Monday 6 February 2017

The Things I Should Have Told You by Carmel Harrington

Every family has a story…

But for the Guinness family a happy ending looks out of reach. Olly and Mae's marriage is crumbling, their teenage daughter Evie is on a mission to self-destruct and their beloved Pops is dying of cancer. Their once strong family unit is slowly falling apart.

But Pops has one final gift to offer his beloved family – a ray of hope to cling to. As his life's journey draws to a close, he sends his family on an adventure across Europe in a camper van, guided by his letters, his wisdom and his love.

Because Pops knows that all his family need is time to be together, to find their love for each other and to find their way back home…

The Queen of Emotional writing has struck again! Carmel Harrington always delivers a novel that will pull at the heart strings and bring a tear to your eye and her novel The Things I Should Have told You is no exception.

Pops is the heart of the Guinness family but he knows his time is coming to an end but he is determined to do one more thing before his time is up and that is to attempt to help them all get away from their struggles that they have all faced in this difficult year but will it be enough to repair Mae and Ollys marriage?

This was such an endearing read that had me hooked from the opening chapter. We lean early on in the book that the family have been through the mill this year not just with Pops but also the strain on Mae and Olly’s marriage as well as a tragic incident that had daughter Evie fighting for her life when her little brother Jamie found her unconscious. The Guinness family were so down to earth and like most families they have their flaws but being handed this wonderful opportunity at this time was just what they needed.

Carmel Harrington has such a wonderful way of bringing her characters to life that before long you forget they are fictional characters and you come to care about them and just wish for a happy ending for them. I loved each and every character in this book and because most of the book is told from both Mae and Olly’s points of view we really get to know these characters well but we also have a good insight into what is going on in Evie’s life too which I thought was handled in a very tender way. Of course we also have little Jaime to who brought a few laughs along the way which broke up the emotion of the book from time to time.

I was getting quite excited to see where the Guinness’s journey would take them next and although they covered many different places on their adventure the storyline never felt rushed and the author also described each area on great detail so it was easy to visualise. One thing I did love was the idea of making sure that each area they visited they would eat the local cuisine and I think I need to be braver and make this one of my goals next time I am away.


This is another corker from Carmel Harrington that will not disappoint, I never seem to find any constructive criticism to give after reading one of her books as they tick all of the boxes and yet she still manages to come back bigger and better each year. 

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