REVIEW: In Plain Sight by Marion Todd (ARC)

In Plain Sight (DI Clare Mackay #2) by Marion Todd

Genre: Crime fiction, Police procedural

Read: 31st May 2020

Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon

(publication date: 20th February 2020)

★★★★ 4 stars

DI Clare Mackay is back in the second book of this exciting Scottish police procedural series by Marion Todd, set in and around St Andrews. I enjoyed the first book "See Them Run" but I liked this one even more and having now finished it, I am looking forward to the third installment.

Clare Mackay has recently returned from a brief holiday in France and is attending a fun run with her DS, Chris West, one Sunday afternoon when she hears a scream in the crowd. All eyes turn to a young woman screaming that someone's taken her baby.

Lisa Matthews stands by an empty pram, her six month old daughter Abi has been abducted. Clare immediately organises a search and calls in for back-up but to no avail. The search is ramped up when it is revealed that baby Abi has congenital heart disease and needs specific medicine twice a day or she will die. The parents are frantic with worry, while the team follow leads and chase up suspects in the hope of finding Abi in time.

Added to Clare's workload is a young journalist who is to shadow her for "a day in the life of" kind of police and media relations thing. She has no time or patience to babysit someone who barely looks old enough to shave and delegates her more menial tasks for him to undertake...after all, she is also understaffed so she may as well utilise him. Then there is the entrance of DCI Tony McAvette, a definite thorn in Clare's side, whose primary concern is how solving this case will look on his CV when he submits his application for Superintendent. Never mind that he is there to supposedly head up the investigation yet he leaves all the work for Clare and her team to do while he intends to take the credit.

As the investigation delves deeper, the team uncover some questionable aspects concerning the parents. Are they hiding something? If so, what? Do they know more than they are letting on? Then two days after Abi's abduction, Lisa disappears and the team find themselves looking not only for Abi but her mother as well.

Then a witness comes forward with some information about the abduction which has Clare re-evaluating the direction of the investigation.

IN PLAIN SIGHT is a clever and well-plotted story that is so involved and often complex but completely engrossing from start to finish. I read this book in a day.

I love how Clare and her team are completely personable characters without the bitchiness and back-biting often seen in police procedurals. They are all likable and they have a camaraderie that make them work well together. The exception to this is, of course, the DCIs that are brought in with each case as Clare is just a DI and the investigation needs to be overseered by a DCI. Why doesn't Clare just get promoted to DCI so she had head her own investigations? lol

I also loved the return of Benjy, who I had to refresh my memory where he fit into things. But it was good to see him again and I look forward to seeing more of him!

A cracker of police procedural, IN PLAIN SIGHT follows on from the first book - though it can be read as a standalone - and is proof positive that the Clare Mackay series is one to watch.

An entertaining and captivating read, I have no hesitation in recommending IN PLAIN SIGHT to any fan of crime fiction and police procedurals.

I would like to thank #MarionTodd, #NetGalley and #Canelo for an ARC of #InPlainSight in exchange for an honest review.

REVIEW: A Window Breaks by C.M. Ewan (ARC)

A Window Breaks by C.M. Ewan

Genre: Psychological thriller

Read: 30th May 2020

Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon

(publication date: 20th February 2020)

★ 1 star

I was really looking forward to this book. Isolated in the Scottish highlands. A window breaks. Someone is inside the house. What do you do? But, the most exciting part was the premise...and upon re-reading that, even that wasn't all that exciting.

Tom, his wife Rachel and their 13 year old daughter Holly were staying in a remote lodge in the Scottish highlands, owned by Tom's boss Lionel. The family are still grieving the loss of their 16 year old son, Michael who was tragically killed when he snaffled his father's Audi and took it for a joyride with his girlfriend Fiona, lost control and crashed into a tree. Both were killed instantly. Then the family were mugged that left daughter Holly mentally scarred.

The remote lodge is stunning, the views are spectacular, and it seems to be a perfect place to relax and regroup...until they hear a window break at 2am one night. And that is just the beginning of their nightmare.

Secrets soon begin to reveal themselves at which the centre is wife Rachel, who appears to know more than she is letting on. But what had me the most interested was the intrigue behind Michael's death as this claustrophobic read revealed its secrets.

However, I couldn't connect with the characters. Tom didn't appear to have much backbone, Rachel was secretive and Holly was irritating. But what I really hated was the slow pace that seemed to be going nowhere before anything started to happen. And then when it did, it was confusing and I didn't enjoy it.

I must be in the minority as so many seemed to have loved this book but it wasn't for me. You can't enjoy them all. It's not an easy book to review either because I didn't even finish it. I don't have time for books that are slow burning and fail to grab my attention in the first 10 to 15% as I have many more on my TBR list that will be far more thrilling.

I would have liked to discover what happened with Michael's car crash that seems to be a focus of every few chapters but I just have to resign myself to the fact it is one of those things that I will never learn the truth of. My need to know is not that great that I must read the rest of A WINDOW BREAKS to find out.

I would like to thank #CMEwan, #NetGalley and #PanMacmillan for an ARC of #AWindowBreaks in exchange for an honest review.

REVIEW: The One Who Got Away by L.A. Detwiler (ARC)

The One Who Got Away by L.A. Detwiler

Genre: Psychological thriller, Domestic thriller

Read:30th May 2020

Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon

(publication date: 19th February 2020)

★★★★★ 5 stars

Disturbing on so many levels, THE ONE WHO GOT AWAY is a somewhat unique but scary concept. It makes you stop and think what if this really happened. Unlikely, I know, but with some of the unsavoury things that do often go undetected in aged care homes, it does make you wonder.

The story begins in the present day with Adeline Evans, an elderly woman nearing 80, who has moved into a aged care home. Adeline has the early stages of dementia so her memory is not what it used to be, often playing tricks on her and leaving her questioning the validity of everything she knows. But it's not just the care home that Adeline is worried about - it's the fact that her daughter Claire has brought her back to where her nightmares began sixty years ago. A place she vowed she would never return. A place where old memories begin to resurface.

It was 1959 and Adeline Walker was 19 years old. Having moved from their previous place under somewhat dubious circumstances three years previous, her parents wanted a new start for themselves and their only daughter in West Green, Crawley. But life has not turned out how she, nor her parents, had envisioned. Her mother wanted more for her only daughter and set her sights on the most eligible bachelor in town - Oliver Parsons. But Oliver was not who he appeared to be and when Addy broke off with him, the repercussions were relentless.

But Adeline had also gained the attention of another admirer. Someone who remained in the shadows. Someone who watched and waited and bides his time. A killer with an appetite beyond all measures who snatched his victims and left bite marks all over their bodies, some dismembered. Each of his kills were the lead up to his grand finale that was to be Adeline Walker. But with six women living in such close proximity having been brutally murdered, Adeline's parents decided it was time to move...for fear their daughter may be next. But Adeline was going nowhere without Charles. So they made their own plans to escape in the middle of the night, catching the first train out of Crawley and never looking back.

Now sixty years later, having been happily married for many years before Charles' death the previous year, Addy now finds herself in Smith Creek Manor Care Home where the past begins to haunt her. Strange things start happening - at first little things - but disturbing nonetheless. Notes left on her noticeboard, Bible verses damning her to hell, mice in the bed, blood on the walls, her photos smashed. There is a man she recognises from her past and another who seems vaguely familiar who stares at her daily from his window - do these men mean her harm? Then her only friend dies suddenly after she discovers something important she was about to disclose to her. But no one believes Addy when she tries telling them what's happening and that someone is trying to kill her. It's just dismissed as "the confused mind of dementia".

Added to that is the disgraceful behaviour of some of the bullying staff who spare no thought to the elderly residents in their care, abusing them constantly on a daily basis. But who will listen to the cries of an old woman whose addled brain is decaying from dementia?

Told in the past, the present and in newspaper clippings, THE ONE WHO GOT AWAY is a chilling read that is both shocking and confronting. As secrets of the past are slowly revealed, we learn more about Adeline and her dubious past and the fear that plagues her now.

THE ONE WHO GOT AWAY is an atmospheric read as the fear and vulnerability of those within the walls of a care home, that is supposed to care for its residents, is downright disturbing. As is the past that is equally chilling.

My first read by L.A. Detwiler and it is such a thrilling read that while I pieced together parts of the puzzle early on, the ending was rather unexpected. But a thrilling and chilling read which I thoroughly recommend for fans of psychological and domestic thrillers.

I would like to thank #LindsayDetwiler, #NetGalley and #OneMoreChapter for an ARC of #TheOneWhoGotAway in exchange for an honest review.

REVIEW: The Girl from the Workshouse by Lynn Johnson (ARC)

The Girl from the Workhouse by Lynn Johnson

Genre: Historical fiction

Read: 29th May 2020

Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon

(publication date: 18th February 2020)

★★★★ 4 stars

Lynn Johnson transports readers back to the early 1900s in THE GIRL FROM THE WORKHOUSE, a debut novel that was an enjoyable and easy read. I've read a few novels featuring workhouses and it makes one thankful for the times that we live in today. They must have been such harsh places and folk must have been desperate to even consider going there. Despite the harsh realities of another time and era, it was indeed an engrossing escape back in time.

Set in the busy pottery town of Burslem in Staffordshire, the story begins in 1911 of 11 year old Ginnie Jones whose family have fallen on hard times with her father losing his job due to his failing eyesight. Little by little, Ginnie's mother sells of their trinkets and various belongings, including Ginnie's most prized possession of The Children's Book of Parables she won at Sunday School on her birthday, to try and make ends meet and pay the rent. However, it was all to no avail and the family soon packed themselves up and trudged up the hill to the workhouse. Ginnie's older sister Mabel was 16 and able to stay with a neighbour, aunt Nellie, as she could work and earn her keep there.

But Ginnie was to discover that life in the workhouse was even tougher when upon entry, her father was immediately sent to a different section and after being bathed and clothed in the workhouse uniform, she and her mother were also to be separated. As she was 11, she was too old to stay with her mother and too young to work, so she was sent down the road to Haddon House, where the children lived and she would go to school.

On her first night in Haddon House, she is introduced to young Clara who she befriends immediately and, as they are full to bursting already, the two girls share a bed. As Ginnie was used to sharing a bed with her older sister Mabel, she was comforted to have someone beside her. Despite it being tough in the early days, Ginnie soon falls into a routine and makes two special friends there - Clara and a boy named Sam. Although she is meant to attend school, it is shared with the village children who poke fun at the workhouse children and even more so at Ginnie because she can't read. She visits her parents up at the Big House occasionally but she never sees her sister who had promised to visit. When her mother dies, her father forbids her to attend the funeral stating that it is no place for a child. But Mary Higgins, Haddon House's mistress, secretly takes her to the funeral and they stay in the background so Ginnie can say her goodbyes.

Three years after first entering the workhouse, Mabel comes to Haddon to offer Ginnie a home with her and her new husband Frank. Without a word or a visit in three years, Ginnie (now 14) is angered that her sister wants to pull her out of the home she has come to love and feel comfortable in. But the law states that the parish will only pay for their keep as long as they have nowhere else to go...and Ginnie now has somewhere else. Now 19, Mabel reveals that she is pregnant and Ginnie would be of some help for her when the baby comes.

Grateful for a new start, Ginnie moves in with Mabel and Frank...but it soon becomes clear that she is to earn her keep by doing all the work Mabel should be doing to keep house instead of sitting idle all day. And then Mabel takes her down to Chamberlain's potters to beg for a job for Ginnie where she is given the dirtiest job of all as a mouldrunner. She works hard and come pay day is excited to receive her own money and begins planning on how she will save it to get Sam out of Haddon. But that is shortlived because as soon as she is home, Frank demands her wages for her keep...and Mabel still expects her to keep the house despite working the long arduous hours at Chamberlain's.

One afternoon, Ginnie comes across some women talking about the vote for women and it's there she comes across Miss Constance Copeland, whose mother was a Workhouse Friend and they would visit the children at Christmas. The two women recognise each other and it isn't long before they become friends, despite the difference in their classes. And over time, Connie proves to be a good friend to Ginnie when she most needs one.

Then war breaks out and soon men and boys are being sent off to fight for King and country, leaving the womenfolk wondering if they would ever return. Sam is discharged from the workhouse - thanks to Connie's mother - and is working in the mines. But it isn't long before he signs up to fight for his country and Ginnie becomes scared. What if she never sees Sam again? He is her best friend and she cannot imagine a life without him.

An enjoyable and poignant read, THE GIRL FROM THE WORKHOUSE pulls at the heartstrings as we follow the journey of Ginnie from a girl in the workhouse to becoming a young woman. Her friendships with both Sam and Connie are touching and incredibly heartwarming.

I love the dual timelines set before and after Haddon House, as well as her time during the workhouse. Her heartbreak, her contentment, her laughter and her tears. THE GIRL FROM THE WORKHOUSE is Ginnie's story of life, death, survival, heartache and ultimately happiness.

An enjoyable tale that was an easy read, THE GIRL FROM THE WORKHOUSE is perfect for readers of historical fiction.

I would like to thank #LynnJohnson, #NetGalley and #Hera for an ARC of #TheGirlFromTheWorkshouse in exchange for an honest review.

REVIEW: The Stranger in our Bed by Samantha Lee Howe (ARC)

The Stranger in our Bed by Samantha Lee Howe

Genre: Domestic thriller, psychological thriller

Read: 26th May 2020

Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon

(publication date: 14th February 2020)

★★★★★ 5 stars

WOW! I went to bed early last night to start reading THE STRANGER IN OUR BED...and stayed up until 3.30am to finish it! It's the first time I can actually remember reading a book in one complete sitting! Initially, I had planned to read till around midnight...but nope, by then I was completely hooked and nothing would stop me till I completed it. It was an absolute rollercoaster from start to finish.

Charlotte met Tom when they were both studying corporate law at Oxford and upon graduating the couple married in a lavish wedding at the family manor in Surrey. Tom moved into the family company, Carlisle Corp, while Charlotte's own law degree was left on the shelf, spending her days lunching and organising charity events.

Charlotte thought she had married the man of her dreams but twelve years later she is left feeling unhappy and unfulfilled. Tom and his mother control everything she does down to the tiniest detail and she has little freedom. But why? She has everything she could ever need, they shop at Harrod's, they have a huge London apartment, a country estate in Surrey and a chauffeur driven limo - what else could she possibly wish for? Except happiness.

And then she meets Ewan.

Two chance meetings with him lead to coffee...then dinner...and then an all consuming affair. With Ewan, Charlotte can be herself. He makes her happy and with him she feels loved. She falls desperately in love with him and after months of sneaking around, tells Tom that she is leaving him. But when she arrives at their arranged meeting place the following morning, Ewan is not there. She waits for hours in the rain and he fails to show. She calls him but his number has been disconnected. She goes to the flat they used to meet at, but only a woman answers the door claiming that she is the only one living there. She returns to their meeting place and waits...but Ewan never shows.

And then a black limo draws up alongside her. Tom.

