Month: November 2018

cover reveal

#CoverReveal Dead Memories by Angela Marsons. #DeadMemories #KimStone @bookouture @WriteAngie

if only I could read faster

Well, this is exciting!!! A new Angela Marsons Kim Stone book is coming soon!! I’m delighted to be part of the cover reveal for Dead Memories. You can read the blurb and see the amazing cover below but if you are like me then you won’t really care about either because you know that you are going to read the book regardless. So here is the link to pre-order Dead Memories so that it drops magically onto your Kindle at midnight on publication day.

Blurb:

She ruined their lives.  Now they’re going to destroy hers.  

‘Someone is recreating every traumatic point in your life.  They are doing this to make you suffer, to make you hurt and the only possible end game can be death.  Your death.’

On the fourth floor of Chaucer House, two teenagers are found chained to a radiator.  The boy is dead but the girl is alive. For Detective Kim Stone every detail of the scene mirrors her own terrifying experience with her brother Mikey, when they lived in the same tower block thirty years ago.

When the bodies of a middle-aged couple are discovered in a burnt-out car, Kim can’t ignore the chilling similarity to the death of Erica and Keith – the only loving parents Kim had ever known. 

Faced with a killer who is recreating traumatic events from her past, Kim must face the brutal truth that someone wants to hurt her in the worst way possible.  Desperate to stay on the case, she is forced to work with profiler Alison Lowe who has been called in to observe and monitor Kim’s behaviour.

Kim has spent years catching dangerous criminals and protecting the innocent.  But with a killer firmly fixed on destroying Kim, can she solve this complex case and save her own life or will she become the final victim?

The heart-stopping and totally addictive new crime thriller from multi-million copy number one bestseller Angela Marsons will have you completely hooked.

 

deadmemories

Read what everyone is saying about the Detective Kim Stone series:

‘Marsons for me is the QUEEN of this genre. She knows how to add the human touch to each story and I just adore her. Bloody FABULOUS.’ Postcard Reviews

I absolutely loved it!… one of the best crime thrillers I’ve read in a long time, and that includes mainstream authors such as James Patterson! Fiona’s Book Reviews

‘WOW! Did I just read what I thought I read?… I felt totally gut-punched when I finished. Came back to it a day later and re-read the entire book again just to make sure I had read it correctly the first time. Had the stuffing knocked out of me all over again… Totally in awe.’ Goodreads Reviewer, 5 stars

‘It’s Angela Marsons, so five stars, ’nuff said… Gripping, intriguing, thrilling, addictive, fantastic… emotional and heart-breaking… I finished this late, sobbing my heart out… Read this book. Just do it… One of the very best detective series around.’ Deja Read, 5 stars

‘I truly don’t know what to say… Somehow Angela Marsons manages smash the brilliantness of the last book and better it tenfold… A first-class read that I feel will be difficult to top… This has certainly gone onto my 2018 MUST READ list’ILoveReadinguk, 5 stars

NaNoWriMo, rambling

NaNoWriMo 2018. How did it go? @NaNoWriMo #NaNoWriMo #NaNoWriMo18 #HarryPotter #cake #twins #birthday #amwriting

if only I could read faster

Woohoo!! So yes, I managed to do NaNoWriMo this year and in fifteen days (one day more than last year but I’m genuinely not bothered about that).

In some ways NaNo was quite difficult this year, but that was because of everything other than NaNo that was going on in my life. The actual writing was actually pretty easy.

This was partly because I really enjoyed writing this book, it is different to anything that I’ve tried to write before and it is definitely a book that I would want to read. I enjoyed so much about it and seeing how my characters developed. The words most days flew out of me and I loved it. 

I had less doubt and worry that it was a load of rubbish than before too which was nice. But now comes the hard part. It seems that it is easy for me to finish NaNo, but it is very hard for me to finish the book. And the frustrating thing is that when I finished the 50,000 words for NaNo I really wanted to carry on, I was at an exciting part of the story and I wanted to know what was going to happen (I’m a total panster and the book goes where it wants to go). 

But for those that read my previous NaNo post, you’ll know that I wasn’t going to be able to carry on writing. First I had to make a cake for my twins birthday party, and turning eight is very important. And I also needed to prepare for an operation that I’m having tomorrow. I’m not going to be able to drive, lift, bend, reach, do normal things for weeks or maybe even months. 

As much as I love my children, at the age of eight they aren’t really going to be that much help. I’ve been trying to teach them to load the dishwasher, which it seems is a skill that is beyond an eight year old. Life is sure going to be interesting!

But I don’t know how much writing I will be able to do as I recover, I’m really hoping that I’ll get lots done but I’m trying to be realistic. 

And for those of you that would like to see it, here is a photo of the cake. The iced figures were made by myself and my children, I think that they did a pretty great job and I’m very proud of my golden snitch! 

4*, blog tours, book review

#BlogTour #BookReview Last Light by Helen Phifer.

if only I could read faster

Last Light - Blog Tour

I’m so excited about being part of this blog blitz for Last Light by Helen Phifer. It has been about a year since the last book in the Lucy Harwin series and it has been too long a wait!

My Review:

I really like Helen Phifer and her Lucy Harwin series and so when I saw that there was a new one coming out I knew that I had to read it.

I was happily reading Last Light but I have to admit that I was getting a bit confused, some of what Lucy was saying just wasn’t making sense and I was worrying that my memory was failing me. After a few more times of this happening I decided to read the blurb, something that I rarely do before I read a book. It was then that I realised that this was, in fact, a prequel. Once I knew that I got right back into the book and it all made sense.

So if you have read the previous books in the Lucy Harwin series then you will love this book. If you haven’t read any then you will also love this book but perhaps you should read it before you read the other books in the series.

I really like Lucy Harwin, she isn’t perfect, far from it, but she’s real and she isn’t a hugely amazingly talented detective that manages to solve crimes that would stump any other detective, as can often be the case in detective books. She’s real, she struggles, she has self doubt and she really, really cares.

The author also has a great way of coming up with crimes that are really rather unpleasant, which adds to the story and the tension and the urgency. With this one, I worked out who the killer was very early on but that didn’t impact the read for me at all as I often doubted what I’d thought. I really liked how we got the back story of the killer so we understood why he was killing those that he was, and a kind of understanding of how he became a killer.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Last Light by Helen Phifer, if you like your female detective series then this is a great series for you to try!

Thank you to Bookouture for a copy of Last Light by Helen Phifer. I was under no obligation to review the book and all thoughts are my own.

 

Blurb:

Last-Light-KindleLucy watches the pathologist leave, then turns to the nameless victim on the table. ‘I promise I will catch whoever did this to you,’ she whispers.

In charge of a new team, Detective Lucy Harwin is called out to attend the discovery of a woman’s body in an abandoned, crumbling church, and is quickly plunged into a case that will test her leadership skills to the limit.

With no leads except the crudely-fashioned crucifix the victim was displayed on, Lucy is at a complete loss. That is, until another body turns up: an elderly woman who devoted her life to the church.

Faced with a killer stalking the streets of her small coastal town, while also throwing herself into work to forget the love of her life, Lucy’s first case is turning into a nightmare.

Linking the killer to the church where her own teenage daughter volunteers, it seems the threat is quickly drawing closer to Lucy and those she loves. Can she catch this monster and prevent a tragedy that will tear her world apart?

An addictive and unputdownable crime thriller that will hook fans of Patricia Gibney, LJ Ross and Angela Marsons from the very first page.

About The Author:

Helen Phifer author pictureHelen Phifer lives in a small town called Barrow-in-Furness with her husband and five children.

Helen has always loved writing and reading. Her love of horror films and novels is legendary. Helen adores reading books which make the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. Unable to find enough scary stories to read she decided to write her own.

 

Author Social Media Links:

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Helenphifer1

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

Twitter:      https://twitter.com/helenphifer1

Website:     https://www.helenphifer.com

Last Light by Helen Phifer is out on 16th November 2018 and is available from Amazon, iBooks, Kobo and Google Books.

4*, blog tours, book review

#BlogTour #BookReview The Night Visitor by Patrick Redmond. @PRedmondAuthor @BooksManatee #TheNightVisitor

if only I could read faster

The-Night-Visitor-(NEW)

I’m very excited to be on the blog tour for The Night Visitor by Patrick Redmond today.

My Review:

Well, where do I start with this review? I really wasn’t sure what to expect when I started to read The Night Visitor by Patrick Redmond, I’m not really a fan of supernatural books but this one sounded interesting and I was keen to read it.

The book starts with Meg as a young girl, she loves her sister and her mum, she loves her dad too but she knows a bit more about what he’s going to do in the future than most people and so isn’t quite so keen on him.

I absolutely loved this part of the book, Meg was a brilliant character and the love that she had for her sister and Mother shone through every page and I have to admit that I was sad when the book moved forward to when Meg was an adult.

I’d had no doubt that Meg would do well for herself, and sure enough, she had. Well on paper anyway but in reality, she was incredibly sad and lonely and kept trying to run from her troubles.

She moves from bustling London to a small village in Cornwall and soon starts to feel at home. She befriends her neighbour, Dan, and they unexpectedly become friends. But soon enough creepy things start happening to Meg as her past starts to catch up with her. Unable to ignore it Meg decides to go with it and see where it takes her, not knowing that her life was going to change dramatically as a result.

I have to admit that I wasn’t always sure about Dan and Meg’s relationship, their friendship happened so quickly and sometimes it felt a little bit convenient for the story. But that is my only gripe as I really enjoyed reading The Night Visitor, I desperately wanted Meg to solve the puzzle and most of all, I wanted her to be happy. Clever writing makes you care like that about a character, and I really did care.

If you like your thrillers to have some added creepiness then this book is for you, even if you’re not so sure about the creepy element then go with it, it works in this story and it fits and it makes for a different read but one that makes you think and that was really fun to read.

Thank you to Manatee Books for a copy of The Night Visitor by Patrick Redmond. I was under no obligation to review the book and all thoughts are my own.

Blurb:

The Night Visitor CoverWhen does a gift become a curse?

Meg has a gift. She can change lives. But when tragedy strikes in childhood she vows never to use it again.
Now an adult, she is living in Cornwall; a place where the elements themselves have a life of their own. When they call she refuses to listen, fearful of the dark places where her gift can lead.

But the dead will not be silenced. They are stronger than her. And now they have chosen she is powerless to escape…

 

The Night Visitor by Patrick Redmond is out now and is available from Amazon UK and Amazon US.