blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Pretty Deadly – Kelsey Josund

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Cinna would quite literally kill for the throne.

She’s spent years forced to serve her wealthy cousins rather than attend society events alongside them, waiting for the chance to prove herself and exact revenge. When a ball is announced at the castle, promising to bring many powerful people to town, she seizes the opportunity to strike.

She bets her best friend, a small-time thief and con-man, that she can land a greater score the night of the ball than he can. They embark on parallel heists. But as their plots unfold, things begin to unravel: by the end of the night, the castle’s on lock down, a duchess is dead, a mansion has burnt to the ground, and Cinna hasn’t stolen anything. Or has she stolen something more valuable than gold and jewels?

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Excerpt
How interesting, Cinna thought. She had spent so many hours bent over a stove in the kitchen or crouched before the hearth, stoking flames carefully that refused to light. But she had prepared: this house was waiting tinder, ready to be consumed. 
She couldn’t hear the screams over the roar of the flames, but surely they were there. Strangely, she didn’t feel cheated to have not heard their voices. It was fine that they died in silence. 
It did not take long for the neighbors to begin streaming out of their own houses, and she did hear their screams. They swarmed around the flames, politely mute once they realized they could not do anything, full of awe before the enormity of the fire. Cinna blended into the crowd, nearly invisible in her costume. 
At last, just as she had always pledged she would, she watched the house fall in on itself.

I am a software engineer and author living and working in Silicon Valley, California. I studied computer science at Stanford University, but I’ve always loved stories in all their forms. I approach writing fiction the same way I approach writing code: I like to know where it’s going, but I want to figure out the details as I go along. Good software is a lot like a good story, full of neat and clever solutions to tricky problems, beautiful at a granular level but also from a distance.

Originally from Seattle, I love getting outdoors and living in places that allow me to escape to the mountains on the weekends, and I care deeply about the ecosystems that humans impact and that impact us. My writing explores these issues while also following classic coming-of-age arcs in science fiction and fantasy. I’m also very interested in stories and characters that complicate the traditional and familiar, leading me to fairytale retellings from unexpected angles. Kelsey Josund | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

My thoughts: this was really good, Cinderella but if she was the villain. A really clever, interesting take on the fairytale with strong characterisation, a deeply dislikeable protagonist, a plot that keeps you guessing at her schemes, and a heck of an ending. What might happen next?

Cinna is working as a servant for her mean cousins, and committing crimes on the side. She bets her friend Johann that she can get away with the biggest heist at the Royal ball, he thinks “game on” but her plots are deadlier and darker than mere theft. Unwitting Johann is a pawn in her evil scheme. As is pretty much everyone else. I enjoyed this so much, I love a fairy tale retelling (I know a ridiculous amount about them thanks to my dissertation) and this was such a joy, a dark, twisted pleasure.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Poison Sky – Paul McNeive

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Airplanes are mysteriously falling from the sky and a deadly toxin is spreading through the streets of the world’s major cities. New York, London and Munich are filled with panic, paranoia and terror. And nobody knows who’s behind it all. Somewhere, a twisted genius is masterminding a global crisis.

New York detective John Wyse and maverick cop Deke Hansen face the biggest challenge of their lives in a race to out-think the cunning and dangerous terrorists who are bringing the world to its knees using medieval warfare tactics. But the terrorists will stop at nothing to prevent Wyse unravelling their evil plot. As the bodies pile up, the threat suddenly gets very personal when the woman Wyse loves becomes a target. With time running out, Wyse has to convince his bosses that a powerful psychopath is taking deadly revenge in the most bizarre and unpredictable way. Can he persuade the authorities to act, or will he have to take the law into his own hands?

Poison Sky-“Sometimes the old ways, work better than the new!”

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Living in the mountains of County Wicklow, Ireland, Paul McNeive is an author and motivational speaker and writes a weekly opinion column for the Irish Independent newspaper.

“Poison Sky” is Paul McNeive’s  second thriller and reflects his passion for fast paced stories, in international settings. “Poison Sky” continues to track the life of New York detective, John Wyse, as he pits his wits against  an evil genius bent on revenge, who has come up with an extraordinary plan to bring terror to western cities. 

Paul McNeive’s first thriller, “The Manhattan Project,” was published in Ireland by a UK publisher and was a bestseller. It was then published in the UK and there were subsidiary rights sales, including to Germany, and audio books. “The Manhattan Project” was inspired by Paul McNeive’s experiences as a double amputee with the dangers of antibiotic resistant bacteria. The novel was launched and championed by the then Chief Medical Officer for England, Professor Dame Sally Davies, who proclaimed it a huge help in raising awareness of this global threat.

