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Today I am helping to celebrate the release day for The Country Nurse by Sally Tarpey, thank you to Zoé at Zooloos Book Tours for organising it and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 273

Synopsis: 1937. As the storm clouds of war gather over Europe, shy but determined Tilly Truscott leaves her close-knit Hampshire home to train as a nurse at the Royal County Hospital on the Isle of Wight. Thrust into a demanding new world, she forms an unlikely friendship with spirited Fliss Marcheson and finds herself drawn to the charming Dr Jonathan Burrows.

Back home, Tilly’s beloved nephew Ronnie dreams of becoming a pilot. When an act of quiet heroism brings him into the life of Sarah, a young woman hiding heartbreak behind her gentle smile, an unexpected connection sparks between them.

1939. War is declared, and Tilly and Fliss are sent overseas — to France, then the deserts of North Africa — where their friendship becomes a lifeline amid the horrors of the front lines. There, Tilly finds unexpected comfort in the kindness of American surgeon Jed Martinez, forcing her to question where her heart truly lies.

As bombs fall and lives hang in the balance, the Truscotts cling to hope across continents and battlefields. But when Tilly’s ambulance is caught in a deadly bombardment and Ronnie’s Spitfire crashes behind enemy lines, survival will demand extraordinary courage if they are to find their way back to the people they love.

My Thoughts: it’s books like this one that make me doubt myself when I say I’m not a huge fan of historical fiction, I enjoyed it so much that it was read in one day.

This is book 3 in the Truscott Sisters Saga, it will read fine as a stand alone but I would highly recommend reading them all in order to really appreciate everything in this book.

This time we’re following Tilly & Ronnie as they embark on their first jobs/adventures as adults, Tilly is becoming a nurse & Ronnie is wanting to be a pilot, it almost seemed crazy to me that they were old enough for that as we have witnessed them grow up over the 3 books!

Whilst they’re busy working towards their dreams, they both find themselves changing their paths slightly when WW2 is announced.

This book is both heartbreaking and heartwarming in equal measure, there were moments that had me sat there with my heart in my mouth but then in the next chapter I’d find myself with the biggest smile on my face.

I adored all of the characters but I particularly loved Fliss, her sass added a lightheartedness to the story at just the right times.

Thoroughly enjoyed this whole series & I am a little sad that it’s over.

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Today I am on the tour for Because of You by Dawn Treacher, thank you to Hannah at Hygge Book Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 228

Synopsis: All their lives, Hex and Maddison have been as close as a brother and a sister could be, until Hex is found hanging in the woods near their home. After Hex’s death, Maddison continues to live in the shadow of his memory, fleeing from home and the disapproval of her mother and father.
Living alone in the city, in a bedsit where her only company is her own voice and a bottle, Maddison’s apathy becomes fear when she acknowledges that she can foretell when people are going to die, although she is eaten with regret that she could not prevent Hex’s death.
When Maddison meets Hugo, she feels the stirrings of love but cannot rid herself of her obsession with Hex. Her disturbing visions of death begin to overtake Maddison’s mind and lead her to a strange and dangerous conclusion about her lover, one which could ultimately lead to murder.

Because of You is Dawn Treacher’s first foray into the world of psychological thrillers and is a dark and despairing look at a broken mind and what happens when familial love becomes obsession. Talented author Dawn is also an accomplished children’s fiction writer as well as the Green Fingered Sleuth murder mystery series of cosy crime books and one speculative fiction work. We look forward to more from this prolific and popular author.

My Thoughts: when I tell you I was not prepared for how chilling & haunting this book was, absolutely my fault. I had the other books of Dawns that I have read in my head which are cozy mysteries.

This was straight up psychological thriller & I was hooked.

Maddison has the ability to see how people will die when she looks at them, not everyone of course or the poor woman would never leave the house, she can see the brutal ones, the victims of assault & murder, her visions can be quite graphic too so beware of that when going in.

The premise of that really drew me in, because why could she see them.. what is it about her that makes that possible?

I felt the grief so brutally in this book, it felt so real & honest, Maddison really loved Hex, some would say too much that their relationship was almost bordering crossing a line, but the heartbreak and devastation was very apparent, getting little glimpses into his journal made him feel like a very present part of her life and her story despite him dying all those years ago.

