The Girl at the Window - Rowan Coleman - A Random Things Blog Tour

The Girl at the Window - Rowan Coleman - A Random Things Blog Tour

Today I am delighted to be part of another Random Things Blog Tour, this time it's for the new book by Rowan Coleman and its a superb romantic read with everything book lovers will adore. 

Look at the exalted bloggers I'm joining - do pop by their blogs too.

I have read this delightful book and am pleased to share my review:

My Review

The Girl at the window is a delightful, eerie, atmospheric multi timeline story with a haunting sense of romance and loss.

In a Yorkshire setting of a spooky and legend filled old crumbling family home called Ponden Hall, we find the main character Trudy returning to the home where she grew up. Her unconventional crotchety Mother still lives there and when tragedy strikes Trudys happy marriage, it is back to Ponden that Trudy brings her young son Will when both are left reeling with shock and disbelief that Wills beloved father Abe is missing believed dead and their happy family life is no more.

At Ponden Hall mysteries have lain hidden for centuries and Trudy’s skill as a book archivist, leads her to investigate the strong links within the Hall with the Bronte’s and it is this link which gives Trudy something to cling to and focus on to cope with her grief. 

What unfolds is not the usual dual-time historical romance but a triple timeline story, with the lives of 3 young women all linking with each other over time. Modern-day Tru struggles to get on with the cantankerous mother she has always found it difficult to relate to, Back in the annals of time we hear the voice of a young woman called Agnes who worked at the hall and had the very unusual skill of reading and writing in a time when such skills marked a woman out as a rebel and she finds herself in a dire predicament. She shares her thoughts with her journal snippets of which emerge centuries later to reveal glimpses of her life. Plus there is the story of Emily Bronte who used the library at Ponden Hall (now bereft of books)  and even stayed there in a concealed window bed which still remains in the 21st century. 
There is a really creepy atmosphere throughout, glimpses of the past coupled with legends of a black beast who appears when a family death is imminent, serve to create an eerie and haunting Gothic backdrop to this contemporary love story.

It’s a lovely uplifting and heartwarming story of family ties, loyalty and abiding love. Will is a great little lad, and the Bronte link makes it all the more realistic. Tru is fighting hard to cope with losing the love of her life and bring up a small boy and everything in her life is change and mayhem, little wonder she finds it hard to get by and is easy to spook when she imagines things that go bump in the night … or IS it her imagination?


This is just the perfect book to lose yourself in, whether you are on a sunny beach whiling away your holidays or cosied up indoors with the rain lashing outside. It’s got everything a thoroughly enjoyable read should have…. Great characters with plenty of depth, flaws and foibles, lots about books, legends and ghosts, a haunting old house I’d love to have a look around, grief and forgiveness and a damn good "gallop along with it and gulp it all up" story.
There is a timeless quality to this book reminiscent of books I've enjoyed by Suzanna Kearsley and Barbara Erskine. 

Superb writing and a story so damned easy to get swallowed up in, I lost a couple of days in this book hardly even noticing life was continuing, just great escapism of the highest calibre.

The Blurb

A beautiful new novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Memory Book and The Summer of Impossible Things. The Girl at the Window is a beautiful and captivating novel set at Ponden Hall, a centuries-old house on the Yorkshire moors and famously used as a setting for Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. Known as the place where Cathy’s ghost taps on the window, Emily Bronte used to visit often with her sisters and use the extensive library there. It’s a magical place full of stories.

In The Girl at the Window, Ponden Hall is where Trudy Heaton grew up, but also where

she ran away from…

Now, after the devastating loss of her husband, Trudy returns home with her young son,

Will, who refuses to believe his father is dead. While Trudy tries to do her best for her son,

she must also attempt to build bridges with her eccentric mother. And then there is the Hall itself: fallen into disrepair but generations of lives and loves still echo in its shadows, sometimes even reaching out to the present...

The Girl at the Window is hauntingly beautiful, and centred on an epic love story with a twist that draws you in fast. The strong themes of grief, absent fathers and maternal instincts are consistent emotional pulls throughout. Trudy and Abe are the ultimate love story, but there is also a wonderfully atmospheric ghostly mystery to be solved as well.

