12th Jul 2019 – White Tulip

PUBLISHERS BLURB

A tiny island community is stunned by the discovery of a long-buried body.

For Stella Harvey, the news is doubly shocking, as the body is found in the garden of her childhood home. The home her family fled without explanation twenty-five years ago.

Now, questioning her past and desperate to unearth the truth, Stella returns to the Dorset island. But she quickly finds that the community she left isn’t as welcoming as she remembers – and that people in it will go to any length to protect their secrets.

But one thing rings true…

You can’t bury the truth forever.

MY REVIEW

This starts with eleven year old Stella and her family leaving her beloved home on the isolated Evergreen Island. It’s dark and stormy, but her father insists they leave. Stella is heartbroken, leaving her best friend Jill…

Her sister, Bonnie is glad to be leaving, she felt she didn’t belong, especially after meeting Iona.

The girls also have a brother, Danny, who’s a quiet boy and just wants to be by himself…..others on the island think he’s a bit odd.

The story jumps to 2018, with Stella, now in her thirties and a family counsellor. Her parents split up, her mother then died, Danny just walked out re has been no contact since and Bonnie is an alcoholic……just what went happened on that island to mess them all up so much?

Watching the news one evening, Stella recognises their old home, a body has been found buried in the garden……is it someone they know?

Stella returns to the island, she feels she has come home at last….but she is determined to find out why they had to leave so suddenly, but what secrets will she find when delving into the past?

A stunning tale of secrets and lies that may break what’s left of the family…..should some secrets remain buried? An intriguing and atmospheric read.

My thanks to Rachel Kennedy, Publicity Manager, Arrow & Century, for a free copy of the book. This is my honest and unbiased review.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Heidi Parks’ debut novel Now You SeemHer twice reached the Sunday Times bestseller list, first in hardback in July 2018 at No.9 and again at No.6 in paperback in March 2019 where it was a Richard & Judy Book Club pick for Spring 2019. Now You See Her has sold over 120,000 copies across formats to date and it has reached a staggering 200 five star reviews on Amazon from readers. It has also been optioned for TV from the production company behind BBC One’s The Minaturist and Channel 4’s National Treasure.

Heidi Perks worked as a marketing director for a financial director before leaving to become a full-time mother and writer, She is a graduate of the inaugural Curtis Brown Creative Online Novel Writing Course (the only creative writing school run by a literary agency). Follow Heidi on Twitter @HeidiPerksBooks and join in the conversation with #ComeBackForMe.

PUBLISHERS BLURB

You just dropped off your child at the bus stop. A panicked stranger calls your phone. Your child has been kidnapped, and the stranger explains that their child has also been kidnapped, by a completely different stranger. The only way to get your child back is to kidnap another child within 24 hours. Your child will be released only when the next victim’s parents kidnap yet another child, and most importantly, the stranger explains, if you don’t kidnap a child, or if the next parents don’t kidnap a child, your child will be murdered.

You are now part of The Chain

MY REVIEW

“What is being asked of you may seem impossible now but it is entirely within your capabilities.”

Rachel drops her daughter Kylie at the bus stop, same as usual. But she then receives a call to say Kylie has been kidnapped and to keep her safe, Rachel much follow the rules.,..She’s in the Chain now !

The voice tells her, pay $25,000 to a given account, or Kylie will die, no police or Kylie will die, she must follow the rules or Kylie will die!

The rules are complex, but basically Rachel has to kidnap another child, make the same demands as she has been given…..only once these have been followed will Kylie be released, unharmed. She must not break the chain!

What follows is one of the most tense thrillers I’ve ever read, with that most searching of questions, What would you do to save your child? Could you kill another child? How far would you go?

Rachel is a fantastic character, struggling with her cancer diagnosis and the ever present threat of reoccurrence (I know how this feels), yet finds the strength of a mother bear defending its cub….

Incredibly plotted by Adrian McKinty, with complex rules in a ‘game’ that seem all too plausible, which makes this terrifying. Completely believable and utterly compelling… …it really is a must read.

Thank you to Tracy and Compulsive Readers for the opportunity to participate in this blog tour and for the promotional materials and a free copy of the ebook. This is my honest, unbiased review.

You can buy a copy here

https://amzn.to/2JEmHGG

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Adrian McKinty is an Irish novelist. He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and grew up in Victoria Council Estate, Carrickfergus, County Antrim. He read law at the University of Warwick and politics and philosophy at the University of Oxford. He moved to the United States in the early 1990s, living first in Harlem, New York and from 2001 on, in Denver, Colorado, where he taught high school English and began writing fiction. He lives in Melbourne, Australia with his wife and two children. (Courtesy of Goodreads)