blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Troy Story – Carla Luna

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The friendship that launched a thousand adventures is about to embark on the greatest one of all…
Ever since Stuart Carlson and Dusty Danforth met as kids on a dig in Egypt, they’ve been best friends, supporting each other through heartaches, triumphs, and countless archaeological expeditions. So
when Stuart gets hired to help run the American excavations at Troy, he asks Dusty to join him as the site illustrator.
For Dusty, the Troy project isn’t just another adventure. It’s the chance to tell Stuart how she really feels. After years of pining for him, she’s ready for more than friendship.
But soon after they arrive at the site in Turkey, they’re caught up in a feud with a group of German archaeologists. While both teams are eager to make a major find, Stuart’s boss is so determined to beat his rivals that he’s willing to break a few rules. Or laws.
As Stuart and Dusty work together to keep the dig on track, they give in to the passion that’s been simmering under the surface. But will their romance survive when their boss’s scheme puts the entire project in jeopardy?

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Carla Luna writes contemporary romance with a dollop of humor and a pinch of spice. A former archaeologist, she still dreams of traveling to far-off places and channels that wanderlust into the settings of her stories. When she’s not writing, she works in a spice emporium where she gets paid to discuss food and share her favorite recipes. Her passions include Broadway musicals, baking, whimsical office supplies, and pop culture podcasts. Though she has roots in Los Angeles and Vancouver Island, she currently resides in Wisconsin with her family and her feisty Siberian cat.

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My thoughts: my friend’s mum is a doctor of archaeology and wherever I went to their house as a kid, she’d be cleaning up trays of potsherds, little broken pieces of ancient pottery. I love history but archaeology didn’t appeal a huge amount as some of it seemed really boring – mostly the cleaning of bits of pots!

In this book however, an archaeological dig in modern Turkey, at the site of Troy, is full of incidents, arguments, a bully for a boss, thefts of artifacts and love.

It’s also great fun to read, and highly entertaining as Dusty and Stuart finally admit they’re in love amid the goings on at the dig site and at the German site across town. Most academics are obsessive about their subject (I’m an academic, I know this all too well) and these archaeologists are no different. What they don’t tend to do is what ghe ghastly Dr Hughes does – steal from another dig, threaten his employees, sexually harass his grad students and any other women, bully his way through life and basically be a turd of a human being.

Thankfully Dusty has a strong backbone and the support of her academic parents, the rest of the dig team and the person funding the trip, Mort, when she faces off against the unpleasant man.

I really enjoyed this book, the history stuff, the romance, the scumbag getting his comeuppance, the whole thing really. And I think you will too. Plus it’s made me want a holiday in Turkey even more than I already did!

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: An Unsuitable Heiress – Jane Dunn

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‘Do you realise, Corinna, just how hard it is for a young woman of irregular birth, without family, fortune or friends in the world? Marriage is the only way to get any chance of a life.’
Following the death of her mother, Corinna Ormesby has lived a quiet life in the countryside with her cantankerous Cousin Agnes. Her father’s identity has been a tantalising mystery, but now at nineteen Corinna knows that finding him may be her only way to avoid marriage to the odious Mr Beech.
Deciding to head to London, Corinna dons a male disguise. Travelling alone as a young woman risks scandal and danger, but when, masquerading as a youth, she is befriended by three dashing blades,
handsome and capable Alick Wolfe, dandy Ferdinand Shilton and the incorrigible Lord Purfoy, Corinna now has access to the male-only world of Regency England. And when she meets Alick’s turbulent brother Darius, a betrayal of trust leads to deadly combat which only one of the brothers
may survive.
From gambling in gentleman’s clubs to meeting the courtesans of Covent Garden, Corinna’s country naivety soon falls away. But when she finds her father at last, learns the truth about her parentage
and discovers her fortunes transformed, she must quickly decide how to reveal her true identity, while hoping that one young man in particular can see her for the beauty and Lady she really is.
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Jane Dunn is an historian and biographer and the author of seven acclaimed biographies, including Daphne du Maurier and her Sisters and the Sunday Times and NYT bestseller, Elizabeth & Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens. She comes to Boldwood with her first fiction outing – a trilogy of novels set in the Regency period, the first of which was published in January 2023. She lives in Berkshire with her husband, the linguist Nicholas Ostler.

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My thoughts: I loved this, Corinna (or Cory) is a wonderful protagonist and the friends she makes in London (and Will from back home) are a fun and charming bunch. The author has great fun with the Georgian slang these young bucks speak, and the various slightly outrageous things they get up to.

Cory is incredibly brave, and very lucky as things could have gone very wrong when she runs away dressed as a boy.

If you like Bridgerton or Georgette Heyer or any of the more recent Regency books (there’s so many around) then you need to get stuck into Jane Dunn’s books, there’s two out so far, and they’re both great. I loved this one and didn’t want it to end. With a fabulous cast of characters and real heart, it’s very much worth a read.

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

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Book Review: Slaughterhouse Farm – T. Orr Munro

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A family secret worth killing for…

In the dead of night, 72-year-old Miriam Narracott is found wandering on Exmoor, holding a knife and covered in blood. Inside the family farmhouse lies the body of her adult son, Gabe.

CSI Ally Dymond is on compassionate leave, but when approached by the new DI, recently arrived from London and eager to have Ally’s keen eye and local knowledge on the case, she finds herself being drawn back in.

With their only suspect Miriam unwilling – or unable – to talk, the team must dig into the family’s history to uncover a motive. Instead they find evidence that Gabe was involved with a criminal network, suggesting a completely different chain of events. But if Miriam isn’t the killer – then who is?

The gripping second novel in the CSI Ally Dymond series.

T. Orr Munro was born in Hampshire to an English mother and a Greek-Armenian father who later moved to Devon. After university she trained as a CSI, then became a secondary school teacher. She changed career at 33 to become a police and crime journalist. She has since returned with her family to live in North Devon, the setting for Breakneck Point. Her time as a CSI provided much of the inspiration for the novel, shining a light on what happens behind the crime scene tape.

My thoughts: I know bits of North Devon fairly well, my Grandma came from there and some of my family live there now but this series takes you into the bits you won’t see on the travel shows. And I like it for that. Dark Devon like Nordic Noir in a way.

The farm of the title gets its name from one of the uses its outhouse was put to. Farming is pretty and blood is part of raising animals for food. But the blood this time is from the murdered body of the man running it, Gabe Narracott. Far from the angelic inspiration behind his given name, he’s a man with dark secrets and criminal friends.

His mother, refusing to speak, looks like the culprit. But Ally digs into the evidence and the local knowledge she’s been asked to provide. Something else is going on at the Narracott farm.

Ally also has worries of her own, her relationship with her daughter Megan is struggling, Ally is struggling too, with her own demons and fears. Her refuge at Penny’s holiday site isn’t as safe as it once was. She’s worried about Jay, Megan’s friend, who needs help and she’s sort of started a relationship with Kit Narracott, Gabe’s brother. Which could get awkward.

Interwoven with the case is Miriam’s story, something Ally looks into, and it’s sad, dark and tragic. But it gives some of the answers the team investigating at the farm need to explain everything that’s happened. Dark Devon indeed.

This series gets better and better, Breakneck Point was great but this is more assured, more complex storytelling, with multiple narratives and more detailed character work, creating depth and realism even at the most outlandish, shocking moments. Cracking stuff. The book is out now to buy from all good bookshops.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for a review but all opinions remain my own.

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BBNYA Blog Tour: The Goddess of Nothing At All – Cat Rector

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BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 15 finalists and one overall winner.  If you are an author and wish to learn more about the BBNYA competition, you can visit the official website http://www.bbnya.com or Twitter @bbnya_official. BBNYA is brought to you in association with the @Foliosociety (if you love beautiful books, you NEED to check out their website!) and the book blogger support group @The_WriteReads.

Perhaps you know the myths. 

Furious, benevolent Gods.

A tree that binds nine realms.

A hammer stronger than any weapon.

