Everyone Here Is Lying by Shari Lapena Blog Tour

Today is my turn on the blog tour (RandomThingsTours) for my stop I have my non spoiler review, enjoy.


About the author

Shari Lapena is one of the best-known thriller writers working today. Every one of her thrillers has been a Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller. She has spent a total of 76 weeks in the top 10 and has sold over 7 million copies across all titles and formats worldwide. Her debut, The Couple Next Door, was the overall bestselling fiction title in the UK in its year of publication and has been optioned for TV by Paramount. For more information about Shari and her books, you can visit Shari’s website here: https://sharilapena.com/.

Buy link for the book, OUT NOW, from Amazon UK.

Everyone Here Is Lying by Shari Lapena
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1.5 days

Pages - 336

Publisher - Bantam books

Source - Arc

Blurb from Goodreads

Welcome to Stanhope! A safe neighborhood. A place for families.

William Wooler is a family man, on the surface. But he's been having an affair, an affair that ended horribly this afternoon at a motel up the road. So when he returns to his house, devastated and angry, to find his difficult nine-year-old daughter, Avery, unexpectedly home from school, William loses his temper.

Hours later, Avery's family declares her missing.

Suddenly Stanhope doesn't feel so safe. And William isn't the only one on his street who's hiding a lie. As witnesses come forward with information that may or may not be true, Avery's neighbors become increasingly unhinged.

Who took Avery Wooler?

Nothing will prepare you for the truth.



My Review


Ooft buckle in folks! Imagine your worst day, you are happily having an affair and out the blue it is ended, you are dumped. You are angry, upset, confused and head home early to try get your head around it but your kid is unexpectedly home too. You loose your temper, you leave furious and later your kid has gone missing. A bad day is about to get so much worse. And the thing is it isn't just the cheater(s), just about everyone in this book is going to have a bad day that gets worse!

A missing kid, affairs, shady neighbours, everyone is a suspect, tis like a modern day murder she wrote (for the hunners of suspects rather than muuuuuuurder), I was accusing everyone. This goes from bad to worse and just when you think ooft that person's day can't get any worse, it bloody does :D

I think the pull for these kind of books is how normal and relatable (ish ) well some of them lol, the characters are, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, neighbours - every day people. And the impact some decisions/acts can have not just on themselves and the ripples of their behaviours.

If I hadn't been working I would have probably got through this in one sitting, it is no secret we are big Lapena fans in here. Not everyone can write flawed/dodgy characters that doesn't turn a reader off or just annoy them, Lapena creates ones that whilst they can be unsavoury/shady you absolutely keep riveted, glued to the page and either root for them and or their demise. Already looking forward to the next one, this book is out to buy now, 4.5/5.

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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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Listen to Me by Tess Gerritsen blog tour

Today is my stop on the blog tour for Listen to Me by author Tess Gerritsen, this is a Random Things Tour.

The book is available to buy now, click HERE to purchase from Amazon UK.

About the author

Bestselling author TESS GERRITSEN is also a physician, and she brings to her novels her first-hand knowledge of emergency and autopsy rooms. Her thrillers starring homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles inspired the hit TV series Rizzoli & Isles. But Tess’s interests span far more than medicine and crime. As an anthropology student at Stanford University, she catalogued centuries-old human remains, and she continues to travel the world, driven by her fascination with ancient cultures and bizarre natural phenomena.

For my Stop I have my review, non spoiler as always.

Listen To Me by Tess Gerritsen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read -

Pages - 336

Publisher - Bantam Press

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

Mothers know best . . . But who will listen?

Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles are plagued by what seems like a completely senseless murder. Sofia Suarez, a widow and nurse who was universally liked by all her neighbors, lies bludgeoned to death in her own home. But anything can happen behind closed doors, and Sofia seemed to have plenty of secrets in her last days, making covert phone calls to old contacts and traceless burner phones. When Jane finally makes a connection between Sofia and the victim of a hit-and-run months earlier, the case only grows more blurry. What exactly was Sofia involved in? One thing is clear: The killer will do anything it takes to keep their secret safe.

Meanwhile, Angela Rizzoli hasn’t had a decent night’s sleep in all the years since her daughter became a homicide detective. Maybe the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree. Nothing in her neighborhood gets by Angela - not the gossip about a runaway teenager down the block and definitely not the strange neighbors who have just moved in across the street. Angela’s sure there’s no such thing as coincidence in her sleepy suburb. If only Jane would listen; instead she writes off Angela’s concerns as the result of an overactive imagination. But Angela’s convinced there’s a real wolf in her vicinity, and her cries might now fall on deaf ears.

With so much happening on the Sofia case, Jane and Maura already struggle to see the forest for the trees, but will they lose sight of something sinister happening much closer to home?



My Review

It has been a while since I have read a Rizzoli and Isles, huge fan so jumped at the opportunity to read this one. I don't think I have read all of them but read most, been a while so I have small gaps. In this one jane & Frost are investigating the murder of a nurse, just home from work and killed. Maura is doing her bit, examining the body & keeping busy with something she hasn't told Jane about. Hello Jane's mum, I don't remember huge amounts about her before but she certainly steals the show a bit in this one. Curtain twitching or rather a bit more obvious than that she is clocking the new neighbours, something is up and she is going to get to the bottom of it.

Jane & Maura are fab duo, they are so very different in so many aspects and with this one we get another glimpse of that. Their friendship has been tried and tested and this time they are just working the case. We meet a few new characters central and around the story. The chapters bounce between them, named in some chapters for ease to follow for the readers.

Intrigue a plenty, the murder, we have Amy - young accident survivor, protective parents which is no wonder and a mysterious individual ?following Amy or just coincidence they are in the same place. Angela was the show stopper for me, she is a total card, larger than life, feisty, into everything and like a dog with a bone when she feels she is onto something. You can see where Jane gets it from.

The book has plenty to keep the reader hooked, sub plots and stories, characters a plenty but not so much you get distracted. I hope it isn't too long until the next, shocks, surprises and a very good lesson of Listen To Me because you never know just how important something someone tells you is, 4/5 for me this time!

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Faithless by Hunter Shea

Today is my turn on the blog tour for Faithless by author Hunter Shea, organised by Random Things Tours.

About the author

Hunter Shea is the product of a misspent childhood watching scary movies, reading forbidden books and wishing Bigfoot was real. He’s the author of over 17 books, including 'The Jersey Devil'and 'We Are Always Watching'. Hunter’s novels can even be found on display at the International Cryptozoology Museum.

Faithless is available to buy now, treebook or ebook - click HERE for Amazon UK. For my stop I have my review, enjoy.

Faithless by Hunter Shea
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 3.5 days

Pages - 256

Publisher - FlameTreePress

Source - ARC

Blurb from Goodreads


How do you survive hearing your family being brutally murdered over the phone? For Father Raul Figeuroa, all faith and hope are lost. Turning away from the priesthood behind, he retreats to his aunt's empty farmhouse in upstate New York, hoping to drink himself to oblivion. But he's not alone in the house. Something is trying to reach out to him. Or is he losing his grip on reality? When his childhood friend Felix comes to visit, things take a darker turn. The deeper they dig into the mystery, the closer they get to hell literally breaking loose.


My Review

Aw man poor Father Raul, horrendous drive home in the rain, car trouble, on the phone to his wife and kids when he hears them brutally attacked. Sprints for home, car abandoned, it is too late and life for Raul will never be the same. Lost faith, lost the will to live he heads to his aunt's farmhouse on a mission of self destruction. In a haze of booze, self pity and medication Raul starts to notice things happening in the house. He can't blame his new house crasher, a cat that seems to know the place well but he can't remember his aunt having one. Things start to go "bump in the night" which you could blame on the drink/drugs.......until he starts to hear his family. Why would they follow him to the farm and what do they want from him?

I feel so so sorry for Raul, hearing your family being killed on the phone and being able to do nothing about it. That would break anyone but a man of the cloth, ooft. The story starts with the murder then we have a descent into addiction/oblivion, loss of reality and then the presence of his loved ones. On one hand you would be happy to know they are there but also freaked out especially being Raul, a priest so devout then losing all faith. Poor guy is emotionally wrought, then torn over the thought he failed them, he is a bit of a wee scone.

The book builds up slowly, setting the scene, a wee character here and there and just when you think you have it worked out Shea yanks the rug. It is different and the pace changes, it has its spooky moments, tension, shady characters and no surprised but I LOVED the cat!

I am struggling to read just now, concentration is all over the place but short chapters and a story that took me out of my own woes and into Raul's horror, 4/5 for me this time.

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August's Eyes by Glenn Rolfe blog tour

Today is my turn and closing the blog tour for August Eye's by author Glen Rolfe, for my stop I have my review, enjoy.



About The Author:

Glenn Rolfe is an author from the haunted woods of New England. He has studied Creative Writing at Southern New Hampshire University. He and his wife, Meghan, have three children, Ruby, Ramona,and Axl. He is grateful to be loved despite his weirdness.

The book is available to buy now, click HERE for Amazon UK.

August's Eyes by Glenn Rolfe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 228

Publisher - Flame Tree Press

Source - ARC

Blurb from Goodreads

"An intense tale reminiscent of classic works by Jack Ketchum or Stephen King" — Booklist

When dreams start bleeding into reality, a social worker is forced to face the mistakes of his past.

A serial killer has found a way to make his land of graveyards a sinister playground to be bent at his sadistic will.

The secrets behind August's eyes will bring two worlds together, and end in a cataclysm of pain and ruin.



My Review

Sometimes we have a dream that stays with us for the rest of the day, a dream that freaks you out, that gives you the heebies. Meet John, that is exactly what is happening to him, the dreams are getting more frequent and creepy. When he thinks he sees one of the boys from his dreams, in real life he really starts freaking out, is he losing it? As the dreams become more vivid and John attempts to deal with his issues and the dreams he starts to realise that sometimes you can't escape the past and actions have consequences.

Heads up guys there is a creepy pervert pedophile bad guy, he doesn't appear a whole lot but the theme is relevant to the story and we do hear from the scumbag at points. The dreamland we visit via John, as a kid, is creepy, haunting, eerie and sets up the atmospheric spooky vibes that are laced throughout the book. There are also nods to movies and songs, I love this in a book, I end up telling Alexa to play them and movies or books I tend to look up. These type of references or casual mentions tends, well for me anyway, to fire up some memories - I grew up on old school horror!

We are introduced to horror in human form then normal life/relationships for the main character as things start to slowly edge in and become freaky/dark. I love when a book builds up like that, you get to know the characters, care for them or not, then things start to unravel and descend.

Rolfe is a new author for me, I enjoyed the chilling vibes and hair raising moments that brought normal life to the supernatural. Dreams or rather nightmares have always been a good way for stories/movies to go, you are so vulnerable when you are asleep so it adds to the horror/fear. The book seems to add a dash of some many things, some crime, depravity, creepy crawlies, supernatural and crosses over to John's normal waking day, I really liked it. August's Eyes is my first dance with this author, I will be checking out his other offerings for sure, 4/5 for me this time!

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The Raven by Jonathan Janz Blog Tour

Today is my turn and closing the blog tour for book "The Raven" by author Joonathan Janz.

About the book
Fearing that mankind is heading toward nuclear extinction, a group of geneticists unleash a plot to save the world. They’ve discovered that mythological creatures such as werewolves, vampires, witches, and satyrs were once real, and that these monstrous genetic strands are still present in human DNA. These radical scientists unleash the bestial side of human beings that had been dormant for eons, and within months, most people are dead, and bloodthirsty creatures rule the earth. Despite the fact that Dez McClane has no special powers, he is determined to atone for the lives he couldn’t save and to save the woman he loves. But how long can a man survive in a world full of monsters?

Available to buy now from AMAZON in paperback, hardback and kindle and from Flame Tree Press in paperback, hardback and kindle.

About the author
Jonathan Janz grew up between a dark forest and a graveyard, which explains everything. Brian Keene named his debut novel The Sorrows "the best horror novel of 2012." The Library Journal deemed his follow-up, House of Skin, "reminiscent of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House and Peter Straub's Ghost Story" Since then Jonathan's work has been lauded by writers like Jack Ketchum, Edward Lee, Tim Waggoner, Bryan Smith, and Ronald Kelly. Novels like The Nightmare Girl, Wolf Land, Savage Species, and Dust Devils prompted Thunderstorm Books to sign Jonathan to an eleven-book deal and to give him his own imprint, Jonathan Janz's Shadow Side.

For my stop I have my review, enjoy xxx

The Raven by Jonathan Janz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 256

Publisher - Flame Tree Press

Source - Review Copy

Blurb from Goodreads

The world is a mess, civilisation has ended as we know it, scientists are our downfall and activate something within our dna, junk dna. Now the world is a ruin, inhabited by creatures of our nightmares, myths and legends now walking among us. Dez is our main character, a guy on a mission trying to find what is his and survive against the many opponents and beings out there.

We have werewolves, vampires, cannibals and that is just the start. Dez has to get over his own insecurities (we see some of these via diary entries) as we follow him through this new world and those he meets along the way. Not everyone can be a baddie can they? You have to trust someone along the way and find your own place in this horrific new world.

Brutal, murder, death, viciousness, cannibalism, horror, gore and dear lord an eyeball scene ooft, fans will be delighted over some of the vicious mank and death splattered over the pages. I think this book is just scratching the surface, a foundation book that has the making for an epic and long series. A drop of humanity in a world of barbarism, a destructive journey that sees one man pushed to lengths and limits that questions who he is at his core. I do hope the author is planning on delving into some of the creatures mentioned briefly or in passing and seeing some of the characters appearing in a book two (three, four etc). 4.5/5 for me, we are on a mission with the main character, danger on every corner and I just wanted to spend more time with so many of the characters, know their stories and transitions! Here is to the writing Gods that Janz is going to revisit these guys and there will be a book two!

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The Memory Wood by Sam Lloyd Blog Tour

Today is my turn on the blog tour for debut novel, "The Memory Wood" by author Sam Lloyd, please do check out the other stops, we all offer different content, this is a RandomThingsTour.




About the book:




Elijah has lived in the Memory Wood for as long as he can remember. It’s the only home he’s ever known. Elissa has only just arrived. And she’ll do everything she can to escape. When Elijah stumbles across thirteen-year-old Elissa, in the woods where her abductor is hiding her, he refuses to alert the police. Because in his twelve years, Elijah has never had a proper friend. And he doesn’t want Elissa to leave. Not only that, Elijah knows how this can end. After all, Elissa isn’t the first girl he’s found inside the Memory Wood. As her abductor’s behaviour grows more erratic, Elissa realises that outwitting strange, lonely Elijah is her only hope of survival. Their cat-and-mouse game of deception and betrayal will determine both their fates, and whether either of them will ever leave the Memory Wood... Rights have been sold in 14 territories and counting. Perfect for fans of Stephen King, C.J. Tudor’s The Chalk Man and Adrian McKinty’s The Chain. You can buy you copy now, released today, from AMAZON

About the author:

Sam Lloyd grew up in Hampshire, making up stories and building secret hideaways in his local woods. These days he lives in Surrey with his wife, three young sons and a dog that likes to howl. He enjoys craft beer, strong coffee and (rarely) a little silence. The Memory Wood is his debut thriller.




A wee note from the Author:

I already had my crime scene. Pretty soon, I had my protagonist: thirteen-year-old chess prodigy Elissa Mirzoyan, a quietly precocious girl who wakes underground after being snatched on the most important day of her life. Her determination to survive the coming ordeal wouldn’t be driven by mere instinct. It would come from a flat-out refusal to leave her mum alone in the world, and would be tempered by a ferocious hunger for vengeance. Plotting a novel, for me, always feels more like a process of investigation than invention – the slow reveal of a dirt-covered mosaic. And as I teased out more of this story’s individual tiles, I learned something even more compelling about Elissa’s plight. While engaging her abductor in increasingly dangerous mind games, she’ll face a separate threat even harder to navigate. It’ll come in the form of a frail young boy, Elijah North, who discovers her subterranean prison while playing in his local woods. Steadily, Elissa will gain Elijah’s trust. But when she persuades him to raise the alarm, he’ll return with a tale too outlandish to be credible. More of the mosaic revealed itself, at which point I learned something about the story that knocked me flat. And then I had to write the book, just to find out how it ended...

For my stop I have my review, enjoy, if you have read it I would love to hear your thoughts.

The Memory Wood by Sam Lloyd
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 375

Publisher - Bantam Press

Source - ARC

Blurb from Goodreads

Elijah has lived in the Memory Wood for as long as he can remember. It’s the only home he’s ever known.

Elissa has only just arrived. And she’ll do everything she can to escape.

When Elijah stumbles across thirteen-year-old Elissa, in the woods where her abductor is hiding her, he refuses to alert the police. Because in his twelve years, Elijah has never had a proper friend. And he doesn’t want Elissa to leave.

Not only that, Elijah knows how this can end. After all, Elissa isn’t the first girl he’s found inside the Memory Wood.

As her abductor’s behaviour grows more erratic, Elissa realises that outwitting strange, lonely Elijah is her only hope of survival. Their cat-and-mouse game of deception and betrayal will determine both their fates, and whether either of them will ever leave the Memory Wood . . .


My Review

Elissa & Elijah are our main characters, each chapter titled who we are with a each point. We open with Elijah, twelve years old and with the police then an introduction into The Memory Woods, on day 6, and then we flip to Elissa, day 1, pre kidnap. Because that is the heart of the book, thirteen year old Elissa is kidnapped and we flip between the chapters and their journey as Elijah stumbles across her and Elissa is desperate to stay alive and survive. We also intermittently have Mairead, detective superintendent who is leading the investigation into Elissa's disappearance. As well as following the investigation we get to know the very human side and personal struggles Mairead is going through whilst trying to crack one of the most important cases she will ever face!

Despite the timeline jumping about a wee bit it is easy to follow as the chapter headers let you know what day it is and which character is that chapters focus. The scenes can be distressing, we have a child abducted, the officer investigating is going through a very trying time with some of her own scenes being quite emotive and distressing. The kids scenes, one is kidnapped and being held in horrific conditions and Elijah we know quite quickly that wee soul is living in a horrific situation also.

The book teases out the scenes, it is creepy, you know something isn't right, there is tension pretty much from the get go. This is really surprising it is a debut novel because to me it didn't read like it, you would think Lloyd had been cracking out books for years, their craft honed, that is how it came across to me. It is dark and disturbing but you struggle to put it down, when you jump from character to character you want to stay with that one to see where it is going, pulled in and immersed quickly.

As I said I can't believe this is a debut, I eagerly await their next offering as most authors will tell you they get better/stronger over the years so imagine what Lloyd has in store for us in the future, 4.5/5 for me this time!

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Someone Close to Home by Alex Craigie Blog Tour

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




BLURB for the book

Talented pianist Megan Youngblood has it all – fame, fortune and Gideon.

But Gideon isn’t good enough for Megan’s ambitious, manipulative mother, whose meddling has devastating repercussions for Megan and for those close to her.

Now, trapped inside her own body, she is unable to communicate her needs or fears as she faces institutional neglect in an inadequate care home.

And she faces Annie. Sadistic Annie who has reason to hate her. Damaged Annie who shouldn’t work with vulnerable people.

Just how far will Annie go?

'Someone Close To Home' is a story of love, malice and deadly menace.

Buy Link from AMAZON



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Alex Craigie was ten when her first play was performed at school. It was in rhyming couplets and all she can remember about it is that:

it was written in pencil in a book with weights and measures on the back the two heroes were Prince Rupert and his brother (whose name was changed to Sam to facilitate the rhyming process.) as writer, producer and director she ‘bagged’ the part of female lead. When her children were young, she wrote short stories for magazines and since then has fulfilled her ambition to write a novel. Someone Close to Home has won two ‘Chill with a Book’ awards – The Reader’s Award and the Book of the Month Award.

Alex lives in a small village in Pembrokeshire, Wales, and knows that she and her husband are lucky to have their children and grandchildren living nearby. It's often chaotic and noisy but these are her most treasured moments and she savours them - even if she's reduced to an immovable heap after they've gone.

As an independent author, without a big publishing machine behind her, she is very grateful to all the people who have found and bought her first book – and a huge thank you to those who’ve gone out of their way to write a review on Amazon or Goodreads. These reviews make a massive difference to ‘Indies’ and the positive ones encourage other readers to risk buying a copy.

What else can she say? Nothing, really. Writing this personal promotion has been very, very hard and she needs to go away now and lie down in a darkened room, preferably with a big bar of chocolate…

She looks forward to any contact from fellow lovers of books and any honest feedback is very welcome.

For my stop I have my review, enjoy

Someone Close to Home by Alex Craigie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - < 2 days

Pages - 383

Publisher - Ashford Carbonel Publishing

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

"The book is brilliant. It reads like a memoir and grips like great fiction should - beautiful characterization"
Viga Boland - Author - No Tears For My Father

Talented pianist Megan Youngblood has it all – fame, fortune and Gideon.

But Gideon isn’t good enough for Megan’s ambitious, manipulative mother, whose meddling has devastating repercussions for Megan and for those close to her.

Now, trapped inside her own body, she is unable to communicate her needs or fears as she faces institutional neglect in an inadequate care home.

And she faces Annie. Sadistic Annie who has reason to hate her. Damaged Annie who shouldn’t work with vulnerable people.

Just how far will Annie go?


My Review


This is one of those books you think about long after you have read the last page, particularly if you have a loved one who is vulnerable or work in any kind of care setting. We open with someone in fear and thinking back to their parents as the chapter closes. The chapters flip between the main characters reminiscing back to their childhood and current situation. We know they are incapacitated but not why, we know they are in fear but not why.

The narration is told in first person, through Megan's recall of her memories and then going through and experiencing her current predicament. There is a lot of the book that makes for very uncomfortable reading, abuse is a strong theme throughout, mental, physical, emotional and coercion. I had to put the book down a few times as the author creates such a powerful visual you are drawn into the horror and terror the character feels. Some of the scenes are claustrophobic, the depravity and cruelty, dare I even say evilness of some human beings to others. I think any reader, regardless of background/family/personal experiences will have emotion evoked, I gasped out loud more than once.

When Craigie takes you back to Megan's younger years you want to read the recent years and when you are in the recent stuff you want to read the younger stuff. She reels you in ties your attention to both timelines, the book has so many layers you are kept on your toes, chapter to chapter - unsure where it is all headed or what darkness will be revealed next. The ugliness of some of the humans in this is repugnant but there is also examples of bravery, goodness, loyalty and love. 4.5/5 for me this time, this was my first dance with this author, it won't be my last!

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Slash by Hunter Shea Blog Tour

Today is my turn on the blog tour for Slash by Hunter Shea, perfect for a October read for sure!





About the author:

Hunter Shea is the product of a misspent childhood watching scary movies, reading forbidden books and wishing Bigfoot would walk past his house. He doesn’t just write about the paranormal – he actively seeks out the things that scare the hell out of people and experiences them for himself. He’s the author of over25 books, including The Jersey Devil (Pinnacle)and We Are Always Watching (Sinister Grin). Hunter’s novels can even be found on displayat the International Cryptozoology Museum.

The Montauk Monster was named one of the best reads of the summer by Publishers Weekly. He was selected to be part of the launch of Samhain Publishing’s new horror line in 2011 alongside legendary author Ramsey Campbell. He’s an avid pod caster and can be heard and seen on Monster Men and Final Guys every week. Living with his crazy and supportive family and two cats, he’s happy to be close enough to New York City to see the skyline without having to pay New York rent. You can follow his travails at www.huntershea.com.

About the book:




Five years after final girl Ashley King survived the infamous Resort Massacre, she’s found hanging in her basement by her fiancé, Todd Matthews. She left behind clues as to what really happened that night, clues that may reveal the identity of the killer the press has called The Wraith. With the help of his friends, Todd goes back to the crumbling Hayden Resort,a death-tinged ruin in the Catskills Mountains. What they find is a haunted history that’s been lying in wait for a fresh set of victims.

FLAME TREE PRESS is the new fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing. Launched recently in 2018 the list brings together brilliant new authors and the more established; the award winners,and exciting, original voices.

Slash is out to buy NOW and a perfect read for October.

For my stop I have my review, thanks to Anne from Random Things Tours for having me on the tour, I really do need to check out this guys back catalog!

Slash by Hunter Shea
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 256

Publisher - Flame Tree Press

Source - Review Copy

Blurb from Goodreads

Five years after Ashley King survived the infamous Resort Massacre, she’s found hanging in her basement by her fiancé, Todd Matthews. She left behind clues as to what really happened that night, clues that may reveal the identity of the killer the press has called The Wraith.

With the help of his friends, Todd goes back to the crumbling Hayden Resort, a death-tinged ruin in the Catskills Mountains. What they find is a haunted history that’s been lying in wait for a fresh set of victims. The Wraith is back, and he’s nothing what they expected.


My Review

Everything is fine in Todd's life, his fiance Ashley hasn't had the easiest time since escaping the claws of a maniac five years ago, the sole survivor. When Todd comes home to find Ashley has killed herself his world is turned upside down. Ashley leaves some hints to what happened five years back and Todd heads back to the abandoned resort to get some answers. What really happened that night, why did they never find the killer and why after five years was Ashley never free from it.

Oh guys! I LOVE an abandoned building and this one is a resort, a resort where five years ago a massacre took place with only Ashley surviving. Now Todd is heading back to the scene of the crime and we are going with him. The killer was never caught but that doesn't mean he has gone for good and Todd may just get exactly what he is looking for!

The killings are brutal, gruesome, sadistic, horrific and you can start to appreciate why Ashley could never sleep or get over it as details are teased out across the story. A build up of eerieness especially once we hit the resort and I LOVED the fact we have inclusive of "crime fans" or should I say fanatics, folks who became obsessed with what happened there and Ashley. It gave a more modern feel to this type of story, we have lots of murder, spooky, eerie type stories but they don't always include real life things ie podcasts, folk obsessed with serial killers, groupies` or unsolved murders. I think this is the second book I have read by this author and I really do need to check out his other stuff. If you like creepy, dark, tense and can cope with some shocking style murders, brutal in their cruelty then this is absolutely for you, 4.5/5 for me this time!

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The Girl at the Window by Rowan Coleman Blog Tour

About the author




Rowan Coleman lives with her husband and their five children in a very full house in Hertfordshire. She juggles writing novels with raising her family. Rowan’s last novel, The Summer of Impossible Things, was selected for Zoe Ball’s ITV Book Club. Rowan has an everlasting love for the Brontes, and is a regular visitor of Ponden Hall. You can find rowan at www.rowancoleman.co.uk and on Twitter @rowancoleman

About the book




The Girl at the Window is a beautiful and captivating novel set at Ponden Hall, a centuries-old house on the Yorkshire moors and famously used as a setting for Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. Known as the place where Cathy’s ghost taps on the window, Emily Bronte used to visit often with her sisters and use the extensive library there. It’s a magical place full of stories. In The Girl at the Window, Ponden Hall is where Trudy Heaton grew up, but also where she ran away from…

Now, after the devastating loss of her husband, Trudy returns home with her young son, Will, who refuses to believe his father is dead. While Trudy tries to do her best for her son, she must also attempt to build bridges with her eccentric mother. And then there is the Hall itself: fallen into disrepair but generations of lives and loves still echo in its shadows, sometimes even reaching out to the present...

The Girl at the Window is hauntingly beautiful, and centred on an epic love story with a twist that draws you in fast. The strong themes of grief, absent fathers and maternal instincts are consistent emotional pulls throughout. Trudy and Abe are the ultimate love story, but there is also a wonderfully atmospheric ghostly mystery to be solved as well.


The book is available to buy now, from AMAZON, ebook and treebook format.


Today is my stop on the blog tour for The Girl at the Window by Rowan Coleman, I have my review for my stop, enjoy.


The Girl at the Window by Rowan Coleman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - as able over 5 days

Pages - 464

Publisher - Ebury Press

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

A house full of history is bound to have secrets...

'Spine-tinglingly beautiful. Prepare to lose your heart' Lisa Jewell

Ponden Hall is a centuries-old house on the Yorkshire moors, a magical place full of stories. It's also where Trudy Heaton grew up. And where she ran away from...

Now, after the devastating loss of her husband, she is returning home with her young son, Will, who refuses to believe his father is dead.

While Trudy tries to do her best for her son, she must also attempt to build bridges with her eccentric mother. And then there is the Hall itself: fallen into disrepair but generations of lives and loves still echo in its shadows, sometimes even reaching out to the present...

A hauntingly beautiful story of love and hope, from the Sunday Times


My Review

Trudy heads back to Ponden hall with her son Will, to mend their broken heart after her husbands plane goes missing, presumed dead. Ponden Hall has always been special to Trudy, her beloved Bronte sisters, spent time there, there house has so much history and maybe even a ghost or two. Her relationship with her mother is strained, she is facing things she ran from and her obsession with the past, the Bronte sisters, particularly Emily and her love of literature will keep her busy. Ponden hall has so much history, character, stories, ghosts, love and secrets, now that Trudy is home again the house may be ready to give some of those secrets up.

Guys, don't shoot me when I say this but I have never been hugely bothered by the Bronte sisters, writing or their history. In actual fact, I would say it is more I have been ignorant of a lot of it, I may have one of the Bronte books on my huge to be read shelves but I don't think I have read them and knew nothing of their history. Trudy LOVES them, particularly Emily, the inspiration for her book where Trudy grew up. Coleman is a huge lover of them and you can see this in her creation of Trudy and this book. As a reader with almost zero interest in the Brontes I feel between Coleman and Trudy I may have caught a wee bit of the bug. I found myself putting the book down to google them, the house, what works had been published and her siblings. I actually need to bump Wuthering Heights up my tbrm after reading this.

The Girl at the Window has more than a few layers to it, we have present day with Trudy and her son heading back home and Trudy having to face her mother after so many years apart. Trudy and Abe (her hubby) back when they first met and Agnes - a young lady who is linked to the home and a sad and dark history. The timelines and shifts are well written and flow, teasing out secrets and written accounts that will bring them all together, past and present with secrets and scandal. There is also a spooky, ghostly vibe throughout, nothing horror or anything like that but woven in so well it brings the home to life and the hairs on the readers neck up a wee bit. An atmospheric read that covers love, relationships, deceit, secrets, lies set mostly in or around a historical house that I am now dying to go visit! 4/5 for me this time, I have a fair few Coleman books on the tbrm, I need to bump them up for sure!

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The Gift of friends by Emma Hannigan Blog Tour

Today is my stop on the blog tour for The Gift of Friends by Emma Hannigan, please check out the other stops as we all offer different content.


About Emma




Emma Hannigan was the No. 1 bestselling author of eleven novels including Letters to Daughters, The Wedding Promise, The Perfect Gift, and The Summer Guest, as well as a memoir, All to Live For, which was about surviving an eleven year battle with cancer - facing cancer 10 separate times over the course of those years - and remaining strong, positive and warm. Very sadly, we have now lost Emma in the fight against cancer - she passed away at the end of February 2018. The Gift of Friends went straight to number one on the bestseller lists in Ireland and has remained there ever since.




Kingfisher Road - a leafy, peaceful street in the town of Vayhill. But there are whispers behind closed doors. Who is moving into Number 10? Engaged to handsome, wealthy Justin Johnston, Danielle appears to her new neighbours to have the perfect, glossy life. But not everything is as it seems... In fact, each of the other four women who live close by has a secret, and each is nursing their own private heartache. But could a gift be waiting on their doorsteps? And, by opening their front doors, and their hearts, to each other, could the women of Kingfisher Road discover all the help they need? This thirteenth and final novel from the beloved and inspiring Emma Hannigan is a life-affirming, uplifting story that celebrates the strength and joys of female friendship.


The Gift of Friends by Emma Hannigan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 2 days

Pages - 480

Publisher - Headline

Source - Competition win

Blurb from Goodreads

From the Number One bestselling author Emma Hannigan comes The Gift of Friends, a magical story of love, friendship and hope.

Kingfisher Road - a leafy, peaceful street in the town of Vayhill. But there are whispers behind closed doors. Who is moving into Number 10?

Engaged to handsome, wealthy Justin Johnston, Danielle appears to her new neighbours to have the perfect, glossy life. But not everything is as it seems...

In fact, each of the other four women who live close by has a secret, and each is nursing their own private heartache.

But could a gift be waiting on their doorsteps? And, by opening their front doors, and their hearts, to each other, could the women of Kingfishers Road discover all the help they need?



My Review

Kingfisher Road is a wee well to do area and about to have a new arrival in number 10. Danielle and Justin will be the new neighbours next to four other houses, the neighbours well established and everyone knows everyone, seemingly. Even with a close knit street all the neighbours have secrets and problems the others know nothing about, how long can secrets remain hidden and do you ever really know your neighbours?

So this is my first time reading this author, I won a copy for me and a friend as part of a competition. This was Emma's last book, submitted before she passed away after a long battle with cancer. The book is filled with so much heart, emotion, love, ups and downs of family lives and some characters you will love and some you will hate.

I got drawn into their worlds so quickly and when each chapter flipped to another of the neighbours I wanted to keep going with the one I was reading, every time! You just wanted to know what was coming next, if X person(s) would get their just deserts. As they are families there are a lot of emotive type situations and dramas that you can't help but get drawn into. Either you will have experience X situation yourself or someone close to you has.

Hannigan has a way of bringing the characters to life and making you want to read faster to see where it is going. Some of it readers may find difficult to read as there are passages of abuse, emotional/violence and targetting of vulnerable individuals by those closest to them. A whole host of emotions and had work not got in the way I likely would got through this in one sitting. 4.5/5 for me, this may have been my first by this author, it won't be my last, I will be checking out her back cataologue!

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