Veronika Jordan's Blog, page 64

The Witch Farm Podcast

It’s 1989, rural Wales, a lonely old farmhouse in the shadow of the imposing Brecon Beacons mountains. Young, pregnant Liz Rich and her artist husband Bill rent an isolated farmhouse in the Welsh countryside, with Bill’s teenage son Laurence. They’re hoping for a fresh start, but the house holds dark secrets, and the family’s new life becomes a terrifying ordeal that will change them forever.

Their dream home has become a haunted nightmare – but what is real and what is in their minds?

Written and presented by Danny Robins, creator of The Battersea Poltergeist, Uncanny and West End hit 2:22 – A Ghost Story, The Witch Farm stars Joseph Fiennes (The Handmaid’s Tale) and Alexandra Roach (No Offence), with original theme music by Mercury Prize-nominated Gwenno. This 8-part series interweaves a terrifying supernatural thriller set in the wild Welsh countryside with a fascinating modern-day investigation into the real-life mystery behind what has been called Britain’s most haunted house.

My Review

During the third coronavirus lockdown, the store where I worked had to close, but instead of being furloughed again, I volunteered to help man the staff testing centre for Covid at Waitrose. Some days we were insanely busy, while others we were so quiet we would chat, read or listen to the radio. One of my colleagues asked me if I ever listened to Podcasts to while away the time and she recommended The Battersea Poltergeist. I was hooked.

So when I heard about The Witch Farm I was intrigued. It’s far scarier and more sophisticated than The Battersea Poltergeist. Just a quick recap first:

“Back in 1989, it all started innocently enough for the couple. Bill, an artist from England and his Welsh wife Liz who was pregnant with their first child, moved into the old stone property (Heol Fanog), converted from an even older barn, with Bill’s son from his first marriage, Laurence. They spent a blissful first summer organising and renovating the remote farmhouse and gardens that lie behind a bank of trees, completely cut off from the rest of the world. No neighbours, no other houses in sight, but no witnesses and no one to ask for help when you are in trouble…”

But then it all started. Loud footsteps running through the house. Doors slamming. Hot and cold spots in the house. Disgusting smells. And the electricity meter going wild, with massive surges and an enormous bill at the end of the quarter.

So were these paranormal events? Unexplained but not necessarily supernatural. And only the start. Animals would get sick and die. Apparitions would appear and there would be more strange sounds.

I’m sure sceptics would find rational explanations for all these phenomena. During each episode, Danny speaks to two people – Ciaran O’Keeffe and Evelyn Hollow – one a sceptic, the other a believer. The discussions are very interesting. Personally I don’t believe that ghosts are the spirits of the departed who cannot rest and want us to help them pass over to the other side. I do, however, believe that traumatic events of the past can leave a ‘timestamp’ which plays over and over and some of us can see.

On the other hand, could one of the family be more sensitive and create a kind of mass hysteria amongst the others? Or as expert Ciaran O’Keeffe suggests a ‘fantasy prone personality’ ie ‘a disposition or personality trait in which a person experiences a lifelong, extensive, and deep involvement in fantasy.’

I’ll tell you a little story about something that happened when my son was on a stage combat course at St Donats Castle in the Vale of Glamorgan some years ago, coincidentally also in Wales. Legend has it that the ghost of Lady Anne Stradling walks around the castle looking for her dead husband who was supposedly killed in battle. When she is about, you can smell lavender. On the first night, one of the tutors said, ‘I can smell lavender,’ on the staircase leading to the bedrooms. Suddenly everyone else could smell it as well. Suffice to say no-one slept up there for the rest of the course. A ghost? Or just lavender air freshener? And once one person said they could smell it everyone else was subject to the phenomena above.

But what about the incident of the painted horse? That goes beyond apparitions and footsteps in the night. That is no timestamp or hysteria. Or did someone else know about the painting and injure the horse to scare the family away once and for all.

Throughout the eight episodes, the family tries everything. Priests, druids, mediums, ghosthunters, ley line experts, dowsers. You name it they have been there. And the theories are diverse and never ending. At one stage they are told that the spirit is drawn to Laurence and that he should move out. I wouldn’t need to be asked. I’d have gone long ago. Then there is the murder that occurred on the land over a hundred years ago. That explains at least one of the apparitions.

The exorcisms are the most terrifying. The priest asks them to ‘cover this house in the blood of Jesus’. It’s like something out of a horror film, very dramatic.

“A number of ley line experts visited Heol Fanog over the years and detected streams of “dark energy” beneath the structure. Danny Robins visited the site with a dowser named Laurence who also felt that any ley lines in the area were malevolent.”

Or could black magic be to blame for the strange occurrences? When Bill wakes up with his hands painful and bleeding, could that be caused by the dark forces? My husband’s aunt suffers similarly, but hers is an extreme form of eczema caused by an allergy to certain plants. Could his be caused by the toxicity of some of the paints and cleaners he uses?

Finally Bill confesses to something that happened many years previously that may have opened a gateway to ‘evil’. He believes he is cursed. The darkness never leaves him.

So has Danny got to the bottom of the ‘hauntings’? As he says any ghost story is a detective story. For a believer it’s a whodunnit. For a sceptic it’s a whydunnit. Listen and make up your own minds. One of the most asked questions is why they didn’t leave, especially after the first child is born and then again when they have a second one. I know it would have ruined them financially and it was their dream home, but was it worth putting their lives and health at risk? I don’t think so.

It’s a fantastic podcast, so if you are into all things spooky and paranormal, you can tune in on BBC Sounds.

About Danny Robins

“Two years ago, I made a podcast about a real-life haunting at a very ordinary house in London: The Battersea Poltergeist. The series became something of a sensation – attracting interest round the world, but on a personal level, it had an even more profound effect, taking me to the brink of something I’d never thought possible. Believing that ghosts could exist.

“Ever since, I’ve wondered if there was another case out there that could tip me over the edge. One that contained unquestionable evidence of paranormal activity. And then I heard about ‘The Witch Farm’ – the true story of truly bizarre and frightening events that took place three decades ago in the Brecon Beacons mountains of Wales, where I’m driving now.

“In 1989, a young couple named Liz and Bill Rich moved their family into a remote farmhouse at the foot of a mountain. It felt like their dream home, a rural idyll to raise their family in. What followed though, was utterly horrifying. They experienced poltergeist activity, apparitions, alleged possessions and even physical injury. Their home would have more exorcisms than any other house in British history. The whole ordeal lasted seven years. It changed them forever and affected the entire community around them.

“Now I’m following the same route that Bill and Liz Rich took, back in May 1989, in a car loaded with all their possessions, along this precarious road, headed to a house with the Welsh name ‘Heol Fanog’, meaning ‘Road to the Peaks’. The area is steeped in ancient history brimming with stories about faeries, hags, witches and the devil himself. Local rumours circulate about sorcery, murder, ancient Celtic rituals, ley lines and malevolent spirits, all situated in this remote, bleak mountainous landscape pitted with eerie woodland and desolate terrain. I’m conscious I need to sort myth from fact here if I’m to get to the bottom of what genuinely happened.”

Someone Is Coming by TA Morton

Memories come thick and heavy like the rains that fall in the jungle. Dense droplets wash the leaves and soak into the ground, cleansing the acrid smell of rubber, cleansing the jungle of its sins.

I hear my mother’s voice. No more secrets, Philip, I promise. Someone is coming, get ready.

#SomeoneIsComing @TAMortonWriter #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #blogtour

Philip Goundry is 93 and living out his days quietly in a care home in England when a young researcher from Singapore arrives, wanting to learn more about his former life in Malaya for the Singapore archives. His memory growing fitful, Philip is torn between wanting to unburden himself and staying silent, as he has done all these years, about the sinister and shocking events of his childhood on a Malayan rubber plantation. The truth, however, has a habit of winning.

My Review

This was one of the strangest books I have ever read. I mean that in a good way. It’s very short and is basically the story of 93-year-old Philip Goundry, now living in a care home in the UK, and how he gradually reveals his memories to Dr Lin.

But all is not as it seems. As he recalls, over a period of time, his childhood on a rubber plantation in Singapore, memories he has buried over decades start to emerge. His father was a good man, or was he? His mother ran away with a lover and was never seen again. His Amah and her superstitions – there was a pontianak, she said, a vampire girl from Malay and Indonesian mythology in the abandoned house where a woman died. This girl would draw men to their death. Don’t go near.

Pontianaks usually announce their presence through baby cries. It’s said that if the cry is loud, she is far away, but if it is soft, then she is nearby.’ See mythus.fandom.com/wiki/Pontianak You can tell if a girl is really a pontianak by looking at her feet – they don’t walk on the ground.

Phillip’s older brother Jimmy died in his teens. Phillip told him everything, but not everything. Some things he told no-one, but now he is starting to remember. His mother’s voice – someone is coming, she would say, over and over. Someone is coming, get ready.

A tiger prowled around the house. The children must be careful not to go into the jungle. The tiger might eat you. And so it goes on. The memories emerge slowly. Phillip gets upset easily. He doesn’t want to remember. But someone is coming and he needs to tell the truth. The truth has a habit of winning.

What a stunning book! It’s so different and unusual. Someone is coming – just the repetition of this one line is chilling. And the ending was totally unexpected.

Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours

About the Author

T.A. Morton is a Singapore based Irish/Australian writer. Previously she has worked as a journalist and Editor for Longman Pearson in Hong Kong. Her short stories have been published in the Lakeview International Journal of Arts and Literature and The Best Asian Short Stories. Currently, she is studying towards her Masters in Crime and Thriller writing at the University of Cambridge.

In February 2020 her novel The Queen, The Soldier and The Girl was shortlisted for the Virginia Prize for fiction. In October 2020 she was shortlisted for the Strand International Flash fiction prize and the Bridport prize. In Autumn 2022 Monsoon Books published her novella, Someone is Coming. She is currently completing a new crime thriller novel. 

Her website is: www.tamorton.com

The Good by Cat on a Piano / Theatrephonic

“The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.”

April Crawford didn’t even know her mother had been in the army in Cyprus in 1958. That’s where she met her dad. Caitlin McLoughlin arrives at their house 65 years later to go over a statement which her mother signed at the time. Caitlin is a lawyer.

Shootings civilians is murder she says. Even by soldiers in uniform. April knows nothing about the case. April doesn’t want Caitlin to talk to her mother about the ‘incident’ that occurred in 1958 that involved four teenage Greek boys. She says they must have been terrorists. They were just kids.

But Majorie Collins doesn’t need her daughter to talk for her. She remembers it all too well. They were different times but still, ‘it weren’t right.’

A very emotional play. I really enjoyed listening to it.

Written by @martinlytton
Directed by @ebraefield

With:
Emmeline Braefield as April Crawford
Helen Fullerton as Caitlin McLoughlin
Jayne Lloyd as Majorie Collins

Produced by Cat on a Piano Productions 

Music: 
A Revelation by Jeremy Blake
I’ll Remember You by Jeremy Blake
Oud Dance by Doug Maxwell

The Theatrephonic Theme tune was composed by Jackson Pentland
Performed by
Jackson Pentland
Mollie Fyfe Taylor
Emmeline Braefield

Cat on a Piano Productions produce and edit feature films, sketches and radio plays.

Their latest project is called @Theatrephonic, a podcast of standalone radio plays and short stories performed by professional actors. You can catch Theatrephonic on Spotify and other platforms.

For more information about the Theatrephonic Podcast, go to catonapiano.uk/theatrephonic, Tweet or Instagram @theatrephonic, or visit their Facebook page.

And if you really enjoyed this week’s episode, listen to Theatrephonic’s other plays and short stories and consider becoming a patron by clicking here…

Becoming Ted by Matt Cain

A charming, joyful and surprising story about love, friendship and learning to be true to yourself, Becoming Ted will steal your heart.

Ted Ainsworth has always worked at his family’s ice-cream business in the quiet Lancashire town of St Luke’s-on-Sea.

But the truth is, he’s never wanted to work for the family firm – he doesn’t even like ice-cream, though he’s never told his parents that. When Ted’s husband suddenly leaves him, the bottom falls out of his world.

But what if this could be an opportunity to put what he wants first? This could be the chance to finally follow his secret dream: something Ted has never told anyone …

My Review

Poor Ted doesn’t even like ice cream, but he’s been working at his parents’ ice cream parlour all his adult life. He never had a choice. They’ve been very good to him, so he is grateful to them for everything. For the fact that they totally understood when he came out, never criticised his personal decisions or disapproved when he married Giles. Even though Giles was and still is a total dick.

But Ted has other ambitions – a secret dream that only he knows about. He has never told anyone, not his mum and dad, nor his sister who went off to London to follow her own dream, not even his best friend Denise.

So when Giles leaves him for Spanish lothario Javier, it looks like the time is right for Ted to branch out. Once he has got over the shock that is. He can go to dance classes, he can sing along to Cher songs, he can bop and gyrate like no-one is watching (apologies for the dreadful cliche), because Giles always put him down and told him he was rubbish.

Oskar came to St Luke’s-on-Sea from Poland ten years ago. Being a gay man in Poland was much harder than in the UK. Perfectly legal, but still frowned upon. Oskar has never ‘come out’ or had a relationship, because he can’t come to terms with his sexuality. He still believes he must be a pervert. He works as a painter and decorator but dreams of being an interior designer.

And then there is Stanley, still as flamboyant and outspoken in his nineties as he was in his heyday. Ted is very lucky he says, because when Stanley was young, homosexuality was still illegal. He had to creep around in secret, afraid of being caught. I may be a lot younger than Stanley, but I still remember when the law changed in 1967 – I was in my teens and I had never really understood why it was illegal in the first place.

Under the Buggery Act of 1533 (during the reign of Henry VIII who was fine with chopping the heads off two of his wives), having a same-sex relationship was punishable by death. This only ever applied to men. It wasn’t until 1861 that this was reduced to life imprisonment or hard labour with a minimum of ten years. But I digress.

This was such a lovely book, full of laughter, joy, sadness, a little intrigue, friendship and being true to yourself. Matt Cain is an author who can pull at your heartstrings till you are bursting with happiness and crying over characters like Ted and Oskar as if they are your real friends. I miss them terribly already.

Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author, and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.

About the Author

Matt Cain is an author, a leading commentator on LGBT+ issues, and a former journalist. He is currently a presenter for Virgin Radio Pride UK, was Channel 4’s first Culture Editor, Editor-In-Chief of Attitude magazine, and has judged the Costa Prize, the Polari Prize and the South Bank Sky Arts Awards. He won Diversity in Media’s Journalist Of the Year award in 2017 and is an ambassador for Manchester Pride and the Albert Kennedy Trust, plus a patron of LGBT+ History Month. Born in Bury and brought up in Bolton, he now lives in London.

PS Bookchatter@Cookiebiscuit is number 66 out 100 UK blogs on Feedspot

Tiding by Sian Collins

A lyrical, engaging coming-of-age murder mystery set in the Great Freeze

December 1962. Eleanor O’Dowd, a middle-aged piano teacher, is found stabbed and bludgeoned to death. As the Great Freeze of 1963 takes hold, local vicar’s daughter Daphne Morgan finds herself forced to navigate the confusing currents of the adult world, where she must face up to her own crimes and what she knows about the murder.

#Tiding @sian_collins @honno #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #blogtour

A novel about memory and the power of the imagination…

‘She stands on the margin of the ebb tide. The air is foul, a miasma of things lost or drowned; the reek of dead stuff.’

My Review

This was my era, my childhood though not one I particularly recognise. Set in the Great Freeze of 1963 (which I don’t actually remember though I know I should), Daphne Morgan aged 10 and her elder sister Sylvia are the daughters of the local vicar. They spend most of their time outdoors with their friends, getting up to mischief.

When Daphne and her chums break into the bone house and steal a skull (is it that of the Beaker woman?) it sets off a chain of events that they believe is their fault. Obsessed with the curse of Tutankhamun’s tomb and the mysterious deaths of the explorers that followed, they think that their friend Martin’s sudden illness is the result of a ‘curse’, as is every other bad event that follows. Daphne must put the skull back, but it doesn’t go to plan and she is too scared to tell anyone.

While she is bunking off her piano lesson to go to the bone house, her middle-aged piano teacher Eleanor O’Dowd, is brutally murdered. Deaf mute Johnny Parry is the obvious suspect, but what motive could he possibly have?

This is one of those wonderful books that is made up of quirky characters, perfectly drawn settings and a feeling of warmth (despite the snow), wrapped around a murder mystery. Reminiscent of novels like When God Was A Rabbit or The Trouble With Goats And Sheep, it sees the world from the children’s point of view.

Tiding is about childhood, growing up in rural Wales, family, mystery, superstition and coming-of-age. The suspicion around Johnny shows the darker side of living in the sixties, where his disability makes him the obvious suspect just because he’s the ‘village idiot’ like the John Mills character in Ryan’s Daughter. Fifty years later and not much had changed.

I loved this book. It’s both gentle and dramatic, dark and mystical and it will transport you back to simpler times, when children could roam freely and not worry about today’s social pressures.

Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours

About the Author

Siân Collins was born in Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire. An Edinburgh graduate, she taught Anglo Saxon and Medieval Literature in South Africa, worked as an assistant editor on The Lancet, and ran English and Drama departments in several well-known London secondary schools. She returned to Carmarthenshire to teach, write, and relish life in the beautiful Tywi Valley. Her debut novel, Unleaving, was published in 2019.

Dark Enough To See The Stars by Beth Duke

The long-awaited sequel to bestseller and book club favorite It All Comes Back To You has arrived!

Violet Glenn. Everybody loved her. In 1946, that included her boyfriend’s best friend, Sam Davidson.

Ronni Johnson wrote a book about Violet. It changed her life. Now she’s back working as a registered nurse at Fairfield Springs, loving her patients and her job. She doesn’t have another book in her.

#DarkEnoughToSeeTheStars #BethDuke @Zooloo’s Book Tours @zooloo2008 #ZooloosBookTours #blogtour

A mysterious email arrives from Chet Wilson’s son, asking Ronni to tell “the truth” about his dad. She ignores it.

Sam Davidson’s family becomes inextricably linked with Ronni, though, and through them she learns a story that must be told.

Ronni finds herself back at the keyboard, determined to share the long-held secrets revealed to her. And once again, Violet is reaching back through the years to touch Ronni’s life.

Dark Enough To See The Stars is a story of human resilience and fragility; of joy and sorrow; of our ability to find family in one another. Alternating chapters between Sam’s world in the distant past and Ronni’s in the present, readers will witness lives woven together, hearts bound forever in surprising ways.

My Review

First of all I must comment on how much I love the cover – it’s absolutely beautiful.

I knew I wouldn’t get to the end of a Beth Duke novel without crying at least once and I did. Admittedly right near the end. It’s so beautiful and evokes such emotion. I love Ronni as much as I did in the first book, but this time I warmed to her husband Rick – I didn’t the first time round.

She is surrounded by some beautiful characters (I prefer the ‘now’ parts to the flashbacks to Sam’s story), like Deanna, Samuel, Maddie and little Violet.

I swore a few months ago that I would never read a book that included references to Covid, but in this case, firstly I didn’t see it coming and secondly it was totally relevant to the story. Wherever a book starts, if it comes up to date, you can’t ignore the pandemic. It happened, and became part of everyone’s lives.

“‘..Only when it is dark enough can you see the stars’ – Martin Luther King, Jr. This quote has a lot of truth and meaning to it because humans have to go through the darkness in order to see the beauty in life, like the stars in the night sky.”

However, the original quote: ‘When it is dark enough, you can see the stars,’ is actually attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Ronni’s book about the original Violet Glenn was a huge success. Everyone wants her to write another one, but she doesn’t feel inspired. Of course they all have suggestions. You should write about this…or that …or the other. When she is ready, the story will come.

However, when a mysterious email arrives from Chet Wilson’s son, asking Ronni to tell ‘the truth’ about his dad, she ignores it. Rick tells her to ignore it. But through Sam Davidson’s family, she learns that not everything in her book was correct, and this might be the time to revisit Violet’s life and the lives of the people around her. And through the darkness she finds that family isn’t always about blood, it can also be ‘in our ability to find family in one another’. A truly beautiful book.

Incidentally Tapestry was one of my four favourite books of 2022 and It All Comes Back To You is my fourth most popular review of all time.

Many thanks to @zooloo2008 for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

PS a little add-on. The characters in the book are fictional but the Berman Museum in Anniston (where the book is mostly set) is real.

The Modern Warfare gallery features personal artifacts, memorabilia, and weaponry from WWI, WWII, the Korean War, and Vietnam War, including Adolf Hitler’s tea set, though no full Nazi uniforms (as donated in the story).

In the Danger, Deception and Disguise gallery, you can explore the mysterious world of espionage, which pays homage to the founders, Farley and Germaine Berman, both spies during WWII. This exhibit presents those who risked their lives serving undercover and the objects used in covert actions taken as a result of intelligence gathering and analysis.

About the Author

Beth Dial Duke is an Amazon #1 Best Selling author and the recipient of short story awards on two continents. She is eyeing the other five. Beth lives in the mountains of her native Alabama with her husband, one real dog, and one ornamental dog. She loves reading, writing, and not arithmetic. Baking is a hobby, with semi-pro cupcakes and amateur macarons a specialty. And puns–the worse, the better. Travel is her other favorite thing, along with joining book groups for discussion. If a personal visit isn’t possible, she is fluent in Zoom.

Please visit bethduke.com for more information, to request a book club visit, and to see photos of the most beautiful readers in the world!

Follow her at:
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5399106.Beth_Duke
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onlythebethforyou
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bethidee
Website : bethduke.com
Twitter : https://twitter.com/bethidee

Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/65973853-dark-enough-to-see-the-stars

Buy Link – https://geni.us/7zkPLK

Strays by Janeen Leese-Taylor

A murder without evidence, a secret that could topple society and a cop with a bit of a coffee habit!

Three things were certain in the mind of Officer Theodore Night:
One: There’s a serial killer loose in Portstewart
Two: His new friend is a werewolf
Three: He’s in way over his head

#Strays @InkAndSmudge @BlossomSpring3 @Zooloo’s Book Tours @zooloo2008 #ZooloosBookTours #blogtour

When bloody paw prints at a crime scene leads Officer Night to consider the impossible, he must rely not only on his years of investigative experience, but on the local werewolf pack, for help.

An unlikely friendship gives Night the edge he needs to prevent an all-out war. Has Blair, the mysterious barista from Bean and Gone, caused him to bite off more than he can chew?

Here is a short extract from this thrilling book:

Blair patted the human’s bicep wordlessly as he passed and Theo turned to follow him down the dark corridor towards the bizarre living room, the elevator waiting for them at its centre. He could still hear Terry’s panicked breathing reverberating off the walls behind them and Theo swallowed back the feeling of sympathy he felt for the man. In situations like these, time was of the essence and a setback like Terry could cost lives.

“Thanks for what you did back there,” Blair said as the elevator doors parted, “I don’t often get to see you play the bad cop.”

Theo snorted as he checked the safety on his firearm again, an unnecessary action to quiet his thoughts, “I’m always the bad cop.”

“You’re always the asshole cop,” Blair amended, leaning against the man’s side, “There’s a difference.”

The familiar chime announced their arrival and Theo was quick to shrug up the soaked hood of his jacket,

“You ready for this?” he asked. Blair nodded and pulled up his own hood, falling in behind his Silvered as they walked through the estate. Wolves passed by them on all sides, some working, others enjoying their usual, uninterrupted day to day. People hung out of the windows that faced their walkway, smiling and chatting between themselves. The smell of street food clung to the air, sweet with preservatives, and the larger spaces were filled with bustling crowds.

“Stick by me,” Blair breathed. He let his fingers reach down to brush against the other man’s hand and the blond took a hold of it, intertwining each digit with his own. Theo could feel the thump of the other man’s pulse, the constant drumming pressure of it keeping him grounded as the noise of those around them only seemed to grow. The underground was made up of vast, tall tunnels, each lined with houses and shops and almost as wide as the streets on the surface. Many of the wolves that lived beneath the ground had grown used to the ever-present neon lights, the artificial changing of day to night. A huge portion of the wolves who lived here had probably never been exposed to humans, or the moonlight for that matter, perfectly content to hide away from the world. No doubt the markets here were filled with foods and objects from the surface and Theo watched people trade and barter with curiosity from under his hood.

The world was entirely different from the view Amile saw of her people. No one stopped to watch them go now, no wandering eyes of yellow or gold, only the lingering voices of salesmen that shouted over their heads. Theo wondered if this place made Blair feel lonely, if the separation of his family from his own kind had left him feeling adrift. Isolated. The Collar at his throat was strangely quiet now, only the barest inkling of what the man was feeling pulsing through it.

Blair stopped to glance up at the signs overhead and muttered a quiet, “This way,” before he trailed his human companion onward, their footsteps falling into a matching rhythm.

The werewolf let his hand drop as they entered the inner chambers and he cast a wary eye at the painted walls. The vacant halls echoed with voices, and they followed the sound to where the two Alpha’s stood around the chamber’s glass table. Erin’s wolfish ears perked up above her light-coloured hair, the furry appendages leading the turn of her head, “Mister Blackwolfe…” she started.

Amile twisted to watch them enter with a scowl that transformed her face. It was not a kind expression, her eyes burning as she growled out Blair’s name. She laid a hand on Erin’s arm and the woman stepped back to give her space, “You know that your pack privileges have been revok-”

Blair cut her off with an urgent bark, “We need to speak with you regarding the murders.”

Many thanks to @zooloo2008 for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author

Janeen is an Irish author born and raised on the scenic Causeway Coast. Curious, and with a great love for adventure, Jan spent her childhood climbing trees and talking to her imaginary friends, many of whom have now found a home in her writing. She has a bachelor’s degree in advertising and works for gaming companies around the world. She is a lover of all things fantasy and aims to bring some magic to the places that she visits in her writing. Portstewart, Dublin and Chester City each feature prominently in both her travels and her writing, and her stories often draw from real life places that have captured her heart.

As an ultramarathon runner, Jan often writes on the go, using her trusty phone and stylus to craft scenes that come to her after hours on her feet. She lives with her husband, Liam, their Border Collie-Cross, Zarya, and their Guinea Pig, (Peek-A) Boo, who they all fear will one day take over the world!

Follow her at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JLeeseTaylorAuthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/InkAndSmudge
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inkandsmudgebooks/
Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63327359-strays
Buy Link – https://geni.us/zAYEccA

Six Days by Dani Atkins

Two people. One love story. Six days.
He loves me… He loves me not… He loves me…

Gemma knows that she and Finn are destined to be together. They are soulmates. But then, on their wedding day, he never arrives at the church.

Gemma is convinced Finn wouldn’t abandon her like this, even though he has disappeared once before. But back then he had a reason. She feels sure something terrible has happened, but no one else is convinced. Even the police aren’t concerned, telling Gemma most people who disappear usually turn up in a week… assuming they want to be found, that is.

For the next six days Gemma frantically searches for Finn, even though every shocking revelation is telling her to give up on him. Before long, even she begins to doubt her own memories of their love.

How long can she hold on to her faith in Finn if everyone is telling her to let him go?

My Review

I don’t normally read romance, so this was an exception for me. The story sounded intriguing and from that point of view I was not disappointed. However – and it’s a biggie – it was far too long. Every time we went back in time to the day Gemma and Finn met (it didn’t go well), the time they went on a date and he immediately left her to move to Australia, and all sorts of other disastrous meetings, I glazed over and started to skim read.

I wanted the story to move forwards. A bit of background is OK, but it went on and on. I lost the will to live at this point. Then suddenly the pace changed and we began to find out the truth.

Gemma always believed that Finn loves her and would never have walked out, leaving her at the altar – literally – like a spare part at a wedding. As far as her best friend Hannah and her dad and even the police are concerned, that’s exactly what happened. And all the evidence points to it. But Gemma is not about to give up.

I would have really enjoyed this book if had been about one third shorter. And the twists that come flying in at the end would have had more impact. But it’s undeniably a well written novel, with some well-rounded characters and enjoyable banter between Finn and Gemma.

Many thanks to The Pigeonhole and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.

About the Author

Dani Atkins is an award-winning novelist. Her 2013 debut Fractured (published as Then and Always in North America) has been translated into sixteen languages and has sold more than half a million copies since first publication in the UK. Dani is the author of four other bestselling novels, two of which, This Love and A Sky Full of Stars, won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award, in 2018 and 2022 respectively. Dani lives in a small village in Hertfordshire with her husband, one Siamese cat and a very soppy Border Collie. Follow Dani on Twitter @AtkinsDani

The Other Half by Charlotte Vassell

You know how they live. This is how they die.

THE NIGHT BEFORE

Rupert’s 30th is a black tie dinner at the Kentish Town McDonald’s – catered with cocaine and Veuve Clicquot.

THE MORNING AFTER

His girlfriend Clemmie is found murdered on Hampstead Heath. All the party-goers have alibis. Naturally.

This investigation is going to be about Classics degrees and aristocrats, Instagram influencers and who knows who. Or is it whom? Detective Caius Beauchamp isn’t sure. He’s sharply dressed, smart, and as into self-improvement as Clemmie – but as he searches for the dark truth beneath the luxury, a wall of staggering wealth threatens to shut down his investigation before it’s begun.

Can he see through the tangled set of relationships in which the other half live, and die, before the case is taken out of his hands?

My Review

‘Rupert’s 30th is a black tie dinner at the Kentish Town McDonald’s – catered with cocaine and Veuve Clicquot.’

That says it all really. Who has a black tie dinner at McDonald’s? Closing the whole place and terrifying the staff with their drug and champagne-fuelled antics. These are our supposed future leaders, reminiscent of the Bullingdon Club, they will buy their way out of trouble with daddy’s money and one day sit in the House of Lords. Heaven help us (and the Hippos) – no wonder the country has gone to the Corgis. More about the Hippos later.

While the revellers are enjoying pouring the bubbly down their throats and the powder up their noses, Rupert’s girlfriend Clemmie is lying dead on Hampstead Heath, her perfectly turned-out, Instagrammable ankles sticking out of the undergrowth. Which is where he finds her. It’s obvious even before forensics get to the body that she’s been murdered. But first she needs to be identified. That’s not too difficult as she’s all over Instagram. She was an Influencer. Of course she was.

It’s up to Caius and his colleagues Matt and Amy to find out the truth, but with these sorts of people, money buys silence and everyone at the party has an alibi. Especially Rupert, unfortunately. Undeniably handsome and charming, Clemmie loved him, but he was going to ditch her the day after the party and her death is actually rather convenient. Because he has always been in love with Nell, but she has just embarked on a relationship with Alex. And if you think that’s complicated….

Wherever Caius, Matt and Amy investigate, there is a charity box for Help the Hippos? Coincidence? There are no coincidences in good policing and they are determined to find out what it means before the investigation is taken out of their hands.

I adored this book. The characters are larger than life, wonderfully drawn in all their hateful glory, especially the obscenely rich Rupert Achilles de Courcy Beauchamp and the obscenely beautiful Nell – the dark and the light – the pompous and the mildly eccentric. The banter between Caius and Matt is hilarious, the names are ridiculous, it’s full of references to the classics and Jane Austen, and the Chief Superintendent is referred to as the great pooh-bahh.

One of my favourite books of the year so far.

Many thanks to The Pigeonhole and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.

About the Author

Charlotte Vassell studied History at the University of Liverpool and completed a Masters in Art History at SOAS, University of London, before training as an actor at Drama Studio London. Other than treading the boards, Charlotte has also worked in advertising, executive search, and as a purveyor of silk top hats.

Awakening by Abby Wynne

When Marissa’s fiancé leaves her unexpectedly, she is left trying to put the broken pieces of her life back together again.

The magical years of her childhood are now lost or long forgotten and, trapped in a downward spiral of worry and anxiety, nothing seems to be bringing the magic back any time soon.

Training to become a therapist, Marissa discovers an unforeseen talent for helping others and, for a while at least, she puts her own needs and concerns to one side. An unexpected windfall prompts a spontaneous trip to Peru, and an encounter while she is there triggers an astonishing series of events.

#Awakening @AbbyNrgHealing #InnerCompassTrilogy #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #blogtour 

Shaken but excited, Marissa embarks on a wonderful journey of revelation and adventure – after which, her life will never be the same again. Marissa’s story is your story, is my story, is everybody’s story: we each must find our own true path through life, our one true way.

Abby Wynne, author and Shamanic Psychotherapist, brings all her wisdom to bear on Marissa’s amazing tale of discovery and healing. A catalyst for people’s healing processes, Abby is a problem solver, a creative artist, an alchemist, a healer, a mother, a daughter, a lover of life – and it shows in this, her first novel.

My Review

When I started reading Awakening, I knew nothing about Shamanism or spiritual healing, other than once visiting a Reiki practitioner (so I could review my experience for a magazine). Awakening is quite an eye-opener. I learnt so much.

I was very excited by the idea of the oracle cards and purchased a set as soon as I finished reading the book. I wish I could have ‘Bear’ as my spirit guide all the time. I also purchased a sage smudge stick. I love the smell, it’s gorgeous. Sorry, I’m rambling.

Marissa is struggling to get over the break-up of her relationship with James. They were going to get married, have two children – a girl and a boy – and spend the rest of their lives together. Then James left her and she still doesn’t know why. He married someone else and started a family with her.

Marissa has a boring job in an office, where she works with Sarah. She is also training to be a psychotherapist. Sarah persuades her to go to Peru and having just received some money from an uncle, she can afford to go. It’s not the kind of thing she usually does. And while for Sarah, it’s a holiday with the hope of finding romance, for Marissa, it’s the trip of a lifetime. She discovers her talent for healing and it changes the direction that her life is taking.

Her spiritual adventure will lead her to Shamanism, Reiki and guardian angels, amongst other paths. The ‘journeys’ she takes as part of her training are described in such detail and are wrapped around a story of lost love, being an outsider in a Jewish family (my Jewish mother married a Polish Catholic so this I understand), finding oneself and learning to love and trust again. It’s a beautiful book with a message for all of us: ‘we each must find our own true path through life, our one true way.’

Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours

About the Author

Abby Wynne is the bestselling author of the One Day at a Time Diary, How to Be Well and Energy Healing Made Easy. She helps people release what is in the way of living an empowered, wholehearted life. She lives in Ireland with her husband, four children, and their dog and cat! The Inner Compass Trilogy is her first major work of fiction. Look out for Expansion, the final book in the series, in early 2023. Join Abby for pre-recorded sessions, self-paced healing programmes and live group healing sessions via www.abbysonlineacademy.com

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