Tag Archives: 5 stars

BOOK REVIEW: Girls Night Out by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke

Posted in Reviews, Thriller by

Format: ARC, sent by the publisher
Links: The Book Depository |Goodreads | Amazon UK
Blurb: From the best selling authors, of The Good Widow comes a chilling novel of psychological suspense that will make you think twice about what your best friend may be hiding…

For estranged friends Ashley, Natalie and Lauren, it’s time to heal the old wounds between them. Where better to repair those severed ties than on a girls’ getaway to the beautiful paradise of Tulum, Mexico? But even after they’re reunited, no one is being completed honest about the past or the secrets they’re hiding. When Ashley disappears on their girls’ night out, Natalie and Lauren have to try to piece together their hazy memories to figure out what could have happened to her, while also reconciling their feelings of guilt over their last moments together.

Was Ashley with the man she’d met only days before? Did she pack up and leave? Was she kidnapped? Or worse – could Natalie or Lauren have snapped under the weight of their own lies?

As the clock ticks, hour by hour, Natalie and Lauren’s search rushes headlong into growing suspicion and dread. Maybe their secrets run deeper and more dangerous than one of them is willing – or too afraid – to admit.

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BOOK REVIEW: Bird Box by Josh Malerman

Posted in Horror, Reviews, Thriller by

Format: Library book
Links: Amazon UK | Goodreads
Blurb: Something is out there, something terrifying that must not be seen. One glimpse of it, and a person is driven to deadly violence. No one knows what it is or where it came from.

Five years after it began, a handful of scattered survivors remains, including Malorie and her two young children. Living in an abandoned house near the river, she has dreamed of fleeing to a place where they might be safe. Now that the boy and girl are four, it’s time to go, but the journey ahead will be terrifying: twenty miles downriver in a rowboat–blindfolded–with nothing to rely on but her wits and the children’s trained ears. One wrong choice and they will die. Something is following them all the while, but is it man, animal, or monster?

Interweaving past and present, Bird Box is a snapshot of a world unraveled that will have you racing to the final page.

Review: I honestly couldn’t tell you the last time I read a good horror novel (before this one of course). Which is a shame because I love horror movies, I love being scared and letting my imagination run wild! I found out about Bird Box from a video by YouTuber Katie Snooks and I loved the sound of it so I picked up a copy from the library to give it a go and see whether she was talking any sense! She was. My God she was. This book consumed me for more or less an entire day; it demanded to be read from start to finish and I could not put it down.

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BOOK REVIEW: Her Name Was Rose by Claire Allan @ClaireAllan @AvonBooksUK

Posted in Reviews, Thriller by

Format: ARC, NetGalley
Links: Amazon UK | Goodreads
Publication date: 28th June 2018
Blurb: Her name was Rose. You watched her die. And her death has created a vacancy. 

When Emily lets a stranger step out in front of her, she never imagines that split second will change her life. But after Emily watches a car plough into the young mother – killing her instantly – she finds herself unable to move on.

And then she makes a decision she can never take back.

Because Rose had everything Emily had ever dreamed of. A beautiful, loving family, a great job and a stunning home. And now Rose’s husband misses his wife, and their son needs a mother. Why couldn’t Emily fill that space?

But as Emily is about to discover, no one’s life is perfect… and not everything is as it seems. Continue reading →

BOOK REVIEW: How To Be Happy by Eva Woods

Posted in Fiction, Reviews by

Format: Kindle, Bought
Links: Goodreads | Amazon UK
Blurb: Annie Hebden is stuck. Stuck in her boring job, with her irritating roommate, in a life no thirty-five-year-old would want. But deep down, Annie is still mourning the terrible loss that tore a hole through the perfect existence she’d once taken for granted—and hiding away is safer than remembering what used to be. Until she meets the eccentric Polly Leonard.

Bright, bubbly, intrusive Polly is everything Annie doesn’t want in a friend. But Polly is determined to finally wake Annie up to life. Because if recent events have taught Polly anything, it’s that your time is too short to waste a single day—which is why she wants Annie to join her on a mission…

One hundred days. One hundred new ways to be happy. Annie’s convinced it’s impossible, but so is saying no to Polly. And on an unforgettable journey that will force her to open herself to new experiences—and perhaps even new love with the unlikeliest of men—Annie will slowly begin to realize that maybe, just maybe, there’s still joy to be found in the world. But then it becomes clear that Polly’s about to need her new friend more than ever…and Annie will have to decide once and for all whether letting others in is a risk worth taking. Continue reading →

BOOK REVIEW: The House Swap by Rebecca Fleet @RebeccaLFleet @PoppyStimpson @TransworldBooks #TheHouseSwap

Posted in Reviews, Thriller by

Format: Uncorrected proof copy – supplied by publishers
Links: Goodreads | Amazon UK
Blurb: ‘No one lives this way unless they want to hide something.’

When Caroline and Francis receive an offer to house swap, they jump at the chance for a week away from home. After the difficulties of the past few years, they’ve worked hard to rebuild their marriage for their son’s sake; now they want to reconnect as a couple.

On arrival, they find a house that is stark and sinister in its emptiness – it’s hard to imagine what kind of person lives here. Then, gradually, Caroline begins to uncover some signs of life – signs of her life. The flowers in the bathroom or the music in the CD player might seem innocent to her husband but to her they are anything but. It seems the person they have swapped with is someone she used to know; someone she’s desperate to leave in her past.

But that person is now in her home – and they want to make sure she’ll never forget

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BOOK REVIEW: My Sister by Michelle Adams #BlogTour @Phoebe_Swinburn @MAdamswriter

Posted in Reviews, Thriller by

Format: Paperback, ARC for blog tour
Links: Goodreads | Amazon UK
Blurb: Families should stay together. What happened that day ripped mine apart.

A successful doctor, with a loving boyfriend, Irini Harringford is finally happy. But when Elle tracks her down, everything starts to unravel.

Irini knows only too well what her sister is capable of. However, her desperate need for answers drags her back to a shocking past.

She always thought her family didn’t want her. What if the truth is even worse?

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BOOK REVIEW: The Last Laugh by Tracy Bloom @bookouture @TracyBBloom

Posted in Fiction, Reviews by

Format: eBook, NetGalley
Links: Goodreads | Amazon UK
Blurb: Jenny discovers her days are numbered at the same time she discovers her husband is having an affair… 

Frankly, her life was tough enough already. Two tricky teenagers, her mother’s constant complaints, friends who aren’t up to the job and a career which has been spiralling downwards since she won ‘Sunseeker Tour Rep of the Season’ twenty years ago.

And now this: a cheating husband and a death sentence.

Enough is enough. Jenny vows to keep both catastrophes a secret. She takes her life – and death – into her own hands and decides to live as she did when she was happiest… in 1996. She plans a spectacular 1990’s themed party in place of a wake that she herself will attend. But will she be able to keep her secrets for long enough to have the party of a lifetime?  Continue reading →

BOOK REVIEW: Life to the Limit: My Autobiography by Jenson Button

Posted in Non-fiction, Reviews by

Format: Hardback, Christmas present
Links: Goodreads | Amazon UK
Blurb: Jenson Button is one of the greatest racing drivers of his generation. His seventeen years in Formula 1 have seen him experience everything the sport has to offer, from nursing underpowered cars around the track to winning World Championships and everything in between.

Here, Jenson tells his full story for the first time in his own honest, intelligent and eloquent style. From growing up as part of a motor-racing-mad family under the guidance of his father, John, to arriving at Williams as a fresh-faced 20 year-old, to being written off by some as a playboy and his fight back to the very pinnacle of his sport. Jenson’s World Championship victory for the unsponsored and unfancied Brawn GP team is one of the most extraordinary against-the-odds sports stories of the century.

Jenson’s book lifts the lid on the gilded and often hidden world of Formula 1. He reveals his relationships with some of the biggest names in Formula 1- Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso as well some of the most colourful characters like Flavio Briatore, Ron Dennis, Frank Williams and serial winner Ross Brawn. Above all, he puts you right inside the cockpit, in the driving seat, travelling at over 200 miles per hour, battling the fear of death, showing you what happens when it goes wrong at high speed and allowing you to experience the euphoria of crossing the line first. Continue reading →

BOOK REVIEW: Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

Posted in Reviews, Young Adult by

Format: Hardback – purchased
Links: Amazon UK | Goodreads
Blurb: Sixteen-year-old Aza never intended to pursue the mystery of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Russell Pickett’s son, Davis.

Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts.

In his long-awaited return, John Green, the acclaimed, award-winning author of Looking for Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars, shares Aza’s story with shattering, unflinching clarity in this brilliant novel of love, resilience, and the power of lifelong friendship.

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Book review: The Doll House by Phoebe Morgan @Phoebe_A_Morgan @HQDigitalUK

Posted in Reviews, Thriller by

Format: eBook, NetGalley
Links: Amazon UK | Goodreads
Blurb: You never know who’s watching…

Corinne’s life might look perfect on the outside, but after three failed IVF attempts it’s her last chance to have a baby. And when she finds a tiny part of a doll house outside her flat, it feels as if it’s a sign.

But as more pieces begin to turn up, Corinne realises that they are far too familiar. Someone knows about the miniature rocking horse and the little doll with its red velvet dress. Someone has been inside her house…

How does the stranger know so much about her life? How long have they been watching? And what are they waiting for…?

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