GuestPost #PublicationDay MY SISTER’S KILLER by HELEN BRIDGETT @RubyFiction @Helen_Bridgett

Delighted to be with you today to celebrate the Publication Day for MY SISTER’S KILLER by HELEN BRIDGETT!  She’s here to share a few thoughts about the book so you learn more about it  – before you run off and buy a copy for yourself!! Links to buy are down below so grab yourself one ASAP!

Over to you Helen…

Release Day Post: My Sister’s Killer by Helen Bridgett

My Sister’s Killer is the third book in the Professor Maxie Reddick series.

In the first two, I have hinted that Maxie was drawn to Criminology because of something that happened to her sister Susan – she was killed when they were teenagers and the crime was never solved. Maxie has always maintained that neither she nor the police tried hard enough to find out what happened and this has haunted her throughout her life.

In this book, a new lead is uncovered and the cold case is re-opened. It is Maxie’s chance to do right by her sister once and for all.

The novel starts with a flashback to 1995 when Maxie found her sister dead at the bottom of the stairs. In researching the book, I consulted a police officer who would have been serving then to find out what procedures might have changed. DNA testing was available but expensive so wouldn’t have been used as a matter of course and CCTV would have been very rare.

Maxie has very little to go on and so reaches out to her podcast audience asking them if they knew Susan or remember anything from back then. As well as her old friend DS Andrew Dawson, Maxie is provided with a cold case officer. She really is throwing everything she can at this case and even enlists her students to help although they are horrified when they have to sift through paper records rather than just consult a search engine! The case comes down to old fashioned detective work – following leads and asking questions wherever they may lead.

The case unravels much from the past including elements of Susan’s life that Maxie would really rather not have known. Her parents want her to let things lie but the Professor simply cannot and is ready to risk everything to get to the truth.

My Sister’s Killer should keep you guessing until the very end and have you asking – how far would you go to solve the case?

About the Book: 

Somebody knows what happened to Maxie’s sister – why are they staying silent?

If Professor Maxie Reddick is honest with herself, there’s a very personal reason she pursued a career in criminology: the unsolved murder of her sister, Susan, nearly thirty years before, and her belief that the local police force let her family down.

Now Maxie has been drafted in to help investigate a murder – nothing particularly unusual about that, except when a fingerprint at the scene provides a shocking and unexpected link to her sister’s suspicious death.

The link means that Maxie can’t be involved in the official police investigation – but Susan’s cold case is heating up, and there’s no way Maxie is going to let go now, even if she has to stand up to the people who want to make sure the past stays frozen.

 Buying links: 

Kindle UK: https://bit.ly/3XyuM3C 

Kindle US: https://bit.ly/3EeEQIm

 Kobo: https://bit.ly/3YBY6aN 

Apple UK: http://bit.ly/3k5A8pv 

Nook: http://bit.ly/3lyFkCE

About the Author:

Helen Bridgett lives in the North East of England. Outside of writing feel good fiction, Helen loves the great outdoors and having a good laugh with friends over a glass of wine. Helen lives with her husband and their chocolate Labrador, Angus; all three can often be found walking the Northumberland coastline that inspired her romantic comedy, Summer at Serenity Bay. Helen writes romantic comedies and chilling thrillers.

 You can follow Helen on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/Helen_Bridgett

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My Bookish Weekly Wrap Up – 18th February 2023

Hello! Happy Saturday!! Spring is springing up all over the place and I’m beginning to feel daunted by the jobs I need to do in the garden, now it’s a little warmer!!  

So it’s a good time to distract myself with books and that’s what I’ve been doing again this week, so have managed to finish 5 books this week! I’ve also avoided Netgalley and just had 1 new addition to my bookshelves thanks to Goldsboro and their monthly book selection!

Here’s my look back!

BOOKS FINISHED

FRANKENSTEIN by MARY SHELLEY – 4 STARS

THE FELL by SARAH MOSS (audiobook) – 3 STARS

VENETIAN GARDENS by MONTY DON – 5 STARS

EXILES by JANE HARPER – 4 STARS

WINTERING by KATHERINE MAY – 3 STARS

BOOKPOST

The latest pick from the Goldsboro Book monthly subscription…

THE HEROINES by LAURA SHEPPERSON

In Athens, crowds flock to witness the most shocking trial of the ancient world, which is about to shake the city to its very foundations . . .

A scandalous accusation has ruptured the royal family in Athens.

On the one side: Theseus – king, hero, liberator of the people and slayer of the Minotaur – and his stepson, the pious Hippolytus.

On the other, Phaedra – queen of Athens, princess of Crete, daughter of an adulteress and sister of a monster.

The men of Athens are gathering to determine the truth. But the women know truth is a slippery thing. There are two sides to every story, and theirs has gone unheard.

CURRENTLY READING

HOW TO FIND LOVE IN THE LITTLE THINGS by VIRGINIE GRIMALDI

HAPPY READING!!

My Bookish Weekly Wrap Up – 11th February 2023

Hello! Happy Saturday!! Almost at the mid point of the month, and it seems to be flying by again!!  Nice bit of frost and fog about this week too, but the return of some sunshine as well and the Spring flowers are beginning to bloom in my garden! Happy times!!

On to books, and it’s been a pretty good week with 4 books finished, some nice bookpost and 2 new additions to the netgalley shelves!!

Here’s my look back!

BOOKS FINISHED

THE GARNETT GIRLS by GEORGINA MOORE – 5 STARS

TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW AND TOMORROW by GABRIELLE ZEVIN – 3 STARS

THE ONLY SUSPECT by LOUISE CANDLISH – 4 STARS

A MARRIAGE OF FORTUNE by ANNE O’BRIEN – 4 STARS

BOOKHAUL

Kicking off over at Netgalley……

THE BIRDCAGE LIBRARY by FREYA BERRY

publication – June 2023

The answers to a puzzle lie hidden within an old book. Open The Birdcage Library and let the treasure hunt begin…

The year is 1882, and the most important thing, unknown reader, is this: The man I love is trying to kill me.

It’s 1932 and adventuress and plant-hunter Emily Blackwood accepts a commission from Heinrich Vogel, a former dealer of exotic animals in Manhattan, living now with his macabre collection in a remote Scottish castle.

Emily is tasked to find a long-lost treasure which Heinrich believes has been hidden within the castle walls. But instead she discovers the pages of a diary, written by Hester Vogel, who died after falling from the Brooklyn Bridge.

Hester’s diary leads Emily to an old book The Birdcage Library and into a treasure hunt of another kind, one that will take her down a dangerous path for clues, and force her to confront her own darkest secret…

With fiendish clues and clever twists, The Birdcage Library will delight and dazzle you to the final page.

CATFISH ROLLING by CLARA KUMAGAI

publication date – March 2023

Magic-realism blends with Japanese myth and legend in an original story about grief, memory, time and an earthquake that shook a nation.

There’s a catfish under the islands of Japan and when it rolls the land rises and falls.

Sora hates the catfish whose rolling caused an earthquake so powerful it cracked time itself. It destroyed her home and took her mother. Now Sora and her scientist father live close to the zones – the wild and abandoned places where time runs faster or slower than normal. Sora is sensitive to the shifts, and her father recruits her help in exploring these liminal spaces.

But it’s dangerous there – and as she strays further inside in search of her mother, she finds that time distorts, memories fracture and shadows, a glimmer of things not entirely human, linger. After Sora’s father goes missing, she has no choice but to venture into uncharted spaces within the time zones to find him, her mother and perhaps even the catfish itself…

And in the post…..

CROSSING OVER by ANN MORGAN

publication date  – April 2023

Edie finds the world around her increasingly difficult to comprehend. Words are no longer at her beck and call, old friends won’t mind their own business and workmen have appeared in the neighbouring fields, preparing to obliterate the landscape she has known all her life. Rattling around in an old farmhouse on the cliffs, she’s beginning to run out of excuses to stop do-gooders interfering when one day she finds an uninvited guest in the barn and is thrown back into the past.

Jonah has finally made it to England – where everything, he’s been told, will be better. But the journey was fraught with danger, and many of his fellow travellers didn’t make it. Sights firmly set on London, but unsure which way to turn, he is unprepared for what happens when he breaks into Edie’s barn.

