mystery

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware | @RuthWareWriter @HarvillSecker | #20BooksofSummer

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Author : Ruth Ware
Title : The Turn of the Key
Pages : 340
Publisher : Harvill Secker
Publication date : August 8, 2019

| ABOUT THE BOOK |

When she stumbles across the ad, she’s looking for something else completely. But it seems like too good an opportunity to miss—a live-in nannying post, with a staggeringly generous salary. And when Rowan Caine arrives at Heatherbrae House, she is smitten—by the luxurious “smart” home fitted out with all modern conveniences, by the beautiful Scottish Highlands, and by this picture-perfect family.

What she doesn’t know is that she’s stepping into a nightmare—one that will end with a child dead and herself in prison awaiting trial for murder.

| MY THOUGHTS |

Ruth Ware’s previous book, The Death of Mrs Westaway, was one of my top books last year. So to say I had high expectations for her next offering would be somewhat of an understatement. I couldn’t wait to pick up The Turn of the Key and as soon as I started reading, I just knew this one was going to be another extra special treat.

Rowan Caine answered an ad for a nanny position in the Scottish Highlands. But it’s obvious from the start that things did not go well. A child is dead and Rowan is in prison awaiting trial for murder. What on earth happened and how did Rowan get here?

Oh, what a twisted tale this is. I feel like I didn’t breathe for 340 pages, it’s that tense. The modern gadgetry alone already freaked me out, never mind all the shenanigans that could possibly be caused by ghosts because hey, isolated house in a remote location where a death or two has occurred , it’s bound to be haunted, right? Hugely atmospheric? Check! I mean, there’s even a poison garden! Yikes! And what of Rowan? Reliable narrator or not? I couldn’t quite decide for most of the story and yet, at every turn, I found myself firmly on her side.

Creepy and chilling throughout, I couldn’t at all figure out what had happened and the conclusion left me reeling. Or at least my interpretation of it, which obviously means you should read this novel right now so we can discuss it! Wow. I mean, really, just WOW. I absolutely devoured this novel and as tends to happen with books I loved as much as this one, the words to describe my experience with it just will not come. Also because I’m way too worried I’ll give anything away.

Brilliantly written, immensely engrossing, extremely addictive …. WOW! 😉 This is most definitely Ruth Ware at her best and I honestly can’t believe I’m saying this, because did I mention how utterly brilliant The Death of Mrs Westaway was? The Turn of the Key, you guys, is even better and it shoots right up my list of favourite books of the year! I’ll be recommending this one left, right and centre until I’m blue in the face and I am already eagerly awaiting Ruth Ware’s next book.

The Turn of The Key is available to buy!

Affiliate link : Bookdepository
Other retailers : Amazon US | Amazon UK | Kobo | Waterstones | Wordery

Book 17 from my 20 Books of Summer list.

This Week in Books (August 21)

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Hosted by Lipsy Lost and Found, my Wednesday post gives you a taste of what I’m reading this week. A similar meme is run by Taking on a World of Words.

| LAST BOOK I FINISHED READING |

PLAY
Andrew, the manager of Shanamore Holiday Cottages, watches his only guest via a hidden camera in her room. One night the unthinkable happens: a shadowy figure emerges onscreen, kills her and destroys the camera. But who is the murderer? How did they know about the camera? And how will Andrew live with himself?

PAUSE
Natalie wishes she’d stayed at home as soon as she arrives in the wintry isolation of Shanamore. There’s something creepy about the manager. She wants to leave, but she can’t – not until she’s found what she’s looking for…

REWIND
This is an explosive story about a murder caught on camera. You’ve already missed the start. To get the full picture you must rewind the tape and play it through to the end, no matter how shocking…

| THE BOOK I’M CURRENTLY READING |

The truth is easy to miss, even when it’s right in front of us. As a forensic reconstructionist, Rory Moore sheds light on cold-case homicides by piecing together crime scene details others fail to see. Cleaning out her late father’s law office a week after his burial, she receives a call that plunges her into a decades-old case come to life once more.

In the summer of 1979, five Chicago women went missing. The predator, nicknamed The Thief, left no bodies and no clues behind–until police received a package from a mysterious woman named Angela Mitchell, whose unorthodox investigation skills appear to have led to his identity. But before police could question her, Angela disappeared. Forty years later, The Thief is about to be paroled for Angela’s murder–the only crime the DA could pin on him. As a former client of her father’s, Rory becomes reluctantly involved with the killer–though he continues to insist he didn’t murder Angela. Now he wants Rory to do what her father once promised: prove that Angela is, in fact, still alive.

As Rory begins reconstructing Angela’s last days, another killer emerges from the shadows, replicating those long-ago murders. With every startling discovery she makes, Rory becomes more deeply entangled in the enigma of Angela Mitchell–and in The Thief’s tormented mind. Drawing connections between past and present is the only way to stop the nightmare, but even Rory can’t be prepared for the full, terrifying truth that is emerging 

| WHAT I’M (PROBABLY) READING NEXT |

Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined.

No tour commitments to fulfil and one book away from finishing my 20 Books of Summer challenge with time to spare! Guess who’s reading for fun? This girl!

What are you reading this week? Let me know! Happy reading! xx

Weekly Wrap-Up (August 18)

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Summer has gone and done a runner. It’s been a miserable, windy and wet week and I do not approve in the slightest. I’ve been torturing myself by constantly checking the weather in Italy, where it’s lovely and warm, and keeping my fingers crossed that will still be the case when I arrive there in a few weeks.

Since I ran out of Hawaii Five-O episodes to watch [note to self : binge-watch slower next time], there seemed little else to do but read. And by read, I mean stare at hundreds of books on my bookshelves and declare I had nothing to read. 🤣

Meanwhile, the pile of books I will be taking with me on holiday has grown to … one. Yes, you read that right. One. Considering my hormonal reading mojo this year, you never know. It could be enough. Still, it’s good to be prepared for every eventuality, right? So I’m thinking I need a few more. I might be forced to do a panicky “grab-whatever-is-closest” on the day we leave. 😂

Anyway! No tv shows to watch and miserable weather. What’s a girl to do? Read, I guess. So here’s what I read this week.

| BOOKS I READ THIS WEEK |

That’s not too bad again. I’m about 100 pages away from finishing another one but I got distracted.

For those who’d like to guess this week : one of those shot right up my list of “books of the year”. No, Kelly, you’re not allowed to play along 😜

| BOOKS I BOUGHT THIS WEEK |

Well. I don’t know what happened here but apparently I bought none. What’s up with that?! Feel free to stage an intervention if this continues! 😂

| ON THE BLOG THIS PAST WEEK |

Monday : Nothing

Tuesday : Shared my review for Someone We Know by Shari Lapena

Wednesday : This Week in Books

Thursday : Reviewed Come Back For Me by Heidi Perks

Friday : Again with the nothing

Saturday : Took this day off as well

Sunday : Weekly Wrap-Up

You know something? I could totally get used to this!

| NEXT WEEK ON NOVEL DEELIGHTS |

Monday : Blog tour | Extract | Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane

Tuesday : Review | Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins-Reid

Wednesday : This Week in Books

Thursday : Most likely nothing

Friday : Review | The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

Saturday : Taking the day off

Sunday : Weekly Wrap-Up

Slightly busier because I need to squeeze in the 20 Books of Summer challenge reviews before the end of the month. 😂

Speaking of that challenge, I’m currently reading my 18th book. I may yet nail this after all! I also reached the 150 mark of books read this year, which considering the up-and-down reading mojo makes me feel quite accomplished. And the year isn’t over yet!

That’s it for this week. I’m spending the afternoon with the mother-in-law. Again. She seems to be here a lot lately. I hope she’s not planning on moving in 🤔

Wishing you all a fantastic week and lots of happy reading! Until next time! xx

Come Back For Me by Heidi Perks | #20BooksOfSummer

~ noveldeelights ~ 5 Comments

Author : Heidi Perks
Title : Come Back For Me
Pages : 416
Publisher : Century
Publication date : July 11, 2019

| ABOUT THE BOOK |

A tiny island community is stunned by the discovery of a long-buried body.

For Stella Harvey, the news is doubly shocking, as the body is found in the garden of her childhood home. The home her family fled without explanation twenty-five years ago.

