Happy Friday bookish people! I was very lucky to receive an e-book copy of County Lines Road by Jane Gilley to review as part of it’s book tour, thank you to Heather Fitt for sending me this.
In this book review I will give star ratings for four categories and I will write a little about each one. There may be spoilers in this book review although I will do my best to make sure there are not. I hope you enjoy my book review!
County Lines Road Plot:
After reading The Making of Robert Moony last week I was excited to dive into this book. This book isn’t just a story about the two main characters, it’s about life, the way people live and their relationships with each other. The plot carried me along from chapter to chapter needing to know what happens in the end. I felt the tension of the events that happened throughout the novel and I actually read this book in just under two hours – and I’m usually a fast reader but that’s very fast even for me. It did take a little while for me to get hooked into the book but once the exciting events started happening I couldn’t put it down. I loved that there was a focus on the relationships between Jodie and her mum, Tomas and his mum and Simon and his mum and how these relationships contrasted each other.
County Lines Road Characters:
The characters in this novel are likeable and it was so easy to be drawn into their stories and their personalities and to feel yourself wanting them to make it to the end happily. I particularly liked Tomas’ manner and the way the reader could see what he was thinking and it seemed that he was coping best throughout the novel which was interesting to see. I liked that different chapters followed different characters such as the mums of Jodie and Tomas and also showed their lives and their reactions to what is happening to Jodie and Tomas. Seeing how the Mothers were living, meal to meal with mountains of debt, really resembles the way of life for a lot of people especially at the moment. Jane Gilley has a way of creating very likeable characters and also antagonists, one in particular that I won’t name because spoilers!
Writing and Dialogue:
The writing of this story clearly showed the voices of the characters and the language they would use. The dialogue wasn’t the main feature of this novel but it was balanced well with the plot.
Overall:
I’m giving this book three stars overall because I enjoyed the reading experience and the way the plot was exciting and full of twists and endearing characters. I didn’t enjoy this book as much as her other book The Making of Robert Moony and that’s why I have given it three stars.
Blurb/Synopsis:
County Lines Road
Next-door-neighbours, Karen and Terri, have always tried to do right by their errant kinds. But when a simple joyride goes horribly wrong and Tomas and Jodie are captured by a county lines drug gang, they’re not sure who to turn to.
Dragged away to the gang’s suburban lair will the two teenagers find the strength to escape?
And even if they do escape, how can they protect their mums and everyone else they love from the gang’s threat of retaliation?
This is me, Jane Gilley
My first foray into writing came when I wrote a poem at 7.
Night is drawing in
And the day has lost its din
And while we sleep
The animals creep
And hunt for food
In their hungry mood
I couldn’t stop writing when I was a nipper. I wrote wherever my pen could make its mark and especially at the back of my school exercise books. The lady who taught maths, in junior school, even asked if I wanted more paper to write on!
But life has a way of taking over and guiding you down its own path. Hence my initial foray into writing was dampened by society’s usual requirements of getting married and working to pay the mortgage, whereby I simply didn’t have the time to sit, tapping away at my computer to my heart’s content. But when I managed to start writing again in 2008; when publishers were telling me they didn’t want any more animal fiction, I self-published 6 children’s books – 5 animal adventures, which I sold at Durrell’s Jersey Zoo – and I had a book signing at Waterstones with a novella for young girls, Maisie’s Dream. All still for sale on Kindle.
With my children’s books localised French / Jersey themes, I was invited by 3 of the primary schools here and on the tiny channel island of Herm to give talks to the school children, about where I found the inspiration for my stories.
Since becoming self-employed, I’ve been able to step back and concentrate on writing adult fiction. Avon, Harper Collins published my debut book, The Woman Who Kept Everything – about an elderly lady who rediscovers what life has to offer after an electrical fault in her house threatens a fire, followed by The Afternoon Tea Club – about 4 very different people who meet at a community afternoon tea club and put their worlds to right, after becoming friends.
During 2020 and with PLENTY of time to spare, I wrote 2 new books, which I self-published this year on Kindle – both under adult fiction:
The Making of Robert Moony – an unusual, funny, heart-felt tale about a 27 yr old bullied man who finally finds love and acceptance in life, after he is kidnapped by mistake
County Lines Road – about 2 teenagers whose lives are turned upside down when a joyride goes horribly wrong and they are dragged away to a gang-house by drugs dealers and have to find a way to escape as well as protecting their families from the gang’s threat of retaliation.
All my books are always quirky, uplifting tales about new beginnings and have happy endings!
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