BOOKSTAGRAM TOUR: A is for Amy - Steven Crandell

A is for Amy is a new kind of romance. It's a quick read with a big heart.

Amy Dellaconta Franklin is an independent mother of 3 kids under 5. Her life is often exhausting and isolating. Then, one day, love comes knocking at her front door.

Amy is a sassy, charming, yet lonely young widow who unexpectedly finds herself on the path of finding love again. Surprises overturn expectations at nearly every turn in this novella, which tells the story of how a life that seemed trapped in the too-hard basket became a voyage of romantic discovery.

A is for Amy tells it fast, straight and funny. From negativity to bliss. With no fluff and no wasted words.

Do you like reading but never seem to have enough space to start (or finish) a book? Each chapter in this romance can be enjoyed in the time it takes to drink a good cup of coffee.

This is a great gift for parents or parents-to-be. It looks like an alphabet book for children. But inside, it's a romantic adventure for grown-ups with a surprise ending that will touch your heart. 

What did I think?

A is for Amy is a very quick read with 100 pages and 26 chapters from A to Z.  I love that is designed to resemble a children's book and the chapters are short enough for busy parents to read when they get a spare 5 minutes.  I read it cover to cover and thoroughly enjoyed it.

It's a lot funnier than I expected and I frequently laughed out loud.  It's very clever the way that it is written to focus on each letter of the alphabet.  Although the alphabet and chosen focus words are on the cover, they don't always make an appearance in that letter's chapter.  For example, the N chapter doesn't mention Nutella (on Wheat Thins) and you have to wait until the Q chapter to find them. I was paying too much attention to the words on the cover rather than enjoying the story so I often thought I'd missed something and had to flick back a few pages.

The romance story is very sweet and heartwarming, especially as I felt like I'd got to know Amy over the course of the book.  She hasn't had the easiest life and she deserves to catch a break so I was really rooting for her to get her happily every after.

A is for Amy is a very amusing and entertaining book that I will definitely be reading again.  It made me laugh and smile so it's a very good pick-me-up type of book that can work its magic in a short space of time.  It's perfect for parents and all readers who enjoy romcoms.

I received a gifted hardback to read and review for the Love Books Tours bookstagram tour and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from:

UK.Bookshop.org

Amazon

Follow the tour:

BLOG TOUR: Love Always Lindisfarne - Kimberley Adams

Return to Northumberland where happy ever afters await…

Take a magical trip to stunning Northumberland via the pages of this feel-good romantic comedy by award winning writer Kimberley Adams. Full of warmth and joy, it will leave you with a wide smile and a yearning to visit this iconic location in person.

When the almost unbelievable truth about Kittiwake Penaluna’s heritage comes to light, the residents are shocked, but in true island fashion they rally together to protect their fledgling chick as she faces life-changing revelations.

Meanwhile, the island mourns the loss of its beloved village butcher, and the closure of the shop on Main Street leaves a hole at the heart of the community. Then, when other businesses unexpectedly close, rumours begin to circulate about who might be behind the unsettling changes.

As familiar faces depart, new ones arrive, but not everything is as it seems. And when a despised figure from the past returns, old tensions resurface and the island is thrown into further turmoil.

Amid the chaos, Ellie and Zen finally begin preparing for their long-awaited wedding, but as always on the island, nothing goes quite according to plan. With difficult decisions to make and obstacles to overcome, they soon discover that they can weather any storm, because love always endures on Lindisfarne…

 

What did I think?

I absolutely adored my fourth virtual visit to Lindisfarne, a beautiful island that I have been fortunate to visit in real life, in Love Always Lindisfarne.  Although this is book four, each book can be read as a standalone but you will definitely want to read them all (and visit the island) when you discover this outstanding series.

Ellie and Zen are preparing for their wedding but this is Kimberley Adams' Lindisfarne so there's lots going on to keep the reader entertained until the big day.  I absolutely adore Ellie and Zen's love story and the fact that the whole island is involved in it.  If you've ever been to Lindisfarne (aka Holy Island) you will realise that this is very easy to imagine as the community is very tight-knit on this very small and picturesque tidal island.

This is like a soap opera in a book and it's impossible to put down but, unlike your favourite soap, you don't have to wait until the next episode as you can just keep on reading.  I was completely enthralled by the captivating story that was unfolding before my eyes.

There's romance, drama, community spirit and family at its heart to keep the reader entertained from start to finish, with a few villains thrown in for extra amusement.  The beautiful island of Lindisfarne is a character in its own right and Kimberley Adams wonderfully captures and portrays its unique personality through her warm and effusive words. 

Warm, witty and wonderful, I really can't recommend Love Always Lindisfarne highly enough.  There aren't enough stars in the dark skies of Northumberland to award this fabulous book; an easy five stars.  Keep 'em coming, Kim!

I received a digital ARC to read and review for the blog tour and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from:

Amazon UK

Amazon US

About the author:

Kim was born in Corbridge in Northumberland and still lives in this gorgeous corner of the world. Passionate about the area, Kim tends to set her work in the northeast, and why not considering the wealth of stunning scenery and the warm-hearted locals, both of which constantly give her ideas for future writing endeavours.

Kim’s debut Love Lindisfarne was released October 2023 and from its first cover release on social media gained momentum, taking Kim totally by surprise. Kim had never envisaged writing more than one book, but here we now are at number four, three Lindisfarne book and a Christmas novella called the Christmas Angel of the North which is about a nana and her granddaughter and set in Newcastle.

Kim finds most of her inspiration mooching around cafes across the Northeast where she ‘overhears’ some of the funniest and warmest things that are stored away for future use (anonymously of course!) If you see her, buy her some cake, then she promises never to write about you – unless you want her to of course!

Kim is very proud of her ratings on Amazon and if you want to read reviews for her previous books just pop on and you will be able to see just why Kim gets quite emotional over some of the lovely things that have been said about the books! If you do enjoy the books, please try and leave a rating or review, you don’t even have to have bought the book from Amazon, but each rating helps towards getting the system to recognise Kim and her books.

Social Media Links – 

X Twitter - @kim_adamsWriter

Facebook – Kimberley Adams-Writer

FB Page – Love Lindisfarne

Instagram – love_lindisfarne

Or follow her on Amazon.

Follow the tour:

INSTAGRAM TOUR: The Library After Dark - Ande Pliego

 

In the centre of New York stands the city’s most notorious library.

It has a history of mysterious disappearances and freak accidents. But tonight, it opens its doors to welcome a group of strangers for an exclusive after-hours tour.

The famous author. The journalist. The professor. The bookseller. The architect.

They are here to see a legendary book – one of the most valuable in the world. But each visitor also has other, more sinister reasons for being in the library after dark.

As the tour takes them deeper into the building, one of the guests meets a gruesome, inexplicable end – and the others realise they are living on borrowed time.

The search for the murderer forces them to confront awful truths about themselves and decide which secrets are worth dying – or killing – to keep.

What did I think?

Having loved Ande Pliego's debut, You Are Fatally Invited, I was very excited to read her new novel as it is set in a library!  Books about books are like catnip for book lovers and I couldn't put this fabulously bookish book down.  

When you first open the book there's a floor plan and a cast of characters in the form of a guest list so it has the feel of Cluedo about it before you even read a single word.  I love this kind of whodunnit mystery but Ande Pliego goes one better by each of the characters having secrets and things to hide.  I suspected everyone at one point or another but as the suspect pool gradually grew smaller I still didn't guess right.

Told from multiple points of view, I'm so glad there was a cast of characters to refer back to.  I sometimes had to flip back a few pages to see who's point of view I was reading as it frequently flips between characters.  I was also wearing my virtual running shoes and reading far too fast, which didn't help me remember who was who.

The library setting is absolutely stunning and Ande Pliego's vivid descriptions made me feel as if I was walking round the building with the characters.  With so many exhibits in the library there's a plethora of murder weapons and the plot is very clever and original.  It twists and turns so much I was almost dizzy but I loved every second of it.

With vibes of Murder of the Orient Express, Knives Out and Only Murders in the Building, it would be a travesty if The Library After Dark isn't made into a film or TV series.  It's unpredictable, entertaining and unmissable - I loved it!

I received a gifted hardback for the Instabooks Tours readalong and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from:

UK.Bookshop.org

Amazon

Follow the tour:

BLOG TOUR: Year of the Lynx - Lizzie Lane

When the news comes of Roman invasion, Morcant the druid, also known as brother of the lynx, heads for home only to find it destroyed, the flames reaching the sky. Overcome by a thirst for vengeance he joins the army of Caradoc, who the Romans call Caractacus. As a druid, he becomes a trusted advisor and his advice is to head west with a view to uniting the disparate tribes. After their main settlement is lost, the bedraggled host head west into action and adventure where not all tribes are willing to fight, and some are too terrible to make allies.

All they can do is survive and perhaps in so doing, the land of their fathers will also survive.

  

What did I think?

Bestselling author Lizzie Lane, who is best known for writing historical sagas, has stepped even further back in time with her first historical adventure novel, Year of the Lynx.  It's the first book in an exciting new trilogy that is set in Ancient Britain as the Celts defend their settlements from the Roman invasion.

There's a cast of characters at the start of the book, which is really useful and I often referred to it until I became familiar with the ancient names and the characters themselves.  I loved the main character of Morcant the druid and found it fascinating how much faith was put into a druid's predictions.  It's a bit like forecasting the weather; they'll be right sometimes.

What I found most interesting was reading about the Roman invasion from the Britons' side as I've read more books that have shown the Roman perspective.  With over 60 books in her back catalogue, Lizzie Lane is a natural storyteller and I found it really easy to visualise the scenes and the characters from her wonderfully descriptive writing.

Year of the Lynx is a wonderful piece of historical fiction and a brilliant start to a new series.  I can't wait to see where the story takes us next and would highly recommend this book to fans of historical fiction, especially Bernard Cornwell's The Last Kingdom series. 

I received a gifted paperback to read and review for the blog tour and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from:

Amazon UK

Amazon US

About the author:

Lizzie Lane is the bestselling author of over sixty books, has appeared in the top thirty bestselling paperbacks, translated into several languages, and a past winner of the BBC New Writers’ Award. Has a love of history of all ages. Famous in particular for her WW2 novels set in Bristol and as Jean G Goodhind for The Honey Driver cosy crime series.

Social Media Links – 

Facebook: Lizzie Lane 

Instagram: LizzieLane40

Bookbub profile: @baywriterallatsea

Follow the tour:

BLOG TOUR: Blood Loss (Steph Grant Murder Mystery Series Book 6) - Lin Le Versha

Colleague of former detective Steph Grant at Oakwood Sixth Form College, Robin Hughes, is found dead in mysterious circumstances. The police initially conclude suicide. But who is ‘Kirsty’, the new love interest Robin met at a Grief Retreat weekend, and why has she completely vanished?

Steph and art teacher Caroline Jones, convinced that Robin was murdered, decide to do a bit of undercover sleuthing. Having suffered bereavement themselves, they join the next Grief Retreat weekend. They don’t tell anyone of their plans, not even Steph’s fiancé, DCI Philip Hale.

There they find Archie Denham, leader of the charity, oozing ex-military magnetism and charisma. All the other attendees seem to hang on his every word. But why, when Steph mentions Robin do they react so cagily, especially Archie?

Soon Steph and Caroline find themselves embroiled in a tangled web of deceit and lies much bigger than a spot of amateur sleuthing on a weekend away. Can they keep up the pretence without anyone getting hurt? And will they ever get to the bottom of what happened to Robin?

Blood Loss is the sixth thrilling book in the Steph Grant murder mystery series by the brilliant Lin Le Versha.

 

What did I think?

Blood Loss is the sixth instalment in the outstanding Steph Grant Murder Mystery series by Lin Le Versha and it can totally be read and enjoyed as a standalone.  The mystery is unique to this book and it's the main characters that link the whole series together.

Steph and Caroline has a vested interest in the latest mystery as their colleague appeared to take his own life after being scammed at a Grief Retreat weekend.  The pair go undercover to find out what's really going on at these weekends but things take a dramatic turn when there's another apparent suicide.  Just what the heck is going on?

The storyline is quite dark as the majority of the characters are grieving and it's so sad to think that nefarious people can use this fact for their own advantage.  There's a bit of lightness added by the amateur sleuthing, of Caroline at least as Steph used to be detective, that is very entertaining and amusing.

Fast-paced, riveting and unpredictable, Blood Loss is a superb mystery that captivated me from start to finish.  This whole series is outstanding and Blood Loss keeps the standard set at the highest level.  A highly recommended read.

I received a gifted paperback to read and review for the blog tour and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from:

Hobeck Books

Amazon

Follow the tour:

BLOG TOUR: Borrowed Time - Stephen Anthony Brotherton

‘Rico, Mary, and a gangster named Fats find themselves on the run beyond the veil of death, caught in a deadly game of power and revenge.

Their fates lie in the hands of Octavius and his embittered daughter, Livia, who can never forgive her father for gambling away her mother to the devil, Wrath.

As the game unfolds, long-buried questions surface — about destiny, fulfilment, and the true nature of the soul.

With demons both personal and literal to face, only the Fates know who will survive.’

 

What did I think?

Borrowed Time is a very quirky and original book that I really enjoyed.  I'm not sure what genre I would put it in as it has a range of themes from mythology to science fiction.

It has a cast of characters at the start of the book, which is really handy to refer to as you're reading, and it lists them as gods, humans or pets.  It might sound like it would be confusing but it really isn't as the characters are so well developed that you quickly get to know who's who.

Humans are the gods' playthings and they set them certain challenges.  These aren't gods like you usually imagine them as they are on a spaceship.  Octavius and his daughter Livia are playing the game with humans 'Rico and Mary. The game is made more deadly when they are pursued by a smoke human Jethro but aided by human gangster Fats.  Jethro and Fats reminded me of Boba Fett and Han Solo from Star Wars and I really enjoyed the banter between them, especially with Fats being almost as loveable a rogue as Han Solo.

It's a surprisingly quick read as the chapters are quite short but I was so invested in the story that I had to keep reading 'just one more chapter'.  It's a very clever book that I would like to read again to fully appreciate every nuance.  This fantastic fantasy is well worth a read.

 

I received a gifted paperback to read and review for the blog our and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from:

The Book Guild

Amazon UK

Waterstones

About the author:

Stephen Anthony Brotherton has been a social worker for over three decades and currently works for the NHS. He began creative writing ten years ago, and his stories explore the nature of vulnerability – from birth to death and beyond. He lives in Shropshire with a schnoodle called River and has had three books published – a novel and two collections of short stories. Stephen is also a long-standing member of the Bridgnorth Writers’ Group.

Social Media Links – 

Instagram @sab_author

Follow the tour:

BOOKSTAGRAM TOUR: Annie Knows Everything - Rachel Wood

After losing her job and learning her sister is engaged to the worst man alive, Annie needs a win. Thanks to her best friend and her own inability to take no for an answer, she manages to talk her way into an opening on another team working on data strategy - whatever that means. So what if she doesn't know how to write code? How hard can it be? Surely Connor - the team's overworked, aggravating, and distractingly hot leader - will soon realise how capable Annie is and be delighted to have her on board.

Annie sets her sights on nailing it at her new job... even if it means ignoring the chemistry building between her and Connor. Also on her to do list is trying to (gently! supportively!) convince her sister to reconsider her engagement, not to mention trying to figure out why her roommate and best friend are acting weird. But with sparks flying at work and at home, she begins to see how complicated taking matters into her own hands can be.

Annie thinks she knows it all, but does she really know everything?

 

What did I think?

What a fantastic debut novel - I absolutely loved Annie Knows Everything because of course Annie doesn't actually know everything.

It's often said that people who think they know everything are dangerous and that is very much the case with Annie.  Her heart might be in the right place but she doesn't always engage her brain, even though she thinks she knows best.  Even though she sometimes made me furious at her thoughtless actions, I really did love her.

There's quite a lot going on in the book so I was entertained from start to finish.  Annie's personal life is as eventful as her work life; her sister isn't speaking to her and she's about to lose her job unless she can transfer to a role for which she has zero knowledge or skill.  It helps when your friend is in charge of HR of course and, wildly inappropriate though it might be for HR to show such a lack of impartiality, it is very funny to see Annie blag her way into the job.

I loved the banter between Annie and her colleagues and her blossoming relationship with Connor is very sweet.  I think the fact that Annie makes so many mistakes (even though she doesn't think she is doing so) makes her so much more relatable, realistic and downright loveable.  

Funny, heartwarming and captivating, Annie Knows Everything is a fabulous romcom that is just begging to made into a film.  I really hope it gets picked up and ends up on the big screen as it would be amazing to see.  A highly recommended read.

I received a gifted hardback for the Love Books Tours bookstagram tour and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from:

UK.Bookshop.org

Amazon

Follow the tour: