On The Other Side series by Denise Grover Swank

 On The Other Side is a two book series by Denise Grover Swank, called Here and There.

The blurb says:

Sixteen-year-old Julia Phillips buries herself in guilt after killing her best friend Monica in a car accident. Julia awoke in the hospital with a broken leg, a new talent for drawing and false memories of the accident, in which she dies and Monica lives. The doctors attribute this to her head injury, but no one can explain how a bracelet engraved with her name ended up at the scene of the accident. A bracelet no one has ever seen before.

Classmate Evan Whittaker paid Julia no attention before the accident, let alone after. Now suddenly he’s volunteering to tutor her and offering to drive her home. She can't ignore that his new obsession started after his two-day disappearance last week and that he wears a pendant she’s been drawing for months.