The Searching Dead By Ramsey Campbell

Book Reviews / 3 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple
The Searching Dead Blog Tour

I received The Searching Dead by Ramsey Campbell to read and review thanks to Random Things Tours. The Searching Dead is a horror suspense book that will have you hooked. This the first book The Three Births of Daoloth Trilogy and one of several written by Ramsey Campbell.

The Searching Dead Book Cove by Ramsey Campbell. Green book cover with an image of an eye in the bottom right corner

The Searching Dead

1952. On a school trip to France teenager Dominic Sheldrake begins to suspect his teacher Christian Noble has reasons to be there as secret as they’re strange. 

Meanwhile a widowed neighbour joins a church that puts you in touch with your dead relatives, who prove much harder to get rid of. 

As Dominic and his friends Roberta and Jim investigate, they can’t suspect how much larger and more terrible the link between these mysteries will become. A monstrous discovery beneath a church only hints at terrors that are poised to engulf the world as the trilogy brings us to the present day…

My Thoughts

The Searching Dead is a fantastic read if you love horror stories such as those written by Stephen King. Dominic begins investigating what his teacher is up to after a rather strange incident on a school trip to France. Along with his friends, they slowly begin to uncover what Mr. Noble is up to. It’s nothing quite like any of them could have ever imagined! The first of the trilogy certainly has me hooked and looking forward to finding out what happens next. I’m also curious if the three friends find out together or if Dominic goes it alone.

Ramsey Campbell author photo - The author is pictured in a long sleeved black top with his hands crossed stood in front of bookshelves.


Ramsey Campbell

Ramsey Campbell was born in Liverpool in 1946 and still lives on Merseyside. He is an English horror fiction writer, editor, and critic; writing for well over fifty years. He is the author of over 30 novels and hundreds of short stories. Many of Campbell’s books are widely considered classics in the field. Several of his books are winners of multiple literary awards and three of his novels have been filmed. The Oxford Companion to English Literature described him as “Britain’s most respected living horror writer”. He has been given more awards than any other writer in the field, including :

  • The Grand Master Award of the World Horror Convention
  • The Lifetime Achievement Award of the International Horror Guild
  • The World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award

In 2015 he was made an Honorary Fellow of Liverpool John Moores University for outstanding services to literature. Among his novels are:

  • The Face That Must Die
  • Incarnate
  • Midnight Sun
  • The Count of Eleven
  • Silent Children
  • The Darkest Part of the Woods
  • The Overnight
  • Secret Story
  • The Cain
  • Ghosts Know
  • The Kind Folk
  • Think Yourself Lucky
  • Thirteen Days By Sunset Beach

His novels The Nameless, Pact of the Fathers and The Influence have been filmed in Spain. He is the President of the Society of Fantastic Films.

Flame Tree Press

Flame Tree Press is the new fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing. Launched in 2018 the list brings together brilliant new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices.

The Searching Dead Blog Tour

Elf On The Shelf – 12 Days Of Elvis and Elfie

christmas / 3 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

Elf on the shelf can be great fun! Over 14 million elves have been adopted around the world. Any parent will tell you though that sometimes it can be difficult to come up with ideas. Design bundles have some fab bundles and kindly sent us a box of goodies to make things easier.

Elf On The Shelf Day 1

Elf on the shelf - Elfie is sat under the tree with Elvis his cousin in an Elf Isolation jar, on top of a baking kit.

Elfie has been visiting us for the last few years. He’s an absolute terror and had been told he is not to steal the girls toys this year! So instead he brought along his cousin Elvis. Thankfully he seems a much better behaved elf and arrived in Elf Isolation adhering to the guidelines. Together they arrived with a fun Ginger bread baking kit for the girls to make!

Day 2

Day 2 came around quickly and Elfie and Elvis wanted to dress up. He arrived with a dazzling gold wardrobe and clothing from previous years hung up inside. Naughty Elfie had hidden his poor cousin Elvis (still in Elf Isolation) underneath a discarded dressing gown!

Elfie is sat in front of a homemade golden coloured wardrope, strong across the doors is a festive clothes line with a christmas jumper and pyjamas hanging from it. In front of the wardrobe are pieces of fabric, scissors, glue and a needle along with a sign saying 'I can't find any clothes to wear.. lets make some Love Elfie!.

It seems Elfie wasn’t happy with his current wardrobe and insisted the girls made him some new ones. Thankfully he at least brought his own materials, although cheekily he raided my crochet tin for the scissors and needle.

Day 3

The elves brought some colouring sheets and pens for the girls to do some festive colouring on day 3. Elfie had been colouring in a candy cane when we woke up! The girls couldn’t wait to get colouring with the elves when they woke up. Who doesn’t love colouring!?

Day 4

Elfie and Elvis wanted to make Christmas cards on day 4. Elvis wrote his very own tiny christmas card to the girls which was sweet.

Elfie and Elvis are sat with some colouring pens and cards/envelopes.

He brought the girls some paper and card to make their own which they loved doing. Card making is always fun!

Day 5

On day 5 Elvis and Elfie wanted to make some decorations. They arrived with a bag including a clear fillable bauble, fake snow and some small ornaments to go inside. Naturally we discovered Elfie using his poor cousin Elvis to get inside the bag of goodies!

Elfie's legs are sticking out of a paper bag, his feet are using Elvis' Elf Isolation jar to climb up.

Thankfully nothing was damaged and we were able to make a lovely bauble. The girls loved this as the Mr has a t-shirt in with a camper van and Christmas tree on top!

Day 6

On day 6 the elves decided it was time for the girls to write to Santa. They brought them an example sheet which I copied and a fun snowman pen to write out their lists.

Elfie and Elvis are sat on top of a blank letter to santa with a pen

We were pleased to see Elfie was behaving a little bit better today! Having an elf on the shelf can be worrying, you never know what you might wake up to!

Day 7

On day 7 the elves thought the girls would enjoy making a fun window display from. They brought lots of fun stencils and paper.. Although messily scattered everywhere! We are hoping Elvis is able to tame Elfie a bit when he finally finishes Elf isolation next week! SVG images are great for activities like these.

Elfie and is sat amongst a mess of stencils and paper

Day 8

The elves decided as the girls love doing random acts of kindness that they might enjoy making someone a gift. Along with some card they had left some chocolates. The girls decided they should make a Christmas cracker and use the chocolates to fill it up. Unfortunately this day became quite eventful so we missed a photograph!

Day 9

Acts of kindness are so nice the elves decided to encourage the girls twice! On the 9th day the elves provided a fun list of acts of kindness to help the girls out. Elfie had even left Elvis a note saying he SMELLS lovely! This led to the girls going through their toys and producing a bag for the charity shop a few days later. The elves then rewarded them with some sweets for their kindness whilst sat on the bag of toys.

Elfie and Elvis are sat on top of a sheet of random acts of kindness ideas

Day 10

The elves must have been getting hungry thinking about Christmas being just 15 days away. They brought the girls some things to help set the table. They came with a fantastic glass milk bottle for Santa and card and a shiny pen to make placemats.

Elfie and Elvis are sat with black card to make placemats and a santas milk botttle

Day 11

With the big day quickly approaching, the elves thought it was time the girls wrapped some presents. They brought wrapping paper, a gift tag and a bag of popcorn for the girls to enjoy with a film.

Wrapping with the Elves - Elfie is sat in a popcorn pot with his legs up in the air and over his shoulders next to wrapping paper, washi tape, a christmas tag and popcorn.

The paper is perfect for my sister who loves pugs and has her own called Pugsley! So the girls wrapped for their aunt and uncle using the lovely paper. Once we were all done they enjoyed snuggling up with a film and sharing the popcorn.

Day 12

Although I am certain there was something else planned, such as a fun scavenger hunt for the 12th day, instead we discovered Elfie up to mischief.

Elfie pulling Elvis from his Elf isolation

Of course, being such a naughty elf that he is, he couldn’t wait 2 more days and had dragged poor Elvis out of Elf Isolation!! Lets hope 12 days was enough to keep us all safe!

We definitely enjoy Elf on the shelf as a tradition now and cant wait to see what else Elfie and Elvis will get up to next. I will definitely be using Design bundles in future and check out their free printable resources and new products.

What has your Elf on a Shelf been up to? Do you use any fun resources?

Wobbles And Gratitude

Rambles / 3 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple
Wobbles and Gratitude

Wobbles and gratitude seem to be my life lately. As I’m sure it has been for most people, 2020 has been one messed up year full of change, fear and confusion not to mention the usual life stresses! There has also been lots of moments where I’ve felt extremely grateful though. I thought it would be good for me to write about it and have something to look back on as a reminder that 2020 wasn’t all that bad.

Wobbles

adult alone black and white dark
Photo by Kat Jayne on Pexels.com

OK so there have been a LOT of wobbles this year. We’ve had to replace our car, washing machine, the TV died which we only use for DVDs but try having two children home for 7 months and lacking that extra distraction! On top of that we’ve had car parts to sort for our current car, the girls both decided to grow not one but two sizes.. Yup while the majority of shops were shut.

Our emersion heater for hot water has now been dead for almost a fortnight and work is due to start tomorrow after multiple call outs, being left a full day without full use of our electrics. mainly in the kitchen, and of course they didn’t turn up until way after dinner time having been called at 6am the day the emersion heater tripped all all the electrics.

Missing Friends And Family

I’ve also been wobbling over missing people, who knew you could be so antisocial yet miss people!? What the hell is that about, seriously!? We have spent every birthday having a BBQ with Martyn and Hannah, we attend one or two events with them across the year and honestly, missing these made me really wobbly, it had become a routine we all enjoyed. I know almost everyone has missed somebody this year, it’s been so hard on us all. Hopefully next year we can all see more of our friends and family.

Sheayla, although part of our bubble usually, has been really busy and my head won’t let me ask when she is free in case I add to her stress. I know its difficult with college, work and trying to flit between her mums, dads and boyfriends houses and spend time with everyone. The girls have really missed seeing her regularly and so have I but thankfully we have had a catch up at last this week.

Gratitude

thank you signage
Photo by Giftpundits.com on Pexels.com

On the note of being thankful, around all these stressful, wobbly times I have begun to notice that the people around me have made such a difference and for that I am extremely grateful for! I may not see these people day to day, month to month or even year to year but this year has shown me I do have a support network, something I felt I didn’t really have.

The Mr has been amazing through it all, how on earth he copes with me moping around growling about everything without losing it himself is beyond me. He’s taken over even more around the flat because I finally admitted to him how much more I was struggling day to day. Things like loading the dishwasher I have tried to keep doing as I feel lazy otherwise but some days I just cant cope with the pain and the knock on effect was stressing me out to breaking point, so now if I haven’t done it around the times I usually do it, he goes ahead and does it for me and I’m learning to let him and appreciate his help instead of just seeing the negative side.

Good Friends

Ken and I have two close friends who have really helped us through this year as well as others. Whether its running me to the hospital or lending us some cash to get us through whatever disaster life has decided to throw our way that day, they have been there for us.

On top of that I have a handful of close online friends such as Fiona, Lisa, Martyn and Bubble who have kept me going. I know I can rant away without judgement when I’m stressed, get it all off my chest, allowing me to calm back down and either find a solution or accept whatever rubbish has just come our way. Having friends to talk to during wobbles can make such a difference. I definitely need to harass Martyn more but stupidly tried not to knowing he was stressed, the truth is we all have stress and we all need a little bit of harassment from good friends to keep us going and remind us we are all struggling in our own ways.

Support

With our lack of hot water its been quite challenging, due to Covid there are less people working at the same time and our job needs three people hence the long wait. Throughout this Sheayla’s mum/ my Step-mum has been extremely supportive, letting us borrow her bathroom and she is fantastic with the girls. Without Heidi, I genuinely don’t think I would have coped at all these last few weeks. The last thing you want during a pandemic is to be short of hot water and the ability to keep your hands clean! Especially when sending your children to school. Sheayla has been fantastic helping me bath the girls if she’s home too which I truly appreciate, they don’t need a lot of help anymore but it still leaves me exhausted and sore through to the next day.

So overall it has been a rather rubbish year but there has been some highlights and for that I am extremely thankful! I’ve spent more time with the girls than ever, we’ve done so much at home and have lots of happy memories to look back on. Lets hope we all have a much better year next year with less wobbles and remember to keep supporting one another where we can.

Support your friends

Setting Up Relentlessly Crocheted

Crochet / 3 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple
Relentlessly Crocheted

I began setting up Relentlessly Crocheted as a Facebook and Instagram page earlier this year. This was mentioned a little in my post about picking back up last week. I love to crochet and my confidence is slowly growing thanks to friends and family. There are a few things I still need to work on to get the business up and running fully.

Setting up relentlessly crocheted

Postage and Packaging

There is so much to research when it comes to setting up selling crochet. Postage and packaging are up there as the most important, alongside yarn costs for pricing items correctly. I also want to make sure my items arrive quickly, safely and packed in an eco-friendly way.

packaging - crop man sealing carton box with tape
Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

The weight and size of items can vary wildly so I’ve been looking at different styles of boxes for packaging. I also want to find some eco-friendly postal bags for things such as blankets. I’ve been sending gifts to friends to help work out these costs. I very quickly learnt not working out postage costs correctly will eat any profit from the sale otherwise.

Yarn Costs

The little yarn hut

I’ve been very lucky to find the Little Yarn Hut in Orsett which stocks some beautiful yarns at reasonable prices! If orders were to pick up I would need to look at wholesale prices though. This would help bring the costs down further, for now I’m more than happy to stick to the yarn hut. Jo who runs it is absolutely lovely, full of advice and ideas every time!

Crochet Is My Therapy

Crochet really is my therapy, I can rest yet still feel useful which is great for my anxious little brain! I’ve lost count of how many items I’ve made! There is quite a variety so far and love a challenge, I’m always asking people for ideas. With the help of friends and family I realised there is potential there for me to have a small business. I’m still in the early days of setting things up and relying mostly on gifting friends to work things out.

Relentlessly Crocheted Makes

I’ve impressed myself at times and been frustrated but I am learning I can take most things on. This year was definitely not the year to commit fully to setting up a small business. Instead I plan to share with my readers my plans, makes and journey as I continue setting up Relentlessly Crocheted.

More makes by relentlessly crocheted

Whilst I am not yet set up I am happy to take on orders where possible so do give me an email or message on social media. If you have any helpful tips of ideas that may make setting up Relentlessly Crocheted then please get in touch too.

Welcome To Your Period – Book Review

Uncategorized / 3 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

We received Welcome to your period by Yumi Stynes & Dr Melissa Kang to review, published by Little Tiger. Eva turned 10 this year and whilst we have spoken about periods regularly, every girl has questions they don’t quite know how to ask and this book covers it perfectly!

Welcome to Your Period


Written by Yumi Stynes & Melissa Kang and illustrated by Jenny Latham.


Getting your period for the first time can be mortifying, weird and messy – and asking questions about it can be even worse. But it doesn’t have to be like that!


Packed with honest advice on managing Aunt Flo like a boss, WELCOME TO YOUR PERIOD inducts pre-teens into the secret society of menstruation: from demystifying what cramps feel like, to whether you can feel it coming out, to what you should do if your pad leaks on to your dress. With equal measures of warm, big-sisterish wisdom and medical myth-busting, there are tons of case studies, first-person accounts and questions, making it the must-have book for every pre-teen.


Pub Date: 3 September 2020 Price: £8.99 ISBN: 9781788952941

Our Thoughts

With Eva getting older, periods are something that she needs to understand so I was interested to see what she thought of this book. She sent me her thoughts which made me think this book really is perfect and a must have for all girls. Eva didn’t really know what to expect when receiving this book to review.

Eva’s Thoughts

Welcome to your period is a book that explains your period step by step and answers only with the truth. From content to index it provides 100% of period information that all readers would read. It explains things such as calming you down to all about pads tampons and more.

I’d recommend this book to 10 year olds onwards. I liked this book because I am starting puberty myself, and I was petrified about all the changes. I like how the writers include advice throughout the book. #

Though it might sound a bit silly, I was a bit scared of the underwear with faces!🤣🤣🤣 I hope all future readers will be able to read this and calm down, keep strong and enjoy life while it lasts. 

Overall we both agree it is a great book full of lots of useful information and tips to help young girls cope with periods and covers any questions they may have. Eva can find talking about the body a bit strange even though we do discuss the body regularly. This fun book has definitely helped her prepare better and answer questions she didn’t realise she had on the topic.

Picking Back Up

Uncategorized / 4 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

I’m slowly picking back up with the blog and life in general after the COVID-19 lockdown madness. Like many others, the blog took a back seat while my family and close friends became my main focus. So much has happened though so I guess its time for an update!

Birthdays

I normally blog about the girls birthdays but it didn’t feel right this year. We still celebrated but it really wasn’t the same! Martyn and Hannah usually have us over and we have a BBQ for the kids birthdays which we really missed. Eva turned 10 this year so it sucked we couldn’t take her somewhere nice, we did however have a lovely day and Eva was thrilled to be included in birthday shoutouts by some of her favourite authors and illustrators. She was also sent a book by Jeff Norton, which we must get round to reviewing as she loves it!

By the time Izzy’s birthday came around we had at least planned a day of films, playing and crafting knowing it would be a quiet day. She was utterly spoilt by friends and family too and loved getting a new bike to race Eva on!

I turned 30 not long after Izzy’s birthday, usually we don’t do much. Birthdays are for the kids really, however we did have a lovely meal and some friends gave me birthday money which I spent on yarn, of course!

Relentlessly Crocheted

During lockdown I began to focus a lot more on my crochet. I had already set up an Instagram account and a Facebook page for my crochet but hadn’t really built up the confidence to really work on it.

Ember sat in the sunshine crocheting a rainbow blanket wearing a burgandy hoodie that says 'Sorry not sorry' on the front.

I started off by doing lots (over 200) of random acts of crocheted kindness, mostly making little heart or flower keyrings and hiding them wherever we went. I have had so many lovely messages from finders and I hope those who don’t use social media enjoyed their finds too. I will continue to do this as its such a lovely idea and it uses up my scraps and great to make on the go too. I’ve become the bag lady, hauling around a bag of yarn and hooks wherever I go haha!

Outside of random acts, I do want to take Relentlessly Crocheted and hopefully turn it into a fully fledged small business. I have been practising new techniques where I can, asking friends for ideas to challenge myself alongside making a few requests as gifts. My butterflies were so loved and it gave me such a confidence boost!

Contact From My Sister

So I suppose the biggest news of all this year is my sister making contact with me. We lost contact when Eva was a baby, due to falling out for the final time with my mother and issues I had with our dad, I cut myself off thinking it would be best all round. I wanted to stay in contact but felt it was inappropriate to try and stay in touch when I wanted nothing to do with our dad. Alongside all my mental and physical health problems too, I didn’t want a young child being dragged into stressful situations.

Ember sitting next to her sister Sheaylam, both smiling with purple butterflies around their face from a filter.

I had actually hoped when Sheayla was older she would contact me again but equally knew there was a chance she would feel abandoned by me and never want to talk to me again, fully understandable. Thankfully she is now 17, old enough to make her own choices and we’ve been in contact for about 4 or 5 months now!

Getting To Know Sheayla

It’s been lovely getting to know Sheay, I taught her how to crochet too and she’s set up her own page in the hopes of gaining some business which I’ve no doubt she will. She picked up crochet like a pro!

Sheayla is standing with arms around Eva and Izzy all smiling in the park

It is kind of strange getting to know someone who is very similar to yourself, but it means we get on quite well too which is nice. The girls absolutely love her and she is so good with the girls, understands when i explain one of them struggling or stressing over something and genuinely seems to care about them.

I love that they run to her for a hug when they see her, they get so excited and my soppy side loves that they finally have that from a blood relative. It hasn’t always been easy knowing my girls have very little family around them and something I often beat myself up over, but I know their safety and wellbeing is being put first.

Sheay has an older brother Karl, he is technically my step-brother as her mum and my dad married. I used to get on really well with Karl, we randomly ended up on the same college course for two years which is how I even discovered I had a sister in the first place!

I’ve also been meeting up with Karl which has also been lovely, we have quite a laugh being silly. We’ve been meeting up for hot chocolates to help me get out of the flat more and it’s been nice feeling like the old me again.

Moving Forward

I thought most of this post would be quite depressing but actually I’ve highlighted some of the better parts. It HAS NOT been easy though by any means. I feel lucky we weren’t impacted as badly as some throughout all this though, I have really struggled at times, worrying about finances, the girls being wobbly (Especially Eva!), trying to get back into a routine when I enjoyed the lockdown part because I’m part hermit, but I do realise it could have been much worse.

I guess for the time being Covid is here to stay and things will be a bit weird for a while but I am focusing on moving forward. I want to get back into blogging, I love to write! I want to build up Relentlessly Crocheted so I get an order or two a week, I’m hoping I can keep on building a good relationship with Sheayla and most importantly I want to keep working on improving my mental health. I coped well for a good 5-6 months during lockdown but that final month, not knowing if things would change again, has left me feeling a little lost.

Getting Out

One thing I’m determined to work on is getting out of the flat more! Ken is always encouraging me to have some time to myself, go out, treat myself and I let anything and everything get in the way of that. I see anything that goes wrong as a sign I don’t deserve it and I really need to change that mindset. Usually my lack of local friends makes it impossible but having Sheay and Karl around is a start and whilst I did take a hit first, I have kept pushing myself during the dark days to reach out and plan something.

One thing I am REALLY looking forward to is this weekend! I have a girly weekend planned with Fiona and Lisa, who have honestly kept me going so much through this year. We plan to eat lots of cheesecake, drink lots of cuppas and relax a bit. I’m so excited I even bought new boots haha!

Overall 2020 is definitely one of the stranger years we’ve experienced but memories have still been made and very slowly we are all picking back up again.

Crane Fly By Kelly-Marie Pollock

Book Reviews / 4 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

Crane Fly by Kelly-Marie Pollock is a Nova Morgan Novella. Throughout the trilogy we see through the eyes of Nova Morgan. With this fantastic Novella – Crane Fly, you see things through the eyes of Bucky. You can read my reviews of Kelly-Marie’s other books and poetry here.

Crane Fly By Kelly-Marie Pollock front cover

Crane Fly

A Nova Morgan Novella 

Synopsis

All Bucky O’Dare has ever wanted is an easy life. But after meeting fiery red-headed vampire, Nova Morgan, he realises his life will never be the same again.

The world of the Inflicted Kin is full of darkness, something Bucky is becoming increasingly more aware of, especially after the charred corpse of local Brothel Madam – Lady Jaine turns up complete with a shiny dagger lodged in her chest.

Bucky realises there’s a new player in town, one who may just make Soul seem saintly.

With Nova and Ruth off world, it’s down to him to unravel the mystery and figure out who is killing off the local working girls and why.

But Bucky is treading a dangerous path, one that may just see him end up as another stiff on the morgue table.

For the wrath of the wicked is nothing compared to the wrath of a vengeful brother.

Content Warning; Contains Profanity, violence, Prostitution, Drug References and Torture.

Genre: Fantasy, Vampire Fiction, Gothic/Noir

My Thoughts

I was honestly so excited for Crane Fly and really couldn’t wait to read from Bucky’s point of view. Honestly, I thought it would answer a few questions for me… I was totally wrong, instead, I’m left with even more questions and left wondering just what happens to Bucky!?

It’s safe to say the The Chronicles of Nova Morgan trilogy and Crane Fly take you to a unique world where you feel utterly absorbed. Each book is written as if the characters were in the room with you. It’s amazing how strongly the characters personalities shine through.

Kelly-Marie Pollock has once again smashed it! Creating a story line that has you gripped until the very end and leaves you wanting more. When I realised I had reached the end i was devastated, I need to know what happens next! It took a full evening of crochet therapy to get over having to wait until the next book now.

Author Bio

Kelly-Marie lives in Dorset with her Husband Mitchell, four young children and menagerie of pets. She’d dreamt of being an Author from a very young age and her late Auntie Julie pushed her to follow her dreams. Kelly-Marie is  a stay at home Mother, full time carer and active Parenting and Mental Health Blogger. You can find her blog over at www.amixedupmummy.blogspot.co.uk

Death Bringer is the second novel  in ‘The Chronicles of Nova Morgan’ trilogy and follows the successful publication of her debut book Cherry Nova. She has also released a book of poetry entitled Forever Blue.

Death Bringer By Kelly-Marie Pollock Book Tour

Book Reviews / 4 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple
Death Bringer Poster

After sharing the Death Bringer front cover with you all in my last post, today I’m joining in with the book tour too. Death Bringer is the second book in The Chronicles of Nova Morgan, following on from Cherry Nova.

Content warning – contains adult themes such as; Sex  Drug use, Profanity and Violence.

Death Bringer by Kelly-Marie Pollock

Death Bringer

Nova may have won the fight for her freedom, but she’s far from won the war. Journey beside her, Ruth and Chaplin as they leave the gritty streets of Victorian London behind and immerse themselves in the magical living realm of Hindra. 

In a world where dying isn’t forever and living isn’t easy, they’re about to unearth all manner of secrets and lies. Their mission seems clear, infiltrate the Council Chambers and free the captive, Detective Maximus Steele, bringing down The Righteous Ones as they go, but time is moving fast and as Nova comes to realise, time is running out. 

From streetworker to rebellion leader, is her path one of greatness, or has it simply been paved by someone or something, far greater than her? Like pieces on a chess board, is Nova just a pawn in someone else’s game. 

Content warning – contains adult themes including; Sex, Drug use, Profanity and Violence. 

Genre: Fantasy, Vampire Fiction, Gothic/Noir

My Thoughts

As with Cherry Nova, I was instantly drawn into the story, unable to stop until I was done (a welcome escape during lockdown!).

Nova Morgan has very little time to enter the realm of Hindra to free Detective Maximus Steelers and she knows she will face all kinds of trouble along the way. Having raised an army with the help of a banished witch and a drug addicted warlock, they set off to find the gates of Hindra.

Whilst they find the gates of Hindra, they come across countless challenges along the way and once through the gates. This leaves Nova constantly questioning herself and wondering why she was labelled Lady of Death and if she an really free Detective Maximus Steele.

Nova faces such an array of challenges along the way, testing her mentally and physically. Entering an entirely different, magical realm is one thing, attempting to take over an entire council is another! I can’t recommend Death Bringer more, I haven’t come across a story line like this in years and I am completely hooked! It’s safe to say I will be keeping my eyes peeled for the third book in the trilogy too.

Kelly-Marie Pollock

Kelly-Marie lives in Dorset with her Husband Mitchell, four young children and menagerie of pets. She’d dreamt of being an Author from a very young age and her late Auntie Julie pushed her to follow her dreams.

Kelly-Marie is a stay at home Mother, full time carer and active Parenting and Mental Health Blogger, you can find her blog over at www.amixedupmummy.blogspot.co.uk


Death Bringer is the second novel in ‘The Chronicles of Nova Morgan’ trilogy and follows the successful publication of her debut book Cherry Nova. She has also released a book of poetry entitled Forever Blue.

Death Bringer by Kelly-Marie Pollock – Cover Reveal

Book Reviews / 4 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

Death Bringer is the second book in The Chronicles of Nova Morgan trilogy. I’m really excited to take part in this cover reveal having read Cherry Nova, the first book in the trilogy! Kelly-Marie has also written a fantastic collection of poems called Forever Blue.

Death Bringer By Kelly-Marie Pollock Cover reveal

Death Bringer

Nova may have won the fight for her freedom, but she’s far from won the war. Journey beside her, Ruth and Chaplin as they leave the gritty streets of Victorian London behind and immerse themselves in the magical living realm of Hindra. 

In a world where dying isn’t forever and living isn’t easy, they’re about to unearth all manner of secrets and lies. Their mission seems clear, infiltrate the Council Chambers and free the captive, Detective maximus Steele, bringing down The Righteous Ones as they go, but time is moving fast and as Nova comes to realise, time is running out. 

From streetworker to rebellion leader, is her path one of greatness, or has it simply been paved by someone or something, far greater than her? Like pieces on a chess board, is Nova just a pawn in someone else’s game. 

Content warning – contains adult themes including; Sex, Drug use, Profanity and Violence. 

Front and back cover of Death Bringer by Kelly-Marie Pocllock

Genre: Fantasy, Vampire Fiction, Gothic/Noir

Word/page count: 336

Publication Date:  20th May 2020

Kelly-Marie Pollock - Author of the Nova Morgan Trilogy and Forever Blue, a collection of poems.

Kelly-Marie Pollock

Kelly-Marie lives in Dorset with her Husband Mitchell, four young children and menagerie of pets. She’d dreamt of being an Author from a very young age and her late Auntie Julie pushed her to follow her dreams. Kelly-Marie is  a stay at home Mother, full time carer and active Parenting and Mental Health Blogger, you can find her blog over at www.amixedupmummy.blogspot.co.uk

Death Bringer is the second novel  in ‘The Chronicles of Nova Morgan’ trilogy and follows the successful publication of her debut book Cherry Nova. She has also released a book of poetry entitled Forever Blue.

Praise For Cherry Nova

“An amazing book couldn’t put it down. Well written and kept me in suspense can’t wait for the next one. Well recommended.”


“Cherry Nova is an exceedingly strong debut novel which I thoroughly enjoyed. It’s full of action, twists and turns which all combine to make it a real page turner and I certainly can’t wait to see what happens to Nova next, especially as Pollock has left things poised so perfectly with a teasing cliff- hanger! Parts of the book are quite dark, but for me the there is an overriding message of hope that runs beneath the surface which kept me rooting for Nova throughout. Cherry Nova is more than just your run of the mill Vampire tale, its roots run much deeper and I’m sure its story would resonate with readers on so many different levels. Highly recommended by me and I hope Kelly hurries up with book two as I’m desperate to read it!”


“I immersed myself in a world that I never knew existed. I was riveted from the moment I opened this books pages to read it. I found this book very hard to put down! If you like vampires, an adult theme and fantasy, this is the book for you! Looking forward to the next book!”


“If Stuart Macbride and Simon Kernick joined together to write a fantasy novel….you would get Cherry Nova. Kelly writes with her foot firmly pressed down on the pedal whilst still giving you characters that are all unique and loveable. Despite the fast pace of this book it still gives you a bit of time to breath after each tragedy. The world that Kelly has created here is commendable. I don’t remember enjoying a book of this nature as much as I have since Stan Nicholls Orcs series. I look forward to the second addition.”


Cherry Nova, Book 1 in The Chronicles of Nova Morgan trilogy is rated 5* on both Amazon and Goodreads, available to purchase via Amazon and The Book Depository, free to read for Kindle Unlimited users.

Purchase Links

Cherry Nova Amazon UK

Cherry Nova Amazon US

Cherry Nova Book Depository

Forever Blue Amazon UK

Death Bringer PRE ORDER

Easy World Book Day Crafts

Crafts / 4 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple
Easy World Book Day Crafts

We’ve made easy World Book Day crafts in collaboration with Viking. Our crafts involve using old books and craft supplies provided by Viking to help us out.

Easy World Book Day Crafts

We love books and usually wouldn’t dream of cutting them up but sometimes, some books are just beyond saving. We dug around our local charity shops to find a few books we could use that were falling apart, drawn on or just generally in a bad condition.

old books

Unfortunately we were quite limited as our charity shops had very few old books that we felt were worth taking apart but we did manage to change find a lovely old children’s nursery rhyme book which we used for inspiration (and it’s pages!).

1. Bookmarks

Book lovers can never have too many bookmarks, what better way to make them than by using old books? Viking provided us with a few loose pages from an old dictionary so we used these to create bookmarks.

We simply cut a strip of card to the size of a standard bookmark, folded the book page in half, cut it and stuck it to both sides of the card. We then used plastic book wrap to protect the paper from water damage.

Easy world book day crafts - Bookmark. Photo shows a bookmark with faded book pages on it with 'Bookmark' stamped on in black ink

Viking also provided us with an ink pad and letter stamps and Eva decided adding Bookmark would make it stand out more, so we gave it a go. You could try stamping quotes on too!

This craft took just a few minutes and turned a ‘useless’ loose book page into a lovely bookmark that can be used over and over.

2. Gift Tags

Using the same method as we used to create the bookmark, we also created gift tags. Again glueing book pages to both sides of a piece of card, punching a hole in one end and stamping on the recipients name. I love this and think they would look lovely on a gift wrapped in brown paper too!

. Gift tags made using old book pages with the names 'Eva' and 'Izzy' stamped on them in black ink and a black heart stamped in all four corners

3. Nursery Art Work

Izzy wanted to create a picture using a nursery rhyme from a very old children’s book. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is one of Izzy’s favourites. She quickly got to work cutting out the title, image and words to the rhyme. Using dark blue card she stuck these down, used some star and planet stickers and created a moon using chalk.

Izzy's twinkle twinkle art

Viking included a lovely golden frame which was perfect for this piece Izzy created. I think it’s really cute and you could use any nursery rhyme and children’s book quotes.

World book day craft - framed picture on blue card with 'Twinkle, twinkle little star' title, image and words cut out and stuck on. These are surrounded by gold stars

While Izzy made her nursery rhyme piece, I decided to make a similar piece using Winnie The Pooh Stencils to cut out shapes from book pages to create another cute piece for a nursery. Cute art work for a nursery doesn’t have to cost a fortune when you have old books and some card lying around!

World book day craft - P is for Pooh made using book pages and coloured card. Pooh is sitting on the grass (green torn card lining the bottom) along with the letter P, clouds heart and a bee cut from book pages stuck on a blue background.

We had a few other ideas which we will share another time when we come across the right books.

Have you ever used old books to make art before?