From the worldwide bestselling author NGK, and Louise Gregory, a new contemporary love story based around the first human mission to Mars.
A timeless love story.
Ambitious and hardworking, astronaut Jessica Gabriel refuses to let love get in the way of becoming the first person to walk on another planet. Or maybe she is just afraid of losing her best friend? Fellow astronaut, John Eden, is determined to prove he is more than his family name. Yet his insecurities might cost him his place on the mission. Neither of them are looking for love, and mission protocol forbids it. But love doesn’t follow the rules, and the two friends have to decide whether they want to risk everything they’ve worked for to be together.
Louise Gregory is the debut co-author of It’s Not Never, and uses her extensive background in psychology, coaching and team dynamics to create multi-layered characters with deep rooted feelings and motivators.
Louise lives by the “three r’s” – reading, writing, and running, all of which she would do more of were it not for her addiction to social media. She lives in the Cotswolds with her husband, two daughters, and a cat who is plotting to kill her.
N.G.K. is the best-selling author of seven books, including the popular Harry the Happy Mouse and Ridgeway Furrow series which have collectively sold over a million copies around the world. It’s Not Never is his first book for adults.
N.G.K. lives in the Forest of Dean with his wife, two children, and Lulu the cat.
My thoughts: this was a hugely enjoyable and rather lovely book. It did what all the best love stories do, so have tissues on standby.
I enjoyed all the science-y, space travelling stuff as much as the slow burn romance between Jessica and John, from their first meeting at university to reconnecting at astronaut training and into space. The characters are deftly drawn and fully realised, two very different people on the same path to the stars. Moving and inspiring.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
OYINKAN BRAITHWAITE: The Baby is Mine (Atlantic) LOUISE CANDLISH: The Skylight (Simon & Schuster) KATIE FFORDE: Saving the Day (Arrow) PETER JAMES: WishYou Were Dead (Macmillan) CAITLIN MORAN: How to Be a Woman, abridged (Ebury) KHURRUM RAHMAN: The Motive (HQ)
One in six adults in the UK – approximately 9 million people – find reading difficult, and one in three people do not regularly read for pleasure. Quick Reads, which celebrates its 15th anniversary this year, plays a vital role in addressing these shocking statistics by inspiring emergent readers, as well as those with little time or who have fallen out of the reading habit, with entertaining and accessible writing from the very best contemporary authors.
Over 5 million Quick Reads have been distributed since the life-changing programme launched in 2006. From 2020 – 2022, the initiative is supported by a philanthropic gift from bestselling author Jojo Moyes. This year, for every book bought until 31 July 2021, another copy will be gifted to help someone discover the joy of reading. ‘Buy one, gift one’ will see thousands of free books given to organisations across the UK to reach less confident readers and those with limited access to books – bring the joy and transformative benefits of reading to new audiences.
Review of Louise Candlish’s The Skylight
They can’t see her, but she can see them… Simone has a secret. She likes to stand at her bathroom window and spy on the couple downstairs through their kitchen skylight. She knows what they eat for breakfast and who they’ve got over for dinner. She knows what mood they’re in before they even step out the door. There’s nothing wrong with looking, is there? Until one day Simone sees something through the skylight she is not expecting. Something that upsets her so much she begins to plot a terrible crime…
Louise Candlish is the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Other Passenger and thirteen other novels. Our House won the Crime & Thriller Book of the Year at the 2019 British Book Awards. It is now in development for a major TV series. Louise lives in London with her husband and daughter.
Louise Candlish, author of The Skylight (Simon & Schuster) said: It’s an honour to be involved in this [next] year’s Quick Reads. Reading set me on the right path when I was young and adrift and it means such a lot to me to be a part of literacy campaign that really does change lives.”
My thoughts: this was a short and sweet thriller, and I loved it. I recommend these books all the time – Quick Reads are perfect for your commute or when you take a break. I think it’s a fantastic project and the choice of books this year is great.
As always Louise Candlish crafts a brilliant and shocking story that could be going on behind any door on any street. Simone really hates her downstairs neighbours and has been spying on them through their skylight from her bathroom for a while.
Her buttons get pushed by something she sees and she decides to wreck a terrible revenge. She’s a selfish, rather monstrous person but so are some of the other characters, none of them could be described as innocent, except one. The claustrophobic nature of living so closely together doesn’t help, the loud music, the shared hallway, bring people into proximity that maybe otherwise would never meet, and be better for it. But Simone’s past actions make her more likely to behave badly, and have things take a turn for her too. A cracking read, with all the pleasure of a longer novel but without the length that puts some people off.
**Some of the above post contains extracts from a press release but the review is entirely my own words and opinions. I received a copy of the book in exchange for this post.**
Leigh Fletcher: happily married stepmom to two gorgeous boys goes missing on Monday. Her husband, Mark, says he knows nothing of her whereabouts. She went to work and just never came home. Their family is shattered.
Kai Janssen: married to wealthy Dutch businessman Daan and vanishes the same week. Kai left their luxurious penthouse and glamorous world without a backward glance. She seemingly evaporated into thin air. Daan is distraught.
Detective Clements knows that people disappear all the time—far too frequently. Most run away from things, some run toward, others are taken but find their way back. A sad few never return. These two women are from very different worlds. Their disappearances are unlikely to be connected. And yet, at a gut level, the detective believes they might be.
How could these women walk away from their families, husbands and homes willingly? Clements is determined to unearth the truth, no matter how shocking and devastating it may be.
My thoughts: I love Adele Parks’ books and this was no exception. What starts off as a simple crime thriller about two missing women becomes so much more twisted and shocking. I had absolutely no idea who the villain of the piece was right up till the reveal.
Leigh and Kai are very different women, keeping massive secrets. Their husbands, children and friends have no idea about the real them. None whatsoever. Which makes their disappearance and the secrets that are uncovered as the police investigate all the more stunning.
Set just before lockdown last year, Parks weaves the real world events into the narrative, the fears and distractions that could mean the police stop looking as other things rise to the top of the agenda, the shift to being at home all day distracting from the worries about the missing women, how people seem less inclined to report suspected sightings as they prepare for lockdown. Which is all very cleverly done and grounds the story in the real world with a deft touch.
As always the writing is excellent, the characters feel genuine and the plot grips tight. My jaw dropped a couple of times and I genuinely followed every red herring. Very enjoyable.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
The war is over. Its heroes forgotten. Until one chance discovery . . .
Idris has neither aged nor slept since they remade him in the war. And one of humanity’s heroes now scrapes by on a freelance salvage vessel, to avoid the attention of greater powers. After earth was destroyed, mankind created a fighting elite to save their species, enhanced humans such as Idris. In the silence of space they could communicate, mind-to-mind, with the enemy. Then their alien aggressors, the Architects, simply disappeared—and Idris and his kind became obsolete.
Now, fifty years later, Idris and his crew have discovered something strange abandoned in space. It’s clearly the work of the Architects—but are they returning? And if so, why? Hunted by gangsters, cults and governments, Idris and his crew race across the galaxy hunting for answers. For they now possess something of incalculable value, that many would kill to obtain.
Adrian Tchaikovsky is the author of the acclaimed Shadows of the Apt fantasy series, from the first volume, Empire In Black and Gold in 2008 to the final book, Seal of the Worm, in 2014, with a new series and a standalone science fiction novel scheduled for 2015. He has been nominated for the David Gemmell Legend Award and a British Fantasy Society Award. In civilian life he is a lawyer, gamer and amateur entomologist.
My thoughts: after the genre bending epic Doors of Eden this is something of a more traditional sci fi story, set years after the final destruction of Earth by an alien species known as the Architects for their remodelling of everything, planets, ships, that crosses their paths.
Idris is one of a tiny handful of people who can communicate with these strange creatures and he helped turn the tide of the war against them. But now he and the ship he currently crews on have discovered that the Architects might not be as gone as they’d hoped.
With stolen ships, warrior women, alien races and various crime factions and religious acolytes in pursuit, Idris and his colleagues, those his captain refers to as family, must retrieve their ship and prepare to face the Architects again.
I liked the crew of the Vulture God, Rollo was an emotional and mostly benevolent captain, and his misfits suited their roles well. I thought the crab-like Hanni were interesting and Kit, as Idris’ sort of personal attorney, was a clever touch; Idris constantly needing to prove he was a free man so has a lawyer around to defend him, made for an interesting comment on a trope of sci fi – the humans enslaving or being enslaved by aliens, here instead they’re just enslaving other humans, again.
The Parthenon and Solace was also intriguing, vat grown female super warriors, extremely long lived and battle ready, especially with Mr Punch to hand.
All the different factions competing for resources and bodies, all keen to get Idris to work for them, considering what he can do, all the trappings of a rollicking space adventure. This was a fun and highly entertaining book, I really enjoyed it, the ideas and concepts were very interesting, the writing hooked me in straightaway with the giant space monsters and exploding spaceships. I highly recommend 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.
Get swept into a summer of sunshine, soul-searching and shameless matchmaking with this delightfully big-hearted road trip adventure!
Kathleen is eighty years old. After she has a run-in with an intruder, her daughter wants her to move into a residential home. But she’s not having any of it. What she craves – what she needs-is adventure.
Liza is drowning under the daily stress of family life. The last thing she needs is her mother jetting off on a wild holiday, making Liza long for a solo summer of her own.
Martha is having a quarter-life crisis. Unemployed, unloved and uninspired, she just can’t get her life together. But she knows something has to change.
When Martha sees Kathleen’s advertisement for a driver and companion to share an epic road trip across America with, she decides this job might be the answer to her prayers. She’s not the world’s best driver, but anything has to be better than living with her parents. And travelling with a stranger? No problem. Anyway, how much trouble can one eighty-year-old woman be?
As these women embark on the journey of a lifetime, they all discover it’s never too late to start over.
My thoughts: this was a fun and delightful read about finding yourself at any age, whether you’re in your 80s like Kathleen, 20s like Martha or somewhere in between like Liza.
The road trip that Kathleen and Martha embark on brings in an element of adventure, while Liza has some realisations in her childhood home. There’s also a bit of romance along the way. Old relationships are rekindled and new ones begun.
Sarah Morgan’s books are always enjoyable, mixing interesting characters and a lot of heart and this is no exception. Really comforting reading.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
Titus Llewellyn-Gwlynne, actor/manager of the Red Lion Theatre, has lost a backer who was going to fund a theatrical tour – when unexpected salvation appears. Their home theatre in the East End of London having been bombed during the war, The Red Lion Touring Company embarks on a tour of Britain to take a play written by their new benefactress into the provinces.
This charming series transports the reader to a lost post-war world of touring rep theatre and once-grand people who have fallen on harder times, smoggy streets, and shared bonhomie over a steaming kettle. The mood is whimsical, wistful, nostalgic, yet with danger and farce along the way.
Peter Maughan’s early career covered many trades, working on building sites, in wholesale markets, on fairground rides and in a circus. He studied at the Actor’s Workshop in London, and worked as an actor in the UK and Ireland, subsequently founding a fringe theatre in Barnes, London. He is married and lives currently in Wales.
My thoughts: this was a lot of fun, with the rag tag cast of the new play, Love and Miss Harris, hitting the road for a tour of the home counties and the seaside. Unknown to them a murderous gangster is in hot pursuit, trailing them through numerous small towns and B and Bs.
Titus thinks he’s living in a Shakespearean epic, Dolly’s reliving the glory days of the music hall, Jack’s getting all the girls and they’re accompanied by the play’s writer and her outsize hound.
Funny, charming and highly enjoyable, I’m glad there’s at least one more book about the Red Lion troupe 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.
Read my review of Into the Void, the author’s first novel.
A young woman has been murdered on Ripton Beach. DSS ‘Archie’ Baldrick and DC Ben Travers eventually identify the body as that of Lucy Martin, who has been renting a bach in the area. Her husband, Oliver, seems to know very little about his wife or her background. What was Lucy hiding? Why has she no family or friends? As the number of suspects mounts up, Archie begins to conclude that the real answer lies in Lucy’s dark and mysterious past, and that the murderer may be just a little too close for comfort …
Christina is a writer and professional proofreader living in the Waikato region of New Zealand. Four of her short stories have been published, one in a magazine and the others in anthologies produced by Page and Blackmore, Rangitawa Publishing and most recently in Fresh Ink: Voices from Aotearoa, produced by Cloud Ink Press. As well as being a finalist in the 2020 Ngaio Marsh Awards, Christina’s first crime novel Into the Void was longlisted for the 2019 Michael Gifkins Memorial Prize for an unpublished novel. Facebook
My thoughts: this was a clever and gripping thriller with plenty of red herrings and lots of mystery. Who is Lucy? Why would someone want to kill this former school teacher? There’s little to go on – she seems to have no past and no one really knew her, even her husband.
But slowly the case unrolls, and it spans three continents and thirty odd years. Proof you can never truly outrun your past.
The team of detectives are interesting and Archie is a bit distracted by his personal life to begin with, but is able to set things aside and hunt for the killer. His team might be small but they’re determined and hard working, even when the evidence seems sparse and the motive obscure. They felt quite realistic and Travers has a dry sense of humour, referring to his boss as “Turnip” but never to his face.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
Clarity’s paladin order forbids her from entering the Azure District, the one location in her high tech city that refuses paladin rule and technology. When she receives an illicit invitation to violate the prohibition, spurred on by rumors of suffering in the district, she passes through the crumbling brick entryway into no-man’s land. Within, she finds the residents lack not only the ocular implants and three dimensional computers she takes for granted, but also medicine to fight a disease infecting the children.
Clarity knows her order isn’t perfect—after all, they stole her from her parents when she was a small child to raise her with their values—but she cannot believe they know what’s going on in the Azure District. When she confronts the head of the order, he refuses to aid people who have rejected his help in the past, even the children. Unwilling to take no for an answer, Clarity enlists the help of the leader’s son Cass and takes matters into her own hands.
Clarity engages in increasingly questionable behavior—deleting official records, lying to her friends, and manipulating people who can help her. As the nefarious nature of her actions tarnishes the purity of her cause, she must determine what it truly means to be a paladin, in both name and action.
“Come on, Clarity!” Hope grabbed Clarity’s hand and dragged her down Londigium’s main thoroughfare. The bright glare of the morning sun glinted off the silver skyscrapers and made some of the light-up signs in the storefronts difficult to read. Nonetheless, Clarity could make out the image of a dress on the digital placard of Hope’s destination.
Clarity dodged to avoid running into some people going in the opposite direction from her. She tried to wrench her hand free of Hope’s grasp to give herself better maneuverability, figuring she could follow her friend’s gleaming, red-gold hair through the crowd, but Hope held tight. “Remind me again why we’re doing this? I don’t care about going to the gala, and I don’t see why I can’t just wear my official paladin armor.”
“I swear, for someone so invested in her career, you can be dense about the things you need to do to advance it.” Clarity’s other friend Zeal tossed her black braids over her shoulder as she gave Clarity a scathing glance. “You have two weeks left until the gala, and Hope has convinced Steady Threads to make an exception to their usual deadlines and take an order for your dress. Try to be a little grateful.”
“I’m a warrior.” Clarity cringed at the petulant tone in her voice but continued her line of argument anyway. “My job at the moment is just conducting training for the non-warrior paladins, but if and when I get promoted, I’m going to be a Citadel guard or a peacekeeper in the city. None of this has anything to do with looking pretty at a gala.”
“Do I have to remind you why you put that ‘if’ in there?” Zeal asked. “You beat out the Grand Conductor’s son during graduation trials for a position at the Citadel.” Zeal was right. Steadfastness Hughes ran the Order of the Amethyst Star, and he hated Clarity. “You need to go to the gala and do some networking among the other warriors to make yourself popular in other circles. Or at least look appropriate so as not give him an excuse to send you off to the boondocks and install his sonin your place.”
“I know, I know. You’re right.” Clarity stumbled as Hope came to a sudden stop in front of the tailor’s shop. “I just feel more comfortable in my armor. The paladins already spent a lot of money getting us high-tech, retractable armor. I don’t see why they’re bothering to pay for dresses and tuxedos as well.”
“Because it would be ridiculous to try dancing at a ball with your armor clanking everywhere, and the purple microfiber bodysuits underneath are not nearly as flattering as you all think they are,” Hope said, her voice containing an uncharacteristic tartness. “Besides, don’t you want to look amazing enough that Valor regrets breaking up with you just because you beat him in that silly contest?”
“Don’t say that so loud.” Clarity glanced up and down the street, but no one she knew was nearby. “You guys are the only ones who know we broke up. Besides, I don’t think—”
Before Clarity could finish her sentence, a man ran into her, practically shoving her into the store’s forcefield window. She and her friends turned in sync to watch a man in a fine suit run past them, knocking the crowd aside to get through. Behind him came a pair of men in armor as shiny as Clarity’s own, sufficiently far behind that the recovering throng on the street would be an impediment. By the time the paladin peacekeeper she recognized as Diligence noticed her and called, “Stop that man!” Clarity was already racing after him as best she could.
The pursuant looked behind him and noticed a much closer paladin. With a curse, he tried to pick up speed, and when that failed, he turned a corner into what looked like a small alley. He must not know the city very well, Clarity thought. There’s an open air market on the other side of that building. He’s going to be easy to spot there.
Indeed, as she chased him between the skyscrapers, she could easily see his head bobbing amid the stalls. Realizing his mistake, he pushed over a table full of crates of apples, sending the green fruit rolling across the ground. Clarity didn’t miss a beat, leaping into the air above the overturned boxes and landing on her quarry in a tackle.
The crowd had erupted into shocked gasps at the chase, but as Clarity pulled the man to his feet and twisted his arms behind his back, the crowd burst into applause. She heard the word “Azurite” murmured a few times, so she glanced down at his chest and saw that he in fact wore the telltale diamond-shaped, blue patch that marked him as a resident of the city’s Azure District. Everyone knew the Azurites hated paladins and the order they represented so much that they refused paladin technology rather than follow paladin laws. Clarity had heard rumors that people in the walled-off part of the city lived in abject poverty, but the man standing in front of her looked well-fed and clothed.
Diligence and his partner jogged up behind Clarity. “Thanks for the assist,” Diligence said as he handcuffed the criminal. “We caught him trying to buy a slew of weapons on the black market. The dealer was smart enough to try to make a deal, but this idiot ran.”
Wow. Clarity had known she was chasing down a criminal, but she’d had no idea he was such a dangerous one.
“If you want paladin tech, all you have to do is submit to the laws of the city,” Diligence said to his prisoner. Then he turned to the farmer whose apple crates remained upside down on the ground. “If you file a report with the Citadel, the order will reimburse you for your damaged merchandise. We apologize for interfering with your business.”
Elizabeth Corrigan has degrees in English and psychology and has spent several years working as a data analyst in various branches of the healthcare industry. When she’s not hard at work on her next novel, Elizabeth enjoys playing tabletop role-playing games and cooperative card games. She refuses to watch most internet videos and is pathologically afraid of bees. She lives in Maryland with two cats and a very active iphone.
My thoughts: this was a fun sci-fi read with a serious and timely message. Clarity discovers that the history she’s been taught isn’t exactly accurate and that the people of the neighbouring Azure District are suffering, without basic things such as medicine to stop their children dying of a disease eradicated elsewhere.
She chooses to try to help, which puts her in conflict with the paladin leaders and laws. But sometimes doing the right thing can look like doing the wrong thing.
The characters are interesting and there’s world building fascinating, the writing is engaging and enjoyable. I can think of plenty of readers who will love this and hopefully embrace the point – we should help others even when they’re different to us.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
This gripping thriller is set in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and chronicles the dramatic events when a former detective, Joseph Carter, sets out to gain redemption from the consequences of an old case that cost him everything.
Carter is still haunted by the murders of his niece and brother-in-law at the hands of a serial killer he was trying to track down. One year on, the killer has returned and Carter, now a disgraced detective gone private, launches a personal vendetta to catch him this time around.
Northern Irish novelist, Paul McCracken was born 16th January 1991 in the Ulster hospital, Dundonald, just outside of Belfast. He grew up in the Castlereagh area of east Belfast where he also went to school.
Ever since he could hold a pencil, he wanted to be an artist and no-one, not even the school career advisor could tell him otherwise. He left education with only three GCSE’s and an Art diploma. He tried to make it as a fine artist whilst also trying to find any work to support himself financially. However, the more he learned about the commercial art world, the more he wanted no part in it.
In spring 2011, he enrolled in a five day film making course through the Prince’s Trust charity. He always had a passion for storytelling. During the course, he impressed the owner of the studio at which the course was being held, through the raw creativity he displayed. The studio owner was the first to encourage Paul to write his own material, that material being screenplays. After leaving the course with new found confidence and ambition, Paul started to learn the craft of screenwriting and got to work writing his very first feature film.
After securing full time work later that year, he found a renewed inspiration to write again and wrote a full length film script in the space of a week. Paul kept on writing other projects as well as continually editing the first script, but he kept the fact he was writing close to himself as he didn’t want to face any negativity if he were to tell anyone. The script would go on to score highly in an international screenplay competition, based out of Los Angeles. It would then place in the quarter-finals of the same competition for the next two years in a row, accompanied by another screenplay that Paul wrote next.
Years later, after entering competitions, pitching, submitting and doing some occasional freelance scriptwriting, Paul wanted to find a way to get his work into the public eye. Writing a novel was a challenge that seemed daunting but also exciting. Having first thought of converting his best script into a novel, he decided to come up with a completely original story. In 2018, he self published his debut novel, Layla’s Song. In 2020 he secured two book deals with two different English publishers. The Conrad Press and PM Books (Imprint of Holland House Books). The first of these books was Where Crows Land, a detective thriller set in Belfast and published by The Conrad Press. His other novel, The Last Rains Of Winter is due out early 2021 with PM Books.
My thoughts: this was a dark and gripping thriller exploring revenge, greed and corruption.
After his niece is kidnapped and killed, and he botches her rescue, Carter is sacked from the police and becomes a PI. A year later he’s still haunted by the case and it seems the killer has returned.
It was refreshing to read a crime story set in Northern Ireland that wasn’t related to the Troubles. I can understand why so many writers are drawn to those terrible years and events but obviously crime doesn’t begin and end there. The killings in this book are something completely separate and recent.
Carter is an interesting character, a man full of anger and self recrimination. His sister wants nothing to do with him, the police have abandoned him, he has few friends and manages to anger them too. But he’s also dogged and determined, he will get to the bottom of this case, whatever it costs him.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
Author of this modern take on Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales loved the stories at school because they were ‘naughty’.
Author Wendy Mason took her inspiration for her novel Not Exactly Chaucer from Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. She first fell in love with the stories at school, ‘because they were naughty’. Wendy adds: ‘Needless to say, my friends at school and I were delighted by these risqué stories of medieval naughtiness. However, over time I realised that Chaucer had so much more to offer, for example, his ability to describe: colourful characters; the complex nature of human emotions and weaknesses, and the situations that arise because of human traits and relationships.’
Wendy also says: ‘I wrote Not Exactly Chaucer because I thought it would be interesting to base my novel on the concept of The Canterbury Tales. My husband and I had recently returned from a three-week tour of Australia, and I decided to use our experiences as a backdrop for the novel. Apart from providing my travellers with a stunning setting, it also allowed me to relive my holiday. ‘Some of the stories in my book are based on personal experience, for example, Professor Harold Reeve’s Tale is based on a true incident from my husband Harold’s childhood. The Ku Klux Klan visited his family home in Arkansas, inexactly the way described in the story – including the burning cross.’
Wendy was born in Queniborough, Leicestershire and enjoyed her careers as a hospital administrator, lecturer and finally as a capital manager for schools in Cornwall. She now lives in Falmouth with her husband, Harold, close to their daughter Rachael, Son-in-law Dan and two grandsons, Hector (5) and Arthur (3).
She took early retirement in 2011 (she emphasises early) and decided to study creative writing. Her first novel, St Francis – An Instrument of Peace, was published after eight years of research and perfecting her writing skills.Her latest novel – Not Exactly Chaucer – is based on the concept of Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales with a contemporary twist. The setting is a three-week escorted tour of Australia. Bailey, the tour manager, struggles to discover who is a threat to her career, while the 21 travellers each tell their stories, form new relationships and discover things about themselves that will change their lives for ever.
My thoughts: it’s been a while since I read Chaucer’s tales, wading through Middle English takes time, but this modern update inspired by Chaucer’s pilgrims was a fun and funny take on the silly and rude originals.
Set in Australia, not Kent, and narrated by a collection of interesting holiday makers, this was a very entertaining and enjoyable read. I liked Bailey and enjoyed the fact she was investigating her tour group for a corporate spy as well as encouraging the group to bond and tell their tales.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 