Her last Secret - Barbara Copperthwaite - Blog Tour and Review @BCopperthwait @bookouture

Her Last Secret by Barbara Copperthwaite:

Having read, loved and reviewed all of Barbara Copperthwaites previous books I was delighted to accept an invitation to take part in the blog blitz to launch her latest twisty psychological thriller - Her last Secret.

If you like convoluted, dark and twisty domestic Noir grip-lit you'll adore this new title.

My Review

Her last Secret begins at the end and then takes you back in the past to find out who and when and why the terrible event that grabs you and shakes you right at the start, happened.

Its set at Christmas so it's topical for this time of year, but this is no glitter and tinsel fairytale. Its the story of a dysfunctional family and their individual flaws and failings, and boy there are loads! Every member of the Thomas family has dark and deep secrets and every one of them is angry and desperate but are any of them desperate enough to commit the atrocity which is being investigated?

You bet they are! But which member or friend of this feckless clan has committed an atrocity which has left the horrifying jumble of bodies piled up in the family home? The police are called after a shot is heard to ring out on Christmas day.

Then we delve into the past ...

Glamorous wife Dominique and wealthy businessman husband Ben appear to live an enviable lifestyle, with their daughters teenage Ruby and little 8 year old Mouse. But it would seem that all is not as it at first appears and every family member and several folk on the periphery of the family harbour deep secrets, resentments and rage.

They reveal themselves to be a pretty unlikable bunch and as we are treated to their individual thoughts and mood swings, I grew really glad they are not related to me.

Where this authors great strength and skills lies, for me, is in her uncanny ability to worm her way deep inside a fractured psyche and make the reader FEEL a whole host of emotions. I wavered between frustration, anger and sorrow mostly with a smattering of distress, rage and indignation thrown in for good measure.

How these people maltreat each other in their own self centredness seems almost unbelieveable, but then it made me think - if you are stressed and traumatised it would be really difficult to step back and see the bigger picture, so although their thoughts and behaviour is often unforgivable it is believable.

Its a really unputdownable whodunnit thriller, with a really stomach churning ominous sense throughout. Despite being forewarned, so knowing exactly whats coming towards you, there is a shed load I just didn't anticipate. It's like waiting to be hit by a train only to find it's being driven by a fire breathing dragon and followed by a handful of armoured tanks!

About The Book:

Some secrets you can never tell.

Everyone thinks the Thomases are the perfect family: grand London house, gorgeous kids.

They don’t know wife Dominique is a paranoid wreck.

They don’t know husband Ben is trapped in a web of deceit.

They don’t know daughter Ruby lives in fear of the next abusive text.

But someone knows all their secrets.

Can the lies that bind them destroy them all? 

This dark, gripping psychological thriller will have you holding your breath until the very last page. Fans of Behind Closed Doors, Gone Girl, and The Girl on the Train will be captivated.

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#Blogtour and #excerpt of #BeneathTheSkin by Caroline England @CazEngland

Today I'm part of the #blogtour for the newly released debut novel by Caroline England entitled Beneath the skin.

Beneath the Skin is a stunning debut psychological Domestic Noir drama about a life-changing lie.

Caroline England’s, Beneath The Skin is a tense and compelling read, exploring truth, friendships and betrayal.

Description:

No-one remembers your past. But you do.

‘Antonia, Antonia. My name is Antonia.’
It’s been her name for many years. But sometimes, like tonight, she forgets. Antonia has a secret. A secret so dark and so deep that she can barely admit it to herself. Instead, she treats herself to Friday night sessions of self-harm while her husband David is at the pub, and her best friend Sophie is drinking too much wine a few doors down.

Nobody close to her knows the truth about what the teenage Antonia saw all those years ago. No-one, that is, except her mother. But Candy is in a care home now, her mind too addled to remember the truth.

Antonia is safe. Isn’t she? The lies start small. They always do. But when the tightly woven story you’ve told yourself begins to unravel, the truth threatens to come to the surface. And then what’s going to happen?

Sounds fab doesn't it?

Well here's an exclusive extract to whet your appetite:

EXTRACT:

He stands and stares. Is Olivia laughing? He isn’t sure. He hardly recognises her.

‘How would you know?’ she repeats. ‘Tell me, Mike. You’re never here. And even when you are here you’re in some unreach­able place. You don’t notice me, you don’t notice the girls.’

‘That isn’t true.’ He sees his daughters in his mind, dancing to Rihanna. ‘Of course I notice you all. Come on, Olivia, this isn’t like—’

‘When was the last time you gave me a compliment?’ Olivia isn’t laughing, she’s crying, but the soft contours of her pale face are gone. ‘When was the last time you bought me a box of chocolates or some flowers? I had my hair cut last week and you didn’t even notice.’

He gazes at her hair. It’s blonde, elfin short; it suits her petite face and her frame. ‘I did notice. Of course I noticed. It looks lovely. But flowers, chocolates? Come on, Olivia, you don’t do chocolates.’

‘Fuck the chocolates, then. Fuck everything. You just continue to take it for granted that I’m going to be here, the little wife with a smiling face when you come home, your bloody dinner waiting on the table.’

He catches his breath. This is Olivia, calm, capable, witty Olivia; Olivia who takes everything in her stride. She’s never been and will never be ‘the little wife’. She’s clever, opinionated and strong. He stares again, aware that life has shifted, that the world has somehow moved without him noticing.

‘What do I do on a Tuesday, Mike? You never ask me how I am, where I’ve been, what I’ve done. I could be anywhere, with anyone. You’re just so used to me I’ve become invisible.’

‘That isn’t true. Really. You never said,’ he replies quietly.

‘I shouldn’t have to say anything. If you loved me, Mike, you’d see, you’d know.’

She stares at him for a moment, searching his face, her amber eyes wide and sad. ‘What’s the point?’ she mutters, then walks into the kitchen and closes the door.

A wisp of a thought enters Mike’s head, an impulse to turn around and walk out of the door he entered only minutes earlier. But it’s only a thought and only for a moment as his eyes catch the pink fur of Hannah’s favourite slippers. She’s under the stairs, hidden from view, her arms around her knees and her blonde head buried.

‘Is it my fault, Daddy?’

‘Of course it isn’t.’ Mike pulls her to him, his beautiful bag of bones, breathing in the cosy smell of shampoo and baked beans. ‘It’s Daddy’s fault. Don’t worry, I’ll make it all better, I promise,’ he says, hugging his warm living child tightly to his heart, wondering where on earth he should begin.

Intrigued? I know I am. But I'm fortunate enough to have my copy waiting to be read. I love a dark domestic Noir and this promises to be scary and tense.

Join me

Order your own copy now

@AvonBooksUK

  

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Can You Keep a Secret - Karen Perry - twisty and clever - my #review

Can you keep a Secret by Karen Perry
My Review:

Can you keep a secret? is the latest psychological twisty school re-union gone wrong, chiller by Karen Perry, which is  is the pen name of Dublin-based authors Paul Perry and Karen Gillece.

It's a conundrum of a thriller with lots of mystery about, unsurprisingly, secrets and lies.

A group of ex-school chums get back together 20 years after they previously congregated for a tragedy laden 18th birthday party at Thornbury Manor, the family pile of 2 of their peers, brother and sister Rachel and Patrick.

Lindsey is our main protagonist, she was at the original event and is about to be included in this one too.

The Manor house is now run down and rather ramshackle and Patrick can no longer find the upkeep, so he gets in touch with Lindsey then decides that he will hold a final bash before he sells off the hall. As the small group of friends who attended his 18th gather together for the first time in two decades, old scores to be settled and tensions mount, its almost inevitable that its going to prove to be a big and rather costly mistake.

Things start to go wrong from the outset and as the spooky old mansion shivers with a sense of haunting malevolence, human betrayals and secrets come to the surface and you the reader, just go along for the ride, knowing someone somehow is going to get hurt.

Truths will eventually emerge and until then you don't really know quite who did what and to whom, in the past, but you know for sure that this volatile crowd really shouldn't think about having a drink then going around the estate shooting guns, but that's what they decide to do!!

It's a very gripping, tension filled story with a sense of inevitability and few real shockers along the way.

Published by Penguin books it's out already in ebook if, like me, you just can't wait to get stuck in and the paperback will be released on November 30th and can be pre-ordered now

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The Stolen Marriage by Diane Chamberlain - Review

The Stolen marriage by Diane Chamberlain:

I've read many of the books by this author and am never disappointed. The stolen marriage is just the perfect romantic read to curl up with.

It take us back to the 1940s in Southern America, where we meet Tess DeMello an Italian American girl who has her life all mapped out, engaged to be married to the lover of her life boy next door Vincent, bound by their family ties, background and plans to work together in a medical practise as he is a fledgling doctor and she a trainee nurse.

But Vincent is called away to work in far away Chicago where he is needed to help treat victims of the outbreak of polio.

Tess's best friend Gina tries to take her mind off his absence and stop her moping and the 2 girls head off for the bright lights of Washington, where Gina's aunt owns a staid and well chaperoned boarding house, for a girly weekend together.

But Gina is a tad more flighty than Tess and the girls plans go badly awry and end up changing the course of Tess's life.

Events result in her breaking up with Vincent and heading off down South to a small town called Hickory, where she marries Henry, a virtual stranger, whose wealthy family see her as a usurper, are unwelcoming, set in their ways and harbour deep prejudices and she feels she will never fit in. 

Henry is a secretive, though not unkind man, who nevertheless expects her to conform and be a demure housewife and give up on her dream of being a nurse.

But as we watch Tess face tragedy after disaster we see her grow and as she unravels the secrets which surround her new husband and find her place in the world.

It's a lovely story, beautifully told, with a gentleness and much old-fashioned drama which seems outdated now but was so relevant to everyones lives back in this era. It tackles many issues, racial tension, stillbirth, bereavement, death, the polio outbreak, mediumship and prejudice. I found it a quick and easy yet thoroughly enjoyable read.

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Friend Request - Laura Marshall - creepy

#FriendRequest - Laura Marshall @laurajm8 #Bookreview

My Review:

Friend Request is a term most of us will take for granted, you use Social Media you connect with people you know and sometmes you get a friend request from someone you haven't seen in a while. It's happened to me ....

Usually it's a pleasant surprise ....

But not for single Mum Louise Williams it isn't!

The friend request she receives is a bit of a shock - it's from her old classmate Maria Weston. She hasn't heard a thing from Maria since leaving school, unsurprisingly, because Maria died, 25 years ago, didn't she?

Louise can't resist having a little peek at her profile though, because Maria has never strayed very far from Louise's thoughts. Not when she was married to Sam who subsequently left her for another woman, even throughout her struggle to conceive her only child Henry, now 4 years old and the centre of Louise's universe, Maria was there in her deepest thoughts and fears.

Because Maria disappeared the night of the leavers ball at High School and Louise was one of the last people to speak to her.

Louise's school days weren't the happiest, they were filled with trying to fit in, making an effort to be accepted and make friends and impress the people she wanted to be seen with and amidst the bullying and, lies, the duplicity and drugtaking she managed to create her own little niche.

Now she is older, she has made a successful business and she's a good Mum. But following the friend request, nothing's ever going to be quite the same again. Sinister messages and veiled threats begin to haunt her and secrets she has kept buried for years emerge to haunt and taunt her and she gets reluctantly drawn back into a circle of acquaintances she'd hoped were firmly behind her, which isn't great for Louise but makes for tense and gripping reading.

The tension cranks up, its a very fast paced book with lots of dark deeds just waiting to burst forth. The big mystery is - Could Maria still possibly be alive? and if not just who is posting messages and why?

