Daphne always loved the way her fiancé Peter told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it…right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra. Which is how Daphne begins her new story: Stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak. Scruffy and chaotic-with a penchant for taking solace in the sounds of heart break love ballads -Miles is exactly the opposite of practical, buttoned up Daphne, whose coworkers know so little about her they have a running bet that she’s either FBI or in witness protection. The roommates mainly avoid one another, until one day, while drowning their sorrows, they form a tenuous friendship and a plan. If said plan also involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their summer adventures together, well, who could blame them? But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex…right?
My review – I was gifted a copy from the publishers. All opinions are my own.
In my eyes, Emily Henry can do no wrong and the men she writes just gets better and better. We need to protect Miles from everything and Daphne too. I didn’t think anything would top Happy Place but this has done it.
This is a story that is filled with so many moments that had me tearing up and so many quotes I’ve underlined, that this book will be staying with me for a long time.
In this story we follow Daphne and Miles who are roommates. Both their exes split up with them to get with each other and now they have both been invited to the wedding. When drunk they decide to RSVP and Daphne, in the moment, tells her ex that her and Miles are dating. Surly they can fake it up until the wedding, and rub it in their exes faces that they’re pretending to be happy and together but is it really pretending?
Daphne likes order, loves her job at the library and has an iffy relationship with her father. Miles goes with the flow, tattooed and little bit chaotic but is loved by everyone he meets. They are complete opposites who have had their hearts broken and now they can try and heal together.
Of course with a book from Emily comes some tender and heartbreaking moments. I was crying during the last few chapters as she just knows how to write these romance stories with such passion and in a way that makes your heart ache and I just love every second off it.
The debris from the party the night before is scattered underneath the village tree and across the cobbles. Red wine stains the ground like blood. And Joni has vanished.
My mother used to say our village was built on the roots of The Gallows Tree, that they’re underneath the ground, under all of our houses. It used to scare me as a kid. Thick, snaking roots squirming under me. No matter how far you ran, they could tunnel after you. And when the bones of a small child are unearthed in the church graveyard, I have to wonder how many secrets are running through our village, like the roots of the tree.
My review – (I was gifted a copy from the publishers-all opinions are my own)
What a book! This is the type of gothic thriller that I absolutely adore. From the beginning of this story I was instantly obsessed and had to see where this story was going and was I taken on some twists and turns that had me wanting more.
This is the type of book that had me staying up till the early hours of the morning to finish. I was that addicted and just had to see how it was going to end.
In this story we follow Cass. Her best friend Joni goes missing after Gallows night and now remains are found in by three church. Suddenly secrets from the past won’t stay buried for long and Cass find out what happened to her friend?
This story was just brilliant. From the plot, to the way it went back and forth from the 90s to present day to give you more insight to Cass and her friends and all the events that lead up to this day and the mystery surrounding this small village.
Atmospheric, gothic and a plot that has twists and turns you won’t see coming this is one book you won’t want to miss this year.
(Apologies for posting this late! Lost track of the days)
AIDE Lock and DCS Kat Frank return in the provocative new thriller from the author of In the Blink of an Eye.
One detective driven by instinct, the other by logic. It will take both to find a killer who knows the true meaning of fear. When the body of a man is found crucified at the top of Mount Judd, AIDE Lock – the world’s first AI Detective – and DCS Kat Frank are thrust into the spotlight as they are given their first live case.
But with the discovery of another man’s body – also crucified – it appears that their killer is only just getting started. With the police warning local men to be vigilant, the Future Policing Unit is thrust into a hostile media frenzy as they desperately search for connections between the victims. But time is running out for them to join the dots and prevent another death.
For if Kat and Lock know anything, it’s that killers rarely stop – until they are made to.
(I was gifted a copy in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own)
I was so excited for this book after reading In The Blink of an Eye and this did not disappoint.
With such an interesting plot this book was really gripping from start to finish. Lock & Frank are back trying to solve some murders at winter time.
The writing in this book was absolutely fantastic and the way the author is able to grip the reader especially with a book that will have you gripped from the beginning and you won’t be able to put down this fast paced thriller. It’s compelling and smart and overall fantastic.
With amazing characters, fast paced and a story that will have you turning the pages fast to try and figure out what’s going on, this book was just brilliant.
Following how brilliant the first book was, Jo has done a wonderful job with this second book and I cannot wait to see where this story goes. She is a fantastic writer but not just at the plot but also the characters and reading about them and how much emotions she puts into them.
Hello everyone! I am excited to show off the 16 books coming out in April that I cannot wait for! Any of these on your list or ones you need to read asap?!
Just For The Summer by Abby Jimenez – 02/04/2024 – Justin has a curse, and thanks to a Reddit thread, it’s now all over the internet. Every woman he dates goes on to find their soul mate the second they break up. When a woman slides into his DMs with the same problem, they come up with a plan: They’ll date each other and break up. Their curses will cancel each other’s out, and they’ll both go on to find the love of their lives. It’s a bonkers idea . . . and it just might work. Emma hadn’t planned that her next assignment as a traveling nurse would be in Minnesota, but she and her best friend agree that dating Justin is too good of an opportunity to pass up, especially when they get to rent an adorable cottage on a private island on Lake Minnetonka. It’s supposed to be a quick fling, just for the summer. But when Emma’s toxic mother shows up and Justin has to assume guardianship of his three siblings, they’re suddenly navigating a lot more than they expected – including catching real feelings for each other. What if this time Fate has actually brought the perfect pair together?
Every Time You Hear That Song by Jenna Voris – 04/04/2024 – Seventeen-year-old aspiring journalist Darren Purchase is looking for a news story to launch her career and get her out of her stifling small town. When her country music idol Decklee Cassel dies leaving behind a trail of cross-country musical clues to her final album, Darren sees her opportunity for fame and freedom. All she needs is a car, though the only driver she knows is her annoying co-worker, Kendall . . . As Darren and Kendall get closer to the prize – and each other – everything Darren thought she knew about the woman she idolized begins to unravel. What actually happened to Decklee’s songwriting partner? And who were all those soul-stirring love songs written for?
Only and Forever by Chloe Liese – 09/04/2024 – Tallulah I’ve got a massive case of writer’s block and I’ve been kicked out of my apartment, with no end to my misery in sight. At least, until Viggo Bergman makes me an offer I can’t refuse: he needs help running his romance bookstore; I need help with my thriller’s romantic subplot. We’ll swap skills and cohabitate for convenience. I’m a cold-hearted cynic, he’s a heart-eyed romantic. We barely get along. But who says roommate-coworkers need to be friends? Viggo Life’s hard as a hopeless romantic still waiting for my forever love. Between running my romance bookstore and a romance book club, coaching kids’ soccer, and adopting a household of pets, my chaotic life seems to make finding love downright improbable. But when I bump into Tallulah Clarke, hope seems like it’s finally on the horizon. Except that sharing a home and life with Tallulah challenges everything I thought I knew about love, and reveals the plot twist I never saw coming: happily ever after is here already, right under our roof.
How To End A Love Story by Yulin Kuang – 09/04/2024 – Helen Zhang is the bestselling author who can’t write her own happy-ever-after. Grant Shepard is the screenwriter with the movie-star looks who can’t afford his therapist. When the two of them are put together to adapt Helen’s books for television, it should be a dream come true. Helen can start a new life in Hollywood. Grant can pay his mortgage. Only, Grant Shepard is the last person that Helen wanted to see again. She’s never forgiven him for what happened thirteen years ago. So no one is more surprised than her when sparks begin to fly between them in the writers’ room. Their history is messy. Their attraction is inescapable. And soon, they’re both in too deep . . . This wasn’t meant to be a love story. But aren’t the best endings the ones you never saw coming?
The Fates by Rosie Garland – 09/04/2024 – You’ve heard the legends, now hear their truth . . .Before Gods and mortals, there were The Fates – three sisters born out of Nyx’s darkness, destined to weave the lives, and deaths, of humankind for eternity. But immortality is a heavy burden, and Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos are captivated by the gloriously human lives of the mortals below, especially those of the great warrior Atalanta and her ill-fated lover, Meleager. However, being a Goddess of Fate doesn’t make you a master of it. Will these three sisters find a way to free the couple, and themselves, from their destinies? Or will they be bound by Fate forever?
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo – 11/04/2024 – In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her scheming mistress discovers the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to better the family’s social position. What begins as simple amusement for the bored nobility takes a perilous turn when Luzia garners the notice of Antonio Pérez, the disgraced secretary to Spain’s king. Still reeling from the defeat of his armada, the king is desperate for any advantage in the war against England’s heretic queen—and Pérez will stop at nothing to regain the king’s favor. Determined to seize this one chance to better her fortunes, Luzia plunges into a world of seers and alchemists, holy men and hucksters, where the lines between magic, science, and fraud are never certain. But as her notoriety grows, so does the danger that her Jewish blood will doom her to the Inquisition’s wrath. She will have to use every bit of her wit and will to survive—even if that means enlisting the help of Guillén Santangel, an embittered immortal familiar whose own secrets could prove deadly for them both.
Better Left Unsent by Lia Louis – 11/04/2024 – Millie Chandler is known at work as the nice receptionist who got dumped by the company hotshot, and ever since then, she has vowed to keep everything to herself – her feelings, her hopes, and especially her fears. But Millie does have an outlet: her emails. From sarcastic replies to her rude boss, rants to friends about their terrible taste in men to a five-hundred-word love declaration to her ex, who three years on, is about to marry someone else. Millie’s reality lives in her drafts until the morning she discovers that they are somehow in her sent folder. The truth is out. As every dark secret she’s worked so hard to keep password protected is released, Millie must fix the chaos her words have caused. Will Millie find the strength to open both her heart, and her inbox?
You’d Look Better as a Ghost by Joanna Wallace (paperback) – 11/04/2024 – I have a gift. I see people as ghosts before they die. Of course, it helps that I’m the one killing them. The night after her father’s funeral, Claire meets Lucas in a bar. Lucas doesn’t know it, but it’s not a chance meeting. One thoughtless mistyped email has put him in the crosshairs of an extremely put-out serial killer. But even before they make eye contact, before Claire lets him buy her a drink, before she takes him home and carves him up into little pieces, something about that night is very wrong. Because someone is watching Claire. Someone who is about to discover her murderous little hobby. The thing is, it’s not sensible to tangle with a part-time serial killer, even one who is distracted by attending a weekly bereavement support group and trying to get her art career off the ground. Claire will do anything to keep her secret hidden – not to mention the bodies buried in her garden. Let the games begin…
So, it’s my birthday on the 24th and I am getting my first kindle! I’ve currently been reading on the kindle app on my iPad but it’s just a bit too big and I cannot wait to get a kindle.
