BOOKSTAGRAM TOUR: A Fatal Austen Affair (The FitzMorris Family Mysteries Book 4) - Anna A Armstrong

Spring has come to Bath, bringing romance, revelry… and a whisper of danger. When Dee FitzMorris’s beloved vicar falls for a mysterious online suitor, Dee isn’t convinced it’s a fairytale—and she’s determined to uncover the truth behind the romance.

Following Virginia to Bath, with Zara in tow, Dee soon discovers that beneath the elegance of ballgowns and sunlit promenades, something far darker is unfolding. Women are disappearing, all without a trace, and Detective Inspector Nicholas Corman is already on the case. As suspicion grows, so too do matters of the heart: Zara and Nicholas struggle with their feelings, complicated by the return of his formidable ex-wife, while Amelia and the ever-charming Josh circle a romance neither will quite admit.

But when danger strikes closer to home, the FitzMorris family can no longer remain on the sidelines. With time running out and emotions running high, Dee must untangle deception from desire before another woman vanishes… perhaps for good.

 

What did I think?

I didn't realise A Fatal Austen Affair was book four in a series when I first picked it up but, although it is evident that there was some history between the characters, it does read perfectly well as a standalone.

I was completely drawn into the story and felt as if I was walking through the streets of Bath in Regency dress, although it's a dangerous time to be wearing such an outfit when women are going missing.  Dee and Zara find themselves investigating the disappearances when their vicar heads to Bath to meet her very own Mr Darcy.

What a wonderful cast of characters!  Even though Dee, Zara and Nicholas are clearly already acquainted and well-developed, I really enjoyed getting to know them for the first time.  It has certainly made me eager to read the earlier books in the series and I'll have a keen eye out for more.

A Fatal Austen Affair is a fun, entertaining and intriguing cosy crime novel that is filled with charm, mystery and a sprinkling of romance.  A very enjoyable read.

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

My rating:

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BLOG TOUR: The French Vendetta (Charles Holborne Legal Thriller Book 11) - Simon Michael

When London barrister Charles Holborne travels to rural France in 1970, he is hoping for a quiet escape. Instead, he finds a village still ruled by old loyalties, buried secrets, and unresolved guilt. 

A woman has disappeared. Accusations resurface. And the past,shaped by fear and silence during the Nazi occupation, begins to intrude on the present. As Holborne is drawn deeper into a case the village believes it has already judged, he discovers that justice here is fragile – and truth can be more dangerous than lies. 

Moving between wartime France and the uneasy peace decades later, The French Vendetta explores how communities rewrite history to survive, and what happens when moral compromise is mistaken for justice. 

A gripping historical crime novel about memory, prejudice, and the long shadow of war.

 

What did I think?

As a huge fan of the Charles Holborne legal thrillers series, I couldn't wait to read book 11, The French Vendetta, and I was not disappointed.  It's another outstanding instalment in this fantastic series and it also works particularly well as a standalone with it being set in France.

Charles and Sally are newly married and they are taking a well-deserved break in France with their young daughter Leia.  Things don't go quite to plan and when Sally is taken ill Charles contacts his father's old friend who offers his cottage in the countryside to recuperate.  Well this doesn't sound much like a legal thriller, I hear you say, but it wouldn't be a Charles Holborne book without a court case and this very unusual one is well worth waiting for.

The whole village is brought to life through Simon Michael's exquisite descriptive writing and I felt as if I was there with the Holbornes.  Tensions are high in post-war France as friends and neighbours became enemies during the war.  It is difficult to read about anti-Semitism but it's important to be reminded of such horrific prejudice and Simon Michael writes about it with sensitivity, honesty and respect.

I always love catching up with Charles and the balance between his personal and professional life is perfectly weighted as always.  Charles and Sally are characters that I have grown to love over the years and I feel very protective of them, especially when they are put in harm's way and Charles doesn't half get himself into some scrapes!

Bursting with intrigue and suspense, The French Vendetta is an unforgettable, thought-provoking and powerful novel that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend.  To quote myself from book one, The Brief, The French Vendetta is "absolutely unputdownable", as is the whole series.

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

My rating:

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BLOG TOUR: Her Rising Star (The Gloucestershire Crime Series Book 3) - Rachel Sargeant

 

DI Steph Lewis comes under an unforgiving media spotlight in this twisty locked room mystery, where murder is committed live on air.

While attending a police conference at Cheltenham Town Hall, Steph is summoned to a nearby film studio. A chat show panellist has collapsed during a live broadcast.

At the scene, Steph discovers the man sprawled on the floor. The livestream is still running, other panellists are horrified and the studio is in chaos. Is the death accidental, the result of a severe allergy, or is there more to the fatality than meets the eye?

Despite intrusive press interest in the case, Steph must investigate her suspects: the producer, the studio runner, the cameraman and the diverse cast of panellists.

Nothing about this on-screen death adds up.

Is just one of them a murderer? Or do they all have something to hide?

Her Rising Star is the third book in the Gloucestershire Crime Series, featuring DI Steph Lewis, a spirited, no-nonsense detective with secrets of her own.

What did I think?

I enjoyed catching up again with DI Steph Lewis in the third Gloucester Crime series book, Her Rising Star.  I have read the series in order but you can certainly read each book as a standalone as they contain their own murder mystery case for Steph to investigate.

This case is a bit of a puzzler as there are a lot of suspects when a chat show panellist dies live on air.  As Steph starts to dig into the lives of the victims and the suspects she uncovers lots of buried secrets that give each one of them motive for murder.

There are quite a few characters and I did sometimes get a little confused about who was who but I was reading faster than normal so I think it would be better if I'd taken my time.  I was completely riveted by the mystery plot and didn't have a clue 'whodunnit'.  Rachel Sargeant is an author that I often liken to Agatha Christie and Her Rising Star firmly cements that comparison.

Sharply plotted and filled with secrets begging to be uncovered, Her Rising Star is a compelling instalment in this fantastic series.  

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

My rating:

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Hobeck Books

Amazon

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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:

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UK.Bookshop.org

Amazon

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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.

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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:

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UK.Bookshop.org

Amazon

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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

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