Airus Lamar’s life seemed normal behind the walls in place by HAVEC – an organization in charge of the world, and their lives. Airus weaves his way through the cage of life alongside his best friend, Tarika. They must fight to survive among order where daily scans permeate their lives. Their survival is measured by tasks and the worth they hold, earning rations and avoiding the keen eyes and rules in place by the jurisdiction. They must work together to navigate a world where they know nothing beyond the walls around them.
But when Tarika is suddenly taken from Airus, everything he’s come to believe and taken for granted is brought into question. As he searches for answers, the life he once knew and the world around him begins to unravel. Where scans dictate not just the value of a life, but what’s beneath them that the organization hides. He comes to learn that not just their lives have been taken from them, but everything they’ve ever known.
In search for the truth and in hopes to be granted a glimpse of what life was like outside the facility, Airus joins a group called the Tithes alongside Dimitri and Gertrude. But when a member of the team suffers a tragedy that brings into question HAVEC’s methods, their hope for survival rests not just beyond the walls, but in the ruptured life that eludes them. In their race against time, they have no choice but to abandon the facility that once protected but enslaved them to face the cataclysm of a torn world that threatens to break their very selves.
With the help of his new friends and obscure acquaintances, will Airus be able to save Tarika and everyone he holds dear from the clutches of HAVEC?
CWs: Murder, graphic deaths, infant death, graphic violence, described blood, blood draining (off page), mutilation, decapitation, gore, rape (on page, mentions of and implied), profanity, brief mention of suicide, substance abuse (not my MCs), and sexual content.
Welcome to the tour for Descended by Ingrid J. Adams! Can love endure life after life? Find out for yourselves!
Descended
Publication Date: March 15, 2024 (Second Edition)
Genre: Coming-Of-Age Fantasy Romance/ Takes Place in the 90s
Nominated for Victorian Premier’s Literary Award 2024, Aurealis Award 2023, and State Library of Queensland Literary Award 2023. For fans of Stephenie Meyer, Gabrielle Zevin, and Matt Haig, DESCENDED ponders whether love can endure, life after life.
1990s SYDNEY. A LOVE THAT SPANS LIFETIMES. FOR SOME, THE VEIL BETWEEN REALMS IS STRETCHED THIN…
An imaginative tour-de-force debut about the big and small decisions we make every day and the ripple effect they have on the rest of time – even if they’re celestially pre-determined.
Indigo Wolfe, the mysterious high school heart throb everyone wants to be or be with, is barely holding on by a thread. Because he isn’t what he seems. He has secrets – secrets that consume him. Pain. Emptiness. The unending noise of all that he sees, and feels and hears that no one else can.
Why is he cursed by abilities others are not?
When he meets the ethereal Cordelia Carlisle, he’s hit with a sense of recognition that traverses lifetimes. Only she can make his world silent. He’s welcomed into her family, and as they grow closer he lets her see the parts of him he keeps hidden.
The only thing he can’t show her is that she’s everything to him.
When they’re torn apart, Indigo descends into darkness and is left standing on the precipice. He must search the depths of his soul – and his powers – and choose, whether to give up, or to fight: for himself, for answers, and for Cordelia, the one he seems destined to love and to lose over and over, life after life after life…
Fresh, masterfully written, and deeply moving, this award-nominated debut is the first in a gripping four-book series that melds paranormal romance with magical realism.
Last Testament in Bologna is the fourth in Tom Benjamin’s critically-acclaimed Bologna-set series featuring British private detective Daniel Leicester.
When an old man makes a bequest to investigate the mysterious death of his son, English detective Daniel Leicester follows a trail to one of Bologna’s wealthiest families – makers of some of the world’s most coveted supercars – and discovers that beneath the glamour of the Formula One circuit lurk sinister interests that may be prepared to kill to keep their secrets.
Tom Benjamin grew up in the suburbs of north London and began his working life as a journalist before becoming a spokesman for Scotland Yard. He later moved into public health, where he led drugs awareness programme FRANK. He now lives in Bologna. Follow Tom @tombenjaminsays on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or at tombenjamin.com
Praise for Tom Benjamin:
‘The locale is brought to life.’ The Times
‘The first division of crime writers’ Daily Mail
‘Ideal holiday reading for those pining for the tastes and smells of the Mediterranean’ The Herald, Scotland
‘Outstanding… An essential guide for armchair travelers to Italy.’ Publishers Weekly (US)
‘As many twists and turns as a plate of spaghetti’ Italia!
‘An insider’s view of life in the heart of Bologna – I felt transported there.’ Harriet Tyce
My thoughts: called in to hear the will reading of a former engineer, Daniel and the Comandante are charged by the deceased to investigate the death of his youngest son. Ruled an accident, the father never believed there wasn’t something suspicious about a racing car driver messing up a turn and driving over a drop-off.
As Daniel digs into world of Formula One racing, and the personal lives of the …. family, the Comandante is in hospital for a hip replacement, the family are all worried about him, even though it’s a straightforward operation.
Dolores seems to be undertaking her own investigation, and Daniel is a bit worried about her, and he’s teaching Rose to drive, which is a little harrowing in its own way.
It was great to be back in Bologna with Daniel and the team/family, I don’t know anything really about Formula One, and it wasn’t really needed, thankfully, as the case boils down to people and relationships. There’s lots of fathers and sons, and father-in-law/son including Daniel and the Comandante here, some relationships better than others. And Daniel is good at understanding people.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
I’m not me when I kill people. At least, that’s what I tell myself. I wake up, and I know I’ve done something horrible. My hands are covered in blood, my clothes are gone, and my stomach feels full. I don’t remember what I did. All I remember is the pain. It’s impossible to forget…
Division X
Publication Date: October 2022 (First Edition)
Genre: Paranormal Horror
The monster killing business isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
We all have a monster within… understatement of the year. For 24-year-old Randi Matheson, she quite literally does. On every full moon, it rears its hairy head. She wasn’t always like this. Ever since her attack, the animal comes out to play. And on one full moon, the beast inside tries to eat her younger brother.
Division X, a paramilitary group hellbent on the eradication of monsters, intervenes and saves Randi’s brother from being devoured. They take Randi far away and imprison her in a place no monster can escape. Held captive, Randi is given an ultimatum. Work for Division X as a new weapon in the fight against evil or be dissected. Without a real choice, she chooses the former and experiences the dark underbelly of reality as she faces off against vampires, demons, and redneck serial killers. Promised a cure to her condition along the way, Randi does her best to stay alive.
When Milla Graham returns to her childhood home of Raven’s Edge after eighteen long years away, she finds the perfect English village looks much the same – all rose-covered cottages, nosy neighbours, and quaint teashops full of scones and gossip.
But her nostalgic visit takes a dark turn when the body of a local woman is discovered in an abandoned manor house on the edge of the forest. The murder scene is chillingly close to that of Milla’s own mother, whose death was never solved. As she begins to investigate the connection, Milla realises this adorable village is guarding some dark secrets.
Handsome, grumpy local police detective Ben Taylor doesn’t believe in coincidences, and he doesn’t think mysterious newcomer Milla Graham is as blameless as she seems. Why is she really here in Raven’s Edge, and how come she keeps turning up at his crime scenes, causing trouble? Can he solve this murder case without losing himself – or his heart – to the rather distracting Ms Graham?
When another body is found, everyone becomes a suspect – from the barmaid at the local pub toMilla Graham herself. It seems that in Raven’s Edge, not everybody is as friendly, or as innocent, as they first seem.
This picture-perfect English village is full of rumour, romance… and murder! A gripping, funny, absolutely unputdownable murder mystery, which is perfect for fans of Faith Martin, Fiona Leitch and M.C. Beaton.
My thoughts: Milla Graham has returned to the village she left as a child in order to find out what really happened the night her mother and siblings died. She was also supposedly killed that night, which is causing some problems.
When a body is found in the ruins of her old family home, complete with her missing purse and ID, things get even more complicated.
DI Ben Taylor, who also grew up in the village, is intrigued by Milla, but also a bit suspicious. Her story doesn’t entirely add up. Both Ben and Milla are trying to solve the murder, and then another body turns up.
Things get very complicated and Milla’s family is very messy and pretty terrible. There’s a lot of things she’s believed, that turn out to be false, and others that when she finds out, answer questions she had a long time. And she and Ben are falling for each other.
A gruesome murder in charming Raven’s Edge sends Milla Graham sleuthing to catch a killer, win back her detective ex, and dig up a decades-old secret along the way…
When a shocking murder rocks the picture-perfect English village of Raven’s Edge, erstwhile amateur detective Milla Graham finds herself right at the centre of the mystery. Still reeling from her recent breakup with local police officer Ben Taylor, Milla sets her sights on solving the case, hoping to win Ben back.
But when the evidence begins to point to Milla’s old friend and former paramour Lorcan Black, she must choose between her loyalties to the past and the possibilities of the future. Meanwhile, Ben is on a different trail – he’s begun to suspect that the murderer could be someone from his own family’s dark history.
Further complicating matters are Milla’s meddling grandmother, Ben’s no-nonsense police partner Harriet and David the surprisingly young and sexy new vicar.
