Book After Book

Publication: 24th January 2019 – Unbound

Shakespeare clone and would-be playwright Billy has just arrived in an English seaside town with his sister Sally, who was cloned from a hair found on the back of a bus seat. All Billy wants is a cheap B&B, an ice cream and a huge hit in the West End. Little does he know that their fellow clones Bill and Sal are also residents of this town. Things are about to get confusing – cue professional rivalry, marital discord and a family reunion like no other.

This modern update of The Comedy of Errors is what you get when Gods Behaving Badly author Marie Phillips decides to write an important, scholarly work about the life of William Shakespeare, reads the complete works, including the long poems nobody likes, and then decides to turn it into a witty, delightful romp that you can probably finish reading in an afternoon with two tea breaks.

 

Having studied Latin and Ancient Greek Literature in high school, I always loved comedies featuring mistaken identities, brothers and sisters separated at birth and then reunited, funny situations created by misunderstandings that, then, I found and loved in William Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors. So, when I read that OH, I DO LIKE TO BE is a “modern update” of the Shakespearean comedy, I was really looking forward to read it and I wasn’t disappointed.

Billy and Bill don’t know each other, but they have so many things in common. They both look like William Shakespeare, they are both playwrights (although one is very successful, while the other is not), they both have a sister, Sally and Sal, who look like each other. What else? Oh, right, together with their sisters, they are both clones created by a scientist, but they don’t know of each other existence.

For the last five years, struggling writer Billy and his sister Sally have been moving from town to town as Billy struggles to write a successful play. They arrive in a small town where successful playwright Bill lives with his wife and with his sister Sal. Bill has a secret to hide and Billy, who looks exactly like him, finds himself involved in his lies and deception causing a series of hilarious and improbable situations that made me laugh out aloud.

With a clear prose, engaging characters, and a little touch of fantasy (the clonation of Shakespeare) this was such an entertaining and quick read. The author’s writing style is simple and fluid, I literally flew through the pages. The characters are likable, funny, and a little simple-minded (especially Sally and Sal). Being familiar with The Comedy of Errors, I knew how the novel was going to end, but I still found a few surprises along the way that kept me entertained.

OH, I DO LIKE TO BE is a charming, enjoyable, and immersive read and I’d like to thank Anne Cater for inviting me to take part in the blog tour.

Marie Phillips is the author of the international bestseller Gods Behaving Badly and The Table of Less Valued Knights, which was longlisted for the Baileys Prize. With Robert Hudson, she wrote the BBC Radio 4 series Warhorses of Letters and Some Hay in a Manger. Under the name Vanessa Parody, she co-wrote Fifty Shelves of Grey, a spoof of Fifty Shades of Grey.

Publication: 24th January 2019 – Transworld Books
‘The police belonged to another world – the world they saw on the television or in the papers. Not theirs.’

When two eighteen-year-old girls go missing on their gap year in Thailand, their families are thrust into the international spotlight: desperate, bereft and frantic with worry. 

Journalist Kate Waters always does everything she can to be first to the story, first with the exclusive, first to discover the truth – and this time is no exception. But she can’t help but think of her own son, who she hasn’t seen in two years, since he left home to go travelling. This time it’s personal.

And as the case of the missing girls unfolds, they will all find that even this far away, danger can lie closer to home than you might think . . .

 

Reporter Kate Waters is back. This time she investigates the disappearance of Alex and Rosie, two young women who went missing in Thailand during their gap year. Their parents are very worried about them and, with no other exciting story to make the headlines, Kate wants to discover what happened to them, but soon things take a personal turn for her.

