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Blog Tour: The Stars Forgot Us – R.J. Garcia

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We’re celebrating the release of The Stars Forgot Us, by bestselling author R.J. Garcia. This beauty will be available on March 30th. Read on for details and a chance to enter a fantastic giveaway – A paperback copy & a $10 Amazon e-gift card (US only) and an e-book edition if the winner lives outside the US!

21-438 RJ Garcia The Stars Forgot Us (1)

The Stars Forgot Us

Publication Date: March 30th, 2022

Genre: YA Paranormal

Publisher: Midnight Tide Publishing

Fifteen-year-old Jacob Kelly would love to go back to simpler times. Before his parents’ divorce and the onset of his older brother’s schizophrenia. But when he returns to his hometown, things feel off. After a series of strange occurrences in his new house, Jacob fears the house is haunted, or even worse, he is losing his mind.

To his surprise, Jacob discovers a mysterious teenage runaway, Sanctuary Daniels, living in the house. She reveals she has been kept by a figure known only as Mother, in a place where downstairs children are languishing prisoners, and upstairs children do Mother’s bidding.

Both Jacob’s investigation into Sanctuary’s allegations and their budding romance are cut short when she is reclaimed by evil beings. Beings who unleash terror upon Jacob and his family. Now he must journey to a real haunted house to save his first love and fight for his life.

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Excerpt

My eyes snapped open as three words surfaced in my sleepy brain. You’re not alone. A cold settled into my flesh, making the fine hairs on my arm stand up. I sat up in bed, sucking in a deep breath, and stared into the darkness, unsure what had woken me. My lights were off. It was pitch black. Then the distinct pitter-patter of footsteps sounded down the hall.     

“Mom?” When I got no answer, I jumped out of bed and scrambled for the light switch. The overhead fluorescent light blinked on, and I immediately noticed the closet door was partway opened again. This time, I was sure I’d closed it, so I started off with slow, measured steps to investigate. I yanked the door open the rest of the way and hit the closet light. I scoured the walls to discover more writing. The single word, HELP, was written in the same marker on the wall. My pulse skyrocketed. It freaked me out. 

I crept back over to the bed and grabbed the blanket, swinging it around my shoulders like a cape, settling down on the drafty hardwood floor. With a shiver of anticipation, I kept my eyes pinned to the door, and strained to hear the slightest noise. It was eerily quiet. Even the wind had died down.     

Unexpectedly, I heard a girl’s voice, so soft it was hardly audible, as it drifted up from the floor. It was only the word, “I’m.”       

I scooted over to the vent and whispered, “Um…hello?” There was no reply. It could have been a ringing or humming in my ear. Yeah, I’d only imagined it was a voice. Yet, I hadn’t imagined the writing on the wall. I mean, what the hell? I got up and decided to have a look around. If someone was in the house, I had to know. I exited my room and began my search.       

I stood face to face with a long and quiet hallway—doors on the left and right. My mind was a hot blank space as a thread of fear tugged me along. My mom’s bedroom was kitty-corner to my room, so I stepped in just far enough to take in the visual of her tucked in bed. Her sleeping sounds were somewhere between wheezes and moans.

“Mom?” I whispered, but she didn’t wake up, and I decided to just let her sleep.

I crossed over to the spare bedroom, smacking on the lights. There was only a desk and Mom’s old computer in the corner. Determined, I was now on a serious hunt and rushed to the closet, flinging the door open. There wasn’t anything. Not even writing on the wall.     

Next on the list was Michael’s room. I found him sitting up in bed with a vacant stare. The lights were off, but the blinds were open. Moonlight flitted in, creating shadowy outlines above the chest of drawers that appeared incompatible and menacing.

My gaze returned to my brother as I cleared my throat. “Were you just walking around?”

“No.”

“Did you hear a girl’s voice, Mike?”     

He came to life. “Yeah. I heard her.”     

My mouth dropped. “Holy shit, I hoped I imagined it.”     

Michael stared at me with an unsettling intensity. “I heard her in the vents, the drainpipes, and in the walls. If you listen closely enough, you’ll hear them all.”     

