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I post book reviews as often as possible but at least once a week every Wednesday! I hope they help you to find some new books that you'll love as much as I did!
 Today is my stop on the blog tour for She Lies in Wait by Gytha Lodge! Thank you so much to Jenny for organising the tour and don’t forget to check out the rest of the stops!    The Synopsis Six friends. One killer. Who do you trust? Seven friends went down to the woods, but one of them never came home. 30 years later, a body is discovered. DCI Sheens already knows what's waiting for him - Aurora Jackson, found at last. They all claim to be innocent, but one of them must be lying. Because she was found somewhere only they knew about. Now everyone's a suspect. My Review Wow, She Lies in Wait sure is one impressive debut! This book is deftly plotted and so well written that I was hanging on to every word and couldn’t stop reading. I thoroughly enjoyed how the narrative flicks backwards and forwards between the present investigation and 30 years earlier, before the tragedy happened. I found it really easy to follow and keep up with these shifts in narrative and I felt that Aurora’s POV was particularly gripping. The characters are all really well developed and I found DCI Jonah Sheens and Jojo especially interesting to read. The book is packed with fantastic unexpected twists and gets more and more tense and intriguing as it progresses, keeping you guessing right until the end. I honestly think I suspected everyone at some point! I absolutely recommend picking a copy of this book up! Overall, I’m giving She Lies in Wait 4.5 out of 5. It’s tightly plotted, totally gripping and packed with unexpected twists. I’m really looking forward to reading more from Gytha Lodge! This book was provided free in exchange for an honest review. The above is an affiliate link. About the AuthorGytha Lodge is a writer and multi-award-winning playwright who lives in Cambridge. After studying creative writing at UEA, she was shortlisted for the Yeovil Literary Prize and the Arts' Council England fiction awards, and developed a large online following for her young adult and children's writing, with over five million reads accrued on platform Wattpad. She Lies in Wait is her debut novel.
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The Synopsis Birmingham, 1885. Born in a gaol and raised in a workhouse, Cora Burns has always struggled to control the violence inside her. Haunted by memories of a terrible crime, she seeks a new life working as a servant in the house of scientist Thomas Jerwood. Here, Cora befriends a young girl, Violet, who seems to be the subject of a living experiment. But is Jerwood also secretly studying Cora...? My Review The Conviction of Cora Burns is a mesmerising story of a young girl and her fascinating journey to understand her past. The exploration of the nature vs nurture theme is eloquently and insightfully done and I thought it was really quite powerful. I was totally transported to the 1800’s and the feeling that I was really there didn’t falter once, it was excellently written. Looking back at the notes I made as I was reading, I noticed that the words ‘intriguing’ and ‘unsettling’ came up an awful lot and I think this really encapsulates how I felt during this book. Parts of it were really unsettling and the sense of foreboding grows throughout. At times it was uncomfortable to read, but the intrigue keeps you gripped. Things unfold gradually with tantalising clues dropped in exactly where they’re needed and I was engrossed the whole way through. Where I really fell in love with this book though, was the ending. I absolutely adored it, it was so beautiful and stunningly written. I don’t want to give anything away about it, but it really moved me. Overall I’m giving The Conviction of Cora Burns 4.5 out of 5. It’s intriguing, powerful and excellently written. This book was provided free in exchange for an honest review The above is an affiliate link About the AuthorOriginally from Sunderland, Carolyn Kirby studied history at St Hilda's College, Oxford before working for social housing and then as a teacher of English as a foreign language. Her novel The Conviction of Cora Burns was begun in 2013 on a writing course at Faber Academy in London. The novel has achieved success in several competitions including as finalist in the 2017 Mslexia Novel Competition and as winner of the inaugural Bluepencilagency Award. Carolyn has two grown-up daughters and lives with her husband in rural Oxfordshire.
 Today is my stop on the blog tour for Welcome to the Heady Heights by David F. Ross! Thanks so much to Anne for organising the tour. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the stops! The Synopsis It’s the year punk rock was born, Concorde entered commercial service and a tiny Romanian gymnast changed the sport forever... Archie Blunt is a man with big ideas. He just needs a break for them to be realised. In a bizarre brush with the light- entertainment business, Archie unwittingly saves the life of the UK’s top showbiz star, Hank ‘Heady’ Hendricks, and immediately seizes the opportunity to aim for the big time. With dreams of becoming a musical impresario, he creates a new singing group called The High Five with five unruly working-class kids from Glasgow’s East End. The plan? Make it to the final of Heady’s Saturday night talent show, where fame and fortune awaits... But there’s a complication. Archie’s made a fairly major misstep in his pursuit of fame and fortune, and now a trail of irate Glaswegian bookies, corrupt politicians and a determined Scottish WPC are all on his tail... My Review When I first got the email through inviting me to join the Welcome to the Heady Heights blog tour I thought it sounded brilliant, but I wasn’t sure how much it fitted into what I usually read (and therefore how much I would enjoy it). However, I’ve learned to trust that anything from Orenda Books will be a fantastic read, so I said yes, and once again Orenda hasn’t let me down! Welcome to the Heady Heights has everything in it that you could possibly hope for. It’s funny, exciting, thrilling, moving, heartbreaking and poignant. And all of this is topped off by the strong sense of place which weaves throughout the book, with the written Glaswegian dialect making me feel as though I could hear the voices coming from the page. You can’t help but have a soft spot for Archie, even when his decisions are questionable, and this made him a brilliant protagonist in my opinion, as I felt myself rooting for him and willing him on throughout the book. I really enjoyed how Ross uses dark comedy to explore much more serious themes and I thought that it was really effectively and intelligently done. Each page is more and more compelling, especially as the pace picks up, and I was quite honestly left breathless at times. Overall, I’m giving Welcome to the Heady Heights 4 out of 5. It’s gritty, poignant and darkly funny. Yet another cracker from Orenda Books. This book was provided free in exchange for an honest review The above is an affiliate link About the AuthorDavid F. Ross was born in Glasgow in 1964 and has lived in Kilmarnock for over thirty years. He is a graduate of the Mackintosh School of Architecture at Glasgow School of Art, an architect by day, and a hilarious social media commentator, author and enabler by night. His most prized possession is a signed Joe Strummer LP. Since the publication of his debut novel The Last Days of Disco, he’s become something of a media celebrity in Scotland, with a signed copy of his book going for £500 at auction, and the German edition has not left the bestseller list since it was published.
 The Synopsis Surviving the plane crash is only the beginning for Allison. The life that she’s built for herself – her perfect fiancé, their world of luxury – has disappeared in the blink of an eye. Now she must run, not only to escape the dark secrets in her past, but to outwit the man who is stalking her every move. On the other side of the country, Allison’s mother is desperate for news of her daughter, who is missing, presumed dead. Maggie refuses to accept that she could have lost her only child and sets out to discover the truth. Mother and daughter must fight – for survival and to find their way through a dark web of lies and back to one another, before it’s too late… My Review Before saying anything at all about what I thought of Freefall, I just want to give you a warning: be prepared to lose sleep over this book, it's impossible to put down. I’d recommend reading it when you know you’ve got plenty of free time because you just won’t be able to tear yourself away! (Don’t say I didn’t warn you when you have to cancel meetings because you can’t stop reading!!) In Freefall, Barry explores the bond between mother and daughter in a fresh and fascinating way which really highlights the complexity of the relationship. I loved reading both Allison and Maggie’s chapters. I found Allison’s point of view the most tense while Maggie’s point of view was the most gripping but I really enjoyed how they were both equally important and developed. I liked the way the story was told with these alternating perspectives and how new information gradually came to light, because this really amped up the tension and kept me totally hooked. The twists were brilliant, especially those towards the end which I didn’t see coming at all, adding to my enjoyment even more. The ending itself was powerful and I felt that it wrapped up the book very well. Overall, I’m giving Freefall 4.5 out of 5. It’s gripping, emotionally charged and impossible to put down.  This book was provided free in exchange for an honest review The above is an affiliate link About the AuthorJessica Barry is a pseudonym for an American author who grew up in a small town in Massachusetts and was raised on a steady diet of library books and PBS.
She attended Boston University, where she majored in English and Art History, before moving to London in 2004 to pursue an MA from University College London. She lives with her husband, Simon, and their two cats, Roger Livesey and BoJack Horseman. |
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