**Weekly Wrap Up**

Well here we are again another Sunday Weekly Wrap Up Post, and here’s where I share how many books I’ve read this week, yet again it’s been a dismal week, so let’s get it over with……once again I have only managed to read one book. I can’t even blame social media this week, if I’m honest after spending 8.5 hours staring at a computer screen by the time I get home my eyes are to tired to read (oh woe is me🙈).

I’m really not sure what the answer is, but it’s going to be a pretty darn boring week on my blog as all the reviews I have are for blog tours. Hopefully I will get back on track once I’m reading some of the books on my TBR pile, and if not I might have to change this blog to something completely different, perhaps a blog about books,  but without the reviews 😂😂

I must say a huge thank you to guest reviewer Jo for sending me her fabulous review of Sweetpea, which I will be posting this week. It actually means with Jo’s post and a blog tour review I may just manage to keep my blog ticking over!

The one Book I read this week!

This is the first book I’ve read by Conrad Jones, but it certainly won’t be my last. I absolutely loved this gritty read, but  unfortunately I can’t share my review until the blog tour on Monday 29th May 

What I’m reading now

He Said She Said by Erin Kelly

The Night Visitor by Lucy Atkins

ARC’s I received this week

Book description

How far would you go to protect your family?

Single dad Ben is doing his best to raise his children alone, with the help of his devoted mother Judi. Life isn’t easy, but Judi’s family means everything to her and together, they manage.

Then Ben meets Amber. Everyone thinks this is a perfect match for Ben but Judi isn’t sure … there’s just something about Amber that doesn’t add up.

Ben can’t see why his mother dislikes his new girlfriend. And Amber doesn’t want Judi anywhere near her new family. Amber just wants Ben and the children.

The further Judi delves into Amber’s personal life, the closer she gets to shocking secrets that could change everything. And Judi must make a decision that could lead to the most disastrous consequences.

 

Book description

PI Varg Veum fights for his reputation, his freedom and his life, when child pornography is found on his computer and he is arrested and jailed. Worse still, his memory is a blank…

Reeling from the death of his great love, Karin, Varg Veum’s life has descended into a self-destructive spiral of alcohol, lust, grief and blackouts.

When traces of child pornography are found on his computer, he’s accused of being part of a paedophile ring and thrown into a prison cell. There, he struggles to sift through his past to work out who is responsible for planting the material… and who is seeking the ultimate revenge.

When a chance to escape presents itself, Varg finds himself on the run in his hometown of Bergen. With the clock ticking and the police on his tail, Varg takes on his hardest – and most personal – case yet

 

Book description

When the body of a Bushman is discovered near the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, the death is written off as an accident. But all is not as it seems. An autopsy reveals that, although he’s clearly very old, his internal organs are puzzlingly young. What’s more, an old bullet is lodged in one of his muscles … but where is the entry wound? When the body is stolen from the morgue and a local witch doctor is reported missing, Detective ‘Kubu’ Bengu gets involved. But did the witch doctor take the body to use as part of a ritual? Or was it the American anthropologist who’d befriended the old Bushman?

As Kubu and his brilliant young colleague, Detective Samantha Khama, follow the twisting trail through a confusion of rhino-horn smugglers, foreign gangsters and drugs manufacturers, the wider and more dangerous the case seems to grow. A fresh, new slice of ‘Sunshine Noir’, Dying to Live is a classic tale of greed, corruption and ruthless thuggery, set in one of the world’s most beautiful landscapes, and featuring one of crime fiction’s most endearing and humane heroes.

 

Book description

DI Duncan Waddell has big problems. He’s borderline diabetic. The paperwork is piling up faster than the underwear at a porn shoot.

Now his best pal DC Stevie Campbell, who’s in a coma after being attacked by a suspect, has started to talk to him. Trouble is, only Waddell can hear him.

The last thing he needs is the country’s biggest case to land on his lap.

Three women have gone missing in the city he used to love, but is fast coming to despise, victims of the GLASGOW GRABBER, as their assailant has been dubbed by local hack and all round thorn in Waddell’s backside, Catriona Hastie.

Shelley Craig is the latest victim, snatched as she and her boyfriend took a shortcut through Glasgow city centre.

And she’ll do anything to make it home.

 

Book description

Lesley Welsh sadly passed away in April but Bookouture are extremely honoured to be publishing The Serial Killer’s Daughter on 14th June.

Charmer, liar, father… Killer.

Suzanne’s life changes forever the day she receives a visit from Rose Anderson, the woman who has been living with her estranged father, Don.

Don is dead, but Rose wants Suzanne to have his possessions – including a series of intimate diaries and a mysterious collection of photographs of women.

To Suzanne’s shock, one of the photos is of her friend Sophie, who died ten years ago in an unexplained and devastating fire.

But Don only met Sophie once, on an unsettling visit he paid Suzanne just days before Sophie’s death… So why did he have a picture of her?

Unable to let Sophie’s memory alone, Suzanne begins to dig into her father’s life. What horrors is she about to unearth in his journals? And who is it that’s out there, watching her every move?

Book description

Ben Whittle’s father, a private investigator, has been taken captive by a cult whilst investigating the case of a missing girl. When Ben receives a desperate call from his father asking for help he is drawn into a dark underground world.

As Ben retraces the last known steps of the missing girl he discovers his only option left is to join the cult and rescue his father from the inside.

The leader of the cult, Edward Ebb, is a psychopathic egocentric who uses his position to control his small group of followers in The Sons and Daughters of Salvation. When he initiates Ben into the group it soon becomes apparent how sick and twisted Ebb is.

Ben must find his father and the missing girl, but the odds are stacked against him and time is running out.

Can Ben rescue his father and the girl and escape with his life?
And what is the gruesome secret concealed in the Revelation Room?

The Revelation Room is the first in a new series of psychological mystery thrillers.

As everyone who follows my blog by now will know I’m a huge fan of author Robert Bryndza, so you can imagine how excited I was to receive a signed copy of Last Breath and chocolate, and I’m sorry but I just have to share the photos

 Last week on the book review café

#TopFiveThursday with #BookBlogger Danielle @BooksVertigoTea | The Book Review Café
https://thebookreviewcafe.com/2017/05/11/topfivethursday-with-bookblogger-danielle-booksvertigotea/

**Blog tour** Child Taken by Darren Young #BookReview @DARRENYOUNGBOOK @REDDOORBOOKS | The Book Review Café
https://thebookreviewcafe.com/2017/05/12/blog-tour-child-taken-by-darren-young-bookreview-darrenyoungbook-reddoorbooks/

**Mystery Blogger Award** | The Book Review Café
https://thebookreviewcafe.com/2017/05/08/mystery-blogger-award/

Never Let You Go by Chevy Stevens #BookReview | The Book Review Café
https://thebookreviewcafe.com/2017/05/10/never-let-you-go-by-chevy-stevens-bookreview/

Next week on the book review café

Sweet Pea by C J Skuse #Guest review from Jo

#TopFiveThursday with a super duper awesome blogger

*Blog tour* Not Your Average Nurse by Maggie Groff #Review

and for the rest of the week I will be trying to catch up on some reading, so if you hear so much as a squeak from me on social media please feel free to give me a telling off 😂

 

 

**Blog Tour** Blink By K.L. Slater #BookReview @KimLSlater @Bookouture

Today I’m thrilled to be the next stop on the Blink by the awesome K.L.Slater blog tour. Blink was published on the 16th February 2017, by one of my very favourite publishers Bookouture. You don’t even have to wait to get a copy just pop over to good old Amazon and “click”. Blink is a gripping psychological thriller, and I’m happy to report it really makes for a suspense fuelled read. If you’re not convinced perhaps my review may help you make up your mind.

If you think my review looks familiar it’s because I originally  posted it on my blog earlier last month, as I was so eager to share it!

My Review

Oh my goodness what a twisted tale Blink by K L Slater is, it’s one that left me breathless due to the number of twists and turns in this highly thrilling and captivating read. Although the concept isn’t original a child disappearing, the author very skillfuly turns a well used scenario and turns it into an something which is highly original. When Five year old Evie goes missing there’s only one person who may hold the truth, unfortunately they are in a coma and unable to communicate, what follows is a twisted and devious tale that will keep the reader glued to its pages.

