Category: reviews

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: With This Kiss – Carrie Hope Fletcher

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If you knew how your love story ends, would you dare to begin?

From the outside, Lorelai is an ordinary young woman with a normal life. She loves reading, she works at the local cinema and she adores living with her best friend. But she carries a painful burden, something she’s kept hidden for years; whenever she kisses someone on the lips, she sees how they are going to die.

Lorelai has never known if she’s seeing what was always meant to be, or if her kiss is the thing that decides their destiny. And so, she hasn’t kissed anyone since she was eighteen.

Then she meets Grayson. Sweet, clever, funny Grayson. And for the first time in years she yearns for a man’s kiss. But she can’t…or can she? And if she does, should she try to intervene and change what she sees?

Spellbinding, magical and utterly original, With This Kiss is one love story you will never forget.

My thoughts: Lorelai avoids falling in love – when she kisses someone she can see how they’ll die, which is a pretty traumatic super power quite frankly and I don’t blame her for being wary. But then of course she meets the one person who could be the love of her life and runs away from him. Literally. Bits of this book are really funny, as is her hilarious best friend.

It’s also a sweet love story about finding the person you love and deciding to be with them regardless of any hardships that might come your way – which is what we all do really. It’s why the traditional marriage vows include “for better, for worse”, love is a decision. A risk, and one Lorelai realises she can take even if she knows how it ends.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Breakneck Point – T. Orr Munro

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CSI Ally Dymond’s commitment to justice has cost her a place on the major investigations team. After exposing corruption in the ranks, she’s stuck working petty crimes on the sleepy North Devon coast.

Then the body of nineteen-year-old Janie Warren turns up in the seaside town of Bidecombe, and Ally’s expert skills are suddenly back in demand.

But when the evidence she discovers contradicts the lead detective’s theory, nobody wants to listen to the CSI who landed their colleagues in prison.

Time is running out to catch a killer no one is looking for – no one except Ally. What she doesn’t know is that he’s watching, from her side of the crime scene tape, waiting for the moment to strike.

My thoughts: I’m very familiar with North Devon as part of my family comes from there and several relatives still live there. I’ve spent many holidays down there visiting my rellies, and am weirdly familiar with supermarkets and traffic queues of the area, it’s what happens when you’re staying with residents, not in the more “Holiday” areas.

Breakneck Point is set in that world, the part tourists don’t see, the rundown estates and unlovely bits in which real people live their whole lives, not eating fish and chips washed down with a Mr Whippy for every meal.

I liked Ally, she’s very dedicated and dogged when it comes to her work, she doesn’t like people who break the rules and won’t lie to get a conviction, even if she knows the scumbag’s guilty. But that backfires on her and leaves her without a friend in the police when she spots inconsistencies and evidence they’ve overlooked that could have prevented further deaths.

But when it comes to her daughter, she’s not as focused as maybe she should be and I get that too. It can be hard, teenagers are secretive and don’t share, she and Megan have lost some of their closeness – which is normal, but the fact she’s been a little distracted means she’s even more passionate about solving this case when Megan becomes a victim.

The writing was really clever, flipping between viewpoints and tenses – you get a really disturbing insight into the mind of a violent criminal as well as the attempt to stop him. The author worked as a CSI and draws on her knowledge here, and that adds a layer of expertise and insider details to the story.

*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: Welcome to Your Life – Bethany Rutter

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52 weeks. 52 dates. 52 chances to find love.

Serena Mills should be at her wedding.

Instead, she’s eating an ice cream sundae and drinking an obscenely large glass of wine in a Harvester off the M25.

Everyone thinks she’s gone mad. She’s jilted the man everyone told her she was ‘so lucky’ to find. But Serena wants to find love. A love she deserves – not one she should just feel grateful for.

So, she escapes to the big city and sets herself a challenge: 52 weeks. 52 dates. 52 chances to find love. It should be easy, right?

Bethany Rutter is a writer, podcaster and plus-sized influencer. Her adult debut, Welcome To Your Life, came to life through conversations with her friends over drinks in London. Swapping stories of toe-curling online dates, workplace harassment, new crushes, fashion discoveries and workout classes, she wanted to write a heroine who turns her life upside-down just ahead of her thirtieth birthday and is plunged into the wonderful chaos of contemporary urban life.

In her words: ‘My heroine Serena Mills makes huge decisions. She wants things for herself, she has Big Feelings, she desires people and is desired in return. And… she’s fat. Of course, so much about her story has little or nothing to do with her body, and I hope Welcome To Your Life resonates with you, whatever your body looks like and whatever you feel towards it. This is just one story that I wanted to tell, where a fat girl gets to be the protagonist of her own story, rather than a silly footnote in someone else’s

Welcome To Your Life is dedicated to ‘anyone who’s ever held themselves back’ and encourages us all to shake off our insecurities and wholeheartedly embrace everything that life has to offer.

My thoughts: I am a massive Bethany Rutter fan, from her blogging days to her fashion on Instagram to her books and the earrings she’s currently making. I’ve followed her for ages, love What Page Are You On? podcast with Alice Slater (another super talented writer) and was thrilled to be on this blog tour.

Welcome to Your Life does not disappoint. I loved it, I loved plus size Serena, from jilting her almost husband to deciding to date 52 men, to realising she could be whichever version of herself that she wanted. I loved her friends Lola and Nicole, I loved the tour of London pubs and restaurants, which made it all feel more realistic. I could not put this down. It’s funny and honest and I related hard, despite being nothing like Serena – except fat.

I completely recognised her feelings about her body and her worries that men were either fetishising her or being creepy. But thankfully that wasn’t true and some of the men she met in her epic dating adventure were nice and sincere and up for fun.

I really enjoyed this one, I thought I probably would as I liked Bethany’s two YA books as well, but you never know! Luckily this was absolutely cracking and left me with a warm happy glow.

*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: The Grooms Wore White – Charlie Lyndhurst

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Even wedding planners struggle to get it right…
Jason is the best wedding planner around, known as the Fairy Godfather to the couples whose special days he plans. But coming up against workplace prejudice is taking a toll on his love for his job.
His mother-in-law, Mel, has just discovered her husband has been cheating on her with a younger woman. Nearing fifty, jobless and struggling, she needs to work out who she is aside from a mum and a wife, and get her life back on track.
Meanwhile, up-tight wedding planner Harriet is struggling to find her own true love – if such a thing exists. Between liars, married men, and disaster dates, she thinks she may never find the one. And
her outdated attitude toward LGBT marriages make her even more bitter.
When Jason starts Extra Weddings – helping people marry whoever they like, in whatever way they want – he, Mel and Harriet find themselves coming together to help couples make memories to last
a lifetime. But can they bridge their gaps, and be a unit when others need them most?
Fans of Casey McQuiston, Lindsey Kelk and Justin Myers are invited to the most heart-warming and extravagant wedding event of 2022.

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Charlie Lyndhurst is an award-shortlisted gay romance novelist, writing tutor, ghostwriter, and the Diversity Officer of the Romantic Novelists’ Association. The Grooms Wore White is his first commercial crossover novel.
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My thoughts: I really enjoyed this, Jason and Pete were lovely and Mel getting her groove back made me cheer. Her stupid husband deserved everything he’d done to himself. It took a while to warm to Harriet, whose opinions were stuck in the 1950s, and needed a good sharp shock to jump into the 2020s.

I liked the clever use of almost the correct names – The Fridays, Appledrama, for real bands and brands, that made me laugh. Having planned my own wedding, nightmare!, I think I’d hire a wedding planner like Jason if I ever had to do it again. Let someone else deal with all the chaos and stress.

Funny, thought provoking, sweet and heartfelt, a really enjoyable book. Hope for more from this author soon.

*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: Find You – Mary Burton

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The chase is on in this utterly suspenseful and unputdownable mystery from New York Times bestselling author Mary Burton.

After being on the run for the last nine months, Kristen Rodale has finally settled in a small town in Virginia, where she hopes her dangerous and deadly brother Benito can never find her.
 
