Ever since running away from her home town of Eilidh Falls, her family who still live there and the memories of the brother she lost there and the childhood sweetheart she turned her back on, Alex Foster has avoided going back. But when her mum is taken ill, she’s left with little choice but to return to the sister she left behind and the father she ran away from. Anouska Knight is going from strength to strength. With fully realised characters, bags and bags of drama and secrets, and epic romances, there’s something of the Nicholas Sparks feel to this book and I really felt with this book that Knight had carved out her very own niche. She manages to create the same sense of place and community too that Sparks has made his own, but amazingly Knight’s fictitious world feels authentically transatlantic. The story is just sublime and keeps delivering all the way to the end in what is a fairly long book that simply flies by. Towards the end I didn’t think it could get any better but there are two final plotlines at the close that cemented Knight’s brilliance in this novel and I felt utterly bereft at having finished it. We may just be seeing the coronation of a new queen of romantic drama. (JC)
Amy, a lead designer at Cyan Architecture and Design, is in a relationship with James, another employee at her firm. After the tragic loss of their baby son Jacob, born prematurely, Amy is desperate for a child. Devastated by the death, they both turn to the adoption process and after years of trying, Amy and James' dreams of a family are about to be realised. However, just as fate seems to smile on them, Amy discovers something which literally rocks her world and causes all her dreams to be destroyed. Amy seeks refuge in her work and is given a major contract to redesign a property owned by a new client, Rohan. She finds herself being drawn into the mysterious and enigmatic world of Rohan, who is in complete contrast to her lover James. Yet Rohan is a troubled soul with a dark past of his own and just when Amy finds herself falling for him, he reveals that children are not part of his future. Amy faces a dilemma - does she live a lie and carry on in her existing relationship in order to accomplish her aspirations of a family or abandon them and all she has ever hoped for. Amy's plight is heartbreaking and compelling to read. The plot is well written and has an array of colourful characters which really bring the story to life. Amy's story is full of twists and turns and I genuinely felt empathy for her. It was a real heartfelt read and the author dealt with issues of adoption and extended families beautifully. (LP)
This book was the winner of the 2013 Mills and Boon and ITV Lorraine's Racy Reads contest. Holly knows her life will never be the same again after the tragedy she suffers. Then she meets a man. The perfect man. Will Ciaran be the missing piece of Holly's life and help her put her life back together? The book was an easy read, likeable, light-hearted and funny in a lot of parts. But it was also very predictable. (SG)
