Serafina and the black cloak - Robert Beatty

Blurb-

Venture into the spooky world of Serafina and the Black Cloak - the New York Times bestselling magical mystery adventure for children

"Never go into the forest, for there are many dangers there, and they will ensnare your soul.”

Serafina and her pa have secretly lived in the basement of the grand old house on the Biltmore Estate, surrounded by dark forests, for as long as Serafina can remember. She takes the greatest of care never to be seen. 

But when children at Biltmore start disappearing, only Serafina knows who the culprit is: a terrifying man in a black cloak who stalks the corridors at night. To solve the mystery, Serafina teams up with Braden Vanderbilt, the nephew of the estate’s owners. Their search for answers leads them into the very forest Serafina has always been taught to fear. There, they discover a legacy of magic, long forgotten - until now . . .

Genre- YA, Children's, Fantasy

My rating - 5 stars

My review-

A beautiful book. Well written, easy to read and very enjoyable for both adult and child reader. I will defiantly be reading this book with my eight year old daughter. 

Scary in places, exiting in others, as soon as you get into Serafina's story you just have to know more. Hints help you along the way guess some of the ending of the story. 

A book I would defiantly recommend.

Date read - 13th February 2016 

Not if I see you first - Eric Lindstrom

Blurb-

The sensational debut YA of 2016 that everyone will be talking about.

Parker Grant doesn't need perfect vision to see right through you. That's why she created the Rules: Don't treat her any differently just because she's blind, and never take advantage. There will be no second chances.

When Scott Kilpatrick, the boy who broke her heart, suddenly reappears at school, Parker knows there's only one way to react – shun him so hard it hurts. She has enough to deal with already, like trying out for the track team, handing out tough-love advice to her painfully naive classmates, and giving herself gold stars for every day she hasn't cried since her dad's death. But avoiding her past quickly proves impossible, and the more Parker learns about what really happened – both with Scott, and her dad – the more she starts to question if things are always as they seem.

Not If I See You First illuminates those blind spots that we all have in life, whether visually impaired or not.

Genre- YA

My rating - 4 stars

My review- 

Not just a teen love story, Not if I see you first offers so much more. 

It's about the grieving of a girl who has lost so much and is just beginning to find out who she is and where she belongs. It's about love and truth and acceptance. It's about giving yourself goals and sticking to them and about chasing dreams. 

 This book is a well written YA with great teenage characters with all their true to life contradictions. It's an easy read and is actually quite a positive book. Lindstrom has done well to write this in a teenage girls perspective.

Read 27th Jan - 3rd Feb 2016

The Hollow Men - Rob McCarthy

Blurb-

A stunning and original debut crime thriller starring Harry Kent, a police surgeon who uncovers a shocking conspiracy after a hostage situation goes wrong.

Dr Harry Kent likes to keep busy: juggling hospital duties with his work as a police surgeon for the Metropolitan Police - anything to ward off the memories of his time as an Army medic. 

Usually the police work means minor injuries and mental health assessments. But Solomon Idris's case is different. Solomon Idris has taken eight people hostage in a chicken takeaway, and is demanding to see a lawyer and a BBC reporter. Harry is sent in to treat the clearly ill teenager...before the siege goes horribly wrong.

When Solomon's life is put in danger again from the safety of a critical care ward, it becomes clear he knows something people will kill to protect. 
Determined to uncover the secret that drove the boy to such desperate action, Harry soon realises that someone in the medical world, someone he may even know, has broken the doctors' commandment 'do no harm' many times over...

Genre - Crime

My rating - 5 stars

My review-

Wow! Hard hitting, Gritty, Fast paced, Amazing book. I really can't put enough praise on this book.

The Hollow Men literally contains two types of person - those who care and will risk life and limb for justice, truth and life and those selfish heartless disgusting bastards that deserve to rot. Or as its says on the back cover 'Some men heal, others Harm'.

I had to force myself to read this book slowly, I have rushed through many detective novels to quickly find out who did it, but instinctively with this one I knew it had to be read slowly. Probably because there was so much going on and that it was set in just a few days. The chapters are huge - a day in their life of the police force and an NHS registra- which made breaking it down into chunks difficult but worth it.

Read- 

21st Jan - 2nd Feb 2016

Magician (The Riftwar saga #1-2) Raymond E. Feist

Blurb-

He held the fate of two worlds in his hands... Once he was an orphan called Pug, apprenticed to a sorcerer of the enchanted land of Midkemia.. Then he was captured and enslaved by the Tsurani, a strange, warlike race of invaders from another world.

