#BlogTour A NARROW DOOR by JOANNE HARRIS #BookReview @Tr4cyF3nt0n #CompulsiveReaders #ANarrowDoor

Super excited to be with you today as part of the Blog Tour for the fabulous A NARROW DOOR by JOANNE HARRIS.
My thanks to the author, publisher and Tracy of Compulsive Readers for putting the tour together and letting me be part of it all!ABOUT THE BOOK

Your favourite authors have been gripped by this electric psychological thriller!

‘A dark world of emotional complexity and betrayal, where twist follows twist and nothing is what it seems’ ALEX MICHAELIDES
‘Exhilarating, addictive, fierce’ BRIDGET COLLINS
‘A psychological thriller you can’t put down and an antiheroine you won’t forget’ HARLAN COBEN
‘Dark, Gothic, and propulsively readable – past secrets and present discoveries entangle in an intricately crafted conclusion’ RUTH WARE
‘Engrossing, cunning, sharp, sinister . . . kept me enthralled till the final pages’ CHRIS WHITAKER
‘A clever chess game of repressed fears, power struggles, secrets and lies’ LUCY ATKINS
‘A complex, chilling mystery full of shifting truths and dark corners where the unburied past lies in wait’ TAMMY COHEN
‘A dark and richly enjoyable novel that already feels like a classic’ ELLY GRIFFITHS
‘Irresistibly readable, dark and brilliant with a masterful emotional punch’ CATRIONA WARD

* * * * *

Now I’m in charge, the gates are my gates. The rules are my rules.

It’s an incendiary moment for St Oswald’s school. For the first time in its history, a headmistress is in power, the gates opening to girls.

Rebecca Buckfast has spilled blood to reach this position. Barely forty, she is just starting to reap the harvest of her ambition. As the new regime takes on the old guard, the ground shifts. And with it, the remains of a body are discovered.

But Rebecca is here to make her mark. She’ll bury the past so deep it will evade even her own memory, just like she has done before. After all…

You can’t keep a good woman down.PUBLISHED BY ORIONPURCHASE LINKAMAZON


MY REVIEW
Dark. Twisted. Thrilling. Sinister… got your interest yet?!  This is one of those books that I was absorbed in from the get go! You are confronted by a woman who is determined, single minded and not prepared to put with anything. And now she’s in the perfect position to put everything into play… and that means settling scores!
Be prepared to be led down a garden path, or school corridor!, on a number of occasions as the story flits from the now to the past and the shocking events that plagued her childhood and have made her the woman she has become. 
When a body is discovered on the school grounds, Rebecca seems untroubled by the events, and more concerned with how a certain member of staff reacts to the news.  Amidst the school setting we get to see the politics at play and the sexist attitudes never far from action and that really adds to the muddying of water as you make up your mind about Rebecca and her motives!
The more you find out about her childhood and the past, the more the ‘now’ begins to make sense and that undercurrent of darkness is forever present and storyline of her past was particularly intense and gripping!
This is a psychological thriller full of complex characters and situations and I was totally ensnared in the web of intrigue!!

★★★★★

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#BlogTour The Strawberry Thief by Joanne Harris #BookReview @Tr4cyF3nt0n

Extremely honoured to be taking part in the blog tour for THE STRAWBERRY THIEF by JOANNE HARRIS today, and my thanks to the author, publisher and Tracy Fenton for letting me be part of it all and to share my thoughts on this wonderful book!

ABOUT THE BOOK

Published in hardback/ebook/audiobook on 4 April 2019, priced £20.00/£10.00/19.99

The compelling new Chocolat novel, published 20 years after Joanne’s Harris’s original bestseller

Vianne Rocher has finally settled down. Lansquenet-sous-Tannes, the place that once rejected her, has become her home. With Rosette, her “special child”, she runs her chocolate shop in the square, talks to her friends on the river, is part of the community. Even Reynaud, the priest, has become a friend.

But when old Narcisse, the florist, dies, leaving a parcel of land to Rosette and a written confession to Reynaud, the life of the sleepy old village is once again thrown into disarray. The arrival of Narcisse’s relatives, the departure of an old friend and the opening of a mysterious new shop in place of the florist’s across the square – one that mirrors the chocolaterie, and has a strange appeal of its own – all seem to herald some kind of change: a confrontation, a turbulence. Perhaps, even, a murder…

PURCHASE LINKS

Goldsboro Books – signed first edition £20

hive.co.uk  £15.85

waterstones  signed edition £20

About the Author

Joanne Harris is an Anglo-French writer, whose books include fourteen novels, two cookbooks and many short stories. Her work is extremely diverse, covering aspects of magic realism, suspense, historical fiction, mythology and fantasy. In 2000, her 1999 novel CHOCOLAT was adapted to the screen, starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp. CHOCOLAT has sold over a million copies in the UK alone and was a global bestseller. She is an Honorary Fellow of St Catherine’s College, Cambridge, and in 2013 was awarded an MBE by the Queen.

MY REVIEW

It’s magical, it’s beautifully written, it’s emotional,  it’s dark, it’s heartbreaking…. I ADORED IT!!  

We re-visit Vianne  and she is settled and still running her wonderful chocolate shop, with help from her daughter Rosette who is described as a ‘special child’ and who has made so many friends amongst the locals with her innocence and inquisitive nature.

One of her friends is Narcisse, the florist, and when he sadly dies and leaves Rosette her a plot of land in his will things begin to change for all of them. There’s resentment from the relatives of Narcisse, and bewilderment from other locals and Vianne herself as to why he would do such a thing.  It all becomes much clearer as time goes on…

We get to enjoy this story from a number of perspectives – Vianne, Rosette are the main narrators but we also  hear the story of the local Priest who has also been left something by Narcisse which opens up a much darker side to the story and shows the impact of  living life with regrets and secrets.  

The new arrival in the village also plays a big part in the relationship between Vianne and Rosette, as the curiousity of Rosette becomes too much for her to keep away despite her mum’s warnings.  

Rosette’s story is entrancing. She knows she is different from the other children but that doesn’t stop her following her heart and all she knows she has learnt from life and her experiences.  She doesn’t speak but finds different ways to communicate her thoughts and fears and is such a gentle soul that you just warm to her immediately.  Obviously her mother is very protective towards her and sees the prejudices of others who don’t understand her ways and often look down on her, so that makes her even more determined that life should remain as simple as possible for her sometimes that control just seems a little too smothering.

There was just so much to enjoy about this book!  I found it drew me in immediately and the different threads and ripples from events were all played out so well, alongside watching the different characters dealing with what they perceived as threats to their way of life and peace of mind.

It was an utter delight to read and I’m already itching to go back and read the whole Chocolat series all over again!

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