Tag: amreading

Sunday Summary – 19th July 2020

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Hi guys and welcome back to another weekly update from me! Today’s Sunday Summary post is coming to you on schedule this week. I hope you have all had a good one? After a busy week around the house last week, I’ve enjoyed a bit of a breather and had a good day today spending the day with my parents. I do this every Sunday anyway, but this one was special as it’s my mum’s birthday! We had a good one and she was spoiled!

Over this week I published two posts to keep you entertained. The first of those was a look at the resolutions I set back in January and a mid-year review of my progress towards them. Whilst I am a little behind, I’m still happy and I think with a bit of effort I could claw it back. The second post was a review of The Dead Tell Lies by J. F. Kirwan for the ongoing blog tour. It’s a glowing review as this is one of the best books I have read this year; if you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, please check it out!

 

Books Read

I reported a lot of reading progress in last week’s Sunday Summary post thanks to the number of audiobooks I listened to. This weeks progress is more conservative, but I’m still happy with how I’ve done! My focus for the week has been reading The Dead Tell Lies for yesterday’s scheduled review. I really enjoyed this book, which I read towards the end of the week. Honestly, it was fantastic!

I’ve given the audiobooks a rest this week since I listened to so many the week before. Instead, I’ve taken to listening to history programs in the week and carrying on crocheting a blanket I am making for my lounge. It’s made a refreshing change as I haven’t done anything like that for a long time. Y TV rarely goes on!

Although I haven’t technically picked it up yet, I will be reading some of The Burning Land by Bernard Cornwell before going to bed tonight. It has been a few weeks since I started this, but these books are really easy to pick up. I remember what has happened so far, so I won’t have to start it again at least!

 

Books Discovered

Since I loved The Dead Tell Lies so much, I have actually added the first book of another series of his to my TBR this week. 66 Metres is a spy thriller, so slightly different to the psychological thriller I have just read. It still sounds really good though!

 

Coming Up…

Next week I want to share my thoughts on an audiobook I listened to at the end of last year. I have a little bit of a backlog on the audiobook reviews now, so I’ll be taking the time to review the oldest on the list, Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman.

On Friday I’m bringing back my regular feature post. This week it’s the turn of a First Lines Friday post. The last time I did one of these I set myself a theme to work with and I enjoyed the challenge. I’m going to do the same this time; next week’s feature is going to be a physical book I own.

Last, but not least, I’ll be filling you in with another Sunday Summary same time next week!

 

 

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Blog Tour Review: The Dead Tell Lies – J F Kirwan

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Good morning everyone and welcome to today’s blog tour post for The Dead Tell Lies by J. F. Kirwan. It is books like this that make me very happy to be a book blogger and to have a place to tell people that they really must, absolutely and unequivocally read a certain book. I finished The Dead Tell Lies less than half an hour before writing this post and I can hand on heart say that this is one of the best psychological thrillers I have ever read!

Before I get stuck in with rambling about just how great it is, I want to say a massive thank you to the author and to Rachel @ Rachel’s Random Resources for the chance to read this book and take part in the blog tour. If you haven’t been following it or want to check out more details/opinions of the book, you can check out the other participants of the tour at the end of the post. Please go and check out their posts as well! There are also more posts coming up in the next few days, so don’t forget to keep an eye out for those too!

 

The Dead Tell Lies – J. F. Kirwan

Goodreads – The Dead Tell Lies

Greg Adams, a criminal psychologist at Scotland Yard, specialises in bringing serial killers to justice. He tracks down a spree serial killer nicknamed the Divine, who has already killed six teenage girls and is about to kill a seventh. Greg works out the location where he is hiding and joins a raid. The police capture the Divine and save the girl, but on the very same night, Greg’s wife is brutally murdered by another serial killer, known as the Dreamer.

A year later, unable to bring the killer to justice, Greg has quit his job and is ready to end it all, when he receives a phone call from a man who tells him the Dreamer is dead, and that he didn’t kill Greg’s wife, Kate.

Greg returns to Scotland Yard to work for Superintendent Chief Detective Donaldson in the hope he can re-examine the case with the help of two new detectives, Finch and Matthews.

As Greg delves into the case further, he becomes more convinced that the Dreamer wasn’t the man responsible for his wife’s murder.

But if it wasn’t the Dreamer, who was it?

In order to solve the mystery around his wife’s murder, Greg is going to have to delve even deeper into the mind of a terrifying psychopath. And this time he might not make it back in one piece…

 

Purchase Links –   Amazon UK     Amazon US

 

My Thoughts…

For me, the best indicator of a good psychological thriller is how obsessed you become about trying to work everything out. If it occupies your mind even when you have to put down the book to do the mundane things, you’re on to a good start. Find one that keeps you on the edge of your seat and guessing until all is revealed, and you are onto a winner! The Dead Tell Lies is both of these things. I have been thinking about it almost constantly for the past two days, the timeframe over which I have read the majority of the book.

The Dead Tell Lies is a psychological thriller in the literal sense; our main character Greg is a criminal psychologist, renowned for putting away six serial killers throughout his career. He has the scary ability to get into the mind of a serial killer to unravel their motives and use it to get them off the streets for good. When his wife turns up dead with the classic signature of The Dreamer’s killings, it seems that things have gotten personal.

Greg is a really likeable character. He’s wickedly smart but just as human and vulnerable as the rest of us. I think that is the part that appealed to me as a reader. He is the personality we get behind emotionally. When he summons his ‘cold fire’, his semi-detached emotional drive, to get under a serial killer’s skin and crack the case, he’s a completely different man. We stand firmly behind him as his motives are to save lives by catching the killer, but his demeanour and mental state when he is “in the zone” is unnerving!

The Dead Tell Lies is packed full of action and there is never a dull moment. It’s easy to pick up but impossible to put down once you are in the thick of the narrative and dying to know what happens next. The book is also very cleverly written. I found myself trying to find hidden clues and working out the subtext constantly, but alas, authors only leave behind clues for the things they want you as a reader to know! It makes it all the more exciting when it’s time for the big reveal.

With the way this book ended, it could equally remain a standalone or become part of a series. I seriously hope for the latter because I would love to don Greg’s shoes again and delve into another captivating thriller. I have already added another series written by this author to my TBR having loved this so much! I’ll just have to pick that up and cross my fingers in the meantime…

 

Author Bio

J. F. Kirwan is an insomniac who writes thrillers in the dead of night. He is also a psychologist, and has drawn upon this expertise, including being taught by a professor who examined serial killers for Scotland Yard, to pen the crime/mystery/thriller The Dead Tell Lies for Bloodhound Books. He wanted to shed light not only on the darkness of serial killers, but of those who track them down, who must inevitably step inside the serial killer’s worldview, and may not come out clean afterwards. He is also the author of the Nadia Laksheva thriller series for HarperCollins (66 Metres, 37 Hours and 88 North). His favourite authors include Lee Child, David Baldacci and Jo Nesbo. He is married, and has a daughter and a new grandson, and lives between Paris and London.

Social Media Links –

www.jfkirwan.com

@kirwanjf

https://www.facebook.com/kirwanjf/

2020 Resolutions – Mid Year Review

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Although it’s a little past the midyear mark, I knew I wanted to have a look at my progress towards my reading goals halfway through the year. It’s a good opportunity to see how well I am doing and to see if I need to make any changes over the coming months to achieve my goals.

If you need a refresher of my 2020 Resolutions you can find that post here, however, I will touch on the key points in this post.

 

Reading Goal #1 – Goodreads Challenge

I have set myself a reading goal every year since 2017. I like having the challenge of a certain number of books to read before the end of the year. Most years have been started off quite conservatively and I have revised my goal later… I didn’t want to do that this year. I also wanted to attempt to set a new record, even if it is only by a few books from my previous one.

Admittedly, this year isn’t as much of a roaring success as previous years. In part, that’s because I set myself a target that was actually going to be a challenge from day 1. In addition, I’ve also made some pretty big undertakings outside of reading and blogging. The most significant of these has been moving house. It’s a big task anyway, but the way covid-19 panned out, I ended up packing up, moving out and unpacking again all by myself. My parents really wanted to help and didn’t want me to have to deal with it all alone, but unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way.

Although I have moved now, I am still doing a lot of stuff with the new house. I’ve just spent the last week redecorating three rooms and I still have halfway to go. That’s not the only thing, however. When I set my goals at the beginning of the year, I didn’t even know that I was going to get sponsorship to sit exams relevant to my job. I hadn’t even considered it. I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity though.

Is my reading goal in light of the above ambitious? Yes. But is it unachievable? No. I think I can still do it. To date, I am 7 books behind schedule. It’s enough, but I could claw it back. Even if I don’t, I’m not going to kick myself over it. It’s still a lot of reading to do in an already busy period. Even if I manage to keep pace and still finish the year 7 books behind schedule, I’ll still complete the year having beaten last year’s record. It’s still something to be proud of!

 

Reading Goal #2 – Beat the Backlist

I feel this challenge has fallen off the wagon a little bit, but I have and will continue to try and read the earliest books on my TBR to beat the backlist. The full list of books I wanted to read by the end of the year is on my 2020 Resolutions post if you want to check out what they are.

To date, I have completed 5/25 books on the list. It doesn’t sound like much, but I think it’s fair to note that I have also started and DNF’d an additional 3 books on that list. At the beginning of the year, I was good to religiously ensure these were added to my TBR, but since moving house I’ve not been so good at it. I do have one of these books on July’s TBR, so it is still in mind to complete. I’m sure I could make more of an effort to step it up though. This might not be achievable by the end of the year, but so long as I am trying to read and take books off the TBR then it balances out the new ones I’m adding!

 

Reading Goal #3 – Borrow from my local library

Covid-19 firmly put a spanner in the works with this particular challenge as well. The library I have registered with and borrow books from is actually near to my work. I haven’t been going into work since mid/late March, so I’ve not had the ability to pop in even when they did re-open a few weeks ago! I did make an effort to use their digital library to see if they had copies of the books I was interested in, but unfortunately in every single case I looked, they didn’t have what I was after.

All being well, I should be going back into work soon and be able to make use of the library (and their physical collection) more. The lack of progress on this challenge to date is entirely circumstantial. Should we be in the unfortunate circumstance where covid-19 comes back, I will be back in the same boat and honestly, I won’t want to borrow during that time anyway. Sorry, hygiene comes first! I’m not stressing about this particular goal, I’ll be honest. My justification for this goal in the first place was to try to save some money for the house move, but I’ve managed just fine as it is.

 

So, that’s where I am up to with this year’s resolutions. What are your reading goals for the year, and how are you doing with them?

 

 

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Sunday Summary – 12th July 2020

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Hi everyone and welcome to today’s slightly belated weekly update. Yesterday I took part in a blog tour for Grace & Serenity by Annalisa Crawford. As it’s etiquette to not publish another post on the same day, my update is coming to you a couple of hours later than usual.

In addition to that, I’ve also shared a couple more with you this week. On Tuesday I shared a Top Ten Tuesday post; this week’s topic was Authors I’ve Read the Most Books By. The top names on the list weren’t really a surprise, but towards the end, there were a few unexpected ones! Later in the week I shared another Shelf Control post and featured a classic novel that others in my year at school studied, but I did not. It’s a well-known classic, so I imagine a lot of readers have picked it up – hence why I want to.

 

Books Read

This week has been a bit unusual, to say the least. Typically my updates largely feature physical books or e-books that I have read, and MAYBE I’ll have a wee bit of progress on my current audiobook on a good week. This week totally flips this convention on its head.

I have spent this week off work to catch up on redecorating my house. I’ve managed to give three rooms a fresh lick of paint and I’m really pleased with how they have turned out. As a result, I haven’t been reading much, but instead, I’ve been listening to audiobooks whilst I work.

As of my last update, I was around 40% of the way through Whispers Underground by Ben Aaronovitch. This week, I managed to finish this, as well as listen to Broken Homes and Foxglove Summer (the next two books in the series) in their entirety. I don’t think I have ever listened to so many hours in one week!

In the evenings whilst I was enjoying much-needed breaks, I did manage to read Grace & Serenity by Annalisa Crawford. It was quite a short read, so it worked out nicely to read the book just prior to reviewing but still be able to fit it into a busy schedule.

 

Books Discovered

Since I finished both Broken Homes and Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch, I bought the next two audiobooks in the series with credits I had. Other than that though, it’s fair to say I’ve been too distracted for book shopping…

 

Coming Up…

It’s a little late given that we are nearly midway through July already, but I want to take the opportunity to review my progress towards my reading goals set at the beginning of the year. With that in mind, this is going to be one of the first posts I publish next week.

I’m going to skip my regular First Lines Friday feature next week as I have a blog tour to take part in on Saturday. I’m going to be picking up The Dead Tell Lies by J R Kirwan and I need to read and have my review ready for Saturday morning.

Lastly, next week’s Sunday Summary post will be going live on Sunday evening, as usual.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s Sunday Summary update! What have you been reading this week?

 

 

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Blog Tour Review: Grace & Serenity – Annalisa Crawford

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Hello everyone and welcome to my stop on the blog tour for Grace & Serenity by Annalisa Crawford. I’m excited to be taking part and sharing my views on the book and the topics it covers. Usually, I’d be sharing my weekly update Sunday Summary post a little later today, but that will be going live first thing Monday morning instead.

Before we get into the details of the book and what I made of it, I always like to take the opportunity in this introduction to thank both Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources and the author for the chance to take part in the tour!

Now, here are the details of the book –

 

Grace & Serenity – Annalisa Crawford

Goodreads – Grace & Serenity

Living on the streets is terrifying and exhausting. Grace’s only comforts are a steady stream of vodka, and a strange little boy who’s following her around.

At nineteen, Grace has already had a child and endured an abusive marriage. But she’s also had her baby abducted by her vengeful husband and been framed as a neglectful mother. Even her own parents doubted her version of the story. So she did the only thing that made sense to her—run away.

The streets are unforgiving. Winter is drawing in. And Grace isn’t prepared for the harsh realities of survival. At her very bleakest, a Good Samaritan swoops into her life and rescues her. With a roof over her head and food in her stomach, she longs to see her baby again.

But nothing ever comes for free.

 

Purchase Links – Amazon UK     Amazon US

 

My Thoughts…

It’s hard to imagine the struggles the young girlish version of Grace we see at the beginning of the book will go through.

One of the biggest flags for how well a character is written is how much I get emotionally involved with them. Within the first few pages, we see Grace’s planned-out life spiralling out of her grasp and into trouble. A lot of the struggles she goes through throughout the book aren’t her fault and as a reader, my heart went out to her. I wanted to help her get out of the difficult situation she found herself in, just as you would if you met this person in real life.

Another character, Neil, made my blood boil. I can think of plenty of names for this “man”, but for the sake of keeping this review PG, I won’t mention them. Even just the mention of him riled me up. From the very beginning, his controlling nature is apparent, but Grace doesn’t see his true colours until it’s too late.

Many tricky subjects are covered in the book. Domestic abuse is one of the most prominent ones, but I also suspect Grace experiences postnatal depression. It isn’t really made a point of in the book, but there are some symptoms hinted at in the narrative. It just goes to show how easily it can go undetected.

I found the structure of the book to be really easy to read. The short chapters make the text digestible and it’s easy to justify the ‘one more chapter’ before bed. It was never just one more in my case… trust me! The action moves at a compelling yet steady pace, which keeps the narrative moving along nicely.

As the book is written from the perspective of Grace we experience her life in detail. Interwoven with all the action are her intimate thoughts and feelings. It’s really easy to find yourself in her shoes and understand her position. The delicate balance of character development and action means that there is no compromise on either side; Grace & Serenity has an enjoyable, detailed storyline and strong character development.

I really enjoyed this dark contemporary novel and it has been a pleasure to share my thoughts with you for the blog tour! If you want to find out more, please check out the listings on Amazon and/or the posts of other bloggers who have also taken part in the tour.

 

Author Bio

Annalisa Crawford lives in Cornwall UK, with a good supply of moorland and beaches to keep her inspired. She lives with her husband, two sons, and dog.

Crawford writes dark contemporary, character-driven stories, with a hint of the paranormal.

Over the years, she has won several competitions, and had many short stories published in small press journals and online. Highlights include being placed 3rd in the Costa Short Story Award 2015 and being longlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize and Bath Short Story Award in 2018.

 

Social Media Links –

Website: https://www.annalisacrawford.com/

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/annalisacrawford.author

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AnnalisaCrawf

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

 

Top Ten Tuesday – Authors I’ve Read the Most Books By

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Hey guys – welcome back to another Top Ten Tuesday post! It has been a little while since I posted one of these and I liked the look of this week’s topic. If you want to check out the schedule of topics, they can be found on the host’s blog at http://www.thatartsyreadergirl.com/top-ten-tuesday/.

The best book recommendations are the books you have read yourself. It’s fair and well recommending a book you have heard of based on its genre, for example, but it’s not the same as a recommendation based on your own experience of it. If I’m asked for recommendations I will always try to suggest something I have read personally. If you ask me for a romance recommendation, then you’re out of luck. Otherwise, I’m sure I’ve read something that may be of interest.

The best recommendations when it comes to authors, in my book, are for authors that you go back to again and again. There are a number of fantastic authors I don’t get to feature here as we are purely talking numbers. These top ten authors are the ones I have read the most books by. I had a good idea of who the frontrunners were going to be when I picked the topic, but others towards the end of the list were a bit less prominent in my mind. Would you like to find out who my top ten are?

 

Terry Pratchett – 18 Books

I have a bit of a confession. Sir Terry had actually slipped my mind when I was having a casual think about my list. He is the frontrunner by far with my reading his Discworld books. How I could forget about him is beyond me!

I like the Discworld series for the variety of characters, and that whilst the storylines have different themes and topics, there is plenty of diversity. The characters do tend to pop up again as well. I doubt any of them could avoid mischief if they tried!

In addition to the Discworld series, I also tried Good Omens, a collaboration between Terry and Neil Gaiman. I didn’t really get on with that book though. If I’m honest, I think its Neil Gaiman’s twist on the tale. Terry’s humour was there, but I wish there was more of it.

 

Brandon Sanderson – 8 Books

Brandon Sanderson was the first name that popped into my head for this topic. It’s only fair really considering I’ve read three of his books this year alone.

The thing I love most about Brandon Sanderson is that you find all the great qualities of his writing in all his books and across vastly different series. The main one I have read is the Mistborn series, but I have also started The Stormlight Archives and I read Elantris last year. His writing is consistently good across all the books I have read so far. I also have many more on the TBR, which is testament to how highly I rate him as an author.

 

George R. R. Martin – 8 Books

George R. R. Martin was also bound to be high up on the list. The current count stands at 8 books – I have read all the books of his A Song of Ice and Fire series (more than once!) and a collection of short stories called Dreamsongs. I also have Fire & Blood on my shelves to pick up… and maybe I’ll even pick up some other GoT related books whilst I’m waiting for the next book in the series.

Whilst he isn’t the frontrunner on my top ten list, he is by far my favourite!

