The Silver Witch by Paula Brackston

The Silver Witch by Paula Brackston
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A year after her husband’s sudden death, ceramic artist Tilda Fordwells finally moves into the secluded Welsh cottage that was to be their new home. She hopes that the tranquil surroundings will help ease her grief, and lessen her disturbing visions of Mat’s death. Instead, the lake in the valley below her cottage seems to spark something dormant in her – a sensitivity, and a power of some sort. Animals are drawn to her, electricity shorts out when she’s near, and strangest of all, she sees a new vision; a boatful of ancient people approaching her across the water.

On this same lake in Celtic times lived Seren, a witch and shaman. She was respected but feared, kept separate from the community for her strange looks. When a vision came to her of the Prince amid a nest of vipers she warned of betrayal from one of his own. Prince Brynach both loved and revered her, but could not believe someone close to him wished him harm, even as the danger grew.

In her own time, Tilda’s grief begins to fade beside her newfound powers and a fresh love. When she explores the lake’s ancient magic and her own she discovers Seren, the woman in her vision of the boat. Their two lives strangely mirror each others, suggesting a strong connection between the women. As Tilda comes under threat from a dark power, one reminiscent of Seren’s prophecy, she must rely on Seren and ancient magic if death and disaster are not to shatter her life once more.

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I read The Midnight Witch last year, but I couldn't really take to it. The story didn't work for me, but this book; the parallel storyline with Tilda in the present time and Seren in the past work well for me. I liked how the two stories were linked to each other and I enjoyed both stories and how the events in the past influenced in the future. I was I admit a bit enjoyed sometimes with Seren and Prince Brynach. Mostly how blind he was about the danger they were in despite how Seren warned him. She's a god damn seeress, but he seemed to listen tp her only when he wanted to. And frankly, I could understand Brynach wife for being angry with Seren.

In the present time, Tilda is trying to figure out why she is having "power" and what the visions mean and I found it intriguing to learn more of the past from her point of view at the same time reading about it as Seren is living it.

I liked the book, but I didn't love it. It was enjoyable to read, but it wasn't really a book that had an impact on me. I liked Tilda's story best I think, I found it more interesting and I was never annoyed with her as I was with Seren and Prince Brynach. Tilda and Dylan's relationship worked for me in that it didn't felt rushed. And, reading the ending made me wonder if them meeting perhaps was meant to be...

Thanks to Little, Brown Book Group and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!

Eeny Meeny by M.J. Arlidge

Eeny Meeny by M.J. Arlidge
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Two people are abducted, imprisoned, and left with a gun. As hunger and thirst set in, only one walks away alive.

It’s a game more twisted than any Detective Helen Grace has ever seen. If she hadn’t spoken with the shattered survivors herself, she almost wouldn’t believe them.

Helen is familiar with the dark sides of human nature, including her own, but this case—with its seemingly random victims—has her baffled. But as more people go missing, nothing will be more terrifying than when it all starts making sense....

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I usually find no problems with reading books out of order nowadays. But, in this case, I kind of regret that I read Pop Goes the Weasel before I read Eeny Meeny. Why? Because a bit of the enjoyment of reading this book is gone because I knew who the person is who is behind the kidnappings. Don't get me wrong, the book was great, but I knew what would happen at the end of the book and that's just a takes away some of the thrills of the ending when everything is revealed. Despite that, I enjoyed reading about the hunt for the kidnapper.

I'm glad I read this because now I understand Helen and Charlies strained relationship in the sequel. I also look forward to reading more books in this series since it has become a favorite of mine.

Ruby Flynn by Nadine Dorries

Ruby Flynn by Nadine Dorries
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The year is 1947 and 12-year-old Ruby Flynn is rescued while the rest of her family perish in a terrible storm. As an orphan is she placed in a convent where she is educated and six years later is she hired to work in at Ballyford as a nursery maid. But there are no children to work with, Charles FitzDeane the master of the house and his wife Isobel have had five children and they all have died as infants and Ruby have been hired to take care of Isobel whose grief has made her melancholic and she hardly eats, just sits in the nursery. But there is another reason for why they want Ruby there, something to do with her mother, but Ruby doesn't know anything about that, all she knows is that it feels like coming home when she arrives at Ballyford...

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I was instantly taken in by the lovely cover of the book and the interesting blurb. Ruby Flynn is a strong character, she has survived losing her family and growing up in a convent and now she is finding herself taking care of women that have almost lost the will to live. I found the beginning of the book engaging, with all the secrets and the mystery of Ruby and the legendary curse on the FitzDeane family.

