Wednesday 25 March 2020

The Lonely Lord by Audrey Harrison. Narrated by James Young (2020)


I am alone. Do you ever feel set apart from whatever is going on around you? Is it just me who feels lost and unconnected to the world? I have no idea how to connect even if I wished to. Sometimes it feels safer in not quite belonging.
Anthony Rusell, Earl of Lever, has to marry before his thirtieth birthday – his father’s will dictates it. A man who has always been socially awkward and at a loss of how to communicate easily with people is determined to marry to save his heritage, but has no real idea of how to avoid making a blundering mess of the situation he is faced with.
Mrs Julia Price is a widow escaping from a brutal past of living with an abusive husband. Wishing to give her son everything, while living in straightened circumstances, she is determined to appear as undamaged as she can be. She will no longer be intimidated or treated poorly.
Two damaged souls brought together amid a mix of family conflict, old friendships and Bath Society.
Dare they risk their hearts? Are they able to forget the trauma of the past? One thing is certain, after meeting, neither will be the same again.….
The Lonely Lord is a Regency romance which is topped with a generous dose of humour, chemistry, teasing and tears. If you like complex, but strong characters, a huge dose of romance, with some laughs along the way, then you'll love Audrey Harrison's Regency tale. Everyone deserves that happy ending.
                                            A lovely, heartwarming Regency romance.
Anthony and Julia make a lovely pair. Their teasing of each other lends a lot of humour to the story. Even though Anthony is socially awkward he is adorable. As he comes out of his shell and learns how to interact more in public it is impossible not to cheer him on, especially when he comes to the defence of Julia. The supporting characters add a lot of charm making this book an all round pleasing read. Highly recommended for fans of historical and Regency romance.

Monday 23 March 2020

Dukes, Actually (Twelve Dukes of Christmas #5) by Erica Ridley (2019)


Description

Sunday 22 March 2020

The Earl Not Taken (The Wallflowers of West Lane #1) by A.S. Fenichel (2020)

Description

Saturday 21 March 2020

Freedom: The Graced Series #6 by Amanda Pillar (2020)



Melissande Brown is finally free.

After being controlled by a powerful psychic for most of her adulthood, Melissande’s finally free to live her life. But now her youngest daughter, Emmie, is in trouble. She’s picking fights at school and using her unique mental abilities against orders.

Mikael Smythe’s life has not gone according to plan. The Night Captain of the City Guard, he’s a single dad with a son who’s deeply sensitive to other people’s emotions. Now his boy is on the verge of a mental breakdown, and Mikael has no idea how to help.

Through a chance meeting, Melissande and Mikael are brought together. But can Mel learn to trust again before it’s too late to help both Mikael and his son?

This is a complete Paranormal Women's Fiction Novel, but it exists in a complex world. To get the most out of the story, it is recommended that the first book in the series, Graced, is read first.

Author's note/trigger warning: this book has themes regarding emotional abuse.

Series in progress:
Graced
Captive
Survivor
Bitten
Ashes
Freedom
Chosen (release date TBC)




               This is such a cool series and highly addictive.

Once started this book is difficult to put down. 
The Graced world is full of suspense and drama and has a whole raft of characters that you will fall in love with.
This story centred round Mel, Mikael, Emmie and Sammy. I'd love to catch up with this new family in the rest of the series.


I'd recommend reading the earlier books before diving into book 6 as Mel's backstory and that of the Graced world is more thoroughly explored. Plus you'd be missing out on great books if you didn't.

Buy Now! Amazon

Sunday 15 March 2020

BLOG TOUR: The Five-Year Plan by Carla Burgess HQ Digital (2020)

The Five-Year Plan: The utterly charming feel good rom com of 2020



          


             Two people. One epic love story. What if?




Orla is a trainee reporter with a five-year plan: work her way up the career ladder, move to London and secure a job on a big national newspaper. She doesn’t want a boyfriend, he’s only going to hold her back anyway.
Aiden spends his life travelling the world and living in a tent. He knows his goal: to photograph animals and raise awareness of global warming and wildlife conservation. He’s definitely not looking for a relationship past the odd casual hook-up!
So when Orla and Aiden’s lives collide, they do everything to not fall for each other – with the opposite effect. But they stick to their plans, and go their separate ways…
Five years later, they meet again…
If you love Mhairi McFarlane, Jo Watson and Paige Toon, you’ll LOVE Carla Burgess.


OMG! The chemistry between Orla and Aidan in the opening scene is electric.
It's the best opening chapter I've read in a long time but it left me hanging! 
The impatience I felt here was real. 

We are catapulted into their lives where they meet again for the first time after their five years apart. After reading this scene I was so tempted to skip past the time jump chapters of their youthful, summer romance because I wanted to follow their present day getting back together scenes!

Self control won out.

Their story is quite a slow burn romance but I quite like that as it makes the inevitable reunion that much sweeter in the end.
I really liked Orla and Aidan although Orla did drag her feet a bit and I wouldn't have minded giving her a little nudge to move the story along. 

This was a cute, feel good romance and I loved it.

The Five-Year Plan is out on the 20th of March 

                                                 pre-order at Amazon 


#TheFiveYearPlan #NetGalley #HQDigital



Friday 13 March 2020

BLOG TOUR: Spring Tides at Swallowtail Bay (Swallowtail Bay #1) by Kate Ginger (2020) HQ Digital


Escape to the cosy seaside town of Swallowtail Bay, the perfect place for a fresh start – but is Stella’s new beginning over before it’s begun?
Licking her wounds from her divorce, Stella impulsively buys a gift shop and two holiday lets in glorious Swallowtail Bay, hoping for a fresh start with her King Charles Spaniel Frank.
When the neighbours meet her with a warm welcome, Stella knows she’s found the new home she was looking for. Even gorgeous but grumpy local Miles can’t take the shine off things. But then her ex-husband announces he’s getting married again, and someone in the village starts gossiping about Stella…
Is Stella's dream over already? Or, with her new friends behind her, can Stella fight back and save her new life – and find the happy ever after she's been waiting for?
Fans of Cathy Bramley, Debbie Johnson and Jenny Colgan will fall in love with Swallowtail Bay!


A hugely enjoyable book; lighthearted and heartwarming. 
I love small town romantic dramas so this book really fits the bill. Stella is a lovely and down to earth character. I took to her instantly as she grappled with a plumbing issue and asked her adorable dog, Frank, for advice! Lol
Stella's new life is far from plain sailing and her handsome but difficult neighbour doesn't make things any easier. I really enjoyed the interactions between these two and I couldn't wait to see how their relationship was going to develop.
This was a lovely, quick read and I can't wait to visit Swallowtail Bay again and check in with the residents.

Spring Tides at Swallowtail Bay will be available on 18th March 2020

                       #SpringTidesatSwallowtailBay #NetGalley






Wednesday 11 March 2020

The Waxwork Corpse (Charles Holborne Legal Thrillers #5) by Simon Michael (2019) BLOG TOUR



Charles Holborne is back – with his strangest case to date! Perfect for fans of John Grisham, Robert Bailey, Michael Connelly and Robert Dugoni.

A deadly crime has been dragged to the surface…



London, 1965



Charles Holborne, maverick barrister, will never fit in at the Bar; he is too working-class, too Jewish and too dangerous.

But that makes him the perfect outsider to prosecute a shocking murder case which has already made its way to the press.

By chance, a body was found, dumped in a lake. It had clearly been there for some time, but the conditions in the water have meant that it was nearly perfectly preserved.

The police have managed to match this ‘waxwork corpse’ to a missing woman and if her husband — a senior judge — was the one who killed her, the scandal threatens to rock the British justice to its foundations.

