The Storm by Amanda Jennings @MandaJJennings @HQstories #bookreview

Hello book friends,I hope that you are all doing well?

I was sent a copy of this book by another book friend, and once I had started , I couldn’t put it down!

My Review

Hannah and Nathan are married with a teenage son.

They have a beautiful house, Nathan is an established Lawyer and does a lot to help in the community, everyone loves Nathan.
Hannah is a Housewife.

From the outside, Hannah and Nathan have a perfect marriage, they are happy and loving life.

But behind closed doors, Nathan is a controlling Narcissistic Douchebag!

He controls everything that Hannah does, from what she wears, to what she spends her money on, or should I say *his* money, because Hannah has to produce receipts for every purchase that she makes, even counting the change, if it is wrong, then a swift punch will set her right!

He is manipulative and gaslights her at every opportunity to make her think that she is going crazy. Hannah knows what he is doing, but is helpless to do anything about it, as she is powerless in this relationship.

But this story isn’t just about Coercive Control, it also delves into the past, and you find out how a happy young Hannah, can eventually end up being a beaten down shell of what she used to be.

Because Hannah is living with the consequences of a night that she will never forget, and knows that she can never escape, and Nathan will make sure of this!

This book was a tough read, I have recently left a toxic marriage, and although it was nowhere as bad as what Hannah endured, I was still reminded of the manipulation, and gaslighting.
People need to realise that domestic abuse is not always a black eye, sometimes the bruises don’t show on the body, sometimes they are on your heart, and they take longer to heal.

A great read, but please take heed of the Trigger Warnings for Domestic Violence.

Enjoy
Vicci 📚💛✨

The Blurb

To the outside world Hannah married the perfect man. Behind the closed doors of their imposing home it’s a very different story. Nathan controls everything Hannah does. He chooses her clothes, checks her receipts, and keeps her passport locked away. But why does she let him?

Years before, in the midst of a relentless storm, the tragic events of one night changed everything. And Hannah has been living with the consequences ever since. Keeping Nathan happy. Doing as she’s told.

But the past is about to catch up with them.

Set against the unforgiving backdrop of a Cornish fishing port in the ‘90s, this is a devastating exploration of the power of coercive control in a marriage where nothing is quite as it seems…

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A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson @HoJay92 #bookreview

Hello book friends, I hope you are all doing well?

Let me introduce you to your new obsession!!

My Review

Pippa (Pip for short) is working on a school project for her final year, choosing a topic is difficult and she is finding it really hard. She wants to be a journalist when she leaves school, so wants to really prove her worth.

So what is the best thing to do as a budding journalist? Well investigate a crime of course! But not any old crime, she decides to investigate a crime from 5 years ago, where a young girl in the town was murdered by her boyfriend, only she thinks that he didn’t do it, and she’s going to prove it!

A body was never found, and some blood in a car, and a text on the evening of the murder was all the police needed to pin the murder on Andrea Bell’s boyfriend Sal, but little things seem to be out of place for Pip, because Sal then killed himself in the local woods, which then adds to the guilty verdict.

And so her final year project is chosen, Pip along with the help of Sal’s younger brother Ravi, start to investigate the murder, but not everyone wants her to interfere into something that is already closed!

For a debut novel this was such a fun read, and I’ve already bought book 2, although I’m holding out for the audiobook.

🎧🎧

Narration was so brilliantly done, it is a full cast, and done exquisitely, if you loved Sadie last year, then you’ll love this one too.

Enjoy
Vicci 📚💛✨

The Blurb

The case is closed. Five years ago, schoolgirl Andie Bell was murdered by Sal Singh. The police know he did it. Everyone in town knows he did it.

But having grown up in the same small town that was consumed by the crime, Pippa Fitz-Amobi isn’t so sure. When she chooses the case as the topic for her final project, she starts to uncover secrets that someone in town desperately wants to stay hidden. And if the real killer is still out there, how far will they go to keep Pip from the truth … ?

Perfect for fans of One of Us Is Lying, Gone Girl, We Were Liars and Riverdale

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Precious You by Helen Monks Takhar @HelenMTakhar @HQstories @NetGalley #bookreview #blogtour

Hello book friends, I hope you are all doing well?

I am so happy to be a part of this Blog Tour for this fabulously twisty read!

My Review

Katherine Ross is a 41 year old Magazine Editor, she has been working at Leadership for just over 20 years, and she loves it.

She has recently returned back after a spell away after some mental health issues, but she is chomping-at-the-bit to get back to work again.

Unfortunately, new management have taken over the magazine, so she has lot of new people to impress, and she supposes that she’ll be working with the new intake of Interns, and they’ll all be GenX ‘Snowflakes’ as usual!

After a strange coincidence with actually getting to work on her first day back, Katherine meets Lily the new Intern, Lily is 23, gorgeous, and as it happens, really good at the job.

Lily also happens to be the niece of the new boss!

Told from the POV of Lily and Katherine, this books starts to twist and turn in directions that I didn’t see coming.

Katherine is well aware of Lily’s manipulation tactics, but cannot seem to stay away from her, and Lily finds this fascinating, in fact she will do anything she can to infiltrate Katherine’s life, and all Katherine can do, is watch while her life tumbles down around her!

I sat on my sofa and read this book in one day, I was so intrigued, I needed to see where it was going, and I was stunned so many times, it was a complete ‘Knicker-Twister’

**Thank you to the Author, HQStories & Netgalley for asking me to be on this blog tour, and for providing me with a copy of this book**

Enjoy
Vicci 📚💛✨

Synopsis

An obsessive power struggle between an editor and her millennial intern turns dangerous in this debut psychological thriller–for readers of Luckiest Girl Alive and You.

Trusting you was my first mistake.

To Katherine, twenty-four-year-old Lily Lunt is a typical “snowflake.” Soft, entitled, unflaggingly earnest, the privileged, politically correct millennial will do whatever she can to make it big as a writer, including leveraging her family’s connections. She’s got it easy. To Lily, Katherine Ross, a career woman in her early forties, is a holdover from another era: clueless, old-fashioned, and perfectly happy to build her success on the backs of her unpaid interns.

When Lily is hired as the new intern at Leadership magazine, where Katherine is editor in chief, her arrival threatens the very foundations of the self-serving little world that Katherine has built. But before long, she finds herself obsessively drawn to Lily, who seems to be a cruel reminder of the beauty and potential Katherine once had, things she senses Lily plans to use against her. Is Katherine simply paranoid, jealous of Lily’s youth as she struggles with encroaching middle age? Is Lily just trying to get ahead in the cutthroat world of publishing? Or is there a more sinister motivation at play, fueled by the dark secrets they’re both hiding? As their rivalry deepens, a disturbing picture emerges of two women pitted against each other across a toxic generational divide–and who are desperate enough to do anything to come out on top.

As unsettling as it is provocative, Precious You cuts to heart of questions surrounding modern female rivalry, obsession and deceit. Helen Monks Takhar delivers an explosive take on the contemporary workplace and the disparate generations that power it, turning the professional roles women play on their heads in a razor-sharp, revenge-driven thriller for our age

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Not My Daughter by Suzy K. Quinn @SuzyKQuinn @HQstories @NetGalley #bookreview

Hello Book Friends,

I hope you are all doing well?

I am so happy to be one of the first on this blog tour for this fabulous page turner of a book.

My Review

Wow this one got me flipping pages so fast!!

Lorna had a bucket list when she was 16, she’d made this because she had been diagnosed with a terminal cancer which she managed to beat, so she was living her life to the fullest.

As is a lot of young teenage girls dreams, one of the items on her bucket list, was to meet & marry a rock star, not just any rock star though, it had to be Michael Reyji Ray!

So to be able to go to one of his concerts and to actually meet him, and to actually have him *choose* her and fall in love with her, well it was like a dream come true, except, it really wasn’t.

Fast forward 16 years and Lorna is a scared mother of Liberty, she doesn’t allow her to go out at night, or go out with friends, and she is fiercely protective over her, to the utter disgust of her daughter, who thinks she is just an ridiculously over protective mother.

But Lorna has high fences and security, and is over protective for a reason, a reason Liberty is not aware of, and thank goodness Liberty doesn’t know who her father is, otherwise everything she knows could change.

Except Liberty does find out, and she wants to meet her famous father and find out what he is really like, as her crazy mother has only told her bad things about what a monster he is, and she wants to find out for herself!

Told from the POV of Lorna and Liberty and with a sprinkling of the past from Lorna’s POV, Suzy K Quinn takes you on a heart stopping journey.

**Please be warned that this book deals with Domestic Abuse and has instances of sexual abuse, a LOT of Gaslighting and Manipulation.

It was very interesting to see how differently Michael acted in front of his friends and family, and then with Lorna and some others, the Red Flags were definitely waving, but unfortunately it is not always possible to see them while you think you are in love!

**Thank you to HQStories for asking me to be on this blogtour**

Enjoy
Vicci 📚💛✨

Synopsis

My child is missing. And it’s not safe out there…

After sixteen years of protecting my daughter from the dark secret of her past, I wake one morning to find her room empty, rucksack gone.

Most runaways return within 72 hours, but I’m not so sure. I think my daughter has gone to find her real father – the man I fled from years ago.

No one knows better than me that beneath his charm lies a monster.

I escaped him once. But will she see him for what he really is?

After all, blood is thicker than water…

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What Lies Between Us by John Marrs @johnmarrs1 #bookreview

Hello Book friends,

I hope you are all well?

Oooohhhhh are you in for a treat  🤯

My Review

Let me tell you a little story
Are you sitting comfortably?

Then let me begin!

Once upon a time there lived a woman called Maggie, she lives with her daughter Nina.

Maggie loves her daughter very very much, she loves her maybe a little too much, and this makes her very interfering in Nina’s life.

Nina doesn’t appreciate this and holds a lot of resentment toward Maggie, yet she still lives with her mother, even at nearly 40 years old.

Nina has become a bit of a bitter woman, holding grudges, and even though she projects these onto Nina, she has secrets that she is hiding, but Maggie has hers too!

They are civil with each other, and eat dinner with each other every other night, and because Maggie is older now and now quite frail, Nina helps her up the stairs to her room, well, I suppose she needs the help really because of the chains she is attached to.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention the fact that Nina has her mother chained up in the attic, sorry about that….My bad!!

You have to read this one to believe it.

🎧🎧

Narrated by Elizabeth Knowelden who is a fantastic narrator and made my goosebumps get goosebumps

Coming to a TV screen soon (The rights have been picked up by Rene Zellweger) I can’t wait to see what they do with this.

Enjoy
Vicci 📚💛✨

Synopsis

Nina can never forgive Maggie for what she did. And she can never let her leave.

They say every house has its secrets, and the house that Maggie and Nina have shared for so long is no different. Except that these secrets are not buried in the past.

Every other night, Maggie and Nina have dinner together. When they are finished, Nina helps Maggie back to her room in the attic, and into the heavy chain that keeps her there. Because Maggie has done things to Nina that can’t ever be forgiven, and now she is paying the price.

But there are many things about the past that Nina doesn’t know, and Maggie is going to keep it that way—even if it kills her.

Because in this house, the truth is more dangerous than lies.

Purchase Links

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His and Hers by Alice Feeney @alicewriterland @HQstories @NetGalley_UK #HisAndHers #AliceFeeney

Hello there book friends, I hope you are all doing well in the current circumstances?

I am so happy to be on the blogtour for this fantastic thriller, pick this one up if you can, you won’t regret it!

My Review

Welcome to the book that makes you feel that you have it Allllllll worked out!!

Oh Yes!! There I was reading this shouting at the book (as I do) “IT’S THIS PERSON, I KNOW IT IS, CASE CLOSED!”

Turns out I might have been wrong, all of my smugness took a huge turn when BAM, in comes a twist, and I thought, Hmm didn’t see that coming, and then BAM, in comes another one, and to top it off BAM here’s another one to add to the pile.

So, I don’t feel so smug anymore, as I had no idea LOL

This is a difficult one to review as I don’t want to add any unintentional spoilers, so all you need to know is this:

Anna is a newsreader
Jack is a DCI
Jack and Anna were married
Jack and Anna are now divorced
A murder brings them both together again
One of them could be involved
One of them could be lying
Secrets and lies a-plenty

If you love a twisty thriller that will keep you on your toes, and your head spinning, this is the one for you.

Enjoy
Vicci 📚💛✨

**Thank you to HQstories, Netgalley, and the Author for a copy of the book**

Synopsis

If there are two sides to every story, someone is always lying…

Jack: Three words to describe my wife: Beautiful. Ambitious. Unforgiving.
Anna: I only need one word to describe my husband: Liar.

When a woman is murdered in Blackdown village, newsreader Anna Andrews is reluctant to cover the case. Anna’s ex-husband, DCI Jack Harper, is suspicious of her involvement, until he becomes a suspect in his own murder investigation.

Someone is lying, and some secrets are worth killing to keep.

Purchase links

Bert’s Books

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Pretty Things by Janelle Brown @janelleb #PrettyThings #JanelleBrown #BookReview

Hello book friends, I hope that you are all doing OK?

I absolutely loved this book, it was a slow burner up till about quarter of the way in, and then all of a sudden the WTF started falling out of the sky, and trying to dodge them was a head spinner let me tell you!

Review

This book is told from 2 POV, Nina who is a con artist, and Vanessa who is an Instagram Influencer.

Nina learned everything she knows from her dear old mum who is also a con artist, but she has now fallen ill and is no longer able to hustle like she used to, her medical bills are stacking up, and Nina doesn’t know what to do except what she is good at, Hustling.

Vanessa is an “it” girl, she is famous just for being famous, and rich!

She has millions of followers who love her, but for someone who is so loved, she is also very lonely, that is why she jumps at the chance to make new friends when she meets a lovely woman with her handsome Irish boyfriend.

But is everything as it seems?

Unreliable narrators and twists and turns a-plenty in this thriller which is soon to be made into a TV series starring Nicole Kidman, so read it before you watch it otherwise it will spoil it for you.

🎧🎧

Narrated by Hillary Huber, Lauren Fortgang and one of my favourite narrators Julia Whelan all did a fantastic job, all of the voices and accents were spot on and I LOVED IT!!

Enjoy
Vicci 📚💛✨

Synopsis

Nina once bought into the idea that her fancy liberal arts degree would lead to a fulfilling career. When that dream crashed, she turned to stealing from rich kids in LA alongside her wily Irish boyfriend, Lachlan. Nina learned from the best: her mother was the original con artist, hustling to give her daughter a decent childhood despite their wayward life. But when her mom gets sick, Nina puts everything on the line to help her, even if it means running her most audacious, dangerous scam yet.

Vanessa is a privileged young heiress who wanted to make her mark in the world. Instead she becomes an Instagram influencer – traveling the globe, receiving free clothes and products and posing for pictures in exotic locales. But behind the covetable façade is a life marked by tragedy.

After a broken engagement, Vanessa retreats to her family’s sprawling mountain estate, Stonehaven: a mansion of dark secrets not just from Vanessa’s past, but from that of a lost and troubled girl named Nina. Nina’s, Vanessa’s and Lachlan’s paths collide here, on the cold shores of Lake Tahoe, where their intertwined lives give way to a winter of aspiration and desire, duplicity and revenge.

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The Other People by C.J.Tudor @cjtudor @RCArmitage #BookReview #TheOtherPeople

Hello Book friends,

Are you all in for a treat with this one!!

My Review

Ooh you are in for such a treat with this book.

Welcome to crazy town,
Do not pass GO,
Do not collect $200

Meet Gabe, he drives up and down the motorway (freeway) all day every day, he’s hoping to catch a glimpse of his daughter, just once, just like last time.

You see, three years ago, Gabe was driving home, he was late as he’d been caught at work, and he wanted to get home to see his daughter, but the traffic was such a nightmare!
He happens to look at the back of the car near him, and he sees a little face peeping out of the window, after the initial thoughts of “why is that child not strapped in” he suddenly comes to the realisation, that the girl ahead looks very familiar! And a phone-call by the local police informing him that his wife and child have been found murdered makes even less sense.

We follow Gabe on his hunt for his daughter that he swore that he saw, Katie, who works in the roadside cafe, and has also lost a loved one, and Fran, who is on the run with her daughter.

Why can’t Fran’s daughter look in mirrors?
Why doesn’t anyone believe Gabe when he tells them about his daughter?
And who the hell are The Other People?

Intrigued yet?

I challenge you to put this book down once you have started it!

🎧🎧

Narrated by the always amazing Richard Armitage, who was just fantastic, you may have seen him on your TV screens recently in the also brilliant The Stranger!

Enjoy
Vicci 📚💛✨

Synopsis

She sleeps, a pale girl in a white room….

Three years ago, Gabe saw his daughter taken. In the back of a rusty old car, covered in bumper stickers. He was driving behind the car. He watched her disappear. But no one believes him.

Most people believe that his daughter and wife are dead. For a while, people believed that Gabe was responsible.

Three years later and Gabe cannot give up hope. Even though he has given up everything else. His home, his job, his old life. He spends his days and nights travelling up and down the motorway, sleeping in his camper van in service stations, searching for the car that took her. Searching for his daughter.

Katie spends a lot of her life in service stations, working as a waitress. She often sees Gabriel, or ‘the thin man’, as she has nicknamed him. She knows his story. She feels for him, because Katie understands what it’s like to lose a loved one. Nine years ago, her father was murdered. It broke her family apart. She hasn’t seen her oldest sister since the day of the funeral – the day she did something terrible.

Fran and her daughter, Alice, put in a lot of miles on the motorway. Not searching. But running. Trying to keep one step ahead of the people that want to hurt them. Because Fran knows the truth. She knows what really happened to Gabe’s daughter. She knows who is responsible. And she knows that if they ever find them, they’re dead.

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The Other Mrs by Mary Kubica @MaryKubica @HQstories #TheOtherMrs #BookReview

Hello book friends,

Sorry for being MIA for a while, I’ve had a few things happening IRL, and in the middle of that I’ve also moved house, and been ill, so it’s been a stressful few weeks lol

Anyhoo, I thought I’d come back with a bang to give you my review of this fabulous read.

I was lucky enough to be invited to take part in the blog tour for this book, and as soon as I saw the author, I jumped at the chance to read it!

My Review

Prepare yourself for a roller coaster ride of a book, Mary Kubica has done it again!

Sadie and Will Foust and their kids have recently moved from the big bustling city of Chicago, to a sleepy coastal town in Maine, to a house that they have recently inherited.

To get to their new jobs, and also to the kids to school, they have to catch a ferry off of the island where they are living, they have also now have custody of Will’s Niece Imogen after his sister died unexpectedly, so there is plenty of stress around, and she is not the most welcoming person toward them all.

After only being there a few days, the family get a huge shock when one of their neighbours is murdered, and knowing that it must have happened in the night and that there isn’t a ferry off of the island until early in the morning, Sadie is aware that the murderer is/was still on the island, which triggers her anxiety.
Especially when it seems that the police seem to have the ridiculous notion that she had something to do with the murder, even though she’d never even met that neighbour, and that they are new to the town!

Sadie and the rest of the family were really hoping to have a fresh start, and thought that this would be it, they really needed it.

While we are watching the Faust family come apart thread by thread, we also get 2 other characters thrown in to the loop, Camille, Sadie’s former roommate and Mouse, a little girl who is being abused by her step mother.

How do they all fit together? And who the hell is the murderer?

Mary Kubica is the queen of twisty books, and this one was no different, it was creepy, very atmospheric, and I had no idea where it was going most of the time.

Grab this one as soon as you can and settle down for some serious page turning!

Enjoy
Vicci 📚💛✨

**Thank you to HQ Stories for my copy of this book**

About the Book

Propulsive and addictive, The Other Mrs. is the twisty new psychological thriller from Mary Kubica, the New York Times bestselling author of The Good Girl

She tried to run, but she can’t escape the other Mrs.

Sadie and Will Foust have only just moved their family from bustling Chicago to small-town Maine when their neighbor Morgan Baines is found dead in her home. The murder rocks their tiny coastal island, but no one is more shaken than Sadie.

But it’s not just Morgan’s death that has Sadie on edge. And as the eyes of suspicion turn toward the new family in town, Sadie is drawn deeper into the mystery of what really happened that dark and deadly night. But Sadie must be careful, for the more she discovers about Mrs. Baines, the more she begins to realize just how much she has to lose if the truth ever comes to light.

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The Alibi Girl by C J Skuse @CJSkuse @HQstories @Netgalley #Bookreview #TheAlibiGirl

Hello Book friends,

I’m so happy to bring you a review for this fabulous book that will keep you turning the pages.

My Thoughts

Meet Joanne Haynes, she is happily married with 4 kids and a gorgeous husband.

Or…

Meet Joanne, she is a bestselling author whose books have been sold all over the world, especially in Asia.

Or…

Meet Joanne, she is a single mother and trying her best to make ends meet, working and trying to provide for her and her baby daughter.

Just one of these could be true, or maybe they’re not, maybe none of them are at all, maybe Joanne isn’t really Joanne!

It is difficult to go into too much detail with this book because otherwise it will spoil the story, lets just say that everything is not quite as it seems.

I really enjoyed this story and how it unravelled, “Joanne” is a very troubled woman and it really showed in the story the further it went on, it also had the C J Skuse touch with the hilarious one liners and witty banter.
The story is in 2 parts and very cleverly reveals the plot and why Joanne is how she is, and what made her that way.

Definitely something you should pick up if you can.

Enjoy

Vicci📚💛✨

**Thank you to Netgalley for my copy of this book

About the Book

UK Kindle*

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Joanne Haynes has a secret: that is not her real name.

And there’s more. Her flat’s not hers. Her cats aren’t hers. Even her hair isn’t really hers.

Nor is she any of the other women she pretends to be. Not the bestselling romance novelist who gets her morning snack from the doughnut van on the seafront. Nor the pregnant woman in the dental surgery. Nor the chemo patient in the supermarket for whom the cashier feels ever so sorry. They’re all just alibis.

In fact, the only thing that’s real about Joanne is that nobody can know who she really is.

But someone has got too close. It looks like her alibis have begun to run out….