Tuesday 31 July 2018

Review: The Governess Game (Girl Meets Duke #2) by Tessa Dare

Tessa Dare is one of my favourite authors, so I was thrilled to get my hands on an early copy of The Governess Game. It's a historical romance, but written in the style of a modern romantic comedy, and is the second in the Girl Meets Duke series. Each book is effectively a stand alone, so you don't need to read them in order. The link between the stories is a group of female friends.

Chase Reynaud is in denial. He doesn't want to be the heir to a dukedom and he certainly doesn't want to be the guardian to two little orphaned girls, Rosamund and Daisy. The girls aren't thrilled to be dumped on him either and delight in making his life difficult. Their best time for frightening off a new governess currently stands at seventeen and a quarter hours. Which is why Chase offers Alexandra a fortune to take on the job - and is why she takes it!

Alexandra Mountbatten earns her living ensuring the clocks of the wealthy keep perfect time. How she ends up as the governess to the two young wards of Chase Reynaud is a little convoluted but didn't spoil my enjoyment of the story. Purists won't like the historical inaccuracies; although some of these, like the quote from The Titanic movie, are deliberate and add to the fun. But that's The Governess Game in a nutshell - a lighthearted romcom that's a whole lot of fun.

I loved the characters, their rapid-fire banter and all the one liners. Chase tries so hard to duck out of his responsibilities - there is a running joke throughout the story about his attempt to build himself a 'gentleman's retreat'. But the best part of the story is definitely the antics of the children - Daisy's doll 'funerals' had me in stitches and she reminded me of Tootie in Meet Me in St Louis.

Recommended, especially if you love light-hearted, funny historical romance, and authors such as Julia Quinn and Eloisa James.


The Governess Game is out in the UK on the 28th of August 2018.

Thank you to Tessa Dare and Mills & Boon for my copy of this book, which I requested from NetGalley and reviewed voluntarily.


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Saturday 14 July 2018

Review: Reckless by Amanda Quick

Reckless is another book that has been lurking on my Kindle completely forgotten about - something I'm trying to rectify!

In this story Phoebe Layton is obsessed by ancient illuminated manuscripts, particularly ones about knights and chivalry. She is desperate to find a particular manuscript, which she gave to a childhood sweetheart when he left the country to seek his fortune so that he might marry her. The book went missing about the same time he was murdered. Phoebe thinks that when she finds the book, she'll find the murderer. She enlists the help of Gabriel Banner, the only other person she knows who is as obsessed by old manuscripts and tales of knights of old as she is. 

Gabriel, however, has become a lot more bitter and twisted since Phoebe knew him as a child. After trying to elope with Phoebe's older sister some years ago, their father ruined him financially and he still bears a grudge. Maybe 'ruining' Phoebe will be the perfect revenge?

I've never been very keen on the 'using the heroine to get revenge' romance trope and while I liked Gabriel I found all the Knights of the Round Table stuff palled very quickly. I also didn't really warm to the the heroine, although I loved her eccentric family, so this is just a four-star read for me.


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Thursday 12 July 2018

Review: Ravished by Amanda Quick

I have a bad habit of buying books and then forgetting about them. I probably downloaded this one to 'try' when it was a 99p deal on Kindle (the Kindle version no longer seems available) but I rediscovered it recently after reading a stack of Amanda Quick books I brought home from the charity shop. 

Ravished is a slightly tongue-in-cheek historical romance; I do prefer this genre when there is humour! Harriet Pomeroy, daughter of a recently deceased Vicar, is obsessed with fossils, particularly the ones she has discovered in the caves owned by Gideon Westbrook. When she discovers thieves have been using 'her' caves to store their ill-gotten gains, she is furious and demands that Gideon gets rid of them. Gideon, meanwhile, has been nicknamed The Beast of Blackthorne due to his scarred face and dubious past. He's not happy at being drawn out of seclusion to capture these thieves but decides he might as well go along with it - anything for a quiet life. Except once he becomes involved with Harriet and her plans, a quiet life is the last thing he has.

