A Week to be Wild by J C Harroway Blog Tour

This was my first dance with your good self, are all your books like this or is this one different?

I write steamy contemporary romance—what can I say! I’m addicted to the Happy Ever After, both writing them and reading them. I have four other contemporary romances published with Escape Publishing—Recovery, Entwined, Devoted and Exposed—but A Week To Be Wild is my first Mills and Boon and I’m so excited to writ for this iconic brand.



What research do you do for your books?

Well I live in New Zealand, so I have to do a fair amount of research about London, as many of my books are set there. Other research mainly revolves around my characters’ professions and I’m always searching for answers to fun questions like ‘Can you take a helicopter flight over Central London’, ’list of UK wineries’ , and ‘What is the helicopter flight time between London and Oxfordshire….



Are the characters based on anyone you know, if not what inspiration do you have for them?

No! Absolutely not. I usually start with a visual, run an image search for brunette women in 20’s etc. When I have an image in my head, I plan out the personality traits depending on where the plot is going and what conflict I want to give the characters. So Alex, for example, is wealthy and rocks a Savile Row suit, but he’s an IT giant. He would have grown up passionate about all things computers/gaming, so I also have him dressed down in jeans and nerdy graphic t-shirts as a nod to his geek past.



Libby, by her own admission is normally not a swoony woman ruled by her hormones, what made you switch this for her?

I wanted her to be completely thrown by meeting Alex. At the start of the story she’s in a rut. Her love life is non-existent, she works too hard and steers clear of anything that triggers painful memories from her past. Meeting Alex brings out something in her she didn’t know existed or thought long dormant. Of course this loss of control freaks her out, which is why she’s determined to play Alex at his own game—if she’s suffering, she’s taking him down with her…



Sex and erotica are huge themes and focus for the book, however there are other issues and depths to both characters. How important was including this for you?

DARE is a passionate line, the heat level graphic and explicit, but at the heart of any romance novel, is a good love story, and that’s vital. I don’t write erotica. Without too many spoilers, by the end of A Week To Be Wild, I want the reader to have travelled an emotional journey with Alex and Libby, a journey to their happy ending—I’m all about the fall and the rush of endorphins when a couple overcome the obstacles to be together.



Who are your favourite authors to read and or that inspire you?

I’m currently loving reading the other DARE titles by my fellow DARE authors Clare Connelly, Jackie Ashenden, Lisa Childs and Anne Marsh and I’m planning on working my way through all the Dares, because they are exactly the kind of stories I like to read. But I love romance in all it’s forms so I read widely and voraciously! If it’s a love story with a HEA, I’m there.



What’s next for J C Harroway?

I’m currently working on my 4th and 5th titles for DARE—my Faulkner Brothers Series—three English bachelors running a hotel empire based in Chelsea. So it’s safe to say writing more sexy romance is in my future! I love my job…



Where can fans connect with you?

I love to connect with romance fans- we need to stick together, right? I can be found at www.jcharroway.com, on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, where I post pics of my cute fluffy white dog, amongst other things. And for fans of DARE, there’s a fan group on Facebook aptly named DAREdevils, where we talk about all things DARE! Come and join us.



Anything else you want to add I haven’t asked? I strive to bring diversity and representation into my stories, so will often touch on disability and mental health, as normalising these common aspects of life is important to me. Everyone faces real life issues, big and small. A characters journey should be a reflection of real life, with a large dollop of escapism thrown in for entertainment. That’s what I love about reading and writing romance.



There are only a few days left on the blog tour, please be sure to check them out, see the picture below for the rest of the stops.







And if a Q&A isn't enough, we really are spoiling you now, you can win a brand new paperback copy of A Week to be Wild. Open to all, just use the Rafflecopter below to enter. I am sure by now you all know how it works, the more entries you complete the more times your name goes into the draw. Good luck!



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The Chalk Man by C J Tudor

The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 342

Publisher - Penguin

Source - Amazon

Blurb from Goodreads


In 1986, Eddie and his friends are just kids on the verge of adolescence. They spend their days biking around their sleepy little English village and looking for any taste of excitement they can get. The chalk men are their secret code; little chalk stick figures they leave for each other as messages only they can understand. But then a mysterious chalk man leads them right to a dismembered body, and nothing will ever be the same.

In 2016, Eddie is fully grown, and thinks he's put his past behind him. But then he gets a letter in the mail, containing a single chalk stick figure. When it turns out his other friends got the same messages, they think it could be a prank... until one of them turns up dead. That's when Eddie realizes that saving himself means finally figuring out what really happened all those years ago.

Expertly alternating between flashbacks and the present day, The Chalk Man is the very best kind of suspense novel, one where every character is wonderfully fleshed out and compelling, where every mystery has a satisfying payoff, and where the twists will shock even the savviest reader.




My Review

What a fantastic debut novel, I had bought this after reading a few reviews and then bumped it up my TBRM (to be read mountain) after it was chosen for the Crime Book Club book of the month. A duo timeline see's us go to 1986 with Eddie and his friends, using chalk men and codes for each other. When "the chalk man" leads them to find a body everything changes. Flip to present day, the group are grown up and receive a message with a chalk man it seems the past never really does stay in the past.

So it took me a few chapters to settle into this one, you know which time period you are in as it is clearly marked. The timeline with the kids was, I felt, really well done, the expressions they use, the chain of thought for kids of that age and time. I always find things like that can make or break a book, authentic voices are really needed and help draw the reader in. I heard a few people are saying it has ripped off IT by Stephen King? I have read and seen the book/movie several times and I can tell you it DOES NOT at all. The only stretch of similarity you could say was there is a childhood group of friends, duo timeline of the 80's and present day and an incident with a stone which in the 80's we all have many stories with stones, rocks or boulders.

Some scenes are a bit eerie, there is tension, murder, violence, excitement and I found myself drawn in relatively quickly to find out what happened then. What happens next and what, if any, relevance the past has to the presence. You would never know this was a debut novel, well I wouldn't think so and I read hundreds of books. I would love to read more about these characters and hope maybe the author will revisit them at some point. Worth a watching and I absolutely will be reading this author again, 4/5 for me this time.

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The String Diaries by Stephen Lloyd Jones

The String Diaries by Stephen Lloyd Jones
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 416

Publisher - Headline

Source - Waterstones

Blurb from Goodreads

A jumble of entries, written in different hands, different languages, and different times. They tell of a rumour. A shadow. A killer.

The only interest that Oxford Professor Charles Meredith has in the diaries is as a record of Hungarian folklore ... until he comes face to face with a myth.

For Hannah Wilde, the diaries are a survival guide that taught her the three rules she lives by: verify everyone, trust no one, and if in any doubt, run.

But Hannah knows that if her daughter is ever going to be safe, she will have to stop running and face the terror that has hunted her family for five generations.

And nothing in the diaries can prepare her for that.



My Review

Hannah is on the run, something is coming for her, her little girl and her badly hurt husband but what and why? The story opens with Hannah trying to escape a force we do not see but feel the threat of it almost from the first page. We flit chapter to chapter with different timelines, present day (Wales), the 1870's (Hungary) and the 1970's Oxford introducing Hannah's parents and the origins of what they are running from.

It took a wee bit for me to get into the swing of the other stories and I just wanted to get back to Hannah and find out what it is that is chasing them. Slowly, by following the others stories we are introduced to other key characters all providing a better understanding of everything that follows. You soon get caught up in the time period and characters you are reading and wishing each new chapter was back to the previous ones.

It is an interesting story, shapshifters, love, sacrifice, obsession and family are just some of the themes in this book. Many of the scenes are tense, eerie and keep you engaged to see where it is going. I have never read this author before and I will be reading him again, I bought the next book in the series as soon as I finished this one, 4/5 for me this time.

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Still Me by Jojo Moyes

Still Me by Jojo Moyes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - < 1 day

Pages - 496

Publisher - Penguin

Source - Borrowed

Blurb from Goodreads

Louisa Clark arrives in New York ready to start a new life, confident that she can embrace this new adventure and keep her relationship with Ambulance Sam alive across several thousand miles. She is thrown into the world of the superrich Gopniks: Leonard and his much younger second wife, Agnes, and a never-ending array of household staff and hangers-on. Lou is determined to get the most out of the experience and throws herself into her job and New York life within this privileged world.

Before she knows what's happening, Lou is mixing in New York high society, where she meets Joshua Ryan, a man who brings with him a whisper of her past. In Still Me, as Lou tries to keep the two sides of her world together, she finds herself carrying secrets--not all her own--that cause a catastrophic change in her circumstances. And when matters come to a head, she has to ask herself Who is Louisa Clark? And how do you reconcile a heart that lives in two places?



My Review

Oh how I have missed Lou Clark. Guys if you don’t know, this is the third book in a trilogy, if you haven’t read the previous two please do so before reading this, you need it for the back story. Lou (Louisa) has taken the plunge and heading to a new job for a super rich family in New York, Nathan is there and promises there is no hidden secrets like before.

Oh you have to love Lou, she is so down to earth that pretty much everyone can relate to her. She gets in embarrassing situations, says the wrong things, has the same relationship issues with families, partners and puts her foot in it often. This is what makes her so lovable, she is so very human,you cringe for her, you laugh with her and you feel for her.

The new job sees her basically as a companion, go for, sounding board for her new madam who I had very mixed feelings for. Moyes has the ability to bring characters very much to life with their flaws, rudeness, humility and I bloody love the wee dog character, name and attitude!

As well as adjusting to being away from home, surrounded by ridiculous wealth, Lou is trying to juggle a long distance relationship when she meets someone who flings up many feelings from the past. Questioning her relationship, what she wants, dealing with the family dramas of her own and her new employers it is anything but dull for Lou or the readers. I woud have sank this in one sitting had life allowed for it, as it was I just grabbed it every free minute I could. I love the Clarks, I love Lou and I love that Moyes has managed to stay faithful to the heart of the story and the characters which can’t be easy with the third book. 5/5 for me this time, do I want more of Lou and the Clarks? Absolutely but if there is no more to come I am delighted to go back to the three book, Me Before You is one of my all time favourites but the whole trilogy is something special! You can get your hands on this beauty from tomorrow, 25/1/2018.

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The Bucktown Babies by Janine R Pestel Blog Tour

Today I am kicking off the blog tour for The Bucktown Babies, a supernatural book with demons, skulduggery and danger at almost every corner! Thanks Janine for stopping by and taking time out to answer some questions.





Q: First thing I have to ask, what inspired the book?

A: The idea for the book “The Bucktown Babies” pretty much just “popped” into my head one day. I was driving, and this idea about a gun toting nun who fought zombies and demons came to me. I thought it over, and it eventually morphed into a former priest who fought demons. I did some research, and found the demon that was responsible for infant mortality and miscarriages, and “The Bucktown Babies” was born.

Q: Will there be more to the series?

A: Oh, yes. Lots more. The second book in the series “The Raven Flies at Night” has just been published by my publisher – Creativia Publishing. In that book, which is a little darker than “The Bucktown Babies,” something is revealed that will take the series in a new, darker, direction.

Q: I was left with a lot of questions, was this deliberate as there will be more books?

A: Yes. It is a continuing series, and in each book, there will be answers…and, of course, more questions.

Q: Will all questions be answered in future books?

A: All questions will be answered…eventually. Some questions were even answered in the first book, although the answers were subtle – the lack of religion in the town, etc.

Q: Demons are the main entity in the book however another unnatural appeared, will this theme continue in other books?

A: Yes. Sometimes demons use “other entities” to help them fight. These entities could sometimes be things like Banshees, or sometimes the undead. I tend to like it when unexpected things happen, because in real live, the unexpected happens.

Q: What research did you do for the book and did you enjoy it? Anything freaky or unusual to share?

A: I researched demons. I wanted to find out what demons were responsible for what evils. This way, there is a little bit of accuracy in the books in the series. Take, for instance, the demon in “The Bucktown Babies.” If you google that demon, or look it up in demonology, you will find that it is the demon that is responsible for infant mortality and miscarriages.

Q: This is the first book I have read by you, do you have others and if so are they of the same genre?

A: I have earlier books that I have written. The first book I wrote was a science fiction novella titled “The Mons Connection.” The inspiration for that book came from Ancient Alien theory. I also have four short stories, three of them horror – “The Servants,” “Harry,” “The Visit” and one of them I wrote to help people heal after losing a pet – “Wait at the Rainbow Bridge.” “The Visit,” is actually not horror…more of a touching story. The last ting I have would be a small compilation of horror stories – “Infected and Other Short Stories.” This compilation has the short story “Infected”, along with “Harry,” “The Servants,” and “The Visit.” There are also audiobooks of several of my books.

Q: What is next for Janine?

A: To continue the “Father Gunter, Demon Hunter” series, along with some new ideas that I have for a new series and a few stand-alone horror stories. I’m hoping for at least 3 new books to be published in 2018.

Q: Where can fans find you?

A: They can like me on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/JanineRPestel they can also follow me on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/janinerpestel or my website at http://www.janinepestel.com One final note: I am always looking for people to join my “street team”. For details, visit my website.

Q: Anything else you may want to ask that I might have missed?

A: Not that I can think of. Thank you so much for interviewing me. It has been my pleasure.


Thank you so much Janine for a great Q&A, I look forward to the next in the series. Please check out the other stops on the blog tour as shown in the poster below. Many thanks to Anne Cater for arranging a great blog tour, asking me on it and introducing me to a new spooky series.

Reflection by Diane Chamberlain

Reflection by Diane Chamberlain
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - Over 4 days

Pages - 368

Publisher - Harper Collins

Source - The Works

Blurb from Goodreads

The author of Brass Ring and Fire and Rain delivers an edge-of-your-seat story filled with secrets, surprises, and psychological suspense. Returning to the small Pennsylvania Dutch town of Reflection, Rachel Huber must confront the tragedy that caused her to leave twenty years before."One of the premier writers of contemporary fiction." -- "Romantic Times" Diane Chamberlain's background as a psychotherapist and clinical social worker is evident in her psychologically complex characters.Will appeal to fans of the novels of Anne Rivers Siddons, Barbara Delinsky, and Rosamunde Pilcher.


My Review

Rachel Huber is back in Reflection, the small town she left decades ago under a cloud of hate, shame and distrust. When her gran Helen has an accident Rachel goes back without a second thought, so many years have passed, she needs to reconnect with her gran and face her past. As Helen's health recovers and they get to know each other, Rachel finds the town still shuns and blames her for what happened. Rachel confronts her past,finds that she isn't the only one with secrets, the past never stays in the past and old feelings have never really gone away.

I do enjoy a small town drama, we know something bad happened but it is hinted at and teased out. The focus centres on Helen and Rachel, the family estranged and now brought together when both need it most. Rachel's oldest friend Michael is now a religious man and the heart of the village, his followers are torn between their loyalty and his friendship with Rachel, her past and their seeming closeness.

Weaved with so many issues, family secrets, PTSD, religion, infidelity, love, lies, death and small town grudges it engages the reader quickly. As we flip from present day and dip into the past, the story gives us insight into the characters and what shapes them into who they are, what they have endured and what is still to come. 3.5 out of 5 for me this time, I do enjoy Chamerlain, I have read her before and I will read her again.

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When All The Girls Have Gone by Jayne Ann Krentz

When All the Girls Have Gone by Jayne Ann Krentz
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - in and out over 2 days

Pages - 448

Publisher - Paitkus

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

Five women out for justice
One ruthless killer
A secret that's sure to get out

In this elite investment club, the stakes are literally life or death . . .

Founder of an exclusive society with a hidden agenda, Madison Benson has carefully handpicked her members, choosing the four most fearless and skilled/intelligent women she knows. But when one member is found dead and another goes missing, it seems like the club may finally have taken one risk too many. Now it won't be long before the rest of them are hunted down and silenced...

Into this secretive world steps Charlotte Sawyer, who is desperate to find her step-sister, the beautiful, brilliant - and reckless - Jocelyn, and deliver the terrible news that one of her closest friends has been murdered. Yet Jocelyn is nowhere to be found and slowly Charlotte begins to realise that her step-sister is involved in something terrible. Running out of time and unable to trust the police, Charlotte joins forces with Max Cutler, a struggling PI whose previous career as a criminal profiler went down in flames. Burned out, divorced and almost broke, Max needs the job.

When her uneasy alliance with Max turns into a full-blown affair, Charlotte has no choice but to trust him with her life. For the shadows of Jocelyn's past are threatening to consume her - and anyone else who gets in the way . . .





My Review

Jocelyn is the founder of a secret group, after her own past horror she and four other females they met out justice as they see fit. When Jocelyn takes off for a break and her close friend is found dead her sister Charlotte releases Jocelyn isn't where she is meant to be and there are a lot of questions about her friends death. Max Cutler is a private investigator hired to look into the death, soon him and Charlotte are working together to unravel the mystery of the death and her sisters disappearance. They more they dig they soon realise something isn't right and before they know it they are in grave danger and a killer is on the loose.

This is my first dance with this author, a story that starts with an apparent drug overdose, an unbelieving relative and a private detective kicking everything off. Max and Charlotte find themselves drawn to each other, a mystery to solve, danger afoot and both aware of their feelings but cautious due to their past.

There is a decent amount of action within the book, a clever murderer, a rapist, family secrets, friendship, loyalty, deceit and a race against the clock to try and solve the mystery and stay alive. Charlotte is a character that irritated me a little initially, she is lovely and loyal but you just want her to react to a particular situation. However, as the book progresses we see Charlotte start to bloom, in a very unusual set of circumstances her character grows and adapts, I really warmed to her.

A crime thriller with so many themes running through to keep you turning page after page. I did enjoy this overall and whilst this was my first dance with this author it won't be my last. 3.5 stars for me this time, thanks to Bookbridgr for introducing me to a new author.

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