"Meet Tannie Maria: A woman who likes to cook a lot and write a little. Tannie Maria writes recipes for a column in her local paper, the Klein Karoo Gazette.
One Sunday morning, as Maria savours the breeze through the kitchen window whilst making apricot jam, she hears the screech and bump that announces the arrival of her good friend and editor Harriet. What Maria doesn't realise is that Harriet is about to deliver the first ingredient in two new recipes (recipes for love and murder) and a whole basketful of challenges.
A delicious blend of intrigue, milk tart and friendship, join Tannie Maria in her first investigation. Consider your appetite whetted for a whole new series of mysteries . . ."
When I first read the synopsis of this book and realised it was set in my home country of South Africa I knew I had to read it and I am so glad I did.
Charming and heart-warming, this is a joyous read about a lovely group of women who find themselves in the midst of a murder investigation without meaning to. The main character of Tannie Maria is simply wonderful - I fell completely in love with her. I am so glad to find such a female model in a book these days. She is clever, brave, independent and strong-minded. But at the same time she is very soft, motherly, with an endless ability to give and care for others. She wants to be loved and to love others, she enjoys her creativity in the kitchen and how she can help others and improve their lives with her creations. There is something very authentic, naïve (in the best sense) and beautiful in that. The plot is suspenseful and easy to follow. All in all a great read. Looking forward to reading the next one in the series.
This is a murder mystery with plenty of humour, some of it slapstick, some understated, but readers will find themselves smiling, chuckling and laughing out loud. The romances (there are a few) were all tender and heart warming, but not overpowering. The setting was written beautifully in such subtle way and made me homesick and the food made me hungry and ready to whip an apron on!
Age Rating 13+. Domestic violence is spoken about but never described or viewed. The murder is creepy and there is an unpleasant kidnapping which could upset younger audiences.
"The Bible According to Spike Milligan is an irreverent but very funny spoof of The Old Testament in which, in his own inimitable fashion, Spike Milligan gives his version of the best known biblical stories.
In the Bible, according to Spike Milligan: "In the beginning God created the Heaven and Earth and darkness was upon the face of the deep; this was due to a malfunction at Lots Road Power Station...And God said 'Let there be light'."
A fun light hearted jab at religion that uses working class British humour that can have you cackling. Personally found it a bit if a slog after a while but that is just because the Bible is a little repetitive by nature.
Age Rating 14+. A lot of sex references and stoning and such.
"HERE IS A SMALL FACT - YOU ARE GOING TO DIE
1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier.
Liesel, a nine-year-old girl, is living with a foster family on Himmel Street. Her parents have been taken away to a concentration camp. Liesel steals books. This is her story and the story of the inhabitants of her street when the bombs begin to fall.
SOME IMPORTANT INFORMATION - THIS NOVEL IS NARRATED BY DEATH
It's a small story, about:
a girl
an accordionist
some fanatical Germans
a Jewish fist fighter
and quite a lot of thievery.
ANOTHER THING YOU SHOULD KNOW - DEATH WILL VISIT THE BOOK THIEF THREE TIMES"
This story is narrated by Death during World War II, and it is the story of a young German girl who comes of age during one of the most horrific times in recent history. Death has a personality. If something bad is about to happen, Death warns you ahead of time. Death is trying to understand the human race as much as the humans are. When "his" job becomes unbearable, he watches the color of the sky as he gathers the souls and carries them away. The descriptions of the sky are like nothing I've ever read.
The Book Thief is not one of those books you read compulsively, desperate to find out what’s on the next page. No. It is, in fact, better to read it slowly, in small doses, in a way that allows you to savour every word and absorb the power and the magic it contains. All the while, you know what’s going to happen. Death has no patience for mysteries. However, anticipation of the inevitable makes it even worse. My whole body was tingling with fear because I knew what was coming and I knew that it was only a matter of time.
Zusak found a way to give a fresh approach to a much-told story. He offered a glimpse at the other side of the coin. Really, should we feel sorry for the people hiding in a basement in Munich suburbs? Sure, bombs are falling on their heads, but most of them are members of the Nazi Party, willingly or reluctantly. Some of them truly think that Jews are no better than rats. Some, on the other hand, are hiding a Jew in their own basement. Some are just innocent children. But the more important question is, are we any better at all if we don’t feel compassion and sorrow? Death does a great job of asking all these questions in a calm, unobtrusive way.
The only small thing I had against this book is that the so called "Book Thief" only steals 3 to 4 books during the entire novel. I was expecting there to be a little more deviant thievery going on.
Age Rating 13+. A beautifully told story that can be understood by a younger audiences. Not gruesome but still heart rending at times.
"Ruth Young and her widowed mother, LuLing, have always had a tumultuous relationship. Now, before she succumbs to forgetfulness, LuLing gives Ruth some of her writings, which reveal a side of LuLing that Ruth has never known. . . .
In a remote mountain village where ghosts and tradition rule, LuLing grows up in the care of her mute Precious Auntie as the family endures a curse laid upon a relative known as the bonesetter. When headstrong LuLing rejects the marriage proposal of the coffinmaker, a shocking series of events are set in motion–all of which lead back to Ruth and LuLing in modern San Francisco. The truth that Ruth learns from her mother’s past will forever change her perception of family, love, and forgiveness."
I had mixed feelings about this book. The first part of the book, about Ruth's problems and LuLing's negative parenting, dragged for me. The second part, set in China, was exciting with wonderful characters--the bonesetter grandfather, the wicked relatives, LuLing's first love, the suicidal nursemaid. The short third part brought things together well, but seemed to promise an almost too rosy future.
Amy Tan has a way of getting inside mother daughter relationships that is startling. All of her novels explore the bond at both its best and worst. Part of what makes her stories so interesting is the clash of culture and of generational change which is so different to my own. The Bonesetters Daughter is probably the darkest of her novels, despite the (too) neat ending. The stories of the women are fascinating, though I had a hard time liking Ruth much which is probably unfair, I know all too well how difficult mother daughter relationships can be.
I found the description of China under Japanese occupation very interesting. Over all an interesting historical novel that could have had a few improvements. Age Rating 14+ suicide and attempted suicide is witnessed twice and rape is mentioned but not by name.
"Three Archangels...
Three Brothers...
One turned renegade
A sweeping epic of origins and mysteries, the fall of Lucifer tells a tale older than the universe itself. Set in opulent palaces and frightening hell worlds, this is a timeless saga of doubt, of demons and angelic warriors, of obsessive love and treason, and of an ancient evil that knows no bounds.
Soon the universe itself will be rocked by war...
A war between three angelic brothers...
A war fought for the greatest prize in the universe...
That war for the race of men."
Oh dear. With such an interesting premise I believed that the book would be a gripping read with an intense story line, after all the fall of Lucifer and his subsequent crowning as Satan is an interesting and emotional story. However this is not the case with this book. The story was repetitive to an almost childlike degree. The constant repetition of phrases such as 'a million million' and 'ten thousand, ten thousands' made the book almost impossible to read. Though there were some redeeming features such as making Lucifer jealous of the race of man, and portraying Heaven as an advanced scientific society, features which added a new twist to the tale it was a let down.
The description of heaven sounds like a shallow Paris Hilton acid trip. Diamonds and rubies and unicorns, oh my. Redundant prose, redundant descriptive paragraphs that repeat for no reason other than filler. ( I get it, heaven is diamond encrusted!) The angels have servants, who wants there to be servants in heaven and why do the angels have physical needs in an astral world? Lucifer is supposed to be this ancient being but comes off as a whiny teenager having a hissy fit. For the light bearing angel he sure comes off as a dimwit.
The dialogue was stilted and difficult to read. Hierarchy and nobility titles are vital in this heaven, so much so that every time a new character is introduced the author spends half a page enlisting his (and only "his", no women in Heaven as we all know)appellatives. All conversations in Heaven are based on very long and very formal greetings with no substance at all that gets irritating quickly.
What I did not learn from this book is how it was possible that Lucifer, the most beloved angel, the light bearer, perfect, loving and wise could become the personification of evil in the space of a fortnight. One day Lucifer is the epitome of goodness and a loyal servant to Jehovah than after Jehovah creates man he starts to behave as a capricious spoiled teenager who doesn't want to share his favourite toy. So much for a thousand years old angel. More strikingly is that no one, not even his beloved brothers really try to talk with him and reason with him. There are a couple of conversation which include a lot of "beloved brother" and no much else. There isn't a real analysis of the origin of evil, no in depth exploration of the complexity of Lucifer's betrayal which would have made this book an interesting read, only official formulas and dogma.
Overall a terribly boring and irritating read. I will definitely not be continuing the series. Age Rating 14+. Mentions of the fallen angels "lying" with human women to create Nephilim and so on. Normal biblical stuff.
"My name's Johanna Morrigan. I'm fourteen and I've decided to kill myself.
I don't really want to die, of course! I just need to kill the old me, and build a new girl. Dolly Wilde will be everything I want to be, and more! But as with all the best coming of age stories, it doesn't exactly go to plan..."
In How to Build a Girl, Caitlin Moran has created one of the funniest, most genuine and vivid characters I've read in a long time. Johanna Morrigan is witty, insecure and delightfully crass. Her story, that of a day-dreaming young girl growing up poor in 1990's Wolverhampton who aspires to music journalism fame by reinventing herself as 'Dolly Wilde' after a disaster on live TV is charming and incredibly relatable. Johanna goes through the things nearly every young adult experiences: first loves, feeling left out, identity crises, and dreaming about adulthood. But her story is a lot more crude and a lot funnier than most.
Her family is hysterical, realistically flawed and I just loved Krissi, her older brother's dialogue.
It’s also hard for me to be critical when Moran describes so well the sensation of being poor. I’ve been lucky enough to live above the poverty line my entire life. It’s useful for us to try to understand, then, that when one loses income, whether it’s a job or benefits, for some families the solution is not as simple as “cutting back.” Extreme poverty brings its own set of challenges, such as not being able to make healthy meals.
I do think that's one point Moran is trying to get at with this novel; that everything seems worse in the moment, and if/when you take a step back, especially once you're older & wiser, you'll be able to see things as they really were—a.k.a. not that bad. But the journey we go on in this story, at Johanna's expense, is riotously wacky and highly enjoyable.
However I found the vulgarity and bad language a little overwhelming at times. I was expecting a pretty PG teen novel but got something very different so read with caution. The angst and almost self-destructive behaviours are vividly conveyed. I was also shocked that this was all happening to a girl of my own age which I found slightly unbelievable. Don't read it though if you're sensitive to swearing, sex, drugs and alcohol!!
Age Rating 15/16 +. Crass, vulgar, bad language.
"Only a week after losing his wife, a distraught Detective Kimmo Joentaa returns to work to join a murder inquiry. It is the case of a woman smothered in her sleep—a curiously tranquil death, it seems, and one with no motive—and Kimmo becomes obsessed. The only clues are a half-empty bottle of red wine, two glasses, and a missing painting, a blurred landscape of no value. When a young man is found murdered in bed the next day in a hostel room with seven people asleep around him, Kimmo realizes a serial killer must be at work. As he struggles with the memory of his wife’s early death, Kimmo investigates the murders and tries to understand the mind of the perpetrator, who appears to be quiet, self-effacing, and affable—why then the urge to destroy? Set in Finland during the unnervingly long days of late summer near the top of the world, Ice Moon is an unsettling, poignant mystery."
Whilst there is murder, and an obviously very disturbed serial killer, in many ways ICE MOON is more an exploration of grief. The book opens with Finnish detective Kimmo Joentaa confronted with the death of his young wife from cancer. Returning to work straight away, he is left trying to understand and deal with her death, whilst a strange series of connected killings begin to occur involving a range of seemingly unconnected victims.
During his period of grief a serial murderer is killing people in their sleep by placing a pillow over their faces while they sleep until they die. As Kimmo sees the bodies of those who have been murdered while they sleep - he has thoughts and associations of Sanna, his wife. The story goes back and forth between Kimmo, and the thoughts of the murderer. The murderer who also has a very deep dissociation in his thoughts of life around him which leads to an interesting sympathy and understanding between them.
Whilst the crime investigation proceeds through the book, the focus of ICE MOON remains Kimmo's struggle with grief, the affect that it has on his decision making, his life and his work. Ultimately it's that overwhelming sense of his own grief, disbelief and detachment which tempers and informs the entire book - it's significantly less about the crime and more an exploration of this one man's experience of death.
This was undoubtedly a moving book. The crime was handled well, but what you come away from is the awfulness of loss, and Kimmo's tentative steps back into his life.
Age Rating 13+. Nothing untoward and the murders are not brutal or described.
"Every night, 12-year-old Gwenni Morgan flies in her sleep. She leaves the bed she shares with her sister and soars into the night sky, listening to the nighttime sounds of her small Welsh village below. Irrepressible Gwenni -- a dreamer full of unanswerable questions and unbounded curiosity -- is childlike yet touchingly adult. Reluctantly facing a modern world, she prefers her nightly flights to school and her chores. Blessed with the uncommon insight of a young girl, Gwenni's view of the world is unparalleled.
Quaint, odd, touched, funny in the head: Gwenni is all too familiar with the taunts of her peers and fields them with equanimity beyond her years. She knows she can no more change her nature than stop the sun from rising. And when a neighbour goes missing, Gwenni turns amateur sleuth, determined to solve the mystery of his disappearance. Little does she realize that the trail she's pursuing will bring her uncomfortably close to home, and a dark secret."
Didn't enjoy this at all, I feel tricked somehow by the synopsis. I found it really boring and a very weak storyline. Most of the book was spent describing old fashioned ways of living and depressing abuse stemming from mental illness.
The blurb on the copy I picked up suggested a mystery/ spiritual novel, so it was a great surprise to me that the mystery is dealt with very quickly and there is no spirituality at all. It hinges on the young protagonist, Gwenni, having no knowledge of the metaphor 'the black dog', i.e. depression (although I took it to mean anger in this case). To an older reader, therefore, the disappearance of Ifan Evans is explained pretty much immediately: Gwenni finds Mrs Evans with a bloody mouth (she assumes this is due to a visit to the dentist) and the youngest Evans daughter, Catrin, talks of having beaten her father's black dog with a poker to stop him being angry.
The rest of the book is ostensibly about the discovery of Ifan Evans' body and the subsequent search for the murderer, but the real interest lies in the slow unfolding of Gwenni's relationship with her mother, and the small Welsh community's quiet unravelling in the post-war years. Although never specified, the novel is set a decade or so after the Second World War, and so the weight of the losses from that conflict prove too much for some characters in the novel. People in the small town lose husbands, lovers, children, and hope - it drives one character to suicide.
The biggest discussion point for me in this novel is therefore the presentation of mental illness. One review, quoted on the cover of my copy, describes the book as 'blessedly unsentimental', which is one of its main plus points. The characters with explicitly-referenced mental illness (of which there are many) are described in a matter-of-fact way by children, who are often shown to be the victims of mentally unwell parents lashing out but continue to seek the approval of their parents. This is particularly true of Gwenni, who desperately tries not to anger her mother, although this ultimately proves impossible.
Age rating 15+. Just really depressing.
"Jude has been lying low since the storm, which caused so many things to be lost that it played havoc with his magic, and he is hiding from his own power, his divine former employer, and a debt owed to the Fortune god of New Orleans. But his six-year retirement ends abruptly when the Fortune god is murdered and Jude is drawn back into the world he tried so desperately to leave behind. A world full of magic, monsters, and miracles. A world where he must find out who is responsible for the Fortune god’s death, uncover the plot that threatens the city’s soul, and discover what his talent for lost things has always been trying to show him: what it means to be his father’s son."
The City of Lost Fortunes is an ode, a dedication, to New Orleans and its people. A fantastic, imaginative fairytale-like puzzle of gods and monsters, supernatural folklore and myths. It is an incredible venture into a world otherwise unseen to mere mortals, topped up with a generous dose of attitude, unexpected nuggets of wisdom and twists, underlined by an unwillingness to fold in a game with an open ending.
It's gorgeously written book, though naturally so and just enough that as I read I kept realizing how much I was enjoying the descriptions, the language, the refrains that cast so many echoes throughout the story. The events and the New Orleans it takes place in are vivid. So are the characters, their flaws and their desires. It's also a ton of dark and fascinating fun.
I liked all of the characters in the book- some of them we have all heard about through various tales, but it seemed to me that Bryan Camp is a special kind of puppeteer to bring them all together: angels, vampires, zombies, psychopomps, voodoo loas riding the human bodies, ghouls… I’m telling you, this book is a treasure and when you’re reading it, you’re the pirate taking a dive into a loot of pure gold. A completely wonderful book for anyone loves mythology, folklore, magic realism or urban fantasy.
Jude was a fun yet sympathetic character to follow through this winding story, at once cheering him on and laughing at his antics. His trickster nature a true delight to see come forward.
Age Rating 14+. Deals with a few mature themes and some strong language.
"Oliver Marks has just served ten years for the murder of one of his closest friends - a murder he may or may not have committed. On the day he's released, he's greeted by the detective who put him in prison. Detective Colborne is retiring, but before he does, he wants to know what really happened ten years ago. As a young actor studying Shakespeare at an elite arts conservatory, Oliver noticed that his talented classmates seem to play the same roles onstage and off - villain, hero, tyrant, temptress - though Oliver felt doomed to always be a secondary character in someone else's story. But when the teachers change up the casting, a good-natured rivalry turns ugly, and the plays spill dangerously over into life. When tragedy strikes, one of the seven friends is found dead. The rest face their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, and themselves, that they are blameless."
This book is so darkly beautiful that I didn’t want it to end. What fascinated me more was the fact that it is not only an ode to Shakespeare, but also the value of the Villain. Well-written villains are the crown jewels in Literature and a large majority of readers find them absolutely fascinating.
In M.L.Rio’s novel, we have seven four-year students that are about to graduate and become actors in the real world and leave their isolated almost cultish world. A tragic event following a short period of intense feelings causes their world to tumble down. Passions and hidden animosity come forward and the villains become victims and the victims are turned to villains on their own freewill.
The seven friends are among the most interesting characters you’ll come across. They are not to be trusted, or believed, but you must care, and hate them by turn. The entire book is described exquisitely and defused with an un-real, dreamlike quality that is sublime to immerse yourself in.
There is a sequence of a production of the Scottish Play, set during the night of Halloween, in the darkness, outdoors. It is among the most beautiful and most powerful depictions I've ever read or watched.
Something else that I loved was the strange/strong relationship between James and Oliver. When I was reading, I kept on wondering why the heck I wanted them to end up together. Quite badly, too. I mean, by all appearances they were just friends. Plus, Oliver was head-over-heel for Meredith and yet, I couldn't help but feel that while he lusted after Meredith, he had a very real passion for James. Just like Oliver himself says (towards the end), he himself had no idea what he and James were. Whatever it was, it was bloody brilliant.
Modern language interacts with Shakespeare’s immortal lines in a brilliant flow of speech. I really liked the little turn at the end. It opens up a lot of questions about what will happen next, but it was a nice little surprise in a story I thought had already ended.
Age Rating 14+. Drugs, drinking, murder. You know, normal college stuff.
"In the depths of the Maine woods, the wreckage of an aeroplane is discovered. There are no bodies, and no such plane has ever been reported missing, but men both good and evil have been seeking it for a long, long time. What the wreckage conceals is more important than money: it is power. Hidden in the plane is a list of names, a record of those who have struck a deal with the Devil. Now a battle is about to commence between those who want the list to remain secret and those who believe that it represents a crucial weapon in the struggle against the forces of darkness.
The race to secure the prize draws in private detective Charlie Parker, a man who knows more than most about the nature of the terrible evil that seeks to impose itself on the world, and who fears that his own name may be on the list. It lures others too: a beautiful, scarred woman with a taste for killing; a silent child who remembers his own death; and the serial killer known as the Collector, who sees in the list new lambs for his slaughter.
But as the rival forces descend upon this northern state, the woods prepare to meet them, for the forest depths hide other secrets."
As my first Charlie Parker book its stands well on its own, I only realised it was part of a series after reading.
Its delivered with exceptional poetic skill, but undone somewhat by a cast too large for the length of the story, which dilutes the impact and leaves the book feeling more like a series of vignettes. Parker himself is mostly relegated to bookend chapters and merely picks up crumbs long after the reader has discovered them. Structurally odd and not altogether satisfying by the time we reach the hurried ending, a less than fantastic Connolly novel is still better than most, and this one certainly has its moments, even if they don't ultimately combine to thrill.
The little side stories where, for me, some of the best bits. Particularly ones concerning Parker's grandfather and his friend, touched by death and scarred by loss.
There’s a lot of humour buried in this dark tale, much of it from Charlie, Louis and Angel who all had me cracking up on multiple occasions. There are a lot of great Louis and Angel moments including some great interactions with Charlie's daughter Sam.
I loved the character of the Collector. Connelly truly explores the human condition and the price of playing God. The grey morality of all the characters was wonderful to explore and a breath of fresh air from the usual goodie toe shoes main character.
The truly terrifying thing is that Connolly seems to understand that goodness is but a twisted, transformed version of that same evil, and that very twisted version of goodness is the most we can hope for on this earth. He portrays the drama of a life where evil is the default, and therefore easily obtained, and goodness is always beset with obstacles, requiring tremendous effort, never achieved with any great satisfaction or perfection, and even that only with the most heroic effort.
One of my favourite quotes was:
‘Is this how evil is done, he asked himself, in small increments, one foot after the next, softly, softly until you've convinced yourself that wrong is right, and right is wrong, because you’re not a bad person and you don’t do bad things?’
The natural setting of the woods is instrumental to the thrust of the plot and Connolly's perfectly rendered descriptions of the beauty but inherent malevolence of the natural world are perfectly realised. Skilfully interweaving folkloric tales into the plot, the woods and their surrounds become like another character in the book and influence greatly the actions of the human characters.
Age Rating I would say 14/15+. Demons, dark atmosphere, off screen death and torture, grey morals, Satanism. Wow sounds like an awful book now that I am writing this out.
"Remember, it’s only a game…
Scarlett Dragna has never left the tiny island where she and her sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval—the faraway, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show—are over.
But this year, Scarlett’s long-dreamt-of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season’s Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner.
Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. Nevertheless she becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic. And whether Caraval is real or not, Scarlett must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over or a dangerous domino effect of consequences will be set off, and her beloved sister will disappear forever.
Welcome, welcome to Caraval…beware of getting swept too far away."
It is my curse to eternally pick up every book that is compared to The Night Circus, and that is what happened here.
Caraval is a fantasy without world-building or significant character development. It relies on its dreamy descriptions, purple prose, and a heavy helping of romance to make it dazzle.
It is about two sisters, Scarlett and Tella, who live on some random island in the middle of random world X with their abusive father who wants to marry Scarlett off to a count she's never met. Caraval is, as it sounds, a carnival-like game on another random island. People go there to play and if they win, they get a wish. The mysterious Caraval master is a man called Legend, who Scarlett has been writing to for years, but he has now finally replied - and sent three tickets for Scarlett, Tella and Scarlett's fiancé. Upon arrival at the island, Tella goes missing and it soon becomes apparent that finding her is all a part of the game. Scarlett must solve the clues and find her sister before Caraval is over.
Firstly, this book does not have a good setting.It lacks the strong descriptions that a setting needs. It doesn’t feel magical and above all, it’s not grounded.
Also this is a writing style that never appeals to me. For one thing, Scarlett, in order to remind us of her special snowflake status, sees emotion in colour. It is straight up annoying. So many metaphors and similes that I know are supposed to be evocative and exciting, but they're nonsensical. Phrases like this:
“It smelled like the middle of the night”
“He tasted like midnight and wind”
“Tella’s expression fell, like a doll Scarlett had dropped.”
I understand that some readers like this kind of mysterious, weird writing, but it just pulls me right out of the story. I'm sat there thinking "how the hell does something taste like midnight?" What does it even mean that Tella's expression fell like a doll that Scarlett dropped? Does it mean that Tella is like a doll being dropped (i.e. unhappy doll?) or is the author equating the downwards turn of her expression with the downwards fall of a doll?
Here, have some more:
“Something about him made her feel perilous shades of silky black.”
“The world tasted like lies and ashes when Scarlett woke.”
“Something acidic and moldy and burnt bubbled up through Scarlett’s throat - the taste of death.”
Let’s forget for a second that death now has a “taste” - is the author just listing random words that sound cool? Think about it. How can something taste acidic and moldy and burnt? I just don't believe that good writing is collecting as many exciting, descriptive words as possible and shoving them all together, regardless of whether they make any sense.
However that's just my taste in writing style. I personally thought the story was lacking too, unless you are seeking more romance and descriptions of male muscles than actual fantasy and mystery. From the very beginning, Scarlett goes on and on about the gorgeous men around her, Julian and Dante, often forgetting that her sister is missing because she is so caught up in her own romantic ambitions. Of course, when Julian is seen talking with another girl, said girl is described as "some tart in a bar"; in comparison to Scarlett who blushes every time Julian looks at her.
I found so much of this book unsatisfying, it did remain interesting enough for me to read to the end, but there's not much more than a flowery romance contained within these pages. The mysteries and reveals are not particularly exciting, and there's a poorly-executed end moment where a character reveals everything through a long speech, like a magician dropping character at the end and telling the audience how they did it.
Age Rating 13+. Silly Romance but suggestive.
"My name is Amber Reynolds. There are three things you should know about me:
1. I’m in a coma.
2. My husband doesn’t love me anymore.
3. Sometimes I lie."
All psychological thrillers mess with your head, that's what we expect, but Alice Feeney has taken it a step further with this clever story. A story related to us by Amber Reynolds as she lies in a hospital bed whilst in a coma.
I really don't want to give anything away here - it would be way too easy to give away a crucial segment of the plot and spoil the whole thing for anyone else, let's just say that this is possibly one of the most twisty books that I've read.
The characters are brilliant ( most of them are chilling ) but they're very much at home in their own skins. I really enjoyed the portrayal of Amber's OCD and I thought it made a lot of sense with her character. As I've already indicated, the plot is interesting, and has everything that a great psychological thriller should have. What an unsettling twist awaits those of you who have yet to read this book!
Unfortunalty I occasionally found myself dragging myself through chapters while reading this. I loved the young girl’s diary. Her voice was chilling, and I loved reading her POV on the events that defined her childhood. I love a manipulative narrator, and the author of the diary did not disappoint. On the other hand, the other two narratives moved slowly.
I have read many reviews where people have said that the big reveal was to unbelievable but it wasn't to bizarre to me. People raised in unhealthy environments will to terrible things.
Age Rating 14+. Semi - Graphic Rape, OCD, and unhappy childhood.
"Lumikki Andersson has made it a rule to stay out of things that do not involve her. She knows all too well that trouble comes to those who stick their nose where it doesn’t belong. But Lumikki’s rule is put to the test when she uncovers thousands of washed Euro notes hung to dry in her school’s darkroom and three of her classmates with blood on their hands. Literally."
I feel like something must have been lost in the translation of this novel. I notice most of the reviews written in Finnish or Swedish are pretty high, while a good number written in English are quite low. Lumikki was a strong, likable character. I just couldn't believe her back-story. She is a 17 year old who has super ninja skills and spy skills the would put the FBI to shame. Why? Your guess is as good as mine. There was never any mention of training in her past, and only one incident of her standing up to her former bullies. There is mention of Lumikki working out in the gym, but do not try and tell me she learned everything she knows at Planet Fitness.
The villains in this are out right laughable. You have a Finnish Mafia that can be taken down by small group of teenagers. All the side characters were pretty flat, with the exception of Elisa. She didn't have a fully fleshed out feel to her, but she at least strong presence and had something about her to make you care. Elisa is the one who brings out the best elements of Lumikki's personality. I had a hard time connecting with Lumikki until she became entangled with Elisa.
When you get down to the bare bones mystery, I liked it. Average people get in over their heads with a crime syndicate, one mistake/misunderstanding is made, big chain of events is set off, innocents are dragged in, people die. Its a story-line that's been used thousands of times, but its one that works. Kind of like a Choose Your Own Adventure. I fully believe you could give it to a hundred authors, and they's turn it into a hundred completely different books. Its the author's personal pixie dust they add that makes them so different. Simukka had all the elements for a unique, edge of your seat mystery. Sadly, the execution fell flat.
Age Rating 13+.
"Stacey Woods has been raped and now she has to go through a different ordeal - the court trial. But nothing in life it seems is black and white and life is not always fair or just. Suddenly it seems that she may not be believed and that the man who attacked her may be found not guilty . . . if so Stacey will ned to find a way to rebuild her life again . . ."
The second book in this series has been just, if not more, poignant than the first.
Overall Stacey is shown as a strong character rather than being seen as a victim and ultimately becomes empowered by the court process; immaterial of the actual outcome. It was great to see her maturing through the course of the book. Her strength in adversity and ability to see her quest for justice through to the end is empowering and endearing.
The court proceedings are relatively true to life and the inclusion of detailed contact information for a number of helpful organisations who offer advice, support, counselling, advocacy, and legal services for anyone affected by rape or sexual assault shows a desire to empower and equip survivors with the tools they require to rebuild their lives.
Whilst frustrating to witness, Stacey’s clouded judgement when it comes to Harry and her belief he was in someway also a victim of his older brother seems like a normal human reaction. Understandably it seems better for her to believe he was not a willing player in Marty’s devious plans.
Before I started reading this book, I assumed that it would be a somewhat harrowing and unsettling read; but I can honestly say that I finished it feeling uplifted, both by Stacey’s decisions to restart her life and not let her experiences define her future, and by the positive support network surrounding her.
There’s a good turnaround in this story that will bring a tear to your eye.
I’ve sat and read book 1 and book 2 today.
Age Rating 15+. Like the first adult content and more harrowing.
"My name is Stacey Woods and I was raped.
Stacey is the victim of a terrible sexual attack. She does not feel able to go to the police, or talk about it to anybody other than her best friend, Patrice. Patrice, outraged, when she cannot persuade her to go to the police, encourages Stacey to write everything down. This is Stacey's story."
This is a very short read (I read it in half a day) with a lot jammed into it.
I reminded myself this was a YA book and to think like a young person. I found that helped me enormously to relate to Stacey and her mindset.
Stacey has a sister who became pregnant at a very young age and Stacy is the one usually caring for the baby. Life isn’t always easy at home with her sister, her child and her mother. One day things get tense and Stacey decides she needs some time out. Her plan of where she was heading was to her Fathers Home. She knew her father and stepmother wouldn’t be there, they were away on holiday. She could chill and get some me time.
The author gave us some good background and insight to Stacey which was really necessary to understand what happens next. When Harry comes into her life he presents a filler, a filler of gaps that Stacey sorely needed at that time. A person that for once was interested in her solely for herself.
I’m not going to give away more, however, when Harry was making tentative moves to still remain friends with her after the rape my mind just kept saying "WHAT is wrong with you child. Why are you even considering it. Are you crazy?"
Although No Virgin is an incredibly poignant and crucial narrative, I couldn't understand Stacey's attraction to Harry after the assault and unfortunately, those psychological elements were not explored. The event progression before the assault felt inconsequential, compared to the sexual assault and emotional impact. I would have preferred to have the emotional turmoil and metal impacts explored.
Age Rating 15+. Explores adult themes and upsetting content.
"They killed my mother.
They took our magic.
They tried to bury us.
Now we rise."
Hi Guys. Long break, I know, I'm sorry but end of year exams and the first weeks of holiday caught up with me. Hope you are all having a great year. Anyway back to the review.
Children of Blood and Bone is a fantasy novel inspired by Nigerian mythology, specifically focusing on the mythical land of Orisha. In this world, magic has been cut off and those who are descended from the maji are called "maggots" and systematically oppressed, if not killed outright. It's narrated by three characters. Zelie, who is a maji/diviner and a target of these genocidal tactics employed by the King of Orisha.] Inan and his sister Amari, who are the children of the evil king but also maji, so uh-oh, nobody better find out or anything because that would be awkward.
Zelie runs away accompanied by her brother and Amari, the runaway princess. Inan hunts them down while fighting his unwanted (of course) attraction to Zelie. I found it not exactly a slow read but nothing action packed either. I didn't care about any of the characters. When the climax happens, we're supposed to be so worried for poor Zelie, but I didn't care because her voice is completely interchangeable with the other two. Characters appear whenever it's convenient for the plot, and there's a romance thrown in haphazardly because what's a YA without mediocre romance?
I get why so many people are excited about this book. I was too because it's exactly what so many readers have been asking for: Diverse Fantasy! It's thrilling to read books about people who are like you and have a narrative that you identify with. Even if I didn't find it too exciting, I can appreciate the meaning and importance it has for people who are seeking out those stories. Fantasy novels are notorious for having bad rep, and when you do see characters of colour, they often fit neatly under the cringe-worthy Magical Negro umbrella, which is not cool.
That's a huge reason behind why I was so ready to embrace this book: I want those diverse stories too. Stories that give a new perspective and delve into territories that aren't explored nearly enough, I just wish this book had taken a deeper plunge into that world and really explored the different culture. Also why where there panther and snow leopards in a land based off Nigeria????
Age Rating 13+. Everything is very mild just one torture scene and allusion to sex, not really sure. That how much of an allusion it was. And warning, awesome cliff hanger.
"Criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone…
Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first."
I was scared to start Six of Crows. The hype surrounding it has been huge, the blurb sounded intriguing, I've been eagerly anticipating it, but I didn't like Shadow and Bone. Honestly, though? I needn't have worried. This book is fantastic and I don't say that lightly.
Shadow and Bone has been called fantasy-lite, but there is absolutely nothing about Six of Crows that warrants such a label. It's a sweeping epic tale with six main characters, five perspectives, complex and detailed world-building that is seamlessly integrated into the story, flashbacks to the characters' histories, and a wonderful blend of darkness, magic, action, humour and romance.
In the hands of a less skilled author, this could have been a mess but Bardugo crafts each of her characters with love and sensitivity, allowing them to be extremely badass, wicked sometimes, and unlikable in that multi-layered way that actually makes them completely likable. Each one is a different race, different background, and has so many layers. Each one has a handful of amazing different aspects, and things about them that will constantly surprise you. I loved and connected with Nina so much.
It's set in the same Grisha universe as her other books. This time in an alternate Netherlands instead of Russia but it's much darker and more adult. These characters are thieves, convicts and runaways. Street gangs compete for territory and power. The author takes all these dark "real world" factors and infuses them with the supernatural.
I want to be clear that the romance never takes over the story; it feels natural and welcome when it surfaces, which isn't too often. In fact, I'd say Bardugo is a bit of a tease for most of the novel.
I honestly cannot tell you how much I enjoyed it as this review would then be about as long as the book.
Age Rating 14+. Gritty and dark, taking inspiration from real-life underworld.
"For Gideon Mack, faithless minister, unfaithful husband and troubled soul, the existence of God, let alone the Devil, is no more credible than that of ghosts or fairies. Until the day he falls into a gorge and is rescued by someone who might just be Satan himself.
Mack's testament - a compelling blend of memoir, legend, history, and, quite probably, madness - recounts one man's emotional crisis, disappearance, resurrection and death. It also transports you into an utterly mesmerising exploration of the very nature of belief."
A book which I kept reading because something interesting always seemed to be around the next page, but never sadly materialising.
Was Gideon Mack really mentally ill, or is that what any character (or reader) must think when confronted with his story of death and resurrection? Was he tricked by the devil to "stop playing games" and in so doing ruin his life? Was he really drinking as much as everyone thought, or is that another example of how people want to quarantine and water down those things that happen outside of the regular world?
Getting pulled into the Scots atmosphere of chill and resignation was interesting, but not everyone's cup of tea and I found myself skimming a lot of the book.
The most intriguing characters were unexplored, whilst the mundane ones were examined in tedious depth. The most exciting and anticipated section of the book, meeting the devil, was a let down. The moral of the story was rather insultingly spelt out in flashing lights by the author at the end without any lead up in the story.
The MC Gideon is in short a bit of a non-person, a man who carefully crafts a façade that hides the hollow place within. That does not make him fun to be around. Gideon Mack is a tedious, boring psychopath, not a scary one.
On the whole, the book is a deflating anti-climax. Even the devil is not the charismatic force that one might expect, and the entire story does not so much end as fizzle out into further tediousness.
"This is a world divided by blood - red or silver. The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers. To Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change. That is until she finds herself working in the Silver Palace. Here, surrounded by the people she hates the most, Mare discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy the balance of power. Fearful of Mare's potential, the Silvers hide her in plain view, declaring her a long-lost Silver princess, now engaged to a Silver prince. But this is a world of betrayal and lies, and Mare has entered a dangerous dance - Reds against Silvers, prince against prince, and Mare against her own heart."
After all the hype around this book I gave it a try. Bad idea. One of the many typical YA fiction novels that follows an unfortunately predictable plot.
The main part of the book was soooo slow. Painfully slow. We're introduced to a world that had some amazing potential but remained incredibly basic, bringing nothing particularly new to the table. There are two kinds of people in this world - Silvers and Reds. The former are the ruling class, have silver blood, and sometimes possess special abilities like mind control and elemental manipulation. The Reds are a slave class who are ruled over by the Silvers and live in poverty.
A nuclear apocalyptic event is implied but never explored deeper only hinted at through tantalizing references. Also the origin of the Silver's abilities or strange blood colour is happily skipped over. Are they a genetic anomaly from radiation? Are they genetically enhanced humans? Do they rely on futuristic nanobots that they have forgotten exist due to a nuclear apocalypse, which would account for their silver blood colour.
Mare is a Red who, in unexpected circumstances, discovers that she has powers of her own. In order to keep an eye on her and learn more about the powers she possesses, she is disguised as a Silver and trained within the Silver palace. All the other women in the novel instantly hate her, usually for no good reason, and all the men see sunshine radiating out of the pores of her skin(metaphor for cue love triangle/square. Seriously though don't mess around with brothers, its weird and not cool).
There was so little action in that first 60% that I literally had to force myself through pages and pages of Mare flirting with the Silver prince Cal, and the prince's betrothed Evangeline hating Mare as soon as she set eyes on her. This book was a constant showdown between the innocent MC and the bitchy mean girl and her gang. I'm pretty sure Evangeline's meanness is going to be used as an excuse for Mare to run off with Cal and not lose any sleep over it. Maybe not... but probably.
I haven't previously given much thought to why I typically crave bloodthirstiness from my heroines but Mare just killed me. She made some tough decisions but was so wishy washy about them.
"Children." The words rip out of me. "He's a father."
Damn right he is, and a husband, and a son, and a grandson, and maybe an uncle and a nephew, too. They all are, you daft women.
Then she goes and sticks her head in the sand like a freaking ostrich after the decision is carried out:
All together, twelve died last night, but I refuse to learn their names. I can't have them weighing on me . . .
If you're going to kill someone for the "greater good," you need to be decisive about it and truly I couldn't understand why she would have any qualms about killing Silvers. She goes into detail about how much she hates Silver and how dreadfully they treat her people. Only two Silvers are nice to her through out the entire book!!
The main problem for me was that the revolution and the bigger war going on between the Silvers and Reds wasn't given enough attention. I felt like the plot relied on the romantic aspect and the angst to propel it along. Neither of which I cared about. I must say that I absolutely loved the cover, I think it was understated and macabre.
Age Rating 13+. One, two kisses I think and no gore just some fantasy violence.
"Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. In just a few weeks she'll have the operation that will turn her from a repellent ugly into a stunning pretty. And as a pretty, she'll be catapulted into a high-tech paradise where her only job is to have fun.
But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to become a pretty. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world-- and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally a choice: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. Tally's choice will change her world forever..."
The premise of Uglies is that in the future when kids reach 16, they all have mandatory plastic surgery to turn their bodies into a perfect standard of beauty based on human brain's reaction to visual stimulus. Unfortunately (and this is a slight spoiler, so my apologies, but it really is an element that is pretty obvious from page one, though not clearly stated until later), when the teenagers are having the surgeries to make them pretty, the surgeons change their brains, too, to determine their decision-making capabilities. Taking away their capacity for independent thought, questioning and even sense. Basically, the pretty surgery makes most people stupid, unless the occupation that the government determines for them requires intelligence. So far so good, a really interesting concept with the ability to explore stereotyping, body image and self worth.
However Westerfeld wasted the concept and his moral arguments are a little dubious and not well fleshed out. While on one level he mildly criticizes the idea of basing a society on a hierarchy of physical looks, the characters repeatedly interact within that hierarchy, calling each other "pretty" and "ugly" at every turn and defining "pretty" people very specifically.
Ultimately, the arguments of why the government requires the pretty surgeries make a lot of (horrific) sense in the stories. The surgeries solve anorexia, heath problem, bring world peace, and save the environment. Plastic surgery is made to sound fun and Westerfeld literally makes no compelling arguments against body alteration and doesn't even dip a toe into the idea of self worth, or lack of, these characters must have. At the same time, I'm left feeling that Westerfeld thinks it is a bad idea, though he is not convincing.
Unfortunately, some parts of this story where actually engaging and for a while I wanted to find out what happened. But his characters never develop deep self-respect or intelligent motivation for their actions, and even when their decisions seem healthy, Westerfeld makes a better argument for the unhealthy decisions. Now I realize that I didn't even talk about the uber-annoying slang language he develops for the Pretties and Specials. I'll just say "bubbly" and leave it at that.
Age Rating 12+. Nothing at all untoward.
“Happy birthday, Stanly. We hope you like your present…Cynical, solitary Stanly Bird is a fairly typical teenager – unless you count the fact that his best friend is a talking beagle named Daryl, and that he gained the powers of flight and telekinesis when he turned sixteen. Unfortunately, his rural Welsh home town is not exactly crying out for its very own superhero. London is calling – but what Stanly finds there is a good deal weirder and more terrifying than anything he could have imagined. Perhaps he should have stayed in Wales …"
This is one of the most original and funny books I’ve read in a while. Stanly is immensely entertaining with such a clear and distinct voice that it’s hard not to become best friends with him.
The premise of ‘Bitter Sixteen’ sounds unbelievable, and you’d be right, as even in the realms of sci-fi and fantasy, a boy waking up on his sixteenth birthday with superpowers, who already is the owner of a talking beagle called Daryl, sounds daft in the extreme. Here’s where the big ol’ ‘but’ comes in. Stefan Mohamed has created a fantastical situation in a such a realistic environment, that the events that unfold feel plausible and uncontrived.
Counting down to the exact moment he turns sixteen, reflecting on life as a modern teen, (while coping with an enormous migraine) Stanly evaluates his life as extremely…ordinary. Then, as the seconds tick past, he experiences a bolt of white-hot pain, leaving him with an all-over tingle that he can’t explain. Oh yeah…and he’s floating off the ground. From that moment on, ‘ordinary’ flies out the window. As does Stanly on a regular basis.
This is a funny, off-kilter take on the super-hero genre that, for most part, did not take itself too seriously. It has everything; superpowers, a talking dog and as many geek references as I could ever wish for. Stanly’s argumentative internal monologues are hysterical. Age Rating 13+ The main monster is very scary, slenderman with side doses of spider thing.
"Rosemary is now an only child, but she used to have a sister the same age as her, and an older brother. Both are now gone - vanished from her life. There's something unique about Rosemary's sister, Fern. And it was this decision, made by her parents, to give Rosemary a sister like no other, that began all of Rosemary's trouble."
This is a novel that is best read with as little pre-knowledge as possible. It starts out as a seemingly emotionally troubled college-age woman is telling a story involving her apparently dysfunctional family. Around 1/4 of the way through there is a "reveal" that totally changes the way you look at the novel.Although the change made the book a bit awkward and a little too fantastical at first, Fowler develops it.
A book definitely out of the mainstream that starts out as a conventional rite of passage told by an adult looking back on her childhood in the typical American family, with siblings, parents and grandparents. One is jerked out of this narrative by the 'twist' which has been highlighted as the main feature of the book, and which cannot be revealed as it acts as a significant spoiler. From this point onwards, the story proceeds in a more and more disturbing fashion, with the loss of siblings and the fragmentation of the family.
The author has created several memorable characters including the narrator, Rosemary, who is both endearing and irritating at the same time; her brother Lowell, idealistic and very driven; her self- introduced friend Harlow, certainly flaky; her mother, who struggles with depression; and her father, whose truly unpleasant character is revealed very early in the story.
I found this very disturbing book, and not just in its references to the way human beings have treated our primate brothers and sisters as merely experimental animals. It says much about modern family relationships.
So psychologically smart and sophisticated.I loved all the literary and psychology/science references. So entertaining. Though the ending wasn’t perfect for me, it was okay and mimicked real life in its inability to have a fairy tale happy ending.
Unfortunately I could not relate to the characters and the choppy writing style! I wanted to like this book, and there were very interesting elements, but I couldn't connect to the way the story was told.
Age Rating 13+. Some brutal descriptions of animal cruelty within many industries that would be disturbing for younger readers.
'On the cusp of sleep, have we not all heard a voice call out our name?'
Defender by G X Todd is an imaginative thriller that draws on influences from Stephen King, Clive Barker and Neil Gaiman to create a new world - where the biggest threat mankind faces is from the voices inside your own head. If you loved The Stand, you'll love Defender, the first in a four part series.
In a world where long drinks are in short supply, a stranger listens to the voice in his head telling him to buy a lemonade from the girl sitting on a dusty road.
The moment locks them together.
Here and now it's dangerous to listen to your inner voice. Those who do, keep it quiet.
These voices have purpose.
And when Pilgrim meets Lacey, there is a reason. He just doesn't know it yet.
Defender pulls you on a wild ride to a place where the voices in your head will save or slaughter you."
I've read quite a lot of dystopia, but none quite as smart as this: the apocalypse has come not from external forces (disease, climate change, etc) but internal. Have you ever heard such a fantastic hook? The human race has been mostly decimated because people have started to hear voices (of varying degrees - from benign to sinister) in their minds.
I found them to be a really interesting aspect adding a touch of uniqueness to the genre. Not everyone hears the voices but those that do are told by them to do evil things, to commit crime, murder, suicide and if your voice doesn’t tell you to kill yourself, well, you end up descending into madness. But are the voices all bad? Should they all be feared? We are tantalised with some snippets and understanding about them but Todd still leaves plenty left unanswered and there is far more to be discovered about their origins.
At the heart of Defender are its characters Lacey, Pilgrim, Voice and Alex and the dynamics and relationships between them. It’s a very character driven read and luckily they are all stellar characters (Voice is particularly awesome with his occasional sardonic musings) that you can get behind and root for.
I liked Todd’s writing, with her words she easily manages to convey emotion and brutality. However I did feel like the plot was basic and lacking. Looking forward to the next instalment, which hopefully comes more into its own.
Age Rating 15+. Brutal, violent and gruesome.
"Meet Tannie Maria: A woman who likes to cook a lot and write a little. Tannie Maria writes recipes for a column in her local paper, the Klein Karoo Gazette. 
