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The Nanny by Ruth Heald – REVIEW
The Nanny is an immersive page-turner. It’s provocative and shocking and hurtles along at breakneck speed. The past forges the present; that’s a fact that’s well known. How long can we keep running before it catches up with us? We can lace up those Nikes and get a head start, but the funny thing about our past is that it’ll always know where we are, where we reside; its GPS is continually trained on you. Some people are lucky in the knowledge that their past harbours no secrets, no skeletons in the closet – but for some, as is the case of the protagonist, Hayley, her past is something she’s…
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The Beach Party by Amy Sheppard – REVIEW
I have a soft spot for cold cases; I will inhale all the true crime podcasts, books, and documentaries that I can find. They tend to throw up all manners of dead ends, webs of deceit, and secrets lurking around every corner. That’s why The Beach Party caught my eye. With an enticing cover and a dark premise, it promises a story to keep you guessing. It promises to have the reader so engrossed that the ticking of the clock is the only sound you can hear in the background. A girl was found murdered on the beach, and no one was ever charged for it, but it’s being re-examined…
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One Night With the Duke by Jodi Ellen Malpas – REVIEW
One Night with the Duke dazzled with a wholly modern heroine with intensity and wit. Jodie Ellen Malpas proves once again why she has her finger on the pulse of engaging romance stories – she is a genre-busting Cameleon. It’s been so long since I read a book by Jodi Ellen Malpas. The last being the This Man series. Now…don’t come for me but I daren’t read her other series’ mainly because I didn’t think anything could surpass the perfection of Jesse Ward. I will change that after reading her new release, One Night with the Duke. Now, this isn’t generally my preferred genre of romance, I haven’t read any…
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Stay Awake by Megan Goldin – REVIEW
Stay Awake is a masterclass in visceral levels of tension. This is perfect for TV adaptation. A blistering page turner. What can I say about Stay Awake that will do it the justice it deserves? Never has sleep had such dangerous connotations? It is an intricate game of minds. Wake up, forget everything that has happened in the last two years, spend all day trying to connect the dots and discover what happened in those missing gaps, fall asleep, wake up and repeat. It would be a horrible way to live. You quickly get lost in the plot and you become so immersed in helping Liv discover what happened to…
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Prince of Thorns (The Broken Empire #1) by Mark Lawrence – REVIEW
TRIGGER WARNING – RAPE/MURDER Prince of Thorns is the first book in the Broken Empire series by Mark Lawrence. After reading his Book of Ice series I quickly realised his brand of storytelling is one that I love immensely. There is action aplenty but at the core of the story is a pulsing heart that bleeds with every injustice. He made me remember why I fell in love with Fantasy, in particular Grimdark. Prince of Thorns follows fourteen-year-old Jorg Ancrath. I’m kind of torn between loving and loathing Jorg. In his defence (if there is any) he was a boy that lost his mother and brother in the worst circumstances.…
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Borrowed Time by Russell Dean – REVIEW
Borrowed Time is masterful. It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book through the haze of tears. Russell Dean delivers laser-focused prose with a beating heart that will impact the coldest of readers. Borrowed Time is by far my favourite book of the year, and I’d struggle to envision anything topping it – it wrought emotion, a feeling of longing, and the need to read the next instalment like yesterday. Russell Dean is locking up for a battle, he tackles heavy subjects without ever shying away, and he carries it out with ease and tactfulness. So, if I haven’t already managed to convince you to read it, then…
