Review: Queen of Trades

Queen of Trades by Dee Osah
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 30%.

Eden Kane is an immigration lawyer, the daughter of a very wealthy and powerful man who is trying to manoeuvre her into getting back together with her ex because he comes from the right family etc, no matter that he cheated on her repeatedly. Her ex is also trying to get back with her for his own reasons. I gather that Eden and her ex were in a physical relationship but Eden found god and has decided to save herself for marriage, this is conveyed in a mildly slut-shaming way (if one can do that mildly). Her father wants Eden to stop working as an immigration lawyer and join his firm, they make a ridiculous bargain where she has to repay him for her entire education (several million dollars)within in three months or bow to his wishes. He has also pulled lots of strings so she can't access her trust fund or borrow the money. Eden is described as exotic with men fetishising about sleeping with her, I think she has albinism but I could have misunderstood.

Daniel Keshi is Nigerian, a genius day trader, PhD student and he's writing a book, although he is looking for funding which makes me think if he's so good at trading why does he need funding? He is also having visa issues and could be facing deportation. Again, if he is making so much money day trading why can't he afford to pay a top-notch immigration lawyer to help him?

Eden and Daniel both attend the same fellowship hall (which again makes no sense, why wouldn't a billionaire's daughter attend services close to where she lives?). He is drawn to her looks but feels she could be trouble so has actively avoided her for over a year, even though they have several friends in common. Apparently, all their friends agree that the two of them love each other - now I ask you how on earth can you be in love with someone you never speak to/with? It makes no sense unless they just fell in love with each other's appearance.

So apparently (because it hasn't happened by the point I gave up), Eden will offer to make all of Daniel's visa problems go away if he can increase her investment in time to beat her dad at his own game. However, Daniel's strategy didn't seem to be very revolutionary from what I understood.

I read that the authors (a husband and wife team) like to bring part of their own lives into each story and I feel that maybe they did a bit too much? There is a LOT of christian messaging in the book, multiple references to praying to god etc which I found off-putting, I would not have requested it if I had known this.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: Heart of Hope

Heart of Hope by Lucy Score
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Bristol is a divorced mother of one. After the tragic death of her younger sister Hope a year ago, the entire family and town have been in mourning. Bristol's daughter has taken an interest in paying ice hockey for the local team (they are very bad) and Bristol feels she has to support her so when their hockey coach has a heart attack Bristol volunteers herself as replacement coach since all the other parents are somehow far too busy.

Beau has come to the small town of Hope Falls to check out Bristol for REASONS (I must admit I got the reason wrong but only slightly) and he happens to be a former professional ice hockey player so, while keeping his former profession and his actual name a secret, he starts to help Bristol and the team.

Sparks are flying, Beau wants to keep things platonic until he can tell Bristol the truth but Bristol wont take no for an answer.

This is a short sweet novella. I think the blurb could be misleading, most of the novella is about their developing relationship and resisting each other whereas I read the blurb to mean the novella pretty much started with Bristol waking up alone after they slept together.

Read on my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

View all my reviews

Review: No More Secrets

No More Secrets by Lucy Score
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Summer Lentz is a workaholic aspiring editor for a New York glamour magazine (fashion, make-upp, etc) and she has come to the small town of Blue Moon Bend in upstate New York to write an article about Carter Pierce and his family who have created an organic farm, for a series she has been developing about healthy eating and living for REASONS.

Blue Moon Bend is one of those fictional small towns where all the residents are young and gorgeous/have successful off the wall businesses/are mad as a box of frogs. So in this case Carter's middle brother is also an attorney and the local mayor, and his youngest brother is a film screenwriter. There's a juice bar, a yoga studio, a great pizza place, etc, etc.

There's a fair amount of big city girl getting scared by farm animals but also impressing Carter with her determination to do what is asked of her without complaining eg harvesting lettuces. Soon the smouldering glances turn more carnal but Summer thinks Carter wouldn't want her if he knew the truth about her (which, now I know the truth is just silly) and Carter feels he is broken because he had PTSD after he came back from Afghanistan and still has nightmares sometimes. Oh and they also live miles apart and couldn't easily move to be with each other.

I enjoyed this, I don't think Summer's REASONS were a big surprise, I thought the catalyst for the change was a bit left field because there were no warning flags previously, but it didn't spoilt the story.

Overall, I was looking for something light and fun to read (my TBR pile of ARCs is bringing me down) and this fit the bill. I am already part way through the second book which features Carter's middle brother Beckett.

Read on my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

View all my reviews

Review: My Mother's Ridiculous Rules for Dating

My Mother's Ridiculous Rules for Dating by Philip William Stover
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Sam Carmichael had dreams of becoming an author, he even won a prestigious writing prize when he was younger. Unfortunately, things didn't pan out, he spent many years ghostwriting for a female romance author who just couldn't be bothered to write any more, but when she retired none of the publishers wanted him to continue writing in her style. Now he's working part-time in an advertising agency, toying with the idea of completely giving up on his dreams and becoming a full-time corporate 'normal'.

Since his aunt Shug died a year ago, Sam's mother Gloria has really struggled to find joy in life, so when she unearths a 'contract' Sam signed years ago in which he promised his mother that if he wasn’t coupled up by thirty-five, he would do whatever she wanted to find a boyfriend. Well guess what, he's thirty-five and single (after his much older boyfriend Paul went back to his husband) and Gloria is coming to make good on his promise.

I really liked the premise of this story but to me it didn't quite work. Sam's ex, Paul, was just too obviously a creep, Gloria set Sam up on some truly horrendous dates with some ghastly people - why? Even Sam's love interest seemed to delight in telling Sam what to do - he was too similar to Paul in that respect.

OVerall, I suspect there is a bit too much autobiography in this and I didn't really find Sam a likeable character (although I did sympathise with him over the way everyone pushed him around 'for his own good').

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: Only Hard Problems

Only Hard Problems by Jennifer Estep
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Lord Zane Zimmer, new leader of the Arrows since Kyrion went off with Vespa, hides his keen mind and strong sense of duty behind a ready smile and a charming personality (think The Scarlet Pimpernel), the gossipcasts think he's as deep as a puddle. His grandmother Beatrice is head of House Zimmer and she is plotting to marry Zane off to Lady Asterin in order to secure her family's mineral wealth for their manufacturing processes, over both of their objections.

Since Zane learned that Vesper is actually his half-sister he has been struggling between his duty as an Arrow to capture and return her and Kyrion to a life of being psionic batteries for the Emperor (because they have a true bond), and his desire to meet and know his sister. Oh, and he's none to happy that neither his grandmother nor his father has yet mustered the courage to tell him Vesper is his sister ... so much for family first!

Forced to attend the Summer Solstice party by his grandmother, who is keen to cement the almost engagement with Lady Asterin by Zane presenting her with a beautiful necklace, Zane is being hounded by the Emperor to find out where Vesper and Kyrin fled, whilst also worrying about where the Techwave will strike next.

I was really enjoying this, think Bridgerton meets The Tomorrow People, meets every werewolf PNR you've ever read. Fancy clothes, aristocratic soirees, high-tech equipment, mental powers, and a true mate bond. And then it ended with no conclusion and lots of questions. I see the next book in the series reverts to focussing on Vesper and Kyrion so what happens? This should have been titled 'Only Questions' .


View all my reviews

Review: Murder in Verona

Murder in Verona by T.A. Williams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

The ninth outing for former Scotland Yard detective Dan Armstrong and his trusty labrador Oscar.

Dan's girlfriend Anna's daughter has gifted them tickets to the opera in Verona. It's something Anna loves but Dan doesn't know much about it and fears he may loathe it.

Whilst getting a light refreshment with Oscar in the village, Dan is introduced to one of his neighbours, an elderly lady called Violetta Argento who drives a vintage Bugatti with reckless abandon through the village. Violetta is intrigued when she discovers Dan is a private detective, her son Rudolfo, a famous opera singer died recently in a car crash. The police have concluded it was an accident or (whispers) suicide, but Violetta is convinced that it was murder and suspects his wife who she loathes.

