May's Pre-loved giveaway is Born Evil by Kimberley Chambers

The book is in practically perfect condition, as it was when I bought it in the shops. You can read my review here http://www.alwaysreading.net/2013/05/born-evil-by-kimberley-chambers.html

You can enter the competition the old way by using the contact link below

Click here fill out the contact form
or you can use the rafflecopter competition form and get additional entries. As always the competition will run to the end of the month, all normal rules apply.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Born Evil by Kimberley Chambers

Born Evil by Kimberley Chambers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time Taken to Read - 1 day

Publisher - Preface

Blurb from Goodreads

June Dawson has come a long way from the rough East End background where she met, got pregnant by and eventually married charming, reckless Johnny Fuller. Now she lives in leafy Rainham, in a nice little cul-de-sac, with her ultra-respectable second husband and a lovely social life.

Then her world collapses when daughter Debbie announces that she is pregnant by her low-life, drug addict boyfriend, Billy McDaid. June feels as though she is being physically sucked back into the world of villains and thugs she thought she had escaped for ever.

But worse is to come. Much, much worse. The baby - doted on by his violent, feckless dad - grows into the child from hell: mean, sadistic and out of control. Suddenly the family is not just in crisis. It is in meltdown.


My review

You know when you pick up a Kimberley Chambers, Mandasue Heller or Martina Cole book you know what your going to get. Crime, swearing, relationship dramas, violence and usually sex of some description and your never let down. Debbie is our main character, it starts off with her telling her mum about her unplanned pregnancy with a rather undesirable character bringing shame on the respectable household. Debbie won't listen to reason and runs off with Billy, she knows life will be perfect. The story follows her shocking reality and the harsh truth of her step fathers words about her man and now she has made her bed, she must lie in it.

I started this last night before bed and was only going to read a few chapters, 100+ pages in and after 1am I was still reading. The characters are rough, aggressive and swear like troupers, you don't have to think too hard about the plot as your sucked into their grimy world and all the drama.

Some of the story is quite shocking, these characters are for the most part undesirable and Charlie, Debbie's child, has echoes of Kevin from Lionel Shriver's book. He makes for a very unlikeable character, somewhat like his father however he has darker and viler depths. I hated most of these characters but not in the way you want to stop reading, more you would like to throttle them. I did have a soft spot for Mickey, although he is a criminal, into illegal activities, swears like a fish wife he has a heart of gold and a strong sense of family loyalty. The book ended a wee bit premature for me, I wanted it to keep going and they say an author who keeps the reader wanting more is doing their job. I just hope miss Chambers is going to do a sequel to this book sometime, 4 out of 5 for me this time.

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April Pre-loved giveaway - the winner is............

Gavin Sharp - the winner will be notified by email. Thanks so much to everyone who took part. Please keep an eye out for May's competition which will be going up soon. Rafflecopter seemed to work well so I will use it again for May, if anyone has any problems with it, the old way will be available too.

ARC - The Holiday Home by Fern Britton

The Holiday Home by Fern Britton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time Taken to Read - 2 days

Publisher - HarperFiction

Blurb from Goodreads

Two sisters, one house, a lifetime of secrets.

Set on a Cornish cliff, Atlantic House has been the jewel in the Carew family crown for centuries. Each year, the Carew sisters embark on the yearly trip down to Cornwall for the summer holidays, but they are as different and vinegar and honey.

Prudence, hard-nosed businesswoman and married to the meek and mild Francis, is about to get a shock reminder that you should never take anything for granted.

Constance, homemaker and loving wife to philandering husband Greg, has always been out-manoeuvred by her manipulative sibling. But now that Pru wants to get her hands on Atlantic House, Connie is not about to take things lying down.

When an old face reappears on the scene, years of simmering resentments reach boiling point. But little do the women know that a long-buried secret is about to bite them all on the bottom. Can Constance and Pru put their feuding aside for the sake of everyone else, or will this family holiday push them all over the edge?


My review

Atlantic House has been a huge part of Prudence and her sister Constance's family and yet another source of competition for the girls. Fought over since they claimed bedrooms as children to present day when they are grown and have kids of their own. Every summer the girls and their family go back to the holiday house along with their parents. Old resentment quickly builds up as does the competition and soon more than old feelings surface and some secrets are revealed that could rip the family apart.

This is a great wee read, chick lit, set on a Cornish cliff. The story bounces about from past to present in a fairly easy to follow sequence. The sisters are very childish and at some points very petty which I found a bit grating however it did make the characters come alive and seem very realistic as their personalities had fairly large flaws.

The girls are confronted with an old face from their past which stirs up some unresolved issues and resentment. The story is really easy to follow and you settle into it quickly. There are a few little twists and a whopper as you draw to a close. This is my first time reading this author and whilst chick lit isn't my first choice of read it is great when you just need to switch off and enjoy a good wee tale. I would likely read this author again and give it a good 3/5. Simple, easy to follow, chapters not too lengthy and a pinch of excitement throughout family issues on a summer holiday. Thanks so much to HarperFiction for introducing me to a new author and sending me an ARC copy of this book. You can get yourself a copy from 9th of May, 2013, in print and ebook format.

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ARC - Stop Dead by Leigh Russell

Stop Dead by Leigh Russell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time Taken to Read - 4 days

Publisher - No Exit Press

Blurb from back cover

When a successful businessman is brutally murdered, the police suspect his glamorous wife and her young lover. But when the victim's business partner suffers the same gruesome fate, and yet another body is discovered, seemingly unrelated to the first two, the police are baffled. The only clue is DNA that leads them to two women: one dead, the other in prison. With a steady stream of bodies arriving at the morgue, can DI Geraldine Steel find the killer before the killer stages another deadly attack?

My Review

I never comment on covers as they are not a big part in my choosing process however I must pass comment on this one. The actual cover itself is made from high quality, almost feels like, laminate of some kind. Smooth, shiny and made up of dark greens with bold red writing, the books title. The back cover is of lighter colour with black and red text and 4 small pictures of the previous books.

This is book number five in the series, this is my first time reading this author and you can easily pick this up as a one off. Detective Inspector Geraldine Steel is our main character investigating the brutal murder of a local businessman in London. Suspicion falls upon his widow and her young lover, before another another body is found with the same gruesome mutilations. The clock is ticking for D.I. Steel to solve the case and stop the murderer before they kill anyone else.

I quite enjoyed this story, the action starts from the opening chapter and the body count goes from there. I felt the pace slowed down at some parts and some of the storyline was a bit of padding. For example something from Geraldine's family is revealed in this book and she ponders on it briefly in different sections of the book however nothing really comes of it.

The investigation casts out a few suspects and I thought early on I had it worked out, I was wrong. Your kept guessing up to the end and the story goes from slow and plodding along to full swing all is revealed. This is a great book to read when you find your struggling or have a lot on as everything is explained, what they say, why they say it and of course the how and why of the crime at the end. Thanks so much to RealReaders for introducing me to a new author and supplying me with this ARC. I think I may go back and read the earlier books to connect better with the characters. This book will be available from 30th of May, 2013 from all good retailers.

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ARC - The Outsiders by Gerald Seymour

The Outsiders by Gerald Seymour
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Time Taken to Read - 3 days

Publisher - Hodder & Stoughton

Blurb From Goodreads

Winnie Monks has never forgotten - or forgiven - the death of a young agent on her team at the hands of a former Russian Army Major turned gangster. Now, years later, she hears the Major is travelling to a villa on the Costa del Sol and she asks permission to send in a surveillance unit.

They find an empty property near the Major's. The Villa Paraiso. It's perfect to spy from - and as a base for Winnie's darker, less official, plans.

But it turns out that the property isn't deserted. The owners have invited a young British couple to 'house sit' while they are away.

For Jonno and Posie, just embarking on a relationship, this is supposed to be a carefree break in the sun. But when the Secret Service team arrives in paradise, everything changes.



My Review

I think I can safely say I have never read a book quite like this one before! I have no idea who the main character was as there where so many of them. A young agent is murdered by an ex Russian Army Major and his team leader won't let it go, the Major will pay. She sends a team to monitor his colleagues and movements, to a house they think is empty. However the house is occupied by a young couple and the two need to deal with each others presence to get the job done.

This is a fairly brutal book that delves into the past of both the Major and the members of the surveillance team, back into the war and things that happened. There is some derogatory names used in some parts of the book and some of the killing and scenes described are horrific.

The main story, when I could follow it was good, revenge for an innocent life brutally ended. However far too much of it went off on spiels that I couldn't follow. Page breaks would be the only indication a scene had changed and even then it could start with she did.... so you had no idea who she or he was and if the scene had changed. For me a lot of things didn't make sense and it really was a headache trying to keep up with all the characters, plots, story lines and timescale.

Maybe this is the norm for this author, he is very successful and I am sure plenty will love this book however for me I just couldn't get on with it. I felt there wasn't much depth to any of the characters, I cared about none and couldn't wait for the story to be done with. At the end there is a recap of what happened so that was good for me as I was practically clueless although I was still left with many questions. 2/5 for me and to be honest I doubt I will read this author again, the style is not for me I'm afraid. Thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for giving me a chance to try a new author. For fans of Seymour this book is out from April 25th, 2013 in paperback and ebook priced £6.99.

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ARC - Breakdown by Sara Paretsky

Breakdown by Sara Paretsky
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time Taken To Read - 3 days

Publisher - Hodder & Stoughton

Blurb from Goodreads

Carmilla, Queen of the Night, is a shape-shifting raven whose fictional exploits thrill girls all over the world. When tweens in Chicago's Carmilla Club hold and initiation ritual in an abandoned cemetary, they stumble on an actual corpse, a man stabbed through the heart in a vampire-style slaying.

The girls include daughters of some of Chicago's most powerful families: the grandfather of one, Chaim Salanter, is among the world's weathiest men; the mother of another, Sophy Durango, is running for the United States Senate.

For V.I. Warshawski, the questions multiply faster than the answers. Is the killing linked to a hostile media campaign against Sophy Durango? Or to Chaim Salanter's childhood in Nazi-occupied Lithuania? As V.I. struggles to answer these questions, she finds herself fighting enemies who are no less terifying for being all too human.

My Review

Despite this being the 15th book in the series it is my first time reading this author. V.I Warshawski is our main character and to be honest at the start of the book I was very confused what her role was. She is a private detective, often referred to as a detective who is also listed as a lawyer although she isn't practicing. She is called on by her cousin to check on teenage girls, out after curfew, who are practicing a ritual brought on by the teenage vampire books fad. In the cemetery, unbeknown to the girls, a man is being killed nearby. A long and twisted tale follows, politics, murder, deception and secrets which will put the lives of those involved in perilous danger.

There are no vampires in this story so don't be put off or fooled by the blurb. It is a murder mystery that is heavily wrapped up with politics. I don't follow politics much and have to be honest there is a lot throughout the story that it did put me off quite a bit. There are also, for me, far to many characters and I got confused about who some people where and had to go back and re read and see what part of the story they played.

It is not all complaints though, V.I. is a great character, she is very loyal to her close friends, spunky and like a dog with a bone once she gets her teeth stuck into something. She is also very tolerable, she does a lot for many of the characters in the book yet gets quite a lot of aggravation for her troubles. For some parts I could have put the book down and left it as it got a tad boring for me, however at the last quarter of the book it focused back on the actual story and picked up pace. As I said a far few turns and twists and had the politics been a lesser part I am sure I would have enjoyed this more so 3/5 for me. I am sure I will look this author up again but alas not for a while. Thanks so much to Hodder and Stoughton for sending me an ARC copy of this and introducing me to a new author. This version of the book will be available from the 25th of April, 2013 in ebook and paperback for £7.99.

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