Review: Reaping the Harvest You have to feel sorry for poor Rhychard Bartlett, the main protagonist in Robbie Cox’s novel, Reaping the Harvest. One day you’re driving along minding your own business, the next you’re rushing to the aid of an elf who has been mortally wounded by giant bat-like creatures. Jamairlo is a Warrior of the(…)
Fiction
Book Review: The Patient Ecstasy of Fraulein Braun – Lavonne Mueller
Review: The Patient Ecstasy of Fraulein Braun Believe me when I say I really have thought long and hard before writing this review. An erotic book where Hitler and Eva Braun are the characters? What could you possibly write? Well, firstly, that is a pretty simplistic explanation of this title, which came across to me as(…)
Book Review and Giveaway: Sacrifice – Coral Russell
Review: Sacrifice David’s Review f Coral Russell’s Sacrifice was a boxing match, it would soon break out into a full-scale riot, such is the array of rival factions whose thirst for money, power, drugs and influence spills out onto the streets of Juarez then takes the short journey across the border into El Paso. Fleeing from Juarez(…)
Book Review: The Darlings – Cristina Alger
Review: The Darlings The Darlings sees high flying family the Darlings – who also happen to be the ‘darlings’ of the financial industry – go from riches to… well, not exactly rags but perhaps a few less luxury holidays and world class restaurants. Paul Ross seems a decent enough guy, who didn’t try to game the(…)
Book Review: City of Women – David Gillham
Review: City of Women City of Women caught my eye because I’ve been reading a great deal of non-fiction titles around this period of history and I was interested to see how a fictional account of World War II told from a German woman’s perspective squared up to the facts. In City of Women, Sigrid Schroeder(…)
Book Review: Sorry I Barfed on Your Bed – Jeremy Greenberg
Review: Sorry I Barfed on Your Bed Kitties? Check! Kitty pictures? Check! Letters from kitties? Check! Well, heck, what’s not to love? This is a really sweet idea, the kitty version of Sorry I Pooped in Your Shoe, featuring letters from pets to their owners. They are sort of excuses but, let’s be honest, these(…)
Book Review: Olives – Alexander McNabb
Review: Olives Journalist Paul Stokes heads for Jordan, leaving behind his lover in England, to take up a job working on a magazine. There is a lot of turmoil in Jordan when Stokes arrives. Two rival bids for Jordan’s water network are being considered, there is pressure to ease severe threats of drought and Paul(…)
Book Review: Kiwi in Cat City – Vickie Johnstone
Review: Kiwi in Cat City The first in Vickie Johnstone’s Kiwi series, Kiwi in Cat City tells the story of Amy and James who observe their cat Kiwi in the garden one night at the start of a nocturnal wander around the neighbourhood. Curious to know where Kiwi is going, the two children follow their(…)
Book Review: The List – Karin Tanabe
Review: The List Adrienne Brown has had enough of glitz, glamour and Town and Country magazine. She wants to work for a more serious publication. Thrilled to get a job at the Capitolist (“The List”), she initially overlooks the frighteningly long hours, low pay, extreme workload and lack of respect she has to endure –(…)
Book Review: Me Before You – Jojo Moyes
Review: Me Before You I hadn’t read any of Jojo Moyes’ work previously and I’ll confess that when I picked up Me Before You I expected something pretty fluffy and fun. That in itself would have been fine – I enjoy chick lit and a bit of gushiness. Me Before You, however, goes way beyond(…)
Book Review: 3 Heads & a Tail – Vickie Johnstone
Review: 3 Heads & a Tail Ever wondered what our pets are thinking? Vickie Johnstone attempts to get into the mind of a dog, Glen, in this highly amusing comedy romance. The story focuses on Josie who moves into a house with two new friends – Ben and David. It isn’t long before we have(…)
Book Review: Thursday at Noon – William F. Brown
Review: Thursday at Noon (2012) William F. Brown’s Thursday at Noon begins with two men – Landau and Yussuf – infiltrating an abandoned RAF base in Egypt in 1962. The base is awash with activity and while Yussuf waits by the perimeter fence, Landau returns briefly but has to quickly go back, wanting to take(…)
Book Review: The Uninvited – Liz Jensen
Review: The Uninvited (2013) Hesketh Lock is an anthropologist with remarkable talents. He isn’t good with relationships but he’s incredibly good at spotting and analysing behavioural patterns. Therefore, when he’s called to investigate corporate cases of whistle-blowing in Taiwan and sabotage in Sweden, he’s looking for the individuals’ reasons for their actions. What he finds is(…)
Book Review: Surviving Emily – Laurie Bellesheim
Review: Surviving Emily Young lives that are cut short is never an easy subject to write about. You can speculate forever about what might have been for those that have been lost. In Laurie Bellesheim’s Surviving Emily we have two narratives running concurrently of two people struggling to pick up the pieces following the death(…)
Book Review: Wicked Wives – Gus Pelagatti
Review: Wicked Wives Femme fatales often make for appealing crime thrillers and some of the women in Gus Pelagatti’s Wicked Wives could qualify for that description. Based on a true story of murder scandals in Philadelphia in 1938, Pelagatti recreates a complex network of lies, deceit, greed and murder but is it any good? This(…)
Book Review: The Quiet American – Graham Greene
Review: The Quiet American I broke my rule when it came to The Quiet American, having seen the film from 2002, before reading the book. This isn’t a rule I break often but having enjoyed the film when I saw it a few years back I was naturally delighted to read Greene’s novel from 1955,(…)
Book Review: Dare Me – Megan Abbott
Review: Dare Me Schools are not always the easiest of places. Whether teachers and parents like it or not there are often hierarchies that develop in each school year. In Megan Abbott’s Dare Me we focus on a group of cheerleaders who have such a hierarchy in place but the foundations are ruptured by the(…)
Book Review: Losing Face – Annie Try
Review: Losing Face We live in a cruel world where individuals that are a little different are often targeted by bullies or groups that are unwilling to accommodate them. In Annie Try’s Losing Face we follow the story of an ordinary teenager whose life appears to be ruined forever by a terrible accident. Cassandra Briggs(…)