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Hopes and Dreams at the Chocolate Pot Cafe by Jessica Redland #Review

  We are returning to the Chocolate Pot Cafe with Jessica Redland for her latest novel, Hopes and Dreams at the Chocolate Pot Cafe which was published on April 3rd by Boldwood Books .   You can read ny review of Christmas at the Chocolate Pot Cafe   here Sometimes all your hopes and dreams really do come true… ✨🌈 Life at the Chocolate Pot Café has never been sweeter for Tara Porter. Nestled on Castle Street in Whitsborough Bay, her café is thriving, her friendships are close, her foster parents are back where they belong—and she’s finally let herself fall in love with artist Jed Ferguson.   For Jed, returning from Australia feels like coming home in every sense. His teenage daughters have settled, his gallery opening is a success, and with Tara by his side, the future looks full of promise. But the past can’t stay at bay forever. When Tara’s estranged foster sister reappears, old wounds resurface. And when Jed is reunited with twelve year old Aaron...

The Unseeing by Anna Mazzola *Blog Tour Review*


    I am delighted to be the next stop on Anna Mazzola's Blog Tour for The Unseeing. It is her debut novel and quite  an amazing one at that. I always enjoy historical crime fiction and this one captures the sights and smells of Victorian London. Inspired by the real life case of the murder of Hannah Brown, which became known as 'The Edgware Road Murder', the author's research shines through. You have a real sense of the physical surroundings where the different characters reside and how they impinge on their lives.  

    Set in the 1830's, Sarah Gale has been sentenced to hang for her part in the murder of Hannah Brown who has been dismembered and her body parts scattered through the city. Sarah's ex-lover, James Greenacre is to be hung, accused of the murder. Sarah's case has been passed to Edmund Fleetwood, a barrister, to review. We soon discover that we cannot take at face value the known facts of the case. Sarah is reticent as to what actually happened, leading the reader to feel unsure, as Edmund must be. Building on actual source material, Anna Mazzola has written a fictional account which weaves together a complex web of relationships. We are kept guessing as to how reliable some of the accounts are, even finding Edmund's motives for continuing his investigation open to question.

    I found the descriptions of life inside Newgate Prison both vivid and chilling. Anna Mazola's eye for detail means that the reader has a strong visual image of the world she has created and you come to care about the people in it as you are so thoroughly immersed in it all. Well paced and expertly plotted, it really is a page turner. This is a book which immerses the reader in the Victorian period and keeps you guessing to the end.

In short: A book which oozes with authenticity and intrigue.

My thanks to the publishers, Tinder Press for a copy of the book via Bookbridgr. 

You can connect with the author on her websiteFacebook and Twitter.
 

                                     Follow the rest of the Blog Tour





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