Celebrating the 70th anniversary of the beloved radio show, Ambridge at War takes readers back to before it all began . . .
‘Intriguing, comforting and endearingly familiar’ Katie Fforde
It’s 1940 and war has broken out. It is midnight at the turn of the year, and Walter Gabriel speaks the same line that opened the very first radio episode – ‘And a Happy New Year to you all!’ For Ambridge, a village in the heart of the English countryside, this year will bring change in ways no one was expecting.
From the Pargetters at Lower Loxley to the loving, hard-working Archer family at Brookfield Farm, the war will be hard for all of them. And the New Year brings the arrival of evacuees to Ambridge, shaking things up in the close-knit rural community.
As the villagers embrace wartime spirit, the families that listeners have known and loved for generations face an uphill battle to keep their secrets hidden. Especially as someone is intent on revealing those secrets to the whole village . . .
The Archers is available in ebook and hardback now. You can purchase your copy using the link below or by visiting your local indie bookstore.
My Review:
I’d heard of The Archers but had never actually had a chance to listen to any of the episodes so I really enjoyed my first visit to the famous village.
I loved finding out more about the workings of the village and getting a glimpse inside the villagers lives. There is more than enough scandal and secrets to keep the reader entertained, which was great fun to watch unfold. The story starts in 1940 and follows the villagers as they deal with life during the war, rationing and evacuees arriving in the village. It was interesting to see how things changed for them and how they all handled everything.
The main story line of the poison pen letters was an interesting one which kept me guessing throughout the book. I think I suspected everyone at one point as they all seemed to have reasons to want to send them. I liked trying to solve the mystery alongside the villagers while trying to figure out why the person was doing it too.
This isn’t a fast paced story but it is a really absorbing one and I loved spending time in the village. The slow pace of the story gives the reader a chance to get to know thee characters intimately so that they start to feel like old friends. I felt quite sad to finish the story and leave them all behind.
Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Simon and Schuster for my copy of this book.
About The Author:
Catherine Miller is the author of 18 novels under her own name and other pseudonyms. Born to an Irish family in London, her career took her from producing radio commercials to being a voiceover agent for various stellar actors.
Nowadays she writes all day at home in Surrey, occasionally lifting her head to raise her daughter and feed the dogs.
Sylvie Martone is the star of French cinema, and adored by fans. But as Nazi officers swarm the streets of Paris, she is spotted arm in arm with an SS Officer and her fellow Parisians begin to turn against her.
However Sylvie has a secret – one she must protect with her life.
Paris, 2020.
Juliana Chastain doesn’t know anything about her family history. While her mother was alive she remained very secretive about her past.
So when Juliana discovers a photograph of a glamorous French actress from World War Two amongst her mother’s possessions, she is in shock to find herself looking at her grandmother – especailly as she is arm in arm with a Nazi Officer…
Desperate for answers, Juliana is determined to trace the journey of her grandmother. Surely there is more to the photograph than meets the eye?
But as she delves into Sylvie’s past, nothing can prepare Juliane for the tales of secrets, betrayal and sacrifice which she will uncover.
A heart-wrenching story of love and war, perfect for fans of Pam Jenoff and Suzanne Goldring.
The Resistance Girl is available in ebook and paperback now. The ebook is currently only 99p. You can purchase your copy using the link below.
My Review:
Regular visitors to my blog will know I’m rather a fan of historical fiction especially if it’s set in the second world war so this book instantly appealed to me!
Firstly I love books set in Paris! There’s something just so wonderfully atmospheric about the vibrant, historical city that always makes it great to read about. The author’s vivid descriptions helped make the city come to life for me and I loved following the characters around the city. It was interesting, though sad to see how the city changed throughout the years from a glamorous city to a shell under the occupation. Though it was good to see it keep it keep its reputation as the city of love!
The story starts off quite slowly but soon picks up pace becoming almost impossible to out down! I felt myself reading faster and faster, my heart in my mouth as I watched everything unfold. It was very interesting to follow Juliane on her journey to try and find out more about her grandmother’s past and I found I really enjoyed going on the journey with her. There were a few quite dark moments and a few interesting coincidences but overall I liked this absorbing story.
Huge thanks to Rachel from Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Boldwood books for my copy of this book via Netgalley.
About The Author:
I love to travel, indulge in dark chocolate truffles and spend rainy days in museums. I adore Paris and can’t get enough of Venice. The mysterious dark alleyways…handsome strangers…ah, l’amour! I’m also a Titanic enthusiast. I’ve seen every Titanic film I can, including A Night to Remember and the German film, Titanic, made during WWII.
Beloved author Victoria Hislop returns to Crete in this long-anticipated sequel to her multi-million-copy Number One bestseller, The Island.
25th August 1957. The island of Spinalonga closes its leper colony. And a moment of violence has devastating consequences.
When time stops dead for Maria Petrakis and her sister, Anna, two families splinter apart and, for the people of Plaka, the closure of Spinalonga is forever coloured with tragedy.
In the aftermath, the question of how to resume life looms large. Stigma and scandal need to be confronted and somehow, for those impacted, a future built from the ruins of the past.
Number one bestselling author Victoria Hislop returns to the world and characters she created in The Island – the award-winning novel that remains one of the biggest selling reading group novels of the century. It is finally time to be reunited with Anna, Maria, Manolis and Andreas in the weeks leading up to the evacuation of the island… and beyond.
The Island is available in ebook and hardback now. You can purchase your copy using the link below or by ordering from your local indie bookstore.
My Review:
I was a huge fan of The Island and often credit it as the book that got me back into reading after a long reading slump. I was therefore very excited to learn there was a sequel to it and immediately started reading as soon as I got my copy!
It was wonderful to be back with all the old characters and to see how they had changed, or not in the case of Anna, over the years. The author has created realistic stories for all of the characters which felt like a natural progression from their lives in The Island. I liked that the author doesn’t spend a lot of time recapping the story at the beginning of the book, which can be really annoying, but instead includes facts when necessary. I was actually amazed by how much I remembered from reading The Island all those years ago, it was obviously a story that stayed with me.
Once again the author’s love for Greece is evident from her fantastic descriptions that helped me to imagine the beautiful Greek setting. I loved learning more about the Greek festivals, traditions and dances that the author included in the story. I thought it was very clever how she managed to convey the emotional aspect of the dance through her descriptions so that the reader understands how the dance is meant to look without having seen it.
Overall I enjoyed this absorbing and entertaining read which I loved getting lost in for hours at a time. The story does dip a little in the middle and I was a little confused as to which way the story was going but do keep reading as the story soon picks up. My only small niggle with this book is it would have been nice to see how some of the other former Spinalonga residents get on after leaving the island but maybe that is for another book.
Huge thanks to Headline for my copy of this book via Netgalley. If you were a fan of The Island then you’ll love this book!
About The Author:
Inspired by a visit to Spinalonga, the abandoned Greek leprosy colony, Victoria Hislop wrote The Island in 2005. It became an international bestseller and a 26-part Greek TV series. She was named Newcomer of the Year at the British Book Awards and is now an ambassador for Lepra. Her affection for the Mediterranean then took her to Spain, and in the number one bestseller The Return she wrote about the painful secrets of its civil war. In The Thread, Victoria returned to Greece to tell the turbulent tale of Thessaloniki and its people across the twentieth century. Shortlisted for a British Book Award, it confirmed her reputation as an inspirational storyteller.
Her fourth novel, The Sunrise, about the Turkish invasion of Cyprus and the enduring ghost town of Famagusta, was a Sunday Times number one bestseller. Cartes Postales from Greece, fiction illustrated with photographs, was a Sunday Times bestseller in hardback and one of the biggest selling books of 2016. Victoria’s most recent novel, the poignant and powerful Those Who Are Loved, was a Sunday Times number one hardback bestseller in 2019 and explores a tempestuous period of modern Greek history through the eyes of a complex and compelling heroine.
Her books have been translated into more than thirty-five languages.
Victoria divides her time between England and Greece.
In 2020, Victoria was granted Honorary Greek Citizenship by the President of Greece.
Virginia, 1933: Her heart broke as she took in the scene before her. There were too many orphans and not enough beds. The rags they wore barely covered them and they hadn’t eaten in days. How could anyone let innocent children live like this? She picked up a tiny girl who’d cried as she moved past her cot. “I’ll be back soon, little one.”
Never in a million years did Lauren Greenwood think she would be destitute and without a penny to her name. But when her father mercilessly disowns her in the depths of winter, that is her fate. Now homeless, Lauren finds America in the devastating grip of the Great Depression––children run wild in the icy streets, endless queues for soup kitchens line frosty sidewalks, and desperation hangs in the air.
All alone in the world, Lauren finds an orphanage in the sprawling fields of the Virginia countryside, surrounded by snow-topped mountains and magnificent fir trees––a safe haven for those who have nowhere to go. But she is appalled to find children living in shocking conditions, huddled together for warmth, their hunger keeping them awake at night as the temperature plunges. The home for unloved orphans is on the brink of closure and the helpless innocents may lose the roof over their heads…
Lauren, heartbroken by the rejection of her own father, vows to provide these poor orphans with the love she never received. With Christmas just around the corner, she refuses to see them cast out onto the street, where they will not survive. When she sees an advertisement in the local newspaper, with an anonymous benefactor donating money to families crippled by the Depression, it could be the answer to her prayers.
Can Lauren save these children who have been rejected by the world? Or in a time of so much suffering, is there simply no hope?
A heartbreaking yet hopeful tale about a brave young woman who gives up everything to help unloved children who have nothing. Fans of Before We Were Yours, The Orphan Train and Diney Costeloe will adore this poignant historical novel, which shows that a little bit of kindness can go a long way.
The Home For Unloved Orphans is available in ebook and paperback now. The ebook is currently only £1.99. You can purchase your copy using the link below.
My Review:
A Home For Unwanted Orphans is one of the most emotional, beautiful books I’ve read for a while. It’s one of those books that stays with you and that you continue to think about long after reading.
I was quickly drawn into the story and into Lauren’s world. The author has clearly done her research and her wonderfully vivid descriptions made the 1930s come to life. It was definitely an interesting period with the effects of the Great Depression still being felt and a lot of quite vulnerable people being left to fend for themselves. It was utterly heartbreaking to see some of the awful conditions people lived in and the things they had to deal with, especially the children. I often wished I could reach into the book and give them all a hug or somehow heroically save the day!
Lauren was a brilliant main character who was very easy to get behind. She was very believable and I loved how hard she worked to try and change things. She’s feisty, headstrong and very determined which made her an amazing character to read about. I felt sorry for her when things didn’t go her way and when her efforts weren’t appreciated or treated with suspicion.
Overall I really enjoyed this absorbing but highly emotional book which made me laugh and cry throughout. I felt completely involved in everything that was going on meaning I got lost in the book for hours at a time. The story unfolds at a great pace and I felt completely gripped reading about Lauren’s struggle to try and improve things for the orphans. I had to keep reading to see how the story ended as I really wanted everyone to have the happy ending they deserved, while knowing deep down that that might not be possible.
Huge thanks to Noelle Holten for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Bookouture for my copy of this book via Netgalley.
About The Author:
Rachel Wesson is the author of several best selling series including her latest based on the Orphan Trains. Having always been a fan of history, Rachel tries to combine her love of history with a good story. Rachel Wesson was born in Kilkenny, Ireland but considers herself to be from the capital, Dublin as that’s where she spent most of her life. Her dad brought Rachel and her two sisters out every Saturday to give their mother a break. He took them to the library and for ice-cream after. It took a long time for her sisters to forgive her for the hours she spent choosing her books! She grew up driving everyone nuts asking them questions about what they did during the War or what side they were on in the 1916 rising etc. Finally her Granny told her to write her stories down so people would get the pleasure of reading them. In fact what Granny meant was everyone would get some peace while Rachel was busy writing! When not writing, or annoying relatives, Rachel was reading. Her report cards from school commented on her love of reading especially when she should have been learning. Seems you can’t read Great Expectations in Maths. After a doomed love affair and an unpleasant bank raid during which she defended herself with a tea tray, she headed to London for a couple of years. (There is a reason she doesn’t write romance!). She never intended staying but a chance meeting with the man of her dreams put paid to any return to Ireland. Having spent most of her career in the City, she decided something was missing. Working in the City is great but it’s a young person’s dream. Having three children you never see isn’t good for anyone. So she packed in the job and started writing. Thanks to her amazing readers, that writing turned into a career far more exciting and rewarding than any other. Rachel lives in Surrey with her husband and three children, two boys and a girl. When not reading, writing or watching films for “research” purposes, Rachel likes to hang out with her family. She also travels regularly back home – in fact she should have shares in BA and Aerlingus.
STOP Max! Part of the Resilient Ratties Series. Follow our cheeky rats Max and Lucy on their day-to-day adventures whilst learning some valuable life skills along the way! This wonderfully fun and educational story introduces your child to The Decider Life Skills – some easily applicable strategies to help children understand and manage their own emotions.
Stop Max is available in paperback now. You can purchase your copy using the link below or by visiting any Indie bookstore.
My Review:
Stop Max is a fun, compelling book which helps teach children how to deal with their emotions. This book has become a firm favourite of my daughter’s and she often asks for it as her bedtime story.
The book is filled with fun, bright and colourful illustrations which my children loved. They are cleverly drawn so that it is easy to see where they fit into the story making it easy to ask additional questions whilst reading. My daughter loved looking at all the pictures and trying to find little details that she might have missed before.
The park scenario, where Max can’t find his friends, is one that is easily relatable to children as I’m sure all of them have experienced something similar. This made it easy for my daughter to understand why Max was upset and what the ‘fizz scale’ meant.
I have to admit when I first read through this book on my own I wasn’t too sure, no disrespect meant to Denise I just wasn’t sure if it would work. However all of that changed when I read the book to my daughter. To say she loved it was an understatement and she constantly asked for it to be read to her not just at bedtime but throughout the day at times too. She even slept with it under her pillow on a few occasions. I asked her a few days after reading if she remembered what the STOPP part of the book meant, and she could remember it! I was very impressed with that as it was pretty much word for word too. This book obviously works as even now, months after first reading, my children still talk about their fizz scales and request it at bedtime.
Huge thanks to Denise for my copy of this book which is highly recommend to all parents with young children. I’m very excited for book 2 which is out soon!
About The Author:
My name is Denise and I live in the Scottish Highlands with my husband, Rikki and two children Rian & Ellie, without whom this adventure would not have been possible so I thank them all from the bottom of my heart!
I am also an occupational therapist and have practiced in mental health settings for over 12 years. Through my work I have been supporting adults to learn skills in order to help manage and maintain their mental and physical well-being.
In 2017 I was introduced to a set of skills called the Decider Skills, and started to deliver the skills to adults in group settings and later became an authorized trainer to help share the decider skills throughout services in the Highlands.
These skills have completely transformed not only my practice but also the lives of the individuals that I work with. Time and time again I hear people say “I wish I had learned these skills years ago…”
The Resilient Ratties Series
As I started to embed the Decider Skills into my work and home life, I started telling Rian and Ellie about the skills and even visited their school to share them with their teachers! We had fun introducing the skills through bedtime stories about 2 rats called Max and Lucy (named by Rian and Ellie!). As the stories developed, family and friends suggested publishing them for other children to enjoy, so that’s just what I did! I entered in to a Become an Author Competition and Won!!!
Through the Resilient Ratties Series of children’s books I hope to introduce both children and adults to The Decider Life Skills.
I hope readers find the books both fun and educational. They have been written and designed to help children learn alongside their parents, carers, friends and teachers in a way that they can understand, enjoy and remember.
The ‘Let’s Learn Together’ section at the end of each book aims to open up conversations and encourage children to learn about how the skills apply to them and their surroundings, whether at home, school or playing outdoors.
Hello everyone this is my first attempt to join in with Music Monday, first created by the lovely Drew at The Tattooed Book Blog. What better way to start then by shouting out a friend’s new album which has become a firm favourite of mine. The lyrics are a little adult, so I have decided not to type them out in full but if you like thoughtful lyrics with some clever rhymes (I won’t tell you what he rhymes Famous with) then you’ll definitely enjoy this album.
Track List:
One of the things I most like about this album is that ever track is different, often I find that this type of music can sound very similar. I thought that this album has a different feel to it however and I liked how fresh it sounds.
Latest Single -Hidden Leaf
How to listen:
Good but Evil is available to listen to at all good streaming services including:
Deep in a remote Norwegian forest, Lexi has found a new home with architect Tom and his two young daughters. With snow underfoot and the sound of the nearby fjord in her ears, it’s as if Lexi has stepped into a fairy tale
But this family has a history – and this place has a past. Something was destroyed to build their beautiful new house. And those ancient, whispering woods have a long memory.
Lexi begins to hear things, see things that don’t make sense. She used to think this place heavenly, but in the dark, dark woods, a menacing presence lurks.
With darkness creeping in from
But protect them from what?
The Nesting is available in ebook and hardback now. You can purchase your copy using the link below or by visiting your local indie bookstore.
My Review:
The Nesting is a chilling, gothic novel which I found completely absorbing. The synopsis of this book really appealed to me as it involved a creepy house, supernatural goings on and it is based on Norwegian fairytales which I always enjoy.
Firstly the setting of this book was wonderful, with the author’s vivid descriptions allowing me to picture the setting in my mind. The natural landscape sounded so beautiful and has definitely made me want to visit Norway in the future. It had an almost otherworldly feel to it, where the family and the builders were stuck in their own magical bubble where anything could happen. I liked how the landscape changed as the book went on and develops alongside the story from lush green at the beginning, before things start developing, to brown when things start to get unsettling. I thought this was really clever and I helped add to the overall atmosphere of the story.
The characters were fabulous creations that I loved following through the book. They all go on quite a journey and my opinions of each of them kept changing as the story progressed. I often ended up having completely different opinions of them from when I started which I found very interesting. Lexi, for example, I started off finding very annoying but I warmed to as I saw how well she took to the nannying job and how much she obviously loved the kids.
The story starts off slow but soon becomes very gripping as things start happening at the house and we learn more about the characters. The story goes back and forth between what’s happenning now and what happened in the past which is told mainly from Aurelia’s point of view. This helped create a creepy, unsettling atmosphere which kept me on edge as I was never sure what was going to happen next. The tension slowly increases as the book goes on and I found myself suspecting everyone at some point.
The ending was brilliant and I was surprised how everything ended up which I always enjoy. I liked how the author keeps the story going for a bit longer after everything is solved so the reader can see how the family is after everything transpires.
Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Harper Collins for my copy of this book. I felt this was similar to The Snow Child, so if you liked that book I think you’ll like this one too!
About The Author:
C.J. Cooke is an acclaimed, award-winning poet, novelist and academic with numerous other publications written under the name of Carolyn Jess-Cooke. Her work has been published in twenty-three languages to date. Born in Belfast, C.J. has a PhD in Literature from Queen’s University, Belfast, and is currently Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow, where she researches creative writing interventions for mental health. C.J. Cooke lives in Glasgow with her husband and four children.
