Blog Tour Book Review: Another You by Jane Cable

Another You

by

Jane Cable

Publisher: Sapere Books 
Publication date: 27th June 2019
Pages: 287
Format read: Kindle edition
Source: Courtesy of the publisher

 

Sometimes the hardest person to save is yourself…

Marie Johnson fell in love with The Smugglers pub when she first moved to Dorset with her husband, Stephen.

But when Stephen’s wandering eye caused the breakdown of their marriage, and the costs of running the pub started to mount, Marie felt her dreams crashing down around her.

With local celebrations planned for the 60th anniversary of D-Day, Marie is hopeful things will turn around.

But she could never have predicted the ways her life will soon be changed forever.

A charming American soldier walks into Marie’s life, but it becomes clear nothing is really as it seems...

Why is Marie suddenly plagued by headaches? Is her American soldier everything he seems to be?

Or could the D-Day re-enactments be stirring up something from the past…?

I went into this story blind. I didn’t read the blurb or any reviews and I think this is the best way to start this story so you really get a sense of the mystery.

I will try and make my review as vague as possible so as not to spoil the story.

Marie is the chef at The Smugglers, a pub she owns along with her estranged husband Stephen. Stephen is controlling and verbally abusive and even though Marie doesn’t want her husband back she is finding it hard to completely let go, more so now their son, Jude, is getting older and will be leaving home soon.

Studland is a buzz with servicemen as a re-enactment of the D-Day rehearsals, which were performed there 60 years ago, will be taking place along with a memorial service.

Marie encounters a few different men on her path to self discovery and they all play an important roll in her journey. There is the elusive serviceman Corbin, George the WWII veteran, George’s son Mark and American serviceman Paxton who is the new love interest.

Jane Cable has written a richly described, heart-felt and captivating story, mixing the past with the present, as Marie battles to release her unfulfilled dreams and start anew.

Marie’s struggle will have you yearning for a happy ending.

Another You is recommended for readers who enjoy a mystery mixed with history and a little romance.

🌟🌟🌟🌟 .5

My rating   4.5/5

 

Although brought up in Cardiff, Jane Cable now lives in Cornwall and is a full time writer. Another You is a moving saga of family life in the 21st century which draws on the horrors of combat, both in modern times and World War Two as down-trodden Marie fights to reclaim her identity and discover what really matters to her. Jane’s next book, Winter Skies, will be available for pre-order from Sapere Books soon.

Follow Jane Cable on Twitter @JaneCable, on Facebook at Jane Cable, Author 

This review is part of the Another You blog tour. You can follow the other blogs on the tour below:

 

 

 

 

Mailbox Monday - August 12th

Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog. Head over and check out other books received during the last week. 


Happy Monday!

I haven't managed to post pictures of my book mail for the last few weeks because I have been extra busy with family and trying to squeeze in some reading time.
I visited my sister in sunny Queensland recently to attend my brother's 60th birthday celebrations. Flew up Friday with my daughter, mother, brother and sister-in-law and we all stayed in my sister's sprawling sandstone home.  I had the best weekend and it was so wonderful to have the whole family together, not just for a few hours but a whole weekend. We did lots of reminiscing and had plenty of laughs.

My grandson spent a night in hospital with a nasty chest infection. I was imagining him lying in a hospital bed sick and upset. How wrong could I be! My daughter-in-law sent me a photo he was happily sitting on the bed shooting everyone with his Ventolin inhaler. Later that day he was sitting at the nurses station watching cartoons on the computer. He is back to perfect health and definitely not traumatised by his hospital stay. 


Books  received during the past two weeks.

Received from the publisher

The Quest Diaries of Max Crack by Jules Faber
Publication date: 27th August 2019

Hi everyone! I'm Max Crack and this awesome book is all about me and my quests and my best friend Frankie!

Buried treasure, new school, doodles, peanut butter and honey toast, best friends, horrible blobs, mysteries, Meddlyslop, spelling bees (hard words, harder words), more doodles, comics, World War Undies ... this book has it ALL. 

 

 

The Girls by Chloe Higgins

Publication date: 27th August 2019

 

In 2005, Chloe Higgins was seventeen years old. She and her mother, Rhonda, stayed home so that she could revise for her HSC exams while her two younger sisters, Carlie and Lisa, went skiing with their father. On the way back from their trip, their car veered off the highway, flipped on its side and burst into flames. Both her sisters were killed. Their father walked away from the accident with only minor injuries.

This book is about what happened next. 

 

Snake Island by Ben Hobson

Publication date: 5th August 2019

 

Vernon and Penelope Moore never want to see their son Caleb again. Not after he hit his wife and ended up in gaol. A lifetime of careful parental love wiped out in a moment.