The Argento family are extremely wealthy, and the family business is jointly owned by Rudolpho and his two cousins - could his death have been motivated by greed? Rudolpho was also notorious for his womanising - could his wife or maybe a spurned lover have tried to kill him? Was he upset in anyway to substantiate the allegation of suicide?

Dan, Anna, and Oscar travel to Verona to the Argento Opera Academy, close to the family business headquarters, which was generously founded and endowed by Rudolpho to interview Rudolpho's widow and his cousins. Dan's investigations reveal that Rudolpho was a man of contradictions, generous and friendly, but he left a trail of broken hearts behind him. Some women hint that he may have been pressing unwanted attentions on women. Did his womanising end when he married? Why does his mother hate her daughter-in-law?

This was yet another cosy mystery set in the wonderful Italian countryside. My only complaint is that I am on a diet and all the descriptions of the luscious Italian food was very distracting.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: Caught Off Guard

Caught Off Guard by Catherine Cloud
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Matthias Brandl is a German playing NHL hockey as the second goalie. After a game in Vegas he and his team mates go drinking, they meet up with some of the Vegas players and Mattias ends up hooking up with the Vegas leading goalie Casey Wallace, which wouldn't ordinarily be a problem, they both agreed it was a one-time thing. But then Matthias gets traded to Vegas and he's Casey's back-up. Whilst the Vegas guys agree that Casey can be a bit grumpy they think he's a good guy - but he seems to hate Matthias.

Matthias' new teammates seem good people, especially his neighbour and friend Oliver who looks after him and tries to avoid getting involved in the drama.

I first heard about this in a Dear Author review https://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/o... and put it on my Kindle Wish List but an upcoming holiday and an Amazon gift card bumped it to the top of the list - I was not disappointed.

View all my reviews

Review: 1982: A Year in the Life of Wendy Wood

1982: A Year in the Life of Wendy Wood by Jason Ayres
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's New Years' Eve 2022 and Wendy Wood is 'enjoying' a karaoke night at the local British Legion Hall. A stroke two years ago has left her confined to a mobility scooter and she's regretting all the mistakes she made with her life. Then a stranger approaches Wendy with the opportunity of a lifetime. She has been selected to go back forty years to 1982 with the chance to put her life back on the right track with the help of a magical bracelet which will warn her if she is making bad choices.

Back in 1982 Wendy was the lead singer with a band called Velvet Temptation. They could have made it big, but egos, infidelity, bad luck, and artistic differences coincided to scupper their chances and Wendy has spent the last forty years working for minimal wage at local supermarkets.

Returned to 1982 Wendy must steer the band through shark-infested waters and change her future.

I enjoyed this, but I felt it was too straightforward, I understand that this is part of a series in which each book is set in a different year of the 1980s. For those of us who were young in the 1980s this is a trip down memory lane touching on the music, the TV, the celebrities, the news stories. However, I do wonder whether a younger reader would have the same enjoyment. I also worry how different the other books will be if they follow a similar premise.

Read on my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

View all my reviews

Review: Love & Other Inconveniences

Love & Other Inconveniences by Catherine Cloud
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Morgan Boyle is a non-drinking hockey player which has earned him the nickname of the fun police with his teammates. His family background isn't good, broken home, addictions, violence, and so he struggles to understand how to socialise. He'd really rather just hang out with his dog. Morgan is also in denial about his sexuality, whilst supporting gay rights, his homophobic upbringing has led him to vehemently deny being anything other than heterosexual.

At the start of the novel, Morgan is sent to the train with the Olympics team where he meets Noah Andersson, son of hockey royalty, who is his complete opposite, loud, friendly, touchy-feely. Somehow, Noah and Morgan end up sharing a brief kiss, which Morgan self-explains as satisfying a curiosity.

As the season(s) progress, Noah and Morgan inevitably meet when their teams play against each other Noah makes it clear he is interested in Morgan but Morgan is still in denial.

Can Noah and Morgan overcome their geographical separation, as well as Morgan's deep-seated issue with his own sexuality?

This was such a lovely slow burn romance. I understand that some in the LGBTQIA+ community might find the suddenly gay trope an issue, but I think Catherine Cloud does a good job of explaining that Morgan has been brought up by people who have demonised and vilified homosexuality and so he has supressed his feelings from a very young age.

Loved it.

View all my reviews

Review: The Canning Town Murder

The Canning Town Murder by Mike Hollow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The second outing for the Blitz detective. After a night of bombing an ARP clean-up crew find a woman's body amongst the wreckage, the only trouble was ... the body wasn't there when they cleared the site earlier that evening.

Detective Inspector John Jago and Detective Constable Cradock are called in to investigate. The woman is Mary Watkins, an HR administrator for a local factory which, among other things, is manufacturing transistors for secret government work.

Jago's investigation encompasses Fifth Columnists, black marketeering, blackmail, bigamy, and just plain greed.

This series is growing on me nicely, some personal development between Jago and the American journalist and good historical detail.

Apologies for the brief review, I've returned from holiday with half a dozen books to review!

Read on my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

View all my reviews

Review: We Could Be So Good

We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Nick Russo is a big brawny Italian American writer for the New York Chronicle, he's also gay which is a problem in 1950s America. To try to live as authentic a life as possible he has moved to The Village area, away from his family so that he doesn't have to pretend. However, his only 'romantic' encounters are of the one-night stand variety and cloaked in fear and secrecy.

Andy Fleming is the boss' son. Nick's polar opposite, he's charming and slightly helpless, forever losing his glasses or his keys, getting lost on the subway etc. As part of his grooming to take over the newspaper from his father Andy is rotated to work with Nick in the newsroom.

Nick finds himself attracted to Andy, even though he knows Andy isn't gay, in fact he's dating one of Nick's closest friends. Over the months they work together Nick spends his time finding Andy's keys, rescuing him, etc and they become best friends. So who else would Andy turn to when his fiance suddenly dumps him?

Andy has always wanted a family, marriage, children, maybe a dog, that's just how he's made, maybe in reaction to his parents' divorce and his mother's globe-trotting career as an investigative reporter. And for his entire life that vision included a woman. But sharing Nick's apartment suddenly opens Andy's eyes to a hitherto unacknowledged attraction.

Goodness, this was just sooooo good. I loved it. I loved Andy and Nick, I loved their family lives, I loved the way in which they could quarrel/speak at cross-purposes and then both come back with an apology. I loved the 1950s vibe and the reminder that while we haven't overcome homophobia yet we are still a long way past the repression and hatred of those times.

View all my reviews

Review: A Lethal Walk in Lakeland

A Lethal Walk in Lakeland by Nicholas George
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Rick Chasen, nicknamed Chase, is a retired American police detective. A fan of walking, he has arranged to meet his friend Billie and love-interest Mike on a shortened Coast-to-Coast walking tour in the Lake District. Unfortunately, an outbreak of some mysterious illness in Mike's home county of Devon means he cannot join them (he's the local coroner). Even worse, instead of the disparate group of walkers Chase was hoping for, the remainder of the group consist of a Canadian bird watcher and six members of the Upton family from Texas.

The reasons for the family joining the trek aren't clear, none of them seem like hikers. The oldest brother appears overly familiar with his younger sister and picks on one of his twin brothers, his wife is ridiculously superstitious. One twin is gregarious and outgoing, although too fond of a quick fix. The other twin is a former soldier who seems to have psychological problems. The only sister is a recent widow, although by her on admission she cheated on her husband while he was dying of cancer. The final member of the family group is actually the sister's best friend, although she gossips incessantly about all the other family members and clearly had a crush on her friend's husband.

The tensions between the family group frequently boil over into arguments, and occasionally physical fights, at one point the tour guide even kicks them all off the tour, although he is persuaded to reconsider.

But when one of the Uptons is mysteriously poisoned at a country hotel suspicions fall on the other members of the walking group and it is up to Chase to give the local police force the benefit of his observations about the group.

