Book After Book

Publication: 26th March 2019

London 1927

Lady Evelyn Carlisle has barely arrived in London when familial duty calls her away again. Her cousin Gemma is desperate for help with her ailing mother before her imminent wedding, which Evelyn knew nothing about! Aunt Agnes in tow, she journeys to Scotland, expecting to find Malmo Manor in turmoil. To her surprise, her Scottish family has been keeping far more secrets than the troubled state of their matriarch. Adding to the tension in the house a neighbour has opened his home, Elderbrooke Park, as a retreat for artistic veterans of the Great War. This development does not sit well with everyone in the community. Is the suspicion towards the residents a catalyst for murder? A tragedy at Elderbrooke Park’s May Day celebration awakens Evelyn’s sleuthing instinct, which is strengthened when the story of another unsolved death emerges, connected to her own family. What she uncovers on her quest to expose the truth will change several lives forever, including her own. 

With the shadow of history looming over her, Evelyn must trust in her instinct and ability to comb through the past to understand the present, before the murderer can stop her and tragedy strikes again.

A big welcome on my stop on the blog tour of THE GOLDEN HOUR, the new novel by Malia Zaidi. I’d like to thank Emma Welton for inviting me to take part in the blog tour and providing me with a copy of this amazing novel.

This is my first novel by Malia Zaidi, but THE GOLDEN HOUR is the fourth novel in the Lady Evelyn Mysteries and I completely fell in love with this character, her family, and her adventures and I already purchased the other books in the series. Who is Lady Evelyn? Living in the London of 1920s, she is a young woman in her twenties, raised by her strict aunt Grace, just graduated from Oxford University, and refusing to get married just because that’s what is expected from her. I really like the character of Evelyn. She is independent and smart, she speaks up her own mind, and she lives with her boyfriend Daniel, not at all concerned that it’s considered a scandal at the time since they are not married. Like me, she loves Agatha Christie novels, but, unlike me, she always finds herself involved in a murder investigation.

This time she literally stumbles on the body of a young girl while visiting her family in Scotland. The victim is one of the maids working at her aunt’s house. She was seventeen years old, innocent, and everyone seemed to like her, so who would want to kill her? Are the veterans living in the nearby retreat involved in the murder? And why Evelyn’s aunt and cousins seem to be hiding something?

I really enjoyed this novel. I liked all the characters, especially Evelyn and Daniel, but also aunt Grace. Even though she seems austere and sometimes cold towards Evelyn and even though she is a bit old-fashioned, she turns out to be open-minded, bright, and entertaining. I loved the beautiful Scottish setting and the small town atmosphere that really kept me captivated. The author perfectly mixes mystery, family dynamics, and the effects of World War I, not only the mental issues that affect veterans after they come home, but also the grief of the families who lost someone in the war.

THE GOLDEN HOUR is a twisty, engaging, and well-written novel and I am already looking forward to read Lady Evelyn next adventure!

Malia Zaidi is the author of the Lady Evelyn Mysteries. She studied at the University of Pittsburgh and at the University of Oxford. Having grown up in Germany, she currently lives in Washington DC, though through her love of reading, she resides vicariously (if temporarily) in countries around the world.

Social Media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaliaZaidi

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/maliazaidiauthor/about/?tab=page_info

Website: https://www.maliazaidi.com/

Blog: https://www.princessandpen.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14197546.Malia_Zaidi

Purchase Links:

Amazon UK:  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Golden-Hour-Evelyn-Mystery-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B07NQRQH8L/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1552557558&sr=8-1

Amazon US:  https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Hour-Evelyn-Mystery-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B07NQRQH8L/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=the+golden+hour+malia+zaidi&qid=1552557603&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull

Today, I have a fantastic super cover reveal!

It is my absolute pleasure to show you the amazing cover for THE POSTCARD, the highly anticipated sequel to The Note, by ZOE FOLBIGG, published in August 2019 by Aria.

A year after the kiss that brought them together in a snowy train-station doorway, Maya and James are embarking on another journey – this time around the world.

The trip starts promisingly, with an opulent and romantic Indian wedding. But as their travels continue, Maya fears that ‘love at first sight’ might not survive trains, planes and tuk tuks, especially when she realises that what she really wants is a baby. Trouble is, James doesn’t feel the same.

Meanwhile Maya’s best friend Nena is struggling with the reality of being a new parent, little knowing that her friend risks losing the love of her life over her dreams of motherhood.

Can Maya and James navigate their different hopes and dreams to stay together? Or is love at first sight just a myth after all…

Perfect for fans of Josie Silver and Marian Keyes, The Postcard continues the once-in-a-lifetime love story that readers so took to their hearts.

Buy Links:

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2Clc60O

Kobo: http://bit.ly/2Cg55hG

Google Play: http://bit.ly/2Ck9KiD

 

Zoë Folbigg is a magazine journalist and digital editor, starting at Cosmopolitan in 2001 and since freelancing for titles including Glamour, Fabulous, Daily Mail, Healthy, LOOK, Top Santé, Mother & Baby, ELLE, Sunday Times Style, and Style.com. In 2008 she had a weekly column in Fabulous magazine documenting her year-long round-the-world trip with ‘Train Man’ – a man she had met on her daily commute. She since married Train Man and lives in Hertfordshire with him and their two young sons.

Follow Zoe:

Twitter: @zolington

Instagram: @zolington

Follow Aria

Website: www.ariafiction.com

Twitter: @aria_fiction

Facebook: @ariafiction

Instagram: @ariafiction

Publication: 1st April 2019 (eBook); 30th May 2019 (paperback) – Ebury

When someone hacks into the systems of eight self-drive cars, their passengers are set on a fatal collision course. 

The passengers are: a TV star, a pregnant young woman, a disabled war hero, an abused wife fleeing her husband, an illegal immigrant, a husband and wife – and parents of two – who are travelling in separate vehicles and a suicidal man. Now the public have to judge who should survive but are the passengers all that they first seem?

 

 

I am really happy to welcome you to my stop on the blog tour of THE PASSENGERS, the gripping new novel by John Marrs, and I’d like to thank Tracy Fenton for inviting me to take part and giving me the chance to read this fantastic novel.

In a not-far future, driverless cars have taken over the roads. The government has assured that they are safe and secure until eight strangers are taken hostage inside their own cars by an hacker. Only one of them will survive and a jury and social media will decide who that person will be. The eight hostages were not chosen randomly and, as the hacker reveals all their dark secrets, we see the opinion of the world change as they try to decide who will survive.

THE PASSENGERS is such a terrific and twisty novel. The author takes us in a future world where technological devices have completely taken over people’s lives. They control what they eat, what they buy, what they like and what they don’t like. They keep track of their heartbeats, their blood pressure, and how dry are their eyes. A world where cars drive themselves and choose the best route to take and whether and when to brake at a road accident. This world is really scary, it felt a bit too realistic and it freaked me out the way people rely not only on their electronics, but also on their social media where people don’t seem to realize that they are playing with other people’s lives. It’s a world where people seem to have become robots and lost empathy and feelings for others, where they deem more important what kind of shoes someone’s wearing and not the fact that eight people may die.

I love John’s Marrs writing and his books always keep me glued to the page. This one in particularly kept me literally on the edge of my seat, with its high tension, the many twists that keep coming until the very last page, with its thought-provoking plot, and its complex characters. THE PASSENGERS is a futuristic thriller that will take you completely by surprise, a must-read for 2019!

 

Publication: 7th March 2019 – Simon & Schuster UK

Behind every successful man is a woman.
Behind the fall of a successful man is usually another woman.

Sophie Mayhew looks like she has the perfect life. Wife of rising political star John F Mayhew, a man who is one step away from the top job in the government, her glamour matches his looks, power, breeding and money. But John has made some stupid mistakes along the way, some of which are threatening to emerge. Still, all this can still be swept under the carpet as long as Sophie ‘the trophy’ plays her part in front of the cameras.

But the words that come out of Sophie’s mouth one morning on the doorstep of their country house are not the words the spin doctors put in there.  Bursting out of the restrictive mould she has been in since birth, Sophie flees to a place that was special to her as a child, a small village on the coast where she intends to be alone.

But once there, she finds she becomes part of a community that warms her soul and makes her feel as if she is breathing properly for the first time. Sophie knows she won’t be left in peace for long. Now she must decide: where does her real future lie? 

 

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour of Milly Johnson’s brilliant new novel and I’d like to thank Ed Public Relations for inviting me to take part in it.

Sophie Mayhew was raised to believe that her role was to support always her husband, no matter what he does. And as the wife of beloved politician John F. Mayhew, Sophie’s life is always under scrutiny, from the clothes she wears to the expression on her face. Sophie is happy to play the good wife, standing by her husband’s side and helping him in his rise into the government. Until scandal breaks out and when, once again, Sophie has to put her husband first, she decides she has had enough. She runs away from her cold and selfish family to the only place she had once been happy. There she becomes Pom, a French woman seeking refuge and anonymity and she meets a group of people who are genuinely interested in her and don’t use her to their advantage. Will Sophie go back to real life and her troubled marriage or will she choose a life of animosity?

Milly Johnson created a cast of characters that feel realistic and mostly likable. I loved the character of Sophie, even when she played the cold and submissive wife. She comes from a wealthy and unloving family and she marries into a greedy and unemotional family. I felt for her and cheered her on as she finds her place in the world and she rebels against her family. She finds in Tracey, Elliot, and Luke new friends who help during her time of need and make her realize what she really wants.

I am a big fan of Milly Johnson’s books and THE MAGNIFICENT MRS MAYHEW is, without doubt, my favourite novel by Milly Johnson. I found difficult to put it down. I was completely immersed in the story with its engaging, heart-warming, and inspiring plot. Themes of friendship, love, and family take the stage and kept me entertained from the first to the last page.

You can’t never go wrong with a Milly Johnson’s novel and THE MAGNIFICENT MRS MAYHEW is definitely a novel to add to your TBR pile!

 

Milly Johnson is a Sunday Times Top 5 bestselling author of fifteen novels with millions of copies of her novels sold to date. Known as the ‘Queen of Feel_Good Fiction’, Milly’s novels always feature friendship, family, love, betrayal, good food and that little bit of magic in life that sometimes visits the unsuspecting. Milly is a columnist for her local newspaper and is an experienced broadcaster on radio and TV. She is also a patron of several local charities with community, literacy and animal welfare issues close to her heart.

Published – 28th March 2019

In this second installment of The Anna Romano Mystery Series, Anna gets herself into a mess that lands her in hot water with the prime suspect and her new Bo, Detective John Solace. Their new romance was going great, when all in the sudden, a simple trip to the grocery store turned into wrestling match between two scorned women.

Peeking her interest for a juicy story, Anna’s snooping to find out more about the seemingly ‘innocent’ love triangle, catapulted her into the middle of a murder investigation. The murder weapon of choice? A red stiletto…conspicuously pointing the police in the direction of a female assailant.

No one knows whether the adulterating husband killed his wife to avoid a costly divorce, or if his mistress killed her in a fit of jealous rage. While the detectives are convinced the husband is the ‘killer’, it seems Anna’s faith in his innocence may be in vain, as additional bodies, and mistresses, keep piling up.

Meanwhile, Anna’s publicist, Shirlene, tries to convince Anna to leave the detective work to the police, but, as usual, falls on deaf ears.

In the end, not even a pan of lasagna and a neighborly smile could save Anna!

Find out in A Bloody Stiletto, Cold Lasagna, and a Bestseller if Detective Solace will be able to handle Anna’s crazy antics, or if he will make her vow to stay OUT of the realm of ‘Murder and Mayhem’ once and for all.

 

A few months ago I was invited to take part in the blog tour for Cats, Cannolis, And A Curious Kidnapping, the first absorbing and original novel in the Anna Romano series and I fell in love with this character, so when I was invited to read the second novel of this series I accepted right away, curious to see in what hilarious and suspenseful situation Anna would get involved this time. I’d like to thank Emma for inviting me to take part in the blog tour and providing me with a copy of A BLOODY STILETTO, COLD LASAGNA AND A BESTSELLER.

Anna Romano is an author living in New Jersey with her seven cats. Following the events of the first book, she acquired a certain notoriety and also a boyfriend, for the joy of her friends and family who thought she would die single. John Solace is a detective and he really likes Anna, but he spends most of the time worried about the fact that his girlfriend seems to be have a gift of stumbling over dead bodies. After hearing two women fight over a man while grocery shopping, Anna decides to find out more about it, thinking that it would be a good story for a book, but instead she finds the body of one of the women stabbed with a stiletto. And the more her boyfriend John tries to keep her away from the case, the more Anna finds herself involved in it.

Once again, Anna Romano made me laugh with her adventures. The story is entertaining and suspenseful at the same time, captivating and refreshing, witty and romantic. I was happy to read about Anna and John’s love story and how their relationship develops. I also enjoyed reading about Anna’s tasty Italian dishes: her lasagna, biscuits, and muffins made my mouth water.

My only complaint about A BLOODY STILETTO, COLD LASAGNA AND A BESTSELLER is that it’s too short. I love reading Anna Romano’s adventures and I am already looking forward to book number 3!

GIVEWAY!!!

3 US RESIDENTS have the chance to win a paperback copy of A Bloody Stiletto, Cold Lasagna And A Bestseller: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/995da7e517/?

3 NON-US RESIDENTS have the chance to win a kindle copy of A Bloody Stiletto, Cold Lasagna And A Bestseller: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/995da7e518/?

Terms & Conditions: Both the US paperback giveaway and the Non-US Kindle ebook giveaway will run until midnight (GMT) on Sunday 31^st March 2019. Three winners will be selected at random for each giveaway (US & Non-US).  The winners of the US giveaway will need to provide their name and postal address which will then be passed onto Cheryl Denise Bannerman for her to send the copies.  The winners of the Non-US giveaway will need to provide their Kindle email address (instructions on how to do this can be provided by damppebbles blog tours on request).  There is no cash alternative.  Names, addresses and email address will not be stored.  Good luck!

Writing under pen name, Cheryl Denise Bannerman, Ms. Powell is an author of two self-published books, and an owner of a 22-year-old Training and Development company, specializing in eLearning, called Learn2Engage.

In her personal life and relationships, Ms. Powell has learned how to turn tragedies into triumphs through her strong will, faith, tenacity and most importantly, her quirky sense of humor. She now turns that keen knowledge of relationships and people, along with her various degrees and experience in Training and Development, into fun, engaging online courses for ‘Corporate America’, and, of course, in her works of fiction.

Within each of her works of fiction, a topic of social concern is addressed. From addictions to domestic violence, and suicide to molestation.

Her writings inspire people to live, laugh, love, learn and grow. She believes that when the world laughs at you, laugh harder. In Ms. Powell’s real and fictional world, she has learned how to create her own ‘happy ending’…one day at a time.

Social Media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/cbannerman01

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BannermanBooksdotCom/

Website: http://www.bannermanbooks.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bannermanbooks18/

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Cheryl-Denise-Bannerman/e/B003YVCJ74/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1536333632&sr=8-1 

Purchase Links:

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bloody-Stiletto-Cold-Lasagna-Bestseller/dp/1794386963/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1552508610&sr=8-1&keywords=a+bloody+stiletto%2C+cold+lasagna

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Bloody-Stiletto-Cold-Lasagna-Bestseller/dp/1794386963/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_2?keywords=a+bloody+stiletto%2C+cold+lasagna&qid=1552508665&s=gateway&sr=8-2-fkmrnull

Publication: 10th January 2019 (eBook); 21st March 2019 (hardback) – Michael Joseph

On a hot July night in 1983, six school friends go camping in the forest. Bright and brilliant, they are destined for great things, and young Aurora Jackson is dazzled to be allowed to tag along.

Thirty years later, a body is discovered. DCI Sheens is called to the scene, but he
already knows what’s waiting for him: Aurora Jackson, found at long last.

But that’s not all. The friends have all maintained their innocence, but the body is found in a hideaway only the six of them knew about.

It seems the killer has always lurked very close to home…

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour of SHE LIES IN WAIT, the dark and absorbing debut novel by Gytha Lodge and I’d like to thank Jenny Platt and Michael Joseph for inviting me to take part in the blog tour and providing me with a copy of this fascinating novel.

Everyone thought that Aurora Jackson was a smart and beautiful young girl with a bright future ahead of her. So why would someone kill her? That’s what DCI Sheens is trying to figure out when, thirty years after her disappearance, the body of Aurora is found in the same woods where she was last seen alive. In 1983, six teenagers, aged between 15 and 18 went camping together. They were the popular cool kids, everyone was either jealous or scared of them. They were a closed group and Aurora was clearly the outsider during this camping trip, but she was also Topaz’s sister so they tried to make her feel included. However, that night, alcohol, drugs, lust, and jealousy are high, memories are blurry, and the six friends claim to not know what really happened to Aurora.

Through the flashbacks we read what really happened the night Aurora disappeared, while in the present time DCI Johan Sheens and his team interrogate once again the group of friend who, thirty years later, are still close and present a unite front. The author created a cast of characters that are multi-layered and complex. The six friends are difficult to figure out, it’s not clear if and what they are hiding and, at some point, they are all suspects.. I found the character of DCI Jonah Sheens fascinating. He was part of the first investigation thirty years earlier, he had some connection to the six friends, and he is also hiding something. The members of his team are interesting and engaging, they are all different from each other, but work really well together. Aurora remains the real protagonist of the story. She feels realistic and innocent and, through her flashbacks, we see a young girl, between childhood and adulthood, trying to fit in with a group of people who are not really her friends.

With a slow pace, flashbacks, and twists, the author manages to keep the tension always high and, page after page, there is a sense of dread, a sense of something bad about to happen. Tana French meets The Secret History in this immersive, riveting, and suspenseful police procedural and, if this is the first book in a series, I am already looking forward to reading book number 2!

Gytha Lodge is a writer and multi-award-winning playwright who lives in Cambridge.
After studying creative writing at UEA, she was shortlisted for the Yeovil Literary
Prize and the Arts’ Council England fiction awards, and developed a huge online
following for her young adult and children’s writing, with over six million reads
accrued on platform Wattpad. She Lies in Wait is her debut novel.

 

 

Publication: 7th March 2019 – Michael Joseph

With just one look, she knows how and when you will die . . . 

Nothing surprises Adam Brandt anymore. As a forensic psychologist, he’s seen and heard everything.

That is, until he meets Kassie.

Because she claims to have a terrible gift – with she looks into your eyes, she can see when and how you will die.

Adam doesn’t believe her, obviously.

But then a serial killer starts wreaking havoc across the city, and only Kassie seems to know where he’ll strike next.

Against all his intuition, Adam starts to believe her. 

He just doesn’t realise how dangerous this trust might be . . .

 

Welcome on my stop on the blog tour for the gripping and engrossing new novel by M. J. Arldige for which I’d like to thank Tracy Fenton and Michael Joseph.

In Chicago there is a killer on the loose who the police can’t catch, a young girl with visions of people dying, and a forensic psychologist who is facing problems both in his personal and professional life. The author masterfully plotted a story in which the only connection between the victims of a cruel killer is Kassie Wojcek, a 15-year-old girl who claims she can predict how people will die by looking into their own eyes. Obviously, no one believes her, but Dr. Adam Brandt sees something in Kassie and he wants to help her figure out the truth.

The author gives the readers a 360° perspective: we read from the points of views of the killer, the victims, the police, Kassie, and Adam. We read about the victims’ lives and their fear when they are kidnapped and about the killer’s dark pleasure in torturing them. Kassie and Adam’s perspectives are a compelling and intense read as the author describes in details Kassie’s frustration and torment, her loneliness, abandoned even by her own mother, and her courage in finding the killer, even on her own or with Adam’s help who, in the meantime, is facing a difficult and painful situation at home. I really felt for both Kassie and Adam who find themselves in danger and in a race against time in trying to stop the killer before he gets to his next victim.

The ending was not at all what I expected: it’s dark, shocking, moving, and, although it’s not what I hoped for, it fits perfectly with the story. Claustrophobic and with a series of murders that some readers may find a bit too gruesome, A GIFT FOR DYING is a fast-paced, thrilling and haunting page-turner with the suspense always high, an absolute must-read!

Publication: 5th February 2019 – Atria

In this spellbinding and suspenseful debut, a young woman haunted by the past returns home to care for her ailing mother and begins to dig deeper into her sister’s unsolved murder.

Sixteen years ago, Sylvie’s sister Persephone never came home. Out too late with the boyfriend she was forbidden to see, Persephone was missing for three days before her body was found—and years later, her murder remains unsolved.

In the present day, Sylvie returns home to care for her estranged mother, Annie, as she undergoes treatment for cancer. Prone to unexplained “Dark Days” even before Persephone’s death, Annie’s once-close bond with Sylvie dissolved in the weeks after their loss, making for an uncomfortable reunion all these years later. Worse, Persephone’s former boyfriend, Ben, is now a nurse at the cancer center where Annie is being treated. Sylvie’s always believed Ben was responsible for the murder—but she carries her own guilt about that night, guilt that traps her in the past while the world goes on around her.

As she navigates the complicated relationship with her mother, Sylvie begins to uncover the secrets that fill their house—and what really happened the night Persephone died. As it turns out, the truth will set you free, once you can bear to look at it.

The Winter Sister is a mesmerizing portrayal of the complex bond between sisters, between mothers and daughters alike, and forces us to ask ourselves—how well do we know the people we love most?

 

If you are looking for a good domestic thriller, a compelling character study full of twists with a cold case to be solved and a very very complicated mother-daughter relationship, then THE WINTER SISTER is right novel for you. I read it in less than two days and I loved every page of it.

The death of Persephone didn’t only mean that Sylvie lost her older sister, but she also lost her mother who, unable to deal with her grief, started loving alcohol much more than her own daughter. Sixteen years later, Sylvie is still dealing with grief and guilt over her sister’s death and an almost inexistent relationship with her mother. An artist working as a tattooist, Sylvie still doesn’t know what she wants to do with her life, but when her mother gets cancer she has no choice but to go back home and take care of her. Will the chance encounter with Ben, Persephone’s former boyfriend, and her mother finally getting sober finally help Sylvie figure out what really happened to her sister?

THE WINTER SISTER is not only the story of an unsolved murder, it’s especially the story of the bond between two sisters, the story of the complicated relationship between mother and daughter, the story of a family with secrets and jealousies. The characters are realistic and well-developed and the intricate family dynamics, the author’s beautiful writing, and the atmospheric setting kept me completely engrossed in the novel.

THE WINTER SISTER is a compulsive and engaging debut novel that completely took me by surprise and I am already looking forward to whatever the author writes next.

Publication: 21st February 2019 – Viking

‘For me it all goes back to that night, the dark corroded hinge between before and after, the slipped-in sheet of trick glass that tints everything on one side in its own murky colours and leaves everything on the other luminous and untouchable.’

One night changes everything for Toby. He’s always led a charmed life – until a brutal attack leaves him damaged and traumatised, unsure even of the person he used to be. He seeks refuge at his family’s ancestral home, the Ivy House, filled with memories of wild-strawberry summers and teenage parties with his cousins.

But not long after Toby’s arrival, a discovery is made: a skull, tucked neatly inside the old wych elm in the garden.

As detectives begin to close in, Toby is forced to examine everything he thought he knew about his family, his past, and himself.

