Review: Murder in a Mill Town

Murder in a Mill Town by Helen Cox
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Two and a half stars.

There is a bizarre murder at a museum in tourist village Andaby, near Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire. DS Charley Banks is officially on leave just prior to her forthcoming wedding, but the murder coincides rather uncomfortably with her older brother Ewan's release from prison for a murder he committed whilst in his early twenties. Obviously she can't be on the case but she can't stand not knowing so she turns to Kitt Hartley and Grace Edwards, of Hartley and Edwards Investigations for help. While the police investigate more recent reasons why the victim might have been murdered in such a violent way, Kitt, Charley, and Grace look further back in the past, spurred on by a fibre at the murder scene which looks suspiciously like the colour of the sash the victim' graduating class wore at school, over twenty years ago.

This is the seventh book in a series, as a mystery it can be read as a standalone very easily, however in terms of the characters and their relationships, this could leave you cold if (like me) this is your first encounter with the series. I didn't really connect with any of the characters, many of whom felt like they were stock characters included for their diversity or 'kooky' characteristics like the Scooby Doo gang or Buffy's team.

What rescued this was the crime and the criminal, but I had to wade through pages and pages of Charley's waffle about not trusting Ewan, and tedious navel gazing about relationships and marriage. I don't think I will be requesting any more books in this series.

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

View all my reviews

Review: A Conflict of Interests: An intriguing wartime mystery from the winner of the Richard and Judy Search for a Bestseller competition

A Conflict of Interests: An intriguing wartime mystery from the winner of the Richard and Judy Search for a Bestseller competition by Claire Gradidge
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The third book in the series about Josephine Lester, an illegitimate woman who returns to her birth town of Romsey and, despite the antipathy of many of the locals, gets a job assisting the local solicitor and coroner Bram Nash in investigating suspicious deaths. As children Bram was the leader of their little gang, even though his family were far more wealthy than Jo's and their other friends. Jo was kicked out when she was just fourteen years old, when her grandmother died, and forced to find work in London. Bram was hit in the face by shrapnel during WW1 and is forced to cover his scars with a metal mask which covers half his face.

It's two years since the shocking epilogue to the second book. Britain is on the brink of D-Day.

Bram and Jo are called out to a gruesome death scene, a body has been found in a burned out motor car in a deserted country lane, but before they can start their investigations proper, Bram is taken gravely ill, with blood pouring from the injury he sustained in WW1. While Bram lies in hospital Jo tries to solve the death with the reluctant help of Sergeant Tilling and the local police force, but Jo suspects the body may be that of her errant husband Richard. He might be abusive and a serial cheater, but she would never want him dead. But since she and Bram separately quarrelled with Richard shortly before he died the suspicion will lay squarely with them both unless she can uncover the truth.

I've got to say I thought the murderer's identity was fairly well signalled from the start, what I didn't know was the why - and that was a doozy. What I like about these books is that they are all very different and show character progression. I do hope this isn't the end for our crime-busting duo!

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

View all my reviews

Review: Ruby Fever

Ruby Fever by Ilona Andrews
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Four and a half stars.

When the Speaker of the Texas State Assembly is very publicly murdered in a restaurant owned by Linus Duncan, the Warden of Texas, and Linus himself is unconscious after having ingested a potentially fatal dose of a drug designed to protect him from attack by a Mental Mage, Catalina is catapulted into acting Warden.

Alessandro is having troubles with his Italian grandfather. There's an extremely rare and deadly spider loose somewhere in the compound. Cat and Alessandro are trying to track down and eliminate the Russian assassin Arkan. A member of the Russian Imperium is snooping around, and there's the usual big explosions, crazy magic, and Cat discovers a whole new facet of her magic.

What can I say? A triumphant end to Catalina's story. How can a 370 page novel feel like a short story? is it the writing? The story? The way you just plunge in and emerge hours later surprised to see you're no longer in Texas? Loved it and didn't want it to end.

View all my reviews

Review: The Second Time We Met

The Second Time We Met by Frances Mensah Williams
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 58%.

Cara and Henry meet whilst volunteering, but she misses the coach home and their fledgling romance seems doomed before it even started. Then Cara is asked to organise an event for a swanky lawyers dinner, when her colleague is indisposed. Henry is one of the lawyers and the two pick up where they left off. But Cara and Henry couldn't be more different. He's from landed gentry with an estate in Gloucestershire while she comes from a Ghanaian/Caribbean background and an estate in KIlburn, at least until Cara's widowed mother remarried and the family moved to Cricklewood.

I wanted to read this opposites attract romance but it felt like the author wasn't really interested in the relationship between Cara and Henry, there was lots of distractions in the form of Cara's two friends (who were both dull as ditchwater as far as I'm concerned) and her brothers' shenanigans. There was also the obligatory spiteful snobby sister and her snooty posh friends who try to trip Cara up and Cara's Irish ex-boyfriend Ryan who returns after three years of radio-silence wanting her back. When Cara's friend Ashanti decides to sign a record contract with a dodgy label and hand over all of her original songs I could see that the book was going to be more about her than Cara and Henry - frankly I thought she was so stupid she deserved to be ripped off!

Anyway, the mystery behind Ryan leaving, Ashanti's drama, and Henry's irritating family all just bored me to tears, sorry, and I gave up at 58%.

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


View all my reviews

Review: By the Book

By the Book by Jasmine Guillory
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Izzy is struggling to get noticed in her publishing job so when her boss bemoans a celebrity author who has missed every single deadline for his autobiography she foolishly offers to visit him personally to encourage him to submit something, or at least work with a ghostwriter. Of course it doesn't hurt that the writer, Beau Towers lives in sunny Santa Barbara rather than chilly New York.

At first Beau practically chases Izzy off, but after his housekeeper twists her ankle and Izzy gives him a piece of her mind Beau rather ungraciously allows her to stay the weekend, provided she gives him suitably inspiring pep talks.

Soon a weekend expands to a week, and then more. In encouraging Beau to write Izzy discovers he has some very powerful stories to tell (which he is finding hard to share), but she has also unlocked her own writing talents which have lain dormant since her first draft novel was dismissed as amateurish by a colleague.

The first couple of chapters did not grab me and I was about to throw in the towel, then bam! I was hooked. This is a modern retelling of Beauty and the Beast (although Beau seems to be both Beauty and the Beast), with a hint of 1001 Nights. But then towards the end it started to drag again, there were too many plots and some felt unnecessary to me.

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

View all my reviews

Review: Death in Dulwich

Death in Dulwich by Alice Castle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Beth Haldane, former journalist, single mother, gets a job as assistant archivist at swanky Dulwich village Wyatt's School. When she finds her skeevy new boss Alan Jenkins murdered behind the bins at lunchtime on her first day she is terrified that as the last person to see him alive, and the person who found his body, she will be the prime suspect and decides to do her own investigating.

Whatever Mr Jenkins was doing, it clearly wasn't archiving the school's records, which are in a disgraceful state. Amongst them Beth finds Mr Jenkins' personal bank statements which hint at a life of fancy clothes, fine wine and an addiction to p*rn. But who had a motive to kill Mr Jenkins, and what do they think is hidden in the archives?

This was a fun detective mystery, worthy of the cosy label. Although her family are Dulwich village born and bred Beth still finds time to wonder at the ambition of the Dulwich parents, their whole-hearted commitment to getting their children through the educational system ticking all the right boxes so that they can get jobs earning obscene amounts of money, all whilst driving 'Chelsea tractors' and wearing the ubiquitous white jeans.

Interested to see how the relationship with Detective Inspector York will turn out.

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

View all my reviews

Review: How Everything Turns Away

How Everything Turns Away by Steven J. Kolbe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ezra James is a former FBI agent, busted down to probation after a psychotic episode where he threatened his partner with his service weapon and vilified in the press for allegedly fabricating evidence to frame a man for a series of random murders.

His new job is head of security at the private school, St Joseph and Mary Catholic High School in Chicago. Then, the night of the school Christmas Pageant, the young and beautiful student art teacher is found almost dead in the snow below the school's bell tower. Was it attempted suicide? Or was it murder? At the fateful time all the electrics tripped and so no-one can tell if she jumped or she was pushed.

Lucia Vargas has just made police detective and this is her first case, her older partner Gorecki is a bit of a dinosaur so she is the one doing all the legwork on this case. When some of Ezra's throw-away comments about the student teacher Brooklyn Hannigan's body and the small blister on the back of her neck are repeated by the medical examiner she begins to take him seriously as a fellow professional. Then the school administrator informs her that the parents will not allow the police to question their children, the school would face multiple lawsuits, but the school byelaws do allow them to be questioned by the head of security - step up Ezra - and Lucia can 'observe'.

Soon there are multiple suspects. Who did Brooklyn have lunch with on the day she died? Who was her mysterious lover, was he married, or one of the students? Was he the father of her unborn baby? What caused the blister on her neck?

This was a fun read and it kept me guessing to the end. Ezra was a bit too superman for my liking, reminded me of the knight in one of the Monty Python sketches who has all his arms and legs cut off and still wants to fight people, and there was a lot of backstory which wasn't needed, although I assume it is the overarching thread of the series - who really was the Coast-to-Coast killer.

Anyway, I would definitely read the second book.

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

View all my reviews

Review: Under the Influence

Under the Influence by Karina May
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 50%.

This felt like several different attempts at a book all thrown together and creating some kind of greige gloop.

First off there's the guy that broke Tinder trying to raise money for clean water in Peru, Blake, who gets dragged home to try to save his family's restaurant after the death of his philandering father. Then there's Louise, a hot-shot banker who refuses Blake's loan request when he approaches her bank.

Feathers (I think that's her name) is possibly Blake's half-sister, she's been singing in Blake's family restaurant (badly) but also set up her own new-age juice/smoothie bar aimed at the social media influencer demographic. Feathers might be flakier than a Cadbury's Flake but she knows her market and she is selling trips to Peru (I can't remember why) and asks Blake to assist for a share in the profits. Meanwhile, Louise is having a crisis of confidence and decides on a trip to Peru to 'find herself'.

Is this a small town Australia enemies to lovers/opposites attract? Who knows. At 50% the pair have only just reached Peru, they've barely interacted and from what I read the romance doesn't happen until the last 5% of the book. At the very least I think the cover is misleading because it suggests a contemporary romance which the book has failed to deliver.

I'm in a 'take no prisoners' kind of mood, DNF at 61%.

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

View all my reviews

Review: Good on Paper

Good on Paper by Valerie Tejeda
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 61%.

Journalist Jazmine Prado faces redundancy when her print magazine pivots to digital media. So when her boss suggest she do a web series chronicling her wedding to internet media star Hudson Taylor she agrees, even if she isn't sure about marrying Hudson who she has spent barely any time with and she hates the idea of making her wedding a reality TV show.

They are whisked off to Cancun, because of course the wedding is planned to fit with the filming schedule and not what Jazmine and Hudson really want, and then Jazmine discovers that the videographer is none other than her first love, Leo Couture. I'm sorry, I hope I'm not being culturally insensitive but these names are dreadful. Now Jazmine is faced with her first love, all grown up and sexier than ever, competing against her new love, who she barely knows since he lives in Canada.

Yawn. I'm nearly two-thirds of the way through, nothing has happened other than highly improbable coincidences, and if the reader can't see that Jazmine and Hudson have nothing in common and probably don't even like each other very much then they have to be pretty dense.

Bored, bored, bored. I haven't read anything for over a month and I picked it up and within five minutes I put it down again. I gave up at 61%.

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

View all my reviews

Review: The Unbalanced Equation

The Unbalanced Equation by H.L. Macfarlane
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 32%.

Four years ago Liz and Tom met at at a university cocktail evening at Glasgow University and just clicked, right up until Tom discovered that he had been assigned Liz as one of his Phd mentees. Tom has to switch very quickly from lust to absolute impartiality, which he takes waaaay too far and subjects her to microscopic scrutiny and criticising her for the most miniscule errors. No surprise that Liz is thrilled to get her Phd and leave Tom's lab to work in another, more congenial atmosphere.

