From the Book Elf

  The Air Raid Book Club  by Annie Lyons The Air Raid Book Club by Annie Lyons  was published on 11th July 2023 by Headline Review.  My thanks to the author and the publisher for sending me a copy to review  and to Random Book Tours for inviting me to take part on the tour. Synopsis An emotional and uplifting novel set in WW2 London about the remarkable power of books to bring hope and light in dark times, inspired by true events, from the USA Today bestselling author. As the bombs began to fall, the book club kept their hopes alive... The most emotional, uplifting and captivating story of wartime London and the extraordinary power of books to shine a light and draw people together in the darkest of days, inspired by true events. London, 1938. Bookseller Gertie Bingham is facing difficult times, having just lost her beloved husband, Harry, and with a lingering sadness at never having been able to have a child of her own. Struggling to face running the book...

  Sarah Needs Saving by D C R Bond Sarah Needs Saving by D C R Bond was published on 5th July 2023 by Prosperina Press. My thanks to the author and publisher for sending me a copy to review and to Literally P R for inviting me to take part on the Book Tour. What do you do when your neatly ordered life starts to topple? Sarah never expected to be blackmailed, especially not by someone so close. Sarah hadn't  expected to  be receiving criminal hush money either.  As a respectable Exeter University Professor's wife, neither  were really the done thing. But super organised Sarah has it all under control.  Or so she thinks. Initially strong armed into silence, Sarah i s gradually dragged deeper into the underworld, as she  strives to protect her reputation and the lives of her friends and family.  Set in rural north Devon, Sarah  Needs Saving is an original and captivating spin on women's fiction with a thrilling edge, fre netic  pacing,...

  Academy Arcanist by Shami Stovall  Academy Arcanist by Shami Stovall was published on 23rd August 2022 . My thanks to the author for sending me a copy to review and to Write Reads for inviting me to take part on the Blog Tour. Synopsis Gray Lexly, son of a candlemaker, wants to escape his life of old-world technologies and study at the prestigious Astra Academy, a school for arcanists—those who can wield magic. But Gray has a major problem. Every night, as he sleeps, he’s visited by monsters. When they injure Gray in his dreams, he wakes with the same wounds in real life… On the night Gray might finally die in his nightmares, he is saved by the kind and mysterious Professor Helmith, a powerful arcanist. She offers to protect Gray and invites him to attend Astra Academy. Before that can happen, Gray must bond with a mystical creature to become an arcanist himself. Will he bond with a unicorn? A pegasus? A kitsune? Whatever he bonds with will determine his magical abilities, s...

 Lessons by Ian McEwan Lessons by Ian McEwan was published on 22nd June 2023 by Vintage.  My thanks to the author and the publisher for sending me a copy to review and to Random Book Tours for inviting me to take part on the tour. Synopsis While the world is still counting the cost of the Second World War and the Iron Curtain has descended, young Roland Baines's life is turned upside down. Stranded at boarding school, his vulnerability attracts his piano teacher, Miriam Cornell, leaving scars as well as a memory of love that will never fade. Twenty-five years later Roland's wife mysteriously vanishes, and he is left alone with their baby son. Her disappearance sparks a journey of discovery that will continue for decades, as Roland confronts the reality of his rootless existence and attempts to embrace the uncertainty - and freedom - of his future. My review This is a very well written book covering the life of a man from boyhood to the twilight years, largely based ar...

  Salt & Skin by Eliza Henry Jones Salt & Skin by Eliza Henry Jones was published on 6th July by September Publishing. My thanks to the author and publisher for sending me a copy to review and to Random Book Tours for inviting me to take part on the tour. Synopsis Grief-stricken and on the verge of a breakdown, photographer Luda Managan leaves Australia for a commission, bringing her two teenage children to a remote, weather-ravaged but beautiful Scottish island.    Luda, isolated from her two resentful teenagers, turns her attention to the records from the 17th century island witch hunts and the fragmented life stories of the executed women. Min, her daughter, restless and strong, tries to fill up the space in their family left by her father. She soon finds comfort in both the sea and an unlikely friendship. But the only thing that beautiful and gifted Darcy cares about is getting marks high enough for entry into university – one very, very far away from his moth...

 Japan Lights by Iain Maloney Japan Lights by Iain Maloney is published in 2023 by Tippermuir Books. My thanks to the author and publisher for sending me a copy to review and to Love Book Tours for inviting me to take part on the tour. Synopsis In 2017, holed up in a hotel room, feverish, despondent and aimless, Iain Maloney chances upon an article about Richard Henry Brunton, a Victorian civil engineer unknown in his Scottish homeland but considered ‘The Father of Japanese Lighthouses’ in Japan. With more than twenty of his lighthouses still in use today, Maloney sets out with newfound purpose to visit them all. Part travel memoir, part history, The Japan Lights visits isolated regions of rural Japan, discovering compelling stories from its past. Maloney witnesses the lingering trauma of the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster, and comes to a new understanding of the precariousness of life on a planet that is 71 per cent water. On the way he explores the paradox...

  Miracle Number Four  by Paul Marriner Miracle Number Four by Paul Marriner was published on 13th July 2023 by Bluescale Publishing. My thanks to the author and the publisher for sending me a copy to review and to review and to Love Book Tours for inviting me to take part on the tour. Synopsis A song of the suburbs: a story of family, friends, first love, tragedy, hope and rock and roll It's 1976 and with dreams of a career in rock, a crush on the prettiest girl in town, and a mother in remission from cancer, Mike’s future looks bright. Music brings excitement and a chance to shine, but life off-stage is complicated. Together with family, friends and band-mates, Mike finds joy, sadness and loss. Troubling secrets surface while a new friend brings both fresh perspectives and a cruel reality. The radios and pubs blast rock into the suburban nights and the band prepare for their big break. Is Mike ready? A warm, thoughtful, questioning novel; a reminder of simpler days,...

  Poetry As it Was Once  by Peter Cressall  Poetry As It Once Was by Peter Cressall was published in 2023 by Brown Dog Books. My thanks to the author and the publisher for sending me a copy to review and to Becky at Literally P R for inviting me to take part on the tour. Synopsis These poems will both cheer and sadden but,  above all,  intrigue the reader,  encouraging them to dig deeper into the joys of the celebrated poets,  rather than the modern scanless and rhymeless waffle,  which is to poetry as rap is to music My Review I absolutely loved this small book of poems, each and every one of them. It has been an absolute joy to read, as my mum would have said "Proper poetry where lines rhyme and thinking is provoked long after the words are read" Since I received the book it has taken up a permanent place on my bedside table so that I can just dip in and read one each night and think about the content and the thoughts and feelings it provokes. I...

 Lowbridge  by Lucy Campbell Where everybody knows everyone,  how can somebody just disappear? Lowbridge by Lucy Campbell was published on 6th July 2023 by Ultima Press. My thanks to the author and the publisher for sending me a copy to review and to Random Book Tours for inviting me to take part on the tour. Synopsis 1987: It’s late summer and a time of change when a 17-year-old girl leaves the local shopping centre in the sleepy town of Lowbridge and is never seen again. Her unsolved disappearance is never far from the town’s memory. There’s those who grew up in the shadow of her loss whose own lives were altered forever, and those who know more than they’re saying.  2018: Katherine Ashworth, shattered by the death of her daughter, moves to her husband’s hometown. Searching for a way to pick up the pieces of her life, she joins the local historical society and becomes obsessed with the three-decades-old mystery.  As Katherine digs into that summer of 1...