The One plus One by Jojo Moyles

I have to be honest and say I have no idea how she does it. Jo Jo Moyles takes a storyline, which in many other writers’ hands would become bland, mundane and predictable, and effortlessly weaves it into a brilliant novel. Her latest novel, The One plus One, proved to be just as irresistible and enjoyable as her previous other books.

Jess is a single mother, with two kids and who is struggling to make ends meet. Tanzie, her youngest and a maths genius, has been offered a scholarship to a private school where her love of all things numerical will be nurtured. Nicky, her ex-husband’s son, is going through his own private hell, as he tries to avoid the local bullies on a daily basis. Enter Ed, a rich business man who has just been charged with insider dealing. He ends up taking Jess, Tanzie, Nicky, and their flatulent dog, Norman, to Aberdeen, to give Tanzie a chance of winning a maths competition.

Needless to say, this book was absolutely brilliant. Told through each of the character’s view points, we get to see events through different eyes. Never too obvious or sentimental, the story still manages to tug at your emotions in all the right places (there may have been a tear or two at the end) and leaves you feeling warm and fuzzy, and yet strangely bereft at having to leave the world of Jess and Ed.

Wars of the Roses: Stormbird by Conn Iggulden

This book came at just the right time for me, as I had started watching Philippa Gregory’s The White Queen on BBC1. Although I have read many of the books that write about the Tudor reign, this book featured an earlier part of their history than I had previously read about. As I don’t know very much at all about this era of British history, I’m obviously not in a position to comment on the accuracy of the novel. Nor am I aware enough of the events and battles to know whether or not they are true to form.

However as a novel, I found it enjoyable and I was able to keep up with all the events. Focusing on the events in Normandy and Kent during Henry VI’s reign, the action switches back and forth from France to the UK, with a few stop offs at the Tower of London for a gruesome torture scene. The main characters, both royal and peasant, feature throughout and are well written. I found it interesting to note some of the events and how they lead onto later monarchs and the later Tudor reign. Henry’s wife, Margaret, who continues to play a large role in the other books I have read about the Tudors, fitted in well and her description as a young girl, matched the older descriptions of her and blended in seamlessly.

As with many other stories of the Tudors, there is a person behind the crown, in this case Derry, who uses and manipulates the young and ill king and enters into a battle of wills with his young wife. Derry sacrifices the English lands in France to create a truce between the warring countries. Whilst on the ground in France, is a farmer and his son, determined to fight against losing their land to the French knights.

I did find that the story and the plot maybe went on a little bit too long. By the end of the book I found that the action was really dragging and it could have been wrapped up a lot sooner. I would also be intrigued to see where the second book in the series falls, as this book faded out somewhat, rather than leading to an ending where the second book could pick up.

The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls, by Anton Di Sclafani

There was something about this book, right from the start that got me hooked. I couldn’t tell you exactly what it was, but from the moment I picked it up, I wanted to keep reading.

The storyline itself is quite simple – Thea has been sent away to the riding camp by her parents. At first we don’t know anything about the reasons why, only that Thea sees it as a punishment for something she has done. Whilst she gets to know the girls at the camp, Thea is able to enjoy herself surrounded by the riding that she loves so much. As the book progresses, we are given tantalising glimpses into Thea’s home life with her parents and her twin brother, and her aunt and uncle and cousin. Slowly we are drip fed information which helps us build up a picture of not only the life Thea lived before the camp but the series of events which led up to her being sent away.

I absolutely loved the style of writing of the book and found the descriptions of the people, the relationships and even of the camp to be brilliantly evocative. Even though I’m not a horse rider myself, I found myself carried away by Thea on the back of Sasi, her horse. I too wanted to ride in the mountain encircled ring at the camp and join the girls in their escapades. Whilst the background story to Thea’s arrival at the camp is not anything unusual, the slow and gradual reveal means that you become more and more enmeshed into Thea’s world and slowly you can see what she has lost, and gained.

This is a book to read again and again and each time enjoy just as much. A fantastic book from this author and I will definitely be looking out for future books by him.

My Husband Next Door by Catherine Alliott

My husband next door is a delightful example of lit chick .. chick lit… flick chick lit.. you know what I mean. Bumbling, clumsy, struggling mum of two Ella lives in a ramshackle farm house in the country, complete with dogs, sheep, husband in the outbuildings and a transsexual chicken. Her sister, in comparison, is beautifully turned out, busy with charity fundraisers and bringing up her two perfect children. Into Ella’s life comes her mother, having left her father, and the gorgeous new gardener Ludo.

