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Not My Valentine by Tony Bassett

May20

Gripping

Not My Valentine by Tony Bassett is a fabulous contemporary crime suspense that I just could not put down. It is the seventh book in the Detectives Roy & Roscoe series but can be read as a stand-alone.

I enjoyed meeting up with familiar faces. Easy banter flowed between the regular police officers. We see the tenacity of the law to solve the case as we drop in on the detectives.

Present day murder is investigated alongside a cold case. The law enforcement officers are relentless in their pursuit of justice and the reader applauds their commitment.

The action is set in the Midlands with a murder in Worcester, and chasing criminals around Birmingham and the Black Country. As a Black Country wench living in Worcestershire, the locations were incredibly familiar to me. This helped me to really bed down into the book.

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This Ruined Place by Michael Lawrence

May19

A Timeless Appeal

This Ruined Place by Michael Lawrence is a hauntingly beautiful novel that consumed me from the start.

It is a book where the past and present collide. Memories make the veil between very thin.

We witness that not everyone remembers the past in the same way. For some, the past was a rosy place, a place they long to return to. Rose tinted glasses paint a very favourable picture. For others, the past is a more hostile, unforgiving place. It was not always a good place to be. How the characters view the past gives us an insight into their individual natures.

A relationship between a sixteen-year-old granddaughter, her grandparents and a boyhood friend of the couple is complex. Her interactions between the three characters are very different. She actually relates more closely to the childhood friend than her grandparents.

We see that characters live in the old ruins. Memories produce some supernatural characteristics. Those who are more sensitive glimpse the past in the present.

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The Matchmaker’s Mare by Hywela Lyn

May12

Of Myths & Legends

The Matchmaker’s Mare by Hywela Lyn is a contemporary fantasy that I read in just one sitting.

It is set in West Wales, a wild and rugged landscape, a place of myths and legends. A matchmaker and her husband forever roam the landscape, still making matches in death as in life.

We see the weather mirroring the turmoil when a character has a dilemma and a disappointment.

There is the importance of family. Family is about love and care, not about money and possessions.

The characters were well drawn. Most were warm and welcoming; one was cold and calculating.

Animals make a house into a home. Horses were central to the novel.

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The Girls Who Dared To Love by Diney Costeloe

May12

Engaging

The Girls Who Dared To Love by Diney Costeloe is a powerful historical novel that I loved. It is the second book in the Girls Who Dared series but can be read as a stand-alone. I, however, recommend reading book one first as this book continues where the first book finished.

Now the first World War is beginning. There is a focus on the women folk as some of the men have gone to war.

We see that the leading ladies are very much modern misses as they take control of their lives. They know what they want and who they want, and are not afraid to pursue their desires. They grab life with both hands.

Love arrows fall where they will. Parents do not always agree with their off-spring’s choice of marriage partner. They can either accept it or reject their children. The heart wants what the heart wants.

As the years are passing, old traditions are breaking down. The hierarchy of the classes is breaking down. Women too, are stepping out of traditional roles in order to make their own paths in life.

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