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Today I am on the tour for Happy Is The One by Katie Allen, 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: 385

Synopsis: What if halfway through your life was just the beginning?

Robin Edmund Blake is halfway through his life.

Born in 1986, when Halley’s Comet crossed the sky, he is destined to go out with it, when it returns in 2061. Until that day, he can’t die. He has proof.

With his future mapped out in minute detail, a lucrative but increasingly dull job in the City of London, and Gemma to share his life with, Robin has a plan to be remembered forever.

But when Robin’s sick father has one accident too many, the plan starts to unravel. Robin must return home to the tiny seaside town of Eastgate, learn to care for the man who never really cared for him, and face the childhood ghosts he fled decades ago.

Desperate to get his life back on schedule, he connects with fellow outsider Astrid. Brutally direct, sharp-witted and a professor at a nearby university, she’s unlike anyone he’s ever met. But Astrid is hiding something and someone from Robin.

And he’s hiding even more from her…

My Thoughts: what an incredible book this was, thought provoking and incredibly emotional, I laughed, I cried I shook my head in disbelief.

Robin thought he had is whole life planned out until the last minute, but one thing changes and it all unravels, instead of his high end job in London with the woman he loves, he ends up moving in with his I’ll father, losing his job and Gemma and essentially starting over.

Watching him essentially starting over whilst also confronting parts of his past was strangely addictive, it felt like we were prying but also like we were meant to be there?

I love it when’s book just blows your expectations out of the water & this one definitely did that for me.

Settle in, make sure you have drinks and snacks ready because this is one because you’re not going to want to put down.

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Today I am on the tour for Cordial Convictions by Kateri Stanley, 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: 314

Synopsis: The truth cannot be hidden.

Greg Weaving took a gun to his workplace and killed several of his colleagues, before turning the weapon on himself.

A year on, plagued by guilt and humiliation, Marcus Weaving has been nursing a serious case of amnesia at The Barbary hospital. His son’s crimes caused a ripple effect in the local community and the media pointed fingers in his direction. As a former mental health professional, how could he not know that his own flesh and blood was planning on committing mass murder?

Determined to recover from his public scars and resume civilian life, Marcus is notably distracted by another patient at The Barbary. Lily is a traumatised young veteran suffering from depression and severe PTSD. She is just as intriguing as her beauty is unsettling for him.

Marcus observes questionable things happening at the hospital. Being a man of principle, he runs to the most logical possibilities, but even they are failing to alleviate his worries. Lily seems to be a conduit for these bizarre events and they are pulling at a familiar string in his spirit.

What should he do? What does this all mean?

My Thoughts: this book took some getting into, partly because it follows on from the last book & it had been so long since I read it, but then it all started falling back into place!

This is such a fun read, it has fantastical elements like demon who spend a lot of their time trying to influence the humans and get a reaction out of them.

Then on the other hand we have Lily and Marcus in the Barbary hospital recovering from the events in the last book.

I love Lily and Marcus as characters, they had a lot of depth and a lot of honesty when interacting with each other! – I loved the mental health rep in this book too.

Once I’d got to the point where I understood what was happening I was that invested that I finished the book in practically one sitting.

I really enjoyed the multiple POV’s in this story, it meant I was never really left ‘wondering’

I can’t wait for the next book in the series (assuming there will be one)

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Today I am on the tour for Room 21 by Jessica Huntley and I have a review for you, thank you to Zoé at Zooloos Book Tours for organising it and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 282

Synopsis: They say blood is thicker than water. I say blood is just harder to wash off your hands.

My name’s Kimberley. I’m twenty-five. I have epilepsy, a seizure alert dog named Muffin, and a job I love as a senior housekeeper in one of London’s top hotels. I’m used to being invisible. Overlooked. Safe.

But that was before Jennifer Clifton checked in. She’s rich, powerful, terrifyingly calm — and she asks for me by name.

She offers me my dream job, working in her exclusive hotel in the Scottish Highlands. It’s more money than I ever imagined.

There’s just one catch: Don’t open the door to Room 21.

How hard can that be?

But something is wrong in this hotel. The guests give me the creeps. The staff whisper behind closed doors. And that room — the one I promised not to enter — calls to me.

