#BLOGTOUR #TheSilentWife @SlaughterKarin @FictionPubTeam @RandomTTours @annecater

BOOK BLURB

Atlanta, Georgia. Present day. A young woman is brutally attacked and left for dead. The police investigate but the trail goes cold. Until a chance assignment takes GBI investigator Will Trent to the state penitentiary, and to a prisoner who says he recognises the MO. The attack looks identical to the one he was accused of eight years earlier. The prisoner’s always insisted that he was innocent, and now he’s sure he has proof. The killer is still out there.

As Will digs into both crimes it becomes clear that he must solve the original case in order to reach the truth. Yet nearly a decade has passed—time for memories to fade, witnesses to vanish, evidence to disappear. And now he needs medical examiner Sara Linton to help him hunt down a ruthless murderer. But when the past and present collide, everything Will values is at stake.

BOOK REVIEW

It’s a welcome return for us the reader to be back with Will and Sarah on their latest investigation. After twenty years and twenty books the characters and indeed the stories involving them seem to be like a good wine they get better with age. In this encounter we find the pair investigating the claims by a prisoner that Sarah’s dead husband Jeffrey and his police team at the time set him up for the rape and murder of college students. The prisoner has put together the details of crimes committed after he was incarcerated that match the ones he was charged with. It’s up to Will and the team along with Sarah to uncover the truth around the mans claim of innocence. For Sarah this could mean the man she married twice and whose widow she now is was a liar who used his influence to put away the wrong man. For Will its the heartache of watching the woman he loves go through the emotional ringer while they follow up the claims.

There are some fictional characters that you wish would just catch a break from all the heartache and bad times the endure so that they may have some form of a normal life. This is the case for Will and Sarah , they are both damaged by their past yet when they are together they make each other whole. If they can get through all what they have they can surely move on and make a life together. Yet even real life does not have many fairytale endings and so this makes the characters all the more believable and realistic. This story sees that both having to face up to the past in order to move forward and draw the proverbial line underneath what they have both endured. For Sarah its facing up to the fact that Jeffrey had his faults but they were not hers. For Will its about letting go of the hurt inflicted by his last love and breaking down the barriers he has in place protecting him, thereby allowing Sarah to take her place in his heart.

The story is fast paced and relentless as they race against the clock to uncover the truth about what happened to the woman. There are descriptions of the trauma suffered by the woman that while graphic in some parts don’t take away from the fact there are men out there committing such atrocities all over the world. Even though they are graphic they add gritty realism to the plot and the way the surviving victims are treated shows great respect for the victims of such horrific acts. As the book moves back and forth between timelines it builds up the tension not only in the search for the truth but in the relationships within the team. As the book started towards its climax i had an inkling who the real killer was yet the author kept me waiting with baited breath as the plot skipped back in time again. The revelation of the real killer was like the opening of an envelope at the oscars, everyone holding their breath with anticipation and the oh my god it was him. A brilliant read from an author that delivers the goods time after time.

STAR RATING 5

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Karin Slaughter is one of the world’s most popular and acclaimed storytellers. Published in 120 countries with more than 35 million copies sold across the globe, her 19 novels include the Grant County and Will Trent books, as well as the Edgar-nominated Cop Town and the instant Sunday Times bestselling novels Pretty Girls, The Good Daughter, and Pieces of Her.

The Good Daughter and Cop Town are in development for film and television and Pieces of Her is soon to be an eight-part Netflix adaptation, directed by Lesli Linka Glatter (Mad Men), and produced by Charlotte Stoudt (Homeland) and Bruna Papandrea (Big Little Lies).

Karin is the founder of the Save the Libraries project- a non-profit organisation established to support libraries and library programming.  

She lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

‘One of the boldest thriller writers working today’ TESS GERRITSEN

‘Fiction doesn’t get any better than this’ JEFFERY DEAVER

‘Passion, intensity, and humanity’ LEE CHILD

‘Her characters, plot, and pacing are unrivalled’ MICHAEL CONNELLY

‘A great writer at the peak of her powers’ PETER JAMES

‘Karin Slaughter has – by far – the best name of all of us mystery novelists’ JAMES PATTERSON

#blogtour #BrokenSilence @rararesources @LizMistryAuthor

BOOK BLURB

When DS Felicity Springer is reported missing after a police training conference, the countdown to
find her begins…
On her way home after an exhausting weekend, with colleagues she can’t wait to escape, Felicity
notices something odd about the white van in front of her. A hand has punched through the car’s
rear light and is frantically waving, trying to catch her attention.
Desperate to help, Felicity dials 999 and calls it in. But whilst on the phone, she loses control of the
car on the icy road, crashing straight into the vehicle ahead.
Pinned in the seat and unable to move, Felicity feels a sudden whoosh of cold air across her face.
Someone has opened the passenger door… and they have a gun.
With Felicity missing and no knowledge of whether she is dead or alive, DS Nikki Parekh and DC Sajid
Malik race to find their friend and colleague.
But Felicity was harbouring a terrible secret, and with her life now hanging in the balance, Nikki can
only hope that someone will come forward and break the silence…

Purchase Links
E book https://www.amazon.co.uk/Broken-Silence-absolutely-gripping-thriller-
ebook/dp/B083Z3ZZ61
Paperback https://www.amazon.co.uk/Liz-Mistry-2-3/dp/0008358370

BOOK REVIEW

This is the second book in the new series by the author Liz Mistry and its unfolding into a cracking set of a new characters . In this encounter DS Nikki Parekh and her partner DC Sajid Malik must race against the clock to find out what happened to one of their colleagues Felicity Springer on her way home from a conference. How did she disappear, who took her and is she dead or alive. Digging deeper into the crime they slowly unravel the circumstances and the dreadful secret that someone will stop at nothing to protect, not even murder. Their investigation may start out with a missing woman but they are soon following leads that will take them into the dark world of human trafficking , torture and murder most foul.

This encounter with Nikki sees both her and the characters around her starting to flesh out their backgrounds, their characteristics and who they are in relationship to their place in the series. So while it is book two it can be read as a stand-alone story. The pace is fast and ferocious just like Nikki can be in certain circumstances. Her character takes the weight of the whole of the world around her on her shoulders, she feels responsible for everyone in her close circle. A weight that whilst often unbearable she wont relent regardless of the personal grief she may feel. If you were a criminal she is one person you don’t want on your trail. The book is tense and hard hitting when it comes to the often neglected and distressing themes surrounding the vile trade of human trafficking. The author pulls no punches with the descriptions used when Nikki and Saj uncover the truth behind the disappearance of their colleague Felicity. The brutality, fear and human degradation that those trafficked undergo is not glossed over in the book nor is it glamourised. It’s brought out within the pages allowing the reader just a small insight into what goes on not just here but all over the world.A great police procedural novel that will leave you not only wanting more but aghast when the truth of who is the mastermind behind it all is revealed. I look forward to more non stop action fuelled encounters with Nikki and her team.

My thanks to Rachels Random Resources for my copy of the book, as always they are my own thoughts and opinions on the book.

STAR RATING 4

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Born in Scotland, Made in Bradford sums up Liz Mistry’s life. Over thirty years ago she moved from a
small village in West Lothian to Yorkshire to get her teaching degree. Once here, Liz fell in love with
three things; curries, the rich cultural diversity of the city … and her Indian husband (not necessarily
in this order). Now thirty years, three children, two cats (Winky and Scumpy) and a huge extended
family later, Liz uses her experiences of living and working in the inner city to flavour her writing. Her
gritty crime fiction police procedural novels set in Bradford embrace the city she describes as ‘Warm,
Rich and Fearless’ whilst exploring the darkness that lurks beneath.
Struggling with severe clinical depression and anxiety for a large number of years, Liz often includes
mental health themes in her writing. She credits the MA in Creative Writing she took at Leeds Trinity
University with helping her find a way of using her writing to navigate her ongoing mental health
struggles. Being a debut novelist in her fifties was something Liz had only dreamed of and she counts
herself lucky, whilst pinching herself regularly to make sure it’s all real. One of the nicest things
about being a published author is chatting with and responding to readers’ feedback and Liz
regularly does events at local libraries, universities, literature festivals and open mics. She also
teaches creative writing too. Now, having nearly completed a PhD in Creative Writing focussing on
‘the absence of the teen voice in adult crime fiction’ and ‘why expansive narratives matter’, Liz is
chock full of ideas to continue writing.
In her spare time, Liz loves pub quizzes (although she admits to being rubbish at them), dancing (she
does a mean jig to Proud Mary – her opinion, not ratified by her family), visiting the varied Yorkshire
landscape, with Robin Hoods Bay being one of her favourite coastal destinations, listening to music,
reading and blogging about all things crime fiction on her blog, The Crime Warp.

Social Media Links –
FB https://www.facebook.com/LizMistrybooks/
Twitter @LizMistryAuthor
Website: https://www.lizmistry.com/

#COVERREVEAL #NotTheDeathsImagined @pettigrew_anne @RingwoodPublish @damppebbles @DamppebblesBTS

Wow thanks to Damppebbles Blog Tours today i have the pleasure of being part of the cover reveal team for the newest offering from Anne Pettigrew called Not The Deaths Imagined.

So here it is well lets have the blurb first just to keep the suspense going a little bit longer.

BOOK BLURB

In a leafy Glasgow suburb, Dr Beth Semple is busy juggling motherhood and full-time GP work in the 90s NHS. But her life becomes even more problematic when she notices some odd deaths in her neighbourhood. Though Beth believes the stories don’t add up, the authorities remain stubbornly unconvinced.

Soon, Beth’s professional reputation is challenged. There follows a chilling campaign of harassment and she finds her professional reputation – and family – are put at risk.

Is a charming local GP actually a serial killer? Can Beth piece together the jigsaw of perplexing fatalities and perhaps save lives? And as events accelerate towards a dramatic conclusion, will the police intervene in time?

From the author of Not the Life Imagined, this slow-burning tartan noir novel from a Bloody Scotland Crime Spotlight author follows Beth on another quest for justice. Reflecting Pettigrew’s own medical expertise, Not The Deaths Imagined re-affirms the benefits of growing up in a loving family and the need for friends in hard times, while offering insight into the twisted development of a psychopathic mind.

Doesn’t it look great , hopefully it entices you enough to go and pre-order it.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Glasgow-born, 31 years a Greenock GP, graduate of University of Glasgow (Medicine 1974) and Oxford (MSc Medical Anthropology 2004). Worked also in psychiatry, women’s health, and  journalism (Herald, Pulse, Doctor, Channel 4). In retirement took Creative Writing tuition at Glasgow University aiming to pen novels about women doctors (rare in literature except as pathologists or in Mills & Boon). Runner-up in SAW Constable Award 2018, chosen as a 2019 Bloody Scotland Crime Spotlight Author – ‘one to watch.’ Member of several writers’ groups and a short story competition winner, she lives in Ayrshire and enjoys good books, good wine, and good company.

Social Media

Twitter: https://twitter.com/pettigrew_anne @pettigrew_anne

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/annepettigrewauthor/

Website: http://www.annepettigrew.co.uk

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anne.pettigrew.author/

Blog: https://annepettigrew.literaryglobe.com/ & http://www.annepettigrew.co.uk

Not The Deaths Imagined

Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/31eOqIC

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2B4gMuk

Publication date Aug 1st 2020

#Blogtour #TheWaitingRoom @OrendaBooks @evecsmith @RandomTTours #AntibioticResistance

BOOK BLURB

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.

BOOK REVIEW

In a world where resistance to antibiotics has rendered life dangerous and deadly the government takes drastic measures to protect those it deems viable. Those over 70 are no longer to get any of the new strain antibiotics so are effectively useless members of society after that age.Kate works in a part of a hospital where the old go to die, helping them on their way is part of what she does. Oh you can choose to go out on your own terms through documenting them but if you don’t sign then your last days could be hellish. Meanwhile a few miles away an elderly woman Lily lives with dark secrets that will eventually break free and decimate not only her life but many others too. Kate meanwhile is struggling with what she does after years of helping others she feels she ought to help herself so sets out to find her birth mother. What she uncovers will change her life forever, is she ready for such revelation or will she crumble under the knowledge.

Written for the POV of three people , Kate,lily and Mary this book is a journey that could become a reality for the future of mankind due to the growing resistance to antibiotics. It’s a powerful read that is both terrifying and poignant as it lays out the what could happen scenario would it ever come true. The act of dictating a cut off age for the population is reminiscent of the movie Logan’s Run where that society had 30 as their cut off age, sacrifice a few to save many. Do you give everyone the drugs and risk running out or becoming just as ineffective as the ones before. Should those in charge choose to limit the use of such rare commodities for the sake of the rest of the country. That’s just part of the plot , a plot that intricately weaves together the past and present to build up an overwhelming book that will rock you to you’re very core with its powerful message. I read the book a few weeks ago but still cannot seem to find the right words to put down that will make any sense of what I read. It’s grabs at you, it haunts you , it makes you question what exactly can we do to prevent it ever happening for real. Poignant, harrowing , dark yet hopeful the book is one of the most compelling Dystopian books I’ve ever read. Very apt reading for our current climate some may shrink from reading as in some ways its too similar to what is happening now , you can’t even hold hands in the book unless you are intimate, masks are compulsory and sanitation is key to protecting everyone.

My thanks to Anne Cater and Orenda Books for my copy of the book , as always they are my own thoughts and opinions on the book.

STAR RATING 5

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Eve Smith’s debut novel The Waiting Rooms was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize First Novel Award. Eve writes speculative fiction, mainly about the things that scare her. She attributes her love of all things dark and dystopian to a childhood watching Tales of the Unexpected and black-and-white Edgar Allen Poe double bills. Eve’s flash fiction has been shortlisted for the Bath Flash Fiction Award and highly commended for The Brighton Prize.
In this world of questionable facts, stats and news, she believes storytelling is more important than ever to engage people in real life issues.
Eve recently contributed a piece of flash fiction, Belting Up, to an anthology of crime shorts called Noir From the Bar. The collection of stories has been launched to raise money for the NHS.
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. A Modern Languages graduate from Oxford, she returned to Oxfordshire fifteen years ago to set up home with her husband.
When she’s not writing, she’s chasing across fields after her dog, attempting to organise herself and her family or off exploring somewhere new.
Follow Eve: @evecsmith on Twitter & http://www.evesmithauthor.com
Instagram: evesmithauthor Facebook: EveSmithAuthor

#blogtour #BadMagicBook @damppebbles @AMStirling1 #dampebblesblogtours

BOOK BLURB

When Richard meets his cousin Amanda for the first time in twenty years, he’s still afraid of her; she bullied him throughout his childhood and sexually abused him when they were teenagers. He owns a struggling art gallery that only survives because his wealthy grandmother pays for it. But now Amanda’s back in his life, things look set to change. She’s out to make trouble, drugging Richard with Rohypnol, faking a burglary and trying to persuade their grandmother to change her will. Richard’s heard a rumour she murdered her mother. Fearing for his grandmother’s life and his inheritance, he decides to give Amanda a dose of her own medicine.

BOOK REVIEW

A funeral brings families together and can bring out lots of well hidden angst,hate,anger and fear. That is what happens when Richard comes face to face with his cousin Amanda after years of estrangement. Hidden secrets start to seep through the cracks in Richards life to taint and stain all he has done with his life so far. As the book progresses we get glimpses of the secret only hinted at that has scarred Richards psyche since his teens. At a time when he needed comfort and understanding from his close family he got attention that was not wanted or at that age truly understood. Can he resolve his issues whilst keeping his secret from being revealed, unfortunately Amanda seems keen to play psychological tricks on him. She follow him back to his hometown , keeping him on edge she manipulates both Richard and his grandmother to her own ends. Amanda has her own demons she is hiding yet they manifest themselves in her behaviour towards Richard making life unbearable and untenable in its current form.

What could be a difficult read has been sympathetically written. Abuse of any kind is abhorrent but there are many out there who deal with it on a daily basis. In hinting and alluding to then giving brief descriptions the author gives some insight into what happened to Richard whilst keeping the focus more on the mental implications such an act can have. The book helps to emphasise the need to open up and speak out in order to achieve any semblance of mental peace that abuse can cause. That thread of the book is just that a part of the story its also about the family dynamics that coalesce and form around hidden secrets. A dark read that whilst it is hard to read it avoids becoming mired down in too many intimate details that may overwhelm the reader.

My thanks to Emma Welton for my copy of the book, as always they are my own thoughts and opinions on the book.

STAR RATING 4

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A. M. Stirling has had a varied career as a freelance photographer, an artist with several national and international exhibitions to his name, and an academic. After harbouring an ambition to write fiction for far too long, he completed an MA in Creative Writing at Newcastle University in 2012.

Bad Magic is his first published novel. He lives in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Social Media:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AMStirling1
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/A-M-Stirling/e/B07XQJGMHJ/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1

Purchase Links:
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1916160107/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Bad-Magic-M-Stirling-ebook/dp/B07XQ4TVS6/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=bad+magic+by+m+stirling&qid=1575372711&sr=8-2

#bookreview #CutToTheBone @RozWatkins @HarperCollins

BOOK BLURB

A beautiful young social-media star goes missing.

But who took her?

When controversial internet celebrity Violet Armstrong vanishes in the middle of a scorching Peak District summer, the case sparks a media frenzy.

The clock is ticking for DI Meg Dalton and her team to find Violet before online threats explode into real-life violence. And then the blood and hair of a young woman are found in an empty pig trough at the local abattoir…

The more Meg finds out about this unnerving case, the more she becomes convinced that something very, very bad has happened to Violet. With temperatures rising and the press demanding answers, the case is about to take a terrifying turn…

In bestselling author Roz Watkins’ chilling new thriller, DI Meg Dalton must face her most disturbing case yet. Perfect for fans of Ann Cleeves, Susie Steiner and Val McDermid.

BOOK REVIEW

Today on my blog i have the pleasure of being on the blogtour for Cut To The Bone by Roz Watkins. This is my first meeting with both the author and her character of DI Meg Dalton and her team but the book worked just as well as a standalone story.

A young woman goes missing whilst working at an abattoir in the middle of a heat wave. The sleepy Derbyshire village of Gritton is shocked and disturbed by not only the act but by the police presence searching for her. In the scorching heat tempers flare and two opposing factions come together with appalling consequences. The Great Meat Debate has been active around the abattoir trying to disrupt its business, and on the back of Violet going missing a group of vigilantes called Justice For Violet are demanding the police do more to find her. A separate thread to the tale adds a ghostly White Girl vision who is said brings bad luck to those who see her face. Heat, ghostly sightings, fighting factions and bloody remains give Meg one hell of a nightmarish time as she tries to unravel all that is going on. Megs tenaciousness will not let her rest until the truth behind the missing girl is solved to her satisfaction, someone knows what happened to her and no amount of misdirection will throw her totally off the scent.

A book i enjoyed immensely , one that had many different threads pulling you all over the place . Stitch by stitch they came to together to complete the canvas of words. A picture of family secrets, murder, rape and insanity is slowly unveiled.A varied cast of characters brought together on a foundation that was once strong is now crumbling as Meg digs deeper and deeper into the past. The tension heats up in the book just as the weather does, its heavy , its suffocating and relentless. The build up brings all the main players together to deliver one of the most unexpected endings i have read so far this year. It was dark, it was insane and brilliantly done. So if a slow building tense book with a insanely brilliant realisation of an ending then give this book a read.

My thanks to HQ and Netgalley for my copy of the book as always they are my own thoughts and opinions on the book.

STAR RATING 4

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Roz Watkins is the author of the DI Meg Dalton crime series, which is set in The Peak District where Roz lives with her partner and a menagerie of demanding animals. 

Her first book, The Devil’s Dice, was shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger Award, was the Times crime book of the month, and has been optioned for TV. Her second book, Dead Man’s Daughter was also a Times top pick. 

Roz studied engineering at Cambridge University, before training in patent law. She was a partner in a firm of patent attorneys in Derby, but this has absolutely nothing to do with there being a dead one in her first novel. 

In her spare time, Roz likes to walk in the Peak District, scouting out murder locations. 

Find out more at http://www.rozwatkins.co.uk – there’s a newsletter which includes regular giveaways (as well as gratuitous animal photos) and you get a free short story when you sign up.

Twitter – @RozWatkins
Facebook.com/RozWatkinsAuthor

#BLOGTOUR #Safe @SK_Barnett @arrowpublishing #RandomThingsTours @RandomTTours

BOOK BLURB

Jenny Kristal was six years old when she was snatched in broad daylight from her quiet suburban neighbourhood.
Twelve years later, she miraculously returns home after escaping her kidnappers – but as her parents and older brother welcome her back, the questions begin to mount.
Where has she been all these years? Why is she back now? And is home really the safest place for her . . . or for any of them?

BOOK REVIEW

A family devastated by the loss of their daughter and their lives on permanent hold as they don’t know what happened to her. How do they cope , how do they move on and can they even move on. Then one day a young girl turns up in the town where Jenny went missing and climbs she is in fact Jenny. The family welcome her back with open arms or do they. Her brother is not sure but he’s had his issues since she disappeared so is not the most reliable of people. The police follow procedure and investigate Jenny’s story about her intervening years when she was missing. Jenny knows so many things about the family that she has to be her or does she.

You know the feeling of Deja Vu well i got this throughout the book. It could be I’ve read or watched something very similar I don’t know. I just had the feeling i knew what was coming all the way through. The plot of the book is probably every parents nightmare where you lose a child and don’t know where they are. I know i lost my son for a short while when he was two and i was frantic the whole time so twelve years is hard to fathom. The story unfolds as we get to know more of Jenny and her reasons for being “home” . As we venture further into the book we start to learn more about the family dynamics that led to that fateful day when Jenny went missing. When the truth behind the family is revealed it ties up all the bits and pieces laid out to us along the way. Like a trail of breadcrumbs we follow the plot to its unexpected poignant ending. Now that I didn’t see coming even after i had worked out the rest. A suspense building read that builds the layers of the plot page after page. The voice of Jenny throughout adds a heart tugging factor, and makes her a very tragic figure looking for the love and affection she has craved throughout her life. You want her to get that life even if you don’t particularly like her as a character. An enjoyable read that i seemed to fly through.

My thanks to Anne Cater and Random Things Tours for my copy of the book, as always they are my own thoughts and opinions on the book.

STAR RATING 4

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

S. K. Barnett is a pseudonym for a New York Times bestselling author whose previous thriller novel Derailed was turned into a major motion picture in 2005 featuring Jennifer Anniston and Clive Owen. He lives in New York State with his family.

#BooksOnTour #CanIGiveMyHusbandBack @bookouture @mrsbaileywrites @sarahhardy681

BOOK BLURB

It’s normal to prefer getting a filling at the dentist’s to spending time with your husband, right?

I thought I was sorted on the life front. I was a heart surgeon with a loving partner and two gorgeous little girls. Except my husband’s version of ‘loving’ is lying, cheating and sleeping his way around London. Which means I definitely deserve a refund.

Unfortunately, moving on isn’t that simple. Just because I know how to operate on a heart doesn’t mean I know how to fix my broken one. Plus, I lost the receipt for him years ago so I’m definitely getting short changed.

But now I’m single, am I ready to mingle? There are a few minor issues:

1) The last time I went on a date double denim was in fashion and my eyebrows were horrendously overplucked.
2) Men wear stupidly skinny jeans now.
3) I don’t know how to use dating apps but at least I don’t have to get changed out of my pyjamas.
4) Sometimes the most promising thing you have in common with a guy is a shared love of prawns.
5) I don’t know whether to open a date with ‘hi’ or ‘hello’ or ‘hey’ and once I ended up saying ‘howdy’.

Everything happens for a reason, they say. There’s plenty more fish in the sea. But what happens when everything falls apart and you haven’t got a clue how to go fishing?

An absolutely hilarious and utterly relatable tale for anyone who has ever survived a nightmare relationship, felt a little lonely or nursed a broken heart with wine and carbs. This feel-good novel will get you back on your feet and genuinely laughing out loud. Perfect for fans of Why Mummy Drinks, Sophie Ranald and Sophie Kinsella.

BOOK REVIEW

Emma is a successful heart surgeon with two girl and recently divorced from Simon AKA Satan to her loving sisters. When you wrong one sister the rest take up your cause and will enjoy reviling the man you once loved. They will also encourage you to take a dip in the huge ocean of other fish in the sea to try to catch another nibble. Poor Emma she wants to move on with her new life and it seems her cheating husband has done just that too when she finds out about his new girlfriend from their daughters. How do you start again on the dating scene after so long ? Tinder ? Dating websites or have friends set you up. It’s all so new and scary to her but she is determined to give it a whirl and boy does she ever. She can fix broken hearts with her skills yet fixing her own will prove a more difficult, fun, exhilarating task.

OMG where do i start with this laugh out loud , ooops moment of a book. Any woman newly single or at the ready to mingle stage of her life will find this book a refreshingly hilarious take on the dating scene. They will also wish for such annoying, overbearing, protective , funny sisters as she has. The family dynamics in the book provide a cocoon of love to Emma yet its one that also wants her to stand on her own feet and stand up for herself. We all know our families want the best for us but sometimes the lengths they go to can be either too much or too little this book strikes the right balance between the sisters. This gives it a cosy feel wrapped up in a huge blanket of mirth. I sat giggling to myself in parts and when i read a particular scene involving a pair of scissors, Emma and her sisters well i just lost it, much to the amusement of my OH. When you get to the part and you will know it when you do then what I’ve written will make perfect sense. The book is also about the empowerment of Emma , the further away from the divorce she is the more she takes back the reins of her life taking the path that she herself wants to take. So if you want a laugh out loud, uplifting, make your day better sort of book then grab this one.

My thanks to Sarah Hardy and Bookouture Books for my copy of the book, as always they are my own thoughts and opinions on the book.

STAR RATING 5

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mother-of-four, gin-drinker, binge-watcher, receipt hoarder, enthusiastic but terrible cook. Kristen also writes. She has had short fiction published in several publications including Mslexia & Riptide. Her first two novels, Souper Mum and Second Helpings were published in 2016. In 2019, she was long listed in the Comedy Women in Print Prize and has since joined the Bookouture family. She writes women’s fiction and she hopes her novels have fresh and funny things to say about modern life, love and family.

You can find out more about her at her website: www.kristenbaileywrites.com.
You can also find her on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. 
 @mrsbaileywrites
https://www.facebook.com/kristenbaileywrites/https://www.instagram.com/kristenbaileywrites/

Buy Links:
Amazon: https://bit.ly/2UBgYYGApple: https://apple.co/30FT4zfKobo: https://bit.ly/2UBdYvrGoogle: https://bit.ly/30FT8yZ

#blogtour #BloodRedCity @RandomTTours @OrendaBooks @Rod_WR

• 

BOOK BLURB

When crusading journalist Lydia Wright is sent a video of an apparent murder on a London train, she thinks she’s found the story to revive her career. But she can’t find a victim, much less the killers, and the only witness has disappeared. Wary she’s fallen for fake news, she begins to doubt her instincts – until a sinister call suggests that she’s not the only one interested in the crime.

Michael Stringer deals in information – and doesn’t care which side of the law he finds himself on. But the murder on the train has left him exposed, and now he’ll stop at nothing to discover what Lydia knows.

When their paths collide, Lydia finds the story leads through a nightmare world, where money, power and politics intersect … and information is the only thing more dangerous than a bullet.

A nerve-shattering and brutally realistic thriller, Blood Red City bursts with energy and grit from the opening page, twisting and feinting to a superb, unexpected ending that will leave you breathless

BOOK REVIEW

Today on my blog i am helping to kick off the blog tour for the latest offering from Orenda books, a dark and tension filled read by Rod Reynolds. A reporter sidelined to cover seemingly fluff stories gets an video sent by a friend who herself received it anonymously. A graphic film showing a murder on a tube train, is it real or just an elaborate hoax. There is no body on any tube train no trace anything ever happened other than the uploaded video. Taking on the sceptical police, the tube hierarchy and her boss , Lydia finds herself trying to track down the original source of the video and the person seen dying in the video. She is not the only one interested there are parties with a vested interest in stopping her investigation and her by any means they can. To the rescue or is it comes a fixer, a man of many things, a man with his own agenda with regards the death, a man called Michael Stringer.

