Category: review
+ abuse, diary, domestic noir, family, female friendship, fiction, friendship, lies, rape, relationships, review, secrets
Good Husbands by Cate Ray
Three wives, one letter, and an explosive secret that will change everything. He said, she said. Who do you believe? Jessica, Stephanie and Priyanka are complete strangers, but they have one thing in common: they’ve each received a letter accusing their husbands of committing a sexual assault more than two decades prior. Is the accusation true or is there more to the story? It … Read More Good Husbands by Cate Ray
+ adventure, fiction, haunting, Historical fiction, love, review, Scotland, Scottish Highlands, supernatural, witchcraft
Outcast by Claire Voet
In 1945 Molly Hazleton is heartbroken when her fiancé doesn’t return from the war after being reported “missing in action.” So when Aunt Daphne comes to visit with news of having bought a 17th century manor house at auction in Scotland, Molly welcomes the opportunity to start afresh and help her aunt turn Aberdoch Manor into a hotel. With a strange sense of déjà vu, … Read More Outcast by Claire Voet
+ abuse, child abuse, childhood, coming-of-age, community, cult, family, feel-good, female friendship, fiction, friendship, germany, grief, Historical fiction, holocaust, jewish history, jews, lies, List, literature, loss, love, motherhood, murder, music, nazi germany, piano, rape, relationships, religion, review, secrets, sisterhood, suffragette movement, whimsical
My Top 8 Books of 2022 – Part Two
Here are my favourite eight books of the second quarter of 2022. You will notice that it doesn’t include any crime dramas, detective novels or serial killer thrillers. While I love those genres, they rarely bring something totally new to the table and my favourites tend to be feel-good, whimsical or magical realism. Or totally original or make me cry. There are a couple of … Read More My Top 8 Books of 2022 – Part Two
+ childhood, depression, Devon, diary, family, family drama, fiction, literature, loss, mental illness, motherhood, postpartum psychosis, Psychosis, review, Scottish Highlands, secrets
Still Water by Rebecca Pert
When Jane Douglas returns to the Shetland Islands, she thinks she has escaped the dark shadows of her childhood. She carves out a simple life on the bleak, windswept island, working at the salmon fishery and spending quiet evenings at home. And for the first time in her life, she’s happy. #StillWater Twitter @Rebecca_Pert Instagram @rebecca_pert_author @BoroughPress #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #blogtour Then the body of Jane’s long-missing … Read More Still Water by Rebecca Pert
+ abuse, childhood, domestic noir, family, fiction, grief, literature, loss, love, music, piano, review, secrets, sisters
Nothing Else by Louise Beech
Heather Harris is a piano teacher and professional musician, whose quiet life revolves around music, whose memories centre on a single song that haunts her. A song she longs to perform again. A song she wrote as a child, to drown out the violence in their home. A song she played with her little sister, Harriet. But Harriet is gone … she disappeared when … Read More Nothing Else by Louise Beech
+ crime fiction, family, female friendship, fiction, friends, friendship, grief, lies, loss, murder, murder mystery, review, secrets, thriller
The Apartment Upstairs by Lesley Kara
Scarlett’s aunt lived – and was brutally murdered – in the apartment upstairs. But Scarlett is determined that life should return to some kind of normal, even if that means living with just a ceiling between her and the scene of such a devastating crime. After all, this is her home. She’s safe here. Isn’t she? Dee is busy balancing her job as a … Read More The Apartment Upstairs by Lesley Kara
+ audio drama, Cat on a Piano, fiction, grief, podcast, radio play, review, Theatrephonic, World War One
Ten Green Hand Grenades by Cat on a Piano / Theatrephonic
Ten Green Hand GrenadesAnd if one green hand grenade should accidentally fall… I’m left-handed. So my right arm isn’t nearly as strong as my left. I hurled the wretched thing as high and as far as I could but dear God. It hit the trench wall and then bounced back down. I totally froze. The young second lieutenant next to me saw what happened … Read More Ten Green Hand Grenades by Cat on a Piano / Theatrephonic
+ brothers, child abuse, childhood, crime fiction, family, fiction, forgiveness, friendship, mental illness, murder, psychiatric hospital, Psychological fiction, revenge, review, schizophrenia, split personality, thriller
Lying Beside You (Cyrus Haven #3) by Michael Robotham
The thrilling next instalment in the award-winning Cyrus Haven series sees Cyrus reckoning with his own dark and shocking past. When a man is murdered and his daughter disappears, forensic psychologist Cyrus Haven must decide if Maya Kirk is running, hiding, or a hostage. Cyrus understands how killers think better than anyone; after all, he’s a survivor. Evie is a troubled teenager with an … Read More Lying Beside You (Cyrus Haven #3) by Michael Robotham
The Only Exception (Love in the Comptons #2) by Claire Huston
Lucinda Green knows something is missing from her life. But what? Her catering business is enjoying modest success and she loves her cosy house, even if she does have to share it with her irritating ex-fiancé. Whatever’s making her unsettled and edgy, Lucinda’s certain that a lack of romance isn’t the problem. How could it be when she doesn’t believe in true love? But … Read More The Only Exception (Love in the Comptons #2) by Claire Huston
+ abuse, child abuse, childhood, fiction, Historical fiction, lies, Mallorca, mystery, narcissist, obsession, psychopath, rape, review, secrets, spanish civil war
The Silk Pavilion by Sarah Walton
Lucy’s on assignment. The wild reclusive writer awaits her arrival in his Mallorcan home. She wants the story of his life. He wants her to become part of it. Villa Rosa hides a dark secret. Beneath Deià’s sunny olive groves are the bodies of a generation. Spain’s unearthed shadow entwines with Lucy’s as her own skeletons start to rattle out of her closet. Will … Read More The Silk Pavilion by Sarah Walton
+ brothers, child abduction, child abuse, childhood, crime fiction, Detective novel, fiction, loss, mental illness, murder, narcissist, obsession, police drama, psychiatric hospital, psychopath, rape, revenge, review, Scandi noir, serial killer, split personality, Sweden, thriller
The Mirror Man by Lars Kepler
IF YOU SEE HIS REFLECTION IT’S ALREADY TOO LATE . . . Seventeen-year-old Jenny is abducted in broad daylight and taken to a dilapidated, isolated house where she is chained and caged along with several other girls. Their captor is unpredictable, and as wily as he is cruel: he foils every one of their desperate attempts to escape . . . and once caught … Read More The Mirror Man by Lars Kepler
+ crime fiction, dark humour, Detective novel, fiction, murder, police drama, police procedural, review, serial killer, thriller
The Murder Book – A Tom Thorne Novel by Mark Billingham
Tom Thorne finally has it all. In Nicola Tanner and Phil Hendricks, Thorne has good friends by his side. His love life is newly reformed by a promising relationship and he is happy in the job he has devoted his life to. As he sets off hunting the woman responsible for a series of grisly murders, Thorne has no way of knowing that he … Read More The Murder Book – A Tom Thorne Novel by Mark Billingham
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