I’m so thrilled to be kicked off the blog tour for Dead Of Night by Michael Stanley.  I’m a huge fan of this author so you can imagine my excitement when I was asked to review his new book.

Dead of Night is available now in ebook and paperback now, you can purchase a copy of both here.

Book Synopsis:

When freelance journalist, Crystal Nguyen, heads to South Africa, she thinks she’ll be researching an article on rhino-horn smuggling for National Geographic, while searching for her missing colleague. But within a week, she’s been hunting poachers, hunted by their bosses, and then arrested in connection with a murder. And everyone is after a briefcase full of money that may hold the key to everything…
Fleeing South Africa, she goes undercover in Vietnam, trying to discover the truth before she’s exposed by the local mafia. Discovering the plot behind the money is only half the battle. Now she must convince the South African authorities to take action before it’s too late. She has a shocking story to tell, if she survives long enough to tell it…
Fast-paced, relevant and chilling, Dead of Night is a stunning new thriller that exposes one of the most vicious conflicts on the African continent…

My Review:

Dead Of Night is another fantastic read from a fantastic author.

As always with this author’s books the descriptions of Africa are brilliant.  South Africa is a stunningly beautiful place and the author’s vivid descriptions of the natural beauty made it very easy to imagine.  I felt like I was there walking along with the characters experiencing everything first hand.

I loved the main character Crystal she’s an incredibly strong minded, able women who doesn’t let much stand in her way.  Her courage in going to South Africa to look for Michael and the way she conducts herself during the investigation was very impressive.  She seemed to be a very warm hearted, friendly women which made her very easy to like.

The information about smuggling I found fascinating as it was a subject I knew little about.  Niavely I didn’t think it was that common anymore but this book helped me realise what a big problem it still is.  The huge risks that the smugglers take to get their goods our of the country was quite shocking to read about, as were the variety of things that they tried to sell.  It’s amazing to think people still want that kind of thing.

This was a fast, easy read for me that I found very hard to put download.  The writing just flows and the story progresses in such a way that I felt fully immersed in the book and intrigued as to how it would all work out.  The chapters are quite short which makes it easy to pick up in spare moments to read one more chapter.

Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Orenda Publishers for my copy of this book.  If you like beautifully described, fast paced thrillers with a great female protagonist then you’ll love this book.  I definitely can’t wait to read more from this author.

About The Author:

Michael Stanley is the writing team of Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip. Both were born in South Africa and have worked in academia and business. Their Detective Kubu series has been critically claimed and an international bestseller, picking up multiple awards since first publication. Dead of Night marks a new departure for the duo.

Book Synopsis:

A powerful debut exploring the dark side of Cornwall – the wrecking and the drowned sailors – where poverty drove villagers to dark deeds…

Shipwrecks are part of life in the remote village of Porthmorvoren, Cornwall. And as the sea washes the bodies of the drowned onto the beach, it also brings treasures: barrels of liquor, exotic fruit, the chance to lift a fine pair of boots from a corpse, maybe even a jewel or two.

When, after a fierce storm, Mary Blight rescues a man half-dead from the sea, she ignores the whispers of her neighbours and carries him home to nurse better. Gideon Stone is a Methodist minister from Newlyn, a married man. Touched by Mary’s sacrifice and horrified by the superstitions and pagan beliefs the villagers cling to, Gideon sets out to bring light and salvation to Porthmorvoren by building a chapel on the hill.

But the village has many secrets and not everyone wants to be saved. As Mary and Gideon find themselves increasingly drawn together, jealousy, rumour and suspicion is rife. Gideon has demons of his own to face, and soon Mary’s enemies are plotting against her…

Wrecker is available now in ebook and hardbackback, you can purchase a copy of both here.

My Review:

Wrecker is a fantastic, atmospheric and quite dark piece of historical fiction that I really enjoyed.

The author is very good at setting the scene and I really felt transported to the Cornwall of the past.  Cornwall’s myths and legends as well as the local dialogue is cleverly interwoven into the story which further helped evoke 18th Century Cornwall for me. The author has clearly done his research and I found it fascinating to learn more about the history behind the book.

Wrecking was quite an emotional practice to read about, especially when the shipwreck caused death.  The people who did it or who stole from the dead must have been desperate to do it as I don’t think it’s something I could have done.  The descriptions of what Mary sees when she visits the ship wrecks makes for quite hard reading at times, especially when it involved children .I did find myself skipping the passages that described those scenes.

I wasn’t entirely sure if I liked the main character Mary.  On one hand I liked her don’t care attitude towards a lot of things and felt sorry for her for having to visit the ship wrecks in order to provide for her family.  However she comes across as quite bitter about her position in life and vain as she cares a lot about her looks which meant I wasn’t able to warm to her.  I found myself thinking she’d be a lot happier if she just accepted her position and her looks as a lot of people seem to like her.

For a historical fiction novel this was surprisingly fast paced with lots of stuff happening that helped keep my interest.  The story is quite unusual and I wanted to keep reading to learn more about the history of place and to find out how it would end. I’m always slightly dubious when a novel is described as being like Daphne Du Maurier as she’s one of my favourite authors, but I did feel that it was justified this time as the styles are similar.

Huge thanks to Joe Thomas from HQ stories for my copy of this book via Netgalley and for inviting me onto the blog tour.

About The Author:

Noel O’Reilly is a writer and editor, now focusing on fiction. He studied English Literature at Goldsmiths, University of London, and formerly worked as an English teacher in London. He is an award-winning journalist and currently edits two magazines and contributes to a website for an international publisher.

A keen musician, he plays saxophone and guitar and has performed with various jazz and blues bands, including the Brighton Jazz Cooperative. He has written a musical and a number of comedy sketches and performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and venues including London’s Tram Shed, Boulevard Theatre in Soho and Melkweg in Amsterdam.

Noel spent a year living in Barcelona, commuting to his day job in London via EasyJet, and now lives in Brighton with his family.

Wrecker, Noel’s debut novel, is set in a remote fishing village in nineteenth century Cornwall which is steeped in pagan superstition. It explores the themes of religion and morality from a woman’s point of view and will be published by Harper Collins imprint HQ in summer 2018.

@noeloreilly

www.personneltoday.com

Good evening everyone and welcome to my spot in The House We Call Home blog tour.  I’m thrilled to have a great extract to share with you from this summery read.  Huge apologies for the lateness of this post my liflit baby isn’t very well.

The House We Call Home is available in ebook and paperback now.  The ebook is currently only 99p and you can purchase a copy of both here.

Before I share my extract with you here is a little bit about the book.

Book Synopsis:

The house where Stella and her sister Amy grew up never changes – the red front door, the breath-taking view over the Cornish coast, her parents in their usual spots on the sofa. Except this summer, things feel a little different…

Stella’s father is nowhere to be seen, yet her mother – in suspiciously new Per Una jeans – seems curiously unfazed by his absence, and more eager to talk about her mysterious dog-walking buddy Mitch.

Stella’s sister Amy has returned home with a new boyfriend she can barely stand and a secret to hide, and Stella’s husband Jack has something he wants to get off his chest too. Even Frank Sinatra, the dog, has a guilty air about him.
This summer, change is in the air for the Whitethorns…

Warm, funny and gloriously feel-good, this is the perfect summer read for fans of Veronica Henry and Milly Johnson.

Extract:

She stood at the cliff edge looking out at the rolling summer surf. The house towering behind her, solid grey stone and slate, bursting pink rhododendrons, white garden furniture that needed a paint.
The image, like closing your eyes after glancing at the sun, almost indelible on her retina, beams of light dancing in the dark.
Out ahead, mountains of cloud hovered on the horizon, a windsurfer made painful progress in the non-existent breeze while paddleboarders cruised on water that glistened like a million jumping fish.
Moira balled up her fists. Tight so she could feel her nails in her palms. If she could she would have rattled them like a child throwing a tantrum. If she could she would have screwed her eyes shut and stamped her foot and shouted down at the bloody picture-perfect view, ‘Graham Whitethorn, you god￾damn pain in the arse.’
But she couldn’t. Because from inside the hoody of the teen-age boy standing beside her she could just glimpse big worried eyes, and see the wipe of snot on his frayed baggy cuffs.
So, instead she took a deep invigorating breath of salty sea air, pushed her hair from her face, and said, ‘Come on then, Sonny. Let’s make some breakfast and call your mother. Tell her what silly old
Grandpa’s done.’
They turned back towards the house. The beautiful house. The image on her retina fitting the outline
exactly.
—————————————————————————————————————————
CHAPTER I
‘What do you mean he’s gone missing?’ Stella frowned into her phone, then almost without thinking pointed out of the car window and said to her seven-year-old, ‘Look, Rosie – Stonehenge.’
‘Missing…?’ Jack, her husband, mouthed from the driver’s seat.
Stella made a face, unsure.
Behind her, little Rosie had no interest in Stonehenge, deeply imbedded in YouTube on the iPad,
happily powering through their 4G data with her gem-studded headphones on. Usually Stella would have clicked her fingers to get Rosie’s attention and pointed out of the window again to make sure she didn’t miss the view, but the phone call from her mother trumped any tourist attraction. ‘I don’t
understand, Mum,’ Stella said. ‘How can Dad be missing? Where is he?’
Jack was frowning. Traffic was backing up from the roundabout up ahead.
‘Well darling, that’s what we don’t know,’ said her mother, her voice tinny over the phone.
Stella felt strangely out of control. Thoughts popped into her head that she wouldn’t have expected.
She and her father did not get along well. They barely talked. Hadn’t for years. Past anger had morphed into silence, and silence into habit – the threads tethered firmly in place, calcifying solid with stubbornness and age. Yet as her mother spoke, Stella found herself overcome by unfamiliar
emotion. She worried suddenly that she might start to cry. God that would be embarrassing. Jack would probably crash the car in shock.
‘How long has he been missing?’ Stella asked, turning towards the window, eyes wide to dry the possible threat of tears.

About The Author:

Jenny Oliver wrote her first book on holiday when she was ten years old. Illustrated with cut-out supermodels from her sister’s Vogue, it was an epic, sweeping love story not so loosely based Dynasty. Since then Jenny has gone on to get an English degree and a job in publishing that’s taught her what it takes to write a novel (without the help of the supermodels).

Book Synopsis:

HE CHEATED. HE LIED. HE DIED.

Vicki’s husband David once promised to love her in sickness and in health. But after a brutal attack left her suffering with epilepsy, he ran away with his mistress.

So when Vicki gets a call one day to say that he’s missing, her first thought is ‘good riddance’. But then the police find evidence suggesting that David is dead. And they think Vicki had something to do with it.

What really happened on the night of David’s disappearance?
And how can Vicki prove her innocence, when she’s not even sure of it herself?

The Dead Ex is available now in ebook and paperback.  The ebook is currently only 99p.  You can purchase a copy of both here.

My Review:

The Dead Ex was a brilliantly gripping thriller that kept me guessing.  This book kept me company during a long night with a poorly baby and definitely helped make the hours go by faster!

The story is told from the point of view of both Vicki, an aromatherapist with a murky past, and Scarlett a little girl who has been used as a pawn for her mum’s drug dealing.  I found this very intriguing as it wasn’t immediately obvious why the story was being told from both perspectives.  My first view of the characters was that they were, to use my mum’s expression, more to be pityied than scolded.  They’ve both had hard lives and have had a lot of different things to deal with.  This opinion did change throughout the book as the story unfolds.

I really enjoyed how this story progressed.  The author slowly releases little snippets of information about the book and the mystery at a great pace that kept me interested and turning the pages.  The reader is aware almost from the start that something is not quite right with Vicki’s narrative and her past which helped add to the tension as I tried to work out what it was.  There were a lot of twists and turns which I loved.  As soon as I thought I’d figured out what was happening, something would happen to send it in a completely different direction. The ending was brilliant a great way to end this fabulous book.

Huge thanks to Hannah Ludbrooke and Viking Penguin for my copy of this book and inviting me onto the blog tour.  If you like gripping, fast paced thrillers with some fantastic twists and turns you’ll love this book!

About The Author:

Jane Corry is a writer and journalist who has spent time working as the writer in residence of a high security prison for men – an experience that helped inspire her Sunday Times bestsellers ‘My Husband’s Wife’ and ‘Blood Sisters’. Jane runs regular writing workshops and speaks at literary festivals all over the world. Many of her ideas strike during morning dog-jogs along the beach followed by a dip in the sea – no matter how cold it is!

Jane’s brand-new thriller ‘The Dead Ex’ is being published on 29th June 2018 by Penguin Viking and is available for pre-order.

You can find Jane on Twitter at @JaneCorryAuthor and on Facebook at JaneCorryAuthor as well as Instagram.

I’m excited to be on the blog tour for Murmuration by Robert Lock today and to have two copies to give away!

Murmuration is available in ebook and paperback now, you can purchase a copy of both here.

Before I share details of how to enter the giveaway here is a little bit about the book.

Book Synopsis:

The starlings dance in mesmerising patterns. In and out they fold. Up and down. Below them a Victorian pier has stood the test of time, carrying each generation over a cold and relentless sea.

As the birds dance they watch the lives of those who pass beneath. Two scandalous comedians born a century apart; a seemingly ageless deckchair attendant; the fortune-teller who believes no one can see the future. And in this seaside town one man knows the only way to stop history repeating itself is to solve a mystery as old as the pier.

Giveaway:

I’ve got two copies of this fantastic book to giveaway today.  In order to be in with a chance of winning simply comment below with your answer to the following question:

If you could go back in time where would you go? 

The giveaway is open until 5pm Monday 16th August when I draw a winner.

Good luck everyone!

About The Author:

2017 has seen a 43 year-old dream realised with the acceptance of my novel Murmuration for publication by Legend Press. I handwrote my first novel at 14, thought about becoming a biologist then went to be a washer-up in Paris instead. I wrote a novel. Then I wrote another. And another. The complimentary rejection letters came flooding in. I decided to pursue a career in which I was actually paid a salary, gained a distinction on the NCTJ Photo-Journalism course in Sheffield and became a newspaper photographer.

Based in Blackpool for the past 25 years, this surreal place and its inhabitants inspired Murmuration, for which I will be forever grateful.

The important stuff -married with one daughter, lover of Prog Rock, real ale, gigs, Australian Shiraz, motorsport, playing my guitars (badly), floral shirts and my MX5.

I’m very excited to be on the blog tour for Needle Song by Russell Day and to have an extract to share with you.  Firstly huge thanks to the lovely Emma for letting me change to an extract when my baby was very poorly and I was unable to read the book in time.

Needle Song is available now in paperback and ebook where it is currently only £1.99.  You can purchase a copy of both here.

Before I share my extract with you here is a little bit about the book.

Book Synopsis:

Spending the night with a beautiful woman would be a good alibi, if the body in the next room wasn’t her husband. Doc Slidesmith has a habit of knowing things he shouldn’t. He knows the woman Chris Rudjer meets online is married. He knows the adult fun she’s looking for is likely to be short lived. And when her husband’s killed, he knows Chris Rudjer didn’t do it. Only trouble is the police disagree and no one wants to waste time investigating an open and shut case. No one except Doc. Using lies, blackmail and a loaded pack of Tarot cards, Doc sets about looking for the truth – but the more truth he finds, the less he thinks his friend is going to like it.

Extract:

At some point, I asked Doc if I could borrow some paper. I wanted to jot down the bare bones of the crime wall; he told me to look in the bedroom. In keeping with the rest of the flat, the room was stark. One wall was taken up with a fitted wardrobe. The other walls were lost to books, row upon row of them. The smell of old paper permeated the room.
The shelf set above the door was a depository for anything related to Harley-Davidson. The bottom shelves opposite the cot bed were a mix of art tombs and coffee table photography. The rest appeared random but I didn’t doubt there was a strict logic to their order. Knowing Doc, I didn’t bother trying to work it out. Stephen Hawking was shoulder to shoulder with books on the history of burlesque. Richard Dawkins and Ben Goldarce jostled for space with yellowing books on Voodoo. I recognised a few Miss Marple titles; these spouted multitudes of bookmarks and were sitting demurely alongside expensive looking texts on clinical psychology.
Aside from the bed – a metal framed foldaway thing, made up with a painfully white cotton sheet and a rolled up sleeping bag – the room’s only furniture was an ancient bureau. On it were a printer and a framed picture of Doc and Gina outside a registry office. I took some paper from the printer’s tray and went back to the living room. I said I’d been impressed with the library. Doc looked almost embarrassed.
“I keep meaning to have a clear out, but every time I throw a book away, I decide I want to re-read it, then I end up buying another copy. Cheaper to hold on to them.”
“The Miss Marples look like they’ve had a few readings.”
“Some men dream of glamorous movie stars. I dream of Miss Jane Marple.”
The single photograph in his bedroom told a different tale but I let it go.
“Okay, I’ll bite. Why the Miss Marple fetish?”
Doc switched off The Jive and gave me an apprising look. He was about to tell me something deeply personal.
“Miss Marple’s all about the villain’s mind. She gets her man by knowing what goes on in here.” He tapped his forehead. “Why put the body in the library? Why use poison? Why do it at half past three on New Year’s Eve? Why do it at all? People get into the how-it-was-done stuff, for me it’s always been the why of it. If you can see why something happened, you can work backwards to the how. You ever hear people bang on about motiveless crime?” I opened my mouth to reply but didn’t get time. “No such thing, all crimes have a motive. A lot of the time people lose sight of that because they get motive tangled up with reason. They think accepting someone had a motive means accepting they were justified, but that’s crap. The courts make that distinction all the time. Collecting the money is a motive for making a fake insurance claim; it’s not a justification. Three teenagers beat a stranger to death; there is no justification. But there will be a motive.” He got up again and went back to the wall. “That’s why these are niggling me.”
He’d lowered himself to his haunches to get level with the base layer of his wall. The layer with the question marks. He pulled a charcoal pencil from behind his ear and added another drawing of the lock knife, much larger than the one he’d put in the timeline. He worked quickly but executed a detailed piece of work. I let my attention lapse long enough to envy his talent. He finished with a question mark.

About The Author:

Russell Day was born in 1966 and grew up in Harlesden, NW10 – a geographic region searching for an alibi. From an early age it was clear the only things he cared about were motorcycles, tattoos and writing. At a later stage he added family life to his list of interests and now lives with his wife and two children. He’s still in London, but has moved south of the river for the milder climate.

Although he only writes crime fiction Russ doesn’t consider his work restricted. ‘As long as there have been people there has been crime, as long as there are people there will be crime.’ That attitude leaves a lot of scope for settings and characters. One of the first short stories he had published, The Second Rat and the Automatic Nun, was a double-cross story set in a world where the church had taken over policing. In his first novel, Needle Song, an amateur detective employs logic, psychology and a loaded pack of tarot cards to investigate a death.

His fiction has appeared in Writer’s Forum magazine (issues 193, 194, 198 and 201) and been included in the crime anthology, Noirville: Tales from the Dark Side. His short story, The Value of Vermin Control, won the CWA Margery Allingham Short Story Competition, (this is available to view at the CWA website) https://thecwa.co.uk/debuts/short-story-competition/ .

Not Talking Italics, a short story featuring Doc Slidesmith, the almost-hero of Needle Song, is available for free at Fahrenheit Press https://fahrenheit-press.myshopify.com/products/russell-day-not-talking-italics-ebook-kindle-version .

The second book in the Slidesmith series, Ink to Ashes, will be published later this year.
You can follow Russ on twitter: @RFDaze
or find him at his website: russelldaycriminalmind.com

Book Synopsis:

A page-turning psychological thriller with twists that keep the reader guessing until last page, this addictive read will be loved by fans of Shari Lapena’s A STRANGER IN THE HOUSE and Liz Lawler’s DON’T WAKE UP.

What would you do if you woke up and didn’t know who you were?

Chloe Daniels regains consciousness in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.
She doesn’t recognise the strangers who call themselves family. She can’t even remember her own name.

What if your past remained a mystery?

As she slowly recovers, her parents and sister begin to share details of her life.
The successful career. The seaside home. The near-fatal car crash.
But Chloe senses they’re keeping dark secrets – and her determination to uncover the truth will have devastating consequences.

What if the people you should be able trust are lying to you?

Between The Lies is out TODAY in paperback and ebook.  You can purchase your copy here.

My Review:

Michelle Adam’s is fast becoming one of my favourite authors for her fabulous descriptions of dysfunctional families.  I’ve always been fascinated with books about memory loss and what it’s possible for the brain to forget, so this book really appealled to me.

This book gripped me from the start as it soon became obvious that something wasn’t right.  The house that Chloe finds herself in seems very impersonal and neglected which struck me as odd for a supposed family home.  The isolated location for the house and her family’s insistence that she stay inside sent a shiver down my spine as I started to wonder what was going on.

Chloe was my favourite character especially as the story progresses and we learn more and more about her.  He fear and confusion was almost palpable at times as she tried to unravel the mystery of what actually happened.  Her emotions and guilt about the accident was very emotional and I definitely felt myself tearing up at times reading about it.  I admire her determination to discover what really happened despite lots of opposition not least the fact that she couldn’t remember much.

This was a fast paced, gripping read that I really enjoyed reading.  The author cleverly let’s the story and secrets unravel making this a very intiguing read that is hard to put down.  The chapters are fairly short making it a fairly easy read though I found I flew through the chapters promising myself just one more then I’ll sleep.

This is Michelle Adam’s second book and I really look forward to reading more from her in the future.  If you like unsettling, brilliantly paced and gripping books you’ll love this!

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

About The Author:

Follow The Blog Tour:

If you liked the sound of this book from my review please follow the blog tour and find out what these other fabulous bloggers are saying.

I’m very excited to be on the blog tour for Time School by Nikki Young today and to be introducing another new guest reviewer, my godson Robert!  I’ve had the privilege of knowing Robert since he was born andnow, at the age of 11, im very proud of the of the fierce bookworm he has become.

Time School is available now in ebook and paperback, you can purchase your copy here.

Before I share Robert’s fabulous review with you here is a little bit about the book.

Book Synopsis:

A power cut and a series of mini disasters means friends, Jess, Nadia, Tomma and Ash barely make it to the station to catch their train to school. What they find is a far cry from the usual packed commuter train they’re expecting…

When they arrive at Hickley School, the children are surprised to find some of the buildings missing and they don’t recognise any of the other pupils, who are all dressed in a different style of uniform. The only person who takes the time to help them is Martha, despite being preoccupied by her own worries about her family being hungry and not hearing from brother, Henry whom she says is away fIghting.

The children soon realise this is no normal day and it’s not until they return home that they’re able to figure out what happened. What they don’t know is whether it was a one-off day, or if they will get to see Martha and the other pupils again. Jess hopes so. She has something she needs to tell Martha. Not knowing how or why, she feels a connection and an obligation to this girl she can’t explain.

Robert’s Review:

Time School is a fast-paced time novel. Four children board the daily commuter train that takes them to their school. When the train arrives, though, it’s a far cry from the usual modern train that normally takes them: they enter the last carriage, and it’s different from all the others. The carriage is an old-fashioned wooden contraption, although the design is elaborate. The children wonder how they possibly could have not noticed it before, but by then the train was already moving…

The best bit about this book is the dramatic moments that happen throughout the story; such as when the children leave the train and some others further on in the book. I think it could have done with a bit more of these moments, but the ones that were in there were very good.

The character Martha has a confusing relationship with the main character Jess, they feel they’ve known each other all their lives, although they don’t tell one another that they feel a connection. ( All will be revealed in the end. )

In all honesty, I struggled to get into the book at the beginning, and I didn’t feel the urge to turn over the page as much as I have in other books, but soon I got into the book a lot more.

If you like dramatic, descriptive time mysteries, then read this book by Nikki Young. 

Thanks Robert for this fantastic review (his first)! Thanks to Anne Cater and Matador books for our copy of this book.  

About The Author:

Nikki Young is a writer and lover of stories and ‘The Mystery of the Disappearing Underpants’ is her first book. Nikki credits her lively imagination to an amazing childhood, growing up in Yorkshire and living in a cul-de-sac in the days when children were allowed to run free and left to make their own fun! Now a mum of three, she says that in her head, she hasn’t really grown up and those memories of her childhood days remain strong and active.

Follow The Blog Tour:

If you liked the sound of this book from Robert’s review please follow the blog tour and find out what these other fabulous bloggers are saying.

Book Synopsis:

Memphis, Tennessee, 1939

Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge, until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents – but they quickly realize the dark truth…

Aiken, South Carolina, present day

Born into wealth and privilege, Avery Stafford seems to have it all: a successful career, a handsome fiancé, and a lavish wedding on the horizon. But when Avery returns home to help her father weather a health crisis, a chance encounter leaves her with uncomfortable questions and compels her to take a journey through her family’s long-hidden history, on a path that will ultimately lead either to devastation or to redemption.

Before we were yours is out now in ebook for the bargain price of 99p.  It will be published in paperback tomorrow, 12 July.  You can purchase a copy of both here.

My Review:

This was a remarkable, fascinating though heartbreaking piece of historical history describing a period of history and a practice I knew nothing about.  The author clearly has done her research and manages to fuse facts with fiction beautifully to tell the story of a truly dark period in America’s history.

The story follows two timelines, one in present day Memphis Tennessee follows a high ranking Congress official and his family, the other follows a family of five siblings who get taken from their home by Georgia Tann and placed into the Tennessee Children’s society.  The two stories go back and forth really well and I found that, unusually for me, I enjoyed both threads of the story.  There are plenty of hidden secrets to discover in both and the story kept my interest throughout the book as I was eager to discover what happens at the end.

I personally founding the children’s experiences in the children’s home and the abuse they suffered quite harrowing at times.  I think it was worse for me when I realised how young all the children were and that some, although poor, had come from loving families.  It’s difficult to comprehend how anyone thought it was ok to take children from their families and redistribute them the way they were.  It must have caused a great deal of upset and anguish to both the children and their families.

This was a story that was easy to get absorbed in as I quickly fell in love with the child characters.  I wanted to simultaneously keep reading to find out what happens to them and stop reading as some of the narrative was truly heartbreaking.

This is the first book by this author that I have read and I look forward to reading more from her in the future.  If you like historical fiction based on real facts that is beautiful told and quite emotional you’ll love this book.  It’s definitely one that will stay with me.

Huge thanks to Quercus for my copy of this book via Netgalley and to Milly Reid for inviting me onto the blog tour.

About The Author:

Lisa Wingate is a former journalist, inspirational speaker, and New York Times Bestselling Author of thirty novels. Her work has won or been nominated for many awards, including the Pat Conroy Southern Book Prize, the Oklahoma Book Award, The Carol Award, and the Christy Award. Her blockbuster hit, Before We Were Yours remained on the New York Times Bestseller List for over ten months, was Publishers Weekly’s #3 longest running bestseller of 2017, and was voted by readers as the 2017 Goodreads Choice Award winner for historical fiction. Before We Were Yours has been a book club favorite worldwide and to date has sold over one million copies.

Lost letters have only one hope for survival . . .

Inside the Dead Letters Depot in East London, William Woolf is one of thirty letter detectives who spend their days solving mysteries. Missing postcodes, illegible handwriting, rain-smudged ink, lost address labels, torn packages, forgotten street names – they are all the culprits of missed birthdays, broken hearts, unheard confessions, pointless accusations, unpaid bills and unanswered prayers.

When William discovers letters addressed simply to ‘My Great Love’ his work takes on new meaning.

Written by a woman to a soulmate she hasn’t met yet, the missives stir William in ways he didn’t know were possible. Soon he begins to wonder: Could William be her great love?

William must follow the clues in Winter’s letters to solve his most important mystery yet: the human heart.

The Lost Letters Of William Woolf is published tomorrow on the 12th July 2018 in ebook and hardback.  You can pre-order your copy of bothhere.

My Review:

I loved the premise of this book! The idea that there are people who are willing to take the time to get lost post back to the rightful owners is a lovely one and I do hope there is a Dead Letters depot somewhere.  Some of the personal stories behind the post were beautiful to read about and quite emotional at times when you read about the intended recipient finally opening their post.  There was a bit of a nostalgic quality to the book as letters are a bit of a rarity these days as is sending some of the items that are mentioned through the post.  It made me a little wistful for the simple joy of a hand written letter addressed to you.

William is an interesting character.  He is a little bit of a loner, a bit geeky and a bit of a dreamer.  He loves the idea of happy endings which is what drew him to the job and motivates him to return the post to the right person.  His little routines and idiosyncrasies were very sweet and heartwarming to read about.  It definitely made me warm to him.

The journey he undertakes to find the women who wrote the ”’ my great love’ letters was an interesting one.  I did enjoy reading about his travels and the interesting people he meets on his way, who all seem to have their own stories to tell, which really added to the story. I did feel a little cross with William for going on the journey as I felt he was being a little unfair on all involved chasing a dream whilst still married.  Even if that marriage is going through a bit of a rough patch.

For me this wasn’t a particularly fast paced book but that doesn’t matter as the reader is soon absorbed in William’s story and his internal fight over which women, his wife or the mysterious letter writer, he’s going to choose.  I felt that I wanted to keep reading to find out more about William and to find out how the story ends.

This is Helen’s debut novel and I will look forward to reading more from her in the future.  If you like The Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry, you’ll like this story as I felt they were similar.

Huge thanks to Gaby Young for my copy of this book and to Katie Ashworth for inviting me onto the blog tour.  If you like sweet, nostalgic stories about someone finding themselves then you’ll love this book.

About The Author:

Helen Cullen is an Irish writer living in London. She worked at RTE (Ireland’s national broadcaster) for seven years before moving to London in 2010. In the UK, Helen established a career as an events and engagement specialist before joining the Google UK marketing team in 2015.

The first draft of her debut novel THE LOST LETTERS OF WILLIAM WOOLF was written while completing the Guardian/UEA novel writing programme under the mentorship of Michèle Roberts. Helen holds an M.A. Theatre Studies from UCD and is currently completing an M.A. English Literature at Brunel University.

‘The Lost Letters of William Woolf’ will be published this year, 2018 in UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Germany, Italy and Israel.

Helen is now writing full-time and working on her second novel.
http://www.helencullen.ie
Twitter: @wordsofhelen

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