📖 Blog Tour ~ The Book Seller by Valerie Keogh

Boldwood Books
3 March 2025

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of the book
and to Rachel's Random Resources for the invitation to the tour

A woman with a dark past...

Helen Appleby just wants a quiet life. Recently released from prison for the manslaughter of her partner, she's trying to forget her past mistakes – all of them - to rebuild her life and move on.

When she decides to open a bookshop, she’s certain this is the perfect new start. Here, amongst the quiet shelves of her shop and between the covers of her books, she can hide away from the real world and begin again. The world of books the perfect place to find happiness - even if it is all lies.

But the past can never stay hidden…

As she settles into life as an apparently timid bookseller, it seems that someone is determined to sabotage Helen's new life and ruin everything she's built.

But Helen has killed once before. And to protect her future, she could be willing to kill again...

📖  My Review ..

When Helen Appleby is released, on licence, from prison after serving just two years of her four year sentence for the manslaughter of her partner, she decides to fulfil a lifelong dream of opening a secondhand bookshop. However, despite Helen’s best efforts this dream starts to turn into a nightmare as it seems that there is someone out there who is desperate enough to sabotage all her plans.

The overall pace of the story was good, I enjoyed the slow and steady start and liked how the tension started to build especially when the unexpected starts to happen. I’m deliberately being vague as I don’t want to spoil things as this is definitely one of those clever thrillers where you don’t need to know too much before you start to read. I wasn’t sure that I liked Helen at first but I gradually started to warm to her character, sure she had her faults, and was a little gullible at times, but she was trying so hard and had so many worries that I really wanted everything to work out for her.

I raced through The Book Seller in just a couple of sittings as I really wanted to find out who would go to such lengths to hamper Helen’s dreams and with all the twists, turns and red herrings I genuinely didn’t see the ending coming. I closed the book with the satisfaction of having read another brilliantly crafted thriller by a talented writer whose stories just seem to get better and better.

About the Author

Valerie Keogh is the internationally bestselling author of several psychological thrillers and crime series, most recently published by Bloodhound. She originally comes from Dublin but now lives in Wiltshire and worked as a nurse for many years. Her first thriller for Boldwood was published in August 2022.

​

Twitter @ValerieKeogh1 #TheBookSeller

Instagram  BookBub

Newsletter sign up

@BoldwoodBooks #Boldwoodbloggers @bookandtonic

@rararesources

📖 Blog Tour ~The Woman with All the Answers by Linda Green

Boldwood Books
February 2025

Thanks to the publisher and Rachel's Random Resources for the invitation to the blog tour

Alexa knows your family better than you do. Now you're about to get to know her... 

Fifty-two-year-old Michelle Banks is struggling to keep all the plates spinning. She’s a perimenopausal district nurse, caring for elderly parents. Her husband is wasting their money on children’s TV memorabilia, her teenage daughter is riddled with anxiety and her sixteen-year-old son is behaving secretively.

Alexa is the only one who knows how much Michelle is juggling. Listening in via four smart speakers, she also knows that it’s about to get even worse.

So, when Michelle pleads for help from the woman with all the answers, Alexa decides to go rogue and reveal her true identity as Pauline – a sixty-five-year-old former voice-over artist from Halifax – to teach Michelle everything she knows…

📖 My Review..

They stand like silent sentinels in our living spaces, only speaking when spoken to, filling in the gaps in our knowledge with comprehensive answers to random questions, nonjudgmental and unquestioning but what if the Alexa in the corner of the room was a real person and not an AI controlled device.

This delightful family drama introduces us to Michelle, a harassed working mother, one of the sandwich generation, who is caring not just for her angst ridden teenagers and a husband who has lost his get up and go, but also for elderly parents who are struggling with failing health and an increasingly technological world. The Woman with All the Answers gives us the story not just from Michelle's point of view which is both troubled and funny but also that of Alexa, aka Pauline, a sixty- five year old woman from Halifax, who takes it upon herself to try and sort out Michelle’s chaotic life with far reaching consequences.

Warm hearted, funny and sad and filled with an assortment of relatable family issues I found that I could easily identify with Michelle and I’m sure that there are many women who have found themselves in similar circumstances, juggling the demands of modern life and losing sight of what’s really important. The Woman with all the Answers reminds us to be kind to ourselves and whilst we don’t have all the answers to life’s many problems, with a little bit of help we can navigate the ups and downs and  after meeting Pauline, I’m sure that I’ll never look at my Alexa in quite the same way again.

About the Author

Linda Green is the million copy Sunday Times bestselling author of eleven novels including The Last Thing She Told Me.

​Follow Linda Green

Facebook: @LindaGreenAuthor

Twitter: @lindagreenisms #TheWomanWithAllTheAnwers

Instagram: @lindagreenbooks
X @BoldwoodBook #BoldwoodBloggers
X @rararesources

 

📖 Book of My Month ~ The Wolf Tree by Laura McCluskey

Harper Collins
Hemlock Press
27 February 2025

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of the book

 

On a small island off the coast of Scotland, an isolated community is grieving. Eighteen-year-old Alan Ferguson was found at the foot of the lighthouse – an apparent suicide.

DIs Georgina Lennox and Richard Stewart are sent to investigate. A raging storm keeps them trapped on the island for four days. And the locals don’t take kindly to mainlanders.

As George and Ritchie question the island’s inhabitants, they discover a village filled with superstition and shrouded in secrets.

But someone wants those secrets to stay buried. At any cost.

📖 My Review ..

DIs Georgina Lennox and Richard Stewart are sent to the remote island of Eilean Eadar, which lies off the coast of Scotland, in order to investigate the mysterious death of eighteen year old, Alan Ferguson. The arrival of the detectives is met with a mixture of excitement, distrust and downright malevolence from many of the islanders who resent any intrusion from the mainland. Whilst Alan Ferguson’s untimely death can be regarded as a tragic suicide, there are questions to be answered however, the islanders do not give up their secrets easily, and become more distrustful as the story progresses. 

There is a genuine air of tension which builds gradually and even the detectives start to feel the pressure of being cut off from everything. I took a while to warm to the detectives, especially Georgina (George) who carries the burden of a past trauma which affects her judgement and makes her rather unpredictable. The story is definitely creepy, with a genuine air of mystery, from the stark sentinel of the lighthouse, which lures above the island, to the turbulent sea and the ever present danger of being surrounded by people with secrets to hide.

Well written, imaginatively described, The Wolf Tree is a locked-room type mystery which builds the tension deliberately slowly, which mirrors the slow pace of life on the island where nothing is ever rushed. Eilean Eadar is a place of dark secrets and with twists and turns I didn’t seen coming, this is definitely a thrilling story which kept my attention from start to finish. I liked it so much I am delighted to make The Wolf Tree the Book of My Month in March.

About the Author

Laura McCluskey is a Melbourne-based writer, editor and actor. She created the production company Sibylline Films and co-founded Three Fates Theatre Company. The Wolf Tree is her first novel.

X @Hemlock_Press

X @HarperFiction 

X @fictionpubteam

#LauraMcCluskey #TheWolfTree

📖 Book Review ~ Bonnie McFlump by Vanessa Thurlow

In association with Bear With Us Productions
January 2025

Illustrations by Rob Will

Thanks to Cameron Publicity for my copy of this book

Bonnie is entitled and greedy.

She doesn’t eat fruit or veg,

And is a bit of a meanie.

But when the day of her party arrives,

She gets a terrible surprise.

Bonnie soon understands that being unkind is not great,

And goes on an Amazonic Adventure to correct this mistake.

This is an ideal book for talking to children about being kind to others in a light-hearted way. It may also encourage them to eat a few more fruits and vegetables…

📖 My review…

This is a fun look at what could happen if you eat the wrong foods and are unkind to people. It gets its message across in rhyme which makes it an easy story to read for confident young readers or it would make a nice bedtime story read by an adult. There are some funny bits that children might like especially the reference to poo and farts, they made me smile and I know that young children like something that makes them laugh out loud.

The coloured pictures are bright and cheery especially in the Amazon Rainforest where Bonnie’s interaction with an indigenous tribe of people teach her the meaning of being kind to others. It’s an ideal size for reading in one go, just 35 pages, and the large paperback ensures that the colourful illustrations are fun, bright and capture the imagination really well.

Bonnie McFlump gets its message across about healthy eating and the importance of being kind to others in a lighthearted way which I’m sure will appeal to its target audience of three to nine year olds.

About the Author

Vanessa Thurlow is a former solicitor , who once she had children, began looking for a more creative challenge. A travel enthusiast, she lives in a truly multi-cultural household- her children are of Spanish,Pakistani,Lebanese, English and iris descent. She lives in Essex and Bonnie McFlump, is her first book.

Book Review ~ A Secret in the Family by Nancy Revell

Penguin
30 January 2025

Thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

1945, Sunderland. Ida Boulter makes the heart-wrenching decision to leave her five children behind as she escapes her husband and moves to London to start afresh with the love of her life.

1953, County Durham. Ida’s children have since built a new life in the beautiful home of Cuthford Manor – looked after by their eldest sibling Angie and her husband.

But their world is about to be rocked once again when their mother turns up out of the blue for the first time in eight years.

She has come back bearing a secret she can no longer keep from her family.

Will telling the truth cause more harm than good?

Only their love for one another will carry them through the turbulent times ahead.

My review..

Last year I read The Widow's Choice which featured Angie Foxton-Clarke and her move to Cuthford Manor. In this next story we meet again with Angie and her new husband Stanislaw as they celebrate their first wedding anniversary. All is going well with the party until the untimely arrival of Angie’s mother, Ida, who had abandoned her children some eight years ago. This unexpected arrival causes a lot of unease especially when Ida reveals a secret which she has carried within her for a long time.

This is an emotional family drama which is high on both tension and heartbreak. Ida’s somewhat fractured relationship with her children forms the basis of the story and I enjoyed observing how she attempted to break down the barriers which had been placed there by her leaving them to fend for themselves. The story focuses not just on Ida’s poignant story but also that of all of her children, especially sixteen year old Marlene, who has some uncomfortable growing up to do, and Angie who has had to support her siblings after her mother had abandoned them.

Beautifully written, and with an authenticity which brings the 1950s to life in a realistic way, the story flows well, all the characters are really interesting and catching a small glimpse of some of the people from The Shipyard Girls series was an extra special bonus. I’ve really enjoyed learning about the secret in this delightful family in a story which is both heartwarming and heartbreaking in equal measure.

About the Author

Nancy Revell is the author of 12 titles in the bestselling Shipyard Girls series, which tells the story of a group of women who work in a Sunderland shipyard during WWII. Her books have sold more than half a million copies across all editions.before that, she was a journalist who worked for all the national newspapers, providing them with hard hitting features, She also wrote inspirational true-life stories for just about every woman;s magazine in the country. Nancy was born and brought up in the North East of England and now lives in Oxfordshire with her husband, Paul.

Twitter @arevellwalton #ASecretInTheFamily

@PenguinUKBooks

📖 Book Review ~ Elemental : A Short Story Anthology

Breakthrough Books
2024

Thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

 

From the ephemeral to the earth beneath our feet.

From fire in the heavens to the water of life, from atoms and molecules to modern relationships, seventeen authors explore ‘the elements’ through the form of the short story.

Whether in the building blocks of the universe or the climatic conditions that sustain us, whether in the finer points of music and desire, or in the perfect conditions for creating wine and wonder, these are the fundamentals that shape who we are and how we live.

Playfully working with mystery and humour, poignancy and myth, futurism and the ancient past, the magic of fiction has the power to enlighten a deeper sense of truth.

📖 My Review..

This anthology has an imaginative theme with all the seventeen individual stories blended around an ‘element’. All the writers who have contributed to this set of stories have their own sense of style and whilst I won’t single out any story for particular praise, I will say that I found much to enjoy in all of them. It’s an easy book to dip into and out of which is I what enjoyed most and found that I finished it, quite easily, in a couple of sittings.

I sometimes think that short stories can occasionally miss the spot but it’s not so with this collection which showcases a talented bunch of writers who certainly bring skill to their stories. The writing is good, and each thought provoking story is imaginatively described, I’ve enjoyed reading them.

Contributors: Zena Barrie, Mark Bowsher, Stephanie Bretherton, Jamie Chipperfield, Sue Clark, Jason Cobley, Stevyn Colgan, Samuel Dodson, Elena Kaufman, A,B. Kyazze, Pete Langman, Virginia Moffatt, Ivy Ngeow, Penny Pepper, Eamon Somers, Nicole Swengley, Damon Wakes.

Website 

X @BBookCollective

 

📖 Publication Day Book Review ~ The Woman in the Wallpaper by Lora Jones

 

Little Brown Book Group
20 February 2025

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of the book

Paris, 1789. The Oberst Factory, which crafts exquisite wallpaper for the most fashionable French homes, is a place shrouded in mystery. Most enigmatic is the woman pictured in each of its prints, rumoured to be the late Mrs Oberst, who died in peculiar circumstances.

When sisters Lara and Sofi arrive there for work, they quickly form a friendship with Josef Oberst, the motherless heir to the factory. Whilst Sofi's political fervour intensifies, Lara is disturbed by the uncanny way her life appears mirrored in the wallpaper. Meanwhile Hortense, Josef's spoilt aristocratic wife, is similarly unnerved by the scenes that line the walls of her new home. With the mobs growing ever more violent, is she in danger of meeting the same untimely end as the last Mrs Oberst?

As revolution blazes across France, the lives of Sofi, Lara and Hortense are set to collide in unimaginable and irrevocable ways. Can they change what lies ahead, or are some patterns destined to be repeated?

📖 My Review..

Told in a three person narrative, we get the unfolding story of Lara and Sofi Thibault, sisters who, after a family tragedy, move from Marseille, to the Oberst wallpaper factory in Jouy, to learn the skill of wallpaper production. We also meet Hortense du Pommier, a spoiled aristocratic young woman, whose brittle personality epitomises the French aristocracy on the eve of revolution and whose marriage into the Oberst family brings the lives of these three women into sharp spotlight.

The story gets off to a slow and steady start and sets the scene of discord well with a chilling opening chapter.. This was a time of great social and political upheaval with swathes of poverty and hardship which is juxtaposed against the blatant wealth of the aristocracy who quickly become the target for violence. Both Lara and Sofi are fascinating characters, emotionally close as only sisters can be, who need to find their way in an increasingly troubled time. Hortense, adds her own sense of volatility to this story of three very different young women who were caught up in some of the most momentous years in French history. The production of the Oberst wallpaper is well explained and quickly becomes another character in the novel and adds an interesting dimension to this fascinating story.

Well researched, and rich in historical detail, The Woman in the Wallpaper is an imaginatively written historical novel and a commendable debut by a talented writer.

About the author 

After studying English Literature at Durham University, Lora Jones began her career working in the TV industry in London, writing factual programme content and comedy material for the BBC, Channel 4 and others. She now lives high amongst the rugged hills of North Wales, where she is currently rewilding an ex-sheep farm. In her spare time she paints wildlife. The Woman in the Wallpaper is her first novel.

X@lorajones #TheWomanInTheWallpaper

X @LittleBrownUK

📖 Book Review ~ Dead in the Water by Simon McCleave

Avon
June 2024

Anglesey #5

Thanks to the publisher for the copy of the book 

When a seventeen-year-old girl vanishes from her home overnight, DI Laura Hart knows that time is of the essence.

Then, an inmate at the local prison is murdered in her cell and suddenly Beaumaris CID is juggling two major investigations.

With inmates refusing to talk to the police, Laura is forced to take drastic going undercover behind bars.

With everyone under suspicion, Laura’s true identity must be kept a secret, meaning no one can protect her.

Locked in with a killer, it’s a race against time – can Laura find a lead… before she’s found out?

📖 My Review..

Another exciting Anglesey mystery awaits in this fifth book in the series which sees DI Laura Hart and DI Gareth Williams once again involved in complex crime investigations. Gareth, and his team, investigate the mysterious disappearance of seventeen year old Abby Wright from her home whilst Laura goes under cover in a women’s prison to discover more about the violent death of one of the inmates.

As always the tension starts pretty much from the start and doesn’t let up pace until the very end and in between there are so many twists, turns and red herrings that you really need to keep your wits about you as the story gets more and more complex. I thoroughly enjoyed both investigations especially as everything evolves in real time. The prison scenes were particularly strong, with Laura using her customary wit and skill to find out just what was going on behind the locked doors of HMP Tonsgrove.

The beautiful island of Anglesey is described in such imaginative detail that I could easily picture the small town of Menai and the isolated Pentraeth Forest, whilst at the same time keeping pace with a storyline which kept my attention from its thrilling beginning, to its satisfying conclusion. Whilst it is possible to read this as a standalone story, it does make sense to enjoy this series from the beginning as that way you get to know, and care, about the characters especially Laura and Gareth who are fast becoming two of my favourite fictional Detective Inspectors. I look forward to reading more crime adventures in future books.

About the Author

Simon McCleave is a million-selling crime novelist who lives in North Wales with his wife and two children.

Website

X @simon_mccleave 

@AvonBooksUK

📖 Blog Tour ~ The Woven Lie by Liz Harris

Heyward Press
13 February 2025

Three Sister #3

My thanks to the author and Rachel’s Random Resources for my copy of the book
and the invitation to the tour 

 

Suffolk, 1948

When Violet Hammond sees an advertisement for a manager to run a museum in a village outside Bury St Edmunds, she jumps at the chance of a job that sounds both different and a challenge.

For Dr Edward Russell, forced to resign from managing the museum owing to the increasing pressures on him as a doctor, the person to succeed him is obvious – the highly competent Gladys Wilson. After all, Gladys had worked at the museum for years and had run it on her own on many occasions.

But when Edward interviews Violet, he’s excited by her enthusiasm and ideas for modernising the museum and her vitality, and he finds himself offering her the position. With a smile on her face and the right words on her lips, Gladys assures Edward that she’ll support Violet as much as she can.

But Gladys has no intention of doing so. On the contrary, she wants Violet to be sacked as soon as possible. She has too much to lose if Violet stays.

📖 My Review..

What a lovely story this has been, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed spending time in the village of Harton, near Bury St Edmunds as Violet Hammond takes on her new role as curator at the village museum. There she meets Doctor Edward Russell who is delighted by Violet’s enthusiasm for history and the progression of the museum. Not so keen is Gladys Wilson who is disgruntled that she didn’t get the museum job instead of Violet. 

The author brings everything to life quite beautifully, explaining Violet’s enthusiasm for history and her hopes for the museum and whilst she comes across as a bit naive at times that didn’t stop me from becoming quite attached to her. What makes the story all the more interesting are those characters who are out to make life difficult for Violet, I especially enjoyed observing how that would all work out. Everything moves along at a gentle pace which is entirely in keeping with the somewhat old fashioned nature of the story and the quiet appeal of life in the aftermath of WW2. 

With a touch of cosy crime, a hint of heartwarming romance The Woven Lie is a lovely story about the value of truth, the strength of resilience and the joy of living your best life with those you love.

About the Author

Born in London, Liz Harris graduated from university with a Law degree, and then moved to California, where she led a varied life, from waitressing on Sunset Strip to working as secretary to the CEO of a large Japanese trading company.

Six years later, she returned to London and completed a degree in English, after which she taught secondary school pupils, first in Berkshire, then in Cheshire and finally in Oxfordshire.

In addition to the twenty-one novels she’s had published since her debut novel The Road Back, Liz has had several short stories in anthologies and magazines. 

Liz lives in Windsor, Berkshire. An active member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and the Historical Novel Society, her interests are travel, the theatre, reading and cryptic crosswords.

X @LizHarrisAuthor #TheWovenLie

X @rararesources

Valentine’s Day 2025

 

“For where all love is, the speaking is unnecessary. It is all. It is undying. And it is enough.”

© Diana Gabaldon, Outlander, 1991

📖 Publication Day Book Review ~ The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths

Quercus
13 February 2025

Thanks to the publisher for my copy of the book

 

Ali Dawson and her cold case team investigate crimes so old, they're frozen - or so their inside joke goes. Most people don't know that they travel back in time to complete their research.

The latest assignment sees Ali venture back farther than they have dared before: to 1850s London in order to clear the name of Cain Templeton, the eccentric great-grandfather of MP Isaac Templeton. Rumour has it that Cain was part of a sinister group called The Collectors; to become a member, you had to kill a woman...

Fearing for her safety in the middle of a freezing Victorian winter, Ali finds herself stuck in time, unable to make her way back to her life, her beloved colleagues, and her son, Finn, who suddenly finds himself in legal trouble in the present day. 

Could the two cases be connected?

📖My Review..

Ali Dawson’s work as a cold case investigator is very different from the usual police procedural as uniquely she uses time travel to discover more about certain unsolved crimes. The concept of being able to go back to a specific moment in time in order to solve a ‘cold’ case is an intriguing premise for a novel as it successfully brings both crime and history together.

In order to clear the name of a modern day MP’s great-grandfather, Ali is transported back to Victorian London where she has only a short time to gather enough evidence to prove either guilt or innocence however, the situation goes slightly awry, and Ali becomes stuck in 1850 with only her wits to keep her safe. The time travel aspect is cleverly done, totally believable and written with such fine attention to historical detail that I have successfully navigated Victorian London and shared Ali’s curiosity as she walked the teeming streets of the East End. There’s also a modern day mystery to solve which introduces us to Ali’s son, Finn, in a development of the story which sits comfortably alongside the historical aspect and as neither timeframe seeks to outshine the other, both are equally enjoyable.

Skilfully written, and with fine attention to every detail, The Frozen People really captured my imagination. I would love to think that this is just the first book in what could turn out to be another successful series which brings Ali Dawson back in another time travel mystery.

About the Author

Elly Griffiths is the bestselling author of the Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries and the Brighton Mysteries. She has won the CWA Dagger in the Library, has been shortlisted five times for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, and longlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger for The Lantern Men. Her series featuring Detective Harbinder Kaur began with The Stranger Diaries, which was a Richard and Judy book club pick and won the Edgar Award for Best Novel in the USA. It was followed by The Postscript Murders, shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger and Bleeding Heart Yard. Elly has two grown-up children and lives near Brighton with her archaeologist husband.

X @EllyGriffiths #TheFrozenPeople

X @QuercusBooks