Despite her infidelity, Tom takes Charlotte back and together they work on rekindling their marriage. For the first several weeks, Charlotte is devastated to be duped by Ewan even moreso after Tom shows her a Facebook page outlining "Catfishing" where other women have been duped by similar men into leaving their husbands and the lives behind only to be left realising that none of it was real. How could she be so stupid? Ewan had really played her. She had believed him. She had loved him. And now he had vanished...as if he had never existed.

Then Charlotte falls pregnant and baby Melody is born...and everything finally seems to be falling into place. But after a passing remark by their nanny Tina about how much Melody resembles Charlotte, Tom is furious and demands a paternity test. He may have taken her back, but his anger was evident. And there was something about Tom that unsettled her.

Charlotte finds an unlikely ally in her mother-in-law who, while championing their reunion, confides that she would never let anything happen to her. What does Isadora know? She always claimed that everything she did was for Tom. So is she hiding something else?

And then Charlotte discovers an email from Ewan on her husband's laptop and a file in his desk drawer on the two of them. What does this mean? Just how much does Tom know about Ewan? Or more to the point, how much does she know about Tom?

Based on a true story, THE STRANGER IN OUR BED is a dark and twisted domestic thriller about one of the most toxic relationships I have ever read. And a scary example of gaslighting that you would hope it will never happen to you. It is well crafted and brilliantly told and while I did predict most of it, I didn't see that final reveal coming until the very end. However, it was an incredibly satisfying end to one of the best domestic thrillers I have come across.

A tale so twisted it is disturbing, THE STRANGER IN OUR BED is an addictive fast paced thriller that would make Hitchcock proud. Even down to the gothic manor of the Carlisle country estate in Surrey. And the more you read, the darker it gets.

An outstanding debut thriller from Samantha Lee Howe that is by far one of the best domestic thrillers I have come across.

I would like to thank #SamanthaLeeHowe, #NetGalley and #HarperCollinsUK and #OneMoreChapter for an ARC of #TheStrangerInOurBed in exchange for an honest review.

REVIEW: The Summer Fields by L.P. Fergusson (ARC)

The Summer Fields by L.P. Fergusson

Genre: Historical fiction, romance

Read: 26th May 2020

Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon

(publication date: 13th February 2020)

★★ 2 stars

THE SUMMER FIELDS by L.P. Fergusson was certainly not what I expected. At first I felt a touch of Poldark in the pages but then it drifted off into something far different.

Beginning in Wales in the year 1704, Elen Griffiths is a milkmaid on her father's dairy farm when late one night a carriage arrives and demands her immediate presence at Duntisbourne Hall to nurse Viscount Mordiford who is suffering from smallpox. Elen contracted cowpox as a child and as a result now has immunity from this highly contagious and horrific disease. Whilst caring for Mordiford, the two form a bond of sorts and a growing respect for each other. However, the Earl's valet, Ned Harley, has his sights set on Elen and they steal moments and kisses together in shadows and Elen finds herself longing for the next time that she will see Ned. But Ned is hiding a dark secret.

One night Elen and Ned plan to rendezvous in the old ice house but instead she is betrayed and it is Mordiford who comes to her rescue. The ramifications of the betrayal are so great that Elen is no longer safe prompting her to leave Wales and become a nurse in Europe.

But alas, trouble finds her there as well. Through challenges of many kinds and across the sea to war, Elen develops her nursing skills through necessity to tend to the injured soldiers.

A romance tale in the form of historical fiction, THE SUMMER FIELDS is an average read. I was shocked by one particular aspect as I hadn't expected it but it did add an interesting element to the story. I was more swept away by the scenery and the setting and then BAM! It had a bit of an occultish element to it which is not within my interests, although I'm well aware that this kind of thing did take place particularly amongst the aristocracy who saw themselves as untouchable.

However I would have much preferred a tale set upon the Welsh landscape than amongst the battlefields of France. I am not a fan of military stories so it kind of ruined it for me.

I can't really comment on the characters as they didn't really do anything for me and I found Elen a little more than annoying at times. Mordiford was an interesting character considering he was of the aristocracy but I kind of liked him.

It is interesting to note that I read this whilst the world is in the midst of a global pandemic with COVID-19 in which many of us have found ourselves in quaratine ourselves. It brings it into perspective more that our ancestors have also had to face quarantine just as we do today...although in their case without the advancement of medicine today, many diseases would have found them quarantined, I'm sure.

While I enjoyed the first half of the book, THE SUMMER FIELDS would have been better played out on British soil. I Have no interest in military stories and therefore my care factor for the story from then on plummeted. I think a cat and mouse game with Elen trying to escape the clutches of the Earl and his band of merry men would have better sufficed to make a more interesting tale.

I do feel I have to mention the stunning cover though. It is just breathtaking.

Sadly, THE SUMMER FIELDS was not really my cup of tea although it had the potential to be a more different and maybe better story than what it was. However, it was a taste of something a little different than your typical historical fiction. Just not for me.

I would like to thank #LPFergusson, #NetGalley and #Canelo for an ARC of #TheSummerFields in exchange for an honest review.

REVIEW: The Forgotten Girls by Lizzie Page (ARC)

The Forgotten Girls by Lizzie Page

Genre: Historical fiction, Dual timeline

Read: 25th May 2020

Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon

(publication date: 13th February 2020)

★★ 2 stars

THE FORGOTTEN GIRLS is my first book by Lizzie Page but sadly it did not live up to my expectations as promised in the book's premise, which alluded to a photograph of two girls with their backs to the camera on the book's delightful cover. The photograph is said to be the focus of the story but in actual fact it isn't. It is more about the love lives of Elaine in wartime London and Jennifer in present day Spain.

London, 1943: Elaine works for the government typing out letters from prisoners of war to their families looking for secret codes that may have been hidden away within the messages. One night she meets the most agreeable and alluring Robert Capa, a famous war photographer, and despite already being spoken for she finds herself immediately attracted to him. Ending her relationship with Justin, who was an RAF pilot, Elaine is then free to succumb to the charms of Robert Capa.

After their mother died and their father left, Elaine brought up her two younger brothers, Clive and Alan, while living in a small 2 bedroom flat above a bookshop. She is a little embarrassed to bring Robert back to her little flat, particularly when Clive loved Justin and probably wouldn't approve of her having dumped him for someone flashier. As he had a club foot, Clive was exempt from war service but her middle brother Alan was not, his letters often reflecting his desire not to be there. But Elaine would attempt to cheer him with telling him all about her Bobby.

Elaine's friend Annie would often warn Elaine that Robert Capa was not the man for her. He was a player, a playboy, with a girl in every port and she didn't want to see her friend get hurt. But Elaine was in love and while Bobby was in London, they spent every waking moment together. But when he was off in dangerous places and situations, capturing the moments of war, Elaine missed him terribly. But that was who Robert Capa was - he lived for it. But when they were together their relationship was intense. He was her Bobby and she was his Pinky.

Spain, 2016: Jen's marriage is crumbling and she is left feeling unhappy and somewhat redundant. Her brother has summoned her to his expansive villa in Spain where her mother, stepfather Derek and Aunty Barbara have also congregated. Matthew has something big to announce...but what?

He pulls out an old photograph of two girls holding hands with their backs to camera in an ancient silver frame. Jen recognises it as the one that sat on her mother's mantle for years. On the back is written "B and P forever". Everyone wonders who B and P are and what are their ties to the two girls in the photo? Matthew's eyes are twinkling as he springs yet another surprise on them - a documentary on Robert Capa and their Nana's relationship with the famous photographer. Was this photo one of Robert Capa's? It was not his usual type of work. But Jen is curious and begins to wonder where she fits in the grand scheme of things.

