Summer Book Review: Nothing But Trouble by Matt Cain

Purchase|Goodreads 

MY SYNOPSIS

Imagine This: You are a pop star! Your base is the UK and your career is about to take off. You have a US record company about to sign you on which means, in no time, you’d be a big star.

But with fame comes Trouble, your new album that’s topping the charts and making your song the in-thing on the lips all girls and gay guys. But you are done with finding a little trouble on your own. Until you are sure it finds you everywhere you go.

You can’t stay away from bad guys who have trouble written all over them. From sexy guitarists, to intense keyboardists and insanely hot drummers. Wherever there’s a bad guy, you latch onto him and his many instruments. ;)

This addiction would get you into a whole lot of trouble than you’ve ever gotten to in the past. And before you have a chance to break out of it, your career would be in tatters for the whole world to see.

Lola Grant’s trouble-laden musical career and life summed up for your delight.

MY REVIEW

Go buy this book if you are up for some non-stop musical fun and trouble—lots of it!

First of all, there’s a great storyline. Matt Cain weaves a story that’s the exact portrait of the entertainment industry laden with sex, drugs and bad guys or just bad back-up singers. You’d love Lola’s story, because just like you’ve wondered why men love bitches, you’ve also probably wondered why you ladies love bad guys. Matt Cain infuses the story of a past drunkard and his gay partner into the mix. He also throws in a revengeful back-up singer who would do anything to stop her moronic swaying and the random ‘Ooh’s and ‘Aah’s in between her lead singer’s songs to ruin her career. Fab storyline.── ★

An entertaining multiple character read. Lola’s perfectly portrayed to be that laidback star with charm who greets everyone with darlin’ and a peck on each cheek. You’d love her for being relatable and not going into the usual eyeroll anorexic phase most celebs are into these days. She eats anything. Just as well as she drinks anything . You’d hate her for being stupid at times committing the same mistakes with her love life over and over again. She’s just your regular pop star who cannot stay out of trouble and stumbling out of clubs wasted. A star to her.── ★★

The other characters are amazing. There’s Harvey, the gay manager who’s always around to save the day. There’s Gloria, the revengeful back-up singer I so much loved, because who doesn’t a girl made as the bad guy. There’s Spike, Harvey’s Nigerian descent boyfriend who also cannot stay out of trouble himself. There’s Freddy Jones, the reporter Lola has an eye for. There’s Jake Hunter, the drummer with a bad boy reputation Lola cannot resist. A star to all these characters and more I can’t mention.── ★★★

The suspense in this book is good. Towards the last hundred pages, you’d be practically at the edge of your seat wishing the author would just put you out of your dilemma. A star.── ★★★★

My rating is a four-point-five star (4.5/5 stars).

Matt Cain’s latest is available on amazon.

I recommend this book for anyone who wants to read fiction based in the music industry. Anyone who needs a title with multiple characters who deliver should pick this. If you are up for a summer filled with lots of trouble and fame go get this book. And if you want something suspenseful, this book is a right pick. This book is very Jackie-Collins, so if you love her too, Matt Cain should be up on your shelf with her.


My work not done here. Off to post my review on Goodreads.

Summer Book Review: A Question of Betrayal by Zoe Miller

PURCHASE| GOODREADS

MY SYNOPSIS

Imagine This: Five years since your parents died and you are not in grief mode. Heck, even if you are you do not want to admit it. Their death has created a giant hole in your life, as well as your heart. You find yourself not committing to anything in your professional life, or your social life. You are just staying alive, not so much living.

The only one person you valued in your life has packed out and left. Mostly because you drove him out, and partly because you are not exactly the type to communicate your feelings or even revisit the night of your parents’ death.

Apparently, secrets buried deep are bound to surface. You find out your mum, who so much claimed to be in love with your father was cheating on him when she was a newly-wed. Now this man she had an affair with has something important to tell you. Of course, you do not want to meet him—what with your own fears and your inability to believe your mum did the unthinkable.

Except this man hasn’t anytime left. He’d be dying soon. If he dies, he dies with all his secrets. You tell yourself you wouldn’t see him. But then you man up and fly to Switzerland.

Of course, you have no idea what you are in for. One secret leads to another and another becoming a whole mess of complications you can never believe an easy-going person such as your mother would put away these ghosts in her pasts for such a long time.

But be careful, there’s someone out there who doesn’t want you to uncover these secrets. Because doing so would lead to their demise, and they’d rather have you silenced forever.

Carrie Cassidy’s complicated and messy life laden with secrets and dark pasts summarized for your delight.

MY REVIEW

GO BUY THIS BOOK!

