Review: The Argument by Victoria Jenkins

March 31, 2020

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

the argument by victoria jenkins - Review: The Argument by Victoria Jenkins

The Argument by Victoria Jenkins
Published by Bookouture on December 10, 2019
ISBN: 9781838880897
Genres: Fiction, Thrillers, Suspense, Psychological, General
Pages: 247
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: NetGalley, Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

four stars - Review: The Argument by Victoria Jenkins

‘OMG!!!!! This book is in my top 10 for 2019.’ NetGalley Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘I raced through it, often with my heart in my throat!’ NetGalley Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘Wow! So not what I was expecting. But in the best way possible!’ NetGalley Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

It happens to every mother. One day, the daughter whose whole world you once were, becomes someone you barely know. And you don’t know the secrets she’s hiding…

One night, 15-year-old Olivia comes home late from a party she was strictly forbidden from going to, and she and her mother, Hannah, start arguing. Soon Olivia speaks the words that every parent has heard from their teenage child:

‘I hate you. You’ve ruined my life. And I’m never speaking to you again.’

Olivia has never been an easy child, a sharp contrast to her easy-going, happy-go-lucky little sister. But Hannah thinks Olivia’s outburst is the end of a normal family argument. In fact, it’s only the beginning of a nightmare…

After one day of silence, Hannah thinks Olivia is taking a teenage sulk too far. After two days, she starts to feel anxious that something more serious could be going on. After a week, when her daughter still hasn’t spoken, Hannah knows that Olivia is hiding a bigger darkness – something that could threaten to tear their precious family apart…

The Argument is an unputdownable psychological thriller that asks how far we can push our families before they finally break. Perfect for fans of Gillian Flynn, The Woman in the Window, and The Silent Patient.

Readers are loving The Argument

‘It got me from page one and I couldn't stop reading ‘til I found out how it would end.’ Goodreads Reviewer, 5 stars

‘I got so totally engrossed… I read it in under a day... A brilliant psychological thriller.’ NetGalley Reviewer

‘The TWIST (and I write that in caps that incredible of a twist it was) made my jaw hit the floor when it happened... I couldn't put it down...’ Goodreads Reviewer

‘Fantastic… so well written and emotional... I would highly, highly recommend this book.’ NetGalley Reviewer, 5 stars

‘From the first page, I was swept right in… I read late into the night. So many twists that I never saw coming… highly recommend.’ NetGalley Reviewer, 5 stars

‘Am still in shock after reading this… brilliant… a must read.’ Goodreads Reviewer, 5 stars

‘Usually I can see twists coming… But this book. Oh man. I had no idea this was going to happen, I did not see it coming.’ Goodreads Reviewer

‘Never saw that twist coming.’ Goodreads Reviewer

‘A devastatingly good book… if this doesn’t leave you shuddering nothing will. Brilliantly well done.’ NetGalley Reviewer, 5 stars

I absolutely adore stories focussed on relationships between teenage children and their parents. I love the nature of how both in the real world and in fiction they can turn into big sticky messes. There is no guidebook on how to navigate the murky waters of parenthood, but I would live in hope that we would all fare better than the events that take place in The Argument. The mother/daughter relationship is one that often falls foul to the trappings of clashing personalities and this story is no different. Be prepared to hear the painful ticking of the clock in the silence of everything that is left unsaid.

In a quiet cul-de-sac a mother and daughter are engaged in the battle of hormones. The daughter thinking, she knows best and the mother enforcing her will with drastic consequences. Olivia sneaks out to a party that she has been emphatically banned from. Her parents, Hannah and Michael do not want her there under any circumstances. Olivia is fifteen and looking through an objective microscope, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out what could happen…a teenager going missing. Rape. Drug misuse. Alcohol abuse. The list is endless. Olivia finally arrives home and an argument ensues. Hannah is angry, and Olivia professes that she has ruined her life and refuses to speak to her again. Seems very like teenage behaviour, right? However, it is at this point my eyes and my brain cant compute. Something doesn’t add up with Hannah, my senses are on red alert.

Olivia sticks to her guns. She indeed doesn’t speak to her parents for several days. You know there isn’t something quite right about the dynamics between Olivia and her parents and conversely between Rosie, her sister and her parents. It’s clear as day that she gets treated differently and a knot forms in the pit of my stomach. The untold narrative between Hannah and Michael, the silent looks passed between them. What aren’t they saying? Why are they so quick to pass the blame to their eldest daughter when things start to go disastrously wrong?

My tongue was itching to scream the answers into Olivia’s ear. She was on the right track she just had to hunt harder and take decisive action before it was too late. Could a diary give her all the answers she has ever needed? Could it explain why she has always felt different…never quite fitting in. As a mother of three (boys I might add) this was a narrative that was difficult to both digest and understand. Being a mother of teenagers is a difficult road to travel but ultimately, we have to give them the freedom to make their own mistakes. We need to be their beacon of trust and love. The one constant that will have them returning to you. I count myself lucky that I seem to have found a workable balance.

Just when you think you have the story worked out in The Argument, along comes a bomb to blow your thoughts into space. So many details unravelled to turn my brain into soup. I was confused by the actions of certain characters. I revelled in the confusion, I was completely here for it. Trust in the author she will deliver you safely to the final page but not without a rollercoaster ride of emotions. We are engulfed in a fog of toxicity, but it will clear and bring us the light once more. Everything we learn leads in multiple different directions but it all has a purpose. Victoria Jenkins is the spider spinning her web and the reader is the unwitting fly tempted by the thread.

The Argument is a book that the term edge of your seat was invented for. The edge of my seat is worn out – I spent most of the novel on it! Victoria Jenkins grabbed me by the throat and refused to let go until the final page had been put to rest.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

1053000 - Review: The Argument by Victoria Jenkins

Victoria Jenkins is a Welsh author who has made a name for herself writing the highly popular Detective King and Lane series of novels. The first novel in the series was “The Girls In The Water” that Jenkins first published in 2017, to much critical acclaim and popularity among crime fiction fans.
The series of novels features Detective Constable Chloe Lane and Detective Inspector Alex King, who are the lead investigative characters that solve some mysterious murders in their hometown.

Jenkins lives with her husband and daughter in South Wales, where her series of crime novels featuring Detectives King and Lane is based.

Victoria Jenkins

Blog Tour: Mine by Clare Empson

March 31, 2020

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

mine by clare empson - Blog Tour: Mine by Clare Empson

Mine by Clare Empson
Published by Orion Publishing Group on August 22, 2019
ISBN: 9781409177777
Genres: Fiction, Thrillers, Crime, Psychological
Pages: 352
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: NetGalley, Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

four stars - Blog Tour: Mine by Clare Empson

'A beautifully told stroy about the raw pain and ecstasy of motherhood. I loved it.' Jane Corry
'I adored this powerful, emotive and sensitively written story about love and loss/' Louise Jensen
'Haunting and heart-rending ... a beautifully told story' Victoria Selman

'Who am I? Why am I here? Why did my mother give me away?'
On the surface, Luke and his girlfriend Hannah seem to have a perfect life. He's an A&R man, she's an arts correspondent and they are devoted to their new-born son Samuel.
But beneath the gloss Luke has always felt like an outsider. So when he finds his birth mother Alice, the instant connection with her is a little like falling in love.
When Hannah goes back to work, Luke asks Alice to look after their son. But Alice - fuelled with grief from when her baby was taken from her 27 years ago - starts to fall in love with Samuel. And Luke won't settle for his mother pushing him aside once again...
* * * * *
Why real readers love this emotionally gripping story by the author of HIM:

'Read it, read it, read it. One of my books of the year, without a doubt.' Goodreads reviewer
'Beautiful, haunting, emotional, and totally addictive.' Goodreads reviewer
'A realistic, character driven, highly-emotional and addictive read.' Goodreads reviewer
'Be warned: this novel will take over your life while you are reading it.' Goodreads reviewer

Mine deals with sensitive issues and really breathes life into the saying that your past is never really in your past. We are all a result of our upbringings. Memories. The laughter. Endless tears. It is all an echo that rings in the lost memories of our childhood. It is useless to try and outrun the fears that revisiting the past can open back up. You can lace up those trainers and try to get ahead of it, but it’s going to catch up with you eventually.

Mine is the story of Luke and his wife, Hannah. Together they have a son, Samuel. The novel examines the reawakening that occurs in Luke. The birth of his son has brought old scars back into the Frey. His past ghosts now inhabit his consciousness. He believed that he had moved on but now he is wrecked with thoughts about his birth mother. Every shadow and corner brings him back full circle – wondering about where he came from. It makes you wonder about the other side of the coin – how does the parent, especially the mother, move on from such an action? He meets his mother, Alice, now aged 47. A very attractive woman by all means who gave Luke up when he was only a few weeks old. She was an aspiring artist and now paints portraits of pets. Was it really worth it? Luke doesn’t gain much of a reason for why he was given up for adoption.

Mine certainly has a raw undercurrent of a melancholy tune. It is sadness for years lost. For an emptiness. The writing was magnetic. I was pulled towards it from the very first page. It was addictive and squeezed at my heart, especially as a mother. I don’t think I would have every fully moved on from that.

Alice was a deeply frustrating character for me. She was given the opportunity that doesn’t always come knocking for birth parents. He she has her baby boy back in front of her and she doesn’t grasp on to him with both hands. He represents a new life. A renewed future. A second chance. Instead he is greeted with this cold, standoffish persona. She never lets him in and I just want to grab her and shake her, make her realise just what an opportunity she has. As the story progresses we are afforded the details of why and you slowly come around to the idea that yes maybe she had her reasons, maybe even sympathise with her.

The story moves forward with Hannah returning to work. Try as they might, they cannot find a suitable Au Pair to look after their son. After seeing Alice bond with Samuel, it is suggested that this could be a perfect solution. Luke watches and becomes jealous of the relationship between his son and his mother. Can he really trust her with his son? Just how much does he know about her? It is clear to the eye that his issues with abandonment run very deep, he is unsettled but just can’t shake off the feeling.

Mine is successfully layered this novel with the coldness and fear of what abandonment can result in. Clare Empson has created a menacing atmosphere with darkly compelling characters that take up space in your head.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

clare4 - Blog Tour: Mine by Clare Empson

Clare Empson worked as a staff writer on national newspapers covering everything from collapsing merchant banks to tea with the late Barbara Cartland (everything pink including the cakes). Eight years ago, she moved to the West Country and founded the arts and lifestyle blog countrycalling.co.uk.

The idyllic setting inspired her first novel, which reveals the darker side of paradise. Clare lives on the Wiltshire/Dorset border with her husband and three children.

Clare Empson

Blog Tour: The Holdout by Graham Moore

March 5, 2020

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

50090862. SY475 - Blog Tour: The Holdout by Graham Moore

The Holdout by Graham Moore
on February 18, 2020
ISBN: 9780399591785
Genres: Fiction, Thrillers, Legal, Crime, Psychological
Pages: 336
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: NetGalley, Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

four stars - Blog Tour: The Holdout by Graham Moore

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • One juror changed the verdict. What if she was wrong? From the Academy Award–winning screenwriter of The Imitation Game and bestselling author of The Last Days of Night. . . . “Exhilarating . . . a fiendishly slippery game of cat-and-mouse suspense and a provocative, urgent inquiry into American justice (and injustice) in the twenty-first century.”—A. J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window
It’s the most sensational case of the decade. Fifteen-year-old Jessica Silver, heiress to a billion-dollar real estate fortune, vanishes on her way home from school, and her teacher, Bobby Nock, a twenty-five-year-old African American man, is the prime suspect. The subsequent trial taps straight into America’s most pressing preoccupations: race, class, sex, law enforcement, and the lurid sins of the rich and famous. It’s an open-and-shut case for the prosecution, and a quick conviction seems all but guaranteed—until Maya Seale, a young woman on the jury, convinced of Nock’s innocence, persuades the rest of the jurors to return the verdict of not guilty, a controversial decision that will change all their lives forever.
Flash forward ten years. A true-crime docuseries reassembles the jury, with particular focus on Maya, now a defense attorney herself. When one of the jurors is found dead in Maya’s hotel room, all evidence points to her as the killer. Now, she must prove her own innocence—by getting to the bottom of a case that is far from closed.
As the present-day murder investigation weaves together with the story of what really happened during their deliberation, told by each of the jurors in turn, the secrets they have all been keeping threaten to come out—with drastic consequences for all involved.

Wow. The Holdout is a serious examination of the politics of law, social impact of race and gut instinct. The first chapter was a sucker punch to the gut. The imagery was gruesome but tantalising to the highest degree. I found myself holding my breath waiting for that bomb to drop. I was gripped from its anxiety inducing start to the finale like ending. This was a premise that definitely had me hooked – just how persuasion and obsession can collide.

Ten years ago, Maya Searle was a member of the jury on the case of missing Jessica Silver, daughter of extremely wealthy Lou Silver. Immediately the cogs begin to turn, and you wonder if money talks in this case. Her teacher, Bobby Nock is in the dock charged with her disappearance and possible murder?? The evidence is presented but a lot of it could be deemed as circumstantial…does his race have a bigger picture to play and needing to be seen to prosecuting someone? It’s a picture painted to be one of a moral conundrum. The trial is a complete farce and truly deserved to be thrown out.

The Holdout – Maya Searle is convinced that Bobby Nock is not guilty. She reasons with the other jury members and somehow convinces them all to return a verdict of not guilty. The immediate future having consequences for them all. Was it the right decision? The acquittal of Bobby Nock was highly controversial none the less because of Lou Silver’s standing.

Fast forward ten years…Maya Searle is at the top of her game. A world class criminal lawyer. Her notoriety of being a jury member on the Bobby Nock trial brings her clients swooping in. You might think that this is a case of lessons learned but The Holdout is far more complex than that. An old jury member comes crashing back into her life, albeit it unwanted, that is a chapter of her life that she never wanted to revisit again. He has clung to the hope that his gut instinct was right all along – that Bobby Nock was guilty. He obsessively researched every bit of evidence and now apparently has no evidence to uncover. He will share it with Maya so long as she agrees to take part in a docuseries. I enjoyed the interactions between these two characters…Graham Moore led us down a series of mazes and laid the foundations for the reader deciding just how grey each character was.

Graham Moore has created this story whilst balancing on a knife’s edge. He allows the seeds of doubt to creep into the readers mind. It starts off as an echo, one that you aren’t too sure you heard until it reaches a crescendo, an ear splitting one. He sets a trap and it beautifully captures the reader with no obvious way out. How much of what Maya believed was seen through distorted glasses? Was she right in convincing the other jury members or was she young and naive?

The Holdout makes you rethink what you thought you knew. Compelling characters with a creepy and threatening narrative.

Thanks to Tracy @ Compulsive Readers for my spot on the blog tour.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

853710 v9 ba 768x1024 - Blog Tour: The Holdout by Graham Moore

Graham Moore is a New York Times bestselling novelist and Academy Award-winning screenwriter. His screenplay for THE IMITATION GAME won the Academy Award and WGA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2015 and was nominated for a BAFTA and a Golden Globe. The film, directed by Morten Tyldum and starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley, received 8 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture.

Graham’s first novel, THE SHERLOCKIAN (2010), was published in 16 countries and translated into 13 languages. It was called “sublime” and “clever” and “delightful” by the New York Times, “savvy” and “entertaining” by the Los Angeles Times, and lots of other nice things as well. Graham’s second novel, THE LAST DAYS OF NIGHT will be published in fall 2016 by Random House.

Graham lives in Los Angeles.

Graham Moore

Blog Tour: The Guest List by Lucy Foley

March 1, 2020

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

49656902. SY475 - Blog Tour: The Guest List by Lucy Foley

The Guest List by Lucy Foley
Published by HarperCollins Publishers on March 19th 2020
ISBN: 9780062978738
Genres: Fiction, Thrillers, Suspense, Crime, Psychological
Pages: 448
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

four stars - Blog Tour: The Guest List by Lucy Foley

A wedding celebration turns dark and deadly in this deliciously wicked and atmospheric thriller reminiscent of Agatha Christie from the author of The Hunting Party.
The bride ‧ The plus one ‧ The best man ‧ The wedding planner ‧ The bridesmaid ‧ The body
On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It's a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.
But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride's oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast.
And then someone turns up dead. Who didn't wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?

The Guest List spins a wonderous tale of the wedding of the year. Set the scene…you’re hearing about the upcoming nuptials everywhere. You know it would do you well to be spotted there – you know it would advance you. Then that invite drops through your door. The marriage of reality TV star Will Slater and the stunning Jules Keegan, a magazine publisher. The event is to take place on the isolated, Cormorant Island situated off the Irish coast. I’m almost at a loss for words to review The Guest List. The reason being? Imagine Einstein wrote a thriller and left clues jotted in code…this taps on just how much of a genius Lucy Foley is.

I’m in love with the way Lucy Foley writes. The multi-perspectives don’t feel confusing, they feel enriching. Her descriptions makes you want to wander off the beaten path. Don’t go alone though because something is likely to snap at heels if you wander too far. The narrative is razor sharp and will cut into your bonds to set you free. The reader is supplied with a heady cocktail mixed with tension, palpating causing fear and cold hard chaos. If you want to have the living daylights scared out of you it has to be Lucy foley. The Psychological Thriller is an uber popular genre these days, but it takes a true genius to juggle so many balls/contextual twists and still be able to keep fresh, raw and unique.

The guests arrive and not for one moment do you not feel the electricity of raw tension running and zapping through every scene. There is the ugly side of the human existence just bubbling at the surface – jealously and secrets. Lucy Foley has hit the nail on the head with her realistic realism being injected here. Not for one moment do I believe this doesn’t go on in everyday weddings, but, we are conditioned to hide it. The ugly parts of our personality shoved deep down.

Can pasts ever be truly forgotten or are the wedding guests walking amongst someone inherently despicable? The vows are said, the rings exchanged and the bemouth of a cake is barely cut when a body is discovered within the marshes. Let me tell you, not many books can transport you into a character’s shoes, but The Guest List does this with such laser precision. This is the exact point when the story shrouds the guests in a blanket of eerie fog. Suspicions turn on each other, they can’t see their true form and the greyness leaves Goosebumps on your flesh.

Panic rises. The guests are trapped on an isolated island being bombarded by gale force winds and storms. There is no escape. Can they work out who the calculated killer is that seems to be hiding in plain sight, do they want to? It’s an ingenious plot that will have you gripped until the grand unveiling. Be prepared to feel the suffocation, the heart in throat pain and storyline that just wont quit. I wanted more and had it delivered to me on a silver platter. Do not ever doubt the depths a human being can slither to.

The Guest List is akin to tiptoeing on a frozen lake, you think you have it in control, and focussed and then Lucy Foley plunges you into its icy depths when you least expect it. I was in the book’s clutches, scrambling to get free but it’s a fruitless endeavour.

Thanks to Anne Cater @ Random Things Tours for my spot on the blog tour.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lucy Foley studied English Literature at Durham and UCL universities and worked for several years as a fiction editor in the publishing industry, before leaving to write full-time. The Hunting Party is her debut crime novel, inspired by a particularly remote spot in Scotland that fired her imagination.

Lucy Foley

Audio Blog Tour: The Wreckage by Robin Morgan-Bentley

February 20, 2020

The Wreckage by Robin Morgan-Bentley
Published by Orion Publishing Group on February 6, 2020
ISBN: 9781409194187
Genres: Family & Relationships, Abuse, Domestic Partner Abuse, Fiction, Thrillers, Crime, Psychological, Family Life, Marriage & Divorce
Pages: 304
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

five stars - Audio Blog Tour: The Wreckage by Robin Morgan-Bentley

One fatal crash. Two colliding worlds. Three wrecked lives.
Ben is driving on the motorway, on his usual commute to the school where he works.
A day like any other...
Except for one man who, in a final despairing act, jumps in front of Ben's car, turning the teacher's world upside down in a single horrifying instant...
Wracked with guilt and desperate to clear his conscience, he develops a friendship with Alice, the dead man's wife, and her 7-year-old son Max.
But as he tries to escape the trauma of the wreckage, could he go too far in trying to make amends?
How would you cope, knowing you'd caused someone's death? And are the dynamics of this friendship exactly what they seem?

The Wreckage– it’s clear from the offset the tone this story is going to take. A car wreck. Speeding towards an end goal that destroys lives. Whiplash that leaves you feeling pained and distraught. It’s a real play on the title and the deeper meaning behind it is poetic brilliance. This book hits you in the feels like a ten-tonne truck to the chest. You need to escape from the wrecked car, you’re injured, your disorientated and you have to drag yourself to safety. It’s pitch black and your senses have left you. You need to stumble from one event to the other – this book is the direct correlation to this.

As a debut I didn’t know what to expect. Let me tell you this – rarely have I read such a fully immersive, compelling and eye popping read such as The Wreckage. Robin Morgan-Bentley knows just how to lead his readers down a maze, blindfolded and panicky. A Suicide. A Grieving family. A driver left with an incredible responsibility. A mysterious note.

In mere hours Alice’s world is turned upside down. A stay at home mother to her cherished son, Max. she loves a wine or two but tell me what mother doesn’t? Was she expecting the news on that fateful day? What would drive someone to make the decision to throw themselves in front of a moving car on the motorway? I was in my element reading the alternating POV’s in The Wreckage – both Alice’s and Ben’s narrative was emotive and heart-wrenching. It left me with an extreme sense of urgency and it was compelling to have the POV of someone that had been driving the car as opposed to the usual fallout from the victim’s family.

Both Alice and Ben were victims. It was as clear as the nose on your face. Ben really struggled with the feelings of guilt and seemed to only want to do right for his perceived wrong. Alice was left to raise an eight-year-old boy who had his father and her husband wrenched from their lives. There was secrets, lies and a sense of foreboding that kept creeping into my peripheral vision. They are both trying to navigate their own versions of the highway to hell.

I found Ben to be the more interesting character. The Inspectorates proclaimed country’s best school teacher. He has a solid routine that he sticks to, doesn’t drive recklessly, the patience of a saint – the accident hits him very hard. It is also the catalyst that sends him down a destructive and obsessive path. Imagine dominoes – once that first one gets sent on its way, there is no stopping the wave of destruction. This book gave me such an addictive need to find out what happens next – I raced to the finish. The author gave me such a need to work out why Ben, Alice and Adam behaved in the way they did.

In all honesty, I really struggled with Alice. Yes, she was struggling with the death of her husband, but she presented as a bit reckless and irresponsible. She seemed to be so focussed and lost in her own grief that she seemed to lose sight of the most important person – Max. she drank too much and couldn’t acknowledge help when offered. You can tell that her world has turned grey, but she has to be strong for her son. I think the author wrote the character in such a way that you feel conflicted in how she behaves and her motives. Is wrong vs. right so obvious in this story?

The Wreckage is a tightly weaved plot that could cut your oxygen. The story left me guessing right until the end. I doubted every character and felt conflicted around every corner. Be prepared to be catapulted onto a lake of ice, you will need to navigate the thin ice without falling into the cold depths below.

The audio was beautiful. It packed a powerful punch. It heightened the alarming amount of anticipation I was experiencing. It resonated with the fear, the grief, the panic. The Multiple authors hit that sweet spot. We were living the extremes of two forever changed characters and the loss the narrators catapulted into the story made it, in my opinion. The audiobook was inhaled in a matter of hours. It became a living, breathing entity.

Thanks to Alex @ Orion Books for a copy of the Audiobook for review purposes.

Blog Tour: The Wreckage by Robin Morgan-Bentley

February 10, 2020

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

the wreckage by robin morgan bentley - Blog Tour: The Wreckage by Robin Morgan-Bentley

The Wreckage by Robin Morgan-Bentley
Published by Orion Publishing Group on February 6, 2020
ISBN: 9781409194170
Genres: Psychological Thriller
Pages: 336
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: NetGalley, Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

four stars - Blog Tour: The Wreckage by Robin Morgan-Bentley

'Immersive, compulsive and gripping' C. L. Taylor
'Clever and compelling' Fiona Barton
Things will never be the same again...
Ben is driving on the motorway, on his usual commute to the school where he works.
A day like any other, except for Adam, who in a last despairing act jumps in front of Ben's car, and in killing himself, turns the teacher's world upside down.
Wracked with guilt and desperate to clear his conscience, Ben develops a friendship with Alice, Adam's widow, and her 7-year-old son Max.
But as he tries to escape the trauma of the wreckage, could Ben go too far in trying to make amends?
Gripping and sinister, The Wreckage is guaranteed to keep you up all night...

The Wreckage is a tightly weaved plot that could cut your oxygen. The story left me guessing right until the end. I doubted every character and felt conflicted around every corner. Be prepared to be catapulted onto a lake of ice, you will need to navigate the thin ice without falling into the cold depths below.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Robin Morgan Bentley BW cropped for website 300x300 1 - Blog Tour: The Wreckage by Robin Morgan-Bentley

After graduating from Cambridge with a First Class degree in Modern and Medieval Languages, Robin Morgan-Bentley worked for five years at Google.

Since 2014, he has been the Senior Editorial Manager at Audible, responsible for deciding which audiobooks they promote to their customers and how. He also runs their podcast, Audible Sessions, and has interviewed multiple authors including Fiona Barton, Clare Mackintosh, Ian Rankin, Val McDermid, Anthony Horowitz and Jeffery Deaver to name a few. His conversations with them are what inspired him to start writing.

Check out Robin’s website here.
www.robinmorganbentley.com

Blog Tour: Never Look Back by A.L. Gaylin

February 7, 2020

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

never look back by a l gaylin - Blog Tour: Never Look Back by A.L. Gaylin

Never Look Back by A. L. Gaylin
Published by Orion Publishing Group on February 6, 2020
ISBN: 9781409179054
Genres: Psychological Thriller
Pages: 368
Format: eBook
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

four stars - Blog Tour: Never Look Back by A.L. Gaylin

'Aflame with tension. An intricate, powerful thriller - rivals the very best of Harlan Coben and Lisa Gardner' AJ Finn, author of THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW
*****************
She was the most brutal killer of our time. And she may have been my mother...
When website columnist Robin Diamond is contacted by true crime podcast producer Quentin Garrison, she assumes it's a business matter. It's not. Quentin's podcast, Closure, focuses on a series of murders in the 1970s, committed by teen couple April Cooper and Gabriel LeRoy. It seems that Quentin has reason to believe Robin's own mother may be intimately connected with the killings.
Robin thinks Quentin's claim is absurd. But is it? The more she researches the Cooper/LeRoy murders herself, the more disturbed she becomes by what she finds. Living just a few blocks from her, Robin's beloved parents are the one absolute she's always been able to rely upon, especially now amid rising doubts about her husband and frequent threats from internet trolls. Robin knows her mother better than anyone.
But then her parents are brutally attacked, and Robin realises she doesn't know the truth at all...
*****************
'Completely absorbing with a knock-out twist' Harlan Coben
'Gaylin is an expert at acute emotional observation combined with seamless plotting' Alex Marwood
'AL Gaylin is at the top of her game, crafting exhilarating and audacious crime novels that are both rich in character and rivetingly told. They are, quite simply, not to be missed' Megan Abbott
'AL Gaylin is a storyteller guaranteed to keep you up at night' Laura Lippman
'AL Gaylin is a great storyteller' Mark Billingham
'A fiendishly well-told thriller that deepens its grip the faster you read - I loved it' Louise Candlish
If you love Serial, S-Town, Clare Mackintosh, Cara Hunter, KL Slater or Lisa Jewell, you will be utterly gripped by this psychological thriller with a twist you'll never see coming...

Never Look Back. What amazing advice. In everyday situations Never looking back will allow you to brush off moments you wished you could have done something different. Some regret that plagued your mind. Is it healthy to never look back? How can we be expected to reassess our actions, learn valuable lessons and grasp the good with both hands.

A.L Gaylin injects the eerie, spine-chilling meaning. She sets the wheels in motion and can they be stopped? Once something is rolling along, gaining speed, what can be done to stop it? Can it? It just gathers momentum, like a bat of hell. Gravity is on its side and you are just an insignificant being standing in its way…it’s going to hit you if you dare stop it.

Never Look Back is the kind of thriller that I LOVE. The title sets the scene. The author knows how to upset your equilibrium. Icy cold dread sneakily slivers into your heart and leaves you with an eerie dread swimming through your veins. A historic killing spree. An intriguing connection and a need for closure.

A terrible childhood that has the links to a repulsive killing spree in the 1970’s. Quentin lingers and over analyses his childhood. Can he use his profession to finally move forward and let go of the past? Now a successful podcast producer, it is suggested to him that he takes his life forward in a productive way and focus the programme on the spate of murders. Could it finally bring him the closure that he so desperately needs? Quentin agrees but receives a phone call that could potentially rock his world and put his podcast on the line.

The narrative was slick and razor sharp. The fear being injected into the books every word was hauntingly eerie. The author always left you feeling the urgency in her words. I needed to get to the next chapter…I needed to find out just what was going on behind the scenes. I had my Nikes on and laced up – it was a race against time. No matter how hard I ran, I was faced with the roadblocks of lies, unreliable narrators and secrets.

Never Look Back demonstrates the real and frightening effect that our pasts and childhood can play in our adult life. We can be as resilient as we want but eventually our pasts will present themselves as an unmoveable object if we don’t tackle the pain they cause.

The author takes us down a path untraveled, with plenty of potholes, dark corners and noises with no apparent origin. We learn about Robin Diamond. She is an illustrious movie reviewer. She’s brash, in your face and never scared of telling you what she thinks. Despite this she has the same insecurities as the rest of us. Worried about her husband and what he gets up to. Constantly texting on his phone. Working late…just what is he playing at? Things start to hit the fan when she receives an unexpected phone call from Quentin.

It’s such an interesting premise. As the child just what information regarding our parents to we have a given right to know? They are their own person and we all need our secrets, right? I’m a big believer in the fact that you will never receive full closure. Life is all about what you make it. Traumatic events\past mistakes do mould us, but we can fight back and change, if we really want to.

Never Look Back is a slow burn of a psychological Thriller. The author really knows how to sucker punch you into submission.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

276251 - Blog Tour: Never Look Back by A.L. Gaylin

USA Today and International Best-selling author Alison Gaylin has been nominated for the Edgar four times. Most recently, her thriller IF I DIE TONIGHT, won the award in the category Best Paperback Original.

Her critically acclaimed suspense novels have been published in such countries as the U.K., France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Japan and Romania.

She has won the Shamus and RT Reviewers Choice Awards for her books, and has been nominated for the ITW Thriller, Anthony and Strand Book Awards. Her books have been on the bestseller lists in the US, Germany and Belgium. IF I DIE TONIGHT (out March, 2018 from William Morrow) is her tenth book.

NORMANDY GOLD, the graphic novel she wrote with Megan Abbott, is out from Titan/Hard Case Crime in April, 2018.

Alison Gaylin

Blog Tour: Little White Lies by Philippa East

February 4, 2020

Little White Lies by Philippa East
Published by HarperCollins UK on February 4, 2020
ISBN: 9780008365400
Genres: Fiction, Thrillers, Suspense, Psychological, Coming of Age, Domestic, Friendship, General
Pages: 352
Format: ARC, Paperback
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

four stars - Blog Tour: Little White Lies by Philippa East

‘Breathtaking suspense. A phenomenal talent’ HOLLY SEDDON ‘Terrifically engaging’ JO SPAIN ‘Addictive. I couldn’t put it down’ PHOEBE MORGAN ‘A heart-thumping, racing thriller’ CHRISTINA McDONALD
She only looked away for a second...
Anne White only looked away for a second, but that’s all it took to lose sight of her young daughter.
But seven years later, Abigail is found.
And as Anne struggles to connect with her teenage daughter, she begins to question how much Abigail remembers about the day she disappeared...
Addictive, edge-of-your-seat dark women’s fiction perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult, BCC drama Thirteen, and Emma Donoghue’s Room.

It’s a known fact that I love Crime Fiction and I have found myself searching for an added element, something that speaks to me, is a calling card left in a deserted room. It leaves clues for me to discover, to strip layer after layer back until I have been exposed to the dark secrets. This is what you can expect from Little White Lies. The writing style, the thrilling voice – this book gives me the Psychological Thriller Fuzies!

Little White Lies will creep up on you, catch you off guard and kick your heart into a galloping crescendo. You know when an opening chapter lays the foundations to be a rollercoaster ride that your attention will be focusing in rapturous enchantment. My attention didn’t wander, it didn’t ebb, instead it transported into the pages and became one with the story.

So, what had my attention so captured, you ask? Multiple layers of deceit. Child abduction that wasn’t as it appeared. An overbearing aunt. A long-buried family secret. A police Officer that sees more than they want.

The narrative blew me away. The research that brought this story to life was skilfully presented to us in the most realistic form. The feeling of a threatening shadow just creeping into the corners of your vision was palpable. What would be revealed? Would it be a bad thing for their daughter to turn up? What would she say, how would she behave? Is ignorance truly bliss?

Your daughter has been missing for seven years. You’ve pretty much lost all hope of her coming home, alive, right? What happens when you receive a phone call saying she had walked into the police station with another little girl…but, not once has she asked to come to you. That fateful day she went missing. The fact that you were meant to protect her against harm. Just what has she seen and experienced? The story is poignant, heart-breaking and I spent periods during reading just imagining how I would feel if it was one of my own boys. It’s really not worth imagining.

Events really take a turn when Abigail finally comes home. Nothing’s the same. No amount of telling her she is safe, family dinners, shopping trips and decorating bedrooms is going to erase the trauma that this girl has suffered. It is at this point that the brain fog lifts and I’m left feeling bereft like Abigail. The pain is apparent, and she truly doesn’t know which way is up.

This book is an uncomfortable read. I struggled to prise it from the death grip I had upon the book. Philippa East knows just how to punch you in the jugular and wreak havoc with your emotions. This book is akin to being dropped into quicksand with an anchor strapped to your ankle – it forces you to swim between one raw emotion to another. Little White Lies deals with difficult themes, but they are handled with extreme delicacy and tact. It was invigorating to read about a child that did finally return home. It dealt with how the parents would have to navigate extremely murky waters. It was a tale of hope and new beginnings but one of immense patience.

Little White Lies was a devastatingly emotional read. The narrative is like a death grip- unyielding and heartfelt. I read it with my heart in my mouth.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hello, I am a fiction writer living in Lincolnshire.

I have written short stories for a several years, a number of which have been published in literary magazines including Brittle Star, Fictive Dream, and Shooter Magazine. I’ve also had a few successes in competitions such as The Fiction Desk and Retreat West.

In 2017, I was long listed in Mslexia First Novel award. This year, I secured a publishing deal with HQ/HarperCollins for my debut ‘Little White Lies’. This Book Club read tells the story of a family whose missing child is found alive seven years after her disappearance; it is a book that begins where other stories end.

In the beginning, I graduated with a degree in Psychology and Philosophy from Oxford University. I subsequently trained as a Clinical Psychologist and worked for 12 years in the NHS before establishing my own psychology practice. This background in philosophy and psychology serves as the inspiration for many of my stories.

I now divide my time between clinical work and writing, and I share my love of writing with my members of the Lincolnshire-based writers’ group The Lindum Scribes.

‘Little White Lies’ will be out in early 2020.

Philippa East

Blog Tour: I Could Be You by Shelia Bugler

January 29, 2020

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

48671519. SY475 - Blog Tour: I Could Be You by Shelia Bugler

I Could Be You by Shelia Bugler
Published by Canelo on January 23rd 2020
Genres: Psychological Thriller
Pages: 384
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: NetGalley, Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
four stars - Blog Tour: I Could Be You by Shelia Bugler

four stars - Blog Tour: I Could Be You by Shelia Bugler

A life has been taken. But whose life is it?
On a stifling hot day, former journalist Dee Doran finds the crumpled body of her friend at the roadside. Katie and her little boy, Jake, have been a light in Dee’s otherwise desolate life – now a woman is dead and a child is missing.

Katie has been keeping secrets for a long time. Years earlier, she fell for the wrong person. But he was in love with someone else; who he couldn’t have but couldn’t keep away from. When jealousy and desire spilled over into murder Katie hid the truth, and has been pretending ever since.

As Dee assists the police with their enquiries she’s compelled to investigate too. She realises Katie wasn’t who she claimed to be. Lies are catching up. Stories are unravelling. Revenge is demanded and someone must pay the price. The question is: who?

Don’t miss this explosive crime thriller perfect for fans for Alex Marwood and Fiona Barton.

The impact a child can have on your life can be profound and everlasting. Even if that child isn’t yours. A child can lighten up the darkest of lives. They have an infectious way of melting even the coldest of personas. A child and their impact have a way of shaping your life, usually for the better. Family isn’t always determined by blood, it is the connection that we make with a kindred soul. What happens when that tie is severed? It feels like we are literally missing a part of ourselves. It’s an irrevocable wrenching of the heart. I instantly signed up for this blog tour for its intense cover and a synopsis that is dripping in mysterious intrigue.

Reading I could be you can be described as looking into the mirror and for the first time being able to see something more than just you. All your flaws, past mistakes and your vision for the future are suddenly flashing before your eyes. There’s a figure in the background threatening to be revealed in all its glorious technicolour but what exactly will revealed? It fogs your mind, makes you forget. Your memories feel like a freezing fog, keeping you in the now and happy to keep you oblivious.

The opening is a friend’s, or family members worst nightmare. That is exactly where it should stay. Seeing someone you care about is harmed and no-one felt the need to stop and help. A crushed buggy and no sign of the precious little 2-year-old boy that you doted over, you babysat and most important of all, you loved, as if he were her own. It’s poignant, heart-breaking and left me imagining my own pain if it were one of my own boys. The impact of what has just happened finally enters my foggy brain and I’m left feeling bereft just like Dee. Her pain is apparent, and she starts losing her direction.

I was unable to prise this book from my hands and Sheila Berger knows just how to punch you in the feels. She forces you to dip your foot into the water and she sends you swimming from one raw emotion to another. It leaves you feeling wrecked and disorientated, but you know the only way is forward.

I could Be You deals with difficult tropes, but they are handled with dignity and tact. The grief of a missing child is a wrought cage of emotion. We see this nearly every day in the newspapers. Press releases. Emotional reaching out. Trauma lingering. Sheila Bulger gives this type of grief a form – it’s ugly but realistic and it inflicts a severe whiplash with its intensity.

Dee’s young friend is found on the side of the road apparently being ran over in a hit and run. The buggy is beside her and it’s empty. Her friend, Kate, would have had her son with her, wouldn’t she? Just where has the little boy gone? The police are called, and they start gathering evidence and information and it is quickly discovered that nothing is as it seems. It becomes very twisty and my head needed to be straightened several times during my read of I Could Be You.

When Dee discovers some mistruths surrounding her death she sets out to rebirth the Journalist in her. She gets help from her cousin, Louise who is still a Journo. Together they plot to get to the bottom of Katie’s past and any missing links to where the little boy could be. The story is told in the present and we have flashbacks to Katie’s past which strengthens the plot.

I Could Be You was brilliantly eerie. It was a true psychological thriller that has tons of pace and atmospheric brilliance. You need to push forward to decipher the twists.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

sheila bugler 200x300 1 - Blog Tour: I Could Be You by Shelia Bugler

My new crime series launches in January 2020. The series features jaded journalist Dee Doran and the books are all set in my adopted home town, Eastbourne. I Could Be You is the first in the series, and it’s available now for pre-order from Amazon, Kobo, and Apple Books.

‘Imagine a collaboration between Anne Tyler and AM Homes.’ Ken Bruen.

‘One of the rising stars of Irish literature.’ Clare People.

‘Propulsive action and stirring plot twists abound in this compelling thriller… one of those books you’ll read in one sitting. Thoroughly entertaining!’ Wendy Walker, Sunday Times Bestselling author.

‘A beautifully written and atmospheric page-turner that is also a totally absorbing read… I loved it.’ Abbie Frost, author of The Guesthouse.

‘A brilliant read – twisted, cleverly plotted and one hell of a page-turner.’ M J Lee, author of Where the Truth Lies.

Sheila Bugler website

Book Review: Single by K.L. Slater

January 19, 2020

Single by K.L. Slater
Published by Bookouture on October 25th 2019
ISBN: 9781786819277
Genres: Fiction, Crime, Thrillers, Suspense, Psychological, General
Pages: 362
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: Publisher, NetGalley
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

three stars - Book Review: Single by K.L. Slater

‘I keep feeling like I’m being watched – dropping the boys off at school, choosing wine at the supermarket – but when I turn around there’s nobody there…’

When single mother Darcy’s son falls from a rope bridge at a local playground, life stands still. She clutches his small, limp body, frozen, until a pair of strong hands push her aside, and she watches as George, a local doctor, saves her son’s life.

George is a single parent too, and with his twinkling hazel eyes, easy charm, and lack of wedding band is almost too good to be true, but coffee becomes lunch, lunch becomes dinner, and soon they can’t go an evening without seeing each other. When he invites her to move into his beautiful home with its sprawling garden for her boys, Darcy doesn’t hesitate.

But as Darcy is settling in, she receives a bunch of flowers with a chilling message. George says they’re from an obsessed ex-girlfriend, Opal, and days later Opal turns up at Darcy’s son’s football match. She claims to have shocking information that could threaten George’s custody of his daughter.

Darcy doesn’t know who to trust, but she’s starting to suspect that, whatever the truth, she might have put her beloved boys into terrible danger …

From the million-copy-bestselling author K.L. Slater this utterly gripping psychological thriller will make you gasp out loud as you race towards the unforgettable twist. If you loved The Girl on the Train and The Wife Between Us this book is for you.

What everyone is saying about Single:

‘I would liken reading 'Single' to being strapped into a car with a broken axle on the Tilt-A-Whirl carnival ride. You're gonna get tossed around until you don't know which way is up. Yet, in the end, you can't deny that it was one helluva ride. All superlatives aside, this book stands out in its cleverness and execution. K.L. Slater knocked it out of the park. 5+ stars.’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Another stunning novel from KL Slater. .Loved every twist and turn. The only negative is what to read next as it won’t live up to KL Slater, fingers crossed her next novel won’t take long!’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Wow, I LOVED this book!!! 5 stars easy!! This is my first novel by K.L. Slater and most certainly will not be my last. …This is the kind of book you cannot put down or stop thinking about. I often had chills and felt like I experiencing this story as the main character. There is no way you will be able to guess the ending.’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘WOW WOW WOW!!! What a fantastic book!! I couldn't put this one down. Just when i thought i knew what was going on , I changed my mind, and yet again. Twists twists and more twists. i love this author but this book blew me away best yet from her!’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Well a great big enormous WOW this was such a brilliant read, totally compulsive and everything you want in a psychological thriller !! ‘ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘This book kept me awake until the early hours, promising myself time and again that I would only read one more chapter until I was too far into the story to stop. All in all it's a really great read.’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘K L Slater is a master of the psychological thriller genre and Single is yet another example of this. I read this book in just a few hours, not ready to put it down and determined to work out how it would end. Every scenario I came up with was wrong, and to me that is a sign of a great story. This one was so twisty and believable - fantastic. If you have not read anything by Slater before what are you waiting for? Seriously, you will not regret it.’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

What would you do if everything you knew was essentially a lie? We all have different ways of dealing and coping but it isn’t out of the realms of possibility to believe that some people would sink into depression. That’s what Darcy’s situation in Single has been like for the past four years. Her husband is dead, a fight with an illness took him quickly. But, whilst navigating the heavy, murky waters of grief, she discovers that her husband had been unfaithful. He hadn’t just had an affair, but he essentially was living a double life. He spent half the week with another woman. Her psyche broke and all that while trying to support her two sons who obviously no longer had their dad.

The story is principally told in the perspectives of Darcy and that of handsome, personable Urology Consultant, George Mortimer. He is also a single dad to Romy. Her mum also having passed away. They have so much in common. Two lives that seem ready to move forward, together, after having being dealt a really rubbish set of cards in life. As they become closer you can see that George has more than one skeleton in his closet. The story develops, and it becomes more twisty.

The secondary characters in Single were extremely unlikeable. I know that was the author’s intention but at times I felt like they should have been genuine and caring and they would have got a lot further in their needs and wants. Take Darcy’s sister-in-law for example, she professed to being her best friend and having her best interests at heart, but her actions are in complete conflict with that. Who on earth tells their friend that considering dating again after four years is too soon? It’s just manipulative and controlling to the highest extremes.

Darcy had so much on her plate. When the five of them went to Yorkshire to stay in a lodge at Christmas it really started gaining traction. Odd occurrences, the feeling of being watched, letters, flowers being delivered, photos obviously being taken. George talks about a past girlfriend and Darcy wonders if it could be someone from her past? George’s explanation has the warning bells thumping a deathening beat. What is he hiding?

I did struggle to fully be taken in with the twists in Single and I really wanted to be. I wanted it to be more menacing, more shocking, a complete gasp moment when all was revealed. One incident happened, and I couldn’t help but think if it happened to me, I probably wouldn’t have given it two thoughts. I really wanted more tension, a feeling of balancing on a knifes edge that I just didn’t experience with this story. I enjoyed the story and wouldn’t hesitate on giving K.L. Slaters other books a try.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

kl slater 1024x511 1 - Book Review: Single by K.L. Slater

After years of trying to get published and never getting further than the slush pile, I went back to university at the age of 40 where I gained a first-class honours degree in English & Creative Writing and an MA in Creative Writing with distinction.

Although I also had a day job during the five years I studied at university, the courses gave me the time and space to try different writing and increased my confidence and belief in my writing. Before I graduated from my MA, I had secured representation at the Darley Anderson Literacy, TV and Film Agency who got me my first book deal. My literary agent is Camilla Bolton.

My first adult psychological thriller for Bookouture, ‘Safe with Me’, actually started life as my dissertation on my English & Creative Writing degree in 2010.

The creepy voice of Anna came to me strong and insistent . . . she wanted to be written, she wouldn’t go away. I’m so glad I listened!

Please take a look at my ‘Books’ page for the full list of my titles.

I first became published writing Young Adult fiction for Macmillan Children’s Books under the name Kim Slater. My award-winning YA debut, SMART, started life as a short story for my MA in Creative Writing in 2012.

I am now a full-time writer. I have a daughter and two stepsons and live with my husband in Nottingham and Yorkshire.

Website