How Not to Murder Your Grumpy – CAROL E WYER

 How Not to Murder your Grumpy is writen bt Carol E Wyer and published by Safkhet Publishing.

Before you push your Grumpy off the next bridge, look no further!

Is your Grumpy Old Man getting under your feet? Is he wrestling with retirement? Are you wondering if you should bundle him up and entrust him to basket-weaving classes? Then this book could be the answer to your prayers. This light hearted guide is packed full of lively ideas, anecdotes and quips. Not only does it set out to provide laughs, but offers over 700 ideas and ways to keep a Grumpy Old Man occupied.

From collecting airline sick bags to zorbing, you will be sure to find an absorbing pastime for your beloved curmudgeon. There are examples of those who have faced extraordinary challenges in older age, fascinating facts to interest a reluctant partner and innovative ideas drizzled, of course, with a large dollop of humour.

Having read all of Carol’s previous books there was no hesitation when I was approached by Shaz (Fiction Addiction Book Tours) to be offered the chance to read this latest book.

Now I am at a slight disadvantage not having a Grumpy of my own, I wasn’t able to answer a lot of the question. However, this did not distract from the enjoyment of the book. Set over 26 chapters, one for each letter of the alphabet. This isn’t like any other book you will have read, it is more than that, I have decided to call it inFUNmation!!!

As always, Carol packs her pages with great humour and brilliantly written words. It is always a real pleasure to read any of her work. There are some very funny suggestion/advisory point that will certainly have you laughing out loud. I would certainly recommend any of Carol’s books to you. Such fun!

All Carol’s books are available via Amazon UK Carol E Wyer

Louise loved ….. Billy and Me – GIOVANNA FLETCHER

Billy and Me is the debut novel written by Giovanna Fletcher and published by Penguin Books.

Sophie May has a secret.

One that she’s successfully kept for years. It’s meant that she’s had to
give up her dreams of going to university and travelling the world to stay
in her little village, living with her mum and working in the local teashop.

But then she meets the gorgeous Billy – an actor with ambitions to make
it to the top. And when they fall in love, Sophie is whisked away from the
comfort of her life into Billy’s glamorous – but ruthless – world.

Their relationship throws Sophie right into the spotlight after years of
shying away from attention. Can she handle the constant scrutiny that
comes with being with Billy? And most of all, is she ready for her secret
heartbreak to be discovered and shared with the nation?

Well, what a flipping good read this was! Totally unexpected as I knew nothing about the author and therefore no preconceptions of what to expect. The story on the back cover looked light and very chick lit, so with a cuppa and a chocolate biscuit in hand, I sat down to start the book. Two hours later and a cold cuppa, I was nearly half way through. That to me a measure of a great book!

I just love Sophie the lead from the first page. She is just like us, real! I also have to make a special mention to Molly, the tea shop owner, everyone should have a Molly in their lives!

Emotional, funny and thought-provoking in places, it isn’t just a light breezy novel but it certainly flows very well and helps you get lost into the pages very easily.

I definitely will be looking out for future novels by this lady. I am giving this my highest award of Louise loved …..!

Available via amazon UK

Billy and Me

The River of No Return – BEE RIDGWAY

The River of No Return is written by Bee Ridgway and published by Michael Joseph.

“You are now a member of the Guild . There is no return.” Two hundred years after he was about to die on a Napoleonic battlefield, Nick Falcott, soldier and aristocrat, wakes up in a hospital bed in modern London. The Guild, an entity that controls time travel, showers him with life’s advantages. But Nick yearns for home and for one brown-eyed girl, lost now down the centuries. Then the Guild asks him to break its own rule. It needs Nick to go back to 1815 to fight the Guild’s enemies and to find something called the Talisman.

In 1815, Julia Percy mourns the death of her beloved grandfather, an earl who could play with time. On his deathbed he whispers in her ear: “Pretend!” Pretend what? When Nick returns home as if from the dead, older than he should be and battle scarred, Julia begins to suspect that her very life depends upon the secrets Grandfather never told her. Soon enough Julia and Nick are caught up in an adventure that stretches up and down the river of time. As their knowledge of the Guild and their feelings for each other grow, the fate of the future itself is hanging in the balance.

First thing I want to say about this book is what a gorgeous cover it has. It really caught my eye, whilst it is simple, I just loved it.

I have to admit that I don’t normally pick books that have any time travel in them at all as my little brain has trouble with anything that I can’t see how it can happen! For a debut novel, this author has some really beautiful descriptive written words and the book is very cleverly put together. I don;t find myself getting confused as to where or what century I was in (I get confused very easily so I think I am a good measure!!). I did however get a little confused as to what the Guild was and with so many rules and restrictions, I thought that it would make the story difficult to follow or flow. That wasn’t the case.

It was a very enjoyable story and if you like this genre I am certain you will love it. I am certain that this will be a very popular read this summer.

Available via Amazon UK River of No Return

The Red Queen – PHILIPPA GREGORY

 The Red Queen is the second book in the Cousin’s War series written by Philippa Gregory and published by Simon & Schuster.

The Red Queen tells the story of the child-bride of Edmund Tudor, who, although
widowed in her early teens, uses her determination of character and wily
plotting to infiltrate the house of York under the guise of loyal friend and
servant, undermine the support for Richard III and ultimately ensure that her
only son, Henry Tudor, triumphs as King of England. Through collaboration with
the dowager Queen Elizabeth Woodville, Margaret agrees a betrothal between Henry
and Elizabeth’s daughter, thereby uniting the families and resolving the Cousins
War once and for all by founding of the Tudor dynasty.

Now anyone that follows my blog regularly will know what a huge passion I have for historical novels and like most people am fascinated with anything even loosely connected to the Tudor times.

I think I have read nearly all of this Authors books in past and have adored them and for some reason this series sat on my shelves just waiting to be read. With great excitement I decided to start these books. I thought that I would find half a Sunday missing whilst I was deeply engrossed in it like in previous books. Unfortunately this wasn’t the case. I am not sure why not, whether it was just that I couldn’t warm to Margaret Beaufort or that I felt that the story just didn’t have the same pace that I have come to expect from a Philippa Gregory novel. I was left very disappointed with this book.

The author is a great story-teller and she clearly knows her facts. It is very apparent that a huge amount of reasearch has taken place before the pages reach our door, just sadly this book didn’t hold my attention and keep me from wanting to put it down. I will complete the series and i am sure many that read this review will think, crumbs, I loved that book! That’s the good thing about there being so many books out there, something for everyone. It would be dull if we all thought every book was a 5* read!

This book is available via amazon UK The Red Queen

Dance the Moon Down – R.L.BARTRAM

 Dance The Moon Down is written and published by R.L.Bartram

In 1910, no one believed there would ever be a war with Germany. Safe in her affluent middle-class life, the rumours held no significance for Victoria either. It was her father’s decision to enroll her at university that began to change all that. There she befriends the rebellious and outspoken Beryl Whittaker, an emergent suffragette, but it is her love for Gerald Avery, a talented young poet from a neighbouring university that sets the seal on her future. After a clandestine romance, they marry in January 1914, but with the outbreak of the First World War, Gerald volunteers but within months has gone missing in France.

Convinced that he is still alive, Victoria’s initial attempts to discover what has become of him, implicate her in a murderous assault on Lord Kitchener resulting in her being interrogated as a spy, and later tempted to adultery. Now virtually destitute, Victoria is reduced to finding work as a common labourer on a run down farm, where she discovers a world of unimaginable ignorance and poverty.

It is only her conviction that Gerald will some day return that sustains her through the dark days of hardship and privation as her life becomes a battle of faith against adversity.

I was approached to review this book and told it wasn’t your normal WW1 war story, this was a love story. This in its self made me want to read it.

What R.L.Bartram has written is truly a beautiful, heartfelt account of one ladies WW1 experience. It is so detailed and gripping that you are transported to that time and can smell, feel what is going on around. Victoria and Gerald have everything they could possibly want, each other and are blissfully happy until war breaks out. Gerald does what every decent man would do and enlists. Within such a short period of time, he goes missing and Victoria can’t let go, the love she had for him just won’t allow her.

This really is a wonderful book that I couldn’t put down. I think I read the 300 pages in a day. Beautifully written, packed with drama, elements of humour but wrapped up with fabulous emotion. I can’t help thinking that this is actually someones true story. This really is a self published book worth reading.

Available in paperback and kindle versions via Amazon UK  Dance the Moon Down