prdgreads

Today is my stop on the blog tour for The Crazy Season by Jim Ody, thank you to Zoé at Zooloos Blog Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 360

Synopsis: Joel Baxter is infamous for solving weird and bizarre cases that others avoid. So, when he receives an email from a teenage boy Tim saying his town is cursed, he cannot turn it down.

“…I will more than likely be dead when you read this. There is nothing I can do about it. It’s the curse, and we’ve hit The Crazy Season.” Every 20 years, there are a handful of unexplained teenage deaths and it’s started again.

With the help of his straight-talking friend Melody, they set out to get to the bottom of the alleged curse. Everybody in Black Rock has secrets and nobody wants to speak.

The closer they get to truth the more Joel and Melody realise that their involvement is far from coincidental.

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: right from the start I loved this, I was 100% invested and couldn’t wait to see where the story would take us!

I loved Joel as a main character, he had a very tough exterior but was vulnerable underneath and you could just tell that everything he did, he did for his wife. there were parts of the story, watching his interaction with her that were making me tear up because I just couldn’t imagine the heartbreak he was going through!

Melody was the perfect counter part to hun, she was sassy, straight to the point and just didn’t tip toe around him, she brought out his fun side which was a delight to see!

As more people started seemingly committing suicide or going missing I was starting to worry that they wouldn’t be able to solve it until it was too late!

Just when you think it’s been solved, something else happens to disprove that and we didn’t know which way to turn next.

This is the first Jim Ody book I’ve read but the writing flowed so easily making it such an easy and fun read that I will definitely be picking more up in the future.

The parts about the suicide and some of the details involved in that were hard to read as someone who has lost people to suicide, but I found those aspects were very respectfully done.

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Today is my stop on the blog tour for a bad, bad thing by Elena Forbes, thank you to Emma at Damp Pebbles for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 441

Synopsis: After a police operation ends in catastrophe, DCI Eve West is suspended. She faces expulsion from the force, until John Duran – a violent criminal Eve incarcerated, still serving his sentence – offers to help clear her name. But nothing comes without a price.

Duran wants Eve to help free a fellow prisoner, who he claims has been wrongly convicted of murder. But as her investigationtakes a dark turn, Eve finds that more than just her job is at stake, and realises Duran is a dangerous man to trust . . .

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧

My thoughts: This was a brilliant opener to a new series, DCI Eve west is out to prove to all her colleagues that she is not to blame for the mess she’s found herself in, when she’s offered help from someone she least expects, but as we all know nothing ever comes for free!

She’s thrown into helping 4Justice prove that someone that is in prison for Murder didn’t get a fair trial, and she soon finds herself a lot deeper in the situation than she intended.

The writing is gripping and had me totally absorbed in what was going on, the storyline keeps you hooked and leaves you unable to stop turning the pages!

I did find some parts a little long winded and repetitive but I can’t wait to see where the series goes next!

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Today I’m here to reveal the cover for Unknown Vengeance by Pat O’Brien and let me tell you, it definitely made me want to pick it up! – but before I show you it, let me tell you a little about the book….

Synopsis: A serial killer is terrorizing members of the medical community in Buffalo, NY. Veteran Detective, Rhody Richardson, is leading the investigation with his partner, Detective Wayne.
Victims have been disfigured and tortured – faces sliced, numbers carved into their chests. The brilliant, but young, forensic intern, Connor Patrick, tries desperately to make sense of the numbers but cannot find a pattern.

The killer has promised ten victims, but Richardson and psychiatric consultant Dr Kaileen Taylor believe it will continue well past that number. At each of the gruesome crime scenes, the killer has left cryptic poems with different names. Richardson ventures down a dangerous path, deciphering what the killer is trying to tell them before they escape justice into the eternal void of the unknown.

Now for cover… are you ready?! 😍

The book is out on the 5th August and you can preorder it here ☺️

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Today is my stop on the blog tour for Gild by Raven Kennedy, thank you to Love Books Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part, thank you to the author for my copy.

Pages: 375

Synopsis: The fae abandoned this world to us. And the ones with power rule.

Gold.

Gold floors, gold walls, gold furniture, gold clothes. In Highbell, in the castle built into the frozen mountains, everything is made of gold.

Even me.

King Midas rescued me. Dug me out of the slums and placed me on a pedestal. I’m called his precious. His favored. I’m the woman he Gold-Touched to show everyone that I belong to him. To show how powerful he is. He gave me protection, and I gave him my heart. And even though I don’t leave the confines of the palace, I’m safe.

Until war comes to the kingdom and a deal is struck.

Suddenly, my trust is broken. My love is challenged. And I realize that everything I thought I knew about Midas might be wrong.

Because these bars I’m kept in, no matter how gilded, are still just a cage. But the monsters on the other side might make me wish I’d never left.

My rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: I really loved this, was a totally new look at King Midas, although tbh I didn’t really like him for the most part in this book 🤣 the way he was with Auren when they were on their own was his saving grace for me.

Auren was everything for me, she was sassy, sarcastic and not afraid to put herself out there and say how she feels, but yet had a vulnerable side, it turns out that her tough exterior was just a tool to hide behind.

I found the story a little slow in places, but that’s always the case for the first book in a new fantasy series, the world building was amazing and really solidified the story for me!

There were so many parts of this story that had me actually laughing, but there were places where it broke my heart too!

It ended on a but of a cliff hanger and I can’t wait for the second instalment!

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Today is my stop on the blogtour for Charity by Madeline Dewhurst, thank you to Emma at Damp pebbles for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 304

Synopsis: Edith, an elderly widow with a large house in an Islington garden square, needs a carer. Lauren, a nail technician born in the East End, needs somewhere to live. A rent-free room in lieu of pay seems the obvious solution, even though the pair have nothing in common.

Or do they? Why is Lauren so fascinated by Edith’s childhood in colonial Kenya? Is Paul, the handsome lodger in the basement, the honest broker he appears? And how does Charity, a Kenyan girl brutally tortured during the Mau Mau rebellion, fit into the equation?

Capturing the spirited interplay between two women divided by class, generation and a deeper gulf from the past, and offering vivid flashbacks to 1950s East Africa, Madeline Dewhurst’s captivating debut spins a web of secrets and deceit where it’s not always obvious who is the spider and who is the fly

My rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: on the surface this looks like a young last becoming in home help for a frail elderly lady who is struggling but wants to retain her independence, but the more you read and the deeper you dig you soon discover that there is so much more to the story.

Edith is originally from Kenya and married a British soldier in order to escape that life, the parts of the story that were based in 1950’s Kenya were my favourite, although some aspects of them were heartbreaking, they were definitely eye opening.

We know from the beginning that there is a link between Edith and Lauren, but what that is we don’t know, we also know that Lauren is aware of the link but poor Edith has no idea, Throw in the neighbour that lives in Edith’s basement and that you have is some kind of complicated triangle 😂

This story was an absolute delight to read, it wasn’t always happy and positive but it was one that was really difficult to put down.

Trigger warnings for sexual assault and rape.

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Today is my stop on the blog tour for Only You by Cathryn Grant, thank you to Emma at Damp Pebbles for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 295

Synopsis: Hadley thought she’d left the past behind. But now it’s found her.

Hadley is one of those rare people who feels she’s living the perfect life. She has a husband she loves, a charming daughter, and a job that is deeply fulfilling. Sometimes it almost seems like a fairytale.

Then, little by little, things start to go wrong. There’s the creepy guy from down the street who keeps staring at her teenage daughter, there’s the strangely needy woman who moves in next door…

Just little wrinkles, but then Hadley’s world is turned upside down when someone close to her is murdered. And Hadley begins to suspect that the killing is linked to something from her own past. A terrible secret she has never shared with anyone…

As she digs deeper, Hadley realises there is someone out there who knows what she did, someone who is planning to take her perfect life – and turn it into a perfect nightmare.

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: I have read a few of Cathryn Grants novels now and they have all been brilliant, this one was no exception.

It could’ve gone in so many directions, every time you thought you’d worked it out there was something that left you niggling and looking elsewhere for the answer!

We know that both Faith and Hadley are hiding a secret, we just don’t know what the secrets are.. Hadley comes across as someone with the perfect life, but if you dig a little deeper you soon discover that it is all a facade. Whilst Faith just comes across as needy from the start and as the book goes on she just gets creepier, I definitely wouldn’t trust her as far as I could throw her.

So many lies are told in the book by all the characters that you are left not knowing which way to turn or who we can trust – the whole thing left me truly gripped.

I did work out the big reveal early but that didn’t take away from the enjoyment of the story for me, this is one I will definitely be recommending to my friends.

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Today is my second stop on the blog tour for Bovine Tricks by Seelie Kay, thank you to b00k r3vi3w Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part & thank you to the author for my copy.

Pages: 118

Synopsis: Is it real or is it fantasy? That’s the question MISix Agent Mathilda Honoria Spencer struggles with on her latest assignment. Tasked with discovering the whereabouts of Lady Annabelle Trask, Tillie is thrust into a world of Hucows and other human animals. It’s a world that raises serious questions about sexual fetishes, intentional physical enhancements, and even pornography, but in the end, Tillie has only one mission—to rescue and return Lady Annabelle to the Queen. However, as she and her partner, Agent Abdul Ali, attempt to find Lady Annabelle and keep her out of the clutches of terrorists bent on destroying the monarchy, they must also wrestle with their feelings for each other. Can they draw the line between their duty to the Crown and their relationship with one another? Or must they embark on separate paths to continue to serve the Queen?

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: this was hands down the strangest, weirdest book I’ve read in a while, but I loved it!

It was so entertaining and lots of laugh out loud moments, but had a very serious undertone.

We’re following MISix agents whilst they try and fine Lady Annabelle Trask, the queens niece, it is believed she had been abducted, turned into a Hucow against her will and now being sold at an auction! – but is that true, or is she their by choice?

The deeper we get into the story, the more we discover it’s not as straightforward as we believe with several people telling conflicting stories! – can they fulfil their duty and return Lady Annabelle to the Queen?

I loved the relationship between Tillie and Abdul and can’t wait to see more of them in the next instalment of the series!

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Today is my stop on the blog tour for Magic: A Life In More Worlds Than One by David Conway, thank you to Kelly at Love Books Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part – today I’m hosting a spotlight where I tell you all about the book and the author 🙂

Synopsis: The tell-all autobiography of David Conway, author of Magic: An Occult Primer and one of the most influential figures in contemporary occultism.

David Conway, author of Magic: An Occult Primer is by now famous for his writings on the paranormal, his prose leavened with humour and imbued with good sense, qualities that have endeared him to believers and sceptics alike. In this fascinating autobiography he recounts the story of his life with candour and an infectious sense of fun. It begins in the Welsh seaside town of Aberystwyth where, as a boy, he got to know the enigmatic Mr. James, farmer and reputed magician, then takes us farther afield to the grown-up world of London and beyond. For David Conway, farther afield was never far enough for he ventured also into worlds beyond the one we normally inhabit, worlds no less real for being imperceptible yet of which our world and ourselves are essentially part. Magic is the key to this mysterious reality. And this remarkable book will show the reader how to find it

About the author: David Conway is a mystic, magus, and author whose profound knowledge, unique insights, and clear writing style have affected literary esoterica since the early 70s. The seventh child of a seventh child, David was reared in seaside city of Aberystwyth, Wales and its surrounding environs. His education in magic began at a very early age when he studied with a local farmer, Mr. James, a magician he encountered in the Welsh countryside. David brought magical training to the forefront by publishing Magic: An Occult Primer very early in his adult life. This very same tome would prove to be the go to treatise for magicians beginning their own journey into sublime realms.

If this book is something that peaks your interest it can be found Here!

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Today is my stop on the blog tour for Your Friend Forever by Zena Barrie, thank you to Emma at Damp Pebbles for organising it and inviting me to take part, and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 320

Synopsis: Preston, 1981. Maud, who is twelve and lives with her dysfunctional parents and her elder brother, spends a lot of her time in her bedroom writing letters to her favourite popstar, Tom Harding, the lead singer of a punk band called Horsefly.

No one really understands her or tries to and she thinks Tom just might have some answers to her many, many questions…

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: oh I loved this, the majority of the book is told in letter form, Maid is writing letters to her icon, Tom, the lead singer of her favourite band.

The letters are Mauds way of dealing with life and the many things that are being thrown at her, she’s dealing with her dad leaving and her mum being in and out of hospital, with no other outlet she pours her heart into the letters, forever waiting and hoping for a response.

The story revisits Maud at the age of 43, married and with 2 children, she thinks her husband is cheating and just generally feels downtrodden, out of nowhere her friend Sarah provides her with an email that she believes is Tom Harding’s, so the one sided Support system starts again,

Throw in interviews and magazine articles and what you have is a story that leaves you expecting the worst whilst hoping for the best.

I found myself really rooting for Maud and feeling like a overprotective sibling.

There’s not a lot more I can say without giving away the whole story, but just know I highly recommend it, it was heartbreaking to begin with but heartwarming and brilliant as it went on.

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Today is stop one of 2 for me on this blog tour and I’m coming at you with a spotlight!

Synopsis: Is it real or is it fantasy? That’s the question MISix Agent Mathilda Honoria Spencer struggles with on her latest assignment. Tasked with discovering the whereabouts of Lady Annabelle Trask, Tillie is thrust into a world of Hucows and other human animals. It’s a world that raises serious questions about sexual fetishes, intentional physical enhancements, and even pornography, but in the end, Tillie has only one mission—to rescue and return Lady Annabelle to the Queen. However, as she and her partner, Agent Abdul Ali, attempt to find Lady Annabelle and keep her out of the clutches of terrorists bent on destroying the monarchy, they must also wrestle with their feelings for each other. Can they draw the line between their duty to the Crown and their relationship with one another? Or must they embark on separate paths to continue to serve the Queen?

About the Author: Award-winning author Seelie Kay writes about lawyers in love, sometimes with a dash of kink.

Writing under a nom de plume, the former lawyer and journalist draws her stories from more than 30 years in the legal world. Seelie’s wicked pen has resulted in nineteen works of fiction, including the new paranormal romance series Donovan Trait, as well the erotic romance Kinky Briefs series and The Feisty Lawyers romantic suspense series. She also authored The Last Christmas, The Garage Dweller, A Touchdown to Remember, The President’s Wife, The President’s Daughter, Seizing Hope, The White House Wedding, and participated in the romance anthology Pieces of Us.

When not spinning romantic tales, Seelie ghostwrites nonfiction for lawyers and other professionals. Currently, she resides in a bucolic exurb outside Milwaukee, WI, where she enjoys opera, the Green Bay Packers, gourmet cooking, organic gardening, and an occasional bottle of red wine.
Seelie is an MS warrior and ruthlessly battles the disease on a daily basis. Her message to those diagnosed with MS: Never give up. You define MS, it does not define you!

Come back to me on the 2nd May to read my Review!

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