Lost Lives by Lisa Cutts Blog Tour

Today is my stop on the blog tour for Lost Lives by Lisa Cutts, please check out the other stops on the tour.





Lost Lives is out to buy now as a treebook or ebook, click HERE for the link to Amazon to get your own copy.





You can find the author on Twitter or Facebook.


Lost Lives by Lisa Cutts
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 368

Publisher - Simon & Schuster UK

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

SHE TRUSTED THEM WITH HER LIFE

When Anna arrives in the UK, she believes it’s the start of a better life for her and her daughter. But what awaits her is more shocking than anything she could have ever imagined . . .

SHE TRUSTED THEM WITH HER DAUGHTER

DI Harry Powell is investigating a shooting, but the victim has been scared into silence. As Harry struggles to piece together what little information he has, he stumbles upon an operation that may put countless lives across the country at risk.

SHE WAS WRONG

As Anna’s situation grows more dangerous by the day, Harry is forced to push his overstretched team to the limits to find answers. But for one of them, will it already be too late?


My Review

Anna is headed for a new life, one her family can be proud of her for, finally. Anna has been sold a lie, she will not be going to work in a hotel or anything like it, Anna's nightmare has just begun. A sordid tale of the worst sides of humanity, human trafficking, exploitation of the weak and innocent. For some, human life has no value except that which is can be sold for.

This is a really hard hitting book to be honest, you know the author has come from a background in policing and whilst this is fiction we know this is an ongoing issue today. Anna finds herself trapped, horrific conditions, abused, death always a breath away and always trying to keep herself safe for her family. Friendship and trust is not something that comes easy where she is but sometimes you need do what you can to stay alive. DI Harry Powell is the other part of the story, investigating a shooting at the complex on a police officer, a sex offender and someone who finds themselves caught up with the darker side of society. When the investigation gets going Powell and the team are caught up in a ring that may well put them all at risk.

Firstly let me say this is my first time reading this author, it won't be my last! The book comes in short chapters which I LOVE as you can dip in and out as life allows, I could have read this in one go instead of as and when across one day. It is a very dark tale involving abuse, human trafficking, sexual deviancy, violence and murder. The book doesn't give in depth focused scenes on the sexual depravity but there is enough for you to know exactly what has transpired. The conditions these poor souls find themselves in is enough to bring tears to a glass and and shocks to the core just how easily people find themselves in this living hell.

Dark, fast paced and not just focused on the trafficking side/victims we also get a good look into the team, who they are and what else is going on outwith the investigation. A busy wee book that you will still be thinking about long after you finish the last page. I intend on buying this authors back catalogue! I enjoyed (enjoyed seems the wrong word when dealing with such a subject) the writing, pace, story and characters, I hope they are revisited in stories to come as I would like to see what is next in store for them, 4.5/5 for me this time.

View all my reviews

Confessions of A Bad Mother by Stephanie Calman

Confessions Of A Bad Mother by Stephanie Calman
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - in and out over 10 days

Pages - 324

Publisher - MacMillan

Source - given by a friend

Blurb from Goodreads

Funny, acutely observed, frighteningly honest and drawing on her own and hundreds of other mum's real experiences, Stephanie Calman serves up the perfect antidote to all those books that tell you that your children must be perfect, and to all those Stepford mums and kids out there who look as if they just might be: perfectly groomed, perfectly behaved and perfectly brilliant. The reality, as we all know, encompasses sleepless nights, no sex for years, baby sick on your best cashmere cardy, the terrible twos and then, just when you thought it was safe to go back in the sitting room, terrible teenagers whose only means of communication is the slamming door or the grunt.



My review

Two kids fighting, milestones, the impact they have on your relationship, the impact on your life. Here is the no holds barred account by one mother on her journey, pre motherhood, pregnancy and when the journey of her children taking over her life.

There is a fair bit of humour through her tellings but I imagine a fair few people will be raging, annoyed, upset at some of the banter throughout. She gives a stripped account of her failings, how she and her o/h cope with tantrums, their own relationship after the kids. It is parenting stripped bare, the things a lot of parents would never admit to, thinking, saying, feeling.

For me I think some of it has flashes of humour that if it was snippets in a weekly magazine it would be, for me, better received. As it is a book I felt some of it a wee bit uncomfortable reading and as a non parent I am sure that sounds judgey. I laughed at bits some parents would wince or be enraged at, I get the humour and the whole taboo of admitting your kids aren't 100% perfect nor is she the perfect parent. I think the honestly will generate love and hate from camps in equal measures depending on your view point.

