Tash's Book of the Month
Welcome to Tash's Book of the Month, the fabulous fiesta where I dive into a new read each month and spill the juicy deets with my no-holds-barred review! But here’s the scoop: if a book and I didn’t click, I’m not shoving it in your face. I totally respect the blood, sweat, and tears that go into crafting (and actually finishing!) a book. Just because it wasn’t my cup of tea doesn’t mean it won’t dazzle someone else! So, buckle up for a sunny spot dedicated to celebrating literary treasures and must-read masterpieces!
APRIL
DEAR DEBBIE By Freida McFadden
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Dear Debbie was a fast and incredibly easy read and I really enjoyed it. I’ve not read McFadden before, but I can understand the appeal of her writing.
I liked the protagonist, Debbie but Cooper her husband, got on my last bloody nerve and even when, much later in the book you find out why he was like he was, I still didn’t really feel any kind of sympathy for him. If McFadden meant the reader to hate him, it certainly worked for me.
On the outside, Debbie is a housewife and part-time advice columnist but Debbie is far more than that; she’s a bit of a genius who can create brilliant apps for her family, install security camera and other cool stuff. A bit Hong Kong Phooey!
But something dark lies within her, born from a traumatic event and makes her slightly (and justifiably in my opinion) unhinged. The darkness within her are revealed in a series of ‘drafts’ for her column, which are nothing like the published column. The drafts give you a good indication of what she’s truly capable of. And some the 'unpublished' columns let you really see inside Debbie's mind.
But then Debbie's happy little world is turned upside down when she is let go from her beloved job. Unfortunately, on the same day, her husband Cooper, who is about as dynamic as a stamp is sacked from his job too.
And that’s when Debbie goes into overdrive (she’s very creative!)
I believe there is a little Debbie in all of us but the difference (for me at least, not sure about you) is that my anger doesn’t convert into acts of violence. And there is violence, quite a bit of it actually but it’s portrayed in a very darkly humorous way that has you rooting for her to get away with it. I’m not making excuses for her (well, perhaps a bit) but her psychotic tendencies came from a very loyal place.
Debbie’s internal rules seem very simple: if you wrong me or my family, start running, because at some point, I’m going to catch you. As I said before, she's very creative.
A thoroughly enjoyable and read-in-one-sitting kind of book.
I will say this, the final two chapters after the epilogue were my favourite of the whole book. Totally unexpected and so very satisfying.
Blurb:
Sometimes, enough is enough…
Debbie Mullen is losing it. For years, she has compiled all her best advice into her column, Dear Debbie, where the wives of New England come for sympathy and neighbourly advice. Through her work, Debbie has heard from countless women who are ignored, belittled, or even abused by their husbands. And Debbie does her best to guide them in the right direction.
Or at least, she did.
These days, Debbie's life seems to be spiralling out of control. She just lost her job. Something strange is happening with her teenage daughters. And her husband is keeping secrets, according to the tracking app she installed on his phone. Now, Debbie's done being the bigger person. She's done being reasonable and practical. It's time to take her own advice.
And now it's time for payback against all the people in her life who deserve it the most.
Tash's BOTM: After dark
Any recommendation here are intended for an 'adult audience'. If you don't like spice (some are going to be so spicy you might even spontaneously combust) so reading will be at your own discretion and therefore, I won't be taking the blame is you are shocked/offended/or unprepared.
For those not of a nervous nature....enjoy....but only after dark!
APRIL
LOVE HARD by Louise Bay
Rating: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️
Love Hard by Louise Bay
I’m a sucker for a Louise Bay book. I once, read all the books she had written to date, back-to-back, and I loved every moment of them.This is the third book in this series Colorado Club Billionaires, and I’ve been waiting since my holiday in Greece last year for it to drop and I LOVED IT!
Even though there, for me, was a bit of a Cinderella theme running through it, which I’m just not a fan of.
Iris Wilde has one weekend away each year from the family farm in Colardo and instead of seeing a friend in Vagas as her family believe, she makes her way to New York to watch the ballet and there she meets Jack Alden.
Jack from the rich family and she a farmer’s daughter (cue start of the Cindrella theme) and after spending a lovely but innocent evening together after the ballet they arrange to meet the next day. But she has to leave as her brother has been involved in an accident, but her and Jack had not exchanged numbers.
In a world where we can’t survive without our phones, that was a little out of reach for me, but it didn’t stop me from continuing, it is fiction after all.
Jack has friends in high places, and his band of mates pop off to Colorado all the time and the country club where they’re staying just happens to be right next to Star Falls, where Cindre…sorry, Iris lives.
Is it an original story? Not particularly but I did enjoy it and I loved the characters and when that happens, I pretended not to notice the ridiculous bits.
Pure escapism with a lovely smattering of spice gets it a big thumbs up from me.
I read the book THEN listened to it on audio as it was read by my favourite narrator, Jason Clarke. If you have Audible, trust me, it’s worth the credit you’ll use on it!
Blurb:
In my world, love comes with a rulebook.Marry the right girl. From the right family. With the right last name.I’m Jack Alden—the only son of the Alden dynasty. The kind of New York family that’s been around since ships were made of wood and fortunes were built on steel.My mother’s been trying to find me a “suitable” wife for years.
So naturally, I fall for a woman who couldn’t care less about any of it.Iris Wilde.I first saw her at the New York City Ballet—crying in the stalls like the music had cracked her open. She didn’t know who I was. She wasn’t performing for anyone. She was just… real.
One night with her, and I remembered what it felt like to actually breathe.Then she disappeared.
Months later, I find her again—on a fruit farm in the middle of Colorado, hurling raspberries at me like she’s auditioning for a food fight. Turns out, Iris is smart, stubborn, and not remotely impressed by a billionaire with a trust fund and an overbearing mother.She makes me laugh.
She makes me think.
And for the first time in my life, I want something that isn’t written in my family’s history books.But old money comes with old rules.And loving Iris means breaking every single one.
They say you can’t choose where you come from.Maybe not.But you can choose who you fight for.And this time, I’m choosing her.Because when it comes to Iris Wilde—I don’t just love.
I love hard.
Tash's own book
Secrets and Lies
Just in case you are interested in reading my book, you can order via the link on Amazon. It’s available in paperback, kindle e-book and KU (if you know, you know!). I’m told it’s good… but you can always find out for yourself. Please do consider leaving a review as for newbie authors’ it’s a really great way of getting our books out there.
So what’s it about?
Lucie
I was happy being lost; it was, after all, on my terms. Meeting Jack was not part of my plan. Nor was falling in love with him. But when the unexpected happens, will he pull out all the stops to find me?
Jack
Months after living out of the country, I was tired. I wanted to rest. Who knew the girl in the coffee shop would have me chasing her down the street? But it turns out, Lucie turned out to be the love of my life and now I find myself travelling across Europe to save her.
Lucie is happily living her new life; hiding in anonymity from her family’s criminality and still grieving the death of her mother, when she meets Jack. Jack who is firmly on the right side of the law.
When Lucie receives a coded message in the middle of the night telling her to return home, she slips from Jack’s bed and his life.
But fate has other ideas for Lucie and Jack. A tearful reunion becomes a nightmare when Lucie is kidnapped. Secrets and lies are revealed and it’s a race against time for Jack to find her.
You think this is just another love story. You’re wrong. It’s a story of deliberately being lost but having no control when it happens again.
It’s a story of betrayal and paying the price for the mistakes made by those closest to you.
It’s a story of a race against time to find the one you love.
