#Review by Lou of The Mistake By MJ Arlidge and Lisa Hall @MJArlidge @lisahallauthor @CompulsiveReaders #BlogTour @TracyFenton

The Mistake
By MJ Arlidge

Review written by Louise Cannon

The Mistake is a chilling, tensely written psychological domestic thriller. The people who have been writing with M.J. Arlidge of late has been working very well for great plots that have been well-written with interesting characters lives you can absorb into. The Mistake is another example how 2 writers can work really well to create something brilliant to read.
Today I am on the Compulsive Readers blog tour. See the blurb and full review below…

Blurb

In this family, everyone is telling lies.

Pete never wanted another child. Before baby Erin was born, they were happy. If Natalie hadn’t got pregnant, he would never have done what he did.

Natalie knows things have been difficult since the surprise arrival of Erin. Life with Pete and their two other children – Emily and Zadie – has been balancing on a knife-edge.

Now their home is full of guests at a party Natalie didn’t want to throw – and she’s about to reach breaking point.

But so is her family.

Because everyone has a secret that they’ve been hiding and when Erin suddenly disappears everyone becomes a suspect.

Surely no one here would want to harm their baby? But after the events of the party there are plenty of people who would want to hurt Natalie.

Including her husband…

Review

In some ways it’s quite a chilling read, but in others, it would take a cold-hearted person not to empathise. Pete and Natalie have children. Things seemed not exactly terrible before. This next baby wasn’t planned and nor does it go to any sort of “script” Natalie has known before. This is the point everything changes.
It deals with the likes of post-natal depression and a stressed out family where no one is coping very well. It’s easy to look in from the outside to know what to do, but the adults in this family are spiralling, making it harder to see how to get help. It just shows that even when you have had babies before, not all pregnancy and post-pregnancy is the same.
What comes next turns The Mistake into a tense, chilling psychological domestic thriller. Erin goes missing, just disappears. There’s plenty of fingers of suspicion flying around and Pete is quite useless in this whole situation. The entire family are deeply affected and have been ever since the mistake of yet another pregnancy.

The Mistake is tense in how it is plotted and certainly makes you think about unplanned pregnancies as well as how any pregnancy can be not as straight-forward as you’d hope and how it affects the family in detrimental ways.

The Mistake is a tightly written plotted book that is one I recommend.

#BloodyScotland Reveals Early Release Tickets – Ian Rankin @Beathigh @KathyReichs to Headline @BloodyScotland

BLOODY SCOTLAND REVEALS THE PROLOGUE

American superstar of crime fiction Kathy Reichs will be the first of a series of Early Releases as Bloody Scotland teases its headline acts for 2025.

The author of the Temperance Brennan novels will be making her first visit to the Stirling festival since 2013. She is a multi-million international bestseller, and the Brennan novels were the inspiration for the TV series Bones.

Tickets for Kathy’s event – in which she will be in conversation with 2025 guest programmer Sir Ian Rankin – will go on sale at noon on Monday 26 May.

A string of further Early Releases – all major names in the crime fiction world – will soon follow so keep your eye on our social media channels.

See www.bloodyscotland.com to spot other early highlights as they drop or follow Bloody Scotland on Facebook, Instagram, X or Blue Sky

The Bloody Scotland 2025 programme – featuring many other HUGE names in the world of crime fiction – will be launched at noon at The Golden Lion in Stirling on Thursday 12 June followed by an event at 1pm with Canadian crime writing superstar, Linwood Barclay. www.bloodyscotland.com

#EdFringe News of Use Your Words – #Comedy about #Motherhood / #Parenting is #WhatsOnEdinburgh this #Summer #UseYourWords @TheSpaceUK #Edinburgh

Use Your Words! a heartfelt comedy about the chaos of new motherhood — told through physical comedy, music, and sheer determination — comes to Edinburgh Fringe 2025!

Photo Credit: Find the Light Photography

Think Charlie Chaplin except he’s a sleep-deprived new mom unable to find a single pair of jeans that fit.

Direct from New York City, Use Your Words! is a one-woman play about a new mother, Kate, struggling with the responsibility of caring for a tiny human. The new comedy, comprised of five scenes, spans Kate’s first glorious days with her newborn, her ensuing sleep-deprivation, her toddler’s shenanigans, and the struggles to consume enough sugar and coffee to survive the challenges of parenthood. The show is rooted in comic physicality with many props mimed—most importantly, the baby. Onstage throughout is a musician, a trumpet player/percussionist, who with his music will exacerbate Kate’s struggles, emphasize her emotional state, or celebrate her successes. There are moments of direct interaction with the audience—sometimes a new parent needs backup!

This play, written by Karen Eleanor Wight, was inspired by her two children, late mother, and 18 years of performing as 1/2 of the improvisational duo Imp. This ground-breaking duo improvised wordless scenes at festivals nationally and internationally with an onstage musician creating silly and inspiring tunes on the spot. This unique play’s script was developed through improv in rehearsals over the course of several years, and then finessed at new works festivals. After a successful run in NYC in 2024 funded by a New York State Council on the Arts Support for Artists Grant, the same artistic team is thrilled to bring the production to Edinburgh this year.

Use Your Words! features Karen Eleanor Wight as Kate and Rodney Umble on trumpet/percussion. Co-directed by Zinc Tong and Karen Eleanor Wight, Sound Design by CJ Whitaker and Ella Danyluk, Lighting design by Jesse Baxter, Production Stage Management by Jenna Arkontaky, and play development by Melissa Attebery.

“Use Your Words! is refreshing and funny as physical storytelling and a personal but universal account of the early phase of motherhood. This style and topic are seriously under-explored– this show is a gift.” ~Ian Morgan, Assoc Artistic Director, The New Group, NYC

“Use Your Words! was truly one of the best things I’ve seen so far this fall. Karen Eleanor Wight’s artistry, skill level, and capacity to hold a room’s attention is impressive.” ~Ria T. DiLullo, Artistic Director of Skeleton Rep, NYC

“Wight’s attention to kinesthetic detail in Use Your Words! brings this hilarious and meaningful journey of motherhood to life. Each of her movements are simultaneously incredibly clear and comedically timed.” ~Joseph Heitman, Artistic Director, One Day Dance, NYC

Venue: theSpace @ Niddry Street

Dates: 18- 23 August 2025

Time: 12:25 (65 minutes)

Ticket prices: £11.00 (£8.00)

Fringe Box office: 0131 226 0000 / www.edfringe.com

Suitable for all ages

#EdFringe News – CADEL: Lungs on Legs about #TourDeFrance #WhatsOnEdinburgh this #Summer is #CadelLungsOnLegs #cycling #drama @cadeltheplay @FollowTheCow

CADEL: Lungs on Legs

Underbelly Cowgate, Belly Laugh (Venue 61)
66 Cowgate, Edinburgh EH1 1JX
31st July-24 August 2024 (not 12th)
13:00, daily, 60 minutes.

Atmospheric new play charts the trials and triumphs of Cadel Evans – the only Australian to win the Tour de France

All the grit, gears and glory of the most challenging road race on earth rides into Edinburgh for Fringe 2025. CADEL: Lungs On Legs, is a new play co-written and performed by Australian-born, New York-based Connor Delves that puts audiences at the heart of the Tour de France to experience the highs and lows of the epic true story of Cadel Evans.

Connor, who co-wrote the play with Edinburgh playwright Steve McMahon, performs this grueling solo show, from the saddle of the same BMC bicycle that Evans rode to victory in the 2011 race. Delves says: ‘The play brings together my passion for cycling with my theatrical career. It’s a gripping ride through the sacrifices, heartaches, and sheer determination it takes to conquer cycling’s ultimate prize. The Fringe is also a marathon of endurance and I’m looking forward to bringing CADEL: Lungs on Legs to Edinburgh for its world premiere.’

And ‘voice of the Tour de France’, sports presenter Phil Liggett, whose commentary is a major feature of the play will be there in person on the opening night to give the show a good send off.

Cadel Evans who is fully supportive of the show said: ‘I have always been aware of the drama, thrill and often suspense of cycling, especially the Tour de France, really is. Connor’s vision for this show is bold and exciting, and I’m thrilled to be involved from the start, and I’m deeply honored that an Australian artist has been inspired to bring my story to life for audiences worldwide.’

Connor, who performed at the Fringe in 2024 in The Bloody Ballad of Bette Davis, has been training with sponsors Wahoo Fitness, Prime Train and Eternal for the physically demanding role since January. The play comes hot on the wheels of this year’s Tour de France which takes place in July 2025 and also offers a preview of the thrills and excitement that will come to Edinburgh with the official Tour de France ‘Grand Depart’ taking place in the city in 2027. The play is directed by Mark Barford and co-produced by Piper Theatre Productions and Rachael Jones.

Tickets: £10-14.50 concessions available
Box Office: tickets edfringe.com/cadel
Suitable for all ages

#Review by Lou of A Secret Escape by Sarah Morgan Happy Publication Day @sarahmorganwrites @HQstories #summerread #Summer

A Secret Escape
By Sarah Morgan

review written by Louise Cannon

Summery with friendships and thought-provoking aspects with warm escapism is within the newest book by Sarah Morgan. Many people have at least one friend from childhood, but you just never know what’s around the corner… Check out more in the blurb and my review below, thanks to HQ.

Blurb

A lifelong friendship

Childhood friends Milly and Nicole had always been more like sisters so Milly never understood why Nicole dropped out of contact all those months ago. Milly buried that hurt and moved on with her life.

A call for help

Now, suddenly, Nicole is begging for Milly’s help. She needs somewhere private to hide, and the only safe place she can think of is Milly’s holiday home business in the Lake District. Milly knows she should tell Nicole no, but she can’t ignore the desperation in her old friend’s voice so, despite her misgivings, she agrees to let Nicole stay.

A summer to reconnect

Over a summer of tentative conversations, the two women begin to reconnect, and there’s a potential new romance for Milly too. But then the biggest bombshell of all lands and their delicate friendship is put to the test once more …

Can the friends come together in this time of need, or will this summer break their bond forever?

Review

Friendships, however long you’ve known someone can have a certain amount of fragility and this is explored beautifully in this book. There’s a fascinating note from the author at the before the story really begins. It not only sets the scene, it’s poignant and truly thought-provoking in aspects that aren’t often explored in such a way this book does.

Milly and Nicole were friends since childhood and then suddenly this was dismantled quite disarmingly by Nicole.
Milly’s life sounds quite tough at times with other emotional stresses on-top of this, that makes her a bit self-reflective. She also became a mother, with a business to run in the Lakes.
Nicole’s life moved in a very different direction to follow her desires to act.

You get to learn more about what the friendship was like, what it became as you read further along. You can tangibly feel the hurt that is later caused and the desperation of need of help when their lives connect again. Some relationships with the sub-characters of multi-generations can be intense and others are heart-warming and well-meaning.

Friendships really come under the microscope and with well-written characters and plotting, A Secret Escape truly is an intently fascinating book to read.

There are twists and turns as reconnections are made, but you don’t always quite know what direction lives will go in the end. Secrets are revealed and truths come to the surface as the past and present is confronted, all in a lovely setting.

Can new beginnings happen in a positive way? What will become of the tentative re-budding of a friendship?

A Secret Escape truly is a hbeart-warming summer read you can escape into the lives of others as the sun beats down and whisks away the cares of the day.

At the back of the book is a small bit of Sarah Morgan’s next book, All Together for Christmas. We meet Becky at an airport that sounds like it’s in the sort of chaos we see in the news, or have experienced with delays, cancellations, noise. Just where will she end up? Newcastle, Edinburgh or somewhere else? There is also an all important family announcement to be made… It sounds a good read with the complexities of travelling at Christmas and relationships. It publishes October 2025.

#Review of Intersections By Karen Uhlmann #KarenUhlmann @booksforwardpr

Intersections
By Karen Uhlmann

Review written by Louise Cannon

Intersections! Lines cross in life, perhaps they were meant to and perhaps not in this emotionally raw rollercoaster of a very different style of thriller from debut novelist and acclaimed Chicago reporter Karen Uhlmann.
Thanks to Books Forward for a copy to review.

Blurb

Style-guru Charlotte Oakes sells beautiful lifestyles, but her mentally ill daughter is an addict, her long marriage is dead, and she is pregnant with her ex-lover’s baby. Stunned after witnessing a hit-and-run in Chicago that leaves a child dead, Charlotte thinks she sees her Prius fleeing the scene. Her troubled daughter, Libby, is the only one who could have been driving.

His partner and best friend killed in a drug bust, police officer Ed Kelly learns that forensics has found that the fatal bullet came from Ed’s gun. Under internal investigation, Ed copes by filming cars at the site of the recent hit-and-run, hoping to catch the child’s killer. There, he notices Charlotte’s pilgrimages to the makeshift memorial, and over the weeks, the two become unlikely friends sharing intimate stories. But Charlotte won’t trust him with her most vulnerable secret of all: her suspicions about her daughter’s involvement in the accident.

When Ed finally learns the truth, he struggles with his beliefs and duties. If he keeps quiet, he has breached his commitment to the law. But if he does the right thing as an officer, he may send Libby to jail – and lose Charlotte.

Review

but all is colliding in the professional and personal world of style guru, Charlotte Oakes. Professionally, she beams in the glow of perfection, behind closed doors is a whole other story. Her daughter has mental health issues and a whole lot besides.

Ed Kelly is a police officer whose bullet happened to have killed his partner, but was it him who had done it?

There’s a hit and run and Charlotte isn’t so trusting of her daughter not to have been the one in the car.

Between Ed and Charlotte a friendship strikes up, but can there be more to it and what secrets will come out into the open?

Karen Uhlmann has delved deep into the grey intersections of lives and makes the readers question both the moral ground and how far you might go to protect people, especially a loved one. Intersectional lines criss-cross and are blurred, but will clarity come?

There’s a real sense of emotions throughout the book from the complex characters that transfers to the reader as you wonder how you’d deal with such a big situation.

Intersections has an engaging plot that weaves a huge web of life, tragedy, romance and human flaws together.

All in all, it’s an intriguing read and one that would be good for book clubs.

About the Author

Debut author and acclaimed Chicago reporter Karen Uhlmann would watch a police officer recording traffic everyday at an intersection in her neighborhood. Four-to-five times a week, he would sit there hoping to catch the suspect of a fatal hit-and-run that killed a young child. Karen wondered what he might be going through. She explores this and more in her compelling drama, Intersections (May 6, 2025, She Writes Press), the story of a fatal hit-and-run in a quiet Chicago neighborhood, the police officer and suburban mother who both witness the tragedy, and the bond they form over their shared grief–with one big secret: the mother believes the killer is her daughter.