Review ~ Blog Tour ~ Lies Between Us by Ronnie Turner.

Will they ever learn the truth?
Three people, leading very different lives, are about to be brought together – with devastating consequences . . .

John has a perfect life, until the day his daughter goes missing.

Maisie cares for her patients, but hides her own traumatic past.

Miller should be an innocent child, but is obsessed with something he can’t have.

They all have something in common, though none of them know it – and the truth won’t stay hidden for long . . .

A gripping psychological thriller for fans of Clare Mackintosh, Shari Lapena and Lisa Jewell.

Review

I would like to thank the author Ronnie Turner and publisher HQ for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Having read Ronnie Turner’s cleverly crafted book reviews, I was thrilled to be included in the list of bloggers given the opportunity to review her first publication.

Turner has produced three fascinating characters whose stories are each in separate threads. I don’t suppose your meant to choose the psychopath as your favourite character, but he is and I would go as far as to say that he is probably my favourite villain of 2018 so far.  Miller is fascinating, repulsive and left me with a feeling of creeping unease every time he appeared.  I know he is controlling, cruel and manipultive, yet he is also capable, just like a chameleon of presenting a more likeable personality to those around him. As a result he is a great creation by an author for whom this is her first novel.  When you add in John whose life becomes mired in grief and fear and Maisie whose secrets threaten to destroy her, what you get is a tale layered which fascinating characters, who fill the novel with their personalities.

What I loved about this story is that it kept me guessing right until the last page. I admit I’m not the best in guessing how a story will end, but here the writer went that extra mile, forcing me to question my assumptions at the end of nearly every chapter.  I was hooked in and didn’t want to put it down, but my boss made me! At all other times I was addicted to Turner’s rich and fascinating tale.

It really is a gripper!

Besides the traditional elements of a thriller, what I loved about Lies Between Us was the depiction of the emotional impact brought about by events within the novel on the characters.  The grief and fear experienced by John and Maisie felt very real, the writing embodied the plethora of what felt like very real emotions that such characters would suffer. It was powerful stuff, balanced out by a haunting depiction of a human who is incapable of sharing these emotions, because he is emotionally crippled.

Turner cleverly combines the three different story arcs, but if I had one quibble and it’s a tiny one, the way they flick back and forth between the present and the past, it occasionally gets a bit confusing. This bit of the narrative could have been tightened up, but other than that, it s an accomplished, complex and exciting read.

I am really looking forward to more novels from Ronnie Turner.

You can purchase Lies Between Us from Kobo, Google play, Amazon UK and Itunes.

About the author

Ronnie Turner grew up in Cornwall, the youngest in a large family. At an early age, she discovered a love of literature and dreamed of being a published author. Ronnie now lives in Dorset with her family and three dogs. In her spare time, she reviews books on her blog and enjoys long walks on the coast. She is currently working on her second novel.

Ronnie’s debut novel, Lies Between Us, will be published by HQ Digital in October 2018.

The author can be followed on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, website and Goodreads.

Review ~ Blog Tour ~ In Harm’s Way ~ by Owen Mullen.

What if someone you loved was in harm’s way?

    

What if you were being stalked and no one believed you?

What if you were abducted in broad daylight?

What if you were held captive in a cellar?

What would you do?

Mackenzie Crawford screamed.

What if your wife admitted she had a lover?

What if she went out without saying where she was going?

What if you discovered she’d left?

What would you do?

Derek Crawford fell apart.

What if a troubled woman disappeared?

What if her brother begged you to help?

What if there was no evidence of a crime?

What would you do?

In Glasgow, DI Andrew Geddes puts the case to the top of his list.

Review

I would like to thank the author, Bloodhound Books and blog tour organiser for the ARC in return for an honest review.

In Harm’s Way we have a story about families, relationships, trust and lies. It’s part thriller, part detective drama, but above all that, it is a first class study of how behind closed doors, relationships are not what they often appear to those who look from the outside in!

Now in my reviews, I often like to discuss which of the characters I liked, but in this book I struggled to really like any of them. That’s not bad, it is quite refreshing actually. I quite enjoyed finding fault with them all, in fact I loved it. Don’t get me wrong, they are not poorly written, quite the opposite, they are written with grand understanding of the faults that make them human. Fault lines run through them all and it makes them feel all too real and as such you find yourself burrowing under their skin, trying to suss out the motives for their actions.

