Review: The Unkept Woman

The Unkept Woman by Allison Montclair
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Right Sort marriage bureau are approached by a young Polish woman looking for a husband, but when Gwen spots that the woman is pregnant they have to turn her away. Meanwhile, one or more women seem to be following Iris.

The young woman, Helena, announces that the father of her baby is Andrew Sutton, Iris' former married lover and owner of her apartment, and that he promised to divorce his wife and marry her. When Andrew Sutton appears at Iris' flat, looking for a place to hide, it seems as though Iris' work during the war is coming back to haunt her - but when Helena is murdered in Iris' flat she is suddenly in the frame for murder.

Can Gwen and Iris uncover the mystery behind Helena's death? Can Gwen persuade the courts that she is no longer a lunatic? Who is the woman following Iris? Where is Andrew Sutton?

This seemed all over the place to start with but it all came together beautifully at the end. Another cracking read from Allison Montclair.

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Review: The Village Vicar

The Village Vicar by Julie Houston
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Rosa Quinn, former high-flying financial entrepreneur (yep, you got it, I can't recall what it was she did) jacked it all in after a relationship crashed and burned and she suffered a massive health scare. Now, six years later, she has retrained as a vicar and has returned to her home town of Westenbury, Yorkshire as the new parish vicar, following in the footsteps of her late (but not lamented) grandfather Cecil.

Rosa is a triplet. Her sisters Hannah and Eva also live close by. Eva is a dentist, married with two children. Hannah works for child legal services and is single, but having an affair with a married man which she can't seem to end.

The triplets have an unusual history. Born of a night of passion between famous artist Alice Parkes and Bill Astley, Marquess of Stratton, they were adopted by Alice's sister Susan and her husband Richard when Alice casually informed them that she intended to put the babies up for adoption!

Twenty years ago (ish) the triplets all had a pash on the new boy in town, Joe Rosavina, now nothing seems to have changed, there's a new dentist at Eva and her husband Rayan's practice, Sam Burrows, and all three of them are smitten. But Joe is also back in town - will Rosa rekindle the romance?

This was quite difficult to get into at first, there was the whole backstory with Alice and her father and sister. Then there was the backstory of each of the triplets to get through - about a quarter of the way through I didn't really know where it was going or why Rosa had left London to return to Yorkshire. However, it did all resolve itself in the end.

Once things got straightened out I enjoyed this book, the love/hate relationship the triplets had felt real and they were each facing their own issues.

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

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Review: To Die But Once

To Die But Once by Jacqueline Winspear
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

A young man, son of Maisie's local pub landlord, complains of sick headaches and is acting strangely, finally not making his weekly call to his family. The father calls on Maisie to find out what has happened to his son, who is an apprentice painter and decorator for a local firm which has won a hush-hush contract painting fire-retardant on RAF buildings.

Elsewhere, it is the Spring of 1940, Billy's eldest son is part of the British Expeditionary Force in France and his youngest son wants to join the RAF as a mechanic; Priscilla's eldest son has joined the RAF as a pilot and her middle son is acting out. As the events of Dunkirk unfold, all the older generation are terrified of what their children will witness and the risk to their lives.

Again there are plots within plots, some of which I couldn't see how they were connected to each other, although it all made sense in the end. One plot I did see, but not the reason why.

A good story but I am rather tired of Maurice's wisdom being repeated ad nauseam and the insistence on revisiting the investigation when it has completed - it just seems like a plot device to explain all the things which weren't properly explained at the time. also Maisie's gone back to being a bit woo-woo, by which I mean she 'feels' the injuries suffered by the victims which leads her to draw conclusions - she might as well find a scrap of paper saying 'X dun it' because it is just as silly.

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Review: Someone Perfect

Someone Perfect by Mary Balogh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Lady Estelle Lamarr and her twin brother have reached the ripe age of twenty-six without either falling in love or getting engaged, let alone married. When discussing her requisites for a husband, her brother concludes that Estelle wants the Someone Perfect of the title.

Their nearest aristocratic neighbour is Maria Wiley, just twenty years old, she nursed her sick mother until her death and has since lived very quietly with her former governess turned companion. Her half-brother Justin, now the Earl of Brandon, was banished from his home by his father when he was just twenty-two years old with just the clothes on his back and what he could carry. He spent the intervening years until his father's death six yeas ago working for a living - rumours abound as to what he was doing then with many speculating that he was in prison for unknown crimes. When Justin inherited the title he sent Maria and her mother away from the ancestral home Everleigh Park. But he has now realised that with his step-mother's death he is responsible for Maria and has come to bring her home. Unfortunately, having left home when Maria was very small, and having evicted her and her mother from Everleigh Park after his father's death, Maria loathes Justin and doesn't want to leave her new home.

Justin and Estelle's first meeting is not auspicious: she is paddling in the river, exposing her legs, with her hair unbound and he seems frightening with his scowl, sitting on his horse with his scary dog. Despite their differences, Justin enlists Estelle and her brother to accompany Maria to Everleigh Park, at least for the first week or two, to help her adjust and meet her relatives on both sides who were estranged from Maria's mother during her lifetime.

With a large family gathering, secrets are revealed - but can Justin persuade Estelle that she is his perfect Countess?

I enjoyed this, as always Mary Balogh tells a charming tale. However, as others have also commented, this is the tenth Westcott book and it does feel like every single one of the nine previous couples, plus their children and siblings gets a mention in this book which creates pages and pages of names and events which are entirely superfluous to the story. My preference would be to only bring one other couple into any story to stop the plot getting bogged down in backstory.

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Review: Husband Material

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

Quick recap, Luc's ex sold him out to the tabloids for £50,000, his father is a narcissistic ageing rock star who faked a cancer scare for the publicity, and he works for a dung beetle charity. Oliver is a vegan barrister with food issues, a heightened sense of social responsibility, and parents who constantly belittle him. It's now two years since Luc O'Donnell and Oliver Blackwood fake-dated their way into romance. They are still together but all around them friends and family (and exes) are getting married. Yes, it's Four Weddings and a Funeral for the 2020s.

Was any book so hotly anticipated (by me) as this one? I LOVED Boyfriend Material and I slavered over the teaser chapters that were made available on NetGalley for Husband Material so I really, really, really wanted to read this book. I was even contemplating stalking Alexis Hall to beg for an ARC, then the publisher granted me an ARC! So normally when that happens all the anticipation is too much pressure and the book disappoints - not this one.

Loved it, there's the usual laughter, tears, ridiculous jokes, and relationship angst. TBH 85% of the way through the book I had NO idea where it was going to end up, but as usual Alexis Hall did a brilliant job, confounded my expectations and had me reaching for a tissue (I'm not crying, you're crying). Please give us more Luc and Oliver!

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

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Review: Treachery at Hursley Park House

Treachery at Hursley Park House by Claire Gradidge
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Its two years since the first book and things have been a bit slow in Romney. Jo has been recruited (unwillingly) by some kind of government types to work undercover at a local stately home which is doing top secret war work. A young man has been found dead, apparently drowned in a pond whilst intoxicated, grasping a corner of what look to be plans. The government is keen to establish whether he was working alone and who wanted the plans.

Back in Romney, Bram is visited by an old war friend, in fact the man who saved his life in the trenches (much as Bram wished he hadn't). His son was the young man found dead but he believes it was murder, his son wasn't a traitor and nor did he drink to excess, especially not when he was supposed to be working.

Told by the shady government men to keep her distance from Romney in general and Bram in particular, Jo can't help but discover that their investigations have a commonality and it will need both their brains to get to the bottom of it all.

Another intricately plotted and enthralling mystery.

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Review: The Unexpected Return of Josephine Fox

The Unexpected Return of Josephine Fox by Claire Gradidge
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Josephine Fox was kicked out of the small town of Romsey when she was fourteen by her grandfather. She was illegitimate and never knew her father, and her mother abandoned her with her grandparents. Now, many years later, after nursing her mother prior to her death, Jo has returned to Romney after learning on her mother's deathbed that her father is still alive and living in Romney.

Its wartime in England but small-town memories run deep and many people shun Jo (now Mrs Lester, although her husband is missing presumed dead after Dunkirk) so she sort of blackmails an old childhood friend, Bram Nash, local solicitor and coroner, into giving her a job - hoping it will allow her to search his records for clues to her father's identity. Jo's return coincides with a stray Luftwaffe bomb which destroyed the local pub, killing seven regulars and an unknown young woman. The local police and doctor are keen to argue that the young woman dies in the bombing but her appearance suggests otherwise.

What Jo and Bram uncover is that the young woman's murder has links to Jo's past and solving one may uncover the other.

I really enjoyed this - thank you Amazon Prime for giving me the chance to read this free - a thoughtful amateur detective story set during WW2 but featuring a man who was badly injured in WW1 and a woman who has been ostracised due to the accident of her birth.

Already read the second one and requested the third from NetGalley.

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Review: Let It Snow

Let It Snow by Beth Moran
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Bea Armstrong is a weather reporter for the East Midlands news TV show, she is a firm favourite with the viewers, many of whose questions she answers live on air wearing he quirky weather-themed outfits. Having just split up (again) from her long-term boyfriend and rock star wannabe Adam in June Bea has been avoiding her well-meaning but nosey family, but she can't get away from spending an extended Christmas break at their ancestral home-turned school for teenagers with behavioural issues.

Ever since the break-up Bea has been a little bit distracted, missing meetings, forgetting emails, generally getting muddled up, one of her colleagues is convinced that her intern, Summer, is deliberately sabotaging Bea, the latest incident being Bea missing out on the company-wide mandatory invite to Christmas drinks in the pub.

When Bea finally arrives home, hours late, flustered and with a suitcase of random stuff she threw together at the last minute, she is mortified to find that her parents have invited her childhood arch-enemy and all-round goody-two-shoes nerd Henry Fairfax to spend the Christmas break with them. It was bad enough their parents plotting their wedding when they were children but heavy-handed matchmaking just months after the end of her long-term relationship is just crass.

But when Bea receives a call inviting her to attend an in-person interview for a national news presenter position, the only person who can get her to Scotland in heavy snow is Henry and she soon discovers that the boy with the bad hair cut, grandad fashion sense, and thick glasses has turned into someone quite gorgeous, even if he is still a bit on the nerdy side.

A family Christmas, enemies-to-love, romance with snow, cute moppets, a school show, a singing granny, a weather-themed treasure hunt, and a parental mystery to solve? What's not to love?

I devoured this, it was cute, quirky, feel-good and delivered all the feels.

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

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Review: Eclipse the Moon

Eclipse the Moon by Jessie Mihalik
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Second in a series about two sets of former soldiers from opposite sides of the interstellar war who have reluctantly (at first) banded together to prevent factions from both sides trying to start another war.

Kee Ildez may be ex-military but if it wasn't for her leader, Octavia Zarola, she wouldn't have made it five minutes. Kee's skills lie more in intelligence and hacking than in fighting, despite what her teammates try to teach her. In the last book Commodore Frank Morten kidnapped the Valorian Empress' grandson and Kee is trying to discover where he has hidden and who he is working for. She is drawing a blank so suggests she gets off the ship at Bastion, the last space station in Federation territory in order to access (illegally) the military's servers. Kee is also suspicious about a fashion show which is due to be held on Bastion featuring a human and a Valovian designer, she thinks this might be a cover for something more sinister. As a bonus, Kee can also get away from Varro Runkow, a Valovian weapons expert onboard who makes her heart pound - she is beginning to embarrass herself so a few days offship should give her a chance to get her head straight.

Once on Bastion, Kee and Varro get embroiled in a kidnapping of the two fashion designers and a member of the Valovian royal family - the Feds have been quick to blame Kee so she must not only rescue the hostages but also clear her name!

I enjoyed this but I have to say, standing back, I'm not sure what Morten intended to achieve by setting off the bomb or kidnapping the designers. Also, I didn't really understand the role played by the Valovian Empress' elite assassin. Also, at the end there was one of those shootout situations where everyone is pinned down against overwhelming forces and yet they still manage to escape which felt a bit unrealistic.

Enjoyable space opera, I see another review referred to this as cosy sci-fi or soft sci-fi and I would totally agree.


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Review: Contract Season

Contract Season by Cait Nary
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Brody Kellerman is a gay ice hockey defenseman. He's always kept his relationships out of the public eye, the last thing he wants is to be the first gay sportsman with all the angst that entails. Unfortunately, his partner of three years, London, didn't feel the same way and not being invited to accompany Brody to his best friend and teammate Alex's wedding as his 'plus one' was the final straw. So Brody is going stag. His eye is caught by the country singer crooning with a guitar while the congregation await the bride, too bad he spills two glasses of champagne down the guy's shirt! Brody knows he's not the most talented guy in the league, but he's totally focused and totally disciplined. He eats right, works out, sleeps the regular eight hours a night and has a plan for one year, fives, and even ten years' time. Marriage and kids is something he desperately wants, but after he retires when he can afford to concentrate on something other than hockey.

Seamus (Sea) Murray is an up-and-coming country singer, but it's difficult to write meaningful love songs when you have to be careful about which pronouns to use. After coming third in a US talent show he's still getting used to being recognised out in public, he's the epitome of the ugly duckling who grew into a beautiful swan but it meant he didn't get a chance to experiment in high school with girls or boys. Sea loves living and working in Nashville, but he's not really adulting very well, in fact most days he feels like a kid who'll get caught out at any moment. Uncoordinated, messy, and disorganised.

A no-strings-attached one-night stand becomes two nights when they meet at a charity function hosted by Alex's wife, but then a random selfie-taker catches the two of them in an unguarded moment. As the dominoes fall Sea and Brody's publicist decide the best way to style this is to stage a fake romance, it plays better than random hook-up partners to public opinion. With a fake-romance contract for six months, a set of pre-agreed 'dates', and their careers to manage can Brody and Sea make the story real?

I liked this, it was less superficial than I was expecting, more about Brody and Sea's careers and their feelings. Both men were adorable and I totally understood each one's reservations about their relationship.

Charming opposites attract, fake relationship 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: This Is Not A F*cking Romance

This Is Not A F*cking Romance by Evie Snow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Candy Blume is a half-Hong Kong Chinese/half American Goth. She owns the steampunk bar Hard Candy which she prides herself on being a safe space, so Monday night is munch night, Tuesday night is Drag Poetry night etc. When a young gay guy called Mattie comes in wanting to book his twenty-first birthday party at the bar Candy is suspicious but has no reason to doubt his sincerity. Little does she know that Matty is the younger brother of the guy who made her life in school a misery, and ruined her graduation, Trent Green. Matty has learned about all the awful things his brother did to Candy and is hoping to get a rise out of him.

Trent Green was a very different person back in high school, brought up by his toxic father to mock those weaker than himself and put others down, he had to grow up fast when his parents died in a boating 'accident' and he found out that their wealth was a tissue of lies. His potential career as an architect fell by the wayside and Trent had to work at his grandmother's cake shop in order to keep the monstrous McMansion his parents bought and put food on the table for his brother and three sisters. Over the years Trent has expanded his grandmother's business into a high end cake decorating business and he has almost succeeded in getting his siblings through college and into careers, all except Matty who has a chip on his shoulder as big as a boulder.

When Trent goes to check out the bar his little brother has hired for his birthday he is shocked to find that Candy is the owner, but determined to apologise for the way he behaved back then. At first Candy is having none of it, but when her abusive ex-husband breaks his restraining order and comes into her bar she (metaphorically) hides behind Trent to get him to leave.

Can these high school enemies find love? Can Candy trust another man with her heart? Can Trent stop trying to micromanage every aspect of his siblings' lives?

This is funny, and sassy, and almost achingly inclusive, but I kinda liked that. Keen to read more but sadly this seems to be the only one available at a discounted price.

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Review: A White Christmas on Winter Street: the new heartwarming Christmas romance to curl up with this winter

A White Christmas on Winter Street: the new heartwarming Christmas romance to curl up with this winter by Sue Moorcroft
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When Sky Terran's foster brother Freddy takes his fiancé Minnie's side over hers in a business matter, when Minnie is Sky junior, she resigns on the spot. Freddy had spotted a large house in the Cambridgeshire village of Middledip up for auction which he wanted to develop into four luxury apartments for his property development company, Sky wanted to restore the house as a single dwelling, but had no intention of bidding against Freddy. However, when the bidding exceeds Freddy's maximum limit, but is well within Sky's personal limit she decides to buy it and restore it herself. Sky and Freddy were fostered together in Middledip for one brief year by a lovely woman called Nan Heather, then Sky's alcoholic mother claimed she was able to look after Sky again and Nan Heather retired so she never went back. Still Middledip holds very dear memories for Sky and with a rift between her and Freddy she flees back to the only pace she truly called home.

With her chaotic childhood Sky learned very quickly never to rely on anyone else and that education and hard work were the key to escaping her circumstances, this led to the breakdown of several relationships and Sky lost touch with friends over the years as she concentrated on her career. Now, with no current employment she is realising how isolated she's become and determines to make an effort to make friends in Middledip, and what better way than helping Winter Street with its bid to win the annual Cambridgeshire village street decoration competition for charity.

Sky's rival bidder for the house at the auction was Darragh (Daz), he and his friends wanted to convert the house into a hostel for disadvantaged children, but Daz doesn't bear a grudge and soon he's helping Sky cut back all the overgrown trees in her garden and joining her in the local pub quiz.

I loved this classic Sue Moorcroft Middledip Christmas romance, although Sky could be a bit preachy with her teetotal, vegetarian, ecological ideals (albeit she only bangs on about the eco-stuff, the rest is just what she is). Overall however, a lovely feel-good, heart-warming, Christmas story. Perfect for those cold, wintry evenings (and not the 32 degree heat I'm currently sweltering in!).

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 Fossil Beach Murders

The Fossil Beach Murders by Rachel McLean
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When a landslide at Fossil Beach uncovers two bodies, DCI Lesley Clarke is working on the Devon border which brings up all kinds of territorial issues with the neighbouring Cornwall and Devon Police. But as they discover the identity of these long-buried bodies, Lesley discovers that they are closely connected with her girlfriend Elsa's law firm and, potentially, local organised crime.

I am enjoying this low-key police procedural series. I find the time frames a bit wonky - it feels like Lesley has only been in Dorset six months but there have been a LOT of murders and a lot has changed personally and professionally in a very short time.

Hey hoo, for £1.99 these are pleasant and untaxing.

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Review: The People We Hate at the Wedding

The People We Hate at the Wedding by Grant Ginder
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Paul and Alice's half-sister Eloise is getting married in London. They have always been jealousy of Eloise because her father is wealthy and there's isn't, also their mother clearly pines for the life she had with Eloise's father before he left her for a Spanish au pair.

Paul's relationship with his boyfriend Mark is disintegrating and his career is waning, just as mark's career is taking off.

Alice is in a job she hates and having an affair with her married boss.

I thought I was alone in loathing this book and the characters in it but I have just seen a few headline reviews and they seem to agree. I fail to see the "shamelessly funny" side to this book, the characters are self-absorbed, spiteful, bad-mannered and generally obnoxious. I just wish I had had the courage of my convictions and DNF'd the book instead of ploughing through to the end.

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

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Review: These Tangled Vines

These Tangled Vines by Julianne MacLean
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Fiona is barely scraping by, ever since her mother Lillian died over a decade ago, trying to keep herself afloat whilst also helping three full-time carers look after her paraplegic father Freddie when his disability and insurance doesn't quite cover everything he needs.

Then out of the blue she receives a phone call from an Italian law firm, her biological father Anton has died and left her something in his will. Lillian only told Fiona on her deathbed that Freddie was not her biological father, but swore her to secrecy because she feared that Freddie would lose the will to live if he found out Fiona was not his daughter. Not knowing anything more, Fiona assumes the worst about her conception.

Full of trepidation Fiona travels to Anton's vineyard in Tuscany for the reading of the will and meets her two half-siblings for the first time. Although Anton's family are incensed to have discovered Fiona's existence, and his very generous bequest, the people who work in the vineyard are more hospitable. Anton's lawyer refers to 'letters' between Lillian and Anton which explain the reason for the bequest and Fiona's half-brother Connor becomes obsessed with finding them, certain they prove that Lillian was blackmailing Anton (on absolutely no evidence). Fiona too wants to understand the relationship between Anton and Lillian, and what happened over thirty years ago - a summer that changed everyone's life forever.

Told partially from Lillian's POV in 1986 and partially from Fiona's POV in 2017 this is a saga of love, betrayal and sacrifice. I liked it, but I didn't love it. Others have pointed out some errors in geography, or the fact that every single Italian speaks faultless English, I didn't notice the errors (not being familiar with the geography of Florida) and since Anton was English originally I assumed all his employees spoke English with him. Nevertheless, both Fiona and Lillian (and Anton to a certain extent) were just too self-sacrificing and noble to be true. In fact, despite how many of the characters were portrayed, I think only one didn't have some kind of redemption.

Anyway, it was free on Amazon Prime and certainly made me wish I was in Tuscany eating glorious food and supping wine.

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Review: Thief of Dreams

Thief of Dreams by Bec McMaster
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Zemira and her sister are half-fae, half-wraiths, bred by their father the Wraith King as his weapons. Zemira is a master thief, with the ability to walk through shadows.

Prince Keir of the Court of Dreams issues a summons to all fae princesses, he is looking for his true mate (after 3,000 years). Of course Zemira and her sister aren't invited, but they manage to incapacitate one of the minor princesses that no-one has ever heard of and steal her invite. The Wraith King has demanded that Zemira steal the source of Keir's power, The Dragon's Heart, in return for which he will give Zemira back the piece of her soul he keeps in a vial around her neck.

So it's The Bachelor PNR style. I didn't read The Selection but I imagine it is very similar in premise. There are mean girls who deliberately try to sabotage the other princesses, shadowy assassins and lots of magic.

