BLOG TOUR ~ Below The Big Blue Sky by Anna McPartlin

Hi Everyone,

Today is my stop on the Blog Tour for Below The Big Blue Sky by Anna McPartlin where I have a review from her latest novel. I was thrilled to be asked by Tracy Fenton from Compulsive Readers who organised this tour in conjunction with Zaffre Books to take part along with some other fab book bloggers. You can find out who else has taken part in this fabulous Blog Tour at the end of this review so without further ado, here it is:

Sometimes the end is only the beginning....

When forty-year-old Rabbit Hayes dies, she leaves behind a family broken by grief. Her mother Molly is distraught and in danger of losing her faith. Her father Jack spends hour upon hour in the family attic, poring over his old diaries, losing himself in the past.

Rabbit's brother Davey finds himself suddenly guardian to her twelve-year-old daughter Juliet. Juliet might be able to fill a hole in Davey's heart - but how can he help Juliet through her grief when he can barely cope with his own?

Meanwhile, Rabbit's sister Grace is struggling with the knowledge that she carries the same gene that made her sister ill, and Rabbit's best friend Marjorie is lost, struggling to remain a part of a family she has always wished was her own now that her link to them is gone.

But even though the Hayes family are all fighting their own battles, they are drawn together by their love for Rabbit, and their love for each other. In the years that follow her death they find new ways to celebrate and remember her, to find humour and hope in the face of tragedy, and to live life to its fullest, as Rabbit would have wanted.


Well, where do I start with this other than to say what a beautiful, emotional and thought provoking story, I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it. I read The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes during the first few days of when I was told to start self isolate due to the pandemic we're still in the midst of 5 months on and I was delighted to receive the follow up which I moved straight onto after where I thought I'd been all cried out after finishing the first installment I was in for more tears but a lot of happy tears also along the way too. It is a continuation on from The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes so I would advise you to read this beforehand to get a feel for the story and the characters.

This story had it all from family, love with more sensitive and hard-hitting issues which were dealt with perfectly and it was well researched and written in a very sensitive and compassionate manner. I found I had tears streaming down my face at the end along with shedding a few along the way. I would highly recommend to read Anna if you haven't read any of her books already so grab this book, curl up on the couch with a few tissues and prepare to have a few lump in your throat moments too. I would definitely even say that this is definitely going to huge this year and is already one of my favourite books that I've read so far this year.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Below The Big Blue Sky is available from all good bookshops, libraries, audio and on Kindle where it is currently £6.02 at the time of publication of this review.

REVIEW ~ The Dangerous Kind by Deborah O'Connor

With huge thanks to Clare Kelly from Zaffre Books, I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review....

What if the people we trust are the ones we should fear?

This book is set in London in the height of a long and dark Winter where unfortunately we know all these kinds of people all too well. Those who exist just on the fringes of society. Who send prickles up the back of our neck. The charmers, the liars, the manipulators. Those who have the potential to go that one step too far. And then take another step.

Jessamine Gooch makes a living from these kinds of people as she is a radio broadcaster and each week she does her show where she looks into the past lives of convicted killers and questioning if there was more that could have been done to prevent their terrible crimes.

But one day she is approached by a woman desperate to find her missing friend, Cassie, fearing her abusive husband may have taken that final deadly step. But as Jessamine delves into the months prior to Cassie's disappearance she fails to realise there is a dark figure closer to home, one that threatens the safety of her own family . . .

Well, where so I start I absolutely LOVED this book and can see why it was the breakout thriller of 2019. After not picking up a book in over a week I picked this out of my TBR pile and I'm so glad that I did, I couldn't turn the pages fast enough, it was brilliant, full of twists, turns and explosive storylines, it was such a gripping thriller with a remarkable depiction of the kind of monsters who live among us on a daily basis in our society. I always scrutinise people whom I meet or who I see in the street and question everything about them and I will do this even more now after reading The Dangerous kind.

Deborah, I think you got me out of my reading slump and I thank you for that. I really look forward to reading your other book My Husband's Son and hopefully you're working on your next book but no pressure.

The Dangerous Kind is available in all good bookstores (mainly online, due to the situation we're in with Covid-19), in libraries, audio and on Kindle where it is currently £2.07 at the time of publication of this review do go and get it you definitely won't regret it. I would say that his is one of the best thrillers I've read so far this year.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Blog Tour ~ Dead and Gone by Sherryl Clark

Hi everyone,

Today is my stop on the Blog Tour for Dead and Gone by Sherryl Clark where I've a guest author post from Sherryl on A Quick Guide To Australian Slang For Readers. I was thrilled to be asked by Clare Quinvilan from No Exit Press to take part along with some other fab book bloggers. You can find out who else has taken part in this fabulous Blog Tour at the end of the review so without further ado, here it is:


A QUICK GUIDE TO AUSTRALIAN SLANG FOR READERS by Sherryl Clark


Often when you’re reading novels written by writers in other countries, the local slang can get quite confusing! Even between Australia and New Zealand, we have slang mix-ups. The Kiwis can’t understand why Australians call their footwear thongs. Aren’t thongs a kind of underwear? Kiwis call those jandals (in other places they’re called flip-flops). As for the cooler chests you take to the beach or barbecues, the Kiwis call them chilly bins and the Aussies call them Eskies. (And don’t get me started on bum bags and fanny packs and …)

So here’s a list of some Australian slang you might come across, along with (hopefully) sensible explanations.

Get in a blue – get into a fight (usually at a pub or a party).

Stone the crows! – an expression of astonishment.

Tinny – not a can of beer. It’s what you call a small aluminium dinghy you go out in for fishing. “I’ll put the tinny on the trailer and head out to the coast.”

Go right off – no, not veering around the corner. It’s someone losing their temper.

Pack a sad – sulking. “I told him what I thought and he packed a sad about it.”

Bikies – what Australians call biker gangs, as distinct from bikkies, which is slang for biscuits.

Anzac bikkies – the oat and golden syrup biscuits that are famous for their ability to “keep” (freshness) and were sent to soldiers in WWII.

Have a cold one/a coldie – meaning beer, which needs to be cold and with a decent froth on top.

Aussie salute – we have a certain species of small bush fly here that loves to hang around and land on your face and eyes, so the “salute” is the wave to keep them off.

Ankle biter – small child.

Knee trembler – sex standing up.

Crook – multi-use word for getting angry with someone, or feeling sick, or something dodgy. “I was feeling crook so I stayed home”, “He went crook at me”, “There was something crook about that” or “He’s a crook, steals anything not nailed down”.

Dag – someone who’s a nerd or a geek or funny or just a bit weird (literal meaning is the bits of skin that hang off a sheep’s rear end). “Joe makes me laugh, he’s a real dag.” Most famous rendition is Fred Dagg, famous Kiwi comedian who moved to Australia and then Australia claimed him (common problem, see also Sam Neill, Split Enz, etc).

Daks – trousers of various kinds. Hence underdaks (underpants) and trakkie daks (tracksuit pants).

Dunny – toilet.

Runners – trainers, joggers, sneakers etc.

Stubby – a bottle of beer, usually 375ml. Also in the pub, you’ll find the beer served in various glass measures depending on what state you live in – could be schooners and middys, or pots or pints or … (it’s probably the easy way to tell who’s from out of state).

Slab – a box of 24 stubbies or cans of beer.

Hoon – someone who roars around in their car doing wheelies and doughnuts.

Hard yakka – hard work.

Crikey – expression of surprise. “Crikey, mate, who cut your hair?”

Bail out – to cancel plans. “Bruce bailed out on our fishing trip.”

Cactus – dead or broken. “I tried to fix the car but it was cactus.”

Booze – alcohol. It’s applied in various ways. “He was so boozed he couldn’t walk home.” The police testing unit is called a booze bus. Someone who drinks a lot is a boozer, and some people call the pub a boozer. So you can have a sentence like, “That boozer, Charlie, went down the boozer tonight and got totally boozed and the booze bus caught him on the way home.”

Bugger – often used as an endearing term for older men, such as “That old bugger, Joe”. Also as an expletive. “Bugger, I lost my keys!” Or to describe a person who’s been misbehaving. “He’s a silly bugger.”

Has a kangaroo loose in the top paddock – a bit mad or crazy or not quite with it. Also known as being “a sandwich short of a picnic”.

Budgie smugglers – small swimwear (often Speedos) worn by men that tends to accentuate a certain aspect of their physique. I’ll leave the rest to your imagination.

Deadset – true. “Deadset, she paid $200 for that haircut!”

Barbie – the barbecue. Australia’s most famous tourism ad had Paul Hogan tell everyone to “put another shrimp on the barbie” (except here they’re prawns at least 4cm long, not little pink things).

Up yourself – someone who has tickets on themselves, or is stuck up. The extreme is someone who is so far up themselves that they’ve completely disappeared.

Woop-woop – a very long way from anywhere, which might also be the outback (out the back of nowhere).

Knock off – another multi-use word. Often used with work, so finishing work (as in “I knocked off early”), or finishing a job (“I knocked off that last bit of painting in half an hour”). Also for something fake (“Her Gucci handbag was actually a knock-off”), reducing (“I’ll knock ten dollars off the price if you pay cash”), or perhaps murder (“They knocked Charlie off for talking to the cops”).

Slang in the teenage world tends to come and go, changing every few years, but many of these have been around in the Australian vernacular for decades, and sometimes old ones get resurrected. If you’re keen to know more, try https://nomadsworld.com/aussie-slang/ or simply Google “Australian slang”.



Sherryl Clark’s new book Dead and Gone is available now from Verve Books – vervebooks.co.uk/dead-and-gone

BLOG TOUR ~ Strangers by C.L. Taylor

Hi everyone,

Today is my stop on the Blog Tour for Strangers by C.L. Taylor where I've a review from her latest novel. I was thrilled to be asked by Sanjana Cunniah from Avon Books to take part along with some other fab book bloggers. You can find out who else has taken part in this fabulous Blog Tour at the end of the review so without further ado, here it is:


They know you. But you don't know them.......
Ursula: lonely, grieving, has a bit of a habit taking things that aren't hers....

Gareth: security guard, lives with his mother, inagines a different life...

Alice: single Mum, works in a shopping centre, just started dating again...

Well, where do I start with this, only with I absolutely LOVED it. I thought C.L. Taylor's books were all brilliant especially her last three books, The Escape, The Fear and Sleep but I felt that Strangers was even better, I devoured it in a couple of days, I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. I LOVE the way Cally's writing is so different to other books I've read before, it's not a 'whydunit' story as we do get to know that from near the start but it's more of a 'whodunit' with layers upon layers of deception and lies that unfold before our eyes the deeper you get into it. Strangers is told from mainly three characters throughout the book, Alice, Gareth and Ursula, each with their own story. Ursula, Gareth and Alice have never met before. Ursula thinks she killed the love of her life. Gareth's been receiving strange postcards and Alice is being stalked. None of them are used to relying on others but when the three strangers' lives unexpectedly collide, there's only one thing for it, they have to stick together. Otherwise, one of them will die. Three strangers, two secrets, one terrifying evening. I have to say that I absolutely loved the characters and what an opening chapter to open a book, it was brilliant, but I don't want to really say too much more without spoiling it other than just go out and buy Strangers.

The million-copy bestseller returns with a gripping new novel that will keep you guessing until the end. It is just brilliant and I'd HIGHLY recommend it so make sure you grab a copy to bring along with you on holidays as it'll be the perfect beach read.

Strangers is available from all good bookshops, libraries, audio and on Kindle where it is currently £0.99 at the time of publication of this review.

SPOTLIGHT ~ We Begin At The End by Chris Whitaker

Hi Everyone,


Today is my stop for the final day of the Blog Tour for We Begin At The End by Chris Whitaker where I was supposed to have a review but the way things went with the current situation with the Covid-19 I was unable to receive a copy of the book for review of his latest novel so instead I will shine a spotlight on it. I was thrilled to be asked by Tracy Fenton from Compulsive Reading in conjunction with  who organised this tour to take part along with some other fab book bloggers. You can find out who else has taken part in this fabulous Blog Tour at the end of this spotlight been shone on We Begin At The End but I really look forward to reading it once I receive a copy when things settle down so without further ado, here it is:

Thirty years ago, Vincent King became a killer. 

Now, he's been released from prison and is back in his hometown of Cape Haven, California. Not everyone is pleased to see him. Like Star Radley, his ex-girlfriend, and sister of the girl he killed.

Duchess Radley, Star's thirteen-year-old daughter, is part-carer, part-protector to her younger brother, Robin - and to her deeply troubled mother. But in trying to protect Star, Duchess inadvertently sets off a chain of events that will have tragic consequences not only for her family, but also the whole town. 

Murder, revenge, retribution.

'You can't save someone that doesn't want to be saved . . .'

'Contender for thriller of the year' SUNDAY EXPRESS

For fans of Jane Harper's The Dry comes a powerful novel about the lengths we will go to keep our family safe. This is a story about good and evil and how life is lived somewhere in between.

BLOG TOUR ~ The Cutting Place by Jane Casey

Hi Everyone,


Today is my stop for the final day of the Blog Tour for The Cutting Place by Jane Casey where I have a review from her latest novel. I was thrilled to be asked by Ciara Swift from Harper Collins Ireland who organised this tour to take part along with some other fab book bloggers. You can find out who else has taken part in this fabulous Blog Tour at the end of this review so without further ado, here it is:

TO BE A MEMBER OF THE CHIRON CLUB YOU MUST BE:

1. Filthy rich

2. Extremely powerful

3. Totally ruthless

4. Guilty

You've got to be in the club to know the truth.

Everyone's heard the rumors abour elite gentlemen's clubs, where the champagne flows freely, the parties are the height of decadence and the secrets arex darker than you could possibly imagine.

DS Maeve Kerrigan is back on the case but finds herself in an unfamiliar world of wealth, luxury and completely ruthless behavious as she investigates the murder of Paige Hargreaves, a young journalist. She was working on a story about the Chiron Club, a private society for the richest and most privileged men in London but then she disappeared.

It becomes clear to Maeve that the members of this club have many secrets. But even Maeve is hiding her own secrets, even from her partner DI Josh Derwent. Will she uncover the truth about Paige's death? Or will time run out for Maeve??

Well, I didn't like it.........I LOVED it. I was gripped from the first page and couldn't turn the pages fast enough to see how this all panned out for DS Maeve Kerrigan and DI Josh Derwent, it was brilliant. Full of action, secrets, lies and been led down the wrong paths on a few occasions. The story is told in two timelines, present day and 2 years ago which are intertwined and expertly tied up as you reach the end. Jane deals with a few themes throughout this storyline including domestic abuse which was researched and handled quite sensitively. I'd even go as far as saying that this is one of the best police procedurals novels that I've read in a long time.

This is Jane's 10th novel in the Maeve Kerrigan series and ashamedly this is the first one that I've read, you can jump in and read this without reading the others but in a way I wish I'd have read the others to get the stories and backgrounds of the characters, however before the world came to a lockdown I'd reserved the whole series in my local library so I'll have something to look forward to when life starts getting back to normal again.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

The Cutting Place is available in all good bookstores and I know many of them are able to deliver/post out books when ordered and it's also available on Kindle where it is currently £2.99 at the time of publication of this review.

BLOG TOUR ~ Two Kinds of Blood by Jane Ryan

Hi Everyone,


Today is my stop for the Blog Tour for Two Kinds of Blood by Jane Ryan where I have an extract from her latest novel. I was thrilled to be asked by Paula from Poolbeg Books who organised this to boost the spotlight on Jane's new release seeing as the difficult situation we're facing with the Coronavirus to take part along with some other fab book bloggers. You can find out who else has taken part in this fabulous Blog Tour at the end of this review so without further ado, here it is:


Chapter 6

The tartan blanket was stiff with black dirt, but filth never bothered Seán Flannery. It was one more type of disguise. He was sitting in the doorway of a ‘to let’ restaurant in Monkstown’s crescent, a once-busy grocer’s shop decades back. The cold October wind blew grit and the bitter tang of road tar into his face. The low winter sun had turned the roadworkers into a dayglo chain gang. Seán had watched their confused progression for two days, noting the local worthies were not pleased, holding their sharp noses a fraction higher as they walked by, too busy muttering about ‘slipshod builders’ and ‘corrupt councillors’ to drop a coin in Seán’s tatty paper cup. It suited him. The village was sleepy and quiet from the diverted traffic. A fear had gnawed at him since the abandoned Fuentes shipment and something like injustice at the stones on the DOCB for stealing his drugs and some Garda buffoon on television talking about teamwork and striking a blow at the heart of organised crime. It rankled. And they’d trashed the Farm. Gardaí had respect for nothing, tearing down a man’s legacy. He rammed an ancient deerstalker hat further down his head, the fleece matted with grease from someone else’s hair. He’d filched it from a charity shop as he walked through Blackrock. The invisible hobo. Insulated from the cold in an ancient parka, he watched the men working from his vantage point, lost in the beat of the steel rollers moving over the black-glitter glue of bitumen. The roadworkers folded in more gravel and rolled again, as though working toffee, the rhythm of their travails a meditation. It took Seán away, his eyes half-shut and a layer of white flocculent sleep all but descending on him. He put his hand into his boxers. Right under the jock cup was a concealed pocket. He touched the teeth of his house key, their jagged edges soothing him. Lorraine came to him. Not the shredded woman in the warehouse, too destroyed to recoil from the punches, but Lorraine as she lay frozen, the ice fogging and reshaping her into a serene Madonna. It was a peaceful scene until Seán remembered the baby girl he’d orphaned. She punctured his self-awareness, leaving it as pocked as the road surface. He should have killed the child – instead he left her to a motherless fate. Proof, if it was needed, that he was formed from original sin. It made sense of his cruelty and inability to feel remorse . . . but he had felt remorse about Lorraine’s child. He struck his head, wanting to smack down the unassailable questions mid-air. He shifted his thoughts away from that, to another girl walking around the backroom of his mind, so ripe at the age of nine. The soft downy skin on her arms and her dreams pulsing below the transparent skin of her eyelids. His desire was malevolent, dark as tar seeping into his pores, suffocating him. He blamed original sin. The nuns in the Home said not even Jesus could wash away his sin. Despite that, Jesus would try to love him. Without end. A millstone of forgiveness around his neck to wander through life with. Seán hadn’t believed the nuns’ fantastic stories of women turned to salt and oracle boys whose dreams came true – but original sin was different. St Augustine, who Seán knew about from his time in the boys’ home named after him, declared that original sin was passed down through the generations when people had sexual intercourse and conceived a child. If the offspring was of an unwed mother, even baptism couldn’t wash away the sin. Seán was doused in it. A Nissan van screeched to a halt. Seán’s head whipped up while his legs thrashed out of the tangled rug. Four men from the road gang ran towards him. Another man tarring the road looked at the melee, the quick movements of the men drawing his eye. Seán’s fingers scratched the pavement, struggling for purchase. The roadworker looked away from his terror. Those other men were unstoppable. Big, ugly conscripts with anabolic bodies. Fear bit into Seán and numbed his feet, turning them towards one another in his unlaced boots – he jerked his knees upwards to release his feet from them. A hand reached him. Grabbed the parka. Seán shrugged it off and ran. Past an empty pub in his bare feet, heading for the boiling tar of the new road surface. Four hands hiked him up before he reached it. His legs chopped the air, his left arm brought back to an unnatural angle and close to snapping. ‘Youuuu!’ Seán called out to the roadworker who had caught his eye, but the man shrugged and continued breastfeeding his shovel. This was not his fight.

‘We have you now, Seán,’ said one of the attackers. ‘There’s a good man and don’t make a scene. Or I’ll break your arm.’

‘Do youse scum know who you’re dealing with?’

‘We do, Seán – but maybe you not – Big Man,’ said another, the air of pack leader about him, despite his pinched features.

He had a cheerful, chilling tone of voice and a Slavic accent. He mangled his English into horror show bites and was soaked in Eau de Psycho. Here for the impersonal violence. Seán swallowed his pain and terror. His chances of surviving would collapse with a broken arm. Two of the men hog-tied him with plastic cable-ties and slung him into the back of the white van with a single yellow stripe, head first. The deerstalker took most of the impact, but there was a crunch and a warm line along his eyebrow. The abduction had taken less than two minutes. It happened so fast a bystander wouldn’t have realised what they were looking at. The van looked commonplace yet official. Fear and panic played on Seán so the van doors appeared to close in slow motion, peeling him back to the boy with his face pushed into ammonia-smelling black trousers.

BLOG TOUR ~ Mine by Clare Empson

Hi Everyone,

Today is my stop on the final day for the Blog Tour for Mine by Clare Empson where I have a review from her latest novel. I was thrilled to be asked by Tracy Fenton from Compulsive Readers who organised this tour in conjunction with Orion Books to take part along with some other fab book bloggers. You can find out who else has taken part in this fabulous Blog Tour at the end of this review so without further ado, here it is:

'Who am I? Why am I here? Why did my mother give me away?'

Meet Luke and his girlfriend Hannah, on the surface they seem to have a perfect life. He's an A&R man, she's an arts correspondent and they are completely devoted to their new-born son Samuel.

But beneath all this Luke has always felt like an outsider. So when he decides to search his birth mother Alice and finds her, the instant connection with her is a little like falling in love.

When Hannah goes back to work, Luke asks his mother Alice to look after their son. But Alice - fuelled with grief from when her baby was taken from her 27 years ago - starts to fall in love with Samuel. And Luke won't settle for his mother pushing him aside once again...

Well, what a read this was, I absolutely LOVED it. I wouldn't describe it as a psychological thriller more of a story of family, guilt, jealousy and relationships and at times was full of tension which are palpable on the pages. Told it a dual timeframe from both Alice's past to the lead up of Luke's birth and present. It also deals with the sensitive and hard-hitting issue of adoption which were dealt with perfectly and it was well researched and written in a very sensitive and compassionate manner. I don't want to say anymore incase I say something by accident but all I can say is go and get this to read over the Easter weekend, you won't regret it.

Mine is Clare's second novel, the first been Him which I will definitely read after reading this novel and they are both available in all good bookshops, libraries, on audio and on Kindle where they are both currently £1.99 and  at the time of the publication of this review but be quick as it's only for a limited time so grab it while you can but I can't wait to see what she produces next (no pressure, Clare).


HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

NEW RELEASE ~ The Secret of Eveline House by Sheila Forsey

In 1949 and into the 1950s the people of Ireland lived by a strict moral religious code. Little mercy was shown by the church, the state or indeed society on anyone who ignored this code. This is where this story begins.

The Secret of Eveline House is set in 1949 and the present day.

It’s 1949 in Draheen and playwright Violet Ward, her husband Henry a renowned jeweller, and their young daughter Sylvia have returned to Ireland from London to take up residence in Eveline House. 

But Violet has broken the rules. Her writing is banned in Ireland and labelled immoral. The people of Draheen are hostile to her. Her very being there outrages them.

In 2019 Emily O’Connor buys her dream house in Draheen. Eveline House is like a time capsule, locked up since 1950, still full of personal possessions and hauntingly beautiful photographs of the family that once lived there. A family that seems to have abruptly walked out of their lives and disappeared through the cracks of time.

Emily soon realises that Draheen is a town of cruel secrets – secrets which are about to impact on her life in ways she could never have imagined. 

Sheila Forsey is an honours graduate from Maynooth in Creative Writing. Her writing is inspired by Ireland’s complex and difficult past.

"A thrilling and beautifully written mystery, Sheila Forsey’s atmospheric page turner is alive with intrigue and mystery from first sentence to last." Niamh Boyce.

The Secret of Eveline House-Tangled-Secrets-ebook

BLOG TOUR ~ The Memory Wood by Sam Lloyd

Hi Everyone,

Today is my stop on the final day for the Blog Tour for The Memory Wood by Sam Lloyd where I have a review from his latest novel. I was thrilled to be asked by Anne Cater from Random Things Tours who organised this tour in conjunction with Thomas Hill and Transworld Books to take part along with some other fab book bloggers. You can find out who else has taken part in this fabulous Blog Tour at the end of this review so without further ado, here it is:

Meet Elissa, a twelve year old girl who loves chess and we meet her on the morning of her going to a chess tournament event with ith her Mum. They stop for breakfast on the way and then when they get to the tournament Elissa remembers there's something she left in the car, she asks her Mum for the keys, her Mum wants to go out with her but she says she'll be fine, she goes out but she's abducted never to return......

As her abductor’s behaviour grows more erratic, Elissa realises that outwitting strange, lonely Elijah is her only hope of survival. Their cat-and-mouse game of deception and betrayal will determine both their fates, and whether either of them will ever leave the Memory Wood.....

Well, what a read this was, I absolutely LOVED it. It was dark, creepy, twisted and full of action. I even felt it had a slight touch of the Saw movies to it in a way. The sociopath/kidnapper character was absolutely brilliant, very well written and cleverly constructed. 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 two little Elissa. I loved the character Elissa, she was so clever, smart and a real kick-ass little kid. I did love the character Elijah but as the story unfolded I grew to actually detest him and I loved how Sam was able to write such a character. I don't want to say any more incase I ruin it for anyone but all I'll say is get this to read, you won't regret it.

The Memory Wood is Sam's debut novel which is available in all good bookshops, libraries, on audio and on Kindle where it is currently £0.99 at the time of the publication of this review but be quick as it's  only for a limited time so grab it while you can but I can't wait to see what he produces next (no pressure, Sam).

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

BLOG TOUR ~ The Liar's Daughter by Claire Allan

Hi Everyone,

Today is my stop on the Blog Tour for The Liar's Girl by Claire Allan where I've a review from her latest novel. I was thrilled to be asked by Sanjana Cunniah from Avon Books to take part along with some other fab book bloggers. You can find out who else has taken part in this fabulous Blog Tour at the end of the review so without further ado, here it is:

Meet Joe McKee, a man who left his wife and young daughter when his marraige broke up, moved in with another woman named Natalie and her daughter Heidi but when Natalie tragically dies not long after he moved in, he made a promise to stay in the house and look after Heidi and bring her up as his own, he is seen as a pillar of the community, a great fella altogether with everything he's done.

However, a few years later Joe has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and he is brought home to Heidi's house where she has to look after him in his remaining time. His daughter Ciara is contacted and she doesn't care or want to know anything about him seen as he walked out on her and her Mum all those years ago but when she has a chat with her partner she decides to go and see him.

