Book Synopsis:

It’s 1951. In Europe’s post-war wreckage, the glittering Italian Riviera draws an eclectic cast of characters; lured by the glamour but seeking an escape.

Amongst them, two outcasts: Hal, an English journalist who’s living on his charm; and Stella, an enigmatic society beauty, bound to a profiteering husband. When Hal receives a mysterious invitation from a wealthy Contessa, he finds himself aboard a yacht headed for Cannes film festival.

Scratch the beautiful surface, and the post-war scars of his new companions are quick to show. Then there’s Stella, whose secrets run deeper than anyone’s ― stretching back into the violence of Franco’s Spain. And as Hal gets drawn closer, a love affair begins that will endanger everyone…

The Invitation is an epic love story that will transport you from the glamour of the Italian Riviera, to the darkness of war-torn Spain. Perfect for fans of Kate Morton and Victoria Hislop.

My Review:

The Invitation is definitely one of those books that takes you to another time and place.  I really felt like I was travelling through post war Europe with the characters, experiencing all the sights with them.  I now really hope to travel through Europe at some point and visit all the countries they did.

I loved the Countessa! I thought she was such a fantastic character, so full of life (despite her age), welcoming, friendly and a tad mischievous.  Her obvious care towards her guests and her meddling in their lives to increase their happiness, was lovely to read about.  Her antics often had me laughing out loud at times, especially when it wasn’t at first clear what she was up to and her devious schemes were gradually revealed.  All the characters have been affected by the war in different ways which was fascinating to read about, particularly as in their histories is mentioned a part of the war that i didn’t know much about.  All the characters go on a personal journey throughout the book and it was lovely to see how much they had changed towards the end.

The building relationship between Stella and Hal was brilliantly done and seemed very real.  Things seemed to happen at a natural time and pace for them and it wasn’t too over the top.  It would have been easy for the author to write the relationship a lot more like a Hollywood movie and I was very pleased that she resisted this urge and created a much more everyday relationship.  This is not to say that the relationship was boring, far from it! The many twists and turns and oppositions to their relationship kept the story very interesting.  I felt intimately involved, almost like I was a friend of the couple trying to look out for them, and wanted to keep reading to find out what happened next.  The relationship doesn’t dominate the story either, rather it is the group as a whole with their different backgrounds, experience of the war and how they interact with each other (often outside the class rules that were in place at the time) that makes the story a truly interesting one.  I found that I liked all of the characters individually, even Stella’s husband (who i felt sorry for), and I found i was very interested in discovering more about them and their history.

There is a twist towards the end which I didn’t see coming and helped move the book in a completely different direction to the one i was expecting.   I was very pleased with how it ended and thought it was a very appropriate ending for the book.

This is Lucy Foley’s second book, but it is the first I have read and I will definitely be reading more from her.  I believe her third book, Last Letters from Istanbul is available in March and I will very much be looking forward to reading it. If you are a fan of Victoria Hislop of Kate Morton you will very much enjoy this book.

Huge thanks to Ann Bissell and Harper Collins for my copy of this book, I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Author Information:

Lucy Foley studied English Literature at Durham and UCL universities. She then worked for several years as a fiction editor in the publishing industry – during which time she also wrote The Book of Lost and Found. Lucy now writes full-time, and is busy travelling (for research, naturally!) and working on her next novel.

Visit her Facebook page at www.facebook.com/LucyFoleyAuthor and follow her on Twitter @lucyfoleytweets and Instagram @Lucy_F_Author. Find her on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7770523.Lucy_Foley.

I’m on the Blog Tour for Fatal Masquerade by Vivian Conroy today and am very lucky to have an exclusive extract to share with you! Fatal Masquerade is the 4th book in the Lady Alkmene series.

Book Information:

Lady Alkmene Callender has always loved grand parties, but when she receives an invitation to a masked ball thrown by Franklin Hargrove – oil magnate, aviation enthusiast and father of her best friend, Denise – she’s never seen such luxury. The estate is lit up with Chinese lanterns in the gardens, boats operated by footmen float across the pond and the guest list features the distinguished, rich and powerful!

But below the glamour, evil is lurking. When a dead body is discovered, it forces Lady Alkmene to throw off her mask and attempt to find the true killer before Denise’s family are accused. If only her partner, Jake Dubois, weren’t hiding something from her…

This case might just be more dangerous than either of them could have imagined.

Exclusive Extract:

There was nothing like a real orchestra to bring a waltz to life. Alkmene swayed among the many other guests, dressed up and laughing, breathing the building excitement on the air.

Outside, daylight was fading and the Chinese lanterns became ever more sparkly in the increasing darkness. Couples walked on the lawn, in deep conversation, some of them slipping away to the intimacy of the rose garden or to the boathouse to find a gondola.

Denise’s high-pitched laughter sounded close by. Alkmene twisted her neck to make out her friend among all the other dancers.

Denise was in the arms of a man dressed as a doge, with an elaborately embroidered mask. Most men had opted for plain black silk, but this man’s mask even had sequins that reflected the light from the chandelier above. It was not soft and pliable, but hard, as if it had been cast in plaster and then decorated. The nose stood out as a sharp beak, giving the man’s face a malicious appearance. A bird of prey circling the dance floor looking for victims.

Alkmene shook her head, reproaching herself for the sinister turn her thoughts often took, and returned her attention to her own dance partner. His warm baritone as he invited her to the dance had suggested he was Aunt Felicia’s husband, but now she was in his arms, he moved so nimbly that she began to doubt her earlier assumption. This man had to be younger.

He leaned over to her and said, ‘Have you known the Hargroves long?’ ‘I’m really more closely acquainted with Denise.’

His eyes seemed to glint with irony for a moment, and Alkmene felt uncomfortable that the tension between her and Denise might have been noticed. ‘Has she been looking forward to this night?’ he asked in a wistful tone.

Alkmene nodded. ‘She talked to me about it on several occasions and on the way over she was thrilled.’

She had the distinct impression her dancing partner was looking past her at Denise and the doge with the predatory appearance. Did her partner guess, as she had guessed herself, that this man was Denise’s reason for having craved this night?

Was Beak-mask also the reason Denise had quarrelled with her stepmother? Was he the man her father wouldn’t have wanted to come here?

It didn’t seem logical. Beak-mask wasn’t acting at all inconspicuously, keeping a low profile to escape attention from the other guests and his host.

On the contrary, he didn’t seem to care if his presence was noted by his host or not. Did he feel so secure behind his mask? After all, the masks would not be removed before two in the morning. And a socially sensitive man like Mr Hargrove would never create a scene by going over and asking this man to remove his mask on the spot, so Hargrove could see his face.

The dance ended, and the guests applauded. The sound rippled through the open doors and windows, rolling like waves into the gardens that were lit like a fairy tale.

Now she had stopped moving, Alkmene noticed that her legs were heavy and there was sweat under her mask and in her neck. She needed a break from dancing and from the imposing heat in the ballroom.

With a smile, she excused herself and walked to the open doors. As she drew near to them, she could already sense the cool upon her hot cheeks.

Outside, the night air crept along her neck and arms. She breathed in deep, listening to a call in the distance. Probably an owl, calling for his mate. The male and female had different calls, but Alkmene couldn’t tell them apart. If her father had been with her now, he would have scolded her that she had no head for the simplest of things, while she was always curious about things it wasn’t proper for a lady to know.

The terrace was built higher, broad steps ahead of her leading into the gardens below. To Alkmene’s left and right there were stone railings resting on decorated pillars.

From underneath one of these railings she heard a rustling sound. She walked over quickly, ensuring her shoes made no sound on the stone slabs.

Looking down, she spied a tall figure in a lilac dress hurrying away from the house. It had to be Mrs Zeilovsky. She had been the only woman present wearing that shade of dress. The feathers on the headband she wore moved in the breeze as she rushed along. It was a miracle she could walk so fast in her high heels.

Something moved in the shadow of a group of yews, and a figure stepped out, following Mrs Zeilovsky at a distance. He wore trousers, so it was a man, but he seemed too tall and trim to be the sinister psychiatrist. Who else could have an interest in Mrs Zeilovsky’s secretive behavior?

Alkmene frowned. Was Mrs Zeilovsky hurrying to some secret rendezvous? Was her lover following her at a discreet distance?

Or was the man in pursuit spying on her?

Under orders from her husband?

 

Ooh sounds good! If you like the sound of this extract the book is now available to purchase on Ebook from Amazon  for £1.99.  Or follow the blog tour and find out what these other bloggers are saying about Fatal Masquerade!

Today I’m on the Blog Tour for Sleep No More: Six Murderous Tales by “The Queen of Crime” P.D James.  Sleep no more is out on the 5th October in Hardback and E book and is being released as a companion to another Short Stories collection The Mistletoe Murders and other stories.

Book Blurb:

The acknowledged ‘Queen of Crime’, P. D. James, was a past master of the short story, weaving together motifs of the Golden Age of crime-writing with deep psychological insight to create gripping, suspenseful tales.

As the six murderous tales unfold, the dark motive of revenge is revealed at the heart of each. Bullying schoolmasters receive their comeuppance, unhappy marriages and childhoods are avenged, a murder in the small hours of Christmas Day puts an end to the vicious new lord of the manor, and, from the safety of his nursing home, an octogenarian exerts exquisite retribution.

