Not My Daughter by Suzy K. Quinn [BLOG TOUR]

July 13, 2020 innah9613 Comments

Not My Daughter by Suzy K Quinn HQ Blog Tour Book review blogger blogging diary of difference diary of difference

★★★★

I am so happy to have the opportunity to be part of the blog tour for Not My Daughter by Suzy K. Quinn. Thank you to the team at HQ, for sending me an e-copy in exchange for an honest review. Have a look at the Blog Tour Banner below and check out the other bloggers.

About The Author:

Suzy K Quinn is a British fiction author, and writes in three different genres: psychological thriller, comedy and romance. She was first published by Hachette in 2010 with her debut novel Glass Geishas (now Night Girls), then self-published a romance series, the Ivy Lessons, which became an international bestseller and a #1 Kindle romance bestseller in the US and UK.

After her second daughter was born in 2013, she self-published the Bad Mother’s Diary series, which also went on to become a #1 Kindle romantic comedy bestseller. Suzy K Quinn’s novels have been translated into 7 languages and her books have sold over ¾ million copies worldwide.

She lives in Wivenhoe, Essex, with her husband Demi and two daughters, and travels to Mexico every year to write and study Mayan story telling. Suzy loves her family, friends and readers, but when pushed to add more to the list, she also loves travelling, food and alcohol.

Synopsis:

Lorna has been trying to protect her daughter Liberty for sixteen years. There are dark secrets from her past about her father that Lorna wishes her daughter never finds out. Liberty’s father is a monster, and the best solution is to hide. Forever.

But Liberty has other plans. One day, Liberty decides to find her father, no matter the cost. And Lorna can’t protect her if she doesn’t know where she went…

My Thoughts:

I really enjoyed Not My Daughter. It was a novel that kept me on my toes throughout the whole book and I was eager to know what happens in the end and who the true villain is.

We begin the story in one way, where we have an idea of who the bad person is, and how Lorna is the protector. But once we start reading more, this story becomes more twisted, and we don’t know who to trust anymore. This is something I see in books quite often, but it is not usually as well-written. Suzy did an amazing job writing this part, and making us switch sides as she wanted us to.

The ending was not predictable at all, although, it was a bit unrealistic. However, it really fit nicely with the whole story and I cannot be dissapointed.

It is interesting to see how the mother-daughter relationship develops. But more so, how a relationship forms when a daughter wants to get to know her father, no matter what. You meet this person that you share genes with, and you want them to like you. You want them to accept you, like nothing happened. We could see this wish in Liberty as she meets her father – the need to be accepted as a daughter.

I would recommend this book to everyone that loves mystery thrillers. It is a one of a kind, and a very well-written one too.

Book Review · Books

The Hopes and Triumphs of the Amir Sisters by Nadiya Hussain [BOOK REVIEW]

June 30, 2020 innah96Leave a comment

★★★

The Hopes and Triumphs of the Amir Sisters by Nadiya Hussain was on my TBR, but I didn’t have the paperback version of the book yet. When I noticed there is an audiobook available from my library, I decided to go ahead and listen to it while I was solving my jigsaw puzzle.

The Hopes and Triumphs of the Amir Sister is the third book in a series that features the Amir sisters. In this book the spotlight is on Mae, the youngest sister of them all. I haven’t read the other two books, but I hope they are better than this one.

Mae was a very annoying character.

And the fact that she was the main character in this book was probably the main reason I didn’t enjoy listening to this book. She has grown up watching her sisters be in the spotlight, living their lives, getting married, having children. She has always been there to help them with everything they might need, because that is her responsibility as their sister.

When Mae heads to university, she fails to fit into any group and make friends. Whenever she goes home and tries to talk about her university life, her stories are lost to the more important stories of her sisters and their babies. Mae feels angry and upset, which leads to her making some decisions that are perhaps unlike her, and also hide some important news from the whole family.

I think the whole family had many issues as a whole, and each individual member had problems on their own.

It is possible that I have never read about a more dysfunctional family that doesn’t work together, but pretends it does. I have seen families that just accept the fact that something is wrong. But this family just keeps going in this weird direction, and it made me uncomfortable throughout the whole journey.

The book in itself handles a lot of sensitive topics, such as sexual advances, public shaming on social media when women put makeup on the train, racism, sexuality, religion, cultural beliefs etc. I felt that this was the only bright spot in the book, to make the readers aware of what is happening, and how some characters respond to it.

Mae was the character I couldn’t relate to the most. Her thoughts and opinions, her way of seeing life was just something I did not agree with. I can understand that she might have been living in a bubble her whole life before moving to university. However, to be so unaware of the outside world and the people around it was just beyond me. I couldn’t agree with how she accepted defeat as something that comes to her by default, and how she was so uninterested to do anything that can make her happier. Refusing to improve in any way is a big character flaw, and I cannot agree with it.

Honestly, I did not enjoy The Hopes and Triumphs of the Amir Sisters.

I am not sure why, but there was so much unnecessary drama, without any real reasoning behind it. Perhaps the fact that I consumed this book as an audiobook has something to do with it as well. The narrator’s voice was really annoying and high-pitched.

The ending was average and very predictable. I didn’t feel as if the characters actually learnt anything in particular about themselves or each other. In conclusion, this book was not for me and I didn’t enjoy it.

Blog Tour · Book Review · Books

The Wives by Tarryn Fisher [BLOG TOUR]

June 26, 2020 innah9610 Comments

★★★

The Wives by Tarryn Fisher is a very fast-paced domestic thriller. Expect many plot twists and disturbing revelations.

Synopsis:

Thursday is married to Seth. But he has two other wives, that he sees during the week. Thursday gets to see Seth on Thursday, while the other wives each have a day for themselves as well. The main rule is – she is not supposed to know the other wives, nor contact them.

When Thursday finds the name of his newest wife, Hannah, in Seth’s pocket, she does what every woman would – looks her up. She meets up with Hannah under a false name, trying to find out more about her and the husband that they share. But Hannah is not only pregnant with Seth’s baby; she also has bruises on her body. Is Seth capable of that? The Seth she is married to?

Realising she might not know who Seth really is, Thursday is on a mission to find out as much as possible about him and the other two wives, before he realises something’s up. With many twists and turns, Thursday realises things are not as they seem. At all.

My Thoughts:

The first half of the book gives us the idea of the situation. From Thursday’s point of view, we get a glimpse of a very rare situation. How a woman feels when she is sharing a man with other women. The challenges and worries this entails. The constant battle to be better than the others, even though she doesn’t know them. The constant curiosity to know how they treat him, whether they are more beautiful than her, whether they can give him more than she can. The battle with herself, on why isn’t she enough. Why does he need other women to be happy? The loss of her baby, that changed everything.

The second half of the book is filled with plot twists, and I cannot say much more without revealing anything. It involves finding out the truth, violence, mental health hospital and many lies told by many people. I was very disappointed with the ending, and I will have to explain why below.

* SPOILER ALERT – The below paragraph contains spoilers.

During the book, we kept having more and more plot twists. The story started becoming more and more twisted and tricky to unravel. And then, a few chapters before the end, the author explains this as one of Thursday’s delusions. Seth divorced her when they lost the baby, but she could never move on and started believing this delusion that he has multiple wives. However, there are many inconsistencies to this, and they are all left for us to believe they are part of Thursday’s delusions. Also, there are facts that don’t correspond. He still came to see her every Thursday (which was explained as cheating). Furthermore. he stole money from her bank account. He brewed some weird tea for her before she lost her baby. Somehow, I keep thinking that the plot became too twisted for the author as well, and she just decided to blame it all on Thursday’s delusions.

SPOILER FINISHED.

I am still unsure on how I feel about this book. Perhaps I would’ve been more satisfied if the explanation and the ending were different. The very last scene was shocking, and completely out of character. I cannot understand why this is how the book ended and I am very conflicted. This type of plot seems very similar to other books I have read before, and I don’t find it unique. However, I read this book in a day and it did intrigue me to find out more. Once you start reading, you cannot put this book down. But once you get to the ending, there is the conflict of whether it was a good ending of such a twisty book.

I definitely recommend it, if you love this genre. It will keep you on your toes. It also might make you think whether your husband has other wives as well. Just kidding 🙂

BLOG TOUR

This review is part of the blog tour for The Wives, organised by the HQ Team. Thank you to the publisher and the author, for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Please check out the other bloggers below:

Blog Tour · Book Review · Books

Just My Luck by Adele Parks [BLOG TOUR]

May 16, 2020 innah96Leave a comment

Just My Luck by Adele Parks HQ Blog tour book review books blog blogging diary of difference diaryofdifference

★★★★

What would you do if you win the lottery?

What happens when a person suddenly has a chance to be rich? Just My Luck by Adele Parks is a brutal book about bad luck, betrayals, friendships and most importantly – how life can change in just one moment.

For fifteen years, Lexi and Jake have played the same six numbers with their friends. Over dinners, they have discussed many important things over the years: kids, marriages, houses and jobs… But one Saturday night, there is an argument in the group. Someone is lying. And then, six numbers come up on the lottery that are about to change everything.

Lexi and Jake have the winning ticket for almost £18 million. And their friends want their share in it…

My Thoughts:

I dived into this book completely unprepared. I only knew that someone wins the lottery, but I wasn’t too familiar with the synopsis. And trust me – it was better for me to explore it all throughout the book.

We follow the story mostly focused on Lexi’s point of view, however, we also get a glimpse of other people’s stories as well, which I think for me was refreshing and kept the pace moving in a nice manner.

Not only do we meet different characters in this book, but we also meet different personalities, with different motivations, dreams and life goals. When Lexi and Jake realised they have won the lottery, they both behave in a very different way.

Lexi is the one that wants to keep things as normal as they are, plan for their future, have small luxuries and then keep the rest of the money mostly as savings, and donate some of it to charity and try to help other people.

Jake, on the other side, wants to enjoy the money they won, and spend it on a new house, new car, be part of the upper class and hire driver services for his children, when they move to a private school.

The relationship between Lexi and Jake will begin to change, as they both will change during this period. This book is a perfect summary of what money may actually do to people and relationships, and how it may help them or destroy them completely.

I loved the drama where the friends were involved as well, also when the children played their part as well into the whole situation. It is crazy to see how easily children can be manipulated by words and wealth too, in their own little worlds.

I really wished I have seen more of Toma’s story and point of view, and had a proper closure to his chapter. His story was definitely my favorite one for sure!

If you are a fan of thrillers and drama, you will definitely enjoy this book. It will keep you on the edge until the very last chapter. And that last chapter will change everything! Let me know once you’ve read it, because I am dying to talk to someone about that last revelation!

I am extremely lucky to be part of the blog tour organised by the amazing team at HQ! Thank you for this opportunity, and thank you for sending me this book in exchange for my review! Check out the other amazing participants of this blog tour as well:

Blog Tour · Book Review · Books

Q by Christina Dalcher [BLOGGER TAKEOVER]

April 29, 2020April 29, 2020 innah9610 Comments

Q by Christina Dalcher book review blogger takeover HQ HarperCollins Harper Collins dystopia dystopian mystery adventure diary of difference diaryofdifference

★★★★

I am quite happy to announce I am part of the Blogger Takeover for Q by Christina Dalcher. Many thanks to Izzy and the HQ Team, for sending me an ARC copy of this book!

Elena is a teacher at one of the most prestigious schools in America. Her daughters are just like her: ambitious, smart, beautiful and perfect.

Elena is happily married to Malcolm, who is the man that is in charge in the new tier system in the country. Every month, everyone has to undergo a number of tests to determine their Q. The “Q” is a quotient that is based on every metric: genetics, IQ, social status, past history, etc. Depending on the Q number, people are split into three different tiers:

SILVER

The top tier, prestigious schools, money and social status. Always first in line for everything. Privileged. The best. Perfect. The (only) humans that America wants.

GREEN

The middle tier. Not the best, could be better. If they improve their scores, they could upgrade to silver again, but most statistics show that you can only go down from here.

YELLOW

The bottom tier. People that hop on the yellow bus are taken to the state schools, and there are rumours about the kind of places they are taken to. These people are last in line for everything.

As usual, justice boils down to how high you can keep your Q rating.

When one of Elena’s daughters fails the tests and is sent with the yellow bus, Elena makes the choice of failing the test herself on purpose, only to join her daughter. The things she is about to see and experience are worse than you could ever imagine!

My Thoughts:

Q is one of those books that is based in a fictional world, but it certainly makes you see the similarities with today’s society. It dives into a dystopian world that might as well be a future one for us, if we don’t acknowledge the fact how our society works today.

The story is told from Elena’s point of view, both in the present time and the past. As we move through the book we get to know Elena better as a mother, as a wife and as a person. I loved the fact that we were slowly finding out facts about her, sometimes as she did as well. Along that, we also get to see how her choices in the past played a huge impact into her present.

Choices don’t matter when they’ve already been made.

But I think what matters in this book is the consequences of all these people making choices, especially Elena. And sometimes, it may be too late to fix something that has gone out of control.

Elena’s perspective as a mother was very emotional in every single way. Even though I wasn’t a mother, I could still feel what Elena was feeling. I loved the fact she cared so much about Freddie, that she chose to fail her tests and get moved to the state school too. However, I also feel that she somehow left Anne out of the picture. It was as if Elena and Freddie were one team, while Anna and Malcolm were another, even before Freddie failed her test.

On the other side, we had Malcolm.

The husband, the father and also the man in charge of the tier system. A very cold human, with no remorse, no empathy, very arrogant and extremely manipulative. Watching Elena’s relationship with him reveal and uncover scenes from the past was an interesting concept I enjoyed about this book. We also had a small opportunity to find about how the two daughters felt as well. Children are able to feel something is wrong with their parents or their lives. They have their own opinions as well, that define the actions they might made. This was beautifully shown in a few scenes in the book.

It is definitely important to mention Elena’s parents and grandmother. Oma is a queen and I loved her! She made me crack up and made me cry. She made me miss my grandma a lot! Here’s to all Omas!

Christina’s writing is really admirable. She managed to tell us all the facts about life that we already know in another light. This Is something I really admired throughout the book, and here is a paragraph I really enjoyed:

Any child knows time slows down in the days before Christmas; any bride knows time speeds up during a wedding reception. And any mother knows time flies in the years after she gives birth.

It was very interesting to read a book that takes on society tiers in such an extreme way. We may not be aware, but this is happening to us on daily basis. Not to the degree as described in the book, but it is definitely going in that direction.

We get separated into groups since we are little kids in school. Someone is always picked first, and someone is always last. Then we grow up, and we think we’re past it. But before we know it, some of our friends have other friends and we get separated again, based on our work, neighbourhood, background, physical appearance, nowadays even social media status.

Even though fiction, Q still touches home, and that it why I love this book. Because it’s as real as it is fictional.

And it will hurt you to the core.

Tag: hq

Not My Daughter by Suzy K. Quinn [BLOG TOUR]