Tag: contemporary fiction

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Heading Over the Hill – Judy Leigh*

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Growing old disgracefully and having a grand old time…

Billy and Dawnie may be in their seventies, but that won’t stop them taking chances or starting
again. Their grown-up children have families and lives of their own, so now it’s Billy and Dawnie’s
turn, and a life near the sea in Devon beckons.

But the residents of Margot Street (or Maggot Street as Dawnie insists on calling it), don’t quite know what to make of their new neighbours. Billy’s loud, shiny and huge Harley Davidson looks out of place next to the safe and sensible Honda Jazz next door, and Dawnie’s never-ending range of
outrageous wigs and colourful clothes, means she’s impossible to miss.

As new friendships are formed and new adventures are shared, Billy and Dawnie start winning their neighbours’ affection. And when life teaches them all a terrible lesson, the folks of Margot Street are determined to live every day as if it’s their last.
Judy Leigh returns with a soul-warming, rib-tickling, timeless tale of true love, true friendship and
happy-ever-afters.

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Judy Leigh is the bestselling author of Five French Hens, A Grand Old Time and The Age of Misadventure and the doyenne of the ‘it’s never too late’ genre of women’s fiction. She has lived all over the UK from Liverpool to Cornwall, but currently resides in Somerset.

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My thoughts:

When I was little we lived across the road from a very nice Hell’s Angel called Harley Bob and his family. He’s apparently famous in biker circles and once rescued my My Little Pony from the roof after my friend’s grumpy big brother chucked it up there.

So I knew when Billy and Dawnie roared into Margot Close that they probably weren’t the terrible people some of their neighbours took them to be. And indeed they’re kind, generous, joyful people, they’ve not always had it easy but now as they’re getting older and their kids have grown, they’re looking for someone to live out the rest of their lives in peace and comfort. And they’re doing it in Devon, not far from where some of my family live.

It was nice to be reminded how lovely that part of the world is, especially as I can’t exactly go there at the moment, and I loved Dawnie – she’s so glam and full of life. Their friends and neighbours are pretty lovely too, Dilly cracked me up with her love of Bruce Willis and Prosecco.

This book has a lot of heart and is full of funny, warm-hearted and delightful people you want in your life. There are some sad parts too, and one in particular was shocking and jarring, coming as it did towards the end, but that’s part of life too. I recommend keeping some tissues to hand if, like me, you get a little wet eyed (who’s chopping onions?) at those 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.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Sins of Allie Lawrence – Philip Caveney*

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After a blazing row with her mother, sixteen-year-old Allie Lawrence impulsively runs away from the family home in Killiecrankie, with no plan other than to go to Edinburgh to ‘be an actor.’

Then a chauffeur-driven car pulls up beside her and she’s offered a lift by its handsome and mysterious passenger, Nick. Against her better judgement, she accepts – and soon discovers that he is a ‘manager,’ who claims he can make all her dreams come true.

She just needs to sign a contract… The Sins of Allie Lawrence is a tale of temptation, inspired by the legend of Black Donald, and set against the vibrant world of the theatre.

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Philip’s Caveney is an award-winning author whose first novel was published in 1977. Since then, he has published many novels for adults and since 2007, a series of children’s books that have sold all over the world, the Sebastian Darke series and another well-received series – The Alec Devlin Mysteries. He has written the successful Crow Boy trilogy for Fledgling Press and The Calling and The Slithers too. Philip also writes as Danny Weston – winner of the Scottish Book Trust Teen award 2016. Philip now lives and writes in Edinburgh.

My thoughts:

Black Donald is a Scottish myth/legend and an iteration of the Devil, and this story about temptation and bring careful what contracts you sign reminded me of another story about Old Nick – Faustus.

Allie is sixteen and while running away from home is offered a lift by a grinning stranger, who introduces himself as Donald “but you can call me Nick”.

After that suddenly all her dreams are coming true, one signed contract, and she has a fancy apartment in Edinburgh, a starring role in a new play and a PA called Sorcha who drinks a lot of wine but never eats.

Is it all too good to be true? Is Nick manipulating everyone around her and what exactly does he get out of this arrangement?

A clever, funny and entertaining remaining of an old tale, which proves you still have to watch out, and thoroughly read all your contracts!

*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 Extraordinary Hope of Dawn Brightside – Jessica Ryn*

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She’s not lost. She’s just waiting to be found…

Dawn Elisabeth Brightside has been running from her past for twenty-two years and two months, precisely.

