When Angie's husband is murdered she is left to bring up her 3 children alone. Her son Liam has disappeared having mixed with the wrong crowd and Angie finds her life spiralling out of control. Everything as me to be conspiring against her when she loses the home she loves and is forced to send her children to live with her sister for fear they will be taken into care. Living out of her van and trapped in the benefits system that leaves her with little money to get out of the poverty being forced on her, her life seems bleak but hope and help is just around the corner.
This story had a really strong start that enticed me in and kept me wanting to read. Unfortunately it went on too long and the ending I wanted became a little contrived and too convenient. Worth reading though

Home Truths is a book that grabbed me by the cover and started off well but didn’t meet my expectations.
The book is based around Angie, married to Steve, with three children. Her life takes a drastic turn when her youngest, zac who is 7 years old is caught with a syringe in his hand, Angie’s husband goes mental knowing it has come from their eldest son. Steve jumps in the van to go and find his eldest son but unfortunately the gang his son is involved in beats him to death leaving Angie and her children bereaved and struggling for money. The book I felt was too long and although the characters fit in with the story they weren’t likeable. Angie was on the downer the whole time and came across almost feeble and the man she meets further down the line, Martin was made out to be far too perfect. This is a hard book at times to read as it goes into how universal credit affected Angies downward spiral along with council troubles and a nasty landlord, to name a few. I really wanted to like this book but it was too long and an ending like a fairytale.
I would like to thank Netgalley and HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

The book starts really well, packing plenty of punches under brutal circumstances; Angie's drug addicted son is partly responsible for the brutal murder of her husband. It then gets a bit mundane with Angie falling into crippling debt but burying her head in the sand and refusing to deal with it until she loses her home. The book ends with a fairy tale happily-ever-after ending which helped to close the book on a happy note, but was completely unrealistic and very similar to the ending of a famous film which is mentioned within the book.

The book was well written, and I felt a connection with each of the characters. I found myself on an emotional roller coaster with them all as they navigated drug addiction, loss, debt, grooming and mental health issues but the ending ruined the book for me. Whilst I wouldn't say I disliked this book, it is not a book I would actively recommend to others. I have never ready anything my Susan Lewis before but I would not let my opinion of this book to deter me from trying to read some of her other work.

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review.

This is a very readable story based around real issues faced in society today . From a comfortable life with a loving husband and family Angie’s world spins out of control leaving her a widow caught in the benefit trap with an unscrupulous landlord. She moves into a hand to mouth existence moving further and further into debt and experiences homelessness Her elder son is fleeing from local gangs and her daughter enters the perils of the dark side of internet grooming. In spite of her own situation she still tries to work with those in difficulties and be their shining light. Will someone come to her rescue?
The characters felt real and the storyline in the main credible .

An outstanding story of our time - Angie's sadness and feelings of failure as a mother, while at the same time dealing with her grief are heartbreaking. Another great novel by Susan Lewis

Great holiday read, good writing and kept you interested and wanting to know how it would all turn out and if they would get a happy ending.

This is an exceptional, well written story, well researched and believable! It is a powerful emotional novel ! The characters are all strong and well developed and the reader is drawn in from the start.
On finishing this book I felt like I had been through an emotional mangle, but it also showed me there is always hope !
Another fantastic novel from Susan and one I can wholeheartedly recommend.
Thank you to Netgalley, Harper Collins, and Susan Lewis for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review

Angie Watts had the perfect ordinary family. A new home. A beloved husband. Three adored children.

But Angie’s happy life is shattered when her son Liam falls in with the wrong crowd. And when her son’s bad choices lead to the murder of her husband, it’s up to Angie to hold what’s left of her family together.

Her son is missing. Her daughter is looking for help in dangerous places. And Angie is fighting just to keep a roof over their heads.

How many contemporary social issues can you get into one book – and still have a brilliant read by the end of it? Well, this book is the answer… Susan Lewis has done it again. Gang violence, drugs, trafficking, poverty, politics…and so much more. There’s more to the title than we all like to think.

This is a ‘stick with it’ kind of book. I don’t mean that in a bad way though… The initial lines are gripping and will have you hooked and wanting to find out more. Then it calms down a little and I did find it hard to continue to be addicted to finishing this book for the first few chapters. Then it picked up again – and I guess that’s life. That’s what I loved about this book – it had a brilliant mix of ordinary life with the extraordinary. This book for certain, will strike a chord with many.

