CLP Blog Tours Book Review: Family, Friends and Lovers Collection …

Sophie King is now on tour with CLP Blog Tours and her Family, Friends and Lovers Collection
Summary:
Love is a Secret:

Caroline is finding it difficult to trust her husband Roger. Can a marriage really survive an affair? Then a chance meeting makes her wonder if it’s time for a fresh start….

Susan is struggling to bring up her disabled daughter Tabitha on her own, and dreams of a better life for them both. But just when it seems things can’t get any worse, a knock at the door changes everything.

Mark is learning how to be a single dad while his wife Hilary is away. But as he wrestles with the secrets he is keeping from his family, he’s blissfully unaware of the secrets they’re keeping from him.

Lisa is looking forward to the birth of her child. Will a new baby help her get over the past? Whatever that is…

Sometimes you have to keep a secret from the one you love – and sometimes you have to keep the one you love a secret.

Sophie King’s novel The School Run was a recent top ten Kindle bestseller and #1 in Amazon’s Women Writers and Fiction chart. It was also chosen as one of Chick Lit Central’s favourite novels of 2012.

Second Time Lucky:

Second Time Lucky: Another engaging tale of love and life from Sophie King, the bestselling author of The School Run. Meet the residents of Bridgewater House, once a grand stately home, but now converted into apartments which house a host of colourful characters, each with their own desires and secrets.

Louise thought she had everything, then suddenly finds herself as a single mum with an uncertain future. Can she build a new life for her and her children? And has real happiness been right under her nose all along?

Roddy was once the heir to Bridgewater House, but now he’s a drunken lord who’s fallen on hard times. Can he prove to his ex-wife that he has cleaned up his act, or is he about to risk everything in a desperate scheme to show how much he loves his kids?

Molly is a famous actress, coming to terms with retirement and the recent death of her actor husband Gideon. But dare she tell anyone that Gideon still comes to visit her? And how will she react to some unexpected messages from beyond the grave?

American Marcie always fantasised about marrying an English gentleman, just like one of her Jane Austen heroines. But will two resentful stepchildren, and failed attempts to have a baby of her own, get in the way of her dream happy ending? And what would her husband David make of her secret shame from the past?

As each of these neighbours faces their own challenges, their lives are about to become entwined in ways they never could have expected.

Second Time Lucky – doesn’t everyone deserve a second chance?

The School Run:

Meet Harriet, Pippa, Evie, Nick, Kitty and Martine as they battle the daily school run. Share their ups and downs during one life-changing week, as they face relationship dilemmas, family dramas, secrets and lies…all leading to surprise events which cause their lives to collide.

‘There is a lot for women to relate to here.’ Katie Fforde

Harriet doesn’t know whether she’ll still have a marriage by the end of the week. But as she waits for her husband’s decision about their relationship, does Harriet have more choices of her own than she realised?

Pippa is waiting too – for the results of medical tests that could bring devastating news about her health and future. But could it be Pippa’s own actions that threaten all she holds dear?

Evie is struggling with her high-pressure job on a magazine and dealing with two step-daughters who hate her. But when her husband disappears can she rise to her biggest challenge yet?

Widower Nick worries about his teenage daughter, Julie, as they approach the anniversary of her mother’s death. Can Nick keep his guilty secret about how she died?

School teacher Kitty needs a man. At least that’s what her friend Mandy tells her. Can she win Mandy’s bet to find one by the end of the week?

Martine is unhappy as the au pair for a famous TV couple. Will she find her escape with a married man?

Meanwhile, Betty watches on, determined to find the hit and run driver who killed her young son…

Seven people living different lives, but their paths are destined to cross in ways they could never have imagined.

Review:

I love finding a good new collection, and a new author at that. All three books are engaging and have full casts of vibrant characters. The School Run interested me the most, especially Nick’s story, which I thought was different as I usually lean towards a woman’s POV. Love is a Secret was also quite intriguing to read, because there is a lot of mystery and well – secrets – that characters are hiding, and it makes the book fast-paced because you want to uncover them. Overall, a wonderful collection of novels and I’ll need to look more into Sophie King after this!
4 stars