by PD Alleva Rating: **** From the Carnival of Chaos to the Carnival of Souls, Jigglyspot, the half-human, five-foot clown presides over both and more for his demonic paymasters. There is nothing Jiggly won’t fix or arrange aided by his loyal troop of fiendish clowns and, with the Summer Solstice at the Cannibal Café approaching, he needs to find bodies, lots of bodies… Jigglyspot and the Zero Intellect is an intense and gore-splattered epic psychological horror that moves

by John James Minster Rating: **** The Vengeful Dead is a collection of 11 short horror stories, which, overall, as the title implies, have the connecting theme of revenge from beyond the grave. The Vengeful Dead is an addictive and readable anthology. The book will not change your life, but it will afford you a solidly entertaining, full-throttle, gore-laden few hours, and I enjoyed galloping through it. The stories do occasionally lack depth. However, there are contrasts

by William McClain Rating: ***** Spring 1939, Weymouth, England, and fifty-eight-year-old Alice Standfield has just buried her husband, Edgar. Apprehensive at what the future might hold yet secretly excited to re-discover herself and her interests after being stifled under four decades of marriage, Alice has a few months alone to do just that before the gathering clouds of war grow darker over Weymouth and her two youngest grandchildren, Martin and Irene, are evacuated from L

by Julie Cabitto Rating: **** William Newman was born in Virginia, in 1744. In his ninety-ninth year, two of his granddaughters, Martha and Varinda, suggest, given his remarkable life, that he allows them to write down as much of it as he can remember. William Newman’s Adventures is the record of that life, memory by memory… Cabitto has written a lovely, warm, and heartfelt novel which is unsurprising as Newman is one of her ancestors. His story and the time in which he live

by George Veck Rating: ***** Fifty-year-old Colin Tudur Parry has allowed himself to be walked all over for as long as he can remember. He only works as a bin-man to hand his wages over to his grasping, crafty wife Clare, and indolent twenty-year-old stepson Dale as they shamble around in his remote, dilapidated farmhouse in North Wales. Desperate and deluded, Colin decides to make a stand and turn his football refereeing hobby into a full-time job which doesn’t sit well with

by Sally Gardner Rating: ***** Set in Regency London, The Weather Woman unfolds the story of Neva Tarshin, orphaned at three years old and adopted by a skilled clockmaker, Victor Friezland, and his housekeeper, Elise. Neva is supremely intelligent and possesses a unique, and potentially lucrative talent, she can predict the weather. But, how can she share her remarkable gift and foresight as a woman?... Like its heroine, The Weather Woman is a beautifully imagined and uncon

by P.C. Darkcliff Rating: ***** The Traitor’s Spell is the third installment in Darkcliff’s epic fantasy series * . Baard Thon, the former logger of Icecreek, and his wonderfully engaging troop of loyal followers are back, battle-scarred and weary, yet determined to take down the remaining two Wrathlords. But they will need more than determination, especially if Baard is to fulfill his dream of studying silver-level magic with the Archmage in the mysterious Aganopean Empire

by John A. Heldt Rating: ***** Annie’s Apple opens six years after The Fountain * , the first installment in Heldt’s Second Chance Series that saw elderly siblings Bill, Paul, and Annie Carpenter materialize in early 1900s San Francisco as much younger versions of themselves. Annie’s Apple sees Bill, Cassie, and Annie in New York, 1911, while Paul and Andy, Cassie’s brother, are in Arizona embroiled in the military campaign against the Mexican revolution. While Bill and Ca

by Andrew W. Pearson Rating: **** Forty-seven-year-old failed screenwriter Anthony Wilson leaves Hollywood behind to help run the Asian arm of his twin brother’s AI company. Once in Macau, Anthony’s client is a prominent and infamous casino operator, Cash Cheang. Cash wants Anthony to design a facial recognition software package for his casino and enlists him to help sell a new crypto coin. As the money piles up, so does the laundering, corruption, and betrayal. But is the bi

by Salustiano Berrios Rating: ***** When Jim Simple’s wife, Diane, dies in a freak accident, she leaves him behind with their young autistic son, Robin, and the plan of having three further children together shattered. Struggling and refusing to engage with Robin, Jim descends into a twilight world of alcoholism in which his only motivation is to father three healthy children, preferably with his deceased wife. Enter an illicit, underground scientist named “Passenger” who pr