The story kept me guessing throughout and even when the questions were answered, what would you do if someone you loved was in harm’s way, if your wife admitted to having a lover, what if a troubled woman disappeared, I was still glued to the edge of my seat; tension levels did not abate right to the very last page. It is a real roller coaster of a ride and real nail biting stuff. Deeper than that we have a story about a dysfunctional family, whose fractured relationships run like subterranean caverns below the surface of their lives. It gives the story depth and provides us with characters we can believe would miss judge those around them. The cleverness of In Harm’s Way is that it works on two levels. First the tension filled, adrenalin driven investigation and then the study of a family in crisis.

For me, this is a wonderful example of crime fiction doing what it does best, thrill the reader. Chilling, unnerving and exciting to read.

You can purchase In Harms Way from Amazon

About the author.

Owen Mullen is a McIlvanney Crime Book Of The Year long-listed novelist.

Games People Play will be translated for the German market.

And So It Began earned a coveted Sunday Times Crime Club Star Pick.

Owen graduated from Strathclyde University, moved to London and worked as a  rock musician, session singer and songwriter, and had a hit record in Japan with a band he refuses to name; he still loves to perform on occasion. His passion for travel has taken him on many adventures from the Amazon and Africa to the colourful continent of India and Nepal. A gregarious recluse, he and his wife, Christine, split their time between Glasgow, and their home in the Greek Islands where both the Charlie Cameron and Delaney series’ were created. His latest novel In Harm’s Way is a  psychological thriller set in Scotland.

You can follow the author on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Goodreads.

Guest Post ~ Blog Tour ~ Without Rules by Andrew Field.

When a professional hitman turns up at Candy’s World to hide, China Mackie discovers her plan to flee from her abusive father has tragically backfired. A gruesome bloodbath has left four people dead on the streets of a northern city centre on a cold wet Sunday morning. China knows she’s next to die. Unless she is more ruthless than everyone else. She must improvise fast. Seduce her father’s assassin. Plead her case so he helps her escape in a fight to the death where rules don’t matter but the consequences do.

Guest Post

I’m delighted to welcome author Andrew Field to booksaremycwtches with a fascinating guest post about the rules about writing.

Rules of Writing — should they be explored or ignored?

We’re always looking for an edge in life, that little competitive advantage that helps us perform better. High achieving sportsmen will often go to apparently ridiculous lengths. US Open tennis champion Novak Djokovic, Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps and the world’s best footballer Cristiano Ronaldo all use a hyperbaric chamber to pump 100% oxygen into their bodies to speed up their recovery from their exertions.
Authors are no exception, although their methods are a lot more mundane than spending an hour or more lying in a highly pressurised tank breathing in pure O2.
For many writers, one trick is to look at critically acclaimed, best-selling authors they admire and replicate what they do as writers and people — although that strategy has obvious drawbacks.
Screenwriting lecturer Robert McKee once told me that if he wanted to learn to play golf, he’d find a golf coach with the exact same build, height and weight and ask him to teach him to copy his swing. Great advice — until you decide you want to be the next James Ellroy. The self-confessed demon dog of American crime fiction and author of the brilliant American Tabloid, bragged about how, as a young man, he broke into the houses of girls he admired so he could sniff their knickers. Great for generating column inches but a conversation killer when you’re introduced to the in-laws.
The reality is there are no rules for good writing except those you already follow because of the way you work and live your life.
Rules are very personal and idiosyncratic. What applies to one writer won’t necessarily apply to another. Chances are you’re pretty set in your ways so adopting new behaviours, styles and attitudes will be a distraction. If you like writing late at night, chances are you won’t want to change to writing first thing as advised by Hilary Mantel, quoting Dorothea Brande. If you like to constantly edit as you write (like I do), Will Self’s recommendation not to look back until you’ve written the whole first draft is going to fall on deaf ears. And if you’ve always written on a keyboard you won’t necessarily want to swap to writing long hand using pen and paper as suggested by Annie Proulx (I do both).
The rules of other writers are interesting only because you like their work and their public personas — just like it is fun to speculate who is the best heavyweight boxer without ever being able to draw a definitive conclusion. Fave authors of mine — including Elmore Leonard, Kurt Vonnegut and Roddy Doyle — published their own rules, alongside many others, in the Guardian part one, part two).
The rules that resonate receive a knowing nod of approval — the ones that don’t are dispensed to the trash bin.
Here are six of my favourites with my comments added after the author brackets.

Do not place a photograph of your favourite author on your desk, especially if the author is one of the famous ones who committed suicide (Roddy Doyle) … See James Ellroy, knicker-sniffing, conversation stoppers at parties etc etc … Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath, Hunter S Thompson and Yukio Mishima spring to mind as well.
Never use the words “suddenly” or “all hell broke loose.” (Elmore Leonard) … I have studiously avoided the word ‘suddenly’ ever since this rule first leapt out at me … it stands out like a sore thumb when I see others liberally sprinkle it about.
In the planning stage of a book, don’t plan the ending (Rose Tremain) … one of the reasons why so many endings in books and films are disappointing … evolution is organic …
Don’t try to anticipate an “ideal reader” — except for yourself perhaps, sometime in the future (Joyce Carol Oates) … who do I write for? Myself, if I don’t like it, how can I expect anyone else to invest their time and money …
Never take advice from anyone with no investment in the outcome (David Hare). … if you reacted to every bad review, you’d never go near a keyboard or a pen …. however, if it is valid think about it … I wrote Wicked Games (what became the first third of Without Rules) without speech marks … The chap with wrote No Country for Old Man did the same but he was Cormac McCarthy and I wasn’t …
The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you’re allowed to do whatever you like. (That may be a rule for life as well as for writing. But it’s definitely true for writing.) So write your story as it needs to be written. Write it honestly, and tell it as best you can. I’m not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter. (Neil Gaiman) … assurance and confidence comes with writing lots and honing your craft and skills. For Novak, Cristiano and Michael, the hyperbaric chamber is the icing on the cake. They would never have become brilliant at what they do without the relentless effort, practice and commitment to their sport! Which is probably the only other rule that matters — a bloody good work ethic.

You can purchase  Without Rules from Amazon UK and US.

About Andrew Field

Andrew Field has spent most of his working life as a PR and marketing consultant helping raise the profiles of others. Now the roles are reversed as he steps into the spotlight as the author of Without Rules, a crime thriller about vulnerable people forced to do bad things to escape evil people. “Authors, by the nature of what they do, are relatively introverted. They work in isolation. Inhabit imaginary worlds of their own creation. They can spend ages staring at a computer screen bringing their characters to life. Then they have to become a different person to promote their work and market themselves. Writing is the easy part compared to the marketing, especially when crime fiction has become a very crowded marketplace.”
“From my point of view, professional PR people operate best from behind the scenes. They should never become the story otherwise you’re deflecting attention away from the messages you’re trying to communicate,” says Andrew. “The New Labour experiment, for example, was doomed the minute Tony Blair’s media guru Alistair Campbell generated his own headlines. Bragged about ‘spin’. Believed his own hype. Ditto Anthony “The Mooch” Scaramucci’s 10-day tenure as the shortest-serving White House communications director in history – and his “off the record” expletive-ridden rant about his colleagues in Donald Trump’s White House.”
As a PR, Andrew memorably handled Boddingtons Bitter during its “Cream of Manchester” heyday, developing innovative sports and cultural media partnerships with newspapers and TV stations for the beer brand – but also PR’d a fashion entrepreneur who was a convicted armed bank robber and a property developer who did eighteen months prison time for blackmail. “Having a diverse range of clients keeps it interesting. They are all different but the core requirement is to be seen as a believable and trusted information source ready to take advantage of PR opportunities as and when they arise. As a novelist, you look to do exactly the same with your work and yourself.”
“The catalyst for Without Rules was a friend testifying against her father in an abuse case. Although the prosecution was successful, she can never really escape the consequences of what happened to her. She has to find a way of coping for the rest of her life while he was sentenced to two and half years.”
Andrew says crime fiction has a duty to try and educate and as well as entertain. “The memorable books are the ones you’re still thinking about 48-hours after you finished reading.”
Andrew lives, works and plays in Manchester, England, Europe, with his partner, Catherine. He has been a trade journalist in Southampton in his youth. He owned a PR agency in the nineties and early noughties and is now an independent PR, marketing and publishing consultant looking forward to the challenge of becoming the story with the publication of Without Rules.

You can follow the author on Twitter, Facebook.

Review ~ Blog Tour ~ Trap by Lilia Sigurdardottir.

Happily settled in Florida, Sonja believes she’s finally escaped the trap set by unscrupulous drug lords. But when her son Tomas is taken, she’s back to square one … and Iceland. Her lover, Agla, is awaiting sentencing for financial misconduct after the banking crash, and Sonja refuses to see her. And that’s not all … Agla owes money to some extremely powerful men, and they’ll stop at nothing to get it back. With her former nemesis, customs officer Bragi, on her side, Sonja puts her own plan into motion, to bring down the drug barons and her scheming ex-husband, and get Tomas back safely. But things aren’t as straightforward as they seem, and Sonja finds herself caught in the centre of a trap that will put all of their lives at risk…Set in a Reykjavík still covered in the dust of the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption, and with a dark, fast-paced and chilling plot and intriguing characters, Trap is an outstandingly original and sexy Nordic crime thriller, from one of the most exciting new names in crime fiction.

 

‘A tense thriller with a highly unusual plot and interesting characters’ Marcel Berlins, The Times

 

‘Tense, edgy and delivering more than a few unexpected twists and turns’ The Times Crime Club Star Pick

 

‘With characters you can’t help sympathising with against your better judgement, Sigurdardottir takes the reader on a breathtaking ride’ Daily Express

 

‘The intricate plot is breathtakingly original, with many twists and turns you never see coming. Thriller of the year’ New York Journal of Book

Review

I would like to thank the author, publisher and blog tour organiser Ann Cater for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Following on from the fantastic Snare, Trap is the continuation of the story of Sonja who had escaped from the control of the drug lords and her sometimes lover Alga, a banker who owes money to some extremely powerful men.

Firstly I have to say that if you haven’t read Snare, the first featuring these characters, then to make the most of this wonderful series of books you should. I promise you reading both, is worth every second of your reading time!

When a read a sequel, I want it to develop and continue the story, Lilja Sigurdardottir does this by developing the narrative and the characters we have already come to love reading about. As readers she wraps us in the same complex and dark world of drug lords, mules and corrupt bankers, so that we are as immersed in the mire as they are, leaving us scared, shocked and fearful at the ease at which the trap can be sprung. Seriously you begin to wonder, could this happen to any of us? It’s this, which explains why this book is such an original and exciting read. It could be any of us, trapped in a nightmare of drugs and corruption, simply my making one mistake, taking one misstep! She creates a strange and complex world where drug smuggling and financial misdeeds are interconnected, you are never sure about the intricacies that join the two worlds, but you just know that it’s laced with danger. With every page you read, your tension levels rise. I felt on edge throughout, as trapped as the characters and that is a remarkable thing to achieve in a work of fiction.

I know character wise, you’re not meant to like people that don’t behave well, but I love them. There I admit it, I like both Alga and Sonja. Alga in particular has a skewed ethical code, yet I find myself liking her, flawed that she is, troubled and confused, I feel a connection that can’t be denied and that is down to the quality of the writing. Then there is dear, sweet Bragi who does what he does for love, corrupt as it is, you know that events drive his actions. As for Sonja, I say again, the behaviour of others compel her activities after the trap ensnares her. She is not perfect, but, in some ways her actions are as driven by love as Bragi’s. I struggle to imagine, a more perfect set of characters and I hope this is not the last we hear of them.

This is a superb thriller and deserves to be on the reading list of all book lovers, not just thriller aficionados. Character and plot wise it works on all levels.

Special mention must go to the translator Quentin Bates who yet again has ensured we hear the author’s voice with perfect clarity.

You can purchase Trap from Amazon and Waterstones.

 

About the author

Icelandic crime-writer Lilja Sigurdardóttir was born in the town of Akranes in 1972 and raised in Mexico, Sweden, Spain and Iceland. An award-winning playwright, Lilja has written four crime novels, with Snare, the first in a new series, hitting bestseller lists worldwide. The film rights have been bought by Palomar Pictures in California. Lilja has a background in education and has worked in evaluation and quality control for preschools in recent years. She lives in Reykjavík with her partner.

You can follow the author on Twitter

About the translator

Quentin Bates escaped English suburbia as a teenager, jumping at the chance of a gap year working in Iceland. For a variety of reasons, the gap year stretched to become a gap decade, during which time he went native in the north of Iceland, acquiring a new language a new profession as a seaman and a family, before decamping en masse for England. He worked as a truck driver, teacher, netmaker and trawlerman at various times before falling into journalism, largely by accident. He is the author of a series of crime novels set in present-day Iceland (Frozen Out, Cold Steal, Chilled to the Bone, Winterlude, Cold Comfort and Thin Ice which have been published worldwide. He has translated all of Ragnar Jónasson’s Dark Iceland series.

Promo ~Blog Tour ~A Stain On The Soul by

A Stain on the Soul

Resigned to another lifetime of being a witch’s familiar, Caitlyn has found a degree of peace in her role as the Duke of Normandy’s protector and spy.
But that peace is shattered when she returns to her native land only to come face-to-face with her past, and fall in love with a man who she desperately hopes will become her future.

About the author

Elizabeth Davies is a paranormal author, whose books have a romantic flavour with more than a hint of suspense. And death. There’s usually death…

You can follow the author on her Website, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Review ~ Blog Tour ~ Dear Mr Pop Star by Derek & Dave Philpott.

A collection of hilarious letters to iconic pop and rock stars with fantastic in-on-the-joke replies from the artists themselves: Eurythmics, Heaven 17, Deep Purple, Devo, Dr. Hook and many, many more…

For more than a decade, Derek Philpott and his son, Dave, have been writing deliberately deranged letters to pop stars from the 1960s to the 90s to take issue with the lyrics of some of their best-known songs. They miss the point as often as they hit it.

But then, to their great surprise, the pop stars started writing back…

Dear Mr Pop Star contains 100 of Derek and Dave’s greatest hits, including correspondence with Katrina and the Waves, Tears for Fears, Squeeze, The Housemartins, Suzi Quatro, Devo, Deep Purple, Nik Kershaw, T’Pau, Human League, Eurythmics, Wang Chung, EMF, Mott the Hoople, Heaven 17, Jesus Jones, Johnny Hates Jazz, Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine, Chesney Hawkes and many, many more.

Review

I would like to thank the  author’s and the publisher’s for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Now I must admit, music is not a passion of mine and I was worried I wouldn’t appreciate this quirky book. It’s a credit to the writer’s that I really enjoyed it. It was funny, original and very entertaining.

Taking a clever play on the songs of some incredible lyrics, the author’s penned witty and clever letters to bands and received some equally funny replies. Even though I hadn’t heard of many of the band’s, I still really enjoyed the clever use of the lyrics and wit of the letter writers.  I loved the way I made me smile and reminded me of the charming power of letter writing. It was at its best when band members replied and both are included.

The passion and love of the writer’s for the pop songs the are honouring shines through on the pages. Both authors are incredible letter writers in their own rights and this is what makes the book such enjoyable read.

If you love pop music, you will love this book!

You can purchase Dear Mr Pop Star from Amazon

About the author’s

Derek and Dave Philpott are the noms de plume of two ordinary members of the public, working with help from a worldwide social networking community.

You can follow the authors on Twitter

 

 

 

Extract ~Blog Tour~ The Adventures of Isbelle Necessary by Martii MacLean. Illustrated by Sharon Clark.

The Adventures of Isabelle Necessary

One gutsy eleven-year-old, a cool beach town, a hilarious crew of friends and oodles of adventures.
Once upon a beach, there was a girl called Isabelle Necessary. A girl with an unusual name and a rather extraordinary life. She roams around a sleepy beach town with her loyal team of friends. Follow Isabelle, Tammy, David, Nin, Draino the cat and Champ the wonder dog as they navigate one sticky situation after another and figure out how to turn a frog into a movie star, deal with a never-ending milkshake and escape being trapped in a lighthouse.
The type of book that brings back childhood memories and captures the essence of being a free-spirited kid.
Perfect for teachers and educators as the book comes with a teacher’s resource guide and student maker kit by Isabelle Necessary herself. Middle-grade reading level.

Extract

Here is an excerpt from chapter twelve, “Isabelle Necessary goes Horse Riding.” In this story, Isabelle goes horseback riding with her friends, Tammy and Nin, and a very serious riding instructor named Peony.
The ponies whinnied. They flicked their ears and stamped their feet. The girls stamped their feet and giggled while Peony wasn’t looking.
‘All right, ladies, let’s get you into the saddle. Hold the neck and the saddle like this, and then put your left boot … oh, well, put whatever those shoes are into the stirrup and heft yourselves up, swinging your right leg over the saddle.’
Isabelle tried, but it was such a long way up to the saddle. She put her left foot in the stirrup and bounced up and down on her right foot, but she could only get halfway up. Nin was bouncing, too, and Tammy couldn’t remember which foot went where. Isabelle got the giggles.
‘You there, Tammy, is it?’ Peony said to Tammy, ‘you’ve got the wrong foot in the stirrup. Oh dear, beach folk.’ She went to each girl and gave her an annoyed shove up into the saddle.
Oh dear, beach folk, the girls mouthed to each other when they were in the saddle.
It was such a long way up from the ground and the ponies wriggled a little. It was very different from being on a bicycle, but the girls thought it was so exciting.
‘Hold your reins thusly,’ said Peony from where she sat on her horse, Misty. ‘My perfect ponies are very well trained and they’re used to helping novices, so don’t be worried, they will do all the thinking. Now just give them a little dig in the ribs and we’ll be off.’

The ponies started walking and the girls all squealed with delight.
‘How cool!’
‘This is excellent!’
‘Epic!’
‘Well, yes, ladies, riding is wonderful, and unlike the beach, you have no need to get all gritty, grotty, wet and uncouth.’
‘I feel more couth already,’ whispered Tammy.

The three girls followed behind Peony, but they were so busy taking turns imitating the snobbish Peony that they didn’t see the thin branches covered in dark shiny leaves hanging low across the sandy bush track ahead.
Nin was the first to be caught. She squealed with surprise as the leaves flicked her face like a crazy green flyswatter. She tried to duck under the branch, but all she did was release the tension on the branch. It swung back and flicked Isabelle and Tammy. There was even more squealing. The girls wriggled and jumped about in their saddles.
‘Do I have spiders on me?’ Nin called out.
‘I’m sure I can feel a spider on my neck.’ She rocked and wobbled on top of her pony, trying to turn around and swat her imaginary spider.
The three ponies were bunching together because the girls had stopped giving them any directions.
Isabelle checked Nin’s back. ‘I don’t see any spiders.’
‘But you do have a big spider’s web on your helmet,’ said Tammy.
‘Then there must be a spider there, too,’ said Nin. ‘Can you see it? What kind is it?’
‘No spiders,’ said Isabelle. ‘Truly.’
They stayed bunched together, double- and triple-checking for spiders. The ponies were bumping into each other. They were snorting and stomping, and their ears were twitching.
‘What on earth is this fuss about?’ scolded
Peony as she swung Misty around and came back to glare at the girls. ‘A good horsewoman pays attention to her surroundings, and she does not let go of her pony’s reins.’ Peony’s face was crimson.
She pulled the ponies free of the tangle and urged them forward again. ‘Girls, try to concentrate or you will never become horsewomen.’
Peony huffed and faced forward again, nudging her horse’s sides lightly with her boots. The ponies trotted along behind her, making the girls plop up and down in the saddle, and wobble around like jelly.
‘Bikes are much easier,’ said Isabelle, ‘and less jiggly.’
‘That’s because you’re not a horsewoman,’ said Tammy in a posh voice, mimicking Peony.
‘Horsewoman—part girl, part horse, defender of Saggy Beach,’ Isabelle said in a loud whisper.
They all laughed as they followed Peony down the sloping trail.
‘We’re going to stop and give the ponies a little drink at the creek,’ Peony announced. She stopped at the pebbly creek bank. ‘My babies will be awfully thirsty after all this … fussiness.’
The girls tried to look sensible.
‘Now, ladies, we’re going to dismount and give the ponies a little rest. Just try to do what I tell you and no one should fall.’ She gave the girls instructions for getting down from their saddles. With some sliding and flopping, they managed to get to the ground safely.
‘Beach folk,’ chided Peony.
She was so busy rolling her eyes at the three girls that she didn’t notice Misty, impatient for a drink, stretching her head down to reach the cool creek water. Peony was, of course, holding Misty’s reins firmly because she was a very good horsewoman. Misty stretched her neck, but couldn’t reach the cool, rippling water. She was very thirsty, so she pulled even harder.
Peony was yanked forward and tumbled headfirst into the swirling creek water. Misty snuffed impatiently at the splash Peony made as she hit the water, moved her head away and started drinking quietly.

You can purchase it from Amazon UK and Amazon US

About the author. 

Martii Maclean lives in a tin shack by the sea, catching sea-gulls which she uses to make delicious pies, and writing weird stories. She likes going for long bicycle rides with her cat, who always wears aviator goggles to stop her whiskers blowing up into her eyes as they speed down to the beach to search for mermaid eggs. Or how about this…
Martii Maclean writes fantastical, adventurous tales for children and teens and sometimes adults. She was born in Sydney, Australia and now lives in Brisbane with her husband Trevor and her cat Minerva. Her work as an educator and librarian, allows her to share her love of stories and of story-telling with many young people. This inspires Martii to create thought-filled stories that explore the wonderful world of ‘what if’.

You can follow the author on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Review ~ Blog Tour ~ Burning Secrets by Ruth Sutton.

 

It’s the spring of 2001 and Foot & Mouth disease is raging across Cumbria.

Twelve-year-old Helen Heslop is forced to leave her family farm and move in with relatives in a nearby town because the strict quarantine means she can’t travel back and forth to school in case she inadvertently helps spread the disease.

As the authorities and the local farming communities try desperately to contain the outbreak, tensions run high and everyone’s emotions are close to the surface.

And then Helen disappears.

The police search expands all over the northwest coast where farms are barricaded and farming families have been plunged into chaos – not least the Hislop family, where potentially explosive fault lines are exposed.

Under the strain tensions build inside the police team too, where local DC Maureen Pritchard is caught between old school DI Bell and new broom DS Anna Penrose.

Will Helen survive? And can life for the Heslop family ever be the same, once burning secrets are discovered and old scores settled?

Review

I would like to thank the author, Fahrenheit Press and blog tour organiser Emma Welton for the ARC of Burning Secrets in return for an honest review.

Set during the horrors of Foot and Mouth disease that decimated the livelihoods of families that had been farming for generations, this thriller looks into the secrets that are hidden behind the facade of a loving family; a missing child and a police team at odds with each other, all of which add to the tensions that run through this novel.

Ruth Sutton has written a good story. Within the pages is a sense of dread at the fate of young Helen and with a villain that horrified and fascinated me in equal amounts. I loved that the was conflict hidden not just within Helen’s family , but also within the police team as well, because that fission meant I never knew if that sense of foreboding building up in me as I read, would ever ease. If both the family and those meant to help them were divided, how could there be any chance that Helen would survive? The writer has woven a complex tale that pits the two groups that should be working together against each other and it works really well.

The setting is very much part of the story, because it creates a background for the horror to come. Cumbria, normally beautiful is consumed by fire and disease. What were once open fields and gorgeous countryside was ravaged by the burning pyres of rotting corpses. People were trapped by a land that once provided a living, yet during the Foot and Mouth outbreak, isolation from friends and family bread paranoia and fear of outsiders. This setting gives the story its unique feel, equal parts terror and with a palatable feeling of paranoia and mistrust running through the story. As a reader you can feel this, can see a land and a family at odds to how we see the countryside in our minds eye. It gives the story a bleak edge and affected my feeling towards the story itself. Atmosphere is everything in a thriller and his book has shed loads that kept me reading.

The characterisation is spot on. The family are perfectly written as having a flaw running through them. The whole family fascinated me! The father perfectly portrayed as consumed by fear of the loss of his inheritance, is a heavy drinker and taken over by fits of maudlin self pity on one hand and angry determination on the other. The mother is the Chameleon personality in this story; she blends in with those around her, adapting her personality to those she is with. You’re never sure if she is good or bad, self serving or devoted mother. Then there is the ‘villain’, who is cruel, violent, but deeply troubled. You hate him for his actions, but part of you understands that he needs help as well as punishment. Then we have the police, who are professionally both talented and yet, dysfunctional as a unit. I like DC Maureen Prichard, who holds her own, despite being the outsider in an established team. Her fractious relationship with both DI Bell and DS Anna Penrose, is not displayed as perfect, but more like real working relationships, sometimes a well oiled machine, at others like a kindergarten full of sulking angry children.

If you want a ‘who done it’ where atmosphere comes from a national crisis, where the characters are like spiky , then Ruth Suttons Burning Secrets would be a good choice as your next purchase.

You can purchase Burning Secrets from Amazon

About the author.

Ruth is a very independent person, which – like many things – is good up to a point, but can get tricky sometimes. She lives in a very beautiful place, but it’s a long way to a cinema, or a big supermarket, and if the time comes when she can’t or doesn’t want to drive, she’ll have to move as there’s no public transport. She qualifies for a bus pass, but there aren’t any buses. Her daughter and her family live quite close by, and she loves to see her two grandchildren. After decades on her own, she has a partner whom she loves. They each have their own house, 40 minutes apart, and this life style suits them both. Ruth wrote her first novel after she was 60.

In addition, Ruth has self-published a trilogy entitled Between the Mountains and the Sea; A Good Liar tells the story of Jessie who risks career and independence with a love affair, whilst her secret past draws ever closer. Forgiven is set among the coal mines and fells of the Cumberland coast. Jessie’s struggle for happiness continues. Fallout features the nuclear disaster at Windscale, which brings a compelling stranger into Jessie’s world.

You can follow the author on Twitter

Review ~Blog Tour ~ One Perfect Witness by Pat Young.

One Perfect Witness

On a remote Scottish hillside, three paths meet. On each path, a boy, one carrying a gun.

When their paths cross, a shot is fired and a boy dies.

That leaves two – one killer and one perfect witness.

This killer will stop at nothing to make sure the witness says nothing. Difficult for most people, even for someone who’s been guarding a secret of his own for five years.

What if the witness decides he’s been silent too long? Sometimes even the unspeakable must be spoken, if we can find the words.

Review

I would like to thank the author, Bloodhound Books and blog tour organiser Sarah Hardy for the ARC of One Perfect Witness in return for an honest review.

This is a story about a murder, a killer and the witness. It’s a story about fear, control and mistakes. At its heart, it talks about the consequences of falsehoods and how the secrets we carry, can destroy us, if we bury our fears deep within ourselves.

There were many things to like about this psychological suspense thriller. First being the way the tension gripped you right from the start. The beginning of the book was faultless, setting the scene on which the whole book would ultimately revolve around, a death! From this, the story becomes about the consequences of a rash decision, a moment in time that sets of a chain of events that catches not just the killer and the witness in its web, but those around them. Pat Young cleverly gives a voice to the victim, whom I liked enough, so that the thought of anything happening to him, tied my stomach in knots of tension. The pressure builds from this, page to page, setting the pace for the rest of the book and there is no release from the ever growing sense of anxiety.

I have to say that I found the main protagonist a little irritating, but understandably so. He for me is meant to be a little annoying and needy, it’s what ultimately sets off the chain of events that leads to a death. It is a clever plot device by Pat Young because it makes him much more realistic. Eventually, as she builds the story, you come to feel a connection to a clever but troubled child. Then you have the ‘villain’ whom I despised, because he is a bully and a manipulator. It is hard to discuss him without spoiling the story, but he’s not your typical twisted villain and that gives him a unique quality which on times will have you hoping even he is capable of change, that underneath the self serving bully, is tiny sliver of humanity that will win out. So although I hated him, good villain to reader relationship there, I recognised he was capable of possible redemption. Pat Young cleverly manipulated my feelings towards with him, making it a more fascinating and complex read, because I never felt sure of what he was capable of, good and bad.

As well as all this, it is a great story and was for me a real page turner. Not a really fast read, more a story I savoured and one I didn’t want to finish. It was littered with unforeseen moments of tension that knocked me off balance on more than one occasion. I found myself thinking I knew exactly how it would end, but I wasn’t expecting what actually happened.

Would recommend this read to all readers who love a really well thought out thriller.

You can purchase One Perfect Witness from Amazon

About the author

Pat Young grew up in the south west of Scotland where she still lives, sometimes. She often goes to the other extreme, the south west of France, in search of sunlight.

Pat never expected to be a writer. Then she found a discarded book with a wad of cash tucked in the flyleaf. ‘What if something awful happened to the person who lost this book?’ she thought, and she was off.

Pat knew nothing of writing, but she knew a thing or two about books, having studied English, French and German at Glasgow University. A passion for languages led to a career she loved and then a successful part-time business that allowed her some free-time, at last.

Pat had plans, none of which included sitting at her desk from daybreak till dusk. But some days she has to. Because there’s a story to be told. And when it’s done, she can go out to play. On zip-wires and abseil ropes, or just the tennis court.

Pat writes psychological thrillers. Her debut novel Till the Dust Settles, has been awarded the Scottish Association of Writers’ Constable Stag trophy. Following publication in July

2017 Pat was delighted to be chosen as an ‘emerging talent’ for Crime in the Spotlight and read from Till the Dust Settles to an audience at Bloody Scotland – another dream come true.

Published by Bloodhound Books, I Know Where You Live is the much-anticipated sequel to Pat’s gripping and unmissable debut thriller, Till the Dust Settles. It too is a psychological thriller with a skilfully told story that makes for an enjoyable stand alone read. It will hook you from the start.

One Perfect Witness, Pat’s third novel to be published, tells a completely new story. If, like Pat, you’re fascinated by what happens when someone disappears, you’ll enjoy this book of secrets, lies and deception

You can follow the author on Twitter.