Today I’m on the blog tour for Lies Like Wildfire by Jennifer Lynn Alvarez, thank you to Dave at The Write Reads for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.
Pages: 384
Synopsis: The monsters have known each other their whole lives. This is their final summer before college – time to hang out, fall in love and dream about the future.
Until they accidentally start a forest fire which destroys their hometown and leaves death in its wake.
Desperate for the truth to remain hidden, the group make a pact of silence.
But the twisted secret begins to spin out of control and when one of the friends disappears they all become suspects.
We know how it starts but where does it end?
My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧
My Thoughts: CAN WE JUST APPRECIATE HOW STUNNJNG THIS COVER IS?! 😍🔥
The “monsters” are a group of friends who have grown up together, this is their final summer before college and quite possibly their final summer together so they’ve filled it with loads of fun things to do together.
Unfortunately that doesn’t at all go to plan when in their first trip out together they get drunk & accidentally start a forest fire which very quickly engulfed the whole area and people had to be evacuated!
What follows is a story full of secrets, lies and the fracture of friendships!
This was so hard to put down and was just absolutely incredible. If you love a mystery thriller with about a million layers then this is definitely the one for you!
Today is my stop on the blog tour for Tinker, Tailor, Schoolmum, Spy by Faye Brann. 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: 368
Synopsis: Vicky Turnbull has never regretted giving up her career for family life in the suburbs. And apart from being outstandingly good at paintball, no one would ever know that in a past life she was an undercover spy and has been trained to kill a man with her bare hands. Not even her husband, and certainly not the other mums at the school gate. But beneath the school runs and bake sales, Vicky had never quite said goodbye to the past. So, when a newcomer on the PTA sets alarms bells ringing and MI5 comes calling, she’s determined to prove that despite her expanding waistline and love of pink gin, she’s still every bit the cold-eyed special operative. When the assignment gets uncomfortably close to home, Vicky must decide if she has got what the job takes after all, and if home is really where her heart is…
My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧
My Thoughts: this was a really fun read, although not what I expected at all, for some reason I expected this to be a comedy & it wasn’t, now that’s not a bad thing at all I thoroughly enjoyed this the way it was!
It did make me wonder if any of the unsuspecting ladies is there 40’s that I see in my job as a checkout girl could be hiding similar secrets, because if there’s anything I learnt from this book it’s that it really is the ones you’d least expect 😂
Vicky comes out of the toilet to an envelope containing a piece of paper telling her to “WAKE UP!” and she knows then that someone from her past is back, will she take the job that’s been offered and if she does, will she be able to leave again for her family?
I loved the fact that the main character was not only a woman, but a busy mum, but also a total badass when the situation requires, the only problem is that she’s determined to go further than she was asked, will she be able to get out unscathed & keep everyone safe?
I loved this so much that I really wish it was the start of a new series, pick this up and give it a go. I promise you’ll love it.
Today I’m on the blog tour for Life According To Brian by B.M. Dawes, thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part.
I have an extract for you today, but first let me tell you a little about the book!
Synopsis Life According to Brian chronicles forty-four stories of mishap and misadventure of a scale unparalleled in modern man. Disguised in comedy to protect the seriously guilty, the story follows Brian’s escapades traversing the world and captures not only the lunacy of life but the luck involved in avoiding one’s own death.
The guidebook for the mentally impaired includes: poaching, drugs, imprisonment, kidnapping, poisonings, alien hunters, crocodile suicide and much, much more…
The sorry episodes are being played out via a game of chess. God and Charles Darwin, seeking to save mankind, are plotting Brian’s untimely demise. The winner of each play gets to choose the method of death. Constantly interrupted by visiting deities, kings, queens and E.T., the two main players are frustrated in their attempts to have some peace and play the game, with a nice cup of tea and some Mr Kipling cake.
Send the kids away, euthanise the cat, find a comfy chair, pour a pint of the finest whisky…have a reliable psychiatrist on speed dial.
Come inside and enjoy the ride…
Extract: Family Living, Zambia, 1970s My earliest memory, Zambia, Ndola, 1976. We wake up Shirley (8), Daniel (2) and my good self (5). Dad is in a rage, screaming down the corridor with his famous white Y-fronts on. We have been robbed, they had cut through the bars on the window entered our bedroom, stole Dad’s keys and made a break for it. Three hours earlier, my mother, ‘Tony, I’m sick of those bloody dogs barking all night, go and lock them up.’ Dad gets out of bed, ‘Yes dear.’ Dad now has a problem, Zambia is dangerous and he knows this. They have his keys, they can steal the car, gain entry to the house; the rest doesn’t bear thinking about. However, Tony is an electronics expert and doesn’t suffer fools or extremely dangerous robbers lightly. Dad was no average man or father, for that matter. He was much more than the sum of his organic parts. His old Cumbrian nickname “The Firecracker” had been tested and proven many times. Dad wires the car up to the mains electrics, a shrill scream a couple of nights later, the car still in situ, problem solved. It’s Africa in the ’70s. That’s the way it was, you couldn’t take any chances or you wouldn’t survive. Many years later in Bahrain, over a few beers, Dad tells me… ‘One time, we had just finished a tough mission. They were a team of six raiding an arms cache, which turned out to be a bush hut occupied by three goats and a chicken that was evidently lost.’ Dad continues explaining, ‘I was exhausted and had fallen asleep on a makeshift chair. I woke up to one of the crew whispering, “Tony, do not fucking move! Look down but stay still.” I looked down and joining me for my afternoon siesta was one of the fastest and deadliest snakes, a Black Mamba, coiled fast asleep between my legs. Eventually, my colleague managed to coax the snake away with a stick. On the trip back with bollocks intact, I was ruthlessly mocked with innuendoes that could only be expected by having a large black serpent between your legs. So having scared three goats half to death and repatriated the chicken back to the local village, I thought to myself, Tony…only in Africa.’ However, I reassured him the snake infestation was just as prevalent in Queensland and that I was never falling asleep ever again. Before Africa, we were living in Western Australia, where I was born. One of Dad’s jobs was the installation of ground satellite technology that could monitor Chinese Atomic weapon testing. Dad was at Aldermaston, at the AWE. The Atomic Weapons Establishment, responsible for the design, manufacture and support of warheads for the UK’s nuclear deterrent. So there had always been a suspicion that Dad’s postings had been a front for many “other” jobs. But he quite rightly would never reveal anything. He wore many hats. Shirley screams, ‘C’mon Brian, you can climb it, it’s easy.’ My beloved sister is about 10 feet up the tree. I’m struggling to get up the trunk, suddenly Shirl has shaken a branch and a massive snake has dropped not one foot away from my feet. Fortunately, the Zambian gardener, Samuel had seen my sibling’s attempt on my life, comes sprinting over and with a rake held overhead and after several strikes later, kills the venomous beast. I look up and realised that Shirl must have taken a life insurance policy out on me. The ink hadn’t even dried and the first attempt had been made. Do the deed, make the claim, and buy lots of sweeties. Her addiction was getting out of control. I would have to be on my guard from now on. Not accept free ice cream, unless it has been tested on Daniel first.
About the author: B. M. Dawes was born in Perth, Australia, in 1971, where he first discovered his fear of venomous snakes. This legitimate threat to life would then follow Brian to Zambia from the age of three to six. Escaping not only the marauding bandits and numerous attempts by his loving sister to shorten his already young years, Brian would then flee to Bahrain where he would misadventure throughout his teens. He attended university in Queensland, Australia, where he learnt his trade as a professional drinker and erred on the side of erring. He currently lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, with his long-suffering partner and two loving children, who have a pending life policy on their benevolent dad.
If you like the sound of this, it can be boughtHere!
Today is my stop on the blogtour for Small Forgotten Moments by Annalisa Crawford, 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: 222
Synopsis: Is Zenna a muse, a sleep-deprived apparition, or something much more sinister?
Suffering long-term amnesia, artist Jo Mckye is ready to start a fresh, new project after the success of her debut exhibition. But the fictional subject of the collection, Zenna, won’t let go so easily. Infiltrating Jo’s dreams—and increasingly, her waking hours—Zenna is fast becoming a dangerous obsession.
Jo is confident the answers lie at her childhood home, an idyllic Cornish village on the south-east coast; she just doesn’t know why. Only when she walks into the sea and almost drowns does the past start to unravel.
Haunting and melodic, fans of Daphne du Maurier and Daisy Johnson will adore this.
My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧
My Thoughts: I knew I’d enjoy this, but I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did!
I devoured it in a couple of hours, I almost couldn’t turn the pages quick enough everything was just perfect.
We’re following Jo, an artist with amnesia who has just had success at her first exhibition! – the only problem being that all her paintings have the same subject Zenna, who she believes to be her childhood imaginary friend, but obviously she can’t remember! – the memories are there she just can’t grasp them!
When Zenna starts infiltrating her dreams and effecting her waking hours, she starts getting an uneasy feeling that the people in her life know more than they are letting on, so she sets out on a journey of discovery to see if she can find out the truth!
It’s eerie, creepy, chilling and totally all consuming! – I can’t say too much because it will ruin the reading experience for you but please please give it a go!
Today I have a review for you as part of the blog tour for The Cruellest Gift in The World by Ed Pauley, thank you to Kelly at Love Books Tours for Inviting me to take part and thank you to the author for my copy.
Pages: 37
Synopsis: When a man lies awake at night, contemplating the complexities of life, the universe, and his place within it, what if something in the dark heard his restless mind, and answered his questions?
A renowned professor recounts his expedition into the western desert, following a letter sent to him regarding the discovery of an unusual ruin, in which he discovers the truth of what lies beyond.
My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧
My Thoughts: well, I have to say for such a short book this one packs quite a punch, it’s definitely thought provoking.
Regardless of your religious views or how you feel about death, or rather life after death this book will have you wondering and possibly doubting yourself like it for me. After all there are no right or wrong answers, we’re all entitled own opinions.
For me, the idea of there being life after death brings me a little bit of comfort, I don’t like the idea of death being IT, being the end. but I don’t consider myself to be religious in any way.
The story itself was set in 1919 and was about an English professor travelling to Egypt after receiving a letter and the journey he and a friend went on, it got a little confusing at times, but I enjoyed it, it challenged my own thinking which doesn’t happen often within 37 pages 😂
I urge everyone to read it and make up their own minds! 😊
It can be bought Here! And is only 99p on kindle right now!
Today I have a Book Blitz for you and I’m here to tell you all about Tsalix Silveryhorn and the Malestrom of tears by Richard Siddoway!
Synopsis: With two of the talismans recovered and returned to the King, Tsalix and his friends face a challenge that will take them to the brink of death. Mount Litso is completely surrounded by the Sea of Tabass, which has a whirlpool that travels across its surface. Not only is the water formidable, but the mountain itself is guarded by giants who have pledged themselves to Abadon.The successful completion of this task will bring them closer to the completion of the mission they were sent on by the King. They will have delivered to him the three talismans that lead the way to the Scepter of Destiny.
About the Author: Having retrieved the first talisman from the top of Mount Jinee, Tsalix and his friends are faced with another daunting task.They must cross Shayeksten, the Desert of Desolation to reach Mount Tsood and find the second talisman. Shayeksten is formidable, dry, hot, and covered with drifting sand. Compounding their problem is their nemesis, Captain Nash Doitsoh and his band of soldiers, who are patrolling the desert and are determined to capture Tsalix and bring him to Prince Abadon. If they are successful in crossing Shayeksten and reaching Mount Tsood they must find where the talisman is hidden and then return to Mount Deschee to deliver it to the King.
