Category: reviews

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Home for Christmas – Heidi Swain

ramblingmads

Bella is living her best life in Wynbridge, with her beloved Spaniel, Tink. She’s found a way to keep the house she inherited from her grandparents while expanding her dream business – Away With the Fairies – and she’s ecstatic that Christmas is on the horizon!

In fact, everything is perfect until family friend, Catherine Connelly asks Bella if she’d be willing to rent part of the house to freelance author, Jude who is researching the history of the Connelly Clan and Wynthorpe Hall ahead of turning his findings into a book. The plan had been for Jude to stay at the hall, but he can’t cope with the chaos and Bella reluctantly agrees to open her door to him.

Initially, the pair clash but then friendlier feelings begin to grow and Bella finds herself wondering if Jude could become more than just another guest before it’s time for him to leave. That is, until he announces he has no time for Christmas!

With her favourite time of the year suddenly in jeopardy, will Bella ever feel like she’s home for Christmas?

Heidi Swain is a Sunday Times Top Ten best-selling author who writes feel good fiction for Simon & Schuster. She releases two books a year (early summer and winter) and the stories all have a strong sense of community, family and friendship. She is currently writing books set in three locations – the Fenland town of Wynbridge, Nightingale Square in Norwich and Wynmouth on the Norfolk coast, as well as summer standalone titles.

Heidi lives in beautiful west Norfolk. She is passionate about gardening, the countryside, collecting vintage paraphernalia and reading. Her tbr pile is always out of control!

Heidi loves to chat with her readers and you can get in touch via her website or on social media.

My thoughts: I do enjoy a Heidi Swain Christmas book and this is really good, fun and charming, and it made me feel all cosy inside.

Bella makes fairies at her business Away With the Fairies, inspired by her love of Cicely Mary Barker’s Flower Fairies (my Nan gave me the whole series as a child, one book per birthday till I had them all) and other fairy related things. She’s good at it, and they sell well, especially in the run up to Christmas, so she’s going to be really busy.

And then she’s asked to take in a temporary guest – a writer called Jude, who’s been staying at the Hall but needs somewhere quiet to put together the history he’s writing. And she can’t really say no, as the Connollys have been so good to her over the years.

Cue chaos, Jude hates Christmas, Bella’s little flat is too small for all the fairy making paraphernalia and her dog, Tink, is disturbing him by barking. 

But as the festive season intensifies, and the pair get to know each other better, there’s a distinct something in the air…

Filled with Heidi’s charming characters and festive fun, this is a terrific cosy, mug of hit chocolate wrapped in a blanket with your favourite festive film (Muppets’ Christmas Carol for me) on the TV read. So get comfy and enjoy!

*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 Ravenswood Witch – Jenni Keer

ramblingmads


‘There are a lot of shadows at Ravenswood, so you will need to be strong…’

The year is 1885 and a young woman is on the run, knowing if she’s caught, she’ll be hanged for murder. Moments from a safe haven, she collides with a gruff stranger, falling and breaking her ankle.

To her surprise, the man – Marcus Greybourne – convinces the local constable that she is his reclusive wife of ten years, Luna. He carries her back to the neglected and crumbling Ravenswood
Hall, promising if she agrees to maintain this charade, he will keep her safe until her injuries have healed.

But the house is haunted by shadows and secrets. What’s more, the real Luna Greybourne is missing, without trace. Scratches and marks made by her around the house suggest witchcraft; and indeed
Luna is known locally as the Ravenswood Witch; her reputation in tatters, like the wallpapers of the padlocked rooms she’d destroyed.

As strange happenings in the house continue, outside the screech of a raven echoes across oppressive woods that seem alive with dark magic. And the woman who is now pretending to be Luna can’t help but fear she’s escaped the noose for a far more terrible fate…

A completely compelling and unforgettable historical bookclub read – fans of Jane Eyre, Weyward and The Binding will be utterly spellbound.

Purchase


Jenni Keer is the well-reviewed author of historical romances, often with a mystery at their heart.
Most recently published by Headline and shortlisted for the 2023 RNA Historical Romantic Novel of the Year.

Facebook Twitter Instagram Newsletter
Bookbub

My thoughts: I’m not sure pretending to be a complete stranger’s wife and then not just fleeing, but actually going on with the pretence is the best plan in the world, especially when you start to learn that his missing wife is seen as a witch and feared by the locals.

Set at a time when mental illness was even less well understood than it is now, Luna Greybourne is clearly a very unwell and unhappy woman. Her husband, Marcus, has tried to help her to no avail and things have gotten so bad most of the servants have fled and the local community regards him with distrust.

Posing as his wife might help this young woman hide from her current troubles but it could just as well backfire and see her arrested for something else. They may not be hanging witches anymore (England did not burn them at the stake, that was for heretics) but even in the 19th Century, there was superstition and plenty of asylums filled with “mad women”.

The house has seen some terrible things, the rooms need repairs and redecoration, the furniture is battered and the whole place is heavy with neglect. Marcus requests that “Luna” oversee the restoration of his home while she recuperates. The rather peculiar servants, a married couple who appear to hate each other, will assist.

I loved Luna’s little feathered friend, ravens are highly intelligent, as he demonstrates and remember their friends, use tools and can even learn to talk. But his presence adds to the rumours that she’s a witch and responsible for various things that happen. All of which means more scrutiny, not less. Especially when Marcus’ aunt comes for a visit.

Women had very few rights and there wasn’t much justice at this time  – you could be locked away or even executed without much evidence, and I can sort of understand wanting to be someone else till the furore dies down, but “Luna” puts herself into more danger by having to trust others not to tell, and she can’t seem to follow a simple instruction – stay out of the woods and away from the healer man.

This gets quite dark and turns into something of a supernatural thriller as events build to a head, we learn about both the original Luna and her replacement, the fate of our heroine’s supposed victim and delve into the politics at play in this small place. Clever, gripping and fascinating.

*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 Plague Doctor Murders – Ellis Blackwood

ramblingmads

A killer dressed as a plague doctor is prowling London’s docks.

Able seaman Humphrey Wilkes is dead, shot between the eyes by the murderer known as the Plague Doctor. When Samuel Pepys’s naval colleague, Robert Drake, finds a black cross daubed on his door, it marks him out as the next victim.

Pepys dispatches his inquisitors, Abby Harcourt and Jacob Standish, to the docks. Can they unmask the killer and save Drake’s life before he strikes again?

Death is a way of life to hardened seafarers. The dockyard is theirs – a dangerous domain of secrets, lies and grudges dating back to the grim days of the plague. Anyone could be the Plague Doctor. But who lurks beneath that ghastly disguise?

When the Plague Doctor targets Jacob himself, the battle to save Drake becomes personal.

Goodreads Purchase

Ellis Blackwood fell in love with the writings of Samuel Pepys, and the 17th-century England he inhabited, through the great man’s published diaries. The Samuel Pepys Mysteries are the result of that literary love affair.

Facebook Instagram

My thoughts: The Great Fire of London is cooling, the buildings are smouldering and Samuel Pepys has a problem he needs his two inquisitors to look into.

Down in Deptford, at the docks, a world away from Pepys’ home and life at court, a murderer dressed as a plague doctor has been at work. Abby and Jacob are sent to investigate. It’s something of a closed world at the dockyard and hard work to get anything out of the residents. Life at sea and on the docks is hard and death happens suddenly, but even here, a murderer is a strange event.

Clever and full of historical detail – one of my favourite historical facts is that Pepys buried his cheese in the garden to save it from the Fire, and the flavour of 17th Century London, both familiar and completely alien at the same time.

This series just gets better with every book and Abby is really coming to the fore as a crack investigator, despite regarding herself as just a house maid. She really needs to talk to Pepys about a proper promotion and pay rise! Jacob is still a bit wet, and needs to stop worrying about what people think of him – Samuel Pepys clearly thinks he’s a man who’s going places. 

It’s a good plot too, lots of suspects and twists and the duo find more than they expected in a dockside pub, clever little tattoos that lead them to gambling and other secrets.

Don’t forget to head to the author’s website for the free short story that started it all, when Samuel Pepys’ famous diaries go missing.

*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: Secretary of Doom – Jennifer Kropf

ramblingmads

We’re getting ready for the upcoming release of the next book in this series and thought it would be fun to recap Sincerely, Secretary of Doom! Besties, you still have 2 weeks to read this one before Wanted: A Roommate Who Isn’t Evil comes out on October 16th!

Sincerely, Secretary of Doom (High Court of the Coffee Bean Book 2)

Publication Date: May 28, 2024

Genre: Cozy Romcom w/ Fantasy Elements

  • Workplace romance
  • Amnesia
  • Found Family
  • Forced Proximity
  • Creepy Cathedral
  • Love/Hate Relationship
  • Fairy Newspaper

The High Court of the Coffee Bean returns with a sassy, wicked streak.

Months after the deadly assassins-turned-baristas left the Four Corners of Ever behind for good, Doom comes knocking at Mor Trisencor’s door. And it’s wearing stilettos.

When the Fairy Post gets an unexpected, grand following in the human realm for its vintage feel and whimsical words, Mor gets busier than ever typing out articles, following up on leads of fairy mischief, and everything else that goes along with being a faeborn reporter. But his heavy workload comes to a screeching halt when he spots someone in the human realm that shouldn’t be there—an old foe of his. One he thought he would never see again. One he’d prayed to the sky deities that he wouldn’t cross paths with after the day Mor abandoned the Shadow Army, leaving a trail of flames and destruction in his wake. For the first time since the Fairy Post was published, the newspaper gets put on hold and Mor goes hunting.

Mor can think of nothing else but stopping this foe before ripples of doom begin to stir up the human realm.

Violet Miller is a journalist with a mysterious past her amnesia forbids her from remembering. But when she gets let go from her job at the most prestigious news station in the city, her unexplained past becomes the least of her problems. She thinks it’s all over for her as a journalist, until she sees a job posting for a secretary position at a niche, laughable “old school style” newspaper called the Fairy Post.

The day Violet shows up at Mor’s house—or, creepy, dark cathedral is more like it—is the day that everything changes for her. Before Violet even has a chance to ask about the job, she’s mistakenly marked as Mor’s lover by his “enemies” and she finds herself in the crosshairs of a battle of inhuman creatures who’d rather “stab first and ask questions later.”

This marks the beginning of a love-hate relationship (mostly hate) between a fae assassin born of the Shadows, and a lipstick-wearing, mascara wielding human born to be in the spotlight.

While reading this second installment of the High Court of the Coffee Bean series, you may find yourself craving macaroons, listening to the wind for signs of fairy magic, and wishing you had a “creepy, dark, creaking, abandoned cathedral” of your own to call home.

GET IT HERE

My thoughts: this series is so much fun, it’s a bit silly but that’s all part of the fun. The fae cafe is still going well under the supervision and coffee making skills of the High Court of the Coffee Bean, Cress is hosting a bonkers YouTube channel, Mor is still publishing the Fairy Post and the knitting assassins are still over the road.

Mor’s past catches up with him in the form of another fae warrior from the Shadow Army, someone who really resents and hates him. And poor Violet Miller, who can’t remember anything that happened to her before she was 13, is caught in the middle.

All she wants is a job as a journalist, and to look into the spate of strange attacks leaving women with amnesia across the city. So she answers an ad in the Fairy Post and now she’s Secretary to Doom, hunted by fae warriors and even more confused than she’s ever been!

I loved it, I can’t wait for book 3. This is just such a funny, entertaining series, I love the characters, the fae are all completely hopeless and cannot cope with our world – they keep pledging vengeance and having battles in the street involving throwing baked goods. It’s just, very silly, very funny, very joyful. Read it!

IG: @authorjenniferkropf @rrbooktours

TIKTOK: @jenniferautumnkropf @shannon_of_rrbooktours

Tags: 

#rrbooktours #rrbtSincerelySecretaryofDoom #SincerelySecretaryofDoom #highcourtofthecoffeebean #jenniferkropf #welcometofaecafe #humorousfantasy #cozyromcom #cozyreads #fallreads

*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

Blogathon: Do No Harm – Jack Jordan

ramblingmads

As part of this Jack Jordan blogathon, I’m re-posting my review of his book Do No Harm.

MY CHILD HAS BEEN TAKEN.
AND I’VE BEEN GIVEN A CHOICE . . .
KILL A PATIENT ON THE OPERATING TABLE
OR LOSE MY SON FOREVER.

The man lies on the table in front of me.
As a surgeon, it’s my job to save him.
As a mother, I know I must kill him.
You might think that I’m a monster.
But there really is only one choice.
I must get away with murder.
Or I will never see my son again.

I’VE SAVED MANY LIVES.
WOULD YOU TRUST ME WITH YOURS?

My thoughts: I don’t have kids but I do know a fair few mums and I completely understand how dedicated and how much they love their children.

I don’t know however if they’d actually be able to kill for them as Anna is blackmailed into doing here. The people who took her little boy will kill him if the local MP makes it off her table. Doctors pledge to do no harm, but mothers will say they’d do anything for their child.

This is such a delicious and chilling set up and Anna can’t just leave it there. Especially when she doesn’t get her terrified son back straight away. Something else is in play here and it’s only by following every tiny lead (and dodgy nurse Margot) that she can finally get Zack back.

The cops are on the case so she also needs to throw them off the scent, survive a review at work, and keep her ex-husband from finding anything out. Easy peasy. Not like it’s oh, open heart surgery or anything.

I was totally hooked, the way the story plays out, the alternating viewpoints from Anna and Margot, as they’re pulled into a deadly world of crime and politics, it’s dark and clever and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: A Death of Fresh Air – Helen Golden

ramblingmads


In a charming seaside town, secrets don’t stay buried for long…

Body of Chef Found in Wall Three Years After He ‘Left to go to Australia’

Human remains found inside the wall of a disused building have now been identified as those of Victor Blackwell. He was the head chef at Windstanton’s The Seaside Lounge until just over three years ago, when, according his friends, he left for a job in Australia. Detective Inspector Albert Finch from Fenshire’s Cold Case Unit has asked for anyone who has information about the chef’s movements three years ago to come forward.

We have no choice! With only three weeks until the Grand Opening, the last thing Bea and Perry need is the grim discovery of a skeleton in the wall of Simon and Ryan’s soon-to-open restaurant, SaltAir. But when it’s designated a crime scene, and the policeman in charge of the investigation into Vic’s murder refuses to let them have access to continue the refurbishment, they have no other option than to investigate the murder themselves or risk letting Simon and Ryan down.

But in a town where everyone harbours secrets, can they uncover the truth in time or will SaltAir’s opening be a damp squib?

Amazon UK Amazon US


Hello. I’m Helen Golden. I write British contemporary cozy whodunnits with a hint of humour. I live in small village in Lincolnshire in the UK with my husband, my step-daughter, her two cats, our two
dogs, sometimes my step-son, and our tortoise.
I used to work in senior management, but after my recent job came to a natural end I had the opportunity to follow my dreams and start writing. It’s very early in my life as an author, but so far I’m loving it.
It’s crazy busy at our house, so when I’m writing I retreat to our caravan (an impulsive lockdown purchase) which is mostly parked on our drive. When I really need total peace and quiet, I take it to a
lovely site about 15 minutes away and hide there until my family runs out of food or clean clothes.

Instagram Facebook TikTok Twitter

My thoughts: We’re back in Fenshire with Lady Beatrice and the gang getting ready for the opening of Simon and Ryan’s new restaurant. Bea and Perry are handling the makeover and as a false wall is knocked down to reveal the sea view – a grisly find is discovered. The remains of the former head chef, supposedly in Australia for the last three years. Grim. And totally against hygiene rules.

Time is short and the detective assigned the case, head of the cold case unit, Finch, doesn’t seem too inclined to investigate. So, despite promising to stay out of murders, Bea and Perry (along with Simon, Rich and Ryan, not to mention Daisy the dog) have no choice but to run their own investigation.

They uncover a rather different version of events to those that supposedly happened when the chef first went missing. There’s an ex-girlfriend, former colleagues and a rather panicked ex-boss, running for local MP, to interview. But something isn’t quite right. Luckily Bea’s brother Fred has a good eye for dodgy accounting.

Bea and Rich are also about to go public, Bea’s grandmother, aka the Dowager Queen, is keen to meet him and Bea’s son is home for the holidays, so it’s all happy families at the royal estate.

Daisy does her canine detective best and finds a vital clue – dogs (and cats) often make excellent crime busters. And there’s lots of very tasty sounding food being eaten. Fun as ever and highly entertaining.

*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 Thirteenth Child – Erin A. Craig

ramblingmads

Drawing on the Grimm Brothers’ dark fairytale, “Godfather Death,” this new novel by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of House of Salt and Sorrows is a sweeping, fantastical saga of actions and consequences.

This is the story of Hazel, a young healer navigating a ruthless court to save the life of the king, grappling with a pantheon of gods with questionable agendas as she fights for agency and true love in her own life as the goddaughter of none other than Death himself.

All gifts come with a price.

Hazel Trépas has always known she wasn’t like the rest of her siblings. A thirteenth child, promised away to one of the gods, she spends her childhood waiting for her godfather—Merrick, the Dreaded End—to arrive.

When he does, he lays out exactly how he’s planned Hazel’s future. She will become a great healer, known throughout the kingdom for her precision and skill. To aid her endeavors, Merrick blesses Hazel with a gift, the ability to instantly deduce the exact cure needed to treat the sick.

But all gifts come with a price. Hazel can see when Death has claimed a patient—when all hope is gone—and is tasked to end their suffering, permanently. Haunted by the ghosts of those she’s killed, Hazel longs to run. But destiny brings her to the royal court, where she meets Leo, a rakish prince with a disdain for everything and everyone. And it’s where Hazel faces her biggest dilemma yet—to save the life of a king marked to die. Hazel knows what she is meant to do and knows what her heart is urging her toward, but what will happen if she goes against the will of Death?

From the astonishing mind of Erin A. Craig comes the breathtaking fairy tale retelling readers have been waiting for— what does a life well-lived mean, and how do we justify the impossible choices we make for the ones we love? The Thirteenth Child is a must-read for fans of dark fairy tales, romantasy, and epic fantasy alike.

ERIN A. CRAIG is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of House of Salt and Sorrows, Small Favors, and House of Roots and Ruin. She has always loved telling stories. After getting her BFA in Theatre Design and Production from the University of Michigan, she stage-managed tragic operas filled with hunchbacks, séances, and murderous clowns, then decided she wanted to write books that were just as spooky. An avid reader, decent quilter, rabid basketball fan, and collector of typewriters, brass figurines, and sparkly shoes, Erin makes her home in West Michigan with her husband and daughter.

My thoughts: drawing on the Grimm Brothers’ Grandfather Death, this fairy tale features Hazel, the Thirteenth Child of the title, born to parents who should really have stopped at one or two children. The gods come to them and offer to foster her, her parents decline the offers until the Dreaded End, the god of death, arrives.

Then nothing. He doesn’t come for Hazel until she’s a teenager, whisking her away to the Between, the home of the gods, to fulfil the destiny he lays out for her.

There’s a twist to his requirements and as Hazel grows, she learns that there is more required of her than first appears. A healer must also become a killer. She must honour Death’s instructions. Until she finds she can’t, killing the king could cause devastation and ruin hundreds of lives, but the only way to save him could destroy the bond between her and her godfather. Can she risk it all?

Hazel is a fascinating character, her godfather, Merrick, has no humanity and doesn’t understand hers, her reluctance and her fear of death. Her choices upset and perplex him. He doesn’t understand free will or empathy.

The story twists and turns, humanity and the gods exist in such different spheres, their desires clash with those of the humans they manipulate and request worship from. Hazel struggles with her gifts, powerful as they are, but she cannot be what the gods desire and remain human. The book is clever and intriguing, beautifully written and at times moving and effecting.

*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: Christmas at the Little Paris Hotel – Rebecca Raisin

ramblingmads


Turn a tumbledown Paris hotel into a perfect boutique, bookish retreat, and have it open for Christmas? What could possibly go wrong?

When Anais receives a near-derelict Paris hotel in her divorce settlement, her first thought is to tidy it up and sell it immediately. All she wants is to move on and forget her disaster of a marriage ever
happened.
But selling it proves impossible, so she has only one option: to make it gorgeous and open by Christmas… when her funds will almost certainly run out.

She’s not counting on the grumpy American bar-owner next door, Noah, coming and interfering at every moment though. Nor is she expecting to find a mysterious room – which holds the key to a one-hundred-year-old secret – about a woman who chose love against the odds.

One thing’s for sure… as the fairy lights twinkle all over the city of lights and the first snowflakes start to fall… this will be a Christmas in Paris to remember.

A totally gorgeous, escapist romantic comedy, with an unforgettable mystery! A perfect festive read for fans of Emily Henry and Sarah Morgan to curl up with this winter.

Purchase


Rebecca Raisin writes heartwarming romance from her home in sunny Perth, Australia. Her heroines tend to be on the quirky side and her books are usually set in exotic locations so her readers can
armchair travel any day of the week.

Facebook Twitter Instagram
Newsletter Bookbub

My thoughts: After catching her crummy husband in bed with the cleaner, Anais chucks him and gets a bit screwed over in the divorce, he gets their lovely apartment, she gets the run down hotel he bought with her money.

Luckily her hilarious cousin Manon is on hand to help do it up, ideally to sell ASAP. Of course both women fall in love with the place in all it’s salmon pink bathrooms glory. There’s also a mystery at the heart of the hotel – why are two of the rooms walled off and what is hidden within?

There’s a tiny cameo from a familiar Paris Cupid, secrets and mysteries to uncover, a grumpy bar owner to win over, lots of renovations to do, plus Anais owes her publisher a novel, Christmas is coming and her rubbish ex puts in an unwelcome experience (Manon, I’ll help you hide the body!)

