prdgreads

Today I’m on the blogtour for Christmas Wishes at The Chocolate Shop by Jessica Redland, thank you to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy

Pages: 253

Synopsis: Sometimes you just need a little Christmas magic to make your wishes come true…

When master chocolatier, Charlee, takes the leap to move to the picturesque seaside town of Whitsborough Bay, she is determined to follow in her grandfather’s footsteps and set up a chocolate shop.

Luckily, she finds the perfect location for Charlee’s Chocolates on beautiful Castle Street… Now she just has to refurbish it in time for Christmas!

With a useless boyfriend and countless DIY disasters, Charlee doesn’t know if she’ll make it in time. With no ‘traditional’ family to support her, she feels lost in her new surroundings and the secrets of the past are weighing her down.

But the warmth and festive spirit of the Whitsborough Bay community will surprise her, and when plumber, Matt, comes to the rescue, it might be that all of Charlee’s dreams could come true this Christmas, and she could learn what family really means…

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: this gave me alll the warm and fuzzy lovey dovey feelings I was hoping for and I loved it so much!

We’re following Charlee, and the book opens with her spreading her beloved Grandmas ashes, just as she’s finishing and getting ready to come home her boyfriend Ricky appears to give her a cuddle, he hadn’t finished work in time to join but at least he’s there now to offer some much needed support, right?

Ricky tells Charlee that he’s lost his job but there is a new opportunity opening up in Whitsborough Bay that he’s going for and he’d like her to join him, it all seems perfect but right from the start I got a feeling that just didn’t sit right with me, so many red flags that Charlee just kept ignoring!

But then she moves to Whitsborough Bay, finds the perfect shop to realise her dream of owning her own chocolate shop and carry her grandads legacy!

Obviously in true romance style nothing is ever straight forward and everything just starts going wrong and in steps Matt, the local plumber.. there’s instant sparks but the only problem is Charlee has a boyfriend and Matt is engaged.. but is either of them really happy?

On one had this was your typical predictable romance that is everyone’s guilty pleasure but on the other hand it was completely different too!

After this one I will definitely be picking up more books by Jessica in the future!

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Today I’m on the blogtour for The Reacher Guy, the authorised biography of Lee Child by Heather Martin, 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: 544

Synopsis: Lee Child is the enigmatic powerhouse behind the phenomenally successful Jack Reacher novels. With devoted fans across the globe, and over a hundred million copies of his books sold in more than forty languages, he is that rarity, a writer who is both critically acclaimed and adored by readers. And yet curiously little has been written about the man himself.

The Reacher Guy shows us for the first time the young man behind the invention of Jack Reacher. Through parallels drawn between Child and his literary creation, it tells the story of how a lost and lonely boy from Birmingham with a ferocious appetite for reading grew up to become a high-flying TV executive, before coming full circle and establishing himself as an internationally bestselling author.

Heather Martin explores Child’s lifelong fascination with America – and shows how the Reacher novels fed and fuelled this obsession. Drawing on exclusive correspondence and conversations with Child over a number of years, she forensically pieces together his life, from Northern Ireland and County Durham to New York and Hollywood. This is the definitive account of the man behind one of the most iconic series of our times.

My Thoughts: this was a really interesting in depth look into the life of Lee Child, starting even before he was born looking into the lives of his grandparents!

We get a real insight into Lee (although his real name is James) and the things that shaped him into the person he is today and his motivations for becoming a best selling author!

I did at times find myself getting a little bit lost and confused because the book isn’t written in a linear format it kept jumping timelines and going back on itself.

I’m a Yorkshire girl myself so I really enjoyed the mentions of my hometowns Harrogate and Knaresborough, I could actually picture the places that they were taking about and it made it feel more real!

I really enjoyed the snippets of the Jack Reacher novels that were thrown in, they made me realise how much of his own life he actually put in there and would make me look at the stories in a whole new way!

I did feel that this was maybe a little longer than it needed to be, so just be prepared for a long ride if you pick it up, but it’s definitely one that’s worth the time it takes to consume it properly!

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Today I’m on the book tour for Amongst The Mists by M.L. Rayner, 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: 319

Synopsis: It was the most anticipated summer break of their young lives.

For Bran Lampshire, that summer of 1986 would be far different. The lure of a wilderness adventure sends him and his friends on a troublesome journey that would see them far from home and into the isolated shadows of the Sleathton Estate. In a forgotten land where nature thrives, an unexplained mist settles upon the shaded grounds. And stories were told of events so chilling, they were forcibly buried over time.

Lose yourself beneath the endless trees. And discover that legends are sometimes so much more than ghost stories.

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: Oh my word, this is how you do a ghost story properly, I literally couldn’t give this anything other than 5 stars, it was incredible!

The only problem being that I can’t tell you why! – part of the reason why I enjoyed this was because I just didn’t know where the story would go next!

Boundaries were pushed regularly and I was here for it… I had to put this book down a couple of times and distract my brain with mindless TV because it just creeped me out so much 🤣

We’re following 3 young lads who decide to go on a camping trip in the summer holidays, all is going well until one of them falls off his bike and hurts his back, this leads to one of them running for help and finding Gregory.. he lives alone in a lodge but happened to be in the area..

What follows is gripping, mesmerising, and just so hard to get out of your head. It felt so real I got goosebumps!

The story is actually told from 2 different perspectives & one of them you don’t learn who they are until the end!

Part of me is hoping for a follow up, but I’m also scared for a follow up because I can’t imagine what the author could possibly come up with next!

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Today I’m on the blogtour for Hollywood Bilker by Leopold Borstinski, 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: 261

Synopsis: Is building another casino worth dying for?

Jewish gangster, Alex Cohen returns to America and settles in 1960s California to build a drug and prostitution empire in LA. When he gets a call from the mob to help the CIA invade Cuba, Alex must decide between family and his business associates.

If he helps Uncle Sam and the Mafia then he puts his life on the line fighting for freedom and the chance to rebuild his Havana casinos. If he refuses the favor then death will call on him, his ex-wife and their sons. Once he agrees to one accommodation then others are sure to follow, in a decade where even presidents, assassins and presidential candidates were whacked at a terrifying rate.

The sixth book in the Alex Cohen series is an historical thriller novel, which rips open Jewish organized crime involvement in Lee Harvey Oswald’s death and the assassination of Bobby Kennedy. Leopold Borstinski’s searing crime fiction lays bare the making of today’s USA.

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧.5

My Thoughts: This is the 6th instalment in the Alex Cohen series and I have to say this is my favourite so far!

This one was more character driven than plot driven which I appreciated, it was less heavy on the action which meant that we got to know the characters in a whole different way and it made me feel more empathy for them and everything they’ve been through, Alex especially!

In this one Alex is trying to reinstate his previous drugs and prostitution business after having to leave Cuba in a rush!

We meet characters like Kennedy, Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe and it’s done so seamlessly and fits in quite well with what we know about them and they’re real lives that Alex could’ve actually been a real person in those times!

Then something happens that Alex can’t physically say no too & it makes him realise how old he is and how much he’s missing out on his families lives, could now be the time to say goodbye and let it all go?

I love this series so so much, and I cannot wait to see where it goes next time!

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Today is my stop on the blog tour for The Winter Cottage by Rachael Lucas, thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for organising it and inviting me to take port and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages:264

Synopsis: When Rilla Clark’s long lost father dies, she leaves New England and heads to his cottage in the Scottish Highlands to sort out his affairs. Rilla’s determined that her visit will be a fleeting one. The little village of Applemore holds a lot of memories for her, but looking back might just open up her heart, which she’s kept well-guarded until now.

Lachlan Fraser is less than delighted with his inheritance. He left the grand, crumbling Applemore House as soon as he could, and he can’t see why his three sisters love it so much. Gathered together at their family estate, the battle of wills over what to do with the house is just beginning when into their life walks Rilla, who they haven’t seen for over fifteen years…

Old friendships and long-hidden emotions are rekindled as the romance of a Highland winter works its magic – will Rilla and Lachlan discover that home isn’t a place, but a feeling?

