The Memory Collector b y Fiona Harper is my first book by this author.

A beautiful, poignant and thought provoking read.

What a well crafted, heart-rending, thought provoking tale this was. Not only was it well written but I was so engaged with Heather from the start of this book and as I learnt more about her with the flashbacks to the past I became more engaged. How Heather managed to keep a full time job while dealing with her demons was so brave and engaging. This story dealt with the problems of Heather's childhood both in the home and at school
and how families turn their back on problems. Moreover Heather is drawn so well that she is a very believable character., which is quite disconcerting.
This was my first Fiona Harper novel, but certainly won't be my last.
Very many thanks to Netgalley/Fiona Harper/Harlequin UK for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

So when I saw the cover for this book I fell in love a little bit. It was gorgeous and made me want to grab the book, find a corner and a cup of and tea and just read until every page was devoured.

This is a gorgeous book that broke me so many times with each new revelation. Only to pick me back up and put me together.

This is a story of loss and rediscovery told though objects that are each related to a specific memory. As the story flicks between Now and Then we get an insight into why so man you objects have been horded and significance behind them.

This is one touching tale that touches on mental health and has a cute romantic twist.

A perfect read for those who like a book that will bring all the emotions to the table. Although you may want the tissues handy....

This book has taken a long time to read as I kept picking it up & putting it down again as I struggled to get really involved with it.

Heather is a loner. She avoids being sociable. Her flat is white, clean & minimalist- apart from the spare room which is piled high with 'stuff'. This is what her mother left her.She struggles with her monthly visit to her sister & family.On one hand she longs to properly get to know her niece & nephew, but she has always found her sister .Faith, a bit overwhelming. When her niece needs a photo of her mum's family Heather tries to put her off but eventually she ventures into the room. As well as the photo she also finds an old newspaper cutting about the abduction of a child. It seems she was taken for a spell when she was six. She really can't remember it. She begins to wonder if this event was what started her mother's hoarding.

This books explores the obsessive world of the hoarder. I'm sure it will strike a chord in many of us. (It made me start tidying out a long neglected cupboard at school!!) Although it took a long while to get into it eventually , this was a book I enjoyed.

Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this.

This book was incredibly moving. It deals with mental health issues, love and the lies that people tell to hide a part of them. The protagonist, Heather, grew up in a home dominated by stuff, the stuff her mother hoarded, filling every space in the house, leaving rabbit runs of paths amongst everything. Following her mother's death some years later, Heather fills her spare room with the remnants of the hoard her mother had filled their house with. By accident, Heather discovers a part of her history she had blocked from her memory, and the book focuses on Heather's need to find out more.

This book is not an easy read in terms of the subject matter. It made me feel uncomfortable and it also left me wanting to get rid of the clutter in my house, although not the books, never the books! In spite of the discomfort, I could not put the book down, wanting desperately to get to the bottom of what the secrets were in Heather's life that were preventing her from moving on. I found the whole story particularly touching and uplifting.

I was given a copy of this to read via Netgalley, on behalf of HQ, in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. I really like this author and generally always thoroughly enjoy her books but I am afraid this was not one of the best.

For as long as Heather can remember she has been ashamed of her mother's compulsion to collect other people's trash as her potential treasure. Her childhood home was overtaken by stuff even to the cost of her own bedroom but despite her father wanting to take her with him when he left, taking her sister Faith with him, she felt that she needed to stay with her mother. So it's no wonder that this has had a psychological effect on Heather's life and affected her so deeply. But now that her mother has died and they have had to clear out the house to sell it surely she can move on and build a new life for herself.

The story alternates between Now and Then with snippets of what life was like for Heather as a young child and teenager living with her mother's addiction to collect things, and in the present day shows Heather with a compulsion of her own that she doesn't seem able to control especially at times of stress. In the beginning I did wonder what would make a seemingly strong young independent woman act the way she does but once the deeply hidden memories that she had blocked out are uncovered, and the other recollections of events from her teenage years are revealed, it all began to make sense. Any one of these events would have an effect on you so it's no wonder that Heather was struggling.

At times Heather's story was quite painful to read as you could really feel her pain and how alone she felt even when she had people around her. But it's not all doom and gloom reading as with the support of her sister Faith, and her new friendship with neighbour Jason, we see Heather putting together the puzzle of her past that will hopefully help her to accept what happened, move on and look forward to a new and brighter future.

The Memory Collector was a poignant, thought-provoking story with mental health at its core but there's also a gorgeous romantic element too.

Loved this book and couldn't put it down once I'd started reading.

It is told from the point of view of Heather, and is mainly about what happens when she discovers an event that happened in her past.

I would definitely recommend

I will admit I struggled initially with this book and nearly gave up when I was just a few pages in. It seemed quite bleak and I found Heather a hard character to understand.

However I persisted and I am glad I did.

Heather is trying to get on with life after the death of her mother, who was a hoarder. When her mother died we learn that We learn how her mother's hoarding had a major impact on Heather as a child - the chaotic living conditions, her lack of friends, being bullied and a traumatic event as a child that had been long buried is revisited when Heather discovers newspaper clippings that her mother had saved.

It would be easy to feel sorry for Heather or fail to understand her behaviours, but what this book very gently does is look at depression in a realistic and sympathetic manner.

This is part mystery, part love story. Layers of Heather's life are pulled away and we learn more about who she is, what happened to her and her family. And it is lovely to see the friendship that starts with her neighbour Jason that then grows into something deeper.

This is a lovely book. Many previous reviewers have said this was a nice easy read. I didn't find it so, but this may be because I was teased at school and like Heather didn't make friends easily - you don't if you're different. If you're like me, you might be tempted to put it down after a few pages.. Please stick with it.

Thank you HQ and Netgalley for giving me an opportunity to read and review this book.

I really enjoyed this book. Although it deals with both mental health and deep emotional issues it is an easy read. The main character Heather had a very disturbed childhood living with a mother who was a hoarder. When her mother dies, Heather is left with the remnants of her life stored in boxes in her spare room. Do these boxes hold the secret as to why her mother was so dysfunctional? When Heather stumbles across a secret about her own past she knows the only place to find the answers she needs is within these boxes. In unpacking her mother’s collected memories will she find what she needs to set her free or will she discover that she and her mother have more in common then she first thought? A departure from Fiona Harper’s usual type of writing but it doesn’t disappoint.

This book deals with a whole host of emotive issues, mainly around different sorts of mental health issues. Having said that it is a very easy read and the main character, Heather, is easy to feel sympathy with. Heather has had a very disturbed childhood with a hoarding mother and her own abduction at the age of six. Adult Heather is trying to move on after her mother's death but unable to face the legacy of the mix of mementos and rubbish residing in her spare room. With the help of her neighbour, Jason, and eventually her sister this book is about her quest to sort her life out. At first Heather does seem a little of a hopeless case and somewhat socially inadequate having been bulled relentlessly at school and blaming herself for everything as she tries to be accepted. She, however, still seems to be confident to drive, hold down a job and be confrontational in certain situations. An easy read.