Fear or Favour

Fear or Favour

By Ray Britain

Genre:- Crime Fiction

Blurb:- A drowned man is pulled from floodwaters. Identification is difficult but a routine investigation for DCI Stirling and newly promoted DI Marti Summer. Or is it?

 Sensitive material in the dead man's possession links Stirling's investigation to the top of Government, and a leadership race for Prime Minister. Favourite to win is Zola Campbell, the grandchild of Windrush immigrants whose rise from humble beginnings to forge a business empire, amassing personal wealth and fame along the way, have made her an iconic figure. Entering politics, her talents earned swift promotion to the top of Government, and now she's poised to be the first woman of colour Prime Minister. The media is in overdrive, the political stakes are high, and the nation is watching.

 Fearing a national scandal that will engulf them all, ACC Steph Tanner wants results - fast! With just days to unravel what connects a quiet man's drowning to events at Westminster, a hundred miles away, tensions rise as Stirling takes his investigation undercover.

 Stirling senses something is missing. But what? Or who? With a suspect to locate, and crypto millions to trace, things are complex enough when MI5 step from the shadows! And just where do Lena Novak and the National Crime Agency fit into it all?

Frightened by Stirling's methods, Marti Summer fears for her job, and the shame she'll bring on her family. But Marti has a moral dilemma too - have her own prejudices jeopardised the investigation?

 Haunted by tragedy, Stirling's private life is a mess, Ayesha's gone, with no explanation. He and Steph Tanner are close, but she's his boss. And life is about to get still more complicated.

Unsolved

 Unsolved

By Heather Critchlow

Genre:- Crime

Publisher:- Canelo Crime

Blurb:- 'A remarkable suspense debut...exciting and unsettling.' A.J. Finn, author of The Woman in the Window.

He won't rest until he finds out the truth...

 Cal Lovett is obsessed with finding justice for the families of missing people. His true crime podcast is his way of helping others, even if he can't help himself.

 His sister, Margot, disappeared when he was a child. Only one man seems to know something. But he's behind bars and can't be trusted.

 So when the family of a missing Scottish woman begs for his help, he heads to Aberdeenshire in search of the truth.

 Does Cal have what it takes to unearth the secrets hiding in the hills? And what if he finds something that leads him back to the heart of his own family's past?

 A gripping crime thriller by a brilliant debut novelist, perfect for fans of Jane Casey, Fiona Barton and Loreth Anne White.

  @heather.critchlow @canelo_co @lovebookstours

Secret Code Games for Clever Kids

By Gareth Moore

Illustrated by Chris Dickason

Genre:-Activity Book for kids, 9-11 years

Pages:- 192

Publisher:- Buster Books

Blurb:-This brand -new title in the hugely successful Clever Kids®    series contains over 100 code conundrums and cryptograms to exercise young minds.

  From hidden words and logic puzzles to code breakers and enigmas, it's packed with secret=agent and spy challenges to put kids' mental agility and lateral-thinking skills to the test.

  Created by bestselling puzzle book author Gareth Moore, author of the chart-topping Brain Games for Clever Kids.

Thank you @lovebookstours @drgarethmoore @buster_books  #Ad #Gifted #LoveBooksTours #LBTCrew #Bookstagram #Bookhive #BookTwitter

My Review:- I decided to review this book with the help from my Youngest son and my Grandchildren (7 -18 years old) and we all had great fun. I loved the bright cover, it caught your eye. We all had a laugh with Games 22 and 38 we made flags and the younger ones tried to move their arms so we could guess the letters which sometimes were completely wrong. This is a book that can be done when and where ever you want and can be used by one or many children. As well as being a puzzle book, it's also good to help with numbers and letters.

The Early Life of Becky Bexley the Child Genius

By Diana Holbourn

Genre:-Children's comedy/magical realism

Age:-7-11 years

Pages:- 118

Blurb:- It can be frustrating being a child genius. Grown-ups are always telling kids what to do and what to think - but it's harder with Becky Bexley!  Unbelievable things happen in this funny story!  She can talk from the moment she's born!  Her mum thinks she's going crazy when she hears her! And Becky has sooo many questions - for the doctor, the priest and her poor mum! And she has one or two suggestions as well.... but will they listen?

  The Early Life of Becky Bexley the Child Genius is a fun and comical story about what its like to be a kid in a grown-up world, and why children's voices should always be heard.

  Thank you @lovebookstours  #Ad  #Gifted  #LoveBooksTours  #LBTCrew

My Review:- Emily my 8 year old granddaughter and myself decided to read this book as her bedtime story over a couple of nights. Emily would start by reading a few pages, then I would finished. She didn't find it hard to read and she found it fun. Emily loved how Becky didn't like the food with bits in and throw it across the floor and about Becky going to school and wanting milk. WE also found this a book that Emily could talk about, asking questions about the story and about herself when she was little. 

Belly Woman: The Untold Story

By Benjamin Oren Black

Genre:-Non-Fiction

Pages:-300

Publisher:- Neem Tree Press

Blurb:- Belly Woman shines a light on a story often left untold 

May 2014. Sierra Leone is ranked the country with the highest death rate of pregnant women in the world. The same month Ebola crosses in from neighbouring Guinea. Arriving a few weeks later, Dr Benjamin Black finds himself at the centre of an exponential Ebola outbreak. From impossible decisions on the maternity ward to moral dilemmas at the Ebola Treatment Centres. One mistake, one error of judgment, could spell disaster.

  An eye-opening work of reportage and advocacy, Belly Woman chronicles the inside journey through an unfolding global health crisis and the struggle to save the lives of young mothers. As Black reckons with the demons of the past, he must try to learn the lessons for a different, more resilient, future.

  'A must-read for our times = riveting, illuminating and humbling' - AMINATTA FORNA, author of The memory of Love and The Devil That Danced on The Water.

Thank you @lovebookstours @neemtreepress @benjamblack  #Ad #Gifted #LoveBooksTours #LBTCrew

My Review:- This is a book that I feel you need to read yourself, as I don't think I can put into words how it honestly makes you think and feel. This book has been the first book that has made me feel really emotional, the stories are so moving and heart breaking. You can see from the beginning of the book that it is different from what you expect, a pregnant woman is brought to hospital on the back of a motorbike and is now lying on the floor in front of the hospital steps while staff look on not knowing what next.

A lot of us don't think about what happens in other parts of the world such as Sierra Leone as we only hear about it in the news, this book tells you how it is on the front line. Dr Benjamin Black travelled to Sierra Leone in 2014 to be a surgeon/midwife knowing about the bad health care and high death rate  in pregnant women and their babies. Arriving at the time of the Ebola outbreak made it even harder as the death rate grow higher than anyone would expect and it was also made harder as nobody understood anything about it. 

This is a book that will tell you first hand just how different living in a country that health is at it's best to a country were nothing is expected from the healthcare even when the medical staff try their best.

Stop !! Killing Yourself

 

Stop!! Killing Yourself - The Beginners Guide to Living Longer

By ralph Montague

Genre:- Non-Fiction/Self Help

Pages:- 160

Publisher:- FCM Publishing

Blurb:- WANT TO LIVE LONGER BUT NOT SURE HOW?

 You are not alone as nearly everyone wants to live longer, but it's been made unnecessarily difficult to achieve with contradicting advice from endless sources and added complications from experts making it hard to understand, with complex theories and unpronounceable words.

 THIS IS WHERE STOP!! KILLING YOURSELF.....CAN HELP! THIS WORKBOOK was written to make things simple and easy to action, with a no-nonsense approach to longevity. The information and advice is straight forward to follow, with minimal fuss to help achieve maximum results.

 In this workbook we will cover the core areas in your life where change needs to happen, in an approach that is easy to action, split into three sections. Remove, improve and Action.

 1) Remove: Discusses the habits and lifestyle choices that are literally killing you.

 2) Improve: Covers everyday routines where making simple changes can enhance your life and dramatically improve your health, happiness and outlook on life.

 3) Action; In line with the philosophy of making this book easy and actionable to follow, there are two action plans to help make the first step to living longer a very real, and exciting reality, with a five or ten-year plan to choose from.

 With journal questions and prompt as part of the actioning process, STOP!! KILLING YOURSELF....allows you to get an understanding of what you are today, where you can be in a matter of just a few days and where you to be in the future.

IF YOU ARE SERIOUS ABOUT LIVING LONGER AND DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START, THIS BOOK WAS WRITTEN FOR YOU.

 Thank you @lovebookstours @ralphmontague @thefcmgroup #Ad #Gifted #BookTwitter #Bookive #Bookstagram #LBTCrew

My Review:- I was looking forward to this book, as it's a new year what's a better time than now to start a new you.  This book has been wrote for men but I found this could be for anyone. After reading only a few page I knew that this was going to be a no nonsense book, it was going to be straight forward and to the point, which I thought is needed if you want to live a better life. The changes are simple and would help to reduce your stress, which will help both health and living happier. I love that it has workbook so you can think what you would like to change. The changes aren't big things just small things that you probably wouldn't even thought about. I have started making a few of these changes already and I don't even miss them, (I have stopped having a chocolate biscuit with my cuppa mid-morning and in the afternoon)

 Marietta's Gift by Philip Platts

Genre:- Contemporary Fiction

Publisher:- The Conrad Press

Blurb:- Two lives torn apart and a stranger offering new hope. But is the stranger an impostor?

 Wealthy businessman Hugo Whiting has built a wall of protection around himself after the death of hie wife - a wall that comes crashing down when he unexpectedly meets his first love Marietta Forsberg at an overseas conference.

  At first, Hugo simply wants to discover why Marietta vanished from his life forty years earlier, leaving only a letter begging him not to try to find her. But Marietta's revelations - and accusations - leaves him reeling.

  As he begins to recover from the shocks, Hugo hopes there may still be a future for the two of them. What he doesn't know is that the key to his own future may well lie in the hands of someone else - a stranger who turns up at his home uninvited. The teenage boy claims to have survived Rio de Janeiro's tough streets as a child and to have travelled half way across the world to find him.

  Refusing to believe the story the boy tells him, Hugo twice sends him packing. Very soon, though, he realises this mysterious visitor might be his only route to the truth.

  The problem is the boy has now disappeared.

  Marietta's Gifts an extraordinary and compelling story, of a search for truth that crosses two continents and the gulf between people with enormous wealth and those who have nothing.

  'A beautifully written and heart-warning novel' - Maurizio Ascari, author of Faded Letters.

Thank you @lovebookstours #Ad #Gifted #LoveBooksTours #LBTCrew

My Review:- This story is told in 3 parts, which I found interesting and good if you don't want to read to much in one go, but saying that I read part 1 and wanted part 2.  

 Part 1, tells you about the 2 main characters Marietta and Hugo and the history that they have shared together.

Part 2, tells you about Hugo and how he starts to heal and finds love again. Also in part 2 we meet 2 new characters Salvador and Paulo.

Part 3, I wasn't sure about part 3 at the beginning of it but it tells you no matter what age you are in life you will still be learning to Learn more as well as Love.

The De-Coding of Jo: Keys to Etenity

By LALI A. LOVE

Genre:- Science Fiction, Dark Fantasy, Paranormal, YA

Publisher:_Ravens & Roses Publishing

Blurb:- In the third and final instalment of the Ascending Angel Academy Series (14+), Keys to Etemty provides a blend of science fiction, epic, and dark portal fantasy where the paranormal elements ramp up the magnitude of the artificial timeline within a phantom matrix story. 

 Lust, greed, destruction. Humanity has fallen into an inverted matrix. Menacing energy vampires are hunting Jo's best friends and siphoning the souls of StarSeeds. To save everyone she loves from extinction, Jo must collapse the false Phantom timeline using Stargate portals and time hops into the ancient Age of Lemuria.

 Jo and Alicia reunite with Roma and legendary mythical Warriors. They trek through the enchanted Luminary Realms to fulfil the violet flame prophecy of the seven Eternal Archive Spheres. As the Plague of Chaos descends on innocence, the chaos descends on innocence, the chosen Master Alchemist must embody Metatron's organic keys to resurrect the modern timeline.

Thank you @lovebookstours @BooksByLaliALove @ravensandrosespublishing  #Ad #Gifted #LBTCrew #Bookstagram #Bookhive #BookTwitter

My review:- After reading books 1 and 2,  I was looking forward in reading the final book in the Ascending Angel Academy Series and it didn't disappoint me. There are two parts to this book -

Part 1 CHAOS and Part 2 COHERENCE.  Jo and her friends have been through so much will this be the end or has the Dark Forces got one more thing for them. What has happened to Nisha, why is she acting angry and turning on everyone that she loves. especially Alicia?  Has Alicia finally mastered her telepathic powers between herself and Jo? But most of all why and what have the Romanias (who have matching tattoos on the inside of their left wrists) have to do with Jo and Alicia's both feeling unwell when they are near to them? this book make's you look at yourself and the world around you. Each book in the series has been well wrote with a great storyline.

Part 1 CHAOS 

I danced with the shadow,

alchemizing the overflow,

I polarized the darkness

harmonizing its madness.

I aroused the truth, hidden in tears,

embers of chaos swathed in fears,

with shrewdness of an emerald breath,

choose Eternal Life or Karmic Death.

Part 2 COHERENCE

We rise like the phoenix, 

rebirthing the mystics,

evoking faithful liberty,

with flashing beams of clarity.

Linked heartbeats, we embrace,

the wisdom of humility,

with resilience and veracity,

the truth reconciles with purity. 

Dark and Light, this dream we explore, 

a multiverse of coherence,

mirroring organic existence.

the key is to embody presence.

The De-Coding of Jo: Blade of Truth (Book 2) 

By LALI A.LOVE

Narrator:- Christa Rimmer

Audio Book Length:- 9hrs

Genre:- Science Fiction, Dark Fantasy, Paranormal, YA

Blurb:- Gaia is perishing. Methodically poisoned, she sounds the alarm and activates the StarSeed Quest to save planet Earth from the Wizard of Bondage, who is determined to hijack humanity's existence using psychic warfare.

 Roma, a Custodian of the Galaxy, is imprisoned on a remote island by dark forces loyal to the Wizard. She telepathically communicates with Jo to guide her perilous mission on a school trip to the Canary Islands. While jo and her friends learn the truth about the Ancient Galactic Wars, they are targeted by shapeshifting assassions and lured to a compound where Darkness reigns.

 Emotions, Reality, and Timelines collide as Jo is thrust into the centre of an epic cosmic reboot. Will the Blade of Truth devour her Soul? Will the balance between light and dark finally shift?

Thank you @lovebookstours @BooksByLaliALove @ravensandrosespublishing  #Ad #Gifted #LoveBooksTours

My Review:- After reading and listening to book 1, I wanted to hear what a different narrator brought to the story, and Christa didn't disappoint me. The author has a great imagination and the way she puts it into words, she knows how to draw you deep into the story and inside each character. The story is captivating and intense.   With the help from her friends, Jo gets the details she needs but she knows she has to get pass the obstacles in her way. Jo is slowly 'de-coding'  and finding the answers hidden in her DNA. The story won't disappoint you. 5*****

Murders at the Montgomery Hall Hotel

 

 Murders at the Montgomery Hall Hotel (The Prunella Pearce Mysteries)

By Gina Kirkham

Genre:- Cozy Crime

Pages:- 356

Publisher:- Bloodhound Books

Blurb:- A sleuthing librarian and her friends spend a weekend at a generations-old estate where they discover murder runs in the family......

  Prunella Pearce, Bree and the other ladies of the Winterbottom Women's Institute are planning to visit Montgomery Hall Hotel for the murder-mystery weekend just as the historic venue's past comes back to haunt it.

  The hotel is now in the incapable hands of Tarragon Montgomery, with it's faltering finances overseen by elderly matriarch Cecily.

  Meanwhile, the local actress hired to play Psychic Selma for the weekend has been replaced by an impostor. But who is she, and what is her agenda?

  Pru and Bree have some experience solving mysteries, but as Montgomery Hall is engulfed by a storm and the bodies start piling up, they may need a little assistance from Pru's delectable detective, Andy Barnes, in order to crack the case.

Thank you @lovebookstours @ginakirkham @bloodhound.books  #Ad #Gifted #LBTCrew #LoveBooksTours

My Review:- I loved this book, the characters made me laugh, especially Hilda. There are plenty of misunderstanding, mishaps and jokes all through the book. While spending the weekend at the Montgomery Hall Hotel for a Mystery Murder Weekend with the Winterbottom Women's Institute, Pru and Bree also have the job to find out who is taken the items and where the missing items are going, but it becomes a lot more than that. Not all is as it seems and will this be the start of Pru and Bree becoming detectives just like Vera from Ann Cleeves books which they admirer.

The Hiking Trip By Jenny Blackhurst 

Genre:- Crime

Pages:- 274

Publisher:- Canelo Crime

Blurb:- When nineteen-year-old Maisie takes off on the trip of a lifetime, leaving behind her demanding family, her only thought is of freedom.

 Hiking the West Coast Trail in Canada, she soon meets Ric and Sera. But what began as a fun-filled adventure quickly turns sour, with devastating consequences....

 Twenty-five years later, a woman named Laura is panicked to learn that a body has been found near the trail. The police suspect the remains to be of missing backpacker, Sera. 

 The secret Laura's been hiding for a quarter of a century is about to come out- and someone is determined to make sure she tells the truth, and pays the price.

 Laura will do anything to protect her family and the life she's crafted for herself. It's a race against time and a question of: who has the most to lose?

 Thank you @lovebookstours @jennyblackhurstauthor @canelo_co  #Ad  #Gifted #LoveBooksTours

My Review:- I've enjoyed reading this book. The story is told by Maisie and Laura who are the same person in two different times in life. Maisie tells her side from 1999 while backpacking on the West Coast trail in Canada, while Laura is telling her story in 2019 with her husband and 2 children.  All Laura wants is for her life to stay as it is now, but the past does not want to. When things start to go wrong on a normal Saturday morning Laura doesn't expect for it to go so fast. I thought I knew what was going to happen but I was wrong, there are so many twist and turns to this story. I loved how the author added news reports, interviews, court recording, and a podcast into the story, it kept you guessing

Buried Dreams

 Buried Dreams

By Marrisse Whittaker

Genre:- Crime Fiction

Publisher:- Bloodhound Books

Blurb:-A morbid discovery and a missing daughter set a ex-cop and her PI partner on a desperate search for answers....

 Billie Wilde left the police force to team up with PI Ellis Darque - but when a skeleton in a wedding dress is unearthed in Ellis's new house, followed by another body in the garden, Billie begins to realise her new outsider status has its disadvantages.

 But Ellis's arrest is not the only thing to worry about. Aside from an emerging case of multiple deaths connected to each other only by tattoos on the corpses, Ellis's daughter has failed to return from a volunteering stint at an orphanage. When Maya finally sends a video message - and uses a code phrase to communicate she is in danger - Ellis makes a  desperate journey to Europe and beyond. But will the answers to the mystery lie much closer to home?

 With Buried Dreams, the acclaimed author of the Billie Wilde thrillers begins a riveting new corruption and two dedicated investigators in the gritty north of England.

Thank you @lovebookstours @marrissewhittakeauthor #Ad #Gifted #LoveBooksTours #Bookhive #BookTwitter #Bookstagram #LBTCrew

My Review:- This is the fourth book in the Billie Wilde thrillers but my first and after reading this one I'll be looking to read others.  After only doing small jobs, Ellis and Billie's PI agency take on a bigger job, a 19 year old  case that was ruled a suicide but the parents believe that it was murder. During this time Eillis's daughter goes missing, where is she?  Ellis also inherited a house and during renovating one of the rooms a body is found in the chimney wall as well as one in the back garden. Does Ellis know about these bodies or is it a shock to him as well as everyone else. There are a plenty of twist in the story which has you guessing. 

 

Finding Ruby Drake by Marianne Scott

Genre:- Suspense, Thriller

Publisher:- FriesenPress

Blurb:- Kathleen Jones has lived a protected and typical suburban life, nothing unexpected in her carefully controlled and planned existence. She's about to complete her college degree and is ready to start a successful career but after completing her last exam she comes home to find her world has been turned upside down. Her home has been torched and her parents and little brother killed. if that's not bad enough, she is kidnapped and drugged unconscious by strangers posing as police officers. When she awakes she discovers that everything has changed - her face, her name, and everything she believed to be true. But things get worse. Hardly recovered from surgery, she is whisked away under the cover of darkness as more men storm the clinic with guns.

 It seems that the men who abducted her are not her greatest threat. Now on a private charter on its way to Nice, France, her abductors are calling her Ruby - Ruby Draker!

 Thank you @lovebookstours @mariannescottauthors  #Ad #Gifted #LoveBooksTours #LBTCrew  #Supportingauthors #Bookhive #Bookstagram #Blogtour #Booktwt #BookTok

 My Review:-  Ruby Draker as she is now known as, learns the truth about her parents and why her life  is in danger. The Drakers do everything they can to keep Ruby safe, and that means she no longer looks or is Kathleen Jones. As Ruby gets stronger the more she learns about the Drakers as a family and why they live as they do. She starts training everyday to become stronger and learns how to protect herself as well as help her family. This story had me guessing so many times and still I wasn't expecting the ending. If you like Thrillers and action you will love this book. I can't wait for the next book to see where it takes Ruby and the Drakers.

Clash of the Totem and the Catastrophe of Callistus (book 2)

by Yonnie Garber

Genre:- Supernatural coming-of-age (with hints of environmentalism, global warning and climate change)

Pages:- 186

Ages:- 10-18-Upper MG/YA

Blurb:- Join Ellery in her second year at the Quinton Earth Science School as one by one, another friend goes missing-lost without a trace. But Ellery is also on the verge of losing herself. Unable to cope with being the chosen one to bring back balance to Mother Earth, she's hell-bent on scoring those that love her most.

 Conflicted about her feelings, and considering the prospect of siding with the most nefarious person on the planet, she blatantly disobeys her teachers, leading her closest classmates into jeopardy. Now she must battle with nature's most powerful totem and risk losing everything to save her friends - but will she ultimately give away humanity's last chance to remain on the planet in the process?

 One last nail-biting adventure in the Totems, where the Earth's fate hinges once more with this reckless, but extraordinary brave teenager.

Thank you @lovebookstours #Ad #Gifted #LoveBooksTours

My Review:- This is book 2 in Clash of the Totem. Ellery and her friends head back to school after spending time over the summer with their parents. They learn more about spells, their totems and the environment. They find out that you can have more than 1 totem, which Ellery discovers and while trying to find out more she starts putting others in danger. Ellery must learn to control her temper, her thoughts but also her moods as it can become very dangerous as she soon finds out.  

 After a few incidents Ellery realises that Nash and his men are still after her, even on the Isle of Sealgair will she be able to escape him again with the help of her friends or is this the end.

This book make you stop and think about the planet we live on and what we have to do to get through  more years

The Notekeeper by Hannah Treave

Genre:- Contemporary Fiction

Pages:- 374

Publisher:- Canelo

Blurb:- Following a tragedy, Zoe flees Australia and makes a life for herself in the UK. Two years later, working as a care nurse in Bath and knowing just how much comfort last words can bring, Zoe has taken it upon herself to become a notekeeper - writing down the final thoughts of her patients and delivering them to their loved ones.

 Zoe's new boss, Ben, isn't happy about her getting so involved in the patients lives. Even as they clash, they both begin to realize that facing one's past is the only way to move on. But life is never straightforward, especially for Zoe. In finally opening up her heart after all these years  is she about to have it broken all over again?

 Thank you @lovebookstours @fionafordauthor @canelo_co  #Ad #Gifted #LoveBooksTours

My Review:- This is a story that will have you reaching for your tissues. After finding comfort in some thing as small as a piece of paper with the words 'I just want to be a cowboy', Zoe knew she had to do the same to help others. Everyone knew how important these small notes were for the patients and the families that were left behind. When the hospice she works in is taken over would she still be able to help others with her notes or would she have to stop.

Woman Like Us

 

Women Like Us

 This question brought back so many memories of things that I was told, but also what I have said to my children and grandchildren. Here are a few of them:-

 1) If you don't eat your carrots you'll have to wear glasses, as you never see rabbits with glasses.😲

 2) If the ice cream man plays his music it means he has no ice cream left.😮

 3) Don't eat the seeds from a apple as an apple tree will grow in your tummy.😲

 4) If you don't eat your crusts you'll not get curly hair.😑

 5) Keep twisting you face and it'll stay like that.😱

 6) If you pick your nose your head will cave in.😟

 

I only said the ice cream one last weekend to my granddaughter Emily who's 8 years old.  😢

Grown up I believed that these things would happen, but looking back now it just makes me laugh.😂

How many of you had things like these said to you and have said them to others

Clash of The Totems and the Lost Magaecians

By Yonnie Garber

Genre:- Supernatural coming-of-age (with hints of environmentalism global warning and climate change)

Pages:- 196

Age:- 10-18-Upper MG/YA

Blurb:-We know we are slowly destroying our planet...but what if we're wrong?

 What if it's the planet that is slowly destroying us?

 The Earth's fate may well hinge on just one girl.

 Thirteen-year-old Ellery Brown has a mysterious past, brought up by her mother in a tiny remote village, knowing nothing of her father or of his family until she comes intertwined with her mother's old friend, Hendrick Myerscough. In a shocking twist, she learns that the mysterious Mr Myerscough is a teacher at a Magaecian School...where her father was once a pupil. When Ellery discovers she possesses a rare gift, she finds herself in the centre of a dangerous power struggle destined to consume her if she ignores the advice of those she is closest to.

 Caught between obedience and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover the secrets of her past to understand her destiny in protecting humanity's future. it begins as personal journey for Ellery, but develops into a united mission with her friends as adventure of spells, totems and nature's darkest magaee in a courageous attempt to bring back balance to Mother Earth... before it's too late.

Thank you @lovebookstours #Ad #Gifted #LoveBooksTours

My Review:- This is a story about Ellery, her friends, Magaecian and Saxon Nash. After Ellery school is burnt down. Ellery and some of her friends are sent to The Quinton Earth Science School and that's where the story really begins. They start to learn about The Magaecian Circle, where it started who were the members and what it means to be part of it.   They start to learn about their totems and the powers. This is where Ellery discovers that her mother has been keeping secrets from her and she needs to find out why.

  I wasn't sure about reading this book as I normally don't read this sort of book, but after reading it in one day and looking forward to book 2, I would say it's a 5star from me

 

Women Like Us

By Amanda Prowse

First read- along of 2023

Thank you @lovebookstours @mrsamandaprowse for my gifted copy

Q1- Prologue

Three things that make me uniquely who I am:

1) I am a Mam and Nana

2) I am a Crafter

3) I am Helper

Women Like Us

Genre:- Memoir/Motherhood

Pages:- 300

 Amanda Prowse has built a bestselling career on the lives of fictional women. Now she turns the pen on her own life.

I guess the first question to ask is, what kind of woman am I? Well, you know those women who saunter into a room, immaculately coiffed and primped from head to toe? 

If you look behind her, you’ll see me.

From her childhood, where there was no blueprint for success, to building a career as a bestselling novelist against all odds, Amanda Prowse explores what it means to be a woman in a world where popularity, slimness, beauty and youth are currency—and how she overcame all of that to forge her own path to happiness.

Sometimes heart breaking, often hilarious and always entirely relatable, Prowse details her early struggles with self-esteem and how she coped with the frustrating expectations others had of how she should live. Most poignantly, she delves into her toxic relationship with food, the hardest addiction she has ever known, and how she journeyed out the other side.

One of the most candid memoirs you’re ever likely to read, Women Like Us provides welcome insight into how it is possible—against the odds—to overcome insecurity, body consciousness and the ubiquitous imposter syndrome to find happiness and success, from a woman who’s done it all, and then some.

The De-Coding of Jo - Halls of Ignorance (Book 1) Audio

By LALI A. LOVE

Genre:- Science Fiction, Dark Fantasy, Paranormal, YA

Audiobook- Unabridge Lail A. Love

(Author, Publisher):- Lillian Rose (Narrator)

Listening Length:- 9hours + 24minutes

Publisher:- Ravens & Roses Publishing

Blurb:- The De-Coding of Jo: Hall of Ignorance is a meld of fantasy, paranormal and science fiction, with a strong appeal to young adult readers (14+). It is the first book of the Ascending Angel Academy series, incorporating plot driven and coming of age stories of diverse, gender inclusive teenagers struggling with self-identity and a sense of belonging. 

  When a demonic parasite turns her classmates into an army of sleepwalkers, sixteen-year-old Jo must confront her celestial identity and reveal the mystery of existence. With the help of her best friends and a Galactic Compass, Jo unleashes the cosmic powers of creation to prevent the Lord of Darkness from enslaving all of humanity into obscurity.

  Will she be able to decode the artificial system in time to save her friends and the sacred Light?

Thank you @lovebookstours @BooksByLaliALove @ravensandrosespublishing  #Ad #Gifted #LoveBooksTours

 My Review:-After reading this in book form, I was only to happy to review the audio. I found listening to the book instead of reading it changed the way I looked at the characters and the story. The Narrator voice made it more mystical.  The adventure seemed different to what I had pictured in my head, it felt like I got deeper into the stories. 

 This is a story about Jo and her best friends, Rey, Nisha, Daphne, Flynn, and Zaxden. Each one of them are looked at differently by the other kids in school as they are not classed as "the normal".  They all have problems that has brought them all together. They meet up in the music room or the basement library which is old, dark and feels like someone is watching them. They find something they can't explain in a dark corner of the basement, but they know it's something they have to know more about. 

What does the Lord of Darkness, Third-Dimensional World, a Galactic Medallion and the Council of Divine Light all have to do with the basement and a group of kids