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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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Today I am on the tour for Guns and Almond Milk by Mustafa Marwan, 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 to be completely honest and admit that I’ve messed up, I had the date for this tour in my diary as March so I can only apologise to the author, publisher and everyone involved that I haven’t had chance to finish it yet!

Pages: 240

Synopsis:An adrenaline-fueled journey into war-torn Yemen, this novel is the perfect read for fans of passionate, fast-paced fiction.

 

Luke Larson, a British Egyptian doctor, runs from his problematic past in the UK and becomes a war surgeon. When he is taken hostage by Western security contractors in a besieged hospital in Yemen, he realizes that after spending years saving the lives of others, he needs to face the demons of his past in order to save his own.

 

Guns and Almond Milk is a study of identity, war and redemption.

 

It is The Sympathizer mixed with M.A.S.H by the way of Ramy.

Born to Egyptian parents and raised as a first-generation British Muslim, Luke Larson struggles to be from two worlds at the same time.

 

He is working in a humanitarian mission in Aden, at the height of the Yemeni conflict. Max Gorsky, Luke’s new patient, is a security contractor working for the government forces. Rebel forces have taken over the city, and Max’s team is now taking refuge in the city’s hospital, in preparation for their final stand. Luke and his team find themselves caught in a deadly clash between the ruthless rebel group and the desperate security contractors.

At the same time, Max and Luke need to settle debts from their shared past in the UK where they joined forces in fencing a multi-million-dollar stolen artifact operation that went wrong.

 

Guns and Almond Milk is a fast-paced story of love, murder, and thrill that provides readers with a fresh perspective on humanitarian work, religion, assimilation, and Middle Eastern politics.

Initial Thoughts: you can feel the unease of this story coming through the pages, none of the characters really know wherever they’re coming or going, although all of them are trying their best with the limited resources they have, we haven’t gotten into the nitty gritty of the story yet, but Luke is reliant on painkillers, so I know that something big must’ve happened in his past to make him that way. I love Luke as a character, his vulnerability is really coming through which as weird as it sounds is nice to see in a male main character!

I’m excited to carry on I have a feeling I’m really going to love it.

About The Author:

Mustafa Marwan is an Egyptian writer, aid worker, and trainer with over a decade of experience in more than a dozen conflict zones around the world. His debut novel, Guns and Almond Milk, a 2021 Page Turner Awards Finalist, is set in Yemen and the United Kingdom, where he has lived and worked. Mustafa has a Bachelor’s in Pharmacy and a Master’s in Public Health and has lectured and consulted on topics such as management and leadership, health and social care. He has also facilitated intercultural dialogue programs in several countries.

Mustafa currently resides in Bangkok, Thailand.

Today I am on the tour for In The Shadows by L.B. August, 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: 497

Synopsis: Damned by gods and threaded by fates, two mortals must embrace the darkness to find their true destinies.

Lilith Clarke is supposed to be dead: murdered by the vicious King Oren, her blood staining a field of daisies. But death would have been merciful.

After years of having no name, she is finally given a title: Queen of Umbra. But it will cost her everything. Lily is now bound to King Asher, the most powerful and brutal shadow divinus in all of Omnia. Forced to rule in secret, she slowly loses herself to the darkness. She fears it will swallow her whole.

Until he arrives, tugging an ancient thread deep within her soul.

Theodore Kincaid seeks justice in Umbra but falls captive to his sworn enemy, the ruthless King Asher. Trapped in the kingdom that killed his beloved, his fate seems sealed until a chance encounter with the secret Queen of Umbra offers him an opportunity he can’t resist.

Theo and the Queen each believe that they are in full control, but neither is prepared for what the fates have in store.
Amidst a realm on the brink of chaos, two souls collide in a heart-wrenching tale of unveiling secrets, conquering the darkness, and igniting a love that could save or destroy.

In The Shadows is the first book in a new series filled with forbidden romance, enemies-to-lovers, magical powers, fated mates, and political intrigue. It’s perfect for fans of The Serpent and the Wings of Night, Fourth Wing, The Cruel Prince, One Dark Window, and A Court of Thorns and Roses.

In The Shadows features mature content and themes that are not suitable for all audiences. Reader discretion is advised. For all content warnings, please visit L.B.’s Instagram.

My Thoughts: it’s been a while since I read a fantasy novel and got really lost in it, I find new fantasy worlds overwhelming sometimes now that I read so much, but this one was so seamless I found myself engrossed early on.

The first chapter kicked the book off with a right bang and it just didn’t stop at all, we open with Theo and Lily finally confessing their love for each other, which I knew would be too good to be true.. but what we don’t see coming is the tangled web that their admissions will weave 😩😩

I don’t want to give too much away but this book was just incredible, it’s a bold statement but I think this might just be my favourite book of the year so far.

It’s got characters that are full of heart and will always try and do the right thing, the guards especially will always look out for their queen.

I’m not doing this book justice but I promise you it’s worth the investment of your time and attention I got real ACOTAR vibes & that cliffhanger.. oh my days!!

I cannot wait for the next book in the series!

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