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Showing posts from November, 2021

November 2021 Reading List!

Girl A - Abigail Dean  ⭐⭐⭐ Genre: Thriller | Released: 30/09/2021 Good Lookin - TL Beqeutte  ⭐⭐⭐ Genre: Crime | Released: 24/05/2021 Wish You Were Here - Jodi Picoult  ⭐⭐⭐ Genre: Fiction | Released: 25/10/2021 The Girl Upstairs - Georgina Lees  ⭐⭐⭐ Genre: Thriller | Released: 09/12/2021 Aloha, Seattle - Morgan Gauthier  ⭐⭐⭐ Genre: Romance | Released: 01/11/2021 Wish You Weren't Here - Gabby Hutchinson Crouch ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Genre: Humour | Released: 14/10/2021 I Know You - Claire McGowan  ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Genre: Thriller | Released: 19/10/2021 Queer Body Power - Essie Dennis  ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Genre: Non-Fiction | Released: 21/03/2021 You'll Be The Death Of Me - Karen McManus  ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Genre: YA | Released: 02/12/2021 Psychopaths Anonymous - Will Carver  ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Genre: Thriller | Released: 25/11/2021 A Quick & Easy Guide to Asexuality - Molly Muldoon    ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Genre: Non-Fiction | Released: 29/03/2021 The Significant Others of Odie May - Claire Dyer  ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Genre: Liter...

BOOK TOUR STOP x Instabook Tours - The Chronicles of Lord Asunaro

  Another beautiful addition to the Red Circle Minis Collection... The young lord Asunaro, son of a powerful feudal lord, has enjoyed a privileged life in his family castle so far. But now he's grown, he's finding the title he's inheriting appears to be in name only. He isn't trusted with important decisions or discussions, isn't allowed to speak on matters of war or famine and is growing restless. Much like the Asunaro tree, he is always waiting for tomorrow, for someday, but it never comes so instead he finds pleasure in women and poetry. " Lord though he was in name, not one important task in the governance of the domain ever came his way, despite having reached maturity." For such a short read, coming in just over 70 pages, still manages to be a multi-layered and complex, acting not only as a factual biography but a somewhat dry and witty comedic retelling of a tale not many have heard. In a feat very difficult to achieve in such few pages, the setting...

BOOK TOUR STOP x Random Things Tours - Psychopaths Anonymous by Will Carver

  Maeve has everything. A high-powered job, a beautiful home, a string of uncomplicated one-night encounters. She’s also an addict: a functioning alcoholic with a dependence on sex and an insatiable appetite for killing men. When she can’t find a support group to share her obsession, she creates her own. And Psychopaths Anonymous is born. Friends of Maeve . Now in a serious relationship, Maeve wants to keep the group a secret. But not everyone in the group adheres to the rules, and when a reckless member raises suspicions with the police, Maeve’s drinking spirals out of control. She needs to stop killing. She needs to close the group.  But Maeve can’t seem to quit the things that are bad for her, including her new man... " God, grant me the lack of empathy to kill the ones I cannot stand , apathy for the ones I can tolerate and detachment  to know the difference. Thy kill, not mine, will be fun." Let's just start by saying - if you're not ready for bloody graphic viol...

You'll Be The Death Of Me - Karen McManus

  Genre: YA | Mystery  Release Date: Expected 2nd December 2021 Publisher: Penguin Random House Childrens UK  Ivy feels like the afterthought, the girl who's always second place whether it's at home or at school elections. Mateo doesn't have time to worry about things like elections, he's too busy working two jobs to support his family. Cal almost has too much time to worry about things, and fills in with a stream of people to avoid being alone. And all of them could really use a day off from their lives. The three of them used to be friends - best friends really. But years happen, times change, and so did they. But when Cal is running late one morning, they all decide to ditch class together like they used to … although they're not the only ones ditching. When they see one of their classmates acting very odd they unwittingly find themselves at a crime scene. Friends again or not, these three have been thrown into a world of deadly secrets that will keep them bound ...

Under Her Skin - A Women-in-Horror Poetry Showcase

  Genre: Poetry | Horror Release Date: Expected 5th April 2022 Publisher: Black Spot Books In the debut poetry showcase from Black Spot Books, this collection showcases a diverse cast of women from all backgrounds; cis, trans, non-binary, and brings them together to create something unique and compelling.  Using horror and haunting imagery to convey the real-life fears of women all over the world - getting truly under the skin of the unspoken horrors and ripping into some darkly uncomfortable subjects. From sexual liberation, violence, bodily autonomy, fertility, self-harm and body image, underneath the eerie metaphors there is something that every woman will be able to connect with on a deeper level. Rather than obvious monsters, most of the poems in this collection are a subtle horror - the chill in your spine, the fear that something is lurking, an unrest deep in your bones which stays in your mind long after you've turned the page. With a range of styles and prose, from cl...

Yinka, Where is your Huzband? - Lizzie Damilola Blackburn

  Genre: Adult Fiction | Romance | Womens Fiction Release Date: Expected 31st March 2022 Publisher: Penguin UK  Huzband (pronounced auz-band) noun 1. A male partner in a marriage E.g. Yinka's younger sister, Kemi, is married to Uche 2. A non-existent man in a non-existent marriage whose whereabouts is often asked of, usually by Nigerian mums and aunties to single British Nigerian women E.g. So, Yinka. Tell me. Where is your huzband? Ah, ah. You're thirty-one now! Yinka has her own house, her own car, a degree from Oxford and a successful career... but she doesn't have a husband. Much to the chagrin of her mother, who's sure she could pick one out, and the rest of her family who can't understand the idea of being single at 31.  But for Yinka, being a single Londoner in her thirties who doesn't believe in sex before marriage isn't exactly making things easy for her. But when another cousin gets engaged, she's determined to at least have a date for the wedd...

BOOK TOUR STOP x Love Books Tours - Cerebral Palsy: A Story by Ilana Estelle

  Ilana Estelle didn't know she had Cerebral Palsy until she was forty-six years old despite all the signs being there when she was a child. As the second born of a pair of premature twins, she also felt somewhat different from the other children her age, even her twin, but could never fully explain why. In this stunning debut novel, she not only tells her story but enlightens the reader on what it's really like to live with Cerebral Palsy and teach insightful lessons about the resilience of human nature, about body positivity and health awareness. Part memoir, part informative guide, part motivational story - this unique and striking novel reads in a warm, friendly and familiar voice while still giving us the facts and the truth about a very common health issue that the general public know shockingly little about. Of course every single person is different, and the way any health conditions affect a single person is unique, so by reading just one book a reader can't unders...

The Undiscovered Deaths of Grace McGill - C.S. Robertson

  Genre: Thriller | Mystery | General Fiction Release Date: Expected 20th January 2022 Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton  Grace McGill knows death. She's well acquainted with it, maybe even tentative friends at this point. Grace is the person who comes after death, to clean up the fallout left when someone dies and is left undiscovered. Usually it's just household mess, furniture, dust. But sometimes it's bodily remains and buried secrets. Grace knows that death isn't always the end of the story - so when she's called to clear up after an elderly man who's been dead in his home for months unnoticed, it seems like a lonely end to a lonely life. But she knows that's not true. She knows there's always something remarkable hiding in the most unremarkable of places. There's something more about this man, about his life and the way he died - if you just know where to look.  "I'm here because I'm angry and I'm here because of the daisy. I...

BOOK TOUR STOP x Random Things Tours - The Quiet People by Paul Cleave

  "They will call us 'The Quiet People'. It's a name we coined from neighbours who talk to reporters and say things like, 'we can't believe he killed his boss. He was always so quiet, always keeping himself to himself." Lisa and Cameron Murdoch are the ultimate power couple - happily married with a beautiful son in New Zealand, and a successful crime writing duo topping the bestseller lists worldwide together. Like they always say - nobody knows crime like they do. Maybe they know it a little too well, in fact. When their seven year old son goes missing after yet another heated argument, there's no trace of him - he's disappeared. It's like he was taken by a ghost. And while Lisa and Cameron grieve, the police and their fans can't help but wonder if he isn't missing at all, if the couple have finally proved what they've said all along and committed the perfect crime.   "I have the urge to tell him that I kill people like him fo...

BOOK TOUR STOP x The Book Network - Good Lookin by TL Bequette

From the gang-ravaged streets of inner-city Oakland to the rolling hills of Berkeley, California, attorney Joe Turner defends the most hardened criminals. Confronted with an unlikely murderer in a modern-day whodunnit, Turner's latest case seems impossible to unravel. At its heart is a decade-old murder and a tangled web of family, loyalty, and devotion that has the trial hanging in the balance. Viewed through the prism of the unique bond of twins, Good Lookin' asks how far each of us will go to protect the ones we love. Good Lookin is T.L. Bequettes debut novel, and I don't doubt we'll be hearing more about him in the future. Full of mystery and intrigue , with plenty of courtroom drama and just a hint of dry humour - you can feel the realistic input from the authors experience in criminal law with that gritty, fictional edge. Joe Turner is a strange lead - he's clever, honest, cynical and he eats too many hot dogs. I can't even say for sure he's likeable ...

The Silent Stars Go By - Sally Nicholls

  Genre: Historical Fiction | Young Adult Release Date: 4th November 2021 Publisher: Andersen Press Three years ago, Margot’s life was turned upside down when her fiancé, Harry, went missing in action on the Western Front. Worse, she was left with a devastating secret which threatened to ruin her life and destroy the reputation of her family. As a respectable vicar’s daughter, Margot has had to guard that secret with great care ever since, no matter how much pain it causes her. Now it’s Christmas 1919, and Margot’s family is gathering back home in the vicarage for the first time since the end of the Great War. And miraculously Harry has returned, hoping to see Margot and rekindle their romance. Can Margot ever reveal the shocking truth to the only man she has ever loved? “Maybe this was just what happened when things like war got in the way. Maybe this was what being nearly-married to someone was like. Or maybe everything was over and they’d never really been in love at all.” The S...

BOOK TOUR STOP x RANDOM THINGS TOURS - Wish You Weren't Here by Gabby Hutchinson Crouch

  The Rook family run a little family business, ghost hunting.  And business has picked up recently. Somethings wrong. It's been getting noticeably worse since, ooh, 2016?  Bad spirits are abroad, and right now they are particularly abroad on the Coldbay Island, which isn't even abroad, it's only 20 miles from Skegness. The Rooks' 'quick call out' to the church on Coldbay Island picks a loose thread that begins to unravel the whole island, and the world beyond. Is this is apocalypse? This might be the apocalypse. Who knew the apocalypse would start in an off-season seaside resort just off the Lincolnshire coast? I'll tell you who knew - Linda knew. "Think about death. Hate to hit you with a downer right at the start of a story, but death is kind of an integral part of tale. To tell the truth, it's kind of an integral part of every tale. Even yours." Wish You Weren't Here - not quite what you'd usually read on the back of a postcard is ...

At Certain Points We Touch - Lauren John Joseph

  Genre: Literary Fiction | Contemporary Fiction | LGBTQ+ Release Date: Expected 3rd March 2022 Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing It's 4am in New Mexico and Bibby, a trans writer is walking home from the club when they realise the date.  February 29th. Leap day. And the birthday of the man who you could call their first love.  Now, almost a decade after they met, the memory of him still haunts Bibby, in their memory, in their heart, in their writing. Their relationship was fiery - passionate, hot, and painful to touch. It burned and sparkled and illuminated their lives. It crossed borders, years, and lines - only really ending when tragedy parted them forever. They were doomed from the start.  You could say  At Certain Points We Touch is a ghost story - but not about things that go bump in the night. About the ghosts of love past, about our former selves and the other things that can haunt us alone in the night.  Told from now and then, this story follows ou...

None of this is Serious - Catherine Prasifka

  Genre: Contemporary Fiction | New Adult Fiction |  Release Date: Expected 7th April 2022 Publisher: Canongate Books Sophie isn't the person she seems online. Her best friend has outgrown her, the boy she loves hardly knows she exists, she's starting a strange new online friendship and she doesn't feel together at all, not in the way everyone else seems to be. Her life as a student is over and now she has to go out and add new worries about houses and taxes to the ever growing pile.  Then at a party she doesn't even want to be at, a crack appears in the sky. And she finds herself just waiting for someone on the internet to tell her something rather than adding yet another phone-camera picture of the crack to Instagram. Now, all she can do is scroll until something, anything happens.  "I'm not sure when the internet ceased to be a place I could escape to, to get lost down rabbit holes and take care of virtual pets, but it does not offer me the same things anymo...

Endgame - Malorie Blackman

  Genre: Young Adult Fiction Release Date: 16th September 2021 Publisher: Penguin Random House Children's UK It's been decades since Sephy and Callums' tragic love story shifted the entire world - but there's still a long way to go. Noughts and Crosses have made strides in the ways of equality and love, but changing the world is never simple. Now, Tobey, the first ever Nought prime minister, is on trial for the murder of an old friend and being blackmailed by kidnappers and Callie-Rose finds herself back by his side again defending him. With the life of Tobeys long-lost daughter and Callies brother on the line, this is one game they can't afford to lose. Can they find out who is framing Tobey? And will he ever get to meet his daughter?  ... and will he and Callie ever be able to fix the cracks that divided them? "I am a Cross woman. More than the cliché of a woman who is always indomitable, never vulnerable. So much more than the stereotype of a woman is fearle...

What Might Have Been - Holly Miller

  Genre: Womens Fiction | Romance | Adult Fiction Release Date: Expected 3rd March 2022 Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton When Lucy turns up to the pub after an awful day, all she wants is to drown her sorrows - but instead she makes a small decision that will change her entire life.  Caleb wasn't even meant to be in the same pub as Lucy but got the wrong address, and for some reason he can't help but talk to her, and slip her his number.  While they're talking, she sees Max. Max, the ex. The right guy at the wrong time who broke her heart over a decade ago. He looks great, and from what she's heard he's achieved everything he's set out to do and is still very single. She might not know it yet - but she has two choices: Stay in her seaside town with Caleb to chase her dreams of being a writer, or escape to London with her former love and climb the corporate ladder. As we follow Lucy on the different journeys her life could take, we're left to wonder what mig...

BOOK TOUR STOP x LOVE BOOKS TOURS - Together Behind Four Walls Collection

  2019 will forever be remembered as the year the world stood still - most of us were at home, locked down due to the coronavirus pandemic, but key workers were still out there protecting us, feeding us and keeping us safe. It was a strange time, when we were all alone but somehow it was the most connected many of us have ever been.  Many of us used this time to create - either for fun or to cope - and that's how this collection was born. Writers, poets, photographers, artists all came together to create this anthology of art inspired by our shared crisis to raise money for the Marie Curie nurses who helped some of the most vulnerable to survive and continue to do so.  The book includes some well-known contributors including: Wendy Cope : among other accolades, the author of five collections of adult poetry, a judge of the 2007 Man  Booker Prize, and was voted the listeners’ choice in a BBC Radio 4 poll to succeed Ted Hughes as Poet Laureate in 1998. Lynne Reid Banks...