Review: Fall for Me

Fall for Me by Camilla Isley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Peyton flees her wedding at the last minute, escaping in a corseted wedding dress with only her phone. She ends up in the small town of Blue Crescent Harbor where she is almost killed by a man driving a fancy motorbike too fast down the deserted main street. After a heated exchange of insults the man rides off leaving Peyton by the side of the road.

The rider was Liam Rockwood, running incredibly late to a cocktail party at his family's luxurious hotel. However, by the time he arrives, despite his injuries, he starts to feel sorry for the runaway bride and sends a town car to find her and take her wherever she wants to go - not realising that Peyton was in fact trying to reach the hotel to stay the night. When they run into each other in the lobby, while Peyton is trying to check in he puts her in the bridal suite to get rid of her - but the rumour mill goes crazy and Liam's father assumes that Peyton is Liam's new wife. Liam has been unfairly branded a playboy billionaire because an ex took a candid photo of him while sleeping and posted it on social media, since which Liam's father has never let him forget it. When his father is happy that Liam has decided to settle down Liam doesn't have the heart to tell him the truth.

Meanwhile, Peyton's fiancé has shown his controlling and manipulative streak. He threatens to sue Peyton's parents (who run a small CPA practice) for half the cost of the lavish wedding he and his parents insisted on, gets Peyton fired, and generally intends to make her life a misery. Can you see where this is going yet? Liam offers to rescue Peyton from her fiancé's vindictiveness if she will agree to marry him for maybe five years so that his father finally relinquishes control of the business to him.

I'm a sucker for a fake marriage, small-town billionaire romance complete with hay mazes and pumpkin carving. This was enjoyable, nothing I haven't read before but I would happily read it again.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: Fall for Me

Fall for Me by Camilla Isley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Peyton flees her wedding at the last minute, escaping in a corseted wedding dress with only her phone. She ends up in the small town of Blue Crescent Harbor where she is almost killed by a man driving a fancy motorbike too fast down the deserted main street. After a heated exchange of insults the man rides off leaving Peyton by the side of the road.

The rider was Liam Rockwood, running incredibly late to a cocktail party at his family's luxurious hotel. However, by the time he arrives, despite his injuries, he starts to feel sorry for the runaway bride and sends a town car to find her and take her wherever she wants to go - not realising that Peyton was in fact trying to reach the hotel to stay the night. When they run into each other in the lobby, while Peyton is trying to check in he puts her in the bridal suite to get rid of her - but the rumour mill goes crazy and Liam's father assumes that Peyton is Liam's new wife. Liam has been unfairly branded a playboy billionaire because an ex took a candid photo of him while sleeping and posted it on social media, since which Liam's father has never let him forget it. When his father is happy that Liam has decided to settle down Liam doesn't have the heart to tell him the truth.

Meanwhile, Peyton's fiancé has shown his controlling and manipulative streak. He threatens to sue Peyton's parents (who run a small CPA practice) for half the cost of the lavish wedding he and his parents insisted on, gets Peyton fired, and generally intends to make her life a misery. Can you see where this is going yet? Liam offers to rescue Peyton from her fiancé's vindictiveness if she will agree to marry him for maybe five years so that his father finally relinquishes control of the business to him.

I'm a sucker for a fake marriage, small-town billionaire romance complete with hay mazes and pumpkin carving. This was enjoyable, nothing I haven't read before but I would happily read it again.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: The Clew Bay Detective

The Clew Bay Detective by Pam Lecky
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Ali Brennan left Dublin and her job in a thriving landscape gardening business to set up a satellite office in Westport on Ireland's west coast after she broke up with her boyfriend. He was a police officer and never home, but the final straw was when he decided to apply for a job abroad with Interpol without consulting her and just blithely assumed Ali would either be happy with a long-distance relationship or give up her career to move to a foreign country where she would presumably see even less of him than ever. Unfortunately Aidan had become part of the family and Ali's brother and sister are alternating between helicoptering her to make sure she is okay and bringing Aidan up in conversation as often as possible.

