What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

What happened if you knocked your head and woke up only to realise that you have just lost 10 years of memory? Everyone around you had changed and people were talking about things and people whom you didn't even know. Will you feel panicky? Will you think that it's just a dream?

In this book, Alice lost her memory right from the start of the book. She thought that she was 29 years old and pregnant with her first baby and has a loving husband, a doting sister and a shy mother. When her 39 years old self woke up in the hospital with only memories of her life up to 29, she was in a shocked to realise that everything had changed. She couldn't even recognise herself anymore. Her mother had remarried and was a completely changed woman who spoke out her thoughts and is a social butterfly. Her attractive sister no longer spoke to her and she looked so depressed and dejected ever so frequently. Her husband was angry at her and they were getting a divorce. And she didn't even remember how she had given birth to 3 children.

The above all sounds like a huge disaster, however, the book is not. In the first half of the book, we mainly read about Alice trying to overcome her fear and glimpse of past memories. It sounded like nobody liked her future self and she didn't understand why. Everybody kept mentioning the name Gina but she had no idea who this woman is. Towards the middle of the book, we finally get to know more about Gina and how she played an important part in Alice's life. Although I have read reviews about people finding the first half of the book draggy and long winded, I actually enjoyed it. I felt that all the details were necessary to build up the story and prepare us for what was to come in the second half of the book.

As Alice slowly blended into her 'new' life, I really like how she made things right with Nick, Libby and Madison. They were people she treasured in the past and somehow events had ruined their relationship over the years. I think we can really see how things improved and the people coming back into her life. To be honest, I like the 29 years old Alice much more than the 39 years old one. Gina definitely didn't have a positive impact in her life.

The book is written in the POV of Alice but we get to read from the POV of Elisabeth and Frannie through their writing to their doctor and lover respectively. Elisabeth's story had somehow blended in perfectly to the book where Frannie's was a little more out of the main story but was both fun and sad to read.

I really like how the book ended. The Epilogue was awesome! I have known what Alice's decision will be once she got back her memories and the glimpse into her life few years down the road was a pleasant read. I simply love happy ending.

I highly recommend this book to everyone out there. This book really got me thinking what my 10 years ago self would think of my life at this moment. Have my dreams and goals been achieved? If not, what had happened in this 10 years. Can I do something now to salvage it? And from this book, I've learned that everything is possible if I am willing to take the first step to make the change.

True Love (Nantucket Brides Trilogy #1) by Jude Deveraux

The Nantucket series is about a new generation of the old Montgomery/Taggert family. If you are a huge fan of Jude Deveraux, you would be familiar with the Montgomery series where we get to read about the different member of the family all the way from the 1200s to 2000s.

In this new instalment of the Montgomery, we meet Jared Montgomery Kingsley VII and Alixandra Madsen. Both are talented architect and even though Alix might not be aware, she actually shared many secrets with Jared.

Now, I am usually not a fan of paranormal stuffs but the part where Jared's great(x5)-grandfather lurked around the old Kingsley House for the past 200 years had me hooked. Right from the beginning, we were drawn into the mystery about the missing lover of Caleb, Valentina. Furthermore, Alix had been to the Kingsley House only when she was four but yet she seemed to remember where everything was placed in the house as if she had lived there all her life.

The romance portion of this book was very well written. I can practically feel the sparks flying between Jared and Alix throughout the book. I loved the unspoken attraction between the two of them and I was shrieking away when they finally understood each other's feeling. I can't put my book down at all for those few chapters.

However, I felt that the mystery portion of this book was somehow disappointing. I was expecting twists or even huge revelation about Caleb and Valentina but in the end, I was facing an almost unbelievable ending to the mystery of Caleb's last day on earth. The tension was built up throughout the book and yet it just ended flat.

If I were to rate this book under the romance genre, it will be a straight 5 stars read for me. However, considering that the mystery element was featured in the synopsis of the book, I was expecting something better and had to take one start off my rating for the disappointment I've faced.

This book is still highly recommended to Jude Deveraux's fan who loved the romance but if you are looking for an old mystery revelation, this is not the book for you.

Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen

Back in January 2014, I had a glimpse of a prequel short-story, Waking Kate, that Ms Allen had put up for fan of hers. It was enjoyable to get a feel of her upcoming Lost Lake and I was so excited that I grabbed this book days after its launch.

Lost Lake tells us the story after Kate's husband had passed away and how she decided to visit Lost Lake, a place where she held her childhood memories, to get away from her mother-in-law. In this place, she met up with her Aunt Eby and a boy, Wes,  who she almost lost her first kiss to. The sparks between them flew almost immediately after reuniting with each other. When Kate realised that Aunt Eby was going to give up Lost Lake to Wes's uncle as she could no longer upkeep this place and was hoping to return to Paris to relief her memory of her dead husband, Kate decided that she wanted to save this place. For herself and for her daughter, Devin. However, her mother-in-law had better ideas of how she wanted to make us of Kate for own her political benefits so things are definitely not going as smoothly as Kate hoped.

With her aggressive mother-in-law, a man she loved but with a dark secret and her daughter who kept talking about a mysterious alligator, how was she going to save Lost Lake and bring it back to how it was to be when she had first visited.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and it was a pretty good read but I was very disappointed in it. Unlike other books by Ms Allen, the magical feel is just not in this book. Ghost and Alligator does't impress me nor spoke out to me. I had a hard time trying to blend the alligator into the story. What's worse was just days after finishing this book, I almost couldn't remember the characters in it.

For a book that was listed under the magical realism genre, this book definitely did not contains any magic in it. As I knew that Ms Allen is in remission of her cancer and this is her first release since her illness, I am hoping that this is just a book to get her back into writing. Although I have to say that this is my least favourite of her book (Oh yes, I have read every single book of hers and I loved almost everyone of them), I am still looking forward to her future work.

A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux (Montgomery Series)

Well it has been a long time since I posted a review! I have been so busy with life that I haven't been reading much in the last 2 months but I am finally picking my books up again!

This time, I choose a book that I know I will devoured in a short time and I did! A Knight in Shining Armor is an all time classic historical romance book that my friends had been recommending and I just didn't managed to pick it up. Few months ago, I made used of a Kobo discount and finally bought the book for myself.

A Knight in Shining Armor tells the story of a woman, Dougless Montgomery, in modern England (1980s) who was ditched by her boyfriend (who happens to be a jerk!) in a church in Ashburton. Just when she was crying her heart out over the grave of Sir Nicholas Stafford, the Earl appeared out of nowhere before her. She had wished for a Knight in Shining Armor and indeed her wish came true. However, things were not as simple as it sounded. The Earl had came from 1564, Elizabethan England, to the modern world to find out what could prove his innocence. He was trailed for treason which he did not committed and he was to be executed in 3 days time when he fell dead on his desk while writing a letter to his mother for help. The couple travelled to places where history recorded nothing about Nicholas except for his womanising traits.

Of course, the two of them will fell in love (this is a romance novel...) and just when we thought Nicholas decided not to return to 1564, he did. And the next thing we know, Dougless travelled back to 1560! Now, this is what I loved about this book. Most of the time travel books that I have read only tell how one character travel to one time. However in this book, both our main characters time travelled.

The exquisite details of the Elizabethan people's clothing, food and lifestyle were well written and researched. I thoroughly enjoyed reading them.

This books tells about the wonderful romance that crossed between times. I loved how the book was split into two parts where we get a modern tale weaved together with a historical tale. I loved how the author gave us a happy ending despite me crying my heart out when I thought it was going to be a sad one. I am pleased to see characters coming together in different periods and how one could changed easily just because history has changed. Although at times, I find some of the stuffs almost impossible to believe, I just had to remind myself that this is a fiction book and reading it is for my pleasure and not straining my brain to spot out the unrealistic portion.

This is going to be a book that I would want to read again and again and I highly recommend it for people who enjoyed Historical Romance and Time Traveling books.

Silk Is For Seduction by Loretta Chase (The Dressmakers #1)

This is my first book by Loretta Chase even though I have heard so much about her books from historical romance lovers. I had always wanted to pick up this book but it seems I never made time for it until now.

A lovely book with steamy scenes between the protagonists. I loved how this book revolves around dresses. I love dresses! Reading about the details of dresses in historical period excites me. Of course the unusual 'courtship' between Marcelline and the Duke of Clevedon made the book even better.

Marcelline is a strong lady who kept her passion for her work throughout the whole book and I loved how she felt when Clevedon protected her from mishaps that happened along the way.

All the characters in this book are likeable and none of them were bitchy to make me hate them. Surprisingly, I like Lady Clara even though she wasn't featured enough in this book. I hope that we could get to read a side story about her. She was so understanding and stood up for what is right. She would definitely grew up to be a wonderful lady. And it is so true that just the right clothing could make a woman felt more confident and changes them forever.

With the small and tiny bits about Sophy and Longmore, I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series, Scandal Wears Satin.