blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: May Day – Josie Jaffrey*

ramblingmads


If the murderer you’re tracking is a vampire, then you want a vampire detective. Just maybe not this one.It’s not that Jack Valentine is bad at her job. The youngest member of Oxford’s Seekers has an impressive track record, but she also has an impressive grudge against the local baron, Killian Drake.

When a human turns up dead on May Morning, she’s determined to pin the murder on Drake. The problem is that none of the evidence points to him. Instead, it leads Jack into a web of conspiracy involving the most powerful people in the country, people to whom Jack has no access. But she knows someone who does.

To get to the truth, Jack will have to partner up with her worst enemy. As long as she can keep her cool, Drake will point her to the ringleaders, she’ll find the murderer and no one else will have to die.
Body bags on standby.

May Day is the first book in Josie Jaffrey’s Seekers series, an urban fantasy series set in Oxford, England.
Goodreads

My thoughts:

This was a good slice of crime noir, with added fangs. Vampire detectives investigating crimes potentially committed by their own crime, finding all kinds of creeps lurking in the shadows along the way.

Keeping their bloodthirsty secrets safe from the human population and making sure not too many bloodless corpses turn up is a full time job, so the last thing they need is a weird murder.

These vamps seem to be Daywalkers, blending in amongst the students and locals of Oxford as they carry out their investigation, problem is it all seems to loop back round to the people they least want to be guilty.

Riddled with pitch black humour, pop culture references and a healthy dose of old fashioned British irreverence, this is an excellent new addition to the vampire literary canon.

*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: For When I’m Gone – Rebecca Ley*

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Because there’s never enough time to say goodbye…

Sylvia knows that she’s running out of time. Very soon, she will exist only in the memories of those who loved her most and the pieces of her life she’s left behind.

So she begins to write her husband a handbook for when she’s gone, somewhere to capture the small moments of ordinary, precious happiness in their married lives. From raising their wild, loving son, to what to give their gentle daughter on her eighteenth birthday – it’s everything she should have told him before it was too late.

But Sylvia also has a secret, one that she’s saved until the very last pages. And it’s a moment in her past that could change everything…

My thoughts:

A moving and bittersweet story of a family, its endings and beginnings. Sylvia is dying and her children are still young, her husband doesn’t know all the ins and outs of their routines, what their favourite foods are, the fact she keeps a double of their daughter’s stuffed toy hidden away.

So she writes to him, she reminds him of their beginnings, of the births of their children, of how they started out, to ease the pain of saying goodbye.

This was so painful to read but at the same time so tender and full of love that I couldn’t put it down. It lingers with you, the reader, that total love of a mother for her children, a wife for her husband.

She also writes letters to her mother and sister, keen to repair the cracks in their relationships, knowing her children will need them as they navigate a motherless existence.

This is an incredibly impressive debut novel, full of heart and incredible depth of feeling.

*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: Orfeia – Joanne M. Harris, illustrated by Bonnie Helen Hawkins*

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The stunning new novella from No 1 bestselling author Joanne Harris: Orfeia is a gender-flipped retelling of the Orpheus Myth, beautifully illustrated by Bonnie Helen Hawkins.

When you can find me an acre of land,

Every sage grows merry in time,

Between the ocean and the sand

Then will you be united again.

So begins a beautiful and tragic quest as a heartbroken mother sets out to save her lost daughter, through the realms of the real, of dream, and even into the underworld itself.

But determination alone is not enough. For to save something precious, she must give up something precious, be it a song, a memory, or her freedom itself . . .

Joanne Harris is an Anglo-French writer, whose books include fourteen novels, two cookbooks and many short stories.

Her work is extremely diverse, covering aspects of magic realism, suspense, historical fiction, mythology and fantasy.

In 2000, her 1999 novel CHOCOLAT was adapted to the screen, starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp. CHOCOLAT has sold over a million copies in the UK alone and was a global bestseller.

She is an Honorary Fellow of St Catherine’s College, Cambridge, and in 2013 was awarded an MBE by the Queen.

Her hobbies are listed in Who’s Who as ‘mooching, lounging, strutting, strumming, priest-baiting and quiet subversion’. She plays bass guitar in a band first formed when she was 16 and runs the musical storytelling show Storytime.

Joanne lives with her husband in Yorkshire, about 15 miles from the place she was born.

Find out more on her website or follow her on Twitter

My thoughts:

As a Joanne Harris fan, I knew this book would be a treat but I didn’t know how much it would be for a fairy tale and mythology nerd like me.

Inspired by the myth of Orpheus, who travels to the Underworld of Hades to bring his wife Eurydice back to the living world, this magical novella sees Fay descend to Death’s realm to ask for her daughter Daisy’s life back.

Along the way she encounters the fairy King Alberon who tries to convince her to stay in his realm, the Night Train full of the dead, that never stops, and other strange beings, like a singing tiger.

I could see shades of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, the story of Persephone, and so many others peeking out through this beautiful tale. I also liked the inclusion of the correction about who perches atop the fountain in Piccadilly Circus – it’s not Eros, but Anteros.

Which also features stunning illustrations, conjuring images of Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market, and the otherworldly creatures that haunt traditional folklore.

This is altogether an absolute delight, a tale of love and loss, both a retelling and a completely new myth.


*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

Blog Tour: Median Gray – Bill Mesce Jr*

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“Smart, gritty, and authentic, Median Gray delivers a crackling tale complete with complex and damaged characters, and a keen eye for what cops know and think.” -– SFPD Sgt. Adam Plantinga, author of 400 Things Cops Know and Police Craft.

At a time when New York’s mean streets were their meanest, one NYPD detective at the end of his career takes one last chance to correct a 20-year-old injustice, and another cop at the beginning of his career tries to stop him before a police department already scarred by corruption investigations takes another hit.

“Mesce takes you on a blistering ride-along down mean New York streets with the most irreverent detectives this side of Richard Price. And with dialogue so true it feels wire-tapped; Price had better watch his back. This one’s a winner.” –David Breckman, co-executive producer of TV’s Monk and The Good Cop.

Goodreads

Amazon

Bill Mesce, Jr. is an author, screenwriter, and playwright living in New Jersey.

His first professional writing gig was the product of a screenwriting contest landing him an uncredited stint on Brian DePalma’s 1981 political thriller, BLOW OUT. Since then he has worked on a number of film projects, including the 1998 feature ROAD ENDS which was screened at a number film festivals.

Another writing contest led to his award-winning one-act play “A Good Kid,” which, in turn kicked off a series of related one-acts which were eventually rolled into his first full-length stage effort, A JERSEY CANTATA.

And yet again, a writing contest brought him his first published credit, the critically-acclaimed WW II drama, THE ADVOCATE. Since then, he has turned out a range of work from academic studies to literary short fiction and including several well-received sequels to THE ADVOCATE.

From 2010 to 2017, he was an adjunct instructor at several colleges and universities in New Jersey. He now teaches screenwriting at the University of Maine at Farmington.

Willow River Press

It’s not like he’s going to go hunting down those dark halls and stairways after the perp, that’d be stupid, that’d be fucking insane. He’s just going to find McInerney, keep him company until the ambulance gets there, maybe he can do some First Aid; maybe he can do… something. Anything.
He unsnaps the restraining strap on his holster and pulls out the .38, and he’s surprised at how light that pound and a half of steel feels, not tugging at his hand the way it does on the firing range at Rodman’s Neck, but popping clear of the leather like it’s on a spring because he’s got so much adrenaline going through him he could spin a Mack truck on his finger.
He steps through the foyer and into the must-and-cabbage smell of the hallway. It’s hot and close in there, he wonders why there are no fucking lights.
“I’m coming, Mac,” he says moving slowly down the hall, straining his ears, trying to find shapes in the dark.

*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: Accidentally in Love – Belinda Missen*

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Don’t miss the new laugh-out-loud rom com from the author of One Week ’Til Christmas!

Perfect for fans of Mhairi McFarlane, Rosie Walsh and Josie Silver.

In the space of a week, Katharine Patterson has quit her job, decided to move back home, and broken up with the guy she thought was the one.

No big deal.

Because Katharine has a plan. She’s going to open her own art gallery, just like she’s always wanted.
What she’s not going to do is worry about boyfriends.

Then she meets Kit, a handsome and talented local artist. He might be the most stubborn person Katharine has ever met. He might also make her feel like no one ever has before.

And Katharine might be about to fall accidentally in love…

Buy

Author Bio – Author and sometimes foodie, Belinda is a ridiculous romantic who met her husband
after being set up by a friend two states away.

Residing in country Victoria, surrounded by books, cat-fur, and half-eaten cake, Belinda divides her
days between writing rom-coms, baking, and indulging her love of comic books.

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My thoughts:

This is a fun rom com about moving on and then meeting the most infuriating person ever, and whoops, falling in love!

Anyone who loves the enemies to lovers trope will love this. Well written and highly enjoyable.

Perfect for curling up on the sofa and giggling when the weather can’t decide what season it is, I recommend some decent chocolate to snack on while reading.

*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 Beast & the Bethany – Jack Meggitt-Phillips, illustrated by Isabelle Follath*

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Beauty comes at a price. And no one knows that better than Ebenezer Tweezer, who has stayed beautiful for 511 years. How, you may wonder? Ebenezer simply has to feed the beast in the attic of his mansion. In return for meals of performing monkeys, statues of Winston Churchill, and the occasional cactus, Ebenezer gets potions that keep him young and beautiful, as well as other presents.

But the beast grows ever greedier with each meal, and one day he announces that he’d like to eat a nice, juicy child next. Ebenezer has never done anything quite this terrible to hold onto his wonderful life. Still, he finds the absolutely snottiest, naughtiest, and most frankly unpleasant child he can and prepares to feed her to the beast.

The child, Bethany, may just be more than Ebenezer bargained for. She’s certainly a really rather rude houseguest, but Ebenezer still finds himself wishing she didn’t have to be gobbled up after all. Could it be Bethany is less meal-worthy and more…friend-worthy?

My thoughts:

This was lots of fun, and very silly.

What amused me before I read it was the title – my sister-in-law is called Bethany and I told my husband that made him the Beast!

However the book was even better than it’s title suggests.

The Beast lives on the top floor of Ebenezer Tweezer’s enormous house, where it demands more and more unusual delicacies to eat. In exchange he vomits up whatever Ebenezer, a sprightly 511 years old, desires.

Until the Beast wants to eat a plump, juicy child. I think it might be related to the witch in Hansel & Gretel.

Enter Bethany – a short hurricane of bad manners, petty theft, and obstinence. She’s also a lot smarter than anyone gives her credit for.

With Bethany’s help Ebenezer starts to plot against the Beast and put a stop to its greed.

I laughed so much at times I snorted like a pig!

This book may be aimed at child readers but even an old crone like me can enjoy 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

Cover Reveal: One Kiss Before Christmas – Emma Jackson

ramblingmads

A gorgeously romantic festive read from the author of A Mistletoe Miracle, guaranteed to warm your heart this Christmas!

Could it be the start of her happy ever after?

Ashleigh could use a little Christmas magic. She’s still living in Brighton with her Nan — who could give the Grinch lessons in how to be miserable — her acting career has been reduced to playing one of Santa’s elves, and not even the prospect of a friend’s winter wedding can cheer her up…

That is until Olivier, the gorgeous French chef, reappears in her life. Or more accurately, next door.

When they were teenagers, Olivier would spend every other Christmas with his mother, who just happens to be Ash’s neighbour and owner of the best chocolate shop in England.

If anyone can bring a little sparkle back to Ash’s life, it’s Olivier. All she needs is one kiss before Christmas…

Feel-good and festive, this is the perfect romance to curl up with this winter!

Pre-order

Publication Date – 2nd November


Author of the Best Selling A MISTLETOE MIRACLE and contender for the Joan Hessayon Award 2020, Emma has been a devoted bookworm and secret-story-scribbler since she was 6 years old. When she’s not running around after her two daughters and trying to complete her current work-in-progress, Emma loves to read, bake, catch up on binge-watching TV programmes with her partner and plan lots of craft projects that will inevitably end up unfinished. Her latest romantic comedy, SUMMER IN THE CITY, was released in June 2020.

Emma also writes historical and fantasy fiction as Emma S Jackson. THE DEVIL’S BRIDE was published by DarkStroke in February 2020.

You can find out news about Emma via her website, by signing up to her newsletter

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blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Trouble with Peace – Joe Abercrombie*

ramblingmads

Read my review of A Little Hatred here.

Peace is just another kind of battlefield . . .
Savine dan Glokta, once Adua’s most powerful investor, finds her judgement, fortune and reputation in tatters. But she still has all her ambitions, and no scruple will be permitted to stand in her way.
For heroes like Leo dan Brock and Stour Nightfall, only happy with swords drawn, peace is an ordeal to end as soon as possible. But grievances must be nursed, power seized, and allies gathered first, while Rikke must master the power of the Long Eye . . . before it kills her.
Unrest worms into every layer of society. The Breakers still lurk in the shadows, plotting to free the common man from his shackles, while noblemen bicker for their own advantage. Orso struggles to find a safe path through the maze of knives that is politics, only for his enemies, and his debts, to multiply.
The old ways are swept aside, and the old leaders with them, but those who would seize the reins of power will find no alliance, no friendship, and no peace lasts forever.

My thoughts:

I do enjoy the world building of Joe Abercrombie – the politics and never ending feuds that threaten the Union as much as the countries on their borders.

People are bored in peace times, there are too many hours in the day to scheme and plot.

Savine hasn’t fully recovered from the events of A Little Hatred, and a politically savvy marriage might just be the thing to save her.

Leo gets dragged into schemes at the heart of government, not realising he’s being manipulated and lied to.

Things aren’t much better in the North, but then when have they ever in this world?

I thoroughly enjoyed this new addition to the Abercrombie canon – lots of action as always, with a wry humour and plenty of intrigue.

*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: Hadley Beckett’s Next Dish – Bethany Turner*

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Celebrity chef Maxwell Cavanaugh is known for many things: his multiple Michelin stars, his top-rated Culinary Channel show To the Max, and most of all his horrible temper. Hadley Beckett, host of the Culinary Channel’s other top-rated show, At Home with Hadley, is beloved for her Southern charm and for making her viewers feel like family.

When Max experiences a very public temper tantrum, he’s sent packing to get his life in order. When he returns, career in shambles, his only chance to get back on TV and in the public’s good graces is to work alongside Hadley.

As these polar-opposite celeb chefs begin to peel away the layers of public persona and reputation, they will not only discover the key ingredients for getting along but also learn the secret recipe for unexpected forgiveness . . . and maybe even love. In the meantime, hide the knives.

Fan-favourite Bethany Turner serves up a heaping helping of humour and romance with this thoroughly modern story centred on cooking, enemies, and second chances.

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Bethany Turner is the award-winning author of The Secret Life of Sarah Hollenbeck and Wooing Cadie McCaffrey and the director of administration for Rock Springs Church in Southwest Colorado.

A former bank executive and a three-time cancer survivor (all before she turned 35), Bethany knows that when God has plans for your life, it doesn’t matter what anyone else has to say. Because of that, she’s chosen to follow his call to write.

She lives with her husband and their two sons in Colorado, where she writes for a new generation of readers who crave fiction that tackles the thorny issues of life with humor and insight.

My thoughts:

I would quite like to be friends with Hadley, she just seems like a real nice person. Tbf my real life dream bff is Nadiya from Bake Off, who also seems super lovely. I must have a friend crush on lovely women who bake.

Hadley is a super talented, successful chef from Nashville, whose appeal is her Southern charm and the fact she is one of those women you just want to be friends with.

Max is a Gordon Ramsey style obnoxious uber macho chef. Basically the exact opposite of Hadley and really unpleasant when they first meet on what is basically Masterchef, where he throws a temper tantrum and gets into serious hot water with the Culimary Channel’s bosses.

Fast forward six months and they meet again. Has he changed? Can they ever get on?

This was such a fun book, funny too, the sparring between Hadley and Max, Hadley’s eccentric grandmother, the plot to stop the presenter of Renowned from making them fall out, the food (this book needs to come with a warning – it will make you hungry!) It has it all and it was just such a pleasure to read and just enjoy. This should definitely be Netflix’s next rom com.


*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: Not the Deaths Imagined – Anne Pettigrew*

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In a leafy Glasgow suburb, Dr Beth Semple is busy juggling motherhood and full-time GP work in the 90s NHS. But her life becomes even more problematic when she notices some odd deaths in her neighbourhood. Though Beth believes the stories don’t add up, the authorities remain stubbornly unconvinced.

Soon, Beth’s professional reputation is challenged. There follows a chilling campaign of harassment and she finds her professional reputation – and her family – are put at risk.
Is a charming local GP actually a serial killer? Can Beth piece together the jigsaw of perplexing fatalities and perhaps save lives? And as events accelerate towards a dramatic conclusion, will the police intervene in time?
From the author of Not the Life Imagined, this slow-burning tartan noir novel from a Bloody Scotland Crime Spotlight author follows Beth on another quest for justice. Reflecting Pettigrew’s own medical expertise, Not The Deaths Imagined re-affirms the benefits of growing up in a loving family and the need for friends in hard times, while offering insight into the twisted development of a psychopathic mind.

Amazon UK Amazon US

Waterstones Ringwood Publishing

A graduate of Glasgow (Medicine) and Wolfson College, Oxford (Anthropology), Anne Pettigrew has been a GP, worked in psychiatry, family planning/sexual health, lecturing, patient/women doctors pressure groups, BMA Media relations, Homeopathy, acupuncture, an EEC Committee, book reviewing and journalism (medico-political and humorous articles to The Herald, Doctor newspaper etc: a Channel 4 Despatches). Retiring from practice, she became a wedding planner for a charity theatre, before starting Creative Writing classes and mentoring at Glasgow University. She is now a member of Garnethill critical writer’s forum and has won short story and article trophies in Greenock Writer’s Club.

Retiring from practice, she became a wedding planner for a charity theatre, before starting Creative Writing classes and mentoring at Glasgow University. She is now a member of Garnethill critical writer’s forum and has won short story and article trophies in Greenock Writer’s Club.
Not the life Imagined was runner up in the Scottish Association of Writers’ Constable Silver Stag Award 2018. The book was originally called No Sinecure, a title abandoned as no one under 35 in any class or group she joined knew what ‘sinecure’ meant (though some suggested it was apt, the book featuring ‘sin’ in those who ‘cure!’)

Two more books are underway. Anne has two grown up children and lives with her husband in North Ayrshire.

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My thoughts:

This was really good, I liked the mix of medical and legal professionals in Beth’s life, all invested in the mystery of the excess deaths and the rather nasty Dr Goodman.

Beth is a really great protagonist, clever, engaging and personable. I loved her relationships with her family and friends, she felt like a real person you might know. Which makes the terrible crimes worse in a way.

I have a suspicious mind (all those crime novels and TV shows!) so I immediately had my antenna up when the anonymous murderer started to narrate.

I really enjoyed this book, I hope there’s more and as an added incentive, money from these goes to support Plan International’s projects to help girls achieve.

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