Category: blog tour

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Dead Ringer – Nicola Martin*

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Get ready to meet the other you.

Just upload your photo to get started. Using the latest facial recognition software, plus your votes, MeetYourDouble will find your doppelgänger.

She might be an astronaut or a model. He might live half a world away … or a few miles down the road. You share the same face. Who knows what else you might have in common?

Start now…

The idea is simple, vain, exciting. Tap the app, upload a picture of yourself, find your lookalike. Set up a meeting to see whether you have anything else in common.

When Ella and Jem meet, the physical resemblance is uncanny, but their lives couldn’t be more different. One is from a tiny island in a deprived Northern community – pretty much the back of beyond – where she has no job, no boyfriend, limited prospects.

The other is a London socialite, an aspiring actress living in a multimillion-pound mansion. By all appearances, she’s living a charmed life, but she’s got some serious shit to run away from. Both of them have. Can either hide in her double’s skin? And at what cost? Will it solve any of the problems, or merely compound them?

Nicola Martin studied at the University of East Anglia and the University of California, Berkeley. After many years working as a senior copywriter in the low carbon technology sphere, she is now a freelance writer. Dead Ringer is her first novel.

My thoughts:

This is a very clever concept, two girls who look so similar they could be sisters, dip into each others lives and wreck havoc.

Obviously it’s not a new concept – the idea and appeal of doppelgangers has been a subject for countless writers, from Alexandre Dumas (The Man in the Iron Mask) to Mark Twain (The Prince & The Pauper) but this brings the idea bang up to date with a twist on the dating app.

Jemima is a spoilt socialite with wealthy parents and a devil may care attitude to everything, Ella lives in a caravan and cleans hotel rooms for a pittance. But what happens when one decides she wants the other’s life?

Darkly comic and viciously apt on how teenagers think and act, this is a clever, twisted tale of how the other half lives.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: One Moment – Linda Green*

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Finn and Kaz are about to meet for the first time…
Ten-year-old Finn, a quirky, sensitive boy who talks a lot and only eats at cafes with a 5-star hygiene rating, is having a tough time at school and home.
Outspoken Kaz, 59, who has an acerbic sense of humour and a heart of gold, is working at the café when Finn and his mum come in.
They don’t know it yet, but the second time they meet will be a moment which changes both of their lives forever . . .

My thoughts:

This is an incredibly moving, heart rending read, so have your tissues on standby.

Beautifully, sensitively written, with both grief and mental illness handled with compassion and understanding by a talented author.

It’s not often you read a book and have to sit quietly with your thoughts after, but I was so moved by the quietly redemptive story and the gentle and kind characters within the pages, that I needed a moment.

Life affirming and genuinely moving.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Slaughterman’s Daughter – Yaniv Iczkovits*

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When Fanny Keismann turns ten, her father, Grodno’s ritual slaughterer, gives her a knife, and she soon develops a talent for her father’s trade. But in nineteenth-century Russia, ritual slaughter does not befit a wife and mother, so when it comes time to marry and raise a family, Fanny abandons her work and devotes herself to raising her five children.

When Fanny’s older sister’s husband disappears, Fanny leaves her own family and sets out for the great city of Minsk in search of her wayward brother-in-law, armed with her old knife and accompanied by Zizek Bershov, who is either a sly rogue or an idiot. Fanny’s mission to help her sister turns into a misadventure that threatens the foundations of the Russian Empire. What began as a family matter in Motol, a peripheral Jewish settlement, breaks the bounds of the shtetl, pits the police against the Czar’s army, and upsets the political and social order they all live in.

My thoughts:

I’m entirely sure what this book is – is it straightforward historical fiction, a family saga, a crime novel?? It’s all of these and more.

The blurb doesn’t do it justice at all. There’s dozens of stories fitted into one over-arching narrative – that of Fanny Keismann looking for her errant brother-in-law in order to help her sister.

Almost every character’s entire life story will be told, battles will be conjured in the air, men and women will die, people will find themselves in strange situations and a very thin man will eat a lot of food.

The writing crackles and sparks, several languages are spoken by the characters and you wonder how they all make themselves understood – although misunderstanding is one of the books many themes.

