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Today is my stop on the blog tour for Trust Me by T.M. Logan, 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: 329

Synopsis: TWO STRANGERS, A CHILD, AND A SPLIT SECOND CHOICE THAT WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING . . .

Ellen was just trying to help a stranger. That was how it started: giving a few minutes respite to a flustered young mother sitting opposite her on the train. A few minutes holding her baby while the mother makes an urgent call. The weight of the child in her arms making Ellen’s heart ache for what she can never have.

Five minutes pass.
Ten.

The train pulls into a station and Ellen is stunned to see the mother hurrying away down the platform, without looking back. Leaving her baby behind. Ellen is about to raise the alarm when she discovers a note in the baby’s bag, three desperate lines scrawled hastily on a piece of paper:

Please protect Mia
Don’t trust the police
Don’t trust anyone

Why would a mother abandon her child to a stranger? Ellen is about to discover that the baby in her arms might hold the key to an unspeakable crime. And doing the right thing might just cost her everything . . .

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: Wow! – this is my first dive into a T.M. Logan book, but he’s very highly spoken of by my reader friends and now I know why, right from the very first chapter this book packs a punch and it just doesn’t stop or slow down at all throughout!

It’s fast paced and no two chapters are told from the same perspective, it’s constantly changing between 3 or 4 which in the best way possible doesn’t give you chance to sit and think about what’s just happened before the same story is told by a different perspective – it leaves you a little confused about who to trust, and why would all these people have guns and want to keep secrets if they all had the same plan, they all just want to protect Mia, right?

I didn’t work out the good guy until they were revealed but I have to be honest, it was the one I was rooting for so I was happy 😂

This book had me doubting absolutely everyone at some points even Ellen! – it had me feeling frightened and nervous in places and actually read like an action film.

I cannot recommend this enough and will definitely be looking into his back catalogue too!

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Today is my stop on the blog tour for Last Place You Look by Louisa Scarr, 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: 306

Synopsis: When does a secret become a crime?
Jonathan Miller and his wife are invited to his best friend’s lavish 40th birthday celebrations. Four days later, Jonathan is dead, apparently asphyxiated during a solitary sex act gone wrong. A tragic case of misadventure.

DS Robin Butler is accompanied by his new partner DC Freya West to notify the widow. He can’t understand why West behaves like a nervous rookie. He doesn’t know that the victim was West’s lover, and until that moment she had no idea he was dead.

West is devastated and confused. Jonathan’s wife hints that he was troubled, and West chooses to withhold her connection to him. If it came out it would end her career. Yet she cannot accept any version of events other than murder. His wife, she is sure, is lying.

As the pair investigate, Butler’s past and present also collide. When the truth is finally revealed, there is no mistaking who the guilty parties are. But can they trust each other with their darkest secrets? And how can justice be served when the laws that were broken go unnoticed?

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: Robin Butler and Freya West make a good team, trying to get to the bottom of this crime, which at first glance looks like an accidental death, a suicide caused by somebody trying something new in the bedroom.. one problem being that Freya knows the victim, she’s been sleeping with him behind his wives back, she knows she should tell DS Butler straight away and get herself taken off the case, she’s too close to it, it’ll cloud her judgement, but she doesn’t which means along the way she’s digging herself deeper by hiding evidence to keep her affair secret.

DS Butler is fighting his own demons, still grieving the loss of his sister and his 2 year old twin nephews, he isn’t all there and is therefore overlooking things that should be obvious, can he get a grip of himself, solve the case and save Freya’s career too whilst he’s at it?

This one really kept me guessing for a lot of the book, we’re introduced to several characters along the way all of whom have their hidden secrets and double lives which leave you not knowing who to trust or which way to turn.

As the pieces slowly start falling into place I thought I had the measure or it all and that I knew where the story was going but apparently not because I did not see that ending coming!

Thoroughly enjoyable read and surprisingly easy to follow! – I hope we see more of Robin and Freya in the future 🤞🏼

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Today is my stop on the blog tour for the passenger by Daniel Hurst, thank you to Emma at Damp Pebbles Blog Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 257

Synopsis: She takes the same train every day. But this is a journey she’ll never forget.

Amanda is a hardworking single mum, completely focused on her job and her daughter, Louise. She’s been saving for years and now, finally, she can afford to give up work and chase her dream.

