📖 Book Review ~ The Girls of Summer by Katie Bishop

 

Bantam Press
25 May

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

Rachel has been in love with Alistair since she was seventeen. Even though she hasn't seen him for sixteen years and she's now married to someone else. Even though she was a teenager when they met. Even though he is twenty years older than her. She's found it impossible to forget their summer together on a remote, sun-trapped Greek island. Until now.

When Rachel unexpectedly reconnects with a girl that she knew back then, she is forced to re-examine her memories of that golden summer and confront the truth about her relationship with Alistair and about her time working for an enigmatic and wealthy man on the island. And when Alistair returns, the pull of the past could prove impossible to resist...

📖 My Review..

Rachel fell in love with Alistair when she was seventeen and on the adventure of her life. Travelling with her friend Caroline they arrive at a small Greek island where Rachel, in particular, is soon captivated by island life. Rachel decides to stay on the island, finding work and friendship but always in thrall to the much older Alistair and whatever he wants Rachel does unquestioningly even when it means she is drawn into a world she is neither prepared for nor understands.

I was quickly immersed in Rachel's story and felt more than once that I just wanted her to see sense and go home but of course, we've all been a naive seventeen, in love for the first time and unwilling to listen to anyone's advice. The story moves between two time frames so we meet, in the present day, a more mature Rachel, her dissatisfaction all too obvious, and her character rather jaded from the bright and beautiful seventeen year old who was in love with life on a sparkling Greek island. Gradually over the space of the story we learn that all was not idyllic on the island hideaway.

The Girls of Summer is a thought provoking #MeToo read which I devoured in the space of a couple of sittings as I couldn't book the book down. It would be a really good immersive summer read, especially if you are heading to the Greek islands for some sunshine. The Girls of Summer takes the idea of a classic holiday romance and turns it into something much darker and deeper, highlighting the nature of a coercive relationship and the ambiguity of consent and control. 

About the Author

Katie Bishop is a writer and journalist based in Birmingham, UK. She grew up in the Midlands before moving to Oxford to work in publishing in her early twenties. Whilst working as an assistant editor she started writing articles in her spare time, going on to be published in the New York Times, Guardian, Independent and Vogue.

Katie started writing The Girls of Summer during the first UK COVID lockdown, after becoming increasingly interested in stories emerging from the #MeToo movement. The novel is inspired by her own experiences of backpacking, and by her interest in how personal narratives can be reshaped and understood in light of cultural and social changes.

In 2020, Katie moved back to the Midlands, and now lives in Birmingham with her partner. She is a full-time writer.

Twitter @WhatKatieBWrote #GirlsofSummer

Website

@TransworldBooks

📖 Pick a shelf ~ The Beautiful Dead by Belinda Bauer

 

Bantam Press
2016

There’s no safety in numbers . . .

Eve Singer needs death. With her career as a TV crime reporter flagging, she’ll do anything to satisfy her ghoulish audience.

The killer needs death too. He even advertises his macabre public performances, where he hopes to show the whole world the beauty of dying.

When he contacts Eve, she welcomes the chance to be first with the news from every gory scene. Until she realizes that the killer has two obsessions.

One is public murder.

And the other one is her..

📖 My Review..

It's my mission to read the books which have been left undisturbed on my book shelf for several years, however, with so many current reads dropping through the door or landing on my e-reader, it's not always possible. 

Determined to rectify this I adopted the pick a shelf, seven books along theory and my eye spotted the distinctive cover of The Beautiful Dead and within minutes of reading the first few pages I was hooked on the story of journalist Eve Singer who, in her quest to be the best investigative TV reporter, comes into contact with a serial killer who is determined to continue his deadly killing spree, whilst at the same time, by fair means or foul, he draws Eve ever closer into his net. This imagined bond between the killer and Eve forms the basis of the story which is also nicely padded out with an insight into Eve's personal life, her struggle to look after an elderly father and her growing fondness for her cameraman, Joe, which all adds an extra dimension to what is an exciting and lively crime novel.

Belinda Bauer never disappoints. Her writing is always crisp and clean, she takes you into the mind of a serial killer and yet splashes the story with poignant humour, especially when describing Eve and her father's conversations. There's enough action to keep you turning the pages and I found that I wanted to read the story quickly so that I could keep up with what was happening on the page.

