If you are anything like me, when you head off on holiday, you look forward to having a bit more time to indulge in books. With the weather as normal for Cornwall, a lot of rainfall, I stocked up my reader with books that needed reviews and a whole lot more. This collection are the ones that I have been gifted by the authors for review and my opinions have been posted on Amazon, Goodreads and iTunes where applicable.
Blue Murder by Emma Jameson
Two Dead Men
In London's fashionable Chelsea, a Halloween bash goes terribly wrong. Emmeline Wardle, daughter of a frozen foods baron, throws a party which results in the demise of two university schoolmates. Handsome golden boy Trevor Parsons is dead. So is pasty computer nerd Clive French. Both died on the Wardle estate within minutes of one another, and both died the same way - an axe to the skull. Given the social connections of all involved, New Scotland Yard sends a real baron to investigate: Chief Superintendent Anthony Hetheridge, also known as Lord Hetheridge, ninth baron of Wellegrave.
Two Prime Suspects
This time around, Detective Sergeant Kate Wakefield and her partner, Detective Sergeant Deepal "Paul" Bhar, have their work cut out. Bhar must contend with Emmeline Wardle, a spoiled blonde with a penchant for the finer things, including a certain illegal white powder. Kate must decide if Kyla Sloane, model-pretty and delicate, is being truthful about the events of that fateful night. And if Kyla's connection to a former lover of Bhar's means nothing - or everything.
This the second book in the series sees us back again with Kate, Deepal and Tony. Within the first chapter it had me smiling as the interplay between Kate and her partner, Deepal, reminded me of why I enjoyed the first book, it was Ms Jameson's skill in creating a beautifully crafted story with great attention to the plot whilst maintaining interesting characters that are multidimensional. They each have their own problems yet with plenty of action and a good dose of humour they work together to solve a double murder that occurred in a crowded party. A well written tale and well worth the read.
A Faeries Secret, Creepy Hollow Book 4 by Rachael Morgan
Calla Larkenwood wants nothing more than to be a guardian, but her overprotective mother has never allowed it. Battling fae creatures is too dangerous a job for a young girl, and there’s that pesky magical ability she needs to keep hidden from the Guild. How can she do that if she’s working right under their nose?
When circumstances change and Calla finally gets to follow her dream, she discovers guardian trainee life isn’t all she hoped it would be. Her classmates are distant, her mentor hates her, and keeping her ability a secret is harder than she thought. Then an Underground initiation game goes wrong, landing Calla with a new magical ability she can’t control. She needs help—and the only way to get it is by bargaining with the guy who just discovered her biggest secret.
Perfect for fans of Throne of Glass, Unenchanted, and Graceling.
The Clockwise Collection Box Set by Elle Strauss
Clockwise: A teen time traveler accidentally takes her secret crush back in time.
Awkward.
(12+)
Casey Donovan has issues: hair, height and uncontrollable trips to the 19th century! And now this --she's accidentally taken Nate Mackenzie, the cutest boy in the school, back in time.
Awkward.
Protocol pressures her to tell their 1860 hosts that he is her brother and when Casey finds she has a handsome, wealthy (and unwanted) suitor, something changes in Nate. Are those romantic sparks or is it just "brotherly" protectiveness?
When they return to the present, things go back to the way they were before: Casey parked on the bottom of the rung of the social ladder and Nate perched high on the very top. Except this time her heart is broken. Plus, her best friend is mad, her parents are split up, and her younger brother gets escorted home by the police. The only thing that could make life worse is if, by some strange twist of fate, she took Nate back to the past again.
Which of course, she does.
ClockwiseR:
The last year has been smooth sailing for Casey Donovan. She and her boyfriend Nate are doing better than ever, and things at home are good, too.
Everything's been so calm, she hasn't "tripped" back to the nineteenth century
in ages.
Then the unthinkable happens and she accidentally takes her rebellious brother
Tim back in time. It's 1862 with the Civil War brewing, and for Tim this spells
adventure and excitement. Finding himself stuck in the past, he enlists in the Union army, but it doesn't take long before he discovers real life war is no fun and games.
Casey and Nate race against the clock to find Tim, but the strain wears on their relationship. It doesn't help that the intriguing new boy next door has his sights on Casey, and isn't shy to let her know it.
Can Nate and Casey find Tim in time to save him? And is it too late to save
their love?
Like Clockwork:
Adeline doesn't feel she belongs in her own time, but can bad boys from the past be trusted?
Adeline Savoy had hoped that the move west from Cambridge to Hollywood with her single dad would mean they'd finally bond like a real family, but all she got
was a father too busy with his new female friends and his passion for acting to
really see her.
Instead she finds herself getting attached to Faye, the divorcee hair dresser she befriends when she travels back in time to 1955. Plus Faye has a hottie, James Dean-esque, bad-boy brother who has Adeline's heart all aflutter. But bad boys from the past can be dangerous.
Is it possible that Adeline really does belong in her own time and that maybe the right boy lives as close as next door?
What a wonderful collection of stories. Written for the young adult market, these tales manage to capture the imagination. I loved the characters, how they interacted and how the history was woven into the tale. Especially the first two books focusing on the American Civil War, it managed to both integrate the political and social aspects of the time frame whist having a thoroughly modern girl coping with the obvious problems that are presented to a haphazard time traveller. Throw in teenage award relationships and you have a fantastic complex tale with some excellent twists.
Joker by Elisa Jade
The local bad boy discovers an AWOL female wannabe werewolf hunter has infiltrated the town and threatens to force shift her to make her see the light (moonlight, that is) about wolves.
Born and raised in a clandestine paramilitary cult dedicated to destroying all shapeshifting monsters, Leela Jones has to prove her worth by testing her deadly new revolvers on the terrible white wolfman. Too bad he caught her. Even worse, she’s not sure if she wants to get away.
Vicious werewolf hunters killed Bastian Villalobos’ father and left him to run wild, dreaming of a someday revenge. But when that someday comes, it’s in the soft, quiet shape of a lonely woman suffering the same pain as him. She knows him in a way no one else does, and together they could broker a ceasefire between their people. Except not everyone wants peace.
Leela frustrated that her grandfather was greeting her as if she was unvalued, sets out to provide that she can be as good as the boys in fighting the werewolves. However, she meets her match when she is captured by Bastion and comes to realise that what she has been led to believe may not be the whole truth.
An easy flowing tale with likeable characters. It can easily be read as a standalone book as the background plot whilst has common ground with the first tale, is not relient on it for the storyline.
Something Blue by Emma Jameson
SOMETHING OLD... Anthony Hetheridge, ninth baron of Wellegrave and chief superintendent for New Scotland Yard, will marry Kate Wakefield in three weeks. It's inevitable--the invitations are out, the flowers are ordered, the cake is chosen. But murder waits for no man, and no wed
ding.
SOMETHING NEW... In London's prestigious West End, a disgraced CEO has been murdered at Hotel Nonpareil, an exclusive destination. No one, it seems, liked Michael Martin Hughes. Not his estranged wife, Thora, or his defiant son, Griffin. Not Hotel Nonpareil's manager, its head of security, or perhaps even the other two women in Hughes's life: his future bride, Arianna, or his secret girlfriend, Riley. Still more ominously, before Hughes died, he incurred the wrath of a potentially more unforgiving foe: Sir Duncan Godington, longtime nemesis of both CS Hetheridge and DS Deepal "Paul" Bhar.
SOMETHING BORROWED... For the first time, CS Hetheridge, Kate and Bhar find themselves under tremendous pressure to uncover the killer in the shortest time frame ever. Has Scotland Yard, not to mention Downing Street, lost confidence in Hetheridge? Will the murder conviction rest on hard forensic evidence, a mountain of circumstantial details, or an impulsive theft?
As the Wedding looms, Anthony and his team find themselves attacked from all angles. Murder waits for nobody and political wranglings from the highest level add to the stress with time constraints and interference from family and nemeses. A wonderfully crafted tale, this time the ending leaves a few threads that are not fully tied off, one hopes that when they unravel they trip up the villains and not the dynamic trio.
