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Review|Her Daughter’s Cry By M.M. Chouinard

     Yvonne      3 Comments

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.

her daughters cry by m m chouinard - Review|Her Daughter's Cry By M.M. ChouinardHer Daughter's Cry by M.M. Chouinard
Published by Bookouture on January 23, 2020
ISBN: 9781786818270
Genres: Fiction, Mystery & Detective, Police Procedural, Thrillers, Suspense, Crime, Psychological, International Mystery & Crime
Pages: 350
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: NetGalley, Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
four stars - Review|Her Daughter's Cry By M.M. Chouinard

Someone wants her dead, and she can’t remember why.

Zoe is a wife and a mother. Or so she’s been told. Ask her for more than that and she couldn’t tell you. The blow to her head wiped her memory clean.

Zoe knows the blood on her shirt isn’t just her own. After she was found stumbling out of the woods, the police ran tests. They say it belongs to her missing daughter.

Zoe is trying to piece together what her daughter’s face looks like, but all she can conjure up is a white-hot panic. A fear that her child is in desperate need of her help.

When a man claiming to be her husband turns up looking for her, she knows she can’t trust him. Until she gets her memories back, she can’t trust anyone. Not the stranger, not the police investigating, not even herself…

A completely addictive thriller that will keep you guessing into the early hours of the morning. Perfect for fans of The Silent Patient, Lisa Regan and Gregg Olsen.

Read what everyone is saying about Her Daughter’s Cry:

“Just WOW!! The twists I just didn’t see coming… The story was crazy SO CRAZY!!! If you think you can guess what is going to happen, you will be sadly mistaken!! The characters in this one were great… I loved every second of it.” Crossroad Reviews ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“Omg, this book had me completely gripped, with twists and turns. I honestly thought it was someone else who had done it. Amazingly written. This is a first time read for me with this author, but I will be certainly reading more… Crime thriller at its best.” NetGalley Reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“A perfect thriller.” Shalini’s Books & Reviews ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“I could not put this book down!! What a thriller this book is!! I love stories that involve memory loss! You are hooked… What a great book!! Highly recommended!” Goodreads Reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“Chouinard really upped her game… I was pulled in right from the start… I could not figure anything out no matter how many scenarios I came up with… Wow, the ending I just never saw coming… I devoured it within a matter of hours. Talk about an intense and crazy storyline!... Another five-star read.” Sinfully Wicked Book Reviews ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“Had me hooked from the first page to the last with a heart-wrenching story and explosive conclusion… I felt as if I won the jackpot with this one. The writing is excellent, the pacing fast and the characters are beautifully drawn. Off to buy the others!” Goodreads Reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“GREAT story… a must-read… A ‘stay up and finish book’. M.M. Chouinard has created another fantastic thriller!… Looking forward to the next.” Goodreads Reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“I was captivated by this story… The cat-and-mouse way this book was written made it impossible to put down… This is a hit.” Robin Loves Reading ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“The author did it again… A captivating story that kept me interested from page one!… It was such an amazing story. Just Like Zoe did not know who she could trust, I did not know either… Long story short: an awesome book… Keep them coming, please. 🙂 5 stars.” B for Bookreview ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“I absolutely enjoyed this thrilling ride of a book… Well-written, fast paced, thrilling… kept me flipping pages fast… Lots of twists & turns, thrills, and chills are found in this book! Highly recommend!” Goodreads Reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“I absolutely loved it! 5 stars! Excellent writing and storyline…” Goodreads Reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“I loved The Dancing Girls so I was really looking forward to reading this and it delivered on all levels… Zoe has no idea who she can trust and to be honest neither did I. Fast-paced and kept me guessing all the way through. Another brilliant read!!” NetGalley Reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I’m such a massive fan of the titles that Bookouture have been putting out and Her Daughter’s Cry did not disappoint.

You know that you are on to a winner when you can’t stop thinking about a book and are looking for excuses to ditch your housework and just read, read, read.  Within a few pages I felt hypnotised by M.M. Chouinard’s skill at reeling you in – she had me by the jugular and wouldn’t let go until I had inhaled her twisty narrative.  I immediately added her back catalogue to my TBR – the book hangover she afforded me was all consuming!

Her Daughter’s Cry was elusive.  After reading the synopsis I knew this book would sink me, but I still felt in the dark.  My kindle was fully charged and raring to go but I felt a palpating sense of anxiety course through me – my hands shook with the possibility of the plot but the author opened the doors to her wickedly compulsive world none the less. 

simon berger rydQVdwcgUQ unsplash 820x1024 - Review|Her Daughter's Cry By M.M. Chouinard

This book is proverbial crack to a book lover.  Is it at all possible that I will do this book justice?  Probably not, hence why the most powerful statement that I can make is TO BUY THE BOOK.  You need to meet Marissa and witness first-hand her journey from no memory to the shocking realisation of what a simple camping trip has turned into.  Our detectives, Jo Fournier and team are racing against the clock to piece together…everything really, the mysterious woman with no memory and what really happened in the woods.  The stakes had never been higher – a serious case of amnesia, someone that needs to stop Zoe and shut her up for good and the relentless impact of consequences.  

I have now come to learn that a book written by Chouinard will set the synapses firing in your brain at one thousand miles per hour.  You will constantly ask questions, but the answers will be given to you in drips and drabs with an earth-shattering twist to make you forget your own damn name.  This book was consumed faster than a kid eats sweets. 

ahmed zayan 6h0xlEZoYZY unsplash 683x1024 - Review|Her Daughter's Cry By M.M. Chouinard

Jo’s character was mesmerising.  She was used to the looks and glances when people realised, she was the one in charge of an investigation.  Her strength was admirable and stubborn to boot.  When someone tells her, she can’t do something then she will go out her way to prove that not only can she do it but ten times better than anyone was expecting.  Elements within this narrative brought a softer side to her character and you were witness to something changing – I look forward to this development in further books. 

Her Daughter’s Cry is a tightly wound and absorbing thriller that will have you instantly talking about it.  Its smart and intense and a twist that will have you gasping with shock.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

5998529 - Review|Her Daughter's Cry By M.M. Chouinard

M.M. Chouinard writes crime fiction (including suspense, procedurals, and cozies), and women’s fiction. M.M. Chouinard’s first fiction story was published in her local paper when she was eight, and she fell in love with Agatha Christie novels not long after. While pursuing a Ph.D in psychology and helping to found the first U.S. research university of the new millenium, the stories kept rattling around inside her skull, demanding to come out. For sanity’s sake, she released them.

M.M. Chouinard Website

four stars - Review|Her Daughter's Cry By M.M. Chouinard

Review|Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha

     Yvonne      Leave a Comment

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.

51205281. SX318 SY475 - Review|Your House Will Pay by Steph ChaYour House Will Pay by Steph Cha
Published by Faber & Faber on October 15, 2019
ISBN: 9780062868862
Genres: Fiction, Crime, Asian American, Literary
Pages: 320
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: NetGalley, Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
four stars - Review|Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha

WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE
“[A] suspense-filled page-turner.” —Viet Thanh Nguyen, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for The Sympathizer
"A touching portrait of two families bound together by a split-second decision.” —Attica Locke, Edgar-Award winning author of Bluebird, Bluebird
A Best Book of the YearWall Street Journal / Chicago Tribune / Buzzfeed / South Florida Sun-Sentinel / Book Riot / LitHub / BOLO Books
A powerful and taut novel about racial tensions in Los Angeles, following two families—one Korean-American, one African-American—grappling with the effects of a decades-old crime
In the wake of the police shooting of a black teenager, Los Angeles is as tense as it’s been since the unrest of the early 1990s. But Grace Park and Shawn Matthews have their own problems. Grace is sheltered and largely oblivious, living in the Valley with her Korean-immigrant parents, working long hours at the family pharmacy. She’s distraught that her sister hasn’t spoken to their mother in two years, for reasons beyond Grace’s understanding. Shawn has already had enough of politics and protest after an act of violence shattered his family years ago. He just wants to be left alone to enjoy his quiet life in Palmdale.
But when another shocking crime hits LA, both the Park and Matthews families are forced to face down their history while navigating the tumult of a city on the brink of more violence.

Your House Will Pay everyone needs to read.  It opens a much-needed conversation about racism and cultural appropriation.  Truth be told I went into this book with extremely high expectations and thankfully I wasn’t left disappointed.  The sheer impact it left upon me gave me chills.  The author has taken the very real story of a shooting of a black girl, Latasha Harlins in 1991.  It left me feeling bereft and tearful and rendered me utterly speechless.  Steph Cha has taken the well acknowledged thriller concoction, remastered and reengineered it and used it as a tool to make the reader glaringly aware of the very real cracks and fractures in our society.

Your House Will Pay is certainly a multi-genre chameleon.  We have a mystery to crack.  Racial conflict during the 1990’s.  familial ties that are put to the very extremes.  From the very first page it engages your brain – your emotion centres bypass gears 1-4 and slide straight into fifth.  It’s that power that this story radiates – its grip is complete, and its hold remains long after you close that final page. 

The book is told in dual timelines – from 1991 and 2019.  You’ll agree that it is a considerable time gap but what struck me was just how nothing had really changed.  The actions.  The assumptions.  The consequences.  It was all the same.  The targeting.  The pain.  I could feel the rage build within me.  How dare human beings be treated so differently.  Don’t we all breathe the same air?  Don’t we all deserve to have love and acceptance?  don’t we all bleed the same? 

Two families, both affected by actions of the past.  They are both tied together in an unbreakable bond that have their fates forever bound.  Can they move forward and not make the mistakes of their fathers/mothers?  Your House Will Pay should have everyone digging deep into themselves – thoughts on racism and morality especially.

Los Angeles is the backdrop for this gritty and compulsive tale.  How often have we clicked on gossip mags links and have been privy to the beautiful vistas of LA?  Clear blue skies, golden beaches, and model women and men.  How many people dig deeper and discover the seedy underworld?  The gunshots ringing through the most deprived neighbourhoods, our minority communities being misrepresented and not heard.  Steph Cha’s powerful narrative looks beyond assumptions and reveals the ugly truth. 

Our characters (Shawn, Ava, Yvonne, Ray, Grace, and Miriam) have all experienced painful exploitations.  I never found myself rooting for one side or the other, but my heart felt squeezed, the blood pouring through my fingers.  I wanted them all to find their happy resolution, but life is rarely that black and white. 

Your House Will Pay and the strength of the characterisation had me reeling from the sheer electrifying nature – to the extent it hurt to keep reading.  I genuinely believed I was reading an autobiography, the story seeped in realism and the multi strands of a web.  This book left me as a different person and I’m so grateful for it.    

 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

steph cha 4 683x1024 1 - Review|Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha

Steph Cha is the author of Your House Will Pay and the Juniper Song crime trilogy. She’s an editor and critic whose work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. A native of the San Fernando Valley, she lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two basset hounds.

Steph Cha Website

four stars - Review|Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha

Blog Tour: Until Summer Comes Around by Glenn Rolfe

     Yvonne      1 Comment

FINAL Until Summer comes BT Poster - Blog Tour: Until Summer Comes Around by Glenn Rolfe

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.

until summer comes around by glenn rolfe - Blog Tour: Until Summer Comes Around by Glenn RolfeUntil Summer Comes Around by Glenn Rolfe
Published by Flame Tree Press on May 21, 2020
ISBN: 9781787583924
Genres: Fiction, Occult & Supernatural, Thrillers, Supernatural
Pages: 288
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
five stars - Blog Tour: Until Summer Comes Around by Glenn Rolfe

"Rolfe is the real deal, folks, and anything he writes is well worth checking out." - Gord Rollo, author of The Jigsaw Man and The Crucifixion Experiments
When fifteen year old Rocky Zukas meets a mysterious dark-haired girl named November, his world is forever changed. The young couple falls under the spell of summer love, but not everyone approves. November's brother, Gabriel, is the keeper of the family's secret, and big brother is always watching, growing more sinister as his bloodlust gets the best of him. Directing his attention to Rocky's family, Gabriel aims to make sure little sister knows who is in charge.
FLAME TREE PRESSis the new fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing. Launched in 2018 the list brings together brilliant new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices.

Don’t you just love a sweet and innocent coming of age story?  Yeah, neither do I.  If you love your coming of age stories to be full of blood, guts, and a creeping dread, then absolutely pick up Until Summer Comes Round.  It blasts you with those feel good eighties summer vibes – the feeling that summer would never end.  It just has that bonus of vampires and the spilling of blood.  There is so much packed into this novel written by the immensely talented Glenn Rolfe.  Every word has been deliberately chosen and they come to life with such a sinister prevalence that you feel the need to look over your own shoulder. 

I knew that this book was going to be a hypnotising work of art.  I picked up my kindle, took a deep breath and lay my trust in Rolfe, although he might just scare the brown stuff clean out of you, he will give the experience of a lifetime.  He won’t let you down.  Until Summer Comes Round is like being reintroduced to an old friend – if Michael Myers was the benchmark for friendship.  The plot promises to reel you in, hook, line, and sinker with his narrative of an addictive plotline which is tainted with evil, blood and a resounding feeling of fate. 

This superb vampire tale is set in 1986 in Old Orchard Beach, Maine.  Rocky, our protagonist has previously enjoyed spending his summer days hanging around the arcade and blowing money on junk food with his cousin Axel.  Nothing exciting ever takes place in their quiet town.  Just once he wishes something would liven the place up, well you should be careful what you wish for. 

Fast forward to a serious case of sun stroke and a mysterious girl named November.  There a mutual attraction and they seem to have a lot in common.  The same music tastes and a penchant for all things geeky.  They spend a lot of time together, swimming, larking around and eating junk food, its too good to be true.  Not only are they only in his beach town for the summer but November, her brother, Gabriel, and their mother are harbouring a horrific secret – They are vampires. 

Glenn Rolfe captured so accurately the feelings and emotions of what it is like being that age.  We see elements of denial, love, anger, and change.  We can’t fight against the raging storm these emotions pull at and the author doesn’t try to.  The human side of his characters bring the reader inexorably closer to the story – the words reach out to us, looking for a connection. 

Until Summer Comes Around is extremely character driven, and its raw compulsive nature is visceral.  The author has nailed the complicated nature of human beings and the evil of supernatural beings.  Two stories interweaved that ramp up the adrenaline.  Gripping from the very start and I was more than happy to open the door into this sinister world and experience everything it had to offer. 

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

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Glenn Rolfe.0 - Blog Tour: Until Summer Comes Around by Glenn Rolfe

“A vital part of this generation.” – Brian Keene, author of THE COMPLEX and THE RISING

Glenn Rolfe is an author from the haunted woods of New England. He has studied Creative Writing at Southern New Hampshire University and continues his education in the world of horror by devouring the novels of Stephen King, Richard Laymon, Brian Keene, Jack Ketchum, and many others. He and his wife, Meghan, have three children, Ruby, Ramona, and Axl. He is grateful to be loved despite his weirdness.

He is a Splatterpunk Award nominee and the author of The Window, Becoming, Blood and Rain, The Haunted Halls, Chasing Ghosts, Abram’s Bridge, Things We Fear, Boom Town, and the collections, Slush and Land of Bones.
Look for his next novel, Until Summer Comes Around, coming from Flame Tree Press in 2020.

He is hard at work on many more. Stay tuned!

Twitter: @grolfehorror
www.Patreon/GetRolfed

Glenn Rolfe

five stars - Blog Tour: Until Summer Comes Around by Glenn Rolfe

Review: Foul Is Fair by Hannah Capin

     Yvonne      Leave a Comment

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.

This book contains themes unsuitable for readers under 17. Contains drugs, sex and or abuse
51608699. SX318 SY475 1 - Review: Foul Is Fair by Hannah CapinFoul is Fair by Hannah Capin
Published by Penguin on February 18, 2020
ISBN: 9781250239556
Genres: Young Adult Fiction, Thrillers & Suspense, Girls & Women, Social Themes, Violence
Pages: 336
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: NetGalley, Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
one star - Review: Foul Is Fair by Hannah Capin

Hannah Capin's Foul is Fair is a bloody, thrilling revenge fantasy for the girls who have had enough. Perfect for fans of Karen M. McManus and A Good Girl's Guide to Murder. Golden boys beware: something wicked this way comes.
Jade and her friends Jenny, Mads, and Summer rule their glittering LA circle. Untouchable, they have the kind of power other girls only dream of. Every party is theirs and the world is at their feet. Until the night of Jade's sweet sixteen, when they crash a St. Andrew’s Prep party. The night the golden boys choose Jade as their next target.
They picked the wrong girl.
Sworn to vengeance, Jade transfers to St. Andrew’s Prep. She plots to destroy each boy, one by one. She'll take their power, their lives, and their control of the prep school's hierarchy. And she and her coven have the perfect way in: a boy named Mack, whose ambition could turn deadly.

Where do I begin with Foul is Fair?  The premise of the story was one that had intrigued me wholeheartedly.  A revenge thriller with a feministic twist.  A classic retelling based upon Macbeth that became darker and darker the further you travelled through its pages.  I want to include a trigger warning about the book before I go any further – It is a revenge tale after a sexual assault.  The premise is one that I would have expected to grab me and hold me hostage but the preceding emotion it left me with is an uncontrollable anger – the narrative within the story could be quite dangerous.

It unfortunately, was not what I was expecting.  I had hoped for a read that would leave me feeling empowered, a sense of strength pulsating from within but it fell flat, and the actions carried out were unnecessary and brutal.  Foul Is Fair was written in such a way that the survival of sexual assault and trauma should be retaliated in actions that were wholly unhealthy and catapults the victim to a level that is on par with the perpetrator.  This book was not enjoyable.  The way in which sexual assault is handled by everyone close to Jade/Elle is quite frankly repulsive. 

The one true thing that galls me the most.  The one aspect I could not look past if I tried, is the fact that her parents were told about the assault and they did nothing. NOTHING.  I mean as a parent isn’t it your job/responsibility to do what is best for your child whether they ask you not to do something or not.  I would want the scum to put behind bars the minute I found out.  The parents seem to be an influential aspect (definitely not a positive one) into why she takes this course of action over reporting it – they seem standoffish and there social standing being of more import than the serious situation slapping them about the face.

Just for one minute imagine a young adult reading this book and taking the very wrong decision not to report a serious sexual assault.  She was a child and she was seriously let down but those that supposed to care for her. 

Revenge as imagined in Foul Is Fair seems to be without consequence.  Murder a bunch of people and not be afflicted with the human emotion of guilt or remorse…once again what does this say about the way she has been brought up?  Revenge hardly ever benefits anyone.  Murder is still murder.  It hurts those around you, it maims you psychologically and this book just left bewildered and deeply angry. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

17092556 - Review: Foul Is Fair by Hannah Capin

hannah capin wrote her first “novel” when she was 11. it starred a girl detective and a brilliant villain seeking revenge on her enemies in the FBI.

thousands of pages later, she’s still writing about smart girls and vengeance. THE DEAD QUEENS CLUB is out now and FOUL IS FAIR comes out in february 2020 from wednesday books.

​

when she isn’t working on her next manuscript, you can find her sailing, singing, or scheming with her friends. she holds degrees from columbia university and the indiana university jacobs school of music, and she lives in tidewater virginia.

Hannah Capin

one star - Review: Foul Is Fair by Hannah Capin

Blog Tour: The Girl And The Stars by Mark Lawrence

     Yvonne      2 Comments

The Girl and the Stars BT Poster 0052 - Blog Tour: The Girl And The Stars by Mark Lawrence

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.

43155726. SY475 - Blog Tour: The Girl And The Stars by Mark LawrenceThe Girl and the Stars by Mark Lawrence
Published by Harper Voyager on April 21, 2020
ISBN: 9781984806000
Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, Epic, Action & Adventure, Dark Fantasy
Pages: 384
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: NetGalley, Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
five stars - Blog Tour: The Girl And The Stars by Mark Lawrence

A stunning new epic fantasy series following a young outcast who must fight with everything she has to survive, set in the same world as Red Sister.   In the ice, east of the Black Rock, there is a hole into which broken children are thrown. Yaz’s people call it the Pit of the Missing and now it is drawing her in as she has always known it would.   To resist the cold, to endure the months of night when even the air itself begins to freeze, requires a special breed. Variation is dangerous, difference is fatal. And Yaz is not the same.   Yaz’s difference tears her from the only life she’s ever known, away from her family, from the boy she thought she would spend her days with, and has to carve out a new path for herself in a world whose existence she never suspected. A world full of difference and mystery and danger.   Yaz learns that Abeth is older and stranger than she had ever imagined. She learns that her weaknesses are another kind of strength and that the cruel arithmetic of survival that has always governed her people can be challenged.