The book is a combination of darkness, gritty reality and an insight into the murky world that surrounds those people with billions of pounds at their disposal. It’s fast paced, paranoia riddled in some chapters and always keeping you away from the whole truth. It leads you down blind alleys and wrong paths to keep your interest from waning. As lydia’s paranoia grows throughout the book the author ramps up the tension the reader feels, it permeates off the pages into your mind. A hectic, frantic paced book that does not give up its truth till the end. As one intricate layer of the plot is revealed the next layer is waiting just as dark yet even more deadly. With two strong main characters, Lydia a woman feeling slighted and thrown over by work determined to get her big news story and Stringer a man with many hidden secrets as well as his own agenda the book delivers a punchy, taut gripping read.

My thanks to Anne Cater and Orenda books for my copy of the novel, as always they are my own thoughts and opinions on the book.

STAR RATING 5

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rod Reynolds is the author of four novels, including the Charlie Yates series. His 2015 debut, The Dark Inside, was longlisted for the CWA New Blood Dagger, and was followed by Black Night Falling (2016) and Cold Desert Sky (2018); the Guardian have called the books ‘Pitch-perfect American noir.’ A lifelong Londoner, in 2020 Orenda Books will publish his first novel set in his hometown, Blood Red City. Rod previously worked in advertising as a media buyer, and holds an MA in novel writing from City University London. Rod lives with his wife and spends most of his time trying to keep up with his two young daughters.

#blogtour #BlackMagic’sPrey @dampebbles #dampebblesblogtours

BOOK BLURB

Hiding is no longer an option.

Tess has been stalker-free for fifteen years. She’s been living in trailer parks and preparing to run at any minute—all because in ninth grade she turned down the wrong Brujo. He comes from a long line of male witches and even back in high school, his powers were terrifying.

He used those powers to punish Tess. To make her do things. Awful things.

Now she has a new life. She’s got a good job, a decent Airstream trailer, and a best-friend-maybe-girlfriend. She’s careful not to reveal too much about her dark past.

But none of that matters. No matter where Tess goes, he will always find her. Unless she’s willing to trust a man who may be even more twisted than her stalker’s curse.

BOOK REVIEW

Can Tess keep her past misdeeds a secret especially when her stalker seems to be back in her life after fifteen years. Years she spent off the grid as much as she could, no social media, no bank account and living in a mobile home should have kept her safe. An out of character occurrence and she knows her life has just got out of hand. Luckily for her she has an understanding and believing girl-friend and they strike out on a journey to solve the reason she has a stalker and what to do about him. Along the way she has a sexual encounter that will send her life on a truly unexpected path.

A quick read of a book , well certainly for me anyway. One that sizzles with sexual heat in part and with a cast of enigmatic and unusual characters it makes the read enjoyable. It keeps up the mystery of the stalker and the how he seem to have a control over Tess until near the end. The ending will leave you wanting to know more of where Tess will end up next and what secrets she still has got to uncover about the curse she had been under. So if you are looking for a book with mystery,charm,a hint of sexiness a dash of dark magic and will take you away from the mundaneness of the every day this will suit you.

My thanks to Emma Welton and Damppebbles Blogtour for my copy of the book, as always they are my own thoughts and opinions on the book.

STAR RATING 3.5

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

After waffling between joining a convent and enlisting in the Marines, I settled on the latter at the age of seventeen. After finishing my enlistment, I studied English literature with the intent of becoming a teacher. But after realizing I loved words more than teaching others, I used my degree to become a professional writer and editor, first with the federal civil service and then with the private sector. A lover of all things spec-fic, I wrote about women in weird situations, whether it’s magic or time travel, and enjoy the journey I take my characters on.

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Purchase Links:
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Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Magics-Prey-Siren-Song-ebook/dp/B07HWS5M7N/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=black+magic%27s+prey&qid=1590326130&sr=8-2