Book Review: Obsession by Amanda Robson

One evening, a wife asks her husband a question: who else would you go for, if you could?

It is a simple question – a little game – that will destroy her life.

Carly and Rob are a perfect couple. They share happy lives with their children and their close friends Craig and Jenny. They’re lucky. But beneath the surface, no relationship is simple: can another woman’s husband and another man’s wife ever just be good friends?

Little by little, Carly’s question sends her life spiralling out of control, as she begins to doubt everything she thought was true. Who can she trust? The man she has promised to stick by forever, or the best friend she has known for years? And is Carly being entirely honest with either of them?

Obsession is a dark, twisting thriller about how quickly our lives can fall apart when we act on our desires.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Avon, for the ARC.

I read a lot of books - too many perhaps, when I should be writing my own. I've been lucky this year so far; most have been great, the occasional one was not, and then last night, one absolutely blew my socks off.

Obsession is compelling, horrifying, disturbing, gripping...

The story is told in turns by each of the four main characters, husband and wife Rob and Carly, and the other couple Jenni and Craig. Each of them is narrating the tale to one of the others, and it is thoroughly enthralling. 

I don't want to give any more of the plot away; because I think each reader should be as shocked as I was. Never before have I been so betrayed by characters in a book. They play with my emotions - at first I detested the seemingly brash, selfish Carly, but later found myself wavering between sympathy and revulsion, an unsettling mixture felt for each of the characters as they seek to disarm and deceive us. I simply did not know who to trust.

The story gets bigger and more terrifying, the characters becoming more and more awful and their actions even worse. Honestly, this book wrong-footed me so many times, I had to read it in almost one sitting (I had to stop at 2am then carried on again at 8am!).

I've heard it said that for a book to be successful, you have to fall in love with at least one of the characters. Well, Obsession smashes the mould.

Obsession is published on Kindle on 4th May and in paperback on 1st June by Avon and you can pre-order either from Amazon or other retailers.

Book Review: The Cows by Dawn O'Porter

COW [n.]
/kaʊ/
A piece of meat; born to breed; past its sell-by-date; one of the herd.

Women don’t have to fall into a stereotype.

Tara, Cam and Stella are strangers living their own lives as best they can – though when society’s screaming you should live life one way, it can be hard to like what you see in the mirror.

When an extraordinary event ties invisible bonds of friendship between them, one woman’s catastrophe becomes another’s inspiration, and a life lesson to all.
Sometimes it’s ok not to follow the herd.

The Cows is a powerful novel about three women – judging each other, but also themselves. In all the noise of modern life, they need to find their own voice.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, HarperCollins, for the ARC. All opinions are my own - I don't follow the herd.

The three women in this novel are very different to each other; Tara is a single mother, determined to balance caring for her child with carving an outstanding role within a male-dominated industry; Cam is a successful blogger, who finds herself vigorously defending a woman's right not to have a child; and Stella, who has always lived in the shadow of her twin and cannot escape it even after her death.

It's a sassy, sharply, written novel with predicaments every woman can probably identify with in some way or another. OK so most women wouldn't dream of doing what poor Tara is caught doing, but the repercussions should fill everyone with fear and dread that social media has such power in our lives.

Stella is grieving for her sister and mother, who died within months of each other from ovarian cancer and breast cancer. Stella needs a hysterectomy and mastectomy after discovering she has the same deviant genes. Her eggs, and therefore her chances of becoming a mother, are on borrowed time.

Cam is the opposite - she rejects the very idea of motherhood and relationships, but her views aren't popular with everyone.

These three women are brought together under the strangest of circumstances in a story which will have you laughing, crying, and raising your fist and yelling 'Hell Yes!' Or maybe that's just me...

The Cows was published on 6th April and can be bought from Amazon or other retailers.

Dawn O'Porter is a broadcaster, novelist and print journalist who lives in London with her husband Chris, cat Lilu and dog Potato. She has made thirteen documentaries about all sorts of things including polygamy, childbirth, geishas, body image, breast cancer and even the movie DIRTY DANCING.

Dawn has written for various UK newspapers and magazines including GRAZIA and STYLIST. Her first novel PAPER AEROPLANES was published by Hot Key Books in 2013. Although Dawn lives in London she spends a lot of time in LA and travels a lot. You may have seen her dragging two huge pink suitcases with broken wheels and a Siamese cat (Lilu) in a box through international airports. At some point she plans to get new suitcases - the cat, however, has a few years left in her yet. Follow Dawn at www.dawnoporter.co.uk or on Twitter: @hotpatooties

Blog Tour: Girl 99 by Andy Jones

I first read Girl 99 back in 2014, when I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Andy Jones at a blogger event, just before his book The Two of Us was published. Then Andy has had another book published, The Trouble with Henry & Zoe, and they are both brilliant. Not that the original Girl 99 wasn't brilliant - it was - but since the success of the last two books, Andy has updated it and it is even more brilliant and funny.

Here's a little excerpt from this fabulous re-release:

I spot my turning too late and hit the brakes too hard.
  ‘Bollocks!’ Ben says, spilling a handful of CDs onto the floor between his feet.
  I reverse back to the turning and set off down a double-parked residential street. ‘You all right?’
  ‘Fine,’ says Ben, holding up a shattered CD case. ‘But I think I’ve killed Elton John.’
  Maybe I’m a little wired on adrenalin, but I laugh harder than the quip warrants.
  ‘Never liked him either,’ Ben says, picking up the debris and stuffing it back into the glovebox. ‘I’ll never get all this shit back in here.’
  ‘Leave it,’ I say. ‘We’ll sort it out later.’
 ‘Just need to make some space.’ Ben starts removing various items. ‘Torn map, hairbrush, plastic bag, pen, two pens, two batteries, what the hell is . . .?’
  In the corner of my vision Ben holds up something that might be a handkerchief. With a lace trim.
  Ben glances at me furtively and bundles the glovebox junk into the plastic bag.
  ‘What was that?’ I say, jerking my thumb at the bag.
  ‘Eh?’
  ‘What you just put in the bag.’
  ‘Just . . . you know, shit.’
  ‘That last thing,’ I say.
  Ben rummages in the bag and removes a battery. ‘Battery,’ he says with contrived offhandedness.
  ‘After that.’
  ‘Pen,’ Ben says, producing a capless red biro.
  ‘It looked like a . . . a rag?’
  ‘Yeah,’ says Ben. ‘A rag.’
  ‘Show me.’
  ‘What?’
  ‘The fucking knickers, Ben.’
   Ben smiles apologetically and hands over the plastic bag.
  I remove a pair of silk, rose-petal pink, La Perla pants. The thigh holes are bordered with butterflies trapped in inch-wide lace; the front panel is a delicate mesh, fine enough to show a shadow of pubic hair; at the back, below the waistband, is a small slit closed off with a knotted bow. Exactly like the pair I bought for £120 on Valentine’s Day last year. Presumably Sadie still has the matching bra.

Woah! Now doesn't that make you desperate to read on? Well you can - it's evah-so-easy - just click HERE and BUY IT! Girl 99 will be published on Valentine's Day by Lake Union as an eBook, paperback and audiobook.

About the Author

Andy Jones lives in London with his wife and two little girls. During the day he works in an advertising agency; at weekends and horribly early in the mornings, he writes fiction.

He is the bestselling author of three novels: The Two of Us, The Trouble With Henry and Zoe, and the soon-to-be-rereleased Girl 99. Additionally he has written a collection of short stories and two picture books for younger readers. His books have been translated into twelve languages.

Andy has not written any books about American presidents, farts, burps or risk management. Those were written by a bunch of other Andy Joneses. (It's a popular name.)

In case of doubt: if it's not on his Author Page, he didn't write it.

Follow Andy on Twitter and Facebook:

@andyjonesauthor

www.facebook.com/andyjonesauthor