Source: RedDoor Publishing

#BlogTour #BookReview The Best of Crimes by K.C. Maher @kcmaher3 @RedDoorBooks #thebestofcrimes

categories: 7.5/10, Blog Tour, Book Review, General Fiction
#BlogTour #BookReview The Best of Crimes by K.C. Maher @kcmaher3 @RedDoorBooks #thebestofcrimes Title: The Best of Crimes

Author: K.C. Maher

Published by: RedDoor Publishing on May 9, 2019

Genres: General Fiction

Pages: 320

Format: Paperback, ARC

Source: RedDoor Publishing

Book Rating: 7.5/10

Walter, a child prodigy who now works on Wall Street, considers himself a father figure to Amanda, his daughter’s best friend and only child of a neglectful single mother. But when he loses his job after the 2008 financial crisis and his materialistic wife leaves him, taking their daughter, his relationship with Amanda enters a precarious new stage.

Walter struggles to give her the affection and guidance she needs, without succumbing to her budding sexuality. In the year before she enters high school, these two lonely souls will transform each other as Walter breaks out of his emotional shell, and Amanda blossoms into adolescence.

In a world that has always failed to protect its most vulnerable, The Best of Crimes is a new narrative and an unconventional love story that will challenge your perception of right and wrong.

Review:

Unsettling, thought-provoking, and controversial!

The Best of Crimes is a fascinating, pensive tale that takes you into the life of Walter Mitchell, a thirty-three-year-old prodigy who finds himself struggling to control his strong, inappropriate, emotional attachment to his daughter’s thirteen-year-old best friend.

The prose is fluid and precise. The characters are lonely, vulnerable, and sympathetic. And the plot chronologically unfolds into a tempestuous journey of love, life, heartbreak, infidelity, familial dynamics, psychological conflict, and forbidden love.

Ultimately, The Best of Crimes is a unique, intriguing, beautifully written tale by Maher that sensitively explores the ethical and moral fine line between right and wrong, and does an exceptional job of posing the question does intention make someone guilty of a crime even if a crime is not actually committed.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from the following link.

 

 

Thank you to RedDoor Publishing and K.C. Maher for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About K.C. Maher

K.C. Maher’s short fiction has appeared in literary journals including Ascent, Black Warrior Review, Confrontation, Cottonwood, Gargoyle, and The View From Here. Her work has reached short-list status in various contests, including the Iowa School of Letters Award and Drue Heinz Literature Prize. The is her debut novel. She is mother to two children and lives in New York City with her husband.

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#BlogTour #BookReview My Sister is Missing by Julia Barrett @Julia_Barrett_ @RedDoorBooks #MySisterisMissing

categories: 6.5/10, Blog Tour, Book Review, Mystery/Thriller
#BlogTour #BookReview My Sister is Missing by Julia Barrett @Julia_Barrett_ @RedDoorBooks #MySisterisMissing Title: My Sister is Missing

Author: Julia Barrett

Published by: RedDoor Publishing on Mar. 14, 2019

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 304

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: RedDoor Publishing

Book Rating: 6.5/10

I’m not the wife you think I am

Jess’s sister Stephanie loves being a new mum, and is besotted with her baby daughter Natalie. She’s tired and a bit anxious, but that’s natural, isn’t it?

However, one night Stephanie disappears, taking Natalie with her. Jess tries to convince herself that there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation but as time goes on and CCTV images appear of a young woman with a baby, jumping in front of a high-speed train, Jess fears the worst. But was it Stephanie? And if not, where has she gone? And what does husband Adam have to hide?

In turmoil Jess goes in search of answers, but she isn’t prepared for what she uncovers… or for what happens next.

My Sister is Missing is an intense, twisted, psychological thriller that will make you question what is real, and whether you really can trust those you love.

Review:

Suspenseful, complicated, and twisty!

My Sister is Missing is an intricate, psychological thriller that delves into the complex relationship between sisters and highlights the devastating effects secrets, emotional abuse, and trauma can have on the human psyche.

The prose is crisp and clear. The characters are vulnerable, impulsive, and damaged. And the plot told from multiple perspectives is a menacing tale of love, life, cruelty, deception, familial dynamics, violence, and mental illness.

I have to admit that My Sister is Missing captured my attention from the moment I read the synopsis and for the first half of the book I was exceptionally intrigued and curious, and even though I felt it dragged a little and had some repetition in the second half, and perhaps had too many subplots,  it certainly was a good debut for Barrett, and I look forward to reading what her imagination comes up with next.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from the following link.

 

 

Thank you to RedDoor Publishing and Julia Barrett for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Julia Barrett

Julia Barrett wanted to be a writer from a very young age, but it wasn’t until her late thirties that she plucked up the courage to take time out from her teaching career and focus on her writing. She is based in Essex and lives there with her husband and two children. She is currently working on her next novel and completing an MA in Creative Writing.

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For more information on Red Door Publishing visit them at:

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#BlogTour #BookReview The Good Friend by Jo Baldwin @jokbaldwin @RedDoorBooks #TheGoodFriend

categories: 8.5/10, Blog Tour, Book Review, Mystery/Thriller
#BlogTour #BookReview The Good Friend by Jo Baldwin @jokbaldwin @RedDoorBooks #TheGoodFriend Title: The Good Friend

Author: Jo Baldwin

Published by: RedDoor Publishing on Feb. 21, 2019

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 304

Format: Paperback, ARC

Source: RedDoor Publishing

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Heavenly Creatures meets The Hand That Rocks the Cradle in this exciting debut novel about friendship, love and jealousy.

Once upon a time they were best friends. They were all friends. So when Jenny moved to Australia to focus on her swimming career, she not only lost Kath, but her soul-mate Tom. It was for the best. Or so they said. Now, eight years later, Jenny seeks out her childhood friend and heads to rural France where Kath has settled. At first the women fall back into a close relationship, but before long strange and malicious behaviour leads Jenny to realise the truth: that Kath has played a clever game all along to manipulate and control those around her. And Jenny is her biggest victim.

Set against the glorious backdrop of the Languedoc lavender fields, The Good Friend is a beautifully written psychological drama about love, lies and a dangerous obsession. Because once the truth is revealed, there’s no going back…

Review:

Ominous, slick, and unnerving!

The Good Friend is a slow-burning, character-driven thriller that delves into just how much our relationships and friendships can define us and highlights just how parasitic and manipulative some of them can truly be.

The prose is edgy and tense. The characters are complex, deceptive, and vulnerable. And the plot builds steadily creating tension, suspicion, and unease as it unravels a sinister tale of friendship, love, secrets, lies, deception, jealousy, violence, and revenge.

Overall, I would have to say that The Good Friend is a brooding, malicious, atmospheric tale that kept me riveted from start to finish and had an ending that left me, in a good way, completely unsettled.

 

This book is available on February 21, 2019.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from the following link.

 

 

Thank you to RedDoor Publishing and Jo Baldwin for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Jo Baldwin

Since completing a degree in French, Jo Baldwin has spent a large proportion of her life in France, first in Paris where she worked in magazine publishing, and later in the Languedoc where she has a holiday home. Jo now lives in Oxford with her husband and three children and works in educational publishing.

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#BlogTour #BookReview How We Remember by J.M. Monaco @jm_monaco2 @RedDoorBooks #HowWeRemember

categories: 7/10, Blog Tour, Book Review, General Fiction, Women's Fiction
#BlogTour #BookReview How We Remember by J.M. Monaco @jm_monaco2 @RedDoorBooks #HowWeRemember Title: How We Remember

Author: J.M. Monaco

Published by: RedDoor Publishing on Sep. 13, 2018

Genres: General Fiction, Women's Fiction

Pages: 304

Format: Paperback, ARC

Source: RedDoor Publishing

Book Rating: 7/10

When Jo returns home following her mother’s death, she is shocked to learn of an unexpected inheritance and her mother’s diary. Jo thought she could put to rest her darker past until an entry implies the messy aftermath of an uncle’s sexual advances towards her when she was fifteen. Like the diary, Jo’s memory of events is full of gaps, but one thing is certain – she will never regain what was lost. What is the full story of what happened between Jo and her uncle?

How We Remember traces the effects of alcoholism, mental illness and abuse on one Irish-Italian-American, working-class family. As Jo’s first-person narrative weaves together past and present stories, she creates a portrait of her family’s life and her own as she faces new decisions amidst the tragic consequences of mismanaged grief.

Full of moments of light and dark, Monaco’s debut novel –set during a week that anyone would dread –provides a mesmeric narrative portraying the pain of grief, the tenuous nature of memory and the earth-shattering effect that the death of the ‘glue’ of a family can cause. How We Remember is an unforgettable novel that tackles issues every reader will be able to relate to on some level.It’ll capture hearts and capture imaginations.

Review:

Sobering, unsettling, and intense!

How We Remember is a hauntingly perceptive novel that takes us into the life of Jo O’Brien, a middle-aged woman struggling to come to grips with the loss of her mother, a past full of secrets and abuse, a debilitating illness, and familial relationships that are strained and fractured.

The prose is somber and raw. The characters are complex, tortured, and damaged. And the heart-wrenching plot uses a reflective past/present style to unravel all the personalities, motivations, and relationships within it.

How We Remember is ultimately a novel about family, life, loss, deception, manipulation, infidelity, abuse, forgiveness, and the long-lasting effects of a dysfunctional childhood. It’s well written, deeply emotional and does an exceptional job of reminding us that everyone that enters our lives impacts, shapes, and defines it.

 

This book is available September 13, 2018.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from the following link.

 

 

Thank you to RedDoor Publishing and J.M. Monaco for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About J.M. Monaco

My writing identity is JM Monaco. Friends here in the UK tell me the surname sounds unique and somewhat exotic. Outside this little island I know this isn’t the case.

I am a fiction writer with a particular soft spot for North American fiction, probably because my formative and university years took place in the USA. While England has been my home for well over twenty years now, there’s something about the birthplace where my extended family and some friends still reside that has a strong pull. If I could, I’d spend solitary blocks of time there in a quiet lake cottage in the northeast pondering my ambiguous relationship with that landscape. I’d write up a tumultuous storm that may eventually take the shape of a draft for a novel or multiple stories, then come back to the UK where I could clean it all up in edits with my husband and children surrounding me with love and endless offers of tea and healthy meals. As this can only happen in fantasy, here in the southwest of England, UK, is where I stay, holed up in a drafty north-facing study/writing room, often gazing out at the rain and rolling my eyes when I hear my daughter shout, ‘What’s for supper tonight?’ Reading, thinking, writing, are all interrupted with the demands of others, the good and bad, life’s routines, a bit of excitement here and there mixed with the mundane. This is where stories are born. Oh, but wouldn’t it be heaven to have that nice little place by the lake.

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#BlogTour #BookReview Heat is On by Helen Bridgett @Helen_Bridgett @RedDoorBooks #LoveBooksGroup

categories: 8.5/10, Book Review, Contemporary Romance, Women's Fiction
#BlogTour #BookReview Heat is On by Helen Bridgett @Helen_Bridgett @RedDoorBooks #LoveBooksGroup Title: The Heat is On

Author: Helen Bridgett

Series: Mercury Travel Club #2

Published by: RedDoor Publishing Ltd on Jul. 5, 2018

Genres: Contemporary Romance, Women's Fiction

Pages: 304

Format: eBook, ARC

Source: RedDoor Publishing

Book Rating: 8.5/10

‘And have you booked in your vejazzler?’
‘My what?’
‘You can’t roll up with your grey wire wool when he’s expecting rhinestone!’

Angie Shepherd is back and this time she means business!

Life is perfect for Angie Shepherd. Her dreams of becoming an entrepreneur have come true, business is booming, and her best friend Patty is back in town. So when the opportunity of investing in a luxury hotel comes up, it seems like a no-brainer. It’s all going swimmingly until a rival travel agency opens up across the street. Before long, The Mercury Travel Club is undercut, double-crossed and in deep trouble. It’s time for Angie to up the stakes. But with costs mounting up, sales going down, and her personal life suddenly in freefall, can Angie and her friends weather the storm?

Witty and charming in equal measure, this feel-good novel shows that when the going gets tough, the tough definitely get going.

Review:

Warm, sassy, and delightfully entertaining!

The Heat is On is an adorable tale that takes us back to The Mercury Travel Club and into the lives of Angie Shepherd and her gregarious gang of friends as they take on a competitor who’s nefarious and ruthless and a new business endeavour that may be just beyond their reach.

The writing is witty and light. The characters are loyal, genuine, and dependable. And the plot is a splendid tale about life, love, friendship, heartfelt moments, hilarious hijinks, resilience, determination, adventures, travel, relationship woes, romance, and exotic locales.

The Heat is On is the perfect summer treat with just the right amount of humour, drama, and emotion to keep you engaged and smiling throughout, and even though it can be enjoyed as a standalone I would highly recommend you read The Mercury Travel Club first to really appreciate just how amusing and clever this series truly is.

 

This book is due to be published on July 5, 2018. 

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

   

 

 

Thank you to Helen Bridgett, RedDoor Publishing and Love Books Group for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Helen Bridgett

Helen has always loved books and always loved writing. One year she decided her New Year’s resolution would be “Write a novel to give as a Christmas present”. She spent the year writing and The Mercury Travel Club was born.

Helen hails from the North East but now lives in Manchester with her Husband and their Chocolate Labrador Angus. When not writing, Helen can usually be found walking or drinking wine – not usually at the same time.

Like many people, Helen believes that the music you grow up with as a teenager stays with you for the whole of your life. Being a child of 80’s rock, when she hears the opening riff to Sweet Child of Mine, she cannot be held responsible for her actions!

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#BlogTour #BookReview Tubing by K.A. McKeagney @kamckeagney @RedDoorBooks #TUBING

categories: 7.5/10, Blog Tour, Book Review, Erotica, Mystery/Thriller
#BlogTour #BookReview Tubing by K.A. McKeagney @kamckeagney @RedDoorBooks #TUBING Title: Tubing

Author: K.A. McKeagney

Published by: RedDoor Publishing on May 31, 2018

Genres: Mystery/Thriller, Erotica

Pages: 288

Format: Paperback, ARC

Source: RedDoor Publishing

Book Rating: 7.5/10

Polly, 28, lives in London with her ‘perfect-on-paper’ boyfriend. She works a dead-end job on a free London paper. . . life as she knows it is dull. But her banal existence is turned upside down late one drunken night on her way home, after a chance encounter with a man on a packed tube train. The chemistry between them is electric and on impulse, they kiss, giving in to their carnal desires. But it’s over in an instant, and Polly is left shell-shocked as he walks away without even telling her his name.

Now obsessed with this beautiful stranger, Polly begins a frantic online search, and finally discovers more about tubing, an underground phenomenon in which total strangers set up illicit, silent, sexual meetings on busy commuter tube trains. In the process, she manages to track him down and he slowly lures her into his murky world, setting up encounters with different men via Twitter.

At first she thinks she can keep it separate from the rest of her life, but things soon spiral out of control.

By chance she spots him on a packed tube train with a young, pretty blonde. Seething with jealousy, she watches them together. But something isn’t right and a horrific turn of events makes Polly realise not only how foolish she has been, but how much danger she is in…

Can she get out before it’s too late?

Review:

Ominous, risqué, and exceptionally gritty!

Tubing is a spine-chilling, erotic, psychological thriller that highlights just how quickly life can spin out of control when you’re driven by sexual desire, engage in destructive behaviour, and play dangerous games.

The prose is sultry and dark. The characters are manipulative, consumed, deceitful, and reckless. And the plot is a fast-paced, incredibly twisty tale that unravels a world filled with power, control, betrayal, obsession, malice, hatred, infidelity, mental illness, seduction, violence, and murder.

Overall, Tubing is a taut, sinister, explicit, shocking tale that kept me absolutely riveted. It’s a great debut for McKeagney, and with that kind of imagination, I’m a little scared but extremely excited to read what she comes up with next.

 

This book is available May 31, 2018.

Pick up or preorder a copy from your favourite retailer or from the following link.

    

 

 

Thank you to RedDoor Publishing and K.A. McKeagney for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About K.A. McKeagney

K.A. McKeagney studied psychology in Bristol before completing a Masters degree in creative writing at Brunel. She won the Curtis Brown prize for her dissertation, which formed the basis of her first novel, Tubing. She has worked in London as a health editor, writing consumer information, as well as for medical journals. Her writing has been commended by the British Medical Association (BMA) patient information awards. She is currently working on her second novel.

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#BookReview The Mercury Travel Club by Helen Bridgett @Helen_Bridgett @RedDoorBooks

categories: 8.5/10, Book Review, Contemporary Romance, Women's Fiction
#BookReview The Mercury Travel Club by Helen Bridgett @Helen_Bridgett @RedDoorBooks Title: The Mercury Travel Club

Author: Helen Bridgett

Series: Mercury Travel Club #1

Published by: RedDoor Publishing on Mar. 16, 2017

Genres: Contemporary Romance, Women's Fiction

Pages: 308

Format: eBook, ARC

Source: RedDoor Publishing, NetGalley

Book Rating: 8.5/10

‘Hi, I’m Angela. My husband ran off with the caterer we hired for our daughter’s graduation party – pleased to meet you.’

Meet Angie Shepherd who, after 24 years and 11 months of marriage, finds herself divorced and driven by friends and family to move on. From hangover to makeover, Angie steps firmly away from the sensible knitwear, and launches into every adventure on offer – from baking classes and book groups, to speed dating, and even ‘The Granny-Okes’, a 1980s tribute act and YouTube sensation.

But Angie needs more than a bar of galaxy and a night in with Murder She Wrote… what she dreams of is entrepreneurial success. Channelling her inner Richard Branson, the light bulb moment happens: it’s time to take the plunge and invest her divorce settlement into The Mercury Travel Club, an exciting new business venture. But as the Travel Club gets going, things never go according to plan, and in this digital age a little chaos brings the fame she’s been looking for.

Set in present-day Manchester, this classic mid-life journey features the 1980s soundtrack from Angie’s youth, and sees her travel the world whilst coping with life after the Ex. Angie’s journey is the catalyst her friends need to examine their own lives; as they start to find their true callings, will Angie find hers?

Review:

Exceptionally sweet, pleasantly whimsical and incredibly funny!

This is an intelligent, engaging story about moving onward and upward after divorce and reminds us to always grab life by the horns no matter your age.

The writing is descriptive and smooth. The characterization is spot on, with a whole gang of quirky, unique and lovable characters. And the plot is a good mix of family drama, friendship, emotion, humorous escapades, as well as some great 80s references and flashbacks.

This truly is a lovely, heartwarming debut novel that will make you smile, amuse you from start to finish, and will definitely leave you hoping for more.

 

This book is due to be published on March 16, 2017. 

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

Amazon UK, Amazon US, Amazon Canada, Kobo, Indigo

 

 

Thank you to Helen Bridgett and RedDoor Publishing for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Helen Bridgett

Helen has always loved books and always loved writing. One year she decided her New Year’s resolution would be “Write a novel to give as a Christmas present”. She spent the year writing and The Mercury Travel Club was born.

Helen hails from the North East but now lives in Manchester with her Husband and their Chocolate Labrador Angus. When not writing, Helen can usually be found walking or drinking wine – not usually at the same time.

Like many people, Helen believes that the music you grow up with as a teenager stays with you for the whole of your life. Being a child of 80’s rock, when she hears the opening riff to Sweet Child of Mine, she cannot be held responsible for her actions!

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