Rae and Howard - happily married for 25 years. Until the night of their anniversary party when Howard confesses to a two week fling with another woman. What should Rae do? Forgive or move on?

A great real life story which makes you wonder what you’d do in the same situation. Great read and a great ending

Another best seller from Amanda. I loved her style of writing. Its a book that many of us can relate to personally as we all have at one time sacrificed a lot us for other people and then left with a feeling that somewhere along the line we have lost a bit of ourselves and have trouble recognising the new person standing in front of us in the mirror.

Thanks Netgalley, Publisher and the Author. This was an entertaining love story with some great characters.

Another masterpiece by Amanda Prowse. The plot is simple, family, best friends and betrayal. The characters are rich and full bodied, thoroughly likeable and real. For me this is a tale of self discovery, and of female empowerment. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, especially the diverse relationships the main characters has with her different family members, her husband and with herself. A brilliant read and as with all of Amanda Prowse's books there is pain but always positivity. I didn't want this book to end..

Another wonderful book from Amanda Prowse. Well written and captures the dynamics of a loud extrovert family who fully absorb any quieter people, who enter into the family, to their way of life. The closeness of the boisterous family cover any cracks that are there but they are controlling and used to things going their way. I can certainly relate to Rae, the main character as the quiet girl married into this tumultuous family, she's in awe and wants to fit in with the family she's found herself in rather than follow her innermost voice and dreams. The doesn't question and is glad to be accepted. As a result she's put upon, always to be relied on and, although, much loved my everyone begins to question her role and future after secrets, threatening her comfortable security of marriage, are revealed.

Deserves to be another bestseller from this author.

Lovely, lovely story that needs to be read by everyone! This author has delivered a big hit yet again. Definitely recommended to those readers who enjoy reading this type of story.

I love the storyline of being the quiet one who eventually steps into her own confidence and adventure but only after alot of serious thinking.

I stayed up till the early hours to finish this book to see how it ends

This is a beautifully written novel which understands the complexities of family life and how the things we do make it work or collapse. 

Rae is sympathetically drawn; a mum who thinks she has married her one true love and had twenty five wonderful years with many more to come. She has sadnesses in her life but knows she can cope with most things with her husband Howard and her sister in law and best friend Dolly's support. Then her world falls apart and she is shocked to discover she knows as little about her family as they do her.

This is a tale of self discovery in which the heroine doesn't come out all guns blazing but instead takes the baby steps most of us would find the most manageable in these circumstances. There were many parts which resonated with me and in none of them did I find myself disagreeing with Rae's choices.  It made me cheer for and sympathise with her in equal measure and I felt happy for her at the end as she put her decisions into practice with a hard won confidence in her future and those of the family she loved.

I was able to read an advanced copy of the book thanks to Netgalley in return for an unbiased review and would recommend this to anyone who enjoys family based stories with considerately written characters, satisfying storylines, and a reason to cheer for the underdog.

Rae-Valentine met her husband through her best friend, Dolly. Dolly knew that her best friend and her brother would hit it off, and she was right. Rae and her husband have been married for twenty-five years and have two children together. After anniversary party, Howard drops a bombshell on Rae. His shocking betrayal leaves Rae reeling. She is shocked, hurt, angry and sad.

Shocked and heartbroken, Rae looks back on not only her marriage but the things she gave up when she got married at the age of eighteen. Needing some time apart to think, Rae goes on the trip to Antigua, not with Hoard as planned but with his sister and her best friend, Dolly. The two friend’s reminiscence and talk about their lives. Dolly can see that Rae is troubled and eventually the truth comes out.

This was a very fast captivating read that gripped me right away. Prowse knows how to grab the heartstrings and she does so in this case. I immediately felt for Rae and her situation. I was invested in learning what decisions/choices she would make. This is a book that while I was reading, I also wondered what I would do in that situation. What choices would I make? I appreciated that Prowse had Rae taking the time to think. I also found the conversations between Rae and Dolly to be realistic. There is shock, anger and hurt there as well. Rae needs the support of her best friend. A best friend who is the sister of the man who hurt her. Dolly is put in a situation to want to support her best friend while at the same time root for her brother. This made for some sticky and emotion filled exchanges. How will this affect their friendship?

This was a well written book about love, loss, friendship, family and following your dreams. A fast read that evokes emotion and left me questioning what I would do. I thought I knew how this book was going to end and I was wrong. Another book where I can say that I did not see that coming.

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinion expressed in this review are my own.

Another couldn't put it down story from the wonderful Amanda Prowse. I've loved every one since I read my first, What Have I Done, almost 6 years

Rae-Valentine (love the quirky name), like all of Amanda's characters, could be any one of us at a cross roads in life and not knowing which way to go.

You had me sobbing again Amanda, but nothing beats a good cry and I didn't expect but loved the ending!

What sounded like a great story, sadly I really struggled, it's lacked something but I'm not sure what, I couldn't take to any of the characters and felt the story wasn't going anywhere.

I like Amanda Prowse as an author but this one had something lacking for me. I did not fully connect with the characters and only really engaged in the story over half way through. The ending was unbelievable in my opinion. I would still read her next novel as I usually enjoy them.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it.

Rae-Valentine and her husband married at 18. As a quiet shy girl marrying into the crazy, loud, wealthy Lattimer family, Rae is bedazzled by the lifestyle. Rae and Howard have a rock solid, dependable, loving marriage. And over the years, Rae falls into a routine, becoming the selfless, tireless, reliable, "answer to everyone's problems" mum, wife, aunt, sister and daughter, forgetting herself and her own needs in the midst of it all. Celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary, a bombshell is dropped on Rae that rocks her entire world, and her belief in herself. Can she come back from it?

I have to say I am an absolute whirlwind of emotion having finished The Girl in the Corner. This book made me laugh and made me cry several times. I am sure many passengers on my commute will admit, crying on the bus on the way home from work is not a good look!

I sometimes think that certain books come into our lives for a reason and when I started reading "The Girl in the Corner" that is exactly how I felt about Rae-Valentine's story on a personal level. I identified with Rae a lot and her story touched me in a way that I haven't experienced in a while. Her decisions throughout the book, how she handles the "bombshell", her need to find the way back to herself, to have a label other than "mum", "wife", etc., her feeling like a bit of a doormat and rebelling against that a little, is something we can all identify with from time to time. I enjoyed Dolly as a character too, but at times felt like I wanted to shout at her, "give Rae a chance to think for herself"!!

Ultimately though, Rae-Valentine is a kind, generous, care-giving person who is left reeling from the shock to her world, and without giving too much of the story away, Amanda Prowse has written a beautiful story that reminds us all to not lose hope, to stick with our dreams as it is never too late, to have courage and faith that it will all work out the way it is meant to, to remain true to ourselves and to celebrate that which we hold dear as it could all be gone in an instant. Loved it.

An absolute gem from one of my favourite authors. The characters are always so relatable and her books are always hard to put down.

Once again a fabulous novel from Amanda a story of love, betrayal,friendship and at the heart of the story family following on from Rae Valentine's silver wedding and finding out about her husband's affair Rae goes on a journey in which we learn more about her there's love,laughter and tears in this story lovely characters to whom we can all relate to from Dolly her larger than life friend and sister in law whom I just loved to conflict within the family which makes for a great book to snuggle up with on these bleak winter days another winner

As always Amanda Prowse didn't disappoint. This book isn't quite so powerful as some of hers, but even so I really enjoyed it. A good insight of a woman who has always been there and put her family first. When she finds herself in her 40s she seems to wake up and realise that she too has ambitions and aspirations. It's a case of when will it be her time and is she brave enough to make the right choice. A great read.
Thanks to NetGalley for my free copy.

Amanda always writes beautiful, thought provoking and haunting stories about real people in normal family situations and this book is no exception. Our heroine is Rae-Valentine, a girl that feels invisible and overlooked so metaphorically hides herself in a corner. However, her life changes when she meets the effervescent Dolly at typing school and is introduced to her big outgoing family who own a restaurant and her brother, Howard, who Rae falls madly in love with and they marry when Rae is only 18.

On their 25th Wedding Anniversary Rae finds out her husband has been having an affair and she is devastated, angry and unsure where her life is heading so she decides to go on the second honeymoon that was already booked, taking Dolly with her.

Amanda, I loved the interaction between Rae and Dolly and how a friendship changes when secrets come out and people feel manipulated. I so wanted to give Rae a big hug and I I really resonated with her.

The author deals with the aftermath of Rae finding out about her husband so sympathetically but also realistically. Rae is a woman, who could be any one of us, she marries young, raises three kids and is at the beck and call of her husband and his family. She has never been given a proper role in the restaurant but is the one they call up whenever they need anything. Her children never make time for a one to one with her and all this makes a feel inadequate and worthless. Amanda your insight into how people react when faced with adversity is superb!

This book is full of little twists and turns that I did not expect and the ending was perfect! Another stunner of a book Amanda. Go girl!

What a stunning read. If you've never been the girl in the corner then I salute you. I certainly have and boy did this book bring it home to me. It was a captivating read. So so true to life. I absolutely loved it.

Admittedly I haven’t read all of Amanda Prowse’s books but I’ve read enough to say that she’s up there amongst my favourite authors. Which is why I broke off reading one book and pushed another down my to be read list in order to read this.

Disappointingly for me there just wasn’t enough substance to the story to keep me interested. It didn’t go anywhere. It was like treading water. What, eventually, will Rae Valentine do about her future after her husband’s betrayal after 25 years of happy marriage? is basically the story.

Occasionally it would pick up. An argument between Rae and her best friend Dolly. Dolly who is also Rae’s husband’s sister. Obviously there were split loyalties where Dolly was concerned. I can understand that, but the fall out didn’t last. So much more could have been done with that story line but it just seemed to fizzle out and we’re back to Rae’s ruminations about her life and what to do about her errant husband.

I suppose that was partly what the book was about, the fact that Rae Valentine constantly allows people to take advantage of her, to say nothing and just live to please others and keep the status quo within her marital family. That’s fine, but it doesn’t really make for interesting reading, when we have to listen to Rae all over again, trying to convince herself that she mustn’t accept things the way they are any longer.

About 75% of the way through the book things did start to pick up and it finally captured my interest. There were some very moving moments towards the end. At this point I really did wish that Rae could somehow tell her so-called life long friend Dolly where to go. Dolly was so wrapped up in herself that she seemed to find it impossible not to wade in with her size 10 boots and ride rough shod over her friends feelings. She was completely incapable of sensitivity.

I enjoyed the end of the book, I was quite taken aback by the revelations at the end, which maybe highlights my own naivety. I just wish I could have enjoyed the whole story but sadly with this book I didn’t.

Thank you to Netgalley and Lake Union publishing for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have just finished this book. I feel that it is a book that needs thinking about. 25 years of seemingly happy marriage. Then you find out that you have been living in a false sense of security. You find out that the husband you love and have put your life on hold for is not the man you thought He was. What to do with your life, try to make things better or follow your dreams.