Monday 31 December 2018

Monthly round-up: December 2018

With no blog tours scheduled for this month and no particular deadlines imminent, it is at last time for me to catch up on some reading that I have been wanting to get to for a while.  Here's what I chose to read in December:

No Way Out by Cara Hunter (DI Fawley #3)
Penguin UK
Publication Date: ebook 22 March 2019, PB 18th April 2019
480 pages
Genre: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Tell Me A Secret by Jane Fallon
Penguin UK
Publication Date: 10th January 2019
404 pages
Genre: Womens Fiction/Humour

 The Girl In The Corner by Amanda Prowse
Published by: Lake Union Publishing
Publication Date: ebook 11th December, PB 20th December 2018
320 pages
Genre: Womens Fiction/Contemporary Romance

The Little Book Café by Georgia Hill
Published by Harper Impulse
Published 13th December 2018
355 pages
Genre: Contemporary Ficton/Short Stories

Her Pretty Bones by Carla Kovach
Published by Bookouture
Publication Date 17th January 2019
Genre: Crime/Police Procedural
330 pages

Did I Mention I Won The Lottery? by Julie Butterfield
Published 2017 (Amazon kindle)
Genre: Contemporary/womens fiction
244 pages

Saturday 29 December 2018

The Girl In The Corner by Amanda Prowse #NetGalley #TheGirlInThe Corner

The Girl In The Corner by Amanda Prowse
Published by Lake Union Publishing
Publication Date: ebook 11th December 2018, PB 20th December 2018
320 pages
Genre: Womens Fiction/Contemporary Romance 

My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for a copy of this book in return for my unbiased review. Amanda Prowse is fast becoming one of my top authors this year - if you haven't tried her work I definitely recommend her to you. My only word of warning is that you will probably need a tissue to wipe your tears at some point through her books.  She certainly knows how to hit you right in the feels.


Book Description:

From bestselling author Amanda Prowse comes the poignant tale of a woman who has always been there for her family. But will they be there for her?
Rae-Valentine and Howard were childhood sweethearts. They’ve shared twenty-five peaceful years since they were brought together by Dolly, Howard’s larger-than-life sister. But now, on the night of their wedding anniversary, Howard reveals a shocking betrayal that leaves Rae reeling.
Heartbroken, she takes Dolly on her would-be anniversary trip to Antigua and the two women drink and dance and talk like they haven’t in years. But in the break from real life, Rae realises her choices have always been made for her, and suddenly she’s questioning not only her fragile marriage but also her one-sided friendships. Is she really the pushover everyone else sees?
When Howard comes looking for reconciliation, Rae has a choice to make: keep the peace, as she always has, or put herself first for once and find out who she really is.

My Review:

Rae-Valentine has always felt overwhelmed by people and places in her life, right back to her early childhood when her gregarious sister took centre stage and all the limelight.  Never one to rock the boat she heads off to secretarial college on the advice of her parents, even though she would rather have gone to catering college and learned to cook.  There she meets Dolly who's loud and confident and singles Rae out from the class to be her new best friend.  Opposites attract and all that. Dolly is desperate to date her brother's best friend so pairs Rae up with her brother so they can double-date - and the rest is history.  They click instantly and get married soon after, aged just 18. 

25 happy years and 2 kids later, Rae and Howard are still together and celebrating their silver wedding anniversary with all the family. That is until the party's over and Howard breaks down with a confession which rocks Rae's whole world.  With a trip of a lifetime to Antigua booked, Howard insists that Rae goes ahead with the trip accompanied by her best friend Dolly, citing work commitments with the family restaurants as the reason for him not being able to go.

On this trip Rae spends many hours looking back over her life, wondering how things have ended up the way they are. Why can't she be brave like everyone else and reach for her own ambitions? Why can she not be selfish just for once and stop being a doormat for everyone to wipe their feet on? She realises she needs to get a backbone - but doing it is far more difficult than making the decision.  Especially once she's back in the routine of the UK and at the family's beck and call.

