​An uncannily brilliant evocation of the falconers art and a moving story of a man's discovery of how to be a father.
This is a book about a man's relationship with hawks, and his self-education as a falconer, and about his discovery that despite his Asperger's Syndrome, which hampers his normal social interactions, he can forge a loving bond with the young son he thought he had lost. He rediscovers his full humanity through his commitment to the training of falcons and his love of the natural world.
Ben Crane writes with uncanny accuracy and lyrical precision about the intricacies of birds' behaviour and their instincts. He has a ruthless eye for the minute details of natural processes – of plumage, the patterns of flight, of killing, death and decay. He's as clear-eyed about himself and his detachment from ordinary human society as he is about the flight of peregrines and goshawks.
Here is nature writing at its very best, interwoven with an affecting human story and an account of how a man mastered the ancient craft of falconry.

​It was one of my new year’s resolutions to read more non-fiction and due to the many brilliant crime thrillers I’ve been reading lately, it’s taken me all this time to actually get around to meeting my target! But I’m so glad I got the chance to read Blood Ties as I loved it so much that it’s really got me going on my resolution for more non-fiction and I’ve already started reading my next non-fiction book!
Reading Blood Ties was a unique experience for me as I’ve never read nature writing before and I found it absolutely fascinating, especially the way the author’s personal life and journey was woven into this.
I really enjoyed the writing style because it wasn’t over complicated, and so I felt that this gave a much clearer insight into Crane's story and the ability for me to see things through his eyes made it all the more moving.
Most of all, I found this reading experience to be really eye-opening and I learnt so much, something which is so important to me and which I really value in a book.
Overall, I’m giving Blood Ties 4 out of 5. It’s moving, captivating and beautifully told. One I'd definitely recommend.
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​Ben Crane is a photographer, falconer and art teacher based in the Shropshire countryside.
After failing his A Levels, Ben began night school to pursue his love of art, going on to study a BA in Fine Art in Coventry, an MA at Winchester School of Art and a post graduate teaching certificate from Cambridge University. Ben spent his early career as a school art teacher before turning to freelance work as a photographer and artist selling his art at shows all over the country. Ben is the author of Sparrowhawks: A Falconer's Guide and rehabilitates birds of prey to return them to their natural hunting environment.

Today is my stop on the blog tour for Macbeth by Jo Nesbo where I'm posting a review and a giveaway!
Thanks so much to Mia for organising the tour and don't forget to check out the rest of the stops!

He’s the best cop they’ve got.
 
When a drug bust turns into a bloodbath it’s up to Inspector Macbeth and his team to clean up the mess.
 
He’s also an ex-drug addict with a troubled past.
 
He’s rewarded for his success. Power. Money. Respect. They’re all within reach.
 
But a man like him won’t get to the top.
 
Plagued by hallucinations and paranoia, Macbeth starts to unravel. He’s convinced he won’t get what is rightfully his.
 
Unless he kills for it.

​Whilst I’ve never read Shakespeare’s Macbeth, I am aware of the rough plot outline and it was brilliant to see how Jo Nesbo followed this same plot but still managed to put his own contemporary stamp on his version of Macbeth. He’s created a city full of drugs, crime and police corruption and really brought it to life with such skilled writing. (Translated by Don Bartlett who’s done an absolutely fantastic job.)
Although it did take me a little while to get into at the beginning, suddenly it draws you right in and once this happened, I was absolutely riveted and didn’t want to put it down. It’s very dark and violent and even ruthless at times, but this just contributes to the intensity, tension and very strong atmosphere of the novel as it builds up towards the dramatic end.
This is the first Jo Nesbo book I’ve read and I think it’s the perfect one to start off with if you haven’t read anything by him either as its completely standalone enabling you to dive straight in and really enjoy it.
Overall, I’m giving Macbeth 4 out of 5. It’s dark, atmospheric and riveting. I’ll definitely be reading more by Jo Nesbo.

I'm very lucky to have a copy of Macbeth to give away! To enter, head over to twitter and follow my account (@mistimoobooks) then just retweet the tweet with the above picture. The giveaway will be open from today (22/09/18) for two weeks (6/10/18).
Best of luck!

​Jo Nesbo is one of the world’s bestselling crime writers, with The Leopard, Phantom, Police, The Son and his latest Harry Hole novel, The Thirst, all topping the Sunday Times bestseller charts. He's an international number one bestseller and his books are published in 50 languages, selling over 33 million copies around the world.
 
Before becoming a crime writer, Nesbo played football for Norway’s premier league team Molde, but his dream of playing professionally for Spurs was dashed when he tore ligaments in his knee at the age of eighteen. After three years military service he attended business school and formed the band Di derre ('Them There'). They topped the charts in Norway, but Nesbo continued working as a financial analyst, crunching numbers during the day and gigging at night. When commissioned by a publisher to write a memoir about life on the road with his band, he instead came up with the plot for his first Harry Hole crime novel, The Bat.
 