A spellbinding standalone from a literary writer who turns the crime genre inside out, The Wych Elm asks what we become, and what we’re capable of, if we no longer know who we are.

 

THE WYCH ELM was quite an intense read for me. There is not a lot of action and it’s more of a character study mixed with a murder. The protagonist of the novel is Toby. He is the typical young man who leads an easy and good life. Hanging out with the popular crowd, good at school, a fantastic job and women who love him. Everything changes one night when Toby is brutally assaulted in his own home by burglars.  He suffers from physical injuries, mood swings, and memory loss and he moves to the family home, Ivy House, to recover and to take care of his dying uncle, Hugo.

Between Sunday lunches with the family and helping Hugo with his genealogy job, Toby starts to recover and things seem to go back to normal, even though there is always some kind of tension lurking through the pages that kept my interest high. The suspense grows when a body is found inside the ancient wych elm by the garden. Who is it? And how long has it been there?

I do love unreliable characters in novels and Toby made me guess everything I read. Because of his head injury and memory loss, Toby doesn’t remember things from his past or he remembers them incorrectly. He asks for the help of his cousins Susanna and Leon, but you know right away that those are characters that you can’t trust. I never knew what was real and what was not so that I was on the edge of my seat until the end.

Although sometimes the pace is a bit too slow, the author knows how to keep the reader’s interest with a cast of multi-layered, irritating, and not very likable characters, a captivating and intricate plot, and a sinister and claustrophobic atmosphere that made me turn page after page.

THE WYCH ELM is my first attempt to Tana French’s novels, but I really liked her prose and her characterization, so it won’t be my last!

 

 

 

Publication: 5th March 2019 (eBook); 21st March 2019 (hardcover) – Quercus

Maddie and Ian’s romance began when he was serving in the British Army and she was a travel writer visiting her best friend Jo in Europe. Now sixteen years later, married with a beautiful son, Charlie, they are living the perfect suburban life in Middle America.

But when an accident leaves Maddie badly scarred, she begins attending therapy, where she gradually reveals her fears about Ian’s PTSD; her concerns for the safety of their young son Charlie; and the couple’s tangled and tumultuous past with Jo.

From the Balkans to England, Iraq to Manhattan, and finally to an ordinary family home in Kansas, the years of love and fear, adventure and suspicion culminate in The Day of the Killing, when a frantic 911 call summons the police to the scene of shocking crime.

But what in this beautiful home has gone so terribly bad?

 

BEAUTIFUL BAD is a domestic thriller, twisty, brilliant, and beautifully-written. It’s the story of Maddie and Ian, how they met, fell in love, got married, and had a child, until one night the police is called to their house. The house is in the dark, there is blood, signs of struggle, and probably a child is involved, but what really happened in this seemingly perfect suburban house? To find out, the reader is taken back in time and space, in 2001, in East Europe where a young Maddie is an American writer, journalist, and teacher living in Bulgaria and often travelling to Macedonia to visit her friend Jo, a relief worker. It’s through Jo that Maddie meets Ian, an English bodyguard. From the beginning, their relationship is very complicated and we see them travel around the world until they finally settle in a small town in Kansas with their young son Charlie. However, their lives are far from perfect, Ian in often away for work and Maddie suffers from anxieties that lead her to seek for the help of a psychiatric.

Annie Ward is definitely an author to watch. She created very multi-layered characters and she is also very good at portraying them as real people with their flaws and their psychological and emotional problems. You can almost feel Maddie’s fears and inquietude and Ian’s paranoia that it often made for an heartbreaking read. Ian and Maddie are also dark and complex and, even though the story is told mostly from Maddie’s point of view, she remains a mystery until the very last page.

With an explosive beginning, a shocking ending, and many twists along the way, BEAUTIFUL BAD made me hold my breath many times. The novel is completely unpredictable and the different timelines and perspectives kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. BEAUTIFUL BAD is a gripping, haunting, carefully-plotted, and tragic story about friendship, about love, and about trauma that will move you, intrigue you, and captivate you all at the same time.