Woman Down - Colleen Hoover

In this twisty thriller from New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover, a frustrated author looks for her muse in a remote hideaway, but what she finds defies all expectations…and reality.

Her words used to set the page on fire. But a viral backlash over her latest film adaptation forced Petra Rose to take a hiatus, resulting in missed deadlines and an overdue mortgage. Branded a fraud and fame-hungry opportunist, she learned the hard way what happens when the internet turns on you. And she’s been uninspired to write ever since.

Now, with her next suspense novel outlined and savings nearly gone, she retreats to a secluded lakeside cabin, hoping to find inspiration. It’s Petra’s last-ditch attempt to save her career―and herself.

Then he shows up.

Detective Nathaniel Saint arrives with disturbing news, his presence igniting a creativity in her she thought long since burned out. Petra’s words return in a rush, and her fictional cop character begins to mirror the very real cop who’s becoming her muse.

Their “research” sessions blur the lines between fantasy and reality. Each glance, every touch pulls Petra deeper into a world she thought she’d never lose herself in again. She’s never felt more alive. But inspiration this powerful comes at a cost.

When Saint starts taking his role in her career a little too seriously, Petra’s forced to confront the chaos she created. But doing so could cost her more than the reputation she’s been trying to salvage. The reputation the world wrote for her―the reputation only she can reclaim.

 

What did I think?

Woman Down is my first Colleen Hoover book and whilst I wasn't blown away I still quite enjoyed it.  I would say it's more of a romantic suspense than a thriller but it is very gripping.

Petra Rose was at the top of her game when her book was made into a film but, as we all know, the book is usually always better than the movie and her fans were not happy with the adaptation.  Being the chief income earner in her household adds an extra strain when Petra has writers block so she books a lakeside retreat to concentrate on her writing.  Inspiration is about to hit Petra right in the solar plexus and this bestseller could cost her more than it makes.

I really didn't know who Petra could trust in this riveting storyline.  It felt like she was a mouse in a trap being played with by several cats and I wasn't even sure if some of it was her own vivid imagination.  It gets very dark and disturbing as the story goes on and whilst I couldn't understand Petra's actions, I did feel for her.  I think she has lost so much of her confidence and it's a downward spiral that is difficult to escape from.

Dark, gripping and a bit steamy, Woman Down is an interesting glimpse into the life of an author and a sobering reminder of how much words can often hurt.  

I received a gifted paperback for the Tandem Collective readalong and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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BLOG TOUR: Escape to the Northern Lights - Carrie Walker

Packed with humour, romance and a love affair with nature, Escape to the Northern Lights is a story of transformation, second chances and finding home in the most unexpected places.

High-powered lawyer Sara thought she had life figured out – until her whirlwind marriage ends in divorce, her dream promotion slips away and a burnout diagnosis forces her to take a break.

Desperate for a reset, she books a four-week spa retreat in Norway, imagining a luxurious escape. Instead, she finds herself in the rugged wilderness of Firefly Forest, knee-deep in reindeer droppings and stuck with an annoyingly bohemian – and ridiculously attractive – outdoorsman, Henrik.

What starts as a nightmare turns into a journey of self-discovery as Sara swaps designer heels for bare feet, legal briefs for tree-hugging, and fleeting flings for something far deeper...

 

What did I think?

Escape to the Northern Lights is Carrie Walker's third book but the first of hers that I have read and I loved it.  There's may be a lot of snow in the book but the wonderfully romantic storyline is sure to melt even the coldest heart.

In the midst of a relatively amicable divorce, Sara has her work/life balance firmly weighted towards the work end of the scale as she works every hour she can in an attempt to be made partner in a law firm.  It's like a carrot on a stick being dangled in front of her as the firm squeezes out every last drop of productivity before telling Sara that there's no promotion this year.  It's no surprise that Sara ends up in hospital and is finally forced to take leave from work.

It is so funny when Sara drunkenly books what she thinks is a luxurious spa retreat but it turns out to be a vegan, wellness cabin in the woods of Norway with no mobile phone signal.  When she realises her mistake she is determined to leave but Firefly Forest weaves its magic and changes Sara's life for the better.

I adored the description of Firefly Forest and Carrie Walker's beautiful writing effortlessly conjured a vivid picture in my head.  I also loved that the description of Sara's first aurora sighting was very realistic, but no less magical.  The attraction between Sara and Henrik is enough to make the snow melt and their blossoming romance seems to be going well until Mark, Sara's ex, turns up like a pantomime villain to throw a few spanners in the works.

Filled with humour, drama and romance, Escape to the Northern Lights is a beautiful book that warmed my heart and reminded me to stop now and again to look up at the sky; you never know when Lady Aurora will start dancing.

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

My rating:

Purchase link: https://amzn.eu/d/5U4BLAz

About the author:

Carrie Walker is a Brummie born rom-com lover with a lifelong passion for travel. She has lived in a ski resort, by a beach, in the country and the city, and travelled solo through Asia, South America and Europe. Her own love life was more com than rom until she met her husband a few years ago and settled down with him and her dog Ziggy in a small pub-filled village in Essex. 

Social Media Links – 

https://www.carriewalker.co.uk/

https://www.instagram.com/carriewalkerauthor

https://x.com/carriewauthor 

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BLOG TOUR: The Beginner's Guide to Loneliness - Laura Bambrey

 

The perfect feel-good read from an exciting new voice in women’s fiction, for fans of Heidi Swain, Cathy Bramley and Jenny Colgan.

Tori Williamson is alone. After a tragic event left her isolated from her loved ones, she’s been struggling to find her way back to, well – herself. That’s why she set up her blog, The Beginner’s Guide to Loneliness, as a way of – anonymously – connecting with the outside world and reaching others who just need a little help sometimes.

 

When she’s offered a free spot on a wellbeing retreat in exchange for a review on her blog, Tori is anxious about opening herself up to new surroundings. But after her three closest friends – who she talks to online but has never actually met – convince her it’ll do her some good, she reluctantly agrees and heads off for three weeks in the wild (well, a farm in Wales).

 

From the moment she arrives, Tori is sceptical and quickly finds herself drawn to fellow sceptic Than, the retreat’s dark and mysterious latecomer. But as the beauty of The Farm slowly comes to light she realizes that opening herself up might not be the worst thing. And sharing a yurt with fellow retreater Bay definitely isn’t.  Will the retreat be able to fix Tori? Or will she finally learn that being lonely doesn’t mean she’s broken . . .

 

Welcome to The Beginner’s Guide to Loneliness! Where you can learn to move mountains by picking up the smallest of stones…

What did I think?

I LOVED THIS BOOK!  Yes, I'm shouting but if just one person hears me then it's a job well done.  Laura Bambrey's awesome debut novel should come on prescription as it's not only perfect escapism for our troubled times but it's guaranteed to leave a smile on your face.  

Tori is such a wonderful character and I loved her from the start.  Owner of the blog, The Beginner's Guide to Loneliness, she readily admits that she is lonely but she has built up a following online that reminds her that there are other lonely people out there.  With no family or friends in her life, Tori has a select group of 3 virtual friends she has never met but who she loves dearly.  When she is invited to review a wellbeing retreat for her blog, Tori must step out from behind her screen and meet some real people.

Everyone at the retreat is there for a reason, some to escape the real world and others to work through deep-rooted issues.  I don't think Tori realises how much she fits into the latter category until the magic of the retreat starts to work on her.  The double whammy of events in Tori's past resulted in her pulling down and bolting the shutters but her new friends at the retreat have the key and together they have the strength to overcome any difficulty.

I feel like I went to the retreat with Tori as I found myself looking at my own life, particularly how I think about and talk to myself, and I don't think I have ever used the Kindle highlight function so much.  I loved the completely honest and enlightening excerpts from Tori's blog at the beginning of every chapter and I must have highlighted most of them.  I need to read the book again just to revisit these pearls of wisdom because I absolutely raced through the whole book in my eagerness to get back to The Farm to find out what would happen next.

Beautifully written, The Beginner's Guide to Loneliness is a completely awesome debut.  It's uplifting, heartwarming and surprisingly enlightening.  Perfectly plotted, it's painted like a masterpiece with just the right amount of shade so it's not all sweetness and light.  It's so good that I will be reading it again and if that's not the highest recommendation I can give, I don't know what is.  A stunning debut and an absolute must read.

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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Her Last Holiday - C.L. Taylor

You come to Soul Shrink to be healed. You don’t expect to die.

Two years ago, Fran’s sister Jenna disappeared on a wellness retreat in Gozo that went terribly wrong.

Tom Wade, the now infamous man behind Soul Shrink Retreats, has just been released from prison after serving his sentence for the deaths of two people. But he has never let on what happened to the third victim: Jenna.

Determined to find out the truth, Fran books herself onto his upcoming retreat – the first since his release – and finds herself face to face with the man who might hold the key to her sister’s disappearance. The only question is, will she escape the retreat alive? Or does someone out there want Jenna’s secrets to stay hidden?

What did I think?

I love C. L. Taylor books so I know that once I pick one up, I won't be able to put it down.  Her new novel, Her Last Holiday is as gripping and highly addictive as I would expect and I absolutely raced through it, however, I found that I became more puzzled than enraptured as the story went on.

I'll start with the puzzling part...

Whilst the story of Jenna's disappearance and Tom Wade's part in it is very intriguing, the sheer number of characters over two timelines made it a little confusing.  Some characters appear in both timelines but they have different names now and some characters in the present are pretending to be someone else so they have two names too.  It felt like every other character has two personas and I don't know whether it was an issue with the proof copy but the names sometimes got mixed up.  For example, an undercover reporter seemed to switch to her real name (Caroline) part way through with other guests suddenly referring to Joy as Caroline.  Also in Jenna's storyline, Tim and Alison stopped breathing yet it was Tim and Bessie who died.  Did Alison make a miraculous recovery, was Alison also known as Bessie or was this a proof copy mistake?  I certainly did a lot of virtual head scratching but hopefully any possible errors will be corrected in the finished copy and it'll be less confusing.

Now I've got that out of the way, the story itself was very good.  Jenna and Fran have the mother from HELL.  Oh my god, no wonder they are both f$%ked up.  In their mother's eyes, Fran can do no right and Jenna can do no wrong, although the quest for perfection clearly takes its toll and Jenna books herself onto a wellness retreat.  When two people die and Jenna goes missing on his retreat in Malta, Tom Wade is sent to prison.  Two years later, he is released and rather insensitively, as if sticking two fingers up to the victims, sets up another retreat in Wales.  The mother from hell, after losing one daughter this way and without a care for Fran's safety, books a place on the new retreat for Fran.  She is hoping that Fran can find out what happened to Jenna, which is more important to her than keeping her remaining daughter safe.

Fran is a really bad actress and a terrible liar, often forgetting that she's supposed to be called Geraldine and I really feared for her safety.  With so many people not being who they seem to be, I was filled with dread that something awful would happen to her.  It's all very tense and suspenseful as the past is revealed and the present unfolds, which kept me rapidly turning the pages as I approached the satisfying conclusion.  

Her Last Holiday is twisty, intriguing, suspenseful and very addictive.  Nobody writes such addictive storylines as C.L. Taylor.

Many thanks to the publisher, Avon, for sending me an ARC; this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

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The Lie - C. L. Taylor

I know your name’s not really Jane Hughes . . .

Jane Hughes has a loving partner, a job in an animal sanctuary and a tiny cottage in rural Wales. She’s happier than she’s ever been but her life is a lie. Jane Hughes does not really exist.

Five years earlier Jane and her then best friends went on holiday but what should have been the trip of a lifetime rapidly descended into a nightmare that claimed the lives of two of the women.

Jane has tried to put the past behind her but someone knows the truth about what happened. Someone who won’t stop until they’ve destroyed Jane and everything she loves...

What did I think?

I checked this e-book out of the library and absolutely raced through it; it was so fast paced and full of twists that I couldn't put it down.  Emma has reinvented herself as Jane following a trip to Nepal with her friends.  As the cracks start to show in Jane’s new identity we alternate between stories of Jane and Emma.

I really enjoyed the Emma story.  It would be so easy to write about a perfect group of friends, but where would be the fun in that? Cally Taylor has very cleverly analysed a friendship group with surprising buried feelings of envy and resentment coming to the fore.  At first I felt that Emma was on the periphery of the group but I think all of the girls are terribly flawed, which is what makes it so good.  As their friendship went into meltdown in Nepal you just knew it was going to end in tragic consequences.

Jane almost seems like a different person, and I felt really protective of her when the life that she had now built was threatened.  She has struggled to put what happened in Nepal behind her and she has grown into a caring person who finds out what real friends are in the end.

This is a riveting page-turner that you really will struggle to put down.  I'm now looking forward to reading Cally's début, The Accident, and I'll definitely be looking out for her next book.

My rating:

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