First of all, Zoe Miller carves a complicated storyline that looks simple from reading the opening hundred pages (or so). A storyline I rolled my eyes at, I must admit, thinking this might be so predictable, you know what secrets would be revealed…. Blah blah. But then I forgot Zoe’s excellence, her very rare talent of making the reader carve out their own storyline and throwing the reader off course with shocking revelations that make her titles hard to predict anymore. All I am saying is, this book doesn’t seem as easy as it is on first glance. And the storyline you might be creating for it, would be so different from what you find out! A star!── ★

Secondly, there’s great character development. It was hard to fall in love with the main character at first, because I found her so dull. At times I’d closed the book and wonder what was off with Zoe’s lead character this time (as I very much loved the main characters of her previous title). But when our lead begins to face her fears, begins finding joy in little things, begins living and learning to confront all stages of grief, she leaps off the page and become lovable—one every person who’s gone through the loss of someone they loved (five years earlier!) can relate to! A star.── ★★

Other characters make this book great too. There’s Mark, the adorable guy our lead has hurt so much you could feel his anger simmering over the pages with any argument they have. There’s Sylvie, our lead’s mum who for most of the story we think she’s someone else till she surprises us and leaves us shocked. There’s Beth, the timid Beth whose inactions you would find yourself enraged by, but she inadvertently becomes the smartest and bravest character in the book. There’s Adam, the bad guy who’d do anything to make sure Carrie doesn’t discover past secrets. A star to these characters.

Zoe Miller offers a beautiful portrayal of Ireland in the eighties and Ireland now you cannot help but adore the past and present narratives of this book. Heck, for most part I adored the past when our lead wasn’t delivering in the opening pages.── ★★★

This book is laced with romance and some very good love-making that is so sensual (and not the tacky kind you’d find yourself skipping). The mystery would get you so confused you’d find yourself wondering why you ever tried predicting its outcome anyway. And the suspense… marvellous!── ★★★★

These are one of the many reasons I love Zoe Miller: she shows chick-lit/women’s fiction can embrace other genres without totally altering their chick-lit/women’s fiction sense. Beautiful.── ★★★★★

My rating: I am tempted to slash half of the stars I intended for the book because it really began at a slow pace. But upon further deliberations, I found out its pace was relevant and significant to our lead character’s development. Her growth wouldn’t have been significant, if the story wasn’t plotted that way. So five stars!

Zoe Miller’s amazing and different(—you always want that in a book!) story is up on amazing. Just go get it!

I recommend this book to anyone who loves their women’s fiction with a slice of dark. Anyone who wants something to keep them on their thinking feet trying to connect dots before the writer reaches her resolution should go get this! Anyone who loves Zoe Miller should go get this book as she doesn’t disappoint!

My work not done here. Off to post my review on Goodreads as well as amazon.

Summer Book Review: Summer at the Shell Cottage by Lucy Diamond

MY SYNOPSIS

Imagine This: The summer holidays are approaching again. But this time around, things are not looking up like they were last year.

Your husband of twenty years is dead. There’s nothing you could do to keep the sorrows away. And not even a much-needed vacation at the Shell Cottage would help since all your most cherished memories with your husband and your two kids live in that house.

You have every right to pull back any plans for summer this year and sit at home and mope. Your daughter tells you a summer vacation would be ideal to help you recuperate, but you have a feeling they, your children, want to keep an eye on you as suicide could be one of the to-dos you’ve planned ahead for this summer.

Things with the other members of your family are not too good this year too. Besides grieving the loss of their hero, your daughter is facing problems juggling the kids and her stressful job as a GP, your son has a secret he cannot afford to disclose to you all.

Surely, summer 2015 at shell cottage wouldn’t be the best of family vacations. But chances are, if you do not pull yourself together and make this summer a memorable one, no one in the family would ever look up to summer at Shell Cottage ever again.

Olivia Tarrant’s story laden with drama, secrets and lots of reckless fun summarised for your delight.

MY REVIEW

Christ it was hard to put up that synopsis without bringing the spoilers and the numerous omg moments right at the start of this title. So for starters, I’m giving the OMG moments in this title a star.── ★

I liked this book.

The storyline was nothing short of Lucy Diamond’s excellence. Telling the stories of one family’s summer after the death of a man they are not sure they could live without. All the characters face individual and joint challenges in making this summer one of the best summers of their lives in the memory of their father and husband. Nothing like an amazing family read full of drama.── ★★

I loved the main characters. Olivia Tarrant, the grieving wife who’s finding it hard to move on after her husband’s death, encounters a friend who will change the idea of a summer vacation for her forever. It’s all about being fun, reckless, and carefree even after sixty! Freya Tarrant, the daughter who’s finding it difficult juggling her three rowdy kids with her super-challenging job and a husband who’s never around would also be admired. Harriet Tarrant-Price, the single-mother who’s had enough of cheating men and is sure is living the dream this time around with a husband who’s landed a huge book deal.── ★★★

Other characters make reading this novel great as well. My very favourite, Gloria, a sixty-year old widow who’s not stopped grieving as well as skinny-dipping. Molly, the teenage daughter of Harriet who’s taking her chance on being a woman this summer. There’s also Libby, Teddy, and Dexter the annoying yet adorable children of Freya with their hilarious peculiar traits. A star to them.── ★★★★

I liked this book. But I wished I could have loved, loved it. I wished it was as fast-paced as Lucy Diamond’s previous, The Year of Taking Chances.

So my rating is a four out of five stars. (4/5 stars).

Lucy Diamond’s amazing latest is available on amazon.

I recommend this to anyone who wants a soothing family vacation read to cosy up to 

this summer. I recommend this to anyone who wants a book with laughing moments and very relatable moments too. I recommend this to anyone who’s a Lucy Diamond fan as she doesn’t disappoint in this title too. It’s all about being fun, reckless and creating a new you this summer!

My work not done. Off to post my review on Goodreads.