I’m not really sure I’m going this book justice with my review but the writing was beautiful, but left a chill in my spine and had my whole body in goosebumps more than once.

I’m also proud to say that I didn’t see the final twist coming at all, completely threw me off.

Dawn, I think it’s fair to say you’ve found your genre & I can’t wait to see what comes next 🙌🏼

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Today I am on the tour for Don’t Answer The Phone by Miranda Rijks, thank you to Zoé at Zooloos Book Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part and the n you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 290

Synopsis: She’s the woman of his dreams. He’s the monster from her nightmares.

When Daniella rescues elderly Peggy from a mugger on a Boston street, she expects nothing in return. But then she meets Peggy’s son, Lucas—devastatingly handsome and utterly captivating. Unlike her distant husband Grant, Lucas sees her. Wants her.

Daniella can’t resist and they spend one reckless night together which she immediately regrets.

Too late, because Lucas doesn’t just want Daniella. He needs her. And he’s willing to destroy everything—and everyone—standing in his way.

Lucas plays the long game, worming his way into Daniella’s life—befriending Grant, charming her twin daughters, inveigling his way into her family. Every time she turns around, he seems to be there.

As the depths of his obsession become clear, Daniella realizes she’s in a fight for her life. Because the family she tried to help is hiding something dark. Something deadly.

And she’s already in too deep to escape.

My Thoughts: well Miranda has done it again, written a book that hooks you straight away & has you on the edge of your seat until the very end.

And you can guarantee getting to that point won’t be straight forward, you’ll be pulled backwards and forwards until you don’t know which way is up & you’ll have yourself convinced that you’re somehow the bad guy 😂

In this one we’re following Danielle, a mum of 2 teenage girls who are about to go travelling, which she believes will give her and her husband a chance to work on their marriage which is feeling a bit stagnant.

She never thought that helping a woman after she was mugged would cause her life to take a turn that there was no coming back from, but saving Peggy leads her to Lucas & once Lucas has her in his sights he will do anything to make her his.

This book felt so real and so dark, Lucas was absolutely terrifying, but what a skill Miranda has as a writer to have the ability to make me so uncomfortable but at the same time to have me so wrapped up in the story that it’s impossible to stop reading.

I’m almost scared to think about what she might come out with next.

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Today I am on the tour for The Accidental Agony Aunt by Sarah Edghill, 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: 266

Synopsis: She can fix everyone’s problems — except her own.

Connie is great at giving advice. But she’s terrible at taking it. Stuck in a dead-end job, living in a shabby house-share and dating a man she doesn’t really love anymore, her life is falling apart. But when she helps out her best friend, then offers a few pearls of wisdom to a social media influencer, everything changes.

Overnight, Connie goes viral. DMs flood in, follower numbers skyrocket and strangers are hanging on her every word. She’s even offered a TV interview. There’s just one problem… the woman who can solve everyone else’s issues is completely losing control.

As her job, friendships and reputation start to unravel — while the gorgeous TV producer Toby keeps appearing wherever she goes — Connie has to decide what really matters. Is it the online fame she never asked for, or finally finding the courage to take her own advice?

My Thoughts: I haven’t read anything by this author before which surprises me now that I see how long her backlist is, but it meant I went in not knowing what to expect at all!

I enjoyed the book, the writing style was perfect for me, it was funny and heart warming, that being said I just couldn’t get on with Connie as a main character, I found her whiny and annoying, the more I read I started to think it was done on purpose because she wasn’t exactly surrounded by the most encouraging of people, her boyfriend Angus was awful, I wanted to slap him upside the head whilst shaking Connie and telling her she deserved better! – after speaking to other reviewers, Connie split the group with most of them loving her so I guess it goes to show how subjective reading is!

I was hooked on the story itself though, constantly hoping that Connie would finally get her break that something would go right for her and that everything would fall into place, she really is the kind of character you just want to hug and protect & shield from everything especially the media once they get hold of her story.

Rufus was a big hit for me, once we got to know him properly he was an absolute sweetheart and the cause of a lot of my laugh out loud moments within the book!

