RoroblusMumReadsReviews/Rants

 4* intro to this author. Good detective work amidst danger and shades of grey... This is a 4* read with interesting characters, a decent plot, good detective work and an ending, that whilst not a HEA, gave closure and exonerated. I can't say too much more or it'd give away too much, but this tale wouldn't have worked without Colly, for both the top-notch detective that she was, and the outsider that could bring impartiality, fresh eyes and perspective to the case. Refreshingly, every side character that appeared here turned into a decent red herring, apart, of course, from the killer whose identity I clocked over the Thursday/Friday issue. I bought why Colly didn't clock, in a way, but the mystery could've been solved at that point, rather than dragged out, though it was interestingly done.  ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer for my reading pleasure.

 5* Shades of Mercy Kilpatrick. I need more, like yesterday! Wow, I devoured this book. Like the author says, every one stands on its own, though it's part of a series, and I wasn't lost at all. It's very reminiscent of the murder-mystery books by Kendra Elliott and Melinda Leigh, with a strong female agent who gets to the bottom of a case, trusting her instincts as well as her solid detection skills. There's not a ton to the plot - an abducted female - but there are plenty of shady characters and one female who's reminiscent of Delores Umbrage, who really deserves to be taken down a peg or few. At the end, though we don't get to specifically read about it, she's cancelled her cleaner and is having to clear up her own vomit.  I can't wait to read more and am off to check out the author's back catalogue. ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Greyt Companion Press for my reading pleasure.

 4* Excellent introduction to this author. Not the suspension of disbelief tale that I expected. This is nicely written, told in part in the present, in the aftermath of a fire that killed 4 people, and in events that led to the fire. It was plausible, and the author's clearly done research into people who claim to remember past lives and reincarnation (that Hindus and others believe is what happens when you die. Your soul is reincarnated in another body).  The start of the tale totally had me going in one direction and tbh, that part felt completely divorced from the rest of the story, but it gave an opening to how matters came to a head. I'm not entirely sure why the author included what he did, as it had no relevance to the tale - unless an ulterior motive was to maybe give the subject matter some attention? Make people think? But, I digress. If you've watched Bollywood, then you naturally suspend disbelief a little. If you've watched Om Shanti Om, you'll remembe...

 4* Requires a fair bit of suspension of disbelief, and the end has a bit of a cliff hanger, but hey, not everyone in this tale is lily white, so... This is the 2nd book in the Leigh Brody FBI series but works fine as a standalone, as there's enough info about events to clue readers in. It's well written, pacing is good, even though it's a tad unbelievable that someone who's just had major abdominal surgery can release themselves from care after 3 days (and only be meant to be recuperating for 3 weeks?? Thank goodness for the UK's NHS and sick pay rules) and have flown across the country to help out on a case. Hmm. But, the take works and is engrossing, though there are lies, untruths, truths withheld and the tale ends with a 'Uh oh, what happens now?/Fgs, now I have to wait until the next gets written to find out more?' moment. It is a good read and I definitely want to read books 1 and 3, especially as book 1 has hints of the Mercy Thompson series that I d...

 3* Required the suspension of far too much disbelief, unfortunately, though well written. Sorry, but to justify the title of this review, there will be spoilers. So Hannah, formerly Laurel, is in witness protection; her marriage broke up over this and now she's with Jasper and they have 8yo Pia. They've moved to what sounds like  barely disguised Sandbanks, for safety. But, not only is the cop who was on her case her nextdoor neighbour, but the person who caused her to go into witness protection (who she cheated on her husband with, but hubby wasn't above whoring her out, so yeah, half a dozen of one, 6 of the other) has done his time, been released not only early but into this exclusive community's nursing home/end-of-life home. And she breaks protocol with both. This was a bit too much to take in, and add in 2 connected people from the bad guy's circle who seemed to have all too easily orchestrated matters, and it made me sigh. But I ploughed on, as her new boyfr...

 3.5* An engrossing read despite the absolute deserving beotch that was Brigham. The title is misleading, though. Hmm. This is a hard one to review, as I hated Brigham and how she treated her friends at 'those parties', how she let her supposed BFF Anna down - then went on to name her daughter after her - how she manipulated people and events, lied, gaslit, schemed and colluded with Drew (shades of MuskRat there, methinks) and Liam. But, it was a strangely mesmerising read because I kept waiting for the shoe to fall, which it did in a too-quick, too-convenient manner, and for the other secret that Brigham alluded to, and I kept wondering how much further she could fall. Quite a lot, actually. But, at the same time, she didn't lie to herself - just others - and she was a Tiger Mom, so there was the tiniest bit of redemption in my book, no pun intended. The book's title and blurb are misleading and had they been less so, I wouldn't have ended up reading it. I kept wai...

 4*, but only because Gabe finally pulls her head out of the sand, 2/3 of the way gone. But how on earth has Juliet passed psych evals and not been sent for DEI training or plain 'just manners and basic human decency and courtesy' training? The woman has ISSUES, and I don't just mean Keith. Despite my not having read book 1 - I hadn't realised it's a series - I didn't get lost in this book. The start, with the 2 female detectives having been injured in a shooting, felt reasonable but the book required a LOT of suspension of disbelief. Its events are happening in 2024 UK and there's no way any employer would or could afford to risk an employee who's clearly not physically and mentally fit for work being on her premises, let alone before a psych eval. So that was the first huge suspension of disbelief. The next was Juliet's abrasiveness that screamed red waving flags at some form of neurodiversity or mental health condition. I'm not sure I can plac...

 5* intro to this author, who doesn't let slip for a second. I'm getting more and more impressed with Joffe Books and their UK-based tales, and this may just be the current best of the lot. I think it's the first of a series, featuring a recently widowed detective who's given his first case since his bereavement, and a new, younger female partner.  There's no faux awkwardness in their new relationship, no using her mixed race as a prop, and good on her for being a strong enough character to say that despite her age, she's proven herself - which she has - and she doesn't need shielding or protecting or being spoken for. That was delivered completely as a non-sensationalist, relevant and matter-of-fact statement, and once that was out in the open, good, healthy boundaries were set. The tale itself is excellent. Not gruesome but well orchestrated in a twist I didn't see coming, and with a perfect red herring in one character that was used by the author and ...

 2.5* Sadly, this is full of irrelevant details, has detectives who assume loads but detect little, and it waffles a lot. It's just not believable, especially with the bad guy/s. This is the first disappointing Joffe Books book I've read.  This isn't horrible, but goodness does it bog you down in the weeds. There are too many irrelevant characters, too much irrelevant detail and tbh, it needs a good edit. It feels like the first draft of a novel that's not seen an editor. The plot is convoluted and requires suspension of disbelief. The bad guy/s came out of nowhere and sadly, didn't seem believable. I did like that the 70yo Juliette turned out to be a femme noire, but again, it didn't really feel believable. The Rodney stuff was dragged out and tedious, though he had a basic relevance to the plot. The attempt at red herrings with the funeral director was too transparent. I'm sorry, but this book needs quite a bit of editing before it's ready to be releas...

 2* Not a hit with me. Not enough detail about the life with her husband or friend to make it believable. Sorry, but this one should go back to the drawing book. Requires too much suspension of disbelief. This isn't a very engrossing or believable tale. I think if it hadn't had Bailey the rescue dog in it, I'd have bailed on it, no pun intended. There's no detail of Harper's life with her late husband - other than a work paper diary showing black spaces on the nights he told her he was working late, discovered far too late in the tale  - and nothing with her friend that he was supposedly with when  he died.  For her to keep having date after date when the first experience was so poor, required too much suspension of disbelief. The Adrian issue that was hinted at came to nothing but injected a hint of potential danger. Everything else was a damp squib, unfortunately. ARC courtesy of Boldwood Books and NetGalley for my reading pleasure. 

 4* Really enjoyed this intro to Hume and Raine.  This tale, it seems, is the 3rd in a series but I had no trouble reading it as a standalone. There's enough that's hinted at to clue you in about the leads and their relationship  - MIL and DIL - and what's happened to make them love each other but have a prickly relationship with each other. For those of us of a certain age, who've not grown up with the tech that features heavily in this book, at time things got confusing. There were small Eureka! moments in Hume's brain as she clocked what was going on via Echo's (her DC) explanations. Thank goodness! The storyline has some gruesome scenes to it, and a pretty evil character that's not revealed until just before the end, and on top there's a reveal I hadn't seen coming, though in hindsight I should have - blame my age, the baffling jargon and a bit TMI. Wood for trees. There's a lot of detail, the tale is quite slow at times and Raine has an unor...

 4* Well orchestrated; apparently - yet not - slightly predictable; with a satisfying ending, though some suspension of disbelief is needed. Loved the author's plotting, dovetailing and imagination, and Dem stance. I was in 2 minds about this book because the author is new to me and not very well known and yet I was attracted by the blurb and the inkling that she's a Dem and not happy at the direction the USA is taking in regards reproductive freedom. I'm a Brit but follow US politics and the madness of the Republicans is unfathomable to me, so I was really interested to see where the author would take this. Hats off to her. She crafted a believable tale that had me turning page after page. Patricia was an amazing woman and I was rooting for her being able to carry out her revenge and still not end up apprehended. I loved where the author had her ending up, and Lizzie/Lysette's slightly shady background was the perfect explanation for making it happen. And I believed in...

4* Decent read, but not what it felt marketed as via the blurb. Don't expect to like or feel sorry for Alex, though - you won't really get to know her. It's a mystery but not a thriller. What we know about Alex, the story lead, is that she's widowed; was married to Adam; wrote a book that did well, then another that didn't; got some poor sod accused and imprisoned for the death of his sister, after their parents hired her investigative talents  only for new evidence of the actual bad guy to later emerge; had a book pulled because of her 'evidence' and now the washed-up (?) author is employed by a lawyer as his ghost writer for his book about Coram House, an abusive orphanage - because she's cheaper than others and possibly desperate because of her book's failure. And, she doesn't seem to eat, shower much or wash her clothes, but she does drink a fair bit. But, did I need to like her or be rooting for her to enjoy the storyline? Nope, because ther...

 3* Well written but requires suspension of disbelief to be able to read it. This is well written but there are 3 generations of lies/things concealed/held back here, that hurt the characters in this book. And there's a less than pleasant character in Julia, so I'm afraid I couldn't really get into the tale, despite some of the decent side characters. I didn't like her, was willing to believe her 'betrayal' and didn't feel bad when a scheme was exposed that made her seem less black than she'd been painted so far. The only positive is that she agreed to get long overdue counselling.  Not sure I'd read more by this author, as the book lacked something truly shocking or awful despite the teasing title. ARC courtesy of Boldwood Books for my reading pleasure. 

Beautifully written and engrossing, but tragic in what Rani did, and what came of her.  This is my first book by this author, and it was a decent one to choose, even though it inevitably veered towards lots of sadness close to the end - which was apparent early on from events in Esme's part of the tale, told concurrently as Rani's - and yet finished with happiness and hope for Esme.  It's hard to review without spoiling it but Rani was in some ways a woman of our time, and therefore ahead of her time, and her father tried to straddle two worlds but ultimately let her and his wife down because he got greedy for power and title and fell into the old 'what will people say?' Asian mentality (trust me, I've grown up with it). Put it this way, I wouldn't and couldn't have forgiven or forgotten his betrayals.  The book started off, for me, with delight and surprise, then came the 'you can take the boy out of India, but not India out of the boy' part, wh...

 4* Decent read with a female lead who's got big girl panties, but you do need to suspend disbelief where 'Sam' is concerned. This is my first Joffe Books book that's not UK-set, but thankfully they've stuck to doing away with faux drama and gloss, so the tale draws you in on the female lead. And, she's strong and determined and mostly carries it off well, and no, the blurb didn't lead me to what I got from the story, which is a good thing, as it blindsided me. Mostly.  This is a hard one to review without spoiling it, but there are reveals that are done pretty well, although there are some things and times where you wonder why Lexi didn't call Sam's bluff. From the minute Sam's size was mentioned, I clocked the outcome. I mean, there's stuff you can disguise and there's stuff you can't, like the size of a nose, hands, feet. Still, the author wasn't overt with too much and she created a good, strong lead in Lexi, so I ended up dra...

3* Felt like a book way, way along in a series, without enough background to the leads. Started excitingly but it fizzled out. This is well written and the beginning had me turning pages. But then it lost its way with the utter plant that was a certain character who came up visit out of the blue, insinuating himself into Jayne's personal and professional spaces, and yep, it got utterly predictable.  There's a hint, and I do mean hint, that Jayne and Scott have a could-be thing but nothing happens. Yes, their lives are busy and they've both witnessed trauma, but goodness, there totally was time to take things a little further than a kiss after a casual almost-relationship spanning 5 years, and yet it didn't. It's 2024 and these guys are mid-30s, so yeah, sex is kind of a given, right?  There was a tiny bit about Steelie and Jayne's past and a little about their super duper receptionist cum counsellor (sadly, have forgotten her name already, but it starts with C) ...

 4* Unexciting, but well written and worth a read. This is well written and definitely worth a read. It's kind of slow in parts, with a strong female lead in Grace, and a strong guy in a person who's a side character, who makes things right at the end of the tale. It lacks detail in some ways and the middle of the book is kind of one-sided, narrated in Siobhan's head, and tbh, it's her stupidity that leads to the rather predictable danger in the tale. The suicide was a bit of a giveaway and that there wasn't more urgency once that was discovered made the tale feel less fraught, and made danger feel not really dangerous. I suspected the killer all along and it was good to see him getting hus just desserts. The timing of the tale, back in the days when the handling of money, the lack of computerisation, the lack of tech, smartphones, CCTV, etc. made the tale work. But it lacked an edge. I never felt danger or excitement reading it, though the predictability and mundan...

 3* Good but for the unbelievable ending. This was well written and interesting, though Ruth clearly had unresolved trauma that she needed to deal with.  It started off with her in the company of the ghosts of little girls who'd been killed, and ended up in in a tables-turned meeting of a kind of self-preservation group for people left behind after their partners committed crimes. That's the bit that didn't work. Sorry this is spoilerish. ARC courtesy of Little, Brown Book Group and NetGalley for my reading pleasure. 

4* Oh how we practise to deceive... Well-intentioned lies, loss, heartache and love. Joffe Books are turning out to be a rather nice surprise, given that they're set in the UK, lack faux American gloss, are believable and feel real without huge dramatisation. This is no different to their MO, and it's worth a read, though it could do with editing to get rid of filler. The tale is told in Tara and Jodie's present and past, with the tale of another female - avoiding spoilers here - told in the past, with good hints and enough to keep me engrossed in both timelines. Did I 'see' the sisters? Not really, as unfortunately the book has a lot of filler, namely in Dimitri and Jaz/Jason who don't really seem to have much of a role to play, and we just got the sisters' thoughts. The tale could have survived without either guy, tbh. There was also filler in Tara not being married to Mark, but having a family with him, with their young twins asking why their parents aren...

 4* Decent intro to the author. Scary towards the end. I admit to peaking at the end of the tale before deciding if I could read it - it's always difficult when there's kids, danger and abduction.  Whilst the policing in this feels slightly not-by-the-rules, hearts are in the right place and it's a worthwhile tale. There's a little filler meant to be disguised as red herrings, but they're left open-ended... There's also a rather sad side death where those involved get their comeuppance, which was one of the more satisfying parts of the tale. For me the scariest part were the caravan scenes, because it sounded like no one was going to make it out alive. And the discoveries? Ugh ☹️ ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Thomas and Mercer for my reading pleasure.

 4.5* Book 1 was good, but omg, this knocks it out of the park. Despite the lack of anything even vaguely Scouse - like in book 1 - other than the rooftop restaurant (that had me going as the scene of a crime but for COMPLETELY other reasons than what we shockingly see in just a couple of pages) that may be modelled on the real life Panoramic 34, this was an excellent, if really unpalatable with the reveals, tale of love, loyalty and justified revenge. I honestly didn't see the reveals coming, and had to admire the sang froid of a certain character who it turned out wasn't who they (using this neutral pronoun so as not to spoiler) seemed. Frankly, that person could have had a career on the stage/in film, had the circumstances been different. And, ugh, the planning that'd gone into the vengeance was to be admired, as were the reasons for it, despite the 'eye for an eye' ethos/feel. I wouldn't advocate it, but omg, was it deserved by those individuals that perpetr...

 4.5* Another solid procedural, although Evan's not quite Mercy Thomson. I think when you've read a prolific series like the Mercy Thompson books, impatiently waiting for the next to come out, and the series ends, so you're reduced to relying on glimpses of her - or collab novels like the excellent Echo Road with Melinda Leigh, 07/24 - everything else pales a little in comparison. So, although this book is in the same universe, and is a solid tale, as competent as he is, Evan isn't quite Mercy. He lacks her decisiveness and gut feelings, and perhaps, too, as a female reader, I'm more excited about a strong female lead, which is my bad. But, this is still a very good tale with unexpected danger, certainly more than the blurb lets on. This series will continue to be an autobuy for me, and I have the next on preorder already. There's good suspense, as the killer has to be someone in law enforcement, but the surprisingly mundane person whose actions started what sno...

 4.5* Another decent outing for Bree and the team, but slightly rushed towards the end. Wow, I didn't see the reveals coming in this one. Yes, it might be book 9 in Bree's universe but each tale is very different, though with a lovely familiarity via the various side characters and snippets of Bree's family life. I'm not sure where it ties in with the 07/2024 collaboration with Kendra Elliott - Echo Road - but this feels pretty seamless with what's come before. You don't have to read the previous books to enjoy this one, but doing so will improve understanding of Bree's life and why she's the person she is.  This one starts with a pretty gruesome event and there's reveal after reveal that tie in with a revengeful murder, with some decent detective work from the team, including a new female character who appeared in the collaboration tale, Zucco. I predict we'll see more of her, possibly in a romance with a side character who's intriguing and ...

 5* Brilliant intro to this author, with a strong female-led cast of females.  I'm not sure I was expecting to read this book in under 2 hours, but it was unputdownable. Starting it, I expected a simple murder and police procedural in small-town England, but got introduced to several female characters who each contributed to the denouement of the tale.  I didn't expect that Kiki, a reporter, would pick up the mantle and run with it, pretty much solving the murder with all the things that were divulged to her. Yes, she's a reporter, so akin to an estate agent or salesperson, but she did have a kind heart, though she remained self-serving. What she went through personally, to benefit her career, was shocking, but sadly, had feet in today's dating world. But, she didn't let trauma bog her down; getting a wrongdoer to justice helped her get stronger and take charge, and saved the life of potentially countless other females. The lead detective, whose name I can't rec...

 4* Not at all my normal cup of tea, not what I expected, but it grabbed me and pulled me in. I got this book based on the blurb and the publisher's trusted name, and discovered a tale that drew me in immediately. I didn't have a clue about the ending, not right until the very, very end when a certain person seemed to go awol, but I believed it. Just one tiny niggle - how come Google didn't clear things up? A VPN could have hidden the person-in-question's location, keeping them from harm, and the situation could have been resolved earlier. Much, much, much earlier. How come no one asked the question?  I'm not sure I can ignore that, as there's no reasonable explanation for it in 2024, or in any of the 8 years before, over which the tale spanned. But, I'm not going to dwell on it, and will put it down to fear of drawing attention to themselves and fear of the threat from a certain character who gets their comeuppance at the end. But, the reveals? Brilliant an...

 4* What I've come to expect from this author -emotions galore.  This is a sad-sweet tale that ends well, a year or so after tragedy. However, I felt like I gelled more with Nadia and her girls rather than Grayson and Reid, because it didn't seem like we got to know the latter well. It's hinted to as to the reasons Grayson didn't declare his love, but that sounded like self preservation rather than selflessness. And he was a bit of an idiot, tbh, knowing about his condition but not raking his meds. Why? We weren't given a reason. Reid herself, possibly because her name sounded so masculine, I couldn't 'see' for most of the book. I think I began to see her, and her backbone, when Grayson dropped his reveal. And sadly, I couldn't see any passion or grand amour between them, though I got a sense of this from the absent Rafe and Nadia.  The tale ends sweetly, but it's a little imbalanced and not quite enough time feels as if it's passed between G...

 3* Be prepared for horrible sexism in the police force of the time, and a sad, occasionally emotional, tale. This is a bit of a shocker in terms of the misogyny and sexism present in the majority of the (male) cops in the 90s setting parts of the tale. I think we've come a long way since, thankfully, but be warned.  It's a tale of ordinary, flawed people, kids being kids, cops mostly making wrong assumptions, but also a female cop intent on doing her best for the missing kids. Was it exciting and did it have me on the edge of my seat? No, but it was worth a read, especially for the...occurrences...witnessed by the female cop, and the ending, of course. There's a side romance that felt awkward and stilted, but that seemed to be the real thing, because at the end of the tale, it was settled, solid and comfortable. ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Avon Books UK, for my reading pleasure.  Sent from AOL on Android

 4* An engrossing read with an unempathetic and unlikeable female lead.  Let's get this out here - I disliked Georgina/George, her headstrong ways, her selfishness, her lies, her attacks on Rich, her chip on her shoulder and her attitude, despite sort of knowing about the trauma in her past via flashbacks. But the author kept those flashbacks incomplete and made Georgina seem all of the above, so tbh, I didn't care about her. Rich was the gentler, kinder, fatherly contrasting cop, and I actually liked Georgina having to take it when he chastised her and expressed his disappointment and doubts in her, because of - well, take your pick of the above. Did she deserve it? Yes. Did the author let us 'see' George? Nope. Did that spoil the tale? No. It was a good read, but ugh, slow, dull and confusing in parts due to lies, obfuscation and the inhabitants' beliefs. And because of the godforsaken weather on the island. How come the weather wasn't a portent that what the ...

  3* Writing was decent, and I learned a few things, but I didn't feel like I liked, or got to know, the characters. I honestly don't know how to class this book other than women's fiction. It was well written, I learned about a few Irish superstitions and a bit of lore, but I never felt like I learned enough about the characters to make me care about them or know them.  Lots of lies, lots of tripping into the past, and a doctor dealing with poor mental health, though for the most, I don't think she clocked how much she'd been affected by her mother's passing aged 47, when she was around 12. Yes, she was in rural Ireland and yes, she went from having two parents to her father remarrying quickly after her parents split, and she and her full sister feeling left out of the new family, so perhaps that affected her, too. But, as a GP married to another GP, why not get some help?  This was a read-and-delete for me, probably not the best introduction to this author. AR...

3.5* Book 3 has a gut-churning opening, but has this series mostly back on track. This book should come with a warning of unstomachable horror, depravity and evil, because it's blunt, brutal and descriptive. It's what book 2 lacked, though I could've done without the details. It makes you wonder what genes could breed such evil and how that evil goes on to breed another generation. It's truly horrible, and there's animal abuse, though not graphic/fully on-page and mostly in the past. That needs a warning, too, as we Brits are animal lovers. So, there's gruesome crimes from 30-odd years ago, and from the here and now. They're committed by a perpetrator who's shown from the start, but who's utterly invisible to the police and who it only feels got caught because of a separate and spur-of-the-moment decision and GBH. There wasn't any police work/detecting that got close to suspecting him. Full stop. There's was too much going on, with the mole b...

 4* Book 2 in the series doesn't have quite the same excitement of book 1, but it's still a decent read. Still waters in small villages run deep. People aren't who they seem, keeping secrets for themselves and others, looking out for their own backs, scheming and dropping others in it when it suits, and lying when it suits. Whodathunk that oldies could get up to so much? And that one could be so deceptive and so controlled, or that another could be so evil and yet think it's his right and duty as a man and husband to lay down the law? But, did I have sympathy for the victim? Nope. She brought it on herself - the prologue hints at the horrors, but let's you know that she also enjoys what's meted out... The prologue us horrible. Turned my stomach because of what very quickly became clear was happening. How could a woman...?! Abuse or not, there was collusion on her part, and whilst a kind of justice may have been done where she was concerned, her husband escaped t...