by Terri Douglas

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is a delightful read!

Judy is a fabulous character and one I warmed to straight away. As a Mum of two, both planned, I can’t say I could relate to her when she finds out she’s expecting a baby after a one-night stand. I would probably be terrified in her situation too! I love how she slowly gets used to the idea of being a Mum though, but she certainly doesn’t like to make life easy for herself. Her story from conception to motherhood is full of drama, from her difficult relationship with her mother, problems at work, love life complications, and a friendship with the baby’s uncle who doesn’t even know he’s the uncle!

Honestly it is a truly entertaining tale. Laugh out loud funny at times and frustrating at others (why do people not communicate!?).

Ultimately heart-warming. A proper feel-good read. I loved it!

** According to Amazon I purchased the kindle copy of this book on the 14^{th of} November 2013. It is currently still available for 99p **

To her utter dismay Judy discovers she is pregnant. She knows it’s the end of everything, sex, sleep, going out, and generally having a life. The father was a one night Bacardi induced mistake who’s now long gone, thank goodness.
She struggles with prenatal check-up’s and scans and copes with her first craving and leaky boobs, not to mention her ever increasing waistline, and say’s goodbye to size 10 dresses and pretty underwear, although who’s going to be seeing her in her underwear ever again pretty or not she has no idea, and resigns herself to ‘fat clothes’. All Judy wants is to not be pregnant and to be able to get on with her self-imposed never having another relationship life. ‘I mean who needs some bloke telling you how to do everything, or anything, while they consistently bollocks things up.’
Then to add to her quandary, on a last fling night out before the bump gets too noticeably big, she meets the gorgeous Rob who could have been her ‘The One’ if only she wasn’t pregnant.

The Long Way Home

by Audrey Howard

The Long Way Home is a beautifully written book. The first by this author for me but hopefully not the last.

Set in Liverpool in the early 1900s we meet Amy when she is just ten years old and doing a grand job of looking after her mother and her ten siblings whilst her father goes out to work. Her mother is ill, with tuberculosis, and is unable to leave her bed often. Can you even imagine living like that these days. Thirteen people to one bedroom! People seemed to just get on with things in those days, doing whatever they had to do to survive. No such thing as universal credit or such like back then. You worked whenever work was available, made the best of what you had, and older children helped to bring up the younger children. Everyone mucked in. Despite this they quite often came across as happier and closer as a family.

Unfortunately, Pa’s wealthy sister, Aunt Zillah is unable to carry a child to term so she decides she is adopting Amy and plans to bring her up as her own. With his wife now in hospital and him having to work to keep food on the table, Amy’s Pa allows it as Zillah has promised him money to move to better housing and support for the other ten children.

Amy is understandably traumatised by being dragged from the family she loves, to a massive unfamiliar house, by her aunt who blatantly doesn’t have a maternal bone in her body. My heart broke for her, and I prayed she might escape the claws of her aunt one way or another.

I was engrossed in her story as she grows into a beautiful young lady who never gives up hope of finding her family again. I love how her relationship with Joe grows as they grow. However, Zillah has other ideas and what she puts Amy through at only sixteen years old is horrific.

Zillah’s husband, Caleb, is a much more likeable character. I’m so glad Amy has him to help protect her from his heartless wife. Whatever he saw in Zillah I’ll never know, but quite often in those days people of wealth married for money and the hope of suitable heirs rather than for love didn’t they. I can’t even imagine.

Amy’s story is one of true resilience. With her aunt, an abusive husband, and a war to contend with it seems as though happiness is impossible, but true love always wins.

There are so many beautiful characters throughout this book, including some of the staff at the Seymour home (which reminded me of Downton Abbey). It’s such a rollercoaster of emotion and is so full of love. Love for family, love between friends, and fighting for the love of your life. I absolutely loved it!

** I read the paperback edition of The Long Way Home. I have no idea where I bought it from though. It’s been on my bookshelf for years. Published in 2008, I assume I bought it from a book sale some time ago **

Amy Pearson’s family is desperately poor – even by the standards of Edwardian Liverpool – but they have each other. Until Amy is torn from her home by her rich aunt, a woman obsessed by religion and snobbery who wants a girl she can mould as she wishes. Clever and pretty, ten-year-old Amy is perfect for her purposes. It is the beginning of a long journey for Amy, as she desperately searches for the family she lost, and a home where she can be free at last from her aunt’s possessive tyranny. But she will have to endure a forced marriage and a tragic war before she can at last find what she seeks.