If you love the sound of this it can be bought here…
Today is my stop on the blog tour for deception by T.J. Blake 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: Through the stark and leafless trees, I see her.
I remember the first day I saw her; an instant attraction. I think she’s beautiful. She has such pensive blue eyes; they remind me of a blue sky right before the sun descends. Every time I see her I want to talk to her, I want to get to know her, and I want to be her friend.
She usually completes the lower woodland walk in six minutes and forty-two seconds; she misses the deeper woodlands and goes home, I believe.
I walk down the road at the same speed as her. She reaches the crossroads at the bottom of the road, looks both ways, and then jogs across into the garden of a house. I stop walking and concentrate on which house is hers.
I can’t stare too long but I am intrigued already, I will come back.
My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧
My Thoughts: this was a compelling read, one that had me gripped and kept me guessing throughout the fact that I listened to it on audio added a whole new depth to the story too!
We’re following Billy, who is walking his dog Ella, she’s the only thing he has left since the tragic death of his wife, and it’s on one of these dog walks that he see’s Eve, she’s also walking her dog & something about her intrigues him, so he follows her and watches from the shadows until he works up the courage to say hello.
Things develop quite quickly into a relationship until one day Billy is approached by a man telling him to leave Eve alone. – who is he? Why does he feel the need to get involved?
It’s then that things get dark and complicated, it soon becomes clear that Eve is keeping secrets and she starts turning herself into who she knows Billy really wants, can he escape before things go too far?
I highly recommend this to all psychological thriller fans, please give the audio book a go if you’re able to because it just enhanced the enjoyment for me!
Today is my stop on the blog tour for Glittering A Turd by Kris Hallenga, 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: 280
Synopsis: Kris was living a totally normal life as a twenty-three-year-old: travelling the world, falling in love, making plans.
However, when she found a lump in her boob and was told that it was not only cancer, but also incurable, life took on a completely new meaning. She was diagnosed at an age when life wasn’t something to be grateful for, but a goddamn right.
Little did Kris know it was cancer that would lead her to a life she had never considered: a happy one. From founding a charity to visiting Downing Street, campaigning at festivals to appearing on TV, and being present at the birth of her nephew; in the face of all the possible prognoses, Kris is surviving, thriving, and resolutely living.
Glittering a Turd is more than just another cancer memoir; it’s a handbook for living life to the fullest, shining a new perspective on survival and learning to glitter your own tu*d, whatever it might be. Kris has survived the unsurvivable for twelve years. Here, she begins to discover why.
My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧
My Thoughts: I have no coherent words for this book, it was a tough read from start to finish with such an important message – check your boobs!
I want to say that Kris is an inspiration, that her strength is unparalleled, but as a disabled person I totally get what she said in the book about those words feeling strange when you just have a condition out of your control so I won’t say it.
What I will say is that her ability to educate you on certain situations without feeling patronising or making you feel small for not understanding straight away was incredible and very much appreciated, it kind of felt like she took us along for the journey with her.
It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows and she never tried to make it seem that way, she was honest about the hard bits too but did it in a way that it didn’t become overwhelmingly sad
Don’t get me wrong, i shed a few tears whilst reading this, but I also laughed a lot too.
This book is about a tough hard hitting topic that will affect every single one of us, but it hun we positive and uplifting.
Thank you for giving me the chance to read your story Kris!
After reading this story I will be making sure I check my boobs regularly and you should do the same! – for more info on how exactly to do that please visit this page on CoppaFeel!’s website!
Today is my stop on the blog tour for The New Friend by Alex Kane, 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: 281
Synopsis:
Be careful who you let into your life
Arabella MacQueen had a tough start. Growing up surrounded by drugs and alcohol, getting into trouble as a teen, she’s now in her late-twenties and has turned her life around.
Until the fateful night that sees her imprisoned for 10 months.
She’s hit rock bottom … but unexpectedly forges a bond with cellmate Roxanne McPhail that lasts beyond the prison walls.
Now both women are free, and Arabella is excited about the future with boyfriend Eddie, with Roxanne at her side.
But Arabella doesn’t know the truth about her new best friend; about Roxanne’s reputation as the head of Glasgow gangland, about the violence in Roxanne’s past.
She doesn’t know that Roxanne has plans for Arabella that might lead her into some very dangerous places.
In this dirty game, Arabella is going to have to learn you can’t always trust those closest to you…
My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧
My Thoughts: this was a gripping story once you got into it which made it really hard to put down!
The beginning of the book wasn’t an easy ride though, there were quite a few characters to be introduced to and to begin with there didn’t seem to be a link.. luckily they do all knit together quite seamlessly once the story really gets going!
Poor Arabella has had a tough life, starting as a child she got taken into care and nothing has been great since, just when she feels she’s got her life back on track her ‘friends’ make a reappearance and before she knows that’s happening she’s in prison! – there she meets Roxanne, who at the time seems like she is taking Arabella under her wing, but with Roxanne knowing she’s leaving prison just a few short days after Arabella could there be an ulterior motive?
Jez lives in Spain, had done since he went on a lads holiday 20 years ago and just never left! – he worked his way up and went from being a barman to the club owner, he’s just been stabbed in the back (figuratively) by a friend & is having to return to Scotland to confront him, will his past finally catch up with him whilst he’s there?
The action in this story is never ending and you never know who to trust, even the ones who seem innocent have secrets that they’re hiding!
I loved how everything came together in the end, it was definitely an ending that I didn’t see coming and would never have guessed!
Today is my stop on the blog tour for The Great Silence by Doug Johnstone, thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.
Pages: 300
Synopsis: The discovery of a human foot in an Edinburgh park, the inexplicable circumstances of a dying woman, and the missing daughter of Jenny’s violent ex-husband present the Skelf women with their most challenging – and deadly – cases yet…
Keeping on top of the family funeral directors’ and private-investigation businesses is no easy task for the Skelf women, and when matriarch Dorothy discovers a human foot while walking the dog, a perplexing case presents itself … with potentially deadly results.
Daughter Jenny and grand-daughter Hannah have their hands full too: The mysterious circumstances of a dying woman lead them into an unexpected family drama, Hannah’s new astrophysicist colleague claims he’s receiving messages from outer space, and the Skelfs’ teenaged lodger has yet another devastating experience.
Nothing is clear as the women are immersed ever deeper in their most challenging cases yet. But when the daughter of Jenny’s violent and fugitive ex-husband goes missing without trace and a wild animal is spotted roaming Edinburgh’s parks, real danger presents itself, and all three Skelfs are in peril.
Taut, dark, warmly funny and unafraid to ask big questions – of us all – The Great Silence is the much-anticipated third instalment in the addictive, unforgettable Skelfs series, and the stakes are higher than ever.
My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧
My Thoughts: this is book 3 of the Skelfs series, I thoroughly enjoyed the first two so I couldn’t want to dive in and let me tell you I was not disappointed!
The Skelfs are a unique family who you just can’t help but fall in love with, but with them running two businesses, both businesses are a little different and out there, they run a funeral directors and a private investigation business from the same premises so as you can imagine things can get a little complicated, not to mention the fact that trouble just seems to follow them around 😂
This time Einstein finds a human foot on his walk and if that wasn’t weird enough after further investigation they can see that it’s been embalmed, but it’s pretty shoddy work. This leads Dorothy on an investigation that actually leaves her life in danger on more than one occasion!
Jenny is left investigating twins that have just buried their grandmother and it seems that their mother is heading in the same way, little do they know that their mums young lover has hired her to investigate them too, what a mess!
Hannah has an investigation of her own to run a wedding to plan and a father to find before it’s too late!
This story was intense and gripping, just when you think the Skelfs couldn’t possibly find any more trouble they prove you wrong. – I cannot wait for the next instalment to see what they get up to next time!
prdgreads 