Review: The Rose Code

The Rose Code by Kate Quinn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Welcome to Bletchley Park, home of Britain's codebreakers in WW2. In the white hot crucible of the race to break the Nazi enigma codes three very different women forge deep friendships which are then ripped apart.

Osla is a wealthy debutante, god-daughter to Lord Mountbatten and girlfriend to Prince Phillip of Greece, fluent in German and tired of doing nothing she wants to contribute to the war effort, she is invited to Bletchley Park, or BP, in 1940 to help break the German military codes. Mab(el) is an Amazon from Shoreditch supporting her mother and little sister. Her total focus is to find an intelligent, financially stable man to marry. Beth has grown up subservient to her religious fanatic mother. These three women meet up at Bletchley Park and their lives are changed forever.

The Imitation Game meets The Crown, told in flashbacks between 1940 and 1947 on the eve of the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip, this is a dramatisation of historical truth, a spy thriller, a romance. Utterly engrossing, even though I didn't really understand how these women helped to decrypt encoded messages from the enemy, my heart was in my mouth as the team of plucky geniuses worked around the clock to try to decode messages from German high command.

Thrilling, heart-rending, gritty and vivid, a great read.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: How To Save A Life

How To Save A Life by P. Dangelico
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

I liked this, but I didn't love it.

Riley James is working 24/7 to make a living. She owns her own construction/renovation business and works as a waitress to cover expenses because her mother has been in a depression since Riley's father died and struggles to keep a job. Riley owns three properties, the one she lives in with her mother, a rental property and one she is in the process of renovating.

One night in the restaurant she encounters one of those stand-offish, blank-eyed, rude, billionaires; literally walking into her, and then later that night she rescues him from being mugged and beaten up by a couple of guys. In return the billionaire, Jordan West, offers her a job as his personal assistant.

Riley has no intention of taking up Jordan's offer, even for $4,000 a week, until a childhood friend gets into trouble and needs money fast. So Riley accepts the offer, only to discover that being Jordan's personal assistant involves acting as nanny to a two-year old toddler called Maisie.

I generally love Paola Dangelico's novels, sexy heroes and sassy heroines with loads of sarky banter but this felt a little too much by the numbers. First off, I had trouble remembering whether Riley was a man or a woman (so very binary of me) and ditto Jordan - why choose androgynous names for both characters? Then Jordan and Riley both had things in their past which made them behave the way they did, and I guess you could say we all do, but it was all very NA/YA (you know everyone has been raped/is an orphan/killed their best friend/has some incurable disease yadda yadda). Finally I thought there were two very large plot holes/inconsistencies. First, the job offer as a PA and then as a nanny. Why? And who in their right mind can just leave a small business and not come back for months? Did Riley even consider how she would rebuild her business or what her crew would do for money while she was swanning around in Manhattan? Clearly the waitressing job was just a plot device to get the two of them to meet because it is never mentioned again. The second issue occurs right near the end (view spoiler)[ when she is forced to sell all three properties. Why isn't the rental covering the mortgage on that property? How was she managing the mortgages on the other two properties if she was giving Tommy all the money she got from her nanny job? (hide spoiler)]

So, I read it in a single day and I enjoyed the Billionaire and the Nanny vibe, but I have loved some of Paola Dangelico's other books, like Wrecking Ball more.

And what's with the cover? It's set in Manhattan.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Dandy Gilver and the Proper Treatment of Bloodstains

Dandy Gilver and the Proper Treatment of Bloodstains by Catriona McPherson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ha, so much for my prediction - 100% wrong! And yet irritatingly I did have a slight feeling about the real culprit.

Our amateur sleuth Dandy Gilver receives a letter from an Edinburgh lady, accusing her husband of trying to kill her, she begs Dandy to come and work undercover as her maid in order to help her escape. In disguise as Miss Rossiter, ladies maid, Dandy finds her employer Lollie Balfour (real first name Walburga!) to be a sacred waif of a woman, but surprisingly her husband Phillip doesn't appear to be the sort of monster who threatens to kill his wife. Yet talking to the other servants Dandy finds that each of them has a tale of the spiteful, cruel things that Mr Balfour has done to them. Unsurprising then that he is found dead, stabbed in the neck with one of the kitchen knives.

This is a classic golden age locked door mystery. Because the butler meticulously locks all the door every night the murder must be an 'inside job', certainly nearly everyone has a motive, but it seems that everyone also has an alibi!

As always this was a cracking read, I was totally convinced the murderer was someone completely different and yet the clues were all there ready to be unpicked, just little nuggets dropped carelessly into conversations.

Overall, very satisfactory mystery with a plausible ending that I did not see coming.

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Review: Fierce at Heart

Fierce at Heart by Zoe York
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Adam Kincaid and Isla Peterson were squaddie and commanding officer back in the day. Now they've both left the military, he's training to be a firefighter like his father and she is hoping to open her own bakery once she graduates from culinary school. They meet by chance at a Farmer's Market where Isla is selling her cakes, get to reminiscing about old times and end up having a spectacular one-night stand. But living in different parts of Canada and their nascent careers leave little time for a relationship so they agree to be friends only.

Adam returns to his home (small) town of Pine Harbour where three of his four older brothers still live. He may be 30, but as the youngest, and having been brought up by his elder two brothers after their parents' deaths, none of his brothers seems to see it that way. Heck, they even seem to think they have a voice in where he lives and who he dates and how he does his job!

After her ex-husband tanked her credit rating Isla knows she will be lucky to be able to start her own bakery but she doesn't want to be a chef working for someone else forever.

When Adam buys his fixer-upper he overhears the owner of the local cafe/diner offering to sell her place for $1, one catch; the owner must be a ling-standing resident of Pine Harbour, or married to a resident. It's a crazy plan but if it helps out his BFF Adam thinks he could enter into a fake marriage for a few years, after all he's never going to fall in love anyway.

I was surprised that I hadn't read any of Zoe York's books before, but the books are similar to Cora Seton's mail-order bride series, or indeed any small-town series featuring a large family.

Adam and Isla provide each other with much-needed support and validation, but as they get closer can they still ignore the growing attraction?

My biggest gripe was that there was a sub-plot involving Isla's ex-husband that didn't really go anywhere and was a bit cliched/ overdone in this genre. Otherwise, I enjoyed this sweet small-town romance.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.


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Review: Fool Me Twice

Fool Me Twice by Meredith Duran
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Olivia Mather is on the run from Lord Bertram, who hates her so much he wants her dead. She has been hiding/working as a ladies' maid and uncovered some letters between Lord Bertram and the late Duchess of Marwick which refer to the Duke, Alastair de Grey, holding dossiers on members of the ton for blackmail purposes. She determines to find employment as a maid in the Duke's household and steal the dossier which she hopes will provide sufficient dirt to force Lord Bertram to leave her alone.

Alastair was an up-and-coming politician, widely tipped to become the next British Prime Minister, until his wife's death. Shortly after his wife's death he found correspondence between her and four men which indicated that not only had she loathed Alastair and been having affairs with each of the men, but she had also actively plotted against him politically, telling his political enemies secrets to foil his proposals etc. The realisation that he had been cuckolded and betrayed by a woman he thought was the perfect wife has had a profound effect on him and he has become a recluse, hiding in his London mansion.

When Olivia tries to get work as a maid the staff think she is there to replace the housekeeper and she seizes upon the opportunity. She is the only member of staff who will stand up to Alastair's bullying and bottle throwing. This reminds me very much of the film The Secret Garden, Alastair hiding away like Colin until an uppity madam comes to tell him off good and proper. Of course Olivia gradually shames Alastair into washing, stopping drinking, opening the curtains etc, etc, but as their friendship grows can she betray him by stealing information to blackmail Lord Bertram?

I enjoyed reading this but I have to confess it did feel like one coincidence after another and I have seen the wider plot line used in other books before so it didn't feel particularly shocking or different.

If you like your heroines sassy and resourceful, your heroes grumpy and brooding then I'm sure you'll enjoy this.

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Review: Witherward

Witherward by Hannah Mathewson
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 28%.

