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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The Guest by B A Paris

The Guest: A Novel by B.A. Paris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 560

Publisher -

Source - Bought

Blurb from Goodreads

Iris and Gabriel have just got home from a make-or-break holiday. But a shock awaits them. One of their dearest friends, Laure, is in their house - sleeping in their bed, wearing Iris' clothes, even rearranging the furniture. She has walked out on her husband - and their good friend - Pierre over his confession of an affair.

Iris and Gabriel want to be supportive. But as Laure's mood becomes more unpredictable, her presence begins to unravel secrets in all their pasts - until things reach breaking point ...


My Review

Oh the scandal! So Iris and Gabriel have been married for evaaaaa, they have a grown kid away doing her thing and for them they have just had a make or break holiday. Things have been rough, there is a wall between them, Gabriel doesn't want to talk, Iris doesn't know how to reach him but she knows they can't keep going like this. When they get home, the house should be alone but someone is in the house. Don't worry it isn't a dodgy burglar it is their pal Laure who has taken refuge at their home after a fall out with her husband Pierre. The couples have been pals for years and often stay at each others homes (they live in different countries) although they normally give each other a heads up. Slowly they get the details of what has happened, Laure doesn't seem in any rush to go home and when you are having your own issues your patience and hospitality run thin. As tensions rise, things get uncomfortable quickly and then dangerous.

So I think this one has a few sides to it, Iris and Gabriel and their issues in their marriage whilst dealing with an uninvited guest who is a close friend and also going through it in her own relationship. Close quarters, Gabriel off work sick and processing some grief/health issues and shutting Iris out. However the meat of it is the growing presence of Laure, her overstaying her welcome, things because tense, prickly and as with Paris books DAAAAANGER.

Affairs, secrets, lies, boundaries (lack of them, pushing them, testing them), friendships of years being tested, marriage under strain and danger, missing person. The book has a bit of everything and you feel the anguish of Iris because you want to support your pal but you weren't expecting her and you are kinda dealing with your own crap with your husband. The one time you really need your own space and time but you can't tell her to bolt. Then her presence becomes more irritating and almost like she is taking over and it is having a negative impact on you and yours but she is also going through a horrific time herself. It is a catch 22 and you totally empathise with her, 4/5 for us this time.

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The Post Office Girls by

The Post Office Girls by Poppy Cooper
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 2 days

Pages - 353

Publisher - Hodder

Source - Review copy

Blurb From Goodreads

With the Great War raging, can they keep Britain going?1915. On Beth Healey's eighteenth birthday, she hopes that she will be able to forget the ghastly war and celebrate. But that evening, her twin brother Ned announces that he has signed up to fight.No longer able to stand working in her parents' village shop while others are doing their bit, Beth applies to join the Army Post Office's new Home Depot on the Regent's Park, and is astounded to be accepted. She will be responsible for making sure that letters and parcels get through to the troops on the front line.Beth is thrilled to be a crucial part of the war effort and soon makes friends with fellow post girls Milly and Nora, and meets the handsome James. But just as she begins to feel that her life has finally begun, everything starts falling apart, with devastating consequences for Beth and perhaps even the outcome of the war itself. Can Beth and her new friends keep it all together and find happiness at last?


My Review

So this one is different from the other type of books I have read and I am the first to admit I haven't read a whole lot in or around world war one. It seems more world war two so far but there is another book in this series so I will get that. Set in 1915 and everyone is doing their bit for the war, fighting, signing up and Beth wants to do her bit. As you know women in that time period has certain expectations, how to behave, act, family values and expectations. Beth helps out her parents in the family shop, her twin is away to fight in the war and they have just had their eighteenth birthday. Beth wants to do more, she wants to go work in the post office, helping process mail for the soldiers from their families. To do this she needs to disobey her family, lie, be brave and stand on her own two feet. Actions have consequences and with war on everyone is feeling it and emotional already.

So this is sedate paced, story building as we get to know Beth's life, routine, relationships so we can appreciate the personal growth and sacrifice to go against her parent's wishes. To put herself forward, something Beth has never done and in the location where bombs and war are very evident. Facing the disappointment of her family, confusion over her own feelings, drawn to another, learning about those against the war, suffragettes, campaigning, friendship it is a lot for this small town girl.

I really liked this, very centric on the people, their feelings, loved ones, love, loss, bravery, despair and doing what you feel is right when it puts you in a hard place and judgement and negativity from those closest to you. This is my first by this author and it was a debut, I checked Fantastic fiction and the second book is set at Christmas so I may get it and read in December, I do love a them, 4/5 for me for this one.

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