There’s no such thing as a right time to have a baby.

But six months into a new relationship is definitely not good timing.

Especially as Kat and boyfriend Max are still finding their feet as a couple.

And his snarky mother is doing everything she can to ensure Max dumps Kat and gets back with his ex-girlfriend.

If that wasn’t enough, Kat’s run off her feet at the beauty salon she opened two years ago and things are reaching crisis point with her alcoholic father and wayward sister Libby.

Sometimes Kat wishes she could just crawl under her duvet …

The right thing?

But she can’t – and, as the pressure builds she finds herself torn on a number of different levels.

Most importantly, though, is having a baby the right thing to do?

On the whole, despite the multiple plot threads, Holding Myself by Victoria J Brown is a light undemanding read – perhaps a little too undemanding for my taste.

I loved the opening chapter – a bombshell of a beginning – and was expecting a rollercoaster of a story to follow.

Hearts of gold

But, though Kat’s life is certainly more than ordinarily chaotic and complex, nothing matched the heart-stopping shock of chapter one.

And, even the villains of the piece – nasty Mrs Footballer’s Wife, Wicked Stepmother and Evil Mother-in-Law – all turned out to be misunderstood darlings with hearts of gold.

I felt as if I’d bought a ticket for the Big Dipper and ended up on the swing boats.

However, to be fair, Holding Myself is a summer read and not a winter fireside slow-burner.

As such, Brown pushes all the right buttons and, I’m sure many readers will enjoy whiling away a lazy couple of hours on the beach in the company of Kat and co.

Review by Sue Featherstone.

Available to buy on Amazon.