Hey everyone I know I havent posted in a considerable amount of time but I have been battling with illness for a while. I want to be completely transparent on here so here goes.
I have been suffering with a nuerological disorder for ten years, a disorder that has come to completely change me as a person and take away who I really am, after several tests I have now been diagnosed with fibromyalgia. It has taken so much from me that I refuse to let it take my books away as well.
We have also had a house guest that was unwanted and refused to leave – the rona or as I like to think of it the virus that shall not be named. Nearly 14 days in and still positive – but on the plus side ive got to read loads of books so I cant complain.
This page will soon be completely active again with lots of reviews and other bookish topics coming your way.
Faking a love story is a whole lot easier than being in love . . .
The world can see that international A-list actress Whitman (“Win”) Tagore and jet-setting playboy Leo Milanowski are made for each other. Their kisses start Twitter trends and their fights break the internet. From red carpet appearances to Met Gala mishaps, their on-again, off-again romance has titillated the public and the press for almost a decade. But it’s all a lie.
As a woman of colour, Win knows the Hollywood deck is stacked against her, so she’s perfected the art of controlling her public persona. Whenever she nears scandal, she calls in Leo, with his endearingly reckless attitude, for a staged date. Each public display of affection shifts the headlines back in Win’s favour, and Leo uses the good press to draw attention away from his dysfunctional family.
Pretending to be in a passionate romance is one thing, but Win knows that a real relationship would lead to nothing but trouble. So instead, they settle for friendship, with a side of sky-rocketing chemistry. Except this time, on the French Riviera, something is off. A shocking secret in Leo’s past sets Win’s personal and professional lives on a catastrophic collision course. Behind the scenes of their yacht-trips and PDA, the world’s favourite couple is at each other’s throats. Now they must finally confront the many truths and lies of their relationship, and Win is forced to consider what is more important: a rising career, or a risky shot at real love?
If you’re looking for a bit of escapism, this could be the book for you. It’s a bright and sassy novel about celebrity and social networking and it will certainly transport you from your day-to-day life, that is, unless you happen to be a rich and famous film star, or one of those celebs who’s just famous for simply being rich and famous – think Paris Hilton.
You’ll have fun trying to work out who Win Whitman Tagore and Leo Milanowski are based on. I was certainly reminded of a few celebrity stories.
Win is a young British Asian film star who has to deal with the casual racism and prejudice that comes her way on a daily basis from people in the film industry in which she works. Her mum is being treated for cancer, her father died before she became famous, and she relies on her assistant and her publicist for support, as well as her best friend Shift, who’s a musician who’s written a top 40 hit.
Leo is a rich and famous young man who has a vast trust fund to fall back on, and who is basically looking for an easy path through life. He gets drawn into a pretend relationship with Win which is purely for the benefit of the media, so that Win can maintain a screen presence that will make people want to see her films and make her studios rich.
So, Win and Leo embark on a seven year long carefully choreographed “relationship” that will keep everyone wanting to see her in films. And it works. She’s nominated for an Oscar.
I suppose you might have guessed that surely the twist will be that one of the two falls genuinely in love with the other. It doesn’t happen the way you expect. Win and Leo spend a lot of time fighting and hating each other. If you want to know if they finally get together, you’ll have to read the book!
There’s a lot of name dropping in here of sites like TMZ, Buzzfeed, the Daily Mail, and so on. It’s right up to date with contemporary references, so it feels very modern and spicy. There are some sex scenes.
There are also some literary references including Jane Austen, Infinite Jest and Middlemarch.
The racism strand of the story is what I found most engaging. Win’s struggles to be seen as an actor who can be successful as well as British Asian feels very accurate, and very timely. I found it so frustrating that Win had to put up with seemingly innocent remarks – for example the use of the adjective “exotic” to describe her. She doesn’t tell Leo about this, because she’s trying to find her own way through, and in spite of the fact she is a bit spoilt and selfish, she’s also a strong character who I wanted to succeed. Leo’s character felt less rounded to me, but I liked the characters of his mums, and of Win’s mum too. They felt real.
I completely loved this. So much tension, angst, humour, and atmosphere, and stellar writing. So, all in all, this struck me as a great read for when you’ve had a busy day and you want to escape to the bright lights of Saint Tropez and Hollywood.
On the eve of her twelfth birthday, Beatrice Crosse runs away from her adoptive home only to encounter the ghost of England’s most famous prophetess. The witch offers her treasure, but can she be trusted?
Bea must wrestle her past to discover the witch’s secret and find her way home.
The book is full of excitement, pathos and magic. The descriptive and colourful writing vividly evokes each scene in the reader’s mind. The reader is carried alongside Bea feeling her emotions, fears, anger and sadness and hoping and praying that she will be able to work through and come to terms with her young problematic life. I love the idea that everything and everyone, good or bad, past and present are connected, influential and important. Themes very poignant in these present times.
I have had a lot of experience with both adopters and adoptees and so I am more aware than most of the difficulties that these young people have been through previous to their adoption, most of which would seem impossible to many people. Therefore, this novel plays a very important part in literature in the fact that it brings attention to the struggles that these young people go through.
The novel is a stunning read which beautifully weaves reality with story, myth and magic. Fully transportive, it sensitively approaches themes such as identity through the eyes of an adopted child. It provides a valued, reflective and positive nudge towards recognising inner resolve, power and strength, while painting a vivid landscape surrounded in empathy.
It is an immersive and powerful book which highlights struggles with identity, time and place, and is an important read for young people today. As well as adults! I would therefore recommend this book to young people and adults alike. A fantastic story with a vital message.
For centuries, residents have foretold the return of the Dreamwalker—an ominous figure from local folklore said to lure young women into the woods and possess them. Yet the boundary between fact and fable is blurred by a troubling statistic: occasionally, women do go missing. And after they return, they almost always end up dead.
When Kai wakes up next to the lifeless body of a recently missing girl, his memory blank, he struggles to clear his already threadbare conscience.
Miya, a floundering university student, experiences signs that she may be the Dreamwalker’s next victim. Can she trust Kai as their paths collide, or does he herald her demise?
And after losing a young patient, crestfallen oncologist, Mason, embarks on a quest to debunk the town’s superstitions, only to find his sanity tested.
A maelstrom of ancient grudges, forgotten traumas, and deadly secrets loom in the foggy forests of Black Hollow. Can three unlikely heroes put aside their fears and unite to confront a centuries-old evil? Will they uncover the truth behind the fable, or will the cycle repeat?
This debut novel is filled to the brim with folklore and analysis of the characters is masterfully subtle yet effective in that the reader believes they are reading a story about a crazed and demonic woman that is terrorizing a town but in actuality it is an examination of anxiety, grief, loss, identity crisis and everything else you go through in fantasy realms.
The writing is beautiful and the author develops a beautiful visual scene in an extraordinary way. She has developed scenes that are so real it is almost overwhelming and can almost play with your emotions and mind.
The narrative is the point of view of three different characters and each one had a different tone/voice which really gave the impression of different characters talking and was an aspect that I love but is often rare in fantasy books.
As well as the characterisation and the narrative I also like the romance aspect. It was only a small aspect of the novel but an important part because it allowed the reader a moment of desire and a break from the darkness.
Overall, I loved the book and would give it a solid 4 stars due to the pace at the beginning being a bit slow for me.
In the cold, wet summer of 1960, 11-year-old Joy Henderson lives in constant fear of her father. She tries to make him happy but, as he keeps reminding her, she is nothing but a filthy sinner destined for Hell . . .Yet, decades later, she returns to the family’s farm to nurse him on his death bed. To her surprise, her ‘perfect’ sister Ruth is also there, whispering dark words, urging revenge.
Then the day after their father finally confesses to a despicable crime, Joy finds him dead – with a belt pulled tight around his neck . . .
For Senior Constable Alex Shepherd, investigating George’s murder revives memories of an unsolved case still haunting him since that strange summer of 1960: the disappearance of nine-year-old Wendy Boscombe.
As seemingly impossible facts surface about the Henderson’s – from the past and the present – Shepherd suspects that Joy is pulling him into an intricate web of lies and that Wendy’s disappearance is the key to the bizarre truth.
The Silent Listener is the first novel by Australian editor and author, Lyn Yeowart. George Henderson, a respected member of the Blackhunt community, is dead. His daughter, Joy, called back after a seventeen-year absence to care for her dying father, might be expected to grieve, but does not. Senior Constable Alex Shepherd, summoned to the scene by George’s doctor, is suspicious: did Joy murder her father? If so, why?
In 1942, after a very short courtship, Gwen marries George Henderson and is brought to his newly-purchased dairy farm at Blackhunt in rural Victoria. From his detailed instructions, his rigid rules, his tight control of every aspect of her life, and his physical abuse, Gwen understands that this marriage will never be what she had expected.
Having no alternative, Gwen works hard to keep George happy and seeks refuge in her chooks and her flowers and the tiny room where she makes bouquets and wreaths to earn a few pounds. Within a decade, Gwen has given birth to a son, Mark, and two daughters, Ruth and Joy. She tries to protect them, but without a clear example of mothering in her own life, is less than successful.
Her children grow up learning to fear their father’s mercurial moods, which might deteriorate from the amount of rain that falls or the size of the butter factory cheque or the vet’s bill, or the perceived breaking of one of his countless arbitrary rules; they live in constant fear of the corporal punishment he seems to relish in dishing out to his “dirty, filthy sinners who are going to rot in Hell”.
George is a pillar of the community: An Elder of the Church, active in Rotary, a member of the High School PTA, the Fire Brigade, and the Shire Council committee, always helpful to neighbours, loved and lauded by all. When nine-year-old Wendy Boscombe goes missing two days after Christmas in 1960, no one in the town of Blackhunt could imagine he would have anything to do with it. But Wendy is never found, and Alex Shepherd is plagued by his failure to find her.
The story plays out over three time periods and is told from three perspectives. Readers are likely to wonder from the start about reliability of Joy’s narrative, and will feel vindicated about certain aspects as the facts are revealed, but there are still plenty of red herrings, distractions and twists to keep the pages turning.
The building tension in the story is sometimes relieved by neighbour Robert Larsen’s amusing word confusions (fire distinguisher, a quick trump call, obliviously, a fine lemming meringue pie), Joy’s insidious little acts of revenge, her musings about God, and the images and feelings that certain words convey to her. The easy acceptance of Gwen’s search of the Death Notices for “good ones” highlights the distortion of normality in this family.
Yeowart’s portrayal of setting and era are faultless, and the mindset of this small Australian rural community in each of the time periods is likely to strike a chord with many. Her character development is particularly skilful, and her depiction of coercive control is chilling. Her cop, if tenacious, is not terribly clever, but he does get there in the end. This is a slow burn thriller that richly rewards the reader’s patience. 4 stars.
This was my first book by author Mimi Matthews and it definitely will not be my last.
Yorkshire, 1843. When disgraced former schoolmaster John Eyre arrives at Thornfield Hall to take up a position as tutor to two peculiar young boys, he enters a world unlike any he’s ever known. Darkness abounds, punctuated by odd bumps in the night, strange creatures on the moor, and a sinister silver mist that never seems to dissipate. And at the center of it all, John’s new employer—a widow as alluring as she is mysterious.
Sixteen months earlier, heiress Bertha Mason embarked on the journey of a lifetime. Marriage wasn’t on her itinerary, but on meeting the enigmatic Edward Rochester, she’s powerless to resist his preternatural charm. In letters and journal entries, she records the story of their rapidly-disintegrating life together, and of her gradual realization that Mr. Rochester isn’t quite the man he appears to be. In fact, he may not be a man at all.
From a cliff-top fortress on the Black Sea coast to an isolated estate in rural England, John and Bertha contend with secrets, danger, and the eternal struggle between light and darkness. Can they help each other vanquish the demons of the past? Or are some evils simply too powerful to conquer?
I don’t even know where to begin honestly, I have always loved historical fiction – its part of the reason I’m an English Literature and History major but I have not read a book like this for a while. It was a delightful Victorian gothic drama that Bronte herself would have been proud of, intertwined with gender reversal roles, romance and a theme of light and hope. It moves between thriller and mystery that had me gripped and completely riveted at the relationship that starts to form between John Eyre and Mrs Rochester and I really enjoyed following this through the novel.
This book provides so much more than just a retelling of the classic novel Jane Eyre – it also retells a second story but I don’t want to give an spoilers just trust me when I say it is an intriguing mix and it really works.
There is absolutely nothing to dislike about this book the characters are extremely well written, the setting is perfectly described and deliciously gothic and I would go as far as to say that it is even more gothic in setting than Jane Eyre is. Every chapter in the novel poses a question that leaves the reader literally begging/devouring the chapter to get an answer only to start all over again in the next chapter. Everything that I adored in Jane Eyre was in this novel but Mimi Matthews also elevated it to a new level.
I read this so quickly and has now become a new favourite book of mine as well as Mimi Matthews becoming a new favourite author. Please pick up this book and give her some love, I wish I could give more than 5 stars but sadly I will have to make do with 5.
This is an amazing read and I couldn’t put it down so I devoured it in just over a day.
A ROYAL HEIR
A FORBIDDEN LOVE
A DEADLY PALACE SECRET
Celyse is a princess of Faevenly, born into the most powerful house in the faerie realm. Yet even they must abide by the highest law in the land—the law that prohibits tampering with the portals to the forbidden human realm.
Bored with duty and longing for adventure, Celyse dreams of life in the mysterious realm. And when she happens upon a lost portal that promises a private viewing, she seizes the opportunity and finds herself face to face with a gorgeous human. Mesmerized by him in every way, she sneaks away to visit him nightly, forming a relationship with her would-be enemy. But when her official courting season approaches, she is forced to leave her idle fancy behind.
Until her life is threatened by a suitor who accuses her of misdeeds with the portals.
Julio is a normal guy . . . who can see ghosts. With apparitions flitting in and out of his life, he thinks seeing an ethereal girl with silver hair is another part of the supernatural weirdness that just happens to him. But when the very real girl shows up in his room, the pull he feels toward her is undeniable. She claims that her faerie realm and his human realm are in danger, and he can help her.
Julio’s head blares a warning against this deadly path, but his heart urges him to do anything to save her. Including risk his own life.
I loved the character development and the amazing history of the world they are inserted, as well as the mystery and forbidden love itself. I loved every second with it and just could not put the book down. Can´t wait to read the second one and see what happens to my beloved Celyse, who I strongly identified with.
This is an amazing story with twists and turns, action, and romance. The story kept me on my toes. I recommend this story highly, it’s a must read. Well done Rose Garcia.
Holy Hell where do I start with this book. I think in fairness I have to tell you that I adore everything to do with peter pan, the books, the Disney, the merch, the movies EVERYTHING. So, it doesn’t take a lot for me to gravitate towards peter pan items but it has a high expectation to live up to and oh boy it didn’t just live up to it – it exceeded it.
For those that lived there, Neverland was a children’s paradise. No rules, no adults, only endless adventure and enchanted forests – all led by the charismatic boy who would never grow old.
But Wendy Darling grew up. She left Neverland and became a woman, a mother, a patient, and a survivor. Because Neverland isn’t as perfect as she remembers. There’s darkness at the heart of the island, and now Peter Pan has returned to claim a new Wendy for his lost boys…
Wendy, Darling takes us to a Neverland that has become coated in dread and unveils the darkness at the heart of Peter Pan. It’s the horror-tinged feminist Peter Pan retelling I never knew I needed. A.C. Wise has taken a story where the women have remained in the background and brought them to the forefront, weaving the perspectives of Wendy, her daughter, and Tiger Lily in a brilliant re-imagining of a classic boy’s club story.
This is up there with my favourite dark retellings and I would liken it to Disney’s retelling of The Wizard of Oz, Return to Oz and believe me when I say that it is an amazing thing. It is dark, mysterious, magical and the perfect fairy tale for adults.
There are some very dark moments and I don’t want to spoil it for all of you so I will only bring up one. In the opening scene of the book Peter is scolding Wendy for becoming a grown up before absconding with jane who he then keeps referring to Wendy – miles away from the loveable and energetic boy figure from my youth but amazing all the same.
I was expecting Pan like this
but in this book he is definately more like this
This book literally gave me goosebumps and the hair stood up on my neck with both delight and also the feeling that something just isn’t right with Pan the man. I really empathised with Wendy and spent a lot of the book wanting to hug her and tell her everything would be alright, even though I wasn’t entirely sure it would be.
It will be no shock to know that I couldn’t put this down and I actually finished it really quickly I intend to read this many more times and I will probably end up annotating this book. Deliciously creepy and highly recommended. If I could give it more than 5 stars I would but this is a very high 5 star read for me.
When I came across this book that was described as Treasure Island meets Lord of the Flies I just had to read it because there is something about pirates, ever since reading peter pan and treasure island as a child I find them equal parts fascinating and scary. I was curious to see if these pirates would be depicted as the Halloween-costume replicas we expect in popular culture; talking parrots, eye patches, missing teeth, you get the idea. I also liked the idea of reading a book set on a pirate ship, a unique adventure novel I never knew I wanted to read until now. The Braver Thing by Clifford Jackman did not disappoint because it had all I wanted and more: skulls and crossbones, chests of gold coins, billowing sails snapping on the high seas, and rum in abundance. What I found truly appalling was the treatment of black people. We all know it happened, yet every time I’m faced with the brutality, it’s a cruel reminder what kind of past these people rose from. There is one scene in particular that still haunts me. The pirates loot a castle on the coast that holds slaves before shipping them west, but before the pirates begin collecting their treasure, they free all the slaves that were being held. Realizing the futility of their escape as they were surrounded by colonies who would re-capture them, most of the slaves simply walked into the surf, drowning themselves rather than face the potential of another capture. Even the pirates were moved by this heartbreaking display, and out of all the violence (of which there is a lot) that occurs in this story, this scene remains the hardest to read. Readers familiar with the golden age of piracy will recognize many of the names and places mentioned in this gripping maelstrom of pirate adventure. Jackman’s knowledge of the time period, the history, and the psyche of these men are so intricately intertwined that readers are transported back in time to experience firsthand just how perilous going on the account could be. Throughout this fictional journey, he keeps within the bounds of history, straying only where facts cease to exist, such as concerns Benjamin Hornigold and what became of him after he disappears from the historical record. However sometimesit is hard to keep track of all the characters – so thank god for the character list at the front of the book. I also would have like more character development so that i felt like I at least got to know one of the characters in depth but it was still enjoyable. The Braver Thing is one of the best novels to portray pirates in recent years. 4 stars
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
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