prdgreads

Today I’m on the tour for Nothing Else by Louise Beech, thank you to Anne for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 352

Synopsis: Heather Harris is a piano teacher and professional musician, whose quiet life revolves around music, whose memories centre on a single song that haunts her. A song she longs to perform again. A song she wrote as a child, to drown out the violence in their home. A song she played with her little sister, Harriet.

But Harriet is gone … she disappeared when their parents died, and Heather never saw her again.

When Heather is offered an opportunity to play piano on a cruise ship, she leaps at the chance. She’ll read her recently released childhood care records by day – searching for clues to her sister’s disappearance – and play piano by night … coming to terms with the truth about a past she’s done everything to forget.

An exquisitely moving novel about surviving devastating trauma, about the unbreakable bond between sisters, Nothing Else is also a story of courage and love, and the power of music to transcend – and change – everything.

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: This was so moving. I was expecting a gritty twisted psychological thriller, but what I got was so much better – I don’t really know what genre I would put this in but I loved it.

We’re following Heather, a music teacher who is carrying a lot of emotional baggage from her past and just needs a break and to try something new.

Her friend Tamsin suggests working on a cruise ship, she feels it’s time for Harriet to stop teaching the piano and start playing it again.. little does she know that the cruise ship will change her life in more ways than one.

The story is told from 2 different perspectives and 2 different timelines.

I won’t say too much more because I wouldn’t want to ruin the reading experience but this was so cleverly written that it reeled you in before you knew it made you feel all the emotions, broke you a little bit and then made sure it put you back together again before you’d finished it.

This is my first dive into the work of Louise Beech but I will definitely be making sure I read more in the future.

🐧❤️

Today I’m on the tour for Just One Lie by Ruth Harrow, 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: 392

Synopsis: Everyone has a secret. But not like Alison’s.

Alison loves being a mother which is why she is finding it so hard to come to terms with the recent loss of her baby daughter. She still has her young son Adam whom she adores, but the grief is always there…

Everyone can see she is struggling.

And they don’t know the half of it. Alison has a terrible secret she has never shared with anyone – not even her husband, Dan. She knows if he ever discovers what she did, her family will be destroyed forever.

But someone seems to know, because Alison gets a sinister message. And then bad things start to happen – her website is hacked, her business is sabotaged, there’s a fire in her home… then more threatening messages.

Alison is in no doubt that someone means to destroy her by exposing her to the world. But who? And why?

Can she discover the truth before it’s too late? Or is the terror that fuels her sleepless nights about to become all too real?

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: everyone has secrets, some are small, some are insignificant but Ali knows that if hers comes out so many lives and hearts will be broken including her own.

This was absolutely brilliant and I was gripped from the start, it’s one of those books that although the story was what I would call a slow burn I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough, surprised I didn’t get friction burn on my fingers or create a dent in the screen of my kindle 😂

Ali is trying to get over the loss of her newborn daughter whilst raising her son, keeping her marriage afloat and run her new photography business, that’s a lot of plates for one person to carry, something is bound to fall… but which one will it be?

The pressure starts to build, she starts forgetting to pick her son up from school and prioritising the wrong things, then she starts getting emails.. someone knows her secret!

So many characters, all of whom could be guilty & tbh I doubt every single one of them at one point or another!

The story is told from 2 different perspectives which added a whole new layer to it & left me questioning myself throughout!

If you’re a fan of psychological thrillers then this is a great one to sink your teeth into.

🐧❤️

Today I’m on the blog tour for Tasting Sunlight by Ewald Arenz, thank you to Anne for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 276

Synopsis: Teenager Sally has just run away from a clinic where she to be treated for anorexia. She’s furious with everything and everyone, and wants to be left in peace.

Liss is in her forties, living alone on a large farm that she runs single-handedly. She has little contact with the outside world, and no need for other people.

From their first meeting, Sally realises that Liss isn’t like other adults; she expects nothing of Sally and simply accepts who she is, offering her a bed for the night with no questions asked.

That night becomes weeks and then months, as an unlikely friendship develops and these two damaged women slowly open up – connecting to each other, reconnecting with themselves, and facing the darkness in their pasts through their shared work on the land.

Achingly beautiful, profound, invigorating and uplifting, Tasting Sunlight is a story of friendship across generations, of love and acceptance, of the power of nature to heal and transform, and the goodness that surrounds us, if only we take time to see it…

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: This book took me to places and in directions that I didn’t expect, I can’t even really put it into words but oh my. It’s beautiful.

This is a fairly short book being under 300 pages and if you’re like me you think “oh that won’t take long” but this story is to be savoured, not rushed.

Sally is sick of people not listening to her, patronising her and placating her, she just wants to have a say in her own life so when she gets the chance she runs away from the clinic where she is being held and treated for anorexia.

She runs into Liss, who is having trouble With her trailer, after stopping to help Sally finds her self being invited to stay with Liss on her farm, although a little unsure Sally isn’t stupid and realises she doesn’t have anywhere else to go.

What starts off as quiet subtle support, food being left out for her, a cup being left out by a recently boiled kettle.. soon blossoms into a beautiful friendship in which both parties although years apart in age soon come to realise that their not alone & they learn to open up to each other.

Obviously things aren’t quite as easy as that and there are massive bumps in the road, but strap yourselves in and allow the book to take you on the journey of a lifetime.. one that’s equally heartbreaking and heartwarming, one that will not be easily forgotten.

🐧❤️

Today I’m on the blog tour for Parklife by Lucy Nichol, thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part & thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 291

Synopsis: Dumped, drunk and desperate – will a job serving ice-cream at the park save Emma from herself?

It’s 1996. Emma’s been rejected by the man she loves and sacked from the job she hates but desperately needs. Feeling like she’s hit a new low, she finds herself serving ice-cream and phoney smiles at the local park.

Best mate Dave’s loved up, and her dad’s finally emerging from years of unemployment and a deep depression. Everyone’s life is on the up while Emma’s plummeting towards rock bottom.

Every day she gives a free ‘99 to the lonely old man who sits on the park bench and reminds herself that life could be much worse.

But soon, even sprinkles and monkey’s blood can’t hide the truth. She’s in deep trouble and losing sight of the edge. Who will help her up when she falls?

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: now I was a bit dubious about this book because I didn’t really enjoy The 27 Club. (Controversial opinion I know 🤦🏻‍♀️) but I absolutely loved this one.

This one takes place 2 years after The 27 Club and we’re still following the lives of Emma and Dave, they’ve both settled down now, moved in with their partners and on the surface everything seems perfect.. until you realise that for Emma it’s really not.

After what seems like a disastrous baking attempt which sees the kitchen in a mess and Emma passed out on the sofa when John comes home he realises he can’t do it anymore so he kicks her out, it’s the last straw at work too so in what seems like minutes for Emma she’s lost her boyfriend, her home and her job, so she does what she thinks is a best and turns to drink but what she doesn’t understand is that that’s what’s caused all her issues to begin with!

She doesn’t think she has a problem but the fact that she’s drinking vodka out of a water bottle so no one knows (even though they all do) tells us different.

But you know what they say.. you can’t help someone who won’t help themselves.

How many times is too many for Emma to hit rock bottom? With Dave, Dor, her Dad, Trevor and even the little old man at the ice cream hut all wanting better for her, can she conquer her demons before it’s too late?

This story really struck a chord with me, it was a little close to home with me having lost an uncle to alcohol related problems last year and another uncle going through the battle with alcohol, but it kind of opened my eyes a little as to what it must be like for them & other ways in which to support them.

This really pulled on my heart strings, made me cry more than once. But is a book that will stay with me for a long, long time.

🐧❤️

Today I’m on the blog tour for Brazen by Julia Haart, 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: 464

Synopsis: Ever since she was a child, every aspect of Julia Haart’s life – what she wore, what she ate, what she thought – was controlled by the rules of ultra-Orthodox Judaism. At nineteen, after a lifetime spent caring for her seven younger siblings, she was married off to a man she barely knew. For the next twenty-three years, her marriage would rule her life.

Eventually, when Haart’s youngest daughter, Miriam, started to innocently question why she wasn’t allowed to sing in public, run in shorts, or ride a bike without being covered from neck to knee, Haart reached a breaking point. She knew that if she didn’t find a way to leave, her daughters would be forced into the same unending servitude.

So Haart created a double life. In the ultra- Orthodox world, clothing has one purpose – to cover the body, head to toe – and giving any more thought than that to one’s appearance is considered sinful, an affront to God. But when no one was looking, Haart would pour over fashion magazines and sketch designs for the clothes she dreamed about wearing in the world beyond her Orthodox suburb. She started preparing for her escape by educating herself and creating a ‘freedom’ fund. At the age of forty-two, she finally mustered the courage to flee.

Within a week of her escape, Haart founded a shoe brand, and within nine months, she was at Paris Fashion Week. Just a few years later, she was named creative director of La Perla. Soon she would become co-owner and CEO of Elite World Group and one of the most powerful people in fashion. Along the way, her four children – Batsheva, Shlomo, Miriam and Aron – have not only accepted but embraced her transformation.

Propulsive and unforgettable, Haart’s story is the journey from a world of ‘no’ to a world of ‘yes’, and an inspiration for women everywhere to find their freedom, their purpose and their voice.

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: I feel bad saying that I really enjoyed this book because some parts made for really uncomfortable reading.

Imagine having no control of your life, every little thing you do has to be done with the permission of one person & he’s not even related to you – that’s how Julia lived for so long, until she found the courage to leave and attempt to follow her dreams.

Things weren’t always like that though. Things were pretty normal for Julia until she was 8 years old and then her mother and father became Orthodox Jews and suddenly everything changed, her childhood was slowly stripped away & she wasn’t allowed to have a say in her own life.

She doesn’t marry for love, she marries one of the few people her mum says is good for her and she pops out children because that is what her duty is now, but she always been left wanting more, whilst also not wanting to lose her children, is there a happy medium & will she find it?

I loved this, it can be quite heavy reading so I did find myself switching to the audio book & I think that helped. it gave it a more personal feel and really allowed me to lose myself in Julia’s story.

One I would highly recommend!

🐧❤️

Today I’m on the book tour for The Undateable Gay by Mark David Woollard, 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: 207

Synopsis: Think you’re unlucky in love ?
You know nothing of dating misery until you’ve delved into the world of the undatable gay
Mark Morgan just can’t catch a break.

As he documents his struggles through the dating minefield of the gay world, Mark tries to find the answer to the eternal question:

does Mr Right truly exist?

With his best friend and fag hag, Tullene for support and a bottle of Savvy B (or 6), he battles his way through failed date after date. And ponders many a profound question:

How much savvy B is too much?
Will he ever be able to bottom?
Should you wear Ugg boots on a first date?
Can you find love in a gay sauna?

One man keeps popping up ( pardon the pun) like a proverbial bad penny, but will Mark ever bag Travis.
Or should he leave him where he found him- in his late teens on a dance floor in G-A-Y?

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: firstly can we talk about this cover, eye catching, colourful, a lot going on but also a lot fun, which pretty much sums up the entire book.

The book is basically Mark looking back on his notoriously tragic dating experience, it’s hilariously funny in places, so much so that I found myself laughing to myself whilst reading more than once and had to take myself upstairs and away from the family.

This was told in the first person and in chapters that were almost like diary entry’s which meant you really felt like you were in the middle of the action – this meant that sometimes I could see what was about to happen before it happened and everything in me wished I could save Mark from the hurt/anger/humiliation he was about to experience.

Now I’m not a wine drinker, I’m more of a baileys girl, so much so that I have to try ALL the new flavours when they’re released just incase I’m missing the most amazing thing I’ve ever tasted BUT more than once I found myself craving a “Savvy B” whilst reading this 😂

The writing in this book was absolutely amazing, I’m not ashamed to admit that I struggled to work out wether it was fiction, wether the author was recounting his actual dating history or wether it was a mix of both, but whatever it was I was well and truly invested.

There was one character who kept appearing like a bad smell and it made me want to slap him, we all have one of those people in our lives. Someone who doesn’t want you, but doesn’t want anyone else to have you either.. if you’re reading this and you’re of those people then just stop because people deserve to be loved.

I could go on about this book forever because it just made me want Mark to be my Gay Best Friend, but I rely on a wheelchair so maybe that’s not the best idea after the fiasco at the wedding 👩🏻‍🦽🤣

If you trust my judgement at all when it comes to books and you’re a fan of romantic comedy’s with a little bit of a twist then please give this a go, I promise you won’t regret it.

🐧❤️

Today I’m on the book tour for Shimmer by Alan Meredith, 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: 96

Synopsis: Lyla is having the worst year of her life and then her Mum announces they are moving to a strange new town. The only silver lining is the signs that a cat has made itself home in the new house. Lyla quickly finds out though that Shimmer is no ordinary cat….

My Rating 🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: I can’t say too much about this book because it’s really short and I wouldn’t want to give it all away.

Lyla had be en taken away from everything she knows, they’ve moved away because her dad died suddenly and everything just reminds them of him and they think a clean break will help.

Lyla starts hearing meows in the night and is convinced a cat is letting itself in on a night, she’s always wanted a cat so she thinks if she can catch it she can convince her mum to keep it.. but when she finally sees it she realises it’s not a normal cat…

The turn it takes then wasn’t what I was expecting, it gave me an insight into my own cats life and made me worry about her when she leaves the house 😂

I never thought a book like this would make me cry, but this one had me sobbing.

I really enjoyed it, it’s different to anything I’ve read before and it’s another one I would highly recommend.

🐧❤️

Today I’m on the book tour for Midas by Alan Meredith, 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: 115

Synopsis: Hearing voices when no one is talking to you is a bad sign right? When twelve year old Tyler follows the calls of his name into the burnt out house on the roundabout, and finds a golden lizard called Midas, his luck appears to have changed for the better. Right?

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: well for a middle grade book there were parts of this that made me feel uneasy and I’m a 31 year old woman so I can only imagine what a child would feel.

We’re following Tyler a 12 year old boy who lives with his mum. they don’t have a lot of money and all he wants is a lizard, so when his mum does the weekly shop he goes to the exotic pet shop and looks at all the lizards and other animals before meeting his mum on the bakery aisle looking at all the treats they can’t afford.

To make ends meet they dumpster dive & Tyler finds a glass cage perfect for a lizard, when his mum lets him take it home he feels like his luck has turned.. then he finds Midas a gold lizard who makes himself invisible any time anyone else appears.

There’s a well known saying if something seems too good to be true it normally is and Tyler will soo learn just how right that is..

This was brilliant. A powerful, impactful story with a very important message. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it to the younger generation particularly those just starting secondary school

🐧❤️

Today I’m on the blog tour for It Only Takes A Minute by Sasha Lane, 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.

Synopsis: What if you could live in a different country for four weeks?

What if you could live a different life for four weeks?

That’s what this was supposed to be. Four weeks of sun, sea, and cocktails.

I wasn’t supposed to fall in love.

Do I go back to my old life, or risk starting a brand new one?

Does that really happen in real life, or just in the movies?

Life can change in an instant though. After all, it only takes a minute…

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: how much can your life change in 4 weeks? – enough to leave a lasting impression?

We’re following Keira who has decided to take a sabbatical from work & go travelling, the only problem is she doesn’t do things like this, she’s not spontaneous in the slightest and has never travelled on her own before, but her best friend is married with a little girl and another baby on the way & she’s not long since split up with her now ex boyfriend… so she’s feeling a little stuck.

After basing her travel destination on a pastel de nata, she quickly books her flights and accommodation before she changes her mind.

This book is perfect to just lose yourself in for an afternoon, the perfect escape it kind of made me wish I was on holiday 😂

Sun, sea, new friends who own a bar and a gorgeous man to keep you company.. what more could you need?

This story was funny, funny enough to have me laughing out loud whilst also being realistic and relatable, I found myself shaking my head at some of the situations Kiera found herself in.

I loved Dylan from the start. I can’t explain why but he just completely won me over, I was definitely in his corner.

I read this book in one sitting, I just couldn’t put it down, definitely one I would recommend to fans of the romance genre

🐧❤️

Today I’m on the book tour for The Second Wife by Miranda Rijks, 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: 276

Synopsis: She married the man she loved. Then she met his family.

Tamsin has recently married renowned composer Robin Featherstone. Robin is much older, but Tamsin doesn’t care – she’s in love.

And she knows Robin loves her too, even if he is very close to another young woman – his assistant, Mia.

But Robin’s ex-wife and grown children aren’t happy – they’re sure Tamsin is a gold-digger and Mia is an opportunist.

Then, when Robin dies suddenly, the family’s worst fears are realised – Tamsin stands to inherit everything. But when the will is read, its contents are beyond shocking.

As Mia and Tamsin are pitted against each other, only one thing is clear. The family will go to any lengths to stop either of them inheriting even a part of Robin’s estate.

Isolated in the family mansion, fearing for their lives and distrustful of each other, Tamsin and Mia are determined to stand their ground. But then a dark family secret is revealed which may engulf them all…

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: this is the second book I’ve read by Miranda & I loved ‘The Influencer’ so much that a small part of me was worried that The Second Wife wouldn’t live up to the high expectations I had, turns out I should have had more faith in Miranda’s writing because I loved it!

We’re following Mia, she’s at the house of Robin Featherstone for an interview as his second housekeeper.. she’s really hoping she gets the job, she’s an aspiring musician and Robin Featherstone is a very well known composer, however she’s dubious that she’ll get it because she’s hiding a big secret about her past.

Tamsin the new wife is young and beautiful. She has everything you could want., a husband who adores her, money to spend and a rather impressive cactus collection, but not everything is as it seems.. Robin’s children don’t like her and the ex wife is still lingering, the last thing she needs is a new cleaner who idolises her husband before she’s even started.

I won’t say anymore because I’ll end up telling the whole story 😂

The story was a slow burn and very character driven, I appreciated this because normally psychological thrillers are story driven and you don’t get to know the characters which can sometimes make it hard to get invested..

There were times in the story when I was on Tamsin’s corner and other times when I was all for Mia but at times I couldn’t help but feel they were both being played and if they just worked together they would get to the bottom of everything!

With a whole host of characters all with different personalities this made it hard to work out who the guilty party was but the journey was a lot of fun!

I had a soft spot for Marek because I have an autistic step brother so at times I just wanted to wrap him up in a big cuddle and take him away from everything.

Lots of action, lots of secrets and lots of possible suspects all with motive meant that I didn’t work it out for myself at all.

absolutely brilliant!

🐧❤️