Atalanta

Author: Jennifer Saint

Publisher: Wildfire Books

Available: 13^th April 2023 in Hardback, eBook & Audiobook

Thank you to Anne Cater, Random Things Tours & Wildlife 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:

Spurned by a king. Raised by bears. Blessed by a goddess. The only female Argonaut.

Exposed on a mountainside, the defenceless infant Atalanta is left to the mercy of a passing mother bear and raised alongside her cubs under the protective eye of the goddess Artemis.

Swearing that she will prove her worth alongside the famed heroes of Greece, Atalanta leaves her forest to join Jason’s band of Argonauts. But can she carve out her own place of legend in a world made for men?

My Thoughts:

Whenever I hear that Jennifer Saint, has a new book on its way into the world, I suspect I am not alone, in clapping my hands in glee. I am therefore honoured today to be sharing my thoughts on her new book Atalanta. The reasons, I am hopelessly devoted to Jennifer’s books is really quite obvious, I love that she delves in the classical past and brings to light, incredible woman, whose adventures, courage, and power has been locked away from the world’s consciousness for far too long. In her previous books Adriane and Elektra, she has re-imagined these women back into the forefront of their own stories, where previously they are mentioned, it is as merely trophies, to be traded for male advantage. I appreciate and admire, Jennifer’s knowledge and creativity in providing us, with new perspectives for the roles of women in classical history, long may it continue.

In the case of Atalanta, Princess of Arcadia, Huntress and Warrior, her story seems even more deeply buried, my awareness of her, was a name referenced in the painting Hippomenes and Atalanta by Noël Hallé, housed in the Louvre Museum. But thanks to Jennifer, my lack of knowledge has been repaired and we are taken on a great adventure with the only female Argonaut.

Atalanta really has a story of incredible greatness, and her feats are equal in magnitude to those of her contemporary and well documented male heroes. As an infant, her father’s disgust at her birth (as he, in the usual fashion, only wanted a son and heir) led him to abandon her on a mountain side to die! Charming parenting skills but in true mythical style, a she-bear rescues and provides sucker to the infant Atalanta, until hunters find her and raise her, with some influence from the Goddess Artemis (who naturally has her part to play in this novel). I do relish the compelling mixture of fact and fantasy in classical stories and Jennifer elucidates this element so elegantly here.

As you read Atalanta’s story, you can’t help by admire her, she’s fierce, fiery, and fearless with the skills of an expert huntress and the heart of a warrior. Like all great mythical heroes, her fame is tied in with an epic quest; one we are all familiar with, that of Jason and the Argonauts and their ambitious, treacherous search for the Golden Fleece, but until now, not many of us, realised how involved she was in this adventure but rest assured, Jennifer details magnificently her feats in this book.

One of the many elements, I savoured when enjoying this book, was Jennifer’s ability, to bring Atalanta to life, the complexities of her personality, the evolution of her emotions, the essence of her aspirations, and the myriad of trials and tribulations she has to face. Ironically one of the greatest tasks, she encounters is to overcome the reluctance of her male companions, who are woefully insecure about her skills, their acceptance of her equality is a hard won battle, despite she more than proves her competence, time and time again! For me Jennifer brings classical history to life, with just the whisper of modernity added. This book is rich in depth and detail. Imaginative in creating Atalanta’s presence, personality and power and addictive reading for those of us wishing to go on exhilarating adventures, without leaving the comfort of our sofas. I hope you are as enthralled, educated and entertained as I have been reading it. As it’s pay day and a bank holiday, I think this would be the prefect book, to treat yourself to!

Happy Reading Bookophiles

About the Author:

Thanks to a lifelong fascination with Ancient Greek mythology, Jennifer Saint read Classical Studies at King’s College, London. Since September 2022, she has been a Visiting Research Fellow in the Classics Department there. In between, she spent thirteen years as an English teacher, sharing a love of literature and creative writing with her students. Ariadne is her first novel, Elektra is her second, and Atalanta is her latest mesmerising mythological retelling. @jennysaint http://www.jennifersaint.com

Please do read some of the other reviews available on this blog tour.

Death Of A Bookseller

Author: Alice Slater

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Available: 27^th April 2023 in Hardback, eBook & Audiobook

Thank you to The Squadpod Collective & Hodder & Stoughton for my gifted copy and other gloriously green goodies and for having me as part of the spotlight for this book. My review is based on my experience of the book and any thoughts expressed here are solely mine alone.

Book Details:

Roach – bookseller, loner, and true crime fanatic- is not interested in making friends. She has all the company she needs in her serial killer books, murder podcasts and her pet snail, Bleep.

That is, until Laura joins the bookshop.

With her cute literary tote bags and sunny smile, she’s everyone’s favourite bookseller. But beneath the shiny veneer, Roach senses a darkness within Laura, the same darkness Roach possesses.

And as curiosity blooms into morbid obsession, Roach becomes determined to be a part of Laura’s story – whether Laura wants her in it or not.