The Girl And The Stars is certainly not Mark Lawrence’s first rodeo. However, It is the most poignant epic fantasy that I have experienced in a long time.  The story envelops you like a long lost relative after decades apart…everything about it just feels right.  This is the kind of story that leaves you grappling with the fight for cognitive cohesion.  How on earth do you get your thoughts down in a review in regard to a book of this magnitude.  The narrative took me hostage and posted my ransom.  I didn’t want to be found, I wanted to be immersed in this world for the foreseeable future. 

My kindle only made it through the read by the skin of its teeth.  There are some elements of a story that just speak to you and The Girl And The Stars just had it all.  it drew out unbreakable connections, the electricity snapping between us.  The book quite simply felt like a living and breathing entity.  You feel the emotion and the outpouring of love that Mark Lawrence has for this story and it spoke completely to the heart.  It’s almost like the book knew how you tick and brought you everything you have been craving. 

Don’t be fooled into thinking that this is a book that you can read a few chapters at a time.  The Girl And The Stars will rapt your attention and the fight against it will be a futile struggle.  Epic fantasy.  Survival.  Family. Unbreakable bonds and children of different abilities.  The prose was like titanium – solid. 

Mark Lawrence is an author that I have failed to get around to reading, I am ashamed to admit but now I have had a taste of his work, I will be seeking to change that immediately.  He has brought The Girl and The Stars to life with such a glorious 8k dimension to it.  He has created a fully immersive epic fantasy and surpassed all expectations – my brain wanted to explode.  The world building was mind blowing and I was experiencing it in VR. 

We meet Yaz, our sixteen-year-old female protagonist, a member of the ice tribe, the ictha.  She knows that she cannot ascend to an adult member of the tribe without being judged by the regulator, Kazik.  Yaz has known for many a year that she wasn’t normal, her abilities would be judged harshly and would end up being cast away into the pit of the missing, where all broken children end up. 

Inadvertently or not Yaz ends up in the pit with her brother, Zeen.  Her one and only mission is to save her brother, who in her mind, doesn’t deserve to be in the pit.  After a considerable amount of time she comes face to face with a despicable giant – who just happens to gorge on the flesh of the broken.  Yaz, however, is rescued by other members of the broken and she is introduced to a new clan that can survive below the ice.  They have adapted to their new environment and Yaz has a whole lot of adapting to do. 

The Girl And The Stars laser precise and hits its target every time.  An intricate magical spell, you fall deep, and its rich narrative is a fresh take on a populated genre.

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

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mark Lawrence Author pic - Blog Tour: The Girl And The Stars by Mark Lawrence

Mark Lawrence was born in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, but moved to the UK at the age of one. He went back to the US after taking a PhD in mathematics at Imperial College to work on a variety of research projects including the ‘Star Wars’ missile defence programme. Returning to the UK, he has worked mainly on image processing and decision/reasoning theory. His first trilogy, The Broken Empire, has been universally acclaimed as a ground-breaking work of fantasy, and both The Liar’s Key and The Wheel of Osheim have won the Gemmell Legend award for best fantasy novel. Mark is married, with four children, and lives in Bristol.

MARK LAWRENCE

five stars - Blog Tour: The Girl And The Stars by Mark Lawrence

Blog Tour: Goldilocks by Laura Lam

     Yvonne      1 Comment

Goldilocks BT Poster - Blog Tour: Goldilocks by Laura Lam

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.

goldilocks by laura lam - Blog Tour: Goldilocks by Laura LamGoldilocks by Laura Lam
Published by Wildfire on May 5, 2020
ISBN: 9780316462891
Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Space Exploration, Dystopian, Apocalyptic & Post-Apocalyptic
Pages: 352
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: NetGalley, Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
four stars - Blog Tour: Goldilocks by Laura Lam

A gripping science fiction thriller where five women task themselves with ensuring the survival of the human race; perfect for readers of The Martian, The Power, and Station Eleven.Despite increasing restrictions on the freedoms of women on Earth, Valerie Black is spearheading the first all-female mission to a planet in the Goldilocks Zone, where conditions are just right for human habitation.It's humanity's last hope for survival, and Naomi, Valerie's surrogate daughter and the ship's botanist, has been waiting her whole life for an opportunity like this - to step out of Valerie's shadow and really make a difference.But when things start going wrong on the ship, Naomi begins to suspect that someone on board is concealing a terrible secret - and realizes time for life on Earth may be running out faster than they feared . . .Goldilocks is The Handmaid's Tale meets The Martian - a bold and thought-provoking new high-concept thriller.

Space exploration.  It’s always been the unattainable for the regular man.  Its been my ultimate dream to see the black and ever stretching unknown.  What would you see and hear?  Could it possibly be everything that you had hoped or dreamed, or would it never live up to your fantastical expectations?  Goldilocks gives the reader a first-class ticket to far away planet, Cavendish.  Your feet will be the first to touch down, to see the sights never before witnessed but what would life truly be like being one of those first woman on an unknown world.  What happens as one of those chosen ones?

Goldilocks was a no brainer for me.  Anything space is an immediate yes.  The idea of five women being the first to land on a new potentially habitable planet.  Feel the wind through their hair, to touch the dust covering the surface and discovering the best place to establish colonies.  The synopsis hinted at secrets being hid in plain sight.  The words contained on each page threatened to suck me into its cleverly crafted black hole.  I knew I shouldn’t have got so attached to the characters and the wonderfully enchanting setting.  Laura Lam has concocted a sublime cocktail of equality, heart wrenching emotion and a narrative that is so stunning that your gut twists and turns. 

Earth is in crisis.  It is reported that it only has thirty years left.  Humanity has ravaged the earth and brought about its demise much sooner than predicted.  Our buying of plastics, the eating of red meat beyond our means and polluting our seas.  The devastating narrative flew very close to home as this is ultimately the future that our children are facing.  However, we have no planet B.  Our technology hasn’t been developed that far.  It is a race for survival. 

With the varied skill set of our protagonists, Goldilocks offered me a rare, money can’t buy look into the fascinating world of space exploration.  We had youth, experience, military, medical and botany expertise and teamed with problems with extreme stress we were given a front row seat to witness the good, the bad and the downright evil of humanity.  Valerie Black has determined that Cavendish, which happens to be in the Goldilocks zone, is where we need to be.  She has the means and more importantly the money with some financial backing to get her and a team there.

Valerie’s company Hawthorne and NASA build a drive that enables them to warp time and space and can make a jump just outside Mars to make the ten light year journey vastly reduced.  They build a spaceship that is to carry Valerie, her adopted daughter, Naomi, Hixon, Hart and Lebedeva.  Things hit the proverbial fan when new president, Cochran is elected, and the women are removed from the mission – apparently a woman’s place is in the kitchen pffft.  Well, this isn’t going to be an order that Valerie Black take lying down.  She has pumped everything into this mission and nothing will stop her seeing it through.  The women take off from a disused Russian take off strip and essentially have stolen a craft to do it with.  Naomi discovers that Valerie has been keeping secrets from her crew mates and doesn’t know if she has ever knew this person she once looked up to as a motherly figure. 

Goldilocks is a captivating science fiction novel that investigates the human condition and survival.  It was impossible to stop reading. 

Thanks to Anne Cater @ Random Things tours for my place on the blog tour.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Laura Lam Author Pic - Blog Tour: Goldilocks by Laura Lam

Originally from sunny California, Laura Lam now lives in cloudy Scotland. She is the author of the near-future space thriller, Goldilocks, feminist space opera Seven Devils (co-writtenwith Elizabeth May), BBC Radio 2 Book Club section False Hearts, the companion novel Shattered Minds, and the award-winning Micah Grey series: Pantomime, Shadowplay, and Masquerade. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in anthologies such as Nasty Women, Solaris Rising 3, Cranky Ladies of History, Scotland in Space, and more. Her romance alter ego is Laura Ambrose. She lectures part-time at Edinburgh Napier University on the Creative Writing MA.

LAURA LAM

four stars - Blog Tour: Goldilocks by Laura Lam