BLOG TOUR: The Other Life of Mary English - GD Harper

Two Different Women. One Shared Destiny.

Mary English, a dockworker’s daughter from Faversham, England, travels to South America to escape a scandal from her past. She ends up running a cacao plantation in Colombia, at a time when women were not legally allowed to own businesses there.

Manuela Sáenz, tempestuous lover of Venezuelan revolutionary Simón Bolívar, serves as a colonel in his army. She joins him in battle to fight the Spanish and twice saves his life from assassination attempts.

This is the story of two real-life remarkable women, both fighting oppression, hardship and danger in 1820s Colombia, who come together to change the course of a nation’s history.

 

What did I think?

Having loved Arden by GD Harper I was keen to read more of his books so I was delighted to get my hands on a copy of The Other Life of Mary English.  South American history is not something I know a lot about but I thoroughly enjoyed the history lesson and the unusual setting.

My favourite things to find in a book greeted me when I turned the first page: a cast of characters and a map.  As the book is inspired by real people and real events, the characters are all real people from history and the things in the book actually happened.  GD Harper just uses his imagination to embellish the facts with what the characters might have thought or said to create an incredibly entertaining and interesting story.

It is meticulously researched and told from the points of view of Mary English and Manuela Sáenz, two very strong women who made a lasting impression on the country of Colombia.  Mary is escaping scandal after her bigamist husband rendered their daughter illegitimate, and Manuela's own illegitimacy didn't hold her back from becoming the trusted aide and mistress of South American liberator Simón Bolívar.

I found the whole story fascinating as I had never considered the history of South America before.  I knew that the Spanish had settled there but I didn't know how the countries ultimately gained their independence.  There's also a photographic section about two thirds of the way through the book to enhance the reading experience and bring the whole story to life.

The Other Life of Mary English is a compelling, interesting and fascinating historical fiction novel.  I loved it and would highly recommend it.

I received a gifted ARC for the Rachel's Random Resources blog tour and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from:

Amazon UK

Amazon US

About the author:

GD Harper became a full-time author in 2016. He has written three psychological thrillers, Love’s Long Road, A Friend in Deed and Silent Money, and two historical novels, The Maids of Biddenden and Arden. 

The Maids of Biddenden was the winner in the historical fiction category of the 2024 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, the largest international awards program for indie authors and independent publishers, and was shortlisted for the 2023 Selfies Award at the London Book Fair. Arden was placed third in the 2024 Yeovil International Literary Prize. The Other Life of Mary English was a finalist in the Eyelands Book Awards.  He has also been longlisted or shortlisted for fourteen other awards. 

His books have had over one million page reads on Kindle Unlimited, been number one most downloaded e-book on Amazon UK, number three on Amazon worldwide, and garnered over two thousand reviews and ratings on Amazon and Goodreads, with an average rating score of 4.4.

He lives in East Sussex and, when not writing, can be found wild camping in the Scottish mountains or in the mosh pit at live music events.

Social Media Links:

Website: www.gdharper.com 

Instagram: gdharperauthor

Follow the tour:

BLOG TOUR: Rainforest - Michelle Paver

The jungle watches. The dead remember.

The virgin rainforest seems a paradise to Englishman Simon Corbett. A last chance to salvage his career. A final refuge from a terrible secret.

But the jungle is no Eden. It hides secrets of its own. It does not forgive.

As Simon is drawn deeper into its haunted shadows, he learns to his horror that the past will not stay buried. For there are places in the forest where the line between the living and the dead is thinner than the skin of water.

 

What did I think?

Rainforest is the first Michelle Paver book I have read, although I've had my eye on her back catalogue for a while.  It was the stunning and mesmerising cover that drew me in but it was the vivid and immersive writing that kept me turning the pages.

It is set in the 1970s and follows Dr Simon Corbett to the South American rainforest where he is studying mantids.  Simon is a tortured soul, clinging on to a creepy talisman of his lost love, and he is a brilliantly unreliable narrator.  I wasn't sure what was real and what was in his head.  I was desperate to find out what had happened to Penelope and couldn't read fast enough to discover both Simon's and the rainforest's secrets.

Dark and disturbing, Rainforest is a haunting tale of obsession and regret, set in a location that is filled with mystery and secrets.  Secrets that must remain hidden at any cost.  It's a great book for the dark nights as it definitely creeped me out!

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

My rating:

Buy it from:

UK.Bookshop.org

Amazon

Follow the tour:

BLOG TOUR: Intruders - E. C. Scullion

"There is a safe, in a house, inside a secure compound in South America.

Your job is to bring me the contents of that safe."

Disgraced security consultant Tom Holt accepts a job from a mysterious lawyer, on behalf of a client named Capricorn.

Holt's team comprises Anil, a safe-cracking ex-con; Ray, a disgruntled logistics man, and Becca, a fiery red-headed thief with as much attitude as she has talent for picking pockets.

On arrival in the alluring Argentine city of Buenos Aires, Holt's past swiftly catches up with him. As he begins to question the client's motives, he finds there are darker, more sinister characters who show loyalty to his employer.

Who is Capricorn?

What's inside the safe?

Tom Holt is about to discover how far he will go to expose the truth, even if it means risking everything, including his own life...

What did I think?

Intruders is an absolutely brilliant novel; it's a literary white knuckle ride that had me on the edge of my seat, holding my breath with my heart pounding and my palms sweating.  E. C. Scullion's writing is so very vivid that I felt as if I was actually in South America with Tom Holt and his team.  It's so good that I've got my fingers and toes crossed that this is the first of many Tom Holt novels.

Tom has been tasked with the impossible: break into a safe on a house in a secure compound in Uruguay and return the contents (without looking at them) to the client, mysteriously named Capricorn.  A team of three are already awaiting his arrival in Argentina: Ray a former policeman, Anil a safe breaker and Becca a light-fingered thief.  It's not Tom's first visit to Argentina though and some of the locals are not pleased to see him, which could put a spanner in the works.

The tension and excitement increases as the unlikely quartet make their plans to break into the safe.  How each part of the plan comes together is nothing short of genius and I loved how things never seemed to go to plan which not only kept Tom and his team on their toes but the reader too.  Intruders is so full of surprises that it's an eyebrow raising, jaw dropping twister of a thriller. 

Intruders is an outstanding and very accomplished debut from E. C. Scullion.  It's compelling, tense and heart poundingly thrilling and I have the sweaty palms to prove it!  This is one novel that I wouldn't be surprised to see snapped up for the big screen; Hollywood take note, you don't want to miss this one! 

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon




Follow the tour: