Sorry for the Dead by Nicola Upson

 

Josephine Tey Mystery #8

350 pages

Blurb

Summer, 1915: a young woman falls to her death at Charleston Farmhouse on the Sussex Downs. But was it an accident?

Twenty years later, Josephine Tey is faced with the accusation that it was murder, and that she was complicit in the crime. Can she clear her name and uncover the truth, exposing the darkest secrets of that apparently idyllic summer?

 

Review                        

It’s been years since I last read a Josephine Tey mystery by Nicola Upson. I loved the first three when I discovered them and I’m not sure why I stopped reading them, but it was obviously a mistake. When I saw this latest title on the shelves in the library where I work, I picked it up immediately and that was a great decision.

The timeline in this story is spread out over 33 years with the first death happening in 1915 and the second in 1948 and involves a lot more than ‘just’ two suspicious deaths. And, as much as I love mysteries, especially well plotted ones like this, I have to admit that the secondary plot (if you can call it that) intrigued me more. I’ll get back to that.

In 1915 Josephine travels to the Sussex Downs to help supervising a group of schoolgirls who are spending their summer working on a farm run by Harriet and George, two women with a passion for horticulture and also for each other. The true nature of their relationship is a closely guarded secret, but when Josephine arrives on the farm, she soon recognises it for what it is, and she isn’t the only one. One of the girls has made an anonymous phone call to accuse the women in charge of Charleston Farmhouse of indecent behaviour. When that girl subsequently dies under suspicious circumstances, Josephine isn’t the only one suspecting foul play, but the subsequent inquest rules it death by misadventure, and that should have been the end of it.

Twenty years later a newspaper article brings the events from 1915 back to the fore while implying that the girl was murdered. and that Josephine is somehow implicated in the deed or the covering up thereof. Josephine wouldn’t be Josephine if she took the accusation lying down and it isn’t long before she’s investigating what really happened. Her quest reunites her with several people she hasn’t seen for in over twenty years and brings back memories of a special but also painful and confusing time of her life.

Which brings me to the sub-plot. The two women who own and run Charleston Farmhouse are in a relationship. They are very discrete because they know the world at large doesn’t approve but living in close quarters with a group of girls on the cups of adulthood means that their secret isn’t safe.

Josephine falls for and starts a relationship with Jeannie, a young woman her own age she meets in Sussex. As everything falls apart after the girl dies, Josephine experiences first-hand how the world feels about women who love women, and it pushes her to make a hurtful decision.

For me, that was the real story in this book. Since it also plays a huge role in the mystery and its resolution, you could call it the theme of this novel. How much are we willing to endure for love? How much are we willing to put at risk? Is love enough when the rest of the world turns its back to you? How far are we willing to go to protect those we love? In fact, book could just as easily have been called ‘The Things We Do for Love’. Because when pushed enough, love, in all its wonderous and obsessive forms, can make us do the most amazing and shocking things.

Long story short; Sorry for the Dead is a wonderful book containing a fascinating mystery and an equally interesting background story. Well plotted and a very smooth read, this story was a joy to read.

Listening Still by Anne Griffin

Sceptre

345 pages

 Blurb

Jeanie Masterson has a gift: She can hear the recently dead and give voice to their final wishes and revelations. Shared by her father, the gift has enabled the family undertakers to flourish in their small Irish town.

Yet, Jeanie has always been uneasy about censoring what she hears to protect the feelings of the living. Unsure too about the choice she made seventeen years ago, giving up the chance of a new life in London with her first love, Fionn, to work with her father and aunt – or the wisdom of marrying her faithful childhood friend Niall when she has never quite been able to forget Fionn.

Until now Jeanie has stifled her doubts, but when her parents unexpectedly announce their plan to retire and leave the business to her and Niall, she is jolted out of limbo.

In this captivating successor to her bestselling debut When All is Said, Anne Griffin masterfully portrays a young woman torn between duty and a last chance to break free – unaware that she’s not the only one who has long been softening the truth.

 

 Review

What to say about Listening Still other than WOW. Anne Griffin has done it again, be it that for me, Listening Still isn’t quite as breath-taking as When All is Said was. However, that may be because I have very strong feelings about the subject matter of the latter book, and not because there’s anything wrong with Listening Still.

In Listening Still, we meet thirty-something Jeanie who finds herself reassessing her whole life and the decisions she made and avoided making. Born into a family of funeral directors and being one of only two people in Ireland who can hear the thoughts of the death, her future appears set in stone before she is old enough to fully realise what a future is especially since she loves hearing from the death as a child.

Jeanie is basically a good girl, who takes her responsibilities seriously and, for the longest time, without much question. When Jeanie’s parents announce their decision to retire and move away, the house of cards starts crumbling. Jeanie questions everything. With her dad being the only other person who can communicate with the recently deceased, Jeanie will no longer be able to share the burden. She has long held doubts about her father’s inclination to beautify the final words and revelations when relaying them to the next of kin. Was she right to give up on the love of her life in order to fulfil what felt like her destiny? Does she love her husband, Niall enough? Is the life she is living really what she wants and needs?

In many ways this is a coming-of-age story, even if Jeanie goes through the process somewhat later in life than most. Jeanie has always done what was expected of her and has taken her responsibilities very seriously without ever asking herself how she felt about it. Between her parents’ announcement and further shocks, her breakdown is hardly surprising. The question becomes if it’s ever too late to be what you might have been and if Jeanie could ever have been anything other than what she is. The story poses some further interesting questions, such as, why do we tell those seemingly innocent little white lies? Is it really to spare others pain or discomfort or are our reasons more selfish; are we in fact trying to save ourselves from uncomfortable situations or embarrassment? Listening Still also asks how much of our lives we live for ourselves. How much of ourselves our we willing to deny in order to accommodate others?

I can’t say I agreed with or understood many of Jeanie’s decisions, nor her refusal to make them. But I was fascinated by the dilemmas she faces, heartbroken about some of the consequences, and frustrated with her refusal to take responsibility for the consequences of her (in)actions. It is, however, not necessary to agree with or even like characters in order to get caught up in their journey, and Jeanie’s progress over the course of this book had me entranced.

Maurice, from When All is Said makes an appearance in this story. Well, his corpse does. And he doesn’t talk to Jeanie. What she learns about him, she hears from his son, Kevin. I can’t help wondering if Anne Griffin was tempted to make him speak to Jeanie, to explain his reasoning one more time. Whether she considered it or not, I’m glad she didn’t, because Maurice told us everything we needed to know about him in his own amazing and memorable book.

My romance writer’s heart struggled with the somewhat ambiguous ending, but that’s not to say there was anything wrong with how the book ended. Quite the opposite in fact. When everything starts from scratch, the future is, by its very nature, at least a little ambiguous. The story couldn’t have ended any other way; if it had, it would have been a betrayal of both the previous 340 pages and of the main character(s).

Long review short: Listening Still was a captivating read, even if it did read a little like a car crash at times. The twist near the end was clever in that it came as a shock as well as a moment of clarity. While this isn’t a book for someone who wants stories to end with every question answered and all characters settled into their happy ever after, this is the perfect read for someone who, like me, enjoys playing the ‘I wonder what might happen next’ game after they’ve read the last chapter. With a storyline and main character that will stay with me for a long time, Listening Still has earned itself a place on my ‘extra-special’ list.

To read my review of When All is Said, click here: Review

 

  

Make Yourself at Home by Ciara Geraghty

404 pages

Publisher: HarperCollins

Blurb

 It’s the last place she wants to be. It’s the only place left to go

When Marianne’s carefully constructed life and marriage fall apart, she is forced to return to Ancaire, the ramshackle seaside house perched high on a cliff by the Irish Sea. There she must rebuild her relationship with her mother, Rita, a flamboyant artist and recovering alcoholic who lives by her own rules.

Marianne left home when she was fifteen following a traumatic and tragic incident. She never planned to return, and now she has to face the fact that some plans don’t work out the way you wanted them to. But she might just discover that, sometimes, you have to come to terms with the story of your past before you can work out the shape of the future…

Set on the wild Irish coast, with an unforgettable cast of characters, this deeply emotional novel is full of Ciara Geraghty’s trademark heart and poignancy.

Review

Having read and enjoyed Ciara Geraghty’s books in the past, I went into this story fully expecting to love it too. I was not prepared for how much Marianne’s tale would capture me, keep me enthralled, and make me think.

On the surface, this is the story about a woman coming to terms with the unexpected demise of her marriage and the troubled relationship with her mother, and that would have made an interesting story.

Scratch that surface just a little, and you’ll find so much more. Marianne put her feelings on hold when she was a teenager. From that moment forward her decisions have been based on practical considerations rather than emotions. It was safe and, for some time, her distant approach to life and connections worked. She seemed to have it all: a practical husband who appeared to be as eager as she was to keep emotions at bay, a good and safe job, a beautiful house, furnished to her exact and unexciting standards. She’s created an environment in which she can pretend she is fine, her life is good, and the past is an ugly but distant memory.

When her house of cards falls apart, Marianne crumbles too. With all her securities torn away she has no choice but to return to the past, the house, and the mother, she’s avoided for more than half her life.

Going home for Marianne is like returning to the setting of a nightmare. Back at Ancaire (Anker—such an appropriate name), Marianne doesn’t try to be nice or take care of herself. She resents others trying to take care of her and puts as much distance between herself and her mother’s life as she can, given they’re sharing a house and her mother’s full-on approach to life.

Between Rita’s joie de vivre, the mixed bag of characters that make up Rita’s group of recovering alcoholics, and a persistent dog, Marianne appears to be coming back from the brink. Almost against her wishes, Marianne finds herself getting involved with causes and interested in people again. Until a shocking discovery throws her back to what appears to be square one.

This story packs a punch, yet it is written so well and so smoothly that the reader could almost miss that rather than an angry and selfish woman, Marianne is a lost soul who has struggled with depression ever since she was fifteen—for so long, in fact, that she doesn’t recognise her actions and reactions as a mental health issue.

For a very long time, Marianne reads as an unsympathetic main character whereas her mother appears to be a bundle of joy. And that’s where the beauty of this story comes fully to light. Because nothing is that simple and, just as Marianne is pulled out of her self-isolation almost against her wishes and in barely perceptible steps, I was surprised to find myself first sympathising with her and then understanding her actions and thoughts. This story and the characters in it are real and raw. They crawled their way under my skin. I wasn’t just interested in how their story might end, I was invested in their journey and its outcome.

I love that the book didn’t end on miracles. Instead, we’re given a scattering of possibilities, glimmers of hope, and potential futures. And while the above may make you think that Make Yourself at Home is a heavy and possibly depressing read, the opposite is through. Marianne’s darkest moments are balanced by the very mixed and mostly unfiltered company she keeps. For every painful experience, there is at least one laugh-out-loud moment. And Marianne’s journey is not only beautiful to behold but inspirational too.

Long story short: Make Yourself at Home is an amazing read. It will make you think and feel, but most of all, it will ultimately lift you up and leave you with a satisfied smile on your face. This book is exactly what I needed to fight my 18-month long reading slump.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

 

288 pages

Publisher: Canongate

Blurb

'Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices... Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?'

A dazzling novel about all the choices that go into a life well lived, from the internationally bestselling author of Reasons to Stay Alive and How To Stop Time.

Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?

In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig's enchanting novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.

Review

I bought this book when it first came out after seeing rave reviews. What’s more, I follow Matt Haig on Twitter and I love his positive messages. Besides, what’s not to love about a book featuring a library filled with books depicting alternate lifelines? Libraries have held a magical gravitational pull for me for as long as I can remember. It started with me as a borrower, and it remains true now that I’m a librarian.

Now that I have finished the book, I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it. It’s a beautifully written story with a fascinating and original premise. It is also an easy read, despite its deeper message and references to philosophy and quantum physics.

Nora’s journey starts on the day she loses her job and her cat dies. It’s too much. Nothing in her life is right and nothing has been right for too long. She can’t face anymore life so she chooses death. Next thing she knows, she finds herself in a library in which all the books look the same and none appear to have titles. The librarian is someone she remembers from her school days. Mrs. Elm was there for Nora when she needed a shoulder to cry on while in school and it appears Mrs. Elm is here for Nora again now that she needs someone to help her make sense of the mess that was her life.

Mrs. Elm is such an appropriate name. It could, of course be a coincidence, but I doubt it. Not when the spiritual meaning of ‘elm’ is as follows:

 

Elm acknowledges that life's difficulties can create the illusion that we are isolated, alone and misunderstood. This can leave us feeling powerless and therefore trapped. The elm spirit is here to gently encourage us to rethink our situation from a different perspective.

 

Throughout the story, Nora visits alternative lives; those in which she made different choices and discovers who she would have been as a consequence of following those other paths. Along the way she learns lessons. About herself, about the choices she made, and about the people she encountered on her journey.

The object of her journey is to determine once and for all whether she really wants to die and, if not, how she wants to live. I’m not going to say anything else about either the journey or Nora’s final decision except that the story ends on a positive but thankfully not magical or too good to be true note.

“She realised that she hadn’t tried to end her life because she was miserable, but because she had managed to convince herself that there was no way out of her misery.”

I guess it’s fair to say that I enjoyed this read. The story sucked me in and didn’t release me until I read the last page. The book also made me think…a lot, which is a good thing. I love books that make me wonder or question things. However, not all my thoughts and questions were completely positive. Below are some of the thoughts I had while reading the book. I typed them out as they occurred to me and I’ve decided to leave them like that. This may well mean that they make little sense to those who haven’t read the book. It is also possible that I repeat myself once or twice, and I can’t rule out that they don’t contain a spoiler or two. So, if you haven’t read the book yet but are planning to do so, proceed with caution.

 

Thinky-Thoughts

• The premise is wonderful, but to me at 50 pages into the story, somewhat imperfect. Nora is playing the ultimate ‘what if’ game. But surely there is no such thing as the perfect life for any given person. All decisions have consequences. Every path chosen rules out numerous other paths left unexplored. And there is no such thing as happily ever after in real life. Every life, regardless of the choices that brought us to it, includes the good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly, joy and heartbreak and I guess mostly happy is the best we can hope for. But I’m still at the start of this book. For all I know, this is the lesson Nora must learn in The Midnight Library.
• It’s funny, I would have said asking the ‘what if’ question when it comes to life decisions is a bit like setting yourself up for dissatisfaction and doubts. I make a point of avoiding the question unless there is an opportunity to still end up on the path I initially rejected through my choices.
• The first alternative life Nora visits is the one where she married Dave and they opened a country pub together. It opens her eyes and shows her that maybe she didn’t make a mistake when she pulled out of the wedding but… As valid and as clear as the message that the grass isn’t greener elsewhere is, Nora jumps to that conclusion as a result of what she observes and learns in less than an hour. She and we see all Dan’s faults but because Nora hasn’t lived that life, she doesn’t know anything about what led up to Dan’s current state of being or what role Nora may or may not have played in that journey. And she doesn’t really question it either.
•  A big problem for me is that the alternate lives Nora gets to contrast against the live she lived and rejected don’t actually compare to her lived reality. In the life she lived she was aware of who she was, who she interacted with, and why she did or didn’t do certain things. She’s thrown into the alternatives without any background knowledge. It isn’t comparing like with like if you have a history and current knowledge in one setting and nothing to hang on to in any of the others. How can Nora judge whether or not any alternative life is better or worse than the one she lived without knowledge of how she got to that particular point in time or about the people she shares it with?
• As Nora discovers, different decisions my lead to different outcomes, but only on a superficial level because the person at the root of those decisions is the same in every ‘simulation’. Hence she finds she is on the same medication to manage her depression in most lives, no matter how (un)successful.
• I keep on coming back to the fact that Nora enters her alternative lives without any knowledge about who she is and what, exactly, she does in that existence. How is she supposed to decide which life to make her own if she is a stranger in all of them? In fact, I’m starting to feel that this book could be told in the same fashion while heading to the opposite conclusion; In every single life she enters, she is out of her depth and therefore incapable. It doesn’t matter how successful she is in any particular incarnation, because it isn’t her. So she’s bound to make a mess of the speech she has been booked to make and to confuse the ending of a pop concert. She wasn’t there for all that build up to the moment she’s just entered, so how can she make the moment her own and feel at home in it? Nora is learning to appreciate life again. But wouldn’t it be just as easy to use those experiences to reach the conclusion that no matter where she is, she ends up making a mess of things?
• I guess with this book it is a simple case of ‘I love the message but I’m not sure the vehicle delivering it is quite up to the task’ for me.
• I do wonder if maybe I’m overthinking this story and its message. Then again, is it even possible to overthink a book that was so obviously written to make people think about their lives and how they react to and deal with its ups and downs?

 

Which brings me to my conclusion. From reactions on Twitter and Goodreads, where 79% of the ratings are either four or five stars, it is clear that this is a much-loved book. What’s more, it appears to have helped people in that it brought them a message they needed to read. The whole Covid/lockdown situation over the past 14 months may well have played a role in that, but that doesn’t diminish the value of this story (for those people).

Don’t get me wrong. I did appreciate the message. God knows there was a time in my life when this book might have been exactly what I needed to help me find a little perspective on what was happening. In fact, there is probably nothing wrong with the book. I think I may have gone in with my expectations raised too high. Maybe I expected this work of fiction to provide answers it was never supposed to give. And maybe I had non-fiction expectations about a fictional tale. In the end, I still stand by what I said at the start. The Midnight Library is a well-written story, well told. The premise is intriguing and if there are flaws in the execution, they didn’t spoil Nora’s story for me. If you’ve ever wanted to read a book about life, its meaning, and embracing all its opportunities, I urge you to pick up The Midnight Library.

 

 

 

Hold Tight (Biker Daddy Bodyguards #4) by Sue Brown

 

Price: $3.99

Universal link: https://readerlinks.com/l/1799593

Series link: https://readerlinks.com/l/1564675

Blurb

The fourth book in Sue Brown's high stakes Biker Daddy Bodyguards series

Griff spends his evenings unofficially protecting the successful club owner, Jem Peacock, for the Biker Daddy Bodyguards. But Jem is a boy in need of a Daddy and Griff is desperate to take that job. He will wait patiently for Jem to trust him with the secret of his heart.

This young Daddy, all wiry muscle and compact strength, is not Jem’s type. But when Jem’s world implodes, Griff is the one by his side, guarding him, and offering Jem the chance to explore his little side. Jem has longed for a special kind of Daddy, one who loves a femme little. Is he too old to have his dream? Can he trust Griff with that secret?

To his fellow bodyguards, Jem is a client. To their community, Jem is a boy in need of a special Daddy. To Griff, Jem is a little to be treasured. Will Jem give him that chance?

Excerpt

“Your bodyguard is here again,” Max murmured, his amusement sparkling in his green eyes.

Jem Peacock didn’t follow his brother’s gaze. He refused to look over to the other booth in the VIP section of Peacock. He knew what he’d see. The bodyguard in question had been in their club every night for weeks.

“And this time he brought company. Mmmm, pretty.” Max was practically salivating.

Jem held back a growl. “They’re all loved-up, Maxy. Don’t even think about it.”

“Don’t call me Maxy, Jezza. There’s only one boy there. The rest are all big and burly. Yummy.” Max licked his lips.

Jem rolled his eyes. “As I said, all loved up.”

“Except your bodyguard, poor lamb. Sitting there all by himself. He looks so lonely.”

“He’s not my bodyguard.” Jem scowled at Max’s gleeful expression, but he kept his tone cool, knowing his brother would pounce on any sign of weakness. “And he’s certainly not a lamb.” There was nothing soft about Griff Carlton. He was all hard muscle. “He’s not my type.”

Max scoffed at him. “Oh, little brother, you can lie to yourself, but you can’t lie to me. Griff is so your bodyguard. How many nights has he been in here since you met him?”

“I don’t know.” Jem glared at his brother, but it didn’t take the wicked grin off Max’s face, and Jem knew what he was going to say.

“Every night. Your boy has been here every single night for the past two months.”

“He’s not my boy.” Jem held back a shiver. Griff may be years younger than Jem, but he was definitely not a boy.

“No,” Max drawled. “He’s certainly not your boy. Your Daddy, perhaps?” 

Author Bio

Cranky middle-aged author with an addiction for coffee, and a passion for romancing two guys. She loves her dog, she loves her kids, and she loves coffee; in which order very much depends on the time of day.

Come over and talk to Sue at: Newsletter | Bookbub | Patreon | Her website

Author group – Facebook | Facebook

Email: sue@suebrownstories.com 

Review

“You’re a boy whisperer.”

This fourth book in the Biker Daddy Bodyguards series is another gem. These books are a delicious mix of high adrenaline adventure and sweet love and it's a mixture I love losing myself in.

To a casual observer, aka the reader, it is clear from the start that Griff and Jem are made for each other. But Jem has a hard time admitting his needs and desires, even to himself, and Griff isn’t the sort of Daddy to force a boy to acknowledge his longings, no matter how badly he wants to meet them.

It’s not as if Griff and Jem are given a lot of time to explore each other and what they could be together. Events unfold fast and furious right from the start. With Jem’s brother and business partner in hospital, fighting for his life after being shot in Jem’s apartment, Griff and the other Biker Daddy Bodyguards move into full protective mode, sweeping a scared and confused Jem up in their protection. With nobody knowing whether Max or Jem was the intended target, Griff is put in charge of keeping Jem safe.

As the mystery surrounding the shooting deepens, Jem is torn between concern about his brother and their club and the attraction he feels for Griff. He yearns to give into the needs of his inner boy but, having been hurt in the past and feeling shame about some of his preferences, he is reluctant to open up to Griff. All Griff can do is pay attention and give Jem what he says he needs. He knows there’s more to explore but is reluctant to push Jem since trust takes time to build and they’re only together a few days by the time things come to a head.

My heart broke when everything appeared to fall apart at the same time for Jem and soared when the seemingly impossible was achieved, bringing happiness to all involved and, most importantly, Jem and Griff.

Unlike the two previous titles I read, this story was more about indulging the boy in Jem than about sexy-time between him and Griff. But, given the short time scale and Jem’s history, this was perfect and didn’t take anything away from the beauty of their growing connection; quite the opposite in fact.

Overall, I have to say that Sue created another winner, both with this book and with the series as a whole. If you like your Daddies caring and dominant and your boys needy yet strong, I urge you to read the Biker Daddy Bodyguards Series now!

Previous Reviews: Hold Firm | Hold Safe

Previous books in the series:

Book 1: Hold Firm: https://readerlinks.com/l/1800454

Book 2: Hold Close: https://readerlinks.com/l/1554518

Book 3: Hold Safe: https://readerlinks.com/l/1564674

Giveaway

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Just Make Believe by Maggie Robinson

Lady Adelaide Mystery #3

287 pages

Blurb

A week-long house party in the country―why not? Lady Adelaide has nothing else to do, now that her year of mourning for her unfaithful husband is up, and her plans to rekindle her romantic life have backfired. But when her hostess is found dead on the conservatory floor, Addie knows just who to call―Detective Inspector Devenand Hunter of Scotland Yard.

Dev may not want to kiss Addie again, but he's anxious to solve the crime. Who would want to kill Pamela, the beautiful wife of one of Britain's greatest Great War heroes? Certainly not her devoted and wheelchair-bound husband, Sir Hugh Fernald. The other guests seem equally innocent and improbable.

But despite all appearances, something is very wrong at Fernald Hall―there's a body buried in the garden, and the governess has fallen down the stairs to her death. Who's next? Addie and Dev must work together to stop another murder, and they have some help thanks to Rupert, Addie's late and unlamented husband. Rupert needs to make amends for his louche life on earth, and what better way to earn his celestial wings than catch a killer?

Review

It’s been a while since I read a mystery and even longer since I read one with a historical setting. But, it has been nice to return to what used to be my favourite genre. As for the story? That was nice too. I hope that doesn’t sound as if I’m damning the book with faint praise. I enjoyed the tale; it just didn’t have the wow factor. Of course, that may be because I was reading the third story in a series without having read the first two.

 Lady Adelaide is a young aristocrat and has been widowed for a few years when this story starts. Her husband cheated on her all through their marriage and even after his death he won’t tormenting her. His ghost haunts her, mostly to assist her when she runs into murder, but he’s not beyond teasing and infuriating her. What is more, the information he shares with her, while usually right, is never complete enough to provide her with a solution to the mystery she’s facing.

Enter Dev Hunter. As a Detective Inspector he’s well out of Lady Adelaide (Addie’s) social circle and therefore league. The fact that he’s also half Indian, only makes the social gap between them wider. Unfortunately, none of that lessens the attraction simmering between them, although Dev is determined to keep his distance and, in this book at least, he succeeds in not repeating the kiss they (apparently) shared in an earlier instalment.

As for murder(s), there’s a lot going on in this book. It may start with the suspicious death of Addie’s hostess, but it isn’t long before a much older crime is uncovered and soon followed by another suspicious death. I think that’s where the story fell down a little for me. The reader doesn’t really get the opportunity to get involved in the investigation. Almost everything Addie discovers is the direct result of her ghostly former husband providing her with information. What’s more, very little of Dev’s investigation takes place on the page. We learn bits and pieces from his thoughts and his conversations with Addie, but for me there was a significant lack of clues and red herrings in this book. In fact, I had the culprit pinpointed early on in the book, not so much based on what was in the story but more as a result of having read a lot of mysteries in the part and this mystery followed a not unfamiliar pattern. What’s more, the murder(s) in this book aren’t really solved. The ghost provides the answer which, of course, means Addie can’t explain where she gets her information from, and the culprit confesses for reasons that are unclear and unexplained.

Having said all that, I did enjoy this book. In star ratings I would say this is a solid 3.5. It wasn’t a real page-turner for me but returning to the story was no hardship. I liked Addie and Dev and enjoyed reading about British society on the verge of major changes in social structure and female liberation. In fact, I liked it so much that I’m now determined to read the next book in the series too. The ending of this one introduced the next mystery and I’m looking forward to reading it.

 

 

Finn’s Fantasy (Maine Men #1) by K.C. Wells

 

Pages: 311

Available as E-book, Paperback, and Audio book

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK

 

Blurb

 

A secret desire

 

By day, Finn builds houses on the coastline of Maine. Afterhours, Finn dreams of the hot older guy who walks his chocolate lab on Goose Rocks Beach. The man of his dreams ticks all his boxes. Salt and pepper hair. Strong jawline. Blue eyes.
His dream man is perfect fantasy material. As for actually speaking to him?
As if. Their paths won’t ever cross, and the guy is probably straight.

 

A new chapter

 

Recently divorced Joel is finally living as a gay man, but he’s not sure he’s ready to jump into a relationship. That doesn’t stop him from noticing his new contractor’s muscular build, hewn from hard, physical work, or his storm-colored eyes. Or the way he wears his tool belt slung low on his hips. The icing on the cake? There’s more to Finn than good looks. Maybe he’s the perfect guy to share long walks on the beach and warm nights in front of a fire.

 

But it’s been twenty years since Joel was with a man. While he’s not forgotten how to flirt, he’s nervous about making a move.

 

Especially with Finn.

Review

 

Sighs. Finn’s Fantasy might as well have been written to meet my personal reading preferences.

 

Low Angst?                                         √

Age Gap?                                            √

Strong Secondary Characters?          √            

Adorable Dog?                                    √

 

There really isn’t anything in this story that doesn’t work for me. Quite the opposite in fact. I loved it from start to finish. While Finn and Joel both start off assuming that the other man isn’t for him (Finn thinks Joel is straight and Joel is convinced he’s too old for Finn), it doesn’t keep them apart. Because both men, prior to really getting to know each other, are happy to cultivate a friendship in lieu of anything more intimate, their relationship progresses naturally. It’s already clear they’re a good fit before they’ve shared their first kiss.

 

It wouldn’t be a romance without at least a little tension. In this case, the stress isn’t caused by any issue between Finn and Joel but rather by Joel’s past (I’m not sharing details here, I wouldn’t want to spoil this wonderful story). The issue is valid and understandable and, what’s more, it’s not dragged out but dealt with in an open and relatable manner.

 

Finn and Joel together are as adorable as they are hot. You could say they warm both the readers’ hearts and other body parts. 😊

 

This book starts with Finn spending time with his friends and ends with him and Joel meeting the same group again. Other men from this group will find the loves of their lives in subsequent titles. Since we see enough of the friends to get some idea of who they are, I’m already curious about who’s story will be next and what might happen to him. What’s more, these group scenes guarantee that I will see more of Finn and Joel in later Maine Men stories, and to me, that’s fabulous news.

                                                                                                

So:       YAY! To Maine Men #1

            BRING ON, Maine Men #2 and the rest. (Taps foot impatiently.)