In Darkness, Look for Stars begins in 1941 with Maggie Brouillard saving the life of RAF officer Alec McLeod after he crashes his plane in war-torn France. We then skip forward to England in 1949 when secretary Harriet Conway arrives at the Brouillard home to work as a secretary. She discovers a family both torn apart and held together by music with no sign of Maggie. Then Alec comes searching for his rescuer…
The narrative is split between the two time periods: we see the events of the war in contrast to the situation afterwards. Cecelia Brouillard, Maggie’s sister hides Maggie’s Jewish lover from the Germans and they fall in love. Emil is captured and Cecelia returns to her family in Paris, pregnant and full of guilt at her betrayal of her sister. Meanwhile in 1949, we see Cecilia as a figure of sadness. She is unable to walk after being shot in the back, refusing to show any love towards her son.
I was completely hooked by the plot. The action sets off straight away and doesn’t lose momentum at any point. The personal tragedy as well as the national horrors are heartbreaking to read, even more so when you understand the factual basis of the Jewish deportations.
The characters are so well developed that I really found myself caring about the outcomes for them. Even Rose and Sebastien, who were not at all likeable, prompted some sympathy at the end of the book as their actions have terrible consequences.
In Darkness, Look For Stars is a beautifully devastating book. Highly emotional and utterly captivating from the first page to the last. The terrible events of the war and its aftermath for the French people whether collaborators or Resistance are evoked with passion and pathos in this story. Yet the hope and lightness of music and love are never far away from the plot and make parts of this book uplifting and joyous.
In Darkness, Look For Stars Book Description:
Paris, 1941: Going against her mother’s orders, spirited Maggie devotes herself to the Resistance. Her life is a whirlwind of forged passports and secret midnight runs, helping Jews escape. Much to her high-society mother’s disproval, she has fallen in love with Emil, a Jewish Resistance fighter who is wanted by the Nazis.
The city is growing more dangerous by the day, with signs proclaiming ‘No Jews’ posted everywhere in the maze-like streets, and people dragged away in handcuffs. The forbidden lovers are forced to say goodbye – Emil going underground to escape capture.
Meanwhile, Maggie’s sister Cecilia is hundreds of miles away, where the realities of war are yet to hit the serenity of the South of France. Innocent and shy Cecilia is shocked to the core when Emil turns up, seeking refuge. Her sheltered life turned upside down, Cecilia is thrown into the world of the Resistance, all the while sending coded letters to her sister, who every day awaits news of her fiancé.
But with the Nazis closing in on them, their lives soon hang in the balance. Both sisters must decide where their loyalties lie – and how far they are willing to go to save themselves, and one another.
An evocative, riveting and stirring tale about the tragic realities of war, the fine line between loyalty and lies, and the power of love, even in the darkest of times. Fans of The Nightingale, The Letter and All The Light We Cannot See will be spellbound by this magnificent historical novel.
Author Bio:
Clara Benson is the author of traditional English whodunits and other historical fiction. Over the years she’s lived in London, Milan and Florence, and can still speak a bit of Italian if pressed. Now she lives with her family in the north of England, where she spends her days writing and trying to ignore an ever-lengthening to-do list.
Find her at clarabenson.com, or follow her on Facebook at ClaraBensonBooks.
Twitter: @ClaraBooks
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In her latest case, Maddie Ives faces a serial killer who is relentless and relishes the pain he causes. Lance has been hired by a gangster, Mason, whose son died and he blames the police officer involved. Lance agrees to kill PC Vince Arnold but to hide it amongst other murders so that the police canot trace it back to Mason.
The grotesque nature of the deaths is described in grisly detail as Lance enjoys his work and poses his victims to display them for their poor families and the police.
We are privileged with the knowledge of what Lance has planned for Vince and this creates an excellent sense of dread and anticipation for us as readers. However, plan B is required leading to a shocking conclusion and a devastating twist.
The motive and culprit are clear from the start of the book but the method of the killer and the emotional pain he inflicts makes this a tense book to read. The police procedure is almost painfully slow as every second counts against this sadistic man, but also the police activity feels completly authentic as author Charlie Gallagher is a serving officer.
This is the 5th book in the Maddie Ives series but works perfectly well as a standalone novel (I have reviewed the previous book in the series He Knows Your Secrets). There are personal elements of the story that are specific to Maggie: her relationship with her parents and her former lover Adam.
He Will Get You is a tense and enthralling read. Maddie remains a likeable lead character even though she isn’t the lead detective on the case. Seeing the killer’s perspective increases the intensity of the chilling plot and the ending is devastatingly good.
He Will Get You Description
THE MOST GRIPPING CRIME THRILLER OF 2020. FROM AN INTERNATIONALLY BEST-SELLING AUTHOR.
A KILLER WHO LOVES TO WATCH THE RESULTS OF THE HAVOC HE WREAKS
DETECTIVE MADDIE IVES FACES HER WORST NIGHTMARE.
Lance Askew is a career serial killer. He lives for it.
THE FIRST VICTIM
Alice Oxley runs her own café. An older man has become a regular over the last month. He likes to people watch. He doesn’t say much.
When he does speak. It comes from nowhere, he waits until she is very close: ”Your son is dead. I killed him.”
Her boyfriend is dead too. He says he left them under the photo on the stairs, the one where they’re all smiling together.
He drinks in her reaction then breaks the spell: “Go!” he rasps.
She runs home to see what he has done.
THE SECOND VICTIM
Michelle Rice pushes open her garden gate. It makes a squealing sound – it always has. It is how Lance Askew knows she’s home. He can barely contain himself. He is waiting for her.
Soon she will see what he has done.
A THIRD VICTIM IS IDENTIFIED.
Another family are about to have their lives ruined.
Maddie Ives and Harry Blaker are the detectives who must stop this killer. And he is far from finished.
ONE OF THEIR OWN IS THE NEXT TARGET
HE WILL GET YOU: the new thriller from Charlie Gallagher. Perfect for fans of Kimberley Chambers, Damien Boyd, Rachel Abbott, Patricia Gibney or Mark Billingham.
What people are saying about CHARLIE GALLAGHER:
“You will not want to put this book down.” Barbara
“A brilliant book.” Viv
“Another highly entertaining, twisty and tension-filled read.” Lou
“Up there with the best.” Carole
“You just cannot put this book down once started. Loved it!” Rita
ALSO BY CHARLIE GALLAGHER
MADDIE IVES
1: HE IS WATCHING YOU
2: HE WILL KILL YOU
3: HE WILL FIND YOU
4: HE KNOWS YOUR SECRETS
5: HE WILL GET YOU
GEORGE ELMS, LANGTHORNE SERIES
Book 1 – Bodily Harm
Book 2 – Panic Button
Book 3 – Blood Money
Book 4 – End Game
Book 5 – Missing
Book 6 – Then She Ran
Book 7 – Her Last Breath
Standalone books:
Ruthless
Author Bio
Charlie Gallagher has been a serving UK police officer for ten years. During that time he has had many roles, starting as a front-line response officer, then a member of a specialist tactical team and is currently a detective investigating serious offences.
LINKS
Twitter: @gloriouscharlie
Thea and her family leave London to return to the village where she and husband Drew grew up together in neighbouring houses. They manage to buy Thea’s old family home, full of happy memories. But gradually Thea becomes aware of a distance between herself and the other villagers: is she being paranoid or are they hostile?
The previous books from Emma Davies have all been warm romances so My Husband’s Lie was quite a surprise. There is a darkness and mystery to the book as the insidious nature of rumours and distrust take over the village and Thea’s life.
There is plenty of emotion in this book as Thea struggles to reconcile the past and the present. She needs to negotiate relationships with her family and new community but feels that things are being kept secret. The need to feel comfortable and make new friends is very relevant and human, pulling on our basic instinct to belong and be sociable.
Thea is quite a likeable character although I did find her reactions a little odd at times as she seemed to bounce between extremes of emotion. The use of the first person narrative allows us to see how the events in the book are affecting Thea’s life.
The suspense and mystery in the plot unfold at a reasonable pace to keep the reader’s interest. I feel that the title is perhaps a little too emotive, but from another angle it is very clever as there are several husbands in the book who could be referred to.
