Review: Danielle Rollins – Burning

Posted on by
1

Burning
Danielle Rollins

Angela has served her time in Brunesfield Correctional Facility and is due for release in three months. When a new girl arrives and strange things start happening, Angela’s release might be in question unless she does exactly what the new Director wants her to do.

27280428This novel is basically built on the idea that monsters are more interesting than heroes. Isn’t that true? Monsters always get to have more fun! I’m not sure that’s exactly true for the entirety of the novel, but true feelings come out towards the end.

You’re going to want to pick up this novel for its very attractive cover which hints at the story to come, and then keep reading because its really fantastic and the plot keeps turning over quickly. There isn’t a moment to get bored or doubt yourself. You just have to keep reading!

The characters in this were neatly filled out, but at the same time I could have known more about them. I was interested in the crimes committed by each of Angela’s friends, and Angela herself, and I felt like I never got full answers.

I want to see a sequel for this. At the same time, I was perfectly happy with the very surprising ending! I now couldn’t picture it ending any other way. 5 stars from me. Go pick it up right now!

5star
Bloomsbury | July 2016 | AU$17.99 | Paperback

Review: JM Peace – The Twisted Knot

Posted on by
2

The Twisted Knot
JM Peace

Sammi is on desk duty, unable to face going into the field after her abduction by a killer two years ago. When she is faced by a mob of people demanding that a pedophile is caught by police, she finds the courage to start active work again on a case which is as twisted as any you will have read about.

9781743538678It’s nice to see a crime novel where I can follow where some of the places are (ie. Australian). To think that crime used to be one of the genres that I turned down to review as a matter of course! I was selling them short by only imagining old-time detective novels.

I wasn’t sure why we were constantly reminded of Sammi making sure her gun didn’t catch on anything. Was it because the author wanted us to see this as something important to her as a plot device? Sammi developed nicely as a character, and I was certainly kept enthralled and up past my bed time.

Pedophiles are some of the most disgusting people on the planet, and I can’t think of a biological imperative for why it might be ok. Consenting adults people, consenting adults only. There is likely a psychological issue, as there was in this novel, and you can do more reading about it if you are interested. Remember that not all pedophiles act on their desires, just like some gay people never admit that they are gay.

I didn’t realise there was a ‘first book’, where Sammi is the one who is being investigated. This novel was a true stand alone though. In the back, it suggests other novels like itself, which I also enjoyed.

Ooh, this one was good. I really enjoyed this crime novel that wasn’t a thriller! I could stay up late to read its satisfying conclusion, but not be too scared to sleep. I’m giving this one 4 stars.

4star

Pan Macmillan | 28th June 2016 | $29.99 | Paperback

Review: Sophie Hardcastle – Breathing Under Water

Posted on by
Reply

Breathing Under Water
Sophie Hardcastle

The twinship Grace and Ben share means that they have always had each other, yet Grace stands in the shadow of her brother’s glory – both on the surf and away from the beach. Grace’s life will be tipped on its head, and there will be more things to think about than simply kissing the cute boy who has returned to her life.

30151298This book greeted me on my front doorstep, and I responded by reading it straight away despite my current efforts to catch up on reading novels again. Boy was it worth it.

What I loved about this novel was that it didn’t give away all the plot in the blurb. Things still had to happen! In fact, having thought about what this author had written about previously (her experiences with Bipolar I in her memoir Running like China) I completely misled myself!

You would think that I would have hated the prose of the novel, particularly the way it led in in quite a poetic way. But instead, I found myself skimming over the top, buoyed by the characters’ personalities and beach scenes. And I don’t even like the beach, and usually Australian novels are just not that fantastic from my perspective (Tim Winton comes to mind)!

The poignancy of Grace and Jake falling apart and the way other people react when big things change are tangible for the reader. It does include sex and drug scenes, gritty and painful and not in a good light. I loved the way Harley behaved believably and so much more sensibly than many other boys in other novels. Hardcastle pushed boundaries and got away with it.

This novel is one I think I’m going to read again and again. I held my breath while I was reading it, and I couldn’t put it down. 5 stars from me. Go and buy yourself a copy, and prepare to hold back tears. I can’t wait to read another of this author’s novels when they come.

5star

Quercus Children’s Books / Hachette | June 2016 | AU$26.99 | Paperback

Review: Jake Halpern & Peter Kujawinski – Dormia

Posted on by
Reply

Dormia
Jake Halpern & Peter Kujawinski

Alfonso is Dormian. Not that he knows what that means yet. All he knows is that while he is apparently sleeping, he can do fantabulous feats – which his Pappy refers to as ‘tomfoolery’. When an uncle and a blind man turn up, it turns out that Alfonso might have more than he bargained for with his beautiful plant.

5877213This is action driven. Alfonso hardly seems to get a rest between being attacked by plants and swords. Hehe, while I’m talking about it, every time I write Alfonso, I find it pretty funny. It reminds me of Houdini perhaps? Anyway, there’s no chances to get bored, and the storyline trots along – right until you get tipped on your head!

Some nice little riddles here that were logical enough for a reader to follow along with, even if I didn’t get the riddle in the fancy woods either. I’m not exactly sure why that’s a Dormian thing though,

This concluded very nicely, but also left room for a sequel. Low and behold, when I looked on GoodReads, it turned out that this is the first book in a trilogy. My chances of getting my hands on copies of the later books are slim though.

Ah yes! Humour! Deaths! This is what I was hoping The Crystal Run would give me, yet it failed to deliver. I’m giving this one 4 stars – I picked it up for 50c when my library was selling old books and it was well worth it.

4star

Review: Kasper Beaumont – Elven Jewel

Posted on by
Reply

Elven Jewel
Kasper Beaumont

The halflings live a life of peace until their lives are endangered by cruel invaders. What starts off as a quest to warn the protectors, becomes a quest to rescue the Elven Jewel and save Reloria.

21769082I put off reading this novel because the cover didn’t fill me with confidence (I have included the updated image here). Lo and behold, setting off into it I remained nervous. By about half-way through, I was already committed, even if I didn’t feel particularly pushed to finish it.

You know, despite pretty much knowing what was going to happen, and the rather stilted storytelling, I enjoyed it. This is basically a remake of Lord of the Rings, for a younger set of readers. To an extent, I was confused as to why there was a lot made of the growing romance between two of the characters when the rest of the novel felt quite childish. But combine that with some of the somewhat graphic violence, and it became an early teenage novel where I would expect more character depth.

While Fendi (who I considered the main character) apparently is developing a silver tongue, I really didn’t see that role of him developing, despite the other characters commenting on it. I wanted to see more! Saying ‘no’ to killing someone does not make you a negotiator. Equally, you’ve got to do a bit more explaining to the new allies about the dangers.

Some of the names of things, I wasn’t sure that although they were deliberate choices, they could have been less, obvious? The author went to the trouble of renaming his characters depending on what their race was, I felt like it would have been better to also rename all the animals rather than leaving some as recognisable.

This novel has now gone through a complete renovation (sorry, it’s called editing when you aren’t updating a house!), which I haven’t actually read. I would expect that with that editing, it could be a candidate for 4 stars for the right audience. As it stands, 3 stars.

3star

Review: Norma Jennings – Passenger from Greece

Posted on by
Reply

Passenger from Greece
Norma Jennings

Olivia Reed wanted to see the world – so she chose the career of a flight attendant. A brush with death ignites a romance that she wasn’t expecting – but it’s complicated with her work and family expectations.

26865265Dear me. This novel. Where to start with its faults. There weren’t enough clues for the reader to really feel like they were on the scene. I was told how to feel about every situation, I didn’t need to think for myself. Again, the blurb gives away too much of the novel contents.

Romance hey? ‘The One’? Ugh. The sex scene in this was just awkward, and I swiftly skipped the pages. This must be a woman’s fiction romance, but I expect more from my characters. Do you have no backbone? Oh wait, you do, but I’m still not convinced. You’re so gullible! And oh, you trusty friend, why didn’t I love you before?

I couldn’t have cared less what they ate! The amount of time spent looking at and eating food could have been used on developing the characters and trying to get me to be more sympathetic about their problems.

I couldn’t get why they were so terrified of drug smugglers. Surely they could have just been more calm about it? Stop touching the evidence guys! And for goodness sakes, stop acting so guilty! How dumb can you be?

The plot was completely transparent, and not in a good way. Hmm, I wonder which of the tiny cast of characters might be at fault? Way too easy to answer. I think it was the blurb that waned me off. It wanted to tackle too many issues without enough substance in its characters.

It’s a bad sign when I want to fill a review with rhetorical questions. A really, really bad sign. I put off reading this for months, and I fully understand why I did. I read it so that I wouldn’t need to bring it home with me from my overseas trip. 1 star. Don’t waste your time.

1star

Review: Karelia Stetz-Waters – For Good

Posted on by
Reply

For Good
Karelia Stetz-Waters

Marydale and Kristen have very little in common. One is a convicted murderer, the other a straight up defense attorney. One is a committed lesbian, the other has only dated men of various standards. When their lives collide in a tiny country town ruled by homophobes, it seems like love will never succeed.

for-good-cover-smallStetz-Waters creates characters that are compliments of each other, particularly in these romances of hers (Something True, Forgive Me if I’ve Told You This Before). I worry that this could become formulaic for her work, but I am reassured by her thrillers (The Admirer, The Purveyor) that she can write in more than one area.

I read this novel while there was a tornado warning for the area I was staying in overseas. Nothing like a storm outside to provide a perfect reading atmosphere. I couldn’t tell you why exactly I kept reading, only that I did and that I couldn’t put it down. Love, love, love.

Lesbian sex scenes written by a lesbian? Yes please for realism and a drive to include value in what could just be lumped into ‘eroticism’. As with other Stetz-Waters novels, sex is for controlling or for submission, not just a titillating inclusion for the reader. I’m not reading the novel for the sex scenes, but I love it all the same.

Money where my mouth is on this one. I received an ebook copy well before it was ‘properly’ released (I can’t even find it on GoodReads), but I’ll be purchasing a paperback copy as soon as one is available. 5 stars from me for another valuable contribution to adult queer novels.

5star

Review: Iris Johansen & Roy Johansen – Close Your Eyes

Posted on by
1

Close Your Eyes
Iris Johansen & Roy Johansen

Kendra was born blind and spent years honing her remaining senses in order to avoid danger. After a stem cell operation restores her eyesight at age 20 years, her uncanny perceptions make the FBI call her in for case after case where they are baffled and she can solve a crime scene by simply walking in the door.

image001This novel was trying to see itself by other reviewers as a ‘thriller [and] a titillating delight’. Sorry, the sexual tension that Kendra seems to feel towards Lynch isn’t even that tensioned for me as a reader. I saw it, yes, but the gripping storyline was what did it for me.

If you liked Angel Killer, you’re going to love this one. This one does have some danger to Kendra herself, so if that’s your thing, this is going to tick the right boxes. Ok, so some of this one is a bit gorey and I really wanted to look away, but other times it just made me sympathise with Kendra even more.

I didn’t see this as a thriller, because I didn’t make the connection with a couple of ‘coincidences’. That being said, I kept reading and reading because I couldn’t work out what might happen next. I was sad when I finished it, because it hadn’t explained all the questions I had – but that just left us in the same position as Kendra.

This reminded me of the movie ‘The Librarian’, where the guy is just so geeky he can work out random things about others from the merest hints. Being so observant seems to make people a bit prickly though. I wouldn’t like people much either!

This was a fantastic novel that a publisher sent me, and that I ended up reading anyway even though it was an ebook. That’s what being stuck in an airport for 2 hours does to you, it makes you read ebooks when you’re too lazy to pack a novel in your carry on (because you are supposed to be working). I’ve giving it 4 stars.

4star

Macmillan Australia | July 2016 | $9.99 AU | ebook

Review: Michael Gerard Bauer – The Pain, My Mother, Sir Tiffy, Cyber Boy & Me

Posted on by
Reply

The Pain, My Mother, Sir Tiffy, Cyber Boy & Me
Michael Gerard Bauer

Maggie has three realistic goals for the year. Unfortunately, her past seems to be halting any sort of progression – she’s going to need to step outside what she thinks, and think about other people too.

28931578This novel takes both its name and its conversational writing style In the ‘tradition’ of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. Now, if you’ll remember my review, I didn’t particularly like that novel, I preferred The Haters. Instead of sex and penis jokes, this novel is filled with puns. If you love puns, you might love the way the novel is written. For me, I could have done with less humour and more substance.

Although the different chapters purport to reveal and hide things in equal measure to how Maggie’s life goes positive to negative, I found the progression of the novel slow and the storyline typical. There are better novels out there that will give teenage readers more to bite into.

I have faith from other reviews that this author’s other offerings are better – maybe I will pick up The Running Man in my spare time if it crosses my path. I’m not going to seek it out though, enough teenage fiction for me.

No outlasting love for me here. Maggie is a self-absorbed brat that although her character develops throughout the novel, for me she never became more likeable. For that, I’m going to give it 3 stars. The main reason I read it was so that I could leave it for my niece to read and I didn’t have to bring it home with me! BCID – 352–14075986.

3star

 

Review: Jessica Warman – the last good day of the year

Posted on by
Reply

the last good day of the year
Jessica Warman

Turtle is taken on New Years Eve, and her sister Sam watches a man take her and is able to describe him accurately for the police to pick him up, and charge him with murder. Years later, she moves back and other things begin to fall into place.

20613800If this novel had been billed as an expose of what it looks like when a family is ripped apart by a disappearance, then maybe I could have gotten into it. Even then, it was too caught up in what Sam felt for anything else to really come through. I never want to be in that position.

The twists and turns that could have added up so that the reader could get their own idea of the story? Yeah, I didn’t see why they were relevant until the end, and then I wasn’t interested. I was just grateful it was over. The front cover is lovely and creepy and subtle, but the storytelling and plot simply didn’t live up to it.

There was nothing redeeming about the end of this novel. I struggled to keep reading, and the thriller it should have been was broken for me by the constant jumping around in time. I simply wasn’t invested enough in Sam’s story. It’s a novel, it’s perfectly ok to give me a concrete ending to make sure everything is good. Or bad. Whatever.

Whether you’re looking for a low-key thriller, such as The Leaving or babydoll, or prefer something a bit more gritty like Irene or PainKiller, this novel doesn’t need to come near the top of your list. 2 stars from me.

2star

Bloomsbury | July 2016 | $12.99 | Paperback