I think part of the reason for my average score for the novel is that I have recently read another book about a Coast-to-Coast walking tour, You Are Here so the theme was familiar. Also, given the mention of Mike, I assumed he would play a role in the story, but he only appears towards the end. Finally, although I knew that Chase had retired I assumed he was a fifty-something retiree rather than close to seventy.

I felt that any one of the tour group could have murdered the victim, because they were all given plausible motives, and I was rather irritated that the 'evidence' of the murderer was something that the reader could not have seen (which I am pretty sure breaks one of the mystery writing rules I read recently in another novel).

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: Famous Last Words

Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Camilla Deschamps is at the end of her nine months' maternity leave and about to go back to work as a literary agent. However, when she wakes up her husband Luke is nowhere to be seen, apparently he (a ghostwriter for celebrity memoirs) has gone into to his shared workspace early. Cam feels slightly aggrieved by this, she's the introvert and catastrophiser and he's the extrovert happy-go-lucky one -on a day like today she really needs him to talk her off the ledge about putting their daughter Polly in nursery. He's not even answering his phone or reading her messages.

Later that morning at work, Cam is astonished to see that the man holding three people hostage in a London warehouse is none other than Luke. Although instinctively she can't think of any reason why this charming, sunny-natured man would do such a thing, as the police question her she recalls a few instances where he snapped at her, or behaved out of character.

I don't want to spoil anything so I'll be vague. Seven years later Luke has disappeared without a trace, Cam seesaws between thinking it has all been a big mistake and hating him for what he put them through. Although the police are monitoring Cam's internet searches and phone calls their investigation is very low key, except for Niall, the hostage negotiator that day, whose personal and professional lives fell apart on that day. he can't get over what happened and is looking for some kind of closure.

Can Cam or Niall piece together the clues and find out what really happened that day?

First off, let me say this was a really good book, loved the story. However, having read a couple of Gillian McAllister's books before I was already looking for the surprise twist - didn't always get it right, mind - and therefore in some respects this was a little too predictable. I also felt at one point that there were going to be too many similarities with (what I consider to be her best book) Wrong Place Wrong Time, although that turned out to be incorrect.

Overall, if you are new to Gillian McAllister's work I think you'll love the twisty-turny plot, but if you read and loved Wrong Place, Wrong Time I suspect you will find it fell slightly flat. Still better than most of the contemporary mystery/thrillers out there.

I received an ARC from the publisher Penguin Random House via NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: Famous Last Words

Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Camilla Deschamps is at the end of her nine months' maternity leave and about to go back to work as a literary agent. However, when she wakes up her husband Luke is nowhere to be seen, apparently he (a ghostwriter for celebrity memoirs) has gone into to his shared workspace early. Cam feels slightly aggrieved by this, she's the introvert and catastrophiser and he's the extrovert happy-go-lucky one -on a day like today she really needs him to talk her off the ledge about putting their daughter Polly in nursery. He's not even answering his phone or reading her messages.

Later that morning at work, Cam is astonished to see that the man holding three people hostage in a London warehouse is none other than Luke. Although instinctively she can't think of any reason why this charming, sunny-natured man would do such a thing, as the police question her she recalls a few instances where he snapped at her, or behaved out of character.

I don't want to spoil anything so I'll be vague. Seven years later Luke has disappeared without a trace, Cam seesaws between thinking it has all been a big mistake and hating him for what he put them through. Although the police are monitoring Cam's internet searches and phone calls their investigation is very low key, except for Niall, the hostage negotiator that day, whose personal and professional lives fell apart on that day. he can't get over what happened and is looking for some kind of closure.

Can Cam or Niall piece together the clues and find out what really happened that day?

First off, let me say this was a really good book, loved the story. However, having read a couple of Gillian McAllister's books before I was already looking for the surprise twist - didn't always get it right, mind - and therefore in some respects this was a little too predictable. I also felt at one point that there were going to be too many similarities with (what I consider to be her best book) Wrong Place Wrong Time, although that turned out to be incorrect.

Overall, if you are new to Gillian McAllister's work I think you'll love the twisty-turny plot, but if you read and loved Wrong Place, Wrong Time I suspect you will find it fell slightly flat. Still better than most of the contemporary mystery/thrillers out there.

