Rowan Coleman is an author I've been reading for years - ever since I read The Accidental Mother, which is still one of my favourite books, ever. It's amazing to see how Rowan's books have evolved over the years, too, and she's definitely moved over into more emotional, heart-hitting novels, and that's no bad thing because I absolutely loved The Memory Book. It was one of those novels which just completely slays you, and that ending still gets me, even after all this time, so I've been longing to read We Are All Made of Stars for so long, you just need to be emotionally ready for a Rowan Coleman book these days!

We Are All Made of Stars was simply amazing. I struggled a little bit to get into it at first, but once I got into the story, once I got to know everyone, I just wanted to absorb it all as quickly as possible. Just the whole idea that Stella works at the hospice where people die (but don't always) and the fact she writes letters for those who are, sadly, terminal to the ones they love killed me. Not helped by the fact that there were ones written between each chapter and it was like being smacked with a baseball bat repeatedly. Some of those letters were hard to read, because while it may have been fiction, there is probably someone out there who does exactly what Stella does and it's made even worse when you know her situation, which was awful.

Then there was Hope and Hugh. I liked Hope, as she was close to my age, but seemed much older considering what she'd been through; and Hugh spoke to me as well even if he seemed a bit fuddy-duddy. I actually liked his story. And when they all came together, it just made me sigh in satisfaction, because there's nothing like a well-crafted story coming together nicely. 

I really enjoyed We Are All Made of Stars. And yes, I teared up a time or two, I knew it was going to make me sad, but it also kind of made me feel hopeful. Books like that always do. Though it's hard to explain why. This was definitely one of the more emotional reads I'll read this year, and after finishing it I did wonder why it had taken me so long to read, because I just adore Rowan's books. She is one of the finest writers around, and she can tell a story and leave your heart sore like no author I know, and I can't wait for her next book. Rest assured, I'll be reading it as soon as it's out.

As soon as I heard about Faceless, I wanted to read it. I thought it sounded so intriguing, and I've never read a novel about facial disfigurement before, never mind one that includes a partial face transplant. It genuinely surprised me, did Faceless. The cover fits the book perfectly, and I liked that we dived straight into the action, with Maisie out on a run before being the storm causes a fire that means she ends up in hospital, with some of her face gone. It's one of those books that horrifies you, thinking how you would cope should it happen to you? Sure, Maisie was lucky (lucky really was the watchword) but in a sense she wasn't. Yes, she was lucky to survive, but she was left with part of someone else's face. That's insane, because how do you deal with that at sixteen/seventeen?

I actually loved Maisie, and her journey was an emotional one. This is not a fun book, this is a hard book but an important book. It's hard to read at times, because you just want Maisie to be happy, but it's so hard to be happy when you go through what she goes through and to see her struggle, and to see how the public react would make me want to hide away forever, because the public, and especially class-mates, are so unforgiving, even if they don't mean it to be and I winced with Maisie every time someone stared or made a comment. It's a shame we still don't live in a world where nobody cares what you look like. Where you don't stare at somebody because they look different. 

I really enjoyed the book, if enjoyed is the right word for a book like this. Maisie's story is an important one, and Alyssa Sheinmel handled it with sensitivity and care, and I enjoyed getting to know Maisie, she was way stronger than she probably even knew herself. This is a must read for all, and I found it so absorbing I managed to read it in just a couple of sittings! 

Two girls go missing. Only one will return.
The couple that offers the highest amount will see their daughter again. The losing couple will not. Make no mistake. One child will die. 

When nine-year-old best friends Charlie and Amy disappear, two families are plunged into a living nightmare. A text message confirms the unthinkable; that the girls are the victims of a terrifying kidnapping. 

And when a second text message pits the two families against each other for the life of their children, the clock starts ticking for D.I. Kim Stone and the squad. 

Seemingly outwitted at every turn, as they uncover a trail of bodies, Stone realises that these ruthless killers might be the most deadly she has ever faced. And that their chances of bringing the girls home alive, are getting smaller by the hour… 

Untangling a dark web of secrets from the families’ past might hold the key to solving this case. But can Kim stay alive long enough to do so? Or will someone’s child pay the ultimate price? ​

If you have yet to read any of Angela Marsons's D.I. Kim Stone books, you need to stop reading this review right now, and go and buy Silent Scream. Heck, go and buy all four (well buy three and pre-order one) because you will DEVOUR them if you like well-written crime with a kick-ass lead heroine. Seriously. It's been ages since I've been this excited over a crime book, a good old fashioned, find-the-killer crime book because these days it's all about the psychological thriller, with the usually dull and annoying endings. But these books are proper crime books, with proper endings and Lost Girls is the best yet (although I have a feeling I'll be saying that about Play Dead pretty damn quickly).

There are going to be 8 Kim Stone books in total (or hopefully FOR STARTERS?!?! And we can have 8 more?!?!?!) and so far, I am in no way bored of Kim in any way, shape or form. I could genuinely read 16 more Kim Stone books. Lost Girls sees our intrepid detective and her team searching for two missing girls, akin to a case over a year back, where two girls went missing and only one girl returned, and the other presumed dead. The killers/kidnappers try to pit the families against each other and it's up to Kim and co to find the girls before all hell breaks loose, or more children end up dead. And if that's not enough poor Kim is trying to find out who got a kid murdered who was trying to leave a gang. It's fair to say that Kim Stone's life is HECTIC. I'm exhausted for her and I just get to read about her exploits.

What I liked about Lost Girls - and all the other Kim Stone books - is the pacing and the writing, not to mention the characters. Kim Stone needs her own TV show STAT. It would be AMAZING. I can literally picture it, although I have no idea who would play Kim and it would need to be someone who can carry off Kim the way book Kim is, because she's not exactly warm and welcoming. I actually love that about her, she just wants to get the job done, and there's nowt wrong with that at all. The pacing of the book is fantastic. It goes at just the right amount of pace to keep you hooked, unable to put it down, which is a good thing because YAY READING but bad because it can interrupt your sleep. But it's so worth it, and it's like Kim and her team have become family.

It's so good to see the team strengthen - we've had three books now, they're all settling into their roles nicely. Bryant's the cool, calm, collected one, the only one allowed to call Kim on her crap; Stacey's the quiet tech-y one; and Dawson is still an enigma to me. I want to know more about him, but it was nice to see Kim trust him with his own little investigation in Lost Girls. I won't lie, he's damn intriguing. I absolutely loved Lost Girls, the plot was amazing, I always love when families are pitted against each other, even though it's cruel. And I honestly can't big up Angela Marsons enough. She's a rare talent, and deserves every single bit of praise she receives because she's an OUTSTANDING writer. 

When a rapist is found mutilated in a brutal attack, Detective Kim Stone and her team are called in to bring a swift resolution. But, as more vengeful killings come to light, it soon becomes clear that there is someone far more sinister at work. 

With the investigation quickly gathering momentum, Kim finds herself exposed to great danger and in the sights of a lethal individual undertaking their own twisted experiment. 

Up against a sociopath who seems to know her every weakness, for Detective Stone, each move she makes could be deadly. As the body count starts to mount, Kim will have to dig deeper than ever before to stop the killing. And this time - it’s personal. 
​

Oh man. Oh man, oh man, oh man. This is why I've put off reading Evil Games for so long - because Angela Marsons makes you read her books in one sitting, with some kind of wizardry I've rarely encountered. I genuinely started this book at 6pm (after watching Pointless - they won the jackpot!) and finished it at 9.30pm. THE SAME NIGHT. I barely put the book down, except to go to the bathroom. Honestly, I just got so sucked in to the story, and being back in Kim Stone's life that I had to finish it. And do you know the worst part? Lost Girls is now staring at me demanding I get started on it IMMEDIATELY. I may not sleep tonight, or forever. 

Evil Games is book two of the D.I. Kim Stone series and is just as good as book one. If not better, because we learn more about Kim Stone, our enigmatic leader. I love her, actually. Sure, she's a bit unemotional, and socially inept but so am I, so who am I to judge or complain? And she takes in a rescue dog so in my opinion she's literally the best, and dogs are much better companions than humans. This time around, Kim is tackling more murders, random murders, that all seem to lead back to the same psychiatrist, Alex Thorne and Kim being Kim, she has her suspicions and I tell you what, she has the best instincts of any fictional copper I've ever met. Not content with murders, she's also tackling a child paedophile ring, and you will never in a million years see that conclusion coming, I'm telling ya.

What I love most about these books, is the sense of family within Kim's department. I said in my review of Silent Scream that Kim is well-respected, and that's true once again - as the coppers stay late, come in early, do whatever Kim asks of them, all in the name of catching the bad guys. And the group they've got is amazing. Bryant is still top dog, like, second only to Kim naturally. But I'm looking forward to learning more about Dawson, Stacey, etc. It felt like Dawson's story was leading somewhere, this time around, but there was no resolution or answer, so we'll see where that one goes. For what it's worth, I don't think it's all as it seems. 

Angela Marsons is such a fine writer. I am kicking myself for not reading this sooner because it was amazing. The push and pull between Kim and Alex Thorne is so worth reading about, because you're just never sure who'll have the upper hand, but you always want Kim to come out on top, naturally. Kim Stone is such a feisty character, and I feel like we've barely scratched the surface of her so far, and that there's SO MUCH MORE to come. I honestly cannot praise these books enough, they're so reminiscent of the Rizzoli/Isles books, which makes my heart happy because I adore the Rizzoli/Isles books, and Marsons is similar to Gerritsen in which they both write with scalpel-like precision. The kind of writing that keeps you reading for three and a half hours in a row! If that's not high praise, I don't know what is! 

Lucy Arigho’s first encounter with Greg Millar is far from promising, but she soon realises he possesses a charm that is impossible to resist. Just eight whirlwind weeks after their first meeting, level-headed career girl Lucy is seriously considering his pleas to marry him and asking herself if she could really be stepmother material.
But before Lucy can make a final decision about becoming part of Greg’s world, events plunge her right into it. On holiday in the South of France, things start to unravel. Her future stepchildren won’t accept her, the interfering nanny resents her, and they’re stuck in a heat wave that won’t let up. And then there’s Greg. His behaviour becomes increasingly bizarre and Lucy begins to wonder whether his larger-than-life personality hides something darker—and whether she knows him at all.

The Accidental Life of Greg Millar was not what I was expecting AT ALL. I imagined a fun story, about a girl who finds love after losing the person she thought was her soulmate, someone who makes her happy again, and see the world in a much better light. And while it is that, for the first bit of the novel, it soon takes a way more serious turn as Greg turns out to be quite erratic. It took a while to get my head around, because Lucy's and Greg's relationship went from being the most amazing thing ever, to something balanced precariously on an edge of a cliff. 

What I liked about the book was Lucy. She was the narrator, and she goes through so much - before Greg, whilst she's with Greg. Her entire relationship with Greg is like one big whirlwind. They're engaged within two months of knowing each other, then they go to France, with his kids, and it's like WHOA SLOW DOWN, but they're both away in this mad little love bubble and nothing can penetrate it, until it all starts to go slightly pear-shaped. It's the little things at first - Greg's kids, Rachel in particular, can't stand Lucy and she's not even willing to give her a chance; Helena the nanny is like the wicked witch, stirring trouble every where she goes; Greg disappears for hours on end, and yet through it all, Lucy is level-headed. Even afterwards, through everything else, Lucy is level-headed. And that's amazing. She really was the one who kept everything ticking over throughout, when anyone else would have said see you later.

I actually loved Rachel and Toby, Greg's kids. Yes, Rachel was very prickly with Lucy, but that's kids for you isn't it? And it's never easy having someone come into your life the way Lucy does, although it was unfair because Lucy didn't do anything wrong. But Toby was so cute. Ahhh, I love little boys, they're so sweet and innocent, especially in books. Greg, for me, was the hardest character to like. It was so, so hard to get a hold on who the real Greg was. But it was his love for Lucy that made me like him the most, because again, despite everything, these two loved each, there was no petty falling out and breaking up over nothing, this was the old-fashioned, make it work no matter what, because you love each other stuff and that was so good to read.

I really enjoyed The Accidental Life of Greg Millar. Yes, it was way more serious than I expected, but it was no less enjoyable. It made it all worthwhile, in fact, and it was refreshing to see a book tackle such a serious subject, with ease, too. Aimee Alexander writes really, really well (and she writes really well, too, as Denise Deegan, her real name) and I look forward to reading more of her Aimee books, and any others she's published under any other names.