Blog Tour# The Heron Kings’ Flight By Eric Lewis# Grim Dark Fantasy

About the Book:

The Heron Kings have been betrayed. A centuryafter their formation from a
gang of desperate peasant insurgents, the shadowy band of forest rangers
suffers arare defeat when askirmish turns into a bloodyambush. Their shaky
truce with the crown is tested as young members Linetand Aerrus work to
track down their enemies. When reluctant peacetime soldier Eyvind reveals a
conspiracy to welcome the charismatic invader Phynagoras, the trio must
convince a weak king and pitifully few allies to stand against the storm.
Their only hope lies in the forgotten tactics of their own guerrilla past,and a
terrifying new alchemical weapon the likes of which the world had never
imagined. The only question is which side will be destroyed by it first…

My Thoughts:

I have just finished this most enjoyable fantasy. It is the type of fantasy I enjoy. No dragons, troll, wizards etc. No monsters summoned from other worlds to fight as allies. Instead the monsters in this book wear an all too human face.

This is my first read by this author and is book two in this series that I read as a stand alone and it worked perfectly. This is not high epic fantasy but is more a medieval fiction and could appeal to lovers of historical fiction as well.

This book had plenty of action and fights galore. Great world building and well fleshed out characters. This is a book that you will plunge yourself into and it will not let you go. You will find yourself swinging a sword along with Linet and Eywind, the unlikely allies and heroes. This is a great read and you like your fantasy grim then I would highly recommend this book to you. Grab a copy!

The Author:

Eric Lewis is the author of The Heron Kings, an “excellent debut” (Publishers Weekly) that is “dark, brutal and bloody” (Grimdark Magazine) and “fast-paced & gripping” (British Fantasy Society) with “a Robin Hood feel” (Booklist). The sequel The Heron Kings’ Flight is a “high-energy, atmospheric follow-up” and a “pulse-pounding adventure” that is “sure to please” (Publishers Weekly).

He is also the author of several works of speculative short fiction published in Nature, Speculative North, Cossmass Infinities, Electric Spec, Bards & Sages Quarterly, the anthology Crash Code, and various other pro, semipro and amateur venues. His short stories are also available in the collections Tricks of the Blade and As It Seems.

His greatest writing influences are Frank Herbert, Robert Graves, Sharon Kay Penman, Colleen McCullough, Peter S. Beagle and Joe Abercrombie. By day he is a research scientist weathering the latest rounds of mergers and layoffs and trying to remember how to be a person again long after surviving grad school.

When not subjecting his writing to one rejection after another he can sometimes be found browsing antique swords he can’t afford, or searching for the perfect hiking trail or archery range. Don’t ask where because he’s never lived anywhere for longer than five years.

He engages in shameless self-promotion on Twitter @TheHeronKing. Details, newsletter & blog at ericlewis.ink.

Blog Tour # Do No Harm Jack Jordan #Thriller RandomThingsTours

About The Book:

My son has been taken. And I’ve been given a choice…
Kill a patient on the operating table. Or never see him again.
The man lies on the table in front of me.
As a surgeon, it’s my job to save him.
As a mother, I know I must kill him.
You might think that I’m a monster.
But there really is only one choice.
I must get away with murder.
Or I will never see my son again.
Could you kill another person to save your own child?
When heart surgeon Dr Anna Jones returns home to find her
son kidnapped, she is forced to make an impossible choice. Kill a
high-profile patient on the operating table, or never see her son
again.
Told from the perspectives of Anna, her scrub nurse, Margot,
who has her own secrets to protect and DI Rachel Conaty, Anna
must first make the impossible decision…
I’VE SAVED MANY LIVES.
WOULD YOU TRUST ME WITH YOURS?
THE HEART-STOPPING THRILLER OF 2022

#DO NO HARM.

My Thoughts:

Firstly my thanks to Anne Cater @RandomThingsTours and Jack Jordan and his publishers for my copy to review.

Jack is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. He improves with every book and this is his best yet. If this book doesn’t have you on the edge of your seat, biting your fingernails then there must be something wrong with you.

This is a book of three women. Their secrets, troubles and what they do to survive.

DR. Anna Jones is a heart surgeon who has sworn an oath; part of which is DO NO HARM. Having sworn that oath would you take a life to save a life?

Margot a theatre scrub nurse who has multiple problems of her own.

And Rachel a DI who is carrying about a burden of guilt on her shoulders.

Three different women from opposite ends of the spectrum. What could they have in common? You will need to read this book to find out.

Jack shows his skills as an author, he takes these three disparate threads and weaves them together to form one outstanding story. A story that will drag you in and not let go until the last word has wrung every last emotion you posses.

A story of three women, who are well rounded characters. The prose flows along and takes the reader on the trip of a lifetime.

To put it quite simply this book puts the THRILL into THRILLER. Read this book. I’m glad I did. A commended read.

Author Bio:

Jack Jordan is the global bestselling author of Anything for Her, My Girl, A Woman
Scorned, Before Her Eyes, and Night by Night and an Amazon No.1 bestseller in the
UK, Canada, and Australia. After selling at auction in the UK and numerous foreign
territories, Do No Harm is set to be the thriller of the summer in 2022. The idea for
Do No Harm came to Jack after undergoing a minor medical procedure where he
had to be sedated and trust strangers with his welfare. After the anaesthesia wore
off, Jack began scribbling his notes, wondering to himself just how iron-clad a
surgeon’s oath is, and what it would take to break it…

Further praise for Do No Harm
‘Utterly gripping, addictive and brilliantly tense’ Karen Hamilton

‘Do No Harm hooked me with that gut wrenching dilemma [and] then mercilessly ratcheted up the tension. What a terrifying ride!’ Gilly Macmillan
‘The ultimate page turning edge-of-your-seat thriller. Loved it’ Nikki Smith

‘With an agonising dilemma at its heart and a pace that never lets up, Jack Jordan has delivered a corker of a thriller with Do No Harm’ Kate Riordan
,Had me on the edge of my seat . . . Do No Harm is brilliantly thrilling’ Nadine Matheson
”Seriously terrifying, chilling and unputdownable’ Emma Curtis
‘An edge-of-your-seat, head-spinning thriller with emotion and depth woven through its
heart’ Lauren North
A brilliant example of psychological crime writing at its very best, always compelling, with
fascinating characters . . . Something tells me Jack Jordan is going to HUGE’ Kate Rhodes
‘
‘A real winner: gut-wrenching, nail-biting and thought-provoking’ Robin Morgan-Bentley
‘A disturbing, heart-stopping page turner. Do No Harm is THE must-read of 2022. I loved it!’ Ruby Speechley

‘Completely brilliant: fast-paced, brimming with action, utterly compelling. Exactly what a great thriller should be. Sarah Bonner

Blog Tour #The Hostage of Rome Robert. M. Kidd# Historical Fiction

About The Book:

217 BC. Rome has been savaged, beaten and is in retreat. Yet, in that winter of winters, her garrisons cling on behind the walls of Placentia and Cremona, thanks to her sea-born supplies. If he could be freed, a hostage of Rome may yet hold the key to launching a fleet of pirates that could sweep Rome from the seas. For that hostage is none other than Corinna’s son Cleon, rival heir to the throne of Illyria, held in Brundisium, four hundred miles south of the Rubicon.
But Hannibal is set on a greater prize! Macedon is the great power in Greece, feared even by Rome. Its young king, Philip, is being compared with his illustrious ancestor, Alexander the Great. An alliance with Macedon would surely sound the death knell for Rome.
Given Hannibal’s blessing, Sphax, Idwal and Corinna face an epic journey against impossible odds. Navigating the length of the Padus, past legionary garrisons and hostile Gauls, they must then risk the perils of the storm-torn Adria in the depths of the winter. If the gods favour them and they reach the lands of the pirate queen, only then will their real trials begin. 

Buy Links

• Amazon UK
• Online Stores ▾

My Thoughts:

Thanks to Rachel Gilbey for inviting me on this tour. I have never read anything by Robert M. Kidd before and I was unaware this was the third book in a trilogy and therefore I read it as a stand alone. Whilst it was a good read if I had read the first two books in the series then I would’ve known more about the back – story.

What is obvious at the outset is how well this book has been researched and how good the author is at conveying the sense of time in which the book is set. A really exciting story, beautifully researched and full of authentic detail. With an amazingly powerful female central character the narrative rips along at a cracking pace with never a dull moment. i thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.

I would recommend this book highly; but do what I’m going to do. Start from book one to get full enjoyment from the books ans to follow Sphax’s story from the start to it’s climax.

About the Author:

When Cato the Censor demanded that ‘Carthage must be destroyed,’ Rome did just that. In 146 BC, after a three year siege, Carthage was razed to the ground, its citizens sold into slavery and the fields where this once magnificent city had stood, ploughed by oxen. Carthage was erased from history.
That’s why I’m a novelist on a mission! I want to set the historical record straight. Our entire history of Hannibal’s wars with Rome is nothing short of propaganda, written by Greeks and Romans for their Roman clients. It intrigues me that Hannibal took two Greek scholars and historians with him on campaign, yet their histories of Rome’s deadliest war have never seen the light of day.
My hero, Sphax the Numidian, tells a different story!
When I’m not waging war with my pen, I like to indulge my passion for travel and hill walking, and like my hero, I too love horses. I live in Pembrokeshire, West Wales.

Thanks to Robert M. Kidd for the story.

Thanks to Rachel’s Random Resources for the tour invite

One Of The Girls..By Lucy Clarke Blog Tour# Psychological Thriller RandomThingsTours

About the Book:

One of us is a liar. One of us is a stranger. One of us is a cheater.
But who could be a killer?
The six of us arrived on the beautiful, sunbaked island of Aegos to leave it all behind, our suitcases packed with flip flops and beach towels, our heads full of dreams for the perfect weekend away with friends…


On the first night, we laughed and danced under the stars. On the second night we went skinny dipping in the warm, summer sea. On the third night the wine loosened our tongues, the lies spilling and the masks starting to slip.


And on the final night it all ignited as we celebrated around the beach fire – for someone, the holiday in Greece would be their last…

My Thoughts:

A hen party in Greece. A time for celebration and happiness? Wrong! As the blurb says, One of us is a liar, One of us a stranger, One of us a cheater and One of us killer. So you know the premise of the book. But? What a great time you will have finding out who’s who!

This is my first dance with this author and what a dance it was. I loved every page of this book and look forward to reading more by this author if this is the standard she has set. This tale is a twisted and creepy tale which will have you second guessing yourself as to which way it is going. Just when you think you have handle on the plot and where it is going another spanner is thrown into the works and everything is up for grabs again. Everything about this book suited me down to the ground. No pages of dense text, crisp dialogue and short chapters that had you saying to yourself, one more chapter; which was a breeze as the plot and quality writing pulled you along.

At the risk of repeating myself a delicious bundle of crisp dialogue, quality writing and well fleshed out characters. You will notice I haven’t told you much about the plot. If you want to know about it I would say the best way is to get a copy and read!

A brilliant book by Lucy which I would recommend to all.

The Author:

Sunday Times bestseller Lucy Clarke writes from a beach hut, using the inspiration from the wild south coast to craft her stories. Her debut novel, The Sea Sisters, was a Richard & Judy Book Club pick, and she has since published A Single Breath, The Blue/No Escape, Last Seen, You Let Me In, and The Castaways, which was a Waterstones Thriller of the Month. Lucy lives by the sea with her husband and two children.

Brazen By Julia Haart# Blog Tour UltraOrthodoxJewishLife RandomThingsTours

About The Book:

A riveting, inspiring memoir of one woman’s escape from an extremist religious sect and an extraordinary rise from housewife to shoe designer, to CEO and co-owner of the modeling agency Elite World Group

Ever since she was a child, every aspect of Julia Haart’s life–what she wore, what she ate, what she thought–was controlled by the dictates of ultra-orthodox Judaism. At nineteen, after a lifetime spent caring for her seven younger siblings, she was married off to a man she barely knew. For the next twenty-three years, he would rule her life. Eventually, when Julia’s youngest daughter Miriam started to question why she wasn’t allowed to sing, run, or ride a bike, Julia reached a breaking point. She knew that if she didn’t find a way to leave, her daughters would be forced into the same unending servitude that had imprisoned her.

So Julia created a double life. When no one was looking, she’d sneak looks at fashion magazines and sketch designs for the clothes she dreamed about wearing in the world beyond her orthodox suburb. In the ultra-orthodox world, clothing has one purpose: to cover the body, head to toe. Giving any thought to one’s appearance beyond that is considered sinful, an affront to God. She started clandestinely selling life insurance to save her “freedom” money. At the age of forty-two, she finally mustered the courage to flee the fundamentalist life that was strangling her soul.

Within a week of her escape, Julia started a shoe brand, and within nine months she was at Paris for fashion week. A year later, she became creative director of La Perla, the world-leading lingerie brand. And now, she is the co-owner and CEO of Elite World Group, and one of the most powerful people in the fashion industry.

Propulsive and unforgettable, Julia’s story is the journey from a world of “no” to a world of “yes,” and an inspiration for women everywhere to find their freedom, their purpose, and their voice.

My Thoughts:

I have never heard of Julia Haart before or seen her Netflix My Unorthodox Life. Also though I have Jewish friends I know nothing about UltraOrthodox life.

Julia talks us through her early life as the child of Russian parents living in communism through to being raised in Ultra Orthodox Judaism and eventually her adulthood as an Ultra Orthodox Jew. The last quarter of the book talks about how she builds up her business and the trials and tribulations of doing so when you’ve barely been in the ‘outside world’ for long.

I found the book interesting and captivating and I enjoyed how Julia explains the religious concepts in detail and how this juxtaposes against the no details spared nature of the post ultra orthodox parts.

I think Julia’s story is a great story of courage.

The Author:

Julia Haart is the star of the Netflix docuseries My Unorthodox Life.She is the CEO, co-owner and chief creative officer of Elite World Group, the world’s first talent media agency, which is comprised of 48 global agencies representing the most dynamic and culturally connected talent in the world. She was previously the creative director of La Perla, the luxury Italian intimates brand, and launched her career as a designer with her namesake shoe collection. Julia lives in Manhattan. Instagram: @juliahaart.