Friday Face Off : So pretty
17 June 2022
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Alice Feeney, Books by Proxy, Daisy Darker, Friday Face off, So Pretty
Here we are again with the Friday Face Off meme created by Books by Proxy . This is a great opportunity to feature some of your favourite book covers. The rules are fairly simple each week, following a predetermined theme (list below) choose a book (this doesn’t have to be a book that you’ve read), compare a couple of the different covers available for that particular book and choose your favourite. Future’s themes are listed below – if you have a cover in mind that you’re really wanting to share then feel free to leave a comment about a future suggested theme. I’ve also listed events that take place during the year, that I’m aware of, so you can link up your covers – if you’re aware of any events that you think I should include then give me a shout.
I’ve added themes in below. For information, I’m trying out some new ideas so along with coming up with particular items for book covers I thought we could also look for certain elements contained within the book or that play a large part in the story – this really broadens things out because I have plenty of more ideas with this – I’ve gone for a few of the Tough Travel Themes (so a book with that theme – just choose any book – the theme isn’t necessarily on the cover, then compare covers), also, I’ve thrown in some genres and some colours. Hopefully this will open things out a little and give us some more freedom to come up with new books.
This week’s theme:
So pretty – exactly what it says
Another, hopefully easy week for everyone and I’m really looking forward to seeing some very pretty, easy on the eye covers. This week I’ve gone for a book that I haven’t read yet, in fact it isn’t released yet, but I have a copy that I will be tucking into soon (it releases in August) and it’s so unusual to have different covers for such a new book I simply had to go for it. Plus, these two covers are dramatically different. Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney.
Here are the covers:
My favourite? Well, I really like the covers with the daisies, they’re such simple but pretty flowers but, I think the other cover fits the description so well and looks intriguing with that lonely house and foreboding surroundings.
Which one is your favourite?
If you’re taking part in this week’s theme feel free to leave your link in the comments below.
If you know of an event that’s coming up let me know and I’ll try and include covers that work for the event itself so that you can link up to the Friday Face Off and, as always, if you wish to submit an idea then leave me a comment – or if you’d like to host a week then simply let me know. Also, I would just mention that it’s very possible that some of these might be repeats from previous FFOs although I have tried to invent more ‘open ended’ prompt that can be interpreted differently and also prompts that relate to emotions. Finally, don’t struggle with any of these, this is meant to be a fun way of highlighting books. If you can’t come up with a book you think fits for a particular week use a freebie – perhaps a recent read for example:
Next Week’s Theme : Daddy Dearest – a book with a strong father role
2022
Land of the Dead (Stoker’s Wilde #3) by Stephen Hopstaken and Melissa Prusi
16 June 2022
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Land of the Dead, Stephen Hopstaken and Melissa Prusi
My Five Word TL:DR Review : Resist everything, except this series
I am loving this series. It’s just a fantastic combination of great writing, great characters and ridiculously outrageous adventures.
This is book No.3 in the Stoker Wilde series. Having read the previous two I would heartily suggest that you start at the beginning because why deprive yourself the pleasure of reading them both. That being said, and time being precious, etc, etc, I think you could easily step in at this point if you wish to do so. Just, please, do yourself a favour and read the other two, pretty please.
At the risk of repeating myself from previous reviews what I really love about this is the style it’s told in. Once again we have the epistolary style with diaries, reports and other items delivering the story. I just adore this. It’s so appropriate for the era in question and it also works well given the two central characters – I think Oscar Wilde famously kept a diary (because it made such sensational reading) and Stoker wrote his famous Dracula in the same fashion. Plus Stoker’s excerpts take the form of reports which are written in a no-nonsense style and relate the facts without embellishment which totally feeds into the way his character comes across in this series.
The plot here once again channels things well renowned from the period. Séances for example were very popular as was a general taste for anything macabre. Shelley’s Frankenstein was already popular feeding into the obsession with mortality (not to mention grave robbing) and all these things conspire to create a sinister novel where bodies are reanimated and used as vessels to bring back the souls of those that have passed away.
In this story mad scientist Victor Mueller still has an obsession with Bram’s blood believing it holds the key in his search to bring his wife back to life. This leads us to repeated kidnap attempts that escalate dramatically as the story progresses. On top of that we have a young girl called Lorna Bow, a medium who is gaining popularity for her ability to channel the spirits. Of course the set up is a con but as it happens Lorna has a measure of talent which becomes easy to understand when her mother finally returns to collect her daughter.
Once again Stoker and Wilde are central and foremost in the story, but I loved the inclusion of so many strong females. Stoker’s wife, Wilde’s fiancee, and even one of the actresses from the Lyceum Theatre, they all had great roles as did the young medium and her mother.
This takes us to the other element of this series that I’m loving. It seems that each book has a fascination with some form of horror from the period. We already have werewolves and vampires, plus the existence of an organisation that looks into the supernatural. This particular story seems to take us down the route of monsters of a different ilk, it gave me decided Frankenstein vibes and this combined with travel to a completely different world that smacked very much of the Land that Time Forgot made me wonder what else these authors might have up their sleeves. My tiny brain is running amok thinking of all the possibilities we still have left to explore. The Mummy? Jekyll and Hyde, The Time Machine. Maybe we will end up with an appearance by the famous Ripper or, well, I don’t know, my mind is going into overdrive thinking of all the possibilities and I can’t wait to see what comes next.
In terms of criticisms. I did harbour a tiny moment when certain people were being resurrected of thinking ‘this is batshit crazy’. But, I got over that feeling quite quickly. Things do go decidedly over the top but to be honest I loved that element of the story.
I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.
My rating 4 of 5 stars
Can’t Wait Wednesday : Fairy tale by Stephen King
15 June 2022
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Can't wait Wednesday, Fairy Tale, Stephen King, Wishful Endings
“Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme that was originally created by Breaking the Spine. Unfortunately Breaking the Spine are no longer hosting so I’m now linking my posts up to Wishful Endings Can’t Wait Wednesday. Don’t forget to stop over, link up and check out what books everyone else is waiting for. If you want to take part, basically, every Wednesday, we highlight a book that we’re really looking forward to. This week my book is: Fairy tale by Stephen King.
Legendary storyteller Stephen King goes into the deepest well of his imagination in this spellbinding novel about a seventeen-year-old boy who inherits the keys to a parallel world where good and evil are at war, and the stakes could not be higher—for that world or ours.
Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a hit-and-run accident when he was ten, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. When Charlie is seventeen, he meets a dog named Radar and her aging master, Howard Bowditch, a recluse in a big house at the top of a big hill, with a locked shed in the backyard. Sometimes strange sounds emerge from it.
Charlie starts doing jobs for Mr. Bowditch and loses his heart to Radar. Then, when Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie a cassette tape telling a story no one would believe. What Bowditch knows, and has kept secret all his long life, is that inside the shed is a portal to another world.
Expected publication: September 2022
The Echo Man by Sam Holland
My Five Word TL:DR Review: Read it if you dare
The Echo Man by Sam Holland is an impressive debut. The main concept of a copycat serial killer is chilling and horrifying to read and the pace and tension are ramped up as the police try to stop the killer before more lives are lost.
Jess Ambrose’s life is shattered when her house goes up in flames killing her husband and leaving her as the chief suspect. Determined to prove her innocence she runs from the hospital and the police and goes into hiding with the help of a renegade, and currently suspended, detective called Nate Griffin.
At the same time Cara Elliott is taking the lead on a number of recent and grisly murders. These cases are believed to be unconnected until one of the most recent murder scenes triggers a connection and the police become aware that these cases echo the MOs of previous serial killers. With this in mind, the manhunt is stepped up and at the same time the body count climbs ever higher as the murderer becomes over confident.
What I liked about the Echo Man is that the author manages to provide the characters with their own stories, background, family and tragedies. Both Jess and Nate have personal issues that they struggle with on a daily basis and are drawn to each other in an almost protective way. Cara is also struggling. She has a devoted police team but the surge in murders means that most of the time time she’s in work, missing her husband and daughter and the simple everyday things that they usually enjoy. On top of this Cara and Nate are brother and sister, which doesn’t necessarily make working together easy, particularly as Nate is liable to blow up, has a hate/hate relationship with one of the other detectives and doesn’t really follow orders.
Now, I’m just going to point out that this book makes for some shocking, vivid and almost nightmarish descriptions of murder. This is not for the faint hearted. I’m not saying the blood and death here is gratuitous because that certainly isn’t the case. The murderer is mimicking famous serial killers and posing his death scenarios in a way that is almost like a tribute to them – the fact that these are real murderers is probably what gives this the real shock value.
In terms of criticisms. Well, I had to suspend my disbelief in relation to certain things. I found myself reading and at first harboring niggles about the unlikelihood of certain elements that took place. Then I gave my head a wobble and decided that regardless of a few plot holes here and there I was going to read this for the murder mystery/chiller element that I thought was really well done. I must say that the one thing that really struck me though was the timeframe at the end – the murders were stacking up with almost indecent haste and it felt too frantic.
Overall, I think this is an impressive debut. It’s chilling, bloody and fast paced. I practically whipped though this one with indecent haste because I was desperate to know the who/what/why element and in spite of the grim bloodfest I barely put this down and in fact found myself missing the characters when everything came to an end.
I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.
My rating between 3.5 and 4 stars. Rounded up to 4
Stringers by Chris Panatier
13 June 2022
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Chris Panatier, Stringers, The Phlebotomist
My Five Word TL:DR Review : A Blast of a Book
Having read and loved The Phlebotomist by this author I was absolutely jumping for joy when I was granted a review copy of Stringers. Three things must ye know of Stringers.
Firstly, it’s completely unlike Panatier’s debut novel – they stand at the furthest opposing points that I can think of to be honest and this being sci fi I did feel a little nervous about requesting a copy.
Secondly, and this could just be the mood I was in when I picked this up, but, this made me laugh out loud on so many occasions that it was practically addictive. It was like that moment when you open a huge bag of crisps, sweets, popcorn (or whatever it is that takes your fancy) and before you know it you’ve eaten the entire (family size I might add) bag and you’re puzzled about where they’ve all gone. Basically, this made me feel good, even down to the fact that I persisted with the ‘harder sci-fi’ elements and actually felt like I was on board, and when something makes you feel good you don’t want to stop. Hence I read this almost in a day.
Thirdly, I can safely say this was one of my most anticipated reads this year and we all know how damaging over hype can be to any book. Seriously, my expectations were up there amongst the stars but I’m happy to report that on this occasion the anticipation and hype were rewarded with a fantastic read and then some.
The plot. I can see where the comparisons to Hitchhiker’s Guide come from here. You have your two witless humans, abducted by a space bounty hunter, you have a really amusing (although obviously humour is very subjective so whereas I found this pretty darn amusing others may not) cosmic space opera with a really unique concept. Now, I can’t tell you too much about the plot other than to say that one of the abductees has a wealth of information stored in his brain, something that certain other ‘aliens’ would pay handsomely for. As you may imagine, our two humans are about to go on the ride of a lifetime, dangerous, life threatening and very strange. I seriously don’t want to give away anything else because I had a lot of fun finding out in what direction this story was going in without any prior knowledge.
The characters. We have Ben and his pal Patton. Ben is a mind of useless information – well, probably not useless if you want to know in depth details about the sex life of insects or the inner workings of a wristwatch, but otherwise, yeah, not terribly helpful during your bog standard day. He doesn’t know how he knows what he knows, he just knows it. And, unfortunately it’s like a constant assault of information flooding his brain day in day out. He’s desperate to find out what it’s all about. Patton is a good friend and joins in for the ride not suspecting what he’s letting himself in for. Naecia is another of the abductees, an alien, also with a wealth of strange information within her own brain. Aptat is the bounty hunter. He has a sharp tongue, is totally calculating and, I don’t know if I should confess to this, but I really enjoyed reading the chapters where he was involved. Last but by no means least, we have Pickles. I’ll leave you to discover that one for yourselves.
In terms of criticisms. Well, I did have a slight slowing down period when I was getting on board with the science fiction elements – but, I’m happy to say that this was only temporary and even more happy to have actually felt like I understood all the explanations. Also, I’m not going to lie, there is a certain ‘ick’ factor to some of the chapters that maybe could have been shortened a little for me. But, overall nothing that actually made me want to give up or that spoiled the read.
In a nutshell, Stringers is a witty, madcap, cosmic adventure that was thrilling to read and made me laugh, cringe and (almost) cry and that kept me reading into the wee hours of the morning. I’m absolutely fascinated to see what this author will spring on us next.
I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.
My rating 4.5 of 5 stars
Books and travelling with Lynn 