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9/7/2019 0 Comments

Review: About That Night

About That Night by Elaine Bedell
Page length: 384 pages
Genre: Crime Fiction, Women's Fiction  
Publication Date: 11 July 2019
Publisher: HQ
Source: ARC via NetGalley
 
Stars:  4.5 out of 5
 
Link: AMAZON (UK)
 
ABOUT ABOUT THAT NIGHT
 
Sometimes it only takes one night to change everything…
 
Elizabeth Place might have been jilted on her wedding day one year ago, but at least she’s still got her brilliant job producing one of the biggest shows on TV!
 
But when larger-than-life TV host, Ricky Clough, dies live on air, her life is sent spinning out of control. And with foul play suspected, the spotlight is turned firmly on his colleagues – especially Hutch, the man desperate for Ricky’s job and whom Elizabeth is secretly dating.
 
As her world comes crashing down around her, Elizabeth realises that perhaps the only person she can really trust, is herself…
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My Review

A brilliant read. Television becomes less glamour when you go behind the scenes. Elizabeth's job is to make Saturday must-see television, and Ricky – the star of the show – knows as the talent he can do what he wants. When he collapses on screen, an assumed heart attack turns out to be more suspicious and the police have some difficult questions to ask. I was double guessing who might have been involved in Ricky's death but wouldn't have got close to the ending. Bravo!
 
A very accomplished debut from Ms Bedell.
 
VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
 
Thank you so much the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary electronic copy in return for an honest review. 
 
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13/6/2019 0 Comments

Review: Our Stop

Our Stop by Laura Jane Williams
Page length: 400 pages
Genre: Romance, Romantic Comedy
Publication Date: 13 June 2019
Publisher: Avon
Source: ARC via NetGalley
 
Stars:  4.5 out of 5
 
Link: AMAZON (UK)

 
ABOUT OUR STOP
 
Nadia gets the 07.30 train every morning without fail. Well, except if she oversleeps or wakes up at her friend Emma’s after too much wine.
 
Daniel really does get the 07.30 train every morning, which is easy because he hasn’t been able to sleep properly since his Dad died.
 
One morning, Nadia’s eye catches sight of a post in the daily paper:
 
To the cute girl with the coffee stains on her dress. I’m the guy who’s always standing near the doors… Drink sometime?
 
So begins a not-quite-romance of near-misses, true love, and the power of the written word.
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My Review:

Such a lovely idea. I love reading the missed connections in the newspaper!
Nadia is recovering from and awful relationship with Awful Ben, when it seems someone on her train has the hots for her. A lovely web spun from nearly-meets, nearly-crashes and lots of nearly-at-the-wrong-times. As the book hurtled towards the end, I found myself wholly engaged in Nadia and Daniel's story, not to mention what was going on with best friend Emma.
 
VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
 
Thank you so much the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary electronic copy in return for an honest review. 
 
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26/4/2019 0 Comments

Review: Tick Tock

Tick Tock by Mel Sherratt
Page length: 400 pages
Genre: Crime Fiction   
Publication Date: 2 May 2019
Publisher: Avon
Source: ARC via NetGalley
 
Stars:  4.5 out of 5
 
Link: AMAZON (UK)

 
ABOUT TICK TOCK
 
TICK…
 
In the city of Stoke, a teenage girl is murdered in the middle of the day, her lifeless body abandoned in a field behind her school.
 
TOCK…
 
Two days later, a young mother is abducted. She’s discovered strangled and dumped in a local park.
 
TIME’S UP…
 
DS Grace Allendale and her team are brought in to investigate, but with a bold killer, no leads and nothing to connect the victims, the case seems hopeless. It’s only when a third woman is targeted that a sinister pattern emerges. A dangerous mind is behind these attacks, and Grace realises that the clock is ticking…
 
Can they catch the killer before another young woman dies?
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My Review:

Tick Tock is the second in the Grace Allendale series, and although it can be read as a stand-alone – there is much reference to what happened in the first book and it sounds spectacular and full of drama.
 
Tick Tock starts with the murder of a teenage girl whilst on a school run. The police have few leads and then a young woman is similarly murdered. It's all brought closer to home when Grace's step-daughter is friends with the one of the victims.  It was a slow start, but a good story. And I DID NOT see the twist(s) coming!
 
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
 
Thank you so much the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary electronic copy in return for an honest review. 
 
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10/3/2019 0 Comments

Review: Cherry

Cherry by Nico Walker
Page length: 336 pages
Genre: Crime Fiction, Thriller  
Publication Date: 28 February 2019
Publisher: Vintage Digital
Source: ARC via NetGalley
 
Stars:  4.5 out of 5
 
Link: AMAZON (UK)

 
ABOUT CHERRY
 
Cleveland, Ohio, 2003. A young man is just a college freshman when he meets Emily. They share a passion for Edward Albee and ecstasy and fall hard and fast in love. But soon Emily has to move home to Elba, New York, and he flunks out of school and joins the army. Desperate to keep their relationship alive, they marry before he ships out to Iraq. But as an army medic, he is unprepared for the grisly reality that awaits him. His fellow soldiers smoke; they huff computer duster; they take painkillers; they watch porn. And many of them die. He and Emily try to make their long-distance marriage work, but when he returns from Iraq, his PTSD is profound, and the drugs on the street have changed. The opioid crisis is beginning to swallow up the Midwest. Soon he is hooked on heroin, and so is Emily. They attempt a normal life, but with their money drying up, he turns to the one thing he thinks he could be really good at – robbing banks.
 
Hammered out on a prison typewriter, Cherry marks the arrival of a raw, bleakly hilarious, and surprisingly poignant voice straight from the dark heart of America.
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My Review:

There are few novels that make you want to dip your toe into the murky waters of crime, but this is one of them. The prologue starts with a heist. And then chapter one goes back in time to the protagonist's freshman years. Politically the message was strong throughout the middle of the book set in Iraq. Why are we sending young men to war?
 
The last third was set is the US after the long stint in Iraq, and seen through the eyes of PTSD suffering junkie. A lot of his behaviour was reprehensible yet it was told with such candor and charm!
 
I could see this being made into a television series or a film.
 
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
 
Thank you so much the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary electronic copy in return for an honest review. 
 
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28/2/2019 0 Comments

Review: Betty Church and the Suffolk Vampire

Betty Church and the Suffolk Vampire by M.R.C. Kasasian
Page length: 432 Pages
Genre: Literary Fiction   
Publication Date: 7 February 2019 (Paperback)
Publisher: Head of Zeus
Source: ARC via NetGalley
 
Stars:  4.5 out of 5
 
Link: AMAZON (UK)

 
ABOUT BETTY CHURCH AND THE SUFFOLK VAMPIRE
 
September 1939.
 
As Britain readies for war, Inspector Betty Church must battle a ruthless killer...
 
Inspector Betty Church – one of the few female officers on the force – has arrived from London to fill a vacancy at Sackwater police station. But Betty isn't new here. This is the place she grew up. The place she thought she'd left for good.
 
After a slow start, Betty's called to the train station to investigate a stolen bench. But though there's no bench, there is a body. A smartly dressed man, murdered in broad daylight, with two distinctive puncture wounds in his throat.
 
While the locals gossip about the Suffolk Vampire, Betty Church steels herself to hunt a dangerous killer.
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My Review:

I absolutely adored MRC Kasasian's Gower Street series (start with the Mangle Street Murders, so I was delighted to get the chance to read the first Betty Church story.
 
Betty Church is one of the first female police detectives, and let's be fair if it wasn't near-war time she might not have got a look in. As if those weren't difficult enough odds, Betty only has one arm. It's Girl Power 1930s!
 
Betty is a brilliant protagonist and as per Mr Kasasian's previous series, (set in Victorian London) the research of the time and location is exemplary. It's Team Betty the whole time when she comes up against common-place (of its time) discrimination and prejudice. It's heartbreaking at times how people are treated and disregarded.
 
The book is a riot from start to finish. I hope to see and read more of Betty Church's escapades.
 
VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
 
Thank you so much the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary electronic copy in return for an honest review. 
 
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