First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston #NetGalley @HeadlineFiction @ashley_elston #FirstLieWins

First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston

Published by Headline

Publication Date: 2nd January 2024

My thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to read this book via NetGalley

Book Description:

Everything she is about to tell them is a lie...

Evie Porter has everything a girl could want: a doting boyfriend, a house with a picket fence, a fun group of friends.

The only catch: Evie Porter doesn't exist.

First comes the identity. Once she's given a name and location by her employer, she learns everything there is to know about the town and the people in it.

Then the mark: Ryan Sumner.

The last piece of the puzzle is the job. For Evie, this job feels different. Ryan has gotten under her skin and she's started to picture another kind of life for herself - one where her boss doesn't pull the strings. But Evie can't make any mistakes. Because the one thing she's worked her entire life to keep clean, the one identity she could always go back to - her real identity - just walked right into this town. A woman, who looks just like her, has stolen her name - and she wants more. As Evie's past begins to catch up with her, can she stay one step ahead to save her future?

My Thoughts:

Well, here's a twisty, turny novel if ever there was one. It's a tale of hidden identities - nobody is who you think they are - including the main character who is a master (or should that be mistress?) of disguises. Even she gets the shock of her life when, during her latest 'job' she is confronted by another woman who appears to have stolen her genuine identity. The plot thickens!

I defy anyone to work this book out before the end! Every time you think you've worked out who's a good guy and who's not, and who knows what about who, then bang! another plot twist. Questions abound from all angles - is Evie more at risk from her 'boss' or her latest target? Could they even be the same person? How far reaching are Mr Smith's contacts and how dangerous are they?

This is a book that kept me awake even when I was disciplined and went to bed instead of reading just one more chapter. The possibilities of who's who and what is going on keep the brain cells firing long after you've put the book down, and you'll be keen to pick it up again at the soonest opportunity.

Top notch plotting and smoke screening from a brilliant writer.

About the Author:

Ashley Elston lives in North Louisiana with her husband and three sons. She was a wedding and portrait photographer for ten years so most of her Saturday nights included eating cake, realizing no shoe is comfortable after standing for more than six hours and inevitably watching some groomsman do the alligator across the dance floor. Now, Ashley helps her husband run their small business and she writes as often as possible.

10 Things That Never Happened by Alexis Hall @quicunquevult @sourcebooks #paperbackbooks #booktwt #MaterialWorld

10 Things That Never Happened by Alexis Hall

Published by Sourcebooks Casablanca

Publication Date 17th October 2023

Book Description:

FAKE AMNESIA. REAL FEELINGS? REAL PROBLEMS.

Sam Becker loves-or, okay, likes-his job. Sure, managing a bed and bath retailer isn't exactly glamorous, but it's good work and he gets on well with the band of misfits who keep the store running. He could see himself being content here for the long haul. Too bad, then, that the owner is an infuriating git.

Jonathan Forest should never have hired Sam. It was a sentimental decision, and Jonathan didn't get where he is by following his heart. Determined to set things right, Jonathan orders Sam down to London for a difficult talk...only for a panicking Sam to trip, bump his head, and maybe accidentally imply he doesn't remember anything?

Faking amnesia seemed like a good idea when Sam was afraid he was getting sacked, but now he has to deal with the reality of Jonathan's guilt-as well as the unsettling fact that his surly boss might have a softer side to him. There's an unexpected freedom in getting a second shot at a first impression...but as Sam and Jonathan grow closer, can Sam really bring himself to tell the truth, or will their future be built entirely on one impulsive lie?

My Thoughts:

I bought this book purely because the first page had me chuckling out loud in the middle of my local Waterstones store, much to the embarrassment of my daughter. The sentence in particular that caught my eye: "It probably says good things about modern Britain - or maybe just about modern Liverpool - that when I was growing up, I got way less shit for being gay than I got for being named after a hobbit." - I mean, that's got to pique your interest, right?!

Sam's job is unfortunately far less interesting than his name, but the story that Alexis Hall has created about being in the employ of Jonathan Forest, aka His Royal Dickishness, had me chuckling along throughout its entirety. Where Sam has a serious lack of a support network in his life, Jonathan has more than enough unwanted familial attention, much to his annoyance. The balance is reset during a visit to Jonathan's "flagship" Croydon branch of Splashes & Snuggles with a misunderstanding which ends in a Nexa by MERLYN 8mm Sliding Door Shower enclosure. A visit to A&E and a journey to fetch Sam's rather quirkily featured cat, Gollum, mean that Sam and Jonathan - and indeed the whole of the Forest family - end up spending far more time together than any of them could have envisaged.

This is a book I would have loved to have closed the door, wrapped myself in a blanket, and immersed myself in from cover to cover. There are some deeper issues along the way, but these are handled without getting too heavy - the Liverpudlian humour lifts the whole story, and the outcome is spot on.  The characters are fabulous, from incompetent Brian and New Enthusiastic Chris at the Sheffield store, to Jonathan's nana Pauline and her new toyboy boyfriend Ralph , plus just about every member of the Forest clan. There's plenty going on in the run up to Christmas whilst Sam does his best to keep up with the fake amnesia condition which caused him to be there in the first place.

If you'd have told me that my first book of 2024 would have been a gay romance novel, I would have doubted you very much, but I'm so pleased it was as it has been a huge hit. I absolutely recommend you give Alexis Hall's novels a try if you haven't already. Writing humour is an art in itself and to keep it going through a whole (almost) 400 page novel is an exceptional talent. Thank you Mr Hall, you have a new fan right here.

About the Author:

Alexis Hall writes books in the southeast of England, where he lives entirely on a diet of tea and Jaffa Cakes. You can find him at http://www.quicunquevult.com, on Twitter @quicunquevult, on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/quicunquevult/ and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/quicunquevult. 

The Woman on the Ledge by Ruth Mancini #NetGalley @RuthMancini1 #TheWomanontheLedge #earc

 

The Woman On the Ledge by Ruth Mancini

Published by Penguin

Publication Date 4th January 2024

Book Description:

A woman falls to her death from a London bank's twenty-fifth-floor roof terrace.

You're arrested for her murder.

You tell the police that you only met the victim the previous night at your office party. She was threatening to jump from the roof, but you talked her down.

You've got nothing to do with this tragedy.
You're clearly being framed.

So why do the police keep picking holes in your story? Even your lawyer doesn't seem to believe you.

It soon becomes obvious that you're keeping secrets.

But who are you trying to protect? And why?

My Thoughts:

I love a book that gets stuck straight into the action, and this one certainly fits the bill on that score. The reader is introduced to Tate Kinsella as she is rudely awoken by the police who have come to arrest her for murder. She protests her innocence, but does admit that she was in the vicinity when a woman fell from the roof of the office block where she was working in London. And things get no clearer for a good chunk of the book until Tate finally confides in her lawyer, Sarah, as to what actually happened.

This story is a real page turner as the layers get peeled back far further than the initial introduction suggests. The tension between Tate and her lawyer is tangible - Tate's statement is full of holes which she seems reluctant to explain, which makes a tough job for the defence. Then, as the trust builds between the two women, facts are gradually disclosed out of the earshot of the detectives. The implications of what Sarah has been told completely change the view she has of the woman sitting in front of her. She just has to work out how she can use the law in their favour.

The knowledge the author has of the legal system shines through strongly and makes for an easy to read account of some sensitive issues, and a clever way to get justice in a case where outdated laws could have led to a very negative outcome. Only a lawyer could have plotted this book so well!

My thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to read this book via NetGalley

About the Author:

RUTH MANCINI is a criminal defence lawyer and author. She continues to practise for a large criminal law firm with offices in London, conducting advocacy in the courts and defending people arrested at police stations. She also reviews trial files across the firm and juggles her legal work with writing crime and psychological fiction.

Ruth lives in Oxfordshire with her husband and two children.

She can be found on Twitter @RuthMancini1 and Facebook at www.facebook.com/ruth.mancini.author