Too Wicked to Woo by Tammy Andresen

Disclosure.  This post is a review of an e-book I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

I have received a free e-copy of the book Too Wicked to Woo by Tammy Andresen to review.

Here is the book blurb.

He’s dark and dangerous and so delicious, how can she resist…

Miss Penny Clearwater considers herself a sensible woman. After all, she’s navigated her mother’s death, her father’s financial ruin, and her own fall from society with all the grace she could muster. So when her friend, Lady Chloe Dryden suggests they make a chronicle teaching young ladies of London all about the elusive rake, Penny refuses. It’s a silly idea that could end in absolute disaster. Except, she’s almost nothing left to lose. And when the perfect rake crosses her path, why not do a little research on Lord Preston? So he’s handsome and dashing… she’s only interested in the book, of course. Isn’t she?

Lord Wesley Preston hasn’t had much by the way of successes since he left the military. A failing earldom, a bad accountant, and a drinking habit have left him in tatters. He desperately needs a break. And when Miss Clearwater stumbles into his life, he discovers that she had just inherited a large piece of land perfect for farming, if only she had someone to help her do the work. Wes makes her a proposition he hopes she can’t refuse. Accept his proposal of marriage, become a countess, and make both their lives better.

The problem? Penny takes one look at him and declares him the worst sort of rake. She’s right of course. But how far will he go to prove to her that he can change?

Although this is book 1 in the Chronicles of a Bluestocking series, Penny is a friend of Chloe, heroine of The Earl of Dryden which I read recently. And I have to say that, it felt like a continuation, as its starts with Chloe trying to convince her friends that they should make a chronicle about rakes. However it is perfect as a stand-alone read too.

Miss Penny Clearwater has been ruined by her father gambling away all their money. Meanwhile Wes, the Earl of Preston, too has fallen on hard times, also due to gambling the remainder of his cash away after a series of investment and farming misfortunes. As a last resort he calls on his old friend The Earl of Dryden for help. By chance, this is at the same time as Penny is visiting Chloe, Lady Dryden.

Lord Dryden has some good news for Penny. When Penny’s mother died, she left Penny’s childhood home directly to Penny, so it has escaped her father’s debts. But it will need a lot of work as it has now been uninhabited for many years. Lord Preston overhears and offers to fix the house and land, suggesting they marry and split the proceeds.

What should Penny do? Lord Preston is clearly a rogue, like her father, isn’t he?

Too Wicked to Woo is available on Amazon, currently priced at £3.26 in Kindle format. As usual, another nice light romantic story from Tammy.

---

About the author

USA Today Bestselling Author, Tammy Andresen lives with her husband and three children just outside of Boston, Massachusetts. She grew up on the Seacoast of Maine, where she spent countless days dreaming up stories in blueberry fields and among the scrub pines that line the coast. Her mother loved to spin a yarn and Tammy filled many hours listening to her mother retell the classics. It was inevitable that at the age of 18, she headed off to Simmons College, where she studied English literature and education. She never left Massachusetts but some of her heart still resides in Maine and her family visits often.

Visit Yet Another Blogging Mummy on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

 

The Meerkat Murders by R J Corgan

Disclosure.  This post is a review of an e-book I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

I have received a free e-copy of the book The Meerkat Murders by R J Corgan to review. You may find out more about the author on his website.

Here is the book blurb.

After an old friend calls in a favor, geologist Kea Wright joins a team of biologists studying meerkats in the Kalahari.

Seduced by the expedition’s luxurious accommodations, state-of-the-art equipment, and daily baskets of fresh muffins, Kea begins to wonder if she picked the wrong field of research. Until people start dying…

This is the sequel to Cold Flood which I reviewed last year, again with Kea Wright as the central character, but works as a stand-alone read too.

In the previous book, she was in Iceland. Now she is in Botswana in the Kalahari desert at a meerkat colony. Her friend Tamaya and husband Addi, who are in charge of a team of biologists studying the meerkats, had invited her to join them. It will be their last season in the field before Addi retires.

But middle of the next night there is a scream. Addi has been bitten. Is it a snake? Scorpion? Whilst three of the team drive Addi to the hospital, Kea, Katherine and Gwen search for the creature. Kea succeeds in capturing a furry spider, which they identify online as a sand spider, the deadliest spider in the world. But no details of an anti-venom.

Kea is immediately suspicious that it is no accident. Even before they hear that Addi is dead, she is playing detective and coming up with motives.

Meanwhile rhino poachers keep knocking out the camera feeds, and then kill one of the meerkat colonies. Why would they do that?

And then another of the team dies. What is going on?

As well as being an entertaining read, the story is also educational as regards meerkats, a species I certainly didn’t know much about.

The Meerkat Murders is available on Amazon, currently priced at £12.21 in paperback or 97p in Kindle format. An interesting premise for a story.

Visit Yet Another Blogging Mummy on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

The Earl of Dryden by Tammy Andresen

I have received a free e-copy of the book The Earl of Dryden by Tammy Andresen to review.

Here is the book blurb.

A dangerous lord and a desperate debutante…

The Earl of Dryden knows all about the debutante who refuses to speak a word to anyone but he never expected she’d be so lovely, nor did he anticipate that he’d catch her confiding her secrets to a marble statue. Even more surprising, he wants to help her. Which is a mistake. A man like him shouldn’t go anywhere near a woman as lovely as Miss Chloe Finch. She’s too alluring by half and his soul holds real darkness, the kind that would swallow such a lovely creature whole.

Miss Chloe Finch is in grave need of a hero. But when The Earl of Dryden offers his assistance from behind a statue while she is attending a ball, she is well aware she shouldn’t accept. His darkly handsome looks make him look more like a pirate than a lord and his reputation is even worse. Still, she can’t deny the heat that scorches her skin with a single sweep of his mysterious gaze. Nor can she deny that despite everything inside her screaming that she shouldn’t trust him, a tiny bit of her is tempted. So very tempted.

The Wicked Earls Club series is different to most, in that the titles are written by different authors. The common theme is that each is about a Wicked Regency Earl. Initially it was going to be one book per author, but this is actually the second title from Tammy and of course, I’ve already read her original book The Earl of Sussex. I haven’t read any from the other authors though.

This story only seems to have a very tenuous connection to the Wicked Earls Club as the Earl of Dryden is now reformed. It certainly works well as a stand-alone read.

Shy Chloe who refuses to speak is hoping to stay hidden at the dance between a fern and a statue. Meanwhile, Fin the Earl of Dryden ducks behind the statue to avoid Lady Angela Stark and overhears Chloe actually talk to the statue.

Fin escorts Chloe onto the dance-floor and for once she finds her tongue, until horrid Lord Parks appears leering at her. But Dryden saves her from Lord Parks’ request for the next dance. They go outside where Dryden persuades Chloe to explain her fear of Lord Parks, in exchange for the tale of his own dark opium filled past.

Is Chloe actually talking? Why and when did she previously stop speaking? How is Fin a trigger?

Fin, the Earl of Dryden is the cousin of Tricia, heroine in another of Tammy’s books which I have also read, My Duke’s Seduction.

The Earl of Dryden is available on Amazon, currently priced at £2.46 in Kindle format. Another short light romantic read from Tammy.

---

About the author

USA Today Bestselling Author, Tammy Andresen lives with her husband and three children just outside of Boston, Massachusetts. She grew up on the Seacoast of Maine, where she spent countless days dreaming up stories in blueberry fields and among the scrub pines that line the coast. Her mother loved to spin a yarn and Tammy filled many hours listening to her mother retell the classics. It was inevitable that at the age of 18, she headed off to Simmons College, where she studied English literature and education. She never left Massachusetts but some of her heart still resides in Maine and her family visits often.

Website – http://www.tammyandresen.com

Visit Yet Another Blogging Mummy on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Disclosure.  This post is a review of an e-book I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

Blindsided by Narc Narcisse

I have received a free e-copy of the book Blindsided by Narc Narcisse to review. To find out more about the author, you may see his Goodreads page.

Here is the book blurb.

“I’m excited, I’m nervous, I’m curious. What will he be like? What will he look like? How tall will he be?” Tonight, Emma embarks on her first-ever blind date. Mark’s not what she expected. Emma’s not what he expected. Whoever set these two up knew this beforehand…1-Tattoos. 2-Wine. 3-Pills. 4-Blindfolds. 5-Handcuffs. 6-Sex. In twenty-four hours, Emma experiences five of the six; Mark, two. This innocent rendezvous has guilt written all over it!

I wasn’t sure whether I would like this book as the blurb makes it sound a bit kinky, but as the author had assured me it was not an erotica genre read, I decided to give it a go. And so pleased that I did.

The story starts with a blind date between Emma and Mark arranged through the secretive referral only BlindSided dating company (BSD). Neither of them is what the other expected, as BSD deliberately blindside their clients, which they twigged once they met, but the two of them certainly clicked.

However they are only two of a larger number of characters, all central to the story, which encompasses death and rape, not graphic through. So many suspense filled twists and turns throughout, with plenty of sub-plots too. What a page turner.

But I wasn’t entirely sure I liked the style in which this book was written with narrative and flashbacks interspersed, but luckily it didn’t detract too much.

Blindsided is available on Amazon currently priced at £7.86 in Kindle format and is also available in paperback. A gripping read. Highly recommended.

Visit Yet Another Blogging Mummy on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Disclosure.  This post is a review of an e-book I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

Exercise is Murder by Carolyn Arnold

I have received a free e-copy of the book Exercise is Murder by bestselling author Carolyn Arnold to review. I’ve enjoyed several of Carolyn’s books, so I was looking forward to reading this one too. To find out more about the author you may visit her website.

Here is the book blurb.

Getting in shape isn’t an easy walk in the park…

Running junkie Katie Carpenter takes a tumble down a ravine and ends up facedown in the Hudson River. The police conclude her death was an accident, but those who were close to Katie aren’t buying that she just tripped and fell—including her pro-athlete boyfriend. But it’s Katie’s fitness trainer and friend who hires the McKinleys to investigate.

Anything but an easy case to solve, Sean and Sara will break a sweat trying to figure out who had the most to gain from the young woman’s death. Sadly for Sean most of the evidence seems stacked against Katie’s boyfriend—a man Sean idolizes. Can he put aside being starstruck long enough to view things objectively? If Katie’s killer is going to be caught, he and Sara will need to remain flexible and it might require bending the rules a bit.

This is book 12 in the McKinley Mysteries: Short & Sweet Cozies, but I found it worked very well as a stand-alone read. Also a different genre to the other titles I’ve read by Carolyn, as they have mostly been thrillers.

Married couple Sean and Sara McKinley used to work for the police but are now private investigators, with a small team. Sara’s personal trainer Mirela asks them to investigate the death of Katie Carpenter, another of her fitness clients and friend. Katie was out running and ended up in the Hudson River. Police say it was an accident but Mirela believes Katie, a keen runner, was pushed.

They start the case by getting Jimmy to visit the morgue and Adam, their tech wizard to check out Katie’s social media. Is it murder? Suspects, motives, clues.

I was particularly drawn to this story as I enjoy running myself. And I love the classification of short & sweet cozies. It sums the book up brilliantly. A real page turner of a mystery that I didn’t want to put down. And although thoroughly modern, made me think back to the days of the golden greats. I would certainly like to read some of the other titles in this series.

Exercise is Murder is available on Amazon, currently priced at £11.99 in paperback or £2.76 in Kindle format. Another gripping story as per usual from best-selling author Carolyn Arnold. I can highly recommend you grab a cup of tea and put your feet up to read this book.

Here are the links to my reviews of other books by Carolyn Arnold.
Remnants
Power Struggle
The Secret of the Lost Pharaoh
On the Count of Three
Shades of Justice

Visit Yet Another Blogging Mummy on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Disclosure.  This post is a review of an e-book I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

Taming an Unrepentant Earl by Tammy Andresen

I have received a free e-copy of the book Taming an Unrepentant Earl by Tammy Andresen to review.

Here is the book blurb.

A scarred lord and a ruined lady…

Thanks to his bravery, and subsequent injury on the battlefield, Harold Maddox has been given an earldom and a leave of absence as commander in order to heal. While he doesn’t give a bullocks about the title, he’ll take the leave to settle a personal matter. After the loss of his best friend, he’s promised to care for Chesterfield’s sister, Miss Sophia Chesterfield. And he’s promised himself once he’s healed, he’ll avenge his friend’s death. The problem is that Sophie is far too beautiful for him to remain indifferent and her sharp tongue riles him in all sorts of interesting ways. He needs to return to the war and he can’t afford distractions now.

Sophie Chesterfield wouldn’t marry at all except that she can’t very well have a baby without a husband. What she needs is a nice quiet man who causes little interruption in her orderly life. And that man is definitely not Lord Ridgeby. From the moment the man enters her house is a force of destruction on her quiet life. What’s more, he heats her blood and sets fire to everything she thought she wanted. Not that it matters. He’s made it clear he’s leaving and she doesn’t want an overbearing beast like him anyway. Does she?

This is book 10 in the Taming a Duke’s Heart series. These stories are all suitable as stand-alone reads. I’ve previously read and enjoyed book 5 – Taming a Savage Gentleman and book 8 – Taming a Defiant Duke.

The story starts with army Captain Harry Maddox recovering from a hip injury sustained on the battlefield when his best friend Alfred Chesterfield died saving Harry. He is keen to return to the field to avenge his friend’s death, but in the meantime he is travelling to Alfred’s former home to fulfil Alfred’s request to make provision for his only living family member, his sister Sophie. He plans  to take her to a home for destitute women, run by his own sister.

On arrival, he finds not one, but two women in need of assistance, Sophie and her cousin Miss Danielle Frazier. Sophie thinks he has come to be their guardian, so that suitors can then call. So she is not happy when she hears his plan. And what about the sparks of attraction that have been sizzling since they met?

Meanwhile Harry visits Alfred’s barrister and discovers that Alfred has actually requested him to be Sophie’s guardian until she is 25, to manage her funds and house and to introduce her into society. He returns to tell her, but she is still not pleased, finding him overbearing. She does not want to be told what to do. She just wanted a puppet guardian.

The sooner this is all sorted and he can return to the army the better isn’t it? So the introductions to suitors begin.

Taming an Unrepentant Earl is available on Amazon, currently priced at £3.28 in Kindle format. Another nice light romantic story from Tammy.

---

About the author

USA Today Bestselling Author, Tammy Andresen lives with her husband and three children just outside of Boston, Massachusetts. She grew up on the Seacoast of Maine, where she spent countless days dreaming up stories in blueberry fields and among the scrub pines that line the coast. Her mother loved to spin a yarn and Tammy filled many hours listening to her mother retell the classics. It was inevitable that at the age of 18, she headed off to Simmons College, where she studied English literature and education. She never left Massachusetts but some of her heart still resides in Maine and her family visits often.

Visit Yet Another Blogging Mummy on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Disclosure.  This post is a review of an e-book I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

Going Back Cold by Kelley Rose Waller

I have received a free e-copy of the book Going Back Cold by Kelley Rose Waller to review. To find out more about the author you may visit her website.

Here is the book blurb.

After the unexpected stillbirth loss of her daughter, physicist Dr. Jane Whyse feels as empty and lifeless as the landscape that surrounds her on the remote Antarctic base where she and her husband work. As the geniuses of PROJECT SPLIT HORIZON pursue faster-than-light travel, Jane begins to secretly wonder if there is an opportunity to use the piezoelectronic technology she’s created to time travel. What if she could somehow undo the loss of her daughter? Jane’s honest, ugly struggles to understand God’s sovereign plan for all of time and space in the midst of raw pain leave her questioning everything. The more success she finds in her scientific career—and the closer she may be to a chance to fix the worst day of her life, the more conflict she finds in her marriage and in her own heart. Can she seek healing from this devastating loss while she tries to play god? Jane must choose between faith in a God whose mercies are new every morning, or coldly turning away with the challenge, “If God doesn’t like this, He’d better stop me.”

I’ve previously read and enjoyed The Senator’s Youngest Daughter, a political thriller by this author, so when Kelley asked me if I would like to review her latest novel, I immediately said yes without even having seen the blurb. Turned out this was an entirely different genre.

The story is set at the Semotus Base in Antartica and starts in December 2022. The small team return for a 4 month season over the course of the next 4 years. They are working on a project to achieve Faster than light travel. I do dislike abbreviations in books and not having seen the blurb before reading, it did take me a while to work out that FTL stood for Faster than light.

The main character is Dr Jane Whyse, a physicist. Her husband Lucas, a chemist and crystallographer is also on the team and they are accompanied by their 3 year old son Sebastian. During the first season, Jane discovers she is pregnant but sadly her daughter Emily is stillborn at 7 months, before they return the next winter. Jane and Lucas are active Christians and this does give them cause to question their faith in God.

Jane secretly uses her son’s laptop, the only unrecorded electronic device on the base to try to develop time travel. She wants to bring her daughter back. Is time travel viable? Is she putting the multi-million project at risk? What is the impact on her marriage and on the other characters at the base?

I have to say that I did struggle with this book, but mainly because both Christianity and Science-Fiction are turn-offs for me personally. However I have huge respect for the author being able to write on such a wide range of subject matter.

Going Back Cold published today is available on Amazon, currently priced at £2.48 in Kindle format. If you enjoy sci-fi or Christian fiction, then this is a book for you.

Visit Yet Another Blogging Mummy on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Disclosure.  This post is a review of an e-book I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

Caitlin’s Song by John A Heldt

I was delighted to receive an email from author John Heldt asking me if I would like to review his latest book Caitlin’s Song. This is the fourth title in The Carson Chronicles series, which is a series  that I just can’t get enough of. I’ve really enjoyed the previous three titles and you may see my reviews of those here.
River Rising
The Memory Tree
Indian Paintbrush

To find out more about the author you may visit his website.

Here is the book blurb.

Love, courage, and commitment take center stage as the Carsons, a family of time travelers, continue their saga in the great American West.

For the Carson children, ages 19 to 29, an unplanned stop in 1962 is a chance to grow. Adam, Greg, and Natalie begin lives with new spouses in Boulder, Colorado, while twins Cody and Caitlin get their first taste of college. All plan to resume the search for their missing parents as soon as they can.

For Tim and Caroline Carson, a planned stop in the rendezvous year of 1972 is a nightmare. While reading about their children’s lives in 1962, they learn that one has crossed paths with a killer. Faced with limited options, they race back to the past to reroute history and prevent a series of murders.

In CAITLIN’S SONG, the fourth novel in the Carson Chronicles series, members of a modern family find romance, adventure, and terror as they seek answers and each other in four memorable eras of American history.

To put you in the picture, the time-travelling Carson family have been unsuccessfully trying to reunite with their parents Tim and Caroline in the previous books in 1889, 1918 and 1943. But they have picked up a few significant others en-route from different eras, who are adjusting remarkably well.

But due to a car chase under gunfire at the end of Indian Paintbrush, they entered the portal six hours early and have now ended up in 1962 instead of their planned destination of 1972. They know that they have no chance of finding their parents in 1962, so instead of doing a scattered search like in earlier books, they travel to Boulder, Colorado to settle for a 6 month stay until the winter solstice with Nick’s relatives.

Twins Caitlin and Cody enrol at the college in Boulder, where they both have a ball of a time with new friends and dating, helping Caitlin to come to terms with her bereavement back in 1943. Although why does the Cuban missile crisis not pan out like they all know from history. Has the timeline wobbled? And if so, why?

Meanwhile Tim and Caroline are searching the records and have spotted a news snippet on the car chase and worked out that their children have ended up in 1962 although they have no idea whereabouts. They hire a researcher to do a nationwide search and as they browse the results, first delighting in the news of Natalie’s marriage and Greg’s baby, but then shock, horror at the dreadful news article from December 1962 of a murder in Boulder.

Tim and Caroline’s new plans to hop to 1962 themselves are thwarted by loss of documents. Instead they travel back at the September solstice to 1941, where they hope to prevent a murderer being conceived. Will they be successful? How will things pan out?

Another fantastic story in this great series, which had me on the edge of my seat at times. I just couldn’t put it down. I’m always amazed by the level of detail that John manages to weave into these stories. He is painstaking in his research.

Caitlin’s Song is available on Amazon, currently priced at £3.01 in Kindle format. I was also pleased to see that all four titles are now available in paperback too, as that makes them accessible to a wider audience. Although I love it as part of a series, it also works well as a stand-alone read. I highly recommend this book and can’t wait for the next instalment to be published.

And you may be interested to see my reviews of some of John Heldt’s other titles.
The Mine
Indiana Belle
Hannah’s Moon

Visit Yet Another Blogging Mummy on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Disclosure.  This post is a review of an e-book I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

Guest post: How did I research for my book? by Robert Lyons

Guest post by Robert Lyons: author of “The Shell Collector”.

How did I research for my book?

I decided on the subject of my book when I read the report of an official investigation into a financial cause célèbre that had scandalised the City of London in the 1970s.  I had not been conscious of the affair at the time, even though I had known some of the people involved in it socially.  Twenty years on I was reminded of it and was curious to know more.  I asked someone who had been close to the affair if he knew where I could get a copy of the report.  He told me it wasn’t worth bothering with, and anyway no criticism had been made of any of the parties concerned.  His reply only served to increase my curiosity.  Eventually I managed to lay hands on a photocopy of the report.  As read it, I realised why he had not wanted me to do so.  I saw instantly that the story it set out would make a great novel.  So the report, all five hundred pages of it, became the primary source of my book.

As the report was organised by topic rather than by chronology, I had spend a good deal of time compiling a diary of events.  This helped enormously in understanding what had taken place.  Once I had done so, I spent many days in the basement of the London Library trawling through back issues of The Times to set the contemporary background.  Interestingly, the period for my researches coincided partly with the period when Rupert Murdoch closed down The Times before he made the move to Wapping, so the Library had substituted The Daily Telegraph in its archive.  I also spent several hours at the Private Eye offices, going through its In the City “Slicker” columns of the time for background and specific information. These researches brought back fond memories of the post-Lady Chatterley era, such as the jailing of the Oz editors for obscenity, the Burton-Taylor £1,000,000 diamond, “the unacceptable face of capitalism”.  I hope my book is the richer for their inclusion.

I could not, and had no desire to, write the story as reported history.  As with many works of fiction there is a fine line between what is firmly rooted in fact and what is imaginary.  So while some of the events may have happened in reality, others are the figment of my overactive imagination; and while some characters may bring real people to mind, others are purely fictitious.  I tried to imagine what might have taken place, using the information contained in the report and what I discovered from further research.  During my time as a director of a major public company I had met a number of well-known names from the world of business, and my recollections helped me to create some of the characters in my book.  I managed to make contact with one of the people who had been closely involved in the affair, and who was almost alone in having nothing to hide of his role in it. He described one or two of the more amusing incidents and helped me to picture some of the participants, both physically and in character.

A story is a story is a story, and I hope mine is one worth reading.  To succeed in flavouring a story with the fruit of genuine research can make it more special and more fun, perhaps even more for the writer than for the reader. I hope my researches have helped me not only to tell a tale, but also to bring it to life.

Robert Lyons

Information about the Book
Title:The Shell Collector
Author:Robert Lyons
Release Date:26^thSeptember 2019
Genre:Literary Fiction
Page Count:340
Publisher:Clink Street Publishing
Goodreads Link:https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48196036-the-shell-collector
Amazon Link:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shell-Collector-Robert-Lyons/dp/1912850907
Twitter: http://twitter.com/rlyonsauthor

The Shell Collector by Robert Lyons

I have received a free e-copy of the book The Shell Collector by Robert Lyons to review. This is A Tale of the City of London.

Here is the book blurb.

1973: the year of the oil crisis, the secondary banking collapse, the three day working week and the collapse of the stock market. In a riotous ride through the City of London we meet the characters and events that filled the social and City pages of the press in that roller-coaster year.

Guy Magnus, an ambitious young share dealer, makes a daring takeover bid in the face of opposition from the City Establishment. Will he follow their rules, or his own: never to fall in love with a deal? Will he come to repent his challenge to the powers-that-be? Is Guy’s story fiction or fact? Was a Norfolk Broads canal boat really moored in the marina of Monte Carlo? Did a Henry Moore sculpture really become the most expensive work of art in the world? And did a bet for a lunch at Maxim’s for the first to make a million, Guy or his friend and rival Harry Griffin, bring a merchant bank to the verge of collapse?

THE SHELL COLLECTOR tells a cautionary tale of the City when its buccaneering spirit was at a peak. Whether true or false, it is never less than entertaining.

The blurb for this story sounded really promising, when I was offered a selection of titles to choose between. However in contrast, I struggled reading this book. I persevered and it got slightly better towards the end, but not by much and as it was a lengthy book, it certainly took me a while to read.

It swaps between the viewpoints of two city traders Guy Magnus and Harry Griffin and involves their associates too. But sorry all I can say is yawn, boring, boring, boring. Trading stocks and shares, wheeling and dealing, fingers in pies should have grabbed the reader’s attention, but no this story did nothing for me. However it has been well researched.

Also I couldn’t work out the relevance of the title. However it is referenced in a Roman snippet at the beginning of Part 2.

This book will be published later this week and is on Amazon currently priced for pre-order at £10.99 in paperback and also available in Kindle format. Sorry but it is not a read I can recommend.

About the author

Born in Leeds and educated at Rugby School and Oxford University, Robert Lyons spent seventeen years working for retailing conglomerate UDS Group plc., starting as a door-to door credit salesman in Glasgow before rising to run the parent company’s property management and development operations at its London head office. In 1974, he spent three months at the Harvard Business School on its Program for Management Development. On returning to London, he was appointed to the Group board, and to the board of Allders Department Stores, of which he became chairman in 1979. In 1983 the UDS Group was taken over by Hanson Trust plc, and Lyons left corporate life behind to move into property investment. Married with two children and six grandchildren, Robert Lyons has lived in Highgate, north London, since 1968.

---

I’m participating in the book tour and you may like to check out some of the other blog stops on the tour. Hopefully they enjoyed it more than me.

And look out this afternoon for an interesting guest post on my blog by Robert.

Visit Yet Another Blogging Mummy on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Disclosure.  This post is a review of an e-book I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.