Fiction

Review: The Silent Wife by A.S.A Harrison

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16171291 Jodi and Todd are a co-habitating couple of 20 years that seem to be in love and to have a lot going for them on the surface. They have a beautiful home, a dog they love and careers they both enjoy. However, Todd is a cheater and Jodi is aware of it but neither acknowledge this. Both choose to let the affairs be below the surface and continue on with their beautiful life. Until one of his affairs has long reaching consequences for all of them.

This book has been compared to Gone Girl in articles that I’ve read so I was intrigued and wanted to read it as I really love suspenseful novels like that. However this seemed much less like a chilling psychological thriller and more of an exploration of a relationship and what it devolves into after 20 years together.

This book has alternating points of view in each chapter – one from “his” and one from “hers”. The POV’s didn’t bother me at all and I enjoyed parts of it but there was very little dialogue which made some of the chapters seem very boring and dry to read. The story lacked emotion to me – while emotions should be running high in parts of the book, I just wan’t feeling it. I didn’t love or hate any of the characters, they just seemed a little too flat for me to care that much about.

3 stars

~Clio

Buy it Now The Silent Wife: A Novel

Review: Huckleberry Hill by Jennifer Beckstrand

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20140113-070640.jpg In Amish country in Wisconsin, Lia goes to stay with an elderly couple to help them out for the summer. Their grandson Moses visits once a week to help too. Whether he likes it or not, his grandparents have schemed to make this the summer of love for Lia and Moses. Lia appreciates Moses’ friendship and his support of her journey to become a midwife. Moses is grateful for a friend who tells it like it is. Lia’s sister Rachel is jealous and tries to edge her way in, but Moses’ heart sees right through Rachel’s shrewdness.

Huckleberry Hill is a sweet, fresh story of friendship and love. The grandparents’ matchmaking efforts are hilarious. Moses’ and Lia’s banter is clever and sharp. Rachel’s character development as the bratty, spoiled, black-hearted sister is very well done. I appreciated the excellently written dialogue and easy flow to the story.

Huckleberry Hill is the first book in a series of three. I recommend it for the peaceful Amish setting, great writing and breath of fresh air perspective on love.

–Calliope

Buy it now Huckleberry Hill

Review: 600 Hours of Edward by Craig Lancaster

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600 Hours of EdwardHave you ever heard of author named Craig Lancaster? What? Did you just say no? Well, here’s your tip for the year…write the name down. Remember it. Go get this book to start with….you won’t be disappointed….And if you haven’t heard of him before, remember, you heard it from a muse first, he’s going to be really famous one day….

What can I say about this book? It was just simply charming. Edward is someone I would love to have in my life. He is a 39-year-old man who some would say suffers with OCD and a mild case of Asperger’s Syndrome. I would vehemently disagree. He does not suffer at all. We could all learn a lot from Edward. Oh man, how much I loved this guy…. What could we possible learn from a 39-year-old man who suffers from these “mental illnesses”? Let me just name a few….we could all learn that not everything can be judged by face value. We could all learn that it isn’t just about you! Other people matter and they have their very own version of what is happening…one that might not coexist with how you are viewing the situation. We might also learn that sometimes, even if we can’t say it out loud, we are often frustrated, hurt and angered by others…that even if we don’t say these things out loud, that we should at least acknowledge these feelings in some way….Sometimes when we are frustrated or angry with someone, confronting them is not always the wisest thing to do. Sometimes, just acknowledging the feelings to ourselves really is enough! There are many many other life lessons in this story….but I leave you with this final thought and then some quotes….

Sometimes being a friend means that you have to make the effort to step outside of your comfort zone…you have to be there for someone else, even if it means you must be brave enough to cross a dangerous street all by yourself….damn, did I mention how much I love Edward?

“That’s the problem with belief: If you rely on it too heavily, you have a lot of picking up to do after you find out you were wrong.”

“I hope you do exist. Even though hope is as intangible as belief, I am not hostile to it.”

“The complaint lies with me, not with you. I never could find a way to make you proud of me, and at some point, I think I stopped trying. When you were here, I blamed you for that. I think now, the failure is mine… It occurs to me that death is a funny thing – not funny in a laughter sort of way, but in a twisty sort of way. It’s the people who are left behind who have to grapple with the regret. The one who is gone is just gone.”

Please read this book….please….c’mon, when have I ever asked you guys to read a book? Go on then! What are you waiting for??????

Until next time….

Urania xx

Buy it now 600 Hours of Edward

Review: Playing for Love at Deep Haven by Katy Regnery

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20140110-091609.jpg Wow! Playing for Love at Deep Haven is INTENSE. Like, Falling fast and hard in love with your soulmate intense. And Kept these feelings buried for a decade and now they are at the surface all at once intense. And I ran away from myself a long time ago and now I want me back intense.