While Ali is trying to set up the business she is staying in a cottage in the grounds of her aunt's hotel free of charge in return for doing a bit of DIY. Whilst visiting her aunt at the hotel and getting a tour of the grounds Ali runs into John Clifford-Murphy, a wealthy Londoner who has recently moved to Westport, and his second wife, who Ali knew whilst she was at college.

Not long after their meeting, the small town is rocked by the news that John, a diabetic has gone missing and his wife is worried that without his insulin he could die. A few days later they discover the worst has happened, John's body has been found in a derelict shack on an uninhabited island in Clew Bay. John was an enthusiastic amateur photographer and had gone to the island to photograph seals, the police assume he either forgot his insulin or perhaps lost it alongside his phone and suffered a fatal hypo attack.

However, John's widow is not convinced. John had suffered a hypo once previously and it had made him ultra-vigilant about carrying his insulin, she claims he would never have forgotten to take it with him and he always put it in his camera bag when out photographing wildlife. So she turns to Ali and begs her to investigate John's death. Now here's the bit I don't understand, why Ali? True the local police have ruled it death by misadventure and the widow doesn't really know anyone in Westport very well but other than remembering Ali from a decade ago, what qualifications does Ali have?

Anyway, aside from that niggle there are plenty of suspects to choose from. John was not well-liked, not least because of his autocratic nature, his decision to withdraw fishing rights from the locals to sell as part of a plan to set up a fishing holiday business. He also had a reputation of being a letch. Then of course there is his first wife's mother, his son and daughter, and of course the widow - they possibly all had motives.

But just as Ali is getting stuck into detecting, aided by her nephew, who has been sent by Ali's sister to intern with Ali for the summer, and a local policewoman who used to work with Ali's ex, Aidan himself turns up ordering Ali back to Dublin and claiming that she has put her own life in danger by acting irresponsibly.

I enjoyed this, there were lots of suspects, a bit of suspense, but it also felt that there were too many plots, Aidan's investigation, their relationship, Ali's investigation, other secrets that emerged etc.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: A Morbid Passion

A Morbid Passion by Robert Holtom
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Selby Bigge and his friend Theodora Smythe are invited to dinner with Doctor Fortescue, his wife Helena, and their two sons Percy and Lancelot. Doctor Fortescue believes he can 'cure' men of unnatural perversions and his first case was none other than his eldest son Lancelot who is now happily engaged to Jacqueline. However, there seem to be some tensions at the table and with the servants centring on the annual Servants Ball which is taking place that evening at the Royal Albert Hall. The ball has become a mecca for members of the LGBTQIA+ community (not just servants) to be themselves, whilst others wear fancy dress or even clothes borrowed from their master/mistress.

Later that evening, while Selby and Theo attend said ball they see Lancelot dressed as a Harlequin and clearly just as homosexual as he ever was. At various times during the evening Selby catches glimpses of Lance, arguing with another man in a Plague Doctor costume, and talking to one of his servants, Grace.

But the next morning there is shocking news, Lance has been found dead and his faithful servant Reginald is missing, along with Lance's car. It seems Selby and Theo have another murder to solve.

This was another enjoyable mystery interspersed with historical facts about life as a homosexual in 1930. The abuse, the secrecy, the fear - all represented as part of the story, as well as the bizarre societies promoting the sterilisation of 'unworthy' individuals!

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: Glow Job

Glow Job by Kristen Bailey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ben is a chef in a London restaurant he and his three sisters own. His uncle Lorenzo dies and leaves Ben his villa in Ibiza. His uncle was a larger than life character who held hedonistic parties, although the villa has deteriorated over the past few years. Ben goes out to fix up the villa and his sisters suggest he should run it as a holiday destination, maybe offering spa treatments, or gastronomic tours.

Ben's first three guests are three very different women. Zara is a married mother of three teenagers, having just had a less than satisfactory family holiday in which she threw everyone's phones in the pool she is looking for a week of relaxation and pampering and wine. Chloe is an architect who bears the brunt of all the work in the department while her colleagues swan around and take the credit. She hasn't had a holiday for years and is almost at breaking point. She just wants to decompress. Finally Jess, a harassed mother of small twins, she also had a recent family holiday which was just the same as being at home (feeding babies, cleaning up after babies, etc) and she just needs a rest and to learn to love herself again.

Ben is winging it a bit, the villa is spectacular and he has brought it back to all its glory, he knows how to cook fantastic meals using local produce, everything else he will make up as he goes along.

With goats in the pool, a naturalist beach, a naked Spaniard in goggles and flippers, a fight, a wedding, inappropriate gift bags, and an unexpected guest the week is full of surprises, not least the fact that kindly Ben manages to help each of the women regain their natural glow.

This was a perfect summer beach read. Loved it.

I received a book from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: Father Material

Father Material by Alexis Hall
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Oliver and Luc are still madly enough despite being polar opposites. But are they ready for the ultimate responsibility ... being parents?

I wont go into too many details. Suffice it to say Alex still doesn't understand the concept of a joke, Bridge and Ben are having a baby, the James Royce-Royces are 'those parents', Priya and her throuple are just as angry and bolshie as ever, CRAPP is (as ever) in dire need of funds and its patron has just died.

We may have waited a looooong time for this final book in the trilogy but it does not disappoint. Luc may be older but if he's wiser he's keeping it very quiet. And we may just have found something that Oliver isn't innately good at. We laugh, we cry, they swear a lot (despite the children), there's wanton violence, and a poo book (a log log if you will).

I adored every page.

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Review: The Castle in the Glen

The Castle in the Glen by Rhys Bowen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Emma Callander is a young Australian woman working in London for a publishing house, she has written one quite successful novel and is struggling to find a subject for the second. In fact, after her last relationship ended she has been thinking about returning to Australia, even if there is nothing/no-one there for her.

Then her boss takes her with him to see one of the publisher's biggest clients, fellow Australian Iris Blackburn. Iris has started writing a new book featuring her famous Scottish detective but she is suffering from dementia and can no longer finish it. Iris asks Emma if she will finish the book for her. At first Emma is horrified, she doesn't really like the books (too gritty) and for an unknown author to attempt to write about an iconic character feels like sacrilege. But once she starts reading the first few chapters Emma is hooked, this is very different to the other books, it is Inspector Melrose's first case, the murder of a young woman on the Isle of Skye.

Iris insists Emma goes to Skye to get a feel for the island, but there Emma discovers the case might not be fiction, because many of the events in Iris's draft took place, just in 1904 rather than in the 1930s. Yet the events were so disturbing that people still remember it.

Although I guessed what had happened, and why, fairly early on it didn't spoil my enjoyment of the book or how the mystery unravelled.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: Not His Girlfriend (Yet): 4 1/2 Dates and a Fracture

Not His Girlfriend (Yet): 4 1/2 Dates and a Fracture by M.T. Liu
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Nora Chen and Ethan Morin have been on four and a half dates when a freak accident lands Ethan in the hospital with a broken pelvis. Is she his girlfriend? They've only kissed twice and one of those was an accident.

Nora feels like she has to be perfect all the time. She spends hours before every date getting ready, plastering on make-up so she always looks pristine. Carefully schooling her features, her voice, even her breathing. Always scared that her authentic self is too much, too big, too loud.

Ethan is a firefighter who feels like he has to downplay everything and is afraid to ask anyone for anything (including help) because when he leans on someone they always leave.

Can forced proximity face these two lost souls to drop the façade and be real?

This is a difficult book to review, I see from NetGalley that it is a novella (although it didn't feel that way reading it) and it sort of makes sense because there's a whole lot of nothing much happening and not a lot of backstory as to why Nora and Ethan feel they have to behave the way they do. Also, I'm not sure on what grounds they fall in love. It was pleasant enough but I wasn't enthralled enough to download the free epilogue.

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Review: Echoes of Infamy

Echoes of Infamy by Shaina Steinberg
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Evelyn Bishop is the President of Bishop Aeronautical, whilst breaking ground on the site of her new factory a Japanese American man makes a fuss claiming that the land was stolen from his family. As a former WW2 spy for OSS, Evelyn and her husband Nick Gallagher (a former police detective turned PI) are keen to investigate - the last thing she needs is her company, which has many contracts with the US military, to be accused of shady dealing.

