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Today is my stop on the blog tour for Jesse’s Girl by Tara September, thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part & thank you to Tara for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Pages: 144

Synopsis: Jessie’s got himself a girl and I want to make her mine!

Successful Texas lawyer, Reade Walker, curses that damn song every time it plays, all too aware of the irony of its lyrics. After all, he has been secretly and painfully enamored with Jesse’s girl, Gwen, for nearly a decade. It was love at first sight for him, but sadly she’s not his girl. She belongs to the one man who betrayed him and knows Reade’s hidden family secret. Yet Reade can’t seem to love anyone except the one woman he can’t have. Or can he make her mine?

When Gwen Clark’s senator husband runs off with his intern and all their money, the ensuing scandal turns her life upside down. Deserted, penniless and desperate to provide for her six-year-old daughter, Gwen has no one to turn to but Reade Walker. The one man her heart desperately wants, but her pride dreads having to ask for help. Despite welcoming them into his home, it seems like Reade can barely stand being in the same room with her anymore, let alone under the same roof—in the same bedroom. But Gwen is determined to get her life back on track. It is past time to rediscover her own dreams…if only she can keep her aching heart from breaking all over again.

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: I normally set the scene in my reviews, but the synopsis does a pretty good job of that and I’d just be repeating myself so I won’t do that 😂

For such a short book this has me feeling some serious emotions! – Anger at Jesse, sadness for Gwen and just total heartbreak for Maddie who through no fault of her own lost her little family unit and her home with no real understanding as to why. (I know I know so did Gwen) but mehhh shoot me.

With no real thought as to what she will do next Gwen decides that since Jesse has taken everything from under her including the house, the money and with all the material things any stability that she may have been able to keep for Maddies sake she decides its time to move away.

Little does she know that Reade is on his way home from a business trip trying to work out how he can pull her out of the hole she’s inadvertently found herself in… Will he succeed?

What follows is an absolutely beautiful story of friends rediscovering a love that they’ve both felt but ignored for so long. – I really enjoyed witnessing Gwen finally realise that she isn’t alone and that it’s ok for her to find solace in another mans arms even if it is someone she met through her ex husband.

Reades total devotion to both Gwen and Maddie was another powerful aspect in the story, he was willing to change his life and living arrangements to fit around them.

He had a softer side, but could also be bossy and slightly controlling too, but never nasty with it.

I didn’t want the story to end, I need to know what happened with Jesse and want to read more about Reade and Gwen & hoe their relationship develops!

🐧❤️

Pages: 384

Synopsis: Eudora Honeysett is done – with all of it. Having seen first-hand what a prolonged illness can create, the eighty-five-year-old has no intention of leaving things to chance. With one call to a clinic in Switzerland she takes her life into her own hands.

But then ten-year-old Rose arrives in a riot of colour on her doorstep. Now, as precocious Rose takes Eudora on adventures she’d never imagined she reflects on the trying times of her past and soon finds herself wondering – is she ready for death when she’s only just experienced what it’s like to truly live?

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: Oh god this book got me right in the feels 😩

When I was 10 I befriended my next door neighbour after her husband died, – unfortunately she died 10 years ago.

This story was like a walk down memory lane,

I felt Eudora’s loneliness which broke my heart, and I honestly saw myself in Rose, I was that annoying child who would walk into next doors house and say “hello it’s me from number 3”

I loved seeing their relationship blossom and experience rose slowly breaking down Eudora walls.

There was a completely heartbreaking element to the story that I honestly couldn’t get out of head, I was lucky enough to get the ebook and the audiobook from netgalley & read them at the same time, I was listening to the audiobook but I had my kindle in my hand reading along.

I highly recommenced the audiobook, it added something special to the story. & I can honestly say that this story will stay with me for a long long time

🐧❤️

Today is my stop on the blog tour for Back to School by Jack Sheffield, thank you to Anne at Random Things tours for organising it and inviting me to take part

Pages: 338

Synopsis: The year is 1969 and Jack Sheffield is a young teacher in need of a job.

In a room full of twenty-nine other newly qualified teachers, he’s overjoyed when he’s appointed to Heather View Primary. Jack is excited to start his first year there and to begin shaping young minds in a beautiful new location on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales.

But Heather View isn’t as idyllic as it first sounds. In fact, it looks more like a prison than a primary school. With less than adequate funding and a head teacher who doesn’t seem to care, it’s no easy task to give the kids the education they deserve. But Jack’s determined to do just that.

Full of warmth and good humour, Back to School is like taking a nostalgic walk through the past to a simpler time…

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧

My thoughts: when I went into this I had no idea that this was a memoir, but once I realised it just added to the overall feel of it.

This was such a beautiful story, of a newly qualified teacher starting a new job and learning that not every school is the same. – I loved jacks “character” he was so likeable, but wasn’t afraid to stand up for himself or what he believed in.

All of the people in here were different, and I fell in love with most of them, although I have to be honest I didn’t like Norman at all 😂

As a 90’s baby it was a real insight into what schools were like in the late 60’s, a lot of it was different but some of the aspects were the same too.

Knowing that this is actually book 13 in a series makes me want to go back and start at the beginning.

Thank you Jack for turning your life into a story and allowing me to be a part of its journey into print.

🐧❤️

Today is my stop on the blog tour for The Dentist by Tim Sullivan, thank you to Emma at damp pebbles blog tours for organising it and inviting me to take part.

Pages: 360

Synopsis:A homeless man. Violently strangled. No leads. Except his past

An outsider himself, DS George Cross is drawn to this case. The discovery of the dead man’s connection to an old cold case then pulls Cross in further. Convinced this is where the answer to the murder lies, he sets about solving another that someone has spent the past fifteen years thinking they’ve got away with.

Cross’ relentless obsession with logic, detail and patterns is what makes him so irritatingly brilliant. It doesn’t exactly make him popular with colleagues or his superiors, though. He has numerous enemies in the force wanting to see him fail.

Red flags are soon raised as suspicious inconsistencies and errors in the original detective’s investigation come to light. Now retired, this ex-cop has powerful friends in the force and a long-standing dislike of Cross.

Set in picturesque Bristol in the Southwest of England, it’s not long before the city reveals its dark underbelly, in a case of intriguing twists and turns whose result astonishes even those involved.

Difficult and awkward, maybe. But Cross has the best conviction rate in Avon & Somerset Police. By far. Will this case put an end to that?

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧.5

My thoughts: at first the case seems simple, cut and dry a dead homeless man, killed by another homeless man, but something makes George Cross dig deeper – he has Asperger’s syndrome, he’s not happy with the conclusion everyone else seems to have drawn and despite the case seemingly solved he carries on with his own investigation.

What he digs up could solve a past murder and find the real perpetrator for the current one.. are they linked?

I had a soft spot for George, I have a stepbrother with autism so I sae a lot of him in George, I felt the aspect of Aspergers was dealt with accurately and sensitively, it’s always a worry when specific conditions are mentioned that they are not going to be portrayed in the right way!

The investigation itself was fairly straight forward and easy to follow as well as throwing some twists in there too which was appreciated, especially with it being the first in a series I do feel it’s always important to introduce the lead characters properly to help us grow attached to them.

I loved this story so much that I actually forced myself to make it last, as much as I wanted to know what happened and for the case(s) to be solved, I wasn’t actually ready to let go of or say goodbye to the characters and I personally can not wait to give back into the series with book 2 when I get chance.

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Today is my stop on the blog tour for Deadline by Geoff Major Thank you to Emma at Damp Pebbles blog tours for organising it and inviting me to take part!

Pages: 446

Synopsis: Adam Ferranti was a talented American journalist, who moved to England to escape the issues surrounding his fall from glory at the Washington Post; only to be thrust back in it when a mysterious serial killer makes him his confidante.

DS Stephanie Walker is a member of the West Yorkshire Police. Whilst tough and results-driven at work, she hides the abuse she suffers at home. She finds Ferranti annoying but he’s her only chance to stay close to what the killer is planning next. 

Ferranti reluctantly complies with the Police, but when the killer reveals himself it suddenly gets personal.

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: this book was incredible, it’s a long one for a crime thriller, but one that I really struggled to put down!

