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The Queen of the Tearling - Erika Johansen

This is apparently a debut novel for Erika Johansen and I love that a female writer so perfectly produced a must-read in a genre more typically dominated by men. Cherry on top, our protagonist is not the skinny-exquisitely beautiful-brave but mysterious usual formula for female characters in the fantasy genre, oh no, our Kelsea is chubby, loves her food and has truck loads of courage and spunk- just how we like'em.
The book starts out on Kelsea's nineteenth birthday when soldiers relucttanlty fetch her from the only  home shes ever known to escort her to the throne of the Tearling which, at that point is ruled by her corrupt uncle who not so secretly is under the thumb of the Queen of Mortmesne. Little faith is lended to her to actually get to the throne as assassins are in hot pursuit of her to make sure she never reaches the the throne. The lack luster faith of the soldiers quickly turn around when our Kelsea shows them that she's no 'dolls and dresses' type. And of course, she gets aided by the creepy Fetch who she secretly becomes smitten with.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, its darkly delicious and I would imagine inspired many a late night for the fortunate people who were smart enough to acquire the whole trilogy set together *Sigh*
The Queen of the Tearling is followed by The Invasion of the Tearling and The Fate of the Tearling.

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One Dark Throne - Kendare Blake

The sequel to the former Three Dark Crowns, the anticipation for One Dark Crown saw me mentally tapping a literary foot for almost a year. Now I know that this is more suited to the late teen market, but there is something just so riveting about the three very different sisters who are used as pawns to claim the crown of Fennbirn island. The book starts off in Greavesdrake Manor, home of the formerly weak queen Katharine, who very interestingly after being thrown into the Breccia Domain because of said weakness and trusting nature, emerges as a force to be reckoned with, which pretty much sends chills up the spines of everyone who once lauded power over. Queens Mirabella and Arsinoe are no less interesting either and we see each of the three queens finding their own voices and being used less as pawns.
This book is appealing enough to an adult, which means I wouldnt recommend it to a lower age group than the mid-late teenage sphere.
Gone are the days when a books entire tale was in a single thick volume - wait, were there ever such days?? - and so dear readers, we await the next installment with due anticipation *tap, tap, tap*
*Book sponsored by Pan Macmillan 

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The Pearl Sister - Lucinda Riley

Its unfailingly interesting how Lucinda Riley takes the main mythological characteristics of each star of the Seven Sisters of Pleiades and uses it to create complex and likable characters. Though, it must have been no mean feat to write about Celaeno (CeCe to us, dear readers) who is known as the 'swarthy' or 'melon' of the constellation. Yes, I'm sure there is a perfectly respectable mythological elaboration on these characteristics, but I think we can all agree its not as epic as Maia's beauty or  Alcyone's leadership. Like her closest sister Asterope (remember the previous book about Star?), Celaeno is also known as less luminous than the other brighter stars of the constellation. This pretty much reflects our CeCe's view of herself in comparison to her other sisters, particularly Star.
Which is probably why CeCe's story is the most exotic of the lot thus far. We've been to Brazil for Maia, Scandinavia for Ally and then to England for Star - but none were quite as culturally fascinating as CeCe's story which takes us way back into the Outback (see what I did there?!) and across the Never Never and other places of less equally cool names. CeCe's ancestry is part Aboriginal and along with it comes the rich influences of the people of the land Australia, ironically one of the few places that she did not want to visit as a traveler. True to her spontaneous nature, the book takes us on a journey that starts in Thailand after she dejectedly leaves Star in England to find a life of her own and its here that she meets the mysterious Ace. Thereafter off we go to Australia where she finally understands the clue that Pa Salt left her and more importantly, herself.
This author truly has a gift for story telling and her research must take her all over the world to truly assimilate different cultures into each characters past - tough work I'm sure..
We await Tiggy's story coming in autumn 2018 with bated breath.
*Book sponsored by Pan Macmillan

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The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett

An enticingly fat book (nerd alert), you know you're about to read something epic when the book in question has inspired not only a TV series, but also a video game. Written in the 1970's, to add to its illustrious accomplishments this book has been on various best seller lists for long stretches of time.
The writing itself reminded me of traditional male story writing - Terry Goodkind, Robert Jordan etc, though there is no sign of sci-fi or fantasy in this book. Part of the fiction genre, its the first installment of the Kingsbridge trilogy that narrates the building of a cathedral superimposed over the trials and tribulations in the lifetimes of several protagonists - Prior Philip; Aliena; Ellen and Jack; Tom Builder and the despicable William Hamleigh.
The central topic of the book is the building of the cathedral at the Kingsbridge Priory and the lives of many characters are indirectly impacted by its construction. I would imagine that Follett must have researched the architectural trends of that time (12th century) in great depth as the most poetic descriptions in the book are about the architecture of various buildings and most centrally, the cathedral itself.
This book deepened the dark rings around my eyes as I could not put it down, its reputation as one of Britains great reads well worth the honour. Its succeeded by World Without End, and most recently, A Column of Fire.
*Book sponsored by Pan Macmillan

