Tag: reviews

books, reviews

Book Review: Machine – Elizabeth Bear*

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Check out my thoughts on Ancestral Night

In this compelling and addictive novel set in the same universe as the critically acclaimed White Space series and perfect for fans of Karen Traviss and Ada Hoffman, a space station begins to unravel when a routine search and rescue mission returns after going dangerously awry.
Meet Doctor Jens.
She hasn’t had a decent cup of coffee in fifteen years. Her workday begins when she jumps out of perfectly good space ships and continues with developing treatments for sick alien species she’s never seen before. She loves her life. Even without the coffee.
But Dr. Jens is about to discover an astonishing mystery: two ships, one ancient and one new, locked in a deadly embrace. The crew is suffering from an unknown ailment and the shipmind is trapped in an inadequate body, much of her memory pared away.
Unfortunately, Dr. Jens can’t resist a mystery and she begins doing some digging. She has no idea that she’s about to discover horrifying and life-changing truths.
Written in Elizabeth Bear’s signature “rollicking, suspenseful, and sentimental” (Publishers Weekly) style, Machine is a fresh and electrifying space opera that you won’t be able to put down.

My thoughts:

This was really good, it started out as a pretty straightforward medical drama in space, then became a hostage situation, with a whole hospital being held up by a rogue virus infecting every AI that comes into contact with it.

As with Ancestral Night, the AIs are smart and a little sassy, the marvellous crime solving bug Goodlaw Cheeririlaq is back in their snazzy jacket, and there’s a new hero in Dr Jens, a woman who has to try to figure out her new patients, even though she’s not an AI doctor, and solve a mystery or two.

This was really enjoyable and gripped me the whole way through, the terrible crimes being secretly carried out in the hospital are shocking and justly need revealing, Jens is a really great character, her vulnerability and chronic pain condition hold her back slightly but she works around it and doesn’t let her apparent limitations stop her.

Thank you to Will at Gollancz for sending me a copy to review. Machine is available from all good bookshops (and evil ones I suppose!)

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Meant To Be – Louise Leaman*

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After a spate of terrible boyfriends, Jess is sure she’s found her perfect man in dependable – but occasionaly dull – Tim. But when her grandmother, tasks her with retrieving a family heirloom from a local auction she finds herself face to face with a charming stranger, Guy.

Guy has already bought her grandmother’s precious necklace and whilst Jess desperately tries to buy it back from him, he somehow convinces her to go out on a date instead. Ridiculous.

But Guy has the necklace and Jess’s grandmother’s health is declining rapidly. Jess has no choice but to indulge Guy and go on a date with if only to get the necklace back. But when she and Guy hit it of on their date Jess’s dependable happily-everafter is thrown of track…

Louisa Leaman was born, raised and now lives near Epping Forest. She studied Art History at Leeds University before becoming a teacher working with children with special needs.

After winning the Times Education Supplement’s New Writer’s Award, she turned her hand to writing books for children. Louisa currently writes content for the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, but has also been published in the Guardian, the Observer, the Independent and The Times Educational Supplement.

Her interest in the arts is often inspiration for her plots and her first book, The Perfect Dress, was inspired by the V&As large wedding dress colection and fulfils her dream of writing romantic fiction.

When she isn’t busy writing or rearing her three lively children, she paints portraits, takes long walks and spends far too long browsing vintage clothing shops.

My thoughts:

This was a fun, sweet rom com, with a family history kept secret at the heart of it. Jess’ grandmother Nancy doesn’t talk about her past but it’s all tied up with the necklace her grandmother made, a priceless heirloom that a jewellery trader Guy gazumped Jess at an auction for.

As Jess attempts to get the necklace back for Nancy, who’s dying, she unravels the story of the women in her family, and the necklace. She’s also starting to fall for Guy, despite her steady (and dull) boyfriend Tim.

*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: Gallowglass – S.J. Morden*

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The year is 2069, and the earth is in flux. Whole nations are being wiped off the map by climate change. Desperate for new resources, the space race has exploded back into life.
Corporations seek ever greater profits off-world. They offer immense rewards to anyone who can claim space’s resources in their name. The bounty on a single asteroid rivals the GDP of entire countries, so every trick, legal or not, is used to win.
Jack, the scion of a shipping magnate, is desperate to escape earth and joins a team chasing down an asteroid. But the ship he’s on is full of desperate people – each one needing the riches claiming the asteroid will bring them, and they’re willing to do anything if it means getting there first.

Because in Space, there are no prizes for coming second. It’s all or nothing: riches beyond measure, or dying alone in the dark.

My thoughts:

This was really good once it got going. I enjoyed the author’s One Way, so I knew that once Jack got into space, the plot would be cracking along at a brilliant pace and would be so much more than it first seemed.

Jack is escaping from his uber wealthy parents, who are obsessed with living forever, determined to carve out something for himself, whatever that may be.

Earth is dying, climate refugees are desperate to find new home and one way to do that is to stake their claim on asteroids out in space, ideally ones rich in mining rights. You do this by sending out a gallowglass – they stake the claim and then hunker down in cyro-sleep to guard it, waiting for a crew like the one Jack joins to come and get them and their rock.

Out in space however, lots of things can go horribly wrong, as it is for Jack. The mismatched crew the captain has cobbled together struggle to get along and more than one of them has their own agenda.

Clever, inventive and quite dark, this had me hooked all the way through. Jack’s an interesting character, when everyone else wishes to get rich, he wants to leave that behind and just live his own life. Blending science fact with futuristic fiction, this is a smart space thriller with plenty of action and 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.

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Blog Tour: The Haunting of Gallagher Hotel – K.T. Rose*

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Pride and greed infect the soul, anchoring the dead to Gallagher Hotel.

When Chris, a master thief, and Riley, a contract waitress, get mysterious invites to an exclusive party at the haunted Gallagher Hotel, they discover that there is more at play than simple celebrations.

Hidden truths are revealed, and all hell breaks loose. But the “party” has just begun.

Now, Chris and Riley face their demons as they fight to survive a hellish nightmare full of spoiled secrets, carnage, and vengeful spirits lost to the hotel dating back to the turn of the 20th century.

Will they survive the night? Or will their souls be devoured by the most haunted building in Michigan?

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Chapter One

She’ll never forget the day she died.

Torches lit up the town square, illuminating scowling and shouting faces. The townspeople launched stones and spit, pegging Trudy’s arms and face as she trudged through the abhorrent mob. She cringed when a pebble struck her cheek. Pain erupted, shooting through her face like lightning striking the earth.

Deputy Hill yanked her arm, leading her through the narrow path the townspeople created. Fists balled, Trudy groaned as the rope around her wrists dug into her skin. Her bare feet picked up glass shards and debris from the cobblestone path as she shuffled along.

She glared around at the angry faces and recognized the men, women, and children of Holloway. She’d done more for them than any God before her. Many of those people owned the very businesses that lined the stone slab she marched across that night. Building and financing the rows of wooden businesses lining the town’s square accounted for half the things she’d done for Holloway. She fed the hungry, made clothes for cold children, and taught woman’s independence. The ever-growing list of the townspeople’s wants was endless. At one point, she didn’t mind the busy work. Fulfilling dreams of the once poor town kept her boisterous and distracted from her bitter reality. Trudy was Holloway’s personal shepherd, making the people her needy sheep.

Hands snagged at her lavender tea gown, adding dirty prints to the blood drops and grime from the beatings in that putrid cell. She glared at the bare-faced man towering over her. The brim of his deputy hat cast a thick shadow, hiding his dark eyes and pale face.

Deputy would miss her. She was sure of it. He got off on the assaults that bruised her face. His heavy fists pounded her bones and scraped her skin until she confessed. And even after her confession, he continued with his evening visits, slamming her body into cinder block walls and passing off open-handed blows to her nose, cheeks, and eyes.

Trudy sighed. A bath with lavender and Epsom salt sounded good for the swelling. She didn’t realize how bloated and purple her once beautiful, fairly smooth skin had become until she passed by the picture window in front of the town’s jail just before they began her walk of shame. Her dark hair matted to her forehead, washed by sweat and blood. Her plump lips were chapped and bloated with bruises.

Even then, her face pulsed with intense hurt. Pain shot through it whenever she winced.

The sea of convictions roared, growing louder as she drew closer to the opposite end of the square.

“Adulterer,” yelled a woman.

“Traitor,” screeched a boy.

“Murderer,” said a pot-bellied man.

Their accusations sent a sickening jolt through her bones. She watched the path underneath her slowing feet, fighting back the tears.

How could they turn on me like this?

K.T. Rose is a horror, thriller, and dark fiction writer from Detroit, Michigan. She posts suspense and horror flash fiction on her blog at kyrobooks.com and is the author of a suspenseful short story series titled Trinity of Horror, an erotic thriller novel titled When We Swing, and A Dark Web Horror Series. She also writes supernatural and paranormal horror novels and short stories.

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My thoughts:

This was a strange and creepy/weird story of a hotel that says it’s haunted but is actually a portal to Hell. It’s not ghosts you have to be wary of, but demonic beings looking to send you straight down to their boss.

Riley is hired as a waitress for a special event at the hotel, but really she’s been lured there as the only innocent soul among a very bad bunch. It will take everything she has to escape the nightmarish establishment and return to her life.

Weird, twisted and gory, the guests all go to suitably macabre ends, as their crimes and sins come to collect on them.

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Blog Tour: The Runes of Destiny – Christina Courtenay*

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Separated by time. Brought together by fate.
Linnea felt a shiver travel the length of her spine.

It hadn’t been a joke – the runes really had shown her destiny.

Indulging her fascination for the Viking language and losing herself in an archaeological dig is just what
Linnea Berger needs after her recent trauma. Uncovering an exquisite brooch, she blacks out reading
the runic inscription, only to come to, surrounded by men in Viking costume, who seem to take re-
enactment very seriously.

Lost and confused, Linnea finds herself in the power of Hrafn, a Viking warrior who claims her as his
thrall and takes her on a treacherous journey across the seas to sell her for profit. Setting sail, she confronts the unthinkable: she has travelled back to the ninth century.

Linnea is determined to find a way back to her own time, but there’s a connection forming with Hrafn.
Can she resist the call of the runes and accept her destiny lies here …

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Christina Courtenay writes historical romance, time slip and time travel stories, and lives in Herefordshire (near the Welsh border) in the UK. Although born in England, she has a Swedish mother and was brought up in Sweden – hence her abiding interest in the Vikings.

Christina is a former chairman of the UK’s Romantic Novelists’ Association and has won several awards, including the RoNA for Best Historical Romantic Novel twice with Highland Storms (2012) and The Gilded Fan (2014).

The Runes of Destiny (time travel published by Headline 10th December 2020) is her latest novel.

Christina is a keen amateur genealogist and loves history and archaeology (the armchair variety).

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My thoughts:

This was a really enjoyable take on the time travelling romance, with Vikings not Highlanders.

When Lianna digs up an old brooch on a dig her uncle is running, she’s thrown back in to the 9th century – and promptly taken by a local tharl as a slave, luckily his much nicer brother claims her and although he’s planning to sell her, he treats her kindly and protects her from the threat of rape from his deeply unpleasant brother.

They undertake an epic trip across the continent and sea to what is now Istanbul, the better to sell their furs, amber and thralls. On the way Lianna learns a lot about the world in the 800s, from the food to the gender politics and slowly begins to fall in love with the taciturn man who “owns” her.

It was a really interesting, fun, entertaining read and I’ve already ordered another of the author’s books as I liked this so much.

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

*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random
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Blog Tour: Cooking for Cannibals – Rich Leder*

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Fountain of youth? More like murderous medication!

Carrie Kromer pushes the boundaries of science, not her social life. The brilliant behavioral gerontologist’s idea of a good time is hanging out with her beloved lab rats and taking care of her elderly mother and the other eccentric old folks at the nursing home. So no one is more surprised than Carrie when she steals the lab’s top-secret, experimental medicine for aging in reverse.

Two-time ex-con Johnny Fairfax dreams of culinary greatness. But when his corrupt parole officer tries to drag him from the nursing home kitchen, the suddenly young-again residents spring to his defence and murder the guy—and then request Johnny cook them an evidence devouring dinner to satisfy their insatiable side-effect appetite.

As their unexpected mutual attraction gets hot, Carrie and Johnny find themselves caught up with the authorities who arrive to investigate the killing. But even more dangerous than the man-eating not-so-senior citizens could be the arrival of death-dealing pharmaceutical hitmen.

Can Carrie and Johnny find true love in all this bloody madness?

Cooking for Cannibals is a dark comic thriller with a heaping helping of romance. If you like fast-paced plots, unconventional characters, and humor that crosses the line, then you’ll have a feast with Rich Leder’s wild ride.

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Rich Leder has been a working writer for more than three decades. His credits include 19 produced movies—television films for CBS, Lifetime, and Hallmark and feature films for Lionsgate, Paramount Pictures, Tri-Star Pictures, Longridge Productions, and Left Bank Films—and six novels for Laugh Riot Press.

He’s been the lead singer in a Detroit rock band, a restaurateur, a Little League coach, an indie film director, a literacy tutor, a magazine editor, a screenwriting coach, a wedding guru, a PTA board member, a commercial real estate agent, and a visiting artist for the UNCW Film Studies Department, among other things, all of which, it turns out, was grist for the mill.

He resides on the North Carolina coast with his awesome wife, Lulu, and is sustained by the visits home of their three fabulous children.

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My thoughts:

This book started as one thing and then went completely bonkers but in the best way as a miracle drug that reverses the aging process has a strange side effect – it makes the people taking it into very hungry cannibals.

Aside from a very unpleasant animal death that I did not appreciate, this was a wry, darkly funny, completely crazy story, with a colourful cast of characters and an increasingly messy body count.

*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: A Cornish Promise – Terri Nixon*

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1929, Cornwall. Fiona Fox, youngest child of the celebrated Fox family, is a devoted volunteer at the local lifeboat station, giving all her free time and her energy to the selfless crew. But when she seizes a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do more, she sets in motion a chain of events that sparks danger and intrigue at Fox Bay Hotel.

The stranger she brings into her family home provides an unsettling presence over Christmas, and when visiting ‘Hollywood Royalty’ is drawn into the web, Fiona has to decide how much her promises are worth after all.
But the glamorous visitors have their own secrets, and their own reasons for hiding out at Fox Bay. As those reasons become apparent, Fiona must choose between betraying a close friend, and keeping her word… And lives are at stake whichever way she turns.
Set against the dramatic Cornish coastline, this tale of secrets and strangers will delight fans of Rosie Goodwin and Evie Grace.

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Terri was born in Plymouth. At the age of 9 she moved with her family to Cornwall, to the village featured in Jamaica Inn — North Hill — where she discovered a love of writing that has stayed with her ever since. She also discovered apple-scrumping, and how to jump out of a hayloft without breaking any bones, but no-one’s ever offered to pay her for doing those.
Since publishing in paperback for the first time in 2002, Terri has appeared in both print and online fiction collections, and is proud to have contributed to the Shirley Jackson award-nominated hardback collection: Bound for Evil, by Dead Letter Press.
As a Hybrid author, her first commercially published novel was Maid of Oaklands Manor, published by Piatkus Entice.
Terri’s self-published Mythic Fiction series set in Cornwall, The Lynher Mill Chronicles, is now complete and available in paperback and e-book.
Terri also writes under the name T Nixon, and has contributed to anthologies under the names Terri Pine and Teresa Nixon. She is represented by the Kate Nash Literary Agency.

She now lives in Plymouth with her youngest son, and works in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at Plymouth University, where she is constantly baffled by the number of students who don’t possess pens.

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My thoughts:

I do love a book set in Cornwall, one of my favourite places to go, and this one is set near Bude, where my uncle lives and a place I’ve visited a few times.

This is a wonderful, charming book, warm and cosy, comforting like a mug of hot chocolate, perfect for a winter’s reading.

The Fox family run a beautiful hotel, and the book revolves around them over one winter, particularly around the two daughters – Fiona and Bertie.

Fiona volunteers with the lifeboat crew and in involved in the rescue of a young woman with no memory, or so she claims. Fiona befriends her an promises to offer assistance in recovering her memories.

Bertie, recovering from a horrific motorbike accident, where she lost a leg, is trying to move on with her life. She plans to train as a pilot, and rekindles a romance with the handsome farmer Jowan.

Meanwhile Hollywood comes to Kernow, as movie stars decamp to the hotel to prepare for a new film.

Secrets and schemes are revealed, love blooms and a terrible accident almost ends several young lives.

Thoroughly charming, enjoyable and deeply soothing a read, I curled up under my reading blanket with this, and so should you!


*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: Amari and the Night Brothers – B.B. Alston*

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Artemis Fowl meets Men in Black in this exhilarating debut middle grade fantasy, the first in a trilogy filled with #blackgirlmagic. Perfect for fans of Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, the Percy Jackson series, and Nevermoor.

Amari Peters has never stopped believing her missing brother, Quinton, is alive. Not even when the police told her otherwise, or when she got in trouble for standing up to bullies who said he was gone for good.

So when she finds a ticking briefcase in his closet, containing a nomination for a summer tryout at the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs, she’s certain the secretive organization holds the key to locating Quinton—if only she can wrap her head around the idea of magicians, fairies, aliens, and other supernatural creatures all being real.

Now she must compete for a spot against kids who’ve known about magic their whole lives. No matter how hard she tries, Amari can’t seem to escape their intense doubt and scrutiny—especially once her supernaturally enhanced talent is deemed “illegal.” With an evil magician threatening the supernatural world, and her own classmates thinking she’s an enemy, Amari has never felt more alone. But if she doesn’t stick it out and pass the tryouts, she may never find out what happened to Quinton.

Dear Reader,

I wish I could say that I was courageous. That once I’d created the world of this book, I didn’t panic when Amari popped into my head with her brown skin and curly afro.

Growing up, I’d never seen a main character who looked like me in a fantasy. Surely I can’t tell this story through her eyes, I thought to myself. No one will want to read it. And certainly no one will want to publish it. So I resisted.

Instead I created the typical middle-grade protagonist, a wise-cracking white kid. Because that was realistic. A black kid – a black girl, especially – just wasn’t. I’m sad to say that some time in my thirty-plus years of living, I’d come to believe that there are some adventures people like me don’t get to have. But that manuscript kept stalling after a few chapters, and each time it did, Amari’s annoyed voice would remind me that this was her story.

Exasperated, I finally gave in. And let me tell you, once I did, Amari’s story just flowed. For the first time in my life, I was also telling my story, and the story of the people I grew up with. I hope you enjoy Amari’s story. It’s also my sincere hope that this book sparks your sense of wonder, because that’s what I love most about fantasy.

And for those of you who look different, or feel different, whatever the reason, please know that your uniqueness needn’t be a source of fear and insecurity.

There is great strength and joy to be found in simply accepting and loving yourself for who you are. Because once you do so, you’ll be unstoppable.

BB Alston

My thoughts:

This was fantastic! Such a fun, adventure filled read, with elements of Men in Black (but, in grey), fairy tales, monsters, magic, cool science, tech, and y’know dragons! I love dragons.

Amari is a brilliant protagonist, smart, determined, genuine, kind and awesome. Her friends are pretty great too, especially Elsie (see dragons). She’s also black, which is important because they’re aren’t many characters that look like her out there. Which is a shame because it means great stories like this could get missed. So read it, and shout about it.

Hunting for her missing brother, a top secret agent, and trying to prevent an evil magician from destroying the hidden supernatural world with his monsters. All while being a teenage girl looked down on from being poor and a magician. But she rises above the haters (let’s be honest, they’re just idiots) and striking out in her own way, Amari masters her powers and sets out to crack the case.

This might be aimed at younger readers than me, but I loved it and can’t wait to see what Amari’s next case might be. This is a series that could run and run. I’ve already recommended it to a school librarian or two, because I honestly think there’s loads of readers out there who’d love this.

*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: Sleepless – Louise Mumford*

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Don’t close your eyes. Don’t fall asleep. Don’t let them in.

Thea is an insomniac; she hasn’t slept more than three hours a night for years.

So when an ad for a sleep trial that promises to change her life pops up on her phone, Thea knows this is her last chance at finding any kind of normal life.

Soon Thea’s sleeping for longer than she has in a decade, and awakes feeling transformed. So much so that at first she’s willing to overlook the oddities of the trial – the lack of any phone signal; the way she can’t leave her bedroom without permission; the fact that all her personal possessions are locked away, even her shoes.

