📖 Blog Tour ~ A Scandalous Match by Jane Dunn

 

Boldwood Books
17 January 2024

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

Nightly at the Covent Garden Theatre in London, an enchanting actress is wowing the crowds with her affecting portrayal of Ophelia. Preyed on by rakes and opportunistic young bucks, feted by dukes and earls, even the Prince Regent himself, Angelica Leigh is a sensation.

But in Regency England, beauty and talent are not enough to be considered marriage material, so when the eminently eligible Lord Charles Latimer sets his heart on Angelica, his uncle is sent to intervene.

As a highly respected, hard-working and wealthy lawmaker, The Honourable Ivor Asprey, is himself seen as desirable husband material, but widowed with an eleven-year-old daughter Elinor, he has forsaken all thoughts of romance. Lord Latimer’s mother, the Duchess of Arlington, despairs of her son, despite being reassured by Ivor that his infatuation with the actress will pass. But there is something about Angelica Leigh that demands attention, and even the austere and upstanding Mr Asprey isn’t immune to her charms.

📖 My review..

Once again this talented author has taken me by the hand and led me into Georgian London, sharing the life of actress Angelica Leigh as she mesmerises audiences with her portrayal of Ophelia in Shakespeare's Hamlet. To be an actress during the early years of the nineteenth century was viewed as little more than prostitution, however, Angelica's sweet nature and exceptional beauty has attracted the attention of the eligible Charles Latimer, a young member of the haut ton who, much to the chagrin of his formidable mama, is hell bent on marriage with the delightful Angelica. The Honourable Ivor Asprey is persuaded by Charles's mother to try to dissuade Angelica from accepting his nephew as a suitor and in doing so widowed Asprey changes his own life forever.

A Scandalous Match is a delightful historical romance which looks at the vagaries of society in Georgian England and how a woman, so often seen merely as a decorative appendage, could be feisty, funny and determined, like Angelica, to go her own way. I loved Angelica from the start, her acting skill brings a different dynamic and I enjoyed observing the raucousness of the theatre audiences, from cat calls, to throwing bread buns around the auditorium, there was never a dull moment. The romantic element is nicely done and there's a smattering of politics concerning the reform of child labour however, what really shines through is the emotional involvement with all of the characters, which is done with such a fine eye for detail, so that it becomes an absolute pleasure to sit down and escape for a few hours into this Regency world which Jane Dunn recreates so beautifully.

About the Author

Jane Dunn is an historian and biographer and the author of seven acclaimed biographies, including Daphne du Maurier and her Sisters and the Sunday Times and NYT bestseller, Elizabeth & Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens. She comes to Boldwood with her first fiction outing – a trilogy of novels set in the Regency period, the first of which, The Marriage Season, is to be published in January 2023. She lives in Berkshire with her husband, the linguist Nicholas Ostler.

Twitter/X @JaneDunnAuthor #AScandalousMatch

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📖 Blog Tour ~ The Daughters of Mersey Square by Pam Howes

Bookouture
17 January 2024

Mersey Square #3

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book
and the invitation to the blog tour

Mersey Square, Stockport, 1984. Can she find the courage to overcome a devastating tragedy?

Sammy and Roy Cantello have been inseparable since they were teenage sweethearts. Married for twenty years, their eldest son is the apple of Sammy’s eye. When the police arrive, telling her there’s been a devastating crash, it is the worst night of her life. Her boy had always been such a safe driver, what could possibly have gone wrong?

As her firstborn fights for his life and Sammy searches for answers, she realises there’s only one thing that could have been distracting her child: his father Roy’s recent affair with another woman, Olivia Grant. Sammy thought their relationship was over for good, but is there something Roy hasn’t told her?

Desperate for answers about her son’s accident, she goes to see Olivia. But as Sammy enters Olivia’s small flat, she is shocked to her very core: Olivia’s rounded belly tells her this woman is carrying her husband’s child.

As her own son slips away, Sammy is consumed by grief, but she realises that the other woman is struggling too. When Olivia decides she is not the best person to raise her child and begs for support, Sammy knows that her son would want her to help. Can Sammy find the courage to raise her husband’s child as her own?

📖 My review..

I have followed this series from the beginning and thoroughly enjoy returning to Mersey Square to catch up with the characters as they live their challenging lives in this part of Stockport.

