The Dress by Kate Kerrigan

Thanks to Lovereading.co.uk and Head of Zeus, I received an ARC of this in exchange for an honest review.....

Meet Lily Fitzpatrick, a hugely successful vintage blogger who has over a quarter of a million blog and Twitter followers and also uploads what outfit she's wearing onto her Instagram on a daily basis, she has really made a name for herself in the world of fashion.  She also has a collection of fashion pieces that are to die for.  But this passion for the beautiful clothes of the past is about to have unforeseen consequences, when Lily stumbles upon a Vogue story of a 1950's New York beauty, with a photograph of 'The Dress' which is probably the most beautiful dress ever created, and worn by a stunningly magnificent woman who also shares Lily's surname.  Lily is determined to find out as much as she can about both the dress and the amazing woman that is wearing it in the photo.

The Dress is a dual-time narrative, which is a beautifully written present-day story being told from Lily's point of view. It is mainly set in London in the present day and 1950's New York.  I had it read in a few days, I couldn't put it down, I loved the fashion from the 1940's onwards in America so I felt transported there whilst reading & could visualise the lovely outfits that would've been worn back then too.  It was such a heart-warming, uplifting story.  This story had it all from love, fashion to more sensitive and a hard-hitting issue where I found I had a little tear in my eye at the end along with shedding a few along the way, so grab this book, curl up on the couch and prepare to have a few lump in your throat moments too.

The Dress is available on Kindle and in all good bookstores.

The Girl Who Broke The Rules by Marnie Riches

Today, it's my turn on The Girl Who Broke The Rules Blog Tour and I'm delighted that I was asked to participate with so many great Book Bloggers so thanks to Charlotte Woods, Avon, Maze Publishing and Marnie Riches, I received an ARC of this in exchange for an honest review....

Detective Van Den Bergen and Georgina (George) McKenzie are back with their most action-packed and disturbing story yet.  It is set 4 years after the ending of the first novel, The Girl Who Wouldn't Die.  When the bodies of two prostitutes are found horribly mutilated in Amsterdam, Chief Inspector van den Bergen must find a brutal murderer before the red-light-district erupts into panic and before anymore bodies are discovered. Georgina (George) McKenzie is studying for her PHD in college and is in the middle of conducting research into pornography among the UK’s most violent sex-offenders but when she receives a call from Van Den Bergen requesting her criminology expertise, she is only too happy to come on board the investigation but as the death toll rises George and Van Den Bergen race through the worlds of Soho sleazy strip-clubs and trans-national human trafficking.  George must even walk the halls of Broadmoor Psychiatric Hospital, seeking advice from the brilliant serial killer, Dr. Silas Holm as the case gets even more complicated......

This is the second book by Marnie Riches and what a second book it was, it was absolutely brilliant, it had me gripped from the first few pages right through to the end, there were some great twists and turns too.  I would even go as far as to say that this second book was even better than the first one. This novel was like a rollercoaster ride and takes us through locations such as London, Amsterdam and South Africa.  I even had to slow down reading it as I didn't want it to end. The story does cover alot of subjects and situations which we're all too familiar with on a daily basis, from prostitution, human trafficking, violence to paedophilia, whether it's on the news or in the papers, this story was near enough to real life.  It is a pretty gritty book and there were parts I did squirm through so it's definitely not for the fainthearted. I didn't just like it, I LOVED it and it definitely didn't disappoint. I thought that I'd worked out who the killer was but was completely wrong and OMG THAT ending, I still can't believe that it was left like that and I am REALLY looking forward to Marnie's next book in the series, which will be the third, The Girl Who Walked in the Shadows already which is released in October and it can't come quick enough so thank god it won't be too long until another Detective Van Den Bergen and Georgina McKenzie novel is upon us.

Marnie Riches is definitely an author to watch.  I'd HIGHLY recommend this if you're a fan of Jo Nesbo or Steig Larsson and it's only 99p on Kindle at the moment so grab it while you can, you won't be disappointed so don't say I never told you so!!!

The Girl Who Broke The Rules and The Girl Who Wouldn't Die are both available on Kindle and The Girl Who Wouldn't Die is currently free at the time of the publication of this review.