#BlogTour Spring Skies over Bluebell Castle by Sarah Bennett

Today it's my turn on the BlogTour Spring Skies over Bluebell Castle and it's also Publication Day! It's a fun, warm-hearted and light read.

About the Author
Sarah Bennett has been reading for as long as she can remember. Raised in a family of bookworms, her love affair with books of all genres has culminated in the ultimate Happy Ever After – getting to write her own stories to share with others.

Born and raised in a military family, she is happily married to her own Officer (who is sometimes even A Gentleman). Home is wherever he lays his hat, and life has taught them both that the best family is the one you create from friends as well as relatives.

When not reading or writing, Sarah is a devotee of afternoon naps and sailing the high seas, but only on vessels large enough to accommodate a casino and a choice of restaurants. Sarah is the author of the Butterfly Cove, Lavender Bay and the forthcoming Bluebell Castle trilogies, published by HQ Digital UK.

Follow @Sarahlou_writes @HQDigitalUK on Twitter, on Facebook, on Amazon,

Buy Spring Skies over Bluebell Castle

About the book
She wasn’t looking for love…
When Lucie Kennington flees the bright lights of London for the quiet Derbyshire countryside, she’s shocked to discover that the heir to the Bluebell Castle estate is far from the wizened employer she expected.

In fact, Arthur Ludworth might just be the most handsome man Lucie’s ever laid eyes on – and a terrible distraction! So when she stumbles across a legendary painting feared lost for centuries, she can’t believe her luck – perhaps this is the hidden treasure to save Arthur and his family from ruin?
But it’s only a matter of time before Lucie’s past catches up with her and by then it’s too late, she’s falling for him…

Review

This is the first book in the Bluebell Castle Series, book two - Sunshine Over Bluebell Castle and book three - Starlight over Bluebell Castle are out in July and November of this year.

Quite a few generations of the Ludworth family have been named after characters from the Arthurian legend and the castle is filled with objects that are connected to this obsession. The upper echelon do have a reputation for being slightly eccentric, so I guess this is to be expected.

When I had my first child I scoured through the complete works of Shakespeare for names, so I can totally get on board with Arthurian names. Perhaps not much fun for the child in question, but when you end up a Sir Arthur, as is the case in this family, then it's worth the odd Uther, Morgana or even Pendragon.

The Ludworth family is struggling to keep the family castle and grounds afloat, so they decide to get an art expert and historian to go through their vast collection to see if there is anything valuable they can sell to save their family home.

Lucie Kennington is at a loose end after becoming unemployed unexpectedly. Her troubled and dark past is following her around like a bad smell and it might just be a question of time until it follows her all the way to the halls of Bluebell Castle.

She doesn't expect to find not one but two handsome men or a castle full of rescue dogs for that matter. It's also fair to say that her reaction to the bouncy, yappy and often mud covered mutts is fairly important to at least one of the men.

It's a fun, warm-hearted and light read. A feel good read that doesn't ask you to try and out-think the plot or dive into emotional upheaval. It just represents few hours of pleasant relaxation. By the way I want an invite, so I can explore the castle and secret tunnels. Just Saying.

Buy Spring Skies over Bluebell Castle on Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: HQ Digital; pub date 1 April 2019. Buy at Amazon com. Buy at iTunes, Buy at Kobo.

Bluebell Castle Series by Sarah Bennett:
Book 1: Buy Spring Skies Over Bluebell Castle
Book 2: Preorder Sunshine Over Bluebell Castle (pub date July 2019)
Book 3: Preorder Starlight Over Bluebell Castle (pub date November 2019)

#BlogTour My Mother the Liar by Ann Troup

Today is my stop on the BlogTour for My Mother the Liar by Ann Troup. Unfortunately I'm half a day late and a dollar short, due to a misunderstanding about scheduling. Without further ado here is a psychological thriller with a killer twist. Be prepared to doubt them all!

About the Author
Ann lives in Devon in a small house just a pebble's throw from the beach. She shares her home with her husband and a small white dog, both occasionally allow her to be inattentive to them so that she can write.

Follow @TroupAnn @HQDigitalUK
Visit anntroup.wordpress.com or anntroupauthor on Facebook
Buy My Mother the Liar

About the book
Every family has its secrets…

From the author of The Lost Child, and The Forgotten Room. Perfect for fans of The Secret Mother and Linda Green.

Two dead bodies. A lifetime of secrets.

When Rachel Porter’s estranged mother dies, she returns to her family home filled with dread about having to face her past, and the people who populated it.

Little does she know that there are dead bodies waiting to be discovered, and a lifetime of secrets are about to untangle.

Secrets kept by her mother, the liar.

Review
This family has more secrets to hide than a squirrel hiding nuts for winter. It seems to be a never-ending trail of despair, betrayal and abuse. Talk about dysfunctional family and destructive relationships. There just seems to be no end to it.

The story begins when Frances and Rachel meet at their mother's house to clear it after her death. I'm not sure either of them, or the hired help, are quite prepared to be confronted with mummified corpses hidden in tins and suitcases.  Not exactly what you expect to find whilst rummaging through memories and old ornaments. Then again you just never know what kind of secrets people are hiding under their supposedly perfect exterior.

With that shock begins the unravelling of  what is left of a family. Leaving the surviving members to cope with the memories, nightmares and the lies.

I have to admit Troup spins an intricate tale of desperation and hidden secrets, the kind you would rather not know about. Perhaps some things should remain buried, especially when the discovery of said secrets have the potential to destroy lives. Pathological lying appears to be a wee bit contagious, as the guilty point fingers at the innocent, oh wait there are no innocents in this scenario, and none of those involved are free of blood on their hands.

By the end of the story the reader is faced with the question, what would you do to keep your deepest and darkest secrets buried? Would you lie a little, would you kill?

Troup is a connoisseur of twisted characters and scenarios. Her killer plays the other characters like an expert violinist, whilst managing to appear innocent of any wrongdoing. My Mother the Liar may just make you wonder about your own mother. What kind of secrets is she hiding, eh?

Buy My Mother the Liar at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.

The Big Little Festival by Kellie Hailes

Jody has spent years building a wall around her to keep all men and any emotion out. It has made her over-sensitive to any kind of relationship. She questions herself and anyone who dares to come anywhere near her.

She is determined to put on a festival for Rabbit's Leap to raise money for the community pool. She wouldn't normally put up with the eccentricities of the villagers, but her guilty conscience is proving stronger than her natural aversion to the dramatics of certain people in the village.

She hires a successful and very expensive event planner, who turns out to be rather handsome and more interested in her than in putting on a fantastic festival.

The Big Little Festival is all about finding the courage to move on in life. To be brave enough to let someone new in. Joanna finds it extremely hard to take down even a few bricks in her wall, especially because the majority of people turn out to be unreliable. As a single mother she has to not only look out for her own heart, she also has to make sure her kids don't get attached to any fly-bys.

Hailes paints an accurate picture of life in an English village, where the competitions for best jam or largest vegetable can become quite competitive. The characters are quirky and amusing, and the drama is plentiful. Prepare to be entertained.

Buy The Big Little Festival at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.

Follow @KellieHailes & @HQDigitalUK @HQStories or @HarperImpulse

Rubies in the Roses by Vivian Conroy

This is a cosy mystery with a quintessential English flair to it with eccentric characters and a cheeky four-legged companion.

Guinevere, and her sidekick Dolly the dachshund, are busy cataloging the contents of a library in a Cornish castle when the story of a hidden treasure surfaces. Hidden somewhere in or around the castle. It's the type of mystery that tends to attract a lot of treasure hunters.

In particular a very persistent treasure hunter, who is determined to prove how clever he is and cementing his reputation by finding a wedding goblet encased with jewels. His working theory is that the artefact is somewhere in the castle, and he is willing to do anything to find it.

