#Review By Lou of The Guernsey Girls Go To War @AuthorMary @panmacmillan #HistoricalFiction #Saga #TheGuernseyGirlsGoToWar #TheGuernseyGirls #TheGuernseyGirlsTrilogy

The Guernsey Girls Go To War
By Mary Wood

After being enthralled by the first in the trilogy, The Guernsey Girls, today I have the privilege of kicking off the blog tour for the second The Guernsey Girls Go To War, thanks to Pan Macmillan. Pick it up and you may just have to have your tea ready and be prepared to enter Guernsey from your comfiest place and not emerge until the end, with a flawless look at smaller island life in war times that has a fresh perspective. Discover the blurb and my full review below and please join me in wishing the author,
Mary Wood a Happy Publication Day.

Blurb

From the bestselling author of The Jam Factory Girls, comes the second heartfelt installment in Mary Wood’s The Guernsey Girls trilogy.

War separates them, but it cannot dampen their spirits . . .

Spring, 1940. Annie’s new husband Ricky leaves to fight, but she soon discovers battles brewing closer to home. As her sister Janey begins to unravel, only Annie can pick up the pieces – and, with London’s police officers on the front line, she must also step up at work and do her bit for the country.

In Guernsey, Olivia finds herself without her husband and son just as Hitler’s forces invade the island. Trapped and heartbroken, she faces untold horrors as the Germans tighten their hold on the islanders.

How will Annie manage her responsibilities to her family and her country in the thick of the Blitz, while suffering the heartache of not knowing what is happening to her beloved Ricky? And can Olivia survive in Guernsey at the hands of the enemy?

Review

The Guernsey Girls Go To War is a welcome second book in the Guernsey Girls trilogy. Annie is coming into her own and showing strength of character to do her bit for her country and the world in the allied powers. She also has a lot to deal with personally, as does Olivia.
The writing throws readers into the midst of war and what it was like to be the members of the family left at home, whilst the men went out to war. It feels realistic and its easy to sympathise and empathise in a way that becomes thought-provoking. It makes you wonder how, in 2024, people would cope if the situation should arise again, after so many decades of relative peace.
The book shows the strength and courage of the women in such uncertain times, but not in a bullish way, it’s a kind, heart-warming book as they try to manage the best they can, even through the heart-breaking times.
As a reader, its all palpable and that’s due to the talent of Mary Wood’s fabulous writing skills. What also makes this interesting, is the setting, being Guernsey and seeing the war from a smaller island perspective, rather than the mainland. It gives it a fresh feel and seeing the characters develop in this second book has created more intrigue and a feeling of being trapped on an island, which brings a more closed-in, darker atmosphere in some ways, but also a stronger feeling of friendship in many others.
I am certainly looking forward to the third in this trilogy, that I am highly recommending.

#Review of Dead Man Driving By Lesley Kelly #DeadManDriving @KellyALacey @lovebookstours #LBTCrew #BookTwitter #FreeReview #FreeBookReview #CrimeFiction #HealthOfStrangers #DeadManDriving

Dead Man Driving
By Lesley Kelly

Lesley Kelly is a fascinating author in the subject matters she chooses to write about. It is so much more than just crime. What she has predicted in her previous books has seen fiction collide with the real world… I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing from Death at the Plague Museum onwards in this series – The Health of Strangers, which Dead Man Driving is the latest of, which is set in Edinburgh.

Blurb

The fifth instalment of the Health of Strangers series, Scottish crime novels set against the background of Edinburgh amidst a fictional pandemic, full of dark humour from a female author practised in stand-up comedy.

Two years into a devastating flu pandemic, food shortages are critical. When the government proposes rationing, angry people take to the street.

So it’s more than embarrassing when a lorry full of luxury food for the Scottish Virus Minister’s banquet goes missing. When Bernard and Maitland from the North Edinburgh Health Enforcement Team team find it, the food is missing – but there is a dead body.

As tensions rise throughout the city and the nation, the stakes have never been higher. Everyone’s hungry. Everyone’s scared. And the Health Enforcement Team are driving blind.

Review

The Health Enforcement Team is back for another case. Like the previous books, it’s set in a world with a flu type pandemic. The author started writing the series before Covid and her content became like a prediction, including lockdown, so who knows what will happen in the real world after this book…
It makes the dark comedy seem even darker, in that knowledge!

Luxury Scottish food goes missing and there’s a dead body, it’s a very different sort of series of events for the Health Enforcement Team to get stuck into solving, alongside the police. The food was meant for Carlotta’s ministerial dinner and she hadn’t expected it to not turn up, nor for the turn of events that make it a twisty, unpredictable mystery.

With and intriguing plot and intricate plot lines, this is a welcome return to The Health of Strangers series and is easy to get hooked in early on in the book. I look forward to seeing what comes next from author, Lesley Kelly.

#Review By Lou of The Shadow Network By Tony Kent @TonyKent_Writes @EAndTBooks @RandomTTours

The Shadow Network
By Tony Kent

I hadn’t read books by Tony Kent before, even though I’d definitely heard of him and what he’d written. When the opportunity arose to review came my way on the blog tour, I figured I would give one a try. I was not disappointed and may even look out for his other books. Discover more in the blurb and my review below.

Blurb

How do you take down an enemy when no one believes they exist?

When the lawyers of alleged war criminal Hannibal Strauss are caught up in a terror attack in The Hague, barrister Michael Devlin immediately suspects all is not what it seems. Teaming up once more with Agent Joe Dempsey, they must find who’s behind it all before any more innocent lives are lost.

With their key witness on the run and assassins on their tail, their only lead is a the Monk, a legendary and mysterious foreign agent with a fearsome reputation. But what is his stake in this dangerous game? And just who is part of his shadowy network of spies? Caught in a complicated web of lies, secrets and double agents, there’s no one Dempsey and Devlin can trust but themselves.

Review

Short, sharp, cleverly constructed chapters gives The Shadow Network pace and a sense of reading in real-time as the events unfold. It quickly turns into a page-turner. so don’t expect to follow through with any plans to fall asleep after just a couple of pages. It’s easy to get caught up in the book and want to read more.

Joe Dempsey reckons he deserves some ‘down-time.’ He’s off to London as he’s accepted his invite to be Godfather to the twin sons of his best friend, Barrister, Michael Devlin, and his partner, journalist Sarah Truman. The Christening should be a beautiful occasion with some time to also relax. It doesn’t quite happen like that. News reaches Michael about one of his friends in severe danger at The Hague as there’s been an attack and its suspected to be terror related. With corruption and conspiracies flying, Dempsey and Devlin have their work cut out. For readers, there’s great, involving action scenes, the dark web, and twists that mean no one knows who can be trusted. There’s also The Monk, a mysterious character who could be mythical and legendary or real. You’ll have to read the book to find out which it is and what the connection is to this case.

If like me, you hadn’t picked up a book by Tony Kent before, or have been waiting in anticipation for the next Dempsey and Devlin book to be published, then The Shadow Network, with its excellent plotting, is for you.

#Review By Lou of Second Chance Summer By Phillipa Ashley #SecondChanceSummer @PhillipaAshley @RandomTTours @PenguinUKBooks

Second Chance Summer
By Phillipa Ashley

Summer is upon us and as our minds turn towards that perennial question as to what to read this summer, I am recommending Second Chance Summer.

Blurb

From the moment Lily Harper arrives at a remote retreat on the breath-taking Scilly Isles, she is itching to get back to civilisation – and her thriving business.

Slowing down simply isn’t in her vocabulary, and so she quickly clashes with the gorgeous but dour Sam who runs the retreat.

Just as Lily is about to give up and leave, disaster strikes, and she is involved in an incident that changes her perspective on everything.

Lily is no longer sure she wants to return to the life she thought she loved. But will she have the courage to give the retreat, and Sam, a second chance?

Review

Meet Lily Harper, a woman, a bit like myself, always on the go, yet the idea of a retreat is always idyllic. Lily actually tries out a retreat and where better than in the heat and beauty of Sicily. She knows she has to slow down and her body tells her to in quite a dramatic way. She’s also at the sharp end of the press when she becomes the craft business woman turned craft judge on a tv show.

When Lily goes to the retreat, she isn’t exactly enamoured and old habits are hard to kick, so she naturally wants to go home and get back to her business and be as busy as ever, but not before clashing with retreat owner, Sam, whose business could do with a bit of her oomph.

What unfolds is a gorgeous summer read to sink into your sun lounger with and soak up the rays and feelings of being on holiday, whether it’s a staycation or away somewhere. It’s a heart-warming book with a lot of hope and promise that life, even when tragic circumstances occur, not all is lost, even when there are twists and turns in rebuilding yourself.

Thanks to Random T. Tours for the blog tour invite for this summery read.

#Review By Lou of D-Day – The Oral History By Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg @Octopus_Books @RandomTTours #DDay #OralHistory #DDay80 #NonFiction

D-Day – The Oral History
By Garrett M. Graff

This isn’t just another book about the second world war. This is different from any other book. This is a moving book that commemorates 80 years on from D-Day. D-Day, An oral history is poignant and a time we should never forget. We should never forget those who fought for our freedom. We should never forget those who died nor those who are still alive today. We may not know or have known them, personally, but we can still remember them and this book allows us to do that. Check out the blurb and my review below as today I am honoured to be on the Random T. Tours/Octopus Books blog tour, with pride in my heart for the men and families involved in all of the war and in-particular on D-Day.

