Petrina Binney's Blog, page 5
September 1, 2022
Book Review – The Extraordinary Hope of Dawn Brightside by Jessica Ryn
I think it’s pretty rare you find a book that pulls your heart straight out of your chest but still gives you hope. This is that book.
Dawn Brightside (one word) is homeless, living on the streets of Dover in Kent, and she’s in hiding from a man who threatened to kill her over twenty years ago. With little more than her imagination to keep her company, Dawn has found a way to navigate the world – through relentless optimism.
Taking care of others and spreading hope wherever she goes, Dawn finds a place, friends, and dare I say, herself, at a homeless shelter and when her sunny disposition takes a breath and we see the horror that brought it about, there’s little doubt – Dawn is a hero.
As she gathers up the strands of her blood- and chosen families, and shelter boss, Grace finds love in a less than convenient place, will hope be enough to keep the shelter going and the women on their true paths back to themselves?
A startling and beautiful book, packed to the rafters with positivity, heartbreak and humour. I loved it.
July 1, 2022
Book Review – What Kind Of Girl? by Caroline Kautsire
Book Review – What Kind Of Girl? by Caroline Kautsire
First published, 2020
What Kind Of Girl? follows the life story of the author from her childhood in Malawi to her journey as a young woman to America. As a tomboy in South Eastern Africa, with cultural influences ranging from her mother’s kitchen to an affluent girls’ school to attitude-packed American TV, Ms Kautsire seems to have always had faith in herself and her abilities and, at this time of such uncertainty in the world, I really enjoyed reading about her.
This is the second time I’ve read an autobiography of somebody at the start of her career. Although two points make a line, not a pattern, I’ve got to say, I really like this approach. It seems like a very constructive use of time for a young performer, to get the first part of the autobiography written before they hit the big-time, when everything from childhood will be that much further away, and they, presumably, won’t have the sort of time to write the book that they would have had earlier in their careers.
Ms Kautsire writes with intelligence and empathy and it’s pretty clear that she knows she had a fairly blessed upbringing, with a supportive family and household staff, but I loved hearing about her drive to succeed. Because although it feels like destiny, there will be work and struggle, and Ms Kautsire seems to relish the prospect of it all.
It’s been a delight to get to know her.
June 15, 2022
Book Review – Vile Stars by Sera Milano
Book Review – Vile Stars by Sera Milano
First published, 2022
Going to go on record right from the get-go and tell you that Sera Milano is incredible. This is the second of her books that I’ve read and I really enjoy her work. She has a wonderful style – a sort of conversational interview way of writing which you’d think from my lousy description might be dry and – stop thinking. It’s rich and emotive and I can’t think of anyone else who writes this way, or could write this way, so effectively.
In Vile Stars, the characters are struggling in the wake of parent-loss, during a pandemic in their late teens, while dealing with/watching a coercive relationship play itself out. The witnesses are making a podcast about what they’re seeing, to help other people because – what do you do when someone you care about gets involved with somebody who controls them? How do you tell your friend/family member that the guy they think is magical is utterly cruel behind her back? How do you save someone who cuts off contact?
From a chance meeting at the observatory during an astronomical event, Luka, just about eighteen years old, A-level student, hoping to study History at university, meets seemingly nineteen-year-old Cosmo. He’s nicely put together, saves her phone from cracked-screen destruction, and he seems to be perfectly pleasant. But he’s manipulating her from the start, filling her up with his opinions, and making himself comfortable with her money, her phone and all her attention.
But when everything Luka does seems to annoy Cosmo, and the world is getting smaller due to the Covid-19 pandemic, how will she be able to reach back to her family and friends when she’s so thoroughly thrown her chips in with his? And has anything he’s told her been true?
Just stunning. I cared about all the characters within a couple of pages, especially best friend, Roisin, who was an absolute delight. I felt their frustration and their grief as if it were my own. And I’ll say this: it’s not all doom and gloom. I wouldn’t want you to think that. There are some very comic lines which elevated the read and made it all the more poignant for this reader.
I read it in a day and plan to do so again before too long.
May 29, 2022
Book Review – Three Days (Beyond These Walls #6) by Michael Robertson
Book Review – Three Days (Beyond These Walls #6) by Michael Robertson
First published, 2020
With Olga and Matilda captured and taken to the phoney-baloney prophet, Grandfather Jacks, to be prepared for womanhood (ew), the chaps must navigate through a mighty wall, loaded up with deadly traps. They must get past the tribes who would sell them in a hot minute beneath the wall. And they must find a way to the asylum. But with Max sorting out his feelings about Olga, and Cyrus losing his nerve, will Spike and Artan get to Matilda in time? And in a palace where they must watch what they say or risk barbaric torture, will Olga be able to hold her tongue?
Even though the blood-eyed zombies have appeared and brought destruction throughout this series, this novel felt more ominous and chilling than previous books. Grandfather Jacks is a truly chilling character and the girls’ erstwhile insistence that they don’t need rescuing had me worried for a good long while in case they actually did, and their rescuers might not get there in time.
Thankfully, the characters have fortitude as well as smart mouths so (not going to ruin it for you), some of them might just make it through this book alive.
Book Review – After Edin (Beyond These Walls #5) by Michael Robertson
Book Review – After Edin (Beyond These Walls #5) by Michael Robertson
First published, 2019
I mean, I had to ask, in my last review, what happened to the protectors, didn’t I?
Well, as they’ve been going out daily, hunting for food and defending the citizens of Edin, they’ve actually been building a sanctuary for themselves should the world inevitably fall apart. What a bunch of rotters.
But while Spike, Matilda, Artan, Max and Olga find safety with the next community on from Edin and the protectors’ sanctuary, all is not as it seems. The women of the new community are relegated to cooking and evening activities of the bow-chicka-wow-wow variety, and that’s it. They don’t hunt, they don’t compete in games, they don’t defend themselves and they do not answer back.
Grateful for the reprieve from absolute fear, and for the sudden wonder of regular dinners, the chaps of the group, although accepting of Olga’s principles and her disgust at the treatment of the women, see no purpose in biting the hand that feeds them. But when a hunting party turns to deception, violence and threats against Olga and Matilda, will Spike and his friends survive? What will become of Samson when he’s shaved? And will the odious Ranger finally get his comeuppance?
A return to form, lots of action, and the brilliant question: how many principles will you allow to fall in order to survive?
Excellent.
May 20, 2022
Book Review – Collapse (Beyond These Walls #4) by Michael Robertson
Book Review – Collapse (Beyond These Walls #4) by Michael Robertson
First published, 2019
With the threat of Artan being evicted into the wilderness due to the murder of his abusive father in the last book, Spike and Matilda set off to rescue him. But when the rapidly-unravelling Hugh discovers that Artan is, in fact, still in prison, he must get word to his friends on the other side of the wall. But what should be a temporary breach of the perimeter becomes something rather more apocalyptic as the city is quickly overrun by the diseased and the citizens fall to bloody-eyed groaning.
With their friends and families in different districts, will the small band of recently-returned national service personnel find their people in time? How will they get Artan out of prison? And if the city falls, where will they go? And where in the world are the protectors when Edin really needs them?
A great story with a very believable breakdown for former wimp-turned-heartbroken-muscle-man, Hugh.
Quite a lot of repetition this time, which was a shame. There were a decent handful of smiles that didn’t reach their eyes, as in previous books, but now we have the addition of stomachs turning backflips, the difficulty of playing God, and ‘if he heard her, it didn’t show.’
That said, it’s a great story and maybe I was just struck by certain phrases when they first came up that I couldn’t help but notice when they came back.
Book Review – Retribution (Beyond These Walls #3) by Michael Robertson
Book Review – Retribution (Beyond These Walls #3) by Michael Robertson
First published, 2019
Let the trials begin! With Spike determined to win at the trials so he can spend his life with Matilda, and Hugh the weed from the labs now buff, tough and eager to make Lance and Ranger pay for their treatment of Elizabeth, it’s anyone’s guess what will happen at the protectors’ apprentice trials.
But when Matilda’s younger brother takes on their abusive father with deadly consequences, it’s more important than ever that Spike rises through the ranks to protect his girlfriend and her sibling. But with Hugh’s new fitness and gnashing of teeth, will Spike be able to defeat his best friend? Will Artan be evicted into the disease-filled wasteland? And has Ranger really become a nice chap in the month since National Service, or is it all a charade?
