Blog Blitz Review – Her Best Friend by Sarah Wray.

 Title: HER BEST FRIEND

Author: SARAH WRAY

Amazon Links:

🇬🇧 UK http://amzn.to/2f7b24I
🇺🇸 US http://amzn.to/2wDhAOD

You couldn’t have done anything to save her.
Or could you?

Sylvie Armstrong has been running from her past for twenty years – until her mother’s death forces her to return to her home town, along with her newborn daughter.

Overwhelmed by grief in her childhood home, Sylvie tries to block out the memories that surround her – but then someone leaves a gift on her doorstep: a gold necklace with a heart-shaped locket.

This locket belonged to Sylvie’s best friend, Victoria Preston – and she was wearing it the night she died. Now it’s back in Sylvie’s life…and it soon becomes clear that somebody knows what really happened to Victoria.

Sylvie has to know the truth. But is she in terrible danger?

A gripping, page-turning psychological thriller with a final twist that will leave you open-mouthed. Fans of Sophie Hannah, The Girl on the Train and Gone Girl will be hooked.

 

Sarah Wray is originally from Yorkshire but now lives in Newcastle-upon-Tyne where she works as a technology writer and editor. She won a Northern Writers’ Award (Arvon Award) in 2015 for an early version of her first novel.

Author Social Media Links:

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/sarahwraywrites/

Twitter:      https://twitter.com/Sarah_Wray

Website:     http://www.sarahwraywrites.co.uk/

Prepare to have your jaw hit the floor with Sarah Wray’s book, Her Best Friend!

Sylvie heads home (if that’s what she can call it) after leaving 20 years ago. So much hurt and bad memories surround her home village and you can tell that these memories have scared her for life. Facing it alone and head on I was worried that she would fall apart over the pages but she shocked me. Reliving those memories showed me an inside peek into her teenage years and what led to the death of her best friend, Victoria.

Having ‘met’ Victoria I took an instant dislike to her, especially her attitude to poor Michelle who only wanted someone to latch on to, even though she gave me the stalker vibe I kind of liked her. I felt like Victoria had this ‘everyone owes me’ attitude, even sometimes with Sylvie. I really feel for Sylvie in this book, she’s never really let go of the past and to be honest who can blame her?!

Now I’m usually one for fast paced books where all the action explodes from the get go but this book takes its time, setting scenes, introducing characters and adding detail and at times this annoyed me but I understand why Sarah did it this way, before I knew it I was sucked into the story and eager for the story to unfold….. which it does with a bang! That ending…. seriously?!! May jaw still hurts…. as I sat there chanting no….nooo…..nooooo…..really! I turned back a few pages to make sure I hadn’t misread what I had just read! Did I guess whodunit, yes and no, but it was still a GASP reaction all the same.

All in all this was an enjoyable read, I wouldn’t say I consumed the book in one sitting but when it was put down i felt like the book was still with me, my mind ticking over about what I had just read and had me rethinking what I felt about certain people in the book.

A massive thanks to Bookouture, Netgalley and Sarah Wray for my advanced review copy. Also thanks to Noelle for letting me join yet another fab book tour!

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Blog Blast Review – Dying Breath by Helen Phifer.

Title: DYING BREATH

Author: HELEN PHIFER 

 🇬🇧 UK http://amzn.to/2kwbxut

  🇺🇸 US http://amzn.to/2y7pqEK 

Take a breath. Pray it’s not your last.

Just a few months after a terrifying case that nearly took her life, Detective Lucy Harwin is back with her squad in the coastal town of Brooklyn Bay – and this time, she’s faced with a case more horrifying than anything she’s encountered.

Along with her partner, Detective Mattie Jackson, Lucy is investigating what appears to be a vicious but isolated murder; a woman found bludgeoned to death on a lonely patch of wasteland.

But when a second victim is discovered strangled in an alleyway, then a young family shot in their own home, Lucy and the team must face the unthinkable reality – a killer is walking the streets of their quiet coastal town.