What will it take for Rae to finally step up and speak out? Can she do it or is she destined to watch her dreams slip from her fingers time after time until it's too late?

I definitely recommend this book to women across the age groups - you will at times want to give Rae a good shake and a strong talking to, at others you will want her to tell Dolly to butt out and others you will just want to hug her and share a box of tissues as you have a good old weep together.  By the end of the book I loved Rae-Valentine but it was one hell of a journey through the pages of her life to get to where she needed to be.

About the Author:


Amanda Prowse is an International Bestselling author who has had twenty novels published in dozens of languages. Her chart topping No.1 titles ‘What Have I Done?’, ‘Perfect Daughter’ and ‘My Husband’s Wife’ have sold millions of copies around the world.

Other novels by Amanda Prowse include ‘A Mother’s Story’ which won the coveted Sainsbury’s eBook of the year Award and ‘Perfect Daughter’ that was selected as a World Book Night title in 2016. Amanda’s latest book ‘The Coordinates of Loss’ went straight to No.1 in Literary Fiction when it was launched. She has been described by the Daily Mail as ‘The Queen of Family Drama.'

Published by Lake Union, Amanda is the most prolific writer of bestselling contemporary fiction in the UK today; her titles also consistently score the highest online review approval ratings across several genres.

A popular TV and radio personality, Amanda is a regular panellist on Channel 5's ‘The Jeremy Vine Show' and numerous daytime ITV programmes. She makes countless guest appearances on BBC national independent Radio stations including LBC and Talk FM, where she is well known for her insightful observations and her infectious humour.

Amanda's ambition is to create stories that keep people from turning the bedside lamp off at night, great characters that ensure you take every step with them and tales that fill your head so you can't possibly read another book until the memory fades...

Tuesday 18 December 2018

The Little Book Cafe by Georgia Hill @HarperImpulse @georgiawrites @NetGalley

The Little Book Café by Georgia Hill
Published by Harper Impulse
Published 13th December 2018
355 pages
Genre: Contemporary Ficton/Short Stories

My thanks to Harper Impulse and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review.

Book Description:

A charming new series from the author of Millie Vanilla’s Cupcake Cafe
Tash, Emma and Amy couldn’t be more different
.
A successful estate agent who has her life pretty much on track, Tash has ticked all the boxes. Hasn’t she?
Emma is a budding writer who yearns to flex her writing skills and shake up her life that has become, well, a little stale…
And then there’s Amy, the manager of The Little Book Café, a hopeless romantic who had her heart broken, but quietly refuses to give up on love.
Brought together by their love of books and delicious cake from the café next door, they are in for a year of romance, crime and classic novels that will help them get through all that life will throw at them…

My Review:

I found this to be an easy to read compilation of the 3 books in the little book café series. Each of the sections tackles the life of one of the 3 friends, whilst slotting in with the other friends' lives in the background:

Tash outwardly seems to have herself a nice, very comfortable life sorted with gregarious Adrian yet something doesn't seem quite right and she's not 100% satisfied that this is what she really wants. Once she realises she needs to take action to find her true happiness and the scales fall from her eyes everything seems so much more obvious that things haven't been right for along time.

Friend and colleague Emma has been with boyfriend Ollie on and off since school and finds her head turned by seemingly worldly Joel, a writer and academic who is in the town running a literary course at the little book café. She wants more from life than the small town has offered her so far and wonders if she can spread her wings.  Only once she starts down the path to change does she realise how much she values the life she already has.


Bookshop manager Amy loves nothing more than losing herself in a good book, talking about books, selling books to people - especially little people who are just starting to discover books - anything which involves books really... and cake. Since disaster struck on her wedding day she has hidden herself away, protecting herself from real life and people by hiding under the radar amid fictional characters and plots.  With the success of the bookshop and the little book group she set up, she begins to realise that maybe she is missing out on real life - a point her mother is quite willing to labour at any possible opportunity. 
Can she be brave enough to step out and get noticed again or is she destined to remain hidden away between the shelves?


This is a cosy set of 3 tales of women in similar circumstances  yet all in different ways.  Their friendship and the sense of community draws their inner strength out to make their lives complete - I love the coastal setting and would be more than happy in Amy's role in life.  A bookshop and café set right on the coast in my favourite area of the UK, a great community spirit across the age groups and a close friendship with a small group of special people who all want the best for each other. What more could I possibly want?  I very much felt that Georgia Hill had dipped in to my head and stolen my dreams to write her book with, and come up with the perfect ending for me too. I thoroughly enjoyed each section in its own right, and by joining the 3 parts into one volume we have the complete story all zipped up together.


About the Author:


Georgia Hill writes rom-coms and historical fiction and is published by Harper Impulse, the digital-first imprint of Harper Collins.

Her first novel, Pursued by Love has now been re-released as Pride and Perdita.

She lives near the sea with her two beloved spaniels, a husband (also beloved) and a ghost called Zoe. She loves the novels of Jane Austen, eats far too much Belgian chocolate and has a passion for Strictly Come Dancing.

Find her on Twitter @georgiawrites and at www.georgiahill.co.uk

Sunday 9 December 2018

The Chestnut Man by Soren Sveistrup #BlogTour #FirstChapter @JennyPlatt90 @PenguinUKBooks

The Chestnut Man by Soren Sveistrup
Published by Michael Joseph/Penguin Random House UK
Publication Date: 10th January 2019 (ebook & hardback)
Genre: Thriller & Mystery
512 pages

I am beyond thrilled to be kicking off the blog tour for the debut novel from Soren Sveistrup. My sincere thanks to Jenny Platt, Publicity Manager for Penguin Random House for the opportunity to take part in this fabulous blog tour. What is even more exciting is that I have the first chapter of the book right here for you all to read today ahead of publication!! There will be reviews and features right through to the end of January, so check out the tour poster to find out who has been kept awake at night reading this creepy serial killer thriller.  I guarantee you are going to love this one!



Here's what the book is all about, followed by that first chapter:

Book Description:

THE DEBUT NOVEL FROM THE CREATOR AND WRITER OF THE KILLING
One blustery October morning in a quiet suburb of Copenhagen, the police make a terrible discovery. A young woman is found brutally murdered in a playground and one of her hands is missing. Above her hangs a small doll made of chestnuts.
Ambitious young detective Naia Thulin is assigned the case. Her partner, Mark Hess, is a burned-out investigator who's just been kicked out of Europol. They soon discover a mysterious piece of evidence on the chestnut man - evidence connecting it to a girl who went missing a year earlier and is presumed dead - the daughter of politician Rosa Hartung.
The man who confessed to her murder is behind bars and the case is long since closed.
Soon afterwards, another woman is found murdered, along with another chestnut man. Thulin and Hess suspect that there's a connection between the Hartung case, the murdered women and a killer who is spreading fear throughout the country. But what is it?
Thulin and Hess are racing against the clock, because it's clear that the murderer is on a mission that is far from over . . .

THE CHESTNUT MAN

Tuesday 31 October 1989

Red and yellow leaves drift down through the sunlight onto the wet asphalt, which cuts through the woods like a dark and glassy river. As the white squad car tears past, they’re spun briefly in the air before coming to rest in sticky clumps along the edge of the road. Marius Larsen takes his foot off the accelerator and eases up for the bend, making a mental note to tell the council they need to come out here with the sweeper. If the leaves are left too long they’ll make the surface slippery, and that sort of thing can cost lives. Marius has seen it many times before. He’s been on the force forty-one years, senior officer at the station for the last seventeen, and he has to prod them about it every single autumn. But not today – today he has to focus on the conversation. 

Marius fiddles irritably with the frequency on the car radio, but he can’t find what he’s looking for. Only news about Gorbachev and Reagan, and speculation about the fall of the Berlin Wall. It’s imminent, they’re saying. A whole new era may be on its way. 

He’s known for a while that the conversation has to happen, yet he’s never been able to screw up his courage. Now there’s only a week until his wife thinks he’s retiring, so the time has come to tell her the truth. That he can’t cope without his job. That he’s dealt with the practical side of things and put off the decision. That he isn’t ready yet to settle on the corner sofa and watch Wheel of Fortune, to rake leaves in the garden or play Old Maid with the grandkids. 

It sounds easy when he runs through the conversation in his head, but Marius knows full well she’ll be upset. She’ll feel let down. She’ll get up from the table and start scouring the hob in the kitchen, and tell him with her back turned that she understands. But she won’t. So when the report came over the radio ten minutes ago he told the station he’d handle it himself, postponing the conversation a little longer. Normally he’d be annoyed about having to drive all the way out to Ørum’s Farm through fields and forest merely to tell them they need to keep a better eye on their animals. Several times now, pigs or cows have broken through the fence and gone roaming the neighbour’s fields until Marius or one of his men made Ørum sort it out. But today he isn’t annoyed. He asked them to call first, of course, ringing Ørum’s house and the ferry terminal, where he has a part-time job, but when nobody picked up at either place he turned off the main road and headed for the farm. 

Marius finds a channel playing old Danish music. ‘The Bright Red Rubber Dinghy’ fills the old Ford Escort, and Marius turns up the volume. He’s enjoying the autumn and the drive. The woods, their yellow, red and brown leaves mixing with the evergreens. The anticipation of hunting season, which is just beginning. He rolls down the window, the sunlight casting its dappled light onto the road through the treetops, and for a moment Marius forgets his age. 

There’s silence at the farm. Marius gets out and slams the car door, and as he does so it strikes him that it’s been ages since he was last here. The wide yard looks dilapidated. There are holes in the windows of the stable, the plaster on the walls of the house is peeling off in strips, and the empty swing set on the overgrown lawn is nearly swallowed up by the tall chestnut trees encircling the property. Littered across thegravel yard are leaves and fallen chestnuts, which squelch beneath his feet as he walks up to the front door and knocks. 

After Marius has knocked three times and called out Ørum’s name, he realises nobody will answer. Seeing no sign of life, he takes out a pad, writes a note and slips it through the letter box, while a few crows flit across the yard and vanish behind the Ferguson tractor parked in front of the barn. Marius has driven all the way out here on a fool’s errand, and now he’ll have to stop by the ferry terminal to get hold of Ørum. But he’s not annoyed for long: on the way back to the car an idea pops into his head. That never usually happens to Marius, so it must be a stroke of luck that he drove out here instead of heading straight home to the conversation. Like a plaster on a cut, he’ll offer his wife a trip to Berlin. They could nip down there for a week – well, at least a weekend, say, as soon as he can take time off. Do the drive themselves, witness history in the making – that new era – eat dumplings and sauerkraut like they did before in Harzen, on that camping trip with the kids far too long ago. Only when he’s almost reached the car does he see why the crows are settling behind the tractor. They’re hopping around on something pallid and formless, and not until he gets closer does he realise it’s a pig. Its eyes are dead, but its body jerks and shivers as though trying to frighten off the crows, which are feeding from the gunshot wound at the back of its head. Marius opens the front door. The hallway is dim, and he notices the scent of damp and mould, and something else he can’t quite put his finger on. 

‘Ørum, it’s the police.’ There’s no reply, but he can hear water running somewhere in the house, so he steps into the kitchen. The girl is a teenager. Maybe sixteen, seventeen. Her body is still sitting in the chair by the table, and what’s left of her ruined face is floating in her bowl of porridge. On the linoleum on the other side of the table is another lifeless figure. He’s a teenager too, a little older, with a gaping bullet wound in his chest and the back of his head tilted awkwardly against the stove. Marius goes rigid. He’s seen dead people before, of course, but never anything like this, and for a brief moment he’s paralysed, until he takes his service pistol out of the holster on his belt. 

‘Ørum?’ Marius proceeds further into the house as he calls Ørum’s name, this time with his pistol raised. Still no reply. Marius finds the next corpse in the bathroom, and this time he has to clap his hand to his mouth so he doesn’t throw up. The water is running from the tap into the bathtub, which has long since filled to the brim. It’s spilling onto the terrazzo flooring and down the drain, intermingled with the blood. The naked woman – she must be the teenagers’ mother – is lying tangled on the floor. One arm and one leg have been separated from the torso. In the subsequent autopsy report, it will emerge that she has been struck repeatedly with an axe. First as she lay in the bathtub and then as she tried to escape by crawling onto the floor. It will also be established that she tried to defend herself with her hands and feet, which is why they have split open. Her face is unrecognisable, because the axe was used to cave in her skull. 

Marius would have frozen at the sight if he hadn’t glimpsed a faint movement out of the corner of his eye. Half hidden beneath a shower curtain dumped in the corner, he can make out a figure. Cautiously, Marius pulls back the curtain a little. It’s a boy. Dishevelled hair, about ten or eleven. He’s lying lifeless in the blood, but a corner of the curtain is still covering the boy’s mouth and it vibrates weakly, haltingly. Marius swiftly leans over the boy and removes the curtain, picking up his limp arm and trying to find a pulse. The boy has cuts and scratches on his arms and legs, he wears a bloody T-shirt and underwear, and an axe has been dropped near his head. Finding a pulse, Marius leaps to his feet. 

In the living room he grabs feverishly at the telephone beside the full ashtray, sending it tumbling to the floor, but by the time he gets hold of the station his head is clear enough to deliver a coherent message. Ambulance. Officers. Asap. No trace of Ørum. Get going. Now! When he hangs up his first thought is to hurry back to the boy, but then abruptly he remembers that there must be another child: the boy has a twin sister. 

Marius heads back towards the front hall and the staircase up to the first floor. As he passes the kitchen and the open basement door, he stops short. There was a sound. A footfall or a scrape, but now there’s silence. Marius draws his pistol again. Opening the door wide, he shuffles gingerly down the narrow steps until his feet find the concrete floor. It takes his eyes a moment to adjust to the dark, and then he sees the open basement door at the end of the corridor. His body hesitates, telling him he ought to stop here, wait for the ambulance and his colleagues; but Marius thinks of the girl. As he approaches the door he can see it’s been forced open. The lock and bolt are discarded on the ground, and Marius enters the room, which is lit only dimly by the grime-smeared windows above. Yet he can still make out a small shape hidden well back beneath a table in the corner. Hurrying over, Marius lowers his gun, bends down and peers underneath it. 

‘It’s okay. It’s over now.’ He can’t see the girl’s face, only that she’s shaking and huddled into the corner without looking at him. 

‘My name is Marius. I’m from the police, and I’m here to help you.’ The girl stays timidly where she is, as though she can’t even hear him, and suddenly Marius becomes aware of the room. 

Glancing around, he realises what it was used for. He’s disgusted. Then he catches a glimpse of the crooked wooden shelves through the door to the adjoining room. The sight makes him forget the girl, and he walks across to the threshold. Marius can’t see how many there are, but there are more than he can count with the naked eye. Chestnut dolls, male and female. Animals, too. Big and small, some childish, others eerie. Many of them unfinished and malformed. Marius stares at them, their number and variety, and the small dolls on the shelves fill him with disquiet, as the boy steps through the door behind him. 

In a split second Marius realises he should remember to ask Forensics whether the basement door was broken down from the inside or the outside. In a split second he realises something monstrous may have escaped, like the animals from their pens, but when he turns towards the boy his thoughts swim away like tiny, puzzled clouds across the heavens. Then the axe strikes his jaw, and everything goes black.



Buy your copy here: The Chestnut Man at Amazon UK


Thursday 6 December 2018

Do Not Disturb by Claire Douglas #NetGalley @PenguinUKBooks @MichaelJBooks @DougieClaire

Do Not Disturb by Claire Douglas
Published by Penguin UK (Michael Joseph)
Publication date: 9th August 2018
Genre: Mystery & Thrillers/Womens Fiction
383 pages

I'm afraid I have become quite overwhelmed by my NetGalley shelf over the last few months and am now endeavouring to clear my backlog of some brilliant titles which I just haven't had the chance to get to. This book in particular has been waving frantically at me from my shelf so I made sure it was the first to be reached from the list once I found some free time.  My sincere thanks to publisher Michael Joseph Books for the opportunity to review this book, I can but apologise for not having done so sooner.

Book Description:

Could your dream home be your worst nightmare?
After what happened in London, Kirsty needs a fresh start with her family.
And running a guesthouse in the Welsh mountains sounds idyllic.
But then their first guest arrives.
Selena is the last person Kirsty wants to see.
It's seventeen years since she tore everything apart.
Why has she chosen now to walk back into Kirsty's life?
Is Selena running from something too?
Or is there an even darker reason for her visit?
Because Kirsty knows that once you invite trouble into your home, it can be murder getting rid of it . . .

My Review:

The focus of this very cloak and dagger book, Kirsty and husband Adrian have moved to the Welsh mountains to make real their dream of running a guest house with the support of Kirsty's mum Carol.  Adrian has clearly had some mental health issues back in London with his stressful job as a lawyer finally taking its toll. The full extent of his problems are divulged gradually to the reader as the story unfolds.

There is a heavily claustrophobic feel to this novel, the location of the guesthouse nestled in among the mountains feels quite oppressive. Then as various members of the family turn up having been invited by Carol and not necessarily approved by Kirsty, things start becoming more and more sinister.  Rumours of 'bad energy' and reports of an unpleasant history of the property only add to the atmosphere, then daughter Evie discovers a spooky china doll beneath the floorboards in her new bedroom. 

The arrival of Kirsty's estranged cousin Selena and her daughter Ruby seems to trigger even more unsettling events which culminate in a tragic accident in the early hours of one morning. Everyone is under suspicion both by local police and between the various members of the household. Trust is not something readily on offer throughout the whole of the book.

This is one big onion of a psychological thriller with layer upon layer of secrets and lies just waiting to be peeled away in order to expose the truth.  This book is a chilling exploration of how far people will go to protect themselves and one another, whether they are family or not.

This is a great read for a dark wintry evening, especially if you can dedicate the time to read it in good, hefty chunks as it really pulls you in to want to know who is responsible for the goings on behind the doors of the Old Rectory.

About the Author:


Claire Douglas has worked as a journalist for fifteen years writing features for women's magazines and national newspapers, but she's dreamed of being a novelist since the age of seven. She finally got her wish after winning the Marie Claire Debut Novel Award, with her first novel, The Sisters, which was followed by Local Girl Missing, Last Seen Alive and Do Not Disturb, all Sunday Times bestsellers. She lives in Bath with her husband and two children. 

Social Media Links:

Twitter: @DougieClaire 
Instagram: clairedouglasauthor 
Facebook page: clairedouglasauthor

Tuesday 4 December 2018

The Year that Changed Everything by Cathy Kelly @orionbooks @cathykellybooks

The Year that Changed Everything by Cathy Kelly
Published by Orion Books
Publication Date: 18th October 2018 (paperback)
390 pages
Genre: womens fiction

I only called in at my local library to drop some books back and stop for a quick cuppa, but the beautiful cover of this book grabbed me. I thought I would try a few pages while I drank however a good hour later and I was hooked into the story of 3 women with the same birthday but very different lives.


Book Description:
Three women, three birthdays, one year that will change everything...

Ginger isn't spending her thirtieth the way she would have planned. Tonight might be the first night of the rest of her life - or a total disaster.
Sam is finally pregnant after years of trying. When her waters break on the morning of her fortieth birthday, she panics: forget labour, how is she going to be a mother?
Callie is celebrating her fiftieth at a big party in her Dublin home. Then a knock at the door mid-party changes everything...
Treat yourself to the heartwarming and life-affirming new story from international bestseller Cathy Kelly
My Review:

When you're in your teens you assume that by the time you hit 30 you will have your life sorted and be in control, with none of the self-doubt you have as you hit adulthood.  This book shows that no matter what age you are those doubts still nag at the back of your brain, can catch you unawares even when you think you've got your ducks in a row.

Ginger is a plus-size young lady who thinks it's her size which is holding her back - ok so at work she paints on a façade of capability and not giving a toss, but in her personal life things couldn't be more different and "best friend" Liza knows her better than anyone and knows her weaknesses.

Sam is a confident business woman, forever in control of her life. Except she isn't, as several rounds of IVF have failed and she doesn't know how to deal with this.  Luckily Fate has stepped in and she finds herself pregnant naturally but then the worries crank up to a whole new level as she realises that new motherhood throws in the need for a whole new skill set that she's talked herself into believing she doesn't have.

Callie on the other hand has everything: huge, glamorous house in a desirable area, successful business owning husband Jason who dotes on her every whim (and more) and stroppy teenage daughter who only has to ask and anything she wants appears as if by magic. But Callie isn't comfortable with the lifestyle as she and Jason came from much more working class backgrounds.

The book leads us through the same year in each of the women's lives; the women don't know each other and have no reason for their paths to cross. From the disastrous events on each of the women's 'big' birthdays we follow how each of them deals with the ensuing months.  All 3 of them feel they have hit rock bottom in their lives and have to dig deep to work out how to face their problems. Friends, work colleagues and family all step in to help the women see that if they take a good look at themselves they are stronger than they think.  People aren't always who you think they are; those you think you can trust will let you down big time and you need to cut those ties whereas others you thought would never be there for you step up and offer you a leg up to get you back on track.  It's in the hardest times that you find out who you can truly rely on.

I really liked the characterisation in this book. The good guys are heart warming, the bad guys are proper rotten eggs who had me angry on behalf of the girls. I also liked the way the 3 threads of the story slowly but surely interwove so that the ladies end up in the same place at the same time - physically and emotionally. I did expect there to be more of a problem with Poppy's transition from private schoolgirl to her new life living with the gran she'd rarely met before on a council estate. I don't think many spoiled teens would make the adjustment quite so smoothly in the circumstances. Otherwise great story telling from one of Ireland's best authors in my opinion, this is suitable for all age groups of women who enjoy a good yarn.

About the Author:


Cathy Kelly is published around the world, with millions of books in print. Cathy is the bestselling author of The Honey Queen, Once in a Lifetime and Between Sisters, and is a No.1 bestseller in the UK, Ireland and Australia. Her trademark is warm and witty Irish storytelling about modern life, always with an uplifting message, a sense of community and strong female characters at the heart.
She lives with her family and their three dogs in County Wicklow, Ireland. She is also an Ambassador for UNICEF Ireland, raising funds and awareness for children orphaned by or living with HIV/AIDS.
Find out more at www.cathykelly.com or follow her on Twitter @cathykellybooks

Saturday 1 December 2018

Monthly Round-Up: November 2018

With rather too many blog tours signed up to this month, the pressure has been on to get the books read in time to get the reviews written and posted in time.  This is what I have been reading:-

The Twisted Web by Rebecca Bradley
277 pages
Genre: Crime/Police Procedural

A Village Affair by Julie Houston
470 pages
Published by Aria Fiction
Publication Date: 6th November 2018
Genre: womens fiction

Mavis and Dot by Angela Petch
206 pages
Publication Date: 14th November 2018
Genre: womens fiction/humour

The Next Person You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
224 pages
Published by Sphere
Publication Date: 9th October 2018
Genre: Contemporary fiction

Black Moss by David Nolan
291 pages
Publication Date: 27th September 2018
Published by: Fahrenheit Press
Genre: Crime/Mystery & Thrillers

The Shape of Us by Drew Davies
331 pages
Publication Date: 27th November 2018
Published by: Bookouture
Genre: womens fiction

The Year That Changed Everything by Cathy Kelly
401 pages
Publication Date: 22nd February 2018
Published by: Orion Publishing
Genre:Contemporary/womens fiction

Do Not Disturb by Claire Douglas
383 pages
Publication Date: 1st August 2018
Published by Penguin
Genre: womens fiction/mystery & thrillers

The Hopes and Dreams of Lucy Baker by Jenni Keer
400 pages
Publication Date: ebook 10th January 2019, paperback 21st March 2019
Published by Avon
Genre: womens fiction/rom com 

Friday 30 November 2018

Black Moss by David Nolan #BlogTour #Review @fahrenheitpress @Nolanwriter #LoveBooksGroupTours

Black Moss by David Nolan
Published by Fahrenheit Press
Publication Date: 27th September 2018
Genre: Crime/Mystery &Thrillers

My thanks to Fahrenheit Press and Kelly Lacey at Love Books Group for the opportunity to read and review Black Moss as part of the blog tour - a new author for me, and yet another to add to my ever-growing list of authors to look out for.

Book Description:

In April 1990, as rioters took over Strangeways prison in Manchester, someone killed a little boy at Black Moss.

And no one cared.

No one except Danny Johnston, an inexperienced radio reporter trying to make a name for himself.

More than a quarter of a century later, Danny returns to his home city to revisit the murder that's always haunted him.

If Danny can find out what really happened to the boy, maybe he can cure the emptiness he's felt inside since he too was a child.

But finding out the truth might just be the worst idea Danny Johnston has ever had.

My Review:

If you are of a sensitive disposition then to be honest this may not be the book for you as it is touches on some issues which make for uncomfortable reading at times. Subjects such as alcohol dependency, child neglect and abuse are the tip of the iceberg so be warned that this is a very straight talking author who is not afraid to bring hard-hitting issues to the fore.

The book switches between two time zones, 1990 when Danny is starting out as a radio journalist who feels extremely insignificant in the pecking order at Manchester Radio while the Strangeways riots rage and 2016 where Danny has made his way in his chosen career but ghosts from the past and a dependence on the demon drink have burst his bubble and brought the whole house of cards tumbling down.

The first half of the book is a bit of a slow burner but ticks steadily along to give us vital background to our characters. As the pace of the Strangeways riots builds to a crescendo in 1990, the 21st century chapters also step up and the answers to the questions Danny is seeking just seem to keep eluding him, in fact leave him more uncomfortable and with even more loose ends than he started with. Back in the day, Danny is sent to report on a bleak discovery at the edge of a reservoir - a young unidentified child has been abused and killed, dumped on the sand at the edge of the water.  The scene affects Danny deeply, especially as he struggles to get the incident in the public domain - his reports are glossed over by the radio station staff who would rather seek the glory of a Strangeways scoop to further their careers than feature a 'nobody' in their news reports. More doors are metaphorically slammed in his face as he tries to seek answers from the local constabulary. It doesn't sit right in Danny's mind or heart.

With Danny's own fall from grace in 2016, the case is still giving Danny sleepless nights and he decides that in order to move on with his own life he needs to revisit his past.  His return opens old wounds and despite social media and the freedom of information making people much easier to track down than back in the day, some people don't want him poking around in old cases.  Danny is nothing if not determined to find out the identity of the boy at Black Moss and is shocked when the pieces finally fall into place.

The amount of research and the personal investment the author has put into this book comes across strongly, and having read David Nolan's own background I can see how much this book must mean to him to get his message across.  There have been far too many children lost in the 'system' over the years and it is truly shocking and upsetting to consider how their lives must have panned out once they crossed over into the so-called 'care system'. I have so much respect for people like David who are raising their profile, and giving these lost children a voice. 

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About the Author:

David is a multi-award-winning author, television producer and crime reporter. He has written a dozen books including Tell the Truth and Shame the Devil, the true story of the largest historic abuse case ever mounted by Greater Manchester Police. He presented a BBC Radio 4 documentary based on the book called The Abuse Trial. It won both the Rose D’Or and the New York International radio awards in 2016. Officers involved in the case helped David with the police procedures featured in Black Moss, particularly the way the system deals with missing children.