Blog Tour - East Side Hustler - Leopold Borstinski

I was thrilled to be asked to be on the blog tour for East Side Hustler after loving the first Alex Cohen book, The Bowery Slugger, so much. If you haven't read it you really must check it out and you can read my review here.

Alex has returned to New York from the frontline in WW1 and life isn't easy for the one-time hustler. He's begging on the streets, suffering from which we now know as PTSD and life is hard. Just when he's at his lowest, his luck changes and he reconnects with old friends which leads to him getting back into the world of organised crime.

Things have moved on in The Bowery and with Prohibition on the horizon all the gangs want the upper-hand and life is even more perilous. Some are more willing to work together than others but knowing who to trust gets more and more difficult and allegiances are tenuous. Alex is lucky that his previous reputation is still strong but could that make him a target as he could be seen as a threat.

East Side Hustler is another sharp and gritty read from Leopold Borstinski. With a great cast of characters, including an appearance of Al Capone, it's a thrilling combination of crime and history and a truly insightful glimpse of life in the roaring 20's when many people defied Prohibition and  rejected many traditional moral standards.

I still can't help being intruigued by Alex. He is a hugely likeable character, despite his hard man exterior, he cares deeply for his family and does everything he can to ensure that they are safe and secure. I'm sure that the next part of his journey will be just as captivating and I can't wait to find out what's coming next.

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                                                  About the author

Photo courtesy of Leopold Borstinski

Leopold Borstinski is an independent author whose past careers have included financial journalism, business management of financial software companies, consulting and product sales and marketing, as well as teaching.

There is nothing he likes better so he does as much nothing as he possibly can. He has travelled extensively in Europe and the US and has visited Asia on several occasions. Leopold holds a Philosophy degree and tries not to drop it too often.

He lives near London and is married with one wife, one child and no pets.

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 Check out the rest of the blog tour with these fabulous blogs:

You can find out more about Leopold, his books and connect with him using the links below:

Website
Twitter
Facebook
Amazon

With kind thanks to Emma at Damppebbles Blog Tours for my stop on the blog tour and the review copy.

Blog Tour - The Runaway - Linda Huber

It's been a while since I've read a book by Linda Huber, she is one of my go-to authors so I was excited to hear that she had a new book coming out.

The Runaway is a gripping and taut family drama that had me hooked right from the outset.

Kelly is a typical 15 year old girl who lives with her parents Nicola and Ed in London. Life is initially good for the family but then bad things start happening from job losses to Kelly being in trouble with the police and to top it all off Ed receives news that his mother has sadly passed away. The family travel to Cornwall to make the funeral arrangements but Ed doesn't seem happy about having to return to his childhood home and even less so when he discovers that his mother has left the house to him in her will.

When the family decide to relocate to the house in Cornwall for a fresh start things begin to take a dark turn and Ed seems to be retreating further and further away from his beloved family. What is causing such a major change in this normally loving and supportive family man?

Linda Huber has a real talent for bringing her characters to life which means that it's easy to connect and feel empathy for them and The Runaway was no exception. My heart was genuinely in my mouth several times as I was reading. As the novel flashes back to Ed's childhood it becomes evident why he's uncomfortable being back at his old family home and you begin to understand him, but maybe not like him. He was clearly a victim of circumstance and the insights into his head make this very comprehensible. If only he had spoken to someone about this, things could have turned out very differently.

The Runaway is another run away success for Linda Huber and one that I would highly recommend.

Photo courtesy of Linda Huber

 Linda Huber grew up in Glasgow, Scotland, but went to work in Switzerland for a year aged twenty-two, and has lived there ever since. Her day jobs have included working as a physiotherapist in hospitals and schools for handicapped children, and teaching English in a medieval castle. Currently she teaches one day a week, and writes psychological suspense novels and feel-good novellas with (most of) the rest of her time.

Her writing career began in the nineties, when she had over fifty short stories published in women’s magazines before turning to psychological suspense fiction. The Runaway is her ninth book, and is set mostly in Cornwall, where she spent several happy holidays as a child.

Linda’s other project is a series of feel-good novellas written under the pen name Melinda Huber and set on the banks of Lake Constance, just minutes from her home in north-east Switzerland. She really appreciates having the views enjoyed by her characters right on her own doorstep!

You can follow the rest of the blog tour with these great blogs:

You can find out more about Linda Huber, her books and connect with her using the links below.

Amazon
Facebook
Twitter
Website
Instagram

With kind thanks to Sarah Hardy at Book On The Bright Side Publicity and Promo for my stop on the blog tour and to Linda Huber for my review copy.