 

J. K. Rowling – 7 Books

J. K. Rowling is a standout inclusion on the list. No prizes for guessing that she features on the list as I have read all the Harry Potter books. What makes her the most unusual author on this list is that I haven’t read any of her books for a long time. I’ve picked all the others up a lot more recently. I’m trying to think back and honestly, I can’t remember how old I was when I finished this series. I was definitely a teenager and still in school. I can even remember the summer holiday we were on when I read it, but not the year. It’s a long time ago anyway.

I am seriously considering a re-read of these books, perhaps next year. I really enjoyed these growing up, but I wonder if I’ll read them differently now I’m older and know the story. Are there details I missed?

 

K. J. McGillick – 7 Books

 

I hadn’t realised I had read so many of K. J. McGillick’s books now, so this was a little bit of a surprise to me. I’ve taken part in the blog tours for all the books I’ve read and every book has been consistently good. As a lesser-known name than some of the others I’m featuring in this list, I’d like to take the opportunity to give her a shout out and recommend you to read her books. If you are a fan of thrillers, please check them out!

 

Stephen King – 6 Books

Stephen King was another name I was certain would be on today’s list. I’ve read a bit of a mix of his books and I have plenty more on the TBR. I originally read The Green Mile, which is one of my favourite books of all time. From there I tried The Gunslinger, the first book in his The Dark Tower series. As a blend with fantasy, it was the perfect book to read to try more of his works. I fell in love with his writing style and shortly after read my first horror novel, Pet Sematary. That was shortly followed by IT.

I plan on reading a lot more of his books. Again, Stephen King is a fantastically diverse author and I enjoy reading his completely different stories. I have some iconic books like Carrie and The Shining to read yet…

 

Laini Taylor – 5 Books

I’m glad Laini Taylor made the top ten because I always enjoy talking about her books. I bought a copy of Strange the Dreamer having heard fantastic reviews and let me say, I’m so glad I did! I remember I picked up the book on a whim one day – I must have been having a slow time with my current read at the time. It wasn’t on my reading list, and yet I read it from cover to cover in a matter of days! I was hooked from the beginning and so excited for Muse of Nightmares that I pre-ordered a copy. I don’t pre-order books that often so the fact that I did should say a lot!

More recently I have fallen in love with her Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy. You can find many posts on those on my blog so I won’t waffle about them here. I haven’t got any other books of hers on the TBR, but I’ll be watching closely for any new releases in case they catch my eye.

 

Jennifer Macaire – 5 Books

Jennifer Macaire was another surprise name on the list. To date, I have read four books from her The Time for Alexander series and another novel set in a different time period but linked to that series. I am always trying to broaden the topics and time periods featured in the historical fiction novels I read, although I will always have firm favourites as well. The Time for Alexander was a completely new setting for me and really fun to read.

Again as a lesser-known name, this is a shout out for historical fiction fans to check her out!

 

Terry Goodkind – 4 Books

Having gone through my read list, I had a few authors floating around the 4 books mark. It was a little difficult to choose who to feature at this point, but I felt it only fair to include Terry Goodkind. I discovered his Sword of Truth series in my high school library and I read the first few books whilst I was there.

Years later I picked up the fifth book of the series, Soul of the Fire, although since it had been such a long time since reading the previous books I struggled and eventually DNF’d it. I think I would like to try and get back into it again and finish the series – but it’s a long one!

 

Bernard Cornwell – 4 Books

For the same reason as Terry Goodkind, I included Bernard Cornwell on the list over other authors I have also read four books by because I am reading a fifth at the moment. I started The Burning Land, the fifth book in his Saxon Stories series just a couple of weeks ago and it’s on this month’s TBR.

So, there’s my top ten list! Have you read any books by these authors? Are any your favourite? Let me know in the comments?

 

 

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Sunday Summary – 5th July 2020

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Hi guys and welcome back to another weekly update! I hope you are all keeping well?

My blogging week didn’t start until Wednesday evening. You may recall from last week’s Sunday Summary post that I mentioned I had an exam coming up. Well, that took place on Wednesday morning and good news – I passed! My absenteeism from blogging up until that point in lieu of studying paid off, so it was all worth it. Since it was the beginning of a new month, it felt right to share this month’s planned reading list. It’s a little more ambitious since I have some more free time (but also because I have a little catching up to do from last month).

On Friday I shared another First Lines Friday post, with this week’s featured novel being a five-star rated read. I enjoyed the challenge of setting criteria for the book to be featured. It gave me a narrower pool to search in and made finding this week’s historical fiction novel feel more selective as opposed to random. I might try and do that more often in future posts.

 

Books Read

From midweek I have had more time for reading and other hobbies, projects etc as I sat the exam I have been talking about in recent posts on Wednesday morning. I left off reading both Chimeborn by Daniel Curry and The Burning Land by Bernard Cornwell. This week I have picked up and finished the first of those two reads, but not really picked up on the second. I started Chimeborn first and only really picked up The Burning Land last week as a break. Although I am far from Chimeborn’s target audience, I still really enjoyed reading it! The book had a couple of themes I wasn’t expecting to be included but did and I really liked that about it. For the target audience, it definitely has an educational aspect that I’m glad is featured.

As I have a couple of blog tours coming up over the next couple of weeks, I don’t expect to pick The Burning Land up again until those books are read. I might read the odd chapter here and there, but it’s temporarily on hold until later this month.

Another book I have made progress with this week is Whispers Underground. Since I have been studying I haven’t really had time for audiobooks, but I enjoyed listening to this again. I’ve started another crochet blanket for the lounge (to avoid getting more blue hair dye on the back of my sofa!) and the two hobbies go together really well. I’m roughly 40% through as of this week, and since I have next week off doing bits around the house I think I’ll be listening to a lot more as I’m working.

 

Books Discovered

Again, nothing to add here this week. I did walk past a bookshop today for the first time in months. I was restrained and didn’t go in though – promise!

 

Coming Up…

I want to start off next week with a Top Ten Tuesday post. My last one was shared at the end of May, so it has been a little while since I’ve done one of these. This week’s scheduled theme is ‘Authors I’ve Read the Most Books By’, and I think that will be a fun post. I can already think of who the front runners are going to be, but it’ll be interesting to see who else makes the list!

Friday’s regular feature is another Shelf Control post. This week’s featured book is another classic added during my spree in June 2017 – yes, over three years ago now!

Next week’s Sunday Summary post will be shared slightly later as I have a blog tour post going live. I’ll be sharing a review of my next read, Grace & Serenity, so I hope you can check-in for that. My Sunday Summary post will be going live at 00:01 on Monday morning instead. It’s only a couple of hours delay compared to normal really.

There you have it – you are all caught up with my week! What have you been reading?

 

 

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Reading List – July 2020

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I can’t believe I am writing yet another reading list post. Where is the year going? Don’t get me wrong, with this year’s track record it’s not a bad thing, but still! We’re now over halfway through the year, and I’m definitely not half-way through my reading challenges. Oh well, maybe that’s a discussion for another post, but I’m not beating myself up over it.

For now though, shall we jump into the next few books I am planning to read over the next month?

 

Chimeborn – Daniel Curry

Goodreads – Chimeborn

Welcome to Whitby, the quaint, magical town on the sea. Its ruined Abbey watches over from the East Cliff, broken and long since abandoned. However a magic within watches over Darcy Colben and his friends – the Chimeborn.

Born in the witching hour of midnight and gifted with magical sight, Chimeborn can see the Abbey for what it really is. A centuries old academy for their kind, and home to the Council of Chime. The power of Saint Hilda still resides in Whitby and this power has been shattered among the modern Chimeborn. A battle brews for control of the ancient magic, and sides will need to be chosen by all.

Ideal for strong young readers, and an enjoyable story up to young adult, this tale of power and growing up will leave you desperate to explore the shores of the north-east of England and find the magic for yourself.

 

I’ll admit I wasn’t expecting to carry this book forward to this month, but here we are. I had to cut back a lot of my jobs around the house, as well as hobbies in order to study for an exam. As it happens, I actually sat that exam this morning and the hard work paid off, so it was worth it! I still have around two-thirds of the book to finish, but that equates to a couple of hours reading time, so not a huge thing.

 

The Burning Land – Bernard Cornwell

Goodreads – The Burning Land

The enemy is massing on the borders, a united force for once.

The king, a man of many victories, is in failing health, and his heir is an untested youth.

Uthred, the king’s champion, leads his country’s forces to war, but his victory is soured by personal tragedy and by the envy of the king’s court. So he breaks with the king and takes off for the land of his birth, determined to resist all calls for his return. That is, until one unexpected request…

This is the making of England brought magnificently to life by the master of historical fiction.

 

Despite not finishing Chimeborn, I did actually start The Burning Land – the last book on last month’s TBR. I was confident this was going to be a carryover when I wrote last month’s TBR, so its reappearance isn’t a surprise.

A few nights ago I did allow myself a break from studying to have a ‘fun’ read before bed, but I was in the mood to start this book. I’ve read the first few chapters, so I’m 7% of the way through at the moment. I’m optimistic I will get to finish it this month!

 

Grace & Serenity – Annalisa Crawford

Goodreads – Grace & Serenity

Living on the streets is terrifying and exhausting. Grace’s only comforts are a steady stream of vodka, and a strange little boy who’s following her around.

At nineteen, Grace has already had a child and endured an abusive marriage. But she’s also had her baby abducted by her vengeful husband and been framed as a neglectful mother. Even her own parents doubted her version of the story. So she did the only thing that made sense to her—run away.

The streets are unforgiving. Winter is drawing in. And Grace isn’t prepared for the harsh realities of survival. At her very bleakest, a Good Samaritan swoops into her life and rescues her. With a roof over her head and food in her stomach, she longs to see her baby again.

But nothing ever comes for free.

 

I was really glad to be invited onto the blog tour for this book because doesn’t it sound so sinister?! I’m intrigued to read more and find out what it’s all about! I recently read another novel with a strong theme of abuse and it was written really well. I hope this is just as good, because if so, I am bound to enjoy it!

 

The Dead Tell Lies – J  R Kirwan

Greg Adams, a criminal psychologist at Scotland Yard, specialises in bringing serial killers to justice. He tracks down a spree serial killer nicknamed the Divine, who has already killed six teenage girls and is about to kill a seventh. Greg works out the location where he is hiding and joins a raid. The police capture the Divine and save the girl, but on the very same night, Greg’s wife is brutally murdered by another serial killer, known as the Dreamer.

A year later, unable to bring the killer to justice, Greg has quit his job and is ready to end it all, when he receives a phone call from a man who tells him the Dreamer is dead, and that he didn’t kill Greg’s wife, Kate.

Greg returns to Scotland Yard to work for Superintendent Chief Detective Donaldson in the hope he can re-examine the case with the help of two new detectives, Finch and Matthews.

As Greg delves into the case further, he becomes more convinced that the Dreamer wasn’t the man responsible for his wife’s murder.

​But if it wasn’t the Dreamer, who was it?

In order to solve the mystery around his wife’s murder, Greg is going to have to delve even deeper into the mind of a terrifying psychopath. And this time he might not make it back in one piece…

 

It has been a little while since I’ve read a crime thriller, so I’m looking forward to taking part in this publication blog tour. I’m a sucker for a psychology element to a novel! More details about the book are being published closer to the publication date, including the cover. So, I can’t share that with you right now, hence the placeholder image. Sorry guys!

 

Sleeping Giants – Sylvain Neuvel

Goodreads – Sleeping Giants

A girl named Rose is riding her new bike near home in Deadwood, South Dakota, when she falls through the earth. She wakes up at the bottom of a square-shaped hole, its walls glowing with intricate carvings. But the firemen who come to save her peer down upon something even stranger: a little girl in the palm of a giant metal hand.

Seventeen years later, the mystery of the bizarre artifact remains unsolved – the object’s origins, architects, and purpose unknown.

But some can never stop searching for answers.

Rose Franklin is now a highly trained physicist leading a top-secret team to crack the hand’s code. And along with her colleagues, she is being interviewed by a nameless interrogator whose power and purview are as enigmatic as the relic they seek. What’s clear is that Rose and her compatriots are on the edge of unravelling history’s most perplexing discovery-and finally figuring out what it portends for humanity. But once the pieces of the puzzle are in place, will the result be an instrument of lasting peace or a weapon of mass destruction?

 

I’m going to try my best to get to this last book on the TBR, but as with The Burning Land in last month’s reading list – if I manage to start it I’ll be happy. In theory, I do have a bit more free time coming up so there isn’t any reason why I wouldn’t get round to this. I picked Sleeping Giants as the genre varies from the books already on the TBR, but also as it will count towards the Beat the Backlist challenge I am taking part in this year. I’ll admit, I’ve written off completing it, but that doesn’t mean I have to give up on it entirely!

Have you read any of the books on this month’s reading list? What are you reading?

 

 

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Sunday Summary – 28th June 2020

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Hey guys! Another week is over and it’s time to update you with another Sunday Summary post. As always, I hope you have had a good week?

Before jumping into what I’ve been doing this week, you may have noticed my blog artwork has changed slightly. Yes, I dyed my hair blue last weekend! As you’ll see below, last Sunday night was a bit hectic so I didn’t have time to change my artwork then. However, I’ll be updating it going forward. If you haven’t seen the picture I shared over on my Instagram and Facebook accounts… here it is!

I started this week’s blogging schedule early with a blog tour review of Never Ever Tell by Kirsty Ferguson. This post was scheduled last Sunday after publishing my Sunday Summary post, so it was a busy night! I then had a few days off before drafting and publishing my regular Friday feature Shelf Control post. The book I featured this week is a classic novel by an American author. I read another of his books during school, and in classic fashion with me, I hated it at first but came to love it later.

 

Books Read

I left off last week with around half an hour’s reading time of Never Ever Tell left to go. Naturally, I finished this after last week’s post so I could write my review. It feels kind of cheaty including it, but technically it is progress I’ve made since last week so I’m including it here.

I also started a children’s fiction novel called Chimeborn by Daniel Curry. I read and reviewed another book of his called The Kitsune and the Lantern a good while ago now. Since I really enjoyed that, I was glad when Daniel approached me and asked if I was willing to review this new book. I’ve made a solid start to this book, but as I have been saying a lot lately, other things have taken priority. I have mentioned a few times that I am studying for work and a good deal of my free time has gone towards that. Also… I watched an epic thunderstorm on Thursday night. We don’t get them very often, so I have no regrets!

 

Books Discovered

The advantage of keeping busy is that I’m not discovering new books to add to the TBR. Despite the fact that I read a lot, the list doesn’t seem to be going down…

Admittedly, I have fallen off the wagon in terms of reading other blogs (my main source of discovering new books) lately. I am going to try and get back to it again. I need to make a habit of it really.

 

Coming Up…

So, as I’ve mentioned, I have been studying a lot this week. That’s because the imminent exam I have coming up is next week. With that in mind, I think my first post next week will be published on Wednesday evening. By then my exam will be done and I can start prioritising other things again! Since it is the 1st July on Wednesday, it only seems fitting to share my planned reading list for the month.

Friday’s post will be another First Lines Friday feature. As yet I haven’t decided what book I’ll be featuring next week, but I think I am going to try and set a theme. It’s a little more fun that way rather than it just being random. With that in mind, this week’s book is going to be a five-star rated read.

 

So, that’s all from me this week! Sorry it’s not a longer update. What have you been reading this week?

 

 

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Blog Tour Review: Never Ever Tell – Kirsty Ferguson

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Hi guys and welcome to today’s blog tour post for Never Ever Tell by Kirsty Ferguson. I very kindly received a copy of this book in exchange for a review. As always, I like to take the opportunity to thank both the author and Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for organising the tour and inviting me to take part!

Just a quick word before I begin my review to make readers aware that this book includes a number of sensitive and potentially upsetting topics, including domestic abuse, rape and suicide. If you aren’t comfortable with this, please take this as a fair warning so you can stop reading now.

 

Never Ever Tell – Kirsty Ferguson

Goodreads – Never Ever Tell

She’d do anything for her boy…

Vanessa Sawyer knows all about pain. She’s felt it every day since marrying the boy who fathered her baby in high school. All he’s meant are broken bones, broken heart and broken dreams.  But he also brought her the love of her life. When her son Wren was born, her baby boy was her salvation.

Vanessa watches Wren grow and become a young man she can be proud of. Until one night everything changes, including Wren. One night that her son refuses to speak of. Now Vanessa can’t rest, not until she uncovers the secret that her son has been hiding from her.

Will she find the answers she’s searching for or will her quest for the truth take her to a dark place where all hope is lost?

One evil act. One tragedy. Lives destroyed forever.

Page-turning, heart-pounding and unforgettable, Kirsty Ferguson has written the perfect novel for all fans of B. A. Paris and Adele Parks.

 

Purchase Link – Amazon

 

My Thoughts…

Never Ever Tell is a gripping thriller that makes you question everything about the people you think you know. The story is told predominantly from the viewpoint of Vanessa Sawyer, a woman who has been to hell and back throughout her lifetime, yet always tried to do her best by her children to give them a better life than she had.

As characters go, Vanessa has to be one of the most three dimensional, well-developed characters I have ever come across. A lot of time is invested into Vanessa’s history, which all has relevance to the story. From being taken advantage of as a young girl to becoming a mother, your heart goes out to Vanessa for all she has suffered. She is downtrodden, blamed for everything that happens and subjected to abuse from friends and family alike. Her only salvation is her children, particularly her eldest, Wren.

Yet when Wren, her beautiful, open, honest boy – her best friend – starts keeping a secret, Vanessa becomes obsessed with discovering the truth. Her obsession takes over and she neglects everything else. Honestly, I became frustrated with her and her complete lack of empathy for what impact her behaviour was having on others. Vanessa’s fallibility makes her a very realistic character and enjoyable to read… even if you want to shake her to make her see what she’s doing!

The events of the synopsis of Never Ever Tell take part in the second part of the book. Around 50% of the narrative is dedicated to the back story that plays a pivotal part in the devastating events that transpire. I love a lot of detail in character’s back story, but I will be honest and say I wasn’t sure at one point if there was a bit too much background compared to the action in the novel. It was still entertaining to read, so of course, I carried on. It was all worth it! I’m not going to spoil anything, but it all becomes relevant later on in the explosive ending.

And man, that conclusion I did not see coming at all! It made the book for me. I love thrillers that throw you a complete curveball and make you think back to see if you should have spotted the clues to the end sooner. This book definitely made me do that, although I don’t think I would have ever anticipated that ending!

 

Author Bio –

Kirsty Ferguson is a born and bred Australian. She writes crimes and mystery novels. Her stories center around strong women and dark themes that are topical and relevant to today. Kirsty chooses to deconstruct and enthrall her readers with the secrets of any everyday person behind closed doors. She has long been a lover or writing and reading, creating stories from a young age

Social Media Links –
https://www.kirstyferguson.com

https://twitter.com/kfergusonauthor

https://www.instagram.com/kirstyfergusonauthor/

https://www.facebook.com/authorkirstyferguson