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Thank you to Rachel from Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me to participate in the blog tour for Lily Hayden’s new book Bad Blood.

Synopsis:
Bad Blood

Tim, Rose, Will and Belle led a charmed childhood growing up together on idyllic Bluebell Farm, but everything changed when their mother died. Sixteen years on, they’re practically strangers.

An unexpected invitation from their estranged father brings them back together giving them an opportunity to heal past wounds and start afresh.

But when Frank is found dead on the morning of his wedding, suspicion turns to the four siblings’ motivations, and the bad blood of the past resurfaces.

Purchase Links
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My thoughts:

Last year I reviewed Lily Hayden’s New Rules which took a deep look at how difficult it is for women to combine successful professional career and maintain meaningful interpersonal relationships. Despite its apparent lightness, the book was quite thought-provoking and so is her newest one.

Four Jones siblings -Tim, Rose, Will and Belle- do not seem to be very close. They lead their busy, separate lives, facing their own challenges, when they get a telephone call informing them that their father Frank died. Then we go back three months before to find out that the all four siblings received a wedding invitation from their father and a woman they never heard of previously. They get together and go back to their childhood home to check on their father.It is obvious that the woman in question is in fact a golddigger who can’t wait to get her grubby hands on the farm that has been in her mother’s family for a hundred years. Will they do anything about this ‘impending threat’? Will it bring them together or have they grown too distant, too wrapped in their own lives to care about their blood ties?

I really liked the narrative structure of this novel- there are four points of view and we get to know each sibling pretty well. They are all complex, flawed characters and once the initial confusion of who is who was over I was drawn into the story which was surprisingly addictive. Tim, Rose, Will and Belle have their unique voices and personalities. Even though two of them seem to be more placid, easy-going, while the other two are more strong-willed, their life experiences have shaped them in different ways. You will make your own theories as you keep reading and some of them will turn out to be true, while in other cases you may get surprised by some developments.

It is one of those books where you get so busy following the characters and what is hapening to them, that only after having finished the book, you start thinking about the message. For me, it was about parenthood, family ties and being (or not) being there for each other at the right moment. It is about life – it changes each and every one of us, but we have a say in how. The saying ‘Blood is thicker than water’ is only a part of the original saying ‘ The Blood of Covenant is thicker than the water of a womb.’ Are the ties we choose, the relationships we maintain and work on stronger than the ties we are born into? Read the book and find out what happens to Tim, Will, Rose and Belle.

This was my second book by Lily Hayden and I will be looking forward to reading more from this talented author.

Author Bio

Lily Hayden writes chick lit with a kick.

Modern day women want modern day heroines and Lily’s characters want sizzling romance, rewarding careers and equal partnerships, but like all of us, they face many challenges and it isn’t always easy.

A mother to four children, Lily graduated with a degree in Business in her hometown in South Wales and enjoyed a successful career in Financial Services before fulfilling a lifelong ambition to write books.

Her debut novel Butterflies, a heartwarming alternative to the traditional boy-meets-girl story, was released in 2018, reaching readers all over the world and she is the author of seven books, including a Young Adult Dystopian novel Project Terra under the alias SJ Woods (because who doesn’t love a bit of action and defeating bad guys every now and again).

Follow Lily on social media for the latest releases, promotions and occasional photos of her dogs.
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Thank you for reading the post! Have a great Sunday!

If you would like to know what other bloggers thought of Lily Hayden’s book Bad Blood, here is the full blog tour schedule: