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The New Tenement
Book
This book examines "new tenements" - dense, medium-rise, multi-storey residences that have been the...
Global Sport Management: Contemporary Issues and Inquiries
Book
The international nature of the sport industry presents many management challenges and opportunities...
Mapping the Chinese and Islamic Worlds: Cross-cultural Exchange in Pre-modern Asia
Book
Long before Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope en route to India, the peoples of Africa,...
Potato and Sweetpotato in Africa: Transforming the Value Chains for Food and Nutrition Security
Jan Low, Moses Nyongesa, Sara Quinn and Monica Parker
Book
Potato and sweetpotato are two of the most important crop plants in the world, and of increasing...
The Lightning Boys: True Tales from Pilots of the English Electric Lightning
Book
According to a recent international study, the Lightning is the fifth most popular military aircraft...
MA
Modernism and Latin America: Transnational Networks of Literary Exchange
Book
This book is the first in-depth exploration of the relationship between Latin American and European...
Ivana A. | Diary of Difference (1171 KP) rated Delusions in Books
Sep 14, 2018
A must-have for all the lovers of psychological thrillers and mysteries – this is a book that will show you a twisted side of a human being so well, that you will not know what happened once you reach the end! A masterpiece of a thriller – a delight for all the murder solvers out there!
''She remembered now. The deaths. They weren't just delusions planted in her mind by others. They were real.''
This book starts in an interrogation room, where two detectives are questioning Abigale about the murders that happened - and she is the main suspect. As the interrogation happens in the present, we follow the story in the past from Abigale's point of view, from the moment she moves into the new town.
The story and plot are so well set, and the past and present are so well connected that give you clues step by step, until you reach the grand ending, and nothing is as you expected. Even though I realised what is happening around the middle of the book, I still had to keep reading to find out whether it was true in the end.
This is, for certain, the best ending of a mystery book I have read so far!
The characters - some of them - are so twisted, and so psychologically unstable and scary, that it makes you wonder. Such possessiveness and anger, and twisted mind - Amy managed to perfectly such a rare condition. ( I am trying so hard here to stay away from all the spoilers.)
''Abigale wasn't the outgoing type. She'd rather sit in her room with her nose buried in a book than socialise with anyone outside her inner circle of friends, which was small to begin with.''
I wish I could connect with Abigale's character - but I just couldn't. That was the only flaw I had with this book. I didn't care enough for her, and for what was happening to her. The side characters were amazingly portrayed though - I enjoyed reading about Julia and Mike, and Damien - what an interesting character!
''There was something about him that made her feel alive and ready for anything, but there was another part that screamed danger. She wasn't sure she liked either half.''
The ending, as I already mentioned, was the best one I have read - it was so unexpected and so amazing - I can't explain that feeling of satisfaction when all the little pieces from the puzzle throughout the book finally come together - spectacular!
If you love mystery, psychological thrillers and good book that keeps you on your toes all the time - this is the book for you. I highly recommend it!
Thank you to the author, Amy Crandall, for sending me an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
''She remembered now. The deaths. They weren't just delusions planted in her mind by others. They were real.''
This book starts in an interrogation room, where two detectives are questioning Abigale about the murders that happened - and she is the main suspect. As the interrogation happens in the present, we follow the story in the past from Abigale's point of view, from the moment she moves into the new town.
The story and plot are so well set, and the past and present are so well connected that give you clues step by step, until you reach the grand ending, and nothing is as you expected. Even though I realised what is happening around the middle of the book, I still had to keep reading to find out whether it was true in the end.
This is, for certain, the best ending of a mystery book I have read so far!
The characters - some of them - are so twisted, and so psychologically unstable and scary, that it makes you wonder. Such possessiveness and anger, and twisted mind - Amy managed to perfectly such a rare condition. ( I am trying so hard here to stay away from all the spoilers.)
''Abigale wasn't the outgoing type. She'd rather sit in her room with her nose buried in a book than socialise with anyone outside her inner circle of friends, which was small to begin with.''
I wish I could connect with Abigale's character - but I just couldn't. That was the only flaw I had with this book. I didn't care enough for her, and for what was happening to her. The side characters were amazingly portrayed though - I enjoyed reading about Julia and Mike, and Damien - what an interesting character!
''There was something about him that made her feel alive and ready for anything, but there was another part that screamed danger. She wasn't sure she liked either half.''
The ending, as I already mentioned, was the best one I have read - it was so unexpected and so amazing - I can't explain that feeling of satisfaction when all the little pieces from the puzzle throughout the book finally come together - spectacular!
If you love mystery, psychological thrillers and good book that keeps you on your toes all the time - this is the book for you. I highly recommend it!
Thank you to the author, Amy Crandall, for sending me an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) rated The Cutting Room Floor in Books
Jun 7, 2018
(This review can be found on my blog <a href="http://themisadventuresofatwentysomething.blogspot.com/">The (Mis)Adventures of a Twenty-Something Year Old Girl</a>).
When I read the synopsis of this book, I was definitely intrigued. When the opportunity arrived to review this book, I decided I'd take a chance on it. While I wasn't overly impressed with the book, it was still an alright read.
The title suits the book well. The chapters titles are written like a script and sometimes include blocking directions. (If you're not familiar with drama terms, you may want to look that up). The main characters are drama geeks as well.
I do like the cover! It's definitely eye catching, and it made me want to pick this book up.
I didn't really have a problem with the world building. I felt like the world building was done rather well except I didn't like how Riley seemed to find every girl she came across as hot. That just doesn't happen in real life, yet it happened to Riley in this book.
I felt like the pacing was a bit slow in this book. At times I was debating with whether or not I should carry on. However, there are some parts of this book where the pacing does pick up, especially towards the end., so not all hope is lost.
I found the plot line to be interesting enough. I was a drama geek in school, so the plot suited me. There was the whole muder mystery thing with Riley's favorite teacher, Riley's confusion about her sexuality, and Dez's stalker crush on Riley going on. I definitely wanted to know how things would play out.
I thought the characters were written fairly well. As I've said before, I didn't like how the author made it seem like Riley was hot for every girl she came across. Saying that, I did like Riley though. Everything about her (minus liking every girl) felt real, and her confusion was very realistic. I didn't like Dez. I felt he was way too controlling when it came for Riley and that he was super selfish. In fact, I'd even go as far as calling him scary. He was always there for Riley but only because he was a stalker. There's not one thing I liked about Dez.
The dialogue flowed smoothly, and all interactions between characters felt realistic. There is some swearing in this book, but it's not over the top.
Overall, The Cutting Room Floor is a decent read. The pacing could do with some work as it does come across as a bit dull some of the time. However, the plot itself is interesting.
I'd recommend this book to those aged 14+ who want a book to read to help them pass the time.
<b>I'd give The Cutting Room Floor by Dawn Klehr a 3.5 out of 5.</b>
(I was provided with a free paperback of this title from the author in exchange for a fair and honest review).
When I read the synopsis of this book, I was definitely intrigued. When the opportunity arrived to review this book, I decided I'd take a chance on it. While I wasn't overly impressed with the book, it was still an alright read.
The title suits the book well. The chapters titles are written like a script and sometimes include blocking directions. (If you're not familiar with drama terms, you may want to look that up). The main characters are drama geeks as well.
I do like the cover! It's definitely eye catching, and it made me want to pick this book up.
I didn't really have a problem with the world building. I felt like the world building was done rather well except I didn't like how Riley seemed to find every girl she came across as hot. That just doesn't happen in real life, yet it happened to Riley in this book.
I felt like the pacing was a bit slow in this book. At times I was debating with whether or not I should carry on. However, there are some parts of this book where the pacing does pick up, especially towards the end., so not all hope is lost.
I found the plot line to be interesting enough. I was a drama geek in school, so the plot suited me. There was the whole muder mystery thing with Riley's favorite teacher, Riley's confusion about her sexuality, and Dez's stalker crush on Riley going on. I definitely wanted to know how things would play out.
I thought the characters were written fairly well. As I've said before, I didn't like how the author made it seem like Riley was hot for every girl she came across. Saying that, I did like Riley though. Everything about her (minus liking every girl) felt real, and her confusion was very realistic. I didn't like Dez. I felt he was way too controlling when it came for Riley and that he was super selfish. In fact, I'd even go as far as calling him scary. He was always there for Riley but only because he was a stalker. There's not one thing I liked about Dez.
The dialogue flowed smoothly, and all interactions between characters felt realistic. There is some swearing in this book, but it's not over the top.
Overall, The Cutting Room Floor is a decent read. The pacing could do with some work as it does come across as a bit dull some of the time. However, the plot itself is interesting.
I'd recommend this book to those aged 14+ who want a book to read to help them pass the time.
<b>I'd give The Cutting Room Floor by Dawn Klehr a 3.5 out of 5.</b>
(I was provided with a free paperback of this title from the author in exchange for a fair and honest review).
Alice (12 KP) rated The Temptation of Dragons (Penny White #1) in Books
Jul 3, 2018
<i>Many thanks to the author Chrys Cymri for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review</i>
Original review can be found on my blog Raptureinbooks <a href="http://wp.me/p5y0lX-1Js">here</a href>
I was kindly offered this book by the author in exchange for an honest review and my initial impressions were "yeah this sounds like my kinda thing. Here there be dragons" ya know? Only to get more fully immersed in the book and find that I was a touch disappointed.
<i>The Temptation of Dragons</i> follows Reverend Penny White as she becomes the Vicar General of an alternate world called Lloegyr - please note that there is a heavy Welsh influence in this book coupled with an enormous religious influence - where dragons, unicorns, gryphons and more reside and coexist in relative peace.
The book starts with Penny White coming home slightly intoxicated and thinking she's going mad when she comes across a dying dragon. In true priestly form Penny gets out of her car and performs the last rites of absolution to what turns out to be a real dragon!
From that moment on Penny's life changes in so many ways - dragons exist, unicorns are real, snail sharks get drunk and gryphons are eating her garden birds. Penny is soon tasked to become the Vicar General to the citizens of Lloegyr and that includes all manner of supernatural beasties. Though expected as the main character is a priest, I didn't expect there to be such a heavy religious influence all throughout with literal verses from the Bible quoted on a regular.
Please understand that this is <b>not</b> anything against the book or against the writer and is merely my thoughts on what I considered an overly religious-toned story set in the wrong time period and the wrong world. I honestly found that the hardest part of reading this book but there were parts that I enjoyed for example: Penny White has what amounts to an obsession with sci-fi/fantasy and occult TV and movies, a lot of which were quite obscure for me (not really a TV and movie person *gasp*) I didn't get several of the references - particularly the Doctor Who ones.
Out of all of the characters my favourite had to be Moriarty - shortened to Morey for some reason - a 47-year-old gryphon with no filter. My favourite quote was from Penny about Morey:
<blockquote>"You've sent me a blue tit murdering creationist with sarcasm management issues."
"Correction. Today he's killing a starling."</blockquote>
The sarcasm and humour was rife throughout this book which was brilliant and gave it a nice light undertone to the ultimate seriousness of the book as a whole.
There was one character I didn't like and that was her brother James- I'm not 100% sure why but something about him rubbed me the wrong way. He's a free loading, insensitive toss pot and possibly a pod person.
However, despite my dislike of the heavy religious overtone and of James, I really, really liked <i>how</i> Chrys wrote the dragons and unicorns and all the other supernatural creatures and they had enough of a description without giving away too much important information; but also, on the flip side, there were away lot of unanswered questions such as how <i>exactly</i> does a unicorn use a telephone?
In all, it was a well written book with an interesting concept and some good characters and prose, dialogue was perfectly modern for Penny and a touch Olde World for a lot of the Lloegyr residents.
Original review can be found on my blog Raptureinbooks <a href="http://wp.me/p5y0lX-1Js">here</a href>
I was kindly offered this book by the author in exchange for an honest review and my initial impressions were "yeah this sounds like my kinda thing. Here there be dragons" ya know? Only to get more fully immersed in the book and find that I was a touch disappointed.
<i>The Temptation of Dragons</i> follows Reverend Penny White as she becomes the Vicar General of an alternate world called Lloegyr - please note that there is a heavy Welsh influence in this book coupled with an enormous religious influence - where dragons, unicorns, gryphons and more reside and coexist in relative peace.
The book starts with Penny White coming home slightly intoxicated and thinking she's going mad when she comes across a dying dragon. In true priestly form Penny gets out of her car and performs the last rites of absolution to what turns out to be a real dragon!
From that moment on Penny's life changes in so many ways - dragons exist, unicorns are real, snail sharks get drunk and gryphons are eating her garden birds. Penny is soon tasked to become the Vicar General to the citizens of Lloegyr and that includes all manner of supernatural beasties. Though expected as the main character is a priest, I didn't expect there to be such a heavy religious influence all throughout with literal verses from the Bible quoted on a regular.
Please understand that this is <b>not</b> anything against the book or against the writer and is merely my thoughts on what I considered an overly religious-toned story set in the wrong time period and the wrong world. I honestly found that the hardest part of reading this book but there were parts that I enjoyed for example: Penny White has what amounts to an obsession with sci-fi/fantasy and occult TV and movies, a lot of which were quite obscure for me (not really a TV and movie person *gasp*) I didn't get several of the references - particularly the Doctor Who ones.
Out of all of the characters my favourite had to be Moriarty - shortened to Morey for some reason - a 47-year-old gryphon with no filter. My favourite quote was from Penny about Morey:
<blockquote>"You've sent me a blue tit murdering creationist with sarcasm management issues."
"Correction. Today he's killing a starling."</blockquote>
The sarcasm and humour was rife throughout this book which was brilliant and gave it a nice light undertone to the ultimate seriousness of the book as a whole.
There was one character I didn't like and that was her brother James- I'm not 100% sure why but something about him rubbed me the wrong way. He's a free loading, insensitive toss pot and possibly a pod person.
However, despite my dislike of the heavy religious overtone and of James, I really, really liked <i>how</i> Chrys wrote the dragons and unicorns and all the other supernatural creatures and they had enough of a description without giving away too much important information; but also, on the flip side, there were away lot of unanswered questions such as how <i>exactly</i> does a unicorn use a telephone?
In all, it was a well written book with an interesting concept and some good characters and prose, dialogue was perfectly modern for Penny and a touch Olde World for a lot of the Lloegyr residents.
