Another Love. Amanda Prowse

Another Love
Amanda Prowse
Published: Head of Zeus
Date: February 11th 2016
Format: e-ARC
Pages: 368
Genre: Fiction
Source: Thanks to Publisher via NetGalley
Rating:
                      

Romilly had worked hard for her stunning, modern house in one of Bristol's most fashionable suburbs. She adored her gorgeous, gap-toothed daughter and her kind and handsome husband. Sure, life was sometimes exhausting - but nothing that a large glass of wine at the end of the day couldn't fix.

But then, as deep-buried insecurities surfaced, everything started to unravel. A glass of wine became a bottle; one bottle became two. Once, Romilly's family were everything to her. Now, after years of hiding the drinking, she must finally admit that she has found another love...

Romilly - wife of David, eventually mother of Celeste has it all, yet there is an insecurity to her. She is beautiful and intelligent, and an etymologist. In spite of having what seems like everything, she finds Another Love.  In this story Amanda Prowse explores the depths of where a woman can descend when her life becomes ruled by the need to reach for alcohol. Whenever something triggers her anxiety or insecurity Romilly reaches for the bottle.

For some time she manages to keep her family life and work ticking over, however there comes a time when her friends and husband call her on her drinking. Yet Romilly is not ready to face the problem, as far as she is concerned she is not an alcoholic. The woman who moves into the next door house is no help and often leads Romilly off on a drinking binge.

This is not an easy book to read. Prowse does not spare us in the details of the aftermath of a drinking binge. Those details are raw and saddening. She shows us what can be lost when the ravages of alcoholism are rampant. Anyone who has seen a family member go beyond them into the ravages of drugs or alcohol, will know the anguish, anger and powerlessness that family members feel as they see their loved one claimed by the addiction.

The story is told mostly in the third person but from the point of view of Rom. Interspaced with this are short first person accounts by Celeste her daughter. From her viewpoint we see what it is like for the child of an alcoholic parent.  Heartache for both her and Rom, the mother/daughter relationship damaged. Will it every be restored in any way?

There is loss and much heartache. There is moving on. There is hope and the possibility of redemption. With support and grit, Romilly takes steps to claim her life back for herself. Paying the cost along the way. A moving and powerful story.

Summer Secrets. Jane Green

Summer Secrets
Jane Green
Published: Macmillan
Date: July 1st. 2015
Format: Paperback
Pages: 376
Genre: Women's Fiction
Source: Own book



Summer Secrets by Jane Green is my first ever read by Jane Green.  Surprising but true. However now I am won over and will be catching up over time on her backlist. I went out and bought this after reading a number of reviews, and just headed it on up to the top of my reading pile on a whim.

Set mostly in London, England with some of the time in Nantucket USA, this is the story of Cat and her addiction to alcohol.  Cat has grown up with a father who is distant and controlling, and a mother who often takes to her bed with depression.  She grows up lonely and always feeling she is not quite enough.  While a competent journalist, she often drinks herself into oblivion, so avoiding her pain and feelings of loneliness and insecurity.  

And so we follow the path that Cat takes, the father she always thought as her father dies, and then she learns new information about her father that takes her on a trip to meet another family in Nantucket.  Looking in on them she thinks it must be perfect and makes that mistake we often think that other people have the perfect life.  However after an initial "well met" she does something that sends her back to London.

Cat makes attempts to gain sobriety but always to please someone else. Can she ever do it to please herself?  It is a long hard road for Cat, she hurts others along the way and is in turn hurt too.  Jane Green gives us an insightful look into the life of an alcoholic. I found myself caught up in the story and read through it every moment I could. I have never been an alcoholic or lived with one, so it was an exploration of the illness of alcoholism that gave me an appreciation of its difficulties, heartbreaks and challenges. I appreciate the fact that while Cat chose to numb herself through drink there are many ways we can numb ourselves to pain in our lives. Facing it, accepting it and not turning from it is so important. Does Cat do that? Can she do it? It's tough!

I am not mentioning other characters so that if you haven't read the book you are introduced to them as they enter the story.  Some are wonderful, some do just the right thing at the right time and some don't. There are unexpected turns at times and this too added to the emotion and tension in the story.

Loved it! Life, love, hell, hope, forgiveness - this book has it all.

Firefly Beach. Luanne Rice

Firefly Beach
Luanne Rice
Published: Bantam
Date: 2001
Format: Paperback
Pages: 378
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Own book

Coolly sophisticated and steadfastly single, Caroline Renwick has always been the sister everyone could count on. As she and Clea and Skye gathered at Firefly Hill, their childhood home, Caroline thought that they had all put the past behind them. But as summer gets under way, a mysterious man arrives—a man who has the power to bring it all back....

Joe Connor was only six when his father died at Firefly Hill. Though he and Caroline had never met, the five-year-old girl reached out to him. They became pen pals and friends, until a teenaged Joe finally learned the truth about what had happened to his father that night. Now, after years of silence, Joe is suddenly here ... and Caroline still feels a connection. But she can't help but wonder if this handsome man holds the key to her family's healing—or its destruction. And in his presence, how long will she be able to guard her heart?

Firefly Beach by Luanne Rice is the first in her Hubbard's Point/Black Hall series.  I became interested in this series when I read Beach Girls by this author earlier in the year. 

This book is about the complicated relationships of parents, children, brothers and sisters and lovers. It is also about the simple and undying love of a dog for its owners.  Caroline, Clea and Sky are the daughters of Augusta and Hugh Renwick.  He is a complicated, talented artist - a man who was unable to be faithful, made decisions that had serious ongoing results for his family, especially his girls.

Caroline is the one that always seems to be there for the others, in a crisis she can be relied on.  Clea is the only one happily married, Skye is married but the only thing her husband seems to be able to do is lead her every more deeply into depression and alcoholism.

Joe Connor is a scientist and treasure hunter. He once had a relationship with Caroline through letters but as a teenager he learned how she had always known about the circumstances of how is father died and never told him.  Feeling betrayed, he cut off all ties with her.  Yet how could she have shared what she knew? 

Sam is Joe's half brother, like Joe a scientist and Sam has always looked up to Joe, but never really experienced that deep brotherly bond with Joe that he craves.

One summer they all meet, and it is time to face the past, admit what they really want and take the risk, turn their back on fear and reach for love.

This story explores the relationship of guns in people's lives, how alcoholism covers up the pain that can't be faced.  It also explores the bonds in family, that while people may be flawed ultimately love can triumph.

I didn't fall deeply in love with this story as I did with Beach Girls, but it was still a thought provoking read and I fully felt for these characters and the circumstances they were caught up in.