Author Rowan Coleman

Rowan Coleman lives with her husband and their five children in a very full house

in Hertfordshire. She juggles writing novels with raising her family. Rowan’s last novel,

The Summer of Impossible Things, was selected for Zoe Ball’s ITV Book Club. Rowan has an everlasting love for the Brontes, and is a regular visitor of Ponden Hall.

www.rowancoleman.co.uk | @rowancoleman

Read More

Blog Tour and Review - The Last Stage Louise Voss

Blog Tour and Review - The Last Stage Louise Voss

I am very pleased to be part of the Blog Tour for The Last Stage by Louise Voss as I've read and loved her previous books. I read, enjoyed and reviewed her previous book The Old You also for a Blog Tour and am thrilled to report that readers who loved The Old You are in for a treat with the fast-paced chilling read which is The Last Stage.

My Review:

The Last Stage is a taut and terrifying look at how one womans life begins to unravel as her past and present collide and old threats and fears come back to haunt her.

We meet the main protagonist Meredith as she is managing the Gift Shop at a stately home, in her 40s her life is very different to what it was in her 20s when she was the lead singer in a chart-topping Punk Band. 

Still single and notoriously bad at long term relationships she is lonely, with only her twin brother as a trusted confidant. But she can still put away a few bevvies and proves herself to be just as good at making BAD decisions in her middle age as she was when she was younger when she seizes the chance of a quick one night stand with a colleague which has a disastrous end.

This is only the beginning of a series of disasters and incidents which lead Meredith to believe she is being targetted. It wouldn't be the first time, her physical scars are almost as deep as her psychological ones and as her past is revealed little by little it's clear that someone may have it in for her. She doesn't know hwo she can trust and yet she can't really think of anyone who she should mistrust, as a result, I suspected every innocent soul she comes across of harbouring a death wish against her. 

Things pile up, from mild vandalism to outright murder and mayhem, the pace is relentless and the storytelling is superb. If you like to be taken on a roller coaster ride and never quite know who's doing what to whom this book will delight. I had a lot of empathy for Meredith, she has been pretty self-centred in her youth and this rings true. We all do stuff we wish we hadn't and we change as we mature, it makes her flawed but believable. The secondary characters are also really well rounded and real.

I know its easy to say I didn't see THAT coming! But I really didn't work out the culprit, despite suspecting almost every character in the book and there is wry humour, along with the hapless clumsiness of Merediths attempts to lead a normal life. 

Its a wonderfully twisted tale with psychological turns and terrifying consequences and quite a twist in the tail. Devilishly clever and immensely readable.

My thanks go to RandomThingsTours for including me on the Blog Tour.

The Blurb

A violent and horrific incident forces a young woman to go into hiding, at the peak of her career as lead singer of an indie pop band. Years later, strange things start to happen and it becomes clear that some know who she is…

At the peak of her career as lead singer of a legendary 1980s indie band, Meredith Vincent was driven off the international stage by a horrific incident. Now living a quiet existence in a cottage on the grounds of an old stately home, she has put her past behind her and come to terms with her new life.

When a body is found in the manicured gardens of her home, and a series of inexplicable and unsettling events begins to occur, it becomes clear that someone is watching, someone who knows who she is … Someone who wants vengeance.

And this is only the beginning…


A dark, riveting and chilling psychological thriller, The Last Stage is also a study of secrets and obsessions, where innocent acts can have the most terrifying consequences.

The Author - Louise Voss

Over her eighteen-year writing career, Louise Voss has had eleven novels
published – five solo and six co-written with Mark Edwards: a combination of
psychological thrillers, police procedurals and contemporary fiction – and sold
over 350,000 books. Her most recent book, The Old You, was a number one
bestseller in eBook. Louise has an MA (Dist) in Creative Writing and also works
as a literary consultant and mentor for writers at www.thewritingcoach.co.uk.

She lives in South-West London and is a proud member of two female crime-

writing collectives, The Slice Girls and Killer Women.

Read More

Expectation Anna Hope - Blog Tour and review

I jumped at the chance to join the blog tour for the latest book by Anna Hope as I absolutely adore her previous books, both historical novels, Hope and the stunning Ballroom. This lady is without doubt an exceptionally talented and accomplished author with the ability to create a world into which you are gently immersed then suddenly drowning in emotion.

Expectation couldn’t be more different in style and setting to both this authors previous books and I must admit I was a little wary of the genre change, historical fiction being a theme I am reluctant to relinquish.

This is edgy women’s contemporary fiction, with a modern day setting and themes of female ambitions and friendship. The author will gather a whole new following with this book. Featuring twenty and thirty-something girls written with depth and feeling. Youthful and contemporary the book centres around feelings of dissatisfaction when life never goes quite to plan and opportunities are missed. It explores what people will do to try and put things right, dealing with envy, loss and a sense of self failure.

Expectation is woven around the lives of three women, Hanna, Kate and Lissa and moves back and forth between their lives when they were students, sharing a flat in London with a world of opportunity spread before them and moves forward 10 years to the present day when they are all dissatisfied thirty somethings

All 3 women are dissatisfied with where life and their choices have taken them. It is true to life, in that so many of us follow routes expected of us, make poor decisions and end up feeling “this isn’t the life I should be living” It’s easy to let this feeling overwhelm you especially when you see other people seem to have what you wanted. In these circumstances it’s easy to feel resentment and envy towards others who we perceive have done better than we have and often these are those closest to us, friends.

The 3 young women back in their twenties, studying at University, have pretty clear ideas of where they want to be in ten years and they all make every effort to be successful in their life choices, sometimes quite ruthlessly but things never go quite as planned and there is a lot of truth in the old adage be careful what you wish for, as even when you get it, things may not be what you hoped for.

When they are young I didn’t think I would be able to relate to any particular girl, but as they mature I felt a deeper empathy with one in particular which meant I connected with her story most. I think there is at least one of them who you will think I have felt exactly like that.

Present day again and each young woman sees at least one of her friends has something which she herself has missed out on. The women drift apart and back together, always friends but not always happy with each other. Resentments and jealousy create tension and ambition gets in the way clouding their judgement. Yes ladies this is life!! and we are allowed to vicariously live the lives of failing actress Lissa, bewildered and dissatisfied Wife and Mother Cate and Hanna desperate for a baby of her own.

There are a lot of dark and sad events in the book, interspersed with some lighter and wryly humorous moments. It is above all a testament to the ups and downs of relationships, female friendship, the roles women are expected to play in society and the pressure put on them to conform to society’s ideals of womanhood. It’s topical and current with loads of tension and emotion which I think would make a great tv drama.

The Blurb

Hannah, Cate and Lissa are young, vibrant and inseparable. Living on the edge of a common in East London, their shared world is ablaze with art and activism, romance and revelry – and the promise of everything to come. They are electric. They are the best of friends.

Ten years on, they are not where they hoped to be. Amidst flailing careers and faltering marriages, each hungers for what the others have. And each wrestles with the same question: what does it take to lead a meaningful life?


EXPECTATION is a novel of the highs and lows of friendship – how it can dip, dive and rise again. It is also about finding your way: as a mother, a daughter, a wife, a rebel. Most of all, it explores that liminal space between expectation and reality, the place – full of dreams, desires and pain – in which we all live our lives.

The Author

ANNA HOPE studied at Oxford University and RADA. 

Her contemporary fiction debut, Expectation, explores themes of love, lust, motherhood, and feminism, while asking the greater question of what defines a generation.

She lives in Sussex with her husband and young daughter

Read More

Storytellers by Bjorn Larssen - Blog Tour and Extract

Storytellers by Bjorn Larssen - Blog Tour and Extract

Today I join fellow bloggers Jera's Jamboree and The Divine Write on the Blog Tour for the new book by Bjorn Larssen - Storytellers which sounds so tempting I couldn't pass by the chance to share an extract even though I haven't yet got around to reading my much-anticipated copy.

The Blurb

In March 1920 Icelandic days are short and cold, but the nights are long. For most, on those nights, funny, sad, and dramatic stories are told around the fire. But there is nothing dramatic about Gunnar, a hermit blacksmith who barely manages to make ends meet. He knows nobody will remember him – they already don’t. All he wants is peace, the company of his animals, and a steady supply of his medication. Sometimes he wonders what it would feel like to have a story of his own. He’s about to find out.

Sigurd – a man with a plan, a broken ankle, and shocking amounts of money – won’t talk about himself, but is happy to tell a story that just might get Gunnar killed. The blacksmith's other “friends” are just as eager to write him into stories of their own – from Brynhildur who wants to fix Gunnar, then marry him, his doctor who is on the precipice of calling for an intervention, The Conservative Women of Iceland who want to rehabilitate Gunnar’s “heathen ways” – even the wretched elf has plans for the blacksmith.

As his defenses begin to crumble, Gunnar decides that perhaps his life is due for a change – on his own terms. But can he avoid the endings others have in mind for him, and forge his own?

A free Extract

For Icelanders, America was the New World, a place they barely dared to dream of. Bjarni had spent his youth trying and failing to go and build a new life there. Arnar, his brother, made it, but decided to return – why...?

When Arnar joined the other patrons, Niels was already finishing his second ale. “Why did you return from America?” he asked between quick swigs, as if worried Guðrún was going to change her mind and take his pitcher away.
“And a good evening to you,” answered Arnar, immediately irritated.
“Manners,” huffed Guðrún. “So, Arnar… would you like some brandy whilst you’re telling us about it? On the house.”
Arnar looked around, as if seeking escape, only to find five pairs of eyes glued curiously to his face. Bjarni’s stare was the most intense, the taste in his mouth bitter. He, too, was ready to hear why anybody would return from the New World to live in a fishing village without a name. A year before Arnar’s escapade Bjarni tried to join the others who went to America. He failed. When his brother’s attempt not only worked but turned out to be such an enormous success, Bjarni took it personally. As he was still putting together basic cabinets and digging shacks in the hills, Arnar was earning a lot of money and courting the most beautiful woman in the world. It would have been an easier pill to swallow if Arnar had stayed there and never returned.
“If only you knew,” sighed Arnar. “Thank you, Guðrún. America isn’t what people describe in their letters and articles. It’s an awful place to live. Aye, if you’re smart, strong and hard-working, like me, you can succeed. Just look at my wife and my house,” he said proudly, before returning to his gloomy tone. “But living there to stay? A whole different story. People who do not return are simply failures who can’t save enough money to make it back here. They have to lie to pretend they are better than they really are.”
Doubtful looks were exchanged.
“It’s nothing like here. Imagine that someone takes all this away,” Arnar waved his hand around. “All the farms, the valleys, the sheep, the huts, the skies, the coast…”
“I wouldn’t mind that at all if it got me rich,” said Valdimar.
“The weather is unbearable. In the summer it’s too hot to breathe. In the winter you get so much snow your door won’t open. But can you take a break from working? No. Do they have winter-gatherings? Maybe they do, but I wouldn’t know because Icelanders are not invited. Not unless they want to show off that they can afford one. Like a pet. Remember the powdered sugar, Bjarni?”
His brother muttered something and shifted uncomfortably on the bench.
“What about powdered sugar?” asked Niels immediately.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” said Bjarni quietly.
“Well, we want to know,” said Niels. It was easy to be brave around Bjarni. If he got upset the worst he would do was leave the inn in a huff.
“Someone get my brother another ale, he’ll need it,” laughed Arnar. “This was a year before I left. Hallgrímur, a friend of ours, came back to visit his family and Bjarni invited him over to listen to his stories. Hallgrímur told us that in America raisins grew in the earth like grass grows here in Iceland, so people did raisin-making like they would do hay-making at home. Then Hallgrímur said they would get blizzards in America, but it wouldn’t melt, because icing sugar fell from the sky instead of snow. So, when you had a wife – and it is very easy to marry in America, I can tell you that’s true – she would love sweeping the porch to save the icing sugar for later.”
Bjarni was staring at his pitcher, his face purple.
“So, this will come as a surprise to all of you, but it wasn’t true. There were no raisins and no powdered sugar waiting. Just a lot of work for people who made fun of you. Weird people you couldn’t even understand.” He wagged his finger threateningly. “That is what happens there. Your friends who went to America, why do you think so many of them never return? They are too ashamed. If you ever go there, do as I have: take the Americans’ money, take their women, and run…”
“Isn’t that illegal?” interrupted Niels. “How did you manage to get a permit?”
“You don’t need a permit there.”
“So you didn’t even ask her parents’ permission?” Magnus was dumbfounded.
“Of course not! We made a plan, took all we needed, then went straight to the boat and came here.”
“I don’t know if I believe you,” said Bjarni, his voice finally back and his face slowly returning to its normal colour. “So many people wrote letters, and I’ve read it in the papers as well. I don’t think you’re telling the truth.”
“I swear to God,” answered Arnar, then grinned at his brother. “If you don’t believe me, go and find out. Bring back some raisins and powdered sugar.” He got Bjarni another ale to soften the impact of the joke. “It’s not worth dreaming about,” he whispered into his brother’s reddened ear. “You’re doing just fine here. If you went there you’d be yet another pet Icelander working for somebody else. Here you’re an independent man who hires others. You have me working for you, that’s how well you are doing. Trust me, brother. There’s nothing for you in America. I swear to God,” Arnar repeated, then smiled. He had no intention to remain Bjarni’s employee for long.

Buy the book here

UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Storytellers-Bj%C3%B8rn-Larssen-ebook/dp/B07P8Z74CC

US  - https://www.amazon.com/Storytellers-Bj%C3%B8rn-Larssen-ebook/dp/B07P8Z74CC

About the author

Bjørn Larssen was made in Poland. He is mostly located in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, except for his heart which he lost in Iceland. Born in 1977, he self-published his first graphic novel at the age of seven in a limited edition of one. Since then his short stories and essays were published in Rita Baum Art Magazine, Writer Unboxed, Inaczej Magazine), Edurada.pl, Homiki.pl, and Holandia Expat Magazine. He is a member of Alliance of Independent Authors and Writer Unboxed.

Bjørn has a Master of Science degree in mathematics, worked as a graphic designer, a model, and a blacksmith. He used to speak eight languages (currently down to two and a half). His hobbies include sitting by open fires, dressing like an extra from Vikings, installing operating systems, and dreaming about living in a log cabin in the north of Iceland, even though he hates being cold. He has only met an elf once. So far.

Social Media Links –

www.twitter.com/bjornlarssen

www.facebook.com/bjornlarssenwriter

Read More

The Sunday Girl by Pip Drysdale - My review and Blog Tour

The Sunday Girl by Pip Drysdale

My Review

The Sunday Girl by Pip Drysdale is a great Domestic Noir debut for this new author who has shown she is wickedly capable of the cunningly warped and twisted thoughts fans of psychological thrillers love.

The eponymous Sunday Girl of the title is one Taylor Bishop, a modern girl many readers will find it easy to relate to. She has a successful career and lives in a great area of London, albeit in a minuscule flat. She’s bright, sexy and sassy, she is also ragingly, seriously angry and hurt and about to prove that “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” as the old adage goes.

She has just split up with her long term boyfriend Angus, who she hoped was THE one, her forever man, but turned out to be the boyfriend you really don’t want to be involved with and he’s about to prove he’s an even worse louse than he at first appeared to be.

This book is heart-racingly fast-paced, pulls no punches and reminded me of the original twisty tome Gone Girl. Although this thriller has plenty of twists it is really quite straightforward in that it is a tale of a woman on a mission of revenge who will stop at nothing to get her own back on her nasty ex-boyfriend.

Angus, with whom she has just broken up, really hurt her he treated her very badly, he even took his ex-girlfriend on the holiday which was booked for him and Taylor! The shit! She is still reeling from the break up when she discovers he is even more of a cad than she already thinks when she finds some very private moments between the two of them, splattered all over the internet. These explicit sex tapes can only have been put there by Angus and she sees red. Vowing revenge and setting out to achieve it any way she can with her very own plan of war. Spitting venom and screaming hate she wants him ruined.

As their past together is revealed it becomes obvious that he is a controlling, domineering, excuse for a man and the only reason she stayed with him, despite her best instincts is that she was in love with the swine.

Taylor vows to get her own back and intent on getting back at the guy who’s revealed himself as bad and dangerous to know, she tries to fight fire with a burning flame of her own. 

She sets in motion a series of vengeful events which soon spiral out of control. They say that revenge is a dish best served cold but she dishes it up straight from the oven. She is hurt and on the rebound and totally focussed on revenge and as she begins a series of retaliatory acts to get back at Angus she dives into a night or two of passion of her own, with an ex friend with benefits and a new flame who is set to burn brightly in her future but creates even more problems to pile on her already overloaded plate. 

Her behaviour is excusable and understandable, she has almost lost her reason over this guy but manages to keep her cool, considering how wrong things go! But just how far will she go and will she get away with it? As events gather momentum we are swept along as vengeance is served but it seems as though it might come back and bite the hand that is feeding it.

That’s what kept me turning the pages and I fair rattled through this stunning debut novel.

Contemporary, sexy and all about retribution it’s a well plotted, unpredictable thriller which I devoured.

The Blurb

The Girl on the Train meets Before I Go to

Sleep in this chilling tale of love gone horribly

wrong …

“Some love affairs change you forever. Someone comes into your orbit

and swivels you on your axis, like the wind working on a rooftop

weather vane. And when they leave, as the wind always does, you are

different; you have a new direction. And it’s not always north.”

Any woman who’s ever been involved with a bad, bad

man and been dumped will understand what it feels like to

be broken, broken-hearted and bent on revenge.

Taylor Bishop is hurt, angry and wants to destroy Angus

Hollingsworth in the way he destroyed her: ‘Insidiously.

Irreparably. Like a puzzle he’d slowly dissembled … stolen

a couple of pieces from, and then discarded, knowing that

nobody would ever be able to put it back together ever

again.’

So Taylor consults The Art of War and makes a plan. Then

she takes the next irrevocable step – one that will change

her life forever.

Things start to spiral out of her control – and The Sunday Girl becomes impossible to put down.

Pip Drysdale is a writer, actor and musician who grew up in Africa and Australia. At 20 she moved to

New York to study acting, worked in indie films and off-off Broadway theatre, started writing songs

and made four records. After graduating with a BA in English, Pip moved to London where she dated

some interesting men and played shows across Europe. The Sunday Girl is her first novel and she is

working on a second. She currently lives in Australia.

You can find the book on Amazon or look for it in your favourite bookshop

I'd like to thank @simonschusterUK and Random Things Tours for inviting me along for this roller coaster ride. 

Read More

Take Five - My Top Five anticipated reads from my TBR

Five Books from my current TBR

I'm not nearly as fast a reader as I'd like to be so often days or weeks go by before I have a new review to blog about. So I'm starting a take five post about some of the lovely books which sit on my to be read pile mountain.

Today I share five of my waiting in the wings books I'm finding really tempting right now but that I still haven't got around to reading yet. I hope you find something to tempt your literary tastebuds amongst them.

Ask Again Yes - Mary Beth Keane
Published by Micheal Joseph and out in August find out more here 

The cover drew me to this one and it sounds like an absorbing story.

Description

A gripping and compassionate family drama set between neighbours in suburban New York

Gillam, upstate New York: a town of ordinary, big-lawned suburban houses. The Gleesons have recently moved there and soon welcome the Stanhopes as their new neighbours. Lonely Lena Gleeson wants a friend but Anne Stanhope - cold, elegant, unstable - wants to be left alone.

It's left to their children - Lena's youngest, Kate, and Anne's only child, Peter - to find their way to one another. To form a friendship whose resilience and love will be almost broken by the fault line dividing both families, and by the terrible tragedy that will engulf them all. A tragedy whose true origins only become clear many years later . . .

A story of love and redemption, faith and forgiveness, Ask Again, Yes reveals the way childhood memories change when viewed from the distance of adulthood - villains lose their menace, and those who appeared innocent seem less so. It's a story of how, if we're lucky, the violence lurking beneath everyday life can be vanquished by the power of love. 

The Neighbour - Fiona Cummings

I'm really looking forward to this book I loved this authors chilling Bone Collector books Rattle and The Collector, read my review of Rattle here.

The Neighbour sounds thrilling and twisty and if her previous work is anything to go by I'm in for a treat.

Out in hardback now discover more about it from Pan MacMillan

Description

The gripping crime thriller of the year with a twist you’ll never see coming . . .

FOR SALE: A lovely family home with good-sized garden and treehouse occupying a plot close to woodland. Perfect for kids, fitness enthusiasts, dog walkers . . .

And, it seems, the perfect hunting ground for a serial killer.

On a hot July day, Garrick and Olivia Lockwood and their two children move into 25 The Avenue looking for a fresh start. They arrive in the midst of a media frenzy: they’d heard about the local murders in the press, but Garrick was certain the killer would be caught and it would all be over in no time. Besides, they’d got the house at a steal and he was convinced he could flip it for a fortune.

The neighbours seemed to be the very picture of community spirit. But everyone has secrets, and the residents in The Avenue are no exception.


After six months on the case with no real leads, the most recent murder has turned DC Wildeve Stanton’s life upside down, and now she has her own motive for hunting down the killer – quickly.

Becoming Belle - Nuala O'Connor

Another book where the gorgeous cover drew me in like a moth to a flame. Historical fiction based on a real-life woman.

Find out more at the publishers website, Hachette an imprint of Little Brown

Description:

The true story of a woman ahead of her time . . .

In 1887, Isabel Bilton is the eldest of three daughters of a middle-class military family, growing up in a small garrison town. By 1891 she is the Countess of Clancarty, dubbed "the peasant countess" by the press, and a member of the Irish aristocracy. Becoming Belle is the story of the four years in between, of Belle's rapid ascent and the people that tried to tear her down.


Reimagined by a novelist at the height of her powers, Belle is an unforgettable woman. Set against an absorbing portrait of Victorian London, hers is a timeless rags-to-riches story a la Becky Sharpe.

One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow - Olivia Hawker

I'm itching to get stuck into this historical novel set in the Wild West of USA, I love books about Frontier life.

This can be pre-ordered on Amazon

Description

Wyoming, 1876. For as long as they have lived on the frontier, the Bemis and Webber families have relied on each other. With no other settlers for miles, it is a matter of survival. But when Ernest Bemis finds his wife, Cora, in a compromising situation with their neighbor, he doesn’t think of survival. In one impulsive moment, a man is dead, Ernest is off to prison, and the women left behind are divided by rage and remorse.

Losing her husband to Cora’s indiscretion is another hardship for stoic Nettie Mae. But as a brutal Wyoming winter bears down, Cora and Nettie Mae have no choice but to come together as one family—to share the duties of working the land and raising their children. There’s Nettie Mae’s son, Clyde—no longer a boy, but not yet a man—who must navigate the road to adulthood without a father to guide him, and Cora’s daughter, Beulah, who is as wild and untamable as her prairie home.

Bound by the uncommon threads in their lives and the challenges that lie ahead, Cora and Nettie Mae begin to forge an unexpected sisterhood. But when a love blossoms between Clyde and Beulah, bonds are once again tested, and these two resilient women must finally decide whether they can learn to trust each other—or else risk losing everything they hold dear.

The Liverpool Nightingales by Kate Eastham

I'm a firm fan of Call the Midwife and I've read a previous nursing saga by Kate Eastham which was lovely, this sounds just as good.

Get your copy from Penguin Random House

Description

In Victorian Liverpool the first Nurses' Home opens its doors to a desperate city. Liverpool, 1870.

One act of kindness will change a young woman's life forever . . .

On the dirty backstreets of Liverpool, housemaid Maud Linklater witnesses an appalling accident. Rushing young chimney-sweep Alfie to hospital, she helps nurse the boy on the overcrowded ward - and finds herself with a new job.

Maud cannot believe her luck at joining trainees Alice and Eddy at the new Nurses' Training School and they form the closest of bonds.

Then one day Alfie is abducted. Maud and the girls know the alleyways and slums of Liverpool are no place for a lost little boy.


Can these determined women find Alfie before it's too late?

Read More

Those Who Are Loved - Victoria Hislop - My Review and Blog Tour

Those Who Are Loved - Victoria Hislop - My Review and Blog Tour

What a pleasure it is to be invited along on the Blog Tour for the latest book by Victoria Hislop which I have read and loved and am delighted to share my thoughts and hope you go on to read and enjoy this lovely new summer title.

My Review

Renowned author Victoria Hislop returns to early to mid 20th century Greece to introduce us to the life of heroine Themis, who begins the story as a young woman and as her life story opens up we follow her into her future as Greece struggles with the occupation of her country by Germans. 

Greece is split in two by politics and war and I wondered if the historic political details may make this book a touch a little heavy going for a summer read as often political details can be complex and confusing. 

However, I found it superbly easy to engage with such a likeable and believable protagonist as Themis and I slid into her life like slipping into a bath of warm olive oil. I was quickly drawn into her world, redolent with the aromas and arguments of Greek family life and swept along by the barrage of events occurring in what begins as a simple life and builds into one of remarkable heroism, determination and selfless compassion.

At the start of Themis' story, she lives in a crumbling old mansion owned by her somewhat flaky Mothers family, but tragedy forces the family to decamp and live in her paternal grandmothers' apartment on the outskirts of Athens. Sibling rivalry is strong in this family and her older sister never misses the chance to tease and taunt her little sister and her two older brothers can never see eye to eye, Themis’ family are divided, by beliefs and politics and there is bickering and sniping at every family meal which eventually turns into bitterness and recrimination. But Themis is a young woman able to make her own mind up and as she decides her path she makes a few brave and one or two rash decisions (Don’t we all at some point?) Her life choices are set to have repercussions which reverberate across the decades. 

When this intelligent but rather lonely schoolgirl finds a new school friend Fotini, the 2 girls become inseparable, despite different backgrounds until again tragedy intervenes and fate begins to show its hand to Themis. 

It’s a story of friendship and atonement, of war and politics and abiding love which transcends class barriers. For anyone who, like me, enjoys holidays in the warmth and conviviality of Greece today it comes as a bit of a shock to read in detail, about the dreadful events in the near distant past, which although I was aware of, hadn’t considered the impact on everyday families trying to get on with their lives.

The Author does a sterling job of combining a gripping beach read with a deeply political statement and historical facts. I mean no disrespect when I say this is the thinking-womans chick-lit.


A wonderfully engaging summer read drenched in Meditteranean sunshone, redolent of Greek coffee, in an era blighted by dreadful deeds, war and dire poverty.

The Blurb

Those Who Are Loved is set against the backdrop of the German occupation of
Greece in World War II, the subsequent civil war and a military dictatorship, all of
which left deep scars.

Athens 1941. After decades of political uncertainty, Greece is polarised between
Right- and Left-wing views when the Germans invade. Fifteen-year-old Themis comes
from a family divided by these political differences. The Nazi occupation deepens
the fault-lines between those she loves just as it reduces Greece to destitution. She
watches friends die in the ensuing famine and is moved to commit acts of resistance.
In the civil war that follows the end of the occupation, Themis joins the Communist
army, where she experiences the extremes of love and hatred and the paradoxes
presented by a war in which Greek fights Greek.

Eventually imprisoned on the infamous islands of exile, Makronisos and then
Trikeri, Themis encounters another prisoner whose life will entwine with her own
in ways neither can foresee. And finds she must weigh her principles against her
desire to escape and live. As she looks back on her life, Themis realises how tightly
the personal and political can become entangled. While some wounds heal, others
deepen.


This powerful new novel from Number One bestseller Victoria Hislop sheds light
on the complexity and trauma of Greece’s past and weaves it into the epic tale of an
ordinary woman compelled to live an extraordinary life.

The Author

Victoria Hislop

Inspired by a visit to Spinalonga, the abandoned Greek leprosy colony, Victoria Hislop wrote The Island in 2005. It became an international bestseller and a 26-part Greek TV series. She was named Newcomer of the Year at the British Book Awards and is now an ambassador for Lepra. The Island has sold over 1.2million copies in the UK and more than 5 million worldwide.

Her affection for the Mediterranean then took her to Spain, which inspired her second bestseller The Return, and she returned to Greece to tell the turbulent tale of Thessaloniki in The Thread, shortlisted for a British Book Award and confirming her reputation as an inspirational storyteller. It was followed by her much-admired Greece-set short story collection, The Last Dance and Other Stories. The Sunrise, a Sunday Times Number One
bestseller about the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, was published to widespread acclaim in 2014. Victoria’s most recent book, Cartes Postales from Greece was a Sunday Times Number One bestseller and one of the Top Ten biggest selling paperbacks of 2017. Her novels have sold 10 million copies worldwide.

Connect with the author
Twitter: @VicHislop • www.facebook.com/OfficialVictoriaHislop • www.victoriahislop.com

My thanks go to the publishers Headline for including me on the Blog Tour and Randomthingstours for organising it. 

Book link https://www.amazon.co.uk/Those-Who-Loved-Victoria-Hislop/dp/1472223241/

Read More