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 [...]
Review: The Truth About Us (2011) I had The Truth About Us on my ereader for quite a while and started reading it before checking over the synopsis again so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I found a story of three friends, both bound together and torn apart by a deep secret, which – as [...]
Review: Matter I’m still very new to the work of Iain Banks and Iain M. Banks having only read The Wasp Factory (1984) and Consider Phlebas (1987). The latter was my first affiliation with Banks’ sci-fi work and indeed with the Culture, the vast, technological society that thrives and endures, while others fall by the [...]
Review: The Tree of Everlasting Knowledge Ourania D’Andre is an electrical contractor who successfully bids for a job at the Fagan mansion. There she is brought into contact with Troy who she has a little history with. They also share grief: Troy’s brother Jason was killed years ago and both bear guilt and sadness over the [...]
Review: Bluff (2012) Jude Black is in hospital with severe injuries having been found on the beach after a fall – or a push? – from the bluff near her home. As the doctors try to save her life, it becomes apparent that they are striving to save two lives, not one. Jude is pregnant and [...]
Review: Everblossom (2011) Everblossom is an anthology of poetry and very short stories, ranging from the pleasantly touching to the dark and unnerving. It’s hard to review an anthology (for me, anyway). I don’t want to summarise every poem or story or break down what I thought of each. So allow me to give you my [...]
Review: Abdication (2012) I quite enjoy historical fiction, especially when it’s centred around a period of history I know a little about. When I received Abdication out of the blue I was definitely interested. This still remains one of the scandals of 20th century England, the abdication of a monarch to enable him to be with [...]
Review: Afterwards (2011) It’s going to be difficult to review Afterwards without giving too much away, so excuse me if I’m deliberately vague. Afterwards is one of those stories that evolves bit by bit and if you rush it, you run the risk of spoiling the whole thing. There is a fire and a mother, [...]
Review: Home Front (2012) Jolene and Michael are a ‘normal’ couple with two kids, a lovely home… and a crumbling marriage. The distance between them seems to be becoming unsurmountable and Michael caves one day and says he doesn’t love Jolene anymore. A hard statement to overcome at the best of times but when your wife [...]
Review: White Heat I like tales of the Arctic and Antarctic, the epic journeys, exploration and stories of survival so it was only natural that I’d be drawn to White Heat. McGrath offers a murder mystery in an isolated community in the Arctic with our protagonist being a woman of strong character. Edie Kiglatuk [...]
Review: Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion (2012) If you’re going to read Overdressed, be prepared for it to leave a nasty taste in your mouth and a lump in your throat when you next open your wardrobe. This really is a pretty damning expose of the ‘fast fashion’ industry, which churns out clothes [...]
Review: 8 It’s hard to forget Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, whether it’s the original Disney film or the Gremlins singing along to it in the cinema back in the early eighties. Michael Mullin has revisited the classic story but put a different spin on things, telling some of the story from the POV [...]
Review: Gold (2012) Oh Mr Cleave, you make it hard work for reviewers! I could just tell you about the story of Gold but there’s something in Mr Cleave’s cleverly worded synopsis that makes me want to preserve the secrecy and adhere to his wishes. So, let me just say that Gold is about: relationships, sacrifices, [...]
Review: The Winds of Love When Madison and Mack are literally thrown together by nature, Madison ends up with a leg injury that means her father and boss declares her unfit to work. Stubbornly she decides to team up with Mack and help him provide a film about kiteboarding, even though it means risking hurricane [...]
Review: The City of Dreaming Books I’ve previously read Walter Moers’ The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear and Rumo & His Miraculous Adventures which are set in the fantasy world of Zamonia. Each book doesn’t just offer a bizarre journey but a plethora of fantastic illustrations as well. Moers’ The City of Dreaming Books is [...]
Review: Pariah Pariah is a well constructed, fast paced tale of Callum Doyle’s descent into his own personal hell. Not exactly the favourite in his precinct, Doyle suddenly finds himself in a world of isolation when a string of events turn out to be connected and Doyle is warned that anyone he contacts or associates [...]
Review: Designing Woman Designing Woman brings together astute businessman Griffen St Clair and feisty designer Brandy Abbott. Griffen is proud and stubborn, quick to leap to assumptions. Despite playing the daring temptress, Brandy is actually much less wild than her countenance and actions suggest but having baited Griffen she has to try and rise to [...]
Review: Twice Bitten Many years ago, I remember watching an episode of UK crime drama Taggart where someone was planting venomous snakes in people’s houses and this book brought it all back. Approaching Twice Bitten, the third Matt Davis Mystery, I was under no illusions that snakes may have something to do with the storyline [...]