I took this job for a better life. Now I’m trapped in a nightmare.

Warning: This book contains dark and disturbing themes.

My Thoughts: Jessica is just an incredible author, most of her thrillers you know the premise and you have a rough idea where the story is going.. with Room 21 all of that logic goes out of the window!

The pacing of the story is weird out starts off slow which really builds the suspense but when the twists hit boy do they pack a punch and just keep coming.

You’re almost left feeling like you’re in limbo.. it’s a psychological thriller so you know damn well that the story isn’t going to be straight forward but you also have no idea who the bad guy is, what’s actually happening or why there are so many bloody secrets.. it all just comes out of left field but at the same time it all makes sense 🤯🤯

So much depth and so may levels I think I had to pick my jaw up several times along the way 🤣

Yes I’m being vague, but that’s because I’m not really sure how to articulate my thoughts, just honestly go pick this up!

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Today I am on the tour for The Last Wife by Matt McGregor, 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: 283

Synopsis: The perfect husband. The perfect house. The perfect lie.

When waitress Olivia meets charming, wealthy Lachlan Gibson, it seems too good to be true. A fairytale wedding. A magnificent house in the beautiful town of Rosford. Freedom to pursue her passion for painting.

Everything she ever wanted.

But beneath the surface, something isn’t right. Lachlan has some strange rules for his new wife. There are unsettling accidents which don’t seem random. And disquieting whispers about what happened to Lachlan’s previous wife, now deceased.

Olivia begins to suspect that her dream man may have a sinister agenda, that her perfect new life might actually be a carefully designed cage.

But it’s so much worse than that. As Olivia digs deeper into her husband’s past and discovers the terrible secret he has been hiding, she finally understands she may lose everything – her freedom, her sanity, even her life.

My Thoughts: I have not stopped thinking about this book and I finished it over 24 hours ago!

This is the first book in a long time that creeped me out so much that I had to space it out, I couldn’t read it all in one go because it felt so real and I was genuinely worried it would give me nightmares!

I was so invested in the book though I couldn’t wait to pick it back up, I adored Olivia right from the start I was rooting for her and just wished I could climb into the book and pull her out of the situation she found herself in!

Lachlan had my back up from the beginning.. he was the epitome of “if something seems too good to be true it probably is” but I can’t lie his charm and charisma probably would have won me over too!

As we get snippets of what happened to “the last wife” my heart was honestly in my throat, it made me sad & angry, I promise I knew it was fiction but this just hit me right in the feels.

I cannot recommend this enough, definitely one of my favourite books so far this year!

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Today I am on the tour for Call Forth The Moonlight by Z.M. Celestaire, 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: 401

Synopsis: Deubrise is a land blessed by the breath of the slumbering gods. Magíq lives within nature, powerful and beautiful. Few else can harness it besides the gryphons that reside in the mountains near Nico De Falco’s home, and the rare magíqon like Nico’s little sister. But magíqon are shunned and feared by modern society.

To protect himself from such treatment, Dr. Ackerleigh Sebring keeps his magíq a secret. Yet his “radical” teachings of magíqal history gets him fired from Ravensbourne University. Desperate, he finds a gamekeeper job caring for an imprisoned gryphon. Finally, he can be his whole self.

That is, until Nico follows a misguided impulse and frees the gryphon, injuring Ackerleigh accidentally.

Their fates-and feelings-become entangled in their determination to protect the sacred magíq of the gryphon. Ackerleigh and Nico will stop at nothing for the sake of liberation.

My Thoughts: this was another one of those books that I went into not really knowing what to expect.. l prefer to go into my fantasy books blind, I often find that otherwise I feel like the book is ruined, I don’t know why!

I thoroughly enjoyed it, I found myself feeling really sorry for Ackerleigh quite early on, it felt like he was being unfairly attacked & I just wanted to give him a big cuddle! Having to uproot his life and his dreams all because some bloke got rejected!

Little did I know at the time that that would be the making of him, he’d find new friends one being a gryphon who will mean more to him than he’ll ever expect & possibly even fall in love too?

Told in 2 perspectives we have Ackerleigh and Nico which is always my favourite kind of format as you get a more rounded look at things, I really appreciated the way the story was written, it was almost like each chapter was a lesson.

So many emotions whilst reading because it almost felt like nothing was guaranteed, so many twists that I didn’t see coming but the book had a very satisfying ending, but I’ll be honest I’d love to read more about these characters.

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Today I am on the tour for No Red Lines by Michelle Kidd, 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: 404

Synopsis: DETECTIVE JACK MACINTOSH IS BACK — BUT SO IS A KILLER WHO KNOWS NO LIMITS.

After a three-month recovery from his last brutal case, Detective Jack returns to his desk expecting a fresh start. DS Cassidy hands him a cheese toastie and a reassuring grin. ‘Everything’s under control here, sir. You’ve got nothing to worry about.’

Then his phone rings.

The body of a young woman has been found hanging from a curtain pole in a vacant office building — but it’s the sinister detail that stops Jack cold. Stuffed in her mouth is a copy of the London Underground map. White City station circled in red.

He’s back.

Seventeen years ago, six young women were found strangled to death. Their bodies strung up in abandoned buildings throughout the city. In their mouths, a copy of the London tube map.

They called him the Central Line Killer. He was never caught.

Jack is now in a race against time to unravel the twisted clues left by a killer who’s always one step ahead — and willing to go further than ever before.

My Thoughts: as is typical for me this is the first book by Michelle Kidd I have read and this is book 7 in a series 🫣🫣 I don’t know how i do it 🤣

Now if this is any indication of how brutal and fast paced the rest of the series in then I might just have to go and read them all because this one had me hooked from start to finish!

Poor Jack is just returning to work after an injury expecting to be eased back in gently, but in reality what he gets is a call about a murdered woman in his first day… should he have known better?!

Certain parts of the body and the crime scene in general seem familiar to him and he realises it’s a very similar MO to that of a serial killer who was active 17 years ago.

Told in multiple timelines to give you a well rounded picture and to make you really feel the emotions of all involved that it was happening again.

I was totally engrossed the whole time, full of characters that you don’t know wether you can trust and a whole host of twists and turns that will have you wondering where the story could possibly go next!

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Today I am on the tour for Shatter Creek by Rod Reynolds, thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 300

Synopsis: Hampstead County Police Department is embroiled in scandal after corruption at the top of the force was exposed. Cleared of involvement and returned to active duty, Detective Sergeant Casey Wray nonetheless finds herself at a crossroads when it becomes clear not everyone believes she’s innocent.

CORRUPTION

Partnered with rookie Billy Drocker, Casey works a shocking daytime double-homicide in downtown Rockport with the two victims seemingly unknown to one another. And when a third victim is gunned down on her doorstep shortly after, it appears an abusive ex-boyfriend holds the key to the killings.

MURDER

With powerful figures demanding answers, Casey and Billy search for the suspect, fearing he’s on a murderous rampage. But when a key witness goes missing, and new evidence just won’t fit, the case begins to unravel.

DANGER

With her career in jeopardy, Casey makes a shattering discovery that threatens to expose the true darkness at the heart of the murders… with a killer still on the loose…

My Thoughts: this is book 2 in the Detective Casey Wray series & although it does read perfectly well as a standalone there some themes that are following on from the events Black Reed Bay so I would suggesting starting there if you can!

I loved being back with Casey or Big as her team call her, as a female lead goes she’s formidable, she’s not afraid to push the limits that others wouldn’t but is very aware that because of this she is closely watched which obviously isn’t always ideal 😂

In this one she is sent to the scene of a shooting where someone very well known to the higher ups in the police force is killed, it is assumed he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and that the real victim is the female who was also shot..

It feels like Casey is chasing her tail as every lead she gets turns out to be a dead end and more shootings happen and more dead bodies appear.

With there being a new lieutenant to contend with and unrest within her team can Casey knuckle down and unravel the truth before anyone else gets hurts?

This book was so tense it had me gripping the book so tight I always ripped the pages, the writing is so immersive that it feels like you’re right in the middle of the action.

I am already eagerly awaiting the release of book 3!

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Today I am on the tour for The Friday Friendship Group by Anne Brooke, thank you to Hannah at Hygge Book Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 216

Synopsis: The lives of prime-time friends Leonora, Selena and Dorothea are about to take a very interesting turn.

Leonora discovers her husband is having an affair and struggles to come to terms with this crushing blow. Selena is about to meet the love of her life but is utterly unprepared for the heartbreak it might bring. Finally, Dorothea’s beloved career is under threat, but her job is the only way she can make sense of herself and she can’t see a future without it.

Can the three friends support each other through life’s challenges, and is there the slightest chance of a happy outcome for any of them?

My Thoughts: I found this book to be a lot of fun on the surface, 3 women in the prime of their lives meeting up every week having a drink and putting the world to rights.

But as you get more into the book & delve a little deeper you soon realise that they all have things going on privately that for whatever reason they’re keeping from each other despite being best friends.

I loved Lenora, Dorothea and Selena separately they were all likeable characters but I found them almost a force to be reckoned with like nothing could come between them – not even cheating husbands/brothers 🤣

I read this book in one sitting whilst in the garden with the sun shining which was the perfect setting, an easy read to lose yourself in.

This book had me smiling, it had me angry and wanting to throw the book and even had me close to tears at one point & what an achievement for the author make me feel so many different emotions in a book that’s just over 200 pages.

Highly recommend that people pick up a brew, grab a snack, clear their afternoon and see what these ladies get up to!

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Firstly let me apologise, my stop was yesterday and I didn’t realise I had the wrong date in the diary! but thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for organising the tour and inviting me to take part and thank you to the author and the publisher for my copy.

Pages: 208

Synopsis: Is it ever too late to find love?
June cleans houses. Ray is a janitor at the public tennis courts in Dun Laoghaire. He’s not romantic material; she’s not even friend material. When it comes to learning how to be with other people at the age of 70 plus, they are unlikely companions – even more unlikely friends.

Ray looks a bit like Willie Nelson. June looks a bit like Chrissie Hynde. They’ve never fitted in before, and they don’t fit in now. Yet, as understanding blossoms into friendship, June and Raymond begin to discover the joy that’s been missing from their lives for so long.

The right person at the right time.
June and Ray, this is your moment.

My Thoughts: what an absolute breath of fresh air this book was, it’s not often we get stories about the older generation finding friendship, learning new things and falling in love & I really enjoyed it!

Both June and Ray are slightly unlikeable characters, they keep themselves to themselves, set in their routines and have feel that this is all life has to offer.. until they meet each other and the most unlikely of friendships starts, they encourage and push each other to try new things both separately and together. The friendship slowly blossoms into more in a way that feels realistic and believable.

I found myself smiling for the majority of this book and found it to be a real pick me up.

Highly recommend to everyone, I have a feeling we’ll all end up being like Ray or June when we’re older 😂

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Today I am on the tour for Someone Like You by Elena Frost, 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: 258

Synopsis: Has she found the perfect haven? Or a deadly trap?

When Carey Billingham moves into Saltwick, a beautiful old lighthouse, she thinks it’s the perfect chance for her and her young son Riley to start over.

She’s finally escaped from her controlling ex-husband and his terrifying family. From here on out, it’s just her, Riley, and oceans of peace and quiet.

Or so she hopes.

Then Saltwick is mysteriously targeted by vandals and arsonists. Someone is out to sabotage her new life. But who? And why?

Even worse, the man in the yellow raincoat – the man who has been haunting Carey’s dreams for years – is back. And it seems he is no longer confined to her nightmares but is now a living breathing presence in the real world.

Concerned for her own sanity, Carey is determined to find out what is really going on. But as she draws closer to the truth, she realizes that Saltwick may not be the beginning of her perfect new life – but instead may be home to a horror beyond her wildest imaginings.

My Thoughts: the perfect definition of a slow burn thriller, a book that will lull you into a false sense of security and then pull the rug from under your feet.

I didn’t know what to expect going into this one but I really enjoyed it, there was something about the writing that just left me wanting more, every chapter left me with more questions than answers.

Carey as a main character was likeable and relatable, but couldn’t seem to catch a break, there was someone determined to make her life a living hell & they succeeded more than once too!

This is definitely a book that will have you questioning yourself and keep you guessing throughout, full of twists and red herrings so that when the truth is revealed you’re left wondering how many clues you missed along the way.

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