The Light Between Oceans - ML Steadman Review

The Light Between Oceans

By: M.L Stedman

Rating: 4 Stars

The Light Between Oceans tells the story about an Australian lighthouse keeper and his wife who have their world turned upside one day when a boat containing a body and a baby wash up on their island.

Spoils: Brian Van Reet review

Spoils

By: Brian Van Reet
Rating: 5 Star

Spoils is the debut novel from author Brian Van Reet.

The story is set in the early stages of the Gulf War in 2003. The plot centres around US Specialist Soldier Cassandra Wigheard and her deployment in Iraq. During her deployment, Cassandra is captured by mujahideen fighters and held hostage.

Earworm: A Novel about the Music Industry: Sean McManus review

Earworm: A Novel about the Music Industry

By: Sean McManus
Rating: 4 Star

Simon and Fred are working hard to make it big with their band -they just need a way to get recognised by the music industry and make their name known.

However, music buying patterns have changed, and the small record labels have all been bought up by Bigg records. This means that the chances of Simon and Fred 'making it' are getting slimmer all of the time.

The Easy Way Out: Steven Amsterdam review

The Easy Way Out

By: Steven Amsterdam
Rating: 3.5 Star

Evan is a palliative care nurse and a registered, legal, suicide assistant. For patients that want to end their lives, Evan and team provide a service to assist.

Strange History: Bathroom Readers' Institute review

Strange History

By Bathroom Readers' Institute
Rating: 3 Star

The Bathroom Reader's institute aims to educate the world while they... ummm... freshen up.

This is their latest publication.

The Descent of Man: Grayson Perry review

The Descent of Man

By Grayson Perry

Rating: 4 Star

The Descent of Man is quite different from the number of Crime, Thriller, and Fantasy novels I have been mainly reading lately.

In this book, Perry explores the current state of masculinity and how various factors affect it. 

Under a Pole Star: Stef Penney review

Under a Pole Star

By: Stef Penney

Rating: 3 Stars

Under a Pole Star is set in the time of the first Artic adventurers and their quest to explore and chart unexplored territories.

It is also a love story between two of those explorers, Flora Mackie and Jakob de Beyn.

The Last Kingdom: Bernard Cornwell review

The Last Kingdom

By: Bernard Cornwell
Rating: 4 Star

Bernard Cornwell is the author behind the popular series of Sharpe books and in 'The Last Kingdom' he turns his attention to the 9th Century United Kingdom in the midst of the Viking invasion.

The Girl in the Box Series (The Girl in the Box #1-3): Robert J. Crane review

The Girl in the Box Series (The Girl in the Box #1-3)

By Robert J. Crane

Rating: 3 Star

The 3 books included in this trilogy are:

1. Alone

2. Untouched

3. Soulless

The Girl in the Box series is currently Free on Amazon and has gathered a huge number of 4 and 5-star reviews on there (2,394 in September 2016).

The series focuses on Sienna Nealon, a 17-year-old girl who has been brought up by a mother who never lets her out of the house or let her see anyone from the outside world.

If that horrific upbringing weren't enough to deal with, Sienna also discovers she is a 'meta-human' with a number of powers that she has to learn how to control.

Promise You Won't Tell?: John Locke review

Promise You Won't Tell?

By John Locke
Rating: 3 Star

Promise You Won't Tell is a fiction novel by bestselling author John Locke. It is number 2 in the Dani Ripper series after 'Call Me'.

The Mangle Street Murders (The Gower Street Detective #1): M.R.C. Kasasian review

The Mangle Street Murders (The Gower Street Detective #1)

by M.R.C. Kasasian

Rating: 3.5 Star

In the Mangle Street Murders, we are thrown into a dirty, horse-filled, smoky, and crime-ridden 1882 London and the unlikely duo of Sidney Grice, (London's most famous detective) and March Middleton (who has the dubious pleasure of having Grice as her legal guardian).

Fractured: Dani Atkins review

Fractured

by Dani Atkins

Rating: 4 Star

During a meal out with a group of friends, everything changes for Rachel Wiltshire. Before the meal, everything was pretty much perfect in her life, she has a long-term boyfriend, a nice group of friends, and is looking forward to starting university. 

However, a tragic accident during the dinner will change her life forever.

The Undying (The Undying Series): Nathan Reid review

The Undying

By Nathan Reid

Rating: 3 Star

Jeanie and Ben arrive in Paris just in time to celebrate the New Year with their friends. Unfortunately, things soon start to go very wrong with earthquakes, fireballs raining from the sky, and massive devastation spreading across the city. 

The Girl Who Broke the Rules: Marnie Richies review

The Girl Who Broke The Rules

by Marnie Richies

Rating: 3 Star

I first picked up this book thinking that it was another in the Stieg Larrson series, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. 

The Girl Who Broke The Rules by Marinie Richies is not connected with Larrson, but I fans of Larrson may well enjoy this novel as it has many similar aspects, a crazed killer, a dedicated detective, and fast-flowing pace.

Bloodlines: Lynn Lipinski review

Bloodlines

Lynn Lipinski review

Rating: 3.5 Star

After being fired from his job at the zoo of Tulsa, recovering alcoholic Zane Clearwater drowns his sorrow with too much alcohol and cough syrup.

When he awakes, Zane has no memory of the previous evening and then learns that his mother has just been killed in a fire at their home.

Little Black Lies: Sharon Bolton review

Little Black Lies

by Sharon Bolton review

Rating: 4 Star

The tag line of this book really grabbed my attention - what a line!

"We were inseparable... until the day she killed my sons". 

Hunter: Mercedes Lackey book review

Hunter

by Mercedes Lackey

Rating: 3 Star

I received an advanced copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, the reviews on this book all seem to come down firmly in either the love or hate category. After careful consideration, I'm somewhere in the middle with my 3 star rating.

The Shadow Artist: James Grayson book review

The Shadow Artist 

by James Grayson

Rating: 3.5 Star

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This novel stars Alex Winter, an experienced CIA operative with an amazing ability to draw photo-realistic pictures from memory.

One day on assignment in London Alex sees the last person on earth she would ever expect. Right there in front of her eyes (just before he jumps into the Thames) is her father who she has believed dead for over 20 years. 

Following on from this revelation Alex finds herself pitched into a complicated international conspiracy against a classic "bond type" villain who is intent on causing havoc in the international currency markets.

"The Shadow Artist" is a fast-moving spy thriller with some well-written characters, dramatic plot turns, and a fast pace. Alex is a great central character, who is well described and has a lot of back story. I look forward to reading more in the series.

Please note: I know that a lot of Spy Thrillers are popular with young adults. This story contained quite a lot of well-written and highly descriptive fight scenes and one particularly tough torture scene. Caution advised before reading from that perspective.

Dotting the Ts and crossing the Is - the importance of good grammar

After trying out a service called Grammarly for the first time on my last blog posting this week I thought I would apply it to the whole text of "Tweet of Faith", a self published fiction novel that I recently published on Smashwords and Amazon.

I wanted to find out just how many errors my own proofreading efforts had missed.