Coincidence 1. One of Tom's students is left alone in the lab late one night (no, it's not that song) and manages to burn it down, in order to finish his current thesis Tom needs access to a lab and his BFF offers to let him share a desk with his newest scientist ... Liz.

Then Liz and Tom find they are both heading to the same restaurant for dinner because ... coincidence 2, their parents have been secretly dating for months but haven't told them because they know that Liz hates her Phd assessor. So they choose now to announce they are getting married. I mean seriously, does anyone know anyone (other than psychopaths) who glibly announces that they are getting married to someone they have been dating for quite some time, without having introduced them to their offspring? I get the 'we met a week ago and now we're getting married because life's too short' scenario but to be dating seriously and not even mention it to your child, when you are close? Ridiculous.

Then coincidence 3, Liz loses her apartment (I forget why) and has to vacate within a week, her father has already given up his home to move in with Tom's mother (who lives with Tom), so the only option is for Liz to move into Tom's palatial Glasgow mansion/townhouse (because he inherited a lot of money from something).

Nothing about this feels authentic, I can't put my finger on it but this doesn't 'feel' like it is set in Glasgow it feels more like it should be set in Seattle or San Francisco, it just doesn't have any Scottish vibe (sorry I can't explain it better). Then the sheer number of coincidences, I read that the two of them will be 'forced' to plan their parents' wedding (I mean seriously just tell them to eff off - if you don't have the time to organise your own wedding either pay a professional or don't bother, don't go imposing on people who already have full-time jobs to organise it for you) - it was just too much and felt fake. Finally, these are two educated scientists why do they talk and act like my eleven year old niece?

There could have been a good romance here but I'm grumpy and I've had enough, I gave up at 32%.

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

View all my reviews

Review: The Heretic Royal

The Heretic Royal by G.A. Aiken
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Where even to start with this?

I love G.A. Aiken and her alter-ego Shelly Laurenston and I think I've read pretty much everything published under both names. I was really enjoying this new series, I gave four stars to the first book and four and a half stars to the second (which is HIGH in my world) but this book, I don't even know what the point was or frankly whether anything happened, the romance was so muted it was non-existent, and the focus of the story seemed to be either on Annwyl the Bloody (hurrah, love the Mad Queen) or the princess that I assume will be the focus of the next book.

In fact, I keep having to re-read the synopsis of the book to remember who are supposed to be the romantic couple, nope its gone again!

I would classify this as the middle book of the series. Our new family meet Annwyl and her dragons (which sadly goes to show how much more depth of character they have compared to the new characters), the evil sister is even more evil than before, dragons are being dragons, most heinous, I don't recall any super smexy love scenes when the Dragon Kin series was wall-to-wall hawt dragon shenanigans between the sheets.

Overall, without Annwyl and her bickering children this would have been a two star at best.

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

View all my reviews

Review: Make Me Wilder

Make Me Wilder by Serena Bell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I've heard so much hype about these books (and been rejected for an ARC by the publisher) so when this came up as a free book on Kindle I grabbed it with both hands.

Lucy has a wonderful one-night stand with what turns out to be her boss' long-term boyfriend (they were on a break). What makes it worse is that her boss is more disappointed that Lucy has avoided social engagement with the rest of her co-workers so much that she didn't recognise her boss' boyfriend. Of course there's a reason that Lucy doesn't engage, her father embezzled from the friends, family and small town community and she and her mother were shunned as a result which has left Lucy shy of getting too close to others.

In an attempt to get away from New York and the embarrassment of her one-night stand, Lucy takes on a consulting gig in Rush Creek, helping a family hunting, shooting, fishing, adventure holiday business diversify and attract more of the women who are visiting the local hot springs and spa.

On her first night in Rush Creek Lucy manages to meet a cute hottie who helps her rescue some ducklings who have got caught in a storm drain, they are getting on really well, until she tells him her purpose - of course he's Gabe Wilder, part-owner and full-time manager of Wilder Adventures, his mother (the majority owner) has engaged Lucy to rescue the business.

The Wilder brothers may be a group of sexy mountain men (although you can clearly see some of the future romances already brewing) but Lucy only has eyes for grumpy Gabe. Similarly, Gabe may resent his mother engaging Lucy but he sure as heck doesn't want her going off camping with any of his brothers without him.

I enjoyed this but how I wish there was more plot and less smexy times. Yeah, I know, I'm old and the screamer says its a steamy small-town romantic comedy, but there are only so many shower scenes/heavy petting scenes I can read before I start to yawn. The biggest issue is that the plot suffers as a result. Lucy goes on adventure trips with each of the brothers to get to know the business, then suggests a generic way of getting more women/couples interested by emphasising the teamwork/sharing aspects. It's all insta-love, insta-solution etc.



View all my reviews

Review: Driving Home for Christmas

Driving Home for Christmas by Joanna Bolouri
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Kate is a successful divorce lawyer who has built her reputation on taking the reality TV stars that her more upper-class colleagues can't connect with. The problem with being a successful divorce lawyer to social media personalities is that they demand attention 24/7 which means she is working all the time.

Ed is very musical, at one point he was in a band and writing his own songs, but fear of the unknown led him to become a music teacher instead.

Kate and Ed have been together for ten years, since school, they've survived going to separate universities but this Christmas could be their last. Driving back home to celebrate with their families they have an almighty row and realise that maybe this could be the end. Or could living apart force them to reassess their priorities?

I really enjoyed this, I don't think there was much doubt in my mind how it would end but I enjoyed the journey and the way in which both Kate and Ed grew and changed.

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


View all my reviews

Review: A Christmas Celebration

A Christmas Celebration by Heidi Swain
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Two and a half stars.

Paige was a foreign aid worker until a stupid mistake ended her career. Now returning to the UK she is adrift, until her parents suggest she goes to Wynthorpe Hall, her uncle's home. Two couples who normally work there have both taken holidays and with the festive season approaching she could help up by making deliveries to the locals who can't drive or aren't mobile enough to get into the village and organising the Christmas celebrations at the Hall.

Paige isn't looking for romance, and certainly not with the dark, surly and rude Brodie, even if he is devastatingly handsome. But when Paige gets lost one day on her deliveries she finds an old man in desperate need of help, if only he can bring himself to accept it.

I have read Heidi Swain's novels before and I know that she tends towards the schmaltzy but this was too saccharine even for me. Grumpy old men who just want a young woman to solve their problems, tortured artists who need a muse, irritating relatives, ridiculously OTT Christmas wonderlands which in real life would take nine months to plan. All too unrealistic for me.

I just wasn't in the mood for this, maybe closer to Christmas I would be more receptive.

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

View all my reviews

Review: Rock Bottom Girl

Rock Bottom Girl by Lucy Score
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Marley returns to her small home town at 38 years old, she's lost her job (again) and been dumped. What's worse is that her mother has signed her up as the high school's temporary sports teacher and coach for the girl's soccer team. Everyone she ever went to school with is still living in small town Culpepper, the rich and mean are now older, rich and mean (and her nemesis lives next door to Marley's parents).

Marley knows nothing about soccer, and the girl's team is dreadful. But an unfortunate run-in with the school's coolest sexiest boy when she was a teenager, Jake Weston, who is now the boy's athletics coach, leads to a deal - he will teach her how to be a teacher and she will teach him how to be in a relationship.

I was in two minds going in to this, I thought it might be a bit too slapstick comedy for me. Don't get me wrong there is a lot of that, but there is also a plot and I really enjoyed this. Recommended for someone who wants an enemies-to-lovers, fake romance, small-town contemporary.

View all my reviews

Review: Death of an Earl

Death of an Earl by G.G. Vandagriff
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the fourth book in a series. I haven't read any of the others but it is easy to pick up the story so far.

It's 1935, the Earl of Severn holds some pretty unappealing views about Hitler and Jewish people which he freely spreads far and wide. Perhaps unsurprising then that someone murders him. Catherine Tregowyn, an amateur detective, poet, and English lecturer at Oxford University is asked to take the case by her fiancé, Harry Bascombe, when his hitherto unheard of sister-in-law Anne is accused of the murder. Anne, and Harry's brother, have been living in Germany where Harry's brother works for Bayer. Recently returned to the UK, Anne has been a vocal critic of the Earl's views and has created a small group of like-minded individuals.

