And the ending, Ugh!! I have whiplash it ended so abruptly.  So, the question remained in my mind was Molly simply insane, was she dead, were the children dead, did the elusive husband, David even exist.  I never figured it out.  Big letdown. 

I do, however, want to thank Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion. 

Helen Phillips is the author of five books, including, most recently, the novel THE NEED. Her collection SOME POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS received the 2017 John Gardner Fiction Book Award. Her novel THE BEAUTIFUL BUREAUCRAT, a New York Times Notable Book of 2015, was a finalist for the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Her collection AND YET THEY WERE HAPPY was named a Notable Book by the Story Prize. She is also the author of the children’s adventure novel HERE WHERE THE SUNBEAMS ARE GREEN. Helen is the recipient of a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award and the Italo Calvino Prize, among others. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, the New York Times, and Tin House, and on Selected Shorts. She is an associate professor at Brooklyn College. http://www.helencphillips.com.