I wanted to do a post on the books on netgalley I have requested and hope I get approved for. These are some of my most anticipated. I’m trying to get in the mindset that I don’t need to receive a physical proof as an e-arc is just as good! (Unless I get a personalised one then I will cherish it forever)
To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods by Molly X. Chang – 18/04/24 – Known as The Girl Blessed By Death, Ruying wants only to survive, but when her magic is discovered by an enemy prince she must decide if saving her family is worth betraying her country. For as long as Yang Ruying has been alive, the empire of Er-Lang has been occupied by Romans, whose advanced science and military make them Gods. But these Gods are not kind. Their only gifts: cruelty, opian, and destruction. When Antony, the second Prince of Rome, uncovers Ruying’s power, she becomes what she always feared: the perfect assassin. As tensions mount and rebellion stirs, Ruying can no longer deny that peace is a death sentence for Er-Lang. A death she may not be willing to deliver.
Funny Story by Emily Henry – 25/04/24 – Daphne always loved the way her fiancé Peter told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it…right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra. Which is how Daphne begins her new story: Stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak. Scruffy and chaotic-with a penchant for taking solace in the sounds of heart break love ballads -Miles is exactly the opposite of practical, buttoned up Daphne, whose coworkers know so little about her they have a running bet that she’s either FBI or in witness protection. The roommates mainly avoid one another, until one day, while drowning their sorrows, they form a tenuous friendship and a plan. If said plan also involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their summer adventures together, well, who could blame them? But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex…right?
The Other Tenant by Lesley Kara – 25/04/24 – Marlow has always lived in unusual places. But when she accepts a position as a live-in property guardian, she finds herself moving somewhere she swore she’d never return to. Right from the start, she knows it’s a terrible mistake. The elegant Victorian school is due to be turned into luxury apartments, but its eerie, empty corridors are full of Marlow’s worst memories. And now something sinister is happening on the site. One of the other tenants has disappeared without warning, and Marlow suspects that the nine other guardians know far more than they’re letting on. She’s determined to find out what happened to the missing woman – but which of these strangers can she trust? And can she uncover the truth before her own past catches up with her?
All The Colours of the Dark by Chris Whitaker – 16/07/24 – Late one summer, the town of Monta Clare is shattered by the abduction of local teenager Joseph ‘Patch’ Macauley. Nobody more so than Saint Brown, who is broken by her best friend’s disappearance. Soon, she will eat, sleep, breathe, only to find him. But when she does: it will break her heart. Patch lies in a pitch-black room – all alone – for days or maybe weeks. Until he feels a hand in his. Her name is Grace and, though they cannot see each other, she takes him from the darkness and paints their world with her words. In this hopeless place, they fall in love. But when he escapes: there is no sign she ever even existed. To find her again, Patch charts an epic search across the country. And, to set him free, Saint will shadow his journey: on a darker path to hunt down the man who took them. Even if finding the truth means losing each other forever.
Let The Games Begin by Rufaro Faith Mazarura – 18/07/24 – It’s the Athens 2024 Olympics and Zeke and Olivia are there to win. Zeke Moyo is the star athlete of Team GB. He’s in Athens to claim the title of fastest man in the world. Olivia Nkomo has landed a career-making internship, finally earning her seat at the table. Then Zeke and Olivia collide – literally – on the first day of the games, and something unexpected begins. But the competition is stirring up uncomfortable memories from Zeke’s past. And Olivia’s dream job is turning into a nightmare. Will love become a hurdle? Or could running beside the right person change the whole game?
The wages of sin is death. The partial collapse of a disused Edinburgh church reveals a dead body in the rubble, his head badly smashed by falling masonry. Soon identified as an old ex-con – Kenny Morgan – his death is put down to a heart attack and deemed non-suspicious. Tony McLean is approached by a notorious crime lord who suggests the police should be looking into Morgan’s death more closely. Despite struggling with his recent retirement, he is reluctant to involve himself. But when a second man is found dead in another disused church, his forehead branded with a cross, this time it is clearly murder. There’s a killer stalking the streets of Edinburgh. Is it time for McLean to get back to doing what he does best? Buy here!
So excited to be part of this blog tour and sharing an extract from this wonderful book!
Extract
1
January 8th 1983 – Saturday
He can still feel the heat of the priest’s breath on his face, smell the stink of whisky, hear the harshly whispered words echo in his head.
‘Stay there and don’t make a sound. You know what will happen if you do.’
It’s dark here in the closet, warm as he is surrounded by the cassocks so recently removed by the other altar boys. He still wears his. Knows it will be worse for him if he takes it off before he’s told to. It will be worse for him whatever he does. The interruption feels like a small blessing. But soon enough the distraction will be done, the special ministrations begin.
God’s love, visited through him. That’s what Father O’Connell says, and isn’t heGod’s voice? What he says, what he does, can’t be wrong. A priest cannot sin. Can he?
Footsteps on the stone floor, and he shrinks back into the closet, wraps the cassocks around himself, breath stopped, eyes squeezed tight. He does not want him to come back, even as he knows it is a sin to refuse God’s grace.
A noise of the closet door being yanked open. He can only hold still as a growing warmth spreads from his crotch and down his leg. Fear smells like piss.
An eternity passes as he waits for the hand to reach in and grab him. And then the closet door slams. He trembles with relief as he hears new noises. The clink and thud of silver against silver.
Another crash, the familiar sound of the vestry door as it slams shut. And then a silence falls so total he wonders if he has gone deaf. Only his heart, and the soft bubbling of snot from his nose reassure him he has not.
How long does he wait there, unable to move? An hour? Five minutes? He cannot say. And then another sound, low like the sad keening of an injured beast. It rises and falls until he can’t know whether it is real or his imagination. He reaches for the door, black in front of him. Father O’Connell had latched it closed, but now it swings open to his touch. Slowly, wincing at the dampness in his trousers, he steps out of the closet.
Across the small vestry, the door to the outside hangs ajar. The censer, chalice and candlesticks are gone from where they had been left for him to polish for Sunday mass. Chairs lie on the floor, hymnals scattered and ripped. The priest is nowhere to be seen.
He should flee, he knows. Run all the way home. But he knows, too, the hell that awaits those who disobey God’s will. And who knows God’s will better than a priest? Slowly, reluctantly, he walks a squelching path to the other door and the nave beyond.
‘Father?’
His voice trembles and squeaks, he knows it will annoy the priest. But there is no answer from the gloom. No light from the dirty, stained- glass windows. Only fat candles on the altar to cast any illumination.
‘Father?’
He takes the two stone steps down, passes the pews and into the aisle. A nod of the head, the instinctive sign of the cross as he turns to face the altar. And that’s when he sees.
Father O’Connell lies on his front, arms wide as if he’s genuflecting. But he is still, so still. No sound of murmured prayer. A step towards the altar, uncertain. Then another, and a third. He cannot see the priest’s face, his lank black hair splayed out around his head like a fan. Longer than it should be, it spreads past his shoulders, down the steps to the chancel.
Not hair. Blood.
He crouches by the still form, unsure what to do. There is so much blood. Is the priest dead? Before the thought has faded, a hand reaches out and grabs his wrist. That same hand that has touched him too many times before, administered God’s special grace. He tries to pull away, but the grip is too strong, the weight of it heavy as the priest pulls himself slowly around. Bloodshot eyes, crazy and wide with something that looks like fear. Flecks of bloody spittle cover his lips, spot the rough stubble on his chin as the priest croaks in a voice laced with panic and despair and utter, utter terror.
So excited to get back into blogging. We just bought our first home and now I’ve finally got time to get back into blogging. Starting with what books coming out in Feb I cannot wait for.
The Trials of Lila Dalton by L. J. Shepherd – 01/02/2024 – ‘I look up to find twelve strangers staring back at me… I realise I’m the one they’re waiting for.’ Lila Dalton has no memory of how she got to this courtroom. The man in the docks is accused of mass murder, and she’s his barrister – but she can’t remember anything about the case. She can’t remember anything at all. Lila is stranded on an island hundreds of miles from the UK, where the most serious crimes go to trial. The next plane out doesn’t leave for days. And she’s being watched. Someone keeps breaking into her hotel room to leave cryptic notes, threatening her with deadly consequences if she doesn’t get her client off… Can Lila Dalton win her case and solve the mystery of her own identity?
Goddess Crown by Shade Lapite – 01/02/2024 – The royal court of Galla is as dangerous as it is glamorous… Kalothia will need every ounce of courage and wit, if she is to avenge those she loves … and stay alive. Kalothia has grown up in the shadows of her kingdom, hidden away in the East after her parents were outed as enemies of the king. When assassins attack her home on her sixteenth birthday, she must flee to the king’s court – a beautiful but lethal nest of poison, plots and danger, overseen by an entrenched patriarchy. Can Kalothia navigate this most worldly of places to find her own role? What if she must choose between her country and her heart?
A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams – 06/02/2024 – One florist. One pianist. One love story . . . One hundred years in the making. Ricki Wilde has many talents, but being a Wilde isn’t one of them. As the impulsive, artistic daughter of a powerful Atlanta dynasty, she’s the opposite of her famous socialite sisters. In her bones, Ricki knows that somewhere, a more exciting life awaits her. So, when she is invited to rent the bottom floor of a Harlem brownstone, Ricki jumps at the chance for a fresh start. She leaves behind her wealth and chaotic romantic decisions to realize her dream of opening a flower shop. And just beneath the surface of her new neighbourhood, the music, stories and dazzling drama of the Harlem Renaissance still simmer. Then one evening in February, as the heady scent of night-blooming jasmine fills the air, Ricki encounters a handsome stranger who knocks her world off balance in the most unexpected way.
