The Holiday Swap by Zara Stoneley

The Holiday Swap by Zara Stoneley

Published: 2nd September 2016

Publisher: Harper Impulse

Pages: 392

Available on Kindle

Order now from Amazon

Rating: 5/5

Blurb

Two women, two very different lives – one perfect solution to escape festive heartbreak!
Tucked away in the idyllic English countryside, Daisy Fischer’s cosy little cottage has always been her safe haven. But when her completely dependable boyfriend issues her an ultimatum, Daisy realises there’s a whole world out there she’s missing out on.
Florence Cortes’s life couldn’t be better – gorgeous apartment right on the beach, fabulous job and dreamy boyfriend, or so she thought. Suddenly, Flo’s life isn’t so perfect after all.
When the girls house swap for the holidays, it’s not long before Daisy is being distracted by sun, sea and sexy Javier while Flo finds herself snowbound for Christmas with only handsome neighbour Hugo and a house full of animals to keep her company.
Love actually does seem to be all around this Christmas, but in the places Flo and Daisy least expect to find it…

Review
After reading and adoring Zara Stoneley’s first novel Stable Mates I knew I just had to read The Holiday Swap straight away. With a plot similar to my very favourite movie I was sure it was going to be a winner for me and it was, it was utter perfection and one that needs adding to my paperback collection when it’s released.

Daisy Fischer has the ideal rural life settled with boyfriend Jimmy. He doesn’t get in the way of Daisy’s everyday life with her horse Barney, dog Mabel and her dog grooming business and that’s the way Daisy likes it. So when Jimmy wants to make their relationship more serious Daisy’s shocked as she was happy as she was and thought Jimmy was too. Deciding she needs time away to think about her future, Daisy heads off to Barcelona for a break with best friend Anna.

Florence Cortes has the dream life, she lives in beautiful Barcelona by the sea, has the ideal job writing for her own magazine and has the perfect boyfriend in Oli or so she thinks. When a dream trip to Paris doesn’t end quite the way Flo imagines she realises it’s time to take time out think about what she really wants out of life.

When Daisy and Flo realise that a weekend of fun just isn’t a long enough break they decide to swap lives for the last few weeks before Christmas. So Daisy stays in Barcelona and spends some time alone until she meets handsome Javier who just seems to keep popping up wherever she goes. Florence returns to Tippermere the place she grew up hoping to work out what she really wants. Having sworn off men until she returns home Flo begins to be distracted by Daisy’s next door neighbour Hugo, who is determined him and Flo are going to get better acquainted.

Can Daisy and Flo find what they are looking for before they go home and can they allow the unexpected romance that is brewing into their lives?

I loved both of the main characters Daisy and Flo. Despite being miles apart geographically these two I found were very similar, they’re both longing for that perfect man to come along and sweep them off their feet or horse in Daisy’s case. They both have dreams which initially they are reluctant to follow. Daisy to travel and see the world and Flo to write her novel. I loved reading how they both grew in confidence after their shattered relationships and became stronger and more determined to follow their dreams and was really pleased they both got some romance with some proper hunky men.

This is a novel set in two very contrasting places, we have the snowy, sleepy village of Tippermere in Cheshire England where everything seemed cosy and settled. Then we have the sun, sea, sand and excitement of the big city of Barcelona filled with new experiences on every corner. I loved both of these settings and thought the contrast worked perfectly making this the ideal summer read to accompany your sunbathing or the perfect winter read to cosy up by the fire with a mug of hot chocolate.

I love Zara Stoneley’s writing style, its fast paced giving enough details to set the scene perfectly but also to carry the story along. She has included some wonderful comical moments, many involving Flo falling over and some sizzling romance scenes. The Holiday Swap is a book about second chances, friendships and grabbing hold of your dreams. I simply adored this book and think it has made the ideal book to start my festive reading.

I’d like to thank the publishers Harper Impulse and Netgalley for a review copy in exchange for my honest review.

Blog Tour: The Secret by Kathryn Hughes, ‘The Summer of ’76: Phew, what a scorcher!’ by Kathryn Hughes

The Secret by Kathryn Hughes

Published: 8th September 2016

Publisher: Headline Review

Pages: 416

Available in Paperback and on Kindle

Order now from Amazon

Mary has been nursing a secret.

