#Blogtour One Last Secret by Adele Parks

 It’s a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour One Last Secret by Adele Parks.

About the Author

Adele Parks MBE was born in North Yorkshire. She is the author of 21 bestselling novels including most recently the Sunday Times and eBook Number One bestseller Both Of You. Over four million UK editions of her work have been sold and her books have been translated into 31 different languages. Adele’s recent Sunday Times Number One bestsellers Lies Lies Lies and Just My Luck were shortlisted for the British Book Awards and have been optioned for development for TV.

She is an ambassador of the National Literacy Trust and the Reading Agency: two charities that promote literacy in the UK. Adele has lived in Botswana, Italy and London and is now settled in Guildford, Surrey. In 2022 she was awarded an MBE for services to literature. Follow @adeleparks on Twitter, Visit adeleparks.com

About the book

One Last Client – A week at a beautiful chateau in the south of France – it should be a straightforward final job for Dora. She’s a smart, stunning and discreet escort and Daniel has paid for her services before. This time, all she has to do is convince the assembled guests that she is his girlfriend. Dora is used to playing roles and being whatever men want her to be. It’s all about putting on a front.

One Last Chance – It will be a last luxurious look at how the other half lives, before Dora turns her back on the escort world and all its dangers. She has found someone she loves and trusts. With him, she can escape the life she’s trapped in. But when Dora arrives at the chateau, it quickly becomes obvious that nothing is what it seems.

One Last Secret – Dora finds herself face to face with a man she has never forgotten, the one man who really knows her. And as old secrets surface, it becomes terrifyingly apparent that one last secret could cost Dora her life…

Review

I’m a sucker for a woman who says it like it is, sees the world the way it really is, and isn’t afraid to take what she wants – regardless of what society says about her.

Dora has no illusions about how she makes her money. It’s just a job, right? The risks are kept to a minimal, but of course there is only so much you can control. It also means it’s harder to move from one tier of the social structure to another – there are plenty of negative connotations when it comes to her chosen career path.

It has shades of Diary of a Call Girl with Gone Girl, and of course the trademark intense scrutiny and dissection of interpersonal relationships. This author knows exactly how to pour salt into an open wound, get readers to experience a smorgasbord of emotional ping-pong, and create a bond between even the most controversial of characters. 

The first few chapters are spectacular – brutally frank, often gross, and they give readers access to a hidden abyss. 

As far as I am concerned this is her best book yet, and it should be added to her growing list of titles being optioned for television. Like a fine wine gets better with age, Parks pushes her boundaries and creativity with each new book.

Buy One Last Secret at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Buy at Amazon com. Buy via Harper Collins.

#Blogtour Beach House Summer by Sarah Morgan

 It’s a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour for Beach House Summer by Sarah Morgan.

About the Author

Sarah Morgan is a USA Today and Sunday Times bestselling author of romance and women’s fiction. She has sold over 21 million copies of her books and her trademark humour and warmth have gained her fans across the globe.

Sarah lives near London, England and when she isn’t writing or reading, she likes to spend time outdoors hiking or riding her mountain bike.

Join Sarah’s mailing list at sarahmorgan.com for all book news. Follow @SarahMorgan_ on Twitter

About the book

A marriage in the spotlight – Joanna Whitman’s high-profile marriage held more secrets than she cares to remember, so when her ex-husband dies, she doesn’t know what to feel. But when she discovers that he’s left behind a pregnant young woman, Joanna is forced to act. She knows exactly how brutal the spotlight on them both will be…unless she can find a way for them to disappear.

A beach house hideaway – Ashley Blake is amazed when Joanna suggests they lie low at her beach house in her sleepy Californian hometown. Joanna should be hating her, not helping her. But alone and pregnant, Ashley needs all the support she can find.

A summer of new beginnings – Joanna’s only goal for the summer is privacy. All Ashley wants is space to plan for her and her baby’s future. But when an old flame reappears, and secrets spill out under the hot summer sun, this unlikely friendship is put to the test…

Review

Are you supposed to feel sad if your philandering ex-hubby has a fatal accident and just happens to be in the company of young, attractive woman when it happens. What is the emotional protocol, and what is the public expectation when he is a celebrity, and because of that you are too? The world is eager to know what Joanna knows about his death and the mysterious woman who was with him when he died.