This book is like a musical composition that increases in intensity and volume until you all of a sudden find the book at forte and then fortissimo. When you think you’re hearing the biggest music you’ve ever heard, it quiets. Until Crescendo. Fortississimo. Amazing.

Violet made me remember what it’s like to be yourself when you’re not trying to meet other people’s expectations. Zach made me realize that not everyone knows how to be loved. I so wanted to know what happened next that I was reading as fast as can be, but then everything I read was so good that I’d go back and re-read to make sure I didn’t miss anything. I was in it 100%. I was inside Zach and Aubrey’s heads. I could hear the music, I could anticipate the poetry. I identified with the characters’ feelings, and I cried. Decrescendo. Piano. Pianissimo. Fine.

–Calliope

Buy it now! Playing for Love at Deep Haven

Review – Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein.

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11925514My fellow muses are probably going to banish me to the stables for this, but I have to begin this review by stating that YA fiction is not a genre that I read or enjoy…. Yes, I can feel the death stares permeating through my skin as I type! However, I like a challenge, and so I decided to read a YA, yes you read correctly, a YA novel called Code Name Verity. Actually, truth be told, I listened to it on audio, rather than read, but same difference!
Frustratingly, this is one of those novels where you can’t give too much of a synopsis due to spoilers, so this will be brief: WWII, two young women, one of whom is captured in Nazi occupied France. The novel begins with “Verity” writing a confession in a prison cell, and thus begins the tale. Through this epistolary novel, Verity tells a story of Queenie and her friend, Maddie, and their experiences being stationed together during the war. The story is split between 1st person narrations (Verity’s experience in the prison), 3rd person narration (the story of Queenie and Maddie’s friendship) and the narration is primarily shared between Verity and Maddie.
Listening on audio, you get the added advantage of hearing different voices for different characters. This helped a lot, and was appropriate due to the style in which the novel is written. As I mentioned above, I don’t usually read YA, but this one was so different. It had the usual components of a YA novel – very little swearing, not really any sexual situations, and no gratuitous violence. However, this one presented certain situations in an extremely frank and honest manner, without sensationalising and gratuitousness: E.G., the interrogation scenes were very frightening and horrific, but they were honest, and didn’t feel like they were exploiting it. It’s hard to explain, but I felt like it read as an adult book, but at the same time, it would still be appropriate for an older teenager.
If you do decide to pick this story up, which I highly recommend that you do, be prepared to find yourself laughing, possibly crying, gasping, cringing, and recoiling. It will hit on most of your emotions and it will leave you asking yourself what if? What if you were captured by an enemy agent? Would you divulge crucial secrets? Would you do anything to survive? Would you break? Elizabeth Wein has written a fresh, unique and interesting WWII story that is brutal, honest, emotive, and effective. Do yourself a favour and read this gem of a novel before some big film studio ‘effs it up and makes a piss poor adaptation.
Enjoy ~ Pegasus
Code Name Verity (Edgar Allen Poe Awards. Best Young Adult (Awards))

Review: The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

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a“The White Tiger” is a written confession from an Indian driver who murders his employer. It is told with matter-of-fact nonchalance by Balram Halwai. A man who grew up in the slums of India, “overcame” his birth status, became a #1 driver, a murderer, and finally an employer himself.

What can one say about a book such as this? I look at the some of the reviews and I wonder how it can have such a low rating. Is it because people are turned off by the matter-of-fact tone of Halwai? Are they disenchanted with the unsaid social commentary of India? Are they disgusted with the story that Halwai tells? Are they dissatisfied with “justice” in the world Adiga paints? Are they waiting for the author to tell them what to think? Are they waiting for Halwai to justify his actions? To show some redeeming quality, allowing you to forgive him? Are they the type that think every novel should have a beginning, a middle and an end? Do they expect happily ever after?

Here’s the thing….This might be Adiga’s story….it might also belong to Halwai….one can say it even belongs to all of India…but the thing is…this is the reader’s story as well. What you take from this story is what you put in to it. Aravind Adiga is young author…but he’s smart enough to know that sometimes the best novels are the ones left to the reader to decide. Some travesties don’t need pointed out. It might seem that Halwai has no feelings or is two dimensional…but this is his life. He’s not painting a pretty picture…he’s just laying out the facts. Adiga is the one who is leaving it up to you, the reader, to sort through these facts.