Paul McNeive’s first book, “Small Steps,” is an autobiographical business book, which tells how Paul McNeive applied the lessons he learned in rehabilitating from his accident, to his business career, and life generally, with great success. “Small Steps” was also a bestseller in Ireland. 

Paul McNeive is on the board of Ireland’s National Rehabilitation Hospital and is an ambassador for the Douglas Bader Foundation.

Paul has three children and lives with his wife Kate, and their lurcher, “Glenda,” who features in both thrillers.

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My thoughts: firstly, I loved Glenda the dog, based on the author’s own beloved family pet, all author’s should include animals, and the bit narrated by her was very funny.

The terrorist plot at the centre of this book was absolutely horrifying and brilliant at the same time – proof that some humans need their genius applied elsewhere so they don’t carry out such terrible things.

I really liked the team of Hansen, Wyse and Dani. They were incredibly smart, determined and knew all sorts of brilliant people who could help them solve the crime. I also thought Dani and Kate were brave and needed more Glenda the dog time.

Overall this was a shocking, gripping thrill ride, with global implications and utterly brilliant, if truly terrifying. I hope the author sticks to writing and doesn’t decide to become a super villain, he certainly has the ideas for it!

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: A Fatal Night – Faith Martin

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As a snowstorm rages outside, Oxford high society gathers to ring in the new year at the city’s most exclusive party. This is a soiree no one will forget… not least because a guest is found dead in his car the next morning.

It seems the young man tragically froze to death overnight after crashing into a snowdrift – but when WPC Trudy Loveday and coroner Clement Ryder are called in to investigate, they discover a tangled web of secrets that plainly points to murder.

With everyone telling different stories about that fateful night, only one thing is clear: several people had reason to want the victim dead.

And if Trudy and Clement don’t find the cracks in each lie, the killer will get away with the perfect crime…

My thoughts: hooray, a new Loveday and Ryder novel, this is a really enjoyable series. And this time their victim, of an apparent car accident, is really unpopular. There’s an abundance of suspects to sort through. The business partner, the abandoned wife, the new girlfriend’s obnoxious children, but is it any of them or is there someone else with a reason to want him dead?

On an icy, snow filled New Year’s Eve, someone made sure Terrance Parker didn’t get home safely from a party, his car is found, with him dead at the wheel. PC Loveday is assigned to make sure it’s all squared away, but with the aid of coroner Dr Ryder, she soon discovers it’s not as simple as all that.

I really like this series, Loveday and Ryder are a great duo and I like that even though she’s one of only a few women in the police force, Trudy Loveday is fast becoming a crack investigator and her bosses don’t disregard her instincts. DI Jennings may tell her to find something useful to do but he’s like that with all his PCs, and his detectives too. He knows she’s good police but wants to make sure she’s tough enough. Dr Ryder is at the other end of his career, and is seen as interfering, but he and Trudy work well together and he provides experience and knowhow to back up her investigative skills.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Dust – Justine Hardy

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“He could name this brain silence, one of the basic survival reactions to threat, the one that comes after fight and flight, there to protect the prey from the hunter by freezing all movement. He could see the explanation on the page, exactly as it had been when he had first read it, an oil smudge from someone else’s food beside it in the margin.”

KATE is a woman who chooses to work in Pakistan. She creates a second family for herself, far from the cherished warmth of her parents in rural Suffolk, their surrounding soft landscape in stark contrast to the raw land and humanscape of a remote corner of the northwest Himalayas. Kate then disappears and the worlds of genteel English countryside and harsh Gilgit collide in the search for a lost aid worker.

“It’s to keep the devil away, a sort of vaccination against disaster and hell,’ she said. Every time she said something like that, he felt like the new boy all over again. It was not because of what she said, but that she had to say it at all, still explaining the way things were.”

