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My Counterfeit Self
My Counterfeit Self
Jane Davis | 2016
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
What does poetry have to do with social activism? A whole lot, actually, as you'll find out in Jane Davis's novel "My Counterfeit Self" and through my #bookreview of this historical, contemporary, women's literary fiction novel on my blog now. (I think this has just become my favorite of her books, as it just edged out "Smash All the Windows" by a whisker!)<br/>https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2019/05/11/a-poetically-explosive-story/<br/>;
  
The clockmakers daughter
The clockmakers daughter
Kate Morton | 2018 | Fiction & Poetry, Paranormal, Romance
8
6.3 (6 Ratings)
Book Rating
Kate Morton’s newest novel “The Clockmaker’s Daughter” spans nearly 160 years, where one home in the English countryside and its rich and infamous history has led to a slew of stories and mysteries, including a tragic death and the loss of a priceless heirloom neckless, but there’s only one woman who knows the truth. See what I thought of this novel in my latest book review here.
https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2018/09/22/ghostly-blues/
  
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The Chocolate Lady (94 KP) rated Keeping Lucy in Books

Oct 6, 2020 (Updated Oct 6, 2020)  
Keeping Lucy
Keeping Lucy
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This new #bookreview is for “Keeping Lucy” by T. Greenwood, is due to be released on August 3. This novel is about a woman who only wants one thing – to save her Down Syndrome daughter from a horrible institution. Set in the 60s and 70s, it is semi-historical and semi-contemporary, as well as fully an adult coming of age, women’s novel (no romance). https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2019/07/26/travels-with-light/
  
The Lady and the Highwayman
The Lady and the Highwayman
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
For anyone looking for a fun, historical fiction novel that has just a touch of romance, and even some, adventure, fantasy and horror elements, Sarah M. Eden’s latest novel “The Lady and the Highwayman” set in Victorian London might be just the thing for you. If that sounds interesting, I hope you’ll read my latest #bookreview on my blog now. https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2019/09/01/three-for-the-price-of-one/
  
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, #1)
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, #1)
Seth Grahame-Smith | 2010 | Fiction & Poetry, History & Politics
9
7.5 (10 Ratings)
Book Rating
This was the first Seth Grahame-Smith novel I read, at the beginning of the era of re-writing classics with horror aspects edited in.
I absolutely loved this novel, I'm not a huge fan of Lincoln, and it kind of made me like him more. The way Grahame-Smith wrote this was intriguing, and I really loved all of the characters. It's fast-paced, and it holds up when re-read.
  
After He Died
After He Died
Michael J. Malone | 2018 | Crime, Fiction & Poetry, Philosophy, Psychology & Social Sciences
8
8.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
The main protagonist in this novel is Paula, a middle-class housewife, who just became a widow. A young woman – Cara, is trying to shine a different light on Paula’s deceased husband Thomas. This novel is told from two different perspectives – Paula’s and Cara’s. This book is soaked with grief, both of these characters lost people in their past, and they are still dealing with their grief. I really liked Paula in this book. I could feel her pain and her confusion, and to be honest, I was confused with her because all those little clues and words left me as much baffled as Paula herself. I really wanted to like Cara in this novel, but I couldn’t bond with her. I did like what she represented and I did like her attitude, but I couldn’t warm up to her.

The narrative of this novel is very masterfully delivered. It covers a really wide spectrum of events: we have a domestic noir, filled with family relationships and grief, and at the same time we have murders and mystery which are unfolding very slowly. I really liked the topics M. Malone discussed in this book, such as poverty and homelessness; how people deal with grief and what death brings to the families; drugs and how it influences people and their future, etc. I think this novel is more character driven than the investigation itself, but all these talks about feelings and sadness were too much for me at times, I wanted more pace and more unexpected findings. &#x1f642; Don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of surprises and twists, but I needed more. &#x1f600;

I really enjoyed M. Malone’s writing style, it is a very well crafted novel, and his way of sharing Scottish lingual nuances was absolutely adorable and I really liked them. &#x1f642; This book has a very strong “rich vs. poor” accent, and the setting is changing between luxury, wellness, and shady areas with homeless people, and I found it very well balanced in this book. The chapters were pretty short, and the whole novel was quick and easy to read. The ending of this book rounded this novel very well and it did leave me satisfied. So, to conclude, this is a very sensitive novel, where the pain after someone’s death is very raw and haunting, but at the same time, it is a great thriller filled with very realistic and casual characters and a very unexpected plot. I really liked this novel, and I hope you will give this book a try and enjoy as much as I did.
  
The Nowhere Child
The Nowhere Child
Christian White | 2019 | Crime, Fiction & Poetry, Mystery
10
8.8 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
Kimberley Leamy lives in Melbourne, Australia is shocked when a man approaches her while at the college where she teaches photography. He claims that she is his sister, Sammy who had been abducted when she was two years old from Manson Kentucky USA. Stuart Went gives her irrefutable evidence as to who she really is.
The Nowhere Child is the first novel by award-winning Australian author, Christian White.

This just an amazing and powerful debut novel. Such an amazing twist on the missing child genre. This is a dark, intense and somewhat chilling psychological thriller. The author has managed to weave a dark, intense and somewhat chilling psychological thriller filled with a number of different emotional themes throughout. With all of this combined it makes for an emotional, suspense filled explosive novel.
This wonderful new author cleverly weaves the past and present so clearly and has packed so much emotion into this novel. I love how the pace of the novel flows and how the characters develop throughout.
The ending of the book is just so unexpected and I can only hope we see more to come from this author.
Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins for an ARC copy of this book
  
Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
James Luceno | 2005 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
6
6.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Belonging to the 'old' no-longer-considered-Canon selection of Star Wars stories (now contained under the banner of Star Wars Legends), this novel is mainly set roughly a month or so after the events of 'Revenge of the Sith' when Vader is new to the suit, and to his new life as Vader (as opposed to whiny emo Anakin Skywalker).

The start of the novel, in fact, actually takes place during the events of Revenge of the Sith, through the period in which Order 66 is exacted, with the Jedi who are the main characters of this novel surviving that purge. Like any good master/learner relationship, the newly-minted Emperor gives Vader a task -to hunt down those Jedi - to further pull him into the Dark Side of the Force, and to cement his place in the New Order.

The result is a pretty fast-paced novel that also takes in key characters from the original trilogy (and some from the inferior prequels), laying the foundations for the Rebellion that is to come and explainuing just how the Wookie came to be an enslaved species (although that part of the novel reminded me a fair bit of the The Force Unleashed video games!).