My Name is Anna

Product Information

This book gripped me right from the start and was absolutely fascinating until the very end! What an interesting concept, to follow a girl that has been taken, as well as the family that she was taken from and show how it has affected all of them over the years. Things are coming to a head as we are nearing the fifteenth anniversary of the disappearance, and emotions are high all around. But what really set this apart and took it to the next level for me was the fact that a cult was thrown into the mix. I was losing my mind y’all this was so good!!

Having previously dabbled in acting and film development, I have spent the last eight years working in the restaurant business with my brother, Jamie, heading up our brand and marketing department. We have a small group of restaurants, mainly in London, including Hush in Mayfair, the all-day burger brand, Hache, and the Latin American barbecue group, Cabana. It almost had a slightly anti-climactic feel to it especially the finale which for me felt a bit flat. ANNA has been taught that virtue is the path to God. But on her eighteenth birthday she defies her Mamma's rules and visits Florida's biggest theme park. It's time for Anna's appraisal - a chance to review how things are going and to set some challenges for the year ahead. But will Anna like what Paul has to say? Maybe news about Rachel will put a smile on her face? Language to use in an appraisalFinal Thought: A Girl Named Anna is going to be perfect for mystery lovers that don't mind teenage protagonists. I think this book is best read mostly blind, so don't take my word for it - go on and read it yourself! A Girl Named Anna is written with the emotion you’d expect in a missing child story. It was even more powerful to hear the story in two voices. Even though initially the plot may seem obvious, the details and how it’s unveiled slowly add to the suspense of the narrative.

On phone/angry) …well if that’s what you think then you can shove your kumquats… hello? Hello? (Slams phone down) The story was told in Anna and Rosie's POV by author Lizzy Barber. It was obvious from the very beginning where the story would go, but the reasons for the decisions were still unknown, and that captured my interest along with Lizzy's crisp and fast writing.Money (That's What I Want) was written by the founder of the music label “Tamla”, Berry Gordy. It was a hit single in 1959 by Barrett Strong and became the first hit record for Gordy's Motown Enterprise in June 1960, making it to number 2 one the US R&B chart and number 23 on the US pop chart. This, in conclusion, was for me an OK read that never really took flight: hoping its a better fit for you.

About two months later, preparing for my morning operations meeting, I received a phone call out of the blue, which completely changed my life.

You're now in slide show mode.

We make our fruit using laser-curved technology. In fact we’ve just launched our best product ever, the Imperial Lemon – it looks so real you want to squeeze it. There were a few subplots involving a cult-like church, which I found interesting, but there again, the Pastor Paul - Mamma relationship was bizarre and generally inexplicable. There were also some references to some pretty twisted child abuse, which while they were not overly graphic, they were still disturbing. SLIGHT SPOILER ALERT} The story is told in alternating POV -Anna and Rosie. Anna's chapters are the more intriguing of the two - Rosie's are pure fluff. The biggest issue for me was that in the age of the internet, much of the plot did not make sense. For example, at Astroland, Anna has a recollection of being there before, and the name, Emily. She tells her boyfriend that she thinks she may have been abducted as a child, and her boyfriend's first reaction is to go to the internet and pull up a random article about manufactured memories - say what?? How about doing an internet search with key words, "Emily, Astroland, missing girl." Boom - mystery solved. Especially as so much of Rosie's story focused on the media circus that had continued for fifteen years, so it wasn't as if there was a big secret as to what happened to Emily. And I won't even get started on Rosie's search and her interactions with the internet conspiracy theorists - again, if you can suspend all common sense, then it might make sense to you, but for me, it was a no-go. I think it was quite obvious the connection between Anna and Emily even from the synopsis and the line on the front cover " what if your whole life was a lie?"; the book was more about working out why and how the events happened. There are a lot of questions to answer throughout the storyline including but not limited to who exactly the mysterious sinister 'Father Paul' is who keeps popping up. The story is narrated by Anna and Rosie in alternate chapters and both girls were interesting likeable leads to follow as they respectively try to discover the truth. I found the ending a little abrupt and would have liked to have known more about what would have followed but overall I definitely enjoyed this book and look forward to future books by the author. Anna is in America and Rosie in London so the differences in narrative style keeps you on your toes as you swop continents

I ripped through it in no time at all and thought the writing was wonderful and the storyline gripping.' Lesley Kara, author of The Rumour Uh oh! What’s happened to Tom? Has he broken something? Join us next time to find out. Bye! Listening challenge - answer

Broadcasts

This is the perfect song about working to listen to after you have been working like a dog, earning money for your family that you return home to: EDIT (April 2014): We have actually turned this list into a playlist on Google Music. Head over and have a listen! We have come to the conclusion that since The Beatles have been mentioned in 3 of the categories, they are incredibly attracted to singing about working and money – who can blame them! To finish off our list of Top 45 Songs About Jobs and the Workplace, we have chosen “A Hard Days Life” as our Number 1 song of the Work Classics category. Working with the restaurants has been creative and dynamic…and has involved a certain about of writing (including a lot of press releases!), but writing has always been a creative itch I have scratched on the side.