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Christine A. (965 KP) rated Before She Was Helen in Books

Sep 9, 2020  
Before She Was Helen
Before She Was Helen
Caroline B. Cooney | 2020 | Mystery
8
6.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review. The opinions are entirely my own, and any quotes are taken from the ARC and may be different in the final published copy.

Having read Caroline B. Cooney's Janie Johnson series, which many people call The Face on the Milk Carton series, I was thrilled to read her latest novel, Before She Was Helen.

While Cooney is well-known for her YA novels, Before She Was Helen, is not categorized as young adult, but as adult fiction. Her main character is Clemmie, a still-working but living in a retirement community teacher, who intentionally built a bland and quiet life for herself. Everything changes when she does a wellness check on her next-door neighbor. She photographs a stunning and beautiful object. Thinking her family would enjoy it, she shares the photo with them. The picture quickly makes its rounds on the internet, and Clemmie's life changes in a blink, and all her carefully kept secrets are threatened.

For anyone who has read Cooney, you can identify her writing style. Her words word flow in an easy and distinct manner. It is as if she writes how she talks and does not change her vernacular or style. Reading Before She Was Helen was like reading a familiar book that I never read before.

Goodreads does not list any other books set for publication as of yet.

This 200-word review was published on Philomathinphila.com on 9/8/20.
  
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Marylegs (44 KP) rated Dark Aemilia (UK Edition) in Books

Aug 14, 2019  
Dark Aemilia (UK Edition)
Dark Aemilia (UK Edition)
Sally O'Reilly | 2014
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
So I received Dark Aemilia from a Goodreads give away. All I can say is how lucky I was to receive such a good book, that otherwise I likely would not have taken a second glance at. This is a beautifully written piece of historical fiction. Which at its core, is a love story, between Aemilia Bassano and William Shakespeare. How their love blossomed and through many external factors was pulled apart. The book is laid out in acts and scenes like a play and tells the story from Aemilia point of view. I enjoyed being submerged in the Tudor London at the end of Elizabeth I reign. This book completely grabbed me from the start and had I had more free time I am sure I would have read this book in a day or two.

Unfortunately as I haven’t ever read historical fiction before I don’t really have any point of reference for comparison. But what I will say is that I thoroughly enjoyed how realistic this book felt, but still was able to bring in completely fictitious elements of magic and witchcraft. Sam O’Reilly has managed to bring in these elements, which appealed to my love of fantasy, without being over the top. I particularly enjoyed the time when London was under the grips of the plague and thought it was just so well written and explained. At no point did I feel lost in descriptions, I was there, with Aemilia and that poor woman just couldn’t catch a break.

There is ‘mature content’ it is an adult story of love, so yes there is sex. I personally have no issue with this and believe it to be an integral addition to this story. It is done well and doesn’t feel forced or overdone. I am struggling to put into words how much I enjoyed this book, I will read it again and I would recommend it. I will now even consider reading other historical fiction that I had not thought I would enjoy.
  
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Awix (3310 KP) rated Break of Dark in Books

Aug 2, 2019  
Break of Dark
Break of Dark
Robert Westall | 1982 | Horror, Science Fiction/Fantasy
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I must have been 12 or 13 when I first read this, and back then part of the fun came from the sense that these actually felt like adult stories, for all the book is advertised as being basically YA fiction: quite apart from the substantial quantities of profanity and sex, many the characters aren't typical YA identification figures: middle-aged seaside policemen, earnest young vicars, suburban couples, and so on. These are still hugely readable and satisfying stories even now many decades later.

But what are they about? Well, there are two stories of ghosts (a haunted Wellington bomber during the second world war, and a rather stranger tale of an unwitting medium), two of very atypical alien visitations (a cautionary tale of a young hitch-hiker, and a blackly comic one concerning a spate of peculiar crimes in a small resort town), and one of an inner-city vicar who stumbles onto something very creepy in the crypt of his church. All of them are engagingly and skilfully written, and immaculately paced. Good reads for all ages.