#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 Rules of the Road by Ciara Geraghty

Today it’s a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour Rules of the Road by Ciara Geraghty. It’s a fantastic read and Geraghty is a great writer.

About the Author

Ciara Geraghty was born and raised in Dublin. She started writing in her thirties and hasn’t looked back.

She has three children and one husband and they have recently adopted a dog who, alongside their youngest daughter, is in charge of pretty much everything.

Ciara is available to write features. Potential subjects include: Dementia and Ciara’s experience of caring for her father, Mother/daughter relationships and how caring for Ciara’s father brought her and her mother closer together, The right to die (Ciara undertook extensive research for the book), Female friendships, particularly the rewards of those made later in life.

Follow @ciarageraghty on Twitter, on Amazon, on Goodreads, Visit ciarageraghty.com, Buy Rules of the Road

About the book

When Iris Armstrong goes missing, her best friend Terry, wife, mother and all-round worrier, is convinced something bad has happened. And when she finds her glamorous, feisty friend, she’s right: Iris is setting out on a journey that she plans to make her last.

The only way for Terry to stop Iris is to join her, on a road trip that will take them and Terry’s confused father Eugene onto a ferry, across the Irish sea and into an adventure that will change all of their lives.

Somehow what should be the worst six days of Terry’s life turn into the best.

Honest and emotional, Ciara Geraghty examines family, ageing parents, marriage, life and loss with warmth in a book that grown-up readers will adore.

Review

Sometimes you just know. Is there a slight change in the energy, were there hints Terry ignored up to this point? Either way when Terry realises that her best friend Iris has disappeared and has lied about where she is going – Terry knows something is wrong. Iris is on her way to meet death on her own terms. She wants dignity in death.

Terry is determined to change her mind, which is how she ends up on a road trip with her father Eugene, who has dementia, and an unwilling Iris. The road trip is only a few days, but those few days change life as Terry knows it.

I have to hand it to Geraghty, she tackles a controversial topic in this book and does so with empathy, humour and incredible emotional depth. Then she tops it by weaving the fragile elderly parent with dementia and the complexity of friendships, specifically friendships between women, into the story.

Aside from the fact the writing is excellent, I loved the way Geraghty wrote with such passion and complete vulnerability. And how each element or separate storyline becomes part of a very intricate and painful puzzle. Her main character is pulled in multiple directions by a variety of people and responsibilities, but the importance of doing what is right for both Iris and herself comes first. ‘This is my truth and I own it – accept it and my decision.’

I really enjoyed the simplicity of it, which sounds like a strange thing to say, especially when death is both the competitor in her personal race and the companion. Nothing is simple about choosing the right to die or caring for a parent with dementia and it certainly isn’t simple to support someone to whom death is  an unfulfilled wish, and yet the author makes it simple. There is a grace and humility, whilst courting the jovial moments of the story, that make this story a spectacular read.

In a way it is an homage to friendships between women. Deep, honest, painful and willing to accept choices, even if it means being torn apart. It’s a platonic love letter from one woman to another. Not everyone gets to experience that kind of friendship in their lifetime.

I’ll leave it on this note: We have a right to choose – our bodies our choice.

Buy Rules of the Road at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: HarperCollins; pub date 20th February 2020 Paperback Original | Ebook pub date May 2019 | Audio |£7.99. Buy at Amazon com.