It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #SundayPost #SundaySalon

The It’s Monday! What Are You Reading meme is hosted at BookDate

I’m also linking to The Sunday Post @ Caffeinated Reviewer

And the Sunday Salon @ ReaderBuzz

 

Life…

I haven’t had the best week health wise, primarily due to the heat triggering a migraine, so I didn’t get the reading done I’d hoped, but with the kids all returning to school today I’ll have free time again, so hopefully I’ll get caught up!

There is currently a debate raging on Twiiter sparked by an author claiming that authors in general don’t want to be @ tagged in reviews, whether opinion is good or bad. Though it is widely accepted (and rightly so) that you do not tag an author if your review of their book is critical, plenty of authors are pleased to be tagged where the review is full of praise. I personally long ago opted not to @ tag authors regardless, unless specifically asked to, for several reasons. Among them that there are authors who don’t want to read or think about reviews, especially immediately post-release, and for those that do, it’s not difficult for them to find them between google alerts, simple searches, and centralised sites like Goodreads. I also figure that publishers/agents/personal screeners (yes this is a thing some authors employ either officially or unofficially) will bring reviews to the attention of the author if they feel it’s appropriate (I always @ tag publishers). This is not to say I don’t think authors should be @ tagged in positive reviews, if you, and the author, are comfortable with it, you do you, but the current faux outrage on Twitter over the issue (which includes calls to boycott the work of the author whose tweet ignited the debate) is uncalled for. Remember: Don’t feed the drama llamas.

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What I’ve Read Since I last Posted…

Losing You by Nicci French

The Girl With the Gold Bikini by Lisa Walker

Mr Nobody by Catherine Steadman

 

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New Posts…

Review: The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave ★★★★★

Review: Saving Missy by Beth Morrey ★★★

Review: The Lawson Sisters by Janet Gover ★★★

Review: Losing You by Nicci French ★★★★1/2

2020 Nonfiction Reader Challenge: Monthly Spotlight #1

Six Degrees of Separation: Fleishman Is In Trouble to Peace

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What I’m Reading This Week…

 

Euphoria Kids by Alison Evans

Ever since the witch cursed Babs, she turns invisible sometimes. She has her mum and her dog, but teachers and classmates barely notice her. Then, one day, Iris can see her. And Iris likes what they see. Babs is made of fire.

Iris grew from a seed in the ground. They have friends, but not human ones. Not until they meet Babs. The two of them have a lot in common: they speak to dryads and faeries, and they’re connected to the magic that’s all around them.

There’s a new boy at school, a boy who’s like them and who hasn’t found his real name. Soon the three of them are hanging out and trying spellwork together. Magic can be dangerous, though. Witches and fae can be cruel. Something is happening in the other realm, and despite being warned to stay away, the three friends have to figure out how to deal with it on their own terms.

Anyone who loves the work of Francesca Lia Block and delights in Studio Ghibli films will be entranced by this gorgeous and gentle young adult novel about three queer friends who come into their power.

++++++

 

Can You Hear Me? By Jake Jones

A memoir of the chaos, intensity and occasional beauty of life as a paramedic.

A young man has stopped breathing in a supermarket toilet. A pedestrian with a nasty head injury won’t let the crew near him on a busy road. A newborn baby is worryingly silent. An addict urinates on the ambulance floor when denied a fix. This is the life of an ambulance paramedic.

Jake Jones has worked in the UK ambulance service for ten years: every day, he sees a dozen of the scenes we hope to see only once in a lifetime. Can You Hear Me? – the first thing he says when he arrives on the scene – is a memoir of the chaos, intensity and occasional beauty of life on the front-lines of medicine in the UK.

As well as a look into dozens of extraordinary scenes – the hoarder who won’t move his collection to let his ailing father leave the house, the blood-soaked man who tries to escape from the ambulance, the life saved by a lucky crew who had been called to see someone else entirely – Can You Hear Me? is an honest examination of the strains and challenges of one of the most demanding and important jobs anyone can do.

++++++

 

Mountain Road, Late At Night by Alan Rossi

A striking, compulsive and immensely powerful debut novel about what happens when tragedy strikes a family.Nicholas and his wife April live in a remote cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains with their four-year-old son, Jack. They keep their families at a distance, rejecting what their loved ones think of as ‘normal’. In the early hours of a Wednesday morning, they are driving home from a party when their car crashes on a deserted road and they are killed.

This is the story of what happens after the tragedy.As the couple’s grieving relatives descend on the family home, they are forced to decide who will care for the child Nicholas and April left behind. Nicholas’s brother, Nathaniel, and his wife Stefanie aren’t ready to be parents but his mother and father have issues of their own. And April’s mother, Tammy, is driving across the country to claim her grandson.

Experiencing a few traumatic days in the minds of each family member, Alan Rossi’s debut, Mountain Road, Late at Night is a taut, nuanced and breathtaking look at what we do when everything goes wrong, and the frightening fact that life carries on, regardless. A gripping, affecting and extremely accomplished debut.

++++++

 

The Last Smile in Sunder City by Luke Arnold

A former soldier turned PI tries to help the fantasy creatures whose lives he ruined in a world that’s lost its magic in a compelling debut fantasy by Black Sails actor Luke Arnold. Welcome to Sunder City. The magic is gone but the monsters remain.I’m Fetch Phillips, just like it says on the window. There are a few things you should know before you hire me:1. Sobriety costs extra.2. My services are confidential.3. I don’t work for humans. It’s nothing personal–I’m human myself. But after what happened, to the magic, it’s not the humans who need my help. Walk the streets of Sunder City and meet Fetch, his magical clients, and a darkly imagined world perfect for readers of Ben Aaronovitch and Jim Butcher.

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Thanks for stopping by!