The Summer Of Serendipity by Ali McNamara - Review and Giveaway.

I am delighted to help kick off the blog tour for Ali McNamara's latest novel, The Summer Of Serendipity. I also have a copy of the book to giveaway to one lucky reader. Just enter via pinned post on Bleach House Library facebook page. Open INT and closes on Monday, 31st July. Good Luck! Serendipity Parker is a property hunter, who matches her clients with their dream homes. Travelling with her assistant, Kiki, the trip to Ireland proves more problematic that they anticipated. Although they have found the perfect property, in the small village of Ballykiltara, there is more to the house than meets the eye. Local folklore, century-old legends and a protective community all throw a spanner in the works. Serendipity and Kiki get to know the locals a little better and begin to see the magic in the small, touristy village.

 It's that time of the year: Summer is well and truly here and our reading tastes alter accordingly. The need for something light, fun and easy-going is what summer is all about. While we may not all have a holiday booked, or a sunlounger to rest on, the pace certainly eases over the summer months and sometimes all you want is a charming book that does not require too much concentration. This may just be what you are looking for. This is female fiction with a rom-com feel. Serendipity (or Ren, as she is known) is a businesswoman first and foremost and is used to getting what she wants. Her trip to Ireland sees a shift in her mentality, as she begins to see that a house is not just about the location or its prospective buyer. Kiki is a great character, with her tendency to mix-up well-known sayings resulting in some great comedic moments. Along with the hotel staff (especially Finn and Donal) there is a great selection of personalities and they blend well together.

This is a light-hearted read, with some nice nods to Irish History and Archaeology, and gives a glimpse into village life and the craic that can be had. It is not all woolly sheep and Guinness souvenirs; it is the people; the views and the historic atmosphere. There may be lots of cliché in the novel, but the banter makes up for it. A lovely, warm and sweet read.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ali McNamara attributes her over-active and very vivid imagination to one thing – being an only child. Time spent dreaming up adventures when she was young has left her with a head bursting with stories waiting to be told.

When stories she wrote for fun on Ronan Keating’s website became so popular they were sold as a fundraising project for his cancer awareness charity, Ali realised that not only was writing something she enjoyed doing, but something others enjoyed reading too.

www.alimcnamara.co.uk | @AliMcNamara

The Summer Of Serendipity is published by Sphere and is available in PB and ebook format.

Blog Tour: Perfect by Cecelia Ahern. Author Q&A and Review,

What an honour to be hosting a stop on the blogtour for Cecelia Ahern's latest YA novel, Perfect. On this stop, there is a fantastic Q&A session with the author. We are huge fans of Cecelia's books, here at Bleach House Library. You can read my review of Flawed HERE and thirteen-year-old, Mia, has reviewed Perfect for this tour.

PERFECT is the thrilling, shocking and romantic sequel to Cecelia Ahern’s bestselling YA debut FLAWED.

When we embrace all our flaws, that’s when we can finally become PERFECT… Celestine North lives in a society that demands perfection. After she was branded Flawed by a morality court, Celestine's life has completely fractured – all her freedoms gone. Since Judge Crevan has declared her the number one threat to the public, she has been a ghost, on the run with the complicated, powerfully attractive Carrick, the only person she can trust. But Celestine has a secret – one that could bring the entire Flawed system crumbling to the ground. Judge Crevan is gaining the upper hand, and time is running out for Celestine. With tensions building, Celestine must make a choice: save only herself, or risk her life to save all the Flawed. And, most important of all, can she prove that to be human in itself is to be Flawed…?.

Q&A WITH CECELIA AHERN

What made you decide to write a YA series?

I didn’t have a specific plan to write a YA series but when I came up with the idea for Flawed and Perfect, I knew I wanted to tell the story from the perspective of a 17 year old. I felt that was the best way to tell the story because although we’re constantly learning about ourselves throughout our life, teenage years are the years when you first really start to question authority and society, and start figuring out how you really feel about things, instead of what you’re being told to feel. I wanted to take Celestine from being that logical, obedient girl who thinks in black and white and turn her into somebody who questions, who doubts, who finds her own voice. She suddenly realizes she has to follow her own instincts, and her heart. We do this at different stages of her life when life throws us dilemmas but I wanted this to be the first big lesson in my character’s life, and also a voice and character that could teach society a thing or two.

Celestine and Carrick both rebel against a restrictive regime and are severely punished for it. Do you think our young adults should use their voices more, or less, in this age of ‘Fake News’?

I always encourage using your own voice. Celestine is not an obvious leader, she doesn’t realize her own strengths, she is not a leader because she wants to be but because she naturally makes the right choices. She brings compassion and logic to a society that has lost its humanity and I don’t think that shouting the loudest is necessarily what makes people be heard, it’s the strength of the character with quiet confidence that can truly gain a following. It’s not about shouting, it’s about leading by example, it’s about action, your own behavior, who you can influence in a positive way.

Do you find yourself noticing the restrictions of society more, since writing this series?

This story was inspired by my feelings on society so no I’m noticing it even more than before. I was inspired to write this by my belief that we live in a very judgemental society, one quick to point the finger at those who are different, who make life decisions that are frowned upon. I felt that we have a society that publicly shames, it’s almost like a sport at times, and it’s a form of entertainment for the media. It frustrated me to the point that I had to write this novel. We already label people, but this time I wanted to see what it would be like physically labeling people, branding them with an F. I’ve always felt strongly about inequality, so I suppose this was my way of condensing all my feelings on the issue and explaining it in a way that I knew how.

Of course as I was writing I realized that I was writing about everything in our history; the Flawed rules mimic the anti-Jewish decrees in World War 2, Celestine’s moment on the bus that leads her to be Flawed was inspired by the Rosa Parks event on the bus during the civil rights movement. Children born to Flawed parents are taken away from them and raised in state institutions and of course in Ireland children of unmarried mothers were taken from them. Aboriginal children in Australia were removed from their parents by the government in order to dilute the gene pool. We have tortured each other because of race, sex and religion in the past, we still do now, I wanted to explore this inhumane behaviour to punishing people for the moral and ethical decisions they make.

How important is it to have a male protagonist alongside a strong female one?

When I write, balance is very important. I like to take a dark story and bring it to a place of light, take a sad story and inject it with humour, take something negative and bring it to a positive place. I need to have the balance also of male and female.

Are there any parts of you within the character of Celestine?

I certainly wasn’t the girl that Celestine begins out as, I was probably more like her sister Juniper, who was quieter, had one close friend at school, she just can’t wait to get through it so that her life can begin. She is more of an outsider, cynical of society and questions everything around her, something Celestine learns later.  However, despite Juniper quietly grumbling about the things that bother her, Celestine is the one that takes action. I think writing this book is my version of Celestine’s action. 

REVIEW BY MIA MADDEN, AGED 13.

This is the amazing new YA novel from Cecelia Ahern. It is the follow-up to Flawed and it catches up with Celestine North, the most flawed person in the history of the Guild. Celestine is on the run from Judge Bosco Crevan and his Whistleblowers and she just wants one thing: to find her fellow inmate, Carrick Vane. Celestine believes that Carrick has vital footage of Crevan lashing out at her and she wants to use this to bring him, and hopefully the entire Guild, down. 

Celestine makes new friends in more Guild evaders; Mona, Lennox, Fergus and Lorcan. While the group are going about as normal (as evaders do), Whistleblowers find their hideout and this squad is led by Celestine's ex, Art Crevan, son of the deluded Judge. Art claims to still be on Celestine's side but she is not so sure. Now she must choose between Carrick and Art. Who will she choose? Will she get the footage of Crevan before he gains control of the entire country?

Awestruck - That is how these two books left me. Flawed was the first book to almost bring me to tears and Perfect was not far off it either. And I am not the kind to cry at books or movies. (I did not even cry when a certain house-elf came to a tragic end in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows). With beautiful language, dramatic scenes and characters you will miss when you finish the book. I would rate Perfect 5*. 

Recommended for ages 12 +.

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Perfect is published is published by Harper Collins and is available in Hardback and ebook format. Published today, it is in all good bookshops or you can order your copy via amazon link below:

         

Blog Tour: 'The Reunion' by Roisin Meaney. Author Feature and Review.

I am kicking off the blog tour for the PB edition of The Reunion by Roisin Meaney. Huge thanks to the author for her blog feature and to the publishers for inviting me along for the ride. Check out the other stops on the tour this week.


There is also a giveaway running over on twitter @margaretbmadden. See pinned post to enter. Open INT. Good Luck!

AUTHOR FEATURE

Home Sweet Office

  

The best part about working from home? You can stay in pjs all day and meet nobody. The worst part about working from home? You can stay in pjs all day and meet nobody.

It’s complicated.

In 2008, with four published novels under my belt, I took the quantum leap and gave up my permanent, pensionable teaching job to become a full-time writer. My parents, both former teachers, threw up their hands in horror at the thought. For me, it wasn’t such a big deal. Granted, I was taking a bit of a risk: despite my third novel having ascended the year before to the giddy heights of number one in the Irish charts (staying there for all of one memorable week) I was far from a household name in the literary world. Despite having had the incredible luck in 2002 to win a two-book publishing deal on the strength of the first three chapters of my first offering, I was still very much a newbie among Irish female writers of contemporary fiction.

On the other hand, I was single with no family to support, nobody to feed and clothe but myself – and I’d long been a fan of the charity shop, where you could kit yourself out from head to toe and have change from a tenner. I’d also been lucky enough to buy my house before prices had leapt into the stratosphere, so my mortgage was what estate agents would describe as bijou. My third trump card was that my aforementioned (horrified) parents lived a ten-minute stroll from me, so in the event of imminent starvation all I had to do was lift the phone and request that my mother add half a dozen spuds to the dinner pot. In short, I needed very little to live on, and I was young(ish) and blessed with an optimistic disposition, so I quit the classroom and became a bone fide fulltime writer.

Nine years on, I’m still here. Still writing, still solvent. Still not a household name, and certainly not well off in monetary terms, but my fourteenth novel is about to hit the shelves, and each new book garners a few more readers, and my publishers since book three (Hachette Books Ireland) are showing no signs of losing interest.

And as for working from home, it’s been wonderful. I took to it right away. I’m pretty organised – years of teaching will do that to you – so I found it easy enough to plan a schedule each time a new book was called for. After that, it was just a matter of nailing down a plot – a month or so of hair-tearing and sleepless nights, but it got done – and then parking myself in front of the laptop every morning once breakfast was dispensed with, and hoping for the best.

Thankfully, the schedules were followed and the books emerged. I discovered quite early on that there’s nothing like a deadline to concentrate the mind. It’s one thing to rail against setting boundaries on creativity, but when it’s a case of ‘deliver the manuscript or don’t get paid’, creativity becomes amazingly obliging. To date I’ve met all my first draft deadlines, and coped with the joys of editing the subsequent drafts, and with each new publication I’ve settled more happily into the routine of working from home. 

And here’s what I’ve learnt.

Not having to set an alarm is psychologically great. I say psychologically because I’m a rubbish sleeper and wouldn’t know a lie-in if it smacked me in the face with a pillow. It’s just the idea of not having to wake up at a given hour that puts a smile on my face when I wake up an hour before that – and the smile widens in direct proportion to how heavily the rain is smacking against the bedroom window.

Following on from that, staying half the day, or the whole day, in pjs isn’t really what it’s cracked up to be. I rarely do it now, and when I do I feel obscurely guilty, and in nagging need of a shower – and of course Murphy’s law decrees that on those rare occasions the doorbell will definitely ring, and I’ll have to present myself in all my unwashed dishevelment to the caller. 

Lidl on a Monday morning is a very different animal to Lidl on a Friday evening. Shopping, particularly Christmas shopping, becomes a whole lot easier when you can choose what time to do it.

The fridge morphs into your enemy when it’s ten paces from your office. Since telling myself not to snack has as much effect as telling myself to go to sleep, I’ve had to adjust what the fridge contains: the prospect of bingeing on a bowl of carrot sticks or eating an entire cucumber in one sitting holds surprisingly little appeal. Mind you, my fruit bowl empties at an alarming rate – but it’s fruit, which everyone knows has zero calories.

I thought I’d miss the workplace interaction more. As long as I make sure I meet up regularly with pals after hours – not a problem – I’m happy to spend my days alone. Although now and again I tuck the laptop under my arm and head out to a coffee shop, just because I can.

I’m trying not to sound smug. I suspect I’m failing. The truth is, I love my life. I love working from home, making up stories and getting paid for it. I hope I can keep doing it till the day I keel over and stop breathing – and if that happens when I’m at the office, I’ll die happily.

MY REVIEW

Opening a school reunion invitation brings feelings of uncertainty for sisters, Caroline and Eleanor Plunkett.  Do they want to return to their past?  Caroline is now a successful designer, splitting her time between the UK and Italy.  Eleanor is stuck in a rut, overweight and struggling to connect with her husband and son.  Both women may have been born to the same parents, but their lives began to split while they were still in their teens.  Can facing up to the past help them improve their present, or is going back the wrong thing to do?

It's funny how two siblings can end up in completely different situations.  Caroline was the studious one, destined for a career in academia,  whilst younger sister Eleanor was the more fun-loving of the two; more interested in her boyfriend and having a laugh with her mates.  However, one fateful evening changes their paths in life.  Caroline soon finds herself pushed away from the family home and Eleanor's boyfriend dashes all hopes for her own future.  In the midst of all this change is the girls mother, who is more concerned with the goings-on of her neighbours than of her own two daughters.  Secrets are kept, lies are told and damage is done. 

Roisin Meaney has a way of telling a story that makes you feel like you are in a room with the characters, hearing them chat to each other, rather than reading words on a page.  From very early on in the novel, there is a feeling of genuine concern as to how these two girls will handle their own stories.  Caroline is the victim of the most despicable crime, yet is treated as if she is to blame.  Her mother takes control of the situation and God help anyone who tries to object.  A distance cousin, Florence, steps up to the plate and becomes Caroline's saviour.  A wonderfully warm and quirky character, she has a delightful presence throughout the novel.  Back in Ireland, Eleanor is weighed down with personal grief and is scared to face up to her past.  Her story is addressed further into the book, with memories unfolding which help to explain her distance.  

The Reunion is a book about families and how they can sometimes be fractured and displaced.  The keeping of secrets, the hiding of home-truths and the attempt at showing a united front are not always the right approach to take.  Most families have drama within their folds.  Sometimes admitting your flaws is the only way to gain solidarity.  By using two sisters, both with hidden traumas, the author has created a novel which is both endearing and astute.  The dual time frame is very cleverly used and every single character adds something to the overall narrative.  Florence is fantastic and her group of older-generation friends are a breath of fresh air.  Her bijoux cottage sounds like a place that we would all love to visit, with its mis-matched decor and charity shop finds.  Added to the narrative are Caroline's trips to Italy, with its stunning surroundings, warm family get-togethers and an air of change. 

It's easy to see why Roisin Meaney is one of Ireland's best-loved authors.  She has a way of bringing her characters to life, making them part of your world as you move from chapter to chapter.  Should you spot this on a bookshelf, grab a copy.  This is what female fiction is all about. 

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The Reunion is published by Hachette Ireland on 6th April and is available in PB and ebook format. You can pick up your copy in all good bookshops, or order via the amazon link below:

Blog Tour: 'Six Stories' by Matt Wesolowski. Book Review.

Thanks to Orenda Books for including me on the blog tour for Six Stories. Their titles always excite me and have yet to disappoint...

My Review

Scarclaw Fell, England, 1997. The body of fifteen-year-old Tom Jeffries is found after his disappearance from a camping lodge a year earlier. The cause of death is officially recorded as misadventure and the case is closed. 

Twenty years later, a serialised podcast brings the case back to life by interviewing the friends of Tom, who were there that fatal night. Over six episodes, journalist Scott King delves deep into the memories from six different perspectives and leaves his listeners to draw their own conclusions...

This is a murder mystery with a twist. By using the concept of transcribed podcasts the author draws the reader in; minute by minute; hour by hour. A close-knit group of friends travel together regularly, to the marshy area known as Scarclaw, supervised by some of their parents. The dynamic usually changes when a new member is added to the group, not always for the better, but each child looks forward to their time in the isolated cabin and the opportunities the trips provide. All that changes when Tom disappears in the middle of the night. The group break all ties and the property is sold. When the podcast airs, the individual stories of each group member shed a new light on the death of the teenager and the questions bring back some uncomfortable memories. Six teenagers; six stories; multiple viewpoints. But which one is real?

This debut is an addictive and compelling read with multiple layers. There are elements of suspense, fear, uncertainty and heart-pounding thrills. The unusual technique employed by Wesolowski is right on-trend, with nods to ground-breaking podcasts like Serial and TV documentaries like Making A Murderer and Amanda Knox. The search for the truth has gone beyond traditional police work and investigative journalism. Now the public want to feel part of the investigation; wanting more and more access to witnesses and documentation surrounding these mysteries. The days of Cagney and Lacey are a distant memory. This novel is sharp as a butchers knife, cutting straight through to the nerve of its reader. A read-in-one-sitting experience that will surely inspire many authors to explore new methods of narration. Highly Recommended.

About The Author

Matt Wesolowski is an author from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in the UK. He is an English tutor and leads Cuckoo Young Writers creative writing workshops for young people in association with New Writing North. 

Wesolowski started his writing career in horror and his short horror fiction has been published in numerous magazines and US anthologies.

Wesolowski's debut novella ‘The Black Land‘ a horror set on the Northumberland coast, was published in 2013 by Blood Bound Books and his latest horror novella set in the forests of Sweden is available in 'Dimension 6' magazine through Coeur De Lion Publishing.

Wesolowski was a winner of the Pitch Perfect competition at 'Bloody Scotland'; Crime Writing Festival 2015. He is currently working on his second crime novel, Ashes, which involves black metal and Icelandic sorcery.

Six Stories is published by Orenda Books and is available in PB and ebook format. You can get your copy at all good bookshops or via amazon link below:

Blog Tour: 'The Missing Ones' by Patricia Gibney. Book Review.

Thanks to Bookouture for inviting me to participate in the blog tour for Patricia Gibney's debut crime thriller, featuring DI Lottie Parker. I have met Patricia at many book events and am delighted to see her book 'out in the wild'...

My Review

January 1976, and three children watch with horror as a small body is buried, without ceremony, under an fruit tree. 

December 2014, and  a woman is discovered, strangled, in a rural cathedral. DI Lottie Parker and DS Mark Boyd are called to the scene and can see no reason why anyone would want to harm a fifty-one year old county council worker. She has no family, few friends and apparently no enemies. A distinctive tattoo is found on the corpse and a similar one is located on the body of a suicide victim, just days later. For DI Parker, the coincidence is just too much, and she digs deeper to find a connection. 

