What I read last week…

Last week I travelled to London and stayed with my nan so I had plenty of reading opportunities. *YAY*

Firstly I read The Book of You by Claire Kendal.

• Thriller novel
• Woman protagonist

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, although it was slow in starting…the ending was fast pace and interesting.

        The blurb reads – 

“No other man can do to you what I can. No other man will love you like I do. . . . “

His name is Rafe, and he is everywhere Clarissa turns.
At the university where she works. At her favorite sewing shop. At the train station. Outside her apartment. His messages choke her voice mail; his unwanted gifts keep arriving at her door. Since that one regrettable night, his obsession with her has grown, becoming more consuming with each passing day. And as he has made clear, he will never let her go.
With Rafe in pursuit, Clarissa’s only sanctuary is the courtroom in which she is serving jury duty. The rhythm of the trial allows her a sense of normalcy and the space to make new friends, including Robert, an attractive widower. But Clarissa’s deepening relationship with Robert–a source of hope she so desperately needs in her life–will not remain unnoticed for long. As a chilling tale of predator and prey unfolds in front of Clarissa on the stand, Rafe’s relentless fixation, fueled by jealousy, escalates. Her only chance of escape lies in exposing his intentions for what they really are, even if it means immortalising every moment she so desperately wants to forget.
Conceiving a plan, Clarissa begins collecting the evidence of Rafe’s madness to use against him. Strand by strand, she pulls apart the twisted, macabre fairy tale he has spun around them and discovers that the happy ending he envisions is more horrifying than her darkest fears. Masterly constructed, filled with exquisite tension and a pervasive sense of menace, The Book of You is a darkly sophisticated, utterly compelling debut that explores what happens when the lines between love and compulsion, fantasy and reality, become dangerously blurred.

 I then read Strictly Between Us by Jane Fallon

• Thriller
• Change in narrative perspective

I was instantly hooked to this novel, always intrigued by the he said/she said element of it.

The blurb reads – 

Rumours, secrets and lies. It’s all in a day’s work.

Tamsin and her best friend Michelle have been inseparable since they were teenagers. Even now they spend all their time together, along with Patrick, Michelle’s handsome husband.

So when Tamsin hears a rumour that Patrick is having an affair, she is furious. Unwilling to ignore it, Tamsin plots a scheme to catch Patrick in the act, using her assistant Bea as live-bait. It should be fool proof.
After all, Tamsin can trust Bea with anything. From her daily coffee order to fetching her dry-cleaning, writing reports and doing all the filing – Bea does everything with a smile on her face.

Except Tamsin never considered Bea might have her own agenda.

And if she does, then Tamsin really needs to watch her back . . .

…and lastly I read The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

• YA (different from the other two)
• Heartbreaking yet heartwarming

It was refreshing to read this book after two intense reads…however, I cried A LOT. You have been warned that this is a crying book.

Seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker, bookworm and band geek, plays second clarinet and spends her time tucked safely and happily in the shadow of her fiery sister Bailey.  But when Bailey dies suddenly, Lennie is catapulted to center stage of her own life—and, despite her nonexistent history with boys, finds herself struggling to balance two.  Toby was Bailey’s boyfriend; his grief mirrors Lennie’s own.  Joe is the new boy in town, a transplant from Paris whose nearly magical grin is matched only by his musical talent.  For Lennie, they’re the sun and the moon; one boy takes her out of her sorrow, the other comforts her in it.  But just like their celestial counterparts, they can’t collide without the whole wide world exploding.

 

Have you read any of these?