The waxwork corpse is not the only thing to be raised from the past. The investigation also dredges up a violent mistake made by Charles in his youth which, if revealed, could put his own life at stake…

THE WAXWORK CORPSE, based on a real Old Bailey case, is the fifth crime novel in an exciting historical series, the Charles Holborne Legal Thrillers — gritty, hard-boiled mysteries set in 1960s London.

THE CHARLES HOLBORNE LEGAL THRILLERS SERIES
BOOK ONE: The Brief
BOOK TWO: An Honest Man
BOOK THREE: The Lighterman
BOOK FOUR: Corrupted
BOOK FIVE: The Waxwork Corpse


Normally I wouldn't jump into a series at book 5 without having read the previous ones in the series but OMG! this is freaking fantastic. (Note to self: order the rest of the series now!)

The mystery starts off with the discovery of a woman's body  dumped in a lake. I found the details, of the body being in the lake for thirteen years and preserved in a 'waxwork' like state, completely fascinating! 

Charles Holborne is a fantastic character with a heart of gold but with an unfortunate and colourful background. In the opening scenes we see Charles in his youth and his involvement in an incident that threatens to ruin his life if it were to become public knowledge. This sets the scene for blackmail in the present day.

Charles is a brilliant barrister and I loved all the legal scenes but I also loved the human side to him. Along with his personal life being a mess he also has a complex and difficult relationship with his family, especially his mother. His family history really pulled his character together for me and I felt that I got to know him really well. 

The unravelling of the murder mystery was thrilling and tense. It's completely enthralling and addictive. I couldn't put this book down!

A well deserving 5 star read.

#TheWaxworkCorpse  #LegalThriller #SapereBooks 

About the Author

Simon Michael is the author of the best-selling London 1960s noir gangster series featuring his antihero barrister, Charles Holborne.  Simon writes from personal experience: a barrister for 37 years, he worked in the Old Bailey and other criminal courts defending and prosecuting a wide selection of murderers, armed robbers, con artists and other assorted villainy.  The 1960s was the Wild West of British justice, a time when the Krays, the Richardsons and other violent gangs fought for control of London’s organised crime, and the corrupt Metropolitan Police beat up suspects, twisted evidence and took a share of the criminal proceeds.  Simon weaves into his thrillers real events of the time, the cases on which he worked and his unusual family history in the East End.

Simon was published here and in America in the 1980s and returned to writing when he retired from the law in 2016.  The Charles Holborne series, The Brief, An Honest Man, The Lighterman, Corrupted and the latest, The Waxwork Corpse, have all garnered strong reviews for their authenticity and excitement.


Monday 9 March 2020

A Venomous Love (The Bloodstone #3) by Chris Karlsen (2020)




A veteran, Detective Rudyard Bloodstone has fought a brutal battle and witnessed war horrors that haunt his nightmares. Now one of those horrors has followed him home from Africa.

A vicious predator, the Cape cobra, can kill a man in thirty minutes. A suspect using the snake as a weapon in robberies is terrorizing London.

When the crimes escalate into murder, a victim’s daughter, Honoria Underhill, becomes the focus of the killer. After several attempts on her life, Scotland Yard threatens to take over the high profile case. With few leads to follow, Bloodstone and his partner must now fight department politics and catch the killer before Underhill becomes another murder victim.
 



Having loved the first book in this series I was thrilled to receive a copy of the latest one in the series. 

The killer's unique and terrifying modus operandi caught my attention straight away. Just one bite from the Cape cobra is lethal to it's victim so there are plenty of suspenseful moments in this story.
The author lets us know early on in who is behind the attacks and so much of the suspense is developed around the police's attempts to protect Ms. Underhill while we know the killer could take them by surprise and strike at any moment.
While the tension is building up there is a possible romance beginning and there are a few lighthearted and comedic moments as well.
 I absolutely loved Honoria Underhill in this book and I really hope she appears again to cause mayhem for the men as the series progresses.

A venomous Love is out now.