Tag Archive | Kate Hewitt

Playing For Keeps In Starr’s Fall by Kate Hewitt

Mar23

Very Charming

Playing For Keeps In Starr’s Fall by Kate Hewitt is a very charming contemporary novel. It is the second book in the Starr’s Fall series but can be read as a stand-alone.

All the characters are well drawn, believable and easy to empathise with. We see that Starrs Fall is a warm and welcoming community, where everyone knows your name – and your business! The residents help each other as they journey through life.

Starrs Fall offers a place to heal from life’s hurts. Various residents all have different stories – from the original resident of the town to the teenage boy recovering from bullying, and all those in between.

Life deals us blows. Life squashes the life out of some people – but lives can be redeemed and restored.

We learn of lives being controlled by others. “She’s let herself be changed.” Sometimes others are coercive in ways that are not recognized at the time. “Her life behind the glowing, golden bars of what had felt… like a gilded prison.” Riches do not make one happy, love and care do.

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In The Blink Of An Eye by Kate Hewitt

Jul3

A Powerful Offering

In The Blink Of An Eye by Kate Hewitt is a powerful contemporary suspense that had me glued from the start.

The action alternates from various points of view and is in the first person. The reader becomes intimately acquainted with the characters.

As the novel opens, we know that something terrible has happened – but is it deliberate? Or just a tragic accident? As the story unfolds, we must piece the evidence together before the concluding pages.

The novel is about families. There are many different types of family. No one size fits all. The ‘perfect’ family does not exist. There is a family that feels very ‘Stepford wives’ to the reader. It is like a show house but is a show family – very little is truly ‘real.’ There are single parent families and a family that is falling apart due to stress. It is here that we see what true love is.

Parents put their children at the centre of their world. Sometimes the parents bury their heads in the sand to any potential problems. It is far better to identify, and treat, the areas of concern.

We witness the terrifying ordeal that is the school gates! A clique of parents can make life heaven or hell.

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The Girl On The Boat by Kate Hewitt

Feb10

Powerful New Series

The Girl On The Boat by Kate Hewitt is a powerful historical novel that completely consumed me. It is the first book in The Emerald Sisters series which promises to be fabulous.

The action is set from 1939 – 1942 as we travel from Germany to New York. As the story opens, we ‘hear’ from after the war in the prologue. We know the time and the place and we ‘hear’ the outcome for several characters but we have questions – questions which will follow us through the series. I am assuming all answers will be revealed in the final book – I can’t wait but I’ll have to!

We follow a Jewish family as they board a ship, with other Jewish families, fleeing Germany for Cuba. Alliances are formed on board, and promises made to meet up in Paris one year after the war ends.

We ‘see’ the damage inflicted mentally on physically tortured souls. Men, who were the heads of families, are reduced to mere shells. It is the women who have to step up and become strong.

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The Mother’s Secret by Kate Hewitt

Sep16

Emotionally Charged

The Mother’s Secret by Kate Hewitt is a powerful contemporary novel that had me gripped from the start.

This is a story about two mothers, both with similar feelings but at two different stages of motherhood – the new mum and the mum of teenagers. Both are English teachers. Both feel like misfits. Both lay down their career hopes to do as their husbands wish. Both bond together, as the experienced mum helps the new one as she understands her.

We see just how hard motherhood can be. The adjustment to being a new mum is hard, with the lack of sleep, a baby who cries and a husband who works away. Kate Hewitt writes in such a way as to elicit sympathy from the reader.

Being a mum to teens is a whole different ball game. There are different problems. The isolation felt is huge, after a wife and mother is ripped from her home and a job she loves, in order to follow her husband’s dreams.

Both mums suffer at the hands of their husbands’ jobs. Both are caring and compassionate. And both are fighting demons. The novel is emotionally charged. The two lead characters are easy to identify with. We understand the guilt they feel as they try to balance motherhood with jobs and external problems are not of their making. Guilt and innocence exist side by side.

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