REVIEW - ALWAYS ON MY MIND BY CARYS GREEN

  

Title: Always On My Mind
Author: Carys Green
Publisher: Random House UK, Vintage, Harvill Secker
Genre: General Fiction, Mystery, Thrillers
Release Date: 27th February 2025

BLURB
YOU CAN HEAR HIS EVERY THOUGHT... BUT HE CAN HEAR YOURS TOO.

Never again wonder where they are
Never again doubt their feelings for you
Know your partner intimately
OneMind: for the ultimate closeness

When Elijah suggests going to OneMind to celebrate their ten-year anniversary, Anna is dubious about getting the implant that will allow them to hear each other’s thoughts. However, eager to please him, and to make up for the fact she can’t give him what he really wants, she agrees to take this step towards the ultimate intimacy.

And at first things are great. Anna feels closer to her husband, and the novelty of communicating mind to mind is a thrill. But then she develops a strange side effect and begins having dreams that aren’t dreams, but memories. Memories that aren’t hers. And if Anna is now seeing Elijah’s memories, what if he can see hers? Will he discover what she's kept buried in her past?

Desperate to keep the truth from her husband, Anna's mind becomes a prison she can't escape. How long can she keep the traitorous thoughts at bay before she drives herself mad? 

Goodreads Link 

REVIEW
I love the shades of pink and blue on this book cover. The pink side having a steamed up mirror with a heart drawn on it perhaps suggesting that Anna wishes to keep her thoughts to herself and the blue side clear and showing Elija’s reflection representing the fact he wants everything out in the open and to share every thought.

The main characters are a group of friends who met at University, Oscar, Elijah, Gavin, Anna and Helen they enjoyed parties and wild nights together ending up with Anna & Elijah becoming a couple and later getting married and a similar thing happening with Gavin & Helen. They share a past, a past with devastating, dark secrets that would perhaps be better left uncovered. Elijah and Gavin have a highly competitive relationship both at work and in their home lives, always wanting to have the latest gadget or accomplishment before the other. Elijah is obsessed with technology and the house he and Anna live in has every gadget and technology app possible, so it shouldn’t come as a great surprise when Elijah hears about the OneMind project by Unity he wants both himself and Anna to participate. OneMind literally means two people can share one mind, by having a chip inserted behind their left ear close the cerebellum they can literally hear each other’s thoughts 24/7.

It's Elijah and Anna’s tenth wedding anniversary and Elijah has stated he has a surprise for her. Anna is hoping it’s a week away somewhere exotic with a beach so they can be alone and spend some quality time together. However, the big surprise is that Elijah has signed them both up to have the OneMind chip fitted by Unity the very next week without even asking Anna. Anna has her doubts does she really want Elijah to have access to her thoughts 24/7, she doesn’t really see the attraction. Elijah already keeps tabs on her via her mobile phone and the camera’s in the house whilst he is at work. Elijah has a well paid job and his parents have money meaning he can afford to splash out whenever he wishes. This financial stability means that Anna can stay home and be the artist she wants to be in the studio Elijah had built for her in the garden. Sadly for Anna her art work isn’t doing quite as well as she wishes it to. Anna has also suffered multiple miscarriages due to complications from an abortion in their University years. The abortion left scar tissue which is resulting in recurring miscarriages. Elijah wants his own children and he isn’t used to not getting what he wants so they continue trying with Anna hiding the fact a Doctor has told her the probabilities of a successful pregnancy are slim. Anna feels guilt about the abortion, it is her body that is now broken. Elijah insists they made the decision together, they made the right decision at the time and that he believes one day they will have children. Anns also feels guilt as she has a secret. There are details about the abortion that Elijah doesn’t know and must never find out about.

I think its all this guilt and the way Elijah is persistent, used to getting his own way and quite controlling of Anna that she agrees to go ahead with the OneMind chip implant. However, Anna has a bad reaction straight away, she is violently sick, has continual headaches as well as the site of the insertion of the chip not healing properly. Elijah insists all these side effects will wear off as he isn’t experiencing any.