With shocking twists around every cobblestone corner, the truth refuses to stay buried for long in this quaint village, whose picture-postcard façade hides decades of buried grudges, plots, and betrayal.
Will Milla solve the mystery in time to rescue her relationship with Ben? Can Ben face the skeletons in his family’s closet before one of his own relatives meets the same bloody end?
Brimming with drama, intrigue, romance and quirky characters, this addictive tale will have cosy mystery fans racing through the pages long into the night. Fans of M.C. Beaton, Faith Martin and Fiona Leitch will love this book!
My thoughts: Ben and Milla are now in a relationship, although things are not smooth sailing. A headless body is found in the village pond, and an unconscious rock star is found in the local church.
The rock star turns out to be a member of Ben’s family – and this case turns out to be connected to the relatives he prefers not to acknowledge. His father and uncles were all involved in a crime years before – and the younger generation have all dealt with it differently.
But did Ben’s cousin kill the woman in the pond or is someone taking out a vendetta on the family?
Once again Milla and Ben are both investigating, one more officially than the other, as Lorcan turns out to be someone Milla knows, this doesn’t help Ben and Milla’s relationship as she’s not keen to talk as usual.
There’s a highwayman on a horse, wielding a sword, which ties into an old legend about the town, a raven called Eddie, and Harriet eats an enormous amount of cookies, as she fancies the barista (just ask him out!) and I have really enjoyed these two books and can’t wait to see what happens next in this far from sleepy village.
Louise Marley writes murder mysteries and romantic comedies. She is lucky enough to live in a village where there is a famous library and TWO ruined castles. (Her husband still thinks they moved there by accident.) Her first published novel was Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, which was a finalist in Poolbeg’s ‘Write a Bestseller’ competition. She has also written articles for the Irish press and short stories for women’s magazines such as Take a Break and My Weekly. Previously, Louise worked as a civilian administrative officer for the police.
It was supposed to be a romantic getaway weekend in New York City. Breanna’s new boyfriend, Ty, took care of everything—the train tickets, the dinner reservations, the rented four-story luxury rowhouse in Jersey City with a beautiful view of the Manhattan skyline. But when Bree comes downstairs their final morning, she’s shocked. There’s a stranger laying dead in the foyer, and Ty is nowhere to be found.
A Black woman alone in a new city, Bree is stranded and out of her depth—especially when it becomes clear the dead woman is none other than Janelle Beckett, the missing woman the entire Internet has become obsessed with. There’s only one person Bree can turn to: her ex-best friend, a lawyer with whom she shares a very complicated past. As the police and a social media mob close in, all looking for #JusticeForJanelle, Bree realizes that the only way she can help Ty—or herself—is to figure out what really happened that last night.
But when people only see what they want to see, can she uncover the truth hiding in plain sight?
Kellye Garrett is the author of Like a Sister—an Edgar nominee for Best Novel, Anthony Award winner for Best Hardcover Mystery, and Lefty Award winner for Best Mystery—as well as Hollywood Homicide, which won Agatha, Anthony, Lefty, and Independent Publisher “IPPY” awards for Best First Novel and was named one of Time’s 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time and BookBub’s Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time, and Hollywood Ending, which was nominated for both Anthony and Lefty awards. Prior to writing novels, Garrett spent eight years working in Hollywood, including a stint writing for Cold Case. She is a New Jersey native, a cofounder of Crime Writers of Color, and a former board member of Sisters in Crime.
My thoughts: this was a really interesting, thought provoking, and enjoyable read. I liked Bree, who after finding a dead body in her Air B&B and her boyfriend going missing, turns detective in order to prove that neither she or Ty, her boyfriend, had anything to do with the body she found.
With a blend of social media and traditional news media dogging her – Bree is relying on the blend of both to keep her updated, even after she gets doxxed, and help her figure things out. The current obsession with true crime and citizen detectives puts pressure on the police to move faster as the 24/7 online focus is getting in the way.
Bree can’t risk being seen at the crime scene but she needs to find clues, things she half remembered that might prove her innocence and give her the key to why the woman in the Air B&B was left there and Ty vanished.
There’s a serious point to this book too – the hyper focus on missing attractive white women that means missing and murdered women of colour are overlooked and receive little to no coverage in either traditional media or online. Had Bree been the victim, the chances are no one would be obsessing about her and trying to find her killer in the same way.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Dragons, fierce duels, and political intrigue… You’re not going to want to miss this one!
Pre-order When Darkness Hunts the Dawn by M.H. Woodscourt today!
When Darkness Hunts the Dawn (Dragons of Rokahn Book 1)
Expected Publication Date: September 16, 2024
Genre: Adult High/Epic Fantasy/Dragons
Dragon Shifters
Elemental Magic
Ancient Forest
Dark Mages
Good vs. Evil
Male MC
Twins
Fish out of Water
Journey
Secrets
Politics
Rebel. Captive. Dragon.
Condemned for leading a rebellion against a petty tyrant, Mikoneh and his twin sister resign themselves to a fiery death. But when the stake is lit, the flames answer to Mikoneh—and he and his sister escape amid the ensuing chaos.
On the run, they discover they’re being chased by worse than the tyrant’s knights. From deep underground, Dark Mages hunt them for a birthright they never knew. With unexpected help from a magic box and a peculiar woodelf, the twins race for foreign lands to seek refuge from the legendary Dragon King.
But their relentless pursuers will stop at nothing to use Mikoneh’s blood to stir the embers of an ancient war against humans, elves, and dragons.
Soar into the first book of a dragon-centric adventure rife with political intrigue, fierce duels, and deep lore set in a complex fantasy world!
Writer of fantasy, magic weaver, dragon rider! Having spent the past 20+ years devotedly writing fantasy, it’s safe to say M. H. Woodscourt is now more fae than human.
All of her fantasy worlds connect with each other in a broad Universe, forged with great love and no small measure of blood, sweat, and tears. When she’s not writing, she’s napping or reading a book with a mug of hot cocoa close at hand while her quirky cat Wynter nibbles her toes.
To celebrate the paperback release of Thirty Days of Darkness, I’m re-sharing my review from last year’s hardback tour. Read on for more info and to see what I thought the first time I read this book.
It’s also now available in Sainsbury’s – so pop a copy in your trolley!
A snobbish Danish literary author is challenged to write a crime novel in thirty days, travelling to a small village in Iceland for inspiration, and then a body appears … an atmospheric, darkly funny, twisty debut thriller, first in an addictive new series.
Copenhagen author Hannah is the darling of the literary community and her novels have achieved massive critical acclaim. But nobody actually reads them, and frustrated by writer`s block, Hannah has the feeling that she`s doing something wrong. When she expresses her contempt for genre fiction, Hanna is publicly challenged to write a crime novel in thirty days. Scared that she will lose face, she accepts, and her editor sends her to HÚ safjÖ ð ur – a quiet, tight-knit village in Iceland, filled with colourful local characters – for inspiration. But two days after her arrival, the body of a fisherman´ s young son is pulled from the water … and what begins as a search for plot material quickly turns into a messy and dangerous investigation that threatens to uncover secrets that put everything at risk … including Hannah… Atmospheric, dramatic and full of nerve-jangling twists and turns, Thirty Days of Darkness is a darkly funny, unsettling debut Nordic Noir thriller that marks the start of a breath-taking new series.
Jenny Lund Madsen is one of Denmark’s most acclaimed scriptwriters (including the international hits Rita and Follow the Money) and is known as an advocate for better representation for sexual and ethnic minorities in Danish TV and film. She recently made her debut as a playwright with the critically acclaimed Audition (Aarhus Teater) and her debut literary thriller, Thirty Days of Darkness, first in an addictive new series, won the Harald Mogensen Prize for Best Danish Crime Novel of the year and was shortlisted for the coveted Glass Key Award.
My thoughts: come with me to an Icelandic village in the middle of nowhere, in winter, where writer Hannah is attempting to write a crime novel in 30 days to win a bet. When there’s a murder, which she gets involved in and puts her safety at risk. She doesn’t speak the language, forcing others to have to speak English or Danish, she doesn’t know the people, but she’s pretty sure she can catch the killer. As you do.
I found Hannah a bit grating, she pushes her way into people’s lives and business with little regard for their feelings and clearly thinks very highly of herself. Her career is stalling as not many people seem that keen on her literary fiction – preferring crime writers like her nemesis Jørn. Which is why she boasts she can write a whole crime novel in a month. This tickled me, I do love it when writers poke fun at the industry and their own genre.
Especially when the book is so good, like this one. Jenny Lund Madsen has written a cracking crime thriller, with all the good ingredients – remote location, nosey outsider, secrets that have been buried for years, lots of possible suspects, a conflicted community, a lone policeman, and winter closing in. Iceland’s unique geography and the fact that the sun isn’t in evidence for much of the winter adds to the sinister atmosphere – snow bound crimes are always a bit more macabre than sunny ones. The winter darkness adds to the sense of claustrophobia and paranoia, someone here is a killer. They can’t leave, but neither can anyone else.
Full of suspense, intrigue and horror, this dark and twisted tale of murder and tragedy is absolutely perfect for a dark and stormy night’s reading. Or not, if you don’t want to stay up all night!
