Tideline – Penny Hancock
26 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in Penny Hancock, Tideline Tags: kidnapped, thriller, twist
When fifteen year old Jez knocks on Sonia’s – a friend of his Aunt’s – door, he ends up being drugged and kept prisoner in a soundproofed music room in her house. This is a chilling, twisted story but as it is told in Sonia’s voice, you can’t help but be drawn into her ‘reasoning’ and end up empathising with her, to some extent. You are with her as her ‘madness’ grows and ‘hear’ her reasons for not freeing Jez escalate.
Running alongside this story, is the story of Sonia as a teenager and through her memories, we learn of the passionate love she had for another 15 year old boy. I really enjoyed this book and actually preferred the ‘memories’ story, even though it served to highlight Sonia’s obsessive, jealous and possessive traits. The twist, when it comes, relates to the teenage Sonia’s story and one that I hadn’t seen coming. A fascinating, gripping thriller.
His eyes close and his head falls to one side. I’m alarmed by my own audacity. And yet I feel an incredible calm sweep over me that I’ve got him.
He’s mine.
Mary Bennet – Jennifer Paynter
12 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in Jennifer Paynter, Mary Bennet Tags: Penguin Books, Pride and Prejudice
I was kindly sent an advance copy of this book by Viking-Penguin and am so glad that I did as it is such a sweet, lovely book (with such a pretty cover to-boot!)
This is a gentle retelling of Pride and Prejudice as seen and told through the eyes of the third sister, Mary Bennet. To me, Mary is a classic ‘middle child’ in the shadow of her older, prettier sisters and overshadowed by her younger, fun, flirty and frivolous sisters. Mary comes across as being a sulky, uncooperative child but you do feel sorry for her, as you see and feel her loneliness and frustration. She is constantly teased and mocked by her father and sisters and hides herself away in her attic bedroom. Mary is quite a sickly child – some genuine but most in her mind and of her own doing – and is eventually sent to stay with a family friend. This becomes the turning point, where she starts to see life with a little less prejudice and a little bit more glee.
“I arrived in Bath just a fortnight before my fifteenth birthday, and apart from a couple of unhappy visits to Longbourn, I did not leave the place until after I turned seventeen. much may hapen in two and a half years, and in my own case, with the encouragement of Mr. Knowles’ mother, I became by degrees less nervous, less inclined to fancy myself ill, and in company, more cheerful and confident.”
As the story unfolds – and yes, we get to meet Wickham, Mr. Darcy, Mr. Bingley and one of my favourite Jane Austen characters, Mrs Bennet – we get to revisit scenes from ‘Pride and Prejudice’ from a different angle (Mary’s eyes) as well as find out what could possibly have happened to ‘the forgotten sister.’ Jennifer Paynter remains true to the original story (and style of writing) but makes it her own too in this lovely, evocative book. It is very ‘English’ but I enjoyed the link to Australia at the end too, but won’t share you with you how or why the book finishes in Australia – read it for yourself, whether or not you are a Bennet sisters fan or not!
Leah – Dana K. Haffar
27 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in Dana K. Haffar, Leah Tags: curse, drowning, e-book, Kindle, mystical element, remote island, supernatural
I was very excited to be contacted by the author directly, asking if I would be interested in reading and reviewing her e-book, ‘Leah.’ Dana kindly emailed it to my Kindle, Charlotte, and I started reading that very day. Thirteen year old Leah was said to have drowned at sea. The inhabitants of the community where she lived – the remote island of Puerto Franco – believe that a curse overhangs them since her death thirty years ago.
‘Every candle in the village church burned for a mother’s loss yet it did not escape the villagers’ notice that their island had no more seasons. Squalls and tempests flared up unexpectedly on a still summer’s day… Gales whipped up shrapnel of debris and chased the villagers indoors.
They blamed Cristina for not letting go of her daughter’s spirit… In time, even those who shared her grief became resentful of her self-pity. With bitterness and fear in their hearts, they vowed to stay away from Leah’s mother and her only remaining child, Sebastian.’
Thirty years later, artist Mar with her daughter, Lemay leave the mainland to visit Puerto Franco under the pretence of spending time on her art whereas the truth is Mar wants to escape her controlling husband, Oscar. Mar is eyed with suspicion and made to feel welcome by only a small handful of the villagers, who include the motherly Clara and the fisherman, Sebastian. Lemay, bored with having to sit and watch her mother paint, strikes up a friendship with Sebastian and gradually so do Mar and Sebastian much to the anger of Sebastian’s troubled, volatile and cruel girlfriend, Manuela. The characters in this novel all play their part very well and when Oscar unexpectedly arrives on tes island, you can only watch helplessly as they all head towards their final, desperate climax.
Running alongside this main story is the story of Leah. She ‘appears’ to Mar and begins to leave clues that lead the artist towards a frightening realisation of what actually happened on the island thirty years ago. I loved this supernatural feel and would have liked more of it, if possible. The author plays this well and I hope her future books will also have this mystical element to them.
‘Leah’ is currently available to purchase from amazon for Kindle at the special price of $1.99US.
The Secret of Happy Ever After
23 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in Lucy Dillon, The Secret of Happy Ever After Tags: chick lit, dalmation, second-hand bookshop, stepchildren
The secret of happiness, in my mind, is a good book, a hot bath to soak in to read it and some P & Q to get as many pages under one’s belt with no interruptions! Actually, reading makes me happy with or without a hot bath. I love my books and just being surrounded by them. Imagine if you owned or ran a book shop? My customers would have to cough loudly to get my attention as my nose would be stuck in the stock! Anna, one of two main characters in Lucy Dillon’s ‘The Secret of Happy Ever After’ has her dream come true as she takes over running a second-hand bookshop in the village where she lives.
Blurb Quote: ‘As she unpacks boxes of childhood classics, Anna can’t shake the feeling that maybe her own fairytale ending isn’t all that she’d hoped for. But as the stories of love, adventure, secret gardens and giant peaches breathe new life into the neglected shop, Anna and her customers get swept up in the magic too.’
As mentioned in an earlier post, I tend to only read a couple of Chick Lit books a year and am pretty selective about which ones I read. When one comes along that is set in a book shop (added bonus being that said bookshop is also in a small village – I love ‘small-town’ and villagey stories too) and has a dalmatian to boot, then I’m in! This one certainly didn’t disappoint as there’s enough in it to keep those pages turning. The book plays host to family dramas (stepchildren and a not-so-evil stepmother, even though the children don’t always see her as the kind soul she is), dogs (one crazy and lopey and another old and senile but all the more loveable), a lovely musty second-hand book shop that I could practically smell and imagine, a lovely neighbouring home-wares shop that I wish I could visit online to place an order as well as the usual and expected sprinkling of romance, misunderstandings, Christmas and babies!
One of the best touches in this book, in my opinion, was the book quotes that opened each chapter. To me, it highlighted the authors own love of books as well as tying it nicely and cleverly with the main theme of the book. It also opened my eyes to a couple of books that I must have missed as a child like ‘The Children of Green Knowe’ and’ The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler‘. Added to my ‘Books to hunt down on eBay’ list! I also want to revisit ‘The Railway Children’ and the Mrs. Pepperpot books. Thank you, Ms Dillon!
The Land of Decoration – Grace McCleen
14 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in Grace McCleen, The Land of Decoration Tags: bullying, cult, end of the World, imagination, Land of Decoration, religious, single parent
First of all, I want to thank The Random House Group for sending me a copy of this wonderful, wonderful book. It is truly unique and a book I’m already looking forward to re-reading.
‘The Land of Decoration’ tells the story of 10 year old Judith who’s mother died when she was very young so she lives alone with her father, a devout member of a religious cult. Judith is isolated from other children at school who see her as being different and strange as she and her father live their lives by the very strict rules of the Cult. Her father, stricken by the grief of having lost his wife, is unaware of Judith’s life at school and how victimized she is. The book makes you want to scream at him for being so blind to his daughter’s needs but yet it is impossible to hate him as you know he is a good man, and you feel so powerless as you sit and watch the bullies turn their attention to him and their home too. It is a very emotional book but despite all the harassment, violence and neglect and the very-real (to Judith and her father) fast approaching Doomsday, this is an uplifting book.
‘In the beginning, there was an empty room, a little bit of space… a little bit of time.
I said: ‘I am going to make fields,’ and I made them from table mats, carpet, brown corduroy and felt. Then I made rivers from crepe paper, cling film and shiny tinfoil and mountains from papier mache and bark. And I looked at the fields and I looked at the rivers and I looked at the mountains and I saw that they were good.’
Judith spends a great deal of time in her room, creating her own Land of Decoration made out of scraps of paper and fabric, pieces of rubbish and various craft items. Over time, she comes to realise that the World she has created in her room – which mirrors the town she lives in – has an impact on the real world outside. When Judith hears the ‘voice of God’ telling her to create a snow storm in the Land of Decoration, she cannot believe her eyes when the next day the street outside her house is covered with snow. This ‘Voice’ gets creepier and more insistent as the book progresses to a startling climax which I won’t tell you about any more for fear of spoiling the story. Read it, be moved by it and love it as I have.
Claire Keegan – Foster
08 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in Claire Keegan, Foster Tags: bereavement, childhood, Davy Byrnes Award, families, Irish life and culture, rural Ireland
I read this lovely little book after hearing about it on SavidgeReads. Just a mere 88 pages long, this is a nice little story where nothing really happens but where everything happens. A young girl is sent to live for the Summer with an older couple, who I assume are related to her in some way. This relationship is never explained and names are never given. This would usually annoy me (I like to know all my characters names) but in this instance, I honestly hadn’t noticed that I was never told the girl’s name until I went flicking through the book to look for it to add to this post! I think the story is so gentle and unassuming that it just washes over you like a warm, comfy blanket and you just enjoy being in its oldy-worldy rural charm for 88 pages that incidentals like names just don’t feature into the equation and would only detract from the story’s flow.
The book is set in rural Ireland in a time when life was simpler but harsh (having to go and collect their daily water from a well) and reminded me a lot of my childhood, growing up in my Grandparents house in rural Wales where days would go by where nothing happened but I was never bored and time just went ticking by in a lazy, unhurried way. You really feel this gentle passing of time in this book and when you get to the end – all too quickly – it’s hard to believe that you’ve only been reading about one Summer. The books’ only flaw is that 88 pages just isn’t enough! I wanted at least another 300 pages so I could really explore who this older couple was and what their story is (we know there is a wardrobe in their home containing a young boy’s clothes but yet there is no son in sight) and why the girl’s parents decided to take her to live a Summer away from them with a couple she barely knows.
I watch him reverse, turn into the lane, and drive away. I hear the wheels slam over the cattle grid, then the changing of the gears and the noise of the motor going back the road we came. Why did he leave without so much as a good-bye, without ever mentioning that he would come back for me?
I look at my feet, dirty in my sandals.
‘Lord God Almighty, didn’t he go and forget all your bits and bobs!’ the woman says. ‘No wonder you’re in a state. Well, hasn’t he a head like a sieve, the same man.’
My favourite character is ‘the woman’ who really cares for the girl and offers her strength, support and love. Their relationship is beautiful and like I said, would have loved it if they could have had more than a Summer together. Eight eight pages is cleverly the charm of this book, however, and I clearly see how it won the Davy Byrnes Award (Irish stories award.) A more than deserving winning gem of a book.
Confessions of a sometime Chick Lit fan…
02 Apr 2012 3 Comments
in Confessions of a Karaoke Queen, Ella Kingsley Tags: 80's music, chick lit, karaoke bar, TV reality show
I normally only read a handful of Chick Lit books over the course of the year, as I usually have to be ‘in the mood’ to read one but every now and then I hear of one that sounds too good not to hunt down immediately! My Librarian friend, Debbie in the UK, is a fantastic source for letting me know of any good ones that she has read. We seem to have very similar tastes and both love books set in or about the 80′s and anything to do with books and book shops. I have fulfilled my annual quota of Chick Lit books this month alone with Ella Kingsley’s ‘Confessions of a Karaoke Queen’ and Lucy Dillon’s ‘The Secret of Happy Ever After.’ I confess to enjoying both muchly! Thanks, Debbie 
Confessions of a Karaoke Queen is set in a – no surprise – karaoke bar, run by 80′s hit sensation Pineapple Mist. Their daughter, Maddie can’t sing for toffee so isn’t exactly thrilled when her hippy parents up and leave her to run the bar in their absence. She immediately finds the bar is only just keeping its’ head above water and desperately needs a facelift (more like a complete gutting and reno actually) which comes in the form of a fly-on-the-wall reality TV series. Sparks fly as she butts head with the sleazy Producer, Evan Bergman who wants to fabricate and show much more of life in the bar than Maddie realised she’d signed up for. She only knows half ofwhat this slimeball has in store for her and her staff. I liked Maddie but found her staff, especially drag queen Ruby/Robert more likeable and ‘real.’ Not too sure there was any need though for the celebrity guinea pig and the constant slating by the author of bands and songs I grew up with…
“‘Are you a fan?’ he asks, and then I realise he’s talking about the vintage pear-shaped brooch I pilfered from Mum’s collection… about the size of a Creme Egg, made of silvery wire mesh, set on a plain white square.
‘Oh,’ I say, flustered. Then I’m confused. ‘A fan of what?’
‘M People.’
I’m horrified. ‘M People?’
‘You must really like them,’ he says, and there’s a twinkle in his eye that suggests he’s trying not to laugh. I want the ground to open up and swallow me.”
Why?? Is/was being a fan of Heather Small so embarrassing? I don’t think she thought much of Baltimore either…
“‘Not found any nasty surprises this time, I hope?’
‘Unless you call Baltimora’s ‘Tarzan Boy’ a nasty surprise.”
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Jungle life, I’m far away from nowhere…
Lucy Dillon is an author I hadn’t heard of before. I liked her style and it was a perfect book to soak in the bath with. Easy-reading and with enough of a storyline to keep those pages turning. Factor in a cute dalmatian called Pongo (my favourite breed of dog,) a book shop and book quotes at the start of each chapter, and it’s sure fire hit with me! I still have a couple of chapters to go so full review coming soon…
Have Your Say