Guest Post From Mandy Brittany

 The Cold and Phototime by Mandy Brittany

Today, I have a very special guest on my blog. Mandy Brittany is here to tell us about how she is very generously blogging two novels in order to raise money for charity. Read on to find out how you can help ...

My novels, The Cold and Phototime are up and ready to read on my blogs, with the hope of raising money for Cancer Research.

The reason behind my madness, brainwave, loss of plot, brilliant idea...call it what you will...is my sister has been battling terminal cancer for three years, and I often feel at a loss. So I thought I would try to do something to raise funds for her and everyone else who has suffered or is suffering at the hands of the rotten disease that touches so many. 

You can read both novels for free, of course, but if you read and enjoy and would like to donate a small amount of £2 to my Just Giving page, that would be fantastic. Thank you. I’ve already raised £277, which is amazing.

The Cold is a twisty suspense novel:

Isla Johnson survived an attack by serial killer Carl Jeffery six years ago, which left her psychologically damaged at the time.

Now, after being happy with Jack for three years, things have taken a turn.  An odd university reunion arranged by her first boyfriend; sightings of someone dressed like Carl Jeffery; and who is the mysterious Andy?   Is Isla in danger, or is she losing her mind?

Phototime is a magical, comical journey into manhood:

At the age of 23, Isaac’s dad has died, his mum has disappeared in Australia and he's fallen in love.

He meets Cillian, a man in his fifties, who is on a quest of his own to find his long lost brother.

Cillian teaches Isaac about Phototime – a way of visiting the five minutes after a photograph was taken – and the unlikely pair set out on a comical, magical adventure that takes Isaac on a journey into manhood.

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You can read The Cold here.

You can read Phototime here.

And you can donate to Mandy's Just Giving page here.

Please support Mandy and this great cause if you can. 

The Fifth Letter by Nicola Moriarty

The Fifth Letter

By Nicola Moriarty 

Four friends. Five Letters. One Secret.

A scandalous breakthrough novel from Nicola Moriarty that will leave you asking, how well do I really know my friends?

I requested a review copy of this book because I thought the premise sounded so interesting.

Joni, Trina, Deb and Eden have been friends since school, where Joni had decided they should all be friends because they shared surnames beginning with the same letter. Now they are adults and they all have very different lives, but Joni is desperate for them to stay friends so she organizes a holiday for them to reconnect.

Things start to get out of control when they all decide to write a letter in which they will reveal a secret. The letters will be anonymous so that no one will know who has written each one. But one of the friends writes a second letter – a letter revealing something even darker than the other four. The writer tries to destroy it, but Joni finds it and is left wondering which of her friends could be harbouring such a disturbing secret.

There is plenty of intrigue as the reader tries to guess who wrote each letter, and then who could possibly have written the fifth letter. I also liked that it showed the positive sides of female friendship but didn’t shy away from the negatives – the jealousy, the competitiveness, the resentment when it appears that life has treated some more kindly than others.

This is a well paced novel and although it skips about a bit, taking in different time periods and points of view it doesn’t leave the reader feeling confused or lost.

A recommended story of friendship, secrets and what can happen when relationships go really, really wrong.

I received a review copy of this book from the publishers via Netgalley.

You can find out more here.