You're Here For a Reason by Rebecca Kirk~Blog Tour(extract)

 Publisher: Bannister Publications Ltd

Publication Date: 23rd September 2023

Genre: Spiritual/Self Help

Review:
Something a little different for today's tour! My copy of the book hasn't quite made it into my hands yet(I think the postman is having a read before handing it over) so instead of a review, I'm going to post an extract of the book provided by Random Things Book Tours and Rebecca Kirk so you can all have a sneak peek of what's inside. But I will be reviewing as soon as I get my hands on the book, so look out for my review coming soon!
Extract

Practices for trusting your path

Here are some suggested practices for you to try, which can help you let go of attaching and grasping and begin to trust your path more.

1. Observe your thoughts and feelings

·        Begin by identifying the thoughts you are having about your next career move or those which underly any actions you might currently be taking, such as searching for new jobs.

·        Do you suspect that those thoughts come from a place of trust or from a place of fear? Is there a sense of flow and ease behind them? Or do you suspect you might be chasing or hustling in some way?

·        Now tune in to the feelings and the energy in your body when you think about your career path and any changes you are trying to make.

·        Is that energy light and spacious? Or does it feel heavy or burdened, perhaps with a knot in your stomach? Your body will always give you the clues you need.

·        Once you have observed any thoughts and feelings stemming from attachment and grasping, you then have a choice to instead call in trust.

2. Visualise letting go

• Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths to connect within.

·        Set your intention around what you want to create, achieve or experience (you could start out with something smaller and more immediate than finding your purpose)

·        Imagine putting that intention and all that you hope it will bring you into a balloon. Fill the balloon with your deepest wishes and any associated positive emotions.

·        Tie the balloon with a piece of coloured string (whatever colour you feel drawn to).

·        Visualise the details on your hand as you loosen your grip on the string and then let the string go and the balloon be taken by the wind.

·        As it soars into the sky, trust that Divine Timing is at work and that the Universe where it will be received with love and support.

·        As it soars into the sky, trust that Divine Timing is at work and that the Universe will support you with your intention in a way which is for your highest good.

 
I hope you enjoyed this sneak peek at You're Here for a Reason, and look out for my full review coming soon!

Krystina xx

The Highlander's Unexpected Bride by Nicole Locke~Blog Tour

 Publisher: Mills & Boon

Publication Date: 28th September 2023

Genre: Historical Romance

Summary:

Is the wife the Highlander seeks

…already by his side?

Back from battle, Hamilton of Clan Graham makes a bet with his brother: to find a wife by summer’s end! The Scottish warrior enlists his childhood friend Beileag to help him woo the perfect woman. But, like he has, Beileag has changed whilst he’s been away―and she intrigues him as never before… His focus should be on winning a bride. So why is Beileag all he can think about?

Review:
Firstly thank you to Rachels Random Resources, Mills & Boon and Nicole Locke for having me on this tour and sending me the book.
Now if you've been following my blog for a while you'll know I love romance, and historical romances are one of my favourite kinds to read. I love stepping back in time and watching a romance unfold somewhere so different to now, you often get really romantic gestures that you'd never see now and I love that escapism.
Now whilst I have read many a Mills &Boon romance in my time I've not read one by Nicole Locke before and I really loved her style of writing, I'm definitely going to check out more from her for my next romance hit!
I loved the Friends to Lovers journey that we watched Hamilton and Beileag go on and the background romance of Cameron and Anna was just so lovely to get glimpses of in between our main romance, I know I'll be heading off to read their story next.
I really felt for poor Beileag every time her mother sniped at her and essentially chipped away at her confidence in herself, I don't know how her mother thought that being cruel would help her leave and find happiness, how do you find love when you keep getting told you height makes you unwanted! But I loved how Hamilton brought her out of her shell and they had that back-and-forth banter with each other.
In short, I loved reading this, I sat and devoured it in one sitting and I'm pretty sure ill head back to it again when i need another dose of historical romance.

Krystina xx

Just Like Mother by Anne Heltzel~Blog Tour

 Publisher: Verve Books

Publication Date: 26th September 2023

Genre: Horror

Summary:

For the past two decades, Maeve has worked hard to build a normal life in New York City, where she keeps everything - and everyone - at a safe distance. When Andrea suddenly reappears, Maeve regains the only true friend she's ever had. Soon she's spending more time at Andrea's remote Catskills estate than in her own cramped apartment. Maeve doesn't even mind that her cousin's wealthy work friends clearly disapprove of her single lifestyle. After all, Andrea has made her fortune in the fertility industry - baby fever comes with the territory. What worries Maeve is that the more she immerses herself in Andrea's world, the more her long-buried memories flood to the surface. But confronting the terrors of her childhood may be the only way for Maeve to transcend the nightmare still to come...

