Category: reviews

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Coastal Cahoots Club – Victoria Johns*

ramblingmads

Thirty-year-old Tessa Archer is an emotional eater who is full of self-loathing and lacking confidence – she’s a woman who is desperate to change if only she had the nerve.

Her cause isn’t helped by her family whose all-round lack of regard, belief and simple love make her life a whole lot harder. Unable to match up to her ‘perfect’ siblings, a brutal family dinner pushes Tessa to take the first tentative steps towards transformation. Inventing a girls’ weekend away, she plans a short break in Cornwall – alone. It’s a place where she hopes she can feel reinvigorated about life, even if she’s terrified of the prospect. This is a last-ditch attempt to prove to her family that she isn’t the scared, useless ‘lump’ they think she is.
Once in St. Ives, with no expectations or standards to uphold, Tessa finally feels as though she can breathe, and not just because the air is cleaner. She pushes herself to meet new people and finally concentrate on her own life.

With the help of the Coastal Cahoots Club, a group of crazy elderly ladies, led by the indomitable Winnie, a new Tessa emerges. There’s even the possibility of love with Winnie’s sexy grandson Ben – if only he was willing to open up his heart.
Who knew a group of old aged pensioners, a sexy bar owner, a militant seamstress and a beautiful Cornish coastal town could bring such magic to a person’s life?
Read this beautiful and poignant story and fall in love with the wonderful cast of characters and their gorgeous surroundings, because life can be amazing if you just learn to trust it.

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Victoria Johns is a writer who enjoys sharing a happily ever after and believes that it’s every good girls dream to experience a steamy, hot one.

Growing up in North West England in a large family surrounded by love and support she found her Prince Charming many years ago and enjoys living the life they’ve made with their son. Being a mum, wife and in full time employment means multi tasking like a super power!
When she’s not writing she’s overdosing on crisps, Rosé wine, trashy TV and raunchy reads.

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My thoughts:

This book was a lot of fun,very funny, quite filthy and a bit of a treat all round. Set in St Ives, Cornwall (I miss the sea) in a time where physical contact is allowed, there’s lots of surfing, drinking, chippy teas, snogging and chasing old ladies up hills!

Tessa is a character to really root for, she’s feeling a bit lost in her life and needs a serious reboot. Enter Winnie and the other dangerous grannies of the Coastal Cahoots Club, armed with years of knowledge, buckets of tea and a walker she will whack you with; these “old dears” will get Tessa to see herself the way they do. Oh, and engineer a romance along the way!

A story about learning to love yourself, live the life you want and finding happiness.

*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: Another Man – Leslie Croxford*

ramblingmads

Haunted by a sense of inner emptiness, Frank Ward struggles to reconcile with his tormented past. He is aided by a series of intense encounters, as well as by an unexpected plunge into researching the life of so-called “Good Nazi”, Albert Speer.

My thoughts:

Frank returns to the Spanish village he spent a holiday in as a young student; now a published author, he searches for his next subject, a historian, he becomes fascinated by the story of Albert Speer’s driver, who recuperated in the village after being repatriated from Russia.

Frank becomes friends with Bruno, a pianist, and they discuss Speer over and over, much to the boredom of Bruno’s wife, Frank’s landlady and other women. When Paloma, Bruno’s daughter, arrives back in the village, she and Frank begin to fall in love.

The switches back and forth from first to third person narration are interesting, they add to the unsettling subject matter, the life of Albert Speer, Hitler’s architect, and a man who built his own myth, that of being a “good Nazi” while in Spandau prison for twenty years. Frank and Bruno are obsessed by him and the weak link to the village where they are. They endlessly debate whether he was a liar (as shown after his death) or as he wanted to be seen – ignorant of the horrors going on around him.

It’s a rather redundant debate, one quick Google search would have answered their questions, and I think that’s why the other characters get a bit fed up with them. Paloma, who actually knew the recuperating driver, tolerates it slightly better than her mother.

But Frank seems to be one of those people who broods on the past, their own included. He thinks about his previous trip to this village, to stay with his friend Juan, and the girl he met then. His Speer obsession becomes so all consuming it stops his melancholy.

It’s an interesting book, beautifully written, even if I got a bit bored of their fixation on one of the chief Nazis, and the fact that we know there’s so such thing as a “good” 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.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Gifted – Andy Lewer*

ramblingmads

The last thing Abigail Everett thought would happen over spring break was having her world shift into an entirely new perspective. Unfortunately for her, that’s exactly what happened.

Between struggling to master her newly-formed abilities, coming face-to-face with dark, deceiving mind tricks by those that seek her leadership, and learning of a mythical world that she never deemed possible, Abigail risks everything with the future of mankind and the safety of its’ people in her hands.

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Andy is an urban fantasy/fictional writer that loves a healthy dose of character development. She’s a true Potter-head at heart with a deep love of nature, cooking, and comfy clothes. Andy is constantly plotting and pondering her works to come and has many exciting things in store.

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My thoughts:

This was an interesting take on the teenager discovers they have special powers trope, as Abby’s newly appeared heritage puts her in danger. There are two factions who both want her to lead, but for different reasons. Unfortunately she’s in the dark about all of this and makes mistakes.

The book was fairly short and sweet, setting up the conflicts to come – between the two sides but also within Abby, and between the bad boy who says he loves her and the best friend who’s loved her for years.


*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 Fall of Koli – M.R. Carey*

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Read my reviews of Part One and Part Two of The Rampart Trilogy


M. R. Carey’s Rampart Trilogy is ‘an epic post-apocalyptic fable’ (Kirkus), set in a future where nature has turned against us. Now, in the breathtaking final chapter, the world that was lost comes back to haunt those who survived – as Koli’s journey comes to its astonishing close.

My thoughts:

Koli, Cup and Ursala have made it to The Sword of Albion, but all is not right there and they and their cyber pal Monono must pull out all the stops to escape from more danger.

Meanwhile in Mythen Rood, war with Half-Ax and the so-called Peacemaker is coming and all they can do is prepare to fight. Spinner really comes into her own as she plans and schemes to get the advantage. They may be few but they’re brave.

As the various plots and adventures start to weave towards the finale of this trilogy set in a possible future, Koli grows up and starts to see what he can accomplish with friends by his side and the good kind of tech (although Monono has her darker moments too).

This was probably my favourite of the three books chronicling Koli’s life and times, partly because he felt like a much more developed character, in keeping with the increase in his knowledge and the shedding of his naivetè. But Cup and Monono are still my favourite characters, both know who and what they are and are stronger for it.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Source – Sarah Sultoon*

ramblingmads

1996. Essex. Thirteen-year-old schoolgirl Carly lives in a disenfranchised town dominated by a military base, struggling to care for her baby sister while her mum sleeps off another binge.

When her squaddie brother brings food and treats, and offers an exclusive invitation to army parties, things start to look a little less bleak…

2006. London. Junior TV newsroom journalist Marie has spent six months exposing a gang of sex traffickers, but everything is derailed when New Scotland Yard announces the re-opening of Operation Andromeda, the notorious investigation into allegations of sex abuse at an army base a decade earlier.

As the lives of these two characters intertwine around a single, defining event, a series of utterly chilling experiences is revealed, sparking a nail-biting race to find the truth… and justice.

A tense, startling and unforgettable thriller, The Source is a story about survival, about hopes and dreams, about power, abuse and resilience.

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…

My thoughts:

This was really good. Clever, tense and gripping, especially as Marie and Carly’s stories draw closer together and more secrets and conspiracies are forced up to the surface.

Marie wants to use the power of the press to expose corruption at the heart of the military and government, corruption the police have decided to reinvestigate after their previous attempt failed. But dragging the darkness into light means pressure is being applied to find the leaks and stem them.

The scandal it revolves around is pretty grim and hard to stomach but just as in reality, you mustn’t look away, that’s how the men behind this get away with it. It’s why Marie and her colleagues are so angry when their trafficking story might get pulled. It’s why Marie pushes so hard to expose the truth. It’s why the leak is there.

The writing is crisp and concise and crackles with condemnation and the rage Carly and Marie feel over the coverup, and the way they’ve been hung out to dry. Only by naming names and getting the worst of the worst to justice can they be 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.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Trust Me – T.M Logan*

ramblingmads

Two strangers, a child, and a split second choice that will change everything . . .

Ellen was just trying to help a stranger. That was how it started: giving a few minutes respite to a flustered young mother sitting opposite her on the train. A few minutes holding her baby while the mother makes an urgent call. The weight of the child in her arms making Ellen’s heart ache for what she can never have.

Five minutes pass. Ten.

The train pulls into a station and Ellen is stunned to see the mother hurrying away down the platform, without looking back. Leaving her baby behind. Ellen is about to raise the alarm when she discovers a note in the baby’s bag, three desperate lines scrawled hastily on a piece of paper:Please protect Mia Don’t trust the police Don’t trust anyone

Why would a mother abandon her child to a stranger? Ellen is about to discover that the baby in her arms might hold the key to an unspeakable crime. And doing the right thing might just cost her everything . . .

T.M. Logan’s thrillers have sold more than 900,000 copies in the UK and are published in 18 countries around the world.

His novel The Holiday was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick and became a Sunday Times bestseller in paperback.

Formerly a national newspaper journalist, he now writes full time and lives in Nottinghamshire with his wife and two children.

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My thoughts:

I’ve read a few of the author’s other books so I knew it would be a knuckle biting thriller, wrong footing me at every turn and with more twists than a rollercoaster and I was right!

The plot speeds along, throwing out clues, red herrings and new suspects, till you’re not remotely sure who to trust, apart from Ellen. She seems to be the only one with Mia’s safety in mind, despite not knowing any history or why this baby is so important.

I was utterly gripped as Ellen deals with some very odd characters, tries to move on from her own losses and somehow make it back home in one piece.

*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: Empire of Wild – Cherie Dimaline*

ramblingmads

Broken-hearted Joan has been searching for her husband, Victor, for almost a year–ever since he went missing on the night they had their first serious argument. One hung-over morning in a Walmart parking lot in a little town near Georgian Bay, she is drawn to a revival tent where the local Métis have been flocking to hear a charismatic preacher. By the time she staggers into the tent the service is over, but as she is about to leave, she hears an unmistakable voice.
She turns, and there is Victor. Only he insists he is not Victor, but the Reverend Eugene Wolff, on a mission to bring his people to Jesus. And he doesn’t seem to be faking: there isn’t even a flicker of recognition in his eyes.
With only two allies–her odd, Johnny-Cash-loving, 12-year-old nephew Zeus, and Ajean, a foul-mouthed euchre shark with deep knowledge of the old ways–Joan sets out to remind the Reverend Wolff of who he really is. If he really is Victor, his life, and the life of everyone she loves, depends upon her success.
Inspired by the traditional Métis story of the Rogarou–a werewolf-like creature that haunts the roads and woods of Métis communities–Cherie Dimaline has created a propulsive, stunning and sensuous novel.

My thoughts:

Blending traditional mythology with crime thriller, this is a smart and gripping book with a strong protagonist in Joan, a member of the Métis community in Canada’s Georgian Bay.

Her search for her missing husband is all consuming, she’s stopped turning up for work regularly (good thing her mum is the boss), she’s drinking too much and it’s all she can talk about. Seeing him in a Walmart car park is a shock, but he doesn’t seem to recognise her.

I loved her sidekicks, twelve year old cousin Zeus and elderly aunt of some sort Ajean, one who doesn’t know much and one who knows too much. Zeus won’t be left behind as Joan starts following the revival mission Victor seems to have been claimed by, and Ajean provides the ancient wisdom of their people that just might save him.

I don’t know much about the beliefs of First Nations people, only what I’ve read in books so this was interesting, the rogarou or similar creatures occur in several cultures around the world, dangerous creatures that seek to take you over if you get caught. The author is Métis herself, so this is her history and culture brought up to date in an intelligent and enjoyable 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 Charity of Strangers – Alison Burke*

ramblingmads

You can find almost anything in a charity shop, but can you find love?

You can certainly find friendship and there is both laughter and tears ahead when 19yr old Zaffron, lonely, anxious and without direction, meets Blaire Daintry, good-looking, charming, and gay.

Both volunteers in the charity shop, he has a hidden agenda, she has secrets, but they are friends from the start, despite Blaire’s constant sparring with Ida, the stern, good-hearted older volunteer who Zaffron admires. And perhaps Ida has secrets too.

Together with other victims of the city’s housing crisis, Blaire and Zaffron set up a safe and happy home. Secure at last, she tells him of the dreadful incident in her childhood that has marred her life, but not even his total acceptance gives her the confidence to start a relationship with an attractive and decent young army sergeant who falls in love with her.

Is it fear of the truth coming out that holds her back? Or is there some other reason, buried too deep in her heart for her to recognise?

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I was born and grew up in Lancashire, gained several nursing qualifications and had the privilege of a long and varied nursing career, briefly in the Royal Army Nursing Service abroad, mainly in the NHS in UK.

True love and a happy family came my way and now I have the time to read, write and remember.

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My thoughts:

Some years ago I used to be a deputy manager in a charity shop – we had some right characters in the volunteers. There was Mrs K, who acted like she was the Queen and a bit of sweeping or actually learning how to use the till was beneath her. Then there were B and L, two lovely ladies who were best pals and came in together and gossiped their way through one morning every week – they were great fun.

When Zaffron volunteers in her local charity shop, she meets some interesting and quite eccentric people, it took me right back. A lot of volunteers are older, more commonly women than men, and shops always want younger people to help with some of the larger jobs – sorting stock, window displays, culling unsold goods. That’s what I started out doing.

Zaffron is a bit adrift in her life but volunteering boosts her confidence, gives her new friends from different backgrounds and helps her work out what she wants to do. She also takes a GCSE English class, getting some qualifications to help her get ahead.

Her friendship with Blaire is a bit uneven but helps her too – having a confidante allows her to work through some of her past. She really grows as a person through the course of the novel.

I enjoyed reading about her growth and hopes for the future, as well as the cast of the shop. It really reminded me of my time at the charity shop and the overall decency of most humans.

*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: Staying Out For The Summer – Mandy Baggot*

ramblingmads

After a summer of staying in, it’s time to let your hair down and escape to
Greece!

For Lucie Burrows, it’s time to embrace Greek life and put the past behind her!

Having spent the summer of 2020 battling a global health crisis, Lucie Burrows is looking forward to a summer out of lockdown.
When best friend, Gavin, finds them the perfect Greek escape Lucie finally starts to think this summer might just go without a hitch.But after a landslide puts the village into a local lockdown, Lucie is thrown together with Michalis Andino, the super sexy village doctor.

It’s not quite the
holiday she had planned, but things could certainly be worse.

As Lucie relaxes into the Greek way of life, she begins to wonder whether this lockdown might just
end in a new life, a new love…

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Mandy Baggot is an international bestselling and award-winning romance writer. The winner of the
Innovation in Romantic Fiction award at the UK’s Festival of Romance, her romantic comedy novel, One Wish in Manhattan, was also shortlisted for the Romantic Novelists’ Association
Romantic Comedy Novel of the Year award in 2016.

Mandy’s books have so far been translated into German, Italian, Czech and Hungarian.

Mandy loves the Greek island of Corfu, white wine, country music and handbags. Also a singer, she has taken part in ITV1’s Who Dares Sings and The X-Factor.

Mandy is a member of the Society of Authors and lives near Salisbury, Wiltshire, UK with her husband and two daughters.

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My thoughts:

This was a really fun romantic comedy set in the not too distant future when we can hopefully travel again. Also there are donkeys, a crazy horse and a van full of fruit!

Lucie and Gavin are NHS nurses in need of a holiday, having spent 18 months on the frontlines of the battle to save lives from Covid-19. They’re burnt out and broken hearted. So Gavin books them a stay on the Greek island of Corfu, in a small village where people seem to live a very long time.

Michalis is a Greek doctor, returned home to Corfu after facing the same struggles in a hospital on Greece’s mainland. He too is in need of a break. His eccentric sister and quiet butcher father are in need of him too.

The village’s president, a slightly nutty woman, is organising a festival of health and decides Michalis shall be the figurehead of her event. Amid all this chaos Lucie and Gavin arrive for their holiday.

The book has some laugh out loud moments as the rather odd residents of the village gear up for their new festival, and tortoises start to take over the villa Gavin has rented. But it also has a lovely summer romance and people hugging and delicious food and is genuinely a bit of a tonic right now. I hope this summer will at least be a little like Mandy’s predicting in this book. We all need it.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Steel Girls – Michelle Rawlins*

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Sheffield, 1939. With war declared, these brave women will step up and do their bit for their country

Housewife Nancy never dreamed that she’d end up in Vickers steelworks factory but when husband Bert is called up to serve, she needs to put food on the table for her two young children.

Betty’s sweetheart William has joined the RAF Reserves so she can’t sit around and do nothing – even if it means giving up her ambitions to study law at night school.

Young Patty is relishing the excitement the war brings. But this shop-girl is going to have to grow up quickly, especially now she’s undertaking such back-breaking and dangerous work in the factory.

The Steel Girls start off as strangers but quickly forge an unbreakable bond of friendship as these feisty factory sisters vow to keep the foundry fires burning during wartime.

My thoughts:

I’ve always been fascinated by the hundreds of women who took on “men’s work” during the war. My great aunt, Auntie Doll, became a bus driver in London, even though she’d originally been hired to clean them! She was something of a character. There’s something very powerful about women, many of them teenagers or housewives, stepping into the roles society previously told them weren’t suitable.

The camaraderie and friendship between Betty, Nancy and Patty gets them through tough shifts in a Sheffield steelworks, driving the cranes that lift huge pieces of steel through the factory. They have to put up with male colleagues who don’t want women in their workplace and ones who need to learn to keep their hands to themselves. Nancy and Betty also have men away in the war, Nancy’s husband Bert is in the army and Betty’s boyfriend in the RAF.

A heartwarming, enjoyable story about friendship and women finding their place in troubled times.


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