And there it goes. First full week of 2022 is over and done with. 51 to go. How was your week? Mine was busy but productive. Finally feel like I’ve been able to get into my new job and it has been a very busy four days. And maybe because I’m developing a routine in the working day, I’ve not only been able to stick to my diet for a whole week, but I’ve also been pretty productive on the reading front too. Four books in seven days! Bonus. Weather has been a bit crappy and the long working days make it hard to get out and about for a walk but we did make the most of the extra Bank Holiday last Monday, and managed a nice walk along the canal path yesterday. Every other day has been a stint on the exercise bike, but that does mean I can read at the same time so it’s not all bad.
Made use of the odd kindle bargain and pre-order over the past week. Why not right? My purchases included The Man On The Street by Trevor Wood; a preorder of Vanished by Lynda La Plante; How To Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie; Left For Dead by Joy Kluver; The Island of Lost Girls by. Alex Marwood; The Seamstress of Warsaw by Rebecca Mascull; and I decided to buy a paper copy of The Searcher by Tana French. I also decided to preorder Janice Hallet’s The Twyford Code special signed edition from Waterstones. No new Netgalley books but I did receive a copy of A Lethal Deception by Rachel Amphlett in readiness for the blog tour.
Books I have read
The Long Weekend by Gilly Macmillan
By the time you read this, I’ll have killed one of your husbands.
In an isolated retreat, deep in the Northumbria moors, three women arrive for a weekend getaway.
Their husbands will be joining them in the morning. Or so they think.
But when they get to Dark Fell Barn, the women find a devastating note that claims one of their husbands has been murdered. Their phones are out of range. There’s no internet. They’re stranded. And a storm’s coming in.
Friendships fracture and the situation spins out of control as each wife tries to find out what’s going on, who is responsible and which husband has been targeted.
This was a tight-knit group. They’ve survived a lot. But they won’t weather this. Because someone has decided that enough is enough.
That it’s time for a reckoning.
You Never Said Goodbye by Luca Veste
A DEVOTED MOTHER
Sam Cooper has a happy life: a good job, a blossoming relationship. Yet, there’s something he can never forget – the image seared into his mind of his mother, Laurie, dying when he was a child. His father allowed his grief to tear them apart and Sam hasn’t seen him in years.
A LOVING WIFE
Until an unexpected call from Firwood hospital, asking Sam to come home, puts in motion a chain of devastating events. On his deathbed, Sam’s father makes a shocking confession.
A LIAR?
Who was Laurie Cooper? It’s clear that everything Sam thought he knew about his mother was wrong. And now he’s determined to find out exactly what she did and why – whatever the cost.
What happens if you discover you’ve been lied to by your own family for twenty-five years?
A Lethal Deception by Rachel Amphlett
When a brutal attack on a business owner is followed by a suspicious death, the police first suspect the beginning of a new underworld drugs war.
Then a second victim is found dead, and the truth starts to look like something much worse.|
With the death toll rising and her career under scrutiny from the media and her own superiors, Kay Hunter is running out of time to unravel the deadly secrets hiding behind ruthless ambition and treachery.
But Kay isn’t going to give up easily.
Because this time, the first victim is closer to home…
The First Day Of Spring by Nancy Tucker
‘So that was all it took,’ I thought. ‘That was all it took for me to feel like I had all the power in the world. One morning, one moment, one yellow-haired boy. It wasn’t so much after all.’
Chrissie knows how to steal sweets from the shop without getting caught, the best hiding place for hide-and-seek, the perfect wall for handstands.
Now she has a new secret. It gives her a fizzing, sherbet feeling in her belly. She doesn’t get to feel power like this at home, where food is scarce and attention scarcer.
Fifteen years later, Julia is trying to mother her five-year-old daughter, Molly. She is always worried – about affording food and school shoes, about what the other mothers think of her. Most of all she worries that the social services are about to take Molly away.
That’s when the phone calls begin, which Julia is too afraid to answer, because it’s clear the caller knows the truth about what happened all those years ago.
And it’s time to face the truth: is forgiveness and redemption ever possible for someone who has killed?
So that was my reading week. Some absolutely cracking books to start the new year. Lots more goodies to come too. Mandie and I are determined to take. the foot of the gas a little this year and enjoy the experience of reading more, so the blog isn’t quite as busy. Still reviewed four books though – recap below:
#Review – All For You – Louise Jensen
#Review – Plain Dead – Andy Maslen
#Review – The Arctic Curry Club – Dani Redd
#Review – A Corruption of Blood – Ambrose Parry
The week ahead is full – reviews all weekdays (we’re trying to take weekends off). Two blog tours this week – Demon by Matt Wesolowski and One Step Too Far by Lisa Gardner. Two most excellent reads.
That’s me done for this week. Back to the reviews, reading and day job now. Hoping to be able to read another three books this week, including the new Luc Callanch thriller from Helen Fields and I cannot wait to get stuck in.
Have a wonderful reading week all and see you next Monday
Jen x
Jen Med's Book Reviews 