BOOKTOUR REVIEW – Catch A Falling Star by Laura Carter.

Today I am on the tour for Catch A Falling Star by Laura Carter, thank you to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Synopsis:

What happens when the wedding singer and photographer have history? Sparks will fly! 📸💖🎸
A sweet second chances romantic comedy you won’t be able to stop reading! Perfect for fans of B. K. Borison, Sarah Adams and Beth O’Leary!

When fate crashes the wedding…

Tropes: 💓 Second chance romance 💒 Wedding setting 🔥 Forced proximity 💼 Workplace romance 💘 Will-they-won’t-they

📸 Wedding photographer Lyra Clarkson has built a career capturing other people’s perfect moments. She loves her job – despite her family’s disapproval – but she’s never quite found her own path.

🎸 Wedding singer Guy Walker, former rock star, has hit a new low. Desperately needing cash, he’s agreed to take any gig his manager can get him, even if this new form of entertainment isn’t just singing.

As Lyra and Guy’s paths cross – in the most bizarre way possible – an unexpected kiss will change everything. But was it simply a chance encounter or is fate bringing them back together?

Now forced into each other’s lives for the entire wedding season, the unlikely pair may just figure out together how to realise both their dreams…

My Thoughts: catch a falling star is quite possible one of the cutest spicy romances I’ve read in a while. I just couldn’t put it down I was thoroughly invested in the lives of both Lyra and Guy.

Both equally flawed and feel like they have a lot of making up to do and ground to cover & both hiding secrets the whole book felt more like an even playing field which doesn’t normally happen in a romance there’s normally a lot of oneupmanship which can sometimes leave you unsure of who’s side to take.

It’s laugh out loud funny right from very start!

A dual P.O.V. Romance with main characters you can really get behind who help each other confront their pasts and fall in love in the process whilst discovering the big secret that we as readers have known all along.

What more could you want? 😍

Swoonworthy and quite possibly my favourite Laura Carter book yet, I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to these guys.

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BOOKTOUR REVIEW – Death at Inishmore Castle by Lucy Connelly.

Today I am on the tour for Death at Inishmore Castle by Lucy Connolly, thank you to Sarah at Bookouture for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 225

Synopsis: A grand castle, a glass of Irish whiskey, a good book by the fire… and a rather mysterious murder?

Historic Inishmore Castle is opening its doors for the first time, hosting a charming weekend of whiskey tasting and soda bread baking. Sisters Mercy and Lizzie McCarthy are badly in need of a break, but their relaxing trip takes a decidedly unrestful turn when Mercy finds fellow guest Father Brennen slumped over the desk in the library… Did he have one glass too many or did someone want him dead? 

Even more curiously, Mercy swiftly learns that the priest was no priest at all. So why was he searching through dusty old journals? Can the legend of Inishmore’s lost treasure possibly be true?

Mercy’s suspicions of foul play are confirmed when another of their party is found drowned in the lake at the edge of the manor’s estate. It can’t be a coincidence! Someone in this idyllic Irish castle is up to no good and Mercy is determined to find out who’s behind it, accompanied by her reluctant fellow sleuth and beloved dog Mr. Poe.

With a host of frightened guests and worried staff, and a storm closing in, Mercy soon has more suspects than bedrooms in the castle. Could it be the unconvincing nun, the busybody birdwatcher, or are the owners hiding something sinister? When Mercy realises there are secret passages in the walls, she thinks she might have cracked the case… but will she track the killer down, or will Inishmore be her resting place forever more?

My Thoughts: this is book 3 in the Mercy McCarthy Mysteries series and each one gets more fun as we go on, although with the main premise being murder maybe that’s not the right word to use?! 🤣

As far as cozy mystery series go this one is up there as one of my favourites, it’s all about the community, the friendship and all pulling together to work things out and the characters are just so much fun.

This time around they’ve all been invited to trial a weekend getaway at a neighbouring castle, it promises fun, whisky tasting and baking.. what could possibly go wrong?!

Not long into their stay Mercy finds the first dead body (of course she does!) at this point I’m starting to feel like she’s the bad luck charm & I’m sure other characters within this series are feeling the same.

This one has an added element of making you feel on edge because we’re not based in the lovely area of shamrock cove that we’ve all started to get used to, so everyone is feeling a little bit at a loss of what they can actually do, how far can Mercy push it without being told to back off?

I thoroughly enjoyed this one, I really liked the fact that it was a little bit more twisty than the other 2, it really left you doubting yourself, but as always with a cozy mystery it didn’t get too dark and had a really satisfying ending!

I will be looking forward to seeing what the gang get up to in book 4!