When he is around Anne, Catherine sees a different, more passionate man, and begins to reconsider their engagement, she's already been misled by a man once and doesn't want it to happen again.

Throw in a second murder, blackmail, secrets going back to WW1 and there is a lot to keep the plot moving forward. Unfortunately, for me the plot was spoiled by the obsessive listing of everything everyone wore (for no reason relevant to the plot), the ghastly attempts at 1930s language ('jolly spiffing' type of thing) and then Harry's use of 'gotten' which I think would probably have got him drummed out of Oxford back in the 1930s. Also, and this could just be me, but I'm sure one of the witnesses said he knew one of the other witnesses on one occasion and then said he didn't on another.

Overall, I would read another book in the series if it was also free on Kindle but I don't think I would pay list price.

View all my reviews

Review: With or Without You

With or Without You by Carole Matthews
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

First off, this book is nearly ten years old and so some of the cultural references are a little bit off and obviously mobile phones have come a long way.

Second, this didn't end the way I wanted it to and so I'm grumpy.

Lyssa and Jake have been a couple for several years and have gone through several rounds of IVF unsuccessfully. Lyssa's obsession with having a baby is not helped by working for a magazine called My Baby where she writes articles about celebrities having babies and cutesy guides to babies' bodily fluids. As the book opens Jake walks out on Lyssa, sick of the constant pressure to have a child that has sucked up most of their savings and all of their time, even making love is a chore when it has to be done to a set time.

At first Lyssa thinks Jake will come back after he's calmed down, but as friends, family and colleagues all side with Jake and tell her that she's been obsessing about babies to the exclusion of everything else, she realises he may have a point. Then she finds out that Jake hasn't gone to stay with his best mate Pip like he said, instead he's shacked up with his glamorous Amazonian colleague Neve, she of the micro-skirts and edgy hair-cuts. Neve is everything that Lyssa isn't, she is even going to climb mountains in the Himalayas whereas Lyssa's idea of a holiday is lying on a sun lounger somewhere (me too).

Realising that mountain climbing might be a bit outside her comfort zone Lyssa decides to go trekking in Nepal instead, but her experiences change her outlook on life. Can she return to London and her old job, her old friends, even Jake, after that?

This is all a bit odd. There's lots of extraneous stuff, like the split from Jake's point of view and his work woes and Lyssa's younger sister's family which never really goes anywhere and isn't necessary. It feels like Neve is just a plot device that is discarded when not needed, I can't understand her motivations for allowing Jake to move in with her. Also, although Jake doesn't come off very sympathetically there's a lot of vitriol thrown at Neve - its always the woman who gets the blame when its the man who strays!

Finally, the scenes in Nepal and the aftermath smack a bit to me of a student who goes trekking on their gap year and then becomes a Buddhist and decides to eschew material possessions, it's a phase we all go through and grow out of fairly quickly. It all sounded a bit preachy TBH.

View all my reviews

Review: The One That Got Away

The One That Got Away by Charlotte Rixon
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 33%.

In 2000, Benjamin met Clara while they were at university. Despite different backgrounds, interests, and even universities they fall in love.

In 2022 a terrorist sets off a bomb at the Newcastle City football ground, although Clara hasn't seen Benjamin for twenty years she knows he would never miss a home game and so, against all reason, she drops everything to travel to Newcastle to try to find him.

I can't tell you much more than that because I gave up a third of the way through. As a dispassionate observer I would say Benjamin had a lucky escape because Clara was subject to uncontrollable jealousy and fits of rage out of all proportion to the circumstances. Now I have some sympathy because at that age we are all drama queens, slaves to out over-active hormones, but she doesn't seem to be any better twenty years later.

I have too many books on my TBR pile to continue reading a book where I don't like either of the characters and it doesn't seem to have got anywhere.

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

View all my reviews

Review: The Last Casterglass

The Last Casterglass by Kate Hewitt
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

And so we come to Seph (short for Persephone), the youngest Penryn, aka the forgotten sibling. Seph has a huge chip on her shoulder, all of her siblings left home and completely forgot about her (not altogether surprising given the big age gap), visiting rarely and always seeming just a little bit surprised to see her. Her parents, never the most on-the-ball people in the world, had totally abdicated parental duties by the time Seph came along which is why she never did the usual things like go to school or get childhood vaccinations. When she did try to go to the local senior school (not boarding school like her siblings) she was mercilessly bullied and soon dropped out, feeling more overlooked and odd than ever. Now her siblings have returned home determined to make he castle a going concern Seph feels more alone than ever, being pushed from pillar to post and told what to do all the time, so she reacts by being surly and hides away from everyone else.

The Penryns have taken on an intern, Oliver, who is keen to learn how to make an old building pay. His family home (or at least that of his uncle) may only be a farm, rather than a castle, but he loves it dearly and is desperate to prove to his uncle that he can run the farm - otherwise his uncle will sell the farm and give the proceeds to Oliver's cousin. Oliver hasn't had the easiest of lives: he never knew his father; his mother left him with his uncle and aunt when he was a toddler; and his aunt left his uncle when he was a young teenager. His only stability is the farm and its the only home he's ever known. His history of abandonment has made Oliver a people-pleaser, no matter how nasty people are, he will turn the other cheek and put on a brave smile.

Seph is determined to hate Oliver, especially since he's an Oxbridge graduate with an upper-class accident, just like her siblings while she is stuck with the local Cumbrian burr. But when the people-pleaser meets the isolationist they find more in common than they think.

I really liked the first one of these books featuring the oldest sibling Althea but I fear each subsequent sibling has become sadder and drippier than the last. I know it's the style of book that Kate Hewitt writes but these virgin/practically virgin couples ore me to tears, especially when they start doing internal monologues about how they default to people pleasing/antagonism when they are hurt (yawn). I really wanted Seph to turn out to be a brilliant artist who could save the castle single-handedly from her copious savings. Or maybe for her to meet a jaded artist/critic/dealer who falls madly in love with this prickly artist - I think all these romances are a bit small for me.

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

View all my reviews

Review: The American Agent

The American Agent by Jacqueline Winspear
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Maisie Dobbs is called in by Robbie Macfarlane to jointly lead an investigation into the murder of Miss Catherine Saxon, an American journalist who had only recently spent an evening trailing Maisie and Priscilla as they drove an ambulance helping those injured by the bombs falling on London during the Blitz. Catherine was the daughter of a prominent US Senator who was vehemently campaigning to prevent the US joining the war in Europe. Maisie's counterpart in the investigation is Mark Scott, the American agent who trailed her, and saved her life, in Munich.

I thought the solving of this mystery was a bit tenuous TBH, there were no clues to follow as such.

Also, I've said it before and I'll say it again. Maisie has these woo-woo moments when she steps into the mind of the victim (in the last book she actually felt the blow on the back of the head that killed the boy, but she seems totally oblivious to Anna having similar powers which led her to plead for Maisie and Priscilla not to go back to London. And don't get me started on Brenda who frankly gets more wrong than she gets right, telling Maisie to give up work to look after Anna, or saying Anna was hysterical because she misses Maisie - its like when my BFF's mother told her that she didn't spend enough time with her pre-school son (she works full-time and is the primary bread-winner in her family) and that's why he was playing up and refusing to go to after-school club, she dutifully took the next afternoon off and picked him up from school, only for him to have a meltdown because he wanted to go to afterschool club.

Also, why, why, why does Jacqueline Winspear insist on giving Maisie improbable romances? The relationship with James came out of nowhere and then he was almost immediately killed off and now she's apparently in love with Mark Scott and has been since Munich! Why? Is it possible to love someone when you don't trust them? She sends Billy to shadow Mark because she thinks he's using the investigation as a front (which he is) and she doesn't trust him! why couldn't she have married that nice policeman turned schoolteacher?

It is starting to feel like this series is less of a detective mystery series than a canter through key events in history (which Maisie is always in the thick of) with Maisie solving the mystery by pulling a rabbit out of a hat at the end. But, of course I will continue reading regardless LOL.

View all my reviews