#netgalley

The Shadow Man – Review

| realmrsb

Author: Helen Fields

Release Date: February 4, 2021

Book Blurb: Elspeth, Meggy and Xavier are locked in a flat. They don’t know where they are, and they don’t know why they’re there. They only know that the shadow man has taken them, and he won’t let them go.
 
Desperate to escape, the three of them must find a way out of their living hell, even if it means uncovering a very dark truth.
 
Because the shadow man isn’t a nightmare. He’s all too real.
 
And he’s watching.

My thoughts:

I LOVED this,  and was lucky enough to have the time to luxuriate in the enjoyment of it.  Does that sound weird luxuriating in the horror and thrills of a book? 

We meet the shadow man pretty early on,  and slowly throughout the book Elspeth, Meggy and Xavier are introduced.

There are 2 other supporting characters, which make up some crucial parts.

Over all this book is a great read,  the intensity builds well right to the end

A Solid 5 star book.

Disclosure: I received an advanced copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Where to Buy: You can pre-order this book through my affiliate link here .

Review – Felicity Carrol and the Murderous Menace

| realmrsb

Author: Patricia Marcantonio

Publisher: Crooked Lane Books

Release Date: February 11 2020

Book Blurb: Heiress and amateur detective Felicity Carrol makes a perilous journey to apprehend a notorious murderer who has terrorized England–and now continues his vicious killing spree across the pond.

Felicity Carrol would rather be doing just about anything other than attending balls or seeking a husband. What she really wants to do is continue her work using the latest forensic methods and her photographic memory to help London police bring murderers to justice, so when her friend, Scotland Yard Inspector Jackson Davies, weak from injury, discovers a murder in a wild mining town in Montana that echoes the terrible crimes in England, Felicity decides to go herself.

In Placer, Montana, her first obstacle is handsome lawman Thomas Pike, who uses his intuition as much as his Colt in keeping law and order in this unruly town. When the murderer strikes again, Felicity begins to suspect Davies is correct: Jack the Ripper has come to America. Felicity sets out to find the killer in a town chock full of secrets, shadows, and suspects, but as the body count rises, this intrepid sleuth faces her most dangerous adversary yet–and discovers that not all killers are as they seem.

What do I reckon: I really enjoyed this book. Murder, mystery and a bit of romance.  What’s not to like?  The author wove a wonderful story that takes us from the middle of London to the American west.  All with the purpose of catching a killer.    Some of the dialogue does not really work for a book set in the 1800’s but in the long run it doesn’t really matter.

Felicity Carrol our leading lady is an interesting character.  Her mother died when Felicity was small, and her unaffectionate father left Felicity in the care of the household servants.    As an adult she has a medical degree and a thirst for knowledge.  Instead of joining “society” she spends her time helping an inspector friend to solve crimes at Scotland Yard.

After a series of brutal unsolved murders in London, Felicity and her friend believe the killer may have re-surfaced in America.  Felicity volunteers to go to America and investigate the case.

Disclosure: I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Where to buy: If you would like to buy this book you can get it from my affiliate link here.

Another Mrs B Book review – The Body in the Garden

| realmrsb

Author: Katharine Schellman

Publisher: Crooked Lane Books

Release Date: April 7 2020

Book Blurb: London 1815. Though newly-widowed Lily Adler is returning to a society that frowns on independent women, she is determined to create a meaningful life for herself even without a husband. She’s no stranger to the glittering world of London’s upper crust. At a ball thrown by her oldest friend, Lady Walter, she expects the scandal, gossip, and secrets. What she doesn’t expect is the dead body in Lady Walter’s garden.

Lily overheard the man just minutes before he was shot: young, desperate, and attempting blackmail. But she’s willing to leave the matter to the local constables–until Lord Walter bribes the investigating magistrate to drop the case. Stunned and confused, Lily realizes she’s the only one with the key to catching the killer.

Aided by a roguish navy captain and a mysterious heiress from the West Indies, Lily sets out to discover whether her friend’s husband is mixed up in blackmail and murder. The unlikely team tries to conceal their investigation behind the whirl of London’s social season, but the dead man knew secrets about people with power. Secrets that they would kill to keep hidden. Now, Lily will have to uncover the truth, before she becomes the murderer’s next target.

What do I reckon: This was a good read and not too long.  Sometimes I find that books set in the 1800’s end up being very long and a difficult read.     A dead body, a mystery a bit of love. What’s not to like?  I'll definitely be looking out for the next in the series.

Disclosure: I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Where to buy: If you would like to buy this book you can find it here . You can also find the second book in the series through that link but I haven’t read it yet so can’t vouch for its greatness. 😉

Book Review – The Little Bakery of Hopes and dreams

| realmrsb

Author: Kellie Hailes

Publisher: HQ Digital

Release Date: November 8th 2019

Book Blurb:

Josie Donnelly spends most years pretending that Christmas doesn’t even happen! So, she hopes that the sleepy village of Sunnycombe will be the perfect place to escape the festivities…

Or so she thought! Spending time with (far too handsome) bakery owner Callan Stewart and his young daughter, Mia, makes her long for the family Christmas she’s missed out on.

Could the little bakery on the hill be her own recipe for a happy ever after this year…?

What do I reckon & my rating

I love good love story and this one does not disappoint,

Josie and Callan are our main characters. Callan is recently widowed and finds himself looking running the bakery that belonged to his wife. As an accountant his skills do not transfer to baking! As another learning curve, Callan is now a solo father to his very beloved and very chatty daughter Mia.

Josie arrives in town and sees and advertisement in the bakery window for an assistant.

Callan gives Josie the job and the rest is history……. or is it? Understandably Callan has a lot of grief to work through. Josie also has a story of her own that unfolds throughout the book.

I have really loved all the books from this author and this one is as good as the others.

Disclosure: I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Where to buy: If you would like to buy this book you can get it here through my affiliate link.

Another Mrs B Book Review – The Vine Witch

| realmrsb

Author: Luanne G Smith

Publisher: 47North

Release Date: October 1st 2019

Book Blurb:

For centuries, the vineyards at Château Renard have depended on the talent of their vine witches, whose spells help create the world-renowned wine of the Chanceaux Valley. Then the skill of divining harvests fell into ruin when sorcière Elena Boureanu was blindsided by a curse. Now, after breaking the spell that confined her to the shallows of a marshland and weakened her magic, Elena is struggling to return to her former life. And the vineyard she was destined to inherit is now in the possession of a handsome stranger.

Vigneron Jean-Paul Martel naively favors science over superstition, and he certainly doesn’t endorse the locals’ belief in witches. But Elena knows a hex when she sees one, and the vineyard is covered in them. To stay on and help the vines recover, she’ll have to hide her true identity, along with her plans for revenge against whoever stole seven winters of her life. And she won’t rest until she can defy the evil powers that are still a threat to herself, Jean-Paul, and the ancient vine-witch legacy in the rolling hills of the Chanceaux Valley.

What do I reckon & my rating:

The concept of a Vine Witch is an interesting one, instead of a traditional winemaker this town has a series of vine witches who use their craft to coax the best wine from the grapes.

Each Vine Witch works for a winery.

The main character of this story is Elena. Recently released from a curse she finds her way back to her winery to find there have been some changes. She also wants revenge on the person that cursed her.

I really enjoyed this book and finding out more about the world that the vine witches live in. I wondered a few times what time period the book was set in.

There’s a great love story and themes of friendship and dastardly villains in the book and I recommend giving it a chance.

Disclosure: I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Where to buy: If you want to buy this book, click my affiliate code here

Another Mrs B Book Review – Nine Perfect Strangers

| realmrsb

Nine Perfect Strangers

Author: Liane Moriarty

Publisher: Macmillan Australia 

Release Date: September 18, 2018

Book Blurb

What do I reckon & my rating

This book has a great description and I really wanted to enjoy it.

The setting of the health retreat was good. The 9 people all had good reasons for being there. There were certainly some twists and turns I wasn’t expecting. I enjoyed uncovering more about the characters as the book went on and the follow ups at the end were a great.

This book could have been a really good thriller.

Disclosure: I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Where to buy: You can buy this book here from my Amazon Store. If you do buy the book, I receive a portion of the sale price.

Book Review – The Forger and the Thief

| realmrsb

Author: Kirsten McKenzie

Publisher: Squabbling Sparrows Press

Release Date: July 31 2020

Book Blurb:

A wife on the run, a student searching for stolen art, a cleaner who has lined more than his pockets, a policeman whose career is almost over, and a guest who should never have received a wedding invite. Five strangers, entangled in the forger’s wicked web.

In a race against time, and desperate to save themselves and all they hold dear, will their secrets prove more treacherous than the ominous floodwaters swallowing the historic city?

Dive into a world of lies and deceit, where nothing is as it seems on the surface…

My thoughts: 5 people, an epic flood, fantastic history and some scary villians make an epic mix.

Due to end of year busyness I wasn’t able to sit and luxuriate in this book like I usually would. The way Kirsten has woven the story and written the characters meant I didn’t have to wonder about where I was up to and what the characters were doing. The book stayed with me it was THAT GOOD.

Disclosure: I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Where to Buy: If you would like to buy this book (and I wholeheartedly recommend you do) you can find it through my affiliate link here.

Another Mrs B Book Review – In five Years

| realmrsb

In five years

Author: Rebecca Serle

Publisher: Quercus

Release Date: March 10 2020

Book Blurb: Type-A Manhattan lawyer Dannie Kohan has been in possession of her meticulously crafted answer since she understood the question. On the day that she nails the most important job interview of her career and gets engaged to the perfect man, she’s well on her way to fulfilling her life goals.
That night Dannie falls asleep only to wake up in a different apartment with a different ring on her finger, and in the company of a very different man. The TV is on in the background, and she can just make out the date. It’s the same night – December 15th – but 2025, five years in the future.
It was just a dream, she tells herself when she wakes, but it felt so real… Determined to ignore the odd experience, she files it away in the back of her mind.
That is, until four and a half years later, when Dannie turns down a street and there, standing on the corner, is the man from her dream…

What do I reckon:

Our main Character Dannie has a good life, a great job and a wonderful fiance.

 One day something happens that throws a bit of change into her life.  Dannie wakes up and finds herself in a different apartment, with a different ring on her finger and a new man in the kitchen.  She figures out that she is somehow 5 years into her future.  She soon wakes again to find herself back in the present and not sure how to process what happened.
This is a fun book that kept me guessing. A great theme and perhaps keep some tissues close by.

Disclosure: I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Where to buy: You can buy the book from my shop here.

Another Mrs B Book Review – House of Trelawney

| realmrsb

Title : House of Trewlawney

Author: Hannah Rothschild

Publisher: Knopf

Release Date: February 11, 2020

Book Blurb: For more than seven hundred years, the vast, rambling Trelawney Castle in Cornwall–turrets, follies, a room for every day of the year, four miles of corridors and 500,000 acres–was the magnificent and grand “three dimensional calling card” of the earls of Trelawney. By 2008, it is in a complete state of ruin due to the dulled ambition and the financial ineptitude of the twenty-four earls, two world wars, the Wall Street crash, and inheritance taxes. Still: the heir to all of it, Kitto, his wife, Jane, their three children, their dog, Kitto’s ancient parents, and his aunt Tuffy Scott, an entomologist who studies fleas, all manage to live there and keep it going.

What do I reckon : When I first saw this book I knew I had to read it,.  A madcap tale of a family of minor royals, their traditions and management of the family estate.

Trelawney estate is 800 years old,  In its prime the family had plenty of money, a sprawling farm and the house was in tip top condition.  Over the years parts of the farm have been sold, so now now there isn’t much left.  The house itself has fallen into disrepair. 

The story focuses on the current occupants of the house and some of the extended family.  Some of the topics covered include: family obligation, love, renovations, money, infidelity and insects.  Yes you heard that right…. INSECTS.

I LOVED the characters.  I got quite invested in what I thought was going to happen.  When the book finished with an ending that was different to what I expected wasn’t quite sure what to think.  But you know what?  in a way I think that was a good thing because I was so invested in the characters.  There aren’t many authors who have that way with character development.  All in all a great read.

Where to buy: You can buy the book from amazon here. – this is not an affiliate link. I just like the book and really want to tell you about it.