Oh great, I’m losing it too.      

My brother nodded approvingly. Tension slid from his features, softening his mouth and jaw muscles. Misery loves company, I guess.     

Be sure to get your copy HERE on March 30th!

About the Author

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R.J. Garcia is a wife, and proud mom of two smart teens and a chorkie, Zoey She earned her MSW and worked with foster children and as a school social worker. Writing has been her other great love. She has been writing short stories for as long as she can remember. To her amazement, those short stories became novels!

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Book Review: The Copper Chevalier – Emily Owen

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For George and Douglas Abernathy, life is on the up. Their new android-building business is thriving and they are set to move from their clockmaker’s shop in Soho to a spectacular country mansion.

Then, the bombastic General Brassington forces the brothers to create a mechanical soldier to help quell the Indian Mutiny. The resulting steam-powered, clockwork soldier is promptly shipped to India.

The soldier’s mission is clear, he must subdue the rebellious sepoys and uphold the British Empire’s interests. But after becoming embroiled in the struggle, he’s no longer certain who the true enemy is. When the soldier uncovers a plot that could turn the tide of the conflict and alter the nature of warfare, he must decide where his loyalty lies.

Meanwhile, Molly, the brothers’ botanist teenage sister, faces her own challenges while trying to create her dream garden at the family’s new home…

My thoughts: after their success with The Mechanical Maestro, the Abernathys’ fortunes are on the rise as they move house, and build more automatons. Commissioned by a General to build a mechanical soldier to aid in quashing an uprising in India, they create an extraordinary being – Colonel Copperton. But when he uncovers a plot to use a chemical weapon on the sepoys, his true ingenuity is revealed.

Meanwhile Molly (who’s my favourite character) is designing her garden and bickering with the landscape designer her brother George has hired. But methinks the lady doth protest too much…

This was lots of fun but with a serious point at its heart, what the East India Company and the British Army did in India during the 1800s and 1900s was often cruel and brutal, native peoples were oppressed and killed simply for wanting to be left alone to self govern. The history of the British in India is very sad and shameful, unfortunately not everyone is as good as Copperton and his friends, who have strong moral foundations and won’t harm civilians.

I liked the contrast between the chapters set in India and those back home in Britain – the lighthearted escapades of Molly and the various automatons in the house stopped the book feeling too heavy – as even in the Abernathy household there were some more serious things going on with George that set his siblings at odds with him. This was also sensitively handled and Doctor Molly is a force to be reckoned with.

I was gifted a copy of this book to read and review by the author, who remembered I had been on the blog tour for The Mechanical Maestro, so thank you Emily. The Copper Chevalier will be published in paperback and ebook formats on March 31st, 2022.

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Blog Tour: The Kaiju Preservation Society – John Scalzi

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When COVID-19 sweeps through New York City, Jamie Gray is stuck as a dead-end driver for food delivery apps. That is, until Jamie makes a delivery to an old acquaintance, Tom, who works at what he calls “an animal rights organization.” Tom’s team needs a last-minute grunt to handle things on their next field visit. Jamie, eager to do anything, immediately signs on.

What Tom doesn’t tell Jamie is that the animals his team cares for are not here on Earth. Not our Earth, at least. In an alternate dimension, massive dinosaur-like creatures named Kaiju roam a warm, human-free world. They’re the universe’s largest and most dangerous panda and they’re in trouble.

It’s not just the Kaiju Preservation Society who have found their way to the alternate world. Others have, too. And their carelessness could cause millions back on our Earth to die.

My thoughts: imagine if Godzilla, the Loch Ness Monster and other huge creatures were real, lived in an alternate Earth next to ours (parallel universe theory) and were living nuclear reactors. Please watch Jurassic Park and remember the lessons – then enter the weird world of the Kaiju Preservation Society.

Jamie loses his job and ends up delivering food during 2020 and the delights of lockdown, until he’s offered a somewhat mysterious job – “lifting things” for the KPS. He can’t tell anyone where he’s going, or exactly what he’ll be doing there. But it’ll be the biggest adventure ever.

Completely bonkers, very funny and clever, this is the best pandemic response in fiction I’ve read so far. Escaping to another world where your most pressing worry is being eaten by various creatures and not a terrible virus is probably preferable when you think about the last two years. Even if there’s invariably some asshole billionaire causing trouble. Do not steal the monsters. I mean, honestly, who does that?

*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: The Lake Templeton Murders – HS Burney

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An edge-of-your seat murder mystery set in a forgotten, ocean-facing town on Vancouver Island!

A body washes up on the shores of Lake Templeton, a small town on the coast of Vancouver Island. Sharon Reese, the victim, was a dedicated government employee. Everyone liked her, but no one knew much about her. Was she hiding something? Maybe a questionable past riddled with scandal. And did it lead to her plunge to death, in a drunken stupor, off the dock outside her secluded lakefront lodge?

Was it an accident? A suicide? Or cold-blooded murder? Private Investigator, Fati Rizvi, is determined to find out.

Fati arrives in Lake Templeton to find secrets that run as deep as the City’s sewers. Everyone is hiding something and nothing is as it seems. A cult escapee. A corrupt politician. A struggling airline. A multi-million dollar public-private project to revitalize the Lake Templeton waterfront. How are they all connected?

As Fati valiantly unravels the knots, another body is found on the shore. Is it the same killer? And can Fati stop them before they strike again?

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HS Burney writes fast-moving, action-packed mysteries set against the backdrop of majestic mountains and crystalline ocean in West Coast Canada. She loves creating characters that keep you on your toes. A corporate executive by day and a novelist by night, HS Burney received her Bachelors’ in Creative Writing from Lafayette College. A proud Canadian immigrant, she takes her readers into worlds populated by diverse characters with unique cultural backgrounds. When not writing, she is out hiking, waiting for the next story idea to strike, and pull her into a new world. 

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My thoughts: I really liked Fati, the PI in this book, she’s smart and funny and never lets anything stop her including rude mayors and potentially corrupt politicians. She seems to have a sense for when she’s being lied to and spots things the police seem to miss. She might not be popular in the small town of Lake Templeton after exposing crooked goings on and catching a killer but she’s not bothered. Justice must be served, and she’s the one to do it.

The case looks pretty straightforward but Fati isn’t persuaded it’s as open and shut as the local cops would like it to be and the mire she digs the more it seems that there’s a lot going on. Clever and gripping, funny and enjoyable.

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*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: The Secrets Left Behind – Antoinette Tyrrell

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Hungry for scandal, the villagers of Rathmichael congregate in the grand Hatchwood House.
Before the night is over, the elusive Kate Millington will lie dead at the bottom of the Hatchwood stairs – her death opening a disturbing window into the past for three women.

Alice, Kate’s daughter, is faced with her grief for a mother who was forever distant. As the circumstances of Kate’s death, and her state of mind, are drawn into question, Alice struggles to understand the appalling truth about her mother’s past.

In New York, a death bed secret brings Faith Cranston to Ireland, where news of a shocking accident in a rural community leads her to a distressing discovery.

Nancy Canning has only seen Kate from afar. Ashamed of her past, an overwhelming fear of human relationships drives Nancy. As the news of Kate’s death spreads through the village, she is forced to overcome her fear of connection, and come to terms with the fact that the shame she feels may not be hers alone.

Over the course of a harsh Irish winter, the women battle misogyny and impediment as they struggle to reveal the secrets about Kate’s past.
But will they ever be able to make peace with the devastating truth they’re about to uncover?

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Antoinette’s dream in life is to be paid to read books but as a close second, she’s happy to write them instead. She studied English and History at NUI Maynooth, followed by a career in public relations. Her debut novel, Home to Cavendish, was published by Poolbeg Press in 2019, the same year that Antoinette decided she’d had enough of 9 to 5 life and endless commuting. 

Her decision to set up her own writing consultancy coincided neatly with the start of a global health pandemic but despite some setbacks, she has established herself as a successful business and ghost-writer. She recently moved to the Costa Blanca with her partner Ahmed. True to her Irish roots she spends most of her days convinced that it is going to start raining, any minute now.  

The Secrets Left Behind, her second novel, is a multi-layered tale of the savage severing of maternal ties, a crumbling marriage built on conjecture, and the devastating impact on the next generation of women. It is set against the backdrop of the patriarchal regime once imposed by the Catholic Church in Ireland and spans the period from 1952 to 1981.
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My thoughts: this was really interesting, covering one of the saddest things that women in the recent past were subjected to – religious run homes for unwed mothers and forced adoption of their babies. Kate Millington is a deeply unhappy woman, carrying secrets and shame all her life. Even married she can’t shake the pain of her past and it wrecks her relationships.

After her death, her daughter starts to dig, at the same time two other women, Nancy and Faith, on opposite sides of the Atlantic are also asking questions about their pasts. Nancy was raised in an orphanage and Faith was adopted, but on her deathbed, Faith’s adored mother tells her a secret.

Between them, these women (and a few helpful men) investigate their pasts, the terrible cruelties done to young women and finally bring two very different mothers some peace in their deaths.

The story is sad and shocking, but ultimately redemptive for Alice, Nancy and Faith. Situations like Kate’s should never have happened and the terrible secrecy around it needs to be lifted. The Catholic Church doesn’t come out well in this book – it’s the priests and nuns who did these terrible things after all. Thankfully it doesn’t happen in modern Ireland, though probably in some developing countries something similar goes on but there are people living now who are affected by this and they need all the support and understanding that Faith finds completely absent.

*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: Wake of the Phoenix – Chelsea Harper

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War Hero. Thiefmaster’s apprentice. Traitors. Every title comes with a price.

Arkaen is a gods-damned saint. He sacrificed his childhood innocence fighting for the beleaguered rebellion in a civil war and relinquished a comfortable life with the man he loves to reclaim his place as high lord from corrupt nobles. Now, a hidden enemy is manipulating his lower lords into talk of rebellion, including the powerful Rogue Baron who is slowly swaying the city into questioning every move Arkaen makes.

With the help of his near-omniscient lover’s gift of foresight, Arkaen finds a potential ally in Niamsha, a reluctant thief trying to pay for her brother’s education. But Niamsha owes an insurmountable debt to the mysterious leader of her thieves guild and failing to pay means death—for her entire family. When her guild leader demands she join forces with the Rogue Baron himself, she finds herself caught in a political battle beyond her skills. Torn between protecting her family and following her conscience, Niamsha doesn’t know who to trust.

If Arkaen can win Niamsha’s loyalty, he might just prevent a second civil war and the destruction of everything he fought to protect. Or he might get them all killed.

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Nudging his mare forward, Arkaen rode out of the courtyard. The streets beyond his lord’s castle were quiet, only a few wealthier citizens outside. Most backed away at the sight of him, cautious gaze watching him through down-turned lashes. Arkaen kept an eye on the citizens he passed. That hint of fear hadn’t been there when he’d ridden out a few weeks before to see to Lasha’s vision. He’d deposed a baron since then, bringing the threat of war to the forefront of everyone’s mind. This felt more specific, though. Like they feared he might personally harm them. Another corner and a crowd of young men and women bantering and flirting scattered at the sight of him. Arkaen pulled his mare to a halt. Should have brought his swords. But the image of the high lord riding through his home streets armed as for a battle could only stoke the fires of unrest. Confidence was the best image he could build. He rode on, the few remaining people he passed seemingly prepared for his arrival now. Anyone on the street had already lined against the walls, eyes firmly stuck to the cobbles by the time he arrived, and he never again came across a group careless of his approach. As if some runner ahead warned every street before he turned on it. As if someone—or something—led him toward a certain goal. His muscles tightened, nerves strung for combat in the peaceful streets. “I should turn back.” He muttered the words under his breath, one hand rubbing at his bare belt loop as he turned the final corner to a broad alley that led to Brayden’s home. Four men, barely older than boys, loitered in the middle of the street. Arkaen pulled his mare to a halt again, the scrape of leather on stone clearly audible behind him. “Sayli’s going to kill me.” A deep chuckle from behind. “Nay, milor’, I ain’t think ya gotta worry ’bout that.” Arkaen half turned in his saddle to scout the threat behind him. Only two, though one was a heavy built man with thick mats of blond hair who filled a good chunk of the street by himself. That one would be tough to push past. The other boy with him, similar in build and coloring but much slighter, looked wide-eyed and terrified. One frightened child likely facing an early initiation and the leader. The four in front would be skilled enough to hold their own without direct leadership, then. Arkaen had no weapons but his wits and what he could re-appropriate. And Lasha, who wouldn’t miss the fight if Arkaen needed him. He offered a grim smile. “You gentlemen may want to stand down. I’ve no desire to take lives today.”