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
On board the superyacht Perseus, moored in the glamorous harbour in Antibes, Freya Addison is settling into her new role as hostess. The other crew members all like Freya, she is calm and diligent and a hard worker, but what they don’t know is that Freya has a secret and an ulterior motive for being on board. Revenge will be hers.
Because Freya isn’t here to travel the world in style. She has her sights set on one thing only, bringing down the owner of the yacht – the rich and arrogant Julian Falcon. A man who ripped the heart out of Freya’s family. And a man she will make pay…
Evie Hunter is a British author and a bit of a nomad, who’s spent the last twenty years roaming the world and finding inspiration from the places she’s visited. An animal lover and recently widowed, she’s now settled back in the UK with her rescued Spanish Podenco, Markos. Keep up to date with all her releases by joining her mailing list
My thoughts: set on a glamorous yacht sailing to Ibiza, this is a tale of revenge, dodgy money and terrible men. Freya has joined the crew to get back at the man she blames for her sister’s death – Julian Falcon, he’s a dodgy dealer with fingers in various pies, only someone’s swiped his latest pile of suspiciously acquired money, the police are after him and he’s planning to stitch up some underlings and scarper.
Freya discovers she isn’t the only person who hates Falcon and wants him arrested or dead. But when a murder occurs in an Ibizan hotel and it’s linked to Falcon, all plans are on hold till the local police carry out their investigation. No one wants to draw attention to their own scheme.
There’s a lot going on here, revenge plots, stolen money, police in two countries taking notice of the yacht’s owner, various iffy people attached to Falcon, a murder, and it doesn’t all seem to connect up at first, but slowly, as the characters assemble all the pieces, it’s clear that Falcon is up to his neck and running out of time too. Not everyone will be happy with the fall out but some at least will feel they’ve got what they wanted.
I liked Freya, she didn’t have a particularly detailed plan to get her revenge but she was determined to find a way to make Falcon pay – she couldn’t link him to her sister’s death directly, but in teaming up with the boat’s captain and a few others with access and revenge on their minds, she’s able to get more than enough evidence, the murder is a bit of a bonus as it gets the police involved very quickly, without her having to take too many risks.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
On an ordinary day in 2017, Jo receives a phone call about her 18-year-old daughter, Jessie. It is the call that every parent dreads. In 1940, 17-year-old Alice ties on her facemask and enters a laboratory to harvest a potential new miracle drug called penicillin. The lives of these women become entwined when Jo finds Alice’s diary in a vintage handbag. Past and present overlap and merge as life-changing events resonate for them all across the gulf of time.
This is a story about a diary opening a door on the past, chronicling a young woman’s determination to succeed against all odds, while unknowingly inspiring others to step into a better life. Set against the backdrop of the Second World War, the infancy of antibiotics and a modern medical emergency and its consequences, it not only reminds us how fortunate we are to live now, but also serves as a stark warning about the fragility of life and the dangers of complacency.
Margot Shepherd is a British author who was born in Yorkshire where she spent her childhood. She now lives in rural Sussex with her husband and Springer Spaniel, Genni. When she’s not writing she works in medical research at the University of Surrey. She writes about family relationships with a particular emphasis on women and science from a female point of view.
My thoughts: Jo finds Alice’s diary from 1940 in a vintage handbag, and inspired by Alice’s life, both Jo and her daughter decide to make changes to their lives. Jessie has contracted meningitis, and thankfully has recovered, Alice’s diary helps her as she and Jo read it.
Alice works in a lab in 1940 helping develop penicillin – and make huge changes in treating infectious diseases, saving lives. Her father is away fighting in the war, and she struggles with her mum and brother. Her work inspires her to want more and apply to be a nurse.
As Jo and Jessie read Alice’s diary and the story moves back and forth in time, these three women will all become more than they are.
I felt personally connected to Alice’s story, my mum had a serious kidney condition as a child and was hospitalised – antibiotics saved her life, I wouldn’t be here if they didn’t exist thanks to scientists and their assistants like Alice. And much like Alice, my mum trained as a nurse and served in the NHS for over 40 years.
I also really loved Jo and Jessie – their relationship is strengthened as they live together during Jessie’s recovery, Jo realises she’s surrendered her life in order to do what her husband thought best, and that she should rebuild her career and do something for herself now both her daughters are grown up.
Jessie also decides a bit more about her future – she’s studying physics and wants to work on antibiotic resistance, so more people can survive illnesses like the meningitis she contracted.
The book is full of hope – all three women across both timelines are moving towards hopeful, bright new futures.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 