Day: August 21, 2020

Posted in Blog Tour, Book Review, Contemporary Fiction, Domestic Thriller, Literary Fiction, Suspense

Blurred Lines Hannah Begbie 4*#Review @hannahbegbie @HarperFiction @HarperCollinsUK @fictionpubteam #Paperback #BookReview #BlogTour @RandomTTours #BlurredLines #domestic #suspense #women #FridayReads

Posted on by jolliffe01

She spoke out. I stayed silent. What would you do?

When Becky walks in on her boss with a woman who isn’t his wife, she’s horrified, but says nothing. She owes Matthew too much.

But when the same woman accuses him of rape, Becky is trapped in a nightmare. Was what she saw rape – or is Matthew, her trusted mentor, telling the truth? Becky must try to ignore her own traumatic past and its terrible hold on her.

As Becky attempts to untangle these blurred lines, she risks everything, even her home and family, to find the truth…

Amazon UK

I received a copy of this book from Harper Fiction – Harper Collins UK in return for an honest review.

My Thoughts…

Becky faces a traumatic moral dilemma Told from Becky’s point of view, her past affecting her present emotions and reactions. This story uses contemporary issues and weaves them into an intricate plot. An unreliable protagonist means the reader doesn’t know who to believe, wherever their empathy lies.
This is an immersive story. It includes the reader, what do they think? Not everything is what it seems, and this story illustrates this well.

Blurred lines is an absorbing, emotional read.

Hannah Begbie

Hannah Begbie studied Art History at Cambridge University. She went on to become a talent agent, representing BAFTA and Edinburgh Comedy Award-winning writers and comedians for fifteen years. She also enrolled in The Novel Studio course at City University, winning that year’s new writing prize. The book she developed there became her debut novel, MOTHER, which later went on to win the Joan Hessayon Award for New Writers from the RNA. She lives in north London with her husband and their two sons.

Posted in Blog Tour, Book Review, Contemporary Fiction, Family Drama, Friendship, Romance

Sweet Home Montana Shann McPherson 4*#Review @Shann_McPherson @HQStories #ContemporaryRomance #BlogTour #BookReview #FridayReads #SweetHomeMontana

Posted on by jolliffe01

They say that home is where the heart is…

When a family tragedy strikes, Quinn Wagner travels home to Black Canyon, Montana for the first time in almost a decade. Having left her childhood sweetheart Colt at the altar before she fled, Quinn knows her homecoming will mean facing up to her past.

But when Quinn runs into Colt on her family’s ranch and realises that the old sparks still fly between them, she begins to wonder whether it’s time to come home for good.

As Quinn and Colt become closer, it’s clear they have unfinished business. But Colt is hiding something, and when his secret is revealed it will show Quinn just how much can change in ten long years—and how difficult it is to slot back in to a life that’s moved on without her…

Full of romance, humor and with a guaranteed HEA,

Amazon UK

I received a copy of this book from HQ via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

My Thoughts…

An engaging mix of coming of age, family drama and second chance romance. Ten years on, in the wake of a family tragedy, Quinn is forced to return home. She’s left her boyfriend at the altar to follow her dreams. Her reception at home is less than enthusiastic, but she’s matured and is prepared to acknowledge her mistakes. Colt has issues, and secrets, forgiveness seems far away, but he can’t deny the chemistry still sizzles between them.

This is about following your dreams, finding out what you want in life and the emotions associated with this. It also touches on the expectations of women and what happens when we ignore these.

This is a heartwarming, intense second chance romance with a strong element of family drama in a contemporary setting.

Posted in Blog Tour, Book Review, Contemporary Fiction, Literary Fiction

The Bitch Pilar Quintana 4*#Review #Translator Lisa Dillman @pili_quintana @WorldEdBooks @RandomTTours #BlogTour #BookReview #womenintranslation #WITmonth #FridayReads

Posted on by jolliffe01

In the jungle, dreams and nightmares coexist

Colombia’s Pacific coast, where everyday life entails warding off the brutal forces of nature. In this constant struggle, nothing is taken for granted. Damaris lives with her fisherman husband in a shack on a bluff overlooking the sea. Childless and at that age “when women dry up,” as her uncle puts it, she is eager to adopt an orphaned puppy. But this act may bring more than just affection into her home.

The Bitch is written in a prose as terse as the villagers, with storms―both meteorological and emotional―lurking around each corner. Beauty and dread live side by side in this poignant exploration of the many meanings of motherhood and love.

Amazon UK

I received a copy of this book from the author and publisher in return for an honest review.

My Thoughts…

The expression in the female dog’s eyes, on the book cover, captures the essence of this book. There’s a sense of hopelessness and inevitability. The puppy adopted by Damaris becomes the focus of her existence. When she chooses freedom over devotion, Damaris feels cheated. This emotion darkens and turns to hate with a terrible outcome.

Full of disturbing imagery, the scenes of cruelty and despair are harrowing to read, but they resonate.
An essay on deprivation, poverty and the position of women in society, this story is a stark reminder of what’s wrong in the world.

Pilar Quintana Image Credit -Retratos en su casa en Bogota Foto Danilo Costa Cangucu Revista Semana

Pilar Quintana lives in Colombia.  She debuted with Cosquillas en la lengua in 2003, and published Coleccionistas de polvos raros in 2007, the same year the Hay Festival selected her as one of the most promising young authors of Latin America. Her latest novel, The Bitch, won the prestigious Colombian Biblioteca de Narrativa Prize, and was selected for several Best Books of 2017 lists, as well as being chosen as one of the most valuable objects to preserve for future generations in a marble time capsule in Bogotá. The Bitch is the first of her works to be translated into English.

This book has been selected to receive financial assistance from English PEN’s Writers in Translation programme supported by Bloomberg and Arts Council England. English PEN exists to promote literature and its understanding, uphold writers’ freedoms around the world, campaign against the persecution and imprisonment of writers for stating their views, and promote the friendly co-operation of writers and free exchange of ideas.

Each year, a dedicated committee of professionals selects books that are translated into English from a wide variety of foreign languages. We award grants to UK publishers to help translate, promote, market and champion these titles. Our aim is to celebrate books of outstanding literary quality, which have a clear link to the PEN charter and promote free speech and intercultural understanding.

www.englishpen.org

Posted in Blog Blitz, Book Review, Family Drama, Friendship, Romance

Love on the Rocks Elsie McArthur 4*#Review @ElsieMcarthur @rararesources #Romance #love #loss #TheHebrides #Scottish PublicationDay #IslandLife #BlogBlitz #BookReview #LoveontheRocks

Posted on by jolliffe01

Escaping a difficult childhood, unhappy marriage and dead-end job, Rachel McIntyre has escaped to the tiny Hebridean island of Inniscreag in search of a new beginning.

Taking a job as the manager of the local distillery, she’s just settling into her new life when the elderly, eccentric owner dies, unexpectedly leaving her two hundred year old family legacy in Rachel’s inexperienced hands.

Can she keep the small, community business alive in the face of a takeover attempt from a major multinational corporation? And can she resist the charms of the flirtatious, attractive company lawyer who arrives on the island to persuade her to sell up?

Join Rachel and the quirky inhabitants of Inniscreag – along with a couple of unexpected arrivals – in this funny, heartwarming tale about love, loss and having the courage to start over.

Amazon UK Amazon

I received a copy of this book from the author in return for an honest review.

My Thoughts…

Inniscreag may be a fictional Hebridean Isle and community, but it is both believable and engaging and provides the perfect setting for this story of community, friendship love and loss. It follows Rachel’s attempts to save the local distillery from the corporate world whilst coping with her attraction to the company lawyer Duncan. There’s family drama, secrets, and conflict over the estate of Edith, the distillery’s former owner.

This is an emotional story full of angst. Rachel battles with the emotions caused by her childhood and marriage. The story is both claustrophobic and heartwarming accurately reflecting the insular, but comforting nature of this remote community. All the characters have a story, and they draw the reader into their community, making you care what happens to them.

Elsie McArthur is an independent author of women’s fiction. After studying law at university, and then re-training as a primary school teacher, she now lives in the Highlands of Scotland with her husband, two kids, a couple of badly behaved dogs and a cat with a superiority complex. As well as continuing to work part time as a teacher, she is now indulging in her first love of writing. Her first book, ‘The Back Up Plan’, was released in January 2020. Her second novel, ‘Love, on the Rocks’ – a tale of love, loss and starting over, set on the remote Scottish island of Inniscreag – is due for release in Summer 2020.

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