Author: Patricegotting

Today I am on the tour for Tombstoning by Doug Johnstone, 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: 93

Synopsis: Your best mate just fell off a cliff in mysterious circumstances. You were the last person to see him alive. What do you do?

If you’re David Lindsay from Arbroath, you leg it – and don’t go back. Not for fifteen years.

Then Nicola Cruickshank – yes, that Nicola, the girl you always fancied but never had the guts to speak to – gets in touch. She wants you back for a school reunion. At the very place it happened. Of course you say yes. Not to lay ghosts to rest, but because you still fancy Nicola.

The thing is, if you are David Lindsay, then returning to Arbroath isn’t going to bring closure. Because when someone else tumbles off the cliffs – an act the locals now call tombstoning – David has a choice: run away again, or finally find out why people around him keep dying…

My Thoughts: I am a huge fan of Doug’s writing, so when I was given the opportunity to read his debut novel I jumped at the chance.

This one was brilliant, it’s dark, but with Doug’s usual humour woven throughout, which at times had me laughing out loud.

In this one we’re following David, who escaped his hometown after leaving school because something traumatic happened to one of his best friends and when people started pointing the finger at him he thought it was best to just be done with it.

It’s now 15 years later and he’s had an email from Nicola, an old school friend talking about a reunion the following week.

The panic and indecision he went through felt very real and relatable, u remember feeling the same way when we had a school reunion, you start doubting yourself & wondering what good can come from reliving your school days.

As always with Doug’s books, the background story is just as important as the main plot points, they really get you thinking and keep you engaged with the book.

The idea behind the story was simple, yet executed in a completely different way which leaves you feeling everything that the characters are feeling which is brilliant yet terrifying.

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Today I am on the tour for Catch The Flame by Juliana Stone, thank you to Zoé at Zooloos Book Yours for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 288

Synopsis:

🔥Small-town
🔥 Grumpy x Sunshine
🔥 Sizzling heat
🔥 Mystery
🔥 Forced Proximity
🔥 Brooding hero

I came to Fire Lake to outrun my past.

A broken-down car, an empty wallet and one loyal dog — that’s all I had when I stumbled into this small town I didn’t plan to stay in.

Then I met Gus.

Ex–Navy SEAL. Carpenter. Six-foot-five of trouble wrapped in muscle and quiet control. He’s the kind of man who can fix anything — except whatever’s broken inside him.

I tell myself I don’t care. But every time his gaze finds mine, my resolve cracks a little more.

His touch scorches. His kiss tastes like danger. And when he says my name, I forget every reason I ever had to run.

He’s not the kind of man you fall for — he’s the kind you burn for.

And I’m already going up in flames.

My Thoughts: this was EXACTLY what I needed at the time that I read it, I flew through this because everything was just so perfect I couldn’t put it down.

Faith finds herself Fire Lake by accident when her piece of junk car gives up on her and she needs to find somewhere for her and her dog Taco to stay the night, maybe 2 until she can get herself back on her feet, what she didn’t expect was a town full of residents that welcomed this newcomer with open arms who loved her dog just as much as she did, they do say everything happens for a reason.

Gus is grumpy, gorgeous and keeps himself to himself, but it didn’t take long for us to see his softer side, and let me tell you he is definitely swoon worthy. He cares, but he does so quietly he doesn’t shout about it which was enough to give me butterflies and I wasn’t even the focus of his attention! 😂

This is more than just a small town romance, it’s full of secrets, and characters with a lot of depth who actually know how to communicate which was refreshing.

I definitely didn’t need another romance series for me to become obsessed with but here we are, Fire Lake has hooked me in and I can’t wait to see what’s next. 🥰

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Thank you to Laury herself for a copy of Jenny Kidd in exchange for a review. I am so sorry in the delay in getting it up.

Pages: 183

Synopsis: While spending autumn in Venice, a young American artist, Jenny Kidd, hopes to create a portfolio of paintings to launch her career and establish her independence from her tyrannical father. At the Guggenheim Collection, she encounters Randi, a colorful British woman, who invites her to a masked ball at the Palazzo Barbon. There, she meets the seductive Caterina Barbon and her brother, Sebastiano, who entice Jenny into a world of glittering façades that cloak sexual perversion, art forgery, and murder. As Jenny struggles between her attraction to Caterina and her growing awareness that she is in danger, Jenny discovers an inner strength and spirit worthy of her infamous pirate ancestor.

My Thoughts: this book was strangely beautiful, the setting was gorgeous and the idea of Jenny gaining some freedom from her father whilst also enjoying creating her own work was really very intriguing.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t actually read the blurb of the book when Laury contacted me, I’d already enjoyed 2 of her books so it was one of the easiest yes’s I’ve given, so the fact that this turned out to be dark & twisted shocked me, I was expecting a nice almost literary fiction story of a young lady escaping and finding herself but it was so much more than that.

Jenny meets several people all who change her story in some way, all of them equally important.

As always the writing is beautiful, Laury really has a way with words that leaves you completely unable to put the book down until it’s finished.

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Today I am on the tour for Taken From Her Home by C.J. Grayson, 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: 374

Synopsis: Mary’s in the shower after a long day’s work when the lights go out. Her phone screen flashes in the dark. The text is from an unknown number:

‘You’re not alone in this room.’

When she wakes, her head is pounding and there’s a churning in the pit of her stomach. She’s lying naked on the cold hard floor of a room she’s never seen before. The door is locked.

There’s a deep cut across her thigh. The key to the door is sewn into her flesh. It’s the only way out of this room.

Detective April Fisher must race against time to catch a killer in a sick game of cat and mouse.

My Thoughts: C.J. Grayson is fast becoming one of my favourite thriller authors, o have read quite a few of his books now and every time he keeps me guessing.

Taken from her home definitely felt like things had been stepped up a bit, it was fast paced and the action never let up, it was very dark and twisted it even had me cringing at times and I’ve read a lot of dark books!

I love April as a character, she is strong willed, knows what she wants and is always willing to go the extra mile to get it, but also isn’t afraid to lean on her colleagues for support when needed.

This case is a sensitive one, it deals with a lot of tough topics, but with heads turning up in local libraries she’s needs to find the connection fast.

I think I enjoyed the goriness a little too much, I was so caught up in the story that I definitely sided with the “bad guy” for a lot of this one, as a disabled person the chapters set in the best almost took me back to my school days.

I can’t wait to read more in this series!

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Today I am on the tour for The Cut Up by Louise Welsh, 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: 321

Synopsis: It’s hard to be good when living is expensive. And times are tough on the streets these days. Luckily for Rilke at Bowery Auctions the demand for no-questions-asked cash is at an all-time high, and business is booming. 

When Rilke hears his old acquaintance Les is fresh out of prison, his inclination is to stay well out of his way. Letting sleeping dogs lie is one thing – but when one of Bowery’s customers winds up dead on their tarmac, Rilke needs a bit of help from his friends to tidy things up. If only his friends didn’t have such a habit of making things worse.

My Thoughts: I feel like maybe this is the wrong word to use for a crime thriller but I found this one to be a lot of fun! – I loved Rilke as a character, I found his personality changed depending on who he was around and what he was dealing with, he could be warm and kind but then on the other hand sassy and sarcastic, he really kept me on my toes!

This is the first book I have read in the series and although at times I felt like I’d missed out on a little of the back story I did find that it read absolutely fine as a stand alone!

Rilke is just shutting up the auction house when he finds a long term customer of theirs dead with a hat pin through his eye, the same hat pin that he knew his boss/best friend was wearing earlier in the day, so he does the unthinkable and gets rid of the evidence, not knowing that it will select off a whole new chain reaction that he will find himself in the middle of!

This was fast paced, with a bunch of characters that all took the story in a different direction but could have been equally culpable.

It had my head not knowing what direction the story was going in but having Rilkes constant presence almost helped to ground us so we didn’t lose the story!

Thoroughly enjoyed it & it’s made me want to read the rest of the series!

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Today I am on the tour for The Secretary by Deborah Lawrenson, 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: 322

Synopsis: Moscow, 1958. At the height of the Cold War, secretary Lois Vale is on a deep-cover MI6 mission to identify a diplomatic traitor. She can trust only one man: Johann, a German journalist also working covertly for the British secret service. As the trail leads to Vienna and the Black Sea, Lois and Johann begin an affair but as love grows, so does the danger to Lois.

A tense Cold War spy story told from the perspective of a bright, young, working-class woman recruited to MI6 at a time when men were in charge of making history and women were expendable.

My Thoughts: I thoroughly enjoyed this one, I always thought I wasn’t a fan of historical fiction, but I have since learnt that it depends entirely on how it’s told and the perspective it’s told from.

In this one we’re following Lois who has joined the MI6 to try and flush out a security leak that they have noticed in their ranks, she is sent to Moscow & is told to be careful but to get information in any way possible.

She’s young, she’s beautiful and appears quite innocent so quickly believes that she’ll be fine, she knows it won’t be easy but that it’ll be with the hard work.

She soon realises that things aren’t as they seem & finds herself not sure which side she is on, shes a double agent unable to tell who the bad guy is!

This book is full of characters, many of them strong women who are secretly keeping things going behind the scenes, one of my favourites was Nan, she was more observant than anyone else gave her credit for, but she was subtle too.

It did take me a while to get into this one, but once it hooked me it was really hard to put down, it’s full of secrets and lies and a little but of love too.

A beautiful story that is definitely with a read.

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Today I am on the tour for Six Weeks In January by Alan Pearson, 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: 246

Synopsis: Picture a man, a grown-up child, alone in a boat, surrounded by so many people, in his car, swimming through a stream, looking down on Oceans, fighting his way through swamps, whilst laying in his hospital bed, kidnapped by out of work, eastern European actors, choosing which door, waiting for a red can of coke cola while the hearse returns his mobile.
Holding your hand, he will sit you down and lead you through a vast array of different time zones and parts of the world, none of the scenarios will remain the same, but all have a common theme, none of which are of his own doing, but all come from deep down in the depths of his own sub-consciousness.
There is light and dark, up and down, confusion and mayhem, there is no chance of survival but everything to fight for. He will transport you from the first cough to the last stand via the wards, the morgue, the woods, the roads, the streams and seas, the bays and rays of the sun.
Each experience is a battle to survive just a bit longer, against an unseen foe, that we all came to loathe and fear, but you will join in the achievement of taking everything on and trying for the win, despite having the odds stacked greatly against us.
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This is the story of one persons unwanted, unrequested journey once induced into a medical coma, due to Covid19, and instead of his brain shutting down, as expected by the sedatives, it sprang immediately into an unending nightmare of experiences, yes, experiences, as that is exactly what he did, he believed he really was in each of these scenarios that he was plunged into.
The ‘dreams’, not an accurate description of them, but that is truly what they were, were weird beyond belief, horrific beyond compare, long and tedious, the boredom could be unrelenting but interspersed with the highs and lows of a full gambit of emotions.
These tales will remain front and centre of his memory for the rest of his days.

My Thoughts: this is such a hard book to review, because who am I to have an opinion on what Alan went through. That being said what I can say is what a brave thing for him to do to document it for everyone else to read, I can’t imagine the emotions he must have gone through to almost experience it all again for a second time.

Some of his visions and experiences almost read like very vivid stories, sometimes being incredibly dark, which must have been terrifying.

I was absolutely fascinated though & I couldn’t put the book down.

At times this is a really hard read, but one that is absolutely worth the time to read it if you’re able to.

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Today I am on the tour for Ruthless Heart by Eve L. Mitchell, 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: 282

Synopsis: I wake up naked. Hungover. And in the wrong bed.

Jett Santo’s bed.

Cardinal Saints’ star quarterback.
Arrogant. Untouchable. Dangerous.

He doesn’t even remember my name.

I should be grateful. Pretend it never happened.
But I can’t.

Because my body already belongs to him.
And he knows it.

Now his future is on the line — and I’m no longer a mistake.
I’m his alibi.
His weakness.
His obsession.

Jett Santo doesn’t lose.

But I’m hiding a secret that could destroy us both.

Because that night wasn’t the ending.
It was the beginning.

And when the truth comes out, neither of us will walk away unscathed.

My Thoughts: dark romance is quickly becoming one of my favourite genres and this book cemented for me why.