Joe dies and arrangements are made for the traditional Irish wake, friends and family are left reeling at how cancer could have taken this much-loved man so soon. As the mourners gather, the police do too, with doubt being cast over whether Joe’s death was due to natural causes. Because the lies that Joe told won’t be taken to the grave after all – and the truth gives his daughters the best possible motive for killing him…

Well, I absolutely LOVED this. It was fantastic, I was gripped from the first few pages, that prologue had me hook, line and sinker and I couldn't read the book fast enough to find out how it all panned out. It was cleverly researched and constructed. Told over a dual time span, then and now, it is told from two main characters perspectives, Ciara and Heidi with a few of the other characters thrown into the mix. This story had it all from family, betrayal, secrets, lies, protectiveness to more sensitive and hard-hitting issues which were handled quite sensitively and I found I had a little tear in my eye at the end.

Claire Allan is well known for writing women's fiction for a long time but with no respect to her novels, she has definitely found her calling as a Crime/Thriller writer. She just keeps getting better with each novel she turns out and I'm struggling to say which is her best as they're all brilliant page turners. I can't wait to read her next thriller (no pressure, Claire). This is a definite must read especially if you're heading away for a few days just make sure you throw this in your case, especially if you're going to the beach.

The Liar's Daughter is Claire's fourth thriller novel which is available in all good bookshops, libraries, on audio and on Kindle where it is currently £0.99 at the time of the publication of this review but be quick as it's  only for a limited time so grab it while you  can as you definitely won't be disappointed.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

BLOG TOUR ~ A Dark Matter by Doug Johnson

Hi Everyone,

Today is my stop for the Blog Tour for A Dark Matter by Doug Johnson where I have a review from his latest novel. I was thrilled to be asked by Anne Cater from Random Things Tours who organised this tour in conjunction with Orenda Books to take part along with some other fab book bloggers. You can find out who else has taken part in this fabulous Blog Tour at the end of this review so without further ado, here it is:

Set in Edinburgh we meet the Scelfs, a well known family in the area and proprietors of a long-established funeral home business and on top of that Private Investigators. When the patriarch Jim dies, the business is left to three generations of women, his wife Dorothy, his daughter Jenny and his granddaughter Hannah to take over both businesses which leads to an unexpected series of events. Dorothy discovers mysterious payments to another woman which suggests that Jim wasn't the husband she thought he was.  Hannah's best friend Mel goes missing from University, where is she and will Hannah and the police find her in time? And what seems like a simple adultery case that Jenny takes on leads to something stranger and far darker then any of them could have imagined. As all three women struggle to terms with their grief and manage the businesses which threaten to overwhelm them, secrets from the past start emerging which change everything.

Well, where do I start with this one other than I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it. It was delicious-illy dark, tense and addictive read where I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. It was great to have a main cast of three women who were all heroes in my eyes by the time I turned the last page. They were unforgettable characters and I was delighted when I realised that this is the start of a new series which is certainly addictive and welcomed. To be honest I was so shocked when things were revealed towards the end of the book, I couldn't believe it, bravo Doug for revealing what you did and I can't wait to read the next instalment featuring the Scelfs (no pressure).

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

I briefly met Doug at the Theakstons Crime Festival in Harrogate on one of the evenings in July last year but he was on his way to get some food but hopefully I'll get to say a proper hello again one day.

A Dark Matter is available from all good bookshops,libraries, on audio and on Kindle where it is currently £3.79 at he time of publication of this review so go and pick it up as you won't regret it.

REVIEW ~ Big Woods by May Cobb

It's 1989 when ten year old Lucy disappears the sleepy town of Longview in Texas where there have been a string of other unsolved kidnappings and Lucy's parents, the police, and the community all brace themselves for the worst news, assuming her body will soon be found in Big Woods just like the others.

But Lucy’s fourteen year old sister Leah, starts having dreams about Lucy and these dreams reveal startling clues as to what happened. Leah begins her own investigation where no-one seems to believe her from the police to her parents but she soon she meets a reclusive widow who may hold the key to finding Lucy but this is only if she can find the courage to come forward.

Well, I didn't like it, I absolutely LOVED it. It was such a brilliant debut novel, packed full of mystery, emotion, thrills and spills, I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. Set over a 3 month period and each chapter alternating between Leah and the widow I had to find out would she find her little sister Lucy or would she be too late?

This novel delves into the paranoia surrounding cults in the 1980's and everything in the novel had a definite 1980's nostalgia to it. It even read like it was a novel from the 1980's not 2019, May has everything researched and well written to a T! I'd even go as far as to say I'd love to see this as a movie.

Big Woods is a dark read in places but is an emotionally charged thriller where I felt an enormity of grief and sadness in parts of the story too especially with Leah and Lucy's parents and what it did to them but also gives you hope of the magical bond between these sisters and a small town's dark and sinister secrets. I'll definitely be more cautious when I go walking in forests again (just incase) after reading Big Woods.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

Big Woods is available in all good bookstores, libraries, on audio and on Kindle where it is currently £8.15 at the time of publication of this review.

BLOG TOUR ~ The Mothers by Sarah J Naughton

Hi Everyone,

Today was my stop on the Blog Tour for The Mothers by Sarah J Naughton where I've a review from her latest novel. I was thrilled to be asked by Tracy Fenton from Compulsive Readers in conjunction with Trapeze Books to take part along with some other fab book bloggers. You can find out who else has taken part in this fabulous Blog Tour at the end of this review so without further ado, here it is:

Five Women.
They meet at their NCT Group. The only thing they have in common is they're all pregnant.

Five Secrets.
Three years later, they are all good friends. Aren't they?

One Missing Husband.

Now the police have come knocking. Someone knows something.

And the trouble with secrets is that someone always tells.

Well, where do I start with this review only with I LOVED it. This book mainly centres around 2 characters Bella and her husband Ewan. The chapters alternate between present time and over the last 3 years and right upto the events where we discover what has actually happened with the missing husband. The police are on the case where we meet DI Iona who is told in the present time where she is asking questions of all the friends where she soon discover that things don't seem to add up and she suspects that the five friends know more than they're letting on.

As the story unfolds we see a side to Ewan that I wasn't very keen on & did feel sorry for Bella and her son Teddy. The past is all told from all five women's point of view and as the tension builds as to what happened I couldn't turn the pages fast enough and when what happened to the husband is finally revealed I was left open mouthed, I didn't see that twist coming which I loved as nothing worse guessing what's going to happen before you finish. There were plenty of twists and shock and throughout this read but the finalone was a jaw dropper. I've read a few books by Sarah and I've loved each one of them and she is becoming one of my favourite thriller writers and I can't wait to see what she does next.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

The Mothers is available in all good bookshops, libraries, on audio and on Kindle where it is currently £3.99 at the time of publication of this review.

BLOG TOUR ~ The Home by Sarah Stovell

Hi Everyone,

Today is my stop for the Blog Tour for The Home by Sarah Stovell where I have an extract from her latest novel. I was thrilled to be asked by Anne Cater from Random Things Tours who organised this tour in conjunction with Orenda Books to take part along with some other fab book bloggers. You can find out who else has taken part in this fabulous Blog Tour at the end of this review so without further ado, here it is:

She always said that if we ever got married, ours would be a black wedding in the tiny stone church by Meddleswater. She wanted the ceremony in the half-light of a December morning, when the lake would lie hard as glass, the church barely visible in the mist from its waters. 

I can picture her now, sweeping up the aisle towards me, no father on her arm, no mother of the bride at the front of the church, no train of bridesmaids behind her. There would be only her, white-faced and spectral, her black dress whispering across the floor, her eyes shrouded behind a veil, and at her throat the choker I bought her. There might be flowers, too – black tulips in her hands, black roses at the altar. 

And we would be married, she and I, and we’d step into another life, the life we’d dreamed was waiting for us after this one, where we could be together without others trying to part us, where no one would tell us we were too young, or too broken, or too fragile to know what we were doing. 

Because we were young, it was true. We were fragile, too. But we weren’t fragile like flowers. We were fragile like bombs.

1

This isn’t how we’d planned it. They’ve just found her on the ground outside the church, wailing beside my body. 

She’s going to make lots of mistakes over the next few days, but hanging around my corpse is her first. She should have run. She should have run far away from here, back to the arms of strangers, or the arms of anyone who’d have her… 

No one knows what to do with her. The police are murmuring about her age, putting her at around fifteen. They’re right. But on the inside, she’s ancient as the world. We both are. 

They can’t stop her crying. They can’t get her to move. She’s shouting and protesting and holding on to me, but I am already cold. 

I’m furious with her for doing this. She used to say she’d come with me. ‘If you go, I’m going too,’ she’d say, taking my hand in hers and looking me straight in the eye. It was a promise as sacred as a wedding vow, but like everything else between us, it ended up broken long ago. 

I’m going to haunt her. I’m going to make her think she’s losing her mind and tip her slowly over the edge until she can bear it no longer and joins me here. 

Would that be murder? Maybe; but no more murderous than what she’s just done to me.