Harriet and Gideon are very likeable characters and it was easy to become engaged with their story. I loved the way the author pokes fun at the Beauty and the Beast trope, and also the running joke about heroines being 'ravished' in the kind of gothic romances that were popular at this time. I do sometimes find Amanda Quick's stories a bit over-the-top, but Ravished was not one of them and I really enjoyed it. Recommended - provided you like this kind of thing!


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Wednesday 11 July 2018

Review: Beyond Scandal and Desire (Sins for All Seasons #1) by Lorraine Heath

I downloaded this one because it was on offer at 99p and I've enjoyed some of Lorraine Heath's novels in the past. Unfortunately, I read it too soon after Sarah MacLean's Wicked and the Wallflower, which has the same revenge trope, and I couldn't help comparing the two.

Mick Trewlove is now a successful businessmen but was abandoned at birth by his aristocratic father. In revenge, he targets his father's legitimate son, intending to bankrupt him and seduce his betrothed.

The characters were likeable enough but there wasn't enough of an original twist on the trope for me.

Tuesday 10 July 2018

Review: Watching You by Lisa Jewell

I have recently discovered Lisa Jewell's psychological suspense novels and I was thrilled to get the chance to read an early copy of Watching You. Although it's not quite my favourite (that would be I Found You), I do think it's her best one yet. 

Watching You takes its time to introduce the all characters and the problems in their lives. It opens with the police investigating the murder of an unknown victim, before taking up the story from Joey's (Josephine's) viewpoint. Joey is a bit of a disaster, recently returned from working in Ibiza and married on a whim; she and her husband now live with her brother and sister-in-law in one of the 'iconic' painted Victorian villas above the town. But, despite being newly-wed, it doesn't take long for Joey to fall madly in lust with her neighbour Tom, a handsome but married headteacher, who seems oblivious to the fact that practically every woman in the district is in love with him. Or is he?

Other points of view include Tom's troubled teenage son, Freddie, who spends his time logging the movements of the neighbours, and Jenna, one of Tom's pupils, whose mother is convinced Tom is stalking her. One of the themes running through the story, as you might have guessed, is obsession. 

Lisa Jewell writes in a deceptively simple style that immediately draws you into her world. She has a particular talent for making unlikeable characters likeable; by the end of the story Freddie was my favourite character.  I was completely gripped by the lives of these people and was convinced I'd worked out the identity of the victim and murderer early on. It was only at the very end that I realised how cleverly I'd been duped.

Watching You is a mix of family/domestic drama and psychological suspense and I can see it appealing to fans of authors such as Dorothy Koomson. I thought it was completely brilliant and I absolutely loved it.


Thank you to Lisa Jewell and Cornerstone Digital for my copy of this book, which I requested from NetGalley and reviewed voluntarily.


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Saturday 7 July 2018

Review: Uprooted by Naomi Novik

I chose this book because one of the book bloggers I follow (Chelsea at The Suspense is Thrilling Me) was raving about it and we have similar taste in books. Anyway, I absolutely adored it and now Naomi Novik is one of my favourite authors.

When I began reading Uprooted it reminded me at first of a cross between Beauty and the Beast and Howl's Moving Castle. It starts, very cleverly, with the tale of a village by a wood, guarded by a Dragon who chooses a maiden every ten years to take back to his tower. Our heroine, Agnieszka, is confident he won't choose her, because she's messy and clumsy and outspoken - surely he'll pick her pretty friend Kasia instead?

The first trick the author plays on us is that the Dragon is actually a very powerful wizard, and the plans he has for those girls he's taking from the village are not quite what everyone believes...

As the story develops it grows into something different, into its own fairy tale, about a Wood that corrupts and why, and the battle between what lives there and those who want to raze it to the ground. Rather than having a beginning, middle and end, Uprooted is almost episodic, detailing Agneiszka's adventures as she learns to work with the Dragon to help her people and solve the mystery of the Wood's power.

Uprooted is a YA fantasy with crossover appeal, and while there is a bit of a romance it is mainly about Agneiszka's journey as she learns more about her surroundings and herself. It is a thoroughly enchanting story and I loved the characters, especially Agneiszka and Sarkan, and the unusual ending, which I won't spoil for you. The only parts that left me cold were the battle scenes, because that's not my thing, and sometimes Agneiszka seemed a bit immature - but then Uprooted is YA and I'm not the target audience!

One of my favourite reads this year! 

Thursday 5 July 2018

Review: Dark Pines (A Tuva Moodyson Mystery #1) by Will Dean

I read two books simultaneously this week: both set in sinister forests, both vastly different, both absolutely brilliant. (The other one was Uprooted by Naomi Novik). On the surface Dark Pines is a Scandinavian murder mystery, but I liked the way the author gave the rural Swedish village setting a slight fairy tale quality, with very quirky (sometimes downright oddball) inhabitants. A kind of Nordic noir crossed with Twin Peaks.

Twenty years ago a serial killer murdered three hunters in Utgard Forest, removing their eyes; now it appears he's back. Tuva Moodyson, a reporter for the town paper, is hoping to use this story to kickstart her career. She's interviewing the locals, hoping to learn how this series of tragedies is affecting their lives, but is the killer hiding amongst them?

I loved this book! I adored Tuva and the way the author took his time to create the world she lives in. I did work out the identity of the bad guy pretty quickly, but then I do read a lot of crime fiction. It didn't stop me enjoying the story and appreciating how clever the author was in setting up each clue and red herring. The writing is good, each eccentric character fairly leapt off the page, and I loved all the little details about life in rural Sweden - even the descriptions of the mosquitoes and ticks!

Dark Pines would appeal to anyone who likes the kind of murder mystery where they can solve a puzzle. There is little violence and nothing too gruesome - provided you don't mind the occasional mention of that serial-killer-who-removes-eyeballs thing. I really enjoyed it, have no hesitation in recommending it, and I'm really looking forward to reading the next one in the series.


Thank you to Will Dean and Point Blank (Oneworld) for my copy of this book, which I requested from NetGalley and reviewed voluntarily.

Sunday 1 July 2018

Favourite Reads of 2018 (so far!)

According to Goodreads I've read nearly 50 books so far this year. It's been hard to narrow it down to 10 favourites, there have been so many good ones published.  So I've chosen 12. Although I read equal numbers of crime and romance, interestingly there are more crime books listed here, along with two fantasy novels - including one young adult...




The Toymakers By Robert Dinsdale

It's going to be really ironic if the first book I read in 2018 turns out to be my favourite for the entire year but The Toymakers is utterly, utterly brilliant and I absolutely loved it.

Cathy Wray runs away to London and finds work at a very unusual toy shop called The Emporium, kind of like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory but with toys. The aisles are 'alive' with steam trains, toy soldiers, and patchwork animals. I particularly loved the 'instant' trees, which grow into a real forest as soon as their roots touch the ground, and Sirius the patchwork dog. And I definitely fell more than a little bit in love with Kaspar.

The Toymakers is a historical fantasy but with a serious message about the futility of war.


The Death of Mrs Westaway by Ruth Ware

Hal (Harriet) is struggling to make a living as a tarot reader following the death of her mother. Falling behind on payments to the local loan shark, it seems like a dream come true when a solicitor's letter arrives to tell her that her grandmother has died and left her a bequest. Except Hal's grandmother died before she was born, didn't she?

Ruth Ware takes familiar tropes and motifs from the traditional/old school gothic mystery and puts her own original spin on it. There is a nod towards Rebecca, with the creepy Mrs Danvers-like housekeeper, but all references are done with an affection for the genre. I became so engrossed in this story I completely forgot to try and work out who the murderer was!


Her Name Was Rose by Claire Allen

Emily is slowly getting her life back together after the break-up of a relationship, when she witnesses another woman die after a hit and run. Over the next few days Emily devours news reports about the accident, and checks the dead woman's social media account, and soon learns Rose was everything Emily wanted to be. Beautiful and kind-hearted, Rose had a handsome husband, a gorgeous baby, and friends who loved her. And now there is a Rose-sized hole in these people's lives. A hole that Emily could fill...

