14th Oct 2019 – White Tulip Candles

PUBLISHERS BLURB

A disturbing, powerful and beautifully written novel based on shockingly real events’ Christy Lefteri, author of The Beekeeper of Aleppo

The International Bestseller

Inspired by the powerful true story of Margot Wölk, this is a heartbreaking and gripping historical novel for fans of The Tattooist of Auschwitz and The Beekeeper of Aleppo

East Prussia, 1943. Hitler hides away in the Wolfsshanze – his hidden headquarters. The tide is turning in the war and his enemies circle ever closer.

Ten women are chosen.

Ten women to taste his food and protect him from poison

Twenty-six-year-old Rosa has lost everything to this war. Her parents are dead. Her husband is fighting on the front line. Alone and scared, she faces the SS with nothing but the knowledge every bite might be her last.

Caught on the wrong side of history, how far is Rosa willing to go to survive?

MY REVIEW

In Germany during WWII, Hitler was afraid someone would try to poison his food to kill him. So, a group of 10 women are ‘recruited’ to be food tasters. They eat the same meals as Hitler, only one hour before, they are watched to see if any thing untoward happens…..

This is the tale of those women, based on the memories of a woman that was actually there, was one of these tasters. It is their stories, of their lives, families and the effects this war had on them all.

Well written and incredibly thought provoking – just how far would you go to keep those close to you safe, to save your own life?

Thank you to the publishers, the author and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this for free. This is my honest and unbiased review.

Book reviews, Comedy, Police procedural

Ghost and Ragman Roll by Pete Adams – Book Review. @Peteadams8 @NextChapterPB @damppebbles #GhostAndRagmanRoll

14th Oct 201913th Oct 2019 lel2403

PUBLISHERS BLURB

His French honeymoon continually interrupted by a series of misdeeds, DCI Jack Austin returns to Portsmouth to find the missing link.

When an ambitious new detective infringes on his territory – and his ego – Austin resorts to illogically effective tactics to protect those that matter most.

With a corpulent gangster gone missing and a banker murdered in Paris, can Austin reveal the perpetrator and bring him to justice?

MY REVIEW

This is #4 in the Kind Hearts and Martinets series by Pete Adams. It can be read as a stand-alone but you are missing out on a lot of fun and mayhem if you haven’t read the other 3.

DCI Jack Austin or Jane as he is known to friends and foe alike, is on his honeymoon in France. He’s finally married Mandy (Detective Superintendent Amanda Bruce).

They are approached by various men of different agencies with tales of murder, conspiracies and of course spooks. From the murder of a banker, to the abduction of a hotel manager….how are these linked?

With Jack’s madcap humour, his habit of mixing up words and frequently speaking his thoughts out loud there are many laughs, but underneath is a social and political commentary…

Will Jack get through a case without being shot this time?

As always a thoroughly entertaining police procedural that makes you think.

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

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Pete Adams is an architect with a practice in Portsmouth, UK, and from there he has, over forty years, designed and built buildings across England and Wales. Pete took up writing after listening to a radio interview of the writer Michael Connolly whilst driving home from Leeds. A passionate reader, the notion of writing his own novel was compelling, but he had always been told you must have a mind map for the book; Jeez, he could never get that.

Et Voila, Connolly responding to a question, said he never can plan a book, and starts with an idea for chapter one and looks forward to seeing where it would lead. Job done, and that evening Pete started writing and the series, Kind Hearts and Martinets, was on the starting blocks. That was some eight years ago, and hardly a day has passed where Pete has not worked on his writing, and currently, is halfway through his tenth book, has a growing number of short stories, one, critically acclaimed and published by Bloodhound, and has written and illustrated a series of historical nonsense stories called, Whopping Tales.

Pete describes himself as an inveterate daydreamer, and escapes into those dreams by writing crime thrillers with a thoughtful dash of social commentary. He has a writing style shaped by his formative years on an estate that re-housed London families after WWII, and his books have been likened to the writing of Tom Sharpe; his most cherished review, “made me laugh, made me cry, and made me think”.

Pete lives in Southsea with his partner, and Charlie the star-struck Border terrier, the children having flown the coop, and has 3 beautiful granddaughters who will play with him so long as he promises not to be silly.

Social Media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Peteadams8

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pete.adams.9256

Purchase Links:

Amazon UK:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ghost-Ragman-Roll-Spectre-Martinets-ebook/dp/B07RSYDC32/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1570027489&sr=8-1

Amazon US:

https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Ragman-Roll-Spectre-Martinets-ebook/dp/B07RSYDC32/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=ghost+and+ragman+roll&qid=1570027733&s=gateway&sr=8-1

F8EF0C45-51EF-49E2-A9A8-842A7B25E25D

Book reviews, Comedy, Family drama

XYZ by William Knight – Book Review. @_William_Knight #XYZ #LoveBooksTours

14th Oct 201913th Oct 2019 lel2403

PUBLISHERS BLURB

From a former Guardian and BBC writer, and author of The Donated, comes a hilarious story of mid-life crisis, family, technology, and coping with the modern workplace.

Jack Cooper is a depressed, analogue throwback; a cynical, alcoholic Gen-Xer whose glory days are behind him. He’s unemployed, his marriage has broken down, he’s addicted to internet hook-ups, and is deeply ashamed of his son Geronimo, who lives life dressed as a bear.

When Jack’s daughter engineers a job for him at totally-lit tech firm Sweet, he’s confronted by a Millennial and Zoomer culture he can’t relate to. He loathes every detail – every IM, gif and emoji – apart from Freya, twenty years his junior and addicted to broadcasting her life on social media.

Can Jack evolve to fit in at Sweet, or will he remain a dinosaur stuck in the 1980s? And will he halt his slide into loneliness and repair his family relationships?

MY REVIEW

Jack is a software engineer, he’s 55, old school. He has a new job at Sweet, a tech company full of bright young things….all emojis and a language he barely understands.

His marriage has fallen apart, he lives in a small flat….his daughter Em is his only real contact. She’s pregnant and this really makes Jack think about life.

He also has a son, he’s a furry, and lives his life as a bear called Geronimo….Jack has had trouble accepting his sons choice but after meeting Vasi, he has a change of heart and wants to mend his relationship.

The company has a turnaround and needs old dinosaur Jack’s input…the emoji’s have to go!

This is full of humour but also about acceptance, love and family. A fun, entertaining read.

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

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

William Knight has written for the Guardian, the Financial Times and the BBC, among many other publishers. He is a journalist and technologist currently living and working in Wellington, New Zealand.

A graduate engineer, he’s chased a varying career starting in acting, progressing to music, enjoyed a brief flirtation with handbag design, and was eventually wired into technology in 1989.

By 2003 his non-fiction was being regularly published in Computing newspaper in the UK, and he has since written about the many successes and failings of high-technology

The Donated (formerly, Generation), his first novel, was conceived from a New Scientist article in 2001 and was ten years in development. Subsequent novels, XYZ, Foretold, The Fractured, will be available, he says, “Sometime in the future. Hopefully not as long as ten years.”

Buy Link

https://amzn.to/2ZWuO7O

Twitter Handles

@_William_Knight

Hashtags

#LoveBooksTours