Tag: amreading

Sunday Summary – 29th August 2021

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Hello everyone and welcome to today’s Sunday Summary update post. As always, I hope you’ve had a great week? It’s especially been a good one here as we are in the middle of a super bank holiday weekend. We normally have a bank holiday in June, but this didn’t take place as planned this year as it is associated with a motorbike racing event. This was cancelled due to Covid, so we got Friday this week in lieu.

My blogging schedule didn’t quite go to plan this week. I was hoping to get my review of The Thief Taker by C. S. Quinn out a little earlier than I did, but I eventually got it to a stage I was happy with it and published the post on Thursday.

I was meant to publish a First Lines Friday post this week. However, with having the day off I got stuck into some household jobs, including taming the garden. Long story short, I had quite a busy day and I finally remembered that I hadn’t started drafting this post about 10 pm. By that point, I hadn’t chosen a book to feature and so I decided to postpone the post rather than scramble to get something sub-par ready.

 

Books Read

Reading progress this week has been good. As you guys know, I’m currently reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling. I’m now just over 300 pages into the book and it’s so easy to pick up and put down. Even though I haven’t read this book for a long time, there is still a sense of familiarity but equally, it’s keeping me engaged. I love how well these are written and I don’t think it will be too long before I finish the series; I want to try and finish them by the end of the year.

 

Books Discovered

No news to report here once again, so I’m a happy bunny!

 

Coming Up…

I’m going to be taking a brief break over the next week. My sister and her boyfriend are coming over to the island for a visit and so I’m going to be taking time out to spend time with them. My sister was over for the first time in a couple of years back at the end of June; I am looking forward to being able to catch up with her again so soon. I haven’t met my sister’s boyfriend properly yet, so I’m looking forward to that too!

I will be back at the end of next week with another Sunday Summary post, but that’s all you can expect from me next week. Until then I hope you have a good one!

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Book Review: The Thief Taker – C. S. Quinn

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In today’s book review post I’m sharing my thoughts on a book that I read around the time I moved house last year. That seems crazy to me because that was well over a year ago! It just goes to show how far behind I am on some of my reviews. Needless to say that after today’s post I can take one more off my list and I hope you enjoy hearing my thoughts on this book.

The Thief Taker appealed to me for its setting. It seemed apt given that we were in the height of our first wave of the pandemic locally at the time I read the book. Maybe that isn’t the best choice for anyone who is superstitious; I am not however and I went on to enjoy this book!

 

The Thief Taker – C. S. Quinn

Goodreads – The Thief Taker

The year is 1665. Black Death ravages London. A killer stalks the streets in a plague doctor’s hood and mask…

When a girl is gruesomely murdered, thief taker Charlie Tuesday reluctantly agrees to take on the case. But the horrific remains tell him this is no isolated death. The killer’s mad appetites are part of a master plan that could destroy London – and reveal the dark secrets of Charlie’s own past.

Now the thief taker must find this murderous mastermind before the plague obliterates the evidence street by street. This terrifying pursuit will take Charlie deep into the black underbelly of old London, where alchemy, witchcraft and blood-spells collide.

In a city drowned in darkness, death could be the most powerful magic of all.

 

My Thoughts…

As I said in my introduction, the main reason I wanted to read this book was to indulge in the setting. British history ironically wasn’t touched on all that much as part of my education. It was there a bit, but I spent most of my time studying the world wars, the Cold War and the economic Boom and Bust in the 1920’s and 30’s. With that in mind, I wanted to try something new. This particular book appealed because in addition it also had an element of mystery – a murder to be solved. It’s a genre that I read from time to time and more often than not enjoy, so I felt it was a safe bet to try something new but equally with a touch of familiarity.

I really enjoyed the mystery element. Can I say that I expected the book and the plot would turn out the way you did? Absolutely not! The story had a far wider scope and I imagined but honestly, I really enjoyed that.

