Today I am on the tour for A Scandal Of Secrets by J.F. Howard, 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: 280
Synopsis: Anthony Crawford is young, rich, and lazy. With aspirations to take the film world by storm, he never quite seems to motivate himself enough to do anything about it – until he meets the beautiful Cecile. Wife to Robert Ford, who is Anthony’s stepfather’s business associate and close confident, Cecile is older, wiser, and wants Anthony to be her next little plaything, but will an affair with her be Anthony’s making or his downfall?
The oncoming Christmas season provides a perfect opportunity for Anthony’s mother and stepfather to throw a party, but what happens to turn a glittering, dreamlike celebration, the pinnacle of the social calendar of the rich and famous, into Anthony’s personal nightmare, and more importantly, will he survive?
My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧
My Thoughts: I really enjoyed this one! I have to be honest I felt sorry for Anthony, he just seemed a little lost, not really sure where he fit in in the world, was trying to find his place and got swept up in things that were new and exciting!
The prologue had me straight away, it was gripping and exciting and felt so real that I was almost struggling to breath whilst reading it 🤣
The story that follows slowed down in pace but I feel like that was important in order to introduce everyone properly.
There were secrets being held by all parties which made it so that you never knew who was going to be next.
A slow burn mystery which had a few shocks within!
I will definitely be looking out for more from this author in the future!
Today I am on the tour for Something Like Murder by Ashley Brandt, 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: 38
Synopsis: When two of Corinth’s oldest residents turn up murdered, Da Vinci and his sidekick team up to uncover the truth behind the murders.Denali crosses paths with the newest resident in town, the gorgeous Alex Plummer and Da Vinci fears his housemate has fallen for a killer. However, as always, nothing in Corinth is as it seems, and the killer may be much closer to home than they ever suspected!
My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧
My Thoughts: as with the first book this is another hard one to review without giving the story away as although it is longer than the first one it’s still only 38 pages.
The action was still there though and it never lets up, this time we’re introduced to a new face & as we all know no one in a small village likes a newcomer even if they are related to a resident of said village so when 2 more bodies turn up around the same time they instantly point the finger of suspicion at him.
Denali and Da Vinci obviously find a way to get closer to Alex, but when they work out the truth it’s not what either of them are expecting! A
Lots of drama and suspense but also a whole lot of fun too! I’m already looking forward to book 3!
Today I am on the tour for Someone You Know by Erin Kinsley, 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: 389
Synopsis: Your daughter isn’t answering your calls. She’s not replying to your messages.
You rush to her house. She’s slumped in the basement, dying and alone.
You desperately call for help. She whispers a single word: ‘pushed’.
Someone is keeping secrets. And it must be someone you know…
My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧
My Thoughts: what a wild ride this one was, full of tension and suspense I spent the whole time not knowing which way was up!
Natalie is found at the bottom of the cellar stairs by her mum, it’s clear she’s been there a long time and she’s all but given up the fight to stay alive, but can Dee get to the bottom of what’s happened and get justice for her daughter?
This was a long book for the thriller genre but I found I appreciated that, the story was told from various different perspectives which gave us a the full picture and made the story feel fully fleshed out.
This is a real whodunnit, there are several people who could have done it, most with motive and the means to do so.
Plenty of twists and turns throughout and a couple of red herrings to keep you on your toes too, I enjoyed this so much that I bought the kindle version so I had it in my library, will definitely be looking out for more by Erin in the future!
Today I am on the tour for Delivering Christmas by Liz Fenwick, thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part & thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.
Pages: 132
Synopsis: All she wants for Christmas is peace and quiet, and to be alone…
Theo Pascoe is relieved she finally has her cottage back to herself, after her beloved son, wife, and grandson move out to their new home. Christmas is fast approaching and she’s fully booked doing the work she loves, preparing Christmas decorations for the local hotel, running wreath-making workshops, and dressing clients homes for the holidays.
However her family and friend think they know best – that she is suffering from empty-nest syndrome and what she really needs is some romance back in her life. But that’s the last thing Theo wants right now!
As Christmas Day approaches Theo is looking forward to spending the day quietly at home, with just her cat for company. But she has just one last home to decorate when a sudden cold snap catches everyone by surprise and she finds herself stranded in a remote house with a client. Theo just wanted to spend Christmas alone, but it seems fate has other plans?
My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧
My Thoughts: Well this book is like a warm hug, I absolutely loved it!
Theo is preparing for Christmas alone, something she’s looking forward to after having a cramped house for a while, just her and her cat seems like absolute bliss, her family and friends think they know better though.. could they be right?
So much is packed into just over 100 pages, we have wreath making, tree picking, decorations to be sourced and put up & no shortage of family dramas!
Who’d have thought a snow storm and being trapped in the house of your last client of the year would be so life changing?
This book made me laugh out loud and cover my eyes in embarrassment for the characters whilst also rooting for them at the same time!
Some books just capture your heart completely & this one has mine, it was perfect ❤️
Today I am on the tour for Emergency Drill by Chris Blackwater, 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: 283
Synopsis: Newly qualified offshore medic, Danny Verity, arrives on the Cuillin Alpha oil platform shortly before a storm damages the satellite system, severing the crew’s only mode of communication to the mainland.
Storm or sabotage?
Danny is forced to perform emergency surgery on an injured crewmate, whose accident he suspects was the result of sabotage. The man dies, a member of the crew disappears, and yet another is attacked.
Enter the Pied Piper, whose sinister announcements carry his threats through the entire platform.
While the North Sea rages around them, emotions and suspicions run high.
Danny knows he’s the only one who can stop the saboteur. But will the crew trust him?
With no way of calling in help and unable to risk escaping on the lifeboats, everyone aboard the oil platform is trapped. So is the killer… and Danny is determined to smoke him out.
My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧
My Thoughts; this one had me captivated throughout, it made me feel constantly uneasy and unsure, doubting myself and my thoughts on where the story was going..
The setting didn’t help, stuck in the middle of the sea on an oil rig people are dying, you don’t know who the killer is.. all you know is that it’s someone on the boat and there’s no escape.. no thank you 🤣🤮
That being said, everything I would’ve hated if I’d been in that situation is everything I loved about the book!
There’s a lot of characters, every single one of them could have been the pied piper.. including Danny himself.. I didn’t know which threads to follow and which ones were a red herring.
There was also a lot of humour in this book which helped to lighten the subject matter & made it easier for you to lose yourself in the story without getting overwhelmed.
A brilliant start to a brand new series, I cannot wait to read more!
Today I am on the tour for Don’t Trust Her by Cathryn Grant, 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: 290
Synopsis: Parker had the perfect marriage. Then Eden came home.
Twenty years have passed since Dylan’s beloved sister, Celeste, was brutally murdered. Now he plans an anniversary memorial for the sister he misses to this day.
When their childhood friend, Eden, comes home to attend the memorial, Dylan invites her to stay with him and his wife, Parker.
But Parker is apprehensive. She remembers a time when Eden had designs on her husband, and she worries she still carries a torch for him. Her fears seem confirmed when Eden openly flirts with Dylan and captivates their pre-teen daughter.
As Parker desperately tries to hasten Eden’s departure, Dylan resists, fondly remembering the time they spent as childhood friends. And when Eden brings up questions about who murdered Celeste, Parker’s fears only escalate. She thinks her husband’s mental health could suffer if Eden keeps digging.
Can Parker get rid of Eden before she destroys her family? And why has Eden really come back to town? As the two old friends circle each other, past secrets are revealed and they find themselves hurtling into a vortex of unimaginable pain and terror.
My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧
My Thoughts: another brilliant book from Cathryn! – if you’ve been following my reviews for a while you’ll know that my favourite thrillers and multiple perspectives and multiple timelines, which is exactly what we get!
We’re following, Eden, Parker and Dylan, childhood best friends who lost touch after a one of them moved away, but not before the life of another one was torn apart in the worst way imaginable..
We get to see the friendship dynamic from children, to teenagers and now to adults, an things go back to how they were now that all three of them are in the same place again after so many years? Or is there too much water under the bridge?
I was hooked, so much so that this one turned into a one sitting read, I was so invested!
The characters are well developed, they were all so different despite all having the same upbringing.
Secrets were kept promises were broken and so many lies were told.. the only problem is once you start telling lies you end up buried in them in order to keep up appearances.
I guessed the twist pretty early on but for me that added to the story, almost like I was in on the secret 🤣
I can’t wait to see what Cathryn comes up with next!
Today I am on the tour for The Patient by Cole Baxter, 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: 306
Synopsis: James thought he’d be safe in this old house. He was wrong.
Ten years ago, James Owens was convicted of a murder he couldn’t remember committing. Now, finally released from the mental institution where he’s served his time, he is placed under house arrest in the sprawling family home he has inherited from his father.
Living in isolation, visited only by his therapist, parole officer, and supportive but controlling twin Janet, he at least has something resembling peace. But he is still haunted by hallucinations, nightmares, and bizarre memories which may or may not be real.
Strange sounds in the house, and objects which disappear or are mysteriously damaged all add to his fear that he is sliding into uncontrolled insanity again.
But is he? Or is his fragile mental state being manipulated by someone with a sinister agenda of their own?
When tragedy strikes, James must go on a journey that will force him to confront the past – and the haunted depths of his own tortured soul.
My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧
My Thoughts: I have read and loved some of Cole Baxter’s books in the past but this one really just hit right, the perfect mix of everything!
The tone was set from the start, James has just been released from the mental institution that he’s spent years in serving time for a murder that he has absolutely no memory of.. now is that because it was so horrific that his mind has just forgotten it or is it because he didn’t do it?
Just as he’s starting to adjust and feel like he’s got himself sorted, his sister appears, turns everything on it’s head!
You really feel the emotions that James is feeling, the fear, the self doubt the anxiety.. it even had me doubting wether I’d read things right..
Things start to go missing, money, people, medication, then the house starts making noises, things are moving… is he starting to lose his memory again?!
I can’t say anymore than that, as much as I’d love to, but I genuinely feel like this is Cole’s best one yet!
I wish I could read it for the first time all over again.
Today I am on the tour for Three Sisters by Kathryn Barnett, thank you to Hannah at Hygge Book Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part & thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.
Before we get started I have to be honest and apologise to all involved that I didn’t manage to get the book finishedin time! – so todays post will have my initial thoughts and promote the book too!
Pages: 395
Synopsis: Charlotte, Violet and Rose. Three sisters growing up amidst the rumblings of World War One and each of them fighting for their own personal freedom. Charlotte, the eldest and a teacher, engaged to marry Richard, the Curate, and struggling to accept her passionate nature and sexuality, embroiled into the world of Conservative activism through the Primrose League. Violet, a nurse and a suffragette, fighting not just for female emancipation, but also her own as she battles with her feelings for her best friend, Maeve. Rose, the youngest, and diagnosed an epileptic, fights to be recognised as a person in her own right and in the process falls in love with John, of lower class and station. When Charlotte takes the decision, along with her mother, to institutionalise Rose because of her epilepsy, the family is split as Violet opposes Charlotte’s high handed decision, but is devastated to find she cannot protect Rose, as personal and political boundaries are pushed to the limits and each girl struggles with impending womanhood.
Three Sisters is author Kathryn Barnett’s first novel with Provoco Publishing and is a delightful, beautifully written social statement, detailing the battle of three girls to become women in their own right. Will Charlotte’s passionate nature and conservatism affect her forthcoming marriage to the Curate? Does Violet find her freedom in her suffragette activities or will she be entrapped by her nursing duties and family responsibilities? And what of Rose, the youngest, fighting to follow her true self and be accepted despite her epilepsy and not ostracised because of it?
A heart-warming tale of three sisters, fighting for freedom in this, the first of five novels making up the Three Sisters Story.
My Initial Thoughts: the writing style was more modern than I was expecting given that the book is set before WW1 which is something I appreciated, it meant that it flowed easier whilst reading.
As for the sisters, they’re all very different, Charlotte rubbed me up the wrong way very quickly, she’s very controlling of her younger sisters, very bossy and of the very strong belief that she is always right.. part of me is hoping that I will grow to like her more as the story continues but we’ll see!
Violet seems like the go getter, the one with high aspirations for helping people and making the world a better place, she was very protective of Rose without being overbearing and was definitely not afraid to speak her mind and attempt to stand up to her older sister!
Rose is the youngest, with a creative streak that comes out in the writing of stories, and she has a secret too, one that has her sneaking out on a night.. I can’t help but feel like there is a lot more to discover about Rose as the book continues and if I’m honest I have a sneaky suspicion she might end up being my favourite of the three!
I am looking forward to continuing in the story and finding out more about what they’re going to get up too so watch this space I promise to update you all again once I’m finished!
If you like the sound of this book it can be bought here! From the 12th October and will be available on Kindle Unlimited too!
2 posts in one day before 8am 😅 but I’m here to celebrate release day for AMELES/ CURRENTS OF UNMINDFULNESS by R.M. Francis!
Let me tell you a bit about the book and the author!
Synopsis: In Greek Mythology, those who drank from the underworld river, Ameles Potamos, would suffer inexplicable disorientation. They would be left adrift, out of time, out of place, sometimes out of their minds.
The tales in Ameles / Currents of Unmindfulness by R. M. Francis, his debut collection, range from the quietly unsettling to weird and full-on horror. R.M. Francis plays around with genre conventions and forms to deliver a flood of dark disturbing imagery that will stay with you in the darkest recesses of your mind.
About the Author:
R. M. Francis is a lecturer in Creative and Professional Writing at the University of Wolverhampton. His novels, Bella and The Wrenna were published with Wild Pressed Books and his poetry collection, Subsidence, came out with Smokestack Books. His book of poems, essays and fieldnotes, The Chain Coral Chorus, is out with Play Dead Press and tracks his time as Poet in Residence for the Black Country Geological Society. His academic work has appeared in journals and edited collections, including his co-edited book, Smell, Memory and Literature in the Black Country (Palgrave Macmillan). He is reviews editor for the Journal of Class and Culture.
Ameles: Currents of Unmindfulness is his first short story collection and consolidates much of his previous creative focus firmly into the horror genre.
If you like the sound of this is can be bought here! And is also available on Kindle Unlimited!
Today I am on the tour for The Time Of Cherries by Michael S Hollington, thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the publisher and the author for my copy.
Pages: 544
Synopsis: Burgundy, 1861.
Christine ‘Kiki’ Vellay, the daughter of vineyard workers, is forced to marry an older man in exchange for a piece of land. He abuses her. Seduced by a young naval cadet she plots to run away. When her husband is killed during the attempt, she finds herself wrongly accused of his murder.
Kiki is on the run.
On reaching Paris in disguise, Kiki discovers she is pregnant and takes on various jobs to survive. When her child is stolen from her, she begins a desperate attempt to find him. Her story takes her from imprisonment in the infamous Conciergerie, to a chateau in the Loire, back to Paris under siege – as a spy – during the Franco-Prussian war, culminating in a dramatic conclusion in the final bloody week of the Paris Commune.
A story of resilience in the face of immense hardship, The Time of Cherries is a gripping account of a woman’s instinct and longing for her child.
My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧
My Thoughts: now anyone who has been following my reviews for a while will know I’m not really a historical fiction fan but something about this one drew me in, I loved the idea of a female fighting for what she believed in.
And can we just take a moment to appreciate the cover! – it’s beautiful,very busy but eye catching and it fits the story perfectly!
The book took me a few days to read, it’s a chunky one, but the writing flows so easily that whilst you’re reading it you don’t realise it. The story is engaging , I found myself feeling for Kiki throughout, especially with the awful scene which led to her husbands death, my heart was in my throat & after what he did I think Florian became one of my favourite side characters in the book, him and Madame Thierry of course 🥰
The action in the book never stopped and poor Kiki just never caught a break, but I loved her so much I was 100% behind her throughout because I knew that everything she was doing was to claim her freedom and her identity back..
A story full of heartbreak and sadness, but with hope and a light at the end of the tunnel cleverly interwoven throughout.
prdgreads 