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Letting Go of Yesterday by Jo Bartlett #Review #TheCornishBayCollection

  We are back to Cornwall to the community of Port Agnes with Jo Bartlett. Letting Go of Yesterday , the first in a new series, was published by Boldwood on November 9th . Sometimes the only way forward… is to go back. When Rowan Bellamy’s marriage collapses in spectacular styl e, she retreats with her two children, Bella and Theo, to the last place she ever wanted to return—her windswept Cornish hometown of Port Agnes. Taking the headteacher role at the local primary school is the easy part. Facing village gossip, curious neighbours, and old flames? Not so much. Especially when one of those flames turns out to be Nathan Lark — the boy who broke her heart and the man who now has a reputation as bruised as her own. With his young nephew Leo a pupil in Rowan’s school, she and Nathan are thrown into each other’s lives once more. And whether she likes it or not, the chemistry between them is impossible to ignore. As salty sea air begins to soothe old wounds and Port Agnes slow...

Bone by Bone by Sanjida Kay

Bone by Bone is a psychological thriller which succeeds in creating a tense and claustrophobic atmosphere. It is centred on a mother and daughter, Laura and Autumn who have recently moved to Bristol. Autumn is the victim of bullying by an older boy at the school. In trying to intervene, Laura sets off a chain of events which turns the whole community, children, adults and the establishment against her and isolates Laura further. 

    It is easy to empathise with Laura and Autumn and we are given events from both their perspectives, alternatively. As the suspense is built up, we see Laura becoming cut off from all the usual safety nets until she seems to have no one there to support her. Just as her daughter is bullied by the other children, we see her being bullied by the adults around her. 

    The novel is written in a realistic style which draws the reader in to the situation. The climax of the story stretches the tension to breaking point. In all, I found this debut novel eminently readable, a real page turner in fact.

In short: a dark thriller set in an everyday situation. 

I received a copy of the book in advance of publication by the publishers,Corvus,  in exchange for an honest review. 

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