prdgreads

Today I’m on the blog tour for Twelve Days In May by Niamh Hargan, 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: 400

Synopsis: Lizzy Munro is working at the Cannes Film Festival, in a job that involves a lot more admin than red-carpet glamour.

There, Ciaran Flynn is the man everyone is talking about: heartthrob of the moment and director of the most romantic movie of the year.

What nobody knows is that twelve years ago, they were best friends . . . and they haven’t spoken since.

But when Ciaran’s film runs into trouble, there’s only one person he can turn to.

Is twelve days enough to save not only Ciaran’s film, but also the spark he and Lizzy once shared?

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧.5

My Thoughts: i really enjoyed this book, a lovely easy read that provided the perfect escape from a wet miserable day.

We’re following Lizzy who is working at the Cannes film festival, she’s trying (and failing) to order lunch at a local café when she sees someone from her past.. but it can’t really be him, can it?

Enters Ciaran , the guy from Lizzys past who also can’t quite believe his eyes when he sees her! What is she doing here?

After the first sighting we’re left feeling like something major happened in the past that we’re not yet aware of, why else would he snub her when she tried to say hello?!

Ciaran is now a hotshot director who’s second film is now featuring at Cannes its based on a year he spent in Bordeaux with Lizzy, but there’s another director saying he’s copied her work and threatening legal action, can he swallow his pride and ask Lizzy for help?

This story is told from two different timelines, present day, which is full of drama and tension and 12 years ago in Bordeaux which is full of humour and and the early days of love.

I read this book in one sitting in just a few hours, the writing flowed so easily that I couldn’t stop myself from turning the pages and couldn’t bring myself to put it down and walk away.

I was rooting for Lizzy and Ciaran because they were just so perfect together, but in typical romance style the journey wasn’t that straight forward!

A brilliant debut novel and I can’t wait to see what Niamh comes up with next!

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Today I’m on the book tour for Don’t Play Dead With Vultures by Jack Leavers, thank you to Zoé at Zooloos book tours for organising it and inviting me to take part & thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 574

Synopsis: Summer 2008 sees former Royal Marine John Pierce lured from running convoys in Iraq to a lucrative contract in the steamy jungles of French West Africa. He soon discovers this new theatre is even more dangerous than the war zone he left behind. Corrupt officials, drug cartels, and competing military factions rub shoulder-to-shoulder in a melting pot of greed and intrigue… And a sadistic foe lurks in the shadows.

When old intelligence contacts take an interest, the situation gets complicated fast. Dark forces emerge and events spiral out of control. Pitched into a desperate race against time, can Pierce’s makeshift team of soldiers and civilians fight fire with fire and outwit vicious enemies?

One thing’s for sure, Pierce won’t leave anyone to the mercy of a brutal adversary he knows only too well no matter what it takes

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: welll this was a chunker, Amazon says this is 300 pages.. Amazon lies 😂

This is book 2 in the John Pierce series and although I have read them both this could be read as a stand alone, you just miss a bit of the context and the back story!

I loved being back with John, so much action and really kept me on my toes! Who would have thought diamonds and or her gems could cause so much drama?

One thing I will say is that although it’s a truly gripping read, it’s very detail heavy so not one I’d recommend reading in one sitting!

I loved the banter and camaraderie between John, Luke, Ryan and Mike. The fact they were willing to lay their lives down for each other made me want to support them and I was really hoping they’d all make it through!

Manny is a Favourite of mine, he just supports John and always has his best interests at heart!

Lots of strong characters, lots of things that make you turn the pages so quickly you might end up with paper cuts, I can’t go into details because where’s the fun in that?! 😏

I had my heart in my mouth at times & bit my lip so much that I made it sore, I almost didn’t want it to end I’m not ready to say goodbye to John and his team!

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Today I’m on the book tour for Earth 101 by Emae Church, 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.

Synopsis: At Hill Derry High School…

…students were vanishing from existence.

Why was Jayne the only one who could remember them?

At 17-years old, Jayne excels at math and science, hangs out with the goth crowd and has a new crush. The new boy at school, Aithen, is cute, but there’s something else about him she can’t quite put her finger on.

There was only one problem.

Laura, her friend turned nemesis, just vanished in front of her eyes.

It didn’t seem possible and must be some sort of hallucination. Was it the bump on the head from last year or something else? She just couldn’t figure it out.

But why doesn’t anyone believe her?

With a reputation for getting into trouble, Jayne will need to convince the boy she likes to help her save the ones she loves. But he has a secret, and nothing is as it seems.

Will life ever get back to normal in time for graduation?

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧.5

My Thoughts: this was a really interesting listen, the premise really intrigued me, students going missing, well more than that.. it’s like they never even existed.. so why can Jayne remember them? & why is there a couple of people at school who seem to act like they know something every time she mentions the names of the missing girls?

