Crushed Blog Tour

17th May 2019- This is my stop for the Crushed blog tour

Phoebe stands on Pulteney Bridge, tights gashed from toe to thigh. The shock of mangled metal and blood-stained walls flashes through her mind as she tries to cover her face so she won't be recognised. It wouldn't do to be spotted looking like this. She's missing a shoe. She feels sick. Phoebe thought murder and murder happened. Thoughts are just thoughts, they said. Now she knows they were wrong. At home, Phoebe arranges the scissors and knives so they point toward her mother's room. She is exhausted, making sure there's no trace of herself - not a single hair, not even her scent - left anywhere in the house. She must not let her thoughts unravel, because if they do, there's no telling who might be caught in the crossfire, and Phoebe will have to live with the consequences. 

Why is so much death affecting the 3 main characters- Orla, Phoebe and Grace? Are they really witches who can influence the events that occur around them?

The action started in the vert first scene/chapter of this novel with someone dying in a car accident. However, the action was very spaced out throughout the whole of the novel. A few death scenes did occur throughout the novel but they were spaced apart and few and far between. The death scenes were basically the only action scenes throughout the whole of this novel. In some places the overall story did drag and was very slow paced. 

In terms of characters I did not feel that there was much of a character profile/backstory for Orla. I would liked to have found out more about her character. I found Phoebe's character quite annoying in a lot of places as her character wasn't very happy at most points in the novel. I also found one of the relationships in the plot line very weird and did not enjoy reading about it, especially how that story line ended. 

A lot of the novel was too descriptive and they did not improve my enjoyment of reading the novel. There was too much description of their surroundings and things in my opinion that didn't really need to be described. That's why I found the overall plot slow and lacking. 

Overall, I gave this novel 2.5/5 stars. I found it very slow paced with not enough action and too much description. However, other people will like this novel because of the magic involved throughout the story line and the action/death scenes featured in the story.

     Rating 2.5/5

  .5

Before She Knew Him Blog Tour

21st March 2019- This is my stop for the Before She Knew Him blog tour

Hen and her husband Lloyd have settled into a quiet life in a new house outside of Boston, Massachusetts. Hen (short for Henrietta) is an illustrator and works out of a studio nearby, and has found the right meds to control her bipolar disorder. Finally, she’s found some stability and peace. 
But when they meet the neighbors next door, that calm begins to erode as she spots a familiar object displayed on the husband’s office shelf. The sports trophy looks exactly like one that went missing from the home of a young man who was killed two years ago. Hen knows because she’s long had a fascination with this unsolved murder—an obsession she doesn’t talk about anymore, but can’t fully shake either. Could her neighbor, Matthew, be a killer? Or is this the beginning of another psychotic episode like the one she suffered back in college, when she became so consumed with proving a fellow student guilty that she ended up hurting a classmate? The more Hen observes Matthew, the more she suspects he’s planning something truly terrifying. Yet no one will believe her. Then one night, when she comes face to face with Matthew in a dark parking lot, she realizes that he knows she’s been watching him, that she’s really on to him. And that this is the beginning of a horrifying nightmare she may not live to escape. . . 

This novel had quite a slow start but as soon as the action stated the novel picked up pace. It was a gripping story line as you didn't know if Matthew really did what Hen accused him of doing and if he did then why did he commit this crime. You really wanted to be on Hen's side as you believed she was telling the truth even though she was on medication so no one else believed her, not even her own husband.

Matthew was a bit unlikeable at times as he would just hurt any man, even though it was for the reason that said man had hurt women. He also said that he would never hurt women. However, Matthew has a brother called Richard and he likes to hurt women. You had to feel sorry for Matthew's wife Mira as sometimes she didn't have a clue what her husband was doing or the trophies he liked to collect. Lloyd was also a bit of an unlikeable character as he never believed what his wife was saying about their neighbour and you could guess that he was having an affair with someone as he never wanted to be with his wife much.

Hen was a likeable character as you knew she was telling the truth about her neighbour and she just wanted other people, like the police, to believe her. She would do anything to find out the truth even if that meant putting her own life in danger because of it. Mira was a bit of a sad character as she would let her husband get her drunk and she didn't have a clue what was going on in her own home most of the time.

The action was spread throughout the novel which gave it a good pacing. The twist at the end of the novel was so unexpected and I never saw it coming. That was a total shock to me. I won't say what the twist is and if you want to know you will have to read the novel for yourself. Matthew knew how to make people think that he was telling the truth when all along he wasn't. He wanted people, especially his wife, to think that Hen was just a crazy lady living next door.


Overall, I gave this novel 4/5 stars. It is a great thriller with lots of twists and turns the whole way through. Definitely a read if you like your novels twisty and dark with lots of parts to get you thinking about what is really going on. A psychological thriller for those with dark minds.

                        Rating 4/5
   

The Puppet Show Blog Tour

28th January 2019- This is my stop for the Puppet Show blog tour. 

A serial killer is burning people alive in the Lake District's prehistoric stone circles. He leaves no clues and the police are helpless. When his name is found carved into the charred remains of the third victim, disgraced detective Washington Poe is brought back from suspension and into an investigation he wants no part of. Reluctantly partnered with the brilliant but socially awkward civilian analyst, Tilly Bradshaw, the mismatched pair uncover a trail that only he is meant to see. The elusive killer has a plan and for some reason Poe is part of it. As the body count rises, Poe discovers he has far more invested in the case than he could have possibly imagined. And in a shocking finale that will shatter everything he's ever believed about himself, Poe will learn that there are things far worse than being burned alive... 



Washington Poe was dismissed from the police for mixing up evidence in an investigation. Now there is a serial killer murdering people, setting them on fire and stringing them up like puppets in stone circles. Can Poe and his team find the killer before they claim more victims?

As the story went on the characters became more likeable. Especially as you found out more about each character as the story progressed. Poe wasn't a very likeable character at the start as he liked starting fights with people and enjoyed being on his own. Then you started to like him more as he would do everything he could to protect his friends. Tilly was a very likeable character as, although she was different from everyone, she just wanted to be liked by people. She was very smart and gained street smarts towards the end of the novel through events that happen within the story line.

The killer in the story was a bit of a surprise twist, especially when you found out who it was at the end of the novel. I was not expecting this person to be the killer. However, it did make sense when you found out the person's backstory and why they did what they did to the victims they chose. One character I didn't like was Gamble as he just wanted to take credit for the whole police investigation and wouldn't let the other officers do their jobs as he believed he was right all the time.

In terms of description there was a bit too much at some points. Such as describing every part of the scenery and not enough of the actual crime scene. You would find out everything the characters could see away from the victim's body and not the body itself. However, I did like the gory nature of describing the bodies when they were described. the overall pacing of the novel was good and I enjoyed that the action/death scenes were so spread out in the overall story. The action started from the first page of the novel and continued right until the end of the novel.

Overall, I gave this novel 4/5 stars. I enjoy reading crime stories and thriller stories. I will definitely be reading the next novel in this series when it is released later this year.

                         Rating 4/5 
   

The Infinite Blacktop

The Infinite Blacktop by Sara Gran

Published- 20th September 2018
Publisher- Faber Faber
Pages- 304 pages (Paperback)

Claire DeWitt has been involved in a car accident, but it was no accidental car crash. Someone set out to kill her. Why would someone want to kill Claire DeWitt and who wants to kill her? She must set out on her mission to find out these answers. This novel is set in the 1990's and in 2011. 

When I finished reading this novel I had two big questions which were buzzing round the top of my head that I never found out the answers to. What happened to Tracey and why did 'beep' want to kill Claire? These answers were never fully explained at the end of the novel so I was left a bit disappointed. The ending felt a bit rushed and answers were never fully given. 

The action started at the beginning of the novel with the car crash and Claire leaving the scene to try to find out who killed her on her own mission. However, the action did slow down went she had to go on the run and find her own ways to survive by threatening and hurting random people and stealing things. I do believe that she should have suffered more injuries than she actually did in the car crash, as it seemed like she only suffered minor injuries. 

A lot of the middle of the novel was quite slow as not a lot happened whilst she was on the run. You found out a lot of information from her contacts helping her solve her own crime. The only action that occurred was a car chase with the attacker and a gun fight towards the end of the novel between Claire and her attacker. 

Claire's character was a bit difficult to like at times as I found her quite rude to everyone she met, she was quite annoying and very self centered. She was always annoying a lot of people so no one really liked her that much. She was a smoker and did a lot of drugs and stole money. I did want her to solve the case but I wasn't very supportive towards her especially the way she went about solving her own case. 

Overall, I gave this novel 3/5 stars. It was an intriguing novel set in the 1990's and 2011. It is a mysterious crime filled with twists, turns and drama set in the past. 

      Rating 3/5
  

The Chalk Pit Blog Tour

5th March 2017- This is my stop for the blog tour for The Chalk Pit by Elly Griffiths. I apologize for this post being a few days late. 

Boiled human bones have been found in Norwich's web of underground tunnels. When Dr Ruth Galloway discovers they are recent - the boiling not the medieval curiosity she thought - DCI Nelson has a murder enquiry on his hands. Meanwhile, DS Judy Johnson is investigating the disappearance of a local rough sleeper. The only trace of her is the rumour that she's gone 'underground'. This might be a figure of speech, but with the discovery of the bones and the rumours both Ruth and the police have heard of a vast network of old chalk-mining tunnels under King's Lynn, home to a vast community of rough sleepers, the clues point in only one direction. Local academic Martin Kellerman knows all about the tunnels and their history - but can his assertions of cannibalism and ritual killing possibly be true? As the weather gets hotter, tensions rise. A local woman goes missing and the police are under attack. Ruth and Nelson must unravel the dark secrets of The Underground and discover just what gruesome secrets lurk at its heart - before it claims another victim. 

 

Barbara Murray has gone missing, but what has happened to her and who did it? Bones have been found beneath Norwich, but who do they belong to and why were they killed? Who is murdering homeless people and does this have anything to do with the missing woman Barbara Murray? A action packed thriller set in the heart of Norwich. 

This was an intense thriller which always kept you guessing as to who the villain was. When you thought you had guessed who it was it would lead you in a completely different direction. It seemed like every character had dark sinister secrets. You thought someone was a good guy and it turned out they might have been someone a bit darker with a bad background. Every character added a lot of different elements and skills to the storyline.

All of the police officers, such as Nelson, Judy, Tanya and Clough, would stop at nothing to find the missing women and find the murderer of two homeless men. They were very brave as they never knew where the investigation was going to take them or what dangers they would face when they got to the end of the line. At times the case often became personal for a few of the characters. Ruth was also a great character as she just wanted to find out the truth about the bones buried beneath the city and she got to join the missing persons case towards the end of the novel. 

Some characters were a bit annoying such as Jo and Leo. Jo was the Superintendent and she thought she was all powerful bossing all the officers around. They didn't like that so would sometimes call her names behind her back and not listen to any of her rules. Leo thought he was the greatest director in the world when he clearly wasn't. So he made some plays which people came to see but that didn't make him anything special. His plays also seemed really weird as his Alice's Adventures Under Ground was more like people taking a trip on acid, the play was that weird from what I read in the novel.

The action scenes happened sporadically throughout the novel and weren't just situated in one area of the novel. The language was easy to read. As Ruth was an archaeologist Elly Griffiths didn't use lots of hard to read language to talk about Ruth's job. I was scared that there would be lots of terms or phrases that I wouldn't understand when it came to reading about Ruth's job and her latest case, but there wasn't.

Overall, I gave this novel 4/5 stars. It was an intense and thrilling read. You were always asking yourself who could the bad guy actually be. Turned out a lot of characters in this novel had bad parts about them. I hope to read more novels in this series in the future. Unfortunately I haven't read the previous 8 novels but I will be picking them up at some point in the future. They really are captivating reads and leave you asking a lot of questions. Questions which will only be answered when you get to the end of the novel.

