Category Archives: Book Reviews

Review: Estelle Laure – This Raging Light

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This Raging Light
Estelle Laure

Lu has bills to pay, a kid to babysit and high-school to go to. Wait. Aren’t those first two supposed to be done by your parents? But Lu has noone else to turn to, and it’s up to her to keep her little family together and stop Wren going off into care.

25787863When will I get tired of extreme-situation teenage novels? Maybe some time soon. I’m feeling an end of my sympathy for idiots that let love get in the way of all things! But real life problems? Yes, I’ll take those. This novel isn’t too far off course for things that could happen. Who knows how many people are having this problem, and it’s just not picked up?

I liked the ending of this novel, because it was ambiguous. Doesn’t sound like me, does it? But after the whole novel being so uncertain, it just felt like it was the right way to end things.

Therapy, therapy, therapy. Every other novel at the moment is promoting therapy. Guided therapy that is, not just going off for a wander (ie. Lu and Wren’s mother). I can’t agree with what Lu and Wren’s father did, but I am all about Lu kicking her father’s butt when it was required.

I received a copy of this novel at a promotion event I went to at the Victorian State Library #YAmatters. I was late, since I was coming straight from work and there weren’t actually any samples left. Instead I got this beauty, which had a cut to its dust jacket. I let it sit on my shelf for months, then I decided to make the huge decision of tossing the dust jacket. Just seeing the fresh hardback got me in to reading it! Reminds me of the Raven Boys actually.

This novel is about seeing the good in people, but also standing up for yourself. It flies firmly in the positive spectrum for me, when compared to Beautiful Liar, which I read shortly before this one. I think I actually feel strongly enough about it to give it 4 stars.

4star

Review: Alexandra Curry – The Courtesan

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The Courtesan
Alexandra Curry

From a treasured life as a loved Courtesan’s daughter, Jinhua takes a step back into the dregs of where courtesans are made – from feet binding to orifice rape. This is her story from misery to misery.

29908433You’d think that since I was up until 1am finishing this book (and doing some other writing) than means I enjoyed it. Honestly, I’m not sure that I did. There were huge time gaps and gaps in Jinhau’s memory that made me fall out of the novel time and time again.

The violence, particularly sexual violence, seemed not to add very much to the story. I would have been far more excited if the rape had lead to death, rather than just another one occurring. By the end, I was basically no longer worried about it – they’d easily get out the other side. Rape just became part of the landscape. Isn’t that a horrible thing to say?

Perhaps it could have meant more to me if I was familiar with the historical period it was set in. I have to say my grasp of China’s politics, in addition to its geography, was very slim on the ground. All countries have a horrific past, and some are still that way (I’m an Australian, and i can tell you that horrible things are still going on). This one was nothing new.

I think it takes courage to write a novel like this one, where it is based on a well known (to the Chinese) folk/fairy tale / legend. That doesn’t mean I loved it. Jinhau just gave me no reason to love her. Her best friend seemed just as weak. What am I to say of weak though? I admired the woman before Jinhau – at least she was sensible enough to put herself out of her misery!

Why couldn’t I love this? Was it the detailed writing that put me off? The graphics of everything that made it difficult for me to get into the story? I don’t know. But I’m reassured to see that some other people didn’t love this novel either. I’m tossing up between 2 and 3 stars – I did at least finish it afterall.

3star

Review: Marina Go – Break Through

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Break Through
Marina Go

Marina started out as editor of Dolly at age 23. From then on, she worked her way up the ranks of editor of various magazines to the Chair of boards that she is on today. This is a snapshot of the stages of her journey there, and her advice to other young women who want to be major players in the working world.

break-through-9781925183542_lgAs always, I preferred the personal stories rather than the advice given in this novel. I think if you are going for a more ‘traditional’ career (not a university and teaching focussed career like mine) this novel is going to be perfect for you. I’d choose it as a gift for someone just starting out at their first job.

This is in line with inspiring next generation leaders – even if it is aimed at young women, young men might appreciate it (if they have open minds) in order to realise what it is like is a still male dominated business ‘the old boys’ club’. I can think of many cases where this novel will be something that someone needs, without even knowing they need it.

If I got anything about having a career about this novel it was to not be afraid, stand up for yourself, and be driven! Just because you are a woman doesn’t mean you should stand for anything less, and that you should prove yourself better than a man.  Go on and ‘smash those stereotypes’!

I didn’t have any strong feelings either way after completing this novel. I had intended to read a chapter each night, and try and think about the contents of each, but I didn’t manage that. I did one night of 2 chapters, then the next day I binge read the rest. I’m not sure exactly what that means about quality!

Review: Lucinda Riley – The Storm Sister

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The Storm Sister
Lucinda Riley

Ally and her five sisters have just lost their adoptive father, Pa Salt. Each of them were adopted at birth, and now it is up to them to decide whether they want to know their pasts or not. Ally has always loved Sailing, but perhaps her history says that she should be more musically inclined.

25800847I put off reading this novel for a very long time, because I knew it was the second in the series. Finally, in a bid to cull down the number of older novels I had sitting on my shelf, I decided to pick it up. A quick google of the first novel in the series seemed to suggest that I didn’t need to read the first one – this was definitely the case.

The blurb promises that Ally is beginning to question where the 7th sister is, but I didn’t get that vibe from her at all in the novel. She was too busy wrapped up in her own things to think about her sister(s) at all for what I could tell. Ally seemed very selfish to me, considering that she was considered the most practical of the sisters.

When I sat down to this, I found that some parts were far more compelling than others. Take the ‘real world’ for instance, where Ally is grieving for lost loves and yet hunting her background at the same time. In the past, read as a journal / biography / translation by the reader, things are far more exciting and real.

Jesus. Ally. Could you be any more dense? You’ve JUST read the story of Anna, and you’re too dumb to work out your own life? Oh woe is me. For someone who was just passionately in love, you’re certainly turning your eyes to someone else pretty quickly! Ugh. I couldn’t love you, and I couldn’t wait to move on from reading about you to someone else.

It was fine for reading. But just fine. Not fantastic, or anything new for the majority of the novel. 3 stars.

3star

Review: Holly Seddon – try not to breathe

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try not to breathe
Holly Seddon

Alex is a semi-functioning alcoholic uninterested in recovery, and with nothing to live for. When she finds herself researching coma patients for a freelance story, the pathos finally gets to her and she is able to take further steps forward in her life.

This was such a slow novel. I was halfway through and saying to my partner that I wasn’t sure I could face keeping on reading it. I started out being a bit wary of it, because of the changing perspectives.

Ugh. I don’t get the title. Everyone is happily breathing. By the end, I couldn’t have cared less who-dun-it. Those suspects? No, don’t care. Alex’s way of dealing with her alcoholic life? Nothing new there either, another novel I’ve read recently covers the willpower method.

For those people finding themselves captivated, I’m not sure I understand what you have seen in this novel. I haven’t read the original mainstream thriller ‘The Girl on the Train’, which is what this one is favourably compared to. I’m not sure now that I want to read it either. I want one where the danger actually becomes real to the reader and I’m looking over my shoulder in fear!

I’ve read other suspense novels that had more life to them than this one. Haha. Even ones where they actually die! Think Painkiller or Irene to see fantastic examples of this genre instead. With this in mind, I’m giving this one 2-3 stars. It’s fine for reading, it’s just not the astonishing work of fiction that I was promised.

3star

Review: Tara Altebrando – The Leaving

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The Leaving
Tara Altebrando

11 years ago, six children went missing from their school. Now they have returned, with nothing but a few scraps of memory of their time away. Stop there – only five have returned? What happened to Max? Why were they chosen?

26073074I wasn’t won over by the way there were ‘bytes’ of information from the way that Scarlett and Lucas thought. I didn’t like the consciousnesses changing, and I thought Avery was an idiot. A rich, spoilt idiot.

I think that the ‘romance’ in this one was just a distraction from the whole premise of the book. This is apparently a thriller, yet I never felt threatened. In fact, I’m not sure that the kids that returned felt threatened either.

That was one of the most unsatisfactory endings in my whole life. What is this, is it going to be a series? Is it just a discussion of losing your memory?

I’d like to read the science behind this. Brains are fascinating in the way that they forget things and develop false memories. I think it is well documented how dementia patients begin to suffer, and the way memories can be lost in childhood. I could certainly do without some of mine!

I so wanted to like this novel. Look at the pretty cover? Yes yes, it called to me. The blurb? Seemed good. But then it just took my time and I wasn’t even that keen on it. 2 stars from me.

2star

Review: Jenny McLachlan – Star Struck

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Star Struck
Jenny McLachlan

Pearl is the bad girl. Rough, swearing, in trouble at school. It turns out that she has some really good explanations for why that’s the case – you’ll have to read on and find out.

9781408856130Oh yeah, who’s going to cheer for that entirely surprising ending? Uh, that would be me. I didn’t see that coming at all. Should I have? Were the signs there? I can’t remember.

This is the 4th book in the ‘series’. Four friends, four books. There is absolutely no need to read the first three though. I have a feeling that they all centre very firmly on the main girl, and so I think I could go back and read them even having read this novel without having had too many spoilers.

No no no. This is not the right book cover! Well it is… But it’s so much more vibrant in real life. Part of the reason I reviewed it was because I was sick of seeing the fluro pink on my bookshelf… No honestly, it’s BRIGHT.

Look, I wanted to give this 4 stars, but then again I thought I wasn’t quite absorbed enough by it to justify a strong reaction. Good teenage storyline and characters, just not enough real depth for me.

3star

Review: Jesse Andrews – Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

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Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Jesse Andrews

Greg Gaines hates high school. He has mediocre grades, and a disinterest in hanging out with one group at a time. He prefers to drift on the periphery – right up until the point when his mother tells him he has to re-befriend an ‘old flame’ from his past. It seems to Greg that after this point, his life becomes more complicated than he ever imagined.

12700353I didn’t even realise Earl was black. Call me stupid, but I didn’t even look at the front cover before I started this novel. And then it doesn’t bother me that people would be a different race to me, so I guess I didn’t pick it up for ages.

Greg is constantly self-depreciating, and it’s easy to tell why he doesn’t become friends with people. We really don’t understand why he is even writing the novel if he hates it so much to the end. In fact, I’m not sure I understood any of his motives – ever. I just couldn’t care!

Rachel had some potential there, but as Greg says, it was never really about Rachel when it should have been. Greg manages to be a selfish bastard the whole way. The reader doesn’t even feel like that until it’s pointed out by Greg’s acquaintances. That’s the danger of having an unreliable first person narrator I suppose.

There were some humorous points in this novel, and maybe that’s what made it a good film? Honestly, I have no idea. I don’t generally read novels to laugh, and I expect a rock-solid storyline – not what seemed to me a slap-dash novel of ‘let’s pick things that can be made funny, when they really aren’t’.

I had trouble picking this novel off the shelf to read, after my partner told me that it probably wouldn’t be my style. Lo and behold, it wasn’t really my style. For a major motion picture, I just couldn’t love it. I dawdled between giving it two or three stars, and I’ve decided to settle on two. Just because everyone else seems to love it doesn’t mean that I have to bow to that! I’d go for Jesse Andrews other offering, The Haters.

2star

Review: Jesse Andrews – The Haters

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The Haters
Jesse Andrews

A band isn’t a band without a road trip. Coerced into going to Jazz camp, Wes and Corey expect that nothing exciting will happen. Enter a fly-away sexy girl and you end up with a humourous mess that will carry you away for a while.

Acr297196509774415983This novel is filled with ‘F-bombs’, sex and a rather disgusting sense of humour. But that being said, I laughed out loud at some of the dialogue, and although I’d never purchase it on my own, I think it’s a good read to borrow from a friend.

This novel is irreverence to a T. If something can go wrong, it does. It’s hard to believe how much mayhem a trip can cause. I just can’t believe how much they get away with! Who sells their mother’s car and buys a bomb (not of the F variety either)?

Look, I came out the other side of this novel wondering what had happened. For a road trip book, I don’t think the characters actually learnt very much about themselves or life, despite what the blurb proclaimed. In fact, it seemed like they just continued to get into trouble! If you’re looking for a teenage novel that has the same quality of laughs, please go for The Way We Roll.

Jump for this novel for a quick laugh, just don’t expect anything more serious. I’d go for this one over ‘Me and Earl and the Dying Girl’ by the same author any day. I barely tolerated that one (review to come), and The Haters at least gave me laughs.

3star

Review: Kathleen Duhamel – Deeper

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Deeper
Kathleen Duhamel

Claire Martin has married the lead singer of Deep Blue. There’s things in his past that are yet to be faced though, and it could all come tumbling down even as Claire’s bestie falls for the other man of Deep Blue.

deeper-cover-200x300I really enjoyed the first novel in this series. I don’t think I’m the target audience, but it’s refreshing to see some good new fiction aimed at older women – I don’t think there is enough there. Too much comes under the heading of romance or literature to me – how about a novel with some body to it? This novel is it.

We get to see some more sides to the band, and the lives of the famous! Claire is constantly fighting off groupies, old flames and a complete mess. Not to mention that she wants to maintain her own career, and yet not be absorbed by it.

I couldn’t believe Claire being ordered to turn herself in. Seriously, it was a single allegation, and since there was another person there who would have vouched for Claire, I think she should have and could have gotten away with it.

Sex scenes? Yes. Are they slightly awkward for a queer reader? Yes again. But really, they are well written, add something to the characters and make a difference to how the reader thinks about the characters.

Therapy! Ah, you good thing. Promoting people to go to therapy is one of the more helpful (but annoying) things someone can do.

Now, if I was the true target audience, I’d be a rereader of this one, and the first novel in this trilogy. As it is, I’m giving it a really solid 4 stars – go and hunt this book from Amazon.

4star