The pace never let up in this story. Everything from wild excitement to bitter disappointment, and the characters are amazing. I’m really enjoying this series.
Book Review – National Service (Beyond These Walls #2) by Michael Robertson
Book Review – National Service (Beyond These Walls #2) by Michael Robertson
First published, 2018
The story continues for Spike and his friends as they go beyond the walls of Edin to extend the boundary into the lost city. But with the diseased running rampant through the old concrete and metal maze, how will the recruits manage when entitled brat, Ranger, starts messing with their equipment? How many will fall before their national service is over? How many skin-traced love hearts is too many? And will Spike’s aversion to authority and his overpowering gut instincts see him lose his chance at becoming a protector?
Very good pacing, a little more of the back story comes out in this, the second part of the series, which I found enjoyable. In National Service, we find out where the story is actually set, which was a nice development. The characters are true to themselves and there was a brilliant moment, during the introduction to the current protectors, who go beyond the wall in advance of the recruits and their wheelbarrows, when I got the theme tune to the 1990s ITV show Gladiators stuck in my head. Came out of nowhere, but it made me happy.
May 18, 2022
Book Review – Bunny by Mona Awad
Bunny by Mona Awad
First published, 2019
Three and a half stars, really.
Samantha is a postgrad student at a prestigious college. Her dream, as well as that of the four other women in her class, is to become an author. But Samantha is blocked, isolated. The other women, whom she has nicknamed in her head as Cupcake, Creepy Doll, Vignette and the Duchess, are frighteningly cute, cliquey, and call each other Bunny all the time. They find Samantha’s writing edgy, dark, and defensive, and have little other reason to speak to her until one night when they inexplicably invite her to a reading.
But can anything so cute be entirely wholesome? And is the darkness of the clique’s activities more dangerous than even Sam can imagine? And who, among the memorable cast of characters, is actually human?
“We call them Bunnies because that is what they call each other. Seriously. Bunny.
Example:
Hi, Bunny!
Hi, Bunny!
What did you do last night, Bunny?
I hung out with you, Bunny. Remember, Bunny?
That’s right, Bunny, you hung out with me and it was the best time I ever had.
Bunny, I love you.
I love you, Bunny.
And then they hug each other so hard I think their chests are going to implode. I would even secretly hope for it from where I sat, stood, leaned, in the opposite corner of the lecture hall, department lounge, auditorium, bearing witness to four grown women—my academic peers—cooingly strangle each other hello. Or good-bye. Or just because you’re so amazing, Bunny. How fiercely they gripped each other’s pink-and-white bodies, forming a hot little circle of such rib-crushing love and understanding it took my breath away.”
1-2% in, Chapter One, Bunny by Mona Awad
Best example of the unreliable narrator that I’ve ever read. A lot of the writing is utterly beautiful, stunning turns of phrase, addictive prose, but in all honesty, I don’t think I’ve ever been so confused in my life. What did I just read?
May 15, 2022
Book Review – Protectors, Beyond These Walls Book One by Michael Robertson
Book Review – Protectors, Beyond These Walls Book One by Michael Robertson
First published, 2018
“Only fools in this city fell in love with people from other districts. Protectors, politicians, and fools.”
In a future beyond the use of fossil fuels, Spike, almost eighteen, in love with Matilda who lives in the ceramics district, and both of them bound for their daunting six-month national service, dreams of becoming the protectors’ apprentice.
In the walled city of Edin, a place of predominantly single-storey dwellings, the population has swollen and the town must expand its boundaries if it is to accommodate its citizens. But the bloody-eyed diseased lurk beyond the walls. And though they look frail, they are fast, strong and have a lust for human flesh, as those who’ve been ejected from Edin could attest – had they not been ripped apart in minutes.
To become a protector, with the freedom to date outside his district and to avoid following in his farmer father’s footsteps, Spoke must lose his cockiness, get through his national service (only half of those who enter get out alive), and then go on for further training against the things outside the walls. But can Spike survive when his confidence is shaken? Will Matilda still love him in the face of his panic and the sneering superiority of protector’s son, Ranger?
Although there was some repetition of particular phrases in the narrative, the one at the beginning of this review is a good example of that, I only noticed it because I read this book so fast. So well-written, I couldn’t put it down, the characters and the terror were clearly conveyed. There’s an awful lot to like in this book.
