A Rant of Ravens - Christine Goff

 

I enjoyed this book and whipped through it pretty quickly.

I would rate it at about 7.5/10 only because whilst the story and subject matter are interesting and the plot intriguing, the characters are a little hollow for me and at first, because there are so many of them, I found the story a little confusing - it took me a while to be able to picture all the cast of characters and their relationship to each other.

That said, it is an enjoyable read and allows for several hours insight into the world of birds, bird people and bird dealing. Very interesting and easy to read.

A Truth Stranger Than Fiction - Chris Orcutt

What if there was a way to produce enough electricity for the whole world for the next 10,000 years without the need to produce toxic radioactive by-products and carbon dioxide (as is the case with fossil fuels used in nuclear fission)? This possibility is right at the heart of this mystery and when the secret is about to be published, a lot of people find themselves with a lot to lose and will do anything to keep the truth from being told.

This book is totally brilliant, humourous, witty and about a really interesting topic. It is the third book in The Dakota Stevens Mysteries Series. The characters are really likeable and I think I am a little bit in love with Dakota Stevens now! It is a fast paced story which unfolds to reveal a truth which is, in fact, not of science fiction but a proven fact. That in itself lead me to ask the question, why is this possibility not being taken as seriously as perhaps it should be?

Although this is the third book, the fact that I had not read the other two previously did not really detract from the story but I got the sense that it would have been slightly more interesting if I had read them first and understood the relationship between Dakota and his beautiful assistant, Svetlana Krush, a little better. However, it was still a great story and the characters came to life really quickly.
The other two Dakota Stevens books are now on my watch list and they will be winging their way to me very soon. I can't wait to read them!

If you like a good mystery filled with intrigue and enjoy tracking down the truth along with the characters in a story, then this is the book for you.

9.8/10

Converations with Spirits - E O Higgins

What a start to my new year reading list!

Conversations with Spirits is the debut novel of E O Higgins and it is an absolute hoot! Set in 1917 England and at the behest of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Trelawney Hart, the hard-drinking, chain-smoking anti-hero, starts out on a journey to uncover the truth behind recent stories of a medium who is gaining a strong reputation as a genuine psychic. Hart is a sceptic and believes in logic and materialism, so the thought of uncovering a fraud is intriguing to him. As he progresses, however, he finds his beliefs challenged and his logic failing to assist him. Along with his side-kick, Billy, he finds himself on a rollicking adventure that leads him to question his truth.

This book is completely absorbing and one of the few I have read recently that I wanted to devour in one bite and savour at the same time, so it didn't end too quickly. It is so entertaining and the characters are such great company, that I wanted to share more adventures with them. As a result, I dropped a note to Mr Higgins who assures me he is hard at work on another Trelawney Hart adventure, which is wonderful news!

Another thing that is completely brilliant about this book is that it came to be published through crowd-funding via Unbound.co.uk. For those of you who haven't heard of Unbound before, it is an online platform which allows authors to pitch their book idea and readers to support the idea by making various size donations. When the book reaches it's target, it gets published and the reader/donator gets various benefits, including copies of the book and many other things. This platform enables authors to bring books to the public that they may struggle to get published commercially, especially if they are working on a debut novel and do not have back list to support them. How fabulous is that! For more information take a look at www.unbound.co.uk.

As for Conversations with Spirits, I loved the book, cannot wait for the next yarn and am so delighted to have found this author. (Thank you to my lovely sister, Samantha, who sent me this book for Christmas and told me about Unbound).

Louisiana Logshot - Jana Deleon

This is the first in a series of "Miss Fortune Mysteries" about CIA agent, Fortune Redding, who is in hiding in the sleepy backwater of Sinful, Louisiana after one of the worlds largest arms dealers placed a price on her head.

Having been ordered by her Director to lie low until they can deal with the threat, within minutes of her arrival at Sinful she is drawn into a murder investigation and finds herself embroiled in all sorts of shenanigans with the leaders of local Woman's Association, who seem to run the place. What ensues is a great romp in the bayou with likable characters and an unsolved mystery.

This is only the second book of Jana Deleon's I have read and I really enjoyed it. Even though the story is set in the Bayou, as is the other book I read, the stories were entirely different. Fortune Redding reminded me of Sandra Bullock's character in Miss Congeniality and this story was even more entertaining than that film!
I am so glad I have found Jana Deleon, I really love her books which are part humorous, part mystery, part spoof. I am definitely going to get the rest of the books in this series.

If you like to be entertained with interesting characters, mystery and humorous dialogue, then this is one for you.
 
9.8/10

Before I Met You – Lisa Jewell

Ten-year old Elizabeth has her life thrown into turmoil when she, her mother and stepfather pack their bags and head from their bungalow in Surrey to a run-down, rambling, damp old house on top of a cliff in Guernsey. They have come to look after her stepfather’s mother, the formidable, eighty-four year old, Arlette, who has taken a fall and is in need of help. When the two meet for the first time, Elizabeth is determined to be miserable and uncooperative, but notices, as she looks down, Arlette is wearing red silk shoes with matching rosette’s which takes her by surprise. When they are introduced, the first thing Elizabeth can say is “I like your shoes” and from that moment on they fall in love with each other. A little later, after Elizabeth has been living there a while, Arlette says:

“…..And now here you are. In my home. And I have to say. From the first time I saw you, I liked you very much.’ Arlette smiled then and appraised Elizabeth with twinkling eyes. “I’d like to call you Betty, if I may?”

“Betty?”

“Yes. In my day if you were Elizabeth, you were Betty. Or Bet. But Betty was more popular. And I don’t know, you just look like a Betty to me”………

More than a decade later, Betty, now in her early twenties, has become Arlette’s sole carer after she succumbed to Alzheimer’s. Determined to be there at the end, she nurses and soothes her grandmother through the terrors of her illness during sleepless nights, until one morning she finds herself waking up after 9 a.m. with no interruptions. The moment she looks at the clock she knows Arlette has gone.

In her will Arlette has left the house to her son, and all her wardrobe, including her mink coat and jewellery to Betty, plus one thousand pounds. The rest of her considerable, albeit, diminished estate has been left to a mysterious woman called Clara Pickle, last known at an address in London. In all her years living with and looking after Arlette, Betty has never heard her mention the name and nobody else has heard of her either. Jumping at the chance to be free of Guernsey, Betty volunteers to head to London in search of Clara. The mystery deepens when Betty unwraps the mink coat and finds folded inside it an old children’s story book with an inscription, in Arlette’s handwriting:

To Little Miss Pickle
I do hope you will be a glad girl
Yours eternally,
Arlette Lafolley


When Betty arrives in London she is determined to find out as much as she can about her grandmother’s earlier years and when it transpires that Arlette had been living in London during the early 1920’s and was a trendsetter of the time, the story divides into two versions of the mystery; one told in the 1990’s by Betty as she uncovers the truth and one in the 1920’s by Arlette as we find out more about her and her trendy friends who are trailblazing through night clubs and jazz orchestra’s as they go.

This is a story of a girl’s devotion to her grandmother as she cares for her and is determined to uncover the mystery she has left behind. It is also the story of young Arlette in the 1920’s and Betty in the mid 1990’s, both hailing from Guernsey, trying to establish themselves and settle into life in London. After Arlette dies their stories run side by side throughout the rest of the book and sometimes even run parallel to each other. As the reader hears Arlette's story directly they are always one step ahead of Betty as she tries to find Clara Pickle and learn more about the young woman her grandmother was.

It is a lovely book and I was instantly drawn to Betty and her story, although it took me a little longer to feel the same about Arlette and her story, however, within no time of travelling back to the 1920’s I was with her all the way. The story is amusing, poignant, interesting and offers a tantalising glimpse into the life of a young, independent woman living the high life as one of the Bright Young People of 1920’s London. It also offers a little insight into the domestic life of a modern day 90's rock star, but, I will let Betty tell you about that!

I have read three other Lisa Jewell books and I believe this one is possibly the best, although I did love The Truth about Melody Browne which definitely runs a close second. Lisa Jewel offers her readers more than just the usual chick-lit romances (although there is nothing really wrong with some of those). Her stories are about believable people in real situations whose life doesn’t always turn out how they expect it to. This book leaves an impression and is memorable after it is finished. I will definitely read it again and can highly recommend it.

9.8/10

How to Wash a Cat - Rebecca M Hale

How to Wash a Cat is the debut novel in the “Little Shop of Secrets” mystery series by Rebecca M Hale. The main character and narrator of the story is anonymous until the last page when we find out that it is none other than Rebecca Hale herself, she is Uncle Oscar’s niece! The story also stars Isabella and Rupert, the two cats belonging to the narrator and who play a key role throughout.

Uncle Oscar owned an antique store in the Jackson Square neighbourhood of San Francisco. He dies in mysterious circumstances and as his sole and closest relative, his niece, a shy, quiet accountant who has lived in SF for the past five years, inherits everything. Uncle Oscar has left more than just the shop and it’s contents, however. It turns out that he was onto some of the mysteries of the Gold Rush era and his fate seems intrinsically linked with that of William Leidesdorff, an enterprising and highly successful businessman who  made San Francisco his home before the Gold Rush. He too was said to have died in mysterious circumstances in 1848, just after gold was found on his land!

This story is filled with bold, colourful and flamboyant characters. It is underpinned with historical fact and all the more interesting for it. It is fun and quirky and the cats inclusion in the story only added to it’s charm in my opinion. This is the first in a series of mysteries connected with Uncle Oscar and the antique shop and although some of the mystery of Uncle Oscar’s death was solved in this story, there are still many unsolved questions at the end of the book to be answered.

If you want a light hearted, interesting bit of escapism with a couple of adorable cats and characters, then How to Wash a Cat will give you all that. I will definitely look out for the next book in the series.

9.6/10