It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

The Its Monday! What Are You Reading meme is hosted at Book Journey.

Life…

Ugh, I have been horribly sick this past week, I spent a few days in bed feeling revolting, barely able to move everything was aching so much and would have stayed there longer if I could except it was my oldest son’s 9th birthday during the week so I had to suck it up to host a family dinner, and then his birthday party for his friends on Saturday. And yesterday was Mother’s Day, I slept til noon, spent a hour reading the papers, rang my mother to wish her a happy day and then thought I better make an attempt to catch up on all the work I had let slide during the week. Not only the housework suffered but also the blog as though I had more time to read, when I wasn’t sleeping, I didn’t have the energy to sit at the computer and write reviews.

A mother’s work is never done!

The cake I made for Makyah’s birthday party – his favourite book series is Zac Power

What I Read Last Week

The Yearning by Kate Belle

Dead Man’s Deal (The Asylum Tales #2) by Jocelynn Drake

Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella

Austenland by Shannon Hale

Witch Fire (Burn Mark #2) by Laura Powell

Wong Way To Marry by CA Poulter

Anthem for Jackson Dawes by Celia Bryce

New Posts

(click the titles to read my reviews)

AWW Feature & Giveaway: Kate Belle and The Yearning

Review & Giveaway: The Yearning by Kate Belle ★★★★1/2

What I Am Reading Today

Evie and Nicole Glass share a last name. They also shared a husband.  When a tragic car accident ends the life of Richard Glass, it also upends the lives of Evie and Nicole, and their children. There’s no love lost between the widow and the ex. In fact, Evie sees a silver lining in all this heartache—the chance to rid herself of Nicole once and for all. But Evie wasn’t counting on her children’s bond with their baby half-brother, and she wasn’t counting on Nicole’s desperate need to hang on to the threads of family, no matter how frayed. Strapped for cash, Evie cautiously agrees to share living expenses—and her home—with Nicole and the baby. But when Evie suspects that Nicole is determined to rearrange more than her kitchen, Evie must decide who she can trust. More than that, she must ask: what makes a family?

What I Plan To Read This Week

(click the covers to view at Goodreads)

Welcome to Whitetail, Wisconsin, future home of Weddings that WOW! As acting mayor, Annika will do anything to revive the economy of the town that’s been her refuge ever since her art career imploded and her fiancé walked out. Even if it means crashing an engagement party to talk business with the bride’s billionaire father. But the evening starts with a kiss from a gorgeous stranger—and ends with a night in jail. Finn Callahan can’t believe his sister is getting married, not after their parents’ disastrous track record. And he’d rather be anywhere than working from his family’s vacation home. Until he catches a leggy blonde sneaking in the window, and suddenly telecommuting for the season is very appealing.
Unable to resist their mutual attraction, Annika and Finn are soon mixing business and pleasure—just for the summer. Too bad Annika’s heart missed the memo about not falling in love…

Kirsty Mitchell is ready to come home. After a tragic accident that left her scarred, she fled overseas. Now, three years later, she’s finally returning to Flame Tree Hill, her beloved family farm. But at twenty-five Kirsty isn’t prepared for the terrifying new challenge ahead: breast cancer.Kirsty’s never been a quitter and that’s not about to change. But can her budding romance with local vet Aden bear the strain? As she battles with chemotherapy and as her past threatens to overwhelm her, Kirsty realises you can never take anything – or anyone – for granted. Drawing strength from her family and the beauty of Far North Queensland, Kirsty finally understands what
she must do.

So, then. You want a story and I will tell you one…Afghanistan, 1952. Abdullah and his sister Pari live with their father and stepmother in the small village of Shadbagh. Their father, Saboor, is constantly in search of work and they struggle together through poverty and brutal winters. To Adbullah, Pari, as beautiful and sweet-natured as the fairy for which she was named, is everything. More like a parent than a brother, Abdullah will do anything for her, even trading his only pair of shoes for a feather for her treasured collection. Each night they sleep together in their cot, their skulls touching, their limbs tangled. One day the siblings journey across the desert to Kabul with their father. Pari and Abdullah have no sense of the fate that awaits them there, for the event which unfolds will tear their lives apart; sometimes a finger must be cut to save the hand. Crossing generations and continents, moving from Kabul, to Paris, to San Francisco, to the Greek island of Tinos, with profound wisdom, depth, insight and compassion, Khaled Hosseini writes about the bonds that define us and shape our lives, the ways that we help our loved ones in need, how the choices we make resonate through history, and how we are often surprised by the people closest to us

