The Ice Maiden - Jane Badrock

 

I'm delighted to be on the Book Tour for this book today.

Book Blurb :- 

Who is Maddie?

If she doesn’t find out…she’ll die.

Tormented by visions of a woman’s death, 

maths student Maddie’s search for answers

leads her to question her own origins

and puts her life in danger.

Who’s trying to kill her?

Why?

It’s the most critical problem she’ll ever have to solve…

And she’s only got three weeks.

Review

I found the book blurb on this one to be intriguing - and it certainly was...

Maddie is 20 and a uni mathematics student. A number of tragic events occur in her life, the first being the death of her Mother. This begins a quest to find out who she really is, but also to uncover who the woman is that she keeps seeing in her dreams. Helped by a dream scientist she begins to unpick the recurring dreams, but what is a dream and what is real?

The book has an enormous amount of self talk by Maddie. This initially threw me a little as I am not used to reading this amount of internal dialogue. I can say however that by the end of the book this style of writing made total sense. Also don't expect the book title to make any sense for quite some time!

This became a real page turner around half way through with so many red herrings that I began to suspect everyone of having a hand in the events that began to plague Maddie. I even suspected those I should have put in the clear, but so many weird things began to happen in the book that I started to doubt what was real and what was in Maddie's dreams. 

A satisfying ending which had me rethinking what I had read. It's a very clever storyline.

I'm giving this book 4 out of 5 stars. My thanks to Zooloo's Book Tours for the invite and the ARC to review.

About the author

Jane writes novels, short stories and poems, usually with a good dose of humour in them. She's probably owes it all to her late grandmother who, she's just found out, also wrote short stories and poems. She tends to get an idea and then run with it whether it be a 100 word short story or an 80 thousand word novel. It all depends on the voices in her head at the time…

Follow her at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/janebadrockauthor/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janebadrock/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/janebadrock

Amazon : https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jane-Badrock/e/B07HZ2HD3Q

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18510015.Jane_Badrock

Amazon UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B098F578W2

Amazon US - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B098F578W2

Going South - Tom Larsen

So happy to be on the blog tour for this book today.

Description 

Harry wants out. The daily grind has ground him down and his dreams are fading fast. Desperate times call for desperate measures and as a last-ditch resort he fakes his own death to claim on the insurance planning to set himself up on Easy Street.

Wife Lena has her doubts. Harry’s always had a hand in the hustle, but going for broke was never his style. She goes along for the ride just to see how far he’ll take it, down Mexico way, returning “widowed” and soon-to-be wealthy, waits out the weeks till they can reunite.

Only Harry sounds funny on the phone. And she knows how he gets when he’s been drinking.

Then there’s the irreversible nature of death to consider.

Harry’s scheme is seamless but the schemer has a flaw, and instead of getting what he wants might just get what he deserves.

'Going South explores conscience and consequence with a slowly building tension . . . the reader feels like they're hanging on a frayed rope with no idea when it might snap'
-ARC Reviewer

Review

When the book began I found it to be written in such an authentic fast paced American style of dialogue, that I wasn't sure I was going to be able to stick with, but I'm so glad I did.

Harry hates his job and his life and he wants to jack it all in and live a life of leisure. Except his wife, Lena, a mental health nurse and he have no other income, so he can't. Harry comes up with a plan to fake his death down in Mexico with the help of his wife. But to do that they need a body...

Lena begins the book with such a wonderful wry sense of humour. I felt I wanted to take notes and be able to recite some of these one liners myself someday. Maybe it comes from working in a mental health hospital that she's got this defence in humour. All I know is it is just genius comedic writing. I say she begins that way, because as the toll of what they've done becomes more and more pressing on her, some of that sassiness that was so great in the beginning is lost.

Told from the perspective of two killers and what the guilt of that can do is the basis of this story. It felt like real life as they go through plan B, D and D (and more) when things don't work out according to their plan. The book has a real raw American dialogue at times and I did have to google a few things which I was not familiar with, others, I just went with them.

The end was not what I expected. I'm not even sure it's what I hoped for because by then I was as wrung out by it all as Harry and Lena were.

I'm giving this book 4 out of 5 stars. My thanks to Random Things Tours for the invite to the blog tour and the ARC to review.

Clothes ... - Alexandra Shulman

I'm so thrilled to be on the Blog Tour for this book today.

Description

In Clothes... and other things that matter, Alexandra Shulman delves into her own life to look at the emotions,  ambitions, expectations and meanings behind the way we dress.  

From the bra to the bikini, the trench coat to trainers, the slip dress to the suit, she explores their meaning in women’s  lives and how our wardrobes intersect with the larger world - the career ladder, motherhood, romance, sexual identity,  ambition, failure, body image and celebrity. 

