bookoholic's reviews
806 reviews

It's been a few days since I've finished "The Other Side of Night" and I'm still struggling to find the right words to describe the book. I really enjoyed the first half and then I completely fell in love with the rest of the story. I've been thinking about some sentences every day now. I don't think that anyone ever described grief and losing another person as perfectly as Adam did, but since I had a proof copy, I'm not going to quote yet. 

The author is playing with the form, we're reading letters, police interviews, poems, story told from different people's perspective. It's compelling, engaging, and exciting, you can't stop reading and you find yourself awake at 1 a.m. still hungry to know what's going to happen next.

The first part of the story has many secrets, it's mostly crime where the informal investigation started based on a mysterious note found in a book... we learn a lot about Harri, who lost her job after an unfortunate death of a suspect and false accusations. Her former partner tries to help her out and their leads point into a direction of Ben, whom Harri dated in the past and whom she truly loved. Now he's taking care of Elliot, a child who lost both of his parents. Everything about Elliot's and Ben's lives is a secret.

The suspense and plot twists are great, but the moment it all comes together... it blew my mind! I suspected a few things, but I'd have never thought that this book will make me cry, will make me upset and will make me happy! A true rollercoaster of emotions, something so unique that you want to hold onto it. I feel like I want to read it again immediately and at the same time I want some time to pass, so that I can discover the beauty of the story later when I need it.

A beautiful story of love, sacrifice and forgiveness. Mixed with crime, disappearing body and something really clever. 

If I could give this book a thousand stars review, I would. I've read and enjoyed everything that Adam wrote (including the comic books) and "The Other Side of Night" is his best yet. Masterpiece.

The Gone and the Forgotten is a completely different story to Clare's first one - People of Abandoned Character, which is fascinating to see that the author can excel in a coming-of-age story as well as the historical fiction! 

Prue has family issues. A lot. Her mum has tried to kill herself, her grandma passed away and she doesn't know her father. It's a secret. One summer her aunt Ruth invites her to a small island where she lives with her husband Archie and his grandmother. Prue, hopeful that she'll finally learn the truth goes on a trip... and finds herself in a place with even a bigger mystery... A mystery of a missing girl, being supposedly killed by Archie 20 years prior is hanging in the air. 

Is she living under the roof with a murderer? 

Prue's trying a lot of things that teenagers do, making friendship she shouldn't have, and ones that are valuable. She makes mistakes, trying to find out who she is and what she wants in life. Most of all she wants to learn the truth, which she might come to regret after all...

The writing was great, the story flows and you can't put the book down. It's darker than I expected and building up to the reveal is perfect. A creepy in parts, hopeful and easy in others, made me think about all the carefree things I've done in my life.

I'll definitely buy anything that Clare Whitfield writes, I can't wait to discover what she's going to bring us next!