Monday 18 March 2024

#Blogtour In the Lives of Puppets by T.J. Klune

It's a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour In the Lives of Puppets by T.J. Klune.

'Inspired by Carlo Collodi’s The Adventures of Pinocchio, In the Lives of Puppets is a masterful standalone fantasy adventure from the author who brought you The House in the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering Door.'

About the Author

TJ Klune is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling, Lambda Literary Award winning author of Under the Whispering Door, The House in the Cerulean Sea, The Extraordinaries, Wolfsong and more. Being queer himself, TJ believes it’s important now more than ever – to have accurate, positive, queer representation in stories. Follow @tjklunebooks on Instagram

About the book

In a small home, built into the branches of a tree, live a human named Victor and three robots. These are a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, a small vacuum desperate for love and attention, and a fatherly inventor-android named Giovanni Lawson. Together they’re a family, hidden and safe.

Then Vic salvages an unfamiliar android labelled ‘HAP’. He learns that Hap and Gio share a dark past, where they hunted humans. And Hap unwittingly gives away Gio’s location. Before they know it, robots from Gio’s former life arrive – to capture and return the android to his old laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams.

The rest of the unconventional family must travel across an unforgiving and otherworldly country to rescue Gio from decommissioning. Or worse, reprogramming. Along the way, Vic must decide if he can handle his feelings for Hap – even if they come with strings attached.

Review

Without downplaying the aspects of the great classic Pinocchio or rather the retelling under the umbrella of a dystopian lens, I do think the concept is much more and pulls from a variety of ethical, futuristic and emotionally charged ideas. If I'm being entirely honest I think the umbrella of the aforementioned classic doesn't do this tentacled exploration of humanity, love, friendship, parenthood and the cold hard truth of the cost of technological advancement, true justice.

Nurse Ratched, an interesting one to say the least. Developed with what can only be described as the traits of a bloodthirsty serial killer with the odd tendency to care and nurse. Favourite occupation: trying to harm, dismember and/or torture Rambo. Rambo is the complete opposite, a people-pleasing vacuum droid who reacts with fear and compassion. The two of them are complete opposite sides of the spectrum. In fact when you take all five, they appear to reflect the variety of human characteristics, whilst some do so in combination with their actual lack of true human response.

Circling round the beginning and the end one could ask the question of chicken and egg, the development, invention and programming just makes them variation of the same core, right? In the midst of it all the tender strands of a blossoming love become entangled in the truth about where HAP came from and who they are, the question is whether there is a way forward beyond the Frankensteinesque past of Gio.

It's a riveting nuanced piece of work, which plays with the idea of coming-of-age within the boundaries of a non-human world. The discovery of self, which includes a tempered version of intimacy. The overriding theme is one of destruction, and the solitude of the remains of society.

Buy In The Lives of Puppets at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher ‏: ‎Tor; pub date 14 Mar. 2024. Buy at Amazon com.

Monday 11 March 2024

#Blogtour The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder by C.L. Miller

It's a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder by C.L. Miller.

About the Author

Cara Miller started working Life in publishing as an editorial assistant for her mother, Judith Miller, on the Miller’s Antique Price Guide to Europe before she went into hospitality and events. After she had children, she decided to follow her long-held dream of becoming an author and began writing full-time. She was an Undiscovered Voices winner in 2022 and was showcased in the UV 2022 anthology. She lives in a medieval cottage in Suffolk with her family. Follow @CLMillerAuthor on X

'This book was written in consultation with international antiques expert Judith Miller (1951–2023), a regular specialist on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow. Judith was also the co-founder of the bestselling annual Miller’s Antiques Price Guide, which started in 1979. She went on to write more than 120 books on antiques and interiors.'

About the book

What Antique would you kill for? 

Freya, it’s down to you to finish what I started . . . - Freya Lockwood has avoided the quaint English village in which she grew up for the last twenty years. That is until news arrives that Arthur Crockleford, antiques dealer and Freya’s estranged mentor, has died . . . and the circumstances seem suspicious.

You will uncover a reservation, I implore you to attend . . . - But when a letter from Arthur is delivered, sent just days before his death, and an ordinary pine chest concealing Arthur’s journals, including reservations in her name, are revealed, Freya finds herself sucked back into a life she’d sworn to leave behind.

But beware, trust no one. Your life depends on it . . . - Joining forces with her eccentric Aunt Carole, Arthur’s staunch best friend, Freya follows both clues and her instincts to an old manor house for an ‘antiques enthusiasts’ weekend’. But not is all as it seems; the antiques are bad reproductions, and the other guests are menacing and secretive.

Can Freya and Carole solve the mystery surrounding the weekend before a killer strikes again?


Review

What antique would you kill for? Seems like such a simple question and premise, but when I started to think about it - about what kind of antique could create the kind of obsession and need to posses that could result in killing someone for it. The first step was determining what kind of item would have such a pull on me. I agree that provenance would be a major factor, but I am equally invested in great things of beauty, creation with an elusive quality. 

The past few decades have been quiet in comparison to the life Freya Lockwood once led, but she finds it difficult to put the past and antiques dealer Arthur Crockleford's offences behind her. His death doesn't bother her, but being thrust back into the past is a trigger. What is even more annoying is the way Arthur has left a mystery to solve - for her to solve, which is a direct path back into a life she once lived.

It's the kind of concept I would love to see on the small screen with the sleuthing duo of Frey and Aunt Carole on the hunt for a different antique every season. Whilst we wait for that there is more to come from this enigmatic and determined pair in Death on the Red Sea.

I would start a treasure hunt for certain items, okay perhaps quite a few items - would I kill for one of them though? It's probably one of those questions best left unanswered, just in case I preemptively incriminate myself. Just saying.

Buy The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Published by Pan MacMillan, pub date 29th February £16.99 Hardback. Buy at Amazon com.

Sunday 10 March 2024

#Blogtour Green Ray by O.C. Heaton


It's a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour Green Ray by O.C. Heaton - this is the second book in The Race is On series (the first is Leap). And the tour for Atom Inc, the third book in the trilogy is in just over a week.

About the Author
'I write what I love to read - big issue thrillers that are super well researched inside a complex plot full of twists and turns.

The result of the above is The Race Is On Series, an idea I had on a trip to Iceland. The first in the series is called LEAP, which tells the tale of a device which has the power to halt global warming. The ensuing race to control the power of this machine will continue throughout the sequel to LEAP which I’m well on my way to completing. It's called Green Ray and will be published in May 2023.

Just like LEAP, the 2nd book weaves fact with fiction and encompasses events such as the 2009 global financial meltdown, Al Qaeda, a new US President and a cornered CIA; another delightful concoction around which I have constructed another tall, but hopefully credible, tale. Watch this space!'

I live in Leeds, UK with the love of my life and our two daughters. It rains a lot in Leeds but that works out well for me - loads of time for research and of course writing!  Follow @OCHeaton on X, @ocheaton on Instagram, Visit Website : ocheaton.com


About the book

No good deed goes unpunished... - Six years after the near-catastrophic hijacking of LEAP, Uma Jakobsdóttir is determined to find a safer path to environmental salvation. So, with her father’s invention back under wraps, Uma turns her attention to the $85 billion-dollar Green Ray fund with the intention of renewing the planet — minus any teleportation.

But when the capabilities of LEAP are discovered by the U.S. government, it sets its sights on using the device to protect the country against economic collapse. When the White House proposes a new set of rules for LEAP — ones which would only allow the teleportation of goods, not people — Uma's objections are steamrolled by powerful forces.

Then the President’s life is endangered, and the rules of the game suddenly shift again — leaving Uma in ethical turmoil as she races to stop the full power of LEAP from being unleashed on an unsuspecting world…


Review

With the events of the prior disaster involving LEAP far behind her, Uma is surprised, but not concerned when the US government demands her presence. Their idea of how to use her technology however is something she isn't on board with. They don't leave her with much choice - the word blackmail comes to mind. And all bets are off when the President's life comes under threat, that complicates matters a little.

In the first book of the Race is On trilogy I think the reader gets introduced to the power of ideas in combination with futuristic advancements, perhaps equally to the greed and power struggles it evokes in people. Also, perhaps the realisation that with great ideas often come consequences, that positive and negative often walk hand-in-hand. The question is what are we, or in this case Uma, willing to risk as collateral - if indeed any at all.

In this second book the author wanders quite succinctly between the corridors of political power, the sway such people have, and that at the end of the day greed, corruption, and even making cutthroat decisions in the name of humanity or keeping a country or the world safe - is often no different than when criminals are making the same choices. The double-edged sword of Uma's technology is there is no guarantee whomever wields it will do so with the best intention.

I really enjoy the way the author melds in current issues into this concept that has such a vast reach, but simultaneously creates realistic scenarios within the futuristic scope. There is a clear understanding of day-to-day issues for the common person and how the decisions of the upper echelon have an impact on those lives, whilst clearly not comprehending or wanting to understand the impact.

I'm looking forward to the third part in the trilogy - will LEAP end up being part of a bigger better solution or is the risk of misuse just too great?

Buy Green Ray at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher ‏: ‎Rookwood Publishing pub date 25 July 2023. Buy at Amazon com.

Friday 1 March 2024

#Blogtour A Bookshop of One's Own by Jane Cholmeley

 It's a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour A Bookshop of One's Own by Jane Cholmeley - How a group of women set out to change the world.

About the Author

Jane Cholmeley is a key figure in the history of British feminism. Sandi Toksvig nominated Jane as a Gay Icon in the National Portrait Gallery’s exhibition of that name in 2009 and Jacqueline Wilson named Jane her feminist icon in Stylist, 2018.

About the book

Silver Moon was the dream of three women – a bookshop with the mission to promote the work of female writers and create a much-needed safe space for any woman. Founded in 1980s London against a backdrop of homophobia and misogyny, it was a testament to the power of community, growing into Europe’s biggest women’s bookshop and hosting a constellation of literary stars from Margaret Atwood and Maya Angelou to Angela Carter. 

While contending with day-to-day struggles common to other booksellers, plus the additional burdens of misogyny and the occasional hate crime, Jane Cholmeley and her booksellers created a thriving business. But they also played a crucial and relatively unsung part in one the biggest social movements of our time.

 A Bookshop of One’s Own is a fascinating slice of social history from a true feminist and lesbian icon. Written with heart and humour, it reveals the struggle and joy that comes with starting an underdog business, while being a celebration of the power women have to change the narrative when they are the ones holding the pen.

Review

For me the true testament of the impact Silver Moon has had, and of course the women within it, are the Legacy statements. The beautiful, emotional, heart-wrenchingly honest paragraphs from people who have connected with the bookshop, the place of safety, the mirror of self, and of course the championing of women.

It's a bit like its own microcosm of resistance, trying to ensure voices are heard and opening up a space where you can feel seen, heard and accepted. I love the fact it's is also called a sanctuary. A place of exploration, openness, and learning. It certainly is a legacy.

It's a lovely book. Inspirational and poignant, especially from an historical point of view. The magic of a bookshop is an element that is a driver, however the feminist movement built within those walls makes it a powerhouse, and the open-armed culture for the LGBT community makes it a haven.

It's a remarkable story, hopefully this book (which has a beautiful hardcover) will allow a larger audience to partake from the strength, solidarity and sisterhood within the walls of this very special place.

Buy A Bookshop of One's Own at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Mudlark, pub date 29th February 2024 - Hardback - £16.99. 

Thursday 29 February 2024

#Blogtour Leap by O.C. Heaton

It's a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour Leap by O.C. Heaton, the first book in The Race is On series.

About the Author

I write what I love to read - big issue thrillers that are super well researched inside a complex plot full of twists and turns.

The result of the above is The Race Is On Series, an idea I had on a trip to Iceland. The first in the series is called LEAP, which tells the tale of a device which has the power to halt global warming. The ensuing race to control the power of this machine will continue throughout the sequel to LEAP which I’m well on my way to completing. It's called Green Ray and will be published in May 2023.

Just like LEAP, the 2nd book weaves fact with fiction and encompasses events such as the 2009 global financial meltdown, Al Qaeda, a new US President and a cornered CIA; another delightful concoction around which I have constructed another tall, but hopefully credible, tale. Watch this space!

I live in Leeds, UK with the love of my life and our two daughters. It rains a lot in Leeds but that works out well for me - loads of time for research and of course writing! Follow @OCHeaton on X, @ocheaton on Instagram, Visit Website : ocheaton.com


About the book

Ethan Rae is known for his billions, but his latest business venture is about to really put him on the map: a quantum teleportation system that would solve global warming for good. Known as LEAP, the system is capable of providing Earth’s ultimate second chance...until it falls into the wrong hands.

When playboy CEO Samuel Reynolds III snatches LEAP out from under Ethan’s nose, he adds insult to injury by attempting to destroy Ethan’s business partner, Uma Jakobsdóttir. But this is no malicious whim. As the daughter of its creator, Uma enforces the LEAP Laws.

Because of its potentially devastating capabilities, LEAP users must not clone people, revive the dead, or merge minds and species. But in the race to recover their precious piece of tech, Ethan and Uma are faced with sacrifices that push their resolve to breaking point.

From the frozen wastelands of Iceland, to the leafy suburbs of London and the mean streets of New York City, LEAP is a technothriller that will keep you questioning what it means to be human.


Review

Uma believes Ethan is the right money-man to approach to bring Leap to the people, and to ensure it is put to use for the good of the survival of mankind. The only problem with that train of thought is that Uma doesn't realise what some people will do for the most innovative and powerful invention of this century. Just imagine what damage it could do in the wrong hands, the ability to move... err I'll let you find that out for yourselves.

It's a fast-paced speculative environmental thriller which balances the greed of capitalism, thirst for power and ruthless people with little thought for the future, with the attempt to make the world abide by some moral standards or code of ethics. Good luck with that when it comes to profit margins and the search for complete control.

The author lets aspects of science, spirituality, and the pure excitement of discovery come together and meld itself into a constantly moving and changing concept. Time and place become interchangeable and are no longer a constant known measurable quantity and wander into the realms of unknown variable.

Kudos to the author for presenting the science in a way that everyone can comprehend without ever losing the complexity of the concept. Not an easy feat. Usually one or the other has to give little. I am looking forward to the next in the series.

Buy Leap at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher ‏: ‎Rookwood Publishing, pub date 4 Aug. 2022. Buy at Amazon com. 

#PublicationDay The Long and Winding Road by Lesley Pearse

Happy Publication Day! - From the No.1 bestselling author Lesley Pearce comes her own unforgettable story - The Long and Winding Road.

Pic credit/copyright: Charlotte Murphy

About the Author

Lesley Pearse is one of the world’s leading storytellers with numerous No.1 bestsellers to her name and fans who span the globe. A Lesley Pearse book is sold every 4 minutes in the UK and with sales of over 10 million copies, she has dominated the bestseller charts for the last 30 years. Yet Lesley’s success is all the more remarkable because her first book wasn’t published until she was 48, and until that moment, her life was more incredible than any fiction. 

Lesley now lives in Torquay, Devon where she loves to spend time walking on the beach with her grandchildren. A fantastic speaker and committed and passionate fundraiser for the NSPCC, Lesley is a much sought-after guest at literary lunches, library events and festivals up and down the country.

About the book

Born in Kent during the Second World War, Lesley’s life changed irrevocably when a neighbour found her, aged 3, coatless in the snow. The mother she’d been unable to wake had been dead for days. Separated from her brother, and sent to an orphanage, Lesley soon learned adults couldn’t always be trusted, and certainly weren’t always kind. With her father in the Royal Marines, Lesley spent three years alone before her father remarried and Lesley and her older brother were brought home again. They were joined by two other children who were later adopted by her father and stepmother, and a continuing stream of foster children.  

Life at home was difficult and, aged just 15, Lesley headed to London determined to forge a better life for herself. Naïve and innocent, yet always resourceful (a trait that has served her well all her life), she worked her way through many jobs before finding herself pregnant. Sent to a mother and baby home, she was determined to keep her son, before realising she couldn’t give him the life he deserved. Aged just six months, Lesley gave her beautiful son, Warren, up for adoption. She would look for him for the next 50 years.  

The pain of such profound loss haunted Lesley, and she threw herself headlong into the hedonistic world of the ‘swinging sixties’ sharing flats, working hard (promotional work, retail, Bunny Girl), and partying harder, often with East End gangsters and musicians. A short-lived first marriage, was followed by a second to John, a talented trumpeter who played with Dusty Springfield, Lulu and David Bowie (Lesley even inspired lines in Bowie’s A Couple of Kooks). As the 60s turned into the 70s, Lesley found a longed-for sense of home and the start of the decade saw the birth of their daughter, Lucy and a record deal for John. The future looked bright but then the house they lived in was sold – ironically to become a homeless shelter – and the family found themselves homeless. John lost his record deal and his mental health began to suffer. Times were desperate and John became increasingly unwell, until Lesley had no choice but to have him sectioned. They eventually parted.  

Alone once again, and with a small child to support, it was while hitch-hiking to a job interview that Lesley was to meet her third husband, Nigel. She moved to Bristol, had daughters Sammy and Jo and set up a gift shop. It was only then that she began to write and 
the rest, as they say, is history. 

Told with Lesley’s trademark warmth, wit and poignancy, The Long and Winding Road is the extraordinary story of a remarkable woman fighting against the odds to achieve her dreams, and finally winning. Follow @LesleyPearse on X, Visit penguin.co.uk/lesley-pearse

Review

If you have ever wondered where Lesley gets her inspiration for her writing and stories, then reading this should explain a few things. Experiences and memories grow into written tales that engage many readers. The good, the painful, the bad, the ugly and the moments of pure joy somewhere in the middle of all the chaos.

And it does seem quite chaotic at times, probably because there is a lot to tell the reader and not enough pages or time to fit it in. Equally it also seems as if the author has disassociated at a certain level, which makes it easier to deliver facts or her experiences at a factual level without letting them, herself and us be overwhelmed by the emotional impact of many difficult and traumatic events.

Aside from choosing what she hoped would be a safer more secure path for her child, Lesley is changed by the traumatic experience of having a child and giving them up. Simultaneously she also glosses over the tragedy of the loss of her mother, the abandonment by the father and other family members, and the neglect and abuse her new mother is responsible for. It's a miracle she didn't let it all break her.

I think her childhood forged coping mechanisms, lack of trust, and the lack of empathy and love is pivotal when it comes to creating meaningful and lasting relationships. Inadvertently creating patterns of chaos, self soothing behaviours and living alone surrounded by many others.

It's an incredibly open experience and certainly one her readers will enjoy.

Buy The Long and Winding Road at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Published by Penguin Michael Joseph| pub date 29th February 2024 price £22.00 in hardback. 

Thursday 22 February 2024

#Blogtour The Sleeping Beauties by Lucy Ashe

 It's my turn on the Blogtour The Sleeping Beauties by Lucy Ashe.

About the Author

After training at the Royal Ballet School for eight years, Lucy Ashe decided to change career plans and go to university, where she read English Literature before doing a PGCE teaching qualification, and she is now a teacher. Her poetry and short stories have been published in a number of literary journals and she was shortlisted for the 2020 Impress Prize for New Writers. Follow @LSAshe1 on X

About the book

May, 1945. - At long last, Rosamund Caradon is feeling optimistic. As she returns the last few evacuees to London from her Devonshire manor, she vows to protect dance obsessed daughter Jasmine from further peril. But a chance meeting with a Sadler’s Wells ballerina changes everything. 

When the beautiful, elusive Briar Woods bursts into Rosamund’s train carriage, it’s clear her sights are set on the immediately captivated Jasmine. And Rosamund cannot shake the feeling this accidental encounter is not what it seems. 

While Briar may be far away from the pointe shoes and greasepaint of the Sleeping Beauty ballet that is so much a part of her, this performance might well be her most successful yet. For what she is watching, Rosamund feels, is a strangely unique show, one that’s just for a mother and a daughter… 


Review

Not going to lie, this started out as a bit of a chaotic read for me. It opened up (digital) on the prologue, which I thought was a great beginning to a serial killer murder - in my defence I had forgotten the blurb and the title sounded like a catchy crime story. Then the first chapter - Act 1, it's war refugees being returned to their homes. Confused, I go back to before the prologue to read Stage Notes, then return to Act 1 for the mysterious and intense ballerina, who has now joined us. To be fair the glaringly obvious references should have been a clue.

Rosamund and her daughter Jasmine meet the persistent and intriguing Briar, whilst returning to London. Something about Briar triggers a gut reaction of concern in Rosamund, something just isn't right about this young woman, who like Jasmine is a lover of ballet. Briar burrows her way into the relationship between mother and daughter, but why?

Throughout the story there is a constant redefining of what motherhood is and whether being a mother is always the bog standard version of what society expects. Is knowing the truth about who you are always the right answer?

It's a good read, which gives great insight into the passion, work ethic and the almost obsessive dedication to ballet. How the world within it becomes its own microcosm of beauty, grace, art and expression. Perhaps also on a bigger scale how moments of pure beauty can bring a little joy in the most difficult of situations.

On a side note, there are no serial killers in the story at all, although I stand by the fact the prologue and title sound like a great idea for a crime novel.

Buy The Sleeping Beauties at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Published by Magpie, pub date 15th February 2024 - Hardback £16.99. Buy at Amazon com.