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THE SILENT BOY by Michelle Kidd

2.5* With this book, MK falls off my autobuy list. It's all styling, very little substance, with so-not-believable baddies. And editor, what editor?  Joffe Books, I'm finding can be quite inconsistent in quality and editing. MK is normally an author whose books I tend to watch out for, but even for 99p, it's not a great effort.  The storyline piques attention, as does traumatised little 6yo Joshua. Until suddenly, 2 chapters from the end, he too morphs into getting chapters from his 1st PPOV, in far too grown-up a voice and tone. It's just not believable. It mimicked the rest of the chapters when the baddie/s were anonymous in their 1PPOV storytelling - unburdening and freaking out - but it felt inorganic. As to the Maguire brothers? Too many all-mouth-no-trousers types, with all 3 living ones and the dead one having secrets. And the Maguire women? Made out to be certain types that then turned out not to be those types. Really not believable that one had hidden cojones ...
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DEATH IN WILTSHIRE by Derek Thompson

2* This poor author feels like a 'we've got to publish him, but don't really want to stand by him' author from Joffe Books. I used to get ARCs by Joffe Books but I suspect they don't like critique, as they've been rejecting all my recent requests. I've been harsh at times but also pretty fulsome where praise/feedback was warranted. This book was a free-to-read-now tale, and I can see why. There's really nothing to recommend here. There's alluded-to stuff with a DI who holds the lead character's  - so unmemorable that I've forgotten his name  - puppet strings, the reasons for which don't get revealed beyond brief allusions about events that made him have to leave The Met. Just silencing looks. I got tired reading about his unexplained exile from The Met and his not liking Wiltshire.  The thing with the lady vicar was pointless. The thinking by his young sidekick about whether single vicars are allowed to have sex was archaic. The plethora ...
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DEADLY FORCE by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

4* Refreshing intro to a police procedural set in the UK, but some slightly irritating quirks and style - maybe those will grow on me, as I enjoyed the tale despite them. I wasn't lost in this tale despite being new to the series. What I didn't like were the 'they work but they're made-up words' that peppered both narration and dialogue, and weren't limited to the Porson character, who I found unbelievable for a law enforcement type in 2026. The guy wasn't offensive per se but seemed to be lacking self-awareness and general awareness with some of what he came out with. That aside, it was a decent enough tale. One where I got to quite like Slider, but thought some of the other characters, especially the female cop brought in to use - unknowingly or not  - her feminine assets, inorganic and unnecessary. The storyline was sad, with a seemingly pretty decent person dying. That the guilty parties didn't fall over each other to make a deal, didn't quite se...
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THE WONDER OF YOU by Dani Atkins

 3* Misses the mark due to uninteresting and unlikeable main characters. The 2 besties are great, though.  I've only read Always You and Me by this author, a book that had me in tears at the start and end. It set a really high bar that unfortunately this book couldn't reach for many reasons, the main 2 of which are in the review title.  So, the male lead, despite being a dad, was pretty boring and a bit of a wallflower. I really couldn't see him despite the many mentions of startling green eyes and the lightning 'tattoo'. He seemed blind to his ex's machinations, and to the ex's BFF's machinations, and fell for the fake illness episode they concocted. No questions asked. Hmm.  The female lead seemed unemotional and selfish, ghosting her best friends for 9 months until she decided she needed to make changes to her life. Why they gave her the time of day was beyond me, because the author didn't tell us a single likeable thing about her. Just that her h...
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THE LONE ISLAND MYSTERY by Emylia Hall

 5* Good catch-up with the characters, although a sad tale.  I'm not sure how much time has lapsed since the previous book, but Jayden and Cat have a 1yo son and a 3yo daughter now. An former teen love is trying to become a more permanent fixture in Ally's life, but she's still stuck on her late husband Bill, and there's her good old friend Gus, who's finally stopped talking about finishing his novel and has gotten there, and is doing edits. Add in DS Mullins and the café owner whose name I forget, and the same characters all muck in to make a going tale. Even Mullins's 'I hate the Shell House detectives' boss seems a tad more likeable and on-board.  There's a sad tale of inheritance, of trying to right 'wrongs'; of living with PTSD and loss; of dysfunctional families; of the price of war; of betrayal by a loved one - or more - and lies. The dovetailing is excellent and the flawed but understandably so characters, I warmed to. Except one who ...
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THE STRANGER IN MY BED by Amanda McKinney

 4* Decent, if predictable. Violent guy in private, suave operator in public, commits suicide because his ponzi scheme is about to unravel and he can't face it. Supposedly. The abused wife takes herself off and makes a quiet life for herself, until a year on, life isn't so quiet anymore.  It's not badly done, with enough suspense and build-up but it's very predictable on her name change, not being in witness protection, the lodger she takes in, the things that start to appear. She doesn't even have the common sense to change her locks once she's spooked, resulting in the death of someone looking out for her. And there's time for a new romance. Hmm.  A decent one-time read. ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Storm Publishing for my reading pleasure. 
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IT'S NOT HER by Mary Kubica

5* Not a book with nice characters you feel for, but flippin' eck, what a good murder-mystery with twists and reveals I didn't see coming. This isn't a book with a single character that I liked, cared about or empathised with. It's told from Courtney's POV for the most - she's the sister and sister-in-law of the so-far vics; mother to Cass and wife to Elliott, and possibly once an 'the other woman', as he was married when he met her. It's revealed that she doesn't trust him, and I was really hoping that lawyer-him would be clever enough to know that and confront her.  The second person whose voice we hear is spoilt, woe-is-me and my 1st-world problems, whiny, bitchy, unpleasant, selfish, with anger issues Reese, 'like the candy'. She's a piece of work who's lucky not to end up being raped or killed, though she's not clever enough to fully embrace that. The tale itself is well done. Little reveals about the characters make you ...
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