New Book Releases: March 2020
Tinder Press
If there was ever a time to stay in, curl up in a comfortable chair and find a good book, this is it.
So, without further ado, I wanted to share some upcoming March releases with you all.
The first one up is one I am very excited for and that is Hamnet, the latest from Maggie O’ Farrell.
The plot sounds right up my street. It goes something like this.
On a summer’s day in 1596, a young girl falls ill. Her twin brother, Hamnet, searches for help but there seems to be no one home.
Their mother is a mile away in her garden which is full of medicinal herbs. Their father is in London. Neither parent know that one of their children will not survive the week.
This is due to be released on 31st March.
Orion
The second book on my list is Tiny Pieces of Us by Nicky Pellegrino.
You know when you read the blurb of a book and you know it’s something you have to read but it is also going to make you cry. This is one of those books for me.
Also due for release on 31st March, Tiny Pieces of Us focuses on Vivi Palmer. She knows what it’s like to live life carefully. She was born with a heart defect and although she’s now had a heart transplant, she’s not dared to make the most of it.
When she comes face to face with Grace, the donor’s mother, she wants Vivi to help her find the other people who have pieces of her son.
Vivi may just find a whole new world waiting for her.
The next book on the list is The Silence by Daily Pearce. This book was released on 1st March (you can read my interview with Daisy here,) and it sounds amazing.
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Book Review: A Stranger on the Beach by Michele Campbell
There is a stranger outside Caroline’s house.
Her spectacular new beach house, built for hosting expensive parties and vacationing with the family she thought she’d have. But her husband is lying to her and everything in her life is upside down, so when the stranger, Aidan, shows up as a bartender at the same party where Caroline and her husband have a very public fight, it doesn’t seem like anything out of the ordinary.
As her marriage collapses around her and the lavish lifestyle she’s built for herself starts to crumble, Caroline turns to Aidan for comfort…and revenge. After a brief and desperate fling that means nothing to Caroline and everything to him, Aidan’s obsession with Caroline, her family, and her house grows more and more disturbing. And when Caroline’s husband goes missing, her life descends into a nightmare that leaves her accused of her own husband’s murder.
Caroline sees a stranger outside her new beach house. Her house that reflects her outwardly perfect life.
Her husband however is lying to her and everything in her life is turning upside down.
So, when Aiden shows up, a bartender at the party where she has a very public row with her husband, she turns to him for comfort… and revenge.
Although their brief fling means nothing to Caroline, Aiden becomes obsessed.
Then Caroline’s husband goes missing and her life descends into chaos where she is suspected of her own husband’s murder.
I’d not read any of Michele’s novels so this was my introduction. It did not disappoint.
This novel pretty much had me on the edge of my seat all the way through.
It’s a rollercoaster of suspense, tension and an ending that blindsided me.
The style of writing was interesting. It jumps around but I was soon completely into the story.
by Book Review: The Hidden Girl and Other Stories by Ken Liu
From a Tang Dynasty legend of a young girl trained as an assassin with the ability to skip between dimensions on a secluded mountain sanctuary to a space colony called Nova Pacifica that reflects on a post-apocalyptic world of the American Empire and ‘Moonwalker’ Neil Armstrong, award-winning author Ken Liu’s writings are laced with depictions of silkpunk fantasy, Sci-Fi and old Chinese folklore, wrapped up in a mesmerising genre-bending collection of short stories.
Ken Liu is one of the most lauded short story writers of our time. This much-anticipated collection includes a selection of his latest science fiction and fantasy stories over the last five years – sixteen of his best – plus a new novelette. In addition to these seventeen selections, The Hidden Girl and Other Stories also features an excerpt from book three in the Dandelion Dynasty series, The Veiled Throne.
When asked to take part in the blog tour for The Hidden Girl and Other stories, I couldn’t wait to get started.
The Hidden Girl and Other Stories is a collection of sixteen science fiction and fantasy stories. Most of them focus around technology and the human condition.
The first thing I want to comment on is the cover. It is absolutely beautiful.
I had not read any of Ken Liu’s writing before so I didn’t quite know what to expect. This is a stunning set of stories that really go into the amazing but sometimes devastating reality of technology and our reliance on it.
The Hidden Girl also examines how humans relate to one another and what we are capable of doing to each other.
These stories provoked such emotion and have made an impact. It was hard to pick one I liked over the others. However, Thoughts and Prayers was particularly hard to read when you consider what is happening in terms of gun control and internet trolling.
by Book Review: Robert Ludlum’s The Treadstone Resurrection by Joshua Hood
The first novel in an explosive new series inspired by Robert Ludlum’s Bourne universe, perfect for those who binged Treadstone.
Operation Treadstone made Jason Bourne, but he’s not the only agent they trained.
Treadstone nearly destroyed Adam Hayes. The top-secret CIA Black Ops program trained him to be an all-but-invincible assassin, but it also cost him his family and any chance at a normal life. Which is why he was determined to get out. Working as a carpenter in rural Washington state, Adam thinks he has left Treadstone in the past, until he receives a mysterious email from a former colleague, and soon after is attacked by an unknown hit team at work.
Adam must regain the skills that Operation Treadstone taught him – lightning reflexes and a cold conscience – in order to discover who the would-be killers are and why they have come after him now. Are his pursuers enemies from a long-ago mission? Rival intelligence agents? Or, perhaps, forces inside Treadstone? His search will unearth secrets in the highest levels of government and pull him back into the shadowy world he worked so hard to forget.
The Treadstone Resurrection is the first novel in an explosive new series inspired by Robert Ludlum’s Bourne universe, introducing an unforgettable hero and the covert world that forged him.
When I discovered there was a new series based around Treadstone and that there was also a new book in this series (which incidentally coincides with the 40th anniversary of the franchise), I was excited to be part of the blog tour.
Treadstone pretty much destroyed Adam Hayes life. Now working as a carpenter in rural America, he is happy to have left his old life behind.
When he receives an e-mail from an old colleague, he is quickly pulled back into his old world and must recall his training if he is to stay alive.
I feel I have to be honest and admit that I’ve not read any of the original Robert Ludlum novels. My main exposure to the Bourne universe has been the movies and I am a fan of those.
Adam Hayes is a perfect anti-hero who is pulled back into his previous life as a Treadstone agent. You could feel his resentment crossed with a sense of justice as he tries to figure things out.
The development of his character happens gradually through the novel but I got the feeling that there was still a lot about him that the reader isn’t told about. There is still a big air of mystery about him. He’s complicated that’s for sure and I hope that his background is explored more should more books be released which I hope will be the case.
by Book Review: Cloth of Grace by Rachel J Bonner
When the fate of the world rests on your shoulders, how do you choose between what you ought to do and the only thing you really want?
Leonie finally knows who she is. But now she needs to decide who she is going to be. Her choice will affect not just her family, not just those she knows, but tens, hundreds of thousands, millions of people that she doesn’t. And every path that’s open to her will put Perry under the pressures that caused his breakdown before. How can she do what she must and still protect Perry?
Perry desperately wants to make things easier for Leonie. Somehow he has to find the strength to face the things that all but destroyed him in the past. But every way he turns, some aspect of his past lies waiting to pounce – even during his happiest moments. And he can never forget that Leonie’s life is in danger from someone, somewhere.
Gabriel has managed to negotiate peace, at least in theory. Now he must put that into practice and reunite Leonie with the family she never knew she had. Then disaster strikes right in the middle of his own sanctuary. Can he still protect those he loves, or has he been harbouring a villain the whole time?
It’s nice to welcome the blog tour for Cloth of Grace to the blog today.
Leonie feels that she now knows who she is. However, she needs to figure out where she belongs whilst dealing with the pressure that brings. She wants to protect Perry. There are also people who don’t want Leonie to live and this puts both her and Perry in danger.
Cloth of Grace is the fourth novel in the Choice and Consequences series. I had not read the previous three novels before beginning this one. I did manage to keep up with the story but if you can read the others in the series before this one, it will help give you a better picture of what is going on. However, if you want to begin with Cloth of Grace, there is a brief summary of the plot at the start of the book which I found very helpful.
I really like the premise of this series. The magical aspect is something I found particularly intriguing. The one thing I struggled with was the religious elements but that is my personal preference.
I got the feeling all the way through that the plot was building into something big and it didn’t disappoint. I won’t say what as I don’t want to give anything away.
Leonie is someone I could easily relate to. She’s trying to figure out who she is, where she belongs and what her path should be. I kept forgetting how young she was. She is a very powerful character and has a strength that I feel is a little underestimated by the characters around her.
by Book Club
