Book Review - The Closing by Stella K

Title - The Closing

Author - Stella K

Format - E book

Publisher - Armida Publications

Bella Nars is a corporate lawyer. Her birthday is coming up and sadly for her, she is not going to be celebrating it at home with her friends drinking cocktails, she is being sent to Moscow on business to deal with a contract. She is not happy and pictures herself stuck in a boring Moscow hotel alone for her Birthday. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Without giving anything away, a stranger comes into her life whilst she is there, completely catching her off guard. Things then get quite intense in more ways than one and Bella wonders if she will ever see home again.

My review.
The book starts off with a snippet of what is to come later in the book, which is very intriguing. Then the book goes into Chapter 1, which starts with Bella being told she has to go to Moscow. This part was a bit slow for me, after the thrilling snippet at the start, but I gradually got into it a bit more.
I found Bella, the main character a strong and personable young woman, and instantly liked her. I found that once Bella arrived in Russia, the story itself seemed to flow better. I expected it to be all about corporate law, a quite emotive subject, but that couldn't have been further from the truth. The book was well paced and kept me hooked. I felt myself very distrusting of the other main character, Dima, but eventually warmed to him.
I like the added intrigue which brought in some other characters to the fold too. Bella remained a strong character throughout the book which was good, as some authors take a strong female character and then turn them into weak and feeble characters.
I loved the authors talk of Mauritius, having been to the places she mentioned and having stayed at the hotel she talked about I was able to picture it in my mind too.
In all, this was a well written book, with personable characters and a good storyline. I awarded it 4* as I really liked it, only dropping a * as I found chapter one a bit slow.

The book was given to me by the author to review. I have not been paid for my review and the words and thoughts are entirely my own.

UK Pre-loved giveaway - The Thinking Tank by Jae De Wylde

PRE LOVED GIVEAWAY

UK ONLY

Well as promised I am offering this lovely book as a pre-loved giveaway. I have only read it once and it is in excellent condition.

I am sorry but at this time it can only be a UK giveaway due to the increase in postage costs. I will offer international giveaways of a different nature at another time.

Please see under the tab for the giveaway conditions. I would prefer that you are a follower of my blog and on facebook, but it's not compulsory.

This giveaway ends Friday 2nd August.

Please leave me a comment and let me know how you found out about the giveaway.

The winner reader will be picked at random by random.org.

THANKS FOR READING.

Book Review - The Missing by Karl Vadaszffy

Title - The Missing

Author - Karl Vadaszffy

Publisher - Peach Publishing

Format - Kindle edition

Length - 201 pages



Synopsis
 The story is about John and his girlfriend Jennie. He is taking her to London to the theatre as he plans to propose to her. He has not been with her long but he knows she's the one. They travel down to London by car and he pulls into the service station to use the bathroom. Jennie decides to stay in the car.

 When he gets back to the car she has gone. Thinking she may have changed her mind and gone to the bathroom he waits and waits..... Then he goes into the service station but she is nowhere to be found. She has disappeared into thin air. He rings the police who attend but don't believe him for different reasons. They tell him he is wasting police time.

He goes home and sets about looking for Jennie himself, but it's as if she never existed, hence why the police think he's making her up. Who is she? Does she exist or is she a killers next murder victim?

 This is an intriguing novel and you felt frustrated along with John, in that he couldn't trace her and no-one would believe him. Every dead end, frustrated you more, and you really empathised with his character. It did add to the suspense and intrigue and make you want to keep reading. At no stage did the book give away where it would all end, and it was literally right at the end of the book where it all started coming together. I really enjoyed the book as it kept you guessing, and I like the way it made you empathise with John all the way through.

I had never heard of this author but someone recommended the book on a facebook kindle page, so I thought I would give it a go. I like to try different authors. I was not disappointed.

A good read and a bargain price, especially on the kindle.

As I'm a bit behind with my blogging I have several book reviews coming soon. I will also be doing a pre-loved giveaway.

My book reviews will include:-
The Missing - by Karl Vadaszffy
Fifty Shades of Grey - E L James (yes I had to read it to see what the fuss was about!)
Uphill all the Way - Sue Moorcroft
All that Mullarkey - Sue Moorcroft
Buck Fever - Ben Rehder
Full Circle - Irina Shapiro

and more.......
Watch this space.

Book Review - The Thinking Tank - by Jae De Wylde

Title - The Thinking Tank

Author - Jae De Wylde

Format - Paperback

Publisher - Summertime publishing

Synopsis
1969, London, England and Sally, a little girl dressed in brown, visits Father Christmas at a church fair. He rescues her as she trips and stumbles into his arms. As he hoists her onto his lap she thinks she feels the breath of a kiss on her cheek.

2003, and in Rutland, England, Sarah's relationship with her daughter Rebekah is going from bad to worse. Torn apart by family secrets yet locked together by a solemn promise, the future for both seems bleak. But the mysterious and haunting circumstances of a hospital visit set Sarah on a path of discovery from which there is no turning back.

Sarah travels to Spain in search of answers - but even before she arrives, it becomes clear that offers of help rarely come without strings...

Only by confronting the truth can Sarah move forward, but that means revealing the one secret she herself cannot face.

Review
The synopsis was what drew me to this novel. I was intrigued as it was based in an area of England in which I live, and also in Spain. A country which I am fond of.

The book itself takes part in two different time frames. At first I didn't like this and got confused with all the characters, ending up having to write them down and note who was who.

At times I found some of the chapters slightly disjointed, going backwards and forwards between conversations and time frames within the same paragraph.  Despite this, I ended up really enjoying the book once I had immersed myself in it. I loved how the relationship between the characters was formed. I felt sorry for the main character and strangely felt quite protective towards her. I enjoyed how all their lives were intertwined and how the author managed to bring them together between Rutland and Spain.

There were many twists and turns to the story which I enjoyed. At times I wondered what had happened to certain characters, thinking they had been forgotten about, only for the author to shock or surprise us when we least expected it.

I didn't find it a light hearted read but a it is a book well worth investing your time in.

My rating