I received an ARC from the publisher Penguin Random House via NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: The Blitz Detective

The Blitz Detective by Mike Hollow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Its 1940 and the Blitz has begun. For Detective Inspector John Jago it brings back unpleasant associations from his time in the trenches in WW1, being bombarded day and night. During the height of the bombing of East London an ARP Warden finds a man dead, slumped over the steering wheel of a van, it appears he has committed suicide, but on closer inspection he has also been stabbed in the heart.

The victim, Charles Villiers is a local Justice of the Peace and owns a printing factory nearby. However, before DI Jago and his new assistant Detective Constable Peter Cradock can get a police photographer and coroner to view the body the van is hit by German bombs and explodes!

When Jago starts to investigate Villiers it appears he wasn't a very nice man. His wife was clearly put upon, his son feels relief that his father is dead, his brother barely speaks to him, he's known to chase his female employees (and worse) and a lot of the people Jago speaks to suspect that he may have been involved in something 'dodgy'.

I did have trouble keeping the various characters straight in my head at times, especially when the story just leaps into a discussion between (say) Albert and Gus and you can't for the life of you remember who either of them are. Also because the man was such a pill there are clearly a lot of people with motive.

On reflection, perhaps the motive was a little far-fetched, and the final discovery overly dramatic, but it all hung together.

On to the second book.

Read on my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

View all my reviews

Review: The Soho Murder

The Soho Murder by Mike Hollow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the ninth book in the series, I hadn't read any of the others and it didn't affect my enjoyment of the plot.

Detective Inspector John Jago and his trusty sidekick are called to disreputable Soho where an antiquarian bookseller has been found shot in his own flat. The man, only fairly recently married (ie last few years), owned a bookshop and his wife owned an ecclesiastical printing business and bookshop.

Investigating the murder will take John deep into Soho, exploring the jazz clubs which tip off their (male) customers, and the underground card games which sucker in losers.

This was a well-written and fast-paced detective story, set against the backdrop of the Blitz. On the strength of this book I have downloaded the first two in the series (which are currently available on Kindle Unlimited if anyone wants to try before they buy).

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: Caroline Minuscule

Caroline Minuscule by Andrew Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a bit of a curiosity, having read several of Mt Taylor's other series I bought this book because it was only 99p, but was (frankly) put off by the title - don't be. It's not clear when this is supposed to be set, I initially thought the 1950s but I suspect it was contemporary when it was written in the 1980s - doesn't' that make me feel old!

William Douglas is a mature(ish) student who chose the rather obscure Caroline Miniscule medieval script for his post-graduate studies (mainly because of its obscurity which would make any research easier to pass off as new). He is lackadaisically preparing to provide a translation of a piece of said Caroline Miniscule from a photo provided by his tutor when he finds the tutor's body garotted in his study. Rather than call the Police, William basically runs away.

Later William is accosted by a man called James Hansard, who he suspects is his tutor's murderer, apparently his tutor was to have translated the text in the photograph for this man and he offers William an eye-wateringly large sum of money to translate the script instead.

But then William reads that James has been killed and later receives a letter and a parcel from James' bank. The letter explains that James was searching for a cache of diamonds, hidden by a client, but the client has shared clues with James and another man, James suspects this man will kill him and has asked William, if that happens, to find the diamonds in his place.

The ensuing search involves a road trip from London to East Anglia and the fens. There's murder, double-crosses, and more.

Loved it, loved the ambiguous ending and I've already bought the second book in the series.

View all my reviews

Review: The Perfect Rom-Com

The Perfect Rom-Com by Melissa Ferguson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Two years ago Bryony Page attended a rom-com workshop/conference to try to get an agent for her book, which is a genre-defying fictionalisation of her grandmother's work setting up an ESL school, where Bryony also works. She never got any interest in her book (she's still trying), but the last agent she met, Jack Sterling, offers her a job as ghost-writer for Amelia Benedict, a successful rom-com writer, famous for being the daughter of one of the wealthiest men in the US.