So when she is offered a bed in St Jude’s Hostel for the Homeless, it means so much more than just a roof over her head.

But with St Jude’s threatened with closure, Dawn worries that everything is about to crumble around her all over again.

Perhaps, with a little help from her new friends, she can find a way to save this light in the darkness?

And maybe, just maybe, Dawn will finally have a place to call home….

My thoughts:

This was a gentle, sweet portrayal of mental illness, addiction and homelessness, it doesn’t shy away from the ugliness but treats its characters with kindness and compassion.

Dawn and her fellow residents at St Jude’s all have had very difficult lives that they’re finally starting to move on from when their safety and sanctuary is threatened.

Dawn constantly reinvents herself, in her head, each new life more fantastical than before, running from the pain of her real life.

There is real heart in this story of people with less than nothing finding their way in life and building a family.

The characters are well written and empathetic, I especially felt for Grace and Cara, as well as the irrepressible Dawn.

I will admit a little tear in my eye at a few points but the redemptive and heartwarming ending made up for the sniffling.

*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 Forgotten Gift – Kathleen McGurl*

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What would you do to protect the ones you love?

1861. George’s life changes forever the day he meets Lucy. She’s beautiful and charming, and he sees a future with her that his position as the second son in a wealthy family has never offered him. But when Lucy dies in a suspected poisoning days after rejecting George, he finds himself swept up into a murder investigation. George loved Lucy; he would never have harmed her. So who did?

Now. On the surface Cassie is happy with her life: a secure job, good friends, and a loving family. When a mysterious gift in long-forgotten will leads her to a dark secret in her family’s history she’s desperate to learn more. But the secrets in Cassie’s family aren’t all hidden in the past, and her research will soon lead her to a revelation much closer to home – and which will turn everything she
knows on its head…

Discover a family’s darkest secrets today. Perfect for fans of The Girl in the Letter, The Beekeeper’s Promise and The Forgotten Village!

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Kathleen McGurl lives in Bournemouth with her husband. She has two sons who have both now left
home. She always wanted to write, and for many years was waiting until she had the time.

Eventually she came to the bitter realisation that no one would pay her for a year off work to write a book, so she sat down and started to write one anyway. Since then she has published several novels with HQ and self-published another. She has also sold dozens of short stories to women’s magazines, and written three How To books for writers.

After a long career in the IT industry she became a full time writer in 2019.

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My thoughts:

Families are complicated creatures and this story of adoption and finding your family struck a real chord with me. My Grandad is not biologically related to me, he married my Nan and adopted my mum and aunt after her first husband, my biological grandfather, died of cancer really young. He is however absolutely my Grandad and my hero, regardless of blood.

Cassie has to wrestle with similar issues, after finding out a few things about her father and indeed about his ancestor, George. Her own biological daughter, who she gave up for adoption, gets in touch as well. Cassie and George both learn that what makes a family is a bit more complicated than it first appears.

This was moving and insightful, well written and I enjoyed the way it moved between Cassie’s life and that of George, 200 hundred years ago.

*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: Just Between Friends – Rosie Nixon*

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Aisha Moore is eight months pregnant. She’s thrilled, and a little scared. Not least because her husband Jason hasn’t quite wrapped his head around the fact.

Lucy is having her first child too. She has finally got her wish – although the circumstances aren’t quite what she had hoped. Oscar will be a great dad though, won’t he?

When the two women join the same baby group, they quickly become friends and before long they’re confiding in each other.

Only there’s one thing Lucy hasn’t told Aisha. And while a baby may turn your life upside-down, a secret this big will change everything.

My thoughts:

At first this seems like a rather traditional cosy slice of fiction, but then it develops into something a little darker, a little less cuddly.

When Aisha joins the local group for expectant mothers, she hopes to make a friend or two in the same boat as her. She and her husband have recently moved back from Hong Kong and she’s a bit adrift.

Lucy seems glamorous and funny, rolling her eyes at the over the top group leader, and bringing delicious salads for the group lunches. Aisha bonds quickly with her, and is thrilled to have a new friend.

But Lucy is keeping secrets, and they could destroy Aisha’s happiness. As the women’s pregnancies continue, the secrets start to trouble Lucy more and more.

Building up to something that could be truly awful, but none of these people are truly monstrous, they’re just people, who are fallible and make stupid mistakes.

This is a clever, almost thriller, that doesn’t quite take the turns you expect but is instead something much more enjoyable and realistic.

*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 Love Curse of Melody McIntyre – Robin Talley*

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Read my review of Music From Another World here

Perfect for fans of Becky Albertalli and Nina LaCour, this #ownvoices romantic comedy from New York Times bestselling author Robin Talley has something for everyone: backstage rendezvous, deadly props, and a seemingly insurmountable obstacle to True Love.

Melody McIntyre, stage manager extraordinaire, has a plan for everything.

What she doesn’t have? Success with love. Every time she falls for someone during a school performance, both the romance and the show end in catastrophe. So, Mel swears off any entanglements until their upcoming production of Les Mis is over.

Of course, Mel didn’t count on Odile Rose, rising star in the acting world, auditioning for the spring performance. And she definitely didn’t expect Odile to be sweet and funny, and care as much about the play’s success as Mel.

Which means that Melody McIntyre’s only plan now is trying desperately not to fall in love.

My thoughts:

I loved, loved, loved this book. Be still my theatre nerd, bisexual heart. Honestly, it’s freaking adorable. Funny, silly and very realistic to the stress of putting on a show.

If this book had been around when I was a teen theatre geek, it would have been my go-to read. I loved the characters, Melody and her friends are so charming and snarky and funny.

The relationship between Melody and Odile is sweet and romantic, their sneaking around less so, but we all make mistakes when we’re young.

The triumphant staging of Les Mis is a joy, when all the disasters of rehearsal (as any theatre kid knows, a terrible dress makes for a great run) finally come together, and if you can get through this book without breaking into One Day More, you’re dead inside (and as someone who is dead inside, I mean really dead inside).

*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 Purple Shadow – Christopher Bowden*

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In the years before the war, Sylvie Charlot was a leading light in Paris fashion with many friends among musicians, artists and writers. Now she is largely forgotten.

Spending time in Paris during a break in his acting career, Colin Mallory sees a striking portrait of Sylvie. Some think it is a late work by Édouard Vuillard but there is no signature or documentary evidence to support this view.

The picture has some unusual qualities, not least the presence of a shadow of something that cannot
be seen. Perhaps the picture was once larger. Colin feels an odd sense of connection with Sylvie, who seems to be looking at him, appealing to him, wanting to tell him something.

Despite a warning not to pursue his interest in her portrait, he is determined to find out more about the painting, who painted it, and why it was rt this view.hidden for many years.

Colin’s search takes him back to the film and theatre worlds of Paris and London in the 1930s – and to a house in present-day Sussex. As he uncovers the secrets of Sylvie’s past, her portrait seems to take on a life of its own.

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Christopher Bowden lives in south London. He is the author of six colour-themed novels, which have been praised variously by Andrew Marr, Julian Fellowes, Sir Derek Jacobi, and Shena Mackay.

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My thoughts:

This was a really interesting mystery story, as Colin hunts for the missing half of an intriguing portrait. The trail leads from Paris to London and onto a family home in Sussex. He follows the brief career of an almost forgotten actor, reviving the spotlight.

I really enjoyed the story, the characters of Colin and Alice are great fun and feel realistic, their search for the missing portrait is enjoyable and fascinating.

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

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Book Blitz: Facade – Melody Saleh

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Sex in The City meets Fifty Shades… (without the Red Room)

Amber can’t get Patrick out of her mind. Night after night he haunts her dreams . . . teasing her . . . pleasuring her . . . owning her body . . . until her alarm rings. Left unsatisfied night after night, she devises a plan to bring her fantasies to life—with a platinum wig, blue contact lenses, and a new persona.

Stay-at-home mom Debra adores her husband, but wishes for a little more spice and adventure in her life. She’s not even sure she’s ever had an orgasm! But when tragedy strikes, her dreams come true in ways she never imagined…or wanted.

Despite a hard life as a single black Muslim mother, up-and-coming fashion designer Zya finally has a successful business and a sense of security, despite the increasing persecution she and her daughter experience. But then a mysterious stranger comes into her life, challenging everything she thought she knew about love. But can it be real?

Gorgeous Dominque likes sex—wild, kinky, and lots of it. Secretly longing for something real and lasting, she settles for less, burying her insecurity and self-doubt between late-night trysts and anemia. But before long, she’s forced to face her fears, or succumb to them.

Four friends…each hiding behind a façade. But as fantasy clashes with reality, things aren’t always as they appear.

After 35+ years in operations for various businesses (including her own), Melody pursued her dream of writing a novel. Having written for business publications, local magazines and even publishing a poem, Chemo’s not for Sissies, during treatment after her first cancer diagnosis, it was time to finish the novel that was started many years ago. When she started writing, “Facade: Things Aren’t Always as They Appear,” she had no idea where her characters were going to take her. “The story basically wrote itself. It was like a movie projector playing in my mind,” is how she describes her experience. It soon became apparent, their voices were not to be silenced… “The Unbroken Series” was born. “Deja Vu: Here We Go Again,” Book II, to be released June 23, 2020, followed by C’est la Vie, Book III, in December.

Melody lives with her husband in her native home state Florida. She’s blessed to be alive today after two cancer diagnoses and enjoys watching her grandchildren grow up; something she doesn’t take for granted.

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blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: One More For Christmas – Sarah Morgan*

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For sisters Samantha and Ella Mitchell, Christmas is their most precious time of the year—a time for togetherness, love and celebration. Most of all, it’s about making up for everything their childhood Christmases lacked. But this year, they’ll be buying presents for the most unexpected guest of all—their estranged mother. It’s been five years since they last saw each other. But when their mother calls out of the blue and promises that this Christmas will be different, Samantha and Ella cautiously agree to spend it all together…

Gayle Mitchell is at the top of her career, but her success has come at a price—her relationship with her daughters. She never seemed to say or do the right things. Her tough-love approach was designed to make them stronger, but instead managed to push them away…until a brush with her own mortality forces Gayle to make amends. As the snowflakes fall on their first family celebration in years, the Mitchell women must learn that sometimes facing up to the past is all you need to heal your heart…

My thoughts:

Sarah Morgan’s Christmas books are like a lovely hug, warm and friendly and they make you toasty inside. This is no different.

Families are complicated, difficult and Christmas can exacerbate all the things we hate about ourselves and our relatives.

Samantha and Ella have essentially no relationship to their work focused mother Gayle, but an accident brings them back together and soon they’re off to Scotland to spend Christmas in a remote manor house with the owners, a possible new experience for Samantha’s bespoke holiday company.

There’s a lot the three women need to talk about and a lot they need to deal with if they’re to rebuild their relationship, and being stuck in the snowy Highlands is perfect for long talks by the fire and healing.

This is a delightful book, enlivened by the presence of four year old Tab, reindeer and a spot of romance. Plus some delicious home cooked meals.

It really does have a cheering effect and makes the grey and miserable day melt away and leaves you feeling all cosy inside.

*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: Inside Voices – Sarah Davis*

ramblingmads

The mind is a strange beast…extraordinary, unpredictable,
protective.

Penny Osborn’s mind is no exception. In High School, Penny witnessed a massacre and lost her father to the same killers. She had seen it unfold before it happened, in a premonition, but could not prevent it.

A college research project at the edge of the Arctic is her chance for a new beginning. Struggling with PTSD, Penny’s therapy includes running, dogs, and guitars. Yet her fresh start is plagued by new premonitions, dark and foreboding, that coincide with a rising number of murders in the community.

Her visions are vague, offering little to identify the killer.
When confronted with an orphaned polar bear cub, Penny risks everything to save its life. The deepening mystery of the murdered women, coupled with the exhaustive duties of caring for the small cub, draw her closer to her friend, Noah, and further from her sister.

Fearful for the serial killer’s next target, Penny discovers where her physical abilities can help her.

Will letting go of the past lead to healing? And can she stop the murders?

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Sarah Davis is many things…wife, mother, veterinarian, writer. An avid reader, she enjoys stories that transport her into new andexciting lands. Having read more books than she could ever count, she has considered writing a novel for ages.

It wasn’t until the idea for “Inside Voices” popped into her mind that she finally started pursuing that dream, with much encouragement from her family. She and her incredible husband share their remote home on the prairie with their three extraordinary children and one mostly human weimaraner.

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My thoughts:

This was a powerful and moving portrayal of PTSD and Survivors Guilt, Penny has survived horror and tragedy and time spent out on the Alaskan ice amid the snow and polar bears seems to he helping her heal.

Making new friends and rescuing a lost bear cub bring new challenges and the chance to build a new life, far from the scene of so much heartache and loss, but new nightmares emerge.

This is an incredible book, it made me want a dog (and a bear) even more, so bad news for my husband! It is also incredibly moving and a little heartbreaking, Penny has already been through so much but more happens to her and she has to keep fighting.

The scenes with Fjord are magical, as are the nights under the stars and Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) with Noah and the sled dogs. I don’t do well with the cold so have to explore these things through books and TV, and Davis captures these moments beautifully.

This is a beautifully written, accomplished first novel, with fully realised characters and a strong sense of place. I’m interested to see what Davis does next.

*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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