Thursday 19 January 2017

Ledston Luck by Andrew Barrett (Eddie Collins #4) #blogtour


First of all a huge thank you to Andrew Barrett and Caroline for giving me a chance to be part of this blog tour and read Andrew's brilliant novel.  


Synopsis:

They say you can always trust a copper. They’re lying.

They lied thirty years ago and they’re still lying today.

A booby-trapped body in a long-abandoned chapel. A scene examination that goes horribly wrong. CSI Eddie Collins and DI Benson are injured and one of the team killed. Eddie is heartbroken and guilt-ridden. And angry.

To find out who the killer is, they must discover the motive. Their breakthrough comes when two young burglars disappear in the village of Ledston Luck. Eddie picks a fight with the wrong man, and is suspended from duty. But he can’t let go of the investigation. He finds the secrets behind a thirty-year-old murder and comes face to face with the killer – on the wrong end of a shotgun.

My review:

I have read a few crime books now and thoroughly enjoyed them, but it is just so exciting to be reading a novel written by someone with true, real live experience, someone who has the expertise to be able to write in detail and correct context.

Andrew Barrett has the best insider knowledge of protocols, rules and the day to day live of Crime Scene Investigators (CSIs) as he has been on the job for over 30 years; so it hasn’t come to me as too big of a surprise that this book was so good.

But ‘good’ doesn’t do it justice. It’s brilliant, clever and keeps you guessing all the way through. This book is a work of genius and experience. It can be read as a standalone novel; however I will now purchase the first three books in the series, because I feel like I have missed out on something here.

Eddie Collins is not your typical likeable character. Actually, he’s an irritating, rude and an arrogant ass. But he has his reasons and is respected for his abilities and instincts working as a CSI in West Yorkshire Police. When his colleague dies on a job and Eddie gets injured, he makes it his priority to catch whoever is behind the growing number of bodies lying in the mortuary. He is ruthless, rule-breaking and anger driven individual, but with all the right reasons.

He has to unravel decades of crime and secrets to stop the serial killer and it costs his friends, his job and nearly his life.

One character in the book I must not forget is Eddie’s father Charles. He is sort of in the background but on more than one occasion he manages to open his son’s eyes to possibilities around these crime, that Eddie might have not seen himself. They have a proper love-hate relationship, but underneath all their arguments and harsh words, they really do care about each other.

As you can hopefully tell from my review I thoroughly enjoyed the book and will definitely look out for the author again.

Thank you so much to the author for including me in this blog tour and for allowing me the access to this book in return for an honest review.

My rating: 5/5

About the author:

Andrew Barrett is a Best-selling Author and Senior CSI based in Yorkshire. He brings all his knowledge and expertise from his years in Forensics into his writing.

Andrew Barrett has been writing best-selling thrillers since the mid 1990s, all set in northern England. He's also written several short stories, and co-written a number of television scripts and despite all that is still reasonably sane.

Andrew's novels focus on the world of Crime Scene Investigators (CSIs). He offers a unique insight into this dark landscape, making good use of his expertise as a Senior CSI to envelop the reader in exciting yet realistic stories.

Included in each story are elements of dark humour (he'd be totally insane without the humour), and severe emotional highs and lows. So be prepared.

Author’s Facebook page: www.facebook.com/AndrewBarrett.author
Author’s website: http://andrew-barrett.co.uk

Available to purchase from:

Wednesday 18 January 2017

#BlogTour Announcement - Ledston Luck by Andrew Barrett

I am very happy to announce the release of the brilliant new thriller by Andrew Barrett called Ledston Luck. About a month ago I was contacted by Andrew and asked to take part in a blog tour and as soon I read the synopsis I was hooked. And I was not disappointed. 

The tour is on, so please take a look at the poster below and visit my fellow bloggers to see what they thought of this book. My stop is tomorrow 19 January 2017 and I can't wait to share my opinion on one of the best crime book I've ever read.



Ledston Luck which is being launched on the 20th January 2017 continues the story of CSI Eddie Collins. It begins with a booby-trapped body in a long-abandoned chapel. 

A scene examination that goes horribly wrong. CSI Eddie Collins and DI Benson are injured and one of the team killed. Eddie is heartbroken and guilt-ridden. And angry.

To find out who the killer is, they must first discover the motive. And their breakthrough comes when two young burglars disappear in the village of Ledston Luck. Eddie picks a fight with the wrong man, and is suspended from duty. But he cant let go of the investigation. He finds the secrets behind a thirty-year-old murder and comes face to face with the killer – on the wrong end of a shotgun.

