In my youth I was a big fan of Mike Gayle. He wrote fantastic stories for and about women and managed to do it without being smug and pretentious. Check out his early books Mr Commitment and My Legendary Girlfriend to see what I mean. Mike was writing Chick Lit before it became a horribly pastiched genre and these were books that you invested in, with characters that you loved.
I must confess that his most recent books had fallen off my radar so when I was sent this to review there was more than a frisson of interest. The Hope Family are broken. Mother Laura was involved in a horrible car accident a year ago and died. Father Tom is a busy television executive who has thrown himself into his work to try and escape the pain and loss that he feels. Linda, Laura’s mother, has taken charge of the household and is the substitute parent for her two grand daughters. A year after losing Laura she realises that she needs to force Tom to take responsibility for his family and to become more involved in his daughters lives.
I’m so pleased to report that Mike hasn’t lost his touch. This is a beautifully written story with three dimensional characters and people that you’d like to meet. Make sure that you have a tissue handy – there were a few places where I could feel the eyes getting moist as I was reading!
Supplied by Net Galley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
U.K. publication date 16 Jun 2016. 320 pages.
Categories: 4 Stars Book Review
angelnet69
Prolific reader, enthusiastic theatre and movie-goer and ex-Olivier Awards judge who spent twenty years working in the music industry in London. Sharing my house with a gorgeous cockapoo called Harry who has taken over completely.
I love sharing my favourite books with friends - nearly always spoiler-free as I hate reading a synopsis of the whole book in other reviews.
#BookAdvocatesUnite
angelnetreviews.com 
Leave a Reply