While Lucy and the team try to find the link between these seemingly unconnected murders, they uncover a disturbing truth – these murders are replicating those carried out by infamous serial killers.

Lucy must get to the killer before he strikes again. But he’s got his sights on her, and is getting ever closer… Can she save herself, before she becomes the final piece in his twisted game? 

Helen Phifer lives in a small town called Barrow-in-Furness with her husband and five children.

Helen has always loved writing and reading. Her love of horror films and novels is legendary. Helen adores reading books which make the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. Unable to find enough scary stories to read she decided to write her own.

Helen’s debut novel ‘The Ghost House’ was published by Carina UK in October 2013 and went on to become a best seller along with the rest of the Annie Graham series. The Secrets of the Shadows, The Forgotten Cottage, The Lake House, The Girls in the Woods and The Face Behind the Mask.

The Good Sisters is a standalone horror story which will scare the pants off you or so her lovely readers have told her. It scared Helen when she was writing it so she pretty much agrees with them.

March 2017 saw the release of psychological thriller Dark House (previously called The Lost Children), book 1 in the Detective Inspector Lucy Harwin series. Book 2 – Dying Breath is due for release in Nov 2017.

Author Social Media Links:

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Helenphifer1

Instagram:    https://www.instagram.com/helenphifer

Twitter:       https://twitter.com/helenphifer1

Website:     https://www.helenphifer.com

What can I say other than W.O.W!!

This book blew my mind!

Helen is another new to me author and I can safely say this will not be the last book of hers that I read. I’ve umped straight in with book 2, I am missing so personal details that happened in book 1 but I don’t feel this has taken anything away from book 2 in this series. The pace of this book kicks off right away and it has bodies galore! And if, like me you need a body count by chapter 5 then this book deffintly ticks those boxes.

I enjoyed how the book went from the present day crime scene to back when the killer was first discovering his killer ways. I liked seeing how he evolved into a killer and what triggered this. Helen certainly kept me on my toes and I didn’t guess who the killer was until the back end of the book…… which is how it should be!

Lucy is certainly a very busy in her day job. I enjoyed the partnership between her and Mattie, they did make me chuckle a few times. There were a few times where I wanted Lucy to be more sure of herself, I’m hoping that will come to her further into the series we go.

If you love your thriller books that are action packed, twisty and turny plots and bodies dropping left, right and centre then this is one for you!

Highly recommended and very worthy of 4.5 golden apples 😀

Blog Tour Review – The First One To Die by Victoria Jenkins.

Title:
The First One To Die
Author:
Victoria Jenkins

Four friends. A house full of secrets. And a killer picking them off one by one…

‘She tried to break her fall, twisting desperately, but there was nothing to catch hold of, nothing with which she could stop herself. Her single scream cut through the night air.’

One hot summer night, a young woman falls from a rooftop to her death. Detective Alex King is called to the quiet terraced street.

The victim, Keira North, was twenty, happy and carefree. It seems like an accident, but there’s broken glass on the carpet, and witnesses overheard an argument. Could someone have wanted her dead?

Keira’s friends don’t seem as helpful as Alex would expect and the post-mortem reveals that Keira was hiding a secret: she was five months pregnant. Alex’s team soon finds that all of Keira’s closest friends have secrets that someone might kill to keep.

As Alex realises Keira might be just the first victim on a list, her leads take her a bit too close to home. With her own demons to fight, can Alex catch the killer, before someone else dies?

The First One to Die is a heart-stopping and shocking detective thriller that will have you gripped until the very last page. Perfect for fans of Patricia Gibney, Angela Marsons, and Val McDermid.

Amazon Links:
UK: http://amzn.to/2uKLBQu
US: http://amzn.to/2w4XaC6

Victoria Jenkins lives with her husband in South Wales, where she writes crime fiction and teaches English. The Girls in the Water is her debut novel, the first featuring Detective Inspector Alex King and Detective Constable Chloe Lane. The second book in the series will be published in late 2017.

