📖 Book review ~ The Shark by Emma Styles

Sphere
12 March 2026

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

Every monster has a weakness.

At the height of Australian summer, a serial killer known as The Shark stalks a coastal suburb, hunting young female swimmers.

Afraid and furious at the failure of the police to protect them, two women fight back. Raych is grieving someone she'd have died to save, while Carmen hides her own disturbing connection to the murders.

In desperation, they form an uneasy alliance. And when another girl vanishes, they take matters into their own hands - by kidnapping the prime suspect. But as their interrogation spirals, horrifying truths surface on both sides of the table.

The clock is ticking to save the missing girl. And in their quest for justice, Raych and Carmen must face the darkest question of all: have they caught a monster - or become one?

📖 My Review..

On the western coast of Australia, in the Cottesloe area of Perth, young female swimmers are being targeted by a serial killer who becomes known as The Shark. With the murders made to appear like a shark attack it soon becomes apparent that there is someone out there who is prepared to do harm. Raych is a woman on a mission and is determined to find the perpetrator and seek revenge. In doing so she meets Carmen another damaged young woman who has her own reasons for wanting to catch the killer.

The story is slow in places, especially at the beginning, which I think is quite deliberate, however, because of this it took me a while to gel with the characters especially as both the female leads weren’t always particularly likeable but I sort of understood why this had to be as both are extremely damaged and vulnerable. Their complicated and flawed relationship is explored in detail and as we start to understand them so the story becomes clearer. The author controls the plot with good attention to detail, bringing the place and the people alive in the imagination.

Overall this an interesting crime thriller which looks at revenge and retribution and does so in a complex story which kept my interest until the whole thing came together.

About the Author

Emma Styles writes contemporary Australian noir about young women taking on the patriarchy. She grew up on Whadjuk Noongar country in Perth,Western Australia and now lives in London. Emma has an MA in crime fictionfrom the University of East Anglia. Her debut novel, No Country for Girls, won the Little, Brown UEA Crime Fiction Award pre-publication and the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize post publication. It was also shortlisted for the CWA New Blood Dagger Award, the Davitt Award for Best Adult Crime Novel and the ACWA Ned Kelly Award for Best Debut Crime Fiction.

📖 Book Review ~ Six Poppies by Lisa Carter

 

Penguin
Michael Joseph
30 January 2025

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

Afghanistan, 2007. Carl meets Sarah, a nurse, at Camp Bastion and they feel an instant connection. But she’s the girlfriend of his fellow soldier, Danny, so he pledges to keep his distance.

Finally back in England, Carl vows to never forget those who didn't make it home, honouring each of them with a tattoo of a poppy. While many miles away, Sarah tries to forget the man she swore to leave behind.

But when Carl and Sarah are thrown back together, it’s clear that both of them are broken. But do the scars of what they went through run to deep, or is there a chance they can find happiness again, together…

📖 My Review..

There is no doubt that the war in Afghanistan left its mark on those service personnel who fought and died there. Six Poppies is an emotional story which, although fiction, is based on factual experiences and highlights the difficulties of adapting to life when you feel you have lost everything and of the horrors of PTSD, which so often goes untreated.

Carl and Sarah meet at Camp Bastion and although there’s an instant connection between them Sarah is the girl friend of Danny, Carl’s fellow soldier, and is therefore off limits. With emotions running high and danger never far away this group of soldiers bond together like brothers , they feel loss sharply and grieve keenly for those who never make it home. Back in England, Carl picks up the pieces of his life, honouring his lost comrades with a poppy design inked onto his back by a talented tattooist. However, even though his life is returning to some semblance of a new normal, Carl can never forget Sarah and the dream of what might have been…

This beautiful story is told from both Carl and Sarah’s perspective, we find out more about them, their lives going forward and the hurt they each carry within them. And as each beautiful poppy is etched painfully into skin we learn the significance of each one, the memories evoked, and the raw pain of not being able to do more for those who lost their lives. Carl and Sarah’s story broke my heart into a million pieces and as their connection becomes ever more irresistible so we learn more about the harsh reality of living life broken in mind and spirit.

Poignant, beautiful, emotionally charged, this is one love story which will stay with me for a long time.

About the Author

Lisa Carter is a journalist who has worked for The Sun, The Mirror and the Daily Mail where she edited the Femail pages for over ten years. She lives in London with her husband and three sons.

X @MichaellJBooks #SixPoppies

 

📖 Book Review ~ Nesting by Roisín O’Donnell

Simon & Schuster
30 January 2025

Thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

 

On a bright spring afternoon in Dublin, Ciara Fay makes a split-second decision that will change everything. Grabbing an armful of clothes from the washing line, Ciara straps her two young daughters into her car and drives away. Head spinning, all she knows for certain is that home is no longer safe.

This was meant to be an escape. But with dwindling savings, no job, and her family across the sea, Ciara finds herself adrift, facing a broken housing system and the voice of her own demons. As summer passes and winter closes in, she must navigate raising her children in a hotel room, searching for a new home and dealing with her husband Ryan’s relentless campaign to get her to come back. Because leaving is one thing, but staying away is another.

What will it take for Ciara to reinvent her life? Can she ever truly break away from Ryan’s control – and what will be the cost?

Tense, beautiful, and underpinned by an unassailable love, hope and resilience, this is the story of one woman’s bid to start over.

📖 My Review..

With ‘home’ no longer a safe place Ciara Fay makes the momentous decision to flee from an abusive marriage in order to take herself and her daughters to safety. With no plan in place, little money and no close family support Ciara faces the bureaucracy of the Irish housing system and comes up against so many obstacles that sometimes it feels as if she has left one difficult life only to encounter another which is just as obstructive.

Nesting is a difficult book to read as not only does Ciara’s husband present a real danger to her and her children but from necessity she reaches out to a social system which is beyond broken and which doesn’t offer much respite from the horror of simply surviving on a daily basis.  My heart broke for Ciara as she struggles with motherhood, poverty, and a husband who is hellbent on destroying her spirit, her body and her soul. However, despite what life throws at her Ciara will not be beaten, she fights for herself and her children, knowing that whatever meagre amounts she can give in terms of material possessions she more than makes up for in abiding love and the sheer determination to survive against all odds..

All credit must go to this exceptional debut writer who has highlighted the emotional aspect of homelessness in a very thoughtful way. I won’t forget Nesting in a long time.

About the Author

Roisín O'Donnell is an award-winning writer. In 2018, Roisín won the prize for Short Story of the Year at the A Post Irish Book Awards, and was shortlisted for the same prize again in 2022. She is the author of the story collection Wild Quiet, which was longlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize and shortlisted for the Kate O’Brien Award. Her short fiction has featured in numerous publications, including The Stinging Fly, The Tangerineand the Irish Times. Nesting is her debut novel. She lives near Dublin with her two children.

X @simonschusterUK #Nesting

📖 Blog Tour ~ Lessons in Love at the Cornish Country Hospital by Jo Bartlett

Boldwood
3 October 2024

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

A broken bond…

Wendy Tyler’s marriage ended when she discovered her ex-husband, Mike, had got his much younger new partner, Chloe, pregnant. Wendy’s over Mike, but suddenly she fears her own daughters will find a new baby much more exciting that their old mum…

A chance encounter…

But when Wendy bumps into Chloe at St Piran’s, it’s clear something is troubling the fragile young woman. Wendy doesn’t want to be sucked into Chloe and Mike’s relationship, but she can’t help worrying that Chloe needs someone to turn to.

A lesson in love.

And when Wendy realizes that Chloe is more fragile than any of them realised, she knows she has to step up. She might not love Mike anymore, but Chloe is about to join their family and Wendy can’t just stand by. Sometimes life is hard, but the easiest lessons are built on a solid foundation of love.

📖 My Review..

Returning to the Cornish Country hospital, and to this special corner of Cornwall, is like meeting up again with old friends as we once again enter through the doors of St Piran’s to find all is activity and hustle and bustle. In this story we follow two characters Danni, the A &E doctor, as she meets the challenges which come her way and also we discover more about hospital housekeeper, Wendy, who has lots going on in her personal life, including being a rock of support to Chloe who is her ex-husband’s new partner. 

The story draws a complex web highlighting the importance of love in all its forms, whether it be between partners, or between those people who aren’t related, and yet who become as important as family. The author weaves these intricate relationships so well and with such attention to detail that the characters come alive and it becomes easy to have an emotional connection, not just to the story but also to the characters themselves. With a realistic hospital setting also thrown into the mix the story tackles some difficult medical issues but does so in a considerate and sympathetic way which doesn’t detract from the overall enjoyment of the story. 

With love, loss, friendship and motherhood at its core, Lessons in Love at the Cornish Country Hospital once again shows the absolute strength and overall appeal of these delightful novels.

About the author

Jo Bartlett is the bestselling author of over nineteen women’s fiction titles. She fits her writing in between her two day jobs as an educational consultant and university lecturer and lives with her family and three dogs on the Kent coast.

Twitter /  X  @J_B_Writer #LessonsInLoveAtTheCornishCountryHospital

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📖 Book Review ~ The Secret Orchard by Sharon Gosling

Simon&Schuster
12 September 2024

Thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book 

Can a return to the past be the start of something new? 

Bette and Nina Crowdie have never been close – they’re too different, the ten-year age difference doesn’t help, and Bette’s rarely been back home since she left for university at eighteen. When their father passes away and unexpectedly splits the family farm between them, Nina is furious and afraid. She’s been working at the farm for the past five years. It’s the only stable home her young son Barnaby has ever had, and she’s convinced that Bette, who never wanted anything to do with the family business, will sell at the first chance she gets. When they discover the huge debt their father has been hiding from them both, Bette reluctantly agrees to help her sister. But that means they have to find a way to work together, and Bette must face up to the real reason she left all those years ago. Could the discovery of an ancient orchard on their land be the key to saving the farm – and the sisters’ relationship?

📖My Review..

When Bette Crowdie returns to the family farm after her father’s death she meets with the usual animosity from her younger sister, Nina. The Crowdie farm has been in the family for generations but with their father’s death, and much to Nina’s annoyance, both sisters now have an equal share.  However, with the farm in financial difficulties, it would appear that Bette, with her lawyer background, is going to have to figure out a way to save it from ruin. 

What then follows is the story of the fight to save the farm and the way in which the sisters must not only reconcile but must also pull together if they are to have any sort of future. Delightfully combining little snippets about the history of the farm, the fascinating insight into cider production and with its very own super hero, there is so much to enjoy. I especially loved reading about the secret orchard and the way in which this took on a whole personality all of its own. The author writes with such careful detail, and perfect characterisation, carefully blending snippets about the past, with their connection to the present.

Totally immersive, and with a smattering of danger and intrigue, everything weaves together so beautifully into a delightful family drama and into a story which captures the imagination from start to finish.

About the Author 

Sharon Gosling is the author of multiple middle-grade historical adventure books for children. She is also the author of YA Scandi horror as well as adult fiction. Sharon lives with her husband in a very small village on the side of a fell in the far north of Cumbria.

Twitter X@SharonGosling #TheSecretOrchard

X@simonschusterUK

📖 Book Review ~ True Love by Paddy Crewe

 

Doubleday Books
4 July 2024

My thanks to the publisher for the invitation to read this book

KEELY feels alone in the world — grief consumes her, she wants to escape it, to take both her father's and her own pain away. She knows that solace lies in the act of loving and being loved but, struggling in ever-deepening waters, she doesn't know how to find it. FINN has been devastated too. As a young boy, growing up with his grandparents, he feels his fate has already been sealed by the neglect of those meant to care for him most. With no real friends to turn to, he cannot find the vocabulary to deal with the loneliness and heartache that haunt him. As we watch them each grow, connection seems to be the answer – to be seen and heard and received as who they are. Maybe it's this that could release them from their private pains. Is it that simple?

📖 My Review..

Keely is twelve when we first meet her, she lives with her caring, but remote father, and her little brother, William. They eke out a meagre living picking sea coal and the caravan where they live is functional, but basic. When tragedy strikes, Keely must try and hold everything together but she doesn't know how to shoulder the unbearable burden of grief which hangs about her shoulders like a cloud. She searches for a means of escape, desperately seeking comfort in a world which doesn't seem to care very much about her. 

Finn is an introspective child, brought up by his grandparents, he is always on the outside looking in, and although perfectly content with his own company, he remains a lonely child, an easy target for bullies and made fun of by those who see him as some kind of misfit. On the surface these two lost and lonely souls would never have met but as this hauntingly beautiful story unfolds we start to discover that sometimes the stars align and what will be, will inevitably, be.

True Love wrapped itself around me like a blanket and even when I wasn't reading it my thoughts returned to Keely and Finn, two of the most memorable literary characters I have met in a long time. Whilst the story is a complex study into the fragility of relationships it is also desperately sad and deeply moving. It’s the story of two people searching for something only to have life get in the way and though desperate for a happy ever after ending, I knew that life isn’t always kind enough to give us what we want. Strong and beautiful the essence of True Love lingers long after the book is closed and Keely and Finn’s story is finally told.

About the Author

Paddy Crewe was born in Middlesbrough and studied at Goldsmiths. His debut novel, My Name Is Yip, has been shortlisted for the Betty Trask, the Wilbur Smith, a South Bank Sky Arts Award and The Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award, and longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize.

X @DoubledayBooks

#PaddyCrewe #TrueLove

 

📖 Book Review ~Love and Other Lost Things by Melissa Wiesner

 

Bookouture
6 August 2024

Thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

Jane McCaffrey is only back in her hometown of Linden Falls because of her father’s death. She swears she’ll leave again forever—it’s not like her childhood home holds any happy memories. But Jane hadn’t planned on bumping into Nik…

The boy she fell hard for was a skinny teenager with messy hair and his glasses askew. Now he’s broad-shouldered and stands well over six feet tall: but his deep brown eyes are just the same. And when he breathes her name and caresses the fresh bruise on her cheek—like he can’t help but touch her—Jane is thrown right back to the best and worst time of her life.

Jane and Nik once shared everything: kisses, hopes, and teenage dreams. Taking in his blue scrubs and doctor’s ID badge, Jane’s heart lifts that at least one of them got to live their dream. And as they catch up over the beautiful music they once loved, it’s like the years between them fall away.

But Nik doesn’t know the heavy secret Jane carries about the real reason she left town. Or who put that bruise on her cheek… or about her plans to truly disappear, forever.

So when the past comes calling, can Jane and Nik find the strength to fight for each other? Or was Jane dangerously wrong to think she could outrun her secret—and will it destroy them both?

📖 My Review..

Domestic violence is the theme which runs throughout this contemporary story which follows Jane McCaffrey who ran away from her childhood home as a young teenager only go back to Linden Falls some ten years later when her father died. Jane’s return to her childhood home sparks difficult memories especially when she meets again those of her best friends who thought that she had, quite simply, abandoned them. As this complex story unfolds there is a sense of lives coming full circle and with old secrets being revealed now is the time for Jane tell her story to those who were once her closest friends.

This was an intricate look at life in a small American town, a place where everyone knew each other’s business and yet when things were uncomfortable folks tended  to look the other way. The author explores this claustrophobic small town atmosphere really well, and brings the place and the people alive in the imagination. I enjoyed getting to know, Jane and meeting her friends, particularly Nik who is a really special person. Whilst the author does a great job of building up a stark picture of everything in Jane’s life, it is in the promise of the future where the heart of the story lies.

Beautifully written and heart breaking in places, Love and Other Lost Things is a compelling read with a dramatic ending I really didn’t see coming.

About the Author

Melissa Wiesner is a night-owl who began writing novels about five years ago when her early-to-bed family retired for the evening. In 2019, she won the Romance Writers of America Golden Heart® Award in the Mainstream Fiction Category for her first novel. Melissa holds two Master’s Degrees in Public Health and Community Agency Counseling. Her day job is in Social Work where she often encounters people knocked down by hard times but who pick themselves up and keep going, just like the characters of her novels. Melissa lives in Pittsburgh, PA with her charming husband and two adorable children

X @ Melissa_Wiesner #LoveAndOtherLostThings

X@ bookouture

📖 Publication Day Book Review ~ That Night in New York by Laura Wilkinson

 

Serendipity 
Legend
3 September 2024

Thanks to the author for the invitation to read this book

In a crazy Manhattan blackout, two lonely strangers connect – but can a passion forged in darkness survive the cold light of day?

Steph, an advice columnist, is stuck in a stagnant life, while lonely architect Harry dreams of rediscovering his passion. Despite a chance encounter in New York sparking a magical connection between them, fear and past wounds keep them apart. But when Steph's daughter, Lola, enters the picture, their paths intertwine in unexpected ways. As Steph fights to save her community's beloved park and confronts her past, she must choose between safety and taking a leap of faith.

That Night in New York is a heart-warming tale of love, family, and the courage to embrace new beginnings.

📖My Review…

On a trip to New York Steph and a stranger she met on the outward journey find a special connection during a total blackout but once the power is back in Manhattan, Steph and Harry go their separate ways. Once back home in London Steph gets back into her ordinary life as a journalist on a failing newspaper, as a protective mother to teenage Lola and as a stalwart campaigner to save a local park from development. Ordinarily, Steph and Harry shouldn’t cross paths again but then fate has a funny habit of intervening when they least expect it.

It’s beautifully written, both poignant and funny, with characters who leap fully formed onto the page. I loved Lola, she’s a real force to be reckoned with and yet is also quite vulnerable, characteristics which the author brings poignantly to life. Steph has her own battles to face but her connection to the place she calls home cannot be denied. Harry tries his best to forget about Steph but then he finds that he can’t get the exuberant redhead from his mind and even when their worlds collide in an unexpected way there is still a special connection which refuses to go away. 

Moving along at a gentle pace, That Night in New York is a really lovely story about very different worlds coming together which on reflection aren’t so different after all. It’s about friendship and community and most important of all, it’s about love.

About the Author

Laura is a feminist and lover of ginger hair. A resident of Brighton, she loves to write romantic stories which provide food for thought. Alongside writing she tutors on the creative Writing MA at West Dean, for the CWP in Brighton and works as an editor and book coach. She has a passion for fashion and anything which glitters. In another life, she might have been a magpie.

X @ScorpioScribble

X @Legend_Times_

📖 Book Review ~ What We Thought We Knew by Claire Dyer

 

Pegasus
25 January 2024

My thanks to the author for my copy of this book

The families at numbers two, four and six Penwood Heights are connected by work, friendship, the loss of a child and a secret truth which has sat in the bedrock of their lives for years. In the centre of this tight-knit group is Faith, who believes her job is to act as a paperweight, keeping them all safe. And she does this until someone from her past reappears and threatens to sabotage everything. And, as the pieces fall, these families, these friends, realise that what they thought they knew about one another was nothing more than make-believe. They also discover that trust is illusory and for Faith, at least, that keeping other people’s secrets can be more dangerous than keeping her own.

📖 My Review...

Penwood Heights is home to three families whose lives intertwine, their children play together, and the husbands drink in the local pub whilst their wives host movie nights and dinner parties. They pick blackberries in the woods and picnic in summer meadows. They laugh together, celebrate successes together and then ultimately they grieve together when tragedy rocks the foundations of their close knit group. Moving forward and backwards in time we get a sharp view of these three families, we witness the after effects of the tragedy and we move with them as they pick up the pieces, some coping better than others but always seeming to remain a cohesive whole. Faith is the one person who seems to holds them all together but when something happens to disturb the equilibrium, it is Faith who bears the brunt of the fallout.

Beautifully written and sensitively explored this story unpicks the myriad threads of interconnected friendship and family life, revealing tangled secrets which would be better if they had been left hidden. However, the  inevitability of secrets being exposed and dissolved reveals much and these revelations are what gives the book its absolute strength and makes the story compelling reading. I raced through the story in a couple of sittings as I really couldn’t put the book down and wanted to know how this tangled web of secrets would evolve and eventually play out in the wider scheme of events.

I’ve now read several books by this talented author and each one leaves me wanting more. What We Thought We Knew will remain with me for quite some time and has already secured its place on my Book of the Year list. 

About the Author

Claire Dyer’s poetry collections are published by Two Rivers Press, her novels by Quercus, The Dome Press, Matador and Pegasus. Her latest novel is ‘What We Thought We Knew’, and a further collection, ‘The Adjustments’, is forthcoming with Two Rivers Press in April 2024. She teaches creative writing and runs Fresh Eyes, an editorial and critiquing service. She is Poetry Consultant to the Council of the SWWJ, has an MA in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway, University of London and is represented by Broo Doherty at DHH Literary Agency.

X/Twitter @clairedyer1

Website Facebook Instagram

Amazon UK

📖 Blog Tour ~ Welcome to the Cornish Country Hospital by Jo Bartlett

 

Boldwood Books
22 November 2023

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

A new start… 

When Danni Carter moves to Cornwall from London, she hopes it will be the fresh start she so desperately needs. She’s nervous, but hopefully the change of scene will help her to finally forget her feelings for Lucas Newman, a man she can never be with, because he’s already engaged to Danni’s best friend, Esther. 

An Impossible Dilemma… 

But when Lucas and Esther decide to follow Danni to Cornwall, and both announce they will be working with her at the new St Piran’s hospital, Danni is thrown into turmoil again. She can’t lose Esther, but being near Lucas is getting harder to deal with. Will she have to give up her new life before it’s even started? A chance to start again? Throwing herself into work, Danni finds herself drawn to new patient, Connie Berrycloth, a woman Danni knows has dark secrets of her own. Secrets that are about to be revealed…

 As the two women form a friendship, Danni begins to realise that letting go of her dreams might be the only way of holding on to the people she loves.

📖 My Review…

It’s such a delight to open a new book by a favourite author and Welcome to the Cornish Country Hospital certainly gets this new series off to a splendid start as not only are we back in Cornwall, an area the author describes so well, but we also have a new cast of characters to get to know, with maybe a few familiar faces thrown in for good measure.

Danni Carter has taken up a position as an A&E doctor at St Piran’s hospital in Cornwall where her professionalism and empathy make her one of the most popular doctors in the accident and emergency unit. Danni loves her new life and having moved from London she now is starting to call Cornwall home. That is, until the arrival of her friends, Esther and Lucas who will also be working at the hospital, all should be well but Danni is keeping a huge secret from Esther and with one secret leading to another, Danni gets inadvertently drawn into the plight of one of her patients who also has a long held secret which will have far reaching repercussions.

This is such a lovely story and although it touches on some rather serious topics there is never a moment when the story doesn’t pull you in and pretty soon I was so invested in the lives  of all the characters I found I couldn’t put the book down. Most of the characters are lovely and bring such a sense of joy to the story however, there is one in particular who I couldn’t help but dislike and really hoped that they would get their just deserts. 

Filled with the warmth of friendship, the burden of hidden secrets and the joy of discovering love in unexpected places, this  imagined Cornish town comes wonderfully alive, whether it be waiting in a cubicle at St Piran’s A&E unit , out on the wards with Doctor Danni, or even walking along the coastal path watching for baby seal pups, there is so much to enjoy and I really can’t wait to pay another visit to the Cornish Country Hospital just as soon as this talented author takes us there.

About the author

Jo Bartlett is the bestselling author of over nineteen women’s fiction titles. She fits her writing inbetween her two day jobs as an educational consultant and university lecturer and lives with herfamily and three dogs on the Kent coast.

Twitter @J_B_Writer #WelcomeToTheCornishCountryHospital

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📖 Blog Tour ~ The Traitor by Ava Glass

 

Penguin
14 September 2023

Alias Emma #2

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

From the glittering shores of St. Tropez to the sun-drenched streets of Barcelona, The Traitor is former spy insider Ava Glass’s high-octane thriller set in the billionaires’ playground of the glamourous French Riviera.

A dead body in a padlocked suitcase, chemical weapons, and an MI5 traitor selling secrets to the Russians sets the scene for British agent Emma Makepeace’s thrill packed mission on the med.

Emma must go undercover, working below deck as a crew member on luxury super yacht The Eden. Setting sail from St Tropez, The Eden’s Russian owner and his bikini-clad supermodel girlfriend are under surveillance by MI6, suspected of procuring illegal weapons from the UK.

Out at sea with no escape, Emma must tread carefully as she races to uncover who the traitor on board the oligarch’s yacht is. Witnessing a murder and with her cover wearing increasingly thin, one false move and she could be dead. As the hunt intensifies, Emma must find the traitor before he finds her.

From a glittering yacht party to a powerboat chase over deadly rocks, and from living below deck to being hunted through the streets of Barcelona, never before has the turquoise sea and golden sands of the Rivera been so deadly.

📖 My Review...

Emma Makepeace makes a welcome return in this second book which sees her, once again, embroiled in a high octane adventure which places her in grave danger. This time she is aboard, The Eden, a luxury super yacht which is owned by a Russian oligarch who may be involved in a deadly crime. Emma’s ability to go undercover is put to good use when she becomes a member of the crew of The Eden and her uncanny ability to get right into the centre of the investigation is what makes these stories so compelling.

The Traitor hits the ground running with an opening chapter which shows just how ruthless are the people who Emma and the rest of the team at The Agency are up against. The plot is fast and furious and I especially enjoyed following in Emma’s footsteps, watching her transformation from secret agent, to crew member, and observing her interactions with the other crew members. Emma’s feisty nature inevitably leads her into danger and it is this danger which gives the story its focus. There’s lots of fast action, some genuinely heart in mouth moments, and a great deal of trepidation as Emma takes on the bad guys using mainly her wits and the strength of investigative skill.

I raced through the book in a day, unwilling to stop for a second in case I missed out on the action. The final third of the book is particularly gripping and the dénouement brings a satisfying conclusion to an exciting and adventurous spy thriller novel. May be read as a standalone story but do bear in mind that this is the second in the series and there are some references to Emma’s past adventure, which the author explains well.

About the Author

Ava Glass is a former civil servant with the highest security clearance bar one. She has seen just enough of the inner workings of espionage to ensure that she will always be fascinated by spies. Prior to working at the home office, Ava Glass worked as a crime reporter, covering multiple homicides, making her writing both fresh and dangerously believable.

The Traitor is the highly anticipated follow up to Ava Glass’ 2022 debut spy thriller The Chase.

The Chase is currently shortlisted for Best Spy Novel at the 2023 Crime Writer Awards alongside established names including Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling) and Linwood Barclay. No small feat for a debut novelist.

Film rights to The Chase and The Traitor have been acquired by Ink Factory, producers of The Night Manager, who are currently working on a pilot in conjunction with Sky Atlantic, now in the final stages of editing. Next step will be casting!

Twitter @AvaGlassBooks #TheTraitor #FindThemBeforeTheyFindYou

@PenguinUkBooks @cstone_press

🎧 Book Review ~ Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan

Hodder & Stoughton
Audio : November 2022
Paperback : August 2023

Olivia McAfee knows what it feels like to start over. Her picture-perfect life—living in Boston, married to a brilliant cardiothoracic surgeon, raising a beautiful son, Asher—was upended when her husband revealed a darker side. She never imagined she would end up back in her sleepy New Hampshire hometown, living in the house she grew up in, and taking over her father's beekeeping business.

Lily Campanello is familiar with do-overs, too. When she and her mom relocate to Adams, New Hampshire, for her final year of high school, they both hope it will be a fresh start.

And for just a short while, these new beginnings are exactly what Olivia and Lily need. Their paths cross when Asher falls for the new girl in school, and Lily can’t help but fall for him, too. With Ash, she feels happy for the first time. Yet at times, she wonders if she can she trust him completely . . .

Then one day, Olivia receives a phone call: Lily is dead, and Asher is being questioned by the police. Olivia is adamant that her son is innocent. But she would be lying if she didn’t acknowledge the flashes of his father’s temper in him, and as the case against him unfolds, she realizes he’s hidden more than he’s shared with her.

🎧 My Review..

Searching for something to listen to whilst I completed a complicated crochet project my eyes alighted on this beautiful honey bee cover and decided to take a chance on listening to Mad Honey. Jodi Picoult has long been one of my favourite American authors but I wasn't familiar with Jennifer Finney Boylan so did a quick google search to discover more about her.

Small town America comes alive in this coming of age story which looks at the poignancy of first love alongside a story of undeniable tragedy. Mad Honey is told in two distinct voices that of Olivia McAfee and Lily Campanello, a pretty teenager, who is involved romantically with Olivia's son, Asher. Both voices are compelling and during this dramatic and rather sad court room drama we get to know in intimate detail Olivia's past life with her ex-husband and the reason for her, and Asher, making their lives in Adams, New Hampshire. Lily Campanello is a fascinating enigma and it is her voice which comes across so breathtakingly beautiful that I was, at times, reading through tears of sadness.

Covering some relevant topics we learn of Lily's struggle to find her identity and of the prejudice which has followed her and her mother, Ava, from place to place. The small town of Adams offers another new start for them and it is here that destiny will bring Lily and Asher together. I'm conscious of not saying too much as I went into the story not knowing any of the details so when the reveal is made it came as a real surprise and took the story in a whole new direction. Sensitive and compelling Mad Honey had me captivated from beginning to end, and Lily Campanello's sad story will stay with me for a very long time to come.

Beautifully narrated by Carrie Coon and Key Taw, in two very different voices, this audio version of the story was particularly powerful and the 15 hours and 12 minutes flew by in a flash.

Twitter @jodipicoult #MadHoney

@HodderFiction

 

📖 Blog Tour ~ The World Outside My Window by Clare Swatman

 

Boldwood Books
5 June 2023

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

Laura is watching the world go by without her.

Unable to leave her house since suffering a trauma, Laura is stuck gazing out of her window at Willow Crescent, relying on husband Jim and best friend Debbie for help.

Then one day, Jim doesn’t come home.

A day becomes two, days become a week, and still no sign of Jim. And with the police half-hearted in their efforts to look for him, Laura is forced into a decision. She’s going to have to face the world outside and find her husband herself.

But what Laura hasn’t realised is that Willow Crescent is a community, eager to help. From Arthur and Carol next door ready to rally the neighbours, to Marjorie and her daughter Faye at number nine looking for their own reasons to engage with the world. From Sonja at number seven who thinks she may have seen Jim in London, to widower Ben at number four who understands all about being lonely. Laura has a world ready to embrace her if she can just find the nerve.

And when it slowly dawns on them all, that the Jim they thought they knew, may have been hiding some unfathomable secrets, Laura has a choice – retreat back behind her window, or start living the life that was waiting for her all along.

This is Clare Swatman's tour de force. At the same time emotional, uplifting, page-turning and breath-taking, Laura is a character you will never forget.

 📖 My Review..

When Laura's husband fails to return home after working away she is devastated as Jim is her absolute lifeline because, you see,  Laura  is desperately afraid of the outside world and she relies on Jim for absolutely everything. Laura's only close friend is Debbie who has a family of her own and yet she does all she can to help Laura through this traumatic time. With Debbie's help Laura tentatively starts to emerge from the shackles she has placed around herself and as the story progresses we start to see a very different Laura emerge. There's a lovely community feel to the story and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the neighbours in Willow Close who rally round to help Laura and Debbie solve the mystery of Jim's disappearance.

I'm not going to spoil the story by saying much more except to say that I was engrossed in Laura's story and enjoyed the forwards and backwards in time element as we got to learn more about Laura, and Jim, and of the events which have caused her to be so afraid of the outside world. The author explores the nuances around unresolved trauma and also looks at the nature of coercion and control which brings Laura to life in a believable way so that our sympathy very much side with her. 

The World Outside My Window is not so much of a mystery, as pretty early on in the story I had my own view about what had happened to Jim. It is, however, very much Laura's story, her indecision, her mental health struggles and her absolute fear of almost everything is written about with a sensitivity which resonated throughout the whole of this lovely, immersive story.

About the Author

Clare Swatman is the author of three women’s fiction novels, published by Macmillan, which have been translated into over 20 languages. She has been a journalist for over twenty years, writing for Bella and Woman & Home amongst many other magazines. She lives in Hertfordshire. Before We Grow Old, was published in January 2022.

Twitter @clareswatman #TheWorldOutsideMyWindow

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📖 Book Review ~ Old God's Time by Sebastian Barry

 

Faber and Faber
2 March 2023

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book

Recently retired policeman Tom Kettle is settling into the quiet of his new home, a lean-to annexed to a Victorian castle overlooking the Irish Sea. For months he has barely seen a soul, catching only glimpses of his eccentric landlord and a nervous young mother who has moved in next door. Occasionally, fond memories return, of his family, his beloved wife June and their two children.

But when two former colleagues turn up at his door with questions about a decades-old case, one which Tom never quite came to terms with, he finds himself pulled into the darkest currents of his past.

📖 My Review..

Newly retired from the Irish police force Tom Kettle lives with a certain truth which he has kept carefully hidden. Alone and isolated in his small apartment annexed on the edge of an Irish castle, Tom looks across at the grey Irish sea and remembers snippets of his life, memories which are as painful to forget as they are to remember.

The story is beautifully written with a starkness to the narrative which belies its strength and although painful to read it is eerily compulsive, especially as Tom Kettle's stream of consciousness brings to the fore everything he has tried so hard to forget. I read it quickly, immersed in Tom's story and its dreadful reminder of  Ireland's painful Catholic past, with the sins of the religious fathers lying heavily on those who were the victims of abuse and shame.

Old God's Time is a haunting and rather melancholic story and Tom Kettle is a character who will stay with me for quite a while.

About the Author

Sebastian Barry is an Irish playwright, novelist and poet. He is noted for his dense literary writing style and is considered one of Ireland's finest writers.

#SebastianBarry #OldGodsTime

@FaberBooks