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: this was the perfect winter/Christmas romance,

Rilla has to return to her dads old home in the Scottish highlands, he’s recently passed away and it’s time to clear out his cottage before his lease ends in 3 months time! – she’s expecting it to be hard and emotional but what she’s not expecting is to be thrown 15 years into the past!

Lachlan Fraser owns Applemore House, after the recent death of his dad too, he returns home to see how much work has to be put into the property in order to sell it! – what he didn’t bargain for was his sisters being so dead set on keeping the house, forgetting the inheritance tax and just fixing it up and keeping it in the family!

Then to make matters worse he’s really thrown for a loop when he hears that the loved of his life Rilla is also back for a while, he’s mortified but happy at the same time, could this be his chance to rectify his mistakes from 15 years ago?

Throw in an old family friend of their dads, friends who think they know what’s best, 3 spaniels and a 20 year old secret that has linked both families in a way that none of them could’ve imagined and what you’ve got is a story that is incredibly hard to put down and made me look forward to the Christmas season that will be here before we all know it.

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Today I’m on the blog tour for One More Christmas at the Castle by Trisha Ashley, 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: 523

Synopsis: This Christmas will be the most special of them all…

Elderly widow Sabine knows this will be her last Christmas in her beloved home, Mitras Castle. Determined to make it just like the ones she remembers from her childhood, she employs Dido Jones of Heavenly Houseparties to help with the big day.

Dido is enchanted by the castle as soon as she steps through the imposing front door. And as Christmas day approaches, her feeling of connection to the old house runs deeper than she first thought. But when the snow begins to fall and Sabine’s family arrive at the house – including Dido’s teenage crush Xan – tensions rise around the castle’s future and long-buried mysteries begin to unravel…

As past secrets come to light, can this still be a magical Christmas to remember?

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧.5

My Thoughts: I enjoyed this, it was a lovely read that warmed the heart but also tugged at the heart strings too!

We’re following Sabine, who knows that due to illness this will be her last Christmas, so she invites her close family and friends to celebrate with her and hires a party company to help her recreate the Christmases of her childhood – a task that she makes far from easy but they exceed her expectations every single time!

This story felt really slow in places and I think it’s because it was character driven rather than plot driven so at times we were left feeling like nothing really happened (not a criticism) but before you knew it you were so deep into the story that you needed to know what happened!

There were times where I felt like there was more to it all that Sabine had actually let on and the secrets and hidden aspects did not disappoint!

This was the perfect Christmas read for early in the season because it focussed more on the buildup rather than the big day so it wasn’t festive heavy!

This is the second book I’ve read by Trisha Ashley and so far I’ve loved them both!

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Today I’m on the book tour for The Lie She Told by Catherine Yaffre, 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: 323

Synopsis: All Kate Wanted Was A Peaceful Life.
All Ryan Wanted To Do Was Destroy it.
Living in the remote Scottish Highlands under Witness Protection, life is finally happy for Kate Ward and her young son Joe, until someone from Kate’s past appears. Ryan Albright is the only person that knows all of Kate’s secrets, and what she had to do to escape her previous abusive relationship. Ryan is determined to complete the mission set for him by Kate’s ex-husband. Systematically and violently, he pulls Kate’s new world apart with devastating consequences for everyone around him, including Kate who must face up to the lie she told.

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: this was such a thrilling read that I devoured it in one sitting, Kate has fled to Scotland to escape her past with her little boy Joe, although we don’t know what she’s running from we get the feeling it’s something huge.

One day someone stops her at the side of the road it’s only once she starts talking to him that she realises that her past has started to catch up with her… or so she thinks.

Ryan soon convinces her that although he had been in contact with her ex husband they’re no longer friends and he manages to worm his way into her life..

Soon things start going wrong around her, her friends are being hurt and things are going missing. Everyone is pointing the finger at Ryan which leads her to stop trusting everyone around her.

Then the worst happens and her son disappears, can they help Kate see sense before it’s too late and she never sees her son again?

I promise you won’t be disappointed if you pick this one up!

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Today I’m on the blog tour for Bright Lies by A.A. Abbott, thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part and the n you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Synopsis: She thought she had the perfect stepfather. So why is she running for her life?

