The Marriage Mender by Linda Green

Alison is a marriage mender. Her job is to help couples who fear they have reached the end of the line. But the trouble with spending your time sorting out other people's problems is that you tend to take your eye off your own. Even when her husband's ex Lydia arrives on the doorstep demanding to see her son, Alison thinks she can handle it. But what Alison doesn't realise is that Lydia is the one person who has the ability to destroy their happy family. And sometimes the cracks can run so deep that even a marriage mender can't repair them.

I discovered author Linda Green last year when I picked up a copy of The Mummyfesto and I really enjoyed that book so I couldn’t wait for a new release by this author and after seeing the gorgeous, classy looking cover for The Marriage Mender I had to put this to the top of my TBR pile.

Alison works as a marriage mender but she didn’t see the trouble coming for her own marriage. Their relationship is put under pressure when Alison’s Husband Chris’s ex Lydia turns up wanting to see her son who she walked out on as a baby. Will the couple’s relationship be able to survive this disruption to their perfect family life or will this be one marriage Alison can’t fix.

Alison and Chris are both loveable characters and are really good together so I found myself really hoping that their relationship would survive everything that is threatening to break it. I also loved little Matilda, I don’t usually warm to children in books because I find the baby talk annoying but this wasn’t the case with Matilda, I found she brought a touch of humour to the heartfelt storyline.

This book was an enjoyable, easy read which covered a lot of delicate subjects and there are many secrets that are kept from each of the characters which we find out about along the way. I did find the counselling sessions a bit pointless at first but that was until I found out that they are weaved into the storyline for an important reason and it all comes together in the end.

My only small disappointment with this book was I felt the ending was a little abrupt and rushed. I had become so immersed in the storyline and found the pace of the book was perfect then all of a sudden it was over. We weren’t left on a cliff hanger thankfully but it just felt more like the ending had been summarised.

This was a great read and the author manages to write about troubled relationships really well making them all feel realistic. I will definitely pick up more books by this author in the future and I definitely recommend this one to add to your TBR piles.

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The Mummyfesto by Linda Green

I was looking forward to meeting the characters In this book again. I downloaded the short e-book The Resolution and when I read that I really warmed to the characters.

I got a lot more from this book than I was expecting. The storyline follows three friends all of who are facing challenging day to day lives. The author has carefully picked family problems that are very tough to deal with but these are problems many families have to cope with in day to day life so this book really was one that opened your eyes into the challenging lives some families lead.

I loved all of our three main characters, they all seemed like normal down to earth mums you may come across in your local school playground. Sam is the character who I warmed to most. Sam has two wonderful sons Zach and Oscar who has an incurable disease. We are opened to her world of looing after Oscar who is a little delight it is hard to remember he is a fictional character in this book. We also have Jackie who is desperate for another baby but after trying for so long her hope is dwindling away. She also has a mother with Alzheimer’s to try to look after. Lastly we have Anna who has three children one of who has her own battle at school. Anna is trying to look after her childrens situation which seems to mean she is missing something else that is crumbling away.

When all the ladies get together and decide that something needs to be done to help all of these families who are facing day to day struggles they do no more that form a political party to put the world to rights.

I am first to hold my hands up and say I am not into politics but if there was a party that represented what these ladies do then my interest would spark and they would have my vote! The storyline really gets you thinking. I was gripped from the first page right the way through this book there were no low points and the book didn’t feel rushed or that it was being drawn out it was a perfect read but definitely not a light hearted pure escapism!

I have read many touching reads and a few that have given me a lump in my throat or even a tear in my eye. But this book is something completely different I was sobbing. There is a chapter later on in the book that is written so delicately and it was heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time the floodgates opened!

This will be one of those books that will stay in my mind for a long time yet. I highly recommend this one.

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