Kat Noad decides to start making some changes in her life, starting with joining a gym. But within an hour she has lost her job and her boyfriend. In her mental turmoil, she is physically unable to leave the gym. Can she soothe her anxiety and turn this into a positive experience?
Come Here Often? is a light hearted and gently comedic look at the serious issue of anxiety and mental health.
Kat appears to be a little vacuous and self absorbed at the beginning of the book. It is gradually revealed that she has been plagued by anxiety since childhood and her beloved dog recently died. Her behaviour at home and work has been erratic and now reached crisis point.
I ended up really liking Kat and her vulnerability. The romance side of the plot is reduced to allow Kat to find her own path and make changes. As someone who suffers with anxiety, I appreciated the exploration of the mental and physical barriers it can create.
The extreme nature of the situation and Kat’s reactions are funny but the actual topic of mental health is very serious. I sometimes felt a little awkward because I wasn’t sure if I was laughing WITH Kat or AT her.
Come Here Often? is an entertaining book with a great lead character.
Come Here Often?: A totally perfect, funny and feel-good page-turner
My name is Kat and I have a confession. For the last week, I’ve been secretly living in the gym.
Let me set the scene for you… It was my first day working out. Ever. My idea of cardio is lifting Dunkin’ Donuts, but as if exercising wasn’t bad enough, listen to what happened next. In the space of minutes, my boyfriend dumped me over the phone and my boss fired me.
Cue a Code Red panic attack. Now, no matter how hard I try, my anxiety stops me from physically walking out of the door, back into the hot mess of my life.
So now I’m stuck in this health club, spending night after night sleeping on massage tables, escaping security guards and hiding from my ex. Flirting with personal trainer Marcus, who’s carved like a Greek god and has a smile that makes my stomach flip-flop, is the silver lining to this craziness.
But what happens if I get caught? Can I finally sort my life out? And how personal is too personal when it comes to personal trainers?
This fresh and funny page-turner is for anyone who has ever lost their spark, struggled with anxiety, or prefers pie and lattes to pilates. Perfect for fans of Beth O’Leary, Emily Henry and Jo Watson.
About the author
Ellie Center was born in Savannah, Georgia and raised by a psychiatrist and a psychoanalyst. She studied philosophy in college but eventually went on to become an audiologist. After traveling to Israel and living in a Kibbutz, she moved to Nashville, where she started her own business and also started writing novels, falling in love with the process of putting her imagination down on paper. She writes songs in her spare time and lives with Hannah, her cat and a Lab named Joey.
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Twitter @EllieCenter
Kate uproots herself and heads to university as a mature student to study music and finally follow her dream. She is a bit strapped for cash but finds a reasonably priced room in Amy’s house. But gradually Kate’s life gets out of control and she starts to suspect a malevolent influence…
The Tenant is a psychological thriller set in Cardiff.
The main character is Kate. She has some huge emotional obstacles to overcome including unrequited love and the death of her sister. Finally she is putting herself first and aims to become a teacher. But her studies suffer as she starts acting strangely and has black out periods which threaten her fresh start.
The book is written from Kate’s first person persctive so we naturally ally ourselves with her and feel the same confusion and disorientation she experiences. Kate’s landlady Amy made me deeply uncomfortable and I distrusted her from the beginning. There are no boundaries and the relationship is unequal from the start.
The tension develops steadily and Kate doesn’t know if she can trust herself let alone anyone else. She becomes isolated due to her repeated episodes of ill mental and physical health. I really wanted to yell at her to escape her situation but understand how she was trapped. I found the ending and explanation to be a little extreme so just suspended my disbelief and enjoyed the drama.
The Tenant is an entertaining thriller with a well maintained tense atmosphere.
Book Blurb
Amy is the perfect landlady. But she does have some ground rules…
Kate has always dreamed of a life in music. And now she’s finally done something about it – giving up her steady job, moving to the city to enroll in a degree program at a prestigious college.
Needing a place to live, she answers an ad and moves in with Amy who seems a nice lady – mothering and protective.
At first Kate is glad to have some support in this strange city, but gradually Amy’s presence becomes more and more stifling – it just seems so hard to get away from her. And every time Kate tries, something terrible happens…
As her life spirals downwards, Kate struggles to understand what’s happening. Is Amy plotting against her? Or is she simply buckling under the stress of adjusting to her new life?
