Saturday 31 December 2016

Follow Me (Social Media Murders #1) by Angela Clarke



LIKE. SHARE. FOLLOW . . . DIE

The ‘Hashtag Murderer’ posts chilling cryptic clues online, pointing to their next target. Taunting the police. Enthralling the press. Capturing the public’s imagination.

But this is no virtual threat.

As the number of his followers rises, so does the body count.

Eight years ago two young girls did something unforgivable. Now ambitious police officer Nasreen and investigative journalist Freddie are thrown together again in a desperate struggle to catch this cunning, fame-crazed killer. But can they stay one step ahead of him? And can they escape their own past?

Time's running out. Everyone is following the #Murderer. But what if he is following you?

ONLINE, NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU SCREAM. . .


I want to say to thank you to the author for writing a great debut book, this had me guessing right to the very end. When the killer was uncovered, I still couldn’t believe it.
I think this author has got a lot to answer for scaring me and keeping me up most nights (even making me wake up early in the morning to read some more lol). Can’t wait to see what happens in the next installment of this series :D

Wednesday 28 December 2016

Miss Kane's Christmas by Caroline Mickelson



With Christmas only three days away, Carol Claus agrees to her father’s request that she leave the North Pole on a mission to help save Christmas. Joining single father Ben Hanson and his children for the holidays seems an easy enough task until Santa informs her that Ben is the man behind the disturbing new book ‘Beyond Bah Humbug: Why Lying to Your Children about Santa Claus is a Bad Idea’. 

Posing as Miss Kane, the children’s new nanny, Carol pulls out all the stops to show Ben how fun Christmas can be, all the while struggling to understand how one man could hate the holidays so much. How could she, Santa’s only daughter, be so attracted to a man who refuses to believe her father exists?

**Please note - this book was formerly titled 'Carol's Christmas'.


This is a lovely Christmassy short story. Santa's daughter Carol Claus is there to help Ben Hanson believe in Santa but wasn't counting on falling in love. 

This will send lovely Christmas tingles down your spine and make it feel like Christmas all over again.

The Language of Dying by Sarah Pinborough



A woman sits beside her father's bedside as the night ticks away the final hours of his life. As she watches over her father, she relives the past week and the events that brought the family together . . . and she recalls all the weeks before that served to pull it apart.

There has never been anything normal about the lives raised in this house. It seems to her that sometimes her family is so colourful that the brightness hurts, and as they all join together in this time of impending loss she examines how they came to be the way they are and how it came to just be her, the drifter, that her father came home to die with.

But, the middle of five children, the woman has her own secrets . . . particularly the draw that pulled her back to the house when her own life looked set to crumble. And sitting through her lonely vigil, she remembers the thing she saw out in the fields all those years ago . . . the thing that they found her screaming for outside in the mud. As she peers through the familiar glass, she can't help but hope and wonder if it will come again.

Because it's one of those night, isn't it dad? A special terrible night. A full night. And that's always when it comes. If it comes at all.
 


I've been meaning to read/listen to this book for a couple of months.

Not keen on 1 of the characters as I want to hit and kill him. The woman (narrator) makes me feel sorry for her as she feels like she's on her own. I've not lost someone to the extent that I've sat with them. But I do know how it feels as I've watched my parents watch their parents pass away. Not something I would wish on anyone as it feels a rather sad and lonely feeling. 

Despair, emptiness and sad for a woman who's the middle child and no one else will look after their dad as he's dying. 

Blood Lines (D.I. Kim Stone #5) by Angela Marsons



How do you catch a killer who leaves no trace? 
A victim killed with a single, precise stab to the heart appears at first glance to be a robbery gone wrong. A caring, upstanding social worker lost to a senseless act of violence. But for Detective Kim Stone, something doesn’t add up. 

When a local drug addict is found murdered with an identical wound, Kim knows instinctively that she is dealing with the same killer. But with nothing to link the two victims except the cold, calculated nature of their death, this could be her most difficult case yet. 

Desperate to catch the twisted individual, Kim’s focus on the case is threatened when she receives a chilling letter from Dr Alex Thorne, the sociopath who Kim put behind bars. And this time, Alex is determined to hit where it hurts most, bringing Kim face-to-face with the woman responsible for the death of Kim’s little brother – her own mother. 

As the body count increases, Kim and her team unravel a web of dark secrets, bringing them closer to the killer. But one of their own could be in mortal danger. Only this time, Kim might not be strong enough to save them… 

A totally gripping thriller that will have you hooked from the very first page to the final, dramatic twist. 


I would like to thank the author and her publishers for allowing me to read the 5th installment of this marvelous series.

I found the characters quite a bit more intriguing this time around. Bringing Alexandra Thorne back is a brilliant idea as you get to see more of the conniving woman as she is behind bars. You even get to meet the woman behind Kim Stone (the woman who made her the way she is today).


I found the story line really plausible as it winds around who killed a social worker and what has that got to do with her mother and Dr Alexandra Thorne. Who is the killer and are they really connected to anything in Kim's private life. All will be revealed in this 5th installment of D.I Kim Stone series.

Sunday 11 December 2016

Abandon Changes by John M. Cusick



Rei's a runner-fast, smart, doesn't ask questions, and keeps her mouth shut about the errands she runs. She doesn't know what's in the packages she delivers and she doesn't care. It's simpler that way. But Rei's soon-to-be-ex, Sam, has gotten under her skin, and she's started thinking about the effects of her errands. Can Rei be close to someone and do her job-and can she make a choice before it's too late? ABANDON CHANGES is a short story by John M. Cusick, set in the same world as his compulsively readable debut novel, GIRL PARTS. This story includes a sneak peek at the first few chapters of GIRL PARTS.

It was ok, found the short story of Rei the runner quite intriguing. Not sure whether I would read the other book the author has written as it didn;t intrigue me enough to read.

East Wind: A deaf mute with secrets to reveal...from the grave by Chris Ash



It’s winter on the North Norfolk coast and the discovery of a girl’s body links a group of people who have had some connection with her, either intimately or through fleeting acquaintance. Among them is a ‘boy soldier’ escaping from a civil war in Africa, the son of a Hungarian émigré and his quest to unlock a family secret, and a hotel waiter who befriends an elderly expat. 

Underpinning the novel’s theme are two love stories, one depicting through a series of letters the ecstasy and then the anguish at the ending of an affair. 
Set in the late 1990s, East Wind is both a description of erosion along the East Coast of England and a metaphor for the frailty of relationships and loss of innocence and trust. 

Caution: Features explicit sexual descriptions and acts of violence. 
This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. 


I was asked to read and review this book by a friend. The author is known to my friend, so I knew I had to read this book. What I thought was a good synopsis but wasn't what I expected the book to be about. 

It took me a while to get into the story due to the style of the writing. I felt like the characters was all over the place, not knowing who is who as well as what they have to do with the story. Very confusing. We only found out who Mary was near the end of the story. 


I found there was some spelling mistakes, the grammar wasn't completely following how I thought the story was going. Would I read this author's other books, depending on the stories I think I would.