Tuesday 8 April 2014

Review - A Place To Call Home by Carole Matthews

The best yet!

All it takes is one life-changing decision …
Ayesha leaves behind a life of pain and heartache and boards a coach to London with her sights set on a new life for herself and her little girl, Sabina.

Hayden, a former pop star, has kept himself hidden away for years. In all that time, he’s opened up his home to just two people – Crystal, a professional dancer with a heart of gold, and Joy, an ill-tempered pensioner with a soft spot for waifs and strays. But he reluctantly agrees to take in Ayesha and Sabina.

As different as they may be, all these damaged people quickly form a loving bond. So when enemies from their past threaten their peaceful life, they will do whatever it takes to save their home and each other.
You can click here to read an extract from A Place To Call Home

You probably all know by now that I am the biggest Carole Matthews fan ever! I absolutely adore all her books, but this one I felt was particularly special. 
The suspense in parts, was just incredible and made me wonder if Carole would ever consider switching genres.  She is just fabulous at writing romantic comedy but I did wonder how incredible she’d be at writing thrillers too! She certainly had me holding my breath and clutching at my chest at more than one point.
I think that the subject matter of domestic abuse and how it affects a family, made this a rather poignant book as it was her normal beautifully written romantic comedy but with a great deal of seriousness thrown in too.  This made for a fantastic read.
The characters were all very different but beautifully created as they completely complemented each other and I would have quite happily taken one of the spare bedrooms and moved into the big house myself.  I wanted to be friends with these people who had Ayesha and Sabina's backs.  I found myself willing Ayesha on to another life and was so happy that she had found a safe place to be herself in Hayden’s home. 
Whenever I pick up a new book of Carole’s, a tiny part of me wonders how she can possibly continue to write fabulous stories and come up with wonderful and new ideas for her plots.  But she NEVER lets me down and her books just get better and better.  This one certainly was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.
I think that A Place To Call Home is the best book that Carole has ever written! Can’t wait for the next one!

Carole Matthews is the Sunday Times best selling author of 18 previous novels which have been translated into many languages and sold to Hollywood.    When she entered a short story competition in Writing Magazine, she couldn't believe that she had won a thousand pounds!  She spent this money on a writing course (much to everyone's surprise!). The tutor on the course liked what she was writing and recommended an agent who took her on straight away. She sold her first book, which became Let’s Meet on Platform 8 (a fabulous read by the way!) a week later.
To find out more about Carole you can visit her website 
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1 comment:

Karen said...

A lovely review. I loved this one too. The storyline was darker than usual but it absolutely worked. Carole is a fav author who never disappoints.