But former FBI agent, Dane Cambia, has other ideas: after his sister died at the hands of Kristen’s brother, he wants to hunt Kristen down and use her as bait to get his final revenge on Benito.
 
Cambia manages to locate Kristen, setting his plan in motion. But playing into the killer’s hands is just the beginning of Kristen and Cambia’s new nightmare…

My thoughts: I felt a bit sorry for Kristen, none of this is her fault and she’s been used as a pawn by her brother and then by Dane and Lucien. All she wants is the quiet life, keeping her head down, in a place where she finally feels safe.

Yes, she should have testified but how many people might have died protecting her on the way to court. Dane manipulates her and uses her, rather than just being honest and asking for her help.

I got a bit frustrated reading this because I don’t agree that falling for Dane was the right storyline, Kristen should have kicked him out when she learnt the truth and stayed with Sheridan and Crystal, running the yoga studio. Though I am glad her awful thug of a brother got his comeuppance in the end.

*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 Shot – Sarah Sultoon

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Samira is an up-and-coming TV journalist, working the nightshift at a major news channel and yearning for greater things. So when she’s offered a trip to the Middle East, with Kris, the station’s brilliant but impetuous star photographer, she leaps at the chance In the field together, Sami and Kris feel invincible, shining a light into the darkest of corners … except the newsroom, and the rest of the world, doesn’t seem to care as much as they do. Until Kris takes the photograph. With a single image of young Sudanese mother, injured in a raid on her camp, Sami and the genocide in Darfur are catapulted into the limelight. But everything is not as it seems, and the shots taken by Kris reveal something deeper and much darker … something that puts not only their careers but their lives in mortal danger. Sarah Sultoon brings all her experience as a CNN news executive to bear on this shocking, searingly authentic thriller, which asks immense questions about the world we live in. You’ll never look at a news report in the same way again…

Sarah Sultoon is a journalist and writer, whose work as an international news executive at CNN has taken her all over the world, from the seats of power in both Westminster and Washington to the frontlines of Iraq and Afghanistan. She has extensive experience in conflict zones, winning three Peabody awards for her work on the war in Syria, an Emmy for her contribution to the coverage of Europe’s migrant crisis in 2015, and a number of Royal Television Society gongs. As passionate about fiction as nonfiction, she recently completed a Masters of Studies in Creative Writing at the University of Cambridge, adding to an undergraduate language degree in French and Spanish, and Masters of Philosophy in History, Film and Television. When not reading or writing she can usually be found somewhere outside, either running, swimming or throwing a ball for her three children and dog while she imagines what might happen if… Her debut thriller The Source is currently in production with Lime Pictures, and was a Capital Crime Book Club pick and a number one bestseller on Kindle.

My thoughts: this book was so good, gripping, shocking and impossible to put down. There is something about the character of Kris that is so compelling, but then all the women in the book would probably agree.

Heading to some of the worst atrocities in the world (Iraq, Afghanistan, Darfur) with naive but talented Sami at his side, Kris captures the human interest stories we, as consumers of news and media, want. The ones that are more than just facts and figures. Quite literally, the faces of these human tragedies. Sami puts them together for the team back home, not realising there’s something much darker going on.

The final section of the book flips everything that’s gone before upside down. Suddenly there’s something else going on, acts of mercy or cruelty? Sami’s naivete was a shield, but others were watching and picking the story out. Absolutely brilliant writing, honestly not at all where I thought this book was going. Not giving anything away, so you’ll have to read it yourself.

*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: Dread Wood – Jennifer Killick

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Turn the lights on. Lock the door. Things are about to get SERIOUSLY SCARY!

The brand new must-read middle-grade novel from the author of super-spooky Crater Lake. Perfect for 9+ fans of R.L.Stine’s Goosebumps

It’s basically the worst school detention ever. When classmates (but not mate-mates) Hallie, Angelo, Gustav and Naira are forced to come to school on a SATURDAY, they think things can’t get much worse. But they’re wrong. Things are about to get seriously scary.

What has dragged their teacher underground? Why do the creepy caretakers keeping humming the tune to Itsy Bitsy Spider? And what horrors lurk in the shadows, getting stronger and meaner every minute…? Cut off from help and in danger each time they touch the ground, the gang’s only hope is to work together. But it’s no coincidence that they’re all there on detention. Someone has been watching and plotting and is out for revenge…

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Jennifer Killick is the author of Crater Lake, the Alex Sparrow series, and middle-grade sci-fi adventure Mo, Lottie and the Junkers. She regularly visits schools and festivals, and her books have three times been selected for The Reading Agency’s Summer Reading Challenge. She lives in Uxbridge, in a house full of children, animals and Lego. When she isn’t busy mothering or step-mothering (which isn’t often) she loves to read, write and run, as fast as she can.

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My thoughts: The Breakfast Club is one of my favourite films, with its group of misfits thrown together for a Saturday detention – something my school thankfully didn’t have. But Dread Wood school does, and this might be the worst detention ever because there’s something lurking in the grounds of the school and it’s hungry.

I should also state I am massively arachnophobic and reading this book freaked me out – a lot. If spiders aren’t your jam, don’t read this just before bed.

Angelo, Hallie, Gus and Naira are thrown together but they combine their individual smarts and talents as a group to fight back against those who want to hurt them and save the day, if not the school, but who hasn’t wanted to blow up at least one part of their school?

The first in a new series featuring this intrepid gang – The Loser Club – as Gus dubs them, it’s funny, smart and a bit creepy. There’s also bonus points for positive disability rep and diversity – no one is negative about the differences between them, which is great to see. And the gang do learn their lesson – they didn’t need to be menaced by monsters and crazed scientists to learn it either. Which bodes well for the rest of the series. Can’t wait.

*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 Book Share – Phaedra Patrick

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It’s never too late to start a new chapter…

The utterly charming and feel-good new novel from the bestselling author of The Secrets of Sunshine and The Library of Lost and Found.

Liv Green loves losing herself in a good book. But her everyday reality is less romantic, cleaning houses for people who barely give her the time of day. So when she lands a job housekeeping for her personal hero and mega-bestselling author Essie Starling, she can’t believe her luck.

When Essie dies unexpectedly, Liv is left with a life-changing last wish: to complete Essie’s final novel. To do so, change-averse Liv will have to step away from the fictitious worlds in her head, and into Essie’s shoes. As she begins to write, she uncovers a surprising connection between the two women – and a secret that will change Liv’s life forever…

Brimming with joy and packed with a sparkling cast of characters, The Book Share is a moving reminder that it’s never too late to re-write your own story – perfect for fans of All the Lonely People and The Authenticity Project.

My thoughts: as someone who wants to write but keeps getting sidetracked by life, I completely related to Liv, her passion isn’t for cleaning, like mine isn’t office admin, but it pays the bills and that is more important than living your dreams sometimes. When one of her cleaning clients is an award winning author however, and needs her help, Liv is more than happy to step in and make sure Essie’s last book, her twentieth, makes it to print by the deadline.

Even though it completely messes up Liv’s life, keeping all the secrets and making sure no one learns the truth, it also liberates her in many ways. She realises that she can have a life that makes her happy, and finds a way to really talk to her husband Jake about the things that they’ve both been worrying about.

I loved Liv, her determination to finish the book, her love for her family, her ballsy, take no prisoners attitude and the way she forgives Essie her secrets. Tremendous fun to read, sweet and heartfelt.

*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 Killer’s Family – Miranda Smith

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We should never have kept our father’s secret.

Before, my sisters and I were close. Now, a year after our father’s funeral, we barely speak to each other. Molly won’t accept the truth. Rachel can’t forgive him. And I spend all my time digging through his life, trying to understand.

Then we hear the news. A woman has been found by the docks, her wedding ring stolen. The reporter says it appears the local serial killer has returned…

But I know that can’t be right, because I know who the killer was.

Henry Martin. Our father.

Someone is sending us a message. Someone knows we lied.

Now my sisters and I must work together to find out who is targeting us. How do they know what we’ve hidden? What do they want? And what other secrets lie buried in the past, putting us all in danger?

A brilliantly twisty suspense thriller that will have you flying through the pages and gasping at the twist. Fans of Lisa Jewell, Gillian Flynn and Ruth Ware will love The Killer’s Family.

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Listen to an extract here

Miranda Smith writes psychological and domestic suspense. She is drawn to stories about ordinary people in extraordinary situations. Before completing her first novel, she worked as a newspaper staff writer and a secondary English teacher. She lives in East Tennessee with her husband and three young children.

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https://mirandasmithwriter.com/

My thoughts: this was very clever, full of twists and turns and kept me guessing all along. Three sisters, united in grief are divided when they find out their father’s darkest secret – he was a serial killer. Dying suddenly his hidden cache of trophies and sinister photos weren’t destroyed, and when his grown up daughters find them hidden beneath the floor in his shed, they’re devastated. One of them, Cara is a crime writer married to a detective. Can they keep their dad’s secret? And what happens when a series of copycat killings begin, targeting people close to them?

Grief is a horrible thing and it can make us react in all sorts of ways, as it does here. Each of the sisters react in different ways and their discovery drives a deep wedge between them, they all want to do something with the knowledge, whether it’s destroy it or tell the police. And that pushes them apart.

The writing is tense and compelling, the new killings place the sisters right in the centre but not in ways they’re willing to point out too closely to Cara’s husband Tate, who happens to be on the investigative team. There’s a couple of huge twists towards the end, no spoilers, that you won’t see coming, they’re so cleverly done. But everything gets cast in a new light and honestly, the ending leaves you with questions, in the best way. Really enjoyable stuff.

*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: A Moment of Faith – Martin Svaneborg

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Copenhagen, 1840 – Fighting to reconcile his obligations with a quest for romance, the eccentric philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard, rushes through the cobbled streets, thrusting himself into the arms

of Regine and a disastrous engagement.
Copenhagen, 1855 – Withering away in a hospital bed, Bitter and alone, Kierkegaard conjures up a preposterous scheme. A vendetta against the Bishop of Copenhagen, and a mission to save the
future of love.
Copenhagen, now – Introvert Christian Kardahl, meets devout and mysterious Emma for the first time. Two days later, Christian comes across an old letter aimed to destroy a famous, eccentric philosopher. When a sudden murder is added to the mystery, the past has caught up. Christian and Emma are drawn into an involuntary quest that will make them question their belief in history and, unless they can sort out the puzzle, their faith and love will be forever doomed.
‘Brilliantly written, a bridge between the present and Kierkegaard past’ – Book Reviewer

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With a background in musical theatre as both an actor, singer, and dancer, Martin
Svaneborg has spent his teenage and adult life as a storyteller. In 2018, driven mainly by his interest in the history of religion, Martin started studying theology at the University of Copenhagen while
exploring other ways of telling stories as a theatre director, speech coach, and speaker, hence the transition to novel writing felt natural, and his debut novel is a fusion of his growing interest for the
personal life of the philosophers he encountered during his studies and the desire to tell an adventurous love story. Also, he, like Kierkegaard, has a thing for nice, long sentences.

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My thoughts: I remember reading about Kierkegaard when I was studying theology and philosophy, although it was some time ago. So I was intrigued by this book, which moves between Kierkegaard’s life and a modern day mystery.

Christian has become fascinated by an unusual offshoot of Christianity and visits a church that follows this doctrine. There are not many congregants so he stands out as a stranger. He is drawn into a race against time to find the original deeds to the church building and save it from being sold and demolished. He and his new friend Emma need his knowledge of Kierkegaard and her knowledge of the church to solve the mystery.

Once this got going it was really enjoyable, I liked the glimpses into past Denmark and the adventure Christian and Emma find themselves on – hunting for hidden archives in the library and then being tracked to England, where they’re threatened in a church and chased to the airport. It’s all very exciting, gung-ho stuff.

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