I have to be honest and say I have no idea how she does it. Jo Jo Moyles takes a storyline, which in many other writers’ hands would become bland, mundane and predictable, and effortlessly weaves it into a brilliant novel. Her latest novel, The One plus One, proved to be just as irresistible and enjoyable as her previous other books.
Jess is a single mother, with two kids and who is struggling to make ends meet. Tanzie, her youngest and a maths genius, has been offered a scholarship to a private school where her love of all things numerical will be nurtured. Nicky, her ex-husband’s son, is going through his own private hell, as he tries to avoid the local bullies on a daily basis. Enter Ed, a rich business man who has just been charged with insider dealing. He ends up taking Jess, Tanzie, Nicky, and their flatulent dog, Norman, to Aberdeen, to give Tanzie a chance of winning a maths competition.
Needless to say, this book was absolutely brilliant. Told through each of the character’s view points, we get to see events through different eyes. Never too obvious or sentimental, the story still manages to tug at your emotions in all the right places (there may have been a tear or two at the end) and leaves you feeling warm and fuzzy, and yet strangely bereft at having to leave the world of Jess and Ed.
Saturday, 14 December 2013
Tuesday, 27 August 2013
Wars of the Roses: Stormbird by Conn Iggulden
This book came at just the right time for me, as I had started watching Philippa Gregory’s The White Queen on BBC1. Although I have read many of the books that write about the Tudor reign, this book featured an earlier part of their history than I had previously read about.
As I don’t know very much at all about this era of British history, I’m obviously not in a position to comment on the accuracy of the novel. Nor am I aware enough of the events and battles to know whether or not they are true to form.
However as a novel, I found it enjoyable and I was able to keep up with all the events. Focusing on the events in Normandy and Kent during Henry VI’s reign, the action switches back and forth from France to the UK, with a few stop offs at the Tower of London for a gruesome torture scene. The main characters, both royal and peasant, feature throughout and are well written. I found it interesting to note some of the events and how they lead onto later monarchs and the later Tudor reign. Henry’s wife, Margaret, who continues to play a large role in the other books I have read about the Tudors, fitted in well and her description as a young girl, matched the older descriptions of her and blended in seamlessly.
As with many other stories of the Tudors, there is a person behind the crown, in this case Derry, who uses and manipulates the young and ill king and enters into a battle of wills with his young wife. Derry sacrifices the English lands in France to create a truce between the warring countries. Whilst on the ground in France, is a farmer and his son, determined to fight against losing their land to the French knights.
I did find that the story and the plot maybe went on a little bit too long. By the end of the book I found that the action was really dragging and it could have been wrapped up a lot sooner. I would also be intrigued to see where the second book in the series falls, as this book faded out somewhat, rather than leading to an ending where the second book could pick up.
However as a novel, I found it enjoyable and I was able to keep up with all the events. Focusing on the events in Normandy and Kent during Henry VI’s reign, the action switches back and forth from France to the UK, with a few stop offs at the Tower of London for a gruesome torture scene. The main characters, both royal and peasant, feature throughout and are well written. I found it interesting to note some of the events and how they lead onto later monarchs and the later Tudor reign. Henry’s wife, Margaret, who continues to play a large role in the other books I have read about the Tudors, fitted in well and her description as a young girl, matched the older descriptions of her and blended in seamlessly.
As with many other stories of the Tudors, there is a person behind the crown, in this case Derry, who uses and manipulates the young and ill king and enters into a battle of wills with his young wife. Derry sacrifices the English lands in France to create a truce between the warring countries. Whilst on the ground in France, is a farmer and his son, determined to fight against losing their land to the French knights.
I did find that the story and the plot maybe went on a little bit too long. By the end of the book I found that the action was really dragging and it could have been wrapped up a lot sooner. I would also be intrigued to see where the second book in the series falls, as this book faded out somewhat, rather than leading to an ending where the second book could pick up.
The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls, by Anton Di Sclafani
There was something about this book, right from the start that got me hooked. I couldn’t tell you exactly what it was, but from the moment I picked it up, I wanted to keep reading.
The storyline itself is quite simple – Thea has been sent away to the riding camp by her parents. At first we don’t know anything about the reasons why, only that Thea sees it as a punishment for something she has done. Whilst she gets to know the girls at the camp, Thea is able to enjoy herself surrounded by the riding that she loves so much. As the book progresses, we are given tantalising glimpses into Thea’s home life with her parents and her twin brother, and her aunt and uncle and cousin. Slowly we are drip fed information which helps us build up a picture of not only the life Thea lived before the camp but the series of events which led up to her being sent away.
I absolutely loved the style of writing of the book and found the descriptions of the people, the relationships and even of the camp to be brilliantly evocative. Even though I’m not a horse rider myself, I found myself carried away by Thea on the back of Sasi, her horse. I too wanted to ride in the mountain encircled ring at the camp and join the girls in their escapades. Whilst the background story to Thea’s arrival at the camp is not anything unusual, the slow and gradual reveal means that you become more and more enmeshed into Thea’s world and slowly you can see what she has lost, and gained.
This is a book to read again and again and each time enjoy just as much. A fantastic book from this author and I will definitely be looking out for future books by him.
The storyline itself is quite simple – Thea has been sent away to the riding camp by her parents. At first we don’t know anything about the reasons why, only that Thea sees it as a punishment for something she has done. Whilst she gets to know the girls at the camp, Thea is able to enjoy herself surrounded by the riding that she loves so much. As the book progresses, we are given tantalising glimpses into Thea’s home life with her parents and her twin brother, and her aunt and uncle and cousin. Slowly we are drip fed information which helps us build up a picture of not only the life Thea lived before the camp but the series of events which led up to her being sent away.
I absolutely loved the style of writing of the book and found the descriptions of the people, the relationships and even of the camp to be brilliantly evocative. Even though I’m not a horse rider myself, I found myself carried away by Thea on the back of Sasi, her horse. I too wanted to ride in the mountain encircled ring at the camp and join the girls in their escapades. Whilst the background story to Thea’s arrival at the camp is not anything unusual, the slow and gradual reveal means that you become more and more enmeshed into Thea’s world and slowly you can see what she has lost, and gained.
This is a book to read again and again and each time enjoy just as much. A fantastic book from this author and I will definitely be looking out for future books by him.
My Husband Next Door by Catherine Alliott
My husband next door is a delightful example of lit chick .. chick lit… flick chick lit.. you know what I mean. Bumbling, clumsy, struggling mum of two Ella lives in a ramshackle farm house in the country, complete with dogs, sheep, husband in the outbuildings and a transsexual chicken. Her sister, in comparison, is beautifully turned out, busy with charity fundraisers and bringing up her two perfect children. Into Ella’s life comes her mother, having left her father, and the gorgeous new gardener Ludo.
Clumsy heroine with perfect sibling – tick. Handsome new love interest – tick. Amusing plotline complete with heroine embarrassing herself at every turn – tick. Oh and the obligatory happy ending – tick. Sounds familiar?
On the surface, My Husband Next Door is generically identical to so many other books of the same genre. And really, there’s nothing wrong in this. I like a book where I know what is going to happen, and how the book is going to pan out. I have nothing against an amusing romp in the countryside with chickens, hens and a disagreeable mother. And I defy anyone not to smirk on various occasions throughout the book. Once I thought I knew what the book was about, I settled into it with an air of amusement and relaxation. And yet, once the book gets going, I was able to forget all about the stereotypes and enjoy it for what it was. Ella’s troubled relationship with her husband gets given far more description and page time than I would have thought, and actually turned out to be far more interesting and surprising than I would have given the book credit for. Overall, the book was able to add depth to characters which I thought would remain 2d. I won’t lie and pretend the book doesn't end how you expect it to, but the journey to get there was enjoyable and fun.
Clumsy heroine with perfect sibling – tick. Handsome new love interest – tick. Amusing plotline complete with heroine embarrassing herself at every turn – tick. Oh and the obligatory happy ending – tick. Sounds familiar?
On the surface, My Husband Next Door is generically identical to so many other books of the same genre. And really, there’s nothing wrong in this. I like a book where I know what is going to happen, and how the book is going to pan out. I have nothing against an amusing romp in the countryside with chickens, hens and a disagreeable mother. And I defy anyone not to smirk on various occasions throughout the book. Once I thought I knew what the book was about, I settled into it with an air of amusement and relaxation. And yet, once the book gets going, I was able to forget all about the stereotypes and enjoy it for what it was. Ella’s troubled relationship with her husband gets given far more description and page time than I would have thought, and actually turned out to be far more interesting and surprising than I would have given the book credit for. Overall, the book was able to add depth to characters which I thought would remain 2d. I won’t lie and pretend the book doesn't end how you expect it to, but the journey to get there was enjoyable and fun.
Two Evils by P.J.Tracy
Two Evils is part of a serious of books featuring Grace McBride and her “gang” of computer hackers at monkeewrench.
Two men are found killed in their house, execution style, and the next morning another murder, this time of three men. However when the police start to investigate, it turns out that the men in question were hardly upstanding citizens. Local policemen Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth are drafted in to try and solve these murders, along with a murder of a 15 year old girl. Grace becomes involved after thwarting an assassination attempt on an FBI officer and the action culminates in a violent confrontation on an isolated Indian reservation.
Starting off with a mixture of characters and murders, it takes a while for the different storylines to start blending together. Once I had got into the book and started to make sense of all the plots, it did begin to move along nicely, and I particularly enjoyed the moral dilemma aspects to the storyline. As the book’s title suggests, sometimes it’s a case of picking the lesser of two evils.
On the whole it was an enjoyable crime novel, but I did find that I was missing something from not having read the previous books. Unlike other crime novels which feature the same characters, I found that not having read the previous books was a disadvantage. At the start of the book Grace is on a boat and is clearly upset about something, but this is never really discussed in depth, and the author assumes that the reader has read the previous novel and therefore knows what is going on. Obviously as a rule most people will have read the books in order and therefore this is not a massive criticism, but it does make the series stand out from others, which I have previously reviewed, where prior knowledge of the books and characters is not a requisite for reading the other books in a series. I would be interested in reading further books by PJ Tracy (the mother/daughter crime writing duo) but I think I will be starting at the beginning….
Two men are found killed in their house, execution style, and the next morning another murder, this time of three men. However when the police start to investigate, it turns out that the men in question were hardly upstanding citizens. Local policemen Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth are drafted in to try and solve these murders, along with a murder of a 15 year old girl. Grace becomes involved after thwarting an assassination attempt on an FBI officer and the action culminates in a violent confrontation on an isolated Indian reservation.
Starting off with a mixture of characters and murders, it takes a while for the different storylines to start blending together. Once I had got into the book and started to make sense of all the plots, it did begin to move along nicely, and I particularly enjoyed the moral dilemma aspects to the storyline. As the book’s title suggests, sometimes it’s a case of picking the lesser of two evils.
On the whole it was an enjoyable crime novel, but I did find that I was missing something from not having read the previous books. Unlike other crime novels which feature the same characters, I found that not having read the previous books was a disadvantage. At the start of the book Grace is on a boat and is clearly upset about something, but this is never really discussed in depth, and the author assumes that the reader has read the previous novel and therefore knows what is going on. Obviously as a rule most people will have read the books in order and therefore this is not a massive criticism, but it does make the series stand out from others, which I have previously reviewed, where prior knowledge of the books and characters is not a requisite for reading the other books in a series. I would be interested in reading further books by PJ Tracy (the mother/daughter crime writing duo) but I think I will be starting at the beginning….
Saturday, 11 May 2013
Stop Dead - Leigh Russell
Stop dead is the 5th novel in a series about a female police detective – Geraldine Steel. At the start of this novel she has moved to a new police station and a new team this time in London. A man is found dead in a car, battered to death. Believing it at first to be a simple open and shut case, a second, unconnected man is also found dead, with identical injuries, and suddenly Geralidine has been thrust into a serial murder enquiry. Can she stop the killer before the bodies start piling up?
As with any book in a series, my main concern was whether I would have needed to have read the first four books first in order to enjoy this one. However I was relieved to find that I could follow the story and read it easily. There were references to people and events that were clearly based on earlier novels. And the reason for the move to London has probably been covered in more detail. But this would have only added padding to the story and wasn’t necessary to book number 5.
I did find the story a little frustrating, in that there were some screamingly obvious parts of the book. But it didn’t take away from the enjoyment of reading the story.
Stop dead was an enjoyable and gripping detective story, which kept the tension going and wasn’t too gruesome to read. Without being anything special, it was a solid read and fitted into the genre well. I found I didn’t personally identify with Geraldine, nor with the other characters in the book but maybe this would be different if I had read the previous novels, and I certainly wouldn’t use this as a reason not to read the book.
If you enjoy the crime and detective genre, then this is a good book to read.
As with any book in a series, my main concern was whether I would have needed to have read the first four books first in order to enjoy this one. However I was relieved to find that I could follow the story and read it easily. There were references to people and events that were clearly based on earlier novels. And the reason for the move to London has probably been covered in more detail. But this would have only added padding to the story and wasn’t necessary to book number 5.
I did find the story a little frustrating, in that there were some screamingly obvious parts of the book. But it didn’t take away from the enjoyment of reading the story.
Stop dead was an enjoyable and gripping detective story, which kept the tension going and wasn’t too gruesome to read. Without being anything special, it was a solid read and fitted into the genre well. I found I didn’t personally identify with Geraldine, nor with the other characters in the book but maybe this would be different if I had read the previous novels, and I certainly wouldn’t use this as a reason not to read the book.
If you enjoy the crime and detective genre, then this is a good book to read.
Lethal Profit by Alex Blackmore
Eva Scott believed her brother Jackson had died in a car crash when he was 18, only to discover he was still alive. She had only just begun to get to know him again when he is found dead in Paris, supposedly of an overdose. Eva doesn’t believe the police report and decides to head over to France herself, in a bid to find out what really did happen to her brother. In doing so, she becomes involved in one company’s bid for power, and unleashes a violent series of events.
The sad thing about this book is that if it were a film, or TV programme, it would probably work considerably better. Yes the plot itself is incredibly far-fetched, but then so are so many films. Yes the main character is rather prone to being chased, beaten and knocked unconscious, but Kiefer Sutherland survived more in apparently 24 hours. So as a visual story, it would have stood up to the test much better. As a book it just runs away too quickly. I found myself completely and utterly exhausted from reading each chapter, as they all involved running, chasing cars or being in a fight. From an attempted rape in the first chapter, she went on to be unconscious at least twice, alongside being hit by a car, being tied up, kidnapped……. Every chapter some new calamity would befall her. I also found Eva Scott to be one of the most naïve and annoying characters. She believes all the wrong people, and ignores the screamingly obvious!!
I didn’t dislike the book, and to some extent I did enjoy reading it, because I wanted to know what happened. My main grumble would be that it was all a little too action packed. Too much action, not enough events or explaining.
The sad thing about this book is that if it were a film, or TV programme, it would probably work considerably better. Yes the plot itself is incredibly far-fetched, but then so are so many films. Yes the main character is rather prone to being chased, beaten and knocked unconscious, but Kiefer Sutherland survived more in apparently 24 hours. So as a visual story, it would have stood up to the test much better. As a book it just runs away too quickly. I found myself completely and utterly exhausted from reading each chapter, as they all involved running, chasing cars or being in a fight. From an attempted rape in the first chapter, she went on to be unconscious at least twice, alongside being hit by a car, being tied up, kidnapped……. Every chapter some new calamity would befall her. I also found Eva Scott to be one of the most naïve and annoying characters. She believes all the wrong people, and ignores the screamingly obvious!!
I didn’t dislike the book, and to some extent I did enjoy reading it, because I wanted to know what happened. My main grumble would be that it was all a little too action packed. Too much action, not enough events or explaining.
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