I'm sorry that The Beautiful Dead has languished on my shelf for so long, it didn't deserve to as its a great story and deserves to be read. so if you see it quietly reposing in a book shop do take it home and let its story come to life.

About the Author

Belinda Bauer grew up in England and South Africa and now lives in Wales.She worked as a journalist and a screenwriter before finally writing a book t appease her nagging mother. Her debut Badlands was awarded the CWA Gold Dagger Award for Crime Novel of the Year. She went on to win the CWA Dagger in the Library for her body of work in 2013.

📖 Publication Day Book Review ~ Where Blood Runs Cold by Giles Kristian

Bantam Press
24 February 2022

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book

Erik Amdahl and his spirited daughter, Sofia, have embarked on a long-promised cross-country ski trip deep into Norway's arctic circle. For Erik, it's the chance to bond properly with his remaining daughter following a tragic accident. For Sofia, it's the proof she needs that her father does care.

Then, far from home in this snowbound wilderness, with night falling and the mercury plummeting, an accident sends them in search of help - and shelter. Nearby is the home of a couple - members of Norway's indigenous Sami people - who they've met before, and who welcome them in. Erik is relieved. He believes the worst is over. He thinks that Sofia is now safe. He could not be more wrong. He and Sofia are not the old couple's only visitors that night - and soon he and Sofia will be running for their lives . . .

...and beneath the swirling light show of the Northern Lights, a desperate fight ensues - of man against man, of man against nature - a fight for survival that plays out across the snow and ice.

My Review..

After a devastating family tragedy Erik Amdahl and his teenage daughter Sofia embark on a cross country ski trip which is set against the icy chill of Norway's Arctic circle. This trip of a lifetime is a time for father and daughter to bond together however, when an accident occurs on their first night camping under the stars Erik has little choice but to take Sofia to safety. Over icy terrain they finally reach the home of Lars and Karine Helgeland where they hope to find shelter and that's when their nightmare really begins.

In a chilling cat and mouse chase across the arctic circle, Erik and Sofia must do all they can to survive whoever it is that's chasing them across this frozen wasteland. Encountering danger brings this father and daughter together in the most challenging of ways which is made all the more atmospheric by the ice cold beauty of the landscape. 

This tense modern day thriller is something of a departure for this talented author who has come to prominence with his exceptionally detailed historical novels, so it's been good to see his writing veer off in a different direction. I enjoyed how the landscape became another character in the novel and with the brooding chill infusing every page I quickly became engrossed in the menacing sense of ever present danger. 

Where Blood Runs Cold is a suspenseful thriller, with lots of twists and turns, and where the harsh beauty of this frozen world comes vividly to life.

Best read with...ice cold vodka shots and bitter dark chocolate.

About the Author

Family history (he is half Norwegian) and a passion for the fiction of Bernard Cornwell inspired the author to write. His best selling trilogies 'Raven' and the 'Rise of Sigurd' have been acclaimed by his peers, reviewers and readers alike. The novels The Bleeding Land and Brothers' Fury tell the story of a family torn apart by the English Civil War and he co-wrote Wilbur Smith's No.1 best seller,Golden Lion. With his Sunday Times bestseller Lancelot and Camelot Giles plunged into the rich waters of the Arthurian legend. Giles Kristian lives in Leicestershire.

Twitter @gileskristian #WhereBloodRunsCold

Website

@TransworldBooks #BantamPress

 

📖 Book Review ~ The Dare by Lesley Kara

 

Ebook 18 February 2021
Hardback 4 March
Bantam Press
My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book

As a child, it was just a game. As an adult, it was a living nightmare.

When teenage friends Lizzie and Alice decide to head off for a walk in the countryside, they are blissfully unaware that this will be their final day together – and that only Lizzie will come back alive.

Lizzie has no memory of what happened in the moments before Alice died, she only knows that it must have been a tragic accident. But as she tries to cope with her grief, she is shocked to find herself alienated from Alice’s friends and relatives. They are convinced she somehow had a part to play in her friend’s death.

