July brings with it a flurry of fabulous reads, so I’m heading straight in to tell you all about them!
Would I Lie to You?
Aliya Ali-Afzal
At the school gates, Faiza fits in. It took a few years, but now the snobbish mothers who mistook her for the nanny treat her as one of their own. She’s learned to crack their subtle codes, speak their language of handbags and haircuts and discreet silver watches. You’d never guess, at the glamorous kids’ parties and the leisurely coffee mornings, that Faiza’s childhood was spent following her parents round the Tooting Cash’n’Carry.
When her husband Tom loses his job in finance, he stays calm. Something will come along, and in the meantime, they can live off their savings. But Faiza starts to unravel. Raising the perfect family comes at a cost – and the money Tom put aside has gone. When Tom’s redundancy package ends, Faiza will have to tell him she’s spent it all.
Unless she doesn’t…
It only takes a second to lie to Tom. Now Faiza has six weeks to find £75,000 before her lie spirals out of control. If anyone can do it, Faiza can: she’s had to fight for what she has, and she’ll fight to keep it. But as the clock ticks down, and Faiza desperately tries to put things right, she has to ask herself: how much more should she sacrifice to protect her family?
Debut Ali-Afzal brings endearing, interesting characters and a plot so pacy, tense and dramatic that meant I couldn’t put the book down!
The Lost Storyteller
Amanda Block
Rebecca hasn’t seen her father Leo since she was six. Her family never talk about him, and she has long since pushed him firmly to the back of her mind. All she knows is that, once upon a time, he was a well-loved children’s TV star.
But when a journalist turns up uninvited at her office, asking questions about her once-famous father, Rebecca starts to wonder whether there is more to Leo’s absence than she realised. Then, looking for answers, she unearths a book of fairy tales written by Leo and dedicated to her – but what use are children’s stories to her now, all these years later?
Tentatively, Rebecca tries to piece together her father’s life, from the people he used to know and her own hazy memories. Yet her mind keeps returning to the magical, melancholic fairy tales, which seem to contain more truth than make-believe. Perhaps they are the key to unlocking the mystery of her father, the lost storyteller; to revealing who he was, what he went through – and even where he might be now…
This was a beautifully written story woven with fairy tales and family dynamics. Very easy to read and it captivated me all the way through.
The Queen’s Spy
Clare Marchant.
1584: Elizabeth I rules England. But a dangerous plot is brewing in court, and Mary Queen of Scots will stop at nothing to take her cousin’s throne.
There’s only one thing standing in her way: Tom, the queen’s trusted apothecary, who makes the perfect silent spy…
2021: Travelling the globe in her campervan, Mathilde has never belonged anywhere. So when she receives news of an inheritance, she is shocked to discover she has a family in England.
Just like Mathilde, the medieval hall she inherits conceals secrets, and she quickly makes a haunting discovery. Can she unravel the truth about what happened there all those years ago? And will she finally find a place to call home?
I love the way Marchant writes her history so vividly, I feel like I am there. A beautiful story that weaves history and present so cleverly. I was completely hooked.
One Lucky Summer
Jenny Oliver
With an air of faded splendour, Willoughby Hall was an idyllic childhood home to Ruben de Lacy. Gazing at it now, decades later, the memories are flooding back, and not all of them are welcome…
In a tumbledown cottage in Willoughby’s grounds, Dolly and Olive King lived with their eccentric explorer father. One of the last things he did was to lay a treasure hunt before he died, but when events took an unexpected turn, Dolly and Olive left Willoughby for good, never to complete it.
But when Ruben uncovers a secret message, hidden for decades, he knows he needs Olive and Dolly’s help. Can the three of them solve the treasure hunt, and will piecing together the clues help them understand what happened to their families that summer, all those years ago?
I’m always drawn by a country house with mystery, and One Lucky Summer had that in abundance. Relatable characters and a beautiful backdrop made this a gorgeous read.
The Love Note
Kate G. Smith
Little disclaimer here, this one is mine, so if you click the link and purchase it, I will receive a small amount of royalties from my publisher.
When Maggie Burnett discovers her mother’s beautiful wedding dress just days after she passes away, she wonders why she’d been told it was missing…
Pinned to the waistband is a note that reads: ‘E, je t’aime. LS x’ . ‘E’ must be Elizabeth, her mother, but who is ‘LS’? Could he be the father she’s never known?
As Maggie’s seemingly happy life in London unravels, she decides it’s time to go home to Norfolk and figure out the truth once and for all. Even if it means running into Nick Forster, her secret childhood crush. What if this journey to the past is the key to a new beginning?
I can’t really shout about this one, seeing as it’s mine! But if you like hot summers, lost family, hidden love letters, and an old school crush then this may be for you!
*Artwork by FranziDraws