The Cornish Castle Mysteries are pleasant and fun reads. Perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon snuggled up in a corner for a spot of relaxation.

Conroy hits the spot for readers who like their crime served with less violence and with more emphasis on the comfortable read, as opposed to the shocking and often quite brutal crime reads.

Buy Rubies in the Roses at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.

Read Fatal Masquerade by Vivian Conroy

Follow @VivWrites

Blog-Tour: Don't Say a Word by A.L. Bird

I do 'love me some A.L. Bird' so it is my absolute pleasure to kick off the Blog-Tour for the amazing Don't Say a Word by A.L. Bird. Get ready for another tense and captivating read.

About the Author
AL Bird lives in North London, where she divides her time between writing and working as a lawyer. The Good Mother is her major psychological thriller for Carina UK, embarking into the world of ‘grip-lit’. Don't Say a Word is her new psychological thriller from HQDigital, an imprint of HarperCollins. She has an MA in Creative Writing from Birkbeck, University of London, and is also an alumna of the Faber Academy ‘Writing a Novel’ course, which she studied under Richard Skinner. She's also a member of the Crime Writers’Association.

For updates on her writing, you can follow her on Twitter, @ALBirdwriter, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ALBirdwriter or by visiting her website, at www.albirdwriter.com

Buy Don't Say a Word

About the book
A happy child.
Every parent knows the world can be scary. Lawyer Jen Sutton knows it better than most. And she’ll go to any length to protect her son from what – and who – lies outside their front door.
A loving mother.
Some might say she’s being over-protective. But isn’t it a mother’s duty to protect her child from harm?
A family built on a lie.
Jen has kept her secrets safe. Until the postcard arrives, signed by the one person she hoped would never catch up with her… and her new case begins to feel a little too close to home.
One thing is clear: Jen has been found.
Now, she faces a choice. Run, and lose everything? Or fight – and risk her son discovering the truth.

Don’t Say a Word is the electrifying new psychological thriller from AL Bird – perfect for fans of CL Taylor and Sue Fortin.

Review
It's not paranoia if they're really out to get you. In a nutshell that is both the life motto and curse Jen lives by and with. She is convinced her past is right on her heels and ready to implode her new life. She is hiding from a vengeful, abusive ex, and someone who used to be both her closest confidante and her nemesis at the same time. Chloe is with Jen 24/7. In her head, on her mind and featuring in quite a few flashbacks. Jen feels as if she is hemmed in by the paranoia and the gut feeling that retribution is waiting just around the corner.

So when a case at work starts to ring a few alarm bells she puts it down to her heightened senses and her instincts. All she ever thinks of is her son and keeping him safe. These coincidences are exactly that, aren't they? And that is precisely why Jen is always in a constant state of anxious apprehension. She knows the fear will always follow her around like a little black rain cloud.

There is a chapter in this book that really annoyed me, not from a plot point of view, but because it is the painful truth. The way some children fall through the system. The kids with no voice, the ones no one ever listens to, because they are invisible. Then the way the system or rather those enforcing the system, become nothing more than highly judgemental morality police. They judge based on ticked boxes, theoretical knowledge and false assumptions.

Be prepared for the kind of read that makes you query the characters, the truth and perhaps even the systems our society uses to keep our children safe. Whether we like it or not there is a level of indifference, which in turn explains why abuse and domestic violence are still so prevalent in the 21st century.

Sometimes I think Bird takes pleasure in screwing with our brains. Nothing is ever what it seems in her stories. The lines between the good and the bad guys are always skewed. Fifty shades of grey instead of clear black or white. The reader is often suddenly blind-sided by the unexpected twists and turns.


Don't say a Word is a ride on the wild side with barely any space to take a breath and exhale. Bird combines her experience of the real world with her innate talent for creating fascinating reads.

Buy Don't Say a Word on Amazon UK or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.

Follow @ALBirdwriter and @HQDigitalUK

Read The Good Mother by A.L. Bird.