Review ~ A Hitch in Time by Andy Smart

AA Publishing
25 July 2019

My thanks to the publishers and to Midas PR for my copy of this book

Combining comedy memoir, travel writing, and a wealth of unbelievable hair-raising situations, this autobiographical extravaganza chronicles the amazing early life of 80s comedy legend and Edinburgh veteran Andy Smart. Whether it’s running with the bulls in Pamplona, juggling with pig’s kidneys in Covent Garden, sharing a sherry with Samuel Beckett or sleeping on the beach in Biarritz, Andy’s travels in the late 70s and early 80s comprised a series of jaw-dropping, bizarre and gut-wrenching scenarios from which, amazingly, he emerged unscathed.

What did I think about it..

A Hitch in Time captures the life of this funny man in so many ways and from the start of Andy's story I found myself laughing at loud at some of his antics and of his uncanny ability to hitch a lift with a host of quirky individuals who add so much comedy to the story. There's some serious stuff as well but throughout the whole of this memoir, the author's ability to make you laugh shines through it all.

From his student days in Liverpool, to running with the bulls in Pamplona and all stops in between there is never a dull moment or a minute when the author's natural exuberance doesn't shine through. And so easy is the narrative that it really feels as if you are sitting opposite the author in a pub somewhere and enjoying a pint or two as he recounts his latest escapade, and believe me this guy has had some really funny adventures.

There's a few that really stand out, especially the dare he took to travel by hitching a ride from Liverpool to Ben Nevis, climbing the mountain, and then hitching back to Liverpool and all within twenty four hours - now that really does take some skill, and whether he succeeds or not is for you to discover for yourself! Or of the times when he was hungry and strangers paid for his breakfast and those drivers who went out of their way to take him to places. It's not all about his travels though and there are lots of recollected moments from his childhood and of his family and friends which add a different dimension to the book.

A Hitch in Time is an enjoyable travel memoir which would make a great holiday read especially if you're travelling around Europe. It's published on the 25th July by AA Publishing

About the Author

Eighties comedy legend Andy Smart is one of Britain’s most versatile performers. A huge star of the 1980s, Andy is one of the revered veterans of The Comedy Store - London’s internationally renowned and only full-time comedy venue. 1985 saw the birth of the Comedy Store Players, an improvisation group which Andy joined from the start alongside the likes of Paul Merton and Mike Myers. Andy continues to this day to perform hilarious improvised stand-up at the club every Sunday and Wednesday.

Twitter @AndyCSP #AHitchInTime

@TheAA_Lifestyle

@Midaspr

Summer Read ~ Come Rain or Shine by Pam Weaver

Pan Books
13 June 2019

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book

1947. Cousins Veronica (Ronnie) and Sheila are given the opportunity to run their grandfather’s business, a local garage, in Worthing. Ronnie’s ne’er-do-well brother Leslie is furious – as the man of the family, he believes the business is rightfully his. But their grandmother is adamant that Leslie is not to be trusted . . .

After serving in the ATS in the war, Sheila is a trained mechanic, while Ronnie discovers she has a talent for numbers and a shrewd business head. Despite the garage having run into huge debts in the previous years, the girls are determined to make it work.

Initially filled with enthusiasm, Sheila and Ronnie are shocked by the challenges they face, as well as dealing with their own heartache and loss. But come rain or shine, can true friendship withstand even the fiercest of storms?

What did I think about it...

Come Rain or Shine looks at how women stepped up in the years after the Second World War ended and continued the traditional male roles which didn't always sit very easily, especially for those men who were resentful of women doing, essentially, a man's job. But with their grandfather's car repair business struggling, cousins Ronnie (Veronica) and Sheila are given the opportunity by their grandmother to run the garage as Sheila, having learned car mechanics in the ATS, and Ronnie, with a head for numbers are both ideally suited to make a success of the business. However, Ronnie's brother, Leslie, is absolutely livid as he feels that the business should his by rights and seems determined to bring trouble to the girls.

What then follows is a family saga which looks at the petty squabbles and unwarranted jealousies which can soon fester and cause deep rifts. Ronnie and Sheila do their best to carry on, both nursing their own troubles, but when they also discover a long buried family secret it makes their lives even more complicated, and yet, it opens up a side of their family which they never knew existed.

Come Rain or Shine is the story of two strong and determined young women who made the best of what life threw at them and who survived against the odds, always hoping for happiness around the corner. As always, the author  takes the reader on a wonderful journey into a bygone time, she writes with a natural ability and brings place and people alive with warmth and compassion. Her knowledge of this historical period and of the local area around Worthing is exemplary and she always makes her characters so believable that they could be your own relatives who have popped up to say 'hello'.

Come Rain or Shine is published by Pan Books and is out now in paperback and ecopy and is a perfect read for an afternoon in the garden with a nice cup of tea.

About the Author

Pam's saga novels are set in Worthing during the austerity years. Pam's inspiration comes from her love of people and their stories and her passion for the town of Worthing. With the sea on one side and the Downs on the other, Worthing has a scattering of small villages within its urban sprawl, and in some cases tight-knit communities, making it an ideal setting for the modern saga.

You can discover more about Pam's bestselling sagas by clicking here

Twitter@panmacmillan

Blog Tour ~ Then She Vanishes by Claire Douglas

It's great to be involved in the blog tour for this exciting psychological thriller

Penguin Books
ebook 27 June
Paperback 8 August 2019

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book
and the invitation to be part of the blog tour

Everything changed the night Flora Powell disappeared.

Heather and Jess were best friends - until the night Heather's sister vanished. Jess has never forgiven herself for the lie she told that night. Nor has Heather.But now Heather is accused of an awful crime.

And Jess is forced to return to the sleepy seaside town where they grew up, to ask the question she's avoided for so long:

What really happened the night Flora disappeared?

What did I think about it..

The story starts with a dramatic opening and this sense of drama continues throughout the whole of this clever psychological thriller. Heather and Jess grew up in the sleepy seaside town of Tilby, and Jess spent more time with Heather's family than she did with her own indifferent mother. The Powell's looked after her, and so when Jess, Heather's older and more lively sister, goes missing it affects Jess just as deeply as the rest of the family. Years later, Jess has returned to Tilby and is working as a journalist on the local paper, and as tragedy strikes again, she is once again gets caught up in the deadly secrets which surround the Powell family.

The She Vanishes is a complex suspense story which not only looks at the minutiae of a family caught up in a devastating tragedy, but which also takes in the wider picture of how such a catastrophic event can have so many repercussions. I enjoyed how the story was told in different voices which brought the main characters to life in a believable way and it was interesting to see Jess working on the local paper and her conflicting emotions as she is torn between bringing a newsworthy story to life, whilst at the same time having sympathy towards Heather and her family.

I thought the overall effect of story was good, it kept my attention throughout, and whilst the secret at the heart of Flora's disappearance forms most of the mystery, it doesn't make up the whole, as  it is obvious from the opening chapter that there are deeper issues at play here.

Then She Vanishes is a gripping psychological thriller which will be published in paperback by Penguin on the 8 August. 

It's a great afternoon in the garden kind of story 😊

About the Author

Claire Douglas has worked as a journalist for fifteen years writing features for women's magazines and national newspapers, but she's dreamed of being a novelist since the age of seven. She finally got her wish after winning the Marie Claire Debut Novel Award, with her first novel, The Sisters, which was followed by Local Girl Missing, Last Seen Alive and Do Not Disturb, all Sunday Times bestsellers. She lives in Bath with her husband and two children.

Twitter @DougieClaire #ThenSheVanishes

@PenguinUKBooks

Blog Tour ~ The Scribe by A A Chaudhuri

It's great to be hosting today's blog tour stop for this crime thriller

Endeavour Media
1 July 2019

A Kramer and Carver Thriller #1

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book
and the invitation to be art of h blog tour

Making it as a lawyer has always been a cutthroat business. But now that a sadistic serial killer is on the loose the consequences could prove deadly…

A killer is targeting former students of The Bloomsbury Academy of Law. The victims – all female – are gruesomely butchered according to a pattern corresponding with the legal syllabus. 

Even more disconcerting are riddles sent by the killer to investigating officer, Chief Inspector Jake Carver, offering clues as to who is next and where they will die.

Up-and-coming lawyer Madeline Kramer, a former classmate of a number of the slain, soon finds her life turned upside down by the savagery. And when she decides to help Carver track down the killer, she places herself in mortal danger. 

Can Maddy unscramble the complex riddles, save her own life and those of others destined to die?

What did I think about it...

A sadistic serial killer seems to be targeting young professional women in the city of London, and the killer's modus operandi seems to fit an unusual, and rather gruesome pattern, however, keeping one step ahead of this devious and dangerous perpetrator keeps Chief Inspector Jake Carver and his investigative team on their toes. When Carver makes the acquaintance of Madeline Kramer, herself a lawyer in the city, and a former class-mate of some of the murdered women, they forge a bond which will prove to be extremely useful to the way the investigation proceeds.

I thought that this was a clever crime/thriller which doesn't focus too much on the police procedural aspect, although, of course, it does form a big part of the story but which rather gives us more of an insight into the characters who make up the main cast of the novel. There are some interesting people in the story, and as any one of them could be the killer I had great fun trying to see if I could guess who was responsible for some pretty heinous crimes. I didn't work out whodunit until just before the big reveal and then it was like a light-bulb moment with everything then falling into place.

This is the first book in the Kramer and Carver series and together they make an interesting combination, there is a spark of attraction between them but each have their complications and it will be fascinating to see just how their association plays out in future novels. That the series has huge potential is not in doubt as the writer has huge scope to take Madeleine Kramer and Jake Carver on many more intricate adventures and I look forward to meeting up with them again before too long.

About the Author

Twitter @AAChaudhuri #TheScribe

@Endeavour_Media


Goodreads 


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Blog Tour ~ The Thunder Girls by Melanie Blake

🎸 It's great to be hosting today's blog tour stop for this exciting debut  🎸

Pan Macmillan
11 July 2019

My thanks to the publishers and edpr for my copy of this book
and the invitation to be part of this blog tour

THE

Chrissie, Roxanne, Carly and Anita, an eighties pop sensation outselling and out-classing their competition. Until it all comes to an abrupt end and three of their careers are over, and so is their friendship.

THUNDER

Thirty years later, their old record label wants the band back together for a huge money-making concert. But the wounds are deep and some need this gig more than others.

In those decades apart life was far from the dream they were living as a member of The Thunder Girls. Breakdowns, bankruptcy, addiction and divorce were a constant part of their lives. They’ve been to hell and back, and some are still there.

GIRLS

Can the past be laid to rest for a price, or is there more to this reunion than any of them could possibly know? Whilst they all hunger for a taste of success a second time around, someone is plotting their downfall in the deadliest way possible...

What did I think about it..

We've all seen those pop bands who do well only to then split up, with one going solo and the rest left to try to eke out some sort of living once the limelight has faded. That's what happens to The Thunder Girls at the start of the story and then we push forward 30 years to discover what's happened to them in the intervening years, just as their old record label try to entice them back together for one last concert.

This is a really fun read about the music industry, about what goes on behind the scenes, and of the maneuverings, shenanigans and downright back-biting between the four women who collectively make up The Thunder Girls. I enjoyed getting know Chrissie, Roxanne, Carly and Anita, some, I have to say that I liked more than others, but I think that's where the charm of the book lies, in that you won't like all of them, but the author does a great job of bringing the characters to life in a such a entertaining way that you can't help but be drawn into their story.

I'm not going to say anything about what happens over the course of the story except to say that I was gripped from the first page and read the book more or less in one sitting as I couldn't wait to see what would happen next to Chrissie, Roxanne, Carly and Anita. I have to say though, that parts of the story made my jaw drop,  other parts made me laugh out loud, and there's a dinner part get-together which had me in fits of giggles, and yet, there are also parts of the story which are quite poignant and rather emotional. By the end of the novel I was cheering for The Thunder Girls and hoped that everything would work out for all of them 😊

The Thunder Girls is a real blockbuster of a summer read by an author who knows the music industry like the back of her hand and who brings a lively enthusiasm to this her debut novel.

©Jaffareadstoo

About the Author

Melanie Blake is an author, playwright and a former music manager. She is head agent at Urban Associates. The Thunder Girls has been adapted for the stage and will have its world premiere at the Lowry Theatre in Salford this September. Melanie Blake lives in London.

Twitter @MelanieBlakeUK #TheThunderGirls

@TheThunderGirls

@panmacmillan

@ed_pr

Review ~ Bloom by Ruth Kassinger

Elliot & Thompson
4 July 2019

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book

...From Food to Fuel, The Epic Story of How Algae Can Save Our World...

There are as many algae on earth as stars in the universe, and they have been essential to life on our planet for aeons. Algae created our oxygen-rich atmosphere, abundant oceans and coral reefs. Crude oil is made of dead algae, and algae are the ancestors of all plants.

Today, seaweed production is a multi-billion-dollar industry, with algae hard at work to make your sushi, beer, paint, toothpaste, shampoo and so much more. Delving into science and history, in this revelatory book Ruth Kassinger takes readers on an around-the-world, behind-the-scenes, and into-the-kitchen tour. We'll meet the algae innovators working towards a sustainable future: from seaweed farmers in South Korea, to scientists using it to clean the dead zones in our waterways, to the entrepreneurs fighting to bring algae fuel and plastics to market.

What did I think..

I must admit that reading a book about algae was never on my list of 'must reads' and yet once I started to delve into this fascinating book I was constantly surprised at how how important algae is, not just to our environment, but also just how much is in our food , fuel and household products.

The author is a scientist and absolutely knows her subject and there is a definite scientific approach to how the book is divided but it is no less readable for that, in fact, I was pleasantly surprised at just how easy to understand it was and I never felt bamboozled by too much intricate and unfathomable detail but rather became absolutely fascinated to learn how algae visionaries are working towards a sustainable future using  algae and its many components.

The book is divides in four sections which cover:

I) In the Beginning

II) Glorious Food

III) Practical Matters

IV) Algae and the Changing Climate

Each are equally interesting but I think that Glorious Food and its subsections fascinated me the most with perhaps the chapter entitled Welshman's Delight which is about the use of seaweed in cooking.  Who knew that 25 million tons of Seaweed are harvested every year world wide - there are recipes at the end of the book if you want to try !!

Bloom is not a book to rush through, rather than flip through at top speed I chose to read slowly and became increasingly fascinated by just how much algae has been influencing my world. Algae's reach is huge and it will be interesting to see just how much in this book comes to pass, indeed much of it is already happening. One thing is guaranteed though, I will never look at a piece of seaweed again without contemplating its importance.

Imagine that there are as many different algae on earth as there are stars in the night sky - now I know that algae isn't anywhere near as pretty as a twinkling star but after finishing this book I have a whole heap of respect for just how poor a place our world would be without algae!

Twitter @RKissinger #Bloom

@eandtbooks 

@HMHbooks

©Jaffareadstoo 

Blog Tour ~ Truth or Die by Katerina Diamond

It's great to be hosting today's blog tour stop for this psychological thriller

Avon
11 July  2019
DS Imogen Grey #5

My thanks to the publishers for my copy of this book
and the invitation to be part of this blog tour

Sometimes the past comes back to kill you...

Their darkest secrets won’t stay buried forever…

The butchered body of a professor is found in a private office of Exeter University. It is the first in a spate of horrific murders that shakes the city to its core.

Who would target a seemingly innocent man, and why? DS Imogen Grey and DS Adrian Miles turn to his students for answers, but their investigation turns up no leads. Someone must know more than they’re letting on…

As the body count rises, the police have to look into the past to uncover the person responsible before it’s too late.

But are they brave enough to face up to the truth?

What did I think about it...


Truth or Die sees DS Imogen Grey and DS Adrian Miles embroiled in yet another complicated crime case in which both of them will be tested to their absolute limits. This time however, its not just the perpetrator who is keeping them on their toes, but also secrets from the past cast a shadow on their own investigative skills.

As always, the story moves along at a fast pace, and this latest series of unexplained and rather gruesome murders carries all the hallmarks of this talented author's ability to hold the reader in rapt attention. The many twists and turns kept me guessing and whilst there were times when I thought I had the whole thing worked out, only to then become completely bamboozled when the story veered off in another unexpected direction.

DS Imogen Grey and DS Adrian Miles are a great duo and I have enjoyed watching how their relationship has developed since the first book in the series, they have so much history together and their combined efforts at solving the most heinous of crimes is done with great attention to detail. New readers might find that they lose something in the understanding of this relationship so that this latest development, and I'm not going to say what happens between them, but it may lose some of its impact of you don't know much about them as people!

Truth or Die is the fifth book in the series which has seen the author go from strength to strength and whilst it is much better to read the series from the start so that you pick up on the intricacies of the Grey and Miles relationship, it is also possible to read each book as a standalone crime story.

Truth or Die is a great whodunit and is an entertaining, if rather dark, summer read 😉

About the Author

Katerina Diamond was born in Weston in the seventies. She moved to Thessaloniki in Greece and attended Greek school where she learnt Greek in just 6 months. After her parents’ divorce, they relocated to Devon. After school, and working in her uncle’s fish and chip shop, she went (briefly) to university at Derby, where she met her husband and had two children. Katerina now lives in the East Kent Coast with her husband and children.

Twitter @TheVenomousPen

@AvonBooksUK