BOOK REVIEW: Truly, Madly, Guilty by Liane Moriarty

Six responsible adults. Three cute kids. One small dog. It's just a normal weekend. What could possibly go wrong?
Sam and Clementine have wonderful, albeit, busy life: they have two little girls, Sam has just started a new dream job, and Clementine, a cellist, is busy preparing for the audition of a lifetime. If there's anything they can count on, it's each other.
Clementine and Erika are each other's oldest friends. A single look between then can convey an entire conversation. But theirs is a complicated relationship, so when Erika mentions a last minute invitation to a barbecue with her neighbours, Tiffany and Vid, Clementine and Sam don't hesitate. Having Tiffany and Vid's larger than life personalities there will be a welcome respite.
Two months later, it won't stop raining and Clementine and Sam can't stop asking themselves the question: what if we hadn't gone?

Publisher: Penguin

Pages: 432

I was so excited when I logged on to Netgalley and saw that the new Liane Moriarty novel was available to review. I think you always feel safe with this author as you know how good she is and Truly, Madly, Guilty did not disappoint.
We know at the start of the book that three couples, Erika and Oliver, Sam and Clementine and Tiffany and Vid attended a long summer barbecue with their children and whilst there something truly awful happened. There were times when I found it a  little annoying when 'what happened at the barbeque' was constantly alluded to but it was worth it when the big reveal happened.
The barbecue is the pivotal event that ties the three couples together but the book is about much more than that. Marriage, relationships, friendship, responsibility, loyalty, love, jealousy, parenting, ambition, and deceit are just a few of the topics covered in the book. As with all Liane Moriarty books, I was amazed by just how much she packs into the story. Each story line felt like it could have been a whole book itself yet it did not feel like they were not covered well.
I think this author is brilliant at exploring the ugly side of relationships. Most of us are lucky enough to be surrounded by people we love and who love us but it doesn't mean that it is all hearts and flowers. Moriarty shows the layers and complexities involved in most relationships and the way they influence our decisions in life.
Truly, Madly, Guilty is another great offering from this talented author and I highly recommend that you add this to your reading pile.

Many thanks to Penguin for allowing me to review this book via Netgalley.

BOOK REVIEW: The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty

One abandoned baby. Two sisters with a secret. One chance to rewrite the past.
Over seventy years have passed since sisters Rose and Connie Doughty found an abandoned baby near their home on the island of Scribbly Gum. With no one to take care of it, Rose and Connie took the baby in as their own.
Since then the 'Munro Baby Mystery' has brought fame and fortune, putting Scribbly Gum on the tourist map, especially for the Island's annual celebration.
But now, with Connie dead and outsider Sophie Honeywell about to move into her home, Rose beings to wonder if they made the right decision all those years ago. How much longer can they cover up the lie that has sustained their community for generations? And what other secrets are about to be revealed?

Publisher: Penguin

Pages: 416

Liane Moriarty is fast becoming the Queen of secrets and lies! All of her books revolve around characters keeping information from each other or bending the truth in some way and The Last Anniversary is no exception.
Sister's Connie and Rose are at the centre of 'The Munro Baby Mystery' the sister's found Alice and Jack Munro's house abandoned and their tiny baby sleeping in the crib. Nobody came forward to claim her so they brought Baby Enigma up as their own.
The sisters and Enigma's children and grandchildren all live in Scribbly Gum Island which has become a very lucrative tourist spot due to the Munro mystery.
It is all thrown into disarray when Connie dies; she leaves her house to Sophie Honeywell, a complete outsider but one who is fascinated by the Island's secrets. Rose, the sister left behind is no longer constrained by Connie to keep the secrets that have been fuelling the island for over seventy years. Rose is tired of the lies but how will the family react to her revelations?
Liane Moriarty is fabulous at drawing the reader into the story from the very beginning. The Last Anniversary is very clever in the way it has a very subtle  but sinister undertone running through it. You know that this twee little island run by two twee little old ladies is not all it seems and then you are intrigued to find out the truth. Moriarty throws in several twists at the end, making this a very memorable book.
The Last Anniversary has been a great start to my reading in the New Year. I very much enjoyed the mystery element of the book and I felt that Liane Moriarty looked at some particularly interesting and serious ideas. I hope that this author has a new book out soon and she just gets better and better.

Many thanks to Katie at Penguin for sending me a copy of the book to review, The Last Anniversary is out now. 

BOOK REVIEW: Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

It was all just a terrible misunderstanding.
Feelings got hurt.
Then everything just spiralled out of control.
Jane hasn't lived anywhere for longer than six months since her son was born five years ago. She keeps moving in an attempt to escape her past. Now the idyllic coastal town of Pirriwee has pulled her to its shores and Jane feels as if she finally belongs. She finds friends in the feisty Madeline and the incredibly beautiful Celeste, two women with seemingly perfect lives and their own secrets.
But at the start of a new term, an incident involving the children of all three women occurs in the playground, causing a rift between them and other parents. Minor at first, but escalating fast, until whispers and rumours become vicious and spiteful, and truths blur into lies. It was always going to end in tears, but no one thought it would end in murder...

Publisher: Penguin

Pages: 452

Liane Moriarty is fast becoming one of my favourite authors; I have read three of her  books now and I think she is a fantastic storyteller.
Little Lies focuses on three mothers, Celeste, Jane and Madeline. Their young children all attend Pirriwee Public School, they become good friends but all three women have secrets that will have huge consequences for the whole community.
The story was set up so well by Liane Moriarty, we know from the very beginning that someone has been murdered at the school trivia night but we don't know who; who by or why. The book goes back in time to build up the events until, that fateful evening. It's very clever as I felt as though I was on the edge of my seat from the very beginning. I was not disappointed  by the ending of the book; it was not what I was expecting at all. Liane Moriarty likes to shock her readers and she does it so well.
In all three of her books the author has written about small, close-knit communities. It was a fantastic idea to set this book in a school community as so many readers will be able to identify with it. The author shows the competitiveness, superiority, cliquishness and tensions in the playground and that is only the parents, not the children. Celeste, Jane and Madeline have no choice but to enter into this world which brings out the best in some and very worst in others.
I don't want to give anything away  about this fantastic book but the plot is gripping and shocking in places; Little Lies is a well thought out book that you will not be able to put down.

Many thanks to Katie at Penguin for sending me a review copy, Little Lies is out now. 

BOOK TOUR: The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

I was really excited when I was asked to taken part in the book tour for Liane Moriarty's new book, The Husband's Secret. I received a copy of the book which has a ridiculously beautiful cover plus a letter which looked like this:

How long did I wait to open the letter? Hmmmmm, about 30 seconds! It's such a good idea though as it made me see
how I would react if in the same position as one of the book's characters. I won't tell you what was in the letter though as I know some people taking part in the tour have far better will-power than me and still haven't opened them! Anyway, let me tell you a little bit about the book and share my review, The Husband's Secret is going to be a big hit, it is a fantastic read!

Imagine your husband wrote you a letter, to be opened after his death. Imagine too, that the letter contains his deepest, darkest secret- something so terrible it would haunt not just the life you built together, but the lives of others too. Imagine then, that you stumble across that letter while your husband is still very much alive...
Cecilia Fitzpatrick achieved it all- she's an incredibly successful businesswoman, a pillar of her small community and a devoted wife and mother. Her life is as orderly and spotless as her home. But that letter is about to change everything and not just for her: Rachel and Tess barely know Cecilia- or each other- but they too are about to feel the earth-shattering repercussions of her husband's devastating secret.
You have to read this book! It is my favourite book of 2013 and I just didn't want it to end. I very much enjoyed Liane Moriarty's previous book What Alice Forgot but I believe that The Husband's Secret is even better and I am so excited as to what this author will do in the future.
Cecilia Fitzpatrick is a loving wife and a mother of beautiful daughters. However, her whole world comes crashing down when she finds a letter from her husband to be read upon his death. But John-Paul is not dead, he is just away on a business trip. There are many references to Pandora's Box in the book and it is a perfect comparison. The letter written by John-Paul acts as a devastating catalyst, it sets off a series of events that will change their lives and those around them forever.
The Husband's Secret is a seriously gripping read as you are constantly asking yourself what would you do, what would you say, how would you react? All of the characters in this book have secrets, some more serious than others; Liane Moriarty looks at why we keep secrets, what our limits are and the consequences of secrets being discovered. Cecilia Fitzpatrick is a particularly interesting character, she is a woman very much in control at the beginning of the book but when she discovers her husband's secret, her life seems to unravel layer by layer and you get a real sense of the burden she feels knowing the truth and the responsibility placed in her hands.
It's hard to review the book without giving the plot away but I urge you to read The Husband's Secret, it is a fascinating book with an intricate plot and it will leave you with so much to think about.

Dot Scribbles Rating: 5/5

Pages: 416

Publisher: Penguin

Many thanks to Penguin for inviting me to take part in this blog tour, here's a little video about this book, it is out now!