It’s an interesting topic to wade into, the question of fame and whether being a public figure gives the media and fans the right to demand access to each moment of their lives. Does being in the limelight mean you automatically sign away your right to privacy? Does wanting a story or a headline warrant hounding a celebrity, perhaps even to the point of distress or worse?

I think there is a common misconception about public persona and interaction being part of their job, as opposed to the world understanding that a star, celebrity and public figure also has a right to privacy. Possibly even more so, when the majority of their lives is out there to be gawked at and commented on.

The author captures the invasive nature of the press, the lack of trust in the people around them, and the fragility of the person in the midst of news hungry media and gossipmongers. It must be incredibly difficult to realise that close friends and family will happily sell your intimate moments, your photos and your secrets for money or moment of fame.

I thought it was a little dialogue heavy and repetitive in the middle, however it is still a good read. The core is, for me at least, understanding that there is always a way forward even when your heart breaks, your trust in people is destroyed and every door seems to be locked. They aren’t. It’s also about misunderstandings and the way relationships can be redefined as we grow older, and as we enter new periods of our lives. Morgan always delivers a premise that gives plenty of food for thought.

Buy Beach House Summer at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher ‏: ‎HQ pub date 26 May 2022. Buy at Amazon com. At Harper Collins.

#BlogTour The White Girl by Tony Birch

It’s a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour The White Girl by Tony Birch. It’s an excellent read. I highly recommend it.

About the Author

Tony Birch is the author of three novels: the bestselling The White Girl, winner of the 2020 NSW Premier’s Award for Indigenous Writing, and shortlisted for the 2020 Miles Franklin literary prize; Ghost River, winner of the 2016 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Indigenous Writing; and Blood, which was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award in 2012. 

He is also the author of Shadowboxing and four short story collections, Dark As Last Night, Father’s Day, The Promise and Common People; and the poetry collections, Broken Teeth and Whisper Songs. In 2017 he was awarded the Patrick White Literary Award for his contribution to Australian literature. Tony Birch is also an activist, historian and essayist. His website is: tony-birch.com

About the book

“A profound allegory of good and evil, and a deep exploration of human interaction, black and white, alternately beautiful and tender, cruel and unsettling.”—Guardian

Australia’s leading indigenous storyteller makes his American debut with this immersive and deeply resonant novel, set in the 1960s, that explores the lengths we’ll go to save the people we love—an unforgettable story of one native Australian family and the racist government that threatens to separate them.

Odette Brown has lived her entire life on the fringes of Deane, a small Australian country town. Dark secrets simmer beneath the surface of Deane—secrets that could explain why Odette’s daughter, Lila, left her one-year-old daughter, Sissy, and never came back, or why Sissy has white skin when her family is Aboriginal.

For thirteen years, Odette has quietly raised her granddaughter without drawing notice from welfare authorities who remove fair-skinned Aboriginal children from their families. But the arrival of a new policeman with cruel eyes and a rigid by-the-book attitude throws the Brown women’s lives off-kilter. It will take all of Odette’s courage and cunning to save Sissy from the authorities, and maybe even lead her to find her daughter.

Bolstered by love, smarts, and the strength of their ancestors, Odette and Sissy are an indomitable force, handling threats to their family and their own identities with grace and ingenuity, while never losing hope for themselves and their future.

In The White Girl, Miles Franklin Award-nominated author Tony Birch illuminates Australia’s devastating post-colonial past—notably the government’s racist policy of separating Indigenous children from their families, known today as the Stolen Generations—and introduces a tight-knit group of charming, inspiring characters who remind us of our shared humanity, and that kindness, hope, and love have no limits.

Review

I’m not sure about other readers, but when I read a book about minorities, the indigenous of any country, the oppressed or the vulnerable – just as an example, I often presume the events are historical. When I say historical I mean over a century or more, and I am often dismayed by the reality of the actual truth. That for the majority we are talking recent events, in modern times when the world should have been condemning such oppression and atrocities.

Odette is a fictional example perhaps, but I think probably a softer version of the awful truth of the way the colonisers have treated the indigenous people of Australia. This story takes place in the 1960s – a long time after the first early colonial period of certain parts of Australia. In a Podunk rural town where white and indigenous are still segregated. The indigenous people live outside in a specified area and are only allowed into the white town on a specific day and for a short period of time. 

Odette takes care of her young granddaughter, who has now reached an age where her presence has become of interest to both the authorities, and she is also vulnerable to the predators who perceive indigenous women especially, as of no worth or chattel of the white man.

The young girl is fair-skinned, and the authorities feel it is their duty to remove those children – white passing – in order to place them in an environment conducive to a less native and savage environment. To save their souls. Odette starts to realise that the danger her family has always faced is starting to wander in the path of her granddaughter. 

This book should be on more prize lists –  I am surprised it isn’t and that it hasn’t had more traction this side of the pond. It is an incredible piece of work, which is only more admirable when you consider the subtlety of the approach to the sensitive topics in this story. The atmosphere is a stark reminder of reality, and indeed the reader almost walks alongside Odette, that’s how vivid a picture the author presents.

The displacement, essentially kidnap, of whole generations of indigenous of children has burdened further generations with generational trauma. Children who survived the system and never saw their families again, parents who never got over having their children stolen. At this point it is important to note that just recently the reality of what really happened to the majority of these children is being unearthed. The mass graves, the unmarked graves of so many abused and neglected indigenous children. It’s more than a tragedy, it’s a disgrace – absolutely unforgivable.

I wouldn’t hesitate to read or recommend this author after reading this. As I was reading I was envisaging the screen version of this – I would love to see Deborah Mailman make Odette come to life. Either way this story needs more circulation, so more people can read it. It’s poignant, it is a story that grabs you tightly as it tears you into the murky depths of colonial guilt and the criminal atrocities committed under the auspice of malevolent colonialism and white supremacy. And I might add – the author only skims the surface of the aforementioned.

Buy The White Girl at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher ‏: ‎HarperVia pub date 28 April 2022). Buy at Amazon com. At Harper Collins.

#BlogTour The Murder Rule by Dervla McTiernan

It’s a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour The Murder Rule by Dervla McTiernan.

About the Author

Internationally bestselling and critically acclaimed writer Dervla McTiernan burst onto the writing scene with The Ruin, her crime debut set in Ireland. The Ruin is the first in the detective Cormac Reilly series and has been published in the United States, the UK and Ireland and in New Zealand and Australia, where it was a top ten bestseller.

Dervla spent twelve years working as a lawyer. Following the global financial crisis, she moved to Australia and turned her hand to writing. An avid fan of crime and detective novels from childhood, Dervla wrote a short story, The Roommate, which was shortlisted for the Sisters in Crime Scarlet Stiletto Competition. She went on to write The Ruin, and a string of other bestsellers. Dervla is a member of the Sisters in Crime and Crime Writers Association, and lives in Perth, Australia, with her husband and two children. Follow @DervlaMcTiernan on Twitter

About the book

First Rule: Make them like you. Second Rule: Make them need you. Third Rule: Make them pay.

They think I’m a young, idealistic law student, that I’m passionate about reforming a corrupt and brutal system. They think I’m working hard to impress them. They think I’m here to save an innocent man on death row. They’re wrong. I’m going to bury him.

Review

There are a few great topics for discussion woven into this psychological thriller. The fact a flawed system still imprisons too many people who are innocent of the crimes they have been convicted of. Decades, life sentences ( I just want to point out that life only means a fraction – fifteen years sometimes) in certain countries, and the death sentence. Imagine spending decades in prison and being completely innocent.

The plot has an Innocence Project at the core. Legal experts, volunteers and loved ones of the incarcerated dedicated to picking individuals with cases layered with the distinct smell of wrongful conviction. Hannah has forcefully wrangled herself into this particular project. She has an agenda, not exactly one that is in line with the organisation in question. How far will she go to execute her plan?

It is a well plotted and written riveting psychological thriller with a legal angle. I’m going to stay tight lipped on a certain aspect that shows itself fairly early on and comes to a nice wicked conclusion at the end. It’s the kind of read that keeps you captivated from the start.

Buy The Murder Rule at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Harper Collins; 12th May 2022 | Hardback | Ebook | Audio | £14.99. Buy at Amazon com. Buy at Harper Collins.

#BlogTour Guilty Women by Melanie Blake

It really is a pleasure to welcome back Melanie Blake with Guilty Women, which is the sequel to the fantastic Ruthless Women. ‘The cast of Ruthless Women is back, and this time they’re in trouble…’

About the Author

Melanie Blake is the bestselling author of Ruthless Women, which became a Number 4 Sunday Times hardback bestseller and an ebook bestseller in 2021, selling over 150,000 copies. Guilty Women is her second novel about the cast of Falcon Bay, and her first with HarperFiction. 

Growing up in a working-class household with severe dyslexia, Melanie has her own Rags to Riches story, just like that of her characters – at 15 she was told by her school career advisors that her decision to work at a record shop was ‘a clear example that she wouldn’t go far in her career’. They were wrong. 

By 19 she was working at the BBC’s iconic Top of the Pops show and by 26 she had built a reputation as one of the UK’s leading music and entertainment managers. She also created her own acting agency from scratch which became the most successful independent boutique agency in the UK. Melanie still represents a high-profile stable of actresses, but is also now enjoying success in her own right as a author, playwright and producer. Follow @MelanieBlakeUK on Twitter

About the book

Can they get away with murder? On a beautiful island off the English coast, four TV actresses gather. Their fifth member is missing – and only they know why she was killed.

As the secret between them threatens to come out, tensions on set run high. The women are determined that the show must go on – whatever the cost. But one of them is on the edge of telling the truth – and no soap opera in the world could survive this scandal…

All of the women have something to hide – but the question is, are they all guilty?

Review

The Ruthless Women are back, and now it’s all about making sure none of them get caught and get punished for the events in the first book. If you haven’t read it yet and have just found this hot new Collinesque like series, then I can only recommend you start at the beginning to get the full gist of it all.

The tension of their shared secret has an impact on each one of the women, but they all deal with it individually. The need to share and air, name and shame is quite strong with certain women. On the other hand what they all agree with is that none of them, their lives or careers should be destroyed because of a minor fish incident. So cover-up and carry-on it is.

Is it just me or was there a wee homage to soap opera, and the hilarious improve soap opera blow-up by Tootsie. A little pop culture reference there. I think that is the fun of this drama filled crime come contemporary women’s fiction. It brings the spice, the unpredictable and it also brings a specific kind of sisterhood to the table.

I think there might be a third book, there should absolutely be a third book – how about vengeful women? And let’s start casting! The actresses who slayed Jackie Collins mega dramas would be the right age for this, the potential is huge.

Buy Guilty Women at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher ‏: ‎HarperCollins pub date 28 April 2022. Buy at Amazon com. Buy via HarperCollins Uk.

#BlogTour With This Kiss by Carrie Hope Fletcher

It’s my turn on the BlogTour With This Kiss by Carrie Hope Fletcher.

About the Author

Carrie Hope Fletcher is an actress, singer, author and vlogger. Carrie’s first book, All I Know Now, was a number one Sunday Times bestseller and her debut novel, On the Other Side, also went straight to number one.

Carrie played the role of Eponine in Les Misérables at the Queen’s Theatre in London’s West End for almost three years. She has since starred in and received awards for a number of productions including The War of the Worlds, The Addams Family and Heathers: The Musical. She is currently starring in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella in the lead role.

Carrie lives just outside of London with numerous fictional friends that she keeps on bookshelves, just in case. Carrie loves to connect with readers on social media. Find her on: Twitter – @CarrieHFletcher, Instagram – @CarrieHopeFletcher and @PrattleandPages

About the book

From the outside, Lorelai is an ordinary young woman with a normal life. She loves reading, she works at the local cinema and she adores living with her best friend. But she carries a painful burden, something she’s kept hidden for years; whenever she kisses someone on the lips, she sees how they are going to die.

Lorelai has never known if she’s seeing what was always meant to be, or if it’s her kiss that decides their destiny. And so, she hasn’t kissed anyone since she was eighteen.

Then she meets Grayson. Sweet, clever, funny Grayson. And for the first time in years she yearns for a man’s kiss. But she can’t… can she? And if she does, should she try to intervene and change what she sees?

Sweepingly romantic, utterly original, and backed by a show-stopping campaign, prepare to fall in love.

Review

Lorelai has a special gift that determines her life and the love she chooses or not. She knows that sharing an intimate moment – a kiss – also means being confronted with the stark reality of destiny. It’s too much to endure, which is why she is hesitant to love and care for someone. 

But love comes to us in unexpected moments and Lorelai has to navigate her feelings towards Grayson, which she finds increasingly hard to control, whilst simultaneously keeping him safe at all costs.

I must admit I was a little confused by the token trans moment, which fulfilled nothing other than an attempt to show allyship on the author’s part. It was awkward, written from a perspective of everyone except that character and was just a superfluous moment with no plot context.

It’s also Magical Realism that slots, as far as I am concerned, into the Young Adult category. It is written in a very young voice – teenage almost.

I loved the concept, but thought it wasn’t given the opportunity to flourish and grow into something with more depth. The concept or premise of whether a person would choose to take the same path and create the same history and life if they knew where that path would eventually lead them. If you knew how long that path would be.

Buy With This Kiss at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher ‏: ‎HQ pub date 14 April 2022. At Waterstones. At Harper Collins.

#BlogTour Breakneck Point by T. Or Munro

Today it is a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour Breakneck Point by T. Orr Munro.

About the Author

T.Orr Munri was born in Aldershot in Hampshire to an English mother and a Greek-Armenian father who moved to deepest Devon after recognising it would be a great place to raise their children.

She has a degree in Economic and Social History from Liverpool University and a PGCE in History and English.

After university she trained as a CSI, then later became a secondary school teacher. She changed career at thirty-three to become a police and crime journalist and is currently freelance.

She has  since returned with her family to live in North Devon, the setting for Breakneck Point, but heads to Greece as often as she can. Her time as a CSI provided much of the inspiration for her novel, shining a light on what happens behind the crime scene tape. Follow @TinaOrrMunro on Twitter, Find out about Tina on linktree

About the book

CSI Ally Dymond’s commitment to justice has cost her a place on the major investigations team. After exposing corruption in the ranks, she’s stuck working petty crimes on the sleepy North Devon coast.

Then the body of nineteen-year-old Janie Warren turns up in the seaside town of Bidecombe, and Ally’s expert skills are suddenly back in demand.

But when the evidence she discovers contradicts the lead detective’s theory, nobody wants to listen to the CSI who landed their colleagues in prison.

Time is running out to catch a killer no one is looking for – no one except Ally. What she doesn’t know is that he’s watching, from her side of the crime scene tape, waiting for the moment to strike.

Review

When your reputation is in tatters because you did the right thing and colleagues keep treating you like the unwanted guest. It gets a bit tedious and perhaps the reason Ally can be a little short-tempered, but then you would be a wee bit annoyed if a so-called expert was intentionally misreading the evidence at crime scenes, just because the CSI has been delegated to the dog house.

I really enjoyed the moral and indeed legal conundrum Ally’s introduction is built upon. Yes, one could argue there isn’t one at all, but hey that’s exactly what the instability of her character is built on. The way colleagues react to and treat her, the way her career falls into a pit with no ladder. 

Doing the right thing, when those around you believe the right thing is protecting the boys in blue, as opposed to doing your job correctly. If telling the truth means a guilty person walks free and your colleagues end up behind bars, but the flipside means the system has no meaning, justice is null and void.

The author writes a strong character who is torn between professionalism, frustration and anger at the way a wall has been built around her. It sets her in a position many women find themselves in, where the men around her treat her like a child, a voice to be silenced, instead of acknowledging her expertise. A playbook straight out of real life. It’s a good read.

Buy Breakneck Point at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher ‏: ‎HQ pub date 14 April 2022. At Harper Collins. At Waterstones.

#BlogTour The Unravelling by Polly Crosby

An absolutely brilliant novel – it should definitely be on some award lists this year! Welcome to the BlogTour for The Unravelling by Polly Crosby.

About the AuthorPolly Crosby lives in Norfolk with her husband and son, and her very loud and much-loved Oriental rescue cat, Dali. The Illustrated Child is her first novel. Her second novel, The Unravelling, is out on 6th January ‘22. To Find more about Polly’s writing, visit pollycrosby.com. Sign up to Polly’s newsletter here. Follow @WriterPolly on Twitter

About the book

When Tartelin Brown accepts a job with the reclusive Marianne Stourbridge, she finds herself on a wild island with a mysterious history.

Tartelin is tasked with hunting butterflies for Marianne’s research. But she quickly uncovers something far more intriguing than the curious creatures that inhabit the landscape. Because the island and Marianne share a remarkable history, and what happened all those years ago has left its scars, and some terrible secrets.

As Tartelin pieces together Marianne’s connection to the island, she must confront her own reasons for being there. Can the two women finally face up to the painful memories that bind them so tightly to the past?

Atmospheric and deeply emotional, The Unravelling is the captivating novel from the author of The Illustrated Child.

Review

Marianne is crotchety solitary figure, who is bound to her home in both physical and an emotional way. The memories, experiences and relationships that lack the right kind of closure, which will allow her some peace, are destined to remain grains of dirt under her skin. Irritations that can be dismissed, but never quite forgotten.

She has hired yet another young girl as an assistant to aid her in the accumulation of a variation of species, mainly butterflies, in order to examine and prove a theory she is working on. Tarteline finds herself a little shell-shocked by her new residence and employer. Apparently living without the common comforts of a 21st century home and a wee bit like society over a century ago, is quite the norm on this peculiar and yet beautiful island.

A story told over the span of Marianne’s lifetime, we encounter her as the curious child eager to be the apple of her father’s eye, the young woman coping with mistakes borne out of hurt pride, and the older woman filled with dreams and regrets. Can young Tarteline, who is still grieving her own loss, begin to understand her remarkable and demanding employer.

I absolutely adored this book. Crosby is an amazing writer with an innate ability to create literary and storytelling magic, as she navigates emotions, nature, memories, trauma and the fragility of human relationships. I can only hope this book is recognised as the gem it is going forward. It will definitely be going on my best reads of ’22 list. I can’t wait to read whatever she comes up with next.

Buy The Unravelling at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher ‏: ‎HQ pub date 6 Jan. 2022. Buy at Amazon com. At Harper Collins.

#BlogTour We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza

It’s a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza .
‘Told from alternating perspectives, an evocative and riveting novel about the lifelong bond between two women, one Black and one white, whose friendship is indelibly altered by a tragic event—a powerful and poignant exploration of race in America today and its devastating impact on ordinary lives.’

About the Author/s

Christine Pride is a writer, editor, and longtime publishing veteran. She’s held editorial posts at many different trade imprints, including Doubleday, Broadway, Crown, Hyperion, and Simon & Schuster. As an editor, Christine has published a range of books, with a special emphasis on inspirational stories and memoirs, including numerous New York Times bestsellers. As a freelance editorial consultant, she does select editing and proposal/content development, as well as teaching and coaching, and pens a regular column—“Race Matters”—for Cup of Jo. She lives in New York City. Follow @cpride on Twitter, Visit christinepride.com

Jo Piazza is an award-winning journalist, editor and podcast host. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, Marie Claire, Glamour, and other notable publications. She is also the author of Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win, How to Be Married, The Knockoff, Fitness Junkie, and If Nuns Ruled the World. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and two small children. Follow @JoPiazza on Twitter, Listen to under-the-influence-with-jo-piazza

About the book

Jen and Riley have been best friends since kindergarten. As adults, they remain as close as sisters, though their lives have taken different directions. Jen married young, and after years of trying, is finally pregnant. Riley pursued her childhood dream of becoming a television journalist and is poised to become one of the first Black female anchors of the top news channel in their hometown of Philadelphia.

But the deep bond they share is severely tested when Jen’s husband, a city police officer, is involved in the shooting of an unarmed Black teenager. Six months pregnant, Jen is in freefall as her future, her husband’s freedom, and her friendship with Riley are thrown into uncertainty. Covering this career-making story, Riley wrestles with the implications of this tragic incident for her Black community, her ambitions, and her relationship with her lifelong friend.

Like Tayari Jones’s An American Marriage and Jodi Picoult’s Small Great Things, We Are Not Like Them explores complex questions of race and how they pervade and shape our most intimate spaces in a deeply divided world. But at its heart, it’s a story of enduring friendship—a love that defies the odds even as it faces its most difficult challenges. 

Review

On the surface Riley and Jen are best friends – sisters from different families. Their incredible bond threatens to be severed when Jen’s husband is involved in shooting – the shooting of an unarmed young black teenager. As a journalist Riley finds herself in the middle of the incident, as a black woman she finds herself at the opposite side of the dispute – against her friend and her husband.

There is no doubt there is a disparity between white people and black people, which is influenced by a system built on colonialism, and the differences are driven by systemic racism in said system. There is a lack of comprehension by white people when it comes to understanding white privilege. 

I understand why minorities, marginalised groups and black people find this frustrating and believe it isn’t their job to explain or help those who don’t understand why it is a privilege. The reality however is that without someone pointing out why it exists and how it influences lives, careers, academic paths, choices and every single situation – there will be no real change.

White mothers don’t have to teach their white children, but specifically boys and men, to act in a certain way in order to hopefully not generate a stereotypical response from the authorities and often the public in general. Don’t be furtive, listen and obey, don’t reach for your pockets or move quickly. All things a black mother will say to her son in an attempt to keep him safe, because the reality is the likelihood of a black male being racially profiled, stereotyped and singled out are outrageously high.

It’s a book and dialogue that is needed to move forward and change a system that isn’t equal – a worldview that is dismissed, ridiculed and rationalised by those on the longer end of the stick. An important exploration of a friendship that is based on one person submitting to the status quo and the other being completely unaware of what life is really like for her friend.

It’s definitely a book that will generate discussion, which is good. It’s also one I wouldn’t hesitate to buy for people who really need to read it.

Buy We Are Not Like Them at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher ‏: ‎HQ pub date 5 Oct. 2021. Buy at Amazon com.

#BlogTour Sleep Tight by C.S. Green

It’s an absolute pleasure to take part in the BlogTour Sleep Tight by C.S. Green

About the Author

Is a bestselling author of psychological thrillers and an award-winning writer of fiction for young people under the name Caroline Green. Written under the name Cass Green, her first novel for adults, the Woman Next Door, was a No.1 ebook bestseller, while the follow-up, In a Cottage in a Wood, was a USA Today bestseller and a Sunday Times top ten bestseller.

She is the writer in residence at East Barnet School and teaches courses for City University and Writers’ and Artist’ Yearbook. She lives in London with her family. Sleep Tight is the start of a new series featuring the UCIT.

Follow @carolinesgreen on Twitter, Visit carolinegreenwriter.co.uk, Buy Sleep Tight

About the book

The nightmare is only just beginning… When DC Rose Gifford is called to investigate the death of a young woman suffocated in her bed, she can’t shake the feeling that there’s more to the attack than meets the eye.

It looks like a straightforward crime scene – but the police can’t find the killer. Enter DS Moody – an eccentric older detective who runs UCIT, a secret department of the Met set up to solve supernatural crimes. moody wants Rose to help her out – but Rose doesn’t believe in any of that. Does she?

As the killer prepares to strike again, Rose must pick a side  before a second woman dies.

Review

You really expect readers to go to bed and sleep peacefully ever after, especially after this read? More like one eye open at all times from now on. Forget lavender, meditation, yoga and whatever other sleep aids anyone may use. From this point forward it is coffee, caffeine and matchsticks between the eyelids.

Rose is called to the scene of a locked room mystery. A young woman who has been murdered, a woman who screamed very night that someone was out to get her. Nobody believed her, nobody cam to save her – and she isn’t the only one.

What separates Rose from the herd is her intuition and the ability to think beyond the boundaries of what society dictates. Her dead mother, who tends to wander around her house, might not agree with that assessment or anything for that matter. Rose is in tune with some things others can’t connect with and she is unwilling to accept.

Cue the secret department of police who investigate those crimes nobody has an answer for. They might just have the answers Rose is looking for, both in the case she is investigating and her life in general.

This looks like the beginning of an interesting series. Combining crime with the supernatural is one thing, but having a sceptic who sees ghosts and other apparitions, and yet denies that fact completely – well that’s another thing entirely. Looking forward to seeing where this road leads us and how crotchety Moody and insecure sceptical Gifford combine forces in the future.

Buy Sleep Tight at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher : HarperCollins pub date 4 Mar. 2021. Buy at Waterstones. Hive. Bookshop org.