Justine Hardy has been a journalist for twenty-seven years, many of those spent covering South Asia. She is the author of six books ranging in subject from war to Hindi film: The Ochre Border, 1995, was about the reopening of the Tibetan frontier-lands. Her second, Scoop-Wallah, 1999, was the story of her time as a journalist on an Indian newspaper in Delhi. It was short-listed for the Thomas Cook/Daily Telegraph Travel Book Award 2000 and serialised on BBC Radio 4. Goat: A Story of Kashmir and Notting Hill, 2000, was an inside look at life in Kashmir and Notting Hill, a war zone and a white hot corner of London drawn together by the latter’s obsession with the fine pashmina weave of the Kashmir Valley. This was also serialised on BBC Radio 4. Bollywood Boy, 2002, was an international bestseller in which the Hindi film industry was the vehicle for a closer look at the obsession with fame as it crept West to East, and the darker side of an industry pumping out high-octane escapism for an audience of over a billion. The Wonder House, 2005, is a novel set in Kashmir against the background of the conflict, and based on Justine’s experience of frontline coverage, time spent in militant training camps, and amongst the extremists. It was short-listed for the Authors’ Club best first novel in 2006. In the Valley of Mist, 2009, a return to non-fiction and the subject of Kashmir, charts the first twenty years of the conflict there through the prism of Kashmiri family life. It was also broadcast on BBC Radio 4’s Book of the Week, and it was Runner-Up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize in 2010. Justine’s books have been translated into a wide range of languages, from Hindi and Serbian.

In 2008, Justine founded Healing Kashmir, an integrated mental health project addressing the debilitating mental health situation in the region. This project is now expanding rapidly, with a health centre, outreach programmes, a suicide helpline, and a leadership programme. In addition to running the project in Kashmir, she lectures regularly in the UK, US and India. Recent lectures have included The Oslo Freedom Forum, New York University (Gallatin School), Tufts University (Institute of Global Leadership) and The Royal Geographical Society. Justine has been studying Eastern philosophy, yoga, and conflict trauma all through her adult life. She teaches yoga and philosophy in the UK and in India.

My thoughts: this was a really interesting book about Kate, an international aid worker in Pakistan, and her parents in Suffolk, England. It moves back and forth through Kate’s life, from her birth to the present. When she’s abducted and no one knows where to find her, Tom and Molly, her parents, feel lost and afraid, unable to help or understand. Kate must survive alone, using the information from a hostage training day she went on and her own will to survive.

As readers we learn a lot about a young Kate, about her family and her best friend Farah, whose family fled Persia (now Iran) after the fall of the Shah. We meet family friends, and a new one of Molly’s. It’s clear that Kate is loved at home and indeed in Pakistan, especially by Noor, the daughter of the mission’s cook, who idolises Kate and indeed the last section of the book is hers.

I liked the doctor and police inspector, who are old friends, verbally sparring in the interview room. I felt for Molly and Tom, I can’t imagine how hard and terrifying this would be, to know your child (even if they’re an adult) is in danger and you can’t do anything. Kate keeps herself going by imagining her parents there with her, willing her on, and the moment when they’re reunited and she’s not sure for a second whether they’re real is very powerful.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Shape of Crete – Philip Nemac

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Set on the Greek island of Crete, The Shape of Crete is a thrilling drama and passionate love story between a Bulgarian artist, Steffi, and James, an American historian. Rekindling their romance after a separation, Crete’s history of ancient myths and Nazi occupation entwines them in surprise and danger. They meet an Englishman searching for traces of his brother missing since 1943, and a local woman whose father was a partisan war leader; and then, shards of information reveal Steffi’s grandfather fought with the Nazis. Danger lurks when a local thug decides Steffi and Jim’s relationships with the others concerns gold lost in the war. The final tension-driven scenes unfold in a labyrinth-like cave in the spirit of the mythical battle between Theseus and the Minotaur. The unexpected conclusion questions whether love’s best outcome is enlightenment or physical survival.

My thoughts: this was a sad but rather lovely book, the romance between Steffi and Jim was heartwarming and touching, at last they had found the person they were searching for after both being in troubled marriages. There are bumps along the road to happiness, but once settled in a cottage on Crete, where Jim is writing and Steffi paints, they are happy.

Their friendships with Harold Robinson and their landlady, Maria Phindrikalis, are warm and offer rewards of their own. Steffi’s paintings sell in a local gallery and Harold finds a historical link between Steffi’s grandfather, his brother Jim and Maria’s father – a hero of the occupation. This investigation into the past puts the couple and Harold at risk, but was it worth it to learn the truth?

The ending was very sad and it has lingered with me, I so hoped for a better one, where they got the happiness and future they deserved but history has a habit of repeating itself and perhaps Steffi and Harold’s lost relatives were waiting for them in the labyrinth.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Babes in the Wood – Mark Stay

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Read my review of The Crow Folk.

July, 1940

In a quiet village in rural Kent, a magical mystery leads to murder . . .

Woodville has returned to ‘normal’ after the departure of the Crow Folk. The villagers put out fires from aircraft shot down in the Battle of Britain, and Faye Bright discovers that magic can be just as dangerous as any weapon.

The arrival of a trio of Jewish children fleeing the Nazis brings the fight for Europe to the village. When their guardian is found dead, Faye must play nanny to the terrified children while gathering clues to uncover a dark magic that threatens to change the course of the war. And she must do it quickly – the children have seen too much and someone wants them silenced for good.

Mark Stay co-wrote the screenplay for Robot Overlords which became a movie with Sir Ben Kingsley and Gillian Anderson, and premiered at the 58th London Film Festival. He is co-presenter of the Bestseller Experiment podcast and has worked in bookselling and publishing for over twenty-five years. He lives in Kent, England, with his family and a trio of retired chickens. He blogs and humblebrags over at markstaywrites.com.

My thoughts: I usually avoid Second World War fiction as it’s often either jingoistic or exploitative, but Mark Stay has handled it beautifully here. The three Jewish children are very much the heroes of the story, having been brought over on the kindertransport ship and protected by their cousin Klaus, they come to the unusual village of Woodville, hoping to find some peace.

Unfortunately for them, and Faye Bright, peace is in short supply and they soon find themselves in danger. But the village witches, Faye, Miss Charlotte and Mrs Teach, will do what they can to protect not only the children, but also a very special apple tree.

One of my favourite random facts is that all apples are descended from the original apples grown in Kazakhstan, which is relevant to this story. And that apples feature in lots of notable myths, legends and religions, tells you how important they are to humanity. Magda, Max, Rudolf and Nelson the dog will have to be very brave and clever to outwit some rather nasty people and save the day. Faye’s visions help guide events and her final one of the book, made me smile. It was filled with hope.

This series just gets better and better as the witches of Woodville grow in their strength and the village stands strong against a variety of evils.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Story of our Secrets – Shari Low

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Colm O’Flynn was loved by his close circle of family and friends, however his death came too soon for everyone to make peace with their past.
Shauna, his second wife, adored him. But one night she broke their marriage vows, and didn’t get time to ask Colm’s forgiveness.
Jess was the first Mrs O’Flynn. Her heart is set on someone new, but will the last one night stand she shared with Colm come back to haunt her?
Colm’s best friend, Dan, is recently divorced. Can he take a second shot at happiness if it means betraying the one person who always had his back?
What no-one knows is that somewhere out there Colm left messages that could set them free to start over again.
Can divine intervention help them find Colm’s last wishes before it’s too late to love again?
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Shari Low is the #1 bestselling author of over 25 novels, including One Day In Summer, My One Month Marriage, and a collection of parenthood memories called Because Mummy Said So. She lives near Glasgow.

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My thoughts: usually Shari Low books have me in stitches, but this one was a tearjerker, and you will need some tissues. Alternating between Colm recording messages to his loved ones in a hospice bed and those same people trying to heal and move on from his death, relationship breakdowns and messing things up, it’s a heartfelt book about love, friendship and healing. It’s also funny, which is surprising, until you remember the author does humour very well. And sometimes recovering from loss is funny, stupid things make you laugh, memories and stories that crack you up. This was a great read and one I really needed at the moment so grab some tissues and prepare to cry and laugh along.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Second Marriage – Jess Ryder

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‘They’re lying,’ my little stepson whispers, his blue eyes shining with tears as I tuck him into bed for the first time. ‘They think I’ve forgotten, but I remember everything. I know my mummy is still alive.’

My best friend warned me that it was too soon to marry Edward, a widower with an adorable but troubled little boy. She said we were moving too fast. But all I could see was a kind, loving man, struggling with grief, who needed my help.

Yet as storm clouds gather above our small wedding ceremony, my hopes and dreams fall apart. None of my husband’s family turn up to support us. Instead of a honeymoon, we have a quiet night in. My wedding bouquet is placed on his first wife’s grave. And then my new stepson tells me he’s sure his mother is still alive.

What does Noah remember and why is his father trying to make him forget? Have I been completely wrong about my husband? What happened to the woman who came before me, and how far will he go to stop me finding out the truth?

An utterly unputdownable, gripping, twisty psychological thriller, perfect for fans of Before I Go To Sleep, The Girl on the Train and Gone Girl.

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Jess Ryder is the pseudonym of Jan Page, author, screenwriter, playwright and award-winning television producer. After many years working in children’s media, she has recently embarked on a life of crime. Writing, that is. So she’s very excited about the publication of her debut thriller Lie to Me. Her other big love is making pots.

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My thoughts: this was a gripping, complex thriller, it isn’t Edward’s first marriage Lily should be worried about, it’s the sheer volume of secrets and lies he’s got going on. Little Noah knows more than he’s willing to say, being terrified of his father, the ghastly duo of Georgia and Tara definitely have secrets too. I felt sorry for Lily, so naively trusting of a man who doesn’t deserve it. But when someone’s built such a convincing web of total misdirection and obfuscation what else can she do? Thankfully her best friend sees through him and together with Noah, she’s going to get the truth.

More proof, if it’s needed, that you shouldn’t marry someone you don’t really know.

*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 Quiet People – Paul Cleave

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Cameron and Lisa Murdoch are successful New Zealand crime writers, happily married and topping bestseller lists worldwide. They have been on the promotional circuit for years, joking that no one knows how to get away with crime like they do. After all, they write about it for a living. So when their challenging seven-year-old son Zach disappears, the police and the public naturally wonder if they have finally decided to prove what they have been saying all this time… Are they trying to show how they can commit the perfect crime?

Multi-award winning bestseller Paul Cleave returns with an electrifying and chilling thriller about family, public outrage and what a person might be capable of under pressure, that will keep you guessing until the final page…

Paul is an award-winning author who divides his time between his home city of Christchurch, New Zealand, where most of his novels are set, and Europe. He has won the New Zealand Ngaio Marsh Award three times, the Saint-Maur book festival’s crime novel of the year award in France, and has been shortlisted for the Edgar and the Barry in the US and the Ned Kelly in Australia. His books have been translated into over twenty languages. He’s thrown his frisbee in over forty countries, plays tennis badly, golf even worse, and has two cats – which is often two too many. Follow Paul on Twitter @PaulCleave, and his website: paulcleave.com.

My thoughts: this was so, so, so good. Cleverly done and there were red herrings, police getting sidetracked, a kidnap plot that went horribly wrong, crimes a plenty and at the heart a man who just really loves his son.

Cameron knows he hasn’t done anything to Zach, and he’s determined to prove that and find his boy. But so many things seem set against him as he attempts to convince the police that, yes he writes crime novels, but no, he’s not trying to live in one (except that he is, it’s very The Truman Show in that regard, wait, are we all living inside a book?)

The detective assigned to his case does empathise with him, but she has a job to do, and yes, mistakes are made. But finding Zach is everyone’s priority. I actually really liked DI Rebecca Kent, she seemed like a decent person and not as incompetent as all that at all, it’s just that she was severely misled.

I found the whole book super compelling and couldn’t put it down, totally hooked. I was actually disappointed when it ended. I want Cameron and DI Kent to team up and solve crimes together.

*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: Blind Date – Wendy Clarke

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When Mel is set up on a blind date by her best friends Chris and Simon, she’s as anxious as any woman would be. Her divorce came as such a shock and she’d been feeling lost and lonely, but that didn’t mean she was desperate to date again. It was a terrible day at work that made her say yes: it could be a bit of fun, a distraction at least. What did she have to lose?

When Mel meets Malik, she knows instantly that they could have more than just a fling. She tells him her deepest, darkest secrets and it doesn’t make him run away. He makes her feel wanted for the first time in years, and when she wakes up in his bed in the early hours she feels completely content.

Until she notices that he’s no longer lying beside her.

She’s tangled up in his sheets alone in his bedroom and she can’t remember how she got there.

And then she hears the metallic scrape of a key in the door and realises that Malik has locked her in. Is her dream man going to turn into her worst nightmare?

Thrilling and gripping until the final page, Blind Date is a dark and unsettling story about deception and how much we can trust the people we love. For fans of Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train and anything by Lisa Jewell.

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Wendy Clarke was a teacher until the small primary school where she worked closed down. Now she is a writer of psychological suspense but is also well known for her short stories and serials which regularly appear in national women’s magazines.

Wendy has two children and three step-children and lives with her husband, cat and step-dog in Sussex. When not writing, she is usually indulging in her passion for dancing, singing or watching any programme that involves food!

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My thoughts: this was a clever, twisting thriller where you can’t be sure who it is who’s stalking Mel. Is the same person sending her texts? Or is that Malik? What about Chris, there’s definitely something off about him, the new flatmate, Simon the best friend? Maybe her ex-husband is the creep? It’s all very confusing, as is Mel, she can’t work out what’s going on either. Keeping you guessing right until the very end, and then chucking in a few more twists for good measure.

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