GIVEAWAY!!

I have a copy of the brilliant What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty to giveaway! I reviewed this book at the start of the month, you can read my review HERE.

All you have to do is leave me a comment on this giveaway post, I am going to leave this open until midnight on Sunday  27th June and then I shall pick a winner. I am happy to post this worldwide so you are all free to enter! It really is a great book so good luck!!

Book Review: What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

Imagine forgetting the most important ten years of your life.
Alice wakes up on the floor of the gym with a nasty bump on her head, thinking she's still a fun-loving twenty-nine-year-old starting life with her gorgeous husband and pregnant with their first baby.
To her disbelief, it soon transpires the fall has knocked ten years from her memory and she is actually an up-tight thirty-nine-year-old whose idea of a good time is a three hour workout followed by committee meetings with the kind of women she used to despise. How on earth did her life come to this? And more disturbingly how can she not remember giving birth to three children? Why does her husband suddenly hate her? And what can Alice possibly have done that means her beloved sister will barley speak to her?
Seeing herself through fresh eyes, Alice barley recognises or even likes the person she has become. Can she ever find her way back to the woman she used to be?

What Alice Forgot is Liane Moriarty's third novel and the first of hers that I have read. The first page of this book describes Alice having the accident that causes her amnesia. By doing this the reader initially only knows of the Alice from 10 years ago and we find out alongside Alice about the woman she has become in that time. I wasn't sure if I would find the idea of a character losing 10 years of their memory believable. However, the way in which the author threw in little snippets of memories triggered by smells or sounds etc. made it seem far more realistic.
I liked the old Alice much more than the bitter person she had clearly become. I kept turning the pages because I wanted to know what had happened in order to change Alice's personality and outlook on life so drastically. Liane Moriarty's writing style is excellent, she reflects this feeling of amnesia on to the reader. We are in the same situation as Alice, trying to grab on to tiny strands of information in order to see the bigger picture.
The press information that came with the book suggested that it would appeal to women of all ages and I have to completely agree. It really does make you think about the person you were 10 years ago and the ways in which you have changed.
I did really enjoy this book and it held my attention throughout. It's great that it leaves you with a lot to think about and I would definitely recommend it.

Many thanks to Penguin for sending me a copy to review, this book is published on June 3rd.

New to Dot Scribble's Shelves...

I have been good this week and only bought one book but my wish list has got considerably longer!

I bought:
The Point of Rescue by Sophie Hannah (Hodder)- Sally is watching the news with her husband when she hears a name she ought not to recognise: Mark Bretherick.
Last year, a work trip Sally had planned was cancelled at the last minute. Desperate for a break from her busy life juggling her career and a young family, Sally didn't tell her husband that the trip had fallen through. Instead, she booked a week off and treated herself to a secret holiday. All she wanted was a bit of peace- some time to herself- but it didn't work out that way. Because Sally met a man- Mark Bretherick.
All the details are the same: where he lives, his job, his wife Geraldine and daughter Lucy. Except that the man on the news is someone Sally has never seen before. And Geraldine and Lucy Bretherick are both dead...

These two were sent to me by lovely, lovely publishers for review:
The Named by Marianne Curley (Bloomsbury)- Imagine you were able to change the past. By altering one tiny thing, you could start a chain of catastrophic events...
Ethan is Named- he has the ability to travel back in time, where he must use his special skills to try to intercept the dark forces intent on unravelling history. But Ethan is also a normal schoolboy, and leading a single life with a double identity is becoming just too much to handle, especially when even the normal part is getting more and more complicated.

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty (Penguin)- Alice wakes up on the floor of the gym with a nasty bump on her head, thinking she's still a fun-loving twenty-nine year old starting life with her gorgeous husband and pregnant with her first baby.
To her disbelief, it soon transpires the fall has knocked ten years from her memory and she is actually an uptight thirty-nine year old whose idea of a good time is a three-hour workout followed by committee meetings with the kind of women she used to despise. How on earth did her life come to this? And more disturbingly, how can she not remember giving birth to three children? Why does her husband suddenly hate her? And what can Alice possibly have done that means her beloved sister will barely speak to her?
Seeing herself through fresh eyes, Alice barely recognizes or even likes the person she has become. Can she ever find her way back to the woman she used to be?

So there you go, let me know if you have read any of these or heard anything good/bad about them. Hope you all have a lovely Bank Holiday weekend, hopefully there will be some sunshine!