#Blogtour #Review: The Family Gift by Cathy Kelly @cathykellybooks @gigicroft @orionbooks @Tr4cyF3nt0n #TheFamilyGift

Release date - 17th October 2019
Book length - 368 pages
Publisher - Orion
BUY LINKS:
Worldwide - www.bookdepository.com
Amazon UK - www.amazon.co.uk
Amazon US - www.amazon.com

I want to thank Tracy from www.compulsivereaders.com for the opportunity to take part in this blog tour and for providing me with a copy of this book for review.


ABOUT THIS BOOK

Freya Abalone has a big, messy, wonderful family, a fantastic career, and a new house.

But that's on the outside.

On the inside, she's got Mildred - the name she's given to that nagging inner critic who tells us all we're not good enough.

And now Freya's beloved blended family is under threat. Dan's first wife Elisa, the glamorous, manipulative woman who happily abandoned her daughter to Freya and Dan's care and left the country, has elbowed her way back into their lives. 

But Freya knows that when life gives you lemons, you throw them right back. 

Can Freya put her family - and herself - back together?
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MY REVIEW

Warm, inviting, and relatable in every way, THE FAMILY GIFT by Cathy Kelly is her best book yet!

Freya Abalone is married to the man of her dreams, adores her three children, and enjoys her career as a TV chef. They have just purchased the home of their dreams and their lives are happy. But beneath the surface, Freya is struggling to keep everything together. One of the main reasons she chose their beautiful new home was because it had high walls to help her feel safe - something she has been struggling with ever since she was mugged. Freya loves all of her children but when the biological mother of her eldest daughter bursts back into their lives, Freya doesn't know how she will cope with her feelings of anger and resentment towards this woman. Lexi is her daughter in every possible way and Freya will not let anyone hurt her. And while she is very much in love with her husband Dan, Freya doesn't want him to know that she is falling apart at the seams and soon begins to lie to him about how she is feeling. Add in worries over her parents, a social media world which insists on faking it at every turn, and an inner voice called Mildred that loves to point out every mistake you have ever made, and it's no wonder that Freya is feeling the pressure. But can she open up and be vulnerable with those who love her most?

​The perfect story for the modern age that we are living in where women are expected to do it all and be constantly on form, THE FAMILY GIFT by Cathy Kelly is a really honest and open story about real life. Nobody can be happy all of the time and everyone feels like they are dropping balls all over the place but silence is your enemy and this is portrayed wonderfully throughout this book.
The characters are engaging and I instantly fell in love with Freya and her family, and desperately wanted her to feel okay about not being okay. There is drama and laughter, mishaps and mayhem, and a group of characters that will really warm your heart from start to finish, and when I sat down with THE FAMILY GIFT, I knew I wouldn't budge until I had finished it because it is simply that good. 

THE FAMILY GIFT is my favourite book from Cathy Kelly so far and is sure to be the huge success it deserves to be. 


AUTHOR BIO

Born in Belfast but raised in Dublin, Cathy initially worked for thirteen years as a newspaper journalist with a national Irish Sunday newspaper, where she worked in news, features, along with spending time as an agony aunt and the paper’s film critic. However, her overwhelming love was always fiction and she published her first international bestseller, Woman To Woman, in 1997. She did not become a full-time writer until she had written another two books (She’s The One and Never Too Late) and finally decided to leave the world of journalism in 2001, moving to HarperCollins Publishers at the same time.

Someone Like You and What She Wants followed in successive years. Her sixth novel, Just Between Us, was her first Sunday Times number one bestseller, while her eighth novel, Always and Forever, topped the UK bestseller lists in October 2005, displacing Dan Brown and J. K. Rowling. In 2007, Past Secrets in was also a number one paperback bestseller.

Lessons in Heartbreak was shortlisted for the Eason Irish Popular Fiction Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards in April 2009. In September 2009, Once in a Lifetime topped the UK bestseller lists for three weeks. In March 2011, Homecoming achieved the same feat. Her latest novel is It Started With Paris, published by Orion in 2014.

In Autumn 2011, Cathy headlined a search for a new writer on ITV’s The Alan Titchmarsh Show.

Cathy’s trademark is warm story-telling and she consistently tops the bestseller lists around the world with books which deal with themes ranging from relationships and marriage to depression and loss, but always with an uplifting message and strong female characters at the heart.

Cathy also has a passionate interest in children’s rights and is an ambassador for UNICEF Ireland. Her role for UNICEF is a Global Parent, which means raising funds and awareness for children orphaned by or living with HIV/AIDs.

She lives with her husband, John, their twin sons, Dylan and Murray, and their three dogs in Enniskerry, Co Wicklow.

For more information:
Website - www.cathykelly.com
Twitter - twitter.com/cathykellybooks
Facebook - www.facebook.com/cathykellybooks
Instagram - www.instagram.com/cathy_kellybooks/
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DON'T FORGET TO CHECK OUT ALL OF THE OTHER STOPS ALONG THE WAY!!