Review - First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston

First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston

Publisher: Headline

Release date: 2 January 2024

Back cover blurb: Everything she is about to tell them is a lie... Evie Porter has everything a girl could want: a doting boyfriend, a house with a picket fence, a fun group of friends. The only catch: Evie Porter doesn't exist. First comes the identity. Once she's given a name and location by her employer, she learns everything there is to know about the town and the people in it. Then the mark: Ryan Sumner. The last piece of the puzzle is the job. For Evie, this job feels different. Ryan has gotten under her skin and she's started to picture another kind of life for herself - one where her boss doesn't pull the strings. But Evie can't make any mistakes. Because the one thing she's worked her entire life to keep clean, the one identity she could always go back to - her real identity - just walked right into this town. A woman, who looks just like her, has stolen her name - and she wants more. As Evie's past begins to catch up with her, can she stay one step ahead to save her future?

If my first read of 2024 is anything to go by then it's going to be a fabulous year for reading! 

Okay, so technically I read it in 2023, but let's not let minor details distract us...

First Lie Wins is a brilliantly written and unique thriller, focusing on Evie Porter and her less than conventional relationship with her boyfriend Ryan. 

I really found this to be a refreshing and original read and I look forward to more from this author. 

From the outside, their relationship is perfect. Evie Porter has everything she ever wanted, a doting boyfriend, an idyllic house in a safe, affluent neighbourhood and a job that pays well. Except, it is clear from the off that Evie hasn't been entirely honest with Ryan about who she is, but why would she jeopardise their relationship in that way?

Evie is no stranger to telling lies. 

In fact she has made a career out of it. A dangerous one at that, and unfortunate, unsuspecting Ryan is part of her latest 'job'. Ryan has something that her boss wants badly, and Evie must do her best to get it.

She knows its her last chance to prove herself, despite being one the best assets her boss has, her last job went wrong, and Evie needs to make it up to him, and prove that she is still worthy of the money that he throws her way.

One day she knows she'll leave the 'game' and settle down into the life that her Mother wanted for her, which deep down Evie wants too. But for now, she must be content with making her latest job a success no matter how many times she has to lie to Ryan.

But despite having been in the same position a million times before, for some reason Evie finds it harder to mislead Ryan than anyone before him. And then she realises that its because she could genuinely see herself having a life with him. 

She must get those thoughts of her head if she's to complete the job successfully, and make it out alive...

 

First Lie Wins is available to pre-order now via Amazon online and all good book shops.

Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

x Vicky-Leigh x

Review - the Last Line by Stephen Ronson

The Last Line by Stephen Ronson

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Release date: 16 November 2023

Back cover blurb: May 1940. With Nazi forces sweeping across France, invasion seems imminent. The English Channel has never felt so narrow. In rural Sussex, war veteran John Cook has been tasked with preparing the resistance effort, should the worst happen. But even as the foreign threat looms, it's rumours of a missing child that are troubling Cook. A twelve-year-old girl was evacuated from London and never seen again, and she's just the tip of the iceberg - countless evacuees haven't made it to their host families. As Cook investigates, he uncovers a dark conspiracy that reaches to the highest ranks of society. He will do whatever it takes to make the culprits pay. There are some lines you just don't cross. THE LAST LINE is a blistering action thriller combined with a smart noir mystery, played out expertly against the taut backdrop of the British home front.

The Last Line explores a side of WW2 that no one wants to think about, let alone write about. The imminent threat of a Nazi invasion. Yet the fact remains, there was a point in history when that threat was very real.

WW1 Veteran John Cook is deflated when he is turned down for voluntary military service. He feels that he has something to contribute, and is hardly unfit or old. In his early forties, and fit as a farmer tending his land on a daily basis.

When he meets with an old friend for a pint, he is further disappointed when they don't show. In their place however is a man and an offer that John hadn't even considered. An offer to join the resistance, to defend and protect the country should the worst happen and the Nazi's invade.

Whilst John in pondering just how real the Nazi threat is, and if he should take the offer seriously, his life is turned upside down when a body appears in one of his fields. Due to it's location, John is the immediate prime suspect.

He is determined to prove his innocence, so when he is released due to lack of evidence, he takes  matters in to his own hands. He realises quickly that the murder was committed by some particularly unsavoury characters, who are also involved in criminal activity.

Once he's investigated further he realises how heinous these crimes are, and just how dangerous the people involved are. Perhaps even deadlier than the threat of a foreign invasion. Will he manage to ensure that justice is served or is his own life in danger?

The Last Line is a brilliant thriller, set in a period of time that makes everything seem heightened. This is the first novel that I've read from this author, and I look forward to reading another! 

The Last Line is available now via Amazon online and all good book shops.

Thank You to the publishers who approved my request via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

My top picks for 2024

It's that time of year again ...

The Fellowship of Puzzle Makers by Samuel Burr / Anna O by Matthew Blake / The Switch by Lily Samson / Day One by Abigail Dean / Mr's Quinn's Rise to Fame by Olivia Ford / Seven Days by Robert Rutherford / Empire Book 2 [Title TBC] Michael Ball 

Piglet by Lottie Hazell / When We Were Silent by Fiona McPhillips / Roar by Cecelia Ahern / The Story Collector by Iris Costello / The Best Way to Bury Your Husband by Alexia Casale / The Traitor's Wife by Sarah Steele / The Things We Do to Our Friends by Heather Darwent 

Truth Truth Lie by Clare McGowan / Diva by Daisy Godwin / The Actor by Chris MacDonald / Plot Twist by Breea Keenan / The Haven by Fiona Neill / The Women by Kristin Hannah / The Fury by Alex Michaelides

Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead by Jenny Hollander / Five Bad Deeds by Caz Frear / The Baker's Secret by Lelita Baldcock / A Lesson In Cruelty by Harriet Tyce /  Goodbye Birdie Greenwig by Erika Waller / Clickbait by L.C. North / The Secret Pianist by  Andie Newton

End of Story by A.J. Finn / Nosy Neighbours by Freya Sampson /  The Hunter by Tana French / Unsinkable by Jenni L. Walsh / Night Watching by Tracy Sierra / A Stranger In The Family by Jane Casey / The Safe Keep by Yael Van Der Wouden

Girl Friends by Alex Dahl / The Underground Library by Jennifer Ryan / Five Nights by Rachel Wolf / One Love by Matt Cain / The Young Widows by S.J. Short / The Scandalous Life of Ruby Deveraux by M.J. Robotham / Where They Lie by Claire Coughlan

This is by no means a definitive list and I am also looking forward to discovering many more wonderful books from both new and established authors during 2024.