Book Synopsis:

Almost two years ago, Faith and Grace Tiddle arrived home from their Saturday morning dance class to find both of their parents face down in pools of blood

Five days later, the twins — only nine years old at the time — were arrested for the double homicide.

And now, twenty months on, the entire country awaits with bated breath as the jury are dismissed to deliberate their verdict on a case that has become a national obsession.

But if Lead Detective Denis Quayle — the man who knows the case better than anybody else — isn’t fully convinced of the twins’ guilt…

Can a twelve-person jury be?

You won’t know what to make of the Tiddle twins

The Curious Case Of Faith And Grace is published in ebook and paperback on the 3rd July 2020. You can pre-order your copy using the link below.

My Review:

I really enjoyed this unsettling, engaging book which I found very hard to put down.

Told from multiple points of view the author gradually takes the reader through what happened and gives the reader a look into the strange lives of The Tiddle family which was quite eye opening to say the least. Slowly the reader gets to understand what life was like behind closed doors of this religious family and the type of punishments handed out to the twins if they were naughty. I found myself growing increasingly uncomfortable as I read wondering what it would have been like growing up in such an environment.

The twins themselves were quite creepy and some of their actions were actually quite disturbing at times. I could decide what to make of them which was very intriguing for me as I’m normally quite good at guessing. I found myself in the unusual position if not really liking them and I actually hoped at times that they’d be found guilty.

Overall I thought this was a very fast paced and well plotted thriller which kept me guessing until the end as I couldn’t work out if the twins were guilty or not. Parts of the story, including the descriptions of the murders sent a shiver up my spine as they were quite gruesome. This was the first book I’ve read by this author and I’m now very excited to read more from them in the future.

Huge thanks to Emma from Damp Pebbles Tours for inviting me onto the blog tour and for my copy of this book.

About The Author:

David B. Lyons is an international bestselling author — a writer of psychological thrillers. His books have reached No.1 in the Amazon crime charts in Ireland, the UK, Canada and Australia. Former freelance journalist David grew up in Dublin – the city his novels are set – but currently spends his time between Birmingham in the UK and the Irish capital. David is married to a Brummie, Kerry, and they have one daughter, Lola. He has lectured in Journalism and in Creative Writing in colleges and universities in both Ireland and in the UK and offers free tutorials at his official website: TheOpenAuthor.com. You can connect with David here: Website: TheOpenAuthor.com Twitter: @TheOpenAuthor Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorDavidBLyons/

Book Synopsis:

Two women, a world apart.

A secret waiting to be discovered…

VE Day 1945: As victory bells ring out across the country, war bride Ellie Burgess’ happiness is overshadowed by grief. Her charismatic Newfoundlander husband Thomas is still missing in action.
 
Until a letter arrives explaining Thomas is back at home on the other side of the Atlantic recovering from his injuries.

Travelling to a distant country to live with a man she barely knows is the bravest thing Ellie has ever had to do. But nothing can prepare her for the harsh realities of her new home…

September 11th 2001: Sophie Parry is on a plane to New York on the most tragic day in the city’s history. While the world watches the news in horror, Sophie’s flight is rerouted to a tiny town in Newfoundland and she is forced to seek refuge with her estranged aunt Ellie.
 
Determined to discover what it was that forced her family apart all those years ago, newfound secrets may change her life forever…
 
This is a timeless story of love, sacrifice and resilience perfect for fans of Lorna Cook and Gill Paul.

The English Wife is available in ebook and paperback now. The ebook is currently only 99p. You can purchase your copy using the link below.

My Review:

The English wife is a beautifully written, captivating page turner from a new author for me.

This story drew me in straight away and I loved following the two characters on their journeys. Both characters face different problems on the way and it was very interested to see how they dealt with them. Unusually for me I actually found myself drawn more to Sophie’s story then the historical one which surprised me, I think this might be because the second story was slightly more unusual.

The wonderful descriptions of Newfoundland were incredibly vivid and I found myself falling in love with the place even though I’d never been there. The ruggedly beautiful landscape mixed with the amazing sense of community were fantastic to read about and made me want to visit there in the future. I especially liked the insight into the town’s traditions and some of the local language used there.

Overall I thought this was a fantastic read which I found hugely enjoyable. The different stories developed at a great pace and made the book hard to put down in places as there was always something going on. There were a few twists that took me by surprise and made me turn the pages faster as I wanted to see how it would be resolved. The story does dip in places but do keep reading as it soon picks up!

Huge thanks to Rachel from Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me onto the blog tour and for my copy of this book.

About The Author:

Adrienne Chinn was born in an old paper-making town in Newfoundland, and grew up in rural Quebec and Montreal. She retraced her English father’s footsteps back to England, where she now lives and works as an interior designer.

When not writing or designing, she can normally be found in the queue at Gatwick heading off somewhere new: she travels all over the world, but most often to her beloved Morocco, which she has been visiting regularly for over ten years.

Book Synopsis:

Every baby’s bracelet held a mother’s secret…

For almost fifty years, Katie has kept a box of secrets.
It dates from her time working as a nurse in a west of Ireland mother and baby home, and contains a notebook with details of the babies and young women she met there. It also holds many of the babies’ identity bracelets.
Following the death of her husband, Katie makes a decision she has long kept at bay. She posts a message on an internet forum, knowing that the information she possesses could help reunite adopted people with their birth mothers.
Soon, the replies are rolling in, and Katie encounters success, failure, heartache and joy as she finds herself in the role of part-detective, part-counsellor – chasing down leads, piecing together stories, and returning many of the bracelets to their original owners.
But there is one bracelet in the box that holds the key to a story that may never be told …
The Paper Bracelet is a gripping and moving story of secrets, lies and a love that never dies.

Inspired by heartrending real events, the gripping new novel from No. 1 bestselling author Rachael English. Readers of Diane Chamberlain and Kathryn Hughes will love this book.

The Paper Bracelet is available in all formats now. The ebook is currently only 99p. You can purchase your copy using the link below.

My Review:

I read and enjoyed a few of this author’s books so I was incredibly excited to be invited onto the blog tour for this her latest book. The Paper Bracelet is a beautifully written book which manages to be both emotional and uplifting.

Firstly the author has obviously done her research and is able to paint a very stark, clear picture of what unmarried pregnant women in Ireland faced. As most people probably know their future was pretty bleak as it was a hugely taboo subject. I think what struck me the most was that these stories weren’t as far in the past as I hoped and I’m incredibly grateful that things have moved on. People’s attitudes seemed unnecessarily cruel and my heart broke for everything the women and their innocent babies experienced.

The story is told from multiple points of view which keeps the story interesting and helps the reader understand the full picture of what happened. I felt a lot of sympathy for the mothers and I found myself completely drawn into their stories, wishing I could somehow jump into the story to help them. The characters stories are very hard hitting, particularly as you know them to be true. I often found myself tearing up and having to grab one of my kids for a hug whilst reading.

This book drew me in from the start and my fondness for the characters kept me reading as I found I had to find out what happened to them. I thought the ending was a very brave way to end the book as the author managed to make it quite realistic when I feel it would have been easy to give it a happy, sugar coated ending.

Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Headline for my copy of this book.

About The Author:

Rachael English is a bestselling novelist and presenter on Ireland’s most popular radio show, Morning Ireland. During more than twenty years as a journalist, she has worked on most of RTÉ Radio’s leading current affairs programmes, covering a huge range of national and international stories.

Book Synopsis:

Swinging from South Africa to England: one woman’s hunt for her birth mother in an all-too-believable near future in which an antibiotic crisis has decimated the population. A prescient, thrilling debut.

‘STUNNING and terrifying … The Waiting Rooms wrenches your heart in every way possible, but written with such humanity and emotion’ Miranda Dickinson

 ________________

Decades of spiralling drug resistance have unleashed a global antibiotic crisis. Ordinary infections are untreatable, and a scratch from a pet can kill. A sacrifice is required to keep the majority safe: no one over seventy is allowed new antibiotics. The elderly are sent to hospitals nicknamed ‘The Waiting Rooms’ … hospitals where no one ever gets well.

Twenty years after the crisis takes hold, Kate begins a search for her birth mother, armed only with her name and her age. As Kate unearths disturbing facts about her mother’s past, she puts her family in danger and risks losing everything. Because Kate is not the only secret that her mother is hiding. Someone else is looking for her, too.

Sweeping from an all-too-real modern Britain to a pre-crisis South Africa, The Waiting Rooms is epic in scope, richly populated with unforgettable characters, and a tense, haunting vision of a future that is only a few mutations away.

The Waiting Room is available in ebook now and paperback on the 9th July 2020. You can you or pre-order your copy using the link below.

My Review:

The Waiting Rooms is a dark, compelling and emotional read. If I had read it a few months ago I’d have been describing it as dystopian fiction but with the recent Corona pandemic I found it to be a frightening realistic read.

The story revolves around a global antibiotics crisis where antibiotics don’t work anymore on simple infections. In order to try and help the general population people over 70 are denied medical care and just left to die. This storyline sent a chill down my spine as at the height of the Corona crisis this was something being considered in Europe. It made the story seem much more real to me and more hard hitting as it seemed a real possibility at one point.

The characters were all very interesting creations who all helped show a different side of the crisis which was really fascinating. I enjoyed following all of their stories and found it interesting to see how they developed. I found myself getting pulled in each direction as the story went on as I felt deeply sorry for each of them at one point.

Overall I found this a surprisingly emotional, thought provoking book which has made me realise how, despite all of our technology and inventions, vulnerable the human race is. Given the current situation in the world this book might not be for anyone who has found dealing with the Corona crisis hard as it is scarily similar. So much so that I found myself wondering if the author had had access to a crystal ball into the future. The ending, although very sad was a great way to end the book. This is definitely a book I’ll be thinking of for ages.

Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Orenda for my copy of this book.

About The Author:

Eve Smith writes speculative fiction, mainly about the things that scare her.In this world of questionable facts, stats and news, she believes storytelling is more important than ever to engage people in real life issues. Set 20 years after an antibiotic crisis, her debut novel The Waiting Rooms was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize First Novel Award. Her flash fiction has been shortlisted for the Bath Flash Fiction Award and highly commended for The Brighton Prize. Eve’s previous job as COO of an environmental charity took her to research projects across Asia, Africa and the Americas, and she has an ongoing passion for wild creatures, wild science and far-flung places.

Book Synopsis:

What if you knew the truth but couldn’t remember?

Over a decade ago, Heidi was the victim of a brutal attack that left her hospitalised, her younger sister missing, and her best friend dead. But Heidi doesn’t remember any of that. She’s lived her life since then with little memory of her friends and family and no recollection of the crime.

Now, it’s all starting to come back.

As Heidi begins retracing the events that lead to the assault, she is forced to confront the pain and guilt she’s long kept buried. But Heidi isn’t the only one digging up the past, and the closer she gets to remembering the truth, the more danger she’s in.

When the truth is worse than fiction, is the past worth reliving?

An addictive thriller about a case gone cold and the dangers lurking on our doorsteps, Monstrous Souls will have you gripped to the very end.

Monstrous Souls is public on the 23rd July 2020. The ebook is currently only 99p. You can purchase your copy using the link below.

My Review:

Monstrous Souls is a dark, addictive book which is hard to put down. Told from Heidi’s perspective this book is told in two timelines showing the lead up to the attack and, in the present day, how it still affects Heidi. I love first person narratives as I feel it gives me a chance to get to know the character more intimately as I am able to see what’s going on in their head. It also has me immediately on alert as it makes me think everything they say might not be true as they are known for being unreliable.

Heidi is a very interesting character who I felt a lot of sympathy for as she had been through so much. She’s a loner because of her experiences and as she feels guilty for surviving which is something I hadn’t read much about before so I found interesting to explore. The book covers some very difficult subjects of grooming and abuse but without ever going into graphic details so the reader feels uncomfortable.

The author cleverly builds up the tension over both timelines so that the book becomes impossibility to put down. Its not a book to read late at night as I kept promising I’d just read a little but more and look up to find it was midnight. There is an overwhelmingly feeling of fear in the book which also gradually increases so that I both wanted to keep reading to find out what happens but also wasn’t sure if I wanted to know! The ending was brilliant and a very satisfying though emotional way to end. I’m very excited to read more from this author in the future.

Huge thanks to Peyton from Arora books for inviting me onto the blog tour and for my copy of this book.

About The Author:

Rebecca Kelly lives in UK with her family and a mad labrador. When she’s not burning food and finding strategies for avoiding housework, she can be found writing. You can follow Rebecca on Twitter @RKellyAuthor1

Book Synopsis:

It’s easy to put someone in the friend zone. But what happens if you change your mind?

Bea isn’t happy. Desperate for a change, she looks to her friends for inspiration. Every single one of them is paired off, perhaps that’s what she needs too.

So, she starts dating again. But everywhere she goes – amid the hilarious and scarring dates – there’s Peter. Good old, oddball Peter, her closest friend from university. He’s always been firmly in the friend zone but something’s happened lately – he seems taller, more handsome and suddenly making him smile is Bea’s favourite thing.

But how can Bea possibly risk their friendship? And how do you even go about taking someone out of the friend zone? What if Bea and Peter were only ever meant to be just friends…

Just Friends is available in ebook now and in paperback on the 4th February 2021. You can purchase or pre-order your copy using the link below.

My Review:

Just friends is a heartwarming and uplifting read who I found thoroughly enjoyable!

Firstly I absolutely loved Bea from the first moment I was introduced to her. She is such an incredibly realistic but flawed character that I really liked following throughout the book. I was immediately on her side, wanting her to succeed in everything she tried. She seemed a little bit like me in some respects as I also try hard to please others. Peter was an amazing person to have as a love interest as I found he quickly got inside my head so much that I found myself thinking about him when I wasn’t reading. He’s such a sweet, guy and I found the book very hard to put down as I want to see if they’d end up together.

This story just drew me in from the start with the easy to read writing style helping to quickly engage with the story. The story was very amusing and I enjoyed following Bea and the many awkward moments that she finds herself in which made me love her even more. Some of the moments had me laughing out loud as they were absolutely hilarious with the vivid descriptions helping me fully envision the scene. I was sorry to finish the book and leave Bea and Peter behind.

Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me for the blog tour and to Transworld for my copy of this book via Netgalley.

About The Author:

Holly McCulloch lives in Oxfordshire and bakes beautiful (and delicious) cakes for a living. Just Friends is her debut novel.