My enormous thanks to Oliver Martin at Headline for sending me a surprise copy of Frank and Red by Matt Coyne in return for an honest review. It’s my absolute pleasure to share my (inadequate) review today.

Frank and Red is published by Headline’s imprint Wildfire on 1st February 2024 and is available for pre-order in all the usual places including here.

Frank and Red

Frank and Red are a mess.

Frank is a grumpy old curmudgeon. A recluse whose only company is the ‘ghost’ of his dead wife, Marcie. He is estranged from his friends, his son, and the ever-changing world beyond his front gate.

And then Red moves in next door.

Red is six. A boy struggling to adjust to the separation of his mum and dad, a new school, and the demonic school bully. Red is curious, smart, he never stops talking, and he’s got a trampoline.
From the moment Red’s blonde mop appears over the top of the fence that divides their two gardens, the unlikeliest of friendships is born.

. . . And it is a friendship that will change both of their lives forever.

My Review of Frank and Red

Frank has new neighbours.

I’m struggling to write a review of Frank and Red because I can’t find the words adequately to express how I feel about it. As Frank might say, ‘Just buy the bloody book.’

That doesn’t really explain why everyone needs Frank and Red in their lives, so I suppose I ought to try to articulate a little bit more.

There are some books that have no right to be as good as they are and Frank and Red is one of them. I thought the plot was wonderful. It’s relatively prosaic and that is its appeal. Anyone reading Frank and Red might find similar things happening in our own lives. Consequently it is impossible to read this story without being completely entertained, moved and mesmerised. It’s essentially just a tale about two people of different ages becoming friends, but my word it’s so much more than that. I absolutely adored every single word. Some narratives have the ability to make the reader laugh, some have the ability to make them cry and others do both at various points. In Frank and Red, however, Matt Coyne manages to do both simultaneously so that the story is both heart-breaking, uplifting and stunningly beautiful all at the same time as it touches the reader’s soul.

The developing relationship between Frank and Red is created with such dexterous insight into their respective worlds that Matt Coyne places the reader in their minds so that every one of their thoughts and emotions are experienced viscerally. I adored meeting both of them. Their direct speech in particular is joyous to read, even (or possibly especially) when Frank’s is littered with furious expletives and Red’s is filled with interminable questions, because they are both so natural and real. I have a feeling these two characters are going to live in my mind for a very long time. Indeed, closing the final page of the story left me bereft. I didn’t want to leave them behind.

Secondary characters are equally fabulous. I don’t know whether it is because we are a similar age, but I found Marcie exceptionally well drawn. She is the catalyst for so much of the story and although she has died before Frank and Red begins, without her there would be no narrative. 

Frank’s relationships with Marcie and his son Mikey embody such touching themes that reading Frank and Red is a physical experience. Love, grief, mental health and family are motifs that cast a spell over the reader. Red’s experiences as his parents split up and he begins a new school embody a reality that is both identifiable and engaging so that I truly found Frank and Red one of the most fabulous books I’ve read. Add in Frank’s spiral into grief and Matt Coyne writes with warmth, empathy and deep, deep understanding of our innermost fears and hopes.

As I said at the beginning, I can’t express clearly enough how much I love Frank and Red and I’m aware this review is vague and inadequate. Definitely one of the books going straight onto my list of favourite reads of 2024, I think it’s going to be hard to beat Frank and Red as THE book I have enjoyed the most. Filled with love, warmth and compassion, Frank and Red is just fantastic. Don’t miss it. 

About Matt Coyne

Man vs Baby’s Matt Coyne is from Sheffield, South Yorkshire.  In September 2015, Matt’s life was turned upside down by the arrival of his son Charlie. After three months of parenthood, he logged on to social media and wrote about his experience of having to live with ‘a furious, sleep-murdering, unstable and incontinent, breasts-obsessed midget lodger’. Within days, his post about surviving the first few months of parenthood was shared by millions all over the world.

Following this, Matt created his popular blog Man vs Baby, which now has over 370,000 followers on social media. And has written two Sunday Times bestselling books based on his parental triumphs and disasters, the first entitled: Dummy and the second Man vs Toddler.

He has also written for The Guardian, The Telegraph and GQ Magazine and is the current Vuelio Parenting Influencer of the Year and Blogosphere Parent Influencer of the Year.

Matt lives in Sheffield with his son Charlie, his partner Lyndsay and a Jack Russell terrier with ‘issues’ called Eddie.

For further information, visit Matt’s website, follow him on Twitter/X @mattcoyney and find Matt on Facebook and Instagram.

I feel rather terrible because I’ve been sitting on this review of Vaseem Khan’s Death of a Lesser God since last August and I completely forgot to share it on Linda’s Book Bag. With the paperback edition coming out in a couple of months, I thought it was high time I redeemed myself! I’m delighted to share my review today.

I’m a huge fan of Vaseem Khan, both as a writer and a man, and you’ll find my review of his book The Lost Man of Bombay here.

Book four in the Malabar House series, Death of a Lesser God will be released in paperback on 14th March 2024 by Hodder and is available for pre-order through the links here.

Death of a Lesser God

Can a white man receive justice in post-colonial India?
Bombay, 1950

James Whitby, sentenced to death for the murder of prominent lawyer and former Quit India activist Fareed Mazumdar, is less than two weeks from a date with the gallows. In a last-ditch attempt to save his son, Whitby’s father, arch-colonialist, Charles Whitby, forces a new investigation into the killing.

The investigation leads Inspector Persis Wadia of the Bombay Police to the old colonial capital of Calcutta, where, with the help of Scotland Yard criminalist Archie Blackfinch, she uncovers a possible link to a second case, the brutal murder of an African-American G.I. during the Calcutta Killings of 1946.

How are the cases connected? If Whitby didn’t murder Mazumdar, then who did? And why?

My Review of Death of a Lesser God

Persis is given 11 days to reinvestigate a crime. 

It was so good to be back in the company of the feisty, intelligent and scrupulous Persis. She really is one of my favourite female characters in fiction. What is so wonderful in Death of a Lesser God is that it doesn’t matter if this is the first or fourth book in the Malabar House series you’ve read, because Persis’ personality is portrayed clearly by her actions and the responses others in the story have to her. However, that doesn’t mean that Persis loses the capacity to surprise or act with fallibility. It is her realistic, occasionally flawed and reckless persona, that makes her so captivating. I will confess that I read the ending with considerable anxiety regarding Persis, but you’ll need to read it for yourself to see why. 

I have no idea whether I’m interpreting too much from it, and of course there are tiger references in the story, but I loved the animal on the cover because to me its stripes symbolised the wavering indistinct truths explored in the story. There might be a collective prejudice in people’s minds in the India of the setting, but equally Vaseem Khan explores the mercurial bending of truth, of perception and of race and culture with consummate skill so that he inverts many racial perceptions and prejudices and makes the reader truly contemplate the role of ethnicity, identity and race in society. I found that this theme added both exciting and emotional depth to the narrative and whilst Death of a Lesser God is historical crime fiction, the effect is to make it equally fresh and relevant to a modern reader. 

And it’s a cracking story. What is so effective is that Vaseem Khan places the reader alongside Persis so that it is as if you’re investigating the case with her. His descriptions are so vivid that every sense feels catered for with the crowded, heated and oppressive setting of India adding to the atmosphere. The short chapters give pace and make it impossible not to read just one more until Death of a Lesser God has been consumed in greedy gulps. It’s filled with historical accuracy, but in a manner that never detracts from the pace and action as if the author is some kind of magician, weaving a spell around the reader and educating even as he entertains. 

What really appealed to me is the fact that amongst the sweeping and major historical themes, at the heart of this mystery is humanity, and the everyday experiences of those living their lives, falling in love and simply trying to get by in a world that leaves them behind far too often, or makes them act in ways they themselves find surprising. It feels as if Death of a Lesser God has been created with compassion and understanding.

Steeped in history, peppered with dry humour and with a riveting, compelling plot, Death of a Lesser God is a story written by an author at the pinnacle of his craft. It’s a brilliant story. 

About Vaseem Khan

Vaseem Khan is the author of two crime series set in India, the Baby Ganesh Agency series set in modern Mumbai, and the Malabar House historical crime novels set in 1950s Bombay. His first book, The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra, was a Times bestseller, now translated into 15 languages. The second in the series won the Shamus Award in the US. In 2018, he was awarded the Eastern Eye Arts, Culture and Theatre Award for Literature. Vaseem was born in England, but spent a decade working in India.

Midnight at Malabar House, the first in his historical crime series, won the CWA Historical Dagger 2021, the pre-eminent prize for historical crime fiction in the world. His book The Dying Day about the theft of one of the world’s great treasures, a 600 year old copy of Dante’s The Divine Comedy, stored at Bombay’s Asiatic Society.

For further information, visit Vaseem’s website, follow him on Twitter/X @VaseemKhanUK, or find him on Facebook and Instagram.

My enormous thanks to Morgan Lloyd at Sweet Cherry Publishing for sending me a copy of the middle grade children’s book Blue’s Planet: Australia by Lucy McRobert, illustrated by Alisha Monnin and for inviting me to be part of the blog tour. It’s my pleasure to share my review today.

Out in the UK from Sweet Cherry on 15th February 2024, Blue’s Planet: Australia is available for purchase through the links here.

 Blue’s Planet: Australia

You’re never too young to save the word.

