Kitty's War by Eimear Lawlor Blog Tour

Today is my stop for the blog tour for "Kitty's War" by Eimear Lawlor, for my stop I have my review, enjoy. This is a Rachels Random Resources tour. Buy link for the book from Amazon UK.

About the author:

Eimear Lawlor was born in Co. Cavan and now lives in city of Kilkenny with her husband John and two sons. Unfortunately, her middle child Ciara passed away in 2016, who was the inspiration of her writing career. Her debut novel Dublin's Girl was an Irish Times bestseller and was inspired by the true story of her aunt, who worked with Michael Collins and Eamon De Valera as their private secretary.

Kitty's War by Eimear Lawlor


Time taken to read - in and out over 6 days

Pages - 317

Publisher - Head of Zeus

Source - ARC

Blurb from Goodreads

Kilkenny, 1939. Ireland might be neutral, but Kitty Flynn is caught in her own war. Forced to give up her child at seventeen, she escaped to London in search of a fresh start.

However, in 1941, upon hearing that her brother, Anthony, who had been injured during the Spanish Civil War, is now gravely ill, Kitty must return home to care for him. In a time where food and medicine are scarce, Kitty is relieved to secure a nursing job – that is, until G2, the Irish Intelligence notices her proficiency in German…

G2 are determined to use Kitty's translation skills to extract information from the German internees at The Curragh Military Camp, even using Anthony as leverage.

Before she knows it, Kitty finds herself in the treacherous world of espionage. And soon Kitty must will she sacrifice herself to save her brother?

Inspired by real life events Kitty's War is the new sweeping historical novel by the bestselling author of Dublin's Girl, Eimear Lawlor.


My Review

So Kitty is our main character, living in London after fleeing for a fresh start, unwed and forced to give up her baby - it is 1939, Ireland. Her plan is a new life and with her friend they both are going into healthcare. When Kitty has to go home due to a bereavement she finds her brother in trouble, now it is just the two of them they need to stick together. Kitty will do whatever it takes to save her brother, from illness, from authorities even from himself.

Poor Kitty, travelling whilst a war and bombs are going on, getting caught up in all kinds of dodgy situations and everything comes back to saving her brother. She risks just about everything for him, they had a turbulent childhood, often depending on each other and now as adults he needs her more than ever.

I kinda wish I hadn't read the blurb because it goes on about Kitty being caught up in espionage which doesn't come until later, much later. I thought the book was going to be thick of war/espionage and whilst war and threat is peppered throughout this is really all about Kitty. She has constant inner battles, putting herself in some really dodgy situations all in desperation of doing what is right for her brother.

The whole war/Ireland part was really interesting, I know not a lot about the wars so I fond myself having to put the book down and reading up XYZ. I love when books make me do that. There are some dodgy characters and Kitty had me frustrated at times but again it was all through the love and devotion she had to her brother. The book also deals with issues relevant to the time period, babies out of wedlock and being hidden away as a result, the impacts that kind of loss has. Her mother 's treatment and her ideals/memories of her father.

The book has huge threads of family weaved throughout, dodgy morals, sexuality, family, friendship, accusations of espionage, mistrust of anyone seemingly linked to or sympathising with Germans/IRA or a parent being German. There is a lot going on and I wasn't sure where it was all headed, I do enjoy a book that keeps you guessing. Touching in places, some bits she had me ripping my knittin and some emotive scenes. This is my first by this author, I would absolutely read her again.

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A Wife's Courage by Kitty Neale

A Wife's Courage by Kitty Neale
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 404

Publisher - Orion books

Source - Bought

Blurb from Goodreads

Can she choose between her husband and her family? London, 1944. With bombs raining over London, keeping the Battersea Tavern open is no easy feat for owner Winnie Berry - but the community need the warmth and familiarity of the pub more than ever. After marriage, Maureen Fanning had moved out to Wandsworth with her bad-tempered husband Brancher. But when he loses both his job and their lodgings, the only people who will take them in are her kindly grandparents, Len and Renee. Getting a cleaning job at the Battersea Tavern is the least she can do to pay them back. It would all be fine... if it weren't for Brancher. Winnie is determined to take timid Maureen under her wing. But when tragedy strikes, it will be up to Maureen to find the strength she didn't know she possessed...Praise for A WIFE'S COURAGE'A fantastic emotional book to the end' 'What a lovely read once again from Kitty Neale.'


My Review

This is listed on FantasticFiction as a standalone however there are characters in this from previous books so I think I will need to go back and buy the others. To be fair I do have a few of hers on my tbrm and read a few anyway. Set in 1940s, world war two is under way and bombs are dropping quite often without warning. Winnie and her pub are still there, offering support where needed within their small community. Maureen I don't remember from the books I have read but she is married to Brancher, ugh he is an utter scumbag. We know early on he is a bully to Maureen, eroding her self confidence and even sense of self but you have no idea just how bad he is.

In this one we see some familiar faces, some new ones and how the community is coping with their own issues/families/dramas and the ever present threat of death from the bombs. It has been a while since I sank a book in a day and Neale takes you to a place where you can just log out of reality and lose yourself in the community that is Battersea.

The book has friendship, love, loss, abuse (emotional/violent/threats of violence), death, racism, attitudes and values of the times. Maureen's character really got under my skin, I think when you have lived with or loved someone who has been in a coercive relationship and seen just how badly they can be made to be and worthless to feel, it is enraging.

This is the latest release from Neale and I look forward to her next, I have many from her back catalogue I haven't read so will be getting them. This was a bargain buy and I got another copy for the BDWB's for my workies as I knew it would be a good one, 4.5/5 for me.

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We Can Be Heroes by Paul Burston

We Can Be Heroes: A Survivor's Story by Paul Burston
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - as able over 4 days

Pages - 319

Publisher - Little a

Source - Bought

Blurb from Goodreads

Activist. Journalist. Survivor. One man’s journey from prejudice to Pride. Paul Burston wasn’t always the iconic voice of LGBTQ+ London that he is today. Paul came out in the mid-1980s, when ‘gay’ still felt like a dirty word, especially in the small Welsh town where he grew up. He moved to London hoping for a happier life, only to watch in horror as his new-found community was decimated by AIDS. But even in the depths of his grief, Paul vowed never to stop fighting back on behalf of his young friends whose lives were cut tragically short. It’s a promise he’s kept to this day. As an activist he stormed the House of Commons during the debate over the age of consent. As a journalist he spoke up for the rights of the community at a time of tabloid homophobia and legal inequality. As a novelist he founded the groundbreaking Polari Prize. But his lifestyle hid a dark secret, and Paul’s demons—shame, trauma, grief—stalked him on every corner. In an attempt to silence them, he began to self-medicate. From almost drowning at eighteen to a near-fatal overdose at thirty-eight, this is Paul’s story of what happened in the twenty years between, and how he carved out a life that his teenage self could scarcely have imagined. Emotional but often witty, We Can Be Heroes is an illuminating memoir of the eighties, nineties and noughties from a gay man who only just survived them.


My Review

I never used to read non fiction and now I find myself reading more and more. Paul Burston writes non fiction too (check out his other books, he has actually a fair few under his belt) so when this popped up (absolute bargain price for the treebook too) I had to get a copy (3 actually, one for me, my brother and BDWB for my workies). Paul takes us through his life experiences - how he dealt with being gay at a time when there was so much hate/stigma (lets face it even now in places we are still having to deal with this homophobic/prejudice) to becoming a fierce activist and out and proud.

Paul gives us a very real/stark/warts and all look at his life from being a youngster to the struggles he faced/addiction/relationships and one of the most important ones, his relationship with himself. He has been through some very dark times on his own personal journey and within the gay community. He has become a voice for the voiceless and done some amazing and tireless work but it has been a harsh road to get to where he is now.

We follow him through the years, the issues faced by gay people just for trying to be their true selves, love, proud and seen. The book isn't just a memoir, a survivors story it is also an education of what many of his community experienced and he himself between relationships, family, friends, the dating scene, work life. It is a busy book, Paul has achieved much and is still going strong, emotive at points the book shows Burston's absolute strength of character for all he has survived, achieved and helped to shape him as the individual he is today, 4.5/5.

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Home For Christmas by Annie Groves

Home for Christmas by Annie Groves
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - In and out over 3 days

Pages - 311

Publisher - Harper Collins

Source - The Works

Blurb from Goodreads

'Home for Christmas' is a tale of four very different young women thrown together by war. Finding freedom and independence - as well as love, passion and heartbreak - for the very first time, a unique bond is formed as the hostilities take their toll on Britain.


My Review

Set in 1940 the story centres around no. 13 Article Row in London, bombs are dropping daily but life must go on. Sally, Tilly, Agnes and Dulcie are all living with Tilly's mother Olive, a kind hearted lady pulling together to survive another day. Sally fled from Liverpool after a betrayal, now working as a nurse. Dulcie is all about the attention and men, Tilly is a sweet girl who catches the eye of an American, Agnes finally gets to meet her beloveds family and has to deal with the dramas that follow. With all their personal dilemmas each is faced with survival, rationing and trying to enjoy life in such dangerous times.