Her lineage is both a blessing and a curse… There is no mercy in the demon realm. No escape. In this place of desperation and conflict, anyone who is not pure bred is virtually powerless. Until an unlikely champion is born…  

While you are here…

Congratulations to:

Winner of  Peace, Love and Khaki Socks. Emma

Enter to Win The Yearning by Kate Belle. Closes May 19th

Thanks for stopping by, I’ll be along to visit you shortly!

 

Review & Giveaway: The Yearning by Kate Belle

 

Title: The Yearning

Author: Kate Belle

Published: Simon and Schuster May 2013

Status: Read from May 05 to 06, 2013 — I own a copy{Courtesy the author}

My Thoughts:

” I need your eyes to see, your hands to touch, your spirit to acknowledge that which I hold most deeply and secretly in my heart. My yearning for you.”

A shy teenage girl writes scented letters of longing to her new high school English teacher and neighbour, the handsome and charming, Solomon Andrews. From her bedroom window she watches and hopes for him to notice her.
Solomon is flattered by his young student’s attention, and though wary of another scandal, he finds himself unable to resist her passionate adoration.
While Solomon justifies their affair as his “ultimate and ecstatic gift” to her, the girl believes he is her soul mate, her one and only true love.
When they are discovered and separated she clings to the to the idea that she and Solomon are destined to be together. It is a belief that she cannot relinquish, and well into adulthood the yearning for him remains.

The plot of The Yearning extends beyond the scandalous affair between a teacher and a student, even beyond the a sensual coming of age story of an unnamed teenage girl in love with with a twenty something year old man. It is a compelling exploration of the nature of love, of lust, of longing and desire and how our early experiences with these emotions affect the way in which we resolve them as adults.

For the girl – now a woman, the affair leaves her endlessly searching for a lover able to stir the same feelings within her. It’s an obsession that sabotages her relationships with other men, and even when she submits to Solomon’s absence and marries Max, she is not free of their decades old connection. If she can’t find some way to relinquish her teenage fantasy happiness will always elude her.
For Solomon, whose introduction to sex was divorced from love or even affection, the craving for attention, physical satisfaction and control of his emotions has him at the mercy of his libido. The value of an emotional connection, love if you will, escapes him not only in his relationship with the girl but in all his relationships to follow.

Belle’s lyrical prose ensures The Yearning avoids becoming a tawdry, sensationalist tale of sexual exploitation. Both Eve and Solomon are able to give voice to the motivation behind their feelings and desires. The author captures the excitement and confusion of lust and love with raw honesty. Eve’s letters and diary entries are the romantic, sensual ravings of a young girl in the throes of intense infatuation. Solomon’s musings, though indisputably self serving, are thoughtfully revealing. It is important to know that the descriptions of various sexual unions are at times explicit but not without purpose.

Beautifully crafted, The Yearning is an evocative, sensual novel exploring the connection between love and desire.

Learn  more about Kate Belle, The Yearning and enter a giveaway for a signed print edition by clicking HERE

The Yearning is available to purchase

@ Simon & Schuster AU I @Boomerang Books I @Booktopia I @Amazon Kindle I @iTunes

Via Booko I @ your local independent bookshop

AWW Feature & Giveaway: Q&A with Kate Belle, author of The Yearning

Welcome Kate Belle!

I am so pleased to welcome Kate Belle to Book’d Out today. Kate Belle lives, writes and loves in Melbourne, but is a country girl at heart, being born and bred in northern Victoria.  Kate describes herself as a passionate author, adequate wife and devoted mum/step-mum. She holds a tertiary qualification in applied chemistry, half a diploma in naturpathy and a diploma in psychological astrology. Her employment history includes a video library, a travel agent, cleaning campervans for hire, the Victorian public service, a disability organisation and a university sports centre. She has ridden a camel through the Australian desert, fraternised with hippies in Nimbin, had a near birth experience and lived on nothing but porridge and a carrot for 3 days.

Kate has had some publishing success with nonfiction articles and four short stories highly commended in Australian competitions. She recently won the Southern Cross short story competition for Cool Change and has had two erotic romance novella’s, Breaking The Rules and Bloom, published by Random Romance.

Kate’s debut full length novel,  The Yearning, was published in May by Simon and Schuster Australia. This evocative, sensual novel explores the yearning for love, sex, and connection. You can read my y review of this remarkable novel  HERE

“It’s 1978 in a country town and a dreamy fifteen year old girl’s world is turned upside down by the arrival of the substitute English teacher. Solomon Andrews is beautiful, inspiring and she wants him like nothing else she’s wanted in her short life.
Charismatic and unconventional, Solomon easily wins the hearts and minds of his third form English class. He notices the attention of one girl, his new neighbour, who has taken to watching him from her upstairs window. He assumes it a harmless teenage crush, until erotic love notes begin to arrive in his letterbox.
Solomon knows he must resist, but her sensual words stir him. He has longings of his own, although they have nothing to do with love, or so he believes. One afternoon, as he stands reading her latest offering in his driveway, she turns up unannounced. Each must make a choice, the consequences of which will haunt them until they meet again twenty years later.”

I had the opportunity to ask Kate some questions and I am thrilled to share our conversation with you today. Read on…

Q & A with Kate Belle

Q: What are the main themes of The Yearning?

Kate: Love, desire, obsession, intimacy, lust and sexual power. To name a few. The Yearning is an intense story of unrequited and unconditional love. It explores how deep longing for connection with someone we believe we love can push us across social and moral boundaries. Sometimes we just want what we want, no matter what, but in love (and lust) there are always consequences and The Yearning doesn’t shy away from those.

It examines the sexual power balance in what appears at first to be an unequal relationship. But there is always more to these relationships than meets the eye. In a way it’s a cautionary tale for young women growing into their sexuality about the damage that mature sexual relationships can cause if we enter into them too early. The main protagonist is anonymous throughout the novel as a way of expressing her sense of invisibility.

Q: Where did the inspiration for The Yearning come from?

Kate: That’s a tricky one because the story sort of evolved out of a deep place within, as many of my stories do. I can’t pin it to one specific thing. The bones of it began as a collection of unsent love letters I’d written to various unattainable lovers throughout my own life, and a couple of short stories that were going nowhere. When I put them together I saw some common themes and the story took root. It rolled out of me as I wrote. I remember finishing a chapter, taking a deep breath and wondering where the story would take me next.

Q: What about a small Australian town in the late 1970′s made it the ideal setting for The Yearning?

Kate: I grew up in a small country town in 1970’s, so that setting holds a lot of ambience for me. The 1970’s was a time when Australia was coming to terms with the massive social changes sweeping across the Western world. Women’s liberation, the sexual revolution, the civil and equal rights movements. Big changes that challenged people’s moral boundaries and social norms.

Combine this sense of boundaries crumbling with a lack of public scrutiny and the relentless boredom that comes with being a teenager in a small town that offers nothing – no bookstore, no cinema, no culture – and you have fertile ground for a relationship like the one in The Yearning to evolve.

Q: The relationship in the novel  defies social and moral conventions, what can readers learn from this?

Kate: When we are young, it’s so easy to give ourselves away in the name of love. Yet entering a mature sexual relationship too early can be damaging in so many ways, ways we can’t comprehend until we hit full adulthood. I hope people will understand how a relationship like this can evolve, and that Solomon isn’t a monster. He struggles with his attraction, but is a bit helpless in the face of his own psyche and a young girl’s powerful desire for him.

There is a lot of hysteria and blame around student-teacher relationships. Certainly there is a power imbalance, but too often the teenagers are painted as hapless victims without any power at all. The truth is young people hold enormous sexual power and this is part of the reason these relationships happen in the first place. Through popular culture our young people learn early the value of sexual allure and how to ruffle their sexual feathers. If they are to protect themselves from potential exploitation it’s important they also understand the emotional ramifications that come with being involved with an older person.

Q: What scene in the novel was the most challenging to write?

Kate: The challenging bit wasn’t so much a scene as a character. Solomon. True confession: I went through so many redrafts trying to get behind his eyes to get his point of view. In the end my gorgeous critique partner, Margareta Osborn, very gently pointed out that perhaps I was so in love with Solomon that maybe I couldn’t see straight and if I wanted to write him properly I had to stop being so sympathetic toward him. It was a bit of a shock, but she was right. I had a very complicated relationship with Solomon throughout the novel, and it wasn’t until I talked it through with Margareta that I realised it was compromising my ability to write him. Weird, I know, but there it is.

Q: The Yearning is promoted by your publisher as erotic fiction – what does that term mean within the context of this novel?

Whenever a novel like this hits the bookshelves it needs to be categorised in some way so that people understand its genre. While The Yearning contains strong erotic themes and explicit sexual scenes, all of which are absolutely necessary to the story, I hope it’s not defined by that content alone. It’s a love story (as opposed to a romance). The ending isn’t a traditional HEA, but it is perfect for the story. I think the common themes of expectations and disappointments in love and negotiating challenging relationships give it a much broader appeal than erotic fiction.

Q: I understand you need music to write – what was on your playlist during the writing of The Yearning?

Kate: The majority of The Yearning was written to a gorgeous CD of sensual classical music. My hubby received Seduction by Luminesca, an Australian cello/guitar duo, for his birthday. I fell in love with the music and it perfectly captured the intense emotional journey the characters undertake in The Yearning. It inspired me while writing the intense love scenes and scenes of longing in the book. If I could embed the music into the book for readers to enjoy I would.

Q: What’s next for you?

Kate: I’ve just signed a contract with Simon & Schuster for my second novel, working title Saint. It’s another intense and challenging story about a marriage between Jade, a wild artist who flouts social conventions, and her ever patient husband, Banjo. For the first time in twenty years Banjo walks out  after a fight with Jade and is killed in a hit and run accident. Banjo is left with an unanswered question: did his wife, Jade, love him above all the others? He can’t be at peace until he discovers the answer. Only when their daughter, Lissy, discovers Jade’s book of lovers, an artistic journal chronicling her extra-marital affairs, does he discover the truth.

Q.    Can you please share three of your favourite novels by Australian women writers?

My One Hundred Lovers by Susan Johnson – I just fell in love with the prose in this book. It’s a wonderful exploration of eroticism in all its forms.

Tremble by Tobsha Learner – The way she weaves myth and mysticism into this collection of erotic short stories is awe-inspiring.

Anything by Margareta Osborn – Not just because she’s my critique partner. She is a master at character. I can hear them breathing when I read her work.

Q. What is your preference?

·           Coffee/Tea or other? I’m a brewed coffee addict.

·           Beach/Pool or River? River or beach. Pools are fake.

·           Slacks/Jeans or Leggings? Jeans. Even when I’m too old to get away with them. (Do people still wear slacks?)

·           Butterfly/Tiger or Giraffe? Some days are tigers, some days are butterflys, but they’re rarely giraffes.

·           Swing/Slide or Roundabout? Since I did my knee on the trampoline I don’t do play equipment.

The Yearning is available to purchase

@ Simon & Schuster AU I @Boomerang Books I @Booktopia I @Amazon Kindle I @iTunes

Via Booko I @ your local independent bookshop

You can find Kate Belle @

Website I Facebook I Twitter

ENTER TO WIN

 Kate Belle is offering you the chance to win

 1  signed print edition of

The Yearning

 Open to Australia Residents only

 To Enter

CLICK HERE

Entries close May 19th. Drawn via Random.org

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

The Its Monday! What Are You Reading meme is hosted at Book Journey.

Life…

Yesterday my sons, who both play Auskick (a modified version of AFL) were lucky enough to be part of the teams chosen to play at half time at the SCG during the Sydney Swans vs Brisbane Lions game. My father  – a huge AFL fan took them to the game and they had a wonderful time. I was hoping to spot them on the TV coverage but was disappointed as they didn’t show the Auskick teams even once

It’s the first Monday of the month  so time update my challenge progress.

 

The Eclectic Reader Challenge 3/12

Australian Women Writer’s Challenge 46/50

Aussie Author Challenge 5/12

Monthly Keyword Challenge 4/12

What I Read Last Week

The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa

Into My Arms by Kylie Ladd

Taking A Chance by Deborah Burrows

The Rules of Conception by Angela Lawrence

Heartland by Cathryn Hein

New Posts

(click the titles to read my reviews)

Review: Antidote to Murder by Felicity Young ★★★★

Review: Oath Bound by Rachel Vincent ★★★★

Review: The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa ★★★

Review: Into My Arms by Kylie Ladd ★★★★

Review: Taking a Chance by Deborah Burrows

Stuff on Sundays: Thought of the day…

What I Am Reading Today

“I want to reveal myself to you… I need your eyes to see, your hands to touch, your spirit to acknowledge that which I hold most deeply and secretly in my heart. My yearning for you.” It’s 1978 in a country town and a dreamy fifteen year old girl’s world is turned upside down by the arrival of the substitute English teacher. Solomon Andrews is beautiful, inspiring and she wants him like nothing else she’s wanted in her short life. Charismatic and unconventional, Solomon easily wins the hearts and minds of his third form English class. He notices the attention of one girl, his new neighbour, who has taken to watching him from her upstairs window. He assumes it a harmless teenage crush, until erotic love notes begin to arrive in his letterbox. Solomon knows he must resist, but her sensual words stir him. He has longings of his own, although they have nothing to do with love, or so he believes. One afternoon, as he stands reading her latest offering in his driveway, she turns up unannounced. Each must make a choice, the consequences of which will haunt them until they meet again twenty years later.

What I Plan To Read This Week

(click the covers to view at Goodreads)

Lottie is tired of long-term boyfriends who don’t want to commit to marriage. When her old boyfriend Ben reappears and reminds her of their pact to get married if they were both still single at thirty, she jumps at the chance. There will be no dates and no engagement-just a straight wedding march to the altar! Next comes the honeymoon on the Greek island where they first met. But not everyone is thrilled with Lottie and Ben’s rushed marriage, and family and friends are determined to intervene. Will Lottie and Ben have a wedding night to remember . or one to forget?

The dark and dangerous follow-up that continues the adventures of a magical tattoo artist begun in Angel’s Ink In a world where elves, faeries, trolls, werewolves, and vampires swim free in a sea of humanity, sometimes you need an edge. Looking for a little love? Need some luck? Desperate for revenge? Gage can give you what you need. The most talented tattoo artist in town, he knows the right symbol and the right mix of ingredients and ink to achieve your heart’s desire. One tattoo is all it takes. But remember, everything has its price. . . .  Gage learned that lesson long ago, in ways he’d rather not remember. But the cruel and powerful wizards in the dreaded Ivory Towers he escaped aren’t about to let him forget. Though Gage has managed to stay out of sight, he can’t outrun the past forever. The wizards know Gage is using forbidden magic, and they intend to punish him for his transgressions. Too bad if innocent humans and monsters-entire cities-get in the way. They will quell a nascent magical uprising and Gage will be the sacrifice they need. First, though, they have to find him . .

Jane is a young New York woman who can never seem to find the right man-perhaps because of her secret obsession with Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation of “Pride and Predjudice.” When a wealthy relative bequeaths her a trip to an English resort catering to Austen-obsessed women, however, Jane’s fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman suddenly become more real than she ever could have imagined. Is this total immersion in a fake Austenland enough to make Jane kick the Austen obsession for good, or could all her dreams actually culminate in a Mr. Darcy of her own?

Lucas and Glory are hard at work in WICA (Witchkind Intelligence and Covert Affairs). As part of their training, they learn more about the witch-terrorist organization Endor. It is believed that Endor has infiltrated a boarding school for young witches in Switzerland, so WICA sends their two youngest agents—Lucas and Glory—to the school undercover. There, they learn more about an experimental brain implant that blocks the power of the fae. It’s a dangerous procedure . . . more so than they could ever have imagined.

While you are here…

Congratulations to:

Winner Ask Me To Stay by Elise K Ackers: Annette

Winners of  Out of the Silence by Wendy James: Amy  and Kimberly

Winners of  The Grand Adventures of Madeleine Cain by Emily Craven: Claire and Anne

Winner of The River of No Return by Bee Ridgeway: Michael

Enter to Win Peace, Love and Khaki Socks. Australian readers only. Closes May 10th

Thanks for stopping by, I’ll be along to visit you shortly!

 

Stuff On Sunday: Thought of the day…

Review: Taking a Chance by Deborah Burrows

 

Title: Taking A Chance

Author: Deborah Burrows

Published: Pan Macmillan May 2013

Status: Read from May 02 to 03, 2013 — I own a copy {Courtesy the Publisher}

My Thoughts:

For some reason I had expected that the characters from A Stranger in My Street, Deborah Burrows debut novel, would reappear in Taking a Chance, instead, the author introduces two new protagonists at the center of another mystery in wartime Perth, Australia.

In Taking a Chance, twenty four year old journalist, Eleanor “Nell” Fitzgerald, reluctantly becomes involved with a convalescing American war time correspondent’s crusade to prove a woman, tried and convicted for her lover’s murder, innocent. Captain Johnny Horvath is charming, handsome and persuasive and Nell, with ambitions of using her degree in English Literature for more than penning an admittedly popular fashion advice column, agrees to assist him with his investigation.

Proving Lena Mitrovic innocent forms the bulk of the mystery plot as Nell and Johnny investigate the victims life, looking for evidence that could exonerate the woman. As they follow a trail of heartbreak, jealousy and greed in the artist’s commune where Lena and her lover lived, they encounter small town bullies, a woman crazed by grief and uncover a story of four missing young girls.

For me, the most fascinating part of the story is Burrows expose of the less desirable result of US servicemen flooding into Perth. Young, naive women, thrilled by the attentions of the exotic, cashed up visitors and swept away by the idea of wartime romance were vulnerable to exploitation. The lucky ones found themselves married to someone they barely knew, the unlucky found themselves left behind, humiliated, with their reputation in tatters, the very unlucky became ‘Lost Girls’, tricked or forced into prostitution.
The plight of these young girls becomes part of Johnny and Nell’s investigation when clues point to two of the missing girls from Lena’s community being involved in the murder and becomes of personal interest to Nell when she and Johnny rescue fourteen year old orphan Eve from a couple of drunk and belligerent sailors.

I really liked the way in which Burrows developed the relationship between Nell and Johnny, she allows it to evolve quite naturally despite the intensity of their situation and Johnny’s imminent return to active service. Nell is determined to ignore her growing attraction to Johnny, who has a reputation as a bit of a ‘cad’. She expects to marry her long time boyfriend, a lawyer, when he returns from his wartime secondment but finds it increasingly difficult to resist Johnny’s charm. Nell is worried that taking a chance on Johnny’s affections being true will leave her another heartbroken and humiliated statistic.

Just as in A Stranger in My Street, I really enjoyed the blend of mystery and romance in Taking A Chance. I loved revisiting wartime Perth (my hometown) and was once again impressed by the author’s ability to seamlessly integrate the historical detail of time and place. With all of that, combined with strong characterisation and a well crafted plot, I can only recommend you ‘take a chance’ on this entertaining and engaging novel.

Available To Purchase

@PanMacmillan I @BoomernagBooks I @Booktopia I @Amazon Kindle

via Booko

Review: Into My Arms by Kylie Ladd

Title: Into My Arms

Author: Kylie Ladd

Published: Allen & Unwin May 2013

Status: Read from May 01 to 02, 2013 — I own a copy {Courtesy the publisher}

My Thoughts:

In her previous novels, Kylie Ladd has written with compelling insight into uncomfortable issues including adultery in After the Fall and death and grief in Last Summer. Into My Arms, her third novel, is similarly confronting while examining the complexities of family, love and desire.

It’s incredibly difficult to articulate my thoughts about Into My Arms while avoiding spoilers. The back cover hints at love at first sight followed by a passionate relationship which is then shattered by a shocking revelation but it is much more than that. Skye and Ben are nearly destroyed by a phenomena that challenges moral and societal conventions and Into My Arms explores it’s devastating effects on both the couple and their families.

What could have been a tawdry, sensationalistic subject, is dealt with carefully, shedding a compassionate light on a little known issue that is particularly relevant in modern society. There is no getting away from the fact that most readers will find it confronting but I think Ladd does a terrific job in humanising the issue by placing ordinary people at the center of the maelstrom.

