Book Review - The Night You Left by Emma Curtis - #HolidayReading Mexico

The Amazon Purchase link below is an Amazon Affiliate link.

Amazon UK

Title: The Night You Left

Author: Emma Curtis

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Transworld Digital

Publication Date: 22nd July 2019

Rating: 4 Stars

IT ONLY TAKES A MOMENT TO UNRAVEL A PERFECT LIFE . . .

When Grace’s fiancé vanishes without a trace the night after proposing, her life is turned upside down. But has Nick walked out on her, or is he in danger?

As Grace desperately searches for answers, it soon becomes clear that Nick wasn’t the uncomplicated man she thought she knew. And when she uncovers a hidden tragedy from his childhood, she realises an awful truth: that you can run from your past – but your secrets will always catch up with you . . .

Starting off slowly without really being sure how much I was enjoying it, the book builds and builds into something fabulous. 

For every chapter you read, there appear to be more revelations, secrets, realisations and unanswered questions.

It truly is phenomenal just how much this book ultimately pulled me in, confused my mind, and spat me back out again after absorbing a cracking story. 

Told in two time lines, the events that happened in 2000 and 2018,  I somehow took far too long to work out even the most obvious of links between the events. 

I was though drawn into both time lines and very curious as to how everything would turn out. 

It does though pose the question of just how well do you know your partner, and can you be sure they don't have any deep dark hidden secrets.

Another great book from an author that I'm really enjoying reading. 

Thank you to Transworld and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 

Book Review - When I Find You by Emma Curtis

The Amazon Purchase link below is an Amazon Affiliate link.

Amazon UK

Title: When I find You

Author: Emma Curtis

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: Transworld Digital

Publication Date: 1st July 2018

Rating: 5 Stars

What do you do when someone takes advantage of your greatest weakness?

When Laura wakes up after her office Christmas party and sees a man’s shirt on the floor, she is horrified. But this is no ordinary one-night-stand regret.

Laura suffers from severe face-blindness, a condition that means she is completely unable to identify and remember faces. So the man she spent all night dancing with and kissing – the man she thought she’d brought home – was ‘Pink Shirt’.

But the shirt on her floor is blue.

And now Laura must go to work every day, and face the man who took advantage of her condition. The man she has no way of recognising.

She doesn’t know who he is . . . but when she finds him she’ll make him pay.

Utterly fascinating, believe it or not for a psychological thriller, I feel as though I have come out of this book a lot smarter than when I went into it. 

Or at least I have a far better understanding of face blindness - and what a severe sufferer of it would be going through, such as Laura our main character. 

Laura can't recognise faces at all, she can't typically even recognise her own mother, let alone whether the man she had been dancing with at a Christmas party, is the same one she goes home with.  She uses other distinguishing features about a person - and is absolutely horrified when her pink shirted dance partner turns into a blue shirted man she had sex with. 

Now this is where it gets tricky, as it was consensual, she just didn't realise at the time due to the condition that it wasn't the man she thought she was consenting too - which is absolutely terrifying. 

What Laura is sure of is that she won't let whoever it is get away with it - so long as she can work out just who she was in bed with. 

So we have Laura's story and running alongside it, Rebecca's.  Rebecca is Laura's boss and doesn't seem like the nicest of women. Her story isn't as compelling but still interesting to read, especially as you get to see some things from multiple perspectives. 

Whenever I wasn't reading this, it was playing on my mind. which is the sign of a good book, and the last I'm not sure how much it was, but I couldn't put it down. I was completely engrossed and hooked on just how everything would resolve itself. 

This is the second book I've now read from Emma Curtis and I'm already eager to see what her next will be. Clearly my love of her first wasn't a fluke and she is now definitely an author I want to keep reading. 

Thank you to Transworld and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 

Book Review - One Little Mistake by Emma Curtis - Fab Firsts

Fab Firsts is my new regular Sunday feature, that is going to be highlighting books that are firsts. When interviewing authors, it will be about their first book, as well as other firsts in their lives. When reviewing books for this feature, there will be a mix of debuts, first books in a series, the first time I read an author, and possibly other firsts depending on what I can think of!

If you are an author wanting to take part in Fab Firsts then please do email on gilbster at gmail dot com and I'll whizz the questions over to you.

I hope you enjoy this look at a variety of hopefully fabulous firsts, while making some sort of dent in my review and paperback TBRs which are my current main focus!

One Little Mistake is Emma Curtis' first psychological suspense novel, and given it had been staring at me since I won it from Dead Good, I figured I should probably read it!

Amazon UK

Title: One Little Mistake

Author: Emma Curtis

Format reviewed: Paperback 

Source: Competition Win

Publisher: Transworld Digital

Publication Date: 23rd February 2017

Rating: 4 Stars

Vicky Seagrave is blessed: three beautiful children, a successful, doting husband, great friends and a job she loves. She should be perfectly happy.

When she risks everything she holds dear on a whim, there's only person she trusts enough to turn to.

But Vicky is about to learn that one mistake is all it takes; that if you're careless with those you love, you don't deserve to keep them . . . 

I'm still reeling from the finale of this book, especially having been convinced very early on how I was expecting everything to turn out, but the reality was far more dramatic and a lot more gripping than my imagination was ever going to think! 

The story is all about how one quick minor absences of common sense or judgment can affect your life in ways far outside of your control. With the mistake that Vicky makes, as she was making it I was cursing myself for picking up another of a certain subset of psychological thriller, so soon after reading others with similar themes, thankfully I couldn't have been more wrong if I tried, although there are elements present. 

The story is told both from Vicky's point of view, but also of a girl 18 years ago, who is going through a tough time. Unfortunately due to what I believe to be an error in my proof copy very early on, I pretty much knew how the stories were connected, but even with that info it still wasn't enough to prepare me for the details of the way they converge. 

As a warning - I'm not sure how related it is but the night after I read the first 200 pages of this book, I had a horrifically disturbing dream, and when I came to from it, I had the books name in my mind over and over. Perhaps don't read this too close to bed time. 

I found the story quite easy to follow and I liked the way that Emma Curtis portrayed the characters and the way the action ramped up throughout the book. The more I read the more involved I was, and the more I was thinking about the book, when I wasn't reading.  If it hadn't been for my commute I probably wouldn't have put down the last 100 pages or so! 

One Little Mistake will make you question your friendships, and just what you would do if you make a very small spur of the moment decision, knowing that it could haunt you forever.