There are an eclectic bunch of characters in Blink and although most of them are not particularly likeable they are very well developed. Without giving to much away I found Toni the mother of the missing Evie a complex and unreliable character and one I had very mixed feelings for, you can’t help feeling some sympathy for her plight, but on the other hand she also made me angry as she made some unwise choices, but her back story explain these choices. K L Slater has done a fantastic job in making sure the reader is suspicious of so many of the characters in Blink, and as the plot twists and turns like an out of control rollercoaster I really wasn’t sure how the plot would turn out, but suffice to say I was wrong at every damn twisted turn.

You may have to suspend belief as in parts it did seem slightly far fetched, but this in no way spoilt my enjoyment of the book, and isn’t that the point of a well written book? I personally feel the author is going from strength to strength with her writing, I really enjoyed Safe With Me K L Slater’s previous book but I liked Blink even more. The author expertly and skilfully drops clues throughout Blink, but it’s not until you reach the end you realise how cunningly the author has led the reader on a merry dance.

The title of the book Blink is ingenious by the way, but to see why you will just have to read the book. With bucketfuls of suspense and intrigue Blink is guaranteed to keep the most hardened psychological thriller lover on the edge of their seats.

What readers are saying about Blink:

‘I was excited to start reading this one and once I started I couldn’t stop. I devoured it. Chomped away chapter by chapter until I have hoofed the whole damned lot and you know what? It left me hungry for more …An absolutely stonking 5 stars from me. Jen Med’s Book Reviews

‘This is a novel that those who liked The Girl on The Train and Behind Closed Doors won’t want to miss’ My Little Book Corner

‘I finished this book in nearly one day. I was completely unable to put this book down. Everything about this book sucks you in and doesn’t let go.’ Bombshell Reads

‘Blink was just BRILLIANT’ It’s All About Books

‘A thrilling roller coaster of a read that will have you gripping on for dear life to see how it will all end’ By the Letter Book Reviews

‘The book had me from the very first sentence and kept hold of me until I finished it…. There are twists galore but on one occasion my jaw actually dropped open as I realised that all was not as it seemed. Fantastic writing, excellent characterisation that has left me salivating for book number three! Five stars.’ Angela Marsons

‘Five stars! This book had me hook line and sinker … this author’s mind is very very clever …’ Sue and her Books

For many years, Kim sent her work out to literary agents but never made it off the slush pile. At the age of 40 she went back to Nottingham Trent University and now has an MA in Creative Writing.

Before graduating, she received five offers of representation from London literary agents and a book deal which was, as Kim says, ‘a fairytale … at the end of a very long road!’

Kim writes psychological crime thrillers for Bookouture. Her first book, ‘Safe with Me’ was published on 3rd November 2016.

Kim is a full-time writer and lives in Nottingham with her husband, Mac. Between them they have three grown-up kids; Kim’s daughter, Francesca, and Mac’s sons, Nathan and Jake.

She also writes multi-award winning YA fiction under the name Kim Slater.

Author website:  Author Website       Facebook         Twitter: @KimLSlater

Amazon UK 🇬🇧        Amazon US 🇺🇸

Follow the rest of this awesome blog tour

**Weekly Wrap Up**

Oh woe me 😢😢 I have read zilch this week! What sort of book blogger does that make me? I would say a pretty rubbish one. I have had a very stressful week, basically I started a new job I managed eight shifts and resigned! Never in my 33 years of working have I ever walked away from a job, I won’t go into details but it’s suffice to say it wasn’t for me! But on the upside I’ve got an interview on Monday for another job (I don’t hang about), so fingers crossed. Hopefully I will get to read at least one book next week or I will have to rename my blog The lots of books but no reviews café 

ARC’s I received this week

Despite not reading anything I still managed to find myself on the dreaded NetGalley and got improved for Four books 🙈🙈

 

Description
Lori Golden’s family have had more than their fair share of troubles. But through it all, Lori and her sister, Jessie, have always supported each other. Then Jessie is killed. And Lori’s world turns upside down.

Devastated, Lori struggles to cope with her loss, and to learn to live in a world without her bright, bubbly sister by her side. Around her, her already fractured family start to fall apart. And, as Lori and her mother try to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives, secrets long thought buried are coming painfully to light.

Faced with the unthinkable, Lori is forced to ask herself how well she really knows those who are left behind…

 

Description

DCI Matilda Darke is the perfect heroine’ Elly Griffiths The third book in Michael Wood’s darkly compelling crime series featuring DCI Matilda Darke. Perfect for fans of Stuart MacBride, Mark Billingham and Val McDermid. Feared by the people of Sheffield, Starling House is home to some of Britain’s deadliest teenagers, still too young for prison.

Now the building’s latest arrival, Ryan Asher, has been found brutally murdered – stabbed twelve times, left in a pool of blood. When DCI Matilda Darke and her team investigate, they uncover the secrets of a house tainted by evil. Kate Moloney, the prison’s manager, is falling apart, the security system has been sabotaged, and neither the staff nor the inmates can be trusted. There’s only one person Matilda believes is innocent, and he’s facing prison for the rest of his life. With time running out, she must solve the unsolvable to save a young man from his fate. And find a murderer in a house full of killers…

 

Description

The battle is on…

When gang leader Paddy O’Brien is stabbed in his brother’s famous nightclub, Manchester’s criminal underworld is shaken to the core. Tensions are running high, and as the body count begins to grow, the O’Brien family must face a tough decision – sell their side of the city to the infamous Boddlington gang or stick it out and risk losing their king.

But war comes easy to the bad boys, and they won’t go down without a fight. So begins a fierce battle for the South Side, with the leading Manchester gangsters taking the law into their own hands – but only the strongest will survive…

 

Description

A daughter’s secret. A mother’s betrayal.

Every mother knows never to let their child out of their sight. But Freya has been distracted recently, and now her teenage daughter, Zoe, is missing.

Freya knows that the only way to bring Zoe back is to tell the truth, but when your whole life is built on secrets and lies, the truth could destroy everything.

Surely there’s no harm in telling just one more little white lie?

Description

1970s London has stopped swinging, but it’s not staying still.

Babs thought she had all the world ahead of her. Then she got pregnant and the father did a runner.

Salvation comes in the form of a man who’ll look after her. Or so she thinks.

But Stan Miller is the devil in disguise…and over the next twenty years, Babs will have reason to regret she ever met him. Can she protect her family – or will he get the better of her?

BLOOD MOTHER is the second thrilling book in the Flesh and Blood series, capturing a world very different from today but where some things still hold true: be careful what you wish for, and watch out for who you trust…

Books I bought this week

I only bought one book this week and despite my long suffering husband Andy offering to buy me some books to cheer me up when we went shopping, I actually looked but didn’t buy any, see I do have some self control, by the way Andy bought me some flowers to cheer me up instead, it may sound corny but he really is the best husband, well he’s got to be he’s put up with me for 29 years 😂😂

 

Description

In the summer of 2006, Emma Price watched helplessly as her six-year-old son’s red coat was fished out of the River Ouse. It was the tragic story of the year – a little boy, Aiden, wandered away from school during a terrible flood, fell into the river, and drowned.

His body was never recovered.

Ten years later, Emma has finally rediscovered the joy in life. She’s married, pregnant, and in control again…

… until Aiden returns.

Too traumatized to speak, he raises endless questions and answers none. Only his body tells the story of his decade-long disappearance. The historic broken bones and injuries cast a mere glimpse into the horrors Aiden has experienced. Aiden never drowned. Aiden was taken.

As Emma attempts to reconnect with her now teenage son, she must unmask the monster who took him away from her. But who, in their tiny village, could be capable of such a crime?

It’s Aiden who has the answers, but he cannot tell the unspeakable.

This dark and disturbing psychological novel will appeal to fans of The Widow and The Butterfly Garden.