The book is brilliant in its description of London at its worst. If you don’t have a strong stomach then maybe take this with a pinch of salt. The narrative encourages the imagination to run wild with vivid descriptions of just how atrocious conditions were at the time. Imagine bodies rotting in the streets. People hiding themselves away and turning on anyone they think to be sick. The city turns into a cesspit; it’s one thing to have a vague understanding of how things happened in reality, reading a book such as this brings it into perspective.

With society in a state of breakdown and sickness everywhere, the book is full of tension. Where is safe? Who is lurking behind close doors or in the next alleyway – a criminal… or something worse? Our main character finds himself looking over his shoulder constantly and with London being incredibly unsafe, the narrative is full of action to keep us as readers interested.

There is definitely far more that can be added to the series. The plot has been left pretty wide open after this book so it will be interesting to see where the next instalment takes us. For historical fiction, I enjoyed the change of setting and pace and for anyone looking to delve into British history, or at least a very dark side of history, this may just be for you!

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Sunday Summary – 22nd August 2021

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Hello everyone and welcome to today’s Sunday Summary update post. As always, I hope you’ve had a good one whatever you have been doing?

At the beginning of this week, I shared a Top Ten Tuesday post; this week’s subject was my top ten favourite places to read. As someone who reads a lot, I have no shortage of places I will pick up a book. So, this is quite an easy post for me to write. If you haven’t checked out that post already, I’d be interested to see what your favourite places are by comparison!

On Friday I shared my next Shelf Control post. For those unfamiliar with the series, I use it to review the books on my reading list and I tell you about why I can’t wait to read them. This week’s featured book was a mystery/crime novel by a new author to me. It’s unusual in that it is slap-bang in the middle of the series, however I won’t let that put me off giving it a go! I’m hoping the book can be read standalone, but we’ll see!

 

Books Read

This week’s reading progress has been significantly better than last week. I barely picked up Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last week but I’ve been making up for that since. I’ve read over 150 pages this week and I plan to take this to bed with me again tonight to continue. I’m really enjoying the book so far. It is a hefty one, but at the same time it’s very easy to pick up and read. It probably helps that I have a rough idea of the story from the last time it read it, but equally the narrative is just really easy to follow and reading doesn’t feel like a chore.

 

Books Discovered

For the second time in a couple of weeks, I can still say that I haven’t made any acquisitions or added anything to my TBR! No complaints here – the list is long enough already.

 

Coming Up…

This week I am going to pick up where I left off with my half-drafted review of The Thief Taker by C. S. Quinn. I made a solid start and I want to pick this back up and get it into a state where I’m happy to publish it. I hope you can join me for that post!

Later in the week, I’ll be sharing my next First Lines Friday post. I’m going to set myself a challenge for this post and choose this week’s featured book is out of my top 10 reads from last year. Naturally, you can be sure that this book comes highly recommended and I hope it will catch your eye as it did for me.

Last, but not least, I’ll be back with another Sunday Summary post at the end of the week to share what I’ve been up to and what I’ve been reading.

That is, however, all from me this week. I hope you have a fantastic one and I look forward to seeing you again.

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Top Ten Tuesday – Favourite Places to Read

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Hello and welcome to today’s Top Ten Tuesday post!

I’ve had my eye on taking part in this post for a couple of weeks. When I saw this week‘s topic I knew I wanted to share my top ten places to read. It’s one of those really personal things so not only does it give you the opportunity to learn a little about me, but also I would like to hear what your favourite places are and see how we differ!

Shall we jump into the list?


Home – The Living Room

This is by far my favourite place to read. Sat on my sofa on a cosy evening, cup of tea in hand, candles lit and curtains drawn. Maybe even wrapped in a blanket. This is my ideal reading spot. I don’t know why, but reading always appeals to me more as the nights are drawing in earlier, so September-November is the ideal time of year for me.


Home – In Bed

My second favourite place to read is in bed just before settling down for the night. This is actually where I got back into reading on a regular basis several years ago. It was cold, it was January and with being out for most of the day at that time, I was coming home to a cold flat. As such, I decided rather than putting the heating on for half an hour or so before turning in, I’d just go straight to tucking myself up in bed instead. I wasn’t in the mood to watch anything on TV as I was tired. However, picking up a book could be as much or as little as you wish… And well, the rest is history!

