#BlogTour The Woman in the Woods by Lisa Hall

 It’s my turn on the BlogTour The Woman in the Woods by Lisa Hall.

About the Author

Lisa loves words, reading and everything there is to love about books. She has dreamed of being a writer since she was a little girl – either that or a librarian – and after years of talking about it, was finally brave enough to put pen to paper (and let people actually read it). 

Lisa lives in a small village in Kent, surrounded by her towering TBR pile, a rather large brood of children, dogs, chickens and ponies and her long-suffering husband. She is also rather partial to eating cheese and drinking wine. Readers can follow @LisaHallAuthor on Twitter, Visit lisahallauthor.co.uk

About the book

She’s out there. Waiting for you. – When Allie moves to a quaint old cottage with her husband, it’s their dream home. Nestled in the village of Pluckley, it seems a perfect haven in which to raise their two children. But Pluckley has a reputation. It’s known as England’s most haunted village. And not long after the birth of their new son, Allie begins to notice strange things…   

 What’s the flash of white she sees moving quickly through the woods to the back of their house? And what’s the strange scratching noise from the chimney?

 As Allie discovers more about the history of their new home, she uncovers a story of witchcraft and superstition, which casts a long shadow into the present day. And not everything is as it seems. Her family might well be in danger, but it’s a danger none of them could have foreseen…

Bestseller Lisa Hall’s The Woman in the Woods is full of creeping unease and nerve-wracking tension, and will have readers on the edge of their seats…

Review

Allie has moved into a old place with a dire history she is as yet unaware of. She has a husband who is a bit of a workaholic and two young children – one of which is a new baby. She is tired, stressed and a little fed-up with people interfering with her life in general. Out of every corner the question of how she is coping is being forced upon her. 

Popping Co-codamol while you’re breastfeeding  also isn’t the done thing and certainly wouldn’t be prescribed by health professionals to a nursing mother due to the codeine, but perhaps that is indicative of the downwards spiral Allie is heading towards. The question is whether she is being pushed in that direction by malevolent forces or is there something in the world around her with nefarious intentions?

I thought this was a cracking read, especially because Hall takes you in multiple directions and as a reader you quite willingly follow where she leads you, only to be confronted with something else entirely. I have to say this story made me angry – a lot. Angry for Allie and the way she was treated. Angry at Allie for not telling people to get stuffed. 

The author delivers a great plot with an important message, and yet in the end the reader is also left with questions. Is the solution really that simple or is it just a temporary plaster? 

Buy The Woman in the Woods at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher ‏: ‎HQ; pub date 30 Sept. 2021. Buy at Amazon com.

#BlogTour The Perfect Couple by Lisa Hall

Today it’s a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour The Perfect Couple by Lisa Hall.

About the Author

Lisa loves words, reading and everything there is to love about books. She has dreamed of being a writer since she was a little girl – either that or a librarian – and after years of talking about it, was finally brave enough to put pen to paper (and let people actually read it). Lisa lives in a small village in Kent, surrounded by her towering TBR pile, a rather large brood of children, dogs, chickens and ponies and her long-suffering husband. She is also rather partial to eating cheese and drinking wine.

Follow @LisaHallAuthor on Twitter, on Goodreads, on Amazon, Visit lisahallauthor.co.uk, Buy The Perfect Couple

About the book

When Anna applies to a job as a housekeeper for wealthy widow Nick, it’s a chance to start over – steady job, regular money means she can work towards her own place, not sharing a grimy flatshare with old mate, Mel.

As Anna gets to know more about Nick’s world – how likes his supper when he comes in from work, who his friends are – she can make sure everything is just as he wants it. And soon there’s a spark of chemistry between them. Nick likes having Anna around, and one evening invites her to stay…

There’s just the small issue of what actually happened to his first wife…

Review

Rupert is distraught by the death of his beloved wife Caro. He lets his life fall into chaos and isn’t sure whether he should be happy or annoyed by the good intentions of his wife’s best friends. Enter Emily stage left.

More or less hiding from her previous life and an abusive ex, Emily sees an advertisement for a housekeeper and thinks it is the perfect way to rebuild her life. It seems as if the fates have spoken. A lonely widower and a frightened woman looking for safety. The two of them are drawn to each other, although Emily is possibly more attracted to the kind of life Rupert can offer her.

Bob’s your uncle and they are man and wife, perhaps with a little too much haste. Emily becomes the target of harassment and that’s without the bookend witches that guard Rupert and his virtue – they make mean girls look nice. Rupert is disappointed that his new bride appears a wee bit on the paranoid and oversensitive side. The sweet boat of matrimony sails upon rocky waters.

I like the way Hall thinks. This kind of twisted no man’s land of guilt and innocence. Do two wrongs make a right, does the end justify the means? 

It’s a fast-paced intriguing domestic thriller, and Hall doesn’t disappoint when she delivers the kind of ending that tends to make me smile. I do so love a bit of wickedness.

Buy The Perfect Couple at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: HQ; pub date 22 Jun. 2020. Buy at Amazon com.

Read my review of Have You Seen her by Lisa Hall.

#BlogTour Have You Seen Her by Lisa Hall

Today it’s a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour Have You Seen Her by Lisa Hall. It’s a riveting psychological thriller, where there are no clear shades of black or white, because somehow everyone is guilty of something.

About the Author

Lisa Hall is the bestselling author of Between You & Me, which sold over a quarter of a million copies and was the fifth top selling title on Amazon in 2016. Since then, she’s written two critically acclaimed books Tell Me No Lies and The Party, and she’s a real rising star in the crime community.

Lisa lives in a small village in Kent, surrounded by her towering TBR pile, a rather large brood of children, dogs, chickens and ponies and her long-suffering husband. She is also rather partial to eating cheese and drinking wine.

Follow @LisaHallAuthor on Twitter, on Goodreads. on Amazon, Visit lisahallauthor.co.uk

Buy Have You Seen Her

About the book

Bonfire Night. A missing girl.

Anna only takes her eyes off Laurel for a second. She thought Laurel was following her mum through the crowds. But in a heartbeat, Laurel is gone.

Laurel’s parents are frantic. As is Anna, their nanny. But as the hours pass, and Laurel isn’t found, suspicion grows.

Someone knows what happened to Laurel. And they’re not telling.

Review

This is fraught psychological thriller about the disappearance of a young child, and how the weight of it lays heavily on each one of the characters.

I have to be slightly critical of Anna here, because who lets a really young child wander off in the midst of a large crowd and just assume that they are following their mother, and that the mother is aware of that fact.

Hall captures the frenzy of the press and the onlookers really well. Opinions sway between feeling sorry for the parents and pointing the finger of blame right at them. The author makes the comparison to the McCann case and the way the parents have been treated like the perpetrators from the very beginning instead of the parents of a missing child. The problem with presuming guilt and uncorroborated suspicions is that the attention is drawn away from the victim.

The other thing the author describes well is the often taut and fractious relationship between mother and nanny or au-pair. The child often develops a strong relationship to the care-giver, and depending on how little time the parents spend with the child, that relationship can supersede the parental one. It can cause jealousy between care-giver and parent, especially the mother.

Being a nanny or an au-pair can be a thankless job. It’s often nothing more than the underpaid position of someone who is expected to take care of the children, cook, clean, shop and anything else the employers can think of, and then try to navigate the guilt, anger and pomposity of said employers at the same time.

It’s a complex woven web of motives. Everyone is a suspect and appears to have something to hide. The author keeps the readers looking in certain directions, whilst the real culprit is walking around in plain sight.

It’s a riveting psychological thriller, where there are no clear shades of black or white, because somehow everyone is guilty of something. Hall manages to keep the reader completely in the dark for the most part, which makes the read even better.

Buy Have You Seen Her at AmazonUk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: HQ; pub date 2 May 2019. Buy at Amazon com.

Read my review of Tell Me No Lies by Lisa Hall

Tell Me No Lies by Lisa Hall

This story is enough to make anyone paranoid and balance on the edge of insanity. Except you’re not paranoid if someone is actually out to get you. Then again Steph’s mind has tricked her into believing strange things before.

Does that seem like one contradiction after the other or as if the author might be trying to mess with the reader? Well, she certainly manages to keep you guessing.

In an insidious ‘hand that rocks the cradle’ way Steph’s life slowly starts to unravel. Is it just her overactive imagination, possibly postpartum depression, a relapse into mental health issues of the past or a third party with evil intentions?

The only thing that didn’t ring true for me was the way Steph was willing to trust complete strangers with her life and family within hours of meeting them, and treat old reliable friends like members of the Illuminati. That and the frustrating scenes with the one person who is trying to warn her. Then again I am a cynic and trust is often overrated.

I kind of liked the way Hall didn’t give two monkeys about giving readers the ending she thought they were most likely to expect or prefer. There is no perfectly wrapped gift box with a cute little ribbon on top.

Tell Me No Lies really is a dark raincloud of emotions with hardly any sunlight shimmering through the clouds. More or less a nightmare, so in that sense the author really has done her job.

Buy Tell Me No Lies at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.