Category: reviews

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Bookstagram Tour: Lucha of the Night Forest – Tehlor Kay Mejia

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Join me over on Instagram today for my thoughts on this new fantasy novel from acclaimed author Tehlor Kay Meija, and read on for more about the book and a short extract.

An edge-of-your-seat fantasy about a girl who will do anything to protect her sister—even if it means striking a dangerous bargain. Dark forces, forgotten magic, and a heart-stopping queer romance make this young adult novel a must-read.

A scorned god.

A mysterious acolyte.

A forgetting drug.

A dangerous forest.

One girl caught between the freedom she always wanted and a sister she can’t bear to leave behind.

Under the cover of the Night Forest, will Lucha be able to step into her own power…or will she be consumed by it?

This gorgeous and fast-paced fantasy novel from acclaimed author Tehlor Kay Mejia is brimming with adventure, peril, romance, and family bonds—and asks what it means for a teen girl to become fully herself.

TEHLOR KAY MEJIA is the author of the critically acclaimed young adult fantasy duology We Set the Dark on Fire and We Unleash the Merciless Storm. Her debut middle-grade series, Paola Santiago and the River of Tears, is in development at Disney as a television series to be produced by Eva Longoria. Tehlor lives with her daughter, partner, and two small dogs in Oregon, where she grows heirloom corn and continues her quest to perfect the vegan tamale.

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Excerpt 1 

The forest was said to be uninhabitable. The governors of the Elegidan continent—skittish as squirrels and twice as greedy—refused to recognize any territory north of the river. They took their shares of Robado’s ill-gotten profits readily enough, but they claimed no authority in the city. Or any of the responsibility that would go with it.

The mapmakers, for their part, blotted the wood into their landscapes without sparing a stroke for this wound of a place clinging to its edge.

Like we don’t even exist, Lucha thought, still loitering in the middle of the road.

“Watch it!” snarled a man heading south. Lucha staggered backward, reminded of the dangers of standing idle. The little cart the man pulled turned sharply and splattered her shoes with mud. She was about to shout something rude when she saw the cart’s tiny passenger. A girl of no more than four. She dangled her bare feet over the edge as her father rolled her along. 

Lucha smiled, remembering her younger sister, Lis, at that age. Her huge brown eyes and shining curls …

“Better watch out!” the girl called in her lisping baby voice. “El Sediento will get you if you look too long!” Sticking her fingers into the corners of her mouth, the girl stretched her smile too wide and rolled her eyes back so only the whites showed.

Excerpted from Lucha of the Night Forest by Tehlor Kay Mejia. Copyright © 2023 by Tehlor Kay Mejia. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

*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 Little Venice Bookshop – Rebecca Raisin

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A bundle of mysterious letters. A trip to Venice. A journey she’ll never forget.
When Luna loses her beloved mother, she’s bereft: her mother was her only family, and without her Luna feels rootless. Then the chance discovery of a collection of letters in her mother’s belongings sends her on an unexpected journey.
Following a clue in the letters, Luna packs her bags and heads to Venice, to a gorgeous but faded bookshop overlooking the canals, hoping to uncover the truth about her mother’s mysterious past.
Will Luna find the answers she’s looking for – and finally find the place she belongs?

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Rebecca Raisin writes heartwarming romance from her home in sunny Perth, Australia.
Her heroines tend to be on the quirky side and her books are usually set in exotic locations so her readers can armchair travel any day of the week. The only downfall about writing about gorgeous
heroes who have brains as well as brawn, is falling in love with them – just as well they’re fictional.
Rebecca aims to write characters you can see yourself being friends with. People with big hearts who care about relationships and believe in true, once in a lifetime love. Her bestselling novel Rosie’s Travelling Tea Shop has been optioned for film with MRC studios and Frolic Media.

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My thoughts: grab some tissues, this starts with a sad thing and then there’s some cute, happy bits that, if you’re a bit of a sap like me, will also make you cry. In a good way.

Set in one of the most interesting places I’ve ever been – Venice – in a bookshop filled with cats (yes please, can we go there now?) this is a heartwarming and tear jerking book about finding your family, your home, your person and your happiness.

Luna loses her freewheeling mother Ruby to stupid cancer and finding a bundle of mysterious letters from a Giancarlo in Venice, who owns a bookshop, hidden in her mother’s home, she decides to head there, with pal Gigi, to see if he might have some answers about her mother. Is he her dad?

There’s adventures, a bit of smooching, lots of pizza and vino, the righting of wrongs, cuddling of cats, tidying of a very messy bookshop and just general idyllic loveliness in one of the most beautiful places in the world. And a grumpy Spaniard called Oliver, who is either the one or a massive pain. Did I mention the many, many literary named shop cats?

