BLOG TOUR - BEACH VIBES BY SUSAN MALLERY

  

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Susan Mallery comes an unforgettable beach read about love, secrets, betrayal and the family we’re born into—and the one we choose for ourselves, perfect for fans of Emily Giffin and Mary Kay Andrews.

Love and loyalty collide with secrets and betrayal in this witty and emotional tale about the lengths we’ll go to for family, from Susan Mallery, New York Times bestselling author of The Boardwalk Bookshop. 

Title: Beach Vibes
Author: Susan Mallery
Publisher: Canary Street Press
Genre: General Fiction, Family Life
Release Date: 18th March 2025

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What would you do if you caught your brother cheating on your best friend?

While Beth is proud of her Malibu beach shop, Surf Sandwiches, she's even prouder of her charismatic brother Rick, who rose from foster care through surgical residency. She makes subs, he saves lives. Life takes a turn for the happy after she finds out Rick is dating her new best friend, Jana. Then Jana’s handsome brother adds even more sparkle to Beth’s days...and nights.

But when she catches Rick with another woman—like, with-with—her visions of an idyllic family future disappear in one awful instant. Either she betrays her brother, or she keeps his secret and risks losing the man she loves and her best friend. 

Goodreads Link 

 
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

SUSAN MALLERY is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of novels about the relationships that shape women's lives―family, friendship, romance. Library Journal says, “Mallery is the master of blending emotionally believable characters in realistic situations," and readers seem to agree―40 million copies of her books have sold worldwide. Her warm, humorous stories make the world a happier place to live. She’s passionate about animal welfare, which shows in the many quirky animal characters she has created.Susan grew up in California and now lives in Seattle with her husband and adorable poodle. 

AUTHOR LINKS
Website: https://susanmallery.com/
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Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/susan-mallery
Mailing List: https://susanmallery.com/join-mailing-list.php

 

EXCERPT 

Beth Nield had no choice but to admit that her sixty-seven-year-old aunt had a much more interesting love life than she did. Actual living proof of that sad fact sat at their shared breakfast table, eating a high-fiber cereal while watching the morning news.

Hunter was a still handsome seventy something who’d worked for the USPS his whole life, retiring with a very nice federal pension. But his “real” money had come from playing the stock market. She had no idea where the two had met, but this was the third morning this month she’d found Hunter eating a hearty breakfast after a night of, well, nothing she wanted to think about.

Despite the fact that Beth’s divorce had been final just over a year ago, she hadn’t been on a date. As for spending the night with a man, well, she couldn’t begin to imagine that ever hap­pening. She’d been telling herself she didn’t need that sort of distraction and that relationships were more trouble than they were worth, but thinking about how happy her aunt was these days, she was starting to wonder if maybe she was wrong. Per­haps there was something to falling in love. Not that she’d ever had much luck in the romance department—her divorce was proof of that. Her brother hadn’t been successful in love, either. Maybe there was a genetic flaw.

Not anything she was going to think about this morning, she told herself firmly as she put her breakfast dishes in the dish­washer and called out a goodbye to Hunter.

While the Los Angeles metro area was known to be a night­mare traffic-wise, Beth had what could only be described as a glorious commute. She lived a mere twenty minutes from where she worked, and the majority of that drive was along Pa­cific Coast Highway through Malibu. Yes, there were plenty of annoying stoplights, and on the weekends, visitors clogged the roads, but it was difficult to mind when just to the west was the Pacific Ocean.

Although Malibu was known the world over, the LA-adja­cent community was in fact much smaller than most everyone imagined. The actual population was less than twelve thousand people, with the majority of the businesses and houses clinging to the coast. There were canyons and hills that stretched east, but the area everyone thought of when they heard the name was within a couple of miles of the water.

Beth made the familiar drive with her windows open and the scent of the salt air brightening her day. The ocean was more lively today with whitecaps visible out to the horizon and seagulls circling overhead. A light breeze danced with the palm trees. This early, the beaches would be relatively empty, but by noon, they would fill with locals and tourists, all eager to enjoy nature’s beautiful offering.

When she pulled into her reserved spot behind Surf Sand­wiches, the sight of the cheerfully painted one-story build­ing filled her with fierce, happy pride. She might have bought the business out of a sense of obligation and a need to help her brother, but over the years, she’d grown to love the place. When she and Ian had divorced, he’d asked to buy her out of their house. She’d used the money to purchase the vacant storefront next door and had expanded her business, giving her a much larger eating area for customers and a remodeled kitchen and prep area, not to mention additional parking. The latter was a precious commodity in always congested Malibu.

She’d kept the surfboard rack and outdoor shower for her customers who came directly from the beach across the street, and had painted the outside the same bright, cheerful yellow she used on the logo. To make the remodel go more quickly, she’d closed for three weeks, giving her just enough time to second-guess herself and wonder if all her regulars would forget about their favorite sandwiches. But at the grand reopening, there’d been a line nearly around the block, and since the remodel, sales were up thirty-eight percent. Information that would make any small business owner’s heart flutter with joy.

She unlocked the back door and walked to the newly en­larged employee space. Big lockers filled one wall, with comfy sofas opposite. During the refresh, she’d added a couple of sets of tables and chairs and had upgraded the Wi-Fi. By giving up space in her office, she’d squeezed in a third bathroom—this one for employees only.

It was barely eight in the morning, three hours before the store opened, but Yolanda and Kai were already hard at work prepping for the upcoming day. Surf Sandwiches was open from eleven until seven. The biggest rush was from about eleven-thirty until one, with a second, surprisingly intense post-school surge, followed by a gentle wind-down until closing.

Yolanda, a pretty, petite brunette with more energy than the battery bunny and three kids under the age of ten, was her go-to morning person. Despite her tiny stature, she had a killer mom glare that could reduce anyone with attitude to submission in less than three seconds. Even more significant, she wielded the Hobart meat slicer with surgeon-like precision. Even Rick, Beth’s actual surgeon brother, agreed Yolanda had mad skills.

“Morning,” Beth called as she stepped into the kitchen. “How’s it going?”

“Good.” Yolanda smiled at her. “Kai’s a worker. I don’t mind when he comes in early.”

Kai, a twenty-two-year-old who’d walked away from family money to surf rather than go to college, beamed at the compli­ment. “Yo, that’s high praise. Makes me want to work harder.”

Yolanda winked at Beth, as if silently saying that was the whole point of the words. Then her humor faded.

“We need lettuce. When I went to get it out this morning, I saw it’s all rotten.”

Beth groaned. “Not the lettuce. What happened?”

Yolanda pointed to the small kitchen where the industrial refrigerator and restaurant-size stove sat. “You can go look for yourself. I salvaged a few bunches, but we’re going to need a lot more for the day.”

An unexpected but not unheard-of disaster, Beth thought as she went into the kitchen and saw containers of sad-looking let­tuce sitting on the counter, the good bunches already off to the side. She calculated the damage, took a couple of pictures with her phone and then pulled the ongoing Costco list from a drawer.

While she ordered most of her supplies from various distribu­tors, like most small restaurant businesses, she relied on a big box store for backup. She added tomatoes to the list, then returned to the front to confirm they had everything else they needed.

She and Yolanda quickly discussed what she would be buying.

“Let me get in touch with my produce guy. I’ll head to Costco as soon as they open.”

“We’ll be fine,” Yolanda told her. “We know what to do.”

Beth went into her office, where she quickly booted her computer and the pay system she used. She found two large of­fice lunch orders waiting and immediately forwarded them to the kitchen, where they would be flagged and reviewed. Once Yolanda determined what had to be made, the orders would auto­matically go in queue thirty minutes before they were supposed to be ready. The improved software had been expensive, but worth it. These days a lot of customers wanted to order and pay online, then just drop by to grab their food and get on with their lives.

She sent a quick email to her produce guy, complete with pic­tures. She’d been working with him for years and knew a credit would be sitting in her account by the end of day.

She helped with the prep work until it was time to head out with her shopping list. Getting to the closest Costco required a longer and less interesting drive than her commute to work. She listened to the radio and thought about all she had to get done when she returned to the store. Kai would make the ci­lantro, pumpkin seed and jalapeño pesto, which was usually her job. He was her newest employee, but he was a good hire. She was very fortunate with everyone who worked for her. Most had been with the store over a decade, and turnover was low. She paid well, offered great health care and did her best to be a fair and reasonable boss.

When she’d shut down for the three-week remodel, every­one had been paid their usual amount. She’d even arranged for a special evening at a local movie multiplex where she’d rented the smallest theater and had hosted dinner and a movie for staff and their families. Everyone had had a good time, and a few had mentioned making it an annual event—a reaction that made her happy. Tragically for her, that was the wildest her social life had been since the divorce. Except for work and her recent com­mitment to volunteering at a local food bank, she was kind of turning into a grumpy hermit, which wasn’t her nature at all. But she couldn’t seem to get motivated to, you know, get out and be in the world.

She missed having friends to hang out with. She missed being in a relationship, yet given how she was spending her days, she was very much stuck in a rut of doing nothing. Her aunt was warm and caring, but Agatha had her own life, what with her man friend and a new and oddly successful home business of crocheting custom bikinis.

Beth turned in to the industrial area where the Costco was lo­cated and drove toward the sprawling building at the end of the street. As she headed through an intersection, her gaze drifted to a large billboard on her right. Immediately her entire body went on alert as her brain struggled to comprehend what she was seeing. She instinctively turned toward the billboard—and accidently steered in that direction as well. Before she could slam on the brakes, she’d driven off the road, up onto the side­walk (mercifully empty of pedestrians), stopping less than a foot from a fire hydrant.

It took a couple of seconds for her to start breathing again. Adrenaline poured through her from both the near accident and the billboard itself. She managed to put the car in Park before turning off the engine and getting out to stand on the sidewalk and stare in disbelief.

The billboard was huge and showed a happy couple staring into each other’s eyes. Not really noteworthy if she ignored both the fact that the man in question was her ex-husband Ian and the heartfelt message next to the photo.

Patti, you mean the world to me. I’m so grateful to have found you. I love you. Will you marry me?

She pressed a hand to her chest, as if to keep her heart from jumping out and flopping around on the road. Her brain was still having trouble processing what she was seeing, and she hon­estly didn’t know what was more confusing to her. The billboard itself, the fact that it was two blocks from Costco, or that her very ordinary, believer-in-a-routine ex-husband had proposed in such an un-Ian-like way. Oh, and maybe the fact that he had obviously moved on and fallen in love with someone else while she hadn’t been out with friends, let alone a man.

Ignoring a sudden wave of sadness, she sagged back onto the driver’s seat and pulled her phone from her handbag. Within seconds she was on Instagram and scrolling through to find Ian’s account. As their divorce had been as low-key as their marriage, she’d never blocked him, and apparently he’d never blocked her, either. Which meant she could see everything he’d posted for the past couple of weeks in color photographs and videos.

If the picture of the two of them holding champagne glasses and smiling at the camera was any indication, Patti had said yes. But instead of staring at the happy couple, Beth found herself searching the crowd of friends that was gathered around them. Friends she’d thought had been her friends as well, back when she and Ian had been married. The three couples had been tight, hanging out together, even taking the odd vacation as a group. But when the marriage had fallen apart, she’d discovered she was actually only the friend-in-law. The other two women hadn’t wanted to get together and had finally explained they were picking Ian. At the time, that had hurt about as much as the end of her marriage.

She flipped through more pictures and saw one of Ian and Patti with Ian’s large, extended family. The family she’d thought of as her own, appreciating the sheer size and volume of get-togethers. Growing up it had just been her, her brother and her mom. She’d always dreamed of being part of a big family, and with Ian, that had happened. Only once she and Ian split up, her relationship with them had ended as well.

Beth dropped the phone on the passenger seat and stared at the billboard. Ian was getting married again, to Patti—whoever she was. They would have a life, possibly kids. All the things she’d thought would happen when she and Ian had been to­gether. Only they hadn’t.

She knew she didn’t want him back—their relationship was long over. But she did envy his future, or at least all the possibili­ties. Ian had kept living his life and looking for ways to be happy.

And here she was, in her car, alone and semi-friendless. Ex­cept for Jana, a relatively new friend she really liked, there was no one. Yes, she’d done great things with her business, but what about her personal life? Why was she half-parked on a sidewalk, staring at a billboard while on her way to Costco? Didn’t she want more?

A sharp pain cut through her—two parts regret but one part intense longing for more than the nothing she’d apparently cho­sen. She needed friends in her life and possibly a man. While the latter seemed like more than she could comfortably take on right now, the former was doable. She was a good person. She was likeable. The friend thing shouldn’t be so hard.

She needed more than just work, she told herself. She needed to get out of the house and start doing things. Anything. Begin­ning right this second. Or possibly after she made her Costco run. But today for sure.

Excerpted from Beach Vibes by Susan Mallery, Copyright © 2025 by Susan Mallery Inc. Published by Canary Street Press. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

REVIEW - MATRITTO MOTHERHOOD BY AMEENA TABASSUM

  

Title: Matritto Motherhood
Author: Ameena Tabassum
Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
Release Date: 11th October 2024

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In the town of Woking, a story of motherhood unfolds. At its core is Lucy, a fifteen-year-old girl labeled by society as a lost cause, a soul grappling with deep troubles, overshadowed by her mother’s battle with depression and alcoholism.

Under constant scrutiny from social services, Lucy and her half-sister strive to find stability in their fractured world.However, Lucy’s world takes an unexpected twist when she becomes pregnant at the age of fifteen.

This newfound circumstance casts a glaring spotlight on their family, fuelling suspicions of Lucy’s involvement with a South Asian gang. As a result, both the police and social services hone in on Lucy’s case, their attention now undivided.As her world collides with that of determined social worker Milly and Detective Sergeant David, a gripping tale of love, betrayal, and redemption unfolds.

A compelling narrative that will keep readers on the edge of their seats until the very end. Motherhood is a work of fiction that delves into the issue of child sexual exploitation in England, drawing inspiration from real-life cases involving South Asian gangs and the exploitation of young girls. Originally published in Bangla as Matritto in Bangladesh, the book has gained popularity and critical acclaim.

Goodreads Link 

REVIEW
It was the book cover that first attracted my attention to the book, rather than using a real person photograph type cover it is a plain blue background and kind of the silhouette of a mother and baby. Once I read the blurb, I was even more interested remembering the Rochdale and Rotherham grooming scandals and arrests being on the news.

There are two female central characters in the book, two mothers, or rather one pregnant teen, and one mother of a teenage boy.

Lucy is the young teen who hasn’t had a great start in life, her mother is an alcoholic who suffers with depression and has attempted suicide twice already. Lucy has to fend for herself, take care of her younger half-sister Megan, as well as watch over her mother. Lucy has no one taking care of her or giving her love or attention which makes her quite the easy target for Sajid. Sajid is young, described as handsome in the book and owns and speeds around in a flashy sports car. Sajid is into making money through petty crime and selling drugs and he needs to build himself a little army to literally do his dirty work. Sajid turns his flashy smile on Lucy, flattering her, giving her lifts home etc until she’s literally hooked on being around him, the attention and affection he gives her and will do anything he asks of her, firstly just to please, then as time goes on to stop him being angry with her. Sajid “woos” Lucy, then first takes advantage of her himself sexually knowing full well she is underage. At times it’s almost believable from Lucy’s point of view that she is his girlfriend that they have a future together. Sajid talks about a future home together and their future family. He then uses his hold over her to get her to steal for him, sell drugs for him and then recruit others to steal and sell drugs for him too. When a drug deal goes bad Sajid isn’t the big fish in the little pond anymore, he owes bigger, more dangerous criminal, a gang leader money and needs to appease them in some way. That’s when connivingly talks Lucy into sleeping with one gang leader for him, he promises he will take her to the gang leader, she won’t be in danger and he will bring her home……Lucy believes him and though she doesn’t want to do it she agrees to sleep with the gang leader as she wants to please Sajid and stop him being so short tempered with her, maybe if she does this one thing, he will be less stressed and they can plan a future together. Only when Lucy arrives, there is the gang leader and his friends…..one by one they rape her. Lucy somehow holds herself together thinking it is all behind her until she finds out she is pregnant. Sajid clearly knew the situation he was taking Lucy into and seemingly didn’t care. Its then slowly Lucy begins to see him for the nasty, petty criminal he is. Sajid of course wants Lucy to get an abortion, he wants no evidence of what happened that night whether the baby is his or not. Lucy refuses and obviously school teachers spot that she is pregnant and call in social services.

That’s how Lucy meets Milly, who is a Bangladeshi social worker who is a single mother to a son around Lucys age. Milly came to England to be married to Hassan, a marriage arranged by her Uncle, supposedly a good match. It turned out that Hassan had his own issues, addictions and problems, which Molly put up with, tried to help with until Hassan became abusive towards her. Hassan even attacked Milly, kicking her in the stomach when she was 6 months pregnant with their son. Milly fled and Hassan hasn’t seen his son until recently contacting him saying he has changed. Milly hasn’t told their now almost 16 year old son Adib about the abuse she suffered so he agrees to meet his father.

Milly is tasked with finding out who the father of the baby is and what has been going on with Sajid etc. The Police already expect there may be a case of grooming and sexual exploitation such as the Rochdale and Rotherham cases. The Police Detective in charge is David, who is determined to crack this case, get Sajid and anyone else in the gangs put away and help the victim get justice and help to move on too. He also ends up taking quite a liking to Milly, who is extremely flattered and at a point in her life where she is thinking her son may soon leave, she will be alone, so perhaps she is ready for a relationship herself now. They start an at first secretive relationship together which when her son Adib comes home unexpected one evening and sees first Davids car, then the couple through the window causes Adib to jump to conclusions. Adib thinks his mother doesn’t care about him, thinks she wants him to go stay with Hassan and Hassan’s new family etc.

To say Milly is a social worker and supposed to be good at talking, especially to teens, she doesn’t communicate well with her own son Adib. Then when Adib sees his mother all smiling and happy talking to Lucy of course he becomes jealous over that. All this confusing and jealousy leads him to make a deal with an increasingly desperate to get the Police of her back Lucy.

I found Lucy and her story interesting and to be honest would have liked more of that. For example, her getting ready for trial and/or what happened, in her voice, when she had the baby. I thought it a shame that her friendship with Adib wasn’t explored further, maybe he could have supported her during her pregnancy, birth and building a new life afterwards or at least they would have kept in touch in some way. I thought the friendship that grew between David/Adib was well written and worked with the story well. The Hassan/Adib relationship was only ever mentioned in the book, we had no detail on the meetings that took place, though I guess the majority of the “Saturday meetings” were just a cover for Adib to secretly work his Saturday job whilst avoiding both parents.

Now I have to be honest I didn’t really like the David and Milly dynamic; it felt very Mills & Boon-esque in some places and in others it felt like David was grooming Milly!! It was totally believable when Milly broke off the relationship thinking that what her son wanted/needed her to do. I did think Milly and David made a likely, realistic couple but it felt a bit contrived, almost as if the romance was added to fill out the book more, it really didn’t need it.

I found the two letters that Lucy sent, one to Milly and one to Adib interesting and quite realistic. It was a shame as readers that we only accessed the letter Milly received. I think in the end Lucy showed that like Milly she was a strong woman who would do anything for her son. In fact, Lucy seemed to really have turned her life around, it would have been nice to read a little about that too. I think in the end Lucy ended up with a more mature attitude and outlook than some of the adults in the book.

My initial thoughts when the book ended where, Oh! Is that it? I had expected a bit more of a loose-ends being tied up for the different characters. There were the Police/court result parts but I felt there could have been more, maybe a separate epilogue. Even if it was just Adib reading the letter Lucy had sent him.

Summing up this book had some seriously hard-hitting sections, such as those with Lucy, her home life and how she came to be pregnant, then Milly, escaping an abusive relationship with her son & becoming a social worker to help others. Adib is a confused young man with still growing up dealing with his father suddenly turning up in his life. The racism that Lucy, Milly and Adib faced and had to deal with. Then there's romance between Milly & David, perhaps a little excessively sweet but fitted in with the plot.

 

 

 

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

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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 finishing 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

BLURB
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