Forty years ago, she made a choice that would change her world for ever, and alter the path of someone she holds dear.

Beth is searching for answers. She has never known the truth about her parentage, but finding out could be the lifeline her sick child so desperately needs. When Beth finds a faded newspaper cutting amongst her mother's things, she realises the key to her son's future lies in her own past. She must go back to where it all began to unlock...The Secret.

Today it's my pleasure to welcome Kathryn Hughes author of The Letter and The Secret to my blog and today she is sharing her experience of the Summer of 1976, over to Kathryn:

Phew, what a scorcher!

‘Phew, what a scorcher!’ It’s an oft-repeated headline when the weather gets a tiny bit too hot and it’s usually accompanied by a picture of Blackpool beach, not a square inch of sand to be seen, as burnished bodies stretch out on gaudy beach towels.  Never has this headline been more accurate though than in 1976 when England’s green and pleasant land turned brown and withered right before our eyes.  That summer has become the benchmark against which all subsequent summers are measured.  It was the hottest summer since the famous ‘records began’ and remains unsurpassed.

So just how hot was that summer and how long did it last?  Well, for starters we dealt in Fahrenheit back then which I always think sounds more impressive. The heatwave officially began on 22nd June 1976 and lasted until 26th August 1976, a total of nine weeks, although the reality was the drought began much earlier with below average rainfall since April the previous year. From 22nd June until 16th July, the UK sizzled in temperatures of at least 27 degrees C, every single day. Even more remarkable, during the same period the mercury rose to 32 degrees C for fifteen consecutive days, peaking on 3rd July at 35.9 degrees C or for those of us that were there, 96 degrees F. So, we’ve established it was hot, very hot, and prolonged too, but how did this affect us?

It goes without saying we were desperately short of water.  Reservoirs resembled the cracked plains of the African savannah, but without the wildebeests. It was absolutely forbidden to use a hosepipe even to the extent where we were encouraged to grass up our neighbours if their lawn appeared to be greener than it ought to be.  The water authorities shut off the main supply and erected standpipes in the streets.  Friendships were forged as people stood in the queue, bucket in hand, swapping tales of sunstroke, heat exhaustion and how little Johnny had fried an egg on the pavement.  The government took out full page advertisements in the papers urging us to save water.  We were told to only take a bath if it was absolutely necessary and then no more than five inches deep. It became a symbol of national pride to have a dirty car.  Crops failed, food prices soared and as the grass didn’t grow farmers used up all their winter hay stocks to feed the starving cattle.  When some parts of the country were down to their last thirty days of water, emergency plans were drafted to bring water in by tanker from Norway.

I was only a child that summer so for me it was a blissful, carefree time spent playing outside, eating ice pops and Jubblies by the truckload, and making my special perfume from rose petals, which smelled like a compost heap the next day. With no such thing as Factor 50, my shoulders turned the colour of a coffee bean.  For the working population however, conditions were tough.  Air conditioning in offices and cars was non-existent and productivity levels fell. At Wimbledon, for the first time in its history, umpires were permitted to remove their jackets.  Even Big Ben downed tools as it suffered its first and hitherto unrepeated, major breakdown due to metal fatigue.  Its long hands did not crawl round the dial for three whole weeks which was surely synonymous of Britain grinding to a halt. There was no respite at night either. Even with all the windows flung open, sleep was impossible.  I resorted to lying on a wet towel in my bed.

And the ladybirds!  They were everywhere, all over the car windscreen and the pavements, making it almost impossible not to crunch them underfoot.  As all the plants had died there was nothing left for them to feed on and there were reports of them sucking the sweat off people as they desperately tried to rehydrate.  

Finally, on 24th August, enough was enough and the Government appointed Denis Howell as the Minister for Drought.  It worked.  Three days later it began to rain. And rain and rain.  If the ladybirds had reached biblical proportions then the torrential downpour that followed would surely have sent Noah running to his workshop.

Thank you so much Kathryn

Blog Tour: The Girl From The Savoy by Hazel Gayor , My Top 5 Literary Heroines by Hazel Gaynor

The Girl From The Savoy by Hazel Gaynor

Published: 8th September 2016 (paperback)

Publisher: Harper

Pages: 528

Available in Paperback and on Kindle

Order now from Amazon

Dolly Lane is a dreamer; a downtrodden maid who longs to dance on the London stage, but the outbreak of war takes everything from her: Teddy, the man she loves – and her hopes of a better life.

When she secures employment as a chambermaid at London’s grandest hotel, The Savoy, Dolly’s proximity to the dazzling guests makes her yearn for a life beyond the grey drudgery she was born into. Her fortunes take an unexpected turn when she responds to an unusual newspaper advert and finds herself thrust into the heady atmosphere of London’s glittering theatre scene and into the sphere of the celebrated actress, Loretta May, and her brother, Perry.

All three are searching for something, yet the aftermath of war has cast a dark shadow over them all. A brighter future is tantalisingly close – but can a girl like Dolly ever truly leave her past behind?

Today I'm thrilled to welcome Hazel Gaynor author of The Girl From The Savoy, A Memory of Violets and The Girl Who Came Home to my blog. Today she is sharing her top 5 literary heroines, so over to Hazel:

My top five literary heroines 

I love writing strong female characters in my novels and often draw on real women from my own family for inspiration. Yorkshire women are made of strong stuff! Of course there are dozens of literary heroines I adore, but here are five I especially admire, and who have always stayed with me.

Jane Eyre – While it might be a cliché to choose Jane Eyre, I would happily argue her case! I first read Charlotte Bronte’s novel when I was sixteen, and instantly fell in love with it, and with Jane. For me, she is the perfect heroine. From the start of her story - an abusive childhood (the Red Room terrified me), the awful experience of school and the death of her dear friend Helen Burns - I longed for Jane to thrive and to find happiness. Far from being a helpless damsel in distress, Jane is a woman who knows her own mind and was a heroine way ahead of her time. I love this book, and I love Jane.

Elizabeth Bennet – Again, perhaps something of a cliché, but I can’t leave her out! I first read Pride & Prejudice for my English Literature A’ Level and found so much to admire in Lizzy as she grapples with the social inelegance of her mother and the fates of her sisters as they try to secure a husband. Elizabeth is clever and witty, sarcastic and playful. Her hate/love relationship with Darcy is literary brilliance.

Eliza Doolittle – An unlikely heroine, I loved Eliza from the moment I first read Pygmalion. She is sassy and witty, a dreamer and a pragmatist. Her desire to make a better life for herself is brilliantly captured by George Bernard’s Shaw writing, and her interactions with Professor Higgins make for some fabulous dialogue. Eliza has a huge heart and an iron will. She puts Higgins in his place again and again, and refuses to become the puppet he expects her to. Bravo, Eliza. Bravo!

Holly Golightly – The heroine of Truman Capote’s novella, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Holly (a country girl who changes her name from Lula Mae Barnes to fit better in New York society) is outspoken, impetuous and loves to shock. As her story is revealed through Fred, the narrator, we see a more vulnerable side to her. The novella is much darker than the movie which added plenty of Hollywood romance through Audrey Hepburn’s iconic portrayal of Holly.

Miss Havisham – Poor haunted Miss Havisham, the bride who never was. Great Expectations is my favourite Dickens novel and Miss Havisham one of my favourite tormented heroines. The mind games she plays with Estella and Pip are truly awful. I both fear and pity Miss Havisham in her tattered wedding dress which goes up in flames. She is a wonderfully disturbed character, and completely unforgettable.

Thank you so much Hazel and I agree Yorkshire women are made of strong stuff!

Goodbye Ruby Tuesday by A.L. Michael

Goodbye Ruby Tuesday by A. L. Michael

Published: 29th April 2016

Publisher: Carina UK

Pages: 243

Available on Kindle

Order now from Amazon

Rating: 5/5

Blurb

Four friends have become three.

But that’s only the beginning. Ruby, Evie, Mollie and Chelsea were the bad girls at school. But Ruby was the baddest. Evie fought her anger, Mollie fought her mother and Chelsea…well, Chelsea just fought. But Ruby set her sights on a bigger stage. And together, they dreamed of a future where Ruby could sing, Evie could make art, Mollie could bake, Chelsea could dance – and all of them could finally feel at home.

A decade later, the girls are reunited for the funeral of Ruby, who took the world – and the charts – by storm, before fading too soon. And Evie doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry when she learns that Ruby has left them a house on Camden Square – the perfect place for them to fulfil their dreams. But does she dare take the plunge, and risk it all for one last shot at the stars?

Review

Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday is the first book in A. L. Michael’s new series The House on Camden Square. The story starts as friends Evie, Mollie and Chelsea meet up at their old friend Ruby’s funeral. The funeral has brought them all back together in  their home town of Badgeley where they all grew up on the estates at the wrong side of town and were never expected to amount to much. While reminiscing about their teenage dreams of escaping the small town and making it big in the arts they are given a letter from Ruby’s one-time foster mum who said Ruby had left it for them.

On opening the letter the girls discover that Ruby has left them the last few months lease on her rented building in Camden and in the letter she urges them to take a chance and go after their creative dreams by opening a gallery and workshop for the creative arts which can be accessible to anyone.

Each of the girls have different reactions to this. Evie is very excited as she longs to get away from her mother and conman father who keeps drifting in and out of their lives whenever he wants money. She’s the most creative of the group and has a way of making things happen so sees this as an amazing opportunity. Mollie is more reluctant as she has ten-year old daughter Esme to think of, but a chance to get away from alcoholic mother is one she has to take. Chelsea doesn’t seem to like the idea at all, but then she’s managed to get away and make a new life in London and doesn’t seem to want her old friends to be part of it.

When Evie finally convinces her friends to make a new start they’re in for a few months filled with hard-work, fun and laughter and even a little romance. Can they finally make their dreams come true?

I loved everything about this book, it’s the perfect easy going read and had me feeling nostalgic for my own old school friends and our teenage dreams. Evie, Mollie and Chelsea are all wonderful characters who seem to work well together and make each other stronger. My favourite character though had to be Esme, Mollie’s young daughter. She was the perfect cheeky ten-year old, wanting to have fun but also having moments of being incredibly sensible and grown-up, which made for some brilliant conversations with her mother and Evie.

I love the way flashbacks to their teenage years have been included as this explains what happened to Ruby and how she influenced their teenage lives and how each of the girls ended up where they did before Ruby’s funeral.

I also loved the romance that developed in the story. I thought it was very well written as it had all the makings of a real relationship, including romance, sex, arguments, misunderstandings and those clumsy moments you have in a new relationship.

Goodbye Ruby, Tuesday was a great read and has me very eager to continue with the story in the next book as I’m longing to find out what happens next for Evie, Chelsea and Mollie. It’s book full of fun with some emotional parts which are just deep enough not to make the story too heavy. It’s a book I think anyone who remembers their teenage dreams should go and read.

Blog Tour Review - Tempting Isabel by Rissa Brahm

Tempting Isabel by Rissa Brahm

Published: 24th May 2016

Publisher: 108 Dergrees

Pages: 336

Available on Kindle

Order now from Amazon

Rating: 4/5

Blurb

Luck. Lust. Love.

Wedding planner Isabel Ruiz is cursed. Her hometown of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico agrees, considering her tragic track record. Alone and loveless, she creates fairy-tale weddings for others. Her only distraction? The occasional anonymous fling. So to avoid further tragedy, her rule, one–night–only, is never broken…

Until Zack.

Self-made millionaire Zack James is in town for his brother’s wedding, when a sudden spell of depression hits. Maybe burned out by his fast and luxurious lifestyle? Not even his two female companions hold any interest.

That is, until he meets Isabel.

She humbles and captivates him, reigniting his thirst for life. With her, Zack feels more alive than ever. To his delight—and her dismay—they share a deep bond, a sensual connection, and one mind-bending night.

Zack must have her – to complete him. And Isabel must escape him – to save him.

Their game of catch and chase leads to lust-turned-love. For Isabel, it's fate’s cruelest joke. But Zack won’t quit, positive he’s the cure to her curse. Can he convince her to risk everything with him? Or will it all go south…in paradise.

Review

Tempting Isabel is the first book in Rissa Brahm’s new Paradise South series.  In this book we meet Isabel and Zack, two people so different but so completely right for each other.

Isabel Ruiz works as a wedding planner in Puerto Vallarta in Mexico. She believes she has been cursed as anyone who ever gets close to her ends up in a fatal accident. Shunned by most of the town and all but three of her eleven siblings Isabel leads a lonely and loveless life, throwing herself into her work in order to gain some happiness. When she needs a release she has some strict rules about the men she encounters, no last names and one night only for Isabel cannot risk the life of anyone else by allowing them to come too close, until she meets Zack James and everything changes.

Self-made millionaire Zachery James is visiting Puerto Vallarta for business and pleasure, his little brother Darren is getting married. He’s a self-confessed womaniser but recently he’s hit a dry spell where the woman around just don’t satisfy him anymore. Zack begins to fall into a depression until he bumps into Isabel literally and there she is the woman of all his dreams, all he has to do now is win her heart.

When these two meet the sparks fly and the chemistry between them is red hot, vowing just one   night Isabel lets herself go. Fate is very cruel to Isabel for whenever she’s fallen in love disaster has struck and has ended in fatal damage, but she can’t get Zack out of her head which leads them into very dangerous territory. As Isabel pushes Zack away to save him from her curse Zack becomes even more determined that he is the one that break it for good. Can these two overcome fate and live happy ever after?

Initially I found this quite a hard book to get into, at the beginning there is an awful lot of swearing which kind of put me off and both Zack and Isabel seemed characters that were shallow and self-centred. This changed after about chapter six after these two meet, after that I began to quite like them and at the end I was surprised by how well Rissa Brahms has developed the characters.

After a slow start this book really picked up for me and became everything I believe a good romance should be. It had two characters with red hot chemistry, a beautiful setting, some very entertaining dialogue and a little bit of mystery. Towards the second half I became completely engrossed and was sad to finish, but luckily I have two more books in the series to go and read.

I’d like to thank the author Rissa Brahma and Neverland Blog Tours for my review copy in exchange for my honest opinions and for inviting me to be part of the blog tour.

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Blog Tour: The House on Sunset Lake by Tasmina Perry : My Life in Books an exclusive by Tasmina Perry

The House on Sunset Lake by Tasmina Perry

Published: 25th August 2016

Publisher: Headline Review

Pages: 400

Available in Hardback and on Kindle

Order now from Amazon

Rating: 4/5

Today I'd like to welcome one on my favourite authors onto my blog as part of the tour for The House on Sunset Lake, so welcome Tasmina Perry. Today she is going to share with us her Life in Books, so over to you Tasmina:

My Life in Books 

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz – L. Frank Baum

I had quite bad asthma when I was little and whenever I had an attack I always used to read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to help me take my mind off it. It wasn’t just my favourite novel – I thought it was the ultimate escapist read – after all, what can be more escapist that getting whisked off by a tornado to the land of Oz!

Lace – Shirley Conran

Lace was and still is one of my all-time favourite reads. I first read it when I was about sixteen and I couldn’t believe how delicious it was; the Swiss boarding school, Judy’s magazine career, Maxine’s life in the chateau. It was so glamorous and so scandalous – I thought I was very grown-up sneak-reading all the naughty bits! I ended up working in magazines myself and I don’t doubt it was part influenced by Lace!

A Woman of Substance - Barbara Taylor Bradford

Growing up in Manchester and yearning for a life in London, New York or other such places that only seem to exist in the pages of a novel or Cosmopolitan magazine, I loved the rags-to-riches story of Emma Hart.

My mum actually took me to see Barbara give a talk at Waterstone’s in Manchester, I remember her coming in in a cloud of perfume and saying how she was just an ordinary girl from Leeds who went on to be a bestselling author. She inspired me – and made me think ‘I can do that’.

It still gives me a little thrill every time I go on Lovereading.co.uk and it says ‘if you like Tasmina Perry you might also like Barbara Taylor Bradford and Shirley Conran’. The teenage me would find that absolutely unbelievable.

I Capture the Castle – Dodie Smith

Probably my all-time favourite novel and Cassandra Mortmain is just the best narrator ever. Eccentric, charming and wise, it’s the ultimate coming of age story and I re-read it at least once a year. (Valerie Groves’ biography of Dodie Smith is excellent too.)

Bonjour Tristesse – Francoise Sagan

I had a little spell from about the age of 17 to 19 when I was obsessed with anything French. I used to frequent my local art house cinema to watch whatever French movie was showing, and used to try and style my hair (unsuccessfully) like Beatrice Dalle in Betty Blue.  I liked reading translations of French books and discovered Bonjour Tristesse by Francoise Sagan. I still think it’s an amazing work of fiction. Dark, powerful and glamorous and it can’t be more than 40,000 words long.

The World According to Garp – John Irving

I was a huge reader in my late teens – I read anything and everything. Lots of good fiction, prize winning fiction probably to show off to sexy, arty boys. But my favourite ‘classic’ read was John Irving’s famous novel. I remember going to rent the movie from the video shop – I loved that too.

Bridget Jones’ Diary – Helen Fielding

Browsing a bookshop in Covent Garden one lunchtime, I discovered this in the new hardbacks section. I hadn’t heard any hype about it, or even read the columns in the Telegraph but I was in my mid-twenties, single, a girl about town in London, and it sounded like my kind of book. I bought it immediately, read it in one chunk and then told all my friends about it. It’s such a familiar and copied story now but at the time it was such fresh, funny, groundbreaking writing.

The Common Years – Jilly Cooper

Everyone loves Jilly Cooper’s novels, but her non-fiction is wonderful too. She is such a heroine of mine and when I got my first book deal my husband got in touch with her to tell her so. She sent me a copy of her book The Common Years with a lovely little congratulatory note, which only made me love her more! 

Blurb

Casa D'Or, the mysterious plantation house on Sunset Lake, has been in the Wyatt family for over fifty years. Jennifer Wyatt returns there from university full of hope, as summer by the lake stretches ahead of her. Yet by the time it is over her heart will be broken, her family in tatters, her dreams long gone.
Twenty years later, Casa D'Or stands neglected, a victim of tragic events. Jennifer has closed the door on her past. Then Jim, the man she met and fell in love with that magical summer, comes back into her life, with a plan to return Casa D'Or to its former glory. Their reunion will stir up old ghosts for both of them, and reveal the dark secrets the house still holds close...

Review

Tasmina Perry is one of my favourite authors and I look forward to all her new books, this was no exception. The cover alone made me want to dive in and devour this book, it’s beautiful especially with the copper foiling. This book promised so much and although it’s not my favourite Tasmina novel I do feel it delivered a wonderful read.

It’s 1995 and Jim Johnson has been persuaded to spend the summer with his parents at a lake house in Savannah, Georgia. The lake house looks across at the magnificent house of Casa D’or where Jim meets Jennifer Wyatt and suddenly a summer in Georgia doesn’t seem so bad after all. After a long hot summer spent together a tragic turn of events means the pair are separated.

Fast forward twenty years and Jim is now a hotel developer to the Omari hotel group, owned by Simon Desai. When Simon expresses an interest in buying Casa D’or Jim is forced to return to the house to do the deal, which is turn brings him back into the life of Jennifer Wyatt the girl who has held his heart for twenty years. But as Jim begins to uncover hidden secrets from all those years ago can his feelings for Jennifer remain true and can love really ever have a second chance?

This does feel like a very clichéd romance between the spoilt rich girl and the wannabe rock star boy next door but it has been brought to life by Tasmina Perry’s wonderful writing style. Jennifer does seem to be a girl who knows exactly how to get what she wants and I had to question whether she really had true feelings for Jim or was just using him because she was bored over the summer and wanted a new admirer. Jim appeared to idolize Jennifer almost instantly, but maybe the reality of her wasn’t enough for him as he never seems to take their relationship out of the comfort zone.

When they finally did get it together I was expecting them to be inseparable and totally consumed with the passion that they been holding back all summer, instead they both acted a little flat and too easily let go of what they could have had using the tragic events as a kind of excuse. When the secrets are revealed later on you can understand why Jennifer acted the way she did, but I wanted more fight out of Jim.

