A Secret In The Family by Nancy Revell

A Secret in the Family by Nancy Revell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 440

Publisher - Penguin

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

1945, Sunderland. Ida Boulter makes the heart-wrenching decision to leave her five children behind as she escapes her husband and moves to London to start afresh with the love of her life.
1953, County Durham. Ida’s children have since built a new life in the beautiful home of Cuthford Manor – looked after by their eldest sibling Angie and her husband.
But their world is about to be rocked once again when their mother turns up out of the blue for the first time in eight years.
She has come back bearing a secret she can no longer keep from her family.
Will telling the truth cause more harm than good?
Only their love for one another will carry them through the turbulent times ahead.
Readers love Nancy


My Review

Oooft 1945 Ida is running off with her lover and leaving behind her five kids, she knows her eldest will look after them, she always has. A woman leaving her husband and her kids, back in the 40s was almost unheard of, doing it the day before your eldest daughters wedding is pretty brutal. Now eight years later Ida is back and about to shatter her kids lives all over again.

I LOVE when authors create a world and characters you can envelope yourself in and this is exactly what we get here. I mean what a pull, a time when women stayed in marriages regardless of how bad things where and rarely did they leave let alone leave their kids behind. So you have the pull and intrigue right from the off and now eight years have passed and she is back WE NEED TO KNOW!

The kids are at different ages, the younger two are quite delighted and intrigued, the next two are loathe to acknowledge her let alone listen to anything she has to say and the eldest, Angie, she has always been a good and fair person so she gives Ida a chance to talk. I mean the decision kinda is forced on her but regardless some folk would have told her to sling her hook!

Very much actions, consequences, secrets, lies and some pearl clutching, gasp/shock moments, there are some scenes that hint to or actually have threat of violence/SA so prepare yourself. Even the 1940s had some bad folk around and there are always people looking to take advantage. I really liked how many themes ran in the book and at the heart of it all, family and love. There is some classism and snobbery, manipulation/expectation - again the time period it is absolutely expected, 4.5/5 from us this time.

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This One Life by Amanda Prowse

This One Life by Amanda Prowse
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 364

Publisher - Lake Union Publishing

Source - ARC

Blurb from Goodreads

She wants it all. But life has other plans…

After years of hard work, Madeleine’s life is very nearly perfect. She’s about to move to LA to pursue her dream job—and there’s a new man on the scene too. But when her mother falls ill, pulling her back to the world she’s tried so hard to leave behind, the repercussions of a life-changing decision Madeleine made seven years ago resurface, threatening to jeopardise everything she’s worked for.

Faced with the promise of her new life, and the pull of her old, she has to ask herself some tough was what she did then right for her family? How do you know when it’s okay to put yourself first? And what’s the cost of happiness?

Heartfelt, provocative and emotional, this is a gripping look at the choices women have to make, and whether we really can have it all…


My Review

Then and now, we meet Madeline, successful, driven, very particular about how she likes things, her home is pristine/perfect and her job is pretty much everything. When her mum takes unwell Madeline needs to go home and that means back to the place she spent her whole life wanting to escape from. We flip between present day and the past, getting to know Madeline, what makes her the way she is and seeing her struggle going back to her hometown, her past and things she would much rather forget.

Oh I think this may well be a marmite book for some because Madeline is the antithesis of what society expects she should be. Prowse has carved a character who if she was male, not too many eyebrows would be raised but because she is a female backs will absolutely be raised. She isn't the most likeable either, is it because she is selfish (because I think it is safe to say she is), driven, career focused, quite cold too. There is a moment, back in the then, between her and her friend and wow, I gasped out loud. Friends is family for me and ooft some of Madeline's choices and actions are shocking, again because we don't do certain things/cross certain lines/say certain things.

Madeline's family are so lovely, they don't have a lot financially and struggled a bit when she was growing up which is largely why she is the way she is. The contrast between to two timelines and Madeline's life to her life then and her parent's still living that way. Family, relationships and ambition are integral to the story, there are a lot of emotional moments and likely triggers because of some of the themes within the book. I know that is vague but to mention them would be spoilers and we don't do spoilers here.

I think if you grew up with financial difficulties the book might hit a wee bit differently to someone who has never had money worries or grew up in that type of environment. I also think how you respond to Madeline will again depend on how your financials were/are.

I really liked it, a lot of food for thought and although I did not like Madeline nor a lot of her choices, I get it. The book is a lot of actions/consequences and the ripples they can have not just on the person but everyone around them. I think the reason we like Prowse's stories so much is it lets you escape your life for a wee bit and delve into others. Whether you like the characters or not you become invested and encapsulated quickly even if the story starts as a slow burner, 4/5. Out to buy Jan 7th 2025.

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My Wife Jodie by V A Rudys

My Wife Jodie by V.A. Rudys
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 384

Publisher - Blinkenlight

Source - Vine

Blurb from Goodreads

Ethan Page had it all: a respectable job, loving friends, and a beautiful apartment - the envy of all his friends. He was madly in love with his wife, Jodie - until he discovered the power she possessed beyond all comprehension, and the price she demanded for engineering his perfect life.


My Review

Ethan and Jodie have been married a long time, no kids but everything in their life is great. When Jodie has a breakdown and rushes off, telling their friends lies Ethan is puzzled, what happened? As Ethan tries to track down his wife he starts to uncover things that makes him question what he really knows about Jodie and their life. Then another bombshells drops, Jodie has a power and once Ethan learns of it he starts to question even more. When you open the closet and skeletons fall out you cannot reclose that door and now life as Ethan and Jodie know it will never be the same.

Oooh guys, the cover pulled me in, with the blurb, it looks good/freaky/eerie and I wasn't sure where the book was going to go. Once, along with Ethan, you discover Jodie's secrets/power everything changes, like Ethan you question what you would do, what has been done, what could be done.

The book actually gives a really good look at what can happen if you have everything you want, how being good or good intentions do/can indeed pave the pathway to hell,. It cleverly weaves in moral questions whilst looking at relationships, friendships, infidelity, love, lies, death, loss and the old actions and consequences.

It is a very different kind of book, not what I was expecting at all and it took me a wee bit to settle to. The chapters jumped a wee bit and at one point I was like what how in the? Is this a printing error but as you read on things become clear.

It is actually pretty clever in parts and well done, domestic, relationships with a stab of what if with a sprinkle of chaos/power/ability. If you are looking for something a bit different, look no further, I will be keeping a wee eye out for Rudy's next offering, 4/5 for me this time.

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Messenger of Fear by Michael Grant

Messenger of Fear by Michael Grant
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - on and off over 3 days

Pages - 416

Publisher - Electric Monkey

Source - Book shop

Blurn from Goodreads

I remembered my name – Mara. But, standing in that ghostly place, faced with the solemn young man in the black coat with silver skulls for buttons, I could recall nothing else about myself.

And then the games began.

The Messenger sees the darkness in young hearts, and the damage it inflicts upon the world. If they go unpunished, he offers the wicked a game. Win, and they can go free. Lose, and they will live out their greatest fear.

But what does any of this have to do with Mara? She is about to find out . . .




My Review

She wakes up surround by mist, unsure of who she is, drawn to a chapel where a young girl lies in a coffin, dead by her own hand. Here she meets a boy in black, Messenger, who takes her on a horrific journey, watching humans make some horrible choices and giving them a chance to pay for it. The girl Mara, along with the reader, has no idea why she is having to endure and be party to this, as the pages turn the story unfolds as character and reader discover together.

Firstly let me just say whilst I have never read this author it was the pull of the cover and more importantly the page ridges where all in black. The cover jumps out in a blast of colour with Red, black and white, an amputated arm with play or pay across it in scrolls. Covers never used to be a thing but in the past year or two I have been drawn more to good ones, the coloured page ridges get me every time.

It took me a wee bit to get my head around what was happening as you are taken on the journey with Mara. We some some horrible aspects of humanity and the consequences that follows, warning there is harm to an animal in the tale that readers may find distressing. The book is definitely a foundation book setting the stage for the next one and introducing who I imagine to be big players in the following book. Interesting premise for the book, good and bad, actions and consequences of those actions and repentance. Possibly a wee bit preachy some may find but overall interesting and different. I am interested to see where the rest of the series goes, I am sure I will buy them as I come across them, 3/5 for me this time.

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