They say you can always trust a copper. Theyre lying.They lied thirty years ago and theyre still lying today.

The novel is based on the real village of Ledston Luck in Yorkshire.

Author’s Facebook page: www.facebook.com/AndrewBarrett.author
Author’s website: http://andrew-barrett.co.uk

Available to purchase from:

Friday 13 January 2017

The Old Man and the Princess by Sean-Paul Thomas

Synopsis from Goodreads:

An eccentric old Irish man, who claims to be 'not of this Earth,' kidnaps Sersha, a young, headstrong, Irish girl, from the streets of Galway and tries to convince her that her life's destiny is tied to a mystical cave in the Scottish highlands.

But with half of the Irish criminal underworld violently on their trail, Sersha, struggles back and forth with the old man's real identity and far-fetched intentions to whether he truly is genuine in his wild and fantastical beliefs. Or is he really just a mad, demented, old fool, having some kind of mental breakdown in his twilight years. 

My review:

When I was contacted by the author to review this book and I read the synopsis for this book, I wasn’t really too sure what to expect, but it really turned out to be a little gem of a book, with a story that kept popping along very nicely and good characters you grow to like. The story has also kept its authenticity by using local dialects and not too vast description of the Irish and Scottish scenery.

Derek did worry me at first. Let’s be honest, when the main character of an old man kidnaps a fifteen year old girl and keeps her in the back of a van in the middle of a forest, you don’t necessarily warm to him straight away. But Derek is a surprisingly strong headed, good natured man with a goal in mind, knowing he would do literary anything to keep Sersha safe and to get them both to their final destination.

Sersha on the other hand is a typical angry teenager. Growing up in foster care left her with trust issues, but also wanting more out of life and hope that their might be something better, which I think is why she starts to side with Derek so quickly.

Whether you believe the whole sci-fi story Derek portraits to Sersha is, in my opinion, quite irrelevant. To me, this book was more about the relationship that so beautifully develops between these two. It’s a relationship based on crazy theory of other worlds, palaces and princesses, but one that grows into a lovely friendship.

This is a shorter novel for anyone who likes to dip into something a little bit different. There are a few nice twists in the story and all is not as it seems. Good, witty humour helps the story along too with a few laugh-out-loud moments.

And I must also admit that I absolutely love the cover!

Thank you to the author for giving me access to this book in return for an honest review.

My rating: 4/5


Available to purchase from:

Friday 6 January 2017

Tempting Jo by Nancee Cain

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Forbidden love is hell...

Confident and quirky, Jo Sanford thinks her boss is God's gift to women--and she couldn't be further from the truth. Devilishly handsome, Luc DeVille will stop at nothing to lure his administrative assistant right into his arms--and bed.

Over Rafe Goodman's dead body...

Rafe, Jo's best friend, refuses to sit by and watch as Luc tries to win the heart of the woman he's always protected. After all, Rafe is her guardian angel. Suddenly, Jo's caught in the middle of a battle between good and evil. But the closer she gets to the fire, the hotter it burns. Now, Jo's going to learn that when love battles lust, Heaven and Hell collide.

My review:

I must admit that I am struggling with this one a little. I have thought a lot about it and I finally realised that if I read this book about twelve years ago I would have enjoyed it much more. It’s a sort of book to I think suited me in my early twenties before my reading horizon widened so much. So if I am really honest, back in the day I would have given the book 4 maybe 4.5 stars. But even now it gets a solid 3*.

Overall I think the story was good and I especially warmed to Rafe’s character. Rafe is your typical good guy, torn between duty for the greater good and love for the woman he’s been guarding for years. I even had a soft spot for Luc; your typical bad boy with ‘devilish’ good looks and attitude to match. Good and evil was well represented here and the story reiterated that one cannot exist without the other.

The one character I could not get on with was Jolene. And I think that’s why I struggled with the novel. I find it hard to read a book when I dislike the main character – it sort of throws me out of sync. She was supposedly intelligent, beautiful, amazing creature, but to me she was just this naïve, silly little girl that everyone had to take care off. And she really got on my nerves using the ‘words of the day’ in the wrong context. I wanted to shake her to wake her up!

To summarise I would recommend this novel as maybe a holiday read. It was a relaxing book and one that I would take up in between something meatier perhaps. The story line was there and the concept was good if like to believe in higher powers.

Thank you to TBConFB and the author for giving me access to this book in return for an honest review.

My rating: 3/5

Available to purchase from: