Book After Book

Last year, I had the pleasure to read An Inconvenient Woman by Stéphanie Buelens and I really enjoyed it so I am delighted to repost again my review to celebrate the publication in paperback of this gripping novel.

Publication: 24th June 2021 – Quercus

When Claire Fontaine learns that her ex-husband Simon is marrying again, to a woman with a teenage daughter, her blood runs cold. She is sure that years ago Simon molested her own daughter and was responsible for her mysterious death. She can’t let him get away with it a second time. Vandalism, harassment; whatever it takes, Claire will expose him.

Simon doesn’t know where Claire got this delusion from; her daughter’s death was ruled a suicide, but she has always blamed herself – is she just lashing out? Wanting to protect his new fiancee, he hires Sloane Wilson, an ex-cop turned ‘sin-eater’, whose job it is to handle delicate cases without getting the police involved, to get Claire off his back.

Sloane must navigate the wreckage of Claire and Simon’s marriage to discover the truth. Two people with conflicting stories and a whole lot of reasons to want to hurt each other. Is she crazy or is he manipulative? And can Sloane stay clear-headed enough to figure it out?

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The story is told from two perspectives. The first point of view is from Claire Fontaine a woman in her forties who lives in Los Angeles. She lives alone, she works as a French teacher, and, in her spare time, she mentor a young woman who used to live on the street and now is trying to get her life back on track. Claire Fontaine is obsessed and her obsession is her ex-husband Simon, a superstar lawyer, who is about to marry again. Claire can’t let that happen because the future wife has a ten-year-old daughter who looks like Melody, her own daughter, and Claire is sure that Melody’s death was caused by Simon, even though it was ruled as an accident.

The second point of view is from Sloan Wilson. Sloan is an ex LAPD detective who left the force when the job became too much and she turned into a sin eater, the person high-profile people hire to clean up their mess. And now Simon needs Sloan to free him of Claire once and for all.

What can I tell you about An Inconvenient Woman? It is gripping, intense, and engrossing. I read it in one day and not because the story is just a little more than 300 pages, but because I needed to see how the story evolved and how it would end. Is Claire telling the truth? Did Simon really molest Melody? Or is he as innocent as he claims to be? Claire is clearly paranoid, but is she also delusional? I was on the edge of my seat the entire time I was reading.

I loved how the multi-layered characters evolved in the story. Claire and Sloan are similar characters. They are strong and clever and they both have past family drama and a complicated father-daughter relationship that has its own plot in the novel.

An Inconvenient Woman is very well-written and cleverly plotted. The ending is fantastic and explosive and it wraps up the story perfectly. This is a terrific thriller that I highly recommend.

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Stéphanie Buelens was born in Belgium and educated in France. She has traveled to more than thirty countries. For the last twenty years, she has lived between Paris and Los Angeles. She has worked as an actress, interpreter, translator, business consultant, French media coach, and language instructor. She currently lives in Belgium. AN INCONVENIENT WOMAN is her first novel.

Publication: 17th June 2021 – Hodder & Stoughton

The Murder
In the Gare do Oriente, a body sits, slumped, in a stationary train. A high-profile man appears to have died by throwing himself repeatedly against the glass. But according to witnesses, he may not have done this of his own accord.

The City
Lisbon 2021. A small percentage of the population are diagnosed as Gifted. Along with the power comes stigma and suspicion.

The Detective
In a prejudiced city, Gifted Inspector Isabel Reis is hiding her own secrets while putting her life on the line to stop an ingenious killer.

A violent and mysterious crime. Suspected Gifted involvement. A city baying for blood. And a killer who has only just begun…

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I am delighted to welcome you on my stop for the blog tour of The Colours of Death, the incredible debut novel by Patricia Marques.

Set in an alternate world divided between Regulars and Gifted, The Colours of Death is a fantastic mix of thriller and fantasy that kept me completely captivated from the first to the last page. Gifted have the power of either telekinesis or telepathy, but they are not very trusted by the Regulars and are registered and constantly monitored.

The protagonist of the novel is Inspector Isabel Reis of the Polìcia Judiària of Lisbon. Isabel is a Gifted and she can read other people’s thoughts and see their memories. Following a tragic accident caused by a Gifted who lost control of their power, there are now more restrictions against the Gifted, so Isabel is partnered up with Inspector Aleks Voronov, a Regular. Their first case together is the death of a man who apparently threw himself against the glass of a train window. Did he really kill himself or did someone throw him against the window?

