Guest Book Review: Janine Cobain - How Will You Remember Me?

Reviewed by Tanya Phillips

Are we in control of our own life, or will fate always win in the end? 

When Catherine Harvey's marriage ends in divorce, she finds solace with her best friend Jessica in Belfast. Seven years on, she has her material and physical needs covered, but her heart is firmly locked away. 

After the death of her ex-husband, and lustful designs on a sexy stranger, Catherine feels ready to share her life with a special man, all she needs to do is find one.

Connor Maxwell returns to his home town, after twenty years in emotional exile, to rebuild his life after suffering a devastating loss. As his world begins to heal, it brings him far more than he bargained for. 

How many times will destiny cross their paths before it gives up?

Amazon links: Kindle or Paperback

Guest Book Review: Julia Kelly - The Playground

Reviewed by Julia Kelly

Eve is putting her life together again. 

Her partner has walked out on her. She's moved into a tiny flat on the outskirts of Dublin. She has no job. But she does have her beloved baby daughter - and there's a little playground across the street. 

It's a tired spot for teenagers and tramps, but Eve is determined to make this new life work. Alongside her interfering lodger and a group of local mums she swings into action to make the playground the heart of the community. 

But not all games are innocent - and not all friends are true. When a terrible accident is blamed on her, Eve must forge her own independence - and realise that the playground is not a place to hide from adulthood. 

Amazon links: Kindle or Paperback

Guest Book Review: Lia Riley - Sideswiped

Reviewed by Janine Cobain

It was only meant to last the summer...

Talia Stolfi has seen more than her share of loss in her twenty-one years. But then fate brought her Bran Lockhart, and her dark world was suddenly and spectacularly illuminated. So if being with Bran means leaving her colorless NorCal life for rugged and wild Australia, then that's what she'll do. But as much as Talia longs to give herself over completely to a new beginning, the fears of her past are still lurking in the shadows. 

Bran Lockhart knows that living without the beautiful girl who stole his heart will be torment, so he'll take whatever time with her he can. But even though she has packed up her life in California and is back in his arms for the time being, she can't stay forever. And the remaining time they have together is ticking by way too fast. Though fate seems determined to tear them apart, they won't give up without a fight-because while time may have limits, their love is infinite . . .

Amazon links: Kindle or Paperback

Guest Book Review: Rufi Thorpe - The Girls from Corona Del Mar

Reviewed by Janine Cobain 

Mia and Lorrie Ann are lifelong friends: hard-hearted Mia and untouchably beautiful, kind Lorrie Ann. While Mia struggles with a mother who drinks, a pregnancy at fifteen, and younger brothers she loves but can’t quite be good to, Lorrie Ann is luminous, surrounded by her close-knit family, immune to the mistakes that mar her best friend’s life. Then a sudden loss catapults Lorrie Ann into tragedy: things fall apart, and then fall further—and there is nothing Mia can do to help. And as good, brave, fair Lorrie Ann stops being so good, Mia begins to question just who this woman is, and what that question means about them both. 

A staggeringly honest, deeply felt novel of family, motherhood, loyalty, and the myth of the perfect friendship, The Girls from Corona del Mar asks just how well we know those we love, what we owe our children, and who we are without our friends. 

Amazon links: Kindle or Paperback

Guest Book Review: Shelan Rodger - Twin Truths

Reviewed by Janine Cobain

Jenny and Pippa are twins. Like many twins they often know what the other is thinking. They complete each other. When one of the twins disappears the other woman is left to face the world alone as she tries to find out what happened to her "other half". Vividly set in Argentina, Brazil, Greece and the UK, Shelan Rodger's stunning debut is a beautiful examination of identity and how much this is moulded by our relationships with others.

Amazon links: Kindle or Paperback

Guest Book Review: Lia Riley - Upside Down

Reviewed by Janine Cobain

Twenty-one-year-old Natalia Stolfi is saying goodbye to painful memories and turning her life upside down with a trip to the land down under. For the next six months, she'll pretend to be a carefree exchange student. Everything is going to plan until she meets a surly surfer with hypnotic green eyes, and the troubling ability to see straight through her act.

