Review Copies

 

Lost for Words by Stephanie Butland (NetGalley due 20/4/17)

Spiky, sardonic, and reclusive Loveday Cardew prefers books to people. If you look carefully you might glimpse the first lines of the novels she loves the most tattooed on her skin. But there are secrets that Loveday will never share …

Fifteen years ago, in one unspeakable, violent moment, Loveday lost all she knew and loved. Now, she finds refuge in the enchanting little book emporium where she works.

But something shifts for Loveday when a performance poet comes in to the shop, looking for something he lost. Between them, there’s a spark  . .

Not long after Nathan’s arrival, mysterious packages begin arriving for Loveday. Each one contains a seemingly unremarkable book. But each book stirs unsettling memories for her – some bittersweet, some too painful to bear.
It seems someone knows. Someone is trying to send Loveday a message, and she can’t hide any longer.

It’s time for Loveday to take charge of how her story unfolds. She must decide who around her she can truly trust and find the courage to right a heartbreaking wrong. And if she does, she might just find her way home . . .

 

Kindle Purchases

 

The Beachside Sweet Shop by Karen Clarke (Pre-order for 99p)

Chocolate fudge, butterscotch and raspberry bonbons… treat yourself to some sugary treats, a big slice of friendship and a sprinkling of romance at The Beachside Sweet Shop.

When Marnie Appleton inherited a sweet shop from her grandfather she was determined to do his legacy proud. The shop has been a much-loved feature of the little seaside town of Shipley for years, but now Marnie needs to bring it up to date, and she’s recruited gorgeous new assistant Josh to help.

Marnie gets busy redecorating the shop and choosing delicious new sweets to stock, but things are never that simple: new neighbour Isobel, a fame-hungry blogger, is on a crusade against sugar, and she’ll go to any lengths to secure bad publicity for Marnie’s shop.

Marnie fights back with homemade sugar-free treats, but with her best friend Beth heavily pregnant, her grandmother Celia recovering from an operation, and her very recently ex-boyfriend Alex returning to Shipley with a new love, Marnie has a lot on her plate.

And then there’s Josh, with whom Marnie is struggling to keep her relationship strictly professional…Will both the sweet shop and love flourish?

 

The Corner Shop of Whispers by Debbie Viggiano (On pre-order 99p)

Romantic Florrie, scatty Daisy and snobby Alison are neighbours, living their married lives in the tiny English village of Lower Amblegate where everyone knows everybody. Together the three friends share laughter, tears, and things they wouldn’t want anybody else knowing. But unbeknownst to them, a scandal is brewing.

As rumours circulate, the gossips go into overdrive, rocking marriages and revealing the women have much more in common than just neighbourly bonds…

 

The Tears of the Rajas by Ferdinand Mount (99p)

The Tears of the Rajas is a sweeping history of the British in India, seen through the experiences of a single Scottish family. For a century the Lows of Clatto survived mutiny, siege, debt and disease, everywhere from the heat of Madras to the Afghan snows. They lived through the most appalling atrocities and retaliated with some of their own. Each of their lives, remarkable in itself, contributes to the story of the whole fragile and imperilled, often shockingly oppressive and devious but now and then heroic and poignant enterprise.

On the surface, John and Augusta Low and their relations may seem imperturbable, but in their letters and diaries they often reveal their loneliness and desperation and their doubts about what they are doing in India. The Lows are the family of the author’s grandmother, and a recurring theme of the book is his own discovery of them and of those parts of the history of the British in India which posterity has preferred to forget.

The book brings to life not only the most dramatic incidents of their careers – the massacre at Vellore, the conquest of Java, the deposition of the boy-king of Oudh, the disasters in Afghanistan, the Reliefs of Lucknow and Chitral – but also their personal ordeals: the bankruptcies in Scotland and Calcutta, the plagues and fevers, the deaths of children and deaths in childbirth. And it brings to life too the unrepeatable strangeness of their lives: the camps and the palaces they lived in, the balls and the flirtations in the hill stations, and the hot slow rides through the dust. An epic saga of love, war, intrigue and treachery, The Tears of the Rajas is surely destined to become a classic of its kind.

 

The Murder Road by Stephen Booth (99p)

Ben Cooper and his team from Derbyshire Constabulary’s E Division return in this gripping new page-turner from the master of the genre.

For the Peak District hamlet of Shawhead, there’s only one road in and one road out. Its handful of residents are accustomed to being cut off from the world by snow or floods. But when a lorry delivering animal feed is found jammed in the narrow lane, with no sign of the driver except for a blood-stained cab, it’s the beginning of something much more sinister…

 

Golden Earrings by Belinda Alexandra (99p)

A powerful saga of family love, honour and betrayal, set in Barcelona in the lead-up to the Civil War and Paris in the 1970s

Let me tell you a story…The granddaughter of Spanish refugees, who fled Barcelona after the Civil War, Paloma Batton is an attentive student of the Paris Opera Ballet, that is, until she is visited by a ghost …

Leaving her a mysterious gift – a pair of golden earrings – the ghost disappears, setting Paloma off on a quest.

Paloma’s exploration of her Spanish heritage, leads to a connection between the visitor and ‘la Rusa’, a woman who died in Paris in 1952, known for her rapid rise from poverty to flamenco star. Although her death was ruled a suicide, Paloma soon discovers that many people had reasons for wanting la Rusa dead… including Paloma’s own grandmother.

Golden Earringstravels between Barcelona: before the Civil War, and Paris in the 1970s. It is a story of passion and betrayal, and the extremes two women will go to for love.

 

À Bientôt by Patricia Dixon (99p)

A moving story of betrayal and loss and how against the odds, once the past is laid to rest you can learn to trust, love and live again. Set on the coast of Portsmouth and the beautiful Loire Valley, this is the story of Anna, married mother of three, the unremarkable rock of her family who is quite content with her life until by accident, she discovers that Matthew, her husband of 22 years is having an affair. Two months later he is dead. Consumed by hurt and tainted memories, Anna’s life is turned upside down by loss and betrayal, her confidence totally destroyed and the tormenting spectre of Matthew’s unknown lover is ever present; so whilst keeping the secret of his affair from her family, Anna must find her way alone. With one son on the other side of the world, another about to enter a war zone and her daughter off to university, her life gradually begins to crumble until she is saved by her feisty loyal childhood friend Jeannie. Step by step Anna embarks on an emotional and inspirational journey which takes her to rural France where she makes new friends, experiences country life and is unexpectedly given the chance to love again.

 

Reunited by Daniel Gothard (99p)

1992, and Ben Tallis is coming to terms with the recent death of his father. His ability to cope isn’t helped by the fact he’s secretly in love with one of his best friends. At least keeping a daily journal helps him make sense of events, and he believes it’s the perfect preparation for his plan to one day become a successful journalist.

2012 and Ben has achieved his career ambition – he’s a highly respected journalist and is engaged to a hardworking and ambitious lawyer. But this seemingly ‘perfect’ relationship is fraught with problems. Ben mentions in passing to his editor he has received an invitation to a 20 year school reunion but doesn’t want to go. His editor however smells a great feature article and insists Ben returns home, faces his past – including his secret teenage yearning – and writes a feature on how much we change, and yet in so many ways stay the same.

As Ben reluctantly re-engages with his past he soon comes to realise that we can never run from the truth…or who we truly are.

 

Kindle Freebies

 

Silver by Mark L Fowler

A writer murdered.

A reader with a dangerous obsession. 

A killer who shouldn’t exist. 

When romance novelist Joy Haversham is murdered she leaves behind a husband, daughter and Silver,  a disturbing, unfinished manuscript the publishing world are desperate to read. But her grieving husband,  Roger, refuses to allow publication. Roger wants to lock himself away with his memories. But the fans have other ideas.

Nick Slater, a former reporter and successful novelist who covered the trial, remains obsessed with the unanswered questions surrounding Joy’s death. Determined to learn the truth Nick finds himself in trouble. And the evidence he will find is … impossible.

 

Beyond the Lens by Hannah Ellis

When twenty-six-year-old Lucy Mitchell loses her job, she momentarily loses her mind too and agrees to take part in a reality TV show. Before she knows it she’s jetting off to a piece of paradise on a beautiful Spanish island.

Much to her surprise, Lucy makes new friends and has the time of her life, even indulging in a behind-the-scenes romance with a hunky cameraman.

Convinced the production will never make it to the screen, Lucy returns home on cloud nine, but soon finds that things are not   always as they seem.

 

Lazy Blood by Ross Greenwood

Will has drifted through life paying little attention to the decisions he made or the consequences of his action.

From his prison cell he finally understands how his casual descent into serious crime threatens to destroy everything.

Looking back over thirty years Will examines his friendships, the frailty of life and how your world can fall apart in the blink of an eye. 

This laugh out loud and harrowing drama follows the story of an average man and explores what goes on behind prisons walls. 

Full of very real characters and no nonsense prose this book is not to be missed.

 

The School of Dreams by Julia Sutton

Sophie is a beautiful housewife on the brink of a midlife crisis, unhappy with her errant husband. Juliette, a romantic and passionate optimist, struggles to make ends meet in a society that stereotypes single mothers.

Evelyn, a shy and modest novelist is looking for the university to help her step out of the shadows. Ann, after being disabled after a serious accident, yearns for fulfillment in a cruel world that has robbed her of happiness.

And then there’s Will – a rebellious and idealistic teenager, who longs to sever the shackles of family and religion.

As five paths collide in a story of empowerment, romance and quest for fulfillment, they’re presented with the same question: what is your dream?

 

 

Tequila & Tea Bags by Laura Barnard

Sent to live with her cousin Elsie in the Yorkshire countryside, Rose has only one thing on her mind; joining her friends as a club rep in Mexico.

When she hears about a council incentive offering the promise of free flights to the person who clocks the most volunteering hours at the local care home, she’s got her plan set.
But she doesn’t plan on bonding with the old ladies, going after the village bad boy and trying to persuade Elsie not to become a Nun.

Soon she’s questioning who her real friends are and whether her old life is one she wants to return to.

Can the village win her over and will she win the chance to leave it behind? Will she even want to?

 

Charity Shop Buys

Time to Say Goodbye by S D Robertson

The Moment by Douglas Kennedy

Open House by Jill Mansell