Blog Tour - Love Like Blood by Mark Billingham

Mark Billingham is one of my very favourite crime authors and his latest release, Love Like Blood, sees his books just getting better and better. It is a definite must for crime lovers this summer.

A BLOODY MESSAGE As DI Nicola Tanner investigates what appears to be a series of organised killings, her partner Susan is brutally murdered, leaving the detective bereft, and vengeful. A POWERFUL ALLY Taken off the case, Tanner enlists the help of DI Tom Thorne to pursue a pair of ruthless killers and the broker handing out the deadly contracts. A CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE As the killers target their latest victim, Thorne takes the biggest risk of his career and is drawn into a horrifying and disturbing world in which families will do anything to protect their honour. From number one bestseller Mark Billingham comes a masterful, intense crime novel that pits DI Tom Thorne against an evil beyond comprehension, yet shockingly real.

Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group 
ISBN: 9780751566888 

Mark Billingham's books feature the very popular DI Tom Thorne and this is the fourteenth book in the series. Die hard fans will have read all of them, however new readers will be able to pick up this book and delve straight in and be in awe of DI Tom Thorne.

Tom Thorne is reunited with DI Nicola Tanner, who he met in Die of Shame as she is trying to find out who killed her lover, who she believes was killed instead of herself, due to becoming too close to solving a crime. 

The storyline is brilliant and as with Mark's earlier book, the reader is lead on a trial which sees Thorne get deeper and deeper into the case, which is at times tough, as it involves honour killing across the religions where the modern world overtakes past beliefs. There is lots of great content and it gives the reader an insight into these homes where the younger generation are determined to make their own choices and not agree to those of their parents.

As with all of Mark's books, the reader makes many decisions about who is behind it all and what they believe to have happened but Mark always leaves a big surprise to the end and I was definitely not expecting this one!

Love Like Blood is definitely Mark Billingham's best book yet and I hope my blog readers enjoy it as much as I have.

Thank you to the author and Little Brown for inviting me to take part in this blog tour.

Blog Tour - Obsession by Amanda Robson

Today I am pleased to welcome Amanda Robson to my blog as part of The Obsession blog tour where I can share an extract from the book with my readers:

I’m FaceTiming you, Craig, because I’m missing you. I’m missing your comfortable arms around me. Missing the feel of you. The heat of you. I am not FaceTiming Luke and Mark because seeing me may unsettle them when they seem to be doing so well with you.

Your smiling face appears in front of me – a ‘beam me up, Scotty’ moment – a miracle too futuristic to be real. But it is real. You are smiling up at me from my iPad as if you were in the room. For a second I think I can smell the hard-edged scent of your favourite aftershave. It’s there for a second and then gone.

‘How’s it going?’ you ask, your face crumpling in concern.

‘She had a good day today,’ I say, trying to sound bright, trying to smile, wanting to let you know I’m not going to drag you down. That I can cope.

What I’ve told you is true; she has had a better day. But better is a comparative term. Still she has slept almost incessantly, like a small baby bird, bony and vulnerable, her Egyptian cotton bed sheets her nest. Still she hasn’t eaten, even though I tried to force a gel pack of sugary nutrients between her teeth. Still her chest wheezes like wind in the trees. But today, at least, morphine has contained her pain.

‘How are the boys?’ I ask.

‘Fine.’ You pause, watching me watching you. ‘Honestly,’ you add as if I might think you were lying.

Thank you to Amanda and the publishers, Avon, for inviting me to take part in the tour.

Blog Tour - Want You Gone by Chris Brookmyre

I first met Chris Brookmyre twelve months ago at Chiplitfest, when I am unsure if his worried and vacant look was relating to my questions about his social media presence and use of blog tours t promote his latest book or if he was still looking for the answers to Saturday nights main event of Chipping Norton Literary Festival, Mark Billingham's Saturday Chiplit Quiz where the infamous picture and music rounds always leave people dumbfounded as they try and decide just who that famous author is or which author also has a secret profession as a song writer or singer. Chris was unsure what a blog tour was or how to organise one so I was really pleased when Grace Vincent, Little, Brown Book Group's Publicity Manager invited me to take part to celebrate the publication of Want You Gone, Chris' latest release.

