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Today is my stop on the blog tour for The Matchmaker by Hélene Fermont, I’m here with a spotlight (to tell you all about the book, the author and where you can buy it)

Synopsis: Perfect Lives Don’t Come Cheap

Marcia Bailey has it all: a passionate marriage to a rich and handsome man who is utterly devoted to her; fame and success as London’s premier matchmaker; a beautiful home in a posh neighbourhood, and fabulous holidays in exotic places.

But her perfect life turns into a nightmare overnight when a mysterious caller suddenly threatens to reveal secrets from her past she thought she had left behind forever. Who is he and what does he really want? He says he wants three million pounds to keep quiet, and she’s willing to pay. After all, she has already sacrificed so much, and perfect lives don’t come cheap.

But Marcia has a hunch her caller wants more than money from her. He wants to hurt and humiliate her. But why?

As police investigate a brutal murder in a wealthy London neighborhood, they untangle a web of lies, violence, sex and jealousy surrounding Marcia Bailey and the group of wealthy and powerful men who have secrets of their own to keep.

The Matchmaker is filled with unexpected twists and turns — and characters that will haunt you long after you’ve read the last page.

About the author: Hélene is an Anglo-Swedish fiction author currently residing in her home town of Malmo, Sweden, after relocating back from London after 20 years.

Her thrilling character-driven psychological fiction novels are known for their explosive, pacy narrative and storylines.

Hélene is the proud author of five novels – The Matchmaker, One Fatal Night, Because of You, We Never Said Goodbye and His Guilty Secret.

If you would like to know more about Hélene she has pages on the following platforms for you to follow

Twitter: https://twitter.com/helenefermonthttps://twitter.com/helenefermont

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/helenefermontauthor/

Website: https://www.helenefermont.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/helenefermont/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15484308.Helene_Fermont

Today is the release day for Bovine Tricks by Seelie Kay, I personally think this sounds brilliant so let me tell you a little about it.

Synopsis; Lady Annabelle Trask is missing. Unfortunately, MISix doesn’t know if they’re looking for a woman, a cow, or something in between!
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 the 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!

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Today is my stop on the blog tour for Somebody Out There by Kevin Lynch, 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: Somebody out there wants to hurt them…

When Ben and Deborah leave the city to start a new life in the beautiful countryside, they can almost taste their perfect future – growing their own food, the kids running free, peace and silence.

But as soon as they arrive in their new home bad things start to happen. And it becomes clear that somebody out there wants them gone.

But ex-crime reporter Deborah doesn’t scare easily. This is the life she’s dreamed of for her family and she’s not giving up on it without a fight.

As the campaign against the family intensifies and becomes truly terrifying, Deborah is determined to unmask whoever is trying to hurt them and starts to dig for the truth.

What she finds is more twisted and horrifying than she could ever have imagined.

My Rating; 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: welll, this one is definitely a psychological thriller, it’s the first book in as long as I can remember that has creeped me out so much that I’ve had to put it down and take a break from it 😂

Having just moved to the countryside expecting a nice quiet life away from Deborah’s past as a crime reporter they are suddenly left wondering if they’ve made the right decision when it becomes clear that they are being targeted, at first they think it’s someone from Deborah’s past, but it’s not long before they realise that it’s someone a lot closer to home, can they work out who before it’s too late?

There are some absolutely horrifying scenes in this book involving a beloved pet, having lost one of our dogs in January this bit really broke my heart, so please be prepared for this when going in! 💔

It had me on the edge of my seat throughout because I just couldn’t tell what was going to happen next & I couldn’t work out who was after them and why!

The story led us in about different directions, all of them believable and yet I still didn’t work it out 😂

Please, please pick this up and be sure to come back and let me know your thoughts!

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Today is my stop on the blog tour for What Beauty There Is by Cory Anderson, thank you to Dave at The Write Reads for organising it and inviting me to take part, thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 368

Synopsis: When everything you love is in danger, how long can you keep running to survive?

Life can be brutal
Winter in Idaho. The sky is dark. It is cold enough to crack bones.

Jack knew it
Jack Dahl has nothing left. Except his younger brother, Matty, who he’d die for. Their mother is gone, and their funds are quickly dwindling, Jack needs to make a choice: lose his brother to foster care, or find the drug money that sent his father to prison. 

So did I
Ava lives in isolation, a life of silence. For seventeen years her father, a merciless man, has controlled her fate. He has taught her to love no one. 

Did I feel the flutter of wings when Jack and I met? Did I sense the coming tornado?
But now Ava wants to break the rules – to let Jack in and open her heart. Then she discovers that Jack and her father are stalking the same money, and suddenly Ava is faced with a terrible choice: remain silent or speak out and help the brothers survive.

Looking back, I think I did . . .

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: this book was utterly heartbreaking but so, so good.

Jack come home one day to find his mum hanging from the ceiling fan in her bedroom, instead of calling the police he gets her down and buries her in the garden.

Now he has his little brother to look after, they’re on their own. Their dad is in prison…they have no money and only enough food in the house to last a couple of days, if that! – he tries to find a job but given who his dad is no one trusts him.

When the police come knocking Jack decides it’s time to leave, it’s only a matter of time before child services get involved and he can’t lose his brother, he’s the only person he has left.

What follows is a real eye opening journey where with the help of his new friend Ava, Jack does everything in his power to keep his brother safe, even putting his own life at risk several times.

This book is definitely not for the faint hearted, but it’a a powerful one that will stay with me for a long time.

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Today is my stop on the blog tour for All The Little Things by Sarah Lawton, 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: 304

Synopsis: Never trust anyone. Never trust yourself.
Rachel has made poor decisions in the past, but she has always tried her best for her daughter. When Vivian needed a fresh start, Rachel didn’t hesitate to move them far from London. She just wishes she could shake the nagging doubt that Vivian is hiding something.

Vivian isn’t like other teenagers. On the surface she seems the same as her friends, but she knows she is different. When enigmatic Alex takes an interest in her, Vivian’s cool demeanour hides an intensity of feeling she has never known before. His touch sets her skin on fire.

Mother and daughter are both keeping secrets. But just how dangerous are they? As lust and anger give way to violence Rachel will have to decide: is she prepared to give up everything for her child? Even her own life?

My Rating:🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: this was quite a slow burn for a thriller, don’t take that as a negative because for this book it really worked, it made working out what was happening and who was guilty very difficult.

It’s told from the perspectives of Rachel (the mother) and Vivian (the daughter) through alternating chapters, some of the women high are also told in the past, I loved this because the present chapters hinged towards something happening in the past that made them have to move away, and although the past chapters gave you a little bit of insight they never actually gave anything away until crucial moments within the story.

The author has a very clever way of writing which made me feel sorry for the 2 main protagonists whilst also not trusting either of them as far as I could throw them.

A thoroughly enjoyable read, that kept me totally gripped despite the slow pace, I couldn’t put it down, some parts made me feel like my heart was in my throat and I couldn’t breath.

One I will be recommending to a lot of my friends!

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Today is my stop on the blog tour for the Museum murder by Katie Gayle, thank you to bookouture for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author for my copy

Pages: 260

Synopsis: Dastardly deeds, daring deceptions and a dress to die for… Epiphany Bloom is back on the case!

Epiphany ‘Pip’ Bloom, would-be detective and London’s unluckiest woman, finds herself in a real costume drama when she unearths a theft at a fashion museum.

The missing dress is a proper piece of Hollywood history, worth a fortune. And as Pip investigates, she finds the museum staff all had reasons to want the garment gone. From fancy boutiques to sketchy back alleys, Pip discovers the fashion world is not all glitz and glamour as she hunts down her prize.

As if she doesn’t have enough on her plate, Pip also has her growing feelings for her housemate Tim to contend with, a family of cats to feed and her mother keeps phoning about a shipment of llamas arriving any day now from South America.

But there’s no time for distractions because Pip’s not the only one after the dress. And for the most dedicated collectors, a piece like this is worth any price – even murder…

A laugh-out-loud, light-hearted cozy mystery for fans of M.C. Beaton, T.E. Kinsey and Joanne Fluke, that will have you reading late into the night.

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: I adored this one just as much as I enjoyed the first one, lots and lots of laugh out loud moments that actually had tears in my eyes at some points.

Pips mum is up to her usual antics and let’s just say I’ll never be able to look at a llama the same way again 😂

With the intention of taking a step away from the investigating Pip takes on a job as buyer/curator for a movie memorabilia museum, but upon realising that one of the main attractions is fake leads her to try and find out the truth about what happened the original.

Cue a whole bunch of weird and wonderful characters who will lead you in lots of different directions and a story that is near impossible to put down, I cannot wait to see what Pip, Tim and the rest of the gang get up to next time!

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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.

❤️🐧