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Release date: April 15, 2017

Publisher: Orenda Books

Genre: Crime Fiction 

Blurb: 

Oslo detectives Gunnarstranda and Frølich are back and this time, it’s personal… When the body of a woman turns up in a dumpster, scalded and wrapped in plastic, Inspector Frank Frølich is shocked to discover that he knows her and their recent meetings may hold the clue to her murder. As he ponders the tragic events surrounding her death, Frølich’s colleague Gunnarstranda investigates a disturbingly similar cold case involving the murder of a young girl in northern Norway and Frølich is forced to look into his own past to find the answers – and the killer – before he strikes again.

I’m delighted to be one of the stops on the blog tour for Faithless today! 

Review: 

Within the past few months I’ve become such a huge fan of a new to me genre, Nordic Noir. There’s something about this genre that really sucks me in, so when I heard that Orenda was publishing another translation, I knew I HAD to read this book. Karen Sullivan has such a fantastic eye for talent and she’s never sent me a book that I haven’t enjoyed and I’m pleased to say Faithless is another winner in my book. 

 Kjell Ola Dahl has been referred to as the father of this genre and after reading his work, I can certainly see why. There are two things that really capture my attention that a good Nordic Noir novel has; a stunningly atmospheric setting and a slow burning pace that has an underlying sense of discomfort and tension. This book has both of these elements in wonderfully appropriate amounts, but it also had some additions that added so much substance to the book. This is a classic police procedural where the cops are chasing down suspects the old fashioned way, they hit the streets. 

Though I jumped into this series with this book, it easily read fine as a standalone. I was able to work out the characters and their group dynamic fairly easily and I never felt like I was missing out on anything important. Frank was a bit of an enigma, there’s a mysterious edge about him, he’s isolated, dark and brooding, but extremely well crafted. 

I don’t want to say much about the plot, but it’s very cleverly done and there were many twists and red herrings. The writing is sharp, crisp and precise and though it’s a slow burner, in the end things really heat up. Everything culminates in a shocking conclusion that left me reeling in the best possible way. 

Overall rating: 4/5

Thanks to Karen at Orenda Books for my review copy. 

About the Author: 

One of the fathers of the Nordic Noir genre, Kjell Ola Dahl was born in 1958 in Gjøvik. He made his debut in 1993, and has since published eleven novels, the most prominent of which is a series of police procedurals cum psychological thrillers featuring investigators Gunnarstranda and Frølich.

In 2000 he won the Riverton Prize for The Last Fix and he won both the prestigious Brage and Riverton Prizes for The Courier in 2015. His work has been published in 14 countries, and he lives in Oslo.

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Release date: November 6, 2016

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Blurb: 

“University Lecturer David Ryan is having an affair. And he thinks no-one knows. 

He’s wrong. Someone does know. And that someone is out to blackmail him. 

But when the blackmail attempt goes wrong, both Ryan and the blackmailer find themselves dragged into an underground (and decidedly seedy) world of secrets, lies and violence. A world where no-one can be trusted and everyone has something to hide. 

Set in modern-day Dublin, ‘After the Affair’ is the debut psychological thriller from author Jonathan Kaye.” 

I’m THRILLED to be kicking off the blog tour for After the Affair today! I read this awhile back, but when the opportunity arose to participate in the blog tour, I couldn’t pass it up. This is one of my favorite reads so far this year and I think it deserves more exposure. 

Review: 

 After the Affair is Kaye’s debut novel, but let me tell you, it doesn’t read like a debut at all. The writing style reads like that of a seasoned novelist; the pacing was spot on and the plot itself? Utterly absorbing. 

This starts with one of those prologues that immediately draws you in, then flips ahead almost a year later to a completely unrelated storyline. (Or is it?) David Ryan is a married man with a young son, and he’s having an affair. He thinks that it’s his dirty little secret, but someone knows exactly what he’s been up too, and they’re not happy about it, so they begin to blackmail him. That’s as far as I’m going to delve into the plot details, but the basis of this book is the serious ramifications that David faces because of his choice to have an affair. 

I really admired the way Kaye got inside his characters heads, you get a very real sense of how they think and who they really are, warts and all. It’s not always a pretty picture, and David isn’t the most likable guy, but it’s raw and brutally honest. Besides David, you also get to know Martin. I don’t want to say exactly how he fits in, but he’s quite the rascal. The dialogue between these two felt so genuine, it read like a real conversation, no awkwardness to be found. 
I know this is a totally overused phrase, but it really was a page turner. As David’s entire life begins to fall apart, the hits just kept on coming and left my head spinning. The whole thing is a tumultuous ride that takes you on a journey into a seedy underworld, mainly that of the dark corners of the web. There is some very dark and twisted stuff here, sordid affairs and hard hitting, worrisome situations. The big twist was a stunner, the shock value was high but it wasn’t unbelievable. I highly recommend this for fans of psychological thrillers looking for a fresh twist on the whole cheating spouse plot.

Overall rating: 5/5

Thanks to the author for my review copy. 

About the Author: 

Jonathan Kaye is a stay-at-home dad who decided to write a thriller when his son started school. The house was tidy by ten every morning so what else was he gonna do till, like, three? Apart from drink coffee with moms – which he is very good at by the way. 

It took him a while to figure out the plot. He even had to use google to find out what policemen and judges and people like that did. Characters were easier. He just based one of them on himself and all the others on people he knew. Seriously it’s what all writers do. Why do you think Stephen King’s protagonist is invariably a novelist? 

Three years after starting out, he wrote the words ‘The End.’ It was quite the experience. Then he proofread and proofread and proofread again … but he knows there might still be one or two typos and he asks you to not be too upset by the fact. 

Finally, he’s sitting here now wondering why he’s writing about himself in the third person. It is making him feel important and aloof though!

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Release date: April 1, 2017

Publisher: Aria Fiction 

Genre: Crime Fiction 

Blurb: 

He’s watching, waiting… and counting. The next gripping seriel killer read in the DC ‘Charlie’ Stafford series, from the Bestselling author of MUMMY’S FAVOURITE.

He keeps each floating in Formaldehyde to stop them from rotting. Each finger denotes a victim, tortured and butchered, their heart ripped out and discarded, replaced instead by symbols of their treachery. He sits alone admiring his trophies weekly; each and everyone of them guilty in his eyes. And now more must pay. 

But who or what links the victims?

DC ‘Charlie’ Stafford is already investigating a series of escalating racist attacks and it now seems she has a vicious serial killer on her patch. With no leads and time running out, the team at Lambeth are at near breaking point. 

Something has to give… and all the while he’s watching, waiting… and counting. 

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for The Trophy Taker. I have my review and an extract to share with you today. 

Extract: 

DC Charlie Stafford eyed the custody screen with satisfaction. A charge of GBH and robbery was a great result, especially after the four solid months of hard work she’d put into this case. It was also particularly good to see that the Crown Prosecution Service had agreed to her application for the offence charged to be shown as having been racially aggravated. It was a difficult offence to prove but it carried a greater sentence and it was what her unit, the Community Support Unit, was tasked to investigate.

Led by Detective Inspector Geoffrey Hunter, or Hunter as he was better known, the CSU dealt with any cases involving domestic violence or offences targeting persons for their race, faith, sexual orientation or disability. The majority of their work related to domestic incidents, but in the last few years more and more victims of hate crimes were finding the strength to come forward. Taboos were being broken, victims becoming braver. Charlie’s unit was therefore becoming increasingly busy, their caseload greater and more varied and their diligence, persistence and hard work noticed by the local Senior Management Team at Lambeth. After their recent success in dealing with a particularly disturbing series of murders, the reputation of their team, and in particular Charlie, was heightened to such an extent that members of the unit, sometimes all of them, were seconded to assist the Murder Investigation Teams. It hadn’t been easy though.

The case in front of her now was as close to being a murder as was possible without the victim actually having died. For Charlie it had become almost a personal crusade to identify the perpetrator and get him incarcerated. She stood next to the suspect as the charge was read out.

‘On Friday 17th June 2016 at Estreham Road, SW16, you unlawfully and maliciously wounded Mr Moses Sinkler and the offence was racially aggravated within the terms of section 28 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention now, something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.’

Cornell Miller sniffed, wiped the back of his hand across his face and looked towards the clock, making it obvious he didn’t care as the caution was read out. He was thirty-eight years old, solidly built, with over six feet of rippling muscle, having spent his last term of imprisonment working out in the prison gym. He pulled his T-shirt up so that his stomach was exposed, rock hard and toned, and scratched languidly at the light smattering of fair hair that covered his skin, winking towards Charlie as he did so. She ignored him, instead concentrating on the words of the custody sergeant.

‘You are further charged that on Friday 17th June 2016 you did rob Mr Moses Sinkler in Estreham Road, SW16. That is contrary to section 8 Theft Act 1968.’

He had nothing to say, he never did, until the time came for his solicitor to ask for bail. This time though even his solicitor’s plea was lacklustre. There was no way Cornell Miller would be walking the streets for a good few years if Charlie had anything to do with it. He was scum. Pure unequivocal racist scum and the public, particularly those in the black and Asian communities needed to be protected from him.

The case had initially been assigned to her office because of the racist element to it. Her boss, Hunter, had given it to her to investigate and tonight was the culmination of all her work. She eyed Miller as he scratched his belly again, thinking about what he had done. She had thought of little else, since reading the details the first time.

It had been 5.15 a.m. when he had struck. 5.15 a.m., when there was hardly a soul on the streets to hear his victim’s screams; when there was no one to witness the excessive, unnecessary violence meted out on an unassuming, hard-working Jamaican man, nearing the end of an extended career spent coaching kids to play football. Moses Sinkler had been nipping to the local cashpoint to get twenty quid to give to the missus for some groceries when Cornell Miller had spotted him. Miller was coming down from a crack-cocaine high and needed some more cash to score some heroin before he went to bed, or else he’d never sleep – and he hadn’t slept for days.

He’d selected the venue well. It was the perfect place for a quick hit. A quiet backstreet with a remote cash machine, tucked into the rear approach to the local train station, still silent before the first train of the day at half five. He’d waited for the old Jamaican to withdraw his money; waited and watched and hoped that it would be a decent haul. Silently he’d taken a last draw of his cigarette, before grinding it into the ground and following Moses back across the road, stalking him like a predator, before he attacked.

But it was the manner of the assault that had really upset Charlie. A scare would have been all that was needed. Moses Sinkler was not a fighter. At seventy-two, he was too old to exchange blows; he would have done what he was told, handed over the cash, capitulated in the face of a much larger, stronger opponent. Cornell Miller barely said a word; his Stanley knife did all his talking, slicing across Moses’ face, neck, shoulders and back, time and time again as the old man screamed out in agony.

 Review: 

This is the second book in a series featuring Charlie Stafford but I jumped in with no problem at all. I warmed quickly to Charlie, she’s a good cop but she’s not jaded and disenchanted by her job, she’s still eager to find justice for victims of crime and she also has a fantastic sense of humor. The rest of the team she works with are also likable and there’s a genuine sense of family amongst them. Charlie is shuffling two cases at the same time, the first is a series of racially motivated attacks perpetrated by a real scumbag. When he manages to escape from prison, she’s bound and determined to ensure he gets back behind bars, and fast. The second is a series of murders where the killer removes the victims ring finger before brutally killing them. As Charlie struggles to find a connection between the victims, bodies keep popping up and she knows that it’s a race against the clock. 

Flint was a police officer for thirty five years and her knowledge is evident in her writing. It’s a standard police procedural and you can really tell it’s written by someone with firsthand experience. Sometimes in crime thrillers there are moments where things just don’t make sense and as an average citizen,even I can spot discrepancies. There was none of that here, everything seemed very genuine. It’s a dark, gritty, fast paced read and there were quite a few suspects to choose from making it all the more difficult for me to solve the puzzle, I definitely didn’t have things worked out. It was a solid read and one that would appeal to any crime fiction fans. 

Overall rating: 4/5

Thanks to the publisher for my review copy. 

About the Author: 

With a Metropolitan Police career spanning 35 years Sarah has spent her adulthood surrounded by victims, criminals and police officers. She continues to work and lives in London with her partner and has three older daughters.

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Release date: March 10, 2017

Publisher: Aria Fiction 

Genre: Chick Lit

Blurb: 

Second chances, new loves and scrumptious cakes, in this heart-warming novel. Perfect for all fans of Fern Britton, Katie Fforde and Cathy Bramley.
Following the tragic death of her beloved husband, Anna Hemingway decides it’s time for a fresh start. So Anna and her three-year-old daughter Ellie move to a picture-perfect cottage in the beautiful village of Little Somerby, and when she takes over the running of the village tea shop, Ellie and Anna start to find happiness again.
But things get complicated when Matthew Carter, the owner of the local cider farm, enters their lives. Throughout a whirlwind year of village fetes and ancient wassails, love, laughter, apple pie and new memories, life slowly blossoms again. But when tragedy strikes and history seems to be repeating itself, Anna must find the strength to hold onto the new life she has built.
This beautiful, life-affirming debut novel marks the beginning of the Little Somerby series, and promises to make you smile, cry, reach for a cream tea, and long for a life in the perfect English countryside.
Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for The Second Chance Tea Shop. I have my review and an extract to share today. 

Extract: 

1

‘Are we nearly there?’ A small voice came from the back seat of Anna Hemingway’s car.

We’re getting there, Anna thought. ‘Just a couple more minutes.’

As she drove, she kept half an eye on the scenes that presented themselves. Although she had been a regular visitor to Little Somerby, the Somerset village where she grew up, since she’d left eighteen years ago it had changed little from her last visit, yet as a soon-to-be resident once again she looked about her with fresh eyes.

‘Will there be a swing in the garden?’ Ellie asked.

‘I don’t know, darling. We can always get one if you want.’ Anna spotted the church on the corner, gravestones covered in a crisp shroud of frost, surrounded by yew trees. On the other side of the road was the village pub, The Stationmaster, site of countless drunken nights and teenage liaisons.

‘Tomorrow?’

‘Perhaps when we’ve settled in a bit.’

Continuing on she saw the Post Office and stores, now rather more organic and free range than she remembered. Next to that, the Village Hall, red-bricked and proudly declaiming its Temperance movement heritage. A little further on she passed the garage where she’d bought her first car, and then, the warm, inviting lights of The Little Orchard Tea Shop. She briefly glimpsed a couple of occupied tables through the bay window, and a shiver of anticipation went through her. Of all the decisions she’d made over the past few months, taking on a new job was the one that she’d agonised hardest about. But this move was intended to be a fresh start, a change to nearly every part of her life, and there was no doubt that managing a tea shop would provide plenty of change.

As she drove closer towards her new home, the sprawling land and buildings of the local cider farm – once a shed and a shop, now a thriving multinational business – loomed into view. Apart from the more dominant presence of the cider farm, so little in the village had changed; Anna found it difficult to believe that she had. But she was thirty-six years old, with a D-cup bra, a C-section scar and a three-year-old daughter. She was hardly the same hopeful girl who’d left the village to pursue education, a career, and later, love.

Love. Anna swallowed hard. They’d have been married ten years this spring. But she pushed that to the back of her mind; today was about taking the next step in her new life.

She felt a small stirring of excitement as she turned up Flowerdown Lane, which was a pleasant spot a little away from the main part of the village. Pippin Cottage was the last house on the right; one of only four houses. It was painted white with dark beams running from top to bottom. A curved oak door was set into the centre of the front of the cottage, protected from the elements by a slightly rickety porch. Three windows adorned the first floor and two further windows sat either side of the front door. The slate roof had been repaired extensively but still retained its aged charm. The front garden was enclosed by a stone wall with a rusty wrought-iron gate. At the end of the lane was an orchard of neatly ordered apple trees, their branches lying dormant now, but promising new life when the spring arrived.

Anna had chosen the cottage because it was close enough to the village to feel connected, but, being the last house on the lane, it also had a pleasantly secluded feel. She’d only viewed it once before putting in an offer, and she’d nearly been put off by the estate agent, who had been brusque to the point of rudeness while he showed her around, but she’d always wanted to own a cottage, and this one was practically the stuff of dreams. The fact that her absolute worst nightmare had come true, and allowed her the freedom to buy the place, was an agonising irony that tormented her, nearly two years on. The sharpness of loss pierced her heart once again and she had to draw in a calming, steadying breath.

‘Are you ready, darling?’ Opening her car door, she went to the back to get Ellie out. The little girl took approximately half a second to look around before she bounded through the garden gate and raced up the garden path.

‘Come on, Mummy!’ she called from the porch.

Anna pushed the car door shut and looked at her daughter hopping impatiently from foot to foot on the doorstep. It was time.

*

‘Well, as soon as you hear from them please can you get them to give me a ring?’ Anna pressed the end call button to the removal company and yet again cursed the fact she’d shoved her mobile phone charger in the last box that had been loaded onto the lorry. Only a few minutes behind her when they’d left, they still hadn’t turned up. Chucking the phone down on the lamentably empty kitchen worktop, Anna jumped as a deep bark rent the air, and, almost immediately, fuzzy black and white fur flying, a Border collie erupted from the hall into her kitchen. This was followed by an unmistakably outraged female voice. ‘Seffy! Come back here now!’

Despite the cold December day, Anna had left the dark oak door open to let in some light and a little fresh air, and as she made an abortive grab for the dog’s collar, she noticed its owner silhouetted in the door frame. Dark-haired, pale-skinned and slender, as she turned towards Anna and dropped her hand from the door, Anna saw a generous red-lipped mouth and the most startling blue eyes she’d ever seen. The girl was clad in dark jeans and an oversized striped jumper, combined with ballet pumps that were totally unsuitable for the December weather.

‘I’m so sorry,’ the girl’s voice was low, modulated and hinted at a public school education. ‘I tried to get him on the lead before we got to the gate, but he outsmarted me.’

Anna smiled. ‘No harm done.’ As soon as the collie saw his mistress he trotted obediently back to her.

Looping the dog’s lead through his collar, the girl smiled apologetically. ‘I’m Meredith. But most people call me Merry.’ She glanced back at the dog. ‘And this is Sefton.’

‘It’s nice to meet you,’ Anna said, reaching forward to pat the dog. ‘I’m Anna, and, somewhere in the house is my daughter Ellie.’

‘So you’re moving in today?’ Merry asked.

‘Yup, if the removal company ever get here. I’d offer you a cup of tea, but I don’t have my kettle!’ She glanced around the kitchen. The Rayburn – something else she’d always wanted in the kitchen of her dreams – squatted dull yellow and imposing against one wall of the kitchen, its top scrubbed clean. Anna was a keen baker and she was looking forward to learning how to cook on it, especially in light of the new job she was going to be taking on in a week or two. She hoped the previous owner had left the instruction manual, as she didn’t know where to start with it.

‘Thanks for the offer anyway, but I can’t stop. Seffy’s been bugging me for a walk all day and he needs all the exercise he can get. Whenever he sees an open door he takes it as an invitation! Sorry about that.’

‘It’s fine,’ Anna replied. ‘I’m sure he won’t be the last visitor!’

‘No, definitely not,’ Meredith rolled her eyes. ‘The local gossips will be on your doorstep in no time, so be careful. I’d install CCTV if I were you, or get a dog yourself to chase them off!’

‘Thanks for the warning. I’ll keep that in mind.’

‘Well, welcome to the village – hopefully catch up with you again soon,’ Meredith turned on her heel and wandered back out.

As she stood in the doorway, she saw the girl disappear up to the end of the lane, open the five-bar gate that marked the entrance to the orchard and walk through. If all the teenagers in the village looked like that, Anna reflected, then things really had changed over the time she’d lived away.

A buzz from her mobile interrupted her thoughts. Walking back to the kitchen, she found a message from the movers blaming a pile-up on the M5 for their non-appearance. Anna winced and locked her screen again, willing her thoughts not to wander. In the meantime, she figured she’d look in on her best friend Charlotte, who lived two doors down. Charlotte had texted that morning demanding to know exactly when Anna was arriving. The fact that she would be living so close to her oldest school friend was another reason she’d swiftly put an offer in on Pippin Cottage. Anna had the feeling she was going to need friends and family around her in the next few weeks and months. Guiltily, she realised she’d not texted Charlotte back. She really must get a grip and crack on with things. After all, she’d arranged to meet Ursula Rowbotham, the owner of the tea shop, at six o’clock and it was edging up to three o’clock now.

First, though, she decided to set up the Rayburn, which ran the central heating as well as providing the main source of cooking in the kitchen. There had been some wrangling between solicitors about the Rayburn before the exchange of contracts, but she’d been assured that it would be serviced and fuelled before completion. As she turned knobs and fiddled with switches, however, she quickly realised the huge iron beast wasn’t going to work. That’s all I need, she thought. No furniture, no broadband and now no bloody central heating! Biting back her irritation, she punched out the estate agent’s number on her mobile. After a brief exchange, one of the agents assured her they’d contact the previous owner and get someone round as soon as possible, so Anna decided to cut her losses.

‘Come on, Munchkin,’ she called to Ellie, who was spinning around in circles in the empty living room. ‘Let’s go and find Charlotte and Evan.’ Taking the slightly dizzy toddler’s hand, she closed the old front door behind her and went in search of her best friend.

Review: 

I have to start by gushing over this absolutely beautiful cover, doesn’t it just scream springtime?! I adore it and what’s inside is just as sweet and lovely. Anna is a widow and trying to start a new life for herself and her three year old daughter, Ellie. She moves to the quaintest little village to run a tea shop and though I know it’s not real, I would still really like to visit it myself!  There’s something about all these sweet shops, bakeries and tea shops that always pop up in books set in the U.K. that always appeals to me. 

Though Anna has no intention of dating anytime soon, she meets Matthew who runs a local cider farm and can’t fight their growing connection. I really liked that this wasn’t one of those books where two people meet, fall in love instantly and everything is utterly perfect, they experience a few bumps in the road. Anna is quite mature and guarded so she takes her time in her new relationship which was very refreshing and appreciated. It follows Anna’s life over the course of a year and is broken up into sections based on the season. I loved experiencing the village through Anna’s eyes and seeing how it looked and felt during all the months of the year. 

This was an uplifting read about getting a second chance at not only love, but at life in general. Ellie and Matthew’s teenaged daughter Merry really stole the show and were a great added bonus to the story. This was a light, easy read full of whimsy and hope, one that kept me flicking the pages rapidly as I was so hopeful that Anna would find true happiness. She grows and evolves so much over the course of the book and watching her relationship with Matthew blossom was so sweet and romantic. Is there anything more endearing than watching a love story unfold?! 

Overall rating: 4/5

Thanks to Aria Fiction for my review copy. 

About the Author: 

Fay Keenan was born in Surrey and raised in Hampshire, before finally settling back in the West Country. When Fay is not chasing her children around or writing, she teaches English at a local secondary school. She lives with her husband of fourteen years, two daughters, a cat, two chickens and a Weimaraner called Bertie in a village in Somerset, which may or may not have provided the inspiration for Little Somerby.

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Release date: March 31, 2017

Publisher: Bookouture 

Genre: Historical Fiction 

Blurb: 

Brighton 1930: Maureen O’Connell is a carefree girl, but her family is on the brink of tragedy, war is looming and life will never be the same again. 

Jack and Nelson have always been dear friends to Maureen. Despite their different backgrounds, they’ve seen each other through thick and thin. 

As Maureen blossoms from a little girl into a young woman, the candle she’s always held for Jack burns bright. But just as she’s found love, war wrenches them apart. The man she cherishes with all her heart is leaving. 

When the bombs start to fall, Maureen and her family find themselves living in the most dangerous of times. With Jack no longer by her side and Nelson at war, Maureen has never felt more alone. Can she look to a brighter future? And will she find the true happiness she’s dreamt of? 

An utterly gripping and heart-wrenching story about the enduring power of love, hope and friendship during the darkest of days. Perfect for fans of Pam Jenoff, Nadine Dorries and Diney Costeloe. 

I’m so happy to welcome you to my stop on the blog tour for When We Danced at the End of the Pier. 

Oh my goodness, this was such a gorgeous read! It was one of those books that truly transports you to a different place and time, I was totally swept away by this lovely story. 

It begins when Maureen is just a young girl, she has a simple life and a loving family who she adores. Her father is battling demons from the war so he cares for her and her sister, Brenda while her mother works to provide for their family. When they move to Brighton she quickly makes friends with three other young people; Jack who also lives on See Saw Lane, Nelson who is Jack’s best friend, and Monica her new best friend. These four had the most touching friendship, it was so sweet. As they grow up together, it seems a war is imminent and though they’re all frightened, they have each other. 

This read like an epic saga, it had bittersweet romances, tragedy, picturesque scenery, family drama, many moments of laughter and so much heartbreak. I don’t often cry when reading but Taylor caused me to shed more than a few tears, it was that moving. It was a captivating read and one that I won’t soon forget. The characters were so full of depth, the sort that burrow into your heart and steal a piece of it by the end. It was spectacular and I would love to see it play out on the big screen, I highly recommend this one to fans of historical fiction. 

Overall rating: 5/5

Thanks to Bookouture for my review copy and to Kim Nash for urging me to read this, I’m so grateful. 

About the Author: 

Sandy Taylor grew up on a council estate near Brighton. There were no books in the house, so Sandy’s love of the written word was nurtured in the little local library. Leaving school at fifteen, Sandy worked in a series of factories before landing a job at Butlins in Minehead. This career change led her to becoming a singer, a stand up comic and eventually a playwright and novelist.

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Release date: March 8, 2017

Genre: Mystery/Suspense 

Blurb:

A Presence of Absence is the first book in The Odense Series. Although this is a solid crime novel, it also begins and ends with grief for many of the characters, personal demons and life decisions.

A gritty murder case gets in the way of the characters’ everyday lives and sends the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen, the Danish city of Odense, into a panic.

British detective Simon Weller escapes the fallout from the recent suicide of his Danish wife, Vibeke and heads out to her home city of Odense. But once there he is paired up with a local detective, Jonas, who is also about to his rock bottom in his home life, and they must overcome their differences and personal problems to try and catch one of the worst serial killers Odense has ever seen. The case takes them back into past decades as history starts catching up with some of the local inhabitants. When Simon realises that his wife’s suicide may not be all it seems and her name appears in the cas, his integrity within the case is compromised, how far will he go to find out the truth of Vibeke’s past and hide it from his already troubled police partner?

Back home in London Simon’s family are struggling with their own web of lies and deceit and the family is falling apart.

With one family hiding a dark secret, the whole case is just about to reach breaking point. 

Review: 

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for A Presence of Absence! 

This is the first book in a new series from authors Surgey and Vestrheim and is a blend of Nordic Noir and classic British crime. I’m always equally fascinated and skeptical when authors team up and write together, I worry that you’ll be able to tell that there are two different people writing the book and that there will be two completely distinct voices. Fortunately they work extremely well together and I wouldn’t have been able to even guess it was written by a duo unless I already knew. 

Simon is grieving after he lost his wife when she committed suicide and he left his job as a police detective in England. He moves to Odense on a whim to live in the town his beloved grew up in hoping to be able to come to terms with his loss. Jonas lives in Odense and is also a police officer, but instead of climbing the ranks after several years, he’s relegated to being a traffic cop. When Simon accepts a job and is partnered up with Jonas, these two unsteady new partners must find a way to solve a murder staged as suicide with dark links to an old, unknown case. 

Earlier I spoke of a blending of genres and with Simon as a English detective and Jonas as a Danish police officer, you can see how things fit together. There was a fairly large cast of secondary characters that were all well drawn, and despite their seeming insignificance to the plot, they all added something to the story in the end. Everyone had an interesting backstory of some sort and the characterization was excellent overall. The prologue and epilogue were both very strong and though the case was solved in the end, the epilogue was fantastic and left things wide open for the planned sequel. 

 This was really atmospheric, the farmland of Odense was well represented and easy for me to imagine and I was reminded of Ragnar Jonasson’s Ari Thor series as well as Sara Blaedel’s writing style. If you’re a fan of either of those two or of Nordic Noir in general you may like this one. 

Overall rating: 4/5

Thanks to the authors for my review copy. 

About the Authors: 

Sarah Surgey is a 36 year old British feature writer for various magazines. She lives in the UK with her husband and 4 daughters.

She has had an interest in all things Nordic for many years and has written about many genres within this subject for publication. Although British, she has Danish family and enjoys exploring Denmark and its culture whenever the opportunity arrives.

Sarah was brought up with crime books and inevitably has always had crime story scenarios going around inside her head. After interviewing many famous authors for different magazines within the Nordic literary circle and always knowing the answer to her question of “why did you start writing?” she felt now was her time to get her stories out there, for people to read!

Emma Vestrheim is the owner and editor-in-chief of Cinema Scandinavia, a Nordic film and television journal that analyses popular Nordic titles. Part of her work includes working with directors, actors and filmmakers, and her numerous interviews with the biggest names in Nordic film and television have given her a privileged access to what makes Nordic narratives so successful. Cinema Scandinavia publishes bimonthly and is available in major Nordic film libraries.

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Release date: March 21, 2017

Genre: Romantic Comedy 

Blurb: 

She’s a work in progress . . .

Bailey Meredith has had it. As an assistant at a prestigious interior design firm, she’s tired of making coffee and filing invoices. She’ll do just about anything to get out from under the paperwork and into the field for real experience. Then she sees an ad for a job that seems too good to be true. 

He’s a fixer upper . . .

Wilder Aldrich knew she would be perfect for the crew the moment he saw her. His hit home improvement show only hired the best, and Bailey had potential written all over her. It isn’t just her imaginative creativity and unmatched work ethic that grabs his attention. There’s just something about her. 

With chemistry on screen, it’s only a matter of time before sparks fly behind the scenes as well. But with Bailey’s jaded views on romance and a big secret that could destroy Wilder and everyone he cares about, are either of them willing to risk it all for love?

I’m so happy to be one of the stops on the blog tour for Playing House! This was such a cute, fun read, perfect for fans of those fixer upper type reality TV shows, I loved it. I’m sharing an excerpt today to whet your appetite then my review will follow. There’s also a giveaway linked at the very end you can enter! 

Excerpt: 

Keeping a close distance, she followed Waverly up the cracked path to the house. Bailey took quick mental notes of her surroundings. The exterior needed a lot of work. The sagging roof missing gutters made her think they’d find the inside in similar disarray. They stepped through the front door, nearly tripping over Wilder Aldrich, who was measuring the entryway.

 

“Hey!” He sprang to his feet and out of their way. “What did I tell you about waiting until I gave you the all clear?”

 

“You were taking for-frickin’-ever, and some of us were freezing our tits off.” She pursed her lips and took on a warrior stance, seemingly daring him to say something else.

 

Conceding victory to her, Wilder turned and flashed an apologetic grin at Bailey. “Hey.” He offered a hand. Warmth permeated through the thin material of her glove. “Welcome to Casa de Waverly.”

 

Giving him a smug grin, Waverly sipped her coffee and faced Bailey. “Do you have a smart phone?”

 

Bailey stared blankly for a second, still dazzled by seeing Wilder up close. But she quickly snapped to attention and dug her phone out of her coat pocket.

 

“Good,” Waverly said after inspecting it. “While you’re on the job, I’d like you to snap some photos for our social media accounts. I’ll want to vet everything before we post it, but we need to start building the buzz for the next season while we’re filming. In exchange, we’ll cover your phone payments to take care of your data usage. Understood?”

 

“I can do that.”

 

“Good. Now . . .” She pulled out her own phone. It was the latest model that had come out on the market a month ago. With all of its reported bells and whistles, it put Bailey’s poor phone to shame. “I’m going to make a quick call. I’ll be back in a few minutes, and we can get started on,” she gestured around her, “this mess.”

 

She spun on her heel and waltzed out of the room, cooing into the phone.

 

Wilder cleared his throat, and Bailey turned to give him her full attention. She estimated he was only a couple of years older than herself—maybe in his late twenties or early thirties. He looked younger in real life than he did on TV. He was leaner and a little shorter—though she still had to crane her neck a little to meet his gaze.

 

He was also more handsome. Not the GQ model, your tongue-sticks-to-the-top-of-your-mouth kind of sexy. But he was hot in the same way the guy you sat next to in Chemistry was. It was enough to distract you from formulas and Bunsen burners every so often, but not enough that you’d ever set the lab on fire or forget to finish your final exam.

 

So far, he seemed much more serious. Where was the guy who scared Waverly with a stuffed dummy in a closet in the last episode she’d watched before calling an end to the marathon?

 

He was, she realized, studying her every bit as closely, with those hazel eyes speckled with green. Noting that, she didn’t feel quite as rude taking mental notes on the man in front of him.

 

At least she looked good. She’d laid out three outfits that morning in the hotel room. The first was a long, silky turquoise tunic that she’d paired with a pair of black leggings and knee-high boots. It was similar to the clothes Waverly favored on screen—only hers weren’t name-brand knockoffs. Then she had the casual jeans, a gray T-shirt that she could dress-up with a navy blue blazer. And there was option three: dark-wash, fit jeans, a chambray shirt, and a scarf. It was an ensemble that fell somewhere in the middle. It was the one that looked the most like her when she inspected herself in the mirror.

 

It was the one that felt most like her now in the middle of the foyer.

 

She wondered what he saw when he looked at her. Did he see a confident young woman ready to tackle major projects adeptly? Or did he see someone who was desperate to create, no matter what happened? Both were correct, but which one shone through right now?

 

Like a light switch, that triggered something in her. She offered her hand again. “We haven’t officially met. I’m Bailey Meredith.”

Review: 

My husband and I are in the process of building a house right now and to say he’s obsessed with HGTV is putting it mildly. He always has it on when we’re home and though I didn’t see the appeal of these types of shows at first, they’ve admittedly grown on me. There’s something so satisfying about seeing a whole remodel or renovation being completed in thirty minutes, even if I know it’s unrealistic. Getting to see behind the scenes of a home improvement show AND adding in funny romance was like a match made in heaven for me. 

Bailey was just a doll, the perfect lead character for a rom com, and I would totally watch the movie version of Playing House. She’s passionate about interior design and when the opportunity to work as an assistant designer on one of the top rated shows for the Design Network arises, she’s pretty excited. Waverly and Wilder are the couple behind an uber successful TV series, they have an adorable four year old daughter, Virginia and seem to be living a dream life. But not is all as it seems, and Bailey soon finds out that besides clever editing and sneaky reshoots, Waverly and Wilder are keeping some pretty big personal secrets as well.

This one was just a ball of fun and had such a great energy. Wilder and Bailey had indisputable chemistry despite some complications and reservations on both ends. Wilder oozed sex appeal, as a Texas native he had the whole gentlemanly, southern charm routine nailed. Besides those two, there was a great supporting cast of likable characters. Paige is Bailey’s older sister, Felix is one of the crew, Renée is the shows producer, and then Waverly and little Virginia round it all out. They all brought something unique to the table and I would love to see more of any of them and am hoping the author has plans to turn this into a series? If you’re looking for a sexy, flirty read with a few surprises thrown in along the way, look no further. 

Overall rating: 4/5

Thanks to the author for my review copy. 

About the Author: 

Laura Chapman is the author of First & Goal, Going for Two, Three & Out, The Marrying Type, and Playing House. A native Nebraskan, she loves football, Netflix marathons, and her cats, Jane and Bingley. She loves talking to readers. You can connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. You can also get the latest news from her website, blog, and monthly newsletter. 
***Giveaway***

This month, during the Playing House blog tour, you can enter the Rafflecopter below for a chance to win one of 1 free Audible copy each of The Marrying Type, First & Goal, Going for Two or 1 $20 Amazon gift card. Enter here.