Once a Monster: by Robert Dinsdale

Thank you @chlodavies97 and @Robert-Dinsdale for letting me be part of this tour and reviewing this book, I love the front cover of Once a Monster it looks so glamorous with the gold and blue colours. This is a fantasy / Historical genre that is set in 1861 in London. The story is about Nell who is ten years old and is orphen since she was four. Nell is part of the crew of Mudlarks. Nell comes across a body that is on the beach and the body is not what it seems. I liked Nell she seemed to be a lovely girl and brave. The story is written beautifully well and has a very entertaining plot that grabs your attention straight away. I felt Once A Monster took me to a different world and genre that I enjoyed thoroughly. A heartfelt read. 5 stars. Out to buy on the 21st of September. Bio Robert Dinsdale was born in North Yorkshire and currently lives in Leigh-on-Sea. He is the author of five previous critically acclaimed novels including the bestselling The Toymakers, which was his first venture into magic. Blurb London, 1861: Ten-year-old Nell belongs to a crew of mudlarks who work a stretch of the Thames along the Ratcliffe Highway. An orphan since her mother died four years past, leaving Nell with only broken dreams and a pair of satin slippers in her possession, she spends her days dredging up coals, copper and pieces of iron spilled by the river barges – searching for treasure in the mud in order to appease her master, Benjamin Murdstone. But one day, Nell discovers a body on the shore. It’s not the first corpse she’s encountered, but by far the strangest. Nearly seven feet tall, the creature has matted hair covering his legs, and on his head are the suggestion of horns. Nell’s fellow mudlarks urge her to steal his boots and rifle his pockets, but as she ventures closer the figure draws breath and Nell is forced to make a decision which will change her life forever . . . From the critically acclaimed author of The Toymakers comes an imaginative retelling of the legend of the Minotaur, full of myth and magic and steeped in the grime of Victorian London; perfect for lovers of historical fiction with a mythical twist.