Everyone deserve a second chance, but does everyone feel the same?

Synopsis

oman with a dark past…

Helen Appleby just wants a quiet life. Recently released from prison for the manslaughter of her partner, she’s trying to forget her past mistakes – all of them – to rebuild her life and move on.

When she decides to open a bookshop, she’s certain this is the perfect new start. Here, amongst the quiet shelves of her shop and between the covers of her books, she can hide away from the real world and begin again. The world of books the perfect place to find happiness – even if it is all lies.

But the past can never stay hidden…

As she settles into life as an apparently timid bookseller, it seems that someone is determined to sabotage Helen’s new life and ruin everything she’s built.

But Helen has killed once before. And to protect her future, she could be willing to kill again…

Don’t miss another page-turning, nail-biting read from the queen of psychological thrillers, Valerie Keogh! Perfect for fans of J.A. Baker, Keri Beevis and Nina Manning.

My review

After been in prison for manslaughter (of her own partner), Helen is ready to start again. All she wants is a quiet life, forget about past mistakes, and move on. And opening a bookshop is not only something she always dreamed of, but will also give her a place to find her own happiness. But no everyone is happy with Helen being free again and owning a bookshop. Someone doesn’t believe that Helen has paid enough for the crime she committed and is adamant on sabotaging everything Helen is trying to rebuild. However, Helen won’t let anyone scare her away, and she is ready to fight against whoever is against her…

I am a believer that if someone paid for their crimes, and have truly remorse for what they did, they deserve a second chance. And there is also the fact that we should think about why a crime has been committed, what pushed a person that far?

We know what Helen did to her partner, and she has paid her dues for it. But it’s also clear from the very start that there is more to her story than what she initially shows and tell us.

But that doesn’t take away that in a way I admired her determination. The determination to put the past behind her and pursue her dream of opening a bookshop. Although I have to say that I had my doubts seeing the place she wanted to buy. Stating that it would need some TLC would be a real understatement!

I understand that not everyone would be happy with Helen being free again, but I was happy to read that she has the full support of her sister. It is not easy to find loyal and loving people, but also it is not easy to be that loyal and loving person…

Helen knows she has to face a lot pf prejudice, but she won’t let other people’s opinion stop her, because she knows that in her bookshop, not only will she find her peace, but she will also find people with the same love of books.

But it was also understandable that Helen is rather wary of all the new people in her new life. She knows how people can be, and that how they act in front of you isn’t always what they would say behind your back…

Helen is faced with the characters of people, with plenty of them not being the good kind of people, people that will play you, people with a second agenda, and people that pretend. Her wariness only increases by the human behaviour, making her even more resolute to not being played by anyone anymore.

But that is of course easier said than done. Helen has a lot of baggage and we don’t know all of it yet, but all she wants is to move on, and not being haunted at home or at the bookshop. I felt the anxiety, the fear in her place, the fact that she doesn’t feel safe anywhere… Yet I liked it how she doesn’t show her fear to anyone, as she won’t allow her persecutor chase her away.

Now, I have to say that I didn’t understand all the choices Helen makes in this book. Sometimes she is being too wary, while on other occasions she is being too trusty? It felt that at moments she was fighting the wrong fights, the wrong enemies.

While perhaps not all twists and turns were that surprising, there still were a few that did do actually that.

Yet it also felt to me that this isn’t just the story about Helen getting out of prison, wanting to start over and facing some difficulties. But it felt to me that it was also a story about how things from your childhood form you to the person you are now. And towards the end we also see how the same events can be seen in a different way, how you experienced something, is experienced in a complete different way by someone else.

I truly enjoyed reading this story, with complex characters. Characters that want peace, characters that want happiness, characters that support, characters that love, but also characters ready for vengeance…

But most important, characters that don’t give up easily and will fight for that same peace and happiness.