Two Heads Are Better Than One

Tina Baker

Publication date: 15/2/24

Publisher: Viper

SYNOPSIS

Everyone brings their secrets to the island…

On the beautiful and windswept island of Tresco, two worlds live side by side. The wealthy visitors come by helicopter to stay at their lavish time-share properties. The estate staff travel by boat, and work all hours to keep them happy, to keep the money flowing in.

But while the blue skies and savage waves make the island seem a wild paradise, under the surface the inhabitants are concealing more than they dare reveal. The truths about their marriages, their love affairs, and what they do in the darkness while their neighbours are sleeping.

As black clouds come rolling in and a storm hits the island, truths and rumours begin to tumble out, wreaking terrible damage. In the midst of the tempest, two women are attacked and one goes missing. The secrets of this fragile community can no longer be hidden if it hopes to survive. The islanders must finally reveal what they did in the storm, no matter the cost.

From the #1 bestselling author of Call Me Mummycomes a dark and luscious thriller, perfect for readers of Harriet Tyce, Amanda Jennings and Louise Candlish.

MY REVIEW

It’s an island ‘locked room’ type thriller! I was so excited to get started on this latest novel by Tina Baker.

And I’m hooked immediately! The atmosphere. The two crazy people high on the dangerous cliffs in a fierce storm. The boatman in the rough seas. Turning back to the cliff to see only one person now…

We are introduced to, and get to know quite well, a handful of characters who live on the island, as well as some who come over regularly to visit. As the characters and their relationships develop we find out some have secrets and rather dark sides they are hiding.

After the introduction, we are taken back to find out what leads up to the person disappearing. We are, of course, kept guessing as to what happened, which is not revealed until very near the end. We watch as the storyline develops, sending a few people in the direction of the cliff at the same time as the storm is brewing, and any one of them could be responsible.

The book moves slowly at the beginning as we get to know the islanders and the pace begins to pick up as the secrets start being uncovered. By the end I knew the characters well and was flying through the pages to find what had actually happened! And I do believe I actually shouted ‘noooo!’ out loud at one point.

Wow this lady knows how to write a thriller and I love her unique writing style, peppered with dark humour!

Many thanks to Angie at Viper books for sending me a stunning finished copy of the book, and for having me along on the blog tour.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tina Baker, the daughter of a window cleaner and fairground traveller, worked as a journalist and broadcaster for thirty years and is probably best known as a television critic for the BBC and GMTV. After so many hours watching soaps gave her a widescreen bum, she got off it and won Celebrity Fit Club. She now avoids writing-induced DVT by working as a Fitness Instructor.

X : @TinaBakerBooks

Instagram : @tinabakerbooks

Alex Michaelides

Publication date: 1/2/24

Publisher: Michael Joseph

SYNOPSIS

There were seven of us in all, trapped on the island.
One of us was a murderer . . .’

On a small private Greek island, former movie star Lana Farrar – an old friend – invites a select group of us to stay.

It’ll be hot, sunny, perfect. A chance to relax and reconnect – and maybe for a few hidden truths to come out.

Because nothing on this island is quite what it seems.

Not Lana. Not her guests.

Certainly not the murderer – furiously plotting their crime . . .

But who am I?

My name is Elliot Chase, and I’m going to tell you a story unlike any you’ve ever heard.

MY REVIEW

Wow my mind is blown!

This is one of those books you just can’t put down as you approach the ending as so much happens. And all the twisty twists! I thought I knew what was happening but every time I had it all figured out it turned on it’s head and went in another direction!

I thoroughly enjoyed being transported to a private Greek island for the latest novel by Michaelides. It is cleverly written in an interesting way from the POV of the narrator, and the reader is made to feel he is telling his story to them over a drink in the local pub. He is one of the main characters in his story. His obsession and unrequited love for Lana, a famous, married, ex-actress he befriended years before, leads him to the island and to tell the story of a murder. Which may or may not have happened. Curiouser and curiouser. He reflects on his unhappy childhood, and his relationship with a successful and wealthy older woman, and he is quite philosophical in places. One paragraph in particular was very deep and made me stop and think about our journey through life.

I enjoyed this more than The Silent Patient and now I have The Maidens on my want to read list.

Many thanks to Michael Joseph for sending me a proof copy.

Christina Courtenay

SYNOPSIS

Brimming with romance, adventure and vivid historical detail, Christina Courtenay’s gripping dual-time novel travels from the present day to the fires of ancient Pompeii.
The sunlight caught her gold bracelet, sending a flash that almost blinded her. She closed her eyes, but jumped when the earth started shaking and there was an almighty boom
behind her.

Present Day
Finally escaping an abusive marriage, Caterina Rossi takes her three-year-old daughter and flees to Italy. There she’s drawn to research scientist Connor, who needs her translation help for his work on volcanology. Together they visit the ruins of Pompeii and, standing where Mount Vesuvius unleashed its fire on the city centuries before, Cat begins to see startling visions. Visions that appear
to come from the antique bracelet handed down through her family’s generations…

AD 79
Sold by his half-brother and enslaved as a gladiator in Roman Pompeii, Raedwald dreams only of surviving each fight, making the coin needed to return to his homeland and taking his revenge. That is, until he is hired to guard beautiful Aemilia. As their forbidden love grows, Raedwald’s dreams shift
like the ever more violent tremors of the earth beneath his feet.

The present starts eerily to mirror the past as Cat must fight to protect her safety, and to forge a new path from the ashes of her old life…

BLOG TOUR HOSTS

MY REVIEW

I have loved reading Christina’s Viking runes series, always eagerly awaiting the next, and was excited to read a new Roman themed novel.

I was particularly looking forward to reading this one, as much of it is set in and around Sorrento in Italy where I visited when I was a teenager. Like Christina, the history of the eruption of Vesuvius and the pictures of all those poor people who died had quite an effect on me.

This novel, although still set over a dual timeline, it is slightly different as there is no physical travel through time. Cat in the present snd Aemilia in the past are connected by a gold bracelet. Cat can often see the past when wearing the bracelet, and feels a strong connection to its past owner.

The two women are living strikingly similar lives. Abusive husbands. A young daughter. A new love who is a very similar character in both looks and personality in both timelines.

I couldn’t have been more immersed in the lives of Aemilia and Raedwald and Cat and Connor. I absolutely loved both timelines. The gladiator fights in the Roman times had me on the edge of my seat.

Thank you Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for my spot on the blog tour.

Purchase Links

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shadows-Ashes-breathtaking-dual-time-author-
ebook/dp/B0C42YW7W9/

https://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Ashes-breathtaking-dual-time-author-
ebook/dp/B0C42YW7W9/

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Christina Courtenay writes historical romance, time slip and time travel stories, and lives in
Herefordshire (near the Welsh border) in the UK. Although born in England, she has a Swedish mother and was brought up in Sweden – hence her abiding interest in the Vikings. Christina is a former chairman of the UK’s Romantic Novelists’ Association, now a Vice President, and has won several awards, including the RoNA for Best Historical Romantic Novel twice with Highland Storms
(2012) and The Gilded Fan (2014) and the RNA Fantasy Romantic Novel of the year 2021 with Echoes of the Runes.

SHADOWS IN THE ASHES (dual time/timeslip romance published by Headline Review
18th January 2024) is her latest novel. Christina is a keen amateur genealogist and loves history and archaeology (the armchair variety).

Social Media Links

http://www.christinacourtenay.com
https://www.facebook.com/christinacourtenayauthor?fref=ts
https://twitter.com/PiaCCourtenay
https://www.instagram.com/ChristinaCourtenayAuthor/

Antony Johnston

Publication Date: 25/1/24

Publisher: Allison & Busby

SYNOPSIS

Gwinny Tuffel is preparing for her first acting role in a decade in the West End, but she is dog-sitting on the side to keep the wolf from the door. So, when ageing rock star Crash Double needs help with his Border Collie, she jumps at the chance. After all, looking after the charming Ace on Crash’s Little Venice houseboat shouldn’t be an onerous task. But that’s before the singer’s dead body surfaces during the annual Canal Carnival festivities.

While the police dismiss the death as an accident, Gwinny suspects murder most foul. With a medley of suspects and some far-fetched motives to make heads or tails of, it is up to Gwinny, with Ace’s on-the-ground knowledge, to make sure the killer faces the music.

MY REVIEW

With Antony’s impressive CV, it’s no wonder I thoroughly enjoyed this cosy mystery.

This is book two in the series (and I’m hoping for more!) but having not read book one – yet – I do not feel as if I have missed out. This can easily be read as a stand alone but I’m sure you’ll also want to read about Gwinny’s escapade before this one!

I loved the characters, especially Gwinny, and her side kick and potential love interest Birch who just happens to be an ex Met police officer and helps her in her investigations. But let’s make this clear – Gwinny calls the shots and sniffs out the evidence. Ace the clever border collie does his own sniffing and helps the investigation along.

Set in the real location of Little Venice in London, I enjoyed the descriptions of the house boats and the carnival event. Shame the body floating to the surface during the opening celebration put a bit of a dampener on the event!

Plenty of slapstick humour, plus a few doses of blackmail and of course a murder to solve make this a brilliantly paced page turner. I was awake until 1.30 finishing it as I just had to know how it ended!

Huge thanks to Libby at Allison & Busby for inviting me onto the publication day blog blast and for sending me a gorgeous signed finished copy of the book.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Antony Johnston is one of the most versatile writers of the modern era. 

The Charlize Theron movie ATOMIC BLONDE was based on his graphic novel. His murder mystery THE DOG SITTER DETECTIVE won the Barker Book Award for fiction. The BRIGITTE SHARP spy thrillers are in development for TV. And his productivity guide THE ORGANISED WRITER has helped authors all over the world take control of their workload.

Antony is a celebrated videogames writer, with genre-defining titles including DEAD SPACE, SHADOW OF MORDOR, and RESIDENT EVIL VILLAGE to his credit. Having also consulted on SILENT HILL ASCENSION, he is the only writer in the world to have worked on all of the ‘big three’ horror gaming franchises.

His immense body of work also includes Marvel superheroes such as DAREDEVIL and SHANG-CHI, the ALEX RIDER graphic novels, the post-apocalypse epic WASTELAND, and more. He wrote and directed the film CROSSOVER POINT, made entirely in quarantine during the coronavirus pandemic.

An experienced podcaster and public speaker, he also frequently writes articles on the life of an author, and is a prolific musician.

Antony is a former vice chair of the Crime Writers’ Association, a member of International Thriller Writers and the Society of Authors, a Shore Scripts screenwriting judge, and sits on the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain’s videogames committee. He lives and works in England.

Sam Blake

Publication date: 4/1/24

Publisher: Corvus

SYNOPSIS

Two decades of secrets. One shocking discovery…

When a skull is found in Lough Coyne, facial reconstruction expert Dr Carla Steele is drawn into a fourteen-year-old case – but not all cases are cold, as Carla discovers when she and DS Jack Maguire find the brutally murdered body of a local woman close to the water’s edge.

Together with Carla’s partner, criminal psychologist Grace Franciosi, Carla and Jack uncover a tragic story with very dangerous and current implications.

Since the disappearance of her best friend, Carla has dedicated her career to bringing the dead home, but this time it’s the living who are counting on her. In a race to save another woman, will they be able to stop the killer in time?

MY REVIEW

A brilliantly written murder mystery to really sink your teeth into.

What starts off as a cold case investigation into a skull found in a lough soon turns into a potential serial killer investigation; but can the skull be connected to the body of a recently murdered young woman found hanging near the lough?

Family secrets and a few twists and turns kept me turning the pages.

Some gruesome descriptions – the flies!!

Oh and I shouted at the book a few times ‘don’t do that! Have you never watched a horror film!!’

Grace and Carla make quite a formidable team both in their jobs as well as their strong personal relationship. I enjoyed getting to know them.

I would love to find out what happened to Carla’s friend Lizzy who went missing some years ago. Hopefully in the next book.

Many thanks to Laura O’Donnell at Corvus for sending me a proof copy.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Join Sam’s Readers’ Club and get a FREE e-copy of her addictive thriller ‘High Pressure’! Info at http://www.samblakebooks.com

Sam Blake has been writing fiction since her husband set sail across the Atlantic for eight weeks and she had an idea for a book. Her debut novel ‘Little Bones’ (Bonnier 2016) was a runaway bestseller. Across all her books Sam has been an Eason No 1 bestseller for ten weeks, an Irish Times No 1 for six weeks, and has been listed in the Irish top ten for a total of twenty-seven weeks. Both her first novel ‘Little Bones’ and ‘The Dark Room’ were shortlisted for Irish Crime Novel of the Year (2016 & 2021) 

Moving away from police procedurals, now writing ‘deliciously twisted’ (Daily Mail) bestselling psychological thrillers, Sam’s focus is on strong female characters and ‘creating genuine page turners with metronomic timing.’ (Sunday Business Post). Remember My Name is her latest No 1 bestseller.

Sam is originally from St. Albans in Hertfordshire but has lived at the foot of the Wicklow mountains, for more years than she lived in the UK. Follow her on social @samblakebooks.

James Patterson & Brian Sitts

PUBLISHED: 4/1/24

PUBLISHER: Century

SYNOPSIS

Brendan Holmes, Margaret Marple and Auguste Poe run the most in-demand private investigation agency in New York City.

The three detectives make a formidable team, solving a series of seemingly impossible crimes which expose the dark underbelly of the city – from a priceless art theft, high-stakes kidnapping and a decades-old unsolved murder, to a gruesome subterranean prison and corruption and bribery at the highest levels of power.

But it’s not long before their headline-grabbing breakthroughs, unconventional methods – and untraceable pasts – attract the attention of the NYPD and the FBI.

After all, it’s no surprise that there’s a mystery or two to unravel in the city that never sleeps . . . not least, who really are Holmes, Margaret and Poe?

MY REVIEW

I’m a huge James Patterson fan, and when I saw this new novel I knew I just had to read it! The title itself is irresistible.

This is the story of three PI’s without a past. They have set up a new detective agency in New York and following the successful conclusion of their first case they are very much in demand.

The novel takes us into the minds of these three brilliant detectives, warts and all.

The cases they take on are complex and juicy and I thoroughly enjoyed investigating with them! There was even a bit of the supernatural about a cold case.

I loved the mystery surrounding these three, they have a close relationship and appear to know each other very well. Not only do they work as a team, they also all live above their offices, albeit in separate apartments.

A fast paced engrossing read I would highly recommend, and a brilliant book to end my 2023 year of reading.

Many thanks to Sarah Harwood at Harwood PR and Century (Penguin Random House) for sending me an ARC.

Jill Johnson

Publication Date: 6/7/23

Publisher: Black & White Publishing

SYNOPSIS

I’ve always been better with plants than people . . .

Eustacia Rose is a Professor of Botanical Toxicology who lives alone in London with only her extensive collection of poisonous plants for company. She tends to her garden with meticulous care. Her life is quiet. Her schedule never changes. Until the day she hears a scream and the temptation to investigate proves irresistible.

Through her telescope, Professor Rose is drawn into the life of an extraordinarily beautiful neighbour, Simone, and nicknames the men who visit her after poisonous plants according to the toxic effect they have on Simone. But who are these four men? And why does Eustacia Rose recognise one of them?

