The Empire by Michael Ball

Welcome to The Empire Theatre.

'It's the jewel of the north, The Empire. Lord Lassiter bought it for his second wife, Lady Lillian and she supervised every detail of the restoration. There's not a finer theatre in the country'.

But The Empire is not just a theatre. From music hall to vaudeville, from revue to grand musical spectacular, it holds a special place in the nation's heart. For its audience, for its actors and singers, for the stagehands, the front-of-house staff, for its backers and its debtors - and above all for its owners - it truly is a palace of dreams.

And for young Jack Treadwell, struggling to adapt to civilian life after the horrors of the trenches, it's a lifeline. When he receives a letter out of the blue inviting him to work at The Empire, he leaps at the chance. After all, it's owned by the family of his former commanding officer, Edmund Lassiter.

But as Jack soon discovers, it is not just the actors who are donning a disguise. With whispers of a cover-up, a scandal and sibling rivalry, tensions rise, along with the curtain. For there is treachery at the heart of The Empire and a dark secret waiting in the wings. Can Jack discover the truth before it is too late, and the theatre that means so much to them all goes dark?

Following the lives and loves of the Lassiter and Treadwell families, from the aftermath of the Great War and the Roaring Twenties to the dark days of the Second World War and the Blitz, Michael Ball's debut fiction series charts the story of the high notes and the low notes of British musical theatre in all its glamour, greasepaint and glory.

Happy #BookBirthday! (29/9)

Happy Thursday, all! This week there are FOUR books from our various lists publishing!

A Sliver of Darkness by CJ Tudor

The debut short story collection from the acclaimed author of The Chalk Man, featuring ten bone-chilling and mind-bending tales

Timeslips. Doomsday scenarios. Killer butterflies. C. J. Tudor's novels are widely acclaimed for their dark, twisty suspense plots, but with A Sliver of Darkness, she pulls us even further into her dizzying imagination.

In Final Course, the world has descended into darkness, but a group of old friends make time for one last dinner party. In Runaway Blues, thwarted love, revenge, and something very nasty stowed in a hat box converge. In Gloria, a strange girl at a service station endears herself to a cold-hearted killer, but can a leopard really change its spots? And in I'm Not Ted, a case of mistaken identity has unforeseen, fatal consequences.

Riveting and explosively original, A Sliver of Darkness is C. J. Tudor at her most wicked and uninhibited.

#Bookpost!

Happy Tuesday, all! We've had a pretty good week this week - and for the first time in a while, we haven't finished any of these yet!

As always, you can click on the covers to learn more about each title.

Billy Conker's Nature-Spotting Adventure by Conor Busuttil

Hi, I’m Billy Conker!

I love to explore our natural world and discover all the amazing creatures living there, from snails and bees in my back garden to polar bears and great blue whales on the other side of the planet.

Now I need your help! We’re on a mission to find wild animals in their natural habitats. It won’t be easy: some are already struggling – or even endangered – and these are the hardest to spot.

Are you ready? Come on, then! Follow me and let’s get started …

Billy Conker is a young conservationist. He loves visiting different places around the world, discovering all the amazing animals and plants there and finding out how he can help them. Join Billy as he explores ponds and forests, oceans and coral reefs, deserts, prairies, cities and more!

Weekly roundup (25/9/22)

Happy Sunday, all! After all those blog tours last week, we had a normal week this time around, with our usual four reviews.

Bizzy Bear Memory Game: Things that Go

Bizzy Bear’s fun memory game slider book!

Play and learn with Bizzy Bear!

With four fun scenes, three memory games and lots of things that go to spot, this busy book is designed to improve memory, build vocabulary, and promote book-confidence. And with no messy cards to tidy up afterwards, parents will love it too!

Discover things that go in four settings – on the construction site, in the city, at the airport and in outer space!

The Strange Tale of Barnabus Kwerk by Erica McGann and Phillip Cullen

Barnabus Kwerk lives in the biggest, fanciest house in Undle.

His family are stinking rich. They’re also dreadful people. Barnabus doesn’t want to be like the rest of the Kwerks. He wants to go to school and make friends and be happy. But that isn’t possible as long as he remains trapped in the attic bedroom of the Big House.

When a stranger calls one stormy night, Barnabus is fascinated. His Aunt Jemima is like no-one he has ever met before. She knows secrets – about the Kwerks’ dark past, about Barnabus’s mother, and about a glorious golden machine at the centre of the Earth.

She offers Barnabus a life of adventure. But every great adventure has danger at its heart.

Happy #BookBirthday! (21/9)

Happy Thursday, all! This week there are TWO books from our various lists publishing!

Monochrome by Jamie Costello

16-year-old Grace awakes one morning to find the sky leaden, the sun huge ball of ash, the clouds like threatening rubble, and reports of unexplained accidents occurring on roads and rail. These are the hallmarks of an apocalyptic movie, but it quickly becomes apparent that everything, to the rest of her family, seems normal; Grace is one of only a handful of people in the country who are seeing the world in shades of grey.

Soon, however, the whole of society is in the grip of the Monochrome Effect, or 'greyout', which eliminates the ability of humans and animals to see colour. The greyout moves from person to person, but it isn't a transmissible disease: the effect on the optic nerve can be traced from microplastics in the ocean, the result of unchecked pollution, now in all water systems.

When Grace starts to experience intermittent 'colour episodes', she is asked to join a government-run study with other teens who have seen flashes of colour since the Monochrome Effect began. She is told that she will be helping find a cure; be part of something that could save the world. But the reality is much more sinister, complex and dangerous than she could ever have imagined - colour vision is now currency, and to those in power, worth the ultimate price...

#Bookpost!

Happy Tuesday, all! This was an excellent week for new books - and yes, we have read one already!

As always, you can click on the covers to learn more about each title.

Mourne Country by Gareth McCormack

‘I have seen landscapes which, under a particular light, made me feel that at any moment a giant might raise his head over the next ridge.’ – C.S. Lewis

The magnificent mountains of Mourne have long inspired artists and writers. Here, author and photographer Gareth McCormack shares his passion, knowledge and stunning pictures of these sweeping peaks, including the great Slieve Donard, Slieve Bearnagh and Slieve Binnian, with its otherworldly granite tors.

He travels further into Mourne Country, to the towns of Newcastle by the sea, Dundrum and Kilkeel, and the estates of Tollymore, Rostrevor and Castlewellan, and finds monuments that bear witness to lives long ago, from pre-historic dolmens to smugglers’ routes, Norman castles to traditional stone walls.

Weekly roundup

Happy Sunday, all! We were lucky enough to be on TWO blog tours this week, which did cut into our reviews a little, but I think you'll agree it was worth it!

The Game by Scott Kershaw

To save their life, you have to play.

Across the globe, five strangers receive a horrifying message from an unknown number.

THE PERSON YOU LOVE MOST IS IN DANGER.

To save them, each must play The Game – a sinister unknown entity that has a single rule: there can only be one winner.

IF YOU LOSE, YOUR LOVED ONE WILL DIE.

But what is The Game – and why have they been chosen?

There’s only one thing each of them knows for sure: they’ll do anything to win…

WELCOME TO THE GAME. YOU’VE JUST STARTED PLAYING.

Blog tour: The Past that Haunts by Jennifer Porter

 

Congratulations to author Jennifer Porter on the release of novel, The Past That Haunts! Read on for more details and an exclusive excerpt!

  The Past That Haunts (Wardman Chronicles #1) Publication Date: September 12th, 2022 

  Genre: Paranormal/ Mafia Romance 

 Lilith Wardman was six when her parents died. Since then, she’s gone through the motions of life, dreaming of what might have been had her world not been ripped apart. 

 Yet at the age of twenty-three, she finds herself thrust into a fresh nightmare. Two sides are pitted against each other in a brewing vampire war, and Lilith is caught in between them. One wants her dead. The other will put their lives on the line to save her. 

 When Dominic Rosini kidnaps Lilith, he claims he accepted his boss’s offer to protect her. Little does she know, Dominic is driven by motives of his own. His boss made a promise Dominic intends to keep, despite his growing attraction to the frightened mortal. 

 Trapped in a deadly game of cat and mouse, can Lilith trust the feelings she’s developing for Dominic? Or will the delicate life she built be left in shambles once more?

Happy #BookBirthday! (15/9)

Happy Thursday, all! This week there are TWO books from our various lists publishing!

Blog tour: The Book of Secrets by Alex Dunne and Shona Shirley MacDonald

The door flew open, and Granny stared out at Cat with wild eyes.

‘So,’ she said, almost in a whisper, ‘they’re back.’

For the first time in over fifty years, the Trooping Fairies are in the small town of Clonbridge for their annual Revels. Their arrival awakens other creatures, who have mischief and chaos in mind.

Eleven-year-old Cat is in more danger than most. She has the Sight, like her Granny before her, and that makes her a magnet for all things supernatural. But when the wild magic hurts her family, she needs to find a friend she can really trust. Together they face real danger and must use all their wits and bravery to save those they love, before the sun rises …

#Bookpost!

Happy Tuesday, all! This week we received two new books that look very exciting, and as is becoming normal we've read one already!

As always, you can click on the cover to learn more about each book.

Pieces of Me by Kate McLaughlin

The next gut-punching, compulsively readable Kate McLaughlin novel, about a girl finding strength in not being alone.

When eighteen-year-old Dylan wakes up, she’s in an apartment she doesn’t recognize. The other people there seem to know her, but she doesn't know them – not even the pretty, chiseled boy who tells her his name is Connor. A voice inside her head keeps saying that everything is okay, but Dylan can’t help but freak out. Especially when she borrows Connor’s phone to call home and realizes she’s been missing for three days.

Dylan has lost time before, but never like this.

Soon after, Dylan is diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder, and must grapple not only with the many people currently crammed inside her head, but that a secret from her past so terrible she’s blocked it out has put them there. Her only distraction is a budding new relationship with Connor. But as she gets closer to finding out the truth, Dylan wonders: will it heal her or fracture her further?

Kate McLaughlin’s Pieces of Me is raw, intimate, and surprisingly hopeful.

Weekly roundup

Happy Sunday, all! We've had a nice week here on the blog.

Rebel Girls Handbook

All Rebel, all the time. The Rebel Girls Handbook is the ultimate ticket to trivia, activities, and more about 300+ extraordinary women featured across the bestselling Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls series.

Malala Yousafzai fights for girls' education around the world. . . and there's an asteroid named after her. Florence Nightingale was a nurse who saved lives during the Crimean War. . . and she had a pet owl named Athena. María Isabel Urrutia is a Colombian weightlifter. . . and the inspiration for a character in the film Encanto.

The Rebel Girls Handbook includes amazing facts and beautiful illustrations of Rebel Girls past and present, all packaged together in a fun, easy-to-flip-through format. Spotlights on the home countries and traits of trailblazing women let readers explore the Rebel universe like never before, while activities encourage them to join in and make the book their own.

Plus, find QR codes inside that unlock awesome bonus audio stories on the Rebel Girls app!

All the Broken Places by John Boyne

1946. Three years after a cataclysmic event which tore their lives apart, a mother and daughter flee Poland for Paris, shame, and fear at their heels, not knowing how hard it is to escape your past.

Nearly eighty years later, Gretel Fernsby lives a life that is a far cry from her traumatic childhood. When a couple moves into the flat below her in her London mansion block, it should be nothing more than a momentary inconvenience. However, the appearance of their nine-year-old son Henry brings back memories she would rather forget.

Faced with a choice between her own safety and his, Gretel is taken back to a similar crossroads she encountered long ago. Back then, her complicity dishonoured her life, but to interfere now could risk revealing the secrets she has spent a lifetime protecting.

Happy #BookBirthday! (8/9)

Happy Thursday, all! This week there are THREE books from our various lists publishing - plus one mystery one we'll be on the blog tour for next week!

Murphy's Law by Muireann Ní Chíobhaín and Paul Nugent

Meet Murphy ... the unluckiest dog in Ireland!

Whatever could go wrong, would always go wrong,

when I was around.

Wherever I set a paw,

bad luck was always sure to follow.

We called it, 'Murphy's law'!

A picture book for young readers about an accident-prone dog whose tail is always getting him in trouble.

Bookpost!

Happy Tuesday, all! Once again we've already read one of these books - we just couldn't wait! 

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie have worked for the Museum, an elite network of assassins, for forty years. Now their talents are considered old-school and no one appreciates what they have to offer in an age that relies more on technology than people skills.

When the foursome is sent on an all-expenses paid vacation to mark their retirement, they are targeted by one of their own. Only the Board, the top-level members of the Museum, can order the termination of field agents, and the women realize they've been marked for death.

Now to get out alive they have to turn against their own organization, relying on experience and each other to get the job done, knowing that working together is the secret to their survival. They're about to teach the Board what it really means to be a woman--and a killer--of a certain age.

Weekly roundup

Happy Sunday, all, and welcome to our 1200th post! (It's just a normal Sunday post, I'm afraid. Sorry.)

Defend the Dawn by Brigid Kemmerer

To save their kingdom, they must embark on a dangerous journey...

The kingdom of Kandala narrowly avoided catastrophe, but the embers of revolution still simmer. While King Harristan seeks a new way to lead, Tessa and Prince Corrick attempt to foster unity between rebels and royals.

But the consuls who control the Moonflower will not back down, and Corrick realizes he must find a new source for the lifesaving Elixir.

When an emissary from the neighboring kingdom of Ostriary arrives with an intriguing offer, Tessa and Corrick set out on an uncertain journey as they attempt to mend their own fractured relationship.

This could be their only chance to keep the peace and bring relief to the people of Kandala, but danger strikes during the journey to Ostriary, and no one is who they seemed to be. . .

Murder at Snowfall by Fleur Hitchcock

A gripping thriller for readers who like danger and mystery and chills and spills from the comfort of their sofas… Unputdownable.

When Lucas and Ruby find an abandoned trunk covered in snow, Lucas says there’s bound to be a body inside. Ruby laughs but what if he’s right? Nervously she starts to open it, and immediately wishes she hadn’t. From that moment on, they’re drawn into a thrilling mystery, one that they have to solve before the falling snow smothers all trace of wrongdoing…

Happy #BookBirthday! (1/9)

Happy Thursday, all! This week there are SIX books from our various lists publishing.