#TuesdayBookBlog ‘Lie To Me’ by Jess Ryder @jessryderauthor #BookReview #Amreviewing

Today on #TuesdayBookBlog I offer you my review of Lie to Me, a gripping new psychological thriller by Jess Ryder.

Meredith was told her mother had abandoned her and her father as a result of her mental health problems. One day, when she’s helping her father move, she discovers a video recording her mother made of herself when she was four years old. Her father refuses to give her any details, so Meredith embarks on a journey in search of her mother, which leads her straight into an unsolved murder which took place over thirty years ago.

Although the murder mystery is central to the plot, Lie to Me is also a family drama, where lies and mental illness have overwhelmed the parents of a young child in need of answers and in search of the truth.

The plot was believable and well woven, with plenty of twists and turns and a few red herrings, too! The ending wasn’t shocking, but it was unexpected and intriguing. The murder mystery is finally, albeit tragically and distressfully, solved, and Meredith, who was stuck in an emotional and professional rut, is able to move on in a completely new and exciting direction.

The use of present and past tense and first and third person narrator was cleverly done. The events which occurred in 1984 were narrated in the past tense and third person, while the events which occur in the novel’s present time are narrated in the present tense, in the first person, by Meredith. This clearly defines present and past, and the use of the present tense adds pace and suspense.

The characters were realistic and well-rounded, and they all had plenty of flaws, the main ones being dishonesty and selfishness. Meredith sometimes annoyed me for being too indecisive, her ex-boyfriend was too ambitious, Cara too naive, Isobel too manipulative, and Jay too keen to take advantage of others. Her father seemed like a reliable and caring man who spoiled his relationship with his daughter by failing to tell her the truth, or even face it himself.

I listened to the audio version, which helps give each person a unique tone and voice.

Especially for lovers of gripping psychological thrillers.

UK buy link

US buy link

Lie to Me was published on 19th April by .

Follow Jess on Twitter @jessryderauthor

Visit Jess’s Web page 

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#CarrotRanch #FlashFiction Challenge ‘The Rat Catcher’ @Charli_Mills

This post was written in response to Charli Mills at Carrot Ranch’s weekly Flash Fiction Challenge. May 11, 2017 prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story about trading. Trade away and go where the prompt leads you. Find out more, read other entries or join in here!

I’ve returned to Victorian England once again for my contribution. 

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Trading Rats: The Rat Catcher

The seller stood with his back to the door holding a swinging cage of squealing rats.

‘How much?’ asked the buyer.

‘A guinea.’

The buyer stroked his beard. ‘Two shillings.’

‘What? I went down the gutters for days risking my life to catch them!’

The buyer looked at the bite marks and blood on the seller’s hands. ‘You need to sell and find a doctor or you’re a dead man.’

The seller leaned back into the door which closed with a loud bang. ‘Two guineas, or I drop this cage, it smashes and we’ll both be devoured for dinner.’

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Who decides the price in illegal trading? Buyer? Seller? Is it a question of supply and demand, as in any other negotiation? Or is it the person who has less to lose? What happens when the buyer or the seller gets too greedy?

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Rat Catchers had a lot of work in Victorian England for three reasons.

1- Rat baiting was a popular, albeit illegal sport, which involved a lot of money with rich and poor people betting. In this case, rat catchers caught live rats.

2- Other rat catchers were paid to kill rats in different parts of the country.

3- Finally rich ladies liked to keep rats as pets in squirrel cages. A practice which I have heard is also popular nowadays.

Many of the rat catchers were children. They preferred catching rats to cleaning chimneys, working in coal mines, or hawking wares, because it was easier and paid better.

De-ratting English manors and businesses was often more lucrative as children could earn from two shillings to one pound. By the way, a guinea was 21 shillings.

If anyone is interested in finding out more:

Full Revelations of a Professional Rat-catcher After 25 Years’ Experience

This fascinating book, written in 1889, is a fascinating and informative read.

More information on this web page about Victorian England.

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#SixWordSaturday Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining #haiku

 

Chasing silver clouds,

Racing over clear blue skies.

Enjoy the challenge.

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I was thinking about this well-known saying a few days ago as I was walking under a cloudy sky.

Cloudy skies not only bring silver linings, but they’re also more beautiful and inspiring than clear blue skies. In fact, a clear blue sky is enhanced by the presence of beautiful clouds, which are always unique.

Life is like that too. Living within our comfort zone is pleasant and safe, but it’s the moments we move out of this peaceful serenity that life moves on to a more challenging and exciting place where we feel energised.

It would be exhausting to live in a constant state of excitement, but the rush of the challenge undeniably leads to personal and professional growth. Striking the balance between comfort and challenge is the key.

How do you balance living within your comfort zone and challenging yourself?

Follow this link if you’d like to join in #SixWordSaturday

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#FridayFictioneers ‘The Accident’ #FlashFiction

It’s Friday, time for another of Alice’s stories with Friday Fictioneers. Thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for hosting the weekly Friday Fictioneers challenge and for her photograph. This week the prompt has taken me to a crime story. Alice’s parents have inherited  a mansion and a great deal of money from Alice’s grandmother, but as a result, she is in danger.

PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

The Accident

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‘Let me go!’ Alice struggled against her captor.

‘How much is she worth?’ he asked. 

The driver turned towards them in the back seat. ‘Dimitrov’s following us. Keep her head down.’

They were the last words Alice heard before the car swerved, scraped the guardrails and overturned. The noise was deafening, then silence as she crawled out, blood trickling down her face.

‘I’ll take her to the hospital.’ said a smartly dressed man picking her up. ‘Call an ambulance for them.’ He nodded at the unconscious men inside the car.

‘You’re safe now, Alice,’ he said as they drove away.

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Is Alice safe? Who is Dimitrov? Who were her captors? We’ll see where the following prompts lead Alice.

All my ‘Alice’ flash fiction written for the Friday Fictioneers Challenge can be read as standalones, but if you’re interested in reading previous stories of Alice’s adventures, here  they are!

 If you’d like to join in Friday Fictioneers or read other posts check Rochelle’s Blog for rules and prompts.  

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#ThursdayDoors ‘Patios’ Courtyards in Cordoba

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.

 

There’s a yearly Festivity in Cordoba, the town where I live, called the ‘Patios’ or Courtyard Festival. Families who live in traditional houses in the Old Town with central courtyards, open their homes so that tourists and visitors can look inside and enjoy their potted plants, flowers, wells, whitewashed walls and stone, cobbled, or ceramic floors. Here are a few I visited this week.

The front door is usually made of cast iron as you can see above.

Inside the iron gate is the entry and beyond the patio. Notice the columns on either side. I’m not an expert, so I can’t guarantee it, but many of the houses have ‘real’ Roman pillars, perhaps this is one of them…

Cordoba was first settled by the Romans, who named it Corduba, about a century BC. It is not surprising that these houses resemble Roman houses, Domus, which were built in this quarter, over 2,000 years ago. The style, with the central courtyard and rooms built around it has prevailed, along with the cobbled streets, mosaics and tiles.

Green is a popular colour for doors.

Most doors are made of wood and painted brown.

The plants and flowers in the patio are valued for their beauty and the shade they provide. It’s very hot in Cordoba!

Narrow double doors are popular.

This smaller patio door, probably leads to a cellar or store room.

Most houses have two floors. Would you like to walk upstairs to the top floor gallery and see some more doors?

There are many double glass doors.

If you’re wondering how the plants are watered, it’s with a small watering can on the end of a long pole as you can see here. Notice the cobbled floor in the patio. It’s hundreds pf years old!

 

This is a view of one of the streets in the Old town, where you can visit the patios I’ve shown you.

Here I am having fun visiting the Patios with my daughter.

I hope you enjoyed the doors of the patios in Cordoba!

More about the Patios, which are in the list of Unesco’s Intangible Heritage of Humanity sites,

I’m not really sure what that means, but they are a beautiful sight.

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#SilentSunday Love Generously It’ll Return in Abundance

Continue reading “#SilentSunday Love Generously It’ll Return in Abundance”

#FridayFictioneers ‘Great Aunt Celine’s Postcard’ #FlashFiction

It’s Friday, time for another of Alice’s stories with Friday Fictioneers. Thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for hosting the weekly Friday Fictioneers challenge and Sandra Crook for today’s photo prompt, which led me directly to this weeks’ 100-word story.

PHOTO PROMPT © Sandra Crook

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Great Aunt Celine’s Postcard 

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‘Great Aunt Celine says she’s sorry she couldn’t come to the funeral, but she hopes to visit soon, before she follows her sister into the next dimension.’ Alice handed the postcard back to her mother.

Kevin’s jaw dropped. ‘Alice speaks French?

‘She spent a lot of time with my mother.’

‘Can we visit France?’ Alice held up the postcard. ‘Granny was born in this beautiful city.’

Marsha sighed. ‘One day.’

‘Granny’s mother was German. We could go to Germany, too! Can I take German classes?’

Kevin shook his head. ‘Careful Marsha, she’s too clever and ambitious for her own good.’

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Rochelle’s story inspired me to write my own. Please check out her flash fiction about the Lebensborn children.

After reading Rochelle’s flash, I decided to include French and German ancestry in Alice’s background. Perhaps Alice’s grandmother and her family had been involved in the Second World War? We’ll see where future prompts lead my story…

All my ‘Alice’ flash fiction written for the Friday Fictioneers Challenge can be read as standalones, but if you’re interested in reading previous stories of Alice’s adventures, here  they are!

 If you’d like to join in Friday Fictioneers or read other posts check Rochelle’s Blog for rules and prompts.  

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#FridayReads ‘Fur Coat & No Knickers’ by Adrienne Vaughan @adrienneauthor #amreading #amreviewing #ShortStory

If you’re looking for compelling short stories with unforgettable characters and moving stories, ‘Fur Coat and No Knickers’ is the ideal collection of short stories for you. You’ll love to read these stories over the weekend, or as you’re commuting. or enjoying a short break to read something short and thought-provoking.

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These short stories are well.crafted and touching representations of people’s reactions to death and bereavement, hurtful lies, keeping up appearances, and complex relationships, all including unique and engaging characters you’ll easily recognise or identify with. There are also poems to introduce each story.

George and Mildred, which is my second favourite in the collection, is a beautiful story of second chances, mature love, and the need to have wise and helpful pets!

Lemon Bag, introduces us to a woman who has decided to take charge of her life, with the help of her new bag and a long journey.

Heir Apparent is a poignant story of manipulative lies, and unscrupulous people who take advantage of others,

The Adventuress  is another favourite. It’s about a woman, torn between two men, and a supportive father who is supportive and respectful of her decisions.

A Seed of Doubt is a wonderful ghost story about grief, misunderstandings, forgiveness and second chances.

A Married Man is a tragic story of a despicable liar and a naive young girl. It includes the cruelest villain and the most innocent and pitiful heroine.

Fur Coat and No Knickers, the story which gives the title to this collection is about keeping up false appearances, lies, jealousy, unrequited love and the inevitability of death.

The Retiring Type is a hilarious, yet poignant story about old age and betrayal.

A Visit at Christmas is my favourite. You all know by now that I’m an incurable romantic, and this is a beautiful love story set at Christmas. between a younger man and an older woman. It also reminded me of two characters in my own Trilogy.

The Proper Thing is about a man who has just died and left behind two wives who meet for the first time. Heart-breaking, but it has an optimistic ending.

The Messenger is a complex family drama and saga, set in Ireland, which could easily become a complete novel.

There is a lot of grief and bereavement in these stories, as well as devastating lies and destructive pretentiousness, but there is also a great deal of love, forgiveness, and second chances. Not all of the stories have happy or even satisfactory endings, but there is optimism and hope in the future in most of them. The characters who are able to face the reality of their situation and move on are offered new opportunities.

A Wonderful Collection of Moving Stories to be Read and Reread.

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Adrienne Vaughan has been making up stories since she could speak; primarily to entertain her sister Reta, who from a very early age never allowed a plot or character to be repeated – tough audience. As soon as she could pick up a pen, she started writing them down. It was no surprise she wanted to be a journalist; ideally the editor of a glossy music and fashion magazine, so she could meet and marry a pop star – some of that came true – and in common with so many, still holds the burning ambition to be a ‘Bond Girl’! She now runs a busy PR practice and writes poems, short stories and ideas for books, in her spare time. She is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and a founder member of the indie publishing group The New Romantics4. Adrienne lives in Leicestershire with her husband, two cocker spaniels and a retired dressage horse called Marco. She has also written The Hollow Heart, A Change of Heart, and Secrets of the Heart, in the Heartfelt Series.

Amazon Uk Author Page and Buy Links

Amazon US Author Page and Buy Links

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#Writephoto ‘Feast on the Sunset’ Thursday Photo Prompt #amwriting #Poem

This poem was written in response to Sue Vincent’s weekly Thursday Photo Prompt. Check out Sue’s wonderful blog for more information. 

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Feast on the Sunset

Sip the joy,

Swallow the pain,

Savour the love,

Slowly drink the sun,

Smell the bliss,

Feast on your life.

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Sink into the beauty,

Sail through the sorrow,

Search in the sky,

Spray with the sea,

Stay still in your soul,

Feast on yourself.

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Sprint through the struggle,

Soar through the storm,

Slide like a swan,

Swing to the stars,

Sing your survival,

Feast on your story.

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Stroke the sky,

Sprinkled with sunrise,

Sway with the scars,

Search for silence,

Start your script and

Feast on the sunset.

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