Someone who loves to read before bed, I don’t read in the mornings. For me it’s a ‘before bed’ thing and that’s it.


Home – The Garden

Since moving into my new place I’ve enjoyed going and sitting out on the decking with a book. It’s probably happened more last year with lockdown (ironically when I didn’t have a garden furniture to go and sit out on!) But I still do go and take the opportunity when I feel like it. Over here it’s also severely weather permitting too… And most of the time it isn’t!

This does come with the caveat that as long as I’m not surrounded by bees or wasps I’m comfortable. I have been known on several occasions to put headphones in just to make it a little bit easier to ignore the things. I absolutely hate them!

 

At Work – Lunchtime Reading

One of the ways I like to wind down at lunchtime is to pick up a book. If I want to switch off it’s a good way to distract my mind and enjoy some downtime, even for a short while. And I was reading is more than enough for me. I’m not a marathon reader by any stretch of the imagination and I don’t need to sit for long sessions. So, this suits me to a T.

 

Commuting

A hobby such as reading is great when you have to commute. I must admit I drive most of the time, but I have been known to listen to an audiobook whilst I’m driving.

Reading on buses (or trains for those who have access to them) can be a great way to pass the time. I would only ever do it on a very familiar route however, because I would easily get too engrossed, lose my bearings and inevitably miss my stop. I was born blonde and though looks maybe deceiving, I haven’t lost that trait! The best place for me to commute and read is on the plane – because you really can’t miss your stop!

 

On Holiday

Whenever I go on holiday I can guarantee that my kindle is one of the first things I think to pack. Since getting an e-reader I tend to stick to taking that on holiday, but that’s not strictly the case. Last time I went on holiday (all that time ago…) I took a couple of paperbacks with me as well, because they weren’t too big.

I’m not one for getting in the pool too much, but sitting next to it with a book in hand is one of the most relaxing things that I will do on holiday. And with all that time to do nothing at all, there’s plenty of opportunity to bury my nose and indulge. I go on holiday with my family and whilst others may not read as much as me, we all read on holiday. So, it suits us all.

 

Coffee Shops

If I’m in the right frame of mind, sitting in a coffee shop is a great way to enjoy your book. I say in the right frame of mind because sometimes background noise can be distracting for me. Equally, sometimes it doesn’t bother me at all. I can’t say I frequent coffee shops very often alone (and I won’t read whilst in company), but I do enjoy doing it when I am on my own. I think the last time I visited a coffee shop with a book in hand was around a year ago. I think I was out Christmas shopping if that tells you anything about how long ago it was!

 

Bookshops

There’s something about being in the company of others who appreciate books that makes for a lovely atmosphere in a bookshop. I wouldn’t say I’m a big reader in this sense, but you always have to try but before you buy right? The last time I read in public (as above), was in a café in a coffee shop. Win-win if you ask me!

 

Libraries

If the noise of a coffee shop is offputting then the library is the next best alternative. I like the ability to choose anything to read. It’s a great place to try something new and if you really want the peace and quiet to take your time with it, it’s a great place to go.

 

Airports

Airports are by far not my favourite place to be, but with all that waiting around they are perfect venues for picking up a book. Again, like commuting, I’m very wary about doing this. I’m paranoid about missing my flight so whilst I have been known to read whilst waiting, I am checking the board frequently and listening to every tannoy going. Do you get the vibe I don’t trust myself?

 

So, those are my top ten places to read, and I would love to hear yours! Please let me know in the comments!

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Sunday Summary – 15th August 2021

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Good evening everyone and welcome to this week’s Sunday Summary update post. I hope you’ve had a great week?

In terms of blogging, my week didn’t go quite as planned. I was hoping to share a review of The Thief Taker by C. S. Quinn earlier this week. However, whilst I made a good start on it, I wasn’t able to finish it in a way that I was happy to share it. I’ve still got what I’ve done so far and this will be coming to you shortly!

I did manage to find a book to feature for this week’s First Lines Friday post. The book I featured is one I read as a teenager. I really enjoyed the book at the time, however, I didn’t go on to finish the series. I got a good way through it (I was on book 3 I believe) but whether it was because I tried to read it all at once or because it definitely felt targeted to a YA audience, I just couldn’t finish it. I was in the target audience age bracket at the time, but it’s not a genre I read a lot of anyway. And it did feel a little bit… Not childish, but I certainly felt like I was too old to appreciate it. I can’t say if I’d agree now, but it’s worth a look and if you like fantasy then it may just be for you anyway!

 

Books Read

I’ll hold my hands up and admit that reading progress has been very light this week. And by light, I mean that so far, I’ve read a single chapter of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I did that this morning because I felt conscious of the fact that I haven’t picked it up all week.

I will be rectifying that tonight. There isn’t a particular reason why I didn’t pick this up all week; I’ve just been enjoying doing other things. After sharing this post, however, I will be picking this up and even taking it up to bed with me tonight!

 

Books Discovered

For the first time in a couple of weeks, I can say that I haven’t made any acquisitions or added anything to my TBR!

Hoorah!

 

Coming Up…

I like the idea of this week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic. This week’s post will be all about my favourite places to read. It’s one of those subjects where it’s interesting to see how well other people’s answers compare to your own. So, please take part in the comment section after I share that post because I would love to know what your favourite places to read are!

Later in the week, I’ll be back to sharing another Shelf Control post. In case you aren’t familiar with this series, the aim is to share details of the books on my TBR and why I want to read them.

Last, but not least, I’ll be back with another Sunday Summary post to round off the week.

That is, however, all from me this week. I hope you have a fantastic one and I look forward to seeing you around.

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Sunday Summary – 8th August 2021

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Good evening everyone and welcome back to another Sunday Summary update post. I hope you’ve had a lovely week, whatever you have been doing! I have had a good one, albeit run-of-the-mill – work, home, eat and sleep… oh, and read!

In addition to that, I have shared a couple of blog posts with you. My first post of the week was my monthly wrap up for July. I can’t believe it’s August already! I feel like I say this all the time but honestly, where is this year going? In that post, I shared all the books I’ve been reading (and there have been a lot more than of late) as well as the posts I shared last month.

On Friday I shared my first Shelf Control post for a little while. It was lovely to go back and look at my TBR and talk about why I can’t wait to read the next book on my list. This week’s featured book was a non-fiction novel called Lunatics, Imbeciles and Idiots, and looks at the history of psychology and how patients were treated in the 19th century.

 

Books Read

As of last week’s Sunday Summary update I was around two thirds of the way through Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Although longer than its predecessors I didn’t struggle to make progress with this at all. I love these books and the series and I’m glad I took the plunge with reading this one. It’s encouraged me in that I know I can pick up something longer and not lose momentum. You’ll know that I haven’t been reading as much so far this year as I’ve been giving myself a little bit of a break. I’m just now getting back into the habit of reading more regularly and this series is helping me do so!

This book is so good that I finished the final third in one sitting. Yes, you read that right. Around 220 pages were read over a few hours on Tuesday evening to finish the book. It was a bit of a marathon session but it got to the point where I was so close to the end that I didn’t want to put it down! It was brilliant; I love the change in tone from the previous books. It’s a lot darker and a lot more interesting given that I’m now a slightly older audience than I was when I first read the book.

I loved it so much that I have dived into Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix already. Again, this is significantly longer than the Goblet of Fire, but I’ve already made a dent and gotten around 75 pages in.

 

Books Discovered

I met up with some friends earlier this week for a catch-up and my friend Natalie has kindly loaned me a book that she has talked about with me before. A few months ago she started reading Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo and she was keen to hear what my opinion was on the book. So, I’ll probably be picking this up shortly so that I can return it to her in good time.

