(Un)like a Virgin

(Un)like A Virgin by Lucy-Anne Holmes

The blurb: Is Gracie in love for the very first time?

You know that bit in The X Factor, when the singer tells everyone about the rocky road they travelled to pursue their dream? Well, that’s Gracie Flowers’ story.

Gracie is very focused for a woman of almost twenty-six. Her favourite book is ‘The 5-Year Plan: Making the Most of Your Life’. And her five-year plan is going very well. That is, until she is usurped from her big promotion by a handsome, posh idiot; she is dumped by her boyfriend; and discovers her loopy mother is facing bankruptcy.

Hormones awry and ice cream over-ordered, a dream Gracie thought she’d buried ten years ago starts to resurface. A dream that reminds her of the girl she used to be and everything she wanted to become.

My review: I hated the first scene in this book. If I didn’t have faith in the wonderful Lucy Anne Holmes (50 Ways to Find a Lover is fantastic!) I would’ve thrown this book across the room. The early morning sex scene really wasn’t a way to begin, too much information! It made me dislike the heroine from the get go which is a difficult position to come back from. Plus it was really schmaltzy, all the cute Dad scenes, the singing in the bathroom, a tad to sacchrine for me.

But you can’t help but admire Holmes, she has an amazing way of pulling the threads of all the storylines together, producing events that don’t feel out of the realms of possibility, actions and reactions of her characters that are believable and emotive. And it’s not a simple story, it’s multi-faceted with each character having a seamlessly thought out plot arc, the imagination of this author is just fantastic, I don’t know how she manages to think out every twist so thoroughly but so realistically.

So (un)like a Virgin isn’t my favourite Lucy Anne Holmes novel. However there are moments of pure genius here and once I had learned to like Gracie Flowers, it took some doing she is quite annoying! I was a complete convert, it does what it says on the tin, it’s fun, heart-warming and sometimes sad, a nice easy beach read.

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

Sisters Red

Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce

The blurb: The story of Scarlett and Rosie March, two highly-skilled sisters who have been hunting Fenris (werewolves) – who prey on teen girls – since Scarlett lost her eye years ago while defending Rosie in an attack. Scarlett lives to destroy the Fenris, and she and Rosie lure them in with red cloaks (a colour the wolves can’t resist), though Rosie hunts more out of debt to her sister than drive. But things seem to be changing. The wolves are getting stronger and harder to fight, and there has been a rash of news reports about countless teenage girls being brutally murdered in the city.

Scarlett and Rosie soon discover the truth: wolves are banding together in search of a Potential Fenris – a man tainted by the pack but not yet fully changed. Desperate to find the Potential to use him as bait for a massive werewolf extermination, the sisters move to the city with Silas, a young woodsman and long time family friend who is deadly with an axe. Meanwhile, Rosie finds herself drawn to Silas and the bond they share not only drives the sisters apart, but could destroy all they’ve worked for.

My review: This book came to me as a review copy from the publisher and I was immediately struck by the cover, the red foil is extremely striking and in a genre saturated with red, white and black covers this really stood out.

I also really liked the fable imagery that was employed. This is a refreshing new take on the Little Red Riding Hood we’re all familiar with. Granny indeed does get eaten but the little red riding hoods of the story don’t take it lying down. They bide their time and come out fighting. I was happy with the empowerment of the sisters, they weren’t resting on their laurels and relying on defense they were in full commando attack mode!

Scarlett is your typical anti-hero. She’s not always likeable and sometimes I found her sole focus on hunting somewhat two dimensional. Even for a scarred character there should be some hope for redemption and release from overwhelming responsibility. The contrast between herself and Rosie was almost too overstated. But I did love the new take on the werewolves, there may be almost as many books on werewolves now as there are on vampires so a new take should always be applauded.

This was a catchy read, which I enjoyed, reminded me a bit of Robin McKinley who is one of my favourite authors.

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

Blood Line

Blood Line by Mark Billingham

The blurb: When a dead body is found in a North London flat, it seems like a straightforward domestic murder until a bloodstained sliver of X-ray is found clutched in the dead woman’s fist – and it quickly becomes clear that this case is anything but ordinary. DI Thorne discovers that the victim’s mother had herself been murdered fifteen years before by infamous serial killer Raymond Garvey. The hunt to catch Garvey was one of the biggest in the history of the Met, and ended with seven women dead.