Chelsea Harper is the author and publisher of Wake of the Phoenix, book one of the Artifice of Power Saga. She lives in Colorado with her husband, daughter, two dogs, one cat, and countless imaginary friends. When she isn’t writing she enjoys games, from World of Warcraft to Elder Scrolls to tabletop RPGs and even the occasional board game. Musings, Mythos, and Magic 

My thoughts: politics, power plays, love, duty and secrets all combine in this new fantasy series. As the characters lives bring them together, a future might be secured if they can learn to trust, and perhaps even like, each other.

Niamsha just wants to pay off her debts and get herself and her brother out of there, to start over somewhere new. But life has other plans for her. She’s needed to undermine the Rogue Baron running the city so the heir can finally take his father’s throne and quash the stories of him being a traitor. Arkaen came back a war hero, but there are those that think otherwise and are plotting against him. He needs all the help he can get.

Clever, twisting and enjoyable, this is the first in a new fantasy series combining political intrigue with magic and the secret world of thieves and others who hide in the shadows.

*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: Lessons Learnt From Dating – Karla L. McCullum

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Welcome to the book tour for Lessons Learned from Dating by Karla L. McCullum! Read on for more info and a chance to win a $50 Amazon e-Gift Card!

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Lessons Learned from Dating: Moving Past the Hurt Into Your Blessings

Publication Date: July 2021

Genre: Dating Guide/ Self-Help/ Non-Fiction

Lessons Learned from Dating is a nonfiction book written by Karla that tells the stories of her different dating experiences during various stages of life. Each dating experience had a unique lesson, but she didn’t take the time to pause and heed the teachings. After a really painful relationship, Karla finally realized she needed to pause from dating and reflect on herself. This led Karla to start the work to heal completely, practice self-discovery, and find peace and her life’s purpose. In her book, Lessons Learned from Dating, Karla reveals how she went from a place of hurt and pain to a healed place of receiving.

Available on FOJ and Amazon

About the Author

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Karla L. McCullum also known as Coach K, became a Certified Life Coach in 2020 through the Life Purpose Institute in San Diego, CA . Karla is a Veteran of the United States Army. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management and a Master’s degree in Human Resource Management.

Karla is the owner and founder of Full of Joy Life Coaching LLC, where she specializes in helping women work on their mindset, discover their purpose, and pursue their life goals to lead joyful and meaningful lives. Her most important job is being a mother to her beautiful teenage daughter. When Karla is not spending time with her daughter or providing Life Coaching Services, she loves traveling and seeing the world.

Karla is currently pursuing the Associated Certified Coach Credentialing through the International Coaching Federation (ICF).

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Blog Tour: Nova’s Blade – Will Scifi

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THIRTY-TWO WOMEN. ONE ARENA. A BATTLE TO THE DEATH.

After a long war, corporations have replaced countries. Sports are fought to the death. The most popular game is Last Valkyrie, a live tournament where women kill each other for marriage into a powerful family.

For Nova, living in poverty with her mother and sister is a harsh reality that she cannot escape. But when she is kidnapped and forced to fight on the show, her world changes. If she refuses to fight, the bomb in her head goes off. Now winning means her freedom.

With death lurking at every moment, Nova has no idea if her next fight will be her last. But one thing she knows for certain: only one is making it out alive.

Perfect for fans of Hunger Games, The Selection, and The Princess Trials. You won’t want to put down this exciting page-turner!

Available on Amazon

Will Scifi is a pen name for an author from and based in California. He loves writing mainly science fiction that touches on themes surrounding modern day culture and society. Outside of writing, he loves going to the gym, theater, watching tv, reading comics and books, and playing video games. He thanks all of his fans for their support and highly encourages anyone who has read his work to always leave a review. Reviews go a long way in helping the author!

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My thoughts: with elements of The Hunger Games, this dystopian sci-fi book focuses on Nova, the latest in a long line of young women forced to participate in a fight to the death in The Last Valkyrie. She doesn’t want to be there, but it’s kill or be killed.

As she competes in the televised matches, she’s increasingly angry at the hypocrisy of the society she lives in, where some people struggle to get by and others have all the wealth and power. Her anger grows with each dead woman and when she snaps finally, chaos ensues. Nova isn’t going to toe the line, she’s going to tear it all down.

*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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Book Review: Everyday Magic – Charlie Laidlaw

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Carole Gunn leads an unfulfilled life and knows it.  She’s married to someone who may, or may not, be in New York on business and, to make things worse, the family’s deaf cat has been run over by an electric car.

But something has been changing in Carole’s mind.  She’s decided to revisit places that hold special significance for her.  She wants to better understand herself, and whether the person she is now is simply an older version of the person she once was.

 Instead, she’s taken on an unlikely journey to confront her past, present and future.

Everyday Magic is an uplifting book filled with humour and poignancy, and reminds us that, while our pasts make us who we are, we can always change the course of our futures.

What Readers are Saying…

‘Everyday Magic’ serves as a wake-up call for us readers to find the sparks of joy we have lost along the way and live while we can‘ – Zany Bibliophile

‘It’s an uplifting read that shows us that if we want to change then we can but we have to do it for ourselves… [it might] help people realize they are not alone‘ – Echoes In An Empty Room

‘Charlie writes stories that touch a reader’s soul… I highly recommend you to read this book. Witty, thought-provoking and charming story‘ – Rekha, Goodreads

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When Carole was little, she found a magic clearing in the woods near her home. She had been exploring, surrounded by oak, birch, and hazel trees, picking her way carefully between bramble and nettle. There was birdsong, squirrels darting across branches, and patterns of sunlight on the woodland floor. She had been looking for bilberries, and her hands were full of small black berries. She stopped to sit on an outcrop of rock by a wide stream that, in winter, could quickly become a torrent of brown water. In summer, it was comforting; in winter, treacherous. She ate her bilberries, the stream cascading over a small waterfall; the sound of water in her ears. It was summer and the stream bubbled crystal clear. The woodland rose in folds from the stream, and she climbed steadily upwards. Here, the trees crammed in on her; it was darker. When she looked up, she could only see sunlight trapped on leaves far above. It was a part of the old woodland that she’d never been to before, but she pushed on, feeling that she was on an adventure and might suddenly come across a gingerbread house or wizard’s cottage. At the top of the hill she found herself in a small clearing. It was only a few yards across, framed with oak trees, and perfectly round. Sunlight from directly above made the clearing warm, and she stood at its centre, wondering if she was the first person to have ever discovered it. Each of the oak trees around the clearing seemed precisely set, each one a perfect distance from the next, and she walked around them, touching each one, wondering if someone had planted the oak trees, or if the clearing really was a magic place. She still sometimes believed in magic. Then she stood again at its centre, wondering at its symmetry and why a long-dead sorcerer might have planted the oak trees. Then, realising that the sorcerer might not be dead, and that she had walked uninvited into his private domain, she hurried away, not sure whether to be frightened or excited. It was a place she often went back to that summer, and on following summers, sometimes alone and sometimes with her little brother. They would sit in the centre of the woodland circle, eating bilberries, hoping to meet the sorcerer who had built the clearing. She wasn’t frightened of him anymore; the clearing was too peaceful to have been made by a bad wizard. It was their secret place, but mainly Carole’s, because she had found it. It was a comforting place: it was somewhere she would go if she was sad or angry about something, because the woodland circle and its shifting half-shadows offered calm and new perspectives. She could almost hear the trees speak to her, the wind in their branches making the leaves whisper, but so softly that she couldn’t understand. She would listen, eyes closed, the leaves rustling, but she never understood what they were saying. The circle of trees stood solid and immovable, dark and stoic, old and wise, and each one the colour of stone.

