Notes of Life

Author: Charlie Price
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 978-0-552-56336-9

In the scorching heat of the open desert, Angel is on her own and on the run. On the run from her mother’s latest boyfriend, the abusive, violent and ruthless Scotty. He’s killed her mother, leaving her body in a shallow desert grave. Now he’s after Angel and he’s not going to stop until he finds her.

There’s barely anywhere to hide in the desert, but Angel must hide if she has any chance of getting away from Scotty. He’s waiting… Watching… And he will hunt her down.

Desert Angel takes the reader straight to the action and onto a gripping cat and mouse journey through the desert, not knowing what will happen next. With it’s twists and turns, Desert Angel certainly has the reader sat on the edge of the seat.

Angel is a teenage girl at her wits end. She’s been through what no girl should ever go through and she has nothing to lose except her life. She’s fragile, both physically and mentally, but she’s not going down without a fight.

It’s not just about Angel’s fight to get away from the murderous Scotty. This is also a powerful story about humanity, about people and compassion and courage.

Considering Desert Angel is a young adult thriller, it’s pretty tense and scary. Even with the main character Angel as a teenager, I’d certainly recommend giving this a read no matter how old you are. It might be a short read at less than 250 pages, but it certainly packs a punch. It’s a quick read that just doesn’t let up, with it’s fast and thrilling pace.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Desert Angel and would recommend it to anyone who is after an exciting but tense read!

Desert Angel is released in the UK on 2nd February 2012. Pre-order your copy now!

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Please note: I received this book free from Random House in return for a review. However, this has in no way influenced my opinion of the book.

Author: Ian Marchant
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 978-1-84737-634-3

What do you get up to when the night falls?

Something of the Night is a semi-autobiographical book by Ian Marchant, exploring Britain’s night time activities. Each chapter investigates something different, whether it’s bonfires and fireworks, life at motorway service stations, drunken nights out, Soho’s ladies of the night and other goings-on under the cover of darkness.

Just a short step into the book I realised the author lives just over the hills from me, though, admittedly, “just over the hills” is still nearly an hour’s journey away due to our lovely country lanes and roads. Put it this way, when you live in a county where there’s more sheep than people, “local” covers quite an area!

Still, it was great to see names of local places popping up every now and then as this area generally just doesn’t exist (although ex-MP Lemsip, sorry… Opik Lembit put us on the map a few years ago). Even local news has to be quite big to nudge past the North & South Wales news on the local bulletins.

Something of the Night isn’t just about what Mr Marchant gets up to when it gets dark, he also provides us with some history, facts and figures along the way too. His drunken friend Neil also comes along for the journey through Something of the Night, even though he thinks Marchant’s previous book was called ‘The Longest Mile’ (It’s ‘The Longest Crawl’ – a book about a massive pub crawl!). We also get quite an insight into Ian Marchant’s musical tastes (somewhat before my time though, I must admit!).

If you’re after an easy read with some history and some laughs along the way, then I’d recommend giving Something of the Night a go. It’s an enjoyable read.

Buy Something of the Night by Ian Marchant.

This is the 1st book I’ve read for the British Books Challenge 2012.

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Please note: I received this book free from Simon & Schuster in return for a review. However, this has in no way influenced my opinion of the book.

Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan (the UK’s best known and loved TV presenting couple) have just launched their Spring 2012 Book Club with 8 fantastic titles! The 8 books are:

• Before I Go to Sleep by SJ Watson
• Midwinter Sacrifice by Mons Kallentoft
• My Dear I Wanted to Tell You by Louisa Young
• Me Before Youby Jojo Moyes
• The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
• Yesterday’s Sun by Amanda Brooke
• A Cold Season by Alison Littlewood
• The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon

Each book contains extra bonus content too, such as reading group questions, interviews, inspiration behind the book, etc. Digital content can also be accessed via the QR code in the back of each book.

Richard & Judy have been doing these books clubs for some time now, with a different but excellent selection of books each time. The books run across varying genres, including crime, thrillers, tear-jerkers, biographical and more. The books are personally read and selected by the couple and, I must say, they have brilliant taste.

Readers can get involved by leaving reviews, rating and commenting… So it’s perfect for those of us who already do this via our websites.

I’ve already grabbed a copy of Before I Go To Sleep by SJ Watson (containing the exclusive bonus material) from WH Smith for just £3.99. As it’s been on my wishlist since I first starting reading the excellent reviews for it in 2011, I hope to get around to reading it shortly.

Thumbs up to Richard & Judy for doing this book club as it’s always a joy to see books being promoted.