The Whole Truth
By Cara Hunter

Full of twists in an unpredictable. The Whole Truth is unpredictable, gritty and intense. Find the blurb and review below.

Imagine my excitement when I was lucky enough to receive The Whole Truth, written by Sunday Bestseller author – Cara Hunter, thanks to Ellie Hudson, Olivia Mead and Chloe Davies at Penguin Randomhouse publishers for inviting me onto the blog tour and for sending me a copy of the book

Blurb

She has everything at stake; he has everything to lose. But one of them is lying, all the same.

When an Oxford student accuses one of the university’s professors of sexual assault, DI Adam Fawley’s team think they’ve heard it all before. But they couldn’t be more wrong.

Because this time, the predator is a woman and the shining star of the department, and the student a six-foot male rugby player.

Soon DI Fawley and his team are up against the clock to figure out the truth. What they don’t realise is that someone is watching.

And they have a plan to put Fawley out of action for good…

Review

The book’s layout is great as narrative, newspaper cuttings, text messages and statements, police reports, transcripts of interviews, podcast episodes (written out as if readers were listening in), all intertwine to tell this story of this crime, set in hot temperatures in Oxford, where DI Fawley and DC Gareth Quinn are on a case. It feels a rather unique way of telling the story. It’s deep and gritty and highly immersive. The intensity increases as the book goes on.

Lady Launceleve College – or EL near where the Banbury and Woodstock roads are) and where Hillary Reynolds is Head of House is the setting. It’s relevant and feels vital as this is about feeling unsafe in colleges and universities; this is about when someone may have been sexually assaulted and discovering just what the truth actually is in what happened between the victim and the accuser. What makes this story so different is that the plot is far from what is expected. It turns everything you may think it would be, entirely on its head. This is far from a predicatable story with its tightly written twists and the detectives are up against it, to discover the whole truth, which isn’t always as straight forward as one would perhaps imagine and with someone watching, there is also an added thriller element. It’s gritty and intense right to the very end!

There is an ingenious layout of a “previously in the Fawley Files”, so it is absolutely fine if you’ve never read any before, it gives enough detail to catch-up on the key characters and also refreshes the mind well for those who have read the other 4 books in the series.

The Communication Car Crash
And
How To Avoid It
by Kate Donne
Rated: 5*****

The Communication Car Crash And How To Avoid it is a distinctive, intuitive, engaging book that so many people may find beneficial throughout their lives.

I thank Kate Donne for sending me a copy to review.

Follow on down to find out more about the author, the blurb and my full review.

About the Author

Kate Donne lives in Dollar, Clackmannanshire, Scotland with her Welsh husband, Steve. She graduated from The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with a BA Degree in Dramatic Studies and has spent almost three decades running her own personal development consultancy. In that time she has designed and delivered a vast number of communication skills programmes for individuals, small and large businesses and private sector clients. Her work has taken her all over the UK and abroad.

Twitter: @Donnekate Facebook: The Power Of Words
Buy Link: Amazon Website: https://weegiewords.wordpress.com

Blurb

The Communication Car Crash is designed as a practical, accessible work book that explores who you are as a character and how you communicate with those around you. Using the tips, techniques and exercises inside, you will find expert advice on how to deal with a host of challenging situations and avoid the communication car crash. This is not just a work book, it’s a valuable confidence building experience that will give you every skill you need to become a truly effective communicator.

Review

The impact of bricks falling down and a wheel, suggesting a car is crashing into them on the cover is highly effective and illustrative in the words used on those brick of what this book covers :-
Listening, Control, Confidence, Questioning.
The freshness and creativity doesn’t stop there. This is a book which has space in each section for readers to create their own plans of action to improve their communication skills forward. This isn’t as daunting as it seems, is down-to-earth.
The book weaves through what communication is and the ways we use it and the power it has, in a way that isn’t preachy way, but more in a subtle educative, yet intutive manner of human mannerisms and styles of communication. There are interesting and very real sounding scenarios of what Kate Donne calls “Communication Car Crashes”, to counteract this, she makes some positives and also some thought-provoking suggestions.

Like a book or a movie, there are character scripts, but here, the character is very cleverly, “you” the reader, making readers the main focus. It creates a safe space in which the person can examine themselves with the guidance of their being some examples of different “character scripts”, which brings a uniqueness to this book and a little fun in such a serious, life-enhancing topic.
This one huge topic is broken up well, into manageable segments, from good, well-formed explanations to demonstrations of relatable and easy to follow scenarios, based on real-life situations. It’s also a very honest approach, as what Kate Donne does at certain points is talks from personal experience, but then brings it back to the reader, so they become the focus, even though it reads like she is in the room with you as the style sits nicely between the casual and formal, which makes it comfortable to read. The book also takes readers of the book into areas people, perhaps find most challenging when communicating with others, in an honest and constructive approach as it naviagates into how to deal with those harder conversations and dealing with challenging situations in a wise and meaningful way that can be used in everyday life.

Wisely, there is an element of self-care built into the book, including some practical, renowned techniques to relax, learning to say no without feeling guilty, and let’s face it, this is very common to have this feeling and yet the book shows adeptly, how it is okay to decline something in a healthy way.

It’s an ideal book for reading through, doing the practical exercises and then dipping in and out of as your life progresses. It’s a book that can be completed all at your own pace, there are not pressures here.
It most definitely has scope for longevity for anyone wishing to improve their communication skills or learn more about who you are and where you fit in terms of communication styles.