Tag: keithstuart

Bestsellers · chick-lit · crime · mystery · romance · Short Stories

A Fresh Start; Ten gripping stories from ten bestselling authors. ★★★★

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Blurb; From wronged wives to nosy neighbours, from distant dads to new-found family, from secrets to lies, fresh starts to false endings – and everything in between…

A collection of brilliant short stories from the best writers around.

This collections contains original stories from Fanny Blake, Louise Candlish, Mike Gayle, Mari Hannah, Sophie Kinsella, Jojo Moyes, Adele Parks, Ian Rankin, Mahsuda Snaith and Keith Stuart.

My Review; So this is another quickread but with ten short stories inside all with the theme of a fresh start a range of genres include… Chick-lit, romance, crime, thriller. A brilliant mix and all around 10 pages long. Now I’m not going to review them all but I will pop the ten short stories below, you may know some of the authors already. Highly recommend. A well deserved four stars. The ten stories included are;

Lock up & Leave by Louise Candlish.

The Estate by Mahsuda Snaith.

The Accidental Date by Keith Stuart.

Let No One In by Mari Hannah.

The Makeover by Jojo Moyes.

Sisters by Fanny Blake.

A Quiet Road by Adele Parks.

You & Me by Mike Gayle.

Decluttering by Sophie Kinsella.

Easy Street by Ian Rankin.

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Bestsellers · contemporary · Emotional

Days of Wonder – Keith Stuart ★★★★★

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Blurb; Tom, single father to Hannah, is the manager of a tiny local theatre. On the same day each year, he and its colourful cast of part-time actors have staged a fantastical production just for his little girl, a moment of magic to make her childhood unforgettable.

But there is another reason behind these annual shows: the very first production followed Hannah’s diagnosis with a heart condition that will end her life early. And now, with Hannah a funny, tough girl of fifteen, that time is coming.

Hannah’s heart is literally broken – and she can’t bear the idea of her dad’s breaking too. So she resolves to find a partner for Tom, someone else to love, to fill the space beside him.

While all the time Tom plans a final day of magic that might just save them both.Days of Wonder is the stunning follow-up to Keith Stuart’s much-loved debut A Boy Made of Blocks – and a book to fall in love with.

My Review; Oh Wow. Here is a list of words to describe this story… Beautiful. Powerful. Emotional. Heart-warming. Bold. Touching. Heart-breaking. Wonderful. Outstanding. Brave.

This story had me feeling a whole range of emotions from happy to sad. I actually cried towards the end and not many books make me cry… However, A Boy Made of Blocks made me cry too. This is such a beautiful story filled with love, hope, family and friends. Also a great community coming together.

I absolutely loved every single character in this book. Days of Wonder is told through father (Tom) and daughter (Hannah). Hannah is one brave, determined and lovely girl. A character that makes you feel proud. A girl her age shouldn’t have to face what she has had to cope with. Tom is one devoted father wanting the best for his daughter no matter what.

This story contains a powerful message that life has to go on… Life is what YOU make it and it’s good to lose yourself into books, theatre, art, music or whatever your form of escape is. Keith sure knows how to write beautiful, tear jerking stories that are real page turners. I absolutely fell in love with this book. It will stay close to my heart!

Days of Wonder has earned a well deserved place in my top 20 books of 2018! A well deserved five stars. Highly recommend. A must buy. A must read… But you may want some tissues.

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Bestsellers · contemporary · Emotional

A Boy Made of Blocks – Keith Stuart. ✶✶✶✶✶

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Blurb:
Alex loves his family, and yet he struggles to connect with his eight-year-old autistic son, Sam. The strain has pushed his marriage to the breaking point. So Alex moves in with his merrily irresponsible best friend on the world’s most uncomfortable blow-up bed.

As Alex navigates single life, long-buried family secrets, and part-time fatherhood, his son begins playing Minecraft. Sam’s imagination blossoms and the game opens up a whole new world for father and son to share. Together, they discover that sometimes life must fall apart before you can build a better one.

My Review:
WOW! I have been waiting forever to read this book and I was not disappointed. I can already say this will be in my top 20 books of 2017 and we are only still in January. A well deserved five stars and a book I would urge EVERYBODY to read. I use to work in a special needs school so I connected and understood Sam with all my personal knowledge about autism. I was hooked and read it in less than 48 hours. What a beautiful, powerful and wonderful story. This story focuses on little 8 year old Sam and his father, a certain part towards the end even made me sob my heart out because I was so proud of Sam.

I was so involved and in the story I didn’t want it to end and August needs to hurry up as I need my next fix by Keith Stuart who is a new favourite author of mine. This story is based on the authors own experiences with his autistic son which makes it even more of a heart breaking and heart warming story. I don’t have one bad thing to say about this story. A Boy Made of Blocks is one of those rare stories that generally impacts on your own personal day to day life. I would love to see A Boy Made of Blocks turned into a film. The world needs to learn and accept all these beautiful talented children who yes may be different but they are unique and we can help them within society by our own actions and awareness. Beautiful. I also learnt A LOT about Minecraft through this book and it sounds like a game I may love haha. Enjoy, I did. I really loved it.

This book will stay in my heart for a long, long time. If not forever. Thank You Keith, many parents out there are going through this daily struggle with their own children and this book lets them know they are not alone.

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