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Christmas on Fifth Avenue by Julie Caplin #Review #Christmas EscapesBook1

  Today I am delighted to be featuring this gorgeous festive romance, the first in the new Christmas Escapes series.  Ch ristmas on Fifth Avenue  by  Julie Caplin  was published on October 23rd by One More Chapter .  . Welcome to New York, where the Christmas lights dazzle, the snow is falling and love is just around the corner… Evie Green's Christmas dream turns into a nightmare when a viral video makes her the laughing stock of the internet. But then a 5 star hotel sees a PR opportunity and invites her to New York for a Christmas she’ll remember forever. Enter Noah Sanderson, a disgraced soccer star seeking anonymity. Forced to fake a festive romance for the cameras, sparks fly – but not the twinkling Christmas kind! As Fifth Avenue sparkles in all its holiday glory, can The City that Never Sleeps show these two frosted hearts that, maybe, the best love stories are the ones you never see coming. Don't miss this cozy Christmas spin off series f...

Cage by Lilja Sigurdardottir translated by Quentin Bates #Review #Giveaway


It's great to be back on an Orenda Blog Tour for Icelandic novelist, Lilja Sigurdardottir's third in her Reykjavik Noir Trilogy, entitled Cage. You can read my reviews of the first two books here:  
Snare   |  Trap

I also have a great Giveaway for you to enter to win your own copy of Cage. Details on how to enter are at the foot of this post. 

A masterful conclusion to the award-winning, critically acclaimed Reykjavík Noir trilogy, as drug-smuggling, financial crime, political intrigue, love, murder and betrayal come together.


The prison doors slam shut behind Agla, when her sentence for financial misconduct ends, but her lover Sonja is not there to meet her.


As a group of foreign businessmen tries to draw Agla into an ingenious fraud that stretches from Iceland around the world, Agla and her former nemesis María find the stakes being raised at a terrifying speed. Ruthless entrepreneur Ingimar will stop at nothing to protect his empire, but he has no idea about the powder keg he is sitting on in his own home. And at the same time, a deadly threat to Sonja and her family brings her from London back to Iceland, where she needs to settle scores with longstanding adversaries if she wants to stay alive…


The lives of these characters are about to collide in a shocking crescendo, until the winner takes it all…

My Thoughts

What a satisfying final instalment, Cage, turned out to be. I loved the first two in the Reykjavik Noir series and could recognise at once Lilja's tightly constructed writing . It was great to pick up with some of her characters again, especially Sonja, who turned out to be as determined and enterprising as ever. As the story evolved, it became more obvious how the different story threads were intertwined although it never felt contrived. 

    Throughout this series, it has felt as though the characters are trapped in an ever decreasing situation and certainly in this final novel, the trap has closed in and the title, Cage, seems very apt. Imprisoned, either literally or by circumstances or ideas, for some, the options for action are shrinking. Quentin Bates' translation is sympathetic to the characterisation and settings. This is a series with the WOW factor. Nuanced characterisation takes you right into the the perpetrators' minds and at times you can feel their terror. 

In short: A five star series with a fitting finale.

 
About the Author


Icelandic crime-writer Lilja Sigurdardóttir was born in the town of Akranes in 1972 and raised in Mexico, Sweden, Spain and Iceland. An award-winning playwright, Lilja has written four crime novels, with Snare, the first in a new series, hitting bestseller lists worldwide. Translation rights have been sold in eight countries to date, and film rights have been bought by Palomar Pictures in California. Lilja has a background in education and has worked in evaluation and quality control for preschools in recent years. She lives in Reykjavík with her partner. 





You can connect with Lilja here: Twitter  |  Website



 Book links: Amazon UK

Thanks to Karen Sullivan and Anne Cater of Orenda Books  for a copy of the book and a place on the blog tour.


Don't forget to check out these other great bloggers! 
Giveaway (UK only)
 

To win a copy of Cage, just Follow and Retweet the pinned Tweet at @bookslifethings.


Closing Date 31st October 2019 and there is one winner.

*Terms and Conditions –UK  entries only.  The winner will be selected at random via Tweetdraw from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then I reserve the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

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