Last week on the book review café

https://thebookreviewcafe.com/2017/01/29/blog-tour-behind-her-eyes-by-sarah-pinborough-authorinterview-review-sarahpinborough-wtfthatending/

https://thebookreviewcafe.com/2017/01/27/tattletale-by-sarah-j-naughton-review/

https://thebookreviewcafe.com/2017/01/26/topfivethursday-with-bookblogger-noelle-holten-aka-crimebookjunkie-eeeek/

https://thebookreviewcafe.com/2017/01/24/blog-tour-little-girl-missing-by-carol-wyer-bookouture-carolewyer/

https://thebookreviewcafe.com/2017/01/23/blink-by-k-l-slater-review-kimlslater-bookouture/

Next week on the book review café

The Breakdown by B A Paris review

My Book of the month

Don’t Look Behind You by Mel Sherratt blog tour

The Day That never Comes by Caimh McDonnell blog tour

Blink by K L Slater #Review @KimLSlater @Bookouture

Book description

What if the person you love most in the world was in terrible danger … because of you?

Three years ago, Toni’s five-year-old daughter Evie disappeared after leaving school. The police have never been able to find her. There were no witnesses, no CCTV, no trace.

But Toni believes her daughter is alive. And as she begins to silently piece together her memories, the full story of the past begins to reveal itself, and a devastating truth.

Toni’s mind is trapped in a world of silence, her only chance to save herself is to manage the impossible. She must find a way to make herself heard. She must find her daughter.

Oh my goodness what a twisted tale Blink by K L Slater is, it’s one that left me breathless due to the number of twists and turns in this highly thrilling and captivating read. Although the concept isn’t original a child disappearing, the author very skillfuly turns a well used scenario and turns it into an something which is highly original. When Five year old Evie goes missing there’s only one person who may hold the truth, unfortunately they are in a coma and unable to communicate, what follows is a twisted and devious tale that will keep the reader glued to its pages.

There are an eclectic bunch of characters in Blink and although most of them are not particularly likeable they are very well developed. Without giving to much away I found Toni the mother of the missing Evie a complex and unreliable character and one I had very mixed feelings for, you can’t help feeling some sympathy for her plight, but on the other hand she also made me angry as she made some unwise choices, but her back story explain these choices. K L Slater has done a fantastic job in making sure the reader is suspicious of so many of the characters in Blink, and as the plot twists and turns like an out of control rollercoaster I really wasn’t sure how the plot would turn out, but suffice to say I was wrong at every damn twisted turn.
You may have to suspend belief as in parts it did seem slightly far fetched, but this in no way spoilt my enjoyment of the book, and isn’t that the point of a well written book? I personally feel the author is going from strength to strength with her writing, I really enjoyed Safe With Me K L Slater’s previous book but I liked Blink even more. The author expertly and skilfully drops clues throughout Blink, but it’s not until you reach the end you realise how cunningly the author has led the reader on a merry dance. The title of the book Blink is ingenious by the way, but to see why you will just have to read the book. With bucketfuls of suspense and intrigue Blink is guaranteed to keep the most hardened psychological thriller lover on the edge of their seats.

Print Length: 295 pages

Publisher: Bookouture (16 Feb. 2017)

5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of 5

Amazon UK 🇬🇧         Amazon US 🇺🇸

 

**Weekly Wrap Up**

Oh dear oh dear! It’s been a shocking week for reading this week, I just managed to read one whole book, I’ve been so tired I’ve struggled to concentrate on anything 😢😢. Mind you it was a fab read and one I would highly recommend I won’t be sharing my review quite yet as I’m saving it for the blog tour early next month.

Books I Bought this week

 

The complete Fathers Of Lies series by S E England 

This series had been on my radar for ages but when I spotted fellow book blogger Sarah Hardy all the books in the series were on special offer for £3.00 how could I resist?

 

BOOK 1 – FATHER OF LIES

Ruby is the most violently disturbed patient ever admitted to Drummersgate Asylum, high on the bleak moors of northern England. With no improvement after two years, Dr. Jack McGowan finally decides to take a risk and hypnotises her. With terrifying consequences.
A horrific dark force is now unleashed on the entire medical team, as each in turn attempts to unlock Ruby’s shocking and sinister past. Who is this girl? And how did she manage to survive such unimaginable evil? Set in a desolate ex-mining village, where secrets are tightly kept and intruders hounded out, their questions soon lead to a haunted mill, the heart of darkness…and The Father of Lies.’

