Book Synopsis:

As she looks at the baby wriggling in her father’s arms, a bolt of recognition goes through her and she takes a step back. And it’s in that moment that she begins to protect her father’s secrets.

1934, Weirfield-on-Thames. Connie Burroughs loves living in the orphanage that her father runs. Exploring its nooks and crannies with her sister, hearing the pounding of a hundred pairs of feet on the wooden stairs, having a father who is doing so much good. But everything changes the day she sees him carrying a newborn baby that he says he found near the broken front gate. A baby she recognises…

Present day. Arriving at her father’s beloved cottage beside the river, Sarah Jennings is hoping for peace and quiet, to escape her difficult divorce. But when she finds her father unwell and hunched over boxes of files on the orphanage where he was abandoned as a child, she decides to investigate it herself.

The only person left alive who lived at Cedar Hall is Connie Burroughs, but Connie sits quietly in her nursing home for a reason. The sewing box under Connie’s bed hides secrets that will change Sarah’s life forever, uncovering a connection between them that has darker consequences than she could ever imagine.

A heartbreaking but ultimately uplifting tale inspired by the lives of the children who lived at the author’s great-grandfather’s orphanage. Fans of Before We Were Yours, The Orphan’s Tale and The Orphan Train will be hooked.

The Orphan House is available in ebook and paperback now. The ebook is currently only 99p. You can purchase a copy of both using the link below.

My Review:

This was a hugely enjoyable, fantastic read which I found very absorbing.

Firstly, as I might have mentioned once or twice, I’m a huge fan of historical fiction – especially if they include two timelines so I knew straight away that I’d like this book. The author does a great job of setting the scene so I felt like I was actually in British ruled India. I’ve always been fascinated by this period of history so enjoyed learning more about army life there and was soon thoroughly absorbed in the story.

The two storylines were very interesting and I enjoyed following them as they weaved a fantastic story of secrets, lies and love. I did enjoy the past timeline more but this didn’t detract from my overall enjoyment of the book. There is lots of twists and suspense to keep the story flowing nicely and ensure that the book is very hard to put down. I really didn’t want this story to end and can’t wait to read more from this talented author.

Huge thanks to Noelle from Bookouture for inviting me onto the blog tour and for my copy of this book via Netgalley.

About The Author:

Ann Bennett was born in a small village in Northamptonshire and now lives in Surrey. Her first book, A Daughter’s Quest, originally published as Bamboo Heart, was inspired by her father’s experience as a prisoner of war on the Thai-Burma Railway. The Planter’s Wife (originally published as Bamboo Island) a Daughter’s Promise and The Homecoming, (formerly Bamboo Road) are also about the war in South East Asia. The idea for The Orphan House came from researching her great-grandfather, Brice Bennett, who was headmaster of a county school for pauper children in Wargrave, Berkshire. The Orphan House and a further WW2 historical novel will be published by Bookouture in 2020. Ann is married with three grown up sons and works as a lawyer. For more details please visit http://www.bambooheart.co.uk

Book Synopsis:

He had never heard himself scream before. It was terrifying.

Alone, trapped in the darkness and with no way out, Bart Campbell knows that his chances of being found alive are slim.

Drugged and kidnapped, the realisation soon dawns that he’s been locked inside a shipping container far from his Edinburgh home. But what Bart doesn’t yet know is that he’s now heading for France where his unspeakable fate is already sealed…

DCI Ava Turner and DI Luc Callanach are working on separate cases that soon collide as it becomes clear that the men and women being shipped to France are being traded for women trafficked into Scotland.

With so many lives at stake, they face an impossible task – but there’s no option of failure when Bart and so many others will soon be dead…

Get ready for a rollercoaster ride like no other, with the next gripping thriller from the number one bestselling crime author, Helen Fields. The perfect read for fans of M. J. Arlidge and Karin Slaughter.

Perfect Kill is available in ebook and paperback now. You can purchase your copy using the link below.

My Review:

I’m a huge fan of this series and couldn’t wait to read more. Perfect Kill was another dark, intriguing and thoroughly gripping read from this talented author.

