Emma's Books of the Year 2023

It’s hard to believe I am sitting down once again to write a books of the year post. It feels like only yesterday that I did my post for 2022 but yet 2023 is drawing to a close and it certainly was another very quick year. I reached my goal for my Goodreads Reading Challenge and read over 100 books although I would have loved to have read more. The last month of the year was extremely busy and I couldn’t seem to concentrate for long periods of time. None the less I have read some brilliant books this year and I have picked ten of my favourites to share with you. Thanks again to Sharon for hosting my reviews on the blog and for her friendship and all the chats throughout the year. So without further ado and in no particular order here are my books of the year for 2023.

Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent was published in March of this year but I had an early copy and couldn’t resist sneaking it in at the tail end of 2022. I’m sure this book will be on my readers books of the year because it was simple phenomenal ad Liz is certainly at the top of her game. With the killer opening line that she is famous for this book sucks you in from the very first word and it is impossible to leave out of your hands. It’s dark and twisted and just what we have all come to expect and love from this author and Sally Diamond has most definitely been a talking point this year earning widespread acclaim and critical success. 

Sally becomes the centre of attention for an act that is abhorrent to many but beneath it all there is a painful past to share as she steps out into the world for the first time making new friends. She is not a conventional character by any means and the further the story develops the more your mind is blown.I can’t really say much about it except to say that is a disturbing read packed full of fear, trauma, manipulation, damage and mistreatment with a central character who will affect you in so many ways. Its an outstanding read which if you haven’t already discovered make sure you get a copy as soon as possible. You can read my full review here. 

I’ve been a fan of Emma Davies since I first read her novella Merry Mistletoe many years ago. She took a break from her usual women’s fiction to write in the cosy murder mystery genre but this year made a welcome return with the first in the Clearwater series - Secrets of Clearwater Castle. This is a feel-good romantic tale with lots of trials and tribulations along the way and I adored every minute of it. It follows Lowri who is widowed with a young daughter as she has inherited some land that her husband had kept secret from her. The setting is just gorgeous and the plot wonderfully written with a wide variety of characters that capture a piece of your heart. It’s a real page turner of a book which reminded me just how much I love reading. It was an absolute pleasure to accompany Lowri on her journey as she tries to heal but she also has to try and save Clearwater. My full review can be found here. I hope it won’t be too long until book two in the series is published as this is one that has stayed on long in my mind since I finished reading it.

Author Interview: Lisa Jewell

I was recently invited to be part of the blog tour for Lisa Jewell's latest book I Found You, which was published on Thursday, so it's my pleasure to welcome Lisa to the blog to find out a little about the book as well as a get a glimpse into her writing process.  

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your writing journey? 
Hi Shaz and Shaz’s readers! I’m forty seven – forty eight next week! – and I live in a very messy house in north London with my geek husband, two bolshie daughters, a pair of excessively moulty cats, two terrified guinea pigs and a perfect dog. I started writing my first novel, Ralph’s Party, in 1996 when I was a twenty-eight-year-old secretary. I wrote it as a bet with a friend, little imagining that it would be published two years later by Penguin books, reach number three in the charts and become the bestselling debut novel of the year! I’ve since written another thirteen novels and am halfway through my fifteenth.

What’s the best thing about being a writer?
Literally everything about being a writer is the best thing about being a writer. I used to hate the actual writing, but these days I’ve restructured my working life so that I do all my writing in a blissful two hours a day rather than a torturous six hours and now I love the writing, too. Truly, the only thing that isn’t great about being a writer is bad reviews. I know I should grow a thick skin, or like some writers I know, simply not read them, but I can’t. They really hurt, each and every one. It’s a bit pathetic really!

I Found You is your 14th novel, can you give us a brief overview of it?    
I Found You is about Alice, a slightly chaotic but big-hearted single mother of three who lives in a tiny tumbledown cottage in an East Yorkshire seaside town. One morning she sees a man sitting on the beach outside her house in the rain. When he’s still there twelve hours later she takes him a coat and a thermos of tea. It turns out that the man is suffering from amnesia and has no idea how he got there. Meanwhile, in Surrey, young newlywed Lily is waiting for her husband to come home from work. When he still hasn’t returned after twenty-four hours she goes to the police. They run a check on his passport and tell her that it is fake, that her husband does not technically exist. The book is about how both these women are connected. But it’s not in the way you might think!

Guest Book Review: Lisa Jewell - The Third Wife

Reviewed by Emma Crowley

In the early hours of an April morning, Maya stumbles into the path of an oncoming bus. 

A tragic accident? Or suicide? 

Her grief-stricken husband, Adrian, is determined to find out. 

Maya had a job she enjoyed; she had friends. They’d been in love 

She even got on with his two previous wives and their children. In fact, they’d all been one big happy family.

 But before long Adrian starts to identify the dark cracks in his perfect life. 

Because everyone has secrets. 

And secrets have consequences. 

Some of which can be devastating…

Amazon links: Kindle or Hardcover 

Guest Book Review: Lisa Jewell - The House We Grew Up In

Reviewed by Danielle Pullen

All four children have an idyllic childhood: a picture-book cottage in a country village, a warm, cosy kitchen filled with love and laughter, sun-drenched afternoons in a rambling garden.

But one Easter weekend a tragedy strikes the Bird family that is so devastating that, almost imperceptibly, it begins to tear them apart.

The years pass and the children become adults and begin to develop their own quite separate lives. Soon it's almost as though they've never been a family at all.

Almost. But not quite.

Because something has happened that will call them home, back to the house they grew up in - and to what really happened that Easter weekend all those years ago.

Amazon links: Kindle or Paperback

Guest Book Review: Lisa Jewell - Before I Met You

 Reviewed by Danielle Pullen

London, 1920. Arlette works in Liberty by day, and by night is caughty up in a glamorous whirl of parties, clubs, cocktails and jazz. But when tragedy strikes she flees the city, never to return.

Over half a century later, in the grungy mid-'90s, her granddaughter Betty arrives in London.

She can't wait to begin her new life. But before she can do so, she must find the mysterious woman named in her grandmother's will.

What she doesn't know is that her search will uncover the heartbreaking secret that changed her grandmother's life, and might also change hers for ever...

Author Interview: Lisa Jewell

Today I'm pleased to be able to welcome bestselling author Lisa Jewell to my blog for a bit of a natter about her latest book Before I Met You, her writing routine, and other random questions...

Did you always know you wanted to be a writer?
I think I did. I was a bookworm as a child and had a fantasy about being a music journalist when I was teenager. But it wasn’t until I read High Fidelity by Nick Hornby in my late twenties that I really thought I might have something to write about.

Can you tell us a little bit about Before I Met You?
Before I Met You is the interconnecting stories of two young women in two very different eras. Arlette was born and raised on Guernsey and Betty is her son’s stepdaughter who comes to the island with her family to look after Arlette when she becomes too old to live by herself. They become very close over the years and when Arlette dies, Betty comes to London to find out who the mysterious ‘Clara Pickle’ is, named in Arlette’s will. Betty soon discovers that Arlette, who claimed never to have left her island, had had a secret life in London when she was young, and a tragic love story.

What was the inspiration for writing a story set in two different timeframes?
It was less inspiration and more desperation! Arlette’s story came late to the process when I realised that Betty's coming-of-age story in isolation wasn’t meaty enough to sustain a whole novel. When I realised that Arlette would have been Betty's age (22) in 1919, my heart did a little dance of joy! I had never consciously wanted to write a historical piece before, but if I had then the 1920’s is the era I would have chosen.