I usually love dual timeline stories but this one was bordering on the ridiculous. I couldn't connect with anyone, though I was more invested in Elaine's story than anyone else's...and yet I still found I had little patience with her as well. The premise alluded to a mystery behind the photograph of the two girls when in actual fact there was no real mystery and the photo wasn't even really the focus of this story.

I struggled with THE FORGOTTEN GIRLS so therefore I find it hard to review. I didn't really like any of the characters and the premise was misleading so nothing was what I expected when reading it. The story itself was incredibly slow and it took a 29 minute chapter to depict Elaine meeting Robert Capa. And that was just the first chapter! It left me wondering what the point of it all was.

I love historical fiction and was looking forward to this one but it was nothing like I expected and I honestly didn't really enjoy it very much. I found myself rushing to the end when I uttered allowed "Thank God that's over!" to which my husband replied "That bad, was it?"

THE FORGOTTEN GIRLS is a good story if you are looking for something different but it just wasn't for me.

I would like to thank #LizziePage, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheForgottenGirls in exchange for an honest review.

REVIEW: Above the Bay of Angels by Rhys Bowen (ARC)

Above the Bay of Angels by Rhys Bowen

Genre: Historical fiction

Read: 24th May 2020

Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon

(publication date: 11th February 2020)

★★★★ 4.5 stars

Historical fiction is one of my favourite genres into which I can completely lose myself to the story and the era. The added bonus was the featured presence of Queen Victoria who wasn't just monarch at the time but played a role within the story itself. It lent such a unique perspective, featuring many historical aspects that were both true in fact and well researched.

Isabella Waverly had been raised to be a lady. Her father was of aristocratic blood with an uncle who was an Earl but was left somewhat bitter at having been passed over as heir. He had spent much time in India but his wife did not care for the climate and so he resigned his position with the Bengal Lancers and moved back to England where he gained employment at the newly opened Savoy hotel. Moving in circles of nobility, Bella's father still saw himself as an aristocrat and kept up the appearance of such thus falling victim to the demon drink and losing is job. When Bella's mother died and her father squandering just about everything they had, he then found her employment with a somewhat vulgar couple of "new money".

So at 15, Bella was forced into servitude with the Tilleys when she would have much rathered continued her education. But her father insisted she needed to support her younger sister Louisa until he was able to find employment. But of course, he never did. And five years after Bella began a life of servitude, their father died leaving the girls with nothing. However, Louisa who was now 17, had been courting a young man whose parents owned a chain of butcher shops and they were engaged to be married. Bella thought her sister was marrying beneath herself as both girls had been raised to be ladies.

Although she no longer had to support her sister, she still needed to support herself which left her in the the employ of the ghastly Tilleys. She had begun as a lowly housemaid but over time had shown an interest in the preparation of food, asking the cook how each dish was made. Cook then insisted that she needed an assistant and insisted that it be Bella. It was a step up from a housemaid and she found she had a keen interest and a deft touch with cooking. However, the lady of the house, Mrs Tilley, lived off Bella's story, priding herself in the fact that although she had been of aristocratic birth Bella had was left an orphan and she thought it her duty to take her in. Completely untrue and embellished with every telling but it left her bound to the household forever as Mrs Tilley refused to let her leave for if she ever chose to she would refuse to give her a reference.

By pure chance one day, Bella is enjoying her afternoon off in London when she witnesses an horrific accident in which a young woman is tragically killed. Bella rushes forward thinking only to help, when the young woman thrusts a letter into Bella's hands before dying. The letter, it appears, was an offer of employment as an under cook at Buckingham Palace. Reflecting on her father's words to her a child to "seize the day" and take your chance where you find it, Bella decides to take the opportunity to replace the woman. Her new name - Helen Barton.

Her new position as under cook in Queen Victoria's kitchen begins as somewhat daunting with a long line of male cooks, each specialising in their own skills, as well as kitchenhands and under cooks and apprentices. Bella finds herself just one of three women as she is handed the task of food preparation with the kindly Mrs Simms but soon starts to specialise as a pastry cook. When an accident with the French pastry chef with a flair for the dramatics occurs, Bella finds herself having to prepare Her Majesty's afternoon tea. Remembering the scones the cook at her last job made, she replicated the recipe and sent them to Her Majesty with lashings of jam and cream. When word reached them that the Queen wanted a word with the cook who made the scones, Bella feared she had done something wrong. But she was shocked to learn that the Queen thoroughly enjoyed them and insisted that she make them for her every afternoon.

Bella was enjoying her new position at the Palace, although found herself in a difficult position when the Prince of Wales, known for his lecherous ways with pretty young women, propositioned her outside Her Majesty's sitting room. In an effort to escape his wandering hands, Bella found herself with the opportunity to rid herself of another pressing problem she had recently found herself with.

It seems Helen Barton had a brother and one afternoon he had come knocking with the demand to see his sister. Bella knew at once that Helen's brother would know immediately that she was not who she claimed to be, and it appeared that he already knew his sister was dead and was interested to see who this Helen Barton was. And he had a request of her...or he would reveal her deceit. He wanted a position within the royal household. So there she was, in the clutches of the Prince of Wales when she mentioned that her brother was looking for a position and would he take him on. Satisfied that the weasily Ronnie Barton was now out of her life, Bella resumed her duties in the royal kitchen.

In the new year as winter passed, Bella is lucky enough to accompany the royal household to Nice for the duration of autumn where the weather is far warmer than England. Bella falls in love with the town and its blue waters, the markets and soon finds herself learning the art of some French delicacies. Soon she meets Giles Waverly, discovering immediately that he is a distant cousin, and while she told him she was with the royal household he incorrectly assumed she was a lady in waiting. Bella finds herself enjoying his company and is aware that he is attracted to her but he does not know her true identity or her position.

Then after an evening out, all of the royal cooks but Bella find themselves ill with food poisoning and she is left with the task of running the entire royal kitchen, and cooking for the royal household, on her own. With the help of head chef of the hotel in which the Queen's party is staying, Bella's efforts are a complete success. That is, until one of the royal party dies suddenly after eating a meal prepared and cooked by Bella herself.

Soon Bella finds herself accused of murder and with the risk of her true identity being discovered, finds that it is up to her to clear her name...and that of Helen Barton.

A cleverly woven tale mixing fact with fiction, ABOVE THE BAY OF ANGELS is a delightful yet gentle easy read set in the late Victorian era. I enjoyed my time with Bella although I found myself at odds with her deception, wondering how she was going to make a name for herself as a chef...if it wasn't even her name!

With a touch of blackmail and death by poisoning, ABOVE THE BAY OF ANGELS is set late in Queen Victoria's reign as monarch as the Queen herself is depicted as a small rotund woman regaled in black garb and accompanied for the most part by her Indian companion, Adbul Karim.

I thoroughly enjoyed the character of Queen Victoria most notably in her interactions with Bella. Although these particular instances would not in actual fact be plausible (between the Queen of England and an under cook), the use of poetic licence in this engaging tale makes it wonderful read. It does not have to be plausible to be enjoyable. And enjoy it, I did....except for the ending. When she all but promises herself to one man then on the next page betrothes herself to another!

A wonderfully delightful tale that is a enjoyable easy read, ABOVE THE BAY OF ANGELS is a delight for any historical fiction fan.

I would like to thank #RhysBowen, #NetGalley and #LakeUnionPublishing for an ARC of #AboveTheBayOfAngels in exchange for an honest review.

REVIEW: The Children from Gin Barrel Lane by Lindsey Hutchinson (ARC)

The Children from Gin Barrel Lane by Lindsey Hutchinson

Genre: Historical fiction

Read: 22nd May 2020

Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon

(publication date: 11th February 2020)

★★★★★ 5 stars

There is just something about Lindsey Hutchinson's books that are all-encompassing, all-engrossing and completely captivating. And yet they are simple stories about every day people of the era with a style that is so easy to read. I have only read two of her books but I am hooked and THE CHILDREN OF GIN BARREL LANE is no different.