There, in the exotic Empire of Kelewan, he earned a new name-- "Milamber." He learned to tame the unnimagined powers that lay withing him. And he took his place in an ancient struggle against an evil Enemy older than time itself.

Genre - Fantasy

Rating - 4 stars

My review - 

Almost comparable to Lord of the rings but not quite.

Feist has done a fantastic job of creating the two worlds of Midkemia and Kelewelen and the invading battle between them. There is just so much going on that some promising storylines never reached full potential.

Based mainly on the characters- 
Pug: magicians apprentice and in my opinion star of the book. 
Thomas: Princes squire, meets dragon never to be the same again (one of the storylines that could have been so much more, or infact never highlighted past Pugs childhood friend and it wouldn't have impacted on the story.
Arutha: Prince, traveler and protector.

I loved the idea of dwarfs and elves but they could have been so much more epic. The rest of the story is basically a coming of age of Pug as he grows into a man of great power whilst his world is at war. 

Read from January 07 to 12, 2016

Salt to the sea - Ruta Sepetys

Blurb- 

In 1945, World War II is drawing to a close in East Prussia, and thousands of refugees are on a desperate trek toward freedom, almost all of them with something to hide. Among them are  Joana, Emilia, and Florian, whose paths converge en route to the ship that promises salvation, the Wilhelm Gustloff. Forced by circumstance to unite, the three find their strength, courage, and trust in each other tested with each step closer toward safety.

Just when it seems freedom is within their grasp, tragedy strikes. Not country, nor culture, nor status matter as all ten thousand people aboard must fight for the same thing: survival.(

Genre - YA, Historic fiction

My rating- 5 stars

My review-

Wow, such an amazing and moving book. Packed with the horrors of the Second World War but softened with unexpected friendships between the young people involved. 

Written from the four different the perspectives of each protagonist they blend beautifully to create a powerful story of war, love and loss. A new favourite of mine.

River Cottage Love Your Leftovers: Recipes for the resourceful cook - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

Blurb -

We all occasionally suffer a guilty conscience about those languishing ingredients that stay untouched in the fridge or cupboard for days: the bendy carrots, the wilting salad, the foil-wrapped roast chicken, the rock-like bread and that little nugget of Cheddar? 

In this new pocket bible, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall offers nifty and creative ideas to transform leftovers into irresistible meals. Hugh starts by giving practical advice for cooking on a weekly basis with leftovers in mind ? helping to save money and avoid waste ? and provides tips on how best to store your ingredients to make them last for as long as possible. 

Hugh then gives handy recipe templates that can be applied to all kinds of leftover ingredients, and provides simple and flexible recipes. He shows, for instance, how you can transform leftover meat into Chilli beef noodles, Stew enchiladas, Spicy chicken salad with peanut butter dressing; surplus root vegetables into Roast root hummus, Quick lentil and parsnip curry and Beetroot and caraway seed cake; spare eggs into Hazelnut roulade and easy Macarons. He also gives ingenious ideas for Christmas leftovers, shows how to assemble a delicious meal in under ten minutes, and how to make simple store-cupboard suppers.

With more than 100 recipes, gorgeous photographs and illustrations, this is the ultimate companion for everyones kitchen ? and youll never be bored of leftovers again.

Genre - cookbook

My rating - 4 stars

My review -

Another great cookbook. This one, as the title describes is based on using up leftovers instead of throwing them away. In our house this isn't really a problem - I cook for a family of 5 including two teenage boys, but I have to (and like to) cook frugally so it caught my eye on Amazon.

This book has a great ethos and has some excellent recipes. Some I wouldn't touch with a barge pole - deep fried fish bones anyone? 
Other things I don't usually have as leftovers but if the recipes are good then I will make anyway - I will just make do with similar items that I have. I also think this book is great to help with 'yellow stickered' or reduced items. Yup, I now have a recipe to use with that fish I brought for 50p reduced to clear, that has sat in the freezer for two weeks or the tomatoes that I got on offer when I forgot I already had some - you know what I mean. We are actually having the quick cassoulet for dinner tonight with things I had on hand.

Great buy will be using this a lot.

Stasi Child - David Young

Blurb:

East Berlin, 1975

When Oberleutnant Karin Müller is called to investigate a teenage girl's body at the foot of the wall, she imagines she's seen it all before. But when she arrives she realises this is a death like no other: the girl was trying to escape - but from the West.

Müller is a member of the national police, but the case has Stasi written all over it. Karin is tasked with uncovering the identity of the girl, but her Stasi handlers assure her that the perpetrators are from the West - and strongly discourage her asking questions.

The evidence doesn't add up, and Muller soon realises the crime scene has been staged. But this is not a regime that tolerates a curious mind, and Muller doesn't realise that the trail she's following will lead her dangerously close to home . . . 

Stasi Child is David Young's brilliant and page-turning debut novel. 

My Rating: 3 1/2 stars

Genre: Crime

My thoughts:

                ~~~~~~ Sorry for any spoilers ~~~~~

I struggled with is book, not because of the storylines which was absolutely spot on but with the whole situation of 1970s Germany.  Before I began reading I was completely unaware that there were so many policing departments and titles, and to be honest I skipped most of them whilst reading.  

Split into three sections, each deeply untwined in the overall plot.  It was Karin's story that both intrigued and confused me.  The levels of policing and corruption could be possible in every society but those in place that allow the ill treatment, slavery and abuse of the most vulnerable are the sickest.  Karin is good and she will stop at nothing but the truth, despite the physical and mental pain it causes her.  The confusion came with my lack of knowledge of the German seperation following WW2 and the different German names for Police and police levels.  

All in all the book was well written, the protagonist mostly likeable, the antagonist evil and the mystery slowly unfolds itself to a sound ending.

               ~~~~~~ Sorry for any spoilers ~~~~~

Read: 27-31 October 2015

The Milliners Secret - Natalie Meg Evans

Blurb : London,1937. A talented young woman travels to Paris with a stranger. The promise of an exciting career as a milliner beckons, but she is about to fall in love with the enemy...

Londoner Cora Masson has reinvented herself as Coralie de Lirac, fabricating an aristocratic background to launch herself as a fashionable milliner. When the Nazis invade, the influence of a high-ranking lover, Dietrich, saves her business. But while Coralie retains her position as designer to a style-hungry elite, Paris is approaching its darkest hour.

Faced with the cruel reality of war and love, Coralie must make a difficult choice—protect herself or find the courage to fight for her friends, her freedom and everything she believes in. 

My rating : 4 stars

Genre : historic fiction

My thoughts: I love reading books fact or fiction based around the Second World War and this book took me in a direction I had never thought about much before. Cora an English hat maker runs away from her father in London, changes her identity and becomes absorbed in a new world she knows little about in Paris and lives a life she could never have imagined. 

It did take me a while to get into but after the first third it picked up pace and I was literally transported back to 1930/40's Paris. I could literally feel the danger that Coralie and her friends and acquaintances faced as well as her passion to do what she believed in despite the concequeces if caught.

The only negative about the story was I know little about Paris I would have liked a little more descriptive prose but other than this it was thoroughly enjoyable.

Read: 22nd September - 24th October 2015

Wildalone - Krassi Zourkova

Blurb: 

In this darkly imaginative debut novel full of myth, magic, romance, and mystery, a Princeton freshman is drawn into a love triangle with two enigmatic brothers, and discovers terrifying secrets about her family and herself—a bewitching blend of Twilight, The Secret History, Jane Eyre, and A Discovery of Witches.

Arriving at Princeton for her freshman year, Thea Slavin finds herself alone, a stranger in a strange land. Away from her family and her Eastern European homeland for the first time, she struggles to adapt to unfamiliar American ways and the challenges of college life—including an enigmatic young man whose brooding good looks and murky past intrigue her. Drawn to the elusive Rhys and his equally handsome and mysterious brother, Jake, she ventures into a sensual mythic underworld as irresistible as it is dangerous.

In this shadow world that seems to mimic Greek mythology and the Bulgarian legends of the samodivi or “wildalones”—forest witches who beguile and entrap men—Thea will discover a family secret bound to transform her forever . . . if she can accept that dead doesn't always mean gone, and love doesn't always distinguish between the two.

My rating : 5 stars

Genre: fantasy

My thoughts: 

Omg! I want more.... Please tell me there will be a book 2.

This book captured me from the blurb, it is riveting, fast paced, mystical, mythical and blooming fantastic. This book was not predictable at all, I actually thought I had it sussed half way through but I was totally wrong. The characters were great, even the stock characters like Rita and Dev had their own story. The fantasy elements had a perfect blend with reality. Only problem is that I want more! 

I really can't believe this is Krassi Zourkova's first book. Brilliant!

(Krassi also confirmed to me that there will be a book 2)

Read : 30th December 2014 - 8th January 2015