One night Anna has a dream where she is looking through Elijahs eyes, she is seeing the night that their friend Oscar died on a “boys holiday abroad” that Oscar, Elijah and Gavin went on. The dream and what she sees doesn’t line up with how Elijah & Gavin said they happened. Anna really struggles with hearing Elijah in her head all the time and discovers he has a violent temper which begins to scare her. What if she thinks about the abortion secret and he finds out, or if Elijah experiences one of her dreams about that time. Elijah is increasingly exhibiting controlling, abusive, gas lighting, and toxic behaviour towards Anna. He demands to know her whereabouts at any given moment of the day, whether that’s via tracking her phone or constantly checking in with her via OneMind. When Elijah speaks to Anna he expects her to reply immediately and if she doesn’t he wants to know the reason why. Anna develops a way of coping, of withholding her thoughts by singing and saying nursery rhymes which quickly annoys Elijah. Secrets end up being revealed and Elijah slowly simmer and its almost like he is trying to drive Anna crazy, turning gadgets on and off in the house, locking her out when she forgets to take her phone with her. I suppose Elijah is punishing Anna for what he has discovered and he seems to be enjoying it jumping into her thoughts whenever he feels like it. Yet when she calls out to him, he is sometime absent making Anna suspicious that his chip is different to hers.

I did guess the secret Anna was wanting to hide, I just got the wrong person who was involved in it with her. I also guessed that perhaps that was the reason her friendship with Helen had gone colder too.

I felt sorry for Anna, literally trapped in her own home, feeling guilty about something that happened years ago. She really didn’t seem to see that even before the OneMind chip Elijah was a possessive, ruthless, controlling person. Eventually after realsing the dream she keeps having is the true version of the “boys holiday abroad” events and what really happened to Oscar that night she is horrified and she does realise Elijah is dangerous. Even after seeing that night there is still a small part of Anna that wanted to give Elijah the benefit of the doubt, she seemed incapable of believing what an evil man she was married to. Anna had to end up being quite conniving herself to remove herself from Elijah’s clutches. In fact, the ending is quite ironic that Anna becomes pregnant but Elijah is not able to enjoy the experience with her.

What Elijah pitched to Anna as a way for them to be even closer was a lie, it turned out Elijah wanted OneMind for much more sinister reasons. It brought the dangerously close with disastrous consequence no one could have forseen.

I immediately took a disliking to Elijah, having escaped an abusive marriage I could see the signs of it in him quite early in the book. On the surface Elijah has it all, and he has it all his own way too. If there’s a situation, he can’t handle alone his parents are there to help him. Elijah seemed a quieter character in the university days but even then, he was selfish and controlling and wasn’t above emotionally blackmailing people to get what he wanted.

Gavin on the other hand has had to work for what he has achieved and work hard at his job, though even he seems to be under the influence of Elijah. Its only revealed later in the book exactly what the hold Elijah has over Gavin is.

I also liked the characters that were either there for Anna all the time like Mandie, or Helen that eventually reached out when she felt her friend was in danger though didn’t really forgive her. I was initially irritated by Murray, the obstacles he put in Anna’s way on behalf of Unity when it came to getting her OneMind chip sorted out. Murray must have known about the extra functions that Elijah had on his chip in comparison to Anna’s but didn’t readily reveal this when asked. However, he did eventually take pity on Anna and discreetly help her near the end of the book.

I found the hospital scenes hilarious, how frustrated Elijah was hearing the conversations of the nurses and not being able to speak to them himself. Though he hadn’t changed and was still very derogatory about those nurses helping him and towards Anna despite her visiting him every day.

My immediate thoughts upon fishing the book were wow, what a twisted tale……and what an awful man!

Summing up, I didn’t want to put the book down, I wanted to know if the dream Anna was having was the truth of what had happened to Oscar and then I was scared for Anna. This book kept me awake reading late into the night unable to put it down without discovering the end.

 

 

REVIEW - FUNDAMENTALLY BY NUISSAIBAH YOUNIS

  

Title: Fundamentally
Author: Nuissaibah Younis
Publisher: Orion Publishing Group, W&N
Genre: General Fiction, Literary Fiction, LGBTQIAP+
Release Date: 25th February 2025

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Nadia is an academic who's been disowned by her puritanical mother and dumped by her lover, Rosy. She decides to make a getaway, accepting a UN job in Iraq. Tasked with rehabilitating ISIS women, Nadia becomes mired in the opaque world of international aid, surrounded by bumbling colleagues.

Sara is a precocious and sweary East Londoner who joined ISIS at just fifteen.

Nadia is struck by how similar they are: both feisty and opinionated, from a Muslim background, with a shared love of Dairy Milk and rude pick-up lines. A powerful friendship forms between the two women, until a secret confession from Sara threatens everything Nadia has been working for.

A bitingly original, wildly funny and razor-sharp exploration of love, family, religion and the decisions we make in pursuit of belonging, Fundamentally upends and explores a defining controversy of our age with heart, complexity and humour. 

Goodreads Link 

REVIEW
I have seen two different covers for this book, I like them both but if I have to choose, I prefer the more stark, minimalistic one with just the eyes. The other cover is kind of pop art-esque and has a female with makeup blowing chewing gum bubbles. Both are striking covers and hint at the modern, sometimes humorous, sometimes ironic story within.

Nadia and Lydia are in competition against each other at work for a lectureship job. These jobs are highly sought after and difficult to get, so Nadia needs to impress!

Nadia writes a paper on ways to deradicalize ISIS women, it’s a big hit, it’s published in a criminology journal and lands her the offer of the job she wants but it also lands her another job to do prior to the lectureship beginning. Recently having had her heart broken she is eager to get away but rather naïve about what will be expected of her in her new job.

Nadia finds herself in Iraq on a military base trying to head a small team tasked with deradicalizing a group of women in a local camp. The pressure is on as if Nadia’s deradicalisation programme works it will be rolled out in Syria where the problem of Isis women is even greater.

Nadia quickly finds herself in a causal kind of sleeping arrangement with the head of military security (and her security) Tom. He’s a straight to the point kind of guy and for Nadia it’s an uncomplicated fling.

Nadia tries to convert her on paper plan into action, but is met with obstacles in every direction! She faces misogyny, bureaucracy, racism, extortion and an uphill struggle! Nadia’s team are sceptical about her and her ideas is an understatement, however they do eventually rally behind the cause.

Nadia befriends a young ISIS woman called Sara who followed her British friend over who told her it was a great life and place to be. Sara soon becomes an ISIS bride and then realises life in Iraq is not at all like it was promised to be. Her friend, husband & child all died in attacks. Then Sara’s husband is also killed in an attack leaving alone with their daughter Habibah. Sara is sent to the camp with her baby daughter to live in less-than-ideal conditions. Her husband’s parents arrive at the camp one day and forcibly take Habibah from her to live with them in Mosul. Sara is powerless to stop them as she has very little rights and they have the law and people on their side. Nadia becomes attached to Sara, almost seeing herself as she was once talked into becoming an ISIS bride herself. On one hand Sara is serious about staying a Muslim and bringing Habibah up in the faith, then on the other hand she’s a sassy, loud mouthed, sweary, conniving individual who tells Nadia what she wants her to know and no more.

When its strongly suggested that Sara marry another local powerful man to get Habibah back and she goes through with it but immediately regrets it. Nadia ends up coming to the rescue and with help from her local guide Farris, she smuggles herself, Sara and Habibah out of Iraq. You’d think that Sara would be grateful but Nadia finds she has a secret phone and has been communicating with her ISIS friends the whole time. Though Sara insists she isn’t a danger and is not about to attack anyone she insists on observing all the practices of a good Muslim. Something Nadia had given up on years ago when she became estranged from her mother and family. Though suddenly out of the blue her mother had been reaching out and talking to her more. When it seems Sara is about to go off the rails and possibly do something she’ll regret Nadia rings her own mother asking her to approach Sara’s parents who had disowned her in the British media. There’s success when Nadia’s mother talks them into reconnecting with their daughter and the grandchild they have never seen.

Fundamentally has two strong, yet flawed female characters, Nadia who is a lapsed Muslim, initially disowned for her lifestyle by her family and Sara taken in by the dream of being an ISIS bride and the supposedly fantastic lifestyle that came with it, only to discover it was all a lie.

