Book Promo - The Other Side of Morning

Charlotte Kendrick’s ill-fated relationship with rock star Christian Rosetti still haunts her. The new man in her life, handsome, rich Italian restaurateur Marco D’Alesandro, is everything she wants. But when beautiful heiress Rossana Caravello arrives to spend time with his family as their house guest she wonders whether history is about to repeat itself. Marco insists he loves her and that he has no interest in their guest, but how can Charlotte believe him when everything about his behaviour around Rossana indicates he is lying? Giving him the benefit of the doubt, Charlotte wonders whether his ruthless stepmother Thérèse may be involved, and decides to find out more about the young heiress. However, far from putting her mind at rest, what she discovers leaves her feeling more unsettled than ever about her future with Marco…

From rural West Somerset to the glorious rolling landscape of Tuscany and the Italian lakes THE OTHER SIDE OF MORNING is a story of love, betrayal, deception and ultimate sacrifice.

Born and raised in rural Wiltshire, Jo Lambert grew up with a love of books and a vivid imagination.  As a child she enjoyed creating her own adventure stories similar to Enid Blyton’s Famous Five.  Writing always stayed with her, but college, work and eventually marriage found it kept very much in the background as a hobby.  In 2009 everything changed when she decided to self-publish a novel she had completed. After When Tomorrow Comes, three other books - Love Lies and Promises, The Ghost of You and Me and Between Today and Yesterday followed.  In 2013 she decided to give up full time work to concentrate fully on her writing.  Her fifth novel The Other Side of Morning was accepted by ThornBerry Publishing UK and is now available in e-book form with a paperback version to follow shortly.

  Jo is married and lives in a village on the eastern edge of Bath, Somerset with one small grey feline called Mollie. She shares her husband with his ‘other woman’ Bridget - a 48 year old white MG Midget who keeps him occupied while she is busy writing.

My review

Anyone who knows me will know that I enjoy books which involve different landscapes as I’m a bit of an armchair traveller when the real thing is not possible. On this occasion though even I must admit to finding the various locations and characters confusing initially. In the first few chapters we meet Lucy in Bali who then travels to Australia whilst her cousin Charlotte is running backwards and forwards between Somerset, London and later Devon. In the next chapters we’re introduced to bad boy boyfriend Christian who eventually goes off to the Caribbean, then Marco from Italy who of course has to flit between his various homes and the Italian Lakes. All this left me feeling like a whirlwind had passed over. However, once I settled into the story and the different threads were woven together it all started to make more sense.

Whilst I enjoyed the story I did feel that there were perhaps a few too many elements in it and probably enough material for several books. I loved heartthrob Marco and some of the minor characters like Kayte and Therese are also frighteningly well portrayed. I liked the way they both became more and more obsessed as the story progressed. Just when I decided that Christian was a waste of space and had no redeeming features Joanna Lambert somehow manages to tug the readers’ heartstrings and make him likeable – no mean feat.

Personally I would have liked a little more local colour in each of the different destinations rather than a whirlwind tour.  Nonetheless this is an interesting read.

4/5