Today I am on the tour for The Big Oh by Alona Stark, thank you to Zoé at Zooloos Book Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.
Pages: 296
Synopsis: When your orgasm tutor is your worst mistake…and your best shot at happily ever after…
All Camille Sutherland wants to do is survive her coursework, keep the lights on at the adult toy shop she works at and calls home, and figure out why orgasms have always eluded her. Romance is nowhere on her agenda. Until a sexy sales rep walks in and offers to help her, um, test the merchandise. Now she’s rethinking everything.
Desmond Blake is one deal away from finallyproving to his father that business can be just as noble as medicine. All he has to do is convince a shop owner to sell. Easy. Or it would’ve been…until he became obsessed with the woman who stands to lose her job and her home if he succeeds.
With secrets unraveling, lies surfacing, and a heart she never planned to risk on the line, can Cami put her trust in Des—and love—when it matters most?
Guess there’s only one way to find out…starting with The Big Oh.
My Thoughts: do not be fooled by this cutesy cartoon cover, my god was this book hot 🥵 Cami works in a sex toy store, surrounded by all these toys and enhancements & still it able to quite get there, she’s left feeling like there is something wrong with her, is she broken?
Along comes Desmond, unbeknownst to her he’s there to convince her boss to sell the business, they get talking & he offers to give her lessons, no touching, no strings.. but we all know it won’t stay that way 😂
I devoured this, but forced myself to savour it, I read it slowly over a few days I just loved Cami and Des so much, their chemistry was off the charts and their banter was chefs kiss!
The story was just full of heartwarming characters, I adored Lenny, she was absolutely bonkers in the best way possible!
I’m already eagerly awaiting the next story that Alona comes up with next 😍
Today I am on the tour for Sixty Is The New Assassin by Shesh, thank you to Hannah at Hygge Book Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.
Pages: 245
Synopsis: WAS AN ASSASSIN’S ROLE AKIN TO A CEO’S ROLE? BOTH NEEDED SOME SUSPENSION OF MORALITY, A WILLINGNESS TO DO THINGS THAT MOST WOULD NOT, OR COULD NOT. After retiring from active corporate life, sixty-year-old Ishmael Dollah keeps himself busy with regular runs around the city, tennis at the club and his book club meets. Life is good—a bit staid maybe, but good. That is until, one day, he hears of his beloved daughter-in-law’s rumoured affair. Suddenly Ishmael’s perfect world is turned upside down.
Never one to give in, Ishmael decides to take matters into his own hands. He’ll apply his sharp mind and ruthless boardroom tactics to plan not a hostile takeover, but a carefully orchestrated act of vengeance.
As he treads the fine line between right and wrong, blurring it to suit his needs, Ishmael realises he rather enjoys the process. Sixty Is the New Assassinis an intriguing blend of dark humour and suspense that will keep the reader hooked up to the very end.
My Thoughts: this was a lot of fun, a bit serious, a bit tongue in cheek with a lot of laugh out loud moments thrown in!
I’ll be honest despite the name of the book I didn’t actually expect there to me any murder in the book so that threw me off completely, until then I though Ishmael was all talk 😂
The writing was engaging and the story was told in a way that drew you into it slowly but with enough intrigue to keep you turning the pages! – I kept saying to myself “just one more chapter” and before I knew it I had finished the book.
The different character perspectives we got thrown in helped to not only lighten the book but helped you get a well rounded view of the story as a whole.
This book had me shocked & shaking my head in utter disbelief and what was happening & then not even 2 pages later I was smiling to myself.
A thoroughly enjoyable read that will appeal to a lot of different people.
Today I amon the book tour for Blood Pact by Cameron Curtis, thank you to Zoé at Zooloos Book Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.
Pages: 244
Synopsis: A kidnapped girl. An impenetrable fortress. Sounds like a job for Breed.
Keen to discover what she knows about a looming conspiracy, Breed and Stein plan to question German cabaret performer Käthe Ziegler in New York.
Their plan is derailed when Käthe is kidnapped by a team of professionals. They want her and a piece of jewelry she’s been hiding — an ancient gold seal she stole from the most dangerous man in Europe.
Karl Graf is Germany’s Vice-Chancellor, the head of a secret society of senior politicians and industrialists, and a man with a plan to reshape the continent. He wants his seal back. He wants Käthe back. And he’s prepared to kill anyone who gets in his way.
Breed and Stein discover that Kathe has been taken to a castle high in the Bavarian Alps. Against all odds, they climb to the fortress, which sits atop a lethal three-thousand -foot peak.
Inside, they find Käthe, Graf, and the truth about an eighty-year-old conspiracy that began in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany and ends — in a bloody climax — on Christmas Eve.
My Thoughts: now if you’ve been here a while you’ll know I am a massive fan of the Breed thrillers, partly because you know what you’re getting and they don’t let you down and partly because it fascinates me that Cameron is still coming up with original ideas 13 books in!
I love that although the books are action packed and there’s always some kind of scenario where Breed has to use his past skills as a sniper the books never feel too surreal, like everything that happens you can picture is happening, I’m always a little sad that it’s a book and not a film or a tv programme if I’m honest 🤣
In this one Breed and Stein have to use their expertise to help Käthe out of a sticky situation when she’s kidnapped by someone she thought she knew!
It’s fast paced and had plenty of moments where you either question their sanity or are left convinced that this is the end for the duo who just seem to get themselves in the worst situations!
As always I couldn’t put this down! highly recommend the entire series, the books just get better and better.
Today I am on the tour for Happily Ever After by Mary Horlock, thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.
Pages: 316
Synopsis: Nobody told her that marriage would be murder . . .
Ned Wheeler was devoted to his family. He was also convicted and jailed for murder.
After spending three decades in prison, Ned’s up for parole. But this is not his story. It’s about Joan, the wife who was fooled by his good looks and charm; Cass, the daughter who wants nothing more to do with him; and Florence, the woman who wants the world to know she’s saved him.
Moving seamlessly between contemporary London, the hedonistic hippy summer of 1970 and the small world of 1980s Isle of Wight, Mary Horlock has delivered an utterly gripping and moving thriller about love, loss and the lies we tell ourselves in order to survive.
My Thoughts: what a wild ride this book is, at first you get the initial feeling that the cover does not match the story, it’s whimsical and happy but this book is dark! A lot darker than I was expecting, completely my own fault though I went in blind like I do most of my thrillers, I just find that the shocks, the twists and the turns hit harder when you don’t know anything!
This story is told by 3 women, all of whom have a connection to our main male character Ned, we have his ex wife Joan, his daughter Cass and his current love interest Florence!
I really enjoy when a book is told through mixed media, so the fact that this one was told through podcasts and interview transcripts has well as normal story telling made this one easy to devour, I was hooked from the beginning.
The story was told through the past and present so we got a well rounded view of Ned & his life before and after the crimes he committed although we never really hear from him. It kind of felt like although the story was about him and his crimes and how all that affected the 3 women in the book it felt like he was a side character which was an aspect of the book that I really appreciated!
Despite the darkness of the book as a whole there was humour very cleverly woven into the writing which stopped it from ever really feeling too much or too heavy.
A really enjoyable read that kept me on edge of my seat all the way through.
Today I amon the tour for When Her Power Awakens by Brenna Bustamante, thank you to Hannah at Hygge Book Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.
Pages: 322
Synopsis: She was told she was nothing.
Invisible. Replaceable.
But what if the girl they tried to break is the most powerful being alive?
Kenna has spent her life invisible, starving in the forgotten district of Madyor and shielding her siblings from a violent father. Survival has always meant silence, sacrifice, and bruises hidden beneath long sleeves.
She was never meant to matter. She was never meant to be powerful.
Until the night the power answers her rage.
In a kingdom where the government secretly hunts Conjurers during the annual Krag Vinde celebration, power is not a blessing. It is a death sentence. When elemental power explodes from Kenna’s body, it forces her to flee the only home she has ever known.
The government hunts people who can manipulate water, air, fire, or earth. They never expected someone who could handle it all.
Zander, her fiercely loyal best friend with dangerous secrets of his own, becomes her only ally as they escape into a world far larger and far crueller than Madyor. A world ruled by political corruption, elite warriors, and a capital built on control and fear.
Kenna is no ordinary Conjurer.
She is the first Dominum in five hundred years, able to command all four elements.
But power does not feel like triumph. It feels like ash on her hands. It feels like guilt. It feels like becoming something ancient and terrifying.
Some girls inherit crowns. She inherited powers.
Now hunted across districts and pursued by forces determined to control or eliminate her, Kenna must decide whether to suppress the magic burning inside her or embrace it and risk becoming the storm the kingdom fears.
Because in Taiamen, power has always belonged to the elite.
Until now…
My Thoughts: I wasn’t sure what I was going to make of this one, I haven’t really been a fantasy reader for a while, I found they were all the same just with different characters.. but the premise intrigued me all the same so I decided to give it a go & boy was I glad I did!
This not only proved me wrong by being completely different to anything I’d read it also blew all of my expectations out of the water!
We’re following Kenna, she comes from a poor family & after losing her mum becomes the breadwinner in her house to help support her sisters and step father (undertones of ACOTAR, but I promise it’s not what you think)
Along with her best friend Zander they’re hiding secrets that could get both them and their families killed, back when they were children they made a pact that if they ever got found out they would run together…
I was hooked on this story, I read it whilst on holiday so whilst it wasn’t a quick read for me like it normally would be I got up extra early to find time to read a few chapters before starting my day and made sure I read a chapter before going to sleep too 🤣
I was so wrapped up in their story and learning more about their skills and their history that I didn’t even notice I was at the end until I turned the last page!
This book gave me chills, it made me laugh, it made me tear up and it made me angry, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and I cannot wait for book 2!
Today I am on the tour for You’ll Pay by Alex Moon, thank you to Zoé at Zooloos Book Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.
Pages: 240
Synopsis: My husband Henry is missing — and there’s a dead body in my bed.
Six weeks ago, Henry wrapped his truck around a telephone pole. Now he’s laid up at home with a shattered leg. We’re drowning in debt.
We might lose our home.
Then our new neighbors move in.
They’re charming and wealthy. They offer us small jobs around their house. Easy work. And the pay is unbelievable.
Nothing comes for free though.
And then I come home to find a body in my bed — and it’s not even my husband.
You always have to pay your debts . . .
My Thoughts: this book was fantastic, it was creepy, it was chilling and genuinely scared the life out of me because of how realistic it was & how easy it is to fall into the trap that both Ellie and Henry fell into through no fault of their own!
As realistic as it felt at times, I did fine myself rolling my eyes at how naive Henry in particular was, but then I started questioning wether he was actually naive or wether he was just turning a blind eye to everything that was happening around him.
This book was dark, a lot darker than I expected, but I was hooked, it had drawn me in so much that I just couldn’t put it down!
Highly recommend, this is my first dive into Alex’s work & it’s left me so excited to read more in the future!
Today I am on the tour for Street Sweeper by Bren Gosling, thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for providing me with an extract of the book.
Firstly can we just appreciate how striking this cover is?!
Before we get into the extract let me tell you a little about the book and the author!
Pages: 344
Synopsis: London, 2002. When Almir, a twenty-one-year-old Kosovan ex-boy soldier, is relocated to London with a new identity, flashbacks undermine his ability to keep his job as a street sweeper. Then he meets Roland, a forty-year-old British Jamaican, a Council surveyor trying to escape his Pentecostal upbringing, and failed relationship with Shirl with whom he has a fifteen-year-old son.
Roland and Almir become closer as Roland offers first friendship, then sex, yet Almir remains secretive about his past, and struggles to identify as gay, forcing Roland to question their relationship. And who is Muzzafer, the name Almir repeatedly shouts out during frequent nightmares? As tension builds, Almir confronts his involvement in a war atrocity, which threatens to destabilise his sanity and his new UK life.
But, against all these powerful obstacles, Almir and Roland’s love for each other continues to grow. Is it strong enough to last?
About the Author:
Bren Gosling, an alumnus of City University’s Novel Studio, is published in numerous anthologies, and was a finalist of the London, Brighton and Exeter Short Story Prizes. Street Sweeper won the Novel London Literary Prize in 2021, and the inaugural Book Edit Writer’s Prize for under-represented writers. The novel was shortlisted for the New Anglia Manuscript Prize in 2023. Bren’s plays have garnered two Offies nominations, and an ONComm Commendation. His latest play, Invisible Me starring Tessa Peake Jones will be at the Southwark Playhouse April 8th – May 2nd. Find out more about Bren’s work at http://www.brengosline.com Bren explains: “My writing explores the narratives of quiet lives, extraordinarily lived, marginalised voices of overlooked people and places. A member of the LGSTQ+ community, / have researched the experiences of being a gay first generation British Jamaican man, through interviews; / spent time in a pentecostal church. I interviewed Kosovan immigrants to the U.K as well as the head of department of Albanian Studies at University of London to better understand Albanian culture and recent history. I shadowed a street sweeper at Walthamstow Cleansing Depot. What interests me is bringing untold stories to life by creating fictional narratives. This has been my focus in writing STREET SWEEPER.”
Extract: The supervisor claps his hands, making that noise like a pricked balloon Almir hates. Big Ben, they call him – the supervisor – because he’s tall and runs everything like clockwork. A scramble to get to the lockers, collect protective gloves and other gear. ‘Almir, you’re on Hoe Street.’ Almir hurries to collect his set of brushes and heavy duty refuse bags. He runs into the yard and loads them onto the waiting van, climbs in, then takes his place alongside the other sweepers. Big Ben slams the side door of the van and almost immediately they are away. All his six travelling companions, except one, are immigrant labour. His will be the third drop-off. That’s what he knows.
A roar of heavy traffic hits him as he opens the van door and jumps down, Hoe Street a rude awakening after the warm and silent interior of the van. A bitter morning and he really would prefer not to have to get out; the height of rush-hour traffic and red double-deckers are swarming over the Bakers Arms junction like angry bees around a hive. ‘Laters, man!’ Glenford calls to him from the van as it revs up and moves off. Almir doesn’t acknowledge. Already he is carrying the long brushes and stack of empty bags to the barrow parked overnight in a crevice behind the pub’s giant plastic bins. Quickly, he puts on protective gloves. Best to go straight for it. He thinks about what he will do when he’s finished. The shower he’ll have at the leisure centre after his workout in the gym. Before he takes another sleeping pill, maybe a trip to the internet café behind the Tube station. Only a fifteen-minute walk from the bedsit. Elyes might be there. Elyes the “illegal” Algerian who lets him have a terminal for free if things are quiet. Late on a Monday night in Walthamstow, things usually are.