Haunted by the prospect of being locked away and unable to trust anyone else, the elderly woman stubbornly battling dementia and the traumatised illegal immigrant find solace in an unlikely companionship that helps them make sense of their worlds even as they struggle to understand each other. Crossing Over is a delicately spun tale that celebrates compassion and considers the transcendent language of humanity.

A SECRET GARDEN AFFAIR by ERICA JAMES

publication – March 2023

Another heartbreaking but glorious tale of secrets and love from the Sunday Times bestselling author Erica James…July 1981. As the country prepares to celebrate Prince Charles’ wedding to Lady Diana, Libby wants to be as far away from royal wedding fever as possible.

Having caught her own fianc� in bed with her best friend just weeks before they were due to marry, she’s fled London for the comfort of the Suffolk countryside.

At Larkspur House, with its magical garden created by renowned garden designer and one-time socialite Elfrida Ambrose, and its comfortingly familiar kitchen presided over by Libby’s great-aunt Bess, she hopes to find a way to put her life back together.

But for lifelong friends Bess and Elfrida, Libby’s arrival has stirred up the ghosts of the past. And before they can help her rebuild her shattered future, they must confront their own unspoken secrets, lost loves, and tragedies..

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CURRENTLY READING

EXILES by JANE HARPER

HAPPY READING!!

BookReview NEW BEGINNINGS FOR THE SURPLUS GIRLS by POLLY HERON

ABOUT THE BOOK

Manchester, 1923: Jess Mason is determined to make her own way in the world.

When a misunderstanding on a job application means she’s appointed manager for Holly Lodge, a home for old soldiers, she must convince the owner that she can run things just as well as any man – if not better.

Tom Watson has not been the same since the war. Traumatized by his experiences on the battlefield, he has vowed to himself that he must go through life alone. But when he takes on the job to renovate Holly Lodge and meets Jess, all the walls he built around himself start to come crumbling down.

As challenges arise in the opening of the new soldiers’ home, Jess must fight tooth and nail to hold on to her precious new role. And as her and Tom grow closer, she can’t help but wonder if there is room in her life for both love and the career she’s always dreamt of.

PUBLISHED BY CORVUS

PURCHASE LINK

Amazon

 MY REVIEW

This is Book 4 in The Surplus Girl series – but easily readable as a standalone – and it’s set in 1923 as we follow these characters we’ve grown to love as we watch over their lives during and after the war. And the author has done another wonderful job of transporting us right back in time, as we get a real sense of the battles women of the time faced with ideas of what they should and shouldn’t be doing, especially where it concerns working.

And Jess, especially, is faced with these attitudes when she becomes manager at a home for old soldiers. Having to work doubly as hard to prove herself, she is no shrinking violet in knowing what needs to be done and I just loved her positive ‘can do’ attitude. Although women like her could then be seen as ‘pushy’ – women really couldn’t win either way!!

Work is needed to be carried out at the home, and that introduces us to Tom, who is a wonderful soul and is a great sounding block for Jess, but you always get that sense that he is holding something back.

There’s always drama right around the corner, and I loved seeing how the women faced up to things when they showed up! There’s also a really good feel about showing the realities of humanity, good and bad, and gave me all the feels when you saw good things start to happen to good people!! It really does restore your faith in humanity.

It was also lovely to catch up with characters from previous books, especially Prudence and Patience, and seeing what life was throwing at them and that’s what I love about this series! You feel a real connection with the characters you’ve been introduced to and just want to keep following their stories as new chapters begin for them. Highly recommended if you love a wonderful, historical saga!!

★★★★★

My thanks to the author for an advanced reader copy, in return for a fair and honest review!

My Bookish Weekly Wrap Up – 4th February 2023

Hello and Happy Saturday!! And hello to February!! I wonder what this month has in store for us!!  I’m just ecstatic that I finally got to get a photograph of a Kingfisher this week!! I just hope I now get more opportunities as they are an amazing bird!!

The book front has not been so amazing!! In my defence we have a decorator in painting our hallway so it’s absolute chaos and definitely not putting me in a reading frame of mind!! I just hope I can get back to it properly next week!! But I have managed to finish 2 books in the chaos, there has been some lovely bookpost and no visits to Netgalley! So that is a big positive!!

Here’s my look back!!

BOOKS FINISHED

1989 by VAL McDERMID – 4 STARS

WAITING FOR OUR RAINBOW by VICTORIA CORNWALL – 5 STARS

BOOKPOST

 I have been extremely lucky to receive a copy of this in the post for review!!

THE GARNETT GIRLS by GEORGINA MOORE

published by HQ

In this brilliant debut novel full of heart and warmth, three very different sisters–and their free-spirited mother–must grapple with life, responsibilities, and family secrets.

Forbidden, passionate and all-encompassing, Margo and Richard’s love affair was the stuff of legend–but, ultimately, doomed. When Richard walked out, Margo locked herself away, leaving her three daughters, Rachel, Imogen, and Sasha, to run wild.

Years later, charismatic Margo entertains lovers and friends in her cottage on the Isle of Wight, refusing to ever speak of Richard and her painful past. But her silence is keeping each of the Garnett girls from finding true happiness.

Rachel is desperate to return to London but is held hostage by responsibility for Sandcove, their beloved but crumbling family home. Dreamy Imogen feels the pressure to marry her kind, considerate fiancé, even when life is taking an unexpected turn. Wild, passionate Sasha, trapped between her fractured family and controlling husband, is weighed down by a secret that could shake the family to its core.

The Garnett Girls, the captivating debut novel from Georgina Moore, asks whether children can ever be free of the mistakes of their parents.

CURRENTLY READING

THE SILENT HOUSE by NELL PATTISON ( audiobook)

HAPPY READING!!

BookReview 1989 by VAL McDERMID

ABOUT THE BOOK

In the new installment to her historical crime series that began with 1979, internationally bestselling author Val McDermid delivers a propulsive new thriller that finds journalist Allie Burns has become an editor, and as the Cold War and AIDS crisis deliver a nonstop tide of news, most of it bad, a story falls into her lap. And then there’s a murder.

Hailed as Britain’s Queen of Crime, Val McDermid’s award-winning, internationally bestselling novels have captivated readers for more than thirty years. In her Allie Burns series, she returns to the past–both ours and in some ways her own–with the story of a female journalist whose stories lead her into world of corruption, terror, and murder.

It’s 1989 and Allie Burns is back. Older and maybe wiser, she’s running the northern news operation of the Sunday Globe, chafing at losing her role in investigative journalism and at the descent into the gutter of the UK tabloid media. But there’s plenty to keep her occupied. The year begins with the memorial service for the victims of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, but Allie has barely filed her copy when she stumbles over a story about HIV/AIDS that will shock her into a major change of direction. The world of newspapers is undergoing a revolution, there’s skullduggery in the medical research labs and there are seismic rumblings behind the Iron Curtain. When murder is added to this potent mix, Allie is forced to question all her old certainties.

Readers are having a great time time-traveling with Val, and 1989 is a seamless, riveting novel that brings us once again face to face with how very much past is prologue, and how history’s sins stay with us.

PURCHASE LINK

AMAZON

MY REVIEW

 I found this to be an absorbing thriller that really transports you back to the news and events of 1989, along with some of the vile attitudes of the time! I’ve not read the first in the series, so this can be read as a standalone, but I’m planning to read 1979 very soon!

Allie works for the Sunday Globe and looks to offer a different and relatable perspective on stories that are in the news. Shame her bosses disagree and just tow the line with sensationalising things and making stories full of prejudice. She goes from the tragic events of Pan Am 103 memorial and Hillsborough, interspersed with a developing story of worrying events with HIV trials being cancelled with no reasons given. The more she discovers about the companies involved, the more she’s drawn in to some dangerous investigations and brick walls being put in her way.

You really get the sense in this book that the life of a journalistic is never dull! Especially when you’re ready to upset the apple cart and investigate some serious dodgy goings on. I loved the character of Allie, showing the reality of her working life alongside that of her personal life, living as a lesbian and working in an atmosphere full of homophobia and misogyny. The skullduggery of the media world behind the scenes is also a part of the storyline, and really illuminates how dark and dangerous it was – and probably still is!

I found this to be an extremely readable story! It was easy to follow, full of and watching back over events of that era was fascinating and really added an interesting perspective to her experiences and what she was dealing with.

★★★★

My thanks to Laura Sherlock for the advanced reader copy, in return for a fair and honest review.

PublicationDay #PromoPost 1989 by VAL McDERMID #1989 #Books

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

___________

1989. The world is on the brink of revolution and journalist Allie Burns is a woman on a mission. When she discovers a lead about the exploitation of society’s most vulnerable, Allie is determined to investigate and give voice to the silenced.

Elsewhere, a ticking clock begins the countdown to a murder. As Allie begins to connect the dots and edges closer to exposing the truth, it is more shocking than she ever imagined. There’s nothing like a killer story, and to tell it, Allie must risk her freedom and her life . . .

The brand new unmissable, heart-stopping thriller from number one bestseller, Val McDermid

___________

Praise for the Allie Burns series

‘McDermid is at her considerable best’ GUARDIAN

‘Irresistible’ PATRICIA CORNWELL

‘A brilliant novel by a supremo of the genre’ PETER JAMES

‘Outstanding’ SPECTATOR

‘Another masterpiece’ DAVID BALDACCI

‘Sensational. One of Britain’s most accomplished writers’ SUNDAY EXPRESS

‘A masterly setter of scene’ SCOTSMAN

PURCHASE LINK

Amazon

GuestPost WAITING FOR OUR RAINBOW by VICTORIA CORNWALL #PublicationDay @ChocLituk @VickieCornwall

An absolute delight to welcome the lovely VICTORIA CORNWALL to the Blog today, to share her thoughts on Publication Day of WAITING FOR OUR RAINBOW!  All the details to get hold of your copy are down below!!

Over to you Victoria….

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PUBLICATION DAY: Waiting for Our Rainbow by Victoria Cornwall

Thank you for having me on Books & Me blog, Karen. It’s lovely to be here.

Waiting For Our Rainbow is my first WW2 romance. It was inspired by the memories of an elderly gentleman seeing American G.I.s for the first time when he was a boy. During a time of rationing, it was very exciting to see soldiers arriving in trucks and throwing sweets out the back for them to catch. ‘They were always friendly to us children,’ I remember him recalling fondly. In a time when paternal relationships were more distant due to either long working hours or war, these young men were different and often friendly. This experience left a lasting impression on the gentleman for the rest of his life.

I was always aware that an area of woodland near my home was once used to hide tanks during the war. I have always loved history and have a particular interest in WW1 and WW2, so one day I began to research this period in Cornwall’s past. Who were these young soldiers? Why were they in Cornwall? What did they do during their time here? Where did they go when they left Cornwall? And what happened to everything they left behind?

So many people have helped me with my research. American historians, written memoirs, conversations with people who were alive at the time, newsreels, archive footage of veterans being interviewed and news articles. I was also able to visit some of the places myself. Waiting For Our Rainbow wrote itself in a way, as everything the soldiers did during their preparations for D Day was well documented. Anne and Joe’s love story represents those who lived through this historic time, when people from different cultures built new relationships and even found love despite knowing they would ultimately have to say goodbye. Through my research I learnt many things about these young American men and their Cornish hosts. I came away realising that despite their differences, ultimately they realised they were stronger working together than holding on to what makes them different from one another. It’s a lesson that is as relevant today as it was back then.

Waiting For Our Rainbow will be released as an Ebook on 31st January, 2023. A paperback and audio version will follow shortly afterwards.

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About the book

Waiting For Our Rainbow is a WW2 romance between an American soldier and a young Cornish woman during the preparations for D Day.

Would you give your heart away if you knew it could only end in goodbye?

It should have been a time of romance and excitement for Anne – but it’s 1941 and the war is raging. So instead, she spends her days repairing spitfire wings and reminding herself that the real sacrifice is going on far away from her Cornish village.