I do enjoy nursing stories although this one only has brief snippets of nursing as it is mainly the relationship/friendship being the heart of the story. Relationship issues, courting, family issues, betrayal, friendships all during the war. Dulcie would be my least favourite character, she comes across quite shallow, working in a pricey department store Dulcie knows the life she wants. She always has to be the centre of attention and her friendships I think would be severely tested in modern day. Her background story, we only get snippets of that which does go a way to explain her behaviour. I think some folk will love her but I couldn't warm to her. Sally can't get over her past which impacts on her current situation and we do revisit that. Agnes a fair few issues many of us could relate to, meeting her future inlaws, trying to keep the peace and not upset her betrothed. And Tilly and Olive are just really sweet lovely characters, the relationship between mother and daughter warms the cockles.

It is a lovely wee Christmas read, it has a dash of everything. I could have read it in one sitting to be honest, it is one of those books you can just slip into. Despite it being book two, I hadn't known this, I didn't feel disadvantaged at all. I will get the first one and read the next in the series, I found the writing easy to get into. The characters, there will be at least one if not more characters for the reader to relate to and like or dislike them you do engage in the story and want to know what is coming next for them. 4/5 for me this time, I absolutely will read this author again.

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The Fear by Charlie Higson

The Fear by Charlie Higson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 3 days on and off

Pages - 496

Publisher - Penguin

Blurb from Goodreads

The sickness struck everyone sixteen and over. Mothers and fathers, older brothers, sisters, and best friends. No one escaped its touch. And now children across London are being hunted by ferocious grown-ups who are hungry, bloodthirsty, and not giving up.
DogNut and the rest of his crew, in search of the friends they lost during the fire, set off on a deadly mission from the Tower of London to Buckingham Palace and beyond, as the sickos lie in wait. But who are their friends and who is the enemy in this changed world?


My Review

This is book three of the series, I would recommend if you haven't read the others to go back and get the first one as things are starting to come together in this book. Also, many characters have featured in the previous books and you understand it better and their actions if you have their previous history. This book sees Dognut leaving the safety of their home, the Tower of London to go looking for the rest of their people they lost with the big fire. We see the group coming across familiar faces, running into more dangers and now some of the diseased are stronger, intelligent and working together to hunt down their prey.

I have liked the previous books and this one too as we start to see the tellings from the previous books coming together and the groups interacting. However, I felt this time there are some deaths that are just gratuitous and I know in this time of tale people do need to go but still, one or two really annoyed me.

The adults are, some of them, becoming more dangerous, evolving, thinking and becoming a bigger and more deadly enemy for the kids. With that you also have the politics of the head of one of the groups who will do anything and everything to obtain his needs. Whilst they are young and in a situation where there are no adults I still question the reality of some of the choices and plans he has. Overall, a decent installment of the series, whilst I would like to see where it all ends up, I won't be rushing out to buy the next ones, 3/5 for me this time.

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The Enemy by Charlie Higson

The Enemy by Charlie Higson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 2 days

pages - 407

Publisher - Puffin

Blurb from Goodreads

Charlie Higson's The Enemy is the first in a jaw-dropping zombie horror series for teens. Everyone over the age of fourteen has succumbed to a deadly zombie virus and now the kids must keep themselves alive.

When the sickness came, every parent, police officer, politician - every adult fell ill. The lucky ones died. The others are crazed, confused and hungry.

Only children under fourteen remain, and they're fighting to survive.

Now there are rumours of a safe place to hide. And so a gang of children begin their quest across London, where all through the city - down alleyways, in deserted houses, underground - the grown-ups lie in wait.

But can they make it there - alive?


My Review

A group of survivors, kids, all fighting to stay alive. A disease took over and destroyed life as we know it. The grown ups got sick, erupted boils, puss and became violent cannibals or died, everyone over fourteen years old. Now a stranger arrives, promising the kids a better way of life over in Buckingham palace, but what will they find there and will they survive the journey.

This is only the first book in a series so it is understandable there are a lot of questions left over. Why the age, why does it affect some animals, why are all adults not affected the same? There are a lot of characters, lots of death, violence & gore it is quite a dark tale, no one and nothing is safe. It reminded me of Lord Of The Flies a little bit and if I am honest it took me a bit to get into as the characters are all really young and some of them quite delinquent. However as the book goes on I started to get into it and appreciate the trials the youngsters face. The book is set across London & whilst I have visited there before I hadn't quite appreciated there is so much to see there, outwith an apocalyptic setting! It is nice to see a location through an authors eyes and tweaked to appreciate the characters storyline and the journey they take. 3/5 for me this time, I have the next two books in the series to read and look forward to where the story goes next.

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Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth

Call the Midwife: A True Story of the East End in the 1950s by Jennifer Worth
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Time take to read - 8 days

Publisher - Weidenfeld & Nicolson

Pages - 340

Blurb from Goodreads

An unforgettable story of the joy of motherhood, the bravery of a community, and the hope of one extraordinary woman

At the age of twenty-two, Jennifer Worth leaves her comfortable home to move into a convent and become a midwife in post war London's East End slums. The colorful characters she meets while delivering babies all over London-from the plucky, warm-hearted nuns with whom she lives to the woman with twenty-four children who can't speak English to the prostitutes and dockers of the city's seedier side-illuminate a fascinating time in history. Beautifully written and utterly moving, The Midwife will touch the hearts of anyone who is, and everyone who has, a mother.


My Review

Jennifer Worth takes us through the beginning of her career as a student midwife in the 1950s in London's East End slums. The conditions are brutal, the health risks high, procedures often very different from our advanced medical marvels nowadays. She paints a picture of what life was like back then, both as a worker and the families with expectant mothers and the limited services available.

I could have read this in one sitting had tie permitted, I love reading about medical tales, fiction or true although the true stories tend to give the hair raising on the back of your neck moments. The NHS only came to be in 1948 so it was still relatively new when Worth came into the profession, burning urine to get assistance with diagnosis's compared to now when we send it off to labs or dip it in test strips for a few moments.

She introduces us to some of the families she met and their struggles along the way and how some things don't change despite the times, infidelity, multiple births, family issues. I loved how this book transports you back in time, she paints a such a vivid picture you can imagine yourself experiencing it all along side her. There are two more books in the series, I have the others and will be reading them both, 5/5 for me this time. A great story and you learn as you go, can't recommend it enough!

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ARC - Betrayed by Jacqui Rose

Betrayed by Jacqui Rose
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Puslisher - AVON

Pages - 339 (this is an ARC copy and may change to the published version)

Blurb from Goodreads

A gripping story of gangs, drugs, girls and unbreakable bonds. Perfect for fans of Martina Cole and Mandasue Heller.

She trusted the man she loved. It was the most dangerous things she had ever done …

No one can touch Del Williams – the hardest gangster in Soho. He’s got the monopoly on the drugs, the clubs and the girls – it’d be a mistake to underestimate him. The one person he’d take a bullet for is tough, beautiful Bunny Barker, mother of their daughter Star.

Bunny is determined to shield Star from ‘life’ but Del has a lot of enemies. When a familiar face appears from their past, their family is put into terrible danger. Can Bunny protect Star from the demons of her own past, and her very worst nightmare?


My Review

The book opens in 1990 London, a young girl is looking for her sister in the woods. A horrific event takes place and we see a glimpse of the events that follow. We skip forward to present day, still London and the story picks up from there, seemingly unrelated to the previous chapter however it is all related and linked which becomes clear as the story unfolds. Bunny Barker is our main character, she is a prostitute with her own rules. Her daughter is her number one concern and nothing, not even the man she loves, Del Williams will tell her what she can do. Del is a big face in London, involved in drugs and is a dangerous man. When a young girl goes missing and a body turns up Bunny is forced to look to her past and remember things she would rather have forgotten forever.

This book is a hard read, not because it is badly written in actual fact it is the opposite, it is really well done and pulls you in even though the content is hard to read. Young girls being abused and murdered is always hard to read and when there are pedophiles chucked in to the mix it can make for a tough subject. There of course is the usual mix of violence, deception, sex, drugs, prostitution, secrets, adultery and lies to name just some of the themes within the book.

After the first few chapters, I couldn't put it down. I wanted to know what happened to the little girl at the beginning of the book. Then as more characters are introduced and brought in, you want to see where their storyline goes and the character development. It reminded me of, I believe it was, Martina Cole's the graft that covered pedophilia themes and this one does too although the whole story isn't about that although it is central to the plot.

The writer creates a very murky dark world, people doing what they have to do to survive and thrive within it. If you like a good crime story and can cope with some of the horrific issues, child murder, prostitution and pedophilia, then you will really like this author. She has her own style but I would certainly group her with the likes of Kimberley Chambers, Martina Cole and Mandasue Heller. I don't think I had read this author before, if I had it was a long time ago however I would read her again and may seek out her other works, 4/5 for me this time. Thanks to Avon publishers and Alexandra Crisp for sending me an ARC copy of this book. Betrayed will be available from all good retailers from the 27th of March, 2014.

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