Here Henry was, once again in a bustling train station, ready to resume where he had left off all those years ago…
Finding Henry Applebee is a charming, tender and uplifting story about unlikely friendships, the power of love – and how it’s never too late to change your life.
Perfect for fans of The Single Ladies of the Jacaranda Retirement Village and The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.
Eighty-five-year-old Henry Arthur Applebee has had a pretty good life. But one regret has haunted him for the last sixty-five years.
And so, on an ordinary December morning, he boards a train from London to Edinburgh. His goal is simple: to find the woman who disappeared from his life decades earlier.
But Henry isn’t the only person on a mission. Also bound for Edinburgh is troubled teen, Ariel. And when the two strangers collide, what began as one humble journey will catapult them both into a whole new world…
Finding Henry Applebee is available in ebook and paperback now. The ebook is currently only 99p. You can purchase your copy using the link below or by visiting your local indie bookstore.
MyReview:
This was a beautiful, charming story that managed to be both poignant and uplifting at the same time. I read this book after a run of quite gritty reads, so this was a nice refreshing change which I thoroughly enjoyed.
The story follows the three main characters Henry, Ariel and Travis as they travel from Edinburgh to London for different reasons. The descriptions of the journey were beautifully vivid and made me feel that I was right there in the carriage with them. I felt each part of their journey personally as if I was living it too, with all the setbacks they encounter making me feel very nervous that they wouldn’t be able to finish their journey.
The characters were wonderful creations and memorable ones that I’ll remember for a long time to come. I loved how the author gradually lets us learn more about the characters and their past lives so that we get to see why they are like they are. They started to feel like old friends and I enjoyed following them on their journey as I willed them to succeed in their mission. I especially liked Henry’s past with the wonderful descriptions of the years after the war and the dance halls that I’d loved to have seen!
Overall I absolutely loved this charming story that made me laugh and cry as I read. There’s a wonderful message behind the story about unlikely friendships and how it’s never too late to change things. The ending was brilliant and I finished the book feeling sad that it was finished, while wishing that I could find out what happens next for them. This book was similar in style to Harold Fry so if you liked that book I think you’ll like this one too.
Huge thanks to Claire Debby for inviting me onto the read along and One More Chapter for my copy of this book via Netgalley.
About The Author:
Celia Reynolds was born and raised in Wales and worked for almost twenty-five years in the film industry in London, and briefly Rome. In 2012, she left her job as European Marketing Director at Twentieth Century Fox to enrol in the Complete Creative Writing Course held at the Groucho Club in London’s West End. Later that year, she was awarded Runner Up prize in the London Writers’ Club/Hush Short Story Competition with a story featuring one of the characters in her debut novel, Finding Henry Applebee. She is now based on the Gower coast in South Wales.
In 1893, there’s no such thing as witches. There used to be, in the wild, dark days before the burnings began, but now witching is nothing but tidy charms and nursery rhymes. If the modern woman wants any measure of power, she must find it at the ballot box.
But when the three Eastwood sisters join the suffragists of New Salem, they begin to pursue the forgotten ways that might turn the women’s movement into the witch’s movement. Stalked by shadows and sickness, hunted by forces who will not suffer a witch to vote – and perhaps not even to live – the sisters must delve into the oldest magics, draw new alliances, and heal the bond between them if they want to survive.
There’s no such thing as witches. But there will be.
Once and Future Witches is available in ebook and hardback now. You can purchase your copy using the link below or by ordering from your local bookshop!
My Review:
I really enjoyed this absorbing, believable magical story which I thought was part fantasy story and part alternate history. I’ve always hoped that magic does exist somewhere in the world so I loved that the author suggested some areas where it might exist. The idea that it had been hidden by women for generations in stereotypical female hobbies amused me and I enjoyed exploring this idea.
The world the author has created was utterly compelling and I really enjoyed learning more about it throughout the book. The author’s vivid descriptions helped me imagine what it looked like and what it would be like to live there. It’s a world of inequality, like our own history in real life, with the woman as the weaker sex so I loved that they hid such a great secret that could change everything.
One of the things that really stood out about this book was the way the author describes and developed the characters relationships with each other. This was particularly true of the three sisters who had an interesting history together. There is definitely a lot of resentment there which I found interesting to learn more about as the story continued. It was interesting to see how different things were at the end of the book
Overall I really enjoyed this beautifully written and absorbing read which made me cry at times. The plot develops at a good pace which helped the plot and relationships to develop naturally so they never felt forced. I felt there was a lovely hidden message in this book too about how it’s not to late to find your voice and fight for what you want – though I might be thinking too deeply into things!
Huge thanks to Tracy Fenton for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Orbit for my copy of this book.
About The Author:
A former academic and adjunct, Alix E. Harrow is now a full-time writer living in Kentucky with her husband and their semi-feral kids. She is the author of Hugo Award-winning short fiction and her debut novel, The Ten Thousand Doors of January was shortlisted for the Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards. Find her on Twitter at @AlixEHarrow.
‘Hugely confident … harrowing, visceral … recommended’ Ian Rankin
‘Kept me hooked’ Angela Marsons
‘An excellent read’ Martina Cole
‘Gritty, dark and chilling’ Mel Sherratt
A murdered woman…
When the body of a young woman is found in a local park, DC Maggie Jamieson knows she’s dealing with no ordinary killer. The murder victim has been disfigured; her outfit changed to resemble someone else. Someone Maggie knows all too well…her close friend Dr Kate Moloney.
A determined detective…
Maggie is determined to keep her friend safe, but with Kate already struggling with a threatening stalker, Maggie now fears Kate’s life is in real danger. Who else would want to harm Kate and why else would the killer be turning his victims into exact replicas – his living dolls?
Can Maggie find the depraved killer? Or will Kate become his next living doll?
Dead Perfect is available in ebook and paperback now. The ebook is currently only £1.99. You can purchase your copy using the link below or by visiting your local indie bookstore!
My Review:
Dead Perfect was another fast paced, gripping read from one of my go to crime writers. I’m a huge fan of this series and have really enjoyed following Maggie throughout the books as she’s an incredibly strong, competent lady who is always great to read about. This time, however, the focus is on Kate and it was great to get to know another character from the team a little better. I think it’s fair to say Kate goes through the mill in this book as she tries to keep Maggie from harm whilst also trying to find the person responsible. It was quite poignant at times to see what she was going through and it made me warm to her quickly to see how much she obviously cared about Maggie. The wonderful relationship the team enjoy with each other was lovely to see and often helped bring some light relief to the story.
The story unfolds at a great pace with plenty of twists that kept me guessing until the end. Just when I thought I had figured it out, something would happen that sent the story off in a completely new direction! This is quite a dark story in places with some quite cruel and shocking moments which might not be to everyone’s taste but didn’t feel forced so were in keeping with the type of book this is.
The book ends on a cliffhanger and I can’t wait to read the next installment in this fabulous series which just keeps getting better and better. This is the third book in the series and while it could probably be read as a standalone it is probably best to read the books on order.
Huge thanks to Sarah from BOTBS publicity for inviting me onto the blog tour and to One More Chapter for my copy of this book via Netgalley. This series is a must read for all crime fiction fans!
About The Author:
Noelle Holten is an award-winning blogger at http://www.crimebookjunkie.co.uk. She is the PR & Social Media Manager for Bookouture, a leading digital publisher in the UK, and a regular reviewer on the Two Crime Writers and a Microphone podcast. Noelle worked as a Senior Probation Officer for eighteen years, covering cases of domestic violence and abuse. She has three Hons BA’s – Philosophy, Sociology (Crime & Deviance) and Community Justice – and a Masters in Criminology. Dead Inside is her debut novel and the start of a new series featuring DC Maggie Jamieson.
Over The Rainbow Blog 