I found this pretty hard to put down once it was invested so this definitely won’t be my last Sarah Edghill book!

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Hi 👋🏼

Today I’m posting a review of False Truths by C.D. Steele, thank you to Chris himself for the copy of his book in exchange for an honest review.

Pages: 187

Synopsis: Private Investigator and former MI6 agent Joe Wilde is hired by Sally Devlin to investigate her son’s disappearance. Liam Devlin was a rising football star. His car was found abandoned at Lea Bridge in Hackney, a known suicide spot, six weeks prior. With help from friend and retired MI6 Data Technician Mark Thompson, Joe uncovers a huge secret in Liam’s life. Putting the pieces together, he starts to suspect that this case is far more complex than he originally envisioned. Falling ever deeper into his own investigations, Joe meets with the detective in charge of the case, D. I. Carl Whatmore, who does not take kindly to Joe getting involved. As Joe and D. I. Whatmore go head-to-head in their own investigations, more lives are put in danger. But who will crack the case? Only time will tell…

My Thoughts: I was very quickly reminded of how fast paced C.D. Steele’s writing is, there’s no pussy footing around or flowery back story for any of our characters and it’s straight into the action, I know this won’t be for everyone but for me this works really well.

It leaves me wrapped up in the story & constantly wanting to turn the pages, I was almost surprised I didn’t get friction burn on my fingers I was turning the pages on my kindle so fast 😂

This is the first book in the Joe Wilde series, he’s a PI and had been hired by a distraught mother of a footballer who has gone missing, presumed dead, but she is almost 100% convinced he’s still alive, although Joe isn’t sure he should be taking the job he knew the money would help.

He doesn’t hold back and throws himself in with both barrels, very quickly he finds a thread that might prove Liams mum right but little did he know that pulling that thread would unravel and lead to a story that had so many layers and lead him in so many different directions until he gets to the truth.

For such a short book this one packs one hell of a punch, I thoroughly enjoyed it & was hooked from start to finish.

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Today I am on the tour for Out Dream Home by Jessica Huntley, 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: 266

Synopsis: We’ve won a multi-million-pound house in the Cotswolds. It’s a dream come true. But the nightmare is just beginning.

I never won anything until now.

Most days, I’m just getting through — looking after my teenagers, working in a job I don’t really like, wishing my husband would notice me once in a while.

Now we’re living in a house bigger than my wildest dreams.

The threats start immediately.

The day we move in, the woman next door comes over, with a bottle of red wine. She eyes my husband like he’s a succulent piece of meat.

Then I get a message congratulating me . . . and saying they know about what happened sixteen years ago. The mistake that ruined everything.

And things are about to get even worse.

My Thoughts: I think I just need to hold my hands up at this point and admit that Jessica is officially my favourite psychological thriller author.. she somehow turns ‘every day’ situations and make them dark and twisted, taking you along for the ride the whole time!

In this one we’re following Fiona, her life seems perfect on the outside but as you start looking closer you realise that you never know what goes on behind closed doors, they’re struggling financially and not sure how they’re gonna survive.

Just on the off chance Fiona enters a radio competition to win a huge house in the country all bills paid for a year, could this be the thing that turns their life around? – after all, you have to be in it to win it right?

After winning the house and moving in Fiona quickly realises that you can’t always outrun your past & everything she’s fought for could all come crashing down around her.

This book was chilling, I had a really horrible feeling all the way through, almost like I was being watched, permanent goosebumps throughout & as something got revealed or just opened the book up to more questions, I devoured this book in 4 hours it was just impossible to put down.

The idea of what goes on in Jessica’s mind absolutely terrifies me, but I cannot wait to see what she comes up with next.

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Today I am on the tour for He Is Mine by Theo Baxter, 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: 270

Synopsis: Crystal has dreams. Rose has plans.

Crystal Tannenbaum moved to LA hoping to become a movie star. And she has finally landed a job in show business—but only as a nanny for film producer Daniel Mosswood and his wife, Rose.

At first Daniel and Rose seem like the perfect couple, but it soon becomes clear they are anything but. Life in their sprawling Hollywood Hills mansion is a powder keg of tension and mistrust.

When Daniel turns his attention to Crystal—the gifts, the promises, the whispered plans for their future together—she lets herself believe she’s finally found a way to have the lifestyle she’s always craved. The house. The money. The children she’s grown to love.

All she has to do is help Daniel divorce Rose while holding on to his fortune. But Crystal has no idea she’s a pawn in a far more dangerous game. When it comes to sophisticated players like Daniel and Rose, she is hopelessly out of her depth.

And in a house where everyone is watching, everyone is lying, and everyone has their own agenda, innocence can be fatal.

My Thoughts: I’ve got to the point with Theo’s books that I don’t even need to know what it’s about, if he’s written it I will read it

He has a way of drawing you in, in a way that you don’t even realise until you are so deep in the story that you just have to know where it goes. I loved this one from start to finish, none of the characters were perfect, even Crystal who was our main female character and the one we are all supposed to get behind was inherently flawed, nothing went her way ever, she has all these big dreams and even as she can see it all falling apart around her she tries to put a positive spin on things until she can’t.

So she can’t catch her break as an actress and needs the money and becomes a live in nanny, just a stop gap, until she can’t imagine her life without the adorable little boys & starts falling in love with their father & finds her self tangled in a web that she just can’t get out of.

It’s fast paced and exciting and leaves you feeling like there are no good guys in this story apart from the 2 little boys who are also caught in the middle.

Every where you turn there are secrets, lies and things being swept under the carpet, the deceit going on in this book almost felt suffocating, constantly trying to work out who knows more than they’re letting on and why are they hiding things.

I found the book so difficult to put down, I picked it up at 9pm with the intention of just reading a couple of chapters and before I knew it it was 1am and I had 60 pages left.

It’s addictive and I was totally hooked!

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Today I am on the tour for The Mark of Eternity by Murray Bailey, thank you to Murray himself for organising it and inviting me to take part and for providing me with a copy of the book.

Pages: 338

Synopsis: An ancient code. A deadly killer. A truth buried beneath the sands of time.

FBI Special Agent Charlie Rebb thought the Surgeon – a notorious serial killer – was a ghost from the past. But when a new series of murders erupts, each marked with strange, arcane symbols, the trail leads Rebb across continents to Egypt… and to a chilling revelation: the Surgeon has returned, and this time, his killings follow a pattern—one tied to a purpose more terrifying than anyone imagined.

Meanwhile, in Egypt, Alex MacLure has uncovered more encoded messages in ancient tablets. An ancient Egyptian was searching for a forgotten symbol. His name appears in a programme written by a brilliant AI student. The student reaches out with a wild theory – but before MacLure discovers the truth, he’s arrested for a murder he didn’t commit.

Thrown together by fate and hunted by forces beyond their understanding, Rebb and MacLure must unlock an ancient secret. They must stop the Surgeon before he unleashes a plan, millennia in the making.

My Thoughts: well he’s done it again, Murray has somehow written the perfect mix of a mystery thriller with a historical element, I can’t lie, sometimes the whole Egyptian history bit goes a little over my head, but then I get sucked in and caught up with Alex’s utter delight at working something out & I forget that I don’t actually understand what he’s talking about 😂

Charlie was a force to be reckoned with, she’s an FBI special agent with a coffee addiction and a smart mouth, she takes no prisoners and is not afraid to tell everyone how she feels even if that means ruffling some feathers as long as it means getting the job done.

What starts out feeling like separate stories in 2 different countries soon turns out to be connected, the question is can they work together to get to the truth before any more bodies turn up?

I will admit that I much preferred the chapters that involved Charlie, they just seemed to have more action and packed more of a punch, but in the other hand we absolutely needed the quieter chapters with more in depth details to really understand the story itself.

Another brilliant book that I read in 2 sittings (would have been one if I didn’t need to put it down to go to work 😂)

Really solidified for me why Murray is one of my favourite authors.

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Today I am on the tour for The Stolen Sister by Jan Baynham, 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: 386

Synopsis: Lost letters. A secret Greek love affair. A daughter’s search for the truth.

