The Leftovers by Cassandra Parkin BLOG TOUR @cassandrajaneuk @Legend_Times_ #TheLeftovers #BookReview

 

Callie’s life is spent caring for others – for Frey, her client, and for Noah, her brother. 

When a tragic car accident shatters her family, she’s left alone with her mother Vanessa. 

Vanessa's favourite child was Noah; Callie's favourite parent was her dad. Now they're stuck with each other - the leftovers of their family - and they'll have to confront the ways they've been hurt, and the ways they've passed that hurt on to others.

The Leftovers by Cassandra Parkin was published by Legend Press on 1 October 2021. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review as part of this Blog Tour 

I was left reeling by the absolute power of this novel. I finished it a few days ago yet the characters still linger in my head. They are the sort of characters that one wants to question, to interrogate and to ask more of. The perfect characters, in the perfect story. 

I've been reading Cassandra Parkin's novels for a long time now and have always admired her style. She's poetic, yet compulsive. She takes some of the darkest issues in society and weaves them so beautifully to create the most powerful, sometimes disturbing stories. I think The Leftovers is her darkest, yet most brilliant novel to date. 

Callie has always been a carer. Even though her brother Noah is older than her, she's spent much of her life protecting him. Noah has to be protected from his own world and his own mind. Callie and Noah's parents split up when they were younger and they both live with their Dad whilst their Mother lives in a cottage overlooking the sea, on her own. 

Callie is also a carer in her professional life. Previously a nurse in A&E, she's been working as a private carer for the last year or so. Two weeks on, two weeks off. She and her fellow carer Josh care for Frey. Frey is non-verbal, intelligent and gentle. His family love him, but cannot care for him. They have the money to ensure that Frey has everything that he needs. 

Callie and her mother have a toxic relationship, and she always loved her Dad far more. Noah and their mother adored each other.  When a terrible accident happens, Callie and her mother are the only ones left .... the leftovers. Trying to make sense of what happened and what is to come. 

The reader sees this story only through the eyes of Callie and she appears to be very authentic, we believe her, she cares about people and she's hurting. However, as the narrative moves on, one begins to wonder about Callie's reliability. It's clear that she's a damaged woman, but we are never quite sure why, although Callie will insist it's because of the way that her mother treated her.

There's a darkness in this story that could become uncomfortable but the brilliance of the author's gentle and sensitive writing adds such a layer of empathy that the reader is compelled to find out more. I'm not sure that we do actually find out the truth here though.  Callie certainly begins to recognise parts of her behaviour that could be damaging, but what she eventually does about that is left to the reader to imagine. 

A very difficult book to talk about without going into detail that would spoil it for potential readers, but it's a really stunning piece of writing, nuanced, comfortable at times but incredibly powerful. Highly recommended. 

Cassandra Parkin grew up in Hull, and now lives in East Yorkshire. 

Her short story collection, New
World Fairy Tales (Salt Publishing, 2011), won the 2011 Scott Prize for Short Stories.

Twitter: @cassandrajaneuk

Instagram: @cassandraparkinwrites

The Forgotten Seamstress by Liz Trenow ** Blog Tour & Author Interview**

When Caroline Meadows discovers a beautiful quilt in her mother’s attic, she sets out on a journey to discover who made it, and the meaning of the mysterious message embroidered into its lining.

Many years earlier, before the first world war has cast its shadow, Maria, a talented seamstress from the East End of London, is employed to work for the royal family. A young and attractive girl, she soon catches the eye of the Prince of Wales and she in turn is captivated by his glamour and intensity.
But careless talk causes trouble and soon Maria’s life takes a far darker turn.

Can Caroline piece together a secret history and reveal the truth behind what happened to Maria?

The Forgotten Seamstress was published by Avon (Harper Collins) here in the UK in ebook format on 5 December, and in paperback on 16 January 2014.

This is a cleverly interwoven story, with many layers that has at its centre, a beautifully crafted quilt.   Caroline Meadows has come to a crossroads in her life.  Her relationship is over, her career is not what she planned, her elderly Mother is becoming more and more vulnerable.   When Caroline discovers an old, but wonderfully made quilt in the attic of her Mother's house, she is intrigued and determined to find out more about its history.

Maria Romano was a patient at Helena Hall, an asylum that houses the mentally ill, she was admitted to the hospital at the very end of World War One.  Maria had worked as a seamstress at Buckingham Palace after being raised by Nuns at a local orphanage.  Maria had not known love during her short life, so when the handsome Prince of Wales befriended her, she was overwhelmed.  Their friendship developed but Maria found herself disgraced and packed away to Helena Hall.

Caroline's modern-day story and Maria's time at Helena Hall are cleverly mixed together.  Liz Trenow has worked a little bit of magic with this story, enabling the reader to hear Maria's side of things straight from the horse's mouth.

I was incredibly impressed by The Forgotten Seamstress.  The characters are so well developed and detail of Helena Hall creates a wonderful sense of place.  I'm not a quilter, in fact I can barely sew, but I was caught up in how the quilt was created and it is clear that the author has researched her subject very well indeed.

I am delighted to take part in the Blog Tour for The Forgotten Seamstress, and thrilled to welcome the author, Liz Trenow to Random Things today.   Liz has kindly answered a few questions for me ~ thank you Liz!

Liz Trenow is a former journalist who spent fifteen years on regional and national newspapers, and on BBC radio and television news, before turning her hand to fiction.  The Forgotten Seamstress is her second novel.  She lives in East Anglia with her artist husband, and they have two grown-up daughters.
Find out more at www.liztrenow.com and join her on Twitter @LizTrenow

1. Do you read reviews of your novels? Do you take them seriously?

I can’t resist flicking through Amazon reviews from time to time and mostly they are very encouraging (largely 4 or 5 star) but there is the occasional horrible one which I try not to take too seriously. Poor grammar and shocking spelling usually gives them away!

2. How long does it take to write a novel?

My first took two years and then another two years of rewriting before it got accepted by my agent and then a publisher. Since then I’ve written two more novels, each of them completed in a year. The Forgotten Seamstress is being published in January 2014 and The Poppy Factory in August 2014. Because my novels are set in historical periods research takes up a lot of time, so writing a novel in a year means writing full time and not taking more than a couple of weeks off. It’s hard work but I love it!

3. Do you have any writing rituals?

I always write in the morning and carry on until lunchtime. Before I start, I make a cafetiere of coffee and then shut myself away in my office. Mid-morning I make a fresh pot. I rarely write after lunch but will do admin, blogging or research and, towards the end of the process, editing and proof reading.

4. What was your favourite childhood book?

Winnie the Pooh and, later, Wind in the Willows. I also loved Eudoria’s Broomstick, written by Victor Knowland, an old friend of my parents. It’s now out of print, sadly, but available as an ebook at www.eudoriasbroomstick.co.uk.

5. Name one book that made you laugh?

Any book by David Sidaris makes me cry laughing.

6. Name one book that made you cry?

Sophie’s Choice.  Also, re-reading the final chapters of my first novel, The Last Telegram, can make me cry, because the characters are based on real people in my life, and it reminds me of them.

7. Which fictional character would you like to meet?

Elizabeth Bennett from Pride and Prejudice. Firstly, she’s intelligent and independent in an era when women were not meant to be. Secondly she’s a great flirt. Finally, she married Mr Darcy, so I would probably get meet him too, preferably in the shape of Colin Firth. More seriously, I love the novel because it’s clever and funny, and about a woman’s search for herself.

8. Which book would you give to your best friend as a present?

The next novel by William Boyd. We both love his writing.

9. Are you inspired by any particular author or book?

Lots of authors inspire me. Rose Tremain for her historical contexts; Tracy Chevalier for teaching me that arts and craft (paintings, tapestry and quilts) provide fascinating backgrounds for a novel; Kate Morton and Victoria Hislop for their inter-generational plotting.

