Month: May 2017

‘Release’ – Patrick Ness

I don’t know if I dare confess to not knowing ‘Mrs Dalloway’, but I loved ‘Forever’ as a teenager and was in awe of a writer who could be so open and frank about discovering sex as Judy Blume was. This latest release by Patrick Ness may well be inspired by these books, but this was really a book of mixed responses for me.

The story focuses, in the main, on a day in the life of Adam Thorn. He is the younger son of an evangelical preacher, gay but not able to share this with his family (though there are clues that they know this) and about to spend the night at a going-away party for his first love, Enzo. We follow Adam through his day – so mundane in many ways, but also packed with exquisite moments.

Alongside Adam’s story is this rather odd tale of the spirit of a recently deceased girl (murdered by her boyfriend) hell-bent on getting revenge. She is accompanied on her journey by a 7ft faun and, on occasion, people in the real world see her. I confess to not really being sure what was going on here. It felt like some kind of symbolic representation of Adam’s life but it did feel like it was getting in the way of the story I wanted to know more about.

I found myself frustrated at the start by Adam’s family – the chrysanthemum scene was symptomatic of their inability to talk together – but I thought there might be hope when Adam’s brother, Marty, reveals he has got a girl pregnant. Sadly, we follow Adam on his day and there’s always a sense of someone not quite getting it.

The scene with Adam’s sleazy boss, Wade, angered me. I felt rather sorry for Enzo, in spite of the hurtful way in which he behaved towards Adam. However, that moment when Adam realises what has been going on, and gets his release from this toxic relationship was to be applauded. The moment that choked me, where I really wasn’t sure I wanted to read on, was the moment when Adam finally confronts his father with the reality of his life. A rather unconventional approach to outing yourself, but when his dad turns round and says “You’ll never know how hard I have to work to love you” I thought my heart would break!

I can see some readers might be uncomfortable with the level of detail given to describing Adam’s sex-life. Yes, it’s graphic but not really much more than we might get from many writers describing a heterosexual relationship, and I certainly didn’t get the feeling it was gratuitous. What I do think is worth noting is the positivity shown in the relationship between Linus and Adam. There was a real tenderness to their interactions and an emotional intimacy that anyone should be honoured to share.

All in all this was a read that I found absorbing. In turns drawn to and repelled by Adam and his family, I felt Adam’s story was Ness at his best. The other parts were, sadly, detracting and I felt they were Ness trying too hard to be clever.

‘Hunted’ – Meagan Spooner

Having been raised in a cabin in the woods and accompanying her father on his hunting trips, Yeva (our Beauty) is clearly struggling with the demands of life in town. She is restless, and intensely dislikes the expectation that she will make herself a good match and do what society dictates she will. There is an inherent restlessness in Yeva that many will recognise.

Luckily – though it doesn’t seem that way – their father loses all his money on a business venture and the family are forced to leave town and return to their cabin. Yeva takes to honing her skills and goes hunting to help her sisters survive the cold winter. Only it’s clear that she is not the only thing in the woods.

Yeva is not an obvious heroine, and she is not without her flaws. Initially acting out of a desire for revenge, it is only when she learns to listen that she comes to see the truth of the Beast holding her captive.

The sections where Beauty is with the Beast are probably my favourite. I loved the atmospheric writing, and there was a real sense of loneliness that came through in the story.

‘Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore’ – Matthew Sullivan

Scheduled for publication in June 2017, this is a book that I only saw how clever it was after I’d finished it.

If you want to hide something, often the easiest place to hide it is in the open. It’s a much-repeated phrase in Literature, and it certainly rings true here. Everything is very much apparent – once we have it all laid out for us, and can see just how the various bits of the puzzle inter-connect.

Lydia, our main character, works in the Bright Ideas bookstore. When one of the regular customers kills himself there, it kickstarts a deeply unnerving set of events. For Joey, the young victim, is found with a picture of Lydia as a child in his pocket.

At the point that Lydia starts to try to establish why Joey had this picture, and why he felt compelled to leave all his possessions to her, we get introduced to Lydia’s horrific past. The stuff of prime-time TV drama, we get to learn all about a night in Lydia’s past that she had tried hard to bury.

Slowly, and with an ominous sense of inevitability, we learn how Lydia and Joey are linked, and we get the full details of that night. Claustrophobic in mood, but I was desperate to know exactly what happened.

Unsettling, desperately sad but very very readable. Thank you to publishers Scribner and NetGalley for allowing me to read a copy in advance in exchange for my thoughts.

‘The Afterlife of Holly Chase’ – Cynthia Hand

There’s very few people that will not be familiar with the story of Scrooge and his shot at redemption. With untold students having to study ‘A Christmas Carol for GCSE I can see this being an interesting companion piece.

Our focus is on seventeen year old Holly Chase, a fashion-obsessed teenager who’s been struggling to come to terms with the death of her mother from cancer. She is, quite frankly, an unpleasant character: rude, self-obsessed, selfish, mean…you get the idea. In true Dickensian style she is visited one Christmas Eve by three spirits, keen to give her a chance to change. Holly ignores the warnings, and dies on Christmas Day.