Sammy and Roy Cantello have been sweethearts since they were children, however, their long marriage hasn't been straightforward and as we meet them in 1984 it is about to get even more complicated when their son is involved in a tragic accident and Sammy discovers something about Roy which puts their whole life together in jeopardy. Not only are Sammy and Roy facing challenges but also their close friends Jane and Eddie Mellor must also face the events of their past when secrets threaten to expose what they have kept hidden for so long.

As always the story flows beautifully and the author does a great job of including the past whilst at the same time bringing the individual characters forwards in time. The introduction of new people into the story-line is done with a fine eye for authentic detail and I especially enjoy the musical references which are reminiscent of the time and evoke memories of the 1980s. This is the third book in this series and whilst it can be read as a standalone story I rather think that these complex family dramas are best read in order so as to enjoy the emotional connection with each of the characters. I look forward to catching up with the Cantellos and the Mellors as they move forward into their next family drama.

Just to add that this book was previously published as 'Til I Kissed You

About the Author

Pam Howes is a retired interior designer, mum to three daughters, grandma to seven assorted grandchildren and roadie to her musician partner. The inspiration for Pam’s first novel came from her teenage years, working in a record store, and hanging around with musicians who frequented the business. The first novel evolved into a series about a fictional band, The Raiders. She is a fan of sixties music and it’s this love that compelled her to begin writing.

Twitter @PamHowes1 #TheDaughtersOfMerseySquare #BooksOnTour

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📖 Book Review ~ Ten Poems about Hats from Candlestick Press

Candlestick Press
January 2024

Thanks to the publisher for my copy of this pamphlet

Coco Chanel declared a hat to be essential when lunching with people one didn’t know very well. These days such pretensions may seem old hat but we still set store by this quintessentially personal item of clothing.

In these pages we encounter hats of all shapes and sizes. There’s a grandfather’s beloved trilby and an imagined bathing cap belonging to Napoleon. There’s also a “hopeful hat” waiting for coins on a city pavement.

Best of all, perhaps, we experience the old-fashioned glamour of a milliner’s shop:

“There are multi-coloured reels, ends of rickrack, bias bindings,

tiny satin flowers, and hats with floppy brims

on blank-faced, long-necked Nefertiti heads,”

from ‘Cloche’ by John Foggin

These varied poems will delight and entertain in equal measure.

Poems by Rita Dove, John Foggin, John Freeman, Clarinda Harriss, Robert Hedin, Linda Pastan, Carole Satyamurti, James Tate, Andrew Taylor and ASJ Tessimond.

Cover illustration by Jane Burn.

📖 My Review..

I've always liked hats on other people. I simply don't have the head for a hat but I enjoy seeing fancy creations and on the rare occasions I have worn a hat, there's something about wearing one which feels quite special. This lovely collection of ten poems about hats is perfect for me as I can enjoy the beauty of hats without the pressure of wearing one.

'Cloche' by John Foggin starts the collection with a wander down memory lane for me as I have  a lovely photograph of one of my aunts wearing a beautiful cloche hat in the 1930s. She was an extraordinary dressmaker and could well have made the hat she was wearing so beautifully...

" I think she's wearing black,

a cameo brooch and  a touch of rouge."

There's something about a hat which just makes you want to try it on and I can remember when clearing an elderly relatives house we came across a rather pristine black bowler hat, of course, on our heads it went and we remembered, with a smile, the man who once wore it.

'The Man in the Bowler Hat' by ASJ Tessimond

"I am the unnoticed,the unnoticeable man:

The man who sat on your right in the morning train:

The man you looked through like a window pane:

The man who was the colour of the carriage, the colour of the mounting

Morning pipe smoke..."

Wonderfully evocative and beautifully designed, with a colourful cover and pretty inside papers Ten Poems about Hats is a charming collection to make you smile and is simply perfect instead of card to brighten up a cold winters day.

About the Publisher

Candlestick Press is a small, independent press publishing sumptuously produced poetry pamphlets that serve as a wonderful alternative to a greetings card, with matching envelopes and bookmarks left blank for your message. Their subjects include Mountains, Clouds, Walking, Birds, Wine and Happiness. Candlestick Press pamphlets are stocked by chain and independent bookshops, galleries and garden centres nationwide and available to order online.

Twitter/X @poetrycandle

Website

📖 Blog Tour ~ The Glass Woman by Alice McIlroy

 

Datura
2 January 2024

Thanks to the publisher for my copy of the book
and to Ruth Killick for the invitation to the blog tour

Pioneering scientist Iris Henderson awakes in a hospital bed with no memories. She is told that she is the first test-subject for an experimental therapy, placing a piece of AI technology into her brain. She is also told that she volunteered for it. But without her memories, Iris doesn't know what the therapy is or why she would ever choose it. Everyone warns her to leave it alone, but Iris doesn't know who to trust. As she scratches beneath the surface of her seemingly happy marriage and successful career, a catastrophic chain of events is set in motion, and secrets will be revealed that have the capacity to destroy her whole life.

📖 My Review...

The Glass Woman gets off to a dramatic start when we meet thirty-five year old Iris Henderson who wakes in a clinical research facility with no idea of who she is or why she is there. Surrounded by strangers, including the man who tells Iris that he is her husband, Iris must try to make sense of an alien world over which she has no control. 

There are definite sinister undertones in this cleverly put together psychological thriller with more than a hint of the futuristic involvement of artificial intelligence so that we are never quite sure where the truth is hidden or indeed if, like Iris, we are also being drip fed only the information we think we need to know. That's what made the story all the more compelling as even when I thought I had the measure of the plot it veered off into a direction I didn't see coming.

Iris is an interesting character, completely flawed and quite often unreliable in her narration but that lends a certain frisson of excitement to this sophisticated and intelligent thriller. I enjoyed the fast pace of the story, it certainly doesn't drag its feet and the intricacy of the plot is perfectly maintained in short and concise chapters which help to keep up the claustrophobic and daunting atmosphere of Iris and her newly emerging life. Very believable, and with a futuristic edginess I found fascinating The Glass Woman is a commendable debut novel which makes us question the truth about morals, memory and how, maybe in the future, all this will be manipulated and controlled by Artificial Intelligence.

About the Author

Alice McIlroy was born in London. She graduated in English and has a post-graduate in Law. She completed Faber Academy’s novel-writing programme. She has taught English in state schools in London and Milan, and volunteers with a post-natal depression charity. Her writing has been longlisted for the Stylist Prize for Feminist Fiction and Grindstone International Novel Prize. The Glass Woman is her debut novel. 

Twitter/X @alice_mcilroy

Website 

@DaturaBooks

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📖 Blog Tour ~ The Widow’s Choice by Nancy Revell

 

Penguin
4 January 2024

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book
and to publicist, Sarah Harwood for the invitation to the blog tour

1949, County Durham

When Angie marries her sweetheart Quentin and moves into Cuthford Manor to begin their new life together, she feels like the luckiest woman in the world.But Quentin falls victim to a tragic accident and Angie's life is left devastated. Now, along with the prospect of rebuilding her life, she is faced with an impossible choice that will have far-reaching consequences for herself and those she loves most.Angie will need to draw on the help of her family, the community of Cuthford Manor and her old friends from the shipyards if she's to find happiness again.

📖 My Review..

I've been a huge fan of this author's work and thoroughly enjoyed reading the best selling series about the The Shipyard Girls so I was excited to be given the opportunity to dive into a new story also set in the North East of England and which follows the fortunes of the Shipyard Girls after the war is over.

In The Widow's Choice we meet with Angie Foxton-Clarke who, as a recent young widow, finds that life is even more complicated especially with an awkward mother-in-law who feels that Angie isn't up to the challenge of running the family home at Cuthford Manor. Angie needs to draw on all the strength of will that she needed during her time in the shipyards and with the help of old friends she starts to build a new life for herself, her family and her friends. As always the author draws on her knowledge of the North East and brings such a warmth and empathy to her characters that you can't help but invest emotionally both in terms of the way the story unfolds and in also in the depth of characterisation, so that the place and people live in your imagination.

I don't want to give away any spoilers except to say that life is definitely complicated for Angie and the occupants of Cuthford Manor and whilst it has been delightful to meet up again with old friends from the Shipyard series, I did thoroughly enjoy The Widow’s Choice entirely on its own merits. Authentically researched and with a warmth I found completely entertaining, this is a lovely follow on story which can be read as part of the series or as a standalone novel.

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 #TheWidowsChoice

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📖 Book Review ~ The Harbour Lights Mystery by Emylia Hall

 

Thomas and Mercer
October 2023

My thanks to the author and publisher for my copy of this book

As The Shell House Detectives try to solve a family mystery, their investigation runs dangerously close to a murder case. Are the two linked?

It’s December in Cornwall, and Mousehole harbour is illuminated with its famous Christmas lights. Ally Bright is among the crowd listening to the carol singers—and then to the piercing screams that rip through the darkness. A body has been found, brutally murdered and dumped in a fisherman’s boat.

The victim is chef JP Sharpe and there is no shortage of people who might have wanted him dead. Eager for a new case for The Shell House Detectives, Ally calls ex-cop Jayden, but he’s keen to leave it to the police—until a letter in Sharpe’s pocket draws them into a seemingly unconnected family mystery. As they take on this highly charged mission, the duo can’t help scrutinising the murder suspects. Who among the close-knit community has reason to kill, and how far will they go to protect themselves?

As fear spreads, Ally and Jayden need answers—fast. Could the letter offer a clue to the murder case or will it reveal a terrible truth? And when a new witness comes to light, Jayden closes in on a desperate killer…but can he warn Ally in time?

📖 My Review..

I thoroughly enjoyed the first book in this cosy crimes series so it has been a real pleasure to return to Cornwall to see what The Shell House Detectives get up to in this latest offering from this talented writer.

The discovery of a murder victim in the festively decorated Mousehole harbour upsets the local community during their annual carol singing in December and when the identity of the victim is known there are people in the community who have no reason to mourn JP Sharpe's tragic demise. With the local police doing what they can to find the murderer, private detectives, Ally Bright and her Shell House detective partner, Jayden Weston are tasked with finding the identity of someone who hasn't wanted to be found for over thirty years and in doing so they become inextricably linked to the murder case. With more questions than answers this complicated plot veers off in several different directions and I had enjoyed trying to put together all the jigsaw puzzle pieces in this complex murder mystery. The Harbour Lights Mystery flows well, the many twists and turns of the plot certainly keep up the momentum and the characters who flit into and out of the story bring their own special brand of Cornish warmth, wit and charm.

As always, Cornwall forms an integral part of the story, we learn of the challenges facing local fishermen, the anguish of not having enough money and the constant worry of businesses who need to thrive during the tourist season so that they may survive the leaner months of winter. I've thoroughly enjoyed my visit back to Cornwall and love spending time with The Shell House Detectives and look forward to the next book in the series, which I hope is coming soon.

About the Author

 

Twitter @emyliahall #TheHarbourLightsMystery

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📖 Featured Book of the Month ~ The Woman on the Ledge by Ruth Mancini

 

Century Books UK
4th January 2024

My thanks to the publishers for my review copy of this book 

A woman falls to her death from a London bank’s twenty-fifth-floor roof terrace.

You’re arrested for her murder.

You tell the police that you had only met the victim the previous night at your office party. She was threatening to jump from the roof, but you had talked her down.

You’ve got nothing to do with this tragedy. You’re clearly being framed.

So why do the police keep picking holes in your story? Even your lawyer doesn’t seem to believe you.

It soon becomes obvious that you’re keeping secrets.

But who are you trying to protect? And why?

📖My Review..

There’s always a bit of a lull between Christmas and New Year when it’s the perfect time to sit with a good book and a cup of tea, and there’s no story more perfect for curling up with than this convoluted thriller which hits the ground running when our main protagonist is arrested for the murder of a woman she has only just met. 

With more holes in her story than facts the police and even her solicitor feel that there is more to this story than is at first anticipated. What then follows is a cleverly constructed murder mystery that veers off in so many different directions that you are never quite sure what exactly happened on that fateful night when a woman fell to her death from the twenty-fifth floor of an office block in central London.

There is so much to enjoy in this convoluted thriller that to tell you more would be to spoil it and believe me this is one clever story which you need to absorb with no idea of the direction in which the story is heading. Even when I was fully immersed in the story, which didn’t take long as it really is compelling reading, I couldn’t begin to see how the story would end. With twists and turns aplenty and with clever red herrings which, several times, took me off track, this is such an enjoyable and suspenseful read that I have no hesitation in making The Woman on the Ledge my Featured Book of the Month in January.

*The Woman in the Ledge will be published on the 4th January by Century Books UK

About the Author

Ruth Mancini was born in south-west London and started her career as a marketing executive for a publisher before undertaking a post-graduate diploma in law and retraining as a solicitor. Ruth has spent the past twenty-five years in and out of courts and police stations, representing those accused of crimes. She still practises as a lawyer for a large criminal law firm with offices in London, conducting advocacy in the courts and defending people arrested at the police station. She also reviews trial files across the firm and juggles her legal work with writing crime and psychological fiction. 

Ruth lives in Oxfordshire with her husband and two children.

Twitter/X@RuthMancini1 #TheWomanOnTheLedge

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