Review: The Last List of Mabel Beaumont

The Last List of Mabel Beaumont by Laura Pearson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The list he left had just one item on it. Or, at least, it did at first…

Mabel Beaumont’s husband Arthur loved lists. He’d leave them for her everywhere. ‘Remember: eggs, butter, sugar’. ‘I love you: today, tomorrow, always’.

But now Arthur is gone. He died: softly, gently, not making a fuss. But he’s still left her a list. This one has just one item on it though: ‘Find D’.

Mabel feels sure she knows what it means. She must track down her best friend Dot, who she hasn’t seen since the fateful day she left more than sixty years ago.

It seems impossible. She doesn’t even know if Dot’s still alive. Also, every person Mabel talks to seems to need help first, with missing husbands, daughters, parents. Mabel finds her list is just getting longer, and she’s still no closer to finding Dot.

What she doesn’t know is that her list isn’t just about finding her old friend. And that if she can admit the secrets of the past, maybe she could even find happiness again…

A completely heartbreaking, beautiful, uplifting story, guaranteed to make you smile but also make you cry. Perfect for fans of My Name is Ove, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, and The Keeper of Stories.

Review: The Woman Who Met Herself

The Woman Who Met Herself by Laura Pearson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A heartbreaking, life-affirming BRAND NEW story from the No.1 bestselling author of The Last List of Mabel Beaumont. Perfect for fans of Fredrik Backman, Colleen Hoover, and Jojo Moyes. What would you do, if you met your double?

Debbie Jones thinks life is an adventure. Even having lost her husband a year ago, she’s ready for whatever the world might throw her way. Being in her sixties doesn’t mean it’s all over for her yet, and she loves her new job doing neighbourhood support for a charity. Then she knocks on a stranger’s front door.

Ruth Waverley doesn’t like surprises. Her life isn’t perhaps all she once dreamed off, but what other options are there for a woman in her sixties? She’s proud of her home and children. And she likes her life well enough. Then she hears someone knocking at the door.

As the door opens, both Ruth and Debbie get the shock of their lives. As their eyes meet – the recognition is instant. Not because they’ve met before. But because they have the same face. They’re completely identical.

And everything is about to change, for both women. In ways they couldn’t possibly imagine…

Review: Unwavering

Unwavering by Marion Kummerow
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

From inspiration to heartache, hope is fleeting as freedom becomes a distant memory…Wilhelm Quedlin’s plan to change the tide of the war is thwarted when he is arrested. And, making matters worse, with the arrest of his wife, Hilde, the fate of their children is thrown into chaos. The situation is desperate and the circumstances become even more dire when Q finds out who was behind his capture and imprisonment.Yet hope remains...In the midst of their situation, Q and Hilde are encouraged when they meet like-minded political prisoners in the penitentiary and rumors of reprieval make the rounds.Despite darkness and despair looming in the distance, their hope never fades.Will they evade the inevitable and come out unscathed by the claws of the Gestapo?

Review: Unrelenting

Unrelenting by Marion Kummerow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Berlin, Germany 1932. In a time of political unrest and strife, one man finds the courage to fight back...

Dr. Wilhem "Q" Quedlin, chemical engineer and inventor, lives for his science. A woman is not in his plans—nor is it to be accused of industrial espionage.

But things get worse from there.

Watching Hitler's rise to power spurns his desire to avoid yet another war that will completely destroy his beloved country. Q makes the conscious decision to fight against what he knows is wrong, even if working against the Nazis could mean certain death for him— and anyone he loves.

Hilde Dremmer has vowed to never love again. But after encountering Q, she wants to give love a second chance.

When Q discloses his resistance plan, it’s up to Hilde to choose between her protected life without him or the constant threat of torture if she supports him in his fight against injustice.

She has witnessed enough of the Nazi government's violent acts to be appalled by the new political power, but will this be enough for an ordinary girl to do the extraordinary and stand beside the man she loves in a time of total desolation?

This World War II spy story is based on the true events of one couple's struggle for happiness while battling a war against their own leaders.
Book 1 spans the years 1932 thru 1936

Review: Everyone Here Is Lying

Everyone Here Is Lying by Shari Lapena
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another thrilling domestic suspense novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Couple Next Door

“The most addictive book I've read in ages—so slick and disquieting and clever. Just brilliant.” —Lisa Jewell, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Family Remains

“Lapena is a master of manipulation.” —USA Today

Welcome to Stanhope. A safe neighborhood. A place for families.

William Wooler is a family man, on the surface. But he’s been having an affair, an affair that ended horribly this afternoon at a motel up the road. So when he returns to his house, devastated and angry, to find his difficult nine-year-old daughter, Avery, unexpectedly home from school, William loses his temper.

Hours later, Avery’s family declares her missing.

Suddenly Stanhope doesn’t feel so safe. And William isn’t the only one on his street who’s hiding a lie. As witnesses come forward with information that may or may not be true, Avery's neighbors become increasingly unhinged.

Who took Avery Wooler?

Nothing will prepare you for the truth.

Review: Unyielding

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Eighty years ago on October 24, 1936 two people pledged their love -- for each other, but also for their country and for humanity.

They left a legacy of courage and resilience. Something that is all too often forgotten in our world today.

Unyielding tells the story of unconditional love and bravery. Q and Hilde fight everyday to keep on to their own happiness while battling the evils of the Nazi regime.

Q gets sucked deeper and deeper into his intelligence work that includes sabotage of war production, giving critical information to the enemies of Germany, and acts of passive resistance.

But he feels it's not enough.
He's devising a plan to do the one thing that might shorten this horrible war and save millions of lives: assassinate a fellow human, a Nazi leader.

But can he go through with it? Or will this be the ruin not only for himself, but his entire family?

Review: The Great Believers

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I disliked this book from the beginning. I found Makkai's portrayal of these simpering self-obsessed know-nothings in 1980's Chicago, to be thin.