But when retired teacher Vernon hears that Caleb is being regularly visited and savagely bashed by a local criminal as the police stand by, he knows he has to act. What has his life been as a father if he turns his back on his son in his hour of desperate need? He realises with shame that he has failed Caleb. But no longer.

The father of the man bashing Caleb is head of a violent crime family. The town lives in fear of him but Vernon is determined to fix things in a civilised way, father to father. If he shows respect, he reasons, it will be reciprocated. But how wrong he is.  

And what hell has he brought down on his family? 

 

A gift from my sister:

 

One Summer in Paris by Sarah Morgan 

Publication date: 9th April 2019 

 

To celebrate their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, Grace has planned the surprise of a lifetime for her husband—a romantic getaway to Paris. But she never expected he’d have a surprise of his own: he wants a divorce. Reeling from the shock but refusing to be broken, a devastated Grace makes the bold decision to go to Paris alone.

Audrey, a young woman from London, has left behind a heartache of her own when she arrives in Paris. A job in a bookshop is her ticket to freedom, but with no money and no knowledge of the French language, suddenly a summer spent wandering the cobbled streets alone seems much more likely…until she meets Grace, and everything changes.

Grace can’t believe how daring Audrey is. Audrey can’t believe how cautious newly single Grace is. Living in neighboring apartments above the bookshop, this unlikely pair offer each other just what they’ve both been missing. They came to Paris to find themselves, but finding this unbreakable friendship might be the best thing that’s ever happened to them… 

 

 

 

What Books did your postman deliver, or you downloaded, this week?

Post a link to your Mailbox Monday or simply list your books in the comments below.

 

Book Review: The Spanish Promise by Karen Swan

The Spanish Promise

by

Karen Swan

Publisher: Pan Macmillan 
Publication Date: 26th March 2019
Pages: 384
RRP: $29.99AUD
Format read: Trade Paperback
Source: Courtesy of the publisher 

Charlotte, a wealth counsellor who knows from personal experience the complications that a sudden inheritance can bring, helps her clients navigate the emotional side effects of sudden wealth syndrome. When she is asked by Mateo Mendoza, heir to a huge Spanish estate, to fly to Madrid to help resolve an issue in his father's will, she's confident it will be straightforward. The timing isn't great as Charlotte's due to get married the following week, but once her client signs on the dotted line, Charlotte can return to her life in London and her wedding, and live happily ever after. Marrying Stephen might not fill her with excitement, but she doesn't want to live in the fast lane anymore - safe and predictable is good.

But Carlos Mendoza's final bequest opens up a generation of secrets, and Charlotte finds herself compelled to unravel the mystery. As Charlotte digs deeper, she uncovers the story of a family divided by Spain's Civil War, and of a love affair across the battle lines that ended in tragedy.

And while she is consumed in the drama of the Mendozas, Charlotte's own tragic past catches up with her, threatening to overturn everything in her life she's worked so hard to build.

2018

Multi millionaire Carlos Mendoza is gravely ill and requests all his money and property goes to Marina Quincy. The family haven't heard of this woman and assume she is a mistress.

With only a week to her wedding Charlotte, a wealth councillor, is sent by the Mendoza family’s bank to Spain to find Marina Quincy and offer her a settlement.

1836

Nene Mendoza runs away from her high profile family to join the revolutionists, the people fighting against her family.

The Spanish Promise is a dual time-line story moving from 2018 to 1937.

I loved the historical part of the novel which encompasses the Spanish Civil War. Nene is from a well to do family and being a female her life is very restricted. Nene has a social conscience but she is pushed aside, told to be quiet and ridiculed. She eventually escapes her family to fight for what she feels is right.

The modern day side of the story held me with its mystery. Who was Marina Quincy and how did she connect with the ageing Carlos Mendoza? The story had some great twists that I hadn’t seen coming.

I didn’t particularly like Charlotte or her love interest Nathan. She was a grown woman, and engaged to someone else, mooning over Nathan like a love-sick teenager. Nathan was also unlikeable and the way he treated Charlotte was unforgiveable. That aside, I enjoyed the story it pulled me in, the continuing mystery kept me reading and the twists had me shocked.

The Spanish Promise is an epic tale of love, war, forgiveness and reconciliation.

I am eagerly looking forward to Karen Swan’s next release.

                                 🌟🌟🌟🌟 

My rating  4/5

 

Photo credit : Goodreads

Karen Swan began her career in fashion journalism before giving it all up to raise her three children and a puppy, and to pursue her ambition of becoming a writer. 

Her bestselling novels include the summer romances The Paris Secret and The Rome Affair. 
 
She lives in the forest in Sussex, writing her books in a treehouse overlooking the Downs.