Blog Tour: The Unlikely Life of Maisie Meadows by Jenni Keer

I'm delighted to be taking part in the blog tour for Jenni Keer's lovely new novel, The Unlikely Life of Maisie Meadows, which you can buy here. Thank you to Netgalley and Rachel's Random Resources for the opportunity to review.

The Blurb

When Maisie Meadows finds herself single and jobless on New Year’s Day, she resolves that this will be the year she focuses on bringing her scattered family back together. Romance is all very well, but it’s the people you grew up with that matter the most. 

But a new job working at an auction house puts her in the path of Theo, a gorgeous but unattainable man who she can’t help but be distracted by. As their bond begins to grow, Maisie finds herself struggling to fulfil the promise she made to herself – but the universe has other ideas, and it’s not long before the Meadows family are thrown back together in the most unlikely of circumstances… 

Can dealing with other people’s treasures help Maisie to let go of the past, and teach her who she ought to treasure the most? 

My Review

Here we have a lovely lot up for your perusal  - a delightful tale set in an auction house where the quirky characters are just as colourful as the items up for sale.

The main character, Maisie, is just out of a job and a relationship. With her life turned upside down, the organised Maisie tries to bring some order by determining to bring her chaotic and fractured family back together. She starts working at the Gildersleeves Auction House, where she meets a delightful array of people, including Theo, whose mismatched clothes and untidiness is at complete odds with Maisie's self-disciplined way of life.

It's an exceptionally well-written story, with some real laugh-out-loud moments (eccentric naked old man!) intertwined with some moments of poignancy (I did have something in my eye when I got to know Arthur).  Plus there's also an element of mystery, involving a magical tea-set...

It's a great, thoroughly enjoyable read!

About the Author

Jenni Keer is a history graduate who embarked on a career in contract flooring before settling in the middle of the Suffolk countryside with her antique furniture restorer husband. She has valiantly attempted to master the ancient art of housework but with four teenage boys in the house it remains a mystery. Instead, she spends her time at the keyboard writing women's fiction to combat the testosterone-fuelled atmosphere with her number one fan #Blindcat by her side. Much younger in her head than she is on paper, she adores any excuse for fancy-dress and is part of a disco formation dance team. 

The Hopes and Dreams of Lucy Baker was published in January 2019.

The Unlikely Life of Maisie Meadows is out in July 2019.

Social Media Links –

FB Jenni Keer Writer

Twitter @JenniKeer

Instagram jennikeer

Website - https://jennikeer.co.uk/

Blog Tour: The Bitches of Suburbia by Jane Owen

Today I'm on the blog tour for Jane Owen's book, The Bitches of Surburbia.

The Blurb

Nothing much ever happened on Horseshoe Lane - why should it? It was, after all, just a normal suburban backwater with the usual cross section of growing families, ageing pensioners, the occasional singleton and a brace of curtain twitchers. The arrival of celebrity couple, Heavenly and Travis, however, changes all that. This glamorous pair bring about a summer of competitive party throwing and ambitious home improvement projects that will have disastrous and completely unforeseen consequences. 

Neighbours who’ve got by for years with just the occasional chat over a garden fence about the unseasonable amount of rain or the state of next door’s garden are slowly united by suspicion as a husband goes missing, a much loved cat turns up dead on a doorstep and Enid from Number Seven is found badly injured at the foot of the cliff. 

Could one person be responsible for all of this? Could that person be the strange and unlikeable Hilary Jones from Number Nine? There was only going to be one way to find out and it was going to involve a lot of whiskey….

In this her wonderful follow up to ‘The Rock Star Known as Horse’, Owen’s riveting new story finds a murky side to the suburbs, a side where petty jealousies and neighbourly rivalries can escalate out of all control with calamitous results, all intricately observed with her usual dark humour firmly to the fore. 

Purchase on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2xV5TDV

My Review

I've read a couple of books about neighbours this year, so I was intrigued to read The Bitches of Suburbia.

Unfortunately most of the story is told in the blurb, not leaving much to surprise the reader.

When I started reading the book, I found myself a little put off by overly long sentences which took up half my Kindle page, and I found myself re-reading them to try to make sense of what was written. However, as I read on and got more involved with the story, I didn't notice this so much.

Horseshoe Lane; a secluded cul-de-sac of beautiful houses, fabulous cliff-top views over the sea - what a place to live! That is until we meet the neighbours...

What a nasty, petty bunch they are! They mainly keep themselves to themselves, until the arrival of glamorous couple Heavenly and Travis. After their house-warming party, the other residents decide that partying is the life, and the competition hots up to see who can be the best hostess.

Surprisingly, the character I sympathised - or pitied - most with was the 'strange and unlikeable' Hilary Jones. She's one of society's misfits, naive, gauche, and struggles with social niceties, and cannot understand why everyone else thinks they are above her. She thinks imitation is the best way to prove her worth.

Hilary reminds me a little of Eleanor Oliphant, my literary heroine of 2017. In Gail Honeyman's  book, I grew to love Eleanor's odd little ways, and there was a reason for her being as she was, and in the end her character was redeemed, with the help of her friends. Hilary, however, is not afforded the same kindness, and the events and treatment by her neighbours makes her even more disturbed.

This is written with a very dark humour, with a sense of schadenfreude and little hope of redemption for any of the characters. I felt a sense of unease the whole way through the book, and was left with a bitter taste when I finished reading it.

About the author

Jane's first novel, Camden Girls, was published by Penguin twenty years ago and quickly became an international cult bestseller published in many languages including Japanese, Spanish,German, Hebrew, Italian and Dutch. She'd already spent many years working in the film business working alongside stars such as Christophe Lambert, Andi McDowell, Daryl Hannah and James Remar before switching to the music business and working for bands such as The Who, Robert Plant, ZZTop and many more. Eventually, even that got boring and that's when she wrote Camden Girls. 

After publication, life became interrupted by an unfortunate traffic accident and Jane moved out of London to Sussex and slowly returned to writing. Her novels don't fit into any specific category and, frustrated by endless rejections along the lines of 'You write beautifully but we don't know how to sell this book' she started self publishing. Rave reviews gave her the confidence to keep going and believe in what she was writing.

She's still in Sussex, sharing her life with her musician partner, three horses and a dog and divides her day between writing and riding. 

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/JaneOwenAuthor/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/janeowenauthor

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/janeowenauthor/

Book Review: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

The Blurb

Eleanor Oliphant has learned how to survive – but not how to live

Eleanor Oliphant leads a simple life. She wears the same clothes to work every day, eats the same meal deal for lunch every day and buys the same two bottles of vodka to drink every weekend.

Eleanor Oliphant is happy. Nothing is missing from her carefully timetabled life. Except, sometimes, everything.

One simple act of kindness is about to shatter the walls Eleanor has built around herself. Now she must learn how to navigate the world that everyone else seems to take for granted – while searching for the courage to face the dark corners she’s avoided all her life.

Change can be good. Change can be bad. But surely any change is better than… fine?

 My Review

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC of this utterly fabulous book. This is my honest review and I confirm I do not get paid for reviewing this or any other book.

Eleanor Oliphant is an extraordinary character. I absolutely loved her. I felt an immediate affinity as she prepares herself to meet a sexy rock star. There is no question that once he meets her, they will be together as a couple.

Of course to her, it is everyone else who is odd. Their reactions to her are as joyful to read as Eleanor's reactions to situations mundane to others. Her experience in the beauty salon had me in stitches. I love the way Eleanor makes us see how strange 'normal' people can behave. 

At first I presumed Eleanor had always been this quirky, but heartbreakingly it becomes evident that something happened in her childhood. But her blossoming friendship with Raymond has her emerging like a butterfly, even if she is reluctant to leave the safety of her cocoon. 

Raymond is a wonderful character, showing endless patience towards the woman everyone else just dismisses as weird. Slowly he shows Eleanor that not everything is black and white and that the world is a beautiful colourful place. It touched my heart in many ways.

I do love this book so much. It is such a warm, refreshing read - perfectly constructed. I highly recommend it!

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is published by HarperCollins and can be bought here.