I really liked the character of Isabel. She struggles with her power, wishing to silence the voices in her head, although it is often useful in her job, and she has a complex relationship with her family which becomes a secondary plot of the story, but what I enjoyed most is her relationship with Voronov. They have an easy relationship from the beginning and they work well together, and, despite Isabel’s initial reluctance, they learn to trust each other.

The story is twisty and addictive and I loved everything of this novel, from the beautiful and evocative descriptions of Lisbon to the large amount of food that Isabel gulps down, from the suspenseful mystery to the well-developed characters. I really hope that The Colours of Death is the first book in a series as I’d love to read more about these characters… and by this author.

A huge thank you to Jenny and Hodder & Stoughton for inviting me to join the blog tour and providing me with a beautiful copy of this novel.

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Half-Angolan and half-Portuguese, Patricia was born in Portugal but moved to England when she was eight. As well as an MA in Creative Writing from City University, she holds a BA in Creative Writing from Roehampton. She lives in London and The Colours of Death is her first novel.

Publication: 10th June 2021 – Weidenfeld & Nicolson

WE ALL KEEP SECRETS. EVEN FROM OURSELVES.

St. Christopher’s College, Cambridge, is a closed world to most.

For Mariana Andros – a group therapist struggling through her private grief – it’s where she met her late husband. For her niece, Zoe, it’s the tragic scene of her best friend’s murder.

As memory and mystery entangle Mariana, she finds a society full of secrets, which has been shocked to its core by the murder of one of its own.

Because behind its idyllic beauty is a web of jealousy and rage which emanates from an exclusive set of students known only as The Maidens. A group under the sinister influence of the enigmatic professor Edward Fosca.

A man who seems to know more than anyone about the murders – and the victims. And the man who will become the prime suspect in Mariana’s investigation – an obsession which will unravel everything…

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I am thrilled to welcome you on my stop for the blog tour of The Maidens, the new compelling novel by Alex Michaelides.

The author’s debut novel, The Silent Patient, was one of my favourite in 2019 and I was really excited when his new book was announced and I couldn’t wait to read The Maidens. I loved the university setting of Cambridge, the complex characters, the murder mystery, the Greek mythology, and the surprising and unexpected resolution.

Once again, the protagonist of the novel is a psychiatrist, a group therapist, to be precise. Mariana has a lots on her plate when she receives a call for help by her niece in Cambridge: she is struggling with the grief of losing her husband a year earlier and one of her patient is becoming obsessed with her, but a body has been found in Cambridge and her niece Zoe thinks it may be the body of a friend, so Mariana packs her things and travels to her former university to support her. However, she would never have imagined to find herself entangled in the investigation as she suspect the murderer is Edward Fosca, a Greek tragedy professor with his own group of Maidens who follow him around and worship him. And, even if no one believes her, Mariana won’t stop until she finds out the truth…

Slow-paced and suspenseful, The Maidens is a great read. The plot is intricate, and I loved how the author combines murder and Greek tragedy together. But, my favourite thing about The Maidens is the character of Mariana. Flawed, intricate, and driven, her story, her secrets, her family are slowly unraveled. She is haunted by the many losses she has suffered through her life, the latest one her husband who died suddenly a year earlier during a holiday and that she is so deeply grieving that she still hasn’t packed away his things. Also, she has to face daddy issue, regrets, and secrets that once uncovered, will change her life.

Once again, Alex Michaelides took me completely by surprise with shocking revelations and twists that I didn’t see coming and kept me engaged for hours with this compulsive new novel that it is out now.

A huge thank you to Anne and Weidenfeld & Nicolson for inviting me to join the blog tour and providing me with a proof of the novel.

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ALEX MICHAELIDES was born in Cyprus in 1977 to a Cypriot father and an English mother. At 18, he moved to the UK to study English at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he received an MA. Alex then went to film school in Los Angeles and got his MA in writing at the American Film Institute. He wrote the film Devil You Know, starring Rosamund Pike, and co-wrote The Con Is On, starring Uma Thruman and Tim Roth. Disillusioned with screenwriting, he moved back to the UK and took a job at a therapeutic community for teenagers in North London while studying psychotherapy.

But before he quit writing for good, he decided to have one last throw of dice and sat down to write the detective story which became the international bestselling novel, The Silent Patient. The book went on to be a world record-breaker, debuting at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, the first adult UK debut ever to do so. Brad Pitt’s production company, Plan B, have secured film rights and a screenwriter and director are now attached. The Maidens is his second novel.

Publication: 27th May 2021 – Zaffre

Millie is a perfectionist. She’s happy, she’s successful and, with a great support network of friends and family (and a very grumpy cat), she’s never lonely. She loves working at a big tech firm and is on track be promoted to her dream role. The last thing she needs is romance messing up her perfectly organised world.

Besides, normal people just don’t have romantic relationships. Everyone knows that being in a couple is a bit . . . well, odd. You know, like having a pet snake or referring to yourself in the third person. Why rely on another person for your own happiness? Why risk the humiliation of unrequited love or the agony of a break-up? No, Millie is more than happy with her conventional single life.

So, when Millie lands a new project at work, launching a pill that prevents you falling in love, it seems like the opportunity of a lifetime. That is, until she starts working with Ben. He’s charming and funny, and Millie feels an instant connection to him.

Will Millie sacrifice everything she believes in for love?

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Happy Sunday everyone!!! I am really thrilled to welcome you on my stop for the blog tour of The Couple, the fantastic new novel by Helly Acton.

This novel wasn’t at all what I expected, it was much better. In The Couple, the author depicts a cynic world where being single is conventional and ordinary, where couples are not well-welcomed nor accepted, where love is rejected and leads only to heartache and unhappiness.

The protagonist of the story is Millie. She doesn’t believe in love and being in a relationship. All her life is based on a strict schedule that she follows diligently, and she has one goal: to become chief creative officer of the company she works for, Slide.

Ben is Millie’s opposite. He is impulsive, he is the “King of Chaos”, he is also funny, sweet, and Millie can’t stay away from him, especially when they start to work together to promote a pill that prevents from falling in love and that erases heartbreak.

The Couple is such a fun read! Ben and Millie’s chemistry, the witty and flirty dialogues, the stories of love and friendship, and the likable and relatable characters kept me completely engrossed in The Couple. I enjoyed Ben and Millie’s relationship, their easy friendship that developed in something more, the amusing text messages they exchanged, their banter, and their differences made for an entertaining and addictive read.

The Couple is a superb rom-com with dystopian elements that exceeded my expectations and that I keep thinking about it. I enjoyed the author’s writing style and I look forward to reading more of her novels.

A huge thank you to Tracy and Zaffre Books for inviting me to join the blog tour and providing me with a proof of this incredible novel.

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Helly Acton is a copywriter from London with past lives in Zimbabwe, the Middle East and Australia. She studied Law at King’s College London before following a more creative path into advertising. At 26, Helly took a career break to travel in Africa and Asia, before landing in Sydney. Six years and one life-affirming break up later, she returned home and threw herself into online dating in the city. Helly uses this experience as a single woman in her early thirties – torn between settling down and savouring her independence – as a source of inspiration.

Helly currently lives in Berkshire with her husband, Chris, their little boy, Arlo, and their little dog, Milo. Sometimes, she gets their names mixed up.

Publication: 27th May 2021 – Zaffre

A hilarious romcom for fans of Beach Read and The Hating Game

Inspiration can be found in the most unlikely – and inconvenient – places

Kara Sullivan is definitely not avoiding her deadline. After all, it’s the week of her best friend’s wedding and she’s the maid of honour, so she’s got lots of responsibilities. She’s a bestselling romance novelist with seven novels under her belt, so she’s a pro. Looming deadlines don’t scare her, and neither does writer’s block, which she most certainly does not have. She’s just eager to support Cristina as she ties the knot. Right? Right.

But then who should show up at the rehearsal dinner but Kara’s college ex-boyfriend, Ryan? Turns out he’s one of the groom’s childhood friends, and he’s in the wedding party, too. Considering neither Kara nor Ryan were prepared to see each other ever again, it’s decidedly a meet-NOT-cute. However, when Kara sits down to write again the next day, her writer’s block is suddenly gone. Are muses real? And is Kara’s muse . . . Ryan?

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Good morning everyone and welcome to my stop for the blog tour of Talk Bookish To Me, the entertaining new novel by Kate Bromley.

Kara is a bestselling author of historical romance novels, but she is struggling writing her latest novel and the deadline is very close. But then inspiration arrives from the latest person she expected: Ryan, her first boyfriend, her first love, the man who broke her heart and who she hasn’t seen in ten years, until he turns up at her best friend’s pre-wedding party. So what if Kara has to spend time with him so that she can write?! She has no feelings for him, right? The more time Kara spends with him, the more she writes, even if that means old wounds, regrets, and feelings resurface…

Talk Bookish To Me has many elements that will keep you captivated. First of all, the protagonist, Kara Sullivan is likable and relatable. She talks a lot about books so we could easily be best friends. She is also loyal, smart, and funny so you have no choice but to like her and wish her a happy ending. This is a rom-com with a bit of drama: the chemistry between Kara and Ryan is strong from the very beginning and I loved their witty exchanges and their easy relationship, but their past is always there haunting them and secrets could risk their relationship. Also, if you like the book-within-book novels, you’ll enjoy reading passages from Kara’s novel with two fantastic characters and more romance.

I almost forgot one of the best characters in the novel and, without a doubt, my favourite: Duke the dog. He created some of the funniest scenes in the book and I adored him!

Talk Bookish To Me is the perfect escapist and entertaining novel, full of humor, romance, friendship, and books. Highly recommended!

A huge thank you to Tracy and Zaffre for inviting me to join the blog tour and providing me with a copy of the novel.

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Kate Bromley lives in New York City with her husband, son, and her somewhat excessive collection of romance novels. (It’s not hoarding if it’s books, right?) She was a preschool teacher for seven years and is now focusing full-time on combining her two great passions – writing swoon-worthy love stories and making people laugh. Talk Bookish To Me is her first novel.

Publication: 1st June 2021 – Orbit

The first daughter is for the Throne.
The second daughter is for the Wolf.

For fans of Uprooted and The Bear and the Nightingale comes a dark, sweeping debut fantasy novel about a young woman who must be sacrificed to the legendary Wolf of the Wood to save her kingdom. But not all legends are true, and the Wolf isn’t the only danger lurking in the Wilderwood.

As the only Second Daughter born in centuries, Red has one purpose–to be sacrificed to the Wolf in the Wood in the hope he’ll return the world’s captured gods.

Red is almost relieved to go. Plagued by a dangerous power she can’t control, at least she knows that in the Wilderwood, she can’t hurt those she loves. Again.

But the legends lie. The Wolf is a man, not a monster. Her magic is a calling, not a curse. And if she doesn’t learn how to use it, the monsters the gods have become will swallow the Wilderwood–and her world–whole.

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“The First Daughter is for the throne. The Second Daughter is for the Wolf. And the Wolves are for the Wilderwood.”

For The Wolf is a beautiful and dark tale of sacrifices, curses, and magic that kept me completely hooked from the first to the very last page and I keep still thinking about it days after I finished reading it.

The protagonist is Red. A princess, the second daughter of a queen, her fate was sealed the moment she was born. As a second daughter Red will be sacrificed to the Wolf, the creature living in the forest of Wilderwood, in exchange for the return of the Gods. Red accepted her fate a long time ago and she’s been waiting and preparing for the day she will be given away. Red has her own reasons to go into the Wilderwood as she thinks it is the only way to protect her twin sister Neve and those she loves from her magic.

When Red arrives in the Wilderwood, she finds out that there is more to the legends and myths she’s heard all her life and she allies with the Wolf to save both her people and the forest. In the meantime, her twin sister Neve, the future queen, refuses to leave Red in the hands of the Wolf and the Wilderwood and won’t stop at anything to get her back, even if that means creating dangerous and deadly alliances.

The story is beautifully-written and it is so engrossing and intriguing. There is magic and curses, legends and sacrifices, monsters and gods, heroes/heroines and villains, romance and alliances that will make it almost impossible to put the book down. The characters are well-developed and Red is a fantastic heroine, loyal, brave, and strong-willed.

I was drawn to this novel by the buzz around it and, once I started reading it, I wasn’t disappointed. It is a dark and addictive fairy-tale that reminded me of Little Red Riding Hood and The Beauty and the Beast, but it also original and unique. I loved For The Wolf and I can’t wait for the sequel, For The Throne, to come out.

A huge thank you to Orbit and NetGalley for providing me with a proof of this novel.

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Hannah Whitten has been writing to amuse herself since she could hold a pen, and sometime in high school, she figured out that what amused her might also amuse others. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, making music, or attempting to bake. She lives in Tennessee with her husband and children in a house ruled by a temperamental cat.

Publication: 27th May 2021 – HarperVoyager

Within the boroughs of London, nestled among its streets, hides another city, filled with magic.

‘Magic and love. Love and magic. They destroy everything in the end …’

Anna’s Aunt has always warned her of the dangers of magic. Its twists. Its knots. Its deadly consequences.

Now Anna counts down the days to the ceremony that will bind her magic forever.

Until she meets Effie and Attis.

They open her eyes to a London she never knew existed. A shop that sells memories. A secret library where the librarian feeds off words. A club where revellers lose themselves in a haze of spells.

But as she is swept deeper into this world, Anna begins to wonder if her Aunt was right all along.

Is her magic a gift … or a curse?

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I was just a few chapters into my reading of Threadneedle that I was already a big fan of the author and I was completely addicted to the series (duology, trilogy?) and its characters.

The story is set in modern London where witches hide their magic. The protagonist is Anna, a sixteen-year-old orphan who lives with her aunt. All her life, Anna has been told that she needs to keep her magic hidden or the Hunters will find her and kill her, and she is preparing, under her aunt’s alert eye, to become a Binder. As the name implies, Binders bind their magic forever and can’t never use it.

Anna accepted her fate a long time ago until Effie and Attis enter her life. New in her school, where she’s always kept her head down and been a nobody, they convince her to join her coven and explore her magic. Suddenly, Anna’s life become more exciting as she keeps secrets from her aunt, she becomes popular, she goes to parties, and she explores magic libraries searching for the truth about her parent’s deaths and her magic.

I really liked the character of Anna. Having lost her parents when she was just a few months old, she’s been raised from an aunt that at the beginning I thought was simply overprotective and stern and then find out that was like the evil stepmother of fairytales. Anna dreams of freedom, of using her magic without fear, of travelling the world and falling in love, but she remains under her aunt’s control until she meets Effie and Attis. Effie is lively, exuberant, and a troublemaker who is not afraid to use her magic. Attis is charming and witty and probably he was my favourite character as I always looked forward to his appearance and his conversations with Anna.

The story is incredible, well-structured and intriguing. It is full of surprises and twists that I didn’t see coming and I was completely engrossed in the magic, but also Anna’s typical teenage problems, the family mystery, and, of course, the magic libraries. I am really looking forward to reading book 2, because I need to know what happens next and I highly recommend Threadneedle to all fantasy lovers and not!

A huge thank you to HarperVoyager and NetGalley for providing me with a proof of this fantastic story.

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Cari Thomas grew up in the Wye Valley area of Wales and, after studying English Literature & Creative Writing at Warwick University and Magazine Journalism at the Cardiff School of Journalism, moved to London. She worked as a journalist and at a creative agency, before finally doing what she’d always wanted to do: quit her job and write a book about magic.

The result is Threadneedle, her debut novel and the first in her Language of Magic series. Be introduced to a world of wild, ancient witchcraft hidden within today’s London; where libraries made of books breathe dusty pages beneath the city, where witch clubs serve up magical cocktails and vintage shops sell memories. A world where magic gleams light and very, very dark.

Cari now lives in Bristol with her husband and son. Discover more on her website: CariThomas.com

Publication: 13th May 2021 – Hodder & Stoughton

You are cordially invited to the wedding of the year . . .

Sophie Breeze is a brilliant bridesmaid. So brilliant, in fact, that she’s made it her full
time job.

As a professional bridesmaid, Sophie is hired by brides to be their right hand woman,
posing as a friend but working behind the scenes to ensure their big day goes off without a
hitch. From wrangling rowdy hen dos to navigating last minute portaloo cancellations and
family dramas, there’s no problem she can’t solve.

So when she’s hired by an actual Marchioness to help plan the society wedding of the year,
it should be a chance for Sophie to prove just how talented she is.

Of course, it’s not ideal that the bride, Cordelia Swann, is an absolute diva and determined
to make Sophie’s life a nightmare. It’s also a bit inconvenient that Sophie finds herself drawn
to Cordelia’s posh older brother, who is absolutely off limits. And when a rival society
wedding is announced, things start to get rather complicated…

Can Sophie pull off the biggest challenge of her career, win over a reluctant bride, and
catch the eye of handsome Lord Swann all while keeping her true identity a secret, and her
dignity intact?

Heart warming and hilarious, The Secret Bridesmaid celebrates the joys (and foibles) of weddings, the nuances of female friendship, and the redeeming power of love in its many, unexpected forms.

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I am delighted to welcome you on my stop for the blog tour of The Secret Bridesmaid by Katy Birchall.

This is probably one of the funniest and most enjoyable books I have read this year. I had such a good time reading The Secret Bridesmaid, often with tears in my eyes from laughing, and I absolutely adored the protagonist, Sophie.

Sophie loves weddings and she enjoys helping brides so much – and she is really good at it – that she decided to turn it into a career. She is a professional bridesmaid, hired by brides (or their mothers) to help them through the preparation of their wedding so that they can enjoy it and have the wedding of their dream. She is very successful, but her job is also very secretive and often she changes her name and just the bride and very few other people know that she is being paid to be a bridesmaid.

Lady Cornelia Swann is a socialite often on tabloids for her lavishing lifestyle and her long list of boyfriends. She is now getting married and she is going to be Sophie’s biggest client, but also her biggest challenge, because Sophie has been hired by Cordelia’s mother to control her during the preparation of the wedding against Cordelia’s wishes, who does her best to make Sophie’s work as hard as possible. Sophie is determined to get the job done, even though Cordelia makes it loud and clear that she doesn’t want and need Sophie’s help. However, Sophie doesn’t give up even when she finds herself picking up Cordelia’s dry cleaning or deep in the water in St. James’s Park trying to call swans to her.

Sophie is an amazing heroine. She is fun, honest, cheerful, and reliable. She really cares about her job and her clients. She wants them to have the wedding of their dreams even if that means she has to wear a Chewbakka costume at a Star Wars-themed wedding or she has to dye her hair red to match with the other bridesmaids.

The story is hilarious and captivating. I really enjoyed the addition of Whatsapp messages, calls, and emails, that made for some laugh-out-loud conversations. While the story focuses mostly on the protagonist’s own development and her relationship with bridezilla Cordelia, there is also some romance as Sophie falls for Cordelia’s hot playboy brother and the scenes between these two were some of my favourite in the novel.

A witty and lovable heroine, an entertaining and refreshing plot, and an addictive writing make of The Secret Bridesmaid a fantastic read, the perfect book for all fans of Sophie Kinsella and rom-com stories.

A huge thank you to Jenny and Hodder & Stoughton for inviting me to join the blog tour and providing me with a proof of this novel.

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Follow the rest of the blog tour:

Katy Birchall is the author of several young adult novels including The It Girl series, the Hotel Royale series and Morgan Charmley: Teen Witch. She is the co-author of the middle grade Lightning Girl series and Star Switch with Alesha Dixon, and the Find the Girl teen series with YouTube stars Lucy and Lydia Connell. Katy was proud to be the author of a retelling of Jane Austen’s Emma for the Awesomely Austen series, a collection of Austen’s novels retold for younger readers. She has also written a non fiction book, How to be a Princess: Real Life Fairy Tales for Modern Heroines. The Secret Bridesmaid is her first adult novel.

Publication: 13th May 2021 – Quercus Books

He jumped to his death in front of witnesses. Now his wife is charged with murder.

Five years ago, Erin Kennedy moved to New York following a family tragedy. She now lives happily with her detective husband in the scenic seaside town of Newport, Long Island. When Erin answers the door to Danny’s police colleagues one morning, it’s the start of an ordinary day. But behind her, Danny walks to the window of their fourth-floor apartment and jumps to his death.

Eighteen months later, Erin is in court, charged with her husband’s murder. Over that year and a half, Erin has learned things about Danny she could never have imagined. She thought he was perfect. She thought their life was perfect.

But it was all built on the perfect lie.

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The Perfect Lie is another fantastic and gripping novel by Jo Spain. With complex and multi-layered characters, a twisty and intense plot, and full of ‘I-would-never-have-guessed’ revelations, once again I found myself completely engrossed in another of this author’s novels.

Alternating between the past and the present, the story is told mostly from the perspective of Erin Kennedy. Erin is a book editor who left Ireland after a family tragedy that, five years later, still gives her nightmares, and moved to New York. Here she meets Danny, a NYPD detective. After two years of marriage, she thinks she knows her husband very well, so why did he suddenly jump to his death? And why is he being investigated by the police? And why his colleagues, the people he considered his friends and family, refuse to tell her what is going on? With so many questions and no answers, Erin has no choice but to find out the truth herself.

The Perfect Lie is a psychological thriller with capital letters. It grabs the reader’s attention from the beginning. Right at the start the story is intense and suspenseful. And, as the story continues, it just gets better and better. The author unravels the truth slowly, giving the reader just a bit of information at the time, leaving you wondering and eager to see what happens next, so that it’s almost impossible to put the book down.

The characters are intriguing and well-developed and I especially liked the protagonist Erin. She is brave, smart, and determined and she won’t stop until she finds out the truth about her husband, even if finding out the truth could be dangerous and hurtful.

The Perfect Lie is a brilliantly-written page-turner full of twists and jaw-dropping and chilling revelations that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last word!

The Perfect Lie is out now and I would like to thank Millie and Quercus for providing me with a proof of this novel.

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Jo Spain is the author of the bestselling Inspector Tom Reynolds series and several international No. 1 bestselling standalone novels, including The Confession and Dirty Little Secrets. Her first book, With Our Blessing, was a finalist in the 2015 Richard and Judy Search for a Bestseller.

Jo, a graduate of Trinity College Dublin, writes TV screenplays full-time. Her first crime series was broadcast on RTE in 2018 and she’s currently involved in a number of TV developments including adaptations of her own novels, in Germany, Britain, Iceland and Finland.

Jo lives in Dublin with her husband and four young children.

Her favourite writers include Pierre LeMaitre, Fred Vargas, Agatha Christie, Liane Moriarty, Jodi Picoult, Jane Harper, JP Delaney and Lucy Atkins.

Publication: 29th April 2021 – Penguin Books UK

An attractive student. An older professor.

Think you know the story? Think again.

THE NEW UP-ALL-NIGHT THRILLER FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER CARA HUNTER, PERFECT FOR FANS OF LINE OF DUTY

She has everything at stake; he has everything to lose. But one of them is lying, all the same.

When an Oxford student accuses one of the university’s professors of sexual assault, DI Adam Fawley’s team think they’ve heard it all before. But they couldn’t be more wrong.

Because this time, the predator is a woman and the shining star of the department, and the student a six-foot male rugby player.

Soon DI Fawley and his team are up against the clock to figure out the truth. What they don’t realise is that someone is watching.

And they have a plan to put Fawley out of action for good…

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Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for The Whole Truth, the thrilling new novel by Cara Hunter.

In the fifth book in the terrific DI Adam Fawley series, Adam and his team are called to investigate a delicate case. A college student accuses his professor of sexual assault, while she claims that she doesn’t remember what happened. In the meantime, when an apparent suicide turns into homicide, the team’s loyalty and trust toward Fawley is tested and a true crime podcast threatens to reveal the truth about an old case that involves Alex, Adam’s wife.

I ADORED The Whole Truth! What a read! First of all, we learn more about the characters’ personal lives. Adam is worried about his wife pregnancy. Her age, the stress of their son’s death a few years back, the resurface of an old case, and Alex’s claim that someone is watching them don’t make for an easy time. DC Quinn is still trying to prove himself from a mistake in a previous case and, for once, he is in a stable relationship. DC Verity Everett is worried about her father’s declining health. DC Erica Somer is struggling with choices she has to make. Luckily, DS Chris Gislingham is there holding the fort for everyone.

And the plot is gripping and intriguing. I raced through it. I read it during a busy time and I tried to sneak in a few pages every time I could and I stayed up late at night to finish reading it! This series written by Cara Hunter is one of my favourite, I always look forward to the next book, and The Whole Truth is probably the best so far, although the previous books are close behind. The twists, the suspense and the tension, the mystery, the wondering (did he do it? did she do it?), the addictive writing, the incredible and complex characters kept me on the edge of my seat and made it impossible to put the book down. A must-read!

A huge huge thank you to Ellie and Viking Books for inviting me to join the blog tour and providing me with a proof of this gripping novel.

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Cara Hunter is the author of the Sunday Times bestselling crime novels Close to Home, In the Dark, No Way Out and All the Rage, all featuring DI Adam Fawley and his Oxford-based police team. Close to Home was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick and was shortlisted for Crime Book of the Year in the British Book Awards 2019. No Way Out was selected by the Sunday Times as one of the 100 best crime novels since 1945. Cara’s novels have sold more than a million copies worldwide, and the TV rights to the series have now been acquired by the Fremantle group. She lives in Oxford, on a street not unlike those featured in her books.