Book Review: The Guilty Couple by C.L. Taylor

“He framed her. Now she’ll destroy him.”

Set to be published on 23rd June, The Guilty Couple by C.L. Taylor follows Olivia Sutherland who, five years ago, was wrongfully convicted of plotting to murder her husband. Now she’s finally free, Olivia has three goals: repair her relationship with her teenage daughter, clear her name, and bring down her husband – the man who framed her. Just how far is she willing to go to get what she wants? And how far will her husband go to stop her? Because his lies run deeper than Olivia could ever have imagined – and this time it’s not her freedom that’s in jeopardy, but her life…

My 2020 Reading Wrap-Up

Over the past couple of years, I have documented every film that I have watched and reviewed them all using Letterboxd. As a way to motivate myself to read more, I thought I would do the same for what books I have been reading, using Goodreads as a way to set myself a reading challenge every year.

I initially set my target as 25 books this year, but a few things happened that meant I reached this goal quite early on. Firstly, I had a baby, so this meant that I was awake at silly hours with plenty of time to read. Then, there was lockdown. Because of lockdown, I decided to join Bookstagram and NetGalley and get more serious about reviewing books. So now, instead of reading two books at most a month, I’ve been reading up to ten.

I upped my goal to 60 around halfway through the year, and still managed to pass that by reaching 74 books. This year has really rekindled my love of books, and I can’t wait to start 2021 with this new passion.

Here’s how my 2020 challenge went:

Book Review: The Island by CL Taylor

“She said she’d never leave me but she did. She said she’d never love anyone as much as she loved me. She said I was her everything. She said a lot of things and none of them were true. She’s dead. And she’s a liar.”

Set to be released on 21st January 2021, The Island sees CL Taylor welcome you to The Island – a secluded paradise in Thailand, where your worst fears are about to come true. It was supposed to be the perfect holiday: a week-long trip for six teenage friends on a remote tropical island. But when their guide dies of a stroke leaving them stranded, the trip of a lifetime quickly turns into a nightmare. Someone on the island knows each of the group’s worst fears. And one by one, they’re coming true. Who will make it off the island alive?

Book Review: Sleep by C.L. Taylor

“I thought, by coming here, that I’d leave what happened behind. But grief can’t be cast off like a jacket. It becomes part of you, an invisible film welded to your skin. Some days you feel it, some days you don’t, but it’s always there.”

Published in 2019 and written by C.L. Taylor, Sleep sees Anna escape to a hotel on the remote Scottish island of Rum. But when seven guests join her, what started as a retreat from the world turns into a deadly nightmare. Each of the guests have a secret, and one of them is lying about who they are. Seven strangers. Seven secrets. One murderer. Exhausted by crushing insomnia and terrifying night terrors, all Anna wants is to sleep. If only she didn’t feel so guilty…

My 2018 Reading Wrap-Up

Over the past couple of years, I have documented every film that I have watched and reviewed them all using Letterboxd. As a way to motivate myself to read more, I thought I would do the same for what books I have been reading, using Goodreads as a way to set myself a reading challenge every year.

After reading only 6 books last year, I kept my target low this year and set myself the goal of 10 books. However, I somehow managed to read 20 books this year, mostly due to reading a book a day on my honeymoon.

Here’s how my 2018 challenge went, with a short review and rating for each of the books that I read:

Book Review: The Escape by C.L. Taylor

“Look after your daughter’s things. And your daughter…”

C.L. Taylor‘s 2017 thriller, The Escape, follows mother and wife Jo Blackmore who, when a stranger asks her for a lift, says yes. But she quickly wishes she hadn’t. The stranger knows Jo’s name, she knows her husband, Max, and she’s got a glove belonging to Jo’s two-year-old daughter, Elise. What starts off as a series of inconvenient encounters soon turns into threats, police and social services involvement, and then even Jo’s own husband turns against her. No one believes that Elise is in danger, but Jo knows there’s only one way to keep her child safe – to escape.

Book Review: The Lie

“I was escaping from a job I hated, Al was escaping from a failed relationship, Daisy was tagging along for the adventure, and Leanne… well, she was looking for somewhere to call home.”

C.L. Taylor‘s 2015 thriller, The Lie, follows Jane Hughes, an ordinary woman living in a tiny cottage in rural Wales. She has a caring boyfriend and a dream job working in an animal sanctuary and is happier than she’s ever been. But her name is not really Jane Hughes. Five years earlier, Emma went on a spa holiday with her three best friends to Nepal. It was the trip of a lifetime, until it rapidly descended into a nightmare that claimed the lives of two of the women. Jane has tried to put her past behind her, but someone knows the truth about what happened. Someone who won’t stop until they’ve destroyed Jane and everything she loves.

My 2017 Reading Wrap-Up

Over the past couple of years I have documented every film that I have watched and reviewed them all using Letterboxd.

As a way to motivate myself to read more, I thought I would do the same for what books I have been reading, using Goodreads as a way to set myself a reading challenge.

After completing my challenge of 15 books last year, I thought I would increase my goal to 20 books. However, it turns out that having a baby takes up more time than I thought it would, so this is the first year that I haven’t completed my challenge. Still, I thought I would share the few books that I did manage to find some time to read. Here’s how my 2017 challenge went, with a short review and rating for each of the books:

Book Review: The Accident

“You never feel heartache as keenly as you do when you’re young. You think it’ll destroy you and that you will never love, or be loved, again.”

The debut novel from C.L. Taylor and published in 2014, The Accident (Also known as Before I Wake) follows Sue Jackson, a mother and wife who seemingly has the perfect family. That is until her teenage daughter Charlotte deliberately steps in front of a bus and ends up in a coma. Retracing her daughter’s steps, she finds a horrifying entry in Charlotte’s diary and is forced to head deep into Charlotte’s private world. In her hunt for evidence, Sue begins to mistrust everyone close to her daughter and is forced to look into the depths of her own past. There is a lot that Sue doesn’t know about Charlotte’s life. But then there’s a lot that Charlotte doesn’t know about Sue’s.

My 2016 Reading Wrap-Up

Over the past couple of years, I have documented every film that I have watched and reviewed them all using Letterboxd.

As a way to motivate myself to read more, I thought I would do the same for what books I have been reading, using Goodreads as a way to set myself a reading challenge.

So, this year I set myself a challenge of reading 18 books, and for the first time since doing so, I have managed to exceed my target, hooray!

Here’s how my 2016 challenge went, with a short review and rating for each of the books:

Book Review: The Missing

“We all have secrets. Most are guilty, a few are wretched and some are too precious to share.”

C.L. Taylor‘s 2016 thriller, The Missing follows a desperate mother, Claire Wilkinson, whose 15-year-old son, Billy, goes missing in the middle of the night. Claire blames herself, but she’s not the only one. There isn’t a single member of Billy’s family that doesn’t feel guilty. But the Wilkinson’s are so used to keeping secrets from one another that it isn’t until six months later when an appeal for information goes horribly wrong. Claire is sure that Billy is still alive, but as the truth begins to surface, she begins to question who she can trust.