Wednesday 29 August 2018

#BlogTour #Book #Review #Giveaway Evie's Little Black Book by Hannah Pearl @rararesources

Evie's Little Black Book by Hannah Pearl
Published 21st August 2018
Published by Choc Lit/Ruby Fiction
Genre: Women's Fiction

My thanks for the invitation to be part of the blog tour from Rachel Gilbey of Rachel's Random Resources and to the Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy of this fun book in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

Book Description:

Is hunting down every man you’ve kissed the answer to finding Mr Right?

When Evie is invited to the wedding of the guy she’d fancied throughout her teens, it’s the final straw. What’s wrong with her and why can’t she keep a man? 
In between consoling herself with ice cream and chocolate, and sobbing her heart out to her cousin Chamaine, Evie has a brainwave – and it all centres around her ‘little black book’ (well, more floral patterned notebook really) – which contains the details of every man she’s ever kissed or dated. Perhaps the cure for her disastrous love life has been nestled within its pages all along … 

Does Evie’s little black book really hold the answers, or will she learn that exes are exes for a reason? 
My Review:
I've not read any of this author's work before, and am always open to new writers to add to my ever bulging shelves.  Hannah Pearl will certainly be featuring there in future when I need a good dose of feel good fiction.

Receiving an invite to her brother's best friend's wedding is a significant event for Evie due to the fact that she had been lusting after the groom for most of her teenage years. Amazed that someone had finally managed to tame George - whose reputation as a lady's man went before him - Evie is devastated that she is not the one to be doing the taming. So in her hour of need Evie calls on her cousin Charmaine to help her come up with a plan to work out just where she is going wrong in her quest to find her perfect partner. Together the two of them come up with the idea of using Evie's diary in which she recorded her feelings and experiences during each of her relationships and revisit each partner in order to work out where she failed. 

I felt Evie was very brave - or very stupid - to be revisiting the people she had dated over the years and I think Evie felt the same as she met up with the first couple of former boyfriends, finding it quite obvious to see why things hadn't lasted long.  In fact she feels she had a lucky escape in some cases.  I found the way Evie described her reactions to seeing the faces from her past quite amusing and in some ways relatable - I think we've all got that one person in our past who we will cross the road to avoid even now! People often don't turn out to be how we remember them - physically or emotionally.

As the story moves on Evie has to travel further afield to track down some of her later partners, she starts to analyse herself and things get a bit more satisfying in the way of finding answers.  She understands more about herself and who she was at various points in her life, and wonders where that person went.  Then in her quest to find one particular guy she meets Bea and Alice who now live at the address Evie has for her former boyfriend, instantly forms a bond with them and a friendship starts to blossom.  I did find this part of the book a little unlikely, but as it's a fictional world I went along with things and really got caught up in Evie's world. With huge self-doubts and a lack of confidence Evie has to learn to trust both herself and others once again and we gradually learn why and who knocked Evie's world so badly out of kilter. 

I really enjoyed seeing Evie re-discover herself and slowly put herself back together again. The later stages of the book take on a much more serious note and there are lots of messages in the book we can all take on board with regards to self care.  The outcome of Evie's quest made my heart swell and I was so happy for her in the end.  There are plenty of fun moments along Evie's journey which made me chuckle - in particular little Alice is a fabulous character as only pre-school children can be.

As much as this is a tale of trying to find a soul mate, I loved the message of the importance of friendships in our lives alongside the romance.  I found this a very fulfilling story and a nice easy, enjoyable read.
Purchase Links:
Giveaway – Win 2 x set of floral notebook, pen, book locket necklace and chocolate (Open Internationally)

*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 I reserve 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 I will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.
Author Bio – 

Hannah Pearl was born in East London. She is married with two children and now lives in Cambridge.
She has previously worked as a Criminology researcher at a university in Leicester, as a Development Worker with various charities and even pulled a few pints in her time.
In 2015 she was struck down by Labrynthitis, which left her feeling dizzy and virtually housebound. She has since been diagnosed with ME. Reading has allowed Hannah to escape from the reality of feeling ill. She read upwards of three hundred books during the first year of her illness. When her burgeoning ereader addiction grew to be too expensive, she decided to have a go at writing. In 2017 she won Simon and Schuster’s Books and the City #heatseeker short story competition, in partnership with Heat magazine, for her short story The Last Good Day.

Hannah is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association.

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Sunday 19 August 2018

Open Your Eyes by Paula Daly #Book #Review @pauladalyauthor

Open Your Eyes by Paula Daly
Publication Date 26th July 2018
Published by Corgi
Genre: Psychological Thriller/Crime

Book Description:


Haven’t we all wanted to pretend everything is fine?

 Jane doesn’t like confrontation. Given the choice, she'd prefer to focus on what’s going well, the good things in life.
But when her husband, Leon, is brutally attacked in the driveway of their home, in front of their two young children, Jane has to face reality. As he lies in a coma, Jane must open her eyes to the problems in her life, and the secrets that have been kept from her, if she’s to find out who hurt her husband – and why.


Maybe it’s time to face up to it all. Who knows what you might find . . .

My Review:

Paula Daly is one of my go-to authors, so when I spotted this new thriller on the shelf at my local library there was no question that it had to come home with me.  

Leon Campbell is a successful crime-writing author while his wife Jane is an aspiring writer, struggling to deal with rejection letter after rejection letter from publishers who she has approached with her manuscripts.  With Leon's success has come a slightly arrogant attitude and while he is supportive of his wife's efforts he does treat her - and some of their friends - quite dismissively, as if he is rather more important in life than anyone else.  Which is why, when neighbour Lawrence confronts Leon about their cat leaving a mess in his wife's flower beds, Jane finds the whole scenario embarrassing and awkward so makes her excuses to go back in the house on the pretext of fetching beer to take to Leon's mother's house for him to celebrate his birthday with. On returning to the car she finds that Lawrence has gone, but life will never be the same again after Leon crashes the car into the neighbour's garden wall.  Things take a sinister turn when it transpires that Leon has been seriously assaulted in Jane's absence, leaving him with life threatening injuries.

Who would attack Leon in such a brutal manner? And more to the point, why?  As Jane, the police and Leon's family go through every aspect of Leon's life with a fine-toothed comb they find that Leon wasn't as straightforward and honest as he presented to the world.  Financial problems and professional gripes come to the surface but nothing seems a big enough issue to make someone try to kill him, surely? Or could the perpetrator be someone closer to home? A rival, struggling author Alistair Armitage begins to feature strongly in the investigations, but when he is suddenly removed from the picture other, more dubious characters become far more credible suspects.

There is a comfortably sized cast in this very realistic novel, which deals with the day to day problems associated with the after-effects of being victims of such a vicious assault.  It highlights the real need for more support to be available for victims and their families in order for them to return to some kind of normality but doesn't labour the point.  We are led down a multitude of dead-ends as to who is responsible for Leon's injuries but I was quite surprised with the eventual reveal, which was very nicely accomplished.  With all loose ends neatly secured, I felt that the real victim of the whole sorry story was the one person who deserved it least - as is often the way in life.

Paula Daly has succeeded in producing yet another book where the reader could quite easily imagine finding themselves in a similar situation purely down to miscommunications or petty jealousy.  An excellent page-turner of a book which keeps Paula way up the list of my favourite authors - ideal for curling up with as the nights begin to draw in.

About the Author:


Paula Daly is the acclaimed author of five novels. Her work has been sold in fifteen countries, shortlisted for CWA Gold Dagger Crime Novel of the Year award, and her books are currently being developed into the ITV drama - Deep Water - set to air in 2019. She was born in Lancashire and lives in the Lake District with her husband, three children, and whippet Skippy.
Follow her on Twitter: @pauladalyauthor


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Sunday 12 August 2018

The Chosen Ones by Howard Linskey #Book #Review #Netgalley

The Chosen Ones by Howard Linskey
Published by Penguin UK
Publication Date: 14 June 2018
Genre: Crime/Thrillers
416 pages

Book Description:

Eva Dunbar wakes in a large metal box.
She has no idea who has taken her.
She has no way out.
She isn't the first young woman to disappear.
And with no leads Detective Ian Bradshaw has precious little time.
When at last a body is found, the police hope the tragic discovery might at least provide a clue that will help them finally find the kidnapper.
But then they identify the body - and realise the case is more twisted than they ever imagined . . . 
My Review:
I start my review by sending my thanks to Michael Joseph, Penguin UK and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book for review.  I didn't realise that this is book 4 of the DC Bradshaw series until I logged it into my goodreads account to record my reading progress, and was a little disappointed about this at first as I prefer not to join a series part way through.  That said though, don't let this put you off from the book as it worked really well as a standalone.

The book begins with latest kidnap victim Eva waking up in a metal container with no means of escape. We have no idea why or where she is or even who has put her there which I found worked very well as you really get that unsettled feeling, maybe even bordering on a sense of panic which Eva must have felt at that point.  Chapter two introduces us to shopkeeper Jenna who has recently bought her new business and is quietly trying to settle in to the community without making any waves.  I have to admit I was a little bemused as to where the story was going with this introduction, unless Jenna was going to be next on the abductor's hit list.  I was just going to have to wait and see.

The story continues on to introduce the detectives and other members of the team who would eventually be involved in Eva and Jenna's lives.  Bradshaw is tasked with reviewing the cold case of several women who had disappeared some years before, seemingly unrelated yet surely too much of a coincidence not to be linked. The story ticks along steadily with updates on what happens to Eva during her captivity, the events Bradshaw and the team are influenced by in their investigation including the discovery of a murder victim who seems to be part of the case but can't quite be fitted into the puzzle and then the suspension of several local detectives on charges of misconduct.  How on earth all this was linked I couldn't fathom.

The mystery is kept quite well under wraps for a large part of the book until eventually and in unexpected manner the big reveal comes to pass.  The tension has built steadily through the chapters to this point and there is a flurry of adrenalin and action as the possibility of Eva being freed becomes a reality. The other elements which make up the tale all come into focus and I found this a satisfying book overall with some interesting characters and an unusual timescale which make the book stand out from the norm.  I'm certainly interested in looking for other titles in the series having read this one.
About the Author:

‘The Chosen Ones' is the fourth book in a north-east, crime fiction series written by Howard Linskey for Penguin Random House, featuring journalists Tom Carney & Helen Norton with police detective Ian Bradshaw. The other titles in this series are 'The Search' 'No Name Lane' and ‘Behind Dead Eyes’. He is also the author of ‘Hunting the Hangman’ a historical thriller about the assassination of Nazi General Reinhard Heydrich in Prague during WW2.

His David Blake trilogy 'The Drop', 'The Damage' & 'The Dead' have been optioned for TV by Harry Potter producer, David Barron. They are published in the UK by No Exit Press, in Germany by Droemer Knaur and in the US by Harper Collins. The Times newspaper voted 'The Drop' one of its Top Five Thrillers of the Year and 'The Damage' one of its Top Summer Reads. Both books broke into the top five Amazon Kindle chart.

'The Search' was featured on CBS Reality true crime TV series 'Written In Blood' . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRFJ0txCYvQ

Originally from Ferryhill in County Durham, he now lives in Herts with his wife Alison and daughter Erin

Howard's web site is www.howardlinskey.co.uk

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Wednesday 8 August 2018

#BlogTour The Cheesemaker's House by Jane Cable @rararesources @JaneCable

The Cheesemaker's House by Jane Cable
First Published 1st October 2013 
Published by Troubadour Publishing Ltd

My thanks to Rachel Gilbey for the opportunity to be part of the blog tour for this unusual novel with a wonderful historical note running through it. 

Book Description:

Just think, Alice, right now Owen could be putting a hex on you!
When Alice Hart’s husband runs off with his secretary, she runs off with his dog to lick her wounds in a North Yorkshire village. Battling with loneliness but trying to make the best of her new start, she soon meets her neighbours, including the drop-dead gorgeous builder Richard Wainwright and the kindly yet reticent cafe´ owner, Owen Maltby.

As Alice employs Richard to start renovating the barn next to her house, all is not what it seems. Why does she start seeing Owen when he clearly isn’t there? Where - or when - does the strange crying come from? And if Owen is the village charmer, what exactly does that mean?

The Cheesemaker’s House is a gripping read, inspired by a framed will found in the dining room of the author’s dream Yorkshire house. The previous owners explained that the house had been built at the request of the village cheesemaker in 1726 - and that the cheesemaker was a woman. And so the historical aspect of the story was born.

Jane Cable’s novel won the Suspense & Crime category of The Alan Titchmarsh Show People’s Novelist competition, reaching the last four out of over a thousand entries. The Cheesemaker’s House can be enjoyed by anyone who has become bored of today’s predictable boy-meets-girl romance novels.


My Review:

 I have to say that this novel was not at all what I was expecting when I signed up for this tour.  I was expecting there to be a lot more focus put on the history of the house itself due to the title but as someone with an interest in genealogy I did enjoy the concept of how echoes of the past can influence the present day occupants of a property.  If you aren't keen on supernatural things, don't let this put you off the book as it is more of an undercurrent to the story than the main component.

Alice is a newcomer to the area and is finding loneliness an issue as she has no friends to call on as she settles in to her new life as a single woman following her break up of her marriage.  She clicks with local man Owen and thinks she has found someone she can spend time with however Richard, the builder she has signed up to convert the barn in the grounds of the house, warns her off Owen - but what are his motives?