Luna gets some answers, but they might not be what she’s expecting, and maybe sees her mum a bit differently afterwards. But she resolves a few personal questions and discovers more about herself too. It’s a really lovely read and like a big hug in book form.

*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: Do No Harm – Jack Jordan

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MY CHILD HAS BEEN TAKEN.
AND I’VE BEEN GIVEN A CHOICE . . .
KILL A PATIENT ON THE OPERATING TABLE
OR LOSE MY SON FOREVER.

The man lies on the table in front of me.
As a surgeon, it’s my job to save him.
As a mother, I know I must kill him.
You might think that I’m a monster.
But there really is only one choice.
I must get away with murder.
Or I will never see my son again.

I’VE SAVED MANY LIVES.
WOULD YOU TRUST ME WITH YOURS?

My thoughts: I don’t have kids but I do know a fair few mums and I completely understand how dedicated and how much they love their children.

I don’t know however if they’d actually be able to kill for them as Anna is blackmailed into doing here. The people who took her little boy will kill him if the local MP makes it off her table. Doctors pledge to do no harm, but mothers will say they’d do anything for their child.

This is such a delicious and chilling set up and Anna can’t just leave it there. Especially when she doesn’t get her terrified son back straight away. Something else is in play here and it’s only by following every tiny lead (and dodgy nurse Margot) that she can finally get Zack back.

The cops are on the case so she also needs to throw them off the scent, survive a review at work, and keep her ex-husband from finding anything out. Easy peasy. Not like it’s oh, open heart surgery or anything.

I was totally hooked, the way the story plays out, the alternating viewpoints from Anna and Margot, as they’re pulled into a deadly world of crime and politics, it’s dark and clever and I thoroughly enjoyed 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.

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Blog Tour: The Cornish Hideaway – Jennifer Bibby

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All Freya has ever wanted to do is paint. So when she fails her Master’s Degree in Art, on the same day that her boyfriend decides he needs a ‘more serious’ partner, to Freya it feels like the end of the world.
 
Luckily, she has a saviour in the shape of best friend Lola, who invites her to the sleepy Cornish village of Polcarrow, to work in her café. With nothing keeping her in London, Freya jumps at the chance of a summer by the sea.
 
Freya needs time to focus on herself. But then dark and mysterious biker Angelo blows into town on a stormy afternoon, with his own artistic dreams and a secretive past, and Freya’s plans of a romance-free summer fly straight out of the window…

My thoughts: if anyone has a Cornish cottage I could run away to – please let me know. I love Cornwall (I have West Country roots and it feels so much like coming home being there) and I felt like I knew Polcarrow – it reminded me of several of the lovely villages I’ve been to – and made me weirdly homesick for the county.

I wanted to give Freya a massive hug, a Masters degree is sodding hard work (I’ve done one) and to be told you’ve failed would be heartbreaking. Then to be dumped. Ouch. No wonder she ups sticks to lovely friend Lola and the beautiful Cornish landscape. I would too.

Then there’s hunky, mysterious Italian Angelo on his motorbike, riddled with his own sorrows and need to escape. Of course these two lost souls connect. Cornwall has inspired so many artists, especially St Ives, that it’s not surprising it inspires these two to create.

I loved the villagers, and obviously a certain cheeky cake begging dog, as well as his retired fisherman owner. The slow-burning romance between Lola and the vicar was an added treat. And the gossipy WI women, never sure whether they approve or not (do they vote on what they agree on?). Basically it’s a whole heap of charm and cream teas (with locally produced clotted cream!) 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.

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Blog Tour: Some Desperate Glory – Emily Tesh

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While we live, the enemy shall fear us. All her life Kyr has trained for the day she can avenge the destruction of planet Earth by an all-powerful, reality-shifting weapon known as the Wisdom. Raised in the bowels of Gaea Station alongside the last scraps of humanity, she is one of the best warriors of her generation, the sword of a dead planet. Then Command assigns her brother to certain death and relegates her to the nursery to bear sons until she dies trying and she knows she must take humanity’s revenge into her own hands. But she soon learns that not everything she’s been raised to believe is true and the Wisdom is far more complex and dangerous than she could ever have imagined. A thrillingly told space opera about the wreckage of war, the family you find and who you must become when every choice is stripped from you.

EMILY TESH is a World Fantasy award-winning author. She grew up in London and studied Classics at Trinity College, Cambridge, followed by a Master’s degree in Humanities at the University of Chicago. She now lives in Hertfordshire, where she passes her time teaching Latin and Ancient Greek to schoolchildren who have done nothing to deserve it. She has a husband and a cat. Neither of them knows any Latin yet, but it is not for lack of trying.

My thoughts: this was really good, set many years after a bitter war has destroyed Earth, where humans who believe they are the last of humanity left to face the Wisdom and it’s people wage a war only they are really fighting.

When Kyr starts to learn the truth and the messages she’s had drummed into her all her life break apart, at first she thinks she’s being tricked, but the more she learns, the new friends she makes, the more she realises that everything is wrong. The Wisdom and her commander are not correct either, something must change or they’re all doomed to repeat their mistakes over and over.

This is super clever, intelligent sci-fi but also highly enjoyable. It did get a bit meta at one point but I think I understood it! I like Kyr, she had so much to learn about the universe she lives in, and the people around her. And indeed about herself. Her relationship with her brother sustained her through all the complicated and dangerous things she had to do to make things right. Realising that Clara and the other Sparrows really could be her sisters, discovering that another species are just people, even her banter with Avi. She grew on me as she opened up and stepped into her birthright as the daughter of a heroic leader, who died trying to do what Kyr does – really help the humans of Gaea.

There are some funny moments, the most entertaining character being Yiso – a Prince of Wisdom who hates exercise and loves a spot of sarcasm. He and Kyr become close and she changes a lot because of their friendship. I loved Yiso too.

This was definitely one of those books you get to the end of and go “wait, no, there must be more!” as I can’t see how Kyr, Yiso and the rest of the gang won’t go on to have lots more adventures, foil a few more nefarious schemes and generally cause mayhem.

*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: Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers – Jesse Sutanto

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Tea-shop owner. Matchmaker. Detective?

Sixty-year-old self-proclaimed tea expert Vera Wong enjoys nothing more than sipping a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy ‘detective’ work on the internet (AKA checking up on her son to see if he’s dating anybody yet).

But when Vera wakes up one morning to find a dead man in the middle of her tea shop, it’s going to take more than a strong Longjing to fix things. Knowing she’ll do a better job than the police possibly could – because nobody sniffs out a wrongdoing quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands – Vera decides it’s down to her to catch the killer.

Nobody spills the tea like this amateur sleuth

My thoughts: this is very, very funny. Not exactly a surprise from the author of Dial A For Aunts and Four Aunties and a Wedding. Vera owns a small tea shop in San Francisco’s Chinatown and her life is pretty quiet until she finds a dead body in her shop one morning.

Gathering her suspects up, and building a found family along the way, she investigates the death, much to the irritation of Officer Grey at the local police station, who would rather she leave it alone.

Vera is delightful but you definitely don’t mess with her and she’s impossible to say no to. Everyone tries to, but somehow this Chinese Miss Marple bowls you along with her. It might be the mountains of food she keeps making, or just the way she carries on as though no one else spoke, but her determination to solve the mystery of the dead man in the tea shop is compelling.

The people she draws into her orbit, her suspects, slowly come to love her and bond with each other as they’re all lonely. Vera gives them advice and encouragement as well as keeping them very well fed (I was so hungry by the end of this book) so they become less alone and closed off. But does she solve the case? Well, you’ll have to read the book to find out!

*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: Oblivion’s River – Shoshana Rain

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OblivionsRiver copy

Welcome to the book tour for Oblivion’s River by Shoshana Rain! If you enjoy spicy romance and Greek myths, you will love this!

22-295 Shoshana Rain Oblivion’s River

Oblivion’s River (The New Olympus #2)

Publication Date: February 28th

Genre: Romantic Fantasy/ HEA/ Greek Mythology

Oblivion’s River is a full-length, medium-burn, standalone fantasy romance with a guaranteed HEA. It contains steamy scenes and is an opposites attract romance. It is book two in The New Olympus series. While it is a standalone, reading the first book will provide the best reading experience.

Hephaestus:

I wanted to forget Lethe, to stop seeing her every time I closed my eyes. The goddess hunted me, tormented me, took away everything I am. She should rot away in Tartarus like she deserves.

But we need her. She’s the only one who can tell us where the rift knife is—and our very survival depends on it. I’m the only one who can get answers from her, so I’ll punish her, bend her, use her.

Until she gives me everything.

Lethe:

There are so many things I can’t remember. Who I hurt. Who hurt me. The location of the knife, the one I can trade for my freedom. I don’t want to remember. I’m happy in the darkness and silence, forgotten.

