Review + Giveaway: Mistakes We Make by Jenny Harper

Mistakes We Make by Jenny Harper 

Series: Heartlands Series #5

Release Date: 28th July 2016
Publisher: Accent Press

Genres:  Contemporary Fiction

Sometimes you have to dig deep to discover what you really need.

Marketing events manager Molly Keir doesn’t realise how much she still cares for her ex until she meets him with another woman. Her answer is to seize the chance of a glittering job in London – even though this will mean leaving behind her aging father and pregnant best friend Lexie Gordon.

Adam Blair is in the wrong job. Pressured by his father to join the family law firm, the stress of work helped break his marriage. Now Molly is moving to London, and he knows he needs to move on – but events soon overtake his best intentions.

A year ago, Caitlyn Murray quit her well-paid job to avoid becoming a whistle-blower. Now she is stuck at home with her overworked mother and four needy step-siblings. Tempted by the offer of a good wage, she returns to her old firm – where her nightmare comes back to haunt her.

Molly and Adam seem to have gone too far to recover the love they once had, and when Caitlyn finds the courage to speak out, she brings all their worlds tumbling down.

EXTRACT

Molly Keir rummaged in her handbag and extracted her glasses.

‘Yum, this looks amazing. Scallops, black pudding, Gravadlax, sole paupiettes. Wow. I didn’t realise how ravenous I was till I started reading!’

Lexie whispered, ‘Molly.’

‘Mmm? What do you think about beef?’

‘Molly.’

Molly looked up at the note of urgency. ‘What?’

Lexie’s face had turned an odd shade, and her brown eyes had a panicky look about them. She was staring over Molly’s shoulder at the doorway.

Molly shoved her glasses back onto the top of her head and swung round. A woman was walking into the room. She was Asian – Indian perhaps? – and classically beautiful. Her hair fell in thick, shiny tresses halfway down her back, her eyes were dark as treacle and dramatically outlined in black. She was wearing scarlet. Afterwards, that was what Molly remembered most – the stunning silky dress, hugging a perfect figure.

For now, the dress and the woman faded improbably into the background because there was a man behind her. Not just any man – Adam Blair.

Molly’s husband.

Molly is an absolute workaholic as an events manager. Her phone is permanently attached to her ear, even when best friend Lexie takes her away for a weekend and forces her to relax. However, the weekend doesn't exactly start off in the way the two women had hoped, with Molly's ex husband staying in the same hotel with a new girlfriend. Molly is shocked by the depth of feelings she still has towards Adam and struggles to reconcile the difficulties they had, which forced her into an affair with Lexie's brother, with the way she feels when she sees him again. His new girlfriend is beautifully exotic and not what Molly ever imagined for Adam.

But, Molly and Adam's story is not the only story thread unraveling throughout the course of this book. All the characters and stories and characters linked. We also meet poor Caitlyn for example, taking on more responsibilities than any other girl her own age and desperately trying to keep her family afloat and supporting her mother. I really felt Caitlyn's sense of frustration and loneliness and wanted to reach into the story and hug her.

With broken hearts, family feuds, love, betrayal and the chance to start over, Mistakes We Make is an excellent book. Jenny Harper has a very easy to read style and her descriptions of places is captivating, giving a real sense of being there. Tackling very real issues Jenny has woven these issues and how people's lives can change and evolve as a result into a brilliant story. While this is the 5th book in the series I at no point felt disadvantaged in not having read them all. I did read Between Friends previously and adored it so I was pretty confident I would enjoy Mistakes We Make. And, Jenny did not disappoint with her interesting and complex story line and lots of great characters all culminating in a fantastic book!

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ABOUT JENNY HARPER

I've been a writer for most of my life. I've written and co-authored a number of books on Scotland, a history of childbirth, a children's novel and a romantic novel, all published some years ago. I've now turned my attention to writing the kind of novels I like to read - well written and with some depth, but not literary or too demanding. I like to tackle issues, but also to incorporate the complicated emotional challenges of day-to-day living.

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