BOOKSIMO

I'm republishing my review from July today, as part of the Book Blitz. Description A spiralling obsession. A missing wife. A terrifying secret. Will he find her before it’s too late? When Dr Jacob Boyce’s wife goes missing, the police put it down to a simple marital dispute. Jacob, however, fears something darker. Following her trail to Spain, he becomes convinced that Ella’s disappearance is tied to a mysterious painting whose hidden geometric and numerical riddles he’s been obsessively trying to solve for months. Obscure, hallucinogenic clues, and bizarre, larger-than-life characters, guide an increasingly unhinged Jacob through a nightmarish Spanish landscape to an art forger’s studio in Madrid, where he comes face-to-face with a centuries-old horror, and the terrifying, mind-bending, truth about his wife. Review I doubt you have read a book quite like this before. The title says it all really it is a "strange book" and it's all about Jacob Boyce. I admit to having...

  Description Stretching for around thirty miles to the coast, the Mersey Estuary is perhaps best known for Liverpool s spectacular waterfront and the Mersey Ferry. But there are many other hidden gems along its shores, including waterside parks, sandy beaches and poignant reminders of the days of steamships and sail. The Mersey Estuary: A Travel Guide  provides suggestions for places to visit along the estuary, from its upper reaches in Warrington to where it meets the sea at New Brighton and the Sefton Coast. Along the way, the book calls in at Widnes, Runcorn, Ellesmere Port, Port Sunlight, Birkenhead, Liverpool and Formby Point, and includes an interesting mix of walks and cycling routes, ranging from a couple of hours to a full day out. Readers will also discover some less well-known sights, including lighthouses, a castle, medieval buildings, and a transporter bridge, one of only eight left in the world. For those interested in the history, environment and wildlife of th...

I'm thrilled to be on the Blog Tour today for the Simon Ellice Series of books. This review is going to cover all four books in the series. Bloodstock the latest release is out now. I'm going to start with the previous book in the series. Description Highly charged, action packed and intelligent, Go Fast is set in the vivid, exotic location of Morocco and is the first novel in the Simon Ellice series. On moonless nights Si runs hash from Morocco to Spain in his go-fast boat but soon discovers he's caught up in a tangle of illegal power and hidden love. Review I love a good action film, but when it comes to the book I've been let down by Bond and Bourne. Just couldn't get into them. Not this time though, Simon Ellice is my new hero. OK so he's technically not a good guy, as he's a drug smuggler, but I'd have him on my team any day. We meet Simon and his beloved boat Nottambulo, which is super fast - the reference of the title of the book. I don't know...

Description In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time . . . From the author of  Before the Coffee Gets Cold  comes  Tales from the Cafe , a story of four new customers each of whom is hoping to take advantage of Cafe Funiculi Funicula's time-travelling offer. Among some faces that will be familiar to readers of Toshikazu Kawaguchi's previous novel, we will be introduced to: The man who goes back to see his best friend who died 22 years ago The son who was unable to attend his own mother’s funeral The man who travelled to see the girl who he could not marry The old detective who never gave his wife that gift . . . This beautiful, simple tale tells the story of people who must face up to their past, in order to move on with their lives. Kawaguchi once again invites the reader to ask themselves:...

Description An informative and entertaining look at why plants have been used in magic and what that tells us about people and plants in a post-magic world. With chapters on subjects as diverse as Witchcraft, Curses and Blessings, Divination, the Plants of Faery, Hallucinogens, Divine Plants in the Christian and Pagan traditions and a Plant Bestiary, Greg Kenicer’s book is an erudite and informative look at how and why various plants have had a role in Europe’s supernatural and magical traditions. Individual entries look at particular plants combining botanical analysis with historical examples and anecdote to explain exactly why each plant came to be used in this way. Considerations of dangers and actual efficacy cast light on how modern science is now re-examining the uses of many of the plants and how the evolution of the plants themselves has been influenced by our use of them. Whether Foxglove or Mandrake, Hawthorn or Aspen, Rowan or Oak, St. John’s Wort or Bird Cherry, Plant Magi...

  Description Can you fall in love for the first time twice? A recently widowed women is about to find out when she wakes up and finds herself eighteen again in this "compelling" story of second chances ( Mail On Sunday ). Kate’s husband Luke – the man she loved from the moment she met him twenty-eight years ago – died suddenly. Since then she has pushed away her friends, lost her job and everything is starting to fall apart. One day, she wakes up in the wrong room and in the wrong body. She is eighteen again but remembers everything. This is her college room in 1992. This is the first day of Freshers' Week. And this was the day she first met Luke. But he is not the man that she lost: he’s still a boy – the annoying nineteen-year-old English student she first met. Kate knows how he died and that he’s already ill. If they can fall in love again she might just be able to save him. She’s going to try to do everything exactly the same… Review I wasn't sure I was reading t...

I'm so pleased to be on the Blog Tour today for this book. Description 17-year-old Billy has just left school with no A levels and he's desperate to escape middle England. As a grave-digger, he’s working the ultimate dead-end job. Billy’s home life isn’t any better. In the evenings, he observes his dysfunctional family: his Grandad’s engaged to a woman half his age, his xenophobic Dad’s become obsessed with boxing, and he suspects his deeply religious Mum is having an affair.  All the while, celebrities are dropping like flies and Britain is waiting for the EU referendum. Everything is changing, and Billy hates it. Meeting Eva, though, changes everything. She’s Swiss, passionate about Russian literature, Gary Numan, windfarms and chai tea, and Billy gambles everything for a chance to be with her. When things start to go wrong, Billy’s journey across Europe involves hitch-hiking with truckers, walking with refugees, and an encounter with suicidal cows. But the further he goes, t...