Blog Tour: The Search Party by Simon Lelic

Blurb

"16-year-old Sadie Saunders is missing.

Five friends set out into the woods to find her.

But they're not just friends...

THEY'RE SUSPECTS.

You see, this was never a search party.

It's a witch hunt.

And not everyone will make it home alive."

Published August 20th 2020 by Penguin

With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.


My Review

With a gripping premise like this I defy anyone not to pick up The Search Party by Simon Lelic.

The story is split between the point of view of the investigating Detective Fleet, who has a mysterious past, and the teenagers as they give their accounts at the police station of what happened in the woods.

Personally, I preferred the sections from Fleet's point of view as I found them more gripping. The teenagers accounts felt a bit like a continuous stream of thought describing everything that happened, but the author did capture a sense of youth in his writing as they described the events. I'd have liked it to be written as a conversation between the detective and each of the friends.

It took a while for me to really become engrossed in this story but once I was about halfway through I couldn't put the book down as I wanted to know what happened. An interesting story with a great twist. I give this 3 out of 5.


The Author

Simon Lelic was born in 1976 and has worked as a journalist in the UK and currently runs his own business in Brighton, England, where he lives with his wife and two sons.

The End of Men by Christina Sweeney-Baird

Blurb

"Glasgow, 2025. Dr Amanda Maclean is called to treat a patient with flu-like symptoms. Within three hours he is dead. This is how it begins.

The unknown virus sweeps through the hospital with deadly speed.

The victims are all men.

Dr Maclean raises the alarm. But by the time the authorities listen to her, the virus has spread to every corner of the world. Threatening families. Governments. Countries.

Can they find a cure before it’s too late?

Can they stop #TheEndOfMen?"


Due to be published by HarperCollins UK 29 April 2021

With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

My Review

It's hard to believe that when the author wrote this book, none of has had ever heard of Covid 19. The premise of this book is terrifying, a virus which wipes out 90% of men but can be carried asymptomatically by women as well.

Told through different newspaper articles and the perspectives of women affected by the plague in many different ways, the writing is insightful, sensitive and packs an emotional punch. Some of the events the author describes have been eerily accurate from the pandemic experience we have been going through recently, but with the extreme severity of the plague in this book it is really heart-wrenching as fathers, husbands, brothers and sons are lost to the disease indiscriminately. The exploration of how the world would change in such a devastating situation was fascinating.

This is a powerful, heartbreaking, gripping read and I give it 5 out of 5.

The Author

Olive by Emma Gannon

Blurb

"OLIVE is many things.

Independent.
Adrift.
Anxious.
Loyal.
Kind.
Knows her own mind.

It’s ok that she’s still figuring it all out, navigating her world without a compass. But life comes with expectations, there are choices to be made, boxes to tick and – sometimes – stereotypes to fulfil. And when her best friends’ lives start to branch away towards marriage and motherhood, leaving the path they’ve always followed together, Olive starts to question her choices – because life according to Olive looks a little bit different.

Moving, memorable and a mirror for every woman at a crossroads, OLIVE has a little bit of all of us. Told with great warmth and nostalgia, this is a modern tale about the obstacle course of adulthood, milestone decisions and the ‘taboo’ about choosing not to have children."

Published 23 July 2020
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My Review

Olive is a refreshing, original story examining the expectations placed on women to have children.

Olive, a woman in her early thirties, is trying to decide what she wants from life despite the pressures placed on her by her partner, family, friends and society. It's shocking how often relative strangers and acquaintances feel they can ask a woman when she's having children. This is such a personal question. She may desperately want to have children but is struggling to conceive or she may not want children at all and then is sometimes faced with judgement for this decision.

This book exposes many dimensions to this issue through Olive and her friends who are all in different places in their lives, which unfortunately causes some conflict between them. I really liked the ultimate strength of their friendship and how they stood by each other through life's twists and turns.

This is a powerful, timely, feminist novel. I give this 4 out of 5.

The Author

This is the debut novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author, Emma Gannon.

https://www.goodreads.com/emmagannon

Here is the Beehive by Sarah Crossan

Blurb

"It happened,
             again and again
             and
again and again and again.