Nick and Evelyn's investigations uncover widespread fraud, while Japanese Americans were being rounded up and interned during WW2 someone was pretending to be the landowner and selling the land to an unscrupulous developer. The next thing they know the developer's dead body is found on their construction site. Could their client be responsible? Or given his business dealings could it be one of his other victims?

Meanwhile, Nick discovers a relative he never knew he had and Evelyn finds she may be nurturing a viper in her bosom at work.

I did not realise when I requested this ARC that it was the third in a series, I just loved the cover, however I don't think you need to have read the other two books to follow this one.

I liked the work politics aspects of this book, I also liked the murder investigation, and Nick's family troubles. I found the detail about the appalling behaviour towards the Japanese interns interesting, and similarly the witch hunts for homosexuals in the FBI. However, when all of this got put together it felt like too much and as a consequence I thought the discovery of the identity of the murderer was just too easy - almost as easy as if they had just confessed out of the blue. Also Evelyn and Nick felt too twenty-first century with their values (trying not to be specific because of 'things' that happen or try to suggest I don't 100% agree with those values - I just don't think it would have been the default back then).

This was sold as being for readers of Allison Montclair, Jacqueline Winspear, and Ashley Weaver, but I'm not sure its there yet. Anyway, it was pleasant enough and I would definitely read another book in the series.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: Romantic Hero

Romantic Hero by Kirsty Greenwood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Gertie Bickerstaff is a writer, she has written four successful books in a series about a small town in Texas, but since her boyfriend Henry said he wanted 'a break' she has had writer's block and her deadline is looming. Add that to the imminent anniversary of her sister Josie's death, and Gertie is at breaking point. In desperation she agrees to her neighbour's batty idea to perform a manifestation ceremony, in which Gertie wishes for help finishing her book, but also to get Henry back.

Unfortunately, what Gerties gets is a half-naked cowboy with an attitude appearing in her flat. The impossible thing is, he's the stock villain in her book series River Oakley, ridiculously good-looking lothario who tries to thwart Gertie's heroine at every turn.

Whilst River's appearance isn't exactly what Gertie was expecting, she assumes that he must have been manifested to help her win back Henry, after which her writer's block will presumably vanish and so will River. The trouble is the more Gertie gets to know River, the more she discovers he is not the two-dimensional character she wrote, he's funny, and kind, and muscular, with fabulous hair, and the cutest dimple. But he needs to return to his life, before a developer buys up land near his farm so romance is off the cards, or is it?

This took a while for me to get into and I could have done without Gertie's neighbour, but it was an enjoyable escapist read. I may have a question about travel between Texas and London but overall I would say a solid summer feel-good read.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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Review: The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy

The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Osric Mordaunt is an assassin, a member of the Fyren Order. A lifetime of blows has damaged his seith (a magical ability which is enhanced through study and initiation into a magical order and the bestowing of a brand on the palm once the student graduates), the only person who might (and only might) be able to cure him before he loses his ability and is culled by his own Order, is Aurienne Fairhrim, a member of the Haelen Order - sworn enemies of the Fyren Order.

Aurienne's Order is one of healing, and she is one of their best, they are currently battling a pox which is spreading quickly and only seems to affect children, particularly the poor. They have petitioned the various rulers of the Kingdoms but they have so far received little help in funding a vaccination to prevent the pox. Osric tries to persuade, trick, and threaten Aurienne to look for a cure for his sickness without success so in desperation he offers to fund the full twenty million thrymsas required to fund the vaccine.

Two sworn enemies forced to deal with each other in pursuit of a mystical cure (which may not exist), cue plenty of smutty innuendo, witty sniping, many many violent deaths, and a begrudging attraction.

I absolutely loved this, funny, engaging, with great characters. Just be aware that this is part one (of two) and therefore not everything is resolved. I have already requested the second book from NetGalley.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

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