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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Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Books I Almost Put Down But Didn't

'Top Ten Tuesday' is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. I love making lists, so this feature fits me perfectly! If you also take part in this feature or have any additions to my lists, please get in touch; I'd love to hear from you!  

  Ten Books I Almost Put Down But Didn't   The lists for the Top Ten Tuesday feature have been a lot of fun the past couple of weeks. However, this week's list is quite a challenging one! I hardly ever put a book down. I have this silly rule that I NEED to finish every book I start, even if the book is driving me crazy or if it's just really boring. Here are ten of the books I remember almost putting down, but deciding I simply had to finish it, no matter what!  

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1. Gregory Maguire - 'Wicked'

I'm a big fan of anything that has to do with 'The Wizard of Oz' (I couldn't get enough of the film version with Judy Garland when I was a little girl), so I was really excited to read 'Wicked.' However, somehow, I couldn't get through the book. It took me ages to finish and I just wanted to put it down several times. I'm glad I finished it, and I think I have to give it another chance sometime, but I was surprised how long it took me to get through it.
 

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2. Ashley Prentice Norton - 'The Chocolate Money'  

  I really struggled with this book. I read reviews by other bloggers who loved this novel, but I couldn't get through it. Not my cup of tea, I guess!  

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  3. Jodi Picoult - 'Lone Wolf'  

  I haven't read many of Jodi Picoult's books, but the ones I've read have been quite captivating. Except for 'Lone Wolf', that is; somehow this book didn't manage to grab all of my attention, but enough for me to finish it.  

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4. Stephenie Meyer - 'The Host'   

I loved the Twilight series and looked forward to reading 'The Host'! However, it took me quite a bit of time to get into the novel and almost put it down, because I thought it just wasn't for me. I'm really glad I decided to continue reading, because I ended up really enjoying it!  

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  5. Jonathan Safran Foer - 'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close'  

This is one of those books everyone was talking about and out of curiosity I also wanted to give it a chance. I ended up not liking it that much, and it took me a bit of willpower to actually finish it instead of putting it down.

 

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6. J.M. Coetzee - 'Disgrace'  

  For several of my university courses I had to read books by J.M. Coetzee. I'm almost a bit scared to admit I didn't enjoy any of them, and I really had to struggle my way through them... but finished them all!
 

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7. Shakespeare's plays  

   I love Shakespeare's stories, especially because so many elements are still used in books nowadays, over and over again. Yet, actually reading Shakespeare's original plays... I read all of them, in their original version, but I definitely had my 'I can't do this anymore' moments!  

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8. E.L. James - 'Fifty Shades of Grey'

  Another hype which I was curious about. I finished all three of the Fifty Shades books, but I definitely had some doubtful moments in which I just wanted to put the books down and forget all about them.  

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 9. Ernest Hemingway - 'The Sun Also Rises'

 

Another author I was introduced to during one my university courses and I distinctly remember struggling to get through this book. Once again I managed to finish it, but don't ask me how!  

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10. J.R.R. Tolkien - 'The Lord of the Rings'  

I honestly have a lot of respect for the people who managed to get through and finish Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings'. It's a book I wanted to add to the list, because I really struggled with it and wanted to put it down multiple times... And I have to admit, I actually did and never picked it up again. Anyone willing to convince me it's worth the struggle?
Which books did you almost put down? I'd love to hear from you!

Upcoming Release: 'A Summer to Remember' by Victoria Connelly

Nina Elliot is tired of her life. She’s not sure how it happened but, somewhere along the way, she lost track of where it was all going.

So one fateful day, she makes a brave decision: she’s going to leave it all behind. Taking a job deep in the English countryside, Nina does just that. Ensconced at the Old Mill, she settles into daily life with the Milton family, where she works as a researcher for author Dudley.

With endless summer days stretching out ahead of her, Nina couldn’t be happier. But her quiet life is soon interrupted when the handsome Milton boys return home – for they plan to make sure this really is a summer to remember...

Ever since I read Victoria Connelly's 'A Weekend with Mr. Darcy', I've been a fan of her writing and every time a new book of hers is released I can't help but get excited! 'A Summer to Remember' has an incredibly colourful cover that immediately attracts the attention, and the story inside promises to be just as captivating. If you want to get into the summer mood, this looks like the perfect read to pick up, available from the 5th of June! 

Click here to pre-order your own copy now on Amazon!