Welcome to my spot on the blog tour for Merry Go Round by Sarah Toll. Thank you to Zooloos Book Tours for the spot on the tour. Read on for more info and my review!
Lily Montrose has endured a white-knuckle ride during her on-off affair with Nathaniel Deighton. She is sitting alone in a coffee shop when a brief but devastating call brings the whole thing to a crashing halt.
Fleeing her job and flat in London, she retreats to a farmstead on the shores of the north Devon coast to repair her broken spirit and regain her sense of self.
Here she finds an unlikely soulmate in Adam, a somewhat homespun but handsome local with unexpected qualities.
As the months pass by, Lily begins to put her troubled past behind her and – despite harbouring the most intimate of secrets – her relationship with Adam deepens.
But when Nat suddenly resurfaces, the malevolent merry go round begins to revolve once again, revealing the ugly truths that lie deep within Lily and unleashing a chain of events that will threaten not only her sanity, but everything she holds dear…
Review:
Merry Go Round by Sarah Toll is a really intriguing novel. It Takes a look at the damage a dysfunctional relationship can do to a person. I will forward that it can be a bit triggering for someone who’s been in an abusive situation, but this author handled the topic with grace.
I really liked first person here. I don’t usually love this pov, but there was something about it that felt necessary to really get into Lily’s head. Very realistic and scary. This book too me on a wave of emotions.
This was very well written. I’ll be reading from this author again. Don’t miss this one!
Thank you to Zooloos Book Tours for the review copy and the opportunity to honestly review this book on the blog tour. All opinions are my own and unbiased.
Rating:
4/5☆
Sarah’s second book will be available on 08/08/2021 at 20:21. As mentioned throughout Built for Life Sarah does like to play with words and numbers, therefore 08-08-2021 at 20:21 will be the perfect time to launch it. It will be available via the Kindle store on Amazon.
Unprecedented times often mean uncertainty; life is a bubbling cauldron of change, but nature and humour will often bring a pause or a smile. Sarah’s illustrated book of poetry takes you on a short wander that will give you some moments of respite from the burdens of the day.
The author has created this first edition solely as an eBook. She decided that a simple book of words would be quite a singular reading experience. To enhance this, she has designed each page to look like that of a personal journal, complete with pictures and doodles.
Nature:
Sarah’s poems about nature will introduce you to the relationship between the sun and moon, as well as the gentle chatter and imagined gossip which goes on amongst flora and fauna.
Drabbles:
A drabble is a 100-word story. It is a complete work and like any wonderful story it has a beginning, middle and an end. What the author achieves here by adding her own twist to the drabble is quite remarkable. It is picture painting and storytelling in one verse.
Life:
In stark contrast, the chapter on life brings about a moment or two of reflection for the reader. Accounts of life in its raw form can often drain the spirit and even though the subjects in this section are frank, the author imparts undeniable positivity.
Humour:
The author, determined to leave you with a lightness in spirit, takes a light-hearted look at being human. Using rhyme for most of the poems in this section she undresses the fragility of each of us in such a way you beaming for the rest of the day.
Playing with words is something the author does throughout this pamphlet. Look closely and you will find her poems littered with little games. In the poem ‘Upon Ageing’, each line in every verse begins with the same words. And listen out for rhyming words at the end of the lines in ‘What was this Poem Called?’
Sarah’s poem ‘The Light at the End’ of the Tunnel, a poem about the Covid pandemic, appears in BBC Radio 4’s Covid Chronicles archive stored in the British Library.
One fact that people may no know about Sarah is that she was an Olympic Torchbearer…She ran her leg of the relay in St Albans, Hertfordshire on July 8th, 2012. ‘It was the most wonderful day of my life, followed closely by the release of Merry Go Round. Carrying the torch was an honour and I’m so proud to be able to say I carried it.’
Sarah was born in Hertfordshire, where she lived and worked for many years in the NHS. She attended Oxford Brookes University and graduated with a merit in Creative Writing (MA).
Sarah now lives in rural Northamptonshire with her partner Keith, their dog and cats. She continues to write, paint and work as a Reiki Practitioner and Macmillan Volunteer.
Merry Go Round is her first novel, however, the next is already in progress. It is a ‘sidequel’ or re-write of Merry Go Round, following the same year but revealing the lived experiences of Adam and Lou whilst Lily was having such a bad time of things.
Follow her at:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SarahToll.co.uk/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahtoll_writer/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/syd_clarence
Goodreads : https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20882412.Sarah_Toll
Website : http://sarahtoll.co.uk/
Let me know what you think in the comments. I’d love to interact with you. If this sounds like something you would read, let me know!
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Jessica Belmont 
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