Amazing, gut-wrenching, heartwarming and all the emotions you can feel wrapped up in a family drama. Fantastic storyline and intriguing characters. Apparently, this is the 3rd book in this series, which I was unaware of when I started reading it, but it does just fine as a standalone. I hadn't heard of this author or her books, but she's a really creative and articulate writer. I definitely recommend this book esp to fans of historical fiction.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC.

The Mersey Square Series Book #3

Sammy and Roy Cantello have been inseparable since they were childhood sweethearts. Married for twenty years, their eldest son is the apple of Sammy's eye. When the police arrive telling her there's been a devastating crash, it is the worst night of her life. Her boy had always been a safe driver, what could have possibly gone wrong?

After reading the first two books in this series, I was looking forward to catching up with the characters and seeing where this book would take me. The story centres around the Mellor's and the Cantello families. There's tragedy, romance, affairs, and heartbreak in this well-written story. The characters have been written about in a way that makes you feel that you know them personally. I did enjoy this book, but there were parts I found unbelievable. The way everyone involved just accepted what was taking place, like it was an everyday occurrence didn't sit well with me. Maybe my values are old-fashioned.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #Bookoujture and the author #PamHowes for my ARC of #TheDaughtersOfMerseySquare in exchange for an honest review.

This is the third book in the Mersey Square series and yet again it’s another absolutely brilliant read. I love this authors writing and as soon as I start one of her books I just know it’s going to be an excellent read. This book starts approximately 20 years after the previous book The Women of Mersey Square. The Raiders whilst still good friends aren’t playing gigs anymore and are spending more time with their families. However life isn’t a smooth run for them all and there’s heartbreak ahead for one particular family. The friendship bond between them all is still very strong and this help them through the dark days. I don’t want to say too much more as it will only lead to spoilers. All in all this is another top notch read from Pam Howes.

The daughters of Mersey square is the third book in the ‘Raiders series’ by Pam Howes. You can also read it as a standalone as I have not read the previous books in this series.
Like the authors other books this is a heartwarming family drama that draws you in from the very first page. It has a great storyline and characters and stir all sorts of emotions from love to grief and regrets and to loving again. Although it is quite a long book, you don’t feel it as you are so engrossed in the storyline it just makes you want to read more and more. I loved this. 5 stars from me.

A great, heartwarming family saga by Pam Howes. This story will make you laugh and cry.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the advance copy.

A book that stands out from the crowd. The characters and the setting are written exceptionally well.

Another brilliant saga by Pam Howes.I was drawn right into the story. the characters the setting all the emotions.I love a good saga and this was one of the best. #netgalley#bookouture

Great to catch up with the gang now they are a bit older this instalment centres on the younger upcoming members of this tight knit family or friends who have become family.
Great fast paced read which captivates you from page one.
Looking forward to catching up with them again soon

A very good family saga with alot of joy and heartbreak
I enjoyed this book alot. A heartwarming saga that was a really good read

★★★★ 4.5 stars

Can she find the courage to overcome a devastating tragedy...?

Oh my...what a tangled web of love, betrayal and yet more music. THE DAUGHTERS OF MERSEY SQUARE was originally published over a decade ago as "Til I Kissed You" and the entire Raiders series is being rebranded as the Mersey Square saga. And it is a saga...one big tangled saga. That began in the late fifties and continues in this one twenty five years later in the eighties. Only now the leather-clad lads indulging in plenty of sex, drugs and rock and roll are parents approaching middle age and now their children are at the forefront of this tale. And boy, was there a lot...and I mean A LOT...packed into this one!

Stockport 1984: Life has been good to Eddie Mellor and Roy Cantello since they found fame and the loves of their lives. Despite their rocky starts, Eddie and Jane have enjoyed twenty years of marriage as has Roy and Sammy - neither couple still able to keep their hands off each other...despite now having teenage children.

Besides having Jon and Jess, Eddie and Jane have now added Katie (8 - going on 18) and Dominic (7) to their little family. While Roy and Sammy have two sons born barely ten months apart - Nick (17) and Jason (16). Tim and Pat moved to the States some years back where Tim continued to work in the music business in Nashville. But after a health scare, the couple found they sought the solace of their close family and friends back in the UK and made arrangements to move back. This, of course, prompts talks of a Raiders reunion.

Eddie and Roy's teenage children have followed in their footsteps and have their own band The Zoo, managed by their fathers who also write their material. But things start to get a little heated when twenty two year old Glaswegian Livvy also desperately wants to join the band. Eddie and Roy agree that Livvy has the strength in her voice to front the band but the green-eyed monster in Jess wants only to scratch her eyes out for making eyes at Nick, with whom she is firmly involved with. Livvy is adamant that she has no designs on Nick and, honestly from where I was sitting, I could see nothing that suggested that either so I'm guessing it was Jess' insecurities. But then, she had been having some very strange dreams which left her feeling very unsettled and "as if someone was walking over her grave". Maybe it was that that made her insecure, not Livvy.

To make matters worse, although a happily married man, Roy has been having it away with none other than young Livvy. Devastated beyond belief, Sammy throws Roy out and shreds all his clothes and pours paint stripper on his prized lamborghini. But try as she might to hate him for what he's done, Sammy loves the very bones of her Roy and slowly but surely, they find their way back to each other. And it takes a tragedy that rocks their very world to bring them back together.

But then Sammy's world is about to fall apart even further when she goes to see Livvy and walks in to see the young woman's rounded belly. She's pregnant. Can things get any worse?

Meanwhile in the wake of their recent tragedy that affected both families, Jess finds comfort with her older (half) brother Jon. And that's when things start to get a little sticky...and a lot tangled. But will he learn the truth about his parentage?

Definitely a tangled web that's been woven by all involved...particularly by Roy, Jon and Jess. In the Roy situation, my sympathies lay firmly with Sammy and Livvy was no shrinking violet. She knew what she want and went out and got it. Roy's a man. They generally think with one part of their anatomy first and their brains later. She just had to flash a bit of leg at him, smile coyly and he was putty in her hands. While I could have slapped Roy to begin with, I felt sorry for him when although they were finished and he had made that perfectly clear, Livvy still wouldn't accept that and went on a mission to nail him. But Sammy, despite throwing caution to the wind, showed great strength and resilience through a very very difficult situation. First, her husband's affair, then losing her son and then discovering the girl was pregnant. I feel their story hasn't quite ended but I was quite satisfied with where it ended in this book and hope it stays that way...but I fear the past will come back and bite them.

As for Jon and Jess. We know from the previous book that they are not related BUT they have been brought up as brother and sister and, I'm sorry, but that storyline just didn't sit right with me. I don't care that they weren't related. They were brought up as siblings and thought of each other as such. Anything more was just wrong in my opinion. I honestly didn't like where that story arc went and didn't feel entirely comfortable with it given that they had always thought of each other as siblings.

My favourite part of the book was Katie and her incessant discussions about "men's naughty bits" and "twinkles". Since one of her friend's at school was a twin, Katie is adamant Eddie didn't twinkle right enabling her to be born a twin with Jess. It made for hilarious reading.

Like I said, there is so much packed into these 648 pages, making it so much longer than any of the others (probably why it took me a couple of days to read it). But despite my misgivings, I still thoroughly enjoyed the book and my time with the Mellors and Cantellos once again. We also see the re-emergence of Angie's mum and friend Cathy also returns with her now husband Carl.

I look forward to reading the next one in the series soon - "The Secrets of Mersey of Square". What? More secrets? Whatever else does Pam Howes have up her sleeve?

Another cracking read and a lot of tangled mess to unravel with this one, but another entertaining read.

I would like to thank #PamHowes for an ARC of #TheDaughtersOfMerseySquare.

This review appears on my blog at https://stinathebookaholic.blogspot.com/.

Firstly thank you Netgalley for this Arc

Wow what a brilliant book so many emotions another family saga by this author