Only she isn’t actually dead.

Holly is, instead, taken to work on Project Scrooge – a secretive set-up where once a year the crew attempt to save the life of one Scrooge (or the modern equivalent). For the last five years we are told Holly has been acting as the Ghost of Christmas Past. Her afterlife is pretty dull. She goes to work, has no friends and does little in her spare time. This year, though, things are different.

This year the target is, for the first time since Holly, a young boy. From the off we can see Holly has a lot more invested in Ethan’s case than others she’s worked on. Though things aren’t done conventionally here, we root for Holly as she tries to change someone’s future.

As the book progresses there’s hints that things are not quite as we were led to believe. However, it all ties together nicely.

This must be the only book I’ve read where I’m actually happy that the romance I was hoping for all along didn’t quite go to plan. When you read it, you’ll know why. This is not a straightforward retelling, but it was instantly recognisable. Aside from the modern setting and the easily identifiable characters, I loved the way Hand updates the source for a modern reader. And the geeky English teacher in me loved all the Dickens references and quotes.

What’s not to love?

Thank you to edelweiss and publishers Harper Teen for allowing me to read this in advance.

‘Contagion’ – Teri Terry

The first in a new Terry trilogy, ‘Contagion’ is a book that packs a punch.

Our story focuses firstly on a young girl, Callie, who went missing a year ago. She isn’t clear where she is – or even what she is – but she knows she is in an underground bunker, and that the people within its confines are experimenting with something.

Alongside Callie we are introduced to Shay, a teenage girl, who is struggling to fit into her new home in Scotland. She recognises a picture on a missing poster, and realises that she might well have been the last person to see this young girl alive. Of course, the girl she saw was Callie (it always helps for the stories to merge somewhere) and it helps that the brother desperately searching for Callie is not unattractive.

‘Contagion’ was a curious mix of genres – romance, thriller, dystopian – but I really liked the telling of the story through the two different viewpoints. It allowed us to do a little joining of the dots, and to get under the skin of the characters a little better.

As it becomes clear that there’s some form of contagion spreading through the country we join Shay and Callie in their attempts to work out who’s responsible, and how the country can fight back. I couldn’t have predicted some of the details that get dropped on us, but the writing about the fall-out of this spreading menace was horribly realistic.

My only real gripe with the novel was the fact that it ends with us still none the wiser about what has been happening. We have a couple of hints, but everything is left quite open. Frustrating, perhaps, but it has definitely left me desperate to get my hands on part two as soon as I can.

A huge thank-you to Teri Terry, publishers Hachette and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this prior to publication in mid-May 2017.

‘Goodbye Days’ – Jeff Zentner

Can a text message destroy your life?

Carver Briggs never thought a simple text would cause a fatal crash, killing his three best friends, Mars, Eli, and Blake. Now Carver can’t stop blaming himself for the accident and even worse, there could be a criminal investigation into the deaths.

Then Blake’s grandmother asks Carver to remember her grandson with a ‘goodbye day’ together. Carver has his misgivings, but he starts to help the families of his lost friends grieve with their own memorial days, along with Eli’s bereaved girlfriend Jesmyn. But not everyone is willing to forgive. Carver’s own despair and guilt threatens to pull him under into panic and anxiety as he faces punishment for his terrible mistake. Can the goodbye days really help?

An absorbing read, which will certainly get readers thinking about the extent to which our actions influence events. Will we blame Carver? Perhaps a little, but no more than we might blame the boy who started to reply while driving or any of the other characters involved in the story.

This could have been a very earnest story, but the question of responsibility goes hand-in-hand with showing us Carver and the families of those left behind coming-to-terms with their grief.
For me, it was this element of the story that really made this novel what it was.

I felt we really got under Carver’s skin as he goes through therapy to try to learn to live through the panic attacks that have set in since the funerals. We see his memories of the boys and get to know all of them through the ‘goodbye days’ that are set up with each of the grieving families. From Blake’s grandmother, through Eli’s parents and, finally, Mars’s father – the Judge who asked the police to consider pressing charges – these were emotionally-charged moments. Zentner gives us a slice of what these families are living through, and also helps us understand a little why they act as they do.

A cathartic, thought-provoking read that I will recommend heartily to colleagues and students alike.

A huge thank-you to NetGalley for the ARC.

‘A Court of Wings and Ruin’ – Sarah J. Maas

I have to begin my review, sadly, by criticising a rather large online organisation – whom I use A LOT. They messed up here. I pre-ordered my physical copy of the book to arrive on delivery day…the night before I got an email telling me my copy would arrive at the end of the month! Simply not good enough…and I am eternally grateful to the ebook here, as it saved me!

Anyway, issues with actually getting my hands on a copy aside, this is another of those books that you will love if you like Sarah J. Maas.

