Category: reviews

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.

blog tour, books, reviews

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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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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: New Family Required – Carmen Reid

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Sasha Greenhope has a very lovely life. Her marriage is solid, her only daughter is delightful, and the family business is going full steam ahead.
The only blip on the horizon is the upcoming family reunion for her parents 40th wedding anniversary at Chadwell House – the family pile. Sasha just does not fit with her rich family. Her French mother, Delphine thinks everything Sasha does is a faux pas.. And siblings, Adele and Beau, are clearly the favourites, leaving Sasha surplus to requirements So when Sasha’s husband Ben takes this exact moment to reveal that they are about to go bankrupt, Sasha wants to be anywhere but stuck in a lavish marquee!
Swallowing her pride, and a whole bottle of fizz, Sasha determines to ask her family for help – and maybe even a loan – only to discover that her parents and siblings are all keeping secrets of their own!
Family secrets, warring siblings and a disastrous reunion… what could possibly go right?!
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Carmen Reid is the bestselling author of numerous woman’s fiction titles including the Personal Shopper series starring Annie Valentine. After taking a break from writing she is back, introducing her hallmark feisty women characters to a new generation of readers. She lives in Glasgow with her husband and children.

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My thoughts: families – who’d have ’em? Sasha’s siblings and parents all seem to be more successful and gilded than she and her husband – especially as their business is in freefall thanks to a client going bust. Her parents’ wedding anniversary party is the last thing she needs right now.

It’s all very fancy and Sasha’s at breaking point when a series of calamities throw the family together and force them to confront some uncomfortable home truths.

The people closest to you can be the most aggravating but hopefully at the end of it all, you can find a way through together.

Funny, sad, but thankfully with a happy ending, a good reminder to be grateful for your family, whoever they are to you.

*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: Death on a Monday Night – Jo Allen

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An ex-convict. A dead body. A Women’s Institute meeting like no other…
It’s an unusually challenging meeting at the Wasby Women’s Institute, with local resident and former drug-dealer Adam Fleetwood talking about his crimes and subsequent rehabilitation…but
events take a gruesome turn when prospective member Grace Thoresby is discovered murdered in the kitchen.
The case is particularly unwelcome for investigating officer DCI Jude Satterthwaite. Adam was once
his close friend and now holds a bitter grudge, blaming Jude for landing him in jail in the first place.
To complicate things further, the only thing keeping Adam from arrest is the testimony of Jude’s former girlfriend, Becca Reid, for whom he still cares deeply.
As Jude and his colleague and current partner, Ashleigh O’Halloran, try to pick apart the complicated tapestry of Grace’s life, they uncover a web of fantasy, bitterness and deceit. Adam is deeply
implicated, but is he guilty or is someone determined to frame him for Grace’s murder? And as they close in on the truth, Jude falls foul of Adam’s desire for revenge, with near-fatal consequences…
A traditional detective mystery set in Cumbria.

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Jo Allen was born in Wolverhampton and is a graduate of Edinburgh, Strathclyde and the Open University, with undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in geography and Earth science. She’s
been writing for pleasure and publication for as long as she can remember. After a career in economic consultancy she took up writing and was first published under the name Jennifer Young, in genres of short stories, romance and romantic suspense. She wrote online articles on travel and on her favourite academic subject, Earth science. In 2017 she took the plunge and began writing the genre she most likes to read — crime.
Jo lives in the English Lakes, where the DCI Satterthwaite series is set. In common with all her favourite characters, she loves football (she’s a season ticket holder with her beloved Wolverhampton Wanderers) and cats.

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My thoughts: I do enjoy this series, I like Jude and his world weary understanding of human nature. After a body is found at a WI meeting, by Jude’s ex Becca no less, an investigation is launched. Adam – a former drug dealer, and former friend of Jude’s, is in the spotlight but might Grace’s murderer be closer to home?

Digging into a family’s lives and complicated relationships isn’t easy, especially one that’s prickly and dysfunctional. But after another death, there’s not much choice.

Adam has it in for Jude and seems determined to cause him misery and harm. Popping up everywhere and never missing a chance to be nasty. Even though Jude never rises to it. There’s a rather hairy (or should that be “dairy”) moment for Jude, but luckily he’s quick.

*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: Want You Dead – Steve Frech

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The back yard is full of balloons and streamers, and a piñata hangs from a tree branch, circling lazily in the breeze. But beneath the table of party food, a body lies half-covered by a brightly coloured tablecloth, blood seeping onto the floor…

A child’s birthday party ends in chaos when one of the parents is found brutally beaten to death. With no way for anyone to leave unnoticed, it’s clear the killer must be another guest, but with twenty high-spirited children as a distraction, anyone might have had the opportunity to slip away from the rest of the party.

Detective Meredith Somerset soon discovers the victim had no shortage of enemies, and everyone has a potential motive. Fractured marriages, jealousy and betrayals all come to light but Meredith can’t seem to cut through the lies and find the truth.

When another party-goer disappears Meredith knows the clock is ticking before the killer strikes again. But when everyone has a motive, how can she be sure who was the one who struck the fatal blow? Who is innocent—and who is out for blood?

My thoughts: Detective Meredith Somerset is back. She’s still following the clues to her sister’s kidnapping, still keeping her investigation a secret from everyone but needs to put it to one side as she and partner Tyler need to look into the violent murder of a man at a children’s party.

Everyone is keeping secrets – the wife, the employees, the former business partner, and some of those secrets are worth killing for. There’s an entire nest of snakes to sort through and find the venomous one.

Tyler’s sister Hannah isn’t doing too well, and he’s a bit distracted too. Otherwise he might have spotted Meredith’s rising paranoia before her daughter does. Things are coming to a head and Meredith needs to start talking.

There’s a lot happening here and it’s really interesting, the character development is great, to be honest Tyler and Meredith’s lives are far more intriguing than the case they’re on. Next book I want more of the detectives and fewer murders!

*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 Daves Next Door – Will Carver

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A disillusioned nurse suddenly learns how to care. An injured young sportsman wakes up find that he can see only in black and white. A desperate old widower takes too many pills and believes that two angels have arrived to usher him through purgatory. Two agoraphobic men called Dave share the symptoms of a brain tumour, and frequently waken their neighbour with their ongoing rows.

Separate lives, running in parallel, destined to collide and then explode. Like the suicide bomber, riding the Circle Line, day after day, waiting for the right time to detonate, waiting for answers to his questions: Am I God? Am I dead? Will I blow up this train?

Shocking, intensely emotive and wildly original, Will Carver’s The Daves Next Door is an explosive existential thriller and a piercing examination of what it means to be human … or not.

Will Carver is the international bestselling author of the January David series. He spent his early years in Germany, but returned to the UK at age eleven, when his sporting career took off. He turned down a professional rugby contract to study theatre and television at King Alfred’s, Winchester, where he set up a successful theatre company. He currently runs his own fitness and nutrition company, and lives in Reading with his two children.

Will’s latest title published by Orenda Books, The Beresford is out in July. His previous title Hinton Hollow Death Trip was longlisted for the Not the Booker Prize, while Nothing Important Happened Today was longlisted for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. Good Samaritans was book of the year in Guardian, Telegraph and Daily Express, and hit number one on the ebook charts.

My thoughts: as always, I wonder about Will Carver’s mind. All of his books are incredible but also deeply strange and profound in their own ways. This one was a really interesting ride. I had to read it twice. Because I wasn’t entirely sure I “got” it. I still don’t know. There are little references to some of his other books throughout, all of them seem set in the sane universe – very similar to ours but different some how.

I’m still not entirely sure how many Daves there are or whether any of them are locked in a cupboard still. Read this book and then please come and discuss it with me so I don’t think I’ve completely lost my mind.

*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 Heart Warrior’s Mother – Marilyn Cohen De Villiers

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Kerry-Anne Aarons is over the moon. She and her husband, Imran Patel, are about to become the parents of a baby daughter, and give their son, Leo, an adored little sister. It wasn’t planned, but Kerry knows that Lily’s arrival will complete the perfect little family she has always wanted. She,
Imran and their two children are going to live happily ever after…
Then life intervenes.
Lily is born with a serious congenital heart defect and Kerry’s battle to save her daughter commences. It’s a battle that takes her from the operating theatres and Intensive Care Units of local hospitals to the High Court of South Africa. It’s a battle that strains her relationships with her friends, her parents, and – ultimately – her husband. It’s a battle she is determined to win.
But how much will Kerry have to sacrifice to give Lily the future she deserves?
“A true, cross-generational story of the eternal link between love and pain… the greater the love, the more inevitable the pain. Marilyn Cohen de Villiers once again – with amazing skill – depicts the common humanity that transcends differing cultures.”
James Mitchell – former Book Editor, The Star, Johannesburg
A percentage of the proceeds of this novel will be donated to the Children’s Cardiac Foundation of Africa, an organisation that funds lifesaving heart surgery for children across the continent.

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I was born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa, the youngest daughter of an
extraordinarily ordinary, happy, stable, traditional (rather than observant) Jewish family.
After matriculating at Northview High School, I went to Rhodes University in Grahamstown where I served on the Student’s Representative Council (SRC), competed (badly) in synchronised swimming and completed a B. Journalism degree. This was followed by a “totally useless” – according to my parents – English Honours degree (first class), also at
Rhodes.
With the dawning of the turbulent 1980s, I started my career as a reporter on a daily
newspaper, working first in the news and later, the finance departments. During this period, I interviewed, among others, Frank Sinatra, Jeffrey Archer, Eugene Terre’blanche and Desmond Tutu. I caught crocodiles; avoided rocks and tear smoke canisters in various South African townships as protests and unrest against the Apartheid government intensified;
stayed awake through interminable city council meetings and criminal and civil court cases – and learned to interpret balance sheets.
I also married my news editor, Poen de Villiers. Despite all the odds against us coming as we did from totally different backgrounds, we remained happily married for 32 years and three days. Poen passed away as a result of diabetes complications on 15 March, 2015.

After the birth of our two daughters, I ‘crossed over’ into Public Relations with its regular hours and predictability. My writing – articles, media releases, opinion and thought leadership pieces and so on – was published regularly in newspapers and other media, usually under someone else’s by-line. I returned to my roots as a journalist in a freelance capacity some six years ago, writing mainly business and IT articles.
So why, after a lifetime of writing non-fiction, did I decide to try my hand at fiction?
The catalyst was the unexpected death of a childhood friend and colleague in 2012. This spurred me to take stock of my life, to think about what I had achieved. A few months later, I decided to try and write a novel. This turned out to be A Beautiful Family which was published in July 2014. The fiction bug had bitten, and my second novel, When Time Fails, was launched in September 2015, followed by Deceive and Defend, in 2018. Although this was not intended when I first started writing fiction, the three novels together constitute
The Silverman Saga trilogy.
Unlike my earlier novels, my latest book, The Heart Warrior’s Mother, was inspired by a true story.
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My thoughts: inspired by a true story, this is a bittersweet tale of parental love and devotion. Lily is born with a serious heart defect and must endure multiple surgeries and procedures to keep her alive. This has a terrible toll on her parents, Kerry and Imran, and older brother Leo.

I can understand some of the emotions the family go through. My younger sister was born very premature with brain damage from birth and needed a lot of extra attention, including several operations on her eye to correct a fault. It’s a lot. And it can be incredibly draining. But like my family, Lily’s parents won’t give up on their daughter.

The book is heartbreaking at times, Lily does so well and then relapses, stops eating, gets sick, needs more time in hospital on ventilators as her heart struggles to pump vital oxygenated blood around her tiny body.

Kerry emerges as the hero of the book – she fights against, at times overwhelming, difficulties for her child. From power cuts that threaten to stop Lily’s medical equipment from working, to even having a legal battle on her hands when her husband says enough. Through it all her love for her child shines through. You will need tissues for this one.

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