Review: Sweet Damage by Rebecca James

This is a modern Gothic thriller to put on your radar!

Tim Ellison has been in a rut lately. He has spent his time sleeping on his ex-girlfriend’s couch, working in a restaurant, and surfing.

Life isn’t quite what he expected. But he does know one thing….it’s time to move out of his ex’s house.

Tim finds a cheap room rental at Fairview, when he shows up he is expecting to see a heap but instead he finds a mansion.

Built in 1890, Fairview is a beautiful mansion boasting some of the best views in Sydney. It’s owned by Anna London who inherited the house after her parents’ deaths.

In exchange for the cheap rent, Tim has one job: to look after Anna. Though she is in her twenties, she acts more like an elderly woman. She also never leaves her house as she suffers from a severe anxiety disorder. But it seems like a fair gig to Tim so he takes the post.

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Review: First Impressions: A Novel of Old Books, Unexpected Love, and Jane Austen by Charlie Lovett

If you love Jane Austen you need to move this book up to the top of your TBR list immediately!

Sophie Collingwood’s uncle has just died under questionable circumstances and then his prized rare book collection has been sold to satisfy his debts.

To console herself, Sophie goes to work at her favorite bookstore in London, Antiquarian Books.

While working at the store, she is approached by two different collectors who are after the same book, Little Book of Allegories, written by Reverend Richard Mansfield in 1796.

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Review: The Hawley Book of the Dead by Chrysler Szarlan

Reve (Revelation) Dyer’s life changes in the blink of an eye. She works as an assistant to her magician husband, Jeremy, and together they have three lovely daughters.

Their magic show in Las Vegas draws crowds every night, but in an instant everything changes.

While performing a magic trick, Defying the Bullets, she is supposed to ‘shoot’ her husband and he in turn coughs up the bullet.

When blood sprays and Jeremy falls dead to the ground, the audience and Reve are completely stunned.

It becomes clear that someone altered her gun with a real bullet but the question was why? Reve and her daughters suddenly start receiving envelopes of pictures from a ‘stalker’. Reve then receives a cryptic letter from her Nan begging her to come home less the Fetch find them.

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Review: Night of a Thousand Stars by Deanna Raybourn

Deanna Raybourn has been an author long on my radar. I hear wonderful things about her Lady Jane series from a number of people.

So when the opportunity to review her latest standalone book, I was eager to try her books out!

Poppy Hammond, is all set to marry into an aristocratic family but she has other plans which include making a run for it.

She is assisted by the dashing curate Sebastian Cantrip who helps her escape to her family’s house where she can have some time to think and sort out her life.

Before she can thank Sebastian for his assistance, he disappears and she sets her mind to finding him. She soon realizes Sebastian has lied to her about who he is. She discovers that he has fled to Damascus. What in the world took him there?! She is determined to figure out what exactly is going on here.

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Review: Murder on the Île Sordou (Verlaque and Bonnet #4) by M.L. Longworth

Judge Verlaque and his girlfriend, law professor Dr Marine Bonnet are taking a much needed vacation on a secluded island off the coast of France, Sordou.

The island was once a haven for the rich and famous in the 1960’s but was long forgotten but the elite in favor of other island destinations in the south of France.

However the Le Bon family, Cat-Cat and Max, just bought the hotel and hope to restore it to its former glory.

With the opening weekend on their life’s savings on the line, they need everything to go perfect….the last thing they need is a murder.

This novel totally reminded me of Clue, set in France. It was full of a number of eccentric characters each seemingly with no motive.

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