Month: February 2021

February Wrap-Up and March TBR

It has been another weird month of remote teaching and a fair amount of reading – 10 books in total. I’ve read some brilliant books this month and have some fabulous blog tours coming up, so watch this space!

Here’s what I’ve been reading this month…

Affiliate links are provided – thank you for supporting my blog with any purchases.

February Wrap-Up

I started this month with a big, glamorous thriller – ‘Ruthless Women’ by Melanie Blake. Taking place on the set of a soap opera off the coast of Jersey, this is packed with ambitious women, affairs, jealousy, gossip and backstabbing. I raced through it and it is definitely a lot of fun. You can read my review here.

Next up was the latest in the crime series featuring DI Gina Harte – ‘The Broken Ones’ by Carla Kovach. I have read and loved so many of these books and this one is brilliant! Tense, action-packed and downright scary in places! Although it is Book 8 of the series, it would also work as a standalone, I think. This book is published tomorrow and my review will be on the blog then.

Then I finally finished the absolutely brilliant ‘Maiden Voyages’ by Sian Evans. It took a while because blog tour books kept getting in the way, but I absolutely loved this non-fiction book about women whose lives were somehow linked to the transatlantic shipping crossings between (approximately) World War I to the start of the jet age at the end of the 1950s. There was glitz and glamour, but also amazing accounts of bravery and some fascinating life stories. My review is here but this is my BOOK OF THE MONTH!

Heading back onto my usual turf, I then read serial killer thriller ‘Dog Rose Dirt’ by Jen Williams. This will be heading your way in July so a review will follow nearer that time, but it is definitely one to keep an eye out for!

At this point in the month, I then panicked that I had a lot of blog tours at the end of February and start of March that I hadn’t read the books for yet!

My first blog tour read was ‘Old Bones’ by Helen Kitson, a gorgeously-written story about three older women living in a small village who in many ways feel that life has passed them by. When human remains are found in a nearby quarry, well-hidden secrets begin to surface. I found this one really compelling – you can read my review here.

The next blog tour book was ‘Seven Days’ by Michelle Kidd, an absolute page-turner of a police procedural. I raced through this one, the second in the series to feature DI Jack MacIntosh (I read the first, ‘The Phoenix Project’, for a blog tour last year). My review is here.

Then I read ‘The Shadowy Third: Love, Letters and Elizabeth Bowen’ by Julia Parry. This is a brilliant non-fiction book about Bowen’s affair with Humphry House (the author’s grandfather) and the third point in the love triangle, Madeline House (the author’s grandmother). The book is packed with insights into all three figures, plus thoughts on writing, legacy and storytelling. I didn’t know much about Bowen before this, but found it really interesting. My blog tour stop is next week so look out for this one.

My final blog tour book was ‘Nick’ by Michael Farris Smith, a prequel to F Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby’ which explains how Nick Carraway came to be in West Egg for the events of the classic novel. This was a compelling and vivid novel which took the reader through World War I Paris, the trenches and post-war New Orleans. My review will follow next week.

To end the month, I also finished two books that I’ve been reading with various blogger groups on Twitter. The Tsundoku Squad and I read ‘Paris by Starlight’ by Robert Dinsdale and I also read ‘Cemetery Boys’ by Aiden Thomas with The Write Reads book club that isn’t a book club!

Both of these were enjoyable in their own way – I liked the magical setting of Dinsdale’s book and the fascinating Latinx community and culture in Thomas’ novel. I probably wouldn’t have picked either of these books up independently, but am glad to have read them, even if I found the Paris book quite slow sometimes.

A busy month for reading and quite an eclectic set of books!

March TBR

As usual, I have a lot of books that I’d love to read this month. I never predict accurately, but here goes…

In March, I have blog tours for the following:

‘Behind Closed Doors’ by Catherine Alliott – I usually love Alliott’s books and am looking forward to this story of a woman sorting her life out after the end of her difficult marriage.

‘The Three Locks’ by Bonnie MacBird – I love a Sherlock Holmes story and this one looks fabulous!

‘The Shadow in the Glass’ by JJA Harwood – anything labelled as a Gothic fairytale has me on board, especially one with a Victorian setting!

‘Last Place You Look’ by Louisa Scarr – this is the first book in a new crime series to feature DS Robin Butler and DC Freya West. I love a police procedural so cannot wait to dive in to this one.

My ‘book club’ books for this month are ‘The Islanders’ by SV Leonard (Tsundoku Squad choice and looks to be a cracking crime novel) and ‘Bloodlust and Bonnets’ by Emily McGovern (The Write Reads choice – I haven’t read a graphic novel in years so am looking forward to this!)

There are also many, many NetGalley books waiting for me – so we shall have to see what I actually manage to read!

With thanks, as always, to blog tour hosts, publishers and NetGalley for granting me access to advance copies of books in exchange for honest reviews.

Blog Tour: ‘Seven Days’ by Michelle Kidd

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for ‘Seven Days’ by Michelle Kidd, the second book in the series featuring Detective Inspector Jack MacIntosh.

I was lucky enough to be included on the blog tour last year for the first book in this series so I jumped at the chance to read the sequel!

This tour is organised by Damp Pebbles Blog Tours – thanks to them and Michelle Kidd for my free copy of the novel for review. As always, opinions are my own.

Book Blurb:

One killer. One city. One week.

July 2012 and a serial killer is terrorising the streets of London. With the Opening Ceremony of the London Olympic Games in just seven days time, Detective Inspector Jack MacIntosh and his team at the Metropolitan Police have one week to find him. With the killer’s motives unknown, and a mysterious clue being left at each scene, the case takes on a menacing and personal twist. Distracted by his own demons, will DI Jack MacIntosh solve the case before it is too late?

The clock is ticking.
Tick.
Tock.

My Review:

The first book in this series was a twisty, jet-setting thriller with a huge cast of characters, secrets galore and lots of tension.

With the second book, Michelle Kidd has produced an absolutely brilliant police procedural. Lots of the same cast, but a totally different feel to the first book – and I loved it.

The book opens with the discovery of the body of a woman in a London park. DI Jack MacIntosh, still struggling with the PTSD from his distant past, is called in to investigate and finds a mysterious clue…which makes a lot more sense with the death of a second woman and the deliberate placement of another clue. It seems that someone is taunting the police – but with only seven days to go before the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games turns the world’s eyes to London, there is a race against time to catch the killer.

Returning in this book is Isabel (a main focus on the first novel), Mac and some other familiar faces. I was particularly pleased to see Isabel again as the first novel really immerses the reader in her story and she is an interesting character. She has moved on from her past experiences and set up a cafe in London – but, as expected, she can’t seem to stay out of trouble for long!

One of the main strengths of this book is the clever plotting – I honestly thought I’d solved this mystery several times over, only to be confounded at every turn. At least I wasn’t alone – DI Jack MacIntosh and the Metropolitan Police seemed to be having the same problem!

I found the timeline easier to keep track of in this novel as it didn’t jump around as much as the first. I liked that each scene in the book had a clear time and place so it was easy to follow – it felt a lot more cohesive than the last book which was great but made my head spin with the time and location jumps!

Although this is the second in the series, I think it probably could be read as a standalone. There are some elements that carry across the books and it obviously would be better to have the back-story, but I think the plot absolutely carries this book in its own right. There are also a lot of flashbacks which help to explain the history behind Jack, Mac and Isabel.

A lot happens in this book and the pacing is generally good – I never felt like I was bored or waiting for something to happen. My only gripe would be that there did feel like there were some additional scenes that weren’t central to the plot, especially at the end – although I would guess that these may well feed into the sequel.

I’d recommend this to anyone who is looking for an engaging and immersive police procedural. There are properly scary, thriller elements too – but the real strength is in the clever plot, likeable (and familiar) characters and the wow-factor twists.

About the Author:

Michelle Kidd is a self-published author known for the Detective Inspector Jack MacIntosh series of novels.

Michelle qualified as a lawyer in the early 1990s and spent the best part of ten years practising civil and criminal litigation.

But the dream to write books was never far from her mind and in 2008 she began writing the manuscript that would become the first DI Jack MacIntosh novel – The Phoenix Project. The book took eighteen months to write, but spent the next eight years gathering dust underneath the bed.

In 2018 Michelle self-published The Phoenix Project and had not looked back since. There are currently three DI Jack MacIntosh novels, with a fourth in progress.

Michelle works full time for the NHS and lives in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. She enjoys reading, wine and cats – not necessarily in that order J

Bibliography:

The Phoenix Project (DI Jack MacIntosh book 1)

Seven Days (DI Jack MacIntosh book 2)

The Fifteen (DI Jack MacIntosh book 3)

Social Media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorKidd

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

Website: https://www.michellekiddauthor.com/

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

Purchase Links:

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/3obLftd

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/3qNy2bM

Publishing Information:

Published in paperback and digital format on 22nd January 2020

WWW Wednesday – 24th February, 2021


WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Taking on a World of Words. Anyone can take part and it is a great way of sharing what you have just finished reading, what you are currently reading and what is next on the TBR.

Links are provided for books mentioned – thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases (at no extra cost to you!)

What have you recently finished reading?

It has been half term for a lot of this past week and so I’ve managed to read more than usual. It’s not like there are places to go or people to see!

I have read ‘Seven Days’ by Michelle Kidd for a forthcoming blog tour (my review will be up on Saturday). The first book in this series, ‘The Phoenix Project’ was a pacey, jet-setting thriller whereas this one is more a clever and very tense police procedural – and I loved that shift for DI Jack MacIntosh!

I also read ‘The Shadowy Third: Love, Letters and Elizabeth Bowen’ for a blog tour next week. I absolutely adored this story – part travelogue, part biography, part collection of letters – focused on a love triangle that began in 1930s Oxford between the writer Elizabeth Bowen, literary scholar Humphry House and his wife, Madeline. The fact it is written by the granddaughter of the Houses – and the direction she chooses to take the story in – is fascinating.

Finally, I also read ‘Old Bones’ by Helen Kitson for another blog tour – my review kicked off the tour yesterday and can be found here. This is a brilliantly-told story of three older women in a small village, their shared pasts and the secrets they carry with them. Beautifully-drawn characters make this a highly recommended and immersive read.

What are you reading now?

Too many books!

I’m now nearing the end of my two buddy reads for February.

I’m reading ‘Paris by Starlight’ by Robert Dinsdale with my Tsundoku Squad lovelies. I’m in two minds about this book – it is beautifully imagined and has an interesting storyline about displaced people and their culture arriving in Paris, but it is also quite slow. There is a lot of description of the gorgeous city by night and lots to enjoy, but I’m not sure it is wholly for me.

I’m also still reading ‘Cemetery Boys’ by Aiden Thomas, a Latinx tale centred around a trans boy in Los Angeles who wants to join his family in being able to release the dead into the afterlife. I’m looking forward to the Day of the Dead scene that I’m keenly anticipating and hoping that the various story strands come together. It has been an interesting read, although one I’ve struggled with a bit because of the plot structure which I think could be tighter.

I’m also reading ‘Nick’ by Michael Farris Smith and loving it so far. It is the story of the narrator of ‘The Great Gatsby’, Nick Carraway – a kind of literary prequel. So far, Nick has been caught up in a love affair in wartime Paris and then faced the trenches of World War I. I’m not sure whether he yet chimes with my own feelings about Nick from the original novel, but I am very much enjoying a clever and interestingly-written narrative. My blog tour post for this novel will be up in the first week of March.

I’m also reading the new Katie Fforde book, ‘A Wedding in the Country’. So far, it is set in London in 1963 but I’m sure a wedding and country will hove into view soon! I love Fforde’s books – they are truly escapist and charming and this one is no exception.

What do you think you will read next?

I will be reading ‘Behind Closed Doors’ by Catherine Alliott for a blog tour in early-March. I usually love Alliott’s books so am looking forward to this one!

I also want to finally get round to reading some of the Poirot novels by Agatha Christie that I am supposed to have read for a readalong – I have totally failed to pick them up so far!

Many thanks to NetGalley, blog tour hosts, publishers and authors for the books in exchange for an honest review.

Header photo by Daniela on Unsplash.

Blog Tour: ‘Old Bones’ by Helen Kitson

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for ‘Old Bones’ by Helen Kitson. This book was published by Louise Walters Books in paperback and e-book in January 2021.

This blog tour was organised by Damp Pebbles.

Book Blurb:

Diana and her sister Antonia are house-sharing spinsters who have never got over their respective first loves. Diana owns a gift shop, but rarely works there. Antonia is unemployed, having lost her teaching job at an all girls’ school following a shocking outburst in the classroom after enduring years of torment. Diana is a regular at the local library, Antonia enjoys her “nice” magazines, and they treat themselves to coffee and cake once a week in the village café.

Naomi lives alone, haunted by the failure of her two marriages. She works in the library, doesn’t get on with her younger colleagues, and rarely cooks herself a proper meal. Secretly she longs for a Boden frock.

When a body is discovered in the local quarry, all three women’s lives are turned upside down. And when Diana’s old flame Gill turns up unexpectedly, tensions finally spill over and threaten to destroy the outwardly peaceful lives all three women have carefully constructed around themselves.

Helen takes us back to the fictional Shropshire village of Morevale in this, her brilliant second novel which exposes the fragilities and strengths of three remarkably unremarkable elderly women.

My Review

This is a bit outside of my usual genres (crime, crime, more crime…and some historical crime!) but I was intrigued by the blurb. I’ve heard so many fabulous things about Louise Walters Books that I was keen to give it a try – many thanks to the author, publisher and Damp Pebbles for inviting me onto the tour and for my copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

The novel alternates between the stories of the three main characters – Diana, Antonia and Naomi. All three are older women living in Morevale and share a long history, although aren’t particularly close as friends and confidantes. Diana and Antonia are sisters and share a house (slightly acrimoniously), while Naomi lives alone following two disastrous marriages. When some bones are discovered in a nearby quarry, secrets from the past of all three women start to bubble to the surface.

The real strength of this book is the characterisation of the three women. Although we only hear Diana’s voice in the first person narration (the sections on Antonia and Naomi are told in the third person), the women have very distinct and engaging personalities.

Locked together as they are by their shared past, the women really do come off the page as three women who – in some ways – feel that life has passed them by a little. All three seem prematurely settling into old-age (the sisters are in their early 60s – an age I don’t really associate with their world of afternoon teas, doilies, church fetes and chats with the vicar). However, the discovery in the quarry (among other things) does shake them up and they are forced to face the secrets and resentments they have hidden for so long.

I loved that these three ordinary-looking women had such interesting elements in their past and I found myself wanting to read more and more. I also loved the realism of these characters – they are occasionally infuriating, petty, spiteful, silly and sly – but none of that put me off them and I was absolutely caught up in their stories.

Of the three, I really found myself warming to Naomi – she is tough and spiky, but does have the biggest ‘journey’ of the book (ugh, that feels like such a cliche to write, but it really doesn’t feel like this in Kitson’s sensitive, realistic and finely-observed writing).

The themes of the novel are the stuff of everyday lives – ageing, the regret that comes from things not done in life, missed opportunities and paths not taken. The novel is thought-provoking and compelling without being depressing – yes, the women have regrets, but they are also finding their place in the new, older landscapes of their lives and letting go of the past in some ways.

I’d recommend this to anyone who enjoys meditative and thoughtful fiction that is beautifully written and observed. You will find yourself caught up in the lives of these three extraordinary women – after all, is anyone truly ‘normal’! – and strangely bereft when you leave Morevale at the end.

About the Author

Helen lives in Worcester with her husband, two teenaged children and two rescue cats. Her first poetry collection was nominated for the Forward Best First Collection Prize. She has published three other poetry collections and her short fiction has appeared in magazines including Ambit, Feminist Review and Stand. She holds a BA (Hons) in Humanities.

Helen’s debut novel The Last Words of Madeleine Anderson was published in March 2019. Her second “Morevale” novel, Old Bones, will be published on 16 January 2021.

Social Media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jemima_Mae_7

Purchase Links:

Louise Walters Books: http://bit.ly/37dpwKM

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/2LPuDKI

Foyles: https://bit.ly/3pdjamn

Waterstones: http://bit.ly/3660WMc

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/365gdwN

‘The Split’ by Laura Kay

Happy publication day to this funny and uplifting book which I was fortunate enough to read towards the end of last year during lockdown.

I’d heard lots about this book on Twitter and felt that a cheery read was needed, so thought I would give it a try. I’m so glad I did – it was just what I needed to lift me out of the November gloom!

The main character, Ally, starts this book at her lowest ebb. She has quit her job and been dumped by her girlfriend, Emily, leaving her effectively homeless as she has to leave Emily’s houseboat. Taking the cat, who becomes a topic of dispute between the two ex-partners, she heads back to Sheffield and her father’s house. Initially wallowing in her own grief, she starts to see light at the end of the tunnel after rekindling an old friendship, using her passion for baking to find a new job and – most unlikely of all – taking up running after she (rather ill-advisedly) signs up for a half marathon.

I thought that Kay did a gorgeous job of exploring Ally’s thought processes as she worked her way through the end of her relationship. It felt real, with all its ups and downs, irrational thoughts and acts of pettiness – the emails between Emily and Ally about the cat were particularly telling. I also loved Ally’s feeling about running – as someone who has tried and failed to run, I really could imagine the scenes as she slogged round various circuits with no joy and considerable pain!

Indeed, the characterisation is the real strength in this novel = Ally’s friend Jeremy (who is nursing his own heartbreak) is funny and sweet and just the kind of person you’d want on your team if you were in Ally’s situation. Ally’s dad is similarly wonderful – a supportive, straight-talking (when needed) and realistic parent who has his own ways of getting Ally back on the road to recovery – I loved the disco for Syria scenes as these were so keenly observed by someone who clearly has experienced (in recent memory and with vivid clarity) the joys of a school dance!

The plot followed a fairly predictable course, but that absolutely was not a problem as I was reading this exactly to avoid any stressful or horrible situations. Instead, I was treated to a comfortable and engaging read as I followed Ally’s journey back to happiness. It’s a novel that has moments of sadness, but also bucketloads of humour and really relatable moments.

I’d recommend this to anyone who enjoys uplifting stories which are strong on character – those in a similar vein to Beth O’Leary’s ‘The Flatshare’ and ‘The Switch’. I enjoyed this a lot and it made a cheerless lockdown day a lot brighter.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

If you’d like a copy of this book, my affiliate link is below. Thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases.

Header photo by Allec Gomes on Unsplash.

‘The Sanatorium’ by Sarah Pearse

This book was published on 18th February, 2021.

The setting of this book was the thing that really drew me in to this novel – a thriller set high in the Swiss Alps, in an old sanatorium turned into a luxury hotel. Throw in a storm and avalanches that cut off the resort from the outside world and you have the perfect recipe for a tense and terrifying murder mystery.

The book centres on Elin Warner, a police officer on extended leave, who arrives at the hotel for her brother’s engagement celebrations. She has many personal struggles in her past and is estranged from her brother, Isaac, so is already uncomfortable with the idea of a family reunion when his fiancée, Laure, goes missing. As Elin starts to investigate the disappearance, the hotel gets cut off from police support and Elin finds herself thrown into a much bigger mystery than she first anticipated…

This book is certainly very tense – there were several points where I think I stopped breathing as I waited to find out what happened! The pace of the novel is well managed and kept me reading as I was keen to discover the truth, and there were plenty of twists along the way.

Pearse handles the setting of the old sanatorium very well – there is something very unnerving about a place of past suffering being turned into a luxury hotel and this is conveyed well. Elin never feels comfortable in the building and this puts the reader constantly on edge as she is faced with stark minimalism in the hotel’s furnishings, uncompromising weather conditions and eerie reminders of the past.

The relationships between the characters are also presented well. There is a real tension between Elin and Isaac which is believable, although I personally didn’t really like the repeated references to their shared past – while explaining their poor relationship, I thought this detracted a bit from the main narrative.

I’d recommend this book to anyone who likes tense and chilling mysteries. It is engaging and lively and will definitely keep you reading until you know what happened and – more importantly – why!

If you’d like a copy of this book, please use my affiliate link below – thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases.

Header photo by Marsumilae on Unsplash

‘Ruthless Woman’ by Melanie Blake

OK, this one isn’t quite within my usual genres, but I’ll admit I was intrigued! A sexy, shocking, glamorous, ‘unputdownable’, revenge-filled thriller? I totally fell for the blurb! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was published yesterday (18th February).

The novel is set in a beautiful location just off the coast of Jersey where a soap opera, ‘Falcon’s Bay’, is filmed. A long-term fixture of the TV schedules, ‘Falcon’s Bay’ has taken a tumble in the ratings and the new network head, Madeline Kane, arrives to solve the problem.

She arrives onto a set already run by Queen Bees – director Farrah, Head of Casting Helen and producer Amanda. All are fighting their own battles as women with major ambitions and a lot of responsibility, as is lead actress Catherine who has carried the show for a lot of its 40 years on air. That’s a lot of ruthless women…

I have no clue how to describe this novel at all – but I did enjoy it! Imagine Jackie Collins wrote about a soap opera set on the Channel Islands and you might have some clue. There is plastic surgery aplenty, libidos that are out of control, and an awful lot of breasts (blush!) Throw in some thrillery elements – especially towards the end – and you have a page-turner on your hands. There are horrible men, some #MeToo elements, a dash of feminism…and a twisty plot where everyone is out for themselves.

One thing really worth noting, I think, is that all of the female characters are older. This is not a story of starlets climbing the fame ladder – this is packed with sassy and strong older women (who have a huge amount of sex).

This is quite a long book by my usual standards but I flew through it. I can’t say I really liked many of the characters or really understood the motivations, but it is a story that really goes for the jugular and doesn’t let go! I’m not sure it is a thriller in the sense I would usually expect, but it is compulsive.

I’d recommend this to anyone who wants an immersive and twisty read. You might not love any of the ruthless women but you will absolutely be caught up in the glamour, the backstabbing and the gossip!

If you want to dive into this glamourous but dangerous world for yourself, please use my affiliate link below. Thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases!

Header photo by Nathan Powers on Unsplash.

‘Daughters of Night’ by Laura Shepherd-Robinson

Finally! Happy publication day to this brilliant, 5-star slice of historical fiction!

I’ll admit I read this nearly a year ago before the publication was delayed by the pandemic. For those of you not lucky enough to have an advance copy, the wait is over…please do buy this now.

Here’s my review that I originally filed with NetGalley – thanks to them for a copy of this brilliant book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book so much!  Although it's outside of my usual historical period of interest (I am obsessed with Victorians), I'm glad I took my chances as this is an amazing novel.  

Beautifully written and extensively researched, this is an absolute gem of a historical novel.  Although it is ostensibly a murder mystery, that feels too restrictive a genre for this book which roams freely through social history, politics, art and ethics and manages to do so with engaging characters and a pin-sharp focus on historical detail.

Caro Corsham is our heroine here, a character who apparently features in Shepherd-Robinson's first novel, 'Blood and Sugar'.  I haven't read the first book but am about to remedy that situation!  Caro is a likeable and lively heroine, grappling with her own secrets while also seeking justice for a murder she almost witnesses;. the novel opens with a killing at the pleasure gardens in Vauxhall and it is Caro who finds the dead woman.  

This discovery leads Caro (and us as readers) deep into the seedier side of Georgian London, a world of brothels and prostitution and gin houses and moneylenders and crime.  Her investigation is helped by thief-taker Mr Child, himself struggling with his past and secrets.  Together, they roam through polite (and much less polite) society, uncovering the secrets of a club of influential men and the prostitutes they hire.  In the process, they reveal lies and unleash great danger.

It's almost impossible to sum up the plot of the novel and I don't feel that I have done it justice.  Suffice it to say that it is intricately plotted with a host of characters who are all flawed in their own ways.  I was totally convinced I had solved it several times, only for the next twist to ruin my thinking!  

This is a treat of a novel for anyone who loves a clever, twisty murder mystery.  It will keep you turning pages and guessing late into the night and the end, when it comes, is satisfying and credible.

If you’d like your own copy of this (and you really would!), please use my affiliate link below. Thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases.

Header photo by Ameen Fahmy on Unsplash.

WWW Wednesday – 17th February, 2021


WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Taking on a World of Words. Anyone can take part and it is a great way of sharing what you have just finished reading, what you are currently reading and what is next on the TBR.

Links are provided for books mentioned – thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases (at no extra cost to you!)

What have you recently finished reading?

It’s been two weeks since my last WWW Wednesday so it looks like I’ve been extra-productive on the reading front!

I finished reading ‘Ruthless Women’ by Melanie Blake (from NetGalley) – this is due to be published in April but is well worth looking out for! It’s a Jackie-Collins-style novel packed with glamorous and strong women, high-powered jobs and tonnes of secrets and lies! It’s based around a soap opera set off the coast of Jersey and is a whole lot of fun. My review will follow nearer the publication date.

I finally finished ‘Maiden Voyages: Women and the Golden Age of Transatlantic Travel’ by Sian Evans. It has taken me ages because it kept getting bumped by blog tour books, but it is absolutely fabulous! The golden age of transatlantic travel sure was glamorous for some, hard work for others and extraordinarily dangerous for those sailing during war time (or with Violet Jessop – the ‘unsinkable stewardess – who had an appalling track record of being on doomed ships!) My glowing review is here.

I also read (for a blog tour with Random Things Tours) ‘Botanical Curses and Poisons: The Shadow Lives of Plants’ by Fez Inkwright. This book is a beautifully-illustrated and fascinating guide to plants of the more lethal variety! Thanks to the publisher, Liminal 11, for the review copy in exchange for my honest opinions. My review is here.

I also managed to squeeze in two gripping and – quite frankly – terrifying crime novels. I raced through both of these with my heart pounding – watch out for them!

First up was ‘The Broken Ones’ by Carla Kovach, the latest in the series featuring DI Gina Harte. In this excellent instalment, young women are being taken off the streets and it is clear that a very disturbed character is responsible – someone who must be stopped before he kills again. My review will be on the blog nearer the publication date in March 2021.

I also read ‘Dog Rose Dirt’ by Jen Williams which also proved very scary! This is about a young woman who finds out that her mother was writing to a serial killer in jail throughout her life. After her mother’s suicide, a series of copycat killings begin and she is forced to confront her mother’s past in order to help the current investigation. This one isn’t published until July 2021 and my review will follow.

Both of these were NetGalley reads – thanks to NetGalley for my free copies in exchange for honest reviews.

What are you reading now?

I’ve got two buddy reads on the go at the moment – luckily they are so different that there’s no way I’ll get them confused!

I’m reading ‘Paris by Starlight’ by Robert Dinsdale with my Tsundoku Squad lovelies. This is a slightly whimsical tale of a group of displaced people who end up in Paris but bring the magical ways of their old country with them. The people live by night by the light of their beautiful illuminated flowers and according to their book, ‘The Nocturne’. I’m halfway through and the descriptions are glorious – but I cannot see at all where it is going!

I’m also reading (with the fabulous Write Reads gang) ‘Cemetery Boys’ by Aiden Thomas, a Latinx tale centred around a trans boy in Los Angeles who wants to join his family in being able to release the dead into the afterlife. I’m halfway through this as well and am still not quite sure what I think – the setting is fabulous, the Day of the Dead a very promising element still to come, the representation is great, characters good…but I am finding the plot a bit uneven at the moment.

My next blog tour is ‘Seven Days’ by Michelle Kidd so I’ve also started reading this fast-paced and tense sequel to ‘The Phoenix Project’ (which I read last year). It is early days, but I’m enjoying my reunion with DI Jack MacIntosh so far! Review to follow on the blog next week.

What do you think you will read next?

I’m supposed to be doing a Poirot readalong but have failed to fit in ‘The Mysterious Affair at Styles’ by Agatha Christie – I need to catch up before we move on to ‘Murder on the Links’.

I have rather over-enthusiastically embraced blog tours in March and so have a good few books to read. I’ll shortly be reading ‘The Shadowy Third: Love, Letters and Elizabeth Bowen’ by Julia Parry, ‘Nick’ by Michael Farris Smith and ‘Behind Closed Doors’ by Catherine Alliott. All look absolutely brilliant and I cannot wait to dive in.

Thank to NetGalley for the books in exchange for an honest review.

‘The Jigsaw Man’ by Nadine Matheson

I was delighted to win a proof copy of this serial killer crime novel from Nadine Matheson and the lovely people at HQ Stories.

The book is published on 18th February 2021 – just enough time to sneak in a pre-order!

This book opens with the gruesome discovery of body parts in various parts of South London and the return to front-line policing duties for DI Anjelica Henley who has been on office duties after a traumatic experience. Faced with the dismembered corpses, Anjelica and her newbie detective sidekick embark on an investigation that will have sinister echoes of a previous spate of serial killer murders. However, that killer, Peter Olivier, is in prison – so how can he be responsible?

DI Anjelica Henley herself is an interesting character. She has a complex home life and the case threatens to break the uneasy peace she has found for herself after her past experiences. It is normally a bit of a bugbear of mine when police officer’s private lives are tied up in a case (you’d think all crime was a personal vendetta against individual officers if you read too much crime fiction!); however, it was well managed here and Anjelica’s family context and relationships added to the sense of her as a realistic character.

As I’ve mentioned, this book is gruesome. You do need quite a strong stomach to deal with the dismemberment and descriptions of injuries. It is dark, although I didn’t find the violence gratuitous.

I did find the casual racism expressed towards DI Henley by other characters in the novel quite shocking – the idea that this highly competent and intelligent woman was being judged primarily on her skin colour was an eye-opener for me.

This is a debut novel, not that I think you would know that from the confident way that Matheson has plotted out her narrative and presented her characters. The book, although fairly long at over 400 pages, is well-paced and packed full of tense moments that keep the reader going. Personally, I finished this novel at 3am during a particularly sleepless night – and I had to get up to check all the doors were locked before I nodded off!

I did have a few niggles with the book – mainly the large cast which meant that some of the revelations didn’t always pack the necessary punch because I had to remember who was being referred to! I’m also not sure whether the ending was setting up a sequel (although please do be reassured that this mystery is tied up comfortably at the end). However, these are small quibbles and didn’t detract from my enjoyment.

Overall, this is an excellent debut novel and I do hope that Matheson is planning more cases involving DI Anjelica Henley.

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