Thank you to Danielle and Isis Audio for my gifted audio copy and for having me on the blog tour for this book. My review is based on my experience of the book and any thoughts expressed here are solely mine alone.
Book Details:
Kramer and Carver are back…
Madeline Kramer has finally got her life back on track at top City law firm Sullivan, Blake, Monroe. But when two armed, masked men burst into a conference room one lunchtime, kidnapping a trainee and a partner, Maddy’s life is plunged into disarray once more—particularly when charismatic DCI Jake Carver, who caught a heartless killer when they last met and with whom Maddy shared a mutual chemistry, is called to the scene.
Things become more complicated when a disturbing video reveals two more trainees have been taken. What initially appears as a random kidnapping for mercenary gain soon evolves into something far more complex, the horrifying events of thirty years ago motivating the abductors and having colossal implications for those in the present…
Against a backdrop of sleaze, sex, lies and murder in The Abduction, Maddy and Carver must work together to unravel the truth, and ensure that no crimes—past or present—are left unpunished.
My Thoughts:
As you may know from my various twitter posts, I am a huge fan of audiobooks, I listen to them while doing work admin, when relaxing with a jigsaw (yes I am a huge big nerd and very proud of this trait) when I go to bed, there is nothing I like better than snuggling up and listening to a chapter or two of my current audiobook. I find it relaxes my mind and stops me thinking about the state of the world (which we all know is rather calamitous at present). I am also addicted to crime and thrillers. So, I am delighted to be reviewing this book today as it is a perfectly blended cocktail of crime and I was thoroughly engrossed in it…and I am pretty certain you will be too.
The Abduction is the sequel to ‘The Scribe’ which I read a few weeks ago in preparation for listening to this book as it introduced me to the characters and the context that the protagonists have prior to this novel although there is a neat little summarisation early on in this book that gives you an idea of what happened previously and you could read/listen to this as a stand-alone if you choose.
It is apparent that Maddy Kramer has only recently put her life back on track after her harrowing experience with a serial killer; a new job in a new firm and it seems she has settled into the normality of lawyering life and we find her in a lunchtime conference and I loved hearing Maddy’s internal dialogue and savvy analysis of her colleagues as she tries focus on the task at hand. The somnolence of meeting is fractured in dramatic style when masked gun men storm into the room, shouting orders and scaring the lawyers present into compliance. I confess I was lying in bed while listening to this opening and it made me very glad to have my duvet to hide under! Maddy’s unassuming, almost mousey trainee is taken by the gun men. But why, what on earth would they want with her…and in instant Maddy’s hard fought normality is turned to rubble, as witness to this terrifying event she is once again brought to the familiar attention of DCI Jake Carver, who is rather delicious and trust me ladies (we likely) and it is apparent there is serious chemistry between Jake and Maddy; it is palpable…in fact their smart interactions fairly sizzle!
And this is only the beginning of a wild crime ride, with its fantastic plotting, thrilling tension and dark psychological twists and turns; which left me greedy and gasping to listen to more. In fact my partner was so enthralled he woke me up at 1am in order that we could continue listing to this book. I have to say that huge credit for the success of this audio book has to go to the fantastic voice of David Thorpe, who has impeccable inflections and whose vivid narration, keeps you enthralled and combined with AA Chandhauri stunning plot, a crime marriage has been made. As to what happens next, well it would be a crime to spoil it for you but here’s a few tasters to keep your appetite wetted; a video; more missing trainees; a spector of 30 years ago; nefarious actions of the past have darkly coloured the present and it is all for you to discover and you will be addicted to this novel.
AA Chandhauri writes with immense skill and flare, she has created a pithy, pacy and action-packed physiological thriller, that left this listener breathless with anticipation and rather breathless for a lot more Jake Carver (fanning myself here). I am thrilled to have embarked on the Kramer & Carver series and I am desperate for a book 3…please, please tell me there will be a further instalment! I loved this audiobook it kept me up half the night listening to it and whether you choose to read or to listen, this is definitely a scorching and spine tingling series and you will want to experience many more Kramer & Carver adventures, I know I do! I highly recommend you start today and both The Scribe and The Abduction need to be part of your crime collections…plus it’s payday weekend, why resist…click, click, click…
Happy Reading Bookophiles…
About the Author:
A. A. Chaudhuri is a former City lawyer. Once a highly ranked British junior tennis player, she went on to gain a degree in History at University College London, then trained as a solicitor and worked for several major London law firms before leaving law to pursue her passion for writing. In addition to books featuring the feisty Maddy Kramer, she has written four stand-alone novels, including racy thriller, Illicit Retainers, and political thriller, The Darker Side of White, yet to be published. She lives in Surrey with her family.
Amazon bestselling crime writer pub’d by Endeavour Media, rep’d A for Authors Literary Agency: #1 Amazon Australia Amateur Sleuth Mysteries (Aug ’19); #1 Amazon Canada Women Sleuth Mysteries; (Aug ’19) top 10 Amazon UK Legal crime thrillers (Aug ’19); #1 Amazon Australia Legal Thrillers (November ’19)
Please do take a look at the other reviews available on this blog tour
Available: 18th February 2021 available in Paperback
Thank you to Anne Cater, Random Things Tours and Simon & Schuster for my gifted copy and for having me on the blog tour for this book. My review is based on my experience of the book and any thoughts expressed here are solely mine alone.
Book Details:
You only get one life – but what if it isn’t the one you were meant to live?
‘When it finally arrived, I was shocked to see it; to read the words Mum wrote about these women fighting for rights I know I take for granted. Mum was here. And while she was, something happened that changed the entire course of my life. Perhaps, if I can summon the courage, the next eight weeks will help me finally figure out what that was . . .’
When Jessica, a young British woman, discovers a shocking secret about her birth she travels to Switzerland in search of answers. She knows her mother spent time in the country writing an article on the Swiss women’s rights movement, but what she doesn’t know is what happened to her while she was there. Can Jess summon the courage to face the truth about her family, or will her search only hurt herself and those around her even more? A breathtaking, richly historical commercial women’s fiction debut, set against a stunning Swiss backdrop in the 1970s women’s rights movement. The Other Daughter follows one woman in her search for the truth about her birth, and another desperately trying to succeed in a man’s world.
‘It beautifully fuses the personal and the political in its exploration of motherhood and women’s rights, as Jess tries to reconcile herself to her own choices, and the choices made by those who came before her’ – Beth Morrey, author of Saving Missy
‘Fascinating and fast-paced, The Other Daughter had me hooked from the start. A timely reminder of how hard it is to succeed in a man’s world’ – Rosanna Ley, author of From Venice with Love
‘Well written and pacy. Full of gorgeous scenery, emotion and SUCH fascinating stuff about women’s rights through the decades’ – Tracy Rees, author of The House at Silvermoor
‘A gripping and emotional story’ – Patricia Wilson, author of Greek Island Escape
‘A fascinating and beautifully told exploration of women’s rights and one woman’s fight to uncover the secrets of her birth. The Other Daughter is a stunning debut I loved it’ – Clare Empson, author of Mine
My Thoughts:
I recall my reaction when I first read the details for this book, I clearly remember thinking, well now this one sounds a bit different and that immediately piqued my interest. I have always been a huge fan of books, that educate as well as entertain me when I read them. Caroline’s debut novel does exactly that, it is a superb blend of fact and fiction wrapped up in an intriguing, insightful and compelling story. If you have ever watched the opening scenes of the HBO series ‘Mad Men’, with its eye-popping sexism, then when you read parts of this book you will know what to expect or what sort of powerful, visceral reaction it is likely to provokes in you as a modern woman…well maybe that is just my reaction but I hope not! I want to say how much I admire, Caroline’s knowledge and expertise of the location and socio/political history of Switzerland, clearly there is a great deal more to the country than chocolate and cow bells!
This is a story about two women, their choices and actions, told decades apart but joined by a lost truth.
In 1976 Sylvia Tallis is 23, she is educated and independent, embarking on a career in journalism, even though women in the UK, have been granted levels of equality, the acceptance of these rights has not yet filtered into the societal ground water. Sylvia is uninspired by writing articles about home making, relationships and what are the latest apron trends. She has set her sights on reporting, women’s issues, the gritter the better. However, her progress is stalled by accepted sexism of the time, that men report the news and women are marginalised. It makes you grind your teeth when you read it but finally she gets the go ahead to work on an article on the feminist movement in Switzerland and their recent progress and continuing fight with government over women’s rights. Sylvia meets a group of women who will change her life but not in the way you expect, as will her ‘happy accident’! I loved Sylvia’s character, her determination, her drive to give these woman a voice and her desire to have a career and a family along with the acceptance that she has the right to do both!
In 2016, Jessica, is arriving in Switzerland to take up a tutoring post for the summer, she is taking an enforced sabbatical from her teaching post in the UK. After a series of life changing events has resulted in a meltdown of sorts; her mother’s death in 2012 and the physical and mental strains of trying for a family of her own has led to the breakdown of her marriage. Jess is an emotional mess (I confess I found her a bit irritating at times but often people consumed by emotional trauma are selfish, so I believe Jess is intended to be rather annoying) and then to add fuel to this emotional fire, Jess makes an astounding discovery! (And no of course, I’m not telling you what she found out)! This shocking secret and tracking down the truth almost consumes her, it dominates her thoughts and actions and has left her in a complete state of confusion as to her sense of self, her identity. What Jess does know is that something occurred when her mother was in Switzerland in the 1970s! Can she find out the truth and when she does, will the answers, right the wrongs of the past?…I can’t wait for you to find out!
I loved how Jess and Sylvia’s stories were entwined, the structure of the plot is wonderful, there are subtle little clues and hints at what may have occurred and a few surprises too, I believed I had everything worked out until I hadn’t which made me enjoy this story even more. I was completely fascinated by the depth and scope of social history that Caroline used to base her story on; the unresolved issue of woman’s rights and the controversial child placements. I have always believed that I am an educated, informed woman however I am deeply shocked by the lack of equality granted to Switzerland’s women and that it occurred during my lifetime!
I congratulate Caroline on writing such an engrossing and powerful debut and I can’t wait to see what she creates next. This was a complex; clever and perceptive story and I loved every page. I highly recommend you treat yourself to copy, after all its payday this week, how can you resist.
Happy Reading Bookophiles…
About the Author:
Caroline Bishop began her journalism career at a small arts magazine in London, after a brief spell in educational publishing. She soon moved to work for a leading London theatre website, for which she reviewed shows and interviewed major acting and directing stars. Caroline turned freelance in 2012 and a year later moved to Switzerland, where her writing veered towards travel and she has contributed to publications including the Guardian, Independent, Daily Telegraph and BBC Travel, writing mainly about Switzerland, and cowrote the 2019 edition of the DK Eyewitness Guide to Switzerland. For two years Caroline was editor of TheLocal.ch, an English-language Swiss news site, and it was during this time that she became fascinated with aspects of Swiss history and culture, particularly the evolution of women’s rights.
Women’s Rights in Switzerland
1971 Switzerland finally granted women the right to vote at national level
1981 Gender equality and equal pay for equal work were written into the Swiss constitution
1985 Women were granted equal rights within marriage. Until then men had legal authority over their wives and could prevent them from working and even opening a bank account
1990 After being forced by the federal Supreme Court, the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden became the last canton in Switzerland to grant women the right to vote at cantonal level
2002 Abortion was legalised
2005 Statutory paid maternity leave was introduced, having been rejected in four previous referendums
2018 The Swiss federal parliament passed a salary equality law, but only within companies with over 100 employees
Please do take a look at the other reviews on this blog tour.
Thank you to Anne Cater, Random Things Tours & Aster/Octopus Publishing for my gifted copy and for having me on the blog tour for this book. My review is based on my experience of the book and any thoughts expressed here are solely mine alone.
Book Details:
“I decided to write this book, because I didn’t want to stop living the story of what happened when Harry met Minnie. I didn’t want to forget any of it, even the sad parts. This story of unexpected friendship, of love, was a wonderful gift, and in the end, it made me and Minnie happy.”
– Martha Teichner, CBS Sunday Morning News correspondent and multi-award-winner
There are true fairy tales. Stories that exist because impossible-to-explain coincidences change everything. Except in real life, not all of them have conventional, happily-ever-after endings. When Harry Met Minnie is that kind of fairy tale, with the vibrant, romantic New York City backdrop of its namesake, the movie When Harry Met Sally, and the bittersweet wisdom of Tuesdays with Morrie.
There’s a special camaraderie among early-morning dog walkers.
In this special space and time, a chance encounter with an old acquaintance changed Martha Teichner’s world. As fate would have it, her friend knew someone who was dying of cancer, from exposure to toxins after 9/11, and desperate to find a home for her dog, Harry. He was a Bull Terrier, the same breed as Martha’s dear Minnie.
Martha agrees to meet Harry and his owner Carol. What begins as a transaction involving a dog becomes a deep and meaningful friendship
between two women with complicated lives and a love of Bull Terriers in common. Through the heartbreak and grief of Carol’s illness, the bond that develops changed Martha’s life, Carol’s life, Minnie’s life, Harry’s life. As it changed Carol’s death as well.
Loneliness as a topic is becoming more and more prominent – especially in these uncertain times. This book explores what can happen when we take the time to talk to those around us. This is a memoir of love and loss, of being in the right place at the right time, and of the mysterious ways a beloved pet can bring people together
My Thoughts:
More than anything and I do mean anything in the world… I want a dog, with the same yearning that some women wish for a child, although I have certainly never wanted one of those. I do however appreciate the all-consuming desire to want something that seems unattainable (for now). My heart longs for a four pawed friend, who craves my attention, snores on my pillow and chews my ever-growing collection of slippers. My need is such that I take every opportunity to live vicariously through the dog ownership of others, so when I saw the details of this wonderful book, I couldn’t resist reading it and I am so glad that I did.
The title of the book, seems to me, to be a play on the title of the famous film ‘When Harry met Sally‘ (1989) which depicts the journey of the relationship between the protagonists, from loathing to loving and so it is a very smart way of introducing the reader to a new cast but with a similar life affirming tale. And this book is indeed such a love story and a loss story; one that is poignant, joyous, humorous and tragic.
Martha is renowned journalist but one who I confess I wasn’t familiar with, probably in the same way none of my fellow US based book bloggers wouldn’t necessarily be familiar with the likes of Clare Balding; Emily Maitlis or Kirsty Wark here in the UK but regardless of the status of recognition, Martha is a dog lover and specifically adores Bull Terriers and has rescued and adopted several, she has chosen in this book to relate the journey of Minnie and how their relationship, through a set of remarkable circumstances led them to meet Harry and his owner another savvy, stylish, dog lover, Carol Fertig and this is their memoir and tribute.
The book opens with a delicious description of one of Martha’s and Minnie’s weekly visits to the Union Street Farmers Market, all the glorious food and her dog’s addiction to fruit, the tales of sneaky doggie burglary, their recognition and kindly rewards offered by stall holders and communion with other members of the doggy fraternity. We also learn how Minnie came into Martha’s life, as a starving, skinny and stubborn rescue, her quirks, her bad manners and completely loveable but unruly influence on Goose, Martha’s other bull terrier, who has recently passed away, leaving an hollow space in both their lives. A chance encounter with fellow dog lover Stephen (owner of the fluffy, golden retriever Teddy) leads to a passing conversation, about the sadness of losing Goose and if perhaps Martha would consider taking on another bull terrier?
Stephen recounts that his friend Carol has cancer and is dying, she is looking for someone to take on her bull terrier Harry, who has his own set of medical issues and idiosyncratic tendencies but if Carol can’t find the right person to take on Harry, there is every likelihood that he will have to be put to sleep! Martha is rightly cautious and has Minnie to consider, will the two dogs get along, is this the right fit?
So begins a series of ‘doggy dates’…where Minnie and Harry are introduced to each other, will it be a match made in heaven or a total calamity, in all honesty it seems to be both with balls in bowls, glamourous coats and plenty of treat requests! But out of this unusual set of circumstances, a friendship between Martha and Carol is born, with both women, writing emails from their dogs, rather like online dating, which makes for charming reading and certainly caused me to laugh…as you read, you see recognition, allegiance and friendship bloom between the women. And as Martha herself points out, when you get to certain age, it is difficult to make new friends as most people are tied up with their significant relationships, marriages, children and professional commitments and have no time to dedicate to new friends! Through their dogs, a bond is forged and you watch their friendship develop and the relationship between Harry and Minnie too. As to the end of this story, well I expect you can guess but I won’t spell it out for you, as the impact is best explored with fresh eyes.
As you would expect from a talented journalist, this book and its story is engagingly crafted, exquisitely detailed and a compassionate ode to friendship, both the human and the canine. I found it both tender and tenacious and yes there will be tears! How a set of coincidences led to two remarkable, fascinating professional women and their love of bull terriers, to open the door of friendship, dispel loneliness and create glorious and touching memories; their story cannot fail to inspire and touch your heart, it certainly did mine and there is no doubt this book is a triumphal tribute. Definitely a book to add to your ‘to buy’ list this week along with a few boxes of tissues!
Happy Reading Bookophiles…
About the Author:
Martha Teichner has been a correspondent for “CBS Sunday Morning” since December 1993. Since joining CBS News in 1977, Teichner has earned multiple national awards for her original reporting, including 11 Emmy Awards, an Alfred I. duPont Award and five James Beard Foundation Awards.
Martha has reported on some of the largest national and international stories of this era, including the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the run-up to the war in Iraq, the death of Princess Diana and the life and death of Nelson Mandela. She’s interviewed world leaders and other newsmakers, including then-first lady Hillary Clinton.
Now based in New York, Teichner spent more than a dozen years as a foreign correspondent covering major international news. Teichner was twice assigned to the CBS News London bureau (1980-1984, 1989-1994), covering the Northern Ireland hunger strikes, the Royal Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana, and was one of only a handful of female war correspondents.
Teichner covered the Lebanon War, the 1st Intifada in 1988 in Israel and the West Bank, embedded with the US First Armored Division in the Persian Gulf War, covered the conflicts associated with the collapse of Yugoslavia (Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia) and spent three years in South Africa during the last years of apartheid. She reported on the fall of Communism in Central and Eastern Europe and the Romanian revolution. Teichner also spent several weeks in the Bolivian jungle covering undercover operations with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency
Please do have a read of the other reviews on this tour.
