The Wrong Direction - Liz Treacher #LoveBooksGroupTours

Blurb

Autumn 1920. When Bernard Cavalier, a flamboyant London artist, marries Evie Brunton, a beautiful Devon post lady, everyone expects a happy ending. But Evie misses cycling down country lanes, delivering the mail, and is finding it hard to adapt to her new life among Mayfair’s high society. Meanwhile Bernard, now a well-known artist, is struggling to give up his bachelor ways. The Wrong Direction is as light and witty as The Wrong Envelope, with racy characters and a fast-paced plot. Wild parties, flirtatious models, jealous friends – Bernard and Evie must negotiate many twists and turns if they are to hold on to each other...  

Review

This book is the sequel to The Wrong Envelope which I reviewed here.

We meet with Bernard and Evie again, this time as they begin their married life in London. The same nostalgia I loved in the first book is still there and you can delight in a 1920s London where tea at Fortnum and Mason is the order of the day for society gals with no selfies in sight.

I got so frustrated with Bernard in this book. I really wanted to give him a good shake - so be prepared to be a little exasperated with him and actually with Evie too. She can't cook and she has to ring her Mother for help! After her trip to the fishmonger she seems to fall apart and I missed the strong character she was in Devon. However, it is not long before she is off to other parts and so Bernard really does go downhill fast, all of his own making.

We also encounter Evie's "friend" Cassie again, although by now Evie has the measure of her and they are no longer friends. Thank goodness as she really does become even more vile in this chapter of Evie's life. Phoebe who was "friends" with Bernard on the other hand becomes a true friend and is a lovely character based out in the vicarage in Saffron Walden.

Evie yet again encounters sexism and yet again my blood boiled. At least this allows us to get to see more of the old Evie from the first book. Then there is a mix up of sorts - really London society and the newsheets of the day are no better than social media in 2019 - it just would happen so much quicker nowadays. I won't be doing plot spoilers though.

If you enjoyed the first book - and really you need to read that one first, then you will love this one just as much.

I'm giving this book five out of five stars. My thanks to Love Books Group Tours and to Liz Treacher for my copy of the book for review.

Biography
Liz is a writer, a Creative Writing teacher and an Art photographer. She lives in the Highlands of Scotland with a view of the sea. Her love of images influences her writing.

Her debut novel, 'The Wrong Envelope', is a romantic comedy, set in 1920 in Devon, England. It tells the story of Bernard, an impulsive artist and Evie, his beautiful post lady. You can watch the trailer on this page, under 'Videos'. Light and witty, and full of twists and turns, 'The Wrong Envelope' captures the spirit of another age - when letters could change lives.

The sequel, 'The Wrong Direction', follows Evie and Bernard to London, and charts their further adventures in Mayfair's high society. Wild parties, flirtatious models, jealous friends - Bernard and Evie must negotiate many twists and turns if they are to hold on to each other.


For more information visit: https://www.liztreacher.com

Follow on Twitter: @liztreacher


Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LizTreacherAuthor/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liztreacher/

Buy Link

https://amzn.to/2WAy1bP

Twitter Handles

@liztreacher

@LoveBooksGroup  

Hashtags

#LoveBooksTours 

Forget My Name - J S Monroe

Description

You are outside your front door. There are strangers in your house. Then you realise... You can't remember your name.

She arrived at the train station after a difficult week at work. Her bag had been stolen, and with it, her identity. Her whole life was in there – passport, wallet, house key. When she tried to report the theft, she couldn't remember her own name. All she knew was her own address.

Now she's outside Tony and Laura's front door. She says she lives in their home. They say they have never met her before.

One of them is lying.

Review

The headline blurb for this book really drew me in - You are outside your front door. There are strangers in your house. Then you realise... You can't remember your name.

So it begins - who are the people in her house? Or is she actually in their house? I was intrigued to say the least.

Quite quickly I thought that she must have lived in the house in the past, otherwise why would she know the layout of the rooms.  It seemed like a case of amnesia for sure and the couple who live in the house kindly let her stay the night as she has no belongings, only the train ticket that got her to the village. But as she falls asleep she hears the guy whisper  at her bedroom door "welcome home" as he thinks she is asleep for the night. Spooky - so now does that mean he does know her.........

The book goes from a whodunnit which I began to think was getting cheesy to a really chilling thriller with a fantastic climax and I had to quickly rethink my opinion of the plot. All through the book the character who has become known as Jemma repeats "forget my name" to herself and it was only when I finished the book I realised how meaningful this was on several different levels. 

This would have been a five star book for me but I have taken one off for slightly too many red herrings than I think were necessary, which just made it a little unbelievable (yes I know it's fiction) and the line "you look like a Jemma to me with a "J" - that was the beginning of me thinking it was cheesy.

Four out of five stars and my thanks to Netgalley for a ARC to review.

The Wrong Envelope - Liz Treacher #LoveBooksGroupTours

Blurb

Summer 1920. Two worlds are about to collide. Evie Brunton loves her job. Twice a day, she spins along the narrow lanes of Devon on her bicycle, delivering letters from a heavy post bag. When the flamboyant London artist, Bernard Cavalier, drops like a meteor into her sleepy village, everything changes. Bernard is supposed to be painting for an important exhibition, but the countryside has its own charms, in particular his young post lady…Light and witty, and full of twists and turns, The Wrong Envelope is a charming romantic comedy. It captures the spirit of another age – when letters could change lives. 

Review

I absolutely loved this book. If you want to be transported back to an age where the post was delivered three times a day!; there was no social media and sending a message urgently meant using a telegram then this is the book for you.

We first meet Evie on a train with her friend Cassie. I came to dislike Cassie rather a lot - she in my eyes was a schadenfreude (to put it politely!) but you can make your own mind up about her. Evie is returning home to her Devon village where she is the post lady. At this point you can just put your feet up and relax with the wonderful evocative language of day to day life in a village in the 1920s.

Don't think this is a slow book though - once the story passes the scene setting phase it really takes off and I couldn't read it fast enough. Will Evie be wooed by Bernard or are they destined to never be together. It reminded me of a Jane Austen novel and a Shakespearean comedy all at once.

Language of course is evolving all the time. It made me laugh when Bernard tells Evie "she is hot" - in today's parlance it would mean something entirely different from the innocent comment that meant she was actually very hot, due to the heat! I just loved the social history aspects of this book. Some of the events described in the book that occurred after World War I made me so annoyed. However these are now more real and understandable to me after reading this book.

I really don't want to write anymore as you need to just discover the book for yourself. Inspired by a letter sent to the author's Grandmother at the time of the First Word War the book is such a treasure. I am so disappointed to finish it, but - I have the sequel "The Wrong Direction" to read, which I shall review as part of the Book Tour on 28th May.

I'm giving this book five out of five stars. My thanks to Love Books Group Tours for my copy of the book for review and to Liz Treacher who even packaged it in brown paper and string and included a copy of the letter from the cover - it was just magical to open. 

Biography

Liz is a writer, a Creative Writing teacher and an Art photographer. She lives in the Highlands of Scotland with a view of the sea. Her love of images influences her writing. 

Her debut novel, 'The Wrong Envelope', is a romantic comedy, set in 1920 in Devon, England. It tells the story of Bernard, an impulsive artist and Evie, his beautiful post lady. You can watch the trailer on this page, under 'Videos'. Light and witty, and full of twists and turns, 'The Wrong Envelope' captures the spirit of another age - when letters could change lives.

The sequel, 'The Wrong Direction', follows Evie and Bernard to London, and charts their further adventures in Mayfair's high society. Wild parties, flirtatious models, jealous friends - Bernard and Evie must negotiate many twists and turns if they are to hold on to each other.

For more information visit: https://www.liztreacher.com

Follow on 

Twitter: @liztreacher

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LizTreacherAuthor/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liztreacher/

Buy Link

https://amzn.to/2Up0KmG

Twitter Handles

@liztreacher

@LoveBooksGroup  

 

Hashtags

#LoveBooksTours 

Girls With Sharp Sticks - Suzanne Young

Description

Westworld meets The Handmaid’s Tale in this start to a thrilling, subversive near future series from New York Times bestselling author Suzanne Young about a girls-only private high school that is far more than it appears to be.

Some of the prettiest flowers have the sharpest thorns.

The Girls of Innovations Academy are beautiful and well-behaved—it says so on their report cards. Under the watchful gaze of their Guardian, they receive a well-rounded education that promises to make them better. Obedient girls, free from arrogance or defiance. Free from troublesome opinions or individual interests.

But the girls’ carefully controlled existence may not be quite as it appears. As Mena and her friends uncover the dark secrets of what’s actually happening there—and who they really are—the girls of Innovations Academy will learn to fight back.

Bringing the trademark plot twists and high-octane drama that made The Program a bestselling and award-winning series, Suzanne Young launches a new series that confronts some of today’s most pressing ethical questions.

Review

I was intrigued by the Westworld meets The Handmaid's Tale comparison in the book blurb and I was not disappointed. It's difficult to say more than that without spoilers. 

Mena is the narrator of the story and we meet her as a student of the Innovations Academy, a finishing school maybe with a difference, think Stepford Wives. She enjoys the school and most of all her friends the other students. Except one of them is behaving a little strangely. 

Mena has a vice for candy and this leads her to break the rules on a field trip. Whilst purchasing some candy she meets a young man - only briefly, but they form a friendship. It seems he may know more about the Academy than Mena does. His questions make her start to question why she is at the Academy and why her parents are too busy to talk with her and answer her questions. Instead every time she rings home she gets Eva - their live in personal assistant.

I found this book intriguing and disturbing and a lot deeper than it first appears. This is a YA novel and I found it to be scary in places so probably for the upper end of the age range. As the story unfolded I began to want to understand more about what was happening at the Academy, but I also began to fear for Mena and her friends.....

I'm giving this book 5 out of 5 stars.  My thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of the book for review.

The Last Dance - Aimee Brown

I am delighted to be here today as part of the Book Tour for Aimee Brown's newest book The Last Dance.

About the book

Can you truly forgive and forget?

Ambri and Henry have been best friends forever. They've been through the highs and lows of life with each other by their sides. The worst? When Henry's wife, and Ambri's sister, died. Together, they can face it all. Until one night destroys everything.

Two years after he stepped out of it Henry walks back into Ambri's life and she's more than a little shocked. But as old friends fall into even older habits they need to decide whether they can forget the past and embrace their future.

Perfect for fans of Nicholas Sparks, Jodi Picoult and Anna Bell.

Review

A lot of people think that romance novels are formulaic - which I guess they can be. However, they need to read this book, as Aimee just invented a whole new equation for that formula in the romcom genre!

This is a funny and poignant novel. So much fun in Ambri's character and the interactions with her friends Ben and Claire. Yet the sadness of  her sister dying and now her best friend Henry leaving her. I just loved how Aimee flips back and forth between the story from not only Ambri's viewpoint but also Henry's. It's not often we get to read what the guy is thinking through everything that is happening. I was really hanging onto every word wondering where this was all going to end up, especially as I really liked Ambri's boyfriend Noah too.

I enjoyed this book so much, the characters felt so real. I fell in love with Ambri (and her Dad) - I kind of feel like I could hang out with her and it would be so much fun. She's such a down to earth character and this just added to my feeling of an authenticity to the story.

When I finished the book I hadn't realised at first that it had ended! I sat there just looking again and again for the next page, I couldn't believe it was over! These people will stay with me for a long time. 

I can totally see this being made into a film - I'm giving it 5 out of 5 stars and my thanks go to Netgalley and the Head of Zeus for my ARC to review and inviting me to be a part of the blog tour.

About the author

Aimee Brown is a writer of romantic comedies set in Portland, Oregon, and an avid reader. She spends much of her time writing, raising three teenagers, binge-watching shows on Netflix and obsessively cleaning and redecorating her house. She’s fluent in sarcasm and has been known to utter profanities like she’s competing for a medal. Aimee grew up in Oregon, but is now a transplant living in cold Montana with her husband of twenty years, three teenage children, and far too many pets. She is a lot older than she looks and yes, that is a tattoo across her chest. (In the Portlandia spirit, yes, I lived many years in PDX and I do indeed have a bird tattooed on me (2!)) Aimee is very active on social media. You can find her at any of the networks below. Stop by and say hello!

Follow Aimee:  

Facebook: @authoraimeebrown

Twitter: @AimeeBWrites

Buy links:

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2RwEKAx

Kobo: http://bit.ly/2JyVngz

iBooks: https://apple.co/2Jwhrbx

Google Play: http://bit.ly/2JwJgR2

Follow Aria

Website: www.ariafiction.com

Twitter: @aria_fiction

Facebook: @ariafiction

Instagram: @ariafiction