But it soon becomes clear that the trial doesn’t just want to help Thea sleep. It wants to control her sleep…

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Louise was born and lives in South Wales. From a young age she loved books and dancing, but hated
having to go to sleep, convinced that she might miss out on something interesting happening in the
world whilst she dozed – much to her mother’s frustration! Insomnia has been a part of her life ever since.

She studied English Literature at university and graduated with first class honours. As a teacher she
tried to pass on her love of reading to her students (and discovered that the secret to successful teaching is… stickers! She is aware that that is, essentially, bribery.)

In the summer of 2019 Louise experienced a once-in-a-lifetime moment: she was discovered as a
new writer by her publisher at the Primadonna Festival. Everything has been a bit of a whirlwind since then.

Louise lives in Cardiff with her husband and spends her time trying to get down on paper all the
marvellous and frightening things that happen in her head.

Her debut thriller, SLEEPLESS, will be published by HQ on 11th Dec 2020.

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My thoughts:

Note to self: never accept an invitation to anything that takes place on an abandoned island. See also And Then There Were None, Last Resort.

This however is not a revenge fantasy enacted over dinner but a “sleep study” gone insane.

As someone who suffers from insomnia, I was intrigued by the premise of this novel, an elite study into sleep, taking place in a purpose built facility on an island that once housed a monastery. An enigmatic founder, a brilliant scientist, high tech used to understand a very basic need – the vital necessity of sleep.

Thea finds herself trapped, they don’t want to help her sleep, they want to manipulate her brain into never needing sleep – so she tries to escape. But on a small island, there’s nowhere to hide.

This was brilliant, at times absolutely brutal, and I loved the image of Thea’s eccentric mother, vagina scarf flapping, sailing to the rescue with the grumpy pub landlord.

*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: Twenty Years a Stranger – Deborah Twelves*

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Is it possible for anyone to really know another person?

That is the question Grace King must ask herself when she receives an email informing her that the man she has been married to for the last twenty years is an accomplished con-man, leading multiple lives with at least four different women. Worse still, she learns he has children with these women, but Daniel always told Grace he didn’t want children…

In a split second, Grace’s world is torn apart. She is forced to face up to the fact that her marriage is a sham and the enviable lifestyle she enjoyed with Daniel was all based on lies and deceit. With Daniel suddenly threatening to go bankrupt, Grace decides to turn amateur detective in an attempt to salvage anything she can from her old life and avoid financial as well as emotional ruin, but can she cope with what she finds out?

As increasingly disturbing secrets about Daniel emerge, events spiral out of control and Grace begins to see just how far he is prepared to go to protect those secrets. A dangerous game of cat and mouse ensues, but it is clear there can only ever be one winner. Pushed to breaking point, Grace is about to discover what she is truly capable of.

Everyone has choices and those choices always have consequences.

Based on true events, this compelling story is filled with twists and turns and sadness and laughter that will keep readers gripped until the very last moment.

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Deborah Twelves was born in Sheffield, but raised in Ponteland, Northumberland. She studied French and Spanish at Edinburgh University and taught languages for some years while living in France, Spain and Northern Quebec. She now divides her time between her home in Pwllheli, on the Llyn Peninsula of North Wales and her family home in Northumberland but often travels abroad. She has a black Labrador called Nala and a black Lusitano horse called Recurso (Ric), who take up a lot of her spare time, although yacht racing, which she began at an early age with her father, remains her great passion.

Deborah has written many articles for the sailing press over the years and Twenty Years a Stranger is her debut novel, based on true events in her life.

It is the first book in the Stranger Trilogy. The other two books, Ghost of a Stranger and The Boy Stranger will follow soon.

An interview between Alison Pierse and Deborah Twelves

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My thoughts:

What I really wanted to know, reading this, was how Daniel managed to find the time and energy to maintain all of these relationships, I mean, I felt tired just reading about them! The driving, the exotic holidays, the sex, I’d be exhausted!!

Obviously he’s a horrible person, destroying lives and trying to hide his assets so poor Grace gets nothing. I really liked her, she was strong and determined to get what was hers. She had wonderful friends and family supporting her, her only flaw was falling for such a nasty piece of work in the first place.

And that ending, talk about a twist. No spoilers here, but I really hope Grace did OK in the end, once the lawyers were done.

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