BLOG TOUR: Cheddar Luck Next Time - Beth Cato

A cozy cheese-scented mystery with delightful characters, a dash of murder and tons of intrigue, perfect for fans of The Thursday Murder Club and The Maid.

Cheese-obsessed Bird Nichols has just inherited her grandmother’s estate in a quiet, quirky Californian town. But when a body is found on her property, her life begins to get rather loud…

Bird Nichols is ready to make a fresh start in a familiar place. Last year, her parents died together in a car crash and her beloved grandmother is presumed dead from an ocean drowning. Bird is now moving onto her grandmother's California coastal property, and finally living out her dream. Bird loves cheese like nothing else. It's her autistic special interest, and she designs her boards along her sensory needs, and other people love them, too.

But just when everything seems to be going right, the local troublemaker ends up dead on her rural road. Grizz, the closest thing Bird has to family, is the sheriff department's favourite suspect, but she is determined to prove Grizz’s innocence. So now, Bird needs to unpack her possessions, assemble her pretty cheese boards, and find the true murderer before they strike again.

 

What did I think?

Oh wow, I loved this fun and slightly bonkers book!  I mean a cosy mystery with cheese and a cat that makes Garfield look slim, not to mention a lovable and inspirational main character who is autistic - what's not to love?  

Bird loves cheese and, as a cheeselover myself, I was positively salivating at some of the vivid descriptions of the smell and taste of her cheese boards.  Bird has suddenly found herself alone in the world after the devastating death of her parents followed by the disappearance of her grandmother.  Bird inherits her grandmother's estate and moves to Foghorn, which despite its name used to be a quiet town until trouble followed Bird into town.

You really can't help but love Bird and her unusual name.  I think the fact that she is autistic is great for diversity in literature and it really made me think about our own character quirks and how difficult it must be when they are amplified to such a debilitating degree.  Bird shows that she can live and thrive with autism and she turns her fixation with cheese into her livelihood.

Just like her Grandma, Bird can't help investigating crime and she finds herself drawn into a web of danger and deceit when a murderer strikes in Foghorn.  During her investigation, Bird rescues the victim's cat Bowser and just thinking of this big orange furball puts a smile on my face.  What a great character he is - I could almost feel his purrs reverberating through the book!

Whilst the storyine has its own contained plot, there are some tantalising threads of the story left unfinished so I hope that this is the start of a new series.  I really enjoyed my virtual visit to Foghorn and would love to return.  If you love cosy mysteries (and cheese and cats) then please do not miss this book; I absolutely loved it and would highly recommend it.

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

My rating:

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The Days of Our Birth - Charlie Laidlaw

 

Theirs was the most important relationship of their life...

It was a perfect relationship until time pulled them apart. A beautiful story sensitively told about how love and friendship can conquer everything, including time, to a point.

“The Days of Our Birth” delves into the intricate bond between Peter and Sarah as they navigate their formative years. Spanning from their sixth birthday through two decades, the narrative unfolds against the backdrop of Sarah’s placement on the autism spectrum. With a blend of humour and poignancy, the book intricately weaves together themes of love and friendship, unravelling the tale of two individuals who grapple with their emotions for each other, even though they remain unacknowledged.

What did I think?

This beautiful book surprised, delighted and almost broke me.  I have to say that I wouldn't have picked it up simply from looking at the plain cover, however, I've read Charlie Laidlaw's books before so I knew I was in for a treat and I was not wrong.  The cover may be simple but the story is very deep and meaningful.

Peter and Sarah aren't just next door neighbours, they are also the best of friends who coincidentally share the same birthday.  I felt very privileged to watch them celebrate over the years as I got to know these beautiful characters.  As each year passes, the two characters work their way further and further into my heart and I shall never forget them.