Jett and Ava find themselves in a compromising position when they wake up the morning after a party in bed together, with no memory of why/how it happened! When Jett then fails a drugs test and gets temporarily suspended from his football team he sees red, he doesn’t do drugs, never has done and is utterly convinced that the girl he found in his bed is the cause.. but with no idea who she is he is in deep trouble.

Ava suddenly finds herself getting trouble from the Santo’s, she knows she should keep her head down, stay out of their way but there’s just something that keeps pulling them together, they fight, they argue but yet they always find themselves in bed together, what she doesn’t know is that Jett is using her, or at least he thinks he is!

When I first started reading this I was worried that the college age characters would be too young for me, as a 35 year old woman I’m pretty sure I am not the target audience! – but once I looked past that I got so caught up in the story, I love an MMC who isn’t afraid to put himself out there in front of his friends, and although it took him a while Jett was possessive and protective 🥵 but Ava wasn’t afraid to give as good as she got!

Highly recommend!

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Today I am on the tour for Solo by Caroline Swinburne, 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: 272

Synopsis: You’ve heard of ‘girl meets boy’? This isn’t that. It’s ‘girl meets horn’.

Cate was a top musician in a leading orchestra—until a disastrous solo humiliated her on the world stage. Traumatised, she abandons her instrument, retrains as a language teacher, reinvents herself online, and travels the world.

Ten years later, after her mother’s death, Cate returns to her bleak Midlands hometown, where she’s drawn into mentoring Sarah, a talented teenage horn player with no professional training. Sarah dreams of making music her career, but her family can’t afford a decent instrument or lessons. She learns by ear, her talent undeniable but her future uncertain.

Cate is the only one who can help.

When a local amateur orchestra announces a concert featuring the piece that once destroyed Cate’s career, Sarah’s big break is at stake. For Cate, helping her succeed could mean redemption—if she can finally face her own past.

My Thoughts: now I’ll be honest I don’t often reach for Literary Fiction, I often find that as a genre it deals with tough topics & can sometimes go a bit deep meaning that the experience isn’t much of an escape, that being said I thoroughly enjoyed this one!

The opening was a bit of an emotional start, but for me I think that was good, it endeared me to Cate and made me want things to get better for her even if it devastated me that everything she’d worked for was gone & she was left with no choice but to rebuild her life from the ground up.

She really took it as a fresh start and was happy in her life for 10 years until tragic circumstances brought her back to her home town.

This story was really beautiful, it’s about starting again when you’re knocked down, but then not being afraid to realise later in life that you still might not be on the right path. It’s about realising your worth, finding friends who really care and rediscovering the love for your passion in a different way.

I am so glad I gave this book a chance it made my heart happy!

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Today I am on the tour for Out Daughter is Missing by Darren O’Sullivan, thank you to Zoé at Zooloos Book Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 303

Synopsis: My daughter left for school this morning. She didn’t come home.

Someone’s snatched my little girl.

I have to find her. I have to save her.

But how can I, when I can’t leave the house?

My husband tries to be the perfect stepdad. But I’m not the mother Faye deserves. Ever since the night everything changed, I’ve been too scared to go outside.

I knew it was a dangerous world out there — I was right.

My Thoughts: another thriller that was utterly impossible to put down.

Faye is 13, and struggles with how protective her mum Jo has got in the last 2 years she was attacked, she had no freedom, feels like her mum is constantly breathing down her neck, she’s thinking about running away, has her bag packed and everything..almost changed her mind until she finds the tracker in her bag & now all bets are off!

Little does Faye know that choosing to leave the house that day would change her life forever, she gets abducted and her whole world is turned upside down.

At home Jo and Mark are frantic their girl is missing, they can’t get hold of her, none of her friends have seen her, secrets are coming out, things that Faye hasn’t told them & now they realise she could be anywhere.

It’s fast paced and absolutely brilliant, I really felt everything, when it was Jos chapters my heart was going 10 to the dozen because she was always on edge and anxious I felt that too, I just wanted to put my arm around her and reassure her!

Faye’s chapters had me feeling absolutely terrified, it was almost enough to give me nightmares!

Definitely one worth adding to your tbr!

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