We follow Adam, a hot shot American journalist who has moved to England and is now working for the Yorkshire Post, he gets to work and gets a phone call telling him about a murder that has already happened telling him to go to the police and “heed the note”

What follows is truly gripping, complex but yet easy to follow, the characters were so deep and complex that I found myself really invested in all of their lives.

There was one part in particular that absolutely broke my heart and I had to read it twice to make sure I hadn’t read it wrong 💔

I could honestly rave about this book for ages – the story was scarily believable and the twists and turns didn’t stop.

I for one did not see the ending coming, I actually gasped when it was revealed!

Just go and buy it and experience it for yourself, I promise you’ll love it!

🐧❤️

Today is my stop on the blog tour for a Match Made in Heaven, which is a collection of British Muslim Women’s thoughts on love and desire. Thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part!

I’m coming at you with an extract today, which actually happens to be the introduction to the book, what more of a perfect way to see if it interests you? 😍

I’m going to make you wait though, whilst I tell you what the book is about.

Synopsis: Star-studded and beautifully written, this collection of twelve diverse stories tackles love and desire by South Asian-heritage British Muslim women authors, including Ayisha Malik and Shelina Janmohamed. Although outsiders often expect Muslim women to be timid, conservative, or submissive, the reality is different. While some of these authors express a quiet piety and explore poignant situations, others use black humour and biting satire, or play with possibilities. These authors write on social issues such as womens and LGBTQI+ rights within diverse and multicultural societies and, more specifically, speaking to issues such as marriage, spousal migration and sex education.

Extract:

Introduction
This entertaining collection of sixteen short stories about love, desire and relationships may wrongfoot some outsiders, who too often expect Muslim women to be both conservative and submissive. The reality, of course, is more complex. While some of the writers in this anthology do express a quiet piety and focus on poignant situations, others employ black humour and biting satire. Still others move fearlessly into the territory of a Muslim Fifty Shades of Grey.
The heroines in A Match Made in Heaven have the same day-to- day concerns as anyone else. For instance, one is scandalized by her would-be suitor’s sloppy personal grooming, while another agonizes over the right lipstick to put on for a date. Yet another dresses up in order to make her cheating husband see how well she is doing without him – and what he is missing! Some of these women choose to wear hijabs and others do not – but the veiling issue is rarely at the forefront of their minds.
In one story, a dissatisfied wife pines for an old flame; in another, young love is tragically interrupted by the Syrian War.
A wife struggles with her husband’s move towards polygamy, while online fetishes, Islamophobia and erotica form part of the home life of a happily married couple. Themes of disability, teenage pregnancy, lesbian desire and liberated sexual behaviour at university are tackled without judgement.
A Match Made in Heaven includes work by both established and emerging authors. The latter wrote their contributions while attending workshops set up in Leeds, Bradford and Glasgow for young British Muslim women aged between sixteen and thirty. The workshops originated from a research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, entitled ‘Storying Relationships’. As editors, the three of us are from diverse backgrounds, which proved an advantage as the workshops unfolded. Some participants found it easier to open up to someone from within their community, or of the same gender or sexuality, whereas others found greater freedom in speaking to individuals from ‘outside’.
Given that the Qur’an makes clear that pairs (of souls) destined for each other are created in heaven, we thought our title hit the spot. It has meaning on several levels. A match, for example, may refer to a love match and a matchmaking process. It may also suggest something incendiary – a battle of wills in which harmony does not always prevail. So although our title may be read in a religious light, this is not the only possible interpretation.
Our writers are sure to challenge some received ideas about the Muslim experience. In particular, we want to unsettle the notion that young Muslims are repressed individuals who neither know what their sexual desires are, nor how to express them.
When young Muslims write about sexual relationships, real or imagined, they may do one of two things. They may choose their words carefully, conscious of what may or may not be acceptable within their families and social circles. For that reason, in order to express themselves freely, some of our authors decided to use pseudonyms. Others have deliberately aimed their words at a society in which Muslims all too frequently find themselves misunderstood and misrepresented.
Their characters vary too: some work to ‘keep it halal’ while others unrepentantly explore the opposite – the ‘haram’. Others still are exploring and negotiating where, if at all, the boundary between permissible and impermissible lies. Certain stories are universal in their depictions of encounters and romance, the use of digital media, infidelity, bickering and break-ups. Some stories contain more distinctively Muslim religious and cultural references, such as the semi-autobiographical narrative in which a mother gives advice to her daughter about love relationships from within a Muslim ethical framework.
A Match Made in Heaven is not alone in showcasing new writing by Muslim women about sex and relationships. Our book shares good company with a few other anthologies and a broader groundswell of assertive creativity among younger Muslim women. Yet we think our collection is a lively, unique and memorable contribution to the genre.
Most importantly, we hope you will enjoy this anthology, whoever and wherever you are. We shall now leave the stories to speak for themselves.

Claire Chambers, Nafhesa Ali and Richard Phillips

🐧❤️

Today is my stop on the. Blog tour for Blood Ties by Peter Taylor-Gooby, thank you to the team at Love Books Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part & thank you to Matador books for my copy.

Pages: 271

Synopsis: Ritchie’s life is shadowed by the death of his wife, Cat, in a car accident twenty-two years previously. He was the driver. He loves his children – Nic, who is bi-polar and often impulsive, and Jack. Both are active in the campaign to welcome asylum-seekers and refugees to Britain. His life comes to a crisis as he realises how much his children despise his trade in advertising and how much the loss of Cat still means to them all.

Ritchie abandons his career but achieves new success in driving Britain’s treatment of refugees up the political agenda. This earns him the respect of his children but brings him to the attention of Makepeace, the populist Home Secretary. Nic, his daughter, strives to show she can overcome her disorder. She infiltrates a people-trafficking gang but is arrested as a criminal. Makepeace uses this to blackmail Ritchie to help him in his political schemes. Ritchie is horrified to discover that his task is to sell the reintroduction of forced labour, modern slavery, to the public. As a result he is once again rejected by his children.

Ritchie has reached rock bottom. He is desolate but believes he can outsmart Makepeace. Blood Ties shows how he finally resolves the situation, embraces the causes his children hold dear and reunites his family.

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: ok, firstly let me say that a 3 star rating for me is good, I know a lot of people see it as a negative – but please don’t let the rating put you off.

The storyline in this is brilliant, dark and a bit taboo – people trafficking and modern slavery, something we all like to think is a thing of the past but really we know it is very real in today’s society.

The pace was good and kept me turning the pages & the story line really did grip me, but I think the issue is that I didn’t like many of the characters! – they came across as unlikeable and annoying!

Nic was the exception to that rule, she suffers from bi-polar and has always felt that she is different, she keeps on top of her medication when she feels like it & lets her condition take over at other times, but being completely honest it seems to work for her.

I loved the fact that the book was set in future, but it also gave it a kind of eerie feel, like none of the political issues of right now will be resolved by the time 2025 come along!

🐧❤️

Pages: 352

Synopsis: Sometimes you have to risk everything to find your something…

All Andrew wants is to be normal. He has the perfect wife and 2.4 children waiting at home for him after a long day. At least, that’s what he’s told people.

The truth is, his life isn’t exactly as people think and his little white lie is about to catch up with him.

Because in all Andrew’s efforts to fit in, he’s forgotten one important thing: how to really live. And maybe, it’s about time for him to start.

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: I’m really struggling to put my thoughts into words on this one, it was so beautiful, but in a hidden gem kind of way.

When you first start reading it, it draws you in and being honest it never really lets you go, but I can’t explain why, a but like Eleanor Oliphant, it just pulled me along with the story & will stay with me for a long time.

We follow Andrew, who to everyone else has the perfect life, the kind of relationship to be envious of with his wife, as well as 2 beautiful children, one of each, what he always wanted, but how much of that is true?

We very quickly discover that in fact that is all a lie, he lives in his own and survives on beans on toast! – but once you tell a lie, it gets bigger and bigger and now he can’t find a way out.

I loved every part of this, it made me really laugh in places Penny is hilarious & just the perfect counter to Andrew.

A lot of this book felt melancholy and left me feeling sad, I just wanted to jump into the book and fix everything.

I was really interested in Andrews job, he goes around the houses of recently deceased people where there is no obvious next of kin, to try and find one or money to put towards the cost of the funeral. – he goes above and beyond in his role though & actually attends the funerals to, so they’re not alone. I couldn’t help seeing a parallel between their lives and his life & that broke my heart.

I promise it’s not all doom and gloom, there were a lot of heartwarming parts to the story too & believe it or not a massive part of it was about friendship and how invaluable certain people are to us.

Thank you to TBC on Facebook for inviting me to be a part of this read along, without you I probably wouldn’t have picked it up & I feel everyone needs to read it.

🐧❤️

Today is my stop on the blog tour for Fin & Rye & Fireflies by Harry Cook, thank you to the team at Love Books Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part & thank you to Black and White Publishing for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

Pages: 329

Synopsis: Fin Whittle is sixteen and he likes guys. A fact which seems to be complicating his life.
One minute Fin’s kissing the godlike Jesse; the next he s been cruelly outed. His family’s response? To up sticks in search of a ‘fresh start’.

A fresh start won’t change the truth of who Fin is. Obviously. But it does introduce him to the best squad in town: kick-ass Poppy, her on-off girlfriend June and the super cute, super irresistible Rye.

Fin soon has a serious crush. And Rye might just feel the same way. But Fin’s parents aren’t happy. If their son won’t change his ‘lifestyle’, they ll force him onto the straight and narrow . . . by way of ‘conversion therapy’. An outrageous plan is needed to face down the haters and to give Fin and Rye (and their fireflies) a chance at the happy-ever-after their story deserves . . .

From moonlit meet-ups to vintage diners, pride parades to a passion for old vinyl, Fin & Rye & Fireflies is a gloriously upbeat tale of being true to yourself no matter what.

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: from the cover this looks like a super cute romance between 2 young boys, and although some of this book was exactly that, the other things that are hidden in these pages brought out so many emotions in me as the reader.

We follow Fin, 16 years old, just starting to be into the whole relationship scene, he kisses a boy and it all turns out to be some horrible prank. – to make matters worse upon discovering that his son is gay Fins dad sells the house and moves his family somewhere new for a “fresh start”

The scenes between Fin and his dad absolutely broke my heart, he just kept telling Fin to “stop the nonsense” and to just “be normal”

Fin and Rye hit it off almost immediately, the only problem is that Rye has a boyfriend, he’s a popular guy in school and isn’t actually out yet, so keeps introducing Rye as his friend, put politely he’s an idiot and Rye deserves so much better.

I’m not going to give anymore of the story away because so much more happens, more things that broke my heart and a lot of things that made my heart happy.

Please go and pick it up I promise you won’t be disappointed

🐧❤️

Today is my stop on the blog tour for Keep her Quiet by Emma Curtis, thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part and thank you to Transworld Books and Netgalley for my copy.

Pages: 432

Synopsis: Jenny has just given birth to the baby she’s always wanted. She’s never been this happy.

Her husband, Leo, knows this baby girl can’t be his. He’s never felt so betrayed.

The same night, a vulnerable young woman, Hannah, wakes to find her newborn lifeless beside her. She’s crazed with grief.

When chance throws Hannah into Leo’s path, they make a plan that will have shattering consequences for all of them.

Years later, a sixteen-year-old girl reads an article in a newspaper, and embarks on a journey to uncover the truth about herself. But what she learns will put everything she has ever known – and her own life – in grave danger. Because some people will go to desperate lengths to protect the secrets their lives are built on . . .

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: wow, wow, wow…

On the surface this seems like a simple thriller that’s probably been done so many times, but believe me when I tell you that it is so much more than that.

Just when I thought the story couldn’t possible get any darker or throw any more twists at me Emma proved me wrong, I honestly didn’t know wether I was coming or going with this story and I absolutely loved it! – this got read over 2 days at the weekend, time I normally spend with the boyfriend, he got ditched for reading and had to play on his switch instead 😂

Weirdly I found myself rooting for Hannah in this whole story, as much as I really felt for Jenny, there was just something about Leo that was totally rubbing me up the wrong way!

I loved the fact that Zoe was brought into it and given her own perspective later on in the book, it added a whole other level to the story that I wasn’t expecting but greatly appreciated.

If you’re looking for a thriller that will take your on a journey and leave you not knowing which way is up then this is definitely the one for you.

🐧❤️