This Week in Books 27.09.17 #TWIB

Welcome to This Week in Books, where we share what we’ve been up to in bookland this week and look ahead to next. 

Happy Wednesday, Everyone! I can’t believe it’s almost October already. Best time of year!! 🙂

Here’s what I’ve been reading this week…

Now: The Silent Companions ~ Laura Purcell // Norse Mythology ~ Neil Gaiman

I read the first few pages of The Silent Companions but wasn’t fully paying attention and I had no idea what was going on. So I think I need to start again. Doesn’t bode well, though.

I haven’t got any further with Norse Mythology (which I’m keeping at work to read in those elusive lunch breaks), so nothing to report there, either.

Then:  Misery ~ Stephen King

Misery was great, as expected! My review will be up during Horror October!

Next: ??? It’ll be I Am Behind You:

A supernatural superthriller from the author of Let the Right One In

Molly wakes her mother to go to the toilet. The campsite is strangely blank. The toilet block has gone. Everything else has gone too. This is a place with no sun. No god.

Just four families remain. Each has done something to bring them here – each denies they deserve it. Until they see what’s coming over the horizon, moving irrevocably towards them. Their worst mistake. Their darkest fear.

And for just one of them, their homecoming.

New on the Shelves

I didn’t buy, borrow or request any books this week! Yesssss.

 

I’m Waiting On…

A Very Vintage Christmas, because…I’m already excited for some festive action!

The fairy lights are up and shoppers are flooding the snowy seaside promenade. It’s going to be a busy month at Forget-Me-Not Vintage, a magical shop with a warm heart where every item has a story to be told.

With bright red hair and an infectious smile, Dodie is a hopeless romantic and absolutely one of a kind, just like the pieces in her shop.

When Dodie finds a love letter in the pocket of an old woollen coat, she makes it her mission to deliver it to its rightful owner. Following the address, she manages to persuade the handsome but reluctant new tenant, Edward, to help her with her search.

As the story of the letter unfolds, Dodie is there, as always, to pick up the pieces and make things right. But who will be there for her when her own love story needs a helping hand?

Is it too much to dream of a happy ending like the ones in the black and white movies she adores?

Expected Publication: September 28th 2017 by Bookouture

So that was my week in books, how was yours? If you’re participating feel free to leave your link in the comments so everyone can take a look!

Gruesome Guest Posts, Revolting Reviews & Frightening Features Wanted for Horror October 2017 #SubmitNow #HO2017

It’s that time of the year again….

Brush the cobwebs off your costumes, because Horror October FIVE (!) is fast approaching!

If you haven’t noticed, this is all  bit last minute! Sadly, due to some technical blog issues at the beginning of this month I wasn’t even sure if I was going to be able do my annual month of horror, due to not being able to post, but fingers crossed everything seems to be working fine again.

I am, however, really behind schedule in planning for this years’ event so I need you all more than ever!

Last year’s horror-themed month was a massive success, mainly due to the main event – the Flash Fiction Battle (in which 1200 votes were cast for your favourite story) – so I will of course be doing much of the same this year. It really does get bigger and better every year.

I’m also looking for reviews, features, guest posts/interviews, anything goes as long as it comes under the umbrella that is horror (I use the term very loosely and hope to cater for everyone, even you scaredy cats out there 😉 )

Bloggers: Any guest posts or horror-ish reviews would be greatly appreciated and you’ll get full credit and links etc.

Authors: Do you have a spooky, dark, supernatural (etc) book on the market and want to promote it? Get in touch! I’m afraid the only thing I can’t do right now is accept any more review requests, but I’ll be happy to spotlight your book!

Leave a comment or email me on:

lipsyylostnfound[at]gmail[dot]com.

This Week in Books 20.09.17 #TWIB

Welcome to This Week in Books, where we share what we’ve been up to in bookland this week and look ahead to next. 

Happy hump-day, you guys! I’ve slowly been getting back into the spirit of things after the whole WordPress meltdown. I’m so behind in planning this year’s Horror October now, but I’ve officially decided IT IS happening so that’s something! I’ll be posting about it soon so keep an eye out if you’d like to get involved.

Anyway, here’s what I’ve been reading this week…

Now: Misery ~ Stephen King // Norse Mythology ~ Neil Gaiman

I’m not sure if I’ve ever read Misery before…is that weird? Anyway it’s been on my TBR shelves for a few years so it’s about time I picked it up either way. I also picked up Norse Mythology which I’m keeping at work to read in those elusive lunch breaks (so it’ll probably be a slow process and up here for a good few weeks)!

Then: Weycombe ~ G.M Malliet  // Killing the Dead ~ Marcus Sedgwick

Weycombe was a good read, but not amazing. My review went up on Monday. I felt much the same about Killing the Dead which is a short, World Book Day book by one of my favourite British authors. I’ll probably do a short review soon.

Next: ??? I’ll be making a start on my next lot of ARCs that I requested especially for Horror October (more on that soon)! First on the agenda is The Silent Companions, and I Am Behind You.

 

New on the Shelves

I got a bit of a windfall from work last week when lots of beautiful new books were donated to us and I got to take some home (because there were seriously sooooo many!). The perks of being a librarian, ey!? ❤ The downsides however – space & time!!!

I’m Waiting On…

Children of Blood & Bone, because…well, just look at it!!!

Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zelie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls.

But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were targeted and killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope.

Now, Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good.

Danger lurks in Orïsha, where snow leoponaires prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be Zélie herself as she struggles to control her powers—and her growing feelings for the enemy.

Expected Publication: March 6th 2018 by Henry Holt Books for Young Readers

So that was my week in books, how was yours? If you’re participating feel free to leave your link in the comments so everyone can take a look!

Weycombe by G.M Malliet #BookReview

Title: Weycombe
Author: G.M Malliet
Series: N/A
Format: Digital ARC, 360 pages
Publication Details: October 8th 2017 by Midnight Ink
Genre(s): Mystery
Disclosure? Yep! I received a free, advanced copy in exchange for an HONEST review.

Goodreads 

From award winner G.M. Malliet, a tale of murder in the haunts of England’s privileged

Weycombe is the chocolate-box village of everyone’s dreams. For American Jillian White, a gated life of pleasure and comfort with her titled English husband was a fantasy come true.

But the murder of a local estate agent mars the village’s so-pretty surface. Are people actually dying to live in Weycombe? Jill investigates, piecing together clues along the snaking paths and winding lanes of her adopted village. She knows truth has many versions, depending on who is doing the telling. And that few can be trusted in Weycombe, where nothing is as perfect as it seems.

Review

I was completely in the mood for a nice cozy mystery in a luxurious setting when I picked up this book last weekend, and I got it in spades.

Weycombe is a place where people dream of living; a beautiful, idyllic village running along the river Thames where houses can only be afforded by the mega rich. It’s also a place where everybody knows everybody’s business, and if they don’t, they do their best to find out! This turns out to be a bit of a problem when one of the villagers, the incomparable Anna is found lying dead in her brand new running shoes. Village gossip has just been kicked up a notch.

Our protagonist is Jillian, an American, the forever ‘outsider’, who is in a failing, loveless marriage and out of work. Jillian is the one who discovers the body, and needing something to occupy her, she takes it upon herself to find out as much as she can about Anna’s secretive life, and the mystery of her death.

I really enjoyed this book, but it won’t be for everyone. It’s quite a traditional, ‘old school’ type mystery that unfolds very slowly. At first, I enjoyed the slow pace of it – perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon – but at some points I did drift away from the story and wished there was more to keep me focused.

Weycombe is a good whodunnit. The large cast of characters are interesting, and all have different secrets and flaws. It kept me guessing just enough, but it was a bit of a struggle to get to the end to be honest.

The main thing I loved was the setting. I’m intrigued by the dynamics and social politics of village life, which always works great for a murky mystery.

The main thing that didn’t work for me, however, was Jillian. I could relate to parts of her character, but I never fully warmed to her. And I thought the link between her being unhappy (and not having much going on in life at that moment) and her deciding to investigate a murder was a bit of a stretch. Her background of working in media seemed to be the author’s reason behind her thinking she was qualified to act detective. Hmm.  I know that regular folk sticking their noses into an investigation is a common thing in mysteries, but it didn’t feel very genuine on this occasion.

Overall, Weycombe is a classic murder mystery with lots of intrigue. If you’re looking for a gentle whodunnit to while away the weekend, give it a try!

 

Charlotte Says by Alex Bell #YA #Horror #BookReview

Title: Charlotte Says
Author: Alex Bell
Series: Frozen Charlotte #2 (prequel)
Format: Digital ARC, 352 pages
Publication Details: September 7th 2017 by Stripes Publishing (Red Eye)
Genre(s): Horror; YA
Disclosure? Yep! I received a free, advanced copy in exchange for an HONEST review.

Goodreads 

The much-anticipated prequel to the bestselling FROZEN CHARLOTTE, a Zoella Book Club title in Autumn 2016.

Following the death of her mother in a terrible fire, Jemima flees to the remote Isle of Skye, to take up a job at a school for girls. There she finds herself tormented by the mystery of what really happened that night.

Then Jemima receives a box of Frozen Charlotte dolls from a mystery sender and she begins to remember – a séance with the dolls, a violent argument with her step-father and the inferno that destroyed their home. And when it seems that the dolls are triggering a series of accidents at the school, Jemima realizes she must stop the demonic spirits possessing the dolls – whatever it takes.

Review

Charlotte Says was a highly-anticipated read for me because I loved Frozen Charlotte, which was my introduction to the Red Eye series of YA Horror books. This one is a prequel to the first book. It’s basically the origin story for the events that occur in Frozen Charlotte, so you definitely don’t have to have read that one to enjoy this.

Here, we go back to Victorian times where we meet Jemima, a girl of sixteen, but of course considered an adult at that time. After an evidently troubled and mysterious past, Jemima accepts a teaching job at a boarding school for the destitute and wayward.

At first things appear to be OK (don’t they always?). Jemima is reunited with an old friend, and the girls seem to warm to her quickly, but the Schoolmistress, Miss Grayson is nothing if not an evil old wench who causes Jemima no end of grief from day one.

And then the dolls arrive. Followed closely by a dolls house. Jemima isn’t too happy to see them as they come from her previous home where, let’s just say, bad things happened, but because the girls have so little Jemima donates them to the school.

Then the madness ensues!

I’m not sure how much I liked this book. It had a lot more depth to it than its predecessor, but it was also a lot less fun, and a lot less scary. There were some great horror elements in there, along with some creepy moments, but I felt like it was lacking something. It didn’t have the impact that FC did, and I found that a bit disappointing.

I can’t fault Alex Bell’s ambition though, or her writing. I loved the setting and the slow reveal of Jemima’s past, but I felt the pace was too slow overall, and it just didn’t have the creep-factor of the first book.

I’m still excited about what this author does next though, she’s one to watch!

 

This Week in Books 13.09.17 #TWIB

Welcome to This Week in Books, where we share what we’ve been up to in bookland this week and look ahead to next. 

So, at the risk of jinxing it, WordPress seems to be back to normal, but I’m still furious about the whole thing and haven’t really wanted to blog all week. If you have no idea what I’m chatting about, look here.

Anyway, I may as well post this as I’ve written it about four times so far-  here’s what I’ve been reading this week…

Now: Weycombe ~ G.M Malliet

I’m enjoying this. It’s quite slow-paced but sometimes that’s nice!

Weycombe is the chocolate-box village of everyone’s dreams. For American Jillian White, a gated life of pleasure and comfort with her titled English husband was a fantasy come true.

But the murder of a local estate agent mars the village’s so-pretty surface. Are people actually dying to live in Weycombe? Jill investigates, piecing together clues along the snaking paths and winding lanes of her adopted village. She knows truth has many versions, depending on who is doing the telling. And that few can be trusted in Weycombe, where nothing is as perfect as it seems. 

 

Then: The Last Dog on Earth ~ Adrian J. Walker // Charlotte Says ~ Alex Bell

I loved TLDOE – my review is here. And Charlotte Says was good too. My review will be up soon. Hopefully.

Next: ??? I’m not actually sure this time. But probably one of these..

 

New on the Shelves

I didn’t buy any books or request any ARCs this week. Shock Horror!

I’m Waiting On…

Where I Live, because…I like the idea of a homeless protagonist. It sound unique, and great.

This evocative debut YA novel tells the story of Linden, a homeless teen secretly living in her high school. Together with her makeshift family of close friends, Linden struggles against the hardships of her past and begins to shape a bright future. Perfect for fans of Jennifer Niven and Nicola Yoon, this is a stirring novel about overcoming all odds.

LINDEN ROSE HAS RULES FOR SURVIVAL.

1. Prevent the in-class nap.
2. Never carry too many belongings.
3. Avoid looking the part.

Her rules guarantee no one discovers her secret–that she’s homeless and living in the halls of her small-town high school. Her best friends, Ham and Seung, have formed a makeshift family, and writing for her school’s blog prevents downtime. When you’re homeless, free time sucks. Despite everything Linden’s burdened with, she holds on to hope for a future and a maybe romance with Seung.

But when cool-girl Bea comes to school with a bloody lip, the damage hits too close to home. Linden begins looking at Bea’s life, and soon her investigation prompts people to pay attention. And attention is the last thing Linden needs.

To put a stop to the violence, Linden must tell the story. Even if it breaks her rules for survival and jeopardizes the secrets she’s worked so hard to keep.

Expected Publication: February 27th 2018 by HarperTeen

 

So that was my week in books, how was yours? If you’re participating feel free to leave your link in the comments so everyone can take a look!

 

Discussion: Where’s the support? #Blogging

Guys, I’m so angry with WordPress that I’m thinking of jumping ship. I couldn’t post all last week and I wasted the whole weekend trying to fix it. I sought help from WordPress Support and on Twitter and they were so useless and uninterested that it really riled me up. Fellow bloggers were a lot more help than they were.

I know it’s a free platform, but you’d think they’d have some support in place, that y’know, actually supported its users. What if this was a blog that’s an actual business!? I certainly wouldn’t be making a living right now if that was the case. RAGE.

I don’t want to stop blogging but when you loose confidence in the platform you use, it makes you just want to pack it in. And choosing a new platform, when I’m so familiar with this one just seems like a chore.

I’m still not sure what to do – for now it seems to be working again, but for how long!?

Has anyone else had issues like this? What did you do?

Out Today: The Last Dog on Earth by Adrian J. Walker #BookReview #HappyPubDay

Title: The Last Dog on Earth
Author: Adrian J. Walker
Series: N/A
Format: Digital ARC, 368 pages
Publication Details: September 7th 2017 by Del Rey
Genre(s): Science Fiction; Dystopia; Humour
Disclosure? Yep! I received a free, advanced copy in exchange for an HONEST review.

Goodreads 

Every dog has its day…

And for Lineker, a happy go lucky mongrel from Peckham, the day the world ends is his: finally a chance to prove to his owner just how loyal he can be.

Reg, an agoraphobic writer with an obsession for nineties football, plans to wait out the impending doom in his second floor flat, hiding himself away from the riots outside.

But when an abandoned orphan shows up in the stairwell of their building, Reg and Lineker must brave the outside in order to save not only the child, but themselves…

Review

Do you ever request a book on Netgalley and then weeks later wonder why? That’s what I did with this book. I don’t like dogs and I hate football so what possessed me to request a book about a dog called Lineker and his 90s-Football-Mad owner is beyond me.

But guess what? This book was brilliant! Maybe a higher power was at work there.

The Last Dog on Earth is set in the near future, after London has been desecrated by a war. A lot of people died and the rest moved away from the hostile city leaving Reg, a recluse and his dog Lineker practically alone in Peckham. Reg can’t imagine moving. He hates change and doesn’t see any need to leave. The fact that everyone else has left is just a bonus.

Lineker loves Reg more than anything. His aim in life is to make Reg happy, but he definitely misses all his old friends on Peckham Rye.

The Last Dog on Earth is written from Lineker’s perspective and mainly in diary format from Reg’s. I think it worked perfectly. Lineker has a penchant for rhyming slang and loves a good rant. I thought he was hilarious. And it really reads like the mind of a dog; I thought it was a genius stroke by Walker. Even a self-confessed dog-hater (OK that’s a bit strong but sue me, I’m cat lady all the way) like me instantly fell in love with him.

You’ve always been a busy lot, you Sapiens. Climbing, foraging […], crossing oceans. Waging wars. Looking up. Looking down. But thinking – that’s what you do the most. You gaze up and drift away and none of us can guess where you go. F***ing Einsteins the lot of you. Take away all that thought and replace it with smell. Yeah, that’s the nearest I can get to describing how it is to be a dog.”

There is so much good stuff in this book, I want to throw a million quotes at you. The story really takes the reader on an immersive journey and actually the events themselves are pretty horrific but the humour lifts it immensely. It’s a book that makes you think, and that’s what surprised me the most I think.

What I probably should mention is the language. Lineker is a Class A potty mouth, and pretty vulgar at times. I loved it, but some readers might have issues with it. In fact, the only thing I can criticise about this book is that I wanted more narration by Lineker. As the story went on we get Reg’s POV a lot more and that slowed down the pace of the book for me. But I still couldn’t put it down.

Overall, TLDOE is a pretty bleak look at humanity, and a timely, poignant tale considering the world’s current political climate, but it’s extremely entertaining too. I laughed so much!

Oh to be a dog…

“Then there are the more confusing smells; the ones that are hard to categorise. Like fox. If I get wind of a fox I don’t know whether I want to cuddle it, f*** it or pull out its guts and eat them in front of it. It’s extremely confusing for me.”

 

“Now and again, once in a blue moon, maybe once or twice in your life, you will meet somebody who makes you wonder, seriously, how bad a life sentence would be. […] You want to take every nerve in their body, every fibre, every atom, and collect them together into a nice neat box so that none of them can escape, and then you want to piss all over them. […] That’s cats that is.”

TLDOE gets ALL THE UNICORNS because there wasn’t anything I disliked about it! I’d love to know what Lineker would make of Unicorns…

 

 

 

Reading Round-up: August 2017 #MiniReviews

Welcome to my monthly post where I discuss any books that I read during the month which for one reason or another didn’t get the full review treatment. This is a way for me to keep track of what I’ve read but without the pressure of having to write comprehensive reviews for every single book. 

There were three books that I read but didn’t get round to reviewing in August…

Spectacles ~ Sue Perkins

When I began writing this book, I went home to see if my mum had kept some of my stuff. What I found was that she hadn’t kept some of it. She had kept all of it – every bus ticket, postcard, school report – from the moment I was born to the moment I finally had the confidence to turn round and say ‘Why is our house full of this shit?’

Sadly, a recycling ‘incident’ destroyed the bulk of this archive. This has meant two things: firstly, Dear Reader, you will never get to see countless drawings of wizards, read a poem about corn on the cob, or marvel at the kilos of brown flowers I so lovingly pressed as a child. Secondly, it’s left me with no choice but to actually write this thing myself.

This, my first ever book, will answer questions such as ‘Is Mary Berry real?’, ‘Is it true you wear a surgical truss?’ and ‘Is a non-spherically symmetric gravitational pull from outside the observable universe responsible for some of the observed motion of large objects such as galactic clusters in the universe?’

Most of this book is true. I have, of course, amplified my more positive characteristics in an effort to make you like me. 

Thank you for reading.

This book was a total shock for me. I picked it up on a whim. I used to love Light Lunch (showing my age there) and also loved Sue in the Supersizers Eat series but other than that I didn’t know much about her, so I totally wasn’t expecting to get so hooked on this book. I couldn’t put it down and read it in about two sittings.

The beginning had me in stitches when Sue was talking about her family’s reaction to her writing a memoir, and there were lots of things I was surprised by in it, all carried off with Sue’s slightly self-deprecating, intelligent humour.

 

Klaus Vogel and the Bad Lads ~ David Almond

Fleeing persecution in his homeland, German refugee Klaus Vogel arrives in a small English town where the local gang take him under their wing. They call themselves the Bad Lads, but it’s all mischief and harmless tricks, never any real trouble.

But then leader Joe starts to encourage increasingly hateful pranks and Klaus has to make a stand for what he thinks is right.

Poignant and powerful tale set in the wake of World War II.

This was another one I picked up on a whim. It’s a short easy-read book which is dyslexia friendly that I found in my library. I’ve enjoyed a few of David Almond’s books before so I read this over a lunch break. It’s a nice story with a good message about bullying, persecution, and standing up for yourself and others.

 

The Way it Hurts ~ Patty Blount

There may be two sides to every story, but sometimes there’s only one way to set things right…

Music is Elijah’s life. His band plays loud and hard, and he’ll do anything to get them a big break. He needs that success to help take care of his sister, who has special needs. So he’d rather be practicing when his friends drag him to a musical in the next town…until the lead starts to sing.

Kristen dreams of a career on stage like her grandmother’s. She knows she needs an edge to get into a competitive theater program—and being the star in her high school musical isn’t going to cut it. The applause and the attention only encourage her to work harder.

Elijah can’t take his eyes off of Kristen’s performance, and he snaps a photo of her in costume that he posts online with a comment that everybody misunderstands. It goes viral. Suddenly, Elijah and Kristen are in a new spotlight as the online backlash spins out of control. And the consequences are bigger than they both could have ever imagined because these threats don’t stay online…they follow them into real life.

I’m afraid I didn’t get very far into this one. It’s nothing personal, I think I just wasn’t in the mood for a contemporary YA. The writing seemed fine but I didn’t gel with either of the protagonists at all, and all the integrated tweets and social media put me off. I’m sure this will be a hit for contemporary fans, but it wasn’t for me.

AOB

{that’s any other business for those of you that’ve never had the misfortune of having a job where people say that all the time}

 

• My August Spotlight Review was Retribution Rails which was also my Book & Cover of the Month.
• My monthly wrap-up post went up a few days ago: This Month in Books: August 2017
• My ‘Lazy Saturday Review was The Ice Dragon
• I also reviewed Prince of Shadows yesterday.

 

Well, that really is a wrap on August now!  How did you get on?

Prince of Shadows by Rachel Caine #BookReview #YA

 

Title: Prince of Shadows
Author: Rachel Caine
Series: N/A
Format: Paperback, 368 pages
Publication Details: February 4th 2014 by Allison & Busby
Genre(s): YA; Retellings
Disclosure? Nope, I borrowed it from the library.

Goodreads 

From the author of the bestselling Morganville Vampires series comes an exciting retelling of the classic love story, Romeo and Juliet.

‘A plague! A plague on both your houses!’

In the Houses of Montague and Capulet, there is only one goal: power. The boys are born to fight and die for honor and – if they survive – marry for influence and money, not love. The girls are assets, to be spent wisely. Their wishes are of no import. Their fates are written on the day they are born.

Benvolio Montague, cousin to Romeo, knows all this. He expects to die for his cousin, for his house, but a spark of rebellion still lives inside him. At night, he is the Prince of Shadows, the greatest thief in Verona – and he risks all as he steals from House Capulet. In doing so, he sets eyes on convent-bound Rosaline, and a terrible curse begins that will claim the lives of many in Verona.

Review

I have to say I was pretty sceptical going into this but I was intrigued regardless. Having read Caine’s Morganville Vampire series (or most of them at least), I was pretty shocked to find this in the library. A Shakespeare retelling, really? Hmm…

You can’t help but love the tale of the two doomed lovers, right? And you know what, this wasn’t a bad retelling. It’s told from Benvolio’s POV, who is forcibly entrusted to keep his cousin and Capulet heir, Romeo, on the straight and narrow. But that pesky boy has a habit of getting into serious trouble and falling in love with all the wrong girls. Then there’s his bff Mercutio with his own doomed love Tomasso, both of whom will be killed if discovered. Poor Benvolio has got a lot on his plate!

On one hand I really enjoyed this book. I liked reading from Benvolio’s point of view. It was an action-packed, fun retelling with a modern twist. The pages flew by. But on the other hand I did find myself cringing a lot. ‘Shakespeare turning in his grave’ was a phrase which often sprang to mind. But I guess there would be no point in retelling it without a new spin on the traditional.

I felt like the whole business with the curse was a double-edged sword. It made the story new and fresh, and Caine does paranormal very well, such is her remit! But for me, it meant that the story lost all its romance. Which is surely the point of any Romeo & Juliet story?

I really respect Rachel Caine for taking on such an iconic story and introducing a fantasy element. It’s a pretty bold move, and I think it mostly worked. Her writing is always so readable. Not one for the purists though, obviously.