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Thank you to The Book Club Reviewer Group, Netgalley and Orion for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Pages: 368

Synopsis: As children, Gabi and Thea were like most identical twin sisters: inseparable.

Now adults, Gabi is in a coma following a vicious attack and Thea claims that, until last week, the twins hadn’t spoken in fifteen years. But what caused such a significant separation? And what brought them back together so suddenly?

Digging into the case, DS Kate Munro is convinced the crime was personal. Now she must separate the truth from the lies and find the dangerous assailant – before any more blood is spilled

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧

My thoughts: this is a really hard book to review as most good thrillers are because the devil is in the details, I can’t give anything away because it will ruin the overall enjoyment and shock factor to the book, but sometimes you read a book and wish you could go back and experience it for the first time all over again.

I absolutely flew through this, I couldn’t put it down, it would have been a one sitting book if things like sleep weren’t important 😂

We follow twin sisters Thea and Gabi, the book opens with Thea being questioned because Gabi is in hospital in a bad way having been attacked a couple of days before, but you soon learn that even from the beginning things aren’t always as they seem, how can you be sure you’re talking to the right twin when they’re identical?

When DS Kate Munro is looking into the attack she realises that it bears some resemblance to the murder of the girls parents 15 years ago, which leads her to go digging through an old solved case, because something doesn’t feel right.

This book really shows that’s family isn’t just about DNA and how far some people will go to protect the ones they love.

I personally can not wait for the next instalment!

🐧❤️

Thank you to TBC Reviewer group, Netgalley and Orion for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Pages: 304

Synopsis: You trust your family. They love you. Don’t they?

When 17-year-old Eva Olsen awakes after a horrific accident that has left her bedbound, her parents are right by her side. Devoted, they watch over her night and day in the attic room of their family home in the forests of Norway.

But the accident has left Eva without her most recent memories, and not everything is as it seems. As secrets from the night of the accident begin to surface, Eva realises – she has to escape her parents’ house and discover the truth. But what if someone doesn’t want her to find it?

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧

My thoughts: it took a few chapters to get into this book, the first few were a little confusing, but I stuck it out and honestly I’m glad I did, there is so much that is left open to the readers interpretation, why is she locked in the attic? – why are her parents being evasive whenever Eva asks questions? What’s the real reason they don’t even let her into her old room? Why are they keep her best friends away?

It’s not until she manages to escape out of the attic that she understands the gravity of the secrets that are being kept from her.

With them still not knowing who or what caused Evas accident she’s still on edge, and constantly feels like she’s being watched, this book honestly had me on the edge of my seat, it made me feel anxious/scared along with the main character.

Just as you think you’ve worked out what’s happening and where the story is headed another twist is thrown at you and I honestly felt myself getting tied up in knots along the way.

If you’re a fan of this genre this is a book you absolutely have to pick up!

🐧❤️

Pages: 386

Synopsis: Leah Griffiths has woken up after a few too many glasses of Prosecco with a hangover – and discovers she’s accidentally bought a little Christmas tree farm in Scotland!

At first she’s horrified, but perhaps it’s the perfectway to forget all about her cheating ex.

And when she meets grumpy (but ridiculously gorgeous) pumpkin farmer Noel underneath the mistletoe, Leah begins to believe that at Christmas time, anything can happen…

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧

My thoughts: this is the second book by Jaimie Admans that I’ve picked up and just like the first one this made me feel all warm and fuzzy.

Jaimie has a way of making you relate all her characters and I’m definitely here for it.

This story follows Leah who wakes up after a few too many Prosecco’s to find out that she’s actually spent her inheritance on a Christmas tree farm, she’s not disappointed to discover this and throws herself into getting ready to leave.

When she arrives she realises that the perfect little Christmas dream she had in her head is not the same as the reality, the Christmas tree farm she’s bought is run down and the house is dilapidated.

A stray squirrel brings a sexy Scottish farmer and a cute little chihuahua into her life though and things start looking up, could he be the answer to her prayers?

I really enjoyed reading about Leah and Noels relationship dynamic and how it evolved throughout the book.

I’d love to be a part of Roscoe Farm or Peppermint Branches, if only they were real places 😂

Thank you Jaimie for another fabulously festive heartwarming read!

🐧❤️

Today is my stop on the blog tour for Snowed in at The Practice by Penny Parkes. thank you to Anne at Random things Tours for organising it and to Simon and Schuster for providing my copy via netgalley.

