Bena Roberts's Blog, page 2
November 16, 2018
Review - Vanilla Extract by Louise Berry
Vanilla Extract
vanilla (adj)
Having no special or extra features; ordinary or standard
Extract (v)
Remove or take out
Select for quotation, performance or reproduction
When recently separated Lou decided to embark on a new chapter of her life, she had no idea where this journey of self and sexual discovery would lead.
Her lustful appetite for adventure was re-awakened and with every new, tantalising, naughty meeting Lou���s confidence grew, as did her need for more.
Purchase Links
https://bookshop.3ppublishing.co.uk/fiction/vanilla-extract
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vanilla-Extract-Louisa-Berry-ebook/dp/B077MX3QLK/
Author Bio ��� Louisa lives in Hertfordshire with her four children. While not on ���Mum-duties��� she works in high finance in London
Social Media Links
Twitter - @louisaberry69
Instagram ��� louisaberry69
My Review
Oh my goodness! I love the cover and enjoyed the book -but was just way too much naughty goings-on for me! I am a bit boring!
The Good
This is a sexy fest of men and I knew I was going to enjoy it from the start with latex man!
The Bad
There is just so much sex in this book - it is more of a diary of events that a work of fiction.
The Ugly
While there was a little bit of a story - there was a story and this definitely will appeal to any woman who wants to experiment sexually after the end of a marriage or during a mid-life awakening.
3 Stars
November 13, 2018
Review - Murder Served Cold by Paula Williams
Murder Served Cold
A quiet English village where nothing ever happens. Until���..
After her boyfriend runs out on her with the contents of their joint bank account, Kat Latcham has no choice but to return to the tiny Somerset village of Much Winchmoor where she grew up. A place, she reckons, that is not so much sleepy as comatose and she longs for something to happen to lessen the boredom of living with her parents.
But when she and her childhood friend, Will Manning, discover a body and Will���s father, John, is arrested for the murder, Kat suddenly realises that she should have heeded the saying ���Be careful what you wish for���.
Much Winchmoor is a hotbed of gossip and everyone is convinced John Manning is guilty. Only Kat and Will believe he���s innocent. When there���s a second murder Kat is sure she knows the identity of the murderer ��� and set out to prove it. But in doing so she almost becomes the murderer���s third victim.
Readers of Sue Grafton might enjoy the Much Winchmoor series of cosy murder mysteries spiked with humour and sprinkled with romance.
Purchase Link - mybook.to/murderservedcold
Author Bio ���
Paula Williams is living her dream. She has written all her life ��� her earliest efforts involved blackmailing her unfortunate younger brothers into appearing in her plays and pageants. But it is only in recent years, when she turned her attention to writing short stories and serials for women's magazines that she discovered, to her surprise, that people with better judgement than her brothers actually liked what she wrote and were prepared to pay her for it.
Now, she writes every day in a lovely, book-lined study in her home in Somerset, where she lives with her husband and a handsome but not always obedient rescue Dalmatian called Duke. She still writes for magazines but also now writes novels. A member of both the Romantic Novelists' Association and the Crime Writers' Association, her novels often feature a murder or two, and are always sprinkled with humour and spiced with a touch of romance.
She also writes a monthly column, Ideas Store, for the writers' magazine, Writers' Forum and has a blog at paulawilliamswriter.wordpress.com. Her facebook author page is https://www.facebook.com/paula.williams.author . And she tweets at @paulawilliams44.
Not only that, but when she's not writing, she's either tutoring, leading writing workshops or giving talks on writing at writing festivals and conferences and to organised groups. She's appeared several times on local radio - in fact, she'll talk about writing to anyone who'll stand still long enough to listen.
But, as with the best of dreams, she worries that one day she's going to wake up and find she still has to bully her brothers into reading 'the play what she wrote'.
Social Media Links ���
Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/paula.williams.author
Blog. paulawilliamswriter.wordpress.com
Twitter. @paulawilliams44
Murder Served Cold
by Paula Williams
Do you love a good British detective story?
The Good
This was a cozy wonderful mystery that had me intrigued and laughing. The change from the dead body to more police than Glastonbury - was classic.
If you love Agatha Christie, Rosemary and Thyme and those sorts of books/TV then you will enjoy this. Kat is a funky modern day nosey detective.
The Bad
This is a well-written mystery and I loved the way the bad killer got all cocky with his own POV in the middle.
The Ugly
Not much ugliness here. The closed knit community with the hair salon and pub worked really well. A good read!
4.2 Stars - I read this as part of a blog tour
November 7, 2018
Fishing for Maui by Isa Pearl Ritchie
Fishing for M��ui
A novel about food, wh��nau, and mental illness.
Valerie reads George Eliot to get to sleep ��� just to take her mind off worries over her patients, her children, their father and the next family dinner. Elena is so obsessed with health, traditional food, her pregnancy and her blog she doesn���t notice that her partner, Malcolm the ethicist, is getting himself into a moral dilemma of his own making. Evie wants to save the world one chicken at a time. Meanwhile her boyfriend, Michael is on a quest to reconnect with his M��ori heritage and discover his own identity. Rosa is eight years old and lost in her own fantasy world, but she���s the only one who can tell something���s not right. Crisis has the power to bring this family together, but will it be too late?
"An accomplished story of a family in crisis - Ritchie's great skill is her ability to conjure the inner lives if her characters. Fishing For Maui is a compassionate meditation on what it means to be well". - Sarah Jane Barnett
Purchase Links
Amazon US - https://www.amazon.com/Fishing-Maui-Isa-Pearl-Ritchie-ebook/dp/B07DZBXSCN/
Amazon UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fishing-Maui-Isa-Pearl-Ritchie-ebook/dp/B07DZBXSCN/
Smashwords - https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/826608
Author Bio ���
Isa Ritchie is a Wellington-based writer. She grew up as a P��keh�� child in a bicultural family and M��ori was her first written language. She has completed a PhD on food sovereignty in Aotearoa. She is passionate about food, wellbeing and social justice.
Social Media Links ���
https://www.facebook.com/isapearlritchie/
https://twitter.com/IsaPearlRitchie
https://www.instagram.com/isapearlritchie/
My Review - Fishing for Maui
The Good
A challenging book with lots of points of view and well written. I absolutely related to aspects of racism, veganism, and trouble with children in school.
I am no longer a vegan but parts of the food conversations had me screaming with laughter. I could really relate!
The Bad
Very tough and hard topics are being dealt with in a very different POV from key characters including the young ones. I really enjoyed the dynamic contrast of feelings and emotions.
The Ugly
A challenging book to write, but done very effectively. I resonated with the characters and will definitely read more from this author.
4 Stars - I read this as part of a blog tour
November 4, 2018
Review - Death Comes in Through the Kitchen by Teresa Dovalpage
Death Comes in through the Kitchen
Set in Havana during the Black Spring of 2003, a charming but poison-laced culinary mystery reveals the darker side of the modern Revolution, complete with authentic Cuban recipes
Havana, Cuba, 2003: Matt, a San Diego journalist, arrives in Havana to marry his girlfriend, Yarmila, a 24-year-old Cuban woman whom he first met through her food blog. But Yarmi isn���t there to meet him at the airport, and when he hitches a ride to her apartment, he finds her lying dead in the bathtub.
With Yarmi���s murder, lovelorn Matt is immediately embroiled in a Cuban adventure he didn���t bargain for. The police and secret service have him down as their main suspect, and in an effort to clear his name, he must embark on his own investigation into what really happened. The more Matt learns about his erstwhile fianc��e, though, the more he realizes he had no idea who she was at all���but did anyone?
Purchase Links:
https://sohopress.com/books/death-comes-in-through-the-kitchen/
Amazon US - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1616958847
Amazon UK ��� https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1616958847
Author Bio ���
Teresa Dovalpage is a Cuban transplant now firmly rooted in New Mexico. She was born in Havana and now lives in Hobbs, where she is a Spanish and ESL professor at New Mexico Junior College.
She has published nine novels and three collections of short stories. Her English-language novels are A Girl like Che Guevara (Soho Press, 2004), Habanera, a Portrait of a Cuban Family (Floricanto Press, 2010), and Death Comes in Through the Kitchen (Soho Crime, 2018), a culinary mystery with authentic Cuban recipes.
Her novellas Las Muertas de la West Mesa (The West Mesa Murders, based on a real event), Sisters in Tea/ Hermanas en T�� and Death by Smartphone/ Muerte por Smartphone were published in serialized format by Taos News.
In her native Spanish she has authored the novels Muerte de un murciano en La Habana (Death of a Murcian in Havana, Anagrama, 2006, a runner-up for the Herralde Award in Spain), El difunto Fidel (The late Fidel, Renacimiento, 2011, that won the Rincon de la Victoria Award in Spain in 2009), Posesas de La Habana (Haunted ladies of Havana, PurePlay Press, 2004), La Regenta en La Habana (Edebe Group, Spain, 2012), Orfeo en el Caribe (Atm��sfera Literaria, Spain, 2013), and El retorno de la expatriada (The Expat���s Return, Egales, Spain, 2014).
Social Media Links ���
Blog in English: https://teredovalpage.com/
Blog in Spanish: https://teresadovalpage.com/
https://www.facebook.com/dovalpage
My Review
If you love Latino, food, cooking and detective work this is the book for you!
The Good
I enjoyed the start and it triggered my interest with the wedding dress. Cuba, customs etc. I enjoyed the start.
The Bad
I was a bit confused with the woman ending up dead and then the mystery of it all. I also had a bit of a problem with all the Spanish!
The Ugly
This is an OK read and holiday detective fiction
3 Stars - I read this as part of a blog tour
October 23, 2018
Review - Isolation Junction by Jennifer Gilmour
Information about Isolation Junction:
First published in 2016, Jennifer has republished a second edition with the changes in Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
This is the republication of Isolation Junction and what a difference it is. A make over with a new book cover, new content, with Pict Publishing, third person only (as opposed to third and first in first edition) and the incidents in correlating order.
Synopsis:
Rose is the mother of two young children, and finds herself living a robotic life with an abusive and controlling husband. While she struggles to maintain a calm front for the sake of her children, inside Rose is dying and trapped in ���Isolation Junction���.
She runs an online business from home, because Darren won���t let her work outside the house. But through this, she meets other mums and finds courage to attend networking events, while Darren is at work, to promote her business.
It���s at one of these events that Rose meets Tim, a sympathetic, dark-haired stranger who unwittingly becomes an important part of her survival.
After years of emotional abuse, of doubting her future and losing all self-confidence, Rose takes a stand. Finding herself distraught, alone and helpless, Rose wonders how she���ll ever escape with her sanity and her children. With 100 reasons to leave and 1,000 reasons she can���t will she be able to do it? Will Tim help her? And will Rose find peace and the happiness she deserves? Can Rose break free from this spiralling life she so desperately wants to change?
Based on true events.
About the author:
Born in the North East, Jennifer is a young, married mum with three children. In addition to being an author, she is an entrepreneur, running a family business from her home-base. Her blog posts have a large readership of other young mums in business.
From an early age, Jennifer has had a passion for writing and started gathering ideas and plot lines from her teenage years. A passionate advocate for women in abusive relationships, she has drawn on her personal experiences to write this first novel. It details the journey of a young woman from the despair of an emotionally abusive and unhappy marriage to develop the confidence to challenge and change her life and to love again.
Links:
Website; www.jennifergilmour.com
Facebook; www.facebook.com/isolationjunctionbook
Twitter; www.twitter.com/JenLGilmour
Instagram; https://www.instagram.com/authorjennifergilmour/
Amazon Profile Link; http://author.to/JenniferGilmour
Goodreads author profile; https://www.goodreads.com/JenniferGilmour
Huffington post blogger profile; http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/jennifer-gilmour
Giveaway ��� Win A copy of Isolation Junction- eBook
My Review
What a difficult book to write.
The Good
I commend the author on tackling such a tough subject. It is difficult and sometimes the book was hard to read. Despite that, it was handled well.
The Bad
Because this is such a difficult subject there is a lot of telling about what happened rather than showing the experience. I am actually grateful for that!
The Ugly
The topic is horrible but very very real. It is hard to say you enjoyed reading something that is so painful. It is not my usual chicklit but I did enjoy it. I could see a charity taking this book as one of its leads (must reads) and again, well done to the author.
4 Stars - I read this as part of a blog tour
October 16, 2018
Review - Designer You by Sarahlyn Bruck
Designer You
Pam Wheeler checked every box: Happy marriage? Check. Fantastic kid? Check. Booming career? Check.
So when her husband dies in a freak accident and their DIY empire goes on life support, Pam must fix the relationship with her troubled and grief-stricken daughter and save the family business.
Pam and Nate were a couple who just couldn���t get away from each other, sharing not only their bed, but also a successful lifestyle empire as DIY home renovators, bloggers, podcasters, and co-authors.
When Nate dies in a freak accident, Pam becomes a 44-year-old widow, at once too young and too old���too young to be thrust into widowhood and too old to rejoin the dating pool.
Now the single mother of a headstrong and grief-stricken teenager, Pam���s life becomes a juggling act between dealing with her loss and learning how to parent by herself. On top of all that she also must reinvent herself or lose the empire that she and Nate had built so carefully.
It is time for Pam to seize the opportunity to step up as a mother, come out from behind Nate���s shadow, and rise as the sole face of the Designer You brand, and maybe, possibly, hopefully, find love again.
Purchase Link - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DH6B38H/
Author Bio ��� Sarahlyn Bruck writes contemporary women's fiction and lives in Philadelphia with her husband and daughter. She is the author of DESIGNER YOU, published by Crooked Cat Books on August 31, 2018. Sarahlyn teaches writing and literature at a local community college and also coaches writers for Author Accelerator.
DESIGNER YOU is Sarahlyn's debut, and she is hard at work on her next book. Want the latest updates? Follow along for news, events, and announcements at sarahlynbruck.com. You can sign up for her monthly newsletter there, too.
Social Media Links ��� Website: www.sarahlynbruck.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarahlynbruck/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/@sarahbruck/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/slbruck/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5803427-sarahlyn-bruck
Designer You
by Sarahlyn Bruck
#Older #Women #Fiction
The Good
This is women's fiction for the older woman or a woman with experience of loss. Parents of teenagers will relate to a lot of it.
The Bad
I could relate to this and the school meeting with the headmistress - made me re-live several scenarios. In fact, I had to put the book away for an hour before I continued. But I could not, not continue... engrossing story.
The Ugly
Not the fastest pace -but talking about difficult subjects like death are not supposed to be. I could relate to so much of this book both as a mother and a daughter who lost her father.
4.3 Stars - I read this as part of a blog tour
October 10, 2018
Review - Do Not Open Until Halloween by C.A. King
What a fabulous book! I loved it!
The Good
The action in this book starts pretty much immediately. There is a hidden driven anti-bullying message which runs throughout the book and I loved it.
The Bad
The action, the garden, the fairy the other land.... all so wicked! I let myself go and enjoyed every page of this book.
The Ugly
A poignant message and a super fantasy. I would highly recommend to teachers, parents of kids being bullied and anyone that feels a bit insecure. I will be recommending this to my cousin who is an Educator and an anti-bullying specialist. Super fantasy!
If I could 7 Stars!
Review - Mated to the Werewolf King by Alena Des
I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did. It is great for young adults and new adults and despite the name relatively tale.. more of an epic adventure than anything else.
The Good
I loved to be surprised by books and I felt as though I screamed for Belle and Keith the whole way through. This was an epic tale with battles, love, gore, The Underworld... I really enjoyed it!
The Bad
Keith... what a name for a hero. I had to swallow that bitter pill down as he was far too sexy for a Keith!
The Ugly
I am sure I am way too old to love this book, but I did. It was tame enough too and I would let my children 14-15 read it too! I really enjoyed it!
October 5, 2018
Review - Lake Caerwych by J. Conrad
Wales! Gotta love it!
The Good
I haven't read that much YA literature as I am too old! So, I started this with caution. I ended smiling and content. I felt drawn into the fantasy and really enjoyed it! I can't wait to read more!
The Bad
I loved the way the names changed to Enid and Anwyn - it worked so well in the story and moved from the past to the present. I felt sorry for the brother missing out on the action -but I loved the way the necklaces tied everything together. The only thing I didn't like was early on going back to how they found the necklace, why no senior holiday etc... as I felt that was a bit drawn. But I am just being picky..!
The Ugly
I loved it!
4.8 Stars
October 3, 2018
Review - Belonging by Rhoda Baxter
Belonging
She���s grieving her lost love. He���s searching for his lost niece. Can attraction overcome family loyalty in this enemies to lovers romance?
Hiding away in a tiny Yorkshire village, Harriet is grieving for her lost love. His family won���t talk to her and she can���t move on from his death. All this changes when his daughter, Niamh, turns up on her doorstep, needing a sympathetic ear.
Tim thinks Harriet broke up his sister���s marriage all those years ago. His sister���s enemies are his enemies. When his niece runs away to Harriet���s house, he knows he has to get her back before his sister finds out. But that means talking with Harriet.
As they work together to console Niamh and get her home safely, Tim and Harriet become increasingly attracted to each other.
But with attraction comes guilt.
Can they overcome their respective loyalties and give in to love?
Purchase Link:
The universal buy link for the book is: www.books2read.com/u/bzPAZq
If you want the direct UK link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Belonging-small-romance-Trewton-Novellas-ebook/dp/B07H4PQKXC
Belonging will be 99p until 5th October and the end of the blog tour
Author Bio ���
Rhoda Baxter writes contemporary romances with heart and a touch of cynicism. She has had several novels published by the award winning publisher Choc Lit. Writing under her other pen name, Jeevani Charika, she has been published by Bonnier Zaffre. Her books have been shortlisted for awards such as the RoNA Romantic Comedy of the Year (in 2017), Love Stories Award (in 2015) and the Joan Hessayon Award (2012).
Rhoda started off as a microbiologist and then drifted out of research and into technology transfer. When choosing a penname, she was hit by a fit of nostalgia and named herself after the bacterium she studied during her PhD. She has lived in a variety of places including Sri Lanka, Yap (it���s a real place), Halifax, Oxford and Didcot (also a real place). She tends to judge the standard of living by the quality and availability of tea and cake. She now lives with her young family in East Yorkshire, where the tea and cake provision is excellent.
You can find her wittering on about cake and science and other random things on her website (http://www.rhodabaxter.com), on Facebook, or on Twitter (@rhodabaxter). Please do say hello if you���re passing.
You can also follow her on Bookbub.
You can get a free copy of one of her books by joining her reader newsletter.
Social Media Links ���
website http://www.rhodabaxter.com
Facebook : https://en-gb.facebook.com/RhodaBaxterAuthor/
Twitter (@rhodabaxter)
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/rhoda-baxter
Belonging: A small town romance (Trewton Royd Novellas Book 2)
by Rhoda Baxter
#Weepy #lovely
The Good
I was gripped by this from day first few pages. One of those, I know how the poor girl feels, been there done that moment.
The Bad
This is a weepy - well for a sensitive soul like me anyway. If you lost your dad young (like I did).. get ready!
The Ugly
I read this book in one sitting and didn't even have a cuppa inbetween. Loved it. But not a rom/com or chick lit - what I usually read.. more emotional. Not five stars for me as I think I am a bit old fashioned with the brothers, wife, ex-ending thing. Just out of my comfort zone -but that is because of me... I promise you-you will love it if you like emotional books.
4 Stars
