ARC Book Review: The Singular & Extraordinary Tale of Mirror & Goliath by Ishbelle Bee

I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book in any way.

Publisher: Angry Robot

Pages: 336

Series: The Peculiar Adventures of John Loveheart, Esq #1

Challenges: Women's Challenge; Around the World Challenge

Summary

1888. A little girl called Mirror and her shape-shifting guardian Goliath Honeyflower are washed up on the shores of Victorian England. Something has been wrong with Mirror since the day her grandfather locked her inside a mysterious clock that was painted all over with ladybirds. Mirror does not know what she is, but she knows she is no longer human. John Loveheart, meanwhile, was not born wicked. But after the sinister death of his parents, he was taken by Mr Fingers, the demon lord of the Underworld. Some say he is mad. John would be inclined to agree. Now Mr. Fingers is determined to find the little girl called Mirror, whose flesh he intends to eat, and whose soul is the key to his eternal reign. And John Loveheart had been called by his otherworldly father to help him track Mirror down...

ARC Book Review: Don't Turn Around by Caroline Mitchell

I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book in any way.

Publisher: Bookouture

Pages: 318

Challenges: Around the World Challenge; Women's Challenge

Summary

You don't know him. But he knows you.

Soon he would be able to touch her, to feel the warmth of her blood. And when the time came, nothing would stop him.

As D.C. Jennifer Knight investigates a routine stabbing in the quiet town of Haven, she is shocked at what seems like a personal message from beyond the grave. When more bodies are found, Jennifer is convinced the killings are somehow linked. What she discovers is more chilling than she could possibly imagine. The murder mirror those of the notorious Grim Reaper - from over twenty years ago. A killer her mother helped convict. Jennifer can no longer ignore the personal connection. Is there a copycat killer at work? Was the wrong man convicted? Or is there something more sinister at play? With her mother's terrifying legacy spiralling out of control, Jennifer must look into her own dark past in a fight not only to stop a killer - but to save herself and those she loves.

ARC Book Review: Secrets of the Tower by Debbie Rix

I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Publisher: Bookouture

Pages: 384

Challenges: Around the World Challenge; Women's Challenge

Summary

Two women, centuries apart, bound together by the secrets of one of the most iconic buildings ever created. 

Pisa, 1999

Sam Campbell sits by her husband's hospital bed. Far from home and her children, she must care for Michael who is recovering from a stroke. A man she loves deeply. A man who has been unfaithful to her. Alone and in need of distraction, Sam decides to pick up Michael's research into the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Immersing herself in the ancient city, she begins to piece together the mystery behind the creation of the tower, and discovers the woman that history forgot...

Pisa 1171

Berta di Bernardo, the wife of a rich merchant, sits in her chamber, dressing for a dinner party. A gathering that will change the course of her life and a young master mason, Gerardo, forever. A strong, intelligent woman, Berta's passion for architecture also draws her closer to Gerardo. As she embarks on a love affair, her maid Aurelia also becomes spellbound by the same man. Yet for Berta, her heart's desire is to see the Tower built, and her determination knows no bounds.

Book Review: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

Publisher: Pickwick

Published: September 2014 (first published January 2012)

Pages: 310

Challenges: Around the World Challenge; Women's Challenge

   

Summary

Recently retired, sweet, emotionally numb Harold Fry is jolted out of his passivity by a letter from Queenie Hennessy, an old friend, who he hasn't heard from in twenty years. She has written to say that she is in hospice and wanted to say goodbye. Leaving his tense, bitter wife Maureen to her chores, Harold intends a quick walk to the corner mailbox to post his reply, but instead, inspired by a chance encounter, he becomes convinced he must deliver his message in person to Queenie - who is 600 miles away - because as long as he keeps walking, Harold believes that Queenie will not die. So without hiking boots, rain gear, map or cell phone, one of the most endearing characters in current fiction begins his unlikely pilgrimage across the English countryside. Is it possible for Harold and Maureen to bridge the distance between them? And will Queenie be alive to see Harold arrive at her door?

ARC Book Review: Cannonbridge by Jonathan Barne

I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Publisher: Solaris

Publication Date: 10 February 2015

Pages: 272

Challenges: Around the World Challenge 

  

Summary

Flamboyant, charismatic Matthew Cannonbridge was touched by genius, the most influential creative mind of the 19th century, a prolific novelist, accomplished playwright, the poet of his generation. The only problem is, he should never have existed, and beleaguered, provincial, recently-divorced 21st Century Dr Toby Judd is the only person to realise something has gone wrong with history. As bibliophiles everywhere prepare to toast the bicentenary of the publication of Cannonbridge's most celebrated work, Judd's discovery will lead him on a breakneck chase across the English canon and countryside, to the realisation that the spectre of Matthew Cannonbridge might not be so dead and buried after all...

Book Review: Chocolat by Joanne Harris

Publisher: Garzanti

Published: 9 October 1998

Pages: 338

Challenges: Library Challenge; Around the World Challenge; Women's Challenge

Rating: 3/5

  

Summary (from Goodreads)

When an exotic stranger, Vianne Rocher, arrives in the French village of Lansquenet and opens a chocolate boutique directly opposite the church, Father Reynaud denounces her as a serious danger to his flock - especially as it is the beginning of Lent, the traditional season of self-denial. War is declared as the priest denounces the newcomer's wares as the ultimate sin. Suddenly, Vianne's shop-cum-café means that there is somewhere for secrets to be whispered, grievances to be aired, and dreams to be tested.

ARC Book Review: A Murder of Magpies by Judith Flanders

I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Publication Date: 24 February 2015

Pages: 288

Challenges: Around the World Challenge; Women's Challenge

Rating: 3/5

  

Summary

It's just another day at the office for London book editor Samantha "Sam" Clair. Checking jacket copy for howlers, wondering how to break it to her star novelist that her latest effort is utterly unpublishable, lunch scheduled with gossipy author Kit Lowell, whose new book will dish the juicy dirt on a recent fashion industry scandal. Little does she know the trouble Kit's book will cause - before it even goes to print. When Police Inspector Field turns up at the venerable offices of Timmins & Ross, asking questions about a package addressed to Sam, she knows something is wrong. Now, Sam's nine-to-five life is turned upside down as she finds herself propelled into a criminal investigation. Someone doesn't want Kit's manuscript published, and unless Sam can put the pieces together in time, they'll do anything to stop it.

With this deliciously funny debut novel, acclaimed author Judith Flanders introduces readers to an enormously enjoyable, too-clever-for-her-own-good new amateur sleuth, as well as Sam's Goth assistant, her effortlessly glamorous mother, and the handsome Inspector Field.

ARC Review: The Small Fortune of Dorothea Q by Sharon Maas

I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Publisher: Bookouture

Published: 30 January 2015

Pages: 532

Challenges: Around the World Challenge; Women's Challenge

Rating: 4/5

  

Summary

An epic, mesmerizing tale of tragic loss, the strength of words left unspoken, and the redeeming power of love.

When she ran away from her childhood home in Guyana, Rika swore that she would never return. Cut off from her family, she has fought hard to make a life for herself and her daughter, Inky, in London. Now, over thirty tears later, Rika's catankerous, wheelchair-bound mother, Dorothea, arrives in London. But as old wounds re-open, Dorothea and Rika are further apart than ever. Inky soon learns that her grandmother is sitting on a small fortune. As she uncovers the secrets of the past one by one, she unravels the tragedy that tore her mother and grandmother apart. But nothing can prepare her, or Rika, for Dorothea's final, unexpected revelation.

Book Review: Radiance of Tomorrow by Ishmael Beah

Publisher: Neri Pozza

Published: 8 May 2014

Pages: 272

Challenges: Library Challenge; Around the World Challenge

Rating: 5/5

  

Blurb

At the centre of Radiance of Tomorrow are Benjamin and Bockarie, two friends who return to their hometown after the civil war in Sierra Leone. The village is in ruins, the ground covered in bones. As more villagers begin to come back, Benjamin and Bockarie try to forge a new community by taking up their former posts as teachers, but they're beset by obstacles. As Benjamin and Bockarie search for a way to restore order, they're forced to reckon with the uncertainty of their past and future alike. With the gentle lyricism of a dream and the moral clarity of a fable, Radiance of Tomorrow is a powerful novel about preserving what means the most to us, even in uncertain times.

ARC Review: The Family Girl by Katherine Brankin

I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Publisher: Vook Inc.

Published: 9 October 2014

Pages: 222

Challenges: Around the World Challenge; Women's Challenge

Rating: 3/5

  

Summary

Ice-cold assassin Catalina Bennett wants a Faberge egg. A CIA funded venture-capital investment firm wants to get the mysterious product they’ve been funding. Mother, Catalina’s handler, wants her dead. CIA operative Jim Campbell wants to catch her. And all her father Frank, a retired assassin, wants is for his daughter not to shoot his neighbors. 

The Family Girl introduces Catalina Bennett as one of the deadliest and most effective assassins in the world, bred to kill by a quiet and secluded Sicilian Famiglia. Her success is illustrated by an extensive collection of art and Christian Louboutin shoes. Her latest job seemed like an easy way to procure a fabulous Faberge egg for her extensive collection, but Catalina ended up opening Pandora’s Box when she learned that the mark was an asset for ICtech, a venture-capital investment firm funded by the CIA. Soon she is on the run, being hunted by the veteran intelligence agent, Jim Campbell. 

She takes refuge with her father in the suburbs of Chicago, and discovers that dealing with the neighbors can be just as dangerous as dodging bullets. Using her network of connections, spearheaded by the imposing Eddie Washington – her childhood friend turned arms dealer – Catalina begins putting together the pieces of the puzzle. Her journey takes her from Chicago to New York, Washington D.C., and finally Miami, where she aims to settle all her affairs… or go out with a bang.

Book Review: Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Publisher: Einaudi

Published: 10 June 2008 (first published 2006)

Pages: 456

Challenges: Library Challenge; Around the World Challenge; Women's Challenge

Rating: 4.5/5

  

Blurb

In 1960s Nigeria, a country blighted by civil war, three lives intersect. Ugwu, a boy from a poor village, works as a houseboy for a university professor. Olanna, a young woman, has abandoned her life of privilege in Lagos to live with her charismatic new lover, the professor. And Richard, a shy English writer, is in thrall to Olanna's enigmatic twin sister. As the horrific Biafran War engulfs them, they are thrown together and pulled apart in ways they had never imagined.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's masterpiece, winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction, is a novel about Africa in a wider sense: about the end of colonialism, ethnic allegiances, class and race - and about the ways in which love can complicate all of these things.

Book Review: Jennifer Government by Max Barry

Publisher: Abacus

Published: 5 February 2004

Pages: 352

Challenges: Library Challenge; Around the World Challenge

Rating: 4/5

  

Summary (from Goodreads)

In Max Barry's twisted, hilarious and terrifying vision of the near future, the world is run by giant corporations and employees take the last names of the companies they work for. It's a globalised, ultra-capitalist free market paradise. Hack Nike is a lowly merchandising officer  who's not very good at negotiating his salary. So when John Nike and John Nike, executives from the promised land of Marketing, offer him a contract, he signs without reading it. Unfortunately, Hack's new contract involves shooting teenagers to build up street cred for Nike's new line of $2,500 trainers. Hack goes to the police - but they assume that he's asking for a subcontracting deal, and lease the assassination to the more experienced NRA. Enter Jennifer Government, a tough-talking agent with a barcode tattoo under her eye and a personal problem with John Nike (the boss of the other John Nike). And a gun. Hack is about to find out what it really means to mess with market forces.

Reading Challenges for 2015

Time for lots of hot chocolate. Yay!

So, it's December already and that means winter, hot drinks, Christmas lights and holiday spirit. I've already started humming Christmas carols while cleaning, and I'm slowly getting in the mood for all the holiday films. It may be just me, but I can't go by without seeing all the Christmas films on television! I'm way behind on my Christmas shopping (meaning I have yet to begin), but I've started my holiday reads, so I guess that says something about my priorities...

Of course, December wouldn't be complete if I didn't also start getting ready for the New Year. And that includes choosing which reading challenges I will participate in during 2015! I'm incredibly excited about this, since I've never taken part in any of these before. I've decided to keep it simple for this first year, only signing up to a few challenges, and see how it goes before stepping it up over the course of the next few years. So, here are the reading challenges I've decided to sign up to in 2015.