blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Secrets of Meadow Farmhouse – Katie Ginger*

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Amelia loves her life in Paris. But with the surprise inheritance of her childhood home, she has no choice but to return to the small village of Meadowbank to restore her great-aunt’s old farmhouse.

However returning to Meadowbank means she has to confront her past, including old flame Adam – the one person she regrets leaving behind.

When Amelia discovers a locket hidden in the farmhouse, containing the picture of a mysterious World War Two soldier, she starts to uncover the secrets of her great-aunt’s past. With Adam on hand to help restore the farmhouse, she’s shocked by his generosity after so many years apart.

As her feelings for her first love reignite, Amelia is suddenly confused as to where she truly belongs.

Can Amelia finally find where her heart truly calls home?

My thoughts:

This was a charming, cosy read, full of heart and warmth. Amelia inherits her great-aunt’s farm and comes back from Paris to look it over with a view to selling it.

Instead she starts to fall in love with the old place and sets out to solve a mystery, who are the people in a locket her aunt kept hidden away, why was Vera so unhappy?

She also reconnects with an old flame, makes a new friend or two, and realises that the village she grew up in isn’t so bad after all.

Sweet and eminently enjoyable.

*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: Anthrax Island – D.L. Marshall*

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FACT: In 1942, in growing desperation at the progress of the war and fearing invasion by the Nazis, the UK government approved biological weapons tests on British soil. Their aim: to perfect an anthrax weapon destined for Germany. They succeeded.

FACT: Though the attack was never launched, the testing ground, Gruinard Island, was left lethally contaminated. It became known as Anthrax Island.

Now government scientists have returned to the island. They become stranded by an equipment failure and so John Tyler is flown in to fix the problem. He quickly discovers there’s more than research going on. When one of the scientists is found impossibly murdered inside a sealed room, Tyler realises he’s trapped with a killer…

A gripping thriller that will leave you guessing until the final page. Perfect for fans of Terry Hayes, James Swallow and Alistair MacLean.

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D. L. Marshall was born and raised in Halifax, West Yorkshire. Influenced by the dark industrial architecture, steep wooded valleys, and bleak Pennine moors, he writes thrillers tinged with horror, exploring the impact of geography and isolation. In 2016 he pitched at Bloody Scotland. In 2018 he won a Northern Writers’ Award for his thriller novel Anthrax Island.

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My thoughts:

This was a clever, dark and gritty thriller. On a small island off the coast of Scotland, the killer can only be one of the people already there, but who is it?

Tyler is an asset of the government but one they can deny exists, he’s been tasked to find out what’s going on, while avoiding getting exposed to one of the deadly strains of anthrax still present on the island.

I’m a big fan of these sort of stories – Agatha Christie had everyone in a country house but modern versions employ various isolated locations. It’s always interesting to see how people develop their relationships when you can’t trust anyone but need an ally.

Adding in the risk of exposure to a deadly bacteria heightens the tension – what does the killer want and who are they working for?

*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 Last Goodbye – Fiona Lucas*

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How can you move on if you can’t let go?

Spencer was the love of Anna’s life: her husband, her best friend, her rock. She thought their love would last forever.

But three years ago, Spencer was tragically killed in an accident and Anna’s world was shattered. How can she ever move on, when she’s lost her soulmate?

On New Year’s Eve Anna calls Spencer’s phone number, just to hear his old voicemail greeting. But to her shock, someone answers…

Brody has inherited Spencer’s old number and is the first person who truly understands what Anna’s going through. As her and Brody’s phone calls become lengthier and more frequent, they begin opening up to each other—and slowly rediscover how to smile, how to laugh, even how to hope.

But Brody hasn’t been entirely honest with Anna. Will his secret threaten everything, just as it seems she might find the courage to love again?

My thoughts:

This was a really lovely, moving and sad story of two people struggling with serious grief; needing to move on but unable to fully let go.

Anna rings her late husband’s mobile number, only for someone to answer – the number has been reassigned. So begins a series of conversations with another grief-stricken person, Brody.

As their bond grows stronger, Anna starts to try to move on from her loss, as does Brody. As they heal together, can they find happiness?

Sweet and gentle, this was a lovely book to curl up with and cheer on the two protagonists as they begin the process of finding a new life for themselves.


*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: One By One – Helen Bridgett*

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When practising what you preach is easier said than done…

Professor Maxie Reddick has her reasons for being sceptical of traditional policing methods, but, in between her criminology lecturing job and her Criminal Thoughts podcast, she stays firmly on the sidelines of the crime solving world.

Then a young woman is brutally attacked, and suddenly it’s essential that Maxie turns her words into actions; this is no longer an academic exercise–this is somebody’s life.

But as she delves deeper, the case takes a sickening turn, which leads Maxie to the horrifying realisation that the attack might not have been a one-off. It seems there’s a depraved individual out there seeking revenge, and they’ll stop at nothing to get it… little by little… one by one.

Helen Bridgett lives in the North East of England. Outside of writing feel good fiction, Helen loves the great outdoors and having a good laugh with friends over a glass of wine. Helen lives with her husband and their chocolate Labrador, Angus; all three can often be found walking the Northumberland coastline that inspired her romantic comedy, Summer at Serenity Bay.

My thoughts:

I enjoyed this book, I liked that it took a different angle on crime solving – Maxie is a professor of criminology and knows an awful lot about crime but isn’t a police officer or PI, she’s just very determined. Her methodical stance is at odds with the way the police want to carry out their investigation. She’s looking for the motive; they’re looking for suspects.

Her single mindedness almost costs her everything else though – oblivious to what’s going on with her husband and son, she’s shocked when things take a dark turn for her family.

This was an intelligent, well written and compelling book. I look forward to the next one.

*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: Atonement Camp for Unrepentant Homophobes – Evan J. Corbin*

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The oldest translation of a Gospel is returned to the world by a secret society long dedicated to its preservation. In it, Jesus explicitly condemns bigotry and homophobia.

In a new world in which LGBTQ passengers receive preferential boarding for flights and the United States has elected its first lesbian President, Pastor Rick Harris is stalwart, closeted preacher who doggedly holds onto his increasingly unpopular convictions.When an incendiary sermon goes too far and offends an influential family, Rick makes a painful choice to keep his job: He attends an atonement camp run by drag queens for society’s most unrepentant and terminally incurable homophobes.

Atonement Camp is immersion therapy for Pastor Harris, and it might be working. An open bar with pedicures, a devastatingly attractive roommate and an endless supply of glitter help him manage to make new friends. Soon, Rick and his cohorts learn the camp may hold its own secrets. Amid the smiling faces and scantily clad pool boys who staff the camp, a clandestine group plots to discredit the New Revelation and everything it stands for.

If Rick has the conviction to confront his own hypocrisy, he might be able to uncover the conspirators with help from his adopted flock-and find new truths within himself.

My thoughts:

This was a blackly comic fantasy about a future where being gay isn’t a sin anymore – in fact the Church has done a complete 360 and now it’s homophobes they abhor.

Rick, whose father was an old school preacher, has kept up with his family’s beliefs, which sees him packed off to a camp to atone. Where he uncovers an entire scam and goes on the run with some drag queens – one of whom is very familiar.

I really enjoyed this, it was campy, and clever and reminded me of some of my favourite books and films – How I Paid for College, But I’m a Cheerleader, Camp, in its tone and ideas. A reminder to be yourself, and be honest whatever society says.

*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 Housewife – Alex Kane*

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Even perfect mothers have secrets…

Leah. She’s the perfect mum to ten-year-old Samuel, wife to loving husband Thomas, head of the PTA. But her closet is full of skeletons – and if the truth gets out, her world could be destroyed.

Annie. She’s the gangster’s moll with a brain. She might be a woman, but she’s not afraid to get her hands dirty to play the men at their own game. But what no one knows is the devastating secret haunting her.

Terry. He’s the king of Glasgow gangland, working his way up from estate to mansion. From drugs to guns, there’s nothing he won’t stop at to grow his dirty money. He might be a hard man, but his weakness is women.

As their three stories collide, the lives of each will never be the same. Because even perfect women hide dark secrets… Don’t they?

Alex Kane is a writer from Glasgow. She has been writing for ten years and in 2018 signed with Hera Books, a digital first publisher.

(2019) No Looking Back
(2019) What She Did
(2020) She Who Lies
(2020) The Angels
(2021) The Housewife

Alex Kane writes gangland crime and psychological thrillers and will read anything she can get her hands on from both genres.

If she is not writing, she can be found relaxing at home reading, or drinking tea and/or gin (sometimes all of the above).
Alex is currently working on future books but can also be found procrastinating on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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My thoughts:

This was a clever, gripping thriller set in Glasgow. Annie works her way into Terry Reid’s affections and business, until one night she disappears. Ten years later Terry’s still looking for her.

Leah lives a quiet life with her husband and son. But a threatening note through the door upsets everything.

Moving back and forth in time and weaving several different lives together The Housewife slowly builds up the events and how Leah will have to set things right in order to protect the ones she loves.

The payoff at the end was very satisfying and tied up all the disparate threads nicely. Setting some people free and punishing the guilty.

*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 Measure of Time – Gianrico Carofiglio*

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The latest in the highly successful Guido Guerrieri series, shortlisted for the 2020 STREGA prize, Italy’s most prestigious literary award. It is a tense courtroom drama set in Southern Italy, but also a tale about passion and the passage of time.

Guerrieri had fallen in love decades earlier with Lorenza, a beautiful older woman who was in his eyes sophisticated and intellectual. She made wonderful love and opened his mind to high literature, but ultimately treated him as a plaything and discarded him.

One spring afternoon Lorenza shows up in Guerrieri’s office. Her son Jacopo, a small-time delinquent, stands convicted of the first-degree murder of a local drug dealer. Her trial lawyer has died, so for the appeal, she turns to Guerrieri. He is not convinced of the innocence of Lorenza’s son, nor does he have fond memories of how their relationship ended two decades earlier.

Nevertheless, he accepts the case; perhaps to pay a melancholy homage to the ghosts of his youth.

Gianrico Carofiglio, now a full time novelist, was a member of the Senate in Italy and an anti-Mafia prosecutor in Bari, a port on the coast of Puglia.

He is a best-selling author of crime novels and literary fiction, translated in 27 languages. This is the sixth Guerrieri novel is in this best-selling series.

Howard Curtis is a well-known translator from the Italian and has translated other titles in this series

My thoughts:

This was a really interesting read, showing the legal profession of Bari, Italy. It was fascinating to see how they conduct trials and I liked the way Guerrieri and his team build up their case.

I also liked the way the plot was interspersed with Guerrieri’s memories of his brief relationship with Lorenza all those years ago. They gave a lot of insight into his character and how his experiences shaped him.

The trial chapters were insightful and the case was laid out for the reader, as though we’re the jury too – it’s not entirely clear whether he’s innocent or not so you can make up your own mind too. The ending then provides the answers, wrapping the case up if not neatly, then enough to release Guerrieri from the feeling of obligation and nostalgia he holds.

*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: Double Identity – Alison Morton*

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Deeply in love, a chic Parisian lifestyle before her. Now she’s facing prison for murder.

It’s three days since Mel des Pittones threw in her job as an intelligence analyst with the French special forces to marry financial trader Gérard Rohlbert. But her dream turns to nightmare when she wakes to find him dead in bed beside her.
Her horror deepens when she’s accused of his murder. Met Police detective Jeff McCracken wants to pin Gérard’s death on her. Mel must track down the real killer, even if that means being forced to work with the obnoxious McCracken.
But as she unpicks her fiancé’s past, she discovers his shocking secret life. To get to the truth, she has to go undercover—and finds almost everybody around her is hiding a second self.
Mel can trust nobody. Can she uncover the real killer before they stop her?
A stunning new thriller from the author of the award-winning Roma Nova series, fans of Daniel Silva, Stella Rimington or Chris Pavone will love Double Identity.

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Alison Morton writes award-winning thrillers series featuring tough, but compassionate heroines. She blends her deep love of France with six years’ military service and a life of reading crime, historical, adventure and thriller fiction. On the way, she collected a BA in modern languages and an MA in history.

