Kitty's War by Eimear Lawlor Blog Tour

Today is my stop for the blog tour for "Kitty's War" by Eimear Lawlor, for my stop I have my review, enjoy. This is a Rachels Random Resources tour. Buy link for the book from Amazon UK.

About the author:

Eimear Lawlor was born in Co. Cavan and now lives in city of Kilkenny with her husband John and two sons. Unfortunately, her middle child Ciara passed away in 2016, who was the inspiration of her writing career. Her debut novel Dublin's Girl was an Irish Times bestseller and was inspired by the true story of her aunt, who worked with Michael Collins and Eamon De Valera as their private secretary.

Kitty's War by Eimear Lawlor


Time taken to read - in and out over 6 days

Pages - 317

Publisher - Head of Zeus

Source - ARC

Blurb from Goodreads

Kilkenny, 1939. Ireland might be neutral, but Kitty Flynn is caught in her own war. Forced to give up her child at seventeen, she escaped to London in search of a fresh start.

However, in 1941, upon hearing that her brother, Anthony, who had been injured during the Spanish Civil War, is now gravely ill, Kitty must return home to care for him. In a time where food and medicine are scarce, Kitty is relieved to secure a nursing job – that is, until G2, the Irish Intelligence notices her proficiency in German…

G2 are determined to use Kitty's translation skills to extract information from the German internees at The Curragh Military Camp, even using Anthony as leverage.

Before she knows it, Kitty finds herself in the treacherous world of espionage. And soon Kitty must will she sacrifice herself to save her brother?

Inspired by real life events Kitty's War is the new sweeping historical novel by the bestselling author of Dublin's Girl, Eimear Lawlor.


My Review

So Kitty is our main character, living in London after fleeing for a fresh start, unwed and forced to give up her baby - it is 1939, Ireland. Her plan is a new life and with her friend they both are going into healthcare. When Kitty has to go home due to a bereavement she finds her brother in trouble, now it is just the two of them they need to stick together. Kitty will do whatever it takes to save her brother, from illness, from authorities even from himself.

Poor Kitty, travelling whilst a war and bombs are going on, getting caught up in all kinds of dodgy situations and everything comes back to saving her brother. She risks just about everything for him, they had a turbulent childhood, often depending on each other and now as adults he needs her more than ever.

I kinda wish I hadn't read the blurb because it goes on about Kitty being caught up in espionage which doesn't come until later, much later. I thought the book was going to be thick of war/espionage and whilst war and threat is peppered throughout this is really all about Kitty. She has constant inner battles, putting herself in some really dodgy situations all in desperation of doing what is right for her brother.

The whole war/Ireland part was really interesting, I know not a lot about the wars so I fond myself having to put the book down and reading up XYZ. I love when books make me do that. There are some dodgy characters and Kitty had me frustrated at times but again it was all through the love and devotion she had to her brother. The book also deals with issues relevant to the time period, babies out of wedlock and being hidden away as a result, the impacts that kind of loss has. Her mother 's treatment and her ideals/memories of her father.

The book has huge threads of family weaved throughout, dodgy morals, sexuality, family, friendship, accusations of espionage, mistrust of anyone seemingly linked to or sympathising with Germans/IRA or a parent being German. There is a lot going on and I wasn't sure where it was all headed, I do enjoy a book that keeps you guessing. Touching in places, some bits she had me ripping my knittin and some emotive scenes. This is my first by this author, I would absolutely read her again.

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A Secret In The Family by Nancy Revell

A Secret in the Family by Nancy Revell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 440

Publisher - Penguin

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

1945, Sunderland. Ida Boulter makes the heart-wrenching decision to leave her five children behind as she escapes her husband and moves to London to start afresh with the love of her life.
1953, County Durham. Ida’s children have since built a new life in the beautiful home of Cuthford Manor – looked after by their eldest sibling Angie and her husband.
But their world is about to be rocked once again when their mother turns up out of the blue for the first time in eight years.
She has come back bearing a secret she can no longer keep from her family.
Will telling the truth cause more harm than good?
Only their love for one another will carry them through the turbulent times ahead.
Readers love Nancy


My Review

Oooft 1945 Ida is running off with her lover and leaving behind her five kids, she knows her eldest will look after them, she always has. A woman leaving her husband and her kids, back in the 40s was almost unheard of, doing it the day before your eldest daughters wedding is pretty brutal. Now eight years later Ida is back and about to shatter her kids lives all over again.

I LOVE when authors create a world and characters you can envelope yourself in and this is exactly what we get here. I mean what a pull, a time when women stayed in marriages regardless of how bad things where and rarely did they leave let alone leave their kids behind. So you have the pull and intrigue right from the off and now eight years have passed and she is back WE NEED TO KNOW!

The kids are at different ages, the younger two are quite delighted and intrigued, the next two are loathe to acknowledge her let alone listen to anything she has to say and the eldest, Angie, she has always been a good and fair person so she gives Ida a chance to talk. I mean the decision kinda is forced on her but regardless some folk would have told her to sling her hook!

Very much actions, consequences, secrets, lies and some pearl clutching, gasp/shock moments, there are some scenes that hint to or actually have threat of violence/SA so prepare yourself. Even the 1940s had some bad folk around and there are always people looking to take advantage. I really liked how many themes ran in the book and at the heart of it all, family and love. There is some classism and snobbery, manipulation/expectation - again the time period it is absolutely expected, 4.5/5 from us this time.

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The Woman On The Bridge by Sheila O'Flanagan

Today is my turn on the blog tour for book "The Woman On The Bridge" by author Sheila O'Flanagan, this is a RandomThings tour. The book is available to buy now as a treebook or ebook, link HERE for Amazon UK.

About the Author:

Sheila O'Flanagan is the author of 30 bestselling novels including What Eden Did Next, Three Weddings and a Proposal, The Women Who Ran Away, Her Husband's Mistake, The Hideaway and The Missing Wife. She lives in Dublin with her husband.

www.sheilaoflanagan.com / Twitter: @sheilaoflanagan Facebook.com/sheilabooks

For my stop I have my review, enjoy, non spoiler as usual.

The Woman on the Bridge by Sheila O'Flanagan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - in and out over 4 days

Pages - 448

Publisher - Headline review

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

Dublin. The 1920s. As war tears Ireland apart, two young people are caught up in events that will bring love, tragedy - and the hardest of choices.

In a country fighting for freedom, it's hard to live a normal life. Winnie O'Leary supports the cause, but she doesn't go looking for trouble. Then rebel Joseph Burke steps into her workplace. Winnie is furious with him about a broken window. She's not interested in romance. But love comes when you least expect it.

Joseph's family shelter fugitives and transport weapons. Joseph would never ask Winnie to join the fight; but his mother and sisters demand commitment. Will Winnie choose Joseph, and put her own loved ones in deadly danger? Or wait for a time of peace that may never come?

Ireland's tumultuous independence struggle is the backdrop for an unforgettable story of courage and heartbreak, in which heroes are made of ordinary people. Inspired by the story of Sheila O'Flanagan's grandmother, The Woman on the Bridge is the unmissable, compulsive new novel from a bestselling author.



My Review

1920's Ireland, civil unrest and a country at war wanting to be free and amongst that we have Winnie - working in a shop, can do measurements without tape and likes the simple life. When the shop is damaged it brings a meeting with rebel Joseph. We alone with Winnie are dragged into the cause and finding ourselves caught between sides in the war and the dangers of being a civilian within it let alone the partner of a rebel.

I do enjoy books like this, I never used to read Historical fiction but find as I get older I am enjoying it more and more. Plus my history isn't the best so I generally find within reading books like this I stop and research & O'Flanagan does a great job bringing to life the characters and a time period of history.

Winnie comes from a working class style family, Joseph's family whilst having money are very involved in the troubles and supportive/activists with freedom. As Winnie and Joseph's relationship develops we see her being pulled further into the other side, strong belief's and the trouble and threats that come from this.

It is a love story essentially but not exclusively that, set around a rough and at times bloody period of Irish history and we get other veins of normality and harsh reality. Alcoholism, DV, family dynamics, love, loss, grief it is a mixed bag and envelopes the reader in the characters lives, trials and tribulations whilst giving us some important history with emotive moments.

I have read O'Flanagan before and will read her again, 4/5 for me this time.

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The Last Crossing by Brian McGilloway Blog Tour

Today is my stop on the blog tour, please check out the other stops as we all offer different content.





About the author:




Brian McGilloway is the New York Times bestselling author of the critically acclaimed Inspector Benedict Devlin and DS Lucy Black series.

He was born in Derry, Northern Ireland in 1974. After studying English at Queen’s University, Belfast, he took up a teaching position in St Columb’s College in Derry, where he was Head of English until 2013. He currently teaches in Holy Cross College, Strabane.

Brian’s work has been nominated for, and won, many awards, including Borderlands (shortlisted for the CWA New Blood Dagger), Gallows Lane (shortlisted for both the 2009 Irish Book Awards / Ireland AM Crime Novel of the Year and Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award 2010), and Little Girl Lost (winner of the University of Ulster’s McCrea Literary Award 2011).

In 2014, Brian won BBC NI’s Tony Doyle Award for his screenplay, Little Emperors, an award which saw him become Writer In Residence with BBC NI.

Brian lives near the Irish borderlands with his wife, daughter and three sons.

Social Media & Links

Facebook: @bmcgilloway

Twitter: @brianmcgilloway

Website: www.brianmcgilloway.com

About the book




“Moving and powerful, this is an important book which everyone should read.” Ann Cleeves

“The Last Crossing is a brilliant excavation of the recent past.” Adrian McKinty

Tony, Hugh and Karen thought they’d seen the last of each other thirty years ago. Half a lifetime has passed and memories have been buried. But when they are asked to reunite - to lay ghosts to rest for the good of the future - they all have their own reasons to agree. As they take the ferry from Northern Ireland to Scotland the past is brought in to terrible focus - some things are impossible to leave behind.

In The Last Crossing memory is unreliable, truth shifts and slips and the lingering legacy of the Troubles threatens the present once again. Out to buy NOW from Amazon.

For my stop I have my review, enjoy.

The Last Crossing by Brian McGilloway
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - in and out over 4 days

Pages - 380

Publisher - The Dome Press

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

“The Last Crossing is a brilliant excavation of the recent past.” Adrian McKinty

Tony, Hugh and Karen thought they’d seen the last of each other thirty years ago. Half a lifetime has passed and memories have been buried. But when they are asked to reunite - to lay ghosts to rest for the good of the future - they all have their own reasons to agree. As they take the ferry from Northern Ireland to Scotland the past is brought in to terrible focus - some things are impossible to leave behind.

In The Last Crossing memory is unreliable, truth shifts and slips and the lingering legacy of the Troubles threatens the present once again.


My Review

This is my first dance with this author, we open to the scene of an execution. Tony is headed back to Scotland to face their past and the actions that cost a young man his life and impacted on theirs. Tony, Hugh and Karen haven't seen each other for years, their fate cast by an act they committed and the choices they each made.

The book splits in two, pre assassination (the past) and post assassination (present time) flipping between the two with alternating chapters. It took me a wee bit to notice, just coming off shifts, that each chapter ends and begins with a linking word or sentence, pretty nifty and well done!

The book looks mostly at Tony, main character, and how things centered around him, his feelings, job, attitude and what drew him into such a dark group, activists who met out "justice" as they see fit. His brothers death, him wanting someone to pay, a group who see him ripe for joining, all of this is set in Ireland. Then Tony flees to Scotland and the book is across the two locations although primarily Ireland I would say.

It is a dark read, how easy it is for people to get involved in a movement, killing and how small choices and actions can have huge consequences, impact and far reach even many years later. This was my first book by this author, it won't be my last 4/5 for me this time.

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City Lives by Patricia Scanlan

City Lives by Patricia Scanlan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - on and off over 4 days

Pages - 484

Publisher - Simon & Schuster UK

Blurb from Goodreads

Devlin, Caroline and Maggie. Women in their prime. They have it all. Careers. Success. Marriage. They are the envy of their peers. But at what price?

City Livesis the story of three women who have one great certainy in their lives: their friendship. The enduring bonds of loyalty and love will carry them through the toughest times towards a brighter future.

'A page-turner for romantics'Ireland on Sunday



My Review

This is book two of a trilogy, if you haven't read the first one I would recommend it however you could get away with reading this as a standalone. I think you would enjoy it more though having the background info.

Three very different women, Devlin is a successful business woman with her own chain of beauty salons, married and in love she has everything she could want from life. Caroline, married to a man with his own demons and over bearing mother. When they agree to divorce and pursue happiness, Caroline's Mother in Law has other plans. And Maggie, a now well known author, a husband with more than a roving eye, young babies and the struggle between her own happiness and that of her children. The trio have already overcome so much together, now taking scary steps in each of their own lives to achieve what we all want, happiness.

I do like Scanlan's writing, it is like slipping into an episode of one of your favourite sitcoms, the writing flows and you're quickly drawn into the world created and following the ladies recent adventures. I think within the characters there will be someone each reader can identify with, even though they have fame or money they still experience the same woes as everyone else. I will buy the third part of this series as I want to know what is next for the ladies, a perfect read for round the pool or just to switch off from your own every day, 3/5 for me this time.

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The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne

The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 4 days (on and off)

Pages - 592

Publisher - Doubleday

Blurb from Goodreads


Cyril Avery is not a real Avery or at least that’s what his adoptive parents tell him. And he never will be. But if he isn’t a real Avery, then who is he?

Born out of wedlock to a teenage girl cast out from her rural Irish community and adopted by a well-to-do if eccentric Dublin couple via the intervention of a hunchbacked Redemptorist nun, Cyril is adrift in the world, anchored only tenuously by his heartfelt friendship with the infinitely more glamourous and dangerous Julian Woodbead.

At the mercy of fortune and coincidence, he will spend a lifetime coming to know himself and where he came from – and over his three score years and ten, will struggle to discover an identity, a home, a country and much more.

In this, Boyne's most transcendent work to date, we are shown the story of Ireland from the 1940s to today through the eyes of one ordinary man. The Heart's Invisible Furies is a novel to make you laugh and cry while reminding us all of the redemptive power of the human spirit.




My Review


Hello 1945, we open in Cork with Catherine, sixteen years old and daughter to a Catholic family in a small town. Catherine is pregnant and publicly shamed by the priest before being forced to leave with very little in her pocket and all alone. A chance friendship sees her land in Dublin and there we tragically leave her and follow the life of Cyril Avery. Cyril was adopted so not a real Avery as he is reminded at all opportunities by his adoptive parents Charles and Maude. With a privileged upbringing but lacking in emotional stability, Cyril grows up to be an interesting young man. With a country ruled by a religious tight hold, Cyril struggled to be who he truly is and has to deal with the fall out of his lifes decisions.

Well I don't know what I was expecting when I started reading this but it wasn't the emotional gut wrenching journey I was taken on. Catherine, whilst playing minimal parts in the book is an amazingly strong character with more morals and scruples than some of the people of the cloth or esteemed societal figures in the book. A tale of coming of age, society's prejudices, sexism, homophobia, violence, extremism, family, personal growth, love and morals all play a part in this breath taking story.

It is a novel that is very brave, the author tackles many subjects that will raise tempers, emotions and even force readers to examine their own moral compass. Definitely one of my top reads, at moments I was rooting for Cyril and others so enraged by some of his decisions thinking noooo, why?!?!?!. I think many readers will identify with at least one aspect if not more of the book, either as the struggles Cyril has to survive and embrace or with the strength and growth of some amazing people. Thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy of this, I have read Boyne before and will be snapping up the rest of the back catalog as I enjoyed this one so much. A book that packs an emotive punch and leaves you thinking about it long after you have finished the last page, 5/5 for me!

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ARC - The City Of Strangers by Michael Russell

The City of Strangers by Michael Russell
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 8 days

Publisher - AVON

Pages - 484

Blurb from Goodreads

The second Detective Stefan Gillespie novel and sequel to The City of Shadows which was longlisted for the CWA John Creasy New Blood Dagger Award 2013.

New York, 1939: A city of hope. A city of opportunity. A city hiding dark secrets...

A woman is brutally murdered and the only suspect has fled the country. Garda Sergeant Stefan Gillespie is sent to New York to bring a killer home to face justice – but the man has already disappeared into Manhattan’s awesome vistas.

Stefan is beguiled, exhilarated and troubled by this city buzzing with confidence, pride and ruthless opportunism, from skyscraper penthouses, to grimy backstreets, to the pulse-thumping jazz clubs of Harlem.

The 1939 World Fair only heightens the noisy enthusiasm for a bright new future and the stark tensions of a city that seethes with anti-Semitism and segregation, a city whose links to the struggle for Irish independence are unbreakable, yet holds hidden danger for Ireland in a world on the edge of war.

Stefan’s mission in New York becomes part of an increasingly personal struggle when an encounter with an old friend catapults him into a complex world of murder, conspiracy and terror.
In a time when people must stand up for what they believe in, the stakes for Stefan Gillespie, and his country, couldn’t be higher.

A thrilling and richly evocative historical crime novel.



My Review

This is the second book in a series, however it is worth noting I hadn't read the first and don't feel I lost anything by not having done so. The tale is set in 1939 so Hitler is very much around and his "workings" are mentioned or referred to in parts of the story. The tale begins in 1922 with a brief setting of an event that scars a family and then jumps to the tales present day, the relevance to this intro will become apparent later in the story.

Set in Ireland, Stefan Gillespie, detective, is sent to New York to being home the only suspect in a murder of one of their locals. When he gets to New York he becomes entangled in politics, conspiracy, murder and self preservation. What follows is a dangerous journey for our detective who needs to do what he feels is right and that which is right for his country.

So it has a great storyline so why did I give it only two stars? Well firstly there is a lot of political stuff and history going on in the book. This will be a great selling point for so many readers but for someone like me who is seriously lacking in knowledge on history I had to go and look up a lot of things to get a feel for what was going on. Then there is references to IRA, a lot to be honest and again I don't know a whole lot about their history so I found myself having to google so much to keep on top. This is of course not the authors fault by any means but it did take a lot away from my reading enjoyment but will enhance that of readers who know their history.

Apart from that there was quite a lot going on in the story, the original murder, which to be honest, I felt fell away from the importance of the tale as more story lines came up. Two sisters looking for help and keeping safe from an influential tyrant, another murder, the IRA part of the story, my head was spinning trying to keep up.

I think this will make for a brilliant read for so many but for someone like me it was just far too busy with story lines and things from history that I just wasn't up to scratch on. If your interested in these topics plus a tale that has lots going on to keep your mind busy then give it a go. It is a well written book but just for someone like me it was a bit too much, I really do however need to learn my history. Thanks so much to AVON for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review but this time, sadly, it is a 2/5. This book is available from 7th November 2013 for any good retailer.

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