Blue has always dreamt of joining her parents as they document environmental issues around the world. Finally, she gets her wish.

A hot summer in Australia brings Blue face to face with the climate crisis. From volunteering at a wildlife hospital to joining a koala rescue mission, she’s determined to make a difference.

But with bushfires raging out of control, no animal is safe – and no human either.

About the Blue’s Planet Series:

Blue’s Planet is a globetrotting ecological adventure series, following a passionate 12-year-old animal lover called Blue and her quest to save the world. Whether its climate change and wildfires in Australia, or wildlife trafficking and palm oil deforestation in Borneo, nothing will stop Blue from making a difference and encouraging others to do the same. Perfect for budding young environmentalists and fans of Greta Thunberg.

My Review of Blue’s Planet: Australia

Animal lover Blue is moving across the world.

What a totally cracking children’s book! In Blue’s Planet: Australia Lucy McRobert includes a little bit of everything that nature loving children will adore, as well as everyday issues like friendships, so that this book really is more than the sum of its parts. Add in the brilliant illustrations from Alisha Monnin and Blue’s Planet: Australia is quite fabulous. 

I loved the physical presentation of text. It’s well spaced and sufficient to engage confident readers with new and interesting vocabulary, but it is also accessible and well supported by image to encourage more reluctant independent readers, especially as unfamiliar vocabulary is frequently explained skilfully and naturally in the story.

It’s a brilliant story too. There’s good pace with all kinds of things happening as Blue becomes embroiled in her new life in Australia. There’s excitement and danger, wildlife and friendship and so much to engage young readers in a totally fabulous plot. Whilst the Australian setting and storyline is the most exciting, I loved the inclusion of Hugh the hedgehog at the start of the story in Leicester as it shows children there is wildlife everywhere if only they knew to look. This makes the story all the more inclusive.

If Blue’s Planet: Australia were to be used in classrooms, its potential is amazing. There’s so much geography, ecology and science that I believe it would be a catalyst for further engagement in subjects beyond English where it would be brilliant for writing newspaper reports of the events Blue encounters. The use of ‘Natterjack’ social media would make a brilliant starting point for discussion about online presence and safety, for example.

However, the most wonderful aspect of Blue’s Planet: Australia is the status given to children. Through Blue, Archie and Katy, young people are presented so sensitively but without being patronised. Lucy McRobert makes it clear that children have intelligence and knowledge and that they have the power to make a profound and positive impact on the world. The author presents real world difficulties like climate change, bush fires, and disappearing flora and fauna without sentiment but in a way that engages readers of all ages and fills them with enthusiasm to want to do something to help. There are other realistic aspects too such as the power of social media, the impact of family and the exploration of bullying, for example, that make this a relevant, important and absorbing story. I think young readers will really take to the pragmatic Leo with his occasional use of ‘bloody’ in his speech too. 

I have a very strong feeling that Blue’s Planet: Australia is going to turn many young readers into wildlife advocates, climate activists or travellers – or all of those things. I would have adored this story as a child and I loved it as a middle aged grown up. If you’ve a young person in your life remotely interested in nature and animals, don’t miss Blue’s Planet: Australia. It’s quite brilliant. 

About Lucy McRobert

Lucy McRobert is a storyteller, writer and communicator, who has been working in UK wildlife conservation since she was 21-years-old.

Originally from Leicestershire, she has worked for a variety of UK organisations from Suffolk to Rutland, Dorset to the Isles of Scilly and more. She is passionate about encouraging young people to make nature part of their lives and empowering them to take action for the environment, which is why she founded a youth nature network called A Focus On Nature.

She has written extensively on nature and wildlife, including publishing her first book 365 Days Wild in 2019, as well as being a columnist for Birdwatch and writing for several magazines and newspapers including BBC Wildlife, I News, British Birds and the junior magazines for both the RSPB and The Wildlife Trusts. She has appeared several times on local and national television and radio, always talking about birds, wildlife and connecting people with nature.

She is also a Marine Mammal Medic, meaning that she is trained to rescue seals, whales and dolphins. A wildlife lover, she spends her spare time watching birds, whales and dolphins, and exploring wild places with her young daughter, Georgiana.

For further information, follow Lucy on Twitter/X @LucyMcRobert1. or find her on Instagram.

About Alisha Monnin

Alisha Monnin was born and raised in rural Ohio in a small village where distance is measured by cornfields. Growing up, she was a voracious reader and daydreamed about going on magical adventures. As an adult, she still spends her days daydreaming and reading, but now her imagination is funneled into her artwork. She graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design, and now resides in Cincinnati, Ohio with her Manx cat named Beignet.

For further information, find Alisha on Instagram.

There’s more with these other bloggers too:

Thanks to the lovely Elizabeth Masters at Quercus, not only do I have a copy of Lost and Never Found by Simon Mason on my TBR, but I’m thrilled to be able to offer a hardback copy of the book to a lucky UK reader. You can find out how to enter further down this blog post, but first, let me give you a few more details about the book.

Lost and Never Found is the third book in Simon Mason’s highly praised DI Wilkins series and is published by Quercus imprint Riverrun today, 18th January 2024. Lost and Never Found is available for purchase through the links here.

Lost and Never Found

Oxford, city of rich and poor, where the homeless camp out in the shadows of the gorgeous buildings and monuments. A city of lost things – and buried crimes.

At three o’clock in the morning, Emergency Services receives a call. ‘This is Zara Fanshawe. Always lost and never found.’ An hour later, the wayward celebrity’s Rolls Royce Phantom is found abandoned in dingy Becket Street. The paparazzi go wild.

For some reason, news of Zara’s disappearance prompts homeless woman Lena Wójcik to search the camps, nervously, for the bad-tempered vagrant known as ‘Waitrose’, a familiar sight in Oxford pushing his trolley of possessions. But he’s nowhere to be found either.

Who will lead the investigation and cope with the media frenzy? Suave, prize-winning, Oxford-educated DI Ray Wilkins is passed over in favour of his partner, gobby, trailer-park educated DI Ryan Wilkins (no relation). You wouldn’t think Ray would be happy. He isn’t. You wouldn’t think Ryan would be any good at national press presentations. He isn’t.

And when legendary cop Chester Lynch takes a shine to Ray – and takes against Ryan – things are only going to get even messier.

****

Doesn’t that sound intriguing? Let’s have that giveaway!

Giveaway

A Hardback Copy of Lost and Never Found by Simon Mason

This is a UK only giveaway and the randomly selected winner will need to provide me with a UK address for their prize copy of Lost and Never Found to be sent directly from the publisher. Those details will not be retained.

For your chance to win a copy of Lost and Never Found, click HERE.

Entries close at UK 23.29 PM Sunday 21st January 2024. Good luck!

About Simon Mason

Simon Mason has pursued parallel careers as a publisher and an author, whose YA crime novels Running Girl, Kid Got Shot and Hey, Sherlock! feature the sixteen-year-old slacker genius Garvie Smith. A former Managing Director of David Fickling Books, where he worked with many wonderful writers, including Philip Pullman, he has also taught at Oxford Brookes University and is currently a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Exeter College, Oxford. At first he wrote books for adults, then books for children, which grew up at roughly the same rate his own children grew up, and now he is back writing books for adults again. He has written a work of non-fiction, The Rough Guide to Classic Novels. His novels have been shortlisted for a number of awards, including the Branford Boase Prize for Best First Children’s Novel, the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, the Costa Prize for Best Children’s Book, and have won the Betty Trask for Best First Novel and the Crimefest Prize for Best YA Crime Novel.

It’s far too long since I read Linwood Barclay and you’ll find my review of Elevator Pitch here. Today it’s my pleasure to share my review of his latest book, The Like Maker. My enormous thanks to Sarah Lundy at Harper Collins for sending me a copy in return for an honest review.

It had been my intention to include The Lie Maker in one of my The People’s Friend monthly paperback columns, but sadly the deadlines changed and I wasn’t able to read in time.

The Lie Maker is out in paperback tomorrow, 18th January 2024, from Harper Collins imprint HQ and is available for purchase through the links here.

The Lie Maker

In this twisty thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author, a man desperately tries to track down his father in witness protection before his enemies can get to him.

Your dad’s not a good person. Your dad killed people, son.

These are some of the last words Jack Givins’s father spoke to him before he was whisked away by witness protection, leaving Jack and his mother to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives.

Years later, Jack is a struggling author, recruited by the U.S. Marshals to create false histories for people in witness protection. Jack realises this may be a chance to find his dad – but then he discovers he’s gone missing, and he could be in serious danger.

Jack knows he has to track him down. But how will he find a man he’s never truly known? And how will he evade his father’s deadly enemies – enemies who wouldn’t think twice about using his own son against him?

My Review of The Lie Maker

Jack has a new job.

The Lie Maker is fast paced and so cleverly written with Jack’s conversational style it is as if the story is being told for the individual reader alone, with the effect that it is impossible not to be completely invested in the story. Indeed, there were moments when I found myself speaking aloud to the characters, either admonishing them or warning them about events.

I loved the way this story is constructed. Jack’s present day life, told in the first person, is interspersed with present day action often associated with Earl, and Michael’s late 1990s life so that there is a feeling of absolute skill in the telling. Each strand is linked and woven together in a captivating narrative that is exciting, convincing and has surprises and shocks that I thought were fantastic. At no time was I able to predict how The Lie Maker might end. And when it did, I found that ending remarkably satisfying and emotional. 

In amongst all the pacy crime, murder and action there are themes that make The Lie Maker all the more affecting because they are entirely relatable. Family relationships, the desire to better ourselves and the basic need for human connection make this story feel humane in its telling. Here good people make poor choices and bad people prove they may have the odd shred of integrity too so that it’s difficult to know who to trust and who deserves more of the reader’s sympathy. With this extra layer of complexity The Lie Maker is so compelling. Add in the complexities of a witness protection scheme and here is a world where anything is possible that Linwood Barclay creates with breath-taking dexterity.

However, it is the people who truly make The Lie Maker such a success. Even the most conventionally negative or unbalanced individual is depicted with redeeming features so that the reader feels as if they could almost forgive them anything. Jack is, in many ways, relatively unremarkable so that he is very authentic. His past very much frames his present and I was drawn to him instantly. 

I thought The Lie Maker was excellent. It’s exciting, entertaining and dramatic so that I found myself desperate to read on whilst equally unwilling to have finished the story because I was enjoying it so much. When I had completed The Lie Maker, I felt as if I had been treated to the writing of a consummate craftsman. It’s a cracker of a thriller! 

About Linwood Barclay

Linwood Barclay is an international bestselling crime and thriller author with over twenty critically acclaimed novels to his name, including the phenomenal number one bestseller No Time For Goodbye. Every Linwood Barclay book is a masterclass in characterisation, plot and the killer twist, and with sales of over 7 million copies globally, his books have been sold in more than 39 countries around the world and he can count Stephen King, Shari Lapena and Peter James among his many fans.

Many of his books have been optioned for film and TV, and Linwood wrote the screenplay for the film based on his bestselling novel Never Saw It Coming. Born in the US, his parents moved to Canada just as he was turning four, and he’s lived there ever since. He lives in Toronto with his wife, Neetha. They have two grown children.

You can follow Linwood on Twitter/X @linwood_barclay, visit his website and find him on Facebook for more information.

My enormous thanks to Isabelle Kenyon for inviting me to participate in the blog tour for Stephen Oram’s short story collection Extracting Humanity and for sending me a copy of the book in return for an honest review. It’s my pleasure to share that review today.

Extracting Humanity was published by Orchid’s Lantern on 27 July 2023 and is available for purchase here.

Extracting Humanity

In this remarkably perceptive collection, Stephen Oram blends cutting-edge science and tech with everyday emotions and values to create 20 thought experiments with heart.

Extracting Humanity is a skilful exploration of smart currencies, memorials, medical care, treatment of refugees, social networks, data monitoring, and justice systems. Always without prescription or reprimand, these stories are simply the beginning of the conversation.

From an eerie haptic suit that Tommy must call Father, to a protective, nutritious bubble that allows Feng Mian to survive on a colonised Moon; from tattoos that will earn their wearers a mini-break in a sensory chamber, to Harrie anxiously awaiting AI feedback on her unborn child… These startling, diverse narratives map all-too-real possibilities for our future and the things that might ultimately divide or unite us.

My Review of Extracting Humanity

A collection of 20 short stories.

Extracting Humanity is slightly outside my usual reading preference being quite futuristic, and I did wonder if I’d engage with it, but I found this collection absolutely fascinating. I’m not entirely sure I can say I enjoyed Extracting Humanity because Stephen Oram writes with such skill that I found several of the stories unsettling and disturbing. I think it’s the fact that the different scenarios are presented with a poised balance of clinical, factual writing that simultaneously has huge emotional impact, that I found so disquieting. This is such clever writing. I experienced a wide range of emotions from horror through anger to fear, and yet the abiding sensation at the end of the collection was hope and the concept that life is there to be lived even if we have to make difficult decisions on the way.

Whilst the stories are brief, they are packed with situations and people that made me wonder how I might respond to the actions and knowledge presented. Scratch beneath the surface of these intelligent and carefully crafted narratives and they aren’t truly futuristic at all. Rather they embody universal modern dilemmas, moral choices, and themes relevant to today’s society from immigration to trust, substance abuse to healthcare, private medicine to single parent families, loyalty to the role of AI, and community to isolation. All life, present and possible future, is presented here in an engaging and entertaining collection.

What I think works so well is the way the author’s voice doesn’t impinge. Stephen Oram simply presents, leaving the reader to layer their own beliefs, tenets and humanity over the narratives, making this a collection that I suspect will be more than usually affected by the reader themselves and that if the reader returns to it at different times of their life, the experience and impact of reading Extracting Humanity will equally be different on every occasion. 

Indeed, Extracting Humanity couldn’t have been better titled. Reading Stephen Oram’s words encourages – or perhaps even forces – the reader to contemplate not just humanity in general, but to extract a greater depth of understanding of their own humanity. From being initially unsure that this was a book for me, I now think Extracting Humanity is a real find, as it explores all life from birth to death and it truly made me think. Extracting Humanity transpired to be a collection I found excellent.

