REVIEW ~ Skin Deep by Liz Nugent

With huge thanks to Penguin, Cliona Lewis & Liz Nugent, I received a copy of this in exchange for an honest review............

'Once I had cleared the bottles away and washed the blood off the floor, I needed to get out of the flat.'

Cordelia Russell has been living on the Côte d'Azur for ten years, posing as a posh English woman who has fallen on hard times. But her luck is running out. Desperate to escape her grotty flat and grim reality, Cordelia spends a night at a glittering party. Surrounded by the young, beautiful and privileged she feels her age and her poverty. As dawn breaks she stumbles home through the back streets. Even before she opens her door she can hear the flies buzzing. It hasn't taken long for the corpse in her bedroom to commence decomposing...

Well, after reading Liz's previous 2 novels, Unravelling Oliver and Lying In Wait which I really enjoyed, what can I say about this book only that it's the absolutely BRILLIANT. It tells the back story of Cordelia Russell from childhood right up to how she got to where she is and everything she went through and see where and why Cordelia came from.  When I first started reading it I wasn't very keen on the character Cordelia, very self centered, only cared about herself and didn't care who she hurt or damaged along her way, I actually despised her and as the story progressed I began to warm to her and by the end of it I felt sorry for her character but I'm not going to say anymore as I don't want to ruin it other than just go and get this, you won't be disappointed.

When I finished it I had to tweet Liz with the words "Holy Hot Cross Buns" (as I read it over the Easter weekend), it's amazing & to be honest my favourite book by Liz so far.  Liz is an incredible writer the way she weaves her stories and she keeps getting better which each book she writes and if you haven't read any of her books then I suggest you do. Skin Deep is definitely one of the BEST books I've read this year.

I went in blind reading this as I hadn't seen the blurb and kept away from reading reviews as much as I could and sometimes I think that this is the best way to read a book.  The book starts off with that opening line at the start of this review and you'll find it very hard to put down once you read it.

Skin Deep is available in all good bookshops, in libraries, on audio & on Kindle where it is currently £0.99 at the time of publication if this review.

REVIEW ~ The Fear by C.L. Taylor

With huge thanks to Avon Books and Sabah Khan, I received a copy of The Fear in exchange for an honest review..........

When Lou Wandsworth was fourteen she ran away to France with her teacher Mike Hughes, she thought he was the love of her life and they'd be together forever. As the time goes on Lou starts to find out that Mike isn’t what she thought he was, he left her life in pieces.

Now 32, Lou discovers that he is up to his old tricks again and is involved with teenager Chloe Meadows. Determined to make sure history doesn’t repeat itself, she returns home to confront him for the damage he’s caused.

But Mike is a predator of the worst kind, and as Lou tries to bring him to justice, it’s clear that she could once again become his prey......

Well, I didn't just like it, I absolutely LOVED it. It was just brilliant, I couldn't turn the pages fast enough to see how the story panned out. There were a few parts where I could feel my heart beating steadily in my chest and as I was so consumed in reading The Fear, there were a few times where I forgot to breathe so as Cally deals with the story of grooming with great sensitivity and compassion and is so well researched and written. I've loved all of Cally's books and I thought that The escape was brilliant, well The Fear was even more brilliant, you knocked this one out of the park girl. 

The Fear is available in all good bookshops, libraries, on audio and on Kindle where it is currently £2.99 at the time of publication of this review.

BLOG TOUR ~ Bad by Chloé Esposito

With HUGE thanks to Katie Ashworth and Penguin Random House, I received a copy of this in exchange of an honest review......

Alvie Knightly is back . . . and she's hungover.

When Alvie discovers that her hit man boyfriend has driven off with the Lamborghini and two million euros, she does what any heartbroken, deserted, amateur assassin would do - she drinks everything in the mini-bar and trashes her hotel room. And then she gets to work.

A perilous cat-and-mouse game takes the pair across Rome, leaving a trail of collateral damage in their wake. But as she wholeheartedly embraces her dark side Alvie will have to figure out if Nino is her nemesis . . .or the only man bad enough to handle her.


Well, what can I say about this book, I didn't like it, I absolutely LOVED it. I went in blind in reading both Mad and Bad and I wasn't even really sure what Mad was about as I purposely didn't read the blurb for either book but sometimes I feel doing that is much better so you don't know what to expect. I would suggest reading Mad first to get a feel for the characters and the story but Alvie gives a quick run down on in her own way of what did happen in the first few pages of Bad. I LOVED Alvie, she was a brilliant character, a real badass who doesn't care who she hurts. Mad is the first in a trilogy series where it is set between London and Sicily with the next two been called Bad and Dangerous To Know and I can't wait to read the next installment to see what's in store for our heroine after that ending.

Alvina Knightly is Uncensored, Unhinged and utterly Unforgettable.

Going on holidays!?? Make sure you pack a copy of this in your bag as your beach read where it's a compulsive read packed with sex, violence, guns, lots of laugh out loud moments with twists, turns, thrills and spills thrown into the mix where the action takes place over 7 days so strap yourself in for one hell of an addictive ride.

I really can't wait to read the next and final installment in the form of Dangerous To Know which is released on October 4th 2018 to catch up with what's in store for Alvie for the final time.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Bad is available in all good bookshops, libraries, on audio and on Kindle where it is currently £4.99 at the time of publication of this review and you can also pick up Mad, the first installment in the trilogy as above and it is currently £0.99 on Kindle.

BLOG TOUR ~ 11 Missed Calls by Elisabeth Carpenter

Hi Everyone,

Today is my stop on the Blog Tour for 11 Missed Calls by Elisabeth Carpenter where I have an extract from her latest novel. I was thrilled to be asked by Sabah Khan from Avon Books to take part along with some other fab book bloggers. You can find out who else is taking part in this fabulous Blog Tour at the end of this extract so without further ado, here it is:

I manage to avoid all the creaking floorboards and make it quietly downstairs to the kitchen. The ticking of the clock is too loud. On the table, Jack’s plate is covered with pizza crusts, and crumbs litter the floor under the chair.

The three wine glasses are now empty. Why the hell did he want to drink flat champagne? I go to the fridge to count the bottles of beer left: there were six, and now there are none. No wonder he’s sleeping so soundly. I don’t know why he’s drinking so much when he’s looking after Sophie tomorrow. He’s usually the sensible one.

I sit opposite his empty chair. It’s wearing the jacket that Jack was earlier. His right pocket is slightly open, and the top of his wallet is peeking out.

Before I know it, I’m out of my seat.

The wallet slips out of Jack’s pocket so easily, it’s like it was waiting for me. Inside is a picture of Sophie and me. It’s old – from Sophie’s first birthday. I look quite together in the photo, which is surprising considering what I was going through. There are some receipts – the usual expenses he claims: newspapers, dinner. I scan the food he ate at lunchtime yesterday: steak, crème brûlée, and one small glass of pinot noir. Only one meal, but quite an extravagant one – on my birthday. I almost give up searching, but I feel like I am missing something.

There is a compartment I’ve not noticed before: to the side and underneath his cards. I wedge my fingers inside it. There’s something there. I grasp it, using my fingers as tweezers, and pull it out.

It’s a note. The paper is blue, with black lines – like the old-fashioned Basildon Bond writing pad my grandmother used. The creases are crisp; it’s not been read many times. I unfold it and look straight to the name at the bottom: Francesca.

I read the rest of the letter.

This woman definitely knows my husband.

BLOG TOUR ~ Do No Harm by Lucy V Hay

Hi Everyone,

Today is my stop on the Blog Tour for Do No Harm by Lucy V Hay where I have a review from her latest novel. I was thrilled to be given this opportunity by Anne Cater who organised the Blog Tour and Karen Sullivan of Orenda Books who provided me with a copy to take part along with some other fab book bloggers. You can find out who else is taking part in this fabulous Blog Tour at the end of this review so without further ado, here it is:

Till death do us part…

We meet Lily and Sebastian on their wedding day, the happiest day of their lives. Lily left her first marriage to oncologist Maxwell as it was a bit of a disaster with his jealous, controlling and possessive behaviour towards Lily throughout their whole marriage so now Lily and her six-year-old son, Denny are now having a second chance at happiness with headteacher Sebastian. Sebastian is lovely, he's everything you'd want in a man, kind, caring and putting Lily and her son before everything but he's a very vulnerable person also. Sebastian is the polar opposite of Maxwell, and the perfect match for Lily. After a whirlwind romance, they marry, and it looks like Lily's going to have her happy ever after, isn't she??  Well think again, what begins is the continued obsession by Maxwell over Lily where firstly he arrives at the wedding reception unannounced and more to the point, uninvited where he's determined to win back his family and things are going to get far worse when they get back from their honeymoon and as the weeks and months go by a lot of creepy things happen to them and things start to quickly escalate. Lily and Sebastian are convinced that Maxwell is behind all of it but finding the proof is hard and they begin to question their own sanity and to the extent where they begin to blame each other for the events that are going on. Is Maxwell behind it all or is there someone else trying to destroy their married lives?? Lily and Sebastian find themselves not only fighting for their relationship, but also their lives…

Well, what can I say about this only that I didn't like it, I absolutely LOVED it. It was absolutely fantastic. The sociopath character was absolutely brilliant, very well written and cleverly constructed, full of twists, turns and shocks. They were everything you'd expect with a sociopath - cold, calculating, manipulating and has no regard for anyone's feelings or who they hurt on their path of destruction. At times, I could feel I was right there with the characters. I found parts of the story made my skin crawl and it definitely didn't disappoint. It was a spine-chilling, pulse pounding, heart thumping roller coaster ride. I know that his book will stick in my memory longer than most because of the subject matter that was involved. I am really looking forward to Lucy's next book already. Do No Harm is definitely one of the best books I've read so far this year.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. 

Do No Harm is available in all good bookshops, libraries, audio and on Kindle where it is currently £4.31 at the time of publication of this review.

BLOG TOUR ~ Kiss of Death by Paul Finch

Hi Everyone,

Today is my stop on the Blog Tour for Kiss of Death by Paul Finch where I have an extract from his latest novel. I was thrilled to be asked by Sabah Khan from Avon Books to take part along with some other fab book bloggers. You can find out who else is taking part in this fabulous Blog Tour at the end of this extract so without further ado, here it is:

The church of Milden St Paul’s was located in a rural haven some ten minutes’ walk outside the Suffolk village of Little Milden. It sat on the edge of a quiet B-road, which ostensibly connected the distant conurbations of Ipswich and Sudbury but in truth saw little activity and was hemmed in from all sides by belts of gentle woodland and, in late summer, an endless golden vista of sun-ripened wheat.

The atmosphere of this picturesque place was one of uninterrupted peace. Even those of no religious inclination would have struggled to find fault with it. One might even say that nothing bad could ever happen here . . . were it not for the events of a certain late-July evening, some forty minutes after evensong had finished.

It began when the tall, dark-haired vicar came out of the vicarage and stood by the wicket gate. He was somewhere in his mid-thirties, about six-foot-three inches tall, and of impressive build: square across the shoulders, broad of chest, with solid, brown arms folded over his pink, short-sleeved shirt. His hair was a lush, curly black, his jaw firm, his nose straight, his eyes a twinkling, mischievous blue. To pass him in the street, one might think it curious that such a masculine specimen had found his calling in the cloth. There had to be at least a chance that he’d have certain of his parishioners swooning in their pews rather than heeding his sermons, though on this evening it was he who’d been distracted by something.

And here it came again.

COVER REVEAL ~ Summer at the Kindness Café by Victoria Walters

Welcome to Littlewood, a small town community with a big heart... 

Abbie has fled London and the humiliation of not being able to make rent after being made redundant.Louise, unlucky in love, has thrown herself into her career at the local hospital. And Eszter, who has travelled from Hungary with her daughter Zoe, hoping to fulfill her husband's dying wish... to reunite his family.

Can a little bit of kindness really change your life? Three very different women are about to find out when they make a pact to be kinder to others and to themselves…

Escape to the beautiful town of Littlewood in an exciting new novel from Victoria Walters. 

Perfect for fans of Cathy Bramley, Holly Hepburn and Jo Thomas.

Publishing in eBook on 23rd August 2018.