BOOK 2 – TANNERS DELL

Following the hypnosis of violently disturbed psychiatric patient, Ruby Dean, an unholy dark force was unleashed on the medical staff who tried to help her. Now only one of the original team remains – Ward Sister, Becky.
Despite her fiancé, D.I. Ross, being unconscious and many of her colleagues either dead or critically ill, Becky is determined to rescue Ruby’s twelve year old daughter from a similar fate to her mother. But no one asking questions in the desolate mining village Ruby descends from ever comes to a good end. And as the diabolical history of the area is gradually revealed, it seems the evil invoked is now both real and contagious.’

BOOK 3 – MAGDA

‘The dark and twisted community of Woodsend harbours a terrible secret – one tracing back to the age of the Elizabethan witch hunts, when many innocent women were persecuted and hanged.
But there is a far deeper vein of horror running through this village; an evil that once invoked has no intention of relinquishing its grip on the modern world. Rather it watches and waits with a focused intelligence, leaving Ward Sister, Becky, and Police Officer, Toby, constantly checking over their shoulders and jumping at shadows.
Just who invited in this malevolent presence? And is the demonic woman who possessed Magda back in the sixteenth century, the same one now gazing at Becky whenever she looks in the mirror?
You may need to sleep with the lights on after reading this…Are you ready to meet Magda in this final instalment to the trilogy? Are you sure?’

I also pre-ordered these two little beauty’s, I love both of these series so can’t wait to read them .

Right Behind You by Lisa Gardner

The Caller by Chris Carter 

ARC’s I received this week

I made the fatal mistake of browsing NetGalley OMG there are so many books that I soooo need to read! But I was pleased that I showed some constraint and only requested THREE books unfortunately or fortunately which ever way you choose to look at it, I got accepted for all of them 🙈 I think it’s safe to say my self imposed NetGalley ban has well and truly been broken.

Book description

Laura has it all. A successful career, a long marriage to a rich husband, and a twenty-three year-old son, Daniel, who is kind, handsome, and talented. Then Daniel meets Cherry. Cherry is young, beautiful and smart but she hasn’t had the same opportunities as Daniel. And she wants Laura’s life. Cherry comes to the family wide-eyed and wants to be welcomed with open arms, but Laura suspects she’s not all that she seems. When tragedy strikes, an unforgiveable lie is told. It is an act of desperation, but the fall-out will change their lives forever.

Book description

My name is Amber Reynolds. There are three things you should know about me:

1. I’m in a coma.
2. My husband doesn’t love me anymore.
3. Sometimes I lie.

Unnerving, twisted and utterly compelling, you won’t be able to put this new thriller down. Set to be the most talked about book in 2017, it’s perfect for fans of Behind Closed Doors, The Girl on the Train and The Widow.

 

Book description

When she was good, she was very, very good. When she was bad, she was deadly.

Rhiannon is your average girl next door, settled with her boyfriend and little dog…but she’s got a killer secret.

Although her childhood was haunted by a famous crime, Rhinannon’s life is normal now that her celebrity has dwindled. By day her job as an editorial assistant is demeaning and unsatisfying. By evening she dutifully listens to her friend’s plans for marriage and babies whilst secretly making a list……A kill list.

From the man on the Lidl checkout who always mishandles her apples, to the driver who cuts her off on her way to work, to the people who have got it coming, Rhiannon’s ready to get her revenge.

Because the girl everyone overlooks might be able to get away with murder…

So that’s eight books added to my TBR pile and one read, so if I want to get to my poor neglected TBR shelf, as all my old school reports always stated “I need to try harder” read faster or ban NetGalley? Watch this space.

Last week on the book review café

https://thebookreviewcafe.com/2017/01/20/blog-tour-guestpost-by-cj-carver-author-of-tell-me-a-lie-c_j_carver/

https://thebookreviewcafe.com/2017/01/19/topfivethursday-with-bookblogger-lucy-v-hay-lucyvhayauthor/

https://thebookreviewcafe.com/2017/01/17/the-one-by-john-marrs-bookreview-johnmarrs1-eburypublishing/

https://thebookreviewcafe.com/2017/01/16/guest-post-by-j-m-richardson-author-of-the-barataria-key-jmrichardson1/

Next week on the book review café

Little Girl Lost by Carol Wyer blog tour

Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough blog tour, I’m so excited for this one as I have an exclusive interview with the author herself and we’re talking about #WTFthat ending! But obviously no spoilers involved

#TopFiveThursday

Blink by K L Slater Review

TattleTale by Sarah J Naughton review

 

**Weekly Wrap Up**

This week I have managed to read four books, two ARC’s and two off my bookshelf, I felt a real sense of achievement as I actually read two books that have been patiently sat on my book shelf, only another 400+ books to go 😂. I’m hoping to read more books from my book shelf this year at least 1-2 a month, well that’s the plan!

Snatched From Home by Graham Smith

Book description

Middle-class parents Victoria and Nicholas Foulkes are distraught when their children are kidnapped against Nicholas’ gambling debts. Penniless and desperate the couple turn to crime as a way to raise the ransom.

Hot on their heels is recently bereaved DI Harry Evans and his Major Crimes team. Evans is fighting against enforced retirement and his replacement – DI John Campbell – is foisted upon him along with other cases. If he must leave the police then he wants one last big case before he goes.

In a race against time Victoria and Nicholas must evade the police while continuing to add to the ransom fund. If they don’t pay up on time the kidnappers have threatened to amputate their children’s limbs with an oxy-acetylene torch.

Can they save their children before time runs out?

Tattletale by Sarah J Naughton

Book description

The perfect brother. The perfect fiancee. The perfect revenge.
A thriller you won’t be able to predict.

One day changes Jody’s life forever.

She has shut herself down, haunted by her memories and unable to trust anyone. But then she meets Abe, the perfect stranger next door and suddenly life seems full of possibility and hope.

One day changes Mags’s life forever.

After years of estrangement from her family, Mags receives a shocking phone call. Her brother Abe is in hospital and no-one knows what happened to him. She meets his fiancé Jody, and gradually pieces together the ruins of the life she left behind. But the pieces don’t quite seem to fit…

The Girl Before JP Delaney

Book description

Enter the world of One Folgate Street and discover perfection . . . but can you pay the price?

Jane stumbles on the rental opportunity of a lifetime: the chance to live in a beautiful ultra-minimalist house designed by an enigmatic architect, on condition she abides by a long list of exacting rules.

After moving in, she discovers that a previous tenant, Emma, met a mysterious death there – and starts to wonder if her own story will be a re-run of the girl before.

As twist after twist catches the reader off guard, Emma’s past and Jane’s present become inexorably entwined in this tense, page-turning portrayal of psychological obsession.

The Mountain In her Shoe by Louise Beech

Book description

A missing boy. A missing book. A missing husband. A woman who must find them all to find herself.

On the night Bernadette finally has the courage to tell her domineering husband that she’s leaving, he doesn’t come home. Neither does Conor, the little boy she’s befriended for the past five years. Also missing is his lifebook, the only thing that holds the answers. With the help of Conor’s foster mum, Bernadette must face her own past, her husband’s secrets and a future she never dared imagine in order to find them all.

ARC’s I received this week

I managed to stay away from NetGalley for two Whole weeks and then had an epic fail when Bookouture put Blink by K L Slater up for review, but how could I resist? But then I have read and reviewed two of my NetGalley books and it’s now in single figures with 84% feedback, a record in itself for me!

Last week on The Book Review Café

https://thebookreviewcafe.com/2017/01/06/run-by-mandasue-heller-bookreview/

https://thebookreviewcafe.com/2017/01/05/topfivethursday-with-bookblogger-emma-mitchell/

https://thebookreviewcafe.com/2017/01/04/the-marriage-lie-by-kimberley-belle-bookreview/

https://thebookreviewcafe.com/2017/01/03/dear-charlie-by-n-d-gomes-review-nd_gomes-hqstories/

https://thebookreviewcafe.com/2017/01/02/the-fallen-by-michael-wood/

Next week on The Book Review Café

Review for Snatched From Home

Review for The Mountain In My Shoe

#TopFiveThursday

News from the book review café

The eagle eyed among you may have noticed my blog has a brand new look. Purely by accident I happened to be looking at changing theme but pressed the wrong button and changed it! Unfortunately it looked awful and as I couldn’t remember the name of the theme I had, so I had to go with one I knew would keep all my content. Now I’m getting use to it I ❤ it, what do you think hit or a miss?

