loopyloulaura
My very own website!!! Yikes!
This Mum Malarkey, by Siobhan Butel
This Mum Malarkey is a fun look at parenting despite the disasters! The perfect realistic guide to life as a new mum.
Ahhh this book brought back memories of the pregnancy and under 5 era. I was taken straight back to the ridiculousness of offering paracetamol to labouring women! Give me something stronger!!! How could I have forgotten that bloomin’ singing Alfie bear (we also had his pink friend and still use the musical sea horse) or the poos that escape everywhere (never learned the vest trick until my third came along!)
The tone of the book is very funny but the underlying love for the children shines through. The author wants you to laugh along with her, identify with the crazy situations that happen. And she succeeds.
To quote Siobhan: “Time is the enemy, but also such a gift”. My kids are growing up at an incredible and slightly alarming rate (how is my baby Zach starting junior school next year???!!!)
This book gave me the excuse to relive those earlier days with a nostalgia for the baby days but also a huge gratitude that we’ve survived them and moved on! (I am writing this blog post at 5 to nine on Monday night and the kids have taken themselves to bed!!! This would have seemed IMPOSSIBLE a decade ago)
There is plenty of swearing in the book but I think if you haven’t at least sworn under your breath once an hour then you aren’t parenting correctly… The stress of going to the supermarket or venturing on holiday was sooooo easy to relate to.
The joys of the class bear, how I have missed you… Something to be grateful to covid for as we’ve avoided it for a couple of years now! I enjoyed Siobhan’s photo diary and hope Bertie enjoyed his weekend visit!
My hubby Chris was almost in tears at the mention and memory of Alfie bear. So, I am now going to share This Mum Malarkey with my mum and I am sure that her own memories of me as a toddler 40 years ago will be triggered (she remembers the first round of Postman Pat…)!
A Conflict of Interests, by Claire Gradidge
A burned out car with a body in the driving seat. Coroner’s assistant Jo Lester suspects that her husband is involved with the incident. But is he the victim or the killer, or is she biased and he is in fact completely innocent?
A Conflict of Interests is the third book to feature Jo and coroner Bram Nash in Romsey, England during WW2. However it would work as a stand alone novel and does not contain spoilers about the cases in the earlier books.
This book is set a couple of years after the last book. D Day is imminent and the soldiers have moved out. Jo’s ex was due to leave too and now he has disappeared but is this due to an involvement in the burned car incident?
Jo finds herself leading the investigation as her coroner employer and past lover Bram is rushed to hospital. She finds that the gender and class stereotypes of the time again thwart her efforts to be accepted and respected in her role.
Jo and Bram’s relationship has stalled completely on the romantic front thanks to the reappearance of her estranged husband. Their feelings for each other come to the fore as Bram is hospitalised, Jo is frantic for his safe recovery and he focuses on her to help him get better.
As before, the majority of the book is written from Jo’s first person perspective. We also see Bram’s viewpoint in the third person but it was highly effective for showing his fevered thoughts as he suffers from an infection of his old war wound.
A Conflict of Interests is an entertaining murder mystery and I continue to enjoy the development of the main characters’ relationship.
I have previously reviewed The Unexpected Return of Josephine Fox and Treachery at Hursley Park House.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
June 1944, Romsey, England.
Josephine ‘Jo’ Fox is at an impasse since the unwelcome return of her wayward husband Richard. So, when he disappears again, she is neither concerned nor surprised – until a burning car is discovered with a body inside. And there are signs that Richard is somehow involved.
Jo is determined to find both her husband and answers, yet with her friend Bram Nash in hospital suffering an infection of his old war wound, she must do so alone. When information comes to light that implicates Bram too, Jo finds herself on a dangerous path to the truth.
But what will be left for her when all is revealed?
Last Seen Alive, by Carolyn Arnold
Amanda gives an ex a second chance. they head to his bedroom but their passion is killed in an instant. On the bed is a body. Logan claims it is his estranged wife but her ID says otherwise. Can Amanda trust her instincts that her lover is innocent or has she hooked up with a killer?
Last Seen Alive is the 6th book to feature Detective Amanda Steele. There are mentions of events from previous books and character development plotlines but no spoilers.
As with the earlier books, it is Amanda’s character that drives the plot. She is first on the murder scene, involved with the main suspect and convinced of his innocence. Her senior officer thinks she is too personally involved in the case to act objectively but her tenacity reveals discrepancies in the evidence.
Her partner Trent backs her up all the way. He is loyal and a little bit in love with her. I felt his heartache that she has chosen Logan and the case eats away at him because he is friends with the victim’s sister.
Most of the novel is written in the present day but there are some flashbacks to show the victim’s past. The plot is delivered through reasonably short chapters which maintains a fast pace as Amanda hunts for the truth.
Last Seen Alive is a dramatic detective thriller with a strong lead character.
I have previously reviewed books 1-4 in the series The Little Grave, Stolen Daughters, The Silent Witness and Black Orchid Girls (off to find number 5, not sure how I missed it!)
MEDIA PACK
Book: LAST SEEN ALIVE
Author: Carolyn Arnold
Pub Day: Oct 6th 2022
Buy Link(s):
Amazon: https://geni.us/B0B2S4RLDBsocial
Apple: http://ow.ly/4nRx50Jrj5V
Kobo: http://ow.ly/IcEm50Jrj95
Google: http://ow.ly/Gbb850JrjaH
About the Book:
The woman lies so still as her blood soaks into the soft bedcovers beneath her. A tear runs down her face as she looks at the wedding band on her finger. She had loved her husband so much…
When Detective Amanda Steele unexpectedly reconnects with an old boyfriend, the last thing she expects to see lying on his bed is the dead body of his wife, Claire, who walked out on him four years ago.
Logan begs Amanda to believe he’s innocent. But she doesn’t miss the gun on a nearby table, and she’s torn when forensics reveal that not only was this the murder weapon, but Logan’s fingerprints are all over it… Could he have been framed? Or is he using his connection to Amanda to get away with murder?
Determined to uncover the truth, Amanda retraces Claire’s last steps and finds that she visited her best friend the day before her death. But Amanda is devastated to discover that the friend died in a car accident just hours after meeting with Claire. What deadly secret connected them, and could more women be in danger?
But the killer is closer than Amanda realizes, and when her beloved daughter, Zoe, is threatened, she’s suddenly in a race to find the final clue before the person she loves most pays the price…
A totally compulsive crime thriller! Perfect for fans of Angela Marsons, Robert Dugoni and Rachel Caine.
Author Bio
CAROLYN ARNOLD is an international bestselling and award-winning author, as well as a speaker, teacher, and inspirational mentor. She has several continuing fiction series and has many published books. Her genre diversity offers her readers everything from police procedurals, hard-boiled mysteries, and thrillers to action adventures. Her crime fiction series have been praised by those in law enforcement as being accurate and entertaining. This led to her adopting the trademark: POLICE PROCEDURALS RESPECTED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT™.
Carolyn was born in a small town and enjoys spending time outdoors, but she also loves the lights of a big city. Grounded by her roots and lifted by her dreams, her overactive imagination insists that she tell her stories. Her intention is to touch the hearts of millions with her books, to entertain, inspire, and empower.
She currently lives near London, Ontario, Canada with her husband and two beagles.
Social Media
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorCarolynArnold/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Carolyn_Arnold
Website: https://carolynarnold.net/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorcarolynarnold/
Bookouture Email Sign Up: https://www.bookouture.com/carolyn-arnold
Darkly Dreaming, by Chloe Hammond
Layla and Rae’s holiday takes a sinister turn when they are transformed into vampires. How will they cope with the monumental changes their physical and mental processes face?
Darkly Dreaming is the first book in a new vampire series set in the UK and France in modern times.
The first chapter starts the book with a bang, There is sex, vampires, sensuous and sensual detail. The next quarter of the book then focusses on the friendships and past relationships of Layla and Rae. This gives us insight into their characters and develops their human side which will later contrast with their vampiric characteristics.
Next the vampire lore which governs the activity of the characters is described and explored. There are some brutal episodes as well as the softer emotional side. I enjoyed the new take on the traditional topic of vampires and how this virus affects vampires differently.
Layla and Rae are older women (my age!) so they have a past which continues to inform their choices even after their transformation. Their characters felt realistic and had depth. This was shown through being able to see their thoughts and feelings through their alternating first person perspectives. However, I didn’t really think that Layla’s sections added much to the book, especially in the second half.
Darkly Dreaming is an entertaining vampire novel and the conclusion leaves options open for the sequel.
Buy Links – https://geni.us/JxUXBEW
Book Blurb
Have you ever longed to leave your life behind? Sever all ties and disappear?
Even for just one second? What if it wasn’t a choice anymore?
Darkly Dreaming is a literary exploration into a sinister world where vampires lurk in our shadows.
As interested in our heroines’ emotional changes as their physical transformations, the story leads you through their infection, transformation, and difficult adaption to their strange new life. We experience their hopes and compromises, heartbreaks and rage as deeply as they do.
A modern gothic, these vampires aren’t the undead, they have been infected by a virus and undergone physical changes as radical as a butterfly during metamorphosis.
These vampires are as beguiling, cruel and fatal as cats, and just as irresistible.
Author Bio
Chloe Hammond is an Aquarius, and she’s very Aquarius. Born in Liverpool in 1975, she grew up in rural West Wales. She now lives in Barry, South Wales, with her husband and rescue cat and dogs. She studied Creative Writing as part of her degree always planned to write, but life got in the way.
Chloe worked in homeless hostels, particularly with vulnerable teenagers for twenty years, and saw too many of the world’s uninvited monsters. She developed extreme anxiety and depression, which caused terrifying nightmares and sleepless nights.
In her typically contrary way, she used this to her advantage and the nightmares became this novel, and the sleepless nights were when she found time to write it.
She created her own monsters to deal with the memories.
Her best friend, and number one cheer leader, was her inspiration and the person she could spin other worlds with. When her friend died suddenly of a brain haemorrhage, Chloe struggled to overcome her grief to start writing again. She had just found her rhythm again, when the worldwide pandemic hit, and she was gripped in the terror of losing more loved ones.
She dug deep, and is currently working on the third book of the Darkly Vampire Trilogy, as Rae and Layla are booting her brain, demanding their story is written, they have adventures to live.
Chloe has had several poems and short stories published in various charity anthologies. She was nominated for both Best Paranormal Author and Best Horror Author in Reality Bites 2018 Book Awards. Chloe won a Gold Stake award at the International Vampire Film and Arts Festival 2022, for her short story, The Caretakers.
Follow her at:
Twitter: www.twitter.com/chloehammond111
Website: www.chloehammondauthor.com
Facebook : www.facebook.com/chloehammondauthor
