A little while ago I was delighted to find the following invitation in my email inbox, asking me if I would like to attend the launch of The Thunder Girls by Melanie Blake:

Would I? You bet! I’d like to thank everyone at edpr and Midas for inviting me.

I had the most amazing time. I was, as you can imagine, quite excited to find the guest list included Claire Richards from Steps who performed a wonderful set of songs, Sabrina Washington from Mis-Teeq, Doris Pearson from Five Star, Coleen Nolan from The Nolans and Loose Women, as well as TV stars including Emmerdale’s Gaynor Faye, TV presenters June Sarpong and Mark Heyes, Saira Khan and Jane Moore from Loose Women, and Carol Harrison from EastEnders. Although I didn’t manage to speak with them all I was quite star struck and was thrilled to chat with Melanie briefly about The Thunder Girls. It was lovely to catch up with fellow blogger Laura too.

Now, I may look a little worse for wear here as I had consumed perhaps one too many of The Blake Cocktails…

 

At the end of the evening we were all presented with a superb goody bag personalised by Russell from Purely Personalised that included a copy of The Thunder Girls, a bottle of Bottega Rose Gold and a glorious Harley Street Skin Care Regenerating Body Moisture.

I was intrigued by the book’s premise and the background to Melanie Blake, so when I realised I wasn’t able to participate in the blog tour for The Thunder Girls because I will be away, I was disappointed. However, I had a fantastic time at the launch and, despite my towering TBR pile of books I couldn’t resist diving in straight away and I’m delighted to share that review today.

The Thunder Girls will be published by Pan Macmillan on 11th July 2019 and is available for pre-order through these links.

The Thunder Girls

THE

Chrissie, Roxanne, Carly and Anita, an eighties pop sensation outselling and out-classing their competition. Until it all comes to an abrupt end and three of their careers are over, and so is their friendship.

THUNDER

Thirty years later, their old record label wants the band back together for a huge money-making concert. But the wounds are deep and some need this gig more than others.

In those decades apart life was far from the dream they were living as members of The Thunder Girls. Breakdowns, bankruptcy, addiction and divorce have been a constant part of their lives. They’ve been to hell and back, and some are still there.

GIRLS

Can the past be laid to rest for a price, or is there more to this reunion than any of them could possibly know? Whilst they all hunger for a taste of success a second time around, someone is plotting their downfall in the deadliest way possible . . .

My Review of The Thunder Girls

Having broken up acrimoniously, Chrissie, Roxanne, Carly and Anita might come back together for one last show.

I’m going to be completely honest and say I wasn’t expecting a great deal from The Thunder Girls. Having thought The Thunder Girls was probably over hyped and celebrity endorsed because of Melanie Blake’s showbiz background, I was expecting a self-consciously glamorous read with little or no substance. I was completely and utterly wrong. Melanie Blake has confounded me with a fabulously entertaining read written with verve and dynamism. I enjoyed every moment of being immersed in The Thunder Girls. It’s witty, sassy and actually incredibly exciting!

Melanie Blake writes with a vivid and fast paced style that draws in the reader and makes them part of The Thunder Girls‘ world. I loved discovering an existence that is about as far from my middle aged, middle England life as it could be. It was like stepping away from the mundane into a world of glamour and intrigue where not everything is as straightforward as it might at first appear. References to real people add to the authentic feel and I loved the touches of humour along the way too.

There’s an absolutely cracking plot to The Thunder Girls that packs a real punch. Obviously I can’t spoil the story for others but, although I worked out some elements,  I was also kept guessing right to the end and encountered several surprises along the way. This is so much more than a mere escapist read.

Themes explored also add a layer of depth I didn’t expect. I can’t mention them all because it would undermine the enjoyment in the narrative and reveal some of the aspects from later in the book, but Melanie Blake understands the nature of true friendship, trust, betrayal and revenge. She uncovers the world of social and print media and the Machiavellian machinations of publicity perfectly. I’d defy any reader not to find an aspect of The Thunder Girls that resonates with them, regardless of their own lives.

There’s quite a cast of characters, but each person is so distinct that I felt I came to know them personally. Chrissie, the catalyst for the original band break up, was by far my favourite. This is because Melanie Blake illustrates through Chrissie the personal price of stardom and the way in which, regardless of our so-called status or fame, we can be self-delusional and actually quite vulnerable. I thoroughly appreciated the message that we alone are responsible for our lives, but that we might need support from other along the journey. The interactions between the band members are dynamic and hugely entertaining. Each woman has her insecurities, her secrets and her basic need to be loved so that The Thunder Girls really does illustrate that appearances and personas may not be the real person beneath.

I finished the book feeling as if I had had a thoroughly entertaining and engaging time. The Thunder Girls is like a glass of the best champagne – sparkling, fun and with just the right amount of bite! I loved it and hope it isn’t the last I’ll read about The Thunder Girls.

About Melanie Blake

At fifteen years old Melanie Blake was told by her high school career advisers that her decision to do work experience at a local record shop was an ‘embarrassment and a clear example that she wouldn’t go far in life or her career’. They were wrong. By twenty-one she was working at the BBC’s iconic Top of the Pops show and by twenty-seven she had built a reputation as one of the UK’s leading music and entertainment managers, with her own agency and a roster of award-winning artists who had sold more than 100 million records.

After a decade at the top, Melanie decided to manage a smaller client list and concentrate on her other passion, writing – first as a columnist for a national newspaper, then as a playwright and now as a novelist. They say write about what you know, and having lived and breathed every aspect of the music and entertainment industry, in The Thunder Girls she certainly has.

You can find out more by following Melanie on Twitter @MelanieBlakeUK or visiting The Thunder Girls website where you’ll also find ticket information for the stage play. There’s a Thunder Girls Facebook page here too.

My enormous thanks to the folk at SPCK Publishing for sending me a copy of The Light Keeper by Cole Moreton in return for an honest review. I know it’s really far too early to be blogging my thoughts about The Light Keeper, but I simply couldn’t wait to tell the world about this fabulous book and as the launch campaign starts next week I’m delighted to get it going.

The Light Keeper will be published by SPCK imprint Marylebone House on 15th August 2019 and is available for pre-order here.

The Light Keeper

Sarah stands on the brink, arms open wide as if to let the wind carry her away.

She’s come to the high cliffs to be alone, to face the truth about her life, to work out what to do.

Her lover Jack is searching, desperate to find her before it is too late. But Sarah doesn’t want to be found. Not yet. Not by him.

And someone else is seeking answers up here where the seabirds soar – a man known only as the Keeper, living in an old lighthouse right on the cusp of a four-hundred-foot drop. He is all too aware that sometimes love takes you to the edge . . .

My Review of The Light Keeper

Desperate for a baby, Sarah is missing.

The Light Keeper is, quite simply, stunning; beautifully written, emotionally charged and a compelling story.

The plot appears relatively simple in that a man known as the Keeper is doing up an old light house as a bed and breakfast venue, and Sarah has run away from her husband Jack. However, this belies the glorious complexity of emotion, life and relationships swirling and thrumming through this superb character led narrative. What is just fabulous is the part played by characters not actually present, like Sarah’s mother and Ri, or minor characters like Magda and the Chief, because they illustrate how easily our lives can be altered and affected by the actions of others, even if they are not physically present.

Cole Moreton’s depiction of character is just divine. Initially, I held the same rather negative opinion about Sarah that her husband Jack presents to the Keeper, but gradually, skilfully, Cole Moreton manipulates the reader until I felt as close to Sarah as any living person. Similarly, I found the Keeper and Jack totally fascinating. Both have their demons, their sense of loss, but they deal with it differently so that all life seems represented through just two characters. I loved the fact that the Keeper is both a literal keeper of the light house and a metaphorical keeper of spiritual light that contrasts with the established religious light espoused by Magda and the Chief. Once the Keeper’s name is revealed it is totally apposite, but you’ll have to read the book for yourself to discover why. I have no idea if it is intentional, but even the cover art work has the cliff top vegetation looking like a finger pointing the way towards the light, but in this intimate and wonderfully crafted narrative I can’t imagine it’s a coincidence.

Themes are raw and affecting. Infertility, death, relationships and suicide weave through the pages which should make The Light Keeper depressing and uncomfortable. With the skill of Cole Moreton, however, they form a moving, enlightening and beautiful story that held my attention, heart and soul, throughout. There’s a depth of understanding of human nature in The Light Keeper that is breathtaking and made me feel privileged to read it.

The Light Keeper is a searing, intense portrait of loss and grief that holds the reader spellbound. I’d recommend reading this book alone so that there are no interruptions because every syllable deserves the reader’s complete attention. The Light Keeper is one of the most moving and striking books I’ve read and not one I’ll forget. I loved it unconditionally.

About Cole Moreton

Cole Moreton is a writer and broadcaster exploring who we are and what we believe in. His BBC Radio 4 series The Boy Who Gave His Heart Away won multiple awards including Best Documentary in the BBC Radio Awards, Best Writing at the World’s Best Radio Awards in New York and gold for Audio Moment of the Year at the Arias.

Cole writes for the Mail on Sunday and was named Interviewer of the Year at the Press Awards 2016, then shortlisted again in 2018. His work has appeared in the Financial Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph and The Sunday Times, and many other.

The first of Cole’s non-fiction books was Hungry For Home: A Journey To America From The Edge Of Ireland and published by Viking in 2000. This combination of journalism, travelogue and dramatised true events told the story of the evacuation of the Great Blasket Island in County Kerry and followed the journey taken by the islanders to new lives in the United States. It was shortlisted for the prestigious John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for a first book in any genre.

His second book was called My Father Was A Hero (Viking) and told the story of the men and women who returned home to London after WW2 but could not handle peace time. His third book Is God Still An Englishman? How Britain Lost Its Faith (But Found New Soul) was published by Little, Brown. It explores the dramatic changes in British culture and spirituality over the last 30 years and celebrates the possibilities for the future.

His fourth book was a retelling of the story of The Boy Who Gave His Heart Away for HarperCollins. His debut novel The Light Keeper will be published in August 2019.

You can follow The Light Keeper on Twitter @TheLightKeeper1 or Cole Moreton @colemoreton. There’s more on Cole’s website and you can find him on Facebook.

My enormous thanks to Isabelle Kenyon of Fly on the Wall Poetry for sending me a copy of Morning Walk with Dead Possum, Breakfast and Parallel Universe by Beth Gordon in return for an honest review. It’s been far too long since I featured any poetry.

Published by Animal Heart Press, Morning Walk with Dead Possum, Breakfast and Parallel Universe is available for purchase here or directly from the publisher here.

Morning Walk with Dead Possum, Breakfast and Parallel Universe

In her stunning debut collection, Morning Walk with Dead Possum, Breakfast and Parallel Universe Beth Gordon addresses loss and grief in a unique way, blending her impeccable craft with a new vision, a new voice, and indeed a new language; at times formal yet following a new modern standard of magical realism and out of body pain and transcendence. Gordon’s poetry is brilliant yet accessible to the masses – and addresses themes and feelings to which all mothers, parents and ultimately humans will relate to and find solace with her tender and sometimes rightfully angry words. She blends the ordinary with the extraordinary using lush, magical words that are sweet in the mouth and roll off the tongue.

My Review

of

Morning Walk with Dead Possum, Breakfast and Parallel Universe

A collection of poems around the themes of death, grief and being human.

What a wonderful celebration of language Beth Gordon has produced in Morning Walk with Dead Possum, Breakfast and Parallel Universe. Think of the very best wordscapes of Dylan Thomas, or the innovative compound words of Gerard Manly Hopkins blended with the depth of emotion from Emily Dickinson and you have some indication of the quality of verse in this slim volume.

It’s impossible to do justice to the quality of language Beth Gordon employs in Morning Walk. She manages to convey all the senses in her poetry so that I found myself tingling with emotion and the sheer pleasure of delving into the writing, the language and the imagery. The natural references are beautiful, but it is the creation of pictures and sounds in the reader’s head as they experience Beth Gordon’s poetry that is so wonderful. I loved, for example, the use of the adjective ‘sobbing’ to describe trains because not only does it convey the sound of a train so well, but it embodies the times trains remove us from those we love, tearing at our emotions and making us want to sob.

I thought the structure of the poems was phenomenal. Many take free verse to its extreme and look dense and inaccessible on the page, but when they are read aloud they take on meaning and substance that transcends their original appearance.

I loved all these poems and have reread them several times. I could hardly bear Crown: In Which I Compare Tuberculosis Sanitariums to Resurrection because it made me think of my Dad and the scattering of his ashes, stirring up all the emotions I felt at the time. The idea of a mobile phone as a ‘touchstone of sorrow’ at four in the morning in Pisces/Aries Cusp is something I think many, many readers might relate to and is just a small example of how Beth Gordon turns the mundane into the extraordinary.

So many of the poems in Morning Walk are about negative emotions such as guilt or sorrow and yet I didn’t find them at all depressing. They made me feel as if Beth Gordon had looked into my soul, seen my darkest thoughts and fears and understood them. It was as if she were adding a slave to my most self-destructive times and providing me with healing. This is a collection I will return to time and again because the depth of language, imagery and emotion has so many layers I feel I have only just begun to scratch the surface of Beth Gordon’s writing. Magnificent!

About Beth Gordon

Beth Gordon is poet, mother and grandmother, currently landlocked in St. Louis, MO. She’s traveled and lived all over the United States (and some of the world) and was raised by a pair of liberal Southerners who taught her how to make buttermilk biscuits when she was three years old. It’s rumored that she has an MFA from American University, but it was so long ago that she may have just dreamed it.

Her poems have been published or are forthcoming in numerous journals including Into the Void, AntiHeroin Chic, Drunk Monkeys, Noble/Gas, Five: 2:One, SWWIM, Verity La, Califragile, Pretty Owl Poetry and Yes Poetry. She is also the Poetry Editor of Gone Lawn.

You can follow Beth on Twitter @bethgordonpoet.

I’ll let you into a secret. I have an irrational aversion to Agatha Christie Poirot books because they remind me of having my tonsils out in my mid 20s! I had chosen one of the stories to read in hospital and I can’t escape the association.

However, with Sophie Hannah one of our Deepings Literary Festival authors last month in an event I couldn’t attend because I was with another author, I just had to choose her Poirot story The Monogram Murders as the next book for the U3A reading group to which I belong. I’m delighted to share my review today and am looking forward to seeing what the rest of the group think when we meet next.

Published by Harper Collins The Monogram Murders is available for purchase in all forms through the publisher links.

The Monogram Murders

Hercule Poirot’s quiet supper in a London coffee house is interrupted when a young woman confides to him that she is about to be murdered. She is terrified, but begs Poirot not to find and punish her killer. Once she is dead, she insists, justice will have been done.

Later that night, Poirot learns that three guests at the fashionable Bloxham Hotel have been murdered, a cufflink placed in each one’s mouth. Could there be a connection with the frightened woman? While Poirot struggles to put together the bizarre pieces of the puzzle, the murderer prepares another hotel bedroom for a fourth victim…

In the hands of internationally bestselling author Sophie Hannah, Poirot plunges into a mystery set in 1920s London – a diabolically clever puzzle that can only be solved by the talented Belgian detective and his ‘little grey cells’.

My Review of The Monogram Murders

Poirot is taking a break but it doesn’t stop him getting involved in investigating a series of murders at the Bloxham Hotel.

The Monogram Murders is like stepping back to the heights of Agatha Christie’s fame because Sophie Hannah writes with an authentic tone and style that I found indistinguishable from Christie’s own. The setting of an upper class hotel in Bloxham’s, the tea rooms, the lodging house, the small village and so on all provide a setting that is perfect for a Poirot mystery so that I felt transported to the era completely.

Sophie Hannah’s Poirot is an absolute triumph. Whilst it’s difficult to eradicate David Suchet’s television persona from the mind’s eye, it is the fabulous arrogance and the cadences of Poirot’s speech that are so convincing in creating his character in The Monogram Murders. The author made me feel exactly how Edward Catchpool must feel as he struggles to follow the intricacies of Poirot’s little grey cells. Poirot lives and breathes through this writing making The Monogram Murders a real treat for Agatha Christie fans.

All of the characters fit the Christie model flawlessly. There’s very much a middle class strand that has considerable snobbishness and contempt for the working class. Many people in the story are almost caricatures and yet this is exactly as it should be to produce a convincing Agatha Christie style text. Sophie Hannah displays dexterous skill in creating just the right tone and attitudes, but with a modern freshness too

Sophie Hannah’s plot in The Monogram Murders is quite complex so that I had to concentrate quite hard to ensure I followed all the twists and turns and it didn’t surprise me at all that Poirot is privy to information and theories that none of the characters have access to, because this is what I expect from Agatha Christie. Again, this feature added to my enjoyment of the read. I have to say that this fiendish plotting is exemplary and I have no idea just how the author managed to weave the components together quite so seamlessly.

I confess I hadn’t especially looked forward to reading The Monogram Murders, but in fact Sophie Hannah writes so convincingly that I thoroughly enjoyed it. I found it very entertaining, authentic and great fun. I’ll certainly be reading more in the future regardless of my missing tonsils!

About Sophie Hannah

Sophie Hannah is an internationally bestselling crime fiction writer. Her crime novels have been translated into 34 languages and published in 51 countries. Her psychological thriller The Carrier won the Specsavers National Book Award for Crime Thriller of the Year in 2013. In 2014 and 2016, Sophie published The Monogram Murders and Closed Casket, the first new Hercule Poirot mysteries since Agatha Christie’s death, both of which were national and international bestsellers.

Sophie’s novels The Point of Rescue and The Other Half Lives have been adapted for television as Case Sensitive, starring Olivia Williams and Darren Boyd. Sophie is also a bestselling poet who has been shortlisted for the TS Eliot award. Her poetry is studied at GCSE and A-level throughout the UK.  Sophie is an Honorary Fellow of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge. She lives in Cambridge with her husband, two children and dog.

You can find out more about Sophie on her website and you can follow her on Twitter at @sophiehannahcb1. You’ll also find Sophie on Facebook.

Although I’m trying not to take on blog tours this year, I was extremely disappointed when Rachel Kennedy at Penguin Random House invited me to participate in the tour for Come Back For Me by Heidi Perks as sadly I will be away when the tour runs and am unable to participate. I thought Heidi Perks’ previous book, Now You See Her was brilliant and would gladly have broken my self-imposed tour ban for this new book.

However, having blogged about Now You See Here here, I am delighted to have a pre-tour review of Heidi’s Come Back For Me today. My enormous thanks to Rachel for sending me a copy of Come Back For Me in return for an honest review.

Come Back For Me will be published by Penguin Random House imprint Century on 11th July 2019 and is available for pre-order here.

Come Back For Me

A SHOCKING DISCOVERY.
A COMMUNITY WRAPPED IN SECRETS.

A tiny island community is stunned by the discovery of a long-buried body.

For Stella Harvey the news is doubly shocking. The body has been found in the garden of her childhood home – the home her family fled without explanation twenty-five years ago.

Now, questioning her past and desperate to unearth the truth, Stella returns to the isolated island. But she quickly finds that the community she left isn’t as welcoming as she remembers – and that people in it will go to any length to protect their secrets.

One thing rings true…
You can’t bury the truth forever. 

My Review of Come Back For Me

Uncovering a body leads to many secrets being exposed.

Oh yes! I approached Come Back For Me with high expectations as I thought Heidi Perks’ Now You See Her was excellent and in Come Back For Me she has exceeded every one of those expectations. I genuinely could not stop reading. Each chapter ended with such a thrilling teaser, revelation or cliff hanger that I simply HAD to know what happened next so that I devoured this book, putting my life on hold until I’d relished every word.

Heidi Perks is the ultimate expert when it comes to plotting. I knew exactly whose body was buried on the island and who had put it there. Except, of course, I didn’t! And every time I reassessed and came up with another theory, the author wrong footed me again.  I loved being drip fed information at the same time as Stella, as well as receiving veiled truths and details from Stella herself, because this fabulous story telling made me think, at the same time as entertaining me brilliantly. I thought the entire storytelling was just wonderful.

Initially I was unsure why Stella is a consellor, but the more I read the more I realised how crucial her profession is to the overall success of Come Back For Me. I didn’t always agree with some of her actions and decisions, but I was always firmly on her side because Hedi Perks made her real, flawed and believable. Her whole family is a tangle of deception and assumption that swirls below the surface making for an intriguing and exciting narrative. Come Back For Me made me wonder how much we really do know those closest to us. I found the balance of characters perfectly handled so that my attention kept shifting between then, making me as complicit in the events as any of them in the book happen to be.

With events racing along at a breathtaking speed and a perfect balance of the two time frames, it was only afterwards when I had finished reading that the more subtle and sociological themes truly hit home. To explain more would be to spoil the story, but Heidi Perks drops in detail that is shocking and yet simultaneously acceptable so that she left me wondering just what construes a morally acceptable decision. I loved this thought-provoking aspect of Come Back For Me.

I enjoyed every moment reading Come Back For Me. I thought it was a perfectly executed thriller with more layers the more I thought about it. Heidi Perks entertained me completely, absorbing my attention unwaveringly and I think Come Back For Me deserves to be a huge success because it’s a cracking read.

About Heidi Perks

Heidi Perks was born in 1973. She lives by the sea in Bournemouth with her husband and two children.

Heidi graduated from Bournemouth University in 1997 with a BA (Hons) in Retail Management, and then enjoyed a career in Marketing before leaving in 2012 to focus on both bringing up her family and writing.

Heidi successfully applied for a place on the inaugural Curtis Brown Creative online Novel Writing Course and after that dedicated her time to completing her first novel, Beneath The Surface.

She has a huge interest in what makes people tick and loves to write about family relationships, especially where some of the characters are slightly dysfunctional.

You can follow Heidi on Twitter @HeidiPerksBooks and find her on Facebook.

Not only have I read some wonderful books published by Red Door, but I adored The Italian Gardener by Andrew Crofts, my review of which can be found here, so that when Emma Finnigan got in touch to ask if I’d like a copy of Andrew’s latest book, What Lies Around Us, I simply couldn’t resist.

It was a wonderful surprise to open What Lies Around Us and find myself quoted at the beginning!

Published by Red Door on 13th June 2019 What Lies Around Us is available for purchase through these links.

What Lies Around Us

It is possible that since this book’s publication you will have heard that I have died in ‘suspicious circumstances’. Obviously I hope that will not be the case, but I believe it is worth taking the risk in order to get this story out there.

Why would one of Silicon Valley’s most powerful billionaires offer a British ghostwriter a million dollars to write the autobiography of Hollywood’s biggest star?

Only once he is living and working among the world’s richest and most beautiful people does the ghost realise that there is way more than a publishing deal at stake.

The ghostwriter must face the dark underbelly of the tech industry. He must face corruption and manipulation, come to blows with people who will do anything to remain at the top of their game and uncover the dark truth behind what it really means to be an influencer . . .

What Lies Around Us takes the reader into a world of myth-makers and power-brokers and reveals who is really running the world. Who is telling the stories and controlling the way we all think with a mixture of old media, social media and fake media?

My Review of What Lies Around Us

Ghost writer Andrew Crofts has a new project in an offer he can’t refuse.

What a clever, engrossing and unsettling read What Lies Around Us is. Andrew Crofts opens the story in dramatic style and ensnares the reader into a conspiracy of fake news, manipulation and obfuscation so that it’s impossible to detach yourself from his words. The author makes himself, his characters and his readers complicit in a worldwide web of deceit and intrigue so that I finished the book feeling once again that I am incredibly ignorant and unthinkingly accepting of what does indeed lie around me.

At times the narrative feels more like a transcript as many conversations are described and this adds to the authenticity of a ghost writer conducting research for a book which is the central premise of the story. I loved the references to Andrew Crofts’ The Italian Gardener and to publishing in general so that not only is What Lies Around Us a cracking story, but it provides an insight into the research processes of a ghost writer and to the publishing industry as a whole. I felt quite sorry for even the largest publishing houses and have developed an even greater respect for what they have to do to be a success.

What I also found fascinating was the recurrent image of food, meals and eating which would suggests nourishment and sustenance and yet at these times some of the most wicked and disturbing control and confession takes place so that What Lies Around Us seems to shake the very lifeblood of humanity. Polite conversation is juxtaposed against startling action and revelation.

I also have to say something about the overall quality of the book. Not only is the writing superbly crafted, taut and controlled, but the cover image is perfect for the narrative. Along with the writing, the sunspots in the tweet photographs suggest that we become blinded by what we perceive or are told, and that there may well be someone taking a photograph of us at any point so that we lose our security and true identity, with social media affecting our lives way beyond our control. The lightening strikes suggest the power that lies behind social media and public control, along with the more menacing aspects of the read. So many disquieting themes remain with me having read What Lies Around Us that I think it will resonate with me for a very long time.

What Lies Around Us is a thought-provoking exploration of morality, social media, corruption and power so that it packs an intellectual punch at the same time as being an intriguing and entertaining story. I have no idea who I might trust as a result of reading What Lies Around Us and I really recommend you read it for yourself. If you haven’t yet discovered Andrew Crofts’ elegant and sophisticated prose, you’re missing a stunning treat.

About Andrew Crofts

Andrew Crofts is a ghostwriter and author who has published more than eighty books, a dozen of which were Sunday Times number one bestsellers. He has also guided a number of international clients successfully through the minefield of independent publishing.

Andrew’s name first became known amongst publishers for the stories he brought them by the otherwise disenfranchised. Travelling all over the world he worked with victims of enforced marriages in North Africa and the Middle East, sex workers in the Far East, orphans in war-torn areas like Croatia and dictatorships like Romania, victims of crimes and abused children everywhere. He also worked with members of the criminal fraternity.

As well as using traditional publishers to reach readers he has also experimented with e-books, publishing, Secrets of the Italian Gardener, a novella which draws on his experience amongst the powerful and wealthy, and The Fabulous Dreams of Maggie de Beer, (a prequel to his traditionally published The Overnight Fame of Steffi McBride, now filmed and appearing in episodes on YouTube’s This is Drama channel).

His books on writing include Ghostwriting, (A&C Black) and The Freelance Writer’s Handbook, (Piatkus), which has been reprinted eight times over twenty years.

You can follow Andrew on Twitter @AndrewCrofts and visit his website.

I thoroughly enjoy Ali McNamara’s writing so that when Clara Diaz invited me to be part of the launch celebrations for Ali’s latest novel Secrets and Seashells at Rainbow Bay, I simply couldn’t resist and I’m delighted to share my review today.

You can read my review of Ali McNamara’s book The Summer of Serendipity, here and my review of Daisy’s Vintage Camper Van here.

Secrets and Seashells at Rainbow Bay will be released tomorrow by Little Brown imprint Sphere and is available for purchase through these links.

Secrets and Seashells at Rainbow Bay

Amelia is a single mother, doing her very best to look after her young son, Charlie – but money is tight and times are tough. When she first hears that she is the last descendent of the Chesterford family and that she has inherited a Real-Life Castle by the sea, Amelia can’t quite believe her ears. But it’s true!

She soon finds that owning a castle isn’t quite the ticket to sorting out her money problems that she’d first hoped: she can’t sell, because the terms of the ancient bequest state that any Chesterford who inherits the castle, must live there and work towards the upkeep and maintenance of the family home. So ever-practical Amelia decides to uproot her little family and move to this magnificent castle by the sea.

Living in a castle on the beautiful Northumberland coast is fun at first, but organising the day-to-day running is a lot more complicated than Amelia first imagined. Luckily she has help from the small band of eccentric and unconventional staff that are already employed there – and a mysterious unseen hand that often gives her a push in the right direction just when she needs it most. It’s only when she meets Tom, a furniture restorer who comes to the castle to help repair some antique furniture, that Amelia realises she might get the fairy-tale ending that she and Charlie truly deserve…

My Review of Secrets and Seashells at Rainbow Bay

Abandoned by her husband, Amelia needs some good luck.

I always enjoy reading Ali McNamara and Secrets and Seashells at Rainbow Bay was as entertaining as I was expecting and such a super story. I loved the plot. I expect a happy ever after ending for this genre but what Ali McNamara does with consummate skill is keep the reader guessing how that ending might come about with some fabulous surprises along the way.

This time, that little bit extra frisson of the supernatural that Ali Mcnamara does so well is more developed and all the better for it, because it enhances the concept of identity running through the story, with an exploration of primogeniture, feminism, sexuality and identity which I felt elevated this book beyond what might be expected for the genre but with a skilful lightness of touch. I felt enormously entertained, especially when the element of mystery is added into the second half of the perfectly entitled Secrets and Seashells at Rainbow Bay.

I thought the Northumberland setting was hugely evocative. I was reminded of Bamburgh or Alnwick castles and could just picture the wide sweep of sky and beach through Ali McNamara’s gorgeous descriptions. I’d certainly like to visit Amelia’s castle.

But for all the impressive themes and wonderful setting, it is the people in Secrets and Seashells at Rainbow Bay that really make the book. Amelia’s ability to organise, to rise above adversity and to support the local economy should make her almost too good to be true, but far from it. She is warm and vivid with just enough negativity and self-doubt in her personality to make her feel very real indeed. I was desperate for her to find happiness. I really would like to spend some time with Tom in a darkened room too, but it was Arthur whom I found appealed most. His taciturn yet loyal nature made him feel someone I’d really like to get to know. Indeed all the characters felt like real people to me – even those who are no longer alive!

Secrets and Seashells at Rainbow Bay is charming uplit at its very best, written by an author, Ali McNamara who understands the genre perfectly. It’s humorous, fast paced, entertaining and a thumping good story. I enjoyed every moment of it.

 About Ali McNamara

Ali McNamara attributes her over-active and very vivid imagination to one thing – being an only child. Time spent dreaming up adventures when she was young has left her with a head bursting with stories waiting to be told.

When stories she wrote for fun on Ronan Keating’s website became so popular they were sold as a fundraising project for his cancer awareness charity, Ali realised that not only was writing something she enjoyed doing, but something others enjoyed reading too.

You can visit Ali’s website, find her on Facebook and you can follow her on Twitter @AliMcNamara.

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Having recently returned from a trip touring Sri Lanka I couldn’t resist accepting the offer to participate in Rachel’s Random Resources blog tour for the cookery book A Feast of Serendib by Mary Anne Mohanraj, even if it my husband who does most of the cooking these days!

A Feast of Serendib by Mary Anne Mohanraj is available for purchase here or here.

A Feast of Serendib

Dark roasted curry powder, a fine attention to the balance of salty-sour-sweet, wholesome red rice and toasted curry leaves, plenty of coconut milk and chili heat. These are the flavors of Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka was a cross roads in the sea routes of the East. Three waves of colonization—Portuguese, Dutch and British—and the Chinese laborers who came with them, left their culinary imprint on Sri Lankan food. Sri Lankan cooking with its many vegetarian dishes gives testimony to the presence of a multi-ethnic and multi -religious population.

Everyday classics like beef smoore and Jaffna crab curry are joined by luxurious feast dishes, such as nargisi kofta and green mango curry, once served to King Kasyapa in his 5th century sky palace of Sigiriya.

Vegetable dishes include cashew curry, jackfruit curry, asparagus poriyal, tempered lentils, broccoli varai and lime-masala mushrooms. There are appetizers of chili-mango cashews, prawn lentil patties, fried mutton rolls, and ribbon tea sandwiches. Deviled chili eggs bring the heat, yet ginger-garlic chicken is mild enough for a small child. Desserts include Sir Lankan favorites:  love cake, mango fluff, milk toffee and vattalappam, a richly-spiced coconut custard.

In A Feast of Serendib, Mary Anne Mohanraj introduces her mother’s cooking and her own Americanizations, providing a wonderful introduction to Sri Lankan American cooking, straightforward enough for a beginner, and nuanced enough to capture the flavor of Sri Lankan cooking.

My Review of A Feast of Serendib

A wide variety of recipes from Mary Anne Mohanraj’s Sri Lankan heritage.

I thoroughly enjoyed this cookery book because of Mary Anne Mohanraj’s honest conversational tone. It’s more like listening to a friend describe her cooking than reading an austere and prescriptive chef’s manual! The author frequently drops in tips about changes that can be made such as adding alcohol or substituting dried for fresh herbs and spices which might be more readily accessible. It made me smile when she pointed out the extra washing up that might arise from using a food processor in her Red Rice Congee for example.

I also thoroughly enjoyed the personal anecdotes so that I felt I got to know Mary Anne Mohanraj and her family. Her daughter’s favourite ginger garlic chicken is probably my favourite recipe as well. The introduction to the book and the cultural background bring alive the reasons for the recipes and it isn’t every day a cookery book has poetry too so that A Feast of Serendib has little added extras that satisfy the reader and cook. Indeed, my favourite part of the entire book was the poem Come To Me.

It almost goes without saying that there are some super recipes to try and the photographs enable the reader to feast with their eyes before they even attempt to cook. I think some more cautious cooks might feel slightly scared of Mary Anne’s willingness to adapt and alter her recipes as she goes, but they would be wrong. Her style here encourages tentative cooks to experiment and adjust what they are cooking to their own tastes so that they can truly own their food.

A Feast of Serendib is exactly that – a feast of Sri Lankan serendipitous food, culture and information, making for a book to enjoy with recipes to adapt as you cook.

About Mary Anne Mohanraj

Mary Anne Mohanraj is the author of Bodies in Motion (HarperCollins), The Stars Change (Circlet Press) and thirteen other titles. Bodies in Motion was a finalist for the Asian American Book Awards, a USA Today Notable Book, and has been translated into six languages.  The Stars Change was a finalist for the Lambda, Rainbow, and Bisexual Book Awards.

Mohanraj founded the Hugo-nominated and World Fantasy Award-winning speculative literature magazine, Strange Horizons, and also founded Jaggery, a S. Asian & S. Asian diaspora literary journal (jaggerylit.com). She received a Breaking Barriers Award from the Chicago Foundation for Women for her work in Asian American arts organizing, won an Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in Prose, and was Guest of Honor at WisCon. She serves as Director of two literary organizations, DesiLit (www.desilit.org) and The Speculative Literature Foundation (www.speclit.org).  She serves on the futurist boards of the XPrize and Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry.

Mohanraj is Clinical Associate Professor of English at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and lives in a creaky old Victorian in Oak Park, just outside Chicago, with her husband, their two small children, and a sweet dog.  Recent publications include stories for George R.R. Martin’s WildCards series, stories at Clarkesworld, Asimov’s, and Lightspeed, and an essay in Roxane Gay’s Unruly Bodies.  2017-2018 titles include Survivor (a SF/F anthology), Perennial, Invisible 3 (co-edited with Jim C. Hines), and Vegan Serendib.

To find out more, follow Mary Anne on Twitter @mamohanraj or Instagram, find her on Facebook or visit her website. There’s also a website for the Serendib Kitchen here.

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Although I have been forcing myself not to accept new books for review as I can hardly fit into my home because of the vast number of volumes awaiting my attention, when Lauren got in touch from Faber and Faber to ask if I would like to read The Rapture by Claire McGlasson, all my resolve flew out of the window. My enormous thanks to Lauren for sending me a copy of The Rapture in return for an honest review.

Published on 6th June 2019 by Faber and Faber, The Rapture is available for purchase in all the usual places, including Amazon and via the publisher website.

The Rapture

Dilys is a devoted member of The Panacea Society, populated almost entirely by virtuous single ladies. When she strikes up a friendship with Grace, a new recruit, God finally seems to be smiling upon her. The friends become closer as they wait for the Lord to return to their very own Garden of Eden, and Dilys feels she has found the right path at last.

But Dilys is wary of their leader’s zealotry and suspicious of those who would seem to influence her for their own ends. As her feelings for Grace bud and bloom, the Society around her begins to crumble. Faith is supplanted by doubt as both women come to question what is true and fear what is real.

My Review of The Rapture

Based on real people and events, Dilys is part of The Panacea Society.

When I think of Bedford it conjures almost nothing in my mind, but what a magnificent debut Claire McGlasson has produced in the Bedford setting of The Rapture. I will never visit the town with the same flippant attitude again. The Rapture is a beautifully written, immaculately researched and vividly told story based on real life events that I could hardly believe. Claire McGlasson presents totally convincingly the events that could be happening behind the doors of any suburban street right now and, although the last Bedford member of the Panacea Society has died, this story has salutary freshness and relevance for our lives today, making it a stunning read.

I loved the intermingling of real transcripts, tracts and letters amongst the fictionalised aspects of the narrative because they lent authenticity but also added to the incredulous feeling I had as I read. As the book progressed I became more and more tense the more powerful Emily became until I could hardly bear to read on and yet I couldn’t stop myself as I was desperate to know what happened. I was frequently open-mouthed and wide eyed and I experienced a wide range of emotions as I read, from pity to rage. I can’t say much about the plot of The Rapture as I don’t want to spoil the book for others, but even if it is based on real events it has some impactful surprises along the way.

The characters of Emily and Octavia left me reeling and the fact they are based on real people made me astounded. I so wanted Dilys to escape the Panacea Society and the reach of Octavia and Emily. I thought her building relationship with Grace (who couldn’t be more aptly named) was sensitively and maturely created so that I was entirely on their side throughout. Dilys in particular is fabulous because we get to see inside her mind as well as witness her external behaviours. I found myself speaking to her to try to affect her actions which actually made me quite uncomfortable as I realised what an impact the book was having on me!

In The Rapture Claire McGlasson makes wickedly insightful observations tinged with a dark humour that had me laughing aloud at the same time as feeling unsettled by some quite disturbing undercurrents. There is, as the author explores, a fine line between passion and insanity, and reading The Rapture made me question just who decides the parameters of society and how blindly we may adhere to them.

The Rapture is a sublime read. When I began reading I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy it, but within a very few pages I was entranced. Historical, compelling, educating, but above all else a brilliant story, I thought The Rapture was an outstanding debut. I really recommend it.

About Claire McGlasson

Claire McGlasson is a journalist who works for ITV News and enjoys the variety of life on the road with a TV camera. She lives in Cambridgeshire. The Rapture is her debut novel.

You can follow Claire on Twitter @ClaireMcGlasson for more information.

My enormous thanks to TeamBookends for sending me a copy of All Summer With You by Beth Good in return for an honest review.

Published by Quercus on 27th June 2019, All Summer With You is available for pre-order through these links.

All Summer With You

There’s no place like home…

Nursing a broken heart, Jennifer Bolitho retreats to Pixie Cottage. Her new landlord – a former soldier turned movie heartthrob – has grounds so large, she’s sure the little house nestled in the woods will bring her solitude.

Alex Delgardo also has reasons to hide away. Seeking refuge after a tragic incident turned his world upside down, he knows that the most important thing now is to care for his ailing family.

But when Jennifer enters their lives, that changes. Because, as they both learn, you can’t heal others until you learn to heal yourself…

My Review of All Summer With You

Jennifer seeks solitude to mend her broken heart.

All Summer With You is a lovely, lovely book that captured my attention from the first page and held it perfectly throughout. I loved this romantic story of love, life, family, trust, remorse – and goats!

Although All Summer With You might be seen as a light read, it is by no means insubstantial. So many thought-provoking themes, including grief and PTSD, underpin Beth Good’s exemplary and flowing writing in All Summer With You that she manages to ensnare the reader’s mind as well as their heart. Both Alex and Jennifer have past pain that they need to resolve which lends an added piquancy and depth to the narrative. I thought the way in which Alex’s past was gradually revealed to both Jennifer and the reader worked brilliantly. Indeed, I found myself very much in love with him too! I was desperate for Jennifer and Alex to realise they were meant for one another, often as frustrated as they were by the machinations of their encounters, but you’ll need to read the book to see what happens.

The characters are vividly drawn so that they feel real and warm. The way in which the whole spectrum of society populates the text from babies to nonagenarian Nelly, and actors to farmers, makes it feel as if it has relevance to all readers. Even the Cornish setting is vibrantly depicted through folk law and Jennifer’s oratory, making the county as much of a character as any of the people. I felt transported to the grounds of Porro Park House where most of the action is set.

There’s a smashing plot to All Summer With You that would make the most brilliant film. I felt completely emotionally invested in what happens because Beth Good has such a deft style that totally ensnares her reader. She writes with wonderful balance that made me feel I was there in the pages of the book.

All Summer With You was exactly the right book at the right moment for me. I adored every word. I was surprisingly touched by some scenes and shed a tear or two along the way. I think All Summer With You is the perfect summer read. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

About Beth Good

Born and raised in Essex, England, Beth Good was whisked away to an island tax haven at the age of eleven to attend an exclusive public school and rub shoulders with the rich and famous. Sadly, she never became rich or famous herself, so had to settle for infamy as a writer of dubious novels. She writes under several different names, mainly to avoid confusing her readers – and herself! As Beth Good she writes romantic comedy and feel-good fiction. She also writes thrillers as Jane Holland, historicals as Victoria Lamb and Elizabeth Moss, and feel-good fiction as Hannah Coates.

Beth currently lives in the West Country where she spends a great deal of time thinking romantic thoughts while staring out of her window at sheep. (These two actions are unrelated.) Beth says she can be found on Twitter where she occasionally indulges in pointless banter about chocolate making and the Great British Bake Off. Due to a basic inability to say no, she has too many children and not enough money, which means she needs as many readers as she can get.

You can follow Beth on Twitter as @BethGoodWriter or find her on Facebook.