 

Coming Up…

This week I want to share with you a book review for something I read last year. I’m gradually chipping away at the books I still owe reviews for and this week’s feature book is going to be The Thief Taker by C. S. Quinn. I enjoyed the setting of this book and the action within so I hope you can join me for my review and find out all my thoughts on the book.

Later in the week, I will return with another First Lines Friday post. As of writing this post, I haven’t got any particular book in mind, but I will come up with something during the week and fingers crossed this will appeal to you if you haven’t read it already!

Last, but not least, I’ll be back with another Sunday Summary post to round off the week.

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Monthly Wrap-Up – July 2021

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Hello everyone! I’m back with another monthly wrap-up post. Honestly, where is this year going? I’m not kidding you when I say that as part of the social committee at work I’m starting to make preparations for the big party event at the end of the year (you know the one) and it doesn’t feel like it should be coming round this quickly. But, it is, whether I think it should be or not!

This is my seventh monthly wrap-up, having started taking this approach at the beginning of the year as opposed to sharing a TBR at the beginning of the month. I’ve enjoyed the change of pace and having the flexibility to pick up what I want and when I want. Not only has this suited me was taking a step back, but it also proved not to be a hindrance getting back into it. And it’s fair to say compare to recent months, I’m back in the game. I’m really pleased with the amount of reading I’ve done over the last month, which you can find out below.

 

Books Read

The beginning of this month started with a number of short stories. I was taking part in blog tours for both Clarissa and Ruabon by Karl Drinkwater. In part, I think having the deadlines for each of these helped encourage me to pick up the books quickly, but also being quite short these were very easy to read a as well. I read and loved previous books of the series before, so I was confident these are a safe bet when I signed up for them.

Starting with these two definitely helped motivate me, because I then picked up a short story that I was loaned by our CEO. He is also an avid reader and he wanted my thoughts on the particular book he recommended (and loaned) to me. I’d had it for a little while but as I hadn’t set aside time deliberately to read it, I found I would start it, put it down, not pick it up again for a bit and then consequently end up starting again. After reading two short stories already, I felt I was in the mood and that it was time to set aside time specifically for this book. Not that it took long. I read this within a couple of days too – my reading streak was definitely a record for this year at that point already.

After reading these three short stories, and generally feeling good about my progress, I decided to pick up something a little longer. Having looked at my bookshelves for a bit, and even trying a couple of chapters on a kindle book that I’ve DNF’d before (but then decided against for the sake of preserving my newfound motivation), I decided to pick up The Taking of Annie Thorne by C. J Tudor. I had read and loved a previous book of hers, The Chalk Man, and so I felt it was a reasonably safe bet. This decision paid off as well because I loved this book! It was everything I expected and utterly enthralling. I don’t think I could have chosen better.

And still, after all these books, I’m not quite done. My next read was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling. I didn’t quite finish this before month-end, however, I was well over halfway. Given that this portion of the read was about as long as The Taking of Annie Thorne, I’m pleased with this progress! Another book I started and was (and still am) making progress on was Stock Investing for Dummies by Paul Mladjenovic. It’s not the sort of thing that I imagine is everyone’s cup of tea, but given that it loosely relates to my job role and I enjoy reading around the subject, I thought this would be a good place to start. Only got to around 20 odd percent of this one before month-end.

So, as you can see, I’ve definitely read a lot more than in previous months this year. At the end of last month, I set myself a goal to try and pick up reading more regularly again. I used to read nearly every night, but in taking a bit of a break this year, this scaled back quite a lot – maybe to once or twice a week at an absolute push! I’m still not reading every night now, but picking up a book is a more frequent occurrence, and long may that habit continue.

And after all that reading, I can’t forget the audiobook progress I’ve made this month as well! After several months, I finally finished listening to A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin. I really enjoyed listening to this as I love the series. I did, however, decide after finishing that audiobook that I needed a break from the series. So, I decided to listen to something completely new – A Suitable Lie by Michael J. Malone. As of the end of July, I was around a third of the way through this audiobook. It’s nowhere near as long as A Clash of Kings, and so progress should be a lot quicker.