Review:
Firstly thank you to Verve Books and Anne Heltzel for having me on this tour and sending me the book.
The cover for this book is suitably creepy to fit with its horror tag, but personally, i didn't feel like it was a horror read. Don't get me wrong this is most definitely a well-written book and Anne Heltzel's use of language is brilliant throughout but I didn't get the horror vibe. I found it an easy-to-read book, I whizzed through it but i also clocked what was going to happen by chapter 4 and honestly, I kept reading to see how right I was. I missed any of the twists that normally come with a thriller. Now it could be that I'm unintentionally comparing it to another thriller with a motherhood cult at its centre that had me second-guessing myself at all turns and had such a twist that I exclaimed out loud at it and therefore Just Like Mother comes out lacking in comparison. 
I enjoyed the character development though and Maeve's piecing it all together, and I quite liked the flashbacks to their childhood. It was interesting to see their dynamic as children and how, despite the gap they had of not knowing each other, they easily fell back into that dynamic.
Despite not getting the horror vibe from this book I would happily read something by Anne Heltzel again, she has a really good writing style that I found easy to read.

Krystina xx

Highland Reaper by Shauna Richmond (Audiobook) ~Blog Tour

Publisher: Independently published

Publication Date: 24th June 2022

Genre: Fantasy Romance

Summary:

Their secret is out and Tristan soon discovers that his worst fears have come to life. There is a substantial price on his head and the men coming for him target his only weakness...Catherine.

The Raghnalls land in Oakwood and Tristan quickly learns that he is not the only person desperate to save his lover.

What happens when the hunter becomes the hunted?

Can the Norsemen be trusted?

How on earth are they going to survive?

Review:

 Firstly thank you to Hygge Book Tours and Shauna Richmond for having me on this tour and sending me the book.
Now once again I had the audiobook for this one, and unfortunately, once again I did not get on with the narrator. We had a different narrator than we did for book one, so I had hoped I would like the narrator more but alas this was not the case. We had another male narrator but this time he spoke with a very clipped queen's English followed by trying to do a Scottish and Irish accent with little success and it just really put me off. So much so that when I then read the first few chapters again via ebook it put me off the book entirely.
I really enjoyed book one in the series and was really looking forward to diving into book two for this tour but unfortunately, the book fell flat of my expectations. I'm not sure if it's because I really got on badly with the narrator and that then coloured my opinion (I found it difficult to get the bad accents out of my head when reading the rest of the book) or if the book fell into second-book syndrome.
The same banter was there with Tristan and Catherine that I enjoyed in book one and the same connection that they have that I loved in book one was still there but for me, in this book, it didn't hit the same.
I do enjoy Shauna's writing so I think I may skip over to another one of her series and come back to this again when I have the narrator's voice out of my head and see if my opinion changes.

Krystina xx

Anyone but the Boss by Sara.L.Hudson~Blog Tour

 Publisher: Boldwood Books

Publication Date: 18th September 2023

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Summary:

Thomas Moore, heir to the glamorous New York department store Moore’s, has everything. Everything but a sense of humor. Probably why he's so often compared to his philandering crook of a father.

Alice Truman, recently promoted from the sales floor, is determined to prove her worth. Even if that means smiling in the face of the arrogant and too-sexy-for-his-own-good Thomas Moore, who seems to think her unfit for her new position.

Avoidance works wonders until Alice's best friend plans an Elvis-themed destination wedding with Thomas’ brother—a concept the modern Mr. Darcy loathes.

Throw in a hairless cat, a calamitous bachelorette party and some questionable cocktails, and things become… complicated. And when things get complicated, anyone but the boss would be better.

Review:

Firstly thank you to Rachel's Random Resources, Boldwood Books and Sara. L. Hudson for having me on this tour and sending me the book.
I loved reading this book. The interactions between Alice and Thomas were brilliant from their first kind of argumentative ones to the more easy banter that eventually emerged. The hen party shenanigans were fantastic, I was in fits of giggles at them at almost every page! I loved Chase, he was just so fun, complete and utter mischief personified at times and I loved anytime he stepped in to cause mayhem.
And the sexual tension between Alice and Thomas, you could cut it with a knife, it was brilliantly written. With romance you know they get together in the end but it was written really well so you still had that will they won't they feeling. I adored the fact that Thomas' whole family were in on his apology for Alice, it was so sweet and the apology itself was amazing! I loved how he showed her that he loved her by taking a small thing that she said and creating this massive display of his love for all to see.
It was exactly what I love in a romance, it felt like a bit of a hug in a book. ill definitely be going back to read more by Sara.

