Month: Dec 2021

books, reviews

Book Reviews: Henry Crowne Paying the Price Books 3&4; No Turning Back & Spy Shadows – Freddie P. Peters

ramblingmads

A whistle-blower targeted by a car bomb,

A new terror cell in London,

A former IRA operative seeking redemption…

The gruesome execution of a notorious thief and an assassination attempt on a high-finance executive turned whistle-blower throw former QC Nancy Wu and Inspector Jonathan Pole into a race to defuse the threat of a new terror group. The stakes are considerable and they need help…

Can Henry Crowne, disgraced financier and past IRA operative find redemption in lending his expertise to the case or will he have to give much more…his life perhaps?

NO TURNING BACK is a political and espionage thriller, the third book in the ‘Henry Crowne: Paying the Price’ series. If you liked Dance with the Enemy by Rob Sinclair , Deep State by L.T. Ryan or the TV series Informer, and McMafia you will enjoy the twists and turns of Freddie P. Peters’ latest fast-paced thriller. Discover it now…

The most wanted INTERPOL fugitive,

The most destructive Terror Group in the world,

The most impossible British Intelligence Services’ mission…

Henry Crowne, disgraced financier and former IRA operative has escaped London’s top high-security prison with the unexpected help of MI6.

His mission…infiltrate an emerging terror group that has already claimed many lives in the West and threatens to destabilise the Middle East further. Henry’s perilous journey leads him to the group’s centre of power in Syria and Iraq. His aim, to meet the elusive man who runs a merciless war against those who oppose him.

But Henry decides to help Mattie Colmore, a war reporter hostage. Can he still hide in plain sight, bring back the information the West desperately need to defeat Islamic State and save Mattie at the same time?

SHY SHADOWS is an political and espionage thriller, the fourth in the “Henry Crowne, Paying The Price” series. If you liked Rob Sinclair’s SLEEPER 13, L.T Ryan’s NOBLE BEGINNINGS or the TV series MacMafia or Spooks, you will enjoy the twists and turns of Freddie P Peters’ latest fierce-paced thriller.

Read my review of the first two books in this series here.

My thoughts: Henry Crowne is an interesting character, a former IRA operative, a high flying financier and now a prisoner in Britain’s most secure prison. But the his expertise is needed again. This time to bring down a terrorist organisation using the banking system to fund itself. MI6 are very keen to get Henry involved, much to the concern of his friend and lawyer Nancy Wu.

Assisting in a case for the Serious Fraud Office and the Met, he’s suddenly freed from prison and on his way to the Middle East, leaving Nancy completely lost and worried about her friend.

Then in book 4, Spy Shadows, we jump forward several months, and now Henry and his handler Wasim are in Syria, working undercover with ISIL, offering Henry’s know how to help the organisation funnel its money and trade enough to be self sustaining, right under the noses of various international agencies. But it’s highly dangerous and full of risks.

Can Henry convince these murderous men that he’s one of them, a true believer and willing to aid in their crimes or will they continue to see him as a kafir – a foreigner? And when he decides to rescue a hostage, journalist Mattie, he puts his life, and the mission on the line.

Spy Shadows is very differently in tone from the previous books, not only do we lose Nancy and Inspector Pole, but it’s a lot more action packed and less focused on financial crimes, for obvious reasons. Spending time with terrorists currently trying to gain more land and waging jihad, is going to be a lot riskier than working out where people are hiding their money. Henry has had to step up and get his hands dirty, something he avoided doing while with the IRA.

There’s also a lot of behind the scenes intrigue and negotiating at MI6, not least because Mattie’s estranged father is an MP and starts throwing his weight around.

It’s an interesting new direction for the series and will certainly open it up in terms of what Henry can do and where he can go now he’s an MI6 asset. I just hope he lets his friends back in London know he’s OK.

blog tour, books

Blog Tour: My Queen My Love – Elena Maria Vidal

ramblingmads

My Queen My love copy

Welcome to the mini tour for My Queen, My Love by Elena Maria Vidal. Read on for details and a chance to win a paperback copy of the book!

MyQueenMyLoveCover294229c4-3969-4cbd-be84-c8933036f46c (2)

My Queen, My Love: A Novel of Henrietta Maria (The Henrietta of France Trilogy Book 1)

Publication Date: November 25th, 2021

Genre: Historical Fiction/ Henrietta Maria

Publisher: Mayapple Books

The youngest daughter of Henri IV, the first Bourbon King of France, Henriette-Marie always knew she would have to marry a prince. When the Prince of Wales, Charles Stuart, travels through Paris he sees her dancing at the Louvre and within two years a marriage is arranged. However, Henriette is Catholic and Catholicism is banned in England. In preparing to become Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland, Henriette has no idea of the obstacles that must be overcome before she can find happiness with Charles. The main hindrance, she soon realizes, is not the difference in religion but Charles’ best friend, George Villiers, the handsome Duke of Buckingham, who is determined to subdue Henriette to his will. Buckingham forgets that Henriette is also half Medici and underestimates her determination to succeed as well as the depth of her love for Charles. My Queen, My Love is the first novel in the Henrietta of France Trilogy by acclaimed author Elena Maria Vidal. It describes the early years of the tumultuous marriage of Charles I and Henrietta Maria which preceded the English Civil Wars of the Seventeenth Century.

Add to Goodreads

Excerpt

11 May, 1625 dawned dark and dreary, as the heavens opened and drenched Paris in a driving rain. Henriette had a quiet morning at the Louvre, with Madame Garnier and Mamangat insisting that she eat. Then she bathed, and around two o’clock in the afternoon was enveloped in a wrapper to be driven in a coach with an armed escort through the torrential downpour to the Archbishop’s palace. The streets of Paris were crowded in spite of the deluge, and she was cheered through the streets, which in the showers were like streams. When they reached the Archbishop’s palace next to Notre Dame she was bundled up to the room where her gown and jewels were awaiting her. Several of the highest ranking ladies in the kingdom were there to dress her. Her gown had been brushed and cleaned, having been spotted with wax from dripping candles and a few stains of red wine. It now sparkled more gloriously than ever. And this time, she was wearing a crown! Her mother Queen Marie supervised the adjusting of the diamond crown with a single large pearl in the front on Henriette’s curls, which the dampness of the air had made more tight and abundant. Around her shoulders was placed an ermine-lined blue velvet mantle, embroidered with gold fleur de lys. The Princesse de Condé, the Princesse de Conti and the Comtesse de Soissons, mother of Henriette’s rejected suitor, were to carry the mantle and the cloth of gold train but found them too heavy. It was feared that Henriette would be pulled backwards so it was decided that an officer would walk under it, supporting the mantle and train with his head and hands.

    At five o’clock in the evening, she was finally ready, and her brothers Louis and Gaston arrived to escort her to the Cathedral. Louis XIII was crowned and arrayed in a tunic of scarlet velvet, covered with cloth of gold. He was to walk on her right and her brother Gaston on her left. Gaston was debonair in a suit of silver lamé. Anne had come with Louis; she was also crowned and completely resplendent in a gown and mantle of cloth of gold and silver. Maman wore black silk embroidered in gold with a pearl and ruby coronet.

    In the hall of the Archbishop’s palace the procession was arranged. Henriette could see the doors open as they set forth. Remarkably, the rain had ceased and the sun was shining! Leading the way was an officer known as the Captain of the Gate, behind whom walked a hundred of the King’s Swiss Guard, drums beating and banners flying. They were followed by a band of musicians, then the heralds with trumpets, whose blaring made Henriette’s heart leap with exultation. After them marched the Marshals of France, then the peers of the realm. They were followed by the proxy bridegroom the Duc de Chevreuse and the English ambassadors, the Earls of Carlisle and Holland, all three of whom were in cloth of gold like King Louis. Behind those three gentlemen, Henriette walked with her two brothers, trailed by the ladies and gentleman carrying the train. Finally there came Queen Marie and Queen Anne.

    A long wooden gallery lined in colorful carpets and tapestries led from the Archbishop’s palace to the west portals of the Cathedral, where a platform under a canopy of cloth of gold had been erected. The vows would be exchanged at the doors of the church, according to the ancient tradition. Within and without the Cathedral wooden stands had been built for people to sit and see what they could see. Citizens were also gathered on roofs of houses, on balconies, and leaning out of windows. On the platform, under a canopy of cloth of gold, Cardinal de Rochefoucault awaited the bridal party. As Henriette and her brothers appeared, the crowds cheered deliriously. The entire bridal party ascended the platform. Henriette wished she had been able to practice climbing the steps in all her regalia; mercifully the steps had been carpeted or else she would surely have slipped off. Henriette and the Duc de Chevreuse knelt on prie-dieus before the Cardinal, who received their marital vows. After being married, Henriette arose and turned; she saw the English ambassadors kneeling before her.

    “Your Majesty,” said the Earl of Carlisle in English, kissing the hem of her skirt.

    “God save the Queen!” The Earl of Holland proclaimed, using English as well.

    “I am Queen of England,” she thought, wishing Charles was with her. And she descended the platform and entered the great cathedral with her brothers, as the organ and chanting of the choir lifted her heart to heaven.

Available on Amazon

About the Author

MER_crop333x333

Elena Maria Vidal grew up in the countryside outside of Frederick, Maryland, “fair as the garden of the Lord” as the poet Whittier said of it. As a child she read so many books that her mother had to put restrictions on her hours of reading. During her teenage years, she spent a great deal of her free time writing stories and short novels.

Elena graduated in 1984 from Hood College in Frederick with a BA in Psychology, and in 1985 from the State University of New York at Albany with an MA in Modern European History. In 1986, she joined the Secular Order of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. Elena taught at the Frederick Visitation Academy and worked as a private tutor as well as teaching children’s etiquette classes. During a trip to Austria in 1995 she visited the tomb of Empress Maria Theresa in the Capuchin crypt in Vienna. Afterwards she decided to finish a novel about Marie-Antoinette she had started writing ten years before but had put aside. In 1997 her first historical novel TRIANON was published by St. Michaels Press. In 2000, the sequel MADAME ROYALE was published, as well as the second edition of TRIANON, by The Neumann Press. Both books quickly found an international following which continues to this day. In 2010, the third edition of TRIANON and the second edition of MADAME ROYALE were released.

In November 2009, THE NIGHT’S DARK SHADE: A NOVEL OF THE CATHARS was published by Mayapple Books. The new historical novel deals with the controversial Albigensian Crusade in thirteenth century France. She is a member of the Eastern Shore Writers Association. She currently lives in Maryland with her family. Her fourth novel, THE PARADISE TREE, about her Irish ancestors, was published in Fall 2014. Her first biography, MARIE-ANTOINETTE, DAUGHTER OF THE CAESARS, was published in Spring 2016.

In November 2021, My Queen, My Love: A Novel of Henrietta Maria, was published as the first installment of the Henrietta of France Trilogy.

Tea at Trianon | Twitter |  Instagram |  Facebook

Click the link below for a chance to win a copy of the book!

Rafflecopter

Mini Tour Organized By:

R&R Button

R&R Book Tours

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Death in the Last Reel – Paula Harmon

ramblingmads

‘Stop standing in the way of bullets.’

‘I will if you will.’

Does the camera ever lie?

1911: After the violent murder of three policemen in the line of duty, tensions between London constabulary and Whitechapel anarchists simmer. Meanwhile accusations and counter accusations of espionage further weaken relations between Germany and Britain. Can Margaret Demeray and Fox find out which potential enemy is behind a threat to the capital before it’s too late?

In the shadow of violence in the East End, just as Dr Margaret Demeray starts to gain recognition for her pathology work, a personal decision puts her career at the hospital under threat. Needing to explore alternative options, she tries working with another female doctor in Glassmakers Lane. But in that genteel street, a new moving-picture studio is the only thing of any interest, and Margaret’s boredom and frustration lead to an obsessive interest in the natural death of a young woman in a town far away. 

Meanwhile intelligence agent Fox is trying to establish whether rumours of a major threat to London are linked to known anarchist gangs or someone outside Britain with a different agenda. When another mission fails and he asks Margaret to help find out who provided the false intelligence that led him in the wrong direction, she can’t wait to assist. 

But enquiries in wealthy Hampstead and then assaults in poverty-stricken Whitechapel lead unexpectedly back to Glassmakers Lane. How can such a quiet place be important? And is the dead young woman Margaret a critical link or a coincidental irrelevance?

Margaret and Fox need to work together; but both of them are independent, private and stubborn, and have yet to negotiate the terms of their relationship. 

How can Margaret persuade Fox to stop protecting her so that she can ask the questions he can’t? And even if she does, how can they discover is behind the threat to London when it’s not entirely clear what the threat actually is?

Amazon UK Amazon US

Paula Harmon was born in North London to parents of English, Scottish and Irish descent. Perhaps feeling the need to add a Welsh connection, her father relocated the family every two years from country town to country town moving slowly westwards until they settled in South Wales when Paula was eight. She later graduated from Chichester University before making her home in Gloucestershire and then Dorset where she has lived since 2005. She is a civil servant, married with two adult children. Paula has several writing projects underway and wonders where the housework fairies are, because the house is a mess and she can’t think why.

Facebook Instagram Twitter Website

My thoughts: I really enjoyed this book, Margaret and Fox’s relationship is strong and their bickering made me laugh. Both are determined to solve the mysteries around them – from Norah’s terrible death to the yellow wrapped book and the dead men in Whitechapel.

Fox is also after anarchists or possibly German spies, there’s a few red herrings along the way, and Margaret is deeply suspicious of the rather unfeeling Dr Fernsby, and the couple who own the film company across the street.

But it’s all connected and it’s only by piecing it together carefully that they’ll get the answers to all of the terrible events and the evil plot being hatched in Soho.

The book was well written and the characters felt true to their time but also quite modern, not like the fusty Edwardians you might imagine. Margaret is forging her own path as a doctor, despite all the miserable old men looking down their noses at her. Fox doesn’t expect her to stay home and do nothing, but he would rather she was out of the line of fire. And I really liked Elinor – aka Miss Hedgehog!

*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

Book Blitz: Shadow Winged- Jilleen Dolbeare

ramblingmads

ShadowWinged copyI’m pleased to share Shadow Winged, the first book in The Shadow Winged Chronicles with all of you today! Now available on Amazon!

Shadow winged (2)

Shadow Winged 

Publication Date: September 17th, 2021

Genre: Urban Fantasy/ Shifters

Werewolves are bad, but ice age predators are worse, especially werepredators...

Being a bush pilot is the third most dangerous job in the world. Piper Tikaani takes that in stride. As an Inupiaq shapeshifter, flying is second nature, whether under her own power, or tackling the skies in her Super Cub.

Strong winds, rugged terrain, and rough clients, were all the excitement she had room for until a mysterious death and hidden treasure led Piper to a new and dark reality. One where the people she trusts hide things from her, and ancient beasts stalk the land.

Now with the help of her friends and her new lover, she must discover the truth. The truth about the treasure, the truth about her clan, and the truth about herself. Unfortunately for her, this may mean exposing her secrets to the very creatures that are hunting her. You see, the dark gods of her people are back and they are hunting the shadow winged—like Piper.

If you like unique Urban Fantasy based on Native American mythology along the lines of Patricia Briggs, CE Murphy, and Faith Hunter, you’ll love this new series!

Add to Goodreads

Chapter One

The rugged cliffs of the Alaska Range darkened as the clouds pressed from above.  I decreased my air speed and descended another hundred feet, hugging the right side of the steep mountain and giving myself room in case I had to turn around in the narrow pass and go back to Anchorage. We were close enough to the side of the mountain to observe a band of grizzlies under my right wing.  Most of the animals cringed when we buzzed past, but a huge boar looked up, challenging us.  My client barked out a quick laugh.  

I’d already sunk four hundred feet on my way through the pass, and we flew along at an altitude of eight hundred. The lowering ceiling kept forcing us down as I raced an incoming front. I cleared the pass and zoomed out over open ground, trees, and tundra. 

Suddenly, a black cloud materialized in front of me.  I slowed further, trying to dip below. As I grew closer, I realized it was a cloud of dark birds.  My heart sped up.  I dipped my right wing to avoid them, but they moved almost as if they were trying to hit me.  

I increased the dip further, and accidentally stalled the wing–losing lift.  We dropped fast. My passenger gasped loudly.  I grimaced; teeth clenched with concentration.  After some quick maneuvering, I recovered from the stall, sweat running down my back. 

A flash of black feathers and a loud whump was all I saw as the ravens bounced off the

plane. “Shit!” I yelled as I dove further to avoid the rest.  We were down to three hundred feet.  The clouds were still pressing on us, and I was worried about the damage the birds may have done to the cloth covered Super Cub.

“We’re going to have to land.” I straightened out and started to look for somewhere to put down.  “I need to assess the damage.”

He grunted affirmatively.   Rough maneuvering like that can leave your passengers a bit green, so I hoped he was doing well and wouldn’t spray my cockpit with vomit. 

Luckily, we were over a river and even though it seemed to be running higher than usual, there had to be a gravel or sand bar somewhere big enough to land a good bush plane on.  The Cub bounced and swayed in the strong wind, and the sky continued to threaten as I located a potential landing spot on a gravel bar.   