 

Blog Posts

As always, I like to recap the posts I have shared over the last month so then if you happen to have missed any, you can check them out with a handy link from here! In addition to all this reading this month, I’ve also shared the following:

 

I hope you enjoyed today’s wrap-up post for July. I feel really good about the progress I’ve made over the last month and how I’m getting back into reading more often. Being able to give myself the freedom to pick up what I want and what I want is really suiting me – and encouraging me to get back into it more. I hope this bit of news excites you, as that means I’m going to have more bookish content to share with you in the long run.

Are there any good books you have picked up in the last month, or is there even something you’re currently reading that you would recommend? Let me know in the comments!

 

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Sunday Summary – 1st August 2021

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Hello everyone and welcome to today’s weekly wrap-up Sunday Summary post. As always, I hope you’ve had a wonderful week wherever you are and whatever you have been doing!

This week I opted for a slightly lighter schedule, and I’m glad I did. I chose to do this as I have recently taken part in a couple of blog tours in reasonably quick succession. It also turned out to be beneficial as I started learning some new things at work this week – I’m in the middle of changing my job role and I have a lot to learn! Generally, I don’t take work home with me, but I will admit with learning the new stuff, it’s been on my mind a lot.

Despite this, I still managed to share the planned discussion post with you. In that post, I share the character types I feel are very underrepresented in books, particularly in the fantasy genre. If you haven’t checked that post out already, you can take a look with this handy link.

 

Books Read

Last week I started reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and as of last week’s Sunday summary update, I was around a third of the way through the book. I’m pleased to say I’ve made an equal amount of progress this week, putting me at 440 pages (roughly) through. I’m enjoying it so far and despite at length, there is no drag or difficulty with getting into it. Sometimes if books are a little bit longer and I’m not quite in the mood, I can get bored… but this is not the case here! I’d forgotten how much I loved these books. The difference between the first three and the Goblet of Fire in terms of content and tone is quite big. I’m loving this later book more and so I think I will be jumping into the rest of the series and finishing this quite quickly!

I also started a second book this week, which I wasn’t particularly planning on! I was having a browse through the e-books my library offers and I found something that loosely relates to my job. Without going into too much detail, my job is investment-related. I took a qualification that I completed in February this year and through that, I enjoyed reading around the subject.

The book that I picked up from my library is Stock Investing for Dummies by Paul Mladjenovic. I appreciate a lot of you probably find that quite a dry reading subject, but we all have different things that float our boat. I’m currently around 20% through this one and I will be continuing to read this over the next couple of weeks – at least I should be because that’s when my loan runs out!

 

Books Discovered

I have a small confession to make. I decided to go to my local bookstore at the beginning of this week. It’s recently been payday, and I was in the mood to have a browse. Needless to say, that resulted in my being in the mood to buy, and I treated myself to three new books.

My argument/justification is that this first book was already on my TBR. It’s also one of the older books on my TBR, so I’m likely going to be picking this up before long anyway. Those of you who read my blogs or follow what I’m reading will know that I am fascinated with World War II and the Holocaust. A weird subject, I know, given the unpleasantness surrounding it– however, I find the subject as interesting as it is harrowing. I’m confident that I’m going to love it and so I decided to pick this up in paperback.

The second book I picked up is a recommendation from my sister’s boyfriend Chris. We are both regular readers and judging by our bookshelves, we have a very similar reading taste. Chris has recently read both Barack Obama’s A Promised Land and Michelle Obama’s Becoming and recommended the latter to me as it’s less heavy on the political side. So, when I stumbled across this in the buy one get one half price section, I had to! I swear that section gets me every time.

The last book I picked up was also from the section, and it’s called Pandora’s Jar by Natalie Haynes. Having touched upon Greek myth in a couple of books I’ve read, it’s plain that women are portrayed as the lesser sex or just outright evil. This is the topic of Pandora’s Jar, and I’m interested to see what perspective it has to offer.

 

Coming Up…

Somehow it is August already, and so my priority for the week will be to share my wrap-up post for July. I’m feeling really good about sharing that post as I met my goal of spending more time reading than I have of late. I’ve read quite a few books (short stories and full-length novels) and I’m feeling really good about the habit I’m getting back into. But, more on that in my post next week.

Later in the week, I’m going to get back into my regular Friday feature. This week is the turn of a Shelf Control post… in that, I’ll be sharing the next book on my TBR and why I can’t wait to pick it up! as always, I hope you can join me for either of these posts.

And last, but not least, I’ll wrap up the week as usual with my next Sunday Summary update.

That is, however, all from me in today’s Sunday Summary update. What have you been reading? Have you treated yourself to any new books this week?

 

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Sunday Summary – 25th July 2021

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Good evening everyone and welcome to this week’s Sunday Summary update post. I hope you’ve had a brilliant week wherever you are? It has been a good one here; we’ve had some gorgeous weather… and because my Internet was down on Thursday night, I took the opportunity to go out and sit in the garden after tea to read. And it was wonderful! 

On blog related matters, I have shared a couple of posts with you so far this week. My first post was a Top Ten Tuesday post, and the subject was Books I Have Read in One Sitting (Or Would if I Had the Time). I did have to stretch that definition a little bit, as I quickly ran out of short stories that I’d finished in one sitting (genuinely). I opened it out to books I’d read within a 24-hour period, and this enabled me to finish my list!

My second blog post of the week was another blog tour review for Karl Drinkwater. Last week I took part in the blog tour for the third book in his Lost Tales of Solace series; this week’s post was for book four, Ruabon. If you really enjoy science fiction, or are just interested in giving it a go, and please check out any of my reviews for this series so far-I hope they encourage you to give them a go!

 

Books Read

After finishing The Taking of Annie Thorne by C. J. Tudor last week, I wanted to pick up a longer book than I have read recently. But, I also worried that the book choice had to be the right one to make sure I keep up momentum. At first I had an inkling to try and restart reading The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan. I picked this up and made a very good attempt at it previously, but ultimately I DNF’d this book at 70% because I was struggling with it. My friend absolutely loves the series and I was kind of gutted that it wasn’t working for me when I picked it up.

I had quite a serious urge to give this a go again, so much so that I read the first couple of chapters. However, I will admit that I think the timing of trying to pick this up again might not be right. As I said, I don’t want to lose momentum and I’ve just started reading more regularly! With that in mind, I put this down again for now and instead I have picked up Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling. I am re-reading the Harry Potter series this year, and given that this book weighs in at just over 600 pages, I felt it was the right book to pick up next. So far, it’s really working for me. I’m currently around 220 pages in and I’m absolutely loving it! I’m also planning on reading some more tonight before I go to bed, so that figure will technically go up after this post. 

 

Books Discovered

I’ve been really good again this week and I haven’t added any new books to my To Be Read pile.

 

Coming Up…

Having taken part in a couple of blog tours recently, I’m planning on a two-post schedule on my blog next week. Because I’ve been sharing reviews, I think I’m going to share a discussion post mid-week, and follow-up later with my usual Sunday Summary update for variety.

For my discussion post, I want to talk about the types of characters I want to see in books more. I have one definite idea in mind at the moment, but I’m going to have a think about this over the next few days and share all my thoughts with you about characters I would like to see more of in that post.

That is all from me in today’s Sunday Summary post however! What have you been reading? If you have any ideas for my discussion post, what characters would you like to see more of in books?

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Blog Tour Review: Ruabon – Karl Drinkwater

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Hello everyone and welcome to today’s blog tour review of Ruabon by Karl Drinkwater! This is my second blog tour review for this author in the space of a week! If you haven’t read my previous review of Clarissa, shared last Saturday, here’s a handy link so you can take a look. Don’t forget to check out my reviews of the earlier books in the series, Helene and Grubane too!

Today’s review is for the fourth short story in the Lost Tales of Solace series. As I said in my blog tour for Clarissa, I haven’t actually read the main series these books originate from. So, my perspective is from not having read them (yet!).

Before I share my review, I always like to take a moment to say thank you to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources and to the author, Karl, for organising the tour and giving me the opportunity to take part!

 

Ruabon – Karl Drinkwater

Goodreads – Ruabon

Welcome to Tecant.

Nothing ever happens here.

Until today.

Ruabon Nadarl is just another low-ranking member of the scan crew, slaving away for the UFS which “liberated” his homeworld. To help pass the time during long shifts he builds secret personalities into the robots he controls. Despite his ingenuity, the UFS offers few opportunities for a better life.

Then Ruabon detects an intruder on the surface of a vital communications tower.

He could just report it and let the deadly UFS commandos take over, while Ruabon returns to obscurity.

Or he could break UFS laws and try to capture the intruder himself. For the UFS, only the outcome matters, not the method. If his custom-programmed drones can save the day, he’ll be a hero.

And if he fails, he’ll be dead.

 

Purchase Link – https://books2read.com/b/Ruabon

 

Lost Tales of Solace Kickstarter Campaign

The Kickstarter has an option for someone to get EVERY Lost Solace book as an e-book; but also to get the new paperbacks that will be designed, if they prefer print.

 

My Thoughts…

I literally read Ruabon in a day.

I started reading the stories last Sunday morning, before visiting my parents for the day and finished it later that night after I came back. As all the other Lost Tales of Solace books, it is a very approachable read and is equally easy to binge or pick up and put down at leisure, whatever your preference.

Having read Clarissa recently, I was amazed to see the diversity between the different stories that stem from the same universe. It goes to show just how much thought and world-building has gone into the series overall (including the main one). Although they all interlink, the books could easily be completely different stories and so read independently. That said, there are some names that will make more sense if you have read some of the other books. It’s not a big deal, but I like the subtle inclusion of information from other books as well. They’re the sort of books that you can take from them what you will; you can read them independently and enjoy them that way, or you can read them all and read between the lines… so to speak!

I love how well written the different robot personalities are. They in themselves are extremely different and were really fun to read. I imagine getting across vastly different personalities with only the written word and a limited amount of space in the book to do so is a challenge. However, I think this was done brilliantly! I personally enjoyed each individual little drone and their unique personality. Not only that, but their own existence says a lot about our main character and supplement the main storyline and character building very well.

Ruabon is a story that tells how some people can bloom under pressure. What is supposed to be the equivalent of a quiet day in the office turns out to be anything but, and quiet, unassuming Ruabon steps up to the challenge in the time of need. The fact that he even sticks his neck out on the line shows that he is not the quiet timid man people think he is. It shows a degree of calculation and understanding of when it matters most to make a stand and take a risk. His intentions aren’t necessarily altruistic, however they are very relatable. Ultimately, he wants to make his family proud and respect his heritage as opposed to pleasing his new ‘overlords’.

Ruabon is packed full of action and if you enjoy a fast-paced narrative, this is definitely for you. Again, in a condensed storyline, the unravelling of the plot and the tension of events played out in a way that is very easy to read and keep the reader hooked. I literally only put this down because I was due to go out somewhere-if I haven’t been, I am pretty sure I would have read this all in one sitting.

 

Author Bio

Karl Drinkwater writes thrilling SF, suspenseful horror, and contemporary literary fiction. Whichever you pick you’ll find interesting and authentic characters, clever and compelling plots, and believable worlds.

Karl has lived in many places but now calls Scotland his home. He’s an ex-librarian with degrees in English, Classics, and Information Science. He also studied astrophysics for a year at university, surprising himself by winning a prize for “Outstanding Performance”.

When he isn’t writing he loves guitars, exercise, computer and board games, nature, and vegan cake. Not necessarily in that order.

Social Media Links –

Website https://karldrinkwater.uk

Twitter http://twitter.com/karldrinkwater

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/karlzdrinkwater

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/authorkdrinkwater/

Newsletter http://bit.ly/newsletterkd