Saturday 26 May 2018

The Forever Night Stand by Bena Roberts


The Forever Night Stand by Bena Roberts
Self published in the UK in March 2018.

Where to buy this book:


The Book Depository : unavailable
Wordery : unavailable
Waterstones : unavailable
Amazon : from $2.98 / £2.24 (ebook)
Prices and availability may have changed since this post was written

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A two hour romance which starts with drama and mayhem!

Sara has her back up against the wall. She is recovering from the side effects of chemotherapy and at her own "cancer free" party, she makes a decision that will change her life forever.

The adventure begins when she leaves her posh lifestyle in Scotland and moves in with her Bollywood loving parents, in West London. Her parents are tragically ashamed of Sara's actions and her electronic monitor. She decides to make them happy again and considers re-marrying. 

Enter Raj, a possible hero who comes with the promise of a huge Indian wedding in Goa!

George, the childhood love of her life who seems to be hanging around every corner. Or should she just go back to her husband? Sara faces the biggest dilemma of her life, after making the colossal mistake of her life. What will she do and whom will she choose?




The Forever Night Stand is a humorous novella that starts from a serious place, but aims more for an entertaining read than a deep exploration of Issues. Sara is a fun character and I enjoyed spending a few hours in her company. She is at a major crossroads in her life and I was interested to discover how she would cope with essentially having been thrown back to a teenage situation, despite being in her forties.

Roberts has a great descriptive turn of phrase and can put across a visual image very effectively in just a few words. I loved the humour in this novella too and induged in several giggles as the story progressed. I didn't, however, really understand George. We see about a third of the story from his point of view and I didn't like how I felt I was being persuaded to think of him. George and Sara haven't seen each other for the best part of two decades. During this time, George has still been in love with Sara so 'obviously' Sara must fall straight in insta-love with him? A scene where George attempts to kiss an unconscious Sara without her consent and without her even knowing he was there just made me feel distinctly uncomfortable. This isn't highly romantic, it's assault!

So, overall, I enjoyed reading about Sara and her attempts to get herself back together. Most of the story is fun and funny if I could just have avoided weirdo stalker George!

Meet the author:

Bena Roberts was a journalist and analyst. Now she prefers the title novelist and romance adventurist. She graduated in England 1994 and then with a Masters in 1997.

Born in 1973, Bena lived in West London until she was 24. Then she lived and worked in Budapest, Bruges, Prague, Amsterdam, Vienna, Hamburg and Munich. She currently resides in Germany, between Heidelberg and Frankfurt. Although she still refers to London as 'home.'

Bena successfully created a technology blog which gained funding, had lunch with Steve Ballmer and was 'top 50 most influential woman in mobile.' Her blog also won several awards including Metro Best Blog.

Bena has two children, loves small dogs and always writes books with a cup of Earl Grey.

Bena's favorite literary style is black humor, and she hopes to offer a unique voice in this area. Her books aim to confront the darkest of life experiences, with levity. Most of her writing is heavy hitting yet also entertaining.

Author links: 
Amazon ~ Twitter ~ Goodreads




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Books by Bena Roberts / Women's fiction / Books from England

Sunday 6 May 2018

Let It Bleed by Nicole I Nesca


Let It Bleed by Nicole I Nesca
Published by Screaming Skull Press in Canada in December 2017.

How I got this book:
Received a review copy from the author

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Directly from 

This isn’t just a book of prose and poetry but a beautiful streetwise and lyrical telling of a life in pursuit of truth, sex, love, youth-lost and experience. With an alternating rhythm of long free-flowing sentences and short, minimalist statements, Let It Bleed is an original urban street-hymn that hearkens to writers of yesterday like Sylvia Plath and also the more modern rock and roll writings of Patti Smith, but always and forever original and unique.


Let It Bleed is an unusual collection of prose writing and poetry that is quite different to anything else I have recently read. An intensely personal work, I thought, the collection begins with the story Haemorrhaged which describes a woman's experience when a hysterectomy operation develops complications. This is an amazing opener. Shocking and vivid, it powerfully sets the tone for what is to follow and I found that I did enjoy most of the prose pieces. They got me thinking about the life I could witness through Nesca's writing and I liked the repeated imagery. Unfortunately I didn't feel such a good sense of understanding for the poems. I liked their sharp rhythms but wasn't always exactly sure what was being presented to me. Overall though Let It Bleed is a good read. It wasn't completely one for me, but I sure other readers could identify more strongly with Nesca's themes.

Etsy Find!
by Obvious State in
New York, USA

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Books by Nicole I Nesca / Poetry / Books from America