Death At The Seaside Blog Tour

Nothing ever happens in August, and tenacious sleuth Kate Shackleton deserves a break. Heading off for a long-overdue holiday to Whitby, she visits her school friend Alma who works as a fortune teller there. Kate had been looking forward to a relaxing seaside sojourn, but upon arrival discovers that Alma's daughter Felicity has disappeared, leaving her mother a note and the pawn ticket for their only asset: a watch-guard. What makes this more intriguing is the jeweller who advanced Felicity the thirty shillings is Jack Phillips, Alma's current gentleman friend. Kate can't help but become involved, and goes to the jeweller's shop to get some answers. When she makes a horrifying discovery in the back room, it soon becomes clear that her services are needed. Met by a wall of silence by town officials, keen to maintain Whitby's idyllic façade, it's up to Kate - ably assisted by Jim Sykes and Mrs Sugden - to discover the truth behind Felicity's disappearance. And they say nothing happens in August . . .

  

Alma Turner's daughter, Felicity, has gone missing and no one knows where she has gone or if something has happened to her. Felicity is also Kate Shackleton's goddaughter. Jack Phillips has also been murdered, but who murdered him and why? What secrets are the people living in Whitby hiding and why don't they want the police to find out? 

This was quite a good novel, but it was quite a slow paced novel in a lot of areas. There wasn't much action throughout this novel and I did guess halfway through who the killer would turn out to be. So at the end it wasn't much of a surprise to me when the killer was finally revealed. The main action came when Kate discovered the body in the jewelers shop backroom. The language was very easy to read though but some parts were old writing as it was set in the 1920s. 

Kate was a good character as she would do anything she could to get to the truth of the situation. She didn't want an innocent person to go to jail for a crime they did not commit. She was a searcher for the truth. Jim Sykes was also a great character as he didn't want an innocent person to be jailed either. Alma Turner sometimes annoyed me as she wasn't doing much to search for her daughter. She just stayed at home and waited for people to find her daughter for her. 

As the action was so slow paced within this novel it did take me a while to read, but it made it more enjoyable as I was getting through it. I did wish there was more action though throughout the novel as then I would have enjoyed reading it a lot more. The characters were the main reason I kept reading this novel as a lot of them were likable, but some did annoy me a bit. It also annoyed me that the police didn't seem to be doing much of a job to find the murderer or to find Felicity. Kate seemed to be doing more investigating than the actual police themselves. 


Overall, I gave this novel 3/5 stars as it was quite a slow read and my only enjoyment came from the characters and guessing who the murderer was. As I guessed the killer within the middle part of the novel I had to mark it down. Plus, because of the lack of action that was another reason I had to mark the novel down. Apart from those two matters I did enjoy reading this novel and will definitely be reading more from the Kate Shackleton novels in future. 

              Rating 3/5
  

Never Alone Blog Tour

6th October 2016- This is my stop on the blog tour for Never Alone by Elizabeth Haynes. 

Sarah Carpenter lives in an isolated farmhouse in North Yorkshire and for the first time, after the death of her husband some years ago and her children, Louis and Kitty, leaving for university, she’s living alone. But she doesn’t consider herself lonely. She has two dogs, a wide network of friends and the support of her best friend, Sophie. When an old acquaintance, Aiden Beck, needs somewhere to stay for a while, Sarah’s cottage seems ideal; and renewing her relationship with Aiden gives her a reason to smile again. It’s supposed to be temporary, but not everyone is comfortable with the arrangement: her children are wary of his motives, and Will Brewer, an old friend of her son’s, seems to have taken it upon himself to check up on Sarah at every opportunity. Even Sophie has grown remote and distant. After Sophie disappears, it’s clear she hasn’t been entirely honest with anyone, including Will, who seems more concerned for Sarah’s safety than anyone else. As the weather closes in, events take a dramatic turn and Kitty too goes missing. Suddenly Sarah finds herself in terrible danger, unsure of who she can still trust. But she isn’t facing this alone; she has Aiden, and Aiden offers the protection that Sarah needs. Doesn’t he?

                   

Sarah lives on a farm in North Yorkshire and she invites her old friend Aiden to stay in her cottage next door. Will, an old friend of her son Louis, has suddenly reappeared in town, but is he being honest with everyone. What secrets is Aiden hiding? Her friend Sophie suddenly goes missing, but what has happened to her? With the snow closing in, is Sarah really alone on her farm and is it dangerous being alone? 

I loved the layout of this novel as it had chapters from different characters, so the chapters changed views between Sarah and Aiden. You also had a mystery chapter writer who was watching Sarah in her house. These points of view were very creepy as you didn't know who was writing them, but you knew why they were writing them. I enjoy novels that are written from different points of view as you find out more to the story this way. 

Aiden was a good main character as he would do anything for Sarah and he just wanted to protect her and her friends/family. He tried to keep Will away from Sarah when he found out that Will was being less than honest with them. Sarah was a great character aswell as she was really brave, would do anything to protect Aiden and Kitty and wanted to find out what was really going on with the men who had just come back into her life. Will was a very creepy character as you didn't know his true intentions towards Sarah and Sophie, plus you never knew when he was telling the truth and when he was lying. 

This was a fast paced novel, with the action spread throughout the novel and not just in one area of the book. However, because the action was so spread apart it did feel quite slow in some parts as nothing much was happening. The book was also separated into different parts so that sped up the reading process aswell as you could get to the end of one part then stop reading or carry on reading the next part. Every time I read the mystery writer's chapters I got chills as they were very creepy parts with the writer just watching whatever Sarah did in her house. However, I did kind of guess who the mystery writer was so it wasn't much of a surprise when this was revealed at the end of the novel.

Overall, I gave this novel 4/5 stars. With the action being so spread apart that kind of slowed down the novel from me in some parts. However, it was a really creepy read and sometimes made you feel like you aren't safe inside your own homes. It made you feel for Sarah and Aiden as you just wanted both of them to be safe and survive until the end of the novel. It also kept you guessing as to who the mystery writer could be. This is a great thriller read though and a must read if you are a fan of Elizabeth Haynes.

                       Rating 4/5