The Librain……retired

It has been a mixed reading bag this week as you will see. I have reached the end of my library book pile and urgently need to visit so that I can select my next, but I have not been well. Still, I can hope to feel better on Friday and Lovely Husband has offered to take me.

The Winter Children by Lulu Taylor

The first book of the week was The Winter Children by Lulu Taylor. Here is the blurb:

Behind a selfless act of kindness lies dark intentions . . .

Olivia and Dan Felbeck are blissfully happy when their longed-for twins arrive after years of IVF. At the same time, they make the move to Renniston Hall, a huge, Elizabethan house that belongs to absent friends. Living rent-free in a small part of the unmodernised house, once a boarding school, they can begin to enjoy the family life they’ve always wanted. But there is a secret at the heart of their family, one that Olivia does not yet know. And the house, too, holds its darkness deep within it . . .

Many of the reviewers on Goodreads rated this book highly, but I only awarded it two stars. This is why:

There were several interesting stories woven together in this book and also several interesting, if mainly unlikeable, characters. But, the whole thing was so slow. So much unnecessary detail. I did finish the book, wanted to know how it would all end and, in fact, the ending was good. It just took far too long to reach the conclusion.

Dangerous Minds by Janet Evanovich

Unfortunately for me, my next reading experience of the week was very unsuccessful! Dangerous Minds by Janet Evanovich (#02 in her Knight and Moon series), has the following blurb:

Buddhist monk Wayan Bagus lost his island of solitude and wants to get it back. The island was about two hundred miles northeast of Samoa. It had a mountain, beaches, a rain forest, and a volcano. And now it’s gone. Poof! Vanished without a trace.

Brilliant and boyishly charming Emerson Knight likes nothing better than solving an unsolvable, improbable mystery. And finding a missing island is better than Christmas morning in the Knight household. When clues lead to a dark and sinister secret that is being guarded by the National Park Service, Emerson will need to assemble a crack team for help. Since a crack team isn’t available, he enlists Riley Moon and his cousin Vernon. Riley Moon has a Harvard business degree and can shoot the eyes out of a grasshopper at fifty feet, but she can’t figure out how to escape the vortex of Emerson Knight’s odd life. Vernon has been Emerson’s loyal and enthusiastic partner in crime since childhood. He now lives in an RV behind Emerson’s house.

Together, this ragtag, mismatched trio will embark on a worldwide investigation that will expose a conspiracy one hundred years in the making.

Well, I thought that sounded interesting and I was craving some humour to lighten up the week, but I simply couldn’t get into the book at all. I gave the book one star on Goodreads and wrote this:

Couldn’t even get started on this one. I read a few chapters and then gave up on it. Not for me.

To Save a Kingdom by Marianne Whiting

After this, there were only two books left from my library choices. I decided to read Marianne Whiting’s To Save a Kingdom (#02 in The Shieldmaiden Trilogy). This is the blurb:

Sigrid has won the battle to restore her family’s honour. Now she must overcome old enemies and take her father’s place among the Cumbrian Norse; not as a daughter or a wife, but as a warrior in her own right. When Cumbria is attacked by the English King, Sigrid is ordered to join forces with her rivals to defend their way of life. She obeys, but the old feuds have not been settled. Can she trust her brothers in arms? Are they, like her, prepared to risk everything to save a kingdom?

Of course, it is not a very good idea to dive in part-way through a series and I might go back and start this again from book one, despite my reservati9ns. This book was worth at least three stars and I wrote the following review:

I have read quite a few books and watched quite a few TV programmes based around this period in British history – the ninth and tenth centuries. It was interesting to see the events of the time through the eyes of the Anglo-Saxons’ enemies for once. Apart from that, this was a very strangely written book. Tumultuous events – battles, war, fighting to the death – are depicted with cold aloofness. There is no fire to the writing, no excitement. I didn’t feel drawn in to the events, unlike when reading something like Cornwell’s Last Kingdom or Iggulden’s Dunstan. It felt more like a historian writing non-fiction.

Moonrise by Sarah Crossan

My final book of the week was definitely the best. As you may remember, I have avoided reading Young Adult novels for quite a while, but I couldn’t resist picking up Sarah Crosssan’s Moonrise when I last visited the library. Here is the blurb:

‘They think I hurt someone.
But I didn’t. You hear?
Coz people are gonna be telling you
all kinds of lies.
I need you to know the truth.’

Joe hasn’t seen his brother for ten years, and it’s for the most brutal of reasons. Ed is on death row. But now Ed’s execution date has been set, and this might be the last summer they have together.

From one-time winner and two-time Carnegie Medal shortlisted author Sarah Crossan, this poignant, stirring, huge-hearted novel asks big questions. What value do you place on life? What can you forgive? And just how do you say goodbye?

I finished this book just a few moments ago and am still slightly weepy. So please bear with this very inadequate review for a five star book:

A brilliantly written YA novel. Sarah Crossan’s free verse style is perfect for this story, which is so touching and emotional. I have been against capital punishment as long as I can remember and I find it so hard to understand how any country can sanction the barbarity of it. The relationships between the family members and the way their family story emerges is wonderfully done.

This is a book which deserves more than one read. The first gives you the full impact of the story and a second allows you to savour the amazing structure and language of the verse form. A triumph!

Just one last thing, I saw a link to this list of 60 great dystopian novels from AbeBooks on Mumsnet, I think. Anyway, there are some interesting books to try.

Happy Reading to you all!

Best wishes,

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What with the heat, my concentration issues and a complicated book, I have only finished one this week. Bad Librain!

The Kill Room by Jeffery Deaver

The book was The Kill Room by Jeffery Deaver (#10 in The Lincoln Rhyme series). This is the blurb:

It was a “million-dollar bullet,” a sniper shot delivered from over a mile away. Its victim was no ordinary mark: he was a United States citizen, targeted by the United States government, and assassinated in the Bahamas.
The nation’s most renowned investigator and forensics expert, Lincoln Rhyme, is drafted to investigate. While his partner, Amelia Sachs, traces the victim’s steps in Manhattan, Rhyme leaves the city to pursue the sniper himself. As details of the case start to emerge, the pair discovers that not all is what it seems.
When a deadly, knife-wielding assassin begins systematically eliminating all evidence–including the witnesses–Lincoln’s investigation turns into a chilling battle of wits against a cold-blooded killer.

I found the book a bit of a struggle to read and gave it three stars. This is my review on Goodreads:

I mostly enjoyed this book, although it was very over-complicated in parts and could have been cut down quite a lot. It took me a long time to finish it (for me) as there seemed to be many unnecessary fillers. Reading some of the other reviews on here, I perhaps should look for some of the earlier books in the series for sharper plots. The characterisation was still good and I liked some of the plot twists, but this needed a good editor.

The Winter Children by Lulu Taylor

Now I am going back to my latest book: The Winter Children by Lulu Taylor. Perhaps an odd book to choose in this long hot Summer!

Happy Reading to you all!

Best wishes,

📚📖📚📖📚

So we have now reached August! This year is moving fast and I am really enjoying my reading, having finished around 65 books so far. This week I have completed two, in fact I finished the second one just a few minutes ago.

Two Evils by P J Tracy

The first book of the week was Two Evils by P J Tracy, #06 in the Monkeewrench series. Here is the blurb:

A missing teenage girl lies dead in a parking lot. Two young immigrants are killed in their apartment. Three men are found dead in the street nearby.

As the police struggle to establish what’s happened, they realise that the deaths may not be as random as they first appear. As the killings continue, homicide detectives Magozzi and Rolseath turn to maverick computer analyst Grace McBride for help, drawing her into an investigation that will threaten her life.

And as the evidence mounts, it reveals terrifying intent. Ultimately, it forces the two detectives to make a dreadful choice: down which path does the lesser of two evils lie . . .

It is always a bit awkward when you dive into a series, rather than starting from the beginning, but I found this book enjoyable nonetheless and awarded it three stars on Goodreads. This is my review:

I enjoyed this book and read it quickly, but, judging by some of the other reviews on here, I need to read some of the earlier books in the series as they are better than this one. I liked the main characters and could see that there was a lot of backstory between them that it would be good to know. So, I may hunt out some of this series at my local library.

Betrayal by Anthony Riches

My second read was very different: Betrayal by Anthony Riches, #01 in his The Centurions series – see, I started at the beginning this time! The (very long) blurb follows:

Rome, AD 68. Nero has committed suicide. One hundred years of imperial rule by the descendants of Julius Caesar has ended, and chaos rules. His successor Galba dismisses the incorruptible Germans of the Imperial Bodyguard for the crime of loyalty to the dead emperor. Ordering them back to their homeland he releases a Batavi officer from a Roman prison to be their prefect. But Julius Civilis is not the loyal servant of empire that he seems.

Four centurions, two Batavi and two Roman, will be caught up in the intrigues and the battles that follow – as friends, as victims, as leaders and as enemies.

Hramn is First Spear of the Bodyguard. Fiercely proud of his men’s honour, and furious at their disgrace, he leads them back to the Batavi homeland to face an uncertain future.

Alcaeus is a centurion with the tribe’s cohorts serving Rome on the northern frontier – men whose fighting skills prove crucial as Roman vies with Roman for the throne. A wolf-priest of Hercules, he wields the authority of his god and his own fighting prowess.

Marius is a Roman, first spear of the Fifth Legion: a self-made man who hates politics, but cannot avoid them in a year of murderous intrigue.

Aquillius, former first spear of the Eighth Augustan, like Hramn, is in disgrace for refusing to dishonour his oath of loyalty.

But their paths will lead them to opposite sides of an unforgiving war. And Civilis, Kivilaz to his countrymen, heroic leader, Roman citizen and patriotic Batavi, will change both the course of the Empire’s destiny and that of the centurions.

I have just given the book three stars as I wrote this review:

This is such a masculine book! I suppose it is to be expected that, given the subject of war during the Roman Empire, there would be mainly male characters, but there are no women at all, apart from a few mentions of a priestess and various prostitutes!

Anyway, that aside, I did enjoy the book as I have a keen interest in Ancient History. The details of the complex movements of armies and the battle scenes were well done. The main characters and the dark humour also kept me reading. I did struggle, however, with all of the different locations, despite the maps, and all of the confusingly similar names. I think the book would benefit from a glossary of terms and also a list of characters, plus more information about the ranks in the Roman army.

I am not sure if I will read the subsequent books in the series, but I can recommend this to readers who are interested in the “art” of Roman warfare at the time.

Well, that’s all for this week. I still have five books in my library book pile, but haven’t decided which one I am going to pick up next. All will be revealed next week.

Happy Reading to you all!

Best wishes,

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