READ AND RECOMMEND: REMEMBER ME BY LESLEY PEARSE!

Hey loves!

I’ve always wanted to have a ‘book’ segment on my blog because I’m a huge bookworm and I felt like it just felt natural to ramble about books I’ve read and that I’ve loved so here it is, the first bookish blogpost on my blog. My blog is mainly lifestyle but it’s based on me and my lifestyle and all the things I love so there’s so many things I love rambling about on here so don’t mind my sporadic blogposts; I love all the segments on my blog because my blog is essentially a representation of me. Also, you should expect some student based blogposts coming soon since I’m a student and it’s a pretty big part of my life therefore it’s only natural for me to have some blogposts regarding that!

Long ramble-y intro aside, todays blogpost is the first in my ‘Read and Recommend’ segment here on my blog. In these type of posts, I’m going to be sharing with you a book I’ve read and that I would totally recommend to you so essentially, the name of the segment says it all! I hope you enjoy!

Lesley Pearse is my favourite author so of course the first book to be featured on my blog had to be one of hers. In fact, this is the first book of Lesley Pearse’s that I ever read and I became addicted to her books. I love her writing style, the way she keeps you captivated, there’s never a dull page and I just want to keep reading on. Personally, I’ve never had an author that’s had that affect on me before. So after reading Remember Me, I went and binged on a load of her books and some of them have become my favourites that I’ve read again and again but in homage to the first book that started it all off for me, I’m going to be basing my first ever Read and Recommend on Remember Me by Lesley Pearse.

SYNOPSIS:

“Based on a true story, Remember Me brings Mary Broad vividly to life in this moving story of a woman triumphing against overwhelming odds.

She made one mistake, and now she’ll never see home again . . .

Mary, a Cornish mariner’s daughter, makes the biggest mistake of her short life when she steals a silk hat. Convicted and sentenced to be transported to Australia, she endures horrific conditions aboard ship before landing in a brutal and barbaric country.

It will take all her courage just to survive.

But Mary is also determined to make something of herself in this rugged man’s world. And she dreams that one day she will find a way of crossing the cruel seas that lie between her and home . . .”

MY RATING: ★★★★★

OVERVIEW: The reason I actually bought this book is stupid but everything happens for a reason, right? I’m madly obsessed with Australia and it’s my dream to go there and I was at a bookstore and they had an offer on if you bought 5 books, so I was looking for a book to complete my purchase and I just so happened upon this book, read the blurb, saw the word ‘Australia’, bought it, read it and fell in love with it. I never used to read books like this, I was more of a ‘fantasy’ type of girl, reading about vampires and angels but I guess this book was a kind the coming of a new age for me. I haven’t and I can’t read anything to do with fantasy nowadays. It’s based on a true story so that just makes it a tad more mesmerising; every page you’re reading is a part of someone’s actual story, everything in this book actually happened and each time I gasped internally at something in the book, it just made me realise how well Lesley Pearse has retold this story.

CHARACTERS: I must say that even though it is based on a true story, the author has made the characters her own and she even wrote in the author’s note that she wishes she could continue the story but because she based this book on research and there’s no record of the main character after where she ended it, it wouldn’t be right to continue it. She also goes onto say that the father of Mary’s first child is unknown and that she made Captain Graham up to fit in with the story and I was shocked when she said that because she portrayed his character so well that he seemed real. I didn’t really have a favourite character but my least favourite characters were Will, I don’t know why, he was awful – especially towards the end and he just had this need to be an alpha male and it pissed me off, and also Graham, he just made me cringe to be honest. 

STORYLINE: I have a strong hatred for spoilers so don’t worry, I won’t be giving any away and spoiling the book for you if you do intend on reading it. I love the strength Mary had throughout the book, despite what she was going through. I admit, I shed a few tears throughout this book, and I was annoyed at some of the choices Mary made but I couldn’t put the book down and that’s how you know a book is good. I love Lesley Pearse’s style of writing, you really get to know Mary and you become attached to her. The fact that it’s based on a real person who actually went through all this and who was brave enough to do what she did, hit me hard – which is probably why this made such a good book, it seems almost fictional. 

OVERALL: I highly recommend this book if you’re like me, you love escapism but not the romance type of escapism – more of the adventure, torture escapism, where you can really imagine yourself in the shoes of the main character. I’ve reread this book so many times after purchasing but I still love it just as much as I did the first time I read it. It’s so cleverly written and I am so happy I discovered Lesley Pearse after this buying this book because she’s my favourite author.

 

If you’ve read this book or any other by Lesley Pearse, then let me know! Also please leave any book recommendations you have for me because I’m always looking for something new to read! Follow my blog for more posts like this and drop me a follow on my social media sites to stay updated with me! Thank you so much for reading 💗