TBH, my biggest gripe with this is that the novella format meant everything was a bit bish-bash-bosh, I think this could easily have been a full-length fantasy novel. Never mind, I look forward to the next installment.

Free on the author's website for signing up to the newsletter.

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Review: Seatmate

Seatmate by Cara Bastone
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sam was late catching the bus back from his mom's house in Boston to New York so instead of his usual prime seat at the front he is stuck at the back near the toilet. Gwen was attending a family wedding in Boston but she has the chance of a lifetime to interview an living legend for a book she is trying to put together, provided she can get back to New York for the interview on Sunday afternoon. Stuck in the worst seats on the bus, the two strike up a conversation and discover they are polar opposites. Sam is a homebody, visiting his mom regularly, and has never been outside the USA. Gwen writes a travel blog and has no desire to settle down and get married like her sister.

Sam and Gwen's journey gets more bizarre as the afternoon progresses. There are tuna sandwich incidents, bus blowouts, a box of kittens, an arch-nemesis, Sam's high-school crush, and Sam's helicopter mother to deal with.

Can these two opposites find some common ground?

I really enjoyed Cara Bastone's two previous books so I was eager to get my grubby paws on this ARC when I saw it. Unfortunately, this one did not do it for me. I understand that Cara usually publishes her books in audio format and I can definitely see that this would be much better suited to that genre. What would be a comedy of mishaps in an audio book just feels too cliched and ridiculous in a book.

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 Affairs of Ashmore Castle

The Affairs of Ashmore Castle by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The second book in the Ashmore Castle series.

Spoilers for the first book ...

Giles became the Earl of Stainton when his father suffered a fatal accident whilst hunting. He inherited an estate on the brink of bankruptcy, his father had refused to economise and had spent Giles' sisters' dowries and his widow's stipend. Forced to make an advantageous marriage, Giles married Kitty, a jam heiress, despite falling desperately in love with Kitty's best friend Nina.

Giles' mother Maud is a self-absorbed tartar, obsessed with her own status and achieving advantageous marriages for her daughters. Giles has three sisters and one brother. Louisa is the eldest, she made a poor marriage and has resorted to blagging stays with relatives and foisting her two children onto others whenever possible. Rachel is the second sister, on the brink of coming out (into society) and the conventionally pretty one, Maud is investing all her time and effort into achieving a brilliant match. The youngest daughter is Lily, more fond of hunting and horses than of people, she has made friends with Axe, the blacksmith's apprentice and escape to his cottage in the woods to talk whenever possible (think Dickon from The Secret Garden). Finally, Richard is Giles' younger brother who has fallen in love with his father's former mistress Molly, mother to a musical prodigy. To complete the Stainton family, Giles' uncle Sebastian lives at Ashmore Castle, a bachelor with a love for playing the piano and astute observations.

Nina is an orphan, brought up by her aunt, she faced a life as a teacher, until sharing Kitty's season opened her eyes to a different life. Unable to marry the man she truly loves (and would never hurt Kitty by stealing the man she loves), she marries an elderly, but fabulously wealthy, shoe and boot manufacturer called Joseph Cowley.

Below stairs things are just as tortuous. Secret babies, unrequited love, petty jealousies, and vaunting ambitions.

This book is more of the same, I was a tad flummoxed by the first book because it just ended mid-plot, as does this one, but now I just treat this as a bit like a TV series (very similar to Downtown Abbey) with multiple storylines criss-crossing each other, very little is resolved but everything is moved forwards. I have to say I was ambivalent about the first book but I am starting to get invested in the plot, even if it seems unlikely that Giles and Nina can get their HEA without something awful happening to Kitty and Mr Cowley, both of whom are lovely characters.

Looking forwards to the next instalment.

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 Affairs of Ashmore Castle

The Affairs of Ashmore Castle by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The second book in the Ashmore Castle series.

Spoilers for the first book ...

Giles became the Earl of Stainton when his father suffered a fatal accident whilst hunting. He inherited an estate on the brink of bankruptcy, his father had refused to economise and had spent Giles' sisters' dowries and his widow's stipend. Forced to make an advantageous marriage, Giles married Kitty, a jam heiress, despite falling desperately in love with Kitty's best friend Nina.

Giles' mother Maud is a self-absorbed tartar, obsessed with her own status and achieving advantageous marriages for her daughters. Giles has three sisters and one brother. Louisa is the eldest, she made a poor marriage and has resorted to blagging stays with relatives and foisting her two children onto others whenever possible. Rachel is the second sister, on the brink of coming out (into society) and the conventionally pretty one, Maud is investing all her time and effort into achieving a brilliant match. The youngest daughter is Lily, more fond of hunting and horses than of people, she has made friends with Axe, the blacksmith's apprentice and escape to his cottage in the woods to talk whenever possible (think Dickon from The Secret Garden). Finally, Richard is Giles' younger brother who has fallen in love with his father's former mistress Molly, mother to a musical prodigy. To complete the Stainton family, Giles' uncle Sebastian lives at Ashmore Castle, a bachelor with a love for playing the piano and astute observations.

Nina is an orphan, brought up by her aunt, she faced a life as a teacher, until sharing Kitty's season opened her eyes to a different life. Unable to marry the man she truly loves (and would never hurt Kitty by stealing the man she loves), she marries an elderly, but fabulously wealthy, shoe and boot manufacturer called Joseph Cowley.

Below stairs things are just as tortuous. Secret babies, unrequited love, petty jealousies, and vaunting ambitions.

This book is more of the same, I was a tad flummoxed by the first book because it just ended mid-plot, as does this one, but now I just treat this as a bit like a TV series (very similar to Downtown Abbey) with multiple storylines criss-crossing each other, very little is resolved but everything is moved forwards. I have to say I was ambivalent about the first book but I am starting to get invested in the plot, even if it seems unlikely that Giles and Nina can get their HEA without something awful happening to Kitty and Mr Cowley, both of whom are lovely characters.

Looking forwards to the next instalment.

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

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Review: With Neighbors Like This

With Neighbors Like This by Tracy Goodwin
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 78%.

Amelia Marsh's husband left her for another woman and ghosted her and their two children. She has made a new start and moved to her hometown of Houston, closer to her friends. Unfortunately they have barely moved in before she falls foul of the Home-Owner's Association representative Carla, who objects to the family garden gnome being in the front garden. Little does Carla know that Amelia's children lovingly painted that gnome for her for mother's day and it was their only request when relocating to Houston that the gnome took pride of place in the garden. Unfortunately Carla takes great joy in throwing her weight around and issuing violation notices like confetti, but she's picked on the wrong mom this time! So far, so good, I especially liked Amelia's tactics of killing Carla with kindness and 'bless your heart'ing her to oblivion. True Southern woman revenge.

All this takes place at the community Easter Egg hunt, when Amelia's children have their photo taken with the Easter bunny, Amelia forms a bond with the guy wearing the bunny costume. He's devastatingly handsome and charming with a wicked sense of humour, unfortunately he also turns out to be the HOA President, Kyle Sanders. Amelia isn't going to let a pesky thing like animal attraction detract her from winning her battle with the HOA and bringing down Carla. Moreover, after a humiliating and messy divorce she doesn't want to bring anyone into her children's lives who might break their hearts again.

Kyle is madly attracted to his sassy new neighbour, even if she is threatening to challenge the HOA rules and make his life harder, but he vowed not to get involved with women with children so they will have to remain friends, or at least frenemies.

See, all this sounds great, a bit of enemies to lovers, a viciously polite war with the HOA, sassy dialogue and I'm all-in. Unfortunately, that all seemed to die out pretty quickly. Amelia was that impossible paragon of motherhood who can hold down a full-time job, bring up two small children single-handedly, and organise Easter Egg hunts for her friends' children whilst also creating an adults Easter hunt together with hand-made gift baskets for her friends (I think I threw-up in my mouth a little bit). Similarly, Kyle runs his own construction business yet also acts as President of the HOA, dresses up as the Easter Bunny, Father Christmas, kills wasps nests in the children's playground, etc, etc. But of course they are both too committed to their high-falutin' ideals to give in to their feelings, so they keep almost kissing, then friendzoning each other. The dastardly plans to confound Carla deteriorate and I just got bored. So, even though I was so close to the end, I couldn't bring myself to invest another 45 minutes in this book. If anyone finishes it and tells me that there is a brilliant scene where Carla is totally humiliated and gets the takedown she deserves then I might force myself to read the rest but at the moment it feels like it's all going to be a bit of a damp squib.

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 Millionaire Murders

The Millionaire Murders by Rachel McLean
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A lawyer is found murdered in her own bed in her holiday home on Sandbanks (the UK's Millionaire's Row) alongside a much younger man by her Spanish housekeeper Ines and her Romanian boyfriend Vali.

DCI Lesley Clarke is called in to investigate, but then the reporter Sadie Dawes is reported as not having returned from her holiday (or even having gone) and suddenly she is investigating a disappearance (possibly murder) as well as two murders. Is Sadie's disappearance linked to her investigation of DCI Mackie's death? Who would want the lawyer dead and who is her mysterious companion? With the suspects mounting thick and fast Lesley will have her work cut out.

This hung together better than the previous books for me, it felt like the police followed the clues, even if the murderer yet again behaved completely stupidly and gave themselves away. I also like that the investigation into the death of DCI Mackie is bringing in more people.

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Review: The Lonely Hearts Lido Club

The Lonely Hearts Lido Club by Charlie Lyndhurst
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three very different people make friends at the local Lido and somehow, they help each other to move on with their lives.

Gabriella is a former model, a widow with two young boys. Since her husband Arnie's death she's been mired in grief, not helped by her in-laws who have never liked her and seem determined to take the boys away from her. The trouble is, they pay her eldest son's private school fees and have offered to do the same when her youngest starts school. Gabriella is desperate to escape the house full of memories and in desperation takes her youngest son to the local Lido.

Helen is married to a successful doctor. Happy to give up her career in fashion when she got married she has devoted her life to supporting her husband Bill and raising their son Peter. But now, Bill has allegedly retired, although he still works three days a week, and spends all his free time engrossed in his new computer. Helen thought retirement would be a time for them as a couple but Bill seems permanently irritated by her presence and refuses to consider any kind of joint activity. Helen's only solace is swimming laps at the local Lido, although she thinks visiting seven days a week could be excessive.

Ian was made redundant from his his role as a think-tank consultant and has been unable to find another job. He's too afraid that his gorgeous husband Drew will realise what a loser he's married to admit the truth so he's been leaving home in a suit and tie every day, then spending the day at the Lido.

There's something refreshing about telling your troubles to a stranger, one who tells you theirs in return, and sometimes these are the friendships that take root deep in your soul.

I really enjoyed this, the lives of three strangers bound together in sadness who help each other face the truth. move on, and become happy.

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 Dangerous Goodbye

A Dangerous Goodbye by Fliss Chester
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

1944, just after the end of WW2 in Europe.

Fen Churche and her fiancé Arthur shared a love of cryptic crosswords and often amused themselves by creating their own cryptic clues. When Fen receives a cryptic letter from Arthur, telling her he is probably dead she deciphers the clues which lead her to a small village in France. While she tries to discover what happened to Arthur Fen finds work at the local chateau helping the family harvest the grapes for their wine. There is an Englishman there helping with the harvest, from things he's said, Fen suspects he knew Arthur and the two of them were spies helping the Resistance against the Germans. But before Fen can dig deeper the local village priest is poisoned and dies at their breakfast table. Then the chateau owner's only son is found asphyxiated in the winery. Can Fen use her deductive reasoning to work out who is committing these crimes?

I had mixed feelings about this book. Whilst I love a cryptic crossword, I found Fen's habit of creating a crossword from random clues/words rather irritating, as was her repeated homily about finding the down words if you are stuck on the across word. Also, the killer's motivation seemed a bit bizarre, to just suddenly go on a killing rampage seemed a bit odd. Also, I have to say I guessed the murderer quite early on - albeit I had no idea why.

I am in two minds whether to read the next book to see whether it settles down a bit or just stop here.

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Review: The Night Watch

The Night Watch by Neil Lancaster
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

A notorious criminal escapes prison on a verdict of not-proven. After a night celebrating with friends he is found dead, throat slit, on a local golf course. The same day, his solicitor is found at the bottom of a cliff, it is deemed accident or suicide, until a reporter makes the connection between the two deaths and references the disappearance of a third man, who also escaped prison on a technicality. It seems as though there could be someone dispensing rough justice when the legal system lets them down. But when the journalist reveals his source it seems as though the vigilante could be on the police team investigating the murders.

Can DS Max Craigie and his PIRC team discover the murderer before the body count mounts?

I have mixed feelings about this series. There are things I really like and things that don't work so well. I like the police procedural aspects and the camaraderie between the team. I also liked the increased complications imposed on the investigation because the murderer was thought to be a detective. What I didn't like was that actually there were no real clues, all the leads came from someone confessing/spilling the beans. Also, I get that they are an elite squad but everyone seems to be such a special snowflake and it feels a bit fake. Finally, why does Ross have to swear quite so much? I can't believe he's reached that rank with no personal skills whatsoever.

This is a fast-paced, tense crime thriller with a cold-blooded killer, fun read but doesn't bear close scrutiny.

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

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