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Today I am on the tour for The Au Pair by Jane Renshaw, 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: 352

Synopsis: The Davidsons seem like a normal family. But they do have one little secret…

American student Alice Snyder was excited to be spending the summer in Scotland, working as an au pair for the Davidson family at their remote lodge. But one month after she arrived, Alice disappeared without trace.

Now the new au pair, Melanie, has arrived – and soon notices that the Davidsons are a bit odd. There’s the strange comings and goings at night, the creepy paying guests, and sinister uncle Gray who makes her flesh crawl.

And then there’s the worrying scratch marks on the floor of the au pair’s bedroom. Did Alice try to barricade herself in? What could she have been so afraid of? Are the Davidsons somehow linked to her disappearance? And is Melanie herself now in danger?

As she desperately tries to find out what happened to Alice, Melanie begins to understand that this old house harbours a truly horrifying secret. Alice was its last victim, but she might be its next…

My Thoughts: this one was a one sitting read for me, I couldn’t put it down!

There was tension, suspense, secrets, lies and red herrings galore there was literally no way of knowing which was the story was going.

It’s told in multiple timelines from different perspectives and we all know that’s my favourite type of thriller, it gives you a well rounded look at the story as it unfolds whilst cleverly hiding hints to the upcoming twists throughout!

There were possibilities when it came to Alice and what had happened to her that my head just kept going round in circles, Melanie was also another one that threw me off kilter a little whilst reading, I was constantly wondering if she was somehow involved in Alice’s disappearance or if she knew more than she was letting on!

Parts of this book had me feeling really uncomfortable in the best possible way, I really enjoyed it and it’s one I would highly recommend to fans of psychological thrillers!

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Today I am on the tour for An Honest Living by Dwyer Murphy, thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part.

Pages: 289

Synopsis: Brooklyn, mid-2000s. After leaving behind the comforts of a prestigious law firm, a restless attorney attempts to make ends meet by picking up odd jobs from a colourful assortment of clients. When the mysterious Anna Reddick turns up at his apartment with ten thousand dollars in cash and asks him to track down her missing husband, he trusts it will be an easy case. That is until the real Anna Reddick shows up – a magnetic but unpredictable literary prodigy – and he finds himself out of his depth and drawn into a series of deceptions involving Joseph Conrad novels, unscrupulous booksellers and seedy real estate developers.

Set against the tail end of the analogue era, An Honest Living is a gripping story of artistic ambition, obsession, and the small crimes we commit against one another every day.

My Thoughts: this was an interesting book in that, as you’re reading it, it feels like you’re just going through the motions of someone’s life and not a lot is happening, but it slowly draws you in and before you know it you’re knee deep in secrets and lies with no way out!

The main character is never actually named or really described past being identified as a male which I thought was very clever as it left open to the readers interpretation! – unless I missed something somewhere 😅

Lots of interesting characters who all add something different to the story but there was one in particular that our main character was drawn back to repeatedly!

I’ll be honest and say this isn’t my normal kind of book, I like my crime fiction fast paced and hard hitting. But it’s definitely worth a read if you’re looking for something a little slower where the point of the book is the story itself as a whole, it’s intriguing and something you will find yourself invested in.

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Today I am on the tour for The Trigger Man by Aiden Bailey and I have a spotlight for you, thank you to Zoé at Zooloos Book Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part.

Pages: 372

Synopsis: He’s a good guy who kills bad guys for a living.

CIA operative Mark Pierce is a trained killer with a strict moral code – he only targets those who truly deserve to die. So he has no qualms about taking out Victor Vautrin, an international arms dealer supplying fanatical terrorists in West Africa who may soon trigger a brutal civil war.

But when he is tasked with other objectives – rescue kidnapped tourists, recover eleven million dollars of stolen CIA money – it quickly becomes clear to Pierce that someone doesn’t want him to succeed in his primary mission.

Pierce makes a decision – if the game is rigged, he won’t play by the rules. He goes rogue, crossing the hellish Sahara in relentless pursuit of his target, Vautrin.

And comes face to face with a terrifying conspiracy – not to stop the war, but to start it. Powerful players are behind this chilling plan which will cost thousands of lives – and now only Pierce can stop them.

Unless they kill him first.