When the news breaks that America has entered the war, it brings cautious hope to Anne and her family. And eventually, as the Jeeps filled with GIs roll in, it seems their little community is to play a pivotal role in the next stage of the fight.

But the Americans don’t just bring Hollywood glamour and optimism, they also bring something more tantalising – so when Anne meets handsome Joe Mallory, she has to remind herself of exactly why he’s there; that any relationship between them could only end in goodbye.

But is the inevitability of ‘goodbye’ powerful enough to stop what has already begun to blossom?

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Buying Links

 Amazon UK: https://bit.ly/3DgkIoY 

Amazon US: https://bit.ly/3XWu5lo 

Kobo: http://bit.ly/3Jp0E7L 

Nook: http://bit.ly/3Y6lSeJ

 iBooks: https://apple.co/3R7EpFb

 Google Play: https://bit.ly/3wE943a

About the Author

Victoria grew up on a farm in Cornwall and is married with two grown up children and three grandchildren. She likes to read and write historical romance with a strong background story, but at its heart is the unmistakable emotion, even pain, of loving someone.

Her books have subsequently reached the finals of the NEW TALENT AWARD at the Festival of Romantic Fiction, the RNA’s JOAN HESSAYON AWARD, the 2021 RNA’s Goldsboro Books HISTORICAL ROMANTIC NOVEL AWARD. Her books have also been twice nominated for the RONE Best Indie or Small Published Book Award by InD’tale magazine.

She is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association.

Social media links

Website: www.victoriacornwall.com

Twitter: @VickieCornwall

Facebook: www.facebook.com/victoriacornwall.author

Instagram: www.instagram.com/victoria_cornwallx

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3hTR1yuAwJUbFyj0k9P4eQ

Pinterest: uk.pinterest.com/vickiecornwall/

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My Bookish Weekly Wrap Up – 28th January 2023

Hello!! Happy Saturday!! We’ve almost made it to the end of January… will it ever end?!  I’m hoping the cold weather will come to an end but I have a fear February might keep us chilly for a while longer!

But that could be good for reading time!! And it’s been a good past week with 4 books finished! But then I may have been naughty and added 2 books to the Netgalley shelf and treated myself to 2 more books from the Waterstones sale….. it’s their fault!!

Here’s my look back!

BOOKS FINISHED

EMILY WILDE’S ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF FAERIES by HEATHER FAWCETT – 3.5 STARS

ASHES AND STONES by ALLYSON SHAW – 5 STARS

SLOW by BROOKE McALARY (audiobook) – 4 STARS

KATE AND CLARA’S CURIOUS CORNISH CRAFT SHOP by ALI McNAMARA – 3.5 STARS

BOOKHAUL

We shall start at Netgalley…

VITA AND THE BIRDS by POLLY CROSBY 

publication date – July 2023

A haunting mystery for fans of Eve Chase, Kate Morton and Kate Mosse.
1938: Lady Vita Goldsborough lives in the shadow of her controlling older brother, Aubrey. Trapped and isolated on the East Anglian coast, Vita takes solace in watching the birds that fly over the marshes. But then she meets local artist Dodie Blakeney. The two women form a close bond, and Vita finally glimpses a chance to escape Aubrey’s grasp and be as free as the birds she loves.

1997: Decades later and in the wake of her mother’s death, Eve Blakeney returns to the coast where she spent childhood summers with her beloved grandmother, Dodie. Eve hopes the visit will help make sense of her grief. The last thing she expects to find is a bundle of letters that hint at the heart-breaking story of Dodie’s relationship with a woman named Vita.

Eve and Vita’s stories are linked by a shattering secret that echoes through the decades, and when Eve discovers the truth, it will overturn everything she thought she knew about her family – and change her life forever.

THE FURY OF KINGS by  R.S.MOULE

publication date May 2023

No Cover Available… yet!!

In the shadow of Eryispek—a mountain said to have no summit—a dark power is stirring. Storms rage in the frozen heights. Unexplained disappearances shake the kingdom below. And old enemies are sharpening their swords…

Andrick the Barrelbreaker first led an army at sixteen.

His victories secured the throne of Erland for his brother and shattered the rebellious noble houses in the West. Decades later, a fragile peace still holds.