My Thoughts: 🐌

It is with epic and rather smug pleasure, that today I am part of The Squadpod Collective’s spotlight for Alice Slater’s debut novel Death of a Bookseller. The most horrible little book of 2023 is finally on bookshop shelves, hopefully everywhere. Happy Publication Day Alice! Up to this point in my life, I have always regretted not being able to secure a role as a bookseller, now having read Alice’s book, I count myself lucky, that I haven’t!

🐌What a magnificently monstrous book this is, how do I convince you of its dark, devious brilliance, that is as luminous as its neon green & pink book covers. This glorious, gritty, gripping read, will grab you by the throat and make you lose all sense of time and place. You will need to cancel all your plans, buy huge piles of snacks, and curl up on the sofa and immerse yourself in Roach and Laura’s stories. It is the book, you must buy this bank holiday weekend, forget the DIY…just read it and if like me and Roach you despise Pumpkin Spiced Lattes this could be the read for you. I should say, PSL are truly revolting but if you love them then more power to you. I should clarify, I don’t hate anyone for their unfathomable coffee choices, unlike Roach and any one actually ‘hating’ those who do enjoy them, quite honestly, who knew this was a thing…I didn’t, until I poked about online. Hopefully I’ve cleared that point of view up. Regardless, I’ve digressed, however you like your coffee or books …this horribly brilliant book is the one for you…or at least the dark side of you, that most of us, keep firmly to ourselves!

It is time for you to meet Roach and Laura; are they two sides of the same coin or as different as oil and water… their story is told to us in alternating chapters, giving us… perspective from each character’s point of view. Initially it seems, an easy decision to pick whose side your on #TeamLaura/#TeamRoach but part of the genius of Alice’s book (aside from her superior book knowledge, you’ll need a pen and paper handy to jot down all the book titles, you might not have read yet that occur as you read) is that she has masterfully created two characters, that you want to relate to or think you do, but you soon realise, that they are both deliciously and horribly flawed and yet you are compelled to understand them, even when their behaviours are dark, destructive, deviant and disconcerting!🐌

Set in the Walthamstow branch of Spines (a fictional bookshop chain) and haunt of bookseller, Roach (real name Brogan) who is beyond social awkward, reclusive, reticent, a loner…with a deeply unsettling, obsessive addiction to serial killers (well who isn’t…might just be me and Roach then) and all things True Crime related. She spends her time, engrossed in Podcasts by The Murder Girls, and commandeers all the books on the subject she can lay her hands on. Anything else going on in the bookshop or the wider world, she has zero interest or tolerance for, with the noted exception of Bleep her African Land snail! At this point, I freaked myself out, because she does sound a bit like me! In fairness to Roach, her home life has been one of abject neglect, so it might go someway to explaining why she is the way she is…. then again…maybe not!🐌

When a change of management at her bookshop occurs, the arrival of new quirky normies, who takeover and upset the status quo, Roach is less than impressed, part of this triumvirate is Laura Bunting.

Laura seems to be the antithesis of Roach, she is charming, witty, blond with a penchant for 1950s dresses and sublimely colour co-ordinated accessories (Isn’t everyone…ok just me and Laura then). She is always prepared, just wait until you read what she carries in her bag, she loves stationary, writing poetry and is mostly content with her place in the world, her flat and her plants! I firmly believed at this point, I was #TeamLaura until, my lovely bookophiles, I must prepare you, Laura’s behaviour towards books especially proofs…may be trigging! Be warned, she dogears them, folds them, bends their corners, spills tea, wine et al on them, has no qualms about smearing them with chocolate and other foodstuffs! I am still traumatised from reading this, despite what occurs later!

🐌Initially Roach can’t bare her, given what she does to books, I can see why! Until the evening, when Roach is coerced along with the rest of the bookshop staff, into attending a poetry evening and Laura shares her poems, which are based upon the victims of serial killers…this Roach believes strikes a connection between her and Laura. She is convinced they are kindred spirits and is determined to befriend Laura (irregardless of whether Laura wishes it or not) but Roach doesn’t have the people skills to do so, nor it seems does she have the ability to comprehend that Laura’s interests are not the same as hers!…and in failing to do so,  she becomes Laura’s shadow…or stalker is probably more accurate, and her unorthodox behaviour is decidedly chilling, utterly desperate and discomforting!  Laura in contrast, thinks Roach is a freaky, menacing, oddball (and that’s putting it mildly) and she endeavours to stay as far away from her as possible and you’ll have to discover for yourself, why she finds Roach’s serial killer fixation so perturbing, I will say she does have good reason! I’d like to say more at this point, however I risk falling down the endless rabbit hole of spoilers…so I recommend, you get hold of a copy and see what I am talking about for yourselves.

I loved everything about this book, the pertinent social observations, the true crime addiction, the masterfully wrought characters and all their quirks be they fair or foul. Alice’s vast and varied experiences of being a bookseller shine through and certainly dispels any idealistic notions I might have harboured about selling books. Then again, I spent 20 years as commercial Librarian, and I can completely relate to the complexities of customer service (and that is put it conservatively). I admired, the complexity of the plot and how exquisitely, the tension is layered and the manner in which this story creeps and crawls to its incendiary crescendo. Alice, I bow down to your creative brilliance and I can’t wait to read, whatever you write next.

