Well this has been one hectic week in a year that seems to becoming ever more frantic. My day job has been incredibly busy with increasing amount of different tasks being heaped on an already busy schedule. My daughter and her husband have been living with us for a couple of months now as they are in the process of buying a place. It’s been lovely and I’m sure we are going to find life very quiet when they leave but the logistics of who’s in and out each day for dinner, who likes what and which programme we will all watch on TV etc. is an aspect of life that I had thought had passed. My evenings are no longer spent quietly reading and blogging but listening to work stories, debating subjects far and wide before any book or blog gets a look in.
My partner’s daughter and her boyfriend have also arrived this week for a holiday and so today we’ve spent the day catching up on all their news, eating and drinking and deciding which tunes we’d take to our desert island. With the group being of varied ages I was surprised at how many tracks we all had in common.
So I do hope you’ll forgive me for my tardy responses while life has been so busy I have appreciated your comments and my own little corner in blogland more than ever.
On a last personal note – look how big my sunflower is now!!!
This Week on the Blog
My week started with a review of Go To Sleep by Helen Walsh a sad tale of the early days of motherhood and post-natal depression.
My excerpt post this week featured Love Like Blood by Mark Billingham , the fourteenth in the Tom Thorne series.
This Week in Books featured the authors; Clare Fisher, Sam Blake and Laura Barnett.
On Thursday I posted my review of The Stranger by Saskia Sarginson a book inspired by disasters that involved migrants. A book that made me think whilst still entertaining me.
My final review of the week was of In Deep Water by Sam Blake, the second in the Cat Connolly series set in Ireland featuring a tough boxing champion as the chief protagonist. In this book Cat is investigating the disappearance of her best friend Sarah Jane.
This Time Last Year…
I was reading Daisy in Chains by Sharon Bolton an absolutely stunning read populated by a whole book full of the most memorable characters ever. Sandra Wolfe invites Maggie Rose, Lawyer and true-crime writer who has managed to free seven other convicted criminals to help her but Maggie just isn’t sure that this is a case she can win but she agrees to meet the group.
Click here to read my full review or click on the book cover
Blurb
Famous killers have fan clubs.
Hamish Wolfe is charming, magnetic and very persuasive. Famed for his good looks, he receives adoring letters every day from his countless admirers. He’s also a convicted murderer, facing life in prison.
Who would join such a club?
Maggie Rosie is a successful lawyer and true-crime author. Reclusive and enigmatic, she only takes on cases she can win.
Hamish is convinced that Maggie can change his fate. Maggie is determined not to get involved. She thinks she’s immune to the charms of such a man. But maybe not this time . . .
Would you? Amazon
Stacking the Shelves
No sooner had I proclaimed the lowest TBR of 2017 last week than the postman got busy and bought me some stunning new books.
First up I was lucky enough to receive a copy of Yesterday by Felicia Yap which will be published on 10 August 2017 by Wildfire.
Blurb
There are two types of people in the world. Those who can only remember yesterday, and those who can also recall the day before.
You have just one lifeline to the past: your diary. Each night, you write down the things that matter. Each morning, your diary tells you where you were, who you loved and what you did.
Today, the police are at your door. They say that the body of your husband’s mistress has been found in the River Cam. They think your husband killed her two days ago.Can you trust the police? Can you trust your husband? Can you trust yourself? Amazon
I also have a beautiful copy of Seven Days in May by Kim Izzo which will be published on 15 June 2017 by HarperCollins Publishers.
Blurb
As the First World War rages in continental Europe, two New York heiresses, Sydney and Brooke Sinclair, are due to set sail for England. Brooke is engaged to marry impoverished aristocrat Edward Thorpe-Tracey, the future Lord Northbrook, in the wedding of the social calendar.
Sydney has other adventures in mind; she is drawn to the burgeoning suffragette movement, which is a constant source of embarrassment to her proper sister. As international tempers flare, the German embassy releases a warning that any ships making the Atlantic crossing are at risk. Undaunted, Sydney and Brooke board the Lusitania for the seven-day voyage with Edward, not knowing that disaster lies ahead.
In London, Isabel Nelson, a young woman grateful to have escaped her blemished reputation in Oxford, has found employment at the British Admiralty in the mysterious Room 40. While she begins as a secretary, it isn’t long before her skills in codes and cyphers are called on, and she learns a devastating truth and the true cost of war.
As the days of the voyage pass, these four lives collide in a struggle for survival as the Lusitania meets its deadly fate. Amazon
I bought myself a copy of Six Stories by Matt Wesolowski because it was offered at the bargain price of 99p and I’d read so many good things about this novel story construction.
Blurb
1997. Scarclaw Fell. The body of teenager Tom Jeffries is found at an outward bound center. Verdict? Misadventure. But not everyone is convinced. And the truth of what happened in the beautiful but eerie fell is locked in the memories of the tight-knit group of friends who embarked on that fateful trip, and the flimsy testimony of those living nearby.
2017. Enter elusive investigative journalist Scott King, whose podcast examinations of complicated cases have rivalled the success of Serial, with his concealed identity making him a cult internet figure. In a series of six interviews, King attempts to work out how the dynamics of a group of idle teenagers conspired with the sinister legends surrounding the fell to result in Jeffries’ mysterious death. And who’s to blame …
As every interview unveils a new revelation, you’ll be forced to work out for yourself how Tom Jeffries died, and who is telling the truth. A chilling, unpredictable and startling thriller, Six Stories is also a classic murder mystery with a modern twist, and a devastating ending. Amazon
And I couldn’t resist requesting a copy of Tom Bale’s latest book Each Little Lie from NetGalley. Again this was entirely down to the fabulous reviews I’ve read of this author’s previous books in the blogosphere. Each Little Lie will be published on 29 June 2017 by Bookouture.
Blurb
One split second can destroy your life forever
Single mother Jen Cornish is just trying to hold things together for the sake of her seven-year-old son Charlie. Until the day when she does an impulsive good deed to help a neighbour, setting off a terrifying chain of events that quickly spirals out of control…
When she is arrested for a crime she didn’t commit, Jen quickly starts to wonder if someone is playing a cruel game with her – or is she losing her mind?
Desperate to clear her name with the police, she must first untangle a chilling web of lies. But someone is watching her every move – and it isn’t just Jen who is in danger.
They’re watching her child as well. NetGalley
So do let me know what you’ve all found to read this week?
Those of you who read the slurs on the internet about me being a book hater will hopefully be reassured by the following TBR announcement – Please don’t believe the fake news being peddled in the dirtiest book blogger campaign ever witnessed but if a campaign of books and chocolate win the popular vote, I want to be inside FFLand’s wall of books!
Since my last post I’ve read just 2 books and gained 4.
The current total is therefore 183 –
Physical Books – 107
Kindle Books – 62
NetGalley Books – 14