Category: books

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Total Control – Alex Shaw

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When cyber terrorist Fang Bao abruptly reappears after years in hiding, MI6 agent and former SAS trooper Jack Tate is sent to bring him in – but when Fang is assassinated by an unknown assailant, Tate realises he was only a pawn in a plot that threatens to put the whole world in danger.

The mission is impossible

Now Tate has to uncover a lethal conspiracy that stretches all the way from Germany through the United States and into the dark heart of the jungle in Myanmar. As the enemy hunt down the owners of military secrets that would make them indestructible, Tate must race to identify not only their next target, but the enemy themselves.

The war is about to begin…

Soon he learns the dark truth at the heart of the global conspiracy. The enemy doesn’t want to just assassinate a world leader; they want to make war – and Tate is the only one who can stop them.

My thoughts: from the German countryside to California, Singapore and beyond, there’s a conspiracy to destabilise the North Korean regime and replace the current despot with, well, another one essentially.

But a UK/US task force in enroute to stop them, rescue a scientist in hiding, end a rogue soldier’s run of murders and try to keep the world from falling apart. Easy.

With a rip roaring pace and a blend of cyber terrorism and old fashioned blowing stuff up, this is a gripping, high octane and intelligent thriller.

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

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Blog Tour: Lifesaving For Beginners – Josie Lloyd

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In life’s stormy waters, it’s your friends who keep you afloat…

Maddy Wolfe’s life has just capsized. After her twenty-year marriage suddenly implodes, she heads to Brighton to search for her estranged son, Jamie. But he’s nowhere to be found and for the first time, she’s totally alone. That is, until she meets the Salty Sea-Gals, a group of feisty sea-swimmers.

Seventy-two-year old Helga is determined not to slow down, while thirty-something Tor is still figuring out who she is. Bereaved Dominica is trying to find a reason to carry on, and busy mum Claire is learning to put herself first for a change.

As their regular cold-water plunges become a lifeline for them all, Maddy starts to realise that these brave women might just help her find both Jamie and herself. Together, will they turn the tide?

My thoughts: this is a lovely heartwarming book that leaves you with the warm fuzzies. All the women are at different, complicated, points in their lives, struggling with their marriages, families, aging, themselves. But when they come together for a swim in the sea off Brighton beach, it all melts away. By talking to each other and helping one another out, they begin to be a bit happier, more confident, resolved.

Their intergenerational friendship – from thirties to seventies, is lovely to see. All of their life experiences shape them and enable them to help their friends with advice and experience. It’s a bit of a hug in a book.

*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 Blast: Anything Could Happen – Lucy Diamond

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A chance encounter in New York City. 

A great love story on the cusp of beginning. And then he was gone.

For Lara and her daughter Eliza, it has always been just the two of them. But when Eliza turns eighteen and wants to connect with her father, Lara is forced to admit a secret that she has been keeping from her daughter her whole life. Eliza needs answers – and so does Lara. Their journey to the truth will take them on a road trip across England and eventually to New York, where it all began. Dreams might have been broken and opportunities missed, but there are still surprises in store… 

Anything Could Happen is a warm, wise, funny and uplifting novel about love, second chances and the unexpected and extraordinary paths life can take us down.

My thoughts: this is a rather lovely story. All about second chances, family and finding where you’re meant to be.

After a brief romance in New York, Lara and Ben are separated by an unfortunate turn of events. 18 years later they are reunited. Is that spark still there?

I loved Lara and her kind but firm driving instructor ways, the way she worried about her clients, and her daughter. She had such a good heart. Ben was also rather sweet, with his map shop and a million (ok, three) sisters.

But Eliza was my favourite character – I wasn’t a particularly happy 18 year old but if I could do it again, I’d want to be as hopeful and sunny as Eliza was. Her one magical night in New York was funny and uplifting.

A fun, will they, won’t they, rom com with lots of heart.

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

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Cover Reveal: The Cottage in the Highlands – Julie Shackman

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When Leonie Baxter finds herself out of a job and out of a relationship, she’s at her wits end. Her life has just been turned upside down and she needs a plan, fast.

