BOOKSTAGRAM TOUR: Reset - Kevin Charles

Tom and Elena Miller built a beautiful life over nearly three decades of marriage. But as Tom approaches his fiftieth birthday, the crushing weight of his middle-aged responsibilities and a desperate desire for freedom drive a wedge between him and the people he loves most. He doesn't just want a break; he wants a second chance at his twenties.

In a society defined by "The Reset"—a global biological miracle where anyone turning fifty wakes up in their original, twenty-five-year-old body—Tom’s desire becomes a devastating reality. He chooses to undergo his Reset and leaves his forty-eight-year-old wife behind to live in a downtown bachelor pad, assuming he can just return to her when she finally Resets eighteen months later.

But his selfish "intermission" shatters his family. While Elena struggles to rebuild her life and identity without him, his oldest son, Jack, is driven into the arms of a radicalized movement determined to end the "Immortal Class" by any means necessary.

As Tom navigates the lonely, surreal reality of his new youth, he is about to discover that reversing the clock on his body might mean permanently running out of time to save his family.

 

What did I think?

WOW!  Reset by Kevin Charles is absolutely brilliant and I simply couldn't put it down.  It's such a highly original idea and I was completely riveted from beginning to end.

Just imagine if you woke up on your 50th birthday and reverted back to your 25 year old body.  No more aches and pains, grey hairs or tiredness...just the chance to do it all over again.  Would you?  I'm not sure I would actually.  That's the question you keep asking yourself while reading Reset.

Tom is a little older than his wife Elena so he will hit his Reset first and he's made the shocking decision to move into a bachelor pad until Elena catches up with him.  Never mind the family responsibilities he has or the feelings of his children, no Tom is just thinking of himself.  I was absolutely furious with him and my heart went out to Elena who has to try to keep her family together on her own.

When I wasn't reading Reset, I was thinking of Reset and I'm still thinking about it now.  Kevin Charles adds drama and tension to an already absorbing plot by creating a movement that is opposed to the Reset.  I was on the edge of my seat as the movement grows and I was almost afraid to turn the page at certain points but at the same time I couldn't wait to find out what happened next.

With a blisteringly fast-pace and an incredibly provocative plot, Reset is one of the best debut novels I have ever read.  I had to double check that it is a debut as it's THAT GOOD!  It's an easy five stars and a hat-trick of 'un' adjectives from me: unputdownable, unmissable and unforgettable.

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

My rating:

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BLOG TOUR: Bob & Shirley's Guide to Murder - Suzy K Quinn

Bob and Shirley run a lovely country pub. They also solve murders ...

A warmly funny, gloriously British cozy crime and murder mystery series that can be read as standalones or part of a series. Set in a village where the pub is the heart of country life and served with warmth, wit and a very good Sunday roast.

“Murder? In our quiet, little English village?

Great Oakley is a place of hanging baskets, tearooms and riverside walks. We’ve won ‘Britain’s safest village’ 10 years running. I keep three pound coins, a box of toffees and a bottle of Pepto-Bismol on my dashboard at all times, and I’ve never needed to lock my car.

Certainly, Bevvy Hogg was disliked. She ran the local Waist Watchers group, yet came to our pub for fish and chips, treacle tart and a bottle of Chardonnay every Friday. But I don’t think she was murdered …”

When Bevvy Hogg is found dead in the Goose and Gander pub garden, with an empty treacle tart plate beside her and several dress sizes slimmer than anyone remembers, Great Oakley’s winning streak as Britain’s safest village comes to an abrupt end.

 

What did I think?

Bob & Shirley's Guide to Murder is one of the funniest cosy crime books I have ever read; I honestly didn't expect to laugh out loud quite so much.  It's the first book in the Bob and Shirley's Cozy Mystery/Murder Mystery Series and I cannot wait to read more.

Husband and wife Bob and Shirley run the village pub and the chapters alternate between each one's point of view.  You'd think they'd be singing from the same hymn book but they are not even in the same choir.  It is SO funny seeing how wrong they are about each other.  There's a couple of chapters about how Shirley likes her tea and it's just as well I wasn't drinking a cuppa or I'd have spat it out as I could not contain my laughter.

Shirley is a speak now and probably not even think later kind of woman while Bob is a gather all the evidence before coming to a conclusion guy.  What better way to gather evidence than a spreadsheet?  Bob's love of spreadsheets mirrors my own and I never thought I'd see a reference to a pivot table in a book.  Hilarious!

I don't usually read digital books that quickly but the chapters are short and punchy, the mystery is very intriguing and the story is as moreish as John Boy's treacle tart so I positively devoured this cracking book in a couple of sittings.

Anyone with even half a sense of humour will love Bob & Shirley's Guide to Murder; it's incredibly entertaining and completely unmissable.  Without doubt a five star read and I really cannot recommend it highly enough.

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:

Suzy K Quinn (hello – it’s me!) is writing this bio in the third person. Which feels duplicitous and also a little egotistical. But here goes ... 

Suzy K Quinn writes book club books and murder mystery series, and has sold over 1 million copies worldwide. She's a bestselling author in the US, UK and Germany and will soon, very possibly, have written more books than she's read.

Suzy lives in Wivenhoe, Essex, with her husband and two daughters. She is a twin, an incompetent parent of two and now fully decaffeinated. Her twin sister, Cate Quinn, is also a bestseller author. When Suzy isn't writing in cafes, she is walking around woods dictating like a lunatic.

Suzy loves her readers and is ALWAYS happy to chat on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suzykquinn 

You can also get a free book at her website: http://www.suzykquinn.com

Social Media Links – 

Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/suzykquinn/

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/suzykquinn

Tiktok @suzykquinn

Instagram @suzykquinn

Twitter @suzykquinn

Threads @suzykquinn

Giveaway:

Giveaway to Win an e-copy of  Bob and Shirley's Killer Cuppa Puzzle (Open INT)

One of Great Oakley’s five open gardens served poisoned tea. Can you work out which one before Bob does?

‘Like Murdle and a cozy mystery rolled into one.’

Murder mystery logic puzzle stories for fans of The Killer Isn’t Alice, Murdle and Can You Solve the Murder?

These are ‘Puzzlories’. Read them like stories, solve them like puzzles. Each one takes about an hour to read and solve.

It’s Open Gardens weekend in Great Oakley. Five gardeners have opened their gardens to the public, and each is offering a unique drink, cake, flower and interesting garden feature to their fellow villagers.

Unfortunately, one garden owner poured poisoned tea. Probably not on purpose. But you never know. There are more murders in Britain’s safest village than you might imagine.

Village pub landlady Shirley Duffy visited all five open gardens before returning to the Goose and Gander for a much-needed beer and a sit down. One of those five gardens was the scene of the crime.

The trouble is, Shirley’s memory is known to be … selective. She can remember every cake she’s eaten since 1987, but not necessarily when and where she ate it. And she can’t remember which garden served tea on Saturday afternoon.

Shirley’s husband, Bob, is frustrated that Shirley can’t remember one garden from another. But he finds many things about his wife frustrating, and loves her anyway.

As Bob presses Shirley for details, the clues pile up. Your job is to note them down and work out who served the tea before Bob does.

Twenty clues, one in every short chapter. Fill in your detective’s grid, cross off your suspects and name the poisoner.

Grab your notebook, put the kettle on (carefully) and see if you can beat Bob to the answer.

*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome.  Please enter using the Gleam box below.  The winner will be selected at random via Gleam from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

Win an e-copy of Bob and Shirley's Killer Cuppa Puzzle (Open INT)

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BOOKSTAGRAM TOUR: Merkaba - Maridi Jooste

Despite living in a dystopian castle, Luna has always had a rich inner world and believed in magic. When a colourful sunbird arrives to sing outside her window, Luna asks it to join her on the windowsill if it wants to show her that there is another world waiting for her outside the castle. When it does, Luna runs away into a whirlwind wonderland full of quirky surprises, a world where anything is possible.

Following a woman named Star, who is rumoured to be a witch, Luna seeks the answers to the mysteries of life. Her path takes her burlesque dancing at The Steampunk Saloon, as well as wandering deep into the forest to meet a bearded lady in the Cave of Curiosity, each space offering its own lessons. Through every twist and turn, she continues to seek the utopia she believes to be out there somewhere.

Luna's path to truth is not only filled with adventure, magic and possibility, but also with deep disillusionment for the reality she had known before.

Choosing the truth of her soul over the comfort of safety is Luna's battlefield toward a new reality, and the New World she has created.

 

What did I think?

Merkaba is an unusual book that is part informative and part fantasy.  It's interesting and easy to read whilst also being dreamlike and ethereal at times.

There are seven chapters representing the seven chakras and each chapter starts by explaining what that chakra is and how it relates to our day to day life.  It is then followed by a story with that chakra as its theme.  I'm not really into chakras and body energy so I enjoyed the fantasy story part of the book more than the information sections.

I have to say that Merkaba is incredibly well written; I didn't even realise that English wasn't Maridi Jooste's first language until I read the author's note at the end of the book.  It's also a very personal story for Maridi so I appreciate her sharing it with her readers.

I didn't expect to get anything out of the book so I was surprised to find myself highlighting particular sections.  One that particularly resonated with me was about loving your neighbour and how you need to have love within yourself in order to do this.  I mean technically you can love other people while still hating yourself but for me it's putting value on that love and why should someone accept your love when you don't even value it enough to give it to yourself.  It's certainly food for thought.

Merkaba is a thought-provoking and enlightening book that might just surprise you, even if you're not interested in spiritualism.  For anyone with a keen interest in body energies, then it's a must-read.

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

My rating:

Buy it from:

UK.Bookshop.org

Amazon

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King of Ravens - Clare Sager

He’ll do anything to keep her. She’ll do anything to escape.

Rhiannon is dying – of what she doesn’t know. Kept protected by her family in their clifftop home, she spends her days searching for a cure.

Her world is torn apart when an unseelie King of the Dead arrives and gives her a simple choice: descend to the underworld as his bride or he’ll take her family instead.

Trapped in a twisted bargain, Rhiannon is thrust into a world of withered gods, scheming courtiers, and ancient magic, but she refuses to be a pawn in a game she never agreed to play. Her new husband is powerful, cold, and infuriating and she is determined to hate him.

But in a court where beauty masks cruelty and every promise has teeth, hatred burns slowly into something else. Something dangerous. Something that could undo them both…

King of Ravens is the first book in a new series featuring a lushly dark fae court, morally grey hero, and an unforgettable enemies-to-lovers romance - perfect for fans of The Serpent and the Wings of Night, Phantasma and Kingdom of the Wicked.

 

What did I think?

The King of Ravens has bewitched me and I NEED to read the next book after that sucker punch of a cliffhanger ending completely floored me.  I should have expected to be left on the edge of my seat as it is the first book in a duology but I didn't expect to have become so addicted to the story that I would be left begging for more.

It is impossible to write a review that will do this book justice as it is just phenomenal from beginning to end.  It's a good book to read if you're new to fantasy as the world building is minimal and the larger than life (or death) characters carry the story forward at a rate of knots.  I was completely torn between wanting to devour the book in one go and stretching it out as I didn't want it to finish.

The chemistry between Rhiannon, a mortal, and Drystan, the King of Death, sizzles off the page.  There are plenty of steamy and swoony moments to get the reader's pulse racing as the enemies to lovers trope plays out.  The writing is so vivid and immersive that I was mesmerised by the breaktaking fae court and gripped by the tension of the labyrinth trials. 

Take a bow, Clare Sager!  The King of Ravens is one of the most magnificent romantasy books I have ever read and I simply cannot wait to read the sequel Queen of Thorns.  Consider me well and truly obsessed - I loved it!

I received a gifted paperback for the Insta Book Tours readalong and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from:

UK.Bookshop.org

Amazon

BOOKSTAGRAM TOUR: The Friday Bookshop - Sawako Natori (Author), Yui Kajita (Translator)

When college student Fumiya visits The Friday Bookshop as a last-ditch effort to find a book for his ill father, he is disappointed in its ordinary appearance despite whispers of its peculiar charm. But he soon discovers that it not only includes a cafe where the food menu changes daily on the chef's whim but also a vast underground vault lined with bookshelves, lovingly converted from an old abandoned subway platform. The bookshop, run by a quirky trio who have been close friends since high school, quickly becomes Fumiya's favourite place - so much so that he begins to work there part-time. Fumiya, who was never really a reader, learns to embrace the joy of reading, and that books can be a means to connect with other people and navigate the twists and turns of life. Through colourful interactions with the zany shop owners and their visitors, as well as mouth-watering dishes inspired by the books they recommend, it's impossible not to fall in love with the seemingly ordinary yet enchanting little bookstore in the subway station in Kanto.

 

What did I think?

I always get excited when I see a book about books and I love translated fiction so The Friday Bookshop was a must-read for me; I wouldn't have missed it for the world and it's an absolute delight to read.

There are 239 pages in the book and only four chapters, so if (like me) you can't put a book down in the middle of a chapter then it won't take you long to read it.  What I loved most about the chapters is that they are almost their own self-contained story with a main character who finds their way to The Friday Bookshop but they are all linked together through the overarching storyline.

The bookshop is so vividly described that I felt as if I was there and I would have been lost forever if I ever managed to get into the underground vault that is rather unusually located in an abandoned subway platform.  Sawako Natori's writing is exquisite and Yui Kajita's translation is so sublime that I could almost smell the books!

Unexpectedly amusing, often poignant and always bookish, The Friday Bookshop is a book that will sit proudly on my to-read-again shelf and I expect to find myself picking it up again when I need to escape to this wonderful bookshop in Japan.  A highly recommended read and an unmissable book for bibliophiles.

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

My rating:

Buy it from:

UK.Bookshop.org

Amazon

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A Calamity of Waters - Chloe Turner

JANUARY 1607. THE SEVERN VALLEY. THE GREATEST FLOOD IN LIVING MEMORY.

Habren has never quite forgiven herself. Her father only sings bawdy carols for farthings these days, none of the sweet songs he used to sing their mother, and perhaps it’s no wonder her sisters Syble and Margret have put many leagues between themselves and their old home. But then Syble summons her to Gloucester, and if Habren can keep on the right side of their pin merchant master, perhaps it’s the chance she needs to make up for the past.

Then the river rises. In a single January morning, the Severn floods the vale and upends every life in it. And somewhere down that swollen estuary is Ambrose, the man Habren loves.

With Syble and new friend Raynould beside her, Habren sets out for Bristol to find him, through a city the flood has torn apart. And as they search, secrets they have kept close to their hearts begin, one by one, to surface.

 

What did I think?

Wow!  What a magnificent piece of historical fiction!  A Calamity of Waters is a breathtaking novel that completely blew me away.  I haven't read any of Chloe Turner's books before now but I have added some of her previous novels to my wishlist on the strength of this wonderful novel.

It is inspired by a real event: the flooding of the Severn Valley in 1607 and it is brought to life through the eyes of teenager Habren who follows her older sister Syble into work at a pin manufactory.  The sisters don't have the best of relationships and my heart was aching for them both as they try to find their way in an unfair and dangerous 17th century world.

It's part coming of age and part historical fiction and I loved every second of it.  Children really had to grow up fast in the olden days and with such high mortality rates they often had no parental figures to guide them.  

The river Severn plays a huge part in the novel, naturally as it's about the famous flood, but it is also part of Habren's life as she was named after it and the river feels like a character in its own right.  As humans we may try to control the elements but it's a stark reminder of the strength of water and the power of nature.

Chloe Turner's writing is exquisite as she vividly brings the story to life and creates incredibly well developed characters who virtually pop out of the page, although I tried to stuff the odious Alderman Taylor back in!

Immersive, compelling and unforgettable, A Calamity of Waters is an absolute must-read for fans of historical fiction and it's one I will be recommending for a very long time.  Absolutely brilliant!

I received a gifted ARC from Hannah Hargrave PR to read and review and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from:

Waterstones

Amazon

BLOG TOUR: My Kingdom for Richard - Stephanie Hickman

Cecily, a chaotic half-human half-Magical Creature, is obsessed with the fifteenth-century monarch, Richard III. In a drunken moment of over-enthusiasm, Cecily breaks into Leicester Cathedral and accidentally moves her beloved king to York Minster, where she believes he belongs. The only issue…she has no idea how she did it.

Finding herself in trouble with His Majesty’s Government for Magical Creatures, her case is passed to Henry, the bureaucratic and uncompromising Magical Creature Lead for Yorkshire. Facing the full extent of her lack of rights as a Magical Creature, and with the threat of even more being stripped away, Cecily and Henry are forced to work together to figure out how to move Richard back.

 

What did I think?

I'm reading more fantasy lately and I love anything to do with Plantagenet history so I jumped at the chance to read Stephanie Hickman's debut novel, My Kingdom for Richard, and I was not disappointed. It was everything I hoped it would be and more!  I even had a little tear in my eye at the end and I'm missing the characters already.

Combining history with fantasy and a sprinkling of romance, we follow Cecily's journey as she faces the repercussions of magically moving Richard III's tomb from Leicester Cathedral to York Minster.  I mean, she's right - Richard of York should be buried in York not in the area where he was killed and left to rot under a car park.  It's a debate that will go on for many years I think; it's very much like the Wars of the Roses but between York and Leicester (instead of Lancaster) and our own opinion on the matter shows which side we are on.

Anyway, this isn't a debate about Richard III's final resting place and Cecily has been instructed to put him back!  If only she knew how she did it in the first place.  Oh I really felt for Cecily, especially when she got reclassified as a Magical Creature who is a danger to humans.  There is a bright side of her magical powers though and a familiar comes into her life just when she needs them most.  Oh I loved this little thing...even though Stephanie Hickman vividly describes them, I don't know how best to refer to them.

There's a strong theme of prejudice in the book with humans being treated differently to Magical Creatures (MCs) and it feels very unfair, especially with MCs being further classified to show how dangerous they are to humans.  It's very thought-provoking and sobering to consider how quick we are to assume something based on someone's appearance.

My Kingdom for Richard is an absolute joy to read; it's pure escapism and it certainly cast its spell on me.  It's a wonderful debut novel and one that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend. 

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

My rating:

Buy it from:

Waterstones

Amazon

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