Over the next few months, the Gloss team will be reviewing new books, and recommending the best ones for your summer reading list.  This week, we’re reviewing the latest from novelist Nicholas Sparks; author of our fave tear-jerker The Notebook, plus other great books perfect for reading by the pool or on the beach!

Lessons in Letting Go (Confessions of a Hoarder)
Corinne Grant

Lessons in letting go is a very easy “feel good” read.
You instantly warm to Corinne as a little girl even with her strange ways.  There is a little bit of the hoarder in all of us, so she is very easy to identify with.  There are genuinely really funny bits in this book as she careens around in her madcap way, hoarding every little thing in sight.

Her insights into what drives her to hoard are quite perceptive, although it takes a trip to Bali for her to find a way to change.

This is a book that’s easy to pick up and put down and still have a sense of what’s going on.

This is a great read “on the ferry” book, and would be a great easy summer read.  It’s well written and you come away with a smile after finishing it.

Reviewed by Teresa Kearney

Safe Haven
Nicholas Sparks

Nicholas Sparks is the king of the romance novel, having written popular books such as The Notebook, The Last Song, and Dear John, all of which have been turned into blockbuster films.

His latest offering, Safe Haven, definitely follows this same formula, with an epic tale of romance at the centre.  But it does differ slightly from his previous novels, in that it deals with some quite dark subject matter, which creates a sense of tension throughout the novel, and does draw attention away from the romance at points. 

The novel centres around a mysterious young woman named Katie, who moves to a tiny town called Southport.  Katie is very wary of getting too close to anyone because of a secret from her past, but slowly she is pulled into a relationship with local shop owner and widowed father, Alex.  As their relationship develops, we learn more about Katie’s past, and the dark secret that seems determined on following her.

I like the juxtaposition of negative and positive subject matter in the novel, as I think it gives the novel a little more depth, and makes it more than your usual, pedestrian romance novel.  It becomes not just about a predictable romance, where you know from the start that the main protagonists will get together and live happily ever after – instead Sparks casts doubt on this notion from the very beginning, making the novel as much a thriller as a romance.

Sparks is a master of creating characters that you easily indentify and sympathise with, and this novel is no exception.  You are certainly on the main characters’ side, and want things to work out for them.  Plus, there’s a nice little twist at the end which really wraps the story up nicely – and perhaps while it’s a little unbelievable, it’s certainly a feel-good moment.

The perfect Christmas gift for your best friend or mum, and definitely a great summer read.

Reviewed by Natalie Cosgrove

The Brave
Nicholas Evans

I haven’t read Nicholas Evans’ most famous book, The Horse Whisperer, nor have I read anything from this author, so didn’t know what to expect when I picked up his latest novel, The Brave.

I have to say that I really enjoyed this book.  It was really engaging, and held my attention for the whole novel – I’d even go so far to say that I couldn’t put it down.

The book follows the main protagonist Tom, in two parallel story lines.  We meet Tom as a child, after a terrible event has happened.  The story then flashes back to a younger Tom, and his childhood at a boarding school in England.  After a family secret is unveiled, Tom moves to Los Angeles, which at first feels like a dream, but will all fall apart.  The story intermittently flashes forward to 2007, when a middle aged Tom, who is divorced and a father to an adult son, is forced to deal with another terrible event that leads him to face the demons of his past.

That’s all I can really tell you without giving too much away, but it’s well worth reading this book.  Evans is a fantastic story teller, and gets your attention right from the very first pages, and holds it throughout the book.  There’s a lot of interesting family dynamics between Tom’s childhood family, such as his mother, and grandparents, and his adult family – in particular his relationship with his adult son. 
 
Highly recommended – there’s definitely something in this book that will interest everyone, one of the best books I’ve read in quite a while.

Reviewed by Natalie Cosgrove
 

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