Nellie Larkin is a tough, formidable woman who runs a gin palace known as The Crown Saloon, a well patronised establishment by the local community on a street known locally as Gin Barrel Lane. The year is 1857 and life is hard in the industrial black country of Birmingham. Nellie's ten year old son Jack and young barmaid Poppy work alongside Nellie behind the bar whilst her longtime friend Nancy Sampson keeps them fed from her kitchen.

Jack is no more than a skivvy, yielding daily to his mother's demands under the constant bellow of her booming voice, and he dreams of a day when he's old enough to leave and work on a farm breathing in the fresh air instead of city fumes. One day when he is out in the yard, he hears a sobbing and stumbles across a cold and frightened young girl hiding amongst the barrels. Encouraging her into their warm kitchen, Nancy feeds the girl and Nellie is soon persuaded to let the girl stay.

Dolly Perkins is 13 years old and, after the death of her mother, took to the streets when her stepfather Arthur decided that young Dolly was to take her mother's place both in the kitchen and in his bed. She had been scavenging and sleeping in doorways for three months before Jack stumbled across her in the yard amongst the empty barrels. Settling into her new life with her new family, Dolly soon more than earns her keep with her know-how and academia, becoming a life-saver for Nellie on more than one occasion. It is obvious the girl has had a good education, something which is sadly lacking in the working class, making her an invaluable addition to the household.

Arthur Micklewaite wants desperately to find young "Dolly Daydream". She has a valuable diamond necklace bequeathed to her by her mother which he believes should rightly be his and he will stop at nothing to get his hands on it. And if he can also bring Dolly home to warm his bed, that would be an added bonus. In the meantime, Arthur intends to find other wealthy widows in the funeral notices to worm his way into their lives and fleece them of their riches and keep him in the lifestyle to which he believes he is entitled to.

But Arthur is also a pickpocket, finding opportunity to deftly snatch wallets and purses from the unsuspecting at markets or railway stations. And it is at the market one day that he spies young Dolly with Jack and Nancy...and decides to follow them to see where his step-daughter has ended up. As he watches them walk into the yard of The Crown Saloon he can't help but think that young Dolly has landed on her feet...and so forms a new plan to relieve her of that diamond necklace.

Unable to sleep one night for the heat, Dolly goes to open the window and let in some air when she sees a shadow in the yard below trying to break into The Crown. It's dark and she cannot see his face, but there is something familiar about him. Alone in her room, Dolly can't help but feel frightened despite the man being unable to gain access and she tells everyone about it the next morning.

Ezra Morton is a hard man but he is also a rich man. He owns a brewery and operates a money lending business. On one such occasion Nellie Larkin was forced to borrow money from him to renovate The Crown after she inherited it from her parents needing a great deal of work. Enter Ezra Morton. He lent her the money on the condition that she could only buy her supply of gin from him. Over the years she had been paying him back the minimum but now he was wanting to increase her repayments, and Nellie was shocked to find that despite repaying him she still owed the exact amount she had borrowed from him! She wished she could pay him off once and for all and never have to do business with him again.

Then Dolly had a proposition for her and despite refusing her help, Dolly insisted. So when Nellie turned up the next day with the amount paid in full, Ezra was shocked and wondered where on earth Nellie had come up with that amount of money. Not to be shown up by a woman, Ezra vowed to bring Nellie Larkin down and ruin her once and for all.

You could not help but fall in love with this wonderful cast of characters, with the exception of Ezra and Arthur of course, as Nellie continued to add to her fold. Although she is a formidable woman, Nellie is completely likable alongside her band of waifs and strays, taking in those in need of work and a place to sleep. They are a unique kind of family and proof that you don't have to be related to be family.

The setting is atmospheric and the characters are well developed as they shine in a well paced suspenseful plot. Well crafted and engaging, THE CHILDREN OF GIN BARREL LANE has a real sense of family, despite none of them being related, with plenty of drama amidst the sights, sounds and smells of Victorian England.

THE CHILDREN OF GIN BARREL LANE is an entertaining and delightful story that will keep you turning the pages until the very end. And when it does end, you will be left with wanting more. Lindsey Hutchinson has that effect on you.

The reader is pulled in quickly with an incredible sense of the life and times in Victorian England. There isn't one thing I didn't like about this book...except maybe that I didn't really want it to end.

I would like to thank #LindseyHutchinson, #NetGalley and #BoldwoodBooks for an ARC of #TheChildrenFromGinBarrelLane in exchange for an honest review.

REVIEW: In the Shadow of the Storm by Ella Zeiss (ARC)

In the Shadow of the Storm by Ella Zeiss

Genre: Historical fiction

Read: 22nd May 2020

Goodreads

Purchases: Amazon

(publication date: 11th February 2020)

★★ 2 stars

Translated from its original language of German, IN THE SHADOW OF THE STORM is the story of two families from a Crimean village on the Soviet border. In 1930, the Soviets begin bullying, harassing and arresting anyone who did not agree with their Party and its ways. It was like reading about the Nazis storming the Jews and then shipping them off to concentration camps...and in an essence, that's just what the Soviets did to the Crimean Germans.

After Father Freiderich is pulled from his home and murdered in the street by the Security Commission, Anna Scholz takes in the pastor's siz year old daughter Rita. A Russian family soon moves into the pastor's former home and soon begin asking their neighbours to join a collective farm, a "kolkhoz" (I have probably spelt that wrong) and turning their existing land over to the Council to be used as such. When Anna's husband Wilhelm politely declines, the Security Commission come banging on their door in the middle of the night stating that they are to be relocated to Luza in the far and are given half an hour to pack. Anna had had the foresight to prepare for such an event by sewing their valuables into the hem of her coat.

The children, Erich, Yvo and the pastor's daughter they had taken in, Rita, are frightened. But Anna does her best to mollify them and make it sound like they are going on an adventure. Little do they know that where they are going will be like hell on earth, crammed into huts with only one family per bunk with very little to feed or clothe themselves or their children. The men are sent away to fell trees, clearing space to build a new resettling camp for them...the promise of something better which turns out to be just the same. Then Wilhelm is arrested for spreading anti-Soviet propaganda and Anna must survive the long harsh winters with her children - Erich, Rita and Yvo.

The second family in this story are the Pfeiffers, consisting of Samuel (father/Vater), Hilde (mother/Mutti), son Harri and daughter Emma. They fled the Crimean German village after the murder of Father Frederich to the safety of their family in Armavir. But when Samuel's brother Otto is arrested and executed, the family are worried they would feel the repercussions and also be branded a traitor. Soon they are warned by a friend that Samuel is to be arrested so he leaves his family and flees and the village.

Hilde tells the children they will be joining their father over the holidays for Christmas, since it would be less obvious. But it is not the first time they will move. Since Samuel is wanted by the Soviets, they need to move several times to elude the Soviet Police.

All is moving along...when suddenly, the story just stops. Literally stops. Like in the middle of a chapter and it ended partway. Like only half the book was loaded onto Kindle.

I normally love historical fiction and I did enjoy this book...to a point. But on the whole it was soooo depressing and had no real conclusion with that abrupt ending. I like books to have a conclusion - some form of closure. But this one didn't even have that. Everyone just seemed to carry on with their lives which left me feeling kind "what was the point?"

Based on the true story of the author's own grandparent's experiences, IN THE SHADOW OF THE STORM was a sadly depressing story. It was like a Soviet version of Auschwitz, although maybe not on as bad a scale. I had to find it ironic that the Soviets did much the same prior to the war, when over a decade later, it was the Soviets who freed survivors of the Jewish concentration camps.

In the end, IN THE SHADOW OF THE STORM was an okay read but it left the reader with no real sense of closure. Despite the fact it is part of a trilogy, this book should have given some form of ending which would have been comfortable...but instead it just stopped.

I would like to thank #EllaZeiss, #NetGalley and #AmazonPublishingUK for an ARC of #InTheShadowOfTheStorm in exchange for an honest review.

REVIEW: The Secret Guests by Benjamin Black (ARC)

The Secret Guests by Benjamin Black

Genre: Historical fiction

Read: 21st May 2020

Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon

(publication date: 6th February 2020)

★ 1 star

Once again, readers are given yet another misleading description. From the premise THE SECRET GUESTS sounded intriguing...where the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret are sent to Ireland into neutral territory during the Blitz of WW2. And I had such high hopes for this book. But honestly...it was boring. It was so boring - a snore fest, even - I don't think I can even attempt to write my usual informative review regaling the lead-up to what had promised to be an exciting read.

It touched a little of the young princesses under their assumed identities as Ellen and Mary, but mostly it was about MI5 and those protecting them. Most of whom turned out to be pompous, arrogant or I just had so little regard for their presence I didn't much care what happened to them.

The story was meant to be an imaginative "what if" scenario had the Princesses been evacuated to the neutral territory of Ireland, when in actual fact they spent most of the war hidden away in the formidable Windsor Castle.

The Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, now known as Ellen and Mary, are secreted away in the night during the Blitz to board a naval ship that will take them to Ireland. Their charge, female MI5 agent, Celia Nashe, awakes to find Ellen asleep in her bunk with the distinct stench of vomit and Mary missing. She searches the ship until she finds young Mary on the deck watching the distant bombs falling on their retreating country. Celia pulls her away from the edge so suddenly for fear she may fall in that the precocious young Mary defiantly states that her father has a much bigger boat than this and she's allowed to stand on deck whenever she likes. That she knows what to do on boats.

When they arrive in Ireland, they are met by a diplomat from the Dublin Embassy and a Garda detective who then accompany them to their new home, a rundown estate belonging to a distant cousin of the former Queen. Despite their attempts at keeping the identities of their secret guests hidden, it isn't long before servants and locals reveal that they are in fact the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. Then a kidnap plot is hatched by those of the Irish rebellion and the plot just gets a little ridiculous. In the end I gave up.

THE SECRET GUESTS was a disappointing let down for me as I had such high hopes for it. It promised to be an exciting read when instead it was a snore fest.

I don't like to leave bad reviews but sadly this was such a disappointment it leaves me no alternative. I wish "Ellen and Mary" had featured far more than they did...after all, they were the drawcard in both the premise and the title.

I would like to thank #BenjaminBlack, #NetGalley and #PenguinUK for an ARC of #TheSecretGuests in exchange for an honest review.

REVIEW: A Widow's Hope by Elizabeth Gill (ARC)

A Widow's Hope (aka The Road to Berry Edge) by Elizabeth Gill

Genre: Historical fiction

Read: 21st May 2020

Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon

(publication date: 6th February 2020)

★★★ 3 stars

Once again, readers are given a misleading description. The premise outlined for A WIDOW'S HOPE is not the sole focus of the story. In fact, it is only one part of a much bigger picture. It is really a pet peeve of mine that readers are misled because what we expect from a book upon starting is in fact something entirely different.

It should also be noted that A WIDOW'S HOPE is a re-release of "The Road the Berry Edge" originally published in 2017.

The story begins in 1903 with Faith Norman visiting the grave her intended, ruminating over what was, what might have been and what she had been robbed of. She lay the blame solely at the feet of his younger brother Rob Berkeley who, one night, got his brother drunk, argued with him afterwhich brother John fell in the river and drowned. No one in Berry Edge had forgiven him for the loss of their favourite son. Soon after, Rob packed his bags and left Berry Edge for good.

The Berkeleys were well known and, up to that point, well respected in Berry Edge. They owned the steelworks and half the mines in the area which supplied work to the men in the village. But since John's death a decade earlier, the Berkeleys had lost the will for just about anything. The steelworks had been run into the ground and was fast failing. The men were restless and wondering if they would still have a job. A year before, Josiah Berkeley had collapsed at work and was now bedridden at home where his wife cared for his every need. He did not seem to be improving and neither were the works. So Mrs Berkeley wrote to her estranged son Rob begging him to return.

In Notthingham, Rob Berkeley had received and ignored most of his mother's letters. But it had come to the point that something had to be done. The steelworks was in dire need of assistance if it were to succeed and make money again so Rob begrudgingly made the decision to return. Harry Shaw, his closest friend who was almost like a brother, chose to return with him. Rob had made his fortune alongside Harry and his father Vincent and they lived in an abbey of the grandest scale, with Harry's mother Ida, that they purchased together. The men were business together and Vince and Ida considered Rob as a second son, and not just because he had married their daughter Sarah who had tragically died Christmas Eve two years before.

Rob returned to Berry Edge with Harry in tow who, despite knowing that Durham was in the north country, thought that Scotland came after Yorkshire. Neither man was welcomed but they were needed.

Before Rob returned home, Mrs Berkeley had employed a local girl Nancy MacFadden to cook and clean in preparation of the men's return. Nancy was a young widow whose brutish husband had died at the works while drunk on duty. He was not missed by either workers or his family...least of all by Nancy. In fact, she felt nothing but relief when she heard the news. No more dreading the time Sean would return hom drunk from the pub to beat her or to have his way with her, to leave her with no money while he drank it away at the pub, nor to be on the receiving end of his jealousy and anger. Sean MacFadden never wanted a wife or children. He wanted a cook, a cleaner and a whore on demand. No, Nancy MacFadden didn't mourn her husband's passing - she rejoiced in it.

Since her fiance John's untimely death ten years before, Faith has lived a dull and chaste life, her only real outings were to his grave and to chapel. When she first set eyes on Rob Berkeley again she hated the sight of him, but over time she began to see that he was not the same man he once was. Time and guilt had changed him. But it had also changed her. She was now 30 and a spinster and considered too old for marriage. Her future seemed entirely bleak. Until Rob Berkeley and Harry Shaw came to Berry Edge.

There is so much more to the story than that of Faith Norman. I'm not even sure why it is called A WIDOW'S HOPE because Faith was never actually married. The only widow who had any real place in the story was Nancy. And yet there was still alot more to come.

The characters were a diverse bunch although when it came down it, none of them were all that different from the other. The only thing that separated them was money and class. Most were likable and the only ones who weren't were quickly disposed of. The development of the setting was engrossing as were those of the characters...but that is pretty much where it ended. I would have enjoyed a little more depth and a few twists thrown in to make it interesting. As it was, it was far too predictable - though that doesn't necessarily detract from my enjoyment of a book but this one was sadly lacking in something or other...I just can't figure out what.

I did enjoy A WIDOW'S HOPE, especially the ending, and a particular character who always made me laugh with his witty quips that were most inappropriate but amusing just the same. I just didn't enjoy it as much I have other historical fiction. It IS the first book I have read by this author so I do look forward to reading other works before I decide whether her style is for me or not.

A poignant tale, A WIDOW'S HOPE is an easy read that many fans of historical fiction will surely enjoy.

I would like to thank #ElizabethGill, #NetGalley and #Quercus for an ARC of #AWidowsHope in exchange for an honest review.

REVIEW: The Bermondsey Bookshop by Mary Gibson (ARC)

The Bermondsey Bookshop by Mary Gibson

Genre: Historical fiction

Read: 20th May 2020

Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon

(publication date: 6th February 2020)

★★★★ 4.5 stars

A book about a bookstore. How could I resist? The smell of old books, new books, all books...and losing oneself to the stories within. Yet THE BERMONDSEY BOOKSHOP is not really about a bookshop at all but about one young woman's growth through the strength she finds within that bookshop...and the classes that bring them together.

Kate Goss was just six years old when her mother fell to her death from the garret stairs in which they lived. Her father, overwhelmed with grief, palmed her off to his sister Sylvie to look after until he had made enough money to reclaim her. But that day never came. Instead, Kate grew up with her aunt and her cousins who despised her and tormented her daily. She became their skivvy to cook and clean up after them when really she would rather have dumped their dinner in their laps. When her cousin Stan began to show an unhealthy interest in her, Kate was given the cold confines of the garret for her bedroom. But that didn't stop Stan trying to grope her at every chance.

When Kate turned 14, her Aunt Sylvie dragged her to the local tin factory, Boutle's, who were hiring girls. It was a dirty filthy job but Aunt Sylvie said it was time she "earned her keep" and of the seven shillings sixpence she earned, Sylvie allowed her to keep a shilling for herself...to buy her own clothes and soap, mind. Kate had no idea where the rest of her money went, for it wasn't on her keep. At Boutle's Kate makes a few friends but one particular kindly robust woman called Marge takes her under her wing. There is also Conny, a young girl who replaces Kate with the sweeping and cleaning when she started tinplate bashing.

Kate had been at Boutle's three years when she had an altercation with her cousins and aunt that there would be no turning back from. Her spiteful cousin Janey, three years her senior, made innuendos and untoward comments about Kate's deceased mum...and Kate saw red. She punched Janey square in the nose, breaking it, and did not let up punching her until Aunt Sylvie stabbed her with a knife, drawing it along her arm. The incident saw Sylvie throw Kate and her meagre possessions out with nowhere to go. She tried her Aunt Sarah down the row but she couldn't stay there. She even slept on the boats moored in the river until she was caught. Despite having nowhere to go, Kate vowed she would never return to Sylvie's. Then Aunt Sarah said she had found her a place...but it was ten shillings a week! Three more than she earned at Boutle's. But the room was none other than the garret in which she had lived with her mum and dad all those years ago...and she felt she had come home. Each night she would gaze out the little dormer window down to the Thames and dream of her father coming back to rescue her. That was when she began looking for extra work to take on. And when Marge came across a notice in a window for a cleaner, she was quick to tell Kate about it before the position was snatched up.

In her dinner break, Kate raced up to Bermondsey Street and looked for the brightly coloured building Marge had described to her...and found herself standing outside the Bermondsey Bookshop. A bookshop? In Bermondsey? She went in and met Ethel Gutman, the proprietor, stating that she was here for the job as cleaner. The hours were a little different, Ethel informed her but that didn't matter as it could be worked around her shifts at Boutle's and those as a barmaid down at the Hand and Marigold pub. Ethel said the pay wasn't much but to Kate it was more than she could have imagined and even better than that at Boutle's. And so she began her silent work as a cleaner for the bookshop. Little did she know, the faces that she was to meet within this little shop would change the course of her life forever.

Kate dreamed of a life with her father, one where he would return to reclaim her and they would live happily every after but her aunt Sylvie and cousin Stan tried putting paid to that by telling her he didn't want to see her. Besides, he was now living abroad making his fortune - why would he want to come to Bermondsey? But one morning, Kate catches a glimpse of a familiar figure in a flash car outside the bookshop. It can't be...can it?

Set in 1920s London, THE BERMONDSEY BOOKSHOP is a well-crafted story of period fiction, complete with melodrama and a diverse cast of characters - some likable, others definitely not. It features the real Bermondsey Bookshop that was founded by Ethel Gutman in 1921, who also features in this story, and although the book's focus is not the bookshop but rather Kate, it is an important fixture of Kate's story.

THE BERMONDSEY BOOKSHOP is such a heartwarming tale of Kate's strength and determination, her rise from the cockney girl of Bermondsey to the affluence of Belgravia. But Kate soon learns that it's far more than distance that separates Bermondsey and Belgravia and money doesn't necessarily buy you happiness.

My first read by Mary Gibson, I definitely recommend this wonderful historical tale that has an easy style with great flow.

I would like to thank #MaryGibson, #NetGalley and #HeadOfZeus for an ARC of #TheBermondseyBookshop in exchange for an honest review.

REVIEW: Her Last Breath by Alison Belsham (ARC)

Her Last Breath (The Tattoo Thief #2) by Alison Belsham

Genre: Crime fiction, police procedural, thriller

Read: 18th May 2020

Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon

(publication date: 6th February 2020)

★★★★ 4 stars

\Firstly I must say, disregard the premise. It is incorrect with it's opening line "After old remains resurface in a heatwave, a young woman is attacked..." This is so misleading is annoys me! I have to wonder if those who write these premises have actually read the book?? It also gives away something of a spoiler which is key to the mystery...even more irritating.

The second in the Tattoo Thief series based in Brighton, HER LAST BREATH is a dark tale that is, in parts, gruesome (though not graphic) and is an addictive page turner. Featuring the young DI Francis Sullivan who, along with his own troubles, heads up a team of detectives hot on the trail of a sadistic serial killer.

Tash Brady is attacked on her way home from a nightclub after a tiff with her boyfriend Alex Mullins when she is attacked and left for dead. Found in the bandstand along Brighton beach the following morning after calling Alex for help, she is rushed to hospital where she dies just 24 hours later. The medical staff is at a loss as to what killed her as none of her wounds were life threatening and had been treated, yet she continued to get worse until she went into cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead shortly after. Tash's mother, who wasn't aware of her daughter's relationship with Alex, promptly points the finger at him claiming he killed her daughter and demanded he be arrested immediately.

With wounds of the stigmata on her hands and feet, a stab wound to her side, Tash had also been tattooed in Latin on her back. DI Sullivan recognised the words as being from a choral piece he'd sung in a choir as a boy. But what reference did it have to the case? And why was she given the stigmata and tattooed?

DI Sullivan and his team have no choice but to bring in Alex Mullins for questioning. He was closest to their victim and he had access to tattooing equipment with both his parents being tattooists. However, Sullivan has something of a personal stake in this suspect, for he knows the boy's mother Marni Mullins from the previous case involving the tattoo thief. The two had become close over the course of that investigation which came close to an affair, though nothing ever happened. Still, he didn't relish telling Marni that Alex had been brought in for questioning. Then a witness comes forth stating that Tash had confided in her that Alex once hit her...and with his other ties to the victim, he becomes prime suspect.

When the post mortem reveals that Tash died from poisoning in the tattoo ink inscribed on her back, Sullivan and his team are now looking for a murderer. And his DS is certain that Alex is their man. But despite the circumstantial evidence against Alex, Sullivan feels sure that he is not their killer.

Then another girl is found with identical wounds and another Latin tattooed inscribed on her back. This time in the aquarium where she was employed as a cleaner. Within hours, she dies. And her last text was sent to Alex Mullins. Two victims both known to their suspect. But this time, it is discovered that the second victim was having a relationship with her art tutor. And both women had at one time or another attended the Brighton Art College. Now they have two suspects. When a third woman turns up and dies shortly after, investigations are ramped up to discover a link between her and Alex. He says he doesn't know her but DS Rory Mackay, intent on proving that he is their killer, doesn't believe him. And Sullivan still has difficulty believing that he is.