                        Rating 4/5
   

Burned and Broken Blog Tour

Burned and Broken by Mark Hardie

Published- 26th January 2017
Publisher- Sphere 
Pages- 368 pages (paperback)

An enigmatic policeman - currently the subject of an internal investigation - is found burned to death in his car on the Southend sea front. A vulnerable young woman, fresh out of the care system, is trying to discover the truth behind the sudden death of her best friend. As DS Frank Pearson and DC Catherine Russell from the Essex Police Major Investigation Team are brought in to solve the mystery that surrounds their colleague's death, they're under intense pressure to crack the case without damaging the force's reputation. When a dramatic turn of events casts a whole new light on both cases, the way forward is far from clear. Were the victims connected in some way? And just how much should Pearson and Russell reveal to their bosses as they begin to unearth some dark secrets that the force would rather keep buried? Mark Hardie's stylish and gripping debut introduces a brilliant new detective duo to the world of crime fiction, weaving together two suspenseful stories that end in a breath-taking finale. 

The body of a policeman is found in a burned out car, but who killed him and why? Why did a young girl end up dead at the bottom of an overpass? This book will leave you asking yourself questions as you go through reading it. 

This was a great thriller novel as you didn't know who had killed a policeman or why they did it. I loved how it started when the body of Carragher had been found, then went back in time by four days to tell you what happened leading up to Carragher's death. You also found out that a young girl was also dead, but you don't know how she was killed or how she ended up dead. You just know she was found at the bottom of an overpass. There was wide range of characters featured within this novel each with their own different traits and quirks.

Pearson and Russell were great main characters as they just wanted to find out the truth as to why Carragher wasn't showing up for work in the days before he died and find his murderer. Pearson was brave aswell as he would risk his own life to save those of others. Russell was a woman who always spoke her mind no matter who was in the firing line. She would protect her friends when it was most required. Carragher was a bit of a shady character as you were always finding out dodgy stuff about him in the days leading up to his death and finding out more about the man he was. Donna and Malcolm were kind of like mystery characters as you just wanted to find out more about them and their backstories as the novel went along.

The plot moved smoothly and the novel was easy to read. There wasn't a lot of hard language throughout the novel, as that would have made it difficult to read. It took me a while to read though as the text was so small within the novel and it was just under 400 pages long. I wanted to take my time so I understood everything that was happening and I didn't forget a major plot point. It was also interesting to read about Police Standards and why they were asking questions about Carragher and it told you a bit about their job role aswell. 

The action was sporadic throughout this novel and that was really good as you never knew what action packed thing was going to happen next. The opening of the novel was action with the body being found, then action throughout the middle and at the end when you found out who the murderer was and why they did it. I find novels with all the action centered in one place (e.g. middle or end) hard to read as you just find the other parts of the novel really slow.

Overall, I gave this novel 4 out of 5 stars. I can't wait to read the next novel in the series by Mark Hardie. If you love crime thrillers then you will definitely love this novel. It is action packed and contains lots of elements of mystery. You are always trying to guess who the killer is then getting annoyed when you couldn't guess or got the wrong killer. A definite must read if you are a crime or thriller fan.

Rating 4/5 

   

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Made For You

Made For You by Melissa Marr

RECEIVED FROM HARPER COLLINS FOR REVIEW

Published- 26th March 2015
Publisher- Harper Collins Children's Books
Pages- 336 pages (paperback)

Eva Tilling was almost killed when she was hit by a car. Who would want to try to kill her and why? When she wakes up she starts getting visions of her friends dying, but then people start actually dying. Why are these people being killed, who is killing them and what has it got to do with Eva?

Overall, this was a good novel with lots of action towards the end of the novel. It did start really slowly, but it picked up more a third of the way through the book. However, halfway through the book I did guess who the killer was so I wasn't really that shocked at the end of the novel. To find out who the killer is you have to read the novel. All of the characters were really likeable, but there were some I didn't feel that fondly towards.

One of the girls was not a likeable character because of some of her actions and another was a bit of a gossip. Out of the male characters my favourite was Nate as he would do anything for his family and friends no matter the cost. My favourite female characters were Eva and Grace. I liked them because they were brave, smart, cared about everyone except themselves and wanted to do whatever they could to stop the killer from killing anyone else. 

This is the first Melissa Marr book I have read and I really enjoyed it. My only wish was that there was more action throughout the book as it did drag in places, so reading it was quite slow. When stories are slow I feel like I don't enjoy them as much. However, this was still an enjoyable read even if I do wish it was more fast paced and action packed. The writing was very descriptive throughout and everything was explained so you weren't left with questions which you didn't have the answers to. Following this book I would like to read more Melissa Marr books in the future. Overall, I give this book 4 out of 5 hearts. A must read if you love Melissa Marr's previous books.


                              Rating 4/5
   

Black Ice

Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick

Published- 7th October 2014
Publisher- Simon and Schuster UK
Pages- 384 pages (ARC paperback)

A girl is murdered in the first chapter of this novel, but who killed her and why? Britt and Korbie are going on a trekking holiday in the mountains and they encounter 2 mysterious guys when they get caught in a snowstorm. Who are Mason and Shaun. Also, why has Calvin, Korbie's brother, suddenly returned from university?

I really enjoyed this novel as it was a thriller and it contained elements of romance throughout. The whole novel leaves you trying to guess who the real killer is and why they were killing these young girls. It also leaves you wondering more about Shaun and Mason and why thy are trying to hide out in the mountains. There was action straight away in the first chapter, but it did kinda slow down towards the middle. However, the action picked up again towards the end of the novel.

Britt was a great character in my opinion as she would do anything from her friend Korbie so they both got off the mountain alive. She was brave and willing to do whatever it took. Korbie annoyed me at times as she moaned a lot and complained and basically didn't believe anything anyone told her about her family. So in my opinion she wasn't that likeable of a character.

Mason was a brilliant male lead character. He wanted to protect Britt and make sure that Shaun didn't hurt her. Their romance story was a good side plot to the main novel. Shaun was a great bad guy as he would hurt whoever he wanted to just so they could get off the mountain without being caught by the police. I did like Calvin at first, but the more you found out about him just changed your opinion of him. 

I was lucky enough to go to a questions/answers session with Becca Fitzpatrick at Foyles in London and meet the her too. She was such a lovely lady and signed my copy of Black Ice. This was the first Becca Fitzpatrick novel I've read, but I might have to give the Hush Hush series a read in the future.

Overall, this was a really enjoyable thriller for me. Loved trying to guess what was going to happen next and I always try to guess who the killers are. I gave this novel 5 out of 5 stars. Give it a read if you are a fan of Becca Fitzpatrick or just love reading thrillers/romance novels. 

                                    Rating 5/5

    

A Walk Among The Tombstones

A Walk Among The Tombstones by Lawrence Block

Published- 26th August 2014
Publisher- Hard Case Crime
Pages- 416 pages (paperback)

A Walk Among The Tombstones is about Kenan Khoury whose wife has been kidnapped, ransomed and returned to him dead. His brother Peter hires Matt Schudder, a private investigator, to find out who did this horrific crime, why and how can they be stopped. It has recently been released as a movie starring Liam Neeson as Matt Schudder and Dan Stevens as Kenan Khoury. However, the ending of the book is totally different from the ending of the film.

This isn't one of my favourite books but it was still a really good novel. I love crime novels such as this one. The action started right away in the first chapter with Kenan's wife being kidnapped and returned to him at the end of chapter one. Kenan was a likeable character in a way because all he wanted to do was find out who killed his wife. He's a drug dealer but was that a reason why his wife was killed?

Matt was a great private investigator as he would use all his resources and do everything he could to bring the killers to justice. However, I didn't really enjoy the AA meetings parts as that kinda dragged on after reading it a couple of times throughout the novel. Peter really annoyed me most of the novel because he tended to talk a lot about the AA meetings and then hardly ever going to them. He tended to moan quite a lot aswell. However, he did really care about his brother Kenan. 

I have yet to see the film, but I am sure it is a good film. It contains a brilliant actor in Liam Neeson. People in the UK might know Dan Stevens from Downton Abbey. 

Overall, this was a good novel even if some parts did bore me at some points and drag on repeatedly. I gave this novel 4 out of 5 stars. Give this a read if you have seen the film and loved that or if you just love crime/thriller novels.

                       Rating 4/5