Before The Fall by Juliet West

Before The Fall by Juliet West
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - < 1 day

Pages - 252

Publisher -

Source - it has been on my tbrm for ages I can't remember

Blurb from Goodreads

Guilt laps at me like a rising tide, but I won't let it seep in. Wicked or not, I can't be sorry. How can I be sorry when I feel like this, as if my life has started up brand new, sharp and colourful, a swirl of terror and bliss . . .

1916. Across the channel, the Great War rages; in London's East End, with her husband away fighting, Hannah Loxwood struggles to hold everything together. But when Hannah takes a job in a cafe, she discovers a glimpse of freedom away from her needy young children, her spiteful sister and desperately ill father.

While the conflict drags on, Hannah battles with the overwhelming burden of 'duty'. She has sacrificed so much for a husband who left her behind, a husband who may never come home. Then, when she meets Daniel - thoughtful, intelligent, quietly captivating - Hannah finds herself faced with the most dangerous of temptations.

As the war grips tighter and bombs fall down upon the streets, the stakes for the couple are raised ever higher. Soon Hannah and Daniel will realize just how precarious their happiness is, as their destiny rushes towards them . . .

Beautifully wrought, utterly compelling and with a twist that will leave you breathless, Before The Fall, inspired by a true story, hurls you into a London torn apart by the First World War and paints a vivid and haunting portrait of one woman's struggle.


My Review

London, war torn, world war one, 1916, we have two povs Hannah and Daniel. Hannah is a mum to two young kids, her husband is away fighting in the war, she is sharing with her family, it is cramped, money is tight. She gets a job, doing what she can to keep everything going whilst keeping out the way of her sisters watchful creepiness and her dad isn't well. When she meets Daniel he is different from everyone else, he is well read, into poetry and in a time when everything is at risk, death is everywhere would you pass up on the chance for true love even if it would cost you everything?

This book was absolutely different from what I was expecting. Hannah is trying to get by, her o/h is away to the war, her sisters husband is a creepy leech. When Hannah gets a job in a wee cafe she meets Daniel, Daniel is everything her husband is not. Present, educated, loves poetry, and the attraction between them is a once in a lifetime type of love. However Hannah is married, her hubby is off putting his life on the line for his country and hello it is the early 1900's so we all know how women are expected to behave.

Apparently this is based on a true story and so many people absolutely loved it, I liked it but didn't love it. I found the effects of the war really focused upon, the little things, getting through day to day, relationships, friendships, hardships, the threats of danger, the judgements like men exempt from war had people judging them and thrusting white feathers upon them. Even how they got Hannah's husband and others to sign up, the method used was an eye opener.

Then the affair, the cost it brought for "true happiness", navigating their new reality and the challenges that brought with it. I also thing there was a few things I wasn't expecting that especially pulled the rug from under me so to speak. I just wasn't expecting the book to be what it was nor the turns it took. I think this would be a great book for a book group and discussion as I imagine there would be a lot of mixed opinions on the choices and actions of the characters and plenty of food for thought, 3.5/5 for me and I think I will ponder over it for a while.

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Harry the Polis: even the lies are true by Harry Morris

Harry the Polis: Even the Lies Are True by Harry Morris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - < 1 day

Pages - 224

Publisher -

Source - it has been on the shelves for ages, I don't remember

Blurb from Goodreads

This work presents funny, strange and possibly true tales from Harry the Polis. Harry Morris is out to show a side of our industrious police force that we don't often see - the lighter side. His time with the Glasgow and Strathclyde constabulary, or 'polis' for short, hasn't robbed Harry of his sense of humour, and every wily witness, cocky con, and sarcastic sergeant he ever rubbed up against is here in page after page of humorous stories. Full of hilarious anecdotes, oddball characters, quick comebacks and unlikely excuses, "Even the Lies are True" shows true Glaswegian humour at its finest. Every funny tale - tall and true - of Harry's twenty-nine years police career is either here, or yet to come in future Harry the Polis books like "Even More Lies" and "Nothing Like the Truth" - and there's no shortage of laughs in these hilarious stories from the rank and file. Already described by Alex Dickson of Radio Clyde as 'classics of our time' and by Bob Shields of the Daily Record as 'a must read for anyone who likes to walk about with a grin on their face', "Even the Lies are True" is sure to arrest you with its irrepressible mirth.


My Review

This is a thin wee book and I will say this guys, it is very Weegie lingo so if you don't know Scottish banter/humour/terminology I think you will absolutely struggle to understand a lot of it and get the banter.

The book is split into sometimes even just a paragraph, sometimes a page or two. Basically it is stories from the polis guy from his time serving. Nicknames and how they came about, interactions, situations, excuses and all infused banter from their time on the job.

It won't be for everyone but if you don't mind some unpc humour, swearing, cheek, nonsense and Scottish bantz then I think you will enjoy it for what it is, 4/5 from us.

