Month: July 2024

Blog tour for THE IRISH CHILD by Daisy O’Shea

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Book Description:

A salty breeze whips the tears from my eyes as I stare out at the emerald Irish Sea. Everything I’ve lost, the child my great grandmother Nellie lost, all feels so present here, in the land my family left years ago. How will I ever move on? Will I ever uncover the truth about the little girl who went missing all those years ago?

When Boston-born Erin arrives in wind-tossed Roone Bay, she’s heart-sore, tired and lonely. Her marriage is over: she’s come to build a new life for herself on Ireland’s rugged southern coast. And to unravel the story behind the mysterious note in her family’s ancient Bible that has haunted her since childhood. But hazel-eyed former lifeboat volunteer Finn, the only local historian around, quietly refuses her pleas to help.

So Erin settles in to the town, with its whitewashed cottages and ruddy-cheeked fishermen, and begins her quest alone. Who was her ancestor, Nellie, and why did she leave Ireland for America? What happened to her missing child, Annie, and did Nellie ever see her again?

Just as Erin despairs ever uncovering the truth, one rain-soaked night she is rescued by Finn, who finally agrees to help. And by firelight and candlelight each evening, just as it would have been in her great-grandmother’s time, Finn and Erin grow closer as they share their stories.

But just as Erin wonders if Roone Bay could be her forever home, she makes a devastating discovery. Will she be able to face the truth, which changes everything she thought she knew about herself, her past, and her family’s Irish legacy? Or will she run, just as Nellie did all those years ago, and lose the best chance at happiness she’s ever had…?

This gorgeous, heart-breaking, totally immersive story of an Irish family’s legacy is perfect for fans of Susanne O’Leary, Kathleen McGurl and Tricia O’Malley.

So if you know me, you know I am half Irish and I love love love Ireland! It is such a beautiful country with lovely people. Many years ago, after a difficult break up, I went to Ireland and found some healing there, so I could relate to Erin. And as Erin’s great-grandmother came over from Ireland, so did my great-grandparents, but mine came after the Famine. I loved this story and I loved the “toggle” between Nellie’s story (which is a sad one – but not too sad!) and Erin’s. It reminded me a bit of one of my favorite Irish authors, Maeve Binchy.

Thank you for my copy and for having me as part of the tour!

Author Bio:

I LOVE this author bio. Sue Lewando/Daisy O’Shea is so interesting and we have much in common, including a love of the Oxford comma!

Sue Lewando was a teacher for several years before migrating to the office environment, where she was PA to the Treasurer of Clarks Shoes, a multi-national company, then, briefly, PA to Susan George, the actress best known for Straw Dogs. Sue had many genre books published (M&B and Virgin), under pseudonyms, and self-publishes her crime thrillers. She was on the committee of the Romantic Novelists’ Association in England, for whom she assessed typescripts. She has been a fiction tutor for the London School of Journalism for twenty years. She has two grown-up children, a happy second marriage, and a bundle of cats and dogs. She moved to West Cork with her husband to undertake a farmhouse refurbishment project, foster their joint passion for playing Irish traditional music, and to invest time in their individual academic projects. She recently completed a Masters in Creative Writing at UCC, taking the opportunity to explore diverse writing genres. She works with the Jeremy Murphy Literary Consultancy in the capacity of typescript analyst, ghostwriter, editor, and online publishing advisor. She loves good commercial fiction, and is a devotee of the Oxford comma.

Sign up to be the first to hear about new releases from Daisy O’Shea here: https://bookouture.com/subscribe/daisy-oshea/

Buy Link: NOT affiliated with BBNB

Amazon: https://geni.us/B0D2J77FKWsocial

Bookouture Blog Tour for GIRL NEXT DOOR by Karen King

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Nothing says summer like a suspenseful read you can’t put down! This was a great read and I kept thinking how it’d make a super engaging limited series on Netflix. It felt a bit like a Harlan Coben mystery. It kept me up for two nights until I finished it. I did like the ending as well!

Book Description:

My darling son is accused of attacking the girl next door. He would never do this… Would he?

I have the perfect family: my loving, devoted partner. Our sons, so thoughtful and affectionate despite their teenage angst. But everything changes when our friendly neighbours move in.

Their daughter Rachel is so pretty and bubbly. Her giggles float over our garden fence. I can see our boys are falling for her, fighting for her affection.

Then Rachel falls from her bedroom window. Her life is hanging in the balance. And to my horror, her parents think my son Jacob pushed her.

I know my sensitive son would never do such a thing, but he is hiding something. A mother always knows, doesn’t she? And who is spreading nasty rumours in our neighbourhood about me and my partner, about history repeating itself?

Then I find Rachel’s broken sunflower necklace in my home, and my world falls apart. It’s unbearable, but I must face the truth. Someone’s child is fighting for their life. And someone in my family hurt her.

With Rachel at death’s door, is Jacob in terrible danger too? And how far will I have to go to protect him?

A totally unputdownable and thrilling psychological suspense novel with a gasp-out-loud twist. Perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell, Clare Mackintosh and K.L. Slater.

Author Bio:

Karen King was born in Birmingham and has always enjoyed reading and writing. She’s been published for over thirty years, in a variety of genres for both children and adults. She loves writing about the complexities of relationships. Her first three books for Bookouture were romances where relationships came right, she has now turned to the darker side of relationships, writing two psychological thrillers about relationships that go badly wrong. Karen now lives in Spain where she loves to spend her non-writing time exploring the quaint local towns with her husband, Dave, when she isn’t sunbathing or swimming in the pool, that is.

https://karenkingauthor.com/

https://www.instagram.com/karenkingauthor/

Sign up to be the first to hear about new releases from Karen King here: https://www.bookouture.com/karen-king

Buy Link: NOT affiliated with BBNB

Amazon: https://geni.us/B0D274VT3Gsocial

Thank you for the opportunity to read and take part in this tour!

The Last Garden in England by Julia Kelly

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I somehow overlooked this title in my Net Galley list, but I’m SO glad I discovered it! I loved this story of a group of women who, over many years, are connected by their love and dedication to a garden on an English estate. Such a lovely story and such memorable characters! I love Julia Kelly’s writing; this story reminded me of another beloved author: Kate Morton. If you enjoy this type of historical fiction, don’t miss it!

Thank you for my review e-galley!

Description

From the author of the international bestseller The Light Over London and The Whispers of War comes a poignant and unforgettable tale of five women living across three different times whose lives are all connected by one very special place.

Present day: Emma Lovett, who has dedicated her career to breathing new life into long-neglected gardens, has just been given the opportunity of a lifetime: to restore the gardens of the famed Highbury House estate, designed in 1907 by her hero Venetia Smith. But as Emma dives deeper into the gardens’ past, she begins to uncover secrets that have long lain hidden.

1907: A talented artist with a growing reputation for her ambitious work, Venetia Smith has carved out a niche for herself as a garden designer to industrialists, solicitors, and bankers looking to show off their wealth with sumptuous country houses. When she is hired to design the gardens of Highbury House, she is determined to make them a triumph, but the gardens—and the people she meets—promise to change her life forever.

1944: When land girl Beth Pedley arrives at a farm on the outskirts of the village of Highbury, all she wants is to find a place she can call home. Cook Stella Adderton, on the other hand, is desperate to leave Highbury House to pursue her own dreams. And widow Diana Symonds, the mistress of the grand house, is anxiously trying to cling to her pre-war life now that her home has been requisitioned and transformed into a convalescent hospital for wounded soldiers. But when war threatens Highbury House’s treasured gardens, these three very different women are drawn together by a secret that will last for decades.

In this sweeping novel reminiscent of Kate Morton’s The Lake House and Kristin Harmel’s The Room on Rue Amélie, Julia Kelly explores the unexpected connections that cross time and the special places that bring people together forever.

For My Ears: Homecoming by Kate Morton with Claire Foy as Narrator

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I LOVE Kate Morton’s books and I was excited to listen to this one for my final days on the interminable commute. It was SO GOOD! I love the mystery behind it and Ms. Morton’s amazingly beautiful and evocative writing. This was a sad story, but a good one. Fun fact: I was part of a Harper-Collins survey group that voted for the cover for this title and this was the cover I chose. It is so beautiful!