Krystina xx

The Queen of The Poor by Alan Gold~Blog Tour

 Publisher: Romaunce Books 

Publication Date: 10th August 2023

Genre: Historical Fiction

Summary:

Angela Burdett-Coutts was a wealthy woman who used her money, class and prestige to make a tangible difference for those less fortunate. She would become one of the most outspoken and dedicated philanthropists of her day.

Coutts the bank was founded in 1692 but really took off when Thomas Coutts took over at the beginning of the 19th Century. He made a fortune, and left it to his second wife, 40 years younger and an actress. When she died, she left it all to Thomas' granddaughter, Angela Burdett-Coutts.

Suddenly, Angela became the second wealthiest woman in England after Queen Victoria. She had to hire bodyguards to keep fortune hunters away. But because of her wealth and also because her father was a radical politician, she moved in the most interesting circles of Victorian society, where she met and has numerous affairs with famous people, like the chemist Michael Faraday and many others including Charles Dickens and the Duke of Wellington.

She caused something of a scandal with her radical lifestyle, but because of her wealth, and the fact that she spends most of her money on charity, opening schools for impoverished children, helping Dickens with the housing for the poor, housing prostitutes and getting them off the streets she's almost beyond criticism.... until, at the age of 66, she caused absolute shock and outrage, because she chose to marry her 29-year-old secretary called William Lehman Ashmead Bartlett.

Whilst this in itself does not appear particularly shocking, as he was, like her father, a Member of Parliament, the astonishing age gap left society aghast. Whilst she was sixty-seven, he was just twenty-nine years old.

Review:
Firstly thank you to Love Books Tours, Romaunce Books and Alan Gold for having me on this tour and sending me the book.
I was very excited when I got on this tour because I've loved all the books by Alan Gold that I've read so far but this is the first one of his where I had no idea who the woman that it's about is. I'd never heard of Angela Burdett-Coutts until I was on this tour and got hold of his book and I have to say she's a fascinating woman. I had no idea that she had a hand in founding the NSPCC, and all these different charities she helped either set up or fund, she sounds like an amazingly forward-thinking woman for her time. I think I may have to do more reading about her after having devoured this book in a couple of hours.

It is an eloquently written book, and was very easy to dive into, losing myself into the pages and not looking up until id finished. I enjoyed the various relationships throughout it, her Brother Dudley was an odious man constantly trying to trick her into giving away or losing her inheritance all because of his overinflated sense of entitlement, it was so well written that I got angry on her behalf at his actions.

Her friendships were lovely to read, Hannah attempting to support her and steer her in the direction that she knew Angela wanted to go in and Dickens in helping her to direct her philanthropy to the correct places. Wellington was an odd one he definitely cared and was trying to look out for her wellbeing but may have ultimately caused her emotional hurt in his heavy-handedness.
As someone who loves history and enjoys reading about it, I can't recommend Alan Gold's books enough, if you're a historical fiction fan you need to add his books to your TBR.

Krystina xx

Bus Rhymes and Playtime by Sue Wickstead~Blog Tour

Publisher: JayJayBooks

Publication Date: 7th July 2023

Genre:Childrens 

Summary:

Poetry and Rhymes to sing with a bus theme.

Have you got your ticket ready?

Where shall we go today?

Why not jump on board the bus – come along to sing and play.

So take your seat as off we go.

What could happen along the way?

Review:

Firstly thank you to Rachels Random Resources, JayJayBooks and Sue Wickstead for having me on this tour and sending me the book.
 I read this to my little one and it took an age because they kept interrupting to sing all the songs in the book because they learnt them at school, which I think is a brilliant recommendation for the book! It's not a very long book but it's definitely full of fun, my little one loved it and I think it works well as part of a daytime activity when you are home with little ones. I made the mistake of reading it at bedtime and my small one ended up all hyped up from singing, don't recommend it for bedtime if you want them to sleep it's too fun for bedtime lol.
The illustrations are very cute and fit so well with the songs and rhymes, the little tickets dotted about were brilliant, my little one liked pointing them out and seeing how many they could find.
Whilst my little one loved this book I'm actually going to pass it on to their preschool because I think it'll be brilliant for the age range of children that go to it and they do so much singing that this is perfect for them.
It's a brilliant little book, I definitely recommend it if you have young children.

Krystina xx