The Split by Laura Kay

The Split by Laura Kay
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1.5 days

Pages - 400

Publisher - Quercus Books

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

Wounded and betrayed, after being dumped by her girlfriend, Ally makes off to her dad’s in Sheffield with the one thing that might soothe the pain and force her ex to speak to her again: Emily's cat, Malcolm.

Back home and forced into a 'date' by their parents, Ally and her first ever beard, Jeremy, come up with a ridiculous plan to win their exes back... to revenge-run a half marathon. Given neither of them can run, they enlist the support of athletic, not to mention beautiful, Jo. But will she have them running for the hills... or will their ridiculous plan pay off...?


My Review

Ally and Emily have been together for seven years, their break up comes out of the blue for Ally. Heartbroken, shocked and upset she leaves their boat and takes Emily's cat Malcolm, heading back home to Sheffield to lick her wounds. She reconnects with her old friend Jeremy, also home, heartbroken after having split from his boyfriend. The two decide to help each other through it and train for a half marathon, show their exes what they are missing.

Whilst Ally tries to win back her ex (or manipulate depending on how you see it) we get to know her. She emails Emily updates, mopes about the house before starting to train for this marathon with Jeremy. At some point she has to start looking for a job but prior to that we see her enjoying lazing about, eating what she wants (her ex was vegan so Ally "had" to be to). At parts Ally really isn't a nice person, treatment of a particular person in the attempts to win back the ex.

Self discovery, focus, personal growth and at one part I felt very emotive -, I know it is fiction but so many kids going through such isolation, feeling like an outsider growing up and noone "like you". We need to do better.

I think this might be marmite for some, I liked it, splashes of humour, shadiness, relationships, breakups and the madness of being a couch potato training for a half marathon (I was rooting for them!) I know I couldn't do it. 4/5 for me this time, will definitely look for more by her. xxx

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The Split by Sharon Bolton

The Split by Sharon J. Bolton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 2 days

Pages - 382

Publisher - Trapeze

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

Tense, gripping and with a twist you won't see coming, Sharon Bolton is back in an explosive new standalone thriller about a woman on the run in The Split.

No matter how far you run, some secrets will always catch up with you...

The remote Antarctic island of South Georgia is about to send off its last boat of the summer – which signifies safety to resident glaciologist Felicity Lloyd.

Felicity lives in fear – fear that her ex-husband Freddie will find her, even out here. She took a job on this isolated island to hide from him, but now that he's out of prison, having served a term for murder, she knows he won’t give up until he finds her.

But a doctor delving into the background of Felicity and Freddie's relationship, back in Cambridge, learns that Felicity has been on the edge for a long time. Heading to South Georgia himself to try and get to her first is the only way he can think of to help her.



My Review

Felicity has been on the run for a year, from Freddie, her husband. No matter when Felicity runs, no matter how far she goes Freddie always finds her. She has scars galore, she is skittish, frightened and gaps in her memory. We open with her at her dream job, studying glaciers surrounded by beautiful animals and sights, the middle of nowhere and yet Freddie has found her. The timeline flips back to nine months earlier and we get to know Felicity a bit more and meet characters Shane and Joe.

Joe is a therapist, Felicity has lapses of memory ?Shane is a dodgy character, how does it all fit in? The book is a bit like an onion, secrets and reveals as we get deeper into the story. A game of cat and mouse, poor Felicity is stalked, her body is stressed out and she keeps ending up in dodgy predicaments. She knows bad stuff has happened - everything centers around Freddie, Joe wants to work with her through her trauma/amnesia but Felicity just wants to run.

Certainly different from her normal writing and different from many of the thriller types I have read. Atmospheric, dangerous, shocking and a huge lesson of why we cannot run from our past - it always catches up with us and often with shocking consequences. 4/5 for me this time, shocking with themes of mental health, abuse, violence, death with a few others but we don't do spoilers. A page turner, enjoy!

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