Nadia’s determination to reunite Sara with her baby daughter and rescue her from the camp via repatriation clouds her judgement and puts the repatriation and futures of the other women at the camp in serious jeopardy. Nadia is very close to losing her job over her obsession with helping Sara. When Sara reaches out again from her new home with the important Iraq Official in exchange for being reunited with her daughter desperate for a way out. Nadia feels compelled once again to help. Nadia takes an illegal route of getting Sara and her daughter out of Iraq to a place of safety to start a new life, though she cannot understand the way Sara wishes to remain a practising Muslim after all that has happened to her

My immediate thoughts upon finishing the book were that though it was about a heavy, serious subject it had been quite a light read. There were occasions in the book were I felt irritated by the characters, the way UN money was being spent to wine & dine local officials when it should have been spent on other things. There were times I wanted to reach into the book and give both Nadia and Sara a good shake by the shoulders for them to think before acting.

Summing up, Fundamentally, was an interesting, humorous, human take on a fictional UN representative trying to create a test programme in Iraq for ISIS brides and the possibilities of their deradicalisation & return to their homelands & family.

ALTERNATIVE COVER 

 

 

 

BLOG TOUR - THE YOUNGER WOMAN BY CATE RAY

A woman’s confession about her husband to an enigmatic stranger sparks a dangerous cat and mouse game in this riveting domestic thriller about divorce, manipulation, and revenge, perfect for fans of Sally Hepworth and Jeneva Rose.

Title: The Younger Woman
Author: Cate Ray
Publisher: Park Row
Release Date: 25th February 2025

BLURB
Gabby and Fred have just begun to adapt to their new life as empty nesters when Gabby makes a stunning realization: She can't stand her husband.

One night at a bar, Gabby meets an enigmatic younger woman named Ellis, and in a haze of drunkenness, she confesses that she wishes Fred dead. Surely she didn't expect anything to come of it, but when she tries to track Ellis down again, she realizes that Ellis might not have been who she said she was.

As Gabby begins to unravel the truth about Ellis, and what Fred might be hiding, she is thrown into a whirlwind of lies and manipulation. How much is she willing to risk to expose the truth? And how will she get even?

PURCHASE LINKS
HarperCollins page
BookShop.org
Barnes & Noble
Amazon

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Cate Ray is the author of Good Husbands (2022, Park Row) and four previous novels of suspense published in the UK under the name Cath Weeks. She was named an Author to Watch by ELLE. She lives in Bath with her family.

AUTHOR LINKS
Author Website: https://cateray.co.uk/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CateRayWriter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cateraywriter/

 

EXCEPRT 

One

How did we get here—when did things become so bad? There are so many triggers and alarm bells, I’m overheating with the effort of trying to pick just one. And now Alice is leaving and if I don’t get ahold of myself I’m going to miss it.

Alongside our car, a student is saying goodbye to her parents, tucking in her camisole. Fred is watching her, instead of Alice. And I’m watching Fred, instead of Alice.

She’s at the door of her accommodation block, about to disappear inside. And then, suddenly, she falters, looking back at us, twisting her fingers together. She may as well be in pigtails and a gingham dress on her first day of school.

My seat belt snaps off. “Gabby…” Fred says.

I’m already halfway up the path, pulling her into my arms, inhaling her hair. Alice, sweet Alice.

I don’t want her to leave me. That’s the truth. I don’t want her to leave me with her father. I can’t bear it. Everything is heating, melting, as my entire system gives way to emotion.

And then I stop myself. I can’t do this to her. I pull back, grasp her shoulders, my arms rigid like tent poles holding us together. “You’re going to have a wonderful time, sweetheart. This is an exciting new adventure.”

She’s looking at me skeptically, but I don’t so much as breathe. I can be a tower for her. It’s only university; she’ll be home again in ten weeks.

“Thanks,” she says, her blue eyes filling, becoming sealike. I see my mother in her then and remove my hands from her shoulders in case I’m gripping too hard. “I love you, Mom.”

“And I love you too… Now go.” I give her a little pat, then watch as she keeps walking and this time she doesn’t look back.

I think I’m going to die as the door closes behind her, and then it’s me standing there, faltering, looking behind me, twisting my fingers together. Except that’s it not my parents I’m in turmoil about, but my husband. There’s a huge distance between us, much further than the twenty steps it would take me to reach him. He’s not even looking at me. His head is turned toward two attractive girls sitting underneath a tree. I could be setting off a distress flare and he wouldn’t notice.

Gazing at the door that swallowed Alice, I consider following her, hiding inside the laundry room for a few weeks. And then Fred honks the car horn and reluctantly I take those steps back to him.

Inside the car, I sit with my bag on my lap, staring straight ahead. He knows not to say anything, starts the engine. I’m glad he’s driving, leaving me free to sob until I’m as dry as a raisin. He’s a steady driver, I’ll give him that. We’re at that stage after twenty-one years of marriage where I’m grateful for his practical skills. I’m sure he feels the same about me and my lasagna.

As we slowly pull away, everything becomes a blur through my tears. I don’t know if it’s my hormones, but I’m overwhelmed: missing Alice, worrying about aging, wishing Fred wouldn’t look at this collage of youth as though I’m the crusty glue underneath that no one sees.

I’m uncomfortably hot, even with the air-conditioning on. It’s very warm for September—shorts, strappy tops; a parade of gorgeousness. And just like me and my jumbled thoughts, Fred doesn’t know which way to look.

Finally, as we pass through the entrance gates, he glances at me, patting my knee as though I’m man’s best friend. “She’ll be fine.”

Our youngest has left home and that’s all he can say. “Aren’t you upset?” I stop crying for a moment, curious about his response.

“Of course.” He doesn’t take his eyes off the road. “But this is what you encouraged her to do, wasn’t it? And she worked hard enough to get there. What’s the point in being upset? We can’t keep her tied up at home.”

I don’t know about that. If there were a sane way to do it, I’d probably give it a go.

I hiccup, gazing out the window, adding emotional detachment to the list of differences between us. Here I am, breaking my heart. And he’s tapping the wheel to “summer breeze, makes me feel fine,” the salmon tint of his shirt making him seem pinker than he is. I bought that for him. And he needs a haircut. The ancient scar on his knee is shimmering where he’s caught a tan from all the golf he’s played this summer.

He’s good for fifty-two—doesn’t have to work as hard as I do to stay in shape, even though we’re the same age, our birthdays only a week apart; both Taurus. I always thought this was nice, but someone once said two bulls in one house? Brave! And it was one of those things that went around my head for longer than it should have.

I don’t think of myself as a bull; sometimes I find it difficult to ask for what I need. And Fred is too tall for a bull. He’s less goofy and cheeky now he’s middle-aged, but every so often I see the old him—the way he was, with curls, John Lennon glasses. I start crying again. And this time, it’s for us.

“She’ll be okay, won’t she?”

He looks at me. “Yes.”

We don’t say anything after that. I cry behind my shades all the way home, sucking my lip. It’s seventy-nine miles from Exeter to Shelby. It will be longer for Alice by train—nearly four hours. I’ll send her money so she can come home whenever she needs to.

What if she never needs to?

I hiccup again, but Fred doesn’t notice. I told him I was going to be okay today and he’s taken me at my word.

I’ve been dreading it. It was bad enough when Will left for Edinburgh. And now he has a girlfriend, Zara, who wears cutoff shorts with the pockets hanging out. She’s lovely, very polite; but she’s twenty and in love with my son and there’s a tiny part of me that wishes she weren’t.

At home, I don’t go straight inside but linger on the step, gazing at the baby oaks the children planted eight years ago when we moved in. The thing with trees is they stay where you put them.

Inside the house, it smells of Alice’s perfume, which nearly sets me off again.

“Will you be okay if I do an hour’s work?” Fred says, opening the door to the basement.

“Go ahead. I’m seeing Jam later.”

He smiles. “Well, if she can’t sort you out, then no one can.”

But I wanted it to be you.

That’s what I want to say. Yet it wouldn’t sound right, not anymore. Too much has changed between us. There have been too many little betrayals, and some not so little ones.

“I’ll give you a shout before I go,” I say. “Would you like a coffee?”

“No, thanks,” he calls out, already halfway down the stairs.

The kitchen seems bigger than it was this morning, the breakfast bar stools painfully empty, Alice’s cereal bowl in the sink; I might keep it there for a few days. Opening the fridge, I remove a Pinot Grigio, pour a glass, taking it outside with a jar of olives. A breeze is rustling the palm trees on the patio, fluttering the surface of the pool. I take a seat, a cardigan draped over my shoulders like some Hollywood star.

