Wednesday, 8 April 2020

Book Review - Messy, Wonderful Us by Catherine Isaac

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Title: Messy, Wonderful Us
Author: Catherine Isaac
Format reviewed: Ebook
Source: Netgalley
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: 5th March 2020
Rating: 4 Stars

From Richard & Judy Book club author Catherine Isaac comes the emotional and uplifting story of love, loss, friendship and a letter that changes everything.

In late 1983, a letter arrives from Italy, containing secrets so unthinkable that it is hidden away, apparently forever. More than three decades later, it is found . . . by the last person who was ever supposed to see it.

When Allie opens an envelope in her grandmother’s house, it changes everything she knows about her family - and herself.

With the truth liable to hurt those she loves most, she hires a private detective to find out what happened to her late mother in the summer before Allie was born. Taking leave from her job as a research scientist, she is led to the sun-drenched shores of Lake Garda, accompanied by her best friend Ed.

But the secrets that emerge go far beyond anything they were expecting. Now, 

Messy really is just the word to describe the family and friend dynamics in this book.  The further in you get into the story, the more you realise nothing is quite as it seems. 

There are secrets spanning three generation of Allie's family and you slowly get the real story filtering through in amongst the present day activities. 

In addition to Allie, we get chapters from Ed's point of view. He is Allie's best friend and again we get their story from childhood to present day story told interlinked with the current action. 

i was taken completely by surprise from most of this story, and it take in some tough issues too, which added another dimension to it. 

There is a big mystery that leads Allie and Ed, to Italy, and I loved the whole section in Italy. Including seeing Lake Garda and then Portofino. The scenery was described so well, I could have been there. 

The characters all seemed really realistic and there is no doubting that the book is well written.  I did find the timeline jumping back and forth was confusing at first with no real indicators, but I soon got into the swing of the book. 

This is a book that certainly kept me on my toes and I really did enjoy it. 

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and Bookouture for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

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