TEASER TUESDAY: My Brother’s Destroyer: Literary Noir by Clayton Lindemuth

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by

 The Purple Booker

It is very easy to play along:

• Grab your current read and open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! 

• Share the title & author, too, so that other participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here are my teasers this month:

“So I was the dumbass fessed every crush to every girl. I was the one told Deputy White we all knew he was gay as a jaybird. I was the one told my first boss his son was robbing him blind. It never settled in my head that no one else in the whole world sees red and feels electric like me, and most folks is happy with untruth, both telling and hearing.”

My Brother’s Destroyer: Literary Noir by Clayton Lindemuth

Published by Hardgrave Enterprises (16th December 2013)

Synopsis:
Baer Creighton is a gifted distiller of fruited moonshine, cursed with the ability to detect even the subtlest deception. He lives in the woods next to his house and talks to his dog Fred... until Fred goes missing. A week later, harvesting apples in moonlight, Baer watches a string of headlights emerge from a distant wood. A single truck turns toward Baer, backs in, tosses Fred to the ditch.

My Thoughts:
This is good, real good. I’ve had yet another great run on books with ‘My Brother’s Destroyer’ definitely being up there with the best of my grit-lit, mean southern gothic reads. It’s violent, raw and extremely visceral so not for sensitive souls. At 20% I’m already confident I’ll be rating it a 5* favourite.

TEASER TUESDAY: In Wolve’s Clothing by Greg Levin

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by

 The Purple Booker

It is very easy to play along:

• Grab your current read and open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! 

• Share the title & author, too, so that other participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here are my teasers this month:

“My suicide dream has been recurring with increased frequency of late. At least this time I awoke before the crowd shouted, “Do it!” I take it as a sign it’s going to be a good day.”

In Wolves’ Clothing by Greg Levin

Published by White Rock Press  (11 Oct. 2017)

Synopsis:
On his best days, Zero Slade is the worst man you can imagine. He has to be. It's the only way to save the Lost Girls.

During his seven years on a team fighting sex trafficking, Zero's become quite good at schmoozing with pimps, getting handcuffed by cops and pretending not to care about the young girls he liberates. But the dangerous sting operations are starting to take a toll on his marriage and sanity. His affinity for prescription painkillers isn't exactly helping matters.
When the youngest girl the team has ever rescued gets abducted from a safe house in Cambodia, Zero decides to risk everything to find her. His only shot is to go rogue, and sink deeper into the bowels of the trafficking world than he's ever sunk.

It's the biggest mission of his life. Trouble is, it's almost certain death.

My Thoughts:
Zero Slade works undercover to rescue children who have been trafficked into the sex trade. Yup a real tough, unsavoury topic for a novel and not a read for everyone especially those averse to graphic scenes of violence or child abuse of any nature. What makes this such a compelling and surprisingly palatable read is Levin’s dark noir detective style of writing, and his characterisation of Slade being an extremely flawed individual with a cynical point-of-view, and wickedly comic internal dialogue.

I have already lined up another of Greg Levin’s novels ‘Sick To Death’ to read on the strength of what I’ve read so far.

My Sweet Orange Tree by Jose Mauro de Vasconcelos

Title: My Sweet Orange Tree by Jose Mauro de Vasconcelos

Published by Pushkin Press (with new English translation - Jan 2018)

Genre: Older Children, Autobiographical Fiction, Literature-in-Translation

Source: Publisher provided physical reading copy

Rating:

Disclaimer: A hardback reading copy was supplied by the publisher for an honest review. A special thanks goes to Mollie at Pushkin Press for this gorgeous book.

Description:

Meet Zeze - Brazil’s nautiest and most loveable boy, his talent for mischief matched only by his great kindness. when he grows up he wants to be a ‘poet with a bow-tie’ but for now he entertains himself playing pranks on the resisidents of his family’s poor Rio de Janeiro neighbourhood and inventing friends to play with.  That is, until he meets a real friend, and his life begins to change.

My Thoughts:

Magical, sweet, enchanting and heartbreakingly sad...Zeze will stay with me for some time.

I wanted this reading experience to just go on and on, but alas it sadly did not. However, this endearing tale will stay in my memory for a very long time. Little Zeze narrates with innocence and an endearing childlike perspective about life living in the poorest of conditions in Rio De Jenero during the 1930’s. He is a bright, intelligent, intensely thoughtful, devilishly mischievous five year old who often finds himself in trouble for playing pranks on the villagers. Zeze is beaten as punishment for his ‘naughtiness’ so severely at times that my eyes welled-up, and my heart broke reading about the cruelty and physical abuse this little boy suffered at the hands of his frustrated parents and siblings.

Caring and nurturing come from unexpected sources; firstly in the form of ‘Pinkie’ the titular ‘sweet orange tree’ that Zeze sits under and talks to about his day; and from a friendship struck with one of the villagers.  It is as a result of this relationship that Zeze comes to believe that he isn’t what the the villagers and family say he is, but that he is just a little boy in search of attention and affection.

With distressing scenes as well as tender and funny moments, a book that can move this reader to laugh, cry and laugh again is a very rare thing. So despite the tears this was ultimately, a uniquely uplifting story for me, and one I’ll certainly be reading again.

Originally published in 1968, intended as an older children’s book, I think that possibly due to its autobiographical content it will have poignancy, and appeal to adult readers too. Thanks to one of my favourite Brit-based publishers for translated literature, ‘My Sweet Orange Tree’ is available once again in English with a new translation and is wholeheartedly recommended  as a ‘must read’.  I’m sure it will become a favourite with many readers just as it did for me...I simply adored it.

TLC BOOK TOURS REVIEW OF The Promise Between Us by Barbara Claypole White

The Promise Between Us by Barbara Claypole White

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing (16th January, 2018)

Pages: 384

Source: digital copy provided by Publisher/TLC Book Tours

Metal artist Katie Mack is living a lie. Nine years ago she ran away from her family in Raleigh, North Carolina, consumed by the irrational fear that she would harm Maisie, her newborn daughter. Over time she’s come to grips with the mental illness that nearly destroyed her, and now funnels her pain into her art. Despite longing for Maisie, Katie honors an agreement with the husband she left behind—to change her name and never return.

But when she and Maisie accidentally reunite, Katie can’t ignore the familiarity of her child’s compulsive behaviour. Worse, Maisie worries obsessively about bad things happening to her pregnant stepmom. Katie has the power to help, but can she reconnect with the family she abandoned?

To protect Maisie, Katie must face the fears that drove her from home, accept the possibility of love, and risk exposing her heart-wrenching secret.

My Thoughts:
Unfortunately, I was unable to finish reading this one due to work and personal commitments. Therefore, I  feel unable to comment apart from to say that the short amount I managed to read was an extremely well written and thoroughly engaging story.

For more qualified and informative reviews please check out what other readers on the TLC Book Tour had to say about The Promise Between Us by Barbara Claypole White.


I would like to thank the publisher and TLC Book Tours for providing me with a  digital copy to enable me to take part in this tour and to apologise for not being able to fully participate on this occasion.

About Barbara Claypole White

Bestselling author Barbara Claypole White creates hopeful family drama with a healthy dose of mental illness. Originally from England, she writes and gardens in the forests of North Carolina where she lives with her beloved OCD family. Her novels include The Unfinished Garden, The In-Between Hour, The Perfect Son, and Echoes of Family. The Promise Between Us, a story of redemption, sacrifice, and OCD, has a publication date of January 16^th, 2018. She is also an OCD Advocate for the A2A Alliance, a nonprofit group that promotes advocacy over adversity. To connect with Barbara, please visit www.barbaraclaypolewhite.com, or follow her on Facebook. She’s always on Facebook.

Tour Stops

Tuesday, January 16th: Doing Dewey

Thursday, January 18th: Books and Bindings

Friday, January 19th: Readaholic Zone

Monday, January 22nd: Kritters Ramblings

Thursday, January 25th: Leah DeCesare

Friday, January 26th: What Is That Book About

Monday, January 29th: Just One More Chapter

Tuesday, January 30th: Book by Book

Wednesday, February 7th: A Chick Who Reads

Thursday, February 8th: Novel Gossip

Friday, February 9th: Thoughts On This ‘n That

Monday, February 12th: SJ2B House Of Books

Monday, February 19th: Instagram: @writersdream

Thursday, February 22nd: The Geeky Bibliophile

Friday, February 23rd: Cerebral Girl in a Redneck World

Wednesday, February 28th: Comfy Reading

TBD: Wining Wife

The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao by Martha Batalha

The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao by Martha Batalha

Translator: Eric M. B. Becker

Publisher: Oneworld

Source: Publisher (physical reading copy & digital ARC)

Pages: 230

Rating

Description
Euridice is young, beautiful and ambitious. She sacrifices her own aspirations to marry Antenor, spending her days ironing his shirts and removing the lumps of onion from his food. But as his professional success grows, so does Euridice’s feeling of restlessness. Casting duty aside, she embarks on various secret projects, only to have each dream crushed in turn by her tradition-loving husband. Antenor eventually restores order in his household – until the day Euridice’s long-lost sister Guida appears at the door with a young child and a terrible story.

The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao is a darkly comic portrait of two sisters who assert their independence and courageously carve a path of their own. A truly unforgettable novel from one of the most exciting new voices in world literature.

Martha Batalha studied journalism and literature in Brazil, working first as a reporter before starting her own publishing company. The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao is her first novel. Martha lives in Santa Monica, California, with her husband and two children.

My Thoughts
Stunning bright, zesty and energetic...If ever a cover promises a lively bunch of characters within its pages then this one does its job.

Martha Batalha as her debut novel has written a heartwarming tale, drawing heavily from her family background, about the lives of two sisters living in Brazil over three decades from the 1940’s through to the revolution in the 1960’s.  Bringing this story to life is a sparkling cast of diverse, complex characters, both men and women who often flawed are shadowed by difficult, and at times awfully grim circumstances. Making this story of substance anything but a heavy read is the easy and engaging writing style full of warmth, humanity, humour and wit that flows effortlessly throughout.  Batalha skilfully presents the reader with an intelligent, culturally informative and thoroughly enjoyable reading experience.

Euridice a dutiful wife, caring mother, and inspirational woman of her time oozes with charm, compassion and a ceaseless creative drive. All of which is quite an achievement when you meet her husband, Antenor who provides such negative support.

‘It was a simple ceremony, followed by a simple reception, followed by a complicated honeymoon. There was no blood on the sheets, and Antenor grew suspicious.’
‘...Antenor decided there was no need to take his wife back to her family. She knew how to make the bits of onion disappear, she washed and ironed well, seldom spoke, and had a terrific rear.”

You will also encounter the spinster Zélia a spiteful vengeful woman damaged by life’s injustices who delights in gossip and thrives on the misfortune of others.

‘Since she couldn't be the Holy Spirit, Zélia contented herself with a lower post, proclaiming herself prophet...That one there is going to drag her husband into bankruptcy, she decreed with her pointy chin.’

TILoEG’s pages are crowded with such huge personalities, so believable and full of presence and life that the pages must have struggled to contain them within. Batalha’s characters, especially the women will remain in my thoughts for some time.

The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao would make an ideal choice for a book group read, funny, heartbreaking with plenty to discuss from a cultural, historical, and women’s struggle for independence (from within and outside of the family) perspectives.

A delightfully engaging and satisfying read beautifully translated by Eric M. B. Becker.  I loved every moment of TILoEG and so eager to share the delight of this sparkling debut with whomever I can.

The Nothing by Hanif Kureishi

The Nothing by Hanif Kureishi

Faber & Faber Ltd (2017)

Source: Publisher (Hardback) & (d-ARC)

Pages 167

Rating 

Description
The Nothing is Hanif Kureishi’s powerful new work: a tense and captivating exploration of lust, helplessness, and deception.
One night, when I am old, sick, right out of semen, and don't need things to get any worse, I hear the noises growing louder. I am sure they are making love in Zenab's bedroom which is next to mine.

Waldo, a fêted filmmaker, is confined by old age and ill health to his London apartment. Frail and frustrated, he is cared for by his lovely younger wife, Zee. But when he suspects that Zee is beginning an affair with Eddie, ‘more than an acquaintance and less than a friend for over thirty years,’ Waldo is pressed to action: determined to expose the couple, he sets himself first to prove his suspicions correct — and then to enact his revenge.

Written with characteristic black humour and with an acute eye for detail, Kureishi’s eagerly awaited novella will have his readers dazzled once again by a brilliant mind at work

My Thoughts
What an experience...a thoroughly unpleasant one...being witness to the inner thoughts and perversions of such a vile geriatric misogynist. During his last days on earth film-maker Waldo schemes, manipulates and coerces those around him in order to direct his final acting scene.

Far from being utterly devastated at his imminent death or showing any sign that she would rather kill herself than be left alone upon his demise, his wife ‘unbelievably’ appears to be having a pretty enjoyable time with his friend.

He’d taken her suicide as a given, regularly fantasises about it; “I did say, ‘When I am dead I hope you find a wealthy man with an attractive penis to look after you’, while taking it for granted that when I died she would slash her wrists with a broken bottle, having first gone mad and ripped out her hair”. To enjoy the rest of her years without him, well that's unthinkable and just not going to happen.

Waldo is an intensely unlikable individual. I felt tainted, sullied and abused in being an voyeuristic accomplice to his scheming revengeful deeds. I willed him on to a speedy death in order that his wife be shot of him. Surely she deserved a happier life after suffering his vileness for so many years.

I came to detest all of the characters equally with progression of the book and with the denouement of the story felt pure cleansing relief that I could remove myself from their disgusting little cesspool world and move on.

Kureishi held me captive, voluntarily, reading about such repulsive people and their diabolical behaviour. A sick twisted little ‘ménage à trois’ and an undeniable feat of sheer brilliance that I highly recommend especially for Kureishi fans. For anyone needing to like or see any redeeming features in their characters I’d probably say this one might not be for you, but at 167 pages it’s definitely worth trying something different. I read it in one uncomfortable sitting. You may just appreciate Kureishi’s perverse and playful sense of black humour and skilful storytelling.

Most liked character: NONE
Most disliked character: ALL OF THEM

TEASER TUESDAY: The Feed by Nick Clark Windo

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by

 The Purple Booker

It is very easy to play along:

• Grab your current read and open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! 

• Share the title & author, too, so that other participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here are my teasers this month:
“When he calls for them, they take a while to emerge. They see their own fear reflected in one another’s eyes. They see the dirt on one another’s faces and where the tears have run rivulets through it..”

The Feed by Nick Clark Windo

Published by Headline Publishing Group (25th, January 2018)

‘A chilling, dystopian page-turner with a twist

that will make your head explode’

Synopsis:
THE FEED by Nick Clark Windo is a startling and timely debut which presents a world as unique and vividly imagined as STATION ELEVEN and THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS.
Tom and Kate's daughter turns six tomorrow, and they have to tell her about sleep.
If you sleep unwatched, you could be Taken. If you are Taken, then watching won't save you.
Nothing saves you.
Your knowledge. Your memories. Your dreams.
If all you are is on the Feed, what will you become when the Feed goes down?
For Tom and Kate, in the six years since the world collapsed, every day has been a fight for survival. And when their daughter, Bea, goes missing, they will question whether they can even trust each other anymore.
The threat is closer than they realise...

My Thoughts:
With blurb likening it to ‘Station Eleven’, rave reviews, and huge publicity drive, this one grabbed my full attention.
I must admit that it hasn’t had the immediate impact that ‘Station Eleven’ had on me regarding the emotional involvement with its characters thus far, but at 20% anything can happen.

WHAT'S ON YOUR NIGHTSTAND - January 2018

With the exception of Keith Rosson's totally brilliant 'The Mercy of the Tide' which kicked off the new year, the start of my 2018 reading life isn't going amazingly well. I've felt the need to DNF several books, although not sure if the reasons for doing so are more to do with what's been happening in my personal life over the past few months rather than the books themselves.

Anyway, here are my updates for this month's, Read, DNF'd (did not finish), Reading Now, and which books are tempting me to read next.

Read:
All The Beautiful Girls by Elizabeth J Church
Smoke City by Keith Rosson
The Mercy of The Tide by Keith Rosson
My Sweet Orange Tree by Jose Mauro de Vasconcelos

I absolutely loved all of these and will do my utmost to get reviews written and posted as soon as ...

DNF'd:
Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo 🤔
Midwinter Break by Bernard MacLaverty😏
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado (sexually explicit) 🙀
Why We Sleep by Matthew P. Walker (non fiction)😴

Reading Now:
Rainbirds by Clarissa Goenawan
Closer: 7 principles of connectedness by Peter Charleston (non fiction)
12 Rules for Life by Jordon B Peterson (non fiction)

Tempted by:
BRIT(ish) on Race, Identity and Belonging by Afua Hirsch (non fiction)
Purely interested in reading after a scathing review by the The Times. Definitely promises to be a personal and provocative read.

Wolf Boys by Don Slater (non fiction)
Just had to get this one after Richard Lange, who I love as an author, said this about it on his twitter feed: "Loved this book. Shows how the drug trade chews up and spits out boys in low-income communities. An American/Mexican tragedy. Wolf Boys: Two American Teenagers and Mexico's Most Dangerous Drug Cartel"

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
Just because colleagues and so many readers say is the best book they've read in a very long time. I don't want to miss out !

Another Way To Fall by Brian Evenson and Paul Tremblay
I have a love/meh relationship with Brian Evenson and Paul Tremblay. I just  have to give this one a shot as I love the cover image and the 'novel' idea that as a free book you read it, make a donation to a preferred charity, then pass the book on to someone else to do the same. AND, of course, I might also absolutely LOVE both stories.

Until next time, happy reading to you all

TEASER TUESDAY: The Promise Between Us by Barbara Claypole White

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by

 The Purple Booker

It is very easy to play along:

• Grab your current read and open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! 

• Share the title & author, too, so that other participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here are my teasers this month:
“Apparently seeing my mother stab my father at the kitchen table was enough to send any future adult loco. According to the professionals, we never escape our childhoods. Mine was short-lived after the kitchen incident. Dad ran off, and Mom prayed and drank, prayed and drank, while I raised my baby sister.”

Title:The Promise Between Us by Barbara Claypole White

Published by Lake Union Publishing (16th January, 2018)

Synopsis:
Metal artist Katie Mack is living a lie. Nine years ago she ran away from her family in Raleigh, North Carolina, consumed by the irrational fear that she would harm Maisie, her newborn daughter. Over time she’s come to grips with the mental illness that nearly destroyed her, and now funnels her pain into her art. Despite longing for Maisie, Katie honors an agreement with the husband she left behind—to change her name and never return.

My Thoughts:
So far I have only read the first few pages but 'The Promise Between Us' promises to be a real heartbreaking, tearjerker and one I’m really looking forward to reviewing as part of the TLC Book Tour during February with my blog tour date scheduled for, 12th February.

TEASER TUESDAY : Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo

 Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by

 The Purple Booker

It is very easy to play along:

• Grab your current read and open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! 

• Share the title & author, too, so that other participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here are my teasers this month:
“It was during the dog days, the season when the August wind blows hot, venomous with the rotten stench of Saporania blossoms.
The road rose and fell. It rises or falls depending on whether you are coming or going. If you are leaving its uphill, but as you arrive it's downhill."

Title: Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo

Published by Serpent’s Tail (first published 1955)

Synopsis:
Swearing to his dying mother that he'll find the father he has never met, a certain Pedro Paramo, Juan Preciado sets out across the barren plains of Mexico for Comala, the hallucinatory ghost town his father presided over like a feudal lord. Between the realms of the living and the dead, in fragments of dreams and the nightly whispers of Comala's ghosts, there emerges the tragic tale of Pedro Paramo and the town whose every corner holds the taint of his rotten soul.

My Thoughts:
'Pedro Paramo' was sadly the only novel by Mexican author Juan Rulfo.  Originally published in 1955, it is the novel that started the genre for magical realism, and also the inspiration for Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s, '100 Years of Solitude'.

I have only just read the first page so far and will say more about it in due course.

TEASER TUESDAY: The Mercy of the Tide by Keith Rosson

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by

 The Purple Booker

It is very easy to play along:

• Grab your current read and open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! 

• Share the title & author, too, so that other participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here are my "teasers":
Hayslip was reminded of certain guys in his platoon, as well—quiet, scared guys who would finally crack in a firefight and wind up screaming their throats raw as they emptied rounds into the dripping darkness. No thought to it, just anger and fear, all that tension finally unspooling. Maybe that tension was just youth itself, its yawning ceaselessness.

Title: The Mercy of the Tide by Keith Rosson

Publication date: 2017

Published by Meerkat Press

Synopsis:
Riptide, Oregon, 1983. A sleepy coastal town, where crime usually consists of underage drinking down at a Wolf Point bonfire. But then strange things start happening: a human skeleton is unearthed in a local park and mutilated animals begin appearing, seemingly sacrificed, on the town's beaches.

The Mercy of the Tide follows four people drawn irrevocably together by a recent tragedy as they do their best to reclaim their lives - leading them all to a discovery that will change them and their town forever.

At the heart of the story are Sam Finster, a senior in high school mourning the death of his mother, and his sister Trina, a nine-year-old deaf girl who denies her grief by dreaming of a nuclear apocalypse as Cold War tensions rise.

Meanwhile, Sheriff Dave Dobbs and Deputy Nick Hayslip must try to put their own sorrows aside to figure out who, or what, is wreaking havoc on their once-idyllic town.

- Keith Rosson paints outside the typical genre lines with his brilliant debut novel. It is a gorgeously written book that merges the sly wonder of magical realism and alternate history with the depth and characterization of literary fiction. - NPR Books | Jason Heller
- "Rosson is a talent to be watched, and Riptide is one of the most immersive fictional settings in recent memory." - Publisher's Weekly (starred review) - "A strikin

My Thoughts:
My final read of 2017 was this author’s second novel ‘Smoke City’ which I thoroughly enjoyed. So much so, that it felt fitting to commence 2018 with his debut novel.

Different, at this early stage in the book (15%), in genre definition to Smoke City which magically melded multi genre elements including the fantastical with plausible highly complex flawed characters, with a literary skill and matureness. So far it is rooted very much in reality and touches on difficult subject matters including PTSD expressed in narratives from four main tortured souls.

I must say it already looks to be another phenomenal read and show cases Rosson’s highly perceptive, diverse understanding of the human psyche, and his exemplary writing skills. A true artist in the form of words.

Absolutely going to be a great benchmark and highly recommended read for 2018.

TEASER TUESDAY: Smoke City by Keith Rosson

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by

 The Purple Booker

It is very easy to play along:

• Grab your current read and open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! 

• Share the title & author, too, so that other participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here are my "teasers":
Three, four years old. I noticed the people parting for us, I remember that, but not the revulsion in their eyes, the contempt. I would realize later, of course, just what it was the townspeople had shied away from, had leered at: my father’s coat, and the stitched image of the sword on the back. The executioner’s mark.

Title: Smoke City by Keith Rosson

Expected publication date: January 23, 2018

Published by Meerkat Press

Synopsis:
From the author of The Mercy of the Tide comes another gorgeously written, genre-defying novel.
Marvin Deitz has some serious problems. His mob-connected landlord is strong-arming him out of his storefront. His  therapist has concerns about his stability. He's compelled to volunteer at the local Children's Hospital even though it breaks his heart every week.
Oh, and he's also the guilt-ridden reincarnation of Geoffroy Thérage, the French executioner who lit Joan of Arc's pyre in 1431. He's just seen a woman on a Los Angeles talk show claiming to be Joan, and absolution seems closer than it's ever been . . . but how will he find her?
When Marvin heads to Los Angeles to locate the woman who may or may not be Joan, he's picked up hitchhiking by Mike Vale, a self-destructive alcoholic painter traveling to his ex-wife's funeral. As they move through a California landscape populated with "smokes" (ghostly apparitions that've inexplicably begun appearing throughout the southwestern US), each seeks absolution in his own way.

My Thoughts:
I have just started to read what promises to be an entertaining and interesting book. One which appears to be intelligently well written with the maturity of an accomplished author, and I am thoroughly enjoying it thus far.

Review to follow in due course.

TEASER TUESDAY: All The Beautiful Girls by Elizabeth J. Church

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by

 The Purple Booker

It is very easy to play along:

• Grab your current read and open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! 

• Share the title & author, too, so that other participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here are my “teasers”:
‘It was the Depression,” Mama once said. “It made your Aunt Tate hard. Deprivation made her think that being rigid was the only way to survive. But there’s a soft centre there; she has a heart, I swear.” Still, Lily thought that even Mama had been more than a little cautious when faced with her sister’s perennial judgment.’

All The Beautiful Girls by Elizabeth J. Church

Expected publication: US March 6, 2018 & UK April 5, 2018

Ballantine Books (Random House Publishing Group) & 4th Estate (Harper Collins Publishers)

Synopsis:
The dazzling, powerful story of a gutsy showgirl who tries to conquer her past amongst the glamour of 1960s Las Vegas - finding unexpected fortune, friendship and love.
Now, as Ruby Wilde, the ultimate Sin City success story, she discovers that the glare of the spotlight cannot banish the shadows that haunt her. As the years pass and Ruby continues to search for freedom, for love and, most importantly, herself, she must learn the difference between what glitters and what is truly gold.

My Thoughts:
I absolutely loved and devoured Elizabeth J. Church’s debut novel, The Atomic Weight of Love’ which through the storyline also introduced me to the wonderful world of birds, in particular crows.  I’ve loved seeing and watching these amazing creatures ever since. This is still a book that I cannot bring myself to part with and on completion of reading desperately wanted to read another of Church’s novels and here it is at last.

All The Beautiful Girls, feels a slightly different novel but it is still reminiscent of Church’s intelligent exquisitely written prose and full of her charming, or misunderstood damaged personalities. These female characters are vividly painted gutsy women striving to achieve their gaols in an extremely competitive glamourised entertainment industry run and controlled by men.

Halfway through and I already know it’s another keeper.

My review will follow in due course. 

TEASER TUESDAY: The Night Market by Jonathan Moore

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by

 The Purple Booker

It is very easy to play along:

• Grab your current read and open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! 

• Share the title & author, too, so that other participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here are my “teasers”:
‘Carver crouched, holding his light close to the small bird’s broken body. Its left eye had been smashed. A thin steel ring was visible in the back of the socket. Tiny shards of black glass lay on the floor and in the empty socket. Its feathers were threaded with shiny black strands that Carver guessed were photovoltaic filaments. There was no blood.’

(Yeah I know, it’s 6 sentences but they’re very short so I added a few!)

From The Night Market by Jonathan Moore

Expected publication: January 11, 2018 by Orion Publishing Co

Synopsis:
'Do you ever think there's maybe something that's gone wrong with the world?'
A man is found dead in one of the city's luxury homes. Homicide detective Ross Carver arrives at the scene when six FBI agents burst in and forcibly remove him from the premises.
Two days later...
Carver wakes in his bed to find Mia a neighbor he's hardly ever spoken to, reading aloud to him. He has no recollection of the crime scene, no memory of how he got home, and no idea that two days have passed. Carver knows nothing about this woman but as he struggles to piece together what happened to him, he soon realizes he's involved himself in a web of conspiracy that spans the nation. And Mia just might know more than she's letting on...'Moore has a great gift for the macabre and the creepy.' The Times’

My Thoughts:
With such an explosive and heart pounding opening scene, The Night Market had me riveted to the edge of my seat.

It is the final in a loosely connected trilogy with all three set in San Francisco at different time periods and genre category. The Poison Artist is a taut noir psychological thriller; The Dark Room more a police procedural storyline, and The Night Market being the first I’ve read is set in the near future with a dark, tense, creepily claustrophobic sci-Fi setting.

Definitely readable as a stand-alone novel, the writing and world building is incredibly vivid and frightening plausible.  With a likeable cast of complex characters, and strong storyline The Night Market is an absolutely recommended read for 2018.

Full review to come.

What's On Your Nightstand? - November 28, 2017

In this month’s posting of ‘What’s on Your Nightstand’ I divulge which books I’ve loved, liked, didn’t or couldn’t give a hoot about and of which books I plan to read for next time.

Well I haven’t managed to read much over the last 4 weeks as I’ve been busy at work selling books, or at home redecorating the dining room to make ready for our family Christmas Dinner. The panelling has been put up and everything painted. Electrics sorted and the room now just needs the finishing touches and we’ll be there. That hasn’t left me with much (me time) reading time but I did manage to finish two books which was quite an achievement this month. So, on with it...

What I read
(Science/Lit Fiction)
The Book of Joan by Lidia Yuknavitch
Published by Canongate Books Ltd, 18th January 2018
Pages 288 (h/b)

I had a love/hate relationship with this book alternating from a 3 to 4 star review…finally settling on a 3.5…It’s a clever intelligent literary science-fiction read set in 2045 and is an imaginative retelling of an historical Joan of Arc from our future. Sounds complicated but it’s not difficult at all to keep track.  I particularly liked reading Joan’s storyline moving from her childhood to becoming the heroine of a small band of rebels. A hairless, opaque skinned, tattoo grafted species and the last of the human race.  It’s grim, gruesome and violent and a dystopian tale with some amazing world building.  I can see this working really well on screen or tv series. Fans of Jeff VanderMeer will no doubt appreciate this one. (Review in progress)

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
Available now in Hardback from Bloomsbury Publishing plc
(Fiction) Pages 304 (h/b)
I loved this one so much that it’s one of my favourite reads of the year. Full of haunting gothic presence atmospherically and spirit wise. If you liked Colson Whitehead’s ‘The Underground Railroad’, I think you’ll love it. I personally think it far more superior. (Review underway)

What I didn’t finish
(Fiction Gothic Horror)
The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers
Published by Pushkin Press (Available now)
This edition is perfect to give any gothic horror fan as a special Christmas gift.
I absolutely love Pushkin Press publications, always stunningly and beautifully presented and this book is no exception. I only read a few pages and found it just a little intense straight after reading ‘The Book of Joan’ but I will definitely try again in time for December’s ‘What’s On Your Nightstand’.

What I’m reading now
(Thriller Fiction)
The Night Market by Jonathan Moore
Published by Orion Publishing Co., 11th January 2018
Pages 304 (h/b)
Whoa…after an exciting adrenaline fuelled start this is looking like another cracking read to start the beginning of next years reads. It’s set in a near future San Francisco and is the final in a trilogy of which I’ve not read, but it’s reading like a stand alone so not feeling as if I’ve missed out.

Unfortunately this is one where if I say anything about the storyline spoilers are unavoidable and would make it less exciting for the reader so my review will probably be very uninformative. However, so far I’ve read 19% and it has a dark noir presence, certainly looks perfect for Lee Child and James Paterson fans. I think I’m definitely going to have to read the others in the series; The Poison Artist and The Dark Room.

What I intend to read for next time
All The Beautiful Girls by Elizabeth J Church
The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers
In Search of Lost Books by Giorgio van Straten
Will Send Rain, Rae Meadows

Until next time, happy reading to you all

PEACH by Emma Glass

PEACH by Emma Glass

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (11th January 2018)

Source: Publisher (d-ARC)

Pages 112

Rating: 

"I start. Slip the pin through the skin. Start stitching. It doesn’t sting. It does bleed.White thread turns red. Red string. Going in. Going out. I pull.Tug.Tug the pin. In. Out. Out. Out. Blackout."

Something has happened to Peach. Blood runs down her legs and the scent of charred meat lingers on her flesh. It hurts to walk but she staggers home to parents that don’t seem to notice. They can’t keep their hands off each other and besides, they have a new infant, sweet and wobbly as a jelly baby.

Peach must patch herself up alone so she can go to college and see her boyfriend, Green. But sleeping is hard when she is haunted by the gaping memory of a mouth, and working is hard when burning sausage fat fills her nostrils, and eating is impossible when her stomach is swollen tight as a drum.

In this dazzling debut, Emma Glass articulates the unspeakable with breath-taking clarity and verve. Intensely physical, with rhythmic, visceral prose, Peach marks the arrival of a visionary new voice.

My Thoughts:
Dark, intense and captivating...With the opening scene of a college student staggering home after having just been violently assaulted this was a viscerally emotive storyline in its depiction of this young woman's horrific ordeal and from her initial denial to finally making some sense of it.

Written in a gorgeous stylistic prose, narrated in a consciousness of streamed thoughts it is reminiscent of Eimear McBride’s, ‘A Girl Is A Half Formed Thing’, and certainly felt as deeply affecting. An extremely powerful and at times distressing read but, if I’m honest not sure I fully understood everything that was going on in Peach's confused traumatised mind. I couldn't quite figure out what was real or imagined which left me feeling a little lost. That said I was unable to leave 'peach' until the final page. Peach's story has left an indelible impression on me and I haven't stopped thinking about this book since.

With the recent success of similar prose style works, i.e., Max Porter's, 'Grief Is A Thing With Feathers', 'Brooklyn' by Jaqueline Woodson, and the aforementioned, Eimear McBride's 'A Girl Is A Half Formed Thing’, 'peach' in my opinion, is certainly one to watch out for next year.

Disclaimer: I received an advanced readers copy (digital) from the publisher for my unbiased review.

Unbelievable “My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History” by Katy Tur

Unbelievable by Katy Tur

Publisher: HarperCollins Publisher (October, 2017)

Pages: 291 (Hardback)

Source: Publisher

Rating: 

My Thoughts:
Absolutely...unbelievably fascinating…utterly unmissable.

Jeez this was a humdinger of a read about the coverage of the presidential campaign and its lead-up to Trump becoming one of the most controversial, most divisive US Presidents of our time.

In this excellent 'campaign memoir' NBC News correspondent Katy Tur tells us what it was like reporting on an exhaustive daily basis, at rallies and interviewing Trump or dealing with his chief aids during the campaign election, and of how she felt on a professional basis and personal level.  For me, Tur's record of events confirmed my original feelings about Trump which unfortunately intensified my concern and fear for a better and united America under his presidency.

I believe Trump despises women he doesn't find attractive.  He does call them 'disgusting'. People who disagree with him or get in his way may find themselves victims to his vengefulness.  Trump 'hates' journalists with an obsessive passion. Tur as a female journalist became a target for his bullying and outright 'weird' behaviour at times.  She shares with us how she felt being singled out at rallies for ridicule and hateful remarks by the then presidential candidate, and of how vulnerable she and her colleagues felt at one particular venue when the behaviour of a baying mob of loyal supporters had been supported and even encouraged by Trump.
I am truly fearful of a future without an independent investigative journalistic presence to keep track and hold those in power accountable and genuinely dumbfounded that a presidential candidate could be so badly behaved, divisive and instigative of manipulating his frenzied supporters into such emotive states of hatred and violence towards anyone opposed to his views.  Tur gives an extremely compelling, personally candid account of her coverage as one of the women political journalists during one of the craziest and emotionally volatile campaigns ever seen.

Packed amidst the vengeful, rhetoric of Trump's speeches or condemnation of pretty much anyone distasteful to his sensibilities Tur manages to inject a fair amount of humour in the form of her inner dialogue which lightens what could have been an overbearing political tirade and I spent time googling campaign video footage to accompany my reading experience.

Tur doesn't shed any new light on Trump's character but what it may do is confirm what the majority of us suspected all along and that is that Trump, a bullying, vengeful, narcissistic beast is now terrifyingly the most powerful man on the planet.

Intelligently written, fast paced, and intensely compelling, I was engrossed, fascinated and repulsed in equal measure by the book.  I highly recommend the aptly entitled book to anyone interested in the making of political history's most 'unbelievable' President.

Memorable quotes:
"Trump is crude, and in his halo of crudeness other people get to be crude as well.”

"Trump managed to tap into a deep well of resentment and anger among disaffected voters who were content to trade in old notions of truth and decency for Trump’s wild ride."

Disclaimer: I received a reading copy for an unbiased review from HarperCollins Publishers Inc.,