+ abuse, female friendship, fiction, friends, friendship, jealousy, lies, love, marriage, mystery, Psychological fiction, relationships, review, secrets, therapy, thriller
The Engagement by Nasheema Lennon
Speak now or forever rest in peace . . .
THE PERFECT FIANCÉ
When Victoria’s best friend Gwen announces she is marrying the rich and handsome Michael, celebrations are strained. Victoria doesn’t trust Michael – he’s hiding something. And he reminds her of someone she needs to forget.
THE DREAM WEDDING PLAN
Too loved up to see Michael’s dark side, Gwen drags Victoria into a whirlwind of dress shopping, engagement drinks and elaborate maid-of-honour duties. Meanwhile, a mysterious visitor is leaving unwanted gifts in Victoria’s home, and Michael is becoming aggressive: no one gets between me and Gwen.
TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE?
The clock is ticking until the big day. Will Victoria expose Michael’s secret, and save her best friend from a marriage made in hell? Or will her past catch up with her first?
My Review
What a cast of unlikeable characters! With friends like these, who needs enemies, as they say. Selfish, untrustworthy, nosy, flaky, violent, jealous, the list of endearing traits is endless. I am glad to say I have never had friendships like this – my friends know when to help and when to back off. If I said (like Greta Garbo) I want to be alone, they’d simply say ‘I’m at the end of the phone if you need me,’ not follow me home and insist on staying.
First we have Victoria – she’s a therapist (God help her clients) – and flaky as hell. Not that I blame her after her past relationship with Dylan, but I don’t think she is ready to help anyone – for about the next ten years at least.
Then there’s Gwen, Vic’s selfish ‘best friend’ who is getting married to Michael. So busy organising an art exhibition, she just dumps it all on her friends. Jessica is a right bitch – telling everyone what to eat before the wedding so they don’t get fat, how to style their hair, what to wear. P*&s off Jess. I need chocolate for stress. Samira is nice but can we trust her?
Michael is rich and handsome but secretive. What is he hiding from Gwen? I’m not sure I cared after a while, she is that selfish and appearingly as dim as a TocH lamp (as my late father-in-law used to say).
What about Isaac? As far as my fellow book club readers were concerned, the jury’s out.
I loved this book. I so enjoyed the madness. All that metaphorically shouting at Victoria, ‘JUST TELL HER!!’ And that ending! Totally unexpected. Sometimes I was exhausted just reading it.
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author, and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.
About the Author
Nasheema Lennon is a writer of Mauritian heritage based in Nottingham. She studied psychology and criminology at university before nine years working in the prison service, where she facilitated cognitive behavioural therapy programmes. She then changed paths to complete her PGCE, becoming a primary school teacher. Her first novel, The Engagement, was shortlisted for the Owned Voices Novel Award 2022.
+ cosy mystery, crime fiction, Detective novel, fiction, murder, murder mystery, private investigator, review
Deuce (Jax Diamond Mysteries#3) by Gail Meath
One for sorrow, two for spice triggers a game of three blind mice.
While vacationing in New England, PI Jax Diamond and his courageous canine partner, Ace, bite off more than they can chew when two small town deaths reveal two big time killers, and the locals don’t take too kindly to strangers.
#Deuce @GailMeathAuthor @Zooloo’s Book Tours @zooloo2008 #ZooloosBookTours #blogtour
Laura Graystone, Broadway star, auto expert, and Jax’s heartthrob, is once again front and center digging for clues while trying to ditch an old boyfriend. That is, until her brother becomes Jax’s prime suspect. Then all hell breaks loose, and Ace is left in the lurch, tracking down leads with his new sidekick, Susie.
A crazy duet of crimes sends Jax, Laura and Ace into a tailspin in small-town USA during the Roaring Twenties. Where no one is above the law, everyone is a suspect, and time is running out before the clock strikes one.
My Review
Another great book in the Jax Diamond mysteries series. I’ve read the first two and this one is just as good.
Handsome private detective Jax is back of course, with his sidekick Ace the German Shepherd, Laura ‘Songbird’ Graystone and Police Officer Tim ‘Murph’ Murphy from books one and two. This time Jax and Laura have taken some time off to visit her family in the quiet town of Millbury, where she was born and lived until moving to New York to appear on Broadway.
They are going to have a nice holiday, but no sooner have they set foot in the town when Ace discovers a dead body under a pile of leaves. Not just dead, but murdered, and Jax cannot help but get involved. It’s what he does best after all, and the local cops don’t seem as competent as his police mates back in the Big Apple. But then Millbury isn’t exactly the crime capital of America so they don’t have the experience to deal with it.
Unfortunately, Jax isn’t made welcome by some of the residents, particularly Laura’s brother Tommy, still grieving for their father after his death twelve years earlier, or by the deputy sheriff who has fancied her for years. The sheriff isn’t exactly playing ball either. Ace has a fan though – young Susie who is staying with her grandparents next door has taken a real shine to him and calls him her best friend.
Once again fast-paced, quick, easy to read, and exciting, with our favourite cast of characters. Roll on Book Four – what will our intrepid trio get up to next time.
Many thanks to @zooloo2008 for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
Award-winning author Gail Meath writes historical romance novels that will whisk you away to another time and place in history where you will meet fascinating characters, both fictional and real, who will capture your heart and soul. Meath loves writing about little or unknown people, places and events in history, rather than relying on the typical stories and settings.
Follow her at:
Facebook: https://facebook.com/Gail-Meath-Author-121289219261348
Instagram: https://instagram.com/gailmeathauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GailMeathAuthor
Website: https://www.gailmeath.com
+ crime fiction, family, female friendship, fiction, friendship, grief, loss, love, Magical realism, revenge, review, secrets, supernatural, thriller
Dragonfly Summer by J H Moncrieff
No small town’s secrets can stay buried for long. Moncrieff digs into the treachery of memory and the power of female friendships…
Dragonfly Summer is a gripping thriller that asks: What happens when the past comes back to haunt you?
#DragonflySummer #JHMoncrieff @flametreepress #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #blogtour
Jo Carter never thought she’d return to Clear Springs, Minnesota. But when the former journalist receives a cryptic note about the disappearance of her friend Sam twenty years before, she’s compelled to find out what really happened. During her investigation, she learns another high school friend has died in a mysterious accident. Nothing is as it seems, and Jo must probe Clear Springs’ darkest corners and her own painful and unreliable memories to discover the truth – and save herself from the killer who could still be on the hunt.
Deliciously twisty and suspenseful from the first minute to the last, Dragonfly Summer proves that no small town’s secrets can stay buried for good.
My Review
I really loved this book. It has touches of magic and the supernatural which adds an extra layer to a an exciting thriller.
Following the mysterious disappearance of Jo Carter’s friend Sam, she leaves her home town of Clear Springs to go to university and then to live in New York where she starts out as an investigative journalist, but now works in PR. As far as she is concerned, there is nothing to go back for.
Then one day, over twenty years later, she receives a message about Sam’s disappearance and she feels compelled to return and try to uncover the truth. She also discovers that their other friend Amanda has been killed in a horrific accident. She was heavily pregnant when she died. Her grieving husband Doug also happens to have been Sam’s boyfriend when she went missing.
So many secrets, so much intrigue and at least one person who doesn’t want Jo to find out what really happened. But the problem for Jo is that something happened at the time that she doesn’t remember. In fact she has almost no memory of Sam or Amanda or anything that took place that year – the year they should all have graduated from High School – only Sam never did.
There are other people who Jo left behind – her friend Jack and her own father, whom she hasn’t seen since she left. More of her relationship with her father is revealed in the book and it’s a harrowing read.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
J.H. Moncrieff is the author of nearly twenty books of dark fiction. City of Ghosts won the 2018 Kindle Book Review Award for Best Horror/Suspense. She won Harlequin’s international search for “the next Gillian Flynn” in 2016. Moncrieff began her writing career as a journalist. Her articles have appeared in many publications, including Chatelaine, FLARE, Writer’s Digest, and The Globe and Mail.
FLAME TREE PRESS is the imprint of long-standing independent Flame Tree Publishing dedicated to full-length original fiction in the horror and suspense, science fiction & fantasy, and crime / mystery / thriller categories. The list brings together fantastic new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices. Learn more about Flame Tree Press at www.flametreepress.com and connect on social media @flametreepress
+ fiction, lies, mental health, mindfulness, murder, mystery, revenge, review, secrets, therapy, thriller
The Sanctuary by Emma Haughton
Very few people get the opportunity to stay here.
And some don’t get to leave …
Zoey doesn’t remember anything about last night. But she knows something went badly wrong. For she is no longer in New York. She’s woken up in the desert, in a white building she doesn’t recognise, and she’s alone.
When she discovers she’s been admitted to The Sanctuary, a discreet, mysterious, isolated refuge from normal life, to avoid jail, she is stunned. She knows she has secrets, troubles, but she thought she had everything under control. But as she spends more time with other residents, she begins to open up about what she’s running from. Until she realises that not everyone in The Sanctuary has her best interests at heart, and someone might even be a killer . . .
My Review
I love books like this. At times slightly far-fetched, it never lets up with the suspense and intrigue. Most of the characters are quite unlikeable in a likeable sort of way. (Simpkins the cat is my favourite character said one of my fellow readers.) You almost sympathise with some of them – the ‘poor little rich kids’ like Riley and Finn (I’m not judging). But being rich doesn’t mean you don’t have problems. The staff are all a bit strange as well – an ex-addict, a Shaman, and a psychotherapist to name just three.
Thirty-two-year-old Zoey goes out with her friends one night, gets blind drunk, and finds herself alone in a tiny room in the middle of a desert in some kind of rehab facility, where everyone except her seems to know what’s going on. She’s in a strange place, and there’s a woman screaming in a tent somewhere that resembles a big top.
While The Sanctuary, as she discovers it’s called, is not technically a lock-in, anyone who tries to leave has to walk 20 miles through the baking hot sand, with only scorpions and poisonous snakes to keep them company. Zoey knows, she’s tried and failed.
Of course she can leave on the next helicopter, but then she’d have to pay for the flight, plus the two flights it took to get here from New York and any treatment she has had so far. It costs an arm and a leg to stay at The Sanctuary and she has no idea who is paying for her. All she discovers is that it was part of the deal to keep her out of prison – she can’t even remember what she did or is supposed to have done – but who does she know who has that kind of money? No-one it would seem.
Her life so far has been a mess, never settling, always running, though she tells herself it’s fine and that she’s in control. And as she spends more and more time with the other residents, she realises they all have problems, addictions and secrets.
Brilliant! I couldn’t wait for the next ‘stave’ to land (reading with The Pigeonhole online book club you get one tenth of the book every day and can discuss the story with your fellow ‘pigeons’). Great twists at the end – most of us would never have guessed.
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author, and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.
About the Author
Emma grew up in Sussex; after a stint au pairing in Paris and a couple of half-hearted attempts to backpack across Europe, she studied English at Oxford University, then trained in journalism. During her career as a journalist, she wrote many articles for national newspapers, including regular pieces for the Times Travel section.
Following publication of her picture book, Rainy Day, Emma wrote three YA novels. Her first, Now You See Me, was an Amazon bestseller and nominated for the Carnegie and Amazing Book Awards. Better Left Buried, her second, was one of the best YA reads for 2015 in the Sunday Express. Her third YA novel, Cruel Heart Broken, was picked by The Bookseller as a top YA read for July 2016.
Find out more at www.emmahaughton.com or www.facebook.com/emmahaughtonwriter.
Or get in touch via Twitter: @Emma_Haughton
+ audio drama, Cat on a Piano, disability, fiction, friendship, love, podcast, radio play, review, Theatrephonic
AnOther World by Cat On A Piano / Theatrephonic
Adam has Cerebral Palsy. Evie has SMA2, a form of Spinal muscular atrophy**. They are both wheelchair users. Adam also has a dog called Barney who is very friendly and steals things.
Adam’s physical deterioration is much slower than Evie’s, whose decline is rapid. But in a virtual reality world called AnOther World they can be whatever they want to be. Evie is a singer in the real world but in AnOther World she also rides horses and can feel the wind in her hair. Adam runs and runs. Evie is going to teach him to ride.
This was so moving, I cried and cried. That’s all I am going to say.
**SMA is a rare genetic disease that affects the part of the nervous system that controls voluntary muscle movement.
Written by Andrew N Williams
Directed by Emmeline Braefield
Starring
Scott Peacock as Adam
Emmeline Braefield as Evie
Produced by Cat on a Piano Productions
Music:
Juno in the Space Maze by Loopop
Brass Orchid by Bobby Richards
Instant Crush by Corbyn Kites
Spacetimes Blues by Loopop
Submarine by Dyalla
This is Not the End by True Cuckoo
Spacetime Blues by Loopop
Eagle Rock by Wes Hutchinson
Dusty Rhymes by Freedom Trail Studio
Time’s Up by Loopop
All This Useless Beauty by Jeremy Black
Barely Small by Freedom Trail Studio
***This podcast contains discussion and depiction of suicide. It may not be suitable for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised. If you feel like you need help, please reach out. A list of UK based help services are listed below.
The Theatrephonic Theme tune was composed by Jackson Pentland
Performed by
Jackson Pentland
Mollie Fyfe Taylor
Emmeline Braefield
Cat on a Piano Productions produce and edit feature films, sketches and radio plays.
Their latest project is called @Theatrephonic, a podcast of standalone radio plays and short stories performed by professional actors. You can catch Theatrephonic on Spotify and other platforms.
For more information about the Theatrephonic Podcast, go to catonapiano.uk/theatrephonic, Tweet or Instagram @theatrephonic, or visit their Facebook page.
And if you really enjoyed this week’s episode, listen to Theatrephonic’s other plays and short stories and consider becoming a patron by clicking here…
***
List of Resources:
Samaritans.org: 116 123
Thecalmzone.net : 0800 58 58 58 – 5pm to midnight every day
sossilenceofsuicide.org/what-where-why : Call 0300 1020 505 – 8am to midnight every day
papyrus-uk.org/hopelineuk : for people under 35 – Call 0800 068 41 41 – 9am to midnight every day or Text 07860 039967
+ family, feminism, fiction, girl's school, grief, Historical fiction, literature, London, loss, love, mental health, motherhood, music, psychiatrist, relationships, review, sisters, twins
The Crooked Little Pieces: Volume 2 by Sophia Lambton
Mind the gap between youth’s pedestal and looming adulthood.
Two years have passed since Anneliese and Isabel braved the bombardment of the Blitz. Risks are resumed and revelations rattle as the past begins to rear its ugly head. Suffering sends Isabel on downward spirals; Anneliese falls victim to society’s expectations. Skeletons come tumbling from Susanna’s closet and for some the sex-and-death divide grows thinner.
Spying on the escapades of the sororal van der Holts, The Crooked Little Pieces: Volume 2 invites you to encounter more of Anneliese and Isabel than they know of themselves. Self-recognition is discomfiting. And we have only just begun.
My Review
I finished the review of volume one of The Crooked Little Pieces with this:
‘…. it’s very different. Don’t expect straightforward historical fiction. It’s more about emotions and the relationship between two women, who even though they are twins are disparate and diverse. As we leave them amidst world war two, I look forward to the next instalment in this fascinating tale.’
And I couldn’t wait for the second instalment of this brilliant story. Then it arrived and I wasn’t disappointed. We continue to follow the sisters two years on. The war is over. Isabel is married to Steven, whose tastes in the bedroom are both weird and dangerous. Isabel is accepting but her sister Anneliese is worried and rightly so. But Isabel wants a baby so badly that she is prepared to put up with anything.
Eventually she falls pregnant – the next part of the book is very emotional – and is convinced she is expecting a girl. She wants to call her Amelita after Italian soprano Amelita Galli-Curci who was popular in the mid 20th century. I only mention this because it’s a name I have not heard since childhood – my late mother was a huge fan and we had her LPs at home.
In the meantime, Anneliese is still finding it hard to practice as a psychiatrist – not a career choice deemed seemly for women in the 1940s. She still sees her own psychiatrist Susanna (this is a necessity for anyone working in mental health and still is as far as I know though today it would be called counselling), but seems to spend most of the time arguing with her. Susanna’s past is also beginning to emerge and much of it is not pretty.
Unlike Isabel, Anneliese has no interest in relationships, sex or babies. She is only interested in her career, but often questions her ability to relate to her patients.
Another fabulous instalment in the story of these two fascinating women and I can’t wait for volume three.
Many thanks to the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
About the Author
Sophia Lambton became a professional classical music critic at the age of seventeen when she began writing for Musical Opinion, Britain’s oldest music magazine. Since then she has contributed to The Guardian, Bachtrack, musicOMH, BroadwayWorld, BBC Music Magazine and OperaWire, and conducted operatic research around the world for a non-fiction work set to be published in 2023. Crepuscular Musings – her recently spawned cultural Substack – provides vivid explorations of tv and cinema together with reviews of operas, concerts and recitals at sophialambton.substack.com.
The Crooked Little Pieces is her first literary saga. This is volume 2. She lives in London.
+ abuse, bullying, childhood, crime fiction, family, female friendship, feminism, fiction, friendship, grief, literature, loss, love, marriage, motherhood, murder, relationships, review
Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan
The most compelling, challenging and contemporary novel you will read this year – and which will start conversations we need to have around authenticity, identity and gender.
From the bestselling authors Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan comes a moving and powerful exploration of the secrets we keep and the risks we take in order to become ourselves.
Olivia fled her abusive marriage to return to her hometown and take over the family beekeeping business when her son Asher was six. Now, impossibly, her baby is six feet tall and in his last year of high school, a kind, good-looking, popular ice hockey star with a tiny sprite of a new girlfriend.
Lily also knows what it feels like to start over – when she and her mother relocated to New Hampshire it was all about a fresh start. She and Asher couldn’t help falling for each other, and Lily feels happy for the first time. But can she trust him completely?
Then Olivia gets a phone call – Lily is dead, and Asher is arrested on a charge of murder. As the case against him unfolds, she realises he has hidden more than he’s shared with her. And Olivia knows firsthand that the secrets we keep reflect the past we want to leave behind - and that we rarely know the people we love as well as we think we do.
My Review
As this book is jointly written by Jodi Picoult, you know that it will raise important questions and make you think.
One of the questions this book asks is whether we are entitled to keep secrets about our past from the people we love. Some secrets are best left buried if they do not in any way affect anyone else. But there are others where it is necessary to tell the truth and leave the recipient of the secret to decide for themselves whether it’s something they can live with. Or is it?
I am not going to give any personal opinions here. I have to play devil’s advocate though suffice to say that my sympathies lay entirely with Lily and her mother Ava. I would like to think I would have behaved like Ava in the same circumstances. And I cried for Lily over and over.
Olivia, on the other hand, can be very naive and annoying, but that’s the whole point. Her voice will be that of many people. Her own experiences in her abusive marriage tempers her opinions and even allows her to doubt Asher’s innocence at times. Would you? Would I? Nature or nurture? I just don’t know.
If I had one criticism it would be that some of the information – for instance all about the bees – can be a bit drawn out making the book a little overlong. However, many of my fellow Pigeon readers liked the ‘bee’ stuff best. Maybe if I was reading on holiday with all the time in the world I would feel differently.
But regardless of how you feel, there is no denying it’s a brilliant book that will stay with you for a long time. I’m so glad I read it.
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author, and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.
About the Author
Jodi Picoult is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-eight novels, including Wish You Were Here, The Book of Two Ways, A Spark of Light, Small Great Things, Leaving Time, and My Sister’s Keeper, and, with daughter Samantha van Leer, two young adult novels, Between the Lines and Off the Page. Picoult lives in New Hampshire.
Jennifer Finney Boylan is the bestselling author of more than a dozen books. A nationally known advocate for human rights, she is a trustee of PEN America. For many years she was the national co-chair of GLAAD as well as a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times. She lives in New York City and Belgrade Lakes, Maine, with her wife, Deedie. They have a son, Sean, and a daughter, Zai.
+ crime fiction, Detective novel, fiction, grief, loss, murder, police drama, revenge, review, serial killer, thriller
The Pain Tourist by Paul Cleave
How can you catch a killer
When the only evidence is a dream…?
James Garrett was critically injured when he was shot following his parents’ execution, and no one expected him to waken from a deep, traumatic coma. When he does, nine years later, Detective Inspector Rebecca Kent is tasked with closing the case that her now retired colleague, Theodore Tate, failed to solve all those years ago.
#ThePainTourist @PaulCleave @OrendaBooks #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #blogtour
But, between that, and hunting for Copy Joe – a murderer on a spree, who’s imitating Christchurch’s most notorious serial killer – she’s going to need Tate’s help. Especially when they learn that James has lived out another life in his nine-year coma, and there are things he couldn’t possibly know, including the fact that Copy Joe isn’t the only serial killer in town.
My Review
‘Pain tourists – people who revel in the misery of others. And when TV shows and podcasts and books aren’t enough for them, they break into houses to collect souvenirs.’
What a fantastic book – towards the end it was so exciting I was almost holding my breath. But it is quite complicated, so you need to concentrate.
There are numerous storylines going on here. We begin with a terrible murder nine years ago, when 11-year-old James Garrett’s mum and dad were shot to death, execution style. Having witnessed his parents’ deaths, James was shot in the head, which left him in a coma from which no-one expected him to emerge. But he did and Detective Inspector Rebecca Kent is tasked with finding out who did it. Theodore Tate was the investigating officer at the time but failed to solve the crime. He is no longer a police officer – he now works as a consultant on two TV programmes, one fiction – the other a re-enactment series called New Zealand Crime Busters, a bit like Crimewatch in the UK.
Then we have the ‘Christchurch Carver’, New Zealand’s most notorious serial killer Joe Middleton, caught but now on the run. When more murders take place, it is believed that the perpetrator is a copycat, dubbed Copy Joe. But how is any of this related to a woman falling off a balcony and what has it got to do with James?
Most of the book is told from the points of view of Kent and Tate, but we also hear from James, his sister Hazel and the doctor who has been treating James.
This book is not just a crime thriller – it’s also a study of coma victims and eidetic memory – the latter being the ability to vividly recall an image you are exposed to, but only briefly. I told you it was complicated!
But is James a fraud? Is his alternative life in what he calls ComaWorld just a means of getting attention or did it really happen (in ComaWorld at any rate)? There are those who hope it didn’t, as once he wakes up, what will he remember, not just about that night, but about things he may have heard while in a coma that could incriminate others. And is that even possible?
One of my favourite books of the year so far, it’s just brilliant.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours.
About the Author
Paul is an award-winning author who often divides his time between his home city of Christchurch, New Zealand, where his novels are set, and Europe, where none of his novels are set. His books have been translated into over twenty languages. He’s won the won the Ngaio Marsh Award three times, the Saint-Maur Crime Novel of the Year Award, and Foreword Reviews Thriller of the Year, and has been shortlisted for the Ned Kelly, Edgar and Barry Awards. He’s thrown his Frisbee in over forty countries, plays tennis badly, golf even worse, and has two cats – which is often two too many. The Pain Tourist is his (lucky) thirteenth novel.
Orenda Books is a small independent publishing company specialising in literary fiction with a heavy emphasis on crime/thrillers, and approximately half the list in translation. They’ve been twice shortlisted for the Nick Robinson Best Newcomer Award at the IPG awards, and publisher and owner Karen Sullivan was a Bookseller Rising Star in 2016. In 2018, they were awarded a prestigious Creative Europe grant for their translated books programme. Three authors, including Agnes Ravatn, Matt Wesolowski and Amanda Jennings have been WHSmith Fresh Talent picks, and Ravatn’s The Bird Tribunal was shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, won an English PEN Translation Award, and adapted for BBC Radio Four ’s Book at Bedtime. Six titles have been short- or long-listed for the CWA Daggers. Launched in 2014 with a mission to bring more international literature to the UK market, Orenda Books publishes a host of debuts, many of which have gone on to sell millions worldwide, and looks for fresh, exciting new voices that push the genre in new directions. Bestselling authors include Ragnar Jonasson, Antti Tuomainen, Gunnar Staalesen, Michael J. Malone, Kjell Ola Dahl, Louise Beech, Johana Gustawsson, Lilja Sigurðardóttir and Sarah Stovell.
+ female friendship, fiction, friendship, loss, psychiatric hospital, review, secrets, sisters, thriller
The Clinic by Sally Ann Martyn
Would you go to a beauty clinic that promises to transform your life? If you’re prepared to put the work in.
It seems like the opportunity of a lifetime. An all-inclusive stay at a top-of-the-line wellness retreat for a month of pampering and luxury. Not just anyone gets in. Guests are hand selected.
#TheClinic @sallyannemartyn @JoffeBooks @Zooloo’s Book Tours @zooloo2008 #ZooloosBookTours #blogtour
They promise big results: a total transformation. All you have to do is take a few pills every day. Join in the activities. Make some new friends.
But then you start to lose track of time. The meals get smaller. Everything is taken away from you. And the guests start disappearing . . . will you be next?
My Review
I really enjoyed this. What an entertaining book! Scary, creepy, spooky, sinister and at times just plain bat-shit crazy – all the ingredients I love in a locked house mystery (if there is such a genre).
The Beautiful You Clinic is supposed to be an exclusive beauty retreat where six eager applicants have been selected to pay a fortune to transform their lives. Lose weight, discover beauty secrets, learn to love themselves. A month of pampering and luxury. Healthy food, no alcohol, plenty of exercise. And lots of pills and injections. Plus a signed contract, no phones or contact with the outside world and never leaving the house or grounds. Sounds good? In theory the results will justify the weirdness. In practice – well we shall soon see.
This month’s intake consists of Amy, who sees herself as fat and frumpy and an underachiever. If she loses the weight, her boyfriend will love her again and she’ll get a fab new job. Her parents are paying. Gaynor with her copper curls and red lipstick is mouthy and seemingly more confident than Amy. They can be friends and you need a ‘friend at times like this’. Caroline and Vicky are already pals. Audrey is older than the others and harbours a terrible secret. Jasmine is already skinny but wants to lose the stubborn few extra pounds that are preventing her from becoming the next supermodel. A perfect group of vulnerable women to fall under the spell of the glamorous Dr Cavendish who runs the clinic.
But the clinic used to be a psychiatric hospital called Pine End Asylum, where Jenny was a patient until it closed three years ago. Bob the builder wanted to knock the place down and put up new houses, but he wasn’t awarded the contract. He wants Jenny to return under cover of darkness and take photos of anything and everything that might incriminate the doctor so she is unable to renew her licence. He’s prepared to pay and Jenny is broke and owes him rent. She lives in one of his houses. It’s a dangerous mission. Is she up to it?
Sometimes The Clinic is far-fetched to the point of being as loony as its previous patients, but the excitement and the action never let up for a moment. In fact I read the last third into the night as I desperately wanted to know what happens to Amy, Jenny and co. A perfect holiday read so long as you aren’t staying in an exclusive wellness retreat.
Many thanks to @zooloo2008 for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
Sally-Anne grew up near Sheffield, in the north of England. She has worked as a writer, film and television extra and formerly as an auxiliary nurse, including a spell working in one of the last Victorian asylums in England.
As a child she loved Hammer House and Tales of the Unexpected, so unsurprisingly her books lean towards the darker side. She writes female led thrillers, inspired by the working-class women she grew up with.
She has written for international print and digital publications and won an ITV initiative for her short film script Freak Show.
Follow her at:
Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/sallyannemartyn/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sallyannemartynbooks
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/sallyannemartyn/
Website: https://sallyannemartyn.com/home
Buy Links – https://geni.us/tGOuB0t
Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63024779-the-clinic
The discovery of a murdered woman with a rescued dog and her puppies on Bodmin Moor, hurtles Daisy, a shy retired librarian and her oddball friends, into another dangerous, yet comical escapade.