By turns funny, refreshingly self-deprecating and often very moving, this startlingly honest memoir from the ex Editor of British Vogue will encourage women of all ages to consider what their own clothes mean to them, the life  they live in them and the stories they tell. 

Shulman explores the person our clothes allow us to be – and sometimes the person they turn us into. 

‘The pieces I write about have been chosen because they have at some time or other meant something to me. A  few are utterly idiosyncratic, others part of many women’s collections. Ultimately, though, this book is entirely  personal. How much can be traced through the contents of our wardrobes – in my case, 549 pieces? These clothes  are the story of my life and my preoccupations; like everyone’s, they are unique.’

Review

I loved this book so much. I could have read it in one sitting, but instead I rationed myself, as I knew I was going to miss it when it ended.

I was hoping this book would contain some social history around clothes and I wasn't disappointed on that score. What I wasn't expecting was that a former editor of Vogue would be so unassuming. Early in her Vogue career she notes not feeling worthy of a bespoke outfit by Catherine Walker (the stuff of dreams) but later on she overcame that, as bespoke Manolo shoes were regularly made for her!

I found myself nodding along and agreeing with her observations about fashion. life today and when I was younger. So much of the book resonated with me and two words I have not heard since my childhood, namely trews and midi (skirt length) and both got a mention. 

To read these pages was like sitting down with an old friend and reminiscing. The book is not in a chronological order. It is led by the meandering through her wardrobe and the memories that pieces of clothing evoke. Whether that be from years ago or more recently. Her time at Vogue is referenced throughout, but this is not a diary of her time there. 

I found this book to be deliciously absorbing. So many fascinating facts, some I already knew, but others I didn't and this had me researching further myself.  The mention of the pins (brooches)  and memories of wearing them had me breaking off reading to seek out (and buy) the referenced Madeliene Albright book,  I get so excited when one book leads to another. There is also an excellent bibliography at the end of the book which I intend to check out.

I'm giving this book 5 out of 5 stars and will be re reading it very soon. My thanks to Random Things Tours for a copy of the book to review and for the invite to the tour.

About the author

A Beginner's Guide to Murder - Rosalind Stopps

 

Description

Grace, Meg and Daphne, all in their seventies, are minding their own business while enjoying a cup of tea in a café, when seventeen-year-old Nina stumbles in. She’s clearly distraught and running from someone, so the three women think nothing of hiding her when a suspicious-looking man starts asking if they’ve seen her.
 
Once alone, Nina tells the women a little of what she’s running from. The need to protect her is immediate, and Grace, Meg and Daphne vow to do just this. But how? They soon realise there really is only one answer: murder.
 
And so begins the tale of the three most unlikely murderers-in-the-making, and may hell protect anyone who underestimates them.

Review

Trigger warnings for:  Kidnapping, rape, physical and emotional abuse

I'm always keen to read a book celebrating older people, but this just didn't do it for me. 

Three ladies in their seventies are minding their own business in a coffee shop when a young girl (Nina) comes in and asks for their help. If I had known what Nina was running from I would probably not have chosen to read this book. 

Whilst I applaud the older characters and their fight to show they are not to be written off by society the parts of the book that followed Nina made for gruesome and all too realistic reading. While it might have been slightly comedic at times for most of it I found it to be a very dark book. 

I did enjoy the friendships that were forged in the face of adversity and each of the three women all had a reason for helping Nina from their past.  However the plot was dragged out for too long in my opinion and I got a little bored with all the going back and forwards over the time line. The ending was dramatic but for me it came far too late.

I'm giving this book 3 out of 5 stars. My thanks to netgalley for the ARC to review.

About Britain - Tim Cole

 

Description

In 1951, the Festival of Britain commissioned a series of short guides they dubbed ‘handbooks for the explorer’. Their aim was to encourage readers to venture out beyond the capital and on to ‘the roads and the by-roads’ to see Britain as a ‘living country’. Yet these thirteen guides did more than celebrate the rural splendour of this ‘island nation’: they also made much of Britain’s industrial power and mid-century ambition – her thirst for new technologies, pride in manufacturing and passion for exciting new ways to travel by road, air and sea.

Armed with these About Britain guides, historian Tim Cole takes to the roads to find out what has changed and what has remained the same over the 70 years since they were first published. From Oban to Torquay, Caernarfon to Cambridge, he explores the visible changes to our landscape, and the more subtle social and cultural shifts that lie beneath.

In a starkly different era where travel has been transformed by the pandemic and many are journeying closer to home, About Britain is a warm and timely meditation on our changing relationship with the landscape, industry and transport. As he looks out on vineyards and apple orchards, power stations and slate mines, vast greenhouses and warehouses for online goods, Cole provides an enchanting glimpse of twentieth and early twentieth-century Britain as seen from the driver’s seat.

Review

I usually love books like this but for some reason I could not get into this one at all.

The author has driven the roads that were featured in the 1951 Festival of Britain guides. It's a book you can dip in and out of but I had opted to start at the beginning. It was not an area I was too familiar with and felt a little at odds with finding a connection with the writing.

Thinking I might do better with an area I knew well I opted for the East Midlands section. Unfortunately that too left me cold. The book is obviously well researched and goes into a lot of depth, at times reading more like a book suited to an academic rather than someone with a passing interest.

Maybe it is because the book is really about the view from the car rather than interacting with the places themselves that it wasn't really for me.

I'm giving this book 3 out of 5 stars. My thanks to netgalley for the ARC to review.

Yours Cheerfully - A J Pearce

 

Description

The Times Top Ten Bestseller
From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Dear Mrs Bird comes Yours Cheerfully, the charming and hilarious tonic we've all been waiting for!

'Sweet, heart-warming and uplifting . . . Absolutely lovely!' - Marian Keyes, author of Grown Ups
'Full of wit, friendship and the uplifting knowledge that when people come together, great changes can be made' - Katie Fforde, author of Wedding Season

London, September, 1941.

Following the departure of the formidable Editor, Henrietta Bird, from Woman’s Friend magazine, things are looking up for Emmeline Lake as she takes on the challenge of becoming a young wartime advice columnist. Her relationship with boyfriend Charles is blossoming, while Emmy’s best friend Bunty, is still reeling from the very worst of the Blitz, but bravely looking to the future. Together, the friends are determined to Make a Go of It.

When the Ministry of Information calls on Britain’s women’s magazines to help recruit desperately needed female workers to the war effort, Emmy is thrilled to be asked to step up and help. But when she and Bunty meet a young woman who shows them the very real challenges that women war workers face, Emmy must tackle a life-changing dilemma between doing her duty, and standing by her friends.

Every bit as funny, touching and cheering as AJ Pearce's debut, Dear Mrs Bird, Yours Cheerfully is a celebration of friendship, a testament to the strength of women and the importance of lifting each other up, even in the most challenging times.

Review

I loved the first book - Dear Mrs Bird - this one not so much.

The book is a follow on from Dear Mrs Bird but could be read as a standalone. We meet Emmy again and this time Mrs Bird from the first book has departed and so the "Yours Cheerfully" letters page is born and the title of this book.

Emmy is once again hands on with the advice to readers but this time it gets much more serious as she becomes involved with the War Office and the recruitment drive of women for the war effort. I must say that the fight the women have against men and the powers that be, was so disheartening but opened my eyes to a side of the war I had not thought about before. Young women without child care who needed to work.

I found this book to be rather slow in places and rather long and drawn out. At times it felt like when someone tells you a tale and they include every little detail, instead of just getting to the point. Unfortunately I did not find the "hilarious tonic" from the blurb, but it was certainly eye opening.

I'm giving this book 3 out of 5 stars. My thanks to netgalley for the ARC to review.

The Girl Who Reads on the Metro - Christine Féret-Fleury

 

Description

For fans of The Little Paris Bookshop and The Elegance of the Hedgehog, The Girl Who Reads on the Métro is the French phenomenon by Christine Féret-Fleury, ready to charm book-lovers everywhere . . .

When Juliette takes the métro to her loathed office job each morning, her only escape is in books – she avidly reads on her journey and imagines what her fellow commuters’ choices might say about them.

Then she meets Soliman – the mysterious owner of the most enchanting bookshop Juliette has ever seen – and things will never be the same again. For Soliman believes in the power of books to change the course of a life, and he’s about to change Juliette’s forever . . .

Review

This book was on a list for  books to choose from in my library book reading group. The title of the book and the description drew me to this book, but in the end I was disappointed with it. I listened to the audio version of the book. 

In essence this is a fairytale set in the real world. I hadn't thought that would be the case, instead believing it to be by someone who goes to run a bookshop. I like a little bit of magic and fantasy but for me this was just too fantastical and for a lot of the book I had no clue what was happening. 

The parts of the book I liked the most where those where the books were used to help sell and market properties in Paris. Ironically this is the job that Juliette leaves behind. A lot of the narration on the Metro reminded me more of the London underground and many words were not translated as such but English words substituted when French ones would have been understood. So at times I forgot the book was set in Paris.

The narrator had a fairy tale telling lilt to her voice and this was just right I think, making it a little more intriguing. It's not the voice I would have had in my own head whilst reading. I'm pleased I listened to it as audio as I don't think I would have finished it in paper book form. 

I'm giving this book 3 out of 5 stars. My thanks to borrowbox and the local library for the loan of the audio book.