Book Review: The Memory Book by Rowan Coleman

Title: The Memory Book

Author: Rowan Coleman

Publisher: Ebury Publishing

Publication Date: 30th January 2014

Blurb

The name of your first-born. The face of your lover. Your age. Your address...

What would happen if your memory of these began to fade?

Is it possible to rebuild your life? Raise a family? Fall in love again?

When Claire starts to write her Memory Book, she already knows that this scrapbook of mementoes will soon be all her daughters and husband have of her. But how can she hold on to the past when her future is slipping through her fingers...?

Verdict
I am new to Rowan Coleman's books and I kicked myself after finishing this as I didn't know why I haven't read books by Rowan before.
Firstly the cover of this was just so beautiful and I felt like I just wanted to hug it so much and It does look ever so amazing sat on my book shelf.

We meet Claire who is an attractive married mother of two kids,Caitlin,20 and Esther,3. Greg is the man of her dreams who she met later in life and married. She raised Caitlin single handed but now is raising Esther together with Greg. Claire had a great job as an English teacher.
Claire finds out she has got early-onset Alzheimer's Disease and her world just comes crashing down, But Claire and her mother Ruth know Alzheimer's very well, as Claire's father had the awful disease too.
Greg buys Claire a lovely notebook which they all name The Memory book, Any details from the past that they would love Claire to remember and piece her life together. The whole family all start to write in the book which is just so lovely.

This book had me in floods of tears with the first couple of chapters, I had to have a box of tissues at the side of me, I really did feel sorry for Claire as it was all of sudden she was losing her mind, had to give her job up, not allowed to drive her car and even forgot where her kids were.
I felt I just couldn't put The Memory book down It is beautifully written but it is ever so devastating and pure sadness too. There is some funny parts that in which what things Claire gets up which will have you giggling but the most of the time you'll be dabbing your eyes.

Rowan Coleman has definitely written a winner of a book here and I feel people are going to love this book and will be talking about it for a while. I loved that it is mentioned that fans of Jo-Jo Moyes will love this, I am a huge fan of Jo-Jo Moyes books and I loved Me Before You But I feel The Memory Book has out done that book and has been written ever so beautiful and with sadness. It really does give you the insight of how a family deals with an awful Disease like Alzheimer's and how they have to come together more as a family and the love they have for each other is just so sad.

I will certainly be now buying more of Rowan's books in the future.
I Thank Amelia Harvell for my review copy of The Memory Book and Letting me part of this fab blog tour to help celebrate The Memory Book's Publication.

I have to give Rowan a huge 5/5 star rating for this absolutely amazing and beautiful read which really touched my heart.

Support Rowan Coleman in raising £10,000 for Refuge!

Press Kit ~ Woman Walks into a Bar

Help Rowan Coleman raise £10,000 for Refuge

On September 10^th Rowan is publishing her novella Woman Walks into a Bar as an ebook for the first time. And 100% of her proceeds will be donated to Refuge.

Her goal is to raise £10,000 and you can help. All you have to do is buy a book, or two, and get your friends to buy one too. You’ll get a funny, romantic and touching summer read and you’ll be helping women you’ve never even met at the same time and all for the price of £1.59!

The story behind the story

Every book Rowan have ever written has meant a lot to her, but with her latest book ‘Dearest Rose,’ something really special happened when the real world and the fiction she loves to write collided.  It changed her as a person and a writer, forever.

She was getting ready to research her tenth novel, which with the help of her Facebook readers she decided should pivot around the theme of domestic abuse. It was a subject she’d touched on briefly once before, when she wrote a short novella as one of the first Quick Reads called Woman Walks into a Bar, which to this day remains one of the pieces of work of which she is most proud.

So she posted on her Facebook page asking if anyone had any personal experiences of domestic abuse, and any stories they might share with her in confidence.

She was shocked and amazed by the response; there were more than 200 emails waiting in her inbox the next day. Each story she read was horrific and frightening in its own way, giving her an insight into the secret lives of many women; lives that all too often remain hidden. Domestic abuse can happen to anyone - well educated wealthy women are just as likely to suffer as women from a working class background - but the one thing all those women had in common was that they were survivors. After years of being mentally and physically beaten down, they had managed to find the emotional strength, somehow, to break free and start again.

Now Rowan wants to do something that will help other women find that inner courage, and change their lives.

‘Woman Walks into a Bar’ is the story of 28-year-old single mother Sam spends her days working in the local supermarket and her Friday nights out with her friends letting her hair down at the White Horse. Life hasn’t been easy for Sam and her daughter, Beth (who always looks on the bright side) but she’s always hoped that one day she’ll break free from her past and meet The One.

But after a series of terrible dates with men she’s met through an internet dating site, that have all been as awful as her daughter’s terrible jokes, she’s starting to lose heart - until her friends tell her they’ve set her up on a blind date. Sam’s horrified but finally she agrees to go. After all you never know when you might meet the man of your dreams; maybe Sam’s happy ending is just about to begin….

£1.59 Amazon Kindle UK

So, come on and join Rowan, and help to #supportafriend on September 10^th. Every time you buy or pre-order ‘Woman Walks into a Bar’ you’ll be entered into a prize draw for fabulous prizes every week, while the #supportafriend #womanwalks campaign is running. On 10^th September, tweet Rowan photos of you and your friends, tell her your ideas to support a friend, and why your friends mean so much to you.

You can be a best friend to someone you have never even met. You can help someone out there find the support they need to change their lives.

If you are a blogger or tweeter, spread the word using #supportafriend #womawalks. If you are a company who could offer a prize to drive book sales and thereby money for Refuge, please get in touch. If you are a woman in an abusive relationship, or if you have a friend about whom you are worried, please get in touch withRefuge and ask for help today.

About Rowan

Rowan Coleman grew up in Hertfordshire secretly longing to be a writer despite battling with dyslexia.  After graduating from university she worked in bookselling and publishing for seven years before winning Company Magazine Young Writer of the Year in 2001.  Her first novel ‘Growing Up Twice’ was published in 2002.

Rowan has gone on to write eight novels for women including the bestseller ‘The Accidental Mother, The Baby Group’ and ‘The Accidental Wife‘ and eight novels for children and teens including the paranormal adventure novels Nearly Departed and Immortal Remains under the name Rook Hasting. Her books are published around the world. She now lives in Hertfordshire with her family.

Rowan Coleman Woman Walks into a Bar Press Release

PRESS RELEASE

WOULD YOU LIKE TO #SUPPORTAFRIEND AND HELP US TO RAISE £10,000 FOR REFUGE**no running or bungee jumping involved, just a great read!

On 10th September 2013, author Rowan Coleman is inviting women everywhere to #supportafriend and get involved in her mission to raise £10,000 for Refuge.On this date Rowan will release her novella WOMAN WALKS INTO A BAR as an eBook and 100% of her royalties will go to the charity Refuge.All readers have to do is to download WOMAN WALKS INTO A BAR from Amazon … and encourage as many women as they can to do the same. Simple!

When Rowan Coleman began work on her tenth novel she asked her 1500 Facebook fans if they would be willing to share their personal experiences of domestic abuse. She was shocked to discover 204 emails waiting in her inbox the following day.So began the process of writing DEAREST ROSE, featuring a character inspired by the women Rowan spoke to. Rose, with the help of her friends, gradually finds the strength and courage to escape an abusive marriage along with her seven-year-old daughter.DEAREST ROSE went on to win the Festival of Romance Best Romantic Read 2012, the RoNA Epic Romance Novel of the Year 2013 and was also shortlisted for the RNA Romantic Novel of the Year 2013.

To support publication and to spread the word Rowan is launching a campaign, #supportafriend, on Twitter and Facebook, encouraging women everywhere to tell us how they will support a friend on September 10th.If there’s one thing women do well, it’s friendship. Whether they bake a stressed-out work colleague a cake, give a long-distance friend a call to see how they are, or help a mum with a buggy off the bus, we’re asking the public to tweet their ideas and pictures, on the day, and to get involved with competitions and giveaways.

As a member of the press, you are in a unique position to help Rowan spread the word about #supportafriend and to encourage as many of us as possible to buy WOMAN WALKS INTO A BAR. We’d love you to review the book on your blog, on Amazon, on Goodreads and do anything else you can think of to help to raise the profile of the event via social media!We are encouraging everyone to use #supportafriend and #womanwalks to try to focus activity on sales of WOMAN WALKS INTO A BAR, which is the quickest way to raise money for Refuge.And of course the easiest way for you to support the #supportafriend campaign is to buy the book…buy two!

WOMAN WALKS INTO A BAR by Rowan Coleman

Published September 10th 2013; £1.59

Available for pre-order from Amazon — get yours today!

Make contact with Rowan at the following:

Tumblr: www.rowan-coleman.tumblr.com

Twitter: @rowancoleman

using the hashtags #supportafriend and #womanwalks

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Rowan-Coleman/218459815465

Website: www.rowancoleman.co.uk

For a review copy please contact Laura West at digital@davidhigham.co.uk