2024 so far and some ideas on what I should be reading soon...

For various reasons my reading hasn't been as extensive this year compared to previous years. I have currently completed only 12 books so far this year. There have been some excellent reads which I have flown through and thoroughly enjoyed, a couple which haven't quite hit the spot, a few DNF's and some  new authors who have surprised me with talent which I wasn't expecting.

I think my favourite read so far has been John Marrs' The Stranger in her House, which I think will appeal to most of my reading friends.

So, what are my plans for upcoming reads and reviews? I am trying not to buy too many books at the moment in order to support my local library which is such a precious resource. Plus I am extremely privileged to have access to NetGalley for upcoming titles before they are released so I have many and varied options of books to read. Mood reading is my main priority at the moment, and even so I am struggling to keep my reading mojo going. 

I've got a few ideas on my radar for the next few weeks, including TM Logan's new release, "The Dream Home". I have borrowed a copy from my local library and I think it's going to be my next read. I've enjoyed all of his novels that I've read so far, so this should be a safe bet for a good storyline. Look out for my review once I've read it and sorted my thoughts about it into some kind of order.

The next exciting instalment in Peter James' "Dead" series, the long-awaited insight into what happened to Roy Grace's first wife, Sandy, is due out soon. Entitled "They Thought I Was Dead", this is the book any follower of the series will be keen to read. Due out on 9th May, we don't have long to wait to find out Sandy's side of the story.

Another of my favourite authors, Clare Pooley is releasing her next novel in June. "How to Age Disgracefully" is due out on 20th June looks like an interesting insight to a situation we all dread, getting old and being on our own whilst doing so. The author of "The People on Platform 5" and "The Authenticity Project" writes in such a way that we can all relate, so I'm really looking forward to this one.

Back to the psychological thriller genre, KL Slater is releasing an intriguingly titled book in July "Message Deleted". The main character, Saffy, receives a text saying "Can’t speak… don’t text or call… please just come". She rushes to check in with her friend, who reports that everything is fine and when she checks her phone, the message has been deleted - all of this happening just a few hours prior to her friend going missing, and the police arriving on Saffy's doorstep. This sounds right up my street...

No doubt I will change my mind on what to read between now and July, but these are just a few of the books I'm hoping to share with you. Library reservations have been made for other books, but I'm not sure when those will arrive, so will just drop those in amongst the reviews I post, as and when I can. 

If you have any ideas to share with me or thoughts on the books I feature on my page, please feel free to let me know and drop me a line in the comments. Most of all though, happy reading!

The Wedding of the Year by Jill Mansell #libraryloan @JillMansell @HeadlineFiction #WeddingOfTheYear #bookreview

 

The Wedding of the Year by Jill Mansell

Published by Headline Review

Publication Date: 18th January 2024

Book Description:

Love, friendship and secrets revealed as the sun beats down on dazzling blue Cornish seas . . .

It's set to be a perfect day - until the chauffeur is asked to keep driving the bride around the church. This wedding definitely isn't going as planned.

Lottie is a guest at the wedding when she sees Max. No kiss has ever matched the last one they shared fifteen years ago. They were on the brink of a beautiful love story, until a shocking event tore them apart. Now here he is, still ridiculously good-looking, teasing Lottie in the old way - and that overwhelming electric attraction is back. But Max is way out of bounds.

Freya owes Cameron everything. But she doesn't love him. Which is a shame, because they're about to be married.

Ruby has been the perfect wife. When she discovers the truth about her husband, her response is reckless and delicious. But after that, nothing will ever be the same again.

My Thoughts:

There's nobody better to pull you back into the world of fictional characters than Jill Mansell. I had just finished a 700+ page novel and was feeling particularly overwhelmed by the enormity of that book when I stumbled rather fortuitously on this recent publication at the library. It sat proudly on top of the returned items shelf and its jauntily coloured cover waved at me as I scanned my previously borrowed items back into the system.

The story begins with Freya and her mum Tess approaching the church in the beautiful wedding car, everything going smoothly until they are waved on, with the instruction to go around again. Oh no, I thought, another tale of the bride being jilted at the altar. But this time, it's not the bride or groom who have gone AWOL, but the vicar. The news quickly filters back to the congregation that sadly the service cannot go ahead today, so rather than the couple waste the whole day, everyone makes their way to the reception and celebrates Freya and Cameron, the soon-to-be-weds. Nobody breathes a bigger sigh of relief that the wedding didn't happen than the bride herself, who soon confesses her feelings to her best friend Lottie. But how can she let down lovely Cameron without breaking his heart and coming across as totally heartless?

Jill Mansell never fails to write heart-warming characters who are totally credible but not too twee. There are real-life situations presented throughout the book and some fabulous individuals who I absolutely loved. I was cheerleading Ruby throughout the book, loved the banter between Max and Lottie and was really pleased that the whole thing didn't focus just on the bride and groom's story. There seemed a nice even weighting of the tale across several characters and not all of them get an easy ride through to the conclusion of the book.

Yet another resounding success from Jill Mansell, who never fails to tick all of the boxes I want from a lighter read in between my go-to choices of psychological and serial killer thrillers.

About the Author:

Jill Mansell’s books are full of love, life and friendship and have been bringing joy to readers for twenty-five years. She started writing fiction while working in the NHS, after joining a local creative writing class. She has since written over twenty Sunday Times bestsellers, including MAYBE THIS TIME, THIS COULD CHANGE EVERYTHING and YOU AND ME, ALWAYS, and her books have sold over 11 million copies around the world.

Jill's hobbies include buying stationery, particularly magical new colours of ink for the fountain pen she uses to write all her books – Jill is one of the few authors who still write their books by hand. Jill also loves people-watching and finding new characters to put in her novels. So when you’re out, make sure to always be on your best behaviour. And beware of beady-eyed authors carrying notebooks . . .

Jill keeps in touch with her readers on Twitter - @JillMansell - and Facebook - /OfficialJillMansell.

The Guest by BA Paris #libraryloan #bookreview #TheGuest @baparisauthor @HodderBooks

 

The Guest by BA Paris

Published by Hodder & Stoughton

Publication Date: 20th February 2024

Book Description:

Iris and Gabriel have just got home from a make-or-break holiday. But a shock awaits them. One of their dearest friends, Laure, is in their house - sleeping in their bed, wearing Iris' clothes, even rearranging the furniture. She has walked out on her husband - and their good friend - Pierre over his confession of an affair.

Iris and Gabriel want to be supportive. But as Laure's mood becomes more unpredictable, her presence begins to unravel secrets in all their pasts - until things reach breaking point...

My Thoughts:

I have mixed experience with BA Paris' writing, having absolutely loved Behind Closed Doors back in 2016, but not clicked quite so well with Bring Me Back two years later. The Dilemma hooked me back in over the new year period in 2020, but I've not read anything else by the author since, despite having books sitting on my kindle waiting to be read. So I felt I was taking a risk in borrowing her latest book, The Guest, from my library - would it be a hit or a miss? 

The prologue introduces us to two couples, Esme and Hugh with their baby son Hamish, and their friends Iris and Gabriel. They're celebrating Hamish's christening earlier in the day, when a terrible explosion resounds from the other side of the village where Esme and Hugh live, and from initial investigation into the situation there's bad news to report.

The main body of the story then moves back a few months to when Iris and Gabriel return from a short, seemingly unsuccessful trip to Scotland. The couple don't seem particularly close, and when they arrive home they find their friend Laure has moved in unannounced, citing a rift with husband Pierre as the reason. Their uninvited guest seems unaware of the tension between the couple and it doesn't take long for Laure's presence to become an even bigger cuckoo in the nest.

This book has returned the author into my fold of authors whose work I will explore every time they bring out something new. My resentment of Laure, and the total disrespect she showed Iris and Gabriel  despite knowing they were going through tough times, was all-consuming. Joseph, the gardener, also irritated the heck out of me as I felt he was quite arrogant. The way the author constructed each of the characters and wove their individual personalities into the overall story works so well. This is definitely one of those books that the less you know before you start the better, so that the reveals catch you completely off guard. I had suspicions regarding certain elements of the story as I worked my way through, but was still caught unaware on other aspects.

I whizzed through this book in 2 days (which is particularly quick for me) and would definitely recommend it, especially if you have the opportunity to completely immerse yourself into working out what's going on beneath the surface of the group's friendship.

About the Author:

B.A. Paris' first novel, Behind Closed Doors, was a publishing phenomenon, selling over 3.5 million copies and published in 40 territories. The film rights have been optioned by Stone Village Productions. B.A. Paris lived in France for many years, she and her husband now live in the UK. She worked in finance, and as a teacher, before beginning her writing career.

Finding Sophie by Imran Mahmood @BloomsburyRaven @imranmahmood777 #FindingSophie #NetGalley #booktwt

 

Finding Sophie by Imran Mahmood

Published by Bloomsbury Publishing, Raven Books

Publication Date: 14th March 2024

Book Description:

Sophie King is missing.

Her parents, Harry and Zara, are distraught; for the last seventeen years, they've done everything for their only daughter.

The police have no leads, and Harry and Zara are growing increasingly frantic – and increasingly obsessed with their highly suspicious neighbour. He won't open the door, he won't answer any questions. If they want answers, they're going to have to take matter into their own hands.

But just how far are they both prepared to go?

My Thoughts:

You Don't Know Me by this author remains one of my favourite reads of recent years, so I was thrilled to be offered the chance to read this new release, Finding Sophie.

The story leads us through a couple's desperate search for their missing teenager Sophie. They will go to any lengths to find her - but just how far does this mean? Dad Harry has canvassed all of their neighbours with one exception, the elusive resident of number 210, John Douglas. Mum Zara can't sleep or eat and spends hours in her daughter's room trying to work out where she could possibly have gone.

I found some of Harry's actions to be a little far-fetched - but there again, one never knows where the boundaries would be in his situation. My heart broke several times for Zara as she tried to process how the world would function without her daughter there beside her.

The courtroom scenes are exceptionally well written, as one would expect from a barrister with so many years under their belt, but my favourite thing about them was that the reader is never quite sure who is sitting in the dock. I feel this is where the author excels, and I would love for him to write a novel set totally within the courtroom. Personally, I would have preferred the ratio of background story to courtroom interrogation to be more equal if not more focused on the trial.

Overall, an emotional read with excellent story telling skills and a nice smoke screen to whodunit but somehow it just missed the mark for me.

About the Author:

Imran Mahmood is a practicing criminal barrister in England and Wales with over thirty years' experience fighting cases. His debut novel, You Don't Know Me, was chosen by Simon Mayo as a BBC Radio 2 Book Club Choice for 2017, long-listed for the Theakston Crime Novel of the Year and the CWA Gold Dagger Award, short-listed for the Glass Bell Award, and made into a hugely successful BBC One adaptation in association with Netflix. It reached number three in the world on Netflix charts and received a BAFTA nomination for best actor. Mahmood was born and raised in Liverpool but now lives in London with his wife and two daughters.

Find him on Twitter: @imranmahmood777

The Good Samaritan by John Marrs @johnmarrs1 @AmazonPub #ThomasMercer #bookreview #TheGoodSamaritan

 

The Good Samaritan by John Marrs

Published by Thomas & Mercer

Publication Date: 12th April 2018 paperback

Book Description:

She’s a friendly voice on the phone. But can you trust her?

The people who call End of the Line need hope. They need reassurance that life is worth living. But some are unlucky enough to get through to Laura. Laura doesn’t want them to hope. She wants them to die.

Laura hasn’t had it easy: she’s survived sickness and a difficult marriage only to find herself heading for forty, unsettled and angry. She doesn’t love talking to people worse off than she is. She craves it.

But now someone’s on to her―Ryan, whose world falls apart when his pregnant wife ends her life, hand in hand with a stranger. Who was this man, and why did they choose to die together?

The sinister truth is within Ryan’s grasp, but he has no idea of the desperate lengths Laura will go to…

Because the best thing about being a Good Samaritan is that you can get away with murder.

My Thoughts:

What a troubled soul our Laura is! But the reader won't comprehend quite how troubled until the final pages are read and the book is closed. 

The End of the Line is a charity, similar to the Samaritans, for people who are struggling with all kinds of issues who just need someone to listen. Laura volunteers for the charity and on face value is a kind, caring and generous person. She bakes cakes for the other volunteers, mends and alters clothing for them and is generally a lovely person. Except she's not. She buys the cakes and decants them into her own cake tins, farms the clothes out to local seamstresses to be fixed, and that's just the very tip of the Laura iceberg. There is nothing good about Laura - but in her own mind, she can justify every single one of her actions. That is until she realises she's been rumbled. Who is it who's on to her, and how far are they prepared to go to uncover her misdeeds?

There are so many nasty layers to this woman, and John Marrs has penned a novel which will shock, shock and shock you again! At first, your eyebrows will raise, then your jaw will drop, you will need to discuss Laura's actions with somebody (anybody!) and you will probably feel like throwing the book across the room at various points - this being so, it would make for an amazing buddy read or book club novel. And the final twist made me smile, but in a way almost as twisted as Laura herself. I do hope we get a sequel to this book some time in the future!

I have decided that Mr Marrs is the owner of a very disturbed mind but one which (fortunately for us readers) can transpose these thoughts into the most fabulous psychological thrillers. I'm sure any of you who have read any of his novels will be in total agreement with this - we just cannot wait to find out where his warped mind goes next! I found this novel and What Lies Between Us to be probably the most unsettling of his reads to date purely because they happen in a world we are all familiar with.  While his slightly futuristic works are equally as excellent, with that degree of "Tomorrow's World" that we haven't quite caught up with yet, I don't find them quite as harrowing. But that's just my opinion. 

I will continue to buy every single novel this author writes as I just know I am going to love being rocked to my core before I've even read the description on the back cover. 

PS - please Mr Marrs, can you write a bit quicker? I have an addiction to feed!

About the Author:

John Marrs is an author and former journalist based in London and Northamptonshire. After spending his career interviewing celebrities from the worlds of television, film and music for numerous national newspapers and magazines, he is now a full-time author. His books include No1 bestseller and Netflix series The One, The Passengers, award winning What Lies Between Us and The Good Samaritan.

Social Media Links:

Website: www.johnmarrsauthor.co.uk

X (previously Twitter) @johnmarrs1

Instagram @johnmarrs.author

Facebook at www.facebook.com/johnmarrsauthor.

The People Watcher by Sam Lloyd #ThePeopleWatcher @TransworldBooks @samlloydwrites #bookreview

The People Watcher by Sam Lloyd

Publication Date: 8th June 2023 (Hardback), 18th January 2024 (paperback)

Published by Penguin

She watches them in the dead of night. Hidden in plain sight, Mercy Lake provides what people need. Quietly. In secret. Making lives better.

But he is watching too. And he doesn’t want to help anyone - he wants to punish them. And he wants Mercy to join him.

Soon, though, their activities draw the attention of the very person Mercy is desperate to avoid. Someone who will go to extreme lengths to make her pay for knowing their secret . . .

My Thoughts:

This is my first read of this author's work, and was chosen for me by my lovely "virtual" friend Alfred on one of the Psychological Thriller book groups on Facebook. I'd fallen into a bit of a slump after being ill and wasn't sure what I wanted to read next. Alfred very kindly offered to choose for me from a selection taken from my TBR mountain, and this was his suggestion.

I wasn't sure at first as this book is a very slow burner for the first 100 or so pages, so if you want action from the get-go then this won't be one for you. But Mercy Lake's character got under my skin and I wanted to know more about what made her into the young woman we meet in the early part of the book. Mercy watches people in her local community. Not by day, in coffee shops or restaurants or other public places. No. Mercy cannot tolerate daylight, and takes herself out on her own in the hours of darkness in order to watch people in their own homes. This may sound strange, but something happened to Mercy - something bad. Something she hides from everyone. And whatever it is has left her with medical conditions which make her very different from the rest of us average Joes. While all this is very odd, we soon learn that Mercy isn't a bad person; she's on the lookout for people she can help. People who, whatever their reasons are, need something nice in their lives. They may not even realise that they need these little random acts of kindness. But Mercy hopes the things she does raises a smile from them, or makes life just a little easier. 

Then one night she meets Louis. On the forecourt of the local Texaco petrol station where she's being picked on by some youngsters who have noticed that she's a bit different to everyone else. Louis arrives to fill his camper van up with fuel, and kindly steps in to support her. It doesn't take long before Mercy and Louis become close friends, and she lets him closer to her than anyone else has been in years. But despite the superficial niceties, is Louis really good for Mercy? He joins in with her little kind gestures, helping local people and not really questioning her quirkiness but it's not long before he begins to bring his own personality to the party. Is he in this to help, or does he want to exact vengeance on certain individuals? He has Mercy questioning her methodology: do you help the victims, or do you help prevent their suffering from going any further? It's a new way of looking at things for Mercy, and she's not sure how she feels about it.

The last third of this book takes a very different turn, and despite the start being snail-paced, the ending certainly can't be described that way. The pages turned at an ever-increasing rate for me as the author fed in more and more action and revelations that threw me SO many curveballs that came out of nowhere. I wanted to know what was going on, but really didn't want the book to finish. There are layers to this story, and it totally made sense as to why the book began the way it did, building and building until the hard-hitting explanations at the end. 

My advice: please stick with the slow motion start, it's definitely worth the ride!

Thank you again Alfred, an excellent choice.

About The Author:

Sam Lloyd grew up in Hampshire, where he learned his love of storytelling. These days he lives in Surrey with his wife, three young sons and a dog that likes to howl. His first thrillers, The Memory Wood and The Rising Tide, were published to huge critical acclaim in 2020 and 2021.

Bones of Contention by Candy Denman #BlogTour #BonesOfContention @thebookfolks X: @CrimeCandy #ukcrimefiction #book

Bones of Contention by Candy Denman

Publication Dates: 13th November 2023 (Hardback), 20th February 2024 (Paperback)

Published by The Book Folks

Book 7 in the Dr Callie Hughes Crime Investigation Series

My thanks to The Book Folks Publishers for the opportunity to feature my review as part of the blog tour promotion.

Book Description:

A police doctor tries to extricate herself from a tricky situation in this gripping medical thriller.

When human remains are discovered in the garden of a house in the seaside town of Hastings, Dr Callie Hughes can’t resist trying to dig up the truth.

However, her amateur sleuthing is put on the backburner when her car is vandalised. She seems to have a stalker, and they are becoming increasingly intent on terrorising her.

DI Steve Miller suspects it is a released criminal whom Callie helped put behind bars. But even with the detective sleeping outside her home and her friend Kate Ward protecting her, the situation escalates.

Perhaps it is time to up sticks, leave the south coast for good, and head to Belfast where her boyfriend is waiting.

Or perhaps someone with a bone to pick will stop Callie in her tracks.

BONES OF CONTENTION is the seventh standalone mystery in this bestselling medical crime fiction series. The full list of books, FREE with Kindle Unlimited and available in paperback from Amazon, is as follows:

1. DEAD PRETTY
2. BODY HEAT
3. GUILTY PARTY
4. VITAL SIGNS
5. DEADLY REMEDIES
6. MURDER LUST
7. BONES OF CONTENTION

If you enjoy fiction by Patricia Cornwell, Tim Sullivan, or Kathy Reichs, you’ll love these books!

Buy your copy via the links here:

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CN755M8P 

US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CN755M8P

My Thoughts:

I am very late to the party with this series, but when Polly invited me to read this latest instalment I was interested in the main character's job as a police doctor, alongside her regular family doctor role.

The book dives straight in with the discovery of  some bones by a team of builders working in the garden of a residential address in Callie's catchment area. Once Callie has confirmed that they are indeed human, the team of detectives and crime scene investigators are brought in to find out more. 

Whilst I am not a detective myself, it doesn't take much of a sleuth to work out that one of the detectives working on the case has more than a professional interest in any information Callie can give him - especially when a series of attacks on her property gradually escalates as the case progresses. Is she being targeted because she is making her own lines of enquiry into potential leads on the case or is it someone with a more personal grudge against Callie herself? Both possibilities have strong motives behind them, causing Callie to start rethinking the whole setup of both her personal and professional lives.

I personally enjoyed the balance of the two threads of Callie's story in this book. We rarely consider the backgrounds of the professional people in our lives - we forget they too have families and circumstances outside of their public personas. Maybe elderly parents to support, children (or decisions whether to have children or not) and other outside influences are often forgotten in favour of the job role the person has chosen.  This book explores how events professionally can affect our personal lives, and vice versa.

My personal advice regarding this book is to start the series at the beginning - I think the reader will get far more from that than reading it as a standalone. It works very well as such, but if, like me, you want to know the characters in more depth, you will understand the relationships within this book far better if you go back to the start. 

A satisfying read in itself, I am now curious as to where the story goes next as there are little antennae of potential storylines leading from this book which the author has the option to pick up and run with in the future.

About the Author:

Candy Denman spent most of her life as an NHS nurse but now concentrates on writing full time. She has written extensively for television programmes such as The Bill, Doctors and Heartbeat. Having enjoyed writing both crime and medical stories, she decided to combine the two in her series set in Hastings. The medical stories might come from Candy’s previous work, but the serial killer elements come strictly from her imagination.

Author’s social media links 

X: @CrimeCandy 

Instagram: candydenman 

Author’s website: www.candydenman.co.uk

Publisher contacts:

Website: https://thebookfolks.com 

Blog: https://thebookfolks.com/blog/

Insta/Threads:@the_book_folks 

Twitter: @thebookfolks 

Facebook: http://facebook.com/thebookfolks