**Blog Tour** Safe With Me by K.L. Slater #Review

Today I’m thrilled to be on the blog tour for Safe With Me by K.L. Slater, if you are a fan of psychological thrillers then you are going to love this one, it has all the ingredients you could wish for in a book of this genre, it certainly one that kept me on the edge of my seat.

Thirteen years ago someone did something very bad to Anna. Now it’s her turn to get even …

Anna lives a solitary existence, taking solace in order and routine. Her only friend is the lonely old lady next door. She doesn’t like to let people to get too close – she knows how much damage they can do.

Then one ordinary day Anna witnesses a devastating road accident and recognises the driver as Carla, the woman who ruined her life all those years ago. Now it’s Anna’s chance to set things straight but her revenge needs to be executed carefully …

First she needs to get to know Liam, the man injured in the accident. She needs to follow the police investigation. She needs to watch Carla from the shadows…

But as Anna’s obsession with Carla escalates, her own secrets start to unravel. Is Carla really dangerous or does Anna need to worry about someone far closer to home?

The latest author to join one of my favourite publishers Bookouture is K. L. Slater, when I saw Safe With Me came with the tag line “A psychological thriller so tense it will take your breath away” I knew this was one I had to read come hell or high water! Don’t get me wrong the cynic in me comes out when I see such high praise for a book and I’m often left feeling deflated and wondering what all the fuss was about, but I’m pleased to say it’s a thriller alright, and a very twisted one at that!

Safe With Me opens with a spine chilling prologue which for me set the tone of the book, I found it to be a very suspenseful read and it certainly had a large dose of malevolence running through its pages. Anna witnesses a road accident where a young man Liam is badly injured, Carla the woman who caused the accident just happens to be a woman who ruined Anna’s life, and so begins a campaign to seek revenge on Carla. Anna’s hatred for Carla runs deep, and you can’t help feeling a sense of unease as the author reveals the background for Anna’s unhealthy obsession with Carla.

Oh dear what a character Anna is I found her to be an unreliable narrator, and there is something rather creepy about her, if I’m honest I really couldn’t warm to her, as some of her thoughts and actions literally sent chills down my spine. I had mixed emotions regarding Anna, one minute I really disliked her and at other times I couldn’t help feeling some empathy for all that happened to her. She’s a difficult character to read, impulsive with no thoughts of the consequences of her actions and she also appears to have a tenuous grip on reality. The author has certainly created one very complex character, and an intriguing one to boot. Usually when I don’t warm to a character I find it difficult to really enjoy the book, fortunately this wasn’t the case with Safe With Me, I still found it to be a throughly gripping read.

The plot was told from various POV Anna, Carla and Mrs Peat (a neighbour) and you also read snippets from unknown voice which if I’m honest confused me at times as there were so many, but as the book progresses you see why the author has chosen to write it this way. I spent much of the book wondering about the characters as they all seemed unreliable narrators at some point in the book, which added to the anticipation of what would happen next. K.L. Slater has written a book where the plot is unpredictable, so you are never quite sure where the plot is heading, I liked the fact the author keeps the reader on their toes by not giving away to much and most definitely gave me a few “heart in the mouth” moments. Considering this is the authors debut I think she has done a fantastic job, it’s a superb psychological thriller compelling and thoroughly gripping and I’m sure fans of psychological thrillers are going to love Safe With Me.

4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️out of 5

Print Length: 324 pages

Publisher: Bookouture (3 Nov. 2016)

Amazon UK

For many years, Kim sent her work out to literary agents but never made it off the slush pile. At the age of 40 she went back to Nottingham Trent University and now has an MA in Creative Writing.

Before graduating, she received five offers of representation from London literary agents and a book deal which was, as Kim says, ‘a fairytale … at the end of a very long road!’

Kim writes psychological crime thrillers for Bookouture. Her first book, ‘Safe with Me’ is published on 3rd November 2016.

Kim is a full-time writer and lives in Nottingham with her husband, Mac. Between them they have three grown-up kids; Kim’s daughter, Francesca, and Mac’s sons, Nathan and Jake.

She also writes multi-award winning YA fiction under the name Kim Slater.

Website     Facebook     Goodreads     Twitter: @KimLSlater