books, reviews

Book Review: Wicked As You Wish – Rin Checupo

ramblingmads

I was gifted a copy of this book by the publisher with no requirement to review.

An unforgettable alternative history fairytale series from the author of The Bone Witch trilogy about found family, modern day magic, and finding the place you belong.

Many years ago, the magical Kingdom of Avalon was left desolate and encased in ice when the evil Snow Queen waged war on the powerful country. Its former citizens are now refugees in a world mostly devoid of magic. Which is why the crown prince and his protectors are stuck in…Arizona.

Prince Alexei, the sole survivor of the Avalon royal family, is in hiding in a town so boring, magic doesn’t even work there. Few know his secret identity, but his friend Tala is one of them. Tala doesn’t mind—she has secrets of her own. Namely, that she’s a spellbreaker, someone who negates magic.

Then hope for their abandoned homeland reignites when a famous creature of legend, and Avalon’s most powerful weapon, the Firebird, appears for the first time in decades. Alex and Tala unite with a ragtag group of new friends to journey back to Avalon for a showdown that will change the world as they know it.

My thoughts:

This was a marvellous new fairy tale, full of magic and wonder and powerful old people, who aren’t as weak as they seem.

I dont know a lot about Filipino folklore, but this makes me want to learn more, to see the references Rin is making, alongside the more familiar tropes.

This is the first in a series and I can’t wait for book two.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: We Just Clicked- Anna Bell*

ramblingmads

Izzy’s always played by the rules. But now, it’s time to break them…

Izzy Brown has always dreamed of making it big on Instagram, but her followers just aren’t growing. So when her colleague and fellow ‘influencer’ Luke suggests they fake date to boost their profiles, Izzy says yes – against her better judgement. Now Izzy’s profile shows a confident, glamorous thirty-something with the perfect boyfriend, and her followers are shooting up by the thousands.

So what if behind the scenes, things are a little different? Izzy can’t stop bickering with Luke, his habit of checking his quiff in EVERY SINGLE mirror is driving her insane, and she’s hiding a secret heartache. But everyone tells a few fibs on social media, right?

Then Izzy runs into Aidan, the mysterious stranger who saved her the day her world fell apart two years ago – and major sparks start to fly. Izzy’s sure she can have the online success she’s always dreamed of, whilst falling in love in real life. After all, Aidan doesn’t use social media… what could possibly go wrong?

My thoughts:

A fun, entertaining rom com of a novel about falling in love, the perils of social media and why you really should stick to the truth.

This was a lovely, enjoyable read, perfect for when you want something light and pleasurable to read before bed, in the bath, or slumped on the sofa needing distraction from post-lockdown worries. *I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Mountains Sing – Nguyên Phan Quê Mai*

ramblingmads

Born in 1920, Tran Dieu Lan and her family lost everything when the Communist government came to power in North Việt Nam.

Forced to flee with her six children, she knows she must do whatever it takes to keep her family alive.

Fifty years later, her country is again at war, and her young granddaughter Huong grieves the loss of her parents, who have disappeared to the South along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

Vivid, compelling and deeply moving, THE MOUNTAINS SING introduces a Vietnamese voice to the post-war literary canon.

Drawing on her family history, and the stories of other survivors, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai’s debut novel in English, brings to life the true human cost of a devastating war, and the improbable power of hope to sustain us when all seems lost.

With echoes of Homegoing and Pachinko, this is a standout new novel from a celebrated Vietnamese poet.

‘The Mountains Sing is my search for lost Vietnamese history. I researched for it my whole life and wrote it when I was 39 years old. I wrote it with everything I had…’

BORN IN VIETNAM in 1973, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai grew up in the aftermath of the war and witnessed its devastation on her country. She worked as a street seller and rice farmer before winning a scholarship to attend university in Australia.

She is the author of eight books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction published in Vietnamese, and her writing has been translated and published in more than 10 countries, most recently in Norton’s Inheriting the War anthology.

Her work has received the Hanoi Writers Association ‘Poetry of the Year’ Award (2010). She lives with her family in Jakarta.

My thoughts:

This is an incredibly moving and compelling read, I’m the first to admit I know very little about Vietnam and its history, so this family saga is very fascinating and interesting.

You can see the author’s poetic roots in some of the lines, which read so beautifully on the page, conjuring full colour images in the mind.

Moving back and forth between Duen Lan’s past and her granddaughter’s present in the aftermath of the American invasion of Vietnam and the ensuing war, unites the two generations in their family’s long fight to survive against what often seem like insurmountable odds.

I was reminded of Jung Chan’s Wild Swans, the family memoir, even fictionalised as here, is powerful and emotive, drawing you into the lives of these unforgettable characters.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Kissing Daisy Parker – Michael Milton*

ramblingmads

First loves. Last chances. Street Fighter II.

Daisy is a Sylvia Plath reading, Robert Smith devotee, planning on a summer of Australian beaches with or without her two favourite boys. Obsessed gamer and jealous boyfriend Greg needs the prize money from the Scottish Street Fighter II championships to join Daisy in Oz. She wouldn’t really go without him. Would she?

Scottish-born, English-accented Junaid is the couple’s best friend. Haunted by that school dance and terrified of the future, he finds himself falling for his best friend’s girl. When a disastrous event at the video game tournament brings Daisy and J closer together, Greg attempts the ultimate redemption.

Each makes decisions which alter the course of their friendship, and their lives, forever. But do the answers to life’s biggest questions truly lie in kissing Daisy Parker?

Buy

Michael Milton spent the first 25 years of his life pretending to be other people. After switching drama school for university, he travelled the world as an English teacher and returned home to complete his MA in Creative Writing.

His stories have been long and short listed for the Fish Prize, the Bath Short Story Award, the Mogford Prize and the Emerge Impact Creative Writing Prize. Kissing Daisy Parker is his first novel, and yes, he can beat you at Street Fighter.

My thoughts:

This was a delightful read about finding yourself and your place in the world. Set in the 90s, complete with a soundtrack of The Cure and the sound effects of Street Fighter, three friends spend their gap years travelling the world and discovering who they want to be.

A really enjoyable book, that made me laugh but also with some heart stopping moments. An accomplished first novel and a great addition to recent YA publications.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

books, reviews

Book Review: Even If We Break – Marieke Nijkamp

ramblingmads

I was gifted a copy of this book by the publisher via Netgalley with no requirement to review.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Marieke Nijkamp comes a shocking new thriller about a group of friends tied together by a game and the deadly weekend that tears them apart.

FIVE friends go to a cabin.
FOUR of them are hiding secrets.
THREE years of history bind them.
TWO are doomed from the start.
ONE person wants to end this.
NO ONE IS SAFE.

Are you ready to play?

My thoughts:

I don’t really know what to say about this book except it was so powerful and moving that I sat after reading it in stunned silence.
It had such a massive impact on me that I find it hard to articulate. As someone who has recently come out as non-binary, and who is disabled and autistic, seeing facets of myself on the page was profound.

The story of broken and breaking friendships resonated as well, we’ve all lost friends that once meant everything to us, my best friend of 20 years told me she never wanted to hear from me again and that was genuinely heartbreaking.

There is also new love fluttering in the pages of this book, like the butterfly at the bottom of Pandora’s Box. The hope and opportunity for renewal it brings is ultimately redemptive and a reason for the characters to fight on.

This book was genuinely the most incredibly powerful and moving that I’ve read in quite some time.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Saint Justice – Mike Grist*

ramblingmads

Hundreds of human cages hidden in the desert. One man with nothing to lose.

Christopher Wren pulls off I-70 after three weeks on the road and walks into a biker bar in Price, Utah. An arbitrary decision he’s about to regret.

The bikers attack Wren, leave him for dead and steal his truck.

Now he’s going to get it back.

From a secure warehouse in the desert. Ringed with fences. Filled with human cages.

As Wren digs deeper, a dark national conspiracy unravels and the body count mounts, but one thing is for sure.

They picked the wrong guy to teach a lesson.

Amazon UK Amazon US Audible

Mike Grist is the British/American author of the Christopher Wren thriller series. For 11 years Mike lived in Tokyo, Japan, exploring and photographing the dark side of the city and the country: gangs, cults and abandonedplaces. Now he writes from London, UK, about rogue DELTA operator Christopher Wren – an anti-hero vigilante who uses his off-book team of ex-cons to bring brutal payback for dark crimes.

Twitter Facebook Website

My thoughts:

Wren is an interesting character, the survivor of a cult, leader of a quasi-cult organisation, man who brings down other dangerous organisations, some time CIA agent, all mixed with guilt and terrible PTSD, making him an oddly charismatic, if a little untrustworthy protagonist.

He uses his strengths, and his network of co-dependent followers, to break open a biker gang, a human trafficking ring that turns out to be a cult obsessed with starting a race war, and keeps just ahead of the CIA team on his trail.

High octane, lots of bullets and blood, plus the thinking, or not, behind cult leaders dissected, the start of a new series of thrillers.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Sterling Directive – Tim Standish*

ramblingmads

Captain Charles Maddox returns secretly to London from an exile in disgrace only to be arrested, imprisoned and threatened with the death penalty. He is rescued by a shadowy government agency called the Map Room who give him a choice: return to prison or become an agent, codenamed Sterling, and help them uncover a government conspiracy connected to the Ripper murders.

Led by the coolly calculating Milady and her associate Collier, and aided by fellow agent Church and mechanical computer expert Patience, the freshly appointed Agent Sterling must rapidly learn his new trade if he is to survive the murky and violent fringes of Victorian life and uncover a secret that threatens the Empire itself.

Set in 1896 in an alternative Victorian timeline where mechanical computers are a part of everyday life, The Sterling Directive blends fact and fiction to create a gripping thriller for fans of espionage and historical adventure alike.

Tim Standish grew up in England, Scotland and Egypt. Following a degree in Psychology, his career has included teaching English in Spain, working as a researcher on an early computer games project, and working with groups and individuals on business planning, teamworking and personal development. He has travelled extensively throughout his life and when not working or writing, he enjoys long walks under big skies and is never one to pass up a jaunt across a field in search of an obscure historic site. He has recently discovered the more-exciting-than-you-would-think world of overly-complicated boardgames.

Twitter

My thoughts:

This was a fun read, set in a Steampunk dystopian Victorian London, where rival secretive organisations carry out strange investigations and hire thugs and killers to do their dirty work.

Into this world comes Charles Maddox, disgraced aristocrat and acclaimed military Captain, having spent eight years in the Canadian wilderness.

He’s assigned an alias and a mission – solve the Ripper killings.

Via a mix of clever insights and solid investigation, the Map Room soon uncovers a dark conspiracy, with links all the way to the Crown.

A rip roaring adventure across London and the English countryside ensues as Sterling and Church pursue the man behind the plot.

Tremendous fun to read, and with an intriguing theory, this is an excellent addition to the growing genre of Steampunk Victoriana.


*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Read Along: The Last Charm – Ella Allbright*

ramblingmads

Something a little different, this week I will be taking part in a read along of The Last Charm by Ella Allbright.

The read along will be taking place across social media (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) using the hashtag #OMCReadalong and #OneLastCharm

It’s running from the 21st to the 28th, with fun activities including book club questions, bookish challenges, competitions, live interviews and lots of exclusive content.

The book is published on the 21st, so please do grab a copy and join in at the links above and by following the hashtags.


A moving and heartwarming love story perfect for fans of Me Before You and One Day in December.

Leila’s charm bracelet tells a story of love, a story of loss, a story of hope.

This is the story of her… and the story of Jake.

When Leila Jones loses her precious charm bracelet and a stranger finds it, she has to tell the story of how she got the charms to prove she’s the owner. Each and every one is a precious memory of her life with Jake.

So Leila starts at the beginning, recounting the charms and experiences that have led her to the present. A present she never could have expected when she met Jake nearly twenty years ago…

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: A Dangerous Goodbye – Fliss Chester*

ramblingmads

Your lost love never came home after the war. Would you risk everything to find out what happened to him?

1944. While war rages in Europe, Fenella Churche is doing her bit in the green fields of England. But when she finds a letter addressed to her on the scrubbed farmhouse table, she knows the news won’t be good. She hasn’t heard from her fiancé Arthur since he was posted to France on a dangerous undercover mission, and from his very first words she knows he may not be coming back.

I fear this may be my last letter to you, my darling, Arthur writes. Fen won’t give up hope and calls the war office, wanting to know if Arthur is still alive; they refuse to tell her anything. Searching for answers, she returns to his letter, but parts of it just don’t make sense. Through her tears Fen realises that her darling Arthur is giving her all the clues she needs to find out what happened to him.

1945. With the war behind them and nothing left for her in England, Fen travels to the deceptively pretty French village where she thinks Arthur might be, but there’s no sign of him. She’s close to giving up when she finds his silver cigarette case and another letter full of clues. But when the local priest is killed, it’s clear someone wants to keep wartime secrets buried. If Arthur, a brilliant spy, was outwitted and betrayed, can Fen stay alive long enough to find out what happened to the man she loves?

A gripping story of war, mystery, espionage and murder. Fans of Jacqueline Winspear, Charles Todd and Rhys Bowen will absolutely adore this unputdownable World War Two murder mystery.

Fliss Chester lives in Surrey with her husband and writes historical cozy crime. When she is not killing people off in her 1940s whodunnits, she helps her husband, who is a wine merchant, run their business. Never far from a decent glass of something, Fliss also loves cooking (and writing up her favourite recipes on her blog), enjoying the beautiful Surrey and West Sussex countryside and having a good natter.

Twitter Website Facebook

My thoughts:

I really enjoyed this post-WW2 mystery, following Fen to rural France to discover what became of her fiance Arthur, and in the process solving a conspiracy and a string of terrible murders.

Fen is a likeable and engaging protagonist and the world building is simple but effective, bringing the vineyard and chateau to life.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Innocent – Erin Kinsley*

ramblingmads

The pretty market town of Sterndale is a close-knit community where everyone thinks they know everyone else.

But at a lavish summer wedding a local celebrity is discovered slumped in the gardens, the victim of a violent assault that leads to a murder investigation.

As the police search for answers, suspicion and paranoia build – and the lives of the locals are turned upside down.

Secrets that lurk beneath the pristine façade of Sterndale come to light as detectives close in on the truth…

A gripping and moving thriller with the emotional drama of series like BROADCHURCH and LIAR this is the perfect read for fans of Cara Hunter, Heidi Perks and Claire Douglas.

My thoughts:

This had lots of red herrings and potential suspects lined up, easily misleading the reader (in this case me) down paths that went nowhere.

A nice, knotty crime novel that had a pleasing ending implying that people can change and make amends for past misdeeds.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.