I Dare You

I Dare You by Sam Carrington

Published by Avon Books

December 2019

Mapledon, 1989
Two little girls were out playing a game of dares. Only one returned home.
The ten-year-old told police what she saw: village loner Bill ‘Creepy’ Cawley dragged her friend into his truck and disappeared.
No body was found, but her testimony sent Cawley to prison for murder. An open and shut case, the right man behind bars.
The village could sleep safe once again.

Now…
Anna thought she had left Mapledon and her nightmares behind but a distraught phone call brings her back to face her past.
30 years ago, someone lied. 30 years ago, the man convicted wasn’t the only guilty party.
Now he’s out of prison and looking for revenge. The question is, who will he start with?

There's nothing like a small village for keeping secrets, and Mapledon is no stranger to that.  Some thirty years ago, Jonie Hayes disappeared after playing a game of Knock, Knock, Ginger with her best friend Bella.  Her body is never found, but Bella tells the police that she saw Jonie being taken away by the local wierdo Bill Cawley.  He pleads guilty to her disappearance and is sent down for murder but now he has been released and is desperate to find out what really happened as both he, and others in Mapledon know he isn't the killer. 

Bella (now going by the name of Anna) returns to Mapledon at the request of her mother who has been experiencing some threatening behaviour of late that has left her a little scared.  Anna isn't keen to return to the home she grew up in but she knows that her mother needs her.  Whilst she is there she meets Lizzie, a journalist, who also has a connection to the area; one that she is keeping close to her chest.  As the book progresses, it seems that there is more than one person who has some idea of what happened to little Jonie, but it's anyone's guess as to what actually happened and who was responsible.

The book flits back and forth over the thirty year period filling the reader in on the characters of Bella and Jonie as children and of what the village was like in 1989.  Many of the residents still live there though friendships have both ended and grown since the night Jonie vanished.  It would seem that there are many regrets and lies having been told, but someone in Mapledon seems to have figured out just what occurred, and is hoping that the killer will finally admit what happened so that Jonie can be laid to rest.  Sam Carrington puts in lots of twist and turns to keep you guessing 'whodunnit' throughout the book.  It kept me hooked to the very last page!

Happy Reading

Miss Chapters x

Magpie

Magpie by Sophie Draper

Published by Avon Books

December 2019

She’s married to him. But does she know him at all?

Claire lives with her family in a beautiful house overlooking the water. But she feels as if she’s married to a stranger – one who is leading a double life. As soon as she can get their son Joe away from him, she’s determined to leave Duncan.

But finding out the truth about Duncan’s secret life leads to consequences Claire never planned for. Now Joe is missing, and she’s struggling to piece together the events of the night that tore them all apart.

Alone in an isolated cottage, hiding from Duncan, Claire tries to unravel the lies they’ve told each other, and themselves. Something happened to her family … But can she face the truth?

This is the second book by author Sophie Draper following on from her debut thriller Cuckoo.  Claire lives with her husband Duncan, their son Joe and dog Arthur in a beautiful home in Derbyshire.  However looks can be deceiving and Claire's relationship with her husband is not what it appears to be.  Duncan is having an affair (and not the first one by all accounts) and Claire is determined to leave him this time.  But leaving a marriage is never easy as Claire is about to find out, with devastating consequences; if only she can remember what they are.

Magpie is told from the perspectives of both Duncan and Claire in a before-and-after format.  This always works well as you get both sides of a story which always makes a novel feel more well-rounded in my opinion.  On the surface Claire has everything she could wish for, except that in reality, she doesn't.  Son Joe has become obsessed with metal detecting and trying to find ancient hidden treasure on the hills of Derbyshire, a risky business for a teenager when so many professionals are on the scene too, as Joe is about to discover. Despite their differences Duncan and Claire share a secret, one that they are determined to hide, but when a body is found on their land, it seems that as always the truth will out in the end.

Sophie Draper's book is full of twists and turns and examines the destruction of not only a relationship but that of a family too.  Look out for the twist at the end - I certainly didn't see it coming! If you have a kindle, at the time of going to press, Magpie is currently only 99p.

Happy Reading

Miss Chapters x

Through The Wall

Through The Wall by Caroline Corcoran

Published by Avon Books

October 2019

Lexie’s got the perfect life. And someone else wants it…

Lexie loves her home. She feels safe and secure in it – and loved, thanks to her boyfriend Tom.

But recently, something’s not been quite right. A book out of place. A wardrobe door left open. A set of keys going missing…

Tom thinks Lexie’s going mad – but then, he’s away more often than he’s at home nowadays, so he wouldn’t understand.

Tom and Lexie have a flat in a shared building in London.  They're doing pretty well because Tom's parents pay for it, so Lexie can concentrate on her freelance work and on getting pregnant which is her main focus.  They are neighbours with Harriet, a woman who writes musicals and spends much of her time either playing the piano or having raucous late-night parties.  The three have never actually met.  One day Harriet spots Tom getting into the communal lift - her heart skips a beat, he suddenly reminds her of Luke, her ex-fiance and Harriet is smitten.  Through the walls she can hear that Lexie and Tom are having some troubles, maybe her neighbours aren't living quite the perfect life that she thought they were; maybe Tom wants someone else?!

Harriet decides to focus on hooking Tom, she contacts him at work pretending to be someone else and soon starts flirting with him online.  Meanwhile Lexie is getting more and more despondent about having a baby, things aren't going well, and Tom, well Tom seems distant, less interested in her.  With secret phone calls and emails, and certain items being discovered in the flat that have no place in being there, Lexie soon convinces herself that her boyfriend is having an affair - but with whom?

Through The Wall reminded me at times of the 90s film thriller Single White Female which in itself is no bad thing (I love that film) but I did feel at times that the middle of the story dragged and I wanted to know which way the book was going to go and which female was going to come out on top.  Harriet has a past - this much is hinted at throughout the opening part of the book, but what did she do when her and Luke split up that makes her so dangerous?  I was itching to find out.

Having read this I'm only thankful I don't have neighbours!  Through The Wall is out now in paperback and at the time of writing, is a bargain 99p on Amazon Kindle!

Happy Reading

Miss Chapters x

Our Stop

Our Stop by Laura Jane Williams

Published by Avon Books

August 2019

Nadia gets the 7.30 train every morning without fail. Well, except if she oversleeps or wakes up at her friend Emma’s after too much wine.

Daniel really does get the 7.30 train every morning, which is easy because he hasn’t been able to sleep properly since his dad died.

One morning, Nadia’s eye catches sight of a post in the daily paper:

To the cute girl with the coffee stains on her dress. I’m the guy who’s always standing near the doors… Drink sometime?

So begins a not-quite-romance of near-misses, true love, and the power of the written word.

Our Stop is Laura Jane Williams' first foray into the fiction market following the successful publication of two non-fiction titles (both of which are very good by the way) and I think it is probably set to be THE beach read of the summer, and probably a film to boot - Reese Witherspoon are you listening?!

Nadia and Daniel both get the 7:30 train every morning without fail - well Daniel does, Nadia's dependability is sometimes hampered by events of the night before, but this time it's different, she's starting her new life, one where she will be glamorous and organised and healthy, oh and on time too!  One morning when she has actually managed to catch the train, her best friend sends her a text showing her a message from the Missed Connection section in the daily paper.  She's convinced it's been written about Nadia, but our heroine isn't convinced; I mean who on earth on her train would write to her?

Encouraged by her friends, Nadia responds and so begins our written romance - drawing with it it's own hashtag #ourstop as people in the online community follow the back and forth dialogue of two strangers on the same train.  As you may imagine, the path of true love never did run smooth and there are lots of near misses and close encounters as the book progresses.  Will Daniel and Nadia ever get it together?

Well reader, I can't possibly divulge that information online, you are going to have to get yourself a copy and find out for yourself (and if you have a kindle, you can get it now ahead of its paperback release date currently for only 99p). What I will say is that Laura Jane has written a fantastic novel, I couldn't stop reading it and loved both Nadia and Daniel and the journey that they embark on through these pages.  Seriously - big screen here they come!

Happy Reading

Miss Chapters x

Forget Me Not

Forget Me Not by Claire Allan

Published by Avon Books

May 2019

I disappeared on a Tuesday afternoon. I was there one minute and the next I was gone. They’ve never found my body…
 
It’s six in the morning during the hottest summer on record when Elizabeth O’Loughlin, out walking her dog, comes across Clare, a victim of a horrific knife attack, clinging onto life at the side of the road.
 
Clare dies minutes later, but not before whispering her haunting last words to Elizabeth.
  
When it becomes clear that Clare’s killer has more than one murder on his mind, Elizabeth has to take drastic action or face losing everything.
 
But what if she can’t stop a killer determined never to be forgotten?

Walking her dog early one summer morning, Elizabeth O'Loughlin discovers the body of a young woman with horrific injuries.  She is alive, but barely and as they wait for the ambulance to arrive, her final whispered words are "warn them".  But who does Clare mean for Elizabeth warn; they haven't even met before.

Clare has two best friends, Rachel and Julie and their lives are torn apart when they learn of her horrific death. To make things worse though, the police think that the killer may have a grudge against them too as a seemingly innocent bunch of forget me nots, sent to Julie, seem remarkably similar to a bunch that were left where Clare died and the messages on them aren't those normally associated with flowers left to remember the dead.

Laura isn't sure who she can turn to, her husband has been very distant of late and her lover Michael is growing impatient at their lack of time together. When a man approaches her youngest daughter at her nursery school she realises that things might be a little more serious than first anticipated.

Elizabeth tries to bury the discovery of Clare's body in the back of her mind but the persistent calling of a journalist for more information about that day opens up a can of worms into the suicide of her own daughter Laura.  What she doesn't expect to happen is to discover that Laura went to school with Clare - can there be some strange connection between what happened to her daughter and the murder of Clare?

Forget Me Not has lots of twists and turns, leaving you wondering which character's to believe or which to suspect.  I was wrong in my assumptions by the way!  I think this book definitely calls out to appear on television - it would make a great mini series!

Happy Reading

Miss Chapters x

In conversation with Anna James

Today I am in conversation with Anna James, author of an exciting new series of children's books called Pages & Co.

Your first novel is set in a world of books, was this important to you?

Books are so much a part of me and my life that I don’t think the first time I wrote fiction it could have been any other way to be honest. It wasn’t so much a conscious decision, as a natural and instinctive thing to write about what I love. I also really enjoy reading books about books and writers and libraries and I think it’s important to write something you would love to read. On a more specific level and once I had the basic idea sorted, it was really exciting for me to hopefully be able to introduce some young readers to some older books such as Anne of Green Gables and A Little Princess which I think have absolutely stood the test of time.

Why did you choose to write a children’s book as opposed to a book for adults?
Again this wasn’t really a conscious choice and I think often the idea you have dictates your audience. I actually wrote about a page of a book that was very loosely the start of Pages & Co but it didn’t work at all. I love children’s books; I think that usually the books that have the most formative effects on us as those we we read at around the age of 10 and so it’s a huge privilege to write for that age group – if Pages & Co means what my favourite books meant to me to even just one reader then I feel I’ve done my job. On a more technical perspective, I also felt the story would benefit from the sense of whismy and adventure and lack of cynicism that MG allows for.


What were your favourite books as a child and are they still favourites now?
I read voraciously as a child and it’s hard to pick out favourites but among them were many that are still my favourites; Anne of Green Gables, Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, Momo by Michael Ende, Eva Ibbotson and Diana Wynne Jones. I still reread these books.


Any advice to anyone dreaming of becoming an author?
It’s the most common advice but I think that’s probably because it’s the best; read. There’s a level of storytelling you have to have inside you to write fiction that I think you just soak up and learn from reading for pleasure. I would also write what you love to read, try not to think about what you think other people want to read.


Where do you get your writing inspiration from?
Primarily it’s books; obviously not stealing ideas or anything, but I’m inspired by reading things that I love, that change me, that challenge me, that test and play with what fiction can do. I often read before I start writing – nothing similar but something that reminds me of the power of writing and how it can make you feel. It makes me want to get as close to that as I can in my work. There’s also just the beautiful serendipity of ideas and how a phrase or a picture or anything at all can be the seed of a new idea.


What are you working on next?
I’m currently at the latter stages of editing Pages & Co 2, which is called Tilly and the Lost Fairytales and comes out in September this year. It’s a direct sequel to the first book, and sees Oskar and Tilly visit Paris, and do some bookwandering in fairy tales, where things aren’t quite what they’re expecting. There’s a sneak peek of the first chapter in the paperback edition of Tilly and the Bookwanderers which comes out in June.

If, heaven forbid, there was a fire, what possession would you grab first to save?
I am generally not too sentimental about books as physical objects but there are a few that are incredible precious to me; books that my grandparents gave me, a signed first edition of my favourite book, The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton, a signed copy of Wolf Hall, my dad’s childhood copy of Momo by Michael Ende. So I’d try and grab as many of those as possible!


What five people, living or dead, would you choose to invite to a dinner party?
Ever since reading Royal Bodies, Hilary Mantel’s extraordinary essay for the London Review of Books (https://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n04/hilary-mantel/royal-bodies) I would say I would invite Anne Boleyn, Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle, and Hilary Mantel to discuss said essay and its ideas, and I would invite Virginia Woolf as my fifth because I think she’d have a really interesting take on it too!

Thank you Anna for taking the time out to chat with me about your books.  The first book in the Pages & Co. series, Tilly and the Bookwanderers is out now!

Happy Reading

Miss Chapters x

From the Wreck

From the Wreck by Jane Rawson

Published by Picador

April 2019

When George Hills was pulled from the wreck of the steamship Admella, he carried with him memories of a disaster that claimed the lives of almost every other soul on board. Almost every other soul.

Because as he clung onto the wreck, George wasn’t alone: someone else – or something else – kept George warm and bound him to life. Why didn’t he die, as so many others did, half-submerged in the freezing Southern Ocean? And what happened to his fellow survivor, the woman who seemed to vanish into thin air?

George will live out the rest of his life obsessed with finding the answers to these questions. He will marry, father children, but never quite let go of the feeling that something else came out of the ocean that day, something that has been watching him ever since. The question of what this creature might want from him – his life? His first-born? To simply return home? – will pursue him, and call him back to the ocean again.

This was an interesting read in as much as I don't usually read science fiction as a preferred genre.  However I had heard such good things about this book that I wanted to give it a try to see if I could jump on the bandwagon too.  We begin our tale in 1859 when the steamship Admella begins to sink in the middle of the Southern Ocean on it's way to Australia.  Only two people survive the shipwreck, out central character George Hills and Bridget, the woman who wrapped herself around him whilst waiting to be rescued.  However when the crew turn up, George is the only living soul about.

As the years go by, George cannot stop thinking about this woman; she is always at the back of his mind and when his first child Henry is born, that tie becomes stronger.  Henry is not like other boys, and bares a birthmark on his back, one that if you asked him, he would say can change shape and needs feeding regularly.  George is not aware of this but this creature is Henry's closest, most intimate friend.

When George gets a letter from a woman who claims to be Bridget, he is immediately drawn to meeting up with her and getting her to release her hold on him, but is she the woman that she claims to be and will removing her grip on the man she saved from the ocean have deeper consequences?

George Hills is in fact Jane Rawson's great-great-grandfather and the Admella really did sink on August 6th 1859.  However as to whether a creature from the deep were on the boat that day none of us will ever actually know!

Happy Reading

Miss Chapters x

Sleep

Sleep by C. L. Taylor

Published by Avon Books

April 2019

All Anna wants is to be able to sleep. But crushing insomnia, terrifying night terrors and memories of that terrible night are making it impossible. If only she didn’t feel so guilty…

To escape her past, Anna takes a job at a hotel on the remote Scottish island of Rum, but when seven guests join her, what started as a retreat from the world turns into a deadly nightmare.

Each of the guests have a secret, but one of them is lying – about who they are and why they're on the island. There's a murderer staying in the Bay View hotel. And they've set their sights on Anna.

Seven strangers. Seven secrets. One deadly lie.

Someone’s going to sleep and never wake up…

Another twisty thriller by C.L.Taylor and this is set on a remote Scottish island in the middle of a storm.  There's someone out to kill housekeeper Anna but which of the seven guests on the island could it be, and will she discover who they are before it's too late to save her own life?  

Anna is escaping from her past, she was involved in a car accident which left two of her work colleagues dead and another paralysed though she walked away with only minor injuries.  She wasn't held accountable for the incident but that doesn't leave her feeling riddled with guilt.  When she sees an advertisement for someone to work in a hotel on the island of Rum she applies for the job and is hired on a trial basis by owner David.  She breaks up with her boyfriend Alex, gives him their flat and flees the country.

Having had the suspicion that someone was following her back in London, it's a relief for Anna to stop looking over her shoulder all the time, however it isn't long after the guests have checked in that Anna starts to feel that again someone is constantly watching her.  Mysterious messages all about sleep keep appearing and Anna knows what it is like to want to be able to sleep properly again - something that she hasn't managed to achieve since the accident occurred.

So which of the guests could be interested in her?  She has met none of them before and there seems to be no link to her past with any of them.  As the impending storm comes crashing down on the island, Bay View hotel is cut off from everyone on there which leaves Anna trapped in a hotel with someone who wishes her harm.

This has a ring of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None to it but obviously in a modern context.  At first glance the guests all appear to be normal holiday makers but as the story progresses you become suspicious of one character and then another until you start to feel that they all did it!  Can you guess the killer before they strike one more time though?

Happy Reading

Miss Chapters x

Keep Her Close

Keep Her Close by M. J . Ford

Published by Avon Books

March 2019

Someone is playing a deadly game…

When a young woman goes missing from Jesus College, Oxford, DS Josie Masters is plunged into a world of panic as fear grips the city. Along with Thames Valley Police’s newest recruit, the handsome DS Pryce, Josie must act fast – and when two more students disappear from Oriel and Somerville colleges, she realises the killer is sending her a deadly message in a cruel game of cat and mouse. This time, the case is personal – but who is the perpetrator?

In a desperate race against the clock, Josie hunts for the kidnapper, and soon discovers he could be a lot closer to home than she’d ever thought…

This is the second novel by M. J. Ford following on from his debut Hold My Hand.  Prior to reading this, I did think I had already read the first book but it turns out I haven't so I'll be putting that right shortly after posting this I think!

DS Josie Masters is on a new case, a student has disappeared from Oxford University in circumstances that appear somewhat troublesome.  Her step-father, an MP doesn't want any publicity and as the case progresses, two other girls go missing in somewhat similar circumstances.  Alongside this, Jo is also troubled by her home life.  Boyfriend Lucas seems to be keeping something from her, saying he is working when he clearly isn't.  After the issues she had with her previous boyfriend Ben, Jo isn't sure she totally believes Lucas is telling her the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.  But if he isn't, then what exactly has he got to hide?

The book ties in somewhat with the previous novel but that doesn't mean you have to have read it to enjoy this.  It's quite the page turner as it is clear that the person behind all of this seems to have a vendetta against Jo.  The question is though who could it be; someone in Jo's past, or someone in Jo's present?  And if it is the latter, then who the heck is it?

I love a crime thriller and this did not disappoint.  Jo is a likeable cop, complete with baggage as our fictional detectives tend to be, and she has a polar opposite detective working with her, in the form of hunky DS Jack Pryce.  Between the two of them, can they find who has taken these girls before it is too late for any of them or will Jo come face-to-face with her nemesis?

I'm hoping that there will be a follow-up to this and soon!

Happy Reading

Miss Chapters x

Daisy Jones and The Six

Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Published by Hutchinson

March 2019

For a while, Daisy Jones & The Six were everywhere. Their albums were on every turntable, they sold out arenas from coast to coast, their sound defined an era. And then, on 12 July 1979, they split.

Nobody ever knew why. Until now.

They were lovers and friends and brothers and rivals. They couldn't believe their luck, until it ran out. This is their story of the early days and the wild nights, but everyone remembers the truth differently.

The only thing they all know for sure is that from the moment Daisy Jones walked barefoot onstage at the Whisky, their lives were irrevocably changed.

Making music is never just about the music. And sometimes it can be hard to tell where the sound stops and the feelings begin.

If Reese Witherspoon says she likes a book and picks it for her online book club then in my humble opinion it's usually pretty good and when I saw that Daisy Jones and The Six had been chosen as this month's choice (and a possible mini series) it seemed to be a good book to pick up next and I am so glad I did.  I can pretty much say right now that this is certainly going to end the year as one of my top reads, it's bloody brilliant. There is no point in trying to find clever superlatives here when that does the job.

The book is an interview with the band members of The Six, once famous throughout America in the 1970s and of a solo singer  called Daisy Jones whose talents were combined together to make a stunning album called Aurora.  The band were everything, they were everywhere, their connection to each other was out of this world and then suddenly they were no more.  No explanations were ever given, no interviews were made until now, in this book.

We are taken back to the formative days when the Dunne brothers formed a band that were eventually to become known as The Six.  Their lead singer Billy hit the big time hard: sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll were definitely his vibe despite a wife and baby on the way.  Daisy Jones was a girl who had everything and wanted for nothing and yet wasn't satisfied with life.  She too hits a path of drink and drugs, yet unlike Billy has found nothing to quit for.  Separately their individual music is good but when serendipity brings them together their music is formidable.

This book is about the band, the music but more importantly it is about the people who are part of the music.  Taylor Jenkins Reid focuses on Billy and Daisy, but spends just as much time building the characters of the rest of the band plus those loved ones whose lives are ultimately affected by everything that they do.  Many have said that they think the book is loosely based on Fleetwood Mac but I don't know about that.  What I will say is that I believed that Daisy Jones and The Six were real from the moment I finished the first page of the book until I read the very last word, and I am not the only one to say how sorry I am that the music defined through these pages does not exist in real life because I know without a doubt I would be playing those songs again and again and again.

Daisy Jones and The Six is about music, it's about passion, it's about following your dreams, it's about relationships, it's about loving someone and them not loving you back, it's about life, it's about death, it's about sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll.  It's about everything.

Happy Reading

Miss Chapters x

The Stone Circle

The Stone Circle by Elly Griffiths

Published by Quercus

February 2018

DCI Nelson has been receiving threatening letters telling him to 'go to the stone circle and rescue the innocent who is buried there'. He is shaken, not only because children are very much on his mind, with Michelle's baby due to be born, but because although the letters are anonymous, they are somehow familiar. They read like the letters that first drew him into the case of The Crossing Places, and to Ruth. But the author of those letters is dead. Or are they?

Meanwhile Ruth is working on a dig in the Saltmarsh - another henge, known by the archaeologists as the stone circle - trying not to think about the baby. Then bones are found on the site, and identified as those of Margaret Lacey, a twelve-year-old girl who disappeared thirty years ago.

As the Margaret Lacey case progresses, more and more aspects of it begin to hark back to that first case of The Crossing Places, and to Scarlett Henderson, the girl Nelson couldn't save. The past is reaching out for Ruth and Nelson, and its grip is deadly.

I may have squealed a little bit when my copy of The Stone Circle arrived on my kindle earlier this year and that's because, like many others, I've been sucked wholeheartedly into the Ruth Galloway series of books by Elly Griffiths.  If you are unfamiliar with them, where have you been?  Here's a quick catch-up should you need it: Ruth is an archaeologist working at the university in Norfolk and due to the nature of her career, has managed over the course of 11 books to become involved in many police cases that have involved the unearthing of human bones, be they both modern and ancient.  She has also managed to strike up a relationship between herself and DCI Harry Nelson, a brusk northerner who is already married to the beautiful Michelle and father to two children of his own though he now also has a daughter with Ruth.  Other characters in the stories have also struck up relationships with one another during the course of these books, and for many the most pressing question in this novel is about who the father of Michelle Nelson's baby is - her husband Harry or that of her lover Tim who tragically passed away saving her life in the last book?

Anyway, I digress.  The remains of a body are unearthed on the Saltmarsh and they are identified as those of a young girl who disappeared one sunny day during a street party some thirty years ago just after Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer.  Many of those involved in the case are still in the surrounding area today and DCI Nelson reopens the case in the hope that today there can be some closure for Margaret's family; after all someone has kept quiet about killing her all this time, can there be some shred of evidence that helps the police to finally catch her murderer?

The story interweaves parts of the Scarlett Henderson killing into play (which were featured in the first book of the series The Crossing Places) and Ruth and Nelson are once again drawn together both in and out of work.  For many readers it is not just the crime element of these books that holds its legion of fans gripped, but the complex relationships of the characters themselves.  I had many questions I wanted to throw out there once I'd finished the book (but won't put on here for fear of spoiling the book for others) but Elly Griffiths has a way of ending the books with the reader asking as many questions at the end of the book as they have at the beginning. And now we have to wait for novel 12.  I for one don't think I can!!!

Happy Reading

Miss Chapters x

A Version of the Truth

A Version of the Truth by B. P. Walter

Published by Avon Books

February 2019

We all see what we want to see…

2019: Julianne is preparing a family dinner when her son comes to her and says he’s found something on his iPad. Something so terrible, it will turn Julianne’s world into a nightmare and make her question everything about her marriage and what type of man her husband is or is pretending to be.

1990: Holly is a fresher student at Oxford University. Out of her depth and nervous about her surroundings, she falls into an uneasy friendship with a group of older students from the upper echelons of society and begins to develop feelings for one in particular. He’s confident, quiet, attractive and seems to like her too. But as the year progresses, her friends’ behaviour grows steadily more disconcerting and Holly begins to realise she might just be a disposable pawn in a very sinister game.

A devastating secret has simmered beneath the surface for over twenty-five years. Now it’s time to discover the truth. But what if you’re afraid of what you might find?

A Version of the Truth is the debut novel by B. P.Walter and it's an interesting but dark novel.  When your son discovers something on the home pc, do you believe what your eyes saw, what your son believes to be true, or your husband's account of what you thought you saw?  This is the exact predicament that Julianne is up against.  Her son Stephen discovers some files in the family dropbox account and what he sees there he his convinced is pretty sinister.  He tells her about it, and she later confronts her husband James about the contents.  He spins her a line about the files being used as information for MI5 and nothing to actually do with him per se, and that she should just forget about it all.

Julianne probably could forget about it all if, twelve months previously, she hadn't been approached by a journalist asking probing questions about James.  Finding these files triggers her memory back to that meeting and internally she begins to question what James has told her.  Stephen still isn't convinced that his father is telling the truth - but do either of them actually want to probe deep enough to uncover the real facts?

This storyline is written in tangent with that of Holly, a working class girl who gains a place at Oxford university in 1990 to read English.  There she meets siblings Ally and Ernest, and their friends Peter and James.  She is both captivated by the attitude their wealth and status gives them all, and repulsed at the same time.  Like most girls at the university she is captivated by James.  Their behaviour to Holly and to each other does leave a lot to be desired though and one night, what starts as innocent fun with a game of Truth or Dare soon as tragic consequences for Holly.

As you can imagine these two storylines are of course linked, and by the end of the novel you can see how the lives of Holly and Julianne are intertwined.  For me not everything was resolved however by the turning of the final page.  It felt a little like there could be a sequel to this book, a what happens after tome waiting in the wings.  The build-up was good and Walter has created some characters that are truly despicable but that we as a reader know exist as high up members of our society today.  I just felt a little unsatisfied that those who should have got their just deserts didn't.

Happy Reading

Miss Chapters x

In Conversation With Victoria Maxwell

Today I am lucky enough to be in conversation with Victoria Maxwell, author of Class of 1983, a time-travelling YA novel.  Without further ado, let's find out more about her...

Your book is set in the 1980s – what are you favourite things from this period of time?

Pretty much everything, but just to name a few - John Hughes movies, Back to the Future, Xanadu, Family Ties, Quantum Leap, Who’s the Boss?, Sweet Valley High books, Journey, Styx, Cyndi Lauper and Toto, 80’s cardigans, perms, blue eyeshadow and My Little Pony.



What made you choose the YA genre for your first novel? Is this a genre that you enjoy yourself?

When I started writing the book I was working as an English teacher in a high school in Sydney. I only started reading YA books when my students kept recommending them to me. The first YA book I read as an adult was Twilight and I fell (back) in love with the genre. It’s pretty much all I read now. There’s something about YA fiction that feels so raw and honest and heartfelt to me that I don’t always feel when I read books for grown-ups.

Any advice to anyone dreaming of becoming an author?

It’s pretty hard work. It took me nine years from idea to book on the shelf, but it was all worth it of course! My advice is to write because you love it. It’s tough out there, and while some people get a publishing deal and make bank, most of us are working other jobs and writing on the side. Write because your soul needs to, not because of what success you think you could gain from it. Writing a book is a success in itself! Also, don’t be afraid to go the indie route. The publishing industry is changing and we don’t have to spend years trying to get an agent and publisher to get our books out to readers any more. It’s an exciting time to be an author!



Where do you get your writing inspiration from?

I first had the idea for Class of 1983 when I was a high school teacher. There was a book room at our school that was hardly ever used, it was full of stacks of old class sets of books. The little room was like a time warp. Every time I went in, I had this feeling I was going back in time and I thought about how cool it would be if I could walk out in another time. I guess my vivid imagination is my inspiration! I’m very inspired by song lyrics too. A lot of the scenes in Class of 1983 were inspired by 80’s pop songs.

What are you working on next?

I’m currently working through a very rough draft of the sequel to Class of 1983 which I’m hoping to publish later this year and I’m also working on a standalone book which desperately wants to be written.



If, heaven forbid, there was a fire, what possession would you grab first to save?

I’d grab my rescue kitties and make sure my fiancé was safe. Everything else can be replaced. But maybe an 80’s cardigan and some snacks!



What five people, living or dead, would you choose to invite to a dinner party?

Jesus, Shakespeare, Olivia Newton John, Michael J Fox and Tonya Harding.




Thank you so much Victoria for hanging out with me.  Class of 1983 is available to buy from Amazon in both kindle and paperback format and you can find out more about Victoria and her writing by going to www.magicpizza.press.


Happy Reading

Miss Chapters x

The Lost Man

The Lost Man by Jane Harper

Published by Little, Brown

February 2019

He had started to remove his clothes as logic had deserted him, and his skin was cracked. Whatever had been going through Cameron's mind when he was alive, he didn't look peaceful in death.

Two brothers meet at the remote border of their vast cattle properties under the unrelenting sun of the outback. In an isolated part of Australia, they are each other's nearest neighbour, their homes hours apart.

They are at the stockman's grave, a landmark so old that no one can remember who is buried there. But today, the scant shadow it casts was the last hope for their middle brother, Cameron. The Bright family's quiet existence is thrown into grief and anguish.

Something had been troubling Cameron. Did he choose to walk to his death? Because if he didn't, the isolation of the outback leaves few suspects...

This is the third of Jane Harper's novels and I think it might just be my favourite so far.  Set in the Austrailian Outback, this is a book where the setting plays a primary role in the novel.  Cameron Bright's body is found after he never showed up to complete some repair work on a mast on the edges of his property.  What made this man, who was knowledgeable about the area, abandon his car and therefore his supply of food and water to wander across the remote outback to end up dying on top of the notorious grave of The Stockman?

It is Christmas in Australia and the sun is relentless.  Cameron's body has been found and brothers Nathan and Bub are having to deal with this discovery as well as keeping their own heads above water.  Each has his own problems - Nathan has become more reclusive than ever, following on from his ban to enter the city a decade previously. His son Xander is visiting from Brisbane and even he can see the changes in his father's behaviour.  Younger brother Bub is getting fed up with not being listened to, and seems to have more problems than alcohol can deal with.  Also at the property are Cameron's wife and daughters, Harry who has helped out on the farm since anyone can remember, Liz, the boys mother and two British backpackers who were after summer jobs.

Each character has their own secret or two and Jane Harper draws them out one by one.  What did Nathan do that resulted in him being shunned by his own community?  Who are these British backpackers - isn't it strange for them to be out here with no experience?  Why was Cameron out at the Stockman's grave?  When Nathan discovers the car abandoned by his brother, something is niggling him but he can't figure it out - what was going through Cam's mind and was he really walking to his own death that day?

Jane Harper certainly brings the hardships of living and surviving in the outback to the forefront of the readers mind in The Lost Man.  It certainly doesn't make me want to live that way, and you come away with a new found respect for anyone who has to deal with such a harsh climate on a daily basis.  This  book is full of the trials and tribulations one family can experience, especially when they are your closest and only neighbours.

Happy Reading

Miss Chapters x

The Wych Elm

The Wych Elm by Tana French

Published by Viking

February 2019

One night changes everything for Toby. He's always led a charmed life - until a brutal attack leaves him damaged and traumatised, unsure even of the person he used to be. He seeks refuge at his family's ancestral home, the Ivy House, filled with memories of wild-strawberry summers and teenage parties with his cousins.

But not long after Toby's arrival, a discovery is made: a skull, tucked neatly inside the old wych elm in the garden.

As detectives begin to close in, Toby is forced to examine everything he thought he knew about his family, his past, and himself.

A spellbinding standalone from a literary writer who turns the crime genre inside out, The Wych Elm asks what we become, and what we're capable of, if we no longer know who we are.

The Wych Elm (or Witch if you are in the States) is the new stand-alone crime novel by Tana French.  Now I'll get my niggles out of the way instantly - the chapters are exhaustingly long, if like me you cannot stop reading in the middle of one, and secondly I hated the central character Toby.  Aside from all of that, I did enjoy this book so please read on!

Toby is a self-centred so-and-so and the sort of person that everything goes right for - he can talk his way out of anything and has had a lifetime of things falling into his lap; lucky boy.  He works for an art gallery and they decide to have an exhibition that is going to bring a lot of publicity their way, however things go wrong, Toby gets into trouble at work and then to top it all off, his flat gets burgled and he ends up in a very serious way in the local hospital as a result.  He needs to recuperate and his family decide that the best thing for him to do would be to return to the Ivy House, home of his uncle Hugo who is sadly dying.  Toby is now a former shadow of himself but could be the ideal companion for his uncle in his final months of life.  

Toby goes to stay with Uncle Hugo, and takes his girlfriend Melissa along with him.  He spends a lot of time reminiscing with his cousins Susannah and Leon and the whole family get together every Sunday for a big lunch.  It is at one of these lunches that Susannah's children discover a skull hidden in the Wych Elm at the bottom of the garden.  As luck would have it, or not in this case, the skull turns out to be human which prompts a visit from the local constabulary and a murder case is opened when it is revealed that the skull belongs to an old school friend of Toby and his cousins who was at the time, rumoured to have committed suicide before they all departed for university.

Now Toby is at the forefront of two mysteries - that of the skull in the garden and also of who tried to kill him when the burglary on his flat went wrong.  Is there a connection?  Tana French clearly shows that you can choose your friends but you certainly cannot chose your family.  Do you even really know them as well as you think you do, and when push comes to shove, do they even have your back at all?  It is certainly a novel about relationships more than anything and makes for interesting reading in that respect.  This is the sort of novel that could strike up some interesting conversations in a book group.

Happy Reading

Miss Chapters x