Book Review: Sidney Sheldon's After the Darkness by Tilly Bagshawe

Grace Brookstein is young, beautiful and the wife of billionaire Lenny Brookstein when the US stock market goes into a terrifying free fall. Oblivious and seemingly unscathed, Grace continues her charmed life, until the death of her husband in a tragic sailing "accident" forces her to face reality. Was it possible that Lenny had conned thousands of people out of millions of dollars to live like a king, and how much did Grace know?
Untangling a spiralling web is vicious lies and well planned deceit, Grace soon puts her own life in danger in an attempt to prove her innocence.

Tilly Bagshawe writing as Sidney Sheldon is excellent, this book is full of glamour, sex, intrigue and mystery. I have never actually read a Sidney Sheldon book but I shall be catching up with his other books, what a great way to continue his legacy by introducing new readers to his writing in this way.
After the Darkness is set in the recent crash of the US stock market so obviously it is extremely relevant to readers who have watched the real life events unfold across the world. Lenny Brookstein runs a Hedge fund which in itself is shrouded in mystery. Tilly Bagshawe explores how many people benefited from extraordinary wealth without ever questioning where it came from.
Grace Brookstein embodies this unquestioning nature, married to Lenny and surrounded by glamour, wealth and opulence, she never once stopped to wonder where all the money came from as she was too busy spending it. All of this changes though with Lenny's death and I loved seeing the transformation in Grace. She is stripped of everything with no-one to turn to for support and the interesting part of the story is that she doesn't necessarily mourn the loss of wealth but instead begins to look at the simplicity of life without it. Grace's first instinct is to gain the truth, this sends her on a terrifying journey where she is constantly putting her own life at risk.
I read After the Darkness in one day as I didn't want to put it down. Each twist and turn just left me wanting more, I would highly recommend this excellent book.

Many thanks to Harper for sending me a copy of this book to review, it is published today.

Book Review: Scandalous by Tilly Bagshawe

Sasha Miller goes to Cambridge University with a dream, and leaves a broken woman. After losing her heart to sexy professor Theo Dexter, she departs in a scandal.
Meanwhile, as Theo becomes a television heartthrob, his long suffering wife Theresa realises that trust and fidelity are two words her husband doesn't understand. His betrayal is deeper than any cut.
Years later the two women will unite in a daring scheme to bring down the man who almost destroyed them both. It took them years to realise how one man could cause so much pain, but now they are determined he will regret the day he entered both of their lives...

This book was so good! It is a proper romp of a read, I didn't want to put it down once I had started it. I read some Jackie Collins books when I was a teenager and this reminded me of them, only it is much more up to date and scandalous. Tilly Bagshawe weaves a gripping story of glamour, lust, sex, betrayal, scandal and absolute greed.
Sasha Miller was my favourite character, we see her develop from a shy and naive undergraduate into a hugely successful businesswoman, hell bent on getting her revenge. Her target is Theo Dexter, the man she views as having ruined her life. He is a brilliant villain; handsome, charming and out for everything he can get, he doesn't care who he steps on along the way.
Scandalous takes place in the beautiful university city of Cambridge, the glamour of Hollywood and the high-powered business centre that is New York. As we travel from location to location we learn more and more about the characters and the shocking lengths they will go to in order to get what they want.
Scandalous is such an entertaining read, it would be perfect as a holiday book as you need to be prepared that once you have started you will probably want to finish it in one go. I am now definitely a Tilly Bagshawe fan, I shall be catching up with her other books.

Many thanks to the lovely people at Harper for sending me a copy to review, Scandalous is published today!

New to Dot Scribbles Shelves

It's been a very good week here at Dot Scribbles, lots of lovely books popping through the letter box!!

I had two for review this week:

Scandalous by Tilly Bagshawe (Harper Collins- Published 24th June) Sasha Miller goes to Cambridge University with a dream, and leaves a broken woman. After losing her heart to sexy professor Theo Dexter, she departs in a scandal.
Meanwhile, as Theo becomes a television heart-throb, his long suffering wife Theresa realises that trust and fidelity are two words that her husband doesn't understand. His betrayal is deeper than any cut.
Years later the two women will unite in a daring scheme to bring down the man who almost destroyed them both. It took them years to realise how one man could cause so much pain, but now they are determined he will regret the day he entered both of their lives...

Forest Born by Shannon Hale (Bloomsbury- Published 12th July) Growing up in the Forest, Rin always turns to the trees when she needs peace or reassurance, then one day she senses a change. Rin knows that something bad is happening, and maybe she will find answers in the city. But a mysterious threat haunts Bayern too, and Rin must join the magical fire sisters- Isi, Enna and Dasha- before venturing back into the woods towards the kingdom of Kel, to face what lies in wait for them.
Shannon Hale once again proves herself an irresistible storyteller, bringing readers back to a world rich with plot twists and a little dose of magic.

I bought one book after reading Simon's fantastic review over at Savidge Reads:

Peyton Place by Grace Metalious ( Virago Modern Classics) Switch off those TVs, kill your mobiles and settle down with the most controversial book ever written. Once denounced as 'wicked', 'sordid', 'cheap moral filth', Peyton Place was the top read of its time, selling millions of copies worldwide.
Way before Twin Peaks, Survivor or Big Brother, the curtains were twitching in the mythical New England town of Peyton Place, and this soapy story exposed the dirty secrets of 1950's small town America: incest, abortion, adultery, repression and lust.

I swapped three books this week:

The Magic Cottage by James Herbert (Pan Books)- We thought we'd found our haven, a cottage deep in the heart of the forest. Charming, maybe a little run-down, but so peaceful. That was the first part fo the Magic. Midge's painting and my music soared to new heights of creativity. That was another part of the Magic. Our love for each other- well that became the supreme Magic. But the cottage had an alternative side. The Bad Magic.
What happened to us there was horrendous beyond belief. The healings, the crazy sect who wanted our home for themselves, the hideous creatures that crawled from the nether regions, and the bats- oh God, the bats! Even now those terrible things seem impossible to me. Yet they happened...

The Dark by James Herbert- It came like a malignant shadow with seductive promises of power. And somewhere in the night... A small girl smiled as her mother burned... Asylum inmates slaughtered their attendants... In slimy tunnels, once-human creatures gathered. Madness raged as the lights began to fade and humanity was attacked by an ancient, unstoppable evil...The Dark.

Chocolate Wishes by Tricia Ashley (Avon) Life is sweet for chocolate maker Chloe Lyon. In the picture-perfect Lancashire village of Sticklepond Chloe dispenses inspirational sweet treats containing a prediciton for each customer. If only her own life was as easy to forecast- perhaps Chloe could have foreseen being jilted at the altar...
 But when a new Vicar arrives in the village, the rumour mill goes into overdrive. Not only is Raffy Sinclair the charismatic ex-frontman of rock band 'Mortal Ruin', he's also Chloe's first love and the man who broke her heart.
Try as she might, Chloe can't ignore this blast from her past. Could now be the time for her to make a wish- and dare to believe it come true?

So there you go, let me know if you have read any of these! Also as you can see by the James Herbert books, I am dipping my toe back into the horror genre, I used to love reading books like that so if you have an recommendations then please pass them on as I am a bit behind on what's good and what's not at the moment!