Review ~The Trophy Child by Paula Daly

Bantam press
January 2016

What's the book about..

A doting mother or a pushy parent?

Karen Bloom expects perfection. Her son, Ewan, has been something of a disappointment and she won’t be making the same mistake again with her beloved, talented child, Bronte.

Bronte’s every waking hour will be spent at music lessons and dance classes, doing extra schoolwork and whatever it takes to excel. 

But as Karen pushes Bronte to the brink, the rest of the family crumbles. Karen’s husband, Noel, is losing himself in work, and his teenage daughter from his first marriage, Verity, is becoming ever more volatile. The family is dangerously near breaking point. 

Karen would know when to stop . . . wouldn’t she?

My thoughts about the book..

Meeting Karen Bloom in this latest offering by Paula Daly is rather like meeting one of those people who you sometimes encounter at a school parents evening, you immediately recognise the incredibly pushy mother who always seems to want their offspring to take part in every activity that the school can offer.

At the centre of The Trophy Child is ten year old Bronte Bloom who is constantly pushed to her limits by a mother who feels that Bronte's every waking moment should be filled with activities. The rest of the family tiptoe around the perimeter, never really functioning as a normal family and before too long we begin to suspect that not everything in the Bloom family is as it should be.

There is no doubt that this author has made this specific area of domestic drama all her own and once again gives us a story that gets right into the nitty-gritty of dysfunctional family life. Trying to make sense of what's happening to the Bloom family is DS Joanne Aspinall, the detective we have met in previous stories. Her unique brand of police investigation is tested rather more in this story and it's interesting to see a little more about Joanne's personal life being put under the microscope.

There is much to take in, not just in the dynamics between Karen and Bronte but also in the tension between husband and wife and in the relationship between Bronte's older siblings, Ewan and Verity. As always there are some really complex family issues being dissected and the author succeeds with her usual fine attention to detail and her unique ability to keep the reader guessing until the very end. Several times within the story I thought that I was one step ahead of DS Aspinall, only to find that I was wallowing in the dark as the story veered off in yet another direction. Cleverly the story strands all join together and the story concludes in a way that I really I didn't see coming.

Just a reminder for those readers who may be new to Paula Daly's stories. All her back list can be read as standalone stories. The only common denominators being the Lake District setting and DS Joanne Aspinall's involvement somewhere in proceedings.

I'm always bereft when I finish a new novel by my favourite author and I can only hope that she writes her next book quickly !

Best Read With..A strong Nespresso and a cream cheese sandwich, eaten on the wing.. 

About the Author

Paula Daly was born in Lancashire. Before beginning her first novel JUST WHAT KIND OF MOTHER ARE YOU? she was a self-employed physiotherapist. She lives in the Lake District with her husband, three children and whippet Skippy

 My thanks to the publishers for my review copy of The Trophy Child

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Close To Home ...Paula Daly

As a book reviewer I have made contact with authors from all across the globe and feel immensely privileged to be able to share some amazing work. However, there is always something rather special when a book comes to my attention which has been written by an author in my part of the North of England. So with this in mind I have great pleasure in featuring some of those authors who are literally close to my home. Over the next few Saturdays, and hopefully beyond, I will be sharing the work of a very talented bunch of Northern authors and discovering just what being a Northerner means to them both in terms of inspiration and also in their writing.

Please welcome North West Writer

Paula Daly

Tell us a little about yourself and what got you started as an author?

Before becoming an author I was a self-employed physiotherapist, but I was miserable at work and my friend suggested I should try writing something. She thought I’d be good at it. She told me to read Stephen King’s book On Writing, which I did, and unexpectedly I found once I started to write I couldn’t stop. 

Your books are based in North West England – how do the people and its landscape shape your stories?

My first four books are set in the Lake District. I write psychological thrillers and the sometimes bleak but beautiful landscape of the Lakes really lends itself to this kind of fiction. As for the characters, elements of the people I know, people I see everyday, creep into each character. This is what makes them real to me and hopefully to the reader too. 

In your research for your books, do you visit any of the places you write about and which have made a lasting impression?

I know the places I write about. I wouldn’t write about an area I wasn’t familiar with because I couldn’t make it come to life. But I’m always on the lookout for unusual settings. Something that can make an ordinary scene more interesting. In The Mistake I Made I had a lot of fun writing scenes that took place on the Windermere car ferry. Hopefully the reader enjoyed the fact that they’d not read something like it before. 

Corgi
2016

As a writer based in the North West, does this present any problems in terms of marketing and promoting your books and if so, how do you overcome them?

I’m very lucky to be with Penguin Random House, because a large commercial publisher like this will cover the costs of sending an author out to promote their books. 

If you were pitching the North West as an ideal place to live, work and write – how would you sell it and what makes it so special?

Hmm, if I was to pitch the North West as an ideal place to live everyone would want to come and live here. So here’s my pitch: the weather’s terrible and the people are very unfriendly, nobody smiles and it’s an awful place for a writer to live and work. Totally uninspiring.

Writing is a solitary business - how do you interact with other authors?

I don’t feel a great need to interact with other writers so much as to connect with other people in general. So I get out the house, walk the dog, chat to friends etc. I just do what any normal person does to connect to the wider world. 

How supportive are local communities to your writing, and are there ever any opportunities for book shops, local reading groups, or libraries to be involved in promoting your work?

Cumbria libraries have been very supportive of my work and have arranged numerous events at which I’ve spoken about books and writing and chatted to readers. We don’t have many independent bookshops left but Bookends in Keswick and Carlisle go out of their way to promote my books and I’m very grateful to them. 

And finally, if someone is new to your work, which book do you think they should start with?

Start with whichever piques their interest. The books follow a loose kind of order, so ideally, start with Just What Kind of Mother Are You? But really, it doesn’t matter. They can be read in any order. 

Corgi
2014

Paula's latest novel The Trophy Child  is out in hardcover on the 26th January

Bantam Press
26 January 2017

A doting mother or a pushy parent?

Karen Bloom expects perfection. Her son, Ewan, has been something of a disappointment and she won’t be making the same mistake again with her beloved, talented child, Bronte.

Bronte’s every waking hour will be spent at music lessons and dance classes, doing extra schoolwork and whatever it takes to excel.

But as Karen pushes Bronte to the brink, the rest of the family crumbles. Karen’s husband, Noel, is losing himself in work, and his teenage daughter from his first marriage, Verity, is becoming ever more volatile. The family is dangerously near breaking point.

Karen would know when to stop . . . wouldn’t she?

You can pre-order The Trophy Child here

You can find out more about Paula by visiting her Facebook page by clicking here  

Huge thanks to Paula for sharing her books and her love of the North West with us today.

Coming next week : Cath Staincliffe

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Review ~ The Mistake I Made by Paula Daly

Bantam Press
Random House UK Transworld Publishers
August 27 2015

He wants her. At any price.

There is one thing of which I am absolutely sure and that is, to be in possession of a new Paula Daly novel, is akin to winning a literary lotto. All six of your numbers come up at once and as you sit comfortably in your favourite reading chair time simply ceases to exist in the here and now, and you are instantly taken to another time and place, and very quickly find yourself amongst people who become as familiar as friends. And as you do with friends, you laugh with them, hurt with them and try to understand when they make decisions you inherently know are going to bring them a whole heap of trouble.

Roz, a physiotherapist, is desperately struggling to makes ends meet after her profligate ex-husband left her with crippling debts. It’s a common belief that a professional career should earn enough to be able to fill the car with petrol and make sure that there’s food on the table, but life is difficult and Roz is faced with some really tough choices. Amongst her choices, is one being made by Scott Elias, a local man with enough disposable income to get what he wants, and what he wants is to pay for a sexual encounter with Roz. But gratification comes with a high price tag, and the intimate liaison Scott suggests is a way for Roz to escape her money worries forever, but the moral code by which Roz has lived her life is so harshly called into question that you can’t help but be emotionally affected by the choices she makes.

The Mistake I Made is gripping, it’s a real page turner, it’s everything you want in a suspenseful novel and it exemplifies just how clever Paula Daly is at writing about strong, decisive women who have bucket loads of charisma and yet who are as fatally flawed as the rest of us. For those who have read the author’s previous books, there’s a nice sense of continuity as The Mistake I Made is also set in the English Lake District and it features a very welcome appearance by DC Joanne Aspinall who we have met before. As always, though, the book stands completely confidently as a standalone story with more than enough twists and turns to keep you on the edge of your seat. 

From beginning to end, I absolutely loved it, and I really can’t wait to see what’s to come next from this talented author.

When I'm compiling my books of 2015, The Mistake I Made will definitely be on the list ..

About the Author

Paula Daly lives in Cumbria with her husband, three children and whippet Skippy. Before becoming a writer she was a freelance physiotherapist

Follow Paula on Twitter @pauladalyauthor

The Mistake I Made will be published on the 27 August 2015 by Bantam Press

Amazon UK

My thanks to NetGalley and Randon House UK, Transworld for my copy of this book

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The Author in my spotlight is ....Paula Daly

I am delighted to welcome

Paula Daly

Author of

Keep Your Friends Close

Bantam Press
March 2014

Paula ~ welcome to Jaffareadstoo and thank you for finding the time to chat about your book

Keep Your Friends Close

What can you tell us about Keep Your Friends Close that will pique the reader’s interest?

The novel is about a woman whose best friend steals her life, and it has a great villain – equal parts sexy and nasty.

Where did you get the first flash of inspiration for the story?

I was having dinner with a friend who had been unlucky in love, and she was complaining of the fact that she found it hard to meet someone. Without really thinking, I replied, “You don’t have any problem meeting someone; it’s snaring them that’s your trouble.”

Then I started to think about all the ruthless, driven women I've known, and the lengths that they would go to snare a man. 

And then I thought - what if such a woman set her sights on my husband. And I was powerless to stop her?

Do you outline the plot first, or do you let the story go wherever it takes you?

I spend a few months day dreaming about the plot and characters, doing any research I think will be relevant, and then I do a short outline. Nothing major, two or three sides of A4 – basically a scene list. Of course this will change a little as I go along but I tend to know most of it before I start. Then I can have fun with the characters, with their dialogue, and try to come up with interesting locations, rather than worrying about where the novel is heading and if it makes sense.

Do you ever base your characters on people you know?

Never. I work out my characters beforehand so that they fulfil a role in the novel. That way I can keep the cast small and hopefully memorable. I do give them lines of dialogue I hear when I’m out and about, and sometimes a world view of people I have known, but a single character is never based on one person.

What do you think makes a good fictional villain?

A thriller is only as strong as its villain. I spend a lot of time figuring out my baddie’s  motivation, as there’s nothing more deflating than a villain without a real reason for doing the things they do. Once you know what’s driving a person, and the lengths they’ll go to get what they want, then I think you’ve got a convincing villain. I want you to be almost championing them in some scenes, as I think it makes for a better story.

If Keep Your Friends Close was optioned for a TV drama, who would you choose to play Natty, Sean and Eve ?

It’s tricky to come up with the whole cast but I do think Emily Blunt or Rosamunde Pike could play Eve particularly well.

Can you tell us what you are writing next?

The next book has the same premise as the film Indecent Proposal but has been reimagined as a thriller. It will be out in May 2015 and is more of a standalone this time, though DC Joanne Aspinall does have a small role.

Paula ~ thanks so much for sharing your thoughts on Keep Your Friends Close. It's been a real pleasure to host this interview. 

***

And for two lucky winners

Paula is very kindly offering the chance to read one of her books in this fabulous UK only  giveaway.

There's one copy of Just What kind of Mother Are You?

or

one copy of Keep Your Friends Close

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Use the comment box below to tell me which book you would like to win 

 if you don't tell me you won't win it.!!

**Good Luck**

Review ~ Keep Your Friends Close by Paula Daly

Bantam Press - March 2014

Natty and Sean seem to have the perfect marriage. Confident and successful, they run their Lake District hotel with skill and panache and are devoted to their two teenage daughters. Life seems good, but the trappings of success haven’t come easily to Natty and Sean, both of them have worked really hard to prove to the doubters, including Sean’s mother, that they can be successful, both in their marriage and with their now flourishing business. When Dr. Eve Dalladay, once a close university friend of Natty’s, and now a successful psychologist, pays them a long awaited visit, old friendships are rekindled and shared experiences are explored and valued. When Natty and Sean’s youngest daughter, Felicity, is taken seriously ill whilst on a school trip to France, Natty has no qualms about leaving Eve and Sean alone. But all is not well in this rural paradise, Sean is feeling neglected and abandoned and even though he loves Natty, he is also feels that their marriage could be more intimate. Cool, calculated and the complete antithesis of Natty and with ruthless indifference Eve sets out to ensnare Sean, and with the mesmerising offer of great sex, Sean is soon powerless to resist.

