My Top 10 reads of 2015

It’s been an absolute nightmare trying to choose my top 10 reads of the year, but I have finally done it and without intentionally hurting any author’s feelings, here goes……

1. A Memory of Violets by Hazel Gaynor – I read this whilst I was on holiday in August and can honestly say it brought me to tears. Written beautifully with a gorgeous cover and the text inside is the best I have seen in a paperback with lovely drawings at the top of the pages and throughout. Utterly stunning read that will leave you wanting more!

2. The Island by Victoria Hislop – I had this book on my bookshelf for more years than I care to divulge, but again, when I went on holiday my good friend recommended I take this one. This book made me cry more than once, but it is so beautifully written that I can’t wait to read more of Victoria’s work and I hope to get to an event to finally meet her as I couldn’t make the ones this year!

3. River of Souls by Kate Rhodes – It’s not a secret that I am Kate’s number one fan and this book is the fourth in the Alice Quentin series (and in my humble opinion, her best!). It has nothing to do with the fact that my name is mentioned in the acknowledgements!!

4. All The Dark Secrets by Jennie Felton – I loved this book so much and am determined to read the second instalment soon as I just adore family sagas! I loved the characters and the way their lives turn around in the face of tragedy. I just loved it!

5. The Girl Who Wouldn’t Die by Marnie Riches – I hosted the first book on my blog as my very first Blog Tour but I think this second book in the George Mackenzie series is even better (I think this might be a trend, so can’t wait for the next instalment!!).

6. No Place for A Lady by Gill Paul – This is an historical wartime novel, again which I love! It came out during the year and one of the battles was in Gallipoli, which was very poignant as it was the anniversary of the battle in WWI.

7. The Day we Disappeared by Lucy Robinson – There is a twist, that’s all I’m saying!! Loved it and can’t wait for the next one!

8. The Piano Man Project by Kat French – This was a great read. Very funny and Hal is a character who just stays with you (mostly for all of the wrong reasons!!!).

9. Rings of Smoke by Diane O’Toole - this one scared the pants out of me with a very creepy main character, but a book that I couldn't put down!

10. Make a Christmas Wish by Julia Williams - This was the first Christmas book I read this year and by far my favourite! I will read this one again and again! Made me laugh one page and then cry like a baby on the next page! Loved it!

All the Dark Secrets by Jennie Felton 

I begged the author and her publisher constantly for a copy of this book and boy am I glad I did!! The author also writes under the name of Amelia Carr and I have read most of her books and loved them so I knew I would feel the same about this one. 

All the Dark Secrets is the first novel in a series, mostly about the Donovan family who live in a mining community in a row of houses where the majority of the men in the family work down the pit. Maggie Donovan is the only daughter of Patrick and Rose and she has 3 brothers. Billy is her youngest brother and I really fell in love with his character, as he was so gentle and sensitive, but always getting picked on by the other boys in the street.

Sometimes with family sagas you can get confused as there seem to be a lot of characters, but the author expertly explains who each character is and I totally admired Maggie and could just imagine what she looked like with her dark hair and “Irish eyes”!

Sometimes with books if there is a dark, nasty character, it makes me really anxious (but I think that is extremely good as it means the author has done a good job in describing what the character is like!!) and this book was no exception! Reuben is a spoilt, selfish, nasty, manipulative (need I go on!!!) excuse of a man and it made my heart race whenever I was reading about what he was getting up to, but I loved the suspense of it all!

This book has everything a family saga should have – happiness, extreme sadness, love, death, births etc but above all it was a real page turner and even though I am not a particularly fast reader, I read it in a couple of days. The only thing now is that I will have to wait until September for the next instalment which will be called The Miner’s Daughter. Thank you Jennie for writing such a wonderful book. The only down side now is that I am having a serious book hangover!! 

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