Tuesday 27 June 2017

Book Review - The A-Z of Everything by Debbie Johnson - Blog Tour

Amazon UK
Title: The A-Z of Everything
Author: Debbie Johnson
Format reviewed: Paperback
Source: Publisher supplied copy
Publisher: Harper
Publication Date: 20th April 2017
Rating: 5 Stars


P is for Paris where it all began. J is for Jealousy where it all came undone. But the most important letter is F. F is for Forgiveness, the hardest of all.

Sisters Poppy and Rose used to be as close as two sisters could be, but it’s been over a decade since they last spoke. Until they both receive a call that tells them their mother has gone – without ever having the chance to see her daughters reunited.

Andrea, though, wasn’t the kind of woman to let a little thing like death stand in the way of her plans. Knowing her daughters better than they know themselves, she has left behind one very special last gift – the A-Z of Everything.

A is for Andrea, who in her last few weeks on earth has created a A-Z of everything that she hopes will bring her two estranged daughters closer together, so that they can move on together as a family, and support each other in their grief. 

L is for Lewis, who is Andrea's best friend and has helped put together the A to Z of everything for the girls. He doesn't appear much but from the small appearances he makes, it is clear he was a very kind man but also quite opinionated. 

P is for Poppy the younger of the two sisters and whose actions ultimately caused the initial rift between the sisters.  

R is for Rose is the older of the two sisters who has a 16 year old son, and just seems generally unhappy with her life from first appearances. 

J is for Joe, Rose's son, and he appears in quite a few chapters, seems to have a good head on his shoulders and has never met his long lost aunt Poppy. 

E is for Emotion - there is plenty of emotion in this book, as Andrea has set up this whole quest as such for her daughters and in doing so has left them videos and tapes to be read/listened to after she has died, and some of them almost had me reaching for the tissues. 

G is for grief as the Poppy and Rose are grieving for the majority of the story, while undergoing all the various tasks. Grief is also touched on as Andrea recalls how she felt when her own mother died.  At times you can just feel their distress radiating off the page.

F is for flashbacks, during part 1 of the book, we are treated to some flashbacks of how the sisters we towards each other, as children, and I loved seeing their loving and protective relationship until things went wrong. 

S is for the storyline, which I thoroughly enjoyed reading about. It is the sort of story that will get under your skin and keep you thinking, possibly long after you finish reading. 

B is for brilliance, which is just one of many adjective that I would love to use to describe this amazing book. The pacing of the story is just right and I loved learning what all of the various letters would be, and their significance. 

D is for Debbie Johnson who has managed to craft such a superb story. It clearly took a lot of thought to put this together simply wonderful story. It made me laugh and will make those with hearts less frozen than mine cry too, and is a book that will keep having you turn the pages to see how the sisters are now getting on, and also to see what Andrea was going to reveal with her next task. 

Well that is my own partial A to Z for the A to Z of Everything! I am so happy that I had a chance to read this book, and think it could easily be the authors best work by far (which is something I'm sure I've said about her past couple of books too!). 

Thank you so much to Charlotte Ledger at Harper for this copy of the book which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily. 

Please follow along with the rest of the blog tour. 


No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...