What if all your secrets were put online? Sam Morpeth is growing up way too fast, left to fend for a younger sister with learning difficulties when their mother goes to prison and watching her dreams of university evaporate. But Sam learns what it is to be truly powerless when a stranger begins to blackmail her online, drawing her into a trap she may not escape alive. Who would you turn to? Meanwhile, reporter Jack Parlabane has finally got his career back on track, but his success has left him indebted to a volatile source on the wrong side of the law. Now that debt is being called in, and it could cost him everything. What would you be capable of? Thrown together by a mutual enemy, Sam and Jack are about to discover they have more in common than they realise - and might be each other's only hope.

Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
ISBN: 9781408707173

Want You Gone is from the popular Jack Parlabane series, although if this is the first book you have read by Chris, it is a great introduction to Jack and his world. However if you have read and enjoyed the previous two novels I believe that you will enjoy this book as Chris grows in confidence and his writing style matures as he reintroduces characters from earlier novels back into his story. 

I was filling out a survey earlier today which was about another crime writer and one of the questions was about if the writing, plot line, characters and story were relateble and as I was thinking about it I realised that that perfectly describes Chris Brookmyre's books. There are many moments within the book that could happen to the reader or to their friends and family - one moment that springs to mind is after a burglary, during which a television is stolen and within the family, a little girl with additional needs has a moment because she can't watch her DVD's during her daytime routine - how many writers would include such a well thought out detail in their books? Chris Brookmyre has and it describes the situation perfectly and I really felt for the little girl and her family, victims of crime have to deal with so much and this is one of those effects that no one thinks about, unless they have a child with additional needs. 

There are computer hackers and financial fraud but also, on the other side, the benefits system and how it can go wrong as the reality of living within this system hits those hardest. I really liked the partnership and interaction between Jack and Samantha and the rollercoaster that they ride throughout this book is one that I wouldn't like to try but they are fantastic characters and I loved following them as the twists and turns are throughout and leave you on tenterhooks to the very last page.

I really did enjoy this book and I hope that my blog readers will give Chris Brookmyre a try. I hope that Chris enjoyed visiting my blog today and has enjoyed the blog tour experience.

Thank you to the publishers, for inviting me to take part in the blog tour in return for an honest review of the book. 

Blog Tour - The Woman who met her Match by Fiona Gibson

What if your first love came back on the scene ...30 years later? After yet another disaster, Lorrie is calling time on online dating. She might be single in her forties, but she's got a good job, wonderful children and she's happy. This, Lorrie decides, is going to have to be enough. That is, until she receives a very unexpected request from France. Antoine Rousseau, who had once turned a lonely French exchange trip into a summer of romance, wants to see her - after thirty years. But Lorrie is a responsible woman. She can't exactly run off to Nice with the man who broke her teenage heart ...can she? A wonderfully funny novel, perfect for fans of Jill Mansell, Joanna Bolouri and Milly Johnson.

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN: 9780008157029

Chick lit fan for the (slightly) older lady. Perfect for ladies aged in their 40's who want a light and fun read with a reminder of love from years gone by and the oppurtunity to rekindle in later life but will there be a happy ever after ending?

A perfect book to slip into holiday luggage and enjoy while lazing around the pool or on the beach. I enjoy Fiona Gibson's writing style - an easy read which is littered with Fiona's fantastic dry humour. The story covers many issues which are faced by women everyday including grief, bringing up children as a lone parent, the dynamics within a family and the strong bonds within. There is also the oppurtunity for second chances while also reliving memories from ones younger years. 

I must say a big thank you to the author, Fiona Gibson, who hand drew the gorgeous blog tour poster shown at the top of this post, it is fantastic and I feel honoured to be a part of her beautiful work.