But then, on her commute home from London to Brighton, she meets a charming stranger – who seems to know everything about her.

He delivers an ultimatum . She needs to give him the code for the safe where she keeps her savings before the train reaches Brighton – or she’ll never see Louise again.

Convinced that the threat is real, Amanda is stunned, horrified. She knows she should give him the code, but she can’t. Because she also knows there is a terrible secret in that safe which will destroy her life and Louise’s too…

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: this whole story take place over a 2 hour period and is told through two perspectives, it was gripping and fast paced and in places had me hiding under my blanket because I just knew what was coming but was utterly powerless to stop it!

Amanda’s chapters had the shock factor, you never knew what what going to happen when or who was going to do what, both characters were unpredictable and just out to achieve what was best for them and I was totally enthralled by the unpredictability of it, why didn’t Amanda just give them the code, what was she hiding that could possibly be that bad?

Louises chapters were predictable you saw what was coming before it happened, knowing that Louise just couldn’t see it! The fact that you saw the action unfolding and that it was obvious to the reader (or at least it was to me) made me enjoy the book that little bit more.

Definitely a book I would recommend to any fans of the psychological thriller genre, it was really hard to put down.

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Today is my stop on the blog tour for The Way it Should be by Christina Suzann Nelson, 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

Pages: 352

Synopsis: After years of estrangement, the lives of Zara Mahoney and her twin sister, Eve, are suddenly and completely intertwined again. Eve’s troubled lifestyle causes the state to take custody of her two children and contact Zara and her husband, asking them to consider foster care. Newlywed Zara thought she’d finally been given a fresh start and feels wholly unprepared to care for a niece and nephew whose existence she wasn’t even aware of.

Meanwhile, Eve may have a real chance to start over this time with the help of Tiff Bradley, who’s dedicated to helping women everyone else has given up on after facing a heartbreaking tragedy in her own family.

Over the course of one summer, all three women’s hearts and lives hang in the balance as Eve desperately works toward a new life. Can they redefine their expectations of how life should be to find the hope they—and those they love—so desperately need?

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: Firstly let me say that I would definitely give this more stars if I could, I absolutely adored this.

I would normally start my review by giving you a bit of background but the synopsis seems to do this pretty well so I won’t bother 😂

The story is told from the perspective of both sisters as well as a couple other characters we meet along the way, I love stories that are told from multiple perspectives as I feel you get a more rounded feel for the story instead of just seeing it from one side.

Zara’s chapters feel perfect in the beginning but you soon get they feeling that there is something missing in her life that all the ‘perfection‘ is masking or making up for, when she gets the letter asking if her an her husband will take on the care of their 4 year old niece and 18 month old nephew her first thought is no, she’s newly married and live in a “fixer-upper” that is just not safe for children, but is there more to it than that?

Eves chapters are utterly heartbreaking, she’s an addict considering prostitution to be able to put food on the table for her children because her good for nothing boyfriend has disappeared again, left them no food, no money to buy food and without any idea as to when he will be returning – it is on her first night prowling the streets for a client that she meets Tiff, could this be the lifeline she needs? – within eves chapters there were her diary entries that gave you a real insight into how she was feeling (things that she obviously didn’t tell the people in her life) and that felt really special.

Tiff is a grieving mother, just trying to help the people on the streets in ways that she couldn’t help her own daughter, she provides them with food parcels and a person to talk to, then one night on her regular trip she meets Eve, for some reason Eve is different to all the others and Tiff finds herself breaking all the rules she set to keep herself safe to help Eve get her life back on track.

The story is powerful in so many ways, it will bring different emotions out in you throughout the book that leave you rooting for all of the women individually but also together too, it didn’t end in the way I expected, but I loved that. It showed that you should always put your needs and the needs of those most important to you in front of what people expect from you.

A really tough read in places, but a really heartwarming one too.

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Today is my stop on the blog tour for Double Identity by Alison Morton, 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: 340

Synopsis: Deeply in love, a chic Parisian lifestyle before her. Now she’s facing prison for murder.

It’s three days since dual-national Mel des Pittones threw in her job as an intelligence analyst with the French special forces to marry financial trader Gérard Rohlbert. But her dream turns to nightmare when she wakes to find him dead in bed beside her.

Her horror deepens when she’s accused of his murder. Met Police detective Jeff McCracken wants to pin Gérard’s death on her. Mel must track down the real killer, even if that means being forced to work with the obnoxious McCracken.

But as she unpicks her fiancé’s past, she discovers his shocking secret life. To get to the truth, she has to go undercover—and finds almost everybody around her is hiding a second self.

Mel can trust nobody. Can she uncover the real killer before they stop her?

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: right from the start this book was interesting! We start with Mel waking up in bed, cold and disoriented, not a clue where she is, and then it dawns on her, she’s in a hotel with her husband, it’s then that she realises that although he is in the bed with her something isn’t right, he’s too still.. he’s dead, but how?

She soon becomes the prime suspect but is adamant that it wasn’t her, how could it be when she was asleep all night? Can she prove her innocence before it’s too late?

As an ex soldier in the french army Mel knows she has the skills to help find out what happened to her husband and why and finds herself working with the police to do just that.

Throwing herself into the investigation whole heartedly she finds herself living a double life, one that she will be a little sad to see the back of when she’s done!

During the investigation she learns that her husband wasn’t at all who she thought he was, can she get her life back after this?

The story was fast paced and left you hanging at the edge of most chapters which made guy feel like you had to keep reading! – it was so hard to put down.

Full of a wide range of characters, some of whom I really hope we see again!

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Today is my stop on the blog tour for blood line by Paul Heatley 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: 305

Synopsis: He’s quiet, ordinary looking. But if you cross him – welcome to your worst nightmare.

Tom Rollins has gone AWOL from his CIA black-ops unit and is living off-grid when he hears that the woman he loves, Alejandra, has been murdered by a person or persons unknown.

Rollins is determined to punish her killers and sets out on his own personal search and destroy mission. Applying pressure as only he knows how, he quickly discovers who was behind the killing – a vicious gang of hardened criminals.

Using his dizzying array of lethal skills, Rollins begins to take out the leaders of the gang, one by one. But then he discovers that Alejandra’s murder was part of a larger conspiracy, one that threatens death and destruction on a horrifying scale.

The conspirators are clever and ruthless. They’ve thought of everything, covered every angle. Except one – Tom Rollins

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: I don’t actually have the words to describe how much I enjoyed this book!

I read the whole thing within a couple of hours because I could not put it down, I was so invested in the lives of Tom and his brother that I just wanted wanted everything to work out for al of them so was in Toms corner when he went against his brothers wishes to get revenge.

Tom is an CIA agent on the run, something happened on his last mission that he couldn’t get behind and decided enough was enough. so now he’s on the run and lying low, obviously family comes first so when his little brother runs into trouble he does everything he can to make things right.

There was so much action and it was so intense but never felt too much in fact I found myself wanting more, I was so sad when it ended because I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Tom!

I can’t wait to dive back into the series, I’ve downloaded book 2 already!

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Today is my stop on the blog tour for The Beijing Conspiracy by Shamini Flint 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: 353

Synopsis: A LONG-LOST DAUGHTER. AN EXPLOSIVE SECRET. A LETHAL CONSPIRACY.

Ex-Delta Force soldier Jack Ford is trying to put the past behind him. But when he receives a letter from someone he hasn’t spoken to in thirty years, claiming he has a daughter, he can’t resist investigating for himself.

Soon he’s on a plane to China, a country he hasn’t returned to since witnessing the atrocities of the Tiananmen Square massacre. But on his search he stumbles upon a document which both the Chinese and American governments are desperately chasing. Now Jack is trapped in an impossible dilemma: save his daughter or prevent a new world war where thousands will lose their lives.

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: I found this story engaging and gripping, more so the chapters following Jack and his adventures.

The chapters told from the perspective of POTUS and his acquaintances were a little bit slow and confusing for me but the further I got into the story the more sense they made & eventually all linked together!

Jack receives a letter from an old flame telling him he has a daughter and she’s in danger, she’s needs the experience of Jack who is an ex Delta Force Ranger and has skills that most people couldn’t even dream of!

I soon learnt that you really couldn’t trust anyone in the story, which really threw me off, but made me love it even more!

The action didn’t stop until the very last page!!

Political thrillers are not a genre that I would normally pick up because politics goes straight over my head 😂

But I really enjoyed this and would recommend it to fans of the thriller genre.

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Today is my stop on the blog tour for Manipulated Lives, thank you to Emma at Damp Pebbles Blogtours for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author for my copy.

Pages: 273

Synopsis: Five compelling true-to-life stories each highlighting a narcissist’s manipulative mind games

Narcissists are everywhere.

They can be witty, charming and highly charismatic.

Anyone can be their target.

At first their devious, calculating mind games can be hard to spot because they are masters of disguise, but then they revert to their true self of being controlling and angry in private. Their main aim: to dominate and use others to satisfy their needs, with a complete lack of compassion and empathy for their victim.

All stories highlight to what extent narcissistic abuse can distort lives and threaten our self-worth yet ultimately, also send a positive message that once the narcissist is unmasked, the victims can at last break free.

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: there isn’t really a lot I can say about this book, it’s a work of fiction but could so easily and probably is a lot of people’s real lives.

It’s heartbreaking and thought provoking.

All of the stories are different but all have the same running theme, all based or narcissists and the different faces they can wear, so easy to see from the outside but so hard to see when you’re in it & even more difficult to escape.

These are stories of hope & breaking free from the control of others, but by no means an easy read.

This book isn’t for everyone but I feel they’re very important stories to read if you feel you’re able to.

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Today is my stop on the blog tour for The silent friend by Diane Jeffrey, thank you to Emma at damp pebbles blog tours for organising it and inviting me to take part & thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 384

Synopsis: Tragedy brought them together. The truth will tear them apart.
It’s supposed to be Laura’s dream holiday: a trip to France with a group of friends to see their favourite band play live. But the holiday quickly turns to disaster, and Laura is left haunted by terrifying images from the worst night of her life.

When Laura finds an online support group for victims like her, she’s not convinced it will help. But when Sandrine replies to her message, she seems to understand what Laura’s going through, in a way that no one else can.

Soon, Laura and Sandrine are sharing their deepest thoughts and feelings with each other. But one of them has a terrible secret – she isn’t who she says she is. And once the twisted truth is revealed, there’s no going back…

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: well this book went places o wasn’t expecting and I absolutely loved it!

We follow Laura, she lives in Ireland works at her local library with her friends Ava, Claire and Sarah, the four of them are planning a trip to Lyon to see one of their favourite bands play!

And we also have Sandrine, she lives in Lyon with her husband and 2 teenage sons and currently struggling to get the older one motivated to do anything with his life, he goes to work on a Saturday morning, or at least he leaves the house for work but spends most of his time with friends and seemingly avoiding the house.

The book starts off slow, introducing all the characters and showing the girls trip to Lyon, they’ve made a holiday out of it with the concert being a couple of days in.

Then the night of the concert happens and that’s when the action starts & from there it just doesn’t stop, there’s a mass shooting with very few survivors and hosts he situations too!

Although the majority of the book is both Sandrine and Laura dealing with the fallout from that nights events, there are a few sections within the chapters that are the ladies looking back at their experience and they really helped to add perspective to the whole thing.

I won’t give too much away but I found this book impossible to put down, it was chilling, made me cry in some parts and had me on the edge of my seat in others.

The scary part being that with everything that’s happened over the last few years it felt so real!

This was the first time I’ve read a book by Diane, but I will be picking up more in the future

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Today is my stop on the blog tour for Murder at the Mela by a Leela Soma, thank you to Emma at Damp pebbles blog tours for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and publisher for my copy

Pages: 181

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: this was an enjoyable crime story kept me gripped enough to keep turning the pages and a great introduction to what I’m hoping will be a new series?!

A young mum is murdered on the evening of the Mela and it’s down to the newly promoted DI Alok Patel to get to the bottom of it!

Speaking to the family and friends they’re not very open and DI Patel is left wondering what they’re hiding, was this an honour killing that everyone is working to hide? Or is it an racially motivated attack? – as the first Asian DI in Glasgow he is determined to make a good impression but with leads and no hint that he’s even going in the right direction he’s feeling at a complete loss, will he work it out?

With a whole bunch of characters all very different you never know what you’re going to get, especially when the story throws you in all sorts of different directions.

There is a lot of Asian culture within the story and a glimpse into some religious culture too, it was a real eye opener.

If you’re into the crime genre then I recommend this one! & if you’re not but want to give it a go then this is a good one to start with, it’s short and the story isn’t overwhelming

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