Broken

The blurb: When the body of a young woman is discovered deep beneath the icy waters of Lake Grant, a note left under a rock by the shore points to suicide. But within minutes, it becomes clear that this is no suicide. It’s a brutal, cold-blooded murder.

All too soon, former Grant County medical examiner Sara Linton – home for Thanksgiving after a long absence – finds herself unwittingly drawn into the case. The chief suspect is desperate to see her, but when she arrives at the local police station she is met with a horrifying sight – he lies dead in his cell, the words ‘Not me’ scrawled across the walls.

Something about his confession doesn’t add up and, deeply suspicious of Lena Adams, the detective in charge, Sara immediately calls in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Shortly afterwards, Special Agent Will Trent is brought in from his vacation to investigate. But he is immediately confronted with a wall of silence. Grant County is a close-knit community with loyalties and ties that run deep. And the only person who can tell the truth about what really happened is dead…

My review: Broken is a US police procedural featuring a series character/s. I don’t know enough about the series yet to know who keeps coming back!

This book did confuse me slightly – different parts are told from different characters points of view which is fine as a mechanism but I found it difficult to decide where the author was coming from. Take the character of Lena Adams for example, I liked her from the off, I thought she sounded fragile but tough, a good cop with an interesting background. But then she’s portrayed as a bad character, then back to good, back to bad, then from her viewpoint a little bad! I didn’t know what the message from the author was and it left me a little disorientated.

Broken was an interesting read though and a real page turner. It balanced the crime, the police work and the internal emotions of the different characters perfectly. There was some repetition but all in all a great example of American crime fiction!

Would I read another Grant Country book, I would indeed!

7 out of 10 stars! *******

Me Before You

The blurb: Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.

What Lou doesn’t know is she’s about to lose her job or that knowing what’s coming is what keeps her sane.

Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he’s going to put a stop to that.

What Will doesn’t know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they’re going to change the other for all time.

My review: This is a really beautiful, lovely book. Me Before You is the story of two unlikely people, both trapped in a sense, by the actions of others, in lives and in viewing life in a way that they didn’t begin life with. This is a very difficult book to review without giving anything away as the last thing I would want to do is spoil it for someone who hasn’t read it yet.

The characters are brilliant, Lou Clark is an easy person to fall in love with, as is her whole family. She’s quirky, colourful, naive, a bit stupid on occasion but nothing we haven’t all been guilty of before and she’s very relatable. Will as a character must have been extraordinarily tricky to draw and by the end I had such admiration for him and none of the slightly awkward feelings of someone I couldn’t understand that is was masterful. Nathan as well was the perfect supporting role.

The only thing I would change is the length, although I read a proof and it might have been changed. I thought the middle could have been tightened up a bit and I almost put it down and didn’t go back to it because it appeared to be dragging its feet. But I read the last 100 pages in what felt like 20 minutes and cried like a baby.

When I first picked up this book I went to the back and read the acknowledgements, there was a particularly touching one to fellow author Madeleine Wickham that halfway through the book made me guess the ending! I can see why support was needed. This is a dramatic, gasp-out-loud book that will fill you with love and drain you of tears! I hugged my boyfriend for a long time after I’d finished reading it.

8 out of 10 stars! ********

1. The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E Smith

Out in hardback on the 5th January, this is one I can’t wait to read – see post below.

2. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Also out on the 5th January (I need to read quicker!) this is a beautiful looking book and one I can’t wait to read.

3. The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen

Out in March the trailer alone for this book is amazing, I’ve heard so many good things on twitter too.

4. The Autobiography of Jack the Ripper by James Carnac

A previously unpublished and undiscovered manuscript of a man claiming to be Jack the Ripper! The publishers have labelled it non-fiction, the idea that the Ripper confessed is a very intriguing one and I can’t wait to read it! Out Jan 19th.

5. Wonder by R J Palacio

Another twitter sensation, Wonder is the story of a facially disfigured boy who is sent to public school after being home-schooled, it sounds like hankies will be required. Buy it in March.

6. Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman

Back to January for this  completely charming book, I can’t get enough of the South after reading The Help so this one is high on my list!

7. Switched by Amanda Hocking

So many good books in January. A beautiful cover and a really interesting premise, already an ebook bestseller which stands it in good stead!

8. Some Kind of Fairy Tale by Graham Joyce

Published in June, it’s Graham Joyce, I need say no more!

9. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

Has come highly recommended and I try to take recommendations very seriously! One for April.

10. The Thoughts and Happenings of Wilfred Price, Purveyor of Superior Funerals by Wendy Jones

The title alone for this book is fantastic! Grab it in January

***

Ten would never be enough and I didn’t even mention all the fantastic crime that’s around for 2012 and also the wonderful Charlaine Harris who has a new novel, Deadlocked out later in the year. Too many good books, keep em coming!

The blurb: Sequel to the extraordinary THE NAME OF THE WIND, THE WISE MAN’S FEAR is the second instalment of this superb fantasy trilogy from Patrick Rothfuss. This is the most exciting fantasy series since George R. R. Martin’s A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE, and a must-read for all fans of HBO’s GAME OF THRONES. Picking up the tale of Kvothe Kingkiller once again, we follow him into exile, into political intrigue, courtship, adventure, love and magic . . . and further along the path that has turned Kvothe, the mightiest magician of his age, a legend in his own time, into Kote, the unassuming pub landlord.

Packed with as much magic, adventure and home-grown drama as THE NAME OF THE WIND, this is a sequel in every way the equal to its predecessor and a must-read for all fantasy fans. Readable, engaging and gripping THE WISE MAN’S FEAR is the biggest and the best new fantasy novel out there.

My review: There’s a lot of capitalisation going on there, not a big fan of unnecessary capitals! Anyway… This book is exactly 1000 pages long. This sort of length would normally send me running for the hills but bring on the next 1000 I say as this is an amazing book. So rich in detail, characterisation and magic, without neglecting the human side of his characters it’s Rothfuss who is the real magician.

I only wish that I could remember half of the things that had happened in the first book, they’re both so big that it’s hard to remember all the subtle little plot lines that could come back. I would say I was only very slightly disappointed as I would’ve liked more time at the University but it’s not my story and the author obviously knows what he’s doing! The Kingkiller Chronicles were by a city motorway my favourite books of 2011! Looking forward to 2012!

10 out of 10 stars! What else! **********

I love the cover, it’s sweet and cute and that title is amazing!

I think this sounds like the perfect post-Christmas blues book and it’s going on my to be reviewed list!

Of Bees And Mist by Erik Setiawan

The blurb: Up in the house that sits on the hill, a strange spell is brewing…

My review: Of Bees And Mist is an intriguing book, I couldn’t tell it if was one giant allegory/fable/metaphor or an ordinary book – although there’s nothing ordinary about it. Erik Setiawan has a very unique style, an almost graceful way with words which makes this book a real joy to read. (Plus it’s beautiful to look at!)

Of Bees And Mist is the story of Meridia and the troublesome nature of relationships in the hands of certain people! There’s power plays, confusion, betrayal, pride, rejection, love – you name it and every complex emotional tie you can have with another person is represented in this book! The true mastery lies in how they are handled and described in such beautiful terms.

I did really like this book but personally I feel it could’ve done with being 200 pages shorter. It has a cyclical nature, the two main female characters are in a constant war and it feels like it’s one small battle after another and by the end I was exhausted by the whole thing. Too many fights, too many tears, I wanted it to be less repetative. So because of this I’ve marked it down but it is a magical book and well worth a read.

6.5 out of 10 stars! ******.5

The Girl on the Cliff

The blurb: Could a secret from 1914 end a century of heartache?

A tiny figure stands at the cliff edge – hair flying in the breeze. Grania Ryan is hypnotised by the enchanting vision, unaware this young girl, Aurora Lisle, will change her life in countless ways. For Grania is suffering and has returned to Ireland and the arms of her loving family, in the hope her wounds might heal.

As their paths begin to entwine, Grania’s mother becomes deeply troubled … because almost a century of entanglement has brought nothing but terrible tragedy to their two families.

The past is set to repeat its sorrows. A suitcase hidden in the attic of a magnificent house in London during the First World War is where it all began, but could it now hold the key to ending the heartbreak that has beset the Lisles and the Ryans for so long?

My review: I start this review with a sinking heart as I never like to discourage readers from books let alone not finish them myself. However the latter definitely applies here.

In the spirit of honesty I only read half of this book. I just couldn’t continue. In my opinion it was poorly written, the Irish dialect came across as cheesey, stereotypes abounded and the storyline was unbelievable. I am probably not the audience for this book, I can see how it would appeal and I’ll end here as the saying goes: ‘If you have nothing good to say…’

3 out of 10 stars ***

The blurb:  1786, Jerusalem College, Cambridge.

The ghost of murdered Sylvia Whichcote has been sighted prowling the grounds by Frank Oldershaw, a disturbed fellow commoner. When his anxious mother employs John Holdsworth, author of The Anatomy of Ghosts – a stinging account of why ghosts are mere delusion – to investigate the sighting, the uneasy status quo at Jerusalem is rapidly torn apart.

Holdsworth grows to realise that the sinister Holy Ghost Club governs the privileged life at Jerusalem with a rigour far more effective than anything the Master, Dr Carbury, could muster. And when Holdsworth finds himself haunted – not only by the ghost of his dead wife, Maria, but also Elinor, the very-much-alive Master’s wife – his fate is sealed. He must unravel the circumstances surrounding Sylvia’s death … or the hauntings will continue.

My review: I loooved this book! First a disclaimer, this is an incredibly hard book to read if you have a short commute! It takes me twenty minutes to get to work and I was struggling to get into this book, there are slightly complicated names, many characters (it seems to begin with) and locations so I really recommend taking an hour, or less and really absorbing this book, it requires your full attention and deservedly so!

Andrew Taylor paints a vivid picture of 18th Century Cambridge with the environs and historic buildings of that illustrious university. The characters are well drawn,  John Holdsworth especially so and the antics of the Holy Ghost Club are cleverly worked. Two villains roam this piece and although it’s clear who’s to blame from the start there are twists and meanderings that keep you hooked until the last page!

The historical detail in many a book can overwhelm the narrative, not so here, just the right amount to set the tone and flavour of a fantastic historical crime novel. I’ll definitely be reading more of Andrew Taylor!

7.5 out of 10 stars! *******.5