What Rachael Reads

Summer is upon us at last, so grab your beach towels and sun creams and dive into some of my favourite upcoming thrillers for 2017! The Child by Fiona Barton Release Date: 27/7/2017 Available now! When a paragraph in an evening newspaper reveals a decades-old tragedy, most readers barely give it a glance. But for three strangers it’s impossible to ignore. For one woman, it’s a reminder of the worst thing that ever happened to her. For another, it reveals the dangerous possibility that her darkest secret is about to be discovered. And for the third, a journalist, it’s the first clue in a hunt to uncover the truth. The Child’s story will be told. Bestselling author of ' The Widow' Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell Release Date: 27/7/2017 Available now! THEN She was fifteen, her mother's golden girl. She had her whole life ahead of her. And then, in the blink of an eye, Ellie was gone.  NOW  It’s been ten years ...

A fantastic selection of bargain thrillers on Amazon today!

Whilst browsing online book stores yesterday I came across a book called Speed Reading; How to increase your reading speed and comprehension by Bryan Botwin. I like to think of myself as a relatively fast and competent reader, but thought I would read it anyway. Any of us bookworms will admit that being able to read faster can only be a good thing as it enables us to read more and more books in less time. Speed Reading: How To Increase Your Reading Speed And Comprehension by Bryan Botwin My rating: 3 of 5 stars A few helpful tips to increase your reading speed. Short and sweet. View all my reviews I have encountered the notion of speed reading before and vaguely remember doing an online test to discover my reading speed. Taking an online test is recommended by the author to establish your current speed and to be able to monitor any progress made in future. I took this speed reading test today and I was genuinely shocked by my results. The site says that the average speed...

Amazon recently released it's list of the top 10 downloaded Kindle books in 2016. Since I've read 9 out of the 10, I thought a post with brief reviews would be a good idea. Unsurprisingly, they almost all fell into one category; psychological thrillers. Since blockbusters such as Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train were released this genre has seen a staggering rise in popularity. Starting at number 10 is Follow You Home by Mark Edwards . The page-turning psychological thriller from the author of #1 bestsellers The Magpies and Because She Loves Me . It was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime, a final adventure before settling down. But after a perfect start, an encounter with a young couple on a night train forces Daniel and Laura to cut their dream trip short and flee home. Back in London, Daniel and Laura vow never to talk about what happened that night. But as they try to fit into their old lives again, they realise they are in terrible danger—and that their nightma...

So, my first read of 2017 was Christobel Kent's The Loving Husband. This book had been recommended to me by a friend and had been on my to-read list for quite a while. A Sunday Times Bestseller and popular among various book clubs and social media, I finally decided to read it. Blurb (courtesy of Amazon): Fran Hall and her husband Nathan have moved with their two children to a farmhouse on the edge of the Fens - a chance to get away from London and have a fresh start. But when Fran wakes one night to find Nathan gone, she makes a devastating discovery. As questions about her husband and her relationships start to mount, Fran's life begins to spiral out of control. What is she hiding from the police about her marriage, and does she really know the man she shared her bed with? I am a huge fan of this 'domestic thriller' genre and with blockbusters such as The Girl on the Train and Gone Girl making such a huge impact over the last 12 months or so, it seems I ...

Sunday mornings are my favourite time of the week, especially during late Autumn when it's all dressing gowns and fluffy socks! In fact, I have cosied up that much the last week or so that I forgot to blog. Oops! I have read a fair few books in that period. All of which I have enjoyed immensely and will include a short review and links below.  It seems my 'to be read' pile (TBR for short) is getting longer by the day! I have discovered a fair few new authors in 2016 including Alex Lake and K.L. Slater and I cannot wait to read their next installments! Speaking of K.L. Slater, I read the brilliant Safe With Me last week. A gripping psychological thriller. Thirteen years ago someone did something very bad to Anna. Now it’s her turn to get even … Anna  lives a solitary existence, taking solace in order and routine. Her only friend is the lonely old lady next door. She doesn’t like to let people to get too close – she knows how much damage they can do. Then...

