Book Review: The Visitors by Owen Knight
The Great Reset has begun.
Fourteen years ago, Peter saved the world. Now, his sister Emily and two strangers receive coded invitations to return to the hidden village of Templewood, where Peter faces a new, terrifying threat.
Templewood is home to the Sect, a secretive organisation intent on global power. They have infiltrated many Governments and are collaborating with the Visitors: alien invaders who have brought gifts of advanced scientific and genetic discoveries. These gifts will potentially provide enormous benefits for humanity and facilitate the Sect’s bid for power.
But at what cost and what is the Visitors’ motive? Why are they taking, then retuning, increasing numbers of the local population? Peter, Emily, and their friends must uncover the truth before their worst fears are confirmed.
*****
The Sect secretly run the world.
This organisation has covert bases located around the globe – the town of Templewood being one of them.
When the ‘Visitors’ arrive, they take an interest in two bases in particular, including Templewood.
The only communication from them have been in the form of gifts.
Then people start going missing.
This book is aimed at a YA audience so I am definitely not the target demographic.
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Novel Kicks Writing Room: The Art of Letter Writing
The art of writing letters is so wonderful.
I am such a fan of writing letters and fascinated in what can be said and the emotion that can be conveyed – how handwriting your thoughts and feelings to someone and the symbolism that represents.
So, what is the task today I hear you ask?
Writing a letter of course.
The letter is from the point of view of either the main character of a current work in progress or a favourite fictional character. The recipient is you.
What would your character say to you? What would they want to convey? Is there something about them that they want to tell you?
by Book Review: One Last Summer at Seabreeze Farm by Jo Bartlett
I am really pleased to welcome Jo Bartlett to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her novel, One Last Summer at Seabreeze Farm, formally published as One Last Summer at Channel View Farm.
A summer to remember…
Georgia Banks knows she’s living on borrowed time. So, when doctors tell her she’s got one last summer to make all her dreams come true, she’s determined to make every day count.
The one thing that’s never in doubt, is that she wants her best friend, Gabe, to be with her every step of the way. And so, Georgia draws up her not-a-bucket list with all the things she’s determined to tick off before she goes – number one of which is to spend one last summer by the sea.
Seabreeze Farm perched high on the cliffs above the English Channel is the perfect spot, and surrounded by the antics of its menagerie of rescued animals and the warmth of the friendship she’s offered there, Georgia starts to believe she can live out all her dreams before it’s too late.
And just when she thinks there’s nothing left to wish for, Georgia gets another chance at life. But taking it might mean losing the one person she cares about the most.
As she faces her biggest challenge yet, Georgia wonders if her last summer at Seabreeze Farm will mean the end of her biggest dream of all.
This book was previously published as One Last Summer at Channel View Farm
*****
Georgia knows she doesn’t really have that much time left. She’s been told that this could be her last summer. She wants to make every moment count and make sure the people she loves will be ok.
She’s made a not-a-bucket list and she wants her best friend Gabe by her side as she makes her way through it, starting with living by the sea.
Enter Seabreeze Farm.
Can Georgia get out of her own way and admit what’s really in her heart?
I was excited to be invited onto the blog tour for One Last Summer at Seabreeze Farm as it sounded great.
Although this is book three in the series, it can be read as a standalone. I didn’t think I was missing any key information. However, book one and two are being added to my TBR list as I have fallen in love with these characters.
This book’s focus is Georgia as she battles with kidney failure. I really felt a lot of warmth and empathy with Georgia. Yes, she is a stubborn character but with so little in her control in terms of her illness, I can understand why she craves normality. Jo Bartlett shines light on organ donation in a great way.
Gabe, oh lovely Gabe. I did want to bang his and Georgia’s heads together at times but I rooted for them both so much. I love it when a novel can really make you feel invested in the characters like it did with this one. This book also sees the return of Ellie, Ben and Freya.
by Book Review: Summer Nights at the Starfish Café by Jessica Redland
I am so pleased to be welcoming Jessica Redland back to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her new novel, Summer Nights at the Starfish Café.
Welcome back to The Starfish Café for a glorious summer, but with a few dark clouds on the horizon…
A new beginning…
As her summer wedding to Jake approaches, Hollie is excited for their new beginning as a family. But when some unexpected news threatens the future she and Jake had hoped for, Hollie will need to find the strength to overcome heartache once more.
A fragile heart….
Single mum, Kerry, loves her job at The Starfish Café, but behind the brave smiles and laughter with customers there is a sadness deep within. So when someone from her past re-appears in her life, Kerry can either hide away or face her demons and try to finally move on from her heartbreak.
A summer to remember…
For Hollie and Kerry it promises to be an emotional rollercoaster of a summer, but the community at The Starfish Café will always be there to help them through – after all, with courage nothing is impossible…
*****
Hollie’s wedding to Jake is approaching and she can’t wait. However, the reappearance of an unwanted visitor and some devastating news threatens to derail their happily ever after.
Kerry is single and raising four children. She loves her job at the Starfish Café. There’s even the chance of love. Then her ex reappears.
Can Hollie and Kerry get through the summer or will things get in their way?
Oh it’s so good to be back with the residents of Whitsborough Bay and the Starfish Café. It’s like catching up with old friends.
This is book three of The Starfish Café series and although I throughly recommend reading the first two books in the series as they are amazing and give you a richer backstory, I feel that you can read this book as a standalone.
by Book Review: Odin’s Betrayal by Donovan Cook
Please join me in welcoming Donovan Cook to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for his novel, Odin’s Betrayal.
Two kingdoms destined for war, one boy caught in the eye of the storm…
Francia AD853
After a failed Viking raid on the Frankish coast over 20-years-ago, Jarl Sven the Boar is forced to leave his only son, Torkel, as a hostage and warned never to raid Francia again or his son will die.
In Hügelburg, a small town in East Francia, Torkel and his 9-year-old son Charles are ambushed at home.
Before dying, Torkel thrusts a package into young Charles’s hands and tells him to flee Francia for Denmark in search of his grandfather Sven the Boar’s protection.
But the man Charles eventually finds is not who he expects, and Charles must put his fate in the hands of a man betrayed by Odin.
Together they must uncover the significance of the package and why the Kings of Francia want Charles dead.
*****
When Charles loses his father, the nine-year-old must find his way to Denmark and locate his grandfather whilst avoiding trackers and traitors.
Before I started reading, I had an expectation that this was going to be a little heavy on the history. However, once I passed the prologue, I discovered it’s led very much by the story and the characters.
You can’t help but feel for young Charles, a boy of danish decent raised in Francia as a Christian, having to turn to those he’s been taught are heathens for his own safety.
He is faced with trials that very much go against his world view and he is forced to learn some hard lessons.
by Book Club
