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Today I am on the tour for The Jagged Scar by Nick Rippington, 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.

I have a spotlight for you today where I will tell you a bit about the book and the author & I’ll also have the link to buy it at the bottom ☺️

Pages: 438

Synopsis: The Jagged Scar is a spin-off from Nick Rippington’s much-acclaimed Boxer Boys series.
Troubled schoolgirl Red and her best friend Marc visit London for a Valentine’s party but they get separated and she ends up in a police cell.
While behind bars the teenager befriends mysterious glamour girl Kat who negotiates her release and invites her to a 70s Soho awash with strip clubs, porn shops, shady characters and bent cops.
Unhappy with her home life back in Wales, she opts to stay and lands a job in the nightclub empire of former stripper Blaize and her porn king husband Jack. Before long she has made friends, settled into the lifestyle and forgotten all about the problems at home.
That is until her world is turned upside down by a sequence of tragic events. It leads her to question those around her and brings her to the notice of some leading players in London’s dark underbelly who will stop at nothing to keep their unlawful activities under wraps.
And as she closes in on the truth, Red is about to make the shocking discovery that her new life is inextricably linked with the past she’s so desperate to leave behind.

About The Author:

NICK RIPPINGTON is an award-winning author of crime and psychological thrillers.

He is a member of the Crime Writers Association and was the last-ever Welsh Sports Editor of the now defunct News of The World. 

A national sports journalist with a wealth of experience, Nick took the plunge and began writing crime thrillers when Rupert Murdoch shut down Europe’s biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in 2011 as a result of the phone hacking scandal. 

His debut novel Crossing The Whitewash came out in 2015, receiving an honourable mention in the Writers’ Digest Self-publishing eBook awards.

That launched the Boxer Boys series, which has found a niche in the growing UK gangland market. To date, there are four books in the series – Crossing The Whitewash, Spark Out, Dying Seconds and Bare Lies. 

Nick’s creation of the notorious Dolan family, their associates and enemies has been greeted with acclaim by some of the country’s most prestigious book bloggers. 

Meanwhile, his standalone psychological thriller Rabette Run has been described as ‘Alice in Wonderland… with tanks and guns’ with a twist you didn’t see coming. Rabette Run (published by Red Dragon) and Crossing the Whitewash are both available as audio books while the first three novels in the Boxer Boys series are available in digital format with Amazon as a box set.

The Jagged Scar, Nick’s 6th novel, is a spin-off of the Boxer Boys which can be read as a standalone, as can all his books. It is based in 1970s Soho, London, and you may notice a few characters that appear much later in the saga.

Nick has now moved out of East London to the wilds of Suffolk. He is married to Liz and has two daughters, Jemma and Olivia.

If you like the sound of this book it can be bought here! And is also available on Kindle Unlimited!

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Today I am on the tour for What We Did In The War by Jennie Walters, thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 277

Synopsis: Can you ever let go of the past? Two women unhappy with their lives seize a chance to start over during a WWII bombing raid, in this dramatic and suspenseful novel.

London, 1944: As bombs start raining from the sky, two women rush out of a restaurant, leaving their possessions behind. Their chance meeting amid the chaos and destruction will have long-lasting consequences. Both beset by desperate problems, they take advantage of the wartime chaos to escape their humdrum lives and start again. .

Sticking together, the pair live under the radar, using a stolen ration book to feed themselves and relying on a street kid’s help to get by. Cecil eventually finds work, while glamorous, feckless Claude looks after the flat—or doesn’t. Gradually their friendship sours and resentment creeps in. Just as Cecil is wondering whether she should ever have trusted Claude in the first place, she makes a shocking discovery—one that will expose a web of secrets, lead to an act of violence, and set the two on separate and very different paths.

My Thoughts: I really enjoyed this story, I was a little worried with it being a story set in WW2, but the primary focus was more on these 2 women and their life rather than the way itself which I really appreciated.

We’re following 2 ladies, Cecil and Claude as they become known, they’re thrown together in a restaurant when it’s attacked by a doodlebug, they have nothing in common other than they both have a past to escape & decide to use the bombing as a way to do so, they’re both presumed dead so why not reinvent themselves?

One is pregnant without the father in the picture and the other wants to escape an unhappy marriage, can they work together to both find happiness?

All seems to be going well, they’ve even found a friend in a young girl called Floss, who helps them become more ‘worldly wise’ but we all know that secrets don’t stay secret for long and the past will eventually come and find them.

A really easy read that delves into some sensitive topics without getting too heavy.

One that I would highly recommend

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Today I am on the tour for Whitechapel Autumn of Error by Ian Porter, 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: 384

Synopsis: Whitechapel 1888; a killer is on the loose and the newspapers are ensuring the nation knows all about not just the crimes but the terrible living conditions in which they are being perpetrated.

Nashey, a tough, scary yet charismatic man of the night, whose mother had to prostitute herself when he was a boy, knows the identity of the killer but keeps it a secret. He believes the publicity generated by the murders is forcing the authorities to address the poverty and degradation in the area. He allows the killer to remain free (whilst ensuring no more women are attacked) so the unsolved murders continue to dominate the headlines. He meets Sookey, an eccentric middle-class slummer and civilising influence. The two of them share a mutual friend, Mary Kelly, a fiery young prostitute whose back-story tells of how she was reduced to such a life.

To fund his surveillance of the killer, Nashey agrees, against his better judgement, to assist an old adversary to commit a daring night robbery under the noses of the huge police presence in the area.

Is it too late for Nashey and Mary to correct their mistakes?

My Thoughts: I know I’m always saying I’m not a fan of historical fiction, but I am a fan of true crime so the fact that this one was loosely based on the Jack The Ripper murders had me hooked from the beginning.

The writing was so real and so raw that I found myself having to put it down a few times, which isn’t like me at all, but in this instance that’s a nod to the authors brilliant writing, he had me feeling emotions so deeply that I had to take myself away from the book.

I loved Nash as a main character he’s you’re stereotypical bad boy, but yet this times he’s trying to do good, he’s trying to get to the bottom of the murders and protect the women too, just sometimes his idea of protection isn’t the same as ours.

I have a soft spot for Sookey and Mary, they were just brilliant characters, strong and powerful if a little misguided at times.

If you’re looking for a book where the descriptions are that spot on that you’ll get thrown right into the action and find yourself unable to read in the dark without looking over your shoulder the look no further because you’ve definitely found it.

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Today I am on the tour for The Perfect Teacher by Kelly Golden, 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: 423

Synopsis: What if your worst enemy… was your daughter’s new teacher?

Miss Smith is perfect. That’s what my beautiful girl Jenna says, the morning I see the new teacher by the school gates, flashing her brilliant smile.

But I know Jenna’s wrong. Because thirty years ago, Georgia Smith was my best friend… until one terrible day she wasn’t. I’ll never forget her face twisted with hate the last time I saw it.

I’m still shaking as the clock ticks past four thirty, and I begin to wonder why Jenna isn’t home yet. And then I feel it in my gut:

Georgia is back, and my baby girl is gone.

My Thoughts: now everyone knows I love a psychological thriller, this one was so cleverly done that I’m struggling to get my thoughts into words.

Jenna has a new favourite teacher, she sees her, she talks to her, she listens to her. But more importantly she gives her a safe space to hide when things get too much. What we don’t know at the time is that Miss Smith had history with Jenna’s mum and let me tell you it is a very tangled web, but untangling it will have you totally engrossed & just when you think you’ve got to the bottom of it there’s more.. there’s always more!

This story was told from multiple perspectives across multiple timelines & you’d think it would get confusing, but it doesn’t, it all comes together so seamlessly, I was hooked from the beginning which made this a one sitting read for me.

The characters were likeable, even the ones that I don’t think we were supposed to like, the teenagers were realistic and believable and the chapters were short and snappy, this one literally had everything, the only negative for me which is more of a personal preference than anything else was that the book as a whole was maybe just a little too long, at over 400 pages.

I would definitely highly recommend this one though and I will be looking out for Kelly’s next release in the future.

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Today I am on the tour for Looking for Lucie by Amanda Addison, thank you to Dave at Write Reads 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: Looking for Lucie is a contemporary YA novel that explores identity, self-discovery, and newfound friendship as an 18-year-old girl sets out to uncover her ethnic heritage and family history.

“Where are you really from?”

It’s a question every brown girl in a white-washed town is familiar with, and one that Lucie has never been able to answer. All she knows is that her mother is white, she’s never met her father, and she looks nothing like the rest of her family. She can’t even talk about it because everyone says it shouldn’t matter!

Well, it matters to Lucie and-with her new friend Nav, who knows exactly who he is-she’s determined to find some answers.

What do you do when your entire existence is a question with no answer?

You do a DNA test.

My Thoughts: this was a really heartwarming story of just wanting to feel like you belong and wanting to fill in what you feel are massive gaps in your history..

Lucie has grown up thinking her dad was a sperm donor, but as she’s grown up she’s starting to feel different from the rest of her family, so without her mum knowing she orders a DNA test to finally get to the truth.. little does she know that she’s actually closer to the truth than she thinks.

The story dealt with some really important topics in a really sensitive way, it delves into the world of arranged marriages and interracial relationships and navigating a world that at the time you don’t necessarily understand.

The writing flows really well which made this a really hard book to put down and I ended up finishing it in one sitting, I found myself totally immersed in the story and rooting for Lucie to get answers that she would be happy with.

If you’re looking for a nice contemporary story that will really make you think about your family history then this is the one for you, it’s full of characters that you just want to be friends with!

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Today I am on the tour for Honour Among Spies by Merle Nygate, 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: 397

Synopsis: At the heart of London’s spy operations, Mossad head of station Eli carries the scars of a past disaster while grappling with the turbulent political landscape back home. His resolve to uphold his duty and keep his job is tested like never before.

Desperate to tip the scales in the espionage game, Eli concocts a risky plan involving tampered drones destined for Russian hands. But to execute this plan, he has to exploit those closest to him. Eli’s moral compass clashes with the mission, leading him down a treacherous path of betrayal.

As the stakes escalate, Eli finds himself embroiled in a deadly web, racing to foil an apocalyptic agenda. With the clock ticking, alliances are tested, sacrifices are made, and Eli must confront the consequence of his actions head-on.

Eli and his team must navigate a shadowy underworld to prevent a terrorist plot from unleashing chaos on a global scale. Will they emerge victorious, or will the darkness consume them all?

My Thoughts: spy stories are really hit or miss for me, this one was definitely a hit, the main characters were really likeable even though they were doing a job that isn’t considered good.

This is the second book in the series which I didn’t know going into it, but this read really well as a stand alone, all that was missing really was the introduction to all the characters, but this book does a really good job of reintroducing them to the reader as things unfold!

We have 2 main storylines within which shows all of our characters pushed to their limits whilst also affecting the personal lives for a couple of them too, after all the only problem with a job like being a spy is that it will always lead to secrets being kept and lies being told, w lot of them don’t even know the real names of their ‘colleagues’

A thriller that will keep you guessing throughout and I can’t wait to carry on with the series!

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Today I am on the tour for Better Left Unsent by Lia Louis, 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: 365

Synopsis: Millie Chandler is known at work as the nice receptionist who got dumped by the company hotshot, and ever since then, she has vowed to keep everything to herself – her feelings, her hopes, and especially her fears. 

But Millie does have an outlet: her emails. From sarcastic replies to her rude boss, rants to friends about their terrible taste in men to a five-hundred-word love declaration to her ex, who three years on, is about to marry someone else. Millie’s reality lives in her drafts until the morning she discovers that they are somehow in her sent folder. The truth is out.

As every dark secret she’s worked so hard to keep password protected is released, Millie must fix the chaos her words have caused.

Will Millie find the strength to open both her heart, and her inbox?

My Thoughts: as far as romantic comedies go this is up there as one of my favourites, it had me laughing out loud very early on and didn’t let up on the humour throughout.

We’re following Millie as she goes through everyone’s worst nightmare, she’s been writing draft emails with all the inner thoughts and feelings the truths she wants to tell people.. and somehow they all get sent overnight, technology is brilliant until it doesn’t work right? 😂

Not long after, her colleague Jack finds her hiding in a room with a cardboard cut out of Gary Lineker, reassures her that things will be ok and what follows is a friendship/relationship that will make you jealous, full of banter, burgers and witty moments.

Millie has a couple of best friends in her life that are there for her through it all, they read all the emails with her, talked her through her options and were just there for moral support, one provided healthy snacks and the other provided alcohol 😅

This is a book that has stayed with me since finishing it & makes me smile every time I think of it, I think it’s fair to say I will be reading more from Lia Louis in the future, although this one will be a hard one to top!

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Today I am on the tour for Infinite Stranger by Wendy Skorupski, 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: 418

Synopsis: On a snowy February morning in 1978, eighteen-year-old Leah Cavanagh meets Brother Matthew Haddon while on a retreat with her Catholic girls’ school. The four days she spends at Greystones Abbey in the wilds of North Yorkshire will have a profound impact not only on her own life, but also on that of her single mother Molly, who never recovered from the murder of her fiancé in 1956.

Leah and Matthew start writing to each other. Soon a tentative friendship develops, with a hint of more. The longing that Leah feels is shared vicariously by Molly, who sees something of her late fiancé in a photograph that Leah shows her of the handsome young monk. When Leah leaves home to study at music college, her feelings for Matthew deepen and she has difficulty committing to other relationships.

Over the coming years Leah keeps returning to Greystones Abbey, spurred by her infatuation for Matthew. The forbidden desire between them grows in intensity with each visit, until it seems impossible that the monk’s vows of chastity will remain unbroken. Soon Leah finds herself unable to break free – neither from her controlling mother, nor her enigmatic yet tortured monk – and realises that choices will have to be made.

My Thoughts: this was one of the most complex romance books I’ve ever read, because it spans such a long period of time, but also I guess because it wasn’t the only theme to the book, a big part of it was Leah’s relationship with her mum and how that has changed/developed over the years.

The book was so hard to put down because no matter what Leah did in her life, the people she met, the relationships she had throughout her life, she was always drawn back to brother Matthew at Greystones Abbey.. probably not helped by her mother who can’t seem to let Leah make her own decisions and reminds her of Brother Matthew and their “true love” at every moment possible, I remember thinking it was sweet and first and then it got pushy and made me feel incredibly uncomfortable.

The story had so many layers and made me feel so many emotions that it was hard to keep track, one second I’d be laughing and the next I’d be welling up, the writing had a haunted quality that left me captivated throughout & the fact that is based on true events makes it even more incredible.

This is my first dive into Wendy’s writing but I will definitely be reading her other book when I get chance.

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Today I am on the tour for Infinite Stranger by Wendy Skorupski, 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: 418

Synopsis: On a snowy February morning in 1978, eighteen-year-old Leah Cavanagh meets Brother Matthew Haddon while on a retreat with her Catholic girls’ school. The four days she spends at Greystones Abbey in the wilds of North Yorkshire will have a profound impact not only on her own life, but also on that of her single mother Molly, who never recovered from the murder of her fiancé in 1956.

Leah and Matthew start writing to each other. Soon a tentative friendship develops, with a hint of more. The longing that Leah feels is shared vicariously by Molly, who sees something of her late fiancé in a photograph that Leah shows her of the handsome young monk. When Leah leaves home to study at music college, her feelings for Matthew deepen and she has difficulty committing to other relationships.

Over the coming years Leah keeps returning to Greystones Abbey, spurred by her infatuation for Matthew. The forbidden desire between them grows in intensity with each visit, until it seems impossible that the monk’s vows of chastity will remain unbroken. Soon Leah finds herself unable to break free – neither from her controlling mother, nor her enigmatic yet tortured monk – and realises that choices will have to be made.

My Thoughts: this was one of the most complex romance books I’ve ever read, because it spans such a long period of time, but also I guess because it wasn’t the only theme to the book, a big part of it was Leah’s relationship with her mum and how that has changed/developed over the years.

The book was so hard to put down because no matter what Leah did in her life, the people she met, the relationships she had throughout her life, she was always drawn back to brother Matthew at Greystones Abbey.. probably not helped by her mother who can’t seem to let Leah make her own decisions and reminds her of Brother Matthew and their “true love” at every moment possible, I remember thinking it was sweet and first and then it got pushy and made me feel incredibly uncomfortable.

The story had so many layers and made me feel so many emotions that it was hard to keep track, one second I’d be laughing and the next I’d be welling up, the writing had a haunted quality that left me captivated throughout & the fact that is based on true events makes it even more incredible.

This is my first dive into Wendy’s writing but I will definitely be reading her other book when I get chance.

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Today I am on the tour for The Chef by Robin Mahle, 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: 320

Synopsis: Hiring him might be the most dangerous mistake I ever made . . .

I started as a server in a New York restaurant. That’s where I met my husband, Dante.

Now we’re opening our own restaurant in Los Angeles. It’s our dream come true.

But it feels like it’s turning into a nightmare. We’re nearly out of money. I had to fire our head chef after he ‘accidentally’ stabbed me. And now I’ve caught my husband flirting with a waitress. He used to flirt with me like that.

Then Chef Marco shows up. The answer to our prayers. He’s cooked in top restaurants all over Europe. He also has the most stunning green eyes. We hire him on the spot.

Now the nightmare really begins . . .

My Thoughts: this one was something a little bit different for me, normally the thrillers I read are based around a home or very police/detective focussed, I think this might be one of the first restaurant based thrillers I’ve read, so that added something new and exciting for me.

The story itself started off slow, we’re just getting to know Kira and Dante and their restaurant team, from a first look it seems things are going well, but it doesn’t take long for us to see through the cracks and work out that secrets are being kept and lies are being told..

It’s a book told from multiple perspectives which I always love as it shows you a well rounded view of the story & the surroundings and also helps you to work on it how the characters are feeling towards each other.

When Marco comes on the scene it seems like all their problems are solved, but what they don’t realise is that bigger ones may just be around the corner, he’s always there, hearing and seeing things which is definitely not a coincidence, he made me as the reader feel incredibly uncomfortable which is always a bit of a bonus with this kind of book, it means the writing is great!

This one will keep you in your toes throughout, and will possibly make you never want to go out to eat ever again 😂

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