Category: Historical

BLOG TOUR | DEVIL DARLING SPY by Matt Killeen

Posted March 5, 2020 by Emma in 2020 books, Blog Tour, Extract, Historical, Matt Kileen / 0 Comments

Hello my bookish friends and first off before I get on with the my blog tour piece…

HAPPY WORLD BOOK DAY!!!!!!!

It’s my favourite day of the year being a school librarian. I’m dressing up today as Wonder Woman which is perfect for International Women’s Day on Sunday. As a blogger though its World Book Day every day for us. So have fun, share stories, read books – especially the sequel to Orphan Monster Spy, which is Devil Darling Spy which is out today! Did you like how I did that!!? Ha. Happy Release Day to it and to celebrate its release as part of the blog tour I have an extract for you all, who are itching like me to read it. (Which I will this month.) But before that here is a little bit more about the book!

BLOG TOUR | DEVIL DARLING SPY by Matt KilleenDevil Darling Spy (Orphan Monster Spy, #2) by Matt Killeen
Published by Usborne Publishing on March 5, 2020
Genres: Historical
Amazon | Book Depository
Goodreads

The deadliest weapon is a girl with nothing to lose... Sarah is used to spying in the champagne-fuelled parties of Nazi Berlin. But her new mission is infinitely more deadly - tracking a lethal disease across bullet-torn Africa, to uncover the monster who would use it to create fifty million corpses. Her enemies think she is a terrified little girl. But she is a warrior set to burn them all.

 

 

 

 

EXTRACT

Chapter 1

23rd August 1940

The siren seemed muffled. It was absorbed by the seemingly endless hills of mud, or it fled into the big grey sky and was gone. Either way it didn’t seem particularly auspicious. It couldn’t even startle the few disinterested seagulls that continued to squat on the grey metal tube, as if it really was just a drainpipe left lying on the side of a hill. They failed to notice the cables and wires that straggled into the mire along its length, or the branches and offshoots of pipework welded into the main cylinder at regular intervals.

However, the grey tube and muddy slope did have a more interested audience elsewhere. The cables trailed away to form an intricate path of black rubber lines, down into the valley and back up the facing slope. At their end, five hundred metres away, was a concrete blockhouse sunk into the hilltop. Through a small slit running horizontally across its length, a dozen eyes watched and waited. The darkness inside managed to be both stuffy and damp.

The boards covering the floor were ill-fitting and filthy, marked with muddy footprints, the walls bare and unadorned. A rusty radio hid in a corner, emitting a quiet metallic hiss.
“Zehn,” a voice crackled through the speaker.
The men straightened up and crowded towards the light. Their uniforms varied in colour and design but shared a predominance of gold and silver braid, medals and epaulettes, and a thick sense of entitlement.
“Neun… Acht… Sieben…”
Even the least theatrical jackets had a great number of hoops, lines and decorations. One man stood apart, in a dark suit, expensive coat and hat.
“Sechs… Fünf…”
The man stared over someone’s garishly braided shoulderboard at the opposite hill, his bright blue eyes piercing and unreadable.
“Vier… Drei… Zwei…”
There was a shuffle of anticipation.
“Eins… Null!”
A swiftly rising whine built into separate hissing screams. Then sparks escaped from each of the pipe’s tributaries in an almost simultaneous cascade, creating one roaring sound from a chorus of individual howls. Fire exploded from the pipe’s summit with an unmistakable thunk, moments before the opening belched a cloud of thick black smoke. The squarking of the scattering seagulls filled the sudden silence. There were a few tuts and disappointed noises from the assembled officers. Certainly the event seemed deeply anticlimactic.
“Did it work?” complained a portly Luftwaffe officer.

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Review – Under A Dancing Star by Laura Wood

Posted August 28, 2019 by Emma in 2019 Books, 5 Stars, Book Review, Historical / 1 Comment
Review – Under A Dancing Star by Laura Wood

Hello my Book Friends, I’m still catching up on those book reviews so here is one I read on holiday. It was a last minute addition to my suitcase and boy was that the best decision I made. It’s been a long time since I’ve read something like this, a YA historical novel and this has to be one of the best I’ve ever read.  “The end of the Beginning…” Living in 20th Century, Beatrice is stuck with her future, destined to marry and take over her family’s home as her parents keep reminding her. But Bea (to my delight) isn’t […]

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Review – Enchantée by Gita Trelease

Review – Enchantée by Gita Trelease

Enchantée by Gita Trelease Publisher – Macmillan Children’s Books  Release Date – 21 February 2019 Buy – Amazon | Book Depository Paris in 1789 is a labyrinth of twisted streets, filled with beggars, thieves, revolutionaries—and magicians… When smallpox kills her parents, Camille Durbonne must find a way to provide for her frail, naive sister while managing her volatile brother. Relying on petty magic—la magie ordinaire—Camille painstakingly transforms scraps of metal into money to buy the food and medicine they need. But when the coins won’t hold their shape and her brother disappears with the family’s savings, Camille must pursue a […]

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EARLY REVIEW – ONE SHOT by Tanya Landman

EARLY REVIEW – ONE SHOT by Tanya Landman

One Shot by Tanya Landman Publisher – Barrington Stoke Release Date – 15th March 2019 Buy – Amazon | Book Depository A powerful and deeply moving coming-of-age drama, inspired by the life of infamous sharpshooter Annie Oakley. After the death of her beloved father, Maggie and her family are thrown into a life of destitution. With little income and no way to live off their poor land, Maggie tries to provide for her family the way her father always had – with his hunting rifle and whatever animals the forest would provide. But when her mother is confronted with her […]

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REVIEW – INVICTUS by Ryan Graudin

REVIEW – INVICTUS by Ryan Graudin

Invictusby Ryan GraudinPublisher – Orion Children’s BooksRelease Date – September 21st 2017Buy – Amazon | Book Depository Time flies when you’re plundering history. Farway Gaius McCarthy was born outside of time. The son of a time-traveling Recorder from 2354 AD and a gladiator living in Rome in 95 AD, Far’s birth defies the laws of nature. Exploring history himself is all he’s ever wanted, and after failing his final time-traveling exam, Far takes a position commanding a ship with a crew of his friends as part of a black market operation to steal valuables from the past. But during a […]

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ARC REVIEW – PASSING FOR WHITE by Tanya Landman

ARC REVIEW – PASSING FOR WHITE by Tanya Landman

Passing for Whiteby Tanya LandmanPublisher – Barrington StokeRelease Date – May 15th 2017Buy – Amazon | Book Depository It’s 1848 in the Deep South of America. Rosa is a slave but her owner is also her father and her fair skin means she can ‘pass for white’. With the help of her husband Benjamin, she disguises herself as a young southern gentleman – and Benjamin’s master. In this guise, the couple flee the South, explaining away their lack of literacy, avoiding those they have encountered before and holding their nerve over a thousand miles to freedom.Inspired by the amazing true story […]

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