Monday 11 April 2016

Somewhere Inside of Happy by Anna McPartlin


Today it is my stop on the Somewhere Inside of Happy blog tour where I will be sharing my review for this thought provoking read. Be sure to stop by the other blogs on the tour to see other reviews and more content too.






Maisie Bean is a fighter. A survivor. 
Seventeen years ago, she went on a first date that went so badly it was enough to put the girl off chips. The marriage that followed was hell but it gave her two children: funny, caring Jeremy and bullish but brilliant Valerie. 

Just as it seems everything might finally start going right, sixteen-year-old Jeremy goes missing. 

The police descend and a media storm swirls, over five days of searching that hurtle towards an inevitable, terrible conclusion. Maisie is facing another fight, and this time it’s the fight of her life. 
But she’s a survivor.
Whatever the odds, she’ll never give in.



Anna McPartlin is a new author to me but when I heard her at an event recently talking about her books and her writing she had such a wicked sense of humour and I was looking forward to reading her latest release to see if she has poured her Irish charm into her novel and safe to say she has!

This storyline had me hooked straight from the first chapter. We meet Maisie Bean who has rebuilt a life for her and her two children Jeremy and Valerie after an abusive relationship, now they are a close knit family not without their struggles as they look after Maisie’s mum Bridie who is a handful but son Jeremy is a big help and seems to be the apple of his Grandma’s eye. But the Bean family are about to face another challenge, the biggest one of all, Jeremey goes missing leaving no trace which is so out of character but Maisie refuses to give up hope she needs her boy to walk back through that door.

This was such a powerful, thought provoking read that was told in such a clever way as it delivers a message and shows a number of struggles that people face and the effect it has on their lives as well as the family and friends around them which tugs at the heart strings but the author manages to weave some humour around the storyline too, bringing the readers emotions back up again so that the book has an uplifting feel to it too.

I don’t want to give too much away about the storyline so I am only going to touch briefly on the fact that the author brings great awareness to both of the issues that Jeremy and Bridie have and she has delivered this in such an informative and heartfelt way which I hope will open some people’s eyes.

This was such a poignant read that is unpredictable and at one point near the end I actually gasped out loud as what happened was totally unexpected and utterly heartbreaking all at the same time. I found myself reading the last chapter and trying to put myself in Maisie’s shoes to see if my thoughts and actions would be the same but I think this is one of those occasions until you are faced with a situation head on you have no way of knowing how you would react but I take my hat off to her either way.

This is easily one of the best books that I have read this year and it has made quite an impression on me so this will not be a book I will forget about anytime soon. Having such engaging characters that you don’t want to leave behind and a storyline that is so current and deserves such praise makes this a book that needs to stay on my shelf and selfishly not share. I highly recommend this captivating read and I am now eager to read the authors previous book too.




2 comments:

  1. I was looking for something like this…I found it quiet interesting, hopefully you will keep posting such blogs…see

    ReplyDelete
  2. I really want to read this now!

    ReplyDelete

SITE DESIGNED BY PRETTYWILDTHINGS