Book review: The Sweetness of Forgetting by Kristin Harmel

My edition: Paperback, published on 28 March 2013 by Quercus, 461 pages.

Description: The North Star Bakery has been in Hope's family for generations, the secret recipes passed down from mother to daughter. But at thirty-six and recently divorced, with rebellious daughter Annie and elderly grandmother Rose to care for, Hope is less than enthusiastic about carrying on the family legacy. When the bakery runs into financial trouble and Rose takes a turn for the worse, Hope's delicate balancing act is in danger of crumbling entirely.

Then Rose reveals a shocking truth about her past and everything Hope thought she knew about her family and the bakery is turned upside down. At her grandmother's request, Hope travels to Paris, armed only with a mysterious list of names. What she uncovers there could be the key to saving the bakery and the fulfilment of a star-crossed romance, seventy years in the making.

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Theatre review: The Book of Mormon

Synopsis: The Book of Mormon is a religious satire musical from the creators of South Park, Matt Parker and Trey Stone, and Avenue Q's Robert Lopez, which tells the story of two young Mormon missionaries who are sent to a small town in Uganda to bring news of the Latter Day Saints.

Cast: Gavin Creel, Jared Gertner, Alexia Khadime, Stephen Ashfield, Giles Terera, Haydn Oakley, Chris Jarman, Mark Anderson, Benjamin Brook, Daniel Buckley, Daniel Clift, Ashley Day, Candace Furbert, Patrick George, Nadine Higgin, Tyrone Huntley, Evan James, Michael Kent, Matt Krzan, Oliver Lidert, Daniel Mackinley, Luke Newton, Terel Nugent, David O'Reilly, Olivia Philip, Lucy St Louis, Yemie Sonuga, Kayi Ushe, Tosh Wanogho-Maud, Sharon Wattis, Liam Wrate.

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Book review: Tangled Lives by Hilary Boyd

My edition: Paperback, published on 14 March 2013 by Quercus, 377 pages.

Description: Annie Delancey is happily married with three grown children. But she guards a secret. Aged eighteen she had a baby boy, and gave him up for adoption.

Out of the blue, she receives an official-looking letter from Social Services. Her son wants to make contact.

Now, the presence of the son she has never known begins to expose the flaws in the family Annie has to try to hold together.

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Transworld Publishers Crime Event

On Wednesday I had the pleasure to visit Transworld Publishers for their special crime event in honour of the publication of Cath Staincliffe's second Scott & Bailey novel: 'Bleed Like Me'.

Never having ventured over to Ealing before of course I ended up getting us briefly lost but we still found the offices on time and were welcomed with gruesome looking (but delicious) cupcakes and a glass of wine. The evening was off to a good start, that's for sure!

Click on the link below for photos and my full report on the evening.

Book review: The Mummyfesto by Linda Green

My edition: Paperback, published on 14 February 2013 by Quercus, 457 pages.

Description: When Sam, Jackie and Anna successfully campaign to save their children's school lollipop lady, they are asked by a TV reporter if they fancy standing in the general election.

It is, of course, a crazy idea: Sam's youngest son has an incurable disease, Jackie is desperate for another child and her mum is struggling with Alzheimers, Anna's teenagers - and marriage - are in danger of going off the rails.

But sometimes the craziest ideas turn out to be the best. And just think what they could do if they got to run the country...

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Book review: The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

My edition: Paperback, to be published on 11 April 2013 by Penguin UK, 329 pages.

Description: Don Tillman is an odd, charming, highly successful Professor of Genetics, whose long history of 'not fitting in' has convinced him that he is not wired for romance. But at weekly dinners with his elderly neighbor and valued new friend, Daphne (Don can count all his friends on the fingers of one hand), she convinces him to re-evaluate his prospects.

And so, in the orderly, evidence-based manner with which Don approaches all things, he embarks upon The Wife Project, designing a questionnaire to help him find the perfect partner: a punctual, non-drinking, non-smoking female who will fit in with his regimented lifestyle.

When Rosie appears on the scene, it is clear that she fits none of his selection criteria: a spontaneous, outspoken barmaid who smokes and curses, and simply adjusts the time on Don's clock when he complains that they have fallen off his carefully planned schedule. Yet an unlikely partnership blooms when Don agrees to help Rosie search for her biological father.

As Rosie pushes Don out of his comfort zone again and again, he finds to his surprise that he may be having fun. But can a real relationship take root if Don isn't wired to feel emotion like everyone else?

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Book review: Could It Be I'm Falling In Love? by Eleanor Prescott

My edition: Paperback, published on 31 January 2013 by Quercus, 500 pages.

Description:This Valentine's Day, Roxy Squires is waiting for the phone to ring... Roxy is famous. At least, she used to be. She's a good-time TV presenter and, OK, so things haven't been going so well recently, but she knows her big break is just around the corner.

What she's really looking for is someone to propel her back to the big time. Enter Woody, one-time pop star and Roxy's ultimate dream date, now working as her window cleaner. He's the answer to her prayers - but for some reason, he doesn't want to be famous any more.

And it turns out that they're not the only celebs in the village. Roxy's living amongst a motley crew of former stars and fame survivors, who meet weekly to discuss their new lives.

Is this the reality check Roxy needs? Or maybe it's a chance to do the unthinkable and fall in love...?

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Book review: A Passionate Love Affair with a Total Stranger by Lucy Robinson

My edition: Paperback, to be published on 31 January 2013 by Penguin, 434 pages.

Description: Charley Lambert has put considerable effort into achieving a perfect life. She has The Job. The Wardrobe. And The Flat. Her womanising, junk food-loving housemate Sam lowers the tone a bit but that aside, things are peachy.

Then she breaks her leg in three places, watches her unrequited love propose to someone else and - worst of all - is forced to hand over her job to her nasty deputy while she recovers. Workaholic Charley fears that she will soon go mad.

Desperate for something to do, she discovers her talent for helping the lovelorn online. And then William arrives in her inbox. Within hours of his first email, her world starts to change. Helpless, she watches herself fall in love with this man and begins to realise that she's not who she thought she was. But will she be brave enough to turn her back on her old life - all for a total stranger?

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Book review: Forgive Me by Lesley Pearse

My edition: Paperback (ARC), to be published on 14 February 2013 by Michael Joseph, 512 pages.

Description: Cheltenham, 1991

When Eva Patterson returns home from work one day, a devastating scene awaits her. Her mother, Flora, lies dead in the bath. Beside her is a note saying only: 'Forgive Me'.

Until then, Eva always believed her family's life would be comfortable and secure - but Flora's suicide changes everything. And when Eva discovers that in her will Flora left her an artist's studio in London, she realises how little she knows about her mother's past.

When Eva visits the now derelict studio, she is shocked to find out that her mother was once a successful artist back in the 1960s. A chance encounter leads her to Phil, who agrees to help her restore the studio, as well as offering her the advice and friendship Eva so badly needs.

In the studio attic she finds a collection of Flora's paintings and old diaries, which Eva believes were purposely left for her to find. Searching for answers, Eva encounters a psychic who mysteriously warns her to beware of a 'sleeping serpent', which she soon discovers refers to a shocking crime in Flora's past.

Will discovering the truth destroy Eva's belief in everything she holds dear? And will Phil stand by Eva even when her journey leads her and those she loves into certain danger?

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Book review: The Last Time I Saw You by Eleanor Moran

My edition: Paperback, to be published on 7 February 2013 by Quercus, 594 pages.

Description: When Olivia Berrington gets the call to tell her that her best friend from university has been killed in a car crash in New York, her life is turned upside down. Her relationship with Sally was an exhilarating roller coaster, until a shocking betrayal drove them apart. But if Sally had really turned her back, why is her little girl named Olivia?

As questions mount about the fatal accident, Olivia is forced to go back and unravel her untangled history. But as Sally's secrets start to spill out, Olivia's left asking herself if the past is best kept buried.

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