By chance, on a walk with her rescue puppy, Leonie stumbles across a striking house in the woods; fully furnished but unoccupied. As a journalist, she is determined to find out more, after all, reporting is in her nature.

But her attempts are thwarted by Lily Cruickshank who lives in the cottage next door. Why won’t Lily help Leonie? And who is the mysterious Flynn Talbot, whose letter Leonie finds inside the house?

And in uncovering the secrets of the abandoned house, will Leonie open her own heart and let love back into her life?

The brand new escapist story from the bestselling author of A Secret Scottish Escape and A Scottish Highland Surprise, for fans of Jo Thomas, Trisha Ashley and Cathy Bramley.

Pre-order Links: Amazon UK Amazon US Publication Date: 1st December

Julie Shackman is a former journalist from Scotland, who has always wanted to write feel-good romance. As well as being an author, Julie also writes verses and captions for greetings card companies. Julie admits to having an obsession with stationery and handbags. She is married, has two sons and has a Romanian rescue puppy, Cooper. The Cottage in the Highlands is Julie’s seventh novel.

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blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Night Shadows – Eva Björg Ægisdottir, translated by Victoria Cribb

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The small community of Akranes is devastated when a young man dies in a mysterious house fire, and when Detective Elma and her colleagues from West Iceland CID discover the fire was arson, they become embroiled in an increasingly perplexing case involving multiple suspects. What’s more, the dead man’s final online search raises fears that they could be investigating not one murder, but two.

A few months before the fire, a young Dutch woman takes a job as an au pair in Iceland, desperate to make a new life for herself after the death of her father. But the seemingly perfect family who employs her turns out to have problems of its own and she soon discovers she is running out of people to turn to.

As the police begin to home in on the truth, Elma, already struggling to come to terms with a life-changing event, finds herself in mortal danger as it becomes clear that someone has secrets they’ll do anything to hide…

Born in Akranes in 1988, Eva moved to Trondheim, Norway to study my MSc in Globalisation when she was 25. After moving back home having completed her MSc, she knew it was time to start working on her novel. Eva has wanted to write books since she was 15 years old, having won a short story contest in Iceland.

Eva worked as a stewardess to make ends meet while she wrote her first novel, The Creak on the Stairs. The book went on to win the CWA Debut Dagger, the Blackbird Award, was shortlisted (twice) for the Capital Crime Readers’ Awards, and became a number one bestseller in Iceland. The critically acclaimed Girls Who Lie (book two in the Forbidden Iceland series) soon followed, with Night Shadows (book three) following suit in July 2022. Eva lives with her husband and three children in Reykjavík.

My thoughts: so we return to the unluckiest town in Iceland where a teenage boy’s body is found locked in his house after a fire. Was it arson? And why would anyone want to kill him?

It’s up to Elma to find out, and when she finds a missing young au pair might be linked to the dead boy, she breaks open the secrets of his friends and their families. Someone here knows a lot more than they’re willing to share.

It’s actually quite sad as all these young lives are shattered, two dead teenagers, families devastated, and more young people implicated in a horrid plot to cover up an accident that becomes a crime.

Elma is a sympathetic figure, she wants the truth and is also dealing with her own personal issues. She doesn’t open up much, even to her family – her sister seems a much bigger personality, but it keeps the suspects from guessing what she’s thinking. She puts herself in harms way, refusing to accept the explanation she’s been given – it doesn’t quite fit.

Clever, suspenseful and with at least one disturbed mind at play here, this is very enjoyable crime writing.

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

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Blog Tour: Not My Child – Samantha King

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Two mothers. One child. Who do you believe?

The playground is the last place I thought I’d see you. It was my Billy’s first day at school. It was supposed to be a happy one.

But then you turned up. I remembered you instantly from the hospital wing. Our babies born on the same day. Both premature. Both needing intensive care.

While Billy grew stronger day by day, your baby sadly slipped away.

But now you’re back with one devastating accusation… Billy isn’t my son at all, he’s yours.

And you’ve come to take him away.

My thoughts: this verged on OTT melodrama at times, with so much happening at once. Whose son is Billy? With 2 mothers and 2 potential fathers, the chaos unfolds. Ruth insists he’s her son, she gave birth to him, didn’t she? But that time is a blur and her husband is keeping secrets too. With an ex-best friend and her rather controlling husband in the background with their own theories, Ruth will do almost anything to keep her boy.

The whole book is very highly strung – like Ruth, who seems to be operating from a place of terror at all times. She has her own secrets too. I think if people actually spoke to one another things would never have reached fever pitch like this. Setting various reveals in the closed space of a narrow boat makes it even more tense and claustrophobic.

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

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Cover Reveal: The Gifts – Liz Hyder

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The paperback edition of The Gifts is out 1st September in all good bookshops. And I’m sharing the beautiful cover today. So get your orders in!

Waterstones

In an age defined by men, it will take something extraordinary to show four women who they truly are . . .

October 1840. A young woman staggers alone through a forest in Shropshire as a huge pair of impossible wings rip themselves from her shoulders.

Meanwhile, when rumours of a ‘fallen angel’ cause a frenzy across London, a surgeon desperate for fame and fortune finds himself in the grips of a dangerous obsession, one that will place the women he seeks in the most terrible danger . . .

THE GIFTS is the astonishing debut adult novel from the lauded author of BEARMOUTH. A gripping and ambitious book told through five different perspectives and set against the luminous backdrop of nineteenth century London, it explores science, nature and religion, enlightenment, the role of women in society and the dark danger of ambition.

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Blog Tour: Dead Money – Keith Nixon

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With a reputation for solving bizarre murders Detective Inspector Jonah Pennance, recently transferred to the National Crime Agency, is brought in to investigate the mysterious death of celebrity fund manager, Grady Carnegie – choked to death, then his body arranged and ready for a wake.

Then a second corpse turns up under identical circumstances – that of washed-up investigative reporter, Stan Thewlis. But how are the two men connected?

Soon, Pennance’s partner, Sergeant Simone Smithson, comes under suspicion for the deaths – the evidence seems overwhelming. To save her Pennance must determine what role the shadowy organisation Blackthorn plays and who is in the background, pulling all the strings…Buy

Keith Nixon is the best-selling author of sixteen novels and one million words in print, including the Margate based Solomon Gray series of over 250,000 copies in circulation and reached no.1 on Amazon in the UK, US, Canada and Australia.

Keith lived near the gritty seaside town of Margate, where many of his novels are based, for 17 years before relocating to the edge of the Peak District with his family where he lives today. Keith works in a senior sales role within a high-tech industry and has regularly travelled all over the globe.

His novels are published by Gladius Press and Bastei Lubbe (German)

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My thoughts: financial crimes can be a bit boring, so I’m glad this had several weird murders to liven things up. A man choked to death on cheap white bread forced down his throat, no one quite gets the symbolism, but then it turns out, after another victim is killed the same way and two more are almost poisoned to death with salt, that it’s all smoke and mirrors. Something has prompted the killer or killers to carry out these very specific crimes. Can DI Pennance put the pieces together, work out how the victims are connected, sort out his love life, and prevent any more tragedies?

Racing back and forth across London from crime scenes to interview witnesses, sometimes on the tube and sometimes on foot (someone get this man a car!), going into strange old buildings you might walk past every day and huge glass towers where the wealth management play brings Pennance into contact with an interesting cast of characters. And somewhere in amongst them could be the killer.

I’m not entirely sure many of the characters, especially the cops, have anything approaching normal lives – no one seems to sleep much or eat proper food – certainly vegetables don’t play a role. I do sometimes wonder how fictional detectives don’t all fall down at their desks. The adrenaline alone must come crashing down – Pennance seems to do everything at breakneck pace. But then again lives are at stake, plus the British economy and his romantic future. I suppose he doesn’t want to slow down.

Intelligent and enjoyable, with some very quirky characters, this was a nice introduction to a series I’d not yet come across but will certainly be searching out the back list for.

