Notes of Life

Author: Madasue Heller
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
ISBN: 978-0-340-96010-3

When Johnny Conroy meets Ruth Hynes, his life is turned upside down. He wanted to show his mates that he could pull the daughter of hard-man Frankie Hynes, but things don’t go as planned and he ends up a lot closer to the family than he ever could have imagined. There is no way out.

Stuck in the living hell that is his marriage, Johnny has one thing that he can be thankful for… his sweet and innocent daughter, Angel. The only thing keeping him sane? His secret life…….

This is one of those books where very few of the characters seem to be nice people. I thoroughly disliked Ruth and her drunken excuse for a mother. Johnny starts off as a likeable guy (with flaws), but during the course of the story he seems to turn into his not-so-nice father-in-law… though I still didn’t find myself disliking him.

Lost Angel plods along at a decent rate and had me captivated. I found that most of the book is actually the back story which forms the background and leads up to the main events in the last few chapters. With most of the book setting the scene (tension, emotions, etc), it’s these last few chapters that really make the story. All hell lets loose when Angel meets Johnny’s employee Ryan and we’re treated to quite a fireworks show!

Lost Angel is a gritty thriller set in Hulme, Manchester. While it is classed as crime fiction, the story is really more about family, relationships, loyalty and, perhaps, love & hate, while the crime takes more of a back seat.

Recommended!

Buy Lost Angel by Mandasue Heller.

This is the 11th book I’ve read as part of the British Books Challenge 2012.

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

Author: Sandra Brown
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
ISBN: 978-1-444-73213-9

Four-year-old Emily rushes to tell her mommy that there’s a man in their yard… and he’s sick. Honor Gillette races out to help him, but soon realises that the ‘sick’ man is Lee Coburn, the man accused of murdering seven people the night before. Trapped, Honor must promise to do everything he asks of her in return for her and Emily not being hurt. What choice does she have?

Honor’s life is turned upside-down. She soon realises that even those close to her can’t be trusted and that her and her daughter’s lives are in danger, and not just from Coburn. He wants something from Honor and he’s not leaving without it, at any cost.

Coborn isn’t the friendliest character around (heck, he’s been accused of multiple murders!), but he’s somehow likeable and deep down you know there’s a heart somewhere in that chest of his… especially when it comes to Emily. I loved Emily. She’s so cute and a typical little four-year-old.

I found Sandra Brown’s Lethal to be quick-paced and it really drew me in. In fact, I found it hard to put down and raced through the second half of the book. The story held my attention throughout and had me so drawn in so much so I could have been a fly on the wall. It had all the great twists & turns that a good crime thriller should have. The sex scenes were slightly off-putting, but not overly so.

Unfortunately, when the ends were tied together at the end of the book, I was disappointed. I saw the outcome a few pages before the identity of ‘The Bookkeeper’ (a shady and mostly unidentifiable character) was revealed, but thought I must’ve been wrong… It was so implausible. And that’s what spoilt it for me. I thoroughly enjoyed the book right up until that point, and even then I was hoping there would be another twist. Well, there was another twist, but it lay on a different strand of the story and I already felt let down. It’s a shame, because it was looking like it could have been one of my favourite books this year, but I just couldn’t believe the identity of ‘The Bookkeeper’. I can’t go into detail as to why, because it would spoil the plot.

Still, for the most part, I enjoyed this book, and the ‘reveal’ certainly hasn’t put me off wanting to read more by this author. If you’re interested in giving it a go, Lethal by Sandra Brown is due for publication by Hodder & Staughton in the UK on 26th April 2012. I would definitely be interested to hear what you think of it.

Pre-order Lethal by Sandra Brown.

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

Author: Eleanor Prescott
Publisher: Quercus
ISBN: 978-0-85738-714-1

Nobody is better at matchmaking than Alice Brown. She loves her job at the Table for Two dating agency (despite the boss from hell) and never fails to find her clients the man of their dreams.

Kate, however, is proving to be Alice’s biggest challenge. Kate wants to find her perfect man, the man of her dreams. She knows exactly the type of man she wants and she’s in a rush to find him as she’s already behind in her life plan.

Another of Alice’s challenges is her boss, Audrey. Audrey runs her own dating agency and has the perfect husband. What more could she want? But all is not what it seems and Alice is unwittingly on a collision course of finding out.

Will Alice find Kate her perfect man? Will Alice be able to take her own advice when her love life and work life collide? You’ll need to read the book to find out!

Alice Brown’s Lessons in the Curious Art of Dating is a wonderful and charming tale of the perils of dating. It’s funny and intriguing. It had me hoping for certain outcomes, surprised by others, but most importantly the story had me racing through the book. I loved it!

Each chapter is centred around a different character, so the reader gets to see each of the overlapping stories of the characters. I really enjoyed that aspect of the novel and loved the way it was done. It’s written in the third-person and very easy to follow.

My favourite character in the book has to be Alice herself. She’s delightful, so honest and innocent. She totally believes in her matchmaking and loves her job, despite her awful boss. I saw a bit of myself in Alice… especially when she realised she’d have to dress up for the Dating Practitioners’ Society annual ball. The thought of having to put on an evening dress and heels, and slap on some make-up terrifies me too (though I do secretly wonder what I’d look like!).

I was lucky enough to meet the author, Eleanor Prescott at the Quercus Shindig back in February and I had planned to grab a copy of her book then and there (as it wasn’t in my goody bag), but somebody got to the book before I did. Thankfully, the lovely people at Quercus were kind enough to send me a copy. Despite the odd romance book creeping into my schedule, I’m not usually one for picking up romance novels, unless they stand out. However, I adored the cover for Alice Brown’s Lessons in the Curious Art of Dating the moment I set eyes on it at the Quercus Shindig and, having spoken to Eleanor and been told all about her book, I decided I had to read it… and I’m so glad I did! People say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but I have on several occasions and I’m usually right.

If you’re looking for a well written, light hearted, funny and charming read, then look no further than Alice Brown’s Lessons in the Curious Art of Dating by Eleanor Prescott. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable debut novel.

Alice Brown’s Lessons in the Curious Art of Dating by Eleanor Prescott is due for release on 12th April 2012 by Quercus. Pre-order your copy now!

This is the 10th book I’ve read as part of the British Books Challenge 2012.

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

I can’t believe a quarter of the year has flown by already! Once again, I didn’t reach my target of 6 books. I should have done, but tiredness has really taken a hold these past couple of weeks and has left me unable to concentrate enough to read more than a few pages at a time. Highly frustrating!

Anyway, here are the books I did review:

4th March 2012 – A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash
The book’s tag-line is “Religion is supposed to shield children from the evil of the world…”, but instead we find Adelaide Lyle trying to shield the children from their local church, from Carson Chambliss, a pastor with unconventional and dangerous ideas. This is a heartbreaking story about family, relationships and faith, cruelty and innocence. A gripping debut novel by Wiley Cash.

7th March 2012 – Catch Your Death by Louise Voss & Mark Edwards
This thriller is a fast paced, edge-of-your-seat kind of read that has its reader gripped right from the start and doesn’t let go until the very end. An excellent book by a duo of authors.

13th March 2012 – When You Were Older by Catherine Ryan Hyde
When You Were Older is a moving story set in a time when America was on edge and afraid. The unimaginable events of September 11th, combined with the death of a mother and the needs of a young man, set the scene in this thought-provoking novel by Catherine Ryan Hyde. P.S. – It will also have you craving donuts!

20th March 2012 – The Thoughts and Happenings of Wilfred Price, Purveyor of Superior Funerals by Wendy Jones
Quite possibly the longest book title I’ve ever come across! This story shows how one unexpected proposal can snowball into something much bigger, especially when the truth isn’t told. Poor Wilfred couldn’t have imagined the trouble and emotional turmoil he’d get into when he let his heart and mouth run away with themselves. For a fairly dark story, the main character, Wilfred, is actually wonderful and delightful.

31st March 2012 – Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman
Pratchett and Gaiman’s story of the impending apocalyse (due next Saturday, just after tea!) and one which will have you laughing along the way.

March also saw a couple more of my Meet The Author interviews. Many thanks go to R. J. Palacio (author of Wonder) and Mark Edwards (one half of Louise Voss & Mark Edwards – authors of ‘Catch Your Death’) for participating. I already have one or two more of these interviews lined up, so do check back soon!

Authors: Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman
Publisher: Corgi
ISBN: 978-0-552-15984-5

The apocalypse is due to arrive next Saturday, just after tea. The only person who knows how it will end is Agnes Nutter – a long-dead witch whose book foresees the future and impending apocalypse, if in a slightly cryptic way!

The problem, apart from the apocalypse due next Saturday, is that there was a bit of a mix up when the Antichrist was born… which may or may not have been partially the fallen angel Crowley’s fault.

With Heaven and Hell set to battle apocalyptic-style, Crowley and his opposite angel Aziraphale, who have both come to rather enjoy their time on Earth, must find the missing Antichrist and, against the wishes of their superiors, try to stop the apocalypse.

Despite being a story about the impending doom of the end of the world, Good Omens is a book that will have you laughing while you read. I can’t confess to knowing much about Neil Gaiman, but even if I hadn’t seen the cover, I would still have know this was a Terry Pratchett book because his humour runs through it like words run through a stick of rock. The partnership of Pratchett and Gaiman obviously works very well as the writing style is fluid throughout.

I loved the main characters of Crowley (a fallen angel who didn’t so much Fall as saunter vaguely downwards) and Aziraphale (an angel and part-time rare-book dealer). Despite the pair supposedly being on opposite sides (Heaven and Hell) they were practically the best of friends! The cast of characters is quite a vast one… There’s Anathema Device (a descendant of Agnes Nutter, whose life has been decrypting Agnes’s book), Newton Pulsifer (Witchfinder Private), Shadwell (Witchfinder Sergeant – who reminded me, in a way, of Arthur Bryant in Christopher Fowler’s Bryant & May series), the Antichrist and his friends, Mr Tyler (general busybody and chief complainer), the Apocalyptic Horsepersons (who should really be the Apocalyptic Bikers!) and A Delivery Man (who seems to turn up in just the right place when a package needs delivering), plus a whole load more!

The very fact that Good Omens was first published in 1990 and has been re-published a number of times since goes to show just how good this book is. The story hasn’t even aged much in the 20+ years since its initial release, except maybe for the mention of cassette tapes (those things we used to put in a player to play music, only every now and then the damned player would chew the tape up and spit it out!).

I would definitely recommend giving Good Omens a go, whether you’re into fantasy books or not. It’s an excellent read which will have you racing through the book and laughing at the humour. This is definitely one to keep and read again!

Buy Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman.

This is the 1st book I’ve read for the What Shall I Read? Book Club.

This is the 9th book I’ve read for the British Books Challenge.

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Please note: I received this book free of charge from Transworld Publishers.