This was a good premise for a book but one I have now read several times, that doesn't mean it is bad it just means that it is now becoming a standard to use Social Media as a means for stalking in the plot. Fortunately in this book it is well executed and it has the added bonus of reminding people to be careful what you post and to check those privacy settings carefully.
The best bits for me were the stream of snark directed at the victim from the stalker - be honest we have all had "those" thoughts when reading someone's Facebook / Instagram / Twitter feeds. I did actually find some of them quite funny - especially the stalkers diatribes about her book reviews and her foodieness.
One thing the author did well was disguise who was being stalked here - it could have been Taylor or it could have been Anna and it isn't made clear until near the end exactly who the object of the stalker's hatred is. There are also multiple plausible candidates for the role of stalker and the book is nicely twisty so that you keep changing your mind. Unfortunately, about 25% of the way in I figured out who was being stalked and by whom so the rest of the book became much less intriguing. Luckily there was a nice twist at the end with the real identity of the stalker (something I didn't see coming as it was a little bit of history we had not been made privy to); also the denouement was quite shocking.
I did enjoy the book, it just didn't make my heart race or my fingers itch to get to the next page to reveal all. The characterisations are good and the neediness of Taylor alone in a foreign country with a husband constantly away for work was well described. All the other characters from Anna and Simon to the lesser ones of Susan and Caroline are also fleshed out nicely on the page. I'm not sure what was missing from this one for me but it didn't quite check all my boxes for a compulsive read.
I will try another one or two of this author's works as she has good ideas that she is well able to execute on the page.
Sunday, 30 December 2018
Christmas Secrets In Snowflake Cove by Emily Harvale
This was an okay read, I never really managed to get absorbed in to the place or the people if I'm being honest. I was conscious of reading the story all the way through rather than becoming immersed in it and eagerly turning the (virtual) pages to get to the next happening in the lives of the Starrs. Things did settle down towards the latter half of the book and I did start to enjoy myself a bit more - but I still couldn't work up the wherewithal to worry about what Darren was up to or what was going between Jessie and Mr Joshua(?) Thorn.
The setting is well described and you could smell that ozone and feel the sting of salt in the air. Even Michelmas Bay sounded like an enchanting medium sized town that was strangely full of independent shops without a chain to be seen. Got to love that about fictional places, they still have a non-homogenised High Street, or evena High Street at all.
I never really felt as though I knew any of the characters on the page though. This book may have been about Evie but apart from her best friend's younger brother, Roland, having a major crush on her, her not really getting on with her sister Severine I never really felt like she was more than words on a page. Her grandmother Jessie, whilst being a mainly peripheral character, was far more interesting and I think I would have preferred to hear more from her than Evie.
The book is undoubtedly festive and taps right in to the collective nostalgia for a Christmas I think few of us have experienced - roaring log fires, snowball fights and lashings of hot chocolate. It is almost filmic in its Christmas tropes which is no bad thing when you are curled up on the couch waiting for your belated Christmas celebrations to begin (I worked Christmas Day and in to Boxing Day so we had a later than the calendar family celebration).
Not a bad book really just not an immersive read and it didn't make me interested enough to get the second in the series.
The setting is well described and you could smell that ozone and feel the sting of salt in the air. Even Michelmas Bay sounded like an enchanting medium sized town that was strangely full of independent shops without a chain to be seen. Got to love that about fictional places, they still have a non-homogenised High Street, or evena High Street at all.
I never really felt as though I knew any of the characters on the page though. This book may have been about Evie but apart from her best friend's younger brother, Roland, having a major crush on her, her not really getting on with her sister Severine I never really felt like she was more than words on a page. Her grandmother Jessie, whilst being a mainly peripheral character, was far more interesting and I think I would have preferred to hear more from her than Evie.
The book is undoubtedly festive and taps right in to the collective nostalgia for a Christmas I think few of us have experienced - roaring log fires, snowball fights and lashings of hot chocolate. It is almost filmic in its Christmas tropes which is no bad thing when you are curled up on the couch waiting for your belated Christmas celebrations to begin (I worked Christmas Day and in to Boxing Day so we had a later than the calendar family celebration).
Not a bad book really just not an immersive read and it didn't make me interested enough to get the second in the series.
I'll Be Home For Christmas by Roisin Meaney
3.5 Stars
Well, a lot has happened on Roone since I last visited - most notably Laura has added to her family with another baby daughter. In fact, this caused me to spend the first few pages convinced I'd been here before but something just didn't quite match up for me then George the Donkey got a namecheck and I remembered reading about this rather odd Irish Isle previously and it all began to slot in to place for me. To be honest, the book did get slightly more enjoyable from that point on as I realised these were a set of characters I had already been introduced to (I must read the first of the 3 books set on Roone).
This tale though is all about Tilly and her search for her sister. You see, she was born in Australia and found out 5 years ago that she had been adopted; now she is 17 she has finally traced her rather disinterested birth mother and found out that she has a full sister. After a disastrous event in her personal life she decides to travel to Roone to meet her sister in the hope she can run away from her problems and hide out with her. She lies to her adoptive family and manufactures a Balinese holiday with a friend's family to explain her absence and off she sets.
As with most of Ms Meaney's novels the book covers the lives of disparate people, so, interspersed with tales of Tilly's fateful (and very eventful) journey we get regular updates from Laura. This isn't a Laura we recognise from previous books - this is a struggling Laura, her sunny disposition lost to personal circumstance and a trying mother-in-law. When the storm hits Roone all communication with the outside world is lost and, most worryingly, so is the strange apple tree that fruits all year round. Does the storm bring good with it too? It certainly blows more "trouble" in to Laura's life and leaves Tilly stranded.
As with all of her books this deals with the eternal themes of love and loss. Even though this book is set at Christmas we still have death to contend with and severe illness alongside the usual family borne frictions. The huge dollop of real life could add a depressing dimension to the read but somehow it lifts it in this reader's estimation. Whilst escapism and happy ever afters are nice something with a bit more bite is always welcome.
Unfortunately, for me, the characters just didn't come alive in the way I felt they should have done. Gavin's Mother (Gloria) and Laura's Father in particular are very two dimensional and the characters that Tilly meets on her long journey from Heathrow to Dublin to Roone are either ne'er do well Southerners or salt of the earth Irish and it did begin to grate a little with me. Tilly and Laura are at least very full feeling characters and I loved the changes wrought in Laura and her attempts to get her old self back - this rang so true (fortunately my reasons for the massive change in my personality were far less traumatic than hers) and was dealt with beautifully. Tilly is 17 and it shows but the author managed to get all the insecurities and constant self-doubt of this age on to the page without making Tilly a caricature.
This is a very good read but it was the lack of characterisation of the supporting cast that marked this one down for me.
Well, a lot has happened on Roone since I last visited - most notably Laura has added to her family with another baby daughter. In fact, this caused me to spend the first few pages convinced I'd been here before but something just didn't quite match up for me then George the Donkey got a namecheck and I remembered reading about this rather odd Irish Isle previously and it all began to slot in to place for me. To be honest, the book did get slightly more enjoyable from that point on as I realised these were a set of characters I had already been introduced to (I must read the first of the 3 books set on Roone).
This tale though is all about Tilly and her search for her sister. You see, she was born in Australia and found out 5 years ago that she had been adopted; now she is 17 she has finally traced her rather disinterested birth mother and found out that she has a full sister. After a disastrous event in her personal life she decides to travel to Roone to meet her sister in the hope she can run away from her problems and hide out with her. She lies to her adoptive family and manufactures a Balinese holiday with a friend's family to explain her absence and off she sets.
As with most of Ms Meaney's novels the book covers the lives of disparate people, so, interspersed with tales of Tilly's fateful (and very eventful) journey we get regular updates from Laura. This isn't a Laura we recognise from previous books - this is a struggling Laura, her sunny disposition lost to personal circumstance and a trying mother-in-law. When the storm hits Roone all communication with the outside world is lost and, most worryingly, so is the strange apple tree that fruits all year round. Does the storm bring good with it too? It certainly blows more "trouble" in to Laura's life and leaves Tilly stranded.
As with all of her books this deals with the eternal themes of love and loss. Even though this book is set at Christmas we still have death to contend with and severe illness alongside the usual family borne frictions. The huge dollop of real life could add a depressing dimension to the read but somehow it lifts it in this reader's estimation. Whilst escapism and happy ever afters are nice something with a bit more bite is always welcome.
Unfortunately, for me, the characters just didn't come alive in the way I felt they should have done. Gavin's Mother (Gloria) and Laura's Father in particular are very two dimensional and the characters that Tilly meets on her long journey from Heathrow to Dublin to Roone are either ne'er do well Southerners or salt of the earth Irish and it did begin to grate a little with me. Tilly and Laura are at least very full feeling characters and I loved the changes wrought in Laura and her attempts to get her old self back - this rang so true (fortunately my reasons for the massive change in my personality were far less traumatic than hers) and was dealt with beautifully. Tilly is 17 and it shows but the author managed to get all the insecurities and constant self-doubt of this age on to the page without making Tilly a caricature.
This is a very good read but it was the lack of characterisation of the supporting cast that marked this one down for me.
A Gift From The Comfort Food Cafe by Debbie Johnson
4.5 Stars
Ah, good old Budbury, a place that belongs in a different age. An age where life is slower and everyone has their place in the world, knows what that is and sticks to it. This is a good, old-fashioned romance set in the modern era in a town that is, to the say the least, magical. The themes of the book don't stand up to tight scrutiny but for sheer enjoyability this one rates very highly.
Katie we have met before, she is a peripheral character mentioned in a couple of the earlier Budbury books but now we get the chance to find out much more about her and her little boy. Like many of the influx of newcomers poor Katie has had a rough time of it, this time it is not at the hands of a man but rather the effects her parents all out fighting had on her. She more than shies from confrontation she runs a million miles from it and any other social situation. Will Budbury coax her out of her self-imposed exile? Will Auburn and Willow's brother Van manage to break through that hard defensive wall? You know you shouldn't really care and deep inside you know exactly how it will end but still you find yourself compelled to read on.
I'm not quite sure just how Debbie Johnson manages it but her characters are lively and honest, even the bad bits about their personalities are laid bare but you find yourself falling in love with them. She writes with warmth, charm and wit and this sucks you in to the story despite all your better judgement and leaves you with a wistful smile on your face and the fervent wish that you could find your own Budbury. The whole Comfort Food Cafe series exist in a place untouched by real life and yet an integral part of it but they work through the power of the people that live there.
This was a joyous festive read. To be fair Christmas is a peripheral adjunct to the main story but there is enough there to make this a nigh on perfect seasonal read. If you want some escapism with a happy ending that doesn't leave you fearing you will get Type 2 Diabetes then this one fits the bill nicely.
Ah, good old Budbury, a place that belongs in a different age. An age where life is slower and everyone has their place in the world, knows what that is and sticks to it. This is a good, old-fashioned romance set in the modern era in a town that is, to the say the least, magical. The themes of the book don't stand up to tight scrutiny but for sheer enjoyability this one rates very highly.
Katie we have met before, she is a peripheral character mentioned in a couple of the earlier Budbury books but now we get the chance to find out much more about her and her little boy. Like many of the influx of newcomers poor Katie has had a rough time of it, this time it is not at the hands of a man but rather the effects her parents all out fighting had on her. She more than shies from confrontation she runs a million miles from it and any other social situation. Will Budbury coax her out of her self-imposed exile? Will Auburn and Willow's brother Van manage to break through that hard defensive wall? You know you shouldn't really care and deep inside you know exactly how it will end but still you find yourself compelled to read on.
I'm not quite sure just how Debbie Johnson manages it but her characters are lively and honest, even the bad bits about their personalities are laid bare but you find yourself falling in love with them. She writes with warmth, charm and wit and this sucks you in to the story despite all your better judgement and leaves you with a wistful smile on your face and the fervent wish that you could find your own Budbury. The whole Comfort Food Cafe series exist in a place untouched by real life and yet an integral part of it but they work through the power of the people that live there.
This was a joyous festive read. To be fair Christmas is a peripheral adjunct to the main story but there is enough there to make this a nigh on perfect seasonal read. If you want some escapism with a happy ending that doesn't leave you fearing you will get Type 2 Diabetes then this one fits the bill nicely.
Saturday, 29 December 2018
Christmas Magic by Cathy Kelly
3.5 Stars
I don't think that short stories are really this author's forte to be honest, a lot of them felt more like a synopsis for a longer read which meant that just as you were settling in to the tale it would end. The other problem I found with a lot of them was that there is little characterisation that you can suck from the page so I ended up just going off how much I enjoyed the plot of the tale rather than the whole of the story.
This is a mixture of tales set at all times of the year, so if the title made you think that was a collection of festive tales then prepare to be disappointed. I did enjoy the mix but the author has a very obvious voice which shone through in each story, this does mean that they all began to feel a little like they were about the same set of people.
In order to get an honest score for the book I marked each story as I went along:
Christmas Magic - 3.5 Stars
Anniversary Waltz - 3.5 Stars
Madame Lucia - 4 Stars
Off Your Trolley - 3 Stars
May You Live In Interesting Times - 3 Stars
A Villa By The Sea - 2.5 Stars
The Gap Year - 3.5 Stars
Cassandra - 3 Stars
Letter From Chicago - 4 Stars
Bride And Doom - 3 Stars
You've Got Mail - 5 Stars
Christmas Post - 3.5 Stars
The Trouble With Mother - 4 Stars
The Paradise Road Book Club - 3 Stars
The Angel Gabrielle - 2.5 Stars
Lizzie's Fling - 3 Stars
Thelma, Louise And The Lurve Gods - 3.5 Stars
The Office Christmas Party - 2.5 Stars
A Family Christmas - 3 Stars
I was going to do a brief review of each tale but as they all began to merge in to one after a while I decided it was probably best not to.
This collection has not really made me want to read any further of the author's works which is probably unfair as the short story is a form all on it's own which many longform authors struggle with. Nothing here is really bad, it just didn't engage this particular reader. They are easy to pick up and set down so it does make it the perfect book for the coffee break.
I don't think that short stories are really this author's forte to be honest, a lot of them felt more like a synopsis for a longer read which meant that just as you were settling in to the tale it would end. The other problem I found with a lot of them was that there is little characterisation that you can suck from the page so I ended up just going off how much I enjoyed the plot of the tale rather than the whole of the story.
This is a mixture of tales set at all times of the year, so if the title made you think that was a collection of festive tales then prepare to be disappointed. I did enjoy the mix but the author has a very obvious voice which shone through in each story, this does mean that they all began to feel a little like they were about the same set of people.
In order to get an honest score for the book I marked each story as I went along:
Christmas Magic - 3.5 Stars
Anniversary Waltz - 3.5 Stars
Madame Lucia - 4 Stars
Off Your Trolley - 3 Stars
May You Live In Interesting Times - 3 Stars
A Villa By The Sea - 2.5 Stars
The Gap Year - 3.5 Stars
Cassandra - 3 Stars
Letter From Chicago - 4 Stars
Bride And Doom - 3 Stars
You've Got Mail - 5 Stars
Christmas Post - 3.5 Stars
The Trouble With Mother - 4 Stars
The Paradise Road Book Club - 3 Stars
The Angel Gabrielle - 2.5 Stars
Lizzie's Fling - 3 Stars
Thelma, Louise And The Lurve Gods - 3.5 Stars
The Office Christmas Party - 2.5 Stars
A Family Christmas - 3 Stars
I was going to do a brief review of each tale but as they all began to merge in to one after a while I decided it was probably best not to.
This collection has not really made me want to read any further of the author's works which is probably unfair as the short story is a form all on it's own which many longform authors struggle with. Nothing here is really bad, it just didn't engage this particular reader. They are easy to pick up and set down so it does make it the perfect book for the coffee break.
The Adults by Caroline Hulse
2.5 Stars
This is touted as being a humourous book, sorry but I found little humour between these pages - maybe it slipped past me but I really couldn't find it. There were scenes which made you squirm uncomfortably in your seat, I wonder if these were supposed to be where the humour lay?
I did enjoy the plot of the tale though - the idea behind a divorced couple spending Christmas together with their respective partners all for the sake of their young daughter was a good one. Unfortunately the author ruined it slightly by having them share a cabin in the holiday village they go to (any resemblance to a popular chain starting with Centre and ending in Parcs is entirely coincidental *coughs*). This stretched the bounds of believability uncomfortably for me.
The main characters we see things from are the two women concerned - Claire and Alex with a goodly dollop of Patrick thrown in, Matt is pretty much an occasional character unless Alex is thinking about him. Unfortunately their voices aren't sufficiently different to really tell them apart on the page so it all becomes a bit of a mish mash on the page.
The denouement is flagged early on with the insertion of transcripts of police interviews following "the incident". The only thing we don't really know is what happened in the field and when we do find out the story they concoct for the police is laughable and does not hold water at all. It definitely wouldn't wash in the real world but as this is a work of fiction they seemingly get away with it.
The writing has a good pace to it and the author does seem to have a pretty good grasp of relationships and how people work on an internal level. Fortunately this was enough to keep me reading even though the story itself was not actually that good.
This is touted as being a humourous book, sorry but I found little humour between these pages - maybe it slipped past me but I really couldn't find it. There were scenes which made you squirm uncomfortably in your seat, I wonder if these were supposed to be where the humour lay?
I did enjoy the plot of the tale though - the idea behind a divorced couple spending Christmas together with their respective partners all for the sake of their young daughter was a good one. Unfortunately the author ruined it slightly by having them share a cabin in the holiday village they go to (any resemblance to a popular chain starting with Centre and ending in Parcs is entirely coincidental *coughs*). This stretched the bounds of believability uncomfortably for me.
The main characters we see things from are the two women concerned - Claire and Alex with a goodly dollop of Patrick thrown in, Matt is pretty much an occasional character unless Alex is thinking about him. Unfortunately their voices aren't sufficiently different to really tell them apart on the page so it all becomes a bit of a mish mash on the page.
The denouement is flagged early on with the insertion of transcripts of police interviews following "the incident". The only thing we don't really know is what happened in the field and when we do find out the story they concoct for the police is laughable and does not hold water at all. It definitely wouldn't wash in the real world but as this is a work of fiction they seemingly get away with it.
The writing has a good pace to it and the author does seem to have a pretty good grasp of relationships and how people work on an internal level. Fortunately this was enough to keep me reading even though the story itself was not actually that good.
Friday, 28 December 2018
The Little Christmas Teashop Of Second Chances by Donna Ashcroft
To be fair this book could have been set at any time of the year, the seasonality did feel tacked on to the story rather than Christmas being an integral part of the story. To be fair that didn't really detract from the story itself, it all felt a little lacklustre if I'm being honest. There are some interesting sections - Lily's communication with the mother who abandoned her when she was 2, her desire to be a chef and the almost crippling anxiety she feels about trying - but much of it left me feeling all a little blah.
The characterisations are pretty good but apart from Lily they did have little depth. To be honest Lily's character put me in a bit of a quandry as she vacillated between the perfect doormat and this tough, sarcastic young woman and the disparity between the two felt forced on the page and without the nuance that real people have. I understand what the author was signalling to the reader with this disparity but it felt a little overblown There was an attempt to add depth to Josh's character but it was never really successful and the overriding image I came away with of him was that he was confident in his professional talents but rather mediocre as a person - not what we want from our hero.
The plot actually saved this book for me as it meandered nicely and covered some lovely little side vignettes - I particularly liked the Marsha and Simon glimpses. The writing also has a good dose of wry humour, the kind that makes you smirk knowingly to yourself rather than belly laughing - I like a bit of snark.
Overall a fairly solid book that entertains the reader but isn't unputdownable.
The characterisations are pretty good but apart from Lily they did have little depth. To be honest Lily's character put me in a bit of a quandry as she vacillated between the perfect doormat and this tough, sarcastic young woman and the disparity between the two felt forced on the page and without the nuance that real people have. I understand what the author was signalling to the reader with this disparity but it felt a little overblown There was an attempt to add depth to Josh's character but it was never really successful and the overriding image I came away with of him was that he was confident in his professional talents but rather mediocre as a person - not what we want from our hero.
The plot actually saved this book for me as it meandered nicely and covered some lovely little side vignettes - I particularly liked the Marsha and Simon glimpses. The writing also has a good dose of wry humour, the kind that makes you smirk knowingly to yourself rather than belly laughing - I like a bit of snark.
Overall a fairly solid book that entertains the reader but isn't unputdownable.
Snowy Nights At The Lonely Hearts Hotel by Karen King
This is one of the best festive reads I have stumbled across this year - and I did stumble across it in my usual trawl for a seasonal read by an author I have never tried before. Always a bit of a gamble but occasionally that gamble pays off and this was one such time - it was very welcome too as I had just finished a handful of quite disappointing reads.
It is quite predictable in its plotting but somehow that doesn't really matter as this is more about the characters in the book than the actual story. The characters are richly written and by the end of the book you do feel like you have known them all for a very long time indeed. Although it did set me wondering just why so many books seem to be currently set in Cornwall, I know it is a beautiful part of the British Isles but if all the fictional characters suddenyl appeared there the country would upend itself
Saffy is an absolute joy to read about. She is a perfectly normal human being with prejudices of her own and forced family jollity appears to be one of them. All she wanted for her Christmas was to stay in her Singletons flat and party with her friends but her sister has other ideas. Ideas that mean she has to uproot herself and put on a party for the local single parents in her sister's absence. There is a lot of humour in the situations Saffy finds herself in and the writing is well observed and draws you in to the story.
Even better there is a gay couple in the book who are treated as just another couple with their own set of problems. The main one being Robbie and Duncan split up just before the big day - I loved that they weren't caricatures but a real couple and it was refreshing to read in a mainstream chick lit book.
Then there is single dad Logan and his bubbly, polar bear obsessed little girl Chloe. Single parenthood is painted with slightly rose tinted spectacles but many of the struggles of real life are shown which gave that extra touch of realism. When Chloe's mother comes back on the scene demanding to spend time with her daughter we get to feel Logan's worries about this and he doesn't always deal with things the "mature" way but it did feel like his reactions were normal and not ramped up for dramatic effect.
A good strong read with a sprinkling of Christmas Magic.
It is quite predictable in its plotting but somehow that doesn't really matter as this is more about the characters in the book than the actual story. The characters are richly written and by the end of the book you do feel like you have known them all for a very long time indeed. Although it did set me wondering just why so many books seem to be currently set in Cornwall, I know it is a beautiful part of the British Isles but if all the fictional characters suddenyl appeared there the country would upend itself
Saffy is an absolute joy to read about. She is a perfectly normal human being with prejudices of her own and forced family jollity appears to be one of them. All she wanted for her Christmas was to stay in her Singletons flat and party with her friends but her sister has other ideas. Ideas that mean she has to uproot herself and put on a party for the local single parents in her sister's absence. There is a lot of humour in the situations Saffy finds herself in and the writing is well observed and draws you in to the story.
Even better there is a gay couple in the book who are treated as just another couple with their own set of problems. The main one being Robbie and Duncan split up just before the big day - I loved that they weren't caricatures but a real couple and it was refreshing to read in a mainstream chick lit book.
Then there is single dad Logan and his bubbly, polar bear obsessed little girl Chloe. Single parenthood is painted with slightly rose tinted spectacles but many of the struggles of real life are shown which gave that extra touch of realism. When Chloe's mother comes back on the scene demanding to spend time with her daughter we get to feel Logan's worries about this and he doesn't always deal with things the "mature" way but it did feel like his reactions were normal and not ramped up for dramatic effect.
A good strong read with a sprinkling of Christmas Magic.
Thursday, 27 December 2018
Odette by Jessica Duchen
This was a wonderfully modern retelling of the Swan Lake story, set in a modern British University Town (amusingly called Cygnford which gave me an inordinate amount of rather punny pleasure) that is loosely based on Cambridge. There is a strangely cosy feel to it all, despite the rather bleak references to modern day slavery and homelessness. This feeling mainly comes from our heroine Mitzi, she is naive and innocent, particularly for a journalist, but not in an aggravating way - it is just the way she is and her ability to see only the best in everyone is refreshing and somehow the author manages to steer her away from becoming cloying.
I was rather annoyed that Mitzi took so long to realise the parallels between Odette and her swan / human cycling with the rise and set of the moon and Swan Lake. Even after Odette tells Mitzi her origin story and gives up the name Odile Mitzi is clueless - all she knows is that it reminds her of a fairytale she once read. Seriously, I wanted to slap her - everything you need to join the dots is there on a plate and still you cannot see it?
Odette herself is a joy, her 180+ years of exile have left this delicate soul unsullied by modernity and her almost medieval outlook on the world is masterfully executed. Her joy in the simplest of things and her wonder at almost everything (especially chicken-tails) made me light up inside, she is almost childlike in her enthusiasms and this nicely juxtaposed with the pace and rush of the modern setting. Not to say that she is perfect, this Swan Princess has a temper and we get to see this seep on to the page in little flashes before one ghastly event in the University cloisters.
The tale nicely parallels the original Swan Lake story and goes with the "bad" ending where her Prince, fooled by Odile and the evil Rothbart in to betraying Odette takes refuge in the icy lake waters leaving his love to remain a swan forever. Despite that Odette has not given up and she is still searching for love - love that she hopes to find with Mitzi's charismatic struggling-actor brother Harry. Odette is looking for the storybook eternal love but Harry only understands the modern-day physical, fleeting and ephemeral love which does not bode well for Odette's hopes and plans. Whilst Odette only has eyes for Harry, Chris (his musician friend and housemate) is falling in love with Odette and when she shares her passion for music with him he falls irrevocably in to unrequited love.
The showdown with Rothbart is actually shocking and completely took me by surprise. His new identity in the world was unexpected and, to be honest, quite traumatic in it's execution. Mitzi though shows her true colours in defence of her friend and she refuses to allow Rothbart to steal Odette away. With support from Harry and Chris we meander to the end of the tale, whilst not a typical fairytale Happy Ever After it does has a feeling of satisfaction to it and I am NOT going to give it away - except to say that the moral of this fairytale has parallels with Maleficent.
This is a skillfully written book that weaves the supernatural so seamlessly with the mundane that the fact a woman turns in to a swan with the rise of the sun seems entirely plausible. The only thing that distracted me from the story was an issue of my own making - I noticed throughout that the colours of red and purple were constantly making little cameo appearances (in the colour of clothes, decorations, signage) and it started me wondering what they meant to the story or to the author as they were such a strong presence, almost characters in their own right. Now, this could be because of the Black/White imagery of Odile and Odette in the traditional ballet retelling of the story making me look for the colour significance or it could be purely accidental and I made another mountain out of a thimble full of earth.
This was an unexpectedly magical book that really did transport me to another world, a world steeped in the misery of the modern day but with the timelessness of Hope.
THIS IS AN HONEST AND UNBIASED REVIEW OF A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK RECEIVED VIA THE PIGEONHOLE.
I was rather annoyed that Mitzi took so long to realise the parallels between Odette and her swan / human cycling with the rise and set of the moon and Swan Lake. Even after Odette tells Mitzi her origin story and gives up the name Odile Mitzi is clueless - all she knows is that it reminds her of a fairytale she once read. Seriously, I wanted to slap her - everything you need to join the dots is there on a plate and still you cannot see it?
Odette herself is a joy, her 180+ years of exile have left this delicate soul unsullied by modernity and her almost medieval outlook on the world is masterfully executed. Her joy in the simplest of things and her wonder at almost everything (especially chicken-tails) made me light up inside, she is almost childlike in her enthusiasms and this nicely juxtaposed with the pace and rush of the modern setting. Not to say that she is perfect, this Swan Princess has a temper and we get to see this seep on to the page in little flashes before one ghastly event in the University cloisters.
The tale nicely parallels the original Swan Lake story and goes with the "bad" ending where her Prince, fooled by Odile and the evil Rothbart in to betraying Odette takes refuge in the icy lake waters leaving his love to remain a swan forever. Despite that Odette has not given up and she is still searching for love - love that she hopes to find with Mitzi's charismatic struggling-actor brother Harry. Odette is looking for the storybook eternal love but Harry only understands the modern-day physical, fleeting and ephemeral love which does not bode well for Odette's hopes and plans. Whilst Odette only has eyes for Harry, Chris (his musician friend and housemate) is falling in love with Odette and when she shares her passion for music with him he falls irrevocably in to unrequited love.
The showdown with Rothbart is actually shocking and completely took me by surprise. His new identity in the world was unexpected and, to be honest, quite traumatic in it's execution. Mitzi though shows her true colours in defence of her friend and she refuses to allow Rothbart to steal Odette away. With support from Harry and Chris we meander to the end of the tale, whilst not a typical fairytale Happy Ever After it does has a feeling of satisfaction to it and I am NOT going to give it away - except to say that the moral of this fairytale has parallels with Maleficent.
This is a skillfully written book that weaves the supernatural so seamlessly with the mundane that the fact a woman turns in to a swan with the rise of the sun seems entirely plausible. The only thing that distracted me from the story was an issue of my own making - I noticed throughout that the colours of red and purple were constantly making little cameo appearances (in the colour of clothes, decorations, signage) and it started me wondering what they meant to the story or to the author as they were such a strong presence, almost characters in their own right. Now, this could be because of the Black/White imagery of Odile and Odette in the traditional ballet retelling of the story making me look for the colour significance or it could be purely accidental and I made another mountain out of a thimble full of earth.
This was an unexpectedly magical book that really did transport me to another world, a world steeped in the misery of the modern day but with the timelessness of Hope.
THIS IS AN HONEST AND UNBIASED REVIEW OF A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK RECEIVED VIA THE PIGEONHOLE.
Love And Lies At The Village Christmas Shop by Portia MacIntosh
3.5 Stars
I was actually quite charmed by this tale, once I settled in to it and couldn't understand why some of the peripheral characters felt so familiar. I knew that Ivy was new to me, and her twin Holly, but something had the vaguest twinge of deja vu to it. Then I realised we have been transported to Marram Bay before, but a very different Marram Bay to this rather isolated location. I could get on board with an all year round Christmas Shop and I know they do exist but to have one so far outside the village seemed to defeat the purpose of a retail outlet and to find it struggling was no real surprise. To be entirely honest the whole trying to save the shop from the charming developer plot left me cold (and not in a festive way).
What did save this book for me was the characters that inhabited it. From a devious Santa, to a stay-at-home mum with worries about her future and her family to the grieving daughter who has never really covered from the loss of her mother. Every character, no matter how brief their appearance on the page, has a fully rounded personality that the author manages to coax out with few words. The residents of Marram Bay feel wholly real and as complex as any person you really know, some of them are even rather unlikeable.
The plot itself is rather predictable but there is no miraculous saviour for the Village Christmas Shop and a modicum of reality is held on to by the author. Despite managing to give you that warm feeling of a happy ending it is only really happy-ish as a dollop of the real world is allowed to intrude in to the way things work out. Only a dollop though, after all this is fiction and we demand our happily-ever-after.
A fun, solid read that is more about the people than the plot.
I was actually quite charmed by this tale, once I settled in to it and couldn't understand why some of the peripheral characters felt so familiar. I knew that Ivy was new to me, and her twin Holly, but something had the vaguest twinge of deja vu to it. Then I realised we have been transported to Marram Bay before, but a very different Marram Bay to this rather isolated location. I could get on board with an all year round Christmas Shop and I know they do exist but to have one so far outside the village seemed to defeat the purpose of a retail outlet and to find it struggling was no real surprise. To be entirely honest the whole trying to save the shop from the charming developer plot left me cold (and not in a festive way).
What did save this book for me was the characters that inhabited it. From a devious Santa, to a stay-at-home mum with worries about her future and her family to the grieving daughter who has never really covered from the loss of her mother. Every character, no matter how brief their appearance on the page, has a fully rounded personality that the author manages to coax out with few words. The residents of Marram Bay feel wholly real and as complex as any person you really know, some of them are even rather unlikeable.
The plot itself is rather predictable but there is no miraculous saviour for the Village Christmas Shop and a modicum of reality is held on to by the author. Despite managing to give you that warm feeling of a happy ending it is only really happy-ish as a dollop of the real world is allowed to intrude in to the way things work out. Only a dollop though, after all this is fiction and we demand our happily-ever-after.
A fun, solid read that is more about the people than the plot.
A Christmas In Cornwall by Laura Briggs
2.5 Stars
Okay, so it is fiction and we have to allow some latitude but it irrationally annoyed me that the weather experienced in one of the, traditionally, warmer parts of the British Isles was so relentlessly wrong. Maybe by the time I read this book 10 days ago I was getting jaded at the White Christmas motif but maybe it is more to do with the fact that you are unlikely to get a White Christmas in Cornwall - a foggy Christmas definitely but not a white one. There also seemed to be real issues with the size of the town the hall is attached to as well, one minute quaint and rural and the next it felt like a moderately sized town which I found very distracting.
The only thing that saved this one for me was the descriptions of the events at the hall and all it's Christmas finery. It did prepare me well for the season and almost made me want to get that tree out and start decorating. Unfortunately it would them move from the magical setting to the rather pathetic "love triangle" engendered by Julianne's old flame popping up to muddy the waters between her and Matt. Couple this with her altruistic behaviour when Matt is offered a teaching post in the US and it all felt a little blah and written by numbers.
A quick read that is perfect for fitting in around your festivities but not one that made me want to indulge any further in this rather lengthy series.
Okay, so it is fiction and we have to allow some latitude but it irrationally annoyed me that the weather experienced in one of the, traditionally, warmer parts of the British Isles was so relentlessly wrong. Maybe by the time I read this book 10 days ago I was getting jaded at the White Christmas motif but maybe it is more to do with the fact that you are unlikely to get a White Christmas in Cornwall - a foggy Christmas definitely but not a white one. There also seemed to be real issues with the size of the town the hall is attached to as well, one minute quaint and rural and the next it felt like a moderately sized town which I found very distracting.
The only thing that saved this one for me was the descriptions of the events at the hall and all it's Christmas finery. It did prepare me well for the season and almost made me want to get that tree out and start decorating. Unfortunately it would them move from the magical setting to the rather pathetic "love triangle" engendered by Julianne's old flame popping up to muddy the waters between her and Matt. Couple this with her altruistic behaviour when Matt is offered a teaching post in the US and it all felt a little blah and written by numbers.
A quick read that is perfect for fitting in around your festivities but not one that made me want to indulge any further in this rather lengthy series.
A Wedding In Cornwall by Laura Briggs
3.5 Stars
The first thing that strikes you about the book is that the author has probably never set foot on British soil, let alone visited the places she is writing about. There is much that is American about the book and very little that is British, from the language to the locales none of it ever really feels centred in the locale that it purports so proudly to be set in. Strangely this was not an insurmountable problem for me as the writing is breezy and moves the plot along at a generous pace which stops you getting bogged down in the minutiae of both the plot and the writing; neither of which would really stand up to close scrutiny.
The one thing that did irritate was the nicknaming of Matthew to Ross - I really find it very hard to believe that native Cornish people would go down the Poldark route (as good as it may have been for Tourism). Not helped by me doing a reverse turn on the American writing about a location she has never visited by automatically seeing Ross as the esteemed Mr Geller from Friends rather than Poldark.
The characterisations are painted rather broadly but somehow still seem to have a depth and realism that did manage to surprise me. Julianne in particular is a good human mix of emotions and behaviours and prone to being a bit of a cow on occassion - makes a nice change from the overly lovely people we often meet in books.
I did enjoy this book as a light, frivolous read that would have been ideal for the commute (if I had one) as it was easy to dip in and out of.
The first thing that strikes you about the book is that the author has probably never set foot on British soil, let alone visited the places she is writing about. There is much that is American about the book and very little that is British, from the language to the locales none of it ever really feels centred in the locale that it purports so proudly to be set in. Strangely this was not an insurmountable problem for me as the writing is breezy and moves the plot along at a generous pace which stops you getting bogged down in the minutiae of both the plot and the writing; neither of which would really stand up to close scrutiny.
The one thing that did irritate was the nicknaming of Matthew to Ross - I really find it very hard to believe that native Cornish people would go down the Poldark route (as good as it may have been for Tourism). Not helped by me doing a reverse turn on the American writing about a location she has never visited by automatically seeing Ross as the esteemed Mr Geller from Friends rather than Poldark.
The characterisations are painted rather broadly but somehow still seem to have a depth and realism that did manage to surprise me. Julianne in particular is a good human mix of emotions and behaviours and prone to being a bit of a cow on occassion - makes a nice change from the overly lovely people we often meet in books.
I did enjoy this book as a light, frivolous read that would have been ideal for the commute (if I had one) as it was easy to dip in and out of.
Christmas Cakes And Mistletoe Nights by Carole Matthews
3.5 Stars
From the outset it was clear that these are characters we are supposed to know, Fay in particular felt like she had a backstory that I was expected to already know. As things unfolded it became clear that this is a follow up to a previous book that no doubt ended with Fay and Danny sailing off in to the sunset together on his narrowboat. Fortunately, despite the numerous back references to events, characters and locations from the previous novel this did not spoil my enjoyment of this one at all. In fact, so numerous are the recaps that if you have read the origin story then you may find sections of this book somewhat monotonous.
There is a good dollop of realism to all the characters in the book and whilst not quite "warts and all" portrayals of people they do show that even the nicest of us can have dark little corners that we don't like people poking in. The only character that somewhat annoyed me was the Eastern European? lady that had taken over the house and the cake shop/cafe (sorry her name eludes me but I did finish the book 11 days ago) and the reason she annoys me is that she is the only character in the book that doesn't seem to have more than two dimensions to her - either foul mouthed and bad tempered or self-loathing.
The tale itself is actually quite a charming one of later-life love, rather than your 20-something perfect romantic vision, with all the baggage that getting older brings. I was particularly charmed to read that when disaster struck during the Great Storm things didn't get magically rectified, they just patched things as best they could so that business could resume in the hope that they would be able to do full repairs later - I know that feeling all too well.
A heart warming tale told at a gentle pace that didn't set my imagination on fire but did give the warm and cosy Christmas feeling I was looking for.
From the outset it was clear that these are characters we are supposed to know, Fay in particular felt like she had a backstory that I was expected to already know. As things unfolded it became clear that this is a follow up to a previous book that no doubt ended with Fay and Danny sailing off in to the sunset together on his narrowboat. Fortunately, despite the numerous back references to events, characters and locations from the previous novel this did not spoil my enjoyment of this one at all. In fact, so numerous are the recaps that if you have read the origin story then you may find sections of this book somewhat monotonous.
There is a good dollop of realism to all the characters in the book and whilst not quite "warts and all" portrayals of people they do show that even the nicest of us can have dark little corners that we don't like people poking in. The only character that somewhat annoyed me was the Eastern European? lady that had taken over the house and the cake shop/cafe (sorry her name eludes me but I did finish the book 11 days ago) and the reason she annoys me is that she is the only character in the book that doesn't seem to have more than two dimensions to her - either foul mouthed and bad tempered or self-loathing.
The tale itself is actually quite a charming one of later-life love, rather than your 20-something perfect romantic vision, with all the baggage that getting older brings. I was particularly charmed to read that when disaster struck during the Great Storm things didn't get magically rectified, they just patched things as best they could so that business could resume in the hope that they would be able to do full repairs later - I know that feeling all too well.
A heart warming tale told at a gentle pace that didn't set my imagination on fire but did give the warm and cosy Christmas feeling I was looking for.
Snowflakes And Cinnamon Swirls At The Winter Wonderland by Heidi Swain
Heidi Swain takes us back, once more to Wynthorpe Hall and the quirky set of characters that live there. We have already met our female protagonist, Hayley, before - she is the housekeeper and features in Anna's story from a previous book. Unfortunately this is not the feisty Hayley we came to know then, this is a softer character who feels diametrically opposed to her origin story. Yes, people change but this character has had such a personality volte face that it doesn't feel like the same person at all - somewhat irrationally (these are fictional people after all) I felt rather cheated by this - almost as though I was being told that being irascible, sarcastic and defensive of your personal space and privacy were all negative character traits...
The book follows all the usual tropes for the genre - not a bad thing as I read such a lot of it that I must like the schmaltz of it all. Unfortunately, somehow it just doesn't gel as well as it does in previous Heidi Swain books. In fact her latest two offerings have been somewhat disappointing to this reader. I can't really put my finger on where the disappointment stems from but I suspect it has to do with the sheer niceness of everyone, even people's bad points are not that bad in Swainland and it is starting to grate a little.
Christmas at the hall and the associated village does sound magical though and I think even I would drag my sorry self out for a bit of their brand of Christmas Cheer. I don't think I could inhabit this particular fictional world though, it is all rather claustrophobic and there is something of the Commune about the hall in a vaguely sinister way. I know, talk about reading a lot in to a fluffy Christmas story.
It is a charming festive read that you know how it will all turn out after the first 20 or so pages but that isn't necessarily a bad thing at this time of year. Might not have been entirely my cup of tea but the writing is engaging and draws you on through the story, even if the characters feel somehow flatter than they should be.
The book follows all the usual tropes for the genre - not a bad thing as I read such a lot of it that I must like the schmaltz of it all. Unfortunately, somehow it just doesn't gel as well as it does in previous Heidi Swain books. In fact her latest two offerings have been somewhat disappointing to this reader. I can't really put my finger on where the disappointment stems from but I suspect it has to do with the sheer niceness of everyone, even people's bad points are not that bad in Swainland and it is starting to grate a little.
Christmas at the hall and the associated village does sound magical though and I think even I would drag my sorry self out for a bit of their brand of Christmas Cheer. I don't think I could inhabit this particular fictional world though, it is all rather claustrophobic and there is something of the Commune about the hall in a vaguely sinister way. I know, talk about reading a lot in to a fluffy Christmas story.
It is a charming festive read that you know how it will all turn out after the first 20 or so pages but that isn't necessarily a bad thing at this time of year. Might not have been entirely my cup of tea but the writing is engaging and draws you on through the story, even if the characters feel somehow flatter than they should be.
Wednesday, 19 December 2018
Bitter Leaves by Tabatha Stirling
2.5 Stars
This is quite a troublesome book to review, in the back of your mind you know that there is doubtless a way you should view and approach the topics dealt with within the pages but then there is the enjoyment of the written word to be taken in to consideration too. This leads to quite an interesting personal dichotomy. However, as this is a work of fiction it does, in my opinion, have a duty to entertain so I am going to review based purely on that aspect and not the somewhat murkier waters that this book is intended to take you two.
Bitter Leaves is a tale of 4 women from one location in the Singaporean suburbs. Two maids (Lucilla and Shammi) and two madams (Eunice and Lesley). This is where my problems with the book began the maids - their voices fade in and out of almost pidgeon English to a sophisticated Western English which jars, initially, with the opening of each of their tales. Why not just give them a more sophisticated voice to express their individual lots in life instead of at first muddying the two together and then moving to the more sophisticated narrative? This, fortunately settles down after a couple of chapters from each maid's perspective and makes for an easier read as you are not jumping from style to style within one narrative. My second issue was that the Madams were treated with little sympathy in the book - particularly in Eunice's case she is described as an unremitting monster until relatively late in the book.
I also found the book quite disturbing, not because of the social commentary or of the massive divide between the have and have nots in a burgeoning society that clings to a hierarchy that is no longer really relevant in a world that is becoming increasingly homogenised. It was the emotional manipulation within the book that disturbed me. I am not unaware of the slave trade that flourishes throughout the world under a different name, I am not unaware that terrible atrocities are committed to people caught up in the system who have so few options open to them through extreme poverty that this is the only escape they can garner. Unfortunately the book seemed to be busily telling me about how horrible it all is and how desperately bad I should feel for these people who are being manipulated in this way; so busy tugging on the emotional responses for one group of people that a larger picture was ignored. In their own unique way every person in this book is irretrievably damaged by the world that they inhabit. Whether caused by Cultural bias ingrained in them from childhood, by misuse of them by others or simply by the choices they have made that have caused them to be transplanted to this strange cultural hot house.
All four tales are rather unremittingly bleak if I am being honest and you do not walk away feeling enlightened or enriched - you walk away feeling that you have contributed to the downfall of these women. Even Shammi's redemption feels fleeting and too little too late from her Ebony Ma'am.
THIS IS AN HONEST AND UNBIASED REVIEW OF A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK RECEIVED VIA THE PIGEONHOLE
This is quite a troublesome book to review, in the back of your mind you know that there is doubtless a way you should view and approach the topics dealt with within the pages but then there is the enjoyment of the written word to be taken in to consideration too. This leads to quite an interesting personal dichotomy. However, as this is a work of fiction it does, in my opinion, have a duty to entertain so I am going to review based purely on that aspect and not the somewhat murkier waters that this book is intended to take you two.
Bitter Leaves is a tale of 4 women from one location in the Singaporean suburbs. Two maids (Lucilla and Shammi) and two madams (Eunice and Lesley). This is where my problems with the book began the maids - their voices fade in and out of almost pidgeon English to a sophisticated Western English which jars, initially, with the opening of each of their tales. Why not just give them a more sophisticated voice to express their individual lots in life instead of at first muddying the two together and then moving to the more sophisticated narrative? This, fortunately settles down after a couple of chapters from each maid's perspective and makes for an easier read as you are not jumping from style to style within one narrative. My second issue was that the Madams were treated with little sympathy in the book - particularly in Eunice's case she is described as an unremitting monster until relatively late in the book.
I also found the book quite disturbing, not because of the social commentary or of the massive divide between the have and have nots in a burgeoning society that clings to a hierarchy that is no longer really relevant in a world that is becoming increasingly homogenised. It was the emotional manipulation within the book that disturbed me. I am not unaware of the slave trade that flourishes throughout the world under a different name, I am not unaware that terrible atrocities are committed to people caught up in the system who have so few options open to them through extreme poverty that this is the only escape they can garner. Unfortunately the book seemed to be busily telling me about how horrible it all is and how desperately bad I should feel for these people who are being manipulated in this way; so busy tugging on the emotional responses for one group of people that a larger picture was ignored. In their own unique way every person in this book is irretrievably damaged by the world that they inhabit. Whether caused by Cultural bias ingrained in them from childhood, by misuse of them by others or simply by the choices they have made that have caused them to be transplanted to this strange cultural hot house.
All four tales are rather unremittingly bleak if I am being honest and you do not walk away feeling enlightened or enriched - you walk away feeling that you have contributed to the downfall of these women. Even Shammi's redemption feels fleeting and too little too late from her Ebony Ma'am.
THIS IS AN HONEST AND UNBIASED REVIEW OF A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK RECEIVED VIA THE PIGEONHOLE
Innocents To The Slaughter by Helen Maskew
First things first, I did not (nay, could not) finish this book. I did try, I really did but I found it almost impenetrably dull and chock full of needless filler to pad the story out to novel length. The basic premise is a good one and the book gets off to a really good start which left me itching to read more as soon as possible.
With our intrepid heroes going through their letters after their revelations about Workhouse conditions has been published it seems their services as investigators are in great demand. They decide that the one that most touches their sense of injustice is one from a Yorkshire mill where under-age children are being put to work and there is also a baby farming business in the town that is as dubious as it sounds. Great, just the thing I like - a bit of social history, some perilous predicaments and a good yarn.
Unfortunately what then follows is a good quarter of the book that does nothing more than discuss their previous investigation and re-introduce the main characters from the first book. Seriously this takes up a quarter of the second in the trilogy. By the halfway point we are just about in place at the Mill and scouting out the moors where the baby farmers appear to operate from. Honestly it takes half the book to set the scene - do you see why I gave up on this?
The only Innocents being Slaughtered here are those who pay full price for the book. I am all for allowing to develop but the pacing is so slow here you are in terrible danger of nodding off as you read. The high dudgeon about the living conditions of the poorest in society is so overdone that I found myself getting annoyed at these entitled men with their breast beating and metaphorical hair shirt wearing. We get it, we honestly do so stop preaching about how terrible we all were to each other in the not to distant past and just tell the story already - I am not interested in 3 pages on what meal they sat down to when they arrived at the cousins farm. I was marginally more interested in the lamb birthing by the light of a lantern of a lonely boggy moorland but seeing as that was where I more or less gave up it doesn't say much about the rest of the book.
THIS IS AN HONEST REVIEW OF A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK RECEIVED VIA THE PIGEONHOLE.
With our intrepid heroes going through their letters after their revelations about Workhouse conditions has been published it seems their services as investigators are in great demand. They decide that the one that most touches their sense of injustice is one from a Yorkshire mill where under-age children are being put to work and there is also a baby farming business in the town that is as dubious as it sounds. Great, just the thing I like - a bit of social history, some perilous predicaments and a good yarn.
Unfortunately what then follows is a good quarter of the book that does nothing more than discuss their previous investigation and re-introduce the main characters from the first book. Seriously this takes up a quarter of the second in the trilogy. By the halfway point we are just about in place at the Mill and scouting out the moors where the baby farmers appear to operate from. Honestly it takes half the book to set the scene - do you see why I gave up on this?
The only Innocents being Slaughtered here are those who pay full price for the book. I am all for allowing to develop but the pacing is so slow here you are in terrible danger of nodding off as you read. The high dudgeon about the living conditions of the poorest in society is so overdone that I found myself getting annoyed at these entitled men with their breast beating and metaphorical hair shirt wearing. We get it, we honestly do so stop preaching about how terrible we all were to each other in the not to distant past and just tell the story already - I am not interested in 3 pages on what meal they sat down to when they arrived at the cousins farm. I was marginally more interested in the lamb birthing by the light of a lantern of a lonely boggy moorland but seeing as that was where I more or less gave up it doesn't say much about the rest of the book.
THIS IS AN HONEST REVIEW OF A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK RECEIVED VIA THE PIGEONHOLE.
The King Of Bones And Ashes by J. D. Horn
Having read the Witching Savannah series I had high hopes for this series. Unfortunately they were soon dashed to smithereens - almost from the very first chapter. I kept hoping that it would improve and kept on reading but by the end I was just as confused and muddled as I was at the beginning.
There are no distinct voices in the book so every character sounds exactly the same on the page and the only way you can tell who is supposed to be telling their tale is by the names; they really do all blend in to one. The real problem comes form the fact that the cast is so vast so you never really get under the skin of any one of them and the homogenisation of them all makes it even worse.
The basic premise of witches losing their power and their being a book that could hold the secret to them getting it back is a strong one. The mixing of Voodoo religion and a more European take on Witchcraft works well within the setting and allows for the use of some wonderful settings - what is more iconic than the Garden District or The French Quarter in New Orleans? Juggle in some childhood bogeys and you have a promising start - unfortunately when it comes to the execution of the tale it all fell apart.
I finished the book a week ago and can only remember a couple of the characters with any clarity but I am not entirely sure if I have who is who right in my head. For instance there is Evangeline - was she the one whose mother was Soulange the Voodoo Priestess or is she the one who ran the bar? You know, I am pretty sure she is one with the bar and an unhealthy relationship with the males of the Mason family. So did her mother go to the Dreaming Place or was she killed by her sister witches? Or was her mother neither of these ancestors and someone else entirely?
You get the point by now - it is one confusing book.
Overall, there are some good ideas in here but it is the execution that has let them down. I have, sadly, already purchased the second book in the series so I will read it at some point but I certainly won't be looking forward to it with any sort of anticipation - more a dread of "well I bought it so I'll have to read it".
There are no distinct voices in the book so every character sounds exactly the same on the page and the only way you can tell who is supposed to be telling their tale is by the names; they really do all blend in to one. The real problem comes form the fact that the cast is so vast so you never really get under the skin of any one of them and the homogenisation of them all makes it even worse.
The basic premise of witches losing their power and their being a book that could hold the secret to them getting it back is a strong one. The mixing of Voodoo religion and a more European take on Witchcraft works well within the setting and allows for the use of some wonderful settings - what is more iconic than the Garden District or The French Quarter in New Orleans? Juggle in some childhood bogeys and you have a promising start - unfortunately when it comes to the execution of the tale it all fell apart.
I finished the book a week ago and can only remember a couple of the characters with any clarity but I am not entirely sure if I have who is who right in my head. For instance there is Evangeline - was she the one whose mother was Soulange the Voodoo Priestess or is she the one who ran the bar? You know, I am pretty sure she is one with the bar and an unhealthy relationship with the males of the Mason family. So did her mother go to the Dreaming Place or was she killed by her sister witches? Or was her mother neither of these ancestors and someone else entirely?
You get the point by now - it is one confusing book.
Overall, there are some good ideas in here but it is the execution that has let them down. I have, sadly, already purchased the second book in the series so I will read it at some point but I certainly won't be looking forward to it with any sort of anticipation - more a dread of "well I bought it so I'll have to read it".
Tis The Season To Be Single by Laura Ziepe
The first thing I want to know about this book is if the three main characters all work on the same counter in a Department Store how did they manage to have a holiday away together? This is referred to a couple of times in the book and it just stuck with me - we are invited to believe that they became friends through their work and somehow they all managed to get away from a retail job at the same time? Okay, this has nothing to do with the actual story being told and is just a passing background information notation in the text but, 10 days after finishing the book, it has lodged in my head.
I found the main story to be a bit of a jumble if I'm being honest and there was quite a lot of frustration involved in reading about the three women. I think that the main bone of contention for me was the title suggests that this is a book about people reaching for their own personal happiness without it relying on others. Instead what we get is the very clear message that a woman cannot be happy without a man - friends are just not enough it seems, so much so that they lie to each other continuously and break their vow about the Christmas Party.
May be I am being a bit harsh as the genre this firmly falls in is, after all, one that promotes romance. So with that in mind lets discuss the writing and the plotting. The writing itself is what saved this book for me - it is well paced, funny and did keep me entertained throughout. There is a good understanding of people and everybody in it has a distinct multi-faceted personality that is very difficult to pull off so I applaud the author for this. On the whole the plot was reasonably good, it was just the message at the end when they all partner off that irritated me beyond redemption.
Would I read something else by this author? Well, YES, yes I would and happily.
I found the main story to be a bit of a jumble if I'm being honest and there was quite a lot of frustration involved in reading about the three women. I think that the main bone of contention for me was the title suggests that this is a book about people reaching for their own personal happiness without it relying on others. Instead what we get is the very clear message that a woman cannot be happy without a man - friends are just not enough it seems, so much so that they lie to each other continuously and break their vow about the Christmas Party.
May be I am being a bit harsh as the genre this firmly falls in is, after all, one that promotes romance. So with that in mind lets discuss the writing and the plotting. The writing itself is what saved this book for me - it is well paced, funny and did keep me entertained throughout. There is a good understanding of people and everybody in it has a distinct multi-faceted personality that is very difficult to pull off so I applaud the author for this. On the whole the plot was reasonably good, it was just the message at the end when they all partner off that irritated me beyond redemption.
Would I read something else by this author? Well, YES, yes I would and happily.
Moonlight On The Thames by Lauren Westwood
I really, really didn't like this book. The only saving grace for it was I didn't abandon it partway through and I was VERY tempted to. It is the Festive Season so though so in the spirit of goodwill to all men I did read it through to the bitter end and, to be entirely fair, I did enjoy the last 20% of the book substantially more than the rest of it.
The plotting is patchy throughout and there is an attempt to build suspense in the story but in a very clumsy way so you find yourself not really caring about the backstories of the characters, or what ultimately happens to them. The drawing out of the reveal over the damage to Dmitri's hands is perhaps the worst example of this - it is referenced numerous times but we have to get well past the halfway point to find out what the problem is. In fact, Dmitri is a very poorly realised character in the book and, for me, he felt almost racially profiled (maybe a touch extreme there but come on - Russian and loves nothing more than playing piano and drinking tea with preserves to sweeten it - and that more or less sums the whole character up).
Nicola is a slightly fuller character on the page. I will admit that the changes she goes through throughout the book are the best bit about it and probably the only thing that kept me reading to be honest. Unfortunately this was not enough to make me actively enjoy the read.
The plotting is patchy throughout and there is an attempt to build suspense in the story but in a very clumsy way so you find yourself not really caring about the backstories of the characters, or what ultimately happens to them. The drawing out of the reveal over the damage to Dmitri's hands is perhaps the worst example of this - it is referenced numerous times but we have to get well past the halfway point to find out what the problem is. In fact, Dmitri is a very poorly realised character in the book and, for me, he felt almost racially profiled (maybe a touch extreme there but come on - Russian and loves nothing more than playing piano and drinking tea with preserves to sweeten it - and that more or less sums the whole character up).
Nicola is a slightly fuller character on the page. I will admit that the changes she goes through throughout the book are the best bit about it and probably the only thing that kept me reading to be honest. Unfortunately this was not enough to make me actively enjoy the read.
A Christmas Gift by Sue Moorcroft
3.5 Stars
We've been to Middledip before but to be honest there is little of the village in the book and even less of characters that we already know. This book is very firmly about Georgine and the Academy that she works at, with special cameo appearances by Rich/Joe/JJ. With a sprinkling of seriously ill father, awkward encounters, munificent grandmother in a far away land and doorstepping moneylenders (well, bailiffs but you get the idea) this story felt like a re-worked fairytale; indeed there is so little that actually relates to real life about the characters themselves that it may as well be.
Don't get me wrong I did enjoy the book - the writing is witty and does pull you in. It was the plot that I really couldn't get on with. Also, why does everybody have to be redeemed in the end? Yes, I know it is Christmas and a time for belief to be firmly suspended but I did find myself eye-rolling about the absurdity of some of the scenes and the cosy way everything gets resolved. Maybe I was just in the wrong frame of mind when I read it earlier this month but somehow I think the same things would have annoyed me no matter when I read it.
The characters aren't all that badly written, they are just somehow pretty flat and predictable on the page. Georgine is a bit of a doormat to be honest and that never really changes throughout the book. Her relationship with Joe/Rich/JJ made rather uncomfortable reading to me and I felt like she was under some sort of evil spell rather than making rational or heart-led decisions about her future. The only relationships that felt halfway normal were the ones between Georgine and her Father and Sister respectively.
All that said I must have got some enjoyment from reading it as when I noted the read dates and overall score down in my notebook I did give a fairly solid 3.5 Stars - it seems that in this case my memories of the book would have reduced that down to a 1.5 Stars. In the interests of fairness though I will stick with my initial impression - I only wish I could remember why I rated it relatively highly.
We've been to Middledip before but to be honest there is little of the village in the book and even less of characters that we already know. This book is very firmly about Georgine and the Academy that she works at, with special cameo appearances by Rich/Joe/JJ. With a sprinkling of seriously ill father, awkward encounters, munificent grandmother in a far away land and doorstepping moneylenders (well, bailiffs but you get the idea) this story felt like a re-worked fairytale; indeed there is so little that actually relates to real life about the characters themselves that it may as well be.
Don't get me wrong I did enjoy the book - the writing is witty and does pull you in. It was the plot that I really couldn't get on with. Also, why does everybody have to be redeemed in the end? Yes, I know it is Christmas and a time for belief to be firmly suspended but I did find myself eye-rolling about the absurdity of some of the scenes and the cosy way everything gets resolved. Maybe I was just in the wrong frame of mind when I read it earlier this month but somehow I think the same things would have annoyed me no matter when I read it.
The characters aren't all that badly written, they are just somehow pretty flat and predictable on the page. Georgine is a bit of a doormat to be honest and that never really changes throughout the book. Her relationship with Joe/Rich/JJ made rather uncomfortable reading to me and I felt like she was under some sort of evil spell rather than making rational or heart-led decisions about her future. The only relationships that felt halfway normal were the ones between Georgine and her Father and Sister respectively.
All that said I must have got some enjoyment from reading it as when I noted the read dates and overall score down in my notebook I did give a fairly solid 3.5 Stars - it seems that in this case my memories of the book would have reduced that down to a 1.5 Stars. In the interests of fairness though I will stick with my initial impression - I only wish I could remember why I rated it relatively highly.
Faking Friends by Jane Fallon
This was my first Jane Fallon book and it will definitely not be my last. I always like to try a new author and even though I was a little dubious about the premise for the book (more about that later) it was on sale so I decided to give it a try. The writing is witty, warm and time has been spent on understanding how people function and this shone through in the telling. To be perfectly honest my personal prejudices about the main theme are what marked this one down a little for me.
The whole basic plot is girl finds out her best friend has been moving in on her boyfriend whilst she is working in a different country - actually literally moving in. So, she sets out to get her revenge on both the so-called friend and her boyfriend. Here's my issue with what I thought I was going to get (so glad I was wrong). I was expecting some sort of quasi-feminist tract about being a strong woman and being unrepentantly selfish to get your own back on people. I was expecting nasty people with scary agendas to proliferate and rise to the top like the cream on a pint of Jersey milk. Basically I bought the book so I could get on my moral high horse and be offended - this is 2018 people and we are supposed to be offended all the time after all.
Instead what I got was warm and funny and more a story about the nature of true friendship than anything else. Yes the revenge takes centre stage but the main character, Amy, suffers so much guilt over her actions that I actually forgave her for some of her more heinous acts. When she gets a new beau my heart did do a little sinking motion in my chest but even that has a little twist to it that I really didn't see coming. I also liked the fact that Melissa doesn't just lie down and accept her fate - she fights back. Each character felt fully rounded and a truly human mixture of good, bad and indifferent which helped to bring the book alive in my head instead of just on the page.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will definitely be reading more from this author's catalogue.
The whole basic plot is girl finds out her best friend has been moving in on her boyfriend whilst she is working in a different country - actually literally moving in. So, she sets out to get her revenge on both the so-called friend and her boyfriend. Here's my issue with what I thought I was going to get (so glad I was wrong). I was expecting some sort of quasi-feminist tract about being a strong woman and being unrepentantly selfish to get your own back on people. I was expecting nasty people with scary agendas to proliferate and rise to the top like the cream on a pint of Jersey milk. Basically I bought the book so I could get on my moral high horse and be offended - this is 2018 people and we are supposed to be offended all the time after all.
Instead what I got was warm and funny and more a story about the nature of true friendship than anything else. Yes the revenge takes centre stage but the main character, Amy, suffers so much guilt over her actions that I actually forgave her for some of her more heinous acts. When she gets a new beau my heart did do a little sinking motion in my chest but even that has a little twist to it that I really didn't see coming. I also liked the fact that Melissa doesn't just lie down and accept her fate - she fights back. Each character felt fully rounded and a truly human mixture of good, bad and indifferent which helped to bring the book alive in my head instead of just on the page.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will definitely be reading more from this author's catalogue.
Wednesday, 12 December 2018
Bobby Denise Is Reigning Rampant by Daniel Ross
This is a somewhat peculiar little book, although firmly set in a version of the real world (as real as Las Vegas or Los Angeles could ever be I suppose) there is just something about it that made me feel as though I was reading a Fantasy Tale. Something about the people, the places and the situations felt as though they were skewed by viewing through some sort of stargazing device that allowed you to see other worlds the roughly parallel our own. The Quantum Theory as applied to Reality.
The first thing that struck me is the observational powers of the author. Characters come alive through the pages not through their voice but through their actions and through their observations of others activities. Our protagonist's character becomes apparent not through the murder he commited and not through his determination not to repent for killing his Manager but through his observations of Edward and Frances. This is a man who misses nothing and watches every minutiae of life - much like the big cats he used to work with. In fact I am not entirely sure that Mr Bobby Dennison is actually a Human Being, more a darkly enchanted Dusty set for revenge.
Amanda Paceman is a deliciously vindictive character, the epitome of every vile and judgmental hack reporter you have ever gleefully read. Such is the power of the author I did find myself becoming gloriously outraged on our anti-hero's behalf at her diatribes against him in Catfights and Footlights. Strangely I felt more outrage for a fictional report doing a disservice to a fictional character than I do for what often passes for real journalism. Curse you Mr Ross for making me care.
As to plot, it is there but so sinuous that I genuinely felt as if I was merely following Bobby's example and observing a life unfold. An old life, a lived life and a life with tragedy seeded throughout. The plot weaves sinuously throughout but so unobtrusively that I got fully sucked in to the world and the players on the stage I was allowed to glimpse. Players with wonderful names Gator Amy, Les Animo, El Motto.
So, why not 5 Stars for the book? Simply put there was one little bit that annoyed me and snapped me right from the tale - a conversation starts in a Park but then ends in an apartment with no signalling of movement and during such a short conversation and the relative distances between locations (as already described during earlier chapters) impossible for them to walk and talk it. One little slip up removed one whole star from your review Mr Ross - blame your proofreader or your editor for that one!
This is a gloriously peculiar fiction and it has left me wondering how long we are going to be made to wait for it's successor. Surely there must be another book inside Mr Ross.
THIS IS AN HONEST AND UNBIASED REVIEW OF A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK RECEIVED VIA THE PIGEONHOLE.
The first thing that struck me is the observational powers of the author. Characters come alive through the pages not through their voice but through their actions and through their observations of others activities. Our protagonist's character becomes apparent not through the murder he commited and not through his determination not to repent for killing his Manager but through his observations of Edward and Frances. This is a man who misses nothing and watches every minutiae of life - much like the big cats he used to work with. In fact I am not entirely sure that Mr Bobby Dennison is actually a Human Being, more a darkly enchanted Dusty set for revenge.
Amanda Paceman is a deliciously vindictive character, the epitome of every vile and judgmental hack reporter you have ever gleefully read. Such is the power of the author I did find myself becoming gloriously outraged on our anti-hero's behalf at her diatribes against him in Catfights and Footlights. Strangely I felt more outrage for a fictional report doing a disservice to a fictional character than I do for what often passes for real journalism. Curse you Mr Ross for making me care.
As to plot, it is there but so sinuous that I genuinely felt as if I was merely following Bobby's example and observing a life unfold. An old life, a lived life and a life with tragedy seeded throughout. The plot weaves sinuously throughout but so unobtrusively that I got fully sucked in to the world and the players on the stage I was allowed to glimpse. Players with wonderful names Gator Amy, Les Animo, El Motto.
So, why not 5 Stars for the book? Simply put there was one little bit that annoyed me and snapped me right from the tale - a conversation starts in a Park but then ends in an apartment with no signalling of movement and during such a short conversation and the relative distances between locations (as already described during earlier chapters) impossible for them to walk and talk it. One little slip up removed one whole star from your review Mr Ross - blame your proofreader or your editor for that one!
This is a gloriously peculiar fiction and it has left me wondering how long we are going to be made to wait for it's successor. Surely there must be another book inside Mr Ross.
THIS IS AN HONEST AND UNBIASED REVIEW OF A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK RECEIVED VIA THE PIGEONHOLE.
Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby
2.5 Stars
This was my first Nick Hornby novel and it will probably be my only Nick Hornby novel. I haven't seen the film of Juliet, Naked but the premise intrigued me - a mixture of musician-worship and what happens when you meet those you worship juggled with getting older and feeling dead-ended by life. I think we all have a tendency to almost fetishise the music of our youth but sometimes that can go too far and for Duncan it has gone way too far.
My issues really started with Annie making contact with the elusive Tucker Crowe. I just found it all too unrealistic and the burgeoning of that relationship felt somehow seedy and had more than a faint whiff of being very disturbing. I cannot pinpoint exactly why it made me feel this way but it did and I sort of galloped through the last third of the book, not because I wanted to find out what happened but, rather more prosaically, because I wanted it all to be over.
The only things that salvaged this for me where the early chapters dealing with Duncan's obsession with not only Tucker Crowe's music but in the almost mythical being he had become. His pilgrimage, with Annie in tow, was rather touching in a lot of ways. His then reaction to the new release of previously unheard recordings was wonderfully wrought - particularly his misgivings in the aftermath of publishing his review to the devoted fan base online. I also found the sections from Tucker's perspective to be actually well handled, at least in the earlier portions of the tale, with his rather acerbic and phlegmatic voice being distinct from the other characters.
For me Annie was just there and I couldn't work up any strength of feeling for the character at all. I did want to see the Shark's Eye though - sounds like the best bit of the exhibition to me.
Overall a well written book - I could appreciate the craft of the writer if not his tale - but not one for me and one that has made me rethink trying any of Mr Hornby's back or future catalogue.
This was my first Nick Hornby novel and it will probably be my only Nick Hornby novel. I haven't seen the film of Juliet, Naked but the premise intrigued me - a mixture of musician-worship and what happens when you meet those you worship juggled with getting older and feeling dead-ended by life. I think we all have a tendency to almost fetishise the music of our youth but sometimes that can go too far and for Duncan it has gone way too far.
My issues really started with Annie making contact with the elusive Tucker Crowe. I just found it all too unrealistic and the burgeoning of that relationship felt somehow seedy and had more than a faint whiff of being very disturbing. I cannot pinpoint exactly why it made me feel this way but it did and I sort of galloped through the last third of the book, not because I wanted to find out what happened but, rather more prosaically, because I wanted it all to be over.
The only things that salvaged this for me where the early chapters dealing with Duncan's obsession with not only Tucker Crowe's music but in the almost mythical being he had become. His pilgrimage, with Annie in tow, was rather touching in a lot of ways. His then reaction to the new release of previously unheard recordings was wonderfully wrought - particularly his misgivings in the aftermath of publishing his review to the devoted fan base online. I also found the sections from Tucker's perspective to be actually well handled, at least in the earlier portions of the tale, with his rather acerbic and phlegmatic voice being distinct from the other characters.
For me Annie was just there and I couldn't work up any strength of feeling for the character at all. I did want to see the Shark's Eye though - sounds like the best bit of the exhibition to me.
Overall a well written book - I could appreciate the craft of the writer if not his tale - but not one for me and one that has made me rethink trying any of Mr Hornby's back or future catalogue.
Christmas On The Little Cornish Isles: The Driftwood Inn by Phillipa Ashley
I purchased this book last year but ran out of festive season before I could read it and somehow reading Christmas books outside of November and December feels just plain wrong. So, I hiked it high up on my 2018 list of reading musts for Yuletide. To be honest, I rather wish I hadn't as I never really sank in to the tale and found it all a little predictable and dare I say it (dare, dare!) boring. The writing is actually rather good and there is a nice wry humour and a gently unfolding plot that should soothe the reader in to the story and absorb you in the place and the people. To be entirely honest I think it may have been the setting that did it for me - I live in a small town but a town nevertheless and the sheer rurality of the Little Isles and their reliance on the weather to get the most basic of necessities to them is so far from my sphere of experience that I spent a lot of time mentally wondering how I would cope in that place rather than inhabiting the fictional world.
That said I did find the characters to be all a little flat. Maisie was the best of the lot though, with her conflicting emotions warring within it made you unsure exactly how she would react in any given situation. This just made her feel like a woman determined to grab her life with both hands and enjoy it as best she could for as long as she could and I really enjoyed that about her. Sadly the other characters were a little bit two dimensional for my tastes. Patrick infuriated me, somehow despite all his layers and personal tragedies and triumphs he never really became more than a bunch of words on the page. This is a real shame as if had just had the same sprinkling of author dust that Maisie got this would have probably been a much better review.
This is not a bad book by any means but it really didn't make me want to reach for the other Cornish Isles books. If you enjoy the genre (as I do) then I would say give it a go - just because I didn't thrill to it doesn't mean you won't and a lot of people seem to disagree with this reviewer about this one.
That said I did find the characters to be all a little flat. Maisie was the best of the lot though, with her conflicting emotions warring within it made you unsure exactly how she would react in any given situation. This just made her feel like a woman determined to grab her life with both hands and enjoy it as best she could for as long as she could and I really enjoyed that about her. Sadly the other characters were a little bit two dimensional for my tastes. Patrick infuriated me, somehow despite all his layers and personal tragedies and triumphs he never really became more than a bunch of words on the page. This is a real shame as if had just had the same sprinkling of author dust that Maisie got this would have probably been a much better review.
This is not a bad book by any means but it really didn't make me want to reach for the other Cornish Isles books. If you enjoy the genre (as I do) then I would say give it a go - just because I didn't thrill to it doesn't mean you won't and a lot of people seem to disagree with this reviewer about this one.
The Christmas Wish by Tilly Tennant
2.5 Stars
I couldn't really get to grips with the characters in this story at all. Somehow the connection between reader and the page just didn't happen for me. At first I felt intense sympathy for Esme after she fled her controlling boyfriend to her Grandmother's house in Derbyshire, especially as she seemed to be overcoming her personal demons and rebuilding her life. Unfortunately, she soon suffers an extreme case of recidivism and allows him back in to her affections after the death of her Grandmother. I think it was that point that she lost me if I'm being honest. Sure, she decides to take the trip that her Grandmother had planned to Lapland for them both but she still doesn't deal with the boyfriend, she sneaks away whilst he is at work and then refuses to answer her phone or read her text messages. It did drive me ever so slightly up the wall. I am aware that there are people trapped in toxic relationships like these but somehow Esme's feels almost glib and she does a disservice to anyone in that situation for real.
The scene setting in Lapland is wonderful and did make me want to visit myself. Admittedly I am a complete sucker for anything Santa and the thought of watching the Aurora Borealis does bring a deep joy to my heart. Ms Tennant does make it all seem rather magical and mythical; particularly the visit to see the Real Santa Claus.
Unfortunately, the setting was not enough to make me a happy reader. The characters are all more like caricatures than real people - Zach is tortured by his past, the snowmobile guide (who's name eludes me) is lovelorn, the two old people on the trip fall in to steamy clinches at the drop of a hat and then argue over nothing to both of their enjoyment. Nothing really more than surface for any of them, including Esme.
A pleasant enough festive read but there are much better out there.
I couldn't really get to grips with the characters in this story at all. Somehow the connection between reader and the page just didn't happen for me. At first I felt intense sympathy for Esme after she fled her controlling boyfriend to her Grandmother's house in Derbyshire, especially as she seemed to be overcoming her personal demons and rebuilding her life. Unfortunately, she soon suffers an extreme case of recidivism and allows him back in to her affections after the death of her Grandmother. I think it was that point that she lost me if I'm being honest. Sure, she decides to take the trip that her Grandmother had planned to Lapland for them both but she still doesn't deal with the boyfriend, she sneaks away whilst he is at work and then refuses to answer her phone or read her text messages. It did drive me ever so slightly up the wall. I am aware that there are people trapped in toxic relationships like these but somehow Esme's feels almost glib and she does a disservice to anyone in that situation for real.
The scene setting in Lapland is wonderful and did make me want to visit myself. Admittedly I am a complete sucker for anything Santa and the thought of watching the Aurora Borealis does bring a deep joy to my heart. Ms Tennant does make it all seem rather magical and mythical; particularly the visit to see the Real Santa Claus.
Unfortunately, the setting was not enough to make me a happy reader. The characters are all more like caricatures than real people - Zach is tortured by his past, the snowmobile guide (who's name eludes me) is lovelorn, the two old people on the trip fall in to steamy clinches at the drop of a hat and then argue over nothing to both of their enjoyment. Nothing really more than surface for any of them, including Esme.
A pleasant enough festive read but there are much better out there.
All I Want For Christmas by Amy Silver
This is a strangely dispiriting read when compared to much of the Christmas fare published in this genre. It is my first festive read of the 2018 season and, to be honest, I couldn't have picked a better one to start with. Set against the forced jollity peddled to us on the television this is the story of 3 women who each have their own problems to deal with this Christmastime and sees them face up to them admirably.
This is my second Amy Silver book and what stands out for me is the realism and individuality of the characters. Each chapter is told from the perspective of one of the three women and even though the chapter heading tells us who is "speaking" the voices are so distinct that you automatically know once you have settled in to the book and got everyone straight in your head:
Bea - Clearly suffering with depression but doing her best for her infant son and trying to keep her business afloat as well. The mystery of her husband is solved about halfway through the book and I was relieved to know I had guessed the reason for her isolation correctly - not for Bea but for my own personal satisfaction you understand.
Chloe - Career focussed and in a dangerous relationship with an unattainable man. She wants everything to be perfect but seems to be losing herself along the way. After a drunken Work's Christmas Party she begins to reevaluate her life and her behaviour towards others.
Olivia - Very happy in her relationship but his whole family descending for Christmas makes her feel trapped and unsure if accepting his proposal was the right thing for her.
After chance meetings with each other at Bea's Cafe, The Honey Pot, the three women soon begin to form a tentative support network for each other. It is through this that we learn all about the characters as they slowly peel their personalities apart to admit things to each other that nobody else knows.
To be honest this would have been 5 stars but the ending with everyone getting a renewed chance at happiness felt a little off to me. Yes, I know it is a Christmas Story and, as such, a happy ending is to be not only expected but assured but it just left me all a little flat - possibly because I am the eternal pessimist who knows.
The plot pacing is excellent throughout and I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone - even if this is normally a genre you steer clear of.
This is my second Amy Silver book and what stands out for me is the realism and individuality of the characters. Each chapter is told from the perspective of one of the three women and even though the chapter heading tells us who is "speaking" the voices are so distinct that you automatically know once you have settled in to the book and got everyone straight in your head:
Bea - Clearly suffering with depression but doing her best for her infant son and trying to keep her business afloat as well. The mystery of her husband is solved about halfway through the book and I was relieved to know I had guessed the reason for her isolation correctly - not for Bea but for my own personal satisfaction you understand.
Chloe - Career focussed and in a dangerous relationship with an unattainable man. She wants everything to be perfect but seems to be losing herself along the way. After a drunken Work's Christmas Party she begins to reevaluate her life and her behaviour towards others.
Olivia - Very happy in her relationship but his whole family descending for Christmas makes her feel trapped and unsure if accepting his proposal was the right thing for her.
After chance meetings with each other at Bea's Cafe, The Honey Pot, the three women soon begin to form a tentative support network for each other. It is through this that we learn all about the characters as they slowly peel their personalities apart to admit things to each other that nobody else knows.
To be honest this would have been 5 stars but the ending with everyone getting a renewed chance at happiness felt a little off to me. Yes, I know it is a Christmas Story and, as such, a happy ending is to be not only expected but assured but it just left me all a little flat - possibly because I am the eternal pessimist who knows.
The plot pacing is excellent throughout and I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone - even if this is normally a genre you steer clear of.
Wickham Hall by Cathy Bramley
I thoroughly enjoyed Holly's story in Wickham Hall and the author writes in such a way that you feel like you are getting the warmest of hugs from her as you read. Like life nothing is ever straightforward and it isn't all happy, happy, joy, joy but it did suck me right in and I did not want to leave.
Our main protagonist is Holly - single, out of work and worried about her mother's hoarding habit - and she really could be the next person you pass in the street. When she lands her dream job in event planning at the local Stately Home, the eponymous Wickham Hall, we get to see a tiny glimpse behind the scenes of the workings of the grand place that is both the home and livelihood for the family that inherited it. From planning a grand wedding, through a summer fete and on to a Christmas function it is a heady rush of preparations and pinning a smile on. Despitew all that she still finds time to have a private life that feels full and fairly realistic - lots of chilling with her best friend and a bottle or two of wine.
Of course there has to be a Grand Romance in a book of this type and we get two and a half for the price of one in this book. Not only Holly's love for the heir to Wickham Hall but her mother's youthful indiscretion with a charming Italian who turns out to be Holly's father but her new one with a local professor. That is where I kind of knocked a star off - the reveal of Holly's father is well paced but he, and his new family, are a little too good to be true and their reaction to finding out Holly exists is rather too saccharine for me.
It is a very jolly book, in the best of ways, that left me feeling happy and wanting to read more when it was finished. All the characters are distinct and felt all too real. There is certainly scope to investigate the lives of two or three of these in further books - especially our purple haired chef.
Our main protagonist is Holly - single, out of work and worried about her mother's hoarding habit - and she really could be the next person you pass in the street. When she lands her dream job in event planning at the local Stately Home, the eponymous Wickham Hall, we get to see a tiny glimpse behind the scenes of the workings of the grand place that is both the home and livelihood for the family that inherited it. From planning a grand wedding, through a summer fete and on to a Christmas function it is a heady rush of preparations and pinning a smile on. Despitew all that she still finds time to have a private life that feels full and fairly realistic - lots of chilling with her best friend and a bottle or two of wine.
Of course there has to be a Grand Romance in a book of this type and we get two and a half for the price of one in this book. Not only Holly's love for the heir to Wickham Hall but her mother's youthful indiscretion with a charming Italian who turns out to be Holly's father but her new one with a local professor. That is where I kind of knocked a star off - the reveal of Holly's father is well paced but he, and his new family, are a little too good to be true and their reaction to finding out Holly exists is rather too saccharine for me.
It is a very jolly book, in the best of ways, that left me feeling happy and wanting to read more when it was finished. All the characters are distinct and felt all too real. There is certainly scope to investigate the lives of two or three of these in further books - especially our purple haired chef.
The Blue by Nancy Bilyeau
Set somewhere around the mid 1760s The Blue introduces to a Huguenot refugee, Genevieve, living amongst the Silk Weavers of Spitalfields and desperate to become a painter. Not a salubrious occupation at the time and certainly not one for a woman to enter. Her Grandfather has secured her a place as a resident artist at Derby Porcelain but for Genevieve this is a fate almost worse than death. When she meets the charismatic Sir Gabriel he offers her a way out, but to receive it she has to find out the Secret Of The Blue.
Normally this is the style of book I lap up and I have read a few now set in a similar time period. I can't put my finger on it but there was something missing in this tale, something that stopped me getting dragged in to the story and being unwilling to relinquish it's hold on me. The plot is well paced with a few nice little red herrings scattered about that made me look in the wrong direction for a chapter or two. It does all become a little overblown and ridiculous towards the end though - I won't detail how or when things go went awry for this reader as it will spoil the plot - and maybe it is this that spoilt it for me.
Genevieve is a rather frustrating character. She vacillates from being determined to a simpering wreck time and again and I was never quite convinced by her seeming capitulations and weaknesses; they just jarred too much with the girl who would gatecrash a society party thrown by the celebrated William Hogarth. In some ways she is drawn in a very human way with all the contradictions that make up a flesh and blood person, I just didn't really like her very much. I also felt that little time was spent on forming characters for the other people in the plot. The men in particular are painted with very broad strokes and when you consider how intrinsic to the plot Sir Gabriel and, later, Thomas are I would have expected more than the two dimensions we got of them.
Overall this is a solidly written book with excellent descriptions of life in both London and Derby. Unfortunately, for me, it was missing the necessary depth to create a truly absorbing tale.
THIS IS AN HONEST AND UNBIASED REVIEW OF A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK READ THROUGH THE PIGEONHOLE.
Normally this is the style of book I lap up and I have read a few now set in a similar time period. I can't put my finger on it but there was something missing in this tale, something that stopped me getting dragged in to the story and being unwilling to relinquish it's hold on me. The plot is well paced with a few nice little red herrings scattered about that made me look in the wrong direction for a chapter or two. It does all become a little overblown and ridiculous towards the end though - I won't detail how or when things go went awry for this reader as it will spoil the plot - and maybe it is this that spoilt it for me.
Genevieve is a rather frustrating character. She vacillates from being determined to a simpering wreck time and again and I was never quite convinced by her seeming capitulations and weaknesses; they just jarred too much with the girl who would gatecrash a society party thrown by the celebrated William Hogarth. In some ways she is drawn in a very human way with all the contradictions that make up a flesh and blood person, I just didn't really like her very much. I also felt that little time was spent on forming characters for the other people in the plot. The men in particular are painted with very broad strokes and when you consider how intrinsic to the plot Sir Gabriel and, later, Thomas are I would have expected more than the two dimensions we got of them.
Overall this is a solidly written book with excellent descriptions of life in both London and Derby. Unfortunately, for me, it was missing the necessary depth to create a truly absorbing tale.
THIS IS AN HONEST AND UNBIASED REVIEW OF A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK READ THROUGH THE PIGEONHOLE.
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