I should add that the narration of this title was just wonderful. The story takes place in Australia and centers on a family that is found deceased on Christmas and the many pieces of that puzzle from the past, along with the current, and the house where it all happened.

I got mine with an Audible credit. If you love Kate Morton, this one will not disappoint!

Here’s the scoop:

A brand-new book from award-winning author Kate Morton, read by powerhouse Emmy award–winning actress Claire Foy. This breathtaking mystery of love, lies and a cold case come back to life is told with Morton’s trademark intricacy and beauty.

Adelaide Hills, Christmas Eve, 1959. At the end of a scorching hot day, beside a creek in the grounds of a grand and mysterious house, a local deliveryman makes a terrible discovery. A police investigation is called, and the small town of Tambilla becomes embroiled in one of the most shocking and perplexing murder cases in the history of South Australia.

Many years later and thousands of miles away, Jess is a journalist in search of a story. Having lived and worked in London for nearly two decades, she now finds herself laid off from her full-time job and struggling to make ends meet. Until a phone call out of nowhere summons her back to Sydney, where her beloved grandmother, Nora, has suffered a fall and been raced to the hospital.

At Nora’s house, Jess discovers a true crime book that chronicles the police investigation into a long-buried event: the Turner Family Tragedy of Christmas Eve, 1959. It is only when Jess skims through the pages that she finds a shocking connection between her own family and this once-infamous scandal – a murder mystery that has never been resolved satisfactorily.

2023, Queensland Literary Awards, Short-listed

2024, Indie Book Awards Fiction, Long-listed

2024, Australian Book Design Awards, Short-listed

2024, Australian Book Industry Award General Fiction Book of the Year, Short-listed

2024, The Crime Writers’ Association Dagger Awards Gold Dagger, Long-listed

The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan

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I love J. Courtney Sullivan’s beautiful writing, so I was excited to get The Cliffs to read and review. This was a totally engrossing story, part a ghost story, part a story of a woman’s life and her connection to an old house in the town where she grew up. It seems it has been chosen for Reese’s Book Club, so I’m sure you will hear more about this title. I loved it, though, and couldn’t put it down!

Here’s the scoop:

Description

REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK • A novel of family, secrets, ghosts, and homecoming set on the seaside cliffs of Maine, by the New York Times best-selling author of Friends and Strangers

“A stunning achievement, and J. Courtney Sullivan’s best book yet. Sullivan weaves a narrative that’s fascinating and thought-provoking. I literally could not put this book down.”
—Ann Napolitano, New York Times best-selling author of Hello Beautiful

On a secluded bluff overlooking the ocean sits a Victorian house, lavender with gingerbread trim, a home that contains a century’s worth of secrets. By the time Jane Flanagan discovers the house as a teenager, it has long been abandoned. The place is an irresistible mystery to Jane. There are still clothes in the closets, marbles rolling across the floors, and dishes in the cupboards, even though no one has set foot there in decades. The house becomes a hideaway for Jane, a place to escape her volatile mother.

Twenty years later, now a Harvard archivist, she returns home to Maine following a terrible mistake that threatens both her career and her marriage. Jane is horrified to find the Victorian is now barely recognizable. The new owner, Genevieve, a summer person from Beacon Hill, has gutted it, transforming the house into a glossy white monstrosity straight out of a shelter magazine. Strangely, Genevieve is convinced that the house is haunted—perhaps the product of something troubling Genevieve herself has done. She hires Jane to research the history of the place and the women who lived there. The story Jane uncovers—of lovers lost at sea, romantic longing, shattering loss, artistic awakening, historical artifacts stolen and sold, and the long shadow of colonialism—is even older than Maine itself.

Enthralling, richly imagined, filled with psychic mediums and charlatans, spirits and past lives, mothers, marriage, and the legacy of alcoholism, this is a deeply moving novel about the land we inhabit, the women who came before us, and the ways in which none of us will ever truly leave this earth.

Highly recommended, it’s the perfect summer read!

Thank you for my copy through Net Galley.