Kidsmum

Sounds good Frodo, I haven't read any David Nicholls but I do have One Day on my TBR list.

I'm a quarter of the way through The Mammoth Hunters & enjoying it as much as I did Clan of the Cave Bear though it's been hard finding the time to read the last few days. I went to visit my dad today which is usually the time when I'd be popping into the charity shops & buying more books but I managed to resist the urge & I'm feeling very pleased with myself for sticking to my resolution so far though I guess this is the opposite of book activity so I shouldn't be posting it on here

Into The Darkest Corner Elizabeth Haynes It says on the back cover that this book won the Amazon best book award of 2011 & it's not hard to see why. It tells the story of Catherine a young woman who ends up in an abusive relationship which changes her from a confident out going person to someone who is afraid for her life & as things get steadily worse she plans her escape but things don't go according to plan. This is a tense & gripping read, in some parts my heart was in my mouth & I was holding my breath waiting to see what would happen next. I thought the author got across quite well how easy it is to end up in an abusive relationship, ignoring the early warning signs & rationalising behaviour when your in those early days when it's all hearts & flowers & for me this was one of the most disturbing aspects of the story. If I had one small criticism of the book it was that the story is set out a bit like entries in a diary with the action moving from past to present every few pages or less which I found a bit choppy & frustrating at times when I wanted to know what was going to happen next I would have preferred it to have been set out in chapters but that is my only quibble as it was a great read & something I wouldn't have picked up if I hadn't read about it on here so thanks to everyone who recommended it. 5/5

Not a Mills & Boon but what about One Day by David Nicholls quite a few people have recommended it so I picked up a copy myself even though modern romances aren't usually my sort of thing.

Only managed to read a few pages of The Mammoth Hunters today as I've been mega busy but we went to Tropical World this morning & I bought a lovely holographic butterfly bookmark from the shop.

I finished Into The Darkest Corner yesterday , a very good book which was hard to put down especially near the end. I'm now about 100 pages into The Mammoth Hunters by Jean M. Auel. I also popped to the library to return some of the children's books & came out with River Cottage everyday Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall I Love to Bake Tana Ramsey The Best Ever One Pot Cookbook Jenni Fleetwood

I'm sure you'll enjoy Into the Darkest Corner Michelle I've just finished it & thought it was compulsive reading

Halfway through Into The Darkest Corner & totally gripped now

I really enjoyed it , I thought Ray Winstone was brilliant as Magwitch but I didn't like Gillian Anderson as Miss Haversham that breathy voice was really irritating

Great review Poppy, I remember watching Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit on the telly but I've never read anything by her so I'll be adding this one to my wishlist

Happy New Year Ian, I'm planning on reading some Dickens this year as well , thought I might attempt David Copperfield or Oliver Twist . I always enjoy watching the tv adaptations but have never managed to get through any of his books apart from Great Expectations which I had to read at school so that doesn't count

Great book, I found it hard to put down. Scarlette I enjoyed Lovely Bones but imo Red Leaves is a much better book the only similarity between them is that a girl goes missing.

I have Sister on my pile, I've never read anything by Rosamund Lupton so good to hear you enjoyed it so much

That made me laugh Julie as it's exactly what I did, I must have bought at least 10 books in the run up to the new year but I'm determined to stay out of the charity shops this year it's the only way I'll manage to reduce my TBR mountain. Happy reading in 2012 Julie

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a great read Inver hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Happy reading

I spotted The Gargoyle on your TBR list Ben ,that was one of my best reads of last year. Hope you enjoy the Thomas Hardy books he's one of my favourite authors, Far from the Madding Crowd was one of my set O level books but luckily that didn't put me off him Good luck with your reading for this year.

I think you should be appointed forum bouncer Frankie so that you can keep an eye on us all Read a bit more of Into The Darkest Corner today. I'm also reading The Adventures of Tintin to my youngest DS & The Chimney Corner Collection , a book of short stories by Enid Blyton to my youngest DD. So plenty of book activity going on in our house.

Started my first book of 2012 this morning, Into The Darkest Corner Elizabeth Haynes, only read a few pages but it's already got me hooked. I'm absolutely determined to do more reading than buying this year so hopefully I'll feel more comfortable with the size of my TBR mountain.

Can't wait to hear what you both think of it, Red Leaves was so good I definitely want to read more of his books I started Into The Darkest Corner by​ Elizabeth Haynes this morning my first book of 2012. Can't wait to hear what you both think of it, Red Leaves was so good I definitely want to read more of his books I started Into The Darkest Corner by​ Elizabeth Haynes this morning my first book of 2012.

I've just finished Red Leaves by the same author it was so good I couldn't put it down

My first read of the new year will be Into The Darkest Corner Elizabeth Haynes it comes highly recommended so I'm looking forward to starting it

Just wanted to say thanks for your review of Red Leaves Thomas H. Cook you were totally right it is a 6 out of 5 book I couldn't put it down & was gripped from beginning to end.

I just finished reading A Month in the Country J. L. Carr & remembered it was you that had mentioned it on another thread. Thanks for recommending it I really enjoyed it, it was so beautifully written I'll definitely be adding more of his books to my wishlist.