Even though it’s the third book that has as protagonist journalist Kate Waters, THE SUSPECT can perfectly be read as a stand-alone. The story is told from different points of views. Kate is a brilliant reporter who doesn’t stop until she finds out the truth. She knows how to talk to families and how to get the police to reveal things to her. Without hesitation, she travels to Thailand to find out what happened to Alex and Rosie, but she has also her personal reason to go: she hopes to find her son Jake who left university to find himself in Thailand and she hasn’t heard from him in two months. In the meantime, DI Sparkes is investigating the girls’ disappearance from England, but he has his own personal problems to deal with as his wife has cancer. Then we have Lesley’s point of view. She is Alex’s mother. She doesn’t stop until she finds out what happened to her daughter and it was painful to read this mother’s worry, distress, and grief to her daughter’s disappearance. However, Alex’s point of view was the hardest to read. She is a young girl full of expectations and curiosity. She’s been planning her trip to Thailand for months, but, right from the beginning, things don’t go as she hoped. As I read her narrative, her frustration at Rosie, her disappointment in the whole trip, I really felt for her.

Fiona Barton masterly portrays three mothers who only see the good in their children, no matter what is the truth, three mothers who are ready to do anything to find their children, including traveling in a foreign country and dealing with a police force that is not cooperative and journalists who twist the truth to sell more copies. They are determined and brave. They are likable and realistic and the descriptions of their panic and concern makes them more human.

Once again, Fiona Barton didn’t disappoint. After The Widow and The Child, she returns with a thrilling, dark, and riveting novel that captivated me from the first to the very last page and a final revelation that completely took me by surprise.

Publication: 22nd January 2019 (eBook); 25th July 2019 (paperback) – Trapeze Books

Rebecca didn’t know love was possible until she met Paul, a man with a past as dark as her own. Their demons drew them together, but twenty years later, the damage and secrets that ignited their love begin to consume their marriage.

When Paul catches the attention of the police after two women go missing, Rebecca discovers his elaborate plot to build a new life without her. And though Rebecca is quickly spiralling out of control, it doesn’t stop her from coming up with her own devastating plan for revenge… they made a promise to each other, afterall.

Til death do they part.

 

Happy publication day to E. G. Scott, the pseudonym for two NYC-based writers, one a publishing professional and one a screenwriter, and welcome to my stop for the blog tour of THE WOMAN INSIDE. This is an addictive and sinister novel and I’d like to thank Tracy Fenton and Trapeze Books for inviting me to take part in the blog tour and for providing me with a copy of this brilliant book.

Rebecca and Paul have been married for twenty years, they seem to be deeply in love with each other, but they both are keeping secrets from each other. As two women linked to them go missing and two detectives start getting really interested in their lives, Paul and Rebecca know that the lies they have been telling could destroy both of them.

The characters are very well-drawn. There are the two detectives who, with their witty exchanges and their jokes, give an humorous feeling to the story. On the other hand, there is the psychopathic mistress who gave me the chills with her obsession and her sneaking-ins. And then there are the two protagonists. Rebecca and Paul are flawed, often not very likable, and they are unreliable narrators (and I do love unreliable narrators). They have great jobs, a fantastic house, the perfect life. However, they manage to ruin everything with their lies and deceit. Paul’s need to prove that he is a virile and important man, the master of the universe, led him to have a mistress, a locked drawer full of secrets, a friend who covers for him when he lies to his wife. Rebecca also has her own secrets and she has an increasing addiction to pills that make her more and more paranoid.

THE WOMAN INSIDE is unpredictable, unbelievable, and claustrophobic. Character-driven and full of twists and drama, this is a domestic thriller with capital letters about murder, infidelity, jealousies, and deceit that make you question: how well do you know the person you’ve been married to for twenty years?

E. G. Scott is a pseudonym for two NYC-based writers, one a publishing professional and one a screenwriter.

Publication: 24th January 2019 – Raven Books

THREE CHILDREN WENT OUT TO PLAY. ONLY TWO CAME BACK.

The Flower Girls. Laurel and Primrose.

One convicted of murder, the other given a new identity.

Now, nineteen years later, another child has gone missing.

And the Flower Girls are about to hit the headlines all over again…

 

 

 

Everyone knows them, everyone knows their names. They are the Flower Girls, Lauren and Primrose “Rosie” Bowman and when they were still children, back in 1997, they did something so unforgivable that led one in prison and the other to change her identity, but nobody has ever forgotten or forgiven them.

Twenty-five years old Hazel Archer is spending New Year’s Eve and her birthday in a hotel on the coast of Devon with her boyfriend Jonny and his teenage daughter Evie, when a little girl disappears from the hotel they are staying. With the arrival of the police and the media, Hazel knows that her quiet and normal life will soon be over. Struggling author Max is also staying at that hotel in Devon, spending the Christmas holidays away from his family to finish his book. He knows that Hazel reminds him of someone and when he figures it out, he knows he has to be quick if he wants to write the story everyone wants to read. In the meantime, in London, lawyer Joanna has been fighting for justice for the murder of her niece for almost twenty years and she won’t stop until she gets it.

This is not an easy book to read. Even when it’s fictional, it’s not easy to read about a child being murdered and the author writes it in such a realistic way that it makes an uncomfortable, disturbing and thought-provoking read. The author also addresses other current and interesting themes: what is the right punishment for a crime, the way the public opinion can influence a court decision, the length the media could go to get a story, the complicated relationship between mothers and daughters and between sisters.

I can’t say I really liked any of the characters. I found them too self-absorbed, all with their own agenda, but they are vividly portrayed and well-developed and the female characters are all strong and realistic.

Written by an author I’ve just discovered, but that I plan to read more, and with a chilling and jaw-dropping ending, THE FLOWER GIRLS is a dark, twisty, and riveting novel that kept me completely glued to the page.

Publication: 10th January 2019 – Michael Joseph

One Tuesday in October, Rosa Hartung is returning to her job as minister for social affairs following a year’s leave of absence – granted after the dramatic disappearance of her twelve-year-old daughter. Linus Bekker, a mentally ill young man, confessed to her killing, but is unable to remember where he buried the various parts of her dismembered corpse.

On the same day Rosa returns to Parliament, a young single mother is found brutally murdered at her home in the suburbs of Copenhagen-she’s been tortured, and one hand has been cut off. Thulin and Hess, the detectives sent to investigate the crime, arrive at the address to find a figure made of chestnuts hanging from a playhouse nearby.
When yet another woman is murdered-this time with both hands missing-and another
chestnut figure is found, Thulin and Hess begin to suspect a connection with the
Hartung case. But what is it?

Thulin and Hess are racing against the clock, because its clear that the murderer is ona
mission that is far from over…

 

Welcome to my turn on the blog tour of THE CHESTNUT MAN. It’s my absolute pleasure to share my review of this chilling and addictive novel and I’d like to thank Jenny Platt and Michael Joseph for providing me with a copy of the book.

I loved everything about THE CHESTNUT MAN. And how can you not? With a gripping story, well-developed characters, and a noir atmosphere I found myself completely immersed in it and I devoured it in two days.

A series of horrible murders is shocking Copenaghen. Young women are brutally killed and the police arrives always too late. On the scene, they always find a doll, a man made of chestnuts. What’s its meaning? What’s the reason behind the murders? And why the murders seem to be connected to the disappearance, a year earlier, of the young daughter of the Ministry of Social Affairs?

The author created a cast of vividly drawn and multi-layered characters. The two main protagonists are the detectives working on the case, Naia Thulin and Mark Hess. Naia Thulin is a single mother, but we don’t know anything else about her personal life. She is strong-willed and determined and her life revolves around her job. She is a detective in the Homicide Squad, but she hopes to be transferred to the Cyber Crime Unit. Mark Hess is from Europal, but following a disciplinary case, he’s been temporarily relegated back to the Homicide Squad and he’s been partnered with Thulin, but none of them are happy about it. I loved those two characters and I really hope to read more about them.

Søren Sveistrup knows how to keep the suspense always high by constantly changing the points of views (from the detectives investigating the murders to the victims) and with short chapters that usually end with some sort of cliff-hanger or shocking revelations that made it almost impossible to put the book down. The murders are gruesome and some of the details may be a bit too graphic, but they fit perfectly with the bleak atmosphere of the novel.

Disturbing, fast-paced, and unpredictable, I was completely gripped by THE CHESTNUT MAN. It is an absolute must-read, a surprising debut novel, an unpredictable page-turner that will keep you on the edge of your seat from the first to the last page.

Søren Sveistrup is an internationally acclaimed scriptwriter of the Danish television phenomenon The Killing which won various international awards and sold in more than a hundred countries.

Søren Sveistrup (born 1968) holds a master of Literature and History from the University of Copenhagen and has graduated as script writer from the Danish Film School.

Publication: 27th December 2018 – Simon and Schuster UK

Sadie is a single mum, nursing a broken heart. Her best friend from childhood, Cat, is burned out from working long hours as a chef in Paris. In need of a change, they decide to invest in their dream – running their own handmade biscuit shop in gorgeous Castle Court, a three-storey food court tucked away behind Chester’s bustling streets.
 
They soon discover that Castle Court has its own community – a little haven of delight against the stresses of the outside world. But not everyone welcomes the new business; the patisserie owner is less than pleased by what she sees as direct competition and Greg, who runs the fancy bistro that dominates one end of the courtyard, doesn’t think Sadie and Cat have the talent or business acumen to succeed. Luckily, there’s support in the form of the delectable Jaren, who owns the Dutch waffle house opposite Smart Cookies, and Swiss chocolate-shop owner, Elin. And if all else fails, the friends can drown their sorrows in Seb’s cocktail bar on the third floor!

 

Welcome to Castle Court, a place where you can find international food, friends, and love. That’s where the two protagonists of the latest novel by Holly Hepburn, Cat and Sadie, are opening their own biscuit shop, Smart Cookies. Cat and Sadie have been best friends since they were children. Now, Sadie is facing motherhood alone after separating from her cheating husband while Cat is back in town after leaving her high-flying job as a chef in a renowned restaurant in Paris. They find new friends and a few enemies amongst the owners of the other businesses in the court and there is never a dull moment as they try to survive their first year at Castle Court.

I really liked the two protagonists of A YEAR AT CASTLE COURT and I enjoyed reading about their close friendship. Cat and Sadie have been best friends since childhood, they are different, but they support each other, surviving even the distance created by Sadie’s marriage and Cat’s job in France. They are realizing their dream of opening their own biscuit shop together but they have to face the hostility of some of the owners of the other businesses in the court while also dealing with problems in their personal and professional life. Luckily they are surrounded by a group of new friends that help them through their complicated love lives, scandals, jealousies, exes, and natural disasters.

A YEAR AT CASTLE COURT has an atmospheric setting, a close-knit community feeling, entertaining drama, and an immersive and romantic plot. If this is not enough to make you pick up this novel, then you should know that it’s full of descriptions of delicious food that will make your mouth water and it will make you dream of pancakes, decorated biscuits, and fabulous cocktails. If you are looking for a heart-warming and entertaining read to enjoy while curled up under a warm duvet, then the latest novel by Holly Hepburn is the right book for you and I’d like to thank Harriet and Simon and Schuster UK for inviting me to take part in the blog tour.

Holly Hepburn is the author of A Year at the Star and Sixpence and The Picture House by the Sea. This is her third novel. Follow her on twitter at @HollyH_Author or visit her website at http://hollyhepburn.com

Publication: 15th November 2018 – Simon and Schuster UK

THE ISLAND OF TRESCO HOLDS A DARK SECRET SOMEONE WILL KILL TO PROTECT.

Ben Kitto has become the Scilly Isles’ Deputy Chief of Police. As the island’s lazy summer takes hold, he finds himself missing the excitement of the murder squad in London. But when the body of professional diver Jude Trellon is discovered, anchored to the rocks of a nearby cave, his investigative skills are once again needed.

At first it appears that the young woman’s death was a tragic accident, but when evidence is found that suggests otherwise, the islanders close ranks. With even those closest to the victim refusing to talk, it seems that plenty of people might have had reason to harm her. As the islanders remain guarded, Ben Kitto suspects a killer is on the loose in Tresco.

Everyone is a suspect.
Nobody is safe.

 

We first meet DI Ben Kitto in Hell Bay. After the death of his partner, Ben took a break from solving murders in London and he moved back to the Scilly Islands to recover. The move was supposed to be temporary, just a few months, but he found himself investigating a murder on the island and, at the end of the novel, he decided to remain in the place where he spent his childhood.

In RUIN BEACH, we find Ben settled down and Deputy Chief of Scilly Island’s Police. He has to investigate the death of Jude Trellon. She was a professional diver and her body was found tied to the rocks by a cave in Piper’s Hole. She was hiding a secret and the people who knew her are not talking. For Ben, everyone on the island is a suspect, even the people he’s known his entire life.

Even though the novel is slow-paced, the author knows how to keep the suspense always high, by adding a second point-of-view alongside the protagonist’s. The story is told mostly in first person by Ben’s point-of-view, but we also read Tom’s story, a young man who knows why Jude was killed. Like Ben, I found myself suspecting of everyone involved in the story. You never know who is telling the truth, who is keeping secrets, who you can trust.

I really like the character of Ben Kitto. I enjoyed reading his interactions with his sidekick Eddie, an enthusiastic young officer, with his dog Shadow, and with his friend Zoe, for whom he has a huge crush. He is well-developed, vividly-drawn and likable and I look forward to read more about him.

What I really love about this novel is the setting. The Isles of Scilly are the real protagonists of the novel. They are just off the coast of Cornwall and they are beautiful and atmospheric and they come to life thanks to the author’s attention to details.

RUIN BEACH is evocative, chilling, and engrossing, an excellent second book in a brilliant series and I’d like to thank Simon and Schuster for providing me with a copy of the book.

A new year, a new cover. And what’s better than a beautiful and summery cover to look at on this cold and winter day? A SUMMER OF NEW BEGINNINGS is Lisa Hobman‘s next novel is published on 19th February by Aria and, today, it’s my absolute pleasure to reveal its fabolous cover…

The stunning new story from the bestselling author of What Becomes of the Broken Hearted. Perfect for fans of Lucy Diamond, Sarah Morgan and Holly Martin.

Meet Zara Bailey, a travel writer paid to cover some of the globe’s most luxurious locations. Jetting from wooden huts on stilts in turquoise seas to boutique hotels with roaring fires to 7* penthouse suites with panoramic views of the world’s most glamorous cities… Zara knows hers is the definition of a dream job!

So she is seriously shocked to receive her next assignment; Scotland’s Northcoast 500 route. By bicycle. Sleeping in a tent so basic it can’t remotely be dressed up glamping!

But this could be just the distraction the recently heartbroken, Zara needs. No men, no romance, just the breathtakingly rugged Highland scenery. Until she meets croft owner Lachlan Grant, and his black and white Border Collie Bess, that is…

Praise for Lisa Hobman:

‘Heartwarming and uplifting’ Heidi Swain.

‘This is a story to fall in love with, a triumph of love over loss, hope over heartache and ultimately a tale that will lift your spirits and leave you smiling at the end!’ Faith Hogan.

 

About the author

Lisa’s debut novel was shortlisted in the 2014 RNA. Her stories centre around believable, down to earth characters and the places in Scotland she has visited and fallen in love with. She is a happily married mum of one with two energetic dogs.

Follow Lisa:

Facebook: @LisaJHobmanAuthor

Twitter: @LisaJHobmanAuth

Website: www.lisajhobman.com

Follow Aria

Website: www.ariafiction.com

Twitter: @aria_fiction

Facebook: @ariafiction

Instagram: @ariafiction

Publication: 10th January 2019 – Simon & Schuster UK

For fans of The Keeper of Lost Things, The Truths and Triumphs of Grace Atherton is the story of a woman who has her heart broken, but then puts it back together again in the most uplifting and exquisite way.

Between the simple melody of running her violin shop and the full-blown orchestra of her romantic interludes in Paris with David, her devoted partner of eight years, Grace Atherton has always set her life to music.

Her world revolves entirely around David, for Grace’s own secrets have kept everyone else at bay. Until, suddenly and shockingly, one act tips Grace’s life upside down, and the music seems to stop.

It takes a vivacious old man and a straight-talking teenager to kickstart a new chapter for Grace. In the process, she learns that she is not as alone in the world as she had once thought, that no mistake is insurmountable, and that the quiet moments in life can be something to shout about …

 

I first read THE TRUTHS AND TRIUMPHS OF GRACE ATHERTON back in November and I couldn’t have chosen a better book to start my 2019 reading list. It is such a beautiful and captivating novel. I read it in two days and I loved every single page.

Grace Atherton is such a fascinating and well-crafted character and I liked her very much, even in her lowest moments. A former music prodigy, a cellist who was thrown out of music school for reasons that are slowly revealed, Grace now owns her violin shop where she makes and repairs string instruments. She has no family left and she spends most of her time between her shop, with her music, and Paris, where she consumes her eight-year-old affair with David, a married man with children. David has promised her that he will leave his wife as soon as his children grow up so that they can start their own family and, while she waits, Grace crafts a flawless cello to enter the Cremona Triennale Competition in Italy and to prove to the world, but especially to herself, that she can still play the cello.

A shocking event brings to light the truth about her relationship with David and forces Grace to face both her past and her future, but it also makes her realize that she is not alone, as she finds comfort in her friendship with two people: Nadia, a troubled teenager who works part-time at her shop, and Mr. Williams, an older customer who helps her through a difficult time in her life. I loved these two characters. Nadia is bold, sassy, funny, she says everything that goes through her mind, and she is much wiser than she seems. Mr. Williams is kind, generous, and considered, always full of good advice. Anstey Harris created a cast of lovable, vividly-drawn, and relatable characters. Grace, Nadia, and Mr. Williams are well-developed and completely different from each other, they are all hiding something, they are all suffering, but they find solace and resolution in their unlikely and beautiful friendship.

Set between a small town in England, Paris, and Cremona in Italy, THE TRUTHS AND TRIUMPHS OF GRACE ATHERTON is a moving, heart-warming, and riveting story and I found myself completely immersed in it and I’d like to thank Sara-Jade and Simon and Schuster UK for providing me with an early copy and giving me the chance to read this remarkable and captivating novel.

Publication: 10th January 2019 – HQ

Because murderers are never who you expect…

She was the quiet one… but is she guilty?

For twin sisters Rose and Bel, enrolling at the prestigious new boarding school should have been a fresh start. But with its sinister rituals and traditions, Odell soon brings out a deadly rivalry between the sisters.

For Sarah and husband Heath, the chance to teach at Odell seems like the best thing that ever happened to their small family – a chance to rise through the ranks and put the past behind them.

Until one dark night ends in murder.

But who’s guilty and who’s telling the truth? And who’s been in on it all along..?

 

Happy New Year everyone!

I am delighted to start the new year by taking part in the blog tour for the new novel by an author that knows how to captivate my attention from the first page.

SHE WAS THE QUIET ONE starts with a murder. Someone has been killed and the presumed killer has already been arrested, but we don’t know their identities. Then we are taken back in time to discover the events that led to the tragedy.

The protagonists of the novel are two young girls, Rose and Bel. They are sisters and twins but they couldn’t be more different. Rose is the good girl, she studies, she is quiet and she behaves well. On the other hand, Bel is outgoing, she is not interested in her classes and she hangs out with the cool and “mean” girls of the school. After their mother’s death, their grandmother sends them to an exclusive boarding school, Odell, but circumstances and new friends make them drift away. In the meantime, Sarah Donovan and her husband Heath are still adapting to their new roles as supervisors of one of the dorms of the school, but as things at the school spiral out of control, Sarah needs to figure out who she can trust.

Through flashbacks and police’s interviews to witnesses, the author takes us through a thrilling novel of jealousies, betrayal, ambition, and bullying. The author created well-crafted characters with two completely different sisters in competition and a young married couple trying to prove themselves. A boarding school full of teenagers coming from rich and powerful families is the perfect atmospheric setting for this novel full of suspense and twists.

SHE WAS THE QUIET ONE is very well-written and cleverly plotted and until the end I couldn’t figure out who is the victim. Once again Michele Campbell created a dark and intense novel that kept me completely engrossed and I’d like to thank Joe and HQ for inviting me to take part in the blog tour and for providing me with a copy of this immersive novel.