Category: child abuse

The Girls Inside by NJ Mackay

Blue grew up in the Black House. In remotest Wales, Joseph Carillo recruited young, lonely women to join his community and adopt his erratic views. Blue’s mother was one of them. But when the Black House goes up in flames, Blue escapes to freedom and never stops running. Twenty years later, when Blue’s old dormmate commits suicide, Blue receives a strange call. She has … Read More The Girls Inside by NJ Mackay

My Top 8 Books of 2021 so far

Here are my favourite eight books of the first quarter of 2021. Last year I chose eight books in the first half but I already have eight so I’m going to break with tradition. Lost Property by Helen Paris Each year I wait for that one book that grabs me by the heart and won’t let go. It’s only just February and I have … Read More My Top 8 Books of 2021 so far

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

This is the story of a serial killer. A stolen child. Revenge. Death. And an ordinary house at the end of an ordinary street. All these things are true. And yet they are all lies… You think you know what’s inside the last house on Needless Street. You think you’ve read this story before. That’s where you’re wrong. In the dark forest at the … Read More The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

The Secret Sister by M.M. DeLuca

Some secrets won’t stay buried… There are things I want to tell my husband, Guy, about my past. I want to tell him how I bounced from foster home to foster home. I want to tell him that living with him is the first time I’ve ever felt safe and loved. Most of all, I want to tell him about my little sister, who … Read More The Secret Sister by M.M. DeLuca

The Fractured Globe by Angela Fish

Nature? Nurture? Or just plain luck? Single mums, Tia and Kay, meet when their sons are born on the same day. Tia is a product of the welfare system but wants a better life for her son. Her entrapment by her manipulative and controlling boyfriend in the world of drink, drugs, crime and enforced prostitution suggests otherwise. Is she a ‘born devil’ or can … Read More The Fractured Globe by Angela Fish

Call Me Mummy by Tina Baker

THIS MOTHER’S DAY YOU WILL CALL HER MUMMY Glamorous, beautiful Mummy has everything a woman could want… except for a daughter of her very own. So when she sees Kim – heavily pregnant, glued to her phone and ignoring her eldest child in a busy shop – she does what anyone would do. She takes her. But little foul-mouthed Tonya is not the daughter … Read More Call Me Mummy by Tina Baker

Tall Bones by Anna Bailey

When seventeen-year-old Emma leaves her best friend Abi at a party in the woods, she believes, like most girls her age, that their lives are just beginning. Many things will happen that night, but Emma will never see her friend again. Abi’s disappearance cracks open the façade of the small town of Whistling Ridge, its intimate history of long-held grudges and resentment. Even within … Read More Tall Bones by Anna Bailey

My 3 favourite books of 2020

It was far easier to choose my over all Top 3 than it was to choose my favourite eight from each half of the year. Why? Because once you open the floodgates it’s impossible to stop. So here goes. They are all totally different from each other, but they each hold a special place in my heart. Image thanks to Leafy Bean Co The … Read More My 3 favourite books of 2020

Girl A by Abigail Dean

‘Girl A,’ she said. ‘The girl who escaped. If anyone was going to make it, it was going to be you.’ Lex Gracie doesn’t want to think about her family. She doesn’t want to think about growing up in her parents’ House of Horrors. And she doesn’t want to think about her identity as Girl A: the girl who escaped. When her mother dies … Read More Girl A by Abigail Dean

Rough Country by by T.J. Brearton

A young girl murdered. A town with a dark secret. A young girl, Kasey, is murdered in the woods of northern New York, a strange symbol carved into her stomach. Investigator Reed Raleigh, Major Crimes, is tasked with finding the killer. #RoughCountry #TJBrearton @inkubatorbooks @damppebbles #damppebblesblogtours Facebook @damppebblesblogtours  Reed has his own troubles. He’s in therapy, divorced, estranged from his son. But he desperately needs to … Read More Rough Country by by T.J. Brearton

In the Clearing by J P Pomare

Amy has only ever known what life is like in the Clearing. She knows what’s expected of her. She knows what to do to please her elders, and how to make sure life in the community remains happy and calm. That is, until a new young girl joins the group. She isn’t fitting in; she doesn’t want to stay. What happens next will turn … Read More In the Clearing by J P Pomare

The Creak on the Stairs by Eva Bjorg AEgisdottir Translated by Victoria Cribb

The first in the electrifying new Forbidden Iceland series, The Creak on the Stairs is an exquisitely written, claustrophobic and chillingly atmospheric debut thriller by one of Iceland’s most exciting new talents. #TheCreakontheStairs @evaaegisdottir @OrendaBooks @victoriacribb #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #IcelandNoir #NordicNoir When the body of a woman is discovered at a lighthouse in the Icelandic town of Akranes, it soon becomes clear that she’s no stranger to … Read More The Creak on the Stairs by Eva Bjorg AEgisdottir Translated by Victoria Cribb