The Prologue of The Missing Ones is about as strong as you can get. Disturbing, yet brief, it is enough to draw the reader into the mystery surrounding a child's death. Fast forward almost forty years and we are introduced to DI Lottie Parker, a forty-something mother of three. Widowed over three years, she is still grieving for her husband and coming to terms with raising her kids alone. She tries to balance her work/home life yet there are rarely family mealtimes and she feels responsible. Her vulnerability gives her character more depth and adds some warmth to the story. There is some great chemistry with Lottie and her partner, DS Boyd, bringing a real human element into the mix. As the case gains traction, there are flashbacks to 1970s Ireland and the darkness of the State/Church run children's homes of which we are all too aware of. Decades of secrets and lies are discovered as Lottie searches for links to her investigation. Meanwhile, a homeless man rambles about the past, the shady dealings of planning permission for the renovation of a former children's home come to light and a teenage boy goes missing. The spider web of cover-ups is expanding and the tension builds rapidly.

Considering the recent events surrounding the discovery of hundreds of bodies in a former mother and baby home in Ireland, this book is eerily relevant. Our small island has buried the truth for far too long and society will no longer stand for it. Patricia Gibney has written a fictional account of how a handful of bad apples can destroy the whole cart. There are twists galore and the story gathers pace at a gentle pace, reaching a frantic climax. The horrors of the past seep into the present and the characters are introduced with meticulous detail. This is a thrilling debut, with a fantastic protagonist. DI Lottie Parker has her flaws; she has OCD tendencies, a disastrous relationship with her mother and a terrible concept of what is a reasonable diet for herself and her family. Basically, she is human. I'm a big fan of crime thriller series and look forward to the next installment from this Irish DI and her sidekick, DS Boyd (of whom I may be developing a crush on). 

The Missing Ones is published by Bookouture and is available in PB and ebook format. You can order your copy from good bookstores and via amazon link below:

Blog Tour Book Review - 'Secrets We Keep' by Faith Hogan.

Two distant relatives, drawn together in companionship are forced to confront their pasts and learn that some people are good at keeping secrets and some secrets are never meant to be kept..

A bittersweet story of love, loss and life. Perfect for the fans of Patricia Scanlan and Adele Parks.

The beautiful old Bath House in Ballytokeep has lain empty and abandoned for decades. For devoted pensioners Archie and Iris, it holds too many conflicting memories of their adolescent dalliances and tragic consequences – sometimes it’s better to leave the past where it belongs.

For highflying, top London divorce lawyer Kate Hunt, it’s a fresh start – maybe even her future. On a winter visit to see her estranged Aunt Iris she falls in love with the Bath House. Inspired, she moves to Ballytokeep leaving her past heartache 600 miles away – but can you ever escape your past or your destiny?

MY REVIEW 

Kate has escaped to Ireland, tired of living the busy life of a London lawyer, and unsure what her future holds. Her great-aunts small hotel, in a sleepy coastal village, is the complete opposite of her city life and she can finally breathe. She finds friends and opportunity in the unlikely location and tries to ignore the newspaper headlines, which bring back unwanted memories.  Meanwhile, great-aunt Iris has her own reasons for trying to forget the past. Family connections link the stories of the past and present and the two women find themselves surrounded by the shadows of untold secrets.

This is Faith Hogans second novel and she blends historical fiction with a contemporary twist. The two main characters are very different. Iris is decades ahead of her fellow Irish women. Falling hook, line and sinker for the proverbial bad-boy, she is whisked away from her problems and deposited in Paris for a year, returning to Ireland with a lighter load and a ready-made job. It doesn't take long for her to make more bad decisions and her only saving grace is a wonderful man called Archie. In the present day, Kate is also helped by a host of kind souls, although this is a little frustrating as she should be a strong, independent woman and yet seems to completely rely on the help of her new neighbours. I would have liked to see more strength and less dependency.  However, this is a read-in-one-sitting book. Light, warm and entertaining, it is like a brochure for the beautiful area of Co. Mayo but with family secrets thrown in. The waves on the coast are as high as the drama and the ancient buildings are privy to centuries of stories. Faith Hogan is an author to watch out for. She can certainly spin a yarn and reel you in. Her gentle writing style is ideal for fans of Cathy Kelly and Roisin Meaney.  

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Faith Hogan was born in Ireland.  She gained an Honours Degree in English Literature and Psychology from Dublin City University and a Postgraduate Degree from University College, Galway.  She has worked as a fashion model, an event’s organiser and in the intellectual disability and mental health sector.

She was a winner in the 2014 Irish Writers Centre Novel Fair – an international competition for emerging writers.

Her debut novel, ‘My Husband’s Wives,’ is a contemporary women’s fiction novel set in Dublin. It was published by Aria, (Head of Zeus) in 2016.   ‘Secrets We Keep,’ is her second novel out on Feb 1^st 2017.. 

