From the Book Elf

 The Jaguar Path by Anna Stephens ‘No one does swordfights quite like Anna Stephens.  We salute her with a bloody gauntlet’  Daily Mail The Jaguar Path by Anna Stephens is published on 16th February 2023 by Harper Voyager. My thanks to the author and publisher for sending me a copy to review and Anne Cater of Random Book Tours for inviting me to take part on the tour. Synopsis The Empire of Songs reigns supreme.  Across all the lands of Ixachipan, its hypnotic, magical music sounds.  Those who battled against the Empire have been enslaved and dispersed, taken far from their friends and their homes.  In the Singing City, Xessa must fight for the entertainment of her captors. Lilla and thousands of warriors are trained to serve as weapons for their enemies.  And Tayan is trapped at the heart of the Empire’s power and magic, where the ruthless Enet’s ambition is ever growing.  Each of them harbours a secret hope, waiting for a chance to strike at the Empire from within.  But first th

  Watching the Wheels by Stephen Anthony Brotherton Exposed. Vulnerable. Isolated Watching the Wheels by Stephen Anthony Brotherton is published on 28th February 2023   by The Book Guild Ltd. My thanks to the author and publisher who sent me a copy to review and Random Book Tours for inviting me to take part on the tour.   Synopsis  A collection of short stories - a killer created from abuse, a teenager in search of answers from his older brother who committed suicide ten years earlier a woman trapped in a persistent vegetative state, a ghost hunter afraid of ghosts, a bullied police officer, a man in a care home wanting a great adventure, and other fractured human beings looking for answers, trying to survive. What would you do in their place My review This is a snapshot, and for the majority of the book a dark look at different lives, and how they are affected and controlled by people around them in a variety of ways. Generally they are focussed on the darker elements of life and soc

  Badgeland by Steve Rayson   Memoir of a Labour Party Young Socialist in 1980's Britain Badgeland by Steve Rayson is published early in 2023 by Bavant Press. My thanks to the author who sent me a copy and Random Book Tours for inviting me to take part on the tour.    Synopsis Steve Rayson believed working-class people had everything to gain from socialism. The only problem was they didn’t agree with him. In 1979 Margaret Thatcher was threatening to change Britain forever, and not in a good was. Determined to stop her, Steve joined the Swindon Labour Party Young Socialists, wore protest badges and joined mass demonstrations. He believed his generation was going to change the world but, bewildered by consecutive Conservative victories he has to reassess what he had been taught by his Badgeland  comrades. He would come to realise that politics isn’t all it seems at seventeen. Badgeland is an insightful, warm and frequently hilarious memoir about coming of age, politics, class and soc

The Hand that Feeds You by Mercedes Rosende "Murder and Mayhem in Montevideo" The Hand that Feeds You  by Mercedes Rosende translated by Tim Gutteridge is published on 23rd February 2023 by Bitter Lemon Press.   My thanks to the author and publisher who sent me a copy and Random Book Tours for inviting me to take part on the tour.     Synopsis The return of Ursula - Montevideo’s unlikely criminal mastermind The attempted robbery of an armoured car in the back streets of Montevideo is a miserable failure. But it turns out to be a lucky break for the intrepid Ursula Lopez who manages to snatch all the loot, more hindered than helped by her faint-hearted and reluctant companion Diego.  Only now, the wannabe robbers are hot on her heels.  As are the police.  And Ursula’s sister Luz. But the irresistible Ursula turns out to be enormously talented when it comes to criminal undertakings, and given the hilarious ineptitude of those in pursuit, she might just pull it off. The story of

  No More Lies by Rachel Abbott                                                                                                                                              "The Truth Hurts, Lies Kill" No More Lies by Rachel Abbott  will be published in February 2023 by Black Dot Publishing.   My thanks to the author and publisher who sent me a copy and Random Book Tours for inviting me to take part on the tour. Synopsis It would be unfair to blame the woman I met tonight for turning my life upside down. She didn’t. It was already upside down. I just didn’t know it.   Recently life has been good for Mallory Hansen: a great job, a lovely home, and a wonderful man, Nathan, to share it with.   But now she must ask herself: is it all built on lies?   A terrible accusation has been made against Nathan, and Mallory doesn’t know who to believe. All the signs point to his guilt. She has learned to trust Nathan, but she also remembers the fickle boy he used to be.   Together, Mallory

  Song of Silver , Flame like Night by Amelie Wen Zhao I know they say you should never judge a book by it’s cover - however, this book has a beautiful cover , illustrated by Caroline Young that would make any reader pick it up and delve inside. Following on from this when I open a book cover and the first thing I see is a map of the kingdom it is set in to peruse, I am already interested and the onus is now on the author to keep me hooked !!!!!!!        Song of Silver, Flame like Night by Amelie Wen Zhao is published on 2nd February 2023 by Harper Voyager. My thanks to the author and publisher who sent me a copy and Random Book Tours for inviting me to take part on the tour.             In a fallen kingdom, one girl carries the key to its forgotten past- and the demons that sleep at its heart.....                 Synopsis Once, Lan had a different name. Now, she goes by the one the Elantian colonisers gave her when they invaded her kingdom, killed her mother, and outlawed her people’s

The Delegate by Ali Carter   What a tangled web she weaved…   The Delegate by Ali Carter was  published on 29th November 2022 by Matador. My thanks to the author and publisher who sent me a copy and Random Book Tours for inviting me to take part on the tour.      Synopsis Charlotte… Having been sprung by Mafia family the Zandini’s on a day release the previous year, and managing to ‘despatch’ one of their enemies in New York (plus a few extras), ex killer G.P> Charlotte Peterson was now securely back inside Rampton high Security Hospital. However, her work was unfinished and a second escape quite out of the question. It was why she had the need of a delegate. A killer to complete a very important job…someone she’d control. Annie… She had found the perfect person in Annie. A woman who felt cheated. A woman who was mentally and emotionally scarred in exactly the same way Charlotte had been throughout her own life. Annie was fully ripe for manipulation in the worst way possible - and t