Today I’m on the book tour for Murders at Blackwaterfoot by Miller Caldwell, thank you to Kelly at Love Books Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part.
Synopsis: Based at Lamlash on Arran, PC Rory Murdoch has a minimal caseload, giving him ample time to think about his daughter, Ella, and her special needs. Then three murders occur in close succession. His supervising officer, mainland-based D.I. Samuel Grant is not supportive. Can Rory stand up to this bully and undermine their superior? Rory receives a letter from Belgium and Ella has a remarkable insight both of which lead to High Court trials in Ayr. How can Rory cope with three murder trials while his mind is preoccupied with greater matters? This is a fast-paced story set on the stunningly beautiful island of Arran with elements of humour, pathos, romance and great sadness.
About the Author: Miller H Caldwell was born in 1950 growing up in the manse at Kirriemuir,in the north east of Scotland. He finished schooling in Glasgow determined to lead a humanitarian life. He was appointed by the Church of Scotland to work in Ghana. He was the Secretary to the Tema Council of Churches and the Tema Community Project. He received Charlie, an African monkey, as a gift for providing employment for a large group of agriculturalists. He also owned an African Grey parrot called Kofi. (qv The Parrot’s Tale) He met his wife in Ghana. Returning to the UK in 1978 he enrolled at London University for a post graduate degree in African Studies. He worked at St Modan’s High School, Stirling before becoming a reporter to the children’s panels. Promotion led him from Kilmarnock to Ayr and finally to be the Regional then first Authority Reporter for Dumfries & Galloway. In 2002 in London he received the inter-agency Community Care Award. In 2003 he retired and became an author. In 2006 he was appointed Camp Manager at Mundihar in the NW Frontier of Pakistan following the south Asian earthquake. He was presented with the International Award for services to earthquake victims at a ceremony in Islamabad. He has been the President of the Dumfries Burns Club three times and Chair of the Scottish Association for the Study of Offending. He is married to Jocelyn and has two daughters, Fiona and Laura. His other loves are his trombone, tenor sax and clarinet. He is currently the President of the Dumfries Burns Club in its 200th year. Miller is a direct descendant of the Bard.
If you like the sound of this is can be bought using the following link…
Today I’m on the book tour for Imperfect by Holly Carr, thank you to Kelly at Love Books Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part!
Synopsis: A workplace crush is supposed to be light-hearted. Frivolous, even. Just some daydream inspiration to make the hours go faster, or to fill in twenty boring minutes. Sam isn’t ready to develop actual feelings for someone. Not with Logan still looming so large in her heart, and especially not when the subject of her infatuation is her new employer. Alex doesn’t plan to fall in love ever again. Not after what happened with Victoria. But fate seems determined to begin an unwanted love story, and a tentative romance blossoms as Alex and Sam battle the malicious sabotage of a rival company. That is, until Alex’s cruel ex-wife re-enters his life, threatening to take custody of their daughter. Sam’s determination to help the desperate man stand up for himself brings the two would-be lovers closer, but Victoria’s antics only highlight to Alex the dangers of leaving himself vulnerable. Can Sam convince him to set aside eleven years of stanch celibacy and give into his feelings? And just how did he get that mysterious scar on his face?
About the Author: Holly Carr was born in Geelong, Victoria, where she still lives today with her husband and their very affectionate cat. She graduated from Deakin University in 2010 with a Bachelor of Arts (Public Relations), majoring in Literary Studies. IMPERFECT is her debut novel.
If you like the sound of this the book can be bought from Amazon using the following link!
Today I’m on the book tour for Extreme Prejudice by Gordon Bickerstaff and I’m coming at you with an extract! Thank you to Zoé at Zooloos book tours for organising her and inviting me to take part, and than you to Gordon himself for providing me with an extract of the book to post!
Before I share the extract with you let me tell you a bit more about the book and the author!
Synopsis: For a price, he’ll expose a terrorist attack on London, but is the price too great?
If you fear trouble, don’t get into trouble. A foreign embassy official warns the UK government of a bomb attack on London. Zoe Tampsin’s Lambeth Group team is launched into a race against time to find the terrorists.
As Zoe unpicks the details, she suspects the informant didn’t tell her the whole story. With time running out, her team chase a promising lead only to have it wrenched from their grasp. Either the bombers were incredibly lucky, or they received a tip-off.
One of her team infiltrates the bombers. She discovers the attack has started, and her colleague Gavin Shawlens is missing, presumed killed by the terrorists.
