#SundayWalks ‘Redwood Forest’ #BosqueSecuoyas #Cantabria #Spain

Life in and out of the woods…

Straight path,

Fun path,

Curves ahead,

Weathered steps,

Tall and straight,

High enough to crowd the sky,

Firmly rooted,

Broken,

Blocking paths,

Multifaceted,

Symmetrical,

Wounded,

Breathtaking,

And more…

I hope you enjoyed your virtual visit to ‘Parque Secuoyas’ in Cantabria, Spain.

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This Redwood Forest is located just outside the rural township of Cabezón de la Sal, in the province of Cantabria, its capital city is Santander.

It was planted in the 1940s when Spain needed a new long-term source of raw materials. Over 800 red sequoias were planted on an 2.5-hectare (six-acre) hillside patch.

Secuoyas or Redwood are the world’s tallest and fast-growing trees. They are also the most long-lived.

Today it this forest is a “protected natural area”, where nature-loving visitors can enjoy a peaceful, easy, one-hour hike, wandering amidst about 850 giant trees, between 36 metres (118 feet) and high 50 m (164 ft), high.

More information here

#TuesdayBookBlog ‘Then She Ran’ by Charlie Gallagher #Amreading #Bookreviews #Heist #Thriller

Today I’m reviewing Then She Ran by Charlie Gallagher.

THEN SHE RAN an absolutely gripping crime thriller with a massive twist by [GALLAGHER, CHARLIE]

Blurb

On a lazy Sunday morning, Jenny Harris is shaken awake by her panic-stricken boyfriend, Joseph. Their baby daughter lies asleep on her chest. ‘We’ve got to go!’ Joseph screams.

In their hotel room, Jenny hurriedly wraps her tiny baby up. All their belongings are left behind. There’s no time. Joseph’s panic is contagious.

Jenny sprints with her family from the hotel. And it’s clear that they are being chased. Their pursuers are indiscriminate and they are deadly.

Her boyfriend falls, caught up in the carnage, but he manages to give her one last message: ‘RUN!’

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My Review

I came across this novel by chance on Amazon. I looked inside because of the blurb and downloaded it after the first paragraph. In fact, it gripped me from the very first line: ‘Jenny, honey, we’ve got to go now!’

From then on Jenny, Joseph and their baby are on the run first from ruthless killers and then from the police. They are forced to split up and there follow four acion-packed days on the run for Jenny, Joseph and their four-month old baby.

Jenny has no idea who wants to kill her or why. Her several escapes and near death experiences are realistic and thrilling.

On the other hand we will be following the police investigation, which in spite of some important blunders, is meticulously and realistically carried out.

I enjoyed the insight to police procedure and to the points where it crossed personal boundaries, and the people involved in the crimes became of real personal interest to the investigators, especially PI George Elms, a complex, clever man, who makes up for his errors (he’s only human) with dedication and resourcefulness.

The characters were fully fleshed to the point that I could see them, understand how they felt and sympathise with their actions.

The plot was perfect. Two separate crimes, both seemingly unrelated and inexplicable, gradually merge and everything starts making sense.

I enjoy reading realistic, cleverly plotted crime stories, like Then She Ran, where all the threads are plausibly and cleverly tied up at the end.

It’s a bit like a happy ever after romance, although there is no romance in this novel, and yet there is a great deal of love, real, unrequited, misdirected and tragic.

I would definitely recommend Charlie Gallagher’s books to lovers of thrilling, procedural, crime fiction.

He knows what he’s writing about, because he’s been working with UK police force, and his first hand knowledge and understanding of police procedure and human nature come across in this novel.

Especially for readers who love well-plotted and exciting and realistic police procedural fiction.

 I will definitely be reading more novels by this author.

THE LANGTHORNE SERIES box set of three gripping crime thrillers by [GALLAGHER, CHARLIE]
More books in the series I look forward to reading.
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Then She Ran was published in April 2018 and it already has almost 100 reviews 4.3 average on Amazon UK and it’s currently Number 1 Bestseller on Amazon.com for Heist Thrillers. Great detective fiction. Hours of excitement and entertainment guaranteed, and you can buy it for well under the price of a coffee!

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#WordlessWednesday Night & Day #Poem

Sun, moon, day, night.

Again.

Same place, new time.

Again.

Forward. Stop. Start.

Again.

Rewind. Repeat.

Again.

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#TuesdayBookBlog ‘White Lies’ by Lucy Dawson #Amreading #Bookreviews #PsychologicalThriller

Today I’m reviewing White Lies by Lucy Dawson.

Blurb

Alexandra Inglis is a respected family doctor, trusted by her patients to keep their most intimate secrets. And if sometimes the boundaries between duty and desire blur… well, she’s only human.

But when Alex oversteps a line with Jonathan, one of her patients, she knows she’s gone too far. Jonathan is obsessive, and to get what he wants he will tear Alex’s world apart – threatening not only her career but her marriage and family too.

Soon Alex finds she’s capable of doing almost anything to keep hold of her perfect life, as it begins to spin dangerously out of her control…

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My Review

I picked up this novel for the reasons I always do, the blurb intrigued me and then the first few ‘look inside’ pages gripped me immediately.

 A ‘girls’ weekend in Ibiza and a one-night stand threaten to ruin Alex’s career as a doctor, her happy marriage and her two daughters’ stability.

But was it a one-night stand? Did she have a happy marriage? Who is telling the truth? Who is lying and why?

The story is narrated from several first-person viewpoints, which I love, although it’s not an easy feat for an author, but Lucy Dawson does it brilliantly.

The reader is able to piece the story together from the various first person narrations by the main players; the wife, the husband, the wife’s colleague, the young lover and the lover’s girlfriend. The problem is, some of them lie, or simply jump to the wrong conclusions, or only tell partial truths…

The role of social media and media coverage as instigators of gossip, exaggeration, half-truths and lies, in order to sell more, become famous, or simple get more views on their profiles is frighteningly realistic.

The plot is well constructed and gradually unravelled to the shocking and unexpected ending in which everything in Alex’s professional and domestic life seems to return to normal, but can anything ever be the same again?

There were many twists along the way, but the most surprising were the two last twists on the final pages. Terrifying, but brilliantly contrived!

White Lies is Especially for lovers of domestic thrillers with twisted and shocking endings.

I will definitely be looking out for more psychological thrillers by Lucy Dawson. I’ve just downloaded The Daughter, published in January.

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#ThursdayDoors ‘Calle Alfonso XII’ #Cordoba #Spain

I took these photos this morning on my way to work, walking along the Street Alfonso XII in Cordoba, Old Town.

This first building has an open archway, which must have once had a large wooden door, but now it has only a cast iron door leading to the central patio and a building which has been converted into small flats. It used to be a grand house.

The second doors below belong to a primary school. There is an outer wooden door and an inner cast iron one leading into the patio and classrooms.   

 

Thursday Doors is a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos from around the world. Feel free to join in on the fun by creating your own Thursday Doors post each week and then sharing it, between Thursday morning and Saturday noon and linking up on Norm’s blog here.

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#WordlessWednesday Behind Bars #Haiku Patios #Cordoba

Behind Bars

Hidden treasures rest,

Silent in peaceful confines.

Still life behind bars.

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#TuesdayBookBlog ‘The Last Girl’ by Nick Twist #Amreading #Bookreviews

Today I’m reviewing The Last Girl by Nick Twist.

The Last Girl: A gripping psychological thriller with a killer twist by [Twist, Nick]

Blurb

After surviving a plane crash, June West surrenders to a shallow existence of a life without memories–without purpose. She is stuck in a hospital where she is taken care of and told what to do with the rest of her life. But how come she has no relatives? No family, children or friends? Hell, she isn’t even sure her name is June West.

Slowly, her grasp on the world starts slipping. She hears baby cries every night. She eavesdrops the nurses talk about the last girl. Then she receives a note from under the door: you have twenty four hours to save your daughter or they will kill her.

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My Review

I picked up this novel because of the blurb, and although I’ve included it here, believe me, nothing is what it seems in this novel. The blurb is intriguing enough to attract the reader, but if you think it’s about a woman who has been in a plane crash and is trying to save her daughter from ruthless kidnappers, you are wrong, or maybe not…

The Last Girl is a completely different type of psychological thriller, mainly because it really is a psychological thriller in which the author plays with the readers and the characters’ minds at every twist and turn.

I felt enticed, manipulated, lied to, confused and enthralled, all at the same time!

The Last Girl is, at times, like a rollercoaster, which seems to have derailed, yet continues on its imaginary rails without a destination, but nothing appears by chance, every single scene and character leads to the final culmination, when it all makes sense. What a ride of a novel!

The Last Girl is an innovative, daring and creative novel. It’s like no other psychological thriller I have read. It’s exciting, surprising, ingenious, cleverly plotted, and well written. Once I started reading, I couldn’t put it down. I read it over two days, because I have other things to do, such as a job and a family!

However, like the main character, The Last Girl isn’t perfect, neither is it an easy read. It is confusing, infuriating and distressing at times, but It’s good points by far outweigh these aspects.

It pushes the boundaries of fact, fiction and fantasy in literature and raises interesting theories as some of the characters discuss  the role of literature in our lives and our need to write, rewrite and share our stories.

Especially for readers who love psychological thrillers and don’t mind being confused, surprised, shocked, and mesmerised.

I will definitely be looking out for more thrillers by Nick Twist because he has a unique and compelling way of telling stories.

I can’t wait for his next novel to be published.

Nick Twist

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The Last Girl was published in March and is already an Amazon.com Bestseller and you can buy it for well under the price of coffee.

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#ThursdayDoors ‘San Rafael Cemetery’ #Cordoba #Spain

Thursday Doors is a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos from around the world. Feel free to join in on the fun by creating your own Thursday Doors post each week and then sharing it, between Thursday morning and Saturday noon and linking up on Norm’s blog here.

I visited the cemetery recently for the burial of a friend’s mother. We arrived early, which gave me time to wander around, admire the beautiful building and surroundings and take some photos.

I love the (real) Roman columns adorning the doors. The first and last photos are of the front door, the second photo is the door to the chapel, to the right as you walk inside, and the third door is the door leading into the burial ground, which is just beyond the chapel.

I rarely visit cemeteries, but when I do they inspire peace and reflection. I don’t feel sad, just human. A physical reminder that we must all die, so we had better use our time wisely.

There are some beautiful gardens, plants and statues inside. Have a look. I posted some more pictures of this cemetery yesterday in #WordlessWednesday

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