 Thank you to Rachel from Rachel's Random Resources for inviting me to participate in the blog tour for the latest addition to DCI Satterthwaithe series by Jo Allen.  Death at Rainbow Cottage At the end of the rainbow, a man lies dead. The apparently motiveless murder of a man outside the home of controversial equalities activist Claud Blackwell and his neurotic wife, Natalie, is shocking enough for a peaceful local community. When it’s followed by another apparently random killing immediately outside Claud’s office, DCI Jude Satterthwaite has his work cut out. Is Claud the killer, or the intended victim? To add to Jude’s problems, the arrival of a hostile new boss causes complications at work, and when a threatening note arrives at the police headquarters, he has real cause to fear for the safety of his friends and colleagues… A traditional British detective novel set in Cumbria. Purchase Link Amazon  My thoughts: Death at Rainbow Cottage is the fourth book in the DCI Satterthwaite series written by British writer Jo Allen. A solid police procedural with complex characters and a clever plot, it can definitely be read and enjoyed as a standalone, but you will probably want to go back and read the other books in the series as well. The book starts with a bang. A middle-aged man dies of stabbed wounds in a remote place, a couple hundred meters away from Rainbow Cottage that belongs to Natalie and Claud Blackwell. Natalie suffers from anxiety and OCD and often goes on long runs. She was the one who tried to resuscitate the dying man and then horrified, ran home, leaving bloody footprints on the cottage path. Jo Allen immediately pulls us into her fictional world set in Cumbria. We meet DI Jude Satterthwaite as he is taking Natalie's statement and immediately note his compassion and humanity as well as his observation skills. There is obviously a lot of character development, both within this book and in the series. Police procedurals often have to balance the investigation side of the story, the police work itself and the back story which shows how complex professional relationships get intertwined with the detective's personal life. Jude still has unresolved family issues, although he is in a relationship with one of his colleagues. There's also a new boss with her own policies and her own vision of what should be done to ensure greater equality and diversity in their workplace. The book's main topic is diversity, representation, and tolerance. The issues raised in the book are relevant to any workplace. Jude is criticised for being promoted just because he fit the traditional idea of a DCI should be like, but then again his work and the fact that he is a capable police offcer and team leader isn't taken into consideration. The victims are gay and we see how deep homophobic attitudes run and how much sensitivity, consideration and determination changing them requires. Jo Alen has a wonderful writing style. It is very easy to follow the story despite a fairly large set of characters. Although this was my first book in the series, at no time did I feel lost or missing 'the insider' knowledge. I still want to go back and read books 1-3, but more because I appreciate the author's writing and her ability to create a clever tight plot and complex. multi-layered characters. I can highly recommend Death and Rainbow Cottage to all readers who enjoy gripping and thought-provoking police procedurals. Thank you to Rachel from Rachel's Random resources and the author for the gifted review copy. All opinions are my own and were not influenced in any way.  Author Bio Jo Allen is the author of the successful DCI Satterthwaite series of detective novels set in and around the English Lake District, where she lives. After a career in economic consultancy she took up writing and was first published under the name Jennifer Young in genres of short stories, romance and romantic suspense. In 2017 she took the plunge and began writing the genre she most likes to read – crime. In common with all her favourite characters, she loves football (she's a season ticket holder with her beloved Wolverhampton Wanderers) and cats. Social Media Links – Twitter @JoAllenAuthor Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JoAllenAuthor Instagram @JoAllenAuthor  Thank you for reading the post! Have a wonderful Sunday! If you would like to find out what other bloggers thought of the book, here is the full tour schedule:   A Chance Encounter  Julianna Baptiste, a feisty bodyguard, finds her new job tedious, that is until her boss, the evasive Jackson Haynes, spikes her curiosity. Who is behind the vicious threats to his beautiful wife and why is he interested in two estranged siblings? Mark works for Haynes’s vast company. He’s hiding from ruthless money launderers. His teenage sister Ellen has an online friend whom she has never met. Ellen guards a terrible secret. For eight years their duplicitous father has languished in prison, claiming he is innocent of murder. The evidence against him is overwhelming, so why does Mark persist with an appeal? Keen to prove her potential as an investigator, Julianna forces Mark to confront his mistakes. The consequences will put all their lives in danger. Pre-order Link UK / US Publication Date: 24th March  Author Bio Rae Shaw is a pen name for the author Rachel Walkley. Rachel is based in the North West of England. She read her first grown-up detective novel at the age of eleven, which proved to be a catalyst for filling many shelves with crime books, which still occupy her home and grow in number whenever she visits a book shop. As well as crime, Rachel likes to unplug from the real world and writes mysteries that have a touch of magic woven into family secrets. Social Media Links – https://raeshawauthor.com/ https://twitter.com/RaeShawauthor Rae Shaw Facebook page Rachel Walkley
Sold to a Wolf Pack: A Lunaverse Novel
Hosted by: 
A SURREALIST AFFAIRby Jacqueline Corcoran Release Date: May 17, 2021 Genre: Adult, Entangled: Amara, Romantic Suspense, Contemporary, Romance
Elle Dakin is shocked when she’s given the opportunity to fly to Paris to attribute a newly discovered painting to her favorite artist. After all, why would they choose a broke, struggling Art History doctoral student for such an honored task? When she arrives in Paris, she realizes the deal was too good to be true—suddenly she’s neck deep in a murder, an international art theft, and threats to her safety. Thank goodness Ryan, an art exporter, comes to her aid, protecting her from the dangerous side of Paris and those who would try to harm her. And it doesn’t hurt that he’s sinfully handsome…until she discovers he has just as many secrets as everyone she’s met on this trip of a lifetime gone wrong… The last assignment undercover FBI agent Ryan DeLong wants is to investigate art theft. But here he is, stuck in Paris, chasing down the thieves of a million-dollar masterpiece. The only bright spot is Elle, the shy but enchanting doctoral student who teaches him about more than just the beauty of Surrealism. He can’t tell her the truth of his identity, plus he refuses to get romantically involved with anyone while he’s on a case. But when he learns Elle also has things to hide, he begins to doubt everything he thought he knew about her.
ABOUT JACQUELINE CORCORAN
Jacqueline Corcoran was born in England, but has lived in the U.S. for most of her life - in Boston, California, Michigan, Texas, and now in the Washington D.C. area with her husband, two children, and three rescue animals. She is a social worker, psychotherapist and professor (at the University of Pennsylvania), as well as an author. Her published work includes 17 textbooks, two non-fiction trade titles, and several novels. Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon Author Profile
The Silent Speak
Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo -- PROLOGUE: She read the note again. Twice in the past three years, similar notes had been splashed all over the newspapers. She knew immediately what it meant, but her brain wouldn’t allow her to process it. For several minutes she just stared at it. Her lips formed words that never came. When her brain caught up, it went straight to denial. This could not be happening. Things like this did not happen in ordinary families. Not in families like hers. She pulled down the door handle. The door was unlocked. That was a good sign, right? She would go into the house and find everything exactly as it had always been. There just had to be some simple explanation for that note. Yes, she nodded to herself, relieved to have come to a decision. She nudged the door open and put one foot on the wooden floor. The house was eerily quiet. No kids running around. No noise from the kitchen. ‘Now don’t panic,’ she muttered to herself. ‘Everything will be fine. Just go inside.’ She tried to lift her foot, but her brain wouldn’t cooperate. Hands shaking, she pulled out her mobile and dialled 999. She was still frozen in the doorway when the police arrived. 
GIVEAWAY! Hosted by:
Cinderellis
-- EXCERPT: Ellis leaned his elbows on the handrail of the narrow metal catwalk overlooking the frontstage area and closed his eyes, allowing the music below to encompass him from all sides. Surrounding his senses. Filling his soul. About three-quarters of the way through Cinder’s set, there was a song that dripped with passion and heart, making exquisite use of his stunning vibrato. It had become a favorite of Ellis’s almost from the get-go, most especially because its simplicity allowed him a moment to breathe, to open himself, and to fall heart-first into the music. The constantly moving parts of the high-concept production ground to a halt during those three minutes and forty-two seconds. The fly space he occupied went still and quiet as a single bloodred spotlight focused on center stage, highlighting a lone wooden stool and a microphone stand. Following his third wardrobe change of the night, clad in skintight black jeans and a white ribbed tank, Cinder stepped onto the stage clutching the neck of an acoustic guitar. As if on cue, the audience swooned into the orchestrated mood change. They all knew what came next, and with a soft, collective gasp, the whole theater held its breath. Then, like the beat of a heart, as Cinder rested a hip on the stool, adjusted the strap of his guitar, and drew the microphone close, the crowd exhaled as one. With the first note of the now familiar song, Ellis’s chest tightened. Music had always held an important place in his life, affecting him in ways he couldn’t explain. But nothing in his twenty-six years on this earth had ever latched on to his very being the way Cinder could with his haunting tenor as it trembled up an octave before plunging in both register and depth. Straight into his heart. He looked forward to this brief respite more and more each day, surprised to find himself curious about the man who made such soul-moving compositions. Ellis rarely cared about anything other than the music itself, but something about Cinder’s music was different. Something about Cinder was different; Ellis just couldn’t put his finger on what. Growing up in Vegas with a stepfather in show business, Ellis had never been impressed by celebrity. He admired the effort that went into reaching and maintaining stardom, but he could say the same thing about a lot of jobs out there. If someone put in a full day of hard work, they earned his respect, no matter what the end goal or result. But Ellis’s curiosity over Cinder wasn’t based on the novelty of his fame or even over the man himself. It was the music Ellis yearned to delve deeper into. It affected him in ways he didn’t understand, but he wanted to. It was like Cinder saw into a part of Ellis even he had never known was there, and he needed to know why… and how? He wanted to put a face to the voice if only to prove Cinder was real. To prove the responses he drew from Ellis weren’t figments of his imagination. To prove he was still capable of emotions that ran so deep they could penetrate the walls he’d built around his fractured heart after his mom’s death. To prove he could still feel. 
GIVEAWAY! Hosted by:
The First Man
-- EXCERPT: He turns towards me, and I immediately regret getting so close to him, in the darkness, the roads around us almost deserted. No one can see us. I regret even coming here tonight, having watched him for three hours with my stomach in flames. I can’t believe I thought I could do this. I can’t believe I told him that we couldn’t do this. Not that it’s easy every day, seeing him in a crowd, always surrounded by friends, or with his family. Paddling around in a kayak, or playing a gig, talking, laughing. Pretending. He moves quickly, grabbing my face between his hands and bringing it closer to his, until our foreheads are touching. I can’t feel anything, can’t think, can’t speak; his hands are touching me, holding me against him. His large, warm hands are against my skin. I hadn’t realised how much I’d missed them until I felt their heat again. I didn’t think that wanting them on me, all over me, would be so painful. And then, Andy kisses me, stripping me of my anger and making me forget why it was even there in the first place. I grab hold of his wrists as he pushes against my mouth, breathing into me, reminding me of the reason I could never want anyone else. Andy’s kisses aren’t easy to handle: they’re strong and powerful, fuelled by impatience and uncontrollable desire. Andy’s kisses are laced with bitterness and silence. They taste of lost nights and bad timing. Andy’s kisses taste of lies, of shortness of breath. They taste of mistakes and decisions we never made. Andy’s kisses are pain and regret; they’re anxiety and frustration; they’re darkness and desperation. I hate Andy’s kisses. I hate them so much that I can’t help but love them. 
GIVEAWAY! Hosted by:
The Silent Speak
Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo -- PROLOGUE: She read the note again. Twice in the past three years, similar notes had been splashed all over the newspapers. She knew immediately what it meant, but her brain wouldn’t allow her to process it. For several minutes she just stared at it. Her lips formed words that never came. When her brain caught up, it went straight to denial. This could not be happening. Things like this did not happen in ordinary families. Not in families like hers. She pulled down the door handle. The door was unlocked. That was a good sign, right? She would go into the house and find everything exactly as it had always been. There just had to be some simple explanation for that note. Yes, she nodded to herself, relieved to have come to a decision. She nudged the door open and put one foot on the wooden floor. The house was eerily quiet. No kids running around. No noise from the kitchen. ‘Now don’t panic,’ she muttered to herself. ‘Everything will be fine. Just go inside.’ She tried to lift her foot, but her brain wouldn’t cooperate. Hands shaking, she pulled out her mobile and dialled 999. She was still frozen in the doorway when the police arrived.
GIVEAWAY! Hosted by:
Tristan
-- EXCERPT: Her wings hurt. Not just a low background thrum. Nor the deep throbbing ache she’d left behind hours ago. No, this was constant, stabbing agony as something wrenched deep inside her with every flex of her right wing. The rest of her was faring only slightly better—throat and wrists bruised to deep purple, a clump of her long dark hair was missing. And, down her right side, a blistering burn surrounded by pits and pockmarks, flanked a deep laceration through her wing. The harsh results of catching herself against the blazing rafters in her frantic flight to freedom. Nim flew in a haze of pain, hardly aware of her surroundings. Focusing everything she had on moving forward. Staying low against the trees. Eventually she had to take a break. The frantic pace and constant pain were making it hard to think, and she needed a moment to assess and plan. She had fled into the sky, taking nothing other than the clothes on her back and Val’s ring clenched in her fist. No thought other than to get far away. She had flown at least a mile before she felt safe enough to hover, just for a few seconds, and tuck the ring into the small pocket in her waistband. But now she was past the initial rush of panic, and tiring fast. She desperately needed a moment to regroup. She allowed herself to drop down a few feet so that she was in amongst the top of the trees and flew jerkily toward a massive beech, thankfully still thick with leaves in reds and golds as autumn approached. A good place to hide. The kind of place she and Val had loved to play when they were children, pretending to be warriors with Tristan. Hurt followed the thought, swift and brutal. She pushed it all away—there would be time for self-pity after she survived.
GIVEAWAY! Hosted by:   Book & Author Details: The Dark Arts by Kitty Thomas Publication date: February 17th 2021 Genres: Adult, Dark Romance, Romance Synopsis: The Complete Duet The Con Artist: Art. Obsession. Twisted possession. When starving artist Saskia Roth meets Lachlan Niche, a local art collector and tech tycoon, she has no idea how her life is about to change. One act of desperation, one con gone wrong, and she finds herself at the mercy of a powerful man she fears and despises–or so she thinks. As her desire for him grows, life as his captive becomes something more… something that could both transform her and destroy her. The Escape Artist: Claire was held captive for 43 days by a man who did unspeakable things to her. Three years after her escape, she gets her revenge. The only problem is, she’s got the wrong man. God help her if he escapes. (Includes Saskia and Lachlan’s complete HEA from The Con Artist) Goodreads AUTHOR BIO: KITTY THOMAS writes dark stories that play with power and have unconventional HEAs. She began publishing in early 2010 with her bestselling COMFORT FOOD and is considered one of the original authors of the dark romance subgenre. To find out FIRST when a new book comes out, subscribe to Kitty's New Release List: KITTYTHOMAS.COM website / twitter / bookbub / booksandmainbites / goodreads GIVEAWAY Blitz-wide giveaway (INT) 5 signed books by the author and a $100 Amazon Gift Card rafflecopter   |
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