Faith Hogan Contact:

Twitter (her favourite) https://twitter.com/GerHogan

On Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/faithhoganauthor/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/faithhoganauthor/?hl=en

Web Page. http://faithhogan.com/

You can check out the books on:

Amazon.co.uk     http://amzn.to/2h7Adn6               Amazon.com      Amazon.com Faith Hogan

Kobo  Kobo Secrets We Keep                                         Google Play     http://bit.ly/2gS3iVH

iBooks -  http://apple.co/2hBcaQR

Secrets We Keep is published by Aria Fiction and is available in PB and ebook format.

Blog Tour - Burned and Broken by Mark Hardie

THE BLURB

The charred body of an enigmatic policeman – currently the subject of an internal investigation – is found in the burnt-out shell of his car on the Southend sea front.

Meanwhile, a vulnerable young woman, fresh out of the care system, is trying to discover the truth behind the sudden death of her best friend.

As DS Frank Pearson and DC Catherine Russell from the Essex Police Major Investigation Team are brought in to solve the mystery of their colleague's death, dark, dangerous secrets begin to surface. Can they solve both cases, before it's too late?


Mark Hardie's stylish and gripping debut introduces a brilliant new detective duo to the world of crime fiction, weaving together two suspenseful stories that end in a breath-taking finale.

'An accomplished debut' The Sunday Times

MY REVIEW

A new police procedural series is always exciting. The reader gets to know the characters from the get-go and follow them on their journey through the world of murder, investigation and discovery. Their individual personalities come alive and the reader can form a bond, book by book.  This is the first in the DS Pearson and DC Russell series, from Mark Hardie, and the protagonists are based in Essex. Investigating the murder of a fellow police officer, who was the victim of an arson attack, it leads them to question their colleagues private life and his work ethic.  Alongside this narrative is the troubled teen, Donna, who is mourning the death of her friend, Alicia. Both girls were just out of the care system and had bonded through their difficult experiences. She does not believe her death was an accident and is searching for answers.  

The novel is broken up in to past and present, with alternating voices. Some of the time frames are blended into the one chapter, which demands a little more concentration than an average crime thriller. The story moves at a steady pace and there are nuggets of personal information relating to the characters dotted throughout. DS Pearson comes to life fairly quickly, with DC Russell taking a bit longer. Their partnership is in the early development stage and the chemistry is a work in progress. The pathology scenes are immaculate and are eerily compelling.  Donna and her side-kick, Malcolm, are two teens that you would recognise from any small town or big city. Both are victims of circumstance and unsure of their futures.

Pearson and Russell are a new duo on the crime fiction scene, and I look forward to seeing their personalities and partnership develop over the series. This would make a fantastic TV drama, with the Essex Police Major Investigation Team becoming a weekly favourite. Let the casting begin...

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mark Hardie was born in 1960 in Bow, East London. He began writing full time after completely losing his eyesight in 2002. He has completed a creative writing course and an advanced creative writing course at the Open University, both with distinction.

Mark lives with his wife Debbie in Southend-on-Sea.

Burned and Broken is published by Sphere and is available in ebook format, with PB release on 4th May 2017. You can order your copy via amazon link below:

Blog Tour - 'English Animals' by Laura Kaye. Review and Giveaway.

Thanks to the publishers, I have two copies of English Animals to giveaway. To be in with a chance of winning one, just enter via rafflecopter link below. Good Luck!

A funny, subversive and poignant debut novel from an exciting new writer, perfect for fans of Cold Comfort Farm,

I Capture the Castle and Nina Stibbe.

I took off my belt and moved between the seats to look. We were at the top of a big hill. Below were squares and diamonds of green and brown fields all the way to the sunset. Then I saw the house. It was more perfect than the one I had been dreaming about. A red cube in the middle of the land, like someone threw a dice. I could not believe that I was going to live there.

When Mirka gets a job in a country house in rural England, she has no idea of the struggle she faces to make sense of a very English couple, and a way of life that is entirely alien to her. Richard and Sophie are chaotic, drunken, frequently outrageous but also warm, generous and kind to Mirka, despite their argumentative and turbulent marriage.

Mirka is swiftly commandeered by Richard for his latest money-making enterprise, taxidermy, and soon surpasses him in skill. After a traumatic break two years ago with her family in Slovakia, Mirka finds to her surprise that she is happy at Fairmont Hall. But when she tells Sophie that she is gay, everything she values is put in danger and she must learn the hard way what she really believes in.

My Thoughts on English Animals

This is an absolutely stunning literary debut that hooked me from page one, as Mirka approaches her new life in England. Landing in the midst of a strange environment, with an eccentric English couple she finds herself surrounded by tension, temptation and Taxidermy. The prose is both delicate and insightful as the author has chosen a protagonist who does not speak English as her first language. Sophie and Richard manage to make Mirka feel welcome yet an outsider; helpful but surplus to requirement and  yet she blends in like a piece of their quirky furniture. Creaky floorboards, dripping taps and rusty taps are balanced out with diverse personalities and a sense of claustrophobia. The art of taxidermy is Mirka's escape from the craziness and yet Sophie is a constant drug, flowing through her veins.  

This is a debut that deserves a lot of attention. Sublime storytelling from a new literary voice. Highly recommended.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Laura Kaye is a graduate of Goldsmith's Creative Writing MA and did a further year of study under the mentorship of MJ Hyland at the University of Manchester. When she isn't writing, Laura works on music and arts documentaries for the BBC including Flamenco: Gypsy Soul, Krautrock: The Rebirth of Germany and Songs of the South.  She lives in Hackney. English Animals is her debut novel.
www.laura-f-c-kaye.com

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Blog Tour - 'Relativity' by Antonia Hayes. Review and Giveaway.

Thanks to Corsair Books, I have a copy of relativity to giveaway to one lucky reader. Enter via rafflecopter link below. Open INT. Good Luck! 

My Review

Twelve-year-old Ethan lives with his mother, Claire, and has never met his father. An unusually gifted child, he has no idea of the circumstances surrounding his fathers absence. When he discovers a letter from his father to Claire, it leads to a fascination and journey to discover just why his father left and how he can reunite the family. Using his unique scientific logic, Ethan believes he can re-visit the past and change the futures outcome. But the past is suddenly a scary place to visit and leaves many questions unanswered. Can he trust his father or did he really do what they say he did?

Claire is a woman trying to keep her son safe. Safe from bullies, safe from the harsh realities of traditional expectations and safe from the truth of his near-death experience as an infant. She gave her life as a ballerina to raise her child and each day is filled with protecting him and keep sane herself. When Mark lands back in their lives, she needs to examine her limited memories of the most horrific days of her life; a night of shock, fear and a nightmare dash to the hospital. What really happened that day? Would Mark really have hurt his own son, like they said he did? Has she ever really believed what the jury found him guilty of? What is the truth?

Antonia Hayes has written a story which will touch the hearts, souls and emotions of its readers. The divided family is riddled with uncertainty, lack of trust and fear of addressing the past. Ethan is a delightfully different child. His love of physics is introduced from the very start of the book and shows he is way beyond any other child of his age. He is socially awkward and has few friends. School is basically wasted on a child like Ethan. The love that Claire feels for Ethan is easy to feel and the author drip feeds information about the past, leading to the fateful day that saw the family divide. Beautifully descriptive and an emotional journey, this is a strong debut that deserves attention. Don't be put off by the first few pages, which are loaded with Ethan's attempts to understand the relativity between time and space. He is really just trying to find his own relativity to the world we live in. You will struggle to forget Ethan.  Sharp, astute and emotional, this is a highly recommend read.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Antonia Hayes, who grew up in Sydney and spent her twenties in Paris, currently lives in London with her husband and son. Relativity is her first novel.

Relativity is published by Corsair and is available in paperback and ebook format.
You can order your copy, with Free Worldwide Postage and 18% from kennys.ie. The ebook can be ordered via amazon link below:

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Blog Tour: 'The One' by John Marrs. Review and Giveaway.

Thanks to Ebury and Dead Good Books, I have an ARC of The One to giveaway to one luck reader. To be in with a chance, just enter via rafflecopter link below.  Good Luck!

Scientists have discovered that each and every one of us has a gene which is shared with one other person. Our soulmate. Our perfect match. All you need is a simple DNA test to discover who you should be with.  Sending a swab off in an envelope is now the way to fulfill your destiny. But what happens if you are already with someone you love and care for deeply? Are you prepared to take the test, in the hope of proving you are already with your destined partner? Are you prepared to travel the world to meet your match? And are all soulmates as perfect as they seem?

MY REVIEW

The concept is simple. You sign up to a website which has millions of DNA results on its database. You provide a mouth swab, return it in a pre-paid envelope, and sit back and wait for the email which reveals your perfect match. The One.  What could go wrong?

Mandy has been matched and begins her research online. Finding his facebook profile gives her access to photos and details of his life and she is suitably impressed. So far, so good.

Jade chats with her match on a daily basis and her friends can't figure out why she can't just bite the bullet and travel the thousands of miles to meet him face-to-face. Can she pluck up the courage for such a journey?

Nick is engaged to be married and is more than content with his current partner.  She, however, wants him to take the test and confirm that they are indeed meant for each other. Nick is highly amused when he is matched with a man. There has obviously been a mix-up. Right?

Ellie is the founder of of the DNA-match website and is wealthy, powerful and determined. When she finds she herself has been matched, she wonders if she should take the plunge herself. She's not getting any younger and the evenings are quite lonely without that special someone. But how can she hide her identity when her face is so famous?

Christopher receives his email a few months after registering and thinks the timing might be just right. He is after getting away with murder, after all.

