Looking For Jane by Heather Marshall

Looking for Jane by Heather Marshall
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - in and out over 3 days

Pages - 384

Publisher - Simon & Schuster

Source - Netgalley

Blurb from Amazon

'Just tell them you're looking for Jane...'

2017
When Angela discovers a mysterious letter containing a life-shattering confession in a stack of forgotten letters, she begins to look for the intended recipient. Her search takes her to the 1970s and 80s, when a group of daring women operated an illegal underground abortion network known only by its whispered code name: Jane . . .

1971
As a teenager, Dr. Evelyn Taylor was forced to give her baby up for adoption. Swearing she'll do everything she can to make sure other women have the right to choose, she joins the Jane Network to provide safe but illegal abortions. There, she crosses paths with Nancy, who was told that if she ever found herself 'in a position', she should ask for Jane. Nancy soon becomes the Network's newest volunteer, desperately trying to help others while family secrets threaten everything she knows to be true.

Over the years, Evelyn, Nancy, and Angela's lives intertwine to reveal the devastating consequences that come from a lack of choice, and the buried secrets that will always find a way to the surface . . .

Spanning decades, Evelyn, Nancy, and Angela's lives intertwine to reveal the devastating consequences that come from a lack of choice, and the buried truths that will always find a way to the surface...


My Review

Spanning over many timelines and characters the book focuses centrally on abortion, it is fictional based on historical facts around abortion. It looks at young mothers to be, unmarried, no father for multiple reasons and the home for these "unfortunates" and the nuns that "care" for them.

We go through the horrors women face because abortion is illegal at one of the timelines and what they go through, in detail at points, protests. We also look at motherhood, the impact is has when it is thrust upon you, when you have a partner, when you don't. Options available to women back then or lack of and how one woman's experience drives her to "Looking for Jane".

The book is graphic, brutal, emotive and heartbreaking at points. It has been well researched and multiple links and info available for the reader when they finish.

You don't realise how lucky you are (general you) in the healthcare and options we have as modern day females. That said what is going on in America with the abortion laws really brings a lot of this home just how scary it truly is and the risk women are yet again going to put at. A book that gives pause for thought, 4/5.

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Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney

Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 2 days

Pages - 310

Publisher - HQ Stories

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

Think you know the person you married? Think again…

Things have been wrong with Mr and Mrs Wright for a long time. When Adam and Amelia win a weekend away to Scotland, it might be just what their marriage needs. Self-confessed workaholic and screenwriter Adam Wright has lived with face blindness his whole life. He can’t recognize friends or family, or even his own wife.

Every anniversary the couple exchange traditional gifts – paper, cotton, pottery, tin – and each year Adam’s wife writes him a letter that she never lets him read. Until now. They both know this weekend will make or break their marriage, but they didn’t randomly win this trip. One of them is lying, and someone doesn’t want them to live happily ever after.

Ten years of marriage. Ten years of secrets. And an anniversary they will never forget.



My Review

Every marriage has its troubles, secrets, issues but some more than others. Hello bookworms ooft well prepare for a rollercoaster. Winning a getaway and it is their wedding anniversary - make or break time. A deserted old chapel, creepy - we have the opening chapter, Amelia & a belter of an opening line. I found this phenomenon, Prosopagnosia, really interesting & wanted to read more on it, also a nice hook for literally the first sentence.

The chapters flip between characters and we get to know the married couple more and more as we delve in. Something creepy is vibing at the chapel, you get that right away but is the author just setting a great scene (I find abandoned old building often creepy) or is there skulduggery afoot.

Inbetween the character chapters we also have a letter every year from the wife, disclosing intimate thoughts/truths and or secrets. They are marked by what you give on that particular year - I am hoping to retain some of that because it always pops up on quizzes and I love learning something new when reading a book.

You want to know what is happening at the chapel, what is hiding in the shadows, why are the couple so gripey with each other but then you want the next letter and confession of the wife and seeing what is coming next!

A book that keeps you on your toes, creepy, eerie, some questionable characters and when you think you know where the book is going Feeney throws something else into the mix. I really liked this one 4.5/5 for me!

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