BOOKSIMO

I reviewed this book a few weeks ago here.  Now the author Paul Carroll is giving one of my twitter followers a copy of the book.  #WIN a copy of Don't Ask by Paul Carroll - I loved this book and so @paulcarrollink has kindly agreed to give one of my followers a copy. Just like, follow me @linby and @paulcarrollink and retweet (no quote tweets pse). Competition ends 2 July. pic.twitter.com/LWX1lzXUjv — Booksinmyopinion (BOOKSIMO) 📚📖🎨🧵🧶 ☕ (@linby) June 28, 2021

I'm so pleased to be on the Blog Tour today. Description "First you save my life, then you bring me here..." Suzana Chesterfield, recently rescued from a gang of slave-traders by Simon Ellice, has come sailing with him to try to work out what to do with her life. And perhaps to find out whether the handsome, selfish, bastard should be part of it. They drop anchor in a perfect bay of pink granite rocks, glittering sand and azure water on the island of Cavello, in the Lavezzi Archipellago between Corsica and Sardinia, and are welcomed into to the warm southern hospitality of Andria Acquaviv and his family, who have the villa in the next bay. Susie's heart is touched by Lesia, the little girl who plays with her dog in the sand and Lucia, her unhappy, widowed mother, who without a husband or a son, is reduced to serving the family. She wants to help them, help the little girl to find a wider world and Lucia to break free from family bonds and find independence. Can she? D...

  Description The '86 Fix — the bestselling '80s time travel novel from British author, Keith A Pearson Imagine if you could travel back in time and relive one weekend as your teenage self — would you change anything? On the way home from school in 1986, Craig Pelling decided to buy a can of Coke. He wasn't to know a seemingly innocuous visit to the local newsagent would dramatically change the course of his life. Consequently, Craig now lives in a loveless marriage and earns a living in a dead-end job as the manager of an electrical store. He could have been so much more. He could have achieved so much more. But fate hasn't finished with Craig Pelling. A school reunion proves to be the catalyst for chaos, and decades on from his visit to that newsagent, Craig's mundane life is turned upside down as his past comes back to haunt him. As he plummets towards rock-bottom, all seems lost for Craig until he's thrown a lifeline — the miraculous lifeline of a brief trip...

  Description How do you find a killer when you can't recognise a face? Last night my sister was murdered. The police think I killed her. I was there. I watched the knife go in. I saw the man who did it. He's someone I know. But he won't be caught. Because he knows I have prosopagnosia - I can't recognise faces. But if I don't find him, I'll be found guilty of murder. Review A really gripping read. The book starts out a little slowly with the scene being set of the murder and the subsequent suspicion by the Police that the woman may have murdered her sister. She has prosopagnosia through being in a coma after a car accident many years ago. It means she can't remember faces from one day to the next. So even though she saw the killer she doesn't know who they are... The woman is so susceptible once her sister is dead that I found I was really concerned for her. I feared for her safety and wondered how she was going to manage all alone. There are a few peop...

  Description Hana Khan's family-run halal restaurant is on its last legs. So when a flashy competitor gets ready to open nearby, bringing their inevitable closure even closer, she turns to her anonymously-hosted podcast, and her lively and long-lasting relationship with one of her listeners, for advice. But a hate-motivated attack on their neighbourhood complicates the situation further, as does Hana's growing attraction for Aydin, the young owner of the rival business. Who might not be a complete stranger after all... A charmingly refreshing and modern love story, Uzma Jalaluddin's tale is humorously warm and filled with gorgeous characters you won't be able to forget. Review I expected a light hearted chick lit novel but this book runs so much deeper than that. This book is inspired by one of my favourite films "You've Got Mail"  and that is what drew me to read it. Instead of rival bookshops like in the film, this book is set in rival halal restaurants...

  Description With more people writing books than reading them, who’d be an author? Four disparate, aspiring authors dream of getting their work published. As they strive for a breakthrough they are unaware that, in the world of traditional publishing, editors, agents and authors have enough problems of their own. The odds are stacked against success on both sides of the fence. The only person who seems to be doing well out of the writing game is the owner of The Write Stuff, a company selling ‘how to get published’ help to would-be authors. Inevitably, all roads eventually lead to The Write Stuff’s annual weekend writing conference. As the wannabe wordsmiths attempt to scramble on the ‘up’ escalator to literary stardom, will they notice the tragic author of many years passing them in the other direction? As the conference builds to an explosive climax, who’s going to start a new chapter in their life and who’s going to remain stuck on page one? Review Just brilliant - I really enj...

Description Perfect for fans of Sophie Kinsella and Maria Semple, a smart romantic comedy about mothers and daughters, told in an addicting, fast-paced style. Crystal has trouble saying no to her lonely, single mother. For 25 years, it wasn't a problem. But when one small mistake leaves Crystal jilted, homeless, and unemployed, she has to move back in with the person who caused it all: her mother. Soon Crystal is sucked into her mother's vortex, partying with boomers and hawking homemade marshmallows. Desperate for some independence, she hatches a foolproof plan: get an experimental android to play her mom's "perfect" boyfriend. It's only a matter of time before her mom finds out, and Crystal will never live down the hilarious and disastrous consequences. A story told through emails, texts, and journal entries, Mom's Perfect Boyfriend is a humorous yet deeply honest portrayal of the complicated friendship between mothers and daughters. Sometimes the people...

  Description The Village Green Bookshop  is a heartwarming story of good books and good friends, by the bestselling author of  The Telephone Box Library , Rachael Lucas. 'Gorgeously romantic and full of joy' - Cathy Bramley 'A gorgeous, big-hearted romantic read, full of characters you'll be rooting for. The perfect escapist read set in a beautiful Cotswolds village' - Tasmina Perry 'It is a warm gorgeous hug of a book with all the feels. I loved it' - Liz Fenwick, author of  The Cornish House Frustrated that she spends all her time as either a mum to a football-obsessed teenager or a wife to a workaholic husband, Hannah wants something for herself. When the chance comes to take over the Post Office in Little Maudley, a charming Cotswold village, Hannah grabs it with both hands. But village life is not so picture-perfect after all: Hannah finds herself an outsider in this tight-knit community where the height of your hedge is a gossip-worthy subject. Even h...

  Description On an unnamed archipelago off the east coast of Britain, the impossible has come to pass. Women control the civic institutions. Decide how the islands' money is spent. Run the businesses. Tend to their families. Teach the children hope for a better world. They say that this gynotopia is Eva Levi's life's work, and that now she has disappeared, it will be destroyed. But they don't know about Cwen. Cwen has been here longer than the civilisation she has returned to haunt. The clouds are her children, and the waves. Her name has ancient roots, reaching down into the earth and halfway around the world. The islands she inhabits have always belonged to women. And she will do anything she can to protect them. This remarkable novel is a portrait of female power and female potential, both to shelter and to harm. What are we? Islanders or mainlanders, migrants or landowners, men or women, past or future? Or a mixture of them all? And how do we make sense of these is...

Description Tokyo, Japan Umiko Wada has had enough excitement in life. With an overbearing mother and her husband recently murdered, she just wants to keep her head down. As a secretary to a private detective, her life is pleasantly filled with coffee runs and paperwork. That is, until her boss takes on a new case. A case that is surrounded by shadows. A case that means Wada will have to leave Tokyo and travel to London. London, England Nick Miller never knew his father, and was always told he wasn’t missing much. But when an old friend of his late mother says there are things that Nick  needs  to know about his parents, he can’t ignore it. When a chance encounter brings Wada and Nick together, they couldn’t know the series of violent events set off by their investigations. And when they discover Nick’s father might have been the only witness to a dark secret forever buried, they realise there are some powerful people who will do whatever it takes to keep it that way…   R...