Fearing for her sanity, Kate knows she needs to get some answers and begins to look into the history of the creepy old house she shares with Amy. What she finds is beyond her worst nightmares…
The Tenant, the terrifying psychological thriller perfect for fans of K L Slater, Jane Renshaw, Teresa Driscoll
Buy Links
Amazon UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tenant-gripping-psychological-thriller-ending-ebook/dp/B09Z6W745R
Amazon US – https://www.amazon.com/Tenant-gripping-psychological-thriller-ending-ebook/dp/B09Z6W745R
Author Bio
Angela Lester loves writing psychological suspense that explores the dark side of human nature.
A philosophy graduate, she came over from Germany in 1991 and has lived in Cardiff ever since. She plays the piano, sings in a choir and loves walking in the great Welsh countryside. Angela has worked as bookseller and translator, but her real passion is writing. She has written short stories and novels in German and English. The Tenant is her first published thriller.
The Tenant is her first psychological thriller with Inkubator Books.
Follow her at: Twitter: https://twitter.com/AMLester99
Nia travels to the Isle of Wight to housesit for her aunt. She moves into a close knit community but notices that the perfect neighbourhood is based on secrets…
Good Neighbours is a psychological thriller set on the Isle of Wight.
The book starts with the creation of a voodoo doll which sets the sinister tone for the plot. Nia’s aunt has had to go abroad suddenly and asked her to housesit. We are introduced to Nia and I felt immediately unsettled by her descriptions of how she behaves and dresses to appease her husband. I had the uncomfortable feeling that she was hiding something about her relationship and I was right!
The neighbours all seem very friendly, perhaps TOO friendly, and Nia starts to suspect that there are secrets. Then someone is found dead and the dark undercurrents become more prominent. The supernatural element of the voodoo doll and the religious cult that features add an extra dimension to the plot and the uneasy atmosphere.
I really liked Nia’s character and enjoyed seeing her emerge from her husband’s shadow as the book progressed. She grows in confidence and this allows her to investigate the death of her friend even though she could be putting herself in danger.
Good Neighbours is an entertaining and atmospheric psychological thriller.
Good Neighbours
It was meant to be a safe place to start again…
In need of an escape from her failing marriage, Nia agrees to house-sit her aunt’s cottage on the Isle of Wight. She feels sure the cosy close in a quaint harbour town will be a safe place to hide and figure out what to do next.
But things are not all as they seem in the close, and the neighbours who welcome her with open arms, are keeping secrets. When Nia finds the body of one of her new friends lying on the beach, she feels sickeningly sure that the killer is dangerously near to home.
Who killed her friend and why did she have to die? And if Nia discovers the answers she’s looking for, is she next on their hit list? Good neighbours may become good friends, but they can also make deadly enemies…
Author Bio –
Mary Grand is the author of five novels and writes gripping, page-turning suspense,
with a dark and often murderous underside. She grew up in Wales, was for many years
a teacher of deaf children and now lives on the Isle of Wight where her novel,
The House Party, which was published by Boldwood in July 2020, is set.
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An annual festival at Lovelace Manor ends in tragedy with the death of a celebrity historian in a bizarre hot air balloon incident. Amateur sleuth and professional obituary writer Eve Mallow is on hand to investigate the tangled relationships that could provide the motive and identify the killer…
Mystery at Lovelace Manor is the eighth book in the Eve Mallow series.
The book starts with the balloon incident and then goes back in time a couple of days to show events leading up to the death. Relationships between the victim and a host of suspects are strained so Eve has plenty of people to investigate.
The familiar characters from the rest of the series return including Gus the dachshund. Eve and Robin are still keeping their romance a secret which adds another dimension to their characters and the plot.
The book is written in the third person, mainly showing Eve’s perspective. There is little violence or graphic detail about the victim’s injuries. The plot develops at a moderate pace as Eve explores the alibis and motives of the suspects. I liked the way that the author maintained the mystery and kept me guessing.
Mystery at Lovelace Manor is an enjoyable cosy murder mystery novel.
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Book: Mystery at Lovelace Manor
Author: Clare Chase
Pub Day: May 17th 2022
Buy Link:
About the Book:
Lovelace Manor has a famous past… but when a historian becomes history at its annual open day, amateur sleuth Eve Mallow is on the case!
Everyone in Saxford St Peter flocks to Lovelace Sunday, the festival celebrating the romantic history of beautiful Lovelace Manor. This year will be even more exciting, as famous TV historian Cammie Harington is planning a spectacular stunt with a hot-air balloon for her new show.
Eve Mallow jumps at the chance to volunteer – it’s a great people-watching opportunity. But she soon realises there is no love lost between Cammie and the family who owns the manor… so why did Cammie agree to come?
When Cammie’s hot-air balloon tumbles from the sky, Eve feels sure this is no accident. Alongside dachshund Gus, she sets to work investigating the mystery, piecing together all the odd things she’s seen and heard.
Could the killer be discreet Diana, lady of the manor, who fell out with Cammie years ago? Or Diana’s dashing brother Sebastian, whose dark secret Cammie knew? Why was the loyal gardener following Cammie around? And had Cammie uncovered something explosive about the manor’s past, as she claimed?
When someone breaks into Cammie’s cottage and a priceless Lovelace heirloom goes missing, Eve is sure she’s on the right track… but can she solve the case, before the killer brings her crashing down?
A completely gripping English cozy mystery, perfect for fans of Frances Evesham, J.R. Ellis and Betty Rowlands.
Author Bio
Clare Chase writes classic mysteries. Her aim is to take readers away from it all via some armchair sleuthing in atmospheric locations.
Her debut novel was shortlisted for Novelicious’s Undiscovered Award, as well as an EPIC award post-publication, and was chosen as a Debut of the Month by LoveReading. Murder on the Marshes (Tara Thorpe 1) was shortlisted for an International Thriller Writers award.
Like her heroines, Clare is fascinated by people and what makes them tick. Before becoming a full-time writer, she worked in settings as diverse as Littlehey Prison and the University of Cambridge, in her home city. She’s lived everywhere from the house of a lord to a slug-infested flat and finds the mid-terrace she currently occupies a good happy medium.
As well as writing, Clare loves family time, art and architecture, cooking, and of course, reading other people’s books.
You can find Clare’s website and blog at www.clarechase.com
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TRIGGER WARNING : miscarriage
1682: Grace is a milkmaid but her grandmother is something of a wise woman and wants to teach her about herbs and healing. Present day: Selena’s love life is in tatters after a confrontation with her lover’s wife and she miscarries. She retreats to a thatched cottage to paint and heal her heart.
The Witch’s Tree is a dual timeline novel set in Somerset in the present day and the 1680s. The book jumps between the two time periods within each chapter yet the narratives are distinct and easy to follow.
Both women live in Sloe Cottage, separated by over 300 years. I found myself completely immersed in both timelines. The two main characters are brought to life with realism and humanity so it was easy to understand their feelings and actions. Selena in the present day increasingly suspects a supernatural presence and as the plot develops we fear for Grace’s safety in the 1680s. I wrote my dissertation on witchcraft so it is a topic and era that I know a lot about.
Some of the 1600s dialogue seemed a little clunky and I felt that there were some added historical details which were irrelevant to the plot and character development but showed the author’s research (for example, a discussion about monarchs). However, the women’s lives are wonderfully brought to life through the emotive descriptions of their experiences and the vivid imagery of the landscape.
The Witch’s Tree was a beautifully woven tale of two wonderful women and I loved it!
The Witch’s Tree
A tale as old as time. A spirit that has never rested.
Present day
As a love affair comes to an end, and with it her dreams for her future, artist Selena needs a retreat. The picture-postcard Sloe Cottage in the Somerset village of Ashcombe promises to be the perfect place to forget her problems, and Selena settles into her new home as spring arrives. But it isn’t long before Selena hears the past whispering to her. Sloe Cottage is keeping secrets which refuse to stay hidden.
1682
Grace Cotter longs for nothing more than a husband and family of her own. Content enough with her work on the farm, looking after her father, and learning the secrets of her grandmother Bett’s healing hands, nevertheless Grace still hopes for love. But these are dangerous times for dreamers, and rumours and gossip can be deadly. One mis-move and Grace’s fate looks set…
Separated by three hundred years, two women are drawn together by a home bathed in blood and magic. Grace Cotter’s spirit needs to rest, and only Selena can help her now.
Author Bio –
Elena Collins is the pen name of Judy Leigh. Judy Leigh is the bestselling author of Five French Hens, A Grand Old Time and The Age of Misadventure and the doyenne of the ‘it’s never too late’ genre of women’s fiction. She has lived all over the UK from Liverpool to Cornwall, but currently resides in Somerset.
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