About Stephen Oram

Stephen Oram writes near-future science fiction – his collections Eating Robots and Biohacked & Begging have been praised by publications as diverse as The Morning Star and The Financial Times. He works with artists, scientists and technologists to explore possible future outcomes of their research through short stories and is a writer for sci-fi prototypers SciFutures. He is also published in several anthologies and has two published novels – Quantum Confessions and Fluence. He is a founding curator for near-future fiction at Virtual Futures and a member of the Clockhouse London Writers.

For further information, visit Stephen’s website and follow him on Twitter/X @OramStephen. You’ll also find Stephen on Facebook and Instagram.

There’s more with these ither bloggers too:

I’ve always heard such wonderful things about Eve Ainsworth’s writing but have never actually featured her on Linda’s Book Bag. It’s my pleasure today to join in with the cover reveal for her latest book Somebody I Used to Love. My thanks to  Rachel of with Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me to participate in this cover reveal.

Coming from Canelo on 27th June 2024, Somebody I Used to Love is available for pre-order here.

Somebody I Used to Love

Lost memories. Lost loves. Can they find their way back to each other?

When Will wakes up after a car accident, he’s lost three years of memory. All he wants is his girlfriend and childhood sweetheart, Gem, beside him. Instead, nothing is as he remembers.

Gem has finally moved on from hers and Will’s break-up. With a new life and boyfriend, the last thing she expects is a call to say Will needs her – the man who nearly destroyed her.

As Will recovers, he is determined to prove to Gem that he is the man he once was. But by unlocking the secrets of his past, will he be able to piece together what caused him to change so dramatically? And, faced with the choice, will Gem continue with the safe new life she has built for herself, or will she go back to the man she used to love?

Heartbreaking and twisty, perfect for fans of Dani Atkins, Jojo Moyes and Colleen Hoover.

****

Doesn’t that sound fabulous? I’m so looking forward to reading Somebody I Used to Love. Don’t forget to pre-order here.

About Eve Ainsworth

Eve Ainsworth is a public speaker, creative workshop coordinator and award-winning author who draws from her extensive work with teenagers managing emotional and behavioural issues to write authentic, honest and real novels for young people and adults. Eve’s adult debut, Duckling, was published by Penguin Random House in 2022. She has had short stories published in magazines such as Writers’ Forum and Prima and articles posted online for The Guardian, Metro and BookTrust. Eve is also a champion for working class voices, has set up the Working Class Writers Network and is an experienced mentor.

For further information, follow Eve on Twitter/X @EveAinsworth and find her on Instagram and Facebook.

Val Penny is always a welcome visitor to Linda’s Book Bag and you’ll find the previous occasions Val has appeared here. Today, we’re sharing an extract from Val’s latest book, Hunter’s Christmas which is a collection of short stories. I’m only sorry I wasn’t able to read for review this time.

Hunter’s Christmas was published by Spellbound on 15th December 2023 and is available for purchase here.

Hunter’s Christmas

DI Hunter Wilson is looking forward to spending a holiday in India with his girlfriend Dr Meera Sharma, away from the cold, wet winter of Edinburgh. He looks to share his happiness with others when he is attacked by Santa Claus, he says.

His team swing into action to catch his attackers but then receive information about an elf found dead in a car park and a car stolen by Mrs Claus.

Are the crimes by these Christmas characters connected?

Can Hunter’s team restore peace and good will to Christmas?

Hunter’s Christmas and Other Stories includes tales about DI Hunter Wilson and DS Jane Renwick along with those about new and different characters in this gripping collection of short stories especially for crime fiction readers.

An Extract from Hunter’s Christmas

Tim and Bear marched along the hospital corridor to Hunter’s ward. They made an interesting duo; one tall with fair hair and broad shoulders, dressed in relaxed but expensive designer clothes, the other tall and black with equally wide shoulders and a more formal smart suit. When they arrived at Hunter’s bedside, Meera Sharma had just risen to leave. 

“Hi guys, I’ve told Meera she mustn’t disappoint her family by staying here with me. Tell her. I’ll be fine. There’s nothing anybody can do until I get out of here, and it looks like that might be a couple of weeks. They haven’t even operated on my wrist yet. It was too swollen.”

Meera looked at Tim. “Look after him for me.”

“I will.”

She looked sternly at Bear. “Don’t let him do anything stupid.”

“Why do I always get the difficult jobs?”

The men grinned at Meera. 

“Enjoy your holiday, darling and send my love to each member of your crazy family,” Hunter said.

“What do you mean they’re crazy? They didn’t get beaten up by Santa Claus.” Meera kissed Hunter and left the ward.