Twelve years later, unpacking boxes in the new home she shares with her fiancé, Lizzie is horrified to find traumatic memories and paranoia suddenly surfacing. Is the trauma of the accident finally catching up with her, or could someone be trying to threaten her new-found happiness?

Twelve years is a long time to wait, when you’re planning the perfect revenge...

📖 My Thoughts..

Teenagers, Lizzie and Alice, are best friends but when their favourite walk ends in tragedy, thirteen year old, Lizzie has to try and more forward as best she can but no-one understands the burden of guilt which Lizzie carries about that fateful day.

We get to know Lizzie some twelve years later when she has set up a new home with her handsome GP husband but mysterious things start to happen which take her back to the last day she spent with Alice, and even though time has passed, Lizzie's feelings are still just as raw, in the present, as they were on the day the tragedy happened.

This is a really clever psychological suspense story which is made all the more chilling by the snippets of memories which happened before and after the tragedy and which allow us a tantalising glimpse into Lizzie's life as a young teenager and her subsequent life as a grown woman with plans for the future. Effortlessly moving forwards and backwards in time a chilling picture of lies and deceit starts to emerge. I found Lizzie's character immensely likeable which made the chilling horror of what was happening to her all the more engrossing.

The Dare is expertly controlled so that the suspense is maintained all the way through and there are definitely more than enough twists and turns to keep you guessing. The last third of the book is particularly tense and my heart was in my mouth on more than one occasion when Lizzie's life just seemed to be spiralling out of control.

The Dare is published in hardback on the 4th March by Bantam Press and is available to buy from all good book retailers.

About The Author

Lesley Kara is the author of the Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller, THE RUMOUR, published in December 2018. Her second novel, THE DARE, is out now.

Twitter @LesleyKara #TheDare

@TransworldBooks

📖 Featured Book of the Month ~ Exit by Belinda Bauer

Bantam Press
21 January 2021

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

IT WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO BE MURDER . . .

Pensioner Felix Pink is about to find out that it’s never too late . . . for life to go horribly wrong.

When Felix lets himself in to Number 3 Black Lane, he’s there to perform an act of charity: to keep a dying man company as he takes his final breath . . .

But just fifteen minutes later Felix is on the run from the police – after making the biggest mistake of his life.

Now his world is turned upside down as he must find out if he's really to blame, or if something much more sinister is at play. All while staying one shaky step ahead of the law.

📖 My thoughts..

Septuagenarian Felix Pink is just your average pensioner wearing a beige jacket who sits compassionately waiting whilst some very sick people take their dying breaths. He's not by their side to help their demise in any way but when the sad affair is over, Felix calmly packs away the detritus of his presence and steals away never to be seen again, that is, until one day when it all goes horribly wrong.  

It's been a while since I read a crime thriller which made me laugh out loud but from the moment I met Felix I knew that he was going to fully occupy my thoughts for the time it took to read this excellent story. Felix is just so inoffensively ordinary that you can't help but love him and that's where the absolute strength of this story lies in that everyone is just so ordinary, and yet the author brings out all the subtle nuances of their quirky personalities with a delicious sense of mischief,  and a real talent for making the ordinary become absolutely extraordinary.

Belinda Bauer shows that it is perfectly possible to juggle both humour and tragedy and still write a daring crime story. There's a lightness of touch throughout which allows the really dark moments in Exit to have the desired impact whilst at the same time softening the blow with something deliciously daft which makes you laugh out loud. I thought I knew where the story was heading but I really didn't and I loved it all the more because I didn't see what was coming.

Reading Exit over the past few days has been a real delight which is why I have no hesitation in making it my Featured Book of the Month for February.

Exit was published on the 21st January and is available now in ebook and hardback from all good book retailers.

About the Author

Belinda Bauer grew up in England and South Africa and now lives in Wales. She worked as a journalist and a screenwriter before finally writing a book to appease her nagging mother. With her debut, Blacklands, Belinda was awarded the CWA Gold Dagger for Crime Novel of the Year. She went on to win the CWA Dagger in the Library for her body of work in 2013. Her fourth novel Rubbernecker was voted 2014 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. In 2018 her eighth novel, Snap, was longlisted for the Man Booker prize. Her books have been translated into 21 languages.

@PenguinUKBooks #Exit

📖 Blog Tour ~ The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse

📖 Delighted to be sharing my book review on today's blog tour stop 📖

Bantam Press
18 January 2021

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

An imposing, isolated hotel, high up in the Swiss Alps, is the last place Elin Warner wants to be. But she's taken time off from her job as a detective, so when she receives an invitation out of the blue to celebrate her estranged brother's recent engagement, she has no choice but to accept.

Arriving in the midst of a threatening storm, Elin immediately feels on edge. Though it's beautiful, something about the hotel, recently converted from an abandoned sanatorium, makes her nervous - as does her brother, Isaac.

And when they wake the following morning to discover his fiancée Laure has vanished without a trace, Elin's unease grows. With the storm cutting off access to and from the hotel, the longer Laure stays missing, the more the remaining guests start to panic.

But no-one has realized yet that another woman has gone missing. And she's the only one who could have warned them just how much danger they're all in...

My thoughts...

High in the Swiss Alps a new minimalist hotel opens, however, it is not without controversy, as Le Sommet sits on the footprint of what was once a rather grim sanatorium for people with tuberculosis. Local opposition runs high and there are those who would rather the hotel just didn’t exist.

Police Detective, Elin Warner and her partner, Will Riley, have been invited to the hotel to celebrate Elin’s brother’s engagement to Laure who is the assistant manger of the hotel. Emotions run high especially for Elin who is currently on extended sick leave with PTSD. When Laure goes missing, leaving no clues to her disappearance, Elin needs to draw on all her emotional, and professional, strength to try to figure out just what is going on at Le Sommet.

What then follows is a decidedly chilly story which has all the necessary elements of surprise needed for a thrilling whodunnit. The icy setting, against a snowy backdrop heightens the claustrophobic nature of the story and as Elin gets drawn deeper into the investigation, so her own insecurities start to come to the fore.

Right from the start there is an undercurrent of unease, which surrounds, not just the hotel, but also the people associated with it and when atrocious weather causes some guests and staff to be stranded at Le Sommet this creepy sense of unrest is made so much worse when a gruesome discovery is made.

The claustrophobic nature of being high in the Swiss Alps in a creepy and isolated hotel in the middle of a swirling snowstorm and with so many people staying at the hotel who have hidden agendas then you have all the right ingredients for a decidedly chilly and very atmospheric read.

The Sanatorium is a commendable debut by a talented new voice in the psychological thriller/crime fiction  genre.

About the Author

Sarah Pearse lives by the sea in South Devon with her husband and two daughters. She studied English and Creative Writing at the University of Warwick and worked in Brand PR for a variety of household brands. After moving to Switzerland in her twenties, she spent every spare moment exploring the mountains and still has a home in the Swiss Alpine town of Crans Montana, the dramatic setting that inspired her novel. Sarah has always been drawn to the dark and creepy - remote spaces and abandoned places - so when she read an article in a local Swiss magazine about the history of sanatoriums in the area, she knew she’d found the spark of the idea for her debut novel, The Sanatorium. Her short fiction has been published in a wide variety of magazines and has been shortlisted for several prizes.

Twitter @SarahVPearse #TheSanatorium

Instagram @sarahpearseauthor

@RandomTTours

Blog Tour ~ Back to School by Jack Sheffield

 

Delighted to host today's Blog Tour stop

Bantam Press 3 September 2020

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

This is an exciting prequel to Jack's Teacher, Teacher series. It follows Jack as he navigates life as a newly qualified teacher at a rough school on an estate in North Yorkshire.

The year is 1969 and Jack Sheffield is a young teacher in need of a job. In a room full of twenty-nine other newly qualified teachers, he’s overjoyed when he's appointed to Heather View Primary. Jack is excited to start his first year there and to begin shaping young minds in a beautiful new location on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales. But Heather View isn’t as idyllic as it first sounds. In fact, it looks more like a prison than a primary school. With less than adequate funding and a head teacher who doesn’t seem to care, it's no easy task to give the kids the education they deserve. But Jack’s determined to do just that. Full of warmth and good humour, Back to School is like taking a nostalgic walk through the past to a simpler time...

What did I think about it..

The author has written his well respected Jack Sheffield series since 2004 detailing an account of a teaching career which began with Teacher, Teacher, set in 1977, when Jack was appointed to his first headteacher role. Back to School, however, takes us right back to the very start of Jack Sheffield's career when, as a new teacher, he takes the first tentative steps on his life long career.

I think Back to School is a charming story and set, as it is, in a rather deprived primary school on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, there's also a lot of warmth, good humour and the occasional pull on the old heartstrings. I hate to admit it, but I was still at primary school in 1969, so I was taken right back to my own school days, queuing up to give my pre-decimal currency dinner money to the teacher, and spending my break times playing skipping, with my friends, in the playground. I read through the whole of the book with a huge smile on my face remembering things I had long since forgotten.

There's a gentleness about the story which in a way belies the strength of the story telling as everything feels so easy, it's just as if you and the author are having a good old chat over a cup of tea in the staff room of Heather View Primary School. I loved the way that all of the teachers came to life, from the curmudgeon of a headmaster, to the wastrel of a caretaker, and all good solid Yorkshire folk in-between, there are lots of lovely characters who, quite simply, made me smile and occasionally laugh out loud.

Back to School is a delightful nostalgic trip down memory lane and adds another dimension to this successful series. I am sure that fans who have followed from the beginning will be delighted to go right back to the start of Jack Sheffield's career, and new readers can just as easily continue the next book in the series having a good idea of where the story had its beginnings.

About the Author

Jack Sheffield was born in 1945 and grew up in the tough environment of Gipton Estate, in North East Leeds. After a job as a 'pitch boy', repairing roofs, he became a Corona Pop Man before going to St John's College, York, and training to be a teacher. In the late 70s and 80s, he was a headteacher of two schools in North Yorkshire before becoming Senior Lecturer in primary education at Bretton Hall near Wakefield. It was at this time he began to record his many amusing stories of village life. He lives in Buckinghamshire. 

Twitter @teacherseries #BacktoSchool

@TransworldBooks

@RandomTTours

Website

Review ~ Clear My Name by Paula Daly

Bantam Press
8 August 2019

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book

Innocent?

When Carrie was accused of brutally murdering her husband’s lover, she denied it. She denied it when they arrested her, when they put her in front of a jury, and when they sent her to prison.

Now she’s three years into a fifteen-year sentence, away from the daughter she loves and the life she had built. And she is still denying that she is to blame.

Guilty?

Tess Gilroy has devoted her life to righting wrongs. Through her job for Innocence UK, a charity which takes on alleged miscarriages of justice, she works tirelessly to uncover the truth.

But when she is asked to take Carrie’s case, Tess realises that if she is to help this woman, she must risk uncovering the secrets she has struggled a lifetime to hide . . .

We’ve all done things we’re not proud of.

My thoughts about it..

Carrie has been found guilty of the vicious murder of her husband's lover and has served three years of a fifteen year sentence, but Carrie consistently insists that she is innocent. It is up to ex-parole officer, Tess, now working for Innocence UK a charity which seeks to prove miscarriages of justice, to gather sufficient evidence to prove that Carrie is innocent of all charges. Innocence UK have been successful in overturning a number of convictions, but in Carrie's complicated case, Tess and her trainee associate, Avril, discover so many inconsistencies in the police evidence that trying to prove Carrie's innocence gets more and more complicated as the investigation progresses.

Clear my Name has all the trademarks of this author's skilful writing. The plot is cleverly crafted and whilst the pace is rather slow in places, I feel that this is quite deliberate as it gives the opportunity to really get to know the characters in detail. Although Carrie's story in the present is fascinating, it is her compelling back story, in which we are given interesting snippets of her life, which really get into the core of her character.  Tess is an interesting enigma and from the start of the story it becomes obvious that she too has her secrets. The complicated reasons for Tess's ambiguity are revealed as the story progresses, and add a really interesting layer to what is a taut and tense psychological suspense story.

I've now read all of this author's books to date and whilst each one brings something completely different, what is always guaranteed is that the story will grab your attention, the plot will keep you both entertained and enthralled, and the conclusion, when it comes, will leave you punching the air in complete satisfaction.  

About the Author

Paula Daly is the acclaimed author of five novels. Her work has been sold in fifteen countries, shortlisted for CWA Gold Dagger Crime Novel of the Year award, and her books are currently being developed into the ITV drama - Deep Water - set to air in 2019. She was born in Lancashire and lives in the Lake District with her husband, three children, and whippet Skippy.

Twitter @PaulaDalyAuthor #ClearMyName

@TransworldBooks


#NetGalley

Review ~ The Mistake I Made by Paula Daly

Bantam Press
Random House UK Transworld Publishers
August 27 2015

He wants her. At any price.

There is one thing of which I am absolutely sure and that is, to be in possession of a new Paula Daly novel, is akin to winning a literary lotto. All six of your numbers come up at once and as you sit comfortably in your favourite reading chair time simply ceases to exist in the here and now, and you are instantly taken to another time and place, and very quickly find yourself amongst people who become as familiar as friends. And as you do with friends, you laugh with them, hurt with them and try to understand when they make decisions you inherently know are going to bring them a whole heap of trouble.

Roz, a physiotherapist, is desperately struggling to makes ends meet after her profligate ex-husband left her with crippling debts. It’s a common belief that a professional career should earn enough to be able to fill the car with petrol and make sure that there’s food on the table, but life is difficult and Roz is faced with some really tough choices. Amongst her choices, is one being made by Scott Elias, a local man with enough disposable income to get what he wants, and what he wants is to pay for a sexual encounter with Roz. But gratification comes with a high price tag, and the intimate liaison Scott suggests is a way for Roz to escape her money worries forever, but the moral code by which Roz has lived her life is so harshly called into question that you can’t help but be emotionally affected by the choices she makes.

The Mistake I Made is gripping, it’s a real page turner, it’s everything you want in a suspenseful novel and it exemplifies just how clever Paula Daly is at writing about strong, decisive women who have bucket loads of charisma and yet who are as fatally flawed as the rest of us. For those who have read the author’s previous books, there’s a nice sense of continuity as The Mistake I Made is also set in the English Lake District and it features a very welcome appearance by DC Joanne Aspinall who we have met before. As always, though, the book stands completely confidently as a standalone story with more than enough twists and turns to keep you on the edge of your seat. 

From beginning to end, I absolutely loved it, and I really can’t wait to see what’s to come next from this talented author.

When I'm compiling my books of 2015, The Mistake I Made will definitely be on the list ..

About the Author

Paula Daly lives in Cumbria with her husband, three children and whippet Skippy. Before becoming a writer she was a freelance physiotherapist

Follow Paula on Twitter @pauladalyauthor

The Mistake I Made will be published on the 27 August 2015 by Bantam Press

Amazon UK

My thanks to NetGalley and Randon House UK, Transworld for my copy of this book

~***~

Review ~ How to Make a Friend by Fleur Smithwick

Random House - Bantam Press
January 2015

I was intrigued by the cover and the title of this book for two reasons. Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, I wondered how do we really make friends,  as most of my friends I seem to have made without conscious effort and secondly, the paper cut-outs on the book cover reminded me of spending hours with intricate paper cut-out books as a child, they were always such a  treat when I was unwell or in need of comfort.

And then it struck me that this book is about someone constantly in need of comfort, as Alice is initially such an isolated child, and the reassurance of having a friend like Sam is one bright spot in an otherwise rather sad childhood. As Alice grows to maturity, from necessity, she puts away her childish needs and Sam for a time disappears until a traumatic incidence brings him back into Alice's life.

What then follows is a microscopic look at the way families interact and of the way that our characters are largely influenced by own role within that family. Alice is emotionally fragile and vulnerable and when Sam reappears, no longer a child like figure, Alice needs to make some difficult choices.

A rather slow start to the book makes this a little hard going in places however, once the story starts to develop I felt that the narrative became more interesting.  The idea is original and quirky and a good example of analysing complex personalities and I felt that the author did a reasonable job of bringing Alice’s story to life.

About the Author

Amazon UK

My thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK Transworld Publishers for me ecopy of this book.

~***~