Book Review: Exiles (Aaron Falk #3) by Jane Harper

“Not everyone leaves by choice…”

The third book in Jane Harper‘s Aaron Falk series, Exiles follows a mother who disappears from a busy festival on a warm spring night. Her baby lies alone in the pram, her mother’s possessions surrounding her, waiting for a return which never comes.

A year later, Kim Gillespie’s absence still casts a long shadow as her friends and loved ones gather to welcome a new addition to the family. Joining the celebrations on a rare break from work is federal investigator Aaron Falk, who begins to suspect that all is not as it seems.

As he looks into Kim’s case, long-held secrets and resentments begin to come to the fore, secrets that show that her community is not as close as it appears. Falk will have to tread carefully if he is to expose the dark fractures at its heart, but sometimes it takes an outsider to get to the truth…

Book Review: The Marriage Act by John Marrs

“What if marriage was the law? Dare you disobey?”

Set to be released on 19th January, The Marriage Act by John Marrs is set in the near future where a right-wing government believes it has the answer to society’s ills – the Sanctity of Marriage Act, which actively encourages marriage as the norm, punishing those who choose to remain single.

But four couples are about to discover just how impossible relationships can be when the government is monitoring every aspect of our personal lives, monitoring every word, every minor disagreement, and will use every tool in its arsenal to ensure everyone will love, honour and obey.

BOOK TOUR: The Rising Tide (Vera Stanhope #10) by Ann Cleeves

The tenth book in the Vera Stanhope series, The Rising Tide by Ann Cleeves follows a group of friends who meet up on Holy Island every five years to celebrate their friendship, and have done so for fifty years now. During their latest reunion, one of the friends is found hanged one morning, and Vera is called in. Learning that the dead man had recently been fired after misconduct allegations, Vera knows she must discover what the friends are hiding, and whether the events of many years before could have led to murder – then, and now. But with the tide rising, secrets long-hidden are finding their way to the surface, and Vera and the team may find themselves in more danger than they could have believed possible . . .

Book Review: Into The Dark by Fiona Cummins

“Make. Them. Stop.”

Set to be released on 14th April, Into The Dark by Fiona Cummins is set one late autumn morning in the beautiful bay of Seawings in Midtown-on-Sea, when Julianne calls on her best friend Piper to discover an eerie scene – the kettle is still warm, the cars are in the garage, but the house is deserted. It looks like the whole Holden family have vanished without a trace. In fifteen-year-old Riva Holden’s bedroom, scrawled across the mirror in blood, are three words: Make Them Stop.

Book Review: The Interview by C.M. Ewan

“Your only way out is to answer a seemingly impossible question. If you can’t… what happens next?”

Set to be published on 17th February, The Interview by C.M. Ewan follows Kate Harding who arrives at The Mirror, an office block in London, at 5pm on a Friday for an interview for her dream job. Thirteen floors above the city below, she’s all alone with the man interviewing her. Everyone else has gone home for the weekend. As the interview gets more and more disturbing, Kate’s only way out is to answer a seemingly impossible question. If she can’t… what will happen next?

READALONG: People Like Her by Ellery Lloyd

“She has an easy life – but makes a living from pretending otherwise. She has a husband who hates the spotlight – but can’t step away. She has a million followers who adore her – but one who wants her to suffer. She hasn’t realised her family is in danger yet – but she will.”

People Like Her by Ellery Lloyd follows Instagram sensation, Emmy Jackson, known by her fans as Mamabare. People have always liked Emmy, especially online where she is famous for always telling the unvarnished truth about modern parenthood. But Emmy isn’t as honest as she’d like the fans to believe. She may think she has her followers fooled, but someone out there knows the truth and plans to make her pay. Because people like her have no idea what pain careless words can cause. Because people like her need to learn what it feels like to lose everything…

BLOG TOUR: Fragile by Sarah Hilary

“Everything she touches breaks…”

Published on 10th June, Fragile by Sarah Hilary follows runaway Nell Ballard, a former foster child with a dark secret. All Nell wants is to find a place she can belong. So when a job comes up at Starling Villas, home to the enigmatic Robin Wilder, she seizes the opportunity with both hands. But her new lodgings may not be the safe haven that she was hoping for. Her employer lives by a set of rigid rules and she soon sees he is hiding secrets of his own. But is Nell’s arrival at the Villas really the coincidence it seems? After all, she knows more than most how fragile people can be – and how easily they can be to break…

Book Review: The Vacation by John Marrs

“How far would you run to escape your past?”

The 2021 re-release of Welcome To Whoever You Are, The Vacation is set on Venice Beach, Los Angeles, where tourists flock to the golden coast and the promise of Hollywood. But for eight strangers at a beachfront hostel, there is far more on their mind than an extended vacation. All of them are running from something. And they all have secrets they’d kill to keep…

BOOK TOUR: The Imposter by Anna Wharton

“Everybody lies.”

Released earlier this month, The Imposter by Anna Wharton follows newspaper archivist Chloe who lives a quiet life, working in the day and taking care of her Nan in the evening. She’s happy simply to read about the lives of others as she files away the news clippings from the safety of her desk. But there’s one story that she can’t stop thinking about. The case of Angie Kyle – a girl, Chloe’s age, who went missing as a child. A girl whose parents never gave up hope. When Chloe’s Nan gets moved into a nursing home, leaving Chloe takes a desperate step and answers an ad to be a lodger in the missing girl’s family home. It could be the perfect opportunity to get closer to the story she’s read so much about. But the couple isn’t all that they seem from the outside. With everyone in the house hiding something, the question is – whose secrets are the most dangerous?

BOOK TOUR: The Hiding Place by Jenny Quintana

“Some houses have their secrets. But so do some people…”

Released on 18th March, The Hiding Place by Jenny Quintana follows adopted Marina, who was found days after her birth, wrapped in a blue shawl, in the hallway of a shared house in London. When Marina finds that there’s a flat to let in the house, she hopes that moving in might hold some clues. What if it’s not just the house, though? What if someone connected to it knows what really happened that day? Someone who doesn’t want the truth to come to light?

Book Review: The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

“The four winds have blown us here, people from all across the country, to the very end of this great land. And now, at last, we make our stand, fight for what we know to be right. We fight for our American dream, that it will be possible again.”

Set to be released on 2nd February, The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah is set in Texas, 1934. Millions are out of work and a drought has broken the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods. The crops are failing, the water is drying up, and dust threatens to bury them all. In this uncertain and dangerous time, Elsa Martinelli must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or go west, to California, in search of a better life.

READALONG: The Twelve Dates Of Christmas by Jenny Bayliss

“People confused nostalgia with love and end up getting divorces or having affairs and all sorts. No, I think if you haven’t kept in touch for twenty years, there’s probably a good reason.”

The 2020 festive book by Jenny Bayliss, The Twelve Dates Of Christmas sees happily single Kate Turner take a chance on an organised event hosted by a brand new dating app service. But this event won’t see Kate on a single date. Over the month of December, she will be set up on twelve dates, each tailored to help her find perfect harmony. Between catching up with her oldest friend Laura, baking for her friend Matt’s cafe, holding down a flourishing career as a fabric designer, and taking care of her beloved dad, love hasn’t had a look in on Kate’s life recently. But Kate does love Christmas, so when Laura insists she signs up to the Twelve Dates of Christmas, she doesn’t need too much persuading. Twelve perfect festive dates with the area’s most eligible men – she’s bound to like one of them, right?