Daydreamer

5/5

by

Brea Brown

Amazon.UK
Amazon.com

Libby Foster is a bit of a daydreamer, as the title of the book suggests. She prefers to lose herself to her mind than rather deal with real life, because real life hasn't been kind to her so far - or that's the message I got, anyway. She isn't moody or self-pitying though, although she is a little sharp-tongued with her peers, which has some brilliant one-liners!

The love interest of the Libby is an English man called Jude Weatherington, and who Libby begins to fantasise about immediately, because in reality Jude isn't all that... or is he?

It was interesting to unlock Libby's secrets to see why she prefers the daydreams to truth, and why she is so mistrusting of happiness.

I loved that Jude Weatherington was such a `real' Englishman without being royal-family-posh as a lot of American authors seem to portray most English people. The little nuances and slang brought him alive for me, and I absolutely believed in his character.

I shall read more of Brea Brown.

Blurb:
Libby Foster prefers her fantasy life to her real life... until she starts to get the two confused, thanks to the new enigmatic architect at her workplace. While she tries to figure out the difference between fact and fiction of her own making, she discovers there's a whole real world out there waiting for her to live it.

Rejection a novel

3/5

by 

Meagan Bridges

Amazon.com
Amazon.UK

Ooh a chick lit novel! My favourite genre. I received this book as a freebie, which was lucky because for an ebook and an unknown author I thought it was much too expensive at £3.86, and that's a shame because it was very well written and extremely funny in parts, as well as having a genuinely interesting characters and a story with a beginning, middle and end.

The main character, Maggie McKenzie has just been dumped by her boyfriend (hence the title, although the 'a novel' bit struck me as a bit strange) and is obviously distraught, although, in the crazy world of Maggie's it's not overly tearful or fingernail-gnawing sad. It's fun and light, not too memorable, but entertaining and could easily stand alongside Sophie Kinsella without worry. I liked Maggie McKenzie and was keen for her to come up trumps. This book is well worth the read.

Blurb:
Maggie McKenzie battles overwhelming rejection, raccoon attacks and personal space invading coworkers with only random facts and a growing sense of adventure.

The Indian Rose

3/5

by

Emma Daniels

Amazon.com
Amazon.UK

Emma Daniels has a warmth to her writing, which I liked a lot. The opening drew me in and kept me in. I did find a lot of typos in the book, but the story was exciting and real, which kept me reading.

I loved the hero, but the herione I couldn't take to. She seemed to take a dislike to Patrick without reason (OK, so she thought he was responsible for half drowning her and taking her back to the past), but even when he revealed his shocking past she STILL seemed to hate him. I had a feeling that the author wanted to create a tension between the characters, which unfortunately, for me, she failed.

Sometimes, Patrick did come across a little 'camp' and I found him as a rough 'n' ready sea-faring captain of the The Indian Rose a little hard to believe. I wanted him to 'man up'! But all in all Emma Daniels knows her history, and I liked that Patrick was offended when Jessica called him a 'pirate'.

For readers of chick lit or modern romance, I think you'll enjoy The Indian Rose.


Blurb:

The Ship that traveled through time

Having recently lost her beloved father to cancer, the last thing Jessica Hart needs is to come across a confused and injured stranger on the beach near her home. Not only does Patrick O’Hara believe its 1778, he’s also under the impression Jessica is a boy.

Patrick talks Jessica into taking out her family’s yacht, and she soon realizes she’s made a big mistake when a storm sweeps them both overboard and into the path of The Indian Rose. 

Rescued by his own crew, Patrick knows they have returned to the past, but Jessica is convinced The Indian Rose is just an authentic reconstruction complete with crazy sailors willing to go along with their insane captain’s desire to live in the past. 

So begin Jessica Hart’s adventures into the past. Not only is she now trapped in 1778, but she is also falling for the enigmatic and handsome Patrick O'Hara, whose lonely seafaring life has kept him from experiencing any kind of emotion for a woman, until now.

The Hoodie and the Humpback

2/5

by
Faye Meredith

Amazon.UK
Amazon.com

This was the most strangest book I think I've ever read! The prologue opened like a children's book, but the main story was most definitely adult.

The main character Tanya was a troubled teen who drank, smoked, swore and stole without a care in the world. Society owed her (or so she thought) and I didn't like her. She was the dregs that society wanted to forget--but then something profound happened to make her question her existence and I began to like her.

This book is very gritty, and sometimes disturbing. I thought the dialogue was a little stilted at times and there were minor typos, which stuck out a bit too much for me to be able to ignore.

Blurb:

People cross the road when they see Tanya coming. A fact she's immensely proud of; being feared is essential for survival on her London estate. But when her friend Lena gets picked to join a gang and she doesn't, Tanya's life changes. She wanders home in the early hours, nursing the world's worst hangover and sees the bizarre sight of a whale swimming up the Thames. Apart from dangerous dogs on studded leads, Tanya's never seen a wild animal before. She gets obssessed with the whale and blags her way onto the muddy bank where it's stuck. Before long she's volunteering to drench it in buckets of water. Meanwhile, Lena's new lifestyle puts her in terrible danger and Tanya has to decide whether to save the whale or her friend.

Ecelectic: Ten Very Different Tales

3/5

By
Jonathan Hill

Amazon.com
Amazon.UK

Like it says on the tin (or book cover) ten very different tales. Some of them were a twist in the tale, others were just fragments of a character’s life.

I didn’t read every story because not every story could hold my attention. I found the lengthy paragraphs unwelcoming on the eye, but one tale really had me giggling: The Ornithologist. It wasn’t a horror tale, but one of observance. Its dry humour appealed to me, and made me understand that Jonathan Hill is clearly an author who has a strong sense of how the human psyche works.

I could imagine him writing a chilling thriller in the near future!

Blurb

ECLECTIC: Ten Very Different Tales

From humour to horror, drama to pathos, this book of short stories will move and surprise you.

Starting with a relationship spanning an entire lifetime in just several pages and ending with a boy's struggles both at home and school, via stories including a woman's disastrous brush with modern art, a teenager's deadly obsession with video games, a man's ghostly encounter and even a humorous poem, this five-star book of eclectic tales has something for everyone.

Enjoy the variety!

The Curse of Fin Milton

3/5

by

Vivian Mayne

Amazon.UK

Amazon.com


The concept of the book is excellent: have you ever wondered what's happening inside your head when you fall in love? Why you can’t eat or sleep? Or why you can’t stop thinking of this one person? 


Then suddenly after loving this person for weeks, months, years, the person, overnight, acts as if you don't exist. He/she can't see you. Doesn't even have any memory of you. 


Then you find out you're a victim of a magical spell. A hex that rears its head every few years making that person, who you love desperately, forget everything about you only to re-remembers you years later. She/he is determined never to forget you this time - can't even believe she/he can forget you. But she/he does... and it begins all over again.

This is the theory for The Curse of Fin Milton: fantasy, magic and romance, and one that I was very excited to begin to read. But the multi points of view and many characters made it difficult to follow at times, hence me awarding it only three out of five. As this book is going to be the first of a series I wonder if readers would benefit from having a family tree at the beginning? I know the author does have a FB page dedicated to the story, but not every reader has a Facebook account.


Anyway, the premise of The Curse of Fin Milton is two families at war with the other, and the feud goes back years. Main character, Fin Milton, is in love with a woman who can only remember him every so often. He's determined to break the spell, and has to delve deep into his family's history. 

It's a packed book, and probably not for light-reading. The fantasy element means you have to keep an open mind, but I like how Vivian Mayne makes it all seem believable - even 'astral planing'. I'd not heard of that term before reading this book. It's a state of consciousness where a person's consciousness can travel anywhere in the world while his/her physical body is safely asleep. (I looked it up and apparently it CAN happen. I will remain sceptical though).


The characters in The Curse of Fin Milton are all fleshed out, and present as real people, and the scenery (especially Cornwall) is vivid, so I congratulate Vivian Mayne on that.

Blurb
Set in modern day London and Cornwall, England, this enchanting ghost story follows the quest of a young man who carries a curse that condemns him to a life without the woman he cares for most in the world. His quest to lift the curse threatens the lives of all those he cares for.

The couple first meet as children, but were predestined to suffer a supernatural romance as a consequence of a curse cast in days gone by. Aided by a beautiful and dangerous ally who herself has mystic gifts he has to ward off paranormal forces as he seeks to unshackle the restraints of the curse. The two lovers are constantly at the mercy of a ruthless family whose interests would be threatened if the the curse were lifted.

RESTRAINT

3/5

by 

Sandra Madera

Amazon.UK
Amazon.com

Laura Carter's mother died in childbirth to her, and her father could never forgive Laura for that. Or so Laura (and the reader) is led to believe. Instead, she begins to uncover a horrific family secret and the very reason her father appeared to hate her so. When her father dies, Laura and her sister are left in the care of their uncle Raymond Reynolds and are shipped off to England.

The opening was strong and hooked me in, but I soon became a bored with the characters and all their "because it's expected of me" culture. Then it took a bizarre and somewhat exciting turn, and I was up until the early hours reading - but it took almost half way through to get to the interesting part. I'm glad I stuck with it though. Vampire stories are becoming something of a cliché lately but Restraint was different simply because it was written very much in the historical genre. I also wasn't expecting the vampires to be so scary and evil.

Suitable for 16 plus Restraint contained no swearing or "rude scenes", but the suggestion of something more was evident in the scenes with Laura and Bryan Froster. I sensed an attraction between them even though Laura detested and was frightened of him. 

Restraint is part of a series, and although this story ended with all ends tied it left the reader wanting to know more about the characters, especially Laura and Elias (love interest? Maybe it'll be revealed in the next instalment?). I felt there was a lot more to the story than the author was willing to reveal, and I wonder how the saga will pan out? 

The most annoying, but small, thing that irked me about Restraint was that the main characters, Laura and Linda, had such similar names that I had to keep flipping back to see who was who. It was even more annoying than the typos I found (although they didn't detract from the story) were too many for me not to notice. It was a shame because otherwise Restraint was very well written.

Blurb:

After the abrupt death of her father, Laura Carter and her sister, Linda, are shipped off to England by an uncle they barely know. They are taken to a large house in Annesley to begin a life of service. When Laura becomes a governess to a young boy named Marcus, she begins to experience strange things in the night... horrible things.

Creatures in the night. Bite marks on her body. 

Laura is about to discover a secret that has existed in her family for generations... Something wants to possess her. It wants her blood, but it didn't expect her to resist and lose all restraint.