Update: June 2019
We are halfway through 2019! I honestly still can’t believe it. It feels like yesterday I was coming back from Australia but it’s been over a year now! With the arrival of July I’m now also officially starting the write-up of my PhD thesis. If all goes well I will be handing in in September. Exciting! And terrifying. The last few months have been so hectic I have absolutely no clue what books I bought, received, read or reviewed. It’s all such a blur! So as much for you as for me, here’s an overview of my last month in books. Read In The Night Wood –…
Spotlight: The Sisters of the Winter Wood – Rena Rossner
About the book: Raised in a small village surrounded by vast forests, Liba and Laya have lived a peaceful sheltered life – even if they’ve heard of troubling times for Jews elsewhere. When their parents travel to visit their dying grandfather, the sisters are left behind in their home in the woods. But before they leave, Liba discovers the secret that their Tati can transform into a bear, and their Mami into a swan. Perhaps, Liba realizes, the old fairy tales are true. She must guard this secret carefully, even from her beloved sister. Soon a troupe of mysterious men appear in town and Laya falls under their spell-despite their…
In The Night Wood – Dale Bailey
In this contemporary fantasy, the grieving biographer of a Victorian fantasist finds himself slipping inexorably into the supernatural world that consumed his subject. American Charles Hayden came to England to forget the past. Failed father, failed husband, and failed scholar, Charles hopes to put his life back together with a biography of Caedmon Hollow, the long-dead author of a legendary Victorian children’s book, In the Night Wood. But soon after settling into Hollow’s remote Yorkshire home, Charles learns that the past isn’t dead. In the neighboring village, Charles meets a woman he might have loved, a child who could have been his own lost daughter, and the ghost of a…
A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World – C.A. Fletcher
My name’s Griz. My childhood wasn’t like yours. I’ve never had friends, and in my whole life I’ve not met enough people to play a game of football. My parents told me how crowded the world used to be, but we were never lonely on our remote island. We had each other, and our dogs. Then the thief came. There may be no law left except what you make of it. But if you steal my dog, you can at least expect me to come after you. Because if we aren’t loyal to the things we love, what’s the point? Review A Boy and His Dog at the End of…
Spotlight: Draca – Geoffrey Gudgion
About the book: Jack’s a Royal Marine. A war hero, haunted by his past. Or is he just haunted? ‘A superbly written, fast-paced, ‘crossover’ novel between literary fiction and subtle horror, with characterisation worthy of Susan Hill and seascapes of a modern Conrad.’ Ian Drury, Sheil Land Associates, Literary Agents Jack Ahlquist’s a troubled guy; a decorated veteran who’s having flashbacks to combat, and who’s drifting between jobs. Doctors could fix his wounds, but not his marriage or his career. He’s spent time caring for his much-loved grandfather, Eddie, but he didn’t expect to inherit Eddie’s cottage and century-old sailing boat, the Draca. The legacy drives a wedge through an already…
The Binding – Bridget Collins
Imagine you could erase grief.Imagine you could remove pain.Imagine you could hide the darkest, most horrifying secret.Forever. Young Emmett Farmer is working in the fields when a strange letter arrives summoning him away from his family. He is to begin an apprenticeship as a Bookbinder—a vocation that arouses fear, superstition, and prejudice among their small community but one neither he nor his parents can afford to refuse. For as long as he can recall, Emmett has been drawn to books, even though they are strictly forbidden. Bookbinding is a sacred calling, Seredith informs her new apprentice, and he is a binder born. Under the old woman’s watchful eye, Emmett learns…
Spotlight: Lost Acre – Andrew Caldecott
About the book: Wynter is here . . . Gervon Wynter has returned to Rotherweird and has not only taken over the town but is busy destroying the countrysiders’ life too. Can our small band of heroes find a way to outwit a genius whose master plan is five centuries in the making? Watch this space . . . Published : July 25th, 2019 (Jo Fletcher Books) About the author: Andrew Caldecott is a QC specialising in media, defamation and libel law, as well as a novelist and occasional playwright. He represented the BBC in the Hutton Inquiry (into the death of biological warfare expert and UN weapons inspector David…
Nevernight – The Nevernight Chronicle #1 – Jay Kristoff
In a land where three suns almost never set, a fledgling killer joins a school of assassins, seeking vengeance against the powers who destroyed her family. Daughter of an executed traitor, Mia Corvere is barely able to escape her father’s failed rebellion with her life. Alone and friendless, she hides in a city built from the bones of a dead god, hunted by the Senate and her father’s former comrades. But her gift for speaking with the shadows leads her to the door of a retired killer, and a future she never imagined. Now, Mia is apprenticed to the deadliest flock of assassins in the entire Republic—the Red Church. If…
Spotlight: The Deathless – Peter Newman
About the book: The demons… In the endless forests of the Wild, humanity scratches a living by the side of the great Godroads, paths of crystal that provide safe passage and hold back the infernal tide. Creatures lurk within the trees, watching, and plucking those who stray too far from safety. The Deathless… In crystal castles held aloft on magical currents, seven timeless royal families reign, protecting humanity from the spread of the Wild and its demons. Born and reborn into flawless bodies, the Deathless are as immortal as the precious stones from which they take their names. For generations a fragile balance has held. And the damned… House Sapphire,…
Update: March 2019
A bit late with this one, but I still owed you all an update with all my book news from the previous month. I have now officially entered the last 6 months of my PhD. This means I’m frantically trying to wrap everything up in the lab and have started writing up. These couple of months have been and are going to be busy for me. And that’s not even considering the incredible stress of job hunting! I hope to soon finish all the lab work so that I can settle in to a pattern of thesis writing, reading, blogging and crafting. I’ve received and bought an amazing selection of…
