After reading loads of things this weekend that have been hard work I decided the lure of the chick lit had me and I couldn't get rid of it no matter what I tried picking up to read!! As much as I love an unhappy ending every once in a while I don't mind something with a happy ending and that's what I hoped this would be!
The Best Thing That Never Happened To Me - Laura Tait and Jimmy Rice.
So I started this book yesterday evening and finished it this morning, while I curled up in bed for 3 hours!! Yes I am indulging myself before I go back to University!!
Holly and Alex were best friends from the age of 11 when Holly moved to the small Yorkshire town and had no one! They forged a strong friendship that as they got older turned to love .. but they never acted on it for one reason or another .. usually a fault on both sides that could have easily been rectified (as is with all love stories, even Romeo and Juliet) and I have to admit I get pretty annoyed at these bits even in Romeo and Juliet. And Holly moves to London to go to University while Alex stays at home with his recently widowed Dad. Finally however many years later ... Alex decides to move to London when his Dad sells the family house in favour of a barge! Alex gets a teaching job and moves not without being given Holly's email address. In the meantime, Holly has a steady PA job and she is banging her boss (to put it crudely) which is not where she imagined her life to be! Her and Alex meet up and find it is just like old times and they sink back into their friendship .. however AGAIN and annoyingly ... everything else gets in the way of their love blossoming. etc etc etc ..... just like every other love story!!! Blaaaaahh :)
But I have to admit I did enjoy the way the book was structured as each chapter comes from each of the lovebirds! So you can understand that this was much more frustrating for me ... as you know how both of the characters are feeling but you see the same event and situation from both sides of the fence which again is such an interesting concept! I can truly say that for a quick Asda buy, because it had a pretty cover, It was okay and I would recommend to anyone who likes and easy read!
Back to my normal books now for a bit before I need something like this :)
See you soon :)
Leanne x
I always say that when a book is turned iinto a film it loses some of its magic! Which is what is going to happen with one of my favourite books 'Before I Go To Sleep' which is due out in the cinemas soon! One piece of advice read the book first!! Well this is what happened with this book ... I have not watched the film as I have not read the book and I am not in the habit of doing these things backwards, as watching the film always influences the book!! BUt again another piece of advice .. before succumbing to Leonardo DiCaprio and the film of Shutter Island ... do venture to read the book first as it has so much more to it!!
Shutter Island - Dennis Lehane
I hope everyone realises how hard this is for me as one slip of the finger and we don't have Shutter island but we have Shitter Island! The former is definitely more appealing even after reading the book!!
SO Shutter Island is an Island that contains an institute for the most dangerous criminally insane patients (or prisoners). Teddy is a US Marshal and is sent to the island to investigate the fact that one of the prisoners has managed to go missing! She cant have gone far ... as the institute is in the middle of the sea, miles away from anywhere else, it is surrounded by high walls and barbed wire, not to mention the armed guards on all the gates and every building. So how does one woman get past all of this? That's what Teddy is there to find out! He is assigned a partner to go with him to get to the bottom of everything. But when they arrive they find that the staff are not willing to tell them anything they don't already know and they find they are hitting brick walls constantly! That is until Teddy finds someone in that prison/hospital (depends on your outlook on life) that changed his life forever and then Teddy's ulterior motive starts to come to the surface!! And that's when everything begins to change. Chuck goes missing and after that Teddy's life will never be the same again!
Again this is the kind of book that I absolutely loveeeee ... it does not have a definitive ending and it does not make sense in any way shape or form for the majority of it. And the whole time I was reading I didn't have a clue what was going to happen next! Obviously this is spoiled if you have already seen the film ... so it loses its magic (see I told you!!!) but the book is amazing. It makes you think about it the whole time but it doesn't let you go ... I was counting down the hours to go until I could finish work to go home and read it! And that time could not come quick enough!! I finally finished it after a really late night and very sore eyes but it was so worth it!!
As you can tell I cannot leave abook alone when I have started it! Which means I go a long time not reading anything and then suddenly I read loads at once when I have some spare time!! SO I am keeping up to the time limits really but its like little sprints that I am doing before building myself up for the rest of the marathon.
Let me know what you think, especially if you have seen the film but not read the book!!
See you soon :)
Leanne x
If you don't know me ... you should know ... I LOVE books that are unhappy! An unhappy, unresolved ending is one thing that I LOVE more than anything in a book. But its pretty difficult to find these now, as soooo many authors like to finish their books with a definitive ending. This is why I like Michel Faber as his The Crimson Petal and the White ends unresolved and this is why Maitland is one of my new favourite authors!
The Gallows Curse - Karen Maitland
Sooo ... The Gallows Curse is a book that I have had sitting looking at me for a longgg time! So I finally decided to give it a go and I am so glad that I did!!
Set in the middle ages (again my favourite period without a doubt) the prologue gives you the tale of a cunning woman (a witch nowadays) who is burned at the stake for killing a noble mans wife. She leaves behind a mandrake with her daughter. Jump forward in time and a young girl Elena is pulled out of her work and into the Lord's house. She is to serve as a waiting maid for the Mistress of the house, Lady Anne. She eats from a wooden chest, which actually contains the Lord's dead body ... she eats bread and salt ... and from this moment on Elena has taken all of the dead man's sins into herself, and they will be carried with her forever! However she is pregnant at this time with Athan's baby. She is overjoyed as is he, but when she gets bad dreams about killing the baby, she does not want it. After the baby is born she gives her away to a cunning woman to look after! But in the village she is accused of killing this child and is sentenced to be hanged by the new Lord of the Manor. However is escapes and is sent into Norwich to live in anonymity in a brothel (of all places) from here on in her life is one long spiral of chaos and she finally ends her story walking away with NOTHING actually resolved!!
The book does draw you in to the story and the times, it makes you feel for the characters and also hate the characters. Elena is the one that you instantly feel for when her made up life suddenly takes a turn for the worse. But she is the one to blame for doing that to herself!! However Elena always seems to play the victim instead of trying to do anything about her situation and you sometimes do feel like screaming get a grip love and do something about it, instead of sittiing back and waiting for it to happen!!
The way that Karen Maitland has written the book is by far my favourite thing though. Interspersed throughout the novel in between each chapter is also the story of the Mandrake's Handbook, which gives you common plants, animals etc and what they are used for and how they should work in the right hands! Which makes me smile as I love things like this in the middle of books, it breaks up all the boring bits. However it is one of those books that is well written so it is easy to read and easy to take in!!! I spent a couple of days solid reading this book as at the moment im just useless at putting down and picking up and still knowing what im reading. I also managed to class it as 'research' for my dissertation as it is written in the time of King John just after my Richards crusade. Therefore I didn't feel as guilty when I was reading it!!
Overall it is a very good book and I am looking forward to reading more from Maitland!
See you Soon :)
Leanne x
So I have just had a look and found that I am actually 3 weeks ahead of myself, which makes me feel so much happier!!!! I am getting there an documenting all of these books here is helping me to keep to a schedule :)
The Fire Gospel - Michel Faber
If you don't know who Michel Faber is, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!! Michel Faber is the bestselling author who's biggest novel was The Crimson Petal and the White (which by the way is another novel that everyone should read at least once in their lives!!) Now The Fire Gospel is one of the books that makes up the myth series! The myth series is where a group of well known writers take up a pen and rewrite a well known story!! Here Michel Faber writes about a Fifth Gospel being found in Iraq. This fifth Gospel is written by Malchius and was written just after he had met Jesus. He was there when Jesus was betrayed and he was there when Jesus was on the Cross (which is more than can be said for the other Gospels!!)
This book documents the finding of the Gospel, the translation, publication and aftermath of what happens. As can be expected the publication of such a book can change the way the world think as Malchius shows Jesus to have been no better than an average human being. When Jesus is on the cross - according to Malchus - he begs to be released, he wets himself and he loses control of his bowel! This gospel shows Jesus to be no better than any man that walked the Earth! Which is Earth shattering for many Christians all around the world. So when the book goes on sale and on tour the writer is threatened with guns etc ... until he is kidnapped! His kidnappers are very soulful and deep.
It is a very well written book from one of my favourite authors of all time! I really cant fault the book other than it is very short and didn't take me very long to read at all!! Definitley get it! And have a go with the other myth books! I have Philip Pullman - The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ. I cant wait :)
See you soon :)
Leanne x
There is absolutely no doubt about it! I LOVE PHILIPPA GREGORY! The fact that she writes about my favourite period of history - the Plantagnets and the Tudors just makes her even better in my eyes!! I am now up to speed and have read all of her historical novels and a couple of her modern novels too! If you've never read any Philippa Gregory do start with The Other Boleyn Girl that book was the making of me! And I always go back to it when I can!! Some of you may have seen the T.V show The White Queen but I can tell you her books are so much better!!
The King's Curse - Philippa Gregory.
The King's Curse is a follow on novel from the Cousins war series which includes: The White Queen, The Red Queen, Lady of the Rivers, The White Princess and finally The King's Curse. The King's Curse follows Margaret Plantagnet who was cousin to Elizabeth of York (Henry VII's Queen and Henry VIII's Mum) so she was always held in high regard in Henry VIII's court. Margarets younger brother Edward (Teddy) who would have been an heir to the throne after the Princes in the Tower went missing, was brutally executed in order that Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain would send their daughter Katherine of Aaragon to marry Arthur Prince of Wales. The Plantagnets have always been an unlucky family in history with in fighting but also external fighting and it was when Richard III was cut down on Bosworth that their line finished on the throne. However the family was always kept close even though the females in the line were married to lesser gentry to hide their name. This is what happened to Margaret as she was married to a staunch Tudor Supporter Sir Pole. She managed to live in obscurity until he died but she was thrust back into the limelight when she least expected it and she ended up losing her family, two sons were executed, one went slightly mad and was hid away, another son was out lawed to Padua and her daughter was hidden away from her by her husbands family in the hope she wouldn't be tainted too!
This book documents the ups and downs the Pole family encounter as they fall in and out of favour with the court as the Queens change from Katherine of Aaragon to Anne Boleyn to the beloved Jane Seymour to Anne of Cleves and even Katherine Howard. As the court favours one over the other it is dangerous if you are not on the winning side which is what Margaret finds and tries to keep her sons and daughter away from. She later struggles to keep her grandchildren away from this as a few work as her ladies in waiting at court and in the Tower but her grandsons accompany her into the Tower as they cannot risk them having a shot at the throne!
I thoroughly recommend all Philippa Gregory's books as she is an amazing writer who brings history alive and actually makes it interesting! I would love if she would go further back and look at some of the ladies who have been missed out in history ... Berengaria of Navarre (Richard the Lionhearts Wife) Eleanor of Aquitaine (Richards Mother/Henry II Wife) and even Matilda!
Everyone!! get yourselves these books and start reading!!!!
See you soon :)
Leanne x
Hellooo :)
So I've sat down to write allll of these reviews all in one go!! Otherwise they will not get done! I'm still enjoying a lot of free time to sit down and read as much as I want but the university year is closing in fast!! I've done pretty well as I have managed to get through 11 books so far and I'm half way through 12 and 13 and I have started 14!!
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children 2 - Ransom Riggs
I can well and truly say that if you have never read the first Miss Peregrine then you are sorely missing out!! If you haven't ill do a quick overview. Jacob lives in modern day American he is a normal boy until his grandfather passes away! His grandfather leaves him with a lot of mysteries to solve and to find! Jacob as a result ends up going to England to a remote island to find a woman that his grandfather used to write to in the hope she would have some ideas about his grandfathers early life. It comes to pass that Jacob finds a secret world of children that never grow up and have peculiar powers - from floating girls, boys with bees inside them and girls who can make fire in their hands. And it turns out that Jacob is peculiar as was his grandfather!! He can see the giant monsters (that are usually invisible) which his grandfather could also see!! This changes Jacobs life. The loop that the children live in is threatened and their keeper Miss Peregrine is turned into a bird permanently. The end of the first book finishes with them leaving to go to London to find someone who can change her back!
Very action packed, I know!! And yes you can tell it is created for 'young adults' but I never listen to classification!!
So in the second book the children all get to London in pretty much one piece but being in 1940's lLondon comes at a price when the children end up being chased by scary invisible monsters, wrights dressed as Nazis and actual Nazis!! They travel London trying to get Miss Peregrine turned back human and they meet many peculiar children, people and animals along the way.
So overall both books are worth reading! They are both only short but they pack a punch. The best bit about the books is that they have pictures alongside the text. These pictures are all real vintage photos that Riggs collects from carboot sales etc ... which he has then put together and then he has put a story together with it!! This is what makes the books even more genius! I don't think as a 'young adult' (which I still class myself as) being any younger I would not have appreciated this book in the same way that I do now! It has so much underlying in the book without the top story that even though it is an easy read it isn't necessarily shallow!!
Give them both a go! In the right order obviously and let me know how you get on!!!
See you soon :)
Leanne x
So I have cheated yet again!! This is the latest book that I have read however I have read others in between that I haven't reviewed yet!
But I just couldn't wait to do this one!! With the start if university looming I have been crazily trying to get some more dissertation reading done to no avail!! SO I have taken to reading what I want to read! I got some Amazon vouchers for my birthday so I spent them all on new books!! I got a total of about 24 books :) All ready to read alongside the other huge piles sitting waiting in my bedroom! (Sorry dissertation reading but you just cant compete with these!!!)
The Husband's Secret - Liane Moriarty
Usually I am not a person to like these sort of books! But after starting this book at 11 last night and finishing it today at 2 I cant help but say it completely drew me in and made me cry, want to scream and laugh simultaneously. I know I say this about a hell of a lot of books but it totally took over my life from the moment that I picked it up!! I did truly believe this was going to be a normal book about a husband cheating etccccccc ... BORING! But in fact this book was so cleverly written, intertwined and thought out that actually the book is amazing the characters are amazing and everything about it amazed me!!
Cecilia is the normal average housewife, with a doting husband and three girls. That is until she finds a letter her husband has written addressed to her but only to be opened after his death. Cecilia cant contain this desire to open the letter but when she does it turns their whole lives upside down and inside out. Forcing a chain of events that change their lives forever!
Tess is married to a husband that she loves, she has a cousin who is more like a sister to her , a son she adores, and they all have a successful business between them. She thinks her life is ideal until her husband and cousin sit her down for a conversation one night and in the heat of the moment she drags her only son to her mothers across the country and everything is changed for their lives, they will never be able to go back to how it was.
For Rachel one fateful afternoon in Autumn took her daughter away from her as she was strangled and left on a park slide to be found. Rachel has never gotten over this and as a result has never had the relationship she should have had with her son. Now her son is married with a son of his own, who he is now wanting to take from Australia to New York. Rachel doesn't know how she will live until she finds something startling which she believes will catch her daughters killer. Rachels life is turned upside down when all these women's lives intertwine in Sydney in a place where they all grew up and all their children know each other.
When all these women's lives come together there are disastrous results for all involved. All three come out changed and not necessarily for the best or for the worst.
I can well and truly say that this 400 page book grips you from the very word go! And keeps you there long after you have finished. There is no way to describe how distraught I have felt when reading this book! How much my opinions of the people in the book have changed throughout. It makes you think and consider your own lives and whether you would be able to make the decisions they do and would you react the same. If you found a letter from your husband/wife that was written to you to be read when they died, would you open it now? Or would you observe their wishes and ignore it until they did die?
The epilogue of the book also brings more questions into consideration, that a lot of the things that happened, were they predestined to be happy? Were they meant to happen for a reason? Does everything work out for at least one of them? Is there such a thing as karma? Should you really treasure the boring, mundane moments in life, as the exciting ones can be too much and can do too much damage?
I truly do recommend everyone to read this book and see what you think as I am struggling to describe how amazing it is in words at the moment!!
So as I have said I have read a few other books in between and I will be reviewing them also in between dissertation stuff and life!! I look forward to getting stuck into the rest of the books I got for my birthday and have Liane Moriarty's new book to read also!! I am extremely grateful that at the moment I have so much time to read and I am definitely making the most of it before the chaos that is life begins again in earnest at the end of the month!
See you soon :)
Leanne
