Book Giveaway: The Girls by Lisa Jewell

[TinaMumsnet]

Trusted friends become suspects when a 13 year old girl is found unconscious in a communal garden. Lisa Jewell's new novel, The Girls is out on the 2 July; but you can get your hands on a copy before everybody else here.

Watch the video to see Lisa read an exctract of The Girls exclusively for Mumsnet Book Club.

Don't forget, if you're lucky enough to receive a free copy of this book we do ask that you tell us what you thought about it on the thread below, or in our Book Reviews section.

This giveaway is sponsored by Century

Thanks very much to MNHQ for my free copy. I'd never read any other books by the author before and was impressed at how much of a page turner it was. Once I'd started "The Girls", it only took a few hours to read and while the language was light, most of the themes were dark and unsettling.

It flowed really well, I liked the descriptions of the garden and houses and felt that the characters interacted in a convincing way. I particularly liked Pip's letters to her father as they seemed to balance her yearning to see him and the awareness of the house fire and it's implications without being heavy handed. Rhea and the enormous rabbit had an unsettling edge to it as she seemed to be a key witness linking the two stories.

The final scenes near the Thames were really interesting and I've thought about them several times. I completely understood why Clare wanted a fresh start, but was puzzled by Adele's decision, especially due to its ramifications for her family. (Trying very hard not to include spoilers, so am being a bit vague)

There was definitely a lot to think about once you'd finished reading the story, I'll look out for other books by Lisa Jewell and would recommend this one to friends.

I was picked my MNHQ to review this book, which I received for free. This review is in my own words and reflects my true opinion.

I have read previous books by Lisa Jewell and enjoyed them. Her writing has matured since her early books and this book was darker than her previous work. The book started with a girl finding her sister unconscious in the communal garden that backs on to the flat they live in. It then rewinds a few months too when the sisters and their mum first move to the flat. You get to know the characters that live around the garden and slowly the skeletons come up. The second part of the book is after the attack with the police and the garden residents trying to find out what happened. It was a mystery and thought the resolution was good. Overall an enjoyable read.

I was picked my MNHQ to review this book, which I received for free. This review is in my own words and reflects my true opinion.

I've not read any of Lisa Jewell's earlier works so can't compare it to those but I did enjoy this book.

On the whole the characters were engaging and realistic and the story fast paced and gripping. It's not heavy going at all, but was definitely a page-turner, much more than I expected it to be. I read it in a couple of days (which with two pre-schoolers is pretty impressive for me!). I really wanted to know what had happened and got sucked into the story.

I did find the ending a a bit unsatisfactory. Not the "who done it" aspect, that was to some extent predictable and made sense, but the decisions which some of the adults took didn't sit right with me. I don't want to give the plot away for those who have not read it, but I did find myself thinking "no way would a parent make that decision/allow their teenage child to make that decision" about two of the characters. So that was a bit annoying.

I'd recommend it as a "holiday read", a bit of absorbing escapism.

I was picked by MNHQ to review this book, which I received for free. This review is in my own words and reflects my true opinion.

Great summer read. Interesting plot, believable characters and good writing style made it a page turner. Dark enough to keep you intrigued and make you think but not so dark to become an emotionally challenging read.

I've not read any of Lisa Jewell's books before but I am tempted to now.

I was picked by MNHQ to review this book, which I received for free. This review is in my own words and reflects my true opinion.
I did enjoy this book but I was slightly confused by something that happened in the ending, I won't say so I don't type a spoiler but I'm looking forward to discussing it with my mom when she has read it. I found the descriptions of the garden great and found the author captured the atmosphere very well, I could just imagine those long summer nights spent out there. Overall I found this enjoyable

Am I allowed to review this book even though I bought my own copy at Heathrow airport, intending it to be my summer holiday read?

If so, I would say I was completely underwhelmed by The Girls. I read The House We Grew Up In recently and loved it, found it completely unputdownable, which is why I was keen to buy another Lisa Jewell for my holiday.

I found this a very insubstantial novel, with little of substance in it, a tiny world of one street and a communal garden with nothing outside of this setting AT ALL, some extremely clunky characterisation (the "dirty old man" grandfather, even lots of nods and winks in the direction of Leo as a potential paedophile) and many completely unbelievable sequences of events. For instance, Adele going round and visiting all the neighbours and tying up loads of loose plot lines in one afternoon between visits from the Police. Also, Pip's letters to her father, just didn't read like the words of an 11/12 year old and served mainly to shoe horn lots of exposition in to the story in a rather unimaginative way.

I wasn't entertained by it, didn't like the titivation of the teenage sexuality, infact I was intensely irritated, skim-read most of it and it will be going straight to the charity shop when I get home.

An enormous disappointment.

Gah, yes and I know I used insubstantial and little of substance in the first sentence, but I don't claim to be a writer

I was picked by MNHQ to review this book, which I received for free. This review is in my own words and reflects my true opinion.

This is definitely my favourite Lisa Jewel book so far! It was so gripping, I couldn't wait until my next train journey to continue reading it. I found it leaves you guessing til the very end whodunnit. Excellent!