Blurb

Eighty years on, D-Day The Oral History is a fresh and significant new history of arguably the most important day of the 20th Century.
On 6th June 1944, the Allied invasion began. For hours, wave after wave of soldiers, sailors, and airmen crossed the channel and stormed the Normandy coast, fighting to gain a foothold in Nazi-occupied Northwest Europe.
It was the largest combined air and seaborne invasion ever, involving over 150,000 Allied troops on the ground, and its eventual success became a critical turning point in the
war, spelling the beginning of the end for the Third Reich.
As the events of that day fade from living memory, it’s more important than ever to
understand what it felt like to be there and to live through it, on both sides. In this
definitive work, Garrett M. Graff, the bestselling author of The Only Plane in the Sky: The Oral History of 9/11, compiles hundreds of US, Canadian, UK, French and
German voices to tell the full story of exactly how that historic day unfolded, in
visceral detail. From paratroopers to fighter pilots to nurses, generals, French
villagers, German Defenders to Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt, this is the most intimate re-telling of D-Day published to date.

Review

Garrett M. Graff has created a moving and poignant book for the 80th anniversary of D-Day. I don’t know how long the research took, but it looks thorough and like a lot of care has been taken over this, that I felt marks D-Day as well as any written word could do it justice and show compassion and understanding. Many readers, I am sure, will come away with more knowledge than they had before first entering the book.

‘A World at War’, ‘The Landing’ and ‘The End of D-Day’ is how the book is separated, telling all about D-Day in letters and interviews, which are highly moving and intimate. It is set out well and is easy to dip in and out of or read in one go.
As less and less people who fought in the war are alive or can make it to any commemoration ceremonies, you can’t help but feel that it is important for others to know about D-Day and the sacrifices made and the pride that it evokes of those who wanted to defend their country and halt a war that could’ve had a very different outcome.
The interviews, diaries, speeches, letters all really bring it to life for people who did not live through those times and are able to live how we do now, in relative peace, without there being a world war. We may not all know who the people in the book are/were, but still, it gives this generation and future generations an insightful, real opportunity to learn and to remember them.

#Review By Lou of Voices of the Dead By Ambrose Parry @ambroseparry #CrimeFiction #HistoricalCrimeFiction #VoicesOfTheDead @RandomTTours #BlogTour

Voices of the Dead
By Ambrose Parry

Voices of the Dead is set in Edinburgh and in and around the Surgeon’s Hall, somewhere I have visited for the macabre, yet fascinating Burke and Hare Exhibition that people can still see today. Check out the blurb and my review below as part of the Random T. Tours blog tour…

Blurb

A SCOTSMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR

EDINBURGH, 1853.
In a city of science, discovery can be deadly . . .

In a time of unprecedented scientific innovation, the public’s appetite for wonder has seen a resurgence of interest in mesmerism, spiritualism and other unexplained phenomena.

Dr Will Raven is wary of the shadowlands that lie between progress and quackery, but Sarah Fisher can’t afford to be so picky. Frustrated in her medical ambitions, she sees opportunity in a new therapeutic field not already closed off to women.

Raven has enough on his hands as it is. Body parts have been found at Surgeons Hall, and they’re not anatomy specimens. In a city still haunted by the crimes of Burke and Hare, he is tasked with heading off a scandal.

When further human remains are found, Raven is able to identify a prime suspect, and the hunt is on before he kills again. Unfortunately, the individual he seeks happens to be an accomplished actor, a man of a thousand faces and a renowned master of disguise.

With the lines between science and spectacle dangerously blurred, the stage is set for a grand and deadly illusion . . .

Review

Science, it can be good but there is always a darker side. You can feel the dark, eerie atmosphere creep and swirl around the pages as times become reminiscent of those of Burke and Hare around the Surgeon’s Hall. The spiritualism and mesmerism adds to this.

Woven together with fact, including medical fact and fiction, Raven and Fisher have to piece a rather complex case together in this latest book in this beautifully written series, that brings the darker side of Edinburgh alive, as they discover the Voices of The Dead.

Will’s personal life at home is equally interesting to read about as finding body parts across the city. Parry brings the human interest story together well, alongside the quest for answers to solve a case. Will has a strained relationship with his son and has other pressures on top of this in his life to contend with.

Part of Sarah’s life shows the up-hill struggle and battles she faces as she pursues a medical career. The attitudes towards women in this profession and therapies are interesting to read, as is what the new therapeutic line that she finds to pursue that is not closed off to women.

I was easily hooked into this book and highly recommend it for any shelf and eyes to see. Even if historical crime books aren’t normally your thing, this is still a fascinating read and there’s lots to learn and think about from it, as well as a twisty plot that keeps you guessing as you go round Edinburgh.

About the Author

Ambrose Parry is a pseudonym for a collaboration between Chris Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman.

The couple are married and live in Scotland.

Chris Brookmyre is the international bestselling and multi-award-winning author of over twenty novels.

Dr Marisa Haetzman is a consultant anaesthetist of twenty years’ experience, whose research for her Master’s degree in the History of Medicine uncovered the material upon which this series, which begun with The Way of All Flesh, is based.

The Way of all Flesh was longlisted for both the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award and the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year.