As Alice settles in to village life she gradually gets to know more people and learns more about the history of her home and possible thoughts as to why Richard has warned her off Owen.  A chilling and unsettling find during the conversion of the barn forces Alice to take a trip to the local records office where she uncovers some interesting facts from the village's past.

I found the relationship between Alice and Owen extremely frustrating at times and just wanted to sit the pair of them down and make them talk through their issues.  I would have liked a bigger part in the story for Owen's business partner Adam - I loved his character and would have liked more from him.  Also Margaret from the church who took over Alice's greenhouse and garden could have been developed more, I think there was far more to her story than we were given.

I found this to be a steadily paced, unusual novel with threads of the tale which kept me turning the pages to find out which direction the book was heading. I am not a great fan of paranormal things but the theme worked really well in this book as it was grounded well in the history of the family who previously owned the house.  I also found the herbalist aspect was well researched and put into context here when it could have been given a sinister twist which would have spoiled the spirit in which it was being presented.

This was a step out of my usual reading zone but one which captured by interest and kept me intrigued right through till the last page.

Purchase from Amazon -  viewBook.at/CheesemakersHouse

About the Author:


Perhaps writing is in my blood. My father, Mercer Simpson, was a poet; my cousin, Roger Hubank, a novelist; Roger’s uncle, John Hampson was also a novelist and fringe member of the Bloomsbury Group. And it’s even rumoured that John Keats is somewhere back there in the family tree.
No wonder that I have always scribbled. But it took me until I was in my forties to complete a full length manuscript. And then another, and another... Writing stories became a compulsive hobby. I could lose myself in my characters, almost live their lives, and I started to long for readers other than my mother and a few close friends to be able to do the same.
It was reaching the final of The Alan Titchmarsh Show’s People’s Novelist competition in 2011 which made me take my writing seriously. The Cheesemaker’s House, a gripping romance-suspense, saw the light of day in September 2013 and I was delighted when it received great reviews from book bloggers and, just as importantly, from the people who bought and read it. My second novel, The Faerie Tree, came out in March 2015 and is a suspenseful romance about the tricks memory plays.
Shortly afterwards The Cheesemaker's House won the independent novel of the year prize awarded by Words for the Wounded and as a result of this I was signed by the Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency and then by Endeavour Press who published Another You at the end of 2016.

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Thursday 2 August 2018

#BlogTour Do No Harm by Lucy V Hay #Book #Review @LucyVHayAuthor @annecater

Do No Harm by Lucy V Hay
Published 15 June 2018 by Orenda books
300 pages
Psychological Thriller

Book Description:

Till death do us part…

After leaving her marriage to jealous, possessive oncologist Maxwell, Lily and her six-year-old son have a second chance at happiness with headteacher Sebastian. Kind but vulnerable, Sebastian is the polar opposite of Maxwell, and the perfect match for Lily. After a whirlwind romance, they marry, and that’s when things start to go wrong…
Maxwell returns to the scene, determined to win back his family, and events soon spiral out of control. Lily and Sebastian find themselves not only fighting for their relationship, but also their lives…
Chilling, dark and terrifying, Do No Harm is a taut psychological thriller and a study of obsession, from one of the most exciting new voices in crime fiction.

My Review:

 First of all, my thanks go to Anne Cater for the opportunity to be part of the blog tour for this book and to Orenda books for the advance ecopy.

As with many of Orenda's titles, the stunning cover artwork certainly stood out for me before I had even read the synopsis.  I may have mentioned before that I do tend to judge books by their covers -which I know is wrong, but Orenda rarely disappoint and neither does this extremely chilling novel of obsession and manipulation.

Right from the get-go we know that Lily's ex husband Max is reluctant to let his former partner move on with her life.  He thinks Lily has made a huge mistake in leaving him and is determined to have her and their son Denny back home where he believes they belong - with him.  He takes every opportunity to make his presence felt, even turning up outside Lily and Sebastian's wedding venue just prior to the ceremony. Once back from their honeymoon, strange and unsettling events start happening which logic leads both Lily and Sebastian to suspect Max of being responsible for.  I have to say I rumbled quite early on what was going on in the newly-weds' life but couldn't quite put all the pieces of the plot together regarding the hows and whys of my theory in order to be 100% convinced.

With various suspects in the picture with different motives and time frames - not to mention a possible coalition of some of the characters being suggested at one point - the author had really tied my brain in knots and twisted the practicalities of my initial thoughts so much that I ended up not knowing who I'd put my money on.

I would recommend this book to fans of Liz Nugent's Lying in Wait and actually felt rather sorry for Lily and Sebastian - and even Maxwell in a way - by the end of the story. It is well paced and I felt we got to know the characters just well enough to put each of them into doubt at various points through the book.  Definitely a book I would recommend to friends and family and not just for its cover!


About the Author:


Lucy V. Hay script editor and blogger who helps writers via her Bang2write consultancy. She is the associate producer of Brit Thrillers DEVIATION (2012) and ASSASSIN (2015), both starring Danny Dyer. Lucy is also head reader for The London Screenwriters' Festival. Lucy is also an author, writing both screenwriting books and crime fiction. 

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Wednesday 1 August 2018

Oh Crumbs by Kathryn Freeman #BlogTour #Giveaway #Book #Review @kathrynfreeman1 @rararesources



Oh Crumbs by Kathryn Freeman
Published 12th June 2018
Published by Choc Lit

Book Description:

Another fun, fabulous read from Kathryn Freeman. You'll want to lock yourself away with this one!
Sometimes life just takes the biscuit …
Abby Spencer knows she can come across as an airhead – she talks too much and is a bit of a klutz – but there’s more to her than that. Though she sacrificed her career to help raise her sisters, a job interview at biscuit company Crumbs could finally be her chance to shine. That’s until she hurries in late wearing a shirt covered in rusk crumbs, courtesy of her baby nephew, and trips over her handbag.

Managing director Douglas Faulkner isn’t sure what to make of Abby Spencer with her Bambi eyes, tousled hair and ability to say more in the half-hour interview than he manages in a day. All he knows is she’s a breath of fresh air and could bring a new lease of life to the stale corporate world of Crumbs. To his life too, if he’d let her.

But Doug’s harbouring a secret. He’s not the man she thinks he is. 

My Review:

Abby Spencer has been dealt a pretty tough hand in life, having lost her mum when she was just a teenager.  She's supported her dad and her sisters, stepping up to be a replacement mum and housekeeper to them all.  She watched as her friends left town to follow their dreams at university while she quietly accepted her lot, taking temping jobs through the secretarial agency in order to help support the family.  She had worked hard to achieve a business degree through the open university, studying away in her evenings after a day's work then making sure the family were fed and prepared for what life was throwing at them that day.  Her diligence pays off when she lands herself a PA role to the MD of the world famous biscuit factory Crumbs.

Despite Abby's rather clumsy performance at interview, there is something about her that MD Doug Faulkner rather likes - and the feeling is mutual.  We follow the two of them as they learn about what makes each other tick; Doug is a closed book and rarely lets his guard down during working hours.  Abby is rather smitten with him but knows she has to keep her feelings in check, yet can see a sadness in him and wonders how anyone with a fantastic job, flash car and the heir to a fortune can be anything but happy.

I really enjoyed reading how Abby and Doug's relationship developed, each of them struggling with their own inner demons.  The story bobs steadily along with plenty of comical moments from Abby and her zany sisters, Doug stepping upon more than one occasion and showing himself to be the hero Abby imagines him to be yet what is it that is holding him back from relaxing and letting himself be truly happy?  Slowly but surely secrets are surrendered and the pair gradually come to realise that they can support each other with their insecurities, their polar opposite life experiences so far giving them the ability to see things from different perspectives.

This is a great book for teaching life lessons without overbearing sermons; we all deserve to be happy, and sometimes you have to step up and speak out in order to achieve that happiness.  Material things and social status may make some people happy but for others happiness is far more than the trappings of what money can buy.  We just have to decide what we want more in life and what we are prepared to sacrifice in order to get it.

I would definitely recommend this book as the characters are very real as are the scenarios the characters find themselves in.  A bit of a Cinderella story yet with so much more depth to the Prince than his dashing good looks.  

Purchase links:




About The Author:



A former pharmacist, I’m now a medical writer who also writes romance. Some days a racing heart is a medical condition, others it’s the reaction to a hunky hero.


With two teenage boys and a husband who asks every Valentine’s Day whether he has to buy a card (yes, he does), any romance is all in my head. Then again, his unstinting support of my career change proves love isn't always about hearts and flowers - and heroes come in many disguises.

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YOUR CHANCE TO WIN!!!
Giveaway – Win a paperback copy of Too Damn Nice by Kathryn Freeman (Open Internationally)
*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 I reserve 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 I will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.
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