Switch and Bait is an online dating take on Cyrano de Bergerac. Blanche manages a bookshop by day and helps single women find quality men online by night. Her slogan: “We switch, I bait. Let me help you snag a date.” Blanche’s latest client, Ansley, is a sweet woman who becomes accident prone around attractive men. (Ansley’s claim to fame is that she was banned from the Smithsonian for life after knocking over their stegosaurus display. As a museum nerd, I’m thinking: that’s unrealistic, but also hilarious!) Ansley’s latest match is Henry, the brother in law of Blanche’s best friend and also a one night stand Blanche is still attracted to but somehow can’t help insulting every time they see each other.

Switch and Bait is a quick, breezy, entertaining read. I loved the online banter between Henry and Blanche-as-Ansley, which is both cheesier and cleverer than most online dating conversations: Henry messages, “Of all the dating apps in all the world, she swipes into mine.” Blanche-as-Ansley responds, “Here’s looking at you, bae.” And off they go into classic movie references.

There’s also a fun subplot involving a bookstore customer named Cliff, who looks just like Justin Trudeau and is incredibly good with his hands.

But overall, the central romance was just okay. Beyond the obvious conflict that Blanche was supposed to set Henry up with Ansley (which given how nice Ansley is, probably could’ve been addressed with a little communication), the major reason that keeps Blanche and Henry apart didn’t seem super fleshed out. She thinks they’re incompatible because he’s a Republican and she’s super liberal, but Schultz never quite shows Henry having problematic beliefs. When politics come up in the book, it’s mostly Blanche and Henry showing how they can be open-minded and cross the political divide, which helps show how they can get along in the end, but doesn’t quite address why their political affiliation was such a deal breaker.

I personally found Ansley a more compelling character, and laughed at all the scenes that featured her clumsiness. I was cheering her on all the way in her search for love, and I had a lot of fun with her part of the story.

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Thank you to Hachette Book Group Canada for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Give Me Your Hand is a taut and thrilling story about a pair of scientists who share a childhood secret. Kit Owens and Diane Fleming were high school best friends gunning for the Severin scholarship for girls who aspired to scientific careers. Then one day, Diane shares a terrible secret that completely changes the way Kit feels about her, and that haunts Kit long after they’ve graduated.

Fast forward ten years, and both women are in the running for prestigious research positions with Dr. Severin herself. Dr. Severin and her team are studying a condition called PMDD, which is basically PMS that’s so bad, it can cause psychological damage. Diane’s secret has never fully left Kit, and when a night of drinking makes Kit reveal more than she meant to, the race for the research spots becomes even more complicated.

I loved so much about this novel. I love the complicated friendship between Kit and Diane, and how genuine admiration and respect for each other is intermingled with a touch of jealousy and a LOT of fear. I love that the book is about women scientists, and that Dr. Severin is this mentor figure whom both Kit and Diane aspire to become. The scene where she took them both to lunch and spoke a bit about the challenges of being a woman in STEM was super compelling and inspirational, and I almost wished Kit and Diane didn’t have that secret between them, so they could just bask in this moment and kick some scientific ass together.

Diane’s secret was unexpected for me. I had an inkling of what it was fairly early on (Abbott gives us a not-so-subtle clue at an English class discussion of a Shakespeare play), but the cold-bloodedness of the truth was a surprise, as was Diane’s response to the incident years later. I love that Abbott took a risk with Diane, making her capable of such an unsympathetic action, but also portraying how deeply she felt about it and how much she wished she could find a scientific reason for what she did and more importantly, for who she is.

The present-day twists and turns are fast paced and tightly plotted, and I love how everything eventually comes together to the novel’s emotional core. Give Me Your Hand is a compelling story. I love the science angle and the women in STEM angle, and I especially love how complex and flawed Abbott’s women characters are.

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Thank you to

Death in Dulwich is a fun cozy mystery about an assistant archivist who discovers her boss murdered on her first day at work. Beth is a likeable series heroine, and I particularly liked the parts about the mommy politics at her son’s school. The mystery was interesting and fast-paced, and the twists and turns believable. I like the extra drama that came with something she discovered in the school archives, and I found the big reveal rather sad, and the murderer’s motivation sympathetic. The romance with the police detective barely got off the ground in this book, but will be something for series fans to look forward to in future books.

A lot of cozy mysteries rely on the quirkiness of the heroine, and place her in increasingly ridiculous situations for laughs, which is all fine and good and something I enjoy reading. But I’m also kinda glad Castle takes a more staid approach with Beth. There’s a funny scene where her cat goes missing after a robbery, but Castle’s comedy is minimal and restrained. As a mystery fan, I also liked the random reference to Midsomer Murders. And while I don’t quite agree with the comparison to Miss Marple (Beth lacks Miss Marple’s supernaturally keen eye for human nature and slightly dotty persona), Beth is a solid series character, and the mystery is good.

About the Book

Thirty-something single mum Beth Haldane is forced to become Dulwich’s answer to Miss Marple when she stumbles over a murder victim on her first day at work.

To clear her name, Beth is plunged into a cozy mystery that’s a contemporary twist on Golden Age crime classics. But can she pull it off? She already has a bouncy young son, haughty cat, a fringe with a mind of its own and lots of bills to pay, as she struggles to keep up with the yummy mummies of SE21.

Join Beth in #1 of the London Murder Mystery series, as she discovers the nastiest secrets can lurk in the nicest places.

Buy the book online: MyBook.to/1DeathinDulwich

About the Author

Before turning to crime, Alice Castle was a UK newspaper journalist for The Daily Express, The Times and The Daily Telegraph. Her first book, Hot Chocolate, set in Brussels and London, was a European hit and sold out in two weeks.

Death in Dulwich was published in September 2017 and has been a number one best-seller in the UK, US, Canada, France, Spain and Germany. A sequel, The Girl in the Gallery was published in December 2017 to critical acclaim. Calamity in Camberwell, the third book in the London Murder Mystery series, will be published this summer, with Homicide in Herne Hill due to follow in early 2019. Alice is currently working on the fifth London Murder Mystery adventure. Once again, it will feature Beth Haldane and DI Harry York.

Alice is also a mummy blogger and book reviewer via her website: https://www.alicecastleauthor.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alicecastleauthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DDsDiary

Giveaway (UK only)

Win signed copies of Death in Dulwich and The Girl in the Gallery (UK Only)

This giveaway is run by Rachel’s Random Resources.

Enter on Rafflecopter: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/33c69494106/?

*Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome.  PThe winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then I reserve the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time I will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.