#Review By Lou of Hostage By Claire Mackintosh @ClareMackint0sh @BookSphere @RandomTTours #Thriller #CrimeFiction #SummerReading #summerread #HolidayReading #BlogTour #HostageBook

Hostage
By Claire Mackintosh

Hold on tight for a breath-taking fast-paced summer read in Hostage By Claire Mackintosh. Today I am on the blog tour with a review. Find out more in the blurb and review below. Thanks first to Random T. Tours and Book Sphere for inviting me onto the tour to review and for a copy of the book.

Blurb

Save hundreds of lives. Or save your child?
You’re on board the first non-stop flight from London to Sydney. It’s a landmark journey, and the world is watching.
Shortly after take-off, you receive a chilling anonymous note.
There are people on this plane intent on bringing it down – and you’re the key to their plan.
You’d never help them, even if your life depended on it.
But they have your daughter . . . So now you have to
choose.
DO YOU SAVE HUNDREDS OF LIVES? OR THE ONE
THAT MATTERS MOST?

Review

Hostage begins with a heart in the mouth moment, there’s no other way of describing the opening pages. It’s tense as eyes open wider and boom, hooked, and got to know what happened to lead up to that moment of a horrific and terrifying incident. A situation no one would ever want to find themselves in.

The book cycles between Mina and Adam and various passengers. Mina’s life has complexities that are spilled out to her work colleague, like she is getting it all off her chest; the difficulties to conceive, Sophia who she adopted and turns out she has been diagnosed by a psychologist with hyperlexia and other deep issues. The book takes readers between homelife and the momentous, ground-breaking flight.

There’s a lot of anticpation about the first non-stop flight to Sidney and Mina is working on it. The passengers have various reasons to be on this particular flight, some are very deep and to very consciously leave something or someone behind. They all have a story to tell, all with some type of profound emotion attached.

Adam, Mina’s husband, works in the police force in CID on major cases as he is a Detective Sergeant, who is given a hard time by Sophia, but the intense love cuts through.

Things get even more intense, as if that were possible, but Mackintosh wracks it up a few more notches and it all becomes increasingly chilling when a note is found that spell that lives are in danger and a situation involving Sophia comes to head.~
There are many moments that are sure to make any reader gasp and want to hold their breath as it is breath-taking, but remember to breath as no one can hold their breath for 385 pages, no matter how fast-paced they are.

Hostage is intense and an absolute page-turner. It’s incredibly immersive, more than what readers may be bargaining for.

About the Author

Clare Mackintosh is the multi-award-winning author of five Sunday Times bestselling novels, including I Let You Go, which was the fastest-selling debut thriller in the year it was released.
Translated into forty languages, her books have sold more than two million copies worldwide, have been New York Times and international bestsellers and have spent a combined total of 64 weeks in the Sunday Times bestseller chart.
Clare spent twelve years in the police force, including time on CID, and as a public order
commander. She left the police in 2011 to work as a freelance journalist and social media
consultant and is the founder of the Chipping Norton Literary Festival. She now writes full time
and lives in Wales with her husband and their three children.
http://www.claremackintosh.com / http://www.facebook.com/ClareMackWrites / @ClareMackint0sh

#Review by Lou – The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle by Matt Cain Happy Publication Day @MattCainWriter @HeadlineFiction #ContemporaryFiction #Fiction #Romance #LGBT #AudioBook #BlogTour #AudioTour #BlogTour

The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle
By Matt Cain

Touching and endearing, The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle is nothing short of fabulously uplifting and full of joy and optimism. It’s a beautiful, highly original summer read. It’s a Must Listen To…

I very highly recommend this book. I genuinely loved it and could not put it down. It was a pity it had to end sometime.

Check out more in the blurb, my review and the praise it has already attracted below
Thanks to publishers – Headline for gifting me a copy of the audiobook and for giving me the pleasure of reviewing in Gay Pride Month. It makes no difference what your sexual orientation is. It’s a cracking read for anyone who loves a good story. It’s by far one of the best LGBT books I’ve ever read.

Blurb

IT’S NEVER TOO LATE TO START YOUR LIFE’S BIG ADVENTURE . . .

Albert Entwistle was a postman. It was one of the few things everyone knew about him. And it was one of the few things he was comfortable with people knowing.

64-year-old Albert Entwistle has been a postie in a quiet town in Northern England for all his life, living alone since the death of his mam 18 years ago. He keeps himself to himself. He always has. But he’s just learned he’ll be forced to retire at his next birthday. With no friends and nothing to look forward to, the lonely future he faces terrifies him. He realises it’s finally time to be honest about who he is. He must learn to ask for what he wants. And he must find the courage to look for George, the man that, many years ago, he lost – but has never forgotten . . .

Join Albert as he sets out to find the long-lost love of his life, and has an unforgettable and completely life-affirming adventure on the way . . . This is a love story the likes of which you have never read before!

Review

The Audiobook is a dream to listen to. You really get to know Albert Entwistle and the narrator Layton Williams really brings him to life. The pacing is excellent and so is the way Albert’s story is delivered. I went out walk

Albert Entwistle is a postman, a pretty ordinary one at that and one that I was interested to know more about, even with the pang of sadness that he appears to have no life outside work, which poses a challenge when retirement is on the cards.

I especially enjoyed getting to know Albert, George and Marjorie, as well as Nicole and seeing their lives unfold and how they are connected.

This is a very beautiful book that’s so quick to get into. It’s uplifting, with a cosy warmth. It also bridges the gap between younger and older generations, in some ways in the attutudes that and secrecy were around at certain times. It’s quite hard to put down as you uncover great characters and a life with secrets that may not be quite what you’re expecting and reasons why Albert hid part of his life for a time.

There are reunions and a love story that starts to play out and it is so lovely to watch it unfold. There’s travel and theatre and such life drama. There’s also a cat and an very emotional story unfolds that leaves you rooting for Albert more than ever.

There are discoveries made and life can be more than what you think it might as no one can predict the future. It is so poignant and touching in parts. The journeys that are taken, both deep, personal ones and the actual moving around from Toddington to Blackpool add to the great life affirming adventure, that so easily reels you in.

The book is entertaining to read/listen to and just projects so much joy and also so much emotion, with pinpoints of humour. There is strength of character and courage, which is absolutely fabulous!

Praise for The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle

‘A rollicking love story‘ IAN McKELLEN

‘A wonderful old-fashioned romance . . . An utter treat‘ KATE MOSSE

‘Wonderful. Written with such a good heart, filled with joy and strength and optimism . . . inventive and fun but most importantly, true.’ RUSSELL T. DAVIES

‘Brilliant . . . [I] recommend to all!’ MATT LUCAS

‘I loved it! Really heart-warming and joyful, but also so poignant. I cannot recommend this book highly enough’ LORRAINE KELLY

‘Albert is such an endearing character – flawed, funny and awkward, but completely relatable. A wonderfully warm story that completely drew me in’ RUTH HOGAN

‘Sweet, lovely and expected to be a big summer hit‘ THE BOOKSELLER

‘Prepare to fall in love with Albert Entwistle! Touching and tender’ S. J. WATSON

‘Albert is delightful and charming, and the book is too’ JONATHAN HARVEY

#BookReview by Lou Home by Penny Parkes @CotswoldPenny @simonschusterUK @TeamBATC #Home #Fiction #ContemporaryFiction

Home
By Penny Parkes

Home is engrossing and warm as well as intriguing as you open each door in different parts of the country as you travel with Anna as she does her job and meet different people who own the homes in this intriguing, warm,’Must Read’ book that you may have to take with you through every door you go through as it’s so compelling to read.
Find out more in the blurb and more of my thoughts in my review and then a bit about the author.
Firstly, thanks to Books and the City – Simon and Schuster publishers for inviting me to review for the blog tour and for gifting me with the book that has many doors – Home. The book was published 8th July and is her 5th book. It is a standalone.

Blurb

‘Moving, hopeful and heartfelt… an ideal book group read’ AJ Pearce (who wrote Dear Mrs Bird, Yours Cheerfully)

A gripping and heartfelt story about overcoming the past and finding where you belong.

Anna Wilson travels the world as a professional housesitter – stepping into other people’s lives – caring for their homes, pets and sometimes even neighbours. Living vicariously.

But all Anna has ever really wanted is a home of her own – a proper one, filled with family and love and happy memories. If only she knew where to start.

Growing up in foster care, she always envied her friends their secure and carefree lives, their certainty and confidence. And, while those same friends may have become her family of choice, Anna is still stuck in that nomadic cycle, looking for answers, trying to find the courage to put down roots and find a place to call home.

Compelling, rich and evocative, Home is Anna’s journey to discovering that it isn’t where you settle down that matters, but the people you have around you when you do.

Review

What an invitation to open every door just by opening a book. Who could resist to see who lives behind each one and where in the country these lovely doors are located.

The book takes readers to different parts of the country on a journey, which means arriving, stopping for a bit before moving on and meeting more and more new people. It adds to the excitement and intrigue of this book, which is all very interesting. It also shows a certain way of life and the trade-offs, the need for self-protection, a certain strenght and resilience as well as maturity and more in Anna’s character makeup.

Live life in 2019 in: Oxford, Dittisham, Bath, London, Chipping Norton
Have a past between 1998 and 2019 in: Swindon, Coventry, Oxford

The book begins in 2019 in Oxford she then moves onto Dittisham and then Bath. Some owners she meets, others she doesn’t. The properties often sound wonderful and the people she does meet, colourful and full of life. Anna is in-fact a house-sitter and also has another dream job she is meant to be working on.
Housesittin sounds an amazing responsibility and wonderful job and one I didn’t know existed. I am now thinking of exchanging my job to be a house-sitter, this book makes it sound so interesting.

The book shows that housesitting isn’t a walk in the park, with not only the house to keep safe and clean, but also sometimes pets and the comings and goings of other people and the rules that are left to follow to the letter.

Anna and her friend Kate are also into books in a big way and have a sense of joviality about them as well as the seriousness of life and how not even friendships are easy . They are terrifically conceived characters, who have a certain pull and you want to get to know. What’s also great are these characters try not to take anything for granted, including their lives, the scenery, the architecture, they just take it all in and are continually awe-inspired

The book also goes back to Anna’s childhood and the social workers she had as part of her care package and what a hotchpotch of people she had. It also shows her growing up, so as much as lots of the book is set in 2019, this gives an interesting back-story. She also, in this time meets her dad, so you get to know him a bit and what happened that she was in care and in university. All in all it is nice to see her life to progress to where she is now, in 2019. It’s also interesting to see why she is how she is.

All that travelling and meeting new characters kept me absolutely engrossed! It is easy to say that I highly recommend this book.

About the Author

Penny Parkes survived a convent education largely thanks to a ready supply of inappropriate novels and her passion for writing and languages.
She studied International Management in Bath and Germany, before gaining experience with the BBC. She then set up an independent film location agency and spent many happy years organising shoots for film, television and advertising – thereby ensuring that she was never short of travel opportunities, freelance writing projects or entertaining anecdotes.
Penny now lives in the Cotswolds with her husband, two children and an excitable dog with a fondness for Post-its.
She will often be found plotting epic train journeys through the Alps, baking gluten-free goodies or attempting to reach an elusive state of organisation.
In 2017, Penny won the RNA Romantic Comedy Novel of the Year Award. This is her fifth novel.
Follow Penny on Twitter and Instagram: @CotswoldPenny

Happy Publication Day for The Lucky Escape by Laura Jane Williams @laurajaneauthor @AvonBooks @ElliePilcher95

The Lucky Escape
By Laura Jane Williams

Happy Publication Day to Laura Jane Williams for her book The Lucky Escape. It is available in paperback, e-book and audio book. Discover more in the blurb below and you can purchase this feel-good summer read from today. Thanks to Ellie Pilcher at Avon Books for giving me the opportunity to share this with you all.

Blurb

The wedding? Cancelled.
The bride? Heartbroken.
The honeymoon? Try and stop her…

The Lucky Escape by Laura Jane Williams is OUT TODAY in ebook, paperback and audiobook. Escape to Australia this summer in this hilarious feel-good read!

Purchase Link – Waterstones