Together
             apart.
In love
             in aching.

Tangled
unravelling.

Ana and Connor have been having an affair for three years. In hotel rooms and coffee shops, swiftly deleted texts and briefly snatched weekends, they have built a world with none but the two of them in it.

But then the unimaginable happens, and Ana finds herself alone, trapped inside her secret.

How can we lose someone the world never knew was ours? How do we grieve for something no one else can ever find out? In her desperate bid for answers, Ana seeks out the shadowy figure who has always stood just beyond her reach – Connor's wife Rebecca.

Peeling away the layers of two overlapping marriages, Here is the Beehive is a devastating excavation of risk, obsession and loss."

Published 20th August 2020
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

My Review

Sarah Crossan's freeverse writing style is very engrossing, it's so clever how she can tell a story so succinctly and still create a world of emotions. I've read a few of her children's and young adult books and loved them. This is her first adult novel and the tale of adultery and loss was certainly different to her other books.

Ana has been having an affair with Connor for three years when he dies unexpectedly and she is left grieving but can't let explain to anyone why she is behaving so erratically. I felt sorry for Ana that she has lost someone she loves and also that she had found love in a complex situation that she couldn't find a way to resolve. It gradually emerges that not only she is she sleeping with someone else's husband, she has a husband and children herself. Life and love are complex but I struggled with this storyline at times.

This is beautifully written and emotional at times but Ana and Connor's selfishness frustrated me. I gave this 3 out of 5.

The Author

Sarah Crossan is Irish. She graduated with a degree in Philosophy and Literature before training as an English and Drama teacher at Cambridge University and worked to promote creative writing in schools before leaving teaching to write full time.

She completed her Masters in Creative Writing at the University of Warwick in 2003 and in 2010 received an Edward Albee Fellowship for writing.

She currently lives in NYC.

House of Earth and Blood: Crescent City by Sarah J. Maas

Blurb

"Bound by blood.
Tempted by desire.
Unleashed by destiny.


Bryce Quinlan had the perfect life—working hard all day and partying all night—until a demon murdered her closest friends, leaving her bereft, wounded, and alone. When the accused is behind bars but the crimes start up again, Bryce finds herself at the heart of the investigation. She’ll do whatever it takes to avenge their deaths.

Hunt Athalar is a notorious Fallen angel, now enslaved to the Archangels he once attempted to overthrow. His brutal skills and incredible strength have been set to one purpose—to assassinate his boss’s enemies, no questions asked. But with a demon wreaking havoc in the city, he’s offered an irresistible deal: help Bryce find the murderer, and his freedom will be within reach.

As Bryce and Hunt dig deep into Crescent City’s underbelly, they discover a dark power that threatens everything and everyone they hold dear, and they find, in each other, a blazing passion—one that could set them both free, if they’d only let it.

With unforgettable characters, sizzling romance, and page-turning suspense, this richly inventive new fantasy series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas delves into the heartache of loss, the price of freedom—and the power of love."

Review

I can't rave enough about this book! Sarah J. Maas has an incredible talent for writing in such a way that I'm instantly immersed in the story and attached to the characters. Even as you plunge into the story and are a bit overwhelmed by the depth of the world she has created, I found myself caught in the current and unable to put the book down.

I love how strong and independent Bryce is and how she fights for what she wants and when she meets Hunt, sparks fly. I won't talk too much about the actual story as I don't want to give any surprises away, but I was completely gripped and went through a kaleidoscope of emotions throughout. There aren't many books which can make you laugh and cry within a few chapters, let alone pages!

This is an incredible new fantasy world and I can't wait to read the next instalment! I give this 5 out of 5.

The Author

Sarah J. Maas is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Throne of Glass series, as well as the A Court of Thorns and Roses series.

Sarah lives in Bucks County, PA, and over the years, she has developed an unhealthy appreciation for Disney movies and bad pop music. She adores fairy tales and ballet, drinks too much tea, and watches an ungodly amount of TV. When she's not busy writing, she can be found exploring the historic and beautiful Pennsylvania countryside with her husband, son and canine companion.

http://sarahjmaas.com/