Emma Davies Media Kit:
Title: My Husband’s Lies
Publication Day: April 9th 2020
Author: Emma Davies
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Description:
When I stumbled across the listing for Pevensey House I knew I had found a way for my family to be free and I didn’t hesitate. I should have, I know that now…
When Thea sees her old family home is up for sale – a beautiful old rectory in the small town where she and her childhood sweetheart, now husband, Drew, grew up – she knows she has to have it. Her parents moved her away suddenly when she was eleven, but her childhood there was filled with happy memories. Drew seems less sure, but Thea is certain it’s the perfect place to raise their two children.
But as the last boxes are unpacked, Thea can’t seem to settle. She thought the move would bring her family closer together, but Drew is growing more distant. And why do old friends cross to the other side of the road when they see her coming?
Alone in the house, exploring the creaky corridors she used to cartwheel down as a young girl, Thea smiles as she slides open the loose panel she once used as a hiding place. But it only takes one look at the faded local newspaper clipping hidden inside for the bonds holding her perfect family together to break.
It’s not long before news of the scandal spreads further and the whole town turns against her. Thea’s life is in freefall as her head and her heart wrestle between taking the blame, and fighting for her innocence. In a small town where no one ever forgets the past, can Thea find a way to save her family’s future?
This heart-wrenching and gripping family drama will have you hooked from the very first page. Perfect for anyone who loves Amanda Prowse, Liane Moriarty and Diane Chamberlain.
Author Bio:
After a varied career, Emma Davies once worked for a design studio where she was asked to provide a fun and humorous (and not necessarily true) anecdote for their website. She wrote the following: ‘I am a bestselling novelist currently masquerading as a thirty something mother of three.’ Well the job in the design studio didn’t work out but she’s now a forty something mother of three and is happy to report the rest of her dream came true.
After many years as a finance manager she now writes full time and is far happier playing with words than numbers. She lives with her husband, three children, and two guinea pigs in rural Shropshire where she writes in all the gaps in between real life. It’s a county she adores, her love of its beautiful people and landscapes providing endless inspiration for her books, and in fact the only thing that would make Shropshire more idyllic is if it were by the sea.
Author Social Media Links:
Pop over to her website www.emmadaviesauthor.com where, amongst other things, you can read about her passion for Pringles and singing loudly in the car. You can also wave to her on twitter @EmDaviesAuthor / https://twitter.com/EmDaviesAuthor or find her on Facebook (a little too often than is good for her): https://www.facebook.com/emmadaviesauthor/
Jasmine Delon returns to Ireland with a broken heart. She hopes to rebuild the relationship with her mother who she has kept an arm’s length for the last year. She becomes immersed in the local community and enjoys the beautiful environment. Even love may be on the cards…
Warning: don’t read this book if you are on a diet! Food features heavily and the descriptions are mouthwatering. The gorgeous locality and landscape is also richly described.
Daughters of Wild Rose Bay is a warm, feel good book. Jasmine is a likeable main character, running away and hiding from her past. She has an opportunity to find love again and it is clear to us as readers that she should be with her best friend Aiden yet neither makes a move and she starts dating Connor instead. There is a romantic twist at the end of the book for her mum which Jasmine doesn’t pick up the clues for but is fairly obvious to us.
This is an enjoyable romantic novel with splashes of emotion, humour, history and drama. I enjoyed finding out more about the Irish culture and language, as well as liking the warmth of the characters and gentleness of the plot.
Take a look at my review of Susanne’s book Dreams of Willow House, some of the characters feature in this book too although it works perfectly well as a standalone novel.
Publication Day Media Kit
Title: Daughters of Wild Rose Bay
Author: Susanne O’Leary
Publication Day: April 8th 2020
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Description:
A heart-warming page-turner set on the Irish coast, where secrets hide, romance is waiting and there is every chance to make a new beginning…
Jasmine Delon feels completely lost: having just broken up with the man she thought was the love of her life, all she knows is that she can’t face living alone in her empty apartment in Paris.
When she turns up at her mother’s curiosity shop, nestled in Sandy Cove in Ireland, she hopes time with Sally will help heal her broken heart. Walks along the rugged coastline and nights under endless stars immediately make her feel at peace, and then she meets Aiden, a handsome chef in town, and sparks fly between them.
