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Maddy's Christmas Wedding by Rosie Green #LittleDuckPondCafeBook37#review

  Here we are at Book 37 in the Little Duck Pond Cafe series! Maddie's Christmas Wedding is the latest novella by Rosie Green.   With the wedding of the year approaching, excitement is running high at the cafĂ©! But there's just one problem. Maddy is grappling with a secret. Could it derail all of hers and Jack's glorious plans for their big day? Will there actually be a wedding?   My Thoughts In this latest festive story, we are taken out of Sunnybrook, in fact, out of the country and taken for a wintry stay in Lapland. It is Maddy's hen party gathering so some of the Little Duck Pond characters are along too. The story continues on from the earlier Cosy Nights and Snowball Fights . The setting is idyllic and so different to life at home. Everything shimmers and shines in the snow and the temperatures are extreme. Maddy should be having the time of her life but she finds that she has a lot on her mind and a heartbreaking decision to make.     With the men le...

The Shot by Sarah Sultoon #Review #Giveaway

The Shot is Sarah Sultoon's latest thriller. This crime thriller was published by Orenda Books on 2nd April. I am fortunate to be able to offer a great giveaway - a print copy of The Shot. Details on how to enter are at the foot of this post.    

 Samira is an up-and-coming TV journalist, working the nightshift at a major news channel and yearning for greater things. So when she’s offered a trip to the Middle East, with Kris, the station’s brilliant but impetuous star photographer, she leaps at the chance

In the field together, Sami and Kris feel invincible, shining a light into the darkest of corners … except the newsroom, and the rest of the world, doesn’t seem to care as much as they do. Until Kris takes the photograph.

With a single image of young Sudanese mother, injured in a raid on her camp, Sami and the genocide in Darfur are catapulted into the limelight. But everything is not as it seems, and the shots taken by Kris reveal something deeper and much darker … something that puts not only their careers but their lives in mortal danger.


Sarah Sultoon brings all her experience as a CNN news executive to bear on this shocking, searingly authentic thriller, which asks immense questions about the world we live in. You'll never look at a news report in the same way again... 

My Thoughts

This novel has a current feel due to the War which is ragng in Ukraine at the moment. The life of the media reporters who go out to film life in a war zone feels very pertinent. There are different pressures to be examined whilst news is interpreted. Ambition, pity, anguish, the will to survive all co-exist. There are sone shocking events in this story, none more so than the ultimate few scenes which took me by surprise.

    This has a raw dynamic as the different events in the war zone are uncovered. As innocent civilians are affected brutally by the warfare, you experience the confusion of the situation and the anguish as people's lives are shattered. This is an original, honest portrayal of people's instincts when they are placed in extreme situations and the decisions they make to survive and make sense of the world.


In short: a study in ambition and power

   

About the Author


Sarah Sultoon is a journalist and writer whose work as an international news executive at CNN has taken her all over the world, from the seats of power in both Westminster and Washington to the frontlines of Iraq and Afghanistan. She has extensive experience in conflict zones, winning three Peabody awards for her work on the war in Syria, an Emmy for her contribution to the coverage of Europe’s migrant crisis in 2015, and a number of Royal Television Society gongs. As passionate about fiction as nonfiction, she recently completed a Masters of Studies in Creative Writing at the University of Cambridge, adding to an undergraduate language degree in French and Spanish, and Masters of Philosophy in History, Film and Television. When not reading or writing she can usually be found somewhere outside, either running, swimming or throwing a ball for her three children and dog while she imagines what might happen if...

You can follow Sarah here: Twitter

Book links: Amazon UK

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

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Giveaway ( UK ONLY)



To win a print copy of The Shot, just Follow and Retweet the pinned tweet at @bookslifethings and good luck!

Closing date is 12th April 2022 and there is one winner.    
 
*Terms and Conditions –  UK 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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