But, somewhere along the way, I felt that the story becomes a bit predictable and I felt that the mystery about Ruby Flynn just wasn't that special. I enjoyed the book, but there were parts of the book when I felt a bit frustrated with and I just wanted to get to the truth. Also, when Ruby out of all people finds a clue to her mother past that's been hidden, things like that is a bit irritating. She of all people happens to find that. And, the instant connection to Charles FitzDeane. I don't know I just felt that it bothered me a bit. That could be because I felt sorry for Isobel who had lost 5 children and her husband travelers away and sleeps with other women instead of staying home and comforts her. His excuse that they never loved each other when they got married. No? That's still you grieving wife you bastard.

I don't know I just couldn't find myself really liking the last part of the book. It felt a bit rushed and the ending felt like a fairytale happy ending. Forget everything bad. This was meant to be.

I did find the curse thing interesting and I did like Ruby Flynn, I just didn't like the whole story.

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley in an exchange for an honest review!

Joy: Poet, Seeker, and the Woman Who Captivated C. S. Lewis by Abigail Santamaria

Joy: Poet, Seeker, and the Woman Who Captivated C. S. Lewis by Abigail Santamaria
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The first full biography of Joy Davidman brings her out from C. S. Lewis's shadow, where she has long been hidden, to reveal a powerful writer and thinker.

Joy Davidman is known, if she is known at all, as the wife of C. S. Lewis. Their marriage was immortalized in the film Shadowlands and Lewis's memoir, A Grief Observed. Now, through extraordinary new documents as well as years of research and interviews, Abigail Santamaria brings Joy Davidman Gresham Lewis to the page in the fullness and depth she deserves.

A poet and radical, Davidman was a frequent contributor to the communist vehicle New Masses and an active member of New York literary circles in the 1930s and 40s. Born Jewish in the Bronx, she was an atheist, then a practitioner of Dianetics; she converted to Christianity after experiencing a moment of transcendent grace. A mother, a novelist, a vibrant and difficult and intelligent woman, she set off for England in 1952, determined to captivate the man whose work had changed her life.

Davidman became the intellectual and spiritual partner Lewis never expected but cherished. She helped him refine his autobiography, Surprised by Joy, and to write his novel Till We Have Faces. Their relationship-begun when Joy wrote to Lewis as a religious guide-grew from a dialogue about faith, writing, and poetry into a deep friendship and a timeless love story.

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There are some reviews that are easy to write, that almost writes itself. I can finish a book sit down and write without problems. Then there are books, like this one that I kind of know what to write, but still, the process from my head to actually writing it down takes a bit longer time. And, I'm sorry it's a bit lengthy.

I first learned of Joy Davidman when I for quite many years ago watched Shadowlands. Before that, I had no idea that C.S. Lewis had been married. It was a wonderful film, but still, it's a film, even though there are truths in the story it has been changed to suit the public. For instance, Joy had two children, two boys and in the movie, she had one. But that they started out as pen pals, that she traveled over to England to see him, that they, in the end, married each other and that she died of cancer is true just as it is in the movie. But the books makes everything sounds so perfect.

But this book gives a much deeper insight into the woman Joy, to her childhood, her growing up, her writing, her time with the communist party and her conversion to Christianity which led her to C.S. Lewis writings and writing together with her husband a letter to C.S. Lewis. She would, in the end, continue to write to C.S. Lewis, but without Bill.

It sounds like a wonderful love story, but in reality, it was a bit more calculated than that. Joy marriage was falling apart, and she practically arranged for her husband to fall in love with her beautiful cousin that came to stay with them. How so? By then she was writing to C.S. Lewis and she was eager to travel and meet him and she left her husband, children, and cousin together and traveled to England to meet C.S. Lewis. She had fallen in love with him through his letters and she was actually going there to make him fall in love with her. It didn’t go as plan, she did meet him, she spent months in England, but it would take some years before they would truly be a couple. During the time, she and her husband divorced because he had fallen in love with her cousin and she bad mouths him quite bad in letter and to friends. Although, she was hardly a saint herself. she left her sons for months while she was in England and she wrote home to ask for money she then spends on buying clothes and stuff for herself.

But was their love story untrue? No she did love Jack (C.S. Lewis) and he loved her and they got some wonderful years together.

It was not an easy book to read, the first half of the book was a bit tough, it’s very well researched (40% of the book was footnoted), but it was sometimes  a bit dry and I must admit that her poems that were in the book, well they didn’t really fascinate me. I often just glanced over them. They just didn't appeal to me. But it was interesting to read about the time period, the rise of the communist party before the McCarty era. I had no idea that Joy was fascinated for a while in life with Dianetics a practice that a man called L. Ron Hubbard had thought of. She got over it, thankfully. She lived in a very interesting time and her life story is quite remarkable.

I think the best part of the book was the last half when she started to write to Jack, and when she got to met and later marry him. Many of his friends were worried for him, like Tolkien. They thought that she was taking advantage of him. Jack had in his youth promised Paddy Moore, a friend, that he would look after his mother if something happened to him and when the friend died in WW1 did he honor the promise and looked after her and many thought that stopped him from ever finding a woman to marry because she looked after him as a mother (he lost his mother as a child) and he looked after her as a son. And around the time Joy came to meet him Mrs. Janie King Moore had died and that made his friends concerned for him since they wanted him to be free.

But I think she did him good. She made him happy.

I recommend this book if you want to know more about Joy or Jack or if you are just looking for an interesting biography to read.

Thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!

Splinter the Silence by Val McDermid

Splinter the Silence by Val McDermid
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Splinter the Silence is a novel centered on the mysterious deaths of several women who were the victims of vicious cyberbullying.

Is it violence if it’s virtual? The outspoken women targeted by the increasingly cruel internet trolls and bullies would probably say so. For some of them, the torrents of bile and vicious threats prove too much. They begin to silence themselves in a series of high-profile suicides.

Or do they? Tony Hill isn’t convinced. But he’s the only one. Former cop Carol Jordan is too busy messing up her life to care. Until she gets an unexpected second chance. Now it’s game on, and the stakes have never been higher.

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It seems that finally Tony and Carol is back as friends after everything that happened with her brother's murder. I quite enjoy having them back to speaking with each other again and it seems that Tony is finally getting to Carol that she has a drinking problem. Of course, it had to go so far for Carol that she has to be arrested for drunk driving before Tony frankly told her that she had to quit. But by then the arrest had already damaged her reputation, which was really bad because the powers that be in the police want her back, but not with a driving drunk sentence. But everything can be fixed. Besides, that is Tony discovering that there is something wrong with the suicides of a couple of women and soon he, Carol and Paula are investigating the suicides.

I found this book story especially good because it finally brought the old team together. I have missed reading about them working together under Carol. The case in itself took some time to get somewhere. And it felt like most of the time the book concentrated on other things than finding a killer. Carol and her drunk driving and the consequences of that took up a lot of the book and I did enjoy reading about Tony finally confronting Carol about her drinking problem and moving into the barn to help her the first couple of days and of course, getting rid of all the alcohol at her her place which didn't make her happy. I do wish that case had taken a bit more priorities it was first towards the very end that books story really started to get intensive. Not that the book was bad, I just got a bit impatient with all the personal stuff. I did enjoy that part when the new team was finally started to put all the pieces together and the manhunt started.

The ending was fitting, I don't want to give it away, but there had to be some consequences to Carols drunk driving and what happened after that. It will be interesting to read the next book to see how it will be dealt with.

Thanks to Witness Impulse and Edelweiss for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Hannu Rajaniemi: Collected Fiction by Hannu Rajaniemi

Hannu Rajaniemi: Collected Fiction by Hannu Rajaniemi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

'Inside the firewall the city is alive. Buildings breathe, cars attack, angels patrol, and hyper-intelligent pets rebel.

With unbridled invention and breakneck adventure, Hannu Rajaniemi is on the cutting-edge of science fiction. His post-apocalyptic, post-cyberpunk, and post-human tales are full of exhilarating energy and unpredictable optimism.

How will human nature react when the only limit to desire is creativity? When the distinction between humans and gods is as small as nanomachines—or as large as the universe? Whether the next big step in technology is 3D printing, genetic alteration, or unlimited space travel, Rajaniemi writes about what happens after.

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I had never read anything by Hannu Rajaniemi before I read this collection and I was a bit doubtful in the beginning because the two first stories didn't really rock my boat. Actually, I found myself a bit confused. It felt a bit like I had missed something and I had a bit of trouble understanding what was going on. But by the third story, it started to get better.

I will not list all the stories in this collection instead I thought I would mention some of them that were really memorable.

The Haunting of Apollo A7LB -  A tragic love story that includes a haunted space suite.

Elegy for a Young Elk - Kind of hard to explain this story, but I loved the ending. It showed that despite everything a father would do anything for his child despite that the child has evolved into something new.

Fisher of Man - One of my favorite story in this book. Nothing to do with AI or technology, but instead, it's a story about the daughter of the Sea that catches men in her net. I was intrigued with the story and with the Finnish mythology, a subject that I'm not at all are familiar with.

Ghost dogs - What happen with dogs that die? If they don't go to heaven, are they still in the house? A very good story and the one with the saddest ending.

Paris, in Love  - A very unusual love story between a Finnish man and Paris.

Topsight - The death of a friend is the topic here and was it really an accident or was it murder? I wish this story had been longer, it was such an interesting story.

The Oldest Game - A man against a god in a drinking contest. More Finnish mythology. I really need to read more about the old Finnish Gods.

Shibuya no Love - Another interesting take on love. Heartbreaking ending.