And someday, the end of everything.

But few have heard of me. 

Looking back, it’s easy to know what choices I might have made differently. At least it feels that way. I might have given up on my title. Told my father he was useless, king of Gods or no, and left Asgard. Made a life somewhere else. 

Maybe I would never have let Loki cross my path. Never have fallen in love. 

But there’s no going back. 

We were happy once. 

And the price for that happiness was the end of everything.

Goodreads

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Cat Rector grew up in a small Nova Scotian town and could often be found simultaneously reading a book and fighting off muskrats while walking home from school. She devours stories in all their forms, loves messy, morally grey characters, and writes about the horrors that we inflict on each other. After spending nearly a decade living abroad, she returned to Canada with her spouse to resume her war against the muskrats. When she’s not writing, you can find her playing video games, spending time with loved ones, or staring at her To Be Read pile like it’s going to read itself. 

Epilogues for Lost Gods is the sequel to her debut novel, The Goddess of Nothing At All.

Find her on Twitter, Tiktok, and Instagram at Cat_Rector 

Or visit her website, CatRector.com 

My thoughts: I do enjoy a mythic retelling, and this, from the point of view of the Norse goddess Sigyn, wife of Loki, goddess of Fidelity, is really good. Daughter of Odin, but not one of his favoured children, she falls in love with the Trickster god and has two sons with him.

Their life together is not easy, Loki still has to work for Odin, and the All Father is not a kind master. Sigyn has no idea what fate has in store for her family, but a lifetime of cruelty and mocking is wearing and her love for her fellow Aesir is limited.

It is Ragnarok that brings Sigyn and Loki together the most, their punishment and the redemption the end of the world offers her.

Lots of research has clearly gone into the writing of this book and the little details, like the use of Icelandic words for the Jotun language, add flavour and depth to the story. It takes a while to get going, drawing you in slowly to the love that blossoms between the two main characters. Much of their life together is quiet, raising their children. But as Loki defies the gods, and draws events to their violent end, things shift and Sigyn has to choose her stand. A clever, well written and enjoyable retelling of this old story with a fresh modern perspective and voice.

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

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Blog Tour: Obedience – Liza Snow

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Obedience copy

Ties That Bind follows their epic love story in a suspenseful tale of hidden connections, the mafia, secrets, and a dark, slow-burn romance that unfolds with delicious tension across the series. Together, can Chandler and Cassandra make it out alive? Only fate knows for sure in this unforgettable tale of love and survival.

Welcome to the tour for Obedience, a suspenseful romance by Liza Snow! Read on for more details!

Liza Snow_ebook

Obedience (Ties that Bind #1)

Publication Date: April 4th, 2023

Genre: Romantic Suspense

🔥Teacher/ Student Romance

🔥Forbidden Love

🔥Slow-burn

🔥Dark Secrets

🔥Mafia Connections

Cassandra

Growing up, I was mesmerized by a man soaring the skies.
The greatest silk aerialist in the world, Chandler Moreau.

He was once my lifeline, the dream I clung to after my parents died. I’ve always believed he was my destiny. To join him at the Dreamers Academy. To perform for him.

To soar with him.

He’s more than I ever imagined. Far more than a mentor. When I am high in the silks, turning, flying, falling, he’s my lifeline once again. Twisting my heart and my body into knots like the knots of his beloved Japanese rope bondage, Shibari.

I don’t want to live without him. With each lesson, each touch, I crave more. Only he can satisfy me. And only he can destroy me…

But I must keep him safe from the past that relentlessly follows me.

Chandler

She is my protégé, the student I’ve been waiting to take under my wing for my entire career. Someone with whom I could share my lifelong journey in my family’s circus, Cirque du Lys.

I never intended to fall in love with the student I was supposed to protect—from myself and the demons that lurk in my shadows. But sometimes fate has other plans.

Cassandra, my beautiful butterfly. I know she’s off limits. Forbidden. Still, I want her in my life. My heart. My bed.

My grandfather’s taunting words still linger.
Mieux vaut plier que rompre.
Adapt and survive.

It’s what we must do. Cassandra and I share a history that entwines us more than the silks we’ve spent our lives mastering ever could.

There are secrets from the past that must never be told. And truths that could destroy what we’ve just begun…

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Excerpt

I hadn’t needed to prompt her. She began, pulling herself upward, drawing those silks around her small frame as she went. Climbing high into the air as the two women began their duet. The French lyrics pulled me in every time. It was perhaps one of the reasons that while I simply tolerated most opera songs I’d heard, I adored this song.

Every time I heard it, every time I got lost in those little nuances of the language, it brought me back to summertime in Melun, France. Playing on the hills overlooking the city, lost in the grasses filled with wildflowers. Climbing into Meme’s apple trees. Perhaps the time in my life when it had felt so simple. All there were, were the memories of when I’d been happy.

And if there was any place I wanted to be, as I watched Cassandra ascending above me, knowing in seconds I would be right beside her, it was in those memories again. Bringing her with me.

The first stanza finished, and my mind immediately centered. My hands had already been wrapped in the silks without having to think about it. She paused, and I saw her attention drift downward. We fell captive to one another, and it was all I needed to see. I knew it was my turn to go to her. She was waiting for me.

In the same fashion she had moments earlier, I began my way up the silks beside hers, which had been a deep royal purple color. The entire time I made my way high into the room, I immersed myself in the French lyrics, the strings complimenting every rise and fall of the two women’s voices. Some moments, I’d lose myself in what I was doing, taking careful note of all the little adjustments my body was making. Other times, my attention drifted upward. Until finally, I was just beneath Cassandra.

When I paused again, I took a few deep breaths, steadying myself. Focused entirely on the beautiful woman above me, who was just as attentive to me. I nodded to her, signaling I was ready, prepared to follow her in whatever she had thought to do next.

At the precise moment when I had met her, she had already begun moving herself into a sailor pose above me, legs splitting, and much to my satisfaction, every single part of her in perfect position. All the small details I’d shown her the first lesson we’d had together were as pristine as when I’d helped her myself.

I would have taken more time to truly enjoy how proud of her I felt if she hadn’t twisted downward, dropping her torso straight toward me in a graceful fall. Before she’d completed it, I knew what she’d done. A Rainbow Marchenko. A famous move of Jeanne’s for many years. But watching her as she settled into it, I would have thought it was hers alone.

Cassandra’s hands dropped, releasing the silks. Dangling inches away. The only thing holding her in the air was the precise folds of those green fabrics wrapped around her legs.

Looking into her eyes as she hung there, waiting for me to act, all I could do was smile. She’d been focused, lost in her own world, but she’d come back to me. We were together again in the very place I had wanted to be with her ever since I’d seen her flying through the silks at her audition. I had dreamt about it every time since, every lesson we had, every time I’d watched her from the shadows of the theater while she practiced.

I had taken her to those fields in Melun with me, high in the trees. Trapped us both in those treasured memories, made all the better knowing she was there. 

“I’ve got you, Cassandra,” I called out to her, gently. Steadying myself, my body locked in place. Breathing slow and rhythmic and calm. I watched her take the same breath as I had, waiting for the little drop in the lyrics before the next few lines began.

The moment their voices bellowed into the theater again, she let herself drop in a salto. In a gentle sweep of my body, I caught her gracefully into my arms. Twisted us together, letting the silks take hold of the two of us as we swung across the room, dozens of feet above the stage below us. Falling like two feathers locked together, dancing into the wind.

When the fabrics released us, I swung us outward. Our bodies drifted apart again as she spun around me, both of us still descending toward the floor. As beautiful as she looked, circling outward away from me, the moment she had, I wanted her back. I used my legs to give myself enough momentum to swing forward, latching on again once she’d appeared.

Cassandra had been so close I’d felt her breath against my face while we dangled above the stage. I got lost in the way it felt to be tangled up with her, a mess of bodies and fabric. Consumed by it. Convinced I might never let go of her again.

As we’d traversed the rest of the way back to the stage, I didn’t. The two of us descended together as a singular unit, just her and I and the fabrics. Improvising the graceful fall we were doing, finding little tricks and motions to carry out, all the while never leaving her side.

We’d both reached the floor, perfectly in sync with one another. I heard a gentle thump as we landed. Followed by the sound of both of our light, audible breaths. Steadying ourselves back on the ground.

Even having left the air, the silks still wrapped around us. Neither of us had freed ourselves. Cassandra was still in my arms, something I realized, when I hadn’t been so caught up in what we were doing all those feet above us, was happening for the very first time. 

The sweet smell of oranges overwhelmed me. Her beautiful hazel eyes, those captivating flecks of grays and greens and browns, drowned out the world around us. I watched her breathing softly, holding her to me and those silks holding me to her. 

And in those next few moments, every single solitary thing keeping me from her since the day we had met no longer existed in the little reality we were trapped in. Every fear I had, every reservation, disappeared. I tightened her to me, my hands capturing the sides of her face in a gentle sweep, as elegant as every other thing we’d done those last few minutes.

Our mouths fell together, and I lost myself in her. Trapped in those profound and so unbelievably relieving seconds in which the things that had stood in our way no longer mattered. 

I hadn’t thought anything could have surpassed the experience the two of us just shared. Undeniably, it had been the best minutes I had ever spent in those silks in my entire career. As simple as it had been. And we had barely started. This was only the beginning.

But this moment now was just as wonderful. As perfect as I could have hoped.

Available on Amazon

More to Love:

In addition to the paperback, Obedience is also available in a full-cast narrated audiobook, starring Daniel Zbel and Rapunzaroo, along with a cast of additional voiceover actresses. Brought to life in the way the story is meant to be told, and it will be the best audiobook you listen to this year—possibly for a very long time. You’ll love listening to the two voices of these iconic characters. And don’t forget to read along with them and enjoy a fantastic, immersive experience. You’ll need the paperback copy to fan yourself off from some of the narration!

Audible

Book Tour Schedule

May 22nd

R&R Book Tours Kick-Off – https://rrbooktours.com/

https://www.instagram.com/Permanently_booked – Review

https://www.instagram.com/wearecurrentlyreading/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/katslovesbooks/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/thesleepybookworm/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/littlebonelibrary/ – Review

http://www.thefaeriereview.com – Feature

https://www.instagram.com/fargoanbookmoth/ – Review

May 23rd

https://www.instagram.com/reading_to_the_last_page/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/crazybeautiful_reads/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D – Review

https://www.instagram.com/book_lover_danny/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/ems_literarycorner/ – Review

https://instagram.com/bookishbaddie?igshid=MDM4ZDc5MmU= – Review

May 24th

https://www.instagram.com/countrymamaswithkids/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/booknerd_jen22 – Review

https://www.instagram.com/squeakeysundergroundlibrary/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/margiebythebookcase/ – Review

https://christinebialczak.com/ – Feature

May 25th

https://www.instagram.com/beastreader/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/books_coffee_and_pao/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D – Review

https://instagram.com/beckerbingesbooks?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= – Review

http://ramblingmads.com – Feature

May 26th

https://www.instagram.com/amber.bunch_author/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/smut.luvin.books.smm/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/shygirlediting/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/creepylilbookworm/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/bookishlykenia/ – Review

https://lshadowlynauthor.com/ – Feature

About the Author

20221101_160602

A bestselling independent author from Florida, Liza has been putting romance books into her readers hands for over a half decade, and has loved every minute of it.

Liza lives with her husband, her two dogs and her cat, ten minutes from the beach. When she isn’t writing, you can often find her walking and enjoying outside, with a coffee and a book in hand.

Liza Snow | Instagram | Facebook | Newsletter

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Blog Tour: The Dog-Sitter Detective – Antony Johnson

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Meet Gwinny, an unlikely bloodhound, and her four-legged friends determined to dig up the truth. Bestselling author Antony Johnston launches a brand-new contemporary cosy crime series, ‘The Dog Sitter Detective’, following former actress Guinevere ‘Gwinny’ Tuffel who stumbles upon murder cases and embarks on a burgeoning romance, often accompanied by her canine companions. Each book follows a different breed of dog influenced by the author’s lifelong love for dogs and support of rescue charities.

Retired actress Guinevere ‘Gwinny’ Tuffel is finding life hard after inheriting her late father’s run-down house and discovering she’s broke. So she is delighted to be at Hayburn Stead in Hertfordshire for her best friend Tina’s upmarket wedding to a handsome Italian business magnate. But when the big day ends with a dead body and not a happily-ever-after, Gwinny is left with a situation as crooked as a dog’s hind leg.

When her friend is accused of murder, Gwinny takes it upon herself to sniff out the true culprit. With a collection of larger-than-life suspects and two pedigree Salukis in tow, she is set to have a ruff time of it.

Antony Johnston is a New York Times bestselling writer. The Charlize Theron movie Atomic Blonde is based on his graphic novel; his critically acclaimed Brigitte Sharp thrillers are in development for TV; and Dead Space, his first videogame, redefined its genre. He recently returned to survival horror to write Resident Evil Village, the Game of the Year-winning eighth instalment in the blockbuster franchise.

His productivity guide The Organised Writer has helped authors all over the world take control of their workload, and he interviews fellow writers on his podcast Writing and Breathing.

Antony’s work includes The Exphoria Code, The Dog Sitter Detective, The Patrios Network, Daredevil, Shang-Chi, Shadow of Mordor, the Alex Rider graphic novels, and more. He wrote and directed the film Crossover Point, made entirely in quarantine during the coronavirus pandemic.

Antony is a former vice chair of the Crime Writers’ Association, a member of the International Thriller Writers group, a Shore Scripts screenwriting judge, and sits on the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain’s videogames committee. He lives and works in England.

My thoughts: I hope this is the start of a series with Gwinny, new pal ex-DCI Birch, and various canines investigating crimes. I think it would be tremendously enjoyable and fun. Gwinny is an out of work actress, I believe it’s called “resting”, invited to an old friend’s fifth wedding. Where there’s a terrible murder.

Gwinny gets saddled with two Salukis (fancy breed of dog) and starts to investigate the crime – her friend is the police’s chief suspect. The police seem a little fixated on Tina, but Gwinny knows her pal couldn’t have done it. And she’s determined to prove it.

With the help of a retired police detective she meets walking his dog, she sets out to interview the witnesses, accuse a few suspects and gather clues, before, in the grand tradition of crime fiction, gathering them all in the library to reveal whodunnit. Marvellous.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and Gwinny is a fantastic protagonist. Even as she’s trying to restart her acting career and do up the mouldering family home she’s inherited, she’s not going to let the police ignore her, and she’s going to find the killer. Fabulous stuff from a very accomplished author.

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

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Cover Reveal: Arrietty – Abby Davies

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Today I’m sharing with you all the cover for Arrietty by Abby Davies. There’s a video too! Read on to learn more.

Our loved ones protect us. 

So what if you woke up one day to find yours gone? 

Your mum, your friends, your freedom – all gone. 

And the one person you trust may be hiding a terrible secret.  

Welcome to Arrietty’s life. 

Abby Davies was born in Macclesfield in 1984. She grew up in Bedfordshire in a seventeenth century cottage near Flitton Moor and started writing ‘thrillers’ when she was seven years old.

After reading English Literature at Sheffield University and training to be an English teacher, she wrote novels in her free time.

She was shortlisted for the Mslexia Novel Competition in 2018 and longlisted for the Blue Pencil Agency First Novel Award in 2019. Her debut Mother Loves Me was published by HarperCollins in 2020. The Cult came out in 2021. Arrietty is her third novel. 

She lives in Wiltshire with her husband, daughter and two crazy cocker spaniels.

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Blog Tour: My Summer With the Hermit King – William Todd

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A Summer with Hermit copy

Welcome to the tour for A Summer with the Hermit King by William Todd. Read on for more details!

hermit ebook cover 1

A Summer with the Hermit King

Publication Date: December 2022

Genre: YA/ Cozy Mystery

Year: 1888. Diminutive sixteen-year-old Auggie Rose decides he can no longer take the physical and mental abuse at the hands of other boys living at the orphanage. He decides to leave and cast his lot living as a recluse on the nearby beautiful Presque Isle, a peninsula on the shores of Lake Erie. After sneaking out in the middle of the night, on his way to the peninsula, he witnesses a murder at the hands of ‘the man with a limp’.The murderer initially does not know he was witnessed. Not knowing what else to do that wouldn’t jeopardize him being sent back to the orphanage, Auggie tries as best he can to put the incident out of his head and so begins his new life adjusting to the wilds of Presque Isle. To that end, Auggie is helped along by Joe Root, a hermit himself and a curiosity among the locals, who has been living on the beaches of Presque Isle for decades. He is also befriended by kitchen help, Maisy, who works at a resort at the entrance to the peninsula. Over time, his relationship with Maisy blossoms into more than just friendship as he adjusts to his new life. During this time, he also slowly begins to realize that the murder he had witnessed is part of a larger plan that has something to do with the peninsula itself. Auggie inadvertently inserts himself into the investigation and is befriended by Will Weston, the detective investigating the murder. As businesses around Presque Isle are being bought then shuttered by a mysterious businessman, one of these owners is murdered. It is then that Auggie begins to realize that whatever nefarious plan ‘the man with the limp’ has, it is putting his life and the lives of those closest to him in mortal danger.

Free for KU

Paperback

About the Author

William Todd has been writing for over 20 years, primarily gothic horror stories in the style of Lovecraft, Poe, and Shelley. Loving all things Victorian, he was inspired to read (and later to write) by Arthur Conan Doyle. The first book he ever read cover to cover was Hound of the Baskervilles, which also fed his appetite for horror. William Todd has written two short story compilations of gothic horror, Dead of Night and Beyond the Gossamer Veil and one sci-fi/horror hybrid genre Something Wicked This Way Comes. He has also written multiple Sherlock Holmes pastiches, Murder in Keswick, A Reflection of Evil, Mystery of the Broken Window, and Elementary—a short story compilation, which were picked up for republish by Spellbound Publishing, LTD. Three of his short stories were part of MX Publishing’s New Sherlock Holmes Stories with proceeds going to a charity for special needs children housed in Undershaw, the very home Conan Doyle penned Hound of the Baskervilles. Writing for the books was a special privilege because his daughter, Alina, has Down Syndrome. In 2022, he published his first YA/historical novel A Summer with the Hermit King, which was an Amazon #1 New Release, and he has started yet another Sherlock Holmes compilation. When not writing (which isn’t often!) William spends his time walking the trails and beaches of Presque Isle in his home of Erie, Pennsylvania, and spending time with his family.

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Book Tour Schedule

May 22nd

http://rrbooktours.com – Kick-Off

https://aubreywynne.com/ – Feature

https://www.instagram.com/brandikaedesigns/ – Feature

https://bookwormbunnyreviews.blogspot.com/ – Feature

https://christinebialczak.com/ – Feature

May 23rd

https://www.instagram.com/louturnspages/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/caffeinatedbookowl/ – Review

https://lshadowlynauthor.com/ – Feature

https://www.instagram.com/okuta.otherside/?hl=id – Feature

http://ramblingmads.com – Feature

May 24th

http://www.thefaeriereview.com – Review

https://www.tiktok.com/@bratzlibrary?_t=8YgzeawOzHu&_r=1 – Review

http://readsandreels.com  – Feature

May 25th

https://www.instagram.com/countrymamaswithkids/ – Review

https://bforbookreview.wordpress.com – Feature

May 26th

https://www.instagram.com/amanda_coffee_books/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/books_coffee_and_pao/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D – Review

https://www.instagram.com/bingingbooksandcoffee/ – Feature

https://www.instagram.com/read.em.if.you.got.em/ – Feature

Book Tour Organized By:

R&R Button

R&R Book Tours

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Woman in Carriage 3 – Alison James

ramblingmads

An ordinary journey. A shocking secret. And the perfect murder…

Breathlessly, I rush into carriage 3 just as the train doors slam behind me. It’s the same train I get home every night – the 18.53 – and I always sit in the same seat, with the same people. Each journey is fairly uneventful. Except this one…

A passenger drops dead and shockwaves ripple through the train. The lights go out and we’re left waiting in darkness, trapped until further notice. Is it an accident, or something more sinister?

The unwritten rule is you don’t talk to your fellow commuters, but the group of people huddled around me all seem like nice, normal people. I just hope they don’t notice my dishevelled hair or smell the alcohol on my breath. Because my life is far from perfect and there are things I’ve done I’m not proud of.

But as we all get to know each other, I wonder if I can really trust them? Or are they all hiding dangerous secrets…

Was someone in carriage 3 involved in the passenger’s death? And if so, how far will they go to stop the rest of us finding the truth?

An absolutely addictive psychological thriller that will keep you up late into the night. If you love Behind Closed Doors, Gone Girl and The Perfect Couple, you’ll be gripped.

Amazon

Alison James was born in the Cotswolds but spent most of her formative years abroad. She studied languages at Oxford, then became a journalist and author, returning to university after her two children to take a law degree. After a three-year stint as a criminal paralegal, she worked as a commercial copywriter and then a TV storyliner, before coming full circle to write fiction again.

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My thoughts: this is why you should never make eye contact, let alone talk to strangers on a train. Just don’t do it. Otherwise there’s murders, disappearances and international art theft in your future. They should hand a copy of this to every new commuter, and not just because it’s a bloody good read.

I was totally hooked by the 18.57 Crew, as they name themselves. Gregarious barrister and secret vaper on the train Julian, scatterbrained Hattie who could do with a few more sober nights, charming Casper, mysterious Lewis, mousy Bridget and stressed out Carmen.

At first it seems like a locked room murder on a train might be in store, but as the story unfolds and Hattie and Casper get closer, Julian starts to look into something and a much bigger, more elaborate scheme has got this unlikely group in its sights.

So much fun, as the crazy plan takes off involving an incredibly expensive artwork, a suitable “Patsy”, two brazen thieves and the involvement of the police as the group travel back and forth to work, Hattie tries to get her life together and people turn out not to be who they seem. Loved it.

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

books

Cover Reveal: The Lost Heir – Jane Cable

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Cornwall, 2020

At the beginning of lockdown, teacher Carla Burgess needs to make some changes to her life. She no longer loves her job, and it’s certainly time to kick her on-off boyfriend into touch. But then, while walking on the cliffs she meets Mani Dolcoath, a gorgeous American with a dark aura.

Mani is researching his family history, and slowly their lives and their heritage begin to entwine. The discovery of a locked Georgian tea caddy in the barn on her parents’ farm intrigues Carla, but then she starts to see orbs, something that hasn’t happened since her grandmother died. They terrify her and she’ll do anything to outrun them, but will she lose Mani’s friendship in the process?

Cornwall, 1810

Harriet Lemon’s position as companion to Lady Frances Basset (Franny) perfectly conceals the fact they are lovers. But when Franny is raped and falls pregnant their lives are destined to change forever.

The one person who may be able to help them is Franny’s childhood friend, William Burgess, a notorious smuggler. But he has secrets of his own he needs to protect. Will his loyalties be divided, or will he come through?

Pre-order here

Jane Cable writes romance with a twist and its roots firmly in the past, more often than not inspired by a tiny slice of history and a beautiful British setting.

After independently publishing her award-winning debut, The Cheesemaker’s House, Jane was signed by Sapere Books. Her first two novels for them are contemporary romances looking back to World War 2; Another You inspired by a tragic D-Day exercise at Studland Bay in Dorset and Endless Skies by the brave Polish bomber crews who flew from a Lincolnshire airbase.

Jane lives in Cornwall and her current series, Cornish Echoes, are dual timeline adventure romances set in the great houses of the Poldark era and today. She also writes as Eva Glyn.

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