Malasz

Halley has been running from her problems for years. On a courier trip to Tallfors, deep in Swedish Lapland, everything is going to plan. Halley has her bag, with two precious wedding rings inside for delivery... until she doesn't. The only way to save the wedding is to team up with mysterious reindeer herder Bjorn, the one person who can lead her across the snowy tundra to be reunited with her bag. On a journey of a lifetime beneath the stars, with only the reindeer and a bad-tempered stranger for company beside the fire, Halley realises that she will need to confront her past heartaches in order to let the warmth of love in once more... Jo Thomas won me over with her debut novel The Oyster Catcher four years ago and I have loved each of her novels that she has released since then. The author has such a unique descriptive writing style that manages to create such vivid settings that transport me to places I could only ever dream of visiting. What I was looking forward to most when...

Today I am so happy to be taking part in the cover reveal for  The Helpline by Katherine Collette. Germaine Johnson may not be all that good with people but she’s great with numbers. Unfortunately, as she discovers after 'the incident' at Wallace Insurance (and the subsequent disputed allegations), there are very few openings these days for senior mathematicians. Then her cousin gets her a job at the council. On the Senior Citizens Helpline. It’s not the resumé entry Germaine wanted - but it turns out Mayor Verity Bainbridge has something more interesting in mind for her. A secret project involving the troublemakers at the community centre and their feud with the golf club next door. Which is run by the strangely attractive Don Thomas . Don and the mayor want the seniors closed down. Germaine wants what Don and the mayor want. But when she’s forced to get to know the ‘troublemakers’- things get more complicated. So without further to do here is the big reveal...……. Let me ...

Fiction Sleazy manners, golden heart THE BOOK ARTIST A Hugo Marston Novel By Mark Pryor 272 pp. Seventh Street Books Reviewed by Eric Petersen Mark Pryor returns with the eighth entry in his popular Hugo Marston mystery series. (Previous books in the series are also reviewed on this site.) The middle-aged Hugo Marston, head of security at the US embassy in Paris, is not your typical diplomat. Though he's a big, tough, pistol-packing Texan, (the author is an Englishman who lives in Texas) he possesses a formidable intellect, impeccable manners, and a passion for collecting rare books. He speaks fluent French and adores Paris and the French people. Before Hugo took the job at the embassy, he was a criminal profiler for the FBI. Not exactly a social butterfly, he does have a few good friends in Paris. His best friend, Tom Green, is a fat, foulmouthed, ill-mannered, and sleazy semiretired CIA agent with a heart of gold who refers to himself as a “freelance spook....