This exciting and mystery filled who-dunnit thriller is deserving of the description "grip-lit" I ripped through it in no time because I just kept wanting to know if the secret Louise has been concealing is in fact as bad as she feels it to have been or has she allowed it to build up out of all proportion and dominate her inner peace? You'll have to read it to find out, there are some very clever twists and red herrings along with some rather dark and unpleasant characters. Even the main protagonist with her dark secrets and distinct flaws, makes it hard to sympathise fully with her.

This novel grabs you and keeps you held tightly in its grip throughout and its very relevant to todays reader, though the dual storylines of "then and now" create appeal for a wider audience than purely the Facebook generation.

A brilliant read I feel will appeal to fans of Ruth Ware and Julia Crouch.

The blurb

MARIA WESTON WANTS TO BE FRIENDS. BUT MARIA WESTON'S DEAD. ISN'T SHE?

1989. When Louise first notices the new girl who has mysteriously transferred late into their senior year, Maria seems to be everything the girls Louise hangs out with aren't. Authentic. Funny. Brash. Within just a few days, Maria and Louise are on their way to becoming fast friends.

2016. Louise receives a heart-stopping email: Maria Weston wants to be friends on Facebook. Long-buried memories quickly rise to the surface: those first days of their budding friendship; cruel decisions made and dark secrets kept; the night that would change all their lives forever.

Louise has always known that if the truth ever came out, she could stand to lose everything. Her job. Her son. Her freedom. Maria's sudden reappearance threatens it all, and forces Louise to reconnect with everyone she'd severed ties with to escape the past. But as she tries to piece together exactly what happened that night, Louise discovers there's more to the story than she ever knew. To keep her secret, Louise must first uncover the whole truth, before what's known to Maria--or whoever's pretending to be her--is known to all.

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#MariaInTheMoon by Louise Beech @Louisewriter - BLOG TOUR and review @OrendaBooks

Maria in the Moon by Louise Beech

Follow the blog tour by visiting my fellow bloggers too.

I’m made up to have been selected to be part of the blog tour to launch this wonderful heart-warming book from the amazing selection of beautiful, readable and unforgettable books from Orenda books the wonderful British publishing company whose titles nearly always ring my bell.

If you haven't discovered their titles yet you must have a peek at their website - HANG ON, not yet, please read my review before dashing off.

The cover

My review:

Not having read either of the two previous highly acclaimed novels by this author I opened it without any preconceptions ... and was immediately captivated by the authors easy and engaging writing style, which absorbed me deep into the story instantly.

The main protagonist is Catherine, a 31 year old woman who has recently been affected by locally devastating floods which wrecked her home and affected the lives of many local folk.

Catherine (or Katrina as she becomes known) used to be called Catherine-Maria when she was little, but like many of the fuzzy events of her childhood, she is unable to remember quite why she had a sudden name change when she was 9. In fact a lot of her life is shrouded in fog and her memories have a huge gaping hole in them.

Catherine likes to help other people. Smarting from a recent, broken relationship, living in a flat share whilst her flooded out home is renovated and repaired, doing a job she finds pretty unrewarding, she volunteers to work on a telephone help line set up to enable victims of flooding (and loneliness and despair) to phone in and chat. Whilst she listens and counsels and cares for others it becomes apparent that it’s not just the helpline callers who have problems.

Catherines father died when she was young, her Mum died at Catherines birth and her beloved Nanny Eve died too and now she is left with an uncaring stepmother to rival Cinderella's and the snarling step sister bitch from hell, together with her lovely “Aunt Hairy” whom I adored. Yes I did say Hairy – read it and you’ll find out!

All Catherine’s ever wanted is to be loved, but she's learnt that "if it doesn’t hurt it’s not love" and she just can’t take much more pain, so she puts up a wall, developing a snippy snappy persona and a swear word for every occasion, yet she finds catharsis in listening to other folks woes.

Giving folks secret nicknames is just one way of keeping them at arms length and we will meet Jangly Jane and Robin who’s not called Robin at all.

Just as the incoming helpline calls from actress Kate with which she deals, reveal it’s not really about the trees, I was quite surprised that, being based around a flood help line, it’s not really about the floods either!

Skilfully painted with a deft hand this highly emotional read has a lovely touch of humour, interspersed with some terribly dark and emotive topics.

To say any more would be to be guilty of spoilers and this amazing book doesn’t deserve that. But enough to say some sensitive readers may find parts of the story upsetting to read as dark deeds are revealed and there is definitely something nasty in the woodshed alright.

I loved this novel, suffice to say that I galloped through it, found it wonderful and moving harrowing and uplifting and funny all at the same time, so prepare to have your emotions wrung tightly out and hung up to dry.

I cried so much near the end I was nearly sick – Oh I’m a glutton for a good old sob-fest me!

It's proving rather difficult to find the right words to explain how superb this book is, so I'll leave you with a thought,
THIS thought .....

READ THIS BOOK! (Oh yeah, I think I got that across alright)

Now that I’ve discovered how delightful an author Louise Beech is I will be adding her other books – How to be Brave and The Mountain in my shoe to my to be read list forthwith. I suggest this may be a good course of action for you too.

The Author - Louise Beech

NOW you can dash over to Orenda and drool over their books.

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Lost in the Lake – A J Waines - review and Blog Tour

Lost in the Lake – A J Waines - review and Blog Tour

It’s great to be part of the blog tour for this new title, the second book in the Samantha Willerby series of psychological thrillers.

For readers who have read the first in the series “Inside the Whispers” this will be a welcome return to the life of Dr Samantha Willerby, an engaging and professional clinical psychologist.

If you haven’t yet read that you can read my review here although it will make great reading as a stand-alone I highly recommend reading them in order.

My Review

The story begins when Dr Sam Willerby meets her new client Rosie Chandler, who seeks out Samantha to help her remember the events surrounding an accident she was involved in where the vehicle she was travelling in plummeted into a lake. Narrowly escaping with her life has left Rosie, a Viola player in a quartet shaken, traumatised and with amnesia about the accident. Sam has the skills and experience to help Rosie piece together the missing memories and deal with whatever the past throws up.

But as she gets more deeply involved with her client, who seems to develop an almost unhealthy attachment to Sam it grows evident that the young womans past has left its mark on her and she is a deeply troubled individual.

All Sam wants to do is help people but it’s never quite that straightforward. As we discovered in Inside the Whispers, her family life is a little strained, she is trying to build bridges with her only sister Miranda but never seems able to say quite the right thing at the right time and difficult relationship aside, Miranda seems to be keeping something from Sam. She’s also recovering from a broken relationship and feeling a little lonely and vulnerable herself but it’s the old case of healer, heal thyself and she just has to battle her own demons alone.

Wow Sam is such a realistic character I really felt I was back in the company of an old friend. It’s also very easy to sit on the sidelines and see what’s going on under someone else’s nose.

We are treated to the story in a dual narrative, hearing both the thoughts of Sam and of her client the difficult Rosie and at several points I wanted to shout a warning, but had to silently observe, whilst hoping things don’t go quite as badly as they look as though they are going to …

But it wouldn’t be a thriller if everything went smoothly would it? and A J Waines is the mistress of the twisty moral conundrum who paints a picture of mental distress with a creeping sense of menace to satisfy the most demanding reader.

A great book in a brilliant series.

What are you waiting for? Go get your copy now!

The Author

AJ Waines has sold over 400,000 books worldwide and topped the UK and Australian Kindle Charts with her number one bestseller, Girl on a Train. Following fifteen years as a psychotherapist, she is now a full-time novelist with publishing deals in France, Germany, Norway, Hungary and USA (audiobooks).

Her fourth psychological thriller, No Longer Safe, sold over 30,000 copies in the first month, in thirteen countries. AJ Waines has been featured in The Wall Street Journal and The Times and ranked a Top 10 UK author on Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing). She lives in Hampshire, UK, with her husband. Visit her website, blog, on Twitter, Facebookor sign up for her Newsletter.  

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