Thank you to Anne Cater, Random Things Tours and Doubleday for my gifted copy and for having me on the blog tour for this book. My review is based on my experience of the book and any thoughts expressed here are solely mine alone.
Book Details:
A debut novel of unlikely friendship, in which two women, one young, one old, meet in art class while in hospital and decide to celebrate their well-lived lives through paintings.
Fiercely alive and brimming with tenderness, this uplifting story revels in our infinite capacity for friendship and love when we are most in need.
Life is short – no one knows that better than 17-year-old Lenni Petterssen. On the Terminal ward, the nurses are offering their condolences already, but Lenni still has plenty of living to do. For a start, she has questions about her fate she needs answers to, and stories yet to uncover.
When she meets 83-year-old Margot, a fellow patient in purple pyjamas offering new friendship and enviable artistic skills, Lenni’s life begins to soar in ways she’d never imagined.
As their bond deepens, a world of stories opens up: of wartime love and loss, of misunderstanding and reconciliation, of courage, kindness and joy. Stories that have led them to their combined one hundred years, to the end of their days.2021
‘A truly gorgeous book, brimming with life and colour. so many things to relish, especially the joy of unlikely friendships and the power of telling stories.’ –JOANNA GLEN, author of The Other Half of Augusta Hope
‘Sharp and funny, warm and wise, there is no better time to meet Lenni and Margot. A remarkable friendship sparks two lifetimes of shared stories in one unforgettable book. I loved it!’ – JESS KIDD
‘Such a delight! I fell head over heels for Lenni and Margot, their wit and vibrancy and marvellous outlooks on life. An utter joy.’ – ABBIE GREAVES, author of The Silent Treatment
My Thoughts:
When I saw the details of this book last year, I knew instantly that I absolutely had to read it…and now that I have and all my expectations of it have been beautifully met and surpassed. I am struck with a terrible fear that my review will not be sufficient enough to convey Marianne’s skill at weaving her story or her genius at creating such incredible characters, nor are there enough adjectives to adequately describe how insightful, profound, darkly comic and unbearably tragic the book is or how its characters reached into the corners of my heart and have become part of who I am as a reader; it is a story that once you read it becomes part of you and will desperately want to share it with others. Yes, in large parts this is a book about dying but please don’t be afraid to read it, sometimes we have to be brave despite knowing there is sadness is to come, because there is always hope too. The immortal line ‘I will love you forever, pickle‘ undid me; I am still undone by it days later and as I write these words, I confess to having to look at the ceiling so the tears don’t fall on my keyboard. Please forgive me if I don’t have the skill or the words to do this book justice!
At its core, this remarkable book is about friendship and I have been incredibly blessed to have one such relationship myself; Rosalie (Jo) Weedon this review is in memory of you, as you were and still are my ‘Margot’. I miss you every day; I miss you phoning me about answers to clues in the Telegraph crossword; I miss 10am sherries; I miss you waving your bankcard at me in shops, saying…’painless extraction’ before you treated me to something wildly extravagant…I loved our friendship, our companionship and our shared stories…I will love you forever my darling AB (which stands for Aged Benefactress and is my nickname for Jo and a recreation of charming, quirky character from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens) and it is story for another time. Just know up on your cloud, I wrote this with you in my heart.
Lenni and Margot are both in hospital and a chance encounter with a wheelie bin provides them with a fleeting introduction, but one which clearly shows that they are kindred spirits. Their real introduction to each other comes in The Rose Room – the art therapy centre and their friendship is born. Told in dual narration, the book starts with Lenni, who is 17 years old, quirky, feisty, intellectually mischievous and she is dying, terminal or ‘life limited’ (eye rolling moment, more Lenni than me) and she is pondering the terminology when we are first meet her and how the idea of death makes people uncomfortable and awkward. Life is transient, we know there is a beginning, a middle and an end, there is an assumed finality to the journey of life. There is also the reasonable assumption that death should only visit those at the end of this journey, however this is not the reality, death is an arbitrary master, his approach is without fanfare and from his summons there is rarely a chance to escape.
Lenni has accepted her status but she knows that others haven’t, she would however like to know as to why this is happening to her? Which prompts her to search for possible answers, and she decides that maybe God would be a good place to direct her questions. She visits the hospital chapel, observing that the doors to the chapel have frosted windows and wonders why this would be ‘What is he up to in there’ and she meets Father Arthur and their conversations about life, death, Jesus and egg and cress sandwiches are some of my favourite in the book, their glorious conversations are sincere, profound, honest and exceedingly funny…her exclamation after Father Arthur suggests that the answers to her ‘big’ questions might not come in the form of words and if she got an answer to why she is dying, what might it be; not overly impressed with this response her own is genius ‘Maybe God would tell me he’s having me killed because, I’m restless and annoying. Or maybe the real God is Vish-nu, and he’s hella pissed that I’ve never even tried to pray to him but kept wasting my time with your Christian God. Or maybe there is no God and there never was, and the whole universe is being controlled by a turtle who’s massively out of his depth!’ …I couldn’t stop myself laughing and you will find, when it comes to Lenni you will do this a lot. I also admire Marianne’s incredible skills at cleverly arguing both sides of the existentialist discussion about life and death. That is quite a feat!
After a rather unsuccessful moment with Father Arthur one afternoon, Lenni just wants to be somewhere else and she ‘runs away’ to the art therapy room, where a painting class for the over 80s is taking place. Lenni is allowed to join in and meets Margot for the first time, with an exchange of thanks and a pithy chat about dying. And we start to learn about Margot who is 83 years old, and her past and present stories, fondness for fruitcake and purple pyjamas (and no I am not going into the full details here because they are yours to discover). After an abortive attempt to integrate Lenni with her own peer group, she is allowed to join Margot instead and their plan to get Happy is begun, after they are tasked with painting a memory and as they do they share their stories behind the memory and they are painting and an idea is formed, a plan, a project…in fact Lenni is so taken with it, she sneaks off her ward at night to tell Margot…
Their combined ages equal 100 years, so Lenni and Margot plan to paint 100 paintings to depict their 100 years of living; a way to tell their life stories, to show that Lenni and Margot were here no matter what the future holds…and with each painting we see vignettes of their lives; courting, a first kiss, moving from one country to another, a baby, mental health issues, a divorce and many more…painting these memories, makes the moments tangible, they are pieces of a puzzle that when placed in front of us, make a whole picture. And one that as I read on, completely captivated me; with its sublime details and emotional complexity and the more I learned about their memories the more I realised, that I had simply fallen in love with Lenni and Margot, with their personalities, their humour; their experiences, their friendship; their lust for life. And then of course, the crudest of blows, the dawning realisation that their story must reach an end! Have no doubt I would love to share with you, what the end is…but I won’t, I can’t, it an exceptional journey you will have to read and experience yourself! I can’t be responsible for ruining it for you! I might just suggest though, that with every end, there is also a beginning of some thing new!
Marianne’s debut book is monumental, magnificent and emotionally monstrous (in an necessary and excellent way) …I believe this is one book that should be at the top of every literary prize giving list; it would be a travesty for readers everywhere if it doesn’t win universal accolades. Very often I would chose to avoid a book that I know in my heart and mind would expose my very soul and have me ugly crying and yet, this story of friendship is tender, authentic and truly joyous with a gilt edge hopefulness and I am honoured and privileged to be able to share my thoughts on it with you. To Marianne, I want to say, thank you for your imagination, your intelligence, your creative skill, that has made this story so incredible, there are not enough words I can type to sing its praises. I know it is only February but this novel will be one of my favourite books of 2021 and probably forever! I have no doubt that once you’ve read it, you will feel the same way I do…so it leaves me to say to you, buy this book today…right now, I mean it…now, click, click, click!
Happy Reading bookophiles…
About the Author:
Marianne Cronin was born in 1990. She studied English and Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning a PhD in Applied Linguistics from the University of Birmingham. She now spends most of her time writing, with her newly adopted rescue cat sleeping under her desk. When she’s not writing, Marianne can be found performing improv and stand up in the West Midlands, where she lives.
Her debut novel The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot is to be published around the world and is being adapted into a feature film by Sony/Columbia Pictures. It has been sold in 25 territories to date.
Marianne Cronin says:
I started writing a few days after a girl I’d known at university had passed away of a terminal illness and I remember going to the big Tesco that day and having this feeling that all the people around me didn’t know she had lived or died and it got me thinking about the mark we leave on the world. I had known the girl through our university course and whenever we’d worked together, she was lovely but quite shy. When she died, a lot of her closer friends and carers wrote on Facebook about her sense of humour and her cheeky personality – a side that I hadn’t seen to her myself and I wondered if maybe I hadn’t been looking hard enough and that played a big part in Lenni’s creation – that the outside world might see her as one thing, but in reality she is a firecracker of a personality.
Then with my own experienced in hospital (which were investigations for my heart) I found myself thinking a lot about my own mortality and when I was having an ultrasound on my heart it really hit me how fragile the whole system keeping me alive is. While waiting for appointments, I found myself paying a lot of attention to all the little details in the hospital, but also saw a lot of the funny side too, such as when I was strapped to an ECG machine and asked to run on a treadmill without a top on – not my finest hour!
Finding comfort in friends is definitely a good theme and pertinent to the current state of the world. I wanted the book to show the power in female friendships – a lot of film/tv depicts female friendships as toxic and competitive and I think that can diminish the strength that female friendships can provide – especially in my own life, I’ve been blessed with some amazing friends and I think Lenni and Margot’s friendship really brings out the best in them.
Finding faith. I was sent to Catholic school (by my atheist parents) and it was pretty terrifying – because my family weren’t practicing Catholics, I never knew what the rules were or what the words to the prayers were and I was always scared of getting in trouble for doing something wrong. Arthur, the priest in the novel is based on one of my very dear friends I met at university. When we first met, he was very religious and I …/
was very not and we would have these fun debates about religion that would go on for hours. And it was the first time I’d been friends with someone who had such different opinions to my own, but we managed to be great friends (and still are) and what I wanted to show with Arthur is that you can be friends with someone even if you are completely different.
Arthur’s tolerance of other faiths/beliefs was really important to me. I didn’t want him to be a conventional priest – I think it’s rare to find someone so open to having their beliefs questioned and so willing to support others, so maybe that’s part of his appeal? When I was writing, I kept thinking of the quote that friendship is a natural reaction and can’t be forced. And I think with Lenni and Arthur, their friendship happens almost by accident and is just a natural reaction to these two compatible personalities. He’s her sounding board for the big questions and I think we’d all like to have someone like Arthur in our lives!
I was very Catholic until I went to secondary school (which was also catholic in name but not really in practice – it was quite liberal – we didn’t have a school uniform and could call our teachers by their first names) and then it was just a case of slowly questioning and unlearning everything I had learned up until then. Lenni’s debates with Arthur involved a lot of the internal debates I had with myself when I was struggling to believe. I think not believing can be quite a lonely thing, especially if you used to have faith or a lot of the people around you have faith.
Improvisation: I do improv (which is basically the same thing as that TV show Whose Line is it Anyway) and it is almost the opposite of being a writer, because writing is all about capturing thoughts and characters and preserving them to keep forever, whereas improv is making something up on the spot, doing it, and then it’s gone and you can never get it back. I’d already written the first draft of Lenni when I started going to evening classes to learn improv, but it gave the creative part of my brain a real boost – getting outside my usual overthinking and worrying and planning and getting me used to just doing things.
One of the first things they teach you in improv is to stop trying to be funny – it never works when people are trying for a laugh, you just have to follow the scene and sometimes you’ll end up with something interesting rather than funny. And when I was writing L&M, I genuinely wasn’t setting out for it to be funny, so it’s been lovely to have that feedback, mostly I was just having fun with Lenni amusing herself in conversation with other people. My PhD also helped me with the rhythm of dialogue – my PhD examined how impoliteness between fictional characters creates humour and so for the data analysis I transcribed many many hours of British sitcom data and that helped me figure out how fictional conversations can flow.
I think humour as a defence mechanism and humour in the face of darkness (gallows humour?) is quite a British thing and something I tried to use in the book. Whenever I’m scared or upset, the first thing I try to do it to make myself laugh or smile about something. and I think we’ve seen humour as a defence being so important to the public throughout Covid – especially on platforms like tik tok.
I’d had the idea for the setting after seeing a segment on This Morning – a feature on a hospital’s art therapy room. I’d wanted to have an intergenerational friendship for set in this hospital art room and this felt perfect
As research, I watched (and cried a lot at) the Channel 4 documentary My Last Summer which explored the lives of people living with terminal illness. It picked out the isolation terminally ill people were feeling and how some had been (or felt they had been) abandoned by family and friends who didn’t know how to cope with their diagnosis. The project made me think about the two sides of illness and how someone may seem on the outside to be very ill but be full of life and wit and energy in reality. I tried to incorporate this into Lenni – that people who pass her and see her think she is weak, but she is really a firecracker of a person, which anyone who takes the time to speak to her discovers.
I had a number of hospital appointments when I was in the early stages of writing. I had ECGs and heart scans, exercise tests and all sorts which were trying to find out why my heart rate was too high. Spending time in hospital having these tests done gave me the opportunity to see parts of the hospital I hadn’t seen before. The same when I had a minor surgery, the experience and vulnerability of that contributed to some of Lenni’s surgery scenes.
Please do read some of the other reviews on this blog tour
Thank you to Dave & The Write Reads Tour and Penguin Random House for my gifted copy and for having me on the blog tour for this book. My review is based on my experience of the book and any thoughts expressed here are solely mine alone.
Book Details:
Hilarious, bold and sparky, this is the funniest book you’ll read all year.
Perfect for fans of Sex Education and Derry Girls.
Alex is a rebel with a purple fauxhawk and biker boots.
St Mary’s Catholic School is the strict boarding school where she’s currently trapped.
Despite trying everything she can to get expelled, she’s still stuck with the nuns, the prudish attitude and the sexism. So, Alex decides to take matters into her own hands. She’s going to stage the school’s first ever production of The Vagina Monologues . . .
Trouble is, no one else at St Mary’s can even bear to say the word ‘vagina’ out loud!
A riotously funny novel about the importance of friendship and finding your voice.
My Thoughts:
I don’t often have any regrets for the path my life has taken but I admit I do wish that books for young adults (YA) had been in greater prevalence in my own youth. I was then as I am now an avid reader but books for teenagers and especially girls were limited. Bad Habits is exactly the sort of novel I would have consumed and referred to with a gleeful reverence because it articulates with magnificent humour and glorious insight what it can be like to be a teenage girl, navigating the route to womanhood. Flynn writes with youthful exuberance and flair and her latest book is pithy, charming and completely irreverent and left me with a huge grin on my face. I can’t wait for my goddaughter to be old enough to read it.
Alex is perfecting the art of rebellion but in her own individual and special way, her parents have divorced and have shipped her off to a Catholic boarding school. It is very clear that she’s smart and sassy and if she applied herself academic success would be hers to claim. Yet rebelling against the patriarchy is the path she chooses, and she spends an extraordinary amount of time finding inappropriate courses of action (which are hilarious). Part of Alex’s determination in voicing & practicing her beliefs also stems from the fact she really wants to get herself excluded (expelled) and I think part of that is the oppressive nature of the school and partly because she is enraged at her parents lack of support, I suspect it is a level of attention seeking, as they have to respond to any significant fallout of Alex’s capers!
Alex bares familiar traits to many of us (certainly myself) when I was her age, she is vocal, she is feisty, she is fierce, she is astute, she is informed and requires recognition of independent thought and really wants to have her say in direction her life is moving. She also embodies the classic, teenager trait that she is adamant that her viewpoint and opinions are the right ones and the most valid and basically anyone who dares to disagree with her are dismissed as being deluded fools (chiefly all adults). Yet there is a paradox in the sense that she is also incredibly accepting of the differences of others, namely her roommate Mary-Kate, who is her pole opposite; she is obedient, diligent in her studies, organised, smart in mind and appearance; innocently charming and with braiding skills to rival the women of the LDS community and most importantly her friend.
Despite being every parent and teachers living embodiment of a nightmare, the more you read about Alex (and her plans to stage a performance of the vivid and controversial Vagina Monologues) the more you can see and appreciate her strengths, her loyalty and her articulate and courageous stance on women’s issues. I admire (and share) her rage and frustration at how young women (and us older ones too) are disrespected because they are female. There are several instances in the story, where we see how offensive the behaviour is towards young women; how marginalised their concerns and questions are; the stark reality suppressing information to women relating to female sexuality and health, matters of choice and the need to dispel confusion around how women see themselves and their bodies. And why such information is barred; because a outdated perception that such information is deemed a moral matter, possibly being informed will wrongly encourage young women to have sex????Excuse me but WTF! This failure to inform is because the subject is deemed unpleasant, unnecessary, taboo or worse sinful (OK, just writing these words gets me enraged)! I applaud Flynn’s approach to confronting these hideous messages and how she has Alex tackle them in direct, humours and ballsy ways…bravo Flynn bravo and PS can Mary-Kate have her own book as she is just as authentic, amusing and fabulous in her own way as Alex is (and I would love to read her story). So will Alex succeed in her mission to elucidate, educate and eradicate or will she be excluded…ah, well that is for me to know and for you to read the book and find out!
Flynn has written a fabulous book for young women everywhere, tackling the issues they face from periods, sexuality, feminism and romance all rolled into an addictive, amusing read. It is an empowering and insightful novel, as well as being laugh out loud, roll on the floor crying with mirth funny…I knew that I was going to love it the moment she wrote the following phrases ‘Misogynist labradoodle & Tampon Terror’ and the fact that Alex chose to title her ‘Feminist club’, the ‘Student Alliance for Diversity, Inclusion, Sensitivity & Tolerance’ or SADIST – how can you resist laughing!!! I couldn’t and I can’t now as I write this review! So much so, that I have forgotten completely what I was going to write next!
What I will say, is that this book needs to be in every public and school library worldwide, it is utterly engaging and brilliant in its conception and characterisation and I urge you to buy a copy for any/every women (young or old) that you know, right now, today it is simply too good to miss!
Happy Reading Bookophiles…
About the Author:
Flynn Meaney is the author of The Boy Recession and Bloodthirsty. She studied marketing and French at the University of Notre Dame, where she barely survived the terrifying array of priests and nuns, campus ghosts, and bone-crushing athletes who inspired Bad Habits. Since completing a very practical MFA in Poetry, she works for a French company and travels often between New York (when she’s in the mood for bagels) and Paris (when she’s in the mood for croissants).
Available: 18th February 2021 in Hardback; 8th July in Paperback.
Special Event
Before I share my review, I am honoured to announce that there is going to be Special Event for the launch of Ruthless Women and I have put the details below and a link, please do join in the celebrations.
Melanie will be launching the book alongside two of TVs leading ladies Coleen Nolan and Beverly Callard who will be spilling the beans on their own personal lives for a digital book launch “Melanie Blake’s Girls Night in” that members of the public can buy tickets to for £10 including a copy of the book.
Thank you to Bei Guo and Midas PR for my glorious gifted copy and for having me on the blog tour for this book. My review is based on my experience of the book and any thoughts expressed here are solely mine alone.
Book Details:
AN EROTICALLY CHARGED THRILLER SET ON AN INTERNATIONAL TV SHOW
FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE THUNDER GIRLS
Ruthless Women takes readers on a wild ride behind the scenes of beloved TV drama Falcon Bay, beamed globally to millions three days a week from its picturesque location in the Channel Islands. But even in this beautiful coastal spot, tensions swirl. Once one of the world’s most popular soap operas, but now with ratings and syndication at an all-time low, the production has been sold to an American business woman, beautiful and malevolent Madeline Kane, the new network owner who arrives on the tiny island just off Jersey, determined to do whatever it takes to get the show back to number one.
Writer Farrah, star Catherine and producer Amanda are the driven, ambitious women who keep the show on the road. But Farrah is losing episodes to the network’s lead male rival, Catherine is terrified of the public falling out of love with her and Amanda’s evil husband Jake, vice president of the network, is plotting to get his own wife kicked off the show.
As the dawn of a new era begins, cast and crew turn against each other with loyalty, decency, and trust, replaced by scandal, betrayal, and an outrageous ambition to survive.
In a true battle of the sexes, these women will do anything to stay on top. But can they team up to bring down their male rivals? Or will jealousy, betrayal and revenge tear their long held friendships apart?
As the story reaches a climax so shocking readers will be talking about it for decades, one thing is certain: only the most ruthless woman will survive…
My Thoughts:
From the moment I freed this book from the confines of its innocuous brown packaging, there was an instant WOW factor! The proof I received is stunning, dark and delectable and that is just the cover, with its classy 1950s noir inspired image. I admit, my reaction was, ooooh that looks delicious and I absolutely wanted to consume it there and then. In fact I was humming with excitement to start reading this luscious tale. My initial instincts were bang on, opening Melanie’s book is exactly like the ecstatic moment when you unwrap a gift from Tiffany! It is the perfect storm of literary lushness, with the sultry panache reminiscent of the Queens of commercial fiction Jilly Cooper & Jackie Collins, combined with flamboyance, style and smart characterisations that to me echo those I loved from the fabulous HBO series ‘Sex in the City‘ and you want to cheer on this cast of incredible women that Melanie has created, especially when they are bonking or breaking the misogynist patriarchy! Although this novel carries the familiar, addictive and glorious traits of JC and SITC, Melanie’s story comes with its own brand of authenticity, astuteness and flair. This book is a riotous, raunchy and readable romp and will most certainly put a cheeky grin on your face and a fire in your loins…I absolutely adored it and in these long lockdown days it is the unmitigated foil to quench the shadows that threaten to engulf us.
Falcon Bay is a well-established TV soap opera but its ascendancy is on the wane, with falling viewing figures and faltering storylines, recently it has been sold to a wealthy American. Madeline Kane, whose savvy style and sweet southern tones hide her mercurial and malicious intent. It seems she will stop at nothing to claw back success for her new acquisition! Aided and abetted by newly promoted Jake Monroe; avaricious, misogynist and aging lothario (a complete and utter W**k*r)..trust me my taser finger was itching every time he speaks!
This dubious duo are planning some scurrilous changes to the production and both have their own fiendish agendas! But nothing is that easy or simple, the flies in the ointment (so to speak) they have formidable opposition; Amanda King, Executive producer; new mother, charming, kind and loyal, beleaguered wife to Jake, she might have been demoted while on maternity but she’s not out yet!!! Helen Gold; Head of Casting, tenacious, perceptive and has no qualms about testing the talent on her casting couch; Catherine Belle; aka Lucy Dean, leading actress, redoubtable with an award winning pedigree; Farrah Adams; Writer/Director, savvy and ambitious, she’s fought hard to earn success but wants much more! Like the soap opera they are all part of, we are now engrossed and immersed in their lives, their loves, their trials, their plotting, their reactions and counter actions…it is an exhilarating, enthralling, atmospheric whirlwind of a battle and I can’t wait for you to read it too and just you wait until you get to the stunning, shocking climate of the story!!! OMG it is epic and I am doing my best not to put hints or spoilers as it is just too fabulous to ruin! I will give a small hint, that the tag line ‘ Ambition can be deadly‘ is apt, ironic and genius and you will see what I mean!
This magnificent story will most certainly be classed as a ‘bonk buster’ or ‘chick lit’ and it is both. I no longer see these labels as pejorative terms despite their inception being rooted in the well-established patriarchal need, to marginalise the strength, the power and the fan following that a book Melanie’s will garner. Ruthless Women is a triumph, it has multiple narrations, well-conceived plot layers; a superb diverse cast of strong, smart, savvy, sexy and successful women that we her readers can relate to or even see ourselves as regardless of our age, size, style or colour. Melanie’s book is vivacious, vicious and victorious and every woman I know, will love it! Melanie is clearly a shrewd lady; beside the pages of taut buttocks, desire filled eyes, splendid orgasms in store cupboards there is a subtle clarion call to her readers regarding the ever present taint of sexism and the necessity and validity of #MeToo movement. I have no doubt that Melanie has used her extensive professional knowledge and exclusive experiences within the industry she has fictionalised here to embellish and embolden this novel. I suspect the type of entitled, gross, crass and talentless men, she has spared no adjective in re-creating in the forms of Jake and Aiden have their roots in reality and I love that she has put such experiences to good use in her book.
I greedily devoured this splendacious story; it has it all; drama, tension, fame, fallibility, killer shoes, whip-smart reposts, heroics, dastardly deeds, romance, revelations and revenge…and when you reach the last page, you will grieve its end as I did! I am desperately hoping that we haven’t seen the end of the machinations of the cast and crew of Falcon Bay, I would ravenously relish the opportunity for a re-visit. This is a book, you must add to your libraries, to read piles, to buy piles today…I insist!
Happy Reading Bookophiles..
About the Author:
MELANIE BLAKE IS BACK!
AND ONCE AGAIN SHE’S WRITING ABOUT A WORLD SHE KNOWS WELL.
As one as the UK’s most successful agents, managers and publicists for music stars and TV actresses, Melanie Blake has represented some of the most famous faces on British television and international screens.
Where her debut novel, the No. 1 bestseller The Thunder Girls, was inspired by the early years of her career spent working in the music industry, her follow up novel Ruthless Women is heavily influenced by the last 15 years Melanie has spent representing more female actresses than any other agent in her genre. Her clients have included Patsy Kensit, Beverley Callard, Michelle Collins, Stephanie Beacham, Emily Lloyd, Denise Welch, Jennie McAlpine, Claire King, Gaynor Faye, Laila Morse, Danniella Westbrook, Sherrie Hewson, Amanda Barrie, Gillian Taylforth and Nadia Sawalha, to name just a few. Nicknamed The Queen Of Soaps, there is no one better placed to write a novel based around a continuing drama and its leading ladies.
As one of the UK’s most successful female entrepreneurs, over the years Melanie has had two careers at the top tier of the entertainment industry. Her first 10 years were as a music manager with a roster of award-winning artists who sold over 100 million records and the second decade as one of the UK’s leading acting agents representing some of the most famous faces on British television. The Thunder Girls is inspired by her time in the music business and Ruthless Women which is out in 2021 is inspired by her years in the world of soap opera and drama. Her own management company, which has covered both genres, has turned over more than 30 million.
With no formal education herself, Melanie is a true champion for working class women who are so often overlooked in our society. The Thunder Girls is a celebration of women from diverse demographics and all the lead characters in the novel are over 40 and working class. As well as having written the book, Melanie has penned The Thunder Girls the play which embarks on a nationwide tour in 2021. Melanie Blake might just be the world’s biggest Jackie Collins fan. She first read Rock Star aged 9, after smuggling the copy out of the library by telling the librarian it was for her mum! Melanie was dazzled by Jackie Collin’s world where women clawed themselves from poverty into glamorous, moneyed lives. In Jackie Collins’ novels, women were bosses and winners who achieved everything they wanted and it was these novels that inspired Melanie to become her own boss and a lady entrepreneur. In 2017 Melanie’s connection with Jackie Collins came full circle, when after Jackie’s sad death she bought five pieces of Jackie’s jewellery at auction – two rings and three necklaces inlayed with morganite, citrines and diamonds – which she wears every day.
For the first time, Melanie reveals her biggest secret – that her career actually started as an ‘extra’ on the set of Coronation Street and EastEnders. It was there she began clawing her way from the bottom of the ‘Soap Opera ladder’ to the very top, going on to represent the leading ladies of the very shows she was hired to stand in the background of. It’s a one in a million story, by a uniquely determined woman. From extra to celebrity agent, she’s seen it all and that journey enabled her to write ‘the must read book of 2021’. During the promotion, she’ll be sharing more of her own unique journey as well as some of the celebrity bombshells, which inspired her to write her new novel.
Ruthless Women’s page turning storyline and colourful characters could only have been crafted by a woman who lived this extraordinary life and is so hotly anticipated it has already been confirmed to be published all around the world, with a global press campaign to accompany its release in Australia, New Zealand and all of North America, this time next year Melanie Blake will have gone global.
The Genre…
Over 25 million people in the UK watch soaps a week and now they’ll get a true glimpse of what really goes on behind the scenes of TV’s most popular shows, and examples of the desperate trade off’s their beloved leading ladies go through to survive the very game they are in. Ruthless Women shows that what takes place behind the cameras is way more juicy than on….
Even the actresses, who Melanie was worried would be angry about what she’s written, are raving about Ruthless Women too. Well, some of them are….
Available: 11th February 2021 in Paperback, eBook and Audio
Thank you to Anne Cater and Random Things Tours for arranging my gifted copy and for having me on the blog tour for this book. My review is based on my experience of the book and any thoughts expressed here are solely mine alone.
Book Details:
HE WILL CONTROL YOU. HE WILL DESTROY YOU.
Don’t let him under your skin. He’ll destroy you.
Don’t fight him. He’ll win.
Run. Never let him find you.
I thought I was safe here, but I’m not. I’ve stayed too long. Now Genevieve is dead, and the police are on their way.
It’s time for me to go.
I must stick to the plan – the one I made the day I arrived in this city. My bag is packed. It always is. I will destroy every shred of evidence of my existence. The police must never find me. If they do, so will he.
I made a mistake, and someone had to die. But I’m the one who has truly lost her life.
I need to make a choice. If I keep running, I’ll never stop.
If I go back, he will make me suffer.
How many lives can one person ruin?
A Tom Douglas thriller
Praise for Rachel Abbott
‘A properly addictive, leave-the-light-on thriller’ – Red Magazine
‘This fast-paced thriller will have you racing through to its shocking conclusion’ – Closer
‘Almost unbearably tense, with a killer twist.’ – Good Housekeeping
My Thoughts:
This is my first foray into the world of Tom Douglas, I will be rectifying this grievous error in my crime thriller reading judgement, as soon as I have finished extoling the fabulous spine tingling glory of this tale…only a chapter into this story and I had one of those light bulb moments (bear with me they don’t happen all that often and no I hadn’t untangled the plot and knew who done it..I’m good but not that good!) I sat on my sofa, frothy coffee in hand and thought, how on earth did I completely miss this incredible series of books by Rachel!! So, to save you from having my ‘muppet moment’ I thought it was best to confess my foolishness and hopefully you will avoid the same realisation! I am not fond of reading books out of sequence, as it completely messes with my reading OCD, however despite this book being number 10 in the series, I discovered that it stood up exceedingly well without my having read the first 9 books. On the plus side, I am overjoyed at having ‘finally’ found my next crime series to binge read!
Right from the first page, there is a tangible tantalising sense of disquiet, an atmosphere that provokes your sense of expectation…but for what and why?
This novel revolves around Martha Porter, who it seems to me, wishes to pass through life being unnotable and more importantly unnoticed but when her boss’s wife Genevieve is gruesomely murdered, she cannot stay hidden (but from what or whom I can hear you ask)…Tom’s team are called into investigate. Their suspicion of Martha as the culprit, seems to be confirmed by her own actions…she flees but in her wake leaves some very odd clues; who has a go-bag ready at all times; who in these modern times leaves no digital foot print; why is there almost no trace of Martha Porter and her life, her imprint in the world seems almost spectral!
Unlike Tom and his team, we as readers via a series slow burning, tortured and distressing flashbacks, have a better understanding of Martha. People who are utterly petrified often make seemingly unfathomable choices, a fight or flight instinct if you will. Martha has both; the fight to protect her son at any and all costs and flight to avoid the police because, if they apprehend her, then her harrowing past will certainly catch up with her!! Tom with his second in command Becky Robinson soon comprehend that not all is as it seems and strive to unravel this dark, tangled web!
Now you may feel, I am being rather vague about the splendid scope and details of this story and you are right, I am. Because if I am not careful, I may give too much away and that would be criminal, as this novel is perfectly thrilling and you need to experience its dark immersiveness for yourself and just you wait until you get to its delectable twists and turns, you will be in crime ecstasy and as to the riveting revelations…I am dying for you to discover them too!
This novel is a master piece of crime drama, Rachel is a mistress of strategy, the plotline is magnificent; a maelstrom of manipulations, heinous coercion, of gasp out loud moments and disturbing secrets, when reading it you are convinced that you understand what is happening and why Martha is making the choices she makes until you realise you don’t! Rachel is the doyen of the red herring and blind alleys, for which I applaud her! The cast of characters she has created to reveal her tale, are exceptional and engaging, they range from my favourite Becky who is smart, savvy and stands no messing to the loathsome and detestable villian/s of the piece and I’m being polite here! I was simultaneously enthralled, enraged and engrossed in this book in fact, I couldn’t or wouldn’t put it down, literally as it turns out…I fell asleep with it clutched to my chest and my partner had to prise is from my snoring somnolent form! See it is so fantastic, I wanted to sleep with it!!!
I am ecstatic at my good fortune at having stumbled into Tom Douglas’s world and I am off to buy the first couple of books in the series right now…I enthusiastically recommend you do the same as they are the perfect foil for these long lockdown days!
Happy Reading Bookophiles…
About the Author:
Rachel Abbott is a British author of psychological thrillers. As a self-published author, her first nine novels (and one novella) in the DCI Tom Douglas series have combined to sell over four million copies and have all been bestsellers on Amazon’s Kindle store. In 2015, she was named the number one bestselling self-published author in the UK and the 14th bestselling author (both published and self-published) over the previous five years on Amazon’s Kindle in the UK.
In 2017, following a five-way auction, Abbott signed a two-book deal with Headline Publishing Group. The first book, And So It Begins, was published in 2018 and features Sergeant Stephanie King. The second book in this series, The Murder Game was released in April 2020. Her books have now been translated into over 20 languages.
Abbott’s writing career began in 2009, when she decided to write a book about a woman facing a situation which gave her no option but to commit murder. In November 2011, Abbott published the story – Only the Innocent – on Amazon.
Abbott followed up Only the Innocent with The Back Road, Sleep Tight, Stranger Child, Kill Me Again, The Sixth Window, Come A Little Closer, The Shape of Lies and Right Behind You. All the thrillers in this series focus on the victims and perpetrators of the crimes, and the complex relationships that exist between protagonist and antagonist. This series features Detective Chief Inspector Tom Douglas.
Abbott grew up near Manchester, England. She worked as a systems analyst, and then founded an interactive media company, developing software and websites for the education market. When she sold the company in 2000, she moved to Italy where she restored a 15th-century Italian monastery. For a time, she and her husband operated the property as a venue for weddings and holidays. She now lives on the Channel Island of Alderney in a Victorian Fort where she spends her days writing in her office – a former gunpowder shelter.
For publicity enquiries please contact Rachel on rachel@rachel-abbott.com
Twitter: @RachelAbbott
Instagram: @rachelabbottwriter
Facebook: RachelAbbott1Author
Website: rachel-abbott.com
Please do check out the other reviews on this blog tour
Available: 4th February 2021 in paperback, eBook and Audio.
Thank you to Alex Layt & Orion books for my gifted copy and for having me on the blog tour for this book. My review is based on my experience of the book and any thoughts expressed here are solely mine alone.
Book Details:
Power, passion and a devastating fight for the crown – discover the gripping story of Oliver Cromwell’s youngest daughter.
Perfect for fans of Anne O’Brien, Alison Weir and Philippa Gregory ‘A powerful and superbly researched historical novel’ Andrew Taylor, author of The Last Protector 1657.
The youngest daughter of Oliver Cromwell, eighteen-year-old Frances is finding her place at England’s new centre of power.
Following the turmoil of Civil War, a fragile sense of stability has returned to the country. Her father has risen to the unprecedented position of Lord Protector of the Commonwealth, and Frances has found herself transported from her humble childhood home to the sumptuous palaces of Hampton Court and Whitehall, where she dreams of romance.
But after an assassination attempt on the Cromwell family, Frances realises the precarious danger of her position – and when her father is officially offered the crown, Frances’ fate becomes a matter of diplomatic and dynastic importance. Trapped in the web of court intrigue, Frances must make a choice. Allow herself to be a political pawn, or use her new status to take control – of her own future, and of her country’s…
My Thoughts:
I am a huge fan of historical fiction; I love how writers of this genre re-animate and re-imagine the lives and times of people who have been consigned to the forgotten annuals of time past. I have a particular fondness for the revisiting the lives of historic women. Which is why I was ecstatic to be able to read this novel as it is set in a period of history, that my own long finished education had merely skirted.
It is very clear that Miranda has an exacting and exceptional knowledge of this historic period and her tone and style in writing about Frances Cromwell is addictive and effective and she excels in drawing the reader into her character’s life, the tension, the truths, the trials and the tribulations…this book quickly absorbed me and I am honoured to shower it with praise and adulation. I have no doubt Miranda’s book will be compared with the works of other excellent historical fiction writers, like Philippa Gregory, Stacy Halls and Alison Weir and I believe that Miranda deserves her ascendancy to their hallowed ranks.
Frances Cromwell, was not born into nobility and certainly was not born a princess but like so many women; the circumstances of her birth and parentage and their advancement became her own, as well as becoming the dominating and controlling factor of the trajectory of her life. Her father Oliver Cromwell, who is recognised today as one of the most controversial figures of British history, after all his signature (a long of several others) led to the execution of a King (Charlies I). I have always perceived him as over-reaching and politically ambitious with an inflated sense of self riotousness, that I did not admire. Miranda has not sought to change such viewpoint, but has put him in a softer focus, which I think is rather clever!
We join Frances in the socio/political aftermath of regicide; her father has been offered the crown; he is Lord Protector and his political might is at its height! Frances is becoming aware that being a daughter to such an important man, is going to place some serious limitations on her life. She unlike her older sisters, may not be able to choose who she loves; she may not marry for love; there is the ever present possibility that her marriage could be one of national advantage rather than personal preference! Miranda has cleverly brought us into the life of a young woman, whose passion is books and learning and she relishes the comforts that come with her father’s political status, a maid, libraries, books, beautiful clothes her very own room…but it is the dawning realisation that this state is transient, that like a piece on a chess board, she can be forced to move in a direction she had not intended. Which filled this reader, with heaps of questions and certainly proved food for thought, which I relished immensely!
While reading this book, it struck me how remarkably Miranda humanized all the characters both fictional and factual; I loved the familial intimacy between father and daughter. I confess I’ve never really been a huge fan of Oliver Cromwell (mainly due to the fact, I have always believed there was no real need to execute Charles I, he could have been exiled successfully but I am sure there are many who will dispute my thoughts on this matter – I digress, sorry!) I admired how Miranda, made him so appealing as a father/husband, she expertly breathed life into this formally grim, gloomy, austere man for me. I was also delighted that in her portrayal of Frances; Miranda made her resolute, subtly feisty, intelligent and observant. I loved that when Frances’s is in the public eye, she behaves as was expected of a woman of her station but her mind and thoughts are free and she is avidly taking in all around her; assessing, speculating and absorbing, the people, their reactions be they friends or foe. The sumptuous details of history that Miranda has crafted, honed and developed, are utterly compelling and there is also a constant atmosphere of tension in the book but it ebbs and flows just like in life, which is an incredible feat to recreate on the pages of a book.
For me, the depth and scope of this story, the wealth of historic accuracy, the insightful and astute development of Frances, the capture of the tumultuous political environment, the sense of danger, the familial love…this book has it all and has for now sated this reader’s thirst for immersion in a gripping historical tale.
Miranda’s debut is authentic and outstanding and I loved every page I spent with Frances. I can’t wait to see who Miranda choose to write about next? Regardless, I will certainly be clamouring to get hold of her next book and I have no doubt you will too.
Happy Reading Bookophiles…
About the Author:
Miranda is a writer and historian specialising in the history of Oliver Cromwell, his family and the politics of the Interregnum period following the Civil War. She studied at Cambridge University, leaving with a PhD, and continues to speak at conferences and publish journal articles and book reviews. She also enjoys being a Trustee of the Cromwell Association. Alongside this, Miranda works as a commercial solicitor in the City and began writing historical novels on maternity leave. She lives in Hampshire with her husband, young son and cat Keats.
Thank you to Anne Cater, Random Things Tours and Orion Fiction for my gifted copy and for having me on the blog tour for this book. My review is based on my experience of the book and any thoughts expressed here are solely mine alone.
Book Details:
BLAKE’S DEAD. HIS WIFE KILLED HIM. THE QUESTION IS: WHICH ONE?
The only thing the three women had in common was their husband. And, as of this morning, that they’re each accused of his murder.
Blake Nelson moved into a hidden stretch of land – a raw paradise in the wilds of Utah – where he lived with his three wives: Rachel, the chief wife, obedient and doting to a fault. Tina, the other wife, who’s everything Rachel isn’t. And Emily, the youngest wife, who knows almost nothing else.
When their husband is found dead under the desert sun, the questions pile up. What are these women to each other now that their husband is dead? Will the police uncover the secrets each woman has spent her life hiding? And is one of them capable of murder…?
Black Widows is a distinctive and original psychological thriller, igniting conversations around marriage, relationships, religion and gender.
‘Black Widows is a brilliant joyride in the company of three unforgettable women, sister-wives with nothing in common except their dead husband. Completely compelling and vividly told, the story plays with your loyalties and makes you question what counts as moral behaviour. This is a hugely enjoyable and original mystery with real heart, and I loved it.’ Jane Casey
‘It’s a great hook and a tremendous read – I thoroughly enjoyed this. The tension ramps up all the way to the end and I loved the relationship between the wives.’ HARRIET TYCE
‘Quinn gives her readers an exquisite murder mystery, taking us through uncharted territory of off-the-grid, modern-day intentional communities. Black Widows is a steady, slow boil you’ll be happy to immerse yourself in.’ CHRISTINA DALCHER
‘I loved this book. It’s both a fascinating glimpse into a hidden world and brilliantly twisty crime novel. Three wives, three motives, three utterly compelling stories.’ ELLY GRIFFITHS
My Thoughts:
It was a cold, snowy afternoon last week, when I curled up on my sofa with a frothy coffee and this intriguing crime thriller. What drew me to its pages, was its unique setting and tantalizing characters and I confess my own fascination with closed secretive religious communities which by their refusal to adhere to mainstream norms make them curious, odd and an ideal candidate for a crime thriller! I was not disappointed, Cate has crafted a compelling, addictive story driven by three original and fabulous female protagonists whose lives and lifestyle make for compulsive reading. This is a delectable, diverting crime thriller, brimming with secrets and lies and lies and secrets; of sects; of cults: of warped religion; of nefarious want; every aspect will embroil you in this unique, tension ridden tale. In fact, I was so completely engrossed in this book, I forgot to cook dinner!!! Get the takeaway menus ready, you will not be able to put it down either, I suspect!
Blake Nelson has 3 wives or rather had 3 wives, as his mutilated dead body has been found near his favourite fishing hole in the remote, isolated wilds of the Utah desert. Logic and location suggest, that one of them must be the culprit…surely? Rachel is the first wife; married to him for 6 years; diligent in her role as homemaker and rigidly adhering to the rules of the LDS (Latter-Day Saints) or Mormons, from her modest dress to an almost pathological addiction to canning and storing food (as per the edicts of the church). Emily is her sister wife, striving to fit into this unusual family; to comprehend the rules of Mormon marriage; she is girlish, naïve, an innocent in every way and from a strict catholic background. Tina is the 3rd wife and on the face of it the oddest choice, former drug addict and hooker, she is edgy, savvy, sexy and doesn’t really seem to adhere to the confines of LDS. It is clear from the early chapters of this story, that these three women are irritated, frustrated and annoyed by each other and certainly don’t fit the notion of sister wives, of plural harmony! The only commonality they seem to have is their relationship with Blake, so with his demise, you expect them to forge their own path…to enjoy their individual freedom!
I loved how this story is structured, each chapter is told from the perspective of one of the wives; you are shown their current lives, roles, routine, the love for their husband, their occasionally darkly comic observations about each other. As a reader I felt as though I got to know these women, I learned, how each woman met Blake and how their own needs, wants led them to agree to this acceptance of plural marriage…and I watched them change, as the accusation of their husband’s murder is levelled at them! I was impressed that Cate chose to have her protagonists form an awkward alliance, a scrappy tenuous sisterly bond, when so often we see female characters throw other females under the proverbial bus! I thoroughly enjoyed watching their alliance cement and my initial assumptions about each woman altered, as did my conclusions about who killed their husband and I found the emotional tension building with each chapter, along with the sinister flash back plotline doing some neat sharp twists and the expected becomes unexpected and the convergence of Rachel, Emily and Tina’s past and present lives is completely enthralling and I found myself rooting for each of them for widely different reasons. Also the more I learnt about their husband, the more I was quite happy for him to be dead…my biggest concern turned out to be worrying that one of them would take the blame or be assigned it by the police!
Cate’s research and knowledge of the very secretive Latter-Day Saints (LDS)/Mormon community is outstanding and the specific details regarding relationship rules, codes of dress, marital relations of this sect is as eye opening, mind boggling and skin crawling and made me curiously voyeuristic as it did, when I read Elissa Wall’s biography Stolen Innocence. The very alien notions of holy garments, polygamy, end of days, blood atonement, Christian marital discipline, keeping sweet and dressing like Laura Ingalls Wilder (Little House on the Prairie) to define modesty in modern times; these visual and visceral assertions of misogyny certainly makes this book riveting, revolting and exceptional! In case I’m not being clear, I loved it!
No part of this book is usual in terms of crime thrillers, and nor is the ending of the story but of course, I don’t do spoilers, so if you want to know; Who done it, Why they done it and what happens next….you will have to read the book and find out…and trust me, you absolutely want to know how this story ends and Cate does a sublime job of trying up the plotlines and taking her characters beyond the resolution of the crime.
I do love a crime thriller and finding a new, exciting voice of the genre in Cate Quinn has made my month, this story is super, scintillating and sinister, it is one of the best crime novels I have read in a while and you absolutely must add it to your crime collections…I insist.
Happy Reading Bookophiles…
About the Author:
Cate Quinn is a travel and lifestyle journalist for The Times, the Guardian and the Mirror, alongside many magazines. Prior to this, Quinn’s background in historic research won prestigious postgraduate funding from the British Art Council. Quinn pooled these resources, combining historical research with first-hand experiences in far-flung places to create critically acclaimed and bestselling historical fiction.
Please do check out the other reviews for this book on the blog tour.
Available: 18th February 2021, available in Paperback and Ebook
Thank you to Anne Cater, Random Things Tours and Orenda Books for my gifted copy and for having me on the blog tour for this book. My review is based on my experience of the book and any thoughts expressed here are solely mine alone.
Book Details:
When pop megastar Zach Crystal dies in a fire at his remote mansion, his mysterious demise rips open the bitter divide between those who adored his music and his endless charity work, and those who viewed him as a despicable predator, who manipulated and abused young and vulnerable girls.
Online journalist, Scott King, whose ‘Six Stories’ podcasts have become an internet sensation, investigates the accusations of sexual abuse and murder that were levelled at Crystal before he died. But as Scott begins to ask questions and rakes over old graves, some startling inconsistencies emerge. Was the fire at Crystal’s remote home really an accident? Why was he never officially charged? Are reports of a haunting really true?
Dark, chillingly topical and deeply thought-provoking, Deity is both an explosive, spine-chilling thriller and a startling look at how heroes can fall from grace and why we are willing to turn a blind eye to even the most heinous of crimes…
Praise for Six Stories Series
‘Beautifully written, smart, compassionate – and scary as hell. Matt Wesolowski is one of the most exciting and original voices in crime fiction’ Alex North
‘Insidiously terrifying … a genuine chiller with a whammy of an ending’ C J Tudor
‘The very epitome of a must-read’ Heat
My Thoughts:
I confess I was completely ‘late to the party‘ when it came to the Six Stories Series; I bought the first 3 books Six Stories, Hydra, Changeling on audio book last January and binge listened to them all in a week and a half and then obsessively checked my audiobook provider until book 4, Beast was available and it didn’t last the day! I offer no excuses for my utter adoration and slavish devotion of/ for Matt’s phenomenal, dark, delicious, devious crime series. As far as I’m concerned, he is the dark lord of crime and I am proud to be a devotee and worship the dark art of his writings. Which given the title of his latest instalment, Deity seems an apt way to describe my admiration of his books! As a reader and book blogger, I am privileged to be able to read some incredible books and Matt’s books are top of my list for rapturous recommendation…you simply must read all of them, they are exceptional in every way. I have no shame in vociferously shouting their praise.
My biggest difficulty and concern in writing this review for Matt’s 5th book, is to tell you about this meticulous, mesmerising and deviously clever story without spoiling any of its breathtaking twists, turns and revelations, which lead me to those open mouthed OMG moments, when the plotline becomes truly sinister and sublime; so much so that I desperately want to share every delicious dark element with everyone I know…which of course, I won’t do because spoiling this reading experience would be a crime! I just hope I do it justice!
Deity follows Matt’s fantastic familiar format; fictional podcaster, Scott King; who conducts a series of six interviews with witnesses to a cold true crime case, through these interviews and supporting media evidence, he attempts to unravel the truth of the case but leaves any conclusions about the validity of any revelations down to the listener/reader. Each episode is given over to a single character, their personal connection to the case, their own detailed and compelling back history. Scott’s role is to act as a conduit; to subtly probe the witness through his insightful, bold and direct questions, leading them to voice their side of the story. Any conclusions are a readers to make!
In this story; all the witnesses are linked to the now deceased megastar Zach Crystal (who seems to me to be a sort of hybrid mix of the music legends Kurt Cobain and Michael Jackson) a man shrouded in mystery, tragedy, scandal, rumour and myths. A larger than life character; enigmatic, eccentric and very possibly egotistical! His life story is a well-documented rags to riches tale of a boy coming from a poor, honest, religious family; who enjoyed listening to records with his dad on a Sunday afternoon. To his learning to play music on a battered second hand Casio keyboard, writing songs and performing them with his sister Naomi as The Crystal Twins, in beer soaked back rooms and basements of bars and clubs of the Midlands. To going solo and with his first album (Yearn) going stratospheric, reaching the dizzying heights of stardom and all the wealth, fame and attention this garners. Yet despite his fame and notoriety, his path to glory is littered with compelling mix of the bizarre and tragic; the deaths of his parents; the accident involving his best friend and chief aid James Cryer; the ever present scandal surrounding the nature of his relationships with troubled teenage girls; suggestions of abuse? Mystery surrounding his ‘Crystal Forest’ home complete with magical tree house in an ancient Scottish forest; Myths surrounding the ‘Whispering wood’ and the dark, sinister skeletal spector that haunts it, the herald of doom…the ethereal beliefs Zach espoused, his cult like fans.
What are the facts and what is fiction, they are yours to explore…Especially as Zach Crystal died in a terrible fire that claimed his life and decimated his home the ‘Crystal Forest’…so many questions, so many threads to examine and trust me, Scott King covers it all…but I’m not going to because you need to discover these exceptional plotlines for yourselves and I am bouncing in my seat with excitement for you to do so!!!
As to the witnesses in this story; will their perspectives confirm, confuse or codify a reader’s conclusions; Ian Julius; former Monster Buster and paedophile hunter, now social pariah and in hiding, was he driven by truth or avarice? Sasha Stewart; Zach Crystal super fan, podcaster and youtuber, host of The Crystal Cast; dispatcher and dispeller of those who try to besmirch the memory of Zach Crystal, can her knowledge and experiences with Zach, clarify was he a predator or a prodigy? Craig Kerr; grounds keeper at the Crystal Forest, can he bring an insider’s perspective of life inside Zach Crystal’s world? Marie Owens; a heart-broken mother to Kirsty; one of Zach Crystal’s ‘Special Girls’, are her revelations motivated by malice, money or maternal instinct! Skexxixx; former ‘face of a furious generation’ is he, friend or foe of Zach Crystal, was he the star maligned or maniacal power hungry, star with god complex? And the sixth final witness…is one you will have to read all about for yourselves…I don’t do spoilers remember!!!…I know, I am a horrible blogger (but definitely one with a huge smile on her face as I write this review). The conclusion to this book is magnificently malevolent and utterly majestic in its manifestation. I cannot wait for you to experience it too.
Deity is a crime Rubik’s cube of dark reading delight, twist one way and ruin the perspective of the opposite face, twist another and realigned the squares/perspectives. Matt’s latest book is a masterpiece of astute societal observation, the often nefarious power of the media ‘if it bleeds it leads’ cabal and what such practices can lead to. I admire how Matt weaves insightful socio/political topics into his novels; like #MeToo the movement by women; for every women; established to pour transparency onto the previously accepted, exploitative patriarchal, social, sexual and professional behaviours towards women. Fighting for the voiceless, who like the fictional women in this story, have been silenced by male money and power! And as you will see, my small observations here are a mere hint at the content woven into this tale.
As I said at the beginning of my review, I was slow to catch on to how incredible Matt’s books are and I am certain that along with Changeling, Deity is my favourite instalment. There is nothing I have read (and I’ve read a lot) like these stories; Deity is a shrewd, savvy, sinister, sublime crime read…so you need to put your order in today…do not miss out on this book! In fact, you have at least 10 days before publication, so I insist that you buy all of them and binge read …do it today…you know you want too!
Happy Reading Bookophiles…
About the Author:
Matt Wesolowski is an author from Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the UK. He is an English tutor for young people in care. Matt started his writing career in horror, and his short horror fiction has been published in numerous UK- and US-based anthologies, such as Midnight Movie Creature, Selfies from the End of the World, Cold Iron and many more. His novella, The Black Land, a horror set on the Northumberland coast, was published in 2013. Matt was a winner of the Pitch Perfect competition at the Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival in 2015. His debut thriller, Six Stories, was an Amazon bestseller in the USA, Canada, the UK and Australia, and a WHSmith Fresh Talent pick, and film rights were sold to a major Hollywood studio. A prequel, Hydra, was published in 2018 and became an international bestseller. Changeling, the third book in the series, was published in 2019 and was longlisted for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. His fourth book, Beast, won the Amazon Publishing Readers’ Independent Voice Book of the Year award in 2020.
About the Publisher:
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. Orenda Books was voted WINNER of the CWA Dagger for Best Crime and Mystery Publisher of the Year in 2020. 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. Ten titles have been short- or longlisted for the CWA Daggers; Doug Johnstone has been shortlisted (twice) for the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year and Helen FitzGerald, Matt Wesolowski and Will Carver have been long/shortlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year.
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, Helen FitzGerald, Doug Johnstone and Will Carver.
The Fallen Librarian Reviews 