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BOOKTOUR REVIEW – The Good Parents by Jessica Huntley.

Today I am on the tour for The Good Parents by Jessica Huntley, 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: 330

Synopsis: They offered her everything she wanted… they wanted everything she had.

Pastry chef Brittany Young is still grieving for her recently deceased twin when she realizes she is pregnant. Certain she is in no shape to care for a baby, she feels utterly trapped.

Salvation arrives in the form of a wealthy couple, John and Angela Dalton. They offer to adopt the child and raise it as their own. Brittany will come and work for them in their luxurious villa during the pregnancy.

But there is something off about the Daltons. John’s gentle demeanor has a sinister edge, and Angela’s erratic behavior grows more threatening by the day. A series of accidents that can’t be mere coincidence forces Brittany to ask a terrifying question.

Is someone trying to harm her and her unborn child?

As the truth begins to emerge, Brittany realizes she’s trapped in a deadly game. Can she uncover the Daltons’ dark secret before it’s too late? Or will her dream job become her worst nightmare?

My Thoughts: the one problem with an author being an ‘auto buy’ author for you is that you don’t read the synopsis before diving into the book… end up crying real tears, get cross at said author for breaking your heart & then realising if you’d read the synopsis you’d have been able to prepare yourself 🤣

I knew from that moment that this bloke as going to be a whole other level and hit different than the others & I was right.

Brittany finds out she’s pregnant at the worst moment, she’s just lost her sister, just started a new job and then finds out she’s pregnant after her first one night stand, she thinks maybe shes landed on her feet though when her employers say they will adopt the baby and let her keep her job, but then little things start niggling, it’s obvious that secrets are being being kept at all levels.. now the NDA she was forced to sign starts to feel less like security for her employers and more like a nightmare for her.

Parts of this book had me holding my breath (again 🫣) and biting my lip so hard I made it bleed.

There’s just something about Jessica’s writing that hooks me right away, refuses to let me go and leaves me all tied up in knots by the end questioning what kind of twisted magic goes on in her head.

Fast becoming one of my favourite authors & another book that I highly recommend

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BOOKTOUR REVIEW – Death Hunt by Cameron Curtis.

Today I am on the tour for Death Hunt 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: Evil has a heartbeat. And it echoes in the bayou.

Breed gets an email from Ellie, a teenager he befriended in the past. The message is simple – she’s in New Orleans and needs help.

She’s not lying. Within minutes of meeting Ellie, Breed is fighting off thugs who are trying to kill her. The reason? Ellie has evidence that her sister, Rowan, has been kidnapped from a children’s shelter.

And it gets worse. Two kids have already been taken from the shelter – both murdered within days of their disappearance in what appear to be Voodoo sacrifices.

As Breed and Ellie race to save Rowan, they find themselves outgunned by a small army of heavily armed gangsters, part of a sinister conspiracy that reaches from the shelter into the corrupt halls of a local hospital.

Following a lead, Breed travels deep into the bayou, where he battles murderous Cajun poachers and finds himself drawn to a beautiful Voodoo princess. Good or evil, she holds the key to the murders…and Breed’s past.

In the stunning climax, Breed and Ellie arrive at a dark plantation house where they face an evil beyond anything Breed has ever encountered

My Thoughts: I love a Breed thriller, I get so excited when I see that there is a new one coming & km going to be bold and say that’s this one might just be my favourite one yet 😍

It had all the action, the blood the gore the violence but without all the army language that normally confuses my poor little brain 🤣

I was so happy to see the reappearance of Ellie, she was a force to be reckoned with in the last book & it was nice to see that although her heart was breaking and she didn’t know what was happening she was still just as fiery!

As always with a Breed novel there are twists, there are obstacles getting in the way of finding out the truth & full of red herrings to keep you guessing throughout!

Read in one sitting and thoroughly enjoyed.. I’m already hoping for and looking forward to book 12

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BOOKTOUR REVIEW – Ouija by Zoé-Lee O’Farrell.

Today I am on the tour for Ouija by Zoé-Lee O’Farrell, 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: 189

Synopsis: The only thing for certain is the deaths were no accident. 

Rayner High School once a prestigious school stands in ruins after such a terrible event.

A year later, a group of friends return to the abandoned school and their nightmare begins.

Something wants to get out and won’t take NOfor an answer…

My Thoughts: this book had me in a chokehold, I devoured it in one sitting I just couldn’t put it down.

It starts with action and just doesn’t let up, I’ll be honest I did immersion reading for this as I already had the kindle version and requested an audio copy.

It meant I was fully in the story, it made it feel so real & almost like I had no escape.. I’ll be honest though the narrators voice was weirdly relaxing which lulled me into a false sense of security, so the hard hitting parts made me squeal and jump out of my skin.