Ready or Not by Cara Bastone – 06/02/2024 – Eve Hatch has always been content to coast through her life, with a steady, if uninspiring, job and a cozy apartment in Brooklyn, close to her childhood best friend Willa and far from the midwestern, traditional family who never really understood her. But when she finds herself pregnant after an uncharacteristic one-night stand, her comfy life is suddenly up in the air. Eve’s loyal friendship with Willa is feeling tense, right when she needs her the most, and it’s actually Willa’s steadfast big brother, Shep, who steps up with the most support and he’s . . . suddenly kinda hot? As if she needs one more complication, there’s also the baby’s father, who is technically supportive, but majorlyconflicted. But as Eve struggles to figure out the next step in her expanding reality, she begins to realize that family and love, in all forms, can sneak up on you when you least expect it.
Bride by Ali Hazelwood – 06/02/2024 – Misery Lark, the only daughter of the most powerful Vampyre councilman of the Southwest, is an outcast-again. Her days of living in anonymity among the Humans are over: she has been called upon to uphold an historic peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and their mortal enemies, the Weres, and sees little choice but to surrender herself in the exchange. Again. Weres are ruthless and unpredictable, and their Alpha, Lowe Moreland, is no exception. He rules his pack with absolute authority, but not without justice. And, unlike the Vampyre Council, not without feeling. It’s clear from the way he tracks Misery’s every movement that he doesn’t trust her. If only he knew how right he was… Because Misery has her own reasons to agree to this marriage of convenience, reasons that have nothing to do with politics or alliances, and everything to do with the only thing she’s ever cared about. And she is willing to do whatever it takes to get back what’s hers, even if it means a life alone in Were territory… alone with the wolf.
Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra – 08/02/2024 – There was someone in the house. Home alone with her young children during a blizzard, a mother tucks her son back into bed in the middle of the night. Then she hears a noise – old houses are always making some kind of noise. But this sound is disturbingly familiar: it’s the tread of footsteps, unusually heavy and slow, coming up the stairs… In that split second, she has three choices. Should she hide? Should she run? Or should she fight?
Token by Beverley Kendall – 15/02/2024 – Kennedy Mitchell is brilliant, beautiful and tired of being the only Black woman in the room. Two years ago, she was plucked from reception for a seat at the boardroom table in the name of “representation”. Rather than play along, she and her best friend founded Token, a boutique PR agency that helps diversity-challenged companies and celebrities. With famous people getting into reputation-damaging controversies, Token is in high demand and business is booming, but when her ex shows up needing help repairing his reputation, things get even more complicated and soon Kennedy finds herself drawn into a PR scandal of her own.
Those We Drown by Amy Goldsmith – 15/02/2024 – It should have been the trip of a lifetime. When Liv lands an all-expenses-paid opportunity to study aboard the luxury cruise ship the Eos for a semester, she can’t believe her luck. Especially since it will offer her the chance to spend time with Will, her ex-best friend, who’s barely spoken to her since the night their relationship changed forever. But as soon as she steps on board, Liv realizes just how out of her depth she is. With Will, with the rest of the Seamester students – including the brittle and beautiful Constantine, who may be hiding his own ties to the Eos – and most of all, with the Sirens, three glamorous and mysterious influencers who seem to have the run of the ship. Liv quickly discovers that the only reason she was invited to join the trip is because another girl disappeared shortly after enrolling-and no one seems to know what happened to her. When further disappearances rock the ship and strange creatures begin haunting Liv’s dreams, she wonders: Is the Eos hiding a dark secret within its shadowy decks? The truth will come at a price . . . only, how much is Liv willing to pay?
What We Did in the Storm by Tina Baker – 15/02/2024 – On the beautiful and windswept island of Tresco, two worlds live side by side. The wealthy visitors come by helicopter to stay at their lavish time-share properties. The estate staff travel by boat, and work all hours to keep them happy, to keep the money flowing in. But while the blue skies and savage waves make the island seem a wild paradise, under the surface the inhabitants are concealing more than they dare reveal. The truths about their marriages, their love affairs, and what they do in the darkness while their neighbours are sleeping. As black clouds come rolling in and a storm hits the island, truths and rumours begin to tumble out, wreaking terrible damage. In the midst of the tempest, two women are attacked and one goes missing. The secrets of this fragile community can no longer be hidden if it hopes to survive. The islanders must finally reveal what they did in the storm, no matter the cost.
The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown – 15/02/2024 – Because some doors should never be opened. New York bookseller Cassie Andrews is not sure what she’s doing with her life. She lives quietly, sharing an apartment with her best friend, Izzy. Then a favourite customer gives her an old book. Full of strange writing and mysterious drawings, at the very front there is a handwritten message: This is the Book of Doors. Hold it in your hand, and any door is every door. Cassie is about to discover that the Book of Doors is a special book – a magic book. A book that bestows extraordinary abilities on whoever possesses it. And she is about to learn that there are other magic books out there that can also do wondrous – or dreadful and terrifying – things. Because where there is magic there is power and there are those who will stop at nothing to possess it. Suddenly Cassie and Izzy are confronted by violence and danger, and the only person who can help them is Drummond Fox who has a secret library of magical books hidden in the shadows for safekeeping, a man fleeing his own demons. Because there is a nameless evil out there that is hunting them all. Because this book is worth killing for.
At First Spite by Olivia Dade – 20/02/2024 – When Athena’s fiancé ends their engagement, she has no choice but to move into the Spite House she recklessly bought him as a wedding gift. Which is a real problem, for many reasons: the house is only ten feet wide. Her ex’s home is literally attached to hers. And Dr. Matthew Vine the Freaking Third – the uptight, judgy jerk who convinced his younger brother to leave her – is living on her other side, only a four-foot alley away. If she has to see Matthew every time she looks out her windows, she might as well have a little fun with the situation. By, say, playing erotic audiobooks at top volume with those windows open. Unfortunately, loathing Matthew proves more difficult than anticipated. He helps her move. He listens. And he’s kind of hot . . . ? Matthew may not regret breaking up his brother’s engagement, but he does regret what it’s done to Athena. And now he’ll help her however he can. If that means enduring nightly steamy story hours, so be it. And if that means watching Athena through their windows a bit too often and caring about her a bit too much. . . . well, nothing can come of it. She’ll never forgive him. Even if she did, how could he ever tell his younger brother that he wants the very same woman he pushed him to leave?
A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L. Jensen – 27/02/2024 – A shield maiden blessed by the gods battles to unite a nation under a power-hungry king – while also fighting her growing desire for his fiery son – in this Norse-inspired fantasy romance from the bestselling author of The Bridge Kingdom series. Bound in an unwanted marriage, Freya spends her days gutting fish, but dreams of becoming a warrior. And of putting an axe in her boorish husband’s back. Freya’s dreams abruptly become reality when her husband betrays her to the region’s jarl, landing her in a fight to the death against his son. To survive, Freya is forced to reveal her deepest secret: she possesses a drop of a goddess’s blood, which gives her magic capable of repelling any attack. A magic that was foretold would unite the fractured nation of Skaland beneath a king-the one who controls the shield maiden’s fate. Believing he’s destined to rule Skaland, the fanatical jarl binds Freya with a blood oath and orders his son, Bjorn, to protect Freya from their enemies. Desperate to prove her strength, Freya must train to fight and learn to control her magic, all while facing perilous tests set by the gods. Except the greatest test of all may be resisting her forbidden attraction to Bjorn. If Freya succumbs to her lust for the charming and fierce warrior, she risks not only her own destiny but the fate of all the people she swore to protect.
The Escape Room by L.D. Smithson – 29/02/2024 – Everything is a clue. Bonnie arrives on a remote sea fort off the coast of England to take part in a mysterious reality TV show. Competing against seven strangers, she must solve a series of puzzles to win the prize money, but this is no game – and the consequences of failure are deadly. No one leaves. Under scrutiny from the watching public, the contestants quickly turn on one another. Who will sacrifice the most for wealth and fame? And why can’t Bonnie shake the creeping sense that they are not alone? The only way out is to win. When the first contestant is found dead, Bonnie begins to understand the dark truth at the heart of this twisted competition: there’s a killer inside the fort, and anyone could be next. If Bonnie wants to escape, she needs to win… Are you ready to play?
The Crimson Moth by Kristen Ciccarelli – 29/02/2024 – On the night Rune’s life changed forever, blood ran in the streets. Now, in the aftermath of a devastating revolution, witches have been diminished from powerful rulers to outcasts ruthlessly hunted due to their waning magic, and Rune must hide what she is. Spending her days pretending to be nothing more than a vapid young socialite, Rune spends her nights as the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante who rescues her kind from being purged. When a rescue goes wrong, she decides to throw the witch hunters off her scent and gain the intel she desperately needs by courting the handsome Gideon Sharpe – a notorious and unforgiving witch hunter loyal to the revolution – who she can’t help but find herself falling for. Gideon loathes the decadence and superficiality Rune represents, but when he learns the Crimson Moth has been using Rune’s merchant ships to smuggle renegade witches out of the republic, he inserts himself into her social circles by pretending to court her right back. He soon realizes that beneath her beauty and shallow façade, is someone fiercely intelligent and tender who feels like his perfect match. Except, what if she’s the very villain he’s been hunting?
What is love? Is it something spiritual or wholly physical? Can our feelings be explained and quantified? Or are we all actually two halves of a whole? Ask Alice and Luke and you’d receive vastly different answers. Despite her world having been recently dismantled by a messy break-up, Alice would tell you that love is the most important – albeit ineffable – human experiences. But when she once again crosses paths with her old school nemesis, Luke, he challenges this. Luke is a scientist and he’s certain love can be measured and explained – just like everything else. So the two decide to make a bet: they’ll each venture back into dating and if one of them falls in love, Alice wins, if not, then Luke does. But can anyone win when you’re playing with emotions?
My review – I was gifted a copy from the publisher. All opinions are my own.
What a wonderful read. This book had me laughing out loud, swooning and loving every second off it. Luke and Alice are two fantastic main characters and I was just so swept up in this book.
This is a book you will start and just won’t want to put down. I’ve not read anything by Rebecca Ryan before but I cannot wait to read more from them. The writing was effortless and just flowed so nicely with the plot of the book. I really didn’t want it to end and say goodbye to these characters.
The book also touched on some sensitive topics and I think they were approached with care and done well.
I am a sucker for a book plot around a bet and especially when emotions get involved. Alice and Luke really had me gripped.
A fantastic read that will have the reader not wanting to stop once started. One of my favourite reads of 2024 (too early to say? Probably not!) and possibly a new favourite author whose writing I really enjoyed so much. With family, friendship and love. This book had everything I wanted and more.
I am very behind with blog posts today but here are some books coming out in October that I cannot wait for.