by Gail Ward Olmsted Rating: **** Forty-two-year-old Miranda Quinn has bounced back with a late-night phone-in legal advice radio show broadcast from her home studio in Old Lyme, Connecticut. It’s proving popular and Miranda’s life has turned around significantly in the last two years, things could not be better. However, when her best friend’s son is arrested on seemingly watertight sexual offense charges and then a creepy caller to her radio show starts to escalate his thre

by Lara Byrne Rating: ***** The Road to Canossa is the sequel to Lotharingia * and Byrne takes the reader back into early medieval Europe with a new Pope on the throne whose hatred for King Heinrich is all-consuming. Pope Gregorius (Ildebrando di Soana) looks to stop at nothing to defeat Heinrich and it’s up to Matilde to broker peace. But how can she negotiate with Heinrich, the man she loved so deeply, who hurt her so much, and Ildebrando whom she cannot trust? The nove

by Kristina Mänd-Lakhiani Rating: ***** Written by entrepreneur and co-founder of the personal transformation platform, MindValley, Becoming Flawesome offers candid and uncomplicated advice on accepting and embracing who you truly are, rather than constantly striving for an idealistic, unreal version of yourself. Mänd-Lakhiani has really considered her reading audience in Becoming Flawesome . It’s evident that this is no vanity project but an incredibly well-constructed and

by Connor Whiteley Rating: *** When Private Eye Bettie English receives a curious invitation that requires utmost discretion from an incredibly wealthy potential client, she is more than intrigued and takes her sister, Phryne along for the ride. The client, Ms. Willow Fisher, is incredibly keen to suppress some compromising material… Meanwhile, Bettie’s husband, Police Detective Graham Adams, is investigating a suspected drug deal when he is hit on the head by a rock. And, n

by Simone Pertuiset Rating: ***** Beginning in 1895, this triumvirate of beautifully presented and interlinked stories explores just over three decades of societal, political, and life-changing events through the experiences of two working-class families. Pertuiset delves into the seismic impact of the motor car, votes for women, and World War I together with the harsh, everyday struggles of single-parenthood, poverty, and disease. The first tale, The Great Manure Crisis , in

by Lance Elliot Osborne Rating: ***** Set in the early nineteenth century, Bold Crossings unfurls the stories of two thirteen-year-olds from very different worlds but who are more similar than they realize, especially when those worlds collide. Malcolm (“Mal”) Hornsby leaves Mississippi to travel with his family hundreds of miles to the harsh, unknown of the Texas plains and Wukubuu, a girl from the Penatuka band of the Native American Comanche tribe, and for whom the unforg

by Chet Nairene Rating: **** Beginning in 1968 and spanning just under four decades, Pacific Dash unfolds the adventures of Dashiell (“Dash”) Xavier Bonaventure II. When his father’s tractor company posts the family to Hong Kong from rural Illinois, fifteen-year-old Dash believes it will be a temporary move. However, he couldn’t be more wrong and despite a sojourn back in New Hampshire, he spends the next forty years making friends, enemies, and an awful lot of money as he

by Lucy Lyons Rating: **** Alex Martin’s life seems to have stagnated as she approaches thirty with little prospect of things changing anytime soon. However, change they do when her Mum sends her a baffling machine that her late father invented. With the help of housemate, Antony, Alex begins to discover the true purpose of the strange gadget; it finds things. Anything. As the gravity of the machine’s potential becomes startlingly obvious, Alex knows she must use it to reveal

by P. C. Darkcliff Rating: ***** Once a humble woodsman, Baard Thon is now the savior of Thorstorm following his unprecedented slaying of Wrathlord Zaagretaah. However, Baard is not entirely comfortable with his new status and has made enemies close to home. In addition, there are the two remaining Wrathlords to contend with and their army of Corpsentinels. But the only weapon that can kill them, the Wrathblade, is broken in two, and none of Baard’s friends with their magic

by Tom Batt Rating: ***** Once again bank robber Donovan Carter and his crew are just one step ahead of veteran Met Police detective Mike Palmer. Palmer has spent nearly two years trying to arrest Carter and he’s had enough. He’s not the only one. Palmer’s ex-wife is taking their daughter to America and Palmer desperately needs big money to fight for custody. Donovan Carter also needs big money to finally repay an old favor. Could the two sworn enemies work together on Donov