Selection of New Book Releases

Hello everyone. I hope you’re all enjoying your Thursday so far. The temperature has certainly dropped today hasn’t it.

Summer has gone and we say hi to dark mornings, cold hands and scraping of the windscreen on cars.
The one thing I do love about this time of year is that when I do make it home after work or whatever, I can curl up in the chair with a blanket and a lovely mug of hot chocolate and read into the night.

As it’s Thursday, there is a new batch of book releases too. Here are four of the books released today that I am looking forward to reading.

Rather Be The Devil sees the return of Rebus and is the latest novel by Ian Rankin. It’s released today by Orion. I can remember seeing a documentary on the BBC about Ian Rankin and his writing process. It was so interesting. It was also very encouraging for a new writer like me as I got to see someone as fantastic as this author have the same insecurities as me when writing his books and he just sits down and gets on with it. I hope it does someday get repeated.

This book is the twenty first novel in the Rebus series. The general gist is that it has been forty years but for John Rebus, the death of Maria Turquand still prays on his mind. She was murdered in a hotel on the same evening a famous singer and his entourage were staying. Maria’s body has never been found.
Meanwhile, young pretender Darryl Christie is left weakened and vulnerable after a vicious attack and an enquiry into a major money laundering scheme threatens his position.

Danielle Steel also has a new novel out today. The Award has just been released by Bantam Press.
Gaelle is sixteen when the German army occupies France in 1940. Her father and brother are killed in a matter of months and her mother descends into madness.
Gaelle becomes a member of the resistance. She fearlessly delivers Jewish children to safety underneath the eyes of the Gestapo.
Toward the end of the war, she tries to help save France’s art treasures but when the war draws to a close, she is accused of collaboration. She flees to Paris and then to New York to start a new life as a model, a wife and a mother.
The ghosts of her past however are always near.

The third book out today is Lyrebird by Cecelia Ahern. This has been released by Harper Collins. I have actually read this book already (I will be reviewing it as part of the Lyrebird blog tour on 8th November so watch this space.)

I think this book has one of my favourite covers of 2016.
Deep in the forest in the south west of Ireland, a young girl lives alone. She is such a well-kept secret that no one knows she exists.

She possesses an extraordinary talent. It’s a gift that will earn her the name, Lyrebird.
When documentary maker Solomon stumbles into Laura’s solitary world, her life is turned upside down.

She is pulled from the familiarity of her home to the strange, loud and bustling city of Dublin and very quickly thrust into the spotlight. Laura has to try and get to know a world that is also trying to understand her.
Will she feel trapped or free?

The final book in my list today is the latest from Lesley Downer. It’s called The Shogun’s Queen and it’s released today by Bantam Press.

The first book in the Shogun Quartet Series this book sounds like it is going to be great. I will be catching up with Lesley on 10th November where she will be chatting about her book.

The year is 1853. Growing up amongst the samurai of the Satsuma clan in Japan’s deep south, the beautiful headstrong Okatsu has been encouraged to be bold, taught to wield the halberd and to ride a horse.

When she’s seventeen, four black ships disappear. Barbarians threaten Japan’s very existence. Okatsu is given a special role to play and she’s the only one who can save the realm.

She eventually ends up at a castle where there are whispers of murders and ghosts. It’s her that must complete her mission and discover the secret of the only man who may enter the woman’s palace. The Shogun himself.

What are you looking forward to reading this week?

by

Laura

I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.