Monday 26 February 2018

Canto Bight by Saladin Ahmed

Canto Bight (Star Wars)Canto Bight by Saladin Ahmed
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Soon to be seen in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, welcome to the casino city of Canto Bight. A place where exotic aliens, captivating creatures, and other would-be high rollers are willing to risk everything to make their fortunes. Set across one fateful evening, these four original novellas explore the deception and danger of the lavish casino city.

An honest salesman meets a career criminal as a dream vacation turns into the worst nightmare imaginable in a story by Saladin Ahmed.

Dreams and schemes collide when a deal over a priceless bottle of wine becomes a struggle for survival as told by Mira Grant.

Old habits die hard when a servant is forced into the mad struggle for power among Canto Bight’s elite in a tale by Rae Carson.

A deadbeat gambler has one last chance to turn his luck around, all he has to do is survive one wild night as told by John Jackson Miller.



This book was released in the build up to the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi in cinemas. The book itself, contains four short stories that all focus in and round the casino world of Canto Bight. The four different stories are written by four authors, they are, Saladin Ahmed, Rae Carson, Mira Grant and John Jackson Miller.

I really enjoyed this book. I was very disappointed by Canto Bight in the film, as I had read this book before watching The Last Jedi. The world is far more exciting and vibrant than the film displayed. My favourite story within this collection of short stories comes from Saladin Ahmed and the story titled: Rules of the Game. The story focuses on two characters, one, a salesman from a distant planet who won a work competition, called Kedpin. The second character is a bounty hunter called Anglang, who is in Canto Bight on business. Their stories cross and it is a very amusing and up lifting narrative, where two very different people find similarities in each other and ultimately a friendship.

The remaining stories are also very good, expanding on the description of Canto Bight and giving an excellent feel for the place. Canto Bight is a vibrant and excellent addition to the Star Wars Galaxy and the book is definitely worth a read if you are a fan of the new canon.

I would like to thank the publisher for sending this in exchange for an honest review.

Saturday 24 February 2018

The Last Day by Clare Dyer



Blurb:
They say three’s a crowd but when Boyd moves back in to the family home with his now amicably-estranged, Vita, accompanied by his impossibly beautiful twenty-seven-year-old girlfriend, Honey, it seems the perfect solution: Boyd can get his finances back on track while he deals with his difficult, ailing mother; Honey can keep herself safe from her secret, troubled past; and Vita can carry on painting portraits of the pets she dislikes and telling herself she no longer minds her marriage is over. But the house in Albert Terrace is small and full of memories, and living together is unsettling. For Vita, Boyd and Honey love proves to be a surprising, dangerous thing and, one year on, their lives are changed forever.




Guest Post:

The art of fiction: alternative truths

If the definition of truth is: ‘the quality or state of being true’ and the definition of true is ‘in accordance with fact or reality/accurate or exact’ then we novelists have our work cut out because we spend most of our time and energy making stuff up!

However, there is another facet to this and that’s the gift of we can give our stories by making our characters, as real people in real life, be witnesses to and arbitrators of alternative truths.

I love reading books that do this: books that tell the same event through a number of pairs of eyes, each of which believe their version is the truth.

Take The Betrayals by Fiona Neill for example. The book’s pitch is: ‘None of them would forget that week on the wild Norfolk coast. Best friends Rosie and Lisa's families had always been inseparable. But that summer, Lisa had an affair with Rosie's husband Nick. And now, after years of silence, she sends Rosie a letter begging for help. A letter which exposes dark secrets. Daughter Daisy's fragile hold on reality begins to unravel. Teenage son Max blames himself for everything that happened that long hot summer. And Nick must confront his own version of events. There are four sides to this story. Who will you believe?’

What I loved most about this novel is how it asks us to confront our own version of events too. Where do our sympathies lie? Who do we believe and why? I reckon that if four different people read the book and compared notes directly afterwards, they’d each come up with a different answer.

As much as I love reading books like this, I also love writing them! I believe we all delude ourselves, rearrange facts and thoughts and feelings to suit our own consciences or beliefs. I know I do and so I allow my characters to do so too. In The Last Day there is no character more self-delusional than Vita. Perhaps more than the other two, she moved into my head and heart and I adored writing her because I never knew what was going to come out of her mouth next! You’d think I would, seeing that I made her up, but no! Her mouth and her mind became two separate entities and she spent the entire time I was writing the book thinking one thing and saying another. And the best bit of all was when she realised what she was doing and her head and heart aligned. That was a moment I will always savour.

And what this taught me was that, in these days of alternative facts in politics and the media, it is sometimes a comfort to hold onto the thought that we each carry within us our own version of the truth and we have the right and power and the ability to decide how and what we believe.




Review:

Beautifully written about the fragility of love and life this is a tender gentle novel that although at times appears slow doesn’t detract from its final destination.

Three beautifully crafted characters each likeable in their own way that seem to compliment each other. Full of ‘what ifs’ and ‘what could have been’ situations that hang in the air much like we all experience as we travel through life. Then the tragedies that happen along the way that shift the balance and drive people down different paths. 

I found this novel sad and reflective but the ending felt right. 

Not my normal bedtime reading but worth the experience for such insightful gentle handling - a well deserved 4 stars


I would like to thank the publisher for sending this in exchange for an honest review. 






Claire Dyer’s novels, The Moment and The Perfect Affair and her short story, Falling For Gatsby are published by Quercus. Her poetry collections, Interference Effects and Eleven Rooms, are published by Two Rivers Press. 


She has an MA in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway, University of London and teaches creative writing for Bracknell & Wokingham College. She also runs Fresh Eyes, an editorial and critiquing service. In 2016, Claire penned and performed a poem for National Poetry Day, called The Oracle, for BBC Radio Berkshire. Claire’s new book, The Last Day, will be published by The Dome Press in February 2018.



Twitter: @Claire Dyer1 

Website: www.clairedyer.com

Friday 23 February 2018

The Beach Wedding by Dorothy Koomson

The Beach WeddingThe Beach Wedding by Dorothy Koomson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Will your past always catch up with you?

Tessa Dannall is excited and happy when her daughter, Nia, arrives at their family’s tropical beach resort to get married.

Tessa is also trying to forget the last time she went to a wedding on this beach and how that day changed her life for ever.

But as the big day draws near, Tessa realises she must face the deadly ghosts from her past – or they may ruin her daughter’s future...


I love the time of year when Quick Reads release their titles for the year. These are perfect for people on the go, who have a little time but really want to feel like they have read and achieved something.

Koomson is a popular women's fiction writer and has written some very popular books. This is less than 100 pages but didn't feel rushed and had many twists and turns in it.

Nia and Marvin are due to be getting married at Nia's family home in Ghana, this was the same place that her mother was meant to marry her father, but something happened on that faithful day that she doesn't like to speak about. Nia's mother is not so sure it is a good idea that her daughter is to marry in the same place, surely it is bad luck? Things look like they are going ahead anyway and when Marvin's parents turn up a few days early, everything changes.

This was a short story that I devoured in a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon, I would recommend this to anyone who wants a small escapism but can't commit to a full length novel.

Monday 19 February 2018

Clean Break by Tammy Cohen

Clean Break (Quick Reads 2018)Clean Break by Tammy Cohen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Marriage is complicated, especially for Kate. Her husband Jack has a temper on him, and has been an absent father for years. Kate knows it's time for a divorce. The trouble is, Jack refuses. And now that he has found out Kate has met another man, his jealous rages escalate. Can Kate rid herself of her jealous husband before it's too late?

I love the quick reads and I love them even more when authors I know have contributed to the collection. Tammy Cohen features on my bookcase, I have yet to read one of her full length novels, however I couldn't wait to get my hands on this as I thought it may spur me to to pick up one of her longer books.

Kate has been married some time and has teenage children with her husband, but she has had enough of him and his controlling ways. She decided enough was enough and she wants out of the relationship, she has even started seeing someone new. Jack her husband cannot understand it, and won't let her go, he has moved out to help her get her head straight but insists on them seeing a marriage councilor to try and work through their differences.

This although little packs a punch and I didn't see the ending coming, I am not really sure if I agree with the ending, I think Kate could have been smarter, but I enjoyed the book and would want to read more from Cohen.

I would recommend you pick this up of you want a quick dark read.

Friday 16 February 2018

Inspector Chopra and the Million-Dollar Motor Car by Vaseem Khan

Inspector Chopra and the Million-Dollar Motor Car (Baby Ganesh Agency Investigation #3.5)Inspector Chopra and the Million-Dollar Motor Car by Vaseem Khan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars


An enchanting Baby Ganesh Agency short story: a million-dollar car is missing. Chopra has two days to find it, or the gangster who bought it will not be happy.

The Premier No.1 Garage is the place to go in Mumbai if you want a luxury car. Even Mumbai's biggest gangster shops there - he's just ordered a classic race car worth millions.

But now the car is gone. Stolen from a locked room, in the middle of the night.

Who stole it? The mechanic who is addicted to gambling? The angry ex-worker? The car thief pulling off one last job?

And how on earth did they make it vanish from the locked garage?

Inspector Chopra has just days to find the culprit - and the missing car - before its gangster owner finds out ... and takes violent revenge.



This was the first Khan book I have read, I picked this up at the airport for a read on the plane. I thought this would be right up my street, I love mystery and crime based books and recently visiting India I thought I would fall in love with it. Unfortunately this was not the case, I didn't particularly enjoy the story, I found it felt rushed.

There were many characters in the story, this was fine, however I felt due to the length of the book and the speed we were whisked through the story I didn't really know any of the characters very well.

It was an O.K story but it just wasn't for me, I probably wouldn't go out and buy another by Khan on the strength of this.


Monday 5 February 2018

The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine

The Last Mrs. ParrishThe Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

How far would you go to make all your dreams come true?

Amber Patterson is tired of being a nobody: an invisible woman who melts into the background. She deserves more. She deserves a life of wealth, luxury and leisure.

Daphne Parrish is the golden girl of Bishops Harbor, Connecticut. With her model looks, her picture-perfect mansion and her millionaire husband, Jackson, she has everything Amber wants.

Amber’s envy could eat her alive―if she didn't have a plan. Before long, she has become Daphne’s closest friend, and is catching the eye of Jackson. But a skeleton from her past could destroy everything, and if discovered, Amber’s well-laid plan may end in disaster…



Not sure what to think about this one - it was cleverly written but way too long. The pace was very slow I suppose to emphasise the time it took for one woman to completely immerse herself into the other ones life. I didn’t really like either two women in this story both being manipulative in their own ways.

Amber was mean and unlike able which was obviously intended and Daphne so saccharine and pathetic that it was hard to sympathise with her. Jackson was so damaged he was almost a monster and I felt no real connection to any of the characters.

I suppose it’s a moral warning of be careful what you wish for and though it had some twists it didn’t really hold any surprises. The second half of the novel was much better than the first but only because it picked up pace. I made it to the end but confess to skimming a lot.

Not the best I’ve read on psychological thrillers and not really an entertaining holiday read either - left me feeling a bit flat. I can only give this 2.5 stars - this will be quickly forgotten, rounded up to 3* for goodreads and Amazon.

I would like to thank the publisher for sending this in exchange for an honest review.