Armed with a super-sized backpack full of optimism, Jess sets off in search of sun, sea and a much-needed new beginning. Things don’t get off to a good start. Instead of sunshine, she’s met with torrential rain. Her job prospects are as dismal as the weather and that friend-of-a-friend she was meant to stay with has fallen through. Just as Jess is homeless, jobless and wishing she’d gone for the waterproof mascara, she runs into the last person she expected to see. Sam. The ex she never got over. Jess always believed that one day fate would bring them back together. Now he’s here, more gorgeous than ever. Before she…
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Book Recommendation | Night Falls, Still Missing – Helen Callaghan
On a cold, windswept night, Fiona arrives on a tiny, isolated island in Orkney. She accepted her old friend's invitation with some trepidation - her relationship with Madison has never been plain sailing. But as she approaches Madison's cottage, she sees that the windows are dark. The place has been stripped bare. No one knows where Madison has gone. As Fiona tries to find out where Madison has vanished to, she begins to unravel a web of lies. Madison didn't live the life she claimed to, and now Fiona's own life is in danger . . .
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Guest: RC Bridgestock on “Detectives Mantra – Never Assume!”
R.C. Bridgestock is the pen name of a married couple that is made up of Robert and Carol Bridgestock. The couple has nearly half a century in combined police experience. They take this experience and turn real cases it into fictional stories.
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Guest: Author Jo Jackson on “Books from different countries”
Jo Jackson is the author of two books, both written since she retired. Having worked with some of the most vulnerable people in society she has a unique voice apparent in her second novel Beyond the Margin, set in Ireland. She was a nurse, midwife and family psychotherapist and now lives in rural Shropshire with her husband. She loves travelling and walking as well as gardening, philosophy and art. Her first novel Too Loud a Silence is set in Egypt where Jo lived for a few years with her husband and three children. Events there were the inspiration for her book which she describes as ‘a story she had to write’ You can read…
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Book Recommendation | A Knock At The Door – T. W. Ellis
our husband isn't who he says he is, say the people at your door. Come with us. Don't trust them, says a voice on the phone. Run. Who would you believe? In this terrifying first psychological thriller by bestselling author T.W. Ellis, will one woman goes on the run and is forced to question everything she held dear . .
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Book Review | The Other Mrs Miller – Allison Dickson
Two women are watching each other. Phoebe Miller isn’t sure when the rusty car started showing up in the cul-de-sac she calls home, or why its driver would be spying on her. What could be interesting about an unhappy housewife who drowns her sorrows in ice cream and wine and barely leaves her house? Only one knows why. When a new family moves in across the street–the exuberant Vicki, who just might become the gossipy best friend Phoebe’s always wanted, and her handsome college-bound son, Jake, who offers companionship of a different variety–Phoebe finds her dull routine infused with the excitement she’s been missing. But with her head turned she’s…
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Book Recommendation | You Never Told Me – Sarah Jasmon #BlogTour
A year ago, Charlie’s life seemed to be following a plan: she had a beautiful house, a lovable dog and an upcoming wedding. But she felt trapped. A few months before the big day, ignoring the warnings from her family, she abandoned her life and fled to the other side of the world in a bid for freedom. But when her mother unexpectedly falls ill, Charlie has to cut her trip short. She flies home, but by the time she gets to the hospital, it’s too late. Her mother is gone, but she’s left a mystery behind. Why did she buy a canal boat, and where did the money for…
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Book Recommendation | Logging Off – Nick Spalding
Andy Bellows is in a right state. Plagued with insomnia, anxiety and neckache, he’s convinced there’s something seriously wrong with him. And the worst thing is that his doctor agrees. The diagnosis: Andy is in the grip of a self-destructive addiction to technology—he just cannot put that bloody mobile phone down. Texting, tweeting, gaming and online dating—technology rules Andy’s life. His phone even monitors his bowel movements. So how will he cope when he’s forced to follow doctor’s orders and step away from all of his beloved screens? From having to leave the flat in search of food like some kind of Neanderthal to engaging in conversations with actual people, Andy’s…
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Book Recommendation | The Vacation – T. M. Logan
Seven days. Three families. One killer. It was supposed to be the perfect holiday - a group of families enjoying a week together in the sun. Four women who have been best friends for as long as they can remember making the most of a luxurious villa in the south of France. But Kate has a secret: her husband is having an affair. And a week away might just be the perfect opportunity to get the proof she needs - to catch him in the act once and for all. Because she suspects the other woman is one of her two best friends. One of them is working against her,…
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Book Recommendation | The Beach – Sarah Linley
It was supposed to be the perfect trip. Four friends, fresh out of university, backpacking around Thailand. But among the sun, sea and sand, something went horribly wrong… In the years since, Holly has tried hard to push memories of that terrible summer from her mind. Now a schoolteacher, she believes her life is finally coming together when she meets Tom and his adorable five-year-old son, Jack. But then, Holly starts receiving anonymous messages, showing photos which Holly was sure she destroyed years ago. Someone clearly knows the truth about what really happened. The only question is, how far will they go to get revenge?
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Book Recommendation | The Wife Who Knew Too Much – Michele Campbell
Tabitha Girard had her heart broken years ago by Connor Ford. He was preppy and handsome. She was a pool girl at his country club. Their affair should have been a summer fling. But it meant everything to Tabitha. Years later, Connor comes back into Tabitha's life—older, richer, and desperately unhappy. He married for money, a wealthy, neurotic, controlling woman whom he never loved. He has always loved Tabitha. When Connor’s wife Nina takes her own life, he’s free. He can finally be with Tabitha. Nina’s home, Windswept, can be theirs. It seems to be a perfect ending to a fairy tale romance that began so many years ago. But…
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Book Recommendation | The Mothers ~ Sarah J Naughton
Five Women. They meet at their NCT Group. The only thing they have in common is they're all pregnant. Five Secrets. Three years later, they are all good friends. Aren't they? One Missing Husband. Now the police have come knocking. Someone knows something. And the trouble with secrets is that someone always tells.
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Book Recommendation | The New Guy ~ Kathryn Freeman
Sam Huxton doesn’t do one-night stands, especially not with men she’s just met! But the hot guy at the bar was hard to resist and one night is all they share – no names, no numbers, just some much needed fun… Until the same guy walks into Sam’s life the next day as her new employee. Sam never mixes business with pleasure and makes it clear an office fling with Ryan is off-limits. But after-hours…one thing can lead to another. Can Sam trust her heart and her business with the new guy?
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Book Recommendation | A Window Breaks ~ C. M. Ewan
You are asleep. A noise wakes you. You stir, unsure why, and turn to your partner. Then you hear it. Glass. Crunching underfoot. Your worst fears are about to be realized. Someone is inside your home. Your choices are limited. You can run. Or stay and fight. What would you do?
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Book Recommendation | Their Little Secret ~ Mark Billingham
When DI Tom Thorne is called to conduct a routine assessment at the site of a suicide, he expects to be in and out in no time. But when he arrives at the metro station, where a woman named Philippa Goodwin threw herself in front of an underground train, Thorne inexplicably senses something awry and feels compelled to dig deeper. He soon discovers that she was the victim of a callous con-man whose deception plunged Philippa to her end. Enraged that one man's trickery caused an innocent death, Thorne enlists DI Nicola Tanner to help him track down the swindler and bring him to justice. But the detective duo gets…
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Book Review | The Wreckage ~ Robin Morgan-Bentley
One fatal crash Ben is driving on the motorway, on his usual commute to the school where he works. A day like any other, except for the crash. Two colliding worlds Adam has left his home for the last time. In his final despairing act, he jumps in front of Ben's car, turning the teacher's world upside down. Three wrecked lives Wracked with guilt, Ben seeks out Alice, Adam's widow, and her 7-year-old son Max. But as he tries to escape the trauma of the wreckage, could Ben go too far in trying to ease his conscience?
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#BlogTour Book Review | The Woman Downstairs ~ Elisabeth Carpenter
Can you ever really know your neighbours? When human remains are found in a ground floor flat, the residents of Nelson Heights are shocked to learn that there was a dead body in their building for over three years. Sarah lives at the flat above and after the remains are found, she feels threatened by a stranger hanging around the building. Laura has lived in the building for as long as she can remember, caring for her elderly father, though there is more to her story than she is letting on. As the investigation starts to heat up, and the two women become more involved, it's clear that someone isn't…
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Book Review | The Woods ~ Vanessa Savage
Two girls went down to the woods But only one came back There's a lot from Tess's childhood that she would rather forget. The family who moved next door and brought chaos to their quiet lives. The two local girls who were murdered, their killer never found. In fact, the only thing she can't remember is the one thing she wishes she could. Ten years ago, Tess's older sister died. Ruled a tragic accident, the only witness was Tess herself, but she has never been able to remember what happened that night in the woods. Now living in London, Tess has resolved to put the trauma behind her. But when…
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Book Review | The Guest List ~ Lucy Foley
On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed. But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin…
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#BlogTour | The House on the Lake ~ Nuala Ellwood
Lisa needs to disappear. And her friend's rambling old home in the wilds of Yorkshire seems like the perfect place. It's miles away from the closest town, and no one there knows her or her little boy, Joe. But when a woman from the local village comes to visit them, Lisa realizes that she and Joe aren't as safe as she thought. What secrets have Rowan Isle House - and her friend - kept hidden all these years? And what will Lisa have to do to survive, when her past finally catches up with her?
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Book Review – Unfollow Me ~ Charlotte Duckworth
You Can't Stop Watching Her. Violet Young is a hugely popular journalist-turned-mummy-vlogger, with three young children, a successful husband and a million subscribers on YouTube who tune in daily to watch her everyday life unfold. Until the day she's no longer there. But one day she disappears from the online world - her entire social media presence deleted overnight, with no explanation. Has she simply decided that baring her life to all online is no longer a good idea, or has something more sinister happened to her? But do you really know who Violet is? Told from the perspectives of her most avid fans, obsessed with finding out the truth,…
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#BlogTour | Book Review – The 24 Hour Cafe ~ Libby Page
Day and night Stella’s Café opens its doors for the lonely and the lost, the morning people and the night owls. It is many things to many people but most of all it is a place where life can wait at the door. A place of small kindnesses. A place where anyone can be whoever they want, where everyone is always welcome. Meet Hannah and Mona: best friends, waitresses, dreamers. They work at Stella’s but they dream of more, of leaving the café behind and making their own way in life. Come inside and spend twenty-four hours at Stella’s Café; a day when Hannah and Mona’s friendship will be tested,…
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Book Review | The Beach house ~ P.R. Black
This vacation is about to turn deadly... Cora's on the island vacation of her dreams: a private beach in paradise, a romantic proposal, and an eight-figure cheque following the sale of her new fiancé’s business. When their island turns out to be not so private after all, Cora tries to make the best of a bad situation by inviting their strangely friendly neighbours to celebrate with them. But it doesn't take long for her once-in-a-lifetime holiday to take a very sinister turn...
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Simple hacks to tackle Labor Pain | Mommy’s Corner!
Are you a preggy woman looking for anything and everything to know about your upcoming delivery? Are you several months pregnant and eagerly anticipating your little one to come out, but terribly frightened about the labor pain and the process you'd have to undergo before that?
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Book Review – Raavanputr Meghnad ~ Kevin Missal
This is the story of the greatest warrior in the Ramayana. Meghnad was the perfect son of the tyrannical king — Raavan. Ever since his childhood, he was taught one thing: to be ruthless. Honed by the greatest gurus, Meghnad grew up to be the conqueror of Amravati, the capital of the Devas. He battled Lord Indra. He defeated Lord Ram. But then … he fell in love. Her name was Prameela and she was a Naga princess. And she knew something that no one did: the truth behind Lady Sita’s abduction. But this story is not about the Ramayana. This is about the greatest warrior of all time who…
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Book Review – The Sinners ~ Sourabh Mukherjee
The Sinners by Sourabh Mukherjee Genre: Mystery & Thriller Published: November 11th 2019 by Srishti Publishers Swathi’s Rating: 3.5/5 About the Book: Vikram Oberoi is found dead in his penthouse. A few hours ago, his involvement in a sex scandal in NexGen Technologies made headlines across the world. Who is behind the sinister conspiracy that destroyed Vikram Oberoi, the philandering India Head of NexGen? Rivals within and outside the firm? One of his many jilted lovers or the miffed wife? A mysterious conspirator laying out honey traps to sabotage his plans? Or, is it the ghost of a sinful past that continues to haunt the Oberois? Swathi’s Thoughts: The story…
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Book Review – Who Did You Tell? ~ Lesley Kara
Every town has its secrets. Lesley Kara knows them all . . . From the author of 2019's biggest crime thriller debut, The Rumour, comes an addictive new novel . . . It’s been 192 days, seven hours and fifteen minutes since her last drink. Now Astrid is trying to turn her life around. Having reluctantly moved back in with her mother, in a quiet seaside town away from the temptations and painful memories of her life before, Astrid is focusing on her recovery. She's going to meetings. Confessing her misdeeds. Making amends to those she's wronged. But someone knows exactly what Astrid is running from. And they won't stop…
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#BlogTour | Book Review – My Great Ex-Scape ~ Portia MacIntosh
What if your future was somewhere in your past? Rosie Jones has been dumped by every boyfriend she’s ever had – most recently by Dinosaur Dave, live on TV, during the ‘phone-a-friend’ segment of a quiz show. After the footage goes viral Rosie receives a bunch of flowers with a message: I love you, I should have never let you go, I want you back x But who sent them? At a loose end and with £50,000 prize money in her back pocket, Rosie decides to take a trip down memory lane, visiting each of her ex-boyfriends to see not just if they are the one who sent the flowers…
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#BlogTour | Book Review – Nine Elms ~ Robert Bryndza
A DETECTIVE WHO WOULD STOP AT NOTHING Kate Marshall was a rising star in the London Metropolitan police force. Young, ambitious and with a keen sense of justice, she solved several high-profile murder cases. UNTIL A KILLER STOPPED HER IN HER TRACKS But when Kate was tasked with tracking down the vicious Nine Elms serial killer, she only narrowly escaped becoming his next victim. NOW, HE'S BACK FOR MORE Sixteen years after that harrowing experience, Kate lives a quiet life on the English coast, though she thinks often about her time on the force. When she receives a letter from someone in her past, she is pulled back into…
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Book Review – She ~ Helen C Warner
Ben can’t believe his luck when Bella walks into his life, just when he needs her most. Sexy, impulsive and intelligent, Bella is everything he ever wanted. And Bella wants him. All to herself. In fact, Bella decides that everything is better when it is just the two of them, making it harder for Ben’s friends and family to stay in touch. And then a sudden tragedy triggers a chain of events which throws Ben headlong into a nightmare. Secrets, lies, vengeance and betrayal are at the heart of this utterly twisted story about a family that is destroyed when SHE becomes part of it…
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#BlogTour Book Review – Hold Your Tongue (DI Eve Hunter #1) | Deborah Masson
A young woman’s body is discovered with horrifying injuries, a recent newspaper cutting pinned to her clothing. A detective with everything to prove. This is her only chance to redeem herself. A serial killer with nothing to lose. He’s waited years, and his reign of terror has only just begun . . . Introducing DI Eve Hunter, HOLD YOUR TONGUE is your new obsession.
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Book Review – The Worst Best Man | Mia Sosa
A wedding planner left at the altar. Yeah, the irony isn’t lost on Carolina Santos, either. But despite that embarrassing blip from her past, Lina’s managed to make other people’s dreams come true as a top-tier wedding coordinator in DC. After impressing an influential guest, she’s offered an opportunity that could change her life. But there’s just one hitch…she has to collaborate with the best (make that worst) man from her own failed nuptials. Tired of living in his older brother’s shadow, marketing expert Max Hartley is determined to make his mark with a coveted hotel client looking to expand its brand. But then he learns he’ll be working with his brother’s whip-smart, stunning—absolutely…
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#BlogTour Book Review – I Will Miss You Tomorrow | Heine Bakkeid
Fresh out of prison and a stint in a psychiatric hospital, disgraced ex-policeman Thorkild Aske only wants to lose himself in drugged dreams of his beloved Frei. Wild, unknowable Frei. The woman he loved. The woman he has lost forever. Yet when Frei’s young cousin goes missing off the Norwegian coast and Thorkild is called in by the family to help find him, dead or alive, Thorkild cannot refuse. He owes them this. Tormented by his past, Thorkild soon finds himself deep in treacherous waters. He’s lost his reputation – will he now lose his life?
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Book Review – We Met in December | Rosie Curtis
Two people. One house. A year that changes everything. Twenty-nine-year-old Jess is following her dream and moving to London. It’s December, and she’s taking a room in a crumbling, but grand, Notting Hill house-share with four virtual strangers. On her first night, Jess meets Alex, the guy sharing her floor, at a Christmas dinner hosted by her landlord. They don’t kiss, but as far as Jess is concerned the connection is clear. She starts planning how they will knock down the wall between them to spend more time together.
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Book Review – The Shape of Night | Tess Gerritsen
If the walls could talk . . . they'd tell her to leave. Now. When Ava arrives at Brodie’s Watch, she thinks she has found the perfect place to hide from her past. Something terrible happened, something she is deeply ashamed of, and all she wants is to forget. But the old house on the hill both welcomes and repels her and Ava quickly begins to suspect she is not alone. Either that or she is losing her mind. The house is full of secrets, but is the creeping sense of danger coming from within its walls, or from somewhere else entirely?