While searching for Gavin, a massive disaster unfolds. Can Zoe stop colossal loss of life in a small community and prevent the collapse of a key pillar of society?
Zoe is a match for thriller fans seeking a heroine equal to Jack Reacher and Jason Bourne. Every country needs one Zoe Tampsin.
About the Author: Gordon Bickerstaff was born and raised in Glasgow but spent his student years in Edinburgh. He spent the following 30 years as a university lecturer and Open University tutor before he retired to write thriller fiction. His Lambeth Group books form a series of standalone crime/conspiracy/suspense thrillers. Inspired by the 1970s ‘Doomwatch’ TV series, they feature undercover investigators Zoe Tampsin and Gavin Shawlens who protect the country and the world from the worst nightmares that mankind can imagine. He lives with his wife in Scotland where corrupt academics, psychopaths, serial killers, mystery, murder, and intrigue exists mostly in my mind. He enjoys walking in the hills, 60s & 70s music, reading and travel.
Extract: She pushed her shoulder-length hair behind her head and picked at an Elastoplast dressing behind her ear. She pulled it off and held it in her palm. Embedded in the gauze was a phone micro memory card. ‘That is everything.’ Black pocketed the Elastoplast, then lifted the remaining pieces of her housekeeping uniform. ‘You won’t be needing these.’ He stepped back from the camper door and shouted at the tractor driver. ‘Billy. Park the tractor in the field them drive me back to Serennity.’ Peaty smashed the cosh into Jeff’s head to knock him unconscious. With help from Black, they dragged Jeff to the open door and unceremoniously dumped the crumpled heap at Kacey’s feet. Black said to Carver, ‘Okay, we’re done. Follow the tractor into the field. Clear the lane for my car. We’ll be on our way. Billy will come back for you in half-an-hour.’ Before he closed the side door, he said to Kacey, ‘Never try this stunt again. Next time, I won’t be so forgiving.’ Kacey knelt beside Jeff and examined the back of his head. She figured he would have a nasty lump when he regained consciousness. She slumped on the floor, leaning against a cabinet with a grim expression and mixed feelings. She covered her eyes with one hand. Angry with herself over the time and effort she spent on this investigation with nothing to show, and sickened by the fact she had a massive prize in her hands, but had to give it back. Relieved to be heading home in one piece, albeit with her tail between her legs. The tractor reversed into the field, and Carver followed with the camper. He turned sharply left and parked the van with the passenger side close to the hedgerow so Liam couldn’t open the passenger door, and if Kacey opened the side door, she would face the hedge. Kacey shifted her gaze to Carver. ‘What are you doing?’ He ignored her and switched off the engine. He opened the door and held it open for Peaty to climb into the driver’s seat. Carver moved to the front of the van and rested open palms on the bonnet, as if he might push the vehicle back, like a superhuman. Peaty swivelled in the driver’s seat and faced Kacey with a menacing expression. Liam panicked and tried to force the passenger door against the hedgerow, but it wouldn’t open enough for him to squeeze through. Peaty pulled the cosh from his pocket, switched hands, and struck Liam on the side of the head. Kacey screamed. ‘Bastard! Stop it.’ Liam slumped into the footwell. Either unconscious or pretending. Peaty returned his cosh to his pocket, then twisted his body in the chair to face Kacey. His piercing eyes scanned her body as if trying to picture her naked. He nodded to the back of the camper. ‘What’s the bed like in this van? Comfy?’ Then he slipped off the seat, turned around, and planted a foot on the cushion to climb over the back of the front seats. He faced her with a grin. One loaded with a particular meaning. I’m going to have you, and there is nothing you can do about it. She recoiled and shuffled away from him. ‘Stay where you are,’ she shouted. ‘Come on, sexy woman. Fair is fair. You fucked us good and proper. Now it’s our turn.’
If you like the sound of this is can be bought here!
Today I’m on the book tour for Marikas best Laid Plan, thank you to Kelly at Love Books Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part
Synopsis: Marika is a social worker trying to heal her drug addict clients, but she can’t seem to mend her damaged self. She avoids love because love sits too close to death. Her choices have left her carefully ordered life a lonely, disconnected one.
Everything is about to change.
Big-hearted, quirky, emotionally walled-off Marika embarks on a plan that ultimately forces her to confront the very thing she’s spent her life avoiding: love. Marika’s Best Laid Plan is story about the power of connection and hope, the things without which life is unbearable.
About the Author: Judy was born and raised in Israel. When she was a teenager, she moved with her family to the U.S. Her experience as a psychotherapist in a New York City methadone clinic served as an inspiration for her novel. She spends her spare time writing, painting, walking the local beaches and trails, and cooking Israeli food for her Jamaican husband…and trying to keep the flowers in her garden from dying
If you like the sound of this it can be bought here!
Today I’m on the book tour for Tom Collins: a slightly crooked Novel by Douglas Viglotti, thank you to Kelly at Love Books 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 that person from the bar—you know, the one you just slept with—turns out to be your boss’s spouse?
When soul-searching Christian meets Liv, stars align and her green eyes burn a hole straight through him. Their playful attraction quickly escalates into something much more. But Liv has a little more to her story—one that will turn his life upside down and entangle him in a predicament for the ages. She’s married to his new boss.
With a dash of dark humor, the story ensues and things begin to heat up. A ball-busting buddy tries to save Christian from himself, but a work event places everyone together on a weekend trip to Golden Beach, FL. As tension builds, his work nemesis, knack for late-night partying, and (most importantly) Liv don’t make things any easier. Christian begins to question everything he thought he knew. It’s not until he stumbles upon a mysterious aging rockstar that he starts to see things a bit differently. And sometimes, the way you look at something can change everything.
Tom Collins is more than an edgy, sexy story of lust, attraction, and infidelity. It’s about how our lives come to be and what shapes us along the way.
About the Author: DOUGLAS VIGLIOTTI is a writer and storyteller who believes less is more and intention is everything. He has authored multiple nonfiction books, (most notably) The Gap, way too many articles, and one ebook, Pumpernickel & Peanut Butter: Why Weird Works, which is free at DouglasVigliotti.com. Tom Collins: A ‘Slightly Crooked’ Novel is his first work of fiction. He lives in New Haven, CT (where he’s currently working on his next novel.)
Today I’m on the book tour for The Forgotten Gun by John Reid, thank you to Kelly at love books yours for organising it and inviting me to take part.
Synopsis: A Metropolitan Police detective about to be dismissed is given a second chance by his old boss, who is now a police commander. He’s given a new unit to run and two misfit detectives to assist him. All three know their status is temporary.
Their first case together is an impossible double murder. Each murder is identical. Both victims are expertly shot in the head from long range, but the post-mortems reveal no bullets were used in the shootings. The CSI teams calculate that in both cases there was no place for the marksman to have fired from, unless suspended over busy roads.
Although it’s a case apparently impossible to solve, DCI Steve Burt reluctantly agrees to investigate with his new team. Their enquires lead them into the murky world of greed, corruption, fraud and money laundering, but they are no nearer solving the murders. The team is stumped until the DCI meets a retired army major and a WW2 veteran who unwittingly hold the keys to solving these impossible murders
About the Author: John was born in Scotland and, after serving in the Army, embarked on a career in industry. He has worked in several different sectors in senior roles and was latterly CEO of a large international data capture company. He retired for the first time in 1995 to take on a consultancy designed to help new businesses become established. In 2018 he finally retired from business life to become a full-time author. John lives in Scotland and Portugal with his wife, and they have two grown-up sons.
If you like the sound of this it can be bought here
Today I’m on the blog tour for Monster Midwife by Lumen Reese, I have a spotlight for you where I tell you all about the book and the author.
Synopsis: Alanna Rhee believes that all mothers deserve to deliver safely, even the monsters of the world. As a human enslaved to the fairies of Aerin, she made a pact with the king when she was just a child. She signed in blood. After studying midwifery, and for ten years attending to the most dangerous births of other magical creatures -earning wealth and prestige for the kingdom- she would win her freedom. With three years left to serve, multiple fairy kingdoms are on the brink of war. Queen Esmera of the Westlands is hated, feared, and called a ‘classless woman’. Worse still, she carries a child with no father, conceived from a deal with an ‘Old God’. Not knowing what deformities the baby may show, only the most experienced midwife in the land will do. Alanna is trusted by all. She is asked to attend to Esmera. She is also asked not to intervene in the difficult birth, and by her inaction, to cause death. Alanna must decide if even her freedom is worth the horror of allowing a woman to die in her most vulnerable moment.
About the Author: Lumen Reese is an author of diverse fantasy, sci-fi and speculative fiction from West Michigan. Her other books include ‘Trial of the Lovebird Butcher’ and ‘Claire Got Herself in Trouble’.
I personally think this sounds AMAZINGand I cannot wait to read it!
I’m really sorry to let you all down, especially all the authors and publishers who I have agreed to do blog tours for over the next few months.
I’ve had some devastating news over the weekend and I just can’t get my head around anything let alone pick up a book and give it enough of my attention to write the review you all deserve.
There will be a few spotlights over the next couple of weeks, but that is it for now.
I will be back, I just don’t know when. It definitely won’t be in 2021.
Today I’m on the blog tour for Sometimes When I Sleep by Helen Salsbury, thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to he author and the publisher for my copy.
Pages: 437
Synopsis: For Harriet, Eden university is a chance to escape the shadows of a family tragedy and reinvent herself, even though she doesn’t know exactly who she is or where she belongs. She’s grown up hiding from curious eyes, and seeking refuge in the music of Dark Island, who appear to be the only ones who have words for her hidden traumas. She’s escaped into hockey and being an A* student, found companionship and adventure in role-playing games, but somehow she’s never been able to run far enough to avoid the night-time terrors which haunt her. Spurred by a promise from Dark Island that she’s leaving the shadows, Harriet is convinced that university will be the place where all this changes. And yet, finding where she belongs is not easy. Hockey is dominated by the arrogant Mark Collier, and relationships prove as difficult here as at home.
As the structures which have kept Harriet safe start to crumble, she is drawn somewhat against her will towards the cold, mysterious and compelling Iquis. It’s a tumultuous relationship – full of conflict and misunderstandings. And yet, as Harriet starts to recognise a matching brokenness in Iquis, she becomes convinced that their paths are entwined, and that only by rescuing Iquis from what binds her can she, Harriet, ever find freedom from the chains of her own past. But as the girls’ journeys take them across the night-time landscapes of Cumbria, and then deeper into the frozen north, the questions arise: how much of what the girls fear comes from inside and how much from outside, and what is the price of redemption?
My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧.5
My Thoughts: This story was compelling, intriguing and subtly dark, although not in the way I was expecting!
The writing was almost lyrical and it gripped me on a way I can’t even explain, the story was quite a slow burn but yet I still found myself reading the book fairly quickly because I just needed to get to the bottom of what was going on!
We’re following Harriet as she’s travelling to university with her dad, once she arrives she meets Jenna, Marcia, Mark & Iquis. Harriet is instantly drawn to Iquis but she’s not sure why there’s just something about her that leave Harriet feeling like she needs to get to know her better.
We soon learn that not everything at Eden University isn’t as it seems & everyone is keeping secrets!
Just when you think you’ve worked out what’s going on another layer is added to the story, I LOVED getting to the bottom of everything.
Today I’m on the blog tour for The Country Village Winter Wedding by Cathy Lake, thank you to Tracy at Compulsive Readers for organising it and inviting me to take part & thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.
Pages: 432
Synopsis: Clare Greene and Sam Wilson are getting married and everyone in Little Bramble is excited for the event of the year. But Clare and Sam are busy people and have left organising their wedding to the last minute.
Luckily, wedding planner Hazel Campbell has recently moved to the village. She had what she thought was a wonderful life in Edinburgh with a successful business, a loving fiance and her own wedding coming up. But when she caught her groom-to-be in bed with her best friend she fled, leaving everyone and everything behind.
Little Bramble seems like the ideal place for Hazel to start over. As she throws herself into planning the perfect country village winter wedding, she starts to find herself again. And soon she realises that a second chance at happiness might just be on the cards . . .
My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧
My Thoughts: ohh it was so nice to be back in the village of Little Bramble! – although I haven’t read all 3 books, I read The Country Village Summer Fete back in June, so reading this one almost felt like I was coming back home❤️
In this one we’re following Hazel who after her life has fallen apart in Scotland she’s uprooted her life and moved to Little Bramble, she remembers going there for a holiday as a young girl and it was a really happy time for her, will returning there bring back the happiness she’s craving?
We’re also following Jack, who after losing his wife in one of the worst ways possible he’s struggled to rebuild his life, in comes his pushy sister Beth, who keeps pestering him until he agrees to move to Little Bramble so she can help him.
Whilst they’re both healing from their past hurt, they’re paths cross more than once and they become really good friends!
With the help of Jacks niece Bobby (who is never afraid to say what everyone else is thinking, Aster the greyhound puppy and Santa with a little bit of Christmas magic, can they each be what the other one needs to heal and move on?
This was such a heartwarming read with laugh out loud moments that deals with some pretty tough topics.
It gave me all the romantic Christmassy feelings and I kind of wish I could go back and read it again for the first time.
prdgreads 