Our story begins with Feyre back in the Spring Court playing a very dangerous game as she seeks allies and tries to establish just who to trust. This first part allowed us to see a little more of Feyre and Lucien – which was good – but I did find it a little dull. Stick with it though, as it gets a whole lot more exciting.

The book comes into its own once Feyre returns to the place she considers her home, alongside Rhysand. With people being told about her new role as High Lady we focus more on the political manoeuvrings as battle looms.

A warning for anyone who goes off the loose book recommendations. I’ve seen this marketed as for 11+ – the very graphic sex scenes make perfect sense in terms of the story, but I don’t think they are necessarily suitable for a younger reader (bit more graphic than the Jilly Cooper books I used to nick from my sister).

That aside, the story is epic in scope. We see everything coming together, and I was desperate to read on to find out just what happens. I loved the fact that we see old and new characters here, and Feyre slowly comes to realise that acting out of a need for revenge isn’t always the most effective move. There were moments in the battle that almost had me in tears – definite movie-style tear-jerking moments.

Thankfully, though not everyone makes it and there’s a lot of loose ends to tie up, there’s plenty to keep you satisfied here.

 

‘Tease’ – Amanda Maciel

Any book about bullying, where a character has committed suicide, is not going to be fun to read. This even less so, as we’re told it’s based on a real event where a group of teenagers faced charges for bullying a new girl to their school.
What I did find interesting was that this was from the viewpoint of one of the bullies, Sara. We watch her recollect the events leading to Emma’s suicide, and see the consequences this event has had on her present day. I was never sure to what extent things were being sugar-coated – Sara, for a long time, cannot see how bad her behaviour has been.

Throughout the book I found myself thinking that Emma was a character who had a lot of things going on, some of which we were not told much about, and that nobody really seemed to take any time to find out more about her. Most of the characters in this book seemed content to fall into their stereotyped role, and to not challenge it.

All in all this is a book that felt like it was trying hard to get teen readers to think more about their behaviour, but it didn’t really hang together as effectively as other books I’ve read that aim for a similar effect.

 

‘I Have No Secrets’ – Penny Joelsen

Due for release by Egmont in May 2017, Joelsen’s debut is a feel-good, dare I say it whimsical, story. I do not mean that response to sound so negative. As I was reading the story, I was desperate for the happy ending, and for things to work out as they did – but it all felt rather too neat once I’d had a little time to reflect on this.

The story is told through the voice of fourteen year old Jemma, a girl with severe cerebral palsy, who is unable to communicate with anyone. Yet do not make the mistake that many people who meet Jemma make…she is not stupid; she is totally sentient and she is a wry observer of the goings on around her. She simply cannot tell anyone about her experience or observations, and her frustration oozes from the page.

We are given privileged access into her mind, and her voice shines through the story. I loved the way she relays some of the issues of living with cerebral palsy without it turning into a pity-fest. She is a shrewd judge of character and her observations about her foster family and the other characters she interacts with were humorous. It is when she comes face to face with Dan, the boyfriend of her carer, right at the start of the book that we are given some indication that there is more to this than an attempt to raise awareness of living with disability.

Dan – convinced Jemma will never be able to communicate with those around her – is a very different character once he is left alone with her. In the best pantomime villain fashion he struts around Jemma’s living room or hospital room, making threats and revealing his prejudice (but only when he thinks nobody else is there to hear him). For this alone I would gladly have applauded all manner of nasty things happening to him. But Dan shares a big secret with Jemma. One that he can’t afford for anyone else to know. It’s such a shame that as we near the climax of the novel Jemma just so happens to come into contact with some wonderful researchers who are trialling a new method of communication that Jemma is actually able to use…yes, we know exactly where this is going, but we want it to happen and don’t care about how unlikely some of these events are. It all makes perfect sense at the time.

A huge thank you to Joelsen, along with Egmont and NetGalley, for allowing me the opportunity to read an ARC of this. Up there with ‘Wonder’ as one to get people talking…

‘First Class Murder’ – Robin Stevens

In this third outing of the Detective Agency, we are in for a real treat as we journey with Hazel and Daisy on The Orient Express. They are under strict instructions to do absolutely no detective work whatsoever…thank goodness they don’t do as they’re told.

As a younger reader I would have loved to have read about the adventures of these two. They are rather old-fashioned (the 1930s setting makes their behaviour/scenarios feasible) but their camaraderie is reminiscent of Holmes and Watson, though the drugs are replaced with cakes and crossword puzzles!

Within hours of Hazel and Daisy getting on board the train we’ve been introduced to our ragtag bunch of characters, who become suspects in this third case for the girls.

We have a spoilt heiress; a rude husband; a penniless relative who writes murder mysteries; a Russian Countess and a magician. When Mrs Daunt is found in a locked room with her throat cut we immediately have a reason to mistrust every character we’ve come across, and it’s over to the girls to work out who did it and why.

Great fun, raising awareness of some bigger issues and, hopefully, arousing curiosity in its readers to learn more of the time/events referred to.