Book Review: The Sunday Lunch Club by Juliet Ashton

Thank you to Sara Jade Virtue and everyone at Books and the City, Simon & Schuster for the advanced copy. The Sunday Lunch Club will be available to buy on 19th April. 

The Blurb

The first rule of Sunday Lunch Club is … don't make any afternoon plans.

Every few Sundays, Anna and her extended family and friends get together for lunch. They talk, they laugh, they bicker, they eat too much. Sometimes the important stuff is left unsaid, other times it's said in the wrong way. 

Sitting between her ex-husband and her new lover, Anna is coming to terms with an unexpected pregnancy at the age of forty. Also at the table are her ageing grandmother, her promiscuous sister, her flamboyantly gay brother and a memory too terrible to contemplate.

Until, that is, a letter arrives from the person Anna scarred all those years ago. Can Anna reconcile her painful past with her uncertain future?

Juliet Ashton weaves a story of love, friendship and community that will move you to laughter and to tears. Think Cold Feet meets David Nicholls, with a dash of the joy of Jill Mansell added for good measure.

My Review

Ah, Sunday lunch. The bringing together of family and friends. That one meal where we all get to catch up; where the news can be as varied as the menu.

They are not quite the traditional meat, roasties and two veg type of family. There are other ingredients, more exotic influences which make the meal much more appealing. On the whole, the Pipers are a close family; with the exception of the absent parents, an intriguing rift in the  family dynamics. Everyone else gets along, even the ex-husband and wife, who get on even better now than when they were married. 

The characterisation is perfect. I loved Anna, slow-cooking her own special recipe, who along with with elder brother Neil (whose husband is delicious - I think he might just be the most perfect man alive...) takes care of the two younger siblings; Maeve, a spicy, heady mix, and the delicate Josh. Not forgetting the Granny Dinkie, the basic robust ingredient no dish can do without.

And the delectable, perfect Italian, Luca... bellisimo!

The secret ingredient, common in each menu, is love and warmth, whatever happens. Subtle secrets flavour the main course throughout with a hint of the unexpected, but never spoil the meal.

The literary equivalent of a glorious roast you haven't had to cook yourself. With dessert. And lashing of lovely warm custard. If only every Sunday Lunch was this good.

You can read my reviews of other books by Juliet - The Woman at Number 24 and These Days of Ours.

About the Author

I enjoy writing almost as much as I love reading. Books are constant friends; no fall-outs about borrowed shoes, no lusting after the same man. The books I write are about love in all its colours. Romantic love, of course - it makes the world go round, after all - but also family love, the way we feel about our friends and children and colleagues and the woman we see every day on the bus but never say 'hello' to.

There's no end of inspiration. Most authors are baffled by that commonly asked question, "Where do you get your ideas from?" The answer is simple: YOU. People are inspiring, with all their niggling faults and shimmering virtues. The tangles we get ourselves into, and the ludicrous ways we attempt to untangle ourselves, are a never ending source of material. In fact, most authors daren't use too much real life in their books because it would sound too much like fiction.

I've just remembered that this is supposed to be a biog, so here's some info about me. I live just outside London with my daughter, Niamh, who's 12, and my husband, Matthew, who's considerably older than that. The house hums with creativity, as I scribble downstairs and Matthew composes music for theatre and TV upstairs. We have two dogs, one of whom is wildly energetic, one of whom was born an old lady and prefers to sleep all day.

Hmm, what else? I'm Irish, but you wouldn't know that from my accent. I can't sing. My favourite crisp flavour is Roast Chicken, but I reserve the right to change that at short notice.

I hope you enjoy my books. They are the way I speak to the world.

Book Review: Faking Friends by Jane Fallon

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher, Penguin UK - Michael Joseph for the ARC.

You can buy Faking Friends now here.

The Blurb

Your best friend stole your fiancé. Do you run away and hide, or start planning your revenge?

THE TOP 5 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 

'A deftly plotted, witty tale of revenge. It's a romcom with attitude' Mail on Sunday
Best friend, soulmate, confidante . . . backstabber.

Amy thought she knew everything there was to know about her best friend Melissa. Then again, Amy also thought she was on the verge of the wedding of her dreams to her long-distance fiancé.

Until she pays a surprise trip home to London. Jack is out, but it's clear another woman has been making herself at home in their flat.

There's something about her stuff that feels oddly familiar . . . and then it hits Amy. The Other Woman is Melissa.

Amy has lost her home, her fiancé and her best friend in one disastrous weekend - but instead of falling apart, she's determined to get her own back.

Piecing her life back together won't be half as fun as dismantling theirs, after all.

My Review

Jane Fallon is fast becoming a favourite author of mine; she writes with humour and warmth with an underlying layer of grit which can make you feel quite uncomfortable. See my earlier reviews of My Sweet Revenge and Strictly Between Us.

Faking Friends is a tale of betrayal, revenge and toxic friendships. When trust is smashed to pieces, how do we cope with it? Do we crumble, beaten into submission? Or do we quietly scheme to destroy those who would purport to destroy our lives?

Of course Amy does not allow herself to be a meek victim. She is, like all of Fallon's characters, feisty and determined. 

Fallon has the knack of showing both sides of the story. The heroine is never perfect, and it is refreshing to see the other person's version of events, and sometimes there is no distinguishing between the hero or the villain - they can be just as bad as each other. And the plot isn't simple or obvious - with each new chapter comes another revelation, entangling the reader in the glorious web of lies and deceit.

Sickly sweet this book is not; it's punchy and gritty and ooh, how I loved it!

About the Author

Jane Fallon is the multi-award-winning television producer behind shows such as This Life, Teachers and 20 Things to Do before You're 30. Her debut novel "Getting Rid of Matthew' was published in 2007 and became a Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller as have her subsequent books 'Got You Back', 'Foursome', 'The Ugly Sister', 'Skeletons', 'Strictly Between Us' and 'My Sweet Revenge"

Her 8th novel Faking Friends is available now to pre order in both paperback and for Kindle.

Join Jane on Twitter - @janefallon or at her website www.janefallon.co.uk

Book Review: It Started with a Tweet by Anna Bell

The Blurb

Could YOU survive a digital detox? 

Perfect for fans of Lucy Diamond and Sophie Kinsella, It Started With A Tweet is the hilarious new romantic comedy from the author of The Bucket List to Mend a Broken Heart.

'Had me smiling from start to finish. It was a joy to read; smart, witty and completely fresh' Cathy Bramley.

Daisy Hobson lives her whole life online. But when her social media obsession causes her to make a catastrophic mistake at work, Daisy finds her life going into free-fall . . .  

Her sister Rosie thinks she has the answer to all of Daisy's problems - a digital detox in a remote cottage in Cumbria. Soon, too, Daisy meets a welcome distraction there in Jack, the rugged man-next-door.

But can Daisy, a London girl, ever really settle into life in a tiny, isolated village? 

And, more importantly, can she survive without her phone? 

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher Bonnier Zaffre for the advanced reading copy.

You can buy It Started with a Tweet here.

My Review

I don't know about you, but when my phone bricked and I had to wait three whole days for a new one, I thought my life was over (albeit temporarily). I felt isolated, lost, had a serious case of FOMO - yet I still had internet access on my computer so I wasn't actually in any real danger of losing touch with the world.

Poor Daisy agrees to go cold turkey after a teeny tiny error in posting something to her work Twitter  instead of her private account. She goes into virtual - and real - hiding, led by her rather bossy sister.

Daisy's struggle with her addiction is very real, and I think many of us would feel the same panic in the same situation; leaving yourself wide open for abuse is a very real risk.

The book is hilarious - with several LOL moments, and I was swept up into Daisy's life, feeling her indignation and frustration as she battles against her sister's strict rules. Who hasn't sneaked out of somewhere to make that call. 

It does make you think, as Daisy learns that actually, being without the internet and not being immediately contactable is not the Most Terrible Thing in the World. It can be quite liberating, like walking out of a cave for the first time, blinking in the sunlight and hearing the birds singing. Like, you know, real living life! 

Of course this is a rom com, not a lecture about the perils of Social Media; so of course we have the obligatory hot men who cannot possibly be considered as a potential partner as they are grumpy argumentative pricks... until we get to know them and ultimately love them. 

I loved this book - it's a great laugh and a perfect escape from technology. OK, so I read it on a Kindle... shh!

Time to add another author to My Authors to be Added to my TBR pile...

About the Author

Anna lives in the South of France with her young family and energetic labrador. When not chained to her laptop, Anna can be found basking in the sun in the summer, heading to the ski slopes in the winter (to drink hot chocolate and watch - she can't ski) or having a sneaky treat from the patisserie - all year round! 

You can find our more about Anna on her website - www.annabellwrites.com or follow her on Twitter @annabell_writes.