Monday 22 July 2013

Book Review & Kindle book Giveaway - The Elephant Girl by Henriette Gyland - A fantastic read

Book Blurb –

Peek-a-boo, I see you …….

When five-year-old Helen Stephens witnesses her Mother’s murder, her whole world comes crumbling down. Rejected by her extended family, Helen is handed over to child services and learns to trust no-one but herself. Twenty years later, her mother’s killer is let out of jail, and Helen swears vengeance.

Jason Moody runs a halfway house, desperate to distance himself from his father’s gangster dealings. But when Helen shows up on his doorstep, he decides to dig into her past, and risks upsetting some very dangerous people.

As Helen begins to question what really happened to her mother, Jason is determined to protect her. But Helen is getting too close to someone who’ll stop at nothing to keep the truth hidden.

Read the prologue and first chapter - Click here

Book links - Amazon Uk - Click here
                     Amazon US - Click here


My review –

Just looking at the cover of the book should draw you in straight away. This book was a great read. I couldn’t put it down and took it everywhere and read it everywhere at every opportunity.

The main character Helen is extremely well written and comes across as a strong, vengeful yet kind and loving person all rolled into one. I really liked her and how her character was portrayed.  There are some really strong characters in the book and some really quirky ones. I love how the characters in the halfway house were all so different and all so likeable.

The way the author constructed the family makeup of Helens extended family was great too, and you went from hating them to liking them, to distrusting them all.

The descriptive writing of all the different locations was also so good that you could picture them vividly as if you had been there yourself.

It was a bit of a whodunit type book, and just when you thought you knew who the murderer was, the author flipped the story and made you doubt yourself. It was full of twists and turns which made it so good that you don’t want to put it down.

If you like family saga’s with a bit of murder mystery thrown in, then this is the book of the year for you.


About the Author –   


Henriette grew up in Northern Denmark but moved to England after she graduated from the University of Copenhagen. She wrote her first book when she was ten, a tale of two orphan sisters running away to Egypt fortunately to be adopted by a perfect family they meet on the Orient Express.

Between that first literary exploit and now, she has worked in the Danish Civil Service, for a travel agent, a consultancy company, in banking, hospital administration, and for a county court before setting herself up as a freelance translator and linguist.

Expecting her first child and feeling bored, she picked up the pen again, and when a writer friend encouraged her to join the Romantic Novelists Association, she began to pursue her writing in earnest. Her debut novel “Up Close” won the New Talent Award in 2011 from the Festival of Romance and a Commended from the Yeovil Literary Prize.

Henriette is married and lives in London.

The Elephant Girl is Henriettes second novel. Look for her next release, The Highwayman’s Daughter, in January 2014.

Follow Henriette:
Twitter - @henrigyland

To read more about Henriette's other novels, see Choc Lit publishing author page. Click here



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7 comments:

  1. This sounds fab, thanks for a great giveaway and review.

    Lainy http://www.alwaysreading.net

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  2. I enjoyed this one too! Choc Lit have had some great reads recently. :-)

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  3. sounds great, my daughter's name is Helen too..lol...

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  4. I wish I will win the book as I believe the book will take me traveling around the world which I cannot afford it in real ;)

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  5. It sound really interesting to read.

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  6. Congratulations Anh for winning a kindle copy of The Elephant Girl.

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