What then follows is an emotional roller coaster which takes the reader into the mind of a calculating and utterly evil predatory female. Eve is the quintessential cold manipulator and her clever strategy, although at times uncomfortable to read, is as compelling as Sean’s fall from grace, and Natty’s sheer hopelessness. 

From the beginning I was hooked and transported to the rural tranquillity of the English Lake District, where the beauty of its landscape is completely comfortable against the unfolding story of human frailty and the exposure of long buried secrets. The characterisation is clear and crisp; the skilful manoeuvring of events and the chilling undercurrents of illicit desire are expertly controlled by an author who is adept at holding her reader in the palm of her hand. The hidden depths of the story come in the supporting characters, some we have met before in Just What Kind of Mother Are You, and others who are new to this story, all of them have a part to play and are no less compelling than the major characters.

There is sometimes a danger that having read and been overwhelmed by an author’s previous book, that there will be a feeling of let down if the second book doesn't live up to expectations. Be reassured, if anything Keep Your Friends Close is even more compelling, so much so I started the book at 11am and didn't look up until the book was completed some ten hours later.

To have now read two of my books of the year in the space of two weeks is a rare treat and for me Paula Daly can’t write quick enough.

**Please come back tomorrow to read a fabulous interview with Paula Daly and the exciting chance to win a copy of either Just What Kind of Mother Are You? or Keep Your Friends Close **

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Review ~ Just what kind of mother are you? ~ Paula Daly

Random House UK
Transworld
2014


Your friend's child is missing. It's your fault

Every parent’s nightmare is being responsible for someone else’s child when something happens to that child. For Lisa Kallisto, a harassed mother of three, her worst nightmare comes true when she forgets that her friend’s daughter, Lucinda, should have been spending the night at a sleepover at her house. When Lucinda goes missing, Lisa is overwhelmed not just by her failure as a responsible adult but also with the devastation of witnessing the deep grief of Lucinda’s parents as they struggle to cope with the stressful situation of the disappearance of their beloved daughter.

The real strength of the book lies in the beautiful depiction of life going about its daily business. Lisa Kallisto is typical of so many mothers, juggling a demanding full time job and struggling with the daily pressures of child care and limited income. Lucinda’s parents, Kate and Guy, are more affluent but with no less pressure of keeping up appearances. Juxtaposed between these two suffering families, is the added interest of DC Joanne Aspinall, she’s the detective charged with looking into Lucinda’s disappearance and interestingly, she comes across as a blunt straight talking Northerner, a sensible detective with no airs or graces and yet who doesn’t suffer fools. She possesses that still small voice of calm in an otherwise crazy situation.

This chilling and utterly compelling story is one of those books which grabs your attention from the very beginning and after the first few pages I got a feeling that I was reading something rather special. That old cliché of a book being ‘unputdownable’ really does apply to this story.  I became engrossed in lives that were so realistic that these really could be people you meet on the street going about their daily lives. The small Cumbrian town of Windermere and surrounding area is as much a character in the novel as the people and the sense of foreboding amongst the nooks and crannies of a small community is expertly controlled.

I am in awe of Paula Daly’s ability to control a narrative to such an extent that it feels less like reading a novel and more like having a chat over a coffee with your best friend. The writing just flows like smooth cream, never faltering, no unnecessary banter, just really good dialogue, great light and shade and perfect characterisation. Even now, after finishing this book, I still really care about the people and hope they are doing alright.

There is no doubt that this is a stunning debut novel and I know that I have just read one of my books of the year.

 My Thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld  for my copy of this book

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 About the Author

 

Paula Daly was born in Lancashire. Before beginning her first novel JUST WHAT KIND OF MOTHER ARE YOU? she was a self-employed physiotherapist. She lives in the Lake District with her husband, three children and whippet Skippy.

Amazon UK

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