10. What is your guilty pleasure read?

Anything by Helen Fielding (Bridget Jones still makes me laugh, all these years later). Of more recently published pleasures I love Stella Newman’s Pear Shaped and Leftovers because they are funny and all about romance and food (she was a taster for a major retailer and really knows her food). More at www.stellanewmansblog.blogspot.com.

11. Who are your favourite authors?

My favourite writer is William Boyd, just for the power of his prose. But see Q 9 above for my other inspirational authors, who are also favourites.

12. What book have you re-read?

Pride and Prejudice. Sorry to be so predictable, but it’s the truth.

13. What book have you given up on?

I don’t want to name it because it is by a well-known and popular author whose other novels I have really enjoyed. But in this one she seems to have adopted the habit of using half-formed sentences. Of course all writers mess around with grammar to get the right effect – I do it too, just not all the time. But what about this: ‘A noise and Eliza froze. Held her breath’. Or this, just a couple of pages earlier: ‘A noise from behind and Eliza turned.’ And this: ‘Eliza scrambled on to the window seat and looked outside. Was forced to squint.’ Is this supposed to make the prose more exciting? For me it just ruins the flow of the paragraph, catches me off guard and makes me grumpy! After about sixty pages I gave up. 

The Blog Tour continues through until Tuesday 10 December

Deadbeat by Adam Hamdy BLOG TOUR #Deadbeat @PendulumCentral @RandomTTours #BookExtract

 

The author of the Scott Pearce series (Black 13, Red Wolves, White Fire) is back with a taut thriller following a desperate single father as he searches for the anonymous employer who hired him as a hitman.

Peyton Collard was a good man once, but his life changed after a horrific car accident. 

Divorced, drunk, and severely damaged, Peyton is offered a life-changing sum of money to kill an evil man. 

But as he goes on a vigilante journey that leaves a trail of bodies across California, Peyton wonders about the identity of his anonymous patron. 

Soon, his questions become an obsession, and he embarks on a tense and potentially deadly investigation to discover the truth about the murders he’s committed.

Deadbeat by Adam Hamdy was published on 3 December 2024 by Pendulum Central. As part of this #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour, I am delighted to share an extract from the book with you today. 

Extract from Deadbeat by Adam Hamdy

AN ANGRY GOD had snapped his fingers in my skull, killing half

my brain cells and traumatizing the leftovers. I opened my eyes and got lightning flashes across my vision. White fireworks that were regular features of my worst hangovers.

But who was I kidding?

I wasn’t hungover.

I was still wasted.

Last night’s session with Jim had run up my tab at Rick’s Bar like

the counter on a gas crisis fuel pump. Jim and I had rounded off the

night by doing a couple of lines of K in the fetid cesspit Rick calls a

men’s room, and my world had taken on a muffled, comatose, “fill in

the blanks” quality. I have no idea how I got back to the tiny rathole I

leased by the Long Beach Freeway. It was a dump, but it was my dump, and most of the stains on the threadbare faux-Persian rug were mine, so I didn’t mind coming round face down on the raggedy red floor.

There was thunder to go with the lightning flashes, and it took me a moment to realize the cracking noises weren’t imagined. Someone

was banging on the front door, no more than ten feet from my head.

“Open up, sir. Mr. Collard, we know you’re in there.”

I glanced around to see shapes at my window. My eyes wouldn’t focus properly, but the blocks of dark color suggested man-shaped lumps in uniform.

“Open up,” someone else said, rapping on the window.

“Yeah. Okay,” I replied, voice hoarse, throat raw.

Had I thrown up? I belched some bile, which burned when I swallowed.

Tequila, rum, vodka, and bourbon had all featured in past me’s

smorgasbord of drinks. Booze always convinced me I was invincible,and the more I drank the more invincible I became. I didn’t feel invincible now, though.

Left hand on the 1970s teak coffee table I’d found in a thrift shop,

and I pushed myself onto my side. Right hand on the arm of the green

corduroy couch someone over in Compton left in front of their house,

and I forced myself up from the floor. The room whirled like a

spinning top. Thankfully I wouldn’t have to do anything as complicated as get dressed. I was still clothed in my light jeans and a blue checked shirt worn unbuttoned over a black T-shirt, all crumpled and stained. I looked down at my bare feet and wondered where my shoes and socks were.

A mystery for another time, I thought as I staggered to the door.

Adam Hamdy is a bestselling British author and screenwriter who works with studios and
production companies on both sides of the Atlantic. 

He's currently adapting his novel Black 13 for Ringside Studios, and is developing his original screenplay, The Fear in Their Eyes with December Films.

My Top Reads of 2021 #AmReading #TopReads2021 #FavouriteBooks2021 #BookBlogger

 

My Top Reads of 2021

I remember writing my Top Reads of 2020 post and saying that I hoped that we would never ever live though another year like 2020.

My hopes did not come true. For me, my family and my friends, this year has been one of utter devastation. We have been rocked to the core by losing loved ones and seeing those closest to us suffer. Sadly, for my little family, it is inevitable that the coming year will bring more pain and sadness.

Despite the often overwhelming feeling of despair, I have continued to read and shout about the books that I love. I have been able to grow my Blog Tour organising business and once again, I have been fortunate enough to work with some truly amazing books, authors, publishers and fellow bloggers. 

I read around 170 books this year, this includes the submitted books for the CWA International Dagger for which I am a judge. I have already reviewed most of these, either here on my blog, or for the Express.

A few statistics :

I've posted 148 book reviews on the blog this year

107 of these were by female authors, 38 by male authors and 3 were by various authors

Of these reviews, nine were non-fiction titles, 28 were debut books and 16 were translated into English from another language

As always, I rarely finish a book that I'm not enjoying, so to pick my top books out of so many that I've really enjoyed has, once more, been very difficult. 

As always, my list is split into three sections; I start with some of the 2021 books that I read in 2020. I mentioned them last year and hoped that they would be huge.

The second part is my list of  Top Books of 2021

Finally, I'll give a mention to some 2022 publications that I've read early.

I really think that 2022 is going to be another fabulous book year!

Enjoy! 

2021 books that I predicted would do well

At the end of last year, I'd read these 2021 books pre-publication, and predicted that they would do well. I'm still recommending them, twelve months later.  (click on the title for my full review).

The Push by Ashley Audrain - 7 January 2021 from Michael Joseph

The Last Thing To Burn by Will Dean - 7 January 2021 from Hodder & Stoughton

Daughters Of Night by Laura Shepherd-Robinson - 18 February 2021 from Mantle/Pan Macmillan

The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles - 9 February 2021 from Two Roads

Everything Happens For a Reason by Katie Allen - 10 April (digital), 10 June (paperback) from Orenda Books 

My Top Reads of 2021

My Top Reads of the year are listed in order of reading. The list contains some favourite authors who pop up year after year, and also some debuts. I think it's a great list, with something for everyone. I heartily recommend all of these books.  (click on the title for my full review)

The Source by Sarah Sultoon published (ebook) 15 February (print) 15 April by Orenda Books
Gripping, emotional, eye-opening and so brilliantly written. Highly recommended by me.

You Me And The Sea by Elizabeth Haynes published 11 February by Myriad Editions

It transported me to a place that felt so much safer than our existing world. It's beautiful and wonderful and I recommend it highly

The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin published 18 February by Doubleday
An utter and total delight. Wonderful characters who worm their way into your life and leave little traces on your heart.

How To Survive Everything by Ewan Morrison published 1 March by Saraband

A terrifying and harrowing novel, yet is is also deeply touching

Bound by Vanda Symon published 18 March by Orenda Books

Do not miss this, it's edge-of-the-seat drama that will satisfy any fan of crime fiction. Highly recommended.

Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller published on 25 March by Fig Tree

Clever, sharp and irresistible, this is a novel that has to be savoured

Hotel Cartagena by Simone Buchholz published 4 March by Orenda Books

Addictive, extremely hard to put down. Another fabulous chapter in what has become a favourite series of mine

Watch Her Fall by Erin Kelly published 1 April by Hodder

 It is so intricate, so tightly plotted and in my opinion, the author's best book to date. 

When I Was Ten by Fiona Cummins published 5 April by Pan Macmillan

This is an accomplished, brutal and moving story, and comes highly recommended by me.

Boys Don't Cry by Fiona Scarlett published 6 May by Faber

This book is one that will evoke every emotion from anger, to compassion, despair and hope

Caul Baby by Morgan Jerkins published 29 April by Harper360 UK

It's a complex and intricately woven story with hints of magical realism that reminded me at times of Alice Hoffman's work

True Crime Story by Joseph Knox published 17 June by Doubleday

It is masterfully created and it's a story that will stay with me for a very long time

Dead Ground by MW Craven published 3 June by Constable

Breath-taking, fascinating and gripping

This Is How We Are Human by Louise Beech published 10 June by Orenda Books 

Wonderfully moving, emotional and very thought provoking. A book to savour and love. Highly recommended. 

Fragile by Sarah Hilary published 10 June by Pan Macmillan 

It is a superb mix of gothic tension, obsession, young love and disappointment, woven together masterfully

Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau published 27 May by Harper360 UK

Full of sunshine, love, music and utter joy, Mary Jane is a stunning read that I would highly recommend. 

No Honour by Awais Khan published 19 August by Orenda Books 

This is a very special book. One that will stay with me forever, and one that I will re-read, for sure.

Love And Missed by Susie Boyt published 26 August by Virgo

An utter joy to read. A book that touched me deeply and one that I highly recommend. 

The Sound of Sirens by Ewan Gault published 28 October by Leamington Books

This is Ewan Gault's debut novel and it is stunning. Highly recommended from me, one of the best books I've read this year.

The Shadowing by Rhiannan Ward published 16 September by Trapeze

This is an excellent gothic mystery, with a hint of the supernatural

The Woman In The Middle by Milly Johnson published 14 October by Simon and Schuster

It's a warm, touching read and you'll be longing for Shay to find her own happy ending

The Leftovers by Cassandra Parkin published 1 October by Legend Press

A really stunning piece of writing, nuanced, uncomfortable at times but incredibly powerful. Highly recommended. 

The Red Monarch by Bella Ellis published 18 November by Hodder

It's intricately detailed, full of vibrant and vividly created characters and has such heart. 

The Rabbit Factor by Antti Tuomainen published 28 October from Orenda Books 

Death, a touch of violence, fraud and a tender emerging romance all combine to create the most magical story

The Quiet People by Paul Cleave published 25 November by Orenda Books

So very very intense, so dark and utterly compelling

Fall by West Camel published 9 December by Orenda Books

An author who uses words like an instrument, creating a symphony that will thrill any reader. 

Books to look out for in 2022 ....

I've already made a start on the 2022 books, and if the ones that I've read already are anything to go by, we are in for another outstanding book year.

Here are a few tips; books that I think will be huge next year. 

Some of these reviews have not  been published yet but I can assure you that I enjoyed every one of them. 

Should I Tell You? by Jill Mansell - 20 January 2022 from Headline

Anything Could Happen by Lucy Diamond - 6 January 2022 from

 Quercus

The Impulse Purchase by Veronica Henry - 3 February 2022 from Orion

How To Find Your Way Home by Katy Regan - 3 February 2022 from Mantle

Other Parents by Sarah Stovell - 20 January from HQ Stories 

Wahala by Nikki May - 6 January from Doubleday 

Again, Rachel by Marian Keyes - 17 February from Michael Joseph

That's 2021 over and done with. Thank goodness!

It's been a fabulous year for books, but honestly, not for much else!

I want to wish everyone the VERY BEST for next year and I really hope to see lots of lovely book friends soon.

In the meantime, thank you to everyone who reads my reviews and puts up with my book shouting.