With another woman gone missing, his team seemingly out of control and a DCI out to prove him incompetent, Sullivan finds himself face to face with the killer a too little close to home. Can he save this young woman's life before it's too late?

A cat and mouse tale that really doesn't get any more complex than this, HER LAST BREATH is a fast paced thriller with tension building throughout. It is certainly and adrenaline fuelled read that is so addictive you won't want to put it down until the very end.

The narrative flips between various characters - Sullivan, Rory, Marni, Alex, Angie (a DC), the various victims and a girl called Aimee whose story unfolds in the past, revealing a disturbing and horrific childhood. It all very cleverly tied together that comes together at the end.

Despite his troubled demeanour, I actually liked Francis Sullivan. And I don't usually like such flawed characters. I think maybe because he didn't seek his answers in a bottle, whereas most troubled police detectives do. He is trying to juggle his career with his personal life and do the right thing by everyone. I don't understand his interest in Marni, but then I haven't read the first book either.

While this is the second in the series and there are elements in this book that relate back to the first one, HER LAST BREATH can be read as a standalone, just as I have. And despite not having read "The Tattoo Thief", I am interested to see where the author will take us next.

I would like to thank #AlisonBelsham, #NetGalley and #OrionPublishingGroup and #Trapeze for an ARC of #HerLastBreath in exchange for an honest review.

REVIEW: Mrs Boots of Pelham Street by Deborah Carr (ARC)

Mrs Boots of Pelham Street (Mrs Boots #2) by Deborah Carr

Genre: Historical fiction, General Fiction

Read: 16th May 2020

Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon

(publication date: 15th May 2020)

★★★★ 4 stars

Easing myself back into reading after surgery, developing clots and now recovering, I thought I would lose myself to some delightful historical fiction. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book "Mrs Boots" and decided to jump right into this one.

MRS BOOTS OF PELHAM STREET begins in 1891, six years after Florence and Jesse Boot married on the island of Jersey and they are now living in Nottingham working on building both their family and the Boots empire. They have two children, two year old John and nine month old Dorothy. But Florence feels the need to increase her brood and confides in Jesse that they should have another child.

Fast forward a year later in 1892 and Florence is pregnant with her third child whilst continuing to work in their Boots stores. Jesse implores her to take it easy as the pregnancy tires her while at the same time Florence tries to get Jesse to slow down due to his growing ailments. Neither of them wish to as they continue to build their growing empire. Then in the midst of her seventh month of pregnancy, Jesse announced that he had bought them a majestic house in the beautiful and sprawling The Park estate and named it in honour of her hometown on Jersey, St Heliers. Of course the last thing Florence wished to be doing at seven months pregnant was move house, but with another baby on the way the move made sense. Baby Margery was born on a night they were visiting old friends, keeping Florence bedridden for some ten days before she was able to go back home...and even longer before she could return to work at Boots.

Life had changed for Florence since her days living on Jersey with her family. She had always been an independent young woman, wanting both a career and a family and never losing sight of what she wants from life...but can she fit it all in?

When Jesse buys a massive floorspace on Pelham Street, Florence sees a chance to expand the chain into other departments. But Jesse is adamant. Boots is and always will be first and foremost, a chemist. But Florence has an eye for things that would draw a customer into their store who might never enter and the lure of gifts and pretty things is just the ticket. When that proves successful, Florence decides to expand into stationery and book lending...but all the while Jesse still feels that Boots should remain a chemist. Stubborn to the core, Florence and Jesse butt heads a number of times throughout the course of building up Boots from sixty stores into two hundred and fifty.

One thing Jesse has given his wife full control over is the female staff. She has made it her mission to help the women less fortunate than herself by giving them positions within one of their many Boots stores. Of course she would love to help them all, but of course that isn't possible. Her mind often wanders back to Jersey and young teenage Lily Buttons, whom she had taken off the street and given a job in her father's stationer's store. Lily was her success story and she was proud to have had a hand in helping the young woman find her feet.

So when her secretary announces that there is a Miss Lily Buttons who wishes to see her, Florence couldn't believe her eyes or her ears. Lily had handed in her notice at her father's store and had saved every penny to come to Nottingham to make something of herself. And she hoped Florence had a position for her in one of her stores. Florence was thrilled and promptly gave Lily a supervisory position within the Pelham Street store.

Jesse's health continues to decline but he refuses to slow down. A workaholic, he says he must work and as the head of the Boots empire it is up to him to continue to make it work. When he has a sudden health scare, Florence hopes he would take this as a sign that he must slow down but all that ensues is an even grumpier old man who cannot do all he used to do.

Florence continues to be a stalwart for the company and for women, as she organises outings for several hundred female employees, Christmas gifts for them women and gifts for those who are struggling to make ends meet. She gives positions to those who need it most and takes the women under her wing, hoping to help make their lives better. Despite her mother's pleading and against her wishes, Florence continues to work and take her children to the office with her when they are young so that she can be both a working woman and a hands-on mother for her children. This is very forward thinking for the time particularly as women didn't work once they married or had children, staying at home instead with their family.

However with the number of Boots stores opening up across the country, the empire continues to grow at a rapid rate and fast becoming more than just a chemist, but a gift shop as well. Then they began their own printing means to reduce the need to outsource which was incredibly progressive for the time.

The scenes at Florence and Jesse's home amidst their children and servants had echoes of Downton Abbey, though not as much a grand scale. It had that warmth and homeliness about it despite being a majestic house with half a dozen servants. And their loyalty and appreciation to their servants reminded me those that had graced the halls of Downton.

I really enjoyed this second installment of the Boots empire, though admittedly not as much as the first. I think my biggest issue was with Jesse and his constant grumpiness which was so at odds with the man we met in the first book. Also his stubbornness regarding his children, particularly John, and their education contradicted his acceptance of Florence's position as an independent woman. Contrary to that forward notion, the one regarding John's education was completely belied his position as a forward-thinking man.

But Florence annoyed me in the beginning also when she demanded to remain independent, working at Boots whilst bringing up three children. When Jesse implored her to let him know if it ever became too much to let him know, she silently promised herself she would do no such thing. And then, she had the audacity to plead with Jesse to slow down whilst silently watching him for signs of pain when she decided he would need to slow down. I thought that to be somewhat hypocritical when she endeavoured to do the complete opposite herself. Did their children's well being mean nothing to them that they would both risk their health for the sake of being independent?

Aside from those little niggles, I did find a couple discrepancies in the plot and its timeline. Firstly, in April 1893 Florence was taking her three children to the office and alluded to Margery being just six months old...which was entirely incorrect as Margery was born in April 1892, making her 12 months old. The second inconsistency I found was with regards to Florence's family. She made mention of her own brother Willie. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I honestly do not recall her ever having a brother - just two sisters, Adelaide and Amy. Had she had a brother, wouldn't he have been the most likely to work alongside her father at Rowe's stationers rather than Florence herself and her sister Amy?

Niggles and inconsistencies aside (though I felt I did have to mention them), MRS BOOTS OF PELHAM STREET is a lovely gentle read of times past and while it is the second in the series, it could be read as a standalone.

By the end of the book, they have entered a new century with the year now 1907 and Florence and Jesse are now celebrating twenty one years of marriage. I wonder, where do they go from here? Is there a third book to come to continue their story? I hope so as I would thoroughly enjoy revisiting the Boot family and their growing empire.

A wonderful nod to what has become one of the UK's biggest chemist chains, MRS BOOTS OF PELHAM STREET is an enjoyable step back in time, along with the first in the series "Mrs Boots".

I would like to thank #DeborahCarr, #NetGalley and #OneMoreChapter and #HarperCollinsUK for an ARC of #MrsBootsOfPelhamStreet in exchange for an honest review.