My Wife Jodie by V A Rudys

My Wife Jodie by V.A. Rudys
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 384

Publisher - Blinkenlight

Source - Vine

Blurb from Goodreads

Ethan Page had it all: a respectable job, loving friends, and a beautiful apartment - the envy of all his friends. He was madly in love with his wife, Jodie - until he discovered the power she possessed beyond all comprehension, and the price she demanded for engineering his perfect life.


My Review

Ethan and Jodie have been married a long time, no kids but everything in their life is great. When Jodie has a breakdown and rushes off, telling their friends lies Ethan is puzzled, what happened? As Ethan tries to track down his wife he starts to uncover things that makes him question what he really knows about Jodie and their life. Then another bombshells drops, Jodie has a power and once Ethan learns of it he starts to question even more. When you open the closet and skeletons fall out you cannot reclose that door and now life as Ethan and Jodie know it will never be the same.

Oooh guys, the cover pulled me in, with the blurb, it looks good/freaky/eerie and I wasn't sure where the book was going to go. Once, along with Ethan, you discover Jodie's secrets/power everything changes, like Ethan you question what you would do, what has been done, what could be done.

The book actually gives a really good look at what can happen if you have everything you want, how being good or good intentions do/can indeed pave the pathway to hell,. It cleverly weaves in moral questions whilst looking at relationships, friendships, infidelity, love, lies, death, loss and the old actions and consequences.

It is a very different kind of book, not what I was expecting at all and it took me a wee bit to settle to. The chapters jumped a wee bit and at one point I was like what how in the? Is this a printing error but as you read on things become clear.

It is actually pretty clever in parts and well done, domestic, relationships with a stab of what if with a sprinkle of chaos/power/ability. If you are looking for something a bit different, look no further, I will be keeping a wee eye out for Rudy's next offering, 4/5 for me this time.

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Stitched by Cheryl Elaine Blog Tour

Today is my stop on the blog tour for "Stitched" by author Cheryl Elaine, this is a tour arranged by Bakers Blog Tour and Promos.




Blurb for the Book

A gruesome tale of control, fear and brutality. Marriage is not the bed of roses story books describe. More like a bed of torturous thorns. And ,how Emily bled. Escape seemed an illusion, a mirage of a rocky road between overgrown thickets of despair. Emily couldn’t see any light at the end of the tunnel; she wasn’t allowed to dream or think for herself and had no alternative other than submitting to his rage. Andy was a narcissist. Emily could not, and would not, disregard his superiority. Her naivety often clouded her judgment; she was damaged both mentally and physically. Would putting her trust in another lead her to a happy ending?

The book is available now in ebook and tree book format, buy from Amazon HERE.

About the Author




Cheryl Elaine is a British Author, and resides in Yorkshire. Throughout her life she has been an avid reader and wrote many short stories, which lead her on a path to the world of publishing. She released her debut novel - No Ordinary Girl,followed by her latest release - Stitched.

I hope you enjoy my dark and disturbing crime books, and if you fancy reading something lighter, why not check out my fantasy novel – Dragged to the Depths.

You can find out more about me, at the following places

https://www.cherylelaine.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/cherylelaineauthor

https://www.instagram.com/cherylelaine15/

https://twitter.com/CherylElaine15

For my stop I have my review, enjoy.

Stitched: A gruesome tale of control, fear and brutality by Cheryl Elaine
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 177

Publisher - AAH Publishing

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

A patchwork of lies and threads of abuse…Stitched is a gruesome tale of control, fear and brutality.
To the outside world, Andrew Brooke is a cop who’s obsessively committed to his job. But behind closed doors, he enforces his dominance and disciplines his wife, Emily, in the most inhumane ways. When his life begins to fall apart and his reputation becomes tarnished, he unleashes his anger and seeks revenge on those who dare to encounter him.
Emily Brooke is left broken by her husband’s hand, with no means of escape. Eventually, though weak and confused, she manages to flee. But is the life she escapes to a better one?
Detective Donavan has his own demons to battle following his wife’s death. Assigned a missing person’s case that leads to a series of brutal attacks, he follows the trail of a serial killer dubbed ‘The Stitcher’ - but will his own dark secrets get in the way of justice being served?
Stitched perfectly demonstrates how cruel life – and people – can be.

My Review

Emily Brooke is beaten, broken, abused, humiliated all at the hands of her husband, officer Andrew Brooke. Emily tries to be a good wife, keep the house clean, have the food just right, predict when to talk, what to say, when to be silent but sometimes getting it right isn't enough. Emily knows her husband is a monster but can't begin to imagine just how evil Andrew can be, finding out may just kill her.

From the opening chapter we get flung in at the deep end, Emily is in an abusive relationship, every kind of abuse you imagine, she suffers it. The author pulls no punches when it comes to graphic details, Emily lives it and you will read it. Stitched is not for the faint hearted, easily offended and as trigger warnings seem to be the thing just now this one will trigger for many. Brutality to a level on par with pure evil, Andrew Brooke is a nasty creation that you think you get the measure of from the opening scenes but we are just scratching the surface.

The book draws you in deeper with each step into Emily's life when you think you have it figured you get another curve ball thrown. You read and get through one horror and another awaits to shock and pull the rug from under you. It is certainly a page turner (as well as a stomach churner) and pushes even the most hardened reader, abuse in almost all forms from a monster meant to protect the public. I think depending on your personal history and circumstances will depend on how this book impacts on you, the minute details that can set these abusers off is terrifying. The claustrophobic scenes have you holding your breath living through the terror with Emily as she endures each torment, the hairs on my arms are standing up just recalling some of the scenes. Elaine's previous book is dark and showing the worst of humanity, I think this book may surpass that purely because it manifests in what is supposed to be a safe environment, the marital home. A book that is bound to push buttons, emotions, split readers and keep the reader hooked page after page, 3.5/5 for me this time.

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The Other Child by Lucy Atkins

The Other Child by Lucy Atkins
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - on and off over 3 days

Pages - 390

Publisher - Quercus

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

Sometimes a lie seems kinder than the truth . . . but what happens when that lie destroys everything you love?

When Tess is sent to photograph Greg, a high profile paediatric heart surgeon, she sees something troubled in his face, and feels instantly drawn to him. Their relationship quickly deepens, but then Tess, single mother to nine-year-old Joe, falls pregnant, and Greg is offered the job of a lifetime back in his hometown of Boston. Before she knows it, Tess is married, and relocating to the States. But life in an affluent American suburb proves anything but straightforward.

Unsettling things keep happening in the large rented house, Joe is distressed, the next-door neighbours are in crisis, and Tess is sure that someone is watching her. Greg's work is all-consuming and, as the baby's birth looms, he grows more and more unreachable. Something is very wrong, Tess knows it, and then she makes a jaw-dropping discovery . . .


My review

Tess has upped sticks and moved with her son to Boston to be with her husband Greg and his job of a lifetime, paediatric heart surgeon. Feeling isolated things between Tess and Greg become tense, weird things keep happening in the house, someone is sending threats to Greg and Tess can't work out her neighbours intentions. Is it paranoia or is someone terrorising Tess and what is Greg hiding from her?

Whilst there are aspects of this book I did enjoy and like then there were things that really grated me. I did enjoy the tension, the way Atkins build up an atmosphere that had me turning page after page to find out what was going on. Slowly leading you on, crumb by crumb and giving you questionable actions and characters you weren't sure where you stood. At times Tess really irritated me, I wanted to scream at her for some of her very suspect actions, lack of or just her chain of thought. I suspected everyone and trusted nothing which is always a great thing for an author to achieve with a reader.

I really disliked many of the characters which isn't a bad thing as many hated characters have made books the success they are. I don't like when characters do a complete change in their character and I felt that happened a wee bit in this. There are a fair few twists and it was an interesting read but I just felt the things that annoyed me really annoyed me. 3/5 for me this time, this was my first dance with this author, I would read her again.

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