First a quick explanation!
Due to some severe health issues over the last few years, and a lingering chronic condition, my planned review schedule went right out of the window and I have been scrabbling ever since to get it back on track.
In an attempt to try to regain some lost ground, I have been scrunching some of my (overdue) NetGalley reviews together into one or two posts each week: shorter reviews, but still covering all of the points I intended to.
That’s the plan anyway, so let’s celebrate St Valentine’s Day by sharing the book love!
Title: Murder Road
Author: Simone St. James
Publisher: Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House
Blurb: April and Eddie have taken a wrong turn.
They’re on a long dark road, late at night, and they see a woman up ahead, clearly in trouble.
They stop and pick her up. It’s only once she’s in the car that they see the blood.
And then they see the headlights, and at last, the woman speaks, her voice faint. “I’m sorry, he’s coming.”
While April and Eddie are able to escape – this time – their terrifying adventure is only just beginning.
The hitchhiker’s injuries prove fatal, and the couple are trapped in the small town of Coldlake Falls, prime suspects in the eyes of local police.
It turns out that this isn’t the first victim to die on this stretch of road, and it isn’t the first time that survivors have seen something that can’t be explained.
But to get out of town, April and Eddie are going to have to drive down that haunted stretch of road one more time…
Ingeniously plotted and heartstoppingly terrifying, are you ready to uncover the secret of Murder Road?
Review: This is really good, classic, Stephen-King style horror, as main characters April and Eddie turn up in a small, isolated town in error and find themselves the suspects in a murder investigation that spans decades.
There are plenty of twists and ghostly jump scares, as the story unfolds and the supernatural entity haunting the area stakes its claim on the couple and attempts to ensure that they are trapped on ‘Murder Road’ permanently. There wasn’t the final twist I was expecting though, based on what I was sure was foreshadowing in April’s reading material, so I was surprised and misdirected all the way to the end – much to my delight… I do love a bit of unpredictability!
While I didn’t find the story particularly scary, it was a quick and compulsively readable paranormal thriller that I thoroughly enjoyed, so I would definitely read more from Simone St. James in future.
Purchase Link: Murder Road on Amazon
Title: Someone You Can Build a Nest In
Author: John Wiswell
Publisher: DAW
Blurb: Shesheshen has made a mistake fatal to all monsters: she’s fallen in love.
Shesheshen is a shapeshifter, who happily resides as an amorphous lump at the bottom of a ruined manor. When her rest is interrupted by impolite monster hunters, she constructs a body from the remains of past meals: a metal chain for a backbone, borrowed bones for limbs, and a bear trap as an extra mouth.
Badly hurt by the hunters, Shesheshen’s nursed back to health by Homily, a warm-hearted human. Homily is kind and would make a great co-parent: an ideal place to lay Shesheshen’s eggs so their young can devour Homily from the inside out. But as they grow close, Shesheshen realizes that eating her girlfriend isn’t an option.
Just as Shesheshen’s about to confess her identity, Homily reveals something else: she’s hunting a shapeshifting monster that supposedly cursed her family. Has Shesheshen seen it anywhere?
Shesheshen didn’t curse anyone, so now she has to figure out why Homily’s twisted family thinks she did. As Shesheshen’s hunt for the monster becomes increasingly deadly, the bigger challenge remains: learning how to build a life with, rather than in, the woman she loves.
Review: How to write this review without hyperbole? On finishing it, I rushed to buy it in hard copy and audiobook immediately, so that I could keep it in every form possible. I will read and re-read it, in all forms. It is just that good!
I never even realised that cosy horror could be a thing, but here we are! Imagine the cosy fantasy vibes of books like Legends and Lattes, crossed with body horror and monsters and death in a deliciously dark and wonderfully warming way.
In addition to the obvious queer and disability representation in the story, I felt there was a lot of autistic coding in ‘monstrous’ main character Shesheshen, as she struggled to project humanness and sociableness under her public ‘mask’, struggled to understand those less direct than herself, and showed more empathy and love than the ‘normal human’ characters who hunted her as a monster. She is innocent and monstrous, pragmatic and whimsical, witty and world-weary, confused and wise – I adore her and can definitely relate to some of her struggles (the less visceral ones specifically – put down the pitchforks!).
And, of course, I loved Homily. Only a REAL monster couldn’t love Homily! (And Blueberry. And Epilogue.)
This was truly just such a joy to read that, on reading the last word, I was tempted to immediately turn back to the beginning and start again, so that it didn’t have to end.
If you are looking for an entertaining and unusual story, with love and blood, mystery and magic, and plenty of authentically gory heart, then let this one build a nest in you.
Purchase Link: Someone You Can Build a Nest In on Amazon
Title: Murder Takes Root
Author: Rosie Sandler
Publisher: Embla Books
Blurb: Steph is excited to get her hands stuck into her latest gardening project. This time, she’s been commissioned by Lady Clara of Ashford Manor to restore the stately gardens to their former glory.
But the estate is suddenly thrown into chaos when a dead body is discovered in one of the rooms. The police rule it as suicide, though Steph’s convinced they’re barking up the wrong tree. Because she knows the deceased better than they do and it could only be one thing: murder. And if the police won’t listen to her, then Steph will have to get to the bottom of the case herself.
As Steph starts digging for the truth, it seems the staff are hiding are more than it seems. But one thing is for sure, she’s not going to let the killer lead her up the garden path…
Review: Landscape designer Steph and her canine sidekick Mouse return for another gardening-based cosy mystery, and while this is the second in the series, it does stand perfectly well alone too.
I quite liked that the characters and setting moved on from the previous book, actually, as it gave Steph the opportunity for a completely fresh array of suspects and victims. The mystery plot was engaging and hung together well, even if some of the suspects were a little predictable and the end reveal was a tiny bit anticlimactic.
There is some ongoing mystery around Steph’s birth mother and her missing ex-husband which surfaces again here to trail intriguingly forward into future books.
Really this is ideal for anyone looking for a cosy, not-too-serious murder mystery series, with plenty of garden/landscaping background detail and some VERY cute dogs (yes, Mouse made a friend!).
Purchase Link: Murder Takes Root on Amazon
Title: The Husbands
Author: Holly Gramazio
Publisher: Random House UK, Vintage | Chatto & Windus
Blurb: You wait ages for The One . . . then 203 come along at once
One night Lauren finds a strange man in her flat who claims to be her husband. All the evidence – from photos to electricity bills – suggests he’s right.
Lauren’s attic, she slowly realises, is creating an endless supply of husbands for her.
There’s the one who pretends to play music on her toes.
The one who’s too hot (there must be a catch).
The one who makes a great breakfast sandwich.
The one who turns everything into double entendres (‘I’ll weed your garden’).
And the one who can calm her unruly thoughts with a single touch.
But when you can change husbands as easily as changing a lightbulb, how do you know whether the one you have now is the good-enough one, or the wrong one, or the best one? And how long should you keep trying to find out?
Review: I really, really like the central premise of this book – the idea that you could almost ‘audition’ all of the potential partners you have met in your life, cycling through them in search of The One. There is so much potential there for comedy, heartbreak and questions of morality.
But while this book does touch on all of those areas lightly, I felt it was stymied by the strange attitude of main character Lauren. I just couldn’t understand why she was so complacent about not only the replaceable Husbands, but all of the other people in her life – her so-called loved ones? Didn’t she wonder where the Husbands came from and went to? Did it occur to her that her constant churn of partners might mean her original loved ones never cycled back round to her and she would forever be with alternate universe versions – because that thought would never be out of my mind!
Similarly, I struggled with how quick she was just to throw people away, often for the silliest or shallowest of reasons. And don’t get me started on how easily she resorts to assault, theft, threats, violence and property damage to solve her problems! It felt like she only cared about her loved ones – her sister, niblings and neighbours – as far as they affected her life and comfort. For example, she skips through a load of husbands because she doesn’t want her neighbours to move out! She is just totally selfish and self-centred from start to finish, never sparing a thought for how her actions might be affecting others.
As a result, I found myself torn about the whole book. I love the idea, the writing style is great and it was a really entertaining read in many ways. I just couldn’t bring myself to care about a main character who seemed like the sort of woman who would set fire to someone else’s shed because she was a bit chilly and couldn’t be bothered to find a coat. And her actions towards the end of the book are just unfathomably unhinged – the opposite of learning from your experiences. Do I need to like a main character to enjoy a book? Not really. But I do need to be able to feel something for them other than bewildered frustration.
I do actually think this would make a good book club pick though… plenty to talk about!
Purchase Link: The Husbands on Amazon
Title: Lady Avely’s Guide to Lies and Charms
Author: Rosalie Oaks
Publisher: Parkerville Press
Blurb: A lady shouldn’t be seen to incite a duel… but Judith wasn’t even there when it happened.
Lady Avely doesn’t know what infuriates her more: that someone used her image to provoke the Duke of Sargen into killing a man, or that the duke actually believed it was her trysting in the maze that night.
Now she and the duke must concoct their own subterfuge to shake out the culprit. Otherwise, Dacian might be arrested for murder, or worse, the shadowy guardians of the Musing might inflict their own cruel punishment for the misuse of his Gift. Judith will need her most respectable mobcap, and unfortunately, the duke will need a false moustache.
With Judith’s ability to detect lies and Dacian’s now carefully contained power, they set out to uncover the truth – but their own hearts make them easy to manipulate. Facing a master of deception, as well as the duke’s renewed determination to win her, Judith will need a stiff drink of chocolate and the help of her cheerful, tiny vampiri companion before she can find her way out of the deadly tangle…
Can Judith and Dacian unmask the killer before more blood is shed? And how many different ways can one disguise a duke?
The Matronly Misadventures feature a mid-life heroine in a slow-burn, second-chance romance (with a duke who has waited long enough), set in a magical version of Regency England.
Review: Another insta-love book for me from this author and series! It’s the second of the Matronly Misadventures and I adored it just as much as the first.
Judith, Marigold, Dacian and Wootton are all back and things are definitely heating up between the two main characters, as they finally start to get to the bottom of the incidents that separated them years ago and struggle to find reasons not to spring into each other’s arms at every opportunity – so much chemistry! I definitely get Elizabeth Peters’ Emerson/Peabody vibes but these are also distinctly their own stories and characters, familiar but fresh.
And that’s not all, there is also humour, magic and mystery alongside the simmering romance. What more could we ask for? Well, other than Book 3, of course! And that can’t come soon enough, as I’m afraid this one ends on an agonising cliffhanger. Luckily the next book is due out later this year and available for pre-order already… I can’t wait!
Purchase Link: Lady Avely’s Guide to Lies and Charms on Amazon
What a brilliant batch this was: two books I utterly loved and three that I really enjoyed reading!
I’ve been a bit slow with the catch-up reviews recently but am hoping that with the brighter days and glimpses of blue sky, I will be able to rev up my reading a bit and bring you a load more crackers like this lot for your spring reading.
Wish me luck, keep shining and happy reading! 🙂