This is a gritty story with a fairly disturbing opening that really set the tone for the book for me. It did lighten up towards the end, but I can't say that I 'enjoyed' it as a read. Excellently written though with some very believable characters.

Excellent book, I really enjoyed it, loved the storyline and really related to the characters. I have read other books by this author and this one did not disappoint.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Susan Lewis for the copy of this book. I agreed to give my unbiased opinion voluntarily.

it is a few years since I last read a book by this author and ‘knew’ I was going to like it. Susan Lewis writes descriptively and you soon become immersed in the story.

I loved the character of Angie, she had such a kind and caring nature and, through difficult circumstances, had strength. The story did keep my interest throughout but was not my favourite of her books. Having said that it is an excellent read.

I have read a lot of Susan's previous books and knew I was in for a treat. As with some books from other authors I have previously enjoyed, I have sometimes been left a little disappointed, but thankfully I have never been let down by this author. I saved this as a holiday read and loved, loved, loved it.

The book really struck a chord as being a single parent myself living on the edge of a council estate I know how easy it can be to make ends meet. I thank god that my situation is no where near as bad as the character, Angie.

The thing I love about Susan's writing is that the characters are true to life. I could almost imagine myself chatting to Angie at the school gates. These are characters that are put into real life situations and manage to find the light at the end of the tunnel. The book covers a lot of hard hitting issue including gangs, drugs and on line grooming. Sadly all issues that are now to much apart of life.

We start the story with Steve finding his five year old son playing with a syringe he's found in the living room. He storms off onto the estate in the hunt for his older son Liam. A short time later his battered body is found, leaving Angie a widow and having to rely on benefits. It's not long before her debts are spiralling out of control. Not only has she lost her husband Steve, but her eldest son, Liam has gone on the run. In a fit of rage she told him she was dead to him.

Angie's job at Hill House is to support vulnerable people, people who have mental health issues, people who have found them selves living on the streets. Everybody loves her. She's always there to help whenever she can but soon Angie will need more help then she ever imagined. She is still grieving for her husband and trying to find Liam but Angie's life is spiralling out of control and she is losing the house from over her head.

Angie's daughter, thirteen year old Grace is desperate to help her mum financially so when she advertises on the Internet for part time work she is unaware of the danger that she's placing herself in. Liam had been sucked into a gang on the estate. Could Grace be about to find herself going down a slippery slope?

Angie finds herself at her lowest when the kids go to live with her sister and she has to sleep in her van. Everything she has worked and lived for has gone. She has no where left to turn. Then a chance meeting with Steve's old friend starts to turn her life around.

I couldn't read this book quickly enough and flew through the pages. It was hard hitting and so close to reality. Just the type of story that I love to read with lots of flawed characters. I hear stories similar to these at the school gates and always pray for the happy after.

Although these are fictional characters it's a sad fact that the situation they find themselves in is so true to life. More and more I am hearing about people that are unable to feed their family through no fault of their own. This book revealed to me that although I sometimes find money a stretch some months, I thank god that I am not in the situation of Angie and the situation that so many other people find them selves in. I am one of the lucky ones.

The story line was a little predictable but that is the one thing that I love about this author. Life is also predictable. All I can say is I loved it from page one until the very end.

Thank you Netgalley and Harper Collins for my ARC.

I have been a reader of Susan Lewis’s Books for a number of years but I didn’t think that this was one of her best. Angie is coming to terms with the brutal death of her husband Steve and the disappearance of her drug addicted and vulnerable son Liam. She is left to bring up her other two children and despite having several jobs Angie finds herself with a mountain of debts and before long the family are evicted. Her sister takes in the children but Angie finds herself sleeping in Steve’s van. This is when I found the story a little unreal and the plot began to lose its way with the ending being very predictable and ‘happy ever after ‘. I’m sure that many readers will love it so I will give it four stars but it just wasn’t for me.
Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

I very much enjoyed this book and think Susan Lewis goes from strength to strength. The characters were written with real empathy and the story line engaging. I very much enjoyed - many thanks.

Just loved this book; characters were amazing and the story line so, sadly, true to modern day living. I feel there could be a sequel to this book; which would be amazing.

Brilliant
Universal credit is the worst thing that can happen to you. I should know I've been put on it and it's absolutely horrendous. The sheer misery of worrying all the time how your going to survive and feed your children .
Homelessness etc this novel tells it exactly how it is.

I knew I wanted to read this the moment I saw it come up on Netgalley (for that I thank the publisher and of course Netgalley)

This is a truly beautiful story of a woman losing the love of her life so horrifically, to hitting rock bottom and then rising like a Phoenix from the ashes!!