It is a funny, brutal and honest book and whilst I didn't love it I know so many will. Parenting with a light shone on it, I think a lot of parents will read it and whisper ha it isn't just me or blow a gasket thinking people actually think/talk about/to their kids like that. I don't know how I feel about it to be honest, I don't hate it, I don't love it. Some days I read and really liked bits of it, some days I really didn't. A lot of it I think is tongue in cheek and if you take it for what it is you will like it, some have loved it. I think 2.5/5 for me this time, absolutely check it out, see which camp you fall into.

View all my reviews

Dark Suits and Sad Songs by Denzil Meyrick

Dark Suits and Sad Songs by Denzil Meyrick
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 372

Publisher - Polygon

Source - Waterstones buy

Blurb from Goodreads

The third installment in the bestselling DCI Daley series, packed with accurate police procedure and gritty, dark humour. The best of Scottish crime.



When a senior Edinburgh civil servant spectacularly takes his own life in Kinloch harbour, DCI Jim Daley comes face to face with the murky world of politics. To add to his woes, two local drug dealers lie dead, ritually assassinated. It's clear that dark forces are at work in the town. With his boss under investigation, his marriage hanging on by a thread, and his sidekick DS Scott wrestling with his own demons, Daley's world is in meltdown. When strange lights appear in the sky over Kinloch, it becomes clear that the townsfolk are not the only people at risk. The fate of nations is at stake. Jim Daley must face his worst fears as tragedy strikes. This is not just about a successful investigation, it's about survival.


My Review

When drugs dealers are turning up horrifically murdered and an innocent family caught up in a life threatening situation, Daley and the team have their work cut out. DS Scott is back after his harrowing ordeal and still fighting the after effects, creeping into his professionalism and abilities. Daley has his biggest challenges to date, his personal life is out of control and constantly on his mind, his professional life is pushing him to the max. Who can he trust both in and off the job, something has to give but what will it be?

Oh I love Daley without going into too much detail in case you haven't read the previous books but I really really do not like his wife. To be fair I haven't liked her from book one but she really rips my knittin and I just want to save Daley from himself and his good wee heart. Scott is a wee soul, back at the job and struggling to put to bed his demons which in turn impacts on his abilities as an officer. Some of the murders we see in this book are pretty brutal and graphic so be fair warned. The book chugs on at a pretty fast pace if we aren't dealing with the police investigation which is blood stained and full on, seriously there is dodgyness at every turn. The personal side affecting pretty much all of our main players is also full on giving us more insight into some of our favorite characters. There has been a lot building up from book one and we see it take its toll however it isn't all death, grim, heartache and skulduggery we have the dark humor and sweary banter we have come to know and love in Meyrick's telling.

We always get a wealth of issues and subjects in these books, police procedure, murder, investigation, marriage, family, working relationships, actions and consequences to name but a few. I think if you haven't read the previous books you should start with book one, whilst you could read this as a standalone I think to appreciate the characters and back stories you are best going back to the beginning. I really enjoy these books, the characters are human and flawed but Daley and Scott are essentially good guys and the reader is constantly rooting for them. 4/5 for me this time, I have the rest of the series in my tbrm and can't wait to see what is next in store for the team.

View all my reviews

January giveaway is now live

HAPPY NEW YEAR YOU GUUUUUUUUUUUYS





A fresh year which means it is time to start my book jar challenge again, if you haven't seen or partook before basically I seen it on Instagram and this will be my third year doing it. From January 1st to December 31st, for every book I read I put £1 in the jar (you can change the amount to suit you) at the end of the year you have money you haven't counted in the budget so you can spoil yourself. My first pound of 2019 is in and I am looking through small businesses to support and buy stuff with the money from last year. I normally buy things either I wouldn't spend that amount on (one year a Harry Potter box £50, another year a charity book box from America £60 plus P&P) and or supporting small businesses. The first piccy has a candle, Book Blogging, this was part of an order supporting a small business - they have great candles, bookmarks and really worth checking out. Beauty and the beast, Harry Potter, Twilight and many more series worth checking and fab value, click HERE to check out Book Worm Candles they also ship INTERNATIONALLY woohoo.




So it is time for January's giveaway, a pre-loved SIGNED copy of Hush Hush by Mel Sherratt, my first book by this author (my review), first in a series and it only came out in 2018.






I am also including a wee metal bookmark I got with a Harry Potter set, it came with two so I am adding one into the giveaway. And a freaky wee pin of an eyeball as pictured. Miss paws is only modelling she is not part of the giveaway.





To be in with a chance of winning, as always, use the Rafflecopter below to enter. I will open this up worldwide, it is January and it is always nice to have a wee giveaway everyone can enter. The more entries you complete the more times your name goes into the draw, please only claim entries you complete all false claims are disqualified. Good luck, feel free to share the comp and here is to a happy new year and lots of awesome books.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Mother of all Christmases by Milly Johnson

The Mother of All Christmases by Milly Johnson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - in and out over 2 days

Pages - 400

Publisher - Simon & Schuster

Source - Bought signed edition from the author

Blurb from Goodreads

THE MOST PERFECT CHRISTMAS FEEL-GOOD READ!
'Every time you discover a new Milly book, it’s like finding a pot of gold' Heat

Eve Glace - co-owner of the theme park Winterworld - is having a baby and her due date is a perfectly timed 25th December. And she’s decided that she and her husband Jacques should renew their wedding vows with all the pomp that was missing the first time. But growing problems at Winterworld keep distracting them …

Annie Pandoro and her husband Joe own a small Christmas cracker factory, are well set up and happy together despite life never blessing them with a much-wanted child. But when Annie finds that the changes happening to her body aren’t typical of the menopause but pregnancy, her joy is uncontainable.

Palma Collins has agreed to act as a surrogate, hoping the money will get her out of the gutter in which she finds herself. But when the couple she is helping split up, is she going to be left carrying a baby she never intended to keep?

Annie, Palma and Eve all meet at the ‘Christmas Pudding Club’, a new directive started by a forward-thinking young doctor to help mums-to-be mingle and share their pregnancy journeys. Will this group help each other to find love, contentment and peace as Christmas approaches?




My Review

Eve, Annie and Palma all end up in the "Christmas Pudding Club" a new group supporting mums to be. Finding their feet as their bodies change they happen upon friendship which helps as they each battle with things in their personal lives. Palma was a womb for hire for a well to do couple who desperately want a baby. Annie had all but given up hope for having a baby, facing menopause she throws everything into her cracker factory with her hubby Joe. Eve and Jacques have all their focus on a winter theme park and have no time for extending their family, every focus is getting the park up and running yet things seem to be going wrong at every turn!

We meet each of the characters and glimpses into their lives and how they come to be in the club. Each has their own issues in life and we see how they deal with it and how their relationships blossom, struggle and interact.

It is a moving story you can't help but get invested in the characters and end up on a very emotive rollercoaster. Good guys and bad guys, kindness, dregs of humanity, greed, corruption, love, the circle of life it is a busy wee book and it was interesting to read about the cracker process, well I thought so. Each of the women are different and those they meet in the club, it is an interesting bunch of characters and I would have liked to have read more on each of them, the ones who don't play a huge part. The characters however well involved or little flashes all bring something to the tale and are carved out to make the reader want more, well I did. Humour, happiness, fun, sad, quirky and even some hard hitting serious issues dealt with respectfully. I do enjoy Johnson, I have yet to read one of hers I didn't like and I think this is one of her top books, 4.5/5 for me this time!

View all my reviews

Fatal Promise by Angela Marsons

Fatal Promise by Angela Marsons
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 409

Publisher - Bookouture

Source - Netgalley

Blurb from Goodreads

Eeeny meeny, miney, moe. Who lives, who dies only I know.

When the body of a doctor is discovered brutally murdered in local woodland, Detective Kim Stone is shocked to discover the victim is Gordon Cordell – a man linked to a previous case she worked on involving the death of a young school girl. Gordon has a chequered past, but who would want him dead?

As the investigation gets underway, Gordon’s son is involved in a horrific car crash which leaves him fighting for his life. Kim's sure this was no accident.

Then the body of a woman is found dead in suspicious circumstances and Kim makes a disturbing link between the victims and Russells Hall Hospital. The same hospital where Gordon worked.

With Kim and her team still grieving the loss of one of their own, they’re at their weakest and facing one of the most dangerous serial killers they’ve ever encountered. Everything is on the line. Can Kim keep her squad together and find the killer before he claims his next victim?

The killer is picking off his victims at a terrifying pace, and he’s not finished yet.


My Review

Kim and the team are still coming to terms with everything that transpired in the last book, if you haven't read it YOU NEED TO! Physically and psychologically Kim is recovering and desperate to be back at work, six weeks is long enough for any recovery surely. As per the department guidelines she needs to be declared fit for work but Kim has been burned before and will do things her way. On top of all of that there is a ruthless killer on the loose and paths clash with characters from the previous book, Kim and the team have their work cut out for them. A new detective is joining Kim's squad and each will have to deal with issues they would rather not and focus on catching the bad guy.

As with all Marson's books we have a new case and a brutal killer, the investigation is full on and the team are dealing with personal issues linked into work. This book has a lot of heart to it and it is hard to cover without spoilers, so forgive any vagueness. Love and loss will always be a big part of the job, Stone has always been an advocate and fierce warrior for the victims. This book we see her have internal struggles and trying to deal with it as Stone does, alone, shutting folk out and playing by her own rules. She is the glue that keeps the team together but we get to see a very vulnerable side to them all and I think any fan of the series would be hard pushed to not feel a bit emosh reading this book.

Stone is one of my fav characters, she is so socially awkward but a champion for the little people so you excuse her a lot and love her flaws. This book sees her raw and vulnerable even though she tries to hide it, the reader gets to see her in a new light. I think this book made me love the characters even more and forgive them a lot when some of their choices or behaviours weren't the best. The new guy is an interesting choice and from what we see I like, the book shows the reader that for all these guys we never really know everything about a person. Stone always keeps parts of herself hidden and with all of the team we get a wee bit more.

Really good pace, we get to hear from the killer in snippets throughout the book, there is a lot of high emotions running in the book which spill out into the reader. Action, friendships, love, loss, murder, team building, personal growth, motive, ooft we have a bit of everything in this one. For a series on its 9th book you worry something will be lost or lessen but so far Marsons has managed to smash it and keep it fresh. I cannot wait to see what is next in store for these guys, 5/5 for me, roll on the next. Also, just to note, if you have never read these books, I started them earlier in the year, June, and have devoured them all, do yourself a favour and grab the first, Silent Scream, you won't look back!

View all my reviews

The Nightingale Girls by Donna Douglas

The Nightingale Girls by Donna Douglas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - in and out over 2 days

Pages - 512

Publisher - Arrow

Source - Bookstore

Blurb from Goodreads

Three very different girls sign up as student nurses in January 1936, while England is still mourning the death of George V. Dora is a tough East Ender, driven by ambition, but also desperate to escape her squalid, overcrowded home and her abusive stepfather. Helen is the quiet one, a mystery to her fellow nurses, avoiding fun, gossip and the limelight. In fact she is in the formidable shadow of her overbearing mother, who dominates every aspect of her life. Can a nursing career free Helen at last? The third of our heroines is naughty, rebellious Millie -- aka Lady Camilla -- an aristocrat on the run from her conventional upper class life. She is doomed to clash over and over again with terrifying Sister Hyde and to get into scrape after scrape especially where men are concerned. This utterly delightful novel brings a London pre-war hospital vividly to life.


My Review

Dora is an unlikely candidate to succeed and train as one of The Nightingale Girls, she isn't polished, poor and has a secret. Helen is avoided by almost all other nurses/students as the daughter of one of the hospital leaders she cannot be trusted and she has priors but is all as it seems with Helen? And Millie, a lady of worth who really doesn't need to do nursing yet she loves it and wants to see it through despite her grand mother just wanting to marry her off! The three are thrown together under the strict rule of the matrons, their superiors and nurses who run a tight shift and take no nonsense. Pass with flying colours, keep your nose clean or you are out!

Nurse training in the 1930s, surnames only, no fraternising with males, starched uniforms and rules rules rules. Learning on the job and knowing your place, we follow the story through three of the main characters, each with their own problems. Helen wants to be the best she can be but lives in a very minimal existence with her mother controlling every aspect of her life. Dora is escaping abuse and poverty to learn how to nurse and make something of herself and Millie just wants to be Millie and not have to worry about catching someones eye and giving the estate and heir.

Whilst there is a lot centred around nursing the heart of the book is on relationships, the girls, their colleagues, their families and why they behave the way they do. Abuse features in the book, not in great detail but enough for you to be livid and disgusted. This is the first book in a series and I cannot wait to see what is in store for the characters. Love, personal growth, courage, recovery, family and of course nursing. I do enjoy books like this and look forward to the next, I have a few in my tbr, and ordered another, 4/5 for me this time.

View all my reviews