Edokko Review

A wonderful timeless story aimed to younger readers, that would nevertheless, fully appeal to adult readers, will be instantly reconnect with her own inner teenager. This is Lily Jennings story, sixteen-years-old Torontonian, open, modern, blogger and ready for adventure and escape her helicopter parents. And Lily has a great plan: She is going to Japan in year-study-abroad program with the WorldFriends organization, something both her parents can come on board, it’s education after all. To be honest, Lily is more interesting in strolling through Shinjuku, enjoy Tokyo’s street life and wear the total stylish uniform of the Koen Gakuin, the elite school where she will be filling in for her “exchange sister” Moemi Tanaka who is currently in her own study-abroad year in Italy. Lily has all planned out, living her best life for a year, blogging for her fans, in a dead-ringer for her favourite manga ‘Shinjuku Days and Nights’ version.
Only a couple of days before the Japanese school years begins (April 1st) Lily arrives in Osaka, full of plans, dreams, and expectations. Just two days orientation and she will be on her way to the Koen Gakuin and her ‘Shinjuku’-dream. However, Lily begins to realize that the program might be harder than she expected, but even so, she could never be prepared for the series of unfortunate events surrounding her journey, it begins with her ‘exchange sister’ deciding to come back early, following by the school denying her a study-place, now that the class is already complete. WorldFriends finds a solution, sending her to Ajimu, a far cry from what she expected. Mr. & Mrs Fujino are nice enough, but don’t understand anything she does or says, their daughter Fuyumi seems to openly despise Lily while fully ignore her, the only silver lining is Ryohei, who is in fact adorable, speaks a passable English and is eleven! years old. The new school not only doesn’t have any fashionable uniform, it doesn’t in fact have one that fits her, and the other students don’t seem to give a yen about her. But Lily is resilient and tries, for week on weeks, to get WorldFriends to find a solution, that brings back to her dream, to Tokyo, the Tanakas, the Koen Gakuin. As time passes, and Lily’s expectations get constantly challenged, she slowly finds that fate usually don’t give you want but frequently in the end exactly what you need.
The narrative is told by Lily herself and Lily and the reader bond immediately, embarking together into the journey into an unknown culture, contrasting our own preconceived opinions with subjective perceptions and the factual reality, until we (aka Lily) are able to gain a full tridimensional picture. An amazing story, captivating and enticing, real-life at its best. Regardless whether you have any experience with cultural exchange travel, this is a story that will mean different things to different readers, but will never be meaningless.
Loren Green succeeds in bring to life characters, settings, and situations, offering accurate depictions of Japan, in general and its cultural nuances in particular, which is a very welcomed added bonus, instantly recognizable for any Japanophile and incredible interesting and immensely valuable for those who aren’t.

By Mistake Review

I seriously love the cover and title of Ehrlich’s latest offering. And although I’m not one to pay much attention to blurbs; the premise of By Mist@ke intrigued me no end. This contemporary medical romance has more than a sprinkling of good humour, reflecting the times we live in perfectly. The plot is by no means convoluted. Easy to get lost in, the unexpected twist kept me hoping and wishing that the protagonists would eventually find what they were looking for.

I’ve opened many an email from unknown senders but ooh boy, if only I’d been on the receiving end of such titillating content with such gorgeous attachments as Anna had! So, the to and fro of messages began. Kept guessing who was who and took the trouble to answer her sassy messages made me smile until I laughed-out-loud. I couldn’t wait for her to find out more. I adored Anna. Always positive, her savoir-faire attitude sold me lock, stock and barrel. Not only that, she has no pretentious bones in her body. Ambitious to a point, she takes what comes with a philosophy that made me think that perhaps we complicate our lives unnecessarily. I’d be more than happy to have a friend like her. Anna’s friends thought she was the bee’s knees, too.

Gosh, Liam Brody! I certainly wouldn’t have minded being in Anna’s shoes. Or maybe not! I had to think twice about this comment since Anna’s going to come up against a brick wall. Frustratingly for her, scorching hot heat is thrown into the mix. Anna adopts for a worldly-wise line of preference and doesn’t rock the boat. Not forgetting that she’s my saint personified, how this trauma surgeon didn’t exasperate her socks off was beyond me. When he blows hot, he retraces his steps and blows deep-freezer below zero cold. But, and the big but! Liam has a heart of gold. Ladies and gents, I call dibs on this gorgeous, responsible and if not, confused soul of a man!

What Ehrlich drives home is what happens when careers goals become more important than the luxury of succumbing to personal feelings. High-pressured job dedication, the stress it causes, and a sense of doing the right thing regardless of consequences are in some cases, on the furthest side of happiness. Or could one’s ambitions be fulfilled by working towards a neutral ground? She made me see both sides of Liam’s dilemma. Anna saw it too. She accepted it without complacently and my heart broke into pieces.

Amazing secondary character development, scene-settings exactly how they had to be and brilliant banter makes this standalone a must-read. I cannot wait to for the next instalment where it all began, in Poison & Wine.

The Hunted Girls Review

Stumbling through the pitch-black forest, twigs scratching her bare feet, she sobs as she imagines her children crying for their mommy to put them to bed. By now everyone will know she is missing. Please, please let me find the way home. Before he comes back.

As Agent Nadine Finch rushes to investigate the murder of newlywed Nikki Darnell in Ocala National Forest, Florida, fear floods her body. She swore she’d never set foot here again, not since the case fifteen years ago which tore her life apart. But taking in the triangular cuts scarring Nikki’s perfect pale skin, she knows she must put her own traumatic past aside to find justice for Nikki’s inconsolable husband.

Discovering water in Nikki’s lungs, and certain the triangular wounds were made by arrowheads, Nadine must convince her team of her terrifying theory: that Nikki was hunted down and drowned before being left for them to find. But what monster would do such a thing? And why? Then another woman, a mother of two, is discovered in the woods, tell-tale arrow marks all over her body.

Recognizing the victim as a local waitress, Nadine fears the killer has started attacking women known to her. And the moment she traces the arrow heads to a nearby outdoors store, her own partner disappears.

Frantic, Nadine follows the trail to a lonely cabin deep in the Florida wetlands where she finally learns the heart-stopping truth. To save one of her own, she must confront a deadly hunter obsessed with the case that’s haunted her whole career. Will Nadine have to make the ultimate sacrifice to stop him taking more innocent lives?

This book is definitely for the faint at heart but oh my gosh what a gripping and compelling read and one of the things that I liked about it the most is that although it covers a serial killer as do most books of this genre, the investigators involved in hunting the serial killer seemed different and fresh.

This is the second book in a series and although I read it as a stand alone and was perfectly able to do that, the backstories of the characters made me want to read the others. The writing, character development, narrative and storyline all coincided to make this a really clever book and one that I couldn’t put down. Highly recommended 5 stars.

Going Greek Review

 After a work party gone disastrously wrong, Samantha suddenly finds herself jobless and jilted. So when her sister invites Sam to stay at her little whitewashed farmhouse on a Greek island, Sam leaps at the chance to escape. Before long, she’s trundling up the cobbled driveway, almost colliding with sexy neighbour Spyros.

It isn’t all sunshine and smiles though. For every afternoon spent lounging by the pool, cocktail in hand, there is a morning spent adjusting to life with boisterous six-year-old nieces. When Spyros invites Sam to explore the island with him, she’s tempted, but with his carefree, live-for-the-moment attitude, he couldn’t be more different to Sam with her five-year plans and high-maintenance hair. One drink, as friends, couldn’t hurt though? Over glasses of fruity Greek wine and honey-sweet baklava, can he – and the other charming locals – help city girl Sam to appreciate the simple pleasures the Greek life has to offer?

Just as Sam is considering ditching her designer gear for good though, she runs in to an old flame from home, and suddenly her London life comes hurtling back. Can her smooth-talking ex convince Sam to return to the concrete jungle, or will the lessons she’s learned from her Greek escape persuade her to stay?

I was firstly attracted by the stunning front cover on this book and the story didn’t disappoint either. After this past year with the pandemic, I wanted a read that I would usually read in a hot sunny country and this totally whisked me away and made me feel like I was sitting in Greece.

The writing is wonderfully descriptive and as someone who hasn’t visited Rhodes, I was able to see the scene perfectly and after googling it I wasn’t far off all from her descriptions of the setting. I was totally enamoured by the charm and slow pace of Greek life.

The characters are well written and very relatable, I found myself instantly and easily warming to them and found myself wanting to spend time with them off the pages as well as in them and the plot was well paced and I couldn’t put it down I finished it in 2 days.

A great light hearted holiday read that is well deserving of 5 stars.

Assembly Review

Come of age in the credit crunch. Be civil in a hostile environment. Go to college, get an education, start a career. Do all the right things. Buy a flat. Buy art. Buy a sort of happiness. But above all, keep your head down. Keep quiet. And keep going.

The narrator of Assembly is a black British woman. She is preparing to attend a lavish garden party at her boyfriend’s family estate, set deep in the English countryside. At the same time, she is considering the carefully assembled pieces of herself. As the minutes tick down and the future beckons, she can’t escape the question: is it time to take it all apart?

Assembly is a story about the stories we live within – those of race and class, safety and freedom, winners and losers. And it is about one woman daring to take control of her own story, even at the cost of her life. With a steely, unfaltering gaze, Natasha Brown dismantles the mythology of whiteness, lining up the debris in a neat row and walking away.

This stunning novel holds no punches and takes no prisoners with its forensic examination of British history, capitalism, colonialism, misogyny, racism and slavery.

It is a short book whose narrative is told through a fragmented form of prose and it gives it such a powerful quality. In essence, she’s succumbing to a lifetime of internal and external pressure to conform, excel, and take advantage of the opportunities that were denied her ancestors. Compound this angst with subtle microaggressions in and out of the workplace, the daily headlines steeped in racism and xenophobia (nationally and globally), and the burden of fulfilling a “superwoman” type of role model – one she didn’t ask for and no longer wants to play. In totality, all of this has left her exhausted and a bit apathetic. She is the corporation’s “living proof” of diversity and feels guilty perpetuating the “be best, work hard, etc.” propaganda to the next generation. She thinks, “Best case: those children grow up, assimilate, get jobs and pour money into a government that forever tells them they are not British

While this is a work of contemporary fiction, the narrator’s observations and critiques are timely and spot on. I highlighted many passages throughout this short novel because her reflections on race, assimilation, acceptance, British nationalism, classism, corporate politics really made me stop and think and those thoughts will linger with me for a long time. A real feat of fiction, Well done! 5 stars

Breathe Deep and Swim Review

All 14-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Thomas wants is normalcy. But a global pandemic prevents him from having anything close to a typical teenager’s life. When Wolfgang discovers his father dead in bed from the coronavirus, his world is thrust into even more turmoil and chaos. Wolfgang and his 16-year-old brother, Van Gogh, know that they must do everything they can to stay together and avoid foster care. In a cross-country road trip, they hit the road in their father’s Pontiac to find their only hope: the mother who abandoned them a decade ago. As they journey for answers to their mother’s whereabouts, they uncover devastating mysteries about her that they never could have imagined. Just as they near their destination, tragedy strikes once more. Wolfgang is drowning in fear and pain, but he must pull it together or lose his family for good. Can this broken adolescent find the strength and courage to Breathe Deep & Swim?

Firstly, I finished this book in a day – actually a few hours – This work compels you to set other things aside and keep turning the pages as, from the beginning, you feel invested in the main characters; almost certainly seeing relatable aspects of yourself within at least one, if not both of them.

The greatest success that the author achieved with this story is that the reader can easily imagine being in the shoes of Wolfgang & Van Gogh within our time; faced with harsh realities, fears and trying to find a light at the end of the tunnel within a deepening darkness. She also doesn’t shy away from touching from topics such as covid 19 and the ripple effect that this disease has caused through believers, non-believers and the indifferent, secrets and their long-term effects, racism, the destruction that broken hearts can bring and the inner struggles that every human has.

The novel is so well written that at times I had to remind myself that this is in fact a work of YA fiction and not a memoir of a young person living through the pandemic.

I cannot recommend this book enough please pick it up and divulge in this 5 star read

Don’t You Want Me Review

London,1981. As race riots erupt, Prince Charles and Lady Diana prepare to marry & New Romantics dance, an identity-shifting serial killer is operating in plain sight. But no-one has realised except Detective Inspector Anna Leeding, who has secrets of her own…

Amid the cultural and social upheaval of 1981, D.I. Leeding suspects apparent accidents and suicides could be subtle acts of revenge, and strange blue charcoal messages may be the key to something bigger and deadlier. But in this cat-and-mouse story of vengeance, no-one is quite what they seem, and in 1981, when the New Romantics played with image, first appearances can be deceptive.

1981 was not so removed from today, with a highly divisive celebrity President, and race protests filling the streets. A time when gender and sexual identity were openly questioned, and the far right clashed with the far left. There was an existential threat; today, climate change and Covid-19, in 1981, we hoarded food and prepared for when either the U.S or Russian leader pushed the nuclear button.

So, to everyone who was there and those for whom this is their first time, “Don’t You Want Me?’ welcomes you to 1981. It was a hell of a year.

This story was a delight to read, it was steeped in 80s cultural references to films and music which I am old enough to remember. It portrays a different London to today’s London. It wasn’t fast paced but it was nevertheless a compelling read and I was glued to the virtual pages. Flashbacks to earlier years give an insight to the development of the killer’s psychopathy but it wasn’t gory at all. It was a kind of revenge theme taken to extremes.

My brain was doing somersaults trying to figure out the twist at the end and it was deliciously unpredictable. The characters were well written especially the two female police officers and I loved the slow reveal of their secrets. It is not a short book but I powered through it I couldn’t put it down. 4 stars.

Goddess of the North Review

Detective Inspector Sara Nayar is a goddess. Literally. A Hindu goddess accidentally brought to England during Queen Victoria’s reign. Working now as a police detective, Sara survives on humanity’s innate faith in law and order.

Sheffield is a city of many gods, however, and when Sara witnesses a murder, she knows the perpetrator is divine. As a goddess of order, she must solve the crime before the god can kill again, but thousands of years living as a human has left her spiritually weak.

Vulnerable in ways she hasn’t felt since leaving India, Sara fights to balance her mortal and immortal lives as the murders around her escalate. And with tensions amongst her fellow divinity on the rise, Sara is running out of time. If she can’t restore order, find balance in the chaos, the city itself might pay the price.

This is a novel that is really about two stories. On the one hand, it’s a police procedural taking place in the British city of Sheffield, with murder, suspects, and investigations worthy of some of the best tv detectives. On the other hand, it’s about gods living among humans, and one of them, just happens to be a crime busting superstar.

This was an enjoyable read and as a lover of crime fiction and fantasy it had everything I want and more. As well as having a great plot and great characters I learnt a lot about Sheffield and Hinduism too which was another aspect that I loved. 5 stars. 

21 Truths About Love Review

Bookshop owner Dan is in financial trouble, regrets leaving teaching & is trying not to get wife Jill pregnant.  

I love a list and, apparently after finishing this book, I also quite enjoy reading about lists! This book is entirely told in lists, which sounds weird, but also quite ingenious and oddly satisfying. Dan writes a kind of diary, all in list format, where he details his life, problems and regrets that he has. He lists books of the month, days since he did stuff and income/expenditure, basically all the usual stuff people make lists about. Sounds a bit mundane and repetitive but it wasn’t. Mainly because it was all delivered with some great humour and emotion. It catalogues the big and little things as well as the funny and the tragic. His relationship with his wife, his bookshop, and his new and ongoing bingo obsession.

What I find so brilliant about this book is that even though it’s all lists, the author still managed to tell a beautiful story about Dan’s life as he builds up to becoming a father for the first time and dealing with his own father leaving him as a child.

This was a brilliant 4 star read.

Unspoken Review

The Unspoken One has been banished for many years, his very existence erased. Ameera must find his true name and summon him if she has any hope of saving her kingdom from war, and herself from marriage to a ruthless king.

The Kingdom of Nur has been suffering for years under Ameera’s father’s rule. She’s bid her time, carefully keeping her secret hidden and waiting to become queen so she can repair what her father has broken. Then an unwanted marriage to the brutal king of Nur’s enemy threatens everything she’s worked towards.

With her wedding drawing near and the future of her kingdom in peril, she finds the forbidden name. She knows The Unspoken One is her last chance to save Nur, but she risks much in summoning him. His magic is not understood, the crime he was banished for is unknown, and speaking his name carries an unbearable punishment.

For Nur, for herself, she must risk it all. Or lose everything she holds dear. She speaks the name too many have paid a painful price for uttering. Nothing, not the kingdom, their lives, or her heart, will ever be the same.

Everything in this stunning YA Fantasy Romance came together perfectly from the setting to the one of the strongest female leads I have ever encountered as a reader. This incredible story is unpredictable from page one and I fell instantly in love with every aspect of it and finished it super quickly.

I do not want to spoil anything for anyone all I can say is you will miss out if you do not read this book.  I wish I could give it more than 5 stars