Bran Lockhart is having the worst year on record. After the girl of his dreams turned into a nightmare, he slunk back to Melbourne to piece his life together. Yet no amount of disappointment could blind him to the pretty California girl who gets past all his defenses. He's never wanted anyone the way he wants Talia. A single semester abroad won't cover something this serious. But when Bran gets a stark reminder of why he stopped believing in love, he and Talia must decide if what they have is once in a lifetime . . . or if they were meant to live a world apart.

Amazon links: Kindle or Paperback 

Debut Spotlight: Janine Cobain

Today it's my absolute pleasure to be doing a debut spotlight feature for one of my regular guest reviewers Janine Cobain whose debut novel How Will You Remember Me? is published in eBook format today and will be published in paperback later in the year.

Janine Cobain was born in Teesside and lived there until moving to Belfast in 2005. A former pupil of Conyers School in Yarm, she was always a prolific reader, and recently rekindled her love of writing.

How Will You Remember Me? is her debut novel.

"I wear many hats - wife, mother, grandmother, reader, writer, friend - but underneath each, I am still me"

Are we in control of our own life, or will fate always win in the end? 

When Catherine Harvey's marriage ends in divorce, she finds solace with her best friend Jessica in Belfast. Seven years on, she has her material and physical needs covered, but her heart is firmly locked away. 

After the death of her ex-husband, and lustful designs on a sexy stranger, Catherine feels ready to share her life with a special man, all she needs to do is find one. 

Connor Maxwell returns to his home town, after twenty years in emotional exile, to rebuild his life after suffering a devastating loss. 

As his world begins to heal, it brings him far more than he bargained for. 

How many times will destiny cross their paths before it gives up?

Can you tell us a little bit about your debut book How Will You Remember Me?
How Will You Remember Me? is a serendipitous tale of love, life, and loss. Catherine Harvey moved to Belfast after her divorce, and seven years later she has her material and physical needs covered. After the death of her ex-husband, and lustful thoughts about a sexy stranger, she realises she is ready to share her life with a special someone, all she has to do is find him.

Connor Maxwell returns to his hometown after suffering a devastating loss, and attempts to put his life back together. As his world begins to heal, it brings him far more than he bargained for.

How Will You Remember Me explores the idea of fate, and of everything happening for a reason, but when something truly awful happens can it ever be justified?

I am donating my royalties - 10% of sales - to Mind Your Mate & Yourself, a not-for-profit organisation in Northern Ireland who help people struggling with their everyday life by raising self-esteem, self-awareness, and encouraging self-care and self-respect. The founder, Ray Cunningham, is an exceptional, and insightful individual who has given me some brilliant guidance over the last few months, and I hope to help them, help others.

Guest Book Review: John Dolan - John & George: The Dog Who Saved My Life

Reviewed by Janine Cobain

The incredible true story of how one man turned his life around through the companionship of his best friend.

For years, John Dolan had been living rough, trying his best to get by. Born and bred on the estates of east London, his early life was marked by neglect and abuse, and his childhood gift for drawing was stamped out by the tough realities outside his front door. As he grew older, he found himself turning to petty crime to support himself and ended up in prison. On coming out, with a record and no trade, he soon found himself on the streets, surviving day-by-day, living hand-to-mouth.

It wasn't until he met George, a tearaway Staffy puppy, that his life changed for the better. To begin with, George was a handful: he had been abused himself and was scared of human contact. But in a matter of weeks. John and George had become inseparable. It was then that John decided to pick up his long-forgotten gift for drawing, sitting on Shoreditch High Street for hours at a time, sketching pictures of George which he would sell to passers-by. With his best friend by his side, and a pencil in his hand, John suddenly found his life's calling.

Last autumn, John put on his first gallery show just across the road from where he had sat and sketched for three years. It sold out. Now, John and George are no longer homeless and live just around the corner from where they first met on the streets.

Amazon links: Kindle or Hardcover

Guest Book Review: Jemma Wayne - After Before

Reviewed by Janine Cobain

That was the day that Mama made the rules: If they come, run. Be quiet and run. But not together. Never together. If one is found, at least the other survives.... 

During a cold, British winter, three women reach crisis point. Emily, an immigrant survivor of the Rwandan genocide is existing but not living. Vera, a newly Christian Londoner is striving to live a moral life, her happiness constantly undermined by secrets from her past. Lynn, battling with an untimely disease, is consumed by bitterness and resentment of what she hasn't achieved and what has been snatched from her.

Each suffering their own demons, their lives have been torn open by betrayal: by other people, by themselves, by life itself. But as their paths interweave, they begin to unravel their beleaguered pasts, and inadvertently change each other's futures.

Amazon links: Kindle or Paperback

Guest Book Review: Nick Spalding - Love... Under Different Skies

Reviewed by Janine Cobain

Sometimes, the hardest part of staying together is keeping a straight face...

Ever wish you could leave all your problems behind and make a fresh start somewhere else? Trade the stresses and strains of everyday life for your own slice of sun-kissed paradise on the other side of the world?

Jamie and Laura Newman certainly have. 

When Jamie's spectacular meltdown at work results in him being handed his P45, and Laura finds her working days end up with her rugby tackling defenceless pensioners in the high street, a move ten thousand miles away sounds ideal. After all, it might mend some of the cracks that have appeared in their marriage over the past few months...

So when Laura is offered a new job in Australia, the Newman family think their dreams have come true. But as the old saying goes - be careful what you wish for, you might just get it. As the hapless couple soon find out, problems have a way of following you, no matter how far you go to avoid them. 

Can love survive under different skies?

 Amazon links: Kindle or Paperback  

Guest Book Review: Posie Graeme-Evans - The Island House

Reviewed by Janine Cobain

When Freya Dane inherits the small Scottish island called Findnar, the young archaeologist finds a treasure house of notes and artifacts from the island's Viking and Christian past. 

But that is just the beginning of a story that began in 800 AD. It is then that Signy, a young Pictish girl, survives a murderous Viking raid. Taken in by the Christian missionaries of Findnar, she learns their language and their ways - even the mysteries of writing. But before she can take her vows as a nun, she falls in love with the battle's other survivor- a Viking boy called Magni. Forced to choose between her faith and the man she loves, Signy's fate will be tragic . . . 

As Freya uncovers Signy's story and the secrets hidden beneath her new home, she finally realizes that Findnar is as dangerous in the twenty-first century as it was twelve hundred years ago.

Amazon links: Kindle or Paperback

Guest Book Review: Karen Healey Wallace - The Perfect Capital

Reviewed by Janine Cobain

Maud is dedicated to the art of lettercutting. Whilst observing a century-old inscription carved by Eric Gill into the outside wall of a London church, she is mistaken by Edward for a prostitute. She accepts his offer. 

Why does a woman seeking the precision and discipline of perfect letterforms abandon herself so recklessly to the undisciplined and all too imperfect world of Edward? 

What does rich, hedonistic city banker Edward see in the purposeful and unmaterialistic woman who is at least ten years older than his normal bedmates... and one still pining for her husband from whom she is separated? 

Lettercutting becomes not just a background, but an analogy for the search for perfection in an imperfect world. Can such shallow beginnings lead to a relationship that carves itself into their souls? 

 Amazon links: Kindle or Paperback

Guest Book Review: Lisa Appignanesi - Paris Requiem

Reviewed by Janine Cobain

Paris 1899. The city is a glittering hub of fin-desiecle activity. Theatres and galleries are vibrant with artistic energy. The new metro is under construction, and so is the site for the centennial Universal Exhibition. But there is also violent political upheaval. The Dreyfus Affair has released a riotous surge of anti-semitism. Asylums and jails are overcrowded. Death and madness hover like a cloud over the city. Bostanian lawyer James Norton has been sent by his mother to bring back his Invalid sister Ellie and his younger brother Raf, a Journalist. But the violent deaths of the actress Olympe Fabre and then of her sister Judith in the asylum of Salpetriere, draw the siblings into a dark web of violence. Olympe is pregnant. Is her death a crime passionnel or part of a conspiracy of serial killings of Jewish women, disturbingly linked to medical research at Salpetriere? A gripping psychological period thriller.

Amazon links: Kindle or Paperback 

Author Interview & Giveaway: Gary McElkerney

Guest reviewer Janine Cobain was delighted to interview Gary McElkerney, whose debut novel Volunteer is due to be published in December 2013. Today as Gary eagerly awaits publication, he gives us an insight in to the man behind the story.

Tell us a little about Volunteer
Volunteer is the story of Chris Johnston, a 22 year old university student, who signs away another summer to lead a team of young volunteers as they travel to Ethiopia on a mission to build houses for charity. After an argument with the other leaders, Chris abandons the team and travels north to work for Medical Aid Africa in a medical clinic close to the Ethiopian/Eritrean border. He agrees to join their make-shift ambulance crew in a bid to search for the adventure he longs for on the frontline, but finds life very different off the beaten track. As fear consumes him, he is terrified and experiences the true horrors of war as his dreams of heroism and adventure turn into a nightmare. This story follows Chris' journey with humour, heartbreak and horror and will leave you questioning your own life, your accomplishments and asking if faced with the same situations... what would you do? And with the mental scars of war carved into your memory, who would save you?"

Guest Book Review: Gary McElkerney - Volunteer

Reviewed by Janine Cobain 

Volunteer is the story of Chris Johnston, a 22 year old university student, who signs away another summer to lead a team of young volunteers as they travel to Ethiopia on a mission to build houses for charity. After an argument with the other leaders, Chris abandons the team and travels north to work for Medical Aid Africa in a medical clinic close to the Eritrean border. He agrees to join their make-shift ambulance crew in a bid to search for the adventure he longs for on the frontline, but finds life very different off the beaten track. As fear consumes him, he is terrified and experiences the true horrors of war as his dreams of heroism and adventure turn into a nightmare. 

This story follows Chris' journey with humour, heartbreak and horror and will leave you questioning your own life, your accomplishments and asking if faced with the same situations... what would you do? And with the mental scars of war carved into your memory, who would save you?"

Amazon links: Kindle or Paperback 

Guest Book Review: Susanna Johnston - Lettice & Victoria

Reviewed by Janine Cobain

This mischievous roman à clef revolves around the interactions of five main characters. Victoria, barely twenty, finds herself acting as amanuensis to Laurence, an elderly man of letters, now blind, who lives in a ravishing house by the sea in northern Italy. Soon after her arrival, she indulges in a heady night of passion with Edgar, a youthful Englishman. Their subsequent union introduces Edgar's pretentious mother Lettice, who is jealous and suspicious of her daughter-in-law's prettiness and her ability to amuse Lettice's intellectual friends. While Victoria struggles to adapt to her new surroundings, Lettice, in a bid to maintain her own social superiority, attempts to thwart her every move in hilarious fashion. Enter Archie, one of the inner circle, whose relationship with Victoria provokes a scandal that threatens to destroy her.

Darkly funny and deeply insightful, Lettice & Victoria is not just a love story with a fanciful and flawed female protagonist, but a wonderful portrait of English society.

 Amazon links: Kindle or Hardcover

Guest Book Review: A.S.A Harrison - The Silent Wife

Reviewed by Janine Cobain

​​​A chilling psychological thriller portraying the disintegration of a relationship down to the deadliest point when murdering your husband suddenly makes perfect sense. 

Todd Gilbert and Jodi Brett are in a bad place in their relationship. They've been together for twenty-eight years, and with no children to worry about there has been little to disrupt their affluent Chicago lifestyle. But there has also been little to hold it together, and beneath the surface lie ever-widening cracks. HE is a committed cheater. SHE lives and breathes denial. HE exists in dual worlds. SHE likes to settle scores. HE decides to play for keeps. SHE has nothing left to lose. When it becomes clear that their precarious world could disintegrate at any moment, Jodi knows she stands to lose everything. It's only now she will discover just how much she's truly capable of...

Amazon links: Kindle or Paperback

Guest Book Review: Jane Yeadon - Call Me Sister

Reviewed by Janine Cobain

Who'd have thought a missing bacon rasher and a teaspoon would play a part in advancing someone's career? 

It's the late '60s and Jane Yeadon has always wanted to be a district nurse. Staff nursing in a ward where she's challenged by an inventory-driven ward sister, she reckons it's time to swap such trivialities for life as a district nurse. 

Independent thinking is one thing, but Jane's about to find that the drama on district can demand instant reaction; and without hospital back up, she's usually the one having to provide it. 

She meets a rich cast of patients all determined to follow their own individual star, and goes to Edinburgh where Queen Victoria's Jubilee Institute's nurse training is considered the creme de la creme of the district nursing world. Call Me Sister recalls Jane's challenging and often hilarious route to realising her own particular dream.

Amazon links: Kindle or Paperback

Guest Book Review: Ross O'Carroll-Kelly - Downturn Abbey

Since inheriting a pile in Killiney, Ross O'Carroll-Kelly - schools rugby legend, lover of the ladeez and award-winning author - can add a new string to his not inconsiderable (you know what I mean) bow - lord of the manor. Downturn Abbey is the story of how he tackles his new responsibilities. Or not.

The century is not yet a teenager, yet everything is shrouded in gloom. People are tightening their belts, rationing and making do. Across Europe, there is uncertainty, with the possibility of, like, serious conflict hanging in the air. Yet, amidst the splendour of Honalee - a mock-something-or-other mansion that Ross and Sorcha recently inherited - life goes on.

The world is changing quickly - especially for Ross. As he stares down the barrel of middle age, he has decided that it's time to possibly do right by Sorcha and put their marriage back together. 

But he has even bigger challenges to face. His son has hitched his future to a family of commoners, his old dear is involved in a love affair that threatens disgrace for the family, and his daughter has turned into the worst little madam you can imagine. Oh, yeah, and he is about to become a grandfather at 31.

As Sorcha embraces her new life of afternoon teas on fine bone china plates and Downton Abbey theme porties, he is suddenly wrestling with duty, loyalty and the thousands of women out there who still desire the pleasure of his company.

Amazon links: Paperback or Kindle

Guest Book Review: Matthew Crow - In Bloom

Reviewed by Janine Cobain

Francis Wootton's first memory is of Kurt Cobain's death, and there have since been other hardships much closer to home.

At fifteen years old he already knows all about loss and rejection - and to top it all off he has a permanently broke big brother, a grandma with selective memory (and very selective social graces) and a mum who's at best an acquired taste. Would-be poet, possible intellectual, and definitely wasted in Tyne and Wear, Francis has grown used to figuring life out on his own. 

Lower Fifth is supposed to be his time, the start of an endless horizon towards whatever-comes-next. But when he is diagnosed with leukaemia that wide-open future suddenly narrows, and a whole new world of worry presents itself. 

There's the horror of being held back a year at school, the threat of imminent baldness, having to locate his best shirt in case a visiting princess or pop-star fancies him for a photo-op . . . But he hadn't reckoned on meeting Amber - fierce, tough, one-of-a-kind Amber - and finding a reason to tackle it all - the good, the bad, and everything in between - head on. 

In Bloom is a bright, funny, painful, and refreshing novel about wanting the very best from life, even when life shows you how very bad it can be. It is a novel about how to live.

Amazon links: Hardback or Kindle