#Review by Lou of The Serial Killer’s Party by Amy Cunningham @Sarah_Goodwin_Author @PenguinUKBooks @RandomTTours #SerialKillersParty #Thriller #Summer #Holiday #Party

The Serial Killer’s Party
By Amy Cunningham

Review written by Louise Cannon

Picture a hot summer’s day. An invitation to a luxury event. The contrast of the Norwegian Fjords with the deep forest. The cool blue of the water. The splatter of red blood…
Check out the blurb and review below… if I survive the invitation to the party of the year…

Blurb

Welcome to the party of the year.
You’ve been invited to an exclusive, luxury event in Norway, hosted by a billionaire. Your moment has finally arrived. But you’re not going for the canapes and champagne. You’re going for revenge.

Where anything is possible.
You’ve spent months preparing for this moment. Because you know that beneath the host’s polished public persona, he’s a vicious killer who has murdered several innocent people, including your sister.

Even murder…
Then a guest dies in mysterious circumstances, and you begin to wonder… is this a trap? Why does it feel like you’re being watched? And will you ever escape?

*** Everyone is talking about The Serial Killer’s Party! ***

Review

Revenge is the order of the day. The host of the luxurious party of the year isn’t all as you would think. What unfolds is summer vibes that turns into mystery and revenge. It has you on-edge a bit with the characterisations of the rich and the bordering on how far someone is prepared to go to get what they want. This adds a compelling nature and bite to the otherwise, cosy summer feel to the book.
Amelia’s story is an interesting one and you can feel her emotions, which leads to understanding her within the immersive, beautiful environment readers find her in.

There is some pockets of suspense with a mysterious disappearance, which adds some intrigue for a while. It isn’t a constant suspense, but I didn’t feel it needed to be, particularly.

I found the book improved and became more compelling and intriguing the further it went on.

It’s a good, well-written book that sits well on a beach or lounging in the garden during the summer holiday period. It’s an invitation you would like to say yes to and be immersed into a darker world in a holiday destination thriller book.

I would read another book by this author.

#Review by Lou of Getting Away by Kate Sawyer @KateSawyer @bonnierbooks_uk #GettingAway #Summer #SummerRead #Holidays

Getting Away
By Kate Sawyer

I actually finished Getting Away when I had got away myself for a little while. It felt rather appropriate for a title whilst staying a rare summer’s night away in a hotel. I enjoyed catching up with this family and through their holidays and secrets.

Blurb

Margaret Smith is at the beach.
It is a summer day unlike any other Margaret has ever known.
The Smith family have left the town where they live and work and go to school and come to a place where the sky is blue, the sand is white, and the sound of the sea surrounds them. An ordinary family discovering the joy of getting away for the first time.
Over the course of the coming decades, they will be transformed through their holiday experiences, each new destination a backdrop as the family grows and changes, love stories begin and end — and secrets are revealed.
Coming this summer, Getting Away is a dazzlingly ambitious new novel from the author of Waterstones’ Fiction Book of the Month, This Family, and the Costa shortlisted The Stranding.

Review

This is a story of holidays, family, love, loss, secrets. It tells the multi-generational story of the Smith family through the lens of looking back through 90 years holidays, which I thought was a pretty original idea and perfect for the summer holiday period. You can see the passage of time over each holiday and how things have changed in that time. It’s quite thought-provoking in a way about how in certain eras it was about flying for the first time, trying new foods that at first seemed strange. The things that nowadays, we as a human race unfortunately take for granted.

You see how each character grows and evolves, relates to each other and uncovers secrets in this compelling character-driven story. Life hasn’t always been summery and easy for them. Their hardships have been of some of the most challenging people can face. This has issues and topics that bravely are not shied away from and makes for an intriguing story and one where you can really get your teeth into it and be moved by.

I highly recommend this summer generational family saga to read this season with its complex family to follow. Getting Away truly is a book to escape somewhere with and read.

About the Author

Kate Sawyer worked as an actor and producer, and wrote several short films before turning her hand to fiction. She is the author of three novels: the forthcoming Getting Away, Waterstones Fiction Book of The Month, This Family, and her debut novel, The Stranding, which was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, won the East Anglian fiction prize, was adapted for BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime and is being developed for the screen by Fremantle and Afua Hirsch’s production company Born In Me.

When Kate isn’t writing, or talking to other authors about their writing practices for her podcast Novel Experience and as a chair for author events, she works as the Programme Curator for the annual Bury St Edmunds Literature Festival.

After twenty years living in London, she recently returned to her native East Anglia, where she lives with her young daughter.

#Review by Lou of The School Gates by A.A. Chaudhuri @aachaudhuri @hera_books #PsychologicalThriller #LBTCrewbie #BlogTour #Summer #School

The School Gates
By A.A. Chaudhuri

The school gates hold more than a physical entity. If only they could talk. They’d know many secrets, not to mention the parent politics and dynamics. No wonder there is a psychological thriller about this space that is so much more than just a drop-off/pick up point and an entry/exit point to the school grounds…
Find out more in the blurb and review below as today is my turn on the Love Books Tours blog tour.

Blurb

First comes gossip … then comes revenge

When single mum Lola Martinez’s son, Luca, starts school, she feels that she’ll never fit in with the yummy mummies in the playground. Confident, married to wealthy men, with ample free time, they are everything she isn’t.

However, Lola is invited into the inner circle, surrounded by seemingly friendly people, even if Lola’s silence about her child’s father puzzles them. Despite herself, Lola quickly becomes involved in playground politics, making as many enemies as friends.

But then Lola is brutally murdered, her death rocking the close-knit community. As the police investigate the case, they discover that Lola was hiding many secrets – as are the mums in her new social circle. But who had the most reason to kill her? And who else might unwittingly hold the answers to what happened that night?

An addictive psychological thriller with an end twist that will make you gasp, for fans of Lisa Jewell, T.M. Logan and Frieda McFadden. If you loved Big Little Lies, you’ll adore this.

Review

Do you fit in at the school gates? Will you dare, even after reading this book, to enter the school gate politics? You may not stay alive. Lola didn’t as her death shows just how things can get so out of hand that murder happens.
It’s a good topic to choose to write about and to turn it so vicious that murder actually occurs. It’s quite a page-turner, but underneath that aspect lies a more darker, deeper issue. How people are in cliques, inner circles at these gates and if you’re not part of it, you may be seen as an outsider and treated as such. Although the murder is extreme, there are clearly rooted aspects surrounding that in certain characters that I am sure some parents will recognise, either in others or even themselves.

Tensions rise and secrets are revealed across The School Gates and they’re rather juicy and twisty to read. Chaudhuri certainly knows how to play into the psyche of that of what is a normal everyday task such as taking your kid to school and making it so intriguing and twisty that you want to listen more to the gossip and spy on what people are doing.

This is a sharply observed summer read for the end of the school term.

#Review by Lou of The Beach Cabin – A Quick Read and Dyslexic Friendly version by Fern Britton Out Now, Happy Publication Day! @Fern_Britton @booksonthehill @LoveBooksTours #BlogTour #DyslexicFriendly #SummerRead #Summer

The Beach Cabin

Quick Read and Dyslexic Friendly

By Fern Britton

Review by Louise Cannon

The book world is proving that you do not need to be excluded from reading from books when you are diagnosed with Dyslexia. Publishers have been publishing, mostly children’s books, but now Books On The Hill (BOTH) is publishing for the adult dyslexic community. It is proving successful, with many well-known authors attaching themselves to it, with more book titles coming their way soon.
Today, I am on the Love Books Group blog tour to review The Beach Cabin. Check out the blurb and then my review below as well as how you can get your hands on a copy.

Blurb

Charlotte and Ed have been drifting apart, and Ed suspects Charlotte is having and affair. He decides that a family holiday in the Cornish village of Pendruggan could be just the thing to get them back on track. But Charlotte has been let down before and braces herself for disappointment.

Together with teenage daughter Alex, younger son Sam, and dog Molly, they set out on their Cornish escape. Will the trip bring the family closer, or is it too little, too late?

Review

The first thing to notice is how the very particular paper used, really makes the words jump off the page, differently from other books. I asked friend Kelley Duke, who is dyslexic what she thought of the text and readability.

She says “the font and text is clear, which makes reading easier.”

The plot itself is summery with bite. Not everything is as smooth and light as the summer air. The prologue allows readers to see what led up to the events that followed. It takes readers to channel 7 and a children’s tv programme, Skool’s Out. It sounds quite fun. That was in 2000, then time whisks onwards to 2015, Pendruggan, Cornwall.

The characterisation of Charlotte and her family are totally relatable as they embark on their escape to Cornwall to bring them closer. There’s a gently paced exploration of family dynamics, the growing apart and trying to bring it back. Some of the emotions that ebb and out, sometimes coming to a crescendo are piercing and all are realistic and relatable.

Fern Britton has captured family dynamics in a realistically compelling manner with the characters propelling the plot along very well.

The Beach Cabin is a book I recommend this summer. It’s a great holiday read for the beach or lounging in the garden or park.

Buy Links

Waterstones Waterstones WH Smith WH Smith Amazon Amazon

#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 By Lou of The Right Place By Sophia Money-Coutts @HQstories @sophiamcoutts #Romcom #RomanticFiction #HolidayRead #SummerRead #BlogTour

The Right Place
By Sophia Money-Coutts

Escapism is sometimes leaves a wonderful feeling and this does just that. It’s residue is that of something uplifting and holiday-like but with lots of substance of something deeper going on. Check out the blurb and review below. It’s a perfect fit for those who like Emily Henry.

Blurb

Escape the grey skies with this gorgeous summery beach read romcom set in the South of France!

If Maggie is living her best life, why doesn’t it feel like she’s in the right place?

From the outside, Maggie Lemon has a perfect life. But she and her husband have been trying for a baby for five years and she’s exhausted. She’s seen countless fertility experts and followed dozens of diets and homeopathic recommendations, and even gave up her dream restaurant in London when doctors suggested the stress might be too much. And now her estranged aunt has died, leaving her hotel in Provence to Maggie.

It’s been years since Maggie visited Le Figuier. There’s a lot of work to be done and she knows she should sell it. But when a disgraced Hollywood actor hiding out at the hotel lends a hand, the load feels a lot lighter. Is it just the chemistry with this handsome stranger, or is it starting to feel like Maggie might finally be in the right place?

Review

Perfect lives from the outside, rarely are from the inside. Maggie Lemon’s life looks and sounds like she’s just got everything made for her. So perfect! She has the money, the business and the husband.
In reality, she’s sacrificed a lot. She is stressed to the max! She’s gone through years of failed IVF treatment and given up the restaurant. Maggie is also wrestling with the question of where she feels she belongs.

Set mainly in Provence, France, her life begins to change as she inherits Le Figuier, but she does have a decision to make and that’s whether to sell it or tackle all the work that is required on this rather run-down hotel. She certainly likes a challenge and it piques interest that renovations are underway as it’s fun seeing how something dilapidated turns out.

There’s delicious sounding food, so on comes the hunger pangs and a celebrity in hiding, which adds intrigue as he also helps out. There’s lots to tackle from the interior to the exterior, including leaks and a pool that’s definitely seen better days too. It’s entertaining seeing how it will all turn out.

For all the issues that are there to overcome, there is some great humour in what transpires to be a holiday read that is fun to explore.