The Waterman by Robert Derry
Review

Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
Print Length: 312 pages

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Synopsis

Terry Stubbs is a young man getting old before his time and is haunted by a face that invades his dreams. His life is on the rocks after failing to find his fortune on the trading floors of the ruthless city of London. Jake Harvey is a successful salesman on his way up the ladder, but his world will never be the same again, now that the nightmares have started.

The same dreams. The same nightmares. Different people.

A waterman from seventeenth century London lurks like a troll beneath the old London Bridge, reaching out across the ages to tug at his victims. Infiltrating their lives. Reeling them in.

A journey through time that will make you think twice, before you ever pay the ferryman again.

Review

A viscerally stunning piece of work that sends chills straight to your bones.

Robert does a fantastic job of drawing you in with his picturesque prose and then begins to deliver a real-page turner. This book was not what I was expecting by a long shot but I was left feeling pleasantly surprised by this. A historical ghost story soaked in suspense.

Robert very clearly did his research when writing this book as the detail and accuracy with what he writes with is phenomenal. 

The three characters that you follow are Terry Stubbs, Jackie and Jake. All three characters are facing a difficult time in their life but lead very different lives, the one thing that links them all together is the nightmares. The nightmares threaten to spill over into the realm of reality, leading the characters to a frantic search to understand why they are all suffering from the same dreams and where the dreams originally began.

Once you open up this book, there is no way you're going to want to put it down. I was so eager to find the answers that time slipped away from me and I was really with the characters yearning for answers to these mysterious nightmares.

Robert delivers one final juicy twist that left me stunned. I love historical fiction but I haven't read one quite as engaging and accurate as The Waterman, this is definitely one you should add to your TBR pile. 

Many thanks to Robert for gifting me a copy of The Waterman in an exchange for a fair and honest review.

Buy your copy here:

AustinMacauley|Blackwell's|Amazon

About The Author

Robert Derry is working as an HR consultant in England. He got his education from Lancaster University before he moved to the city of London. There, close to the River Thames, he wrote his first novel. His book The Waterman was also nominated for the 2021 Novel London Literary Award. In his free time, he supports Aston Villa Football Club and NFL. He is currently living in Somerset, England with his wife, Tina, their two children and two cats.

Click here to visit Robert Derry's website

Follow Robert Derry on Twitter at: @derry_rob

Lost & Found - A Memoir by Kathryn Schulz

 Lost & Found - A Memoir by Kathryn Schulz
[Review]

Publisher: PICADOR
Page Length: 256
Hardback Edition: £14.99
Release Date: 28.04.22

Synopsis

'An extraordinary gift of a book, a tender, searching meditation on love and loss and what it means to be human. I wept at it, laughed with it, was entirely fascinated by it. I emerged feeling a little as if the world around me had been made anew.' – Helen Macdonald, author of H Is for Hawk and Vesper Flights

Eighteen months before Kathryn Schulz’s beloved father died, she met the woman she would marry. In Lost & Found, she weaves the stories of those relationships into a brilliant exploration of how all our lives are shaped by loss and discovery - from the maddening disappearance of everyday objects to the sweeping devastations of war, pandemic, and natural disaster; from finding new planets to falling in love.

Three very different American families form the heart of Lost & Found: the one that made Schulz’s father, a charming, brilliant, absentminded Jewish refugee; the one that made her partner, an equally brilliant farmer’s daughter and devout Christian; and the one she herself makes through marriage. But Schulz is also attentive to other, more universal kinds of conjunction: how private happiness can coexist with global catastrophe, how we get irritated with those we adore, how love and loss are themselves unavoidably inseparable. The resulting book is part memoir, part guidebook to living in a world that is simultaneously full of wonder and joy and wretchedness and suffering - a world that always demands both our gratitude and our grief.

A staff writer at the New Yorker and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Kathryn Schulz writes with curiosity, tenderness, erudition, and wit about our finite yet infinitely complicated lives. Crafted with the emotional clarity of C. S. Lewis and the intellectual force of Susan Sontag, Lost & Found is an uncommon book about common experiences.

Purchase Link
Waterstones|WHSmith

Review

Typically, I don't read memoirs but after seeing the beautiful cover and the synopsis, I thought that this may just be the perfect memoir for me. 

This memoir is written like an eloquent poem which captures Kathryn's memories beautifully. This book is written in three parts, each as interesting as one another and is based on the title of the book. Each part covers how as humans we deal and approach things that we have lost, and how we go about finding and the "&" that combines things together.

This book really dives into the frustration that we feel as existential beings that have lost something and that in the end we lose everything, including the ones we treasure the most. 

We discover that Kathryn in the months before losing her father, met the woman of her dreams and how love can help carry you through the painful process of grief. 

You discover that amidst all the pain, Kathryn goes on to build a happy life with her wife including a wedding, a new home and eventually an addition to the family.

If you enjoy memoirs, then this one is profoundly moving and really opens your eyes to what it really means to be human.

About The Author

Kathryn Schulz is a staff writer at the New Yorker and the author of Being Wrong. She won a National Magazine Award and a Pulitzer Prize in 2015 for 'The Really Big One', an article about seismic risk in the Pacific Northwest. Her TED talks have been hugely popular: 'Don't Regret Regret' (2.5m views) and 'On being Wrong' (5m views). Lost & Found grew out of 'When Things Go Missing', which was originally published in the New Yorker and later anthologized in The Best American Essays. She lives with her family in Maryland.

Follow Kathryn Schulz on Twitter: @kathrynschulz

 Unlucky Charm by Aidan Lucid
[Book Review]

Print Length: 112 pages
Publication Date: January 5th, 2022

Book #2 Hopps Town Series

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Synopsis

Darkness Comes From The Most Unexpected Of Places!
A New Threat Comes to Hopps Town

Following the events of, The Scavenger, we now find Jared a year later, on a two week break from college. He thought this would be a relaxing visit home then it happened, something so dark he felt a strange sense of deja-vu.

Across town we find Reggie Danes and Zane Miller who’ve been friends for over ten years. After Zane purchases an antique pocket-watch, they suddenly find themselves being taunted by past secrets.

Now they must band together to vanquish the demons which plague their lives. Can life ever return to normal?

Will the darkness ever disappear?

Review

A year following the terrifying events that happened in 'The Scavenger', we are now met with Jared who is home from college for a break. Jared is still very much coming to terms with his newfound ability and still finds it overwhelming but when he is confronted by a spirit who warns him that he must find an item, he is at a loss. Jared is clueless as to what item he needs to find, but thankfully his Aunt Maybelle runs to his rescue. 

Two new characters are introduced in this story, Reggie and Zane who are close friends which unknowingly come into possession of a cursed object and before they know it, Zane and Reggie are forced to face their past and their guilt. The only worry is that the past is much more real and present than it should be and presents a very real danger to both Zane and Reggie if they do not get the help they so desperately need. 

Jared and Maybelle with the appropriate abilities try to convince the young men that they can help, but a big problem presents itself. What happens if it's too late to help?

This is a perfect novella for a young adult, it flows beautifully and is an easy fun read for supernatural or horror lovers. 

Another great story from Aidan Lucid, I am eager to read his future work.

Purchase Unlucky Charm at:
Amazon

About The Author

Aidan was born in July 28^th, 1981 in County Kerry, Ireland. Growing up, he always loved reading books, especially those in the fantasy genre. Books on the supernatural also filled his shelves as a kid and still do to this today.

Mr. Lucid's journey as a writer began back in 2002 after having a religious experience. In 2004, he plucked up the courage to send out some of my material to magazines, newspapers etc. and seven items Aidan wrote were published that year. For the next two years Aidan received diplomas of distinction in creative writing and freelance journalism.

Back in April 2005 Aidan began writing, The Lost Son, which was then under a different title. In 2010 it was published by a Texas-based publisher but in 2013, he left that publisher. Mr. Lucid listened to feedback from readers on the novel and made some changes, adding new characters, fleshing out the story a bit more etc. Fast-forward to October 2019, Jongleur Books published The Lost Son. 

Aidan Lucid says, "Writing is my life and it fills me with joy to see people enjoy my works. It’s my aim to let people escape the mundane world we live in and get carried away by the adventures both in The Zargothian Saga books and other future works that will be released over the next few years. As an author, I love listening to the feedback readers give me. It’s always fun to meet and engage with the audience. I love doing interviews and talking about my writing journey, hoping that it will inspire another author to pursue their dream."

For more on Aidan Lucid: About Aidan (aidanlucidauthor.com)

Follow Aidan Lucid on Twitter: @TheZargothian

The Key in the Lock by Beth Underdown - [Book Tour]

 The Key in the Lock by Beth Underdown
Book Tour

Published: January 13th 2022
Publisher: Viking
Genre: Gothic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Thriller, Horror Thriller, Gothic Romance.

Format: Hardcover, Kindle, Audiobook

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for The Key in the Lock by Beth Underdown. This book was mesmerising from start to finish and I owe my greatest thanks to Ellie at Viking for the chance to be a part of this book tour and to Beth Underdown for producing such a fantastic novel in the first place.

Synopsis

I still dream, every night, of Polneath on fire. Smoke unravelling from an upper window, and the terrace bathed in a hectic orange light . . . Now I see that the decision I made at Polneath was the only decision of my life. Everything marred in that one dark minute.

By day, Ivy Boscawen mourns the loss of her son Tim in the Great War. But by night she mourns another boy - one whose death decades ago haunts her still.

For Ivy is sure that there is more to what happened all those years ago: the fire at the Great House, and the terrible events that came after. A truth she must uncover, if she is ever to be free.

But once you open a door to the past, can you ever truly close it again?

From the award-winning author of The Witchfinder's Sister comes a captivating story of burning secrets and buried shame, and of the loyalty and love that rises from the ashes.

Review

 

The best historical fiction in modern-day times! 

Firstly, I just have to say how beautiful the cover is for this book, I love how it's the floor plan of Polneath house!

This story is set in two time-spaces 1880's and 1918 but there are two boys dead far before their time and is their story inextricably linked?

This book is definitely one of my favourite historical fictions purely for the way Beth beautifully weaves loss, love and betrayal into a story that you will never forget.

Ivy is mourning the death of her son Tim who died at war but in her grief, she cannot understand how or why he died or why it wasn't classified as honourable. Ivy is certain that the events that took place in Polneath in 1888 will hold the key to the answers and therefore she finds herself grieving not just for her son but also for a young boy Matthew who tragically died on that fateful night in 1888.

Ivy is a marvellous character, as you witness her entering into womanhood and learning how to be the sophisticated lady that her father and the village expect her to be, you also get a good glimpse of her fiery and determined side that is only more pronounced as she grows older and wiser. I couldn't get enough of Ivy, I truly thought she was admirable but knew that there was something not quite right and was intrigued to find out what that was exactly. 

Edward is a widower who is rearing his young son Matthew but on that dark night where everything was set alight, it all changed. Right through the book I was charmed by Edward and was hoping that he would be the happy ending Ivy craved but Edward wrapped up in his grief feels almost untouchable. A person to be admired but nothing more. 

I took an instant dislike to Boscawen who is the local coroner, he felt cold and distant, whilst perhaps that was due to his job and needing to remain detached, he honestly gave me the creeps but he becomes a vital part of the story.

Beth is extremely talented in creating these complex individuals and giving you a real sense and taste of how these characters really are. I applaud her talent and cannot wait to read what else she has in store for us in the future.

The Mystery 

The real mystery here is what actually happened on the night of Matthew's death and how did the actions of Ivy somehow correlate with the death of her own son Tim. This was such a compelling read and every single time I thought I had it all figured out, I was shoved in a completely different direction. It appears that there were ill intentions on the night of the fire and Ivy is sure that there was something more to Matthew's death and so she goes digging. Some parts of this mystery raises the hair on the back of your neck or has you sobbing into your pillow at 3am, its just so spectacularly written that it feels as if you are right there with Ivy. 

The question of importance is who caused the fire that night, the main suspect is the maid Agnes who completely shuts down due to the shock and a dark secret that she is hiding but Ivy believes there is more to the story and that she just needs to figure it out. 

Ivy later realises she has the literal key to unlock this whole mystery or so she thinks, but once again I was wrong. That key does hold all the secrets but it soon becomes clear that Ivy may have made a big mistake.

The ending threw me off guard, I cannot lie. I absolutely loved it but my already battered heart was broken by the true love that is shown at the end. The ending was perfect to be put simply.

Conclusion

If you want an atmospheric gothic slow burner that will have you second guessing yourself the entire time, then this is it! It's perfect for anyone that loves great historical fiction stories that will play on your heartstring. This book is nothing short of a masterpiece!

Buy the book

BookShop.org|Amazon|Waterstones

About The Author

Beth Underdown was born in Rochdale in 1987. She studied at the University of York and then the University of Manchester, where she is now a Lecturer in Creative Writing.

The Witchfinder’s Sister, her debut novel, was published by Viking in the UK and Ballantine in the US in 2017, was a Richard and Judy bestseller and won the HWA Goldsboro Crown Debut Award. The Key in the Lock, her second novel, is out now with Viking.

                                                                                           

Follow Beth Underdown on Twitter: @bethunderdown

For more info on Beth Underdown visit: About — Beth Underdown

                                                

The Hunted by Gabriel Bergmoser - [Review]

The Hunted by Gabriel Bergmoser 
[Review]

Print Length: 288 pages
Publisher: Faber & Faber

Publication date: 6 August 2020

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Synopsis 

Where does the adventure end . . .
and the nightmare begin?

Frank owns a service station on a little-used highway. His granddaughter, Allie, is sent to stay with him for the summer, but they don't talk a lot.

Simon is a dreamer and an idealist, in thrall to the romance of the open road and desperately in search of something.

Maggie is the woman who will bring them together, someone whose own personal journey will visit unimaginable terror on them all. . .

Review

A horror packed action book meets The Hills Have Eyes

If you are looking for nightmare fuel, then Gabriel Bergmoser has you supplied. The Hunted is a fast-paced action horror that is impossible to put down. 

The book is divided into two time lines, simply 'now' which focuses on Frank's story and 'then' which focuses on Charlie's story but when Frank and Charlie are forced to meet, this whole story explodes into something deliciously barbaric. 

Frank is a middle-aged man who wishes for a simple and quiet life which is why he runs a quiet little service station in the middle of nowhere. Frank is clearly haunted by some memories of the past and this often presents itself in his dreams. Frank receives a call from his estranged son who pleads with Frank to care for his disruptive teenage granddaughter Allie in the hopes to give her a new perspective of life. 

Allie is feeling isolated far away from home, in a place which she considers nothing more than a dump, with a grandfather who barely speaks two words to her and shouts out in his dreams. This bond however changes when a woman hauls herself out of her car at Frank's service station who looks like she has been beaten to within an inch of her life and Frank must take drastic measures to keep his granddaughter safe. 

The story flips to 'then' which focuses on a young woman Maggie who is running away from her past but unbeknownst to her, she runs into something far more sinister than her past. This part of the story is explosive, Maggie and her newly made friend Simon run into a small town, Simon clearly feels like there is something more sinister at play and begs Maggie to leave but Maggie doesn't want to go back home, she wants to keep moving forward and sadly she is faced with the horrific consequences of her actions when she finds a barn full of human body parts hung from hooks. Maggie knows she is in serious danger and is forced to try to fight for her life.

Frank is confronted by a man who is demanding to know where the injured woman was, Frank being concerned for the girl's safety denies knowledge of the woman's existence which suddenly puts him smack bang in the middle of danger. Soon Frank's service station and home are surrounded by the town's people, eager to find the injured woman by any means possible. The last part of the story is nail-bitingly tense as are confronted by a situation of fight till you die. 

There is so much more I could say about this book but I don't want to ruin it for anyone, if you are a horror lover like me, then this will tick all your boxes. 

About the author

Gabriel Bergmoser is an award-winning Melbourne-based author and playwright. He won the prestigious Sir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting Award in 2015, was nominated for the 2017 Kenneth Branagh Award for New Drama Writing and went on to win several awards at the 2017 VDL One Act Play Festival circuit. In 2016 his first young adult novel, Boone Shepard, was shortlisted for the Readings Young Adult Prize. His first novel for adults, The Hunted (HarperCollins, Faber, 2020) is a bestseller and a film adaptation of The Hunted is currently being developed in a joint production between Stampede Ventures and Vertigo entertainment in Los Angeles.

Follow Gabriel Bergmoser on Twitter: @gobergmoser

Learn more about Gabriel Bergmoser here

Hands by Lauren Brown - [Review]

Hands by Lauren Brown
[Review]

Print Length: 240 pages
Publisher: HarperNorth

Publication date: 20 January, 2022

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Synopsis

I didn’t give my hands much thought before they turned against me. They’ve not attempted to snatch away my life in any literal sense – thankfully my unwell brain and its troubled, dexterous agents have never veered in that direction – but at the time I’m, we’re, writing this, it would not be untrue to say that they have been chipping away at my life, slowly, slowly, in a way I could never have predicted.


When an unexpected, life-altering mental disorder upended writer Lauren Brown’s life, she knew the only way to get to the root would be to find the thread – wound, red, around trees, tangled and frayed in places – and start following it with her hands, hands that had betrayed her, back to the root. What emerges is not only an attempt to redirect the anxiety that’s pooled in her fingertips for as long as she can remember, released in odd bursts in caravan parks, on the north-east coast, in school assembly but a journey towards forgiveness, acceptance, and a love-song to the north.

Review

Hands is a memoir of Lauren's life and journey with her struggle with dermotillomania, a form of OCD. This story really took me back to my own childhood as Lauren talks about her music taste, the good old days of MSN and of course DJ Smally! Whilst this book is absolutely hilarious, it really delves deep into important topics of mental health which other people shy away from. Lauren tries to discover the root of her anxiety and I found it interesting to see how her anxiety was present even as a child and how it became more apparent as she got older. This book isn't a self-help manual but is instead a true and raw depiction of how dealing with mental health affects everyday life. Personally, I found Lauren's honesty very inspiring and as someone who also suffers with their mental health, I know that articulating how you feel and putting your past on paper is far from easy. 

Hands explores Lauren's life and how her anxiety affects all parts of it such as school, relationships, her home life and her hopes. Hands deserves a big audience, it's relatable and funny but also takes a realistic approach in regards to dealing with mental health. 

This is the best book I have read which deals with a tough topic that will relate to many people, it's realistic, funny and heartbreaking all at once. I wish Lauren the very best for her future and that all her strength and courage is rewarded.

                              Pre-order Hands now

Amazon Link: Hands: An Anxious Mind Unpicked: Amazon.co.uk: Brown, Lauren: 9780008465766: Books

Foyles Link: Hands: An Anxious Mind Unpicked - Lauren Brown; | Foyles Bookstore

About The Author

Lauren Brown is a 26 year old woman who is from Billingham, Teesside in the North East of England. Lauren now lives and works as a writer in London. Hands is Lauren's debut novel which is to be released on January 20, 2022. 

Follow Lauren on Twitter: @Laurenrbrown95

Broken Sky by L.A Weatherly - [Review]

 Broken Sky by L.A Weatherly 
[Review]

Print length: 400 pages
Publisher: Usbourne Publishing Ltd
Publication date: 1 March 2016

My Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐

Synopsis

Welcome to a ‘perfect’ world.

Where war is illegal, where harmony rules.

And where your date of birth marks your destiny.

But nothing is perfect.

And in a world this broken, who can Amity trust?

From the bestselling author of the Angel trilogy comes Broken Sky – an exhilarating epic set in a daring and distorted echo of 1940s America and first in a new trilogy.

My Review

"We'll make them harmonious even if it destroys them"

This is the first book of L.A Weatherly that I have read and I'm not going to beat around the bush, I loved it! Over the years I have read many YA fantasy books and I am happy to say that this was was like a fresh breath of air. This book is so stunningly original that I fell in love with it before I was even thrown around by all the twists that are packed in this book.

Amity is a peacefighter, just like her dad. Growing up Amity had always admired her father for his job but when he sadly died, she knew she wanted to follow in her beloved father's footsteps and become a peacefighter. In this world, war no longer existed, they fought all their battles by having the opposing countries enter a plane fight and whichever plane is the first to be downed wins whichever rights and privileges they were fighting for, it's a safer alternative to war as the pilots have parachutes and safety methods but it is still a risky business. Amity adores being a peacefighter despite the dangers and she is proud to be preventing war and keeping the harmony between countries whilst winning rights for her country, however, this all changes when Amity realises that the fight that she lost wasn't what it appeared to be and Amity is thrown into a whole new world where her very beliefs are corrupted to the core and she can trust no one.

To my delight, there is no instalove which I find absolutely abhorrent and all the characters in this story are well thought out characters with skills and flaws making them feel all the more real. When Amity's childhood friend Collie enters the scene it is clear that they have a whole lot of history, most of it good but some bad. Amity is reluctant to trust her old friend as she felt betrayed by his previous actions but over time her hardness towards him thaws and they become more than just childhood friends but lovers. The entire time I was reading this book I felt uneasy about Collie, it feels almost too good to be true and I may just be right? Maybe the second book in the series will reveal whether my thoughts on him are right or wrong. 

The main villain in this universe is a charismatic albeit eccentric man called John Gunnison. To me, he sounded very similar to 'Hitler' with the charismatic charm but also the dictatorship, concentration camps and other barbaric activities that he was up to. John Gunnison strongly believes in astrology and has people working for him that tell him who is trustworthy or who is dangerous to his cause based on the star signs and as crazy as it sounds, people believed it and when people were dragged from their homes and their children, they just turned their heads the other way too scared to do or say anything.

This book had me so immersed that as soon as I finished it, I was reaching for the second book in the series. I am not sure what took me so long to read it but don't make the mistake I did, read it now! 

Click here for the Amazon purchase link 

About The Author

L.A Weatherly was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA. She now lives with her husband and their cat Bernard, in Hampshire, England, where she spends her days -  and nights! - writing. 

L.A Weatherly is the author of over fifty books, including the bestselling Angel trilogy. Her work has been published in over ten different languages. 

Follow L.A Weatherly on Twitter: @LA_Weatherly

Find L.A on Facebook here.