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#BlogTour Book Review – The Perfect Dress | Louisa Leaman
Fran’s wedding dress shop isn’t like any other. A treasure trove of history, filled with gowns from every decade for every type of bride. But not as you’d expect. Something bold for the shy and retiring. Something simple for the woman who is unafraid to stand out. And something dazzling for the bride who wouldn’t normally dare to be different. No matter your expectations, you’d never guess your own perfect dress. But Fran knows… she feels the wisdom woven into every gown, a gift from the previous owner waiting to be handed down to the next bride. When Fran finds a dress that seems to be perfect for her she can’t wait…
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Book Review – Traces of Her | Amanda Brittany
An unsolved murder. Rose isn’t surprised anymore when her free-spirited step-sister, Willow, decides to disappear off somewhere without notice. But something feels different this time. When Willow sends her a mysterious package containing photographs of suspects in a cold case she is obsessed with solving, Rose realises she needs to find her sister before things get out of hand. A missing girl. With no sign of Willow to be found, Rose takes up the search for answers about the deaths that shook a small Cornish village eighteen years before. But what is the connection between Willow and the two sisters marked by tragedy? Time is running out. Someone knows where…
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Book Review – Your Truth or Mine? | Trisha Sahklecha
At their wedding Mia and Roy Kapoor promised to love and cherish each other. Whilst not perfect, their marriage is sacred and their commitment absolute. But a knock at the door changes everything when Roy is questioned over the disappearance of a young woman. As Roy and Mia’s life unravels, they must question everything they know about each other if their marriage is to survive. But what if the real truth is not what they, or you, think?
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Book Review – A Bitter Feast | Deborah Crombie
Scotland Yard Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and his wife, Detective Inspector Gemma James, have been invited for a relaxing weekend in the tranquil Cotswolds, one of Britain’s most beautiful and historic regions, famous for its rolling hills, sheep-strewn green meadows, golden cottages, and timeless villages that retain the spirit of old England. Duncan, Gemma, and their children are guests at Beck House, the country estate belonging to the family of Melody Talbot, Gemma’s trusted detective sergeant. No ordinary farmers, the Talbots are wealthy and prominent with ties to Britain’s most powerful and influential. A centerpiece of this glorious fall getaway is a posh charity luncheon catered by up-and-coming chef Viv…
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Book Review – The Lying Room | Nicci French
One little secret between a married woman, her lover, and a killer. It should have been just a mid-life fling. A guilty indiscretion that Neve Connolly could have weathered. An escape from twenty years of routine marriage to her overworked husband, and from her increasingly distant children. But when Neve pays a morning-after visit to her lover, Saul, and finds him brutally murdered, their pied-à-terre still heady with her perfume, all the lies she has so painstakingly stitched together threaten to unravel. After scrubbing clean every trace of her existence from Saul’s life—and death—Neve believes she can return to normal, shaken but intact. But she can’t get out of her…
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Book Review – Violet | Susi Holliday
When two strangers end up sharing a cabin on the Trans-Siberian Express, an intense friendship develops, one that can only have one ending … a nerve-shattering psychological thriller from bestselling author SJI Holliday Carrie's best friend has an accident and can no longer make the round-the-world trip they'd planned together, so Carrie decides to go it alone. Violet is also travelling alone, after splitting up with her boyfriend in Thailand. She is also desperate for a ticket on the Trans-Siberian Express, but there is nothing available. When the two women meet in a Beijing Hotel, Carrie makes the impulsive decision to invite Violet to take her best friend's place. Thrown…
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#BlogTour Book Review – The Family ~ Louise Jensen
Laura is grieving after the sudden death of her husband. Struggling to cope emotionally and financially, Laura is grateful when a local community, Oak Leaf Organics, offer her and her 17-year-old daughter Tilly a home. But as Laura and Tilly settle into life with their new ‘family’, sinister things begin to happen. When one of the community dies in suspicious circumstances Laura wants to leave but Tilly, enthralled by the charismatic leader, Alex, refuses to go. Desperately searching for a way to save her daughter, Laura uncovers a horrifying secret but Alex and his family aren’t the only ones with something to hide. Just as Laura has been digging into…
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#BlogTour #BookReview – The Scent of Death ~ Simon Beckett
What began as a straightforward case is about to become a twisted nightmare… Once a busy hospital, St Jude’s now stands derelict, awaiting demolition. When a partially mummified corpse is found in the building’s cavernous loft, forensics expert Dr David Hunter is called in to take a look. He can’t say how long the body’s been there, but he is certain it’s that of a young woman. And that she was pregnant. Then part of the attic floor collapses, revealing another of the hospital’s secrets: a bricked-up chamber with beds inside. And some of them are still occupied. And it soon becomes clear that St Jude’s hasn’t claimed its last…
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#BlogTour Book Review – See Them Run (Detective Clare Mackay #1) ~ Marion Todd
In a famous Scottish town, someone is bent on murder – but why? On the night of a wedding celebration, one guest meets a grisly end when he’s killed in a hit-and-run. A card bearing the number ‘5’ has been placed on the victim’s chest. DI Clare Mackay, who recently moved from Glasgow to join the St Andrews force, leads the investigation. The following night another victim is struck down and a number ‘4’ card is at the scene. Clare and her team realise they’re against the clock to find a killer stalking the streets of the picturesque Scottish town and bent on carrying out three more murders. To prevent further…
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#BlogTour Book Review – The Stranger Inside ~ Lisa Unger
Twelve-year-old Rain Winter narrowly escaped an abduction while walking to a friend’s house. Her two best friends, Tess and Hank, were not as lucky. Tess never came home, and Hank was held in captivity before managing to escape. Their abductor was sent to prison but years later was released. Then someone delivered real justice—and killed him in cold blood. Now Rain is living the perfect suburban life, her dark childhood buried deep. She spends her days as a stay-at-home mom, having put aside her career as a hard-hitting journalist to care for her infant daughter. But when another brutal murderer who escaped justice is found dead, Rain is unexpectedly drawn…
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Book Recommendation – Wrapped Up In You ~Jill Shalvis
fter a lifetime on the move, Ivy Snow is an expert in all things temporary—schools, friends, and way too many Mr. Wrongs. Now that she owns a successful taco truck in San Francisco and an apartment to call home, Ivy’s reinvented life is on solid ground. And she’s guarded against anything that can rock it. Like the realities of a past she’s worked hard to cover up. And especially Kel O’Donnell. Too hot not to set off alarms, he screams temporary. If only his whispers weren’t so delightfully naughty and irresistible. Kel, an Idaho sheriff and ranch owner, is on vacay, but Ivy’s a spicy reason to give his short-term…
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Book Review – The Stylist Takes Manhattan ~ Rosie Nixon
Novice stylist Amber Green is taking on the glittering celebrity world of Manhattan one fashion disaster and wardrobe malfunction at a time! When her TV producer boyfriend Rob announces that he’s been offered a job in New York, filming with the infamous Angel Wear lingerie models, Amber knows its her perfect chance to take the New York fashion world by storm. But Amber wasn’t counting on unruly toddler photo shoots, clandestine designer handbag scams and a Hollywood star who is determined to wear as little as possible on the red carpet. Until she meets a disgraced former designer who could turn her career around…or leave it all in tatters.
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Book Review – I Looked Away ~ Jane Corry
Every Monday, 49-year-old Ellie looks after her grandson Josh. She loves him more than anyone else in the world. The only thing that can mar her happiness is her husband’s affair. But he swears it’s over now, and Ellie has decided to be thankful for what she’s got. Then one day, while she’s looking after Josh, her husband gets a call from that woman. And just for a moment, Ellie takes her eyes off her grandson. What happens next will change her life forever. Because Ellie is hiding something in her past. And what looks like an accident could start to look like murder…
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Meet the Author – Jane Corry, Sunday Times Bestselling Author
Jane Corry is a former magazine journalist who spent three years working as the writer-in-residence of a high security prison for men. This often hair-raising experience helped inspire her Sunday Times-bestselling psychological thrillers, My Husband's Wife, Blood Sisters, The Dead Ex and I Looked Away, which have been published in more than 35 countries. Jane was a tutor in creative writing at Oxford University and is a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph and My Weekly magazine.
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Book review – One Night Gone ~ Tara Laskowski
A dual-narrative suspense novel about a recent divorcee housesitting in a wealthy beach town who becomes obsessed with the mysterious disappearance of a teenage girl there decades before—but the truth might not be the most shocking part of all. Part electric coming-of-age story and part breathtaking mystery, One Night Gone is an atmospheric novel about power, privilege, and sisterhood from Agatha Award-winner Tara Laskowski. One sultry summer, Maureen Haddaway arrives in the wealthy town of Opal Beach to start her life anew—to achieve her destiny. There, she finds herself lured by the promise of friendship, love, starry skies, and wild parties. But Maureen’s new life just might be too good…
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Book Review – The Six ~ Luca Veste
Six friends trapped by one dark secret. It was supposed to be our last weekend away as friends, before marriage and respectability beckoned. But what happened that Saturday changed everything. In the middle of the night, someone died. The six of us promised each other we would not tell anyone about the body we buried. But now the pact has been broken. And the killing has started again... Who knows what we did? And what price will we pay?
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Book Review – Our Stop ~ Laura Jane Williams
What if you almost missed the love of your life? Nadia gets the 07.30 train every morning without fail. Well, except if she oversleeps or wakes up at her friend Emma’s after too much wine. Daniel really does get the 07.30 train every morning, which is easy because he hasn’t been able to sleep properly since his dad died. One morning, Nadia’s eye catches sight of a post in the daily paper: To the cute girl with the coffee stains on her dress. I’m the guy who’s always standing near the doors… Drink sometime? So begins a not-quite-romance of near-misses, true love, and the power of the written word.
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Book Review – Truth Hurts ~ Rebecca Reid #January2020
Poppy has a secret. It was a whirlwind romance. And when Drew, caught up in the moment, suggests that he and Poppy don’t tell each other anything about their past lives, that they live only for the here and now, for the future they are building together, Poppy jumps at the chance for a fresh start. Drew says he has nothing to hide.
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Book Review – The Chestnut Man ~ Søren Sveistrup
The heart-pounding debut from the creator of the hit Scandinavian television show The Killing. If you find one, he’s already found you. A psychopath is terrorizing Copenhagen. His calling card is a “chestnut man”—a handmade doll made of matchsticks and two chestnuts—which he leaves at each bloody crime scene.
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Book Review – Take It Back ~ Kia Abdullah
The Victim: A sixteen-year-old girl with facial deformities, neglected by an alcoholic mother. Who accuses four boys of something unthinkable. The Defendants: Four handsome teenage boys from hardworking immigrant families. All with corroborating stories. Someone is lying. Former barrister Zara Kaleel, one of London's brightest young legal minds, takes up Jodie Wolfe's case; she believes her, even if those closest to Jodie do not.
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Book Review – This Little Dark Place ~ A. S. Hatch #OctoberRelease
How well do you know your girlfriend? How well do you know your lover? How well do you know yourself? Daniel and Victoria are together. They're trying for a baby. Ruby is in prison, convicted of assault on an abusive partner. But when Daniel joins a pen pal program for prisoners, he and Ruby make contact. At first the messages are polite, neutral - but soon they find themselves revealing more and more about themselves. Their deepest fears, their darkest desires. And then, one day, Ruby comes to find Daniel. And now he must decide who to choose - and who to trust.
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Book Review – The Family Upstairs ~ Lisa Jewell
Be careful who you let in. Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she’s been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought: I am finally going to know who I am. She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. Everything in Libby’s life is about to change. But what she can’t possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well—and she is on a collision…
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Book Review – Someone We Know ~ Shari Lapena
Maybe you don't know your neighbors as well as you thought you did . . . "This is a very difficult letter to write. I hope you will not hate us too much. . . My son broke into your home recently while you were out." In a quiet, leafy suburb in upstate New York, a teenager has been sneaking into houses--and into the owners' computers as well--learning their secrets, and maybe sharing some of them, too. Who is he, and what might he have uncovered? After two anonymous letters are received, whispers start to circulate, and suspicion mounts. And when a woman down the street is found murdered, the…
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Book Review – Lock Every Door ~ Riley Sager
No visitors. No nights spent away from the apartment. No disturbing the other residents, all of whom are rich or famous or both. These are the only rules for Jules Larsen’s new job as an apartment sitter at the Bartholomew, one of Manhattan’s most high-profile and mysterious buildings. Recently heartbroken and just plain broke, Jules is taken in by the splendor of her surroundings and accepts the terms, ready to leave her past life behind. As she gets to know the residents and staff of the Bartholomew, Jules finds herself drawn to fellow apartment sitter Ingrid, who comfortingly, disturbingly reminds her of the sister she lost eight years ago. When…
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Book Review – Don’t Tell Teacher ~ Suzy K. Quinn
School should have been the safest place… For Lizzie Riley, switching her six-year-old son Tom to the local academy school marks a fresh start, post-divorce. With its excellent reputation, Lizzie knows it’ll be a safe space away from home. But there's something strange happening at school. Parents are forbidden from entering the grounds, and there are bars across the classroom windows. Why is Tom coming home exhausted, unable to remember his day? What are the strange marks on his arm? And why do the children seem afraid to talk? Lizzie is descending into every parent’s worst nightmare: her little boy is in danger. But will she be able to protect him before it’s too…
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BlogTour Book Review – The Girl in the Letter ~ Emily Gunnis
A heartbreaking letter. A girl locked away. A mystery to be solved. 1956. When Ivy Jenkins falls pregnant she is sent in disgrace to St Margaret's, a dark, brooding house for unmarried mothers. Her baby is adopted against her will. Ivy will never leave. Present day. Samantha Harper is a journalist desperate for a break. When she stumbles on a letter from the past, the contents shock and move her. The letter is from a young mother, begging to be rescued from St Margaret's. Before it is too late. Sam is pulled into the tragic story and discovers a spate of unexplained deaths surrounding the woman and her child. With…
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Book Review – The Cutting Room ~ Ashley Dyer | June ’19 Release
Detectives Ruth Lake and Greg Carver, introduced in the electrifying Splinter in the Blood, must stop a serial killer whose victims are the centerpiece of his macabre works of art. While Britain is obsessed with the newest hit true-crime television show, Fact, or Fable? detectives Ruth Lake and Greg Carver are tormented by a fiendish flesh-and-blood killer on the loose. Lured to a “crime scene” by a mysterious digital invitation, Ruth Lake is horrified by what she finds: a bizarre and gruesome tableau surrounded by a crowd of gawkers. The deadly work is the latest “art installation” designed by a diabolical criminal dubbed the Ferryman. Not only is this criminal cold-blooded;…
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Book Review – A Nearly Modern Family ~ M. T. Edvardsson | July ’19 Release
Eighteen-year-old Stella Sandell stands accused of the brutal murder of a man almost fifteen years her senior. She is an ordinary teenager from an upstanding local family. What reason could she have to know a shady businessman, let alone to kill him? Stella’s father, a pastor, and mother, a criminal defense attorney, find their moral compasses tested as they defend their daughter, while struggling to understand why she is a suspect. Told in an unusual three-part structure, A Nearly Normal Family asks the questions: How well do you know your own children? How far would you go to protect them?
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Book Review – Under The Table ~ Stephanie Evanovich
Suffocating in a dead-end marriage, Midwesterner Zoey Sullivan fled to New York and moved in with her little sister Ruth, a carefree, vivacious beauty with a string of eligible bachelors at her beck and call. Giving herself three months in the city to clear her head and find a direction, Zoey dodges calls from her ex Derek, and distracts herself by cooking and catering a few private dinners and parties. Pursuing her passion for cooking was never an option when she was with Derek, and now Zoey relishes her independence.
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#BlogTour Book Review – From Inside The House ~ WD Jackson-Smart
Two victims. Brutally murdered in their own home. Body parts taken. D.I. Graves is back on the case to face his toughest challenge yet. A case with no motive and no suspect, nothing at all that could explain why someone would kill innocent people in such a way. Then the next victims are discovered. Another pair of bodies. New body parts taken. Again in their own home. Someone is breaking into houses across the city at night, leaving horror in their wake. It seems to Graves that this could be two serial killers, working together. But how are they choosing their victims? Is any house in London a target? Is…
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#BlogTour Book Review – The Reunion ~ Guillaume Musso
An elite prep school frozen in the snow Three friends linked by a tragic secret One girl taken by the night
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#BlogTour Book Review – Something To Live For ~ Richard Roper
Andrew’s been feeling stuck. For years he’s worked a thankless public health job, searching for the next of kin of those who die alone. Luckily, he goes home to a loving family every night. At least, that’s what his coworkers believe. Then he meets Peggy. A misunderstanding has left Andrew trapped in his own white lie and his lonely apartment. When new employee Peggy breezes into the office like a breath of fresh air, she makes Andrew feel truly alive for the first time in decades. Could there be more to life than this?
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Book Review – No Way Out ~ Cara Hunter
The Christmas holidays, and two children have just been pulled from the wreckage of their burning home in North Oxford. The toddler is dead, and his brother is soon fighting for his life. Why were they left in the house alone? Where is their mother, and why is their father not answering his phone? Then new evidence is discovered, and DI Fawley's worst nightmare comes true. Because this fire wasn't an accident. It was murder.
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Book Review – The Night Visitors ~ Carol Goodman
ALICE gets off a bus in the middle of a snowstorm in Delphi, NY. She is fleeing an abusive relationship and desperate to protect... OREN, ten years old, a major Star Wars fan and wise beyond his years. Though Alice is wary, Oren bonds nearly instantly with... MATTIE, a social worker in her fifties who lives in an enormous run-down house in the middle of the woods. Mattie lives alone and is always available, and so she is the person the hotline always calls when they need a late-night pickup. And although according to protocol Mattie should take Alice and Oren to a local shelter, instead she brings them home…
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Book Review – The Killer In Me ~ Olivia Kiernan
A deadly past refuses to stay buried in Olivia Kiernan’s masterful new novel. Death is no stranger to Detective Chief Superintendent Frankie Sheehan, but she isn’t the only one from her small, coastal suburb to be intimately acquainted with it. Years ago, teenager Sean Hennessey shocked the tight-knit community when he was convicted of the brutal murder of his parents and attempted slaying of his sister, though he always maintained his innocence. Now, Sean is finally being released from prison—but when his newfound freedom coincides with the discovery of two bodies, the alleged connection between the cases only serves to pull Frankie further from answers even as it draws her…
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Book Review – Rocco and the Price of Lies ~ Adrian Magson ~ The Dome Press #BlogTour
Murder by suicide? Three senior government officials - a judge, a politician, and an ex-police chief - are all dead by their own hands.Inspector Lucas Rocco finds himself once more working for the Interior Ministry: undertaking an investigation meant to avoid a government scandal and ignoring unpalatable truths. He's soon convinced that a common denominator must be at play...Rocco uncovers top-level fraud, theft and deception. And when he narrowly survives an attempt on his life, he realises that he has nothing to lose by bringing the truth out in to the open - whatever the risks.
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Book Review – In Two Minds – Alis Hawkins ~ The Dome Press #BlogTour
Harry Probert-Lloyd, a young barrister forced home from London by encroaching blindness, has begun work as the acting coroner of Teifi Valley with solicitor's clerk John Davies as his assistant.When a faceless body is found on an isolated beach, Harry must lead the inquest. But his dogged pursuit of the truth begins to ruffle feathers. Especially when he decided to work alongside a local doctor with a dubious reputation and experimental theories considered radical and dangerous. Refusing to accept easy answers might not only jeopardise Harry's chance to be elected coroner permanently but could, it seems implicate his own family in a crime.
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Book Review – 55 ~ James Delargy
*** There were 54 victims before this. Who is number 55? ***A thriller with a killer hook, and an ending that will make you gasp!Wilbrook in Western Australia is a sleepy, remote town that sits on the edge of miles and miles of unexplored wilderness. It is home to Police Sergeant Chandler Jenkins, who is proud to run the town’s small police station, a place used to dealing with domestic disputes and noise complaints.All that changes on a scorching day when an injured man stumbles into Chandler’s station. He’s covered in dried blood. His name is Gabriel. He tells Chandler what he remembers.He was drugged and driven to a cabin in…
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Book Review – Him – Clare Empson
Him – Clare Empson Genre: Contemporary Romance Published: 4th April 2019, Orion Fiction Swathi’s Rating: 4/5 Verdict: Authentic, multi-layered, character driven masterpiece Plot: ‘You’re stuck there, aren’t you? Right at the end. And I wonder if it might help to go back to the beginning, to put everything in some kind of order.’ Catherine has witnessed something so traumatic that she can’t speak. Or won’t speak.The doctors say the only way forward is to look into her past. Catherine needs to start with HIM . Fifteen years ago she met Lucian at university and fell into a passionate love affair. They were meant to be together forever. But something happened. Something…
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Book Review – Dignity – Alys Conran
DIGNITY is the story of three women – Evelyn, Magda and Susheela – each of a different generation searching for a place to call home, and struggling against a legacy of resentment, guilt and blood. But it is also a powerful novel about race, the dying days of the Raj, the legacy of the British Empire and the future of a small seaside town in contemporary Britain.
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Book Review – Nobody’s Wife – Laura Pearson
‘Of the four of them, only three remained. And there was no going backwards from there.’Emily and Josephine have always shared everything. They’re sisters, flatmates, and best friends. It’s the two of them against the world.When Emily has the perfect wedding, and Josephine finds the perfect man, they know things will change forever. But nothing can prepare them for what, or who, one of them is willing to give up for love.Four people. Three couples. Two sisters. One unforgiveable betrayal.
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Book Review – The Girl Next Door – Phoebe Morgan
One little lie just became deadly… Perfect mother. Perfect wife. Jane Goodwin has spent years building her picture-perfect life in the quiet village of Ashdon. So when sixteen-year-old Clare Edwards is found murdered in Sorrow's Meadow, Jane knows she must first protect her family. Every marriage has a few white lies and hers is no exception. Jane's worked hard to cover up her dark secret from all those years ago - and she'll do anything to keep it hidden...
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Book Review – The Last Act – Brad Parks
The Last Act – Brad Parks Genre: Fiction / Thrillers / Suspense Published: March 14, 2019; Faber and Faber Swathi’s Rating: 4.5/5 Verdict: An utterly thrilling experience recommended for all crime fiction lovers! So guys, today is my spot on the tour of this bloody brilliant book by Brad Parks which is now out in the US and UK (releasing today!). As soon as I read the blurb, I knew I had to read it and I am happy to report that I thoroughly enjoyed it!! Brad Parks is one author whose books can be picked up blindly just looking at his name on the book. If you haven’t read any…
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Book Review – Poetic Justice – RC Bridgestock – The Dome Press
When Detective Jack Dylan heads home to his wife after a residential course, he has no idea that an extraordinary succession of events is about to turn his life upside down. A vicious, unprovoked personal attack is just the start. The discovery of his wife’s death in a road accident also reveals her affair, and his step-daughter is being expelled from university for drug use. Professionally, two teenagers have gone missing and one is soon found dead.An ordinary man might break under the strain, but Dylan is no ordinary man. He knows that his survival depends on him carrying-on regardless, burying himself in his work, relieved by the distraction of…
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Our Writer’s Toolbox – Guest Post by Authors RC Bridgestock
OUR WRITER’S TOOLBOX “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” Abraham Lincoln. I’ve heard it often said, that you’re only as good as your tools. Bob would say: “Detective or writer, I guess that’s the coffee then!” That and his other love (jelly sweets) keep him going… He also uses an old adage to the detective’s bible – The 5 WH (Who, What, Where, When, Why) – to help him write the crime storyline in the books. That, and the tried and tested method of investigating real crime, of course! The first step is to ‘clear…
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#BlogTour – Read an EXCLUSIVE chapter extracted from ‘The Courier’ – Kjell Ola Dahl
In Oslo in 1942, Jewish courier Ester is betrayed, narrowly avoiding arrest by the Gestapo. In great haste, she escapes to Sweden whilst the rest of her family is deported to Auschwitz.In Stockholm, Ester meets the resistance hero, Gerhard Falkum, who has left his little daughter and fled both the Germans and allegations that he murdered his wife, Åse, Ester ’s childhood best friend. A relationship develops between them, but ends abruptly when Falkum dies in a fire.And yet, twenty-five years later, Falkum shows up in Oslo. He wants to reconnect with his daughter Turid. But where has he been, and what is the real reason for his return? Ester…
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Book Review – The Hunting Party – Lucy Foley
All of them are friends. One of them is a killer.During the languid days of the Christmas break, a group of thirtysomething friends from Oxford meet to welcome in the New Year together, a tradition they began as students ten years ago. For this vacation, they’ve chosen an idyllic and isolated estate in the Scottish Highlands—the perfect place to get away and unwind by themselves.They arrive on December 30th, just before a historic blizzard seals the lodge off from the outside world.Two days later, on New Year’s Day, one of them is dead.The trip began innocently enough: admiring the stunning if foreboding scenery, champagne in front of a crackling fire,…
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Book Review – The Secretary – Renée Knight
From her first day as Personal Assistant to the celebrated Mina Appleton, Christine Butcher understands what is expected of her. Absolute loyalty. Absolute discretion. For twenty years, Christine has been a most devoted servant, a silent witness to everything in Mina’s life. So quiet, you would hardly know she is there.Day after day, year after year, Christine has been there, invisible—watching, listening, absorbing all the secrets floating around her. Keeping them safe.Christine is trusted. But those years of loyalty and discretion come with a high price. And eventually Christina will pay.Yet, it would be a mistake to underestimate such a steadfast woman. Because as everyone is about to discover, there’s…
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Author Talks with Phoebe Morgan – Author of ‘The Girl Next Door’ and ‘The Doll House’
Phoebe Morgan is an author and editor. She studied English at Leeds University after growing up in the Suffolk countryside.She has previously worked as a journalist and now edits crime and women’s fiction for a publishing house during the day, and writes her own books in the evenings. She lives in London and you can follow her on Twitter @Phoebe_A_Morgan.The Doll House is her debut novel and an instant ebook bestseller. The Girl Next Door is her second psychological thriller.
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Book Review – Smooth Talking Cowboy – Maisey Yates
Welcome to Gold Valley, Oregon, where a rough-and-tumble rancher and the girl next door are about to learn that opposites attract Olivia Logan has a plan: win back her ex by making him see what he’s missing. But first she needs to find a man who’s willing to play along. With his laid-back cowboy charm and knack for getting under her skin, Luke Hollister is an unlikely hero—but he wants her help convincing her father to sell him land, which means he needs her as much as she needs him. Luke likes his life—and his women—uncomplicated. So why does good girl Olivia heat his blood like no one else? She’s…
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Book Review – Flowers Over The Inferno – Ilaria Tuti
In a quiet village surrounded by centuries-old woods and the imposing Italian Alps, a series of violent assaults take place. Police inspector and profiler Teresa Battaglia is called back from the city when the first body is found in the woods, a naked man whose face has been disfigured and eyes gouged out. Teresa quickly realises that the killer intends to strike again, and soon more victims are found - all having been subjected to horrendous mutilations. When a new-born baby is kidnapped, Teresa's investigation becomes a race against the clock... But Teresa is also fighting a different kind of battle: a battle against her own body, weighed down by…
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Book Review – Gone By Midnight – Candice Fox
Gone By Midnight – Candice Fox Genre: Crime Thriller/ Suspense/ Mystery Published: January 19, Penguin Random House UK Swathi’s Rating: 4.5/5 Hey everyone! Today I am reviewing a very interesting crime thriller that released earlier this month and available for you guys to buy a copy. Gone By Midnight by Candice Fox is the third book in her Queensland based series featuring ex-police detective Ted Conkaffey in the lead. Ted is an ex-police man who was arrested wrongfully for the alleged rape and kidnap of a teenager, which spoiled his reputation to such an extent that he can no longer go out in public without being noticed as a paedophile.…
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Book Review – Changeling – Matt Wesolowski
On Christmas Eve in 1988, seven-year-old Alfie Marsden vanished in the dark Wentshire Forest Pass, when his father, Sorrel, stopped the car to investigate a mysterious knocking sound. No trace of the child, nor his remains, have ever been found. Alfie Marsden was declared officially dead in 1995. Elusive online journalist, Scott King, whose ‘Six Stories’ podcasts have become an internet sensation, investigates the disappearance, interviewing six witnesses, including Sorrel and his ex-partner, to try to find out what really happened that fateful night. Journeying through the trees of the Wentshire Forest – a place synonymous with strange sightings, and tales of hidden folk who dwell there, he talks to…
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’12 Things I Learned Writing No Exit’ with Taylor Adams – Author or ‘No Exit’
A kidnapped little girl locked in a stranger’s van. No help for miles. What would you do? On her way to Utah to see her dying mother, college student Darby Thorne gets caught in a fierce blizzard in the mountains of Colorado. With the roads impassable, she’s forced to wait out the storm at a remote highway rest stop. Inside, are some vending machines, a coffee maker, and four complete strangers. Desperate to find a signal to call home, Darby goes back out into the storm . . . and makes a horrifying discovery. In the back of the van parked next to her car, a little girl is locked…
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Cover Reveal & Blurb – Alis Hawkins’ new Historical Crime Thriller ‘In Two Minds’
Harry Probert-Lloyd, a young barrister forced home from London by encroaching blindness, has begun work as the acting coroner of Teifi Valley with solicitor’s clerk John Davies as his assistant. When a faceless body is found on an isolated beach, Harry must lead the inquest. But his dogged pursuit of the truth begins to ruffle feathers. Especially when he decides to work alongside a local doctor with a dubious reputation and experimental theories considered radical and dangerous. Refusing to accept easy answers might not only jeopardise Harry’s chance to be elected coroner permanently but could, it seems, implicate his own family in a crime.
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Book Review – Painless – Marty Thornley
The debut psychological-horror novel from author Marty Thornley is a page-turning ride, a front row seat to a clinical trial gone horribly wrong. For Greg Owens, this was supposed to be a chance to end years of back pain and escape his reliance on pain pills. If it all worked out, he could maybe even get back the life he left behind as the pills took control. Instead, as the patients are cured of their physical pain, they encounter a different sort of pain building inside them – obsessive thoughts, depression, self-destruction. The side-effects grow worse, and the suspense ratchets tighter. The patients want answers and violent revenge, setting them on…
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Book Review – The Secret – Katharine Johnson
Love, Lies, and Betrayal in Wartime Italy. Two girls growing up in Mussolini’s Italy share a secret that has devastating consequences. Against a backdrop of fear, poverty and confusion during the Second World War, friendship is tested, and loyalties are divided until a chance encounter changes everything. Their lives diverge when beautiful, daring Martina marries and moves into Villa Leonida, the most prestigious house in their Tuscan mountain village, while plain, studious Irena trains to be a teacher. But neither marriage nor life at Villa Leonida are as Martina imagined. And as other people's lives take on a new purpose, Irena finds herself left behind. Decades later, a tragedy at…
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A Conversation with Jessica Barry – Author of ‘Freefall’
Jessica Barry is a pseudonym for an American author who grew up in a small town in Massachusetts and was raised on a steady diet of library books and PBS. She attended Boston University, where she majored in English and Art History, before moving to London in 2004 to pursue an MA from University College London. She works in publishing. For more about Jessica Barry, please visit her on Twitter: @jessbarryauthor and on Instagram: @JessicaBarry9.
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Book Review – A Year At Castle Court – Holly Hepburn
Sadie is a single mum, nursing a broken heart. Her best friend from childhood, Cat, is burned out from working long hours as a chef in Paris. In need of a change, they decide to invest in their dream – running their own handmade biscuit shop in gorgeous Castle Court, a three-storey food court tucked away behind Chester's bustling streets. They soon discover that Castle Court has its own community – a little haven of delight against the stresses of the outside world. But not everyone welcomes the new business; the patisserie owner is less than pleased by what she sees as direct competition and Greg, who runs the fancy bistro that dominates…
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Book Review – We Can See You – Simon Kernick
You have it all. Success, a beautiful home, a happy family. Until, in a heartbeat, it's gone. We've kidnapped your daughter, and we know everything about you. Including the dark secrets from your past you thought were forgotten. We tell you not to contact the police – and that we’ll know if you do. Because we can see you. And now you know this is no ordinary abduction. It’s worse. Within hours you’re on the run, with only one thought in your head: That you will stop at nothing to get your daughter back. Even murder...
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Book Review – Puzzle Girl – Rachael Featherstone
Love is a riddle, waiting to be solved... Clued-up career girl Cassy Brookes has life under control until one disastrous morning changes everything. When she finds herself stuck in a doctor's surgery, a cryptic message left in a crossword magazine sends her on a search to find the mysterious puzzle-man behind it. Cassy is soon torn between tracking down her elusive dream guy, and outwitting her nightmare workmate, the devious Martin. Facing a puzzling love-life, will she ever be able to fit the pieces together and discover the truth behind this enigmatic man?
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Book Review – She Was The Quiet One – Michele Campbell
When twin sisters Rose and Bel Enright enroll in The Odell School, a prestigious New England boarding school, it seems like the opportunity of a lifetime. But the sisters could not be more different. The school brings out a rivalry between them that few ever knew existed. And the school itself has a dark underbelly: of privileged kids running unchecked and uninhibited; of rituals and traditions that are more sinister than they seem; of wealth and entitlement that can only lead to disaster. For Sarah Donovan, wife of an ambitious teacher who is determined to rise through the ranks, Odell also seems like the best thing that could happen to…
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Book Review – The Diary On The Fifth Floor
A woman leaves her infant at home but finds her on a busy street in an unexpected turn of events. Another woman wakes up in a flight hours later, befuddled, in the strangest circumstance. A fascinating tale of a twenty-five-year-old woman that takes hold of us from the moment she enters the fifth floor of a hospital; more precisely, the psychiatric ward. Visibly terrified, she clutches at her clothbound diary, caught in the horns of a terrible dilemma—whether or not to hand over the diary to the doctor. She fears that she will be declared insane if her tangled web of thoughts unspooling in dark mysterious stories is read by…
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Book Review – Bella Toscana – Nanette Littlestone
An explosive yearning that can't be denied Disturbing visions from an ancient past A mysterious stranger that somehow feels familiar On the night of her fiftieth birthday, the comfortable ride of Toscana's life takes an alarming plunge. Haunted by seductive visions, she tries to push aside the desire and focus on the husband who adores her. Then she falls for Flynn, a younger man with an eye for adventure and a heart full of romance, who leaves her doubting everything she's believed about love and passion. In Atlanta, Rome, and the lush scenery of Tuscany, Toscana searches for answers to the mysteries of her life while she faces her biggest…
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Author Talk with Michele Campbell – Author of She Was The Quiet One
Michele Campbell is a graduate of Harvard College and Stanford Law School and a former federal prosecutor in New York City who specialized in international narcotics and gang cases. A while back, she said goodbye to her big-city legal career and moved with her husband and two children to an idyllic New England college town a lot like Belle River in IT’S ALWAYS THE HUSBAND. Since then, she has spent her time teaching criminal and constitutional law and writing novels. She has had many close female friends, a few frenemies, and only one husband, who – to the best of her knowledge – has never tried to kill her.
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Book Review – No Exit – Taylor Adams
A kidnapped little girl locked in a stranger’s van. No help for miles. What would you do? On her way to Utah to see her dying mother, college student Darby Thorne gets caught in a fierce blizzard in the mountains of Colorado. With the roads impassable, she’s forced to wait out the storm at a remote highway rest stop. Inside, are some vending machines, a coffee maker, and four complete strangers. Desperate to find a signal to call home, Darby goes back out into the storm . . . and makes a horrifying discovery. In the back of the van parked next to her car, a little girl is locked…
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Book Review – The Elephants in the Room – Suraj Laxminarayanan
A ragtag group of friends are planning a bank heist to end their cash crunch. Novices to crime, they are driven more by emotions than skill – their plan seems fool proof, or so they think. In another part of the city, a gang of seasoned dacoits has botched up a job and now owes money to the local crime lord. They have to either pay up or pay for it with their lives – and time is running out … In a bizarre twist of fate, both these groups are brought face-to-face. Trapped in a situation beyond the realm of their planning and experience, they must think on their…
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Author Talks with Anstey Harris – Author or ‘The Truths and Triumphs of Grace Atherton’
Today, I take the pleasure of having Author Anstey Harris on the blog. Her new book is all set to release January 2019 from Simon and Schuster UK and people are already talking lovely things about it, including me. I am totally in LOVE with her book and I urge you all to read it too! It is such a wonderful book with a very pretty cover making it a whole package!! Anstey discusses her book and the musical inspiration from her Violin maker Husband. She has some brilliant advice to overcome common traps for aspiring writers through her experience as a teacher of Creative Writing. She aspires to win…
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Book Review – The Truth and Triumphs of Grace Atherton – Anstey Harris
GRACE ATHERTON HAS FALLEN OUT OF LOVE ... AND INTO LIFE Between the simple melody of running her violin shop and the full-blown orchestra of her romantic interludes in Paris with David, her devoted partner of eight years, Grace Atherton has always set her life to music. Her world revolves entirely around David, for Grace’s own secrets have kept everyone else at bay. Until, suddenly and shockingly, one act tips Grace’s life upside down, and the music seems to stop. It takes a vivacious old man and a straight-talking teenager to kickstart a new chapter for Grace. In the process, she learns that she is not as alone in the…
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Book Review – Scrublands – Chris Hammer
In Riversend, an isolated rural community afflicted by an endless drought, a young priest does the unthinkable, killing five parishioners before being taken down himself. A year later, accompanied by his own demons from war-time reporting, journalist Martin Scarsden arrives in Riversend. His assignment is simple: describe how the townspeople are coping as the anniversary of their tragedy approaches. But as Martin meets the locals and hears their version of events, he begins to realize that the accepted wisdom—that the priest was a pedophile whose imminent exposure was the catalyst for the shooting, a theory established through an award-winning investigation by Martin’s own newspaper—may be wrong. Just as Martin believes…
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Author Talks with Kavita Basi – the Author of ‘Room 23’
Kavita Basi had a wonderful life—a job she enjoyed, a wonderful family, and seemingly perfect health. Then an unexpected event took place and turned her entire world upside down. In Room 23, Basi chronicles her time suffering from a subarachnoid hemorrhage—bleeding in the area of the skull surrounding the brain. With this diagnosis, Basi went from being healthy and happy to battling a condition with a 50 percent mortality rate. Following her challenging journey through near death and recovery, this memoir takes an exciting, interactive approach, using QR codes within the chapters so readers can transport themselves to the timeline of what Basi was doing at each moment of her experience,…
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Presenting RC Bridgestock – Authors of the D.I. Dylan series of books!
Words can't explain how thrilled, excited and PROUD I am to have Bob and Carol Bridgestock, the husband and wife writing team of the infamous DI Dylan series of Crime Thrillers! They are here to share their journey into the publishing world drawing from their own Real Life Experiences and some exciting news on their new book(s) that you don't want to miss! Without much delay, I am leaving the rest of the space to the brilliant article written by Carol herself. Enjoy peeps!! If you have enjoyed reading it (which I am sure you will), then do not forget to share it!
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Book Review – The Rumour – Lesley Kara
A casual comment. There's a killer among us. That's all it takes. She stabbed little Robbie Harris. To change a life - She's living under a new name. For ever. She's reformed. So they say . . . Joanna is going to regret the day she ever said a word.
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Author Interview – Dana Chamblee Carpenter
Today on the Blog, I am so proud and thrilled to have the Award Winning Author Dana Chamblee Carpenter who has just released her final instalment to the very famous Bohemian Trilogy "Book Of The Just" (October 2, 2018, Pegasus Books). Imbued with a rich sense of history, magic, and mythology, “Book of the Just” is a paranormal mystery/thriller that spans centuries starting with the medieval period, so it's great for history buffs, too. Dana's second book not only won the Silver Falchion in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror category but also won Best Overall novel at the Nashville-based National mystery conference Killer Nashville!
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Spotlight Book – The Lost Man – Jane Harper
Two brothers meet at the remote fence line separating their cattle ranches in the lonely outback. In an isolated belt of Queensland, they are each other’s nearest neighbor, their homes a four hours’ drive apart. The third brother lies dead at their feet. Something caused Cam, the middle child, who had been in charge of the family homestead, to die alone in the middle of nowhere. So the eldest brother returns with his younger sibling to the family property and those left behind. But the fragile balance of the ranch is threatened. Amid the grief, suspicion starts to take hold, and the eldest brother begins to wonder if more than…
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Book Review – Date with My Boss’s Daughter – Darek Black
What could possibly happen when an employee at a major advertising agency makes the ambitious decision to go out on a date with his boss’s daughter? It’s a night that Bobby Hunter will never forget.
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Spotlight Book: Winter At The Beach – Sheila Roberts
Jenna Jones, manager of the Driftwood Inn, a vintage motel in the Washington beach town of Moonlight Harbor, is convinced that a winter festival would be a great way to draw visitors (and tourist business) to town during those off-season months. Everyone in the local chamber of commerce is on board with her Seaside with Santa festival idea except one naysayer, local sour lemon, Susan Frank, who owns a women’s clothing boutique in town. The beach gets hit with storms in the winter, no one will come, too close to Christmas. Blah, blah. What does Susan know?
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Book Review – The Christmas Heart – Helena Halme
Plot: With his beloved mother passed, Tom is forced to leave his two teenage sons in Milan with his ex and is looking forward to an uncomplicated Christmas skiing in the Swedish Alps. With her daughter Rosa away backpacking in the Far East, Kaisa decides to take a rare winter break over the holidays with her best friend Tuuli. Now in her late fifties, Kaisa doesn’t think she’ll ever fall in love again. But when she sees Tom after some thirty years, her heart begins to beat a little faster. Kaisa knows, however, an affair with Tom will go nowhere. Years ago, they had a disastrous date, which neither of…
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Book Review – Looker – Laura Sims
I’ve never crossed their little fenced-in garden, of course. I stand on the sidewalk in front of the fern-and-ivy-filled planter that hangs from the fence—placed there as a sort of screen, I’m sure—and have a direct line of view into the kitchen at night. I’m grateful they’ve never thought to install blinds. That’s how confident they are. No one would dare stand in front of our house and watch us, they think. And they’re probably right: except for me.
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Book Review – The Consultant – Tj O’Connor
Pursuing his brother’s killer, Hunter stumbles into a nest of horrifying terrorist activity by Middle Eastern refugees, which sparks a backlash across America. In the shadows, Hunter’s mentor, the omnipotent Oscar LaRue, is playing a dangerous game with Russian Intelligence. Neither Hunter nor LaRue realizes that a new threat―the Iranian threat―has entered the game. Stakes rise as two shadowy players are one step ahead of Hunter and LaRue―Khalifah, a terrorist mastermind, and Caine, a nomadic assassin who dances with the highest bidder.
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Author Interview – Tj O’Connor
Author Tj O’Connor is here on the Blog, and I am so pleased to introduce him and his recent Action Flick The Consultant, which released earlier this year. Click here for my full review. Scroll through and read through the session where O'Connor talks about his characters and how he makes them too dangerous to touch, his real life Consulting Job in Washington DC, his next project! There is also the details of his book and the link to enter the Giveaway - You could WIN a copy of this fantastic book if you enter! All best!
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Book Review – Tarikshir – Khayaal Patel
A small princely state in Rajasthan is the last bastion of resistance against the might of the British Empire. While unrest surrounding the sudden death of the king of Devangarh grows, young prince Rudra Pratap Chauhan prepares to ascend the throne. But the kingdom is in turmoil. The Devangarh army is outnumbered and the British forces are closing in. To make matters worse, Rudra discovers the king’s death may not have been accidental after all. The strange appearance and disappearance of a mysterious hooded stranger and a series of ritualistic murders in which the bodies have been drained of blood, spread panic across the realm. As Rudra struggles to manage…
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#Giveaway Book Review – Death By The River – Alexandrea Weis and Lucas Astor
Book Review – Death By The River – Alexandrea Weis and Lucas Astor Genre: Young Adult, Thriller Published: October 2, 2018 by Vesuvian Books Swathi’s Rating – 4/5 Verdict: A nail biting Serial Killer thriller from a skillful duo So today, I share my honest thoughts of my reading experiences along with a fantastic Giveaway for you all to enter and WIN! Go ahead, scroll through the page and you might know why you should get the book for yourself! Good luck! Plot: A High School “American Psycho” SOME TRUTHS ARE BETTER KEPT SECRET. SOME SECRETS ARE BETTER OFF DEAD. Along the banks of the Bogue Falaya River, sits the abandoned St. Francis Seminary.…
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Book Review – Three Strikes – Ross Klavan, Tim O’Mara and Charles Salzberg
I Take Care of Myself in Dreamland by Ross Klavan Bartok is horribly scarred. Wounded in the Army, he roams through 1970’s New York, a city of perpetual night, punctuated by crime and populated by streetwalkers, hooker bars, strip clubs, easy drugs and a feeling of doom. There’s one thing on his mind: an experience he had when his Army truck exploded, an experience he calls Red River. More than bliss, more than spiritual. But nothing goes right. Bartok loses his girl, his money, any possibility of support and decides that he’s finished, he’s going to end it but before he does, he’s going out on the town for one…
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Author Interview with Marianne Holmes
Author Interview with Marianne Holmes Hello everyone! How have you been this October? Hope all is well with y’all! It is my pleasure to invite and introduce Marianne Holmes today at Syllables of Swathi! She is none other than the author of the best selling Literary Fiction A little Bird Told Me, that released earlier this year! Click here to read my full review of the book, and enjoy the blurb of it! Read further to learn more about this Marianne and her lovely book. She also shares her writing experiences, and talks about her inspiration, favorite authors and her pet fishes – Infinity Flame and Mars!!! Author Biography: Marianne…
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Author Interview with Renee Garrison
Author Interview with Renee Garrison Today I had the pleasure of talking to Renee Garrison. She is the author of THE ANCHOR CLANKERS, which won a Gold Medal in the Florida Authors and Publishers Association President’s Book Awards in the Young Adult/Coming of Age category last year! Meet this wonderful person who is a great Inspiration to thriving authors. Today she talks about her book, her unique writing process and much more! Scroll along to read about her Award Winning book at the end of the page. Author Biography Renee Garrison was born in Washington DC. Her father was a naval aviator, whose job required the family to move every three…
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Author Interview with Amanda Reynolds
Today I had the pleasure of talking to Amanda Reynolds about her debut book CLOSE TO ME. She also talks about her favorite books and genre – to read and write. She then reveals her writing habits, and some heartfelt advice to new authors! Read along to know more about this lovely person, and more details about her book by the end of the page.
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Book Review – Close To Me – Amanda Reynolds
Jo Harding can't remember the last year of her life. And her husband wants to keep it that way. When Jo falls down the stairs at home, she wakes up in the hospital with partial amnesia. In fact, she finds that she's lost an entire year of memories. She can't remember what she did, or anything that happened the night she fell. A lot can happen in a year, and she begins to discover that she may have been leading a double life before the accident.
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Book Recommendation – Open Your Eyes by Paula Daly
Haven’t we all wanted to pretend everything is fine? Jane Campbell avoids confrontation at any costs. Given the choice, she’ll always let her husband, Leon—a bestselling crime writer—take the lead, while she focuses on her two precious young children and her job as a creative writing teacher. After she receives another rejection for her novel, Leon urges Jane to put her hobby to rest. And why shouldn’t she, when through Jane’s rose-tinted glasses, they appear to have the perfect house and the perfect life?
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Book Recommendation: Pieces of Her – Karin Slaughter
What if the person you thought you knew best turns out to be someone you never knew at all . . . ? Andrea Cooper knows everything about her mother, Laura. She knows she’s spent her whole life in the small beachside town of Belle Isle; she knows she’s never wanted anything more than to live a quiet life as a pillar of the community; she knows she’s never kept a secret in her life. Because we all know our mothers, don’t we? But all that changes when a trip to the mall explodes into violence and Andrea suddenly sees a completely different side to Laura. Because it turns out…
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Author Interview
A bridge between Authors and Writers. I am so thrilled to Interview Authors who would like to connect with their readers and promote their books! Feel free to use this form to be featured on my page. Don’t worry, all your information is safe with me. Nudge me if you like to discuss more about your books, I’m sure we could sort things out! Click here for the Author Interview Form.
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September Haul – Here are the Books I’ve Read, Loved & Recommended!
I've had a great September, this year! Mainly because the darling Husband of mine gifted me this beautiful site, that is why! Adding to the merriment, I had the pleasure of reading some really wonderful books last months, some of which I am here to mention here today, as I recall my reading experiences. Also, the books are out now, so if you like anything you see, you could just order it right away and read it! Here we go!
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Book Review – November Road – Lou Berney
Everything changes in an instant, and few events have had more far reaching impact than JFK’s assassination. When the shots rang out Frank Guidry, top lieutenant in Carlos Marcello’s New Orleans based crime organization, realized he helped to orchestrate the president’s murder and that there was now a very real target on his back. For Charlotte in small-town Oklahoma, it was the moment that crystalised the end of her marriage. She had to take her daughters and leave her husband—no small thing in 1963. Both fleeing their past lives, Frank and Charlotte meet in a roadside hotel in New Mexico, and see in one another their only hope of safe…
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Book Review – The Darkest Place – Jo Spain
'Island of the Lost was the isle's name long before the hospital was built. In winter, they say the fog falls so heavy there that you can't see your hand in front of your face. Storms rage so forcefully you can be blown from the cliffs. Once St. Christina's was built, the name took on a new meaning. Very few who went into that place ever left.' Christmas day, and DCI Tom Reynolds receives an alarming call. A mass grave has been discovered on Oileán na Caillte, the island which housed the controversial psychiatric institution St. Christina's. The hospital has been closed for decades and onsite graves were tragically common.…
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Book Review – A Little Bird Told Me by Marianne Holmes
Besides, if you were one half evil, wouldn’t you want to know about the other half? In the scorching summer of 1976, Robyn spends her days swimming at the Lido and tagging after her brother. It’s the perfect holiday – except for the crying women her mum keeps bringing home. As the heatwave boils on, tensions in the town begin to simmer. Everyone is gossiping about her mum, a strange man is following her around, and worst of all, no one will tell Robyn the truth. But this town isn’t good at keeping secrets… Twelve years later, Robyn returns home, to a house that has stood empty for years and…
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Book Review – Leave No Trace – Mindy Mejia
Ten years after a boy and his father went missing in the wilderness of Minnesota's Boundary Waters, the boy - who is no longer a boy - walks back out of the forest. He is violent and uncommunicative. The authorities take him to Congdon Mental Institution in Duluth, on the edge of mighty Lake Superior.
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Book Review – Inhuman Resources by Pierre Lemaitre
Alain Delambre is a 57-year-old former HR executive, drained by four years of hopeless unemployment. All he is offered are small, demoralizing jobs. He has reached his very lowest ebb, and can see no way out. So when a major company finally invites him to an interview, Alain Delambre is ready to do anything, borrow money, shame his wife and his daughters and even participate in the ultimate recruitment test: a role-playing game that involves hostage-taking.
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Book Review – Pretty Ugly Lies by Pamela Crane
Pretty Ugly Lies by Pamela Crane Published: 01 Aug 2018 by BloodHound Books Swathi's Rating: 4.5/5 Verdict: A perfect mix of crime and domestic chaos illustrated through sensible writing. Plot: A mother sits in a pool of blood—the blood of her family.
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Book Review – Tell Me You’re Mine by Elisabeth Norebäck
Where is the line between hope and madness? Three women: one who believes she has found her long lost daughter, one terrified she’s about to lose her child, and one determined to understand who she truly is.
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Marriage – a melody
Marriage! Wow that’s a huge thing to think of. At Least that’s what I thought, when I first heard the M word in my life. It could be life changing, no doubt in that. But to take in the right way, positive or negative, solely depends on the concerned two people. I am married for more than an year now, so you could call me a ‘newly married’ but I would call myself as a ‘newly experienced’ in the world of marriage! During the early days of my marriage, I’d just struggle to ‘make things happen’. But later I realized that’s it’s not as difficult as it seemed to be.…
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Book Recommendation | When the Dead Come Home Calling – Helen Sedgwick
In the first of the Burrowhead Mysteries, an atmospheric murder investigation unearths the brutal history of a village where no one is innocent. When psychotherapist Alexis Cosse is found murdered in the playground of the sleepy northern village of Burrowhead, the local police force of Georgie, Trish and Simon investigate. Leads take them from Alexiss recent clients to local bullies, exposing a maelstrom of racism, misogyny, abuse and homophobia that has been simmering beneath the surface of the village. Shaken by the revelations and beginning to doubt her relationship with her husband Fred, Georgie starts to realise something bad is lurking under the soil in Burrowhead, while someone (or something)…