Yet another book which sounds great on paper. Ilsa is a secret shapeshifter, earning her living as a magician's assistant in what feels like Victorian London. Then one night someone catches her performance and realises who/what she is and drags her into the Witherward, an alternative London filled with six warring magical groups and a destiny she could never imagine.

There was a lot of posturing adolescents, talk about dresses and wandering about in the gardens, a missing Changeling Alpha and this just felt like The Princess Diaries meets Vampire Diaries. I feel that there was loads happening but not a lot of plot development, just running around waving swords and being sulky. I'm clearly in a bit of a book strop at the moment but I just couldn't bring myself to read any further.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: The Monster MASH

The Monster MASH by Angie Fox
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 25%.

This sounded intriguing, a human doctor conscripted to work in a MASH unit with a group of werewolves, vampires, etc in a war between the Gods. And of course our heroine is special, because she can see the dead but she keeps it to herself until she accidentally pulls back a soul from a dead man into his body and brings him back to life. Now doesn't that sound great?

Sadly, I just felt thrust into a plot with very little explanation and then it degenerated into our heroine lusting after Galen, the warrior she saved and everything being a little bit like High School.

I stopped and started this several times over the last month but I am now admitting defeat, it just hasn't grabbed my interest.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: A Winning Betrayal

A Winning Betrayal by Louise Guy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Two very different women share the lotto jackpot AUD 10 million each.

Frankie and her husband Tom are hard-working and decent, but broke. They can't afford to pay their utility bill and they buy clothes for their two daughters at charity shops. But Frankie sees the win as more of a curse than a blessing and doesn't want to keep the money.

Shauna is a single career woman, she has no trouble accepting her win but will it bring her closer to her mother who can be difficult? Then when a magazine article makes it clear she has won the lotto people from her past start re-appearing, can she trust them or are they only after her money?

The two women meet at the lottery headquarters and bond at the weekly meetings for previous winners where people who have had similar luck share their good (and bad) experiences.

I enjoyed this but it was a bit predictable, also several of the characters are either too good or too bad to feel real, more like caricatures with no light and shade to make them interesting.

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Review: The Promise

The Promise by Lucy Diamond
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A family tragedy, Dan's brother Patrick dies suddenly. Just before his death he quarrelled with Dan and with his (Patrick's) wife Zoe. Patrick leaves Zoe to look after three children and his small property rental business. Dan was supposed to be on a three month sabbatical from his accountancy job, touring South America, but Patrick's death leads him to cancel the trip.

With three months on his hands, and tired of wallowing in guilt and sorrow, Dan determines to help out Zoe and the children, taking over the jobs that Patrick can no longer do. Dan starts with the business but progresses to taking more of an interest in his nephews and niece. But very quickly Dan learns things about Patrick, secrets, that he wishes he'd never discovered.

I really liked this at first. Dan, the younger brother, trying to step into Patrick's shoes, trying to make up to his family for Patrick's death. My biggest issue was Patrick. During the course of the book Patrick is revealed as a lot of bad things (trying to be discreet) but there doesn't seem to be any logical reason for it. Surely someone in his family and friends would have noticed if he was selfish or a narcissist or psychotic? So I was left with the overwhelming feeling that he was simultaneously a good guy, a great father, a wonderful husband and none of those things. He didn't seem a real character.

I would say up to about 60%, maybe 65% of this book I was loving it. The remainder dragged and the ending just kind of deflated for me.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: First Comes Scandal

First Comes Scandal by Julia Quinn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So is it good or bad when nearly 400 pages feels like a novella?

I had totally forgotten that the Rokesbys series pre-dates the Bridgertons time-wise and was astonished that yet another Bridgerton bride had named her children alphabetically and with the same names until I realised that I was seeing Lady Bridgerton as a young woman!

This concerns the previous Georgiana Bridgerton. A impecunious rascal took her on a totally innocent date in central London then kidnapped her and tried to take her to Gretna Green in a forced marriage. Georgie escaped but he has spread rumours around town and she is soiled goods in the eyes of the world.

Nicholas Rokesby has known Georgie since they were children, her brother was his best friend and his father is Georgie's godfather. He is summoned back to Kent by his father and ordered to marry Georgie to save her from having to marry the cad who kidnapped her. Aren't we all grateful we don't live in that age?

I have read other reviews of this book (frankly looking for the name of the fortune hunter because my Kindle is charging downstairs) and I think they are mostly in line with my thoughts. It's a nice enough story but there just isn't much dramatic tension. We don't see the attempted abduction, we just see Georgie back at home with her family afterwards. Then, to be frank again, nothing much happens. Nicholas resists his father's command at first but then realises he must do this for Georgie. Similarly, Georgie rejects Nicholas' proposal initially because she hates people pitying her, but then she realises how kind Nicholas has been. I think this gives you a flavour of the blandness of this novel, there's nothing awful about it and Georgie and Nicholas are very nice but I kept waiting for something dramatic to occur.

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Review: For the Love of Friends: A Novel

For the Love of Friends: A Novel by Sara Goodman Confino
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you loved, or even liked, the film 27 Dresses then I think you will love this - same same but different.

Lily Weiss is a writer, working for a prestigious science institute. It's her job to make complex (and often boring) science accessible to normal people. She's good at it, but it's not what she dreamed of when she used to write stories at night under her duvet as a child.

Her work BFF Caryn asks her to be a bridesmaid when she finally gets her boyfriend to propose. Caryn and Lily don't really mix in the same circles but Caryn begs Lily to save her from the toxicity of her other bridesmaids, including her sister-in-law-to-be, and Lily can't say no. But then things snowball, her college BFF also announces she is getting married and asks Lily to be a bridesmaid to protect her from her overbearing mother. Then her closest friend Meghan also announces she is getting married and guess what? You got it, she wants Lily to be a bridesmaid. Next her younger brother announces his engagement, and as a way to get her new sister-in-law he wants Lily to be a bridesmaid! Lily is at Meghan's engagement party when her baby sister, who still lives at home with their parents, announces she too is engaged. Suddenly at 32, Lily feels over the hill if even her foetus of a sister is engaged. The only solution is to mainline Chardonnay which leads to her waking up in bed with one of the groomsmen and no recollection of the night before.

At first things are hectic but manageable, Lily even manages to become adept at helping brides to choose their favourite dress (and not just the one their bitchy friends or controlling mothers like). But then the bridezilla demands start: buy this hideously expensive bridesmaid's dress; dye your hair; lose weight; fly to Chicago for dress shopping; fly to Mexico for a wedding; fly to Paris for a bachelorette party; etc. In frustration, because Lily would never say these things out loud, and in an attempt to earn some money to help her pay for all the dresses, shoes, gifts, parties etc, Lily starts up an anonymous blog called Bridesmania where she recounts the more absurd things her brides are doing.

Oh, and one of Meghan's groomsmen, Alex, is really sweet and charming but Meghan has ruled no drama, and after sleeping with one groomsman Lily can't risk any more disruption to the wedding so Alex must go firmly into the friend zone.

I think it will be fairly obvious to any reader/watcher of rom-coms, what is going to happen. But it's a fun read and Sara Goodman Confino walks a thin line between making the brides-to-be unreasonable but also showing that Lily's decision to take out her frustrations by writing a vitriolic blog was not the most appropriate response.

After DNFing so many books already this year (and with more on the horizon), this was a delight and proved to me that it's not me, it's the books. So if you fancy a light-hearted, hilarious, snarky wedding-themed rom-com that is absolutely ripe for being made into a movie then look no further. Highly recommended.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: You’ve Got Mail

You’ve Got Mail by Kate G. Smith
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 21%.

And so my dismal reading record for 2021 continues ...

This sounded such fun, Grace Wharton gets dumped by email - by a complete stranger, although how he emailed her work email address by mistake is a mystery. I suspect, and suspected right from the start, that the email was deliberately sent by someone trying to get to talk to Grace. Grace starts up a snippy conversation with said anonymous dumper - frankly I enjoyed that but there was too little of it and too much of the other stuff.

Grace works for a window company which was named after the founder and recently renamed to the founder's initials after paying exorbitant sums to a consultant, the initials? C.O.W., oh how we laughed, not. Grace has worked there for years, hates it, makes absolutely no effort and routinely deletes/throws away work documents without bothering to do anything with them. Her boss is her BFF and flatmate but she even tunes her out at work. Strike one. Hate your job? Look for another one but do the job they pay you to do.

Grace is also gaga over Jack Lockett, a guy in her office. Despite being a complete slacker and bad at her job, Grace is picked to go to a prestigious conference with Jack and make a presentation (make or do? both sound wrong). Even when working side-by-side with Jack she still pays absolutely no attention to anything he says, she is on her way to the conference and she has absolutely no idea of the content she is supposed to deliver!

I truly, honestly wanted to punch Grace in the face for being such a stupid C.O.W. (okay that worked for me) and frankly single-handedly putting the cause of feminism back 20 years. Why anyone would want to date her, work with her, or be her friend I cannot fathom. Anyway, I predict that the mysterious dumper is either Jack or Grace's platonic friend/flatmate Harry. Probably totally wrong on both fronts.

Anyway, I picked it up and put it down three times, and for me three times is the charm, although it was ridiculously early in the book I had enough and gave up at 21%.

I received a free copy of his book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Mr Right Across the Street

Mr Right Across the Street by Kathryn Freeman
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 51%.

Argh! I usually like Kathryn Freeman's books but I just could not like this one. Mia Abbott moves to Manchester, she works from home and is kind of lonely in a new city so she becomes a little bit obsessed with the people who live in the flats opposite, particularly the sexy guy who likes to work out every morning in front of his window. Sexy guy is local bartender turned owner, Luke Doyle. He's cruised through life having friends with benefits type relationships and very little commitment as befits a bartender. But recently things have changed, he's bought the bar he works at and he's starting to want more from life, like the girl with the green hair who walks into his bar alone.

Mia annoyed me, she got all bent out of shape about Luke's love life based on gossip from girl's she'd only just met in a bar. She got rabidly jealous because another woman was trying to attract him. She ignored the fact that he was chatting her up and asked her out. Then she did it again. And again. Yawn.

There was an interesting story in there about Mia helping Luke to pull the bar out of the red when he finds out that someone has been skimming the business for years but it was buried under tweenage angst and I lost interest.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: The Best Man

The Best Man by A.S. Kelly
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 45%.

When you can't stand either of the main characters and nothing seems to be happening then you know it's time to bail!

This kind of starts off well. we are at a wedding and Alex Brennan is nervous, does he have the bottle to do 'it'? He must, but will everyone hate him? What will she say? He can't bear it? If that is irritating you then I suggest you avoid this book. Alex is wetter than a wet weekend in the Partry Mountains (which google tells me is the wettest part of Galway), he is the sort of person who walks back and forth wringing their hands and never doing anything. In fact the book is written just like the blurb for this book always talking round and round in circles, never coming to a point, always harking back to some vague thing in the past where 'something' happened.

Frankly, I got nearly halfway through the book and I was bored rigid. I have 40 other books on my Kindle to read and I can't waste my time with drippy Alex. Also, this is supposedly set in Ireland, but other than the obligatory pints of Guinness (which hello can be drunk all over the world) and the fact that Alex and Ellie work in a whisky distillery (also all over the world) and the odd Gaelic word it could be set anywhere. In fact I was shocked to discover it was set in Ireland as I had imagined it was set in the US. Now I hate books that are dripping in brogue for the sake of it which is why I rarely read any books featuring a man in a kilt on the cover, but to have absolutely no Irish language markers at all? No mam? No sure or grand? No feck?

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Blood Heir

Blood Heir by Ilona Andrews
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Where to begin? Well, if you haven't read the Kate Daniels series please don't start here, this book builds on everything that has happened in the past ten books and even having read them I forgot who some of the characters were!

Little Julie is now all grown up. A seer has had a dreadful vision. Moloch, a god who requires the sacrifice of human children, has been reborn/reincarnated and he will kill Kate unless Julie can stop him. Julie bought some time by attacking him and stealing his eye, but now he's back. Taking Moloch's eye and using it to replace the one that Moloch stole from her has transformed Julie physically. She no longer looks, sounds or smells like she did before. She also spent four years in stasis in another world while Moloch's eye brutally remade her body learning all that her grandmother, the ancient sorceress, can teach her. Julie now calls herself Aurelia Ryder.

Aurelia is dean back to Atlanta by the brutal murder of a local priest which is somehow linked with Moloch. She must avoid Kate and anyone who knows her in order to avoid fulfilling the deadly prophecy. But it's not easy when Aurelia is accosted by Ascanio's guards before she even enters Atlanta, is being stalked by Derek who has returned from Alaska, and has a pesky genius little brother on her tail.

I'll say no more - read it, it's wonderful. Without spoilering things can I say. (1) I never saw that coming! and (2) I totally knew it! and (3) thanks to the Ilona Andrews spoiler discussions for reminding me of the import of what he ate. Totally cryptic unless you've read it.

I may start rereading the entire Kate Daniels world series all over again.

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Review: Did My Love Life Shrink in the Wash?

Did My Love Life Shrink in the Wash? by Kristen Bailey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars. Although TBH I think I knocked off half a star because it didn't go the way I wanted it to go.

This is a series about the five (I think) Callaghan sisters who are all at one stage or another of being a woman/relationships. So the eldest, Meg, is married with children and living oop North with her husband Danny. The second daughter Emma is recently divorced with children. They have each had their own books which I very much enjoyed. This book is about Beth, who I assume is the middle daughter. At the start of the book she and her boyfriend Will are about to have their first baby, Joe.

Beth and Joe (from my jaded 50+ POV) are like perpetual students, they love gigs and mix tapes and festivals etc. Their flat is a bit of a dump and they love nothing more than binging a Netflix boxset. Of course as anyone knows, that all comes to a grinding halt when you have a baby.

Beth is dealing with the changes to her body, a lack of social life, Will working all hours, and all the other mothers from her NCT classes seeming to glide effortlessly around in lulu melon leggings with adorable babies while Beth is still hiding out in elasticated men's trackies and an old concert t-shirt.

Something happens, it's in the blurb but it feels spoilery so I won't say what. Because I have read the other books I expected it to happen much earlier in this book than it did.

If this were a schmaltzy Hallmark movie with a message I guess the message would be along the lines of 'Be kind to yourself, others see something completely different to what you see when you look in the mirror. Be kind to others because sometimes they are going through something worse.'

I enjoyed this, read it in a day, but I didn't love it in the same way as I loved Emma's book.

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Review: The Winter Ground

The Winter Ground by Catriona McPherson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Dandy Gilver, amateur sleuth, and her husband Hugh's neighbours, Albert and Ina Wilson, are not at all their sort of people. He's a self-made man with a brick foundry and tries to give himself airs, she's the daughter of Edinburgh intellectuals. They moved to the country after the flu epidemic in 1918 which killed their daughter and made Ina very ill. Since then Albert has treated Ina as an invalid and won't allow anyone within six feet of her. As an aside, I find it astonishing during the COVID-19 pandemic how many books I am reading which reference the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. Ina has a love of circuses (circii?) and so Albert has persuaded the Cooke family circus to winter on his land and perform a special show for Ina once they have spent sufficient time away from the germs of the city of course.

When Albert is away at his foundry Ina takes Dandy down to the circus to introduce her to the troupe. Ina and her servants conspire against Albert's bizarre strictures wherever possible. The owner's wife, Ma Cooke enlists Dandy's help with one of the troupe, Ana(stasia), who does bareback tricks on her horse. Recently there has been a spate of thins being stolen or deliberately damaged and Ma thinks that Ana is responsible.

It's Christmas time and Dandy's two sons are home from boarding school. The idea of a circus just down the road is like catnip to two young boys who petition Dandy and Hugh to allow them to camp out like the circus folk. As Dandy investigates she uncovers bitter feuds, romance, rivalry, resentment and it all spills out into murder.

I was convinced I knew who would be the murderer from very early on - guess what? Totally wrong!

Anyway, I've kind of decided that I don't read these books for the murder mystery, I just love the details of life for the landed gentry after WW1. The way that Dandy has very little interest in her sons, her distant relationship with Hugh, her subservience to her maid, her chaste relationship with her neighbour and sidekick/fellow sleuth Alec are just pure delight. I have no idea how accurate they are but they feel really authentic.

This book dragged a bit for me TBH, I bought this to read over and above my mahoosive pile of ARCs to be read and yet I took four days to finish it - unheard of!

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Review: The Dog Share

The Dog Share by Fiona Gibson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Suzy Medley's boyfriend Paul is a bit of an enthusiast, he picks up hobbies and jobs then drops them six months later, but he's charming and funny and handsome and great with Suzy's kids so she forgives him. Until he sinks all his inheritance from his father into a whisky distillery on the remote Scottish island of Sgadansay. Within months he's run a thriving business into the ground and walked away with his usual disinterest leaving the livelihoods of his employees hanging in the balance.

When Suzy visits the distillery to talk to the workers she is greeted with hostility, alone and feeling very inadequate she meets a stray dog just when she has reached rock bottom. Somehow just looking after the stray dog fires up Suzy's enthusiasm and the next thing you know she is determined to save the distillery.

I am a fan of Jenny Colgan's novels about Scotland and so I was hoping for something along the same lines, which this was, to a point. However, this felt like there was a really great book happening somewhere just out of sight. Everything was very superficial, we didn't see much of the distillery, we didn't see much of the romance, there were two side plots involving Suzy's sister and her love-interest's ex respectively which didn't really go anywhere and were swiftly resolved. Overall, this felt like the synopsis of a book rather than the actual novel.

I liked it but I didn't love it and I didn't really engage with the characters.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: The Saturday Morning Park Run

The Saturday Morning Park Run by Jules Wake
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Claire Harrison is an over-achiever, older sister, accountant, on the path to partner in the Leeds office of the firm where she works, owner of a charming house near a park in the small town of Churchstone, even if it does need some work to make it the home of her dreams. Then a chance encounter with a handsome stranger on the way to the station leads to romance. Everything is looking perfect.

Then one by one the dominoes tumble. The guy ghosts Claire, a scratch from helping her flaky sister to cut back some hedges gets infected, she misses a project deadline at work, Claire gets signed off with stress and her sister Alice dumps her two daughters (Alice's daughters, not Claire's daughters) on her while she goes to India 'to find herself'.

At this point I started to get irritated, I am tired of novels which suggest that women can't have it all, or that they would be better off settling for a lesser job blah, blah. Luckily, this wasn't quite that kind of book. Yes, Claire does reassess her priorities but she isn't the only one.

A chance meeting in the park after taking her nieces to school introduces Claire to Hilda, an elderly lady in a lurid track suit who runs in the park every day to prove to her overbearing son that she is fit enough to live independently, even if she is currently living in an old people's home. Forced to stay off work for four weeks, Claire finds time to spend running in the park, caring for her nieces, decorating her home and setting up a park run, all orchestrated by the indominable Hilda.

If you like Debbie Johnson or other writers of that ilk I think you'll love this.

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Review: Time and Time Again

Time and Time Again by Ben Elton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's 2024, Hugh Stanton is an ex-SAS special forces soldier turned YouTube sensation, but since his wife and children were killed in a car accident he has felt that life is not worth living. Then his old Cambridge college history professor invites him to spend Christmas with her at Cambridge. Her invitation is not purely altruistic, she wants him to change time by preventing the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the action which is widely credited as being the catalyst which started the Great War. Sir Isaac Newton had left a letter and a box of materials at Cambridge 300 years earlier addressed to the Master of Trinity to be opened on New Year's Day 2024. Sir Isaac Newton's theory was that time is relative, like a slinky, and every so often the coils touch back on themselves, allowing travel between two times, June 1914 and 2025 are two such points in time.

The assassination of the Archduke is a favourite topic for time-travel novels, something that was widely reported at the time, and given added interest because the group had attempted to kill the Archduke several times that day and only succeeded because of a bizarre set of coincidences. I really enjoyed this version, especially the descriptions of pre-War Germany and Austria which coincide with my own imagination of England pre-war.

What I really enjoyed were the twists and turns which unfold in the book, I don't want to spoil it for others, suffice it say that Hugh is not the only time traveller and anyone who has watched the film The Butterfly Effect knows that sometimes what we do to change the past can have unintended consequences.

It wasn't without its flaws, I felt the female characters were unrealistic and merely plot devices, I also felt Ben Elton got trapped by his own cleverness and didn't know how to end the book in a satisfactory way. But I was gripped from start to finish and would have loved this to be a series.

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Review: Murder in the Evening

Murder in the Evening by Blythe Baker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I've been having a bit of a cosy mystery (how I loath that description and much prefer Golden Age mystery, although I gather the two have slightly different definitions) pash, so when I saw this book with its stylised cover as a Kindle freebie I one-clicked.

Miss Alice Beckingham has met her fair share of death. Her brother Edward was convicted of killing his sister's suitor and was then himself murdered in prison. Then Alice and her mother were at a house party at Druiminn Castle where their host was murdered.

In this story Alice is meeting with some female friends for dinner at a restaurant, friends she hasn't seen for several years. There seems to be some tension at the table, then one of the guests goes into convulsions and dies at the table. A cryptic note from the victim asking Alice to enlist the help of her cousin (who apparently did some amateur detecting of her own) leads Alice to suspect that the death may have been murder and she determines to investigate on her own. At first she enlists the help of the chauffeur George, but once he has located the jewel thief Sherborne Sharp for her George disappears from the story. Sherborne is that oddity, a penniless jewel thief who manages to mix with high society.

Sadly, I found this vaguely unsatisfactory. I couldn't tell you in which year (or decade) this book was supposed to be set, although based on the timing of the previous book I would say 1929 or 1930 but otherwise there was nothing to inform the reader that this was post WW1 or leading in to the depression and WW2, other than one reference to a cloche hat. I found the lack of butlers but the presence of numerous maids and a chauffeur surprising, also the idea that Alice's parents seemed only mildly interested in her comings and goings. It felt as though Alice's servants and parents were just plot devices to allow her to do whatever was necessary for the plot. This vagueness seems to be a feature of Blythe Baker's writing as according to her Goodreads profile she comes "from the South Central part of the country", which country is anyone's guess.

I would say that Alice is the sort of bumbling sleuth who relies upon George and then Sherborne to do actual investigating and fortuitous discovery of various letters and diaries to progress the story and to save her (repeatedly) from her own stupid actions.

Overall the detection relied upon a lot of coincidences, a loquacious maid, several explicit/ incriminating documents which Alice stumbles across and a frank confession from the killer.

I might read another of these books if it was also free but I don't think I would pay for what felt like a flimsy novella.

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Review: Ain't She Sweet

Ain't She Sweet by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Sugar Beth Carey had everything and she ruled the roost in High School, but she used her powers for evil and made a lot of enemies. Now, 15 years later the tables have turned and she has returned to her home town of Parrish, Mississippi broke, a twice-divorced widow with an ugly dog and a broken down car. Her father left all his wealth and possessions to his mistress and his other daughter, Minnie, now Sugar Beth is relying on finding a mythical painting left to her by her bitter aunt, if she can find that her money worries will be over.

Sugar Beth's family home is now owned by a successful writer, Colin Byrne. Fifteen years ago he was a 22 year old British writer teaching at the local high school when Sugar spread a vicious lie about him which forced him to leave town. Now Sugar is back, living in the coachhouse attached to his home and he wants revenge.

This started out really well, I love a Mean Girl getting her comeuppance and learning some humility, although to be fair Sugar keeps her snark and her self-belief, especially since her half-sister Minnie now has everything she once had, including her High School boyfriend. The dialogue between Colin and Sugar dripped with sarcasm and sexual tension, especially when he offered her the humiliating job of housekeeper in her old home. I loved the 'Bless Your Heart' Southern bile from Sugar's former friends, the Seawillows.

Unfortunately, for me the novel kind of lost its way towards the end, Sugar and Colin gave way to the marital difficulties of Winnie and her husband, then Colin (for me) acted out of character and the story degenerated into that sort of romance where the heroine has to be humiliated/taught a lesson, even though she has already changed her ways and accepted her mistakes.

So definitely a four star start but a three star ending, perhaps that's why I didn't write a review the first time I read this book?

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