Book Review / 99 Red Balloons by Elisabeth Carpenter

Two girls go missing, decades apart. What would you do if one was your daughter?

When eight-year-old Grace goes missing from a sweetshop on the way home from school, her mother Emma is plunged into a nightmare. Her family rallies around, but as the police hunt begins, cracks begin to emerge.

What are the secret emails sent between Emma’s husband and her sister? Why does her mother take so long to join the search? And is Emma really as innocent as she seems?

Meanwhile, ageing widow Maggie Taylor sees Grace’s picture in the newspaper. It’s a photograph that jolts her from the pain of her existence into a spiralling obsession with another girl – the first girl who disappeared…

Published:     24th August 2017
Publisher:  Avon
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher

MY REVIEW

What I liked about this story...   I particularly enjoyed following the story of Maggie who is an ageing widow who has a lot to tell about her past and it was very interesting to find out more.  Maggie's story centres around the first girl's disappearance. I won't give any more details away but her story was the most interesting for me. 

What I didn't like about this story...   The one thing I always look for in a thriller/crime novel and that is suspense.  Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be a great deal of that in this story.  With great suspense in a novel like this, it would have made me turn the pages quicker and enjoy the story a little bit more.  Instead, it made the story very slow to read and, to be honest, a bit boring in places. 


In summary... A very interesting story split between two different disappearances.  Slow paced but does have a very good twist ending...

Book Review / A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

An unflinching, darkly funny, and deeply moving story of a boy, his seriously ill mother, and an unexpected monstrous visitor.

At seven minutes past midnight, thirteen-year-old Conor wakes to find a monster outside his bedroom window. But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting - he's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the nightmare he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments. The monster in his backyard is different. It's ancient. And wild. And it wants something from Conor. Something terrible and dangerous. It wants the truth. From the final idea of award-winning author Siobhan Dowd - whose premature death from cancer prevented her from writing it herself - Patrick Ness has spun a haunting and darkly funny novel of mischief, loss, and monsters both real and imagined.

Published:     27th September 2011
Publisher:  Walker Books
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Library

MY REVIEW

What I loved about this story...  What an emotional read this turned out to be!  I had heard that this was a very heart felt story but I hadn't realised how much.  At the beginning, you have the comical relationship between Connor and his mother, where they have eaten curry and ending up farting!    I really can't imagine having to go through what Connor has to go through in this book and I was very surprised at how mature he seemed to be and that he had a very good sense of right and wrong.  If I was being picky, I would have liked to have learned more about his father and why he was not around.

If you have not read this book yet, I have found the best way to go into this book is not to know a great deal about it.   Go into reading this story with no expectation and no hint of what is to come, that was you can enjoy all the emotion that Patrick Ness throws at you.

Blog Tour Book Extract / Shadows by Paul Finch

As a female cop walking the mean streets of Manchester, life can be tough for PC Lucy Clayburn. But when one of the North West’s toughest gangsters is your father, things can be particularly difficult.

When Lucy's patch is gripped by a spate of murder-robberies, the police are quick to action. Yet when it transpires that the targets are Manchester’s criminal underworld, attitudes change.

Lucy is soon faced with one of the toughest cases of her life – and one which will prove once and for all whether blood really is thicker than water…

Extract 4 from Chapter 5, pp.45-46

 

The offender was basically a mugger, but the West Midlands press had named him ‘the Creep’ because of his crazy fixed grin, which owed possibly to a mask or heavy make-up. A Joker lookalike, then; a comic-book madman. But there hadn’t been much to laugh about for his victims, who’d not just lost wads of cash but, even when they’d complied, had been slashed with what appeared to be an old-fashioned but well-honed cavalry sabre. Invariably it had inflicted gruesome wounds, and in the case of the most recent victim, had proved fatal.

She leaned forward. ‘How’ve you heard about this, Jerry?’

‘Now, my dear . . . as you know, I never divulge such things. But as you also know, my sources are impeccable.’

‘What’s the Creep’s name? I mean his real name.’

‘This I cannot tell.’

‘Cannot, or will not?’

‘Cannot.’

‘So where will I find him?’

‘Alas, I have no answer for that either.’

‘Jerry . . .’ she leaned closer to his ear, ‘you seriously think you’re going to get paid for this? Passing on an unfounded rumour that this guy may be in Crowley . . . may be? And giving us nothing else whatsoever?’

‘I suspected you’d be hostile. Ignorance, as always, breeds contempt. I imagine I will only get paid if you apprehend this scoundrel . . . as per our usual arrangement. How you make that happen is beyond my control.’

‘Do you have anything else on him at all?’

‘It is my belief that he will have come here to work.’

‘Work?’

‘To continue his bloody reign.’

‘Seriously?’ Lucy wondered if he was winding her up. ‘You think this bloke’s on the run from a murder charge, and a few weeks later he’s just going to blow all that by starting again only an hour up the railway line?’

McGlaglen shook his head. ‘I know no more about this case than you, Miss Clayburn, but I have read sufficient disgusting detail to form an opinion that for this malefactor it is as much about the swordplay as it is the money. I appreciate that sudden fear has driven him to change towns. But really . . . how long can such a depraved individual resist temptation?’

Blog Tour / The Note by Zoe Folbigg

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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 has since married Train Man and lives in Hertfordshire with him and their two young sons. This is her debut novel.

Follow Zoe

Website: http://www.zoefolbigg.com/

Twitter: @zolington

Facebook: @zoefolbiggauthor

About the book

As featured on ITV's 'This Morning'...
Based on Zoë Folbigg's true story comes an unforgettable romance about how a little note can change everything...

One very ordinary day, Maya Flowers sees a new commuter board her train to London, and suddenly the day isn’t ordinary at all. Maya knows immediately and irrevocably, that he is The One.

But the beautiful man on the train always has his head in a book and never seems to notice Maya sitting just down the carriage from him every day. Eventually, though, inspired by a very wise friend, Maya plucks up the courage to give the stranger a note asking him out for a drink. Afterall, what’s the worst that can happen?
And so begins a story of sliding doors, missed opportunities and finding happiness where you least expect it.
The Note is an uplifting, life-affirming reminder that taking a chance can change everything…

Available on NetGalley: http://bit.ly/2xk8jzq

Buy links:

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2ho8FLj

Kobo: http://bit.ly/2xXnW0p

iBooks: http://apple.co/2yi6WxU

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

Follow Aria

Website: www.ariafiction.com

Twitter: @aria_fiction

Facebook: @ariafiction

Instagram: @ariafiction

Blog Tour / Upstairs, Downstairs by Olivia Hart

Secrets on your doorstep don’t stay secret for long… A romantic comedy perfect for fans of Debbie Johnson and Holly Martin.
When Daniele Bracci – a musician at Rome’s Opera Theatre arrives at his new apartment, he is surprised by the warm welcome he receives from his neighbours. Giovanna however, is more preoccupied with introducing him to her daughter Anita. But what she doesn’t know is that for the last two years, Anita has been secretly seeing someone else.

When Anita is introduced to the new tenant, she has the shock of her life – Daniele was Anita’s first love at high school. Can she come to terms with the terrible way things ended between them?
Anita isn't the only one with something to hide… and none of these secrets go unnoticed by Pina, the apartment gossip who writes everything down in her secret diary...

Available on NetGalley: http://bit.ly/2xtoDNo

Buy links:

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2fFQzV7

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

iBooks: http://apple.co/2xn3T8n

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

Follow Aria

Website: www.ariafiction.com

Twitter: @aria_fiction

Facebook: @ariafiction

Instagram: @ariafiction

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Olivia Hart is a collective group of authors who met five years ago on a writing course and then could no longer do without each other's company. They decided to write a novel that would bind them forever.

Follow Olivia

Website: http://ariafiction.com/author/olivia-hart

Book Review / When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

Dimple Shah has it all figured out. With graduation behind her, she’s more than ready for a break from her family, from Mamma’s inexplicable obsession with her finding the “Ideal Indian Husband.” Ugh. Dimple knows they must respect her principles on some level, though. If they truly believed she needed a husband right now, they wouldn’t have paid for her to attend a summer program for aspiring web developers…right?

Rishi Patel is a hopeless romantic. So when his parents tell him that his future wife will be attending the same summer program as him—wherein he’ll have to woo her—he’s totally on board. Because as silly as it sounds to most people in his life, Rishi wants to be arranged, believes in the power of tradition, stability, and being a part of something much bigger than himself.

The Shahs and Patels didn’t mean to start turning the wheels on this “suggested arrangement” so early in their children’s lives, but when they noticed them both gravitate toward the same summer program, they figured, Why not?

Dimple and Rishi may think they have each other figured out. But when opposites clash, love works hard to prove itself in the most unexpected ways.

Published:     30th May 2017
Publisher:  Simon Pulse
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Library

MY REVIEW

What I liked about this story...    Right from the very start, the dynamic between Dimple and Rishi made me laugh.  From the first time they met, when Rishi made the mistake of introducing himself to Dimple a bit to friendly in which her reply was to throw her drink on him!  I did find the interaction between the two main characters very entertaining! 

What I didn't like about this story...  Firstly, I am not entirely sure whether she is meant to come off this way I did find Dimple to have a very spoilt and childish manner about her.  She will do what she wants to do and not think of anything else.  Of course, that is fair enough when she is thinking about her own future but that bothered me a bit.  Next, I also felt there was a bit too much insta-friendship etc in this book, everything seemed to happen far too quickly and, for me, it felt unrealistic.  Lastly, I had wished there would be more of a plot than just a boy meets girl type situation.  With just this happening throughout the book, I was bored.

In summary...  This book has been hyped up so much since its release I did wonder whether it was the right time for me to give this a go.  If a book is hyped up, I do tend to set my expectations rather high.  Unfortunately, that was the case with this book.  I found the main character to be annoying, too much insta-friendship and insta-love and not enough plot to keep me interested.  I did, however, read the entire book, which I think was purely because I enjoyed the writing.   I am intrigued to follow this author to see what comes out next but I won't be picking up this book again. 

Book Extract / Blog Tour - Christmas on the Little Cornish Isles by Phillipa Ashley

Christmas has arrived on the Cornish Isles of Scilly, bringing mistletoe, surprises and more than a sprinkle of romance . . . Fans of Poldark and Carole Matthews will love this brand-new festive read from the author of the bestselling Cornish Café series.

For Maisie Samson, this Christmas is going to be different. After years working in a busy Cornish pub, she’s moved back to quiet Gull Island where she grew up, to help her parents run the family inn.

But even though she can’t wait for the festive season to arrive, Maisie cannot shake the memories of what happened to her last Christmas – the day she lost everything. She keeps herself busy, setting up the tree and hanging mistletoe ready for her first proper family Christmas in years.

Until a new arrival to the island walks into her bar and changes everything. Australian backpacker Patrick is looking for a job for the low season. When Maisie takes him on, she doesn’t expect him to last the week, but to her surprise Patrick is the perfect fit. Charming and handsome, could Maisie allow herself to hope that she and Patrick could be more than just colleagues?

As Christmas approaches, Maisie finds herself dreading the spring, when Patrick is due to leave. With the help of a little Christmas magic, can Maisie get the happily ever after she always dreamed of?

Christmas on the Little Cornish Isles is the perfect book to snuggle up with this Christmas.

 

Extract Fourteen from Chapter Eight, pp 52-53

‘The thing is, I met Greg while I was at low point. One of the regulars at the Fingle was a volunteer at one of the youth centres where I’d rocked up – forced to by my probation officer. He saw something in me, God knows what, and he told Greg about me. Greg and Judy took me on as a pot washer in the bar. They gave me a chance.’ He smiled. ‘Many, many chances until I finally realised how bloody lucky I was and got my act together and decided to live a pure and sin-free life henceforth.’

‘Pure and sin-free? That sounds boring,’ Maisie joked.

Patrick laughed. ‘Not as boring as staring at four walls for twenty hours a day, or waking up in a pool of your own vomit.’

She winced, then it clicked. ‘Ah. The Coke. You’re teetotal, aren’t you?’

‘I am. Does that put you off taking me on as bar staff?’

‘On the contrary, I consider it an asset.’

Maisie blew out a breath, trying to take in the story she’d heard. Patrick was so blasé about his terrible childhood and youth. Breezing through a tragic tale as if he were talking about an exciting rugby match. Maisie was certain that there was a lot more to discover about Patrick McKinnon, but how much did she want to know? His smiling eyes hid so much, she thought. As did her gobby, sassy façade. ‘Interesting way of trying to impress your new boss,’ she said. ‘“Shitty weather and whingeing moaners”, eh?’

Patrick gave a wry smile. ‘With some exceptions, of course. Gull Island’s not too shabby, when the sun’s out . . .

’

He left the sentence hanging, tantalisingly. Left her waiting for the line about the Driftwood and its owner: her.

But nothing.

‘You made a reference to “my new boss”,’ he added instead of a compliment to Maisie. She wasn’t sure if she was disappointed or relieved he hadn’t tried to flatter her. She really had no idea how she felt about taking on Patrick McKinnon. ‘So, does that mean you’re not put off by my history?’

‘Well, there’s been nothing I need to know about since your spell in prison, has there?’

‘So I’m hired?’

She had a feeling she might be making the biggest mistake of her life . . . Maisie smiled and held out her hand. Patrick grasped it firmly but without trying to prove some point by mashing her bones. ‘Subject to your references checking out, yes. Congratulations and welcome to the Driftwood. Now, let me show you the staff accommodation.’

Author Interview / Blog Tour - The Angel by Katerina Diamond

THE TRUTH WON’T STAY LOCKED UP FOREVER

When a burned body is found in a disused signal box, suspicion falls on lonely teenager Gabriel Webb. There’s no doubt he was at the scene of the crime, but does he deserve what awaits him in prison?

DS Imogen Grey is certain there’s more to the case than meets the eye. But while she struggles to convince those around her of the truth, her partner DS Adrian Miles is distracted by his own demons.

When a brutal double murder is reported, their investigation is stopped in its tracks. Is the body in the box even who they thought it was? The duo realise Gabriel might have been locked up for a crime he didn’t commit. But with enemies watching Gabriel’s every move, they may be too late.

Miles and Grey are back in the thrilling new novel from bestselling author Katerina Diamond, perfect for fans of Karin Slaughter and M.J. Arlidge, Orange Is The New Black and Locked Up.

1. If you could work with any other author, who would it be and why?

That’s such a difficult question. There are so many great authors out there and I haven’t read nearly as many as I might like. I would love to work in a collaboration one day – although I’m probably a complete nightmare to work with due to my lack of organisation. I wouldn’t mind writing something with Scottish Author Ed James, although I fear it would push the boundaries a little too far!

2. What would be a typical working day for you? When and where do you write?

Well I used to work in the corner of my bedroom, and before that when we lived in our last place in a windowless room in the basement. I have just started renting a room somewhere that I can use as an office. I will be going there every day, there is no internet and so hopefully I will be free from (self-imposed) distractions all day

3. What is the hardest part of the writing for you?

Self-discipline. Just getting up every day and doing the work. Also Planning, and following the plan – its all hard!

4. When and why did you first start writing?

When I first had my son (who is now 17) I decided that I hated everything about daytime television and I wanted more, I wanted to exercise my mind and so I started writing a weird mafia screenplay (which I never finished).

5. How did you come up with the idea for your book?

In all honesty I don’t know, I just write down as many things as I can think of in the form of questions. What if there was a fire in building? What if there was a body in the fire? Etc etc.

6. Are you a big reader? If so, what are you reading now?

I used to be a big reader but I find it quite hard at the moment not to be constantly thinking about my own story. I am however reading ‘The Dolls house’ by Phoebe Morgan, which I am really enjoying.

7. Do you have any advice for other aspiring writers?

Just work at it, get up every day and do the work. Listen to any and all advice. Read lots of blogs and books on how to write. Also, remember it’s a business, so when people reject you, its nothing personal. We have all had rejection in the past.