They don’t believe me, and when they drag me out of my prison, I find myself faced with a god I shouldn’t remember. But I do.

He wants to play a game, but I don’t play games. That’s why I’ll win.

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Strife’s Apple (The New Olympus #1)

Apollo:

As the God of Prophecy, it’s my duty to keep my fellow gods safe. And to do that, I need Eris. Which means retrieving the Goddess of Discord from the pits of Tartarus—where I left her, seven hundred years ago.

The now-freed goddess may think she can beat me, but I intend to tame her wildness before she destroys us all. I’ll do anything to save my family, including seducing her. And I’ll love every second of it. I’ll have the little goddess on her back, hands, knees, any and every way I can get her.

No matter what, I’ll bring her to heel.

Eris:
For seven hundred years, they kept me chained in darkness. For seven hundred years, I never saw sunlight, never knew joy, never spoke to another mortal—or god. Until Apollo came, and with the wave of one imperious hand, freed me.

I know he needs my help. The gods are fading, and only I can save them. Too bad I have no interest in anything beyond revenge.

Especially against him

Strife’s Apple is a full-length, medium-burn, standalone fantasy romance with a guaranteed HEA. It contains steamy scenes and is an opposites attract, enemies to lovers romance.

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About the Author

Shoshana Rain (1)

A lover of mythology, sexy romances, and heroines who give as good as they get, Shoshana knew she wanted to write fantasy romance since reading Kushiel’s Dart. When she’s not writing, she’s hanging out with her cat and trying to keep her garden alive in the harsh desert summer.

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My thoughts: the current trend for retellings of Greek myths has thrown up some really interesting takes on old stories. In this series Shoshana Rain has looked at the various romances between gods and mortals. Hephasteus is the god of the forge, a son of Zeus and tormented by his love for Lethe (later one of the rivers that seperate the Underworld from the living) the goddess of forgetfulness.

Tormented by his love for a murderer, desperate to forget her, yet he’s needed to extract a secret she insists she can’t remember.

This is a really interesting take on the myth, and full of repressed emotions, manipulation and lust. As Lethe and Hepasteus try to resist their desire, tension builds. You’ll have to read it to find out how this ends!

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Blog Tour: Gin Palace – Tracy Whitwell

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Ever since Tanz discovered she could speak with the dead, life has become a whole lot more interesting. But after putting herself in grave danger helping to solve a grisly murder, she’s now determined to ignore the voices and put all that nasty business behind her. So when she’s offered another acting gig in her hometown of Newcastle, it feels like a perfect opportunity to spend some time with family and have a laugh with old friends. But the dead won’t stay quiet for long. Soon Tanz is being drawn back into their world, and this time, the danger is much closer to home . . .

Tracy Whitwell was born, brought up and educated in the north-east of England. She wrote plays and short stories from an early age, then in the nineties moved to London where she became a busy actress on stage and screen. After having her son, she wound down the acting to concentrate on writing full time. Many projects followed until she finally found the courage to write her first novel – The Accidental Medium, a work of fiction based on a whole heap of crazy truth and now a trilogy, with more to come. Today, Tracy lives in north London with her son, surrounded by a neverending supply or Aperol Spritzes and a coven of friends as spooky as she is. Tracy is nothing like her lead character Tanz. (This is a lie.)

My thoughts: I love Tanz, The Accidental Medium was great so I was really pleased to read Gin Palace. I love her friends, I love her little mam. It’s just a really fun book. Even with the scary ghost.

Tanz is in Newcastle to play a supporting role in a TV show, although she’s not thrilled about it. I think it’s the mini skirt and bad hair. While she’s there, she encounters the ghost of a small boy and then a really horrible one that possesses her pal Milo and gives her nightmares. With Sheila out of action in London, it’s up to Tanz to exorcise this mean spirit.

Luckily she meets Gladys, a fierce old lady healer who gives her the boost she needs to sort out the spook. She’s also got enough time to befriend and help the lead actress in the show and have a Sunday roast with her parents.

Tanz packs a lot in, from ghost walks and a few G&Ts with Milo, to learning how to channel her powers better. And while she enjoys being back home, she misses her flat and of course her cat, Inka (who’s being spoiled with cheese by the nice neighbour).

She’s a great protagonist, down to earth, very funny and her relationship with Frank from beyond the grave, as a sort of spirit guide, is entertaining. I like quirky, eccentric people and Tanz definitely is one, talking to the dead in her no nonsense way and racing around sorting everyone else out. I hope in her next adventure, she takes a bit of time for herself too.

*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: Murder at Waldenmere Lake – Michelle Salter

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A murder shocks the small town of Walden. And it’s only the beginning…
Walden, 1921. Local reporter Iris Woodmore is determined to save her beloved lake, Waldenmere, from destruction.
After a bloody and expensive war, the British Army can’t afford to keep the lake and build a convalescent home on its shores yet they still battle with Walden Council and a railway company for
ownership. But an old mansion used as an officer training academy stands where the railway company plans to build a lakeside hotel. It belongs to General Cheverton – and he won’t leave his home.
When the General is found murdered, it appears someone will stop at nothing to win the fight for Waldenmere. Iris thinks she can take on the might of the railway company and find the killer. But nothing prepares her for the devastation that’s to come…
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Michelle Salter is a historical crime fiction writer based in northeast Hampshire. Many local locations appear in her mystery novels. She’s also a copywriter and has written features for national
magazines. When she’s not writing, Michelle can be found knee-deep in mud at her local nature reserve. She enjoys working with a team of volunteers undertaking conservation activities.

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My thoughts: Iris is back in Walden and trying to help preserve the local mere, a beautiful nature spot and not something the locals want to see turned into a hotel or railway line. But they’re up against it, if the army sells their part of the land they can build a convalescent home, which is more popular.

Thankfully the owner of one section of land, General Cheverton, isn’t budging and he’s messing up the unpopular plans. Then he’s murdered. Iris thinks it must be linked to the proposed development but would the railway boss get his own hands dirty?

While all this is going on, she’s also having a great time with her pals, wandering the local lanes and enjoying the summer weather. But the case keeps nagging at her, so with the support of her boss at the paper, she starts digging. What she finds will be heartbreaking.

I really like this series, and Iris, although maybe her next case could hit a little further from home as so far it hasn’t been very happy for her.

*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: Bellevue – Alison Booth

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New South Wales, 1972. Following the death of her beloved Aunt Hilda, widow Clare Barclay inherits Bellevue, an historic property in the Blue Mountains township of Numballa, Australia. Giving up her teaching job to move to the mountains, Clare plans to restore the house to its original glory. She also hopes to track down a box of missing documents that may shed light on why husband Jack secretly second-mortgaged their former home.
Clare makes friends with the locals, including a young boy, Joe, and soon hears of plans to redevelop Numbulla and to exploit the land bordering the protected wilderness area. As she joins the protest against the rezoning, it’s clear someone doesn’t want her there and they’ll do anything to stop her…

Written from Clare’s and Joe’s perspectives, Bellevue highlights cross-generational bonds that grow between them as they struggle, individually and together, towards an acceptance of the losses each has sustained.

Born in Australia, Alison Booth gained a degree in architecture before transferring to economics. She is Professor Emeritus of Economics with a PhD from the London School of Economics and spent over two decades living and working in the UK before returning to Australia. She wrote her first novel at the age of nine, before other distractions set in.

Alison’s seventh published novel, Bellevue, will be out in March 2023. Her previous novels were published by Penguin and RedDoor. Her fiction has been translated into French and her short stories have appeared in international publications including Antipodes and New Writing. Awards include a Varuna Longlines Fellowship from the Eleanor Dark Foundation and the Highly Commended Award in the 2011 ACT Book of the Year Award. Her novels are: Stillwater Creek, The Indigo Sky, A Distant Land, A Perfect Marriage, The Philosopher’s Daughters and The Painting. For more information visit: https://www.alisonbooth.net/home

My thoughts: this was a really interesting book about community, friendship, outsiders and the environment. Clare inherits her late husband’s aunt’s house Bellevue in the small New South Wales town of Numballa. Hoping to build a new life and a permanent home for herself there, she finds that all is not well. Silent phone calls, vague threats, a car accident that probably isn’t an accident. Someone is trying to drive her away.

As the battle for the wilderness at the edge of her land heats up, she finds that she’s not alone. Other members of the local conservation group are also being harassed and frightened but Clare won’t give up.

She also meets Joe, a young boy with a love of birds, who draws beautiful pictures of them. Befriending him and offering him a safe space to work on his art, Clare expands her new world again.

Joe is struggling, after his mother’s death, left with an often absent older brother and a father who drinks too much, he’s a sensitive, artistic soul. Afraid to tell anyone except the local librarian of his passion, he’s sneaking into Clare’s hayloft to draw. Their unlikely friendship is a delight to read about. As Joe comes out of his shell, things seem to look up for his family too.

There’s a lot of heart in this book, and as Clare finds her place in Numballa, making friends and campaigning to save the wilderness, she slowly comes back to life after years in survival mode.

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