Emily longs to be an artist. So she’s thrilled when her famous and talented stepfather offers to act as her mentor. But when his teachings take a darker turn, she flees his fancy home.

Bad boy Jack has made good as a hot DJ. Then he sees thugs attack a rough sleeper, and shocking memories spur him to her rescue. He doesn’t know she’s only 15 and running from a deadly predator.

Emily’s hopes of safety are crushed when her stepfather hunts her down. Now Jack faces the hardest choice of all. If he protects Emily from the fiend who’s stolen her childhood, he’ll kiss goodbye to his future.

What would you sacrifice to save a life?

If you enjoy nail-biting suspense, slow-burning secrets and dark domestic noir, you’ll love AA Abbott’s chilling psychological thriller.

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: my god this book gave me the creeps, it made me feel so uncomfortable but in the best way.

It’s a dark twisty psychological thriller that really gets under your skin, it opens up with Emily confronting something with her mum, at the time we don’t know what it is but we do know that it’s something she’s not happy about.

Then the story goes back to Emily as a young teenager, her mum has found a new partner so she now has a new stepfather who is seemingly setting them up for a better life, but is it all it’s cracked up to be?

We soon learn that her stepfathers intentions aren’t as sweet and innocent as we first thought, things happen that leave Emily feeling like she has no choice but to run away!

It’s whilst she’s on the streets that she meets Jack an aspiring DJ, Could he be the salvation she needs? is he willing to put his ambitions on hold to save the young girl who has appeared in his life?

The audiobook for this added a whole new element to the story. I don’t know if I’d have been as hooked as I was if I’d read the words rather than listen to it!

I cannot recommend this one enough!

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Today I’m on the blog tour for The Women of Blackmouth Street by Thea Sutton, thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part! – today I have an extract for you, but let me tell you a little about the book and the author first.

Synopsis: A gifted psychologist is forced to hunt a serial killer or risk having a dark chapter of her past exposed-but her mission may mark her as the next victim…

1890s London. Strong-willed Georgia Buchanan, a mind doctor and heiress, spends her time with the mad, the bad, and devils incarnate, armed only with her expert understanding of the human psyche. 

But when her young, high-profile patient unexpectedly commits suicide, Georgia leaves Boston under a cloud of guilt. Lured to London’s notorious Bedlam asylum, she’s trapped by a vengeful detective and a dangerous anarchist-who know too much about her-into tracking a serial killer of women in the city’s East End.

As Georgia struggles to prevent more women from meeting a violent end, her own secrets and closest ties are stripped bare… With her Harvard mentor, William James, and his sister. With her wealthy, scandalous father. With a troubled patient. All the while the city’s streets reel with carnage and social unrest. Alone and questioning her abilities as the killer closes in, Georgia has one last chance to save the innocent before she confronts the most devastating truth yet.

A shocking, fast-paced period thriller, The Women of Blackmouth Street conjures a lush and gritty world of psychological profiling, political upheaval, and women on the edge of madness.

About The Author: Thea Sutton has a Ph.D in English literature with books and articles to her credit. She has worked in marketing and communications while dividing her time between Toronto and Southern California.

Extract: PROLOGUE

‘Hysteria.” The doctor drew out the syllables. “From the Greek, hysterikos. Of the womb. Or rather, suffering from the womb, as the meaning has evolved in our time.”

He turned, bearded chin tilting to his audience, from the young woman strapped to the metal table beside him. The bowl of the theater pulsed a dazzling white in contrast to the wooden church- like pews where the medical students sat, eyes locked on the creature before them.
She could be a corpse but for the rise and fall of her chest, the sliver of lids over fixed eyes.

“What you will witness today are the four stages of hysteria.” On a tray behind the doctor lay a leather-covered box with red-velvet lining in which nestled a cranial drill, silver-plated with a shiny round topknot handle.
“You will see that at the beginning of an attack, the patient’s mouth is wide as if she is screaming.”
The doctor ambled around the table taking a leisurely stroll but, like the best of impresarios, never losing eye contact with his audience, as though daring them to turn away from his spectacle.
“Then you will observe the epileptoid phase or tonic rigidity where the young lady’s muscles will contract, her neck twist, her legs thrash in counter rhythm to the gyration of her fists outwards.”
A few men in the front row shifted in their seats, pens targeting notebooks, faces reflecting the yellow-green cast of the encircling walls.
The doctor smiled his satisfaction. “I don’t suppose any of you has ever witnessed this progression?” A rhetorical question. “The chronic spasms are followed by extreme emotional states such as lust, hate and fear. What we can expect is for our patient to slip into delirium or a hallucinatory state. She may plead, choke, howl her pain.”
Presenting his back to his disciples for the first time, the doctor picked up the cranial drill from its pocket of red velvet. Holding it up like a chalice to the light buzzing overhead. The bare leg—a gleaming white ankle manacled by a black strap—twitched.
Vision blurring, I turned away. When I looked up again, the dimensions of the lecture hall stretched and contracted. To the rear of the theater, a flight of stairs and a row of doors, blistered paint chipping from the frames. I rose and began the climb, each step lengthy and impossible. Until I reached the first door, slightly ajar.
In the slant of light, a woman with greying hair waited, it seemed, just for me, yellow bed jacket over her shoulders. Her lips crooked upwards in a relieved smile at my entrance, features patrician save for the nose eaten away by the pox. Behind her sat a girl on a faded pink divan. Her pale fingers played with the long tassels of a scarf on her lap until, as though coming to a decision, she lifted the fabric to her head like a crown before slipping, then looping, then tightening it around her neck.
The world spun. My mouth swamped with the taste of metal, dull and bitter, an instant before vision narrowed to a pinpoint of black.

If you like the sound of this it can be bought Here

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Today I’m on the book tour for Bare Lies by Nick Rippington, 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: 419

Synopsis: Flashback to the Millennium and In book No. 4 of the Boxer Boys series, enforcer Chuck Dolan and his brother Sly are out to prove there’s a new gang in town.
But when a raid on a drug rival’s nightclub goes tragically wrong, the two Boxer Boys flee to their granddad Billy’s villa on Spain’s Costa Blanca.
Their first impression of Billy is of an old man seeing out his days in the sun, but it’s quickly shattered when he introduces them to his ‘business partners’ – a murderous Colombian cartel boss and a sadistic former Irish paramilitary.
And though things look up for Chuck when ex-girlfriend Abby re-enters his life, Billy’s own relationships quickly turn sour and the prospect of a gang war on the Costas looms large.
As the brothers prepare for trouble, little do they realise there’s an even bigger danger hiding in Billy’s past: one which threatens their future, their loved ones and their very lives.

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧.5

My Thoughts: Firstly let me apologise if my review doesn’t do this book justice, I didn’t realise it was book 4 in a series! – totally my fault but for this reason I did feel like I was missing vital parts of the bigger picture 🤦🏻‍♀️

That being said I did enjoy this, I love a Gangland crime novel, they tend to be on the darker more brutal side of crime novels and sometimes that’s just what a girl needs, they’re so far removed from my everyday life that they’re just so easy to get lost in and devour. Bare Lies was no exception!

Chuck and Sly land themselves in trouble when someone brings a grenade to what should have been a routine job, there’s a big explosion (obviously🤣) and people die, now because that wasn’t part of the plan they now need to escape, find somewhere to lay low until it all blows over…

Their Grandad Billy Dolan otherwise known as Billy The Kid steps in and gives them somewhere to stay, with him in Spain as long as they do some work for him! – now as you can imagine this doesn’t actually go as smoothly as they’d like, Chuck has a temper that very quickly lands him in more trouble with a business associate of Billy’s and Sly can’t seem to keep it in his pants!

Soon Billy’s past comes back to haunt him too as if they don’t have enough to deal with! – can they get to the bottom of everything before it’s too late and someone ends up dead?

There were moments where I laughed out loud whilst reading, moments that made me bury my head in my hands and moments that had me on the edge of my seat! – it was fast paced and definitely kept me on my toes, I just now feel like I have to go to book one and start it all from the beginning!

If you’re a fan of gangland crime I can highly recommend this one.

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