Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for ‘The Bloodless Boy’ – a fabulous historical crime novel that is out in paperback on 14th July.
I am absolutely delighted to be opening this tour – thanks to Nikki at Melville House Press for inviting me onto the tour and for my copy of the book for review. As always, opinions are entirely my own.
Well, this was an absolute delight! Thanks to NetGalley for my chance to read this book ahead of its publication in April 2022.
I’m so glad that I saw this on ‘Between the Covers’ on BBC2 as I wouldn’t have otherwise picked it up – the cover didn’t immediately call out to me that it was a period murder mystery, but it is. And a good one.
Continue reading Book Review: ‘Miss Aldridge Regrets’ by Louise HareFennell’s first book, ‘The Art of Death’, was one of my top crime books of last year so I was eagerly awaiting this sequel and a chance to follow the story of DI Grace Archer of London’s Metropolitan Police. Thanks to NetGalley and Zaffre for my copy for review – as always, opinions are entirely my own.
Continue reading Book Review: ‘See No Evil’ by David FennellAnother book that I’m shamefully late in reading – but very glad that I did.
Thanks to NetGalley for my copy in exchange for an honest review – I also bought a copy of the audiobook from Audible and so my review reflects my experiences of both.
This book centres on Mecklenburgh Square, an address in Bloomsbury, London that was home to five groundbreaking and fascinating women during the interwar years. It’s an interesting idea, that this little corner of London famous for its thinkers and writers, was the shared address of these brilliant women – even though they didn’t live there at the same time and were often resident at very different points in their lives. For all of them, Mecklenburgh Square proved to be the ‘room of one’s own’ (in Virgina Woolf’s words) that gave the women the freedom to develop their careers independently.
Continue reading (Audio)Book Review: ‘Square Haunting’ by Francesca WadeThanks to Killer Reads for my copy of this book, published by Harper Collins in January 2022. As always, opinions are my own.
This is the story of Rachel Reeves who seems to have an enviable life – she lives in luxury, wants for nothing, has a wealthy husband and a daughter heading off for university. However, Rachel seeks fulfilment and begins to search for it in a new job and an ill-advised fling with an ex-flame. When sinister things begin to happen, Rachel is left trying to solve the mystery of who is trying to ruin her perfect life…
This book is told from Rachel’s first person perspective, so the reader is immediately thrown into her world and understanding of situations. This allows the tension to build as the reader is working alongside Rachel to try to make sense of the strange events, from mysterious text messages to nosy neighbours, from unwanted gifts to incriminating photos.
The tension is well managed throughout so that Rachel’s situation becomes more and more precarious and dangerous – it’s cleverly managed that one indiscretion then has so many consequences and I did race through the book to get to the bottom of the mystery.
The only niggle that I had was that Rachel is not always a sympathetic figure – although she seems to be paying a high price for her single transgressive action, it was difficult to relate to someone who otherwise seemed to have everything. In the (slightly misquoted) words of sitcom ‘Friends’, it did sometimes feel a bit ‘my diamond shoes are too tight and my wallet is too small for my fifties!’
That aside, this is an enjoyable thriller that has moments of real tension and some surprises along the way. I (as usual) fell for every red herring and accused pretty much the entire cast of this novel of being behind Rachel’s downfall. Wrong every time.
Read if you like fast-paced domestic thrillers that will keep you reading long into the night.
If you’d like a copy of this book, please use my affiliate link below – thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases.
I love Jilly Cooper – her Rutshire Chronicles were pretty much my constant companions throughout my teens and twenties – and was so pleased to be granted access to read this collection of her journalism. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy in exchange for an honest review.
The book features a selection of Cooper’s journalism covering the period she wrote columns for The Times (roughly from the end of the 1960s to the early 1980s). As expected from Cooper, it features meditations on sex – the raunchy nature of her fiction books is well-known – but also mid-life, family, pets, domesticity, relationships and plenty more. It is also packed with humour – there’s lots of self-deprecation, witty turns of phrase, puns and plenty of Cooper’s ability to see the ridiculous in situations.
Continue reading Book Review: ‘Between the Covers’ by Jilly CooperI love historical fiction and this time period – James VI of Scotland succeeding to the throne after Elizabeth I and becoming James I of England. In my head, this is a time of Shakespeare, Macbeth, witch hunts and the Gunpowder Plot. Genuinely fascinating, and a precarious time to be part of the court, especially if you were gay as this was definitely not a time of tolerance.
Cue Francis Bacon – writer, philosopher and newly promoted to Attorney General under James I. And hiding his sexuality from all but the men he picks up for fleeting liaisons on the banks of the Thames.
Continue reading (Audio)Book Review: ‘The Dangerous Kingdom of Love’ by Neil BlackmoreI am so pleased to welcome you to my stop on the blog tour for ‘London Clay’ by Tom Chivers.
Thanks to Random Things Tours and Doubleday for inviting me on the tour and giving me a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
This gorgeous hardback book was published on 9th September, 2021.
I’ve been with Arrowood from the start of the series so I knew just what to expect in this fourth instalment – a fiendish mystery, grimy Victorian London and some great characters. Thanks to Mick Finlay and HQ for my copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, plus the invitation to join the blog tour.
I loved the first book in this series, ‘Dear Mrs Bird’, and couldn’t wait to get back into the 1940s world of Emmy Lake and her friends. Thanks to Camilla Elworthy and Picador Books for my copy in exchange for an honest review.
Continue reading Book Review: ‘Yours Cheerfully’ by A J Pearce
