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Today I am on the tour for Dead Mile by Jo Furniss, thank you to Tracy at Compusive Readers for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 334

Synopsis: Friday afternoon, and the traffic is bloody murder.

Sergeant Belinda ‘Billy’ Kidd is driving home from the airport, jet-lagged and ready to resign from a career that has left her traumatised. Menopause has robbed her confidence too – now she’s a traffic cop who’s afraid to drive. When brake lights haemorrhage up the motorway, the cars grind to a halt. Moments later she finds a dead driver in a black sedan.

He has a metal skewer in his neck. But how? The killer can’t have left the scene without being spotted by the dozens of witnesses – so he must still be there, among them. If the traffic jam stays put, they’re all in danger; if the traffic clears, she’ll lose her suspect. The clock is ticking, but she doesn’t know how fast.

My Thoughts: very cleverly done, you know the killer is around you, you’re all stuck and no one can leave, but you don’t know who it is..

This book felt so real, it was so atmospheric that I felt like I was in the traffic jam, I could feel the hot stickiness of being stuck in the car, the tiredness and frustration of having a busy day and not being able to get home.. I even felt pressure in my bladder when Billy kept talking about how much she needed a wee!

Such a diverse cast of characters, all with their own possible motives making it plausible for absolutely any of them to have done it.

You’ve got the estate agent from out of town, the lady who has been in prison, the ‘couple’ who claim to have just met but are far too over friendly for that to be true and a whole lot more.

The suspense building and the tension it creates is perfection, the book made me feel on edge, uneasy and absolutely terrified to ever be stuck in traffic again.

This might just be one of my favourite thrillers, if not books of the year.

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Before I start, let me apologise to the tour organiser, the author and the publisher that this review is actually 3 days late. I forgot to put it in my calendar 🤦🏻‍♀️

Today I have a review for Threes a Crowd by Christy McKellen, 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: 242

Synopsis: Right guy, wrong time …

Daisy’s perfectly content with her life. She’s got a job she likes, a nice enough flat, and in a relationship with childhood best friend Adam. She’s got used to the lack of fireworks – after all, you can’t put a price on friendship being the foundation of everything.

But they say you never forget your first, and Daisy has never forgotten how she felt that one summer with Zach – one electrifying, yet slightly embarrassing fumble in the dark.

The catch? Zach was also her and Adam’s best friend growing up. Now he’s back, after making his fame in Hollywood, and he has the same to-die for smile and cheeky glint in his eye… but Daisy has made her choice and it’s Adam – right?

Can Daisy follow her heart without anybody else’s hearts getting broken in the process?

My Thoughts: I have been spoilt this year with the new authors I have discovered, which is both brilliant and terrible, it means I have to add yet more books to my never ending TBR 😂

To begin with we’re following Daisy, Zach and Adam along with a couple of other friends 6 years before the main bulk of the book which sets the rest of it up nicely.. Adam is the nice but under confident friend, Daisy is the dizzy female friend who everyone assumes knows nothing & Zach is the typical macho male arsehole friend.. the events that happen in the first few chapters are the reason the characters are the way they are as the story goes forward so make sure you pay attention 😉

Fast forward 6 years, Adam and Daisy are together but just going through the motions and Zach is a famous film star who is coming home for a visit..

I absolutely adored this book, it’s your typical Rom com love triangle that also seems to flip everything on its head!

Adam was a miserable main character, I didn’t like him at all, but I think that was probably done on purpose so that the differences between him and Zach were more obvious., that being said I didn’t necessarily agree with the way he was treated at times.

The banter and the chemistry between Daisy and Zach was instantly noticeable and at times very very hot, I think I needed more though, I could’ve done with this book being longer 😅

It’s fun, it’s flirty and at times a little sexy. It had me unable to put it down and was finished in a single afternoon.

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Today I am on the tour for The Surprise Party by Julia Crouch, thank you to Sarah Hardy at Bookouture for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 343

Synopsis: This trip was meant to save our marriage. Instead it will destroy everything…

To celebrate my special birthday, my husband and I have returned to the beautiful Greek island village where we spent our honeymoon. As the boat pulls in to the harbour, I feel hope rise in my heart. The white houses, the blue doors, the brilliant turquoise of the sea, are just as I remember. If two weeks in this paradise won’t fix our marriage, nothing will.

But then the next day a boat arrives, full of my friends and family. My grown-up children jump on to the shore, grinning and holding balloons. My husband beams at me and says, “Surprise!”

I can’t believe it. It was meant to be just the two of us. This was my chance to confess what I’ve been hiding for years, the truth that will change everything.

Now I’m surrounded by all the people I’ve been desperate to escape, all the secrets I’ve been pretending I don’t know. I force a smile on to my face, but inside I want to kill my husband.

But even after my party ended in disaster, I didn’t expect anyone to die…

My Thoughts: Eve and her husband have returned to their honeymoon destination years after their wedding to celebrate Eves 50th.. A beautiful location, her husband and some alone time with him to share some secrets that have been weighing heavy on her heart for so many years.…

Unfortunately the arrival of her family and friends on the island as a birthday surprise puts a stop to that & also brings with it a whole boatload of other problems and secrets.

This one was so hard to put down, another one sitting read for me, so many characters and so many secrets, you didn’t know what was going to happen from one page to the next. The writing was weighty and atmospheric it had me in an absolute chokehold!

People turn up dead, others have revelations and secrets that you wouldn’t even imagine to be possible and just when you think you’ve seen it all another layer of craziness is added!

You absolutely have to pick this one up this summer.. although I’ll be honest.. I don’t think I ever want another surprise party ever again.

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Today I am on the tour for The Butterfly Garden by Rachel Burton, 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: 331

Synopsis: A gripping and beautiful tale of love, loss and secrets. Perfect for fans of Rachel Hore, Lorna Cook and Kathryn Hughes.
1963: When Clara Samuels buys Butterfly Cottage, she knows the scandal she’ll cause. A single woman buying property is not the ‘done thing’, especially not in a village like Carybrook. But Clara has been in love with Butterfly Cottage, and its garden, since she used to play there before the War. And when she reconnects with her childhood friend James, her decision feels serendipitous. But the true scandal is yet to come, because within six months, Clara will leave England under mysterious circumstances, and Butterfly Cottage will stand empty for more than 50 years.

2018: No one is more surprised than Meredith when she’s bequeathed a cottage by a great aunt she’d never heard of. She hopes, briefly, that the inheritance could be the answer to her financial problems. But when she arrives in Suffolk, she is shocked to discover a man is already living there. A young gardener, who claims he was also bequeathed half of Butterfly Cottage.

As the pair try to unravel their complicated situation, they unearth a decades old mystery involving Clara, the garden, and a stack of letters left unread for over 50 years…

My Thoughts: when I saw the cover of this one I instantly knew I had to be a part of the tour, it just looks magical and completely drew me in..

Upon reading the synopsis I then learnt that it was a multiple timeline and POV book which we all know is one of my faves so I was definitely sold!

The story is equally as magical as the cover suggests, and no I don’t mean magical in the physical sense, there’s just something about the writing that makes you forget the world around you, you’re thrown into the lives of both Clara and Meredith, living 55 years apart, but you know that somehow their stories will come together in some way.

Both women experience love, loss and uncertainty in their lives and full of self doubt until they find butterfly cottage.

A book full of secrets that you can’t stop turning the pages to unravel.. heartbreaking and unbelievable in places, but also full of positivity and humour too.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and will be shouting about it to everyone.

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Today I am on the tour for When Skies Are Grey by Fran Clark, 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: 300

Synopsis:

Behind the glitter of fame and fortune is a past that threatens to expose Rayna’s darkest secrets.

In the 1950s, a young West Indian girl arrives in London, eager to start a new life and quickly finds herself entangled with two powerful men. It is when she reveals her talent as a singer that the balance of power shifts and her fresh start can begin. Her success grows but so does the weight of her past.

Haunted by the promises she broke and the consequences of a day she will never forget, Rayna must make a difficult decision: continue hiding the truth or risk losing everything she has gained.

Will her life as a young girl destroy the world of the woman she has become, or will those she loves find it in their hearts to forgive her?

For fans of historical fiction with a touch of drama and mystery, When Skies Are Grey is a captivating tale of a woman’s struggle to make a new beginning.

My Thoughts: Fran has done it again and written a deeply thought provoking, emotional yet uplifting story, with characters that you can’t help but fall in love with and root for.

Rayna has escaped her life in Dominica when things went in a direction she didn’t approve of, finds work in a bar in west London, where they discover she can sing, like really sing.

The story that follows is Rayna following her dreams, or at least what other people interpret her dream to be, falls in and out of love and repeatedly gets haunted by her very dark past.

There’s twists throughout to keep you gripped and keeps the narrative fresh.

I can’t say too much as the joy of the story is not knowing where it’s going or what’s coming next.

One thing I will say though is that Fran has made me a fan of Historical fiction & that is an achievement in itself!

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Today I am on the tour for Couples Retreat by Lorraine Brown, 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: 335

Synopsis:

Two writers. One pressing deadline. No time for romance…

Scarlett and Theo have one bestselling novel to their names: the psychological thriller they wrote together years ago. None of the books they’ve written separately have sold anywhere near as well…

Now at risk of being dropped by their respective publishers, their agent tells them that working together is the only way to save their careers and sends them off on a writers’ retreat in the south of France.

It wouldn’t be the worst way to spend a summer–except that they’ve accidentally been booked on a couples retreat instead, and spending so much time together stirs up some very inconvenient feelings!

With their careers on the line and a pressing deadline, romance is the last thing on their minds…

My Thoughts: it was actually the cover that drew me into this book, it’s fun & flirty & makes you wonder what the characters are like..

And fun and flirty also sums up the story itself, both authors collectively are award winning but separately they’re books have been a bit of a flop so their agent has signed them both up to a writers retreat (or so they think!) to encourage them to write another best seller.. the problem being that they haven’t spoken for years!

Turns out they’ve actually been signed up to a couples retreat, no backing out, no refunds and they have to take part in every aspect of the retreat including relationship counselling 🫣

We know very early on that both Theo and Scarlett are hiding something about their past together, it’s hinted at a few times, which for me built up the suspense of the will they won’t they aspect of the story.. it was so angsty and at times I just wanted to shove them together and make them realise what they were missing.

The story was laugh out loud funny at times, full of heart and had me constantly turning the pages to see where the story went.. let’s just say I wasn’t disappointed!

Scarlett as a main character started off unsure and full of self doubt, but with the help of people she met at the retreat and Theo too, she really started to blossom and her confidence started to build.. the character development was spot on 👌🏼

This was my first go at Lorraine’s writing but I can promise you it won’t be the last, I bloody loved it.

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Today I am on the tour for Dylan Dover Into The Vortex by Lynne Howard, 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: 285

Synopsis: Dylan Dover was an ordinary boy… until a fall into another realm transformed his fate – and the fate of this immortal realm – forever. 

Dylan believes he is a typical twelve-year-old until he stumbles into a vortex that miraculously transports him to the immortal dimension, a parallel universe.

Dylan not only learns that he is a warlock, but he also discovers a twin brother, extraordinary powers, and a secret prophecy that seems to have Dylan and his family at its crux. Dylan, along with his brother and their new-found wizard friend Thea, begin to unravel the mystery that surrounds their birth and the danger that threatens immortals and humans alike.

In a stunning debut, Lynne Howard’s Dylan Dover: Into the Vortex casts a potent reader’s charm over all youngsters clamouring for a new supernatural hero.

My Thoughts: I don’t know why, but I went into this expecting a nice easy going children’s book with a sprinkle of fantasy.. what I actually got was a middle grade book choc full of fantasy, with a whole lot of twist and turns!

I was hooked pretty early on, I loved Dylan as a main character, he was instantly likeable, had the strength needed to get through the tough times ahead but wasn’t afraid to show a touch of vulnerability too, which I think is an important representation with boys in books.

He is the thrown into a world of prophecies & magic, learns he has not just one identical twin brother Remy, but that he might actually be a triplet?!

It’s not long before he realises that the life he used to know is over and that he will spend most of his time now evading capture, but with his brother Remy and his new friend Thea by his side he can get through anything can’t he?

I really did adore this one and cannot wait for the next instalment.

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Today I am on the tour for Terrible Humans by Patrick Alley, thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank k you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 352

Synopsis: A small number of people, motivated by an insatiable greed for power and wealth, and backed by a pinstripe army of enablers (and sometimes real armies too), have driven the world to the brink of destruction. They are the super-villains of corruption and war, some with a power greater than nation state and the capacity to derail the world order. Propping up their opulent lifestyles is a mess of crime, violence and deception on a monumental scale. But there is a fightback: small but fearless groups of brilliant undercover sleuths closing in on them, one step at a time.

In Terrible Humans, Patrick Alley, co-founder of Global Witness and the author of Very Bad People, introduces us to some of the world’s worst warlords, grifters and kleptocrats who can be found everywhere from presidential palaces to the board rooms of some of the world’s best known companies. Pitted against them, the book also follows the people unravelling the deals, tracking the money and going undercover at great risk. From the oligarch charged with ordering the killing of an investigative journalist to the mercenary army seizing the natural resources of an entire African country, this is a whirlwind tour of the dark underbelly of the world’s super powerful and wickedly wealthy, and the daring investigators dragging them into the light

My Thoughts: I do love a book like this, it’s a deep dive into the real goings on of the corrupt people of the world! – I’m so glad that there are people like Patrick who will devote their lives to investigating the things and the people who most journalists will stay away fr for their own safety!

I was hooked from the start, some of it was so unbelievable that you could almost be convinced it was fiction. It absolutely beggars belief the lengths some people will go to to achieve their desires, but what a lot of people don’t realise is that there are other people that are equally determined to catch the criminals and find justice for the victims.

This gave me my crime fix, whilst leaving me perfectly safe and in my happy place with a book and a cup of tea on the sofa.

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Today I am on the tour for Second Chance Summer by Phillipa Ashley, 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: 400

Synopsis: From the moment Lily Harper arrives at a remote retreat on the breath-taking Scilly Isles, she is itching to get back to civilisation – and her thriving business.

Slowing down simply isn’t in her vocabulary, and so she quickly clashes with the gorgeous but dour Sam who runs the retreat.

Just as Lily is about to give up and leave, disaster strikes, and she is involved in an incident that changes her perspective on everything.

Lily is no longer sure she wants to return to the life she thought she loved. But will she have the courage to give the retreat, and Sam, a second chance?

My Thoughts: I’ve only read a couple of books by Phillips Ashley before, I find them easy to get lost in and difficult to put down.

Second Chance Summer was exactly the same but on steroids, I loved it straight away, I wanted Richie to be my best friend, he was kind, caring without being overbearing & really quite funny to!

We’re following Lily, she’s a workaholic, doesn’t know the meaning of delegating and absolutely rubbish at having a day off, her family and work colleagues have let her get on with it until Richie finds her on the office floor after she’s fainted.

They send her to the Isle of Scilly to try an up and coming retreat where she meets Sam, Morven & Elspeth.

Things aren’t plain sailing, there’s no phone signal and no wifi where they are and that seems like the end of the world to Lily.. how is she supposed to run her business without her phone?!

The story that follows is both heartwarming and devastating in places, a lot of feelings need to be dealt with by various characters.

The descriptions of the places in this story were absolutely captivating, made it so easy to picture them in my head & made me want to visit them in real life at some time.

If you’re looking for the perfect summer romance that will give you the warm and fuzzies, but give life to the story and the characters too, then look no further.. you’ve found it!

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Today I am on the tour for The British Bloke Decoded by Geoff Norcott, 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: 288

Synopsis: If you see a man drinking a pint in an airport pub alone, that’s a bloke. 
If you see a man driving to the tip on a Saturday morning with a smile on his face, that’s a bloke. 
And if you see a man heading back from the tip and on the way to the pub, that’s a very happy bloke.

The British Bloke appears simple and straightforward. He loves football, cricket, beer and sheds. But beneath that simple exterior lies a mysterious and complex being…

In The British Bloke Decoded, writer, comedian and regular bloke, Geoff Norcott, peels back the layers of blokedom, revealing the truth behind the behaviour of Britain’s husbands, dads, brothers and friends. He dives into the value of banter, the roots of mansplaining, the near impossibility of getting blokes to send birthday cards, and whether there could be a medal system for vacuuming.

Based on 46 years of intensive field research and semi-scientific insights, this book is a celebration of. the simple British bloke in all his splendour.

My Thoughts: this book is absolutely spot on, I may not be a British bloke but I have brothers coming out of my ears and I was raised my dad.. let me tell you this book had me in fits of laughter multiple times!

At certain points within the book I could picture my brother/dad/boyfriend doing everything he described.

I did find myself switching to the audio book part way through & that really enhanced the experience for me.

I was so immersed in what Geoff was saying & it felt so real, almost like he was sat on the sofa having a cuppa with me.

This book really did hit me right in the feels, I lost my dad in 2022 and the memories this book brought up had me smiling & made me a shed a tear more than once.

It really is one of those books that you’re not sure you’ll enjoy, you doubt if it’s for you, but before you know it you’re 100 pages deep and finding it impossible to put down.

It probably helps that ‘bloke’ is my favourite word (don’t ask, I can’t tell you why, because I don’t know myself 😂)

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