Sometimes it helps if I glamorize the situation, imagining myself delivering lines, acting out the pain on screen. Sometimes it doesn’t. To be honest, I feel a bit silly.

I put my cardigan on properly, unscrewing the jar lid, chewing an olive, my eye drawn again to the oaks lining the border. They’ll be beautiful this autumn. It seems cruel that children fly the nest to university as the leaves begin to fall. Why couldn’t it be spring—give parents half a chance?

I take a long drink of wine, twisting to look up at Alice’s turret. She wanted a sea view when we moved in. Ten years old and she knew a premium room when she saw it. Suddenly, I want to be up there, to lie on her bed among her abandoned clothes and stuffed toys.

Upstairs, the room is surprisingly cool. I set the wine bottle on her dressing table, pouring myself another glass. “Well, cheers, baby girl.”

Her bed looks inviting, despite the pile of ratty tracksuit bottoms. Don’t take those, Alice.

I lie down, drawing my knees to my chest, hugging Big Bear, who smells of Alice’s coconut shampoo. She still uses her bear as a pillow. I cry again, gazing at the photo stuck haphazardly on the wardrobe door: her and Will last year, by our pool, hands draped around each other.

My babies. Both gone.

 

I’m somewhere up high, on a clifftop, the sea crashing beneath me. It takes me a moment and then I remember that I’ve been here before, locked inside this ghastly dream, and then dread begins to drain through me because I know what’s about to happen.

I wrestle to wake up, but can’t. The rough gorse is grasping my ankles, locking me in place. I don’t want to watch but have to, can’t escape. He’s there now, standing too close to the edge. Fred? Or Will? Don’t let it be Will.

I writhe in panic, ripping my legs on the gorse. I call out, my voice lost against the roaring sea. Get away from the edge! Get away from there! I can’t move or even turn my head away. I know someone else is coming, can sense them drawing closer. I struggle again, screaming, as they shunt the man forward over the treacherous edge.

I fight as hard as I can, my face wet with tears. And then I’m free.

Sitting up, I stare around me, the back of my hair wet with perspiration. Letting go of Big Bear, I gather the wine bottle and glass, tiptoeing from Alice’s room. The house feels as empty and fragile as a greenhouse. Outside, the whisper of the sea sounds like passing traffic. I check the time on my phone: thirty minutes until I meet Jamillah.

In my en suite bathroom, I feel sick with fatigue. My tongue feels bulbous and there’s a sleep line running all the way from my cheek to my chest, as though I’m a cardboard cutout that’s been folded in two, ready to lie flat for the night.

I put on some makeup, fix up my hair, but that seems to accentuate my eyes—the fact that they’re puffy, swollen—so I let it down again, telling myself that this is as good as it’s going to get. I choose a T-shirt, jeans, and then head downstairs, knocking on Fred’s cave door.

It smells of computer—that hot wire smell. “I’m off.”

He looks up, removes his glasses, rubs the bridge of his nose. “Is it that time already?”

I nod. “There’s pasta salad in the fridge.” 

“Thanks, my love.” He frowns at me.

“You all right? You look a bit…”

“I dozed off. And I had that nightmare again.”

“It’s okay. Everything’s fine. I’m here. You’ll always have me.” He smiles, puts his glasses back on, focusing on the screen again. He works a lot of hours these days, more than he used to, but then so do I.

He’s perfectly right though. The kids fly in and out like swallows, but good old Fred will always be here.

“See you later,” I say.

As I go down the driveway to the side gate, I check my phone to see if Alice has messaged. She hasn’t. I wonder what she’s doing. I think about texting her, but don’t. It’s not going to help her to let go, move on.

It’s a ten-minute walk to the seafront. I don’t see anyone as I go. My thoughts swirl, froth about and by the time I enter the bar, I know I’m going to have to tell Jam what I finally admitted to myself today about Fred: I absolutely hate him.

Excerpted from THE YOUNGER WOMAN by Cate Ray. Copyright © 2025 by Cate Ray. Published by Park Row Books, an imprint of HarperCollins.