The universe seems to be pretty undecided on this one! It's a debate that has raged on since the first e-readers were made available in the early 2000's and especially since the launch of Amazon's first Kindle, released in 2007. I grew up surrounded by books. My whole family are readers and when I was younger I couldn't wait for my next trip with my Mum to Waterstones to spend my pocket money on the next Goosebumps book! Even now, as an adult, there is a certain aura when you walk into a book shop. A sense of adventure and wonderment and, of course, the smell! For me nothing beats the smell of a new (or old) book. I will readily admit that I miss that smell, and the trips into the City to browse and choose my next adventure. Of course, the convenience of just clicking a button to add to your collection and having it delivered instantly is brilliant, but it's just not the same. I have owned various tablets over the past few years and occasionally used them for ...

So as it's been about 3 weeks since my last post I thought I had better jump back on the wagon! As any parent knows, the summer holidays are super busy, especially when you're a parent of 3! They have kept me immensely busy the past few weeks but I have also been busy delving into some amazing books. I am currently reading another offering from Liane Moriarty which I will review after I have finished. The main one that I would like to review next is very different from what you may have come to expect from me. As well as being a busy mum-of-3 and a complete bookworm I am also a huge motorsports fan. Speedway in particular. For those of you that are unfamiliar with it, it involves 4 riders racing on an oval shaped shale track for 4 laps on bikes up to 500cc with no brakes and capable of hitting 60mph faster than a Formula 1 car. It is a highly dangerous but breathtakingly exciting sport to watch. Take a look at some examples on YouTube here . The reason for my explanation of...

Wow, can't believe how long it has been since my last post! What a year it has been too. 2015 finished amazingly as always with a beautiful family Christmas and New Year. 2016 has been incredibly bittersweet so far with some amazing things and some not so good. My lovely Dad was diagnosed with bowel cancer, but thankfully he made a full recovery quite swiftly. I don't know what I would do without him. The little ones are not so little anymore. The smallest started nursery and we had a visit to the 'big school' for the eldest. Cannot believe this time next year she will be in Year 7! We had a new addition to the family of the canine variety. A beautiful Cavalier King Charles Spaniel called Cooper! He keeps me busy and we are enjoying going out for walks and snuggling up on the sofa together. I have had a difficult year personally, and was recently diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. It's a daily struggle with the energy required to raise 3 children and keep house, bu...

My recent obsession: Goodreads Earlier this year I discovered something called  Goodreads  and I have recently started to use it A LOT so I thought I would dedicate a blog post to it, so that I could give it a full review and the credit it deserves. For those of you who don't know what it is, it is basically THE social media site for books and book lovers. According to their own 'About Us' page it is the "largest site for readers and book recommendations in the World" with over 40 million members and more than 1 billion books. From 2013 on it became a part of the Amazon family and has since gone from strength to strength. It is a great place to connect with like-minded readers all over the world, to discover what's 'hot' right now, to find your next read and much more. Whenever I purchase a book online, which is usually through Amazon anyway because I have a Kindle, I like to browse through some reviews and maybe look at it's star rating. ...

Well, it's been a crazy few days since my last post. It's the Summer Holidays here in the UK and so my three little darlings are at home taking up what precious little time I have for blogging and other such activities! Although we have had heaps of fun so far in between the outbreaks of rain! (Another perk of living in Wales!) Today I finished Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty. I loved it! To begin with I was a little apprehensive about my choice as it is not the usual genre that I enjoy reading. I am very much a True Crime / Thriller girl at heart. I chose this particular book because I am currently participating in a Reading Challenge that I stumbled across on Goodreads . The challenge is comprised of 52 books, one per week, with a different topic for each book. This week's topic was a book with antonyms in the title and Big Little Liars was one of the more popular choices with the other challengers in the group.  The first few chapters were a little slow, int...