Today it’s my turn on the blog tour for The Day Shelley Woodhouse Woke Up. My review is written with thanks to Rachel Gilbey at Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me on the tour and to Boldwood Books for my copy of the book.

Blurb:

When Shelley Woodhouse wakes up in hospital from a coma, the first thing she says is that her husband must be arrested.

He’s the reason she’s in here. She knows it. She remembers what he did. Clearly as anything.

But there are things Shelley has forgotten too, including parts of her childhood. And as those start to come back to her, so do other memories. Ones with the power to change everything.

But can she trust these new memories, or what anyone around her is telling her? And who is the mysterious hospital volunteer who brings her food and keeps making her smile? Is it possible to find your future when you’re confused about your past?

Review:

I adored The Last List Of Mabel Beaumont so I was delighted to have the opportunity to read The Day Shelley Woodhouse Woke Up and it was every bit as wonderful as I thought it would be. Laura Pearson’s writing is absolutely beautiful and I love how she manages to capture everything so well – the characters, emotions and descriptions are all totally on point.

The Day Shelley Woodhouse Woke Up has a dual timeline – then and now. I found this to be a really effective way of developing Shelley’s character and helping the reader to understand what had happened to her. In the “then” sections of the novel, we begin reading when Shelley is six years old and gradually catch up to the present day. This built the anticipation so well and I struggled to put my Kindle down as the author gradually revealed more and more of Shelley’s story. 

As I mentioned before, Laura Pearson is brilliant at drawing her characters and I found it really easy to become engaged in Shelley’s life. Although she is vulnerable, she is tenacious and I loved these aspects of her personality and I related to her in many ways. 

There are many times when The Day Shelley Woodhouse Woke Up is not an easy read, as Laura Pearson writes about some very difficult subjects. However, she has researched these so well that it comes across in a really genuine way. As someone with personal experience of the themes, it really struck a chord with me.

There were elements of the ending that I guessed, but this in no way spoilt it for me and I will be keeping Shelley in my heart for some time.

The Day Shelley Woodhouse Woke Up is available from Amazon.

You can follow the rest of the blog tour here: