This Beautiful Life by Katie Marsh

This Beautiful Life: an emotional, uplifting page-turner about love, family and hope by Katie Marsh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - over 2 days

Pages - 384

Publisher - Hodder & Stoughton

Source - Publisher, review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

The addictive and emotive new novel from Katie Marsh, perfect for fans of Jojo Moyes and Jodi Picoult.

'I lived over half my life before I met you both, and I hope with all my heart to live many years more. You two are the reason why. Always, always the reason why.'

Abi Cooper is living her happy ending. She's in remission and is ready to make the most of her second chance. But during Abi's illness her family has fallen apart. Her husband John has made decisions that are about to come back to haunt him, while her teenage son Seb is battling with a secret of his own.

Set to the songs on Abi's survival playlist, This Beautiful Life is the moving and uplifting story of what happens as Abi tries to put her family back together - and of why life, and love, are worth fighting for.




My Review

Abi is in remission so everything should be perfect right? Wrong, her son is becoming more distant and moody, her husband John seems to be more focused on work than her and Abi doesn't know what to do. Each month has a song from Abi's playlist and what it means to her giving the book a beautiful unique voice that I haven't encountered in others with this theme.

The book largely centers around Abi and her son Seb, Seb has all the issues you would imagine as a teenager has and then some. We look at Abi adjusting to lift as a survivor and picking up the pieces, trying to get back to "normal" and then dealing with everything else that follows. Sometimes when you think things can't get any worse or life can't possibly throw anything else at you, it does. This Beautiful Life is a story of love, survival, relationships, everyday life, marital struggles, friendship, secrets, music and personal growth. It is an emotive read and I think certain parts will reach out to readers differently, striking chords and triggering tears galore. The beauty of this book is that whilst not every single issue/problem/event may be one we have experienced or dealt with, they are very relatable, I felt.

The chapters are relatively short making it easy to dip in and out as life dictates, I could have read it in one sitting if work hadn't gotten in the way. Marsh brings characters to life you immerse and become vested in. Some of the music choices were new to me, others lovely to hear again and with Abi's wee story to each gave it another light. This isn't my first dance with this author, it won't be my last, 4/5 for me this time, thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for sending me a review copy.

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The First wife by Erica Spindler

The First Wife by Erica Spindler
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 3 days

Pages - 352

Publisher - St Martin's Press

Blurb from Goodreads

An idealistic young woman marries a man she barely knows only to discover his first wife disappeared under mysterious circumstances. As a child, Bailey Browne dreamed of a knight in shining armor swooping in to rescue her and her mother. As she grew older, those dreams transformed, becoming ones of a mysterious stranger who swept her off her feet and whisked her away from her ordinary existence; then, suddenly, there he was. Despite the ten-year difference in their ages and her working class upbringing and his of privilege, Logan Abbott and Bailey fall deeply in love. Marriage quickly follows.

But when Logan brings her home to his horse farm in Louisiana, a magnificent estate on ninety wooded acres, her dreams of happily-ever-after begin to unravel. A tragic family history Bailey knew nothing about surfaces, along with whisperings about the disappearance of his first wife and rumors about women from the area who have gone missing, and when another woman disappears, all signs point to her husband's involvement.



My Review

When I first started this book, I thought it sounded so familiar. A couple meet, whirlwind romance, he is older and from money, she is alone as her mother has passed. His first wife disappeared and there is all kind of mystery surrounding his family and she is the new Mrs Logan Abbott. It totally reminded me of Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier, at least the first part did, even down to being met with dislike and almost hostility but those closest to her husband.

Bailey is really quite naive, caught up in the dreaminess of Logan, she marries and heads back to his huge estate. She soon discovers she knows very little about Logan and when she probes about his wifes disappearance Logan becomes distant. Soon Bailey finds there is more than one female has disappeared, the gossip in the village is rife and the chef of police is very open about his suspicion of Logan.

I didn't love Rebecca so the fact this started so alike it took me a bit to get into it. However, soon I wanted to know the family secrets, the hinted at gossip and find out what actually happened to Bailey leading up to her accident and the revelations that follow. The last quarter of the book really kicked off, secrets, lies and all the things you wondered about throughout the story are addressed which I enjoy, I hate loose ends. I would read Spindler again, sure I have read and enjoyed her before, 3/5 for me this time though.

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