loopyloulaura

The fourth book to feature DI Gina Harte and once again her personal life is mixed up in a murder case. A woman is found dead after a party and there are links to the disappearance of another woman years ago. It soon becomes clear that both women were involved in wife swapping parties and the other attendees are keeping quiet.

Meanwhile, Gina has been looking for love (or just lust) to help her forget about her boss who she still yearns for. Her latest lover won’t leave her alone and then turns out to be involved in the case, as is her cruel late husband’s brother.

The Liar’s House is a great police procedural novel and it is fantastic to have a strong female lead officer who has an emotional depth that appeals to readers. This book focuses much more on her romantic relationships whilst the last one had more of a family angle.

Carla Kovach’s style of writing is easy to read and fast paced. Chapters are no longer than 5 minutes so it is tempting to read one more chapter even when tired or have a list of chores (come on mums, who with me?)

We see the first person viewpoint of the killer and this adds to the anticipation as we see him stalk his victims whose perspective is also shown to heighten the tension. There are some unpleasant descriptions of violence and murder but they are not overly graphic or gratuitous.

I had no idea who the killer was and was desperate for some characters to get their comeuppance but I won’t give away the conclusion…

Read my review of the previous book in the series: Her Pretty Bones!

Title: The Liar’s House

Publication day: July 2^nd

Author:  CARLA KOVACH

Buy  Links:      

Amazon: https://geni.us/B07QCNN7VXSocial

Apple Books: https://apple.co/2Z2SKX0

Kobo: http://bit.ly/2IjtqFv

Googleplay: http://bit.ly/2Wo1la7

Description:

Samantha stumbled out of the party and on to a busy street only ten minutes away from her home. But she never made it home… 

Seven years after Samantha’s disappearance, on what would have been her thirty-fifth birthday, her best friend Diane is shocked to find a letter addressed to Samantha on her doorstep.

Opening the envelope, Diane pulls out a birthday card and a finger nail painted in dusky pink nail polish. The same shade Samantha always wore. The same shade she was wearing the night she went missing.

When police analyse the nail, they don’t get the result they expected. Instead of linking them to Samantha, the nail belongs to another woman, Jade Ashmore. And Jade was murdered the night before the envelope was delivered….

THE COMPLETELY ADDICTIVE NEW CRIME THRILLER FROM BEST SELLING AUTHOR CARLA KOVACH – if you love Lisa Gardner, Robert Bryndza or Clare Mackintosh, you’ll love The Liar’s House. Gripping from the first page – you won’t be able to put it down. 

Author Bio:

Carla Kovach was born in Birmingham, UK and now resides in Redditch, Worcestershire. Author of supernatural drama ‘Flame,’ psychological thriller ‘To Let,’ crime thriller ‘Whispers Beneath the Pines,’ and holiday comedy, ‘Meet Me at Marmaris Castle.’ Carla also writes stage and screenplays, some of which have been produced in the Worcestershire area. Her feature film ‘Penny for the Guy’ is being made and is set for release in 2019.

Her latest book, Her Final Hour, has been published by Bookouture. It is the second in the DI Gina Harte crime series.

Author Social Media Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarlaKovachAuthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CKovachAuthor

Website: https://griffbuck.wordpress.com/

Time for summer lovin’! Cake baker Liv returns to France to search for the father of her son, conceived during a summer of passion 20 years ago.

Andre left to go travelling and Liv never saw him again but discovered she was pregnant and couldn’t find him to let him know he has a son. Now Jake wants to find his father so Liv begins to search…

A Very French Affair will leave a warm feeling in your heart as Liv rediscovers lost love and tries to build a new relationship with her former love. The complication of a secret child tugs at the emotions and adds an extra dimension to the plot.

Sue Roberts’ descriptions are rich and evocative so it is very easy to imagine the French setting. The theme of lost love is beautifully written and you keep your fingers crossed that Liv will get a happy ending.

It was nice to read a book about a character my own age who has a second chance at happiness and is a strong character but is still vulnerable, nursing a broken heart and wasted dreams. There is hope and the opportunity for a fresh start for all of the characters.

Overall, this was an uplifting book and a great way to kick off a summer reading list!

A VERY FRENCH AFFAIR by Sue Roberts

From Southport to the South of France – this is going to be a summer to remember!

Life just got a whole lot more complicated for thirty-eight-year-old single mum Liv. Her son Jake is practically perfect in every way, but he’s started asking some difficult questions, and the answers lie in a holiday romance twenty years ago. Back when Liv was staying with her aunt on the French Riviera…

Returning to the Cote d’Azur, with its white sandy beaches, her supportive aunt, and exquisite wine and cheese is harder than it sounds though. Because – if she’s going to give Jake the answers he needs – Liv knows she has to hunt down her first love Andre. And since she’s a professional baker rather than a professional investigator, she doesn’t even have a clue where to start.

At first, finding the one that got away proves even trickier than she thought. And if she succeeds, how will he take the bombshell secret Liv has been keeping? Liv has to do the best thing for her family, but does that mean closing the door on this very French affair?

A joyful, laugh-out-loud story about second chances, secrets and sunshine! The perfect summer read for fans of Carole Matthews, Jenny Colgan and Sophie Kinsella. 

About the author: 

Sue was born in Liverpool and moved to Lancashire as a teenager where she has lived ever since. She has written three books, the third ‘My Summer of love and limoncello.’ will be published on March 6th and she is busy working on a fourth book. When not busy writing, Sue spends her time with her ever growing family. She enjoys walking, cinema and travelling. Her first book ‘My Big Greek Summer.’ was inspired by frequent visits to the Island of Rhodes in Greece. All Sue’s books are available from Amazon in kindle and paperback format.

https://twitter.com/SueRobertsautho

Lucy and Adele meet at secondary school but their lives are worlds apart: Lucy’s family are rich, Adele’s are not. Their friendship endures until one day a tragic accident occurs which Adele helped to cause. Lucy promises to keep quiet, hence the book’s title The Friendship Pact, but the girls drift apart due to the differences in their backgrounds as well as the guilt gnawing at them.

Scoot ahead in time to the present day and Lucy is unhappily married to a bully named Marcus. She tried to leave him but he won’t allow his reoputation to be sullied and forces her to return. Lucy decides to take drastic action and gets in contact wth Adele to help her find someone to create a new identitiy and escape her unhappy life.

There are a couple of really big twists or turning points in this book which really keep you guessing as they are unexpected. I liked the way we have the teenage years interpersed with the present day chapters.

Lucy is a really likeable character but Adele isn’t. I can’t decide if this is because we spend more time getting to know Lucy so develop an emotional connection with her, or if Adele uses her poor background as an excuse for stealing etc and blames others rather than herself for events that have happened in her life.

I absolutely loved this book. The writing by Alison James is so good and the plight of Lucy trying to escape her cruel husband only to find a new tormentor makes this a gripping read from start to finish.

Title: The Friendship Pact

Publication Day: 03/07/19

Author:  Alison James

Buy  Link:        

Amazon: https://geni.us/B07QCD4Y7FSocial

Apple Books: https://apple.co/31EW7Wg  

Kobo: http://bit.ly/2Xrf3Za

Googleplay: http://bit.ly/2WNQYHW

Description:

I’m Lucy, and I have a secret
I have a beautiful home, that I’m desperate to escape.
But that’s not my secret.
I tell my friends I’ve never wanted children, when I always have.
But that’s not my secret.
My husband is a celebrated surgeon, who tries to control me.
But that’s not my secret.

Adele knows.
Once upon a time, I knew everything about her and she knew everything about me.
Best friends forever.
But now our secret is beginning to surface.
I can trust her more than anyone. We made a pact.
And she’s never do anything to hurt me. Would she?

This absolutely gripping psychological thriller will have you forgetting everything until the last shocking twist. Fans of Behind Closed Doors, Friend Request, and The Girl on the Train will be hooked. 

Author Bio:

Born in the Cotswolds, Alison spent most of her formative years abroad. She studied languages at Oxford, then became a journalist and author, returning to university after her two children to take a law degree. After a three-year stint as a criminal paralegal, Alison worked as a commercial copywriter and then a TV storyliner, before coming full circle to write fiction again.

Author Social Media Links:

Website: n/a

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alison.james.90226628

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/AlisonJbooks

Based on a true story from the 1900s, the suspicious death of Grace Mae Brown, and subsequent execution of Chester Gillette for her murder, is brought up to date with a spoooooky ghost story.

The author Heidi Sprouse cleverly weaves the real life documents into a narrative fiction. The characters’ motivations and emotion are brought back to life through the haunting of Katherine and Charlie by Grace and Chester.

Charlie is related to Chester and is convinced of his innocence despite the overwhelming circumstantial evidence to the contrary. Meanwhile, ghost Chester is desperate to find Grace again and make amends for the way he treated her in her final days. Can love overcome death and reunite the pair?

Love and passion are important issues in this book, both between the historical characters and those in the present. Morality and sex are key themes to the book as well and we are reminded that we shouldn’t assert our present day definitions on the past.

There is also a political overtone about the use of the capital pinishment and the electric chair, and the description of Chester’s execution as experienced by Charlie is very difficult and extremely uncomfortable to read, even more so when we know he may have been innocent.

This is more of a novella than a full length book and I wish it had been longer to explore the background to Katherine and Charlie meeting as well as dedicate more time and pages to the murder case itself. Having said that, Walking with Ghosts on Ward’s Pond inspired me to go and read more about the case so really captured my imagination.

Walking with Ghosts on Ward’s Pond

Genre: Mystery

Expected Publication Date: July

A hundred-year-old unsolved mystery resurfaces when journalist Charlie Baxter becomes consumed with finding out the truth. After discovering his bloodline includes a potential murderer, Charlie sets out to clear his family’s name—only to find that everyone has an opinion, but does anyone have answers?

In 1906, Chester Gillette took Grace Brown on a secret trip in the Adirondacks, but only he returned. Grace and her unborn child drowned in the lake, and Chester was convicted of murder. Now, his distant relative Charlie Baxter is retracing the steps of that fateful trip in hopes of laying it to rest once and for all.

However, a mysterious guest at the bed and breakfast on Ward’s Pond is drawn into the cold case—not by Charlie, but by the ghost of Grace Brown. When Charlie learns that the guest’s name is Katherine Grace Brown, he can’t deny the connection. Despite running from her own past, Katherine agrees to help Charlie in his quest for the truth.

The true tale of the Gillette-Brown murder has been the subject of many a story, and it continues to intrigue. What really happened at that lake? Was Chester Gillette truly guilty of murder, or was he sent to the electric chair innocent? Perhaps with the help of their ghosts, Charlie and Katherine can find out.

Available at B & N and on Amazon!

About the Author

Heidi Sprouse, author of Walking with Ghosts on Ward’s Pond is a resident of historic Johnstown in upstate NY and went to college at St. Rose in Albany.

Heidi started her journey to becoming an author when she was just a child. She would practice creative writing with her friends and continued to write on through college. It wasn’t until her early thirties, after her father passed away, that she began seriously penning words with the intent to write books. As an author, Heidi opens a window into her worlds of sweet romances, historical fiction, and suspense thrillers. She’s always in search of the finding the extraordinary within the ordinary; writing about strong men with old-fashioned values and the women who pick them up when they fall.

When she isn’t writing, she adores spending time with her husband Jim, her son Patrick and her furry canine kids. She also has a rewarding career as a Pre-K teacher.

Heidi has a long list of titles credited to her name. We hope that this month you’ll check out her latest endeavor, Walking with Ghosts on Ward’s Pond available for preorder or for direct purchase on July 2nd.

Heidi Sprouse | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram | Goodreads

Blog Tour Schedule

July 1^st

Reads & Reels (Spotlight) http://readsandreels.com

B is for Book Review (Spotlight) https://bforbookreview.wordpress.com

Kim Knight (Interview) http://kimknightauthor.wordpress.com

The Legal Alien (Review) https://thelegalalien.com/

Devouring Books (Review) https://devouringbooks2017.wordpress.com/

July 2^nd

Just 4 My Books (Spotlight) http://www.just4mybooks.wordpress.com

The Magic of Wor(l)ds (Spotlight) http://themagicofworlds.wordpress.com

LoopyLouLaura (Review) https://www.loopyloulaura.com/

July 3^rd

Breakeven Books (Spotlight) https://breakevenbooks.com

Reviews and Promos by Nyx (Spotlight) https://nyxblogs.wordpress.com/

Triquetra Reviews (Spotlight) http://www.triquetrareviews.blogspot.com

July 4^th

Cup of Toast (Interview) https://cupoftoast.co.uk

Reading Nook (Spotlight) http://readingnook84.wordpress.com

July 5^th

Jessica Belmont (Review) https://jessicabelmont.wordpress.com/

Port Jerricho (Review) http://www.aislynndmerricksson.com

The Faerie Review (Review) http://www.thefaeriereview.com

Blog Tour Organized By:

R&R Book Tours