Pack Your Bags: The Holiday by T.M. Logan @TMLoganAuthor @ZaffreBooks @Tr4cyF3nt0n #BlogTour

Happy holidays! If you are wondering which book you should put in your suitcase, look no further!

Title: The Holiday
Author: T. M. Logan
Date of publication:  2019
Publisher: Zaffre Books
Format: NetGalley e-ARC
Number of pages: 496

Seven days. Three families. One killer.

It was supposed to be the perfect holiday, dreamed up by Kate as the ideal way to turn 40: four best friends and their husbands and children in a luxurious villa under the blazing sunshine of Languedoc-Roussillon.

But there is trouble in paradise. Kate suspects that her husband is having an affair, and that the other woman is one of her best friends. One of these women is willing to sacrifice years of friendship and destroy her family. But which one?

As Kate closes in on the truth in the stifling Mediterranean heat, she realises too late that the stakes are far higher than she ever imagined.

Because someone in the villa is prepared to kill to keep their secret hidden.

What do you think of when you think of a holiday? I personally like to imagine a lovely place, with my closest friends, and books, obviously. We always hope the days will be filled with good food, laughs, and happy moments. Then we grow up and learn it never really happens. But if we’re lucky, we never go through the same holiday as the four friends in T.M. Logan’s book!!

I thought long and hard about what to say about The Holiday. Yes, it’s brilliant. Yes, it’s taut. Yes, you get a swimming pool and the caress of the sun on skin. Yes, you will adore the description of the setting because the author knows how to transport you at the heart of the action. But there is so much more to enjoy…

Kate, Izzie, Jennifer, and Rowan have been friends since university. If at first, they managed to reunite once a year, life eventually got in the way. This year, though, at the threshold of their 40^th birthday, they managed to pack clothes and family to spend a week in France.

Meet the team. Kate, whose voice we listen to the most in the book, feels something is off. I took an instant liking to her. While she tried to make sense of the dynamics around her, I picked up hints and details that I would add to her point of view, pondering over and over if she should be bolder, until my thoughts merged with her and I found myself completely engrossed by her thoughts and rooting for her.

Dear Rowena, who made the holiday happen, has a cloud of mystery around her as she is on the edge of a big change career-wise.

Izzie, single but dating someone no one knows… Someone married.

Jennifer, overprotective of her two boys, anxious to be the best mother possible.

Those four women share talks, memories, and so much more. How much more??? I just loved how we only get glimpses of each lady. It gives so much room to the imagination to create the wildest scenarios and I couldn’t stop my brain from distrusting everyone.

The little fly I am could not have been happier to snoop around in those families’ business. The grass is definitely not greener on the other side! Perfectly normal moments every family knows by heart, like breakfast tension or dinner tiredness resonated with me, giving me flashbacks of my own holidays with family, both as an adult and as a child. Every character feels so alive and kicking that you can’t help but think you’re part of their group when reading this book! You get involved, you start caring… And you can’t tear yourself away!

I can say without any bias (I swear!) that T.M. Logan has drawn a beautifully picture of Béziers and its surroundings. I welcomed the familiar roads, the vineyards this French girl will forever cherish, and the oppressive heat that comes with the sun… and secrets.

Before they even reached their destination, we get a hint that not everything is perfect in Kate and Sean’s life. What do you make of a distant husband glued to his phone? I know! Me too! And it didn’t take long for Kate to get a strong suspicion on an affair. Isn’t it the first thing we think of? Don’t lie, I know it’s what popped in your head when you read the beginning of this paragraph!

With a week ahead and far from their routine, Kate believes she can reconnect with her husband, or at least get to the bottom of the situation. But a series of texts narrows down her list of suspects to the women she is sharing her holiday with. Now that calls for disaster, doesn’t it?

Stuck in a foreign country with the people she is supposed to trust the most, Kate tries to make as little waves as possible, bidding her time for the sake of her family and her friendships. I don’t know what I would do in such a situation, but I understood her reluctance to confront her husband right away. Without a name and real proof, is it worth it to throw a bomb on the first day?

Then begins a dance of whispers and looks. What Kate doesn’t know is that her search for the truth will be hampered by layers of secrets that come together like grain of sand on your legs after you’ve put the sunscreen on! T.M. Logan has written a scorching cracker of a read!

Who is ever truly 100% honest about everything with their friends? Who can say they have nothing to hide? I have heard people say men can’t write women properly, that it takes a woman to explore the female psyche and behavior. I laugh and throw them one of T.M. Logan’s novels, as he proves once again that he knows what he is writing about! The Holiday is the perfect read to devour, whether you’re sitting by a pool or in the train, commuting. The Holiday will also probably be the reason you decline to go away with your friends the next time the idea is mentioned!

This intense novel tells the tales of women, friends, wives, and mothers, questioning everything they say and do, digging up old scars and revealing new ones.

The final chapters had me in dire need of a cocktail to help bear with the tension. The climax had me completely lost for words! After a full week of questions, the answers hit me hard, revealing truths I could never have imagined.

The Holiday is exactly what the title says – the perfect gateway for any reader looking for a stunning psychological thriller!

Grab your copy now and fly away! Amazon / Hive
And if you need more, check out my review of 29 Seconds, another brilliant book by Tim!

Check out the connecting flights which will take you to your destination!

Thank you very much Tracy and Zaffre Books for inviting me to be part of the blog tour and providing me with a copy of this book!

Tim was born in Berkshire and studied at Queen Mary and Cardiff universities before becoming a national newspaper journalist. He currently writes full-time and lives in Nottinghamshire with his wife and two children.

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