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Buried by Graham Masterton

Buried by Graham Masterton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 4 days

Pages - 431

Publisher -

Source - Bought

Blurb from Goodreads

Beside the old woollen mill in Blarney, Cork, a worker's cottage guards its secrets. In 1921, a mother, father and their two young children disappeared from this house. And now, ninety years later, their mummified bodies have been discovered under the floorboards.

The gunshot wounds in each skull look like the mark of the IRA. But as Katie Maguire investigates, the flames of old rivalries flare up once more - putting yet more families in danger. Because in this part of Ireland, where people neither forget nor forgive, the past won't stay buried…


My Review

An old cottage is being renovated when they find the bodies of a family, mum, dad, 2 kids and even the family pets, executed. The bodies are mummified and this didn't just happen (approx 90 years ago) but murder is murder and Katie Maguire is investigating. It is Ireland, times are dangerous, rivalries and revenge run deep and slights must be addressed.

We have bad guy Bobbie Quilty who is head of all things local, bad and dasterdly. They care not a jot for police and it is a time when racism, sectarianism, misogynism is an all time high so it makes for some harrowing and uncomfortable reading. Corruption runs deep, Katie is up against it all trying to stay professional but when people you care about is threatened and in jeopardy sometimes you do what you need to do.

There is a lot of hard hitting graphic scenes, sa, dv, sv, murder, child death, execution, horrific lack of respect for humanity. All that whilst trying to solve a decades old case, catch current day bad guys who are slippery than a bag of snakes and sometime, just sometimes you need to get down amongst the bad guys to catch them at their own game. 3/5 for me this time, this is book 6, normally I would go back and read them all, I felt so uncomfortable by a lot of it and whilst some books do indeed make you feel like that when there are such horrible people, there wasn't enough I liked or felt compelled to read more of it.

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September giveaway

Happy September! I think this month will be spooky themed so the winner can have the prize for October. So what is up for grabs?

As shown, x1 book protector, creepy vibes!

Hand shown to show size, it fits paperbacks and it might take a hardback depending on book size. v

And then the winner can choose ONE bookmark of the three shown.

Option 1 is Michael Myers

Option 2 is Jason Vorhees

Or option 3, Chucky

They are quite lightweight so I will open this up worldwide. We will leave the competition oprn got about 4 weeks. As with all our competitions we look for the prize to be claimed within 48 hours but always allow for a week or two to claim as not everyone is online every day. We ask for up to 4-6 weeks to allow for the items to be posted. It is rare we take that long, it is usually a week or two. Use the Gleam below to enter, good luck guys xxx

Spooky themed comp as pictured

Inside Job: The Life of a Prison Psychologist by Dr Rebecca Myers

Inside Job: Treating Murderers and Sex Offenders. The Life of a Prison Psychologist. by Dr Rebecca Myers
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages -

Publisher -

Source - Bought

Blurb from Goodreads

And here I am. Totally alone in a cell with a convicted sex offender who is free to do what he wants. There is no officer. No handcuffs. No radio. Only the man across the desk and me. He looks more petrified than I do.

HMP Graymoor. One of the UK’s most notorious prisons. Home to nearly 800 murderers, rapists and child molesters.

Reporting for her first shift inside is Rebecca: twenty-two, newly graduated – and about to sit down with some of the country’s most dangerous criminals.

In this gripping, hard-hitting memoir, forensic psychologist Dr Rebecca Myers revisits her time in the ‘Hot Seat’ with Graymoor’s infamous inmates – who might not be as different to us as we think.

This is as close as we can get to knowing what really goes on inside the damaged minds behinds bars.


My Review

Guys this is absolutely not for those who struggle with triggers and the author is documenting her life experiences working within one of the most infamous prisons. Inmates are chosen to partake in a program to treat, face and the goal is helping them to not reoffend. They have committed horrendous crimes, SA, SV and murder, the treatment program is very graphic and leads them through exactly what they did to their victims. Facing their crimes, going through it from the victims point of view. I have never read anything like that before and you are hearing from the offenders. Some are remorseful and some are vile and have no remorse be go into it with open eyes and be prepared.

Dr Rebecca is pretty much going in blind, this is her first shift and we follow her through her time in the prison, relationships *side eye* and gaining her confidence. It isn't just her time in the facility and interactions with staff and prisoners. We see some of her personal life and some questionable decisions whilst she is trying to establish herself and make an important change to these individuals. If successful stopping further acts of harm towards others and getting the inmates to acknowledge, process and rehab so they won't commit offences in the future.

It would be interesting to see how much research and stats there are (it is touched on briefly) over the years and how many offenders of this nature are followed up. It seems in this day and age there is even more and more crimes of sexual violence, deviancy and murders or maybe we just hear more because of how much coverage there is now we don't just rely on papers and news outlets. It is a had read due to the content but really eye opening and I am sure would spark much debates, 3/5.

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The Maternal Element by Kate Nicholls Blog Tour

Today is my stop on the blog tour for book "The Maternal Element" by Kate Nicholls, this is a Random Things Tour. The Book is available to buy now on kindle or paperback versions from Amazon.


Book Blurb read outloud HERE on our Booktok, we always include the book blurb text in our review post, below. The book is available to buy in Kindle and paperback format, from Amazon.

About the author




Kate Nicholls is an author and former actor who traded the stage to study evoluti onary biology. She raised and homeschooled fi ve children while researching lions in the Okavango Delta. She now lives and writes in Rome

The Maternal Element by Kate Nicholls
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - in and out as able, 5 days

Pages - 400

Publisher - SALT

Source - Review copy

Blurb from Goodreads

Siberia 1833.

Forty-one-year-old Maria Mendeleeva is enduring her seventeenth pregnancy. Her husband Ivan has lost his sight, and her brother Vasily has left their grandfather’s glass factory in ruins. The factory Maria hungered for as a child. On the brink of poverty and her family’s only remaining hope, Maria must find a way to make the factory viable. She must find the power to bring her grandfather's dreams back to life. She must make the glass sing.

The Maternal Element is a sweeping, gripping epic with an extraordinary woman at its heart. Maria Mendeleeva – mother of Dmitri Mendeleev, who devised the Periodic Table of the Elements – is a heroine like no other. A woman who refuses to be quashed by circumstance, Maria fights against the strictures of her time to gain an education for herself and for her children as she traverses the Urals of Russia seeking opportunity and safety for her family. A vivid and visceral portrait of a woman history has long since forgotten, The Maternal Element is a manifesto for truth, female empowerment and defying societal expectations.


My Review

So I don't know much at all of Dmitri Mendeleeve but know absolutely zero about his family, up bring and indeed his mother. I do enjoy reading people's history especially going back to the 1800's because it is such a different time. This one takes us back to when Maria is just a bairn, what life is like for her desperately wanting everything offered so freely to her brother. Girls are meant to prepare for being married and keeping a home. Maria is like a wee sponge, so inquisitive, wanting to know and learn everything, science in particular, how things work, following her dad about. Her brother is a bit bitter, he hates being forced to go to school and learn. We follow Maria across country, Russia, fighting for her families survival, education, having a voice and actually being listened to in a time where women just weren't, especially back then!

Across a lifetime, navigate grief, love, loss, hardship, survival against so many odds ooft. This is a fictionalised retelling of a true story through letters, vivid imagery and some really emotive, challenging and heart tugging interactions and scenes. The family dynamics, how they love, dislike, push against each other and change and react to the curveballs life throws at them. How love, determination and the force and dedication of one woman who will stop at nothing and for no one to ensure the absolute best for her loved ones. She seemed like an absolute force of nature! In books sometimes when you have timelines that jump about and go back and forth it can be distracting and off putting, add into that letters, however it flows and works effortlessly, 4/5. I really liked this and think I need to look more into this family and their history, this book has definitely peeked my interest and I may well actually learn something!

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Any way you want me by Lucy Diamond

Any Way You Want Me by Lucy Diamond
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 2 days

Pages - 384

Publisher - Pan

Source - Secondhand

Blurb from Amazon

On paper, Sadie's got it all - the partner, the children, the house. But in real life, that doesn't feel quite enough. Sadie can't help harking back to the time when she was a career woman by day and a party animal by night. And what happened to feeling like a sex kitten, anyway? The only sleepless nights she's getting now are due to the baby. Maybe a little reinvention is the answer . . .

Sadie can't resist creating a fictitious online identity for herself as a hot TV producer. It's only a bit of harmless fun . . . until truth and fantasy become dangerously tangled. It isn't long before she's wondering if the exciting alter ego she has dreamed up really is the kind of person she wants to be after all . . .

Wry, funny and with a wonderful twist in the tale, Lucy Diamond's debut novel Any Way You Want Me is an enchanting story of infidelity, motherhood and friends reunited.


My Review

So this was pegged and wry, funny wonderful twist in the tale *insert eyes emoji* - I actually found it to be quite heavy to be honest. Not all of it but certainly some spice and shade. Sadie is our main character, she has two young kids, the youngest she is still getting her body back from the youngest and her days is filled with domesticity. She is bored, missing work and being the sexy mchottie she was pre birth. She applies to jobs that are from her old work life, she lies on the old school updates website after checking out her ex AND then she really plays with fire. Her other half gets her to go to a business meet where her bosses husband catches her eye. Before long they have a chance encounter, sparks fly and Sadie cannot help herself. An affair, lies galore and soon trouble comes a knocking at Sadie's door!

Yeah Sadie, I found it hard to feel anything other than mad at her. Mark is her moth to a flame, I mean your partners bosses wife my God girl talk about playing with fire. Sadie's partner seems to be a decent guy. Sadie is restless and I get it, she has leaky boobs, running about after the weans, she wants to feel desired. It does well to show you just how easy things can run a mock, little lies, little flirting and you can lose yourself down a hole quickly. Graphic, grubby passionate affair, some real life consequences - I felt like I needed a shower after reading this one. It does have some topics and situations that may make some readers uncomfortable, affairs, betrayal and others I can't name without spoilers and we don't do that here. I would read others by this author but I defo didn't love this one, 3/5 for me!

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