Category: childhood
+ childhood, crime fiction, fiction, lies, love, motherhood, murder, murder mystery, mystery, obsession, psychopath, revenge, review, secrets, thriller
Her Mother’s Daughter by Brian R O’Rourke
Amanda writes dark fiction. Now one fan is bringing her work to life. Amanda is enjoying her life – she’s a successful author who has finally managed to give up her day job. But then an ex-colleague is murdered in an exact reenactment of a killing from one of Amanda’s books. Even worse, Amanda had publicly quarreled with the dead woman and now finds … Read More Her Mother’s Daughter by Brian R O’Rourke
+ abuse, brothers, childhood, crime fiction, family, fantasy, fiction, grief, love, murder, mystery, police drama, revenge, review, secrets, thriller
Making Sacrifices by BC Harris
To the world she is Vida. To Isaac Saddler she epitomises only fear, the stuff of his nightmares, willed into existence through art and writing. Transformed from victim to warrior, she became Vida, Queen of the Vidian Empire. But Vida doesn’t just exist between the pages of a book. #MakingSacrifices X(Twitter) @BCHarris64 @ZooloosBT @zooloo2008 #ZooloosBookTours #blogtour Instagram @beverleycharrisauthor @zooloosbooktours #bookstagram High on Exmoor archaeologists think they’ve found ancient … Read More Making Sacrifices by BC Harris
+ abuse, childhood, China, family, fiction, forgiveness, grief, love, marriage, motherhood, obsession, review, secrets
The Leftover Woman by Jean Kwok
An evocative family drama and a riveting mystery about the ferocious pull of motherhood for two very different women–from the New York Times bestselling author of Searching for Sylvie Lee and Girl in Translation. Jasmine Yang arrives in New York City from her rural Chinese village without money or family support, fleeing a controlling husband, on a desperate search for the daughter who was taken from her at birth–another … Read More The Leftover Woman by Jean Kwok
+ childhood, coming-of-age, dementia, family, grief, lies, loss, psychologist, secrets
Surviving Him by Jo Johnson
When Daisy reaches eighteen, she enters a highly selective club. In this club, you get a test that decides if you live or die. To the casual observer Daisy is a vile bully with a drug habit. She’s been expelled from school and frightens her family. Realising the disease that devoured her father is after her, Daisy has given up. Her one remaining cheerleader … Read More Surviving Him by Jo Johnson
Crow Face, Doll Face by Carly Holmes
Unhappily married mother of four, Annie is drowning in domestic servitude. She often wonders what her life could have been had she not had children, but when her youngest daughters perform a seemingly impossible act of levitation, her life is touched with magic and she realises that her girls are truly special and that she must protect them. Eventually Annie musters the courage to … Read More Crow Face, Doll Face by Carly Holmes
+ abuse, bullying, care home, child abduction, child abuse, childhood, crime fiction, dementia, family, fiction, kidnapping, mental illness, murder, obsession, revenge, review, serial killer, thriller
His Favourite Graves by Paul Cleave
To catch a killer… Maybe you’ve got to be one… Acacia Pines, USA. Sheriff Cohen’s life is falling apart – his father accidently burned down the retirement home, his wife has moved out, and his son is bullying other kids at school. When high-school student, Lucas Connor, is abducted, Cohen sees a chance to get his life back on track – to win back … Read More His Favourite Graves by Paul Cleave
+ abuse, care home, child abuse, childhood, crime fiction, family, fiction, friendship, grief, loss, love, motherhood, murder, police drama, review, sisters, thriller, war, World War Two
The Girls Left Behind by Emily Gunnis
1985. Separated from her little sister at the children’s home where they are taken as orphans, Holly Moore is a troubled teenager in need of love. When she meets a man who promises to take care of her, she hopes her luck has finally changed. 2015. The clock is ticking for Superintendent Jo Hamilton when the discovery of a young woman’s remains takes her back to an unsolved case from … Read More The Girls Left Behind by Emily Gunnis
+ childhood, fiction, friendship, Ghost story, grief, haunting, journalist, loss, love, mental illness, obsession, paranormal, psychiatric hospital, psychiatrist, review, supernatural, writer
13 Doors by G J Phelps
Thirteen doors, thirteen hauntings. News reporter Joe Baxter has a plan. His idea is simple – to use his newsroom contacts across England to find thirteen haunted places to stay, and then record his experiences in a book. From an abandoned cinema to a dank pub cellar, from a World War Two airfield to a lonely, landlocked cruise liner, Joe is prepared to spend … Read More 13 Doors by G J Phelps
+ abuse, child abuse, childhood, family, fiction, forgiveness, friendship, grief, lies, loss, love, mental health, motherhood, obsession, revenge, review, secrets
So Now Go Tell by Susan Sachon
After reaching a crisis point at 40, Jenny Watson is offered her dream job running a Shakespeare festival at a Tudor pub. She can hardly believe her luck at this brilliant new start, and chance to escape her unhappy past. The job isn’t all it seems, however. The pub is remote and her mysterious boss is permanently absent; there’s a 400 year old skull … Read More So Now Go Tell by Susan Sachon
+ abuse, alcoholism, child abduction, child abuse, childhood, crime fiction, eighties, fiction, friendship, grief, kidnapping, love, murder, murder mystery, review, romance, secrets, supernatural, thriller
Lost Girls of Kato by Quinn Avery
Fans of Hidden Pictures and The Lovely Bones will enjoy this unconventional love story with a harrowing mystery and a bond that transcends time… In the year 1986, 12-year-old Jackie Tanner leads a desolate existence alongside a flighty older sister and an absent mother. It isn’t until Jackie meets an older boy on the banks of the river that she understands the value of love and the bonds … Read More Lost Girls of Kato by Quinn Avery
+ art, childhood, family, female friendship, fiction, folklore, friendship, Greece, Historical fiction, lies, literature, London, loss, love, museum, revenge, review, superstition
The Figurine by Victoria Hislop
In her irresistible new novel, Sunday Times No 1 bestselling author Victoria Hislop shines a light on the questionable acquisition of cultural treasures and the price people – and countries – will pay to cling on to them. Of all the ancient art that captures the imagination, none is more appealing than the Cycladic figurine. An air of mystery swirls around these statuettes from … Read More The Figurine by Victoria Hislop
+ childhood, crime fiction, kidnapping, List, mental health, murder, religion, spirituality, superstition, whimsical, witchcraft, witches
My Top 8 Books of 2023 – Part Three
Here are my favourite eight books of the third quarter of 2023. One or two of these might make it into my top four books of 2023. Still a way to go. Once again only a bit of ‘crime’, as a crime novel needs to be totally unique and exceptional to make it into my favourites. So here we go. Saving Grace by Cristina Slough Wow! This … Read More My Top 8 Books of 2023 – Part Three
