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Teacakes and Tamgos by Rosie Green #Review #LittleDuckPondCafeBook41

  Welcome to Book 41 in the Little Duck Pond Cafe series! Teacakes and Tangos  is the latest novella by Rosie Green.   Clara’s dance school is finally open, much to the excitement of the residents of Sunnybrook. The stress-busting, lights-off ‘Dancing in the Dark’ sessions are a big hit with the Little Duck Pond Café girls. But when the school is threatened with closure, will Clara’s dream be over before it’s even begun? Love is in the air for new recruit Anika, but could her dreams of romance be about to turn sour, too? My Thoughts In this latest visit to Sunnybrook, we take up Clara's story again as she prepares to open her long wished for Dance School. However, she begins to wonder whether her trusting nature has been abused as suspicion falls on her sisteras to her motives and doubts are raised in her engagement. You are willing her to sort out her personal life and take a stand  in a wish for the truth.     The latest off shoot of the Little Duck P...

The Last Thing to Burn by Will Dean #Review #PublicationDay

 

It is a great pleasure to be able to review  to celebrate Will Dean's latest standalone novel, The Last Thing to Burn, Published by Hodder and Stoughton on January 7th, it is filled with tension from the opening scene.

 He is her husband. She is his captive.

Her husband calls her Jane. That is not her name.

She lives in a small farm cottage, surrounded by vast, open fields. Everywhere she looks, there is space. But she is trapped. No one knows how she got to the UK: no one knows she is there. Visitors rarely come to the farm; if they do, she is never seen.

Her husband records her every movement during the day. If he doesn't like what he sees, she is punished.

For a long time, escape seemed impossible. But now, something has changed. She has a reason to live and a reason to fight. Now, she is watching him, and waiting . . .

My Thoughts

The tension is there from the beginning and never leaves you throughout the book. It felt like one of those books which you wanted to read looking through your fingertips. The suspense was so all encompassing. The vulnerability of the dispossessed and  the powerless permeates this story. You feel that you are looking on as innocence is trampled on.

    The setting is dark and harrowing. You understand how shrunk Thanh Dao's world has become. You are trapped there on the farm alongside her as one by one, her possessions are burnt and her identity is destroyed. This is a standalone story and certainly a singular tale. It is filled with the horror of Thanh Dao's situation which never leaves you. 

In short: A harrowing tale of powerlessness

 

About the Author


WILL DEAN grew up in the East Midlands, living in nine different villages before the age of eighteen. After studying law at LSE, and doing various jobs in London, he settled in rural Sweden with his wife in 2012. He built a wooden house in a boggy forest clearing and it’s from this base that he writes, with the aim of being as self-sufficient and low-cost as possible. He and his wife grow food, forage in summer and autumn, take water from their own well and use their own timber for heating and cooking. His interests other than writing are painting, nature, cooking, travel, repairing old mechanical watches, seakayaking and movies. DARK PINES is his first novel.

You can follow Will here:  Twitter  |  Goodreads

Book link: Amazon UK
 
Thanks to Will Dean and Hodder and Stoughton for a copy of the book. 
  

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