Moonstone by Laura Purcell
20 May 2024
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Book Reviews, fiction, Gothic, Laura Purcell, Moonstone, Romance, Werewolves
My Five Word TL:DR Review : I Wanted to Love It
Well, I had mixed feelings about requesting this book because it is YA and to be fair YA rarely works well for me as I have too many questions along the way. But, I do so love this author and I thought if anyone can write a winning YA it could be Purcell so I couldn’t resist. So, pinch of salt time, I’m not the target audience for this book and it could very well work wonders for younger readers. I would also say that this is packed with glorious writing and the author’s trademark gothic atmosphere.
This story is told in two timelines by Camille. Camille has been sent away for a cooling period following a scandal that has impacted on the family in a negative way. She’s been sent to live with her godmother Rowena and her daughter Lucy. Lucy suffers from a mystery illness that the whole household revolves around. When I say the ‘household’ this is quite different from what Camille is used to, no servants here. This is a working farm and Camille is expected to muck in. The only other person is Bridget who is something of an apothecarist herself and a dab hand at knocking up concoctions for Lucy’s ailments.
Rowena has ran away from a violent marriage and is effectively in hiding. She lives almost like a recluse and Bridget is their connection to the local village. Of course there is much gossip about the family, particularly as Bridget visits the local apothecary on a frequent basis, often purchasing items that are highly toxic.
The timelines jump between Camille’s time on the farm and then takes us forward to Camille, once again reunited with her family but suffering herself from a terrible illness.
My feelings about this book.
I loved that the story is set in the Regency period, it really plays into the plot, particularly Camille’s obsession with gothic novels which were all the rage during the period.
The setting of the farm was really well done. Rowena’s family had an old hunting lodge which is nestled in the forest. A foreboding stone structure with creeping ivy and crenellations poking out through the tree tops.
The writing is lovely, which is exactly as I expected. Purcell creates fantastic atmosphere and a wonderful sense of foreboding.
What didn’t work so well for me.
Well, firstly, there’s the whole issue of keeping Camille in the dark about Lucy’s condition. It was so obvious as a reader what was going on and yet Camille, with her fantastic imagination, was unable to piece things together and in fact went off on totally the wrong tangent. Personally, given the danger of the situation it surely would have been more sensible for Rowena to share with Camille what was really going on. As it was, the secrecy and veiled conversations simply led her to keep digging and causing much more of a nuisance than was necessary.
Camille was a little bit shallow. She questions things all the time and yet things that are really as plain as the nose on your face she fails to pick up on. It was a bit frustrating, like she was willfully ignorant. And some of her actions were infuriating.
There are two potential love interests here but for me both lacked any sort of chemistry.
The ending felt rushed and a little bit incredulous.
I realise that this comes across as very negative and it pains me to write such a review for a favourite author but even with the wonderful setting and gorgeous writing this one just didn’t work for me.
Again though, I’m not the target audience, I had misgivings in the first place and I think I should have stuck with my gut feelings. YA rarely works for me, it simply fails to answer my need for information. And, to be honest, I felt like Purcell’s wonderful storytelling ability was shackled by the restraints that writing in this bracket placed upon her.
Anyway, I will still avidly await Purcell’s next work.
I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.
My rating
2.5 of 5 stars
You Are Here by David Nicholls
6 May 2024
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Book Reviews, David Nicholls, fiction, You Are Here
My Five Word TL:DR Review : Michael and Marnie go Walking
You Are Here by David Nicholls is a step away from my usual reading. I read One Day a long time ago by this author and it always stayed with me so on a whim I decided to request this one and to be honest, it didn’t disappoint.
This is a story about two individuals that seem to be living in the shadow of life. Time is passing by and both feel like their chances have come and gone. However, one very persistent friend, is absolutely determined to work her magic and throw a few of her friends together and see what happens.
So Marnie and Michael meet on a walk. From the start things seem to go wrong. The weather is unkind. One of the friends doesn’t turn up and Marnie is attracted to someone who also dashes off in a hurry.
A bit of background. Michael is a teacher with a love for geography. He and his wife were struggling in their relationship and have now separated and Michael is struggling to come to terms with this often taking himself off on long solitary walks.
Marnie rushed into a marriage that always seemed a little ill fated only for her husband to leave her for another woman. She now spends most of her time working from home, editing books and living a fairly quiet existence. Neither of them want to be cajoled into socialising so being thrown together on a rather challenging walk definitely leads to some funny situations.
To be fair there isn’t too much I can tell you about this. It does exactly as you would expect. It’s a charming and well told story of second chances and finding love in places you’d least expect. The writing is enjoyable and there’s a consistent pacing as we travel from place to place, climbing peaks, suffering sore feet, being drenched by torrential rainfall and gradually spending some time unwinding together at the end of a day having achieved a rather strenuous hike.
I liked Marnie and Michael. They’re both a little grumpy at first – well, Marnie makes an attempt at a little dressing up and light flirting but when this goes wrong she is absolutely determined to prove that she can do this challenging walk. She has a good sense of humour that I enjoyed and the banter between the two is good fun. Michael is curmudgeonly and ill kempt at first appearance, he likes to wax lyrical about rocks and really doesn’t put too much effort into anything, but to be honest, he’s simply got used to keeping his own company and not really having to try and please others. He simply wants to walk – by himself. Is it really too much to ask?
Overall this is a lovely read. Light and amusing. If you’re looking for that perfect beach read I highly recommend this. It’s a heartwarming read with characters that have become hurt by life and have shied away only to find out that love is still a possibility – which isn’t to say everything goes swimmingly of course – you’ve been warned.
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
The Friday Face Off: You Are Here by David Nicholls
3 May 2024
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Books, David Nicholls, fiction, Friday Face Of, reading, You Are Here
Today I’m returning to the Friday Face Off, originally created by Books by Proxy). I’ve missed these for the past few months and so would like to get back to comparing covers (and hopefully I will be updating this page with a new banner. This is an opportunity to look at a book of your choice and shine the spotlight on the covers. Of course this only works for those books that have alternative covers (although sometimes I use this to look at a series of books to choose a favourite). . So, if you have a book that has alternative covers, highlight them and choose your favourite. If you’re taking part it would be great if you leave a link so I can take a look at what you’ve chosen.
This week my book is a recent read that I shall be reviewing next week. You Are Here by David Nicholls. Perhaps not my typical read but I read One Day by this author many years ago and so wanted to give this a try. Anyway, here are the covers:
My favourite this week:
It’s a no-brainer for me this week. I don’t dislike the other covers but this is reminiscent of an older style novel somehow, I don’t know, I simply like it.
Which is your favourite?
Join me next week in highlighting one of your reads with different covers.
The Puppet Master by Sam Holland (Major Crimes #3)
30 April 2024
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Book Reviews, fiction, Major Crimes #3, Sam Holland, The Puppet Master
My Five Word TL:DR Review : Fast Paced, Dark and Brutal
Another winning Major Crimes story from Sam Holland.
In this story we return to DCI Cara Elliott and her brother Griffin (Nate) after taking a spin with another DCi for the second in series, The Twenty. I’m loving this series so far. The pacing is good, the stories are always compelling and I like the character work. I would say that each novel in the series is a standalone and you don’t need to read the others (although you might miss a little character development if you jump in straight at this point). That being said, the author does a good job of explaining things in a smooth way that blends seamlessly into the story.
Cara and her brother first made their appearance for The Echo Man, a gruesome tale of a serial killer that was bloody and brutal. This story starts in a different fashion. The team are asked to take a look at what appears to be a suicide, but things don’t quite add up and Cara is concerned by some troubling niggles, which increase substantially when a couple more suicides occur in quick succession.
I don’t really want to give anything away for this one as it’s best read with as little knowledge as possible so instead let’s look at what I enjoyed.
The pacing. This series could be known as the ‘fast and furious’. The plot moves forward at a terrific pace and I sometimes wonder if this is part of a cunning plan by the author to give the reader little chance to sit and ponder. The storyline is also compelling. It’s one of those stories that I’d like to say I enjoyed but it doesn’t feel like the right word at all – given the nature of some of the deaths in this (and also beware – there are plenty of TWs amongst these pages) – I think I’d say unputdownable instead.
It was really good to return to Cara and Griffin. I liked the way they worked together tbh and hope that we see them in action again in future episodes. Both of them are struggling with their own demons but at the same time are coming to understand that they can trust each other – it was a nice element to the story that worked well. The team are under enormous strain. The unit is depleted and everyone is stressed out. It’s difficult to recruit to the team (for reasons that could be spoilery for previous books so I won’t mention) and the full situation feels like an accident waiting to happen. As it is, they all manage to hold it together as they’re pulled from pillar to post following the strangest trail of breadcrumbs.
The setting is fairly small scale – which I liked. The deaths here, whilst they initially feel unconnected, it soon appears that there are small similarities that begin to occur and although some of the characters are unknown to each other they move in very similar circles.
In terms of criticisms. Well, not really a criticism but these stories are all a little over the top in some ways, I don’t think they always stick to reality and there are always plenty of twists. I don’t mind this at all to be honest but thought it worth mentioning.
Also, as stated above this book can feel disturbingly brutal. These murders are unapologetically grim so bear that in mind.
To round up, I thoroughly enjoyed The Puppet Master in fact I’d say it was my favourite of the series so far.
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
#SPFBO 9: Finalist Review: The Last Fang of God by Ryan Kirk
15 April 2024
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: #SPFBO 9, Book Reviews, fiction, Finalist Review, Ryan Kirk, The Last Fang of God
What is SPFBO 9? This is a competition where authors of self-published fantasy can enter their work. The objective to find a winner out of the 300 entries submitted. Ten judges (or judging teams) each receive 30 entrants. Each judge/team will eventually submit one finalist to the second round where a winner will eventually be decided upon. Check out Mark Lawrence’s post here to look at this year’s entrants, judges and allocations list. Also, check out this page to see all the lovely finalists and the scoreboard for Phase 2 of the competition.
Today I’m posting my sixth review of the nine SPFBO finalists that I’ve read. Only three more reviews left to fall – next one probably later this week.
This is a review for The Last Fang of God by Ryan Kirk. This is a fairly short(ish) story with a strong father/daughter focus and the journey they need to make together when the Gods start to meddle in their lives.
Kalen left his warrior life behind. Once a master of the Runes and with a fearsome reputation he gave it all up for a quiet life in a small village. He kept his past buried (along with his sword Fang), trying to give his daughter, Sasha, the sort of upbringing that he never had. Unfortunately, Kalen’s God has other plans and so when Sasha begins to experience night walking episodes Kalen knows only too well what the outcome will be. He consults one of the local women who reads the signs and confirms Kalen’s suspicions. Sasha must return to Kalen’s old home, she is being called by his God and to ignore the call is basically a death sentence. Of course, Sasha is not happy about leaving her life and everything she knows behind, she’s particularly unhappy to discover that her father has been keeping secrets her entire life but at the end of the day tough choices must be made if she wants to stay alive. The two must now face a difficult journey, made perilous by the number of foes along the way and the ever ticking deadline nipping at their heels.
I enjoyed The Last Fang of God. It manages to pack quite a story into a relatively small package. The character work is really good and I enjoyed learning of Kalen’s backstory and meeting the people he knows along the way.
This very much has the feeling of a ‘going from A to B’ type story – fortunately this works for me and the author manages to inject enough new material along the way to keep the story compelling.
As I mentioned, Kalen has an intriguing past. A feared warrior and master of the runes he was the champion of his God until he left quite suddenly. His backstory is gradually revealed as the two travel together. He meets old friends and also enemies (some that used to be friends) and his story falls into place. I liked Kalen. He is quiet and confident. He fears for his daughter and is unsure how to make amends for having kept her in the dark. To be fair I couldn’t blame Kalen for burying his past, he wanted a shot at normality and although he may not be naturally suited, or indeed love, the farming life, he also wanted his daughter to experience this way of life rather than the brutal and battle soaked one that was his own.
Sasha has the ability to become really quite annoying during parts of the story – but – at the same time I also felt her moodiness and general teenage eye-rolling-reluctant-to-listen-you’ve-ruined-my-life-attitude to be quite realistic in a lot of respects. She doesn’t trust her dad. She doesn’t want this new life or the responsibility being thrust upon her. She constantly rails against it until Kalen begins to share some of his past and more than that come to the realisation that she needs to learn at least some basic skills if she’s going to survive. And so begins a grudging, tentative at first, sort of respect/truce between the two where Kalen acknowledges that Sasha is a young adult and Sasha realises that her father has a lot of knowledge and experience that he is willing to share.
I really enjoyed this aspect of the story and thought it was really well done. Yes, Sasha can be infuriating, yes Kalen should open up and help her learn, but these things just don’t happen overnight and I liked that the change between the two was a gradual process.
Now, on top of this we have a lot of rival tribes along the way which helps to maintain the tension. Kalen is helped out by some unusual conspirators who help the two escape some tricky situations when the outlook looks dire and I loved the different tribes and the Gods they followed.
The writing is good and the pace is also consistently upbeat with plenty of new experiences to keep the story fresh. I will say that I was surprised that this is a standalone and in fact my only real criticism is that I think this could have easily included more pages – although it is quite refreshing to be asking for more rather than feeling that the story is carrying too much bulk.
Overall this was a quick and punchy read set in a Viking style world with tricky and oftentimes cruel Gods, pretty cool magic and a winning father/daughter relationship. I would like to read more from this author based on the strength of this novel. It’s just a shame that he isn’t returning to this world as it has such a good foundation here.
I received a copy courtesy of the author, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.
My rating 7.5 of 10 (rounded to 4 of 5 for Goodreads)
Books and travelling with Lynn 