Crete, 1963. Young artist Greta Ellis arrives at the sun-soaked port of Fáros Limáni, ready to paint and explore the beautiful Greek island.

There she meets passionate local, Andreas Papadakis, and Greta is swept up in a world of colour, freedom and forbidden love. But when tragedy strikes, Greta is forced to make an impossible choice that will change the course of her life — and her heart — forever.

Wales, 1984. After the death of her beloved mother Greta, silversmith Zoë Carter receives a sealed letter that upends everything she thought she knew. Greta’s dying wish is for her ashes to be scattered in Crete, a place precious to her . . . but somewhere she had never spoken of.

Searching through her mother’s belongings, Zoë uncovers a series of letters. Written in Greek and dated the year before she was born, they reveal a passionate love affair. And a tragedy that tore it apart.

Determined to know the truth, Zoë travels to Crete to follow the trail left behind in her mother’s letters. Through the olive groves and whitewashed villages of Crete, she begins to piece together a story of love, betrayal and loss — and discovers that her family was never what it seemed.

My Thoughts: this was such a beautiful story of a girl trying to work out her past and where she’s come from. Zoé has grown up believing that she’s always lived in Wales, it’s all she’s ever known. Her father died when she was 3 and all she knows is his name was John, her mother refused to tell her anything else.

When her mum dies she asks Zoe to do one more thing, to scatter her ashes in Crete, the request confuses Zoe but she does as she’s asked, which leads into a whole new world of discovery. Between old letters and photographs Zoe soon learns that her whole life had been a lie, can she piece it all back together and feel like she belongs somewhere for the first time in a long time.

The writing in this book is beautiful, it flows so easily that before you know it you’re half way through and so invested that you can put it down.

We have 2 different timelines and 2 different perspectives, some of the chapters from Gretas POV were absolutely harrowing, made me want to jump in the book and right some wrongs, that poor woman, dealt with some pretty devastating things but it was all done in a really sensitive way, whilst also feeling so real that I found myself welling up on more than one occasion.

We do have a lot of lighthearted moments too & actually a lot of positivity which helped to break the story up.

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Today I am on the tour for Ponderstuff and the Dragon of Darkness by Stuart Brandt, thank you to Hannah at Hygge Book Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Just going to address the elephant in the room for those of you who are eagle eyed.. no, I’m not on the poster I was a last minute addition, but I’ve put it up so you can follow the rest of the tour if you’d like to.

Pages: 294

Synopsis: Not your normal magical adventure.

On an ordinary school day, everything changes for shy teenager Autumn, when she hears an enchanting twinkling sound. Before she knows it, she is whisked off into a magical portal and is transported into Ponderstuff, a world of imagination that seems to be dying. To get home, Autumn must embark on a quest to seek out four imaginative relics that can summon the brave guardians who can then restore Ponderstuff back to life. But there’s a twist – she must navigate this adventure in a new body. As a stuffed bear!

Along the way, Autumn and her new quirky friends discover they are not the only ones on the hunt for the relics. As the shadows grow and the darkness infects Ponderstuff, the sinister Dragon of Darkness and her army of shapeshifting shadow minions are lurking around every corner. Will Autumn uncover the power of imagination from within, save Ponderstuff and prevent the darkness from spreading?

Discover the adventure that awaits in this whimsical tale of wonder, friendship and self-discovery.

My Thoughts: now I’ll be honest right from the start, I don’t often pick up middle grade books because at the age of 35 I am absolutely not the target audience, but when a friend reaches out asking for help you don’t say no!

Which coincidentally is an ongoing theme in this book, Michael and Autumn are both unhappy, for different reasons, but they’re not really able to be children anymore, they’ve had to grow up too fast & life is all of a sudden too serious.

For reasons unbeknownst to them they find themselves in Ponderstuff, a world that seems fun at first, but they soon realise that all is not as it seems and everyone is losing their imagination, there is someone or something stealing the relics and leaving everyone feeling lost and broken!

Along the way they find creatures to help them, moles, hippos, magical books and more.

I was totally swept up in the story & flew through the book. I laughed out loud & even almost shed a tear, I will definitely be interested to carry on if there happens to be another book in the series, I wasn’t really ready to say goodbye to them all! 😔

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