Now, questioning her past and desperate to unearth the truth, Stella returns to the Dorset island. But she quickly finds that the community she left isn’t as welcoming as she remembers – and that people in it will go to any length to protect their secrets.

But one thing rings true…
You can’t bury the truth forever. 

| MY THOUGHTS |

Heidi Perk’s previous book, Now You See Her, absolutely rocked my socks off so I couldn’t wait to see if her new offering would live up to that one for me.

The story starts off with a bang when eleven year old Stella is forced to leave her childhood home on Evergreen Island in the middle of a storm. Why are her parents so desperate to leave the island in these circumstances? Twenty-five years later, a body is found near Stella’s childhood home. Stella has always wanted to return to the island and this seems like the perfect opportunity. She knows these people after all. But the small community isn’t exactly welcoming and it soon becomes apparent there are a lot of secrets the island residents are keen to protect.

And just like that I was caught up in a murder mystery and the dynamics of a rather dysfunctional family all in one go. Quite clearly, Heidi Perks took a master class in plotting, knowing exactly what to do to keep a reader hooked. With seemingly every chapter ending on a cliffhanger, I couldn’t stop myself from absolutely devouring this book. Every theory I could possibly come up with was blown to pieces and there was no way I was ever going to predict any of the secrets hidden away on this island.

Come Back For Me is immensely atmospheric, compelling and utterly gripping. It’s the kind of book you just can’t put down, that has you flipping the pages faster and faster, desperate to find out what on earth is going on and how all the pieces of the past and the present fit together.

This is the second book I’ve read by Heidi Perks and it went down a treat. Her previous one still remains my favourite by her but she is now firmly on my radar and I absolutely can’t wait to see what she comes up with next. If you enjoy a well-plotted and unpredictable psychological thriller, then this one is most definitely for you!

Come Back For Me is available to buy!

Affiliate link : Bookdepository
Other retailers : Amazon US | Amazon UK | Kobo | Waterstones | Wordery

Book 15 from my 20 Books of Summer list

This Week in Books (August 14)

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Hosted by Lipsy Lost and Found, my Wednesday post gives you a taste of what I’m reading this week. A similar meme is run by Taking on a World of Words.

| LAST BOOK I FINISHED READING |

A tiny island community is stunned by the discovery of a long-buried body.

For Stella Harvey, the news is doubly shocking, as the body is found in the garden of her childhood home. The home her family fled without explanation twenty-five years ago.

Now, questioning her past and desperate to unearth the truth, Stella returns to the Dorset island. But she quickly finds that the community she left isn’t as welcoming as she remembers – and that people in it will go to any length to protect their secrets.

But one thing rings true…
You can’t bury the truth forever. 

| THE BOOK I’M CURRENTLY READING |

For a while, Daisy Jones & The Six were everywhere. Their albums were on every turntable, they sold out arenas from coast to coast, their sound defined an era. And then, on 12 July 1979, they split. Nobody ever knew why. Until now.

They were lovers and friends and brothers and rivals. They couldn’t believe their luck, until it ran out. This is their story of the early days and the wild nights, but everyone remembers the truth differently. The only thing they all know for sure is that from the moment Daisy Jones walked barefoot onstage at the Whisky, their lives were irrevocably changed.

Making music is never just about the music. And sometimes it can be hard to tell where the sound stops and the feelings begin. 

| THE BOOK I’M CURRENTLY READING |

A profoundly moving novel about two neighboring families in a suburban town, the bond between their children, a tragedy that reverberates over four decades, the daily intimacies of marriage, and the power of forgiveness.

Francis Gleeson and Brian Stanhope, two rookie cops in the NYPD, live next door to each other outside the city. What happens behind closed doors in both houses—the loneliness of Francis’s wife, Lena, and the instability of Brian’s wife, Anne—sets the stage for the explosive events to come.