The punishments inflicted on the guilty are fittingly severe, but here they are meted out by the unseen forces of natural justice rather than the institutions of the law. Once again, P. D. James shows her expert control of the short-story form, conjuring motives and scenarios with complete conviction, and each with a satisfying twist in the tail.

My Review:

I haven’t read an awful lot of short stories but when i was given the opportunity to review PD James’s new book I jumped at the chance.

Sleep No More is a collection of 6 short stories each involving a murder and each describing the deviousness of the characters as they plot out the perfect murder.  Some of the methods used and the planning of the murder is extraordinarily clever and was a bit of an eye opener to read about.

The stories included a large variety of characters that I had mixed feelings for.  Whilst i felt very sorry for the jilted husband in “The Victim” and the little girl in “The Girl Who Loved Graveyards” I hated the schoolboy in “The Yoyo” as i found him very obnoxious and full of himself.  I think this character is quite real though as I have encountered a few public school children like this.  These being short stories there wasn’t a lot of time for the reader to get to know the characters which i felt was a shame as i would like to have spent a bit more time with some of the characters, discovering more about them and what makes them tick.

All the stories appear to be set in the past and have quite a lot of historical detail in them at times that helps the reader imagine the setting for the stories.  In one the life of a public school in 1930 is well described and in another the stigma of divorce is mentioned giving the reader a glimpse into the life and problems of the characters.  These details were very interesting and helped me to image the characters and story better in my mind.

In my personal opinion the stories get betters as the book goes along.  I definitely enjoyed the later stories more than the earlier ones.  This isn’t to stay that the earlier stories were bad just that the later ones were more my style of story and had a little more going on in them.

PD James in the author of many full length novels and short story collections.  I have read quite a few of her books in the past and will definitely be reading more in the future.

Thank you to Sophie Portas and Faber & Faber for my copy of this book and for inviting me onto the blog tour.

About The Author:

P. D. James (1920-2014) was born in Oxford and educated at Cambridge High School for Girls. From 1949 to 1968 she worked in the National Health Service and subsequently in the Home Office, first in the Police Department and later in the Criminal Policy Department. All that experience was used in her novels. She was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and of the Royal Society of Arts and served as a Governor of the BBC, a member of the Arts Council, where she was Chairman of the Literary Advisory Panel, on the Board of the British Council and as a magistrate in Middlesex and London. She was an Honorary Bencher of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple. She won awards for crime writing in Britain, America, Italy and Scandinavia, including the Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster Award and The National Arts Club Medal of Honor for Literature (US). She received honorary degrees from seven British universities, was awarded an OBE in 1983 and was created a life peer in 1991. In 1997 she was elected President of the Society of Authors, stepping down from the post in August 2013.

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If you liked the sound of the book from my review, do follow the blog tour and see what these other bloggers are saying!

I’m absolutely delighted to be on the Maria In The Moon blog tour today! I have been a huge fan of Louise Beech’s books since reading The Mountain In My Shoe so I jumped at the chance to be on the blog tour and help spread the word about her brilliant books.  Maria In the Moon is out now in paperback and e-book.

Book Blurb:

Thirty-two-year-old Catherine Hope has a great memory. But she can’t remember everything. She can’t remember her ninth year. She can’t remember when her insomnia started. And she can’t remember why everyone stopped calling her Catherine-Maria.

With a promiscuous past, and licking her wounds after a painful breakup, Catherine wonders why she resists anything approaching real love. But when she loses her home to the devastating deluge of 2007 and volunteers at Flood Crisis, a devastating memory emerges… and changes everything.

Dark, poignant and deeply moving, Maria in the Moon is an examination of the nature of memory and truth, and the defenses we build to protect ourselves, when we can no longer hide…

My Review:

I always feel slightly apprehensive when reading a book that has had so many fantastic reviews from my fellow bloggers as it can raise your expectations leaving you expecting a lot from a book before you have even started.  Fortunately I have now joined the long line of fans for this book and have been recommending it to everyone who will listen!

Maria is a fantastic main character. I felt a lot of sympathy for her and the situations that she finds herself in.  She’s a very real character in that she’s not perfect and she does make mistakes but this helps increase the readers empathy for her as we have all found ourselves in similar situations!  I loved her sense of humour, particularly her hilarious observations of other people which had me laughing out loud at times.  It was very poignant to read about her broken relationship with her mother, which is very fraught and some of the awful things her mother says about her. It was hard to read about her trying to not let these things upset her and pretend not to care.  The state of this relationship is made worse by the loss of a much-loved father and you really feel for her when she makes comparisons between how things are now compared with the past.

