#Blogtour Five Bad Deeds by Caz Frear

It’s a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour Five Bad Deeds by Caz Frear.

About the Author

Caz Frear has a first class degree in History and Politics, and spent twelve years working as a headhunter before she started writing. She hasn’t lost her enthusiasm for networking, and is a popular member of the crime fraternity. She lives in Coventry with her husband. 

Her debut, the number one bestseller Sweet Little Lies, was the winner of the Richard & Judy Search for a Bestseller Competition 2017 and went on to sell over 250,000 copies. It was followed by Stone Cold Heart and Shed No Tears, both of which feature her police detective Cat Kinsella. Five Bad Deeds is her first standalone thriller. Follow @CazziF on X

About the book

One Womans Secret, Two sides to every story, Three deadly betrayals, Four potential suspects, Five bad deeds.

Ellen Walsh has done something very, very bad. If only she knew what it was . . .

Teacher, mother, wife, and all-around good citizen Ellen is juggling non-stop commitments, from raising a teen and two toddlers to job-hunting, to finally renovating her dream home, the Meadowhouse. Amidst the chaos, an ominous note arrives in the mail declaring:

Sooner or later everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences.

Why would someone send her this note? Ellen has no clue. She’s no angel – a white lie here and there, an occasional sharp tongue – but nothing to incur the wrath of an anonymous enemy.

Everyone around Ellen – her husband, her teenage daughter, her sister, her best friend, her neighbours – can guess why, though. They all know from bitter experience that while Ellen’s intentions are always good, this ultimately counts for very little when you’ve (unintentionally?) blown up someone’s life. Could the five bad deeds that come to haunt Ellen explain why things have gone so horribly wrong?

As she races to discover who’s set on destroying her life, Ellen receives more anonymous messages, each one more threatening than the last . . . and each hitting closer and closer to home and everything she cherishes.

Review

I really enjoyed the vibe of this story – deliciously wicked undertone of authenticity and lack of clarity when it comes to black or white – everyone has their own version of somewhere in between. Sharp wit, thoughtless jibes, nasty intentions – no wonder someone has had enough and wants to expose the hypocrisy.

Interestingly Ellen doesn’t really evoke sympathy, empathy or much compassion. I think the majority of readers understand why Orla makes Ellen ragey, why hubby frustrates her, why the twins make her feel as if her life is a constant cycle of chaos. Her sister is somewhere between frenemy and jealous friend, her friends a necessity for appearances – actually that seems to be a lot of negativity, perhaps because it is and she is.

That’s without even wandering into the murky secrets Ellen keeps locked away, not well enough it seems. Someone is out to expose her one secret at a time – she isn’t the only one keeping secrets though. As the threats pile in Ellen becomes a little less cautious and a lot more willing to keep her life intact.

It’s a riveting psychological thriller. The sharp-tongued and brutally honest main character resonates, mainly because life really is just a series of choices, secrets, compromises and challenges. Some of us can cope with them without doing anything drastic, other people not so much. Highly recommend.

Buy Five Bad Deeds at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Simon and Schuster Uk; pub date 11th April 2024 | Hardback £14.99. Buy at Amazon com.

#Blogtour Leave No Trace by Jo Callaghan

It’s a pleasure to take part on the Blogtour Leave No Trace by Jo Callaghan .Two detectives – One human, One AI. And the hunt for an undetectable killer… 

‘The hotly anticipated follow-up to Sunday Times bestseller In The Blink of an Eye, one of the most talked about and original debuts of 2023’

About the Author

Jo Callaghan works fulltime as a senior strategist, where she has carried out research into the future impact of AI and genomics on the workforce. After losing her husband to cancer in 2019 when she was just forty-nine, she started writing In the Blink of an Eye, her debut crime novel, which explores learning to live with loss and what it means to be human. In 

The Blink of an Eye was selected for BBC 2’s ‘Between the Covers’ in Spring 2023, and Jo was a featured debut at Harrogate Crime Festival and Bloody Scotland Festival. She lives with her two children in the Midlands. Leave No Trace is her second novel. Follow @JoCallaghanKat on X

About the book

One detective driven by instinct, the other by logic. It will take both to find a killer who knows the true meaning of fear . . . 

When the body of a man is found crucified at the top of Mount Judd, AIDE Lock – the world’s first AI Detective – and DCS Kat Frank are thrust into the spotlight as they are given their first live case. But with the discovery of another man’s body – also crucified – it appears that their killer is only just getting started…  

The police issue a controversial warning to local men to be vigilant: do not walk home alone at night, do not leave a pub with a stranger… The Future Policing Unit is thrust into a hostile media frenzy as they desperately search for connections between the victims. But time is running out for them to join the dots, so they must combine their human instinct and algorithms to catch the killer before the strike again.  

For if Kat and Lock know anything, it’s that killers rarely stop – until they are made to. 

Review

This is the second book in the Kat and Lock series, where AI Detective Lock and Detective Kat Frank deal with their first live case – a heinous murder with disturbing details. Can their combined talents help them find a vicious killer who has only just started their reign of terror. Logic, pattern recognition and facts vs hands-on experience and the human factor, a win – win combo, right?

Kudos for using this threat to men and the recommendations or safety strategies they are asked to put in place, which in turn highlights the reality of dangers women live with daily and the strategies they have to use all the time.

Not going to lie – I find this futuristic concept of police and detective work quite fascinating. Perhaps more so because the author presents the limitations, the scrutiny, the criticism and equally also the positive aspects of this kind of technological advancement. I’m hoping we also get an similar adversary with less positive intentions, but that might create an irreversible question mark above Lock and the existence of AI technology in a human driven field of work. Can fact or should fact and patterns always supersede the element of humanity and compassion?

After the great success of the first book in the series, it was great to see the second live up to the hype. I think it has so much potential going forward, ergo let’s have more please.

Buy Leave No Trace at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Simon and Schuster Uk, pub date 28 March 2024 | Hardback | £16.99. Buy at Amazon com.

#Blogtour The Hidden Years by Rachel Hore

Sunday Times bestseller Rachel Hore’s captivating new novel of secrets, loss and betrayal – set on the beautiful Cornish coast during World War Two and the heady days of the 1960s. 

It’s my turn on the Blogtour The Hidden Years by Rachel Hore.

About the Author

Rachel Hore worked in London publishing for many years before moving with her family to Norwich, where she taught publishing and creative writing at the University of East Anglia before becoming a full-time writer. She is married to the writer D. J. Taylor and they have three sons. Rachel Hore is the author of twelve previous novels, many of them Sunday Times bestsellers. Follow @Rachelhore on X

About the book

When talented musician Gray Robinson persuades Belle to abandon her university studies and follow him to Silverwood, home to an artistic community on the Cornish coast, Belle happily agrees even though they’ve only just met. She knows she is falling in love, and the thought of spending a carefree summer with Gray is all she can think about. 

But being with Gray isn’t the only reason Belle agrees to accompany him to Silverwood. Why does the name Silverwood sound so familiar? What is its connection to a photo of her as a baby, taken on a nearby beach? And who is Imogen Lockhart, a wartime nurse who lived at Silverwood many years ago? As the summer months unfold, Belle begins to learn the truth – about secrets from the past that have been kept hidden, but also about the person she wants to be. 

Review

It’s the 60s and Belle is about to embark on a new path, a deviation from her plans from her sensible life. Why? The charm of a persuasive man is so convincing that she is willing to become a butterfly floating on the winds of change. Sounds so convincing, right?

She follows Gray to a place called Silverwood, and eventually it’s as if she was meant to follow him to that place, because it appears to hold the answers to some secrets she was never aware of.

The second timeline begins on the cusp of the start of World War II and Imogen, who helps to accompany two evacuees to a house that becomes an important fixture in the story. Somehow the two must be connected right, but perhaps the stories connect in a different way completely.

One of things the author does really well in this book is bring to life the forgotten world of the first line of defence, ergo the coastal communities during the war. The preparation for a possible invasion, the actual invasion of friendly forces – the way the allies changed the fabric of certain areas, and just how many stories remain locked in and forgotten.

Set across two timelines this historical fiction story has the heart of a fighter, the compassion of an open heart and keeps the reader engaged from the get-go.

Buy The Hidden Years at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Simon and Schuster, pub date 15th February 2024 | Paperback | £9.99. Buy at Amazon com.

#Blogtour The Sisterhood by Katherine Bradley

It’s a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour The Sisterhood by Katherine Bradley.

About the Author

Katherine Bradley worked for many years managing services for people who are marginalised by society; her work has taken her into prisons, mental health hospitals and alongside the homeless. She currently works in education. She holds a first-class degree in English Literature, in addition to qualifications in creative writing and teaching. 

As Kate Bradley, she published two suspense thrillers – To Keep You Safe (2020) and What I Did (2021). Her work has been described as ‘addictive, original and brilliantly twisty’ by T. M. Logan and ‘heart-stopping’ by David Nicholls. Katherine lives in a small coastal town just outside of Brighton with her husband and sons. Follow @kate__bradley on X

About the book

In Oceania, whoever you are, Big Brother is always watching you. Trust is a luxury that no one has. Julia is the seemingly perfect example of what women in Oceania should be: dutiful, useful, subservient, meek. But Julia hides a secret. A secret that would lead to her death if discovered. For Julia is part of the underground movement called The Sisterhood, whose main goal is to find members of The Brotherhood, the anti-Party vigilante group, and help them to overthrow Big Brother. Only then can everyone be truly free. 

When Julia thinks she’s found a potential member of The Brotherhood, it seems like their goal might finally be in their grasp. But as she gets closer to Winston Smith, Julia’s past starts to catch up with her and we soon realise that she has many more secrets than we’d first imagined – and that overthrowing Big Brother might cost her everything – but if you have nothing left to lose then you don’t mind playing the game . . . 

This is a story about love, about family, about being a woman, a mother, a sister, a friend and ultimately about what you would sacrifice for the greater good. 

Review

I think to get a better and perhaps a more objective view of the book you have to try and forget what has gone before. Experience the story without the frame of reference of the reimagining of the classic, then afterwards compare and examine if you want. 

Fresh eyes experience the oppression of a dystopian society with a bleak shimmer of hope coursing through the veins of the few who haven’t given up quite yet. Sisterhood speaks volumes and suggests vast connections with the feminist reimagined character development of 1984.

It deserves the objective eye and to stand on its own merit even if the base idea is inspired by the well of another. This idea well has allowed growth beyond expectation, despite the societal construct of complete oppression, monitoring and control being an old concept. Although it is both worrying and an eye-opener how the degeneration happens in the first place – is it not upon us already as we speak? 

I found it riveting. The author knows how to captivate the reader with the fraught tension, the risk and constant danger, and does so in the midst of a bleak concept. Bare minimum makes you focus on the small interactions, the barely evident body language and expressions, the repressed emotions and fear in the back of your neck.

Excellent read – hopefully there is more to come.

Buy The Sisterhood at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Simon and Schuster, pub date 18th January 2024 – Paperback | £9.99. Buy at Amazon com.

#Blogtour Joe Nuthin’s Guide to Life by Helen Fisher

It’s a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour Joe Nuthin’s Guide to Life by Helen Fisher.

About the Author

Helen Fisher is the author of Space Hopper, her debut novel of 2021. Joe Nuthin’s Guide to Life is her second novel. Helen has degrees in psychology and ergonomics and was the senior evaluator at RNIB for a few years. This background informs much of her writing as she is fascinated by the psychology of everyday life, especially in terms of relationships. 

Inspiration for Helen’s protagonists and other characters are often drawn directly from herself, her friends and family. She explains that her creation of the character of Joe Nuthin is partly to examine ‘the importance of what some might think of as a small and ordinary life’.

Helen was born on a US military base and spent the first five years of her life in the US, before returning to the UK with her family settling in Suffolk. She returned to Suffolk as an adult and now lives in a village with her two children and a cat called Bear, who thinks he’s a dog. When she isn’t working on her third novel, she walks a lot, talks a lot, likes a jigsaw and the occasional Mojito. Follow @HFisherAuthor on X.

About the book

A poignant and life-affirming tale of love, loss and finding friendships where you least expect them…

Joe loves predictability. But his life is a surprising adventure. Joe-Nathan likes the two parts of his name separate, just like dinner and dessert. Mean Charlie at work sometimes calls him Joe-Nuthin. But Joe is far from nothing. Joe is a good friend, he’s good at his job, good at making things and good at following the rules. He’s learning how to do lots of things by himself.

Joe’s mother knows there are a million things in life he isn’t prepared for. While she helps guide him every day, she’s also writing a book full of advice for Joe – things she hasn’t explained to him yet, things he might forget, questions he hasn’t asked, or might not get the chance to ask…

Following her wisdom – applying it in his own unique way – this next part of Joe’s life is more of a surprise than he expects. Because he’s about to learn that remarkable things can happen when you leave your comfort zone, and that you can do even the hardest things with a little help from your friends.

Review

I absolutely embrace the positive aspect of this story. The empathy and compassion that we hope is hidden beneath the layers of shallow societal expectations and norms. The ability to see and acknowledge the difference in lived experience and how to navigate the world and people in a different way.

Joe-Nathan lives life by a set of rules and tries not to deviate from them, which can be stressful at times, especially when others find it difficult to accept his need for a certain routine or structure. It makes him a target for the bullies, the ignorant and the less understanding.

I found the story hit close to home and it made me incredibly sad, perhaps because I understand how his mother worries for Joe in a world where he will one day have to solely rely on himself with no nurturing mother to explain and support. My heart is heavy, because I know what it’s like to experience the judgement of others, the cruelty that is dished out by the so called ‘normal’ members of society to children, young people and in general towards people who don’t fit into stereotypical boxes and expectations. Both anger and fear are a constant companion when I think of how my loved one will navigate a world that is often unwilling to bend to accommodate otherness.

I must add that there are also moments of connection, kindness and although very few in a large society, there are indeed people who see the beauty, the mystery in the method and how easy it is and should be to accept instead of dismissing people like Joe.

Joe’s story is a spark of hope and also a journey, a building of friendship and understanding. An excursion into experiences and independence with a fierce warrior willing to stand by his side. It’s a lovely story, albeit it one that may make readers angry or sad at times. It is certainly a story that should be told and remembered.

Buy Joe Nuthin’s Guide to Life at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Simon and Schuster, pub date 9th November 2023 | Hardback | £16.99. Also available in ebook and audio. Buy at Amazon com.

#Blogtour Murder On The Christmas Express by Alexandra Benedict

It’s a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour Murder on the Christmas Express by Alexandra Benedict.

About the Author

Alexandra (AK) Benedict is a best-selling, award-winning writer of short stories, novels and scripts. Educated at Cambridge, Sussex, and Clown School, Alexandra has been a indie-rock singer, an actor, RLF Fellow, and a composer for film and TV as well as teaching and running the prestigious MA in Crime Thrillers at City University. She is now a full-time writer and creative coach.

Her most recent novel, under the name Alexandra Benedict, was the bestselling The Christmas Murder Game. She is currently writing another Christmas mystery, a high-concept thriller and TV scripts. Alexandra lives on the south coast of England with writer, Guy Adams, their daughter, Verity, and dog, Dame Margaret Rutherford. 

Alexandra Benedict’s brand-new Christmas thriller The Christmas Jigsaw Murders is publishing 9th November. Follow @ak_benedict on X (the artist formerly known as Twitter)

About the book

Can You Solve the Case? – Eighteen passengers. Seven stops. One killer.

In the early hours of Christmas Eve, the sleeper train to the Highlands is derailed, along with the festive plans of its travellers. With the train stuck in snow in the middle of nowhere, a killer stalks its carriages, picking off passengers one by one. Those who sleep on the sleeper train may never wake again.

Can former Met detective Roz Parker find the killer before they kill again?

Review

Roz is trying very hard not to disappoint her daughter again, she needs to keep her promises of being there to support during one of the most important times in her life. The last thing Roz needs is to get swept up in anything that might make her forget her priorities, but her professional instinct takes over and sleuthing takes the lead again.

We have a versatile cast of characters – a few of them potentially make both the perfect victim and suspect, which is probably why the whole story becomes such a Rubik’s cube of a puzzle. Who did what to whom, and why?

This definitely has a Christie vibe – a train full of potential suspects and victims, a possible killer who is so at ease with their plans that they take the time to pick up snacks in case they get hungry before or after the event. Seems either very calculated, a wee bit insane or perhaps it’s just a very organised potential killer.

Thinking of Christie I also thought Roz Parker was a bit Rutherford, McKenzie, and yet also embodies the image of a woman struggling to meet expectations in her relationships and battling past trauma. A sleuth to watch. (hint, hint)

It will be interesting to see whether the author can maintain this combo of modern meets old school mystery and crime – it has the potential to be a series and the author is one to watch. Saying that, I think her Christmas mysteries are a great idea and leave so much room for individual exploration and development.

Buy Murder on the Christmas Express at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Simon and Schuster, pub date 28 September 2023 – Paperback £9.99. Buy at Amazon com.

#Blogtour Zero Days by Ruth Ware

It’s a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour Zero Days by Ruth Ware.

About the Author

Ruth Ware is an international number one bestseller. Her thrillers In a Dark, Dark Wood, The Woman in Cabin 10, The Lying Game, The Death of Mrs Westaway, The Turn of the Key and One by One have appeared on bestseller lists around the world, including the Sunday Times and New York Times. Her books have been optioned for both film and TV, and she is published in more than 40 languages. Ruth lives near Brighton with her family. You can find her on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @ruthwarewriter or at ruthware.com.

About the book

International bestseller Ruth Ware returns with this adrenaline-fueled thriller about a woman in a race against time to clear her name and find her husband’s killer.

Hired by companies to break into buildings and hack security systems, Jack and her husband Gabe are the best penetration specialists in the business. But after a routine assignment goes horribly wrong, Jack arrives home to find her husband dead. To add to her horror, the police are closing in on their only suspect – her.

On the run and out of options, Jack must decide who she can trust as she circles closer to the truth in this unputdownable and heart-pounding mystery from ‘one of the best thriller writers around today’ Ruth Ware. 

Review

Whilst the story starts with a Mission Impossible kind of vibe, it soon turns into a fight for survival after Jack finds her life ripped apart by a vicious murder. A murder the police is convinced she committed or rather they appear to be fitting all the facts around the scenario they find the most plausible.

The police become the enemy instead of the people invested in finding the truth and Jack struggles with the idea that her innocence isn’t as clear to everyone else, as it is to her. Eventually she realises she has to pull up her socks and fight to prove she isn’t a killer, and find out who killed the man she loved.

I’m intrigued by the way this author always comes at their stories from a different angle – a variation in the crime. Sometimes locked room mystery, psychological thriller, dark domestic thriller and tech thriller. Never boxed into a niche and always willing to explore the boundaries of the genre. 

This is a combination of domestic and tech thriller. It has the emotional drive of the first and the technological know-how of the latter. The story is a two-tier experience with the same goal in both instances – the destruction of an allegedly grieving widow. 

It’s a fast-paced crime read, a multi-layered experience when it comes to crime, guilt and the question of accountability.

Buy Zero Days at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Simon and Schuster; pub date 6 July 2023 | Hardback | £16.99. Buy at Amazon com.

#Blogtour Drowning by T.J. Newman

It was a pleasure, and a bit of a blast from the past, to take part in the Blogtour Drowning by TJ Newman. 

About the Author

T. J. Newman is a former bookseller and flight attendant whose first novel Falling became a publishing sensation and debuted at number two on the New York Times bestseller list. The book was named a best book of the year by USA TODAY and Esquire, among many others, and has been published in over thirty countries. The book will soon be a major motion picture from Universal Pictures. T. J. lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Drowning is her second novel. Follow @T_J_Newman on Twitter

About the book

Flight attendant turned New York Times bestselling author T. J. Newman returns for her second book, an edge-of-your-seat thriller about a commercial jetliner that crashes into the ocean, and sinks to the bottom with passengers trapped inside, and the extraordinary rescue operation to save them.

Six minutes after Flight 1421 takes off, it crashes into the ocean. The passengers who survive the crash think it’s a miracle. They believe they’re the lucky ones. Then the plane begins to sink to the ocean floor. The survivors are trapped inside. Against all odds, a massive rescue operation is launched to save them. There is not much time. There is even less air

Review

This reminded me of old school catastrophe movies – the original Poseidon and Airport ’77. It had the same kind of desperado last chance rescue attempts and core stories about a small group of survivors, who have to fight for their lives despite all the odds being stacked up against them.

Will realises quite quickly when the flight he is travelling on with his young daughter turns into the kind of nightmare only few people survive. Within minutes a normal flight turns into an impossible fight for survival.

I’m guessing this also has a good chance of being optioned for the big screen. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The author has an excellent eye for detail, drama and what brings the audience to the table. The desperation, fear and return to base emotion is a key factor in the story.

What do you do in a situation where the most obvious escape route is deemed a bigger threat to your life than staying in a situation that almost certainly also means death. Do you listen to the one lone voice or to the one inside your head?

It’s a great read. Fast paced, a constant high threat level mixed with real erratic emotional reactions of men, women and children in distress. It brings out the worst and the best in people.

Buy Drowning at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Simon and Schuster, pub date 8 June 2023 | Hardback | £14.99. Buy at Amazon com.

#Blogtour Preloved by Lauren Bravo

It’s my turn on the Blogtour Preloved by Lauren Bravo.

About the Author

Lauren Bravo is a freelance journalist who writes about fashion, popular culture, food, travel and feminism, for publications including Grazia, Refinery29 UK, Cosmopolitan, Stylist, easyJet Traveller, Time Out, Delicious, the Telegraph and the Guardian. She is the author of two non-fiction books, What Would the Spice Girls Do? (2018) and How To Break Up With Fast Fashion (2020). Lauren lives in East London, and Preloved is her debut novel. Find out more on her website www.laurenbravo.co.uk. Follow @laurenbravo on Twitter

About the book

Gwen’s life has stalled. She’s in her mid-thirties, perpetually single, her friends are busy procreating in the country and conversations with her parents seem to revolve entirely around herbaceous borders and the council’s wheelie-bin timetable. Above all she’s lonely. But then, isn’t everyone?

When Gwen’s made redundant from a job she drifted into a decade ago and never left, she realises it’s time to make a change. Over what might be the best – and most solitary – meal she’s ever eaten, Gwen vows to find something meaningful to do with her life, reconnect with her family and friends – and finally book herself a dentist appointment.

Her search for meaning soon leads her to volunteer in a local charity shop where she both literally and metaphorically unloads her emotional baggage. With the help of the weird and wonderful people she meets in the shop and the donated items bursting with untold stories that pass through its doors, Gwen must finally address the events and choices that led her to this point and find a way to move forward with bravery, humanity and more regular dental care.

Brimming with life, love and the stories bound up in even the most everyday items, Preloved is a tale about friendship, loss, being true to oneself no matter the expectations – and the enduring power and joy of charity shops.

Review

It’s a bit of a shock to discover that mid-thirty is the new past the sell-by-date, especially when you’ve just been turfed out of your job. It al leaves Gwen feeling unwanted, unloved and quite frankly invisible – which is not unusual for women after a certain age, perhaps because they are often treated as second best due to their advancing age. I say that with every bit of irony I can muster without being a tad insulting towards a society that has a Logan’s Run age identity crisis at the core of their societal standards.

It’s time to buckle up and reinvent the wheel. Life as Gwen knows it is about to become quirky and a lot more accepting of her and those around her, as she decides to wade in waters hitherto unknown to her.

Delightful, this would make a great tv series. An item from a charity shop creating a connection between two people, as their stories unfold every week. The main character trying to find themselves and the meaning of life in the midst of one person’s thrift item is another person’s treasure.

Aside from the quaint characters and the lovely premise I think it’s worth noting that thrift shops are the ultimate recycling centre, but people don’t see it as such because they are run as shops. In the majority of cases the profit goes to charitable causes. It’s much better to let someone else have your preloved item instead of it going to a landfill. 

In a way the characters themselves lend themselves to the description and title. What are we if not preloved when we are emerging from a past relationship.

Buy Preloved at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer Publisher : Simon and Shuster, pub date 27th April 2023 | Hardcover | £14.99. Buy at Amazon com.

#Blogtour Together, Again by Milly Johnson

It’s an absolute pleasure to take part in the Blogtour Together, Again by Milly Johnson. This is the 20th novel from the Sunday Times bestseller!

About the Author

Milly Johnson was born, raised and still lives in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. A Sunday Times bestseller, she is one of the Top 10 Female Fiction authors in the UK with millions of copies of her books sold across the world. In 2020, she was honoured with the Romantic Novelist’ Association’s Outstanding Achievement Award and was a featured author in the Reading Agency’s Quick Reads and World Book Night campaigns.

A writer who champions women and highlights the importance of friendship and community, Milly’s characters are celebrations of the strength of the human spirit. Together, Again is her 20th novel. Follow @millyjohnson on Twitter, More about Milly via linktr.ee/TheMillyJohnson

About the book

Born seven years apart, sisters Jolene, Marsha and Annis have never been close. Following the sudden death of their mother, Eleanor Vamplew, the women return to their childhood home, Fox House, to settle the will and arrange the funeral.

Jolene, the eldest, is a successful romantic novelist who writes templates of beautiful relationships – a far cry from the reality of her marriage. Marsha, the neglected middle child, has focused on her career after the heartbreak of her youth that she has never really gotten over. Annis, the youngest and most rebellious, left home aged sixteen and never returned – not even for the death of their beloved father Julian – until now.

It is therefore a huge surprise to all of them to discover that Eleanor recently changed her will to leave everything to Annis – the daughter she considered a wretched accident.

Review

Jolene, Marsha and Annis are nothing more than coincidentally related by blood. Sisters on paper – not even the death of their mother has brought them closer. In fact her decision to favour one daughter above the others comes as a complete surprise to all of them, and it makes the friction between them worse.

Leaving aside potential trauma, the experiences of siblings in family structures are often very different. Society tends to allocate certain attributes to the eldest, middle and youngest for instance, and connects said attributes or traits to their placement in the structure. A few years ago I read something that gave me a variation in perspective on the differences. 

Each child gets a different set of parents, no matter in which combination you may experience them or not. The eldest gets the inexperienced often young parent/s, the middle child the more experienced older adult, and the youngest the experienced juggler of parenthood. Each of those timeframes means the parent is going through a a different stage of their own growth and life. All of this is why each child remembers the parents with often great variations in memories.

It’s probably also true that siblings find it difficult to reconcile their own experiences with their siblings with the images, expectations and experiences their parents had with each one of them. Jealousy, rivalry, and a parent who pits one against the other can be mistaken for siblings who are the source of the problem. Are they though? Are Jolene, Marsha or Annis really at fault here? Is it all just a question of greed?

This is perhaps a slightly darker venture into family, love, sisterhood and relationships than usual. It’s a poignant one, although to review it in detail would give away the darkness at the heart of it all. I have to say kudos for giving readers the realistic ending, as opposed to the ending that might make them feel better. Sometimes life is a series of unsatisfactory, painful events that will leave a lasting mark – the trick is letting the happier moments and the sunshine leave a bigger impression.

It’s a really good read.

Buy Together, Again at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Simon & Schuster Uk, pub date 2nd March 2023 – £8.99 Paperback. Buy at Amazon com. Buy via SimonSchuster UK.