Tasmina’s previous novel The Last Kiss Goodbye was my favourite of her previous novels simply because the romance in it was so beautifully prefect and ultimately heart-breaking. I was hoping that The House on Sunset Lake would be like this and at the beginning I felt it was going in that direction but the beautiful romance I was longing for was missing.  I do feel that this book seems to me more like her earlier novels where the characters are shallower and more focused on getting what they want.

Despite not being everything I was hoping that it would be The House on Sunset Lake is still a brilliant read with some interesting characters, a little mystery and a truly beautiful setting. It’s a novel about being true to yourself, about learning to let go of the guilt and about whether it’s possible to give love a second chance.

Thank you so much to Headline for inviting me to be part of the blog tour and also for sending me a copy to review.

Blog Tour Review: Kill Me Twice by Anna Smith

Kill Me Twice by Anna Smith

Published: 25th August 2016

Publisher: Quercus

Pages: 300

Available in Paperback and on Kindle

Order now from Amazon

Rating: 5/5

Blurb

A beautiful model's death uncovers an ugly conspiracy stretching all the way to Westminster in Rosie Gilmour's darkest case to date.
When rags-to-riches Scots supermodel Bella Mason plunges to her death from the roof of a glitzy Madrid hotel, everyone assumes it was suicide. Except that one person saw exactly what happened to Bella that night, and she definitely didn't jump. But Millie Chambers has no one she can tell - alcoholic, depressed herself and now sectioned by her bullying politician husband, who would believe her? And that's not all Millie knows. Being close to the heart of Westminster power can lead to discovering some awful secrets...
Back in Glasgow, Rosie's research into Bella's life leads to her brother, separated from her in care years before. Dan is now a homeless heroin addict and rent boy, but what he reveals about Bella's early life is electrifying: organised sexual abuse in care homes across Glasgow. Bella had tracked him down so that they could tell the world their story. And now she's dead.
As Rosie's drive to expose the truth leads her closer to Millie and the shameful secrets she has kept for so many years, it becomes clear that what she's about to discover could prove fatal: a web of sexual abuse linking powerful figures across the nation, and the rot at the very heart of the British Establishment...

Review

Kill Me Twice by Anna Smith is the seventh book in the Rosie Gilmour series and is actually the first one I’ve read, but I feel it could easily be read as a standalone. I’m definitely planning on going back and reading the rest of the series as Anna Smith’s writing is intense and gripping and it had me hooked from the start and I want to read more.

In the book Rosie has been sent to Madrid to report on the apparent suicide of famous model Bella Mason but while she’s there she gets a tip-off that someone witnessed what happened to Bella and it wasn’t suicide.  That someone was Millie Chambers, a woman who is full of despair, verging on alcoholism, with nothing to lose since her marriage to ex tory MP Colin Chambers fell apart. Millie goes on the run but bad luck means Colin catches up with her and has her locked away as the secret of Bella’s death is not the only thing that Millie knows.

On returning to Glasgow Rosie unearths Dan Mason, Bella’s long lost brother living on the streets among the Glasgow junkies and Dan has his own secrets about Bella’s life that someone is trying to keep hidden. Can Rosie expose the hidden stories before it’s too late and someone gets hurt?

Kill Me Twice was a very addictive read with a plot that quickly develops several strands all which Rosie must piece together to get her story. I found it a very fast paced read where there was always something being added to the story without any filler chapters being included, which made great reading.

I really enjoyed the main character Rosie, she initially comes across as tough and hard-nosed but I loved that as the story developed we could see a softer side to her, especially with Dan and that she was actually a quite an emotional character. I also enjoyed the glimpses of her personal life we are given and would love to have read the series from the start to see how she has developed as a character.

This is a novel which touches on some quite deep issues such as drug addictions, alcoholism, child abuse and political cover-ups. At times I found I did grimace at some of the scenes as the writing felt so realistic and very detailed but I think that’s is to be expected with this kind of novel.

Overall I thought this was a great read and one which I can highly recommend and I’m eager for January when the series continues.

Thank you so much to the publishers and Netgalley for sending me this copy to review and also for inviting me to be part of the blog tour.