Category: reviews

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Perfume Paradiso – Janey Jones*

ramblingmads

One week in Italy. One week to make her dreams come true . . .

Romance is the last thing on Charlotte Alexander’s mind. Her perfume business is flourishing. And a glamorous new life in New York awaits. Just one more thing is needed: a supply of artisan lavender for her trademark scent.

But when Charlotte stumbles across the infuriating and infuriatingly handsome Alessio Rossini, her plans begin to fall apart. With New York finally in reach . . . should she follow her dreams or her heart?

A captivating, feelgood summer romance set in the beautiful Italian countryside.

Amazon

JANEY JONES is a full-time writer with a love for food, fashion and all things French and Italian. She is the author of the fantastically successful Princess Poppy series, with sales of over 4 million copies. Before Princess Poppy took over her life, Janey had always intended to write contemporary fiction, and Perfume Paradiso is her second novel after the very popular Secret Life of Lucy Lovecake (writing as Pippa James).

My thoughts:

A lovely summer romance set in Italy, complete with lavender fields and infuriating but handsome men. At the moment books like this are the closest most of us can get to a trip abroad and this slice of escapism is delightful.

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

books, LGBTQ+, reviews

🏳️‍🌈 Pride Month Reads 🏳️‍🌈

ramblingmads

June is Pride month, a time to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community and the people we’ve lost over the years.

Pride as an event spun out of the Stonewall riots and if it wasn’t for brave souls like Marsha P. Johnson we wouldn’t have the rights and freedoms we have and we must fight to keep them in the face of homophobia and transphobia.

It’s also a fab time to boost the sales of own voices books written by and about our community. Here are some of my recommendations, please leave yours in the comments.

This was such a fun, joyful read, set at an LGBTQ+ summer camp it follows Randy as he tries to become what he thinks his long time crush wants and learns a lot about himself along the way.

Lia has inherited her uncle’s crown, a kingdom with debts and a poor harvest, there’s conspiracies afoot and she will need her new spymaster Xania to help her save the country and her crown. I’ve read this several times now and love it.

This is madcap adventure where Edward and his friends indulge in some “creative vandalism” and attempt to get Edward into Juilliard. I adore this book, and its sequel Attack of the Theatre People, and even though this isn’t a recent book (it’s from 2004) it is immense fun. Can you tell I’m an overgrown theatre kid!

Fun fact the author and I went to the same secondary school but at different times.

Another gorgeous fantasy novel with a f/f love story, this also has dragons. It’s a chunky book so be prepared to spend some time on it as you follow Queen Sabran and spy/mage Eade as they try to prevent war between their queendom and its enemies.

Currently with 3 volumes published, Heartstopper, the adorable illustrated love story of Charlie and Nick is one of my absolute faves. Starting life as a web series this is now hugely popular, rightly so fyi, and just brims over with love and goodness.

So tell me, what are your favourite queer reads and writers?

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Summer Island – Natalie Norman*

ramblingmads

He never meant to stay.
He certainly never meant to fall in love…

Summer Island off the coast of Norway was the place London chef Jack Greene should have been from. He’s an outsider in the community that should have been his family, and now he’s setting foot on the strange land he has inherited for the first time.

Ninni Toft, his nearest neighbour, has come to the island to mend her broken heart. With her wild spirit and irrepressible enthusiasm, she shows city-boy Jack the simple pleasures of island life – and what it means to belong. To a place. To a people. To one person in particular…

Home is where the heart is, but is Jack’s heart with the career he left behind in London, or on the wind-swept shores of Summer Island, with Ninni?

Natalie Normann grew up in a shipping town on the west-coast of Norway and always wanted to be a writer. Actually, she wanted to smoke cigars and drink whiskey like Hemingway but settled for chocolate and the occasional glass of Baileys.

Her writing journey started with short stories in women’s magazines until her first book was published in 1995.

Summer Island is her first romance written in English.

My thoughts:

This was a sweet love story, not only between Jack and Ninni, but also between the residents and their island, a place Jack falls in love with too.

The traditions and food lure him in, along with the people. It was interesting to learn more about Norway along with Jack.

I really enjoyed this gentle, romantic story, the perfect balm to my lockdown easing worries, a place where everyone feels safe and at home, carefree. Lovely.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Summer in Mayfair – Susannah Constantine*

ramblingmads

Twenty-six-year-old Esme Munroe has finally left the Scottish Highlands for the excitement of London.

Working at a prestigious art gallery in Mayfair, she meets gorgeous, worldly Suki, who takes her to the most exclusive bars and clubs in the city.

But it’s easy to get lost in London’s glamour and chaos, especially when a long-hidden secret looms – will Esme discover it and who she can really trust, before it’s too late?

My thoughts:

This was a modern take on the sort of novels Jilly Cooper and Jackie Collins are famous for – posh girl making her way in the world, complete with parties, Society types and sex.

Esme is a bit naive and needs to grow a thicker skin to make it in the 80s London art world.

She’s landed a job and a temporary home courtesy of her sister’s godfather, an art dealer who lives with his flamboyant partner is Kensington.

Making friends as an adult is hard, and Esme struggles to find her place and her tribe.

Susannah Constantine (of Trinny & fame) is an enjoyable writer and knows her world of privilege and picking a few things up in Harrods well.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Deep as Death – Katja Ivar*

ramblingmads

Hella Mauzer has just been fired by the police and is now a reluctant private investigator. Escaping the mind-numbing routine of shadowing unfaithful spouses, Hella finds herself at the centre of an investigation of multiple murders.

It all begins when a prostitute is found floating upside down in Helsinki Harbour. Not exactly a high priority case for the Helsinki police, so homicide chief Jokela passes the job to his former colleague Hella. It’s beginning to look like a serial killer is at work when another lady of the night narrowly escapes being driven into the harbour, handcuffed to the car by her client.

What begins like a taut whodunit turns into something more tantalizing as Hella turns her attention to different suspects, often to the consternation of the fascinating Inspector Mustonen, charismatic, ambitious and trying desperately to live up to the standards of his high-maintenance wife.

Katja Ivar grew up in Russia and the U.S. She travelled the world extensively, from Almaty to Ushuaia, from Karelia to Kyushu, before finally settling in Paris where she lives with her husband and three children. She received a B.A. in Linguistics and a master’s degree in Contemporary History from Sorbonne University. Evil Things was her debut novel.

My thoughts:

This was a clever tale of murder and mystery in 1950s Finland, with a female PI doing her best to solve crimes and keep her business afloat.

At a time when women in the UK were only just about being allowed to join the police, seeing a female detective leading the charge is pretty interesting, makes a nice change from most historical crime novels with their male protagonists.

The writing is crisp and the plot tight, the supposedly straight forward death of a prostitute goes somewhere completely different and twists and turns around the city as Hella and Inspector Mustonen try to solve the mystery.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Wives – Tarryn Fisher*

ramblingmads

Imagine that your husband has two other wives.

You’ve never met the other wives. None of you know each other, and because of this unconventional arrangement, you can see your husband only one day a week. But you love him so much you don’t care. Or at least that’s what you’ve told yourself.

But one day, while you’re doing laundry, you find a scrap of paper in his pocket — an appointment reminder for a woman named Hannah, and you just know it’s another of the wives.

You thought you were fine with your arrangement, but you can’t help yourself: you track her down, and, under false pretenses, you strike up a friendship. Hannah has no idea who you really are. Then Hannah starts showing up to your coffee dates with telltale bruises, and you realise she’s being abused by her husband. Who, of course, is also your husband. But you’ve never known him to be violent, ever.

Who exactly is your husband, and how far would you go to find the truth? Would you risk your own life?

And who is his mysterious third wife?

My thoughts:I got a bit confused when the plot switches up towards the end but the main bulk of the plot focuses on Thursday and her investigations into the rest of husband’s life.She seems quite lost in her life, despite having a job and her family, she doesn’t seem to have any friends.The plot ratchets up as she goes in search of Hannah and starts questioning the arrangement she agreed to when she got married.When the twist came I wasn’t prepared for it and the ending definitely left me a little puzzled. What was true? What was really going on?*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: All Fall Down – M.J. Arlidge*

ramblingmads

“You have one hour to live.”

Those are the only words on the phone call. Then they hang up. Surely, a prank? A mistake? A wrong number? Anything but the chilling truth… That someone is watching, waiting, working to take your life in one hour.

But why?

The job of finding out falls to DI Helen Grace: a woman with a track record in hunting killers. However, this is a case where the killer seems to always be one step ahead of the police and the victims.

With no motive, no leads, no clues – nothing but pure fear – an hour can last a lifetime…

My thoughts:

I read the first Helen Grace book a while ago so I was vaguely familiar with the characters, but this can easily be read as a standalone.

A clever, twisted plot, a game played by a cruel and determined killer, and no immediately obvious links between the victims.

Arlidge is an accomplished writer and knows how to keep a reader successfully hooked as the detective and her team come ever closer to the truth.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: We Ride The Storm – Devin Madson*

ramblingmads

In the midst of a burgeoning war, a warrior, an assassin, and a princess chase their own ambitions no matter the cost in Devin Madson’s propulsive epic fantasy.

War built the Kisian Empire. War will tear it down.

Seventeen years after rebels stormed the streets, factions divide Kisia. Only the firm hand of the god-emperor holds the empire together. But when a shocking betrayal destroys a tense alliance with neighboring Chiltae, all that has been won comes crashing down.

In Kisia, Princess Miko Ts’ai is a prisoner in her own castle. She dreams of claiming her empire, but the path to power could rip it, and her family, asunder.

In Chiltae, assassin Cassandra Marius is plagued by the voices of the dead. Desperate, she accepts a contract that promises to reward her with a cure if she helps an empire fall.

And on the border between nations, Captain Rah e’Torin and his warriors are exiles forced to fight in a foreign war or die.

As an empire dies, three warriors will rise. They will have to ride the storm or drown in its blood.

My thoughts:

This is an action packed fast paced novel, leaping between three first person narrators as the countries of Kisia and Chiltae go to war.

Without too much preamble or heavy back story, you’re thrust straight into the heart of the story, as Chiltae’s army captures Levanti soldiers and forces them into its ranks as it aims to conquer neighbouring Kisia.

I loved Cassandra, the whore turned assassin with a secret, annoying, passenger, who just wants to get paid, not dragged into politics. Snarky and grumpy, she’s easily the funniest character.

Miko is the most complex character, convinced she’s got to do the right thing for her family, her country, herself. Conflicted and never sure about her plans, she seems to just cross her fingers and hope it all works out.

I look forward to book two, We Lie With Death, as the ending to this gives absolutely no clues as to what might happen next.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Deja Vu – Melody Saleh*

ramblingmads


Happiness is finally within reach for best friends, Amber, Dominque, Debra and Zya. But fate has other plans…

Pregnant and widowed, Debra is engaged to suave and charming Italian heartthrob Roberto. So why does her heart race when she thinks about her therapist, Brian? Has she said yes to the wrong man?

Dominque has found the love and acceptance she always longed for with Tad. But devastating news soon threatens their future together.

Successful fashion designer Zya has discovered her own unexpected happily ever after with Tina . . . until her daughter, Ashanti is bullied and becomes the focus of a police investigation and the media. Now Zya suddenly stands to lose everything she holds dear.

Finally, together with the only man she’s ever loved, Amber is determined to not let anything come between her and Patrick—not even her jealous and vindictive identical twin sister. But someone is watching . . . waiting for the right moment to destroy her . . .

Will the women get their happy ending, or is it déjà vu all over again? Find out in the dramatic and suspenseful second book of the Unbroken series

Find out in the dramatic and suspenseful second book of the Unbroken series

After 35+ years in operations for various businesses (including her own), Melody pursued her dream of writing a novel. Having written for business publications, local magazines and even publishing a poem, Chemo’s not for Sissies, during treatment after her first cancer diagnosis, it was time to finish the novel that was started many years ago. When she started writing, “Facade: Things Aren’t Always as They Appear,” she had no idea where her characters were going to take her. “The story basically wrote itself. It was like a movie projector playing in my mind,” is how she describes her experience. It soon became apparent, their voices were not to be silenced… “The Unbroken Series” was born. “Deja Vu: Here We Go Again,” Book II, to be released June 23, 2020, followed by C’est la Vie, Book III, in December.

Melody lives with her husband in her native home state Florida. She’s blessed to be alive today after two cancer diagnoses and enjoys watching her grandchildren grow up; something she doesn’t take for granted.

My thoughts:

This book is definitely an improvement on the first book in that the reader knows the characters and there’s not so much background to fill in. The characters are trying to move on with their lives but spanners continue to be thrown in the works.

As with Facade a lot of things happen very quickly and all at once sometimes, which can be a little confusing. The author certainly packs a lot into the plot. It’s nice to see the younger characters get a bit more of the storylines, and characters like Tina and Tad who were a bit underwritten in Facade.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Crossing in Time – DL Orton*

ramblingmads

The past isn’t over, it’s an opening. The future isn’t hidden, it’s a trap.
If she ever wants to see him again, she’ll have to take the risk…

Publishers Weekly Starred Review: “Funny, Romantic & Harrowing!”
When offered a one-way trip to the past, Iz sacrifices everything for a chance to change her dystopian future—and see her murdered lover one last time.
After a perilous journey through a black hole, she wakes up on a tropical beach, buck naked and mortally wounded—but twenty years younger! With only hours to live, she must convince an enraptured but skeptical twenty-something guy to fix their future relationship and thereby save the planet (no one is quite sure why.)
But it’s easier said than done, as success means losing him to a brainy, smart-mouthed bombshell (her younger self), and that’s a heartbreaker, save the world or not.

Across the infinite expanse of space and time, love endures…

(Unfortunately, it’s not going to be enough.)
FALL INTO THIS EDGY, action-packed, darkly comedic, dystopian love story, and be prepared to encounter a finicky time machine, a mysterious seashell, and a very clever dog (some sex, some swearing, some violence, but no vampires and absolutely no ditzes.)

Content Warning!
This book contains material that may be disturbing to some, and in movie form, would be rated NC-17 for strong language, nudity, sexual situations, and violence (including attempted sexual assault, abduction, intense danger, miscarriage, confinement, a pandemic, religious fanaticism (Christian), government malevolence, and death).
Reader discretion is advised.

Author

DL ORTON, THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR of the BETWEEN TWO EVILS series, lives in the foothills of the Rockies where she and her husband are raising three boys, a golden retriever, two Siberian cats, and an extremely long-lived Triops.♂‍

In her spare time, she’s building a time machine so that someone can go back and do the laundry.

Website

Amazon

Goodreads

My thoughts:

This was an interesting, if at time slightly confusing, read. Starting as a love story, it becomes a bit post-apocalypse-y, then a time travel story, then a sort of survivalist story, then a love story.

Basically it contains elements of a lot of genres and at times perhaps too many. However it is very readable and enjoyable if you don’t think about it too much (like if you’re reviewing it).

Diego and Isabel make engaging protagonists and the team inside the mountain are also well realised characters.

Hopefully as the series continues it all becomes clearer and the time travelling solves the end of the world.

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