Review of 'The Summer of Impossible Things' by Rowan Coleman

Magic realism isn't my favourite writing style, especially when it's used as a trope to push a story along. However, when it's done right, it can make a book ... well, a bit magical. The Summer of Impossible Things (2018) is one of the better examples I can think of, where the author's managed to blend the magic into the rest of the book and the plot and make it believable.

When Luna and her sister head to their mum's old apartment in Brooklyn, they're determined to get to know her a little better. In the years before her death, they knew she was struggling with something that had plagued her, and it's only now that she's gone that she's prepared to let them know the truth. Thirty years before, their mum was happy and thriving, a teen ready to face the big wide world, and Luna wants to know what changed.

What she's not prepared for is how much the trip will change her. Luna begins to struggle with intense headaches, and fears the worst. However, as they flare up, she begins to see her surroundings shift: though she doesn't know it at first, she's gone back to 1977. Switching between the present and a past where she has the opportunity to meet her mum before she became a mother, Luna struggles to comprehend what's happening. Soon she realises that these transitions through time are going to offer her the answers she's looking for.

This is a story that does magical realism well, without it jarring you out of the story or making it *too* unbelievable. More importantly however, it's a story that does love and loss and grief and family well. I loved seeing Luna and her mum bond (despite the years and the secrets between them) and trying to work out exactly what had happened. It was a full on page-turner that I could not put down.

*Trigger warning - sexual assault*

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Review of 'Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine' by Gail Honeyman

Can you *imagine* nervously putting this out as your debut novel and it being as big a hit as this? I mean, isn't this every author's dream?! Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine has been reviewed by every book blogger and their mum at this point, but I'm going to drop in my two pennies worth.

The hype for this was all over the Internet towards the end of 2017 and early 2018, but I left off reading this for a couple of months until it had died down a little to give me time to read the book as objectively as I could. When I finally got around to it, I realised that in every review I'd read and Instagram caption, no one had ever mentioned that Eleanor *might* be on the autism spectrum. She's someone that must abide by a strict routine, she's incredibly intelligent and she finds stepping out of her comfort zone, especially engaging in social situations, extremely difficult. 

However you look at it, it's clear that Eleanor's anxiety is extreme. She has certain rituals and routines that make her feel safe and she avoids excessive interaction with others. Every Friday she buys two bottles of vodka, and prepares for a blissful weekend away from everyone, only interrupted by a weekly phone call from Mummy. 

As you progress through the book, it's clear that Eleanor has had a difficult past. From mentions of being in care, to her physical scars, to her lack of family, something is off. It takes the work of Raymond, her co-worker who befriends Eleanor, to dig beneath the layers and help her.

*SPOILERS FROM HERE ON*

If I'm honest, this didn't *quite* live up to my expectations, and I think it's in part because I'm a hopeless romantic. I wanted Raymond to like Eleanor as more than a friend, and because it seemed like he did, I felt absolutely betrayed when he found a pretty blonde girl to get with. I wanted Eleanor to be viewed romantically by someone, to help us all believe that it's possible to be admired and desired, even if you're a little odd. I felt the sting of rejection, even if Eleanor didn't.

The main saving grace was that the twist at the end was something I genuinely didn't expect. As I was reading the book, I was convinced that I'd guessed the twist, but in reality I had no idea. Honeyman threw a total red herring in our way to get us off the scent, and I have to say it worked pretty darn well.

I would still definitely recommend it, as I *know* I would have liked it a lot more without all the hype. Plus, I'm definitely still hoping that there will be a Part 2 where Raymond gets his act together!

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Review of 'Can't Buy Me Love'* by Jane Lovering

I think I may have lost count of the number of times that I've woken up, head pounding, thinking this of a morning. For Willow however, there are more than her fair share of emotional traumas going on in the novel. You see, Willow's beloved grandfather has passed away, and what did he leave her? A nose. His nose. In a snuff box. Yep. 

He'd always called it his lucky nose, and rubbed it if he needed a little boost, but Willow is still disappointed that he neglected to leave her anything else in his will. However, upon further inspection she finds a note in the snuff box, which leads her to discover that one of his many inventions wasn't so crackpot after all, and she ends up with £50 000. 

As if that wasn't lucky enough, the man that she obsessed over endlessly during university has come to town, and told her that he was in love with her at the time, but just too shy to do anything about it. It seems like a dream come true. Willow is quick to help Luke in whatever way she can, so that he can pursue his dreams and they can be happy together, but her friends are concerned over the convenience of him turning up just as she gains her inheritance.

Putting it all down to jealousy, Willow ignores their pleas and happily continues her perfect love story with Luke, spending money with glee along the way. At the same time, she makes a new friend: Cal, her gay brother's lover. He actually listens to her, and she isn't as nervous around him as she is around other men, even though he's incredibly attractive, because him and her brother used to be more than friends. 

But, what if everyone's suspicions were right? And what if Willow has been busy making assumptions of her own? Is there hope for love out there for Willow?

I absolutely adored this book, and was hooked from the very first line (which revealed the nose in a snuff box inheritance). The exploration of Willow's anxiety was particularly interesting to me, as I'm keen to see mental health issues exposed and examined more frequently in novels. Willow has wound herself up into such a state of self hatred and anxiety that even just talking to an attractive man, who might possibly like her, forces her to physically be sick. She is endlessly trying to control this intense physical reaction to attraction, but time and time again, we see her struggle with it. 

If you're interested in seeing a 'not so nice' guy (to say the least) have the ultimate revenge cast upon him as well, then this is definitely one for you. I totally got caught up in the plotting and planning of his demise, and couldn't wait to see what happened!

Have you read it? What did you think?

Review of 'Just a Monumental Summer'* by M Schneider

I'm so so sorry I don't have a picture for this one guys, but stick with me! If you’ve read any of my past reviews, you’ll know that I love books that can teach me things about a culture I’m not familiar with or a political system that I’ve never really learnt much about. I love discovering what it’s like to live in different places across the world: what I would prefer about living there, and why perhaps I wouldn’t want to move there. Just a Monumental Summer is possibly the first book I’ve ever read that is entirely set in Romania, and as such provided me with a unique insight into the workings of the country. I sped through this book as I just couldn’t wait to see what would happen next, or learn more about this beautiful, but politically corrupt country. If you want to learn a little something new about Romania, then I would definitely give this a go!

Mona needs to get away from her old life. Although her family loves her, she knows she can’t go back and face them after failing the University entrance exams that could have revolutionized all of their lives. So, she takes a train to Costinesti, a seaside town, and intends to spend the summer adventuring upon a path of self-discovery.

Mona expects to learn new things about herself during that summer, but what she doesn’t anticipate is meeting a hot young band member on the train to the coast, and having wonderful sex right there on the train. Sex has never been something big for Mona, just something she does to get by, to manipulate men into doing what she wants. But what if this time it’s something more than that? When Mona and band member Alin reach Costinesti they remain paired together, and she gets to meet all of his friends and discover what it’s like to be part of the entourage of a rock band.

Part of Mona really wants to spend her summer falling deeper and deeper in love with Alin, but what if the demons from her past take over? She’s never been good at being tied down, but can Alin’s love for her persuade her heart to take root?

On the whole I loved how the plot moved along, as Schneider managed to effortlessly combine a tale of love with a tale of shifting politics. However, there were moments when things fell down a little. I would have loved to see all of the plot strands come together in a glorious braid at the end of the novel, but instead some were left frayed, and it begged the question as to what they were doing in the novel in the first place.

Possibly my favourite aspect of the plot was the fact that Schneider had a whole variety of different relationships from people of different backgrounds and classes in communist Romania present in the book. I greatly enjoyed discovering how politics and gendered expectations impacted these relationships, and why they ultimately failed.

All in all, this was a good read that, with a little bit of work from the author, could become a great read. Politics, friendship and love all come under scrutiny through Mona’s experience of her monumental summer. 

You can buy Just a Monumental Summer here

What do you think - would you give it a go? It comes out today!

Review of 'The Girl in Between' by Laekan Zea Kemp

Sometimes when it comes to picking out a favourite quotation from a book I find it really hard - some authors just don't write in a way which appeals to me lyrically. But, with The Girl in Between I really was torn between a handful of quotations because this book was written so well. This one spoke out to me largely because it impacts the way I read, as well as the way I think about people. I'm always looking for the 'bad' character or 'good' character and sometimes it's nice to have a reminder that, just like real people, characters aren't always that simple. 

I haven't read a book with a fantasy aspect to it in what feels like absolutely forever, so this was really quite refreshing. The main character, Bryn, has an incurable disease called Klein-Levin Syndrome (or KLS for short). This means that sometimes when she falls asleep she doesn't wake up for days, or occasionally even weeks. Normally people who suffer from KLS experience a dreamless sleep, but every time Bryn has an episode she wakes up in an almost new world. This world is filled with all of her memories, and the details are so intense in it that she can even see the words of books she read years ago and the weather on certain days that she spent with family or friends.

Bryn is fairly used to this dream world, but what she doesn't expect is to find a boy washed up on the shore there one day. She knows she hasn't met him before, so what is he doing in her memory bank world? The boy can't give her any answers either: he has no idea who he is, where he came from or what he's doing stuck there. Is he just a figment of Bryn's imagination, or is there something more serious going on here?

This was another free kindle read that had a MASSIVE cliffhanger at the end, and next time pay day rolls around, the second book in the series is going to be at the top of my to-buy list. 

Have you read it? What did you think?

Steph x

Review of 'Once Gone' by Blake Pierce

Title: Once Gone
Author: Blake Pierce
Publisher: Unknown
Available here for free on your kindle

We all know that I'm a bit of a crime fiction-aholic, and I love a gory tale full of twists and turns that begs me to find out 'whodunnit'. Now, I'm always more of a fan of modern crime thrillers, where forensics and the law play a much bigger part in the plot than (sorry Agatha Christie fans), for example, the Poirot series. 

Once Gone had me hooked from the very first page. We start with a prologue written from the point of view of a captive woman, terrified about the return of her torturous captor. This was incredibly well written, and I was able to picture clearly the frightened state she was in as well as her gloomy surroundings. From here the book honestly went from strength to strength. I was expecting a pretty poor quality novel, as often the books you can get for free on your kindle are a bunch of mass produced drivel (sorry not sorry), but here is a shining light bursting through all of the garbage. The end was totally cliffhangered and I almost screamed in frustration I wanted to find out what was going on so badly. All I can say is I NEED to get my hands on the next book in the series!

Plot

When girls start turning up dead in the outskirts of Virginia, the FBI are called out to catch the creep that's leaving them this way. These murders are WAY over the heads of the 'normal' county cops due to the strange ritualistic style of the murders. Each girl is posed, covered in vaseline and has her eyes stitched open. If that's not terrifying enough, the only agent that is capable of solving such a case is still struggling with her PTSD after being captured by another creep wanting to torture women. Riley has been struck off the force temporarily, with a requirement of her improving her mental health before returning back to work, but when her ex-partner Bill gets to the first crime scene he knows there's only one person who can solve the case. Will Riley be able to conquer her trauma and help stop this guy before another girl winds up dead, or will it all be too much for her?

Have you read Once Gone? What did you think?

Steph x

Review of 'The Versions of Us' by Laura Barnett

This book actually signified a learning curve for me in life and literature. When I started reading I was presented with three 'versions' in the life of Eva and Jim. They all start with them meeting at Cambridge with Eva on her bicycle and Jim taking a stroll. One ends in them falling in love and staying together, in one they never speak, but only see each other, and in the last they have a brief liaison before she returns to her old boyfriend. 

Where I went wrong in the book was in waiting for the author to let me know which was the right version of Jim and Eva's lives, and I found it increasingly frustrating that in all of them there were good and bad parts. That is, until I realised that this was the entire point of the novel: there is no perfect version of your life, and although the grass may always seem greener on the other side of your decisions it does not mean it is. 

Each chapter has a date and Barnett takes you through what some, or all, of the versions of Eva and Jim are doing on those days. Sometimes we only see what one of them is doing, sometimes both. I've previously stated my current dislike of every single award-nominated or winning book seeming to have multiple narratives, so to find another one was a tad grating. However, what I had most trouble with was that each date didn't always have all three versions, or all of them in the correct order, so I had to keep reminding myself of which one was which and constantly redrawing the little strands together. If you like interesting narrative structures, this might prove a fun read for you!

Have you read it? What did you think?

Review of 'The Girl on the Train' by Paula Hawkins

I think we're getting to a stage with this book where it's harder to find someone who hasn't read The Girl on the Train than who has. It was heralded as THE thriller to read in 2015, so I had high expectations. Naturally these were so high that I was a little disappointed in the end - I was told to expect to be scared and honestly thought the train would have more of an impact, but ANYWHO, it was a good book!

Rachel still takes the train to work every morning, despite not needing to. As she heads into London one particular street catches her eye, and the signalling problems on the line often mean that she ends up opposite Blenheim road. She loves to imagine Jess and Jason, a perfectly happy couple, staying their in marital bliss as she often sees them out, content on their porch sipping on a glass of wine. 

But suddenly Jess goes missing, and Rachel finds out that the couple are in fact called Megan and Scott Hipwell. Perhaps it's because she got so attached to the couple she saw everyday, perhaps it's because she's searching for meaning in her life, or perhaps it's because her ex-husband and his new Mrs live only 7 doors down, but whatever the reason Rachel feels a need within her to help find Megan. 

However, there's one issue: Megan's an alcoholic. She knows she was on Blenheim road the night that Megan went missing, but what she did there she has no idea. The police won't accept anything she says as being true when her memories start to get triggered and return because of her alcoholism. Megan feels as though she therefore only has one choice: go to Scott directly and tell him what she saw that day on the train and what she thinks happened on the Saturday night his life got turned upside down. What Rachel doesn't anticipate is just how much she gets caught up in this mystery, and how it will impact her entire life.

Have you read it? What did you think?

Steph x

Review of "The Bone Clocks" by David Mitchell

I remember when this book came out, news about it was all over Twitter. But, I'd never heard of the author (whoops) and was still living under a contemporary literary rock because I was so bogged down with all the books I was having to read for my literature degree. Now that I'm free, when this popped up on my suggested Kindle reads I figured I had to give it a go. So, what's all the hype about? Well, in terms of structure, consider it the book version of the film 'Inception' - there are layers and layers of narrative that you have to work though to understand precisely what is going on. And it took me pretty much forever to work out what a bone clock is.

The basic premise is this: there are a handful of people out there in the world who don't formally 'die' when death meets them, rather they go through a process of a variance of reincarnation, re-emrging as a child who has just died. They are often moral beings, and are locked in a war with a group called the Atemporals, who are giving the gift of remaining the same age, but to do so have to suck the life out of young children. The key to this war? A simple woman by the name of Holly Sykes.

Was that enough to tickle your fancy? I absolutely loved this book and totally got lost in it. Let me know what you think if you've read it!

Steph x

Review of "The Deathsniffer's Assistant" by Kate McIntyre

I haven't read a fantasy novel in YEARS, and this was definitely a good'un to return to the genre with. The trick with fantasy novels is to make them believable, and I think if the author doubts themself, or the story they are writing in it's potential veracity, then the story is lost to the world of poor quality fantasy novels (of which there are many). However, MycIntyre makes it possible for readers to utterly immerse themselves in the world of The Deathsniffer's Assistant with her excellent prose and manifold plot streams. If you've ever read any of Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy, I would say that this is probably a read for you. Mixing darkness with love, honour and a little bit of social scheming, The Deathsniffer's Assistant is definitely going on my list as a 2015 must-read.

Chris didn't choose to be his younger sister's guardian, but after the incident at the Floating Castle left them orphaned he had no choice. Now, a few years on the family inheritance is starting to run dry and Chris must find a job to support himself and Rosemary. However, when he was categorized, as all young men and women are, he was designated to become a simple wordweaver: something that is hardly highly regarded, or highly paid for that matter. The only job he can get is with a Deathsniffer. Although Truthsniffers in their own right are a decent sort of folk, one that specialises in death, and more so, proclaims that they are a Deathsniffer is bound to be a little ... repellant. But, faced with either working for the Deathsniffer or ending up in abject poverty, Chris must join forces with this individual and seek the murderer of a member of the old blood: Duke Val Darens. 

However, perhaps there are darker forces at work even than the person who so brutally killed the Duke and defaced his dead body. Rosemary's secret wizardly binding skills have been kept hidden for years by Chris, but with the creatures starting to break loose from their binds, causing damage and turmoil everywhere, perhaps it will be harder to keep her safe than he'd ever thought ...

Have you read it? What did you think?

Steph x

Review of "The Rosie Project" by Graeme Simsion

Ever wondered what makes a slightly more than obsessive scientist tick? Don Tillman, Simsion's protagonist is a leading scientist in the field of genetics, but finds that there's one thing missing from his life: a wife. In a slightly hilarious manner, Professor Don creates a questionnaire for his potential candidates, attempting to devise a manner in which dates are not social disasters, as well as hopefully finding a woman he could hope to spend his life with. I found Don's character incredibly intriguing, as you do meet people just like him (especially in the Maths department at uni!), who are just so organised and structured in a way in which I could never hope to be. My one main problem with this novel was the title. I spent the early parts of the novel waiting for someone called Rosie to appear, and the remainder of it fully aware that she was going to be central to Don's life. There was no real intrigue or suspense in terms of Don's attempts at finding love because of this, I felt.

Don Tillman is lonely. His best friend Gene has a wife as well as a whole string of girls beckoning him to their beds, whilst Don has nothing, nor has he ever had anything. He understands the importance of companionship as well as sex and for this reason he wants a wife, not just a couple more friends. The only problem is that Don is utterly incapable of understanding social situations. So, he devises his very own questionnaire, which he intends to hand to women on blind dates in order to find someone who is compatible, and ensure that the entire date is not a bust. However, when Rosie, who defies about 90% of his wifely requirements, steps into the frame, Don begins to question exactly how useful his methods of selection were ....

Have you read it? What did you think?

Steph x

Review of "The Dead Wife's Handbook"

I'm pretty sure we've always indulged ourselves a little, imagining how people would react to our deaths, but what if that fantasy became your reality? Rachel had everything she ever wanted, until it was all stripped away from her in an instant when she suffers a sudden death from an undiagnosed heart condition. What she suffers next however, is worse than a death she had ever imagined. The book is split up into the seven stages of grief, and as such you follow Rachel through her journey into the afterlife. Everybody questions death at some point, considers whether there is a life after death at all, right? I found this to *excuse my French*, be a little bit of a mindfuck: just imagine if those that you loved could watch you grieve for them, suffering just as you do for the lost relationship. Would you do things differently?

Rachel and Max have the kind of marriage everybody dreams about, and it's only strengthened by the birth of their daughter Ellie. However, when Rach suffers a premature death, Max and seven year old Ellie are left to pick up the pieces, and re-organise the chaos that their life and feelings have descended into. 

However, they aren't quite as alone as they think. Rachel is granted visionary access to some elements of their lives, but has no control over when or how often this will be. From seeing her parents for the first time since she died, to witnessing Max and Ellie's emotional celebration of the first anniversary at the cemetery, this access seems both a blessing and a curse. But what if Max and Ellie's wounds start to heal and they commence rebuilding their lives?

Have you read it? What did you think?

Steph x

Review of "The Goldfinch"

I've finished the summer (weep) off with another thriller in this season of reading thrillers that I advanced upon, This was probably, unfortunately, my least favourite of the ones I've read, perhaps because the others were so much of exactly what I was looking for. However, that isn't to say that it wasn't worth reading at all! The Goldfinch was definitely one of those books that made you think: both about your own character and the state of our capitalist world.

What would keeping a life-ruining secret for decades do to you? In an interesting take on the psychological impact of deception, Theodore Decker's life is turned upside down the day his mother dies. Thirteen-year-old Theo and his mother take a trip to the Met but at the wrong time: a bomb goes off, rupturing both the gallery and the young boy's life. Handed a priceless painting by a dying man, Theo escapes the building in the confusion of the explosion only to live in fear of what keeping this painting may do to him. Suddenly left alone, the remainder of Theo's adolescence is spent moving from place to place, ending up in a whirlwind of addiction, crime and deceit. 

But, what happens if everything isn't as Theo thought it was? Who really has the painting and what will the ultimate consequences of taking it be?

Have you read it? What did you think?

Steph x

Review of 'The Soft Whisper of Dreams'*

This has definitely been my favourite book of 2015 so far. I am a big fan of Christina Courtenay, and all of her books which I've been lucky enough to read so far have been pretty fab (Monsoon Mists was one of my top reads of the summer, and you can check out the review for it here). Also, I don't think I've seen London so accurately described in one sentence before as it was in the above quotation.

Maddie's parents die suddenly, and now the only family she has left is her bitch of a sister. That is, until the will tells them that Maddie was adopted, and so, unless her sister displays some heart (highly unlikely) she's now inheritance-less. Needing to get away from the city and the shock of all that's happened, Maddie takes a break in the country at her best friend Kayla's. She expects peace, quiet and a chance to see Kayla's kids. What she doesn't expect is Kayla's hunk of a brother-in-law to be staying there, nor to recognise a resident from the nearby town. When things start to get scary, Maddie is forced to question everything she thought she knew.

This plot had so many strands coming into it that there was never really a dull moment in the book. Courtenay once again creates realistic, believable and over-all humanity-affirming love interests. There's no ridiculous sex scenes (hello one I read where a tampon was whipped out by a guy ... on the first time?!), and the characters all have a great deal of depth to them. Moreover, if you like a bit of a thriller, The Soft Whisper of Dreams has that for you too!

Have you read it? What did you think?

Steph x

Review of "Never Too Late"* | Q + A with Christina Courtenay

I love love love this quote, and haven't found another description quite so accurate in a while! Christina Courtenay earnt a little soft spot in my heart when I read Monsoon Mists (review here), which was my favourite book of the summer. Never Too Late was kindly sent by Choc Lit to me and I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to have a mini interview with Christina Courtenay herself! This novella is a really quick, easy read which you can finish in a couple of days, or is brilliant for a long coach/plane journey.

Maude and Luke, young lovers, seek to elope, but their plans are thwarted at the last moment. Set during a period in which Maude's father can control her life, their plans are discovered and she is locked up at the last moment, a fact that Luke remains unaware of. Forced to marry his older brother Edward, who is the inheritor of the family estate, Maude lives a miserable life until he dies and Luke must move in. Despite their rocky past, can their feelings overcome their fate?

Question and Answer with Christina Courtenay

1.) What time period is Never Too Late set in? And what were your inspirations for writing a novella set during this period? 

It is set during the Regency period, in about 1812-13. I didn’t have an exact year in mind but the hero has fought in the Peninsular War which lasted until 1814 and has had to sell his commission to come home and take over the running of his late uncle’s estate so it’s before the end of the war. My main inspiration was the incomparable Georgette Heyer – I have loved her books from the moment I first found one in my school library. She made the Regency period come alive and that’s what I tried to do too, although my story is a bit more provincial than most of hers.

2.) Having read Monsoon Mists, what are the benefits of mixing romance with crime//mystery?

I think having a mystery as well as a romance adds depth to a story and hopefully makes it more enjoyable for the reader. You don’t just have the “will they-won’t they” questions of the romance, but also “will they even survive to have a romance” added to the mix. I didn’t actually set out to have a crime/mystery in this particular story, it just sort of evolved that way once the idea of the stolen talisman entered my mind. I figured it was the sort of object that was bound to cause greed, corruption and envy.

3.) I've noticed that your sex scenes are quite realistic and tend to steer away from the "50 Shades of Grey" bandwagon that a lot of contemporary authors have jumped on. What do you think of this craze? 

Thank you, I’m glad you think they are realistic! I have to admit I haven’t yet read 50 Shades – I know, shock, horror! I just haven’t had the time – but apart from the sex it obviously has some very special characters to have attracted so many readers. Jumping on any bandwagon is never good though – publishing tends to move quite slowly so if I were to write a story like that now, it wouldn’t be published for at least a year, if not more, by which time that craze will almost certainly be over. It’s been great for those authors who already had similar stories ready, but now it’s too late. I think it’s better to write the kind of stories you want to write, as well as you possibly can, and hope it’s what your readers will like.

4.) Where do you seek inspiration from to create such diverse books?

I find inspiration from lots of different things and anything can spark a scene in my mind – a house, a person, an object. I can’t remember what made me write Never Too Late, but Monsoon Mists came about because the hero, Jamie, had seemed to be one of the bad guys in the previous book in the Kinross trilogy (Highland Storms), but in reality he wasn’t. So I wanted him to be allowed to tell his version of events. Some of my other stories have been inspired by for example a ghost in a house I used to stay in (I never saw it but the owners did), an extraordinary painting in the National Gallery and a replica of an old sailing ship.

5.) Who are your favourite male and female characters that you've created and why? 

I have a soft spot for Killian Kinross, Jamie’s father (and the hero of Trade Winds) because he’s

gorgeous, has a great sense of humour and is very mischievous – he’s the archetypal “bad boy” I suppose you could say and I love those! I like his wife Jessamijn too – she stands up her step-father who tries to bully her. But I also really like Nico Noordholt and Midori Kumashiro, the hero and heroine of The Gilded Fan. It’s difficult really because as an author you are usually totally into whichever hero/heroine you are working on at the moment. Right now I’m writing about a Cavalier with long dark hair and green eyes … 

Thank you!

Thank you very much for inviting me!

Any comments/questions are always very welcome :)

Steph

100 Followers Giveaway

So I reached 100 followers on Bloglovin' and I just wanted to say thanks so much to everyone who's helped out on this journey! I really appreciate all of your views and follows and it was a lovely little Christmas gift. Check out my review for The Boxer here and The Atlas of Us here. 

Enter below! **UK ONLY**

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book A Day | #19 and #20

Day 19 - Travelling Home Reading This

Although this picture was clearly not taking whilst travelling, I did read this as I came home from uni a couple of weeks ago, ready for the festivities to kick in. Check out my review of the book here

Day 20 - Set Where I live

I don't have a picture for this one, but I do have a poem for you guys:

Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough!

It isn't fit for humans now, 

There isn't grass to graze a cow. 

Swarm over, Death!

Come, bombs and blow to smithereens

Those air -conditioned, bright canteens, 

Tinned fruit, tinned meat, tinned milk, tinned beans, 

Tinned minds, tinned breath.

Mess up the mess they call a town-

A house for ninety-seven down

And once a week a half a crown 

For twenty years.

And get that man with double chin

Who'll always cheat and always win, 

Who washes his repulsive skin 

In women's tears:

And smash his desk of polished oak

And smash his hands so used to stroke

And stop his boring dirty joke

And make him yell.

But spare the bald young clerks who add

The profits of the stinking cad;

It's not their fault that they are mad, 

They've tasted Hell.

It's not their fault they do not know 

The birdsong from the radio, 

It's not their fault they often go 

To Maidenhead

And talk of sport and makes of cars

In various bogus-Tudor bars 

And daren't look up and see the stars

But belch instead.

In labour-saving homes, with care

Their wives frizz out peroxide hair

And dry it in synthetic air

And paint their nails.

Come, friendly bombs and fall on Slough

To get it ready for the plough.

The cabbages are coming now;

The earth exhales.

Pleasant, I know. But let's be realistic, this little town on the edge of London still isn't the nicest of places, though Betjeman may have been a tad extreme here.

What were your choices?

Steph