Weekly Wrap Up : 12th May 2019
I have had a blast this week. Lots going on and plenty of walking and reading. I’ve read four books and really enjoyed them. A Brightness Long ago and Westside were absolutely stand out books that I really enjoyed – in fact I was sorry to see them end and I’m absolutely loving Belcher’s Brotherhood of the Wheel books – will there be more, curious minds need to know?? Of course, lots of reading does mean I’m slightly behind with reviews so I’ll hopefully be posting a few over the next few days. So, here’s my week in review:
My books:
- Dark Shores by Danielle L. Jensen
- Westside by WM Akers
- A Brightness Long Ago by Guy Gavriel Kay
- King of the Road by RS Belcher
Next week’s reads:
- The Poison Song by Jen Williams
- We Ride the Storm by Devin Madson
- Orconomics by J Zachary Pike
Upcoming reviews
- Girls with Sharp Sticks by Suzanne Young
- The Gods of Men by Barbara Kloss
- Dark Shores by Danielle L. Jensen
- Westside by WM Akers
- A Brightness Long Ago by Guy Gavriel Kay
- King of the Road by RS Belcher
I’d love to know what you’re reading this week.
Wyrd and Wonder: Stunning Debut : Westside by WM Akers
(May is the month of Wyrd and Wonder – details here, Twitter: @wyrdandwonder)
The month of May is full of Wyrd and Wonder and today’s prompt is ‘Stunning Debut’.
I’ve just finished reading Westside by WM Akers and I absolutely loved it, my review isn’t posted yet but I wanted to share the love of this book with everyone and today’s prompt is the perfect opportunity. This is a story that marries mystery, urban fantasy and 1920’s prohibition New York. The setting is a divided city and the atmosphere is reminiscent of Gangs of New York. It gave me a Gaiman/Lynch vibe in the portrayal of other worldliness and the criminal underworld. A definite 5 out of 5 star read for me.
Here’s the synopsis and cover:
A young detective who specializes in “tiny mysteries” finds herself at the center of a massive conspiracy in this beguiling historical fantasy set on Manhattan’s Westside—a peculiar and dangerous neighborhood home to strange magic and stranger residents—that blends the vivid atmosphere of Caleb Carr with the imaginative power of Neil Gaiman.
New York is dying, and the one woman who can save it has smaller things on her mind.
It’s 1921, and a thirteen-mile fence running the length of Broadway splits the island of Manhattan, separating the prosperous Eastside from the Westside—an overgrown wasteland whose hostility to modern technology gives it the flavor of old New York. Thousands have disappeared here, and the respectable have fled, leaving behind the killers, thieves, poets, painters, drunks, and those too poor or desperate to leave.
It is a hellish landscape, and Gilda Carr proudly calls it home.
Slightly built, but with a will of iron, Gilda follows in the footsteps of her late father, a police detective turned private eye. Unlike that larger-than-life man, Gilda solves tiny mysteries: the impossible puzzles that keep us awake at night; the small riddles that destroy us; the questions that spoil marriages, ruin friendships, and curdle joy. Those tiny cases distract her from her grief, and the one impossible question she knows she can’t answer: “How did my father die?”
Yet on Gilda’s Westside, tiny mysteries end in blood—even the case of a missing white leather glove. Mrs. Copeland, a well-to-do Eastside housewife, hires Gilda to find it before her irascible merchant husband learns it is gone. When Gilda witnesses Mr. Copeland’s murder at a Westside pier, she finds herself sinking into a mire of bootlegging, smuggling, corruption—and an evil too dark to face.
All she wants is to find one dainty ladies’ glove. She doesn’t want to know why this merchant was on the wrong side of town—or why he was murdered in cold blood. But as she begins to see the connection between his murder, her father’s death, and the darkness plaguing the Westside, she faces the hard truth: she must save her city or die with it.
Introducing a truly remarkable female detective, Westside is a mystery steeped in the supernatural and shot through with gunfights, rotgut whiskey, and sizzling Dixieland jazz. Full of dazzling color, delightful twists, and truly thrilling action, it announces the arrival of a remarkable talent.
Friday Face Off : “As full of spirit as the month of May”
10 May 2019
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Alice's Adventures in Wonerland, Friday Face off, John Tenniel, Lewis Carroll, Wyrd and Wonder
(May is the month of Wyrd and Wonder – details here, Twitter: @wyrdandwonder)
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, compare a couple of the different covers available for that particular book and choose your favourite. Future week’s themes are listed below – the list has been updated to help out those of you who like to plan ahead – 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. This week’s theme:
“As full of spirit as the month of May” – A cover featuring a festival/party/celebration
Well, I confess, I struggled with this one and had to go with a classic because I knew I’d find a cover that fit somehow. I hope everyone managed this easier than I did! Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and a couple of covers with the Mad Hatter’s tea party:
I quite like a few of these to be honest. But, I think my favourite, because it seems to fit in my mind with the imagery I always picture for this novel, is this one:
Which one is your favourite?
Like last week I’ve added a Mr Linky here so that you can leave a link if you wish or please leave me a link in the comments so we can all visit and check out each others covers. Thanks
I’ve updated the list and included themes through to the end of 2019 – I’ve also included events that I’m aware of so that you can perhaps link your themes up where possible (if you know of an event you’d like to share that let me know in the comments). I also have a list prepared for 2020 and so will set up a separate page soon for forthcoming themes. As always, if you wish to submit an idea then leave me a comment.
Next week – A cover featuring a fantasy beast
Future themes: (if you’re struggling with any of these themes then use a ‘freebie’ or one of your favourite covers)
2019
(May is the month of Wyrd and Wonder – details here, Twitter: @wyrdandwonder)
17th May – “The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn. Go back to the Shadow!” – A cover featuring a fantasy beast
24th May – “bibbity, bobbity, boo” – A cover that features ‘magical things’
31st May – “simples” – A favourite fantasy cover
7th June – “One swallow does not make a summer” – A cover that makes you think of Summer
14th June – “Coraline opened the box of chocolates. The dog looked at them longingly.” – A cover featuring something sweet
21st June – Summer Solstice – the longest day of the year – Pagan rituals/standing stones/blazing suns – a cover with your own interpretation
28th June – “And who decided which people wore the striped pyjamas” – A cover that is striped
5th July – “The question of whether or not we are alone in the universe… has been answered” – a cover featuring something/somebody historic
12th July – A wrap around cover
19th July – “You can’t choose between life and death when we’re dealing with what is in between.” – A cover that is grainy or looks like ‘white noise’
26th July – “Ludo ….. down” – A cover that is Upside Down
2nd August – “There are children here somewhere. I can smell them.” A cover featuring children
9th August – “I’m disinclined to acquiesce to your request.” – A cover featuring Pirates
16th August – “The haft of the arrow had been feathered with one of the eagles own plumes” – a cover featuring feathers
23rd August – A cover that is a movie tie in
30th August – “I wandered lonely as a cloud” – a cover that is predominantly yellow
6th September “Warm September brings the fruit” – a cover that is seasonal for Autumn/Fall
13th September – Friday the 13th – unlucky for some! A cover with ‘curse’ in the title
20th September – “Your hair is winter fire,January embers.” – A cover featuring hair
27th September – Freebie
4th October – “Feed me Seymour” – A cover that is 60s horror
11th October – ““And, though there should be a world of difference between the smile of a man and the bared fangs of a wolf, with Joss Merlyn they were one and the same.” – a cover featuring an Inn
18th October – “It’s your favorite scary movie, remember? He had on the white mask, he stalked the babysitters.” – A cover featuring a scream
25th October – for Halloween – pick any scary cover you like
(I’m hoping that November will once again bring to us SciFiMonth – Twitter @SciFiMonth)
1st November – A cover that is predominantly grey
8th November – “big badda boom” – a cover that features an explosion
15th November – “No thinking thing should be another thing’s property, to be turned on and off when it is convenient.” – a cover featuring a robot
22nd November – A cover that is Futuristic
29th November – “When a day that you happen to know is Wednesday starts off by sounding like Sunday, there is something seriously wrong somewhere.” – a cover that is 60s sci fi
6th December – Now is the winter of our discontent, Made glorious summer by this sun of York” – a cover that puts you in mind of winter
13th December – A cover that features a temple/or religious icon
20th December – Longest Night – a dark and foreboding cover
27th December – the festive season – a cover that is glittery or sparkling
(2020 – January is Vintage SciFi month so I’ll be including possible themes to take that on board.)
Throwback Thursday : The Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs
9 May 2019
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Mercy Thompson, Patricia Briggs, The Tenacious Reader, Throwback Thursday, Wyrd and Wonder
(May is the month of Wyrd and Wonder – details here, Twitter: @wyrdandwonder)
Throwback Thursday, is a new feature created by Tenacious Reader with the aim of highlighting books from your reading past. This can be virtually anything, a book that you previously read and loved, a book that you want to highlight again, maybe it’s a book in a series and the next book is due out shortly so you want to focus some attention on the series. Anything goes – so long as your book isn’t a current release as there are already plenty of ways to highlight the latest books.
Given the Wyrd & Wonder event and the spotlight on fantasy this week I’m highlighting another urban fantasy series that I love (last week’s TT was the October Daye series): the Mercy Thompson series of books by Patricia Briggs. This is another long standing series that has a new book released today and with that new release the total number of books in the series now stands at 11 titles. This is a series that is well worth picking up, particularly if you like a strong female lead. Mercy is a no-nonsense car mechanic with a Native American heritage that has given her the ability to shape shift. Again, this might seem like a daunting backlog of books but it’s the sort of series that pulls you in so successfully that you will probably end up binge reading a lot of them (at least that’s what I would probably do!). I highly recommend this series, it builds on a strong foundation and adds more and more depth with each successive book. Feast your eyes on these lovelies:
And, released today, the latest in series:
Little Darlings by Melanie Golding
Little Darlings is an unusual book to review, not least of all because of the possibility of spoilers, but also because it’s a slippery sucker that’s difficult to pin down. Is it a dark twisted fairy tale, a mystery or a case of one woman’s journey through post-natal depression? What I can say is this was a creepy and compelling read, maybe not exactly what I was expecting when I picked it up but nonetheless it was thoroughly gripping and at the same time an excellent exploration of the doubts and fears of being a new mother.
Basically, this is like all your worst nightmares coming true as a new mother and it’s really well written to be honest. We make the acquaintance of Lauren. Pregnant and expecting twins she’s starting to discover little cracks in her relationship, possibly not the best timing but then the babies decide to put in an appearance and all is forgotten. Of course Lauren is exhausted and sore and struggling to cope with two newborn babies with very little support – her husband certainly seems only too happy to relinquish responsibility at the drop of a hat. So, you can imagine, that when Lauren calls the police from hospital, hysterical and talking of a woman trying to steal her babies the doctors immediately write her claims off as lack of sleep.
All except one detective, Jo Harper. Jo has ghosts that haunt her from the past, that she still feels remorse over and that lead her to examine things in greater depth. I’m not saying that Jo believes Lauren but at the same time she doesn’t totally knock her claims on the head, although her boss refuses to sign off the expense needed to investigate events which leaves her in a rather tricky situation.
So, let’s talk about the other woman. Lauren wakes up in the hospital late at night and can hear singing coming from the next cubicle, when she peeps inside an old woman is crouched over a basket, seemingly where twins are lying. The woman is bedraggled, unkempt and smells of the river. She makes Lauren an offer, she’ll take one of Lauren’s boys and leave one of hers in his place and if Lauren refuses this offer she threatens to take both. Then things turn really nasty and that’s when Lauren calls the police. Of course, the old woman can’t be found, no images show up on the hospital’s CCTV and so the episode is put down to over exhaustion and frayed nerves.
Now, I can’t really tell you too much more about the plot, Lauren returns home and from there things go from bad to worse. That’s all I’ll say.
My thoughts. The writing is excellent. I felt exhausted myself just reading about Lauren’s struggles and fears for her twins. She has so very little support and as mentioned above her husband takes absolutely no responsibility for the twins whatsoever. Okay, he’s at work and he has to be able to wake up in the morning but he felt very cold as a character and I found him incredibly irritating, not to mention he had something of a roving eye. There was the awful tension that just increased little by little of Lauren not coping, becoming very insular, of everyone starting to look more closely at her – you had this horrible feeling that everything was going to go awfully wrong, and of course it did, but when things finally come crashing down boy oh boy do they come crashing!
I mentioned above that this isn’t quite what I was expecting. I don’t mean this negatively, I just think I imagined there would be more of the fae elements with the whole changeling aspect to the story whereas this comes across much more as a contemporary story with a slight element of magical realism. Regardless, of that it’s a very good read, dark and sinuous in nature with just enough things thrown into the mix to make you wonder. In fact that’s another thing that I thought was really well done – the way the author makes you doubt things yourself as the story develops casting suspicion on people and scattering red herrings around.
The other thing that also came across to me was Lauren’s sense of, not just isolation, which was massively the case during parts of the story, or of the extreme tiredness she felt due to sleepless nights but also this overwhelming fear of not coping and being very much aware of this huge responsibility that she had taken on board.
In terms of criticisms. I don’t really have anything much to say, I think if you read a lot of mystery/thrillers then you’ll probably be able to pick holes in the police procedural elements of this and if you read a lot of fantasy then you might find this a little on the light side speculatively speaking, but, I didn’t mind either of those and thought the two came together very well.
Overall, I found this a good read, quite dark and creepy and definitely tense.
I received a copy through Netgalley courtesy of the publisher for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.