The first 1/3 of this book was quite slow paced and I felt like it was aimed at younger side of YA, but then the action really starts and it pulls you in quite quickly after.

I actually loved Aiten and Erek, they were quite complex characters with a lot of layers you had to peel back, but it made for interesting reading.

I found Jayne a little dramatic and whiny to begin with, but she found her strength once she had no choice (no spoilers here)

It’s been a while since I read a sci-fi spacey read and I really enjoyed this, it was definitely a solid start to what I’m hoping will be a new series because that ending.. 🤯

I loved listening to this on audio it felt really immersive and had a lot of depth, not sure I would’ve enjoyed it as much if I had physically read it!

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Today I’m closing the blog tour for Life Sentence by A.K. Turner, thank you to Tracy at Compulsive Readers for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 337

Synopsis: Mortuary technician Cassie Raven believes the last thoughts of the dead linger like static in the air…

Cassie has always had a strange affinity with death, ever since her parents were killed in a car crash when she was four. At least that’s what she grew up believing…

But that was a lie. Cassie’s father is alive. He was convicted of murdering her mother and spent years behind bars. Now he’s out – and he’s looking for her.

He swears he didn’t do it. And Cassie wants to believe him.

To find the truth, she must turn detective. As she seeks answers, help is to be found in inexplicable places – for the dead are ready to talk.

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: I loved being back with Cassie, she’s a mortuary technician with a difference, she believes they speak to her, not physically obviously but she tends to get a feeling, an inkling about how they died and then she can’t help herself but to investigate getting herself in trouble along the way 😂

This time she’s working on the body of a Bradley a 15 year old who was found in his bedroom with the cable from his laptop around his neck.. but Cassie doesn’t feel it’s that simple.. can she get to the bottom of it and give his family some good news?

She’s also trying to deal with the revelation her gran gave her at the end of the first book, her parents didn’t die in a car crash, her dad killed her mum and is now out of prison.. will he try and find her? does she want him too?

After speaking to her best friend Kieran about her parents her dad gets in contact and is adamant he didn’t do what he was accused of, so Cassie and Kieran take it upon themselves to find out the truth.

As Cassie goes on a trip down her parents memory lane we meet a few people from their past..

This book gave me so many mixed feelings, I didn’t know who to trust through the whole thing. So many moments where I was on the edge of my seat. It made me feel sick with nerves at times and also broke my heart in others. But I absolutely loved it & have everything crossed that there will be a third instalment in the Cassie Raven series! 🤞🏼🤞🏼

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Today I’m on the book tour for Black is The Colour by Seamus Connolly, 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: 204

Synopsis: It has been almost three decades since the brutal murder of a young father took place on the streets of Glasgow.

Fleeing the country as a child Cal Lynch returns to Scotland a man, a lawyer, determined to exact vengeance on the gangster who killed his father and tore his family apart.

His desired retribution would be complex and challenging. He had dreamed, trained and prepared for the day of his return.

Falling in love was not part of the plan.

As Cal’s revenge on Eddie Quinn draws ever closer, what happens next will leave him broken and fighting for his very existence.

Black Is The Colour is a gritty gangland tartan noir thriller set against the turbulent backdrop of Thatcher’s Britain.

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: I wish I could tell you that every book I read is easy to devour and get lost in, but being honest I originally struggled with this one! – it opened strongly with the murder of a man after a disagreement over £2.

Then we’re 22 years in the future, meeting Cal and all the other lead characters although not all at once & I got a little lost, the crime thriller part of this book was drip fed slowly to begin with so it took some adapting to and getting used to, I like my thrillers fast and to the point 😂

The benefit to the slow story telling though was that you didn’t realise you were being pulled in until you were so invested that it was too late to pull back.

You soon realise that the initial confusion of all the characters being thrown at you at the beginning is for your benefit as once the introductions are done you can get into the ‘real’ story with no interruptions so to speak.

At times I struggled with the dialogue, with n out being Scottish sometimes I didn’t really understand what was being said, but I did hear the accents in my head as I was reading.

There was humour effortlessly interwoven into the book with gave a lighthearted feel despite the serious nature of the story.

I definitely did not see the twist and reveal coming which to me is always the sign of a good thriller! – I will definitely be recommending this one.

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Pages: 352

Synopsis: Hollywood superstar Josh Lander swept me off my feet at my first ever Cannes Film Festival. Our NSFW dance floor meet-cute went viral. I fell hard for him, while the press fell hard for us. Until he dumped me. On Twitter.

I’ve moved on, winning Oscars, battling an invisible illness, and forgetting all about He Who Shall Not Be Mentioned. Until we’re both cast in the biggest TV period drama of the decade. I’m the Duchess. And the Duke is… you’ve got it. Twitter Boy, straight from rehab and a box office bomb (karma’s a bitch).

The world is watching, giving me the perfect platform to show him he was out of his mind to cast me aside. It should all be fine, save for a few minor hurdles: this guy was made for tight breeches. His fake British accent and ducal demeanour send shivers down my spine. And most alarmingly, he’s says he’s reformed. I call BS.

Can I stand my ground? Withstand his temptations? Or will I disgrace my feminist image by swooning at His Grace’s fine ankles IRL?

Falling Stars is a celebrity, lovers to enemies to lovers, second chance romance with lashings of heart and heat and a #CrohnsWarrior heroine.

This trope-tastic romp forms part of the Love in London series of interconnected stand-alones.

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: firstly let me apologise that it’s taken me soooo long to write this review… I finished this book at the beginning of the month, like literally the first book I read in April! – but I was recovering from covid and then got an ear infection so I just kept putting it off.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again as many times as I need to, I LOVE LOVE LOVE Sara’s writing, I have read avery single one of her books except one that Sara herself advised me not to read for personal reasons and they just keep getting better and better.

Her writing just grips me in a way that I’ve only ever experienced once before. (The Carrero Series by Leanne Marshall in case you were wondering😂)

I have to say this is the best one yet.

We’re following Ellery Hart, who has just got her first big break, her first serious acting role and she’s now at the Cannes film festival, she’s living in a bubble, she can’t quite believe it… just when she thinks things can’t get any better in walks Josh he is the number one heart throb in Hollywood right now and he’s putting his moves on Elle!

What ensues is the perfect whirlwind romance. It’s cute and loving and they’re just meant to be… until their not. After being dumped on Twitter indirectly Elles life falls apart.. but when we see her again 5 years later she’s being offered the lead role in a regency drama… the only catch is that Josh will be her costar.

I may be the only girl on the planet who hasn’t, but I’m not ashamed to admit that I haven’t watched Bridgerton but let me tell you after reading this book I am VERY tempted to give it a go.

Witnessing Josh and Elle rediscover each other whilst initially using their characters as a cover was everything I wanted, heartwarming, beautiful but also incredibly sexy!

It’s been amazing to see Sara’s confidence when writing spicy/sexy scenes grow, believe it or not her first books were tame, I think it’s fair to say after reading this one she’s found her stride 🌶🥵

As someone with MS I really appreciated the representation of chronic illness (Crohn’s disease) in this book, it felt real and was done in such a sensitive but informative way.

Thank you Sara for writing the kind of Romance that I can repeatedly get lost in.

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Today I’m on the book tour for A Kinder City by Peter Taylor-Gooby, 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: 284

Synopsis: The City is governed by the grim law of profit and loss. No exceptions, no place for compassion, pleasure, the warmth of friendship or the ardour of love. David, an Enforcer committed to the Law, meets Sarah, a villager from outside, and begins to understand that a different, more joyful, life is possible.

A Kinder City tells the story of their tangled relationship and of how they fall in love, and of their struggle against Franklin, the richest man in Market World. If the only law is the market, why not sell everything – and that includes the air we breathe, the land we stand on, the water we drink? No exceptions. His giant factories spew forth the road beasts – the huge machines that devastate the lands beyond the City in pursuit of yet more wealth. Not content with cloning animals, he traps horses in exo-skeletons and works them to death. Torn between her growing passion for David and her revulsion at the City that he is pledged to protect, Sarah turns her back on him.

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧.5

My Thoughts: this book freaked me out, although it’s a dystopian novel I kind of felt like it could be at least in some parts maybe a reality in the future.. we seem to be becoming more of a cashless society, people are paying on their phones & watches.. as a cashier I’ve noticed that it almost shocks me now when people pay with cash 😂

Market world is a place where absolutely everything is transactional, no doing favours for people, that’s against the law so as a result no one is friendly.

that is until David meets Sarah, she’s broken the law and he was The Enforcer to bring her in, but hearing her talk of The Village in which she lives, where they don’t have wristbands that contain their credits & do things out of the kindness of their heart just because they can, it opens his eyes as to what a different place the world can be & finds himself falling in love with her.

There were a lot of things that happen in this book that had me on the edge of my seat, I couldn’t believe some of things that happened, people disappearing never to be seen again…

Can the faith and love of 2 people (along with the help of a few others along the way) right the wrongs of Market World? or is it just too late?

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Today I’m on the blog tour for Fires of Hate by Heather Peck, 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: 306

Synopsis: After a successful day in court, Greg Geldard is hoping to clear up some routine cases. Then a government laboratory receives a mysterious threat, a terrorist attack precipitates a multi agency emergency response and his investigations are seriously compromised by interference from the security service.

The enquiries lead down dangerous paths, with both Greg and someone he cares for put at risk, before he runs the perpetrators to ground. Then he’s posed an ethical conundrum in court. Can hate ever be wholly sane?

‘Fires of Hate’ continues the Greg Geldard series; a compelling narrative of crime, emotion and one man’s fight to do the best he can.

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: Now this is book 3 in a series and I had every intention of reading the other 2 before this book life got away with me and I didn’t manage to find the time! I was pleasantly surprised though to find that this can be read as a stand alone if you ignore the references to the court case at the beginning. The only other thing that could be considered ‘missing’ is the back story of the main characters.

This book opens with a very sad scene, one that actually nearly made me cry! – I really felt for Jack but it means that you understand why his life goes the way it does and a little bit of the reasoning why he makes the decisions he does, I got it.

We’re following some animal activists, and a government lab who feel they’re doing everything the right way in regards to the way they keep/treat the animals they have on site.. unfortunately the activists don’t agree, so when an anonymous threat doesn’t work they take things to the next level.

This was fast paced & gripping, the story just took me along with it! – this was a one sitting read, it wasn’t supposed to be but I was so invested that I just needed to know what happened.

It also got a lot darker than I expected which I was definitely here for.

Trigger warnings for the slaughter of animals, PTSD and poisoning of people.

But if you can handle that then I would bump this one up your TBR!

I’ll definitely be trying to make time to read the first 2 in the series in the next few weeks 🙂

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As promised here is the review that I was supposed to post yesterday.. again my apologies to Zoé at Zooloos book yours and also to the author Johanna.

Pages: 496

Synopsis: What if everything you thought you knew about society was wrong?
Jodie Fletcher’s world is rocked on its axis when she stumbles into the knowledge that shape shifters are real. Not only that, but they have their own parallel justice system, which is endorsed by governments worldwide. Jodie is drowning in a world she no longer understands and to top it all off, there is a target on her back. The only thing it seems she can count on is the leopard-shifter who has taken it upon himself to protect her. With their connection deepening after each encounter, and danger ever present around them, decisions need to be made. Can they find a way to bridge the divide between their two worlds?

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: I was instantly hooked by the synopsis of this book, I’m a massive fan of books like this but it’s been a while since I read something about shapeshifters that gripped me so quickly!

I think meeting Danny in leopard form before meeting him as a human worked really well because it meant I was already in his corner by the time he showed up at her door, I found him arrogant and a little cocky in his human form so may not have warmed to him as much.

Jodie was a brilliant female main character, she exuded strength and complete composure at all times but the little insight we had to her inner thoughts showed us that she had a vulnerable side too. Shows that she put everyone else’s feelings before her where possible.

This book was full of some of the strongest friendships that I’ve read in a while between Jodie, Ainsley and Laura & The Unit. It was really nice to see them all pull together when they needed to.

This was such a well put together story with so much action and intrigue that despite it being almost 500 pages I still wanted more & cannot wait to carry on with the series when I get a break between blog tour commitments

I have a feeling we’ve only scratched the surface of the shape shifter world and what they’re all capable of I’m excited to see where it goes next.

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Today I’m on the book tour for The Mercenary by Johanna M Rae, thank you to Zoé at Zooloos Book Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part & thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 496

Synopsis: What if everything you thought you knew about society was wrong?
Jodie Fletcher’s world is rocked on its axis when she stumbles into the knowledge that shape shifters are real. Not only that, but they have their own parallel justice system, which is endorsed by governments worldwide. Jodie is drowning in a world she no longer understands and to top it all off, there is a target on her back. The only thing it seems she can count on is the leopard-shifter who has taken it upon himself to protect her. With their connection deepening after each encounter, and danger ever present around them, decisions need to be made. Can they find a way to bridge the divide between their two worlds?

My Thoughts: So this was supposed to be a review but unfortunately life has got on top of me and I just haven’t managed to finish it & don’t feel like I’ve read enough to do the book justice… that being said I am LOVING it and have already looked and seen that it’s part of a series and will definitely be carrying on & I will come back and do a proper review once I’ve finished it.

About the Author: Author Johanna M Rae is a former fashion designer and married mother of three. She lives in Hamilton, NZ, with her family and two gorgeous ragdoll cats: Macchiato (Macky) and Smudge.
Balancing the needs of three sporty and musically inclined teenagers and her writing schedule doesn’t always leave much time for leisure, but in the quiet moments, Johanna can be found crocheting up a storm or nursing her caffeine addiction.
She is partway through writing a shapeshifter series called Therian Secrets. The first four books are available at Amazon and selected online retailers, while book five is due for release in 2021. Johanna also has an urban fantasy series called Immortal Trinity, currently consisting of two books. The third is due out in 2022. Johanna has also written a stand alone novel called Alpha Stray, which was her NaNoWriMo project; and two poetry collections. There are a few other stories in the works, which she plans to publish in the near future. Until then, there is coffee to be had…

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