Ask Again, Yes is a deeply affecting exploration of the lifelong friendship and love that blossoms between Francis and Lena’s daughter, Kate, and Brian and Anne’s son, Peter. Luminous, heartbreaking, and redemptive, Ask Again, Yes reveals the way childhood memories change when viewed from the distance of adulthood—villains lose their menace and those who appeared innocent seem less so. Kate and Peter’s love story, while tested by echoes from the past, is marked by tenderness, generosity, and grace.

| WHAT I’M (PROBABLY) READING NEXT |

When she stumbles across the ad, she’s looking for something else completely. But it seems like too good an opportunity to miss—a live-in nannying post, with a staggeringly generous salary. And when Rowan Caine arrives at Heatherbrae House, she is smitten—by the luxurious “smart” home fitted out with all modern conveniences, by the beautiful Scottish Highlands, and by this picture-perfect family.

What she doesn’t know is that she’s stepping into a nightmare—one that will end with a child dead and herself in prison awaiting trial for murder.

Why yes, I am reading two books at the same time. Why no, I’m not making much progress on either one of them 😂

What are you reading this week? Do let me know in the comments! Happy reading! xx

Someone We Know by Shari Lapena | @TransworldBooks | #20BooksOfSummer

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Author : Shari Lapena
Title : Someone We Know
Pages : 309
Publisher : Bantam Press / Transworld
Publication date : July 25, 2019

| ABOUT THE BOOK |

Maybe you don’t know your neighbours as well as you thought you did…

“This is a very difficult letter to write. I hope you will not hate us too much. My son broke into your home recently while you were out.” 

In a quiet, leafy suburb in upstate New York, a teenager has been sneaking into houses – and into the owners’ computers as well – learning their secrets, and maybe sharing some of them, too.

Who is he, and what might he have uncovered? After two anonymous letters are received, whispers start to circulate, and suspicion mounts. And when a woman down the street is found murdered, the tension reaches the breaking point. Who killed her? Who knows more than they’re telling? And how far will all these very nice people go to protect their own secrets? 

In this neighborhood, it’s not just the husbands and wives who play games. Here, everyone in the family has something to hide . . .

You never really know what people are capable of.

| MY THOUGHTS |

Someone We Know is one of those books you pick up to read just a chapter or two and before you know it, your entire afternoon is gone. It’s something Shari Lapena does incredibly well, creating this level of suspense that makes you flip the pages faster as you go and thus completely lose track of time.

A quiet, leafy suburb in upstate New York will not be quiet for much longer. It’s all happening here. Not only has a teenage boy been breaking into houses to snoop and mess around with computers, one of the neighbours is found murdered. And once again this all proves we never know what goes on behind closed doors. Who killed this woman? What did the teenage boy find? Is he in danger too?

True to form, this neighbourhood and its residents hide a multitude of secrets that are slowly revealed as we follow various characters trying to get on with their lives and keep those secrets hidden, while detectives investigating the murder are doing all they can to uncover every little piece of dirty laundry. You may be thinking to yourself you’ve heard this premise a lot lately and you’d be right. A murder in a nice community, it’s not exactly new. But if you think you’ll know what to expect from this one, odds are you’ll be wrong.

Someone We Know reads like a good old-fashioned murder mystery. There are some twists, of course, but they are not there to dazzle you, which is hugely refreshing. I did figure out quite early on “whodunnit” but that didn’t ruin my reading experience at all. I had to keep reading to see if I was right and there were still a few surprises in store for me.

Another thoroughly enjoyable read from Shari Lapena, although I must admit to having a niggle or two relating to one specific character that has left me with unanswered questions. I’m not one of those readers who always wants everything wrapped up nicely in a bow at the end of a book but here it bothered me somewhat. You’ll know what I’m talking about when you read the book. Which you most definitely should. It’s only the second book I’ve read by this author but I have no doubt there will be more.

Affiliate link : Bookdepository
Other retailers : Amazon US | Amazon UK | Kobo | Waterstones | Wordery

Book 14 from my 20 Books of Summer list.

Weekly Wrap-Up (August 11)

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Nothing much to report this week. I’m still stuck in Hawaii, solving cases, enjoying the scenery. Nothing at all to do with the eye candy. Honestly.

(Happy now, Shallow Tribe?! 😜)

Sorry, where was I?

I have been trying to squeeze some reading in between episodes when I feel like it. I also have my own reward system going on which actually works really well. Read 50 pages, watch an episode, rinse, lather, repeat. Now if only I could stop wasting hours of my time trying to figure out what to read next, that’d be even better.

So, what did I read this week? Let’s take a look.

| BOOKS I READ THIS WEEK |

That’ll do me. All solid reads but one stood out just that little bit for me. Feel free to guess which one that might have been.

| BOOKS I BOUGHT THIS WEEK |

I wasn’t going to buy any books this week. That went well, eh? 😳

Ruth Ware was a preorder and I can’t wait for it to arrive! The other three are all down to reviews from bloggers who are a bad influence on my spending habits.

| ON THE BLOG THIS PAST WEEK |

Monday : Joined the blog tour for Then She Vanishes by Claire Douglas

Tuesday : Hosted a stop on the blog tour for Clear My Name by Paula Daly

Wednesday : Completely forgot to post 😳

Thursday : Shared my review for The Chain by Adrian McKinty

Friday : Reviewed Now You See Me by Chris McGeorge

Saturday : Hosted a stop on the blog tour for Torment by Mark Tilbury

Sunday : Weekly Wrap-Up

If I hadn’t forgotten to post on Wednesday, this would have marked my last full week of posting. I’m really looking forward to slowing down somewhat.

Thank you for all the shares on social media this week!

| NEXT WEEK ON NOVEL DEELIGHTS |

Monday : Nothing

Tuesday : Review | Someone We Know by Shari Lapena

Wednesday : This Week in Books

Thursday : Also nothing

Friday : Review | Come Back For Me by Heidi Perks

Saturday : Taking this one off as well.

Sunday : Weekly Wrap-Up

Would you look at that! Not a blog tour in sight! Evidently, I also ran out of reviews along the way which is why I don’t have much of anything to post 😂

I do still have two blog tours coming up in August. Which I haven’t read the books for yet because that’s just how I roll. And with the books I’ve read this week, I managed to get to 15 books read for the 20 Books of Summer Challenge so I could still possibly maybe still nail that one.

Four weeks to go until Italy. I’ve been trying to decide which books to take with me and it’s not going well at all. Even worse, I’ve been having long, hard looks at my bookshelves and I’m seeing a whole bunch of books I’ve bought that don’t even appeal to me anymore. Has that happened to you? If so, what do you do? Have a nice culling? Or does a part of you feel since you bought them, you should actually really read them at some point?

That’s it for this week. I feel like I need to make some changes to these wrap-ups. They’re awfully boring lately, aren’t they? 😂 Something to ponder by the pool in a few weeks.

Hope you all have a fabulous week and I wish you lots of happy reading! Until next time! xx

Now You See Me by Chris McGeorge | #20BooksOfSummer

~ noveldeelights ~ 6 Comments

Author : Chris McGeorge
Title : Now You See Me
Pages : 302
Publisher : Orion
Publication date : June 13, 2019

| ABOUT THE BOOK |

Six people went in. Only one came out…

Introducing Standedge Tunnel: the longest canal tunnel in England.

Last year six students went in, and two and a half hours later, the boat reappeared on the other side with only one of the students, unconscious, and the dog.

The case of the Standedge Six was largely kept from the national media. The police investigation concluded that the only remaining student, Matthew, killed his friends, hid the bodies on the boat and returned later to move them to an undisclosed location.

Matthew is in prison . . . but maintains he is innocent.

Robert Ferringham is grieving for his missing wife, Sam. So when Matthew contacts him for help with his case, promising information on Sam, Robert has no choice but to help. But can he trust Matthew?

And how will he solve the insolvable case? 

| MY THOUGHTS |

Raise your hand if you love a good mystery! Me! I do! And this one is mind-boggling for sure.

Six friends and a dog travel through a canal tunnel on a boat. But when the boat reaches the other end, only one friend (who’s unconscious) and the dog (who’s absolutely fine) remain. The other five, now known as the Standedge Five, have disappeared. The community is able to keep this mysterious disappearance out of the national media and quickly moves to arrest the remaining friend, Matthew, for murder. Police is convinced he killed his friends and moved their bodies to an undisclosed location.

While awaiting trial in prison, Matthew contacts author Robin Ferringham. Robin’s wife went missing three years ago and Matthew claims to have information about her disappearance but he won’t divulge any of it unless Robin helps him prove his innocence. Can Matthew be trusted? Is he truly innocent? And how will Robin solve a case that looks utterly unsolvable?

Now You See Me isn’t just a whodunnit, it’s also a “how-dunnit” and it genuinely made my head hurt trying to figure it out. I have the frown lines to prove it. How do five people vanish from a canal tunnel?! Were they thrown overboard? Did they pull a Houdini? Did Scotty beam them up? What the hell happened?! I thought I had it all worked out but I was only half right and it was such a thrilling journey to go on.

Chris McGeorge has come up with an extremely clever plot here. Full of untrustworthy and not always likeable characters, the mystery surrounding the Standedge Five had me hooked from start to finish. This is such an addictive page-turner and there was no way I was going to put this book down until I knew what had actually happened. There were a few surprises I didn’t quite see coming, some of them quite shocking and devastating, and it all added up to a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon and a truly compelling read.

Now You See Me is available to buy!

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Kobo | Waterstones | Wordery

Book 13 from my 20 Books of Summer list.

Clear My Name by Paula Daly | @PaulaDalyAuthor @TransworldBooks @HJ_Barnes | #damppebblesblogtours

~ noveldeelights ~ 8 Comments

Delighted to join the blog tour for Clear My Name by Paula Daly today! My thanks to Emma Welton for the invitation to join and to Hayley at Transworld for the fab review copy! Make sure you also check out my dear friend Rae’s review!

Author : Paula Daly
Title : Clear My Name
Pages : 293
Publisher : Transworld
Publication date : August 8, 2019

| ABOUT THE BOOK |

Innocent?

When Carrie was accused of brutally murdering her husband’s lover, she denied it. She denied it when they arrested her, when they put her in front of a jury, and when they sent her to prison.

Now she’s three years into a fifteen-year sentence, away from the daughter she loves and the life she had built. And she is still denying that she is to blame.

Guilty?

Tess Gilroy has devoted her life to righting wrongs. Through her job for Innocence UK, a charity which takes on alleged miscarriages of justice, she works tirelessly to uncover the truth.

But when she is asked to take Carrie’s case, Tess realises that if she is to help this woman, she must risk uncovering the secrets she has struggled a lifetime to hide . . .

We’ve all done things we’re not proud of.

| MY THOUGHTS |

Carrie has been found guilty of murdering her husband’s mistress and is currently three years into a fifteen year sentence. But Carrie has always maintained her innocence. Now her case has come to the attention of Innocence UK, a charity that devotes itself to putting right alleged miscarriages of justice. When Tess is asked to take on Carrie’s case, she realises she may need to face up to things she’s kept hidden for years.

Right from the start, I was hooked on the intriguing premises of Clear My Name. It’s a murder mystery but it’s also a cold case and I absolutely love those. For once it’s not being investigated by a detective or a journalist though, which I found immensely refreshing, even if the intent remains the same. The reader is right there with the team, going back to look at the evidence, talking to potential witnesses and trying to determine if there is even a case here.

This isn’t your fast-paced, action-packed thriller. Clear My Name is relatively slow and extremely character-driven but I found it utterly compelling nonetheless. I couldn’t at all figure out whether Carrie was guilty of this crime or not and could quite easily relate to the frustration Tess and her team went through when it seemed there were nothing but dead ends along the way.

These characters are flawed and in Carrie’s case, especially, I had a hard time figuring out if she was even reliable. But there is more than meets the eye and some of it is quite thought-provoking. There is one question in particular that has stayed with me, which I’m still mulling over in my head. Is it worse to have a guilty person walking the streets or to have an innocent one behind bars? I do so love it when an author makes me think.

I thoroughly enjoyed Clear My Name. It’s suspenseful, gripping and I had a hard time putting this one down, desperate to get to the conclusion. Throw in a rather shocking, and again thought-provoking, ending and you have a well-plotted and twisty story that kept me glued to the pages. I may even go as far as to say this could quite possibly be my favourite Paula Daly book yet.

Clear My Name will be published on August 8th.