While the controversial main plot will garner the most attention, there is a prominent subplot in the book not alluded to in the blurb. Zia is a pupil of Ben and Skye, a young boy from an immigrant Iranian family who is struggling to adjust to his new life. While Zia’s story is linked by the themes of family and estrangement, and he develops connections with the main characters, I thought it out of place somehow. Don’t get me wrong, it is interesting in and of itself, but I didn’t find it necessary and I wondered if it’s purpose was to blunt the confronting nature of Ben and Skye’s circumstance.

Regardless, I found Into My Arms to be a fascinating and thought provoking novel. I devoured it in hours and I suspect it will stimulate discussion amongst all who read it.

Available To Purchase

@Allen & Unwin I @BoomerangBooks I @Booktopia I @Amazon Kindle

via Booko

Review: The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa

Title: The Eternity Cure {Blood of Eden #2}

Author: Julie Kagawa

Published: Harlequin May 2013

Read an Excerpt

Status: Read from April 29 to 30, 2013 — I own a copy {Courtesy the publisher}

My Thoughts:

Though it took me a while to warm up to Julie Kagawa’s Iron Fey series I ended up enjoying it, as well as the first book of the spin off series, The Lost Prince and when I was lucky enough to receive a copy of The Eternity Cure, I was happy for the excuse to dive into another of her series.

I picked up The Immortal Rules to read before beginning The Eternity Cure and though I enjoyed elements of Kagawa’s writing and her creative post-apocalyptic world-building, I found myself a little underwhelmed. Nevertheless I moved straight on to The Eternity Cure which picks up almost five months later.

**Note:  Immortal Rules is currently free to download in the iTunes store**

Having left Eden, and Zeke, behind, Allison is tracing her sire and mentor Kanin, who is being held captive by the psychotic vampire Sarren. Avoiding the Rabids, feeding only when necessary on the opportunists that cross her path, she follows the call of blood but when her journey is intercepted by her ‘blood brother’, she reluctantly agrees to an alliance with the murderous vampire. Pooling their knowledge, Allison is stunned when the trail leads to her former home, New Covington and is appalled to find the population under threat by a lethal variant of the Red Lung virus. With time running out, Allison must find a way into the heart of the city to save Kanin before the world is lost.

The Eternity Cure is fast paced and action packed and what I do really like about this series is it’s gritty, dark nature. Real, bloody, visceral violence is usually avoided in young adult novels but here Kagawa almost revels in it.
This darkness though is offset by snarky humour and romance (those who complained about the lack of lurve in The Immortal Rules should be satisfied with the sweet and hopeful reunion of Allie and Zeke), but more importantly by the way in which the heroes hold onto hope and fight to survive.
Unfortunately I did find the plot fairly predictable, there were no real surprises, from Stick’s double betrayal to Sarren’s evil scheme and despite some resolution, the story ends on a cliff hanger which will have fans bemoaning the 12 month wait until book 3.

Despite my lack of overt enthusiasm, I did enjoy The Eternity Cure. It’s a fast, easy read and fans of the first novel should not be disappointed with the continued action, romance and Allison’s drive for redemption.

Available to Purchase

@HarlequinAu I @BoomerangBooks I @Booktopia I @Amazon Kindle

via Booko

@AmazonUS I @BookDepository

US Cover

Review: Oath Bound by Rachel Vincent

 

Title: Oath Bound {Unbound #3}

Author: Rachel Vincent

Published: MIRA  April 3012

Status: Read on April 14, 2013 — I own a copy{Courtesy Harlequin AU}

My Thoughts:

I was lucky enough to hear Rachel Vincent speak earlier this year at The Harlequin Blogger Summit. Having already enjoyed her Shifter’s series, I ordered Blood Bound and Shadow Bound to read in preparation for her visit. Though I didn’t have the time to review either novel I devoured them both and gave them each 41/2 stars.

In general I prefer urban fantasy to paranormal romance but what I love about this series is how well it combines the two. Oath Bound, like the other installments in the Unbound trilogy, is gritty, dark, fast paced and action packed. The development of the romance is an important element but it doesn’t take precedence over the plot, which is complex and well thought out.

Oath Bound is the final novel in the adult paranormal romance trilogy which is set in a world where the ‘skilled’ population are forced to choose sides between two ruthless mafia-like syndicates. Jake Tower and Ruben Cavazos exploit the abilities of ‘binders’ to press those they find useful into servitude to ensure the operation of their criminal and business enterprises. The complex and creative world building quickly drew me in, much of the groundwork is laid down Blood Bound and the framework remains an important part of the story through the trilogy. In Oath Bound the a major part of the plot involves the characters actively working to dismantle the Tower group.

Blood Bound also introduces the core characters for the trilogy but each of the books in the Unbound series features a different couple who become romantically involved. In Oath Bound that is Kris and Sera, through whom the story unfolds with alternating first person points of view.
ris’s sister, Kori, a Shadow walker, was featured in Shadow Bound developing a relationship with Ian Holt. Kenley, their youngest sister and a gifted Binder, has been an integral cast member all the way through, and Oath Bound begins with her kidnapping.
Sera is a newly introduced character, the unacknowledged, illegitimate daughter of Jake Tower, who proves to be a vital linchpin in the group’s plans to destroy the Tower Syndicate. Sera has made the mistake of approaching her Aunt Julia for help when Kris interrupts Sera’s meeting with Julia after Kenley is taken. In the firefight that follows, Kris takes Sera with him as he escapes into the shadows. Sera is incensed, certain she is being held hostage while Kris can’t properly explain his compulsion to take her.

Various story arc’s span the trilogy so I would recommend starting at the beginning if you are interested. I have really enjoyed the Undone series and while Oath Bound provides closure, I’m sorry the author chose to end it. Still, Rachel assured me when I had the opportunity to ask, that a new adult audience series would be launched later this year and I am looking forward to it.

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Review: Antidote to Murder by Felicity Young

 

Title: Antidote to Murder {Dr Dody McCleland #2}

Author: Felicity Young

Published: Harper Collins Australia March 2013

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Status: Read from April 26 to 27, 2013 — I own a copy{Courtesy the publisher}

My Thoughts:

Antidote to Murder is the second enthralling book in Felicity Young’s historical mystery series featuring Dr Dody McCleland. Set at the turn of the 19th century in England this story plays out against a backdrop of political and social unrest as suffragettes demand the vote, labour strikes cripple London and German spies seek British intelligence in preparation for war. In Antidote to Murder, Dody’s pursuit of her medical career makes her the target of unscrupulous colleagues and ambitious misogynists. Framed for the death of a scullery maid who was the victim of a botched criminal abortion, and with Dr Benard Spillsbury away and Chief Inspector Pike missing, Dody is forced to face her accusers alone while trying to unmask the real culprit butchering desperate young women.

In my thoughts about A Dissection of Murder I lauded Young’s fascinating balance of political and social commentary with crime and mystery and the author has achieved that same balance here.
With Dody accused of committing a criminal abortion resulting in death, a large part of this story explores attitudes to family planning in the early 1900′s. With contraception prohibitively expensive, abortion criminal and unwed pregnancy resulting in social ostracism, women shouldered both the blame and the responsibility for pregnancy. Uniformed about their own bodies and often seduced by loving promises, young women sought desperate means to end burgeoning pregnancies namely ‘backyard’ abortions procured by knitting needles, poisons and other dubious means.

Though Dody is not a militant feminist, and is against abortion, she does feel strongly that women should be informed about birth control methods, including contraception. Already in defiance of social convention as a part time assistant forensic surgeon for London’s Home Office, the coroner’s court is willing to accept the flimsy circumstantial accusations against her with the view that a woman doctor is ‘unnatural’ and therefore an acceptable scapegoat.

The execution of the plot and the way each element fits is quite brilliant. The search for the real abortionist has plenty of twists and turns as suspicion is cast about. A doctor obsessed with Mata Hari presents as a likely suspect as does one of Dody’s jealous colleagues. Dody’s sister, Florence, involves herself in the search inadvertently forcing the killer to act.
Detective Inspector Mathew Pike is absent through much of this struggle, on special assignment for the Home Office investigating an exotic dance troupe, but returns to defend her once he is aware of what she is facing. He and Dody have not yet acknowledged their affection for one another but as they grow closer, Dody is forced to confront her conflicting desires.

Antidote to Murder combines a fascinating setting with superb characterisation and an intriguing plot. Along with A Dissection of Murder, this is a spectacular series I can’t praise highly enough and recommend without reservation.

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