🐌Time now, I think to leave you all to follow the snail slime trails for yourselves, you’ll see what I’m referring to when you read this book…look for the page illustrations. Everything about this novel is a dark, deviant delight and you NEED to read it!  I am in no doubt it will be one of my favourite books of 2023.

Happy Reading Bookophiles…

About the Author:

Alice Slater is a writer, podcaster, and ex-bookseller from London. She studied creative writing at MMU and UEA. She lives in London with her husband and a lot of books. Death of a Bookseller is her first novel.

Queens Of The Underworld

Author: Caitlin Davies

Publisher: The History Press

Available: 20^th April 2023 in Paperback & eBook

Thank you to Anne Cater, Random Things Tours & The History Press 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:

Robin Hood, Dick Turpin, Ronnie Biggs, the Krays … All have become folk heroes, glamorised and romanticised, even when they killed. But where are all the female crooks? Where are the street robbers, gang leaders, diamond thieves, bank robbers and gold smugglers?

Queens of the Underworld reveals the incredible story of professional female criminals from the 17th century to today. From Moll Cutpurse who ruled the Jacobean underworld, to Victorian jewel thief Emily Lawrence and 1960s burglar Zoe Progl, these were charismatic women at the top of their game.

But female criminals have long been dismissed as either not ‘real women’ or not ‘real criminals’, and in the process their stories have been lost. Caitlin Davies unravels the myths, confronts the lies, and tracks down modern-day descendants in order to tell the truth about their lives.

My Thoughts:

It is my great pleasure today to be sharing my thoughts on Queens of the Underworld by Caitlin Davies. This is the first of her books, I have had the pleasure to read, and I can confidently confirm, it won’t be the last. I have already been adding her back catalogue to my need to read list.

 I am great fan of all sorts of fiction, but I also relish reading, non-fiction especially when it re-addresses the balance of our patriarchal historical perspective. Which is what I believe Caitlin has done, in writing her, impressive, insightful, and illuminating book on female criminals. When I first saw the title for this book, it slightly reminded me of a Sarah J Maas fantasy title, suggesting adventure and some seriously kick ass women. As it turns out, that is not far from the reality of the contents! And some of the women she investigates, could certainly inspire any writer to re-imagine their colourful lives!

Caitlin’s book is a feminist approach to criminal history, that unearths women whose delinquent exploits have largely been consigned to the foot note of time. Despite these fearsome, fearless, and fiercely wicked, clever women often surpassing their contemporary male counterparts in their acts of villainy. They are often only remembered for their superficial physical diversity rather than for the genius of their rapscallion acts. What I admired greatly about this book, was the personal approach that Caitlin took. It doesn’t read like a standard history book…which as we all know from previous experiences, can occasionally be dry in digestion, shall I say! In contrast, this book is a voyage of discovery and Caitlin, shares with us readers, how she came about this project, what influenced and inspired her quest for knowledge and her epic research into these women and a great deal of this recounting, made me laugh but ultimately was completely absorbing and fascinating to read.

Each chapter in the book, documents the life; times and escapades of an individual, providing social, political, historic, and religious context for their acts and actions. And instead of these women playing bit parts in acts of crime or being stereotyped into the familiar role of being merely a bystander, assuming the societally acceptable positions of being paramours, wives, mothers, or prostitutes, who could not possibly have the education, intellect, or capacity to plan acts of villainy, never mind actually accomplish them! Caitlin puts them front and centre, exploring what they did, how they did it and when or if, they did get caught, what were the consequences! The volume and depth of the material explored and extrapolated by Caitlin, will make any reader with a passion for history, dizzy with excitement, there is so much to learn and absorb within this book’s pages, even now, factual elements seem to pop back into my head, as I go about my day!

Another element of this book, that I found truly compelling and validating, was Caitlin’s exceptional interviews, with contemporary descendants of some of these women and being able to read their personal perspectives and revelations about what was the real truth was/is relating to their ancestors, despite the patriarchal echelons, distorting the facts at the time and currently was an inspired addition, to this remarkable read.

For me, this book was an engaging and enlightening read, it is clever, considered, and cogent. It provides a refreshing, imaginative and informing education for the reader, and brings a much needed balance and equality to the realms of criminal history, where the roles of women are concerned. I couldn’t put it down and I can’t wait for you to read it too.

Happy Reading Bookophiles.

About the Author:

Caitlin Davies is the author of six novels and eight non-fiction books, many of which have a criminal theme. The Ghost of Lily Painter was based on the true story of two Edwardian baby farmers, while Bad Girls: The Rebels and Renegades of Holloway Prison was the first comprehensive history of Europe’s most infamous female jail. It was nominated for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing, 2019.

Caitlin is a trained teacher, who started her writing career as a human rights reporter in Botswana. She currently works as a Royal Literary Fund writing fellow at NHS Kent & Medway.

Queens of the Underworld tells of her journey into the lives of female crooks from the 17th century to today. Her upcoming book, Private Inquiries: the secret history of female sleuths, to be published in October 2023, reveals the true tales of female private eyes from the 1850s to the present. Caitlin trained as a private investigator as part of her research but wasn’t nearly as observant as she hoped she’d be. https://www.caitlindavies.co.uk/ @CaitlinDavies2

Please do read some of the other reviews available on this blog tour.

Go As A River

Author: Shelley Read

Publisher: DoubleDay

Available: 13^th April 2023 in Hardback, eBook & Audiobook

Thank you to Anne Cater, Random Things Tours & Double Day 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:

In this soaring, compassionate novel, a breath-taking picture of our natural world – its trees and mountains and light – emerges. But more than this, it is the tale of female resilience and becoming that gives Go As A River its strength, its soul, and its possibility.

Nestled in the foothills of the Elk Mountains and surrounded by sprawling forests, wandering bears and porcupine, the Gunnison River rushes by the tiny town of Iola.

On a cool autumn morning, seventeen year old Torie Nash heads into her village pulling a rickety wagon filled with late-season peaches from her farm.  As she nears an intersection, a mysterious young drifter with eyes dark and shiny as a raven’s wing, grimy thumbs, and smudged cheeks, stops to ask her the way. She could have turned left or crossed over, but she did not.  She stayed.  ‘Go as a river,’ he whispers to her. 

So begins a mesmerising story that unfolds over a lifetime, as Torie attempts to absorb and follow his words.

Gathering all the pieces of her small, extraordinary life, spinning through the eddies of desire, heartbreak, and betrayal, embracing, and challenged by the landscape she calls home, Torie arrives at a single rocky decision that changes her life forever. 

My Thoughts:

It’s my turn today on the blog tour for Shelley Read’s debut novel Go As A River. This is without question a tender, tantalising, tragic and triumphal book, that from the moment you turn the first pages; the words written there resonate with a melodic majesty as the prologue describes the silent watery entombed town of Iola, Colorado, and the farm where Victoria or Torie as she was then, once lived…the essence of the past, rises to embrace the reader and the route to becoming begins.

There is resolute, eerie enchantment to the opening of this novel which immediately pique’s your interest and insistently filled my mind, with a number of questions. I read on with the hopeful expectation my questions, might be answered along the way. I enjoyed the simple, sweeping elegant cadence of Shelley’s prose and the sense of familiarity she conjures with the context of her story of a young woman, meeting a handsome boy and that exciting, confusing anticipatory tingling connection. The story opens in post war rural Colorado, where societal nuances and expectations are followed unquestioned and there is a dark nonchalance to the community’s inherent racism/bigotry and the whispered distancing of its populace from those who do not fit the mould.

Torie is a dutiful farmer’s daughter, running the home, planting her kitchen garden, harvesting the produce, cooking, and cleaning, and helping with the peach harvest, serving at the family’s peach stand, this thankless domestic duty is her life…since the early death of her mother. She is a girl on the cusp of womanhood, labouring to secure the comfort of the negligent men in her household! Her own desires and dreams are nothing more than that…until she meets Wilson Moon and begins to view the world differently, much to the disgust of her brother…who is truly vile, but I leave you to discover why for yourselves!

We get to omnisciently follow the beautiful trajectory of their falling in love and budding relationship, culminating in adversity for them both, differently. Watching Torie, discover she is carrying Wil’s child and knowing, it will not be welcome at the farm. She courageously, makes a plan and alone heads for the mountains, to a remote, isolated cabin, which was once Wil’s hiding spot and their place of sanctuary. Here among the comfort and familiarity of the mountains and trees, Torie plans to wait out her pregnancy and alone, she gives birth to their son! And you begin to hope, that she and her baby Blue, could forge a life for themselves, in this beautiful wilderness but Mother Nature can be cruel and a snowstorm, decimates their food source and Torie is faced with starvation or returning to town! She then makes the hardest decision any woman can face, but she does it anyway and the in next part of the book, we continue with the aftermath. Torie survival of her physical and emotional trauma; as she builds a life for herself, and leaves the girl she was as Torie behind and becomes the woman, Victoria she is now; a successful peach farmer, keeping alive her family legacy despite social political turbulence and the grasping avarice of her brother Seth! Victoria in the face of everything, continues on, making further tough life altering decisions and her endurance and power comes into its own but the scars of her turbulent past remain vivid despite the passing of time and she keeps her life before, to herself, like ‘a locked diary‘.

The pivotal moment in this story, also introduces us to another remarkable woman, Inga Tate. Whose life and plans have also been up ended by a man, romance and a pregnancy but having no other option but to adhere to acceptable societal didacts, she marries and has her child and coincidental circumstances, place her in the right place at the right time. I think the only way to describe it (without giving anything away, I hope) is that Inga and Torie, reach one of life’s crossroads precisely when they need to, although they do not meet! When you read this book, I think you’ll see what I mean! You will also find out what the connection between them is and she, the progression of life and time from Inga’s point of view and that story line is not for me to reveal here!

Shelley wealds her pen to illustrate, the majestic Colorado landscape and its flora and fauna as magnificently as the Hudson School artists, Albert Bierstadt or Frederic Edwin Church painted their stunning pictures of wild American landscapes, with craggy mountains or torrential waterfalls, . Shelley paints images of Victoria and Inga’s lives with her words. She brings an evocative, elucidation of time and place, making informed topical observations on controversial issues of the time; from the treatment of indigenous Americans and their land to governmental policy that destroyed unique environments all the in the name of progress. To an inherent understanding of the roles, expectations, trials, and tribulations of women in society during the post war era.

Go As A River has already been compared favourably to Delia Owen’s novel Where the Crawdads Sing. And I can see why, Shelley’s book is equally as beautifully and gracefully written, with sublime tangible atmospheric detailing, which as a reader, makes you feel, as if you are walking in the wild, listening to chorus of the trees, feeling the stones and earth beneath your feet, alongside protagonist Victoria. However, I personally feel that this does both novels a small disservice, as for me, both writers have wholly unique voices and their novels in context and construction are subtly different. If there are comparisons to be made between them, then they are only in the positive, the novels similarities are really only that they have a quiet, dignified but remarkable female lead, who endures the dissention of family and community and that their stories, capture the essence of lives, so completely unlike most of our own.

Shelley’s book is eloquent storytelling at its finest, intelligently sophisticated in its powerful construction, sociality progressive and astute in its topical observations and if it isn’t obvious already, I absolutely loved it. This novel’s power and poignancy is potently blended and it has one of the best endings, I’ve enjoyed in a while and one that will certainly promote a level of debate for all who read it. This is most definitely a novel in my bookish opinion that you should want to add to your library, as soon as possible! 

Happy Reading Bookophiles

About the Author:

Shelley Read is a fifth generation Coloradoan who lives with her family in the Elk Mountains of the Western Slope. She was a Senior Lecturer at Western Colorado University for nearly three decades, where she taught writing, literature, environmental studies, and Honours, and was a founder of the Environment & Sustainability major and a support program for first-generation and at-risk students. Shelley holds degrees in writing and literary studies from the University of Denver and Temple University’s Graduate Program in Creative Writing. She is a regular contributor to Crested Butte Magazine and Gunnison Valley Journal and has written for the Denver Post and a variety of publications.

Go As A River, her first novel, is inspired by the landscape she comes from and will be published in over thirty territories.

Please do read some of the other reviews available on this blog tour.

So Close

Author: Sylvia Day

Publisher: Penguin Michael Joseph

Available: 30^th March 2023 in Hardback, eBook & Audiobook

Thank you to The Squadpod Collective, Ed PR & Penguin Michael Joseph for my gifted copy. My review is based on my experience of the book and any thoughts expressed here are solely mine alone.

Book Details:

Widower Kane Black has been hollowed by grief.

Until he sees a woman with his wife Lily’s inimitable beauty on Manhattan’s streets. He whisks her up to his towering penthouse, nestling her in dark opulence. Aliyah, Kane’s mother, sees a threat. “Lily” has dangerous control over Kane and there can be only one queen on this throne. Amy, Kane’s sister-in-law, has been bloodied by betrayal. She’s paid too high a price and now intends to claim what she’s owed.

Three women, linked by buried secrets, circle the man who unquestioningly accepts the return of his beloved long-dead wife.

But Kane is happier than he’s ever been, and he’ll do anything to stay that way . . .

My Thoughts:

In conjunction with The Squadpod Collective and Ed PR, today, I am sharing my thoughts on Sylvia Day’s latest book, So Close. Now, I’ve not read any of Sylvia’s books before and what I discovered is that this book was an entertaining experience in sultry, suspenseful escapism, that transports readers away from the hum drum of everyday life and into the fictional arms of a rather brooding and delicious male protagonist! This novel, is a well-constructed, emotionally eloquent and tantalising read, with just the right balance of sexy suspense and certainly, the perfect way to while away a chilly Sunday afternoon.

The novel is based around widower Kane Black, who is stoically bereft after the supposed loss of his wife Lily. His life now is running his family empire, interspersed with the occasional passionate encounter of the one night only variety, he is not inclined to pursue anything more permanent. Despite, numerous women (including his sister-in-law, Amy) hoping to dissuade him of this notion!

The status quo is unchanged until, en-route to his office, he spots a woman, a woman who looks exactly like his former wife, he cannot contain himself and literally pursues her fleeing form into on coming traffic! Delightfully dramatic, I must say! Kane is convinced that this is his Lily and goes as far as to confirm this at the hospital, where ‘Lily’ is taken. Now he’s got her back, come the questions? How can it be Lily? She died in a sailing accident…or did she??? I rather enjoyed this ‘is she or isn’t she’ element of the story, it reminded me of that famous, 80s Dallas soap opera moment, when Bobby Ewing turned up all steamy in Pam’s shower after everyone thought he was dead for a year! And rather like the plots of Dallas, this novel, is filled with dramatic characters; themes of revenge, betrayal, shadowy secrets and the occasional racy romp, and the plot twists certainly keep you both intrigued and guessing. But if you want to find out more about Kane, Lily, Witte et al, then you will have buy the book and discover them for yourselves!

This novel certainly has it all, when it comes to Sex, Scandal and Secrets and I would like to say a satisfying conclusion, however I can’t! Because Sylvia has saved that element for the next book…so we shall all have to wait and see what happens next for Kane & Lily, when Book 2 – Too Far is published in October!

Happy Reading Bookophiles…

About the Author:

Sylvia Day is the #1 New York Times, No. 1 Sunday Times & internationally bestselling author of over twenty award-winning novels, including ten New York Times bestsellers and thirteen USA Today bestsellers. She is a number one bestselling author in twenty-nine countries, with translations in forty-one languages and over twenty million copies of her books in print.

Visit her at sylviaday.com

The Dead Are Gods

Author: Eirinie Carson

Publisher: Melville House

Available: 13^th April 2023 in Hardback & eBook

Thank you to Nikki Griffiths and Melville 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:

From an exciting new literary voice: a memoir that explores grief, Blackness, and recovery after the death of a dear friend.

After an unexpected phone call on an early morning in 2018, writer and model Eirinie Carson learned of her best friend Larissa’s death. In the wake of her shock, Eirinie attempts to make sense of the events leading up to Larissa’s death and uncovers startling secrets about her life in the process. THE DEAD ARE GODS is Eirinie’s striking, intimate, and profoundly moving depiction of life after a sudden loss. Amid navigating moments of intense grief, Eirinie is overwhelmed by her love for Larissa. She finds power in pulling moments of joy from the depths of her emotion. Eirinie’s portrayal of what love feels like after death bursts from the page alongside a timely, honest, and personal exploration of Black love and Black life. Perhaps, Eirinie proposes, ‘The only way out is through.’

My Thoughts:

Today, I have the honour of sharing my thoughts on Eirinie Carson’s debut The Dead Are Gods. This is not a work of fiction but an intimate and insightful memoir of loss and grief, it is emotionally pertinent, painfully poetic, and intensely profound and the book’s focus is not an easy one to digest, as it’s context cannot help but throw up the enduring, endless and exacting torrent of feelings experienced by anyone who has experienced and survived the loss of a loved one.

Reading this book is hard and cathartic, and from it I have taken this; the death of someone you love, is all consuming, it does not waver in its ability to overwhelm you, grief is a shadow, that harries, that allows no quarter, it pervades every inch of you, it colours your days and nights. And just when you find a moments relief from its persistent presence, perhaps in those moments when you are reading to your child or focused on the list of items you need to buy from the supermarket, or when you are walking down familiar streets in the area you live…the fingertips of memory flow over you and the dull pervading ache of grief returns!

Grief is an emotion that cannot be side lined to deal with later, it is a state of being and one that lingers after its first sting has struck, it carves a place in your heart, soul and mind and though you don’t believe it at the time, it does lessens, it does recede but never leaves, once experienced it is tattooed on your soul but with time, like a tattoo on your skin a fading but permeant reminder.

Eirinie has eloquently and effectively elucidated the essence of experiencing grief from a very personal point of view, in her book she shares with us her story, her relationship and friendship with Larissa, who at the age of 32, died. Eirinie had built a life in the US and remembers how on hearing the shocking, stunning news of her friend’s death and found herself caught in the maelstrom of tears, sadness and that violating numbness that accompanies such tragedy.

Eirinie shares with us, their history, how they met as teenagers, when she believed Larissa to be so grown up and so cosmopolitan and seemed to have an intrinsic comprehension of self. She was not cowed by others; she had the courage to be and believe in herself. Their bond and connection to each other grew swiftly and strongly and was seemingly unbreakable!

And yet after Larissa’s death, when Eirinie started to write this book, she unearths elements about her friend that she had no idea of and leads to the exposure of truths; that caused Larissa’s death! I confess, that this element of the book, took me by surprise especially as it occurs towards the end. Initially I wondered why, leave it until now to explain this element of Larissa. When it dawned on me, this was an act of loyalty and love. Eirinie doesn’t want us to assume anything about her friend, she wants to allow the reader time to discover the glory of her friend and not taint our opinion of her before, we have some understanding of who she was! Which Eirinie does so poignantly by sharing their joyous friendship and personal and often amusing revelations…like their potato passion, which became an emblem of their friendship and a demonstration of their care for each other. This is who Larissa was and who they were together. Larissa was so much more than the circumstances of her death.

I am in awe of this book, it is powerful, profound, personal, and perceptive and once you have read it, completely unforgettable. You cannot finish reading it and walk away without it having a heart felt impact on you. It is truly one of the most magnificent memoirs I have ever read, and I want to encourage you to add it to your bookshelves, it needs to be part of your reading experience, honestly it needs to be part of everyone’s reading experience, such is the perspicacious content of Eirinie’s writing.

Happy Reading Bookophiles…

About the Author:

Eirinie Carson is a Black British writer, born to a Jamaican father and Scottish-ish mother and raised in South East London. Her work is published in the Sonora Review, and she is a frequent contributor to Mother magazine. A member of the San Francisco Writers Grotto, Eirinie writes about motherhood, grief, and relationships. Eirinie lives in Northern California with her musician husband and their one dog and two daughters. The Dead are Gods is her first book.

Please do read some of the other reviews available on this blog tour.

The Little Board Game Café

Author: Jennifer Page

Publisher: Aria/Head of Zeus

Available: 13^th April 2023 in Paperback & eBook

Thank you to The Squadpod Collective & Aria/Head of Zeus for my gifted copy. My review is based on my experience of the book and any thoughts expressed here are solely mine alone.

 Book Details:

When Emily loses her job, house, and boyfriend all within a matter of days, she’s determined to turn a negative into a positive and follow her dream of running a small cafe in the gorgeous Yorkshire village of Essendale.

But she quickly finds she’s bitten off more than she can chew when the ‘popular’ cafe she takes over turns out to secretly be a failing business. Emily desperately needs a way to turn things around, and help comes from the unlikeliest of places when she meets local board game-obsessed GP Ludek. But when a major chain coffee shop opens on the high street, Emily is forced to question if she’ll ever be able to compete.

Has she risked everything on something destined to fail? Or can a playful twist, a homely welcome, and a sprinkle of love make Emily’s cafe the destination she’s always dreamed of?

My Thoughts:

Firstly, and most importantly, Happy Publication Day Jennifer, your wonderful debut goes out into the world, to capture the hearts and imaginations of so many readers. Today I have the privilege of sharing my thoughts on this novel, as part of The Squadpod Collective spotlight for ‘The Little Board Game Café’. I completely devoured this charming, captivating, comforting and delightfully calamitous book in one sitting over the Easter weekend. I quite simply couldn’t or rather wouldn’t put it down! If like me, you are a huge fan of authors like Heidi Swain, Trisha Ashley, or Jessica Redland, then you are going to love Jennifer Page!

Part of the reason I was so drawn to Jennifer’s debut was because I could wholly relate to it, this warm, humous book fulfilled elements of my own secret fantasy to own a hybrid bookshop/jigsaw café and I could also relate enthusiastically to the concept of a board game addiction. Which is something I am also party too. I am unashamedly addicted to Trivial Pursuit and at last count, I believe I have 10 versions of this board game…yes, you did read that correctly I have 10 different versions of Trivial Pursuit, now for non-board game aficionados this may seem an excessive number but I should explain that part of my rational for owning so many copies was to stop my father’s scurrilous assertions that because I always win, that I have some how memorised the 1000s of questions & answers in the first two versions I owned!

 Any logical person would of course realise what a herculean task this would be! So, in order to prove my innocence in the face of his scandalous suggestion, before any visit to my parents I would purchase a new version of Triv, that would be delivered with much ceremony to my dad, while it was still encased in it’s plastic, so clearly unopened and untouched by me. I would naturally insist he opened it and then battle would commence and of course true to form, I would win! He would then mutter that I probably had another copy stashed at home to continue my cheating ways…So I think you can see why Jennifer’s book, made me laugh and simultaneously stole a little piece of my heart, as it contained a theme I couldn’t resist.

Now, enough of my waffle, let me tell you a bit about The Little Board Game Café, which begins in the past, with a mother and daughter working side by side in another café, not their café but the joy of working together and baking ignites a dream in them both, that one day such an establishment will be theirs and the daughter; Emily decides this experience is the first step towards her future and her career…until everything changes!

We then jump forward into Emily’s life now, she’s in an office being told that she’s ‘surplus to requirements’ and is therefore being made redundant! And having personally been made redundant from 4 librarian jobs, I can fully equate to how shattered Emily feels, and Jennifer has fully encapsulated the heart plunging moment brilliantly. It is so tangible, that you can feel Emily’s hurt and confusion about being in such a situation, her emotions roll off the page, but it gets worse…like that’s possible, I can hear you say! Well, the man making her redundant, is in fact, her finance Peter! I confess at this point I may have uttered an expletive or three and these may have increased, with his final comment to Emily, after saying to her, that she could take the afternoon off to recover from the shock…would she remember to pick up a couple of pints of semi-skimmed milk on her way home! I was quite prepared at this point to taser him into a pile of dust on Emily’s behalf, so invested in the moment was I!

Emily does then, exactly what I did on every occasion of being told, I was being made redundant. She leaves work and heads to the nearest charity shop seeking out it’s bookshelves to find solace and possible solution to her situation! She believes (as I do) that buying books will provide insight or inspiration for what she could or should do next but in this case, Emily also has to buy a coat as well; because in her hasty exit from the office she’s left her’s behind and living in Yorkshire (like me) regardless of the season a coat is nearly always required! At this point I would have also bought the biggest frothy coffee I could, which Emily forgets to do but wishes she had, on reaching the local park to sit and do some thinking! One of the books, she purchased is all about starting your own business and her previous dream of owning a café, pops into her head!

This glimmer of an idea remains with her as she returns to the stark and distinctly sterile home she shares with Peter. I couldn’t help but wonder how such a vibrant woman, who loves colour and clutter has become engaged to such a grey predictable man! Don’t worry bookophiles, the Peter and Emily romance will be revealed later on (but not by me). So, what happens next, I can hear you wondering? Does Emily make her dream, a reality? What happens between her and Peter? Plus, you have to discover more about Emily’s family background and the tragic events, that have led her to this point, and you’ll get to meet her shudder inducing MIL2B (mother in law to be) and get to enjoy her relationship obsessed bestie Kate. Whose schemes to meet Mr Right, literally throw Emily into the path of the lovely board game obsessed GP Ludek! But if you want to know more, then you will need to treat yourself to a copy, because my lips are sealed!

This is such a fantastic character driven novel, I have to highlight two characters, who give such heart to the story, the wonderful Mr B and the kind hearted Marjory but how all the characters fit into this board game of life, is for me to know and you to find out and you will laugh and cry along the way, plus there is the experience of a disastrous patisserie course and the hunt of USP (unique selling point) to consider as well. All in one literary mille feuille of a story.

Jennifer’s book is an absolute joy to read, the premise, plots and characters remain with you long after you finish the last page, there are themes of romance, familial love, friendship, hardship, grief and triumph, running in sparkling seams throughout. I can’t wait to read whatever Jennifer writes next but whatever that maybe, I will be first in the queue to buy a copy. I hope you enjoy, The Little Board Game Café as much as I have, so buy lots of yummy snacks (trust me, they are needed once, you’ve read all the descriptions of delicious food and cake) and immerse yourself in Emily’s world.

Happy Reading Bookophiles…

 About the Author:

Jennifer Page lives near Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire with her husband Hermi and his very – no, make that extremely – large collection of board games. Her debut novel, The Little Board Game Cafe will be published on 13th April 2022. Jennifer writes light-hearted, cosy romantic fiction which was initially inspired by her own dating adventures. Before she met Hermi, she was single for 13 years and had pretty much given up on meeting The One.

When she isn’t writing, Jennifer can usually be found playing board games; since she met Hermi, she’s become even more obsessed with them than he is! She also loves cooking (though she’d never claim to be any good at it!), caravan holidays and walking in the beautiful Yorkshire countryside.

After Paris

Author: Nicole Kennedy

Publisher: Aria/Head of Zeus

Available: 6^th April 2023 in Paperback, eBook & Audiobook

Thank you to The Squadpod Collective & Aria for my gifted copy. My review is based on my experience of the book and any thoughts expressed here are solely mine alone.

Book Details:

Three best friends. A weekend away. And a whole lot of baggage.

Alice, Nina, and Jules have been best friends for twenty years. They met in Paris and return there once a year, to relive their youth, leave the troubles of home behind, and indulge in each other’s friendship and warmth. But this year, aged thirty-nine, the cracks in their relationships are starting to show…

After their weekend together in Paris, the three women never speak again. Each claims the other two ghosted them. But is there more to the story?

My Thoughts:

Happy Paperback publication day Nicole, it’s my pleasure today along with my fellow Squadpod members to share my thoughts on After Paris. A delightful novel: the perfect escape from the everyday without the need to leave your sofa, it is filled with French patisserie, friendship, frolics, and fissions of friction. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have.

The novel follows the friendship of three women, who meet for the first time in 1999, in Paris, each one is there for different reasons but until their chance encounter in a bathroom just before a grand debutant ball, none of them are having the time of their lives! The story is told in the past, present, and future and we are party to their complicated lives and loves and I found Nicole is skilled in creating the varied nuanced elements of female friendships and their transitions over time from young expectant women, with hopes and dreams to middle age, where some of the bloom has worn off, especially after marriage, children and careers and the inevitable ups and downs of life have taken their toll.

Despite their close friendship over the years, Alice, Nina, and Jules, have kept some secrets to themselves and now each is facing a specific trial and ones that virtually any reader may have experienced themselves, which does make the women eminently relatable to. As the story progresses, you learn of each woman’s circumstances and that none of them are prepared to come clean and divulge to the others, what is really going on! Which of course is going to lead to a contretemps of epic proportions, as the truth will impact them all and the course of their friendship. The story see’s Jules, leaving Paris without even saying goodbye, Nina swiftly follows suit and poor Alice is left waiting for her friends in a café, without any clue of what is/has happened and when it dawns on her, they aren’t coming, she is left wondering what she could possibly have done to offend them! But of course, I am not revealing what happens next, that is for you to discover for yourselves, when you read the book.

Nicole has created an engaging and entertaining character driven novel, that both illustrates and examines the diverse and occasionally dramatic dynamics of female friendships in an authentic manner. She has also eloquently covered some of the more pertinent societal issues, that modern women face, such as IVF, addiction, motherhood, and adult neurodiversity. These elements certainly give you pause for thought as you read.

I confess one my favourite elements of this book, were all the sumptuous mentions of various mouth-watering French food, especially the patisserie, which transported me back in time to my many visits to Paris and the south of France and did make me decidedly peckish as I read! As the Easter weekend approaches, this book will be the perfect companion to your Easter Egg consumption.

Happy Reading Bookophiles

About the Author:

Nicole Kennedy grew up in Essex and studied Law at Bristol University. She has always loved to write but her efforts were waylaid by work as a corporate lawyer in London, Paris and Dubai. During Nicole’s second maternity leave she began writing poems on motherhood and family life. She completed her first novel during her third maternity leave (by then it was easier than leaving the house) and her second during the pandemic (by then she wasn’t allowed to leave the house).

Nicole lives in Kent with her husband and three sons. You can find her on Instagram (@nicole_k_kennedy) and Twitter (@nicolekkennedy).