Lots of fun to read, with a lovely but bittersweet mystery to resolve that draws the characters together, because Paris is the city of love, lights and it seems, literature. Bon.

*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: How to Slay at Work – Sarah Bonner

ramblingmads


When your boss is at a conference in a city where there’s a suspicious death, it’s unlucky.

If it happens twice, it’s odd.

But when she’s in the same city at the same time as a third unexplained death . . .

Could she be a stone-cold killer?

Millie’s always known her boss Freya is a psycho – the demanding and ever-changing coffee orders, the cryptic instructions, the apparently expected mind reading and don’t even start on the insistence that Millie wears heels . . . All. The. Time.

But it only extends as far as exacting office standards. Right?

As Freya’s assistant, Millie has privileged access to her diary and travel history and when a pattern emerges of men (who seem to have no connection to each other) dying in cities where Freya is travelling, Millie is determined to figure out what’s going on.

After all, a stone-cold killer could be exactly what Millie needs . . .

A sharp, funny and deliciously dark thriller that fans of Katy Brent, Bella Mackie or Killing Eve will love.

Purchase 

Sarah Bonner is the author of several bestselling psychological thrillers.

Facebook: @sarah.bonner.35574
Twitter: @sarahbonner101
Instagram: @sarahbonner101

My thoughts: Millie’s boss is demanding, exacting and something of a nightmare. But is she also a serial killer?

Getting a promotion (with no pay rise, or new job title) means suddenly having to travel to Paris, where Millie sees something a bit odd, why is her boss scaling the hotel balconies?

Doing some digging into a series of deaths that match Freya’s travel plans and even the hotels she’s stayed in leave her with more questions than answers, so she starts snooping. 

Millie has her own secrets and plans, and this might actually work in her favour, if her boss doesn’t kill her first.

This is really funny, pitch black humour, which I love, it’s smart and a bit silly. I really enjoyed it. Millie’s not a great detective even though she does uncover some interesting things. But Freya is genuinely stone cold, terrifying psychopath material. There’s a lot of twists, especially towards the end, as things head to a point of no return. Great stuff.

*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 Torments – Michael J Malone

ramblingmads

Hiding from the world in her little white cottage on the shores of a loch, Annie Jackson is fighting to come to terms with the world of the murmurs, a curse that has haunted female members of her family for centuries.

While she is within the ancient, heavy stone of the old dwelling, the voices merely buzz, but the moment she steps outside the door they clamour to torment her all over again, bringing with them shocking visions of imminent deaths.

Into this oasis comes her adoptive mother, Mandy McEvoy, begging for Annie’s help. Mandy’s nephew Damien has gone missing, after dropping off his four-year old son at his mother’s home. Unable to refuse, but terrified to leave her sanctuary, Annie, with the help of her brother Lewis, is drawn in to a secretive, seductive world that will have her question everything she holds dear, while Lewis’ life may be changed forever…

Michael Malone is a prize-winning poet and author who was born and brought up in the heart of Burns’ country. He has published over 200 poems in literary magazines throughout the UK, including New Writing Scotland, Poetry Scotland and Markings. Blood Tears, his bestselling debut novel won the Pitlochry Prize from the Scottish Association of Writers. His dark psychological thriller, A Suitable Lie, was a number-one bestseller, and is currently in production for the screen, and five powerful standalone thrillers followed suit.

The Murmurs, first in the Annie Jackson Mysteries series, was published to critical acclaim in 2023. A former Regional Sales Manager (Faber & Faber) he has also worked as an IFA and a bookseller. Michael lives in Ayr, where he also works as a hypnotherapist.

My thoughts: Annie has finally found some peace, but then her cousin goes missing and she and Lewis team up to look into his disappearance. What they end up tangling with is way more complex and scary than they expected. Annie’s gift – those whispers in her mind might help but they could also put her in harm’s way. 

There are dangerous people who believe in some dark things, who have caused terrible harm to others because of it, and now they have Annie in their sights.

Annie and Lewis aren’t detectives, they’re not equipped to go around asking questions of some of the more troubling and dangerous people who they come across. They’re also aided though by a few good souls, thankfully.

Darker and more twisted than the previous book, Annie is dragged into a world of the Occult and dark magic beliefs. I can’t imagine that she and Lewis will survive intact after this and all the tragedy they find. But it’s totally compelling and gripping to read.

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