Pages: 496

Synopsis: Dr Holly Graham is finding life with two sets of twins exhausting. Even with husband Dr Taffy Jones and devoted friend Elsie by her side, she is completely outnumbered. Making the transition back to work will be no easy feat but a regular slot on Radio Larkford as their on-air doctor might be the perfect stepping stone, until an unexpected job offer changes everything.

Dr Alice Walker’s new canine clinic at Larkford Surgery with Coco, her assistance dog, has been a storming success. If only shipping her best friend, Dr Tilly Grainger, in from South America to cover for Holly had been such a smooth transition. It seems that Tilly isn’t finding life in the peaceful Cotswolds valley as rewarding as she’d hoped, and she is causing chaos …

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧.5

My Thoughts: When I agreed to be a part of this blog tour, I hadn’t realised that this book was the latest in a series, totally my fault for not doing the research but unfortunately this sometimes left me feeling a little bit lost as I didn’t know any of the back stories!

However, that being said it still worked as a standalone I thoroughly enjoyed the story and found myself getting invested in the characters lives quite quickly.

Because I haven’t read the other books there isn’t really a lot I can say about character development BUT I loved all of the characters for different reasons.

I really enjoyed the sense of community within the story & how they all pulled together when it mattered, it had a very ‘real” feel to it and it made me heart happy!

This book still made me have ALL the feelings and dealt with some pretty hard hitting topics in a very sensitive way which is t always easy to do.

I’ve also discovered my library has all of the books in this series and can’t wait to dive in from the beginning!

🐧❤️

Here it is! the gorgeous cover of the highly anticipated finale of AA Abbott’s crime series! – isn’t it beautiful?! 😍😍

Birmingham has well and truly been put on the crime thriller map with the success of the TV series Peaky Blinders but for bookworms amongst us the popular Trail Series has long brought readers into the modern day 21st century with its tense storylines, murder and intrigue set in and around the city.

The Trail series features a vodka business, a cancer cure and obsessive killers. Every book is a good read in its own right – each is a great crime story with terrific twists to keep the tension mounting – but together, they follow the same characters over several years.

The Trail series author AA Abbott also known as Helen Blenkinsop, has been compared with the likes of Ruth Rendell, John Grisham and Jeffrey Archer.  She lived and studied in Birmingham for nearly 20 years and her passion and love for the city became the inspiration for the Trail series.

Now, after four successful editions the last storyline will be revealed in the publication of THE FINAL TRAIL which will be launched in Birmingham on 28th October.

In the last book …”Glamorous Kat White has built a successful craft vodka brand in Birmingham, but she has an uneasy relationship with her business partner, Marty Bridges. Her mother had previously supplied with poisonous vodka. Marty doesn’t trust Kat, resents having to depend on her for commercial success, and isn’t thrilled that his eldest son wants to marry her. That’s not his biggest problem, though. He’s trying to develop a cancer drug with Kat’s brother, Erik, and it’s draining money he doesn’t have. Just as he finds an investor with pockets deep enough to fund their research, Erik is lured to the former Soviet Union and thrown into jail. Meanwhile, Ben Halloran, who killed his father to save Kat’s life, is faced with the twin risks of a murder charge and his brother’s deep-seated desire for revenge. Can Ben escape with his life and liberty? And can Marty save both Erik and his business – and learn to trust Kat?”

Helen said “I’ve been writing about these amazing characters for over 5 years, so you can imagine, they have become a part of my life. It’s been a great journey and they have come through so many storylines that it feels right for them to achieve their dreams at last.”

Most of the action in THE FINAL TRAIL takes place across the city and features the famous Rose Villa Tavern and 1,000 Trades in the Jewellery Quarter; The Mailbox, home to the BBC in Birmingham, Holloway Head by the famous Pagoda Island and locations in Harborne and Edgbaston.

Helen added “It’s going to be very sad to launch the last book as the stories and characters have built up such a following but it will give me the opportunity to weave new and exciting tales – I have so many ideas buzzing in my head.”

THE FINALTRAIL is a perfect read for those who like a fast-paced crime thriller combined with suspense, humour and plot twists.  It’s ideal to take away on holiday and provides a great read during the autumn/winter nights.

THE FINALTRAIL will be available to order from Amazon in e-book, paperback and  dyslexia-friendly format from Monday 28th October 2019.

BUY IT HERE!

Synopsis:Family feuds just got bloodier… A gripping thriller, and a great story of death, revenge and vodka.

To save glamorous Kat White’s life, Ben Halloran killed his gangster father. Now his brother wants to even the score.

The gripping Trail series of British crime thrillers reaches its dramatic conclusion in this compelling page turner.

❤️🐧

Thank you to Kelly at LoveBooks for organising this blog tour and inviting me to take part and to Urbane books for my copy.

Pages: 211

Synopsis: Ophelia Street, 1970. A street like any other, a community that lives and breathes together as people struggle with their commitments and pursue their dreams. It is a world we recognise, a world where class and gender divide, where set roles are acknowledged. But what happens when individuals step outside those roles, when they secretly covet, express desire, pursue ambitions even harm and destroy? An observer in the midst of Ophelia Street watches, writes, imagines, remembers, charting the lives and loves of his neighbours over the course of four seasons. And we see the flimsily disguised underbelly of urban life revealed in all its challenging glory. As the leaves turn from vibrant green to vivid gold, so lives turn and change too, laying bare the truth of the community. Perhaps, ultimately, we all exist on Ophelia Street.

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧

My thoughts: As someone who was born in the early 90’s I can’t say how true this book was to 1970, but what I can say is that the community had a different feel to what I know of today, no one really spoke to each other, they only really knew of each other in passing – it was very much a say hello but nothing else, Unless it was the men in the local on an evening.

This book isn’t normally something I’d pick up on my own, but the story kept me interested all the way through, there were quite a few characters and they were all very different and brought a different aspect and a different feel to the story.

The majority of the book was told from the perspective of the main character as if he was looking back, which I appreciated, it gave the book a genuine feel to it, sometimes I forgot I was reading a novel because it felt like someone’s life story.

A lot of hard hitting topics are dealt with in this book, we have a murder, a suicide, a death, a breakdown of a relationship, as well as animals dying to

Heads up, get some tissues ready for chapter 9, it made me cry a lot.

Overall this book made me feel lots of different emotions, which is impressive with it being so short, it just wasn’t my kind of book so it felt like it missed the mark for me.

Still an enjoyable read though, so if you like what you’ve read in my review then pick it up and see what you think ☺️

🐧❤️

Thank you to Netgalley & HQ Digital for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

Pages: 179

Synopsis: Two people. One chance meeting. Seven days to Christmas.

Isobel Bennett is waiting for the number 11 bus when a man quite literally falls into her lap. Snow is falling, Christmas lights are twinkling, and a gorgeous man with dark brown hair has just slipped on ice and is now pressed against Isobel.

Isobel knows she’s not imagining the chemistry between them. But then his ride arrives and, embarrassed, he beats a hasty retreat, murmuring apologies – and Isobel realises only too late that she didn’t manage to catch his name…

When she runs into him again the next morning, she decides it’s fate.

It’s a second chance for Isobel and Tom – but there’s only one week until she’s leaving London for good. Seven days of enjoying all the festive delights the city has to offer: ice-skating at Somerset House, mulled wine on the Southbank, Christmas shopping at Liberty.

There’s magic in the air and mistletoe in the trees – but what will happen when the week is over?

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts:

Love a good cheesy romance, and one that’s set around Christmas time is my favourite & ‘one week ‘till Christmas’ certainly didn’t disappoint.

This book follows Isobel, a travelling journalist who is currently in the UK on holiday, visiting friends that she’s made whilst ‘on the job’ on her way to catch the bus to her friends house she gets knocked into the gutter by a passing gentlemen who she can’t help but realise is beautiful, things feel awkward for a couple of minutes then he picks her up and puts her on the bus.

Later it turns out that the guy who knocked her flying was a well known actor, she gets sent to interview him & that’s when things really start to happen.

Isaac comes across as arrogant to begin with, like all he’s bothered about is getting to where he needs to be and he’s not bothered about anyone else, but once the story gets going you realise that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Isobel and Isaac, really hit it off & they fall in love quite quickly, but how much can you really fit in, in 7 days? -Isobel is due back in Australia on Christmas Eve, after missing so many birthdays and family events in the past, she can’t miss another one and had promised she will be there.

This book has everything you expect from a soppy romance and it makes my heart happy, it’s not all plain sailing, but I loved that element to it as well.

My only problem is that it wasn’t long enough & I need to know what happens after Christmas!

Thank you to netgalley and Avon Books for providing me with a copy of this lovely book in exchange for an honest review.

Pages: 378

Synopsis: This Christmas, the villagers of Middledip are off on a very Swiss adventure…

Family means everything to Lily Cortez and her sister Zinnia, and growing up in their non-conventional family unit, they and their two mums couldn’t have been closer.

So it’s a bolt out of the blue when Lily finds her father wasn’t the anonymous one-night stand she’d always believed – and is in fact the result of her mum’s reckless affair with a married man.

Confused, but determined to discover her true roots, Lily sets out to find the family she’s never known; an adventure that takes her from the frosted, thatched cottages of Middledip to the snow-capped mountains of Switzerland, via a memorable romantic encounter along the way…

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: this is the second book of Sues that I have picked up, and just like the first time I thoroughly enjoyed it, i now plan to make my way through her back catalogue as and when I can, she had become a new favourite author.

This story follows Lily, who had just recently found out that she is the result of an affair her mum had with the intention of getting pregnant. – Lily comes from a 2 mum family and until that moment believed she was the result of a sperm donor just like her sister. After discovering the news by catching her mum reading the obituary of her father she also learns that she has 2 brothers and seeks out to find them.

Her search leads her to Middledip and working in a pub owned by her older brother, she soon settles into life there, finds friends an apartment to live in and really integrates herself into the community by becoming part of the local singing group, all the while keeping her secret from everyone around her.

Isaac comes into the story as a relief manager for Lily’s brother Tubb whilst he recovers from some health issues, he throws himself into his new role and there seems to be near instant chemistry between him and Lily.

I won’t give too much away, but certain things happen which lead to Isaac having to drive the local singing group to Switzerland because Lily is no longer able to and that’s where the love story really begins, but will it be as straight forward as you hope?

There are some tough topics broached in this book and all are done very sensitively whilst also being informative at the same time.

I cannot recommenced this book enough to fans of contemporary stories with a Christmas twist.

🐧❤️

Pages: 300

Synopsis: John Docherty’s mother has just been taken into a nursing home following a massive stroke and she’s unlikely to be able to live independently again.

With no other option than to sell the family home, John sets about packing up everything in the house. In sifting through the detritus of his family’s past he’s forced to revisit, and revise his childhood.

For in a box, in the attic, he finds undeniable truth that he had a brother who disappeared when he himself was only a toddler. A brother no one ever mentioned. A brother he knew absolutely nothing about. A discovery that sets John on a journey from which he may never recover.

For sometimes in that space where memory should reside there is nothing but silence, smoke and ash. And in the absence of truth, in the absence of a miracle, we turn to prayer. And to violence.

Shocking, chilling and heartbreakingly emotive, In the Absence of Miracles is domestic noir at its most powerful, and a sensitively wrought portrait of a family whose shameful lies hide the very darkest of secrets.

My Rating: 🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: You’ll have to bear with me, not really sure how to articulate my thoughts on this one.

Going into it I didn’t really know what to expect, but I certainly didn’t expect the story to go in the direction it did, I was totally hooked after the first chapter and wasn’t really able to put it down.

How would you feel if, when cleaning out your mind attic you found a picture of someone that looked exactly like you, but definitely wasn’t you, and then a shoe with blood on it? – this is exactly what John finds and so begins the journey of finding out who this mystery teenager is in the picture and why he was never told he existed.

There are so many layers and elements to this story that it never gets boring, but because they are easy to follow it never feels overwhelming either. Everything that got added kept you guessing right until the reveal, and I certainly didn’t see it coming.

The little glimpses into the past really pull the book together and ensures that the reader gets the full story, whilst still leaving you not knowing exactly what the conclusion would be.

This is the first time I’ve picked up a book from this author & now I just want to dive into his previous books.

Cannot recommend this book enough to absolutely everyone!

🐧❤️

Today is my stop on the blog tour for The Winter or the Witch by Katherine Arden. Thank you to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for organising it and Ebury Publishing for my copy.

Pages: 384

Synopsis: One girl can make a difference…

Moscow is in flames, leaving its people searching for answers – and someone to blame. Vasilisa, a girl with extraordinary gifts, must flee for her life, pursued by those who blame their misfortune on her magic.

Then a vengeful demon returns, stronger than ever. Determined to engulf the world in chaos, he finds allies among men and spirits. Mankind and magical creatures alike find their fates resting on Vasya’s shoulders.

But she may not be able to save them all.

My Rating:🐧🐧🐧🐧

My Thoughts: I absolutely loved this trilogy. And this third instalment was the perfect ending, we really got to see the relationship between Vasya and Morozko develop into something beautiful.

There was a lot more action in this one and it was a lot easier to get lost in the story, part of me feels like that’s because I was used to the writing style by then

I knew nothing about Russian Folklore before I read this trilogy and it has left me wanting more, the writing was whimsical and made me feel like I was in the middle of a fairytale.

This book made me feel so many emotions, i cried, I laughed, I fell in love and also felt anger, sometimes towards the same characters.

I’m struggling a little with this review w little because I literally don’t want to give anything away, but I recommend this series to everyone, it’s one I will be reading again in the future.

❤️🐧