Month: July 2019

4*, blog tours, book review, psychological thriller

#BlogTour #BookReview Stop At Nothing by Tammy Cohen. @MsTamarCohen #StopAtNothing @PenguinUKBooks @annecater #PsychThriller

if only I could read faster

As a big Tammy Cohen fan I was delighted to be asked to be part of the blog tour and jumped at the chance to read her new book, Stop At Nothing.

Thank you to Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for asking me to be part of the blog tour. I received a copy of the book from the publishers, I was under no obligation to review the book and all thoughts are my own.

My Review:

Tammy Cohen is an author I love, but not all of her books have been great. Tammy has written under other names, including Tamar Cohen and Rachel Rhys so it is quite possible you have read a book by the author without realising it.

I was excited to read Stop At Nothing, not only did the blurb sound good but I have read some crackingly good psychological thrillers from the author before.

As parents we want to protect our children, so I could totally empathise with Tess who struggled when her daughter was attacked on her way home late one night. A horrible situation and as Tess was already fragile thanks to her recent marriage breakdown and redundancy.

There was a lot to like about Stop At Nothing but I really disliked Tess, sure she had been through a tough time but she was full of self pity and self obsession that at times I wanted to shout at her. Not to mention how blinkered and obsessive she was.

I also thought that had it all figured out quite early on and wanted the book to hurry up and tell me whether I was right or not.

But, having said that, I enjoyed reading Stop At Nothing, it was well written, well researched and was an interesting story that was even more interesting after I read the acknowledgments at the end.

One more thing I will say about Tess is that she has very good taste in dog names, her dog is called Dotty which is the same as my dog. It was a bit strange reading about her Dotty, especially at certain points but you’ll get that when you read the book.

If you like psychological thrillers then Stop At Nothing by Tammy Cohen is a good book for you. I do think the author has written better books but don’t let that put you off.

Blurb:

A mother’s job is to keep her children safe.

Tess has always tried to be a good mother. Of course, there are things she wishes she’d done differently, but doesn’t everyone feel that way?

Then Emma, her youngest, is attacked on her way home from a party, plunging them into a living nightmare which only gets worse when the man responsible is set free

But what if she fails?

So when Tess sees the attacker in the street near their home, she is forced to take matters into her own hands. But blinded by her need to protect her daughter at any cost, might she end up putting her family in even greater danger?

There’s nothing she wouldn’t do to make it right . . .

About The Author:

Tammy Cohen (who previously wrote under her formal name Tamar Cohen) has a growing backlist of acclaimed novels of domestic noir including:The Mistress’s Revenge, The War of the Wives, and Someone Else’s Wedding. 

Her break-out psychological suspense thriller was The Broken, followed by Dying for Christmas, First One Missing and When She Was Bad. 

She lives in North London with her partner and three (nearly) grown children, plus one badly behaved dog. 

Chat with her on Twitter @MsTamarCohen

Stop At Nothing by Tammy Cohen is out on 18th July 2019 and is available from Amazon UK and Amazon US.

4*, blog tours, book review, series

#BlogTour #BookReview The Girl In The Grave by Helen Phifer. @helenphifer1 @bookouture #TheGirlInTheGrave #BooksOnTour

if only I could read faster

When I heard that Helen Phifer had a new series coming out I knew that I wanted to read it, although I was slightly miffed that she was not writing another book in the Detective Lucy Harwin series that I enjoy reading! But all is forgiven.

I received a copy of this book from the publishers. I was under no obligation to review the book and all thoughts are my own.

My Review:

This book starts with a bang when what should be a routine exhumation turns into something far more sinister when they find a body that had been under the now removed coffin. Detective Josh Walker is called to investigate the unexpected body, aided by Beth Adams, the pathologist who will examine the body.

Things quickly take a turn for the worst when another young woman goes missing and it is clear that the two were taken by the same man. Will they manage to find the second woman before it’s too late?

We quickly find out that there is more to Josh and Beth than a working relationship, after Josh helped rescue Beth from an attack that changed her life in many ways.

I really liked Beth as a character, there was something about her that I really liked and identified with. We found out less about Josh but he seems to be a promising character.

As always with Helen Phifer books, The Girl In The Grave is fast paced, easy to read and thrilling. It always takes a few books in a new series to properly settle in and become part of a the readers lives and for the characters to feel like part of our world, but I can see Beth settling into my character family very quickly.

I will most definitely be reading more books in this series and pretty much any book by Helen Phifer.

 Blurb:

At least they’d found her. Once the site was processed and the girl’s body removed, they’d be able to identify her so that her family could give her the burial she deserved. This innocent girl was far too young to be lying in a grave, crushed under the weight of someone else’s coffin…

When the body of a teenage girl is found hidden inside a stranger’s grave in a small-town cemetery in the Lake District, an urgent call is made to Forensic Pathologist Beth Adams. One look at the beautiful girl’s broken body is enough to bring Beth out of hiding for the first time since an attempt on her own life…

Beth doesn’t believe it’s a coincidence that the victim was found the same day a threatening gift was left on the doorstep of her secluded home. Her instincts are telling her that it’s a trap, that she should run for safety. But she knows she’s the only one with the expertise to help her trusted friend, Detective Josh Walker, crack the most shocking case of his career.

The tiny traces of material Beth finds beneath the victim’s fingernails is the break in the case the team need to chase down this twisted killer. But this critical lead comes at a dangerous price, exposing Beth’s whereabouts and dragging her back into the line of fire once again.

With Beth’s own life on the line, the investigation is already cracking under the pressure. Then another local girl goes missing… Can Beth stay alive long enough to catch the killer before he claims his next victim?

An absolutely gripping new crime thriller that will grab fans of Patricia Gibney, LJ Ross and Angela Marsons from the very first page and leave them gasping for breath by the last.

 

 

About The Author:

Helen 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

 

Amazon: https://geni.us/B07QQ34JBXSocial

Apple Books: https://apple.co/2Phxl95

Kobo: https://bit.ly/2IE3SEY

Googleplay: http://ow.ly/APUL30osVA4

5*, blog tours, book review, crime thriller

#BlogTour #BookReview Child’s Play by Angela Marsons. #ChildsPlay #CrimeThriller @bookouture #BooksOnTour @WriteAngie

if only I could read faster

Woohoo!!! I was so so so excited to be asked to be part of the blog tour for Child’s Play by Angela Marsons. It’s hard to believe it is the ELEVENTH book in the DI Kim Stone but this one is definitely one of my favourites.

I received a copy of Child’s Play by Angela Marsons from the publisher, Bookouture. I was under no obligation to review the book and all thoughts are my own.

My Review:

It’s hard to believe that this is book eleven in the Detective Inspector Kim Stone series. There are not many series that are still going strong after this many books but Angela Marsons is one special author.

All the books in the series could be read as a standalone book but to be honest if you did that then you would be missing out, because these books really are worth reading. The characters have become friends and I have loved reading as they have grown over the series.

I find that all the books in the Kim Stone series suck me in but this one did a particularly good job of it, I was only a few percent in when I was spending far too long reading late into the night. I also found the subject matter fascinating, the child genius’ and the pressure put on them and the long lasting consequences of that.

As a wannabe writing I envy the way Marsons is able to weave the story and the process Stone and her team work out the case and piece it all together.

There was much to love about this book, it was clever and it kept me guessing and wondering and thinking. This is definitely my favourite book series of all time.

Blurb:

Child’s Play: A totally unputdownable serial killer thriller (Detective Kim Stone Crime Thriller Book 11)

Finally we’re playing a game. A game that I have chosen. I give one last push of the roundabout and stand back. ‘You really should have played with me,’ I tell her again although I know she can no longer hear.

Late one summer evening, Detective Kim Stone arrives at Haden Hill Park to the scene of a horrific crime: a woman in her sixties tied to a swing with barbed wire and an X carved into the back of her neck. 

The victim, Belinda Evans, was a retired college Professor of Child Psychology. As Kim and her team search her home, they find an overnight bag packed and begin to unravel a complex relationship between Belinda and her sister Veronica.

Then two more bodies are found bearing the same distinctive markings, and Kim knows she is on the hunt for a ritualistic serial killer. Linking the victims, Kim discovers they were involved in annual tournaments for gifted children and were on their way to the next event. 

With DS Penn immersed in the murder case of a young man, Kim and her team are already stretched and up against one of the most ruthless killers they’ve ever encountered. The clues lie in investigating every child who attended the tournaments, dating back decades.

Faced with hundreds of potential leads and a bereaved sister who is refusing to talk, can Kim get inside the mind of a killer and stop another murder before it’s too late?

The addictive new crime thriller from multi-million copy, number one bestseller Angela Marsons explores the dark side of child prodigies and will have you absolutely hooked.

About The Author:


Angela Marsons is the Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author of the DI Kim Stone series and her books have sold more than 3 million in 3 years.

She lives in the Black Country with her partner, their cheeky Golden Retriever and a swearing parrot.

She first discovered her love of writing at Junior School when actual lessons came second to watching other people and quietly making up her own stories about them. Her report card invariably read “Angela would do well if she minded her own business as well as she minds other people’s”.

After years of writing relationship based stories (The Forgotten Woman and Dear Mother) Angela turned to Crime, fictionally speaking of course, and developed a character that refused to go away.

She is signed to Bookouture.com for a total of 16 books in the Kim Stone series and her books have been translated into more than 27 languages.

Many of her books, including Blood Lines, Dead Souls, Broken Bones, Fatal Promise and Dead Memories reached the #1 spot on Amazon on pre-orders alone.

Child’s Play by Angela Marsons is out now and is available from:

Amazon: https://geni.us/B07QPKB7N7Social Apple Books: https://buff.ly/30pdrgA Kobo: https://buff.ly/2xBmVsJ Googleplay: https://buff.ly/2LIPf4I

4*, book review

The Swap by Fiona Mitchell @HodderBooks @HodderPublicity @FionaMoMitchell #TheSwap

if only I could read faster

When I read a review from a fellow book blogger about The Swap by Fiona Mitchell I knew I had to read it, and I’m really pleased that I did!

I received a copy of The Swap by Fiona Mitchell from publishers Hodder & Staughton. I was under no obligation to review the book and all thoughts are my own.

My Review:

I’m sure that a lot of people have wondered about mistakes made by fertility clinics, how often they happen and what the consequences of that. And while there are strict protocols in place to prevent any mistakes from happening, we all know that human error happens.

Mixing up the embryos of two patients with the same surname is pretty much as bad as it gets. Both resulted in a live birth, one family had a boy and the other a girl.

I have to admit that I am fascinated by whether a baby knows that they weren’t wanted, were the wrong sex (to what their parents wanted) or born into something else that isn’t quite right. I firmly believe that the baby often picks up on something that follows them through to childhood and beyond, leaving them with a sense of shame about themselves.

But would a mother know that the child they birthed wasn’t their child? And if so, would finding out that they were right, and the baby wasn’t theirs, provide relief?

It’s all very interesting and reading The Swap by Fiona Mitchell really got me thinking more about a lot of it. It’s a nightmare situation that no parent would ever wish to be in. I felt the author dealt with the subject matter beautifully, it wasn’t overly dramatic, it was realistic and felt entirely possible.

The characters were flawed and not always likeable, but they were believable and I enjoyed reading about them. The book took the characters on a real journey and I kept reading, desperate to know what was going to happen and whether there could be any resolution that would work for either family involved.

If you enjoy reading family dramas then this is a book for you. But, I think The Swap will appeal to many readers. Given the subject matter it won’t be easy reading for some but it will make you think.

Blurb:

***The second novel from Fiona Mitchell, author of the stunning The Maid’s Room***

Two women. Two children. But whose is whose?

When two strangers, Tess and Annie, undergo IVF at an American clinic, their embryos are mixed up and each woman gives birth to the wrong child.

The women only discover the devastating error three years later. Tess wants to swap the children back; Annie doesn’t. As the pair wrangle, neither of them expect what unfolds.

About The Author:

I’m the author of two books published by Hodder & Stoughton. My second novel, The Swap, has just been published in eBook and hardback. My debut novel, The Maid’s Room, has been published internationally as well as being translated into five languages.

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I started writing fiction in 2011, but writing has been part of my life for years, first as a journalist on newspapers and a news agency, then as a features editor on women’s magazines. Before all that, I read English Literature at the University of Sussex.

Journalism fed my urge to write, but whenever I went on holiday, out the notebook came and I’d start planning a novel – a different one every time. I ended up crumpling all of these ideas into the bin.

It was only when I moved to Singapore where I noticed the challenges facing domestic helpers there that I started to write a novel. This time I didn’t give up. The result was The Maid’s Room.

The Swap is about two women who undergo IVF only to discover three years later that their embryos were inadvertently mixed up and they have each given birth to the wrong child. One of the women wants to swap the children back, the other doesn’t.

At the moment, I am working on my third book. I am also an editor for the Blue Pencil Agency, as well as being a reader and editor for a number of leading literary agents.

I’m a cheerleader for struggling writers too. I had stacks of rejections before my wonderful agent Rowan Lawton took me on. So if you’ve just received yet another rejection from a literary agent, hopefully you’ll find lots here to inspire you and help you carry on writing.

The Swap by Fiona Mitchell is out now and is available from Amazon UK and Amazon US.