It's heartbreaking to see how Sarah is treated as school, just because she thinks differently to others.  Kids can be so cruel and it's no wonder that people with autism retreat further into their own minds where they can make sense of things.  Peter doesn't see Sarah's autism, he just sees Sarah but when Sarah is sent to a new school the pair start to drift apart.  Will they ever find their way back to each other?  You'll just have to read the book to find out!

I'm not ashamed to admit that I shed a tear or two whilst reading this beautiful book.  I was so completely invested in Sarah and Peter's lives that I felt as if I knew them personally, thanks to Charlie Laidlaw's outstanding character development.  Friendship is at the heart of the novel and once you make such a firm friendship, time or distance can never break it.  

Prepare to feel all the feels with this one; The Days of Our Birth is a stunning and completely unforgettable novel.  Very highly recommended - please don't judge this book by its cover, it really is a hidden gem.

Many thanks to Charlie Laidlaw for sending me an ARC to read and review; this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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BLOG TOUR: Saturdays at Noon - Rachel Marks

Emily just wants to keep the world away.

After getting into trouble yet again, she's agreed to attend anger management classes. But she refuses to share her deepest secrets with a room full of strangers.

Jake just wants to keep his family together.

He'll do anything to save his marriage and bond with his six-year-old son, Alfie. But when he's paired with spiky Emily, he wonders whether opening up will do more harm than good.

The two of them couldn't be more different. Yet when Alfie, who never likes strangers, meets Emily, something extraordinary happens.

Could one small boy change everything?

What did I think?

What a truly exceptional book!  Rachel Marks' writing is so accomplished that I must have checked half a dozen times that it was her debut.  This heartwarming, touching and utterly charming tale kept my eyes firmly glued to the page from start to finish and left me thinking about the story long after I finished it.

The story starts when Jake and Emily meet at anger management class, but it is 6 year old Alfie who steals the show and the reader's heart.  Emily doesn't think she has an anger issue so she's very dismissive of the anger management class.  Meanwhile, Jake is a stay at home dad, struggling with his frustration and anger at Alfie's volatile mood swings and agreeing to go to anger management class to try to save his marriage.  When Emily meets Alfie they have an instant connection and Jake agrees to spend time with Emily to avoid Alfie's stupendous meltdowns.  Naturally, their shared love of Alfie brings them closer together but with his marriage on the rocks, Jake has some momentous decisions to make.

In one fell swoop with her beautiful, outstanding debut, Rachel Marks obliterates the stigma surrounding autism; there's absolutely nothing 'wrong' with an autistic child, the condition just needs to be identified and managed correctly.  Alfie's autism is not diagnosed early and he is seen as a naughty, uncontrollable child, leaving his parents at their wits end and feeling like failures.  It is Emily who tries different tactics with Alfie and his need to control his environment and seeing him blossom into a happy, loving child makes all of the meltdowns instantly forgettable.

Although most of the chapters are told from alternating points of view of Jake and Emily, I love how Alfie gets to tell the reader how he is feeling.  It really helped me to understand autism from the child's point of view and I see it in a completely different light now.  From the adult point of view, it is clear that everyone has different coping mechanisms, not only with autism but with life itself.  Although Emily and Jake turn to traditional coping methods, I didn't like Jake's wife Jemma's way of coping with a difficult child, although I can understand it as everyone is different.

I didn't just love this book, I completely adored it; the characters seemed to come alive through Rachel Marks' expressive and emotive writing and I am actually missing Alfie already.  So deeply has he ingrained himself into my heart that I don't think I will ever be able to see Lego without thinking of him.

A stunningly beautiful, uplifting and captivating book, Saturdays at Noon is indubitably worthy of every single one of the five sparkly stars I have awarded it.  Simply breathtaking and highly recommended, Saturdays at Noon most definitely deserves to soar to the top of the bestseller chart.  If you only read one book this year, make it this one!