The power of words is vital, from letters sent from the front, newspaper advertisements, the fact that a mixture of Yiddish, Russian and Polish are spoken, various polemics are written and ignored, the Torah gets quoted a fair bit, and everyone spends all their time exaggerating or not explaining.

For all that the action takes place in about a fortnight, it spans some characters’ lifetimes in explaining who they are and how they became mixed up in all the chaos Fanny is leaving in her wake.

This is an impressive, strong book about a remarkable woman, not just for her time and place, but for every reader who meets her.


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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Her Husband’s Mistake – Sheila O’Flanagan*

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Roxy’s marriage has always been rock solid.

After twenty years, and with two carefree kids, she and Dave are still the perfect couple.

Until the day she comes home unexpectedly, and finds Dave in bed with their attractive, single neighbour.

Suddenly Roxy isn’t sure about anything – her past, the business she’s taken over from her dad, or what her family’s future might be. She’s spent so long caring about everyone else that she’s forgotten what she actually wants. But something has changed. And Roxy has a decision to make.

Whether it’s with Dave, or without him, it’s time for Roxy to start living for herself…

Sheila O’Flanagan is the author of many bestselling novels including The Hideaway, What Happened That Night, The Missing Wife, My Mother’s Secret, If You Were Me, and All For You (winner of the Irish Independent Popular Fiction Book of the Year Award). She lives in Dublin with her husband.

My thoughts:

There were points reading this book I wanted to reach in, grab Roxy and give her a good shake. Luckily she didn’t continue being a complete wet blanket.

Which of course means there’s some really annoying moments in this book and one very aggravating character!

Otherwise, there’s entertainment to be had from Roxy’s chauffeuring adventures, her personal growth and her lovely mum.

This is a very enjoyable read beyond those few moments of growling “c’mon woman, sort it out!”, which I’m sure is intentional as you root for Roxy to remember that Aretha didn’t sing R.E.S.P.E.C.T to teach you to spell!

I also enjoyed the geography lesson I got from Roxy’s trips around the Dublin area and beyond – I’ve never been to Ireland so everything I know I’ve learnt from Irish novelists!

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Soot – Dan Vyleta*

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Welcome to a world where every desire is visible, rising from the body as a plume of Smoke. A world where bodies speak to one another and infect each other with desire, anger, greed. It is 1909 and this world stands on a precipice – some celebrate this constant whisper of skin to skin, and some seek to silence it forever.

Enter Eleanor, a young woman with a strange power over Smoke and niece of the Lord Protector of England. Running from her uncle and home, she finds shelter in a New York theatre troupe.

Then Nil, a thief hiding behind a self-effacing name. He’s an orphan snatched from a jungle-home and suspects that a clue to his origins may lie hidden in the vaults of the mighty, newly-risen East India Company.

And finally Thomas, one of the three people to release Smoke into the world. On a clandestine mission to India, he hopes to uncover the origins of Smoke and lay to rest his doubts about what he helped to unleash.

In a story that crosses continents – from India to England’s Minetowns – these three seek to control the power of Smoke. As their destinies entwine, a cataclysmic confrontation looms: the Smoke will either bind them together or forever rend the world.

My thoughts:

There were times reading this book that I got a bit bewildered, it’s a bewildering book, and I mean that in a good way.

A lot happens and the plot roams the globe, from Canada to England, India to Brazil, the Himalayan heights and the Northern mining depths, offering an alternative history of the early 20th Century.

There are references to real events and people mixed in with the imagined and it feels like you’re reading a dense involved novel of the 18th or 19th centuries, again a good thing.

This is a book that needs you to focus, to pay attention, but is also a fun, at times irreverent, adventure story, with pirates, miners, strange creatures and actors. There’s a whole world housed between the pages.

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

blog tour, books

Cover Reveal: The Identity Thief – Alex Bryant

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A shapeshifting sorcerer called Cuttlefish unleashes a terrifying wave of magical carnage across London. A strange family known as the River People move into Cassandra Drake’s neighbourhood. Are the two events connected?

Reasons to buy this book:
✔ Good cover.
✔ Cheap. Seriously, the Kindle version only costs as much as about 3 mangoes. What would you rather have – 10 hours of gripping urban fantasy, or 30 minutes of biting into sweet, succulent mango flesh?
✔ OK, I shouldn’t have used mango, objectively the best fruit, as a comparison. But buying this book doesn’t stop you from buying mangoes, if that’s what you insist on doing.

Public praise for the advance readers’ edition:

“I was barely even a few sentences in and I was already hooked! This is such an interesting book, I really hope it gets published so I can read more of it!” ★★★★★ – Lottie Carmichael

“This book is perfectly suitable for younger readers, but still enjoyable for older. The premise is new and intriguing, while the writing style is entertaining and fresh. I loved the heroine. She was relatable, strong, and yet imperfect. You untangle the very complicated plot-line alongside her. I also enjoyed the deeper ideas, the writer was expressing that tie-in with current events. Very thought-provoking.” ★★★★★ – Carolyn Sachs

“This was a lot of fun to read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I’m looking forward to the published version.” ★★★★★ – Declan Tarstie

“Better value for money than three mangoes.” ★★★ – Alex Bryant

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Last Cuckoo – Maria Frankland*

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Do you listen to your mother? Even after she’s dead?

Anna Hardaker is following you …

This seemingly innocent Tweet fills Jamie Hardaker with confusion and fear. After all, his mother Anna has been dead for nearly three weeks.

What follows is an orchestrated Twitter campaign to lead those Anna loved, and didn’t love so much, to the truth behind her “accidental” death.

Amazon

Maria Frankland’s life began at 40 when she escaped an unhappy marriage and began making a living from her own writing and becoming a teacher of creative writing.

The rich tapestry of life with all its turbulent times has enabled her to pour experience, angst and lessons learned into the writing of her novels and poetry.

She recognises that the darkest places can exist within family relationships and this is reflected in the domestic thrillers she writes.

She is a ‘born ‘n’ bred’ Yorkshirewoman, a mother of two and has recently found her own ‘happy ever after’ after marrying again.

Still in her forties, she is now going to dedicate the rest of her working life to writing books and inspiring other writers to also achieve their dreams too!
Twitter Website

My thoughts:

This was an interesting thriller, written with Jamie as our unreliable narrator – the reader only ever sees what he sees, and is he telling the truth?

Family is often the most complicated thing of all and the relationships within a family can be messy and toxic.

Jamie and his stepsister to be hate each other, Claudia hates her soon to be stepmother, Anna is tired of the bickering and Iain won’t tell his ex-wife to butt out.

After Anna’s death, someone is tweeting as her and the tangled family mess gets worse, rather than better as the ghostly tweeter starts to make claims that Anna’s death was no accident.

It was good to see modern technology integrated into the plot, a lot of novels seem to try to act as though social media either doesn’t exist or that characters just don’t use it. Which is weird and when so many people see it as essential, deeply unrealistic.

For a first novel, this reads as though the author has been writing for a while, it’s confident and assured, dangling red herrings and making the reader ask questions of the protagonist.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Aosawa Murders – Riku Onda*

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On a stormy summer day in the 1970s the Aosawas, owners of a prominent local hospital, host a large birthday party in their villa on the Sea of Japan. The occasion turns into tragedy when 17 people die from cyanide in their drinks. The only surviving links to what might have happened are a cryptic verse that could be the killer’s, and the physician’s bewitching blind daughter, Hisako, the only family member spared death. The youth who emerges as the prime suspect commits suicide that October, effectively sealing his guilt while consigning his motives to mystery. Inspector Teru is convinced that Hisako had a role in the crime, as are many in the town, including the author of a bestselling book about the murders written a decade after the incident. The truth is revealed through a skillful juggling of testimony by different voices: family members, witnesses and neighbors, police investigators and of course the mesmerizing Hisako herself.

Riku Onda, born in 1964, is the professional name of Nanae Kumagai. She has been writing fiction since 1991 and has won the Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for New Writers, the Japan Booksellers’ Award, the Mystery Writers of Japan Award for Best Novel for The Aosawa Murders, the Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize, and the Naoki Prize. Her work has been adapted for film and television. This is her first crime novel and the first time she is translated into English.

My thoughts:

This took me a while to get into as the first person, half of a conversation, style it’s written in for the most part, felt quite jarring and I needed to adapt to the rhythm of it.

I still can’t quite work out whether Hisako was behind the murders of her family or not – it’s left slightly ambiguous.

I can see the influences of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood in the style and delivery of the various statements made by people involved with, and affected by, the murders.

This is a very clever book, toying with the reader, leading you off on various little detours into the lives of the different narrators. But always circling back round to the horrific events of that summer day.

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

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Cover Reveal: The Gossips’ Choice – Sara Read

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“Call The Midwife for the 17th Century”

Lucie Smith is a respected midwife who is married to Jacob, the town apothecary. They live happily together at the shop with the sign of the Three Doves. But sixteen-sixty-five proves a troublesome year for the couple. Lucie is called to a birth at the local Manor House and Jacob objects to her involvement with their former opponents in the English Civil Wars. Their only-surviving son Simon flees plague-ridden London for his country hometown, only to argue with his father. Lucie also has to manage her husband’s fury at the news of their loyal housemaid’s unplanned pregnancy and its repercussions.

The year draws to a close with the first-ever accusation of malpractice against Lucie, which could see her lose her midwifery licence, or even face ex-communication.

Amazon

Dr Sara Read is a lecturer in English at Loughborough University. Her research is in the cultural representations of women, bodies and health in the early modern era.

She has published widely in this area with her first book Menstruation and the Female Body in Early Modern England being published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2013.

She is a member of the organising committee of the Women’s Studies Group, 1558-1837 and recently co-edited a special collection produced to celebrate the group’s 30th anniversary.

She is also the co-editor of the popular Early Modern Medicine blog. With founding editor Dr Jennifer Evans, Sara wrote a book about health and disease in this era Maladies and Medicine: Exploring Health and Healing, 1540-1740 (Pen and Sword 2017).

Sara regularly writes for history magazines such as Discover Your Ancestors and History Today. In 2017 she published an article ‘My Ancestor was a Midwife’ tracing the history of the midwifery profession for Who Do You Think You Are? magazine in 2017. She has appeared on BBC Radio 3’s Freethinking programme and is often to be heard on BBC Radio Leicester and BBC Radio WM.

Twitter

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Dragon Lady – Louise Treger*

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Opening with the shooting of Lady Virginia ‘Ginie’ Courtauld in her tranquil garden in 1950s Rhodesia, The Dragon Lady tells Ginie’s extraordinary story, so called for the exotic tattoo snaking up her leg. From the glamorous Italian Riviera before the Great War to the Art Deco glory of Eltham Palace in the thirties, and from the secluded Scottish Highlands to segregated Rhodesia in the fifties, the narrative spans enormous cultural and social change. Lady Virginia Courtauld was a boundary-breaking, colourful and unconventional person who rejected the submissive role women were expected to play.
Ostracised by society for being a foreign divorcée at the time of Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson, Ginie and her second husband ,Stephen Courtauld, leave the confines of post-war Britain to forge a new life in Rhodesia, only to find that being progressive liberals during segregation proves mortally dangerous. Many people had reason to dislike Ginie, but who had reason enough to pull the trigger?
Deeply evocative of time and place, The Dragon Lady subtly blends fact and fiction to paint the portrait of an extraordinary woman in an era of great social and cultural change.

Amazon


Born in London, Louisa Treger began her career as a classical violinist. She studied at the Royal College of Music and the Guildhall School of Music, and worked as a freelance orchestral player and teacher.
Louisa subsequently turned to literature, gaining a First Class degree and a PhD in English at University College London, where she focused on early twentieth century women’s writing.
Married with three children, she lives in London.

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My thoughts:

This was such a fascinating read, mainly covering the Courtaulds’ time in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, and their contributions to the cultural and political life of the country; a period I know basically nothing about.

Ginie Courtauld is a very interesting person to read about, and this fictionalised account of her life, from daughter of an Italian merchant and his Romanian wife, to member of an old Huguenot family in the upper echelons of British society was riveting.

She entertained Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, and the future Queen Mother, at their home in the restored Eltham Palace, before moving to Africa after WWII.

Life in La Rochelle, their Rhodesian estate, wasn’t easy and they alienated their white neighbours by being liberal and egalitarian, treating their black employees better than most, building schools and decent housing; even paying them well! How dare they treat people with respect!

It’s hard to understand that mindset from a vantage point in 2020, where we know that colonialism was a bad thing, and where we can see how ahead of their time the Courtaulds were.

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