Take Me Home by Daniela Sacerdoti

Inary Monteith’s life is at a crossroads. After a stolen night with her close friend Alex, she's just broken his heart by telling him it was all a terrible mistake. Then she has to rush home from London to the Scottish Highlands when her little sister's illness suddenly worsens – and in returning she must confront the painful memories she has been trying so hard to escape.

Back home, things become more complicated than she could ever have imagined. There's her sister's illness, her hostile brother, a smug ex she never wants to see again and her conflicted feelings about Alex in London and a handsome American she meets in Glen Avich. On top of that, she mysteriously loses her voice but regains a strange gift from her childhood – a sixth sense that runs in her family. And when a voice from the past keeps repeating, 'Take me home', she discovers a mystery that she knows she must unlock to set herself free.

I loved Watch Over Me by Daniela Sacerdoti so when I was asked if I wanted to review her new release Take Me Home I jumped at the chance before I even knew what the synopsis was! Luckily for me after reading the synopsis I was even more excited as I have always had an interest in the gift of sixth sense and not long having lost my nan the grief is still lingering its head so this book just seemed the perfect read for me.

Inary moved away from Scottish Highlands to live in London to make a new start, she just begins to let her barriers down and begins to let Alex in but the barriers soon shut back up and with a call from back home regarding her sisters health she is soon running away again.

Back in Glen Avich, Inary is grief stricken after the loss of her sister and if that isn’t traumatic enough her Gift of sixth sense returns and a frightening young  girls voice of her past is back she needs to find out the mystery surrounding the little girl to finally free herself.

This was such a beautifully written book. The authors writing style just flows effortlessly and so you soon become swept up in the storyline. At moments during this book I found I felt the hairs on the back of my neck and yet it wasn’t a creepy read. One thing that Daniela does really well is to write with pure emotion and I felt this on each and every page, she managed to write about the grief without it being a morbid read and without making me feel low I actually found it quite a heart-warming read.

The storyline does fill you with hope, the hope that someday we will meet with our loved ones who have passed. I loved the little romance that was weaved in-between the storyline it helped to lighten the storyline. I also loved how until about ¾ of the way through I couldn’t predict anything which I love in a book and although I soon worked out a connection I couldn’t wait to watch it unfold.

This is a compelling and emotional read that you won’t want to miss especially for fans of Watch Over Me. I look forward to more by this author.

Watch Over Me by Daniela Sacerdoti

Well I am going to start my review in a slightly different way and that is getting my negative point out of the way and for this book there is only one negative, it should come with a free box of tissues!

Plot
Where do you go when you have nothing left? Home, of course.
Eilidh’s life is turned upside down, with the end of her marriage and the loss of her first, much longed for baby. She returns to Glen Avich, a small village in the Scottish Highlands, where her family has lived for generations.
She’s looking for life after hope – but will she find the courage to trust and love again?
Jamie McAnena is bringing up Maisie, his daughter, alone, after her mother left Glen Avich for London. His heart is frozen, and he’s resigned to be a family of two.
But he knows that something is missing…
Glen Avich is a place where time can stand still, where memories of past lives come alive – where ghosts listen to the hearts of those who call.
Eilidh and Jamie are about to find out that love never dies.
That beyond the fear and pain, beyond loneliness, love is there to catch us when we fall.
That even when it looks like all is lost there’s always someone to watch over us.

My opinion
This has got to be the most touching and emotional book I have read this year. Watch over Me is such a delicate and beautiful read that you can’t help but fall in to the storyline from the first page. It is impossible for someone to read this book and it not touch them in some way as we have all lost some one important in our lives and this book gives you the comfort and hope we all need that our loved ones are still looking over us.

Each of the characters were endearing to read which makes the characters feel real which helps in pulling our emotional strings. This is one book where I loved each of the main characters as much as the next I couldn’t pick out a favourite as each of the characters were so warm and genuine.

The storyline was so moving and easy to follow. The way in which the book is set out is so that it keeps swapping between the characters narrating the story so you get to feel firsthand how each of the characters are feeling and thinking.

I cannot recommend this book enough this ticks all of the boxes for me and it is such a stunning novel for a debut author, Daniela Sacerdoti is clearly an author to look out for.