Recommended Reads

Hello, everyone - Happy New Year

I've read over 200 books during 2015 and would like to share some of my favourites, although it's difficult to choose!

I wish I had time to add them all.

**************************************************

Here are a few, in no particular order:

I've enjoyed all of Maria Savva's stories, and this one demonstrates her insight into relationships and the frailties of the human mind.


A Time To Tell

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...




Blurb:

A family saga spanning fifty years and three generations...

Cara fell for the tall, dark, handsome stranger, fifty years before. Now Frederick is about to return to her life. Can true love stand the test of time?

When Cara’s granddaughter, Penelope, flees her home to escape a violent husband, Cara’s world is turned upside down. She returns to Huddlesea, the town she grew up in. Her estranged sister Gloria is less than happy to see her again. Can they rebuild their relationship after the tragic circumstances that tore them apart?

Benjamin, Cara’s eldest son, has been missing for sixteen years. She longs to see him again. Will their reunion be everything she had hoped for?

In this romantic drama, history repeats itself for a family lost in secrets.

After the lies, the TIME has come to TELL.

***

My Review:

A Time to Tell raises important issues surrounding what has been named ‘domestic violence’. It was interesting (and sad) to see how history repeated itself throughout the generations, echoing the tragic dilemma of humankind.

However, the switch between ‘times’ was cleverly done in this sophisticated story of Cara and her family, giving a good insight into the relationships to which we can all relate.

A Time to Tell has a great prologue that creates enough intrigue to pull in the reader and has a fabulous twist at the end.

**************************************************

Amy Cross has a fabulous way of hooking the reader from the start. Her best formula is to offer amazing, complex multiple characters back and forth in time and usually from a first person point of view, therefore allowing superb access into their minds.

I love her originality, gradual unveiling of puzzles and twists and turns.

She writes horror, fantasy and 'odd'!

***

My favourites so far are -


The Library

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...




Blurb:

Once upon a time, there was a girl who wasn't a girl, and a book that wasn't a book...


Kidnapped and taken to a huge, world-spanning library, Claire is shocked to discover the truth about her own life. Thrust into the heart of a battle for the library's fate, she quickly learns that the powerful Forbidders will stop at nothing in order to gain the one object they prize above all others.


While the Forbidders wreak havoc, however, a great danger is edging closer. The darkness is reaching out across the void, threatening to destroy this world just as it has already destroyed countless others. As he tries to save the library, a tired soldier named Vanguard finally sees the truth and realizes that there's only one way for the library to be rescued from destruction.


***

My Review:

The story of The Library and its inhabitants is fascinating and original, and I loved it.

From the point of view of two protagonists, we follow a journey, one which takes place in a fantasy world of a vast, in the open, library, which is filled with numerous strange characters and lifeforms.

What one girl has to do is...

I don't give spoilers but will say that this tale is a compelling and unique read...something refreshing in today's, for the most part, unchallenging and boring reads, which merely follow a formula that is thought to be what readers want. Not true.

Yes, it had many typos but is still a well written tale with meanings on many levels, such as identity and the importance of friendships, however unusual and unexpected.

A fabulous read - highly recommended.

***

Journey To The Library

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...





Blurb:

When a near-fatal car crash leaves them trapped in a snowy wasteland, Thomas and Alice Never finds themselves dragged kicking and screaming into a vast new world. They've accidentally found a bridge between their world and the Library, and if they're ever going to get home, they'll need help. Fast.

Encountering a strange old magician with a distinctly British accent, Thomas begs for help as he searches for his family in the Library. The magician, a man named Carstairs, agrees to do what he can. However, Carstairs lives in fear of a powerful creature that lives in the Library. As the search for Thomas and Alice's parents continues, the Angel begins to call out...

Meanwhile, Alice has met an angry girl named Table and a small, elf-like creature named Nodby. They set out to cross the great river that flows through the heart of the Library, before attempting to pass through the Valley of Dead Books. Soon, however, they're trapped in a tomb, and their attempts to reach the city of Papyr look to have been thwarted.


***

My Review:

After reading The Library, I knew I would have to read this story - I loved it from beginning to end.

This time, the original fantasy tale takes the views of Alice and Thomas Never who unexpectedly find themselves in amazing and terrifying world of the Library - one strange land of several others.

Their adventures are truly different and I enjoyed meeting the weird, dangerous and wonderfully odd inhabitants.

This story has a mixture of journeys dealing with themes such as friendships, greed, choices and 'doing the right thing', for example, offering lessons from which we could all benefit.

Overall, a well written (I can forgive the typos), entertaining read that is unique and intriguing.

Highly recommended!

**************************************************

Kate Wrath is a recent discovery when I found her first book in the E series, but then couldn't get enough! Fabulous writing, great characters and a enigmatic plot.

There are now five to read -

E #1
Evolution #2
Eden #3
Jason and Lily (prequel, but you must read the previous three first)
Elergy #4

I am only going to list #1, however, you'll soon want to read the rest.

E

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...




Blurb:

Life is harsh. It makes no exceptions. Not even for the innocent.

Outpost Three: a huddle of crumbling buildings choked by a concrete wall. Cracked pavement, rusted metal, splintering boards. Huge robotic Sentries police the streets, but the Ten Laws are broken every time one turns its back.

Eden is determined, smart, and a born survivor. Stripped of her memories and dumped on the streets of the Outpost, slavers and starvation are only the beginning of her problems. A devastating conflict is coming that threatens to consume her world and tear her newfound family apart.

***

My Review:

I was drawn into this story from the first words and loved it through to the end.

This is a tale of a dismal future where those that break the law are erased...who they have been wiped away. This author has created a scary and cruel world where survival is an everyday, and in many ways an impossible, chore. Not only do folks battle for every meagre morsel, whether it be food or medicine or shelter, but they are watched and patrolled by the mechanical police...taken to be erased if they should be caught breaking the 'peace'.

This story is powerfully told by Eden, a young woman who has experienced past horrors and now fights for survival in addition to trying to remember who she is.

A fabulous book with interesting and believable characters and twists and turns enough so to keep us guessing what will happen next. Be prepared for shocks and heartbreak.

Highly recommended.

**************************************************

Spirit Ears and Prophet Sight (Hands of the Architects Book 1) by Brian Harmon is the start of a new series...sigh, so many great stories to read!

I've loved all of this author's work - the Rushed series and The Temple of the Blind series.

This one is a fantasy with all the humour and delightful building of plot as is his usual mastery with words.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...




Blurb:

All Persephone Kipp wants is a chance to interview for a job at the area’s leading graphic design company, but her life takes a drastic detour when she begins seeing people with ghostly animal ears growing from their heads…people who later turn up brutally murdered.

Piper Holleworth doesn’t know she has invisible, ethereal ears sitting atop her head…not until she meets Seph and finds herself stalked to the ends of the earth by monstrous, shadowy entities.

Now these two strangers must work together to survive as they race westward in search of an ancient artifact said to be the only thing capable of stopping the relentless wraiths. But the terrifying path before them will test their courage to the very limits.

***

My Review:

Another fabulous read from one of my favourite authors - the first in a new supernatural series.

I love the quick-paced writing style and most especially the budding friendship between Persephone and Piper - the dialogue is superb and sometimes extremely funny...laugh out loud funny.

Both young women have distinct and pleasant personalities and it's great to see how they cope with the bizarre turn of events that abruptly change their lives.

A brilliant story, very well written and certainly a familiar genre from this talented author.

I have read everything of his, so now look forward to the next in this new series, as well as book 5 of the Rushed saga.

If you love horror, the supernatural or something 'out there', I recommend this book.

**************************************************

Another book in the Chronicles of M series by Nicholas Forristal is the last for now, as my own work awaits and time is vanishing faster that socks in a washing machine.

This author has a wonderful sense of humour, which is obvious if you read his stories. I've read most of this series and each one is a compelling read with very strange and unusual characters set within a fantastical plot.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...



***

Blurb:

Roughly ten years have gone by since the death of A'loc and the unexpected public demonstration from M and Thomas. M, now a minor TV celebrity, is finding out there's more to being a star than just fans and with every turn a new danger lurks. New, blood thirsty mutants attack M at every chance, strange investigations in other countries and a psychopathic mass murderer are just a few examples.

Who are the BLB and why are they so intent on killing M? Why has nothing happened with the Lords and who, or what is a Domitianus? There's never a dull day in the life of M.

***

My Review:

I was asked to read this book for review and thoroughly enjoyed it.

With delightful humour threaded throughout, book four charts M's adventures, where he has to face new dangers alongside old ones and come to grips with his new self. There is a mix of familiar characters and new, strange and downright horrible ones, which make for an intriguing story.

I love the writing style of this author and how, although seemingly unlikely, the bizarre characters and extreme plot make for a fabulous read.

If you enjoy paranormal, science fiction and fantasy, together with the impossible made possible, this series is for you.

Recommended.

**************************************************

So there you have them, just a fraction of the wonderful books I've read and yes, I highly recommend them all.

There are many others, and I will try to post another blog as soon as I can, but time...hmm, yes, those bloomin' socks!

Thanks to all those wonderful authors that bring so much pleasure into my mind.




Never stop writing!