Tag: book review

5*, blog tours, book review

Blog tour review: The Killing Game by J.S. Carol.

if only I could read faster

killing-game-blog-tour

I’m delighted to be part of this blog tour, I read The Killing Game a couple of weeks ago but I am still thinking about it and talking about it to others. Definitely a sign of a great book!!

My 5* review:

Wow, I loved this book! It was easy to read, not complicated but also totally gripping!! I’ve never read James Carol before, but I have heard of him. So trusting the publisher, Bookouture, who rarely release a book that isn’t worth reading I thought that I’d give it a go. The blurb also sounded good.
The story focuses on the entertainment industry in LA, not something that I know a lot about but something that intrigues me all the same. Alfie’s is a small and very exclusive restaurant in LA, it is almost impossible to get a table there, to do so you have to be someone in Hollywood. So when a man armed to the hilt storms into Alfie’s the world is watching and waiting for developments. The Killing Game is told from various points of view, JJ and King who are both inside the restaurant, and from the reporter outside desperate to get the story first, and his boss in the newsroom breaking balls to get it.
I seriously loved this book. It grabbed me from the start and I just had to keep reading it. I ignored the million and one things that I need to be doing and instead read The Killing Game, I just had to know what was going to happen! The story was cleverly told and revealed, and impressively remained plausible throughout.
I don’t want to give too much away, so I’ll just say that you should read The Killing Game, it’s bloody brilliant. Just good luck keeping your heart rate below 100!
Blurb:
Imagine you are having lunch at an exclusive restaurant, filled with Hollywood’s hottest stars.
And a masked gunman walks in and takes everyone hostage.
You must bargain for your life against a twisted individual who knows everything about you.
He also has a bomb set to detonate if his heart rate changes.
If he dies. You die.
You have four hours to stay alive.
What would you do?

A heart-stopping thriller with plenty of twists and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat, for fans of Peter Swanson, Harlan Coben and Linwood Barclay.

The Killing Game is out now and available from Amazon UK and Amazon US.
2.5*, book review

Review: Buy Buy Baby by Helen MacKinven.

if only I could read faster

 

buy-buy-baby
Buy Buy Baby by Helen MacKinven.

 

My 2.5* review: 

I really wanted to like Buy Buy Baby. There are not many books that talk about single women wanting to have a child and issues that they deal with.

There was quite a lot to like about Buy Buy Baby but unfortunately, I also found that there was a lot that frustrated me. The two main characters were both unlikeable, often this is ok in a book but in this case, it definitely affected my enjoyment. And while the concept of how far you would go to find the money to have a much longed for baby is an interesting one I felt that something just didn’t fit.

The biggest niggle that I had is that both Carol and Julia were intelligent women, yet they were totally taken in by a man who wanted a large amount of money for what they wanted. They both took his word for it that his was the simplest solution and so set about finding the money. They ignored the many potential problems around what they were doing and neither seemed to look into much safer and more affordable options. I found that this grated on me throughout the book and I would have quite happily shouted at Carol and Julia to wake up think about what they were doing!!

I also found the Scottish speak in the book made it harder for me to read, being dyslexic it doesn’t take much to make reading more difficult and as a Londoner who is not familiar with Scottish accents it made reading more challenging.

Having said that Buy Buy Baby was well written and the story flowed well. I still think that it is great that there is a book dealing with the subject matter, I just wish that it had been done slightly more realistically.

I was sent a copy of Buy Buy Baby by the author Helen MacKinven. My review is impartial and has not been affected by this.

Blurb:

What price tag would you put on a baby?

Set in and around Glasgow, Buy Buy Baby is a moving and funny story of life, loss and longing.
Packed full of bitchy banter, it follows the bittersweet quest of two very different women united by the same desire – they desperately want a baby.
Carol talks to her dog, has an expensive eBay habit and relies on wine to forget she’s no longer a mum following the death of her young son.
Cheeky besom Julia is career-driven and appears to have it all. But after disastrous attempts at internet dating, she feels there is a baby-shaped hole in her life.
In steps Dan, a total charmer with a solution to their problems.
But only if they are willing to pay the price, on every level…

‘Buy Buy Baby is energised by the biological clocks of its main characters, and deals with complex issues of grief, betrayal, abuse, ageing, donor anonymity and single parenthood. A cracker of a read.’ – Helen Fitzgerald, Author of Viral

 

Buy Buy Baby by Helen MacKinven is available now from Amazon UK.

4.5*, book review

Review: Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult.

if only I could read faster
small-great-things
Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult

If you’re a fan of Jodi Picoult then she is doing a tour of the UK to promote the release of Small Great Things. You can find out more about her tour here.

My 4.5* review:

I used to be a huge Jodi Picoult fan and would read everything that she wrote. I remember desperately trying to get hold of her older books many years ago as I just had to read them. I can’t remember why but that changed and I stopped reading her books a good few years ago now.

I heard a lot of positive things about The Storyteller and downloaded it onto my kindle but never quite got round to reading it. But when I started to hear murmurs about Small Great Things I knew that it was a book that I wanted to read. Picoult and the publishers did a very brave thing, they asked reviewers if they wanted to read a book without prejudice. The readers were not told who the author was, and everything that I heard was positive.

And so I started to read Small Great Things. Firstly there is nothing small about this book, at just over 500 pages it is a long read. The length of the book means that the character development is very good, we spend a good amount of time with the main characters and get to know them well as the story develops. The downside is that it takes a long time to read (for me anyway) and at times I would think about all the other books I want to be reading. But saying that I never felt that the story was dragging. I do feel that the book could easily have been shorter and that this wouldn’t have had a huge impact on the story, but I feel that the book benefited from being longer than average.

Picoult is good at getting the reader to think and Small Great Things is no exception. I did feel that a lot of the situations discussed were more related to certain areas, or states, of America more than the UK. Of course maybe it is possible that I am being naive but the UK doesn’t have the slavery history that the US does and the ingrained racism. Having said that since the Brexit hate crime has increased dramatically in the UK, something that has shocked and saddened me. Maybe Small Great Things should be given to everyone to read, and to make them think.

While some of Small Great Things was a little bit predictable and the end was certainly tied up nicely, maybe a little too nicely, but it is still a very powerful book. The writing is excellent and the research that Picoult clearly put into the book is impressive. The way that she talked about nursing and labour and delivery was spot on and if I hadn’t known better I would have thought that the author had training in that area. I would be interested to know how minorities feel about Small Great Things and the fact that it was written by a white woman.

Yet another accomplished and well researched book from Picoult. Has this book converted me back to reading Picoult’s books? Well yes, it most definitely has.

I received a copy of Small Great Things via Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Blurb:

When a newborn baby dies after a routine hospital procedure, there is no doubt about who will be held responsible: the nurse who had been banned from looking after him by his father.

What the nurse, her lawyer and the father of the child cannot know is how this death will irrevocably change all of their lives, in ways both expected and not.

Small Great Things is about prejudice and power; it is about that which divides and unites us. It is about opening your eyes.

 

Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult will be released on 22nd November 2016 and is available to pre-order from Amazon UK and Amazon US.

5*, book review

Review: Hide and Seek by M.J. Arlidge

if only I could read faster
hide and seek
Hide and Seek by M.J. Arlidge

My huge big fat 5* review:

I am a big Helen Grace fan, from the first few pages of Eeny Meeny I was gripped by M.J Arlidge’s books and have read every one in the series. While some have been better than others I would definitely recommend reading them in order as you will no doubt get a lot more out of the books and the characters. I think that this is especially true of Hide and Seek.

The end of the previous book in the series, Little Boy Blue, ended with a shock. Readers were stunned and desperate to know what happened next. So I was very much looking forward to reading Hide and Seek. In my mind I had an idea of where I thought the author would take us, but happily I was wrong. I was blown away by this book and the storyline and devoured the book as I just had to know what was going to happen.

Once again Arlidge provides us with a solid and well written book, with great characters and twists, turns, shocks and surprises. I think that Hide and Seek is definitely a strong contender for my book of the year, I loved it and it isn’t often that I feel bereft when a book ends. My only question is, how long do I have to wait for the next book?

I received an ARC of Hide and Seek by the publishers via Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Hide and Seek is out now in hardback, audible and ebook from Amazon UK and on audible from Amazon US.

Blurb:

Helen awaits trial in a crumbling women’s prison in Southampton. She has a fight on to prove her innocence from inside her prison cell, but this soon turns out to be the least of her worries.

A serial killer is picking off fellow inmates, thriving in an environment where there is truly nowhere to run. Is it a criminal giving in to their dark urges or a member of the prison staff preying on the captive population? Helen must work fast to reveal this devious killer, all the time wondering if she will be next on her list….

 

4*, book review, novella

Review: Matching The Evidence by Graham Smith.

if only I could read faster
matching the evidence
Matching The Evidence by Graham Smith

My 4* review:

Matching the Evidence is, I think, the first novella that I have read. I’m really not sure that it has converted me but I did enjoy it.

Evans is a cop who does things his way, before he is forced into retirement Evans and his team are facing the consequences of his unconventional ways in their previous case. Snatched From Home is the first book in the Harry Evans series and I believe this book follows straight on from that. As punishment Evans and his team are given the job of policing a football match where there is predicted to be a lot of trouble between the home team fans and the away team, Millwall.

Of course all is not as it seems, but Evans sniffs out the problem and once again ignores protocol to ensure that the baddies get caught.

Matching The Evidence is well written and can be read as a standalone book although I’m sure that it would be better being read after Snatched From Home. I would happily read the other books in the series as I’d like to find out more about the characters and the author is clearly a good writer. My only gripe about Matching The Evidence is that it felt like Smith had tried to pack too much into it, one strain of the story seemed pretty irrelevant in the end and could easily have been removed without losing anything from the book. It also ended pretty suddenly and I wanted to know what was going to happen next, but I guess that is probably done on purpose so that I’ll read the next Harry Evans book.

I received a copy of Matching The Evidence in exchange for an honest review.

Matching The Evidence will be released on 8th September 2016 and is available for pre-order now from Amazon UK and Amazon US.

Blurb:

Carlisle United are playing Millwall and the Major Crimes Team are assigned to crowd control as punishment for their renegade ways. Typically, DI Harry Evans has other ideas and tries to thwart the local firm’s plans to teach Millwall’s notorious Bushwhackers an unforgettable lesson.
Meanwhile an undercover cop is travelling north with some of the Millwall contingent. His mission is to identify the ringleaders and gather evidence against them.
Three illegal immigrants have been transported to Carlisle and are about to meet their new employers.
Nothing is as it seems for Evans and his Major Crimes Team as they battle to avoid a bloodbath while also uncovering a far more heinous crime.

 

4*, book review

Review: Before I Let You In by Jenny Blackhurst.

if only I could read faster
before I let you in
Before I Let You In by Jenny Blackhurst

My 4* Review:

Before I Let You In tells the story of three women, Karen, Bea and Eleanor who have been friends since they were young. Through thick and thin and plenty of ups and downs the three have remained firm friends and supported each other. But is all as it seems?

Well no, of course not. From the beginning the reader knows that something awful has happened, but has no idea what. Gradually as the book progresses we are given possible explanations for what happened but are kept guessing until the final pages.

The character development is excellent, all three main characters are well rounded and believable. The author clearly has knowledge of psychology and this adds to the believability of the story and characters.

I actually found the first half of Before I Let You In a little slow and at times confusing. The story was told from alternating viewpoints, but sometimes we were not told whose voice we were listening to and I found that difficult. I think that I need to know who it is to help me remember the story and what is going on. I found that by the time I got to the end there were parts explained that I’d forgotten about happening in the first place. This is highly unusual for me so I’m not sure quite why it happened in this book, and can only put it down to the events happening to a nameless person.

The last 30% was great, I just wanted to keep reading and to find out what was happening and who did what. I’m pleased to report that I had not worked it all out!

Thank you to the publishers, Headline, and Netgalley and TBC for an ARC of Before I Let You In.

Blurb:

Karen is meant to be the one who fixes problems.

It’s her job, as a psychiatrist – and it’s always been her role as a friend.

But Jessica is different. She should be the patient, the one that Karen helps.

But she knows things about Karen. Her friends, her personal life. Things no patient should know.

And Karen is starting to wonder if she should have let her in . . .

 

Before I Let You In is out on 28th August and is available from Amazon UK and Amazon US.

5*, book review

Review: All Fall Down by Tom Bale

if only I could read faster
all fall down
All Fall Down by Tom Bale

I’m having a really good run of books at the moment, this is my third 5* read in a row. Lets hope it continues!

My 5* Review:

Having read See How They Run by Tom Bale in May this year I really wanted to read his new book, All Fall Down. I really enjoyed See How They Run (SHTR), it gripped me from the first chapter and was a thoroughly enjoyable read.

So All Fall Down had a lot to live up to. I was interested to see whether Tom Bale would be able to suck the reader in like he’d done so well in SHTR. The first chapter was good, I wanted to know what was going on but it didn’t have the ‘hit me with a sledgehammer’ feel of the first chapter of SHTR. Was I going to be disappointed?

No. Thankfully not. Although the first half of the book was at times quite slow, once you hit 50% you barely have time to breathe, let alone eat and sleep. All Fall Down felt far more realistic and I felt that the writing was better than SHTR.

I thought that the character development was great, all the main characters had interesting things about them. The plot was full of twists and turns and you were never quite sure what was going to happen next.

The big finale was great, it was so hard to put All Fall Down down once I got half way through. One night it kept me up until gone 2am as I just had to know what was going to happen, and it is a rare book that keeps me up that late. Once I finished the book I felt like I needed to catch my breath and recover. I am writing this review two days after I finished because I needed to digest the book and let my adrenalin settle.

All Fall Down is a great book. It’s easy to read and pulls you in, tosses you about and then spits you back out again. It isn’t a masterpiece, but if you want an enjoyable read that will be hard to put down then you would be pushed to find something better than All Fall Down.

I received an ARC of All Fall Down from the publisher, Bookouture, via Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Blurb:

You tried to save a life. Now you’re fighting to save your own.

It should have been an idyllic day for the Turner family – until a dying man, beaten beyond all recognition, arrives at their home, uttering the words, HELP ME.

Rob and Wendy Turner and their children try to explain away the horrific scene as being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but in the days that follow their lives are threatened in ways they could never imagine.

The family is unaware that they are being watched by someone with their own terrifying agenda, who will stop at nothing to fulfil their own twisted desires.

But when hidden secrets come rushing to the surface, it’s clear not everything is as it seems in this happy family. Are the Turners a victim of circumstance – or does the key to their fate lie closer to home?

Forced to fight for everything they hold dear, can they save themselves before time runs out – or will their act of compassion see them paying the ultimate price…?

A heart-stopping, shocking and tense thriller that will keep you guessing to the very last page.

 

All Fall Down will be released on 1st September 2016 and is available to preorder from Amazon UK and Amazon US now.

5*, book review

Review: Nina Is Not OK by Shappi Khorsandi.

if only I could read faster
nina is not ok
Nina Is Not OK by Shappi Khorsandi

This is such a well written book that skillfully tells the horrors of alcoholism. I hope that readers who do not struggle with addiction will see things differently and gain some understanding and compassion after reading Nina is Not OK. I really enjoyed it and I know that I will be thinking about Nina for some time to come.

My Review:

There are lots of books and movies out there that glamorise addiction, even unintentionally. Nina is Not OK is not one of those books.

Having worked in the field of addiction I was unsure about how I’d find this book, as so often inaccuracies frustrate me, and recovery is made to look very easy. Impressively I found none of this in Nina Is Not OK.

Nina is 17, her father is dead, her mother is married to a new man and has a half sister, Katie aged 6. Nina loves Katie in an adorable way, but she struggles with her relationship with her mother and step dad, Alan. This, combined with the fact that Nina’s boyfriend has dumped her for someone he just met prove to be too much for Nina. She descends into a world dominated with alcohol and sex with men she just met. Nina is consumed by anger and the only way that she can cope with this is to drink herself into oblivion.

Despite her awful treatment of her family and friends they stick with her, eventually showing her the tough love that she needs and taking her to rehab. While the author doesn’t go into a lot of detail about her time in rehab, what is there is in my experience, fairly realistic. Once out Nina attempts to put her life back together, she throws herself back into her A-Levels and rebuilding her relationships with her friends and family. Without alcohol to skew her thinking she is able to come to terms with things that previously consumed her and with the quiet and steady support from her 12-step sponsor she begins to rebuild her life.

The author, Shappi Khorsandi, writes a painfully accurate portrayal of alcoholism. It isn’t sensationalised or overdramatised. I would think that the author must have experience of alcoholism in some form or other.

I think that Nina is Not OK is a good book for anyone to read, but for those with family or friends who struggle with addiction it is good insight into the thinking that goes on in the addicts mind, and how powerless they are over their addiction. I couldn’t help but wonder while reading whether this would be a good book for people in early recovery to read. I think Nina is Not OK would be a good book to give to someone in active addiction, especially a young person, but I don’t think that someone in early recovery should read it due to the risk of being triggered. There is also frequent reference to a rape that some readers should be aware of.

I received a copy of Nina Is Not OK from the publishers via Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Blurb:

Nina does not have a drinking problem. She likes a drink, sure. But what 17-year-old doesn’t?

Nina’s mum isn’t so sure. But she’s busy with her new husband and five year old Katie. And Nina’s almost an adult after all.

And if Nina sometimes wakes up with little memory of what happened the night before , then her friends are all too happy to fill in the blanks. Nina’s drunken exploits are the stuff of college legend.

But then one dark Sunday morning, even her friends can’t help piece together Saturday night. All Nina feels is a deep sense of shame, that something very bad has happened to her…

 

Nina is Not OK is available now on Amazon UK and Amazon US now.

5*, book review

Review: The Optician’s Wife by Betsy Reavley

if only I could read faster
the opticians wife
The Optician’s Wife by Betsy Reavley

My 5* Review:

I rarely get to read a book that I have bought, but I was hearing so much about The Optician’s Wife that I really wanted to read it, so when I was on holiday I took a break from reading ARCs.

I do like crime books and I do read a lot of fairly gruesome things, but The Optician’s Wife was really very graphic. I didn’t have a problem with that, but some might, others will love it!

Deborah is just your normal teenager, she doesn’t have many friends and doesn’t like living at home. So when she meets Larry who treats her like she’s something special Deborah can’t quite believe it. Soon they’re married and living what appears to be a perfect life together. But of course all is not as it seems.

This book is great, it’s full of twists and turns and just when you think you’ve worked it all out something happens and you realise that you had it all wrong. That happened again and again in The Optician’s Wife, right to the very end.

The Optician’s Wife is not for the faint hearted but it is a compelling read that will make you question everything. I thoroughly recommend it.

Blurb:

Can you ever really know someone?

When Deborah, an unpopular seventeen-year-old, meets the charming and handsome Larry, he sweeps her off her feet. The trouble is Larry has a secret.

Then a series of grisly murders cast a shadow over everything.

As Deborah’s world starts to fall apart she begins to suspect the man she loves of a terrible betrayal. And to keep their marriage alive, sacrifices must be made.

A compelling, psychological thriller that unpicks what goes on behind closed doors and reminds us that sometimes the worst crimes can take place closer to home than you think.

 

The Optician’s Wife by Betsy Reavley is available now from Amazon UK and Amazon US.

2*, book review

Review: The Swimming Pool by Louise Candlish

if only I could read faster
the swimming pool
The Swimming Pool by Louise Candlish
I really struggled with this book and in the end I gave it 2*, I don’t know why this book just didn’t work for me when it has so many good reviews.
Blurb:

‘I can’t take my eyes off the water. Can you?’

It’s summer when Elm Hill lido opens, having stood empty for years. For Natalie Steele – wife, mother, teacher – it offers freedom from the tightly controlled routines of work and family. Especially when it leads her to Lara Channing, a charismatic former actress with a lavish bohemian lifestyle, who seems all too happy to invite Natalie into her elite circle.

Soon Natalie is spending long days at the pool, socializing with new friends and basking in a popularity she didn’t know she’d been missing. Real life, and the person she used to be, begins to feel very far away.

But is such a change in fortunes too good to be true? Why are dark memories of a summer long ago now threatening to surface? And, without realizing, could Natalie have been swept dangerously out of her depth?

Review:

‘I was quite excited to read The Swimming Pool. Another author that I really like had such high praise for it that I was sure it was going to be good. The book started well, and then it just kept going and going and going, but it wasn’t really going anywhere.

I do read a lot of thrillers, which tend to start with a bang, so I do have to remind myself when reading other genres that they have a slower pace. But The Swimming Pool didn’t actually get anywhere at all. At 26% things seemed to pick up and I thought here we go, and so I read and I read and I read and I thought that I must surely be nearly finished, and then I checked and was only 56% in. It was only my belief that the author that loved it wouldn’t let me down that made me keep going, I normally give up on books that are like this.

While The Swimming Pool is very well written and I felt that the author was particularly good at setting scenes meaning I can picture in my head many of the places from the book very clearly, and there are many reviews praising the writing, but for me there was something missing. I often read books with characters in that I do not like, but the main character in The Swimming Pool was not just unlikeable but so loathsome that I struggled to tolerate reading about her. Her behaviour and thinking were so bizarre for someone of her age that it just made no sense. The other characters were better, and all believable and well written, but those that could have been more interesting often had small parts.

The Swimming Pool generally gets really positive reviews, for whatever reason this book and I just did not click. It took me nine days to read it which is slow for me, even though I’m a slow reader. But everyone else can’t be totally wrong, so maybe don’t take my word for it?

I received a copy of The Swimming Pool from the publisher via Netgalley in return for an honest review.’

The Swimming Pool is available now from Amazon UK, it will be released in America in January 2017 but is currently available on audiobook now.