Two years on, Jack hasn't been able to get even a whiff of interest in Bryony's own book, but she has proved herself a brilliant ghostwriter, successfully increasing Amelia's sales and critical acclaim. Bryony has tried to walk away from the contract many times, but she is paid handsomely for her work (including a percentage of sales) which she uses to anonymously donate to her grandmother's school, and Jack can talk her out of anything, she's such a pushover.

Jack and Bryony have become friends, maybe even best friends, over the past two years. They eat together once a week and play on the same bowling team. If it weren't for Bryony's boyfriend Parker (also an ESL teacher in Aukland, Russia) and Jack's girlfriend Chloe (or is it Claire) ...

Amelia is a nightmare. She only wrote the first book and since then has relied upon a series of ghostwriters, but Bryony is so good that over time the others have been let go. Amelia doesn't even read her own books and has made some truly awful gaffes about characters and scenes when being interviewed or when talking to fans.

Bryony wants to complain about the ever-shortening deadlines and pressure to write two books a year, on top of her dayjob, with Amelia's mindless twittering about how she wants the books to be written, but instead she gets railroaded into going on a two week book tour with Amelia and the rest of the team to perform damage limitation after saying things like she based one of her characters (a murderer) on her father.

Two weeks on the road with Jack and feelings are starting to develop, but when a multi-millionairess relies on you to write the books that get her fame and publicity she has a vested interest in forcing you to stay.

I wanted to like this because I loved Meet Me in the Margins, but sadly there were too many flaws with this. Firstly, the convenient boyfriend who's been overseas for 27 months - puhlease that relationship is so dead. Second, to have become a successful writer and not realise that your original story was an overblown, confusing mess? Smacks of one of my favourite films Teacher's Pet (amazing film starring Doris Day). Third, the way in which the conflict was resolved was pure end of the film Singing in the Rain. Fourth, Bryony was just so wet. And finally, Jack said something to Bryony which I imagine was supposed to be sweet and romantic but came across as slightly alarming and a bit of a red flag. (view spoiler)[You might not have been dating me for the last two years, Bryony, but i've been dating you (or words to that effect). (hide spoiler)]

As above, I liked it but I didn't love it.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews

Review: The Death at the Vineyard

The Death at the Vineyard by Emylia Hall
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Shell House Detectives are called in to investigate the theft of quad bike by Owen Harper, oldest son and part-owner of the late Frank Harper's farm turned vineyard Shoreline Vines. Owen, his mother Ruth and younger brother Edwin, together with Edwin's wife Karensa run the vineyard together but Frank's death uncovered that the vineyard was not in a good financial state.

Just as Ally and Jayden are approaching the vineyard they see the police are already in attendance, apparently a man has been trampled to death by their neighbour's cattle which he keeps in a field he rents from the Harpers. Although the body is unrecognisable the Harpers are sure it is Russell Tremaine, the ne'er do well son of their former odd-job man, Shaun Tremaine. Their story is that Russell stole the quad bike and was coming back to see what else he could steal when he got scared, hid in the field and got trampled by the cattle.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Owen is no longer interested in finding the quad bike (although the loss of a £10,000 practically new machine must be a blow to a struggling business), but Shaun asks the Shell House Detectives to find out what really happened to his son, because he's convinced that nothing on earth would have persuaded Russell to go anywhere near cattle.

Their investigations uncover all sorts of secrets and come to a very satisfying conclusion - nice to know I was right in my suspicions!

I think this series has really hit its stride. The personal stories are advancing slowly, the characters are deepening and the investigations are more organic. I still have a soft spot for Mullins and Saffron, but he still has some developing to go.

And can I just say how much I love these covers? Honestly its what drew me to the series in the first place.

Read on my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

View all my reviews

Review: The Death at the Vineyard

The Death at the Vineyard by Emylia Hall
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Shell House Detectives are called in to investigate the theft of quad bike by Owen Harper, oldest son and part-owner of the late Frank Harper's farm turned vineyard Shoreline Vines. Owen, his mother Ruth and younger brother Edwin, together with Edwin's wife Karensa run the vineyard together but Frank's death uncovered that the vineyard was not in a good financial state.

