The Secrets of Primrose Square: A warm, feel-good tale of hope from number one bestselling author Claudia Carroll

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The story had a very powerful opening as Susan Hayes stands in the pouring rain outside a teenage boys house. She does this most nights and as she says herself she is 'just an ordinary woman dealing with the unimaginable the only way she knew how'. She has become fixated on this one house because of the person it contains. The guards have been called several times but she just keeps returning. Clearly Susan is not functioning properly and is being eaten up by something she cannot forget. I thought it was brilliant the way we were drip fed the reasons explaining why Susan was in the state we find her in. I could guess parts of it but not until the exact cause was revealed did everything make perfect sense. Susan must have been a challenging character to write about simply because the author had to get the exact tone of her situation and state of mind right. I think Claudia did this very very well. I felt every bit of Susan's anger and hatred and understood why she directed it in the manner she did this but I did question was it fully justified or was it just a coping mechanism? Had she all the answers or was she simply looking to lay the blame at someone else's feet? Susan is consumed by grief at the loss of her older daughter and she wants answers and if you could call it revenge then that too. I didn’t expect to adore this The Women of Primrose Square as much as I did, and while it is not without flaws, this is a feel-good, tearing up on the bus 5-star read. Violet is full of sharp comments and retorts and is known as mad and a lunatic she doesn't want to get close to anybody but slowly starts to realise she needs company and that if she continues the way she has been going she will slowly fade away in her house. She is sour, bad tempered, uptight and not someone you would wish to sit down with and have a nice cup of tea and a chat. Surely there had to be a very valid reason for the way Violet was acting? She couldn't have been like that all her life. There is always a reason behind the actions, views and opinions of people and when the truth emerges re Violet. It's bitter-sweet and heartbreaking and again another storyline written to perfection.

Frank is dependable, he is loved by his family, but he is also wallpaper, and whether he is at work or at home, he is taken for granted. On the day of his 50th, he makes a choice that blows up in his face the minute he walks through the door to be faced with everyone that ignored him all day on his birthday there for his surprise party… and all eyes are on him.Finding himself alone, he befriends the cantankerous Miss Hardcastle, who hasn't left her home for decades, and Emily Dunne - fresh out of rehab and desperate to make amends. Further benefits include a guest cloakroom, underfloor heating throughout, a water filtration system, electronic smart controls, Sonos audio systems, air conditioning in the principal bedroom, and ample vault storage. Some of the many things I enjoyed about the book are the way the author creates a distinctive narrative voice for each character, complete with Irish colloquialisms in many cases. I also loved some of the humour. For example, Jason’s initial encounter with Jayne’s new friend or the catty comments that fly to and fro between the actresses playing Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Mrs Bennett in the theatre production of Pride and Prejudice that aspiring theatre director, Nancy, is working on. (It reminded me of the great scene in The Importance of Being Earnest where Cecily Cardew and Gwendolen Fairfax swap insults disguised as polite chitchat and Cecily deliberately gives Gwendolen sugar in her tea when she didn’t want sugar, and cake when she expressly asked for bread and butter.) I find it difficult to explain about the story line as I don't want to spoil the story for someone else but I will say that the widow in the story was a source of amusement as she tries to explain to her son and her dead husband's ashes how and why she has a new man in her life that she has met on the internet.

Co-production means that all comments and opinions made by the Expert by Experience and the Expert by Profession are fully explored and respected. Differences of opinion are discussed and time is allowed for compromises to be negotiated. Without a doubt its a very good book, and I will be sad to say goodbye to Susan, Melisa, Nancy and Jayne. La prima cosa che mi ha colpito di questo libro è stato il titolo, a seguire la trama e poi sicuramente la copertina. In genere mi piace pensare che sono i libri che scelgono me, ed in genere lo fanno attraverso la copertina. New neighbour Nancy dreams of being an actress and living in Primrose Square. Being an unknown actress doesn’t pay the bills, yet fate leads her to house sitting in this prestigious square. Friendships blossom between the ladies in the square, leading Nancy to taking Melissa under her wing, providing a role model for the young girl. Is it all to be good to be true for Nancy? I was pleased the story was not all sweetness and light, the characters had their own problems to deal with. There were times for laughter and for sadness but told in a very compassionate and understanding way, that kept me wanting to read more about these wonderful people.Sail shades have long been popular in the southern hemisphere for their sun protection benefits. However, most sails are typically made with a loose weave fabric which allows heat to escape from under the garden sail and maintains a cool temperature when sat in the shade. Claudia Carroll is a fiction and romance author from Dublin Ireland that is best known for the “Primrose Square” series of novels. She has lived in Dublin where she spent much of her time working as a TV actress and in theatre before she decided to become a full-time author. For more than a dozen years, she starred in Ireland’s answer to “Eastenders” that was named “Fair City.” She loves to describe her character on the show as a terrible old cow that was hated by everyone. Carroll wrote her debut novel “He Loves Me Not, He Loves Me”in 2004. The novel would get much critical acclaim when it was published and went on to become a bestselling title. “Remind Me Again Why I Need A Man” the third novel that she published was also a very popular work that would later be optioned and is to be made into a TV series on Fox TV. Her fourth novel has also been optioned and is about to be made into a screenplay by Robin Swicord, an Academy Award nominee.