I thought it was quite brave of the author to write about an event that happened so recently and would still be remembered by a lot of people, including of course people who were flooded themselves.  It was interesting to read about the many ways in which people were affected by the flood and how long after the waters had receded the floods continued to have an impact on their lives.  Simple things in everyday life, like being able to access public transport and being able to sleep when its raining were suddenly a challenge to people which I hadn’t fully considered before.

Maria’s work at the call center added an interesting slant to the story, as it allowed the reader to see a different, kinder version of Maria then what she normally showed to the world.  She really seemed to care about the callers and want to help them.  It was quite poignant at times to read about her shifts at the call center as I felt that she was in need of a bit of love and care too at times which she wasn’t always receiving.  Some of the things that people phoned up about were hilarious as they were quite random and sometimes not even flood related.  This caused some of the more comic and memorable moments in the book for me that I have remembered long after finishing reading.

This book is so beautifully written.  It really draws you in from the first page and gets inside your mind so that you are constantly thinking about it even when you aren’t reading it.  There is always something happening, some mini drama in Maria’s life that keeps you reading to find out how it works out and because, you care about Maria and want her to have a happy ending. You experience every emotion alongside Maria as she tries to work out where she is going in life and what she wants.  I laughed, I cried, I was frustrated but most importantly I loved reading about Maria’s life and I was very sad when the book ended.

Huge thanks to Orenda books and Anne Cater for my copy of the book and for inviting me on the blog tour.  This will definitely be a book I will think about, and recommend to people, for ages!

About The Author:

 

 

 

 

Louise Beech has been writing since she could physically hold a pen. She
regularly writes travel pieces for the Hull Daily Mail, where she was a columnist for
ten years. Her short fiction has won the Glass Woman Prize, the Eric Hoffer Award
for Prose, and the Aesthetica Creative Works competition, as well as shortlisting
twice for the Bridport Prize. Louise lives with her husband and children on the
outskirts of Hull – the UK’s 2017 City of Culture – and loves her job as Front of
House Usher at Hull Truck Theatre, where her first play was performed in 2012.
Her debut novel, How to be Brave, was a number one bestseller on Kindle in the
UK and Australia, and a Guardian Readers’ Pick in 2015. The Mountain in my Shoe
longlisted for the Guardian Not The Booker Prize.

Follow The Blog Tour:

If you liked the sound of Maria In The Moon from my review, do follow the blog tour and find out my fellow bloggers reviews!

 

I’m thrilled to be kicking off the blog tour today for Quieter Than Killing by Sarah Hilary.  This is the 4th book in the DI Rome series but can easily be read as a standalone which what I have done.  Quieter Than Killing is now out in paperback and e-book, the e-book it is currently only 99p.

Book Description:

It’s winter, the nights are dark and freezing, and a series of seemingly random assaults is pulling DI Marnie Rome and DS Noah Jake out onto streets of London. When Marnie’s family home is ransacked, there are signs that the burglary can have only been committed by someone who knows her. Then a child goes missing, yet no-one has reported it. Suddenly, events seem connected, and it’s personal.

Someone out there is playing games. It is time for both Marnie and Noah to face the truth about the creeping, chilling reaches of a troubled upbringing. Keeping quiet can be a means of survival, but the effects can be as terrible as killing.

My Review:

When you start reading a crime novel you don’t expect the book to be overly emotional, but half way through Quieter Than Killing I found myself crying over what was happening in the book.  I think this is down to Sarah Hilary making the reader care about her characters.  She invests a lot of time in making sure the reader understands them, knows about their background and what makes them tick.  Through doing this the reader feels like they know the characters quite intimately and therefore are more upset when events transpire against them.  I found this book particularly poignant as two of the characters were children who were going through quite a hard time.  It was very difficult to read about their experiences and stay emotionally detached, particularly as I was imagining them as my own children at times.  I desperately wanted them to have a happy ending and kept reading to try to find out what was going to happen to them next.

The character development in the book is very well done.  I think I changed my opinion a number of times on each one as the story developed.  This was great at providing an eye opener at times as to how judgmental we can all be about certain members of society.  I started off not liking DI Rome very much which is unusual for me as I am normally instantly a fan of strong female characters but she just seemed a little remote and cold to me at first, plus she annoyed me at times with how she was trying to solve the case which made her come across as being quite arrogant at times.  However I soon came to like her drive and her thoroughness when it came to solving a case.

The case is quite a murky one from the beginning that builds and builds to an almost unbearable crescendo as we learn of all the different characters involved, what their connection and motivation is.  At its peak my head did start to hurt a little as I struggled to stay on top of all the different suspects but then it all becomes clear before a major twist just afterwards sends the reader scrambling in yet another direction.  I thought this was brilliantly done and it definitely kept me on my toes as i thought i had finally figured it all out before the rug was pulled out from under me again with a new revelation- well played Sarah Hilary! There was never a dull moment in the book as there always seemed to be something happening somewhere which really kept my interest and made the book very hard to put down.  I found myself reading late into the night, even swapping to the kindle version so i could continue reading in the dark.  The story is almost impulsive at times as the reader struggles to try to work out what is happening and who could be behind everything.

This is the fourth book in the DI Rome series but it is the first book of Sarah Hilary’s that I have read but it won’t be my last as i really enjoyed her style of writing and the human slant she puts in her writing.

Huge thanks to Katie Brown and Headline for providing me with a copy of the book and for letting me be on the blog tour.

Author Information:

Sarah Hilary has worked as a bookseller, and with the Royal Navy. Her debut, SOMEONE ELSE’S SKIN, won Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year 2015 and was a World Book Night selection for 2016. The Observer’s Book of the Month (“superbly disturbing”) and a Richard & Judy Book Club bestseller, it has been published worldwide. NO OTHER DARKNESS, the second in the series was shortlisted for a Barry Award in the US. Her DI Marnie Rome series continues with TASTES LIKE FEAR (2016) QUIETER THAN KILLING (2017), with COME AND FIND ME out in April 2018.

Follow Sarah on Twitter at @Sarah_Hilary

 

 

Follow The Blog Tour:

If you liked the sound of Quieter Than Killing from my review, do follow the blog tour and see what these other fabulous bloggers are saying!

I’m so excited to share my review of the fantastic My Mother’s Shadow by Nikola Scott.  I really enjoyed this book and it has definitely been one that has stayed with me a long time after reading it.  My Mother’s Shadow is now available in paperback and eBook where it is currently only 99p.

Book Description:

Hartland House has always been a faithful keeper of secrets…

1958. Sent to beautiful Hartland to be sheltered from her mother’s illness, Liz spends the summer with the wealthy Shaw family. They treat Liz as one of their own, but their influence could be dangerous…

Now. Addie believes she knows everything about her mother Elizabeth and their difficult relationship until her recent death. When a stranger appears claiming to be Addie’s sister, she is stunned. Is everything she’s been told about her early life a lie?

How can you find the truth about the past if the one person who could tell you is gone? Addie must go back to that golden summer her mother never spoke of…and the one night that changed a young girl’s life for ever.

My Review:

My Mother’s Shadow is definitely a book that is going to stay with me for a long time.  The poignant story line is deeply affecting, especially when read as a mother of two children, I found that i often had a lump in my throat whilst reading about Elizabeth’s horrific experiences.  It’s hard to believe that people judged and treated people so cruelly over so little without realizing the damaging effects that it would have on all concerned.  I’m very thankful that thinking has now moved on and we now live in a much more open-minded society.

The main character, Addie, was very realistic and hugely likeable and I found myself really drawn to her story and plight throughout the book.  The transformation she goes through is brilliant and I enjoyed watching her grow in confidence and start to stand up for herself, doing what she wanted to do rather than what she thought others wanted her to do.  I felt for her with her difficult relationship with her mother, who she felt she never pleased and was never good enough for.  It was hard reading about how this had affected her over the years and it was good to see her come out of her mother’s shadow in this regard and become a much more confident and together person.  Her relationship with Phoebe and Andrew was lovely to read about as i felt that in their presence we got to see the really Addie and i loved how much more confident and unafraid she was around them.

The descriptions of the idyllic summer that Elizabeth spent with the Shaws was beautifully described and I really felt that I could picture those lazy, summer days in my mind’s eye.  It was lovely to see a different, care free side to Elizabeth and to watch her grow throughout the summer in her new-found acceptance.  Some of the games and mischief the children got up to was stuff that i used to enjoy doing when i was a kid, which helped create a wonderful sense of nostalgia for me and the fun i used to have.

Unusually for me with a book with two time-lines I found that i enjoyed them both equally.  Normally I am rushing through one part of the story to find out what is happening in the other, normally older timeline.  I think this is down to the author cleverly sharing out the facts and reveals between the two timelines so as to keep both interesting whereas i don’t believe this is always the case with other books.  This also helped keep the story really interesting and I found that i kept reading, faster and faster as the book progressed in order to find out what had happened.  Sometimes one of the story lines revealed a clue that wasn’t yet known in the other story line and then i found myself on tender hooks, waiting for it to be discovered and to see what their reaction would be to the new information.  This helped create a lot of tension and anticipation in the book which made the book very easy to read.

Though it is hard to believe, this is Nikola Scott’s debut novel and I very much look forward to reading more from her.  I felt the comparison with Kate Morton & Rachel Hore was very much deserved and feel sure that if you like their books you will enjoy this one!

Huge thank you to Becky Hunter and Headline for providing me with a copy of this book.

Author Information:

Nikola Scott was born and raised in Germany and studied at university there. Having been obsessed with books from a young age, Nikola moved to New York City after her Master’s degree to begin her first job in book publishing – a career in which she could fully indulge her love of fiction. She spent ten years working in publishing in New York and then in London, editing other people’s books, before she decided to take the leap into becoming a full-time writer herself. She now lives in Frankfurt with her husband and two sons.

MY MOTHER’S SHADOW is her debut novel.

You can visit Nikola’s website www.nikolascott.com and you can find her on Twitter @nikola_scott and Facebook/NikolaScottAuthor.

 

 

 

 

Today i’m thrilled to be doing a spotlight feature for The Snow Globe by Judith Kinghorn.  Due to personal circumstances I’ve unfortunately not had a chance to read this book yet, but hope to do so at the earliest opportunity as it sounds right up my street.

BASIC INFORMATION:

Title: The Snow Globe

Author Name: Judith Kinghorn

Previous Books (if applicable): The Echo of Twilight

Genre: Historical Fiction

Release Date: 25th September 2017

Publisher:  Canelo

BOOK BLURB:

A beautiful story of enduring love and heartbreaking choices.

As Christmas 1926 approaches, the Forbes family are preparing to host a celebration at Eden Hall. Eighteen-year-old Daisy is preoccupied by a sense of change in the air. Overnight, her relationship with Stephen Jessop, the housekeeper’s son, has shifted and every encounter seems fraught with tension. Before the festivities are over, Daisy has received a declaration of love, a proposal and a kiss – from three different men. Unable to bear the confusion she flees to London and stays with her elder sister.

By the following summer, Daisy has bowed to the persistence of the man who proposed to her the previous year. When the family reunite for a party at Eden Hall and Stephen is once more in her life, it is clear to Daisy she is committing to the wrong person. Yet she also believes that family secrets mean she has no choice but to follow her head instead of her heart. Will love conquer all, or is Daisy’s fate already written?

LINKS TO BOOK:

Amazon: Amazon

Kobo: Kobo

Goodreads: Goodreads

AUTHOR BIO:

Judith Kinghorn is the author of four novels: The Echo of Twilight, The Snow Globe, The Memory of Lost Senses and The Last Summer. She was born in Northumberland, educated in the Lake District, and is a graduate in English and History of Art. She lives in Hampshire, England, with her husband and two children.

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:

Judith Kinghorn is available on a variety of social media platforms.  Including:

Twitter: @judithkinghorn

Facebook: Writer Judith Kinghorn

Website: https://www.judithkinghornwriter.com

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I’m very excited to be on The House of Spines Blog Tour today and to be able to share my review of this fabulous book with you!  House of Spines is out now as an ebook or paperback, published by the brilliant Orenda Books.

Book Blurb:

A terrifying psychological thriller cum Gothic mystery, as a young man with mental health issues inherits an isolate mansion, where all is not as it seems…Ran McGhie’s world has been turned upside down. A young, lonely and frustrated writer, and suffering from mental-health problems, he discovers that his long-dead mother was related to one of Glasgow’s oldest merchant families. Not only that, but Ran has inherited Newton Hall, a vast mansion that belonged to his great-uncle, who it seems has been watching from afar as his estranged great-nephew has grown up. Entering his new-found home, it seems Great-Uncle Fitzpatrick has turned it into a temple to the written word – the perfect place for poet Ran. But everything is not as it seems. As he explores the Hall’s endless corridors, Ran’s grasp on reality appears to be loosening. And then he comes across an ancient lift; and in that lift a mirror. And in the mirror… the reflection of a woman… A terrifying psychological thriller with more than a hint of the Gothic, House of Spines is a love letter to the power of books, and an exploration of how lust and betrayal can be deadly…

My Review:

Wow! This book is definitely going onto the list of the best books I have ever read.  I so enjoyed reading it and found it incredibly hard to put down.

I have to admit to being a little apprehensive when I first started this book.  I had heard lots of great reviews from my fellow bloggers but i am a huge wimp at heart and the title along with the reviews of ‘terrifying’ led me to believe that this would be a horror book.  I’m not good with horror and get scared incredibly easily (i managed to have nightmares after watching the advert for IT) so i started this book wondering if I would be able to finish it.  To put fellow nervous readers at ease the house of spines refers to the spines of books, not humans, as i was worried it would be!

