Review + Blog Tour: Bite by Nick Louth

Title: Bite
Author: Nick Louth
Publisher: Sphere
My ratings: 3 out of 5 stars
Releases: 7th May, 2015
W ith a tag line like ‘The most gripping thriller you’ll ever read’ I was rather curious as to what this book had in store for me. Unfortunately, it did not live up to the hype. .

Premise goes like this: Max is a former coast guard who is in Amsterdam to watch his new girlfriend present her research which will save millions of lives. However before she could do so, she disappears and soon Max is sucked into a plot bigger than he could have anticipated. .

When I read the blurb I immediately likened this book to Dan Brown’s thrillers. I don’t know why I did so but that is where it all went a little downhill. .

It had a solid start but slowly it lost its grip on me. The plot seems slow and confusing. It was missing the essential ‘it’ factor which would have had me turning the pages. While a lot of research had been done for this book, it was the execution which let it down. .

Overall, Bite was a promising book, with a good start and everything going for it, but along the way it loses its grip on its reader. It will appeal to crime fiction and lovers of Thrillers. .

Review copy received by Sphere  

Releases on the 7th May, 2015 

Check out the other blogs on this blog tour below. 

Review: Bold Tricks (The Artist's Trilogy #3) by Karina Halle

Disappointed and relived that it is over

Title: Bold Tricks
Series: The Artist’s Trilogy
Author: Karina Halle
Publisher: Headline Eternal, UK
My ratings: 2 out of 5 stars
Released: 16th December, 2014
I have been a Karina Halle fan since 2010. I’m one of those rabid fan of EIT that absolutely adored this series. When she began to get the popularity she deserved I could not have been happier. Unfortunately, it wasn’t for the amazing EIT series that got readers attention; it was Sins and Needles ,her contemporary erotica. I personally tried really hard to like it but failed. I am unable to understand the appeal for this series.

I read the first book which was enjoyable but as the trilogy went on it become worse and worse for me. I tried really hard to get on board but I was unable to do so. Bold Tricks is the final book in the Artist’s Trilogy and brings the toxic love triangle between Ellie, Camden and Javior.

Bold Tricks takes off exactly where Shooting Scars ends with Gus and Ellie’s mother taken hostage by Travis and the gang running for their lives. I thought this premise would give me the long awaited battle between Camden and Javior, the push and pull in Ellie’s mind but surprisingly she made up her mind pretty early in the book.

What my major problem with the book was, why was Javior demonised for Ellie to choose one or the other. Once she made up her mind, Javior was depicted in an increasingly bad light and Camden was almost given a Sainthood. I never liked Camden but I fancied the scheming, murderous Javior. My feelings aside, I just felt that Ellie was looking at Camden with tinted glasses and Javior was being turned into a monster. In fact towards the end, I started to hate Ellie.

I felt the dialogues were really cheesy while the action kept me on the edge of my seat, the premise with the romance left a bad taste in my mouth.

Overall Bold Tricks bored and at some points annoyed me. I still love Karina Halle but I like her horror more than the romance tittles she writes. She is doing what her readership demands I guess but a few more horror titles will not go amiss. I adored the Experiment in Terror series (Read my raving reviews here) and it is one of my favourite series and I still say it is a must read. The Artist Trilogy may appeal to you but it was not for me.

Review copy provided by Headline Eternal, UK

 

Review: Shooting Scars (The Artist's Trilogy #2)

Unique and edgy

Title: Shooting Scars
Series: The Artist's Trilogy
Author: Karina Halle
Publisher: Headline Eternal, UK
My ratings: 4 out of 5 stars
Released: 20th August, 2014
To some Karina Halle may be a new author on the block, but for me she was a delightful discovery I made nearly 4 years ago when I stumbled upon her Experiment in Terror series. I have followed that series after tens of books I am so pleased that she has been published under Hodder and Stoughton. The Artist's Trilogy was highly acclaimed when it came out and it also shot her to fame, which got bought in the US and UK soon after. Unfortunately, I never had the chance to pick this series by her which arguably has been her best-selling series so far. .


Shooting Scars is the second book in the Artist's Trilogy which follows the life of a con artist on the run with a string of drug lords and dangerous men behind her. Scarred and out for revenge, she meets her childhood friends, Camden, who brings back memories. Now after so long, the friendship develops into something else when the past catches up with Ellie and she had to leave Camden and go back to the bat shit crazy ex-boyfriend who also is a drug lord hell bent in seeking revenge. .

This series has a unusual story line and its appeal lies in the morally ambiguous characters. The story is narrated in a first person narrative with alternating POVs which helps us keep in track of the events unfolding in both sides of the fence. This series and its characters are not in any way black or white. In fact the readers have to choose which character to root for by judging on the various degrees of darkness. .

On one hand Ellie, who is smack dab in the middle, thinks Camden is a wonderful human being where a Camden thinks that the cheating con artist is has a beautiful heart. The darkest of them all and undoubtedly my favourite of the trio, Javier.  Some readers may enjoy the nerdy sexy tattoo artist with his piercings and his gentle way and even ship him with Ellie, my firm favourite remains Javier. He is everything I despise in a human being because he is a drug lord, and a murderer. He is a criminal master mind and people like him should be in theory locked up but they make for riveting reading. He sees Ellie the way I see her, broken and dark and I feel they are intrinsically connected. Which means my ship is certainly going to sink. .

I enjoyed the breathless pace this book sets and how the character development is not ignored in this high octane ride fuelled with lust, revenge, murder and lust. The relationships between the characters are well fleshed out and I enjoyed how much growth we see in Camden on this journey to the dark side. .

Shooting Scars lives upto its expectations after its predecessor left a hard to follow act. This series is fast paced, with the right amount of darkness, revenge, murder, romance and smexy times mixed to give the reader an experience that will leave them asking for more. .

A unique and edgy romantic thriller which will leave you asking for more. .

ARC Review: As Red as Blood (Lumikki Anderson #1) by Salla Simukka

Dark and chilling

Title: As Red As Blood
Series: Lumikki Anderson
Author: Salla Simukka
Publisher: Hot Key Books, UK
My ratings: 3 out of 5 stars
Releases: 6th August, 2014
As Red As Blood is a crime novel written by Salla Simukka and translated from Finnish to English by Owen Witesman . It’s a story about Lumikki Anderson, a high school student who finds 100 Euro notes drying in the school photography room. Soon she is embroiled into the crime underbelly for Finland with criminal and underworld mafia chasing her.

As Red as Blood took me a while to really make me interested. I loved the setting of frozen Tampere, which was featured in all its brutal and beautiful glory. The tittle really fits as the story starts with blood. Blood on the notes, blood on the floor, blood slowly soaking the virgin snow red. The imagery was beautifully done and not one minute did I forget that this postcard perfect beauty was dangerous and would take your life if you let it. The side characters were interesting enough and the narration was done in a third person view, so it was less of a mystery but more of a thriller as the reader is anticipating as to what event will unfold next.

As for the main character, she was as much an asset as she was a burden to the story. She was the perfect person to be in a situation like this. She was deceptively dangerous, she knew how to fight and she was clever. We get glimpses of her life before here time in Tampere but they showed so little that instead for making me curious they just made me frustrated. There was a reason she was so cold and distant and some of the reason were explored but not fully and the ending left me with more questions about the Lumikki than answers.

The plot started off really slow. While some scenes were beautifully done other felt half baked. The writing was good, the setting added to the atmosphere but the plot was quite simplistic. I suppose it is meant to be a YA book but it read like an adult book but for the uncomplicated minds. The fairy tale references added a sinister edge to the crime underbelly and the dark setting.

I am hoping the second book will be able to give me some answer about what happened with Lumikki, Polar Bear and who the heck is the blue eyed guy in the photo.

Over all As Red as Blood is a scenic, crime thriller, which may have started slow but when the action starts it really pulls you in. It was a short book but the writing makes up for it and it will give a few good hours of entertainment.

There is even a Good Reads Giveaway going for UK residents only.  

 Enter to win a copy

Releases on the 7th of August, 2014 

ARC received via Hot Key Books, UK