Clumsy heroine with perfect sibling – tick. Handsome new love interest – tick. Amusing plotline complete with heroine embarrassing herself at every turn – tick. Oh and the obligatory happy ending – tick. Sounds familiar?

On the surface, My Husband Next Door is generically identical to so many other books of the same genre. And really, there’s nothing wrong in this. I like a book where I know what is going to happen, and how the book is going to pan out. I have nothing against an amusing romp in the countryside with chickens, hens and a disagreeable mother. And I defy anyone not to smirk on various occasions throughout the book. Once I thought I knew what the book was about, I settled into it with an air of amusement and relaxation. And yet, once the book gets going, I was able to forget all about the stereotypes and enjoy it for what it was. Ella’s troubled relationship with her husband gets given far more description and page time than I would have thought, and actually turned out to be far more interesting and surprising than I would have given the book credit for. Overall, the book was able to add depth to characters which I thought would remain 2d. I won’t lie and pretend the book doesn't end how you expect it to, but the journey to get there was enjoyable and fun.

Two Evils by P.J.Tracy

Two Evils is part of a serious of books featuring Grace McBride and her “gang” of computer hackers at monkeewrench.
Two men are found killed in their house, execution style, and the next morning another murder, this time of three men. However when the police start to investigate, it turns out that the men in question were hardly upstanding citizens. Local policemen Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth are drafted in to try and solve these murders, along with a murder of a 15 year old girl. Grace becomes involved after thwarting an assassination attempt on an FBI officer and the action culminates in a violent confrontation on an isolated Indian reservation.

Starting off with a mixture of characters and murders, it takes a while for the different storylines to start blending together. Once I had got into the book and started to make sense of all the plots, it did begin to move along nicely, and I particularly enjoyed the moral dilemma aspects to the storyline. As the book’s title suggests, sometimes it’s a case of picking the lesser of two evils.

On the whole it was an enjoyable crime novel, but I did find that I was missing something from not having read the previous books. Unlike other crime novels which feature the same characters, I found that not having read the previous books was a disadvantage. At the start of the book Grace is on a boat and is clearly upset about something, but this is never really discussed in depth, and the author assumes that the reader has read the previous novel and therefore knows what is going on. Obviously as a rule most people will have read the books in order and therefore this is not a massive criticism, but it does make the series stand out from others, which I have previously reviewed, where prior knowledge of the books and characters is not a requisite for reading the other books in a series. I would be interested in reading further books by PJ Tracy (the mother/daughter crime writing duo) but I think I will be starting at the beginning….

Stop Dead - Leigh Russell

Stop dead is the 5th novel in a series about a female police detective – Geraldine Steel. At the start of this novel she has moved to a new police station and a new team this time in London. A man is found dead in a car, battered to death. Believing it at first to be a simple open and shut case, a second, unconnected man is also found dead, with identical injuries, and suddenly Geralidine has been thrust into a serial murder enquiry. Can she stop the killer before the bodies start piling up?

As with any book in a series, my main concern was whether I would have needed to have read the first four books first in order to enjoy this one. However I was relieved to find that I could follow the story and read it easily. There were references to people and events that were clearly based on earlier novels. And the reason for the move to London has probably been covered in more detail. But this would have only added padding to the story and wasn’t necessary to book number 5.

I did find the story a little frustrating, in that there were some screamingly obvious parts of the book. But it didn’t take away from the enjoyment of reading the story.

Stop dead was an enjoyable and gripping detective story, which kept the tension going and wasn’t too gruesome to read. Without being anything special, it was a solid read and fitted into the genre well. I found I didn’t personally identify with Geraldine, nor with the other characters in the book but maybe this would be different if I had read the previous novels, and I certainly wouldn’t use this as a reason not to read the book.

If you enjoy the crime and detective genre, then this is a good book to read.

Lethal Profit by Alex Blackmore

Eva Scott believed her brother Jackson had died in a car crash when he was 18, only to discover he was still alive. She had only just begun to get to know him again when he is found dead in Paris, supposedly of an overdose. Eva doesn’t believe the police report and decides to head over to France herself, in a bid to find out what really did happen to her brother. In doing so, she becomes involved in one company’s bid for power, and unleashes a violent series of events.

The sad thing about this book is that if it were a film, or TV programme, it would probably work considerably better. Yes the plot itself is incredibly far-fetched, but then so are so many films. Yes the main character is rather prone to being chased, beaten and knocked unconscious, but Kiefer Sutherland survived more in apparently 24 hours. So as a visual story, it would have stood up to the test much better. As a book it just runs away too quickly. I found myself completely and utterly exhausted from reading each chapter, as they all involved running, chasing cars or being in a fight. From an attempted rape in the first chapter, she went on to be unconscious at least twice, alongside being hit by a car, being tied up, kidnapped……. Every chapter some new calamity would befall her. I also found Eva Scott to be one of the most naïve and annoying characters. She believes all the wrong people, and ignores the screamingly obvious!!

I didn’t dislike the book, and to some extent I did enjoy reading it, because I wanted to know what happened. My main grumble would be that it was all a little too action packed. Too much action, not enough events or explaining.

The Queen's Gambit: A Novel by Elizabeth Fremantle

With the recent rise in Tudor fiction filling our bookshelves, it is easy for excellent reads to get lost in the confusing mixture of novels already available. However I would hate for this book to be one of those that was missed as it is an enjoyable and thrilling addition to the collection.

Focussing on the later years of Kind Henry VIII’s reign, The Queen’s Gambit looks at the life of his last wife, forever immortalised in history as the one who “Survived”. Katherine Parr is a strong lady, who marries a notoriously temperamental king and manages to keep her head in more than one way.

The novel starts with the death of Katherine’s second husband and her return to court. The novel captures the twists and turns of court life, and all the concerns within in. At the time of the book, the court is in turmoil and has been for years. With the rise and fall of each of Henry’s previous wives and his sudden changes in religious beliefs, many of the people who are part of the court are hanging on tenuously, scared to think too much in case it becomes the wrong thing to do. Katherine tries to rise above this and wants to be more involved in the decisions that Henry makes about his country and their religious beliefs.

The beauty of this book is that it brings to life the later period of Henry’s reign and the key players who later rise to power and try and benefit from the chaos after his death. Many of the Tudor themed novels I have read previously have tended to focus on the early years, with Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn so it was a breath of fresh air to see a different point of view and a different time period.

Henry VIII’s reign will also remain a source of fascination for us and there are countless stories of him and his wives, of the court scandals that followed them around and the queens (Mary and Elizabeth) who played such important roles later on. The Queen’s Gambit is a worthy piece of this fascination and is well worth a read.

The River of No Return by Bee Ridgway

1812 and a battlefield in Spain. Lord Nicholas Falcott, Marquess of Blackdown is fighting for his life, literally. A Frenchman bears down on him, sword in hand and Nicholas knows that this is the end. Only… seconds later Nicholas has jumped forward into the future, by 200 years and has been picked up by a mysterious organisation called the Guild. Nicholas has to learn how to live in the 21st century and accept he has left his family and friends behind in the past. The Guild supports Nicholas in his new life and by 2013 Nicholas is now living in America and has created a new life for himself. That is until the Guild summons him and asks him to do what he had previously been told was impossible – go back to the past.



The River of No Return is a thoroughly absorbing and fascinating time travel story. Without going into too many confusing stories, it casually and carefully weaves a tale between two centuries and allows the reader to become fully involved in the story. All the characters are well written and believable. The story runs along smoothly and doesn’t become too bogged down in historical details. Alongside the time travel, political intrigue and general sense of adventure, the author has managed to fit in a love story as well, one which fits gently into the rest of the story.

Overall it was a fascinating novel, with a real sense of enjoyment. The pace of the novel is strong and the action moves along at a steady pace, without a sense of dragging it out. Nor is there the sense of everything happening too quickly, even towards the end of the novel when some books seem to rush to get everything sorted in the final chapter. I also liked the fact that there is a conclusion to the story, and some loose ends have been tied, meaning it works well as a stand alone story. However, should the author wish… there could be scope of a second novel without it taking away from this one.

The Rosie Project, by Graeme Simsion

Don Tillman lives a perfectly ordered and structured life. He has a weekly timetable of food (lobster on Tuesdays) and goes jogging every day to purchase the fresh ingredients for it. He works at his local university and happily goes about his day to day business with painstaking attention to detail. The only thing missing in his life is another person, a wife to be more specific, and after a few unsuccessful dates, Don decides to put his attention to detail to work and designs a questionnaire to allow him to select the most perfect candidate to become his wife. His best friend, Gene, a womaniser of the world, decides to help him out by screening the candidates. Therefore Don is touched when Gene sends Rosie to Don. However it quickly becomes clear that Rosie is far from wife material and ticks very few boxes on the questionnaire. Indeed she is almost the complete opposite of what Don was looking for. And yet, there is something about Rosie which means that Don finds ways and means of staying friends with her. Searching for Rosie’s real father is ideal, since Don’s background is genetics. For fans of the Big Bang Theory, the best way I can describe the protagonist is that Don Tillman is like Sheldon Cooper. That is where the similarities start and end, and in some ways, Don seems more real than Sheldon is. Although Don is never overtly described as Autistic or having Asperger’s syndrome, it’s more than obvious that he does suffer from some version of it. The story is written in the first person and Don’s thoughts and emotions are captured perfectly. It is easy to bring Don to life and to see him as a socially inept professor, attempting to maintain the order in his life. It is hard not to like Don and especially towards the end of the book, I found myself feeling quite protective of him. Innocent and childlike in many respects, Don is taking baby steps to having a “normal” life, and it’s hard not to feel like a proud parent as he begins to make those moves.

Rosie is slightly harder to bring to life, but she is described beautifully through Don’s eyes, and although we know about her through what she chooses to tell Don, the reader is still able to see her actions and thoughts separately from Don.

There are many funny moments in the book, although they tend to occur at the expense of Don and his mis-interpreting of a situation. But you never feel that you are laughing at Don.

The interesting thing about the book is that it does make you look at things differently. Don reads social situations in a completely different way to most people, and his interpretation of events, and what people say, makes you realise how much in communication is taken for granted and that not everyone picks up on the social nuances and behaviours that we assume everyone has.

The books has some lovely sweet moments in, and a few sad moments that were very bitter-sweet. But the ending was wonderfully written and definitely not what I was expecting. This book was refreshingly enjoyable and as well as a good read, makes you think a little bit more about the day to day parts of our lives which pass by us and we don’t notice.

A Passionate Love Affair with a Total Stranger, by Lucy Robinson

A Passionate Love Affair with a Total Stranger is a well written, funny and modern offering to the rom-com/chick lit genre. It doesn’t attempt to upset or change the genre and it sticks to the successful formula that has kept these kind of books going for so long. Although completely predictable, it still entertains and amuses the reader and is definitely worth a read.

Like many other heroines before her, Charley Lambert is a highly successful workaholic. At the start of the book we find her exhausted, but happy, having just arranged an engagement picnic for her best friend Sam. She has just been asked out on a date by her boss, who she has fancied for 7 years, and her company is about to enter into a highly successful launch, which she has organised. In short, everything was perfect until she falls over, breaking her leg in three (or wait, is it two) places.

Unable to go into work, she is forced to hand over to her second in command, who has made it obvious she wants Charley’s job. And just to really make things hurt, John, her boss, arrives at her hospital bed to announce he’s just got married. Used to scheduling every minute of her day, Charley is unable to relax during her enforced confinement and so settles for setting up her own business to keep herself busy. The business, is writing internet dating messages for people who are too busy, or who find themselves unable to communicate. The business quickly picks up and she finds herself writing letters to a man called William on behalf of her client Shelley. The only problem is, she begins to feel that William is more suited to herself than Shelley and when William wants to meet Shelley, Charley finds herself trying to sabotage the date.

I did enjoy this book, and the fact it ends so predictably doesn’t detract from the enjoyment of reading it. The character of Charley is written well, and with thoughtfulness. Her family are slightly more two-dimensional but they fit into the story and if they don’t come off as well as Charley in the writing, it’s more because they are less pivotal to the story and so perhaps were deemed not as worthy when being described. My only criticism, and this is a small one, is that on the back of the book, and in some chapters, Charley’s leg is described as being broken in three places. But when she first wakes up in the hospital, her doctor tells her two. This may be a mis-print or an attempt at confusing an already confused reader. Who knows, and it’s only minor but it still bugged me.

It was also refreshing to read a book that focused so positively on internet dating. Many of these kind of books either completely dismiss it, or use it as a comic focus, allowing the heroine to get involved in a series of unsuitable dates before, predictably, finding her Mr Right through other means. With more and more people using internet dating to meet people, it is inevitable it would find its way into fiction. And it makes an interesting point, for those people who may be living in modern times, with increasing technology, but who struggle to make themselves fully understood through emails and instant messaging.

The best thing about these kind of books is that you always know what to expect and as long as they are well written (which this book certainly is) and not too clichéd (again this book manages to inject fresh life into the genre) then you can lie back and relax whilst you read, knowing you won’t be disappointed by the ending.