But a lot has changed since Jasmine last saw her mother. Sally is happier than ever with a charming new man in her life and Jasmine’s not sure where she fits in. Then she’s told about the ruins of an old village in a place nearby called Wild Rose Bay. The locals say it holds secrets about her mother’s side of the family…
Is delving into their history the thing that can bring Jasmine and Sally back together or will it drive them further apart? And is Jasmine brave enough to give in to the call of the Irish sea for another chance at love?
Daughters of Wild Rose Bay is a warm, feel-good novel set on Ireland’s gorgeous Atlantic coast. For fans of Sheila O’Flanagan, Debbie Macomber, Mary Alice Monroe and anyone who loves a story about second chances.
Author Bio:
Susanne O’Leary is the bestselling author of more than twenty novels, mainly in the romantic fiction genre. She has also written three crime novels and two in the historical fiction genre. She has been the wife of a diplomat (still is), a fitness teacher and a translator. She now writes full-time from either of two locations, a ramshackle house in County Tipperary, Ireland or a little cottage overlooking the Atlantic in Dingle, County Kerry. When she is not scaling the mountains of said counties, or keeping fit in the local gym, she keeps writing, producing a book every six months.
Following the death of her uncle, Lade Eleanor Swift returns to England to take over the family estate. But on her very first night as lady of the manor, she witnesses a murder. The police don’t believe her and Eleanor decides to investigate on her own but who can she trust to help her…?
Set in the 1920s, Eleanor is an exception to the stereotype of womanhood that the male characters expect. She is brave, bold and unapologetic at her subversion of traditional class and social norms. Her main sleuthing companion is butler Clifford but she has her doubts about whether she can trust him or not.
Her intrepid behaviour leads her into confrontations with local police and othe village inhabitants. She also develops a friendship that teeters on romance with Lancelot, a man who matches her humour and unconventional behaviour.
Eleanor has unresolved issues about her parents disappearing, the death of her uncle and her husband; all of which are touched on over the course of the book. Her gradual friendship with her servants makes her a warm and likeable character to counteract her feisty side.
The murder itself is not described in any great detail and there is no forensic description. There is a classical feel to the plot and narrative style which makes it comfortable and familiar to read for lovers of Agatha Christie like myself 🙂
A Very English Murder is a fun and gentle mystery novel with an entertaining protagonist and I look forward to seeing what she gets up to in the future.
Book Description: A Very English Murder
Move over Miss Marple, there’s a new sleuth in town! Meet Eleanor Swift: distinguished adventurer, dog lover, dignified lady… daring detective?
England, 1920. Eleanor Swift has spent the last few years travelling the world: taking tea in China, tasting alligators in Peru, escaping bandits in Persia and she has just arrived in England after a chaotic forty-five-day flight from South Africa. Chipstone is about the sleepiest town you could have the misfortune to meet. And to add to these indignities – she’s now a Lady.
Lady Eleanor, as she would prefer not to be known, reluctantly returns to her uncle’s home, Henley Hall. Now Lord Henley is gone, she is the owner of the cold and musty manor. What’s a girl to do? Well, befriend the household dog, Gladstone, for a start, and head straight out for a walk in the English countryside, even though a storm is brewing…
But then, from the edge of a quarry, through the driving rain, Eleanor is shocked to see a man shot and killed in the distance. Before she can climb down to the spot, the villain is gone and the body has vanished. With no victim and the local police convinced she’s stirring up trouble, Eleanor vows to solve this affair by herself. And when her brakes are mysteriously cut, one thing seems sure: someone in this quiet country town has Lady Eleanor Swift in their murderous sights…
If you enjoy witty dialogue, glamorous intrigue and the very best of Golden Age mysteries, then you will adore Verity Bright’s unputdownable whodunnit, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, T.E. Kinsey and Downton Abbey!
Author Bio:
Verity Bright is the pseudonym for a husband-and-wife writing partnership that has spanned a quarter of a century. Starting out writing high-end travel articles and books, they published everything from self-improvement to humour, before embarking on their first historical mystery. They are the authors of the fabulous Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery series, set in the 1920s.
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