*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: Ginger & Me – Elissa Soave

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Wendy is lonely but coping.
All nineteen-year-old Wendy wants is to drive the 255 bus around Uddingston with her regulars on board, remember to buy milk when it runs out and just to be okay. After her mum died, there’s nobody to remind her to eat and what to do each day.

And Wendy is ready to step out of her comfort zone.
Each week she shows her social worker the progress she’s made, like the coasters she bought to spruce up the place, even if she forgets to make tea. And she even joins a writers’ group to share the stories she writes, like the one about a bullied boy who goes to Mars.

But everything changes when Wendy meets Ginger.
A teenager with flaming orange hair, Ginger’s so brave she’s wearing a coat that isn’t even waterproof. For the first time, Wendy has a real best friend. But as they begin the summer of their lives, Wendy wonders if things were simpler before. And that’s before she realizes just how much trouble Ginger is about to get them in…

My thoughts: I liked Wendy, she’s a simple soul a bit adrift in the world. She misses her mum, who took care of her, and likes seeing her regular passengers on the bus route she drives every day. She’s lonely, and doesn’t have the social skills to easily make new friends, so when she meets Ginger, and Diane, she latches onto them.

Ginger is fourteen, never in school, lives with her uncle and has not had a very nice life. She and Wendy find a friend in each other, but Wendy’s innocence means she doesn’t really understand Ginger’s world and that leads to trouble.

I felt for both girls, Wendy’s young for her age and naive, she gets easily obsessed with things – in this case Diane, a writer who lives nearby. She doesn’t understand the difference between being polite to a fan and friendship. Which is sad.

This was a bittersweet book and I know there are quite a few Wendys and Gingers out there who need someone to look out for them, to make sure they’re OK and safe.

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

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Blog Tour: The Beekeeper at Elderflower Grove – Jaimie Admans

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A new start is about to bee-gin!
Having moved into her mum’s spare room after a disastrous break-up, Kayleigh Harwood is desperate for a fresh start. When she sees an opening for a new beekeeper at the old manor house
at Elderflower Grove she jumps at the chance – despite not knowing a thing about bees…
The abandoned house holds a mystery of its own – the previous owner vanished years ago – and locals have been inventing stories about the manor ever since. Unable to resist the urge to look around, Kayleigh is shocked to find drop-dead-gorgeous gardener Carey living inside!
Carey explains that the house and surrounding land is at risk of being demolished, endangering the bees, and he has been staying there to protect it.
Convinced the secret of the house holds the key to saving Elderflower Grove’s bees, Kayleigh is prepared to do everything she can to help. But is she ready to find her own happy-ever-after too…?

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Jaimie is a 36-year-old English-sounding Welsh girl with an awkward-to-spell name. She lives in South Wales and enjoys writing, gardening, watching horror movies, and drinking tea, although she’s
seriously considering marrying her coffee machine. She loves autumn and winter, and singing songs from musicals despite the fact she’s got the voice of a dying hyena. She hates spiders, hot weather,
and cheese & onion crisps. She spends far too much time on Twitter and owns too many pairs of boots. She will never have time to read all the books she wants to read.
She is the author of several romantic comedies for HarperCollins – The Chateau of Happily Ever Afters, The Little Wedding Island, It’s a Wonderful Night, The Little Vintage Carousel by the Sea, Snowflakes at the Little Christmas Tree Farm, The Little Bookshop of Love Stories, The Wishing Tree Beside the Shore, The Little Christmas Shop on Nutcracker Lane, The Post Box at the North Pole, and The Beekeeper at Elderflower Grove.

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My thoughts: I like bees, but I don’t think I could be a beekeeper like Kayleigh, they’re fine at a distance. But this was a lovely story about bees yes, but also about love, the past, and saving the natural world for the next generation, and the bees.

Kayleigh and Carey investigate the mystery of Elderflower Grove’s last resident, and the love letters they found in a secret room behind a bookcase. It was very much the sort of adventure I’d love to have. There’s a moment that brought back the trauma of My Girl, so be prepared.

There’s also lots of bee puns, a furious old lady who dresses as a bee, Kayleigh’s mum’s boyfriends, a friendly fox and the grounds are basically The Secret Garden all over again. Lovely.

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