Category: reviews

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Rule – David Jackson*

ramblingmads

Read my review of The Resident

MY DAD SAYS BAD THINGS
HAPPEN WHEN I BREAK IT…

Daniel is looking forward to his birthday. He wants fish and chips, a big chocolate cake, and a comic book starring his favourite superhero. And as long as he follows The Rule, nothing bad will happen. But Daniel has no idea that he’s about to kill a stranger.

Daniel’s parents know that their beloved and vulnerable son will be taken away. They know that Daniel didn’t mean to hurt anyone, he just doesn’t know his own strength. They dispose of the body. Isn’t that what any loving parent would do? But as forces on both sides of the law begin to close in on them, they realise they have no option but to finish what they started. Even if it means that others will have to die…

Because they’ll do anything to protect Daniel. Even murder.

David Jackson is the author of nine crime novels, including the bestseller Cry Baby and the standalone The Resident. When not murdering fictional people, David spends his days as a university academic in his home city of Liverpool. He lives on the Wirral with his wife and two daughters. Twitter

My thoughts: I wasn’t sure what to expect from the author of the creepiest book I read last year but it wasn’t this. A tale of ordinary people who get caught up in crime and chaos entirely by accident.

I completely understood Daniel, having grown up with and worked with people like him, with learning disabilities and who are childlike even as adults. I felt for his parents, who love him and just want to keep him safe. The nightmare the family become embroiled in is something you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy, no one deserves to be this frightened in their own home.

It was honestly an excellent book but a little heartbreaking 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.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Lost Girls – Heather Young*

ramblingmads

In 1935, six-year-old Emily Evans vanishes from her family’s vacation home on a remote Minnesota lake. Her disappearance destroys the family – her father commits suicide, and her mother and two older sisters spend the rest of their lives at the lake house, keeping a decades-long vigil for the lost child. Sixty years later, Lucy, the quiet and watchful middle sister, lives in the lake house alone. Before her death, she writes the story of that devastating summer in a notebook that she leaves, along with the house, to the only person who might care: her grandniece, Justine. For Justine, the lake house offers freedom and stability – a way to escape her manipulative boyfriend and give her daughters the home she never had. But the long Minnesota winter is just beginning. The house is cold and dilapidated. The dark, silent lake is isolated and eerie. Her only neighbor is a strange old man who seems to know more about the summer of 1935 than he’s telling. Soon Justine’s troubled oldest daughter becomes obsessed with Emily’s disappearance, her mother arrives to steal her inheritance, and the man she left launches a dangerous plan to get her back. In a house haunted by the sorrows of the women who came before her, Justine must overcome their tragic legacy if she hopes to save herself and her children.

HEATHER YOUNG is the author of two novels. Her debut, The Lost Girls, won the Strand Award for Best First Novel and was nominated for an Edgar Award. The Distant Dead has also been nominated for the 2021 Edgar Award for Best Novel. A former antitrust and intellectual property litigator, she traded the legal world for the literary one and earned her MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars in 2011. She lives in Mill Valley, California, where she writes, bikes, hikes, and reads books by other people that she wishes she’d written. Website Twitter

My thoughts: this was really enjoyable, combining a family murder mystery with later generations attempting to move on. Justine returns to her great-aunt’s house, left to her in the will, with her two daughters. She’s running from a life she no longer wants and hopes to begin again in this small town. But the town is full of people who know her family, and know about her missing great-aunt, who never got to grow up.

As she sorts through the remnants of her aunt’s life, and her mother comes to stay, she finds herself drawn into the mystery and secrets of the past.

Alternating between Justine’s present and Lucy’s past, slowly the truth is revealed. It’s very artfully done and very enjoyable too. I felt for Justine – sleepwalking through your own life is no fun, and I understood her worries. She was trying to do the best for her children but stuck due to things like money. Her mother was a bit of a nightmare and Justine’s determination to be different meant she couldn’t be happy.

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

books, reviews

Book Review: The Jasmine Throne – Tasha Suri

ramblingmads

One is a vengeful princess seeking to depose her brother from his throne.
The other is a priestess searching for her family.
Together, they will change the fate of an empire.

Imprisoned by her dictator brother, Malini spends her days in isolation in the Hirana: an ancient temple that was once the source of powerful magic – but is now little more than a decaying ruin.

Priya is a maidservant, one of several who make the treacherous journey to the top of the Hirana every night to attend Malini’s chambers. She is happy to be an anonymous drudge, as long as it keeps anyone from guessing the dangerous secret she hides. But when Malini accidentally bears witness to Priya’s true nature, their destinies become irrevocably tangled . . .

My thoughts:

This was so, so good. All of the women in this book are heroes in different ways; Priya, Malini and Bhumika all want to stop the emperor and save their people, but even the servants like Sima or the rebels like Kritika have their roles to play. All of them want to be strong, to survive in a world where they’ve been held back by tradition and rules.

Priya has to remember her past, and use it to find the sacred living waters hidden inside the Hirana, the temple where she was raised, to access her gifts. Malini has to become something more than the emperor’s hated sister, drugged into delirium and abandoned to her fate. They learn to trust one another and together begin to unite all those who oppose Chandra’s cruelty and liberate themselves.

The plot crackles as it carries you along, slowly developing the characters so you find yourself cheering them on, willing them to succeed, to stay alive, to fight. And the bond between them grows, like the plants of the forest. I really enjoyed the author’s previous books and I can’t wait for the next one in this series – as they come into their power and grow stronger, begin the fight back.

**I was sent an arc of this book by the publisher and a finished copy was in my May Illumicrate box, but all opinions are my own.**

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: This Fragile Earth – Susannah Wise*

ramblingmads

Not long from now, in a recognisable yet changed London, Signy and Matthew lead a dull, difficult life. They’ve only really stayed together for the sake of their six year old son, Jed. But they’re surviving, just about. Until the day the technology that runs their world stops working. Unable to use their phones or pay for anything, Matthew assumes that this is just a momentary glitch in the computers that now run the world.But then the electricity and gas are cut off. Even the water stops running. And the pollination drones – vital to the world, ever since the bees all died – are behaving oddly. People are going missing. Soldiers are on the streets. London is no longer safe.A shocking incident sends Signy and Jed on the run, desperate to flee London and escape to the small village where Signy grew up. Determined to protect her son, Signy will do almost anything to survive as the world falls apart around them. But she has no idea what is waiting for them outside the city…

SUSUSANNAH WISE is an actor and writer who grew up in London and the Midlands. The death of her father in 2015 was the catalyst for THIS FRAGILE EARTH. His preoccupation with astronomy and the beauty of the night sky formed the jumping-off point for the story. Susannah studied at the Faber Academy, graduating in September 2018, during which time she wrote a second, more peculiar novel. Both books have been longlisted for the Mslexia prize. She lives in London with her partner and son.

My thoughts: this was a really interesting take on the end of the world fiction. Suddenly all the power has gone out and the robots we’ve outsourced so much to have started behaving weirdly. Society breaks down, because people, and Signy decides to flee London with her son. They have some encounters along the way, some frightening, some not, but the eerie feeling remains, what are the robots up to?

I felt for Signy, determined to be the best she could in a terrifying reality but I found Jed and his irritating know it all stance annoying – the way he talked to his mother like she was stupid sometimes grated. You’re alone with these two characters a lot of the time as a reader, and you do root for them to survive, the horror they’ve left behind and the way Signy’s fear gets her to cycle all the way to Northamptonshire is incredible. There is, like Pandora’s box, hope in the end thankfully. I’ve read a lot of apocalypse fiction recently (must be something in the air) and the lack of hope can be a struggle.

*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: Pug Actually – Matt Dunn*

ramblingmads

Not all heroes wear capes. Some of them wear collars.

A Dog’s Purpose meets The Happy Ever After Playlist in this charming, pitch-perfect take on relationships as seen through the eyes of a wise pug named Doug, who is determined to play cupid to fix his owner’s love life with his own four paws.

Doug wants his rescuer, Julie, to be happy. He is loyal and loves her unconditionally—two things that can’t be said about Julie’s married boss and lover, Luke. Yet Julie is reluctant to break up, afraid to end up like her eccentric cat-owning neighbor. It’s a prospect that horrifies Doug, too.

Newly divorced Tom, on the other hand, is perfect for Julie. Everyone can see it—except for Julie and Tom. Doug is confident that with his help they will get over their initial animosity toward each other.

As Doug humorously navigates the quirks of human relationships, he knows he can’t give up on Julie—after all, being a “rescue” works both ways.

My thoughts: this was a very fun and funny book as Doug the pug (yes, he knows) attempts to sort out owner Julie’s love life, steering her away from bad decisions and into the arms of Tom the V-E-T.

A dog’s eye view of the world, complete with that weird snorting breathing pugs have, drool and trips to the park, Doug risks everything, including assault by Alsatian, to bring these two humans together. It’s very, very silly and made me laugh quite a bit as Doug struggles to understand humans and why they can’t just get on with it, like uncomplicated dogs.

*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: Whisper of the Runes – Christina Courtenay*

ramblingmads

Read my review of The Whisper of the Runes

Time is no barrier for a love that is destined to be.
She couldn’t be sure that she had travelled through time … but deep down she just knew.
And her only way back had just disappeared.
When jewellery designer Sara Mattsson is propelled back to the ninth century, after cutting herself on
a Viking knife she uncovers at an archaeological dig, she is quick to accept what has happened to her.
For this is not the first Sara has heard of time travel.
Although acutely aware of the danger she faces when she loses the knife – and with it her way to return to her own time – this is also the opportunity of a lifetime. What better way to add authenticity to the Viking and Anglo-Saxon motifs used in her designs?
As luck has it, the first person Sara encounters is Rurik Eskilsson, a fellow silversmith, who is also no
stranger to the concept of time travel. Agreeing that Sara can accompany him to Jorvik, they embark on a journey even more perilous than one through time. But Fate has brought these two kindred spirits together across the ages for a reason…

Amazon UK
Amazon US


Christina Courtenay writes historical romance, time slip and time travel stories, and lives in Herefordshire (near the Welsh border) in the UK. Although born in England, she has a Swedish mother and was brought up in Sweden – hence her abiding interest in the Vikings. Christina is a
former chairman of the UK’s Romantic Novelists’ Association and has won several awards, including
the RoNA for Best Historical Romantic Novel twice with Highland Storms (2012) and The Gilded Fan (2014). Whispers of the Runes (time travel published by Headline 24th June 2021) is her latest novel. Christina is a keen amateur genealogist and loves history and archaeology (the armchair variety).

Website
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram

Giveaway to Win a signed copy of Whispers of the Runes plus a pair of silver Viking style
earrings (Open INT)

My thoughts: this was really enjoyable, Sara was friends with Linnea, the protagonist of The Whisper of the Runes, so she isn’t too frightened when she finds herself in the past with a hunky Norseman. They travel to Jorvik, modern day York, with a bunch of raiders, not that they’re given much choice. Together they plan to return to Sara’s time but in the meantime they begin to build a life.

I really like these books, they’re a fun blend of romance and history, the writing draws you in to the story and the characters keep you engaged. The plot was interesting and I like the way the characters have to adapt to living in different centuries – I’m not sure I could do it with such ease.

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

**Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box
below. 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 reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or
over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will
not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to
the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random
Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.**

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Instructions for Dancing – Nicola Yoon*

ramblingmads

Evie is disillusioned about love ever since her dad left her mum for another woman – she’s even throwing out her beloved romance novel collection.

When she’s given a copy of a book called Instructions for Dancing, and follows a note inside to a dilapidated dance studio, she discovers she has a strange and unwelcome gift. When a couple kisses in front of her, she can see their whole relationship play out – from the moment they first catch each other’s eye to the last bitter moments of their break-up.

For Evie, it confirms everything she thinks she knows about love – that it doesn’t last.

But at the dance studio she meets X – tall, dreadlocked, fascinating – and they start to learn to dance, together. Can X help break the spell that Evie is under? Can he change Evie’s mind about love?

Amazon Goodreads

Nicola Yoon is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Instructions for Dancing, Everything, Everything and The Sun Is Also a Star. She is a National Book Award finalist, a Michael L. Printz Honor Book recipient and a Coretta Scott King New Talent Award winner. Two of her novels have been made into major motion pictures. She’s also co-publisher of Joy Revolution, a Random House young adult imprint dedicated to love stories starring people of color. She grew up in Jamaica and Brooklyn, and lives in Los Angeles with her husband, the novelist David Yoon, and their daughter.

My thoughts: this was a lovely, sweet book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Love isn’t always easy, whatever form it comes in (romantic, family, friends) but that’s life as Evie finds out, navigating her way through her parents’ divorce, her friends’ romance and her own falling in love.

With a little magical gift from a mysterious old lady, Evie can see a love story unfold in people’s kisses, and it scares her, especially when she sees her own, with X, her dance partner and aspiring rock star. But sometimes you have to take a chance, risk your heart and let yourself enjoy life now. A delightful, bittersweet 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: Sleepless – Romy Hausmann*

ramblingmads

It’s been years since Nadja Kulka was convicted of a cruel crime. After being released from prison, she’s wanted nothing more than to live a normal life: nice flat, steady job, even a few friends. But when one of those friends, Laura von Hoven – free-spirited beauty and wife of Nadja’s boss – kills her lover and begs Nadja for her help, Nadja can’t seem to refuse.

The two women make for a remote house in the woods, the perfect place to bury a body. But their plan quickly falls apart and Nadja finds herself outplayed, a pawn in a bizarre game in which she is both the perfect victim and the perfect murderer…

My thoughts: this was very twisted and I felt for Nadja as she found herself at the mercy of her boss and his wife – part of a strange power play that really she doesn’t need to be part of, except they need a scapegoat and she’s the perfect patsy.

The whole time I was reading it, I wanted to yell at Nadja “get out of there”, something was so clearly not right. I understood that she wanted to be friends with Laura again but not like this! Really gripping, and sinister 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.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Winter of Winters – Robert M. Kidd*

ramblingmads


218 BC. Hannibal’s exhausted army staggers down from the last Alpine pass like a rabble of half-
starved savages, the remnants of a once magnificent army that had set out from the Rhodanus with such hope. Now there is no way back. With the legions of Consul Publius Scipio closing fast, Carthage needs its Gaulish allies like never before. But where are the Insubres? Where are the Boii? Where are the thousands of warriors pledged by solemn oath? In the maelstrom of battle, Sphax, nephew of Hannibal, forges a reputation as the scourge of Rome. But will his ingrained recklessness and quest for honour set him at odds with the forbidding genius of his uncle? Only one thing is certain in this winter of winters, a great battle is coming that will decide the fates of Rome and Carthage.

Amazon UK
Amazon US


When Cato the Censor demanded that ‘Carthage must be destroyed,’ Rome did just that. In 146 BC, after a three year siege, Carthage was raised to the ground, its surviving citizens sold into slavery and the fields where this once magnificent city had stood, ploughed by oxen. Carthage was erased from
history.
That’s why I’m a novelist on a mission! I want to set the historical record straight. Our entire history
of Hannibal’s wars with Rome is nothing short of propaganda, written by Greeks and Romans for their Roman clients. It intrigues me that Hannibal took two Greek scholars and historians with him on campaign, yet their histories of Rome’s deadliest war have never seen the light of day.
My hero, Sphax the Numidian, tells a different story!
When I’m not waging war with my pen, I like to indulge my passion for travel and hill walking, and like my hero, I too love horses. I live in Pembrokeshire, West Wales.
Website Twitter Facebook

Giveaway to Win Book 4 in The Histories of Sphax series to be dedicated to the winner, & a signed
dedicated copy too (Open INT)

My thoughts: this was really enjoyable and I felt like I learnt a bit too. I knew that Hannibal took elephants over the Alps (fun fact: I used to work in Hannibal House above the Elephant & Castle shopping centre and routinely had to explain the name) but not a huge amount more about him or his war with the Roman Empire.

I liked Sphax and his men, their love for their horses and their determination to do a good job fighting the Romans was humanising and at times a little sad, especially towards the end. No war ends without casualties and sadness unfortunately. The battlefield tactics were smart and if true, meant Hannibal and his allies were a formidable foe. It was refreshing to read about things from the other side – all those years ago studying the Romans you’re told they were unstoppable and invincible, nice to see that isn’t true.

*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 –Worldwide entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box
below. 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 reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or
over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will
not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to
the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random
Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.**

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Secrets of the Mummy Concierge – Tiffany Norris*

ramblingmads

Create a unique baby name that no one has ever used before… tick
Organise a delivery room photoshoot with hair and make-up for mum-to-be… tick
Arrange a surprise ‘I’m pregnant’ gift for a client’s partner – a cast of her vagina before she gives birth… tick

All in a day’s work for the Mummy Concierge…

Tiffany Norris is the one and only concierge for parenthood in the UK today. Acting as a baby’s personal assistant, on-call therapist and social director, Tiffany strives to be the ultimate parent protector, peacekeeper and negotiator when it comes to bringing a new tiny human into the world. Where demands go way beyond late-night food cravings and into the luxurious world of the super-rich, Tiffany is on hand to help with all kinds of seemingly impossible requests.
From opulent nurseries and stylists for new-borns to 3am calls worrying about just not being enough, Tiffany also shares her own rollercoaster journey to motherhood, as well as speaking honestly about her post-natal depression. Secrets of the Mummy Concierge reminds us all that being a new parent is one of the hardest jobs on earth.
And luckily, The Mummy Concierge is here to help.


Tiffany Norris is a no-nonsense mummy concierge, journalist and pregnancy guru who has worked with hundreds of pregnant mothers, and supports every woman who needs her help with tips and guidance – and sometimes just a listening ear. She is a journalist and presenter for Mumsnet, has written for Cosmo and Grazia and is an expert for The Baby Show. Tiffany owns and runs The Mummy Masterclasses parenting workshops for soon-to-be and new parents. She was the winner of the prestigious Jacqueline Gold women in Business award and has won the Theo Pathetis small business award. Tiffany would love to hear from you – do say hi to her or find out more on: INSTAGRAM, TWITTER and on her WEBSITE

My thoughts:

I don’t have kids but a lot of my friends are either already parents or planning to be soon so this was interesting to read. I don’t think any of them would be able to hire Tiffany or need to, unlike her high maintenance clients, who often need help with the strangest things.

Bits of the book were really funny, the bonkers requests, the strange names some people give their children, the incredibly busy lifestyles of toddlers. But other moments are very sad, the client who’s just had a miscarriage, the nursery that won’t get used. I think what a lot of the clients need is a best friend or their own mum but instead turn to Tiffany for the things they need, and sometimes don’t really.

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