Category: reviews

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour & Giveaway: The Six-Week Solution – Paula Darnell*

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Never guessing that their very lives might be in danger, well-to-do women come from all over the country to stay at guest ranches around Reno to establish the six weeks’ residency required for a quickie Nevada divorce in 1955.

When a Circle E Ranch guest dies after her Cadillac plunges off Mount Rose Highway, a mountain road between Lake Tahoe and Reno, Washoe County Deputy Sheriff Ben Cameron is assigned to investigate the accident. His inquiries lead him to question everyone at the Circle E, where he meets Mary, an attractive prospective divorcée from New York, who soon has an accident of her own. In the meantime, Ben’s case takes a turn as twisty as the Mount Rose Highway, and when Mary suffers a second accident, he quickly figures that someone is out to get her. Unless Ben can discover who’s targeting the out-of-towners, some of them won’t live long enough to have their day in court.

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An instructor at five colleges over the years, Paula Darnell most often taught the dreaded first-year English composition classes, but she’s also been happy to teach some fun classes, such as fashion design, sewing, and jewelry making. Paula has a Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Iowa, Iowa City, and a Master’s degree in English from the University of Nevada, Reno.

Paula’s interest in DIY craft projects and fashion led to her writing hundreds of articles for print and online national publications. She is the author of Death by Association and Death by Design, both in her cozy series, the DIY Diva Mysteries.

Paula lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, with her husband Gary and their 110-pound dog Rocky, whose favorite pastime is lurking in the kitchen, hoping for a handout.

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My thoughts:

This was a really interesting read, I didn’t know about the quickie Nevada divorce scheme that women like these undertook.

The story is involving and the characters of Mary and Ben are empathetic and well written. Ben especially is well rounded and carries the plot.

The string of mysterious deaths and tragic accidents that plague the women seeking to be free of violent and cruel husbands, at first appear as sad coincidences but the dogged deputy is connecting the dots, making the plot twist and turn as it goes along.

If you like historical fiction and crime, this is perfect for you, the period detail helps shape the way the investigation goes which grounds it in the time and place.

If you’d like to win a copy of this book, there’s 3 paperback & 3 ebook copies up for grabs – enter here.

*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, reviews

Book Review: Chilling Effect – Valerie Valdes*

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A debut space opera that features an irresistible foul-mouthed captain and her misfit crew . . .

Captain Eva Innocente and the crew of La Sirena Negra cruise the galaxy delivering small cargo for even smaller profits. When her sister is kidnapped, Eva must undergo a series of dangerous missions to pay the ransom. But Eva may lose her mind before she can raise the money. The ship’s hold is full of psychic cats, an amorous fish-faced emperor wants her dead, and her engineer is giving her a pesky case of feelings. The worse things get, the more she lies, raising suspicions and testing her loyalty to her found family.

To free her sister, Eva will risk everything: her crew, her ship, and the life she’s built on the ashes of her past misdeeds. But when the dominoes start to fall and she finds the real threat is greater than she imagined, she must decide whether to play it cool or burn it all down.

My thoughts:

This book is so my thing it’s ridiculous.

Funny, snarky, sweary, space captain teetering on the edge of legality, oh and the hold’s full of psychic cats.

I love the characters, I love how messy and ridiculous they are, I love the plot with all its twists and double crossing and secret agendas. The writing is so good, I devoured this book in no time at all and then realised I’m in for a long wait for book two since this is so new!

More psychic cats!!!

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book with no requirement to review, all opinions remain my own.

books, reviews

Book Review: Last Smile in Sunder City – Luke Arnold*

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I’m Fetch Phillips, just like it says on the window. There are three things you should know before you hire me:
1. Sobriety costs extra.
2. My services are confidential.
3. I don’t work for humans.

It’s nothing personal – I’m human myself. But after what happened, it’s not the humans who need my help.
I just want one real case. One chance to do something good. Because it’s my fault the magic is never coming back.

The Last Smile in Sunder City is the debut novel from actor Luke Arnold – known for his lead role in Black Sails. This contemporary fantasy introduces Fetch Phillips – a character destined to be loved by readers of Ben Aaronovitch, Jim Butcher and Terry Pratchett’s Discworld.

My thoughts:

This was really fun to read, I enjoy the whole “the magic has gone, now what?” concept and this has a PI whose been there done that attitude is right up my street.

The writing is fresh, entertaining and enjoyable, it does remind me a bit of Ben Aaronovitch’s Peter Grant books, but with its own unique voice.

I’m looking forward to book two, as the overarching plot has more to unravel.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book with no obligation to review, all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Snowball – Gregory Bastianelli*

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A group of motorists become stranded on a lonely stretch of highway during a Christmas Eve blizzard and fight for survival against an unnatural force in the storm. The gathered survivors realize a tenuous connection among them means it may not be a coincidence that they all ended up on this highway.

Gregory Bastianelli Gregory Bastianelli is the author of the novels Loonies and Jokers Club. His stories have appeared in the magazines Black Ink Horror, Sinister Tales and Beyond Centauri; the anthologies Night Terrors I, Cover of Darkness and Encounters; and the online magazines Absent Wilow Review and Down in the Celar. His novella The Lair of the Mole People appeared in the pulp anthology Men & Women of Mystery Vol. I. He graduated from the University of New Hampshire where he studied writing under instructors Mark Smith, Thomas Williams and Theodore Weesner. He worked for nearly two decades at a small daily newspaper where the highlights of his career were interviewing shock rocker Alice Cooper and B-movie icon Bruce Campbell. He became enchanted with the stories of Ray Bradbury as a young child, and his love of horror grew with the likes of Richard Matheson, Robert Bloch, Stephen King and Ramsey Campbell. He lives in Dover, NH, in a Colonial home built in the 1700s. He enjoys kayaking, hiking and bicycling in the summer and snowshoeing and racquetball in the winter. Along with spending time with family, he enjoys traveling, especially to Italy where he has visited his ancestral home and relatives residing there and hiked the Path of the Gods on the Amalfi Coast and to the top of Mt. Vesuvius.

My thoughts:

What starts as a fairly conventional tale of an assortment of people stuck in a snow storm becomes something much darker and creepier as they start to realize monsters roam the snow covered landscape around them.

Winter is the time for creepy ghost and hotter stories and this is definitely creepy and filled with horror.

The concept of a group of travellers telling stories to pass the time isn’t new – Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales is exactly that, but it works as a good way to gather people together and then torment them too.

I’m sure a lot of people would agree a snowed in road is hell, and perhaps that’s where the characters in this story have ended up.

*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: Traumata – Douglas Renwick*

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In Khuh Tabar, high up in foothills of the Hindu Kush, a young Englishwoman watches her husband and son murdered. Two years later, she returns to England, still traumatised by the memory. Her grief turns to rage when she finds out the killer walks free. Will she honour the ancient code of the Pashtuns and avenge the deaths, risking a life sentence for murder? Or will she abide by the laws of her homeland and live with her anger for ever?

About Author
According to his British passport, Douglas Renwick’s occupation for many years was ‘Government Service’. This included spells in Libya, Malta, Cyprus, Ireland and Germany. He also worked at the Ministry of Defence in London, the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Powers in Europe in Belgium, the Pentagon in Washington DC, and White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
He has spent time in East Berlin, Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, Argentina, Egypt, Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. He has jumped out of planes, swum across Valetta harbour, skied across the Alps and the Rockies, and been transferred by breeches buoy from one Royal Navy ship to another, at sea and under full steam. He has been down a coal-mine in Yorkshire, a salt-mine in Poland and a nuclear bunker in Essex.
Now a grandfather, retired and living in Kent, time allows him to commit some of his experiences to paper. He prefers writing fiction on the grounds that it is safer.

My thoughts:

This is a very fascinating read, taking place partly in the court rooms of the Old Bailey, which I used to walk past on my way to work.

I find the ongoings of legal procedures interesting, and the one invented here involves war crimes, murder, mental health and a government cover-up.

The characters are presented sympathetically, and I really felt for Melanie and her father.

The author clearly has a great understanding of the ins and outs of the law and the military/government which inform the plot.

The writing is clear and concise, making what could have been a dreary legal case into an action packed thrill, with Michael, Melanie’s GP father, even having some of the more adventurous moments.

Some of the book is shocking, and graphic, but not gratuitously so. There is also tenderness and love, and thankfully, a happy ending.

The relationship between Melanie and Michael is at the heart of the plot, the deep bond and love between father and daughter, as opposed to romantic bonds. This is presented well and enables the reader to connect with the characters and the plot.

All in all a very enjoyable and interesting read from an author I look forward to reading more from, and i wouldn’t mind if it was his autobiography!

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Cellist’s Notebook – Kittie Lambton*

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The Cellist’s Notebook is a charming, life-affirming tale of discovery surrounding an old family mystery. A young girl’s curiosity, her love of a little melody and the beauty of a cello evokes memories long forgotten.

Set in the present day, ten-year-old Emily Peters is spending the summer with her Nana Rose, a retired piano teacher, in rural Cumbria whilst Emily’s sister Lizzie travels to Paris for a French exchange. When Emily notices an old photograph of a cellist dating back to the Second World War and discovers cellos and an old music manuscript in the attic, her Nana tells of the touching and compelling story of her brother Leni, a linguist, cellist and music composer, whose disappearance was marked ‘ultimate fate unknown’ following World War II.

Emily’s love of the unfinished cello melody, found in her Great Uncle Leni’s music notebook, evokes memories for her Nana Rose and Emily returns to Norfolk with a passion to play the cello and a determination to learn the long-lost melody. A series of events unfold that change the life of Emily and her family forever.

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Kittie Lambton was born in 1975 in Norfolk, England. She is a cellist, and has been providing music tuition for over fifteen years. She is an advocate for all children being able to learn musical instruments from a young age. Her early learning of the cello with her cello tutor in Norwich, Norfolk has created warm memories that inspired the writing of this book. Kittie enjoys exploring the science behind how music can evoke and improve memory and the importance of music in our everyday lives. She was recently awarded second place in the Westgate on Sea Literary Festival Short Story Competition 2019.

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My Thoughts:

This novella is a rather sweet story of forgotten memories and family coming together.

It’s a gentle tale of Emily and her grandmother, music and memory.

I enjoyed it and wished it was longer and more in depth at times, feeling it’s short length meant it sacrificed the nuances of the story.

*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: Are You Watching? – Vincent Ralph*

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Ten years ago, Jess’s mother was murdered by the Magpie Man. She was the first of his victims but not the last. Now Jess is the star of a YouTube reality series and she’s using it to catch the killer once and for all. The whole world is watching her every move. And so is the Magpie Man.


Vincent Ralph has been writing in one form or another since his teens and always dreamed of being a novelist. He owes his love of books to his mother, who encouraged his imagination from an early age and made sure there were new stories to read. Vincent has lived in London, Cornwal and Chester but he now lives in his home county of Kent with his wife, son and two cats.

My thoughts:

This was a really clever premise – Jess is determined to find her mum’s killer by appearing in a weekly YouTube series. Combining old school detecting and new technology.

The writing is crisp and the characters relatable. The plot is compelling and enjoyable.


*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, reviews

Book Review: The Library of the Unwritten – A.J. Hackwith*

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All of humanity’s unwritten books and stories are housed in a wing of Hell’s Library. In Hell but not part of it, instead the wing is under the Librarian – Claire is the current post holder and sh6es having a terrible day.

A book has escaped and she and her assistant Brevity, a former Muse, must recapture the book before it causes too much trouble.

Things are never that straightforward and soon Claire and Brevity, accompanied by a very junior demon called Leto, and pursued by a couple of angels, are hunting for a book rumoured to be written Lucifer himself.

This was a really fun read, a total romp and right up my street, as I love books set in magical libraries like this, where books and librarians are more than they appear.

The plot is clever, the characters intriguing and I had a little giggle every now and then.

If you’re a fan of the Invisible Library series by Genevieve Cogman, The Archived series by V.E. Schwab or The Chronicles of St Mary’s by Jodi Taylor you’ll enjoy this.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book with no requirement to review, all words and opinions remain my own.

books, reviews

Book Review: What We Did In The Dark – Ajay Close*

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“I made what may be called a rash and foolish marriage to a man I scarcely knew.”

1904: Cathie longs for adventure. A whirlwind romance with soldier and artist Herbert Jackson offers this and more, but Herbert is violently jealous and she is soon fighting for her freedom – and her life. A fictionalised account of Catherine Carswell’s first marriage, What We Did in the Dark is a compelling portrait of a trail-blazing writer.

My thoughts:

I found this book really interesting. I hadn’t heard of Catherine Carswell, but I’ve been looking into her work after reading this. She marries the wrong man, he turns out to be a terrible person and then she has to fight for her freedom. An inspiring, brave woman, determined to make her own way and live life on her terms in an age when women were not allowed to do such things.

*I was kindly sent a copy of this book by the publisher with no requirement to review, all opinions remain by own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Isadorn the Unicorn and the Sloppy Dragon – Angela Castillo & Indira Zuleta*

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What’s a frustrated unicorn to do? Dunfer the Dragon has just moved into the cave next door, and Isadorn’s perfect world has been turned upside down.
Not only does he make growling noises all day and night, he’s just burned down her favorite rosebush! Can Isadora figure out how to talk to Dunfer about her problems? Or will her magical unicorn world be ruined forever?

My thoughts:

This is sweet and adorable, brightly coloured illustrations complement the storyline and engage the reader.

As well as being a lovely story about making friends and resolving conflict, it features some discussion points to prompt a conversation with your youngster after reading.

I passed this to a friend with a small child to get their thoughts. My friend’s daughter (aged 3) said it was “pretty, and good because the unicorn and the dragon made friends” – which is excellent feedback.

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