Daily Archives: June 8, 2020

Hot Propertyby Tasha Harrison

As featured in The Guardian.

For a community of British ex-pats settled in the rural Akrotiri region of Crete, living the dream is what it’s all about. Life should be like a holiday – pure sun, sea and sand with a bit of work thrown in for good measure.

But for newcomers Ed and Lauren and their two small children, the dream takes a sour turn when their paths cross with devious property dealer Jeremy and his frosty girlfriend Susannah. And they’re not the only ones who begin to question whether a life in the sun is all it’s cracked up to be…

Becoming a travel rep in Crete is the best decision Georgie has ever made – especially when she starts a steamy affair with her landlord. However, when she bumps into an old adversary, she can’t resist a spot of sweet revenge and things soon start to get out of hand.

Meanwhile, restaurant owners Becky and Yiannis are finding their love-struck teenaged daughter Sophia too much to handle. And their good friend, lonely artist Stafford, discovers there is one person who is the ongoing source of all their troubles – but will he be able to stop the culprit before it’s too late?

The Tell: The Little Clues That Reveal Big Truths about Who We Areby Matthew Hertenstein

Every day we make predictions based on limited information, in business and at home. Will this company's stock performance continue? Will the job candidate I just interviewed be a good employee? What kind of adult will my child grow up to be? We tend to dismiss our predictive minds as prone to bias and mistakes, but in The Tell, psychologist Matthew Hertenstein reveals that our intuition is surprisingly good at using small clues to make big predictions, and shows how we can make better decisions by homing in on the right details.

Just as expert poker players use their opponents' tells to see through their bluffs, Hertenstein shows that we can likewise train ourselves to read physical cues to significantly increase our predictive acumen. By looking for certain clues, we can accurately call everything from election results to the likelihood of marital success, IQ scores to sexual orientation—even from flimsy evidence, such as an old yearbook photo or a silent one-minute video. Moreover, by understanding how people read our body language, we can adjust our own behavior so as to ace our next job interview or tip the dating scales in our favor.

Drawing on rigorous research in psychology and brain science, Hertenstein shows us how to hone our powers of observation to increase our predictive capacities. A charming testament to the power of the human mind, The Tell will, to paraphrase Sherlock Holmes, show us how to notice what we see.

Fractured Carapaceby James Murdo

Chiton’s star system vanished. It was there, and then it wasn’t. How does an entire star system vanish?

The Chitchi were forced to start again.

Three hundred years ago, the brilliant Krasna established her experimental outpost on the unclaimed water world of Prebis. Her experiments are famous throughout their disparate civilisation, although her subordinates are beginning to worry over her increasingly erratic behaviour.

If that wasn’t concerning enough, Chitchi have also begun disappearing without trace…

Chathindi diligently works under Krasna. She studies the insectoid Risers – non-sentients, native to Prebis, that eject from the ocean to join a mysterious living blanket encompassing the world – and grows increasingly convinced that they are more than they appear.

Are the Chitchi alone on Prebis?

A STANDALONE NOVEL FROM THE WANDERER UNIVERSE.

Cerebral Sci-Fi with an emphasis on the ‘Sci’. If you enjoy Hard Sci-Fi, complex Space Opera, and authors such as Iain M. Banks, Alastair Reynolds and Dan Simmons, then this is for you.

‘superb job world building and character development.’ – Bookbub reviewer

‘Another excellent standalone… we have the pleasure to meet yet more intriguing species/entities… twisty reveals can happen unexpectedly. If you’re into the more “science” part of “scifi”, this author is for you!’ – Bookbub reviewer

‘fun and unique story in the Wanderer Universe, this time with a glimpse into a distinctly alien, yet all-too human, civilization’ – Goodreads reviewer

‘What a neat story! This author is so creative with all these different worlds and alien species. It was really cool to get to see the details of life on one of these worlds for one small species. If you liked the Gil’s world series, you will definitely enjoy this book as well.‘ – Goodreads reviewer

The Great Catsbyby B.K. Baxter

Watch what you wish for… Some inheritances are literally death.

My life has been turned upside down by my inheritance, but my only complaint is the cat that came along with the new house.

I swear he’s judging me as I settle in and try to make new friends in my new small-town Louisiana neighborhood.

And just when I start to settle into my new job and get back to reading my classic novels, I’m pulled chapters deep into a mystery.

The Beauty Queen in the town has been offed. Someone has killed the darling.

Wouldn’t you know it? An innocent man has been framed.

I shouldn’t get involved, but somehow, my cat seems to have a way with finding clues in some of my favorite stories. Not that any of that makes sense.

Why would it?

The cat is the sleuth, I’m the amateur, and we have alligators in the backyard.

Throw in a dead body, a book club that’s filled with suspicious characters, and you have my new life.

And I thought being a librarian in Louisiana was going to be dull.