prdgreads

Today I am on the tour for The Saturday Place by Alice Peterson, thank you to Tracy at Compulsive Readers Blog Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 274

Synopsis: Three perfect strangers who help each other to believe in love again

Holly’s husband died, and she’s lonely. She needs to do something to save herself, quickly. Next thing she knows she’s interviewing for a voluntary cooking job, surprised to be ambushed by a scruffy man who looks like he has a past.

Angus has messed up. He’s lost the respect of his family and has none for himself. If it weren’t for his brother and friend who run the café, he’d be sleeping on the streets. Angus is about ready to give up – until he meets Holly, who sparks something in him.

Then Lauren arrives from the homeless shelter. She came to London with nothing but an old train ticket, a teddy bear, and the clothes on her back. With no family, no home, no friends, she doesn’t know what love is. People scare her. She’s terrified of Angus and Holly. At first.

Each of them finds themselves in the Saturday café at a time when they need something to grab hold of. It might have to be each other…

My Thoughts: this book is everything 🥺 I loved it so much.

3 strangers, completely different, all going through their own things come together in the most heartfelt way, healing themselves and each other in the process and watching the transformation in all of them really gave me the feels throughout!

This one was really hard to put down, if I’d known it would grab my heart the way it did I definitely wouldn’t have picked it up on a day where I’d have to put it down to go to work! 😂

I’m really struggling to put my thoughts into words because I know that no words I say will do it justice.

It made me laugh, it made me cry and it also made me realise the true power of community and genuine friendship.

This is my first Alice Peterson book but now I just want to read her entire backlist!

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Today I am on the tour for The Devil Inside by Bethany Russo, 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: 331

Synopsis:Matthew’s life is turned upside down the day his daughter, Lucy, is born. His wife has died, and Gabriel, the all-powerful leader of his world, has taken Lucy to the mortals. Eight years later, Matthew returns from his self-imposed exile looking for answers. He decides to go back home and ask his brother, Lucifer, for help. It becomes Lucifer’s mission to bring Lucy back home.

Lucy’s family has no idea she is not their biological daughter, nor do they know she is spending time with her real father and uncle. Gabriel is unhappy to find out Matthew and Lucifer have been visiting the mortal world, as their actions have been causing collateral damage. He strips Lucifer of his powers to access Lucy.

The mortal clock is ticking quickly. Will Matthew and Lucy ever be reunited
in the place they both belong?

My thoughts: do not be fooled by the cover of this book, the story is dark and heartbreaking, but also bloody brilliant.

I found it really hard to put down I was so invested in Lucy’s life, she is the daughter of Matthew and Emily.. Matthew just happens to be Lucifers brother!

Emily unfortunately dies not long after Lucy is born, Matthew is distraught and worrying about how Lucifer might influence the baby Gabriel decides its best to give her to a surrogate family in the mortal world..

The story is the journey of Matthew and Lucy finding each other again and them both trying to work out if they belong together or apart.

It’s not all doom and gloom, there were some really heart warming moments in the book that just made my heart melt and even brought a tear to my eye, I can honestly say I never thought I’d be on the side of the devil, but here we are 😂

An absolutely fantastic debut novel, I will definitely be looking out for more from Bethany in the future.

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Today I am on the tour for The Porcelain Moon by Janie Chang, 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: 346

Synopsis: France, 1918. In the final days of the First World War, a young Chinese woman, Pauline Deng, runs away from her uncle’s home in Paris to evade a marriage being arranged for her in Shanghai. To prevent the union, she needs the help of her cousin Theo, who is working as a translator for the Chinese Labour Corps in the French countryside. In the town of Noyelles-sur-Mer, Camille Roussel is planning her escape from an abusive marriage, and to end a love affair that can no longer continue. When Camille offers Pauline a room for her stay, the two women become friends. But it’s not long before Pauline uncovers a perilous secret that Camille has been hiding from her. As their dangerous situation escalates, the two women are forced to make a terrible decision that will bind them together for the rest of their lives.

Set against the little-known history of the 140,000 Chinese workers brought to Europe as non-combatant labor during WWI, The Porcelain Moon is a tale of forbidden love, identity and belonging, and what we are willing to risk for freedom.

My Thoughts: firstly can we just talk about how stunning the cover is, I know we’re not supposed to judge a book by it’s cover but I’ll be honest I went into this one not really knowing anything because the cover drew me in on its own!

This might be really ignorant of me but I didn’t know a lot about the Chinese being brought in to work in France during the First World War so this book really opened my eyes to a whole new aspect and although historical fiction isn’t really my thing Janie Chang’s writing made this book accessible and easy to understand.

I got swept up in the story which is told from 2 different perspectives, we have Camille and Pauline, 2 very different women from very different backgrounds, but both equally affected by what’s going on around them.

There are secrets being kept by everyone, some bigger than others obviously & although the premise of the story is one of war and sadness, there is a lighter undertone running through and also a little romance.

I thoroughly enjoyed it & will be recommending it to my friends who are fans of historical fiction.

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Today I am on the tour for Ride The Mountain by Patrick Gooch, 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: 254

Synopsis: Adam Livesey, a professional downhill skier, watches in horror as his close friend, Anatoly Vasiliev, competes in a ski jump that goes tragically wrong. His dying words to Adam are perplexing, but those who caused his death believe what he knew has been passed on. Now, regarded as a threat, Adam must also be silenced.

At his palatial residence on the shores of the Black Sea, the Russian President, Leonie Tupolev, is incensed when he learns of the construction of a larger, even more elaborate building on an adjacent promontory.

Not only will it block Tupolev`s treasured views of the shoreline, it is being built for Leonid Davidenko, head of the Russian Mafia. Adam and Alexei Sokolov join forces to thwart Bratva – the Mafia in Russia responsible for the attempts on Adam`s life.

My Thoughts: this one was so much more than I thought it would be, I read the synopsis and went into it expecting a conspiracy thriller and although that’s what I got.. it was like an onion and had so many layers.

It kept you guessing throughout, whilst we follow Adam trying to realise his dream of being a professional mountain skier, he finds that people are getting hurt, dying and he’s left not knowing who he can trust!

As dark and twisted as this was for the most part it wasn’t all doom and gloom and there were enough light hearted moments to keep you invested.

This one really had me on the edge of my seat and I can’t wait to dive into more of Patrick’s work in the future.

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Today I am on the tour for To Kill A Shadow by Julia Castleton, 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: 370

Synopsis: Julia Castleton is a former Times journalist turned activist blogger. She carries the weight of past trauma and struggles to balance the demands of single motherhood with the challenges of her work.

When a man who has approached Julia with a story is found dead, she is drawn into a political and military conspiracy that reaches high into the corridors of power. Facing the battle of her life, unsure who to trust, Julia must fight like never before to protect her son, save herself and expose the conspiracy ranged against her.

My Thoughts: I both love and hate stories like this, it was fast paced, thoroughly chilling but yet hauntingly realistic!

Julia is a former journalist for a well known paper, but she’s now a blogger who is determined to tell the truth, but when a source for one of her stories ends up dead it sets off a sequence of events that will not only discredit Julia’s work but also endanger her life and the life of her 5 year old son.

Determined to get away from her past and not be associated with her dad who is a lord Julia lives a very simple life in a tiny flat with her son, but it’s theirs and it’s safe, until people turn up in the middle of the night banging on the door with a search warrant.. leaving Alex scared to be in his home, which turns Julia into a dog with a bone to try and get to the bottom of things.

This is one hell of a page turner, I honestly couldn’t get enough because you just don’t know who you can trust, Julia included!

I can’t wait to continue on with the series.

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Today I am on the tour for Still See You Everywhere by Lisa Gardner, thank you to Tracy at Compulsive Readers Blog Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 405

Synopsis: Missing persons specialist Frankie Elkin is on an isolated island off the coast of Hawaii.

Her mission: to find Lani, the missing sister of a Death Row serial killer known as the Beautiful Butcher who is awaiting execution in just three weeks’ time.

According to the Beautiful Butcher’s sources, Lani is being held captive by her millionaire ex-boyfriend on the island. The only way to gain access is for Frankie to go undercover.

But can Frankie really trust the word of a serial killer?

Plus, this island is no paradise with deadly creatures and suspicious co-workers at every turn, and an incoming tropical storm about to cut her off from the outside world.

Could this be Frankie Elkin’s most dangerous case yet?

My Thoughts: this is the first Frankie Elkin book I’ve read, but luckily for me it made sense as a stand-alone

The book opens with one hell of a prologue, it does job of reeling you in and leaving you excited to find out more.

I found it a little slow going after Frankie was on the atoll, it was more about meeting the selection of characters and getting to know the island and its other inhabitants, the descriptions of the surroundings were beautiful and really made it easy to picture it in your mind whilst you were reading!

I really appreciated how the comradeship between certain characters throughout the book, some of them could be trusted from the outset whilst others took some warming up to, I’ll let you figure out who was who!

The real action didn’t really start until maybe the last 1/3 of the book, but it’s at that point that you realise just how many lies and secrets have been weaved into the story and then the book really had sunk its teeth into you.

Definitely one that is worth the read and not to be taken lightly.

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Today I’m on the tour for Hard Contact 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: 236

Synopsis: Thirty tons of gold. One brilliant heist.

The Medusa, a freighter carrying gold bullion worth two billion dollars, is hijacked off the coast of Greece. Using sophisticated technology, the hijackers make the vessel disappear. The CIA’s deputy director, Anya Stein, recruits Breed to locate the vessel and recover the gold.

Breed and Stein trace the missing vessel to the mouth of the Aegean Sea, between the islands of Rhodes and Crete. Realising Breed is on their trail, the hijackers do everything they can to stop him – permanently.