Oh, I did love this book! I read a lot of crime fiction so I knew where it was headed but the quality of writing was great, there were some fabulous twisty bits and the ending was very clever. I loved the character of Emily, despite her flaws, and was so involved in her story I was practically shouting at the book "No, don't do it!" every time I thought she was going to do something really stupid. Her Name Was Rose is now firmly on my 'favourites' list and I thoroughly recommend it!


The Brighton Mermaid by Dorothy Koomson

Nell and her friend Jude found the body of a young woman on Brighton beach when they were teenagers and from that moment their lives were changed irrevocably. Twenty-five years later and Nell has developed a sideline in helping people find long-lost relatives using family trees and DNA testing. The story starts as Nell takes a year's break from work to use these skills to finally discover the Brighton Mermaid's real identity - she's hoping this will lead to the woman's killer.

The Brighton Mermaid has all the ingredients I adore: an old mystery, believable but flawed characters, a fabulous heroine, a dysfunctional family, a bit of a romance - and lots of twists! I liked that everything wasn't wrapped up neatly at the end and that I didn't guess the identity of the murderer. I thought the plot was clever and twisty, and it caught me out more than once.


Paper Ghosts by Julia Heaberlin

Like the main character in Rebecca, our heroine doesn't have a name. Carl, the man she believes murdered her sister, was once a famous photographer but is now in a care home supposedly suffering from dementia. She begins to visit him, pretending to be his daughter, before taking him out on 'holiday'. In reality she's planned a road trip around Texas, visiting all the locations in his photography book - the last places his victims were seen alive.

The relationship between Carl and his 'daughter' reminded me of Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling, and the story itself a kind of cross between Silence of the Lambs and As Good As It Gets - even though no one falls in love, or gets eaten! I particularly loved Carl's dark sense of humour, and how the heroine's meticulously thought-out plan quickly unravels. They also meet a host of eccentric characters along the way - my favourite was Trudy, the gun-toting estate agent! 


The Night Visitor by Lucy Atkins

Olivia is a TV historian finding it impossible to juggle family commitments with her high-flying career. When she comes across the Victorian diary of one of the first female doctors she knows it will make a brilliant book, but she can't spare the time to do the research. So she hires Vivian to do the work for her. Vivian takes care of the dilapidated gothic house where the diary was found and was apparently once a university professor - the perfect research assistant. Except Vivian sees herself more as Olivia's co-writer and friend, and she has ideas for lots more books that they can write together. Oh, and she believes that every night she's visited by a 'ghost' who wants to kill her...

The Night Visitor is particularly clever in that I felt sympathy for the character whose viewpoint I was reading, but as soon as the viewpoint changed so did my allegiance! Creepy and deliciously twisty, I couldn't put this one down.


The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor

In the 1980s, teenager Eddie and his friends leave messages for each other in coloured chalk outside each other's houses. Simple messages, such as where to meet up and whether to hurry. But then the messages start appearing on their own, in white chalk, leading to the body of a murdered girl. In the present day, Eddie is surprised when one of his old friends turns up asking for help with a book he is writing, a book about the killer nicknamed 'The Chalk Man', and his theory that the real murderer was never caught. And then his friend disappears. And the chalk figures begin appearing again...

This book is simply outstanding. I was so gripped I read it in two days flat. The characters are so realistic, so believable, it feels as if they're in the same room, looking over your shoulder as you read. I loved Eddie's dry humour, the nod towards my favourite 80s horror movies, the fiendish little twists, the freshness of the plot, the poignancy of a doomed love affair... And that very final, very clever twist, the one that's easy to miss because you think it's all over, which took me completely by surprise - and that's pretty hard to do!


Everless by Sara Holland

Many centuries ago, the people of Sempera learned to turn their blood into 'blood iron' coins that can be dissolved and drunk to extend life. Now the poor work and pawn their valuables for blood iron, and die young, and the rich live forever. And the reclusive Queen, a kind of sinister Countess Bathory figure, rules over them all.

Living a hand-to-mouth existence, and worried about her elderly father, Jules has the opportunity to return to the Queen's castle and work in the kitchens, but her father's last words to her are to warn her to keep away from the Queen: 'Don't let her near you. Don't let her see you. She'll know you. It's not safe.' What secret has he been hiding from her all these years?

I absolutely loved Everless and was completely gripped by Jules's story as she slowly uncovers the mystery in her past and the truth about her family. I can't tell you much, without revealing spoilers, but there is a little bit of a romance and lots of twists - don't be fooled into thinking you know where this story is going! I really enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to reading the next one in the series.


Three Things About Elsie by Joanna Cannon

Ostensibly Three Things About Elsie is a mystery. It opens with Florence, a lady of 84 years, looking back on the last few weeks of her life as she waits for someone to find her after a fall. This sounds depressing but Florence has a dry sense of humour and I was quickly drawn into her life at the home, her friendship with Elsie and Jack - and the trouble they cause the long-suffering staff. Florence, you see, is convinced that a new resident is not the man he claims to be but someone she knew sixty years ago - someone who is supposed to be dead.

In reality, Three Things About Elsie is about what it feels like to grow old. The frustration you feel as your health and mental agility slip away from you, and the way younger people start to treat you differently. And how eventually you even lose control over the way you want to live your life.

Three Things About Elsie is by turns funny, poignant, and desperately sad too - and I loved it.


Whistle in the Dark by Emma Healey

Whistle in the Dark is a mystery/family drama, and unusual in that the story starts at the moment fifteen-year-old Lana is found safe and well after being missing for four days in the Peak District. Lana and her mother Jen had been on a mother-daughter bonding holiday at an artists' retreat. Lana, depressed and self-harming, hides behind her sulky teenager persona, whereas Jen tries (and fails) not to be a helicopter parent. While overjoyed to have Lana back home, Jen becomes increasingly obsessed with finding out exactly what happened to her daughter during those four missing days - because Lana is saying nothing.

Whistle in the Dark is mainly about family relationships and the unravelling of Jen's sanity as she worries about her daughter. (I loved the imaginary cat!) The mystery about what happened to Lana almost takes second place, but it kept me guessing and I only managed to work out part of it before the end. I found it very well-written, with brilliant characters I could really identify with, and I absolutely loved it.


The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare

When the Duke of Ashbury returns from the war horribly scarred ("Faulty rocket at Waterloo. You have precisely three seconds to move past it. One. Two...") his fiancée can't bear to look at him and calls off their engagement. In dire need of a wife and heir (so his estate doesn't fall into the hands of his 'toad of a cousin'), when seamstress Emma Gladstone explodes into his study demanding payment for the bridal gown his fiancée has cancelled, he asks her to marry him instead.

There are two things about this novel that make it outstanding: the cracking dialogue and the brilliant characters - particularly the hero, Ash. A witty, warm-hearted romantic comedy, with characters that leap off the page. I loved it. 


The Child Finder by Rene Denfeld

Naomi Cottle specialises in finding missing children; her own harrowing childhood means she can sometimes be more adapt than the police at finding them, even the cases that everyone else has given up on. Madison Culver disappeared three years ago on a trip to the remote, mountainous forests of Oregon, shortly before a blizzard. The authorities assume she died of exposure and have long since stopped looking for her remains, but Naomi knows that Madison could have survived - if someone else has found her.

I was completely gripped by this story and by 30% I got to the point where I couldn't put it down. Along with Naomi's search for Madison, we learn about how she has (mostly) overcome the demons of her own childhood, the mistake that haunts her, and her struggle to lower her defences enough to allow those she loves to get close. There are no real surprises in the plot, no big 'twist'; the strength is in the author's creation of flawed but fascinating characters the reader really cares about. I even found myself feeling sorry for the villain!