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Jacob Collins

@hookedfrompageone

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CR: The Night Stairs by Erin Kelly 📚
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September Wrap Up 📚📖

I don’t know about you but September flew by for me. I did have a couple of holidays though this month which I think made it feel like it went faster. I spent three days in London a couple of weeks ago and four days in the Cotswolds at Stinchcombe Hill House for a writing retreat, both of which I really enjoyed. Although it did mean that my reading progress was slightly slower this month.

I managed to read four books in September. The books I read were:

The Last Tenant by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir
Liar Liar by Luca Veste
The Night Stairs by Erin Kelly
One Dark Summer by Sarah Hornsley

What was your favourite read this month? Let me know.

#septemberwrapup #hookedfrompageone #bookstagram #bookstack #crimefiction by @hookedfrompageone

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20 hours ago

BOOK REVIEW 📚📖

On my blog today I’m sharing my thoughts on The Last Tenant by @evabjorgaegisdottir as part of the blog tour. @orendabooks @randomthingstours

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The Last Tenant by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir begins with a really chilling opening, with the discovery of two sets of human remains in close proximity to each other: a young woman and a baby. As I read this opening, I thought it did set a haunting tone, which Eva carries right through this novel as Detective Elma desperately tries to find out what happened to the victims, and who killed them.

Eva has created an intriguing cast of characters in her latest book in the Forbidden Iceland series, and she provides plenty of suspects. One character who I was particularly drawn to was Karitas, a single mother living with her young son, Bessi. The relationship between Karitas and her son was beautifully drawn; I could feel the warmth and love there was between them. Karitas is also developing a relationship with her neighbour, Kristófer. But tension grows when strange things start happening to Karitas. And then there is Baldvin, who Karitas moves in with, a slightly odd man. I started to think that he could be hiding something.

I thought it was fascinating how Eva drew these different characters together, especially as the police investigation into the discovery of the human remains is ongoing. It made me wonder how everything would connect, and Eva brings the characters together in an explosive way.

Eva delves deep into her characters in The Last Tenant, so we can see what is going on inside their heads and what makes them tick. It was also gripping to get a deeper insight into Elma and Sævar’s relationship. There is tension between them, and this made me wonder how their relationship would pan out

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My full review can be found on my blog - link in bio

#thelasttenant #evabjörgægisdóttir #hookedfrompageone #bookstagram #booksofınstagram by @hookedfrompageone

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2 days ago

BOOK POST 📖📬

With spooky season just around the corner I had to get a copy of @cjtudorauthor new novel Serenity Falls. I’m a huge fan of C.J. Tudor’s writing and the premise of her latest book sounds really chilling. I will definitely be reading it as soon as I can.

What are you reading this week?

📖 About Serenity Falls:

Welcome to Serenity Falls – the most idyllic, and safest, town in the US – a place to grow up, grow your family and grow old together. For Dan and his daughter, Sadie, it’s the perfect relocation option. A fresh start, thousands of miles from their troubled past in the UK.

But their idyll is shattered when they find a dead body in the swimming pool of their new house – a house Dan’s late mother kept secret from him all his life.

It’s just the start of a series of disturbing discoveries. Abandoned houses where people have seemingly just upped and left. The strange woman Sadie sees around town putting up ‘missing’ posters for a child who drowned almost thirty years ago. An ice cream van that drives around at night making sure residents are asleep...

As plans gear up to celebrate Serenity Falls’ fiftieth anniversary, something is stirring beneath the surface of the blissful façade. Is Serenity Falls really the perfect town or is it founded on something far darker? And is someone so desperate to keep its secrets that they’d resort to anything to preserve them?

#serenityfalls #cjtudor #hookedfrompageone #bookstagram #booksofinstagram by @hookedfrompageone

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4 days ago

BOOK POST! 📚

I was very excited to receive a copy of The Scholars by Mackenzie Common in the post today. I absolutely love the cover for this one which makes me think that this book will have a very dark atmosphere. This will make it perfect for this time of year. I really enjoyed Mackenzie’s debut novel when I read it a short while ago so I’m looking forward to reading her second book.

What are you reading this week?

📖 About The Scholars:

You’d kill to be one of them. They’d kill to get out . . .
The Shepherd Scholarship is the most coveted honour Oxford University has to offer, reserved for the extraordinary and exceptional. With all eyes on them, the five new scholars, Mabel, Azelle, Finn, Hadley and Hugo become unlikely allies as they try to prove themselves worthy.

Until one of them turns up dead.

When a secret book proposal is leaked in the aftermath of the tragedy, it threatens the true identities of the four remaining scholars. Soon everything they have worked so hard to conceal starts to unravel. Because there is a murderer amongst them, and they would kill to keep their secret safe.

How far would you go to protect the life you fought for?

#thescholars #mackenziecommon #hookedfrompageone #bookstagram #booksofınstagram by @hookedfrompageone

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8 days ago

What’s a book that really surprised you when you read it? 📚📖

Th Binding by Bridget Collins is a book I read quite a few years ago now. I saw it when I was at a book event in a book shop and I must admit it was the cover that really drew me to it. I think that alone made me purchase it. But a short while later I started reading and I was hooked. I was surprised as it really wasn’t my genre at all. Even now, several years after I read it, I still think about it from time to time and I think it would make an excellent film.

About The Binding:

Imagine you could erase your grief.
Imagine you could forget your pain.
Imagine you could hide a secret.
Forever.

Emmett Farmer is working in the fields when a letter arrives summoning him to begin an apprenticeship. He will work for a Bookbinder, a vocation that arouses fear, superstition and prejudice – but one neither he nor his parents can afford to refuse.

He will learn to hand-craft beautiful volumes, and within each he will capture something unique and extraordinary: a memory. If there’s something you want to forget, he can help. If there’s something you need to erase, he can assist. Your past will be stored safely in a book and you will never remember your secret, however terrible.

In a vault under his mentor’s workshop, row upon row of books – and memories – are meticulously stored and recorded.

Then one day Emmett makes an astonishing discovery: one of them has his name on it.

THE BINDING is an unforgettable, magical novel: a boundary-defying love story and a unique literary event.

#thebinding #bridgetcollins #hookedfrompageone #bookstagram #booksofınstagram by @hookedfrompageone

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10 days ago

BOOK REVIEW 📚

On my blog today I’m sharing my thoughts on the new thriller by @sarahlitagent One Dark Summer.

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One Dark Summer by Sarah Hornsley is a layered mystery with dark family secrets. We meet Lily, who was abandoned by her mother when she was only four years old. There isn’t much Lily knows about her, especially as her father refuses to speak about her. Still, Lily is desperate to learn more about her mother. But what she isn’t prepared for is the dark family secrets she is about to uncover that will rock her to her very core.

I really felt for Lily, especially as she tried to learn more about her mother from her father. I couldn’t see why he was refusing to answer her questions. It was clear to see how much this pained Lily, and her desire to just know something shines through on the page. I kept thinking that it was the pain of losing his wife that made it too painful for her father to revisit that time. It made me wonder just what Lily would uncover, and I felt fearful for her as she takes matters into her own hands by returning to the place where her mother grew up, especially as she has no clue what she’s going to find.

This is the first time I have heard about Osea Island, the place where Lily’s mother lived and grew up. The atmosphere of this setting really adds to the tension. It made it even more possible to imagine the dark secrets the island might hold. It was fascinating getting to know Lily’s mother’s family, and I especially liked Lily’s aunt. Sarah Hornsley gradually builds an uneasy sense of unease on the island, especially as she takes us back in time to when Lily’s mother was living there.

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My full review can be found on my blog - link in bio

#onedarksummer #sarahhornsley #bookreview #hookedfrompageone #bookstagram by @hookedfrompageone

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15 days ago

BOOK POST 📖

I was very excited to receive my copy of The Last Tenant by @evabjorgaegisdottir in the post this week. I absolutely love the Iceland setting in Eva’s books which always makes them a must read for me. This book opens with a really chilling opening and it has made me hungry to find out what happens next. I don’t think it’ll take me long to finish it.

I’ll be sharing my review at the end of this month as part of the blog tour.

📖 About The Last Tenant:

Trust can be deadly…

When the skeletons of a young woman and a baby are uncovered on a long-abandoned farm in Hvalfjörður, it is clear they were buried years apart. West Iceland CID begins to investigate the disturbing discovery, aware that someone has gone to great lengths to keep the past hidden.

In Akranes, Karitas, a young single mother seeking a new start, settles in with her four-year-old son and rents a basement flat from an eccentric landlord. A cautious sense of happiness returns when she meets the boy next door.

But when news breaks that a local girl has been murdered, Karitas must decide who she can trust, knowing that one wrong choice could place her and her child in danger. Detective Elma is drawn into the case, forced to navigate long-hidden family secrets to understand a killer’s motive, while trying to hold together her increasingly troubled relationship with Sævar.

Dark, atmospheric and rich with psychological suspense, The Last Tenant confirms Eva Björg Ægisdóttir as one of Iceland’s finest crime writers, as a meticulous investigation and a series of unsettling discoveries draw a close-knit community towards a reckoning no one can escape…

#thelasttenant #evabjörgægisdóttir #hookedfrompageone #bookstagram #booksofınstagram by @hookedfrompageone

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16 days ago

What have you started reading recently? 📚📖

Whilst I was away for a few days last week on holiday I started the new thriller by Luca Veste, Liar Liar, which definitely has me hooked. I’ve read a couple of Luca’s thrillers recently and he never fails to grab my attention with his plots and characters. Liar Liar opens up in a really intriguing way, particularly with a man waking up in bed next to a dead body. I’m really enjoying the book so far.

📖 About Liar Liar:

Even good people do bad things…
Once hailed as Liverpool’s finest detective, Mark Fletcher brought a serial killer to justice and earned the city’s admiration. But when he’s accused of working with Liverpool’s most notorious crime family, his legacy is shattered – and so is his life.

Now disgraced and spiralling, Fletcher wakes up in a hotel room with no memory of the last 24 hours… and a dead body beside him.

The evidence says he did it. His instincts say otherwise.

Hunted by the force he once served, Fletcher must uncover the truth – not just to clear his name, but to survive. Because someone wants him silenced, and they’ll stop at nothing to finish what they started…

#liarliar #lucaveste #hookedfrompageone #crimefiction #bookstagram by @hookedfrompageone

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18 days ago

BOOK REVIEW 📚

On my blog today I’m sharing my thoughts on the new novel by @judith_oreilly Heartbreaker.

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Heartbreaker, the new thriller by Jude O’Reilly, explores a really scary premise. We meet Daphne, who has suffered a horrific tragedy after her husband and children were killed. Daphne herself was considered the main suspect in the eyes of the public and the police, despite her categorically denying her involvement in the murders. Daphne is determined to find out who killed her family, but she has no idea where her search for answers will lead her, and the dark and dangerous world she is about to uncover.

I really liked Daphne and connected to her straight away. She has suffered more than most people have, and on top of losing her family, in the opening chapters, her father, who she dearly loves, also passes away. Her father’s death strengthens her resolve to get justice for her husband and her children. Getting justice for them is the only thing keeping her going.

The tension is excellent throughout this book. Daphne’s story really drew me in, especially as she connects with the family of a woman whose heart Daphne received in an organ transplant several years earlier. It is clear to see the pain the woman’s family is feeling on the page as Daphne meets with them, but what is even more shocking to Daphne is that she soon learns their daughter was murdered. Daphne has always thought that the murder of her family is linked to her heart transplant, even though the transplant took place ten years earlier. When she learns the news of what happened to the woman whose heart she received, it seems to strengthen this belief.

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My full review can be found on my blog - link in bio

#heartbreaker #judithoreilly #bookreview #hookedfrompageone #bookstagram by @hookedfrompageone

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24 days ago

BOOK POST 📖📬

I finally got a copy of The Night Stairs by @erinjelly this week. I have been a big fan of Erin’s thrillers for years and her latest book sounds really atmospheric. I always look forward to seeing what Erin writes next so I can’t wait to dive into it and it does sound perfect for this time of year.

What are you reading this weekend?

📖 About The Night Stairs:

St Cordula’s has survived for centuries on tradition, discipline and silence. Now Deputy Head Fiona Fox is preparing to make a controversial change that could save the school from ruin.

But some traditions are dangerous to break.

Legend says St Cordula’s will remain safe as long as the words ‘GOD FORGIVE ME’, scrawled on a chapel wall by a fifteenth-century nun before her death, are preserved.

The last time they faded, in 2002, a mysterious outbreak of vertigo swept through the school.

One girl died.

Fiona knows her death wasn’t an accident.

Now the vertigo is back.

Could unmasking the truth about what happened that night be more dangerous than if it had stayed buried?

#thenightstairs #erinkelly #hookedfrompageone #bookstagram #booksofinstagram by @hookedfrompageone

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a month ago

BOOK REVIEW 📚📖

On my blog today I’m sharing my thoughts on the new novel by @roz.watkins The Wicked Girls. @hqstories

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The Wicked Girls is the tense new novel by Roz Watkins. Set in a small village in Cornwall, the novel opens with a horrific scene when a young girl, who has just turned seventeen, plunges to her death after falling from a cliff edge, in front of the mother of one of her school friends. The young girl’s death shocks everyone, but the most shocking thing is that she will not be the first girl to die. The deaths might be linked to an ancient curse that all local girls will die on their seventeenth birthday, and it’s soon feared that history might be about to repeat itself, as something very similar took place centuries ago.

It is clear to see how much the fear grips the locals. Kat, the main character, is little a less inclined to believe in the supernatural. But this doesn’t stop her from becoming fiercely protective and worried for her daughter, Ruby, who is due to turn seventeen. Even though Kat is sceptical about the idea of the curse, especially when her mother starts getting involved with her own psychic predictions, she’s determined to stop Ruby from suffering from the same fate as her friend. I could really feel Kat’s love for her daughter, and I rooted for her throughout the novel.

Roz Watkins brilliantly built a creepy atmosphere around the old house, where the curse is said to have originated. It felt as though something evil was at work here. This created a real sense of danger. I loved how isolated the house felt, which added even more to the supernatural elements and the suspense. This was built on further with the addition of the doll a group of friends, which included Ruby, found there.

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My full review can be found on my blog - link in bio

#thewickedgirls #rozwatkins #bookreview #hookedfrompageone #bookstagram by @hookedfrompageone

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a month ago

BOOK REVIEW 📚📖

On my blog today I’m sharing my thoughts on the new thriller by @tmloganauthor The Weekend.

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What would you do if you found a bag full of money? This is the question that faces the characters in T.M. Logan’s latest thriller, The Weekend. A group of friends are in Yorkshire for New Year’s Eve, renting a house, when they stumble across this extraordinary find whilst sheltering in a cave from a storm. Most people who read this book will be wondering what they would do in this situation. I think many people would secretly want to keep the money, especially when the amount found is revealed. But as the friends try to work out what to do, cracks in their friendships start to form.

It was really tense when the characters were deciding what to do with the money. There were some, among the group, who wanted to do the right thing and hand it over to the police, but others who thought the money was rightfully theirs to keep. T.M. Logan continues to turn the tension up a notch, especially as the friends try to work out where the money came from and if keeping it would pose a danger.

There is a real sense of danger as the stakes for the characters get higher, and I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the page. The tension really builds as the book races towards the end, and I couldn’t wait to find out what was going to happen to the characters. I think after reading this book, many people will reevaluate what decision they would make if they were in this situation.

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My full review can be found on my blog - link in bio

#theweekend #tmlogan #hookedfrompageone #bookreview #thriller by @hookedfrompageone

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a month ago