When more bodies and more fragments of X-ray are discovered, Thorne has a macabre jigsaw to piece together until the horrifying picture finally emerges. A killer is targeting the children of Raymond Garvey’s victims. Thorne must move quickly to protect those still on the murderer’s list, but nothing and nobody are what they seem. Not when Thorne is dealing with one of the most twisted killers he has ever hunted…

My review: Its taken me a little while to get round to reading this. Not that its been at the bottom of the pile just other things keep getting in the way. I borrowed Blood Line from a friend after I saw and fell in love with the cover of In the Dark. I love what they’ve done with the cover look and as a friend recommended Billingham I thought Id give him a go!

I will definitely be laying my hands on In the Dark now, not only for that wonderful cover, but because I love Tom Thorne. Blood Line is a police procedural crime book, its easy to read, well paced and has a colourful cast of characters. I particularly liked the medical examiner; Phil Hendricks who goes against the stereotype and is full of great, witty one-liners. Thorne, the lead in this investigation, is a well rounded character, I feel I learnt a lot about him in this book and had warmed to him in the end. He’s fallible and cares about his job, the insights into his personal life were a nice touch.

This is a well thought out crime book, the information on the back cover gives away a lot of the story which is a shame but it’s still a great read. There’s a good twist near the end and it’s not too gory which can sometimes put me off. But for a great British police-based crime read, Billingham’s a winner!

7 out of 10 stars! ******.5

The Swan Thieves

The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova

The blurb: Psychiatrist Andrew Marlowe has a perfectly ordered life ? solitary, perhaps, but full of devotion to his profession and the painting hobby he loves. This order is destroyed when renowned painter Robert Oliver attacks a canvas in the National Gallery of Art and becomes his patient. Desperate to understand the secret that torments this genius, Marlowe embarks on a journey that leads him into the lives of the women closest to Oliver and a tragedy at the heart of French Impressionism.

Kostova’s masterful new novel travels from American cities to the coast of Normandy; from the late nineteenth century to the late twentieth, from young love to last love. The Swan Thieves is a story of obsession, history’s losses, and the power of art to preserve hope.

My review: I want to start this review on a positive note. I read The Historian before I started this blog but if I had read it after and reviewed it I would’ve given it ten stars out of ten, without question, a book I just couldnt put down.

I approached The Swan Thieves with trepidation, could that mastery be performed twice. I was sadly disappointed. To be brutally honest I didnt finish it. There are so many amazing books around at the moment that when you reach page 258 of a book and its still not grabbed you, its time to put it down and walk away. It’s not a bad story, I hear there’s a twist at the ending which Im going to have to look up on wikipedia but it lacks the mystery and drive of The Historian.

The characters are interesting, you do care about them, especially the ones in the past I found. But the pace is slow, very slow. You need to dedicate yourself to this book, the writing style is lovely and Kostova has made creative writing a fine art. For me though I want to be hooked in by my literature, for it to pull me into another world/story/life that keeps me enthralled and reaching for it again. This one sadly made me want to reach for something else. Out of respect for the writing it’s a five.

Five out of Ten stars *****

Fever of the Bone

Fever of the Bone by Val McDermid

The blurb: ‘You should have been a detective. If there’s one thing the last year has proved, it’s how good you are at finding things out. Not simple things. Hard things. Things that nobody is supposed to be able to find out. Things that are buried so deep nobody even thinks twice about them. The sort of things that turn people’s lives inside out once they’re exposed.’ Meet Tony Hill’s most twisted adversary – a killer with a shopping list of victims, a killer unmoved by youth and innocence, a killer driven by the most perverted of desires.

The murder and mutilation of teenager Jennifer Maidment is horrific enough on its own. But it’s not long before Tony realises it’s just the start of a brutal and ruthless campaign that’s targeting an apparently unconnected group of young people. Struggling with the newly-awakened ghosts of his own past and desperate for distraction in his work, Tony battles to find the answers that will give him personal and professional satisfaction in his most testing investigation yet.

My Review: Firstly I’m going to start off by saying congratulations to Val McDermid for winning the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger Award. While this is the first book I have read of McDermid’s having a back catalogue of 22 books means she must’ve been doing something right!

I really enjoyed Fever of the Bone its the 6th instalment in the Dr Tony Hill and DCI Carol Jordan series and part of me wishes I had started at the beginning. Which is a good thing, I didnt feel as if I was missing out on huge chunks of back story but the characters were so likeable that I wish I had started from scratch!

There was a certain amount of predictability in the story but in a pleasing, familar way rather than something that would make me scoff! The mystery is engaging, keeping the pages turning, but its the relationships that make this a corker. I often find with crime books that its the detectives and the people affected that make the really great books, great and this is no exception. I will definitely be reading more Val McDermid.

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