But when the king’s only son is murdered, Erland is plunged into crisis. The new heir will stop at nothing to secure his claim. The king, maddened by grief, stalks the halls and hidden passages of his keep, growing more unpredictable by the day.

As war and magical disaster loom, Andrick must decide between protecting his family and marching out to serve a brother he barely recognizes.

His children must also choose their destinies.

Training in the practice yard every day, Orsian dreams of fighting beside his father. Now, for the first time, he faces the brutal reality of battle.

And Pherri is haunted by very different dreams—of figures struggling up the mountain, of a voice more chilling than the wind, of blood on the snow. Only she can resist the darkness that waits on the slopes above…

Race through the pages of an epic new series and enter a world of intrigue, battles and destiny that will leave you breathless. The Erland Saga is a classic fantasy adventure, perfect for fans of George R.R. Martin, John Gwynne and Raymond E. Feist.

And then Waterstones led me astray… again!!

ANTHEM by NOAH HAWLEY (signed copy)

From the visionary bestselling author of Before the Fall and The Good Father, an epic literary thriller set where America is right now . . . and the world will be tomorrow.

America spins into chaos as the last remnants of political consensus break apart. Against a background of environmental disaster and opioid addiction, debate descends into violence and militias roam the streets – while teenagers across the world seem driven to self-destruction, communicating by memes only they can understand.

Yet the markets still tick up and the super-rich, like Ty Oliver, fly above the flames in private jets.

After the death of his daughter, Ty dispatches his son Simon to an Anxiety Abatement Center. There he encounters another boy called the Prophet. And the Prophet wants him to join a quest.

Before long, Simon is on the road with a crew of new comrades on a rescue mission as urgent as it is enigmatic. Suddenly heroes of their own story, they are crossing the country in search of a young woman held in a billionaire’s retreat – and, just possibly, the only hope of escape from the apocalypse bequeathed to them by their parents’ generation.

Noah Hawley’s epic literary thriller, full of unforgettably vivid characters, finds unquenchable lights in the darkest corners. Uncannily topical and yet as timeless as a Grimm’s fairy tale, this is a novel of excoriating power, raw emotion and narrative verve, confirming Hawley as one of the most essential writers of our time.

AMY & LAN by SADIE JONES

This is the story of how we came to Frith. And we’re never, ever, ever leaving.’

Amy Connell and Lan Honey are having the best childhood, growing up on a West Country farm – three families, a couple of lodgers, goats, dogs and an orphaned calf called Gabriella Christmas.

The parents are best friends too. Originally from the city, they’re learning about farming: growing their own vegetables, milking the goats, slaughtering chickens and scything the hay–

‘Mind your eyes! Don’t break your neck! Careful!’

The adults are far too busy to keep an eye on Amy and Lan, and Amy and Lan would never tell them about climbing on the high barn roof, or what happened with the axe that time, any more than their parents would tell them the things they get up to – adult things, like betrayal – that threaten to bring the whole fragile idyll tumbling down…

And then there is this months’ book from Goldsboro Books.. and it looks beautiful!

THE THINGS WE DO TO OUR FRIENDS by HEATHER DARWENT

She’s an outsider desperate to belong, but the cost of entry might be her darkest secret in this intoxicating debut of literary suspense following a clique of dangerously ambitious students at the University of Edinburgh.

Edinburgh, Scotland: a moody city of labyrinthine alleyways, oppressive fog, and buried history; the ultimate destination for someone with something to hide. Perfect for Clare, then, who arrives utterly alone and yearning to reinvent herself. And what better place to conceal the dark secrets in her past than at the university in the heart of the fabled, cobblestoned Old Town?

When Clare meets Tabitha, a charismatic, beautiful, and intimidatingly rich girl from her art history class, she knows she’s destined to be friends with her and her exclusive circle: raffish Samuel; shrewd Ava; and pragmatic Imogen. Clare is immediately drawn into their libertine world of sophisticated dinner parties and summers in France. The new life she always envisioned for herself has seemingly begun.

And then Tabitha reveals a little project she’s been working on, one that she needs Clare’s help with. Even though it goes against everything Clare has tried to repent for. Even though their intimacy begins to darken into codependence. But as Clare starts to realize just what her friends are capable of, it’s already too late. Because they’ve taken the plunge. They’re so close to attaining the things they want. And there’s no going back.

What is the cost of an extraordinary life if others have to pay? Reimagining the classic themes of obsession and striving with an original and sinister edge, The Things We Do to Our Friends is a seductive thriller about the toxic battle between those who have, and those who covet–between the desire to truly belong, and the danger of being truly known.

CURRENTLY READING

A MARRIAGE OF FORTUNE by ANNE O’BRIEN

HAPPY READING!!

GuestPost CAPTURED BY A SCOTTISH LORD by MARIE LAVAL #PublicationDay @ChocLituk @MarieLaval1

Hello and welcome along to my Blog!! A real pleasure today to have Marie Laval here to help celebrate Publication Day for the fabulous CAPTURED BY A SCOTTISH LORD! She’ll let you know where she gets the inspiration from for the story!Links to go grab your copy are down below so treat yourself!! You will not be disappointed!
Over to you Marie…..

Publication Day Post: Captured by a Scottish Lord by Marie Laval

People often ask me where I get my ideas from. Well, all I had to do for Captured by a Scottish Lord, my latest historical romance published by Choc Lit, was to look at a beautiful book about the Highlands of Scotland my children had given me for Christmas. Not only was it filled with photos of incredible castles and dreamy landscapes, but there was also a detailed map of the area and the moment I saw the name ‘Wrath’ right at the top, I knew this would be the setting of my story.

Like by magic I started to write and the characters took a life of their own – Rose Saintclair, the Desert Rose sailing from her hot, sunny Algeria and shipwrecked in a winter storm, and Bruce McGunn, Laird of Wrath, haunted by the fear of madness and dark memories of his time in the Punjab wars…

Captured by a Scottish Lord is the third novel featuring a member of the Saintclair family. Rose is a wonderful, warm and fun character, and she comes up with the most outrageous and inappropriate comments – some of them I borrowed from my own mother, who, like Rose, grew up in Algeria. I must say that Rose made me laugh a lot when I was writing! The first time he sees her Bruce compares her to a ray of sunshine and a summer morning filled with light and life, with the scent of wild flowers, and the promise of sweetness, life and love. And the man really does need love and sunshine…

ABOUT THE BOOK

Can a Desert Rose survive a Scottish winter?

 The wild Scottish landscape is a far cry from Rose Saintclair’s Saharan oasis, although she’ll endure it for Lord Cameron McRae, the man she married after a whirlwind romance in Algiers. But when stormy weather leads to Rose’s Scotland-bound ship docking on Cape Wrath – the land of Cameron’s enemy, Bruce McGunn – could her new life already be in jeopardy? 

Lord McGunn was a fearless soldier, but his experiences have made him as unforgiving as the land he presides over. He knows McRae won’t rest until he owns Wrath, and the man is willing to use brutal tactics. Bruce decides that he’ll play McRae at his own game, take the ship and its precious occupant, and hold them hostage. Rose is determined to escape, but whilst captured she learns that there’s another side to her new husband – and could her supposedly cold and ruthless kidnapper also be concealing hidden depths?

Captured by a Scottish Lord is available on Amazon and Kobo and other platforms.

About the author

Originally from Lyon in France, Marie now lives in Lancashire and writes historical and contemporary romance. Best-selling Little Pink Taxi was her debut romantic comedy novel with Choc Lit. A Paris Fairy Tale was published in July 2019, followed by Bluebell’s Christmas Magic in November 2019 and bestselling romantic suspense Escape to the Little Chateau which was shortlisted for the 2021 RNA Jackie Collins Romantic Suspense Award. Marie’s historical romances, Angel of the Lost Treasure, Queen of the Desert and Captured by a Scottish Lord, all feature members of the Saintclair family and her short stories are published in the bestselling Miss Moonshine anthologies. Marie is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association and the Society of Authors, and her novels are available as paperbacks, ebooks and audiobooks on AMAZON and various other platforms.

Follow Marie on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarieLaval1 

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