Traffic remains heavy. Slow moving, emitting a low drone: a strange orchestration of engines turning over. He is sure a pack of children have run ahead of him, deliberately littering small piles every few paces. When he reaches First Avenue, just before the pedestrian crossing, cars, buses and lorries are at a standstill. Somehow, he’s managed to lose one of his gloves. He warms the uncovered hand by putting it inside his jacket. Headphones on. Press play button of the Discman. Shakira will provide the necessary distraction to get him through this yawn fest. But nothing. A fucking flat battery. Honking car horns above the din greet him when he removes the headset. He mops his brow; despite the freezing weather, sweat is oozing from his forehead. He takes the broad-bristled broom from its resting clip on the barrow, hammers the brush head into the pavement. Begins to sweep. The foul taste inside his mouth has resurfaced. A white truck belting techno music stops at the kerb. The driver glares at him before winding down the window and carefully aims a smouldering cigarette butt at Almir’s feet. He clenches his jaw, primed and ready for military action, even now; even without the AK-47 or a hand grenade strapped to trouser belt. He wants to lash out but knows if he does, he won’t be able to stop; the rage will overtake, he will end up doing something he’ll regret. So… Half close eyes. Push broom forward then back, forward thenback. Allow the steady repetition to lull this anger burning inside. When the truck moves on, his heart continues to pound, thrusting surges of blood through the veins of his neck. Beads of sweat drip onto his cheek landing tiny slaps. The broom strikes an object. More resistance than usual. And Almir stands upright, paying proper attention for the first time. A large carrier bag. Whatever’s inside is peeping out of the top, the colour of bright tomato skin. Step forward, bend down, inspect… He shrinks back as if to avoid a deadly poison. Eyes clamp shut. Don’t let it be not that, now, again. His lids peel back regardless, like a forced ophthalmic examination. Inside the bag… Something. Something which makes him feel he’s been made to eat hot stones. Pair of red sandals, women’s sandals. And the shoe uppermost, now in full view, has the strap missing, exactly like, EXACTLY LIKE… Outside, noise fades. All that’s left are the sounds of his laboured breathing, his thumping heart. Back in time. Back in Kosovo, with his platoon on that last reckless reprisal mission. Feet cement-filled. A deep ravine. Smell of burning. The cawing of black crows crossing a blue sky. And the terrible screams of a woman. Leg blown off and pitched up on a rocky slope. Dancer’s leg with red sandal still attached and with the strap missing. All self-control deserts him. He retches and throws up; partially digested egg roll in a coffee-coloured puke.
If you like the sound of this book it can be bought here! ☺️
Today I am on the tour for Mr 2 Out Of 10by Sharon Ibbotson, thank you to Zoé at Zooloos Book Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.
Pages: 341
Synopsis: ❤️ Forced Proximity ❤️ Enemies-to-lovers ❤️ Second Chance
Live-in carer, Bo Armstrong, expected to be evicted the moment Sir Geoffrey died. The grand house she’d quietly called home was always destined for his nephew.
And it is. Max Fitzroy inherits the house.
But the garden — the development-ready land worth millions — now belongs to Bo.
Max is furious. He thinks she manipulated his uncle. Bo thinks Max is entitled, arrogant . . . and far too used to getting his way.
Now they’re stuck, under the same roof. And their history makes it worse.
Because months ago, in a reckless moment of heat and bad judgment neither has forgotten, they crossed a line.
Now every argument crackles. Every glare lingers. Every touch feels like a challenge.
And the longer they’re forced together, the harder it is to tell what’s resentment . . . and what’s desire.
My Thoughts: I really enjoyed this one, we’re following Bo who is a live in companion for Sir Geoffrey, so when he dies she’s left at a loss for what to do other than keep his beloved garden alive in his memory, she knows he had no family apart from an estranged nephew Max, she’s met him once thought he was arrogant, yet still had a night of passion with him.
When he comes back for the reading of the will they’re thrown into each others path in a way they never expected!
This book is fun, the banter between Bo and Max is off the charts & the sex is even better, but they both know it’s just a bit of fun, a way for Max to let off steam after a night of working.
On the surface this is just a hot will they won’t they romance but as you get further into the story you realise it’s so much more than that, it’s vulnerability and honesty, it’s about finding a place where you belong when you’ve just felt lost for most of your life & learning to come to terms with a past you had no control over.
It deals with some hard subjects & can get pretty deep at times, but you couldn’t wipe the smile off my face whilst I was reading.
Today I am on the tour for Between The Pages And The Rink by Meadow Thompson, thank you to Zoé at Zooloos Book Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.
Pages: 544
Synopsis: If loving one hockey player is reckless . . . loving two is irresistible.
After enough heartache to last a lifetime, I made a rule: No men. No hookups. No distractions.
Then I walked into the Ivywood Wolves’ ice rink.
Dylan Crawley is the golden-boy captain — cocky grin, effortless charisma, and used to winning on, and off, the ice. Torin Anderson is the grumpy enforcer — dark eyes, rough edges. The kind of man who doesn’t smile . . . but makes you feel everything.
One is all swagger. One is all silence. Both are completely off-limits.
Until the night they step in to protect me — like it’s instinct. Like I’m already theirs.
Dylan makes me laugh. Torin makes me burn.
And when they decide they’re not competing . . . but sharing? The rules shatter.
Now I’m caught between two possessive hockey gods who don’t play fair — and don’t plan on letting me go.
Maybe I should choose. Maybe I can’t. Maybe I don’t want to.
A steamy, small-town, why choose, hockey romance featuring a grumpy enforcer, a cocky captain, a heroine with PCOS,found family, and possessive heroes who fall hard.
My Thoughts: this book was an absolute delight, I was a little bit daunted by the size of it but if I’m honest this didn’t feel like an almost 550 page book! – the writing was so seamless and held your attention the whole time that before you knew it you were half way through without even realising.
I loved all of our main characters, our FMC Fawn is an author or at least she’s trying to be, she’s in the process of writing a book whilst dealing with her own heartbreak and visiting her grandad who is in a care home with dementia.
Then we have our MMC’s Torin and Dylan, best friends they’ve been there for each other through everything, the loss of Torins dad, Dylan’s mum having to be moved into a care home (see where this is going? 😅) and all the other, smaller things that make being big name hockey players difficult.
I won’t go into anymore of the story but they all end up meeting at the ice rink and they hit it off, whilst Fawn is trying to decide who she wants or even wether she’s ready to let herself be vulnerable with another person again.. the boys make her an offer she can’t refuse.
I was laughing out loud at this book on one page and then the next I was crying, I was swooning and if it had been a physical book I’d have been fanning myself with it too! – when I tell you this book is hot 🥵 you best prepare yourself.
It was more than just smut though, there was a deep storyline throughout too, one that had me kicking my feet like a little girl, I absolutely adored this book you 100% need to go pick it up… now I just have to wait and find out if there is going to be more!
Today I am on the tour for Reaper by Vanda Symon, thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.
Pages: 300
Synopsis: A killer is hunting Auckland’s homeless. No one cares.
No one but Max. These are his people….. Max Grimes is homeless, living on the streets of Auckland – among the forgotten, the invisible. But now someone is hunting the homeless, killing them one by one. No one cares. Except Max.
Trying to put his shattered life back together, Max is pulled into a deadly game when a face from his past reappears, reopening wounds he thought were long buried.
As whispers of a Grim Reaper spread terror through the city, Max must race against time – not only to find the killer, but to outrun the ghosts chasing him.
Because if he fails, he’ll be next.
My Thoughts: this is my first go at Vanda’s writing but this one had me so hooked that I can promise you it won’t be my last.
This book was so realistic that it made it slightly terrifying, we all have homeless people living on our streets so this could happen no matter where we are from.
For Max this was all a little too close to home, he’s now one of those homeless people but with his past as a detective he’s able to sniff out clues that your average person wouldn’t.. & with homelessness now being part of his reality he has a perspective that the police won’t see, which comes in handy when his ex partner call him for help.
This book was dark and twisty whilst staying very true to life, utterly heartbreaking, the way some of these characters were living through no fault of their own made me feel so emotional, it’s not often a thriller makes me want to cry, but this one just felt so raw.
Also really worrying how easy it was to trick these characters, it shows how trusting someone can be and how abhorrent others are to pick on some of the most vulnerable people in our society.
More than all that though the book really shows that even when you’ve hit rock bottom your life still has value, you’re still a person and what you can do is still important.
Possibly not the intention of the book with it being a thriller, but everyone will take different things from the same story.
The writing really sinks its teeth in leaving you unable to put the book down until you’ve got to the resolution.
prdgreads 