Author Social
Media Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/victoriajenkinswriter/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/vicwritescrime

It would seem I’m fast becoming addicted to Bookouture authors, this time in the form of Victoria Jenkins. The First One To Die is the 2nd book in the King and Lane Series (I must point out I have not read book 1…… yet!)

This book is action packed for the get go….. Yep, a body within the first few chapters (always a winner with me) I expected the book to be about the poor girl Keira North who “fell” from her window seat….. Oh how wrong I could be! Victoria has a brilliant way of leading you down the garden path, you think you know the way until she spins you around and then takes a different path! And her plot twists O.M.G!

I loved Alex’s character, I enjoyed seeing a slightly vulnerable side to her with her mother but then how head strong she can be when she knows she’s right. I enjoyed seeing the friendship she has with Chloe (I’m sure there’s more details to this in book 1)  I felt like Alex didn’t want Chloe to know how much she needs her in her life and that was both a little sad but at the same time sweet.

Victoria, you’ll be happy to know you now don’t have to come build my wardrobes so I can finish your book as I was that hooked I whizzed through it and I have to say it’ going in my top 5 reads of 2017!

A truly gripping book and a very well deserved 5 golden apples!!!

A massive thanks to Bookouture, Netgalley and Victoria Jenkins for my advanced review copy. Also thanks to Noelle for letting me join yet another fab book tour!

Blog Tour Review – Don’t Tell A Soul by D.K. Hood.

Title: Don’t Tell  A Soul

Author: DK Hood

Amazon Links:

UK		http://amzn.to/2wESpf4
US		http://amzn.to/2vgQtva

The floor was stone cold on her bare skin. Her heart pounded in her chest. ‘Not a soul knows where I am,’ she thought as she took in the darkness around her. And then she heard his footsteps…

When a body is found stuffed into a barrel at a garbage dump, covered in long red cuts, Detective Jenna Alton and her new deputy, David Kane, rush to the scene.

Nothing ever happens in the small American town of Black Rock Falls, so Jenna believes the victim must be one of two recent missing persons, and she fears for the life of the other.

Both were strangers to the town, but there’s nothing else to link them. Jenna knows someone must have seen something, but no one’s talking; how well does she really know the people around her?

Then a disturbing clue makes Jenna suspect a connection with other disappearances in the town’s history. Just when she begins asking the right questions, she realises she’s being followed. Is she next on the killer’s list?

In a race against time, Jenna and David must unlock the dark secret at the heart of the town, before it’s too late… 

A completely addictive detective thriller that will have you guessing right to the end. Perfect for readers of Robert Dugoni, Karin Slaughter and Rachel Abbott.

Born in London, D.K. traveled extensively before settling in sunny Australia. Her interest in the development of forensic science to solve crime goes back many years. She is an avid reader of crime, mystery and thrillers. Writing in this genre has been an exciting adventure for her but nothing could top the thrill of receiving a proposal for her first submission,  ‘Don’t Tell a Soul’ from commissioning editor Helen Jenner at Bookouture. D.K. looks forward to sharing her spine tingling stories with you.

Author Social Media Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dkhoodauthor/

Twitter: www.twitter.com/DKHood_Author

Website: www.dkhood.com

Welcome to the town of Black Rock Falls, where people have hidden pasts, fake identities and dead bodies keep popping up…. other than that nothing really happens in this small town. Who am I kidding, this small town has it all and this read had me gripped from the get go! The first book in the Kane and Alton series by D.K. Hood and it’s kicked off in high gear, with its plot twists and turns, this new to me author has me gripped and wanting more!

I must admit I didn’t warm to Jenna Alton’s character, there’s just something about her that doesn’t gel with me David Kane on the other hand, love him! Maybe a little too nice at times but that’s just the kind of guy he is. These two work well together and I’m looking forward to seeing where the author takes this series. If you enjoy a good and gripping thriller then this is definitely one for you!

I’d like to thank Netgalley, Bookouture and D.K. Hood for my review copy.