There are some truly heart in your mouth moments, this book made me laugh, it made me cry and absolute pride for Angie and Grace. Grace tries so hard to help her mum but it lands her in some trouble in the process.

I honestly can’t recommend this enough! It was that good I went out and got another book.

A book that starts with a father being kicked and beaten to death by a gang of youths is never going to be an easy read, and so Home Truths proved. Characters suffer from drug addiction, depression and dealing with debt, and with a storyline depicting the bureaucracy involved in being homeless and having no money, it pulls no punches.

Following Steve Watts’ death, while looking for his drug addicted son Liam, the story picks up two years later, when Angie, his widow, is struggling to make ends meet with their two younger children, while Liam hasn’t been seen since that fateful night.. Can Angie save the house and find a way to pay off all her debts or will she end up in the hostel where she works?

In spite of the dark opening, this was a good story, with ultimately a happy ending, after a few bumps along the way. Possible over long at times but overall an interesting read.

I have been a fan of Susan's work ever since I had the good fortune to pick up a copy of one of her earlier books. Since then I have tried to keep up with each new book that she has writtenwhilst at the same time tryinig to catch up with her earlier releases. I was extremely lucky to receive a copy of Susan's latest book called 'Home Truths', which was released on 22nd August 2019. I really enjoyed it but more about that in a bit.
I can't say that I really took to Angie Watts at all, as there were certain things about her that irritated me. At the beginning of the book, Angie is married to Steve and they have three children- Liam, Grace and Zac. Her husband is killed by a group of yourhs and there is some suspicion that Liam was present when his Dad was attacked but that he didn't take an active part in the beating. I really felt for Angie at this point because she loses the love of her life and then she has to come to terms with the fact that her son was implicated in the death of his father, so in effect she is suffering the loss of two people in her life- her husband and her son, who she has told that he is no longer part of the family. That must be a horrendous situation to find yourself in the middle of. I haven't got children so I can only imagine the turmoil that Angie is going through but I have suffered the sudden and unexpected death of my father, so I can empathise with Angie's children and with Angie herself. You just go around in a daze, whilst at the same time you have to cope with an awful amount of red tape and you have to cope with a sudden drop in the household income, which can leave you in a bit of a pickle. Angie finds herself in such a situation and she has to 'rob Peter to pay Paul' as the saying goes. I can't deny that Angie is kind hearted, supportive, compassionate, determined, courageous and occasionally stubborn but elements of her personality irritated me.
I must be honest and say that it took me a little while to get into this story. For me, the story was a bit slow to get going, which was a bit disappointing. The prologue immediately grabbed my attention and I was expecting the rest of the book to follow on at a similar pace but for me it didn't. However that said, I did find that the pace of the book picked up and as a result I became increasingly addicted to reading this book. I had to keep reading to see how the story panned out for Angie and her family, to learn whether or not Liam was accepted back into the family and whether or not Angie managed to get herself out of the financial pickle that she has found herself in. 'Home Truths' wasn't a book that I could binge read over the course of one day, but I did manage to read the book within three days.
In my opinion, 'Home Truths' is well written with a story that will tug on even the toughest of heart strings. Well it certainly tugged on mine. Susan grabbed my attention from the start with an incident so shocking that it will remain fresh in my mind for a long time to come. Indeed, I found that I was thinking of this book a matter of weeks after I had actually finished reading it. Susan really does write realistic stories about families, whose lives have been torn apart in one way, shape or form. In that sense I felt as though I could relate to Angie's story for reasons I mention above. I found that I kept imagining how I would feel if I were in her situation. My attention did wander a bit occasionally but that probably has more to do with the fact that I was tired at the time of reading and not down to any other reason.
In conclusion and overall, I did find 'Home Truths' to be an interesting and emotional read. I did enjoy reading it and whilst it is a good book, it isn't my favourite of Susan's books to date. I would recommend it to other readers and particularly to those who enjoy a gentler pace of read. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 4* out of 5*.

This was not my usual sort of read and at the beginning I wondered if I would be able to finish it.
A woman who has lost her husband and son in different ways to a drugs gang, whose life spirals out of control fights her way through the most awful circumstances one could find themselves in.
It however does turn a corner in strange circumstances.
While the story concludes in somewhat idealistic and less than believable circumstances I hope it opens all our eyes to the lives some people are forced to live with no way of escaping and gives us all a little more understanding of those whose lives are more difficult than our own.