Blog Tour: The Memories We Bury by H.A. Leuschel

Posted in Books by Kim

From June 29th to July 5th, you can purchase her book for ONLY $0.99 on Amazon! You can also try to win a digital copy of The Memories We Bury by entering the giveaway below!

The Memories We Bury
By: H.A. Leuschel

Publication Date: April 17, 2020
Genre: Contemporary/Psychological Suspense

SYNOPSIS

An emotionally charged and captivating novel about the complexities of female friendship and motherhood.

Lizzie Thomson has landed her first job as a music teacher, and after a whirlwind romance with Markus, the newlywed couple move into a beautiful new home in the outskirts of Edinburgh. Lizzie quickly befriends their neighbour Morag, an elderly, resourceful yet lonely widow, who’s own children rarely visit her. Everything seems perfect in Lizzie’s life until she finds out she is pregnant and her relationship with both Morag and Markus change beyond her control.

Can Lizzie really trust Morag and why is Markus keeping secrets from her?

In ‘The Memories We Bury’ the author explores the dangerous bonds we can create with strangers and how past memories can cast long shadows over the present.

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REVIEW

The Memories We Bury is a psychological sort of novel that alternates between the first person narrative of its two main characters: Lizzie, a new mother and her elderly neighbor, Morag who has a strong desire to be needed and control and views this opportunity to be a chance to nurture another child. The first person narration style gives these two characters a slowly building development and very much suited as in many ways, this story is something of a character study, especially in terms of Morag who gradually reveals the reason why her children have left her and the other secrets that others have hinted at but never mentioned as it builds up to the big finale where she truly oversteps. On the other hand, Lizzie’s side of the story is much more about motherhood and the suspense behind her suspicions of Morag and her intentions. As their friendship develops over the course of the story, the dynamic changes and it moves between control and manipulation. In that regard, both of the characters are very well-written.

The flow of the story is probably one of the elements that is much more of a slow-burn. Just like the chapters move through a timeline to give an idea of the progression of time, which didn’t really impact my own reading experience too much. The story unravels very slowly. It could definitely have been paced a little better. As mentioned before, the characters did need the time and events to develop however, it did also feel like it dragged on a little in the middle bits between the beginning build-up which was intriguing to introduce and set-up the two characters and the big climax that was quite scary and shocking overall.

Overall, The Memories We Bury keeps in line with the strong psychological elements of H.A. Heurschel stories. Much like some of the previous works that I’ve read, this one also delivers with another completely different sort of relationship as it jumps into the topic of motherhood as well as friendship. The characters are intriguing to watch and even manages to add a little uncertainty at the end. Its an impressive way to end the story which leaves a little space to contemplate.

Score: 3.5/5

Where to buy: Amazon

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Helene Andrea Leuschel gained a Master in Journalism & Communication, which led to a career in radio and television in Brussels, London and Edinburgh. She later acquired a Master in Philosophy, specializing in the study of the mind. Helene has a particular interest in emotional, psychological and social well-being and this led her to write her first novel, Manipulated Lives, a fictional collection of five novellas, each highlighting the dangers of interacting with narcissists. She lives with her husband and two children in Portugal.

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GIVEAWAY

Digital Copy of Book

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BLOG TOUR SCHEDULE

June 29th

Cocktails & Fairytales (Spotlight) https://www.facebook.com/CocktailsFairytales
The Purple Shelf Club (Review) https://www.purpleshelfclub.com/
Rajiv’s Reviews (Review) https://www.rajivsreviews.com/
Jessica Belmont (Spotlight) https://jessicabelmont.wordpress.com/

June 30th

Breakeven Books (Spotlight) https://breakevenbooks.com
The Faerie Review (Spotlight) http://www.thefaeriereview.com
Tsarina Press (Spotlight) https://www.tsarinapress.com
Libroum in Sepiternum (Review) http://libroruminsempiternumhome.wordpress.com

July 1st

Meli’s Book Reviews (Review) https://melisbokreviews.wordpress.com/
My Comic Relief (Review) https://mycomicrelief.wordpress.com/
Stine Writing (Review) https://christinebialczak.com/

July 2nd

Rambling Mads (Spotlight) http://ramblingmads.com
Dark Whimsical Art (Spotlight) https://www.darkwhimsicalart.com
52 Weeks with Books (Spotlight) https://www.instagram.com/52weekswithbooks/

July 3rd

Reads & Reels (Spotlight) http://readsandreels.com
Book Reviews by Satabdi (Review) http://satabdimukherjee.wordpress.com
Tranquil Dreams (Review) https://klling.wordpress.com/

Blog Tour Organized by:

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22Mar2018

Short Story: Tess & Tattoos by H.A. Leuschel

Posted in Books by Kim

Tess & Tattoos
by: H.A. Leuschel

**Received in exchange for honest review**

Synopsis

A suspenseful and emotional novella exploring whether we can ever be free from our past mistakes.

In this story, the reader is taken on a compelling journey into the human mind where genuine friendship offers the key to inner peace.

Meet Tess, an elderly lady living in a care home apartment in the outskirts of Edinburgh, whose past is haunted by a wrong decision. She meets Nurse Sandra, a warm and bubbly single mother of three, who is instantly intrigued by Tess’s personality and the mystery that surrounds her.

‘Tess and Tattoos’ is one of five gripping stories in HA Leuschel’s story collection Manipulated Lives centred around psychological manipulation.

Review

This is the second story I’ve reviewed by H.A. Leuschel and one thing is apparent with her style and that is her wonderful ability to create an intriguing character study. In this case, the main character is an elderly lady living at a senior home called Tess. We start getting glimpses of her personality as she interacts with others particularly the new nurse Sandra. She seems at first like a closed and reserved lady, perhaps even typical because she craves company and attention despite choosing to be alone in her room all the time. However, an incident leads her to be exposed literally and her secrets spill out just a little and Sandra learns more about Tess. It also brings into a question of how much you do know someone is really dependent on how much they want you to know, which is a great angle for the story to take as Tess is revealed even more as the story takes a clever turn in the finale.

There were some pacing issues in the first bits. Perhaps it is to emphasize the monotone life that Tess leads and helps highlight her personality. It did seem to drag for a moment. Luckily this is a short story so pacing issues usually don’t last for too long before it moves along to introducing a new character like Sandra. however, Tess and Tattoos delivers an emotional and somewhat shocking and clever finish as we see more into the life of Tess. Just like My Sweet Friend, Tess and Tattoos delivers us a thought provoking story.

Goodreads: 3/5 (but its a 3.5 in reality)

Author Bio

Helene Andrea Leuschel grew up in Belgium where she gained a Licentiate in Journalism & Communication, which led to a career in radio and television in Brussels, London and Edinburgh. She now lives with her husband and two children in Portugal and recently acquired a Master of Philosophy with the OU, deepening her passion for the study of the mind. When she is not writing, Helene works as a freelance journalist and teaches Yoga.

Universal Purchase Link: https://t.co/ECi4Rmjhaa

21Feb2018

Blog Tour: My Sweet Friend by H.A. Leuschel [Review + Giveaway]

Posted in Books by Kim

My Sweet Friend
by: H.A. Leuschel

Publication Date: December 6, 2017
Genre: Contemporary Fiction/Women’s Fiction

Synopsis

A stand-alone novella from the author of Manipulated Lives

A perfect friend … or a perfect impostor?
Alexa is an energetic and charismatic professional and the new member of a Parisian PR company where she quickly befriends her colleagues Rosie and Jack. She brings a much-needed breath of fresh air into the office and ambitiously throws herself into her new job and friendships.
But is Alexa all she claims to be?
As her life intertwines with Rosie and Jack’s, they must all decide what separates truth from fiction. Will the stories that unfold unite or divide them? Can first impressions ever be trusted?
In this original novella, H.A. Leuschel evokes the powerful hold of appearances and what a person is prepared to do to keep up the facade. If you like thought-provoking and compelling reads with intriguing characters, My Sweet Friend is for you.

Goodreads

Purchase link here

Review

My Sweet Friend is a well-paced and thought provoking character study. It structures the novella around the point of views of its two main characters, Rosie and Alexa. We soon learn that they were quick to become very good friends after Alexa gets hired to their office, both in the sales and marketing team. However, as it switches between a broken down Alexa on holiday in Biarritz and frantically scrambling to get a project done Rosie in Paris, the lies, secrets and manipulation start surfacing to the top. We start seeing the true colors of these characters, particularly Alexa. There’s a lot to love in this novella. Its writing style is fantastic and the description is incredibly vivid, making the characters come alive. This novella is also a breath of fresh air as it looks at a friendship between two women instead of a romance. While a third character, Jack, who is the manager gets involved as well as the ladies fight for his affection, he never becomes much of a key role. The first person narrative goes very well for this novella and the story it wants to tell.

Overall, My Sweet Friend is a really intriguing novella. Its paced well and takes its readers on a few mind games filled with lies and manipulation in this seemingly sweet friendship that breaks down as the characters reveal their true colors. My only criticism would be that the ending felt slightly lackluster, although to be fair, I have no idea how I would have preferred it to have ended. It still works in a thought-provoking way.

Goodreads: 4 out of 5 stars

Author Bio