What I read in April 2022
I did a huge declutter the past month or so and gave away a few bags of books. Sorting through old books I found a few and re-read them so April’s book reviews were for 3 old books and 1 new one. It is amazing how (years later) I can enjoy a book all over - even though I remembered the gist of each - a few details are always forgotten.
NEW BOOK
THE HOUSE OF WHISPERS BY ANNA KENT
When Abi receives an e-mail from Grace she feels very uneasy. Their friendship during university was a draining and consuming one and Abi has moved on and built a new life for herself.
Feeling she has no choice she allows Grace back into her life. Her husband Rowan is concerned with the changes in her behaviour and the effect Grace is having is on his wife.
As Abi prepares for an art exhibition she begins a series of paintings and seems to get further removed from those around her. Disturbing and raw nobody realises the truth behind her art and how Grace is linked to it.
This was a brilliant thriller and filled with twists and turns.
RE-READS
LASTING DAMAGE BY SOPHIE HANNAH
When Connie Bowskill does a virtual tour of a house she has been looking at in Cambridge she is horrified to see a a woman face down in a pool of blood. However when she shows her husband Kit the image is gone and the virtual tour simply shows a house for sale.
Nobody seems to believe what Connie saw but she knows something is very wrong.
And why would Kit have this house programmed into his Sat Nav as “home”?
Another page turner by Sophie Hannah with a rollercoaster of suprises.
THE GIRLS BY LISA JEWELL
When Clare moves with her daughters to a house on a picturesque communal garden square she feels they can start anew after a disaster that has left them reeling.
Her daughters quickly make new friends in the square and seem to be enjoying their new home.
Until one of them is found unconscious in the gardens after a summer party. With her daughter in hospital Clare has to ask herself just how safe the gardens are as she tries to find out what happened that night. Everyone that has lived there for years remembers the tragedy from decades ago and now it seems history is repeating itself.
Told from Clare, her youngest daughter Pip and a neighbour Adele’s point of view this is a chilling read.
I did not enjoy the ending though - it felt too sudden and left too many questions.
ALWAYS AND FOREVER BY CATHY KELLY
When a beautiful spa opens up in Ireland it brings together 3 women who feel they have their lives mapped out. Mel, Cleo and Daisy all think they know what they want from life and how to get it.
None of them know that their lives are about to change drastically.
The owner of the Spa Leah is carrying some of her own secret hurts with her own but has no idea how her spa will bring together the women and how each will grow as they learn new things about themselves.
It is a pleasant read - passed the time even though slightly predictable in parts.