prdgreads

Today I am on the tour for Dangerous by Essie Fox, 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: 349

Synopsis: Fiction can be fatal…

Living in exile in Venice, the disgraced Lord Byron revels in the freedoms of the city

But when he is associated with the deaths of local women, found with wounds to their throats, and then a novel called The Vampyre is published under his name, rumours begin to spread that Byron may be the murderer…

As events escalate and tensions rise – and his own life is endangered, as well as those he holds most dear – Byron is forced to play detective, to discover who is really behind these heinous crimes. Meanwhile, the scandals of his own infamous past come back to haunt him…

Rich in gothic atmosphere and drawing on real events and characters from Byron’s life, Dangerous is a riveting, dazzling historical thriller, as decadent, dark and seductive as the poet himself…

My Thoughts: this is a strange one for me.. because I shouldn’t have liked this, the premise intrigued me, but it’s a historical fiction with an old writing style, 2 things that as a rule I dislike in books!

That being said I flew through this one, it’s one of those books that had me saying just one more chapter, but I just couldn’t put it down, it was like the writing was almost hypnotic.

Byron as a main character was someone I really for behind, I really felt for him.. I didn’t believe for a second that he was the killer not really, but there were times when I started to doubt myself, questioning whether I was reading things wrong.

The book really transports you to Venice, it all felt scarily real, the descriptions were vivid enough that I was really able to picture it in my head.. it also meant that on the day I finished it I had a dream about a vampire 😂

A fair bit of action that keeps you turning the pages eager to find out what will happen next.

I really enjoyed it!

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Today I am on the tour for The Best Wrong Move by Lily Parker, thank you to Zoé at Zooloos Book Tours for organising ur and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 331

Synopsis: Fake-dating has never been so hot.

Celebrity news anchor Olivia’s live-streamed marriage proposal ends in public humiliation — her almost-fiancé Rex says no.

Desperate to escape, Liv flees to Hawaii. Stunning sunsets and ocean views will help her plan her next move. Only to find Rex there too . . . with his new girlfriend!

And when Liv locks herself out of her rental, wearing nothing but red lacy underwear, she knows things definitely can go from bad to worse.

Until she’s rescued by gorgeous and mysterious surfer, Dom, who looks like he’s walked straight out of the ocean and into Liv’s fantasies!

Their not-so-meet-cute turns out to be the perfect solution to get back at Rex — a fake date. The plan is foolproof. Dom needs a distraction. Liv needs revenge.

But the more Liv and Dom fake it, the more the kisses start to feel a little too real — and in paradise, playing pretend has never been so tempting . . .

My Thoughts: I think Dom might just be my new favourite book boyfriend, he was just everything. Soft and soppy, but yet fiercely protective when the time calls for it.

I felt so sorry for Liv, she’s the ultimate people pleaser, always going out of her way and stepping out of her comfort zone to do things because other people think it’s a good idea, she’s full of self doubt which honestly broke my heart, so I just wanted to jump inside the book and give her a big cuddle when she realised that the one person she was going to Hawaii to escape was living on the other side of the wall.. talk about bad luck.

Luckily for her she has a landlord who is willing to go above and beyond to make her feel comfortable and also show her a good time, he helps her get out of her own head and helps her to realise her worth.

This book is funny, sassy, sexy and just a whole lot of fun, I ate it up completely & was a little sad when it finished because I just wasn’t ready to say goodbye to the characters.

I am already eagerly awaiting Lily’s next book.

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Today I am on the tour for The Swimming Group by Bella Elwood-Clayton, 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: 328

Synopsis: My name is Emma Brennan, and I never thought I’d find myself in this position — standing on a Cape Cod beach at sunrise, wondering which of my friends is a killer.

I came to the idyllic seaside town of Provincetown, to raise my young niece and figure out what to do next with my life. Eleven months ago my sister vanished off the coast of Ocracoke Island. No body, no answers. Just a teenage daughter left behind — and me. At the same time, the man I thought I was going to marry cheated on me with a cute young florist.

I joined the Tragic Wives’ Group — a tight-knit, cold-water swimming group with enough personal drama to fill a bestseller. And one of us has put it in a manuscript, spilling all our secrets.

Then she disappears . . . leaving just a pile of clothes on the sand. She’s the second person I’ve lost in twelve months.

My Thoughts: I am being spoilt with my psychological thrillers at the moment, this was another one sitting read for me, I couldn’t put it down!

I found it’s more of a slow build thriller which added to the overall tension and the atmosphere, this one put the fear in me because although I can swim I hate open water so this was like one of my worst nightmares come to life.

Every time the tragic wives club got into the water I found myself questioning my life choices and theirs 🤣

The twists just kept coming, really throwing you off the scent and making you doubt what you thought you knew.

With a whole bunch of characters all very different but it worked for the dynamic of the book and left you feeling like part of the gang.

This book made me laugh out loud one minute and had my jaw on the floor the next.

A fantastic anxiety inducing book that has left me feeling I should stay on dry land for the foreseeable!

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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