Mates, Dates and Sleepover Secrets by Cathy Hopkins

Advantages: Great characters, good story, you can read it over and over and not get bored of it, easy to read
Disadvantages: -

...Mates, Dates and Sleepover Secrets Cathy Hopkins The book was published in 2002 by Piccadilly Press Ltd. A bit about the author Cathy Hopkins was born in Manchester but grew up in Kenya from the ages five to eleven. She started writing teenage fiction in the year 2000. (To find out more visit www.cathyhopkins.com) When/ Why did I buy the book? I bought the book a good few years ago, I'd say about five, when I was about ten years old. I actually bought the book from a car boot sale, I think it was about 10p!! Which is an absolute bargain as the book is fantastic and I still read it now. I'm not really sure why I bought it, it obviously must have just caught my eye through all the usual junk you find at a car boot sale. They say don't judge a book by its cover, well everyone does don't they. I think I judged...

Ruby.xo 28.06.2009 (23.07.2009) · Read review
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Review of Mates Dates and Sleepover Secrets - Cathy Hopkins

Damaged - Cathy Glass

Advantages: Insight into what some foster carers have to endure
Disadvantages: Sad story made even more moving because it is true

...This book had me gripped from the start. It is a true story about a foster carer called Cathy Glass and her experience with a very troubled 8 year old girl named Jodie. Cathy has been a foster carer for over 20 years and looked after more than 50 children. What struck me about this book was the sheer frankness of Cathy. It is a heartwrenching story that goes into quite a lot of detail. Jodie had been through numerous carers before she was taken in by Cathy. Cathy knew this and was made aware in a crisis meeting that Jodie would be taken into a residential care home which would of meant she didn't get the one-on-one care that she so badly needed. The antics Jodie gets up to are disturbing to say the least, from wiping her own excrement on herself to cutting her own wrists, extreme aggression and sexual behaviour. Multiple...

victorialush 29.05.2007 · Read review
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Review of Damaged - Cathy Glass

Hidden by Cathy Glass

Advantages: a fantastic insight into a small childs life
Disadvantages: none that i can think of

...From the author of Number One bestseller 'Damaged' comes the poignant and shocking memoir of Cathy's recent relationship with Tayo, a young boy she fosters whose good behaviour and polite manners hide a terrible past. From start to finish this book had me gripped and I really couldn't put it down. It is really hard to believe that even now in the 21st century children are still being subjected to horrific abuse and neglect when they should be enjoying their childhood. However thanks to people like Cathy Glass these children can be provided with a little bit of stabiity and an idea of what a childhood should be like. It is just a shame that there are not more people like her in this world because if there were this world would be a better place. I highly recommend this book for it is not only a story if a child who suffers...

kellys_eye 21.06.2008 · Read review
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Review of Hidden - Cathy Glass

Damaged by Cathy Glass - Heartbreaking

Advantages: Gives a true insight into the damage emotional and physical child abuse causes
Disadvantages: The truth hurts and this book can be upsetting at parts.

...Well I originally had this bought for me as a present from my husband out of the blue as he knows I like to read "those kind of books". I was taken in by the beautiful looking little girl on the front and started reading it straight away. I could not help but become engrossed in the story straight away, the first conversation that takes place in the book gives an insight into the termoil and upset that would be brought to Cathy's family and left me eager to turn the pages and discover what happens next. The book itself is written beautifully, the story holds no punches and is honest and admirable to the last. It shows that the society we live in has a long way to go in protecting the most vunerable children in our "developed" country. I will not go into detail about the opinions this book provokes or the story detail...

Sarah_2002_84 13.09.2007 (12.09.2007) · Read review
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Review of Damaged - Cathy Glass

Arthur and Cathy

Advantages: see opinion
Disadvantages: see opinion

...CheekyGranny challenged me to write an opinion about my grand parents in no less than 300 words each............. Now this is a tricky one for me as my family closet is full of skeletons! I only knew my fathers, father and his stepmother, Arthur and Cathy, who in actual fact brought me up, as my mother died when I was a baby. So I called my Grandma??Mother. There was a lot of sadness in my early childhood but my Granddad was lovely made me laugh! His name was Arthur and he was a painter and decorator like his father and his father before him. He worked with his brothers and my father in the family business in the east end of Glasgow. The woman I called mother was his third wife, Cathy, his first two wives had died, so he brought my father and my two aunties up on his own. I think his sisters helped him but when he married...

Maglette 17.12.2002 · Read review
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Review of Everything that starts with A ...