Five DNA matches; five stories. Each of the five are given equal space and the overall story moves along at a powerful pace.  The chapters are short, sharp and end with mini-cliffhangers. This is one of those books that has the reader gagging for more.  Definitely a 'just one more chapter' book, that sees you reading well into the night. I read it in one sitting and was completely lost in the craziness of DNA matching and all the moral, ethical and potential life-changing issues that could arise from its concept. The added tension of a serial killer at large was a bonus. The challenges that the killer encountered by meeting his match, whist in the middle of a killing spree, gave the character more depth and even likability.

  John Marrs has created a narrative that is frighteningly feasible and entirely compelling. By the end of this novel, you will definitely find yourself wondering if you would be the type to take the test, or not. This may be the most enjoyable thriller I have read in years. A complete page-turner, a razor-sharp concept and short, sharp, addictive chapters all make for an absolutely cracking psychological thriller.  Read it and let me know; would you take the test? 

The One is published in ebook format on 26th January 2017 and in paperback on 4th May 2017. You can order your copy via amazon link below:

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Blog Tour Book Review - 'The Food of Love' by Amanda Prowse.

I am thrilled to be part of the Blog Tour for The Food of Love by Amanda Prowse.  One of the UK's most well-loved authors of family fiction, I was honoured to receive a review copy of her latest novel.  Read on for my review and check out all the other stops along her tour...

MY REVIEW

Freya and Lockie Braithwaite are happily married with two fantastic teenage daughters, Charlotte and Lexi.  Freya spends her days working as a freelance food writer and Lockie is a photographer. Their girls are surrounded by love and affection and life is great.  All that begins to crumble when Freya receives a phone call from Lexi's school.  The Braithwaites are plunged into despair as they discover their daughter is battling an eating disorder.  Suddenly, food becomes the enemy for more than just Lexi, as the family begin to resent mealtimes and all the pain which ensues. Life, love and family are all examined in this heart-warming and emotional read.

Most parents know all there is to know about their kids, right? Maybe not.  A person who has something to hide knows every trick in the book to ensure their secret is hidden.  When the secret is an eating disorder, the sufferer can deceive even the ones who love them the most.  Lexi is fifteen years old and has grown up in a loving family environment, adored by her parents, sister and grandparents.  She has friends, a good social life and no apparent reason to worry about her weight.  However, the disease (and make no mistake, anorexia IS a disease) has taken over her body and mind. It has also taken over the lives of her loved-ones.  Her mother is initially in denial and thinks a few changes to her weekly shop can sort Lexi's problem out and she genuinely believes a mother's love is all-powerful.  To begin with, Lockie thinks his wife's pandering attitude to Lexi is a bit extreme and thinks some tough-love might be more appropriate.  But when Lexi's weight continues to drop well-below the healthy BMI range, they soon realise that medical intervention is required.  Charlotte is a victim of her sister's illness, as she is basically left to her own devices during her final year of school.  The whole family is fractured and each day gets dangerously worse. Lies are told, hearts are broken and the disease finally takes over completely. 

Amanda Prowse has a way of drawing you into family dramas in a unique way.  Her warm, affectionate tone is balanced with the harsh realities of life and she doesn't shy away from controversial topics.  Lexi's story is by no means anything new. Anorexia has been recorded in medical journals since the 1600s and even Mary Queen of Scots was rumoured to have been a sufferer.  But, in the days of internet access and mass media being such a huge part of young girls lives, things have reached an alarming level. Pro-Ana sites where body-conscious girls (and boys) can pick up tips and encourage each other to painfully and lethally lose weight are all over the internet. Runway models and magazines depicting images of unhealthy looking role-models are everywhere.  It is a mother's nightmare.  We can't stop our kids from seeing these things.  We can't watch them every minute of the day.  We can only try to protect them in the best way we know how.  This novel shows that even the most loving family can be fooled into believing everything is ok. We are only human, we say things without realising the long-term effects, we pander to our children's food fads and desire to appear more fit and beautiful, but we forget that they can also keep a lot from us, should they choose to.  Prowse has not sugar coated this story, there are shocking scenes and plenty of weepy moments.  However, there is an element of eye-opening clarity that lingers after reading.  It will make you think twice about commenting on someone's eating habits or presuming that it could never happen to one of your own children.  Because it could. Every single person who has suffered with anorexia has a mother and a father.  Every single one of them has lied and fooled their family and friends.  This will never change. It has been medically recorded for more than 500 years, and it is not going away anytime soon. I think every mother, father and young adult could learn a lot from this book.  The ending was not what I expected and I would have perhaps liked a little more clarity. That said, I would highly recommend this book. In fact, I have passed it to my husband, as we are the parents of four girls and a boy. There but for the grace of God go I...

The Food of Love is published by Lake Union Publishing and is available in  PB and ebook format.  you can order your copy via amazon link below: