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 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
   

Vicious Cycle

Vicious Cycle by Katie Ashley

Published- 2nd June 2015
Publisher- Headline Eternal
Pages- 336 pages (paperback)

Deacon is in charge of the Hell's Raiders, a motorcycle club, but what will he do when his 5 year old daughter (that he knew nothing about) turns up on his doorstep? To complicate matters further Willows Teacher, Alex Evans, also turns up on his doorstep wanting her to come back to school. With Alex teaching Willow at the biker compound what will happen between her and Deacon?

I had never read a motorcycle romance novel before this one, however I had seen season 1 of Sons of Anarchy. This reminded me a lot of SOA in the fact that that also contains elements of romance, gun smuggling and a lot of violence/death. The bikers featured in this novel were people you began to really care about and feel real emotions for. You saw not only their hard and violent sides, but also their soft and caring sides when it came to Alex and Willow. Deacon's first chapter in this novel was really emotional and almost made me cry when Willow met her father for the first time. She wouldn't speak to him, she just went over and gave him a massive hug and he said that no one would ever hurt his daughter again.

Deacon was a great character as you saw him change over the course of the novel. He went from wanting to kill his enemy to falling in love with Alex and wanting to protect her and Willow. Alex went from being a kind of damsel to being a hard ass. She gained courage and would do whatever it took to protect her new family, after losing most of her real family. Willow was a feisty little girl who always knew how to get her own way from her father and Alex.

Rev and Bishop were also great characters as you could tell they just wanted to find what Deacon had with Alex. Rev wanted this the most though. Rev did want to be with Alex but he knew they would never be anything more than just friends. Case was a great president of the club as he just wanted to protect everyone and get the job at hand done. He would do anything he could to protect his family, his club and his brothers. Despite being an ever present topic throughout the novel, Sigel wasn't a good bad guy in my eyes. He wouldn't hurt someone when it came to it, but he did strike in his own ways. He got all his henchmen to do the dirty work for him instead of doing it himself most of the time.

This novel does contain a lot of swear words and sex scenes. However, that is to be expected in a novel about criminal bikers. I liked learning more about rules of a motorcycle club and how they would find ways of doing jobs and protecting each other. The language was really easy to read and didn't involve me looking up any words because I didn't know what they meant. The book flowed easily and it was a great read. When I picked this up I didn't want to stop reading as I just wanted to find out what happened next. Which is especially hard when you have to stop reading and an action scene has just occurred, as I had to wait until the next day to find out what happened next. I also like the alternating chapters told from Deacon and Alex's points of views. However, the novel did start with Willow telling the story and finished with Rev telling the story. The end was happy and both sad at the same time.

Overall, I gave this novel 5/5 stars and it has become one of my favourite novels. I will definitely be picking up the next two books in this trilogy in the near future which are Redemption Road (about Rev) and Last Mile (about Bishop). I can't wait to look out for more motorcycle romance novels to see how they compare to this trilogy by Katie Ashley. Also, after I've eventually watched season 4 of SOA I will be able to read the SOA novel Bratva. Definitely read this novel is you love motorcycle romance, romance novels in general or you love SOA.

                   Rating 5/5
    

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 

   

The London Eye Mystery

The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd

Published- 5th June 2008
Publisher- Yearling
Pages- 336 pages (paperback)

Salim visits the London Eye with his cousins Kat and Ted. He goes up on the Eye, but when the pod gets back to the ground Salim is nowhere to be seen. How can someone disappear from a sealed pod on the London Eye? Where is Salim and what has happened to him? Will Kat and Ted work out the mystery?

This was a good novel as the blurb on the back of the novel really intrigued me when I first picked it up in a charity shop. I was wondering how someone could go missing from a sealed pod on the London Eye without anyone noticing. The novel was told by Ted who has a special condition in which he sees things differently from other people. He is obsessed with the weather and different weather conditions. Ted said his brain works on a different wavelength from other people. It was good to see the story told from the perspective of a 12 year old boy. He teamed up with his older sister Kat to find out what happened to their cousin Salim and try to find him.

Ted and Kat were great main characters as I loved reading the story from a child's point of view rather than an adults. They would go anywhere in London just to find clues as to what happened. They even spoke to people they had never met before to try to find out the mystery. Salim was a good character aswell as he just wanted to be with his friends and he was also a brave character because of what happened in the novel.

The end of the novel was a good twist because you didn't see it coming. You thought there could only be a few events that could have actually happened like he was kidnapped, killed, killed himself or something else happened. I always knew that Ted would work out the mystery as to what had happened to his cousin though. The story started with Salim going missing and then it went to 24 hours before that event occurred. The whole story only took place within the space of about 4 or 5 days. 

Some of the language was quite long as it featured a lot of meteorological terms as that is the job Ted wants to do when he is older. It was also good seeing how Ted's brain worked and how he worked through the clues. He was a person who could remember anything that people said, or things he saw, or theories he worked out. Kat would go out on her own sometimes to find clues but only because she was the eldest sibling. 

Overall, I gave this novel 5/5 stars as it was a good mystery novel. It left you thinking the whole way through as to what the mystery was. You just wanted to know what happened to Salim so you had to keep reading. This novel gripped me from just reading the blurb on the back of the book. If you like a good mystery then this will certainly capture your attention when you read the back of the book. This is also a good book if you live in London and know the different areas of London featured in the novel.

                                 Rating 4/5

    

Klickitat

Klickitat by Peter Rock

Published- 12th April 2016
Publisher- Amulet Books
Pages- 240 pages (paperback)

SOLICITED ARC REVIEW

The premise of the novel is about two sisters called Vivian and Audra. Audra suddenly goes missing one day, but where has she gone and why? When she does reappear who is the mysterious guy with her? Does the guy have anything to do with the mysterious words appearing in Vivian's notebook? Why do they want Vivian to come with them and will they all make it home safely?

This novel was quite a quick read as the text was quite small but there wasn't much text per page. A lot of the page was blank around the sides and at the bottom and top. So the pages could have been filled up a bit more. In some ways I enjoyed this novel, mainly because it was a quick mystery/survival read. The ways I didn't enjoy it include some aspects of the novel which were not included or talked about. 

Two things which weren't explained where what exactly was wrong with Vivian and why did she need to keep taking medication. Also, what exactly was her dad's job, all it said was that he spoke to people in other countries in his basement. Some other parts which were not explained include who exactly was writing in the notebook, that was never answered. I also wanted to know exactly what happened to Henry and Audra. I'm guessing they both died in the water, but it was not explained what they were doing at the water or exactly what happened to cause them to drown. Some parts of the action were also very slow paced so it took a while to get through some of the scenes. 

I liked that the novel was very descriptive in terms of the landscape and where they were staying. It was also descriptive in how they would describe some of the people they met. In terms of back stories I would have liked more back story for Iceland and Henry. We never found out exactly who Henry was or why he suddenly appeared with Audra. This novel definitely had the mystery element to it in terms of Audra's disappearance and no one knowing where exactly she was.

Overall, I gave this novel 3/5 stars as it was a quick reading, but it was lacking in a lot of elements of the plot. Such as back stories, explanations, key questions answered, etc. I got through this read within a few days which was good. Its a good mystery survival novel, but it does need a lot of things added to the overall plot of the novel.

              Rating 3/5

  

Red Rising

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

Published- 28th January 2014
Publisher- Del Rey (Random House)
Pages- 382 pages (Hardback)

Red Rising is about Darrow's mission to become a Gold to save his world from all the powers that rule over them. However, will he be able to complete his mission and make everyone believe he is truly a Gold and not the Red he was born as? Will everyone survive the battles throughout this novel? Who will live and who will die, that is the main question. 

This was a brilliant debut novel by Pierce Brown. The only other novel I've read that was set on Mars was The Martian by Andy Weir and this is much different from that novel. The Martian did not include as many battles and fights as this novel did. The Martian was more about science and trying to rescue a stranded astronaut from Mars. The action scenes were spread throughout the whole of this novel rather than just coming at the end of the novel. For example, you had action at the start between Eo and Darrow, then throughout the middle with the fights in the woods and the big fight scene at the end of the novel.

In terms of characters Darrow was a great lead character as he would do anything to help the people of Mars so he can defeat the powers that rule over them all. The title is also about Darrow as he was born a Red and he is trying to rise up and become powerful so he can defeat the powerful. Pax and Tactus became loyal followers of Darrow and would do anything to support him on his mission. Mustang was also a great female character even though she was hiding a big secret from Darrow. She was strong, cunning and in some ways quite mysterious. One character I loved was Sevro as he was very quick, could strike without anyone seeing him and he was very loyal to Darrow and loved him like a brother.

The plot flowed really well and it was easy to follow the whole way through. It never felt slow or made me want to stop reading as there was always something happening. For example, when the fight scenes occurred you wanted to read the next chapter so you could find out who survived that particular battle. It was quite sad when some characters you hoped would be in the next novel didn't survive and you had to read their death scenes. However, I won't spoil it for people who haven't read this novel by saying who lives and who dies, and I won't give away any major spoilers. 

Pierce Brown created lots of his own language and weapons throughout the novel. For example, Gravboots, holoImmersion room, pulseShield, etc. It's always interesting to me when authors come up with their own language or weapons or place names for any world that they have created. It gives the novel it's own unique feel and makes people want to learn more about the world they are currently reading about.

Overall, I give this novel 5/5 stars. It was a great debut read by Pierce Brown and makes me want to carry on with the next novel in the trilogy, Golden Son, very soon. Golden Son will pick up from where Red Rising left off which is great. The final book in the trilogy has just been released and it is called Morning Star. Pierce Brown has also just announced a new trilogy which will also be set in the Red Rising world, but it will have a new host of characters. However, it will feature some old characters such as Darrow, Sevro and Mustang.

                                Rating 5/5

    

The 5th Wave

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Published- 7th May 2013
Publisher- G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Pages- 457 pages (Hardback)

The 5th Wave is an alien invasion novel told from the perspectives of Cassie and Zombie mainly. There are 5 stages (waves) of the alien invasion and these include- destroying electronics and disease. The main characters include- Cassie, Zombie, Nugget and Evan. However, who will survive the 5th Wave and how will their future pan out?

The film has lots of different parts from the book such as Nugget being put on the bus with Cassie and the other children, then Cassie runs back to get Nugget's teddy bear and the bus leaves without her. In the film the character of Reznik was a female played by Maria Bello, but in the book this character was a male. Another difference was a lot of the scenes between Cassie and Evan such as the order in which events occured and how she found out Evan's true identity. The film also contained a longer fight and action scene at the end. In the book the end action was quite short and sporadic whereas in the book it was continuous. 

The action within the middle of the novel was quite slow, but this was mainly the scenes between Cassie and Evan. There was not much action within these middle scenes. The only action came at the start and end of the novel. Zombie's scenes were quite action packed aswell. However, the start did give a good description as to what was happening and what the different waves were within the alien invasion. The novel would not have worked if it didn't describe the different waves of the invasion.

In terms of characters I would have liked to learn more about Nugget and Ringer. You did not find out much about these 2 characters within the novel. I also feel that Evan could have used a bit more character development as although he was a good character he needed more action scenes and developing as to his background. Cassie was brave, determined and would never give up in terms of getting her brother back from the army/aliens. Ben/Zombie was strong, protective and he would do anything to save Nugget who was only 5 years old. Lastly, Evan was very protective of Cassie as he did not want her to get hurt, he was strong, he wanted to do what was right and he just wants to be human. Evan's story ended on a cliffhanger as you do not know whether he lives or dies. 

Overall, I give this novel 4/5 stars. It was a good novel, despite the middle being really slow and not so action packed. This is a must read if you loved the film the 5th Wave or you just love alien invasion novels. The story will continue in the next novel The Infinite Sea. I will definitely be reading the Infinite Sea as soon as I can so I can find out what happens to Evan, Cassie, Nugget and Zombie.

                    Rating 4/5