The Perfect Stranger by Megan Miranda

The Perfect Stranger by Megan Miranda. Published 1st February 2018 by Corvus.
Read January 2020.

Failed journalist, Leah Stevens, leaves Boston under a cloud and sets up home with an old friend, Emmy Grey, in rural Pennsylvania. Taking a job as a teacher in a high school, Leah is optimistic her fresh start will help her to forget the mistakes she has left behind.

However, when a woman who looks eerily like Leah is attacked by the lake and Emmy suddenly goes missing, Leah's new start begins to look quite a but less rosy.

Leah is desperate to find Emmy, the only person she really trusts, and looks to Detective Kyle Donovan for help. But it soon becomes clear that Emmy has no left no evidence that she was ever actually there and the police begin to suspect that she may be a figment of Leah's imagination.

Forced to question what she really knows about her friend, Leah realises that she has been lined up by someone to take the fall for their crimes. Leah must find out the truth, before it is too late, if she is to save herself.

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I have had this book sitting on the shelf for some time. Having read the first couple of chapters and not being immediately grabbed by the story, I had put it down and not been tempted to pick it up again. But after enjoying Megan Miranda's twisty thriller The Last House Guest last year, I decided to pick this one up again on a whim, and proceeded to read the rest of the book in one sitting, after being unable to put it down!

The Perfect Stranger is even more twisty that The Last House Guest and went places I really did not see coming from the first couple of chapters. This is a little gem of a thriller - pacy, full of false leads and downright scary too.  I don't want to say too much about this, as it would involve spoilers, but this is a first class mind-blower of a book that will absolutely chill you to the core.

How much do we really know about the people we call our friends, when it really comes down to it? Can we be absolutely sure we are interpreting their intentions correctly? I guarantee that this book will have you asking some questions about the people you surround yourself with!

It's 5 stars from me!

Dreamland by Nancy Bilyeau

Dreamland by Nancy Bilyeau. Published 16th January 2020 by Endeavour Quill in paperback and ebook.
Read January 2020.

New York, 1911 and the Gilded Age is in full swing. Business is booming and the super-rich are reaping the benefits.

Twenty-one year old heiress, Peggy Batternberg finds herself called on to spend the summer with her dysfunctional family at The Oriental Hotel in New York's playground, Coney Island, so they can present a united front to the wealthy fiance of her sister, Lydia.

Peggy would rather be anywhere than here - relations with her snobbish family have been strained since the death of her father, and she much prefers to keep out of the limelight working incognito at the Moonrise Bookstore, Manhattan. It also doesn't help that she has history with her sister's betrothed.

However, Peggy soon discovers that she can experience a sort of freedom she has not known before, among the delights Coney Island has to offer. Before long, she finds herself falling in love with a penniless, Serbian artist, called Stefan - a man her family would be horrified to learn she has been spending time with.

But more is going on in New York's playground that love. Underneath the surface of her seemingly respectable family lurks a web of deceit, betrayal and dangerous secrets. Can the Batternbergs and their friends get away with anything...even murder?

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We often hear a lot about the Golden Age of Hollywood on America's West Coast, but Nancy Bilyeau's fabulous Dreamland picks you up and carries you along on a glorious tide, right back to the heady days of America's Gilded Age, on the East Coast: an age spanning the period between just before and after the turn of the twentieth century, when America was booming and the select few at the helm of industry were raking in a fortune. Of course, once they became rich, it was of primary importance to distance themselves from the less seemly side of life and indulge themselves with the proceeds of their (often dubiously obtained) gains, and so Manhattan Beach, Coney Island was born.

The huge and splendid hotels at Manhattan Beach allowed New York's select to enjoy private sea bathing, luxurious dining and genteel pursuits relatively near to their grand Manhattan homes, without rubbing shoulders with the hoi polloi - although they were within tantalising distance of the far less sedate pleasures Coney Island also had to offer.

Dreamland is named for one of the three amusement parks that could be be found on Coney Island, and although this was by far the most respectable of the parks, Peggy Batternberg's family would have been dismayed to learn that she secretly frequented its environs during her stay. This is not the place for a respectable woman from a family of means, who should be concerned with her reputation, although the men of the family are clearly allowed much more freedom to indulge their whims and desires. But this is a new century and women are starting to make their voices heard. Times are changing and Peggy is a woman of this new age - bold and willing to take risks - a woman who does not want her life ruled by hypocritical men. She makes a great leading character.

The Dreamland amusement park itself has a most fascinating history of rapid rise and tragic fall, and Nancy Bilyeau skillfully drops in little tit-bits of its factual past, entwining them with Peggy's story of corruption, class and dangerous obsession. Peggy drags us headlong into an unexpected murder mystery, which leads her into peril as she tries to save the man she loves. Everyone around her seems to have dark secrets and figuring out who she can trust is not an easy task. She cannot rely upon New York's elite to have her back, if they ever truly did, as the masks they hide behind start to crack and fall away. Peggy must find her friends from the lower orders of Coney Island's pleasure grounds if she is to have any sort of success, and through her eyes we get a glimpse of what life is life for the poor of New York too.

The suspense builds up nicely, as the pages fly by, to a blazing finale that will leave you breathless! An exciting story, against a fabulous backdrop, that offers a fascinating glimpse into the history of the era - what's not to love? It's brilliant!

Dreamland is available to order from your favourite book retailer in e-book and paperback, and is publishing on 16th January 2020.
Amazon link here.

This is definitely one that lovers of great historical fiction should be adding their shelves on Goodreads! You can find the Goodreads link here.

Thank you to Hannah Groves at Endeavour Media and Nancy Bilyeau for providing me with a copy of Dreamland for review.

From the book cover:

The year is 1911 when twenty-year-old heiress Peggy Batternberg is invited to spend the summer in America’s Playground.

But the invitation to Coney Island is unwelcome. Despite hailing from one of America’s richest families, Peggy would much rather spend the summer working at the Moonrise Bookstore than keeping up appearances with New York City socialites and her snobbish, controlling family.

But soon it transpires that the hedonism of Coney Island affords Peggy the freedom she has been yearning for, and it’s not long before she finds herself in love with a troubled pier-side artist of humble means, whom the Batternberg patriarchs would surely disapprove of.

Disapprove they may, but hidden behind their pomposity lurks a web of deceit, betrayal and deadly secrets. And as bodies begin to mount up amidst the sweltering clamour of Coney Island, it seems the powerful Batternbergs can get away with anything… even murder.

About the author:

Nancy Bilyeau is the author of the 18th century thriller "The Blue" and the Tudor mystery series The Crown, The Chalice and The Tapestry. She is a magazine editor who has lived in the United States and Canada and a direct descendant of Pierre Billiou, a French Huguenot who immigrated to what was then New Amsterdam (later New York City) in 1661. Nancy's ancestor, Isaac, was born on the boat crossing the Atlantic, the St. Jean de Baptiste. Pierre's stone house still stands and is the third oldest house in New York State.

Nancy, who studied History and Political Science at the University of Michigan, has worked on the staff of "InStyle" and "Rolling Stone," and is currently the deputy editor of the Center on Media, Crime and Justice at John Jay College in New York City. She is a regular contributor to Town & Country.

"The Crown" was placed on the shortlist of the Crime Writers' Association's Ellis Peters Historical Dagger Award.

Nancy lives with her husband and two children in New York City.

When We Get To The Island by Alex Nye

When We Get To The Island by Alex Nye. Published 21st November 2019 by Fledgling Press in paperback and ebook.
Read December 2019.

Hani and his sister Reena have escaped war in their homeland of Syria, after their parents paid their life savings to people traffickers in an attempt to give their children a better life.

But Hani and Reena's journey has not been one to the freedom their parents hoped for. Abandoned by the people traffickers in a refugee camp in Calais, they have been recruited by a gang master using the utterly misleading name Uncle Georgio, and are now working illegally under the most atrocious conditions on a remote farm in Scotland.

At least they have each other....until Reena goes missing one night and Hani runs away, vowing to find her.

Mia is also on the run in the wilds of Scotland. After the death of both her parents and grandmother, she has been living with emotionally distant foster parents, who seem to have little genuine interest in her and the fact that she has left behind everything she ever knew. She is desperate to return to the Scottish island that used to be her home - a place where she is convinced she can be safe and happy again.

Mia comes across Hani on her journey and promises to help him find his sister - she assures him that they can all find a home "When we get the island...".

Their journey will be a dark and dangerous one, across the wilds of Scotland, dogged at every turn by the dangerous people smugglers who are keen to keep the truth about their secret business hidden from prying eyes, and from the police who seek to return Mia to social care. But they will also find allies in unexpected places, who wish them well and offer them much needed help along the way.

What will they find at the end of their journey?

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What We Get To The Island is a cracking YA adventure story that beautifully combines the excitement of an old-fashioned romp across the wilds of Scotland with a bang-up-to-date story about three children who have experienced terrible tragedy in their lives.

I really enjoyed the way Alex Nye shows us that the stories of Hani and Mia are essentially the same - both of them suffering from loss and desperate to find home/family, despite their very different backgrounds. Hani and Reena's tale is a heartbreaking one, but the story of Mia is nonetheless also one of tragedy. None of these children has had any say in what has happened to them and they are at the mercy of others who do not really care about them.

As I found from reading Alex Nye's excellent book Arguing With The Dead, where she skillfully tells the story of Mary Shelley in the form of a gothic horror, she has a talent for taking a theme and reworking it in a wholly original way and she has delightfully managed this again here. This time the story of our two children is told in a way that spins their deeply emotional tales of loss in a way that plays out like a classic adventure story. As readers, we are drawn inexorably into the search for Reena, desperate to find her safe and well, and the tension ramps up almost unbearably as the tale unfolds.

Alex Nye acknowledges that John Buchan's wonderful book The Thirty-Nine Steps has inspired her to take the story of Hani and Mia in the direction she has, and this works so well. I found this to be such a nostalgic read, as I loved The Thirty-Nine Steps too, but there are also echoes of other old favourites reworked for the modern age,  like Enid Blyton's Famous Five adventures, and I found this very endearing.

This was an interesting one for me to read off the back of Rodaan Al Galidi's fascinating book Two Blankets, Three Sheets, albeit looking at a different aspect of the refugee situation. When We Get To The Island  is a book that also has an important message and it is one that is very accessible for both its target audience, and adults too. It is one of those magic books that can be read by both the young and the old, as there are references that will be taken differently depending on your age - especially when it comes to the likely fate of Reena. This is a talent I greatly admire in an author.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading When We Get To The Island and can wholeheartedly recommend this if you are thinking about an easily accessible story for older children, especially one that that you can read along with them, as it tackles many issues around loss, asylum seekers, foster care and bullying as part of the thrilling story. As an ex-secondary school librarian, this is exactly the kind of book I would be adding to my library shelves and championing widely.

When We Get To The Island is available from your favourite book retailer now.
Amazon buy link here.

Thank you to Love Books Tours for inviting me to take part in the blog tour for When We Get To The Island and to Alex Nye and Fledgling Press for providing me with a copy of this book.

From the book cover: 

Hani is 12 and invisible, and yet everyone wants to capture him. After escaping from Syria with his sister, he finds himself working in atrocious conditions somewhere in Scotland. When his sister disappears, he begins a perilous journey to find her, across some of the wildest terrain in Scotland.

Mia is also on the run, and sometimes it feels as if she will never stop running. When she helps Hani escape from his captors, the two become inseparable. Her dream is to reach the island where she was last happy, when her parents were alive, and find the little house she believes they still own. Once we reach the island, she tells Hani, everything will be okay.

But their journey takes them into dangerous landscapes, hunted by dangerous men, chased through a system of underground flooded caverns while a great storm sweeps the coast. Whatever happens, Mia knows that she must help Hani to find his sister. What they will really find at the end of their journey may come as a surprise to both of them.

Alex Nye is the award-winning author of Chill and Darker Ends.

About the Author:

Alex Nye is the award-winning author of four novels. She grew up in Norfolk by the sea, but has lived in Scotland since 1995 where she finds much of her inspiration in Scottish history. At the age of 16 she won the W H Smith Young Writers' Award out of 33,000 entrants, and has been writing ever since. Her first children's novel, CHILL, won the Royal Mail Award.

Her fourth book is a historical novel for adults about Mary Queen of Scots. Her fifth title, ARGUING WITH THE DEAD, is another historical novel, this time about Mary Shelley, and explores the chaotic and destructive forces which shaped her.

She divides her time between walking the dog, swimming, scribbling in notebooks in strange places, staring at people without meaning to, and tapping away on her laptop. She also teaches and delivers atmospheric candlelit workshops on creative writing/ghost stories/Scottish history. She studied at King's College, London more years ago than she cares to remember.

Two Blankets, Three Sheets by Rodaan Al Galidi

Two Blankets, Three Sheets by Rodaan Al Galidi (translated from the Dutch by Jonathan Reeder). Published in paperback 7th January 2020 by World Editions. Read December 2019.

Samir Karim trained as a Civil Engineer under the regime of Saddam Hussein, but was forced to flee the country in order to avoid conscription into the Iraqi army.

After wandering around Asia on false papers for seven years, he eventually heads for Europe and landing in Amsterdam in 1998, he immediately flushes his fake passport down the toilet and claims asylum.

What follows is nine years living in a dorm in an asylum centre, with 500 new housemates, trying to gain residency through the bureaucratic nightmare that is the Dutch asylum seeker process.

Two Blankets, Three Sheets takes its title from the list of items issued to every asylum seeker at the centre - two blankets, three sheets, a towel, a pillow and a pillowcase - which formed the only belongings Samir owned while living in the centre for all those years.

This is a semi-autobiographical work by Rodaan Al Galidi, who shared many of the experiences that Samir has to endure, but it also includes many of the stories of the other asylum seekers he met during his quest to seek safety in the Netherlands. It is a tale of survival and what goes on in the hidden world of the refugee, told with a unique sense of humour, and it will leave you with plenty to reflect upon.

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I don't think I have ever read anything quite like Two Blankets, Three Sheets before. I have consumed many a tale about refugees, learning about the reasons behind their decisions to leave their homelands and giving details of the harrowing experiences they suffer in order to find safety. But this book offers something different in a genre that has been crowded with fictional stories about asylum seekers in recent times - not least that it shows asylum seekers are made up of many different cultures, nationalities and creeds, even though they may all be lumped together under the one title "refugee".

Rodaan Al Galidi has a tale to tell about his own experiences as a refugee, and initially recorded it in the form of a series of letters to someone who had asked him about his time in a Dutch asylum centre. However, to publish this account as a conventional memoir would have been to expose his personal life to the eyes of the public, and stir up old memories which he, not surprisingly, found a difficult prospect.

Instead, Rodaan Al Galidi has chosen to write this book using a fictional character, and in doing so has been able to weave his own tale into the stories of many of the other refugees he has met over the years. This gives the reader a much wider take on the hidden lives of all sorts of different refugees - and much of it is pretty eye-opening!

"The narrator of the book is not me. It is someone I've called Samir Karim. This way I can still be the writer, and not the main character.

People might ask me if this is my story, to which I will say: no. But if I am asked if this is also my story, then I will say wholeheartedly: yes."

The book takes the form of a series of anecdotes about Samir's own journey, his life in the asylum centre and the stories of both other asylum seekers and locals he meets along the way - men, women and children. It tends to go back and forth between the time before Samir arrived in Amsterdam and his residency there, so we read a fair bit about his adventures in Asia too - which certainly add to the story and read very much like a humorous travelogue.

Many of the tales are horribly tragic and sad, but there is also a lot of comedy to be found in these pages. Samir is able to tell his stories with a satirical eye and his sense of humour (which we assume is also the sense of humour of our author) comes across very clearly. The subject matter may not be one which it is easy to laugh at, but you find yourself chuckling away many times while reading this book at the utter absurdity of the circumstances many of our characters find themselves in and the amusing misunderstandings that arise. This makes the book very easy to read, as the comic parts break up the tragedy of the very real situation portrayed, and I found myself racing through the not insubstantial 400 pages in double-quick time.

This book shines a light on a hidden world that most of us will hopefully never have to experience. A world of desperation, difficult decisions, dark humour, longing, culture shock, isolation, ridiculous bureaucracy, misunderstandings, tragedy, corruption and waiting...endless waiting. A world that many are able to negotiate successfully, whether legally or not, but also a world that is simply too much for some of the poor souls that endure it. A world made up of all sorts of different people, thrown together by circumstance.

‘You have to take care, Mr Karim,’ she said, ‘this is your future.’ With the word ‘this’ she picked up the report from the first hearing. I was amused at the idea that my future would be determined by a few sheets of paper, and not by my health, my happiness or my dreams. Or a never-ending barbeque on the beach, or travelling the world on a legitimate passport.

Rodaan Al Galidi certainly pulls no punches here, but the total honesty of our protagonist Samir and his ability to look at both sides of a situation is thoroughly endearing. I did sometimes have an issue with the way he interacts with some of the female characters, but his misdeeds were almost always the result of misunderstandings about the intentions of the women he met, which made them ludicrous rather than based on any predatory intent on his part. On the whole, it is Samir's kindness and perseverance that radiate from these pages, which is very impressive for a work which has been translated (much kudos to Jonathan Reeder, the translator).

Our author is far from shy about examining the behaviour of both the worthy and unworthy who try to seek asylum; the corrupt ways some may use to circumvent the process; the mishandling of valid cases for asylum; and the acceptance of blatantly false claims from others - to recognise that there needs to be a better way to help those who are seeking safety, while dealing with the undeserving at the same time, is unusual in a book about asylum seekers (especially one written by a past asylum seeker) and this was quite refreshing. I think this really opens up the debate about how to tackle the refugee problem fairly and compassionately.

Two Blankets, Three Sheets is a fascinating and inspiring read, that tackles the subject of asylum seekers in a compelling and informative way, while also being very accessible. This is a book that will have you thinking about it for long time after you have closed the cover.

I will leave the last word to Rodaan Al Galidi...

"This book is fiction for the reader who cannot believe it. But for anyone open to it, it is nonfiction. Or no: let this book be non-fiction, so that the world I had to inhabit for all those years will be transformed from fiction into fact."

Thank you to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part in this blog tour and Rodaan Al Galidi, World Editions and Ruth Killick for providing me with a copy of this fascinating book.

Two Blankets, Three Sheets is available to pre-order now. Publication date: 9 January 2020 £12.99 Paperback original ISBN: 978-1-912987-02-3

From the book cover:

Amsterdam Airport, 1998. Samir Karim steps off a plane from Vietnam, flushes his fake passport down the toilet, and requests asylum. Fleeing Iraq to avoid conscription into Saddam Hussein’s army, he has spent seven years anonymously wandering through Asia. Now, safely in the heart of Europe, he is sent to an asylum centre and assigned a bed in a shared dorm—where he will spend the next nine years.

Taking its title from the ‘two blankets, three sheets, a towel, a pillow, and a pillow-case’ that constitute the items Samir is given on his arrival at the Asylum Centre, and are the only things he owns during his nine years there, this book is the story of how Samir navigates his way around the absurdities of Dutch bureaucracy while trying his best to get along with his 500 new housemates.


Told with compassion and a unique sense of humour, this is an inspiring tale of survival, a close-up view of the hidden world of refugees and human smugglers, and a sobering reflection of our times.

Critical acclaim for Rodaan Al Galidi

‘Al Galidi holds up a mirror to us all. A mirror that we should look into.’

―ADRIAAN VAN DIS


‘Two Blankets, Three Sheets is a valuable and rich novel about fear, uncertainty, arbitrariness, and hopelessness, written by someone who was, thankfully, able to use his new language as a lifebuoy.’ ―Tzum

‘For all its heavy themes―the tragedy of miscommunication, loss of identity and meaning of life, humiliation, and the incapacity to truly connect―it is also a very light and humorous book.’ ―Literair Nederland

About the author:

RODAAN AL GALIDI is a poet and writer. Born in Iraq and trained as a civil engineer, he has lived in the Netherlands since 1998. As an undocumented asylum seeker he did not have the right to attend language classes, so he taught himself to read and write Dutch. His novel De autist en de postduif (‘The Autist and the Carrier Pigeon’) won the European Union Prize for Literature in 2011—the same year he failed his Dutch citizenship course. Two Blankets, Three Sheets, already a bestseller in the Netherlands, is his most successful novel to date.

Jonathan Reeder, a native of New York and longtime resident of Amsterdam, enjoys a dual career as a literary translator and performing musician.

A Dark Matter by Doug Johnstone

Read December 2019. Published 23rd January 2020 by Orenda Books.

Three generations of Skelf women take over the family undertakers and private investigation businesses, after the unexpected death of the family patriarch, Jim.

Although the Skelfs are a well-known and respected Edinburgh family, only the only Skelf woman who has been involved in the family funeral business to date, is Jim's wife, Dorothy - although she has never had anything to do with the PI side of things.

This is all new for Dorothy and Jim's ex-reporter daughter, Jenny and her own daughter, student Hannah, even though Jenny grew up in the funeral home.

All three women are struggling to come to terms with their own grief, while helping others find peace after their own losses - not to mention coping with the strain of looking into the most intimate details of the lives of others as part of the PI side of the operation. Their new lives are about to kick off an unexpected series of events - will they succeed in their new ventures...or end up digging their own graves?

Dorothy discovers that mysterious payments have been made to another woman for years, by her late husband, leading her to question her marriage to the man she thought she thought she knew so well.
Hannah's friend Mel has vanished giving her her first case to work on as a private investigator, with the help of Jenny, and she is not sure what to make of the disturbing things she is finding out about her friend.
Jenny has problems of her own, trying to find her place in the world as a divorced ex-reporter and dealing with a case of suspected adultery that is not as simple as it first appears.

As events threaten to overwhelm the Skelf women, secrets emerge which will change everything and put them all in terrible danger.

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A Dark Matter is the most wonderfully compelling and tense thriller that paints a darkly comic portrait of three generations of Skelf women trying to get along in the world, and with each other. This is the first part of a new family series by Doug Johnstone and is is an absolute corker. I could not put this book down once I started reading it and simply devoured it.

The lives of our Skelf protagonists have been turned upside-down by the events following Jim's death and trying to maintain a working relationship while dealing with their personal grief, suspicions and the strains of their new careers (and at the same time still be Grandmother/Mother/Granddaughter, with all that entails) is far from easy.