“Grips like a vice – a writer to watch out for” says crime thriller writer Adrian Magson about Roma Nova series starter INCEPTIO. All six full-length Roma Nova thrillers have won the BRAG Medallion, the prestigious award for indie fiction. SUCCESSIO, AURELIA and INSURRECTIO were selected as Historical Novel Society’s Indie Editor’s Choices. AURELIA was a finalist in the 2016 HNS Indie Award. The Bookseller selected SUCCESSIO as Editor’s Choice in its inaugural indie review.

All six full-length Roma Nova thrillers have won the BRAG Medallion, the prestigious award for indie fiction. SUCCESSIO, AURELIA and INSURRECTIO were selected as Historical Novel Society’s Indie Editor’s Choices. AURELIA was a finalist in the 2016 HNS Indie Award. The Bookseller selected SUCCESSIO as Editor’s Choice in its inaugural indie review.

Now Alison continues to write thrillers and drink wine in France with her husband.

Other works

The Carina strand
INCEPTIO where New Yorker Karen Brown is thrown into a new life in mysterious Roma Nova and fights to stay alive with a killer hunting her
CARINA, a novella, Carina’s first mission abroad. What could go wrong?
PERFIDITAS, six years on, where betrayal and rebellion are in the air, threatening to topple Roma Nova and ruin Carina’s life.
SUCCESSIO, where a mistake from the past threatens to destroy the next generation.

The Aurelia strand
AURELIA, in late 1960s Roma Nova, Aurelia Mitela battles her life-long nemesis, silver smuggling and is forced to choose between her love, her child and her country
NEXUS Mid 1970s, London, where a simple favour for a friend becomes a chilling pursuit across Europe
INSURRECTIO, where Aurelia Mitela struggles against a manipulative tyrant grabbing power. But it may already be too late to save Roma Nova…
RETALIO, a classic tale of resistance and retribution – the endgame between Aurelia and Caius

Extras
ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories from AD 370 to the present

Contributions
‘A Roman Intervenes‘ in 1066 Turned Upside Down
How Galla Mitela, Roma Novan imperial councillor, attempts to stop the Norman invasion of England. One of a series of possible alternative outcomes of 1066.

‘The Mystery of Victory’ in Rubicon (HWA/Sharpe Books)
What did happen to the Altar of Victory in the dusk of the Roman Empire?

‘The Idealist’ in Betrayal (Historical Fictioneers, 2020)

Non Fiction
Military or civilians? The curious anomaly of the German Women’s Auxiliary Services during the Second World War.

The 500 Word Writing Buddy: 35 Inner Secrets for the New Writer

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My thoughts:

This was a really enjoyable, intelligent thriller with an interesting protagonist and full of intrigue and double crosses.

Initially accused of the murder of her fiancè, Mel is then recruited by a new trans-Europe investigative body, her boss believes Gèrard’s death is part of something much bigger.

There’s lots of action but also lots of sifting through tedious CCTV and paperwork, making this feel a lot more realistic than some thrillers where they just know who all the players are with no work!

Mel is an intriguing and clearly very well equipped protagonist, her background in French special forces makes her ideal for the dangerous world of espionage and she equits herself with skill and flair. I liked her no nonsense approach and her relationship with McCracken.

*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: Kid – Sebastian De Souza*

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  • Available to pre-order at many retailers including: Bookshop.org | Waterstones | Hive | Amazon
  • Indie bookseller West End Lane Books is running a special pre-order promotion, where readers can get a SIGNED & DEDICATED copy of Kid if purchased through their website

London, 2060: Following a series of deadly pandemics, devastating environmental disasters and a violent surge in cyber terrorism, the UN has made it compulsory for every tax paying citizen to login to the Perspecta Universe: a totally safe, pollution free, environmentally friendly virtual reality world.

Eighteen years later, ‘The Upload’ is complete, and billions of people all around the world exist in massive dormitory complexes surrounding the major cities, all totally unconscious of the crumbling world around them.

Apart from the renegades, the ‘Offliners’ who live in London’s silent wasteland, making the disused Piccadilly Circus Tube station their home: a fully self-sufficient, subterranean community.

