BLOG TOUR: One Fatal Night - Hélene Fermont

One woman’s quest for revenge unearths a fatal secret from her past.

Astrid Jensen holds one man responsible for her mother’s suicide, and she’ll do whatever’s necessary to get close to Daniel Holst and destroy his life – even if it means sleeping with him to gain his trust. Astrid knows he’s not who he pretends to be. But before she can reveal his dark secret, people from her mother’s past start turning up dead, and it looks like she and Daniel are next. In order to survive, she might have to put her trust in the man she has hated for so long.

Daniel Holst has worked hard to climb into Norway’s most elite and glamorous circles, and he’s not about to let any woman bring him down. But when a psychopathic killer starts murdering people from his shadowy past, he discovers that the only person who might be able to save him is the woman who wants to destroy him.

As Astrid digs deeper into her past, she uncovers secrets long buried and realizes everything she once believed is based on lies. What began as a quest to avenge her mother’s death becomes a desperate struggle for survival and leads to the truth about what happened one fatal night ten years ago—and the surprising mastermind behind the most recent murders.

What did I think?

With amazingly strong female characters and gripping plots, I always really enjoy Hélene Fermont's novels so I was excited to read her novella, One Fatal Night.  It may be a novella but Hélene Fermont sure packs a lot into it; it's definitely a case of quality over quantity in this case.

At less than 150 pages, it's a book that you can easily read in one sitting especially when the storyline gets its hooks into you.  Every action that Astrid takes is one step closer to getting revenge for her mother's murder.  Thinking that he killed her mother, Astrid sets out to seduce her boss, Daniel, but when Daniel becomes a target himself Astrid realises that she doesn't know the whole story.  To get revenge she needs to find out what really happened on that fatal night. 

I really can't get over how much is in this novella; the story digs deep into the past and the characters feel well developed.  Hélene Fermont certainly chooses her words carefully and the writing style makes the storytelling very efficient, which is just what you need so you don't feel like you're skimming the surface in a novella.

The story is very character driven and I really liked Astrid until the end when I didn't agree with her choice, but each to their own; it just felt a little too creepy for me.  I loved how the story unfolded piece by piece and it feels like everyone is drawn to each other for whatever reason without even realising it.

One Fatal Night is a quick but quality read; it's an intriguing and gripping story of revenge and deeply buried secrets.

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

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon




About the author:

Hélene is an Anglo-Swedish fiction author currently residing in her home town of Malmo, Sweden, after relocating back from London after 20 years.

Her thrilling character-driven psychological fiction novels are known for their explosive, pacy narrative and storylines.

Hélene is the proud author of four novels – One Fatal Night, Because of You, We Never Said Goodbye and His Guilty Secret.

Social Media links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/helenefermontauthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/helenefermont

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/helenefermont/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/helenefermontwriter/

Website: https://www.helenefermont.com/one-fatal-night

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BLOG TOUR: We Never Said Goodbye - Hélene Fermont

Is it ever too late for love?

When Mike dumps Louise on their 20th Wedding Anniversary, her entire world comes to an end.

Devastated and confused, she attempts to make sense of what happened and returns to a city she's avoided for two decades.

Will she be able to move on with the man she left behind or will Mike's increasingly violent and unhinged behaviour continue to haunt and ruin her life? When the reason Mike left her at long last is revealed Louise's life is in serious danger.

What did I think?

I love Hélene Fermont books so I was delighted to be offered a spot on the blog tour for We Never Said Goodbye.  All of Hélene's books have recently had a makeover and I think that the new cover perfectly captures the heartbreaking, lonesome theme of the book.

Louise is all set to celebrate her 20th wedding anniversary, the only thing that is missing is her husband, Mike.  Mike has chosen this day of all days to tell Louise that their marriage is over and he is leaving her.  Louise is naturally devastated and I was absolutely furious on her behalf.  What an absolute toerag!  If Mike could do that to Louise on their wedding anniversary, then she's definitely better off without him and karma is indeed a bitch so Mike had better be prepared to reap what he sows!

We follow Louise's story as she picks up the pieces of her shattered life, with the help of her close friends and her Aunt in Sweden.  We also get to keep an eye on what Mike is up to and, as annoying as it is to see him selfishly living his life post-Louise, I kept hoping that he would get his comeuppance in the end.  You can only trample on people so many times before they will turn on you and hit back.  With so many people having Mike's boot print on their skin, any one of them could fight back at any time.

Although I don't think this is one of Hélene's best books, I really liked the underlying message of the scale of prejudice and bigotry and I have to share a quote from the book that really resonated with me:

Bigotry comes in many disguises.  Prejudice will prevail.

It's up to us to not let prejudice prevail so let's be kind and thoughtful to one another, whatever sex, skin colour, religion or other characteristic defines the individual.  We are all unique and special so let's embrace these differences and live harmoniously together.

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

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon




About the author:

Hélene Fermont writes character-driven psychological crime fiction with a Scandi Noir flavour. Known for her explosive, pacy narrative and storylines, she has published three novels – Because of You, We Never Said Goodbye and His Guilty Secret – and two short story collections – The Love of Her Life and Who’s Sorry Now? Her fourth novel is due for release in the summer of 2019. After 20 years in London, Hélene recently returned to her native Sweden where she finds the unspoiled scenery and tranquillity a therapeutic boost for creativity. Enjoying a successful career as a Psychologist, when she’s not working her ‘day job’, Hélene spends her time writing, with friends and family, or playing with her beloved cat, Teddy. All three novels can be purchased via her website helenefermont.com/books/    

Social Media Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/helenefermontauthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/helenefermont

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/helenefermont/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/helenefermontwriter/

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BLOG TOUR: Because of You - Hélene Fermont

How desperate are you to get the one you love?

When Hannah and Ben meet at a friend's party, he knows she's The One. But Hannah's in an intense relationship with Mark and planning to return to her native Sweden to embark on a teaching career.

Desperate to make Ben fall in love with her, rich spoilt heiress Vanessa sets in motion a devious string of events that ultimately changes the course of four people's lives indefinitely.

Hannah is the love of Ben's life, yet Vanessa will stop at nothing to claim the man she is convinced is her destiny.

Because of You is a dark, morally complex and cross-generational story of enduring love, fate and destiny.  

What did I think?

Because of You is an epic saga spanning the 1970's to the present day and crossing the continent from England to Sweden.  Hannah is such a lovely caring character that you feel yourself looking out for her as the story progresses.  I've never seen such an extent of growth in a character as I saw in Hannah; she evolved from a quiet young lady to a strong beautiful woman, in spite of all the bumps in the road on her journey.

Hannah comes to London in 1978 to study and lodges with her grandmother's friend, Ella.  It was hard for her to leave her family and Sweden behind, but she quickly makes friends with another Swedish girl, Sanna, and gains entry into her circle of friends.  As Hannah is introduced to the sparkly discos of the 1970's she catches the eye of reputed bad boy Mark.  Mark pursues Hannah and she agrees to give him a chance to prove he's not the bad boy that everyone thinks he is.  I was with Hannah's friends on this one and knew he wasn't good enough for her, but the heart wants what the heart wants.

While Hannah is still in a relationship with Mark, she meets Ben at a friend's party.  It is clear that Ben is the man for her but Hannah has such strong values that she won't consider taking anything further with Ben whilst she is seeing Mark.  Ben cannot forget Hannah and knows that they are destined to be together, and he doesn't care how long he has to wait.

As the years go by, Hannah splits up with Mark (hurrah), starts a relationship with Ben (hurrah) and goes back to Sweden to work as a teacher.  She is loved by the children and her colleagues, in fact loved a little bit too much by one of them.  Linus is a creepy colleague who is completely infatuated with Hannah.  She thinks she can handle him by telling him she's not interested but he doesn't seem able to take 'no' for an answer.  Linus is insanely jealous of Hannah's relationship with Ben and the threat of just how unhinged he is seemed to hang over the story like the Sword of Damocles.  Linus isn't the only one threatening the happiness of Ben and Hannah. Rich-bitch Vanessa has her eye on Ben and will do anything to get her claws into him, even resorting to joining forces with Mark in an elaborate scheme to break them up.  Oh it's all going to end in tears, but for whom?

My heart was breaking on several occasions as Hannah always thinks of other people before herself.  She deserves to be happy but she puts her happiness at the bottom of the list and puts other people before herself, even doing what she thinks is best for them rather than what they actually want.  There is so much going on in Hannah's life that some part of it with resonate with every single reader.  It is written so warmly that I almost felt as if I was part of the family, eating Zipporah's apple cake or celebrating Zadie and Walther's wedding anniversary with a glass of fizz.

A beautiful epic story of life, love and destiny, Because of You captured my heart and captivated me from start to finish.  It is so true to life with so many ups and downs but the strong sense of family was a shining beacon of hope throughout.  One thing I will say about the characters in this book, they sure do have big babies!  Two babies are born in the book, both weighing one stone with not a raised eyebrow in sight.  It was enough to make my eyes water!

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

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon



About the author:

Born into a bilingual family (Swedish/ English) Hélene Fermont enjoyed an idylic childhood on the outskirts of Malmö, Sweden’s third largest city and major cultural hub. Growing up in the 1970s she had a brief musical career on Swedish TV and radio. Hélene lived in London for over 20 years but has recently returned to Sweden. Hélene is a former teacher, a practising psychologist, and currently the author of three novels, all of which are psychological suspense with a nordic noir flavour. Her fourth novel is coming soon!

Social Media links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/helenefermontauthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/helenefermont

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/helenefermont/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/helenefermontwriter/



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BLOG TOUR: Because of You - Helene Fermont

How desperate are you to get the love of your life?

Hannah is the love of Ben's life, yet Vanessa will stop at nothing to claim the man she is convinced is her destiny.

Because of You spans 36 years in the life of Hannah Stein, a Swedish teenager who arrives in London, at the tail end of the disco era, for a gap year before embarking on a teaching career. The people she meets change the course of her life irrevocably and the novel charts her changing personal and professional fortunes over the next three decades. Because of You is about love, coming of age, friendship, bereavement, stillbirth and rape. Its themes include redemption, acceptance, fidelity and family. Because of You is a story that every woman can relate to.

Because of You is the deeply moving debut novel by Scandinavian writer Helene Fermont. It’s a gripping work of modern women’s fiction with a distinct ‘Scandi’ feel and a psychological twist. 

Scandinavian noir has firmly established itself as a bestselling genre in the UK. Because of You takes the elements that make this style of writing so compelling – the realism and dark, morally complex mood – and combines it with women’s fiction.

This is a dark, morally complex and cross-generational story of enduring love, fate and destiny and will appeal to readers who appreciate an emotive, uncompromising and fulfilling read driven by character and circumstance.

What did I think?

Because of You is an epic saga spanning the 1970's to the present day and crossing the continent from England to Sweden.  Hannah is such a lovely caring character that you feel yourself looking out for her as the story progresses.  I've never seen such an extent of growth in a character as I saw in Hannah; she evolved from a quiet young lady to a strong beautiful woman, in spite of all the bumps in the road on her journey.

Hannah comes to London in 1978 to study and lodges with her grandmother's friend, Ella.  It was hard for her to leave her family and Sweden behind, but she quickly makes friends with another Swedish girl, Sanna, and gains entry into her circle of friends.  As Hannah is introduced to the sparkly discos of the 1970's she catches the eye of reputed bad boy Mark.  Mark pursues Hannah and she agrees to give him a chance to prove he's not the bad boy that everyone thinks he is.  I was with Hannah's friends on this one and knew he wasn't good enough for her, but the heart wants what the heart wants.

While Hannah is still in a relationship with Mark, she meets Ben at a friend's party.  It is clear that Ben is the man for her but Hannah has such strong values that she won't consider taking anything further with Ben whilst she is seeing Mark.  Ben cannot forget Hannah and knows that they are destined to be together, and he doesn't care how long he has to wait.

As the years go by, Hannah splits up with Mark (hurrah), starts a relationship with Ben (hurrah) and goes back to Sweden to work as a teacher.  She is loved by the children and her colleagues, in fact loved a little bit too much by one of them.  Linus is a creepy colleague who is completely infatuated with Hannah.  She thinks she can handle him by telling him she's not interested but he doesn't seem able to take 'no' for an answer.  Linus is insanely jealous of Hannah's relationship with Ben and the threat of just how unhinged he is seemed to hang over the story like the Sword of Damocles.  Linus isn't the only one threatening the happiness of Ben and Hannah. Rich-bitch Vanessa has her eye on Ben and will do anything to get her claws into him, even resorting to joining forces with Mark in an elaborate scheme to break them up.  Oh it's all going to end in tears, but for whom?

My heart was breaking on several occasions as Hannah always thinks of other people before herself.  She deserves to be happy but she puts her happiness at the bottom of the list and puts other people before herself, even doing what she thinks is best for them rather than what they actually want.  There is so much going on in Hannah's life that some part of it with resonate with every single reader.  It is written so warmly that I almost felt as if I was part of the family, eating Zipporah's apple cake or celebrating Zadie and Walther's wedding anniversary with a glass of fizz.

A beautiful epic story of life, love and destiny, Because of You captured my heart and captivated me from start to finish.  It is so true to life with so many ups and downs but the strong sense of family was a shining beacon of hope throughout.  One thing I will say about the characters in this book, they sure do have big babies!  Two babies are born in the book, both weighing one stone with not a raised eyebrow in sight.  It was enough to make my eyes water!

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest opinion.  I am releasing my review as part of the blog tour arranged by Bookollective.

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon

Follow the tour:

BLOG TOUR: Victim Without a Face - Stefan Ahnhem guest post

I am honoured to be the first stop on the Victim Without a Face Blog Tour.  Thank you to Suzanne from Head of Zeus for putting my question to Stefan Ahnhem and thank you to Stefan for such an amazing guest post.

In this day and age of social networking, I was intrigued by the school photo idea in Victim Without a Face.  When reading Victim Without a Face I was reminded of times when old school friends had posted photographs on Facebook or Friends Reunited and I racked my brain to try to remember everybody in the picture.  There always seems to be one or two names that have disappeared through the cracks, so I asked Stefan Ahnhem if he could remember everybody from his class in school...

Do you remember everyone from your class in elementary school?

My answer to this question is no. To be honest, I couldn’t even remember half of them. Perhaps I am particularly bad with names and faces, but I suspect that a variation on this is true for most people. In a class with more than twenty kids there will always be one or two who have simply slipped out of your mind.

This doesn’t especially matter. After all, it’s likely that everyone will have forgotten a different person. If you and your friends all clubbed together, you could probably make a collective effort and remember everyone in your class. Right?

In Victim Without a Face, that is not the case. Twenty school friends, now all grown up, have all forgotten about a former classmate – a person who was so bland, it was as if they never existed. And it is this person who proves to be the key to everything.

I have always been interested in the effects of bullying, but it was only when I started my research for Victim Without a Face that I learned that being ignored and treated like air is the worst kind of bullying a person can endure.

I was fascinated by an experiment performed by the psychologist Kipling D. Williams which showed that being exposed to social exclusion triggers the same part of the brain as being exposed to physical pain. So I figured that, as with physical pain, social exclusion might make people want to retaliate – to take revenge on those that made them suffer.

These days social exclusion is not just something that occurs behind the schoolyard fence. It happens every day for almost all of us. We update our Facebook status and don’t get the desired number of likes from colleagues. So we enter the office without saying hello. The next time we are snubbed by a friend, we take a mini-revenge by ‘accidentally’ forgetting that friend’s birthday.

The killer in Victim Without a Face takes things one or two steps further (okay three) when he takes revenge on his classmates. But he hasn’t just been snubbed, he has been erased from history, forgotten by everyone. He no longer has an identity in the eyes of the world. What better person to be a killer than someone who has already been a victim, without a face?

Stefan Ahnhem

Stefan Ahnhem is an established screenwriter for both TV and film, and has worked on a variety of projects, including adaptations of Henning Mankell’s Kurt Wallender series. He also serves on the board of the Swedish Writers Guild. He lives in Stockholm. Victim Without a Face is his first novel.







You can read my review of Victim Without a Face here.
Buy it now from Amazon for the amazing price of 99p for Kindle - click here

A Man Called Ove - Fredrik Backman

At first sight, Ove is almost certainly the grumpiest man you will ever meet. He thinks himself surrounded by idiots - neighbours who can't reverse a trailer properly, joggers, shop assistants who talk in code, and the perpetrators of the vicious coup d'etat that ousted him as Chairman of the Residents' Association. He will persist in making his daily inspection rounds of the local streets.

But isn't it rare, these days, to find such old-fashioned clarity of belief and deed? Such unswerving conviction about what the world should be, and a lifelong dedication to making it just so?

In the end, you will see, there is something about Ove that is quite irresistible...

What did I think?

On a rare day off from work, I popped into my local library and snatched this book off the shelf - it must have just come in as I was the first person to check it out.  I had already read Fredrik Backman's second book, My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises, and loved it, so naturally I had A Man Called Ove in my wishlist.

I really love the cover of this - it almost tells the story in its own right.  Grumpy old man and the Cat Annoyance.  I felt that the cat was a bit of a Jiminy Cricket for Ove, turning up at just the right moments and "saying" just the right things with its actions.  I think of Ove as a bit of an egg (and not just because the name Ove reminds me of the word "oeuf") hard and solid on the outside but soft on the inside. It was lovely to see the cracks starting to appear, brought on my Ove's relationships with the cat, his pregnant neighbour Parvaneh and the local youth Adrian, to name but a few.  There were some very funny and poignant moments in the book and I won't spoil any of them here - you'll just have to read it for yourself.

To me, it's very much a modern telling of It's a Wonderful Life.  Ove thinks he's on his own and has nothing to live for and nobody to miss him.  I loved reading about Ove's interactions with every single character in this book, it's clear from the wonderful writing that Ove has touched many lives.  He is such a principled man, with almost a childlike innocence at times - like when he meets Adrian's friend and boss, Mirsad, he certainly won't win any awards for political correctness!

I did shed a few tears when I was reading this book, but it has left me with a lovely warm glow around my heart.  I think sometimes we see grumpy, miserable, or angry people and make an immediate assumption, without questioning the reasons behind their attitude.  It's a wonderful portrayal of the human spirit and I think deep down we all have a bit of Ove in us.

The kindest grumpiest guy I expect I'll ever read about.  I absolutely loved it!

My rating:

Buy it now! From the Book Depository with free delivery
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