My top 5 books read this summer by Cesca

Today I've got an additional top 5 selection for you as chosen by the lovely Cesca who reviews for Novelicious, one of the first review blogs that I ever visited.  

The Shadow Year by Hannah Richell   

On a sultry summer’s day in 1980, five friends stumble upon an abandoned lakeside cottage hidden deep in the English countryside. For Kat and her friends, it offers an escape; a chance to drop out for a while, with lazy summer days by the lake and intimate winter evenings around the fire. But as the seasons change, tensions begin to rise and when an unexpected visitor appears at their door, nothing will be the same again.

Three decades later, Lila arrives at the same remote cottage. With her marriage in crisis, she finds solace in renovating the tumbledown house. Little by little she wonders about the previous inhabitants. How did they manage in such isolation? Why did they leave in such a hurry, with their belongings still strewn about? Most disturbing of all, why can t she shake the feeling that someone might be watching her?

A clever mix of fascinating characters, a gripping plot and a beautiful setting. I adored the weaving of an old story with a new and have completely fallen in love with Richell's writing.

Perfect by Rachel Joyce

In 1972, two seconds were added to time. It was in order to balance clock time with the movement of the earth. Byron Hemming knew this because James Lowe had told him and James was the cleverest boy at school. But how could time change? The steady movement of hands around a clock as certain as their golden futures.

Then Byron's mother, late for the school run, makes a devastating mistake. Byron's perfect world is shattered. Were those two extra seconds to blame? Can what follows ever be set right?

A quirky read that I found completely absorbing. Two boys, two very different women and the difference a few seconds makes. I find the unique tone of Rachel Joyce's books a joy to read.

The Son-in-Law by Charity Norman 

On a sharp winter's morning, a man turns his back on prison. Joseph Scott has lost almost everything: his career, his wife, the future he'd envisaged. All he has left are his three children but he's not allowed anywhere near them. 

Hannah has feared this day for almost four years - ever since Joseph murdered her daughter. She and her husband have brought up their grandchildren and kept alive the memory of their vibrant, talented mother. Recently she's had letters from Joseph, written from prison, demanding to see his children. Over her dead body. That fiend forfeited his right to fatherhood the day he killed their mother right in front of them...

A great plot with a wonderful central character. A controversial topic handled with real aplomb. Loved it.

Jack Reacher novels 4-10 (Book 10 The Hard Way by Lee Child)

Jack Reacher is alone, the way he likes it.

He watches a man cross a New York street and drive away in a Mercedes. The car contains $1 million of ransom money. Reacher's job is to make sure it all turns out right - money paid, family safely returned.

But Reacher is in the middle of a nasty little war where nothing is simple. What started on a busy New York street explodes three thousand miles away, in the sleepy English countryside.

Reacher's going to have to do this one the hard way.

I am a total Reacher Creature now. Pacey, crammed with drama and the world's coolest hero. If you have yet to read one knock yourself out. I read 7 in a week. Husband is currently on number 5.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes 

Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.

What Lou doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane.

Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he's going to put a stop to that.

What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they're going to change the other for all time.

This book was amazing. I absolutely adored the two main characters and was utterly absorbed in the story. It deserves all the success it has had, I was a mess throughout. Moving, gorgeous and human.

Have you read any of these?  Check back tomorrow when it'll be the turn of Megan from Reading in the Sunshine to pick her top 5 books.