Love’s Long Road | Cheryl M-M's Book Blog

Today it’s my turn on the BlogTour A Friend in Deed by G.D. Harper.

Giveaway to Win all 3 paperbacks of GD Harper’s Psychological Fiction Trilogy (Open UK Only) – Prize features all three books, Love’s Long Road, Silent Money and A Friend in Deed

About the Author

I was placed third in the 2015 Lightship Prize for first-time authors, won a 2016 Wishing Shelf Award Red Ribbon, been shortlisted at the UK Festival of Writing for Best First Chapter, longlisted in the 2017 UK Novel Writing Competition.

In 2017, I was one of twelve authors selected for Authors in the Spotlight at the Bloody Scotland book festival in Stirling, showcasing who they considered to be the best emerging talent in crime fiction, and was the only self-published author to be chosen. I have spoken at numerous other book events, including Blackwells’ Writers at the Fringe at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe; a stand-alone slot at the Byres Road Book Festival in Glasgow, and the Aye Write! Book Festival, also in Glasgow.

I worked in Russia and Ukraine for ten years, which gave me the ideas for the plot and setting that I used in A Friend in Deed.

Follow @harper_author on Twitter, on Facebook, on Goodreads, on Amazon,Visit gdharper.com,

About the book

Britain: a few years from now. A new populist political party has won the recent general election.

Duncan Jones, freelance political journalist and blogger, loses his weekly column at a national newspaper and turns to investigative reporting. The chance remark of a friend leads him to suspect that the Russians are directing the new British government’s policies and decisions. As he visits Moscow and Ukraine to discover more, scandal follows intrigue, dark forces attempt to silence him by whatever means possible and he turns to an unlikely ally for help.

A Friend in Deed is a fast-paced psychological thriller set in an all-too-believable near future. It is also the story of how one man confronts the traumas in his past and works out how to resolve them.

Review

A Friend in Deed is part of series of books that can be read as standalone novels. All three books are linked when it comes to the characters and the environment. This book is the story of Duncan, Silent Money is about Michael Mitchell and Love’s Long Road is the story of Michael’s lover Roberta.

This story is set in the near future of Britain and is unfortunately all too accurate. When you take the facts as we know them at this moment in time, which is that Russia has and is influencing the outcomes of foreign elections to suit their own agenda, then this story is on point. Russia interfered and influenced the 2016 US elections. Russia interfered and influenced the EU referendum. Russian funds are undeniably linked to interference in British politics, which will become important in the upcoming elections in December 2019. Russia divides us to conquer – unfortunately quite successfully.

Harper also addresses another important aspect of our time, which has come under fire during Trump’s term of office – the freedom and legitimacy of the press. Catch-phrases like fake news have become synonymous with media in the last few years. Independent bloggers and media outlets have become a thorn in big medias side, because they don’t have to bow down to their corporate bosses.

Is there a media bias? Yes. Why? Because the top of the food chain ensures that the narrative they want to unfold is supported by the media outlets they own and run. Social media moguls are more interested in money than fact checking political ads, thereby helping to spread lies and form opinions. Unfortunately that leaves the common man in the position of having a lack of trust towards those outlets. Thanks to phones and cameras on the frontline we can see when the media reports favour one party for instance and neglects the other.

All of the above is probably why many people go looking for an independent voice, a blogger like Duncan, but then who says he isn’t being used by others to further some nefarious narrative.

It’s a political psychological thriller with a spy vibe. What I take away from this fictional read, is how the UK and US, and indeed the world, is being influenced by third parties who don’t have our best interests at heart. It’s a fast-paced read and simultaneously also a warning to be more diligent. Always fact check.

Buy A Friend in Deed at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Troubador Publishing; Paperback pub date 18 Oct. 2018. Buy at Amazon com.

Read my review of Love’s Long Road and Silent Money by G.D. Harper.

Giveaway to Win all 3 paperbacks of GD Harper’s Psychological Fiction Trilogy (Open UK Only) – Prize features all three books, Love’s Long Road, Silent Money and A Friend in Deed

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*Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.*

Today it’s my turn on the BlogTour Love’s Long Road by G.D. Harper. It’s a contemporary read with noirish crime vibe.

About the Author

“I was placed third in the 2015 Lightship Prize for first-time authors, won a 2016 Wishing Shelf Award Red Ribbon, been shortlisted at the UK Festival of Writing for Best First Chapter, longlisted in the 2017 UK Novel Writing Competition.

I went to Glasgow University in 1975 and lived in the city’s West End, the time and place for the setting of the majority of Love’s Long Road.”

Follow @harper_author on Twitter, on Facebook, on Goodreads, on Amazon,Visit gdharper.com, Buy Love’s Long Road

About the book

Glasgow, 1975. How do you cope when your boyfriend kills himself because of you?

When Bobbie Sinclair’s boyfriend commits suicide and blames her, she vows never to love again. Instead she chooses to lead a double existence, kind-hearted by day and promiscuous by night. She increasingly struggles to maintain the balance between light and dark and soon finds herself sucked into the world of a controlling and ruthless crime lord from which she must escape.

Set against a vibrant but seedy 1970s Glasgow backdrop, Love’s Long Road plots Bobbie’s desperate plight. Starting a new life but constantly afraid of her past catching up with her, she battles danger, adversity and drug addiction on the long and perilous road back to love.

Love’s Long Road is about dealing with the guilt of terrible events in your past and the risk of being corrupted by the world around you; it is a story that captures to perfection what it was like to be young and single in the 1970s.

Review

I felt the most poignant moment, and indeed the driving force of the story, is based on the guilt Bobbie feels. Towards the end the event that precedes the downwards spiral of the main character is put into a different light. It changes the perception of everything, which is in fact a learning moment and should be an overall eye-opener.

Suicide is an emotional topic. It destroys families, relationships, mental health and memories. It is a time-bomb that leaves waves of destruction in its wake long after the actual person has chosen to take their life. Those who are left behind often battle with many unanswered questions. Did I miss some sign? Wasn’t I listening properly or paying attention? And the most important question of all..why?

Bobbie’s story starts with the why, which she answers by giving herself the entirety of the blame, despite the fact suicide is a singular decision made by that person. Of course there are exceptions to that scenario – people can also be driven to suicide.

Bobbie embarks on a journey of self-punishment and self-hatred. She has no self-worth and believes she is no longer capable of having a loving relationship. All of these things lead her into a world where boundaries become skewed and wrong decisions have real life consequences.

I’m going to flip the script here and say that it’s also important to view Bobbie from a different point of view. She is self-absorbed, the narrative is always me, me, me and never what about the world or those around me. Let me just put this out there – what if the suicide wasn’t the catalyst and just merely another blip on a path she would have walked along anyway.

It’s a contemporary read with a noirish crime vibe. It’s fair to say that it’s very much a grim read, however it is absolutely in keeping with the urban Glaswegian feeling of the 70’s.

The sequel to this book is A Friend in Deed, which is set around Bobbie’s best friend Duncan and Michael’s story is told in Silent Money.

Buy Love’s Long Road at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Matador; UK ed. edition pub date 28 April 2016. Buy at Amazon com.