Two Heads Are Better Than One

publication date 13 May 2021

Today is my day on the blog tour. Hope you enjoy my review!

SYNOPSIS

He jumped to his death in front of witnesses. Now his wife is charged with murder . . .

Five years ago, Erin Kennedy moved to New York following a family tragedy. She now lives happily with her detective husband in the scenic seaside town of Newport, LoGgng Island. When Erin answers the door to Danny’s police colleagues one morning, it’s the start of an ordinary day. But behind her, Danny walks to the window of their fourth-floor apartment and jumps to his death.

Eighteen months later, Erin is in court, charged with her husband’s murder. Over that year and a half, Erin has learned things about Danny she could never have imagined. She thought he was perfect. She thought their life was perfect.

But it was all built on the perfect lie.

MY REVIEW

The book has three storylines.

The story begins 2 years ago with an event which had me completely hooked. Erin is stunned when her husband of 2 years commits suicide right in front of her. She is shunned by his police colleagues who won’t let her see his body and won’t talk to her. They do reveal Danny was being investigated. Why did his partner turn up at their door with bad news? What was so bad it prompted Danny to jump out of their 4th floor apartment window? She begins her quest to find out the truth.

We have a second storyline also set 2 years in the past where Lauren, an 18 year old student at Harvard, has been attacked, but is reluctant to report the crime. She is eventually cajoled by Ally, her proctor, to report the attack to her boyfriend who is a police officer.

The third storyline running throughout the book is set in the present with Erin who is in court charged with murder.

I felt so sorry for Erin. Her family live in Ireland and she doesn’t have any friends to help her through this difficult time. When a stranger comes into her life in the form of the handsome and very rich Cal, she is unsure of his intent and whether he can be trusted. He has appeared in her life at just the right time to support her.

The storyline is quite complicated and there is a lot of going back and forth between timelines but what a satisfying ending! 

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ from me and a big thank you to Milly at Quercus Books for having me on the tour and for providing an e-ARC via NetGalley.

Having read Clare’s debut last year, The Secrets of Saffron Hall (buy it immediately if you haven’t read it) I jumped at the chance to read an early review copy of her second novel. I already have it on pre-order so am looking forward to having the actual book in my forever collection.

Saffron Hall was my number one book of 2020, and I had a feeling book two would not disappoint. It didn’t. Clare has produced another enthralling, page turning book of exquisiteness and I absolutely loved it!

Again, Clare has written this historical fiction novel along a dual timeline.

The historical element gives us a very satisfactory conclusion to what happened to Eleanor and Tom after they fled England at the end of Saffron Hall. What a cliffhanger that was! Tom who is deaf and mute, moves back to England from France in 1584 and finds himself working as an assistant to the Queen’s apothecary, having learned his craft from his adoptive mother, Eleanor. The Queen’s spymaster, Walsingham, soon sees the benefit of Tom’s lip reading abilities and he is made to spy for the Queen. The Babington plot is under way to remove Elizabeth from the throne and replace her with the Catholic Queen Mary. One of Tom’s only personal belongings is a triptych which is a 3 part painting he is completing with snippets of his life.

The present day part is set in 2021 where Mathilde receives a solicitor’s letter urgently summoning her from her converted ambulance moving home to Lutton Hall Norfolk. Mathilde has lived alone and on the road, selling her photographs to make her living, since her mother died when Mathilde was only 16. She has always longed for a proper family. When she arrives at Lutton Hall she is astounded to find she has a half sister, a niece and an Aunt and Uncle waiting for her. Her father, whom she thought had died when she was a baby, had actually been searching for her all of her life but had sadly just died without ever finding her. He left Lutton Hall to Mathilde in his will in the hope that his solicitor would find her. She initially thinks she will stay a short while and sell the property, but when she finds the Triptych on a wall in the chapel behind a boarded up wall, she becomes determined to find out who painted it and the story behind it.

The past and present story lines are equally as enjoyable. The characters are developed extremely well, the plot intertwines perfectly, the research into the historical part is obviously thoroughly completed and I didn’t want it to end! Although the conclusion to both parts in extremely satisfying. It’s going to take me a few days to pick up another book as I’m still living in the worlds of Tom and Mathilde.

I can’t recommend Clare’s books highly enough.

Thank you to Avon books and NetGalley for allowing me early access to this book in return for a review.

Welcome to my blog tour post!

Best friends tell each other everything.Or do they?

Georgia and Lydia have been best friends for over 20 years. Lydia’s parents died in a car crash when they were both studying illustration at college and Georgia was there to help her through. They became very close, in fact more like sisters, as Lydia had no other family other than an auntie living in America.

🐶

20 YEARS LATER

Georgia is happily married and has grown up twins who have flown the nest. She has become a successful author, creating and illustrating a series of children’s books about Wilbur the Wallaby. She feels guilty about her success around Lydia who has not progressed very far with her career, and Georgia is unaware she is always on the search for a book deal which has never happened. She is still single and lives alone but is obsessive about posting images of herself and her ‘happy’ life on Instagram.

Georgia and her husband Nick decide to adopt a rescue dog and along comes Igor, the biggest, friendliest dog you could imagine.

When Georgia sets up a fake Twitter account as ‘Patricia’ to try to boost Lydia’s dwindling confidence, she has no idea this will set the ball rolling with a series of events which threaten her friendships and even her happy marriage. Lydia starts confiding in ‘Patricia’ by Twitter messages secrets she knows about Georgia.

Lydia has always hidden her resentment at Georgia’s happy life and success but she has a plan in place to get what she wants, and not even her best friend will get in her way.

🐶

My thoughts on the book

I raced through this book. What a joy to read! It is the second of Jane’s books I have read and she is now up there with my favourite authors. The writing style is so easy to get absorbed in. Although most of the events are quite serious I love the humour Jane adds and had a few laugh out loud moments, especially around Igor. I loved Igor!

I enjoyed reading about the friendships, betrayed trust, deep resentment but also successes and forgiveness.

The book was written from Georgia’s point of view until the end of part one of the book so we had no idea what Lydia was thinking. In part two we begin to hear from Lydia and it throws what we think we know up in the air!

Highly recommended!

4/5 stars

When Megan and her 5 friends decide to drive the wrong way on a motorway at night, not for the first time, they have no idea this decision will change their lives forever.

A car swerves to avoid them and crashes. The occupants are killed.

Megan, never quite fitting in to the group, offers to take the blame in return for a favour from each of her friends when she is released from prison. They agree.

When Megan is released from prison 20 years later, she seeks out the friends who have never contacted her or visited her in prison. She has found out everything she can about them and worms her way back into their lives. She is calling in the favours which are beyond anything the friends could have imagined.

They can’t follow through with their promises.

Then one of them is found murdered.

I enjoyed Sharon’s last book so much I had to put this to the top of my pile. This one is a slow burner which builds up to a nail biting, heart racing conclusion.

Many thanks to Trapeze Books and NetGalley for an advance copy to review. Publication date 27/5/21

5/5 stars

Read in a day – I couldn’t put it down.

Nell has always been an outsider. Born with birth marks covering her face and body, she has always hidden herself away.

When Jasper Jupiter’s Circus of Curiosities comes to town, Nell’s father takes the opportunity to get rid of the daughter he didn’t want around, and make some money at the same time. He sells her to the circus.

Her initial horror and desperation to escape very quickly changes to a feeling of acceptance. Can she finally find where she belongs, and feel at home with this group of ‘curiosities’?

We follow her as Jasper makes her into a star, seeing her as the object which will finally give him the fame and fortune he is desperately seeking.

The story is told from 3 points of view: Nell, Jasper and Jasper’s brother Toby, who also feels like he lives on the outside looking in.

There is also a very interesting back story of their time at war and how it has shaped their lives.

A fabulously woven, almost magical tale.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for an advance copy to read and review. I already have my indie special edition on order for my forever shelf!

5/5 stars

I was very lucky to have received a proof to review from HQ and send them my thanks.

Chloe is trying to balance her job as a newspaper archivist with looking after her nan, her only family, who has dementia.

When her nan is put into a home for her own safety, Chloe becomes obsessed with a case she found in the archives about a 4 year old girl who went missing 25 years ago. She makes it her goal to solve the case, even managing to lodge in a room with the parents who are still hoping their daughter will return one day.

Although the main plot line is the missing girl, to me the book was more about personal struggles, relationships and dealing with heartbreaking tragedy.

I anticipated the end would be predictable but I was pleasantly surprised with the extremely well thought out conclusion.

Thank you to NetGalley and PanMacmillan for a copy to review. 4/5 stars from me 😁

I enjoyed Nikki’s debut, All In Her Head, so jumped at the chance to read and review an advance copy of her second book.

Again, Nikki has written about difficult domestic situations realistically and sensitively.

Jo and Caroline are sisters. They have never been close, always competing for their parents love. Their father has just died bringing them together for the funeral and to sort out their fathers estate. 70% of the family business is now owned by Jo which has not gone down too well and she is under pressure to sell it.

It looks from the outside that the sisters have happy comfortable lives, but no-one knows what goes on behind closed doors. Caroline is married to the most hideous man who abuses her both physically and mentally. She has hidden this from everyone apart from her 19 year old son who has gone travelling to Bali to get away from his father. Jo suspects her husband is facing an affair, and one of her young daughters seems particularly affected by her grandfathers death.

The story is told from the points of view of Jo and Caroline but we also have a third, unknown narrator who keeps popping up to discuss their feelings for someone.

Great thriller I devoured in a few sittings. Nikki has quickly become one of my must read authors.

Thank you to Orion Publishing Group and NetGalley for an advance copy to review. Book published 1/4/21

When I was given the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book I jumped at the chance.

Having read the previous book in the series, Plague, a political murder mystery set around Westminster and in the underground tunnels of London I was very keen to catch up with Cassie Fortune after her traumatic experience (no spoilers!)

Julie has chosen another extremely interesting setting for this book – the area in and around the Temple of Apollo at Delphi.

We catch up with Cassie just a short while after the first book. She is now working for the new PM and has been sent as his envoy to speak at a conference with the purpose of convincing the Greek PM to visit London for an off the record meeting.

Whilst there, a local woman is murdered and then one of the delegates disappears. Cassie is made to assist with the investigations.

The story is vividly brought to life by the descriptions of the area, the weather and even the chamber below the temple Cassie falls into on a night of particularly bad weather. And those hallucinations. Or are they?

I enjoy Julie’s writing. Although initially I thought I was going to struggle with the number of Greek names and characters, this is soon dwindled down to just a handful of the important characters. There is no unnecessary padding and I also appreciated the fact that the main events are summed up along the story to keep us on track. Plenty of twists and turns and revelations you will never guess!

A really good read which I have enjoyed over Easter weekend and now I’m looking forward to the next instalment.

Due to be published by Claret Press on 5th May 2021.

Thanks Julie!

I saw a lot of hype about this book on Twitter and requested an early review copy from NetGalley and I am so glad I did! What a debut. I finished it last night just before publication day today. It is a slow burn but once you get into it and get to know the extremely deep and well developed characters it is totally absorbing.

The story revolves around the disappearance of 17 year old Abigail one night after a party at the Tall Bones which is a group of tall white stones in the forest. Abi tells her friend Emma she is meeting someone in the woods and reluctantly Emma leaves her. She will regret that decision. Abi is not seen again after that night.

Emma turns to alcohol to help her cope and decides to try and uncover what happened to Abi that night with the help of Rat, a Romanian boy living in the trailer park and Maddox, a friend of Abi’s and Noah, one of Abi’s brothers.

Secrets start being uncovered and the town are looking for someone to blame. The teenagers are going through their own issues and have nowhere to turn for help. Parents are either abusive or just don’t care, and the pastor puts the blame for their thoughts and worries back on them, telling them they are broken. The same pastor who blames Abi’s mother for her own abuse by her crazy husband Samuel, a Vietnam war vet who clearly has PTSD and drives his wife to the verge of insanity where she stops functioning.

As we get to know the people who live in this small town of Whistling Ridge we find a horrible cruel lot of weak minded people, who have the local church at the centre of their lives, and are brainwashed by the pastor. They are homophobes, racists, wife beaters, child abusers. They use the bible as the excuse for their behaviour, confused by the bible’s message by the preacher of hatred. No wonder the teenagers can’t wait to get away from the town.

Things come to a head one night after a particularly savage church meeting which ends with the setting fire to a property.

At least one person knows what happened to Abi that night.

Thanks very much to NetGalley and Transworld Penguin Random House for the chance to read an ARC of this book.