The book soon drew me in and had me desperately trying to read more whenever I could, hoping that my little girl would sleep longer at nap time just so i could read a few more pages and find out what happens.  The book is a little spooky and the tension is incredible and that combined makes you want to keep reading it.  It is not necessarily the action that is happening on the page that makes this tension but rather the anticipation that something is going to happen.  I found this rather exciting and quite enjoyed the feeling of being a little scared and out of my comfort zone which i was surprised about.

The main character, Ranald, is a very sympathetic and sweet character who I liked almost instantly.  I come from a Scottish family and am married to a Scot so I loved how realistic he sounded when he spoke and how he used the correct Scottish terms in his speech.  His  struggles with his parents death and his mental health was very emotional and quite poignant to read about.  The reader can’t help but feel sorry for him and sympathetic to the lonely situation he finds himself him.  His attempts to make friends further endeared himself to me and i found that I wanted him to be happy and was willing him to make friends with people.  I also really wanted the house to work out for him and kept reading to find out what happened to him.

The Twist towards the end of the book was brilliant and one I definitely didn’t see coming.  It was one of those that had me gasping in surprise and flicking back through the pages of the book to try to discover new information I might have missed the first time.  As i read quite a lot it is quite hard to surprise me nowadays and I always really enjoy it when someone manages to!

This is the first book of Michael Malone that I have read but it won’t be my last.  In fact I have already downloaded a copy of his first book A Suitable Lie to read.

Huge thanks to Karen from Orenda books and Anne Carter for my copy of this book and for inviting me onto the blog tour.  This is definitely going to be one of those books that I will be recommending to everyone for a long time.

Author Information:

Michael Malone was born and brought up in the heart of Burns’ country, just a stone’s throw from the great man’s cottage in Ayr. Well, a stone thrown by a catapult, maybe.

He has published over 200 poems in literary magazines throughout the UK, including New Writing Scotland, Poetry Scotland and Markings. His career as a poet has also included a (very) brief stint as the Poet-In-Residence for an adult gift shop. Don’t ask.

BLOOD TEARS, his debut novel won the Pitlochry Prize (judge:Alex Gray) from the Scottish Association of Writers and when it was published he added a “J” to his name to differentiate it from the work of his talented U.S. namesake.

He is a regular reviewer for the hugely popular crime fiction website http://www.crimesquad.com and his blog, May Contain Nuts can be found at http://mickmal1.blogspot.com/

He can be found on twitter – @michaelJmalone1

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If you liked the sound of this book from my review, do go and check out what my fellow book bloggers are saying!

Today i’m very excited to be on the blog tour for the amazing The Waterway Girls.  This is the first book i have read by Milly Adams and it certainly won’t be my last.  If you are a fan of World War Two fiction or sagas you will love this book! The Waterway Girls is out now in paperback and ebook.

Book Blurb:

THE FIRST NOVEL IN MILLY ADAMS’ BRAND NEW SAGA SERIES. Perfect for fans of Daisy Styles and Nancy Revell.

War lands them in the same boat. Can they pull together?

October 1943, West London
Nineteen-year-old Polly Holmes is leaving poor bombed London behind to join the war effort on Britain’s canals.

Stepping aboard the Marigold amid pouring rain, there’s lots for Polly to get to grips with. Not least her fellow crew: strong and impetuous Verity, whose bark is worse than her bite, and seasoned skipper Bet.

With her sweetheart away fighting in the RAF and her beloved brother killed in action, there’s plenty of heartache to be healed on the waterway. And as Polly rolls up her sleeves and gets stuck into life on board the narrowboat – making the gruelling journey London up to Birmingham – she will soon discover that a world of new beginnings awaits amid the anguish of the war.

My Review:

I really enjoyed this fantastic trip into the forgotten world of the Boaters who helped transport various materials on the canals in World war Two which was considered much safer than using the roads, especially as petrol was scarce. It was fascinating to learn more about their world and culture, the different roles everyone played in day to day life and the hardships they endured whilst working on the canals.  Some of the descriptions regarding these hardships were very poignant to read about and I often had a lump in my throat when i was reading them.  It’s hard to believe in this day and age, where people are quick to blame and sue, that people actually used to work like this.  The descrimination and abuse the boaters received was also very upsetting to read about.  They were often mocked for their dirty apperances which were just caused from the hard work that they did.

The book features three very strong, firery female characters which i enjoyed reading about.  They were very happy to work hard and pull their weight to prove that they could do just as good a job as the male boaters could.  They were also not afraid to stand up for other people when they felt it was needed and lend a helping hand which was a really admirable trait.  The three girls form a really strong friendship which helped them in the day to day hardship of their lives.  Some of the exploits they get up to were hilarious to read about and actually caused me to laugh out loud at times.  I started off not liking the two main boaters in the story as they seemed unnecessarily rude at the beginning but as i got to know them more i started to warm to them and ended up really liking them.  I liked how loyal they are and how they look after the girls whilst they are on the Canal.

The book has a great pace to it which makes it really easy to read and to become absorbed in the story.  There is always something happening or some new thing that the girls are doing that keeps the book interesting and fresh.  The change to the story about half way through the book was surprising and definetly added a new element to the story, taking it on a new direction which i hadn’t expected.

The ending was brilliant and exactly how i wanted the book to end.  I really like that the characters all got the ending i felt they deserved and was very excited to learn that there is to be a sequel to this book where i will get to spend more time with such terrific characters!

Thank you to Becky McCarthy at Penguin Random house for my copy of this book and for inviting me on the blog tour.  I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will definetly be reading more from MIlly Adams in the future.

About the Author:

 

Milly Adams lives in Buckinghamshire with her husband, dog and cat.  Her children live nearby.  Her grandchildren are fun and lead her astray.  She insists that it is that way round.  Milly Adams is also the author of Above Us The Sky and Sisters At War.

 

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If you like the sound of this book from my review, do check out what the other bloggers on the tour have to say!

 

I am a huge fan of Kristin Hannah so I was very excited to be offered a review copy of her latest book, Between Sisters.  I read this book in two days whilst in hospital and it was so nice to have a great book to keep me company.

Book Description:

We all make mistakes, but for Meghann Dontess the terrible choice she made some years ago cost her everything, including the love of her sister, Claire. Meghann is now a highly successful attorney, and has put all thoughts of love completely behind her – until she meets the one man who believes he can change her mind.

Claire has fallen in love for the first time in her life, and as her wedding day approaches she prepares to face her strong-willed older sister. Reunited after two decades, these two women who believe they have nothing in common will try to become what they never were: a family.

Tender, funny, bittersweet and moving, Kristin Hannah’s Between Sisters skilfully explores the profound joys and sorrows shared in a close relationship, the mistakes made in the name of love, and the promise of redemption.

My Review:

Kristin Hannah has created a thoroughly absorbing but emotional story in Between Sisters.  It was great to read about the estranged sisters attempts to rebuild their relationship and be there for each other.  I think this story appealed to me on a personal level as I also have a younger sister who I don’t always see eye to eye with.

The character development in this book was brilliant.  I started off not really liking or feeling sympathy with either of the sisters but by the end I found myself hoping they had a good ending and even shedding a few tears when things went right for them.  I think this is down to the subtle way the author introduces facts about their lives and their past that’s let’s the reader understand more about why they are like they are and what makes then tick.  The sister’s fall out about quite normal, everyday things which makes the story seem more realistic and allows the reader to be more involved in the story as you want to keep reading to find out what will happen next.

The differences between the two sisters is very vividly described throughout the story and leads to some of the more emotional moments in the book.  The cold, impersonal almost clinical corporate life Meghann lives in without any close friends and family is very different to the vibrant, casual life full of friends and loved ones that Claire lives.  At times I had a lump in my throat reading some of the passages describing these differences and realising how much this affects the sisters when these differences become apparent.

I absolutely loved the ending! It was exactly how I wanted it to end.  I felt all the characters got the ending I wanted them to have and I must confess I had tears in my eyes reading how things turned out for them.  It was lovely to see how much the characters had changed and how far they had come.

Huge thanks to Jess Duffy and Pan Macmillan for my review copy of this book.

About The Author:

Kristin Hannah is an award-winning and bestselling author of more than 20 novels including the international blockbuster, The Nightingale, Winter Garden, Night Road, and Firefly Lane.

Her novel, The Nightingale, has been published in over 39 languages and is currently in movie development at Tri Star Pictures. Her novel, Home Front has been optioned for film by 1492 Films (produced the Oscar-nominated The Help) with Chris Columbus attached to direct.

Kristin is a former-lawyer-turned writer who lives in the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii with her husband. She began her writing career as a young mother and has never looked back. Her novel, Firefly Lane, became a runaway bestseller in 2009, a touchstone novel that brought women together, and The Nightingale, in 2015 was voted a best book of the year by Amazon, Buzzfeed, iTunes, Library Journal, Paste, The Wall Street Journal and The Week.  Additionally, the novel won the coveted Goodreads and People’s Choice Awards. The audiobook of The Nightingale won the Audiobook of the Year Award in the fiction category.