A quick glance back showed my passenger’s white knuckles clinging to the back of my seat. I buzzed the gravel bar, twice, mentally checking the length, and circled back to land. I came in at an angle, fighting the crosswind and straightened at the last second to avoid the possibility of the wind flipping us. I could smell the sharp, quick scent of fear. Mine and the stranger’s. It filled the plane as the sudden deceleration pushed us into the seat belts.

The Super Cub is the workhorse of the bush.  It’s small, likes to fly, carries a good load, and can take-off and land in a very short distance. This was a very short distance.  I dragged my oversized Bushwheels through the water slowing the plane and bounced gently down the makeshift runway.  I turned and maneuvered it for a quick take-off before I powered down.

“You doing okay back there?” I only got another affirmative grunt. 

“You might as well stretch your legs; I know it gets a bit cramped back there.” I pulled off my headset and opened the door.

“That was some pretty good flying,” his voice was husky and deep and rumbled from his chest.  

“It shouldn’t have had to have been,” I shrugged. “It’s like they came out of nowhere,” I scowled up at the darkened sky.  “It’s weird.  Ravens are too smart to hit a plane,” I spoke quietly, mostly to myself. 

I didn’t let on about it freaking me out.  Ravens are a personal animal for me. Hitting them made me feel slightly nauseous and unbalanced. I helped him remove the bags and gear that were pinning him down and he stepped out.

 A quick chill raised the hair on my neck and peppered me with gooseflesh. I looked around to see if anyone besides my passenger was around.  No one.  I brushed off the feeling. How dumb, by worrying about the ravens I’d spooked myself!  

I frowned slightly at my passenger, trying to remember his name.  He had a bemused smile on his face.  He pushed his hat back a little and took off his sunglasses.  His bright blue eyes immediately drew me in.  Wow.  He hadn’t looked more than average at first glance, but those eyes were something.  I looked away quickly.  

He took a deep breath of the cool, clean air, and looked around.  “I can see how this country can get under your skin,” he said.  “Can I help you with anything?” he added after turning back to me.

“Thanks, uh, Vanice?” I stumbled through the name. I thought that was it. I hoped I got it right.  I thought for a moment longer, no, that’s right, Vanice Fletcher, but he had some kind of nickname. He flinched; I should have paid closer attention to dad when we were loading up.

“Call, me Fletch or Fletcher,” he said.  “Vanice was my grandfather.”

“Okay, sorry, I’m Piper, by the way, like my airplane. It’s a Piper Super Cub. Only I’m Piper Tikaani. I was a little distracted before. I don’t remember if I told you my name.”  I was babbling. I shut my mouth, held out my hand and we shook. “I’m good, with the plane, I mean.  Why don’t you have a look around while I check it over?  Just keep an eye out for bears.”

“Sure.”

Available on Amazon

About the Author

me update smiling.jpeg

Jilleen Dolbeare is the author of the Shadow Winged Chronicles, an urban fantasy series about a shape-shifting bush pilot in Alaska.

She started her love of reading at the age of two. She was an experiment by a father who was starting his career as a teacher. She gained her love of science fiction and fantasy in middle school by reading The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander, The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper, The Enchantress From the Stars by Sylvia Engdahl, and The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey among others.

She discovered her deep love of urban fantasy after reading Steven Spruill’s Rulers of Darkness, and her love of writing while finishing her English composite (English and Literature) degree at Brigham Young University.

Jilleen lives with her husband and two cats in Barrow, Alaska where she also discovered her love and admiration of the Inupiaq people and their folklore.

Shadow Winged | Facebook  | Instagram

Book Blitz Organized By:

R&R Button

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: A Marvellous Light – Freya Marske

ramblingmads

Young baronet Robin Blyth thought he was taking up a minor governmental post. However, he’s actually been appointed parliamentary liaison to a secret magical society. If it weren’t for this administrative error, he’d never have discovered the incredible magic underlying his world.

Cursed by mysterious attackers and plagued by visions, Robin becomes determined to drag answers from his missing predecessor – but he’ll need the help of Edwin Courcey, his hostile magical-society counterpart. Unwillingly thrown together, Robin and Edwin will discover a plot that threatens every magician in the British Isles.

The Binding meets Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell in debut author Freya Marske’s A Marvellous Light.

My thoughts: does anyone else get crushes on books? I have a crush on this book.

Magic exists and a department at the Home Office keeps an eye on it, it’s undercover in some ways, those with abilities keep them quiet and the general populace hasn’t a clue. Robin, Sir Robert Blyth if we’re being fancy, ends up in a job he’s not exactly equipped for, gets cursed and ends up on a quest for magical artefacts along with the rather lovely Edwin Courcy.

I’m not sure if magic is a metaphor for homosexuality in some way, both Robin and Edwin are gay, and it’s illegal and they mention Oscar Wilde’s trial. But despite this, and the secrecy needed, they fall in love. The descriptions of the way they observe each other are beautiful, the sex hot and the passion between them moving and tender.

As Edwin draws Robin further into the world of magic and they almost get murdered by a hedge, searching for magical artefacts, to keep them from the wrong hands, he realises that the arrogant toff he thought he’d need to get rid of swiftly is actually a kind, noble and brave person, who’d happily sacrifice himself for those he cares about.

When they discover their enemy and Edwin faces up to betrayal, it’s the bond they’ve slowly built that sustains him, the fact that Robin is by his side that convinces him to fight on and stop the rest of the Contract from falling into the wrong hands. I can’t wait for book two.

*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

12 Days of Clink Street: The Achilles Gene – N.E. Miller

ramblingmads

My second stop on the 12 Days of Clink Street celebration tour. Check out my first post here and see the tour poster below for more reviews from other bloggers.

The discovery of the Achilles gene by Ahmad Sharif at the Middle East Centre for Cancer and AIDS Research (MECCAR), recently opened in Jordan’s remote Wadi Rum desert, had stunned Western scientists. Each gene having the potential to destroy its own cell should it ever become cancerous, the discovery had promised a universal cure for the disease. But there was a hitch. Although every one of our cells has the gene, only those of a unique Bedouin tribe have the extra piece of DNA needed to turn it on. Dr Stephen Salomon of the US National Cancer Institute claims to have invented such a switch, for which he will soon receive the Nobel Prize. But maverick Oxford don Giles Butterfield suspects his American friend’s invention might be fraudulent. After a sleepless night in his office in Magdalen College, he sets off for Heathrow in search of the truth. When his young assistant Fiona Cameron unexpectedly joins him in Washington, it is the start of a globetrotting adventure the outcome of which exceeds their wildest expectations, presenting Giles with a dilemma of epic proportions.

Amazon

My thoughts: overall this was an interesting book, I was really intrigued by the Bedouin tribe with the interesting DNA strand, and the whole Achilles gene, secretive lab in the desert stuff as well, proper conspiracy thriller territory but I wasn’t too bothered about the dodgy American scientist scamming the Nobel committee – they’ve been mired in controversy for some time now.

I found Giles a bit pompous and annoying, his obsession with Liverpool, but a Liverpool that doesn’t exist anymore as it’s a modern city, not the fantasy one he romanticises endlessly, Dark & Stormy cocktails (rum, ginger beer, lime – not that amazing tbh), and old fashioned traditional English stodge cooking were all a bit of an affectation too far at times and verged on parody. Especially once his brother has been introduced and it’s so obviously put on. I wanted more of Fiona, whose main problem was being in love with Giles, who walks all over her.

She figures out the thing with the file dates, and he sends her off to teach his students while he goes off to be lauded as a hero by the Nobel people for preventing a fraud winning their top prize.

What started off as quite a tense scientific thriller confused me at first with the non-linear timeline and then lost me a bit with the endless section on the name of a file on a computer that went on a bit too long, but pulled it together in the final act. I got that the fact that the scientist had lied and his computer proved it but it was a bit fiddly and I wanted more on the dead man drowned in a swimming pool, there was definitely something fishy about his death, although that looks like it might be a case for book two.

I hope Fiona gets her own back in the next book and that Giles gets his arrogance brought down to earth, especially if he’s going up against governments this time, one’s who might have murdered an inconvenient scientist who said too much.

*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: Tempted by the Runes – Christina Courtenay

ramblingmads

Born centuries apart. Bound by a love that defied time.
She couldn’t believe her eyes. The runes were normally so reliable and she had never doubted them before.
Madison Berger is visiting Dublin with her family for a Viking re-enactment festival, when she chances upon a small knife embedded in the banks of the Liffey. Maddie recognises what the runes on the
knife’s handle signify: the chance to have her own adventures in the past.
Maddie only intends to travel back in time briefly, but a skirmish in 9th century Dublin results in her waking up on a ship bound for Iceland, with the man who saved her from attack.
Geir Eskilsson has left his family in Sweden to boldly carve out a life of his own. He is immediately drawn to Maddie, but when he learns of her connection to his sisters-in-law, he begins to believe that
Fate has played a part in bringing them together. Amidst the perils that await on their journey to a new land, the truest battle will be to win Maddie’s heart and convince her that the runes never lie…

Amazon UK Amazon US

Christina Courtenay writes historical romance, time slip and time travel stories, and lives in Herefordshire (near the Welsh border) in the UK. Although born in England, she has a Swedish mother and was brought up in Sweden – hence her abiding interest in the Vikings. Christina is a former chairman of the UK’s Romantic Novelists’ Association and has won several awards, including the RoNA for Best Historical Romantic Novel twice with Highland Storms (2012) and The Gilded Fan (2014), and the RNA Fantasy Romantic Novel of the year 2021 with Echoes of the Runes. Tempted by the Runes (time travel published by Headline 9th December 2021) is her latest novel. Christina is a keen amateur genealogist and loves history and archaeology (the armchair variety).

Website Facebook Twitter Instagram

Giveaway to Win a signed paperback copy of Tempted By The Runes, a pair of silver Thor’s hammer earrings and a Thor’s hammer Christmas tree bauble (Open INT)

a Rafflecopter giveaway**

My thoughts: oh yes, the time travelling Viking romance series is back, following on from Tempted by the Runes and Whisper of the Runes , this time it’s Linnea’s younger half-sister Maddie who finds herself in the Ninth Century with a handsome (and infuriating) Viking to deal with. Geir rescues her from harm on the banks of the Liffey in Dublin and spirits her away to his planned new settlement in what’s now Iceland.

Bickering all the way, the pair fall hard for one another as they build a new community in sparsely populated land north of Reykjavik. Maddie has to reconcile her twenty-first century thinking with the realities of living in the past. And Geir has to understand that a thousand years from his time, women are very different. Luckily both his brothers are married to time travellers (Linnea and Sara).

I really enjoy this series and was delighted by this book as it joins the series, I love seeing the way each couple combines their knowledge and learns to live together in the past, with the odd trip to the present.

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

**Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random
Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.**

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Songbird – Gail Meath

ramblingmads

It’s all fun and games, until someone gets killed.

Meet Jax Diamond, a sharp, sophisticated, skilled, no-nonsense private detective.  Or is he?  Glued to his side is his canine partner, Ace, a fierce and unrelenting German Shepherd whose mere presence terrorizes criminals into submission.  Well, maybe not.

But the two of them are a whole lot smarter than they look.  And they have their hands full when a playwright’s death is declared natural causes, and his new manuscript worth a million bucks is missing.

Laura Graystone, a beautiful rising Broadway star, is dragged into the heart of their investigation, and she’s none too happy about it.  Especially when danger first strikes, and she needs to rely on her own ingenuity to save their hides.

Join Jax, Laura and Ace on a fun yet deadly ride during the Roaring Twenties that takes twists and turns, and a race against time to find the real murderer before he/she/they stop them permanently.

Amazon UK Amazon US

Award-winning author Gail Meath writes historical romance novels that will whisk you away to another time and place in history where you will meet fascinating characters, both fictional and real, who will capture your heart and soul. Meath loves writing about little or unknown people, places and events in history, rather than relying on the typical stories and settings.

Facebook Instagram Twitter Website

My thoughts: if you’ve watched the TV series Hudson & Rex (based on a German series called Kommissioner Rex) you’ll know that having a German shepherd in a partnership makes crime solving so much better, and that’s the case here as detective Jax Diamond has a canine partner of his own called Ace.

In this case they’re investigating some suspicious deaths and keeping the titular songbird, actress Laura Greystone, safe from a particularly keen stalker. Ace is key in rescuing innocent parties and defending his preferred humans from harm.

Set during the Roaring Twenties, this was a fun and charming read, Laura is perfectly capable of looking after herself, but Jax’s instincts as a detective help them track down the dastardly duo behind a series of shocking murders rocking the theatre world. I’m hoping there will be more of these fun and enjoyable stories to come.

*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: Whitesands – Johann Thorsson

ramblingmads

THE BREAKOUT SUPERNATURAL THRILLER FROM ICELANDIC WRITER JOHANN THORSSON

Detective John Dark’s daughter has been missing for two years. In his frantic and unfruitful search for her two years ago, John Dark overreached and was reprimanded and demoted.

Now suddenly back into the homicide department, Dark is put on a chilling case – a man who killed his wife in their locked house and then dressed the body up to resemble a deer, but claims to remember none of it. A few days later an impossibly similar case crops up connecting the suspects to a prep school and a thirty year old missing persons’ case.

Just as he is getting back into his old groove, a new lead in his daughter’s disappearance pops up and threatens to derail his career again.

Time is running out and John Dark needs to solve the case before more people are killed, and while there is still hope to find his daughter.

In the style of True Detective and Silence of the Lambs, WHITESANDS is a thrilling supernatural crime novel.

“Tense, breakneck storytelling. WHITESANDS is a dash of Thomas Harris swirled with supernatural elements that leave you speeding through the pages.” – Kristi DeMeester, author of SUCH A PRETTY SMILE and BENEATH

“Johann Thorsson’s fast-moving debut WHITESANDS, packs enough incident for a novel twice its size, until it’s impossible to turn the pages fast enough.” – John Langan, author of Children of the Fang and Other Genealogies

“… certainly one of the best thrillers I have read this year.” – Khasif Hussain, The Best Thriller Books

Johann Thorsson is a writer of fiction with a supernatural slant, mainly short stories, mainly in English.

He was born in 1978 in a small town in Iceland (dark and cold, close to the sea). When he was nine he moved to Israel, and later to Croatia. He now resides in the Reykjavik area with his beautiful wife and two little kids.

His work has appeared in numerous publications, including Every Day Fiction, eFiction Magazine, eFiction Horror and Fireside Fiction.

Most recently, a story of his was selected for in the forthcoming anthology Apex Book of World SF 4 and Garden of Fiends

His favorite books are 1984, Flowers for Algernon, I am Legend, The Things They Carried and Neil Gaiman’s Sandman graphic novels. Oh, and Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient. Daniel Woodrell’s Winter’s Bone. Romeo and Juliet. (This could go on for a while).

Website

 My thoughts: this was a clever and creepy crime story with revenge at its heart. After a man murders his wife and insists someone else did it, despite all the evidence, Detective John Dark thinks something weird is going on, a second murder convinces him. The only link is that the two killers attended the same boarding school – Whitesands. Did something happen in their shared past that’s finally manifesting?

Dark is an interesting character, tormented by the disappearance of his daughter some years before, he’s never stopped looking, but his bosses need him to focus on his career before he loses his job. He’s willing to believe in the supernatural in order to solve this case, since it genuinely seems to be the case.

I can imagine this book growing into a series where Dark investigates other strange crimes while still hunting for his daughter and turning to both his wife and his partner at the police station Monique as well as his new friend, schizophrenic psychic Daniel, to access as much support as he can.

*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: Under the Rainbow – Celia Laskey

ramblingmads

When a group of social activists arrives in a small town, the lives and beliefs of residents and outsiders alike are upended, in this wry, embracing novel.

Big Burr, Kansas, is the kind of place where everyone seems to know everyone, and everyone shares the same values—or keeps their opinions to themselves. But when a national nonprofit labels Big Burr “the most homophobic town in the US” and sends in a task force of queer volunteers as an experiment—they’ll live and work in the community for two years in an attempt to broaden hearts and minds—no one is truly prepared for what will ensue.

Furious at being uprooted from her life in Los Angeles and desperate to fit in at her new high school, Avery fears that it’s only a matter of time before her “gay crusader” mom outs her. Still grieving the death of her son, Linda welcomes the arrivals, who know mercifully little about her past. And for Christine, the newcomers are not only a threat to the comforting rhythms of Big Burr life, but a call to action. As tensions roil the town, cratering relationships and forcing closely guarded secrets into the light, everyone must consider what it really means to belong. Told with warmth and wit, Under the Rainbow is a poignant, hopeful articulation of our complicated humanity that reminds us we are more alike than we’d like to admit.

My thoughts: each chapter is a glimpse into the life of a different resident of Big Burr, from the newcomers trying to change prevailing attitudes to the lifelong residents who want things to either stay the same or who long for change.

This was a really interesting way to tell the story of a small town, everyone has a different perspective on things and some events you only learn about second or third hand, the way you might in real life. On the whole the LGBTQ+ activists are left alone, apart from a few really obnoxious individuals (who kidnaps a cat like that?). Big Burr might have been seen as the most homophobic town but underneath the surface, things are not quite so clear cut.

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