So, once you’re born into the social caste system of India, are you ever *really* able to move from one to the other? Should one be resigned to his/her own fate? Do we follow the customs of generations, even if they are the very same customs that bind us to future failures? Must we follow the way it has always been done, even if that way ensures us that no new path can be forged? Do we never question how things are, simply because they are the way things have always been? Does Halwai really have no feelings about right and wrong? Are is it that he is just so bone weary tired of it all? Does he really not care? Or is he just overcome with so much feelings of hopelessness?

What about nature and nurture? How does that play into how we justify our actions? Can one really blame society for that which we become? Is it possible to justify our actions in our own minds by blaming the limits our society puts upon us?

How can one even begin to change the history of the past? How corrupt does a government need to be before a nation lose all hope for any type of change? Can a person who benefits from a broken social system ever really want to be the one who fights to make it right? Will we ever learn to trust one another? Can someone who has nothing ever be satisfied with that? Should they?

Can an outsider ever *really* understand?

Yes, the questions I have after reading this novel are more than I had before. Will I spend countless hours debating this? Will I look at the world a bit differently now? yes. yes. yes…..yet….Adiga did not ask a single one of these questions. Halwai did not point out a single one either. It’s a brilliant writer that can evoke so much from a reader….that can sit back and not try to lead you down the path to self discovery. That doesn’t feel the need to blurt out the answers…..I thank him for his discipline….

How can I not love a book like this? Yes, it’s ugly and it’s dirty. Yes it’s unfair. Yes, it’s true….it has no beginning…nor even a middle…and certainly no ending. It has no one clear victim. It has no single hero. This is life….pure and raw….ugly and bleeding….helpless and innocent….corrupt and hopeless….

So tell me….what are you going to do about it? Turn the other cheek, give it a bad rating, and hope to forget all about it? Go on then….I dare you to….

Until next time….

Urania xx

Buy it now The White Tiger

Review: The Whole Golden World by Kristina Riggle

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20140101-075407.jpgIt’s easy enough to write about difficult topics, especially if it’s fiction. Child abuse, incest, murder, school shootings…they’ve all been covered at one time or another with varying degrees of success. But to be able to do so in a way that doesn’t make the reader cringe and push the book aside is no easy feat. Kristina Riggle has done just that with this intriguing novel.

The story centers on the inappropriate relationship between seventeen-year-old Morgan and her math teacher, TJ Hill. Morgan has always been considered mature for her age and seems wise beyond her years. A gifted musician who also writes poetry, she finds herself tiring of the usual teenage drama all around her. A beautiful young woman,she’s nonetheless extremely self-conscious about a scar on her face resulting from a childhood injury. TJ is one of the most popular teachers at the high school. He has an easy rapport with his students. He’s also under a huge amount of stress at home as he and his wife, Rain, continue a barrage of medical treatments as they attempt to conceive a child. Morgan provides a shoulder for him to lean on as he deals with this pressure. She, in turn, thrives on the attention from a wise, mature older man. When their relationship is discovered and charges are filed, Morgan finds herself sitting opposite her parents in the courtroom as she defends the man she believes to be the love of her life. The question is, was Morgan the victim of a manipulative older man or is she a delusional teenager obsessed with her teacher?

If these were the only two characters in this story it would still be a winner. But the author has added a cast of supporting characters that provide enough of a story on their own. There’s Joe, Morgan’s gruff but loving father who just also happens to be the assistant principal at the high school. Dinah, Morgan’s mother, thrives on being involved in her children’s lives but also runs a successful, popular coffee hangout for the local teens. At the same time, she must stay on top of Morgan’s younger twin brothers, Jared and Connor who suffer academic and behavior issues as a result of a difficult birth. And of course there’s Rain, TJ’s supportive but unsuspecting wife who bears a striking resemblance to Morgan.

A story with this many characters always has the potential for being a big confusing mess. Not in this case. Riggle successfully ties everything in to the main storyline while at the same time keeping the reader’s interest spread all around. The story alternates between Morgan, TJ, and to a lesser degree Rain while at the same time keeping us interested in what’s going on with everyone else. As I read this book, I found myself connected to all of the characters, not just Morgan and TJ. There’s no question that this type of relationship is never appropriate, regardless of the student’s age. Those in such positions of power bear a huge responsibility for staying within the boundaries. This story deals with the legalities and morality of such a situation while at the same time showing how other friends and family members are affected. Five stars for me!

~Thalia

Buy it Now: The Whole Golden World

Review: The January Wish by Juliet Madison

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20140102-152247.jpg The January Wish is women’s fiction, family drama, and romance all rolled into one — and set in Australia. I loved the plot: Sylvia reunites with the daughter she gave up for adoption 18 years ago. And I enjoyed the subplots: Sylvia breaks up with one guy and falls in love with another; Sylvia’s daughter experiences young love; small-town citizens support each other personally and in business.

I didn’t like the characters, though. I thought they were a little wishy washy, a little boring, a little unrealistic in their behavior. For example, we hear repeatedly (too many times, really) about Sylvia’s reserved and organized life – from her wardrobe to her car to her office – and then she lets loose dancing on the bar at a bachelorette party (hen night). That just doesn’t make sense to me. That kind if thing happens more than a few times. Later in the book, two conservative characters decide to play strip Scrabble. It just didn’t seem natural based on what the author told us about this couple… So why add it?

The unnatural dialogue hurt my ability to enjoy the book as well.

“Yes, she mentioned how she quite enjoys her acupuncture sessions now… But how anyone could enjoy having tiny needles stuck into their skin is beyond me!” Sylvia managed a friendly laugh.

Even if someone were to say those exact words, I imagine them said under the breath or out of the side of the mouth, not exclaimed and followed by laughter (and this is spoken by the reserved, boring gal).

The characters and dialogue just weren’t up to par and really hindered any enjoyment of the plot. The writing was so verbose and descriptive at times, I was distracted from the plot. (Um, recurring mentions of Mr. Benson — why? How did this relate to the story?) I started skipping paragraphs just to find something related to the plot or subplots.

All in all, I didn’t like the writing, characters or dialogue. Unfortunately, they took away too much from a beautifully thought-out plot.

— Calliope

Buy it now The January Wish

Review – The Death of Bees by Lisa O’Donnell

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15818333In 2013, the age of Instant Messaging, texting, face-iThingy, etc…, how many of us really know or speak to our neighbours anymore? Would you notice if two teenage girls were living with abusive and irresponsible parents? Would you notice if those parents were to disappear? Well, luckily for you, Lisa O’Donnell explores this conundrum in her debut novel, The Death of Bees. Set in present day Glasgow, O’Donnell presents the reader with Nelly and Marnie – two teenage girls growing up in some of the worse conditions imaginable. Their situation gets exponentially more precarious when their parents die, and they are suddenly left to fend for themselves. Don’t worry, I didn’t just give away a spoiler – you know this happens right from the get go. Marnie and Nelly’s quest for survival from both death, and the social services is the main focus of the story and along the way, we meet a host of interesting characters that intersect with Marnie and Nelly.
O’Donnell’s narrative is split between 3 people, and each one provides a different view point of events. At first it was a little jarring to read through the eyes of Nelly, as she has a very particular way of speaking. However, you soon get used to it and it really provides character. The amount of time spent on each narrative is perfect; you never once feel like you’ve been spending too long reading as one character. The language used by the characters is not pretty – but then life isn’t always pretty – it is honest, sparse, and real.
If you’re looking for your next unique read, I would highly recommend this one. It runs the gauntlet of emotions (it will even make you feel physically sick at one point!) and does not let up, but at the same time, it isn’t depressing for the sake of being depressing. There is light amongst these characters and it shines just as often as it is put out. It is a relatively short read, so if you can read it in one sitting, or even two, then that would be the way to do it so that you don’t lose the rhythm of the narration.
You can get this fresh, unique and honest story here – The Death of Bees: A Novel

~ Pegasus.

Review: Stella Bain by Anita Shreve

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20131225-214734.jpgHistorical fiction is a very popular genre these days. From “The Book Thief” to “The Help”, authors all around are creating beautiful works of literature that seamlessly mesh historical facts with spellbinding fictional story lines. This one could have been part of that elite group.

The story begins with an unknown woman waking up injured in a battlefield hospital in France. The year is 1916, and World War I is underway. The woman identifies herself as Stella Bain but can remember nothing more than working as a nurse’s aid and driving an ambulance. Whether this is true or not is anyone’s guess. Driven by the need to find out the truth about her past, she feels the urge to travel to London where she senses the truth must lie. When she arrives in London, she is taken in by a kind physician and his wife. With their help, she is able to recover her memory. As such, she discovers what she was unknowingly hiding from. Without giving too much of the story away, there follows a legal battle which forces “Stella” to confront her past.

I had high hopes for this book, having enjoyed other works by Anita Shreve. This one started out in dramatic fashion and held my attention through about two-thirds of the story. Then it just gradually faded away for me. The author is a skillful writer who weaves a beautiful story full of historical details. The problem for me was that it just died out towards the end. I felt like the ending was rushed and a huge chunk of time was skipped. I get a great deal of satisfaction from knowing what happens to “my” characters at the end of a book and this one didn’t do it for me. It’s not a bad story, but I felt that it could have ended on a better note.

~Thalia

Buy It Now: Stella Bain