blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Then There’s Trust – Susan Gray

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A forbidden love…a relationship in jeopardy…a tested trust

Darcy Dukas is fearless and feisty – but can she be trusted? Left bereft after a personal
disappointment, her vulnerable mindset causes her to seize an opportunity to pursue her dream career.

When Marcel Duval arrives in Durham to establish his detective agency, she agrees to work
with him. But is she prepared for the risks she will encounter? Risks for her safety…risks for her young marriage…and risks affecting her family’s trust?

In 1952 Josh Smallwood, Darcy’s brother, returns home after completing his national service. Trying to sort his future, he begins working on the family farm and befriends Judy, a young nurse. He is
baffled to discover any liaison with her is forbidden by her family. This mystery fuels an intense, secret relationship…can they overcome obstacles to be together?

A shroud of guilt clings to Chantal Martin – will she ever be free from its taint? As an unmarried mother, her once tenacious trait seems to have deserted her. Striving towards the final hurdle, an unexpected decision and an untimely event threaten to blight her resilience…can her trust be
rewarded?

Then There’s Trust is a gripping, emotional story of love, fidelity and trust set in 1950’s northeast England.

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‘Never too old to follow your dreams’ has become Susan Gray’s mantra since beginning to write novels after celebrating a significant birthday. Susan endeavours to entwine the genres of mystery and romance and sets her books in the Twentieth Century.

She lives with her husband in northeast
England, setting her books in this picturesque area. She has a son and daughter, both married, two granddaughters and a grand dog. When not writing she loves to spend time reading, puzzling, walking and catching up with friends over a coffee. She enjoys travelling and tries to include many of
the places she has visited in her books.

Her plots are inspired by ‘life’ and how her characters navigate the waters. She loves to ‘people watch’ and creates her characters based on the many
strangers she has observed.

She has written eight novels, but only four are published so far. SPANISH HOUSE SECRETS was her debut novel. BLOSSOMING OF TRUTH, HOPE ON HOPE and THEN THERE’S TRUST are a series.

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My thoughts: I haven’t read the previous two books in this series, so I wasn’t familiar with the characters and how they’re all connected, so it took me a little while to get them all sorted in my head.

The story itself was a lot of fun to read, even the sad bits, because it was so engaging and full of energy and excitement.

There’s thwarted love, undercover shenanigans and drama at every turn. The members of this extended family don’t exactly live quiet, easy lives. Darcy is an investigative journalist, who after a terrible loss, decides to raise awareness of how women like her are treated, determined to make change. She also assists a private detective in some of his cases, even though she’s put in danger by doing so. She’s a very modern woman trapped by the mores of the 1950s.

Her brother, Josh, also struggles against the rules, few young women these days would allow their fathers to behave as his girlfriend, Judy’s does. Controlling and even kidnapping her because he doesn’t like Josh’s family. Although after some digging into the past, things change.

Then there’s Darcy’s aunt, Chantal. Her partner Sam is still married to his miserable wife in Scotland, who won’t grant him a divorce, even though she lied to get him to marry her. Chantal has to live with the stigma of being unmarried and a mother to twins. Nowadays it’s not such a big deal and Sam would probably find it easier to get a divorce too.

All of these characters are trapped by the social conventions and attitudes of their time, pushing against the way society perceives them. But they’re also very lucky to have each other for support and aid when they need it.

An interesting and enjoyable read, strange to think things were so different not so long ago.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: Under the Blazing Sun – Jenny Lund Madsen, translated by Paul Russell Garrett

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Hannah is miserable. Her love life is in ruins, her contract demands a sequel to her bestselling crime debut – and she’s out of ideas.

After a mortifying TV interview, her agent ships her off to a sun-drenched Sicilian villa with a simple order: finish the book. No distractions. No excuses. But inspiration doesn’t strike – murder does.

When a night out ends in murder, Hannah finds herself at the centre of a murder investigation … again.

The police want her out of the way, and the only person who seems to believe her is a young but charming Italian police officer. That is, until she doesn’t.

Soon Hannah is chasing suspects, fleeing crime scenes, and doing whatever it takes to avoid becoming the next victim. She came to write a crime novel. Now she’s trapped inside one.

Jenny Lund Madsen is one of Denmark’s most acclaimed scriptwriters (including the international hits Rita and Follow the Money) and is known as an advocate for better representation for sexual and ethnic minorities in Danish TV and film. She made her debut as a playwright with the critically acclaimed Audition (Aarhus Teater) and her debut literary thriller, Thirty Days of Darkness, first in an addictive new series, won the Harald Mogensen Prize for Best Danish Crime Novel of the year, was shortlisted for the coveted Glass Key Award, longlisted for the CWA Crime in Translation Dagger, and won the Crime Fiction Lover Award for Best Crime Book in Translation. She lives in Denmark with her wife and young family.

My thoughts: Hannah wrote a brilliant crime novel after her involvement with a murder in Iceland, but now she’s stuck again. She’s under contract for another crime novel, but wants to go back to her literary fiction roots. So her agent, Bastian sends her to a friend’s villa in Sicily to write. 

And she gets involved in another murder. She’s even a suspect, which is crazy because she barely knows the victim. The police don’t believe her, her lawyer doesn’t seem bothered either. What can she do? Well, she’ll just have to solve the case and prove her own innocence. Obviously. And then write a book all about it.

Chaos ensues, especially after her Icelandic lover (with husband and children in tow) shows up, Hannah has a holiday fling with the one police officer who believes her, and after discovering whose house she’s staying, calls the one person she vowed never to, because she really needs help.

Hannah’s life is completely crazy, despite her insistence that it isn’t, and maybe she should stop leaving home as she seems to encounter murder everywhere she goes.

It’s actually a really funny book and would make a great movie on Netflix, the sort of film I would definitely watch (I love a crazy crime caper). More please!

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

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Blogathon: Nowhere Girl – Ruth Dugdall

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From the top of the Ferris wheel, Ellie can see everything. Her life, laid out beneath her. Ellie looks up. She wants freedom.

Down below, her little sister and mother wait, watching as people bundle off the wheel and disappear into the crowd. No Ellie. Must be the next box.

But the Ferris wheel continues to turn.

When Ellie goes missing on the first day of Schueberfouer, the police are dismissive, keen not to attract negative attention on one of Luxembourg’s most important events.

Probation officer, Cate Austin, has moved for a fresh start, along with her daughter Amelia, to live with her police detective boyfriend, Olivier Massard. But when she realises just how casually he is taking the disappearance of Ellie, Cate decides to investigate matters for herself.

She discovers Luxembourg has a dark heart. With its geographical position, could it be the centre of a child trafficking ring? As Cate comes closer to discovering Ellie’s whereabouts she uncovers a hidden world, placing herself in danger, not just from traffickers, but from a source much closer to home.

My thoughts: Cate has left the probation service and her messy family court case behind and moved to Luxembourg with her daughter Amelia and boyfriend, police detective Olivier.

When the older sister of Amelia’s school friend goes missing at the carnival, Cate is dragged into the case via her sort of friendship with the girls’ mother Bridget. Olivier is leading the case but won’t discuss it with Cate.

As the days pass, it becomes increasingly less likely that Ellie will be found, and that’s before Bridget confesses something that changes how the police view the case.

Meanwhile a newly arrived teenage girl attempts to understand her new life and the world of undocumented migrants that she finds herself in.

Clever and relevant, this is another brilliant book from Ruth Dugdall that had me absolutely gripped and will get its hooks into you too. By placing the reader right there in the middle of everything, with sweet Amina who just wants a better life, with terrified Ellie who wants to go home and with Cate, who thought she was doing the right thing in leaving Suffolk, but realises that she was really just running away from her troubles. Cannot wait for the next book.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: From the Depths – Emily Renk Hawthorne

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Happy release week to author Emily Renk Hawthorne! From the Depths is now available!

If you enjoyed Black Water Sister, Daughter of the Moon Goddess, or The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea, you will enjoy Of Mountains and Seas—a Chinese mythology–inspired urban fantasy duology set in California.

From The Depths (Of Mountains and Seas #2

Release Date: June 9, 2026

Genre: Urban Fantasy

In the wake of a failed coup, peace comes at a cost.

A new regime enforces order by erasing the memories of every Shifter.

But Nivi remembers everything.

Immune to the memory-wiping tincture that silenced her kind, Nivi carries the weight of the past alone. Her powers set her apart, but so does the truth she can’t forget. Once again, Nivi finds herself isolated from her family and friends, and something begins to fracture, within herself and within the forest of her hometown Yuras.

Strange happenings are accumulating. A road of abandoned homes in Yuras. A missing crabbing crew in Alaska. A student abduction at the local Shifter school.

With danger creeping closer and reality unraveling for both Shifters and Statics, will the fight for what’s been lost be worth unearthing truths they fear?

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Blog Tour: The Death of Shame – Ambrose Parry

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When you are a prisoner of your secrets,
the death of shame is the only path to liberty

Annabel Banks was promised work as a maid with a prestigious Edinburgh family. But on her first day, she’s nowhere to be found. Concerned relatives contact Sarah Fisher to help. Sarah might know her way around the city – its light sides and dark – but soon she’ll discover the plight of dozens of girls ensnared in its many brothels: lured, abused and left ruined in the eyes of the world.

Meanwhile, a prominent society figure throws himself from the Scott Monument. Will Raven is asked to establish whether the death was suicide or if someone else was involved. Drawing upon real historical events, The Death of Shame takes the Raven and Fisher series into a treacherous labyrinth of shame and the pitfalls of a culture obsessed with moral purity.

Ambrose Parry is a pseudonym for a collaboration between Chris Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman. The couple are married and live in Scotland. Chris Brookmyre is the international bestselling and multi-award-winning author of over twenty novels. Dr Marisa Haetzman is a consultant anaesthetist of twenty years’ experience, whose research for her Master’s degree in the History of Medicine uncovered the material upon which this series, which begun with The Way of All Flesh, is based. The Way of all Flesh was longlisted for both the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award and the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year. @ambroseparry

My thoughts: i really like this series, probably because it’s well written, well researched and the cases are so fascinating. Blending historical figures of Edinburgh’s past with the fictional Will Raven and Sarah Fisher, who dig into mysteries surrounding the medical fraternity of the city.

This time, it’s Will’s father-in-law at the centre of the case. Having apparently committed suicide, from the Scott Monument, but Will’s wife, Eugenie, insists her father would never do that. Will discovers that he was being blackmailed. Could that be why the eminent doctor took his own life?

Meanwhile Sarah has been asked to find her late husband’s niece, Annabel, who arrived in Edinburgh for a job as a nursery maid but then disappeared. Has she met a terrible end or is she as tough as Sarah and somehow survived?

As Will and Sarah investigate, an unwanted figure from Will’s estranged family appears and Sarah finds herself in terrible danger.

Another absolutely gripping adventure for the two doctors (Sarah’s determined to be one) and investigators, which finally also gives us some answers about their relationship too.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: Once Upon a Midnight Walk – Tetyana Walker

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Welcome to the book tour for Once Upon a Midnight Walk by Tetyana Walker!

Once Upon a Midnight Walk

Release Date: April 24, 2026

Genre: Romantic Fantasy

  • Strong and cunning heroine
  • Forced partnership
  • Slow burn romance
  • Enemies to lovers
  • “Who did this to you”
  • A LOT of bickering & yearning
  • Angst and tension with historical romance undertones

In a kingdom where the sun never sets, and only men are born with magic, Agnes Peregreene had to grow up entirely too soon.

After her mother’s death, Agnes devoted her life to caring for her younger sister. Bound by a vow she refused to break, she ensured no price was too great for Solomia’s well-being. But when Solomia is betrothed to a known wife-killer, Agnes is forced to confront the reality of her own powerlessness.

Before Agnes can find a way to save her sister, she is handed a death sentence of her own.

Desperate to buy time, she strikes a frantic bargain with the Aclanian king—she will venture into Nocturna, the realm of ever-night, and retrieve a long-lost talisman in exchange for her life and her sister’s freedom.

Lost in a realm unlike any other, Agnes must rely on her cunning mind to survive. Determined to return home successful, she sets on a path of discovery, unraveling secrets that a mysterious and wealthy man named Odeon Nox has spent years trying to keep buried.

Secrets that come with a price neither one of them is prepared to pay.

Step into this standalone fantasy romance, set between a realm of sunlight and castles and a world of night and cities rivaling 1920s New York.

Every choice has a price, and every heart hides a secret.

For fans of Jane Austen, Sarah J. Maas and V.E Schwab

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Cover Reveal: Fortune’s Wake – C.L. Clark

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Kill the beast.
Earn some coin.
Get the girl.

Or at least, that’s how it was supposed to go. Kova of Stormwatch made a promise when she left her mother and sweetheart weeping on the shore back home: she’d earn her fortune slaying the beasts that haunt the woods and the horrors that lurk in the shadows, or she would die trying. But to do that, she needs an apprenticeship with a master monster hunter. The best of the best: Sayre Boarbane.

Pity that Sayre works alone.

When Sayre drags Kova home by the ear, they’re both in for a rude awakening. Kova’s mother? Missing. Kova’s lover? Taking long walks on the beach with a stranger.

And all those monsters Kova wanted to slay? They’re back in Stormwatch, dragging villagers into the ocean.

Coming soon!!

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Blog Tour: Case Files Vol. 2 – Rachel Amphlett

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Discover nine dark and twisted mysteries from bestselling author Rachel Amphlett in this second collection of disturbing short stories.

This second page-turning collection features The Date, in which Lucy and Michael meet every year for a sinister anniversary; in All Night Long Zoe soon wishes she wasn’t working the late shift; and in A Burning Question a young Detective Kay Hunter suspects a serial arsonist is targeting a small community of river dwellers with chilling results…

Case Files: Collected Short Crime Stories Volume 2:
The Date
The Back Nine
The Protégé
Devil of a Favor
Six Underground
Three Ways to Die
A Toxic Remedy
All Night Long
A Burning Question

Case Files: short crime fiction stories that will have you on the edge of your seat.

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Before turning to writing, USA Today bestselling crime author Rachel Amphlett played guitar in bands, worked as a TV and film extra, dabbled in radio, and worked in publishing as an editorial assistant.

She now wields a pen instead of a plectrum and writes crime fiction with over 30 crime novels and short stories featuring spies, detectives, vigilantes, and assassins.

A keen traveller and accidental private investigator, Rachel has both Australian and British citizenship.

You can find out more about Rachel and her books at http://www.rachelamphlett.com.

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My thoughts: This collection of short crime stories is enjoyable and clever. Some of the stories are very short, clever little snapshots of killers and thieves, detectives and alligators!

I really liked these bite size tales, some self contained and others feel like little bits of much bigger stories. Perfect for dipping into when you need a crime fix.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: The Drowned Girl -David Mark

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A woman vanishes from a remote lake in Cumbria. All that’s left behind are her abandoned clothes, a ringing phone, and a stretch of dark water that won’t give her back. And everyone here knows that Sleddale Tarn keeps its silence.

Moses Crow knows this place too. He grew up here, before he went to prison, before he became the kind of man who scans every room for the nearest exit. When the case reignites rumours about a girl who disappeared in the local caves, Moses is summoned home to help the family who raised him keep the police at arm’s length.

As the search intensifies, so does the question he’s been avoiding for decades: what really happened here, all those years ago? And what will it cost to drag the family’s secrets into the light?

David Mark spent more than fifteen years as a journalist, including seven years as a crime reporter with the Yorkshire Post, before becoming an author. He is the author of the Sunday Times bestseller Dark Winter and has been championed by Val McDermid, Peter James, Mick Herron and Martina Cole. He lives in rural Northumberland with his family.

My thoughts: Moses was fostered by the wealthy and messed up family, the Rinkov-Torsneys, at the centre of this book. When Oksana, the carer for patriarch Andrei drowns despite being a strong swimmer, his brother Hugo calls on him to return to the family home and look after things.

When first a journalist, and then a former police inspector appear, both following the death and a string of other similar drownings, Moses is in their sights but he knows he didn’t kill anyone, so who did?

Intense, sinister and compelling, this book hooks you in and carries you along with Moses as he attempts to unravel the family’s dark secrets and find a killer.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: Cast Off – Enola M. Douglas

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Welcome to the ARC tour for Cast Off by Enola M. Douglas – Available July 10th!

Cast Off (Jewels of the Nine Kingdoms Book 2)
Expected Release Date: July 10, 2026
Genre: Romantasy/ Why Choose

• Arranged marriage
• Omegaverse
• Royalty
• Court Intrigue
• Forced Proximity
• Found Family
• Healer FMC / Warrior MMC
• Mutual pining
• Slow Burn
• Hurt/Comfort
• Touch her & Di3
• Second Chances
• Grovelling
• Chronic Pain/Disability Rep
• Interracial Marriage

An arranged marriage.
A fragile alliance.
A love neither thought possible.

Omega Princess JingYi of Xûen-Sarai has always lived in the shadows—unseen, unwanted, valued only for her skill as a healer. When she’s sent to marry a powerful Alpha lord in a distant kingdom, she sees it as an escape. A chance to reclaim her dignity.

Alpha Lord Alexander Wulfbane expects a flawless bride to restore his disgraced House—but the Omega who arrives is nothing like he imagined. The moment their eyes meet, disappointment lingers, and their fragile alliance begins to fray.

But beyond the cold marriage bed and strained diplomacy, a darker plot is brewing. Across the realm, Omegas are vanishing—and whispers of a forbidden substance threaten to destabilize the Nine Kingdoms. To survive, JingYi and Alexander must become more than a political match.

She’s not the bride he wants.
And she never asks him to be her hero.
But when the storm comes, they’ll have to choose—
stand together or be swept away.

Cast Off can be read as a standalone—but for the fullest plunge into the Nine Kingdoms, start with WHISKED AWAY. It’s the gateway that sets up the world, politics, and payoffs you’ll feel even harder in Book Two.

Note: Cast Off is an Omegaverse fantasy romance. It is Book Two in Jewels of the Nine Kingdoms—a series of interconnected stories, each following different main characters or pairings, all bound by a shared world and a central conflict. This book can be read on its own—but Whisked Away (Book 1) offers deeper context and emotional resonance within the overarching plot.

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TRIGGER WARNINGS:

• Emotional & physical abuse
• Gaslighting & societal control
• Human trafficking
• Death of parents
• Grief
• Descriptions of torture & execution
• Medical trauma, coercion, and bodily autonomy violations
• Physical & psychological trauma
• Heat/Rut dynamics
• Attempted rape (past event, non-graphic)
• Pregnancy & birth scenes (side characters, not FMC)

 

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