I was really happy with the number of books I read in March 2021 as it was an improvement on the books I read in February. I was therefore pleased to equal my March total in April, with eleven books being read. Some of the books I read in April had been on my to-be-read pile for a while, whereas others were completely new to me. I enjoyed almost all of the books this month, which is a bonus!
Here are the books I read in April 2021.
Playing Nice By JP Delaney
A couple’s seemingly normal life is interrupted by the revelation their son was switched at birth by the hospital where their child was born. The two families attempt to become the ultimate in modern parenting and attempt to raise their children together. However, their plan to sue the hospital triggers an official investigation that reveals some disturbing questions about the night their children were switched. Stretched to the breaking point, Pete and Maddie discover they will each stop at nothing to keep their family safe.
Click here to read my full review of Playing Nice by JP Delaney.
The Night Train To Berlin By Melanie Hudson
The Night Train To Berlin is told over two timelines. In 1944, gutsy war artist Eliza meets Alex, an injured RAF pilot and war correspondent, on the night train to Cornwall. Despite their lives seemingly heading in different directions, the couple have an instant connection. With time slipping away they make only one promise: to meet in Berlin when this is all over. Promises are hard to keep during wartime but the hope they will be together in the end keeps them fighting for what they believe in.
In the present day, shy violinist Ellie climbs aboard the very same train to Cornwall, hoping for an adventure of her own. It’s here she meets Joe, a kind, charming and somewhat geeky Yorkshireman and the bond is instant. But will she allow herself the chance of happiness? The story is a tale of love, loss, hope and the magic of the night train.
Click here to read my review of The Night Train To Berlin by Melanie Hudson.
Reluctantly Home By Imogen Clark
As a successful human rights lawyer living in London, Pip Appleby seems to have it all. She has a lovely flat in the perfect location, she has a charming and successful boyfriend and a job she loves. This all changes when Pip finds herself unable to cope in the aftermath of a tragic accident and she finds herself back at home at her family’s rural farm in Southwold. The humble life she tried so hard to leave behind suddenly becomes her new reality.
After discovering the diary of Evelyn Mountcastle, Pip enjoys being able to distance herself from her own life, and emerges herself into someone else’s. Evelyn’s diary reveals her life as an actress in the early 1980s and how she too found herself reluctantly returning to Southwold. Pip can’t help notice the parallels between Evelyn’s life, also marred with tragedy, and that of her own.
Both women are consumed by guilt and grief and find it impossible to move on. The diary brings the two together and they realise they have more in common than they immediately realised. Can they help each other forgive what happened in the past and learn how to move forward in their own lives?
Click here to read my review of Reluctantly Home By Imogen Clark.
The Book Of Lost Names By Kristin Harmel
Booklover Eva is forced to flee her home in Paris after her father, a Polish jew is arrested. She manages to escape to a small mountain town in Southern France. Here she puts her talent for writing and art to good use. Alongside Rémy, another forger, she joins the French resistance and starts to create forged documents for those who need them. When it becomes clear that the so-called Free Zone in France is likely to be taken over by the Nazis, Eva and Remy focus on creating documents for children to help them escape to safety. Eva, worried that a whole generation of Jews are being erased, realises she must find a way to preserve the real names of the children who are too young to remember their own identities. She creates The Book Of Lost Names, a secret code hidden inside an old religious textbook.
In the present day, The Book Of Lost Names is discovered and researchers are desperate to decipher its codes. Only Eva holds the answer but will she have the strength to face old memories and help reunite those lost during the war?
Click here to read my full review of The Book Of Lost Names By Kristin Harmel.
The Best Things By Mel Giedroyc
Sally Parker lives a seemingly perfect life. With her successful husband, many friends, mansion and enviable wardrobe, she really seems to have it all. When their finances take a devastating hit, Sally and her husband Frank soon find themselves penniless. Frank has lost their business, their home and their savings.
Quiet, and seemingly meek, Sally soon finds out she can’t rely on the people she thought she could. Her husband is having a breakdown, her friends aren’t as loyal as she hoped and her children have become feral. Now is the time for Sally to take control and surprise everyone. Especially herself.
Click here to read my full review of The Best Things By Mel Giedroyc
The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell
In 2007, teenage mum Tallulah heads out with her boyfriend for an evening out, leaving their baby at home with Tallulah’s mum, Kim. At 11pm Tallulah sends Kim a text message saying they are heading to a gathering at a friend’s house and they would be home in an hour or so. However at 4.30am, neither Tallulah nor her boyfriend have returned home. Their phones are going straight to voicemail, and Tallulah’s friends tell Kim they were last seen heading to a pool party at a house in the woods called Dark Place. They never returned.
In 2018, Sophie moves to the country with her boyfriend where he has just started work as a headteacher at a local boarding school. When exploring the woods behind the school Sophie spots a sign nailed to a fence – “dig here”.
Could Sophie’s discovery finally help piece together what happened that mysterious night in 2017?
Click here to read my full review of The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell.
The Daughters Of The Resistance by Lana Kortchik
In Ukraine, 1943, Lisa is on a Nazi-controlled train, heading for Germany and almost certain death. However the train is intercepted by Soviet partisans and the innocent men, women and children are freed. Lisa is rescued by Maxim, one of the brave partisans. Meanwhile back in Nazi-occupied Kyiv, Maxim’s wife Irina is terrified. Through her work, she risks her life every day by secretly helping her neighbours. She knows she could be caught, arrested and executed at any time. She fears for her own life, and for the lives of her husband and young daughter.
Irina fights to protect her family as Lisa is forced to consider her own role within the war. They must make an impossible decision: what would they be willing to lose to save the people they love?
Click here to read my full review of The Daughters Of The Resistance by Lana Kortchik
You Had It Coming By B.M. Carroll
When paramedic Megan is called to the scene of a shooting, she knows she will do everything she can to keep the victim alive. However, when she arrives she is shocked to discover the victim is a man she knows. A man she despises. Why should she save the life of someone who ruined hers?
Meanwhile, Jess is also still trying to come to terms with what happened 12 years ago. When she receives a text message from Megan she is surprised. The two former friends haven’t spoken in years. When she hears of the shooting, she thinks the same thing as Megan – you had it coming.
However as they’re thrust into the middle of a murder trial, all past secrets are revealed. Who can be trusted? Who did shoot this man? And did he really have it coming?
Click here to read my full review of You Had It Coming By B.M. Carroll
The Lido by Libby Page
Rosemary is 86 and has lived in Brixton all her life. The place she knows so well has gradually changed over the years, with shops and libraries closing and reopening as new shops and trendy bars. There’s only her beloved lido, where she swims every day, that has remained a constant throughout Rosemary’s life.
Kate meanwhile is 26 and is feeling overwhelmed. She feels her career as a local journalist is going nowhere and she has struggled to make friends since moving to London. When the lido is threatened with closure Kate is tasked with covering the story. She hopes this could be her time to shine but after meeting the local residents, and Rosemary, in particular, she realises the lido is more than just a place to swim.
The Lido is a story of unlikely friendships, hope and community.
Click here to read my full review of The Lido by Libby Page.
The Clockmaker’s Wife by Daisy Wood
The book is told over two timelines. The first was set in London in 1940, where Britain is gripped by the terror of the Blitz. Nell, a young mother and wife, is forced to leave London and her beloved husband Arthur, to head to the relative safety of the country to keep both her and her baby daughter safe. Arthur is a clockmaker and is tasked with keeping Big Ben chiming, a job he takes very seriously, and so he must remain behind in London. When Nell receives word that Arthur is in trouble she knows there must have been some kind of mistake. She returns to London, leaving their baby in the countryside with her mother, and finds herself in a very dangerous position. Secrets, lies and betrayals lurk behind every corner, but Nell knows she must do everything she can to find her husband.
Meanwhile, in the present day, Ellie discovers a watch that once belonged to her grandmother and is determined to know what happened to her. She makes the trip over from the USA to London to try and piece together the fragments of her grandmother’s life.
Click here to read my full review of The Clockmaker’s Wife by Daisy Wood.
Some of these books were sent from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
You may also be interested in reading the books I read in March 2021 and my other previous monthly reads.