Charlie Laidlaw lives in East Lothian, one of the main settings for Everyday Magic. He has four other published novels: Being Alert!, The Space Between Time, The Things We Learn When We’re Dead and Love Potions and Other Calamities. Previously a journalist and defence intelligence analyst, Charlie now teaches Creative Writing in addition to his writing career.

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My thoughts: Carole, with an e, is an archeolgist by training and stuck in her life, starts to go back through her own past to see where she went wrong. Married to Ray, who she’s suspicious of, and mother of Iona, a typical teenager, she’s bored and feeling lost. Retracing her time at university, her first love and her work on digs as part of her degree, she starts to feel a need to make some changes, to pick up a trowel and return to the things that make her happy.

Tracing Carole’s life, from her parents home in Berwick, to Edinburgh University, and beyond, this book reminds us that it’s never too late to change.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but

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Blog Tour: Faceless – Vanda Symon

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Worn down by a job he hates, and a stressful family life, middle-aged, middleclass Bradley picks up a teenage escort and commits an unspeakable crime. Now she’s tied up in his warehouse, and he doesn’t know what to do. Max is homeless, eating from rubbish bins, sleeping rough and barely existing – known for cadging a cigarette from anyone passing, and occasionally even the footpath. Nobody really sees Max, but he has one friend, and she’s gone missing. In order to find her, Max is going to have to call on some people from his past, and reopen wounds that have remained unhealed for a very long time – and the clock is ticking…

Publication coincides with International Women’s Month and Homeless Women’s Day, with a percentage of profits to SHELTER

Vanda Symon is a crime writer, TV presenter and radio host from Dunedin, New Zealand, and the chair of the Otago Southland branch of the New Zealand Society of Authors. The Sam Shephard series, which includes Overkill, The Ringmaster, Containment and Bound, hit number one on the New Zealand bestseller list, and has also been shortlisted for the Ngaio Marsh Award. Overkill was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger. Twitter @vandasymon, Instagram @vanda-symon, Facebook, @vandasymonauthor, www.vandasymon.com.

My thoughts: It’s easy to imagine that violent criminals are different from ordinary people, that no one with a 9 to 5 job, a family, a suburban life could do anything terrible. But that’s just not true. Behind that Pleasantville facade can be some really twisted people.

Billy is a street kid, doing what she has to in order to survive after being kicked out by her parents. Max is also homeless. They look out for each other, and when she goes missing, he’s the only one who cares. And he will do anything to find her.

Max is a fascinating character, there’s something sad and lost about him, and as his story is revealed, you understand why he’s so broken. But he’s also kind and loyal and he cares so much for Billy, she reminds him of someone he lost. Billy is street tough, brave, resourceful and terrified. I rooted for them both the whole time, hoping their story would end well. Bradley however, can get in the bin. What an awful creep. A very angry, disturbed man. I felt sorry for his family.

What follows is a clever, twisted tale of a good man using whatever resources he can, including turning to people he never thought he’d see again, to save an innocent life. Although he doesn’t know it, there is a deadline as Bradley’s rage and desperation to avoid being caught build. It’s also the story of a brave and rather incredible young woman who won’t be a victim and is channelling her grandmother’s love to stay alive and find a way to fight back.

I do sometimes wonder where crime writers get their ideas and characters from, especially the awful ones. Plumbing the depths of human depravity needs to be offset by the Maxs and Billys of this world. Good people in bad places. A hope of redemption and a fresh start.

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