Wednesday 29 June 2016

The Secret by Katerina Diamond ~ COVER REVEAL


EVERYTHING YOU THINK YOU KNOW IS A LIE…


Can you keep a secret? Your life depends on it…

Bridget Reid has a secret, one that could get her killed… If she can escape the man who is keeping her locked in a basement bedroom.

DS Imogen Grey is good at keeping secrets – truths she’d never reveal to her colleagues at Exeter Police. She worked hard to get where she is – she nearly died for it. Now her past is catching up with her…

As DS Grey and her partner DS Adrian Miles search for Bridget, they uncover a terrifying web of abuse, betrayal and murder. And they realise that some secrets are better left buried.....

Publishing in eBook & paperback: 20th October 2016

Friday 24 June 2016

BLOG TOUR ~ Exposure by Ava Marsh


Today, it's my turn on the final day of The Exposure Blog Tour and I'm delighted that I was asked to participate with some great Book Bloggers.  You can check out who else has taken part in this Blog Tour at the end. I'd like to say thank you so much to Sophie Christopher for asking me to take part and also thanks to Sophie, Transworld and Ava Marsh for a copy of Exposure in exchange for an honest review so without further ado here it is.........

We meet Leanne in HMP Brakehurst Prison, she's been charged with a double murder. She’s as damaged as she is charismatic, as dangerous as she is charming. And now she’s been invited to tell her story, to explain how on earth it came to this. This story is told in dual time in the present day and back as far as when Leanne became her alter ego AKA Kitty Sweet. It tells us the story of how she fell on hard times and has to make money to clear off the many bills and debts that have accumulated thanks to her boyfriend whom she's broken up with. Needing to make a fast buck she falls into the adult entertainment world, starting off with nude photographs for various porn magazines but which quickly spirals into the world of pornography films. 

This is a story of heartbreak and desperation, of adulation and glamour and the gritty realism of what goes on in the porn industry, from the sex, to drugs and even alcoholism, Leanne descended to an underworld that most people can only imagine and she’s lived to tell the tale…


This is the second book by Ava Marsh and I didn't just like it, I LOVED it and it definitely didn't disappoint. This novel is like a rollercoaster ride through the seedy world of pornography and I was hooked from the first few pages. I would state that due to mature content, I would recommend this for readers aged 18+. It is pretty gritty book in parts and there are alot of graphic scenes to do with the porn industry and sex and this might not be to everyone's cup of tea but I thought that it was tastefully written. This was a very extensive and well researched subject and very well written with certain things and their explicit descriptions that will shock you as you read it so this is definitely not for the fainthearted. I am really looking forward to reading more from Ava Marsh as she's definitely an author to watch and I would highly recommend this so don't say I never told you.


Exposure is available on Kindle and from all good bookstores since the 16th June and Ava's debut Untouchable is also available on Kindle and both are currently £4.99 at the time of publication of this review.



Wednesday 15 June 2016

BLOG TOUR ~ Willow Walk by SJI Holliday


Hi Everyone,

Today is my stop on the Blog Tour for Willow Walk which is Susi's second novel in The Banktoun Trilogy. I am thrilled be taking part in this wonderful Blog Tour and delighted to welcome author Susi to my blog with a Q&A session and a BIG thanks to Laura Nicol from Black & White Publishing Books for allowing me this opportunity to take part with some other fab book bloggers too. 
You can find out who else is taking part in this fabulous Blog Tour below.

So without further ado, here it is............


What inspired you to write Willow Walk?
There are so many books about toxic marriages and friends you wish you’d never met, and although these are brilliant and will never grow old, I wanted to write about a different kind of relationship. I can’t really say what it is without spoilers, but I hope I’ve managed to capture it sensitively. I also wanted to have it partly set in a fairground, because I always imagined a big wheel on the cover. Fairgrounds are spooky, and the perfect place for one of my big reveals to take place.
What books have most influenced your life?
I’m not sure I really have any books that have influenced my life, as such, but the idea for writing three books set in the fictional town of Banktoun came from Belinda Bauer’s Shipcott based novels: Blacklands, Finders Keepers and Dark Side. It’s the small town setting that I loved the most, and the fact that there were so many dark secrets buried there. So actually, these did influence my life – because they made me want to write Black Wood, Willow Walk and The Damselfly.
What were the challenges (research, literary, psychological, and logistical) in bringing your book to life?
Interesting question! Research  was mostly done on the internet, but I also talked to a few people who had personal experience of some of the themes I tackle in the book. Psychological – well I creeped myself out. That can only be a good thing. Logistical – I was lucky with work – I wrote the first part of the book over a few months, but then because of the way my projects work, I ended up with time off just at the right time, and after a bit of outlining, I wrote the second part of the book pretty quickly. The story came easily for this one, and I always knew the ending.
What was the hardest part of writing your book?  
It wasn’t so much writing this book that was hard, it was that I started about six others and abandoned them before I started writing it. Second books are hard! I had lots of ideas, but none of them felt right. Eventually, Willow Walk pushed itself to the front of my brain and fell out.
If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book? 
Nope. I just would’ve written it sooner so I could’ve got on with the next one before work got silly again! It’s very hard juggling the day job with writing. 
Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest? 

Loads. I used to read a lot of series stuff, but now I love reading standalones and discovering new authors. Not completely new, but early in their careers: I love Sarah Hilary, Eva Dolan, Amanda Jennings, Steve Cavanagh… and Ruth Ware & Clare Mackintosh are setting the world alight with their fab psychological thrillers. There are so many great writers out there at the moment. I’m really looking forward to Mark Hill’s debut (The Two O'Clock Boy) later this year.




Saturday 11 June 2016

BLOG TOUR ~ The Killing Files by Nikki Owens


Hi Everyone,

Today is the final stop on the Blog Tour for The Killing Files which is Nikki's second novel in The Project Trilogy. I am thrilled be taking part in this wonderful Blog Tour and delighted to welcome author Nikki to my blog with a guest piece and a BIG thanks to Cara Frances from Mira Books for allowing me this opportunity to take part with some other fab book bloggers too. 
You can find out who else has taken part in this fabulous Blog Tour over the past 10 days below.

So without further ado, here it is............

The person’s breathing is shallow now, gravelled and raspy. I know what bleeding out sounds like—the sharp, slicing quality of oxygen intake—but this is not it. And yet, there is an urgency to the breath, a desperation that I cannot place, but it makes no sense why. I am a doctor so should know the signs, but still I cannot place them. What is wrong with me? 

I blink three times and try hard to concentrate, to return my brain to function mode, focusing again on the room for clues. The edges. They are shrouded in black, but the window above affords a slip of light that plops in a puddle to my left. 

It is then I see it—an arm—and a gasp slips from my mouth. 

I track the limb, milky-white skin on a long, limp wrist, different to my own arms, my muscled, tanned ones, with bitten nails and dirt in the creases. Even in this murky room, I can tell that this arm is clean, scrubbed.

I keep all my attention on the body part and attempt again asking who they are, instinctively counting the time as I wait. The numbers sooth me as seconds rack up in twos, the action slowing, at least for the moment, the anxiety that is building inside, but when I ask again who is there and no one answers, a moan slips from my lips. The urine-coloured light has all but disappeared, yet somehow I start to see something slithering into view. A long, T-shirted torso. An elegant, white neck. A skull. 

A face. 

A scream pierces the air and I am shocked to realise it is mine. I catch my breath, frantically slap my hands up and down, straining to thrash my body forward from the seat, but still my pulse flies. Because there is a face, a face staring back at me, a face I know. Shaven hair, sharp cheekbones, gapped teeth and pool-blue eyes, eyes that even in this tar-black air, shine. My hearts races, my chest tightens. How can she be here? How have I let this happen? We are all in danger now, all of us. 

‘Doc.’ The voice comes from the head on the floor. 

I slam my eyes shut, not wanting to believe what is here, reciting an algorithm in a vain attempt to calm myself. ‘Doc, it’s okay.’ 

The voice is a cotton sheet flapping in the breeze, a rustle of green grass. ‘Doc, I’m okay.’ My eyes open. One millimetre then two, gradually allowing my sight to do the work my brain does not want to understand. My friend is here. My only friend in the world is lying crumpled on the floor beside me. 

‘Patricia?’ I say, testing out the word. ‘You are out of Goldmouth prison.’

‘Yes, I got out on parole, remember? Two months after you.’ 

Confusion, worry. They spin round my head fast. ‘You are here. Why are you here?’ 

‘Because they have us,’ she says, the Irish lilt to her voice still there as I remember, but scratched now, torn. ‘The Project have caught up with us. You can’t hide from them any more.’ 

The Project have found me—that’s why I have woken up here in this room. They have entrapped us and there is only one way it will end: someone will die.



The Killing Files is available on Kindle and in all good bookstores and you can buy it here