The thing I always love about these books is how realistic the cases are, even though you wish that the things described didn’t actually happen. This was no exception and I felt chills down my back as I read. Some of the scenes are quite stomach churning and I found it difficult to read at times. I often had to put the book down for a little bit when it was getting too much. How people can treat others like that is beyond me!

The characters were very likeable, realistic ones whose stories I enjoyed following. I liked that we got to know their home life as well as their work lives as it let the reader get to know them better. The banter between them was very amusing and provided some light relief to the otherwise dark story.

I thought this book was very well plotted and the way the case was solved was very clever. It was very interesting to see everything connecting together. The ending was very intriguing and has definitely left me excited to read more.

Huge thanks to Sanjana from Avon for inviting me onto the blog tour and for my copy of this book. If you like dark crime books then you’ll love this series!

About The Author:

Helen Fields studied law at the University of East Anglia, then went on to the Inns of Court School of Law in London. After completing her pupillage, she joined chambers in Middle Temple where she practised criminal and family law for thirteen years. After her second child was born, Helen left the Bar.

Together with her husband David, she runs a film production company, acting as script writer and producer. Perfect Remains is set in Scotland, where Helen feels most at one with the world. Helen and her husband now live in Los Angeles with their three children and two dogs.

Book Synopsis:

She ran away through the pine trees when the soldiers came. Staggering into the hiding place, she felt a fluttering in her belly, like a butterfly grazing its wings, and knew instantly she had something to fight for.

Present day: When her fiancé is tragically killed in an accident, twenty-six-year-old Alba is convinced she’s to blame. Heavy with grief and guilt, she flees to her childhood home – the tiny village of Rofelle, nestled in a remote Tuscan valley. Out hiking one day to fill the long, lonely hours, she finds a mahogany box filled with silverware, hidden near the vine-covered ruins of an isolated house left abandoned after World War II. Could finding the rightful owner ease Alba’s heartache, and somehow make amends for her own wrongs?

In search of answers, Alba meets Massimo, an elderly man who wants to spend his final years pruning his fruit trees, alone with his painful memories. His face turns pale when Alba brings up the war, but she senses that their shared grief connects them. An unlikely friendship grows as little by little Massimo speaks of Lucia: a wild young girl with sparkling eyes who fell in love with an enemy soldier, bravely stole precious Italian treasures back from Nazi occupiers, and whose selfless courage and sacrifice altered the course of the war – and Massimo’s life.

With each visit, Alba gets closer to unravelling the mystery of the silver, and they both start putting their ghosts to rest. But there’s one part of Lucia’s story that Massimo might never be able to share – and he’s running out of time. Has Alba churned up emotions that are too painful to ever confront? Or, will unearthing a wartime secret that has lain buried for generations finally bring Massimo peace?

An absolutely beautiful and heartbreaking read that will sweep you away to the rugged mountains and lush olive groves of Tuscany. Fans of The Nightingale, Rhys Bowen and Julianne MacLean will be captivated.

The Tuscan Girl is available in ebook and paperback now. You can purchase your copy using the link below.

My Review:

Wow this was a brilliant book which was incredibly powerful and heartbreaking at the same time.

The story is told in various different timelines following Alba as she tries to deal with her grief in the present day and Lucia and Florian in 1940’s Italy. Both storylines had a lot to offer and I found I enjoyed watching them both unfold. Lucia is an incredibly brave young lady and it was incredibly interesting to learn more about the Italian resistance which I didn’t know much about. Her life is full or unpredictability and danger as she tries to fight for her countries freedom. The present day timeline with the lovely relationship that Alba and Massimo develop was beautiful to read about and I really enjoyed watching them grow closer. It was nice to see that they were able to help each other deal with their grief.

I thought this was quite a fast paced story which I flew through as I was so enjoying the story. It was very poignant and humbling to realise how much people went through during the war and how much their lives changed forever. I thought it was very clever how the author managed to weave real historical events into the story and that, despite reading a lot of historical fiction, she managed to teach me something new.

Huge thanks to Sarah Hardy from Bookouture for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Bookouture for my copy of this book via Netgalley.

About The Author:

I live in the beautiful Italian Apennines for several months each year. Such an inspiring location.
My love affair with Italy was born at the age of seven when I moved with my family to Rome where we lived for six years. My father worked for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and he made sure we learned Italian and visited many places during that time.
Later on I studied Italian at the University of Kent at Canterbury and afterwards worked in Sicily, where I met my husband. His Italian mother and British father met in Urbino in 1944 and married after a war-time romance.
I wanted to write “The Tuscan Secret” not only for my amazing mother-in-law, Giuseppina, but also to make people aware of the courage of the resistance fighters and the generous hospitality shown by the poorest of families, including relatives of our Italian neighbours in our corner of war-torn Tuscany.
This is my first novel and is a story about ordinary people who lived through extraordinary times. (Please note it is a revised version of “Never Forget” and “Tuscan Roots”). I was signed by wonderful BOOKOUTURE for a two-book deal and one of these was a slight re-write of “Tuscan Roots”. The new title is “The Tuscan Secret” and has more tension and intrigue to the story. I am so proud to be a part of this publishing “family”, as they describe themselves, who have patiently helped me to polish the original. It is available on Amazon and has reached the bestseller slots.

A sequel to this original book was self-published way back, at the end of April 2017. “Now and then in Tuscany” features the same family that appeared in “The Tuscan Secret”. The background is the transhumance, a practice that started in Etruscan times and continued right up until the 1950’s.
Watch out for another Tuscan, war novel. “The Tuscan Girl” is available to pre-order right now and will be published on February 25th 2020, inspired by the many ruins I see on my walks in the Apennines. Each dilapidated house holds a story for me, whether true or invented. I’m delighted to announce that my publisher, Bookouture, has commissioned another two Italian novels from me for 2021 and 2022. Watch this space, as they say.
My research for all these novels has been greatly helped by my kind Italian, country friends, who have vivid memories of both the Second World War and the harsh times they endured in their childhoods.

Italy is a passion but my stories are not always set there. I have also written a novella about two fun-loving ladies of “a certain age” who live by the seaside in Sussex and get up to all kinds of adventures. “Mavis and Dot” were launched on December 1st 2018 at St Paul’s Centre, Worthing, West Sussex and have received fab reviews. I have a sequel in mind. All profits from sales go to research into cancer and I am pleased with the amounts that I’ve been able to deliver for this worthwhile charity. How many of us have lost friends and family through this vile disease?

Book Synopsis:

THE STUNNING NEW PSYCHOLOGICAL SUSPENSE FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF RICHARD & JUDY BOOK CLUB SENSATION DAUGHTER

‘AN ENDING THAT GAVE ME GOOSEBUMPS’ Claire Douglas, author of Then She Vanishes
_________

Their children are friends first. They hit it off immediately, as kids do.

So the parents are forced to get to know each other. But as they get closer, they start to take their eyes off their children.

And while they have been looking the other way, evil has crept in.

Every parent’s biggest nightmare is about to come true…

Little Friends is available in ebook and paperback now. You can purchase your copy using the link below.

My Review:

I’m a huge fan of this author’s books so was very excited to be invited onto the blog tour for her latest book. I was definitely not disappointed as this was another gripping and unsettling read which was very difficult to put down.

Firstly I love books set around old friendship groups as you never quite know what secrets are going to be reveal and where the story will go. This story was no exception and I enjoyed getting to know the three couples better. I definitely wasn’t expecting the story to go the way it did and the many twists or revelations took me by surprise. Just when I thought I’d figured out which way the story was going to go, something happened to change everything.

The pace of this book was brilliant and made it easy to read. There was always something going on to keep my attention and I found myself unable to put the book down as I really wanted to know what would happen next. There are some fairly dark subjects covered in this book but the author has a way of including them without them seeming overdone but still written in such a way to make them affect you. I found it very compelling and quite powerful to see how these were dealt with, especially how it affects everyone after everything has come out.

Huge thanks to Sriya from Michael St Joseph for inviting me onto the blog tour and for my copy of this book.

About The Author:

While working as a GP, Jane Shemilt completed a postgraduate diploma in Creative Writing at Bristol University and went on to study for the MA in Creative Writing at Bath Spa, gaining both with distinction. Her first novel, Daughter, was selected for the Richard & Judy Book Club, shortlisted for the Edgar Award and the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize, and went on to become the bestselling debut novel of 2014.

She and her husband, a professor of neurosurgery, have five children and live in Bristol.

Book Synopsis:

Two women, bound by a child, and a secret that will change everything . . .

London, 1754. Six years after leaving her illegitimate daughter Clara at London’s Foundling Hospital, Bess Bright returns to reclaim the child she has never known. Dreading the worst, that Clara has died in care, she is astonished when she is told she has already claimed her. Her life is turned upside down as she tries to find out who has taken her little girl – and why.

Less than a mile from Bess’s lodgings in the city, in a quiet, gloomy townhouse on the edge of London, a young widow has not left the house in a decade. When her close friend – an ambitious young doctor at the Foundling Hospital – persuades her to hire a nursemaid for her daughter, she is hesitant to welcome someone new into her home and her life. But her past is threatening to catch up with her and tear her carefully constructed world apart.

From the bestselling author of The Familiars comes this captivating story of mothers and daughters, class and power, and love against the greatest of odds . . .

The Foundling is available in ebook and hardback now. You can purchase your copy using the link below.

My Review:

I was a huge fan of this author’s first book so I couldn’t wait to see what she’d come up with next. I wasn’t disappointed as this is historical fiction at its finest!

Firstly I love books that manage to include real historical details into the story as it’s very enjoyable to look up extra information on the internet. The realisation that The Foundling Hospital actually existed and people were in the awful situation described at the beginning of the book was incredibly heart wrenching. Even worse that rich people,who could have helped, used to buy tickets to enjoy watching people in such a desperate situation is mind blowing and I really can’t believe it used to happen!

The author has clearly done a lot of research and I enjoyed reading about all the little details that helped bring the era to life. It was interesting to read about the stark differences between the classes at that time and how little help was available for the poor.

Overall I thought this was a highly emotional, absorbing read which I flew through in a couple of hours as I wanted to find out what would happen next. I enjoyed following the believable characters and trying to work out what had happened. As you can probably guess from the blurb it is a very emotional story and I often found myself getting teary whilst reading. I’m very thankful that society has moved on and we have different attitudes now.

Huge thanks to Tracy for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Zaffre for my copy of this book via Netgalley.

About The Author:

Stacey Halls was born in 1989 and grew up in Rossendale, Lancashire. She studied journalism at the University of Central Lancashire and has written for publications including the Guardian, Stylist, Psychologies, The Independent, The Sun and Fabulous. Her first book The Familiars was the bestselling debut novel of 2019. The Foundling is her second novel.

Book Synopsis:

Elijah has lived in the Memory Wood for as long as he can remember. It’s the only home he’s ever known.

Elissa has only just arrived. And she’ll do everything she can to escape.

When Elijah stumbles across thirteen-year-old Elissa, in the woods where her abductor is hiding her, he refuses to alert the police. Because in his twelve years, Elijah has never had a proper friend. And he doesn’t want Elissa to leave.

Not only that, Elijah knows how this can end. After all, Elissa isn’t the first girl he’s found inside the Memory Wood.

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

The Memory Wood is available in ebook and hardback now. You can purchase your copy using the link below.

My Review:

Wow what a fantastic, dark and twisty read this was. It’s a hard book to review as I don’t want to give anything away!

This book just gripped me from the start as I found myself drawn into the terrifying unpredictable situation the children find themselves in. The descriptions are so vivid that at times I felt like I was there in the cabin, experiencing everything alongside the children My heart would start beating faster or I found myself literally holding my breath at certain scenes which shows how involved I was.

The characters were fantastic creations who I felt a lot of sympathy for. I liked how different the two of them were and how they brought different things to the story. I became very fond of them through the book and wished I could somehow rescue them from their predicament.

Overall I thought this was a well plotted and fast paced book which was incredibly twisty, making it hard to put down. It is a very dark read which seemed like Grimm’s fairy tales but tripled! The ending was a great way to end the book and it is definitely one that will stay with me as it was quite disturbing.

Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Thomas Hill from Transworld for my copy of this book.

About The Author:

Sam Lloyd grew up in Hampshire, making up stories and building secret hideaways in his local woods. These days he lives in Surrey with his wife, three young sons and a dog that likes to howl. The Memory Wood, his debut thriller, has sold in fifteen international territories.