Category: reviews

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: A Little Piece of Paradise – T.A. Williams

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The inheritance of a lifetime… with a catch.
When Sophie’s uncle leaves her a castle in the Italian Riviera in his will, she can’t believe her luck.
The catch? She and her estranged sister, Rachel, must live there together for three months in order to inherit it.
Having worked in Rome for four years, Sophie’s excited to revisit to Italy, even if it reignites memories of a cheating ex who soon learns of her return and wants to rekindle their spark. Sophie realises that distance does indeed make the heart grow fonder – but for her friend back home, Chris, who she discovers is more to her than just a friend.
With the clock ticking, can Sophie and Rachel stick it out and heal old wounds, or are the sisters destined to go their own way at the end of the three months? And does Chris feel the same way about Sophie as she does for him?
A beautiful story of romance and sisterhood, perfect for fans of Alex Brown and Lucy Coleman.

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I’m a man. And a pretty old man as well. I did languages at university a long time ago and then lived and worked in France and Switzerland before going to Italy for seven years as a teacher of English. My Italian wife and I then came back to the UK with our little daughter (now long-
since grown up) where I ran a big English language school for many years. We now live in a sleepy little village in Devonshire. I’ve been writing almost all my life but it was only seven years ago that I finally managed to find a publisher who liked my work enough to offer me my first contract.
The fact that I am now writing escapist romance is something I still find hard to explain. My early books were thrillers and historical novels. Maybe it’s because there are so many horrible things happening in the world today that I feel I need to do my best to provide something to cheer my
readers up. My books provide escapism to some gorgeous locations, even if travel to them is currently difficult.

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My thoughts: I really enjoy T.A. Williams’ books, they’re joyful slices of escapism, full of drama and heartache, set in beautiful locations. And this is no exception. I read this book, set in sunny Italy while it was pouring with rain outside and felt completely transported with Sophie. I don’t have the best relationship with my sister so I empathised with her, having to find a way to spend several months with her estranged one – Rachel.

Throw in a complicated love situation with her best friend Chris (who’s back home in the UK), and it’s a real treat of a book. Plus there’s the lovely woofy Jeeves, which is an excellent bonus. A really enjoyable and relaxing read.

*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 Spy Who Inspired Me – Stephen Clarke

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For legal reasons, The Spy Who Inspired Me does not mention J-mes B-nd. Which is a shame, because it is a
comedy based on the idea that I-n Fl-ming’s famously macho spy might
have been inspired by a woman…
It is April 1944, and chic armchair naval officer Ian Lemming (sic) is accidentally beached in Nazi-occupied Normandy. With no access to a razor or clean underwear, and deprived of his cigarettes, Lemming just wants to go home. But he is stranded with a young, though hugely experienced, female agent called Margaux Lynd, who is on a perilous mission to unmask traitors in a French Resistance network.
So, as she bullies him across France, Lemming receives a painful crash course in spy craft, and starts to fantasize about a fictional agent – male of course – who would operate only in the most luxurious conditions, and lord it over totally subservient women. A world-famous spy is born …
Stephen Clarke said: ‘In World War Two there really were female undercover agents who were ten times tougher and braver than Ian Fleming. I thought it would be great fun to send him (or rather, someone very like him) on a dangerous mission with one of these women who would show him what real spies got up to.’
Stephen Clarke has combined his knowledge of French history with a fondness for Ian Fleming’s novels (despite their old-school machismo) to create The Spy Who Inspired Me, set in the complex background of real Occupied France.

STEPHEN CLARKE is the bestselling author of the Merde series of comedy novels (A Year in the Merde, Merde
Actually, Dial M for Merde et al) which have been translated into more than 20 languages and sold more than
a million copies worldwide. Stephen Clarke has also written several serious-yet-humorous books on Anglo-French history, such as 1000 Years of Annoying the French (a UK
number-one bestseller in both hardback and paperback), How the French Won Waterloo (or Think They Did), and The French Revolution & What Went Wrong. He lives in Paris.
For more information about Stephen Clarke please visit: Website
Follow Stephen on Twitter

My thoughts: this was a very funny, highly entertaining book and I loved how smart, resourceful and sarcastic Margaux was, not a woman any man could flirt into bed. She’s utterly ruthless when she has to be and ten times the spy a certain 007 claims to be. She’s definitely not going to talk, and won’t even tell her unwanted companion the real mission she’s on.

Lemming is a bit less useful, a military man with a nice desk job in London, the son of a former MP who has led a very nice life in the inter war years, all cocktails and tail coats, and is not exactly prepared for sneaking around behind enemy lines and avoiding Nazis. He gets completely thrown by Margaux’s brilliance and wishes for a different kind of woman, the fantasy kind who doesn’t laugh at him and efficiently murder people.

I went through a phase when I was about 11 or 12 where I watched all the Bond films from the beginning and got quite fascinated by the world they portrayed, a mostly made up one to be quite fair, of sophisticated men in dinner suits and woman who all appeared to have knee issues that meant they went all wobbly when a man in a tux appeared. I understood it was all a lot of nonsense and completely ridiculous. I knew there were women who worked as spies and resistance in conflicts all over the world. A man in a nice suit stands out, a woman, well she might catch the eye but you’d be less likely to suspect her. Besides James B needs to retire, he’s been doing his thing for so long, it’s time to collect his pension. Time for Margaux’s spiritual granddaughters to handle business instead.

*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: Murder at the House on the Hill – Victoria Walters

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Once Upon A Crime…
Nancy Hunter and her grandmother Jane Hunter run the Dedley Endings Bookshop, selling crime, thriller and mystery books, in a small, quiet Cotswold village where nothing ever happens…
That is, until the wealthy and reclusive Roth family open up their mansion for the first time in twenty
years, inviting the people of Dedley End to a lavish engagement party.
While everyone is thrilled to finally look around the mansion on the hill, the festivities are quickly cut short when beautiful Lucy, recently married to young Harry Roth, is found dead after being pushed
over the first-floor balustrade.
But who among the guests could have been capable of her murder – and why?
Nancy and Jane decide to investigate – after all, not only do they own a crime themed bookshop, they were also both named after famous literary detectives – but soon wonder if they’ve taken on more than they can handle. Especially when it seems the killer has worked out that they’re hot on their heels…
Can they catch the murderer before the murderer catches up with them? Or will there be a deadly ending to this story?
Join the unlikeliest detective duo for the killer opener of The Dedley End Mysteries series, by a major voice in women’s fiction.

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Victoria Walters writes up-lifting and inspiring stories. She’s the author of the bestselling GLENDALE HALL series, which continues with its third book HOPEFUL HEARTS at
GLENDALE HALL in September, as well as two other standalone novels – SUMMER at the KINDNESS CAFE, and THE SECOND LOVE of my LIFE. She has been chosen for WHSmith Fresh Talent and shortlisted for two RNA awards. Victoria was also picked as an Amazon Rising Star, and her books
have won wide reader acclaim.
Victoria is a full-time author. She lives in Surrey with her cat Harry, and loves books, clothes, music, going out for tea and cake, and posting photos on Instagram.
Find out more about Victoria by following on Instagram on Twitter
or by visiting her blog

My thoughts: this was a really fun crime caper that, despite being totally modern, harks back to the golden age of crime writing with its plot and diligent amateur sleuths. A sort of Agatha Christie for the 12st century!

Nancy, her grandmother Jane, and their friends are great, all very dedicated to getting justice for Lucy, but also buying books and eating cake. Warning: read with snacks, there’s a lot of food being enjoyed here. There’s also a dog and you know books with animals are automatically better by at least 50% so add that to an intelligent, highly enjoyable book and I can’t wait for the next case the staff of Dedley Endings and Co find themselves embroiled in.

*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: Chronicles of Iona: Exile – Paula Fougerolles

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The Chronicles of Iona: Exile tells the story of the Irish monk and Scottish warrior, Saint Columba and Aedan mac Gabran, who would band together to lay the foundation of the nation of Scotland.  They were a real-life 6th-century Merlin and King Arthur and their story has never been told.

The book begins in 563 A.D.  The Roman Empire is long gone, freeing the region of Scotland from the threat of imperial rule but opening it to chaos from warring tribes vying for control. Columba, a powerful abbot-prince, is exiled from Ireland to the pagan colony of Dal Riata on Scotland’s west coast for an act of violence. There he encounters Aedan, the down-and-out second son of the colony’s former king, slain by the Picts.

Together, this unlikely pair travels the breadth of a divided realm, each in search of his own kind of unity.  Their path is fraught with blood feuds, lost love, treachery, dark gods and monsters, but also with miracles and valor.  Beset on all sides, their only hope is to become allies—and to forge a daring alliance with the pagan Picts.

How Columba overcame exile and a crisis of faith to found the famous monastery of Iona (one of the greatest centers of learning in Dark Age Europe) and, from it, the Celtic Church in the British Isles; and how Aedan avenged his father’s death and became, against all odds, the progenitor of Scottish kings and the greatest warlord of his age, begins here.

For both, what begins as a personal imperative becomes a series of events that lead to the foundation of Iona and the kingdom of Scotland—events that literally change the world.

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Paula de Fougerolles has a doctorate from the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, University of Cambridge, and has taught and published in the field. She has lived and traveled extensively throughout Scotland and Ireland, including a prestigious year-long Thomas J. Watson Fellowship in which she criss-crossed Europe in search of the physical remains of the so-called Dark Ages–research which ultimately led to this award-winning historical fiction series. To learn more, visit http://www.pauladefougerolles.com.

My thoughts: this was really interesting because I am a) a massive history nerd, and b) fascinated by the lesser known pockets of history. I’d heard of St Columba and Iona, which is still a holy isle, but I didn’t know much about the history of either.

It’s also interesting, to me at least, to learn about my long distant ancestors, the early Scots and Britons. It’s not a period of time you really learn much about at school – the early medieval ages are pretty much dismissed as “after the Romans left, not much happened….1066” which is obviously untrue and also really lazy.

Anyway, I really enjoyed this book, part historical chronicle, part adventure, replete with woad painted Picts, greedy kings, and Nessie. Columba can come across as a bit useless at times, despite being a warrior monk and pretty intelligent, as a prince, before his calling, he probably led quite an indulged life – he just seems a bit unworldly, but then monks hidden safely away in their monasteries probably were.

Aedan is an interesting chap – second son to a murdered King, a warrior bound by a prophecy he’s not too keen on, in love with a woman he can’t have (she’s married to his brother), sent here and there by his duplicitous cousin. He does have a lovely dog though, his companion and friend through it all. He might look like a big thug but he’s also clever and determined. A sharp contrast to Columba, he’s actually lived quite a rough and tumble life, out in the thick of things.

I’m quite keen to read the rest of the series and find out how these two unlikely individuals get on in their missions – to bring Christ to the heathen Scots, settle Iona and not die, and get revenge for his father’s death, outlive the prophecy and not die.

*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: My Daughter’s Mistake – Kate Hewitt

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I look at my daughter. My darling girl. I remember her tiny hand in mine, her first smile. I recall her tears when she’d tumble over, healed instantly with a band-aid and a little kiss. I have to keep her safe. Even if it means someone else gets hurt…

In the pretty, privileged college town of Milford, New Hampshire, everyone is friendly, everything is safe. And on this cold autumn day, as red and yellow leaves begin to fall from the trees, and everyone wraps up for the first time, it would be easy to believe nothing bad could ever happen here.

Until a screech of tires is heard, a thud, a child’s scream. The crash that sees Jenna’s six-year-old daughter Amy Rose being hit by a car driven by seventeen-year-old Maddie.

Maddie’s mother, Ellen—a college professor with a warm, approachable reputation—insists it must have been an accident. Her daughter is always safe on the road—and she’s vulnerable herself.

But as Amy Rose lies unconscious in hospital, the town begins to take sides. With Ellen, who just wants to defend her daughter. Or with Jenna, a single mother with a past, whose child hovers between life and death…

The truth is that both mothers have secrets they’re trying to keep. And, with Amy Rose’s life hanging in the balance, one of them will stop at nothing to protect the person she loves—her daughter.

An incredible, powerfully emotional and heartbreaking read, with a dilemma that will make everyone wonder what they would do, in either mother’s shoes. Perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult, Jojo Moyes and Diane Chamberlain.

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Kate Hewitt is the author of many romance and women’s fiction novels. A former New Yorker and now an American ex-pat, she lives in a small town on the Welsh border with her husband, five children, and their overly affectionate Golden Retriever. Whatever the genre, she enjoys telling stories that tackle real issues and touch people’s lives. 
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My thoughts: this starts with a shocking event and they keep on coming. It felt like I was reading a Jodi Picoult novel, with all the issues and drama, which I quite enjoyed. I liked the way the two mothers slowly come to terms with each other as they both deal with the emotional fallout of the accident and the events that followed.

Bits of the book are quite sad but the ending ultimately redemptive and the changes the characters made to their lives positive. You feel hopeful that this is the start of something good for all of them. I think William deserves a dog, he doesn’t get much attention and copes with being bullied and forgotten about rather well.

*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 Shadowing – Rhiannon Ward

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When well-to-do Hester learns of her sister Mercy’s death at a Nottinghamshire workhouse, she travels to Southwell to find out how her sister ended up at such a place.

Haunted by her sister’s ghost, Hester sets out to uncover the truth, when the official story reported by the workhouse master proves to be untrue. Mercy was pregnant – both her and the baby are said to be dead of cholera, but the workhouse hasn’t had an outbreak for years.

Hester discovers a strange trend in the workhouse of children going missing. One woman tells her about the Pale Lady, a ghostly figure that steals babies in the night. Is this lady a myth or is something more sinister afoot at the Southwell poorhouse?

As Hester investigates, she uncovers a conspiracy, one that someone is determined to keep a secret, no matter the cost…

My thoughts: a creepy Gothic mystery, complete with ghostly visitors and terrible open graves full of dead women and babies.

This was really good, I liked Hester as a sort of Quaker detective. She starts out investigating her sister’s death but ends up drawn into this much larger, nastier scheme. Her associates in this investigation are a reluctant landlord and his cousin, Matthew and Joan, who help her because they know something isn’t right at the workhouse too.

A clever, twisted plot, full of creepy moments and people who aren’t at all who they seem.

*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 Whisker Twitchers – Kathy Tallentire, illustrated by Becky Stout

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Grandad is up to something.
When Bella wakes up to find him gone, she heads to the surface to look for him – but the world looks different.
Can Bella conquer her fear of the unknown to find out what is going on? And where is Grandad?
For bunny lovers everywhere.

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Writing is a relatively new part of my life. When I go to schools and am introduced as an author it is still a bit of a surprise to me!
It was the birth of my daughter (in 2016) that changed everything. I had spent many years building up my career in accountancy, accumulating business qualifications and generally working hard in that one field.
Spending time with my little girl and reading hundreds of different children’s stories really inspired
me. My first book, Nana Duck, was published in 2017. It did well and I found that I enjoyed visiting schools and nurseries. There is nothing like reading your story and getting great reactions from a class full of eager little children.
Now, I’m having ideas all of the time. I’m so looking forward to bringing more stories into the world, to seeing my characters come to life through the talented illustrators that I work with, and inspiring more children in my local area and beyond.

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Giveaway to Win 2 x Signed Copies of The Whisker Twitchers (Open to UK Only)

My thoughts: this book is adorable. I don’t have children but I do have a lovely goddaughter, who will love this book. The beautiful illustrations of bunnies in the snow, the lovely story about Grandad and Bella. My Grandad is pretty much my favourite person ever – he calls me his best friend and he’s my hero. So I loved the relationship here between Bella and her Grandad as she sets off into the snow to find him. Honestly this book is ridiculously cute.

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

*Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter link. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources
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Blog Tour: The Perfect House – R.P. Bolton

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They’ve finally found their forever home. So why is it tearing them apart?

A fresh start
Ellie knows she has found her dream home – number six Moss Lane. The place she and Tom can settle down, raise their new baby and start again.

A dark secret
But why do their new neighbours think they’re so brave for moving in? Why are Ellie’s keys never where she left them? And why can Ellie hear strange noises in the night that Tom can’t?

A living nightmare
Suddenly their dream house no longer feels so perfect and when Ellie learns the truth about number six’s dark past, a truth that Tom has been keeping secret from her, she no longer knows who she can trust.

Has their perfect home become her worst nightmare?

My thoughts: I felt for Ellie, she’s carrying around guilt about the past, no one seems willing to suggest post-natal depression or really even listen to her. Her partner’s too preoccupied with work to support her, and she’s very isolated. She doesn’t seem to have many friends, her mum lives in Spain and the new house seems a bit remote.

Add that to all the rumours and half stories she’s heard about the house and no wonder she’s seeing ghosts. I grew up in a really old house, they can be really creepy, and when you’re sleep deprived and suggestible I imagine you do start hearing and seeing things.

I was glad she eventually got some help, although it really shouldn’t have been that hard. But the isolation and the fact that no health visitor popped by, and she wouldn’t tell anyone about her past mental health issues, didn’t help. There’s such a lot of stigma around these things that I don’t blame her for being scared of someone thinking she was a bad mother. Luckily babies are both super resilient and don’t form memories much till they’re about 3 or 4.

Anyway, this was an interesting concept and I was glad the truth about poor Mary and her shitty dad eventually saw the light, Ellie made some friends, Tom stopped putting his job first and the house stopped being filled with nightmares.

*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: Secrets to the Grave – Steve Frech

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When a teenage girl is found dead on a quiet suburban street, Detective Meredith Somerset is called to the scene. The victim is shoeless, the only clue to her identity a silver medallion hidden in her grass-stained sock. Did she run from her killer across the smooth lawns of Willow Lane? And if so, how did no one in the surrounding houses see or hear a thing?

As Meredith investigates, she’s haunted by flashbacks to the day her little sister vanished—the day Meredith should have been watching her. With a murder to solve, she doesn’t have time to dwell on her sister’s unsolved disappearance.

Meredith needs answers, or she’ll never find closure. But Willow Lane has more than one mystery behind its doors—and to find the killer, Meredith must venture into a community that’s determined to keep its secrets hidden at any cost…

A nail-biting crime thriller with a shocking twist, perfect for fans of Harlan Coben, Robert Dugoni and Lisa Regan.

My thoughts: this was an excellent police procedural crime novel. You never know what’s going on with the neighbours. In this small community, there’s an awful lot of secrets and detectives Somerset and Tyler are going to have to find them out in order to solve their case.

I didn’t entirely care about the personal storylines – Meredith’s missing sister didn’t really seem an essential plot and wasn’t as interesting as the murdered girl on Willow Lane storyline. That had lots of intriguing possibilities and then there were all the residents and their various secrets and terrible personalities to sort through. I found that much more appealing.

*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 Improbable Adventures of Miss Emily Soldene – Helen Batten

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The fascinating biography of an almost forgotten star of the Victorian stage brought back to life by the Sunday Times bestselling author of Sisters of the East End.
Emily Soldene was a courageous actor-manager whose life spanned the entire Victorian period. She challenged the stereotype of Victorian women and showed just what women
could achieve with enough determination. From in humble working-class beginnings born
as the daughter of a Clerkenwell milliner in 1838, she rose to become a celebrated leading lady, director and formidable impresario creating one of the era’s most celebrated opera
companies. Her career took her to theatres across America and Australia, as well as throughout Great Britain, before reinventing herself as a journalist and writer in her fifties.
She wrote a weekly column for the Sydney Evening News, as well as a novel and a memoir, and scandalised the capital with her revelations. Emily Soldene died in 1912.
A darling of London’s music halls and theatre land, Emily counted Charles Dickens and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood as friends and mingled with the Rothschilds, Oscar Wilde and
aristocrats. Charting her international triumphs and calamitous disasters, from taking Broadway by storm, to befriending cowboys in the Wild West and touring the Australian outback, Helen Batten vividly recreates the era and a riotous life that has faded from the limelight.
Putting Emily Soldene firmly back in centre stage, The Improbable Adventures of Miss Emily Soldene is a portrait of an irrepressible character who trod the boards, travelled the globe and tore up the Victorian rule book.

HELEN BATTEN is the Sunday Times bestselling author of Sisters of the East End, and of The Scarlet Sisters which told the story of her grandmother’s life. She is also the co-author of Confessions of a Showman: My Life in the Circus, Gerry Cottle’s autobiography.
After reading history at Cambridge, Helen studied journalism at
Cardiff University. She went on to become a producer and director at the BBC. She now works as a writer and psychotherapist. She lives in West London with her three daughters.

My thoughts: the author is a distant relative of Emily Soldene so this added a nice extra dimension to the story of one of history’s forgotten women. Emily was a brilliant woman, reinventing herself from illegitimate daughter to darling of music halls and opera houses. Her talent and sheer determination saw her battle back from failure time and again, eventually becoming a writer and journalist.

She was feted across the UK, America and Australia, blazing a trail, which saw her, her sister Clara and her niece Katie all spend time on stage. But Emily was the star. An incredible biography of a truly remarkable woman.

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