Book Review: The Final Score by Carys Jones
I’m excited to be welcoming Carys Jones to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her book, The Final Score.
It’s never too late for revenge…
Connie Winchester was once a celebrated music prodigy… but those days are long behind her. So when Daniel Layton shows up on her doorstep to interview her about her career, Connie Winchester is flattered to be remembered.
But as he moves through her story, it all comes back. Robin. Her friends. The drugs. What happened that final night. The lies she told.
Connie has been running from her past for years. But now there’s nowhere left to run…
*****
Connie Winchester has led an illustrious life as a world leading violin player but feels like the world has all but forgotten her. Now in her 80’s, she agrees to be interviewed. As she begins to talk about her life, it comes back to haunt her.
I was intrigued to read this novel from Carys Jones and pleased to be invited onto the blog tour for The Final Score.
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Book Review: Last Christmas by Clare Swatman
I’m excited to be welcoming Clare Swatman back to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her book, Last Christmas.
‘Bea was always early for everything. Even, it turned out, when she was running away from her life.’
As Christmas approaches, Bea Preston has a choice.
Looking up at the departures board in Heathrow airport, her flight to New York boarding soon, she knows that getting on that plane changes everything. Her life in London has grown stale, her relationship with boyfriend Dom has run its course, and New York has always been her dream. But it’s a risk – she’ll miss her parents, her friends, her job.
What if Bea could live both lives? In one she goes back home for Christmas, and in another she heads to the Big Apple. Would her fate remain the same, or can one decision really change everything?
In a grand sliding-doors love story that spans oceans, years and lives, Clare Swatman’s unforgettable tale of fate and friendship is perfect for all fans of Jojo Moyes, Beth Moran and Ruth Jones.
*****
Bea is running from her life. Standing at the airport, she faces a choice – to stay or to go?
Having become a big fan of Clare Swatman, I felt excited to be asked onto the blog tour for her latest novel, Last Christmas.
The premise for this novel is one I find so intriguing as it looks at these moments and decisions that have the potential to change the rest of your life. Of course, you can only know the outcome for the decisions that you make. However, this book follows Bea and shows alternative realities – one showing what happens if she stayed in her current life and the other showing her life if she’d left.
by Book Review: A Corpse in Christmas Close by Michelle Salter
I’m pleased to be welcoming Michelle Salter back to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her book, A Corpse in Christmas Close, book five in The Iris Woodmore Mysteries series.
When a pantomime turns deadly, Iris investigates a cast of killers…
Christmas, 1923. When reporter Iris Woodmore is sent to cover the Prince of Wales’ visit to historic Winchester, she discovers more than just royal gossip.
The leading lady in Winchester Cathedral’s charity pantomime is found dead in mysterious circumstances. And the chief suspect is Cinderella’s handsome prince, played by Percy Baverstock’s younger brother, Freddie.
For the sake of the Baverstocks, Iris must investigate the murder, even though it means confronting an old enemy. And as the line between friend and foe blurs dangerously, she’s ensnared by someone she hoped she’d never see again…
Everyone’s favourite amateur sleuth returns for a Christmas mystery, perfect for fans of Verity Bright, Claire Gradidge and Emily Organ.
*****
It’s 1923 and Iris Woodmore is preparing for royalty to arrive in Winchester. However, when a girl is found murdered on the day of the Prince of Wales’s visit, Iris is in a race against time to find the person responsible before they potentially strike again.
I am such a BIG fan of the Iris Woodmore Mysteries series and was very excited to be invited onto the blog tour for book five in the series, A Corpse in Christmas Close. Iris and a mention of Christmas in the title. Come on, no brainer.
It was so lovely to catch up with Iris. She’s a strong, independent woman and such a wonderful character to read. I love that she forges her own path, especially in the time in which this novel is set. She’s how I hope to have been had I lived in that time period. It was also fabulous to catch up with the familiar faces surrounding Iris.
by Book Review: The Fecking Fabulous Forties Club by Freya Kennedy
I’m very excited to be welcoming Freya Kennedy to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her novel, The Fecking Fabulous Forties Club.
Becca Burnside isn’t sure where it all went wrong. How did she end up single in her forties, with the highlight of her weekend being a trip to Big Asda with her mum and the only chance of cuddles coming from her dog?
It’s fair to say that Becca’s life isn’t quite where she’d hoped it would be. She already knew that, deep down, but when she finds the time capsule she and her friends made as teenagers and remembers the hopes and dreams sixteen-year-old Becki (with an i) had for the future, she knows she has to do something, and fast.
Refusing to be controlled by her hot flushes and Unexplained Waves of Sadness, Becca is determined to turn things around – for Becki’s sake. But what will it take to prove there’s life in the old girl yet?
*****
Now in her forties, Becca is wondering how the most exciting thing in her life has become a trip to ASDA. After finding a time capsule and a letter from her 16 year-old self, Becca is determined to improve her life, hot flushes and menopause be damned.
Having been a big fan of this author’s psychological thrillers (where she writes as Claire Allan,) and The Hopes and Dreams of Libby Quinn, I was excited to be invited onto the blog tour for The Fecking Fabulous Forties Club,
First, I want to show some appreciation for the title. I love it. Haha.
by Book Extract: Legacy Of The Runes by Christina Courtenay
I’m so excited to be welcoming Christina Courtenay back to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her latest novel, Legacy Of The Runes.
A bond that even time cannot break
Storm Berger has never forgiven himself for his younger sister Madison’s disappearance. Suspecting she’s travelled back to the ninth century in the footsteps of other family members, Storm can only make sure she’s safe by going after her.
Raised unconventionally as her father’s only child, Freydis has never been content to simply accept her fate. So, when she’s promised in marriage to a tyrant, she’s determined to find a way out of the arrangement. Help comes in the form of a mysterious and attractive stranger stranded on her island’s shores: Storm.
The only way Freydis can truly be free is for Storm to marry her himself. But that would mean entwining lives that, until now, have been separated by centuries. . .
Christina has shared an extract with us today. We hope you enjoy it.
*****beginning of extract*****
The heroine Freydis’s betrothed, Ingolf, has come for a visit to look her over and she hates him on sight:
Freydis made sure she behaved impeccably during Ingolf’s visit, and to her huge relief, he left the following day. He only spoke to her one more time, to say farewell. ‘I will see you at the Yuletide celebrations over on Mávey. I’ll be there too.’
‘Yes.’ She nodded, even though this was the first she’d heard of it. She hadn’t known they would be going there this year, but it didn’t matter.
‘Until then, farewell.’ He gripped her face with both hands and placed a proprietorial kiss on her mouth, then turned to stride down the path towards the ship that was waiting in the cove.
She suppressed a shudder and made a beeline for the bathing hut. There was water and lye soap there, and she used it to scrub her mouth thoroughly. It was the only place she could do it in private, and she couldn’t let anyone see what she was doing. Ingolf’s kiss hadn’t been slobbery or unpleasant, merely impersonal and harsh, yet the imprint of it lingered. It was his way of branding her, she supposed. Her skin still crawled at the thought of it. Never again. She would not let him anywhere near her.
by Book Club