Horror isn’t really a genre I reach for very often but this one was utterly terrifying in the best way possible & makes me want to read more.

I cannot wait to see what Zoé comes out with next.

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BOOKTOUR REVIEW – The First by Frances Fleur.

Today I am on the tour for The First by Frances Fleur, 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: 189

Synopsis: Turning eighteen sucked! I had to return home to England from the UAE because Dad lost his job; great!

So, I did what any newly turned eighteen-year-old with ID does. I went to the pub. Little did I know, I would meet the most gorgeous man there, and share the most panty-wetting kiss with his perfect god-like face.

He was what all my wet dreams were made of.

But the sexy man, with the perfect tongue that was rammed down my throat, turned out to be my new flipping A-level music teacher – insert, dig a hole and drown myself in it.

So, what do I do now? Do I go all up in his face and lick him a little bit more, or do I pretend it never happened? Decisions, decisions!

P.S. Did I mention he has an accent? I’m always a sucker for an accent!

My Thoughts: if you’ve been here a while you’ll know I started this series a while ago.. but now I’m here with a review of book one.

It’s fairly short but wow it packs a punch.

I love a taboo romance when it’s approached correctly and Frances did this one so well.

We’re following Cora, just turned 18 and had to move back home after her dad lost his job, she goes for a few drinks to drown her sorrows and meets Zach..

What follows is fun, flirty, sexy & should be wrong but weirdly feels so right! 🫣

It had me hooked, I devoured the whole thing in one sitting & weirdly left me wanting/needing more whilst also being happy with how it ended which makes absolutely no sense!

Thoroughly enjoyed it & would highly recommend.

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COVER REVEAL – The Swimming Group by Bella Ellwood Clayton.

Today I am here to help Bella Ellwood Clayton celebrate the cover reveal of her new book… The Swimming Group, but before I show you it let me tell you a bit about the book and the author!

Synopsis: Can cold water heal broken hearts?

12 months.
162 cold water swims.
1 missing woman.

We call ourselves the Tragic Wives’ Swimming Group, well, because . . . we’ve all had something bad happen to us.

The man I thought I was going to marry did the unspeakable with a cute young florist. Not long after, my sister drowned on a family trip. Now I’m at my ex’s beach house in Cape Cod, hoping to get past my heartache and figure out what to do next with my life.

Three mornings a week our swimming group meet at sunrise and plunge into the ice-cold depths of the Atlantic.

But then we find out that Rachael, the one who’s always late, has written a tell-all book exposing our darkest secrets. Word spreads that she’s uncovered something so juicy — so twisty and unexpected — the book will be a bestseller.

A few days later, Rachael disappears . . . leaving just a pile of clothes on the sand.

A SEXY BLEND OF TENSION AND SUSPENSE WITH AN ENDING YOU WON’T SEE COMING.

About The Author:

Dr. Bella Ellwood-Clayton holds a BA from Concordia University in Montréal and a PhD from
the University of Melbourne in sexual anthropology. Her debut novel, Weekend Friends (Post
Hill Press/Simon & Schuster, 2023), was hailed as “unputdownable” by bestselling author
Nicola Moriarty. She is also the author of a nonfiction book, Sex Drive: In Pursuit of Female
Desire (Allen & Unwin, 2012). Her short stories, poetry, and articles have appeared in
Huffington Post and Daily Life, and she has been featured in a National Geographic
documentary and given a TEDx talk. Married to an Aussie, she lives in Melbourne with her
two spirited—eek—teens and a mini Maltese who’s convinced he’s a pit bull. When not on her
laptop, you can find her downward dogging, coaxing her offspring to go outside, and randomly
blurting out, “Oh, that’s a good story idea.”

Now for the cover..

If you like the sound of this it can be preordered here! It will be released on the 22nd April!

Make sure you come back to me on the 23rd April to read my review!

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REVIEW – You Know The Drill by Dr Bill.

Today I am helping to promote You Know The Drill by Dr Bill on publication day! – thank you to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 269

Synopsis: Welcome to my life. The life of a reluctant dentist. This book charts the course of a nervous student dealing with people from all walks of life, from exploding angry abscesses to exploding angry people, both in and out of the chair.
When I was a wet-behind-the-ears school sixth former, it seemed like a really good idea to go to university and study the teeth, gums and mouth. I’m still trying to work out why I thought that was a good idea.

The definition of a dentist mentions competencies in biomedical knowledge, surgical dexterity, and critical thinking. What it fails to include is being an unpaid therapist, getting splattered in pus, coaxing nutters out from under the dental chair, having the police storm your surgery, and dealing with patients who think a crown is something you put on your head, then try and sue you when you say otherwise.

