Blog Tour: 'The Half-Life of Hannah' by Nick Alexander (2014)

Hannah is thirty-eight and the happily married mother of eleven-year-old Luke, the diamond in her world. Her marriage is reassuringly stable, and after fifteen years she has managed to push the wild dreams of youth from her mind and concentrate on the everyday satisfactions of here and now. The first half of her life hasn't been as exciting as she had hoped, but then, she reckons, whose has? 
When she succeeds in convincing husband Cliff to rent a villa in the south of France for a summer vacation with her sister Jill and gay friend Tristan, she's expecting little more than a pleasant few weeks with her family. But they each have their own baggage - their own secrets - ready to explode on this not-so-relaxing holiday in France. When a phone call at the villa announces the imminent arrival of a ghost from her past, the ambiance is transformed into a raging sea of jealousy as Hannah is forced to question everything she thought she knew and believed. 
But is she brave enough to take the life-changing decisions her future happiness requires?
Today I’m really excited to be part of the blog tour for Nick Alexander’s two novels, ‘The Half-Life of Hannah’ and ‘Other Halves’, organised by Fiction Addiction Book Tours. The books are both being rereleased by Black & White; ‘The Half-Life of Hannah’ was released on the 8th of May and I was lucky enough to receive a review copy as a part of this blog tour. I hadn’t read anything by Nick Alexander before, and I looked forward to read something by a male author for a change. Overall, I mainly read books written by women, since the female population is quite dominant within the field of chick lit, so I was glad to receive the chance to check out Nick Alexander’s work.
Thirty-eight year old Hannah has been happily married to her husband Cliff for the past fifteen years and together they have a teenage son, Luke, who is the centre of Hannah’s life. After a bit of persuading, Hannah convinces Cliff to go on a holiday to the south of France where they have rented a villa together with Hannah’s sister Jill, her daughter, and Jill’s good friend Tristan. Everyone wants to have a relaxing and sunny holiday, but it doesn’t take long before the tension starts to rise. Secrets are being kept and when a ghost from Hannah’s past arrives, she starts to think whether it is time for her to leave this stable life behind and finally start living the other half of her life. 
The blurb of the book doesn’t promise anything too exciting: a family who goes on holiday together to the South of France. However, after just a few chapters, I was already somehow captivated by Hannah’s voice and the story I found myself in. Hannah appears to be incredibly normal; she’s a housewife and a mother, someone who prefers to hide her problems instead of confront them. Yet, as the story progresses, the reader can see Hannah’s struggle and the fact that she isn’t as happy with her life as it might appear from the outside. The flashbacks to the past definitely helped with that, because we get a glimpse into what could have been. I could relate to Hannah and warmed to her, which I suppose many other readers will be able to do as well; the feeling of wanting to change something, but at the same time not wanting to risk everything you have and worked hard for.
Next to Hannah, there’s a mixture of fascinating characters, including Hannah’s son Luke and family friend Tristan, two characters I specifically enjoyed reading about. I didn’t particularly like Jill, Hannah’s sister, but that’s just my personal opinion and didn’t ruin the story for me in any way. I really enjoyed Nick Alexander’s writing style; it was well-paced and comfortable and kept me interested. The book works towards quite a twist at the ending, something I did not see coming, and something that definitely leaves room for a sequel, which I’m really glad there is! As a whole, ‘The Half-Life of Hannah’ is a compelling and fascinating read all about family and finding your true self. I already look forward to reading the sequel, ‘Other Halves’! Rating:

8/10

  For more information about this book: Amazon.co.uk / Amazon.com / Goodreads     Thanks to the author for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review.
Be sure to enter the giveaway to win a paperback copy of both books, open internationally. Good luck to everyone!

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