Affiliate link : Bookdepository
Other retailers : Amazon US | Amazon UK | Kobo | Waterstones | Wordery

| ABOUT THE AUTHOR |

Paula Daly is the critically acclaimed author of six novels. She has been shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger for Crime Novel of the Year award, and her books have been developed for the new ITV television series, Deep Water, starring Anna Friel.

She was born in Lancashire and lives in the Lake District with her husband, three children, and whippet Skippy.

The July Girls by Phoebe Locke | @phoebe_locke @Wildfirebks @headlinepg @JenRHarlow | #RandomThingsTours

~ noveldeelights ~ 8 Comments

Thrilled to host a stop on the blog tour for The July Girls by Phoebe Locke today! My thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for the opportunity to join and to the publisher for my review copy!

Author : Phoebe Locke
Title : The July Girls
Pages : 340
Publisher : Wildfire Books / Headline
Publication date : July 25, 2019

| ABOUT THE BOOK |

Every year, on the same night in July, a woman is taken from the streets of London; snatched by a killer who moves through the city like a ghost.

Addie has a secret. On the morning of her tenth birthday, four bombs were detonated across the capital. That night her dad came home covered in blood. She thought he was hurt in the attacks – but then her sister Jessie found a missing woman’s purse hidden in his room.

Jessie says they mustn’t tell. She says there’s nothing to worry about. But when she takes a job looking after the woman’s baby daughter, Addie starts to realise that her big sister doesn’t always tell her the whole story. And that the secrets they’re keeping may start costing lives…

| MY THOUGHTS |

When I read The Tall Man a while ago, I immediately somehow felt Phoebe Locke would be my kind of writer. So when I heard The July Girls was coming, I signed up for this blog tour without even knowing what the book was about, confident that I would like whatever Phoebe Locke came up with this time around. And I was right. (I usually am, OH hates it 😉)

Every year, on the same day, a woman disappears without a trace from the streets of London. That day, July 7th, is Addie’s birthday. Coincidence or not? On her tenth birthday, her father arrives home with his clothes covered in blood. It’s July 7th, 2005. Addie thinks maybe her dad was hurt in the bombings that rocked London that day. Until her sister, Jessie, finds a purse belonging to a missing woman hidden in their dad’s bedroom. Is Addie’s dad a killer?

This story is told through the eyes of Addie, whom the reader follows throughout her teenage years as she struggles to deal with all the secrets she carries and the burden on her shoulders seems to grow with each year. I really enjoyed watching Addie develop throughout the story, how her voice changed as she grew up, how the things she just accepted as a ten year old suddenly didn’t seem to fit as she got older and matured.

You may think having a story told through a ten year old would come across as childish but you’d be awfully wrong. It was actually quite refreshing to see the world through innocent eyes, that little dash of naivety Addie still has, amidst the darkness in the world and then to sadly see that innocence shattered as she gets older.

The July Girls is immensely absorbing and extremely suspenseful. It’s one of those books that draws you in from the very beginning and just won’t let go. Now, I am awfully suspicious by nature so apart from Addie, I found it hard to trust anyone in this story as the characters were highly intriguing and constantly seemed to have something to hide. And yes, there is a mystery or a few murders to solve, one I couldn’t figure out at all. But that’s not the be all and end all of The July Girls. This is a story about relationships, family dynamics and secrets with a sense of impending doom hanging above it. That feeling you get when you know something is coming but you can’t figure out what that is.

I fear my review isn’t doing this book any justice. Sometimes words are just so hard to find. It isn’t just the storyline that had me hooked throughout but Phoebe Locke’s writing is really something else. Incredibly immersive and beautiful, it adds an extra layer to this story and all I can really say is : I’m a fan and I look forward immensely to whatever Phoebe Locke comes up with next!

The July Girls is available to buy!

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| ABOUT THE AUTHOR |

PHOEBE LOCKE is the pseudonym of full-time writer Nicci Cloke. She previously worked at the Faber Academy, and hosted London literary salon Speakeasy. Nicci has had two literary novels published by Fourth Estate and Cape, and also writes YA for Hot Key Books. She lives and writes in Cambridgeshire. THE JULY GIRLS follows Phoebe Locke’s debut thriller THE TALL MAN.