Friday Reads | The WAG and The Scoundrel

September 2, 2016February 12, 2019 ~ Ofelia Gränd ~ Leave a comment

Are you reading this Friday? I’ve just started Debbie McGowan’s The WAG and The Scoundrel (Gray Fisher #1). I can’t really say anything about the plot since I’ve just begun but this book makes me want to curl up on the sofa and just let myself get sucked in. It has that feel to it.

I know I write this every time I read something by Ms McGowan but I love her voice. I can’t really describe it, but her language is…rich. Many books I read are easy, mindless almost. I deliberate pick them, hey I have four kids and a gazillion animals, don’t judge!

People talk about mindfulness but I need some mindlessness every now and then. So most often I pick these “easy” books. I read line after line, not paying attention to the language, and then when I’m finished I close the book and a few days later I’ve forgotten most of it. That does not happen with a McGowan book, you don’t skim! You read every word, and they are beautifully crafted. And some days that’s what you really need, to read something skillfully created.

I’m excited to see where this story goes. If you’re in the mood for mystery check it out!

books2read.com/TheWAGandTheScoundrel *

Three years after the death of his civil partner, DCI Gray Fisher is finally ready to make the break from the police. For too long, he has used his work as a means of survival; now, he’s looking forward to a nice, quiet life in academia.

Investment banker Will Richards is a walking, talking contradiction. With his love of surfing and his farmhouse menagerie of rescue animals, he’s far removed from Gray’s idea of the perfect man, but that’s ‘not a problem’. Gray wants nothing more than friendship, and Will seems happy to accept that. After all, with his mum’s illness and resigning from his job, he’s got enough on his plate already.

Assuming, of course, he’s telling the truth.

When former colleague, Rob Simpson-Stone, asks for Gray’s help with a case of a destitute banker who faked his own death, Gray is understandably reluctant to get involved…until Rob reveals the identity of one of the suspects.

* By clicking the Books2Read link you’ll be taken to an external page. Links to Smashwords, Kobo U.S and Amazon contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Nortown Release!

September 1, 2016February 12, 2019 ~ Ofelia Gränd ~ 2 Comments

Once in May…and then again at some other time.

Today John, Zachary, Tristan and Aiden are let out of their cabins!

There is this strange place called Nortown. Where it is no one really knows. I look out my window and write what I see (yes, I’m practically run down by lumberjacks every day) but so far I haven’t come across a real Nortown in Sweden. Though I lived up north for a few years in a small village where the meeting point is a café almost like Jen’s. During winter there are snowmobiles everywhere, by the bicycle stands outside the shop the kicksleds are lined up, and, I kid you not, they spread sand on half the pavement. The unsanded half is for the kicksleds. First snow comes in October, you hardly see the sun during winter (but it never gets dark during summer), and it’s cold enough for your eyelashes to freeze together.

But, back to Nortown! You’ll know you’re there if you see lots of bearded men in chequered shirts, wayward dogs, and gossiping women knitting and sipping on coffees.

It’s about time to get a cat or two in there, is it not? And now, writing this, I think I need to get a kicksled in there too.

By the time we released Once in a Forest, I already knew I would write Once in May. John was there, wanting to be let out of his cabin. His and Zachary’s story is not as fluffy and bright as Aiden and Tristan’s or even Tom and Jason’s but everything will be fine in the end, I promise.

Happy Endings is a Tristan and Aiden story, just a short little massage fun in Aiden’s studio. Og the dog even makes an appearance, not in the massage studio but in the story.

The big question now is what do I write next??

* By clicking the Books2Read link you’ll be taken to an external page. Links to Smashwords, Kobo U.S and Amazon contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

A Frost of Cares | A Ghost Story

August 26, 2016February 12, 2019 ~ Ofelia Gränd ~ Leave a comment

Sometimes all you want is a good ghost story, and A Frost of Cares is that. I’ve read about 70%, and I really like where Amy Rae Durreson is going. A little while ago I read Spindrift * and I enjoyed it plenty, but this is better.

Usually, a story is told as if the MCs are unaware of there being a reader. Here you are addressed at times, and Luke (the narrator) talks to his husband through the text. I haven’t really made up my mind about what I think about it, if you’re a romantic you’ll probably think it’s a nice touch.

Luke is a military historian, which normally would have scared me off—I usually stay away from military dudes, I’m married to one that’s enough—but here it’s perfect. Just thinking about empty halls in old military buildings has me trembling.

In RL I’m a teacher and staying late at work always scare the crap out of me. Mind you, schools can be scary too. There is something about the dark study halls, the automatic light coming on as I walk by, my steps echoing in the empty corridors that send shivers down my spine. You never think of it during the days when there are students everywhere but once the dark creeps in and the rooms turn quiet *shudder*.

Anyway, A Frost of Cares is definitely the best purchase I’ve made this week, and if you like ghosts you should check it out!

books2read.com/AFrost *

Military historian Luke Alcott leaps at the chance to live in the seventeenth-century country mansion of Eelmoor Hall, home of the Royal Military School of Medicine, after being offered a job cataloging the school’s archives. Luke believes he chose the perfect place to start a new life and put his broken past behind him. But soon after settling into the old house, he hears strange noises—like footsteps—and he begins to suffer from terrible nightmares.

The only person Luke can turn to for help is the taciturn caretaker, Jay, a veteran of the Afghanistan war who carries an old battle wound. Together they try to understand Eelmoor Hall’s history and decipher what could be causing the haunting. As the weather grows colder and snow dusts the countryside, a child goes missing. Luke needs to deal with his own demons and learn to trust in love again if he hopes to face down the angry spirit and find the missing girl.

* By clicking the Books2Read link you’ll be taken to an external page. Links to Smashwords, Kobo U.S and Amazon contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.