Tess and Tattoos by H. A. Leuschel – Blog Tour Review.

About the Book

A suspenseful and emotional novella exploring whether we can ever be free from our past mistakes.

In this story, the reader is taken on a compelling journey into the human mind where genuine friendship offers the key to inner peace.

Meet Tess, an elderly lady living in a care home apartment in the outskirts of Edinburgh, whose past is haunted by a wrong decision. She meets Nurse Sandra, a warm and bubbly single mother of three, who is instantly intrigued by Tess’s personality and the mystery that surrounds her.

‘Tess and Tattoos’ is one of five gripping stories in H. A. Leuschel’s story collection Manipulated Lives centred around psychological manipulation.

My Review

Tess and Tattoos is a short but lovely novella about a friendship between an elderly lady and her carer. Tess, an octogenarian is very lonely. Her only son lives in Australia and she feels that she damaged her relationship with him when he was younger. Sandra is her carer. Recently widowed and raising a young family and when she starts to work at the home tha Tess lives in they become friends immediately.
They were good for each other and I liked watching their friendship grow from when Tess tries to keep Sandra in her room longer to them being good friends. But it is only towards the end when you find out what happened to Tess when she was younger. And then Sandra realises that she never really knew her at all.
I loved both characters and could easily read a full length novel about either of them. Tess’s past was unexpected and when it was revealed, explained the reasons behind the divide with her son and his family. I wished she had been able to talk and build bridges with him. There was one scene, before you found out what happened where if you could give a book character a hug I would have done.
A sweet story that I read very quickly.

You can purchase the novel here