Sign up to the Jo Nesbo official monthly emails for the latest book and event news, exclusive content from Jo and competitions you won't find anywhere else:
 jonesbo.com/newsletter

Today, I'm kicking off the John le Carré blog tour! I'm so excited to be taking part and even more excited to be celebrating John le Carré's wonderful achievement of becoming the living author with the greatest number of works awarded the classic status on the 27th of September, after Penguin complete a major nine-year project to publish twenty-one of his novels in Penguin Modern Classics.
Like celebrated authors Samuel Beckett, James Joyce and George Orwell, John le Carré's presence on the Penguin Modern Classics list acknowledges him not just as a writer for today but for all time.
For over half a century John le Carré has exposed and interrogated the murky world of espionage, from the Cold War to the War on Terror, creating masterpieces that have come to define the age and change the way we look at the world. A master storyteller, his books grip readers around the world — from his Cold War novels, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, to recent works The Pigeon Tunnel and A Legacy of Spies.
New to the list will be The Little Drummer Girl — a page-turning story of love and loyalty set against the backdrop of the Middle East conflict and the subject of a major six-part BBC adaptation this October. Produced by the award-winning team behind The Night Manager, The Little Drummer Girl will star Alexander Skarsgård and Florence Pugh.

With a novel like this, it’s really easy to see why le Carré’s works have become classics. Smiley’s People is written with such skill and precision that you can’t help appreciating the masterful writing as you read. The plotting is tight and intricate with just the right balance of detail and action that kept me reading on and on.
At 426 pages, it could be quite a long read for some people, but don’t let that put you off, as once you become absorbed in the book it feels like no time at all, so it’s well worth persevering if that sort of length usually scares you.
All of the characters are brilliantly drawn, they’re so human, with their personalities, quirks, strengths and weaknesses captured and explored so very well.
I also loved the fact that le Carré doesn’t give everything away too fast. He slowly builds up to the climax, maintaining the tension throughout.
Overall, I’m giving Smiley’s People 4.5 out of 5. It’s sophisticated, gripping and gritty and I’d highly recommend giving it a read.
​

To celebrate John le Carré becoming the living author with the greatest number of works awarded the classic status, I have one copy of Smiley's People to give away! To enter, simply head over to my twitter account here, follow me and retweet the tweet with the above image! Best of luck, it really is a fantastic read!

​This is a fact: Ryan Summers walked into Three Rivers College and killed thirteen women, then himself.
 
But no one can say why.
 
The question is one that cries out to be answered - by Ryan's mother, Moira; by Ishbel, the mother of Abigail, the first victim; and by DI Helen Birch, put in charge of the case on her first day at her new job. But as the tabloids and the media swarm, as the families' secrets come out, as the world searches for someone to blame... the truth seems to vanish.
 
A stunningly moving novel from an exciting new voice in crime, ALL THE HIDDEN TRUTHS will cause you to question your assumptions about the people you love, and reconsider how the world reacts to tragedy.

​All the Hidden Truths is a heart-breaking and very emotional read, exploring the tragic aftermath of a school shooting and the effects it has, particularly on three women, Moira (the mother of the perpetrator), Ishbel (the mother of one of the victims) and DI Helen Birch (the lead investigator). I thought the use of the perspectives of these three women was really effective for this book as it enabled me to look at things from different points of view and really get a sense of how a tragedy like this affects a whole range of people in so many ways and how people deal with grief and guilt. It also looks at the way the public and media react to such an event, with the inclusion of tweets and emails as well as a particular journalist’s horrible behaviour and it really hits home how much influence these things can have on the wider perception of an event like this.
Not only is it a moving read, it’s also gripping and compelling and so well written.
Overall, I’m giving All the Hidden Truths 4.5 out of 5. It’s emotional, beautifully and sensitively written and truly thought provoking. It really is worth a read.
​

​Claire Askew is a poet, novelist and the current Writer in Residence at the University of Edinburgh. Her debut novel in progress was the winner of the 2016 Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize, and longlisted for the 2014 Peggy Chapman-Andrews (Bridport) Novel Award. Claire holds a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Edinburgh and has won a variety of accolades for her work, including the Jessie Kesson Fellowship and a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award.
 
Her debut poetry collection, This changes things, was published by Bloodaxe in 2016 and shortlisted for the Edwin Morgan Poetry Award and a Saltire First Book Award. In 2016 Claire was selected as a Scottish Book Trust Reading Champion, and she works as the Scotland tutor for women's writing initiatives Write Like A Grrrl! and #GrrrlCon.

​Jean Mason has a doppelganger.
 
She's never seen her, but others* swear they have.
 
*others | noun. A peculiar collection of drug addicts, scam artists, philanthropists, philosophers and vagrants the regulars of Bellevue Square.
 
Jean lives in downtown Toronto with her husband and two kids. The proud owner of a thriving bookstore, she doesn't rattle easily not like she used to. But after two of her customers insist they've seen her double, Jean decides to investigate. Curiosity grows to obsession and soon Jean's concerns shift from the identity of the woman, to her very own.

What initially intrigued me about this book was the idea of someone having a doppelgänger and I couldn’t wait to see how Redhill explored this.
At first, the book took me a little longer to get into than I’d expected, but once I was hooked, I found the story totally gripping and I was compelled to read on and on. I had so many questions and I never knew what was coming next, it was a real roller-coaster ride, and one I thoroughly enjoyed.
There’s so much more to this than just the doppelgänger theme though, later in the book, much darker themes are explored and they can be quite unsettling, although I still couldn’t help but turn the pages.
I think it was the characters that really brought things to life for me though, each one feels real and Jean in particular is such an interesting character to read.
Overall, I’m giving Bellevue Square 4 out of 5. It’s compelling, unsettling, and totally unique. If you fancy reading something memorable and really different from the norm, give this a try.

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This book was provided free in exchange for an honest review.
The above is an affiliate link.
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​Michael Redhill is an American-born Canadian poet, playwright and novelist. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Redhill was raised in the metropolitan Toronto, Ontario area.