About The Author:

Aiden Bailey is an international bestselling thriller author from Australia. Formerly an engineer, he built a career marketing multi-national technology, engineering, and construction companies. His various roles have included corporate communications with the Australian Submarine Corporation, technical writing for several defence contractors, engineering on an outback petroleum pipeline, a magazine editor and art director, and engineering proposal writer for the Royal Australian Air Force’s surveillance and intelligence gathering aircraft and drone enabling works. Aiden has travelled widely in six continents and his experiences are the basis of many of his stories.

If you like the sound of this it can be bought here!

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Today I am on the tour for Last Chance in Paris by Lynda Marron and I have a spotlight for you. Thank you to Tracy at Compulsive Readers for organising it and inviting me to take part.

Pages: 284

Synopsis: When her husband suggests a romantic break, Claire feels obliged to say yes but immediately regrets it. After the tragedy they’ve been through, how can one weekend in Paris save their marriage?

Claire and Ronan aren’t the only people on a make-or-break visit to the City of Love. There is a big-shot movie producer from Hollywood, full of regret for a life ill-lived; a student from Boston, torn between love and duty; a Ukrainian refugee struggling to protect her little sister; and an old woman from Dijon, hoping to be braver than she has ever had to be before.

When their lives briefly intertwine, something extraordinary happens…

About The Author: Lynda Marron was born in Dublin and spent her early childhood in a small town called Prosperous in Co. Kildare. At the age of nine she moved to Cork. She has not yet mastered the language.

In her teens, she learned that reading curbed her anxiety, and that writing swept it clean away. Thus began her addiction to ink.

Lynda graduated from University College Cork in the mid-nineties with two degrees in microbiology, neither of which brought her any closer to her dream of writing a novel. She opted for the longer route, the Life Experience Creative Writing Course, which included teaching English to Italian teenagers, filing letters in a GP’s surgery, writing listicles for an online bookseller, and a twenty-five year module called Read
All the Books.

She has made and raised four lovely humans, each of whom she taught to read. When she isn’t busy writing her second novel, you’ll find her reading, not weeding, in her rewilded garden. Her greatest ambition is to one day plant a forest, or even just an oak.

Last Chance in Paris is her debut novel.

If you like the sound of this it can be bought here!

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Pages: 424

Synopsis: AIDA
I’ve endured fifteen years of underwhelming marital sex with Lord John Russell.
One front-page tell-all from his secretary puts an end to that misery pretty efficiently.
As the media furore rages around our divorce, two things become abundantly clear.
One. It’s time for some decent orgasms.
Which is why I’ve joined the Unfurl programme at London’s top sex club, Alchemy.
Two. It’s time to take control of the narrative. For myself and for other women.
And that’s why I plan to document my sexual revolution on camera.

CAL
Sexy AF celebrity, Aida Russell, is looking for a mentor on her journey to reclaim her sexuality.
As co-founder of London’s most exclusive sex club, I’m her man.
I’ll make her come.
Make her forget.
Untether her from the constraints of her past.
I warn her at the outset not to get emotionally attached. I don’t do commitment.
But when she begins to revel in the new-found liberty I helped her find, I’m the one who struggles.
I should be proud. Relieved.
Job done, right?
But the higher she soars, the more attached I get.

Untether is a spicy reverse age gap romance (10 years’ age gap) where he falls first. It’s full of the searing heat levels, glamour, and mega-feels you’ve come to expect from the Alchemy series.

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Review: welll.. I think Cal might just be my favourite Alchemy founder. 😩🥺

I started this book feeling this book was a little different to the others, there was less sex, well not necessarily less, but it was later in the book it started, but boy was it worth it!

It was hot, steamy & very intense, but it all made for fantastic reading 😂 the chemistry between the two was off the charts & let me tell you the bloke who we all thought wasn’t one for settling down, fell first and fell hard, he was very aware of Aida’s wants and needs & was very gentlemanly in the way he looks after her feelings. I just wanted to wrap him up and give him a bloody big cuddle.

Aida was a lady who knew what she wanted & went after it, but in a very public way to show women that it’s ok to still want good sex in their 40’s.. everyone sees her as a force to be reckoned with & for the most part she is, but she has a vulnerable softer side that Cal seems to bring out of her.

Some of the role play on this book was just spot on 👌🏼👌🏼 it’s not my tastes but something about seeing a woman finally admit her sexual desires and receive them with no judgement from the other party just hit the spot, I was almost cheering them on 😅

Although these books do read as stand alone’s I do think you need to start from the beginning to appreciate the growth in all the characters.

Well done Elodie for surpassing my expectations once again.

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Today I am on the tour for Hurt Runs Within by Zoltan Vincze, 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: Afghanistan, 2012. Mackay Connolly has been medically discharged from the British army following an IED explosion killing three members of his team. He barely survives. To keep Mackay alive, a cutting-edge synthetic bone structure called Phragazom is implanted.

Back in the UK, PTSD engulfs him, leading to a deep depression. However, a budding friendship with Renee Cross, a wheelchair-bound military boxing instructor with her own traumatic past brings a glimmer of hope.

When tragedy strikes again and Mackay’s brother and most of his family are killed at an Australian winery, he is driven to uncover the truth and find his surviving nephew. Together, Mackay and Renee embark on a quest, travelling from one corner of the world to the other to bring those responsible to justice. Mackay, however, has no idea how powerful his synthetic upgrade really is…

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: well this one was bloody brilliant, I wasn’t sure if I’d like it.. I totally judged the book by the cover and I was convinced it was going to be too heavy for me, but boy was I wrong.. although I will say the first couple of chapters were very medical explanation heavy which did put me off slightly

Mackay is a force to be reckoned with, especially with his fancy new bone structure it almost makes him superhuman 🤣

Renee is quite possibly my favourite fictional character ever, as a disabled woman myself, it’s always brilliant when the representation is not only positive but absolutely blew my expectations out of the water, she’s strong independent and an absolute badass!

This book is one hell of a wild ride that will make you laugh, possibly make you cry and also have you on the edge of your seat..

I’ve been very vague with this review but their are reasons, trust me and just pick it up and give it a read.

I will be looking out for more books by Zoltan in the future.

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Today I am on the tour for Death Flight by Sarah Sultoon, 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: 300

Synopsis: Cub reporter Jonny Murphy is in Buenos Aires interviewing families of victims of Argentina’s Dirty War, when a headless torso has washed up on a city beach, thrusting him into a shocking investigation…

Argentina. 1998. Human remains are found on a beach on the outskirts of Buenos Aires – a gruesome echo of when the tide brought home dozens of mutilated bodies thrown from planes during Argentina’s Dirty War. Flights of death, with passengers known as the Disappeared.

International Tribune reporter Jonny Murphy is in Buenos Aires interviewing families of the missing, desperate to keep their memory alive, when the corpse turns up. His investigations with his companion, freelance photographer Paloma Glenn, have barely started when Argentina’s simmering financial crisis explodes around them.

As the fabric of society starts to disintegrate and Argentine cities burn around them, Jonny and Paloma are suddenly thrust centre stage, fighting to secure both their jobs and their livelihoods.

But Jonny is also fighting something else, an echo from his own past that he’ll never shake, and as it catches up with him and Paloma, he must make choices that will endanger everything he knows…

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: this is the second book in The Jonny Murphy series, now this reads as a standalone, but I did miss the introductions to the main characters, but you soon get to learn their personalities!

I didn’t know anything about the dirty war so this was a real eye opener for me, I was fascinated and horrified at the same time, there was layers upon layers and just when you think it doesn’t go any deeper something else happens.

As I was reading it I had to keep reminding myself that it was based on real life events because it was just so shocking, the story was absolutely relentless, the pace is fast and the dangers are constant!

The twist with Paloma threw me for a loop completely, although looking back there was small hints throughout the book that could’ve been followed like a trail left by Hansel and Gretel..

I will definitely be picking up more books from Sarah in the future!

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Today I am on the tour for The Phantom Child by A J Wills, 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: 316

Synopsis: With cracks beginning to show in her marriage, Karina thinks a short break to a luxury villa in Turkey with her husband, Ronan, and their four-year-old son, Jacob, is just what the family needs.

It’ll be a chance to relax, enjoy some good food, and more importantly to reconnect with the people she loves the most.

But on their first morning, Karina is startled to discover she’s slept in late and not been woken by Jacob.

He’s an early riser who always comes into their bed pestering them to make him breakfast.

So where is he? A needle of fear spikes through Karina’s veins.

She rushes to his room, but his bed is empty and he’s nowhere to be found in the villa.

But when she wakes Ronan, frantic with worry, and tells him their son is missing, he stares at her blankly.

He says he has no idea what she’s talking about. They don’t have any children, and he’s certainly never heard of a boy called Jacob…

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: I am genuinely still in awe of what this book did, I can’t even tell you the amount of times I was shocked!

We open to Karina waking up and realising her 4 year old son Jacob had gone missing, but everyone is telling her she didn’t have a child, that she’s imagined the whole thing.. but surely she can’t have imagined the last 4 years of her life.. can she?

She slowly starts to rebuild her life, leaves her husband, gets a new job and a great friend… and then she receives an email that turns her life upside down and had her questioning everything again…

It’s fast paced, it’s proper heart in your mouth stuff, I even shouted “no fucking way” at one point and had to explain to my stepmum what I’d just read because I was so shocked I just needed to let it out!

I found myself turning the pages so fast, but also not wanting the story to end..

If you can deal with the difficult subject matter you definitely need to had this one to your TBR, it’s one hell of a wild ride and I promise you won’t be disappointed!

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Today I am on the tour for A Soul For A Soul by Carol Wyer, thank you to Zoé at Zooloos a book Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 381

Synopsis: The syndicate have taken everything from her. It’s time to take them down—or die trying.

DCI Kate Young never meant to shoot Superintendent John Dickson at the reservoir that night—even if, as a scheming corrupt cop and head of the shady syndicate, he probably had it coming. But now Kate has photographic evidence that someone else knows her terrible secret…

Tormented by guilt and the voices of the dead, Kate is desperate to unmask the rest of the corrupt officers before her own sins catch up with her. When DI Harriet Khatri, awaiting trial for the murder of Kate’s mentor, claims she was framed by Dickson’s syndicate, Kate reluctantly agrees to help in the hope of finding answers.

Meanwhile, DI Emma Donaldson finds herself on the hunt for a double murderer—a man who incapacitates his victims with a powerful narcotic called Devil’s Breath. Desperate to measure up to her role-model boss, Emma finds herself hurled into the deep end in more ways than one…

While Kate’s grip on reality wavers and the syndicate closes in, and with the mystery killer taking a special interest in Emma, could this be the case that defeats both detectives?

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: this is book 5 in the Detective Kate Young series, this one felt very different to the others as Kate had been promoted to DCI, she’s no longer on the front line so to speak, she now has to delegate to both Emma and Morgan, she finds this frustrating as she likes to be in the thick of things, but it does give her more time to look for evidence to bring down the syndicate..

I really enjoyed this one, it had all the twists of previous book with an added layer of suspense and fear because you’re constantly wondering if this will be when all Kates secrets come to light.. whilst really hoping not at the same time.

Even whilst Kate is alone, she’s never really alone as she always has the voice of John Dickson in her head, he’s definitely a part of her past that won’t leave her alone, constantly goading and scaring her, but then we also have the voice of William in the party, always the voice of reason and mentor in life. He continues to be that for her her in death.

I can’t help but feel like this might be the end of the Kate Young series, the book had a kind of finality to it that the others didn’t! – I won’t lie there will be a part of me that will be heartbroken if it is.

I would 100% recommend this book to all fans of crime books and police procedurals, however you will need to start from the beginning of the series, it’s a wild ride but totally worth it!

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Today I am on the tour for Search Party by Hannah Richell, thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the publisher and the author for my copy.

Pages: 395

Synopsis: Five old friends.
One glamping weekend.
A storm that will change everything.

Max and Annie Kingsley have left the London rat race to set up a glamping site in the wilds of Cornwall. They invite old university friends – TV star Dominic, doctor and new mum Kira, and free-spirited Jim and Suze – and their children for a trial weekend but the reunion quickly veers off-course.
First, there’s The Incident around the campfire on the first night. The following afternoon, a storm quickly develops off the rugged North Coast. When one of their group goes missing, all hell breaks loose. And as the winds batter the bell-tents, emotions run high and tension mounts for all the characters.
Who is lying in hospital, who has gone missing and who is the body on the beach below the cliffs . . .?

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: I think it’s fair to say that this book has convinced me that I never want to go glamping.

What started off as a group of friends supporting the possible new business venture of others turned out to be everyone’s worst nightmare when kids start to go missing & someone ends up dead!

Told from various perspectives across different timelines which is always my favourite when it comes to a mystery thriller because it gives you a well rounded look at everything/everyone whilst also leaving you with questions to be answered.

The suspense and the atmosphere in this book were palpable, you could literally feel it oozing through the pages, it had my heart racing, I was holding my breath and biting my lip constantly throughout!

Absolutely brilliant book and I cannot wait to see what Hannah comes up with next.

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