(BOOK REVIEW!) Will their Past Secret's come out in the end!

Advantages: A lovely heart warming story with belivable characters!
Disadvantages: Took a little longer than it should have done to read, not the best book ever read!

... Cathy Kelly- Past Secrets About Cathy Kelly I have never read a book by Cathy Kelly before, and this book was passed onto me by my mum. I got the book from her a few months ago now, but I have only just had the chance to read it after having lots of other books to read too! I kept on putting the book off thinking it was going to be a much older book than the books I normally read, this was a bad case of ?reading a book by the cover?, as the cover doesn?t make the book look very appealing at all. With a plain white background and a simple outside fascia of a white café with blue shutters on the windows with a couple sitting outside. It makes the book look like a romance book for the older reader if I?m honest, but I eventually picked it up and decided to give it a go. I was quite impressed with the book...

stephbond89 12.11.2009 · Read review
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Review of Past Secrets - Cathy Kelly

Someone Like You

Advantages: A brilliant read.
Disadvantages: Hard to put down.

...Cathy Kelly is a brilliant writer and I have read other books of hers, including 'What She Wants', and 'Always and Forever'. This book has not let me down - it is just as good, if not better, than some of her other work. This book consists of three main characters - Emma, Hannah and Leonie. Emma is married to Pete, and has a domineering father who she finds it hard to stand up to. Hannah is determined to be a career woman and not make the same mistakes that her mother did - Hannah's father was an alcoholic, and her mother would not leave him. Leonie is a born romantic and is divorced from the father of her three children as she felt that romance is missing from her marriage. The three women go to Egypt for a holiday - Emma with her parents and Hannah and Leonie on their own. They all meet in Egypt and become firm friends...

jules.34 20.12.2009 · Read review
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Review of Someone Like You - Cathy Kelly

Damaged-Forever or not?

Advantages: Interesting and informative
Disadvantages: That things like this happens in this world

...If like me you love to read True stories then this is the book for you. The main thing that attracted me tothis book was the front cover, Plain simple and contains a picture of a young girl. From reading the first chapter I had to make mor time to read it as I knew this was going to be a good read. This book is about a divorced woman, Cathy Glass who is a carer. She and her two children Adrian and Paula live in a house with a girl named Lucy who Cathy fostered. She is a qualified carer/fosterer but has not fostered for a few weeks. One day Cathy is called to a meeting, this is because a 7 yr old child, named Jodie needs a home, either with a foster carer or in a residential unit. She has been moved round a lot and hasn't spent very long at all with each foster family. Cathy is confused as well as interested to know why she doesn...

Rachael-X 26.11.2007 · Read review
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Review of Damaged - Cathy Glass

Damaged - forever?

Advantages: Keeps you reading, very entertaining, very informative
Disadvantages: Leaves you wishing there was something you could do about abusers in the world today

...I picked this book up from the shelves at Tesco, as the books were on offer and i love to read true stories. I guess the cover stood out as it is a simple cover design that makes the title of the story jump out at you. I popped it in my basket and took it home. I started reading this book one night and read a few chapters. I knew i was going to enjoy it as it was nicely written, easy to read, and already had me wanting to know more. This book is about a woman - Cathy Glass - who is a carer. She and her two children Adrian and Paula live in a house with another girl Lucy who Cathy fostered and took into their family. Cathy is divorced so there is no father in the house. She is very qualified at what she does and hasn't fostered for a a few weeks as she likes to take breaks inbetween each child to give herself chance to sort...

bluestar666 02.10.2007 · Read review
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Review of Damaged - Cathy Glass

A nice heart-warming chick-lit.

Advantages: Easy reading, heart-warming.
Disadvantages: None

...This is the first Cathy Kelly novel I have read. I have always been a fan of irish chick-lit writers such as Marian Keyes and Kate Thompson, although I'm a Bio girl at heart. "Always and Forever" is a very heartwarming story, it follows the life of 3 different woman with very different lives, who live in Carrickwell, Ireland. Mel, Happily married and a mum of 2 daughters, Sarah and Carrie and a full time working mum in a company that seem to frown upon time off for doctors appointments and family emergencies. Mel has a complex about being a working mum, she feels endlessly guilty about not being there enough for her daughters and always justifies herself to stay at home mum's, who she feels are judging her for not seeming to care enough. Mel and her husband decide that they can afford for her to give up work and Mel doesn't take...

supermumtochloe 23.10.2009 (24.10.2009) · Read review
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Review of Always and Forever - Cathy Kelly