Written as a form of therapy – to offload on paper – this book gives a frank account of life both in and out of the surgery. So, take a seat in the waiting room and I’ll see you shortly in Chapter One…

My Thoughts: I absolutely loved this book, it made me laugh, it made me cringe, it made me hide behind my hands! But I tell you what… I absolutely couldn’t put it down.

It’s made me look at dentists completely differently & almost reevaluate myself as a patient, I am one of those annoying people who is terrified and even more annoyingly one of the ones who gets vertigo when laid flat 🤣 although I’ve never complained I just make them aware.. I’m laughing as I’m writing this but I’m absolutely mortified and feel like I should apologise to my dentist!

I think sometimes people forget that people that work with the general public have feelings too and this book really was an eye opener, he helps us to see the things that happen behind closed doors, the games they play between colleagues, the real feelings they get depending on various situations & the absolutely horrendous things that they have to deal with.

Parts of this book was so open and honest that I’m not ashamed to admit that it made me tear up, I wanted to jump into my kindle and give those involved a big hug.

I really enjoyed this one and will be recommending it to my friends who enjoy non fiction.

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BOOKTOUR REVIEW – Heir Of The Beast by F.R. Black.

Today I am on the tour for Heir Of The Beast by F.R. Black, thank you to Zoé at Zooloos Book Tours for organising it and invite me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 389

Synopsis: “All you must do is sign on the dotted line, and all your romantic dreams will come true,” the Fairy Godmother says with a twinkle in her eye.

This is what happens when you do not read the fine print in a very detailed contract. You miss all the things that are immediate deal breakers.

Viola, a proud resident of New Orleans, lives on the top floor of an old Victorian mansion on a very normal street. But normal is no longer a word she can use to describe her life since signing the official contract of Fairy Godmother Inc. They forgot to tell her that she would be competing against other women in a very dangerous game. A game where she would be thrust into an alien world for the mere hope of catching the dashing Prince’s heart.

And let me say this: this prince is one hot alpha male with a serious attitude problem. We do not get along, save for the fact that he can turn my insides to mush with one look. But the silver lining here is that you can have a happily-ever-after if you survive. You can’t fall in love if you’re dead. It tends to spoil the romance.

My Thoughts: every now and again you read a book that has everything you’re craving, it’ll draw you in and it’ll get its hooks in you and have you so invested that you just can’t put it down. Heir Of The Beast was that book for me. I absolutely adored it and cannot wait to continue with the series when I get chance.

It’s fairytale retelling with a twist, it’s dark at times, it’s funny, it’s sexy & just absolutely incredible.

The characters were brilliant, I loved Viola and Laura, the idea of them being each others competition didn’t really sit right with me so I was glad when the story took a turn and changed that.

I’m not sure anything I can say in this review will give the story justice, just know it had me feeling real emotions, I laughed, I cried, I laughed again. I squealed with excitement.

It’s not often I’m speechless when I’m trying to write a book review, but please just pick this one up. I promise you won’t be disappointed and you might just find yourself a new binge worthy series!

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BOOKTOUR REVIEW – Crown Of Hearts by Leané Giliomee.

Today I am on the tour for Crown of Hearts by Leané Giliomee, 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: 323

Synopsis: War could take what it wanted from me, but it could not take him.

A young queen raised as a commoner and forged by rebellion enters a dangerous dance of burning desire, court politics and survival in the face of war.

In a kingdom torn by rebellion and betrayal, Elara must navigate a court filled with deceit, assassination attempts and dangerous alliances.

With enemies closing in on every side and the threat of war looming on the horizon, she knows making a risky bargain with King Cai of Norrandale is her only chance to survive. Even though she knows he’s not to be trusted.

But is she willing to risk her heart to ensure the fate of the kingdom and save everything she holds dear?

My Thoughts: I loved being back in this world, Elara and Cai have my heart, individually they are strong characters who know that they want but put them together they are a force to be reckoned with..

The constant will they/ won’t they slow burn romance had me on the edge of my seat and almost shouting at my book for them to just get on with it 🤣

It was just about the romance though, we follow Lara whilst she comes to terms with now being Queen, whilst also trying to wrap her head around the fact that a lot of people feel she doesn’t deserve the title. (A feeling she also shares but they don’t need to know that, right?

Cai is also trying to work out what’s best for his kingdom.. can they both make it work before it’s too late?

I was thoroughly drawn into the book and really struggled to put it down! I have a feeling that book 3 is going to be where all the action happens though and I personally can’t wait for it.

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