Tag: contemporary fiction

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: All That’s Left Unsaid – Tracey Lien

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They claim they saw nothing. She knows they’re lying.

1996 – Cabramatta, Sydney

‘Just let him go.’

Those are words Ky Tran will forever regret. The words she spoke when her parents called to ask if they should let her younger brother Denny out to celebrate his high school graduation with friends. That night, Denny – optimistic, guileless Denny – is brutally murdered inside a busy restaurant in the Sydney suburb of Cabramatta, a refugee enclave facing violent crime, and an indifferent police force.

Returning home for the funeral, Ky learns that the police are stumped by her brother’s case. Even though several people were present at Denny’s murder, each bystander claims to have seen nothing, and they are all staying silent.

Determined to uncover the truth, Ky tracks down and questions the witnesses herself. But what she learns goes beyond what happened that fateful night. The silence has always been there, threaded through the generations, and Ky begins to expose the complex traumas weighing on those present the night Denny died. As she peels back the layers of the place that shaped her, she must confront more than the reasons her brother is dead. And once those truths have finally been spoken, how can any of them move on?

My thoughts: this is a powerful book, as Ky (pronounced Key) tries to solve the mystery of her brother’s horrific murder, she reflects on growing up the children of immigrants, her parents are from Korea, and the legacy that leaves her and her generation with. The microaggressions, the overt or not racism, the way none of the white Australians will admit it must have been hard.

There’s also poverty, parental expectations and fears, violence, gangs and grief in the mix. Why won’t her brother’s friends or even his teacher speak up? And what does her long lost best friend Minnie have to do with it?

Ky doesn’t just advocate for her brother with the indifferent, all white, police force, she investigates, using her skills as a journalist to interview and question witnesses, hunt down potential leads and unravel the silence around the crime. Even her own parents seem reluctant to dig deeper, lost in their grief.

Powerful, compelling and moving. This is a book I won’t be forgetting soon.

*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 Ultimate Village Game – Beth Merwood plus Giveaway!

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Riddled with guilt and tormented by desire, Lucy Short keeps notes about newcomers to the village, but why?

The misfit with the rescue dog has a mysterious past. She’s been biding her time, plotting and scheming, and now she’s determined to get what she deserves. It won’t be straight forward.
Someone is sure to be watching her every move, and there seems to be something more sinister going on.
Mr. Lester Senior is dead. The family is in turmoil. The future of the famous village treasure hunt is in doubt, but for Lucy a new world beckons. She must stick to her task. The rewards could be huge, but will there also be a price to pay?

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Beth Merwood is a writer from the south of England. Her debut novel, The Five Things, was published in 2021.

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Giveaway to Win 1 x Paperback and 1 x e-copy of The Ultimate Village Game (Open to UK Only)
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My thoughts: I found Lucy very intriguing, her mysterious note keeping, the fact she kept herself apart from the other villagers despite how friendly they were, thankfully that didn’t last. She seemed a bit removed from reality at the beginning, just her and Morsel the dog. But working at the local retirement home and walking Morsel draws her into the lives of others and opens her world up.

The mystery of her past and her interest in the Lester family is slowly revealed, and the endless gossip never really tells anyone anything – I think that might be the real village game, not the treasure hunt that we never get to see but hear a lot about.

I really liked a lot of the villagers and the residents of the home seemed like lovely people. As odd as Lucy seemed, she was surrounded by friendly souls and comes out of her shell. I was a bit shocked when her secrets came out, it suggested a whole other dimension to her character. Clever and enjoyable stuff.

*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, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Reason – Catherine Bennetto

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How much is the smile from the person you love worth to you?
 
Brooke’s life has derailed. Her social life and career have evaporated, her daughter is desperately unhappy and being bullied at school, and, for a 43-year-old, she probably spends way too many weekends at her parent’s. But the reason for all this is no mystery. A year and a half ago, Brooke’s husband died.
 
But Brooke does have one secret. Her husband’s death, the worst thing that has ever happened to her, has made her unbelievably rich.
 
Despite her despair, Brooke suddenly realises she has the power to make her daughter’s life, and the world a little brighter.

My thoughts: this was genuinely very, very lovely. A hug of a book, something to cheer up the gloomiest Gus. Brooke is mourning her husband and worried about her daughter, Hannah. She’s turned from a smiley, rainbow of a girl into someone sad and lonely because of a bully at school. Who needed a good shake. Honestly. And the head teacher, my goodness.

Thankfully Brooke has a lovely family and great friends. She comes up with a plan to cheer Hannah up, and a whole lot of other people too. Enter #NoReason, a rainbow of joy, from free ice cream to flash mobs, surprises hidden inside books and handed out in Tube carriages.

It turns their lives upside down but it brings such utter glee and happiness to so many. If only Brooke can keep anyone from finding out she’s behind it. And there’s a possible romance in store for her too. But will it be the drum teacher or the orthodontist? I hate going to the dentists and I really want to learn to play the drums so I know who I’d pick!

If you’re feeling a bit deflated and sad, this is a lovely, fuzzy warm book and I really recommend it. Only you can’t borrow my copy – my mum already has!

*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: Rock ‘n’ Rose – Suzi Holder

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Now or Never…In the summer of 1960, eighteen-year-old Rose Featherstone took a trip to Memphis that changed her life. Now, Rose confesses to her granddaughter, Daisy, that she returned home with more than just memories all those years ago – she was carrying Elvis Presley’s child!
Daisy is sure the claim can’t be true, and yet, what if it is? When her grandmother passes away soon after her startling revelation and leaves Daisy with a ticket to Memphis, Tennessee, Daisy decides it’s
time to discover the truth. She’s always struggled to fit in but this trip might just show her the benefits of being born to stand out and is a moody motorcycle cop called Blue the answer to all her
dreams?
Her adventures in Memphis take her behind the famous music gates of Graceland. Pack your Blue Suede Shoes for a rockin’ rom-com.

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Real rock wife Suzan, wife of former Slade frontman Noddy Holder, has written another ‘rock n’ roll rom-com’ to follow her Beatles themed debut ‘Shake It Up, Beverley’.
Journalist and TV producer Suzan once again weaves her love for music into a hilarious and heart-warming story that is uplifting and laugh-out-loud funny.
Suzan says: “I love that my books celebrate music and have been inspired by my own life experience of living in a slightly crazy, rock ‘n’ roll, rom-com world…some of the weirdest and funniest stories in the books really have happened to me!”
Suzan Holder trained as a newspaper journalist and worked on regional and national newspapers before moving into TV. She produced a variety of television news and lifestyle programmes and was
executive producer of ITV’s daytime network show ‘Loose Women’. She is a monthly columnist for Cheshire Life Magazine and appears regularly on radio.
Suzan has one son, two step-daughters and two step grand-children. Originally from the West Midlands Suzan now lives with Noddy Holder in Cheshire, they have been together for 32 years.

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My thoughts: this was a fun road trip story, alternating between the perspectives of Rose, Lily (Rose’s daughter) and Daisy (Lily’s daughter) as they slowly unravel the story of Rose’s trip to Memphis and who Lily’s father is. Is he really Elvis?

I liked the way Daisy cherishes the bond with Rose, even after Rose dies. Having lost my beloved Grandad earlier this year, it’s something I recognise. Honouring Rose by undertaking the mission to Memphis, literally following in her footsteps and trying to find out who Rose’s long lost love really was is sweet and Daisy also finds friendship and maybe even love in the land of rock ‘n’ roll.

I enjoyed this book a lot and found it engaging, fun and entertaining. I’ve never been to Memphis but it felt vivid and real, like Daisy was showing me around!

*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 Lighthouse Bookshop – Sharon Gosling

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At the heart of a tiny community in a remote village just inland from the Aberdeenshire coast stands an unexpected lighthouse. Built two centuries ago by an eccentric landowner, it has become home to the only bookshop for miles around.
 
Rachel is an incomer to the village. She arrived five years ago and found a place she could call home. So when the owner of the Lighthouse Bookshop dies suddenly, she steps in to take care of the place, trying to help it survive the next stage of its life.
 
But when she discovers a secret in the lighthouse, long kept hidden, she realises there is more to the history of the place than she could ever imagine. Can she uncover the truth about the lighthouse’s first owner? And can she protect the secret history of the place?

My thoughts: this was a lovely book, with a mystery at its heart in the shape of the lighthouse’s secrets and past but it was also about the people in the village who loved the bookshop and wanted to preserve it rather than see it destroyed by selfish property developer Dora McCreedy (or McGreedy as I renamed her in my head).

Rachel and Gilly both find a safe haven in the bookshop and in the village. There’s romance in the air too. It’s such a sweet, gentle story, something I really needed and the lighthouse’s past was also lovely and a little sad. Perfect for a cosy evening 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 Change – Kirsten Miller

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Big Little Lies meets The Witches of Eastwick—a gloriously entertaining and knife-sharp feminist revenge fantasy about three women whose midlife crisis brings unexpected new powers—putting them on a collision course with the evil that lurks in their wealthy beach town. 

In the Long Island oceanfront community of Mattauk, three different women discover that midlife changes bring a whole new type of empowerment…

After Nessa James’s husband dies and her twin daughters leave for college, she’s left all alone in a trim white house not far from the ocean. In the quiet of her late forties, the former nurse begins to hear voices. It doesn’t take long for Nessa to realize that the voices calling out to her belong to the dead—a gift she’s inherited from her grandmother, which comes with special responsibilities.

On the cusp of 50, suave advertising director Harriett Osborne has just witnessed the implosion of her lucrative career and her marriage. She hasn’t left her house in months, and from the outside, it appears as if she and her garden have both gone to seed. But Harriett’s life is far from over—in fact, she’s undergone a stunning and very welcome metamorphosis.

Ambitious former executive Jo Levison has spent thirty long years at war with her body. The free-floating rage and hot flashes that arrive with the beginning of menopause feel like the very last straw—until she realizes she has the ability to channel them, and finally comes into her power.

Guided by voices only Nessa can hear, the trio of women discover a teenage girl whose body was abandoned beside a remote beach. The police have written the victim off as a drug-addicted sex worker, but the women refuse to buy into the official narrative. Their investigation into the girl’s murder leads to more bodies, and to the town’s most exclusive and isolated enclave, a world of stupendous wealth where the rules don’t apply. With their newfound powers, Jo, Nessa, and Harriett will take matters into their own hands…

My thoughts: of the three woman I loved Harriett the most – she just doesn’t care a lick about what other people think about her anymore. They say she’s a witch, fine, she’s a witch. Jo and Nessa still worry about other people’s opinions, even as they investigate the missing girls and the super privileged community on the cliffs.

This is a shocking and brutally honest book in many ways. Women are often overlooked and undervalued. All three of these women and many others whose stories weave into the narrative have suffered, often horrifically, at the hands of selfish, cruel and overindulged men. From sexist comments and being passed over for promotion to domestic violence and sexual assault, woman suffer. And now these three are not going to take it anymore. Woe betide any man who crosses them.

*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 Little Theatre on Halfpenny Lane – Clodagh Murphy

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Aoife and her sisters know exactly what to do when they inherit their Great-aunt Detta’s theatre on Halfpenny Lane:

  • Restore the dilapidated building to its former glory.
  • Perform together on its stage to packed houses and rapturous applause.
  • Live happily ever after.
    But they didn’t count on Detta leaving a share in the theatre to her godson, Jonathan. Now they’ll have to persuade him to buy into their vision of stardust and magic – or find the money to buy him out.
    As they fight to save the theatre, Aoife also battles her growing feelings for Jonathan. Because she can’t let herself fall for the man who’s about to bring the curtain down on their dreams.

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  • Author Bio Clodagh Murphy lives in Dublin, Ireland. She has worked as a bar waitress, cleaner, secretary, editorial assistant, mystery shopper and movie extra. But she always dreamed of being an author, and after more jobs than she cares to (or can) remember, she now writes full-time. For more information about her books or to sign up to her newsletter, visit her website.
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My thoughts: this was a lovely story of sisterhood and theatre. The three sisters want to restore their great-aunt’s theatre, turn it into a going concern again and stage a production of Chekhov. But first they need to raise a lot of money. Luckily their aunt meant a lot to the Dublin theatre community and they’re all up for a fundraiser or two. And maybe Aoife might get through the tough exterior of Jonathan and her stage fright.

Enjoyable, funny and sweet, I knew I’d enjoy a story about a theatre (theatre kids never say die) and I was right!

*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: River of Ashes – Alexandra Weis & Lucas Astor

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ALONG THE BANKS OF THE BOGUE FALAYA RIVER, sits the abandoned St. Francis Seminary. Beneath a canopy of oaks, blocked from prying eyes, the teens of St. Benedict High gather here on Fridays. The rest of the week belongs to school and family—but weekends belong to the river.

And the river belongs to Beau Devereaux.

The only child of a powerful family, Beau can do no wrong. Star quarterback. Handsome. Charming. The “prince” of St. Benedict is the ultimate catch.

He is also a psychopath.

A dirty family secret buried for years, Beau’s evil grows unchecked. In the shadows of the haunted abbey, he commits unspeakable acts on his victims and ensures their silence with threats and intimidation. Senior year, Beau sets his sights on his girlfriend’s headstrong twin sister, Leslie, who hates him. Everything he wants but cannot have, she will be his ultimate prize.

As the victim toll mounts, it becomes clear that someone must stop Beau Devereaux.

And that someone will pay with their life.

My thoughts: Beau is a cruel and violent young man, he sees nothing wrong in what he does to young women or even in how he treats his mother and friends.

But the terrible things he does are catching up with him as his victims start to talk to one another and even his girlfriend, blind to his monstrous nature, turns against him. He plans to torture and rape her twin sister, but the avenging women have their own plans for him.

Dark and sometimes hard to read, discomforting and rage inducing. I couldn’t believe no one had tried to stop him before. Only once Beau started to lose the tightly controlled persona he let others see, did changes start to happen. His comeuppance came at a terrible price but at least he was finally stopped.

*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 Shimmer on the Water – Marina McCarron

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When you’re lost sometimes the only way to look forward is to look back…
Three women. Two generations apart. One secret they share.
Maine, 1997. As the people of Fort Meadow Beach celebrate the Fourth of July, four-year- old Daisy Wright disappears and is never seen again.
Maine, 2022. Fired from her job and heart-broken, Peyton Winchester moves back home for the summer. Bored and aimless, she finds a renewed sense of purpose when going through her old diaries she is reminded of her dream of becoming a journalist. Returning to life in her home town brings back all kind of memories – including Daisy’s disappearance when she was a young girl herself.
As Peyton begins to search for answers about Daisy’s disappearance, she finds that they might be closer to home than she thinks – and their lives become intertwined with irreversible consequences.

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Marina McCarron was born in eastern Canada and studied in Ottawa and Vancouver before moving to England. She holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Publishing degree. She has worked as a reporter, a freelance writer, a columnist and a manuscript evaluator. She loves reading and travelling and has been to six of the seven continents. She gets her ideas
for stories from strolling through new places and daydreaming. Her debut novel, The Time Between Us, came to her as she stood at Pointe du Hoc on a windy June day and asked the magical question, what if…?
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My thoughts: I really enjoyed this, supposedly Peyton is looking into the disappearance of little Daisy but really the mystery she’s most interested in is that of her mother, Lydia. Cold and remote, critical and clearly unhappy, she’s someone whose entire past is an intentional blank. When Peyton finds an old Christmas card, it starts her off trying to find out what happened to make her mother the way she is.

Intertwined with Peyton’s complicated summer of rediscovery is the story of Eualla, a young girl in rural Tennessee decades before, who she is and her life is a bit of a mystery to the reader but it does all make sense.

A clever, moving, complex story of mothers and daughters, of generational trauma and love.

*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: So Happy For You – Celia Laskey

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A wedding weekend spirals out of control in this bold, electrifying, hilarious novel about the complexities of female friendship

Robin and Ellie have been best friends since childhood. When Robin came out, Ellie was there for her. When Ellie’s father died, Robin had her back. But when Ellie asks Robin to be her maid of honor, she is reluctant. A queer academic, Robin is dubious of the elaborate wedding rituals now sweeping the nation, which go far beyond champagne toasts and a bouquet toss. But loyalty wins out, and Robin accepts.

Yet, as the wedding weekend approaches, a series of ominous occurrences lead Robin to second-guess her decision. It seems that everyone in the bridal party is out to get her. Perhaps even Ellie herself.

Manically entertaining, viciously funny and eerily campy, So Happy for You is the ultimate send-up to our collective obsession with the wedding industrial complex and a riveting, unexpectedly poignant depiction of friendship in all its messy glory.

My thoughts: this is very funny and a bit silly but there’s a serious side to it as well. Set in a not-so-distant future where there’s an even more insane focus on marriage than there is now – the dating app telling women when they’re running out of time to reproduce was a particularly hellish detail, Robin and her best friend Ellie are on a collision course.

Robin hates weddings, is writing a sociology thesis on why the wedding industrial complex is so toxic and never wants to get married (thankfully her partner, Aimee, agrees) but Ellie cannot wait to be Mrs Ellie Ellison (gag).

Ellie wants Robin to be her Maid of Honour. Why on earth she asks her anti-wedding lesbian high school BFF and not one of her much more likely to agree other friends is beyond me. I didn’t have bridesmaids, and for my hen night I went out for dinner and cocktails with some friends (one of whom was a man) and my mum. I do not get the whole OTT wedding thing at all.

I don’t think Robin’s perfect though, she could just go along with some of Ellie’s requests (not the nuts ones though – the trust falls, the crazy wedding “charms”, some of the other stunts she pulls) but maybe being a little more enthusiastic for her friend might have meant it didn’t have to go quite so batshit over the wedding weekend.

Or not, I mean, some of it was hilarious, some just disturbing. Poor Ellie, I don’t actually think she’s crazy, but society has certainly made her act like she is. The huge pressure to get married, have the 2.4 children, dog and picket fence etc is huge and ugly and deeply unnecessary.

A really thought provoking and intelligent read with some really outrageous moments.

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