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Voices from the Past: Channel Islands Invaded: The German Attack on the British Isles in 1940 Told Through Eyewitness Accounts, Newspaper Reports, Parliamentary Debates, Memoirs and Diaries
Book
In the summer of 1940 the British Isles stood isolated and alone facing the might of a seemingly...
Bubblesreview (110 KP) rated A Note Of Madness in Books
Feb 9, 2019
Mental health awareness (1 more)
Likeable chapters
This novel was the authors debut, for a debut novel it's well written and flows fairly well. The portrayal of bipolar disorder / manic depression is realistically unsettling. It really shows how damaging a misdiagnosis could be and the serious effect of being dismissed. To avoid spoilers I'm not going to say if this story ends with a happy or an unfortunate end. I will advise you NOT to read this if you suffer from a mental illness and are triggered easily, this could be a serious trigger.
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Following on, although I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and really appreciate the mental health awareness in it which is a rare find in a book, I found this a hard one to score higher than 7/10. This is solely due to the fact that the chapters are long, ranging on average at about 25+ pages. This made it difficult to stay focused and I found myself having to read back a couple of pages to recap. This is completely my own problem as I enjoy shorter chapters and I really dislike stopping half way through a chapter.
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Overall I 100% recommend this book. It's very underrated and deserves more awareness
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Following on, although I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and really appreciate the mental health awareness in it which is a rare find in a book, I found this a hard one to score higher than 7/10. This is solely due to the fact that the chapters are long, ranging on average at about 25+ pages. This made it difficult to stay focused and I found myself having to read back a couple of pages to recap. This is completely my own problem as I enjoy shorter chapters and I really dislike stopping half way through a chapter.
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Overall I 100% recommend this book. It's very underrated and deserves more awareness
MaryAnn (14 KP) rated In the Shadow of Croft Towers in Books
Mar 5, 2019
From debut author Abigail Wilson comes a mysterious Regency tale of secrets and spies, love and treachery. Orphaned Sybil Delafield jumps at the opportunity for a position at the mysterious Croft Towers. She believes she was hired to act as companion to a dying woman, but a highway robbery and a hostile welcome from the Chalcroft family cause her to wonder if she was actually hired to help someone spy for France. An unsolved murder adds intrigue to this already secretive family, and Sybil recognizes Mrs. Chalcroft’s handsome grandson as one of the infamous highwaymen who robbed her. Sybil must determine if this man’s charming smile and earnest eyes speak the truth or if he is simply using her like others in the house. Everyone seems to have something to hide, and Sybil must decide who to trust while also coming to terms with the truth about her own past.
My Thoughts: Abigail Wilson has written a wondrous novel full of mystery and intrigue. This story-line keeps the reader entertained throughout the novel; there is no lagging in the action. The characters are very entertaining and believable.
This is a story full of mystery, secrets and murder! Readers will truly enjoy this debut novel. I look forward to reading more from Abigail Wilson.
My Thoughts: Abigail Wilson has written a wondrous novel full of mystery and intrigue. This story-line keeps the reader entertained throughout the novel; there is no lagging in the action. The characters are very entertaining and believable.
This is a story full of mystery, secrets and murder! Readers will truly enjoy this debut novel. I look forward to reading more from Abigail Wilson.
Dan sellwood (1 KP) rated Dreams and Shadows in Books
Feb 2, 2018
Fantastic debut
Contains spoilers, click to show
A wonderful debut from C. Robert Cargill. The novel follows the lives of two boys, Ewan and Colby. Both boys have a fantastical journey ahead of them, Ewan is stolen by fairies from his parents at an early age by a specialist child stealing fairy (Dithers) and Colby meets a djinn (Yashar) who agrees to grant him wishes which leads him to see the world.
While sounding at first like a magical fairy story you soon realise the story does carry a certain sadness and darkness. The djinn for example is cursed to only ever grant wishes that end in turmoil. You learn this through small chapters that centre around telling stories about the characters in the book, which I found to be a wonderful way to build chacterisation.
Despite being quite dark the book does well to build on characters enough so that you do find yourself getting attached to them. So not only are the characters well thought through but they bring enough personality and emotion to evoke lots of feeling in the reader.
While I don't promise this book will bring you a happy ending, its hard to put down and will certainly have you wanting to move on to the sequel.
While sounding at first like a magical fairy story you soon realise the story does carry a certain sadness and darkness. The djinn for example is cursed to only ever grant wishes that end in turmoil. You learn this through small chapters that centre around telling stories about the characters in the book, which I found to be a wonderful way to build chacterisation.
Despite being quite dark the book does well to build on characters enough so that you do find yourself getting attached to them. So not only are the characters well thought through but they bring enough personality and emotion to evoke lots of feeling in the reader.
While I don't promise this book will bring you a happy ending, its hard to put down and will certainly have you wanting to move on to the sequel.
FilmIntuition (33 KP) rated Darius the Great is Not Okay in Books
Sep 15, 2018
A Wholly Original Debut
Though it takes a little bit for the action to pick up in author Adib Khorram's debut work, much like the titular protagonist in this young adult coming-of-age novel, great things come both to Darius as well as the patient readers who wait.
Bursting with vivid imagery and a wholly original first-person point-of-view right from the start, Darius the Great is Not Okay - about a half Persian, half Caucasian teenager who travels with his family to visit his maternal grandparents for the first time in Iran - is sure to be one of the genre's breakout successes of 2018.
A timely, fresh, and relatable character driven work, the book centers on Darius Kellner's search for that one place in which he fits.
Understanding the complexity of being a teenager, Adib Khorram tackles Darius Kellner's "outsider" status from a variety of perspectives bound to ring true to readers from envying his younger sister's relationship with his father to being bullied or ridiculed on two continents.
Finding a true friend in the last place he expected, which causes him to learn more about himself in the process, Darius the Great's sensitivity and commitment to the people on and off the page makes it a standout for Fall.
Bursting with vivid imagery and a wholly original first-person point-of-view right from the start, Darius the Great is Not Okay - about a half Persian, half Caucasian teenager who travels with his family to visit his maternal grandparents for the first time in Iran - is sure to be one of the genre's breakout successes of 2018.
A timely, fresh, and relatable character driven work, the book centers on Darius Kellner's search for that one place in which he fits.
Understanding the complexity of being a teenager, Adib Khorram tackles Darius Kellner's "outsider" status from a variety of perspectives bound to ring true to readers from envying his younger sister's relationship with his father to being bullied or ridiculed on two continents.
Finding a true friend in the last place he expected, which causes him to learn more about himself in the process, Darius the Great's sensitivity and commitment to the people on and off the page makes it a standout for Fall.
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Book
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Book
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