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

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon




About the author:

Rachel Marks studied English at Exeter University before becoming a primary school teacher. Despite always loving to write, it wasn't until she gained a place on the 2016 Curtis Brown Creative online novel writing course that she started to believe it could be anything more than a much-loved hobby. Her inspiration for her first book came from the challenges she faced with her eldest son, testing and fascinating in equal measure, and the research she did to try to understand him better.

You can also follow Rachel on Twitter @Rache1Marks and Instagram @rachelmarksauthor.

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BLOG TOUR: The Spectacular Vision of Oskar Dunkelblick - Hattie Holden-Edmonds

I am delighted to be taking part in the Red Door Books blog tour for The Spectacular Vision of Oskar Dunkelblick by Hattie Holden Edmonds by releasing my review for the tour.

Oskar is the ultimate teenage loner. He's been living on the streets since he was a kid, he hates being touched and his eyes are always itchy from chronic conjunctivitis. To perk himself up, he paints the misery of mankind. After all, there's so much of that about...

One day during a not-so-routine eye test, Oskar's bleak perspective is blown apart when he tries on a pair of very unusual lenses. The world he glimpses is filled with love, light and wonder and he is furious. But those lenses have opened his inner eye and much against his darker nature, Oskar's perception and behaviour begin to change in ways that he could never, ever have imagined.

What did I think?

This was one of those books that I just had to read as soon as I heard the quirky title.  As much as it is fun and quirky, it is also very dark in places which made me experience a wealth of emotions for Oskar.

Brought up by a single mother, Oskar had a difficult childhood and, being very determined to find his father, this inevitably led to him running away from home.  I really felt for Oskar as he scoured the streets looking for a man he'd never met to fill the hole in his heart.  Oskar is so quirky that he must be on the autistic spectrum and the way that he interacts with people would support this.  He doesn't recognise other people's feelings and uses their misery for his art.  A misery that he causes and manipulates, which made me very uncomfortable at times and I felt my feelings for Oskar change very quickly from empathy to intense dislike.

Although part of the story is Oskar having his eyes opened to beauty that's all around us if you choose to look for it, I just couldn't get past the dislike for Oskar that had grown within me.  I guess I could see that he had changed for the better but it was too late for the people that he had trampled on in his past.  I loved the idea of special lenses that made you see all the love and light in the world but I would also like an eraser to unsee all the darkness that was burned into my retinas.  It isn't a criticism of the book at all; to evoke such intense feelings in a reader means that that book has substance and quality, I just think that readers should be prepared for the dark side of Oskar that came as a bit of a shock to me.

The Spectacular Vision of Oskar Dunkelblick is both quirky and enlightening but also intensely dark and disturbing.  Let Oskar open your eyes to the many colours of the human psyche.

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

My rating:

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BLOG TOUR: The Man on the Middle Floor - Elizabeth S Moore

Despite living in the same three-flat house in the suburbs of London, the residents are strangers to one another. The bottom floor is home to Tam, a recent ex-cop who spends his days drowning his sorrows in whisky. On the middle floor is Nick, a young man with Asperger's who likes to stick to his schedules and routines. The top floor belongs to Karen, a doctor and researcher who has spent her life trying to understand the rising rates of autism. They have lived their lives separately, until now, when an unsolved murder and the man on the middle floor connect them all together. Told from three points of view, The Man on the Middle Floor is about disconnection in all its forms; sexual, physical, parental and emotional. It questions whether society is meeting the needs of the fast growing autistic section of society, or exacerbating it.

Thought-provoking and thrilling, The Man on the Middle Floor will leave readers talking.

What did I think?

This was a really surprising book for me; from the cover, I expected a bit of an Agatha Christie-style whodunnit but the reader is party to the murders so we know who did it, we just need to find out why.  We learn a lot more than that along the way in this thought-provoking debut by Elizabeth S Moore.

Each chapter is dedicated to one of the three main characters: Nick, the man on the middle floor; Karen the woman above and Tam the man below.  It was really interesting to delve into the lives of these three very different, but equally flawed, characters who live in the same building but have never interacted before now.

Anybody who has a heart will empathise with Nick who has Asperger's.  I know very little about the condition but I can completely understand his need for routine and having everything clean, tidy and lined up correctly.  His story is heart-breaking and so sad to see how early family life can damage a person beyond repair.

Another family damaged beyond repair is Karen's.  Karen has three children, or at least she gave birth to three children but after her marriage break-up she's quite happy to have no further contact until they are independent adults.  Karen would much rather study people than get to know them and she constantly chooses work over family.  Karen may be studying subjects with autism but, in my opinion, she needs to take a long look in the mirror as I think she could make a study of herself.

Tam has just lost his job as a policeman but old habits die hard and he sniffs out something that's not quite right.  He might have picked the clues up a bit quicker had he not been turning to alcohol to drown his sorrows.  Tam seems drawn to Karen but does he just recognise another lost soul?

I loved the way the story of Nick's life was slowly revealed in The Man on the Middle Floor; I had already started to care about him and felt very protective of him when he started his new job in the morgue.  Autism can be so varied that it has an entire spectrum so I don't think for a minute that this is how every person diagnosed as autistic will act.  What The Man on the Middle Floor did for me, is open my eyes to a world that is either black or white for some people; a world where every action doesn't have a reaction, it's just an attempt to bring everything back to its status quo.

I think there'll be a lot of debate about The Man on the Middle Floor, and I think Elizabeth S Moore has taken a very brave step to put the subject of autism on the table - so let's talk about it.  The Man on the Middle Floor is a perfectly crafted story that I think everyone will be talking about this year.

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

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon



About the author:

Elizabeth S. Moore has worked as a journalist since she won the Decanter Young Wine Writer of the Year at seventeen. She has written columns and articles on restaurants, politics, South Africa and all things foodie. She comes from a family that has given her a lot of writing material and is currently finishing her second book, having written the first after completing the Faber Write a Novel course and being approached by fourteen agents after reading an excerpt of her novel to industry professionals. Elizabeth lives in London with her South African husband and has three daughters and a son as well as two lazy Labradors.

You can follow Elizabeth on Twitter: @LizzyMoore19

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Shadows on the Nile - Kate Furnivall

'I'll find him. I will.'

It's 1932 and 27-year-old Jessica is living London life to the full when her younger brother Tim, an ancient Egyptian archaeology expert, goes missing. Teaming up with Sir Montague Chamford - who can resist neither a damsel in distress nor the chance of adventure - Jessie vows to find her beloved brother.

Following the clues Tim has left in his wake, Jessie and Monty head to Egypt. In the relentless heat of the desert, romance is kindled between them, but danger also lurks in every shadow. And then Jessie starts to wonder how much Monty really knows about her brother's disappearance . . .

A dramatic story of adventure, excitement, love and romance can all be found in the SHADOWS ON THE NILE

What did I think?

After immensely enjoying Kate Furnivall's The Liberation and checking out her back catalogue, I added Shadows on the Nile to my wishlist, as I have a keen interest in Egyptian history.  I recently popped into my local library and the breathtaking cover of Shadows on the Nile was shining in front of my eyes like the golden rays of the sun god Ra.  So I put my feet up with a nice glass of wine and prepared to be whisked away to Egypt.

With a dramatic, heart-wrenching first chapter, the story starts in 1912 with 7 year old Jessica being awoken by a noise in the night followed by a frightened squeal from her little brother.  Waking up the next day, it's as if events of the previous night never happened and Jessica's life continues as normal.  Fast forward to 1932 when Jessica's brother, Tim, goes missing after attending a séance.  Jessica follows Tim's trail to the location of the séance and meets Sir Montague Chamford.  Monty joins Jessie in her search for Tim and I was quite suspicious of his motivations - what is he hiding or what doesn't he want Jessie to find?

Whereas we would hop on a plane, Jessie and Monty have an 80 hour journey across Europe to Cairo.  This is where Kate Furnivall excels in her writing: the sights, sounds, smells, heat and dust of Cairo are described in such exquisite detail that you feel as if you are there.  I have been to Cairo before so my imagination does have a head start, but it really is exactly as Kate Furnivall describes it.  The golden glint of Tutankhamun's death mask and the majesty of the pyramids are truly brought to life in Shadows of the Nile.

Jessie's family history plays a massive part in the story, but I can't say too much without spoiling it for others.  Suffice to say, Jessie's search for Tim leads to a confrontation with the past, a past that may have been buried but history has shown us that so many well buried secrets are unearthed in Egypt.

Another superbly atmospheric story from Kate Furnivall that swept me away to the Nile valley.  Through her breathtakingly beautiful prose, Kate Furnivall paints a stunning and vivid picture of this incredible ancient country.  This is historical fiction at its finest and I highly recommend Kate Furnivall's books.

I borrowed this book from my local library and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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Home - Kate Hughes

“You need to come and get my daughter. She’s not safe anymore.”

For Sophie, life with her daughter has never been easy. Rosie’s extreme autism has made her unpredictable and often difficult. Like most mothers though, her first instinct has always been to protect her child and keep her close. However, when Rosie’s escalating violence culminates in a terrifying incident at home, Sophie is faced with a choice that no parent ever wants to make. A choice that will inevitably plunge her into a set of unimaginable new circumstances which will test her to the limit.

A true test of a mother’s love.

Could you send your child away?

What did I think?

Oh my word, what an emotional rollercoaster of a read this is.  Home is so full of emotion that I felt every bump in Sophie's road with her. She has such difficult choices to make and it is so interesting to see so many different sides of the story: that of the immediate family but also how it is perceived by others.  Home is such a brave and eye-opening story that even the coldest heart won't fail to be moved by it.

Sophie is on her own with two beautiful daughters: 16 year old Chloe who is studying for her exams and 12 year old Rosie who has autism.  Rosie's autism sometimes presents in an entirely loving manner but in other times it can result in violent outbursts that cause harm to others and Rosie herself.  Sophie makes the heartbreaking decision to put Rosie into a residential home and it is clear that this decision was the hardest decision that Sophie has ever had to make - the despair was practically jumping off the page.  We go on to see how Sophie's decision impacts on the whole family and every family member gets the chance to get their feelings across.  

Home is a pure unadulterated love story.  A mother's love can sometimes mean that the hardest decisions have to be made, a decision that may appear selfish to some but is actually so completely selfless.  Kate Hughes has managed to effortlessly show all the sides to this story, whilst injecting humour along with the bundles of love.  Talking of humour, I felt like I had to get my fly swatter out as Greg and Mark started buzzing around Sophie like annoying bluebottles on a sunny day!

Something so completely different and emotion-full, Home is a heart-breaking, yet heart-warming read and is 100% recommended.  Read it and weep, I know I did.

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

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon

BLOG TOUR: A Boy Made of Blocks - Keith Stuart

A beautiful, funny and surprising story of family and love, perfect for fans of The Rosie Project, David Nicholls’ Us and Nick Hornby’s About a Boy.

MEET THIRTY SOMETHING DAD, ALEX… He loves his wife Jody, but has forgotten how to show it. He loves his son Sam, but doesn't understand him. Something has to change. And he needs to start with himself.

MEET EIGHT-YEAR-OLD SAM… To him the world is a puzzle he can't solve on his own.

When Sam starts to play Minecraft, it opens up a place where Alex and Sam begin to rediscover both themselves and each other… When life starts to tear one family apart, can they put themselves back together, one piece at a time?

A Boy Made of Blocks is a beautiful, funny and heartwarming story of family and love inspired by the author’s own experiences with his autistic son.

What did I think?

No amount of words will ever do this book justice.  I simply can't stop thinking or talking about it and, although it's only a few weeks into the year, I can guarantee that A Boy Made of Blocks will appear in my top reads of 2017.

This is a book that very quietly worked its way into my heart.  I was upset and disappointed in Alex at first - how could he leave his wife, Jody, to cope on her own and how could he walk away from his beautiful son, Sam?  Having never experienced autism, it's probably easy for me to say.  Getting to know Alex, it's what he does - run away from things.  So does his sister, Emma, for that matter - planning her next adventure around the world to avoid spending time at home.  Alex and Emma's brother, George, died when he was just a child and it's certainly something that Alex has never gotten over.  I don't think Alex even realises just how much George's death still impacts on his family life.

Alex doesn't know how to communicate or connect with his autistic son, Sam.  Then one day Sam discovers the computer game Minecraft and Alex buys a copy to learn how to play it.  Alex is having a little play around when he notices Sam online.  Hearing Sam's voice through the headphones in 'Sam and Daddy's world' left me with an ache in my heart and a huge grin on my face.  As father and son build their castle they forge a connection that Alex would never have dreamed of, culminating in a trip to London for a Minecraft competition that left me in floods of tears.  

I would recommend that A Boy Made of Blocks is published with waterproof pages; I've cried at books before but never to this extent.  A couple of chapters from the end, I had to put the book down to dry my eyes and that's the only good reason to put this book down at all.  It's an absolutely amazing story - think of any word to describe something magnificent, flawless and breathtaking and it goes part way towards describing the deeply moving triumph that is A Boy Made of Blocks.

Do not hesitate, just go out and buy this book - Ok, GO!

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

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon

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Shtum - Jem Lester

Ben Jewell has hit breaking point.

His ten-year-old son, Jonah, has never spoken, so when Ben and Jonah are forced to move in with Ben's elderly father, three generations of men - one who can't talk; two who won't - are thrown together.

As Ben battles single fatherhood, a string of well-meaning social workers and his own demons, he learns some difficult home truths.

Jonah, blissful in his innocence, becomes the prism through which all the complicated strands of personal identity, family history and misunderstanding are finally untangled.

What did I think?

This is such an extraordinary, heart-rending story and I have total respect for Jem Lester for writing about such a difficult subject.  Jonah is the most endearing character I have come across in some time, despite him not uttering a single word.  Jonah is autistic, and I think it was important to point out that there is a vast autistic spectrum; not all autism results in being a number genius, as portrayed in the film Rain Man.

The book explores the Jewell family as they strive to get the best care for Jonah, understandably putting tremendous strain on the family.  When Ben and Jonah move back in with Ben's father, Georg, the story revolves around the three Jewell men and I loved how they interacted with each other.  Georg seems so cool with Ben but so warm and loving with Jonah, so it’s no wonder that Ben feels a little jealous sometimes.

There are some funny moments in the book, mainly revolving around Jonah’s nappy, but as soon as I found myself laughing my heart would break that this lovely 11 year old boy was subjected to such indignity.  Jonah does have an amazing, yet intensely flawed, family supporting him and I was willing them on as they jumped through hoops to get him into the school that they felt was best for him.

Ben is forced to look deep inside himself as events unfold and I felt him emerge a stronger person at the end.  It’s an amazing part of the story when Ben looks into Georg’s family history and uncovers more than he bargained for; he not only learns more about his father, but he can finally alleviate some of the guilt that contributed to the breakdown of his marriage.

This story is sent special delivery from the heart of Jem Lester to the heart of every single reader.  You won’t fail to be moved as you fall in love with Jonah Jewell.  I devoured this book in no time at all and I am certain that it’s a book I will pick up again to read and enjoy.  This is an extraordinary book not to be missed and is sure to be a number one bestseller in 2016.

I received this e-book from the publisher, Orion, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

My rating:

Pre-order from Amazon - to be released in April 2016