Review: Summerland by Lucy Adlington

I read 'The Red Ribbon' by Lucy Adlington a couple of years ago, and I loved it so much that I was really excited to read this book, too. This was a wonderful book of journey, identity, and most importantly, love.

Brigitta has lost her mother to the war and is now being escorted to England with the Red Cross, where she hopes to find a new life. But more than that, she is also hoping to find answers to questions that she has had for many years. When she reaches Summerland, the large manor house that she will now call her home, she realises that she has been hiding for too long, and she is determined to be herself for the first time in a long time...

This was a truly lovely story, about a child looking for love and acceptance after being caught up in the horror of war. Brigitta hints at secrets that she is keeping throughout the book, and I could not have guessed at what those secrets were. What a twist! The ending of this book is hopeful and it was worth the read. Just excellent.

Review: Home Truths by Susan Lewis

Angie had the perfect life - a loving husband, wonderful children and a happy home. But her oldest son gets into trouble - drugs and gangs - and all of a sudden she finds herself drawn into a world that she never knew existed. When the worst possible tragedy occurs and her son goes missing, Angie finds her perfect world comes crashing down, and she will do whatever it takes to ensure that her younger children never know the terror she has experienced...

Oh my goodness, this book. 5 stars is not enough - it was incredible. It was a harrowing account of how close normal families can be to homelessness and struggle. I feel incredibly privileged to have absolutely no idea how the benefits system in this country works, but reading this book has made me question everything that I know about it, and how it effects those that rely on it everyday. This book has made me feel grateful for everything that I have in my life, and I won't stop thinking about it for a long time.

Review: The Possession by Michael Rutger

I'm very disappointed by this book. I will give any book a go, and I really hate to start books and not finish them, but that's exactly what I did with this one.

It's just boring. Of the chapters that I did read, there were at least two that were just talking about the history of stone walls. STONE WALLS. I get that the walls are important to the story (I presume, I didn't even get that far in), but do they really require entire chapters written about the history of them, which is spotty at best? I think not.

I got to almost 100 pages in and nothing has happened. The main characters have arrived in the town and wandered around, met some strange people, and that's it. I know that 100 pages isn't massively far into the book, but it's quite far in to have had nothing major happen yet.

I'm not the type of person to give up on reading books, but I won't be picking this one back up.