+ feminism, fiction, literature, love, memoir, review, secrets, University
Elizabeth Finch by Julian Barnes
She will change the way you see the world .
Elizabeth Finch was a teacher, a thinker, an inspiration. Neil is just one of many who fell under her spell during his time in her class.
Tasked with unpacking her notebooks after her death, Neil encounters once again Elizabeth’s astonishing ideas on the past and on how to make sense of the present.
#ElizabethFinch #JulianBarnes @VintageBooks #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #blogtour
But Elizabeth was much more than a scholar. Her secrets are waiting to be revealed . . . and will change Neil’s view of the world forever.
My Review
Neil is our narrator. A failed actor, with one marriage and divorce behind him (so far), he’s a mature student, who becomes fascinated by his lecturer Professor Elizabeth Finch, while taking her class on Culture and Civilization. She’s a typical blue-stocking, never married (as far as we know), wears tweed and brogues, has neatly coiffed hair – I kept imagining a spinster version of Margaret Thatcher.
Elizabeth Finch or EF as the students refer to her, has a deep, lasting effect on the members of his study group, particularly on Neil, but also on Anna, a Dutch girl with whom he has a strange kind of affair. Linda wants EF to help her with her love life or unrequited love (not sure why she would ask EF), and then there is Geoff who doesn’t find her fascinating at all. In fact he finds her views old-fashioned and obdurate. I have to admit I tended to agree with him much of the time.
It’s not really a story – nothing actually ‘happens’ in the traditional sense – it’s mainly Neil’s musings on his platonic relationship and strange crush on this charismatic woman, because once his degree is finished, he continues to meet her for lunch a couple of times a year. Barnes examines the unusual friendship between these two mismatched people. For Neil it’s probably the only satisfying relationship in his life.
After her untimely death, Neil meets her older brother Christopher, who refers to his sister as Liz and admits that he was never as clever as her, or as compelling. She has left her papers and books to Neil, including a lot of material about Julian the Apostate, and the rise of Christianity in Europe, with which he becomes obsessed. He considers writing her memoir, though neither he nor her brother seem to know vey much about her private life.
Elizabeth Finch is certainly not like anything else I have ever read. A fascinating insight, I would have liked to know more about Neil himself – he considers himself to be too dull to be worth writing about – but I feel it would have helped me to understand how and why he became so absorbed in his mentor.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Julian Barnes is the author of thirteen novels, including The Sense of an Ending, which won the 2011 Man Booker Prize for Fiction, and Sunday Times bestsellers The Noise of Time and The Only Story. He has also written three books of short stories, four collections of essays and three books of non fiction, including the Sunday Times number one bestseller Levels of Life and Nothing To Be Frightened Of, which won the 2021 Yasnaya Polyana Prize in Russia. In 2017 he was awarded the Légion d’honneur.
+ adventure, cosy mystery, crime fiction, Dogs, family, feel-good, female friendship, fiction, friendship, love, murder, mystery, relationships, review, secrets, sisters
Barking Up The Right Tree by Leigh Russell
When Emily’s boyfriend walks out, she is devastated. As she is puzzling over what to do with the rest of her life, she is surprised to learn that her great aunt has died, leaving Emily her cottage in the picturesque Wiltshire village of Ashton Mead.
This inheritance comes with a condition: Emily must take care of her great aunt’s pet. Not knowing what to expect, Emily sets off for the village, hoping to make a new life for herself.
#BarkingUpTheRightTree @LeighRussell #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #blogtour
In the village, she soon makes friends with Hannah who runs the Sunshine Tea Shoppe, and meets other residents of the village where she decides to settle. All is going well… until her unknown pet arrives. Then Emily’s ex-boyfriend turns up and against the advice of her new friends, she takes him back.
When her next-door neighbour’s daughter disappears in mysterious circumstances, Emily decides to investigate, unwittingly putting her own life in danger…
My Review
What a lot of fun this book was! Our intrepid hero Emily, having lost her job and been dumped by her prat (I’m being polite or my review will get rejected) of a boyfriend Ben, has inherited her late aunt’s house in the depths of Wiltshire. But in order to keep the house, she has to agree to look after her aunt’s pet. Only she has no idea what it is. It could be a poisonous snake, a tarantula (eek), a stick insect (I hate those) or even a leopard (now I jest).
Phew! It’s only a goldfish. Except that turns out to be temporary. It’s actually a cute puppy called Poppy. She’s a Jack Tzu (Jack Russell crossed with a Shih Tzu – we have another name for those) and she’s friendly, playful and fluffy. Emily has no idea how to look after a pooch, but how difficult can it be? Bit of food – she’s only small – and two walks a day.
Emily soon makes friends in the village of Ashton Mead. There’s Hannah who runs the Sunshine Tea Shoppe and Toby who lives in Swindon, but cares for his disabled mum nearby. Emily is loving it in her new home, that is until Ben turns up and she takes him back. Nooo! I hear you cry. Hannah doesn’t trust his motives, Toby thinks he’s an idiot and Poppy hates him. And dogs know best, don’t they? If only she could talk.
Poppy also gets spooked by Emily’s next-door neighbour Alice, who is very unfriendly, except when it comes to talking about her daughter Sophie, who has gone travelling.
Emily’s new friends worry about her, She’s suspicious of everyone, not just Alice. She thinks her aunt’s death wasn’t an accident but has no proof of anything untoward, except her aunt saying she feared for her life – the day before she died.
Barking Up The Right Tree is an easy read, a cosy mystery, with a lovable dog at its core. I can’t wait for the next instalment of the Poppy Mystery Tales.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
Alongside her popular DI Geraldine Steel detective novels, Leigh Russell is the author of the Poppy Mystery Tales, a brand new cosy crime series set in an idyllic English village. The stories feature Poppy, a lively puppy who helps her owner solve mysteries. Leigh has an MA in English Literature from the University of Kent. She has been shortlisted for the CWA New Blood Dagger Award, the CWA Dagger in the Library, and the People’s Book Prize. Keen to support new writers, Leigh chairs the CWA Debut Dagger Judges, and is a Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund. Leigh lives in London, near her two daughters and granddaughter. One of her daughters has a rescue puppy who inspired the Poppy Mystery Tales.
+ abuse, adventure, alcoholism, autism, childhood, crime fiction, dark humour, family, feel-good, fiction, friendship, grief, lies, List, literature, loss, love, Malaya, marriage, mental health, motherhood, murder, obsession, Psychological fiction, relationships, review, secrets, superstition, thriller, writer
My Top 8 Books of 2023 – Part One
Here are my favourite eight books of the first quarter of 2023. One of these will definitely make it into my top three books of 2023. While I read a lot of crime novels all these books are other genres, as a crime novel needs to be totally unique and exceptional to make it into my favourites.
So Pretty by Ronnie Turner
Part way through this I had to make a family tree so I could remember who was whose son or daughter. There are some unsavoury characters in each family – Teddy’s father, Ada’s mother and her mother’s mother. Then we have Mr Vincent, who is creepy and evil – at least that is what the townspeople think. I don’t disagree. He owns a shop called Berry & Vincent, but no-one goes in or shops there. Many years ago there was an antique shop in Cheltenham called Summerfields. It was jam-packed with stuff and he never sold anything. When he passed away, it turned out he was a millionaire. But I digress. I’m certain he was a very nice man and a trust was set up in his name.
For my full review click here
Someone Is Coming by TA Morton
This was one of the strangest books I have ever read. I mean that in a good way. It’s very short and is basically the story of 93-year-old Philip Goundry, now living in a care home in the UK, and how he gradually reveals his memories to Dr Lin.
But all is not as it seems. As he recalls, over a period of time, his childhood on a rubber plantation in Singapore, memories he has buried over decades start to emerge. His father was a good man, or was he? His mother ran away with a lover and was never seen again. His Amah and her superstitions – there was a pontianak, she said, a vampire girl from Malay and Indonesian mythology in the abandoned house where a woman died. This girl would draw men to their death. Don’t go near.
For my full review click here
Make Me Clean by Tina Baker
Having read both of Tina’s other novels, I knew what to expect. It wouldn’t be ordinary, the humour would be dark and the story wouldn’t pull any punches. And I wasn’t wrong.
Our main protagonist is Maria – a cleaner. But she’s no ordinary cleaner. She’s very good at getting blood out of the carpet and bodies out of the house. She could make a career out of it, if she didn’t feel so guilty.
First there might have been her traveller husband Joby, the love of her life, but initially there are only vague references to what may have happened.
For my full review click here
Em & Me by Beth Morrey
If it was possible to give six stars to Em & Me on Amazon or Goodreads, I would. Beth has the ability to create such believable characters. Delphine is wonderful, but at times she is so negative you want to scream at her. Daughter Em is a joy. She’s clever almost to the point of genius level but she’s never precocious or unlikeable.
Delphine’s French mother died when Delphine was a child and her father – a piano tuner – fell to pieces. He’s out of tune but he can’t retune himself. Delphine became his carer as well as being a single mum to Em. They live in a tiny flat with only her income. She and Em still have to share a bed. And then she gets the sack from the coffee shop where she works (personally I think she deserved a medal).
For my full review click here
Mother’s Day by Abigail Burdess
Get to the top of the list! This was totally bonkers and I loved it! It’s not even trying to be anything else (I hope I haven’t got that wrong). I’ve read a couple of reviews that said it rapidly spins out of control until it becomes utterly batshit crazy (latter are my words not theirs). I think that’s the whole point of the dark humour. To me it was perfect.
I read it in one sitting while I was off sick and my husband was at work, but I’d probably have taken the day off to finish it if I wasn’t (only joking work peeps).
For my full review click here
All The Little Bird-Hearts by Victoria Lloyd Barlow
Poor Sunday! Unloved by her mother, blamed for her sister’s death and then rejected by her husband, whom she refers to as the King, none of them understood her or why she behaves the way she does. Except maybe David at the farm, where she works. David is deaf and Sunday signs with him. He is probably my second favourite character, after Sunday.
As for her new next-door neighbours, Vita and her husband Rollo, they made my skin crawl from day one. Vita with her pretensions, her affectations and an accent so posh it’s ‘almost a speech impediment’, as someone once joked to me. I hope that’s not too un-PC. But Sunday is entranced by their charm, as is her sixteen-year-old daughter Dolly. Vita calls Sunday ‘Wife’ – no idea why – Rollo is Rols and Dolly is Doll.
For my full review click here
Murder Under The Tuscan Sun by Rachel Rhys
And now for something completely different. So not my usual genre, but I loved it.
Poor Constance! Too ‘old and fat’ to be any threat to the ‘ailing gentleman art dealer’, recovering from a bleed to the brain. That’s the view of the selfish, air-head Evelyn, who sees women’s only worth being decorative, forgetting that it takes more than that to be a good ‘companion’ to an intelligent man like William North. A man who disapproves of Mussolini’s black shirts and Evelyn’s husband Roberto happens to be one of them.
Not that Constance has any designs on her wealthy employer. Though after a year as a widow and many more since she had a proper relationship with her late husband, it’s difficult not to be attracted. Even in illness William is an imposing, handsome figure. But Constance has travelled alone to Italy to be his companion and nothing more.
For my full review click here
End Of Story by Louise Swanson
I’ve read three of Louise’s novels, written under the name Louise Beech. Nothing Else was one of my favourite books of 2022. I don’t think I’ve ever cried so much while reading a book.
‘If you tell a story well enough, it’s true.’ says Fern. It’s her catchphrase, her motto.
End Of Story is very different. It’s set in the future, in a dystopian world where all fiction is banned. Once a month there is an amnesty at ALLBooks, where novels can be handed in without fear of prosecution. Like guns or knives.
For my full review click here
So that’s it! Back in three months with my next list of favourites. See you then!
+ art, celebrity, fiction, grief, jealousy, lies, literature, loss, love, marriage, relationships, review, thriller
The Anniversary by Stephanie Bishop
‘It was always hard to tell where our marriage ended and my work began. I often dream now that I am drifting in a dark sea, the water around me lukewarm, like blood.’
Novelist JB Blackwood is on a cruise with her husband, Patrick, to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Patrick is older than JB, formerly her professor. He is a film director. A cult figure.
But now his success is starting to wane and her art may overshadow his. For days they sail in the sun. They lie about drinking, reading, sleeping, having sex. There is nothing but dark water all around them.
Then a storm hits and Patrick falls off the ship. JB is left alone, as the search for what happened to Patrick – and the truth about their marriage – begins.
My Review
Initially I had very mixed feelings about this book. At one point I almost gave up. It’s not that the writing isn’t wonderful and beautiful – it is – it just spends so much time looking inwards and I probably don’t have the patience. Maybe if I was on holiday, lying on the beach, with nothing else to do I would have been more invested. I just wanted the story to move forwards.
But – the last part of the story was totally engrossing and unbearably sad. I can’t say more without giving anything away. I’m just so glad I didn’t give up.
We first meet JB when she is Patrick’s student at university. She, like everyone else, idolises him. He seems taken with her, to the annoyance of other students. Not only is he her professor, he’s also at least 20 years older than her. But they are soulmates, each helping the other to become the best at their art. Until Patrick’s fame starts waning, while JB’s career as a novelist is on the up.
On their anniversary – it never states how many years exactly, though at one point she says she is roughly the same age as Patrick was when they met – they go on a cruise. Then tragedy strikes, there’s a storm and Patrick falls overboard. Incidentally I didn’t like Patrick one bit. I found him to be controlling, selfish, narcissistic and secretly misogynistic.
The Anniversary looks at the truth about that fateful night as well as the truth about their marriage. It’s a fascinating insight into relationships, fame and jealousy.
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.
About the Author
Stephanie Bishop is a widely acclaimed novelist and critic. She is the recipient of multiple prizes, including The Readings Prize for New Australian Writing, the Literary Fiction Book of the Year Award, the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards (shortlisted), the Christina Stead Prize for fiction (shortlisted) and the Stella Prize (longlisted). She is a Professor of Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia.
+ child abduction, childhood, crime fiction, family, female friendship, fiction, friendship, grief, kidnapping, lies, loss, marriage, motherhood, obsession, Psychological fiction, review, secrets
The Silent Midwinter by Jamie-Lee Brooke
Kate processes the mail day in, day out at Standington Prison. With her home life turning stale, she spends her days obsessing over the correspondence between an inmate and his girlfriend. Who is sexy Anna West and what does she see in a cold-blooded killer?
Kate also suspects her husband of having an affair. Harper, her stepdaughter, is full of teenage angst and resentment towards her. Her other stepdaughter, seven-year-old Felicity, has selective mutism, brought on by the trauma following her mother’s death.
#TheSilentMidwinter @Jamie_LeeBrooke @Zooloo’s Book Tours @zooloo2008 #ZooloosBookTours #blogtour
One risky move follows another as Kate delves deeper and deeper into Anna West’s life. She’s not prepared for the danger she stumbles into – danger that will threaten her whole family as they are swept into a web of secrets and lies.
Just how far will Kate go to save her family?
The Silent Midwinter is an edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller with a shocking twist that will floor you.
My Review
I fell asleep on the sofa last night and woke up at 1.30am. I couldn’t get back to sleep so I continued reading The Silent Midwinter from where I left off – about a third off the way through. Next thing it’s 5.30am and I have 30 mins to go. I did get back to sleep and when the alarm went off at 7am the first thing I did was finish the book. That was when one of the most unique twists occurred. I never expected that ending.
Our main character and narrator for much of the story, Kate, processes the mail at Standington Prison. She works with her best friend Mala and together they must decide what the prisoners are allowed to receive.
Two years ago she married a widower, whose wife was killed, leaving him with two daughters. Harper is in her mid-teens and is being bullied at school, for which she blames Kate’s job and the fact that Kate went to the school to report the bullying. Seven-year-old Felicity, or Fizzy, has selective mutism, brought on by the trauma of her mother’s death. But for some strange reason, she will only speak to Kate, while Harper appears to hate her.
Kate thinks her husband is having an affair, is bored and frustrated, and becomes obsessed with one of the inmates, whose glamorous girlfriend Anna West sends revealing and provocative photographs with her letters, which have to be sifted out and destroyed.
What Kate does next is both stupid and dangerous, putting herself and her family in danger from a gang of criminals. But just how far will she go to protect them?
It’s such an exciting book, so to say I literally could not put it down is no exaggeration.
Many thanks to @zooloo2008 for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
Jamie-Lee Brooke is the pen name of Brooke Venables who lives with her twin sons in the Worcestershire area. She is an author of both horror and thrillers and works as a dental nurse which gives her plenty of scope to imagine putting people in uncomfortable situations. She loves her job and takes great satisfaction in helping people to smile.
Jamie-Lee’s biggest achievement to date is graduating after studying with the Open University for six years, achieving a BA Honours in Humanities with classical studies and creative writing. It was no mean feat whilst working and being a mum to twins who both have autism and learning difficulties.
Follow her at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063616654780
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jamie_LeeBrooke
TikTok: http://www.tiktok.com/jamielee_brooke_author
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamielee_brooke_author/
Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/122412407-the-silent-midwinter
Buy Links – https://geni.us/69QN
+ family, fiction, friendship, grief, Historical fiction, Italy, literature, loss, love, murder, review, suffragette movement
Murder Under The Tuscan Sun by Rachel Rhys
An isolated castle, a deadly crime. Is this real or a nightmare?
In a remote castle high up in the Tuscan hills secrets are simmering among its glamorous English residents:
The ailing gentleman art-dealer
His dazzling niece
Her handsome Fascist husband
Their neglected young daughter
The housekeeper who knows everything
and Connie, the English widow working for them
#MurderUnderTheTuscanSun #RachelRhys #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #blogtour
Every night, Connie hears sinister noises and a terrible wailing inside the walls. Is she losing her grip on reality?
Or does someone in the castle want her gone?
Filled with breath-taking Tuscan scenery, a sinister atmosphere and an English widow caught up in a family feud with a wandering murderer out to get her. Murder Under the Tuscan Sun is a compelling tale of classic crime with an escapist setting, a 1920s background, and vivid characters trapped in a murder mystery.
My Review
Poor Constance! Too ‘old and fat’ to be any threat to the ‘ailing gentleman art dealer’, recovering from a bleed to the brain. That’s the view of the selfish, air-head Evelyn, who sees women’s only worth being decorative, forgetting that it takes more than that to be a good ‘companion’ to an intelligent man like William North. A man who disapproves of Mussolini’s black shirts and Evelyn’s husband Roberto happens to be one of them.
Not that Constance has any designs on her wealthy employer. Though after a year as a widow and many more since she had a proper relationship with her late husband, it’s difficult not to be attracted. Even in illness William is an imposing, handsome figure. But Constance has travelled alone to Italy to be his companion and nothing more.
Evelyn’s eight-year-old daughter Nora from her first marriage is a stick-thin child with a crooked nose. Desperate for her mother to notice her, she soon forms an attachment of sorts to Constance, who has warmed to the child’s intelligence and wit.
I am not usually a reader of historical fiction, but every now and again, a location, a description, a setting or a historical event takes my fancy. Murder Under The Tuscan Sun is one of those. A castle in Tuscany with secrets hidden in its walls, eerie music in the night, ghosts even, but are they real or a figment of Constance’s imagination? Or is it something far more sinister?
Set mainly in 1927, when the ‘bright young things’ were partying between the two world wars, Constance knows she doesn’t fit in. As a widow in her late forties, her life is a daily grind. Her son James can’t believe she’s going to Italy to take up a position in a castle full of strangers, or is he just a little bit jealous?
I loved this book and read it in virtually one sitting. It has everything. Interesting characters, a beautiful setting described in perfect detail, intrigue and a giant dog called Solomon. Wonderful!
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
RACHEL RHYS is the pseudonym of psychological thriller writer Tammy Cohen. Her debut, Dangerous Crossing, was a bestselling Richard and Judy Book Club pick and was followed by A Fatal Inheritance and Island of Secrets. Rachel’s latest novel, Murder Under the Tuscan Sun is once again superb historical suspense crime, this time with an irresistible Italian 1920s setting. She lives in North London, with her three (allegedly) grown up children and her neurotic rescue dog.
Visit www.tammycohen.co.uk to find out more about her work, including her latest psychological suspense title The Wedding Party. You can also find her on facebook or twitter as @MsTamarCohen or on Instagram as @tammycohenwriter.
+ dystopia, female friendship, fiction, friendship, grief, loss, love, reading, review, writer
End Of Story by Louise Swanson
Too much imagination can be a dangerous thing. It has been five years since writing fiction was banned by the government.
Fern Dostoy is a criminal. Officially, she has retrained in a new job outside of the arts but she still scrawls in a secret notepad in an effort to capture what her life has become: her work on a banned phone line, reading bedtime stories to sleep-starved children; Hunter, the young boy who calls her and has captured her heart; and the dreaded visits from government officials.
But as Fern begins to learn more about Hunter, doubts begin to surface. What are they both hiding?And who can be trusted?
My Review
I’ve read three of Louise’s novels, written under the name Louise Beech. Nothing Else was one of my favourite books of 2022. I don’t think I’ve ever cried so much while reading a book.
End Of Story is very different. It’s set in the future, in a dystopian world where all fiction is banned. Once a month there is an amnesty at ALLBooks, where novels can be handed in without fear of prosecution. Like guns or knives.
‘If you tell a story well enough, it’s true.’ says Fern. It’s her catchphrase, her motto.
Fern Dostoy was a successful children’s author, the first children’s laureate and winner of awards and accolades. Until the ban. She lost her livelihood, her home, her sanity. She’s a criminal, masquerading as Fern Dalrymple, working as a cleaner at the hospital. Listening to the plans of the doctors. The madness, taken straight from her third novel.
One day a man selling tea from a van turns up on her doorstep. He has a scar on his face and is in a wheelchair. She doesn’t want his pity, but then he doesn’t want hers.
Eventually, she volunteers at a banned phone line, reading bedtime stories to young children who can’t sleep. That’s where she connects with Hunter, the boy who has captured her heart. But who is he really, and why does his call come through on the wrong phone?
End Of Story is intelligent, imaginative, creative and unique. You may never read another story like it. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.
About the Author
Louise Swanson is the pen name of bestselling author Louise Beech, who has published eight novels with Orenda Books. Her work has previously been longlisted for the Not the Booker and Polari prizes and shortlisted for the Romantic Novel Award. She won Best Book of the Year with her 2019 psychological thriller Call Me Star Girl. In April 2023, Louise will also publish her memoir Eighteen Seconds with Mardle Books. She blogs regularly on louisebeech.co.uk, and is on Twitter under the name @LouiseWriter.
After half a century confined in a psychiatric hospital, Matty has moved to a care home on the Cumbrian coast. Next year, she’ll be a hundred, and she intends to celebrate in style. Yet, before she can make the arrangements, her ‘maid’ goes missing.
Irene, a care assistant, aims to surprise Matty with a birthday visit from the child she gave up for adoption as a young woman. But, when lockdown shuts the care-home doors, all plans are put on hold.
But Matty won’t be beaten. At least not until the Black Lives Matter protests burst her bubble and buried secrets come to light.
Will she survive to a hundred? Will she see her ‘maid’ again? Will she meet her long-lost child? Rooted in injustice, balanced with humour, this is a bittersweet story of reckoning with hidden histories in cloistered times.
Lyrics for the Loved Ones is the stand-alone sequel to Matilda Windsor Is Coming Home.
Publication date
15th May 2023, Annecdotal Press
Here is the fabulous cover
‘A smartly constructed, engaging and compassionate story about family, humanity and ‘lost loss’ ALISON MOORE, Booker prize shortlisted author of The Lighthouse
‘One of the best books I’ve ever read … a very funny and a hugely emotional read’ ALEX CRAIGIE, author of Someone Close to Home
‘Vividly illuminates recent inequalities, with humour and humanity’ CAROLINE LODGE, Bookword
‘The author writes with intelligence, understanding and sensitivity’ ANNIE ELLIOTT, Left on the Shelf Book Blog
‘Runs the whole gamut of emotions … one of the most memorable and heart-wrenching protagonists I’ve met’ OLGA NÚŇEZ MIRET, psychiatrist, author and translator
‘A well written, chatty book, with great characters’ EMMABBOOKS
Preorder link
https://annegoodwin.co.uk/preorder/
About the Author
Anne Goodwin’s drive to understand what makes people tick led to a career in clinical psychology. That same curiosity now powers her fiction.
Anne writes about the darkness that haunts her and is wary of artificial light. She makes stuff up to tell the truth about adversity, creating characters to care about and stories to make you think. She explores identity, mental health and social justice with compassion, humour and hope.
An award-winning short-story writer, she has published three novels and a short story collection with small independent press, Inspired Quill. Her debut novel Sugar and Snails, was shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize.
Away from her desk, Anne guides book-loving walkers through the Derbyshire landscape that inspired Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.
Subscribers to her newsletter can download a free e-book of award-winning short stories.
Building a unicorn company is the dream of every entrepreneur.
Inside Culture Unwrapped, the authors share the secrets of what Unicorn companies do differently, more specifically, how they attract great people, inspire them to do their best work and build passionate teams who drive the business forward.
Culture Up reveals what lies behind the success of their people. The authors have not just studied Unicorns, they were key players inside them. They were right there inside high growth startups as part of the early teams at Tesla, Lilium and other brand giants.
#CultureUp @Zooloo’s Book Tours @zooloo2008 #ZooloosBookTours #blogtour #extract
Let them show you how to:
- Become and inspirational leader
- Attract, recruit and retain the best talent
- Discover the secrets of company culture and how to nurture and develop it
- Crack the code of always overlooked internal communications
- Maintain a happy, motivated, effective and loyal team
- Create an EQ-driven, human-centric successful company
Here is a short extract from the book:
1.1 Getting Up and Running
Strategy as a Foundation
Arnnon Geshuri, the CHRO of Teladoc Health/Ex Tesla & Google, mentioned that founders or founding teams often struggle with recruitment if they haven’t hired before.
‘If you don’t focus on the culture, you may hire people who might even somehow get things done, but they don’t really fit into your company overall. You will find that eventually you will need to part ways with these people, which is a shame and a difficult thing to do because they ARE pushing for it and putting a lot of effort into their jobs. It is just not what your company culture needs. Founders often struggle with difficult team decisions like this, in the early days.
Recruiting correctly, starts with the founding team.
It is important to know yourself. What are you good at? Where do you need to supplement? Which skills are you really good at? What is your background? Be honest with yourself, be true to yourself. This will help you make a strong selection for your founding team and key hires for your company.
Most founders spend time interviewing every single person until the company has about 50-100 people. If people are one of your most important, successful drivers to business, why don’t you and your founding team get involved with final interviews for the first 300-600 hires or even your first thousand? Elon Musk does just that. And we know of others as well, so there are no excuses except maybe poor time management and lack of prioritization. It could be simply a thirty-minute call, or getting your interview team together and reviewing their feedback.
As a founder it’s an advantage to interview lots of people, to learn about a particular role or industry and understand the different types of people out there, to make the best possible hiring decisions, at any given time. You will meet people whom you may not recruit in the first six months, but you may recruit them one or two years later when they are a perfect fit.
As your company evolves so you will need different people with various backgrounds and abilities. But the core of the type of person you hire should be in line and should add to your company culture and leadership style.
The internet is full of resources, if you need them, from hiring plan templates to workforce planning tools, or use a simple excel sheet, but as mentioned previously, sit with your core team such as Sales and Product and have somebody in your meeting who looks after finance and understands how to build business plans.
Top Tip:
Ask yourself these questions:
What are your company goals for next year? Will you be increasing sales by 100% from last year, building an App or building a customer service team? Build a people plan to understand the cost.
Are you targeting to do business in the Netherlands, Switzerland, the UK or other parts of the globe and if so, why is that important? What will it cost to hire these people and should they be full or part time? How can you get your candidate pool filled?
How much time and money do you need to set aside for training and education to ensure that you can build a resilient, engaged team?’
Many thanks to @zooloo2008 for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Authors
Margareta Sailer and Mareike Mutzberg met when they worked together during the
startup phase at Lilium, a unicorn aviation scale-up. Lilium’s all-electric vertical take-off
and landing passenger aircraft has made it one of the most exciting, highly capitalised,
game changing companies in Europe.
Mareike was employee number four at Lilium. Initially responsible for setting up and
implementing Lilium’s internal and external communications & marketing, she became
responsible for the culture and employee experience of its rapidly growing team.
Margareta Sailer was key to the people strategy at Tesla, of one of the boldest and most
successful brands of the 21st Century. As Head of Talent for Tesla in Europe, with just
one layer between her and legendary entrepreneur Elon Musk, she was responsible for
hiring and retaining great people and more recently becoming Global Head of
Recruitment at Lilium.
Their joint consultancy practice, advising founders and organisations on culture,
communication and people strategies helps their clients and readers to maximise their
potential and growth.
Follow Margareta at:
No Social media links
Follow Mareike at:
Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/mareike.mutzberg/
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082277624983
Twitter : https://twitter.com/MareikeMutzberg
Buy Links – https://geni.us/cfho8k
+ abuse, crime fiction, dark humour, female friendship, fiction, friendship, kidnapping, lies, love, mental illness, murder, psychopath, review, secrets, serial killer, thriller, vigilante, writer
The Skull Keeper by Mariëtte Whitcomb
Best friends on social media, Allysa and Morgan share a love of three things: thriller novels, true crime, and keeping secrets from each other.
As soon as Allysa asks Morgan to be her plus one at a funeral, Morgan jumps on the first available flight. Burying the dead might unearth the truth about what happened to Allysa’s brother twenty years earlier. She’s never believed he simply left town without saying goodbye.
Once they learn he’s the last known victim of a serial killer, Allysa and Morgan decide to do what the police couldn’t – bring him to justice.
When the hunters become the hunted, only one question remains – do you know your friend well enough to save her life?
#TheSkullKeeper #MarietteWhitcomb FB @mariettewhitcombauthor IG @mariettewhitcomb TikTok @mariettewhitcomb
My Review
Concentrate! You’ll need to when you read The Skull Keeper, as it’s quite involved and intricately woven. The characters of Morgan (my favourite) and Allysa are well drawn and easy to love and respect. Especially if you have a morbid fascination with violent death and serial killers. They met on #bookstagram – Morgan is a crime writer – and are now best friends without having met in person. Until now, when Allysa asks Morgan to be her ‘plus one’ at a funeral.
The serial killer nicknamed The Skull Keeper, or TSK for short, is about as twisted and gruesome as they get. Not only do they kidnap young women, but they torture them in unimaginably grisly ways. I won’t go into details in case you are easily shocked. In which case I probably wouldn’t recommend reading the book.
It is written alternatively from the point of view of Morgan and Allysa, but also from that of The Skull Keeper, describing the torture in all its perverted glory. I said you need to concentrate. Occasionally I didn’t and had to go back to see who was narrating. Morgan is sassy and smart-mouthed. She doesn’t pull any punches. The way she talks to detective Will Boyle is crazy. Why does he tolerate it? He has his reasons but you’ll have to find out for yourself. She knows a lot more about Allysa than Allysa knows about her. She’s done her research.
Allysa is slightly less aggressive in her manner. She respects Morgan but is sometimes horrified at Morgan’s outbursts, especially when it puts them in danger. One of the reasons she is attending the funeral is to try and find out who killed her brother Sebastian twenty years ago. Not to mention all the others.
But all is not as it seems and both of them are lying. And then that ending. So clever and unexpected.
This is by far my favourite of all Mariette’s books. It’s brilliant. But excuse me for now, it’s time to check out my #bookstagram in case anyone is stalking me…other than the daily, ex-military, I love God, Trump, and my mom, in that order.
About the Author
Mariëtte Whitcomb studied Criminology and Psychology at the University of Pretoria. An avid reader of psychological thrillers and true crime books, writing allows her to pursue her childhood dream to hunt criminals, albeit fictional and born in the darkest corners of her imagination. When Mariëtte isn’t writing, she reads or spends time with her family, friends, and her two miniature schnauzers.
Social Media Links
Website/Newsletter: https://mariettewhitcomb.com
Email: mariette@mariettewhitcomb.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mariettewhitcombauthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mariettewhitcomb/
Tiktok: tiktok.com/@mariettewhitcomb
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/mariettewhitcomb
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/goodsreadscommariettewhitcomb
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/mariette-whitcomb
+ crime fiction, fiction, grief, journalist, lies, loss, murder, police corruption, police drama, police procedural, review, secrets, thriller
Eleven Liars by Robert Gold (Ben Harper Book 2)
Journalist Ben Harper is on his way home when he sees the flames in the churchyard. The derelict community centre is on fire. And somebody is trapped inside.
With Ben’s help the person escapes, only to flee the scene before they can be identified. Now the small town of Haddley is abuzz with rumours. Was this an accident, or arson?
Then a skeleton is found in the burnt-out foundations.
And when the identity of the victim is revealed, Ben is confronted with a crime that is terrifyingly close to home. As he uncovers a web of deceit and destruction that goes back decades, Ben quickly learns that in this small town, everybody has something to hide.
My Review
Once again we are back in the fictional town of Haddley, with investigative journalist Ben Harper. In the first book, Twelve Secrets, Ben is trying to uncover the truth behind his brother’s shocking murder at the hands of two 14-year-old girls. And also the death of his mother, who allegedly threw herself in front of a train.
Book two begins with a fire at the derelict community centre, a teenager trapped inside and the discovery of a body buried underneath. And a knife which has mysteriously disappeared.
But when the identity of the body is revealed, it opens up another mystery. Who was buried years ago in the victim’s grave?
We see the return of a number of characters from the first book. PC Dani Cash, daughter of much-loved and respected Inspector Jack Cash, old-school newspaperman Sam, father of Ben’s boss Madeline (who seems a lot nicer in book two) and Dani’s husband Mat Moore, who was stabbed at the end of book one and is now in a wheelchair.
But there are lots of new ones too. Seventy something Pamela was Dani’s next door neighbour when she was a small child. She lives alone and watches the schoolchildren who walk past her window every day. Rev Adrian Withers is the vicar of St Stephens and is married to long-suffering wife Emily. Then there is the Grace family, including teenager Archie, And many more – I won’t list them all.
How many of them are lying about the body under the community centre, the fire and everything else that has gone on in Haddley? Eleven presumably, though I won’t try and list them either. Usually when reading with online bookclub The Pigeonhole, we have our theories and try to work out whodunnit and who knows the truth. By about two thirds of the way through I gave up and decided to just go with the flow. I’d have needed a spreadsheet and a notebook.
A brilliant book, complicated at times – I’m glad I had my buddy readers with whom to exchange ideas and remind each other of who was who. I am so looking forward to book three when we can see Ben, Dani and co again.
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.
About the Author
Originally from Harrogate in North Yorkshire, Robert Gold began his career as an intern at the American broadcaster CNN, based in Washington DC. He returned to Yorkshire to work for the retailer ASDA, becoming the chain’s nationwide book buyer. He now works in sales for a UK publishing company. Robert lives in Putney and his new hometown served as the inspiration for the fictional town of Haddley in Twelve Secrets. In 2016, he co-authored three titles in James Patterson’s Bookshots series.
He looks just like her husband. But who is he really? And what is he planning to do with her?
Emmeline Hopkins-Keller is in paradise, sharing a luxurious holiday on a tropical island with her husband Jeffrey and his family. But it’s hard to relax and enjoy it when she knows her marriage is in deep trouble.
One fateful night, a cataclysmic argument between Emmeline and Jeffrey sends him fleeing into the deep, dark forest. A day later he is still missing, leaving everyone shocked and bewildered.
#TheDoppelganger #ColeBaxter @inkubatorbooks @Zooloo’s Book Tours @zooloo2008 #ZooloosBookTours #blogtour
Then, a miracle. Jeffrey turns up unharmed and wants to reconcile. But something is horribly wrong. He looks and sounds like Jeffrey, but Emmeline is 100% sure he’s not the man she married. Even if everyone in his family is welcoming this stranger with open arms.
Which leaves her wondering, who exactly is this imposter? And how can he deceive everyone around him? And most of all – what are his plans for Emmeline?
Struggling to believe that everyone around her is lying, Emmeline begins to doubt herself, to lose her grip on reality. Only one thing is certain – when she finally uncovers the terrifying truth, her life will be changed forever.
My Review
That was quite a ride! And what a twisted ending.
For some bizarre reason I didn’t hate Emmeline as much as other people did. I know she’s truly awful, but I think maybe she’s a sandwich or two short of a picnic. The lights are on but there’s nobody at home. Her driveway doesn’t go all the way to the road. In other words she’s crazy and not very clever.
She thinks she’s highly intelligent, drop-dead gorgeous, trades on her looks, tells Jeffrey it’s fine to sleep around from time to time as it means nothing and that she’s a ‘modern’ woman, bullies him, and treats him appallingly. But she’s deluded. She’s an idiot. I even felt a bit sorry for her.
I certainly didn’t like Jeffrey’s ridiculously wealthy family or ‘fake’ Jeffrey as Emmeline calls him. Some of the things he does are reprehensible whatever his justification. His father Matthew is an alcoholic (allegedly), mother Odette is like an ageing film star on botox, sister Jessie Mae is a brat (at least Emmeline got that right), and even older sister Lynne is unlikeable. They own the whole island where they are on holiday, complete with bars, a restaurant and full staff. Oh and a private plane to get them there.
But Emmeline, instead of saying thank you very much and enjoying being stinking rich, can’t stay faithful or play nice. Jeffrey is kind and handsome and it’s not like he expects her to hand wash his underpants. We hear the story from Emmeline’s point of view and the ending is explosive.
Many thanks to @zooloo2008 for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
Cole Baxter loves writing psychological suspense thrillers. It’s all about that last reveal that he loves shocking readers with. He grew up in New York, where there crime was all around. He decided to turn that into something positive with his fiction. His stories will have you reading through the night—they are very addictive!
Follow him at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ColeBaxterAuthor/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/colebaxterauthor/
Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/122782457-the-doppelganger
Buy Link – https://geni.us/adnA8el
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