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The Muse - Jessie Burton

Believable characters - that is one of the qualities that a great book has. Our protagonist here in The Muse almost makes me believe that I read her narrations in an accent apt to her Trinidad homeland. Odelle Bastien is a bright writer born in Trinidad who comes to London like many others in the 1960's to search for the dream. Her dream? To be a published writer. Instead she finds herself working in a shoe store for five years, struggling to gain an opportunity that is not biased by her skin tone. As fate would have it, she gets admin job at the Skelton Institute via the incredibly enigmatic Marjorie Quick. The book lightly touches on the racial challenges that Odelle deals with at that time, but more as to accentuate her and Quick as contrasting characters than for any other reason. 

Spiked with art related history in 1930's, this one may appeal to the fans of Picasso, having much of the books' story line set in the time of his popularity and the place of his birth - beautiful Malaga, on the Andalusian coast of Spain. 

I was genuinely surprised - not an easy feat! -  at the plot twist at the end. Author of the Miniaturist, Jessie Burton spell bounds with a fast developing plot and a refreshingly unconventional protagonist.
*Book sponsored by Pan Macmillan

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Jessica Sepel - The Healthy Life

Just about exiting the 2-month post pregnancy crazy period, if ever there was a book that would make me run out in wild dash (well, almost!) to buy chia seeds, its this one. Compiled underneath a venerably wholesome looking cover with the extremely healthy looking Ms. Sepel, I opened the book to read with much skepticism. After all, are we not bombarded enough with trendy ways of eating and breathing and seeing and weeing etc?
Despite my doubts, I warmed to the read, particularly the easy recipes (no comments on the higher priced ingredients but for goodness sake it pays to be healthy?!) some of which I've already attempted to try - cue her mum Nicky's roast chicken and those tasty muesli bars . Espousing the merits of a cleaner and more health-conscious way of living and eating, Ms Sepel's written creed aims to take you on a holistic journey that doesn't end with a goal weight or a certain waist circumference, this is a lifestyle choice and eschews food excesses and any type of mental or physical toxicity that impacts overall wellness and mindfulness.
I'm particularly partial to the encouragement of giving the exercise a skip if it means that you are more in need of rest than activity. Guess that means I'm gona try to sneak in a cat nap..Looking forward to getting stuck into Living the Healthy Life
*Book sponsored by Pan Macmillan

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The Shadow Sister - Lucinda Riley

I await each installment of the Seven Sister series with delicious anticipation, savouring the pleasant surprise each time that each book has been thicker than the last. That's because I know that every volume will be richly decorated by a bygone era's accurately depicted historical background set within a fictional tale for my - and of course, your - delight.
The Shadow Sister is the heritage tale of Star, the third of the D'Apliese sisters and the most (seemingly) introverted and enigmatic of them all. Named after Asterope in the constellation, her whole life Star had been the quiet side-kick you may call it, to the fourth sister, Cece who is as boisterous and spontaneous as she is reserved and measured.
Finally looking into the clues about her heritage left by Pa Salt, Star's journey of discovery leads her to make unlikely friends, and through them is taken back a hundred years via the diaries left by her ancestors to understand where she came from. New friendships and employment also begin to challenge the comfortable and immovable bond with Cece.
Romantic, delectably rich in historical imagery and littered with flowery English characters, as usual I find myself awaiting the next installment of  of the series - Cece's journey in the Pearl Sister - with much anticipation.
*Book sponsored by Pan Macmillan 

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Lucy Diamond - The House of New Beginnings

What caught my eye most about this book was the lovely cover that seemed to scream enigma and  girly friendship - adventure to me. For the most part, I was right, particularly in the girly friendship -adventure prognosis.
Set in the seaside town of Brighton, England, the book follows three initially down-on-their-luck ladies who have all moved to the same apartment block at Dukes Square over the course of the past few months. Georgie, a twenty something resident of Stonefield who is confident and exuberant in nature follows her boyfriend to the town when he gets a 6-month architecture contract there. Charlotte, sombre divorcee who harbours the scars of a terrible trauma that has kept her completely anti-social and finally, Rosa, who upon finding out the man she loves was living a double life, promptly quit her high-flying job in advertising and moved to Brighton to become part of the minimum wage kitchen staff at the Hotel Zanzibar
A lightly written peace, I very aptly read this with a spectacular sea view in site. Great for an easy read where minimum mental taxation is desired and the expectation of a happy ending is guaranteed.
*Book sponsored by Pan Macmillan 

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Gail Schimmel: The Park | Blog Tour | Pregnant musings from a swollen belly...Reading about Rebecca

Early in Rebecca's pregnancy,  she finds herself enjoying a routine of procrastinating, drinking tea and stroking her belly. That pretty much sum's up my existence over the past few months.
Just like our protagonist, I'm expecting a bundle of (grief? angst? hysteria?) joy in the next few months and as I read about her exploits from the comforts of my highly pillowed bed, I found myself frowning through her anxieties, admiring her never-ending maternal juice and practically sighing in exhaustion on account of her overall busyness. She may then, have provided a book-realm crash course in what can be expected in the next few months. The unyielding defense for her (adopted) daughter; the desire to connect with similar situation moms and a potential for a supernatural compassion so powerful that it may attract curious types people with needs that are too big to voice out loud.
Like Rebecca, I too have a 'Sean' who colours my days with husbandly charm that will soon extend into the realm of fatherhood. And like Rebecca, I appreciate him and cannot imagine the struggles that the Lilith's of the world have to go through in terms of enduring abuse in a pregnancy and then raising a child alone. I've known incredible women who have been abandoned with their swollen bellies either through fate or someone's choice and I cannot sing the praises of these unsung heroes enough. You never quite realise the sacrifice and sense of overwhelming that goes into bringing life into the world until you have to see it through your own eyes. So as a reader you cannot help but develop a macabre compassion for the choices that Lilith has made.
So here's to the Amazon's that we walk amongst everyday, the ones who scuttle about with swollen bellies to make the lives of those around (and inside of) them work. And, especially to those who don't have the support to get up and say "Ok, lets do this" for yet another day.

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Coming soon.....

I'm excited to announce a new venture with Pan Macmillan, coming to the site on the 11th April!

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The Park - Gail Schimmel

Well written and sometimes witty is how I'd some up this book. Gail Schimmel certainly conveys a tone of motherly experience in this domestic-focused work. At times distracting a reader with the mundane daily domestic details that contribute to the tone of  Rebecca's overall situation, the book is divided into chapters titled with a 'good mother' checklist that we later find out was the little audit list of her troubled friend Lilith. After meeting Lilith and her daughter Ruby-Mae in the park with her soon to be ex-friend Rose, Rebecca and husband Sean's life slowly become affected in ways that they could not dream about. Without giving away too much of the book, I did find myself waiting through the first few chapters for something big to happen - the writing builds up the precipice of a juicy drama really well, and leaves you somewhat hanging until much later on. A great light read that would certainly appeal to the 30-50 year old mom target market.
*Book sponsored by Pan Macmillan

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Passenger - Alexandra Bracken

In an ode to the ending month of love and all that, the long overdue review of Alexandra Brackens' Passenger has finally been posted. I liked Passenger for 2 reasons:
1 - It deviates from the usual dystopian/vampire/coming of age literature we've seen in the young adult category over these past few years and, 2 - The male protagonist and love interest is a person of colour. Two pioneering thumbs up here.
In a rather unfortunate way, Etta (our heroine) travels - or is hurled really - for the first time from the present day to 1776 where a series of events unlocks her true lineage as a traveler and her connection to the powerful Ironwood family. Cue the introduction to handsome Nicholas Carter who would become her companion throughout the twisted adventures spurred by Ironwood.
I'm tempted to compare the book to other more well known time travelling books, but I think Passenger more than holds its own.
*Book sponsored by Pan Macmillan

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Three Dark Crowns - Kendare Blake

The lauded author of Anna Dressed In Blood, Kendare Blake's Three Dark Crowns captured me from the first page. describing the advisers who prod the wasting body of the poison Queen Katharine who, is one of the three sisters vying for the crown on Fennbirn. Sisters Mirabella - the elemental queen - and Arsinoe - the naturalist - too have their advisors skilled in that specific talent who plot and plan from their separate sections of the island to claim the throne after the festival of Beltane where each queen must display their talent to prove their strength. And then plan to kill the rest of their sisters - as you do, in every generation of triplets born from the former queen of the island.
With the sisters separated from a young age, they're conditioned to accept that to be queen, you need to kill off the siblings that pose a threat - or you'll die yourself. Unique in character. personality and surroundings, the queens face similar manipulations from those who provide their council, and who seek to further the interests of their own kind.
I was surprised to find that for this book, three covers are available and themed according to each queens talent. I had the pleasure of reading from the beautiful rose gilded crown cover (representing naturalist Queen Arsinoe I assume?) and found it riveting. Itching to read the sequel, One dark Throne.
*Book sponsored by Pan Macmillan