Satan's Typist - A very short story, but honestly it didn't need more to tell its story. Being a typist is really not a fun job when your boss is Satan himself.

In the end, I just want to say that despite the fact that I was a bit doubtful in the beginning of this book did it turn out to be a really good collection. There were some stories I didn't that much and some were a bit confusing, but most of the stories were good. I really loved the mix of stories about technology and Finnish mythology. It gave a good balance to the collection.

Thanks to Tachyon Publications and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

The End of All Things by Lissa Bryan

The End of All Things by Lissa Bryan
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

After a terrible virus ravages the planet, Carly Daniels, one of the few survivors, hides in her apartment in Juneau trying to survive the best she can with only occasional forays to gather food. With her is Sam, a wolf puppy she found starving on the streets. He becomes her companion and a reason to continue when giving up sometimes seems like the more attractive option. Still dazed with shock and grief, she hopes for the world to go back to normal soon.

She is discovered by Justin, an ex-soldier who is intent on making his way to Florida before the winter sets in. Justin coaxes her out of her hiding place and convinces her to join him on his journey, because a warmer climate will be their best chance against the extremes of Mother Nature.

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I read Shadows Have Gone, book three in this series at the beginning of this year and I found the book very good. But it has taken me ages to get to reading the first book in this series. But now as I'm going through my NetGalley books have I finally gotten to this one.

What I like about this series is that there are no zombies or any other kind of monsters, if it is a "monster" is it people that still have the flue or ordinary people that have turned ruthless to survive. Carly and Justin have a rocky start, but they she slowly learns to trust him and realize that he is right, that they must leave Juneau if they are going to survive. I found that part and then ending the best in the book, Unfortunately, I started to get a bit annoyed somewhere along the way. Annoyed that Carly was so incompetent and Justin was so well trained in surviving. Could be the scout in me that just found her unbearable ignorant sometimes. Either way, it seems that she has lived a very sheltered life and hardly set foot outside a town. One moment that really made me annoyed was when Justin ripped a wedding dress to pieces to use as a bandage for future needs and she got upset because he was ripping apart someone's dream. I mean, come on, they are on the way to Florida, she doesn't know the women whose dress it is and they are trying to survive.

And, then we have the romance part. I can understand the need for human contact, for warmth and for the basic need like sex. But suddenly it's a love story. It's a Hallmark movie. After that part, the story just felt meh! Fortunately, the ending was tragically good. yeah. Except for one thing that I didn't like, someone that I liked very much died.

Thanks to The Writer's Coffee Shop Publishing House and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!

House of Echoes by Brendan Duffy

House of Echoes by Brendan Duffy
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

In this enthralling and atmospheric thriller, one young family’s dream of a better life is about to become a nightmare.

Ben and Caroline Tierney and their two young boys are hoping to start over. Ben has hit a dead end with his new novel, Caroline has lost her banking job, and eight-year-old Charlie is being bullied at his Manhattan school.

When Ben inherits land in the village of Swannhaven, in a remote corner of upstate New York, the Tierneys believe it’s just the break they need, and they leave behind all they know to restore a sprawling estate. But as Ben uncovers Swannhaven’s chilling secrets and Charlie ventures deeper into the surrounding forest, strange things begin to happen. The Tierneys realize that their new home isn’t the fresh start they needed . . . and that the village’s haunting saga is far from over.

House of Echoes is a novel that shows how sometimes the ties that bind us are the only things that can keep us whole.

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House of Echoes is not a book for those that can't stand a story that takes its time to get to the action. Sometimes slow buildup works and sometimes it doesn't and I think the slow buildup worked quite well, for the most part, even though even I felt sometimes that I wanted to get to the point.

But what I really liked about this book is despite how normal everything seems and how lovely the Crofts and the close town Swannhaven seem to be, you just know that something is wrong. You just don't know what it is, but there seems to be some big secret the people in the village have. You get some clues in the letters that are alternating the chapters from the 1800 century during the terrible Winter siege when Swannhaven was attacked by Indians and the people starved.

I was quickly pulled into the story, I have a weakness for books with families moving to an old house with a history and the Crofts sure has been true a lot since it was built in 1800 century. The two sisters that were the last Swann's died two years prior and Ben and Caroline are the first to live in the house that is not part of the family. And at first everything is just fine, but slowly, slowly things start to happen until the very end when everything is revealed. The ending is really no big surprise, I mean there are clues throughout the book that there is something very wrong. I admit that it felt sometimes like it took some time to get somewhere despite how well-written the book was. I did enjoy the story, but I felt sometimes a bit impatient and it never got truly thrilling though it got a bit intense towards the end. I think I actually was most worried about the dog Hudson throughout the book. Animals in books like this have a tendency to perish.

I'm impressed with this debut book by Brendan Duffy and will without a doubt read more from him.

Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!