#BlogTour Thread of Hope by Rachel J. Bonner

Today it is my turn on the BlogTour Thread of Hope by Rachel J. Bonner. It is the second book in the Choices and Consequences series. I have added info and buy links about and for book one, Strand of Faith, to my post.

Enter the Giveaway below to Win Signed copies of both Strand of Faith and Thread of Hope, plus bookmarks and business cards that match each book, and one of the Holding Crosses that the monks and nuns have.  (Open INT)

During the book tour the first book in the series, Strand of Faith, will cost 99p, Thread of Hope is priced at £2.99.

About the Author

Rachel J Bonner is the author of the four book Choices and Consequences series, the first of which, Strand of Faith, is due out in November 2018.

Getting a degree in engineering, followed by a career in accountancy is probably not a conventional path to becoming an author, particularly in paranormal romance.  Rachel says that, although accountancy isn’t anything like as boring as everyone thinks, writing is a lot more fun.  When not writing, she can be found walking in the beautiful countryside near where she lives, which has influenced much of the scenery in her books, or shooting things with her local archery club.  Target shooting only, honest.  Nothing to worry about.

She also enjoys swimming, eating chocolate chip cookies and growing aromatic herbs, especially thyme and rosemary.  It’s no coincidence that her heroine likes the same things.

Follow @racheljbonner1 on Twitter, on Facebook, Amazon, Goodreads,

Visit racheljbonner.co.uk, blog and newsletter

Buy Thread of Hope

About Thread of Hope

The enthralling sequel to the compelling Strand of Faith.

What if your secrets are so dangerous they could destroy the one you love? Is honesty always the best policy?

Leonie may have run away but Prospero will find her. He loves her and he wants a future with her by his side whatever the consequences. Only when he does find her, he ought to tell her who he really is, outside the monastery. That’ll make her run again. Dare he risk it? But if he doesn’t tell her, someone else may…

Marriage to Prospero is what Leonie wants most and the one thing she knows she can’t have. If he found out what she was really like, what she’d been, what she’d done, he’d despise her and she couldn’t bear that. Better to leave now than live a lie – but it’s harder than she expected. If only…

Gabriel is starting to discover the secrets inherent in Leonie, secrets that not even she knows, secrets that will tear the world apart. And the secrets he is keeping are tearing him apart. How can sacrificing those he loves possibly achieve peace when everything he discovers risks the death of millions?

Read all about the first book in the Choices and Consequences series:

About Strand of Faith

A girl. A monk. An unthinkable sacrifice. When the choice is between love and life, how can anyone decide?

In a post-apocalyptic future, a girl and a monk, both with extraordinary mental powers, have compelling reasons not to fall in love. But their choices will have consequences for the rest of the world.

After the troubles of his youth, Brother Prospero has found comfort and fulfilment in the monastery. Then he discovers something that forces him to reconsider his whole vocation. How can it possibly be right to leave a life of worship and service for human desire? And if he does leave, will the pressures from his past destroy him?

Orphaned and mistreated, Leonie has found sanctuary and safety at the Abbey. When she comes into contact with Prospero everything spirals out of her control. Everyone she’s ever loved has died. She can’t do that to him. But how can she walk away from the first place she’s truly belonged?

Abbot Gabriel is faced with an impossible choice. He can do nothing and watch the world descend into war. Or he can manipulate events and ensure peace – at the cost of two lives that he is responsible for. Is he strong enough to sacrifice those he loves?

Buy Strand of Faith (Choices and Consequences #1) at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Buy at Amazon com. Books2read. Google.

Review of Thread of Hope

I would suggest reading the first book in the series, Strand of Faith, because this book continues where it left off. The story of a love that isn’t meant to be. Two worlds colliding and in doing so creating ripples in the world around them. This book begins with Leonie’s bizarre reaction to a life-changing gesture. Leonie panics and runs away after Prospero proposes to her. A desperate search ensues to find her as quickly as possible.

The relationship between the two of them is complicated to say the least. Emotions aren’t enough when the past keeps intruding on the present like a nagging conscience and the differences between Prospero and Leonie appear insurmountable. Leonie battles with the inner demons courtesy of an extremely difficult childhood, whilst Prospero is willing to leave his life as a monk behind him to marry her.

Bonner has some interesting ideas, clearly creativity and a vivid imagination isn’t a problem when it comes to her stories. The world she has created is complex. Saying all that, I think the author needs to adapt a less haste and more time for depth to her world-building and writing. To give the premise a chance to catch up with the characters, and give all that inspiration a place to expand, take root and grow.

It’s a paranormal romance, a fast-paced urban fantasy. The books end in a way that forces the reader to pick up the next, because of cliffhangers and unresolved conflicts. I think Bonner likes to leave readers teetering on the top of the abyss.

Buy Thread of Hope (Choices and Consequences #2) at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Isbin Books; pub date May 2, 2019. Buy at Amazon com. Books2read. Google.

Enter the Giveaway to Win Signed copies of both Strand of Faith and Thread of Hope, plus bookmarks and business cards that match each book, and one of the Holding Crosses that the monks and nuns have.  (Open INT)

Click here to Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway

*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome.  Please enter using the Rafflecopter box above. 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.

#BlogTour The Life of Death by Lucy Booth

Today it really is a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour The Life of Death by Lucy Booth. It’s an interesting combination of paranormal urban fantasy, suspense and it’s a frank dialogue with the devil and his friend called death.About the Author 

Lucy Booth was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011. She died in August 2016. During those five years she wrote this novel and it was her last wish to have it published posthumously.

Lucy was born in Suffolk, moved with her family to Solihull, Cyprus and Lymm, Cheshire where she attended Manchester High School for Girls before studying Behavioural Sciences at Nottingham University. On graduating Lucy moved to London to pursue her career as a freelance producer for various top of the range adverts & music videos.

In 2011 Lucy was diagnosed with breast cancer resulting in surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Undaunted, and with the great assistance of her friends, Lucy not only continued working and writing her blog (lucifersboob.blogspot.co.uk) of her ‘cancer experience’ in a typically forthright and humorous fashion but felt the urge to write a novel. The Life of Death is the result.

In 2014 the aggressive cancer returned. However, Lucy was determined to live her life to the full and to finish her novel before she died in August 2016.

Lucy was funny and brave and an inspiration to all who knew and loved her; she never allowed her cancer to define her and remained upbeat and positive until her last days.

She is much missed by her parents, Jackie and Alan, and sister, Analie, her many friends, her godchildren and, of course, her cat Oliver.

Buy The Life of Death

About the book

In 1590, I sold my soul to the Devil. I was twenty-three. Elizabeth Murra has been condemned to burn at the stake. As she awaits her fate, a strange, handsome man visits her cell. He offers her a deal: her soul in return for immortality, but what he offers is not a normal life. To survive Elizabeth must become Death itself.

Elizabeth must ease the passing of all those who die, appearin at the point of death and using her compassion to guide them over the threshold. She accepts and, for 500 years, whirls from one death to the next, never stopping to think of the life she never lived. Until one day, everything changes.

She – Death – falls in love. Desperate escape the terms of her deal, she summons the man who saved her. He agrees to release to release her on one condition: that she gives him five lives. These five lives she must take herself, each one more difficult and painful than the last.

Review

It is awful that Lucy Booth will never see the reaction readers will have to her book, because I am certain there will be plenty of accolades and positive words. It’s also a loss for readers that she will never be able to share more of her words and talent with us. Those thoughts, my thoughts, don’t come from a place of pity or generosity due to her tragic death either. I can be quite critical at times, but I know a writer and good storyteller when I encounter one, and Lucy Booth was a good one.

The story begins in 1590, when a young girl sells her soul to the devil. Just days before her death at the hands of bloodthirsty witch-finders, the rumours of her close connection to the devil have become her downfall. She makes a pact, a deal to become the door through which every soul must travel after it has ended. At the time it sounds like a great deal, but over time the immortality and emptiness of her existence wears thin. The experiences wear heavily on her body, as freedom and ‘life’ becomes like a claustrophobic coffin made of glass.

I enjoyed the way death became almost synonymous or interlinked with the thought of the devil. Instead of a heralding angel awaiting some of us with open arms or pointing us in the direction we are deserving of; up to heaven, down to hell or perhaps even somewhere in limbo. We are all awaited by the same entity and pass through the same portal, which in this case is death. Technically that is of course true. Death comes before any alleged judgement or ranking. Even if you aren’t religious – death still comes first to us all.

There is also no judgement, regret or fear of retribution, there is only nothing. No imagined scenarios painted and scribed by the hands of men over the many centuries, who speak of winged creatures and omnipotent powers who watch over life and lives.

It’s an interesting combination of paranormal urban fantasy, suspense and it’s a frank dialogue with the devil and his friend called death. Simultaneously this is a story of embracing the thought of what death is, who death is and where death takes us. It’s the acceptance of futility, of the inevitable and about looking death straight in the eye and demanding something more than it offers to you. Then finally acknowledging that even if you dance with devil in the pale moonlight, it won’t change the fact he determines what it says on your dance card.

I really enjoyed the read.

Buy The Life of Death at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Unbound: pub date 2 May 2019. Buy at Amazon com. Buy at Unbound.