THE FORGOTTEN COTTAGE by HELEN PHIFER

 THE FORGOTTEN COTTAGE

by

HELEN PHIFER

THE BLURB:

Things finally seem to be looking up for police office Annie Graham. After a tumultuous couple of years, she is settling into a normal and happy life. Her wedding is fast approaching, and her fiance Will has found a forgotten but beautiful cottage for them to make their own.

But as Annie begins to have increasingly vivid nightmares, she realises their new home may not be as unoccupied as it first seemed. Her arrival has stirred up the ghosts of a tragic past, and she needs to put them to rest once and for all.

But while Annie's distracted, another threat is emerging from the shadows. And if she doesn't act fast, her days may be numbered...

THE REALITY:

I flattened this book rather quickly, so it must have had something going for it, but I did feel like there were things left unexplored, and also unnecessary arcs to the storyline. The idea of the haunted cottage was thrilling, and explored just nicely within the modern and historic time frames, and I loved the character of evil, unmaternal Betsy! But why was the story behind Annie's wedding dress not expanded upon? She's a psychic, who had a “feel” for the dress, so that's something that could have been examined. I also didn't see the need for the Henry and Megan characters at all. Incidentally, I couldn't help but think of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle whenever I read about them, and this raised a smile (the book predates their romance). I gather that this book is part of a series, and that the author was kind of setting the scene for the next book (I say “kind of” because this story ends with the Harry and Megan duo capturing a woman, but the blurb for the next book indicates a vanishing man as their first victim). On the plus side, they are both truly horrible characters, and characterisation throughout this book appeared to be strong.

The author states influences such as James Herbert, and tries to create scary books, and this did have a good level of suspense; in particular with (spoiler alert!) Will's half-sister, kidnapper Amelia. I also enjoyed reading about Will's dad, his partner and his house, so the descriptions made the book come alive. I would definitely give this author another go, but I wouldn't rush to do so. The book was light, and an easy size to to pop into my handbag. Annie and Will are interesting characters but just didn't grab my heart.  

YOUTUBE DALSTON CURVE GARDEN VLOG NOW LIVE!

   My Dalston Curve Garden YouTube vlog is now live!

Link:-

https://youtu.be/lQWg2OXf4eY

This is a really special, secretive place, tucked away behind the urban hustle and bustle of Hackney.

Dalston Curve Garden is also often referred to as Dalston Eastern Curve Garden- that's because it sits on the site of the old Eastern Curve railway line, which closed in 1944. It is repurposed space, and it serves a real community need in providing a green environment for people who might not have access to their own garden.

Opened in 2010, this delightful garden offers numerous social, environmental and health benefits to the local population, and provides somewhere for people to join in activities, relax, and hopefully make friends. The garden funds itself through its licensed cafe, which is a not-for-profit social enterprise. You can buy beer, cider, wine and spirits here, they also have their own pizza oven and even sell Queen of Hearts cookies!

Come and take a walk in my shoes through this hidden gem, and see if this Queen of Tarts was tempted by the cookies!

I have also blogged about Dalston Curve Garden, link:-https://elainerockett.blogspot.com/2025/11/miss-elaineous-visits-dalston-curve.html

Remember to like and subscribe, and don't forget to follow this blog as well!

TTFN

The Miss Elaineous

XXXXX

XXX

X

MURDER IN THE GREEN by LESLEY COOKMAN

 MURDER IN THE GREEN

by

LESLEY COOKMAN

THE BLURB:

Libby Sarjeant and her friend Fran become involved in the strange rituals of the local Morris Men after one of them is found dead on May Day and another seems to have vanished into thin air.

Libby goes out of her comfort zone as far as Cornwall in search of the solution which, in the end, is found much closer to home, turning out to be the most unpleasant case she has dealt with yet.

THE REALITY:

Ye Gods, this was a hard one to plough through from the start! I found this read difficult to get into- although the pagan/ goth/ druid/ ancient/ ceremonial/ witchcraft theme is right up my street- and I think that was down to waaaaay too many characters being introduced at the beginning of the novel. This pace of introduction didn't seem to let up enough for me to catch my breath! I found it hard trying to establish who everyone was and certainly had to backtrack to investigate (I have to take some of the blame here- this was one book I found putdownable, and that meant that I'd forgotten certain things, which forced the need to double-check characters and names). It continued to be relentless, though, with characters added constantly and all over the place, although they mostly did seem to have some relevance to the story.

I also didn't gel with the style of writing on offer here. There were long dialogue scenes without speech tags, so you had to concentrate really carefully, or you had to backtrack to make the “who-said-what” make sense. Also, some of the connecting explanations were unspecific, so I ended up having “who-did-what?” and “who-is-doing-what?” moments as well. Whilst studying creative writing I was always warned against creating expositions which lead nowhere. On page 74, the Wildes and the Parkers were mentioned. Now, these were two families, but neither had been mentioned before, so I found myself flicking backwards to the start of the book trying to pinpoint exactly whom a character was referring to. It's only when you get much further into the book that you realise that Ben's surname is Wilde- and I never did find out who the Parkers were as they were never even mentioned!

Apart from that, the book romped along in its quest to find the murderer of both Bill and John, and the storyline was not awful- it's just a shame that the writing wasn't great. It started off less-than-best and never got better. By the time we got to the conclusion, which involved someone you never would have thought was guilty, I just didn't care, and was keen to get this book over and done with. 

For some strange reason, when Libby was with Lewis in Cornwall, she seemed to develop a different accent.  Was she easily influenced by Lewis, who did speak in a rather affected way (although I did like this character)?  Incidentally, I didn't like Ben as a partner for Libby from the start- he didn't sound like a good match for her, and she almost seemed to fear upsetting him. He wanted a commitment that she seems unsure of, so my initial instinct was that she should have just dumped him.

I feel I have to name some good points, and the country/ village settings and “olde-English” traditions basis for the book was very appealing, and definitely for fans of countryside romps (although this read wasn't overtly sexual.) You also had a good mix of interesting characters.  But I don't think I'll be wanting to read another novel by this author anytime soon.

YOUTUBE KYOTO GARDEN VLOG NOW LIVE!

  My Kyoto Garden YouTube vlog is now live!

Link:-

https://youtu.be/fTFVgIQTDCc

The Kyoto Garden sits in Holland Park, London, and is a place for peace and quiet contemplation. It was opened in 1991 and was a gift from the city of Kyoto to commemorate the long friendship between Japan and Great Britain. I've always found Japanese culture fascinating- I read Memoirs Of A Geisha (my first ever Amazon purchase, back in 1998) and saw the film at the cinema. I also read Geisha, by Liza Dalby, an American anthropologist known as 'the blue-eyed geisha' who was the first western woman to train as a geisha.

I wandered past ruined Holland House to get to the Kyoto Garden. It was created in 1605 and was once a glittering social, literary and political centre. But in 1940, the house was hit by twenty-two incendiary bombs and largely destroyed, leaving only the east wing and library standing.

Come and take a walk in my shoes and we'll meander past the large house- sections of which have been seen on film and TV- and then we'll head into the Kyoto Garden, with it's perfect waterfall, Koi carp, Egyptian geese and a solitary peacock. Did he show me his fantail? Check out my vlog and you'll find out...

I have also blogged about the Kyoto Garden before, link:-

https://elainerockett.blogspot.com/2018/09/miss-elaineous-visits-kyoto-garden.html

Remember to like and subscribe, and don't forget to follow this blog as well!

TTFN

The Miss Elaineous

XXXXX

XXX

X