Breed and Stein enlist the aid of a Greek shipping magnate, his fiery daughter, and the USS Pressley Bannon, currently based out of Crete. With their help, Breed uses all his Special Forces training to find the Medusa, break into the hijackers’ base, and serve the killers his own lethal brand of justice.

This time, it’s hard contact all the way.

My Thoughts: I bloody love a Breed thriller, they’re always fast paced with loads of action from the outset that never really lets up.. & this one was no different!

A whole load of gold has gone missing, as has the ship that was carrying it just vanished seemingly without a trace?

It’s at this point that Stein realises she can’t find it alone and enlists the help of Breed & what follows is a journey full of action, secrets and lies.. leaving us unsure as to who is friend or foe, we’ve learnt early on in this series not to trust a single person introduced because deception can come from the unlikeliest of places!

Add in a load of pirates, beautiful scenery & maybe even a little bit of sexual tension between our main characters and what you have is an amazing story that is really very difficult to put down once you get started!

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Today I am on the tour for A Shape On The Air by Julia Ibbotson, 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: 220

Synopsis: Can echoes of the past threaten the present? They are 1500 years apart, but can they reach out to each other across the centuries? One woman faces a traumatic truth in the present day. The other is forced to marry the man she hates as the ‘dark ages’ unfold.

How can Dr Viv DuLac, medievalist and academic, unlock the secrets of the past? Traumatised by betrayal, she slips into 499 AD and into the body of Lady Vivianne, who is also battling treachery. Viv must uncover the mystery of the key that she unwittingly brings back with her to the present day, as echoes of the past resonate through time. But little does Viv realise just how much both their lives across the centuries will become so intertwined. And in the end, how can they help each other across the ages without changing the course of history?

My Thoughts: I thoroughly enjoyed this one which was a bit of a surprise for me as historical fiction isn’t a genre I generally reach for.. but this one really drew me in!

I’d even go as far as to say I was more invested in the characters from 499AD!

The idea of the time slip and Viv not being the only character involved in it was brilliant, it was all done so seamlessly and was never confusing despite the characters all having similar names!

There was real history and research steeped in the pages, the descriptions of the people and the places were so vivid that I could actually see it all unfolding as I was reading it.

I was absolutely fascinated with the whole premise of the book & I have just noticed it is a series so I may have to carry on with it!

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Today I am on the tour for Secrets Of Malta by Cecily Blench, thank you to Tracy at Compulsive Readers Blog 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: Malta, 1943. The war in the air above Malta is over, but the battle for Europe is about to begin.

Margarita, a young singer in a Valletta nightclub, has seen her former lover Henry Dunn only once since breaking off their affair. His wife Vera, an enigmatic archaeologist, arrives at the club to tell her that Henry has disappeared, presumed dead. While investigating, Margarita stumbles upon the hunt for a notorious and dangerous spy: Nero.

As an unlikely bond develops between the two women, and strange secrets emerge, an urgent quest to unmask Nero starts – before he can enact a deadly plan that may threaten the course of the war.

My Thoughts: Historical novels aren’t really my thing, we all know that, but something about the main characters in this book being women and them hunting for a spy, with the idea of all the danger they will get themselves in just really drew me in & I can tell you this definitely did not disappoint!

There were so many elements to this story told in dual timelines, I’ll be honest at first I thought it would be too complicated for me to follow but somehow Cecily made it so easy, the dial timelines wove together very cleverly throughout making it look almost effortless.

There were twists and turns throughout the book I was left now knowing which way the story would go.

I’m not sure which character I preferred, Margarita or Vera, they were both very different, seemed to want the same thing but yet never really worked together in the way that I thought they would.

Full of secrets lies and little ploys to throw you off the scent, this book will keep your attention to the very last page, one that I would consider to be 100% worth the read.

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Today I am on the tour for Immorality Act by Berend Mets, 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: 384

Synopsis: Cape Town, in the 1960s.

Love across the colour bar is a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment.

John Terreblanche, a police reporter seeking redemption, tells the story of a Xhosa nurse, Promise Madiba, a Dutch doctor, Willem Jansen, and a Malay prostitute, Marja de Koning, who engage in a passionate love triangle in the shadow of the Sharpeville massacre, as South Africa lurches towards becoming a Republic.

Violent yet tender, Immorality Act spans from Indonesia to Cape Town and is a moving account of the impact of apartheid, racism and colonialism on lives in the twentieth century, as well as a celebration of the ungovernability of the human spirit.

My Thoughts: this book absolutely broke my heart, because it’s someone else telling their story it kind of felt like diary entries which made the whole thing feel more real.

It was raw and honest, but it absolutely beggars belief that people could be prosecuted or worse for being involved with someone of a different race.

The author does a brilliant job of showing the hardships as well as the beautiful moments that happen to our main characters along the way.

It’s one of those books that is an important read and you know that but you’re torn between putting it down because it’s utterly heartbreaking and being so invested in the characters lives that you need to know what happens and how far the story goes.

I would absolutely recommend this to everyone who feels able to deal with the difficult topic, it’s a story that although is fiction was real for a lot of people and it will stay with you.

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