Lost for Words - Stephanie Butland

THIS BOOKSHOP KEEPS MANY SECRETS . . .

Loveday Cardew prefers books to people. If you look carefully, you might glimpse the first lines of the novels she loves most tattooed on her skin. But there are some things Loveday will never show you.

Into her refuge - the York book emporium where she works - come a poet, a lover, a friend, and three mysterious deliveries, each of which stirs unsettling memories.

Everything is about to change for Loveday. Someone knows about her past and she can't hide any longer. She must decide who around her she can trust. Can she find the courage to right a heartbreaking wrong? And will she ever find the words to tell her own story?

It's time to turn the pages of her past . . .

What did I think?

Lost for Words is a book lover's dream as it is a novel set in a bookshop.  I expected a bit of lighthearted chicklit but couldn't have been more wrong as it goes so much deeper than I expected.  Loveday with her unusual name is such a unique character that you can't help but take her straight to your heart, and of course envy her book-filled surroundings!

My attention was captured right from the start as Loveday finds a book on the pavement - surely someone hasn't thrown a book away so it must have been dropped inadvertently. She puts up a notice in the window of the bookshop where she works, hoping that the owner will come in to claim it.  This is how she meets Nathan, who opens up a new world of poetry, friendship and possibly something a little more.  Loveday just has to realise that not all men are like creepy stalker Rob who keeps pushing flowers through her letterbox. Thankfully Nathan perseveres, and I was cheering him on from the sidelines as Loveday fell under his spell.

Loveday is such a spiky character but I absolutely adored her; she doesn't mix well with people and she doesn't know how manipulative and mean they can be.  Along with Loveday and Nathan, bookshop owner Archie and Loveday's scatty colleague Melody all found a place in my heart, leaving me in floods of tears at the end of this outstanding book.

Beautifully written, with completely 3-dimensional and well developed characters, Lost for words is a book that I will remember fondly for many years to come.  A highly recommended read.

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

My rating:

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Harlot Queen - Hilda Lewis

Isabella of France was proud to be wed to the handsome Edward II of England, but her joy soon turned to rancour, for Piers Gaveston, an egotistical and mercenary courtier, usurped her husband's bed. No woman could compete with her beauty, but another man? What could she do at the age of fourteen? Wait, only wait. And so she waited, nursing her anger, rejection, and disgust. She grew in beauty and wiles; the king, in weakness, as other men, worse men, took Gaveston's place. Weary of waiting, Isabella turned to Mortimer of Wigmore. In his bed, she found comfort and love and cared little that people called her a harlot. But even the presence of Mortimer could not quench her thirst for vengeance, once she had tasted blood. Like an unleashed fury, she pursued the king's paramours. She would tear England in half to quench her rage; if she failed, her son would avenge her honour. The contest that ensued decided the fate of England. 

In this historically accurate and thrilling story of power and passion, Hilda Lewis has created an unforgettable account of how the fate of nations has often been forged in royal bedrooms.

What did I think?

I love historical fiction but I really struggled with Harlot Queen and was only able to read one chapter at a time.  Disappointingly, I found it slower than the slowest snail in a slow snail competition; I positively crawled through it and felt like I deserved a medal for getting to the end.

The story revolves around Isabella of France who at 9 years old was betrothed to Edward II of England.  She crosses the channel with dreams of love and finds a man who has no interest in her.  It sadly reminded me of Charles and Diana as Edward had already fallen in love, with Piers Gaveston.  After so many rejections from her husband, Isabella realises that she has something she can exploit: power as the Queen of England.  We follow her journey as she gathers her allies and sees off her enemies, and finally finds love.

Drier than a cracker with no cheese, only read this if you have a keen interest in Edward II otherwise you will lose the will to live.  I did find the second half of the book more interesting as Isabella's son, Edward III, comes to the throne in suspicious circumstances, but unfortunately this isn't a book I would recommend.

My rating:

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Friend Request - Laura Marshall

When Louise Williams receives a message from someone left long in the past she feels sick.

Maria Weston wants to be friends on Facebook.

Because Maria Weston has been missing for over twenty-five years. She was last seen the night of a school leavers' party, and the world believes her to be dead. Particularly Louise, who has lived her adult life knowing herself responsible for Maria's disappearance. But now Maria is back. Or is she?

As Maria's messages start to escalate, Louise forces herself to reconnect with the old friends she once tried so hard to impress, to try to piece together exactly what happened that fateful night. But when another friend's body turns up in the woods outside their old school, Louise realises she can't trust anyone and that she must confront her own awful secret to discover the whole truth of what happened to Maria . . .

What did I think?

Ooooh this was a proper page turner that uses the tried and tested 'then' and 'now' formula that kept my eyes firmly glued to the page. I'm not a big fan of Facebook but found the idea of getting a friend request from someone you thought was dead was an absolutely brilliant storyline.  You immediately know that there are buried secrets to uncover and become suspicious of everyone, thinking that nobody is what they seem.

The last time this group of old schoolfriends got together was the school leaving party when one of them didn't make it home, although her body was never found.  Trying desperately to fit in with a crowd of 'mean girls' at school, Louise feels that she is to blame for Maria's death and Maria comes back to haunt her big style by requesting her friendship on Facebook.  Surely it must be a cruel joke, but with the school reunion looming Louise wouldn't be surprised to see Maria turn up...and then she starts to wonder who organised the reunion in the first place.

I loved the past and present storyline and it was almost like the rewind button was pressed at the school reunion as people lapsed into their school characters: the popular bitchy one, the boy everyone fancies, the one trying desperately to fit in and the swot who now has the flashy job and perfect life.  I found myself questioning everyone and I'm not going to tell you whether Maria is alive or dead as Laura Marshall kept me guessing right up to the very end.

Friend Request is a twisty fast-paced psychological thriller, choc-ful of secrets with a generous helping of mind-bending smoke and mirrors style deception.

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

My rating:

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BLOG TOUR: Widdershins - Helen Steadman

I have a real treat for you today.  A fabulous guest post from Helen Steadman along with my review of Helen's truly exceptional novel Widdershins.

How a 'personable and good-like' woman escaped the hangman's noose in the Newcastle witch trials

While carrying out research for my novel, Widdershins, I became intrigued why one woman was first found guilty of witchcraft at the 17th century Newcastle witch trials, but after the witch-finder was revealed as a fraud she was then set free. The woman was not named, but she was described by John Wheeler as a 'personable and good-like' woman, from which we might infer that her good looks saved her.

In his deposition, John Wheeler states that thirty women were brought into the town- hall. The witch-finder stripped them and then thrust pins into their bodies. Using this technique, he found twenty-seven of the thirty guilty.

In discussion with Lt. Col. Hobson, who was present, the witch-finder claimed that he knew whether women were witches or not based purely on their looks. When he began testing the aforementioned 'personable and good-like woman', Lt. Col. Hobson intervened and said 'surely this woman is none, and need not be tryed'. However, the Scottish witch-finder said she was a witch because the town had said she was a witch and that she must be tried.

According to Wheeler, the witch-finder then, 'in sight of all the people, laid her body naked to the waste, with her cloaths over her head'. He then drove a pin into her thigh, but she did not bleed. According to Wheeler, fright and shame had caused all her blood to contract into one part of her body. Of course, bending double would make the blood rush to her head. The woman was declared to be guilty and a child of the devil.

Wheeler says that Lt. Col. Hobson had 'perceived the alteration of the foresaid woman, by her blood settling in her right parts' and he insisted that the woman be tested again. This time, her clothes were pulled up to her thigh, and he required that the witch-finder push the needle into the same place. This time, under the close supervision of Lt. Col. Hobson, 'it gushed out of blood' and the witch-finder cleared her and said she was not a child of the devil.

Shockingly, despite the fact that the Scottish witch-finder was clearly a fraud, and one prepared to send innocent women to a terrible death, he was still allowed to collect his wages and move on to further, even more lucrative work in Berwick. Even more shocking, fifteen(or sixteen) of the people he'd found guilty were still executed for witchcraft.

Source

John Wheeler's deposition in Ralph Gardiner (1849 [1655]) England’s Grievance Discovered in Relation to the Coal Trade. North Shields: Philipson and Hare. Ch. 53.


So, after that enlightening guest post, shockingly based on actual events, let's see what I thought of Widdershins.

'Did all women have something of the witch about them?' 

Jane Chandler is an apprentice healer. From childhood, she and her mother have used herbs to cure the sick. But Jane will soon learn that her sheltered life in a small village is not safe from the troubles of the wider world. From his father's beatings to his uncle's raging sermons, John Sharpe is beset by bad fortune. Fighting through personal tragedy, he finds his purpose: to become a witch-finder and save innocents from the scourge of witchcraft. Inspired by true events, 'Widdershins' tells the story of the women who were persecuted and the men who condemned them.

What did I think?

Widdershins is an absolutely exceptional book, based on real events that took place in the North East of England, where I live.  The story is told from the perspective of two outstanding main characters: John Sharpe and Jane Chandler.  As we watch these two youngsters grow up several miles apart, we see them evolve into adults whose stories are destined to fatefully intertwine in Newcastle upon Tyne.

John Sharpe who was brought into the world in Scotland by local midwife, Dora, who unfortunately couldn't save his mother.  John was born with a set of teeth which gave his father the perfect excuse to blame John for his mother's death, when he wasn't blaming Dora of course.  Dora took John for safekeeping and brought him up until his father died and John was sent to live with his Uncle James.  Uncle James plants poisonous seeds in John's young mind that grow into deadly vines dripping with hatred against innocent women who use herbs to help people's ailments.

Jane Chandler lives in a small village near Shotley Bridge on the banks of the River Derwent, 15 miles outside of Newcastle upon Tyne. Both Jane's mother, Annie, and local woman Meg, are well-known healers who prepare remedies for the sick.  Some of the children call Meg a witch, but Jane and her friend Tom hold Meg in high regard and it's not only Meg who knows that Jane and Tom are destined to be together.  For Jane, however, the course of true love doesn't run smooth.  Jane's future has her destined to cross paths with John Sharpe and his deadly witch pricker in a breathtaking showdown where only one of them will survive.

Reading Widdershins is like having a time machine into the past as Helen Steadman completely immerses us in the 17th Century.  I could almost smell the herbs in Jane's village and the foul stench of the Tyne as Jane and her mother queued to get through the town wall.  I absolutely adored the authenticity of the regional dialect as words that are part of our Northern heritage are used and I realised that sadly so many of them have been lost over time.  There really isn't a word out of place in this exceptional book.

Widdershins is an immersive and compelling debut, I was completely transfixed from start to finish.  It's a mark of a good book when I am so absorbed that I almost forget to drink my morning cup of tea!  Top marks for an exceptional debut that was written for Helen Steadman's master's degree.  A recommended read and one I will most definitely read again.

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

My rating:

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The Wrong Turn - NC Marshall

A hero comes along...

When Megan Cooper is rescued from a terrifying car accident, she can’t believe how lucky she has been. Now though, she is desperate to track down the stranger who saved her life and then disappeared into the night.

DCI Tony Morgan thought he had escaped his old career, but when he receives a call from his ex-boss to tell him that there’s been a hit and run in the area, leaving a young woman trapped in a burning car and left to die, he knows that he must return and help to investigate.

Meanwhile, Megan sets out to track down the man who pulled her from the car that night, and in doing so, develops a strange infatuation for him.

As secrets are revealed, and the truth starts to emerge, it soon becomes clear that Megan is still in danger, and the life-saving hero may not be everything that she wants him to be.

What did I think?

In my reading life I have found that there is one thing that you can always guarantee: NC Marshall will write a page-turning book that you can't bear to put down for a second.  The Wrong Turn follows in the footsteps of NC Marshall's previous BRILLIANT books, Sleep Peacefully and See You Soon, that stick to your hand like glue until you turn the final page.

It starts with a bang as Megan is run off the road by an unknown driver and rescued from the flames by a mysterious stranger.  Megan doesn't know who rescued her but he leaves behind his jacket and it has a key in the pocket.  Megan just needs to find the lock it fits and she can find the man who rescued her, but she has no idea that she will find a lot more than she bargained for.

As Megan and her friend follow the clues to Megan's rescuer, they don't realise that they are putting themselves in danger.  The same man who tried to run Megan off the road wants her dead and will stop at nothing to get his revenge.  Revenge on Megan's husband, who apparently drowned whilst on holiday but with no body recovered, Megan half expects him to turn up on her doorstep one day and therefore can't move on with her life.

The Wrong Turn is another fabulous page-turner from NC Marshall.  The reader is drawn in from the very first page with believable characters that you care about, and with so many surprises thrown in you simply can't put this book down!  A fast-paced gripping read that will leave you open mouthed and goose-bumpy as you turn the final page.

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

My rating:

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The Girl Before - JP Delaney

Jane stumbles on the rental opportunity of a lifetime: the chance to live in a beautiful ultra-minimalist house designed by an enigmatic architect, on condition she abides by a long list of exacting rules. After moving in, she discovers that a previous tenant, Emma, met a mysterious death there - and starts to wonder if her own story will be a re-run of the girl before. As twist after twist catches the reader off guard, Emma's past and Jane's present become inexorably entwined in this tense, page-turning portrayal of psychological obsession.

Following in the footsteps of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train, The Girl Before is being brought to the big screen by Academy Award-winning director Ron Howard.

What did I think?

I am not surprised that The Girl Before is being made into a film; it's chilling, creepy, gripping and scarily believable.  Edward Monkford is the landlord from hell, although he's so enigmatic that his tenants don't even realise that they've sold their soul to satan.

The Girl Before is written in the tried and tested 'then and now' scenario but with a psychological twist; both timelines are scarily similar; the same patterns, the same events, the same words but different women.  I was reading with my eyes wide open in terror as I prayed that history wouldn't repeat itself.

Then: Emma and Simon are looking for a new home as Emma doesn't feel safe after a burglary in her home.  One Folgate Street, with its state-of-the-art security, seems perfect and Simon just wants what's best for Emma so they apply to be tenants.  After completing the grilling questionnaire they are accepted but their dream home turns into a house of horrors.

Now: Jane is looking for a new start after she lost her baby.  She feels a definite connection with Edward Monkford when she is interviewed to be his new tenant, and it's not long before he moves into One Folgate Street with her.  As the reader is treated to glimpses into Emma's past we realise that Jane is in grave danger, but from whom?

This is a completely addictive book.  I read the whole book in one day as I was unable to tear my eyes away from the page for one single second.  It's like 50 Shades of Grey meets Psycho as the ladies who are drawn to Edward Monkford end up dead, in what appear to be accidental circumstances.  My brain was on overdrive trying to anticipate what was going to happen, whilst at the same time fizzing with anger as Edward purposefully repeated history as if he was reading from a script.  He is a total control freak who made my blood boil, but is he also a psycho?

Definitely one to add to your reading list and I can't wait to see what Ron Howard does in the film version.  I think it might be one to watch from behind the sofa!

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

My rating:

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The Fireman - Joe Hill

Nobody knew where the virus came from. FOX News said it had been set loose by ISIS, using spores that had been invented by the Russians in the 1980s. MSNBC said sources indicated it might've been created by engineers at Halliburton and stolen by culty Christian types fixated on the Book of Revelation. CNN reported both sides. And while every TV station debated the cause, the world burnt.

Pregnant school nurse, HARPER GRAYSON, has seen lots of people burn on TV, but the first person she saw burn for real was in the playground behind her school. But when she realises she has become infected, she is determined to find a way to survive - at least long enough to see her child born. No matter what is left of the world for them to live in.

With the epic scope of THE PASSAGE and the emotional impact of THE ROAD, this is one woman's story of survival at the end of the world.

What did I think?

The Fireman is quite a weighty book at 762 pages, so this is one I would recommend reading on your kindle if, like me, you get tired arms from reading heavy books.  I thought the idea was good: a deadly spore spreading across the world setting people on fire but I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get the end of the world fear coming through the pages.  That being said, it's still an interesting read but, in my opinion, the blurb doesn't really match the book as it's not quite the end of the world epic that I was expecting.

Harper is a school nurse with an obsession with Mary Poppins and she has to look on the bright side as she has a crazy husband, Jakob.  Jakob has a plan if they ever contract the deadly virus named dragonscale: they would put on their favourite music, drink their expensive bottle of wine, take some pills and die in each other's arms.  He doesn't really ask Harper's opinion of this but when she finds out that she is pregnant and infected with the 'scale her one aim is to survive long enough to give birth.  Now, I couldn't decide whether she was stupid or selfish at this stage.  Even though there was a chance that the baby would not be infected, why would you want to bring a life into a world that is burning around you?

When Jakob's craziness reaches new heights, Harper meets John Rookwood, aka The Fireman, and his two young companions: Allie and Nick.  They are all infected with the 'scale and have found a way to survive so they invite Harper to Camp Wyndham, where she meets other infected survivors.  This is where I lost interest a smidge as it was all a bit too much peace, love and harmony for me, sitting round the campfire singing kum ba yah.  Of course, put a crowd of people together and the harmony doesn't last long as they jostle for position to be the alpha male, or female.  My interest was piqued again as the camp started to implode and new allegiances were formed, and I tried to work out who Harper could trust.

The Fireman himself is a great character and I would have liked to have learned more about him, although I think that is part of his mystery that you never really find out who he really is. The Fireman is definitely a rollercoaster read as it has more than its fair share of ups and downs and it is good post-apocalyptic thriller but I think a shorter book would have been more intense.

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

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon