Tag: Adam Fitzroy

The Bridge on the River Wye by Adam Fitzroy

20437948Title: The Bridge on the River Wye

Series:   N/A

Author: Adam Fitzroy

Genre: Contemporary/Murder-Mystery

Length: Novel (256 pages)

Publisher: Manifold Press (February 1st, 2014)

Heat Level: Moderate

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥4Hearts

Blurb: Chef Rupert’s picking up the pieces after a catastrophe; he’s lost his love, his business, his home, and even his dog, and he’s trying to make a fresh start. Linking up with Jake almost on a whim he soon finds himself involved in a strange tale of organic farming, migrant workers, greed and even possibly murder – in the midst of which the attraction is still there, but Rupert’s not sure whether the feeling’s mutual or if he’s ready to try for a proper relationship again just yet …


Product Link: http://www.manifoldpress.co.uk/2014/01/the-bridge-on-the-river-wye/

Reviewer:   GiGi

Review: This story is an honest look at life’s mistakes, adventures, relationships both good and bad, and the balance between relationships and commitments, how they both conspire to shift the path we take in life. Oh, yeah, and it’s also about solving a murder, or what local police seem to think is possibly a suicide. Rupert is still recovering from being burned by what he thought was going to be a lifelong love and a new and long-term career as owner/chef in his own restaurant in Australia. He’d given up everything, jumped out on a limb and taken off from his home in London to pursue his dreams with a man who would only crush them, and leave Rupert starting over. When he remembers Jake, a smiling confident man who caught his eye and curiosity while he had been in a committed relationship, he thought to look him up again only to find that Jake was in a tough place. Torn between his commitments to his boss Ren, who saved him many times, and his new-found affection and desire to help Jake, Rupert isn’t sure what to do. Should he just be concerned for himself after being burned in such a big way, should he be sure to pay his debts to Ren who helped pull him out of the mire, or is his concern and desire for Jake the most important thing? This was a smoothly written story that kept my attention from the out-start. We often have to make difficult choices in our careers, in our personal lives, and make sacrifices, but what is the right decision? This is the underlying theme to me, the mystery, and the challenges that Jake’s family and farm face seem to be secondary layers of detail that engage and stimulate the mind.

Between Now and Then by Adam Fitzroy

BetweenNowAndThen-smallTitle:  Between Now and Then

Series: N/A

 Author: Adam Fitzroy         

 Genre: Contemporary/Time Travel

Length: Novel (182 pages)

Publisher: Manifold Press (February 1st, 2013)

Heat Level: Moderate

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥4Hearts

Blurb:  It’s 1991, and a group of English football fans are driving across Belgium; their trip takes them through the site of a former battle, and that’s when a strange sequence of events begins. For Dennis and Allan, colleagues who cordially dislike each other, this means journeying further still – into what appears to be the past, and into the lives of two men who travelled this way seventy-five years earlier, whose unfinished love-affair remains to be played out in full. As they move backwards and forwards in time Dennis and Allan have only themselves to rely on, no markers to show them where they’re going, and no real certainty of ever finding their way home again.

Product Link:  http://www.manifoldpress.co.uk/2013/01/between-now-and-then/

Reviewer:   Artemis

Review:   This story starts out in a rather lighthearted way with an interesting collection of friends, coworkers and acquaintances heading out on a journey to watch a sports game.  They bicker, tease, nag and argue but everyone seems to be getting along okay.  The journey home poses some problem when the ferry company they used goes belly up and they are forced to find an alternate route home.  The route they choose takes them into a rather isolated area on a long stretch of empty road.  Pitch black with an eerie mist rolling in; the author does a great job of portraying the slightly spooky surroundings just as Allen starts acting very strangely. As he dives out of the car with Dennis fast on his heals they seem to cross a barrier of sorts that leads them back in time.  In ‘real life’ Dennis and Allen have a sort of casual dislike for each other.  As they are thrust back in time they begin to replay a 75-year-old love affair between two World War 1 soldiers.

I found it interesting how the author had Dennis and Allen essentially living two lives each.  While they had the thoughts, feelings, and emotions of their current selves they also had those same things floating around in their heads from their 75-year-old counterparts. It created quite a bit of tension within the characters minds as they tried to decide whether they liked each other or not. 

I enjoyed this story.  Not only the main characters but the secondary characters were very well written as well.  It is written with a very heavy British influence in terms of the writing style and some of the phrases were totally new to me but I had no problem understanding them in the context of the story.  Overall, a very well written story with a nice time travel twist.