Dorothy is our unconventional matriarch - Californian born, with a gift for helping lost souls and a talented drum player to boot! The bottom has fallen out of her world with the loss of her husband and the discovery that he may not have been the man she thought he was. Dorothy may be old school in many ways, having lived on Scottish soil for most of her life, but her upbringing on the West Coast USA has given her a free-spirit at heart. She is complicated and acknowledges this, but she is also determined to see things through to the end.

Jenny, our daughter is also a complex character and having a hard time coming to terms with the loss of her father, Jim. She has been badly affected by her past experience and is feeling untethered and unsure of the role she needs to play. Can she be relied upon to help her mother now she needs her? Can she be a good mother to her own daughter, even though she does not seem to need her? The investigations into the missing Mel and the suspected adultery, lead her to ask some pretty deep questions about herself. Who is she? Does she even recognise the person she has become? She still has within her some of the rebel she was in her youth, and a feisty one at that, but what does she really want?

Hannah, the granddaughter, once so level-headed, so sure of herself and her relationship with her partner Indy. Looking into the disappearance of Mel and uncovering the dark side of her friend's life, has shaken her to the core. Can you ever truly count on someone or really know them? Hannah may have more of her mother in her that she thought and her determined side is about to show.

All three are asking some pretty big questions of themselves and those they hold dear and Doug Johnstone steers us skillfully through their trials and tribulations as secrets and lies are uncovered along the way. The pace of the story is just right and the tension builds beautifully as the threads of each separate story-line are brought to satisfying and, in some cases, totally shocking climaxes. Our wonderful Skelf women will be reeling by the end of the book, but at the same time, will have discovered a lot about themselves and found a way to work together.

Along-side great characters and a cracking story, I really enjoyed the way Edinburgh is portrayed in this book. Our three Skelf women are from different generations and the city they know and love is individual to each of them. The changes that have come over the city of Edinburgh are acknowledged by Doug Johnstone in the way each of the Skelf women describe and interact with their surroundings and this really brought the city alive for me. I was particularly struck by the way Jenny harkens back to the Edinburgh of her youth, as she is closest in age to me. Edinburgh becomes more than just a backdrop for the events that are taking place in these pages - it becomes a character itself, and adds a depth to the whole story that is tantalising.

Reader, you will be won over by the way that the Skelf women discover that they are stronger than they ever thought possible, as they cope with everything that A Dark Matter can throw at them, and I have totally fallen in love with them all. There is something here for everyone! I am very excited that Doug Johnstone is planning to write more about them and the hook at the end of the book that promises more has caught me completely. How long will I have to wait Mr Johnstone?

A Dark Matter is available to pre-order now.

Thank you to Anne Cater, Doug Johnstone and Orenda books for providing me with a copy of A Dark Matter for an honest review.

From the book cover:

After an unexpected death, three generations of women take over the family funeral-home and PI businesses in the first book of a brilliant, page-turning and darkly funny new series.

 The Skelfs are a well-known Edinburgh family, proprietors of a long-established funeral-home business, and private investigators. When patriarch Jim dies, it ’s left to his wife Dorothy, daughter Jenny and granddaughter Hannah to take charge of both businesses, kicking off an unexpected series of events. 

Dorothy discovers mysterious payments to another women, suggesting that Jim wasn’t the husband she thought he was. Hannah’s best friend Mel has vanished from university, and the simple adultery case that Jenny takes on leads to something stranger and far darker than any of them could have imagined. 

As the women struggle to come to terms with their grief, and the demands of the business threaten to overwhelm them, secrets from the past emerge, which change everything… It ’s a compelling and tense thriller and a darkly funny, warm portrait of a family in turmoil. 

About the author:

  Doug Johnstone is the author of ten novels, most recently Breakers (2018), which has been shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Novel of the Year. Several of his books have been bestsellers and award winners, and his work has been praised by the likes of Val McDermid, Irvine Welsh and Ian Rankin. He’s taught creative writing and been writer in residence at various institutions – including a funeral home – and has been an arts journalist for twenty years. Doug is a songwriter and musician with five albums and three EPs released, and he plays drums for the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers, a band of crime writers. He’s also playermanager of the Scotland Writers Football Club. He lives in Edinburgh.

Favourite Reads 2019!

I have read 116 books this year (including re-reads of some old favourites), which has truly amazed me!

I never thought that my blogging venture would be as successful as it has and I am truly grateful to all the wonderful publishers, publicity treasures and blog tour organisers that have supported me along the way. I have also met some lovely bookish people and fellow bloggers, which has been really heartwarming.

It has been tricky to whittle down all the books I have read to just a few favourites, but these are some of the ones that have really made a mark on me this year, for a whole raft of different reasons - quite an electic choice I am sure you will agree, but then I have always been an eclectic reader!

If you are at all interested in why I have chosen these ten books, please take a look at the reviews I have written for them on this blog- links below!

Have a cracking New Year, filled with bookish joy!

The Flat Share by Beth O'Leary
Hudson's Kill by Paddy Hirsch
Nightingale Point by Luan Goldie
Unfollow by Megan Phelps-Roper
The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna by Juliet Grames
The Holiday by T.M. Logan
Till Morning Is Nigh by Rob Parker (review coming soon!)
Blue Gold by David Barker
The Man Who Didn't Call by Rosie Walsh
Don't Think A Single Thought by Diana Cambridge

The Vagabond Mother by Tracey Scott-Townsend

SPOTLIGHT ON:
The Vagabond Mother by Tracey Scott-Townsend. Published 10th January 2020 from Wild Pressed Books.

Not every Vagabond is a Castaway... 

Maya Galen’s oldest son, Jamie, left home eight years ago after a massive row with his parents and now Joe, her youngest child and apple of her eye, has cut off all contact with them too.

Called to Australia to identify the body of a young man, Maya is given her son’s journal. After a sleepless night she decides that the only thing she can do is follow in Joe’s footsteps and try to discover her most basic human self. 

Eschewing a monetary lifestyle, from now on she must rely on her physical and emotional strength to survive. Following Joe’s hand-drawn maps and journal entries, she travels from Australia to Denmark and beyond, meeting many other travellers along the way and learning valuable lessons.

Eventually a crisis forces her to return home and confront the end of her marriage, but also a new understanding of what family, in the widest sense, really means.

Exploring the big questions at the heart of human existence, The Vagabond Mother shares territory with books and films such as Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, The Way, starring Martin Sheen, Wild: A Journey from Lost to Found by Cheryl Strayed and Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.

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As part of the Blog Tour for The Vagabond Mother, it is my pleasure to share with you the following extract from this tale of one woman's search for meaning:

"She woke to the sound of voices by the stream. She stretched and climbed down from the sleeping-platform, a slight ache in her hip. Perhaps the day she’d be forced to return to ‘society’ would be when her body started to feel its age. Up to now she’d been lucky to escape arthritis and asthma and type-2 diabetes – conditions that had inhibited her mother’s lifestyle from her early fifties onwards.  Or maybe it was as much to do with state of mind as genetics. Perhaps the illnesses would have claimed her too, if she hadn’t got away from London. 

The air had cooled considerably but it wasn’t yet dark. She washed perfunctorily with the water she kept in a basin on the countertop and pulled on a long sweater, miles too big for her – that she’d gained from a clothes swap at the last hostel she was in. Rolled up the sleeves. She looked around for the dog but she must have left the shack a while ago – when Maya pressed the back of her hand to it she found the dog’s bedding had cooled. She felt her way out barefoot, knowing by now where the sharp stones were, and down the track to the main part of the commune. All the buildings on the land had been constructed by hand from recycled and natural materials. Valeria and a Danish boy were washing pans in the stream. ‘Hi, Maya,’ called Valeria, scrubbing vigorously with a scouring sponge woven from tough grasses. Her dark hair was twisted into a knot at the back of her neck. The way she does her hair reminds me of Daisy. The boy turned his head and offered Maya a grin. 

‘Are you on cooking rota tonight? We won’t be long with the rest of the pans.’ His blue eyes were honest and friendly. It was a family of sorts that Maya would be leaving behind but she’d made that kind of break before… 

The youngest member of the group was chopping wild garlic and onions on a felled tree-trunk by the path to the fire. Maya half-slid in a puddle created by a dripping pan, balanced on a grid of branches at the edge of the track. She laughed and smiled at the English boy as she held onto a branch for steadiness. Not for the first time she wondered if his mother knew where he was. But it wasn’t her business. Not all vagabonds are castaways, she recalled a conversation with a pair of young vloggers during a stop-over at a wild campsite after she left the Camino. They chided her for assuming they’d run away from their parents.

She’d been advised on arrival at the commune not to ask personal questions or try to take on any kind of motherly role. Everyone was equal in status, each a free spirit. The truth was she had taken more from these young people than she’d given them in return. They didn’t need looking after, only to be allowed to be. It hurt that she hadn’t understood this from raising her own children." 

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From the cover of The Vagabond Mother:

All Maya Galen wanted was a happy family, stifling her inner urges to explore the wider world for the sake of being there for her children. But parenting with her husband, Con, wasn’t always easy. Their eldest son, Jamie, broke off all contact some years ago and now Joe, the apple of her eye, has done the same after an argument with his parents about his chosen way of life. Maya and Con are left rattling around ‘The Cottages’ – their enormous home in a Lincolnshire village, wondering what they did wrong.

When they are called to Australia to identify the body of a young man, Maya is given her son’s journal. After a sleepless night she makes the decision to follow in her youngest son’s footsteps and become a vagabond, leaving her husband and daughters to return to the UK without her. From now on she needs to rely on her own physical and emotional strength.

Following Joe’s hand-drawn maps and journal entries, Maya travels from Australia to Denmark and beyond, meeting many young people like Joe along the way and trying to discover what it means to be alive. As months turn into years she can’t bear to go back to the oppression of her perfect home. Slowly, she comes to understand that what she is discovering is her most basic human self.

Another family crisis, involving one of her twin daughters, eventually forces Maya to return home. As she treads carefully through the wreckage of her marriage, unfinished business is tied up and the family once again becomes complete, but in a different way from before.

The Vagabond Mother is available to pre-order now from your favourite book retailer.

Amazon link: The Vagabond Mother by Tracey Scott-Townsend

About the author:

The Vagabond Mother is Tracey's sixth novel. 

Inspired largely by the travels of her four grown children, and her own resultant burgeoning sense of adventure. Together with her husband, Phil, and their two rescue dogs, she spends a lot of time travelling at home and in Europe in their camper van.

Her novels explore the pressing themes at the heart of human existence.Sense of place is also important, and each new novel reflects the locations she has recently travelled to.

Tracey is also an artist and a poet, and a grower of food on her allotment.

Stay Mad, Sweetheart by Heleen Kist

Read November 2019. Published 19th November 2019 by Red Dog Press.

Data Scientist Laura is brilliant at her work, but not what you would call a mixer. She prefers the company of books and her cat Atticus, She most certainly does not approve of social media.

But when her best friend Emily becomes the victim of cyber-bullying, she takes it upon herself to see if she can track down the guilty parties using her skills.

Corporate financier Suki, is leading a deal to acquire the start-up company run by Laura and her business partner Justin. Battling against sexism and the "old boy's network" she is struggling to have her brilliance recognised.

Event planner Claire has to take on arranging the conference for Laura's company, after her colleague, Laura's friend Emily, fails to return to work. She is hoping for a promotion, but is also struggling against sexism in the workplace.

The lives of these three women are about to entwine in a fight against the insidious discrimination that is trying to "keep them in their place". How far will they go in their quest for revenge?

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Oh, this is fabulous! Stay Mad, Sweetheart covers a whole smorgasbord of issues - sexual politics in and out of the workplace, power struggles, sexism, consent and the minefield of social media - and combines this with a cracking story of the pursuit of justice, or is it revenge? Much of what you read in these pages will resonate with your own experiences if you are female, but there is plenty to take away from this is you are male too.

The brilliant, but introverted, Laura is horrified to learn about the extent of the online trolling Emily was subjected to and cannot believe that there is no way to seek legal redress for what has happened to her friend. She is equally upset to learn about the blatant sexism shown to her two new friends, Suki and Claire, who we also see equally powerless, but she does not realise she is also a victim of male treachery too.

I absolutely loved the way this story unfolds, as these three women find that they do have power after all, and the ending had me punching the air with glee! These are all strong, clever women, who deserve the recognition they have been denied. But it is not my intention to give any spoilers away here - this is one of those books that you just have to read for yourself. Believe the hype..this is fabulous!

So no spoliers from me, but I can talk about the way this book cleverly tackles the range of subjects mentioned above. There are some issues brought to the fore here that we will all recognise as bad news (well us decent people anyway!) - for example, the way women can be belittled in the workplace and treated to casual sexism and abuse as a matter of course, and the relentless torrent of vile abuse that can be unleashed on social media - but Heleen Kist also covers issues that have massive grey areas about which many of us will have very different opinions.

I think this book will lead to much debate about the issue of consent, which is definitely the most topical given the recent #MeToo movement. I thought that Heleen Kist handled this with a very deft touch. There are some fine lines drawn here and although we can see that some of these characters leap across the barrier of what is right, other behaviours are not so clear-cut.

Similarly, she lets us see that there can be a fine line between justice and revenge. If your behaviour in the pursuit of justice is tantamount to the same as that of the person you are getting back at, does that make you just as bad as they are? This is an interesting question.

Having said all this, we are certainly made aware of the characters that do deserve to be brought down in this story (both male and female)  and the way their demise is managed is glorious.

So what is Stay Mad, Sweetheart about? Is it a contemporary examination of the workplace, the dating scene, the abuse of social media? Or is it a highly charged and intelligent thriller? Well, it is all of these things and a fast-paced, exciting read too. It will leave you with a lot to think about (and many water-cooler issues to discuss), but it will also keep you entertained along the way....and it has a winning title! It actually reminded me a little of Michael Crichton's Disclosure, in the way the sexual and business story lines were entwined (the excellent book that is, not the movie...don't get me started!).

I absolutely loved it and think you will too.

Thank you so much to Red Dog Press and Heleen Kist for providing me with a copy of Stay Mad, Sweetheart in return for an honest review, and for the chance to take part in this Blog Tour.

From the book cover:

THERE'S A FINE LINE BETWEEN INNOCENCE AND GUILT. AN EVEN FINER LINE BETWEEN JUSTICE AND REVENGE.

Data scientist Laura prefers the company of her books to the real world – let alone that cesspit online. But when her best friend Emily becomes the victim of horrific cyberbullying, she makes it her all-engulfing mission to track down the worst culprits.

Petite corporate financier Suki is about to outshine the stupid boys at her firm: she's leading the acquisition of Edinburgh's most exciting start-up. If only she could get its brilliant, but distracted, co-founder Laura to engage.

Event planner Claire is left to salvage the start-up's annual conference after her colleague Emily fails to return to work. She's determined to get a promotion out of it, but her boss isn't playing ball.

As the women's paths intertwine, the insidious discrimination they each face comes to light. Emboldened by Emily's tragic experience, they join forces to plot the downfall of all those who've wronged them.

But with emotions running high, will the punishments fit the crimes?

Stay Mad, Sweetheart is available now from your favourite book retailer, or follow the links here:

Red Dog Press Online Shop

Hive

Amazon

About the author:

Heleen Kist has been fondled, patronised and ordered to smile by random men. So she wrote ‘Stay Mad, Sweetheart’, a feminist tale of revenge. Whilst her professional knowledge of technology start-ups fed the novel’s setting, its theme of harassment and workplace discrimination required no research: it is familiar to all women. 

Heleen was chosen as an up and coming new author at Bloody Scotland 2018. Her first novel, ‘In Servitude’ won the silver medal for Best European Fiction at the Independent Publishers Book Awards in the USA and was shortlisted for The Selfies awarded at London Book Fair.

A Dutch strategy consultant living in Glasgow and married to a Scotsman, she’s raising their son to be a good man and their daughter to kick ass.

See more about Heleen Kist here: Heleen Kist Author

See more about Red Dog Press here: Red Dog Press

Don't Think A Single Thought (Audio Book) by Diana Cambridge

Audio Book listened to November 2019. Audible release 31st October 2019.
Paperback released 26th August 2019 and ebook released 26th September 2019 by Louise Walters Books.

1960s New York: Emma Bowden lives the glamorous Manhattan lifestyle - swish apartment, with fabulous views; a loving, surgeon husband; and a successful writing career. Surely she has everything? What more could she want?

But Emma's background and upbringing have left their mark, and one summer, while Emma and her husband are on vacation in the Hamptons, a young child drowns in the sea and Emma may have been involved in some way. If only she could remember what really happened...

Old wounds are reopened, and Emma, who has been barely holding on to the facade of a normal life, starts to spiral out of control, as the voice in her head cannot be ignored.

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I was honoured to be able to read Diana Cambridge's Don't Think A Single Thought a couple of months ago and it is one of my standout reads of the whole year (see the link to my earlier review below)!

This time, Louise Walters was kind enough to provide me with a copy of the new audio book version, so I could immerse myself in the story of Emma Bowden all over again. Thank you so much Louise Walters! xx

Oh, Louise and Diana, this is glorious! The audio version complements the printed word wonderfully. The narration of Samara Naeymi is so completely convincing that she brings Emma Bowden alive and perfectly matches the Emma in my head. She brings out Emma's frustration and almost sensual relationship with clothes, food and beauty in such a way that you can almost feel, taste and lose yourself in them as much as Emma does in her early years - while at the same time, being able to express Emma's decline and loss of interest in all the things she used to enjoy about life too. Outstanding work!

This has made me fall in love with Diana's book all over again, and appreciate the clever way she tells Emma's tragic story in the pages of the book. I cannot praise this book enough.

I highly recommend the audio book, even if you have already read the printed version - if you have not read it, then get to it as soon as you can, because this is going to become a modern classic. Literary fiction at its very best.

See my original 5* review here: Don't Think A Single Thought (Paperback)

The Bowery Slugger (Alex Cohen Book One) by Leopold Borstinski

Read November 2019. Published 10th November 2019 by Sobriety Press.

New York, 1915: Alex Cohen and his family have fled yet another rising tide of violence against Jewish people in the Ukraine, looking for a new start in the land of opportunity.

Misnamed Fabian Mustard on their arrival at Ellis Island, Alex is forced to look for a way to support his parents and siblings, as the struggle to find gainful employment is harder than they anticipated. He finds himself drawn back into the criminal life he was embroiled in back home, by his new best friend Sammy, despite the misgivings of his parents.

Alex's reputation as someone trustworthy and good with his fists soon earns him promotion and the nickname "Slugger", but his relationship with Sammy becomes strained as he begins to make a name for himself.

Alex's career choice is also a problem for the innocent fellow immigrant, Rebecca, that he has fallen in love with. Rebecca dreams of becoming a ballet dancer and wants no part of the life Alex has chosen to lead, so he has to turn to the arms of "working girl" Sarah for comfort.

But Alex cannot forget about the girl he loves and he has some hard choices to make if he ever wants to be with her. How can he balance the pull of easy money against that of true love?

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The Bowery Slugger introduces us to the seedy side of the Jewish Ghetto of New York, at a time when war is waging across Europe.

Isolated from the lives and constant threat of violence that Alex and his family have left behind, their minds turn to how they can make America their new home. How do you support yourself when you step foot in a new country when practically all you have is the clothes you stand up in? It soon becomes clear that this is not going to be easy, especially when you cannot even speak the language.

Leopold Borstinski cleverly transports us to the heart of the Bowery, New York, where Jewish immigrants have made their home. You can almost feel yourself on the same streets as Alex, as he searches for a way to bring some money home for his family - the noise, the hustle and bustle, and the sound of Yiddish voices all around. It is almost too easy for Alex to find himself back on the wrong side of the law, drawn by the pull of an easy buck in the land where the streets are said to be paved with gold.

This book has such an evocative feel for the struggle of immigrants first arriving in New York at the beginning of the 20th Century (think Mario Puzo's The Godfather, when Vito Corleone arrives in America with his family). What makes this book so unusual to read is that this time our new companions are Jewish, rather than Italian. I found this really interesting, as I have read a lot about the early Irish, Black and Italian gangs in New York, but very little about the gangs established by the Jewish settlers to the city. It was fascinating to read about the involvement of the Jewish gangs with the Union movement and the early days of their collaboration with the Italian mob, and the contrast of the new settlers to their second generation compatriots was very cleverly done.

It is true to say that the characters are a little stereotypical - for example, the troubled poor boy  making a name for himself; the best friend who contemplates betrayal; the beautiful, innocent maiden with dreams, who catches the eye of our boy; and "the tart with a heart" who falls for our lovelorn boy and offers him comfort, but this did not matter one bit or spoil my enjoyment of the story. I really became caught up in Alex's life and was very keen to find out where his choices would lead him.

The story builds nicely and the closing pages of this first volume in Alex Cohen's story are very exciting. I am very keen to see where the story goes in the second installment, as our writer seems to be taking Alex down a very different path at the end of the book.

I must also say that Leopold Borstinski has made the right decision in not regaling us with the gratuitous sex found in his Lagotti Family books, which was a great relief. This book is completely plot driven and a great story it is too - gritty and violent, it will keep you turning the pages until the thrilling climax!

Thank you to Leopold Bortinski, Sobriety Press and Damp Pebbles Blog Tours for providing me with a copy of The Bowery Slugger in return for an honest review.

From the book cover:

When Alex Cohen arrives in 1915 America, he seizes the land of opportunity with both hands and grabs it by the throat. But success breeds distrust and Alex must choose between controlling his gang and keeping his friend alive. What would you do if the person you trusted most is setting you up to die at your enemies' hands?

The first book in the Alex Cohen series is a violent historical novel, which rips through the early years of the Jewish New York mob. Leopold Borstinski's gripping crime noir beats at the chest of every reader with a bloody fist.A turn-of-the-century Jewish boy punches his way into the gangs of New York.

Purchase links:
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Google Books
Nook

About the author:

Leopold Borstinski is an independent author whose past careers have included financial journalism, business management of financial software companies, consulting and product sales and marketing, as well as teaching.

There is nothing he likes better so he does as much nothing as he possibly can. He has travelled extensively in Europe and the US and has visited Asia on several occasions. Leopold holds a Philosophy degree and tries not to drop it too often.

He lives near London and is married with one wife, one child and no pets.

See more about Leopold Bortinski here:

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