Category: reviews

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The City That Barks & Roars – J.T. Bird*

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Animals rule the world. They hit cafes for breakfast then nine to five at the office, and fritter away evenings at jazz clubs. But paradise is still a distant dream, for there are devils amongst the angels.

Lucas Panda is missing; clues on the riverbank suggest he was probably kidnapped.
Enter Frank. Who else you gonna call? Hard-boiled penguin and the finest detective in town.
And meet his new partner, Detective Chico Monkey – yeah, the wisecrackin’ kid with all the snappy suits.

But the stakes have been raised; three more creatures are missing and the citizens of Noah’s Kingdom are faced with possible extinction. Can the grouchy bird and plucky young ape save the city from doom? Or, will evil prevail and escape the claws of justice?

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J T Bird is an award-winning stand-up comedian from North London, where he lives with his wife and child. His humble abode sits neatly between the former homes of HG Wells and Robert Louis Stevenson…so there’s no pressure to write something utterly successful and wonderful. He runs a comedy show for fresh new acts but has taken a break from performing to focus on writing novels – because it’s much more relaxing, and there’s far less chance of being heckled or struck by a bar stool.

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My thoughts:

This was a hardboiled detective noir style story with a twist – all the characters are animals. Walking on two legs and talking animals.

After Detective Lucas Panda goes missing, Chico Monkey is transferred to the city of Noah’s Kingdom to assist Panda’s partner, Frank Penguin, in searching for the missing cop. The unlikely duo, and their colleagues, uncover a conspiracy that goes right to the heart of the Kingdom.

This was a lot of fun and once I moved past the fact of everyone being animals, it’s a great crime caper, the characters pop off the page and the plot is clever and engaging.

*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: Into the Void – Christina O’Reilly*

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How easy is it for a man to simply disappear?

When rural banker Richard Harper is reported missing, DSS John (Archie) Baldrick and DC Ben Travers are drawn into the tangled details of the man’s life. Would Harper really have chosen to leave his seriously ill wife, and abandon his pregnant girlfriend?

Or is there a real threat behind the
abusive emails he’d been receiving from desperate clients in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis?

On the home front, Archie’s marriage is rocky and his two teenage daughters are giving him all sorts
of trouble. The frail but beautiful Helena Harper and her magnificent house offer an oasis of calm as Archie struggles to discover who is responsible for her husband’s disappearance. Has he really been
abducted, tortured or killed? Or is Richard Harper himself behind everything that has happened?

Archie and Travers ultimately face a race against time as the case descends into a bewildering morass of obsession, violence and murder.
Longlisted for the 2019 Michael Gifkins Memorial Prize for an Unpublished Novel Finalist in the 2020 Ngaio Marsh Awards for Best First Novel.

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Or readers can email Christina via her website or her Facebook page Christina O’Reilly – Author for a paperback copy.

Christina is an author and proofreader living in the Waikato region of New Zealand. Several of her short stories have been published in anthologies, most recently in Fresh Ink: A Collection of Voices from Aotearoa New Zealand 2019.

Into the Void is her first crime novel and was longlisted for the Michael Gifkins Memorial Prize in 2019. It is also a finalist in the 2020 Ngaio Marsh Awards for Best First Novel.

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My thoughts:

Considering this is a first crime novel, it is very accomplished, with its cast of possible suspects, red herrings and dead ends, as Archie and his team try to solve a missing person case that has more to it than it first appears.

Clever, gripping and with a chilling psychopath at its core, this is an excellent 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: Fifteen Coffins – Tony J. Forder*

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From the bestselling author of the DI Bliss series comes an enthralling mystery thriller.

The truth can set you free – or bury you.

When FBI Agent Sydney Merlot returns to her home town in northern California to wind down her late father’s PI business, she soon finds herself on the wrong side of the aftermath of a high school shooting.

Sydney’s childhood friend – who is now county sheriff – plus the local PD, the mayor’s office, and most of the town’s inhabitants, are convinced the horror ended when the gunman was killed. Now they just want to be left alone to mourn. But Sydney has other ideas – and she is not alone.

While having to work through her own personal grief, Sydney is openly intimidated and receives anonymous threats. After discovering she is under surveillance, she begins to fear for her life. During her investigation she gains several allies, but as the days pass, Sydney doesn’t know who to trust, and which new friends might actually turn out to be foes…

Tony J Forder is the author of the bestselling DI Bliss crime thriller series. The first seven books, Bad to the Bone, The Scent of Guilt, If Fear Wins, The Reach of Shadows, The Death of Justice, Endless Silent Scream, and Slow Slicing, were joined in December 2020 by a prequel novella, Bliss Uncovered.
Tony’s other series – two action-adventure novels featuring Mike Lynch – comprises both Scream Blue Murder, and Cold Winter Sun.
In addition, Tony has written two standalone novels: a dark, psychological crime thriller, Degrees of Darkness, and a suspense thriller set in California, called Fifteen Coffins which was released just last November.
Tony lives with his wife in Peterborough, UK, and is now a full-time author. He is currently working on Bliss #8, The Autumn Tree.
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Tony can also be found on Instagram.

My thoughts:

This was a really clever thriller, with lots of distractions, possible suspects and dodgy dealings, events being manipulated from the very top.

As FBI agent Sydney Merlot attempts to pack up her late father’s life, she becomes embroiled in the possibility that the supposed school shooter was in fact not the real killer at all – but a harmless boy tricked into playing a role that made him the fifteenth coffin.

The plot races along, with dangers around every corner, people trying to throw Sydney off track and a vicious cabal who will stop at nothing to keep their secrets protected.

*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: Blind Pool – Vicki Goldie*

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Read my review of Blind Witness here.

In 1923 flushed with the success of their last sluething escapade Major Alasdair Charters, a blind WW1 veteran and former intelligence officer and his aristocratic wife The Honourable Melissa, accept an invitation to a country house party on Somerset Levels in Winter.

There they find a dysfuctional family all living in a huge old house on a hill. Overnight the storm brings with it the flood waters and the house becomes surrounded and cut off from the rescue just as a murderer begins to stalk the residents.

An exciting murder mystery in the Golden Age tradition.Will our sleuths discover hidden secrets and unamsk the murderer before anymore else is killed?

This series follows amateur sleuths Major Alasdair Charters and the Honourable Melissa Charters as they inadvertently muddle their way through many investigations but always arrive at the truth. Alasdair was blinded in the First World War and uses his special skills to gain ‘insight’ into the crimes. The Honourable Melissa, who likes to think she is a socialist, has a large family and set of friends who always seem to run into problems. The books are set both in England and abroad.

Having a husband who is blind, author Vicki Goldie likes to explore perceptions about this disability and push the boundaries.

Vicki lives in Poole Dorset with her blind physiotherapist husband. She has a lifelong fascination with the Art Deco period and with books of the Golden Age of Crime. This led her to envision a series featuring a blind detective set in the 1920s. Blind Pool is the second in the series.

She is a co-pioneer for a reading charity Read Easy Bournemouth and volunteers at The Russell Cotes Museum in Bournemouth.

She is currently writing book three in the series Blind Haven set in Bournemouth.

My thoughts:

Another cracking case for the Charters’ to investigate in deepest Somerset.

Invited to a friend’s family home (even though neither is keen on staying at any more country houses, and who can blame them!), to investigate the possibility her grandmother was murdered, there’s soon bodies stacking up as the house becomes cut off by flooding and heavy rain.

I’m rather fond of Melissa and Alasdair, and this, their second outing, is full of the best Golden Age tropes and knowing winks to the crime loving reader, not least the odd mention of the excellent Poirot.

Despite being blind, Alastair sees a lot more clearly than most, and uses his brilliant mind, in conjunction with Melissa’s knowledge of psychology to work through the series of deaths and their causes.

Thoroughly enjoyable and great fun, I think Vicki Goldie may actually be from the Golden Age of Crime and have a handy time machine – these give even the marvellous Mrs Christie a run for her money. Bring on book three!

*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: Freedom is a Land I Cannot See – Peter Cunningham*

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1924. In the dangerous first years of the Irish Free State, beautiful Rose Raven, having lost her sight and her first love, is living quietly with her brother. But Ultan is involved in anti-government propaganda. As the net tightens, Rose is the only person who knows where the shameful truth is hidden – a truth so incendiary, it threatens the new Ireland itself.

Peter Cunningham is from Waterford in the south east of Ireland. He is the author of the Monument series, widely acclaimed novels set in a fictional version of his home town. His novel, The Taoiseach was a controversial best seller; The Sea and the Silence won the prestigious Prix de l’Europe.

He is a member of Aosdána, the Irish academy of arts and letters, and lives with his wife, not far from Dublin.His novel, The Taoiseach was a controversial best seller; The Sea and the Silence won the prestigious Prix de l’Europe.He is a member of Aosdána, the Irish academy of arts and letters, and lives with his wife, not far from Dublin.

My thoughts:

One of the many things that frustrates me about the UK’s education system is the erasure of the cruel and terrible things the British Empire did. Ireland is our closest neighbour, but I have to rely on stories from my friend’s Granny and brilliantly written books like this to even scratch the surface of its rich and complicated history.

Powerful, moving and haunting, this book is a body blow, especially in the second act as Rose reveals what happened to her and her father, the terrible love story and tragic ending of her sight.

I didn’t like the epilogue as it seemed a little heavy handed but the two sections before it, Rose’s ‘now’ and ‘then’ were intense and absorbing, leaving me reeling.

This book needs to be on your to-be-read piles, its power and characters lingering on long after the last page, for such a slim volume it packs an emotive punch.

*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: Coyote Fork – James Wilson*

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British journalist Robert Lovelace travels to California to report on the social media giant Global Village. He’s horrified by what he finds: a company—guided by the ruthless vision of its founder, Evan Bone—that seems to be making journalism itself redundant. Appalled, he decides to abandon the project and return home.

But as he leaves he has a disconcerting encounter that sends him off in a totally different direction. Soon he finds himself embarking on an increasingly fraught and dangerous mission. The aim: to uncover the murky truth about Evan Bone’s past and his pathological disregard for the human cost of the behemoth he has created.

Robert’s quest takes him from San Francisco to a small college town in the Midwest, to the site of a former hippie commune in northern California, introducing us to a range of vivid characters and confronting us with the price we pay—online trolling, the loss of privacy, professional ruin—for living in an “interconnected” world. Finally, he makes a startling discovery—and is thrown into a completely unforeseen existential dilemma.

A timely, stylishly written, and brilliantly conceived metaphysical thriller, Coyote Fork carries us on an unforgettable journey, before bringing us face to face with the darkness at the heart of Silicon Valley itself.

James Wilson is a London-based writer. His previous novels include The Dark Clue, The Bastard Boy, The Woman in the Picture, Consolation, and The Summer of Broken Stories. He has written BBC TV and radio documentaries, and is the author of a work of narrative nonfiction, The Earth Shall Weep: A History of Native America, which won a Myers Outstanding Book Award.

My thoughts:

A clever, convoluted thriller that is a lot more complex that at first glance and with an ending that left me going “and then what happened?” as I really wanted to know the fallout from the investigation.

Robert is a smart reporter, for all that he’s a travel writer, he has the instincts of an investigator – he keeps on tugging on the thread of the story to see what comes along next – even after being warned off. He makes a fascinating protagonist.

He’s determined and nothing will stop him as he collects ghosts whose deaths need resolving and laying to rest. They follow him up and down California, urging him to keep seeking answers.

He’s both helped and hindered by the people he meets, some seek to lead him astray and others drop crumbs he follows till the bitter end – keeping the reader guessing.

An involving and interesting look at how tech companies can change and ruin lives, cancel culture and how very rich people manipulate and bury the origins of their power.

*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 Failsafe Query – Michael Jenkins

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TheFailSafeQuery

Welcome to the blog tour for action-packed thriller, The Failsafe Query by Michael Jenkins! Read on for an excerpt and a chance to win a print copy of the book!

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The Failsafe Query

Publication Date: July 2018

Genre: Thriller

The Failsafe Query is a gripping thriller set in the contemporary world of modern British espionage.

Sean Richardson, a disgraced former intelligence agent, is tasked to lead a team to search for Alfie Chapman, an Intelligence officer on the cusp of exposing thousands of secrets to the media. This includes a long lost list of Russian moles embedded since the Cold War, one of whom remains a public favourite in the British parliamentary system.

The action moves with absorbing pace and intrigue across Central Asia and Europe as the puzzle begins to unfold through a deep hidden legacy.

Tense, fast paced, and insightful, The Failsafe Query twists and turns to a satisfyingly dramatic finale.

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Excerpt

Sean left Baker Street, heading south towards Oxford Circus. The sun blinded him as he strode purposefully, but at a slow pace. A distant siren, merged with the heavy traffic, accompanied the persistent noises in his mind. His heartbeat rose. His thoughts became intense as he reminded himself of the trauma that people had inflicted on him.

He had one more thing to tend to before he left London. And it involved a kill.

He turned right onto Crawford Street, then back on himself, and made numerous turns down the quiet Marylebone back streets. He headed back towards the Edgware Road and made a deliberate U-turn, browsing occasionally at some of the antiques in shop windows. Finally, he turned left onto Enford Street and walked quietly into the Thornbury Castle pub. He made his way to the bar and ordered a pint of Rebellion beer. He paused, turned his back to the bar and cast his eye around the few local punters before making his way to the far corner of the pub, which provided an excellent view of the entrance.

Exactly twelve minutes later, ‘One-Eyed’ Damon walked through the entrance. A beast of a man, just shy of six foot seven inches of sheer bulk, he made his way to the bar with a white stick. No words were exchanged as the bearded barman slipped a pint of pale ale across the bar and indicated with a glance that Sean was sat on the higher deck in the corner.

One-Eyed Damon was a Northern Ireland and Iraq war veteran. A surveillance and weapons expert who, even with only one eye left, was still at the top of his game and who had contacts in the city who could do anything that was needed. Pick a lock, Damon was the man. Provide a weapon or plant some bugs, Damon was the man. He shuffled up the small steps and crouched over his pint next to Sean.

‘Long time, mate,’ Sean said.

‘You’re looking old and angry,’ One-Eyed Damon replied, smirking widely as his false eye glistened and twinkled in the low light. He was wearing a Union Flag lens.

‘Fuck off mate, you know I’m never angry. Just badly mad,’ Sean retorted. ‘And you can wipe that smile off your face, at least until you’ve paid me back for keeping your arse out of jail all those years ago.’ Sean had provided a glowing reference at Damon’s court martial in Colchester after Damon had ‘accidentally’ beaten up an RAF officer for touching up a woman in a Southend bar.

One-Eyed Damon broke into laughter. ‘Great days those, mate – he deserved it and you did indeed save my arse. But I hear it’s you who’s been in jail getting your arse pounded this time, Sean.’

‘Very fucking funny,’ Sean said. ‘Anyway, what’s the SP?’

‘No one is on your tail,’ Damon said, lifting his head from his beer and looking cautiously around the bar. ‘I followed you from that swanky hotel, all the way to Baker Street and then on your very obvious counter-surveillance route around Marylebone. You really need to sharpen up on your skills you know, mate.’

‘My mojo is coming back – don’t you worry about that.’

‘What’s next then, Sean?’

‘A kill,’ Sean said. ‘A slow one, but a purposeful one that I need you to look at. I’m going to be busy for a while with a job. Are you happy to do some stuff for me?’

‘Yep. Normal fees please though.’

‘Not a problem.’ Sean pulled out a small business card. ‘I need you to find this man. Find out everything about him, where he’s living, his pattern of life, who he’s shagging, what he loves, the lot.’ One-Eyed Damon turned the card over. The name on the card was Frazer, with a telephone number and a company address.

‘I assume this is the guy that got you shafted then?’

‘You could say that. Be careful though. He’s running Albanian gangs in the city as well as major drug-running operations across the continent. He takes pleasure in hurting his friends too.’

‘Fine. A real bastard then, who needs sorting out. I’ll find out everything about his movements and people. I look forward to hearing your plan on the kill.’

Sean stayed silent, smiled and stood up ready to leave.

‘Go via Samantha,’ he said. ‘She’s the conduit for this job. And feel free to leave a marker for him – just so he knows.’

Available on Amazon!

About the Author

18300654

I started climbing at 13, survived being lost in Snowdonia at 14, nearly drowned at 15, and then joined the Army at 16. Risk and adventure was built into my DNA and I feel very fortunate to have served the majority of my working career as an intelligence officer within Defence Intelligence, and as an explosive ordnance disposal officer and military surveyor within the Corps of Royal Engineers.

I feel privileged to have served for twenty-eight years in the British Army as a soldier and officer, working in Defence Intelligence and Counter-Terrorist Bomb Disposal operations, rising through the ranks to complete my service as a major. I served across the globe on numerous military operations as well as extensive travel and adventure on many major mountaineering and exploration expeditions that I led or was involved in.

I was awarded the Geographic Medal by the Royal Geographical Society for mountain exploration and served on the screening committee of the Mount Everest Foundation charity for many years. It was humbling after so many years of service when I was awarded the MBE for services to counter-terrorism in 2007

The Failsafe Query is my debut novel, and I hope you enjoy the follow up novel, The Kompromat Kill, and my third in an ongoing series, The Moscow Whisper. Each can be read as standalone novels.

Michael Jenkins | Facebook | Twitter

To win a paperback copy of The Failsafe Query, click the link below!
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Blog Tour Schedule

November 2nd

Reads & Reels (Spotlight) http://readsandreels.com

Book Dragons Not Worms (Spotlight) https://bookdragonsnotworms.blogspot.com/?m=1

@the.b00keater (Review) https://www.instagram.com/the.b00kreader

November 3rd

B is for Book Review (Spotlight) https://bforbookreview.wordpress.com

Breakeven Books (Spotlight) https://breakevenbooks.com

The Faerie Review (Review) http://www.thefaeriereview.com

November 4th

I’m All About Books (Spotlight) https://imallaboutbooks.com/

Cocktails and Fairy Tales (Spotlight) https://www.facebook.com/CocktailsFairytales

Books Teacup & Reviews (Spotlight) https://booksteacupnreviews.wordpress.com/

Rambling Mads (Review) http://ramblingmads.com

November 5th

Tsarina Press (Spotlight) https://www.tsarinapress.com

Jessica Belmont (Spotlight) https://jessicabelmont.wordpress.com/

Banshee Irish Horror Blog (Spotlight) www.bansheeirishhorrorblog.com

@bookandwinelovers (Spotlight) https://www.instagram.com/bookandwinelovers/

November 6th

The Magic of Wor(l)ds (Spotlight) http://themagicofworlds.wordpress.com

Stine Writing (Review) https://christinebialczak.com/

Read & Rated (Spotlight) https://readandrated.com/

Sophril Reads (Spotlight) http://sophrilreads.wordpress.com

Blog Tour Organized By:

R&R Button

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Blog Tour: The Forger & the Thief – Kirsten McKenzie*

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FIVE STRANGERS IN FLORENCE, EACH WITH A DANGEROUS SECRET. AND AN APOCALYPTIC FLOOD
THREATENING TO REVEAL EVERYTHING.

A wife on the run, a student searching for stolen art, a cleaner who has lined more than his pockets, a policeman whose career is almost over, and a guest who should never have received a wedding invite. Five strangers, entangled in the forger’s wicked web, amidst Florence’s devastating flood of November 1966.

In a race against time, and desperate to save themselves and all they hold dear, will their secrets prove more treacherous than the ominous floodwaters swallowing the historic city?

Dive into a world of lies and deceit, where nothing is as it seems on the surface…

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A full time author, Kirsten is a former customs officer and antiques dealer, and who has also dabbled
in film and television.

Her historical time-slip series – The Old Curiosity Shop Series, has been described as ‘Time Travellers Wife meets Far Pavilions’, an ‘Antiques Roadshow gone viral’.

Kirsten released her bestselling gothic horror novel Painted in 2017, with her medical thriller – Doctor Perry, following in 2018.
Her latest thriller – The Forger and the Thief, is set in 1966 Florence, Italy, amidst the devastating floods. Kirsten lives in New Zealand with her husband, her daughters, two rescue cats.

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My thoughts:

In the terrible flood of Florence, a disparate group of strangers fight for their lives and freedom, as the Arno pours her rage into the ancient streets.

I’ve been to Florence, a long time ago, and it is a beautiful city, but one that clearly needs better flood defences, as both Da Vinci and Michaelangelo told the authorities.

The characters in this novel are not all good people, and don’t necessarily deserve good things. But for most of them the flood offers a chance of redemption in some form or another.

It gets pretty dark and there’s a rather creepy killer/artist making girls disappear as well, adding a supernatural element to the apocalyptic drowning of the city of the Medicis.

*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: Sherlock Holmes & the Ripper of Whitechapel – M.K. Wiseman*

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I am afraid that I, Sherlock Holmes, must act as my own chronicler in this singular case, that of the Whitechapel murders of 1888. For the way in which the affair was dropped upon my doorstep left me with little choice as to the contrary. Not twelve months prior, the siren’s call of quiet domesticity and married life had robbed me of Watson’s assistance as both partner and recorder of my cases.

Thus, when detective inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard required a lead—any lead—I found myself forced to pursue Jack the Ripper alone and without the aid of my faithful friend. And all for the most damnedable of reasons:

Early on in my investigations, Dr. John H. Watson, formerly of 221B Baker Street, emerged as my prime suspect.

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M. K. Wiseman has degrees in Interarts & Technology and Library &
Information Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her office, therefore, is a curious mix of storyboards and reference materials. Both help immensely in the writing of
historical novels.

She currently resides in Cedarburg, Wisconsin.

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My thoughts:

Interestingly Sir Arthur Conan Doyle never gave Holmes a real crime to solve, and certainly not this long unsolved one. There’s also a sixth victim included, which is unusual but I understand that there is some uncertainty about exactly how many poor women were butchered.

This reads like a decent Doyle story, capturing his tone well and feels very accurate in terms of London and the 19th Century (I studied the Strand stories at uni), which is good. I’ve read some Holmesian stories that really get themselves muddled regarding the historic setting.

It’s the right length too – just enough plot and red herrings to go along with, it doesn’t get overblown or bogged down in invented details. Instead real information is woven into the narrative, and real people too. Stitching Holmes, Watson and Lestrade into the plot rather than thr other way round, which gives it a sense of reality and the truly horrific acts the Ripper committed.

I thought the denouement was just enough, since no one knows the Ripper’s real identity, it’s always good not to give a definitive solution, and this allows him to fade into the history books.

A really enjoyable Holmes sequel all in all, paced and executed strongly and with plenty for fans of the original stories to enjoy.

*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: One Kiss Before Christmas – Emma Jackson*

ramblingmads

A romantic festive read from the author of A Mistletoe Miracle, guaranteed to warm your heart this Christmas!

Could it be the start of her happy ever after?
Ashleigh could use a little Christmas magic. She’s still living in Brighton with her Nan — who could
give the Grinch lessons in how to be miserable — her acting career has been reduced to playing one
of Santa’s elves, and not even the prospect of a friend’s winter wedding can cheer her up…

That is until Olivier, the gorgeous French chef, reappears in her life. Or more accurately, next door.
When they were teenagers, Olivier would spend every other Christmas with his mother, who just happens to be Ash’s neighbour and owner of the best chocolate shop in England.
If anyone can bring a little sparkle back to Ash’s life, it’s Olivier. All she needs is one kiss before Christmas…

Feel-good and festive, this is the perfect romance to curl up with this winter!

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Author of the Best Selling A MISTLETOE MIRACLE and contender for the Joan Hessayon Award 2020, Emma has been a devoted bookworm and secret-story-scribbler since she was 6 years old. When she’s not running around after her two daughters and trying to complete her current work-in-progress, Emma loves to read, bake, catch up on binge-watching TV programmes with her partner and plan lots of craft projects that will inevitably end up unfinished. Her latest romantic
comedy, SUMMER IN THE CITY, was released in June 2020.

Emma also writes historical and fantasy fiction as Emma S Jackson. THE DEVIL’S BRIDE was published
by DarkStroke in February 2020.You can find out news about Emma via her website, by signing up to her newsletter.

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My thoughts:

A lovely festive romance, complete with ice skating, elves and lots of chocolate.

Ash’s acting career has stalled and this Christmas she is once again playing Santa’s Helper, while struggling to get into the spirit. Until dashing French pastry chef Olivier comes to spend the festive season with his mum, right next door! Cue hearts and Hollywood montages.

Basically this is adorable, and also funny, with a grumpy Grandma, an over-affectionate dog, a lovely pair of gay best friends, a wedding, fairy lights galore and a Happily Ever After.

Perfect for reading under a blanket while the wind howls outside, just have the chocolate handy as this book makes you hungry!

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