“You are a lucky man, boss. What does she see in you?”

Hunter looked at his foot which was raised to keep his leg straight. “You’re right Tim, I’ve been too scared to ask her, especially right now.” He smiled. “Pull up a chair and tell me what you know.”

“No boss, you’re meant to tell us if you’ve remembered anything else,” Bear said. “Would you recognise the men if you saw them again?”

“No chance, they were all dressed up and wore fake white beards.” Hunter paused. There can’t be that many stores near the city centre hiring Santas can there?”

“Forty-seven Santas hired in the area, and ninety-six elves but only three stores hired three Santas to provide cover in shifts. Uniforms are going to interview the relevant store managers.”

“Elves!” Hunter exclaimed. “One of the Santas, the tallest one, said they’d had they’re tips stolen by an elf. He said he’d like to kill him.” Hunter moved and then grimaced in pain. 

“That’s interesting, because a guy dressed as an elf has been found dead in Castle Terrace car park,” Tim said.

“And Mrs Claus stole a car from Thomson’s Top Cars,” said Bear.

“Look, I can’t do anything about this here, but there’s something strange with all this. Could you find the connection for me? There must be one.”

“Must be one what, Hunter?” Ailsa Myerscough asked as she walked in. “Don’t get him too excited, Tim. I’m going to operate on that wrist later.” She smiled at Tim and Bear. “Staff nurse Jessica will be along to take you for premeds and so on shortly Hunter. Is there anything you want to ask?”

“Will I die?”

“It’s always a risk, but probably not. As I said, boys, no excitement.” Then, as quietly as she had arrived, Ailsa left to carry on with her work.  

“If there’s nothing else you can tell us, we’re off to see Jamie and Frankie at Thomson’s Top Cars,” Bear said. “We’ll do our best to find out what’s going on.”

“I don’t want your best. I just want you to solve these crimes. There’s too much Christmas in them for my liking.”

About Val Penny

Val Penny has an Llb degree from the University of Edinburgh and her MSc from Napier University. She has had many jobs including hairdresser, waitress, banker, azalea farmer and lecturer but has not yet achieved either of her childhood dreams of being a ballerina or owning a candy store.

Until those dreams come true, she has turned her hand to writing poetry, short stories, nonfiction books, and novels. Her novels are published by SpellBound Books Ltd.

Val is an American author living in SW Scotland. She has two adult daughters of whom she is justly proud and lives with her husband and their cat.

For more information about Val, visit her website or blog.  You’ll find Val on Goodreads, Twitter/X @valeriepenny, and Facebook.

There’s more with these other bloggers too:

My enormous thanks to Victoria Bennett for arranging for All My Wild Mothers to be sent to me well over a year ago. With the paperback publication looming I thought it really was time I got round to reading All My Wild Mothers and sharing my review! I’m delighted to do that today.

All My Wild Mothers is out from Two Roads in paperback on 1st February 2024 and is available for purchase through the links here.

All My Wild Mothers

An intimate memoir of motherhood, herbal folklore All My Wild Mothers is more than just a memoir. It’s a handbook on survival, and a testimony to radical hope.

At seven months pregnant, Victoria Bennett learns her sister has died in a canoeing accident. In that moment, her life changes.

Five years later, and struggling with the demands of motherhood, grief and full-time care, Victoria and her family move to a new social housing estate in rural Cumbria. Here, in the rubble of a former industrial site, she and her young son begin to grow a wild apothecary garden: daisy, for resilience; dandelion, for strength against adversity; sow thistle, to lift melancholy; and borage, to bring hope in dark and difficult times.

Stone by stone, seed by seed, they discover that sometimes life grows, not in spite what is broken, but because of it.

All My Wild Mothers is a profound exploration of grief, identity, and rediscovery; a testament that life and love persists, even when we think all is lost.

My Review of All My Wild Mothers

A memoir of plants and grief.

All My Wild Mothers is an astounding book. It’s as unlike a conventional memoir as can be possible and yet it provides the most perfect insight into the life and character of Victoria Bennett. 

The prose is simply beautiful. Weaving the past into a clear chronology as Victoria Bennett and her son create a wasteland garden, All My Wild Mothers is rich with detail, technicolour in vivid description and yet equally pared down and concise so that simple sentences convey the deepest emotions. Every sense is here between the pages of All My Wild Mothers, but somehow there isn’t a jarring note or an extraneous syllable to snag the profound and sensitive writing. It is as if Victoria Bennett has laid herself bare with exquisite skill and honesty.

All My Wild Mothers might initially be an intimate and affecting exploration of Victoria Bennett’s personal grief over lost children and her sister’s accidental death, and later, her mother’s passing, but it also has a universal quality too. The wonderful drawings, the botanical references and the iterative metaphor of the ability of both nature and humankind to rewild and regenerate all add up into a book that is felt every bit as much as it is read. 

Consequently, as well as raw grief there are so many identifiable and relatable situations and emotions here, from frustration to anger but equally there is hope, and deep, deep love – especially in the author’s relationship with her son. As a result All My wild Mothers gives the reader permission to identify and accept their own feelings and to understand themselves better even as they understand the author completely.

To any one of us who has lived, or grieved, or planted a seed or admired the tenacity of weeds, All My Wild Mothers is a siren call of hope. Reading it gives a sense of belonging, an understanding not only of the adaptability and resilience of Nature, but of human nature. Whatever the wastelands of our past, our relationships and the difficulties of our present situations, through sharing her story Victoria Bennett shows we can not just survive, but that, like a small lost seed, we can thrive. 

I thought All My Wild Mothers was a wonderful book. 

About Victoria Bennett

Victoria Bennett was born in Oxfordshire in 1971. A poet and author, her writing has previously received a Northern Debut Award, a Northern Promise Award, the Andrew Waterhouse Award, and has been longlisted for the Penguin WriteNow programme and the inaugural Nan Shepherd Prize for under-represented voices. She founded Wild Women Press in 1999 to support rural women writers in her community, and since 2018 has curated the global Wild Woman Web project, an inclusive online space focusing on nature, connection, and creativity. When not juggling writing, full-time care, and genetic illness, she can be found where the wild weeds grow. All My Wild Mothers is her debut memoir.

For further information, visit Victoria’s website, follow her on Twitter/X @VikBeeWyld and find Victoria on Instagram and Facebook.

My enormous thanks to Kirsten Knight at Exisle Publishing for bringing a huge smile to my face when she sent me the children’s book When Grandma Burnt Her Bra by Samantha Tidy and Aśka. I had meant to review some while ago but life got the better of me. However, it’s my pleasure to share my review today.

Published by EK Books on 23rd October 2023, When Grandma Burnt Her Bra is available for purchase here.

When Grandma Burnt Her Bra

When Grandma Burnt Her Bra uses humour to tell the story of feminism and women’s rights, exploring how, throughout history, both men and women have broken down barriers. The illustrations help convey, carefully and quirkily, the complex message that things were not always equal — and that they are not yet equal — which means that each generation faces the continued fight for equality. The call to action is to carry the flame forward. And best of all, this book has dinosaurs!

My Review of When Grandma Burnt Her Bra

Maggie’s grandma has a story to tell!

What a fantastic book! In common with other EK children’s books I’ve read the physical attributes are so pleasing, with a really strong cover that would make When Grandma Burnt Her Bra durable in any setting, be that home or school. There’s real attention to detail in the end papers giving a sensation of quality and I love the fact that there are teaching resources available to support the book on the EK website.

Indeed, When Grandma Burnt Her Bra would be brilliant for classroom use in primary education. The story has a female protagonist appealing to girls and the use of actual dinosaurs as a metaphor for attitudes will draw in boys too. The story would be brilliant for discussion work about equality – and perhaps even afford the opportunity to discuss identity with children not identifying as either male or female, as it challenges stereotypes strongly and effectively. Similarly, I could see research into female emancipation and voting with slightly older children.

There’s a smashing balance of text to image so that When Grandma Burnt Her Bra would be super for whole class sharing as well as for young independent readers. That said, there’s some new vocabulary to develop understanding and lexicon too.

With feminism, ambition and equality as major themes, When Grandma Burnt Her Bra might sound overly political and inappropriate for young readers. Not a bit of it. The text and illustrations are peppered with jokes and humour and there’s a real sense of family so that children can consider their place in the world in a fun and engaging manner.

I thought When Grandma Burnt Her Bra was smashing. It’s funny and entertaining for readers of all ages and I thoroughly recommend it.

About Samantha Tidy

Samantha Tidy is a writer of fiction and non-fiction for both children and adults. She seeks out stories that cultivate connection and resilience and that help build community. She believes strongly that books can help us imagine a better world for the next generation to inherit. She is passionate about libraries, sustainable stewardship of our planet and using hope, action and compassion to regenerate our future. Samantha’s previous titles include The Day We Built the Bridge (Midnight Sun Publishing, 2019) and Cloudspotting (Windy Hollow Books, 2023) among others.

For further information, visit Sam’s website or find her on Instagram and Facebook.

About Aśka

Aśka is an award‐winning visual storyteller, comics maker and science communicator. As a hugely engaging and popular presenter, Aśka is passionate about visual literacy. She has published more than ten books and graphic novels and is a recipient of several grants and fellowships.

Aśka’s illustrations are featured in previous EK Books titles My Storee, The Incurable Imagination and This is NOT a Book!

For further information, visit Aśka’s website and find her on Instagram and Facebook.