Rosie’s #BookReview Team #RBRT THICKER THAN WATER by @GeorgiaRoseBook

Today’s team review is from Babus, she blogs at http://ajoobacatsblog.com/

Babus has been reading The Grayson trilogy by Georgia Rose and today she is reviewing #3 Thicker Than Water

This last part of the Grayson Trilogy reads more like an edgy thriller than the first two books. Things start to look perilous for Emma again as she receives a cryptic message from someone who has obviously been watching her. As the identity of this person comes to light it turns everything Emma has known about her past and herself upside down. However, there is much more at stake now that Emma is pregnant and Trent is not going to be taking any chances with her safety or the baby’s.

I found this part of the trilogy more taut and suspenseful than the previous two as the intensity of the characters and story increased. The focus shifts more onto Emma and is less on the estate, missions and Cavendish as the threat in this book finally comes home. The revelation of who Emma is and why she was pointed in the direction of the estate to take the job becomes clear.

A truly majestic end to a gripping trilogy.

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

THICKER THAN WATER by @GeorgiaRoseBook #BookReview Book 3 of the Grayson Trilogy

Thicker than Water by Georgia Rose
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thicker Than Water is book 3 of the Grayson trilogy and brings to a conclusion the tale around Emma Grayson a divorcee who lost a child and wanted to start a new life. She runs the horse yard on a private estate which is a front for a secret organisation.

In this book Emma has now married estate Manager Trent and finds herself pregnant. A mysterious package arrives for her via MI6 and sets off alarm bells which lead to revelations about her past life. But Emma is also in grave danger from a terrorist group known as the Polzin who circle ever closer in search of revenge.

This book had a slow start but the tension picked up in the second third, leading to an action packed finish. I would recommend reading this series from the beginning to get the most from the storyline.

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

View all my reviews on Goodreads

Before The Dawn by @GeorgiaRoseBook #Romantic #Suspense Grayson Trilogy

Before the Dawn by Georgia Rose

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Before The Dawn is book two in the Grayson Trilogy. It crosses romantic suspense with mystery. Emma Grayson is the equestrian groom at Melton Manor Estate. To the locals this is a working farm estate, but inside it’s an external force for MI6 to use. Top man Cavendish and his family are now targets for a ruthless organisation known as the Polzin family after the team recently put a stop to a branch of their human trafficking business.

Retaliation from the Polzin is expected and security on the estate steps up, as does the relationship between Trent and Emma. Caught between wanting to protect Emma and doing his job Trent finds letting Emma look after herself a challenge.

With a breach of security it’s up to Emma and her horses to try to protect the children and her own survival instincts kick in when they are most needed.

I loved the jump straight into the action from the start of the book, it kept me reading and eager for the story. The setting and military use of surnames makes recognising characters easy, perhaps a little added background to some of them would help readers picking this book up as their first read of the trilogy. For my own tastes I would like to see the romantic boundaries stretched further with a few more details to the passion scenes, this would give more depth to the characters of Trent and Emma and really get the readers behind two good characters. Looking forward to book 3 and the final chapter of this trilogy.

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

View all my reviews on Goodreads

Rosie’s Book Review Team #RBRT Barb reviews Before The Dawn by Georgia Rose

Today's book review is from Barb, she blogs at http://barbtaub.com/

Barb chose to read and review Before the Dawn by Georgia Rose

My Review: 5 out of 5 stars for Before the Dawn

I’ve been reading about Japanese sword-making for a current project, and the process sounded oddly familiar. Then I sat down to write a review of Georgia Rose’s Before the Dawn, the second volume in her Grayson trilogy. And I got it. A good sword has to be hard enough to hold a sharp edge, while being strong and flexible enough to absorb massive shocks without cracking or breaking. The story of Emma Grayson parallels the process of creating thekatana, the masterpiece of Japanese sword-making.

In creating a katana, or samurai sword, the swordsmith starts with a block of carbon and iron sand, which is heated and folded over and over. Too little folding and the steel will be too flexible. Too much and the strengthening grain will disappear. In the first Grayson volume, A Single Step, Emma Grayson goes through this process. Tested over and over through devastating loss—her parents, her child, her marriage—she emerges with both strength to survive and flexibility to embrace new growth and even find love. Both Emma and her new love Trent have faced their past nightmares and found the courage to commit to each other.

The next step in the sword-making process is to temper the blade, to make it strong and flexible by heating it to red-hot before quenching it in water. This is what Emma goes through in Before the Dawn. She and Trent are together, exploring the still-fragile bonds of their new love. They learn that his undercover work is about to follow him home, putting everyone at Melton Manor into danger. Despite her feelings of inadequacy at lacking the military training and experience of others on the estate, it falls to Emma to protect not only herself, but the wife and children of Trent’s partner. She has to become that strong, flexible tool—willing to use her beloved horses, a child’s recollections, and even a fire extinguisher as a weapon.

In my review of A Single Step, I commented on the “careful, deliberate pacing” of the novel. No more! Before the Dawn is a roller-coaster, a not-to-be-put-down adrenaline junkie’s dream of a thriller. If Georgia Rose took the elements of a gothic novel and made them into her own genre in the first volume, this time she does the same with the thriller. She lays meticulous groundwork, allowing us to see Emma’s doubts and fears. The action rises to edge-of-your-seat levels in the middle of the book, followed by the piece you seldom get to see in other thrillers as Emma and her friends come to terms with the lingering effects of the violence that engulfed Melton Manor.

For me, the definition of a five-star review is a work that not only would I not hesitate to recommend to others, but an author who goes straight to my auto-buy list. I’d buy their work in hard-copy—and I wouldn’t ever lend it out. Before the Dawn meets all of these criteria and more.

The last step of sword-making is to hone the edge and provide the correct hilt so that it can be balanced, lightweight, and sharp enough to wield effectively. In the first two books, Emma Grayson has been forged into that weapon. There are still questions to be answered, about both her past and the forces who attacked Trent and the Estate. I can’t wait to see how Emma—now strong, flexible, and sharp-edged—meets those challenges.

*I received this book for free from the publisher or author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.** 

Find a copy here from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk

Rosie’s Book review Team #RBRT Elizabeth reviews Before The Dawn by Georgia Rose

Today’s book review comes from Elizabeth, she blogs at http://lizannelloyd.wordpress.com/

Elizabeth chose to read and review Before The Dawn by Georgia Rose.

Before the Dawn by Georgia Rose

“Before the Dawn,” is the aptly titled second book in Georgia Rose’s Grayson trilogy. After reading, “A Single Step,” a romance grounded in the tale of Emma Grayson, a capable heroine who had been broken by tragedy, I was intrigued by its other strand of dramatic adventure and fear, engendered by her boyfriend Trent’s work in undercover military action.

 

“Before the Dawn,” finds Emma Grayson and Trent tentatively exploring their new relationship while living on the Melton Estate where Emma is the groom to Lord Cavendish and his young family.   But this is not just an ordinary farming estate, for most of the workforce, including Trent, disappear for periods of time for action against Russian criminals, involving state of the art equipment and military expertise. Soon they are all warned that Cavendish and his wife and children are the targets of a kidnapping plan. At first Emma is tempted to run, but her love for Trent gives her courage and soon her skill as a horse rider and her strength of character enable her to cope with danger and terror.

 

The increased pace and action-packed events in this novel make for a thrilling read, based on our increasing understanding of Emma and Trent. Emma’s well-rounded character includes empathy and practical help for others in need and there are hints about her childhood suggesting interesting developments in the third book of the trilogy. There has also been evidence of betrayal, but who can be responsible?

 

If I have any criticism of this book it is the slightly confusing use of similar names such as Carlton/Cavendish and Turner/Trent but that is probably just my personal hang up. I particularly like the fact that the novel is not entrenched in the mould of one fixed genre. Here we have contemporary relationship problems, drama, intrigue and mystery and superb characterisation. What more could you want?

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Mystery Book Tour Day 5 #MysteryNovember A Single Step by Georgia Rose

Welcome to Day 5 of Mystery November , our guest today is Georgia Rose and her book A Single Step.

Where is your home town?

I suppose it’s Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire as that’s my nearest town, and I’ve lived here for 28 years, though as it’s still more than 10 miles away it doesn’t feel much like home. The town that I know best is Bedford because, although I didn’t ever live there, my school life and then the first 12 years of my working life were there so it feels more like a home town to me. I haven’t moved far have I!

How long have you been writing?

I’ve only been writing fiction properly since 2012 when the story that I’m now telling came to me during one glorious week while lying on a sun bed in Gozo. Everything just slotted into place and whilst I’d made the odd feeble attempts to write something in the past, which had never made it past the first page, this time it seems it was meant to be. The beginning, middle and end came together and I’m now just hoping I can do it justice by holding it all together for the entire trilogy.

What is your favourite sub-genre of mystery?

I like all sorts if I’m reading it, particularly a gritty psychological crime thriller but I guess from a writing point of view it has to be romantic suspense. When I was first coming up with this story I wanted there to be something more to it than just a romance. I like there to be darkness in the backgrounds of my lead characters and a gradual building of suspense throughout, which I’m now finding a challenge to sustain over the three books.

Where is A Single Step set?

The setting for A Single Step is completely fictitious. Emma starts out in a village called Crowthorne but most of the book is set on the glorious estate of Melton Manor, near the village of Melton. I can see it vividly so in a way it does upset me that I can’t actually go and visit it but I also think that’s what people enjoy when they read it. Many have mentioned how they’ve loved the setting and because there are no preconceptions of it being in a particular place that can be however it’s conjured up in your mind.

What has happened to Emma in the past?

I don’t want to give too much away here but Emma has had a tragic past. Orphaned at a very early age she grows up and settles down only to face a loss so tragic that any of us would have great difficulty getting over it.

How does she take a step back into life?

With a little bit of prodding she applies for a new job at Melton Manor to manage the stables and while she goes there, with her faithful dog Susie, thinking that this is a place where she can live the solitary existence she longs for, when she gets there she finds she doesn’t quite get the isolated life she was expecting.

What is the mystery element in this book?

I don’t want to draw too much attention to some of the elements but the main ones are that right from the interview Emma attends there is an air of mystery about the estate. While on the surface it runs as an everyday agricultural enterprise there is more to it and as Emma gradually comes out of the darkness of her previous life she becomes aware that not all is what it seems.Also I have told this story in the first person so we know nothing of Trent’s background and the repercussions of this are not found out until it is almost too late and Emma is in dreadful danger.

It’s a mystery and a romance, does the story continue in the next book?

Yes it does. I think I’ve finished this one off so you’re full and satisfied when it ends, but, there are a few loose threads in there that while you’re not left feeling irritated with the lack of answers do leave some questions hanging.

Tell us what you are working on at the moment.

Well having launched the second book in The Grayson Trilogy, Before the Dawn, a few weeks ago I’ve just started on the concluding part, Thicker than Water. The story is all formed in my head; it’s just the small task now of getting the words down.

Where can readers find out more about you?

I have a website and write a blog at www.georgiarosebooks.com and you can follow my blog or contact me via this website.

My Twitter handle is @GeorgiaRoseBook and I can be found on Facebook at georgia.rose.books, as well as on Google+ and Goodreads.

The universal link to Amazon for A Single Step is http://t.co/WmKmhktPQy and is usually written as getbook.at/ASingleStep

getbook.at/ASingleStep getbook.at/ASingleStep getbook.at/ASingleStep