Book Review: Crescent City

With unforgettable characters and page-turning suspense, Crescent City is the first in a brand new, richly inventive, fantasy series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas that delves into the heartache of loss, the price of freedom – and the power of love.

House of Blood and Earth

Half-Fae, half-human Bryce Quinlan loves her life. Every night is a party and Bryce is going to savour all the pleasures Lunathion – also known as Crescent City – has to offer. But then a brutal murder rips her world and her heart apart. Two years later, Bryce is going through the motions of life, never fully recovering from the events in her past. Then the murderer attacks again. When an infamous Fallen angel, Hunt Athalar, is assigned to work with her to find the culprit, Bryce is offered the chance to find out the truth and seek her revenge. To the outside world she is still the ultimate party girl but as Bryce and Hunt fight to unravel the mystery they are drawn into the seedy underbelly of the city and the search for a mythical weapon that could destroy everything they hold precious.

Modern Fantasy epic

I am a big fan of Sarah J. Maas, having discovered her bestselling Throne of Glass series, so I had high hopes for Crescent City. And I wasn’t disappointed. If you are a fan of Jessica Jones, Buffy the Vampire Slayer or any book by Cassandra Clare then Crescent City will be right up your street. It’s a modern fantasy with Maas’s trademark memorable female lead. A strong, independent woman who lives life by her rules, but whose vulnerable side and loyalty to those she loves has you wanting to be her best friend, and most definitely not her enemy.

In Crescent City Maas builds another amazing world filled with fae, angels, demons, shifters and us lowly humans too. There is a lot of information to get across which does make the first few chapters a little hard to wade through but stick with it because once the storytelling gets into full flow you won’t be able to put it down. The big reveal is a little rushed and comes out of the blue after the slow, tension building investigation, but the climatic events at the end tug at every emotion. I don’t expect Bryce’s new life in its aftermath will remain peaceful for long…

For more information on Sarah J. Maas all her book series visit http://www.sarahjmaas.com

Book Review: Nightshade

Get ready for action, adrenaline and adventure in this explosive, brand new Alex Rider mission by bestselling author, Anthony Horowitz.

Two decades of spy action

This year marks the twentieth anniversary since Alex Rider burst on to the scene in ‘Stormbreaker’, and the high octane pursuits of this teenage spy show no signs of ageing with the release of the twelth book in the series ‘Nightshade’.

I’m most definitely not in the bracket of the target audience (even my son is technically too old for it now!) but I am not ashamed to say that I love the series and they take pride of place on my bookshelf, so I was excited to return to Alex’s world. I’m delighted to say I wasn’t disappointed.

It may have been twenty years for us but for poor Alex it’s been just a single year since his uncle was murdered and he was thrust into the clandestine world of M16, spies and international espionage. He’s been kidnapped, tortured, shot at, blown up and sent into space and yet still he’s still expected to do his homework after he has saved the world for the umpteenth time.

Deadly nightshade

In his latest mission Alex is sent by MI6 Special Operations to infiltrate a new and sinister organisation known only as Nightshade. Only this time the mission is off the books and Alex is on his own. He quickly learns he isn’t the only teenager with crazy skills, except these kids aren’t afraid to use deadly force if anyone gets in their way.

Anthony Horowitz is the master of the spy thriller. Nightshade is a fast-paced, explosive adventure from cover to cover. His attention to detail will delight any wannabe young spies but he also doesn’t sugar coat the emotional rollercoaster that Alex suffers at the hands of the good guys as well as the bad.

To get on board with the mission visit the official Alex Rider website at www.alexrider.com

I was sent this book by Walker Books  in exchange for an honest review. The artwork is from the advanced proof.

Book Review: The Deathless Girls

The Deathless Girls is a beautifully written story of survival, love and loyalty in a brutal world, brought vividly to life by award winning author Kiran Millwood Hargrave. Twins Lil and Kizzy are savagely enslaved by the cruel Boyar Valcar and brought to work in his castle, but they soon learn that there are even greater evils in the world. The dragon is a mysterious man of myth who takes the girls as gifts and fate has decreed that the twin’s destinies be entwined with his.

It is a YA novel and the first that I have read by Hargrave, but it became apparent very quickly why the author has won or been nominated for so many awards. One reviewer described it as dark chocolate, rich with bitter undertones, and I think that deliciously sums up the novel for me. Set hundreds of years ago it shines a light on prejudices which sadly still infect society today – whether it be the colour of skin, someone’s culture or the place and worth of women. Without being heavy handed, the author entwines these themes in a story that captures the readers imagination and keeps them turning the pages. I was so enthralled I read it in one day! 

          ‘We need those done within the hour,’ said a harsh voice close behind, making me jump. Cook was squinting at us, her sunken lid quivering. She was short as Dot, and her hands, as she wiped them on her apron, were wrinkled as Old Charani’s. They were pocked with smooth burns and other marks, and I knew they’d be rough with work.

          I longed to reach out and feel them on mine, to close my eyes and imagine for a moment it was divining day after all. I realised now the risk of how we had lived; that when home was a person and not a place, once they were gone you couldn’t get back. Home was lost for ever.

The story is as much about hope as it is about the sacrifices that the characters are willing to make for the ones they love, as the seventeen year old sisters traverse the unforgiving alien world they have been thrust into. Before reading t it I managed to avoid any spoilers and there is a marvellous little twist at the end which I didn’t seem coming but absolutely loved.

For more information about Kiran and her other books, including the latest bestseller ‘The Mercies’ visit her website http://www.kiranmillwoodhargrave.co.uk

Book Review: The Peculiars

If you love history, mystery and adventure, then this winner of the Times Children’s Fiction competition will be right up your alley. Especially if that alley is a mucky, smelly alley in the middle of smog filled Victorian London where sinister secrets and menacing men lurk in the shadows. Set around a gothic sideshow called Plumpscuttle’s Peculiars it follows a lovable group of misfits including Sister Moon, an ex-assassin who can move at the speed of light and is a deadly with a blade, Monkey Boy, ace climber and human stink bomb, Mama Rat and her performing rats, and Gigantus, the man mountain who is also an aspiring romantic novelist.

We are introduced to the group through the eyes of Sheba, an eight year girl who believes she was abandoned by her parents because she bares more than a passing resemblance to a wolf. Along with Flossy, the two headed lamb, she is sold to Plumpscuttle and taken from the only world she remembers, a cage in a rundown shack on the end of the rickety Little Pilchton pier. However this kind hearted girl is taken under the wing of her fellow freak show attractions and soon gets drawn into the murky underworld of London where she discovers that the great capital city is definitely not paved with gold.

At night people pay to gawp and sneer but the quirks that make society shun the Peculiars, also makes them excellent at crime fighting. When Sheba’s new friend Till goes missing, the group discover she’s not the first child to be snatched from the banks of the Thames but the police aren’t interested in looking for poor mudlarks. With Sheba’s amazing sense of smell, Sister Moon’s ninja skills and a troupe of very clever rats, the band of misfits encounter all sorts of perils in their search for clues to solve the mystery, including some very deadly clockwork spiders:

          ‘Oh, mummy!’ cried Monkeyboy, but he took a breath and ran at Magog, dodging at the last minute to avoid its spear and scampering up one great oak leg, where he clung on for dear life.

          Between the feet of the giant puppets, Sister Moon danced. All around her skittered the little silver spiders, ticking away in a chorus of clockwork. They shot at her legs, trying to stab her with their deadly needles, while their glowing red eyes tracked her every move.

The Peculiars is the first novel by award winning Isle of Wight author Kieran Larwood, written whist he was a teacher at a local primary school. Aimed at middle grade readers, he brings to life a wonderfully colourful group of heroes against the backdrop of the grimy underbelly of Victorian London. It’s a fun, action-packed, atmospheric story that doesn’t disappoint and the good news is a sequel is in the works.

For more information about Kieran and his other books, including the Blue Peter Award-winning ‘Podkin One-Ear’ visit his website www.kmlarwood.com

Why you don’t need a mountain to change your life – but it helps

At the start of 2017 I was experiencing a bit of a mid life-crisis. I was 42, and though I could say I had achieved a lot – running my own business, completed personal challenges like walking Hadrian’s Wall, climbing Ben Nevis and Snowden, Walk the Wight (twice including in the dark!) – I felt unfulfilled.

Having been diagnosed with depression and an anxiety disorder, the last 15 years have been a mental health rollercoaster but thanks to therapy and the support of some amazing friends I am feeling stronger and more resilient now than I ever have. There are still bad days, and always will be, but I have strategies in place to manage them rather than be overwhelmed by them.

So, getting back to the New Year crisis. By chance I picked up a copy of Pyschologies Magazine which featured an article on Vision Boards. I had read about them previously but never attempted to create one. I’m a great believer that the universe gives us the tools in life at the time we need them (this isn’t always when we think we need them!!) so I got busy collecting images (thank you Google and Pinterest).

My dream, ever since I was a kid, was to be a writer. I’ve got a whole box full of half planned, half- finished stories in all genres – young adult, sci-fi, romance, thriller. But something stopped me from ever completing them. And I finally realised it was fear. Fear that my story would be rubbish. Fear that people would hate it and make fun of me. Fear of rejection.

As you get older you do get a bit wiser, and I realised that if you want to live a life that truly makes you happy, where you are doing a job you love, you have to face that fear and take some risks. Yes it might all go tits up and people don’t like my books, but it’s not the end of the world if it does. I have survived worse and I’m still here to tell the tale.

There is also the chance that people might just like what I write and enjoy my books and ‘shock/horror’ even buy them.

So, nine months after my little cut and paste session, where am I?

• I started a writers group in my village that is so well attended we have to meet twice a month to fit everyone in. We’re an eclectic bunch but the main thing is we have fun and my members tell me how inspired they feel after the meetings. I even had an article I wrote about the group published in Writing Magazine.
• I have gone into business with my best friend and we run an independent small press offering author services to writers wanting to self-publish. Zoe does the design side and I do PR and Marketing.
• I have been invited to give talks at other writing groups on PR and social media promotion
• I have been invited to talk at the Isle of Wight Literary Festival on the publishing panel, again to offer writers tips on how to promote themselves and their books. From this I am now involved in the marketing of the Youth Programme for the event.
• I went back to my big box of stories and dug out a manuscript I first started working on nearly twenty years ago. I’ve gone back to basics with it, completely revising the outline (I’m definitely a planner not a pantser!). I’m now 26,000 words in and aim to get it published by the end of the year.

Why am I writing this blog post you ask?

Mainly because I wanted to share my journey. I know there are so many people who are just plodding on with life, not doing the one thing that makes them truly happy. It could be because of fear of what their family and friends might say, or financial reasons or like me fear of rejection and failure. I wanted to show that yes, it’s scary, but grab hold of that feeling and turn it into something positive. Create yourself a vision board and look at it every day and very soon you will start to notice little things that will help you achieve your dream.

You don’t have to do it in one big drastic leap. When I climbed Ben Nevis last year as part of the Three Peaks Challenge I had never seen a mountain before, let alone attempted to climb 3 of them in 24 hours. I had an anxiety attack all the way up. But the one piece of advice that got me to the top was focus on the little steps, because every one got me that much closer to my goal.  Hell yes it’s cliché and you’ve probably heard it a thousand times before, but that’s because it is probably the truest piece of advice you will ever receive in your life.

So go on, take that first little step and tomorrow take another one. And a year from now you may find yourself at the top of that mountain.

Book Review: My not so perfect Life

Sophie Kinsella’s latest book is a perfect antidote to society’s obsession with the perfect life.

Kate Brenner or Cat as she likes to be known, has the perfect life; a flat in London, glamourous job and a supper cool Instagram feed.

But looks can be deceiving. She rents a tiny room, is the office dogsbody and her Instagram pictures aren’t really hers. Life in the capital isn’t how she thought it would be. Then her mega successful boss gives her the sack and she is forced to return home to her father’s farm in Somerset where she helps him launch a glamping business.

In a twist of fate, her former boss and family book in for a holiday and Katie sees her chance for revenge…

Kinsella is the Queen of the chick lit, and has a string of bestsellers to prove it. With her latest book she doesn’t disappoint. Katie is a likable character, who is easy to relate to. She struggles to make ends meet in a low paid job, while trying to fit in and be noticed in the high pressure world of branding.

The plot moves at a good pace and if a little predictable, I’m afraid I did work out the plot twists before they were revealed, it doesn’t make it any less enjoyable. There is a little romance along the way, though of course the path of true love never runs smoothly. To be honest the book may have been stronger if all the loose ends weren’t neatly tied up at the end.

Behind the fun and fluff, there is an important message. How many of us scroll through our Instagram feed and get a pang of jealously at the perfectly posed cappuccino and croissant on that trendy bistro table or wish our living rooms could look like the ones in the style magazines.

The media constantly tells us we can have it all, and it can all be perfect – and if we don’t live up to these ideals we feel a failure. But what they don’t show is the 20 shots it took to get that picture of the coffee or how many Insta filters and tweaks it has been through before it is uploaded. Then there’s the team of interior designers with a truck load of accessories brought in to fix the photoshoot of the house.

‘My Not So Perfect Life’, is a light-hearted romp through real life, without the Instagram filter. It shows us not everything is as it seems, and that sometimes the camera does lie.

To find out more about Sophie Kinsella visit her website www.sophiekinsella.co.uk.

You can also follow the books official Instagram feed @mynotsoperfectlife

 

Escaping down the rabbit hole

 

The Rabbit Hole is not just a second-hand book shop. Tucked in-between an antiques shop and an Indian restaurant, it is one of the village of Freshwater’s best kept secrets and a wonderland for bookworms with a love of children’s stories.

A treasure trove of mismatched bookcases, it is filled with vintage and early editions of classic storytellers such as Enid Blyton, AA Milne, Tolkien, and Frances Hodgson Burnett to name but a few. Of course, in amongst them all you can find modern literary giants like Roald Dahl and J K Rowling. 

As its name suggests, Lewis Carroll’s influence can be found in all corners of the tightly packed literary establishment and there are shelves dedicated to his works. The Mad Hatters tea party features on a beautifully painted mural on the wall, surrounded by a plethora of china teapots and mismatched cups and saucers. Because as every bookworm knows, if there are books there must be tea and cake. And the Rabbit Hole does not disappoint.

Homemade cakes are served daily. Today I chose the lemon drizzle, it was a tough choice between that and the Victoria sponge oozing with fresh cream and jam. The napkins come with little prompts of ‘eat me’ stamped on them. Not that I need any encouragement.

We sit by the bay window and watch from behind the white net curtain as the world wanders by outside. But soon my gaze is drawn back into the shop, as I spot further signs of the owner’s eclectic tastes. A broomstick pokes out from the top of one of the bookcases and fairy lights hang between the lampshades on the ceiling. A child’s small blue wicker seat is arranged next to the basket of picture books. And who needs wallpaper when you can plaster a wall with the weathered pages of an old book.

There is also a selection of book related merchandise available to buy. These include delightful fairy tale inspired prints, drawn by a local children’s book illustrator.

The brass bell chimes above the door, as more visitors wander in to find relief from the bitter chill of a February afternoon. Orders are placed and soon the smell of freshly brewed coffee drifts in my direction. A quick look at my watch and I decide I’ve got time for another quick cup before I have to head home. After all I’m sure I’ve just spied a shelf which I haven’t looked at yet.