When Josh ‘Kid’ Jones, a young Offliner, discovers that an antiquated piece of technology called an ‘iPhone left to him by his father seems able to communicate with the past through social media. He strikes up a friendship with Isabel Parry, a 16-year-old living in 2021, and the two begin communicating through time and space via Instagram. But what Kid and Izzy don’t realise is that by doing so they are not only changing their own fate, but also the fate of the rest of the world…

Sebastian de Souza is an actor, producer, screenwriter and musician. Sebastian can currently be seen on Channel 4, playing the leading role of Leo in the Hulu Original series The Great, opposite Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult, written by Oscar-nominated and BAFTA award-winning writer Tony MacNamara (The Favourite).

Previous roles include Gareth in the BBC/Hulu adaptation of Sally Rooney’s best-selling novel Normal People directed by Oscar-nominated Lenny Abrahamson (Room); in Netflix’s Medici, playing the iconic painter Sandro Botticelli; Alfonso d’Aragona in Showtime’s Emmy award-winning The Borgias, opposite Jeremy Irons and Holliday Grainger; and in the multiple BAFTA award-winning Skins, as lead Matty Levan.

Sebastian has also played the lead role of Rafa in Paramount Pictures’ Brit-Crime thriller Plastic, opposite Will Poulter and Alfie Allen, and can currently be seen on Netflix playing Edmund in Ophelia opposite Naomi Watts, Daisy Ridley and Clive Owen.

As a writer, at the age of 20 Sebastian wrote the feature film Kids In Love, which he also starred in opposite Will Poulter and Cara Delevingne. The film was produced by Ealing Studios, the oldest and most prestigious studio in the UK. He wrote and directed the short ‘Evelyne’s World’, starring Evelyne Brochu at Korda Studios in Budapest.

His debut YA novel KID: A History of the Future is published by Offliner Press in Spring 2021.

My thoughts:

This was a really clever book, the plot was so intriguing and revolves around blooming Instagram messages of all things, but in a very different way than just sending someone a random DM.

The future is bleak, utterly miserable, but maybe it can be changed in the past, which in this context is our present – 2021.

But from Kid’s perspective, this is the tipping point, from here on out things get really bad and he desperately wants to stop evil megacorp Gnosys from taking over even the tiny crumbling corner of London, Soho, that he calls home.

I was absolutely hooked. Even though we currently appear to be living through our own dystopia, I am still very keen on dystopian fiction with a touch of hope. And Kid and Izzy’s friendship via some weird technological loophole gave me that hope. This is a chunky book but it fizzes along, blending future tech with contemporary lockdown life.

This is written with confidence and talent – it’s hard to believe it’s a debut novel. The characters are realistic and engaging, the plot is smart and gripping. It’s very enjoyable and compelling.

*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: Miniskirts are Murder – Des Burkinshaw*

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Porter Norton, his friends and his sarcastic spirit guide, The Gliss, are on the trail of a young actress who went missing in Soho, London, in the Swinging Sixties. Still recovering from their last adventure in the battlefields of WW1, the gang are confronted by a transatlantic conspiracy.

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Des, 52, is a former Times journalist/BBC TV producer. Miniskirts are Murder is the second in the Porter and The Gliss Investigations series, following Dead & Talking in 2019.
Des likes to live out as much of the stories as possible and spent 3 months in the US researching this novel.

He runs a film school in London and has just been commissioned to write a limited season TV series intended for Netflix. He is also a keen musician and through work has jammed with people like Paul McCartney, Brian Wilson and Jeff Lynne. He is married with 1 daughter.

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My thoughts:

This was a much better book than the blurb suggests, taking in murderous film producers, Soho gangsters, the Swinging 60s, lots of transatlantic flights, Bristol’s past as a hub for the slave trade, Nazis, the dead, legal wranglings and putting some horrible men in their place.

It’s also rather funny, in a black sort of way.

I really enjoyed it, and have downloaded its predecessor onto my kindle. The gang are all really interesting characters, and their back stories alone could run to several volumes, making it all quite intriguing.

It was a very clever book, with a genuinely dastardly, awful scheme at its heart. I felt a bit like cheering when they finally got the villain behind it all. Horrible man.

Hopefully there’s lots more adventures for this team of intrepid investigators to come.

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