Too Close to Home by Susan Lewis...Short Review

I have read several of Susan Lewis' books and enjoyed them. This is her new novel about the
devastating effects a marriage break up can have on a family. But its main focus is on 15 year old Paige, who finds herself shunned and isolated from her new friends. She becomes the victim of bullying.

The book highlights bullying and the torment this causes. There has been plenty of stories in the news of young people taking their own lives because they believe that it will never end, and tragically they feel there is no one they can turn too. In this novel, Paige has thoughts and feelings that are probably typical of how a young person may react to bullying when there are problems going on in the family at home.

This is a useful story, one that anyone can read, both adult and young person. It refers to Kidscape, a guide for parents to help keep children, young and teenage, safe. Here is a link

https://www.kidscape.org.uk/media/77908/keepthemsafe-websitepdf.pdf

I probably wouldn't have picked this book up myself, but my sister had bought and read it and gave it to me to read. It is a familiar family story.

Wings Over Carew

August 8th 2015

Carew Airfield

Pembrokeshire, West Wales

  

the bunker diary by Kevin Brooks

Listed as a book for young adults...but don't let this stop you from picking it up, if like me you are a more mature adult.  It is an excellent read, well written and very moving. I found it hard to put down once I started it, I wanted to know what would happen to Linus, the other characters and the situation they found themselves in. Its not an easy read, although fictional, it touches a nerve.

It was, for me at least, a very emotional book to read.

Image courtesy of Pembrokeshire Libraries

Wood Beautiful Wood

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A wonderful webiste ... Hand Made Boxes Uniquely Beautiful by John Evans

A Cold Season by Alison Littlewood

Cass takes her son Ben to a village where she had lived for a short time as a child. She wants them to starts a new life after the death of her soldier husband Pete.

From the beginning this is a cold and eerie tale, even before she arrives at their new home, something feels very wrong. She begins to question why she had decided that this was the place to move too. Everything about this place is cold, her son begins to change, the people are very strange and dark, the school headmaster charms Cass and she begins a relationship with him. As a reader I wanted to tell her "don't do it" "stay away from him" ... but alas she couldn't hear me!

I felt uncomfortable, in a good way, reading this book. During the dark hours of reading I did keep looking over my shoulder to make sure there was nothing and nobody there!

A creepy story that holds your attention.... you want to find out what happens ...

I did find the ending a little confusing but this didn't affect the book in a negative way ...I don't know if this is a series but it does have an open-ended finish..... I will check out if there are more....

Image courtesy of Pembrokeshire Libraries

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Never Saw it Coming by Linwood Barclay

This was something different to read. A con artist posing as a psychic runs into a tricky situation. She sees a story in the newspaper or on the TV of a missing person, choosing the right time, she visits the family declaring that her psychic gifts can help them find their loved ones. But of course her services come at a cost and her antics lead her into dangerous territory.

Image courtesy of Pembrokeshire Library website