The Vow by Debbie Howells

Blurb

"Two weeks before her wedding, a stranger stops Amy in the street and warns her she’s in danger. Then that night, Matt, her fiancé, doesn’t come home. Desperate, Amy calls the police – but when Matt fails to emerge, she’s forced to call off her wedding day.

Then another man is reported missing, by a woman called Fiona – a man meeting Matt’s description, who was about to leave his fiancée for her. He was supposed to be moving in with her – but instead, he’s vanished.

Amy refuses to believe Fiona’s lover can be her Matt – but photos prove otherwise, and it soon becomes clear that Matt has been leading a double life. As the police dig deeper, two conflicting, yet equally plausible stories emerge from two women who allegedly have never met.

The wedding day never happened. But the funeral might."

With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Review

I was really intrigued by the concept of this book but sadly it didn't live up to my expectations. I was keen to find out what had happened to Matt but I thought the execution was a bit clumsy and I found the conversations to be quite stilted at times between the characters. Also, one minute the police were being friendly with Amy, then they were suspicious of her, then they were chatting with her like they were friends... it was all a bit odd.

Amy's character has a lot of secrets, even from herself, and I enjoyed finding out her past as this unravelled alongside the main storyline. It was clever that you didn't really know who to believe between Amy and Fiona, the other woman.

Amy's daughter Jess was the best character in the book and her parts of the story kept me engaged. Although Jess' boyfriend Rik seemed a bit unnecessary to the story as she would ask him to look into something but then find it out herself.

I still think the author had a good idea for the story but the writing could have been improved. I really hate to write a negative review but unfortunately this book just didn't work for me.

I gave this 2 out of 5.

The Sight of You by Holly Miller

Blurb

"Would you choose love . . .
. . . If you knew how it would end?

Joel is afraid of the future.

Since he was a child he's been haunted by dreams about the people he loves. Visions of what's going to happen - the good and the bad. And the only way to prevent them is to never let anyone close to him again.

Callie can't let go of the past.

Since her best friend died, Callie's been lost. She knows she needs to be more spontaneous and live a bigger life. She just doesn't know how to find a way back to the person who used to have those dreams.

Joel and Callie both need a reason to start living for today.
And though they're not looking for each other, from the moment they meet it feels like the start of something life-changing.

Until Joel has a vision of how it's going to end . . ."

Published 11th June 2020 by Hodder & Stoughton (first published June 9th 2020)
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Review

You would think that being able to see the future would be a useful skill, but for Joel it is a constant torment. He lives in fear of the next dream about someone he loves where the dream predicts something terrible happening. Meanwhile, he is hiding his secret from everyone he knows which is making his life very lonely. I felt really sorry for Joel as he has lost hope for his own future and being able to do anything with his life.

Callie has been putting off following her passions and has recently lost one of her best friends.

As soon as they meet there is an undeniable connection between Joel and Callie but Joel is afraid to let anyone else into his life. He already lives in fear for his family and friends. They way the author writes about their relationship as it grows and changes was really lovely. I also enjoyed the cast of characters surrounding them both.

This was an incredibly moving and heartbreaking story, which is beautifully written between Callie and Joel's points of view. The only thing that I didn't like so much was when some parts of Callie's story were set further in the future than the main story which gave some things away before they happened - beyond the predictions of the future by Joel.

This was a beautiful read. I gave this 4 out of 5.