Throne Of The Fallen by Kerri Maniscalco – 03/10/23 – Sinner. Villain. Ruthless. These are wicked names the Prince of Envy welcomes. They remind him what he isn’t: a saint. And when a cryptic note arrives, signaling the beginning of a deadly game, he knows he’ll be called much worse before it ends. Riddles, hexed objects, anonymous players, nothing will stand in his way. With a powerful artifact and his own future at stake, Envy is determined to win, though none of his meticulous plans prepare him for her, the frustrating artist who ignites his sin-and passion-like no other. Talented. Darling. Liar. The trouble with scoundrels and blackguards is that they haven’t a modicum of honor, a fact Miss Camilla Antonius learns after one desperate mistake allows notorious rake-and satire sheet legend-Lord Phillip Vexley to blackmail her. And now it seems Vexley isn’t the only scoundrel interested in securing her unique talents as a painter. To avoid Vexley’s clutches and a ruinous scandal, Camilla is forced to enter a devil’s bargain with Waverly Green’s newest arrival, enigmatic Lord Ashford ‘Syn’ Synton, little expecting his game will awaken her true nature. Together, Envy and Camilla must embark on a perilous journey through the Shifting Isles-from glittering demon courts to the sultry vampire realm, and encounters with exiled Fae-while trying to avoid the most dangerous trap of all: falling in love.
Wildfire by Hannah Grace – 03/10/23 – When Russ and Aurora cross paths at a university party, a drinking game ends with them spending the night together. The next day, Aurora slips away before Russ learns her full name. This anonymity ends when they both turn up to their first day of work as camp counsellors. A job they had both chosen to escape Maple Hills for the summer. Given their history, there’s still an obvious tension between the two but the camp has a strict “no staff fraternizing” rule. Russ doesn’t want to risk heading home early but Aurora has never been one for rules. As things heat up, they’ll have to resist or risk starting something they just can’t stop.
Midnight Is The Darkest Hour by Ashley Winstead – 12/10/23 – In her small hometown, librarian Ruth Cornier has always felt like an outsider, even as her beloved father rains fire-and-brimstone warnings from the pulpit at Holy Fire Baptist. Unfortunately for Ruth, the only things the townspeople fear more than the God and the Devil are the myths that haunt the area, like the story of the Low Man, a vampiric figure said to steal into sinners’ bedrooms and kill them on moonless nights. When a skull is found deep in the swamp next to mysterious carved symbols, Bottom Springs is thrown into uproar?and Ruth realizes only she and Everett, an old friend with a dark past, have the power to comb the town’s secret underbelly in search of true evil. A dark and powerful novel like fans have come to expect from Ashley Winstead, Midnight is the Darkest Hour is an examination of the ways we’ve come to expect love, religion, and stories to save us, the lengths we have to go to in order to take back power, and the monstrous work of being a girl in this world.
You Better Watch Out by Sarah Naughton – 12/10/23 – Dark, moreish and chilling – the countdown to Christmas is on … and time is running out. Every day in December, a gift is left for Eleri in the abandoned tower block opposite her flat. At first, she can’t help but be flattered, hoping that her Secret Santa is enigmatic Ras – a boy she has history with. But with each day that passes, the gifts get darker and more dangerous. Is this a harmless bit of festive fun? Or does this have something to do with Nina’s disappearance last year? If so … will Eleri be next?
The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon – 12/10/23 – The Night Empire will rule all. Nothing can stand in the way of its might and power. Little by little, year by year, the Hurricane Wars take more and more from those who resists the empire’s supremacy. And yet, there is hope in the darkness. One lone light stands against the empire. Talasyn was left on the steps of a Sardovian orphanage as a baby. All she has ever known are the Hurricane Wars, as her people fight for freedom from the tyranny of the Night Emperor Gaheris. But are they her people? Talasyn dreams of one day finding where she comes from – her true place, family, and the source of the Lightweave magic that flows through her veins like sunlight. Alaric of House Ossinast, Master of the Shadowforged Legion and Gaheris’s only son and heir has been forged into a weapon by his father. Tasked with obliterating the Sardovian Allford alliance with the strength of his armies and mighty Shadow magic, all Alaric can see is their goal: extinguish all threats to the empire. That is until he sees Talasyn burning brightly on the battlefield with the magic that killed his grandfather, turned his father into a monster, and ignited the Hurricane Wars. He tries and fails to kill her, his now greatest enemy slipping through his fingers. But a greater threat is coming. One that will overshadow the Hurricane Wars. Will these mortal enemies be able to come together to confront it or is everything that has been fought over for so long about to be destroyed?
Hopeless by Elsie Silver – 13/10/23 – Beau Eaton is the town prince, a handsome military hero with a tortured past. I’m the outcast bartender, a shy girl from the wrong side of the tracks. He’s thirty-five and all man, I’m twenty-two and all . . . virgin. He’s also my fiance. Correction: my fake fiance. We start out as a bet. He doesn’t believe that anyone holds my last name against me. So he offers me his to prove a point. It’s a win-win. He gets a break from his concerned family’s prying, and I get a chance to shed my family’s reputation while I save up to ditch this small town. He says all I have to do is wear his ring, follow his lead, and pretend I can’t keep my hands off of him in public. But it’s what happens between us in private that blurs all those carefully drawn lines . . . It’s what transpires behind closed doors that doesn’t feel like pretending at all . . . This engagement was supposed to be for show. This agreement? It has an end date. He once told me he’d never fall in love. And yet here I am, head over heels for my fake fiance.
The Winter Spirits by various authors – 19/10/23 – Bridget Collins, Imogen Hermes Gowar, Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Andrew Michael Hurley, Jess Kidd, Natasha Pulley, Elizabeth Macneal, Laura Purcell, Susan Stokes Chapman, Laura Shepherd-Robinson, Stuart Turton and Catriona Ward. The tradition of a haunted tale at Christmas has flourished across the centuries. These twelve stories – authored by some of today’s most loved and lauded authors of historical and gothic fiction – are all centred around Christmas or Advent, boldly and playfully re-imagining a beloved tradition for a modern audience. Taking you from a haunted Tuscan villa to a remote Scottish island with a dark secret, and drawing inspiration from festive traditions from all around the globe, these vibrant haunted stories are your ultimate companion for frosty nights. So curl up, light a candle, and fall under the spell of Christmases past.
West Heart Kill by Dann McDorman – 24/10/23 – It’s the Fourth of July weekend at the prestigious West Heart country club. Gathered for cocktails on the first evening are just some of the guests: the club president, the treasurer and his pregnant wife, the snooping school boy, the bereaved father, the taciturn caretaker, the prospective member, the private detective… and there will also be a body. And a fiendish mystery to solve. But everything else is all to play for. And you are about to find out that you have a role to play in this mystery too…
The Scarlet Alchemist by Kylie Lee Baker – 25/10/23 – Zilan dreams of becoming a royal alchemist, of providing for her family by making alchemical gold and gems for the wealthy to eat in order to stay young forever. But for now, she’s trapped in her impoverished village in southern China, practicing an illegal form of alchemy to keep food on the table – resurrecting the dead, for a price. When Zilan finally has the chance to complete her imperial exams, she ventures to the capital to compete against the best alchemists in the country in tasks she’ll be lucky to survive, let alone pass. On top of that, her reputation for raising the dead has followed her, and the Crown Prince himself seeks out her help, suspecting a coming assassination attempt. The more Zilan succeeds in her alchemy, the more she gets caught in the dangerous political games of the royal family. There are monsters lurking within the palace walls, and it’s only a matter of time before they – and secrets of Zilan’s past – catch up with her.
The Christmas Book Club by Sarah Morgan – 26/10/23 – A long-lasting friendship Every year, Erica, Claudia, and Anna reunite for their book club holiday. They’re bonded by years of friendship and a deep love of books, but there is still so much they keep from each other . . . A perfect Christmas escape At the cosy Maple Sugar Inn, Hattie specialises in making her guests’ dreams come true, but this Christmas all she wants is to survive the festive season. Between running the inn and being a single mother, Hattie is close to breaking point. The start of a brand-new story…? Over the course of an eventful week, Hattie sees that the friends are each carrying around unspoken truths, but nothing prepares her for how deeply her story will become entwined in theirs. Will this Christmas be the end of the book club’s story or the start of a whole new chapter?
Saturnalia by Stephanie Feldman – 25/10/23 – Doors open at 7. The sacrifice is at 9. The dress code is, as usual, black tie. It’s the winter solstice in a Philadelphia that has been eroded by extreme weather, economic collapse, and disease-carrying mosquitoes. The Saturnalia carnival is about to begin – an evening on which nearly everyone, rich or poor, forgets their troubles for a moment. For Nina, Saturnalia is simply a cruel reminder of the night that changed everything for her. It’s now three years since she walked away from the elite Saturn Club, with its genteel debauchery, arcane pecking order, and winking interest in alchemy and the occult. Since then, she’s led an isolated life, eking out a living telling fortunes with her Saturn Club tarot deck. But when she gets a chance call from Max, her last remaining friend from the Saturn Club, Nina will put on a dress of blackest black and attend the Club’s wild solstice masquerade, the biggest party of the year, on a mysterious errand she can’t say no to. Before the night is over, she will become the custodian of a horrifying secret – and the target of a mysterious hunter. As Nina runs across an alternate Philadelphia balanced on a knife’s edge between celebration and catastrophe – through parades, worship houses, museums, hidden mansions, and the place she once called home – she’s forced to confront her past so she can finally take charge of her own, and perhaps everyone else’s, future.
Starling House by Alix E. Harrow – 31/10/23 – Step into Starling House – if you dare… Nobody in Eden remembers when Starling House was built. But the town agrees it’s best to let this ill-omened mansion – and its last lonely heir – go to hell. Stories of the house’s bad luck, like good china, have been passed down the generations. Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses, or brooding men. But when an opportunity to work there arises, the money might get her brother out of Eden. Starling House is uncanny and full of secrets – just like Arthur, its heir. It also feels strangely, dangerously, like something she’s never had: a home. Yet Opal isn’t the only one interested in the horrors and the wonders that lie buried beneath it. Sinister forces converge on Eden – and Opal realizes that if she wants a home, she’ll have to fight for it. Even if it involves digging up her family’s ugly past to achieve a better future. She’ll have to go down, deep down beneath Starling House, to claw her way back to the light…
The Readers Corner 