Wordy Wednesday - Pippa Harvey, The Watcher's Lullaby

Back in the olden days of this blog, when I was keen and less lazy I had a regular author slot once a week on a Wednesday. This slot might be a review of a book I read or an interview with an author, or maybe advice on reading, reviewing etc.

But as I said , I got older, lazier and booktok seems to be the place the young folks find out about books these days. However, not to be deterred and just in case some other old people (or you young'uns) like to still read a bit I decided to bring it back.

So today I am starting with a review. I was kindly sent an e-book by Pippa Harvey,  The Watcher's Lullaby.

It's been a while since I've read a creepy book and this book is very creepy. Lots of atmosphere and some genuinely scary 'goosebump' moments.

The story follows two women who live in the same house many many years apart, and one of them appears to have stayed around. Is it all it seems though? Is the watcher a malevolent spirit or a loss soul? 

Some of the themes around the behavior of the men in the tale are interesting, although they do stick to the 'man who assumes women are being irrational' which helps the story move on but is a little annoying.

 "Sweetheart, you can't let yourself be spooked by noises and creaks in this house. Older properties come with their imperfections."

 The female characters are stronger and support each other most of the time. The historical part of the story is very sad, with Maud being a very emotionally lost person with scarce support from those around her. 

 "Without a word, William walks into the rear parlour and adds some coal to the range. Taking a seat by the fire, he reaches for Henry Stephen's Book of the Farm. It's always beside his chair and, apart from the newspaper, the only reading he ever does, usually on a Sunday afternoon. Not only does it guide him on the animals and crops, but it means he can avoid conversation."

Bea copes better as a strong independent woman, although at times I worried her marriage would fail because of the stress of the new home.

The two women are linked by the house, and their lives share many similarities. But how far will the links take them, how close will their lives become?

No spoilers here, but this is a ghost story. Read it in a darkened room by candle light in a storm and you will be jumping at every breath of wind.

 You can get a copy here

 Trigger warnings for child loss.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott - Goodreads review

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Ok so, despite my snarky comments during the listen (I bought the audio book) I have given this book 4 stars.

Spoilers from here on

The reason I gave the book 4 stars is because the writing is charming (dear lord I have fallen into the March girls' way of speech!) The book itself is hideously moral in tone and terribly preachy at every turn, at one point Louise May Alcott actually suggests her reader may have fallen asleep during one of her little homilies, so even she is aware!

As an educational pamphlet for the young lady of the age I'm sure this book would have been wonderful. There are numerous top tips about gloves, ribbons, keeping skirts clean in the mud and bonnet adornment on the cheap.

The girls do however seem convinced that they are 'poor' which seems to translate as 'lower middle class with only one servant'. Poor Hannah, despite being a perfect dear with the children, seems to have no time to have a family of her own.

Beth's death scene, promised since about chapter 4 and yet not actually happening until near the end of the book, was a blessed relief for us all. Much was made of her saintliness and goodness, but as she barely rose from the sofa after chapter 5 I'm not sure what naughtiness anyone expected from her. I was absolutely thrilled when she finally popped off.

Amy remained my favourite daughter, Meg was far too smug, Jo tried far too hard to be 'boyish' and Beth was in bed.

The only highlight for me was when Prof. Bhaer proposed to Jo in a touching scene in the rain. Maybe I was swayed by an older bearded man proposing to an unconventional girl in odd circumstances (wink) who can say but I did feel a drop of moisture rise into my eyes. Sadly this was instantly dashed by him asking her to wait a year due to some obscure reason that made no sense at all.

The book ended on a delightful note with everyone either dead, married or otherwise happy. And Jo able to be both suddenly feminine but also able to indulge in her odd obsession with young boys.

The writing and language was lovely, the plot could have been fun but was spoiled by the obsession with gloves and morals.


View all my reviews

Random Acts of Unkindness - Goodreads review

Random Acts of Unkindness by Jacqueline Ward

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


There were things that annoyed me in this book. The repetition of the main character "what if it was your child" to everyone she meets who has a child...maybe that's realistic but as a reader it just feels lazy, yes we get it, your child missing is horrendous, we are reading all about it, we don't need a regular prod to imagine it's us. The bit about the shoulder blade (see previous update comment) grates a bit with me and there were some other bits too 'baby left on a doorstep' vs 'baby left in a phone box' which was it? Don't jump between the two phrases, it's a crime story, facts need to be precise. And the ending was annoying and inconclusive. Maybe because this is the first in a series but even within a series I like my books to be able to stand alone. The actual (enormous) crime did seem strangely ignored when it was finally discovered. Not much seemed to be made of police officers being murdered, or of the main crime scene when in reality surely newspapers would have been all over it and doing plenty of probing of their own regardless of the police.

That said, the story was interesting, very emotional at times (witness my red rimmed eyes and public crying face) The links to real missing child stories and the interweaving of the fictional parents was good. In general the writing was clear and pacey, if you like crime thrillers you'd enjoy this and I hope that as she writes more Jacqueline will get into her stride. I look forward to reading more about our flawed heroine and the team.



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Streets of Darkness by A A Dhand - a review

Streets of Darkness by A.A. Dhand

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Wowser. This is not the sort of book I would usually choose to read but I was sent a proof copy in exchange for a review.

I was surprised to find myself gripped by the story! I loved the fact that the policeman in this tale is a Sikh, and that the various aspects of religion and race are dealt with throughout the story in both interesting and matter of fact ways. The story is British but just like Britain there are many multicultural issues too.

The characters are never monochrome but deeply shaded and nuanced. While like many police dramas the main character is that detective trope, the 'maverick with a dark secret', it is believable, after all, who wants a story of a 9-5 policeman with no surprises!

There is a great deal of blood. There are very gory scenes that could upset gentler readers (not me of course I'm made of sterner stuff). The story covers issues such as racism, loyalty, religion, friendship, family, sacrifice and how the dark past can affect one's future. An excellent read. Brilliantly written. Lot's of surprises and the plot often didn't go where I thought it would! So don't get all comfortable with who you assume will live or die - this is a messy story - much like life.

Grab a copy. You won't regret it.


View all my reviews

Should I give a book a bad review?

What to do with a ‘bad’ book. 
Sometimes I read a book that I really think is not great. I’m not talking about a story that’s just not for (though that can be hard to differentiate – more on that later) but a book that is just badly written. Maybe the plot has obvious gaping holes, maybe there are huge factual inaccuracies or there has been no editing, leaving many tiny grammatical and spelling errors, but whatever the reason, you feel the book really is bad. And then what?

I see authors on social media daily begging for reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, and numerous other sales and review sites. I understand that reviews are vital, it shows the book is being read and assuming the reviews are good it will encourage new readers. On some sites just having reviews can increase the chances of the book being promoted on the site as it looks ‘popular’, and promotion leads to sales and authors need sales (because like most humans – they need to eat, pay rent, wear clothes etc – it might be art darlings, but even artists die if not fed and watered)

So I’ve read a book and I really hated it. What now? First off remember I said it can be hard to know why you hated a book? Maybe you love crime drama and that’s what you thought the book would be, but it turned into a fantasy story with dragons, or a romance with kissing; in those cases the book might not be bad, you might just not have liked it. It is fine to not like a book. You can still review a book while being clear it wasn’t your thing, you can explain, without spoilers, why you think other readers might like the bits you didn’t. Maybe the dragons were beautifully described or the kissing stuff was written with great care and excellent use of language (unlike most of this blog post), so you can comment on that. It’s OK to give the book lower than 5 stars too – but I wouldn’t give lower than average just because I didn’t like it – unless the star rating specifically separates into how well written the book was and whether you liked it. I might also mention that I don't read many books like it so my review will not be based on much background knowledge.

Once you have decided that the book really was ‘bad’, then what? You have a few options.

• Don’t review the book. Ignore it altogether, spare the author your painful critique and just move on. This only works if you bought the book yourself and were not asked to review it, and if you haven’t told all and sundry (including the author) that you are reading it.
• Give the book low stars and a terrible moany review. I frown on this approach. It is mean spirited and unhelpful. It will hurt the author while offering no insights into the problems.
• Privately contact the author, point out the issues you have with the book (politely) and ask them if they still want you to review it. This is a risky approach as the author may still be hurt. But it gives them a chance to respond and maybe even address the issues, perhaps they can correct things (particularly in an electronic book) or at least be aware of them for future writing.
• Give a low star review and list the reasons politely and with ways they could have been improved. You are now setting yourself up for replies and criticism, but as long as you are not rude and remain honest, this seems fair. You do not have to write a long review and can keep it brief. Try the old ‘shit’ sandwich approach too. Start with a nice thing about the book, follow with some issues and how you would have liked them to have been sorted, followed by a positive ending.
• Lastly, you could lie. Give the book five stars, be really vague and tell everyone it was great and they should read it. The author will be happy and anyone who reads the book and hates it will think you are an idiot. Other people may lie too and, like the Emporer's New Clothes, it could be years before some brave soul points out that the book is actually terrible.

I don’t know what you do when you read a book you think was bad, I think I use a mixture of the methods I’ve outlined above (all authors I’ve ever reviewed and given 5 stars to will now panic and wonder if I secretly hated their books). I asked authors on twitter for their thoughts and the vast majority said that while they hate a bad review it keeps reviews real, and constructive criticism can be useful. Luckily, reading a book I think is poor doesn’t happen very often. I seem to either be good at judging a book by its cover or I have a low threshold for ‘poor’. I read a variety of books and styles and usually enjoy them.

@tattooed_mummy A review is, hopefully, an honest response. We can't expect only good reviews.

— Louis Barfe (@LFBarfe) January 6, 2016

I shall continue to read and review books whenever I can. I hope you do too. And share what you read on social media too, spread the word.

Happy reading …and don’t forget – authors love reviews. Some authors even love bad ones.

@tattooed_mummy It hurts when someone kicks your baby, but yes as long as the criticisms are valid and thoughtful.

— Wombat (@wombat37) January 6, 2016

@tattooed_mummy sure, if it's genuinely constructive. I had one really helpful review for my first book that influenced some stuff I wrote

— Girl on the Net (@girlonthenet) January 6, 2016

@tattooed_mummy constructive criticism is the key

— Dee (@Deewritenow) January 6, 2016

Written in the Stars by Ali Harris - Book Review

I had vowed to read more and tweet less this year, I'm not sure how that is going if I'm honest but I have managed a few books so far.

I started this one after a couple of reads that had left me rather tearful, they had both been about old age and life changes and sad dark pasts so it was with some excitement I started reading Written in the Stars by Ali Harris. It looked like just the thing, something light and fluffy, about young people, romance, futures.

As I like to do I immediately checked to see if Ali Harris was on twitter, I love the ability to see what your favourite authors are up to and to send them messages, getting a reply is just amazing. I am a self confessed 'author-groupie' so following authors on twitter is the best thing (after following bearded men...bearded authors.....mmmmmm ... sorry where were we..).

Right, yes, so I found that Ali did indeed have a twitter account and I told her I hoped her book would cheer me.

About to start Written in the Stars by @AliHarrisWriter I hope it's not a weepy book. I need some smiles
— Tattooed_Mummy (@tattooed_mummy) February 15, 2015

Well, the story is a 'sliding doors' style 'what if' sort of book and it started cheerily enough. Light and fluffy as I wanted but soon it became obvious that there was something darker in the history of the characters and the excellent writing began to tease and draw the reader (me) in.

 "as her wedding day approaches, her years of indecision are weighing heavily on her, and she can't help but wonder, 'What if, what if, what if….'
What if she hadn't upped sticks and moved to London? What if she hadn't grabbed the first job that came along and settled down with the first guy who showed an interest? But all of her questions are silenced when she slips while walking down the aisle and is knocked unconscious. In this split second her life splits into two: in one existence, Bea flees back down the aisle and out of the church. In the other she glides blissfully towards her intended."

The book initially spent a chapter on one side of the split life and one on the other, alternating so that each life mirrored the other, this made the story easy to follow but as the book continued the alternate chapter idea became less pronounced and sometimes 2 chapters followed one story. This initially threw me a bit but only because I'm a lazy reader, or maybe Ali hoped to trick us? Whichever it was I soon got back into the swing of things and found the story moving and gripping.

Is Bea's marriage happy? Is she happy single? Who can she live without and who can she love? Can her mum love her as she needs to be loved? and what of Bea's job, will she find the perfect job when single, or when married?

There were constant twists and turns as the two alternate 'what if' lives of our heroine gradually marched toward their inevitable conclusion.

It did make me cry. There were some deep and dark past memories for several key characters that were brought gasping to the surface. And the way that the characters could grasp the nettles of the past and move on to a new and calmer garden was beautiful. Friendship, love and family, as well as confidence, strength, growth and individuality seemed to be the themes of the book.

And my mixed water and plant metaphors in the paragraph above? Deliberate, water and gardening are big themes throughout the story.

I hope I've intrigued you without giving away any spoilers. A deceiving book, with more depth than its cover hints at. Well worth a read.

Book review and a giveaway - Manga Shakespeare

Last year DD and I went to Wilderness Festival and in preparation for seeing As You Like It in the woods we decided we should familiarise ourselves with the plot so that we wouldn't become confused. Of course we were confused a bit - Shakespeare designs the play that way.

The play is a humorous look at love, marriage, deceit and confusion.

It is, as the manga version declares

 "the age old story : brothers quarrel, boy meets girl, boy becomes man; four weddings, two reconciliations - and a girl who dresses like a boy. Well each to their own, nobody's perfect, and ... as you like it"

As You Like It is part of Manga Shakespeare, a series of graphic novel adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays. If you want to get kids into reading then graphic novels can be a great way to start. This book was fun to read and the pictures are very cute, drawn by the Chie Kutsuwada. She is a London based award winning manga artist.

Whether you like manga or Shakespeare or both this book is a nice addition to a library. To avoid extra confusion there is a plot summary at the end of the book, along with a brief history of Shakespeare's life.

Now that we have seen the play (which was brilliant!) and read the book I'm offering it to another reader. It is in pristine condition, I read so carefully the spine is not even creased. Perfect to read or as a gift.

If you would like to own this book (and you live in the UK) use the Rafflecopter entry form below and I'll post it to the winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Review - The Judas Scar by Amanda Jennings

Disclosure - I was sent an uncorrected proof copy to read and review.

And I was sent the copy ages ago! Due to all sorts of pathetic excuses I didn't really start reading this book for a while. When I did the story was pretty harrowing, the subject matter, men who had known each other at school and then drifted apart, now re meeting, is a subjest that has been covered by other authors but this book had both a dark edge and a mystery. Jumping back and forth from the characters lives and histories the reader is drawn slowly into their story.

And as I said it becomes quite sad and even horrific at times. I took a break in the middle of at least a month. Maybe I'm a wimp, but when I asked Amanda on twitter 'do any dogs die?' because I was weeping at every page! and she said something like 'dogs...erm...no, have you read the cat scene yet?' So I took a break to compose myself.

Then a few days ago I picked it back up. Tissues at the ready I carried on. The writing is quite breathtaking in places (and it's always good) There were several phrases I simply loved.

"It's not about what I have to gain, it's that I don't have anything to lose"

 So I urge you to get a copy and see what you think.

Link to it on Goodreads here

and at Waterstones here

Added to the Read With Me Linky at MamaMummyMum

Reading for Pleasure - Fahrenheit 451

I read Fahrenheit 451 (by Ray Bradbury) last week. I bought it after thinking about classic books I hadn't read, and as it was science fiction it was one of the most appealing of my mental 'classics list'.

I didn't know what I would find, wasn't sure what to expect, like many others (I suspect) I am put off reading any book that is rated a 'classic' as the word 'classic' automatically defaults to 'wordy and extremely boring' in my brain like a sort of literary autocorrect.

I read 1984 at school (in 1984 - I suppose the Exam boards just couldn't resist it) and loved it so I'm not sure why I'm so easily put off, I blame Thomas Hardy.

But I love science fiction, and I love the older style, I'm a big fan of Philip K Dick, Asimov and Philip Jose Farmer. So I started reading...

The novel presents a future American society where books are outlawed and "firemen" burn any that are found. The book is not boring, it is well written at at the beginning the pace is so fast I almost didn't notice the writing style at all! So caught up as I was in what was happening. As the pace slowed toward the middle though I began to notice the beautiful poetry of the writing, going so far as to read a paragraph to my family (several times, until they agreed it was beautiful!)

 “He could feel the Hound, like autumn, come cold and dry and swift, like a wind that didn’t stir grass, that didn’t jar windows or disturb leaf shadows on the white sidewalks as it passed.”

I was less happy with the ending of the book. It felt rushed and unsatisfying, but I might read it again in case I missed things. Over all I enjoyed the book and the theme. I bought a paper copy of the book as reading it on an E-reader seemed blasphemous considering the subject matter. I encourage you to read it if you have the chance. And encourage your teens to read it too - it will make for some interesting discussions.

Wikipedia Link to the book - warning may contain spoilers

Written for MamaMummyMum's Read With Me Linky

Sworn Secret - Book Review

Remember those freaks and weirdos  authors I went to the pub with on Saturday?

Well, I know this will be a surprise, what with them being authors and all, but they have written some books! And I have read some of them, so I am going to review some of them! All set?

Then let us begin.  

Book, the first.

Amanda looking worridly at a banana

I have been chatting to Amanda Jennings on twitter for a while. I don't recall exactly how we met but I do remember we got into terrible trouble, and fits of the giggles when we accidentally trolled a well known blogger. The more we apologised and tried to explain the worse it became. While we cried laughing I think he blocked us both. We are still very contrite amused by it all.

Any way - Amanda wrote a book, she sent me a copy and so it felt churlish not to read it. Just kidding! I was desperatly keen!

The book is called Sworn Secret. It's a YA (Young Adult) novel, suitable for that awkward stage between childrens books and grown up books - and lets be honest, that's about where I am. I am not yet 50 and far from grown up.

The book starts with a death, and there is a lot of descriptive writing about how the mother copes with the loss of her teenage daughter. I cried. I didn't just cry a bit, I sobbed, each thing that hit the mother in the story, hit me. I have a teen daughter. It hurts to even think about losing her. Each crazy thing the mother does, each bitter family row...well you get the idea, I sobbed and sobbed, my eyes looked like the provebial 'piss holes in snow'. I threatened Amanda that if things didn't cheer up I would do bad things to her (possibly with a banana).

Luckily for her by the second half of the book things were looking up, now I could identify with the young love, relive my teens, sex in sheds, stolen kisses and quiet hand holding.

I can't tell you the secret, you'll need to read the book for yourself. But it's a moving book. Bring tissues.

Readability score 4.5/5
Kelly Kettle Rating (assumed, as I didn't actually test it) 3

Sworn Secret is currently £5.75 on Amazon Uk and £6.39 at Waterstones

Posted for a linky ....