Just as she preserves her secret garden, she feels inexplicably compelled to protect her neighbour, but Eustacia soon finds herself entangled in a far more complicated web than she could ever have imagined. When her precious garden is vandalised and someone close to Simone is murdered with a toxin derived from a rare poisonous plant, Eustacia becomes implicated in the crime.

After all, no one knows toxic plants like she does . .

MY REVIEW

What a character Eustacia Amelia Rose is. Professor of botanical toxicology. Some would say eccentric. Others would say neurodiverse. I just loved her and her views on life and people.

Living alone since her father’s death she lovingly and carefully tends to her poisonous plants on her rooftop garden. She spends a lot of time watching her neighbours through a telescope as a ‘social observation’, and journaling their movements for a possible book on her findings. She has filled 20 notebooks so far. This helps her distract herself from memories of her lost love. One day she sees one of her neighbours kidnapped, and as the police are less than useless she leaves her solitary existence to investigate.

As a ‘neurotypical’ reader with personal experience of friends who are neurodiverse I completely understood Eustacia. Her inability to read body language or understand sarcasm. Not understanding what a coping mechanism is, before fiddling with the cuffs of her fathers suit which she wears every day.

Beautifully and sensitively written, it follows Eustacia as she forces herself to interact with people, finding it’s not as hard or unpleasant as she thought. As she is investigating the kidnapping, someone breaks in to her home and destroys her beloved plants. Then a man is found poisoned.

A mystery within a mystery and the reader needs to keep their eye on the ball to keep track of who is who. Some clever twists.

I found the descriptions of the toxins from so many plants very interesting, and I will never again sit near a plant when I’m in a cafe!

This book was well deservedly chosen for the BBC Two Between the Covers programme.

I’m very much looking forward to the next book.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jill is a Māori writer based in the UK, having lived in south-east Asia, Europe and New Zealand. She moved to London when she was 18 and the following year opened Gosh! Comics. Alongside this, she and her partner launched a graphic novel publishing company and an editorial cartoon gallery. While running her businesses and raising her three children, Jill obtained a BA Hons degree in Ornamental Horticulture and Design. In 2013, she submitted her writing to Faber and Faber, and was accepted into the Faber Academy. Her first novel The Time Before the Time to Come was published by OWN IT! in 2018. She now lives in Brighton.

SCANDALOUS WOMEN

By Gill Paul

Publication date: 29th August 2024 in the UK

August 13th 2024 in the US and Canada

SYNOPSIS

Mad Men meets the world of publishing in international bestselling author Gill Paul’s new novel about Jackie Collins and Jacqueline Susann, two dynamic, groundbreaking writers renowned for their scandalous and controversial novels, and the beleaguered young editorial assistant who introduces them.

1966, NYC: Jacqueline Susann’s Valley of the Dolls hits the bookstores and she is desperate for a bestseller. It’s steamy, it’s a page-turner, but will it make the big money she needs? In London, Jackie Collins’s racy The World Is Full of Married Men launches her career. But neither author is prepared for the price they will pay for being women who dare to write about sex.

Jacqueline and Jackie are lambasted by the literary establishment, deluged with hate mail, and even condemned by feminists. In public, both women shoulder the outcry with dignity; in private, they are crumbling—particularly since they have secrets they don’t want splashed across the front pages.

1965, NYC: College graduate Nancy White is excited to take up her dream job at a Manhattan publishing house, but she could never be prepared for the rampant sexism she will encounter. While working on Valley of the Dolls, she becomes friends with Jacqueline Susann, and, after reaching out to Jackie Collins about a US deal, she is responsible for the two authors meeting.

Will the two Jackies clash as they race to top the charts? Will Nancy achieve her ambition of becoming an editor, despite all the men determined to hold her back? Three women struggle to succeed in a man’s world, while desperately trying to protect those they love the most.

 

Preorder links:

 US: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/scandalous-women-gill-paul?variant=41246722424866

Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/Scandalous-Women-Jackie-Collins-Jacqueline-ebook/dp/B0CNNMW3HX/

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Scandalous-Women-Gill-Paul/dp/0008532168

Tracy Sierra

Publication date: 1/2/24

Publisher: Viking

SYNOPSIS

There was someone in the house.

Home alone with her young children during a blizzard, a mother tucks her son back into bed in the middle of the night. Then she hears a noise – old houses are always making some kind of noise. But this sound is disturbingly familiar: it’s the tread of footsteps, unusually heavy and slow, coming up the stairs…

In that split second, she has three choices.

Should she hide? Should she run? Or should she fight?

MY REVIEW

The reader is immediately drawn in to the horror of a mother, in her house with her two children, in the middle of a blizzard. She wakes in the night. Hears an intruder coming up the stairs. The panic she feels is palpable. How can she protect her children?

What a terrifying journey of panic, claustrophobia, questioning your own sanity, and the worrying fact this mother couldn’t rely on the police.

The mother begins to question her sanity when the police speak to her. It appears they don’t believe her. Just an hysterical woman who recently lost her husband to a freak accident. Was the intruder real? She keeps going over the events, getting more confused in her mind with what actually happened.

Written in a way we feel we are inside the mother’s head, feeling her feelings and encouraging her forward. You have this! You are a strong woman!

I liked the fact the characters real names were not used. It added something to the cold and tense atmosphere. No cosy first names. The mother gave them nicknames such as the Corner (the intruder) and the boyish officer (young policeman).

I really didn’t know where this one would go and I was worried the ending would be a let down after the tense, adrenaline fuelled read but thankfully no. It was an excellent ending.

Many thanks to Viking Books for my advance copy. Due out Feb 2024.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tracy Sierra was born and raised in the Colorado mountains. She currently lives in New England in an antique colonial-era home complete with its own secret room. When not writing, she works as an attorney and spends time with her husband, two children, and flock of chickens. Nightwatching is her debut novel.

Rosie Green

Publication Date: 28/11/23

SYNOPSIS

The festive season is fast approaching and the Little Duck Pond Café menu has been given a mouth-watering sprinkling of December magic. Jaz is hoping for the perfect festive season with little daughter Emma. But her feelings for next-door neighbour, Milo, are getting in the way. With his old love back on the scene, is she really prepared to risk her heart and make it the best Christmas ever?

Purchase Links
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C97VXWCY
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C97VXWCY

MY REVIEW

Another gorgeous addition to the Little Duck Pond series of novellas.

I’m feeling all the Christmas feels after this one.

There is the boy (well, man) next door romance bubbling at the beginning, but can Jaz finally let herself get involved in another relationship? Has she waited too long? Milo has waited for her but now his beautiful blonde ex uni friend has appeared on the scene.

There is a homeless young man who heroically saves two young girls. Will he accept help?

And there is of course the Christmas Wonderland charity fundraiser to organise.

Grab those opportunities with both hands is the lesson I’ve taken away from this wonderful novella, and of course spend as much time as possible with friends and loved ones.

This is one of my favourite series and I’m always so excited to return to Sunnybrook for the next book!

Huge thanks to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for my spot on the blog tour.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rosie has been scribbling stories ever since she was little. Back then, they were rip-roaring adventure tales with a young heroine in perilous danger of falling off a cliff or being tied up by ‘the baddies’. Thankfully, Rosie has moved on somewhat, and now much prefers to write romantic comedies that melt your heart and make you smile, with really not much perilous danger involved at all – unless you count the heroine losing her heart in love.

Rosie’s Little Duck Pond Cafe series of novellas is centred around life in a village cafe and each book can be read as a stand-alone story.

Look out for THE SUNSHINE SISTERS – a heart-warming and thoroughly enchanting trilogy of books in the Little Duck Pond Café series, out early in 2024!

Follow Rosie on Twitter – https://twitter.com/Rosie_Green88