Just as Ally and Jayden are approaching the vineyard they see the police are already in attendance, apparently a man has been trampled to death by their neighbour's cattle which he keeps in a field he rents from the Harpers. Although the body is unrecognisable the Harpers are sure it is Russell Tremaine, the ne'er do well son of their former odd-job man, Shaun Tremaine. Their story is that Russell stole the quad bike and was coming back to see what else he could steal when he got scared, hid in the field and got trampled by the cattle.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Owen is no longer interested in finding the quad bike (although the loss of a £10,000 practically new machine must be a blow to a struggling business), but Shaun asks the Shell House Detectives to find out what really happened to his son, because he's convinced that nothing on earth would have persuaded Russell to go anywhere near cattle.

Their investigations uncover all sorts of secrets and come to a very satisfying conclusion - nice to know I was right in my suspicions!

I think this series has really hit its stride. The personal stories are advancing slowly, the characters are deepening and the investigations are more organic. I still have a soft spot for Mullins and Saffron, but he still has some developing to go.

And can I just say how much I love these covers? Honestly its what drew me to the series in the first place.

Read on my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

View all my reviews

Review: Fair Play

Fair Play by Louise Hegarty
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Abigail's brother Benjamin's birthday is on New Year's Day and so, to make it special they started a tradition of booking an AirBnB stay with a group of old friends and Abigail meticulously plans a murder mystery evening, loosely based around a theme. This year things are a bit tense, Benjamin has invited his PA Barbara of all people to join them, which won't go down well with his ex-fiance Margaret. Abigail is glad that Benjamin's school friend Stephen is coming alone, his girlfriend has gone home to Poland for Christmas, because she's always harboured a bit of a crush on him. Then there's another of Benjamin's old friends Cormac, and his newish girlfriend Olivia, and finally Declan, he grew up with Abigail and Benjamin but hasn't really grown-up, Abigail understands Benjamin has had to bail him out with money more than once. So they all meet up in this big old Irish house and drink champagne and play their murder mystery, but in the morning Benjamin is found dead, locked in his room. The police believe it's suicide but Abigail is sure its murder so she hires the renowned detective Augustus Bell to discover the truth. As another reader said, so far so good, although I found the writing style of the omnipotent narrator a bit irritating.

But then, the story changes, new characters are added, the house is no longer an AirBnB but Benjamin and Abigail's family home. New information is given about each of the characters (just like in a murder mystery game). The reader gets 'treated' to tracts of rules about classical murder mysteries (many of which have been flagrantly broken time and time again). Augustus Bell himself seems to know he is a character in a book as he often informs people that something will happen later ie in chapter sixteen I will ask three of the guests to try to climb into Benjamin's window, he also refers to previous cases by the sort of name they would be given in a Golden Age mystery. I also noted a fair few references to other detectives of the Golden Age eg (Lord Peter) Wimsey and Tommy and Tuppence.

So we now have two stories running in parallel, one an homage/send-up of a Golden Age mystery with overlapping characters but different stories (eg in one story Benjamin runs the family business whereas in the other he is merely an employee at a company). The formatting of the ARC didn't help as there were asterisks cross-referencing to footnotes relating actions/characters to mystery theories but sometimes they were several pages apart.

There were also some random passages where things were repeated but altered slightly five or six times on the trot, eg Abigail's recounting of how she and Benjamin spent Christmas.

(view spoiler)[Much like a hapless Golden Age detective Bell ends up accusing pretty much each of the suspects, giving plausible motives and methods - but some of them were ludicrous - if he had been strangled even a hapless detective could have seen the ligature marks on his neck? And again, the whole 'aha, I know who did it round up the suspects' bit was repeated each time - I'm not sure if this is supposed to be one of those books where you choose your ending? (hide spoiler)]And then it just abruptly ends. No resolution of any description, people confess and then it seems Bell dismisses their confessions and accuses someone else.
This to me was just a hot mess. Some reviewers have raved about this as a study in coming to terms with loss, well I'm impressed that they found that from this hotchpotch of tales that go nowhere.

I received an ARC from the Publisher via NetGalley.

View all my reviews