Daisy is on a mission to find the murdered woman’s killer, linking events to the puppy farm, and is suddenly thrust into a world of explosions, shootings and kidnappings!
Furthermore, family secrets come to light and Daisy discovers an unexpected revelation that will change her life forever. This newfound knowledge is difficult for Daisy to cope with and somewhat hinders the situation that befalls herself and her friends. And if that isn’t enough, the return of her ex-husband poses even more problems.
#DaisyAndTheDazzlingDachshunds @JaneyClarke @BlossomSpring3 @Zooloo’s Book Tours @zooloo2008 #ZooloosBookTours #blogtour
Daisy enlists the help of Cleo her cat, and Flora her puppy, both rescue animals, in her search for the puppy farm. However, the question remains, even with all the help she has, can Daisy manage to outwit the villains and save herself and the puppies from harm?
My Review
Anyone who reads my reviews knows that I love a grisly murder mystery – the grislier the better. However, every now and again I also love a cosy mystery and the ‘Daisy’ stories are definitely more Richard Osman than Chris Carter.
Yes there’s a murder initially, then another body or two, more than one attempt to kill the poor, sweet pensioners ha! and puppy farming. Which means there’s also lots of puppies – and who doesn’t love puppies – and a rescue cat called Cleo who started it all.
Daisy, now separated from her plonker of a husband Nigel (don’t get me started), lives at the Priory (no, not the one where alcoholics go into rehab), where she has become friends with the other residents of the cottages. These include Jim, who was definitely a spy in his younger days, Martin, who’s very introverted, Sheila an octogenarian who definitely isn’t, and the lovely Maggie.
In the previous book they became embroiled in ‘murder, intrigue, and danger’, according to a review on Goodreads. In this book, we can see that their now quiet life is about to be disturbed yet again, when not only does Daisy discover secrets about her past, but Nigel turns up expecting a warm reunion. Sod off Nige! And that’s without the puppy farm ‘mystery’, inasmuch as everyone know it exists, puppies have exchanged hands for money and no papers, but no-one knows where it is.
Daisy and her friends must once again put themselves at risk to find the farm, enlisting the help of their canny canines to rescue the dogs, and unmask the villains. But have they bitten off more than they can chew?
This is a great romp and definitely one for lovers of a cosy mystery with puppies galore to boot.
Many thanks to @zooloo2008 for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
Scottish born, Janey now lives on the Jurassic coast of Dorset with her husband, and Monty their enormous Cavalier. Their two adult children live in Yorkshire and Germany.
As a lifelong sufferer from E.D.S, she copes with her restricted mobility by reading and writing. She often scribbled stories from childhood, stemming from Scotland, Cornwall, Norfolk, Essex, and the Home Counties. Now a teacher, tutor, and hotelier, she still scribbles with each novel disappearing into a drawer!
Changing primary schools, five in total, meant that she was unable to read until given special lessons. This gave her a deep love of reading, and being an only child, she devoured books. Following this experience, when she became unable to teach because of mobility problems, she became a home tutor. After extra training, she specialised in children with reading difficulties. Still an avid reader, she loves cosy mysteries, where the murder doesn’t scare her to death!
The Open University helped with her exams, enabling her to continue studying. She had an amanuensis who wrote out her answers. Of course, she did English and History, her great loves. Creative Writing was difficult as she loves to write amusing and light pieces, and they preferred dark and dismal topics!
She studied botanical art for many years and then got RSI. Determined to carry on with her art and writing, she now paints with her left hand and dictates all her novels. She still paints flowers trying to capture their beauty, it is hard work but so enjoyable.
Follow her at:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JaneyClarke
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100070649724776
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janey.clarke/
Website: https://janeyclarke.com/
Buy Links – https://geni.us/nn3QJz
Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61851880-daisy-and-the-dazzling-dachshunds
+ abuse, crime fiction, family, female friendship, fiction, friendship, kidnapping, lies, London, marriage, murder, revenge, review, thriller
The Prisoner by BA Paris
Amelie has always been a survivor, from losing her mother as a child in Paris to making it on her own in London after her father dies.
As she builds a life for herself, she is swept up into a glamorous lifestyle where she marries the handsome billionaire Ned Hawthorne.
But then, Amelie wakes up in a pitch-black room, not knowing where she is. Why has she been taken? Who are her mysterious captors? And why does she soon feel safer here, imprisoned, than she had begun to feel with her husband Ned?
My Review
Totally far-fetched with a twist that I (and many of my fellow book club readers) guessed immediately – there are also other twists that we didn’t. However, I still enjoyed it massively though it was a bit of a roller-coaster. When I say that, it goes up and down in levels of excitement, ending with the cart falling off the rails at the end. I’m still waiting to be rescued and told what happened.
The book is narrated from Amelie’s point of view in two timelines. Amelie in the present has been kidnapped and is being held in a dark room with just a mattress and a blanket. However, she is never mistreated and given food at regular intervals. There’s even a nicely equipped bathroom. Her husband Ned has also been taken, but hasn’t fared so well.
In the past timeline, Emily’s mother has died in Paris and she and her father have relocated to Reading in the UK. Then her father also dies and Amelie runs away to London to start a new life. She is befriended by Carolyn, who has recently split from her partner and life seems sunny and good.
But when she meets and marries the handsome billionaire Ned Hawthorne, things start to go horribly wrong. At this point the roller-coaster dipped as I felt the past was now too slow and convoluted. However, the present lifted it back up again.
Eventually the two threads come together, but that’s when it descended from the sublime (as being locked in a pitch-dark room ever can be) to the ridiculous as the truth unfolds.
I have read three of BA Paris’s other books Behind Closed Doors and The Breakdown which I loved, – The Dilemma was not for me – but this was way better and Amelie is a lovely main character, strong and sassy beyond her years.
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author, and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.
About the Author
B A Paris is the internationally bestselling author of Behind Closed Doors, The Breakdown, Bring Me Back and The Dilemma. Having sold over a million copies in the UK alone, she is a New York Times bestseller as well as a Sunday Times bestseller. Her books have been translated into 40 languages. Having lived in France for many years, she and her husband recently moved back to the UK.
+ fiction, Ghost story, Gothic mystery, haunting, paranormal, photographs, photography, review, secrets, supernatural
As The Moon Fell Down by L.B. Stimson
Photographer Ellie Spaulding thought she had found the perfect place – a quaint farmhouse in rural Virginia where time seems to stand still.
There were only two rules to follow…
#AsTheMoonFellDown @stimsonink @Zooloo’s Book Tours @zooloo2008 #ZooloosBookTours #blogtour
Once again, L.B. Stimson brings you along on a ghostly tale inspired by her own haunting experiences. Step back in time as the worlds between the living and the dead merge together.
My Review
This was my first L.B. Stimson book (though I have just finished The Haunting of Noyo Bay since reading this) and it didn’t disappoint. I love a haunted house mystery – the spookier and scarier the better – and As The Moon Fell Down is certainly spooky and scary.
It’s very short at 166 pages, but that’s all the time it needs to build up the suspense with no ‘padding’, just Ellie and her camera, alone in a haunted house. We know Ellie has had a similar experience previously and she likes her photo exhibitions to have depth and a background story.
So basically, Ellie sees an advert for a house-sitter to look after an empty house in rural Virginia. In fact it’s in the middle of nowhere. She thinks it’s the perfect opportunity to take her shots and leave. She doesn’t tell the realtor Sue Christie what her plans are though. She can just move on when the time comes.
Only one other person knows where she is and that’s Jolly Brown, from Brown’s Towing Service, who is contracted to plow the driveway to the road. He’s also responsible for mowing and will stop by the property from time to time at the realtor’s request. He never goes up to the house though and rarely speaks, even to pass the time of day.
As far as the house is concerned there are only two rules to follow. Don’t bring your own personal items with you (apart from clothes, toiletries and food of course) or furniture, and most importantly don’t go up to the third floor. No! No! Don’t go up there Ellie! Like in every good horror film, you can guess what she is going to do.
I have to say that I think Ellie is very brave. I wouldn’t spend one night there alone, with no WiFi or any real contact with the outside world. And that’s before things start happening.
PS I love that Sue Christie has at one point, picked up a book called A Pale Shade Of Winter which she thinks ‘sounded interesting’. It is, of course, a book written by L.B. Stimson herself.
Many thanks to @zooloo2008 for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the Author
L.B. grew up in a one stop-light town in central Idaho. After earning a Bachelor of Art’s degree in cultural anthropology from California State University-Chico, she uprooted herself to begin a new life in Washington, D.C., where she began a varied career in professional communications in private business and education.
“I’ve always had a passion for photography, travel, writing, and history. I am thrilled to now be creating works of fiction that allow me to share these passions with others. One of my favorite parts of the writing process is the historical research required to bring authenticity to my characters’ lives.”
This is her fifth book and the second in her standalone series: Tales from the Parlor Room–a collection of gothic and ghostly tales. She currently resides in Virginia where she enjoys cemetery walks, visiting abandoned and haunted places and working on more ghostly tales.
Follow her at:
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/LBStimsonAuthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stimsonink
Website: https://www.lbstimson.com
Amazon: https://amazon.com/author/lbstimson
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/lbstimson/
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/stimsonink
Buy Links – https://geni.us/V40E
Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61276895-as-the-moon-fell-down
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