#BookReview RACHEL TO THE RESCUE by ELINOR LIPMAN

ABOUT THE BOOK

Rachel Klein is sacked from her job at the White House after she sends an email criticising Donald Trump. As she is escorted off the premises she is hit by a speeding car, driven by what the press will discreetly call ‘a personal friend of the President’.

Does that explain the flowers, the get-well wishes at a press briefing, the hush money offered by a lawyer at her hospital bedside?

Rachel’s recovery is soothed by comically doting parents, matchmaking room-mates, a new job as aide to a journalist whose books aim to defame the President, and unexpected love at the local wine store.

But secrets leak, and Rachel’s new-found happiness has to make room for more than a little chaos. Will she bring down the President? Or will he manage to do that all by himself?

Rachel to the Rescue is a mischievous political satire, with a delightful cast of characters, from one of America’s funniest novelists.

PUBLISHED BY LIGHTNING BOOKS

PURCHASE LINKS

PUBLISHER WEBSITE

AMAZON

HIVE.CO.UK

MY REVIEW

My first Elinor Lipman book and it won’t be my last! This was such an enjoyable, funny and cutting book humour wise that I looked forward to picking it up everyday to see just what the main character was going to have to endure after her accident upon leaving the White House where she briefly worked for ‘that’ man! Until she sends a ranty email his way!! When she starts receiving flowers from the presidents’ own family when she wakes up in hospital this starts her off on a complete life change and perfectly sums up the world we live in right now – from nobody to viral news story overnight!! The more she finds out about the accident the more she is drawn into a world of scandal, subterfuge and gossip! All set amidst the Covid pandemic too which added to how relevant the story felt! It was probably shocking too that it all felt like it could actually happen! With the craziness that 2020 has thrown at us, I’m not ruling anything out!! The story clipped along at a great pace and I loved Rachel’s parents as characters too! Straight talking, go getting and lots of fun! This was a timely and funny read and one I can highly recommend!!  ★★★★★

My thanks to Scott at Lightning books for the copy in return for a fair and honest review.

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#BookReview ODD BIRD by LEE FARNSWORTH @farragobooks

ABOUT THE BOOK

Simon Selwood is an academic expert on the monogamous sexual behaviour of birds, but hopeless at finding human love. Then he meets Kim, and at last something is more important to him than ornithology.Kim doesn’t give a hoot about birds. And at first she isn’t very interested in Simon either. Relying on what he has gleaned from observing the opportunistic pied flycatcher and other species, plus the unorthodox advice of old friend Phil, Simon sets out on a mission to discover love for himself.But will he make the right choice?Odd Bird takes a light-hearted look at the battle of the sexes, drawing on the surprising parallels between the courtship behaviours of humans and birds

PUBLISHED BY  FARRAGO

MY REVIEW

It’s always fun to have a rom com told from the point of view of the male character, and when they are as quirky as Simon Selwood, then you know you’re in for a treat of a read!  That’s what made this so fun for me!! The way he looked at life, at birds (both of the female and feathered varieties!!) and seeing how he could maybe use his birding knowledge to get the woman of his dreams made for an exciting and refreshing story!

Simon is an expert on the mating habits of birds! But his own love life is a disaster as he finds the female species a little difficult to understand! But he’s determined to find love and once he starts to spend time with someone he likes, you’ll find yourself willing things to work out for him, despite the warning signs that he often seems to miss!

What is a real strength of this book is his friendship with Phil! He’s not the easiest person to like but he’s clearly always looking out for his friend and I loved the banter between the pair of them! He doesn’t beat about the bush, and the straight talking is sometimes what Simon needs to hear, whether he likes the actual content of the conversation! We all need THAT friend to steer us in the right direction!

As things take off for Simon workwise, he begins to find himself a little more in demand and it’s fascinating to see how the attitudes of others change towards him, especially from women.  I found myself shouting at Simon at times for missing the obvious!! Blinded by love comes to mind!!

Overall this was a really enjoyable, uplifting and fun read!

★★★★

Meal of Fortune by Phil Brady #BlogTour #BookReview

My stop today on the wonderful THE MEAL OF FORTUNE blog tour, kindly put together by Anne at Random Things .  Read on for more information about this fabulous read that recently had me chuckling as I turned each page!

The Meal of Fortune by Phil Brady 

• Paperback: 384 pages 
• Publisher: Unbound Digital (14 Nov. 2017) 
• Language: English 
• ISBN-10: 1911586408 

• ISBN-13: 978-1911586401 

Amazon UK    

 

THE BLURB:  The world of arms dealing, espionage and TV cookery collide in this fast moving comedy caper.  Failing celebrity agent Dermot Jack thinks his luck might have turned when a mysterious Russian oligarch hires him to represent his pop star daughter.   Disaffected MI5 officer Anna Preston is just as happy to be handed the chance to resurrect her own career. Little do they know that their paths are about to cross again after seventeen years as they’re thrown together in a desperate attempt to lure a notorious arms dealer into a highly unusual trap.   Hard enough without having to deal with the lecherous celebrity chef trying to save his daytime TV career or the diminutive mafia enforcer who definitely has his own agenda. Then there’s the very impatient loan shark who ‘just wants his money back’.   And Anna’s bosses are hardly playing it straight either. But one thing’s for sure. There’ll be winners and losers when the Meal of Fortune finally stops spinning. Oh, and another thing, Anna and Dermot are absolutely not about to fall in love again. That’s never going to happen, OK?

 

AUTHOR BIO:  I was first inspired to write when I read Lord of The Rings as a child. Back then the ambition was to create a whole fantasy world with dragons and sword fights. Sadly George RR Martin seems to have cornered that market, so I now try to comedy thrillers set in the (almost) real world instead. These feature spies, gangsters, vicious (if feckless) criminals, washed-up private detectives and daytime TV presenters. The Meal of Fortune is my first published novel. It is the first in a planned trilogy of comedy thrillers parodying society’s obsession with celebrity.

The follow-up, Tinker Tailor Solider Chef, sees the characters reunited in an attempt to foil a plot by the world’s most secretive intelligence agency (The Belgians) to bring the UK economy to its knees. The final book, centres on a referendum in Wales to decide whether the country should sell itself to an international technology giant for use as a conveniently located tax haven. It will be loosely based on the hilarious 80s film Local Hero.

My main rule in life is to never let tomato ketchup touch any food that is green. I am yet to work out any deep meaning behind this and suspect it is not the soundest of principles by which to live your life. But it’s better than quite a few I’ve come across down the years. Best not to get started on that one though.

I live in London with my fantastic wife and two remarkable children and didn’t vote for brexit.

Twitter @philbradyuk

MY REVIEW

I found this to be a highly original, funny, thrilling read and it has left me wanting more – great news to hear that a follow up book featuring Anna and Dermot is on the cards!

It is difficult to pigeon hole this book under one genre as it has a little bit of everything! It has a spy, thriller theme, alongside digs at reality tv, set amidst the eurovision song contest, contract killers, disputes with exes – the kind of script you’d see Guy Ritchie turning into a blockbuster film! Now that I would like to see!

I loved the variety of characters within this book. It does take a little while to find your feet with some of them but the main characters of Dermot – the celebrity agent looking to rekindle his power – and Anna who works for M15 just like her father did and her struggles with not towing the line – are extremely likeable and funny! Their exploits had me chuckling on numerous occasions and it didn’t surprise me that their pasts were linked too!

The pace of the book was well judged – it never felt rushed, or too slow and the variety of threads within the story kept it all feeling fresh and had me wondering what was going to happen next which often was very different from how I thought things would turn out!

A really exciting and enjoyable read and I will be looking out for more from this author in the future!

Realm FM by Tyrolin Puxty #bookreview

THE BLURB

Okay. Fine. Amy Holt swore on air. Surely that doesn’t make her an inept radio host. Either way, she’s desperate for work; and if she doesn’t find something soon, it’s back to Australia.

When the job of her dreamish nightmares presents itself, Amy jumps at the opportunity, surprised to hear that the station is built on a wormhole, opening it up to infinite realms.

Interviewing Bigfoot and her doppelganger aren’t that problematic. Working for her sister’s ex-boyfriend though, is a whole other matter. He’s ridiculously charismatic. And good looking. Poor bugger is missing a six-pack, though.

Suddenly, travelling through an apocalyptic wasteland and mollifying racist Bigfeet doesn’t seem so hard.

Trying to avoid Ryan’s charm, though? Yeah, that wasn’t in the job description.

Publisher;  https://curiosityquills.com/

Author Website; https://www.tyrolinpuxty.com/

LINKS TO BUY

Amazon 

Hive.co.uk – buy online and support your local bookstore

Book Depository

MY REVIEW

If you are looking for something light, funny and out of this world, then look no further!! I found this to be such a hilarious read and yet another hit from the author!

This is the story of Amy who is an Aussie and has been sacked from her radio show for swearing live on air. Her and her sister, Lucinda then go to America to try and make their dreams come true but life for them isn’t going as planned! But Amy gets a break when they cross paths with Ryan, Lucinda’s hunky ex!, who works for Realm FM and Amy gets thrown straight in at the deep end, instanstly offends a guest and the audience love her!!

But Realm FM is no normal radio station! It’s built on a portal which is the key to multiple dimensions! So the guests are from a variety of species – the weird and the wonderful all listen in to Realm FM – and Amy instantly feels at home there! That tells you all you need to know about Amy!!

I loved the relationship the sisters have and just adored the situations that they found themselves in. There are alternate realities, doppelgangers, illness by possession and even an appearance from Colt Harper (vampire cat!) which made my day! There are plenty of nods to modern life and all the madness it brings and this help make it even funnier! The relationship between Amy and Ryan was also extremely enjoyable and the overall message of living life to be happy and of loyalty was lovely to read!

I love books that make me smile and snigger, and this did both throughout and I could easily see this as a TV sitcom – this needs to happen!! More please!!!

If you haven’t heard of this author before then please check out my reviews of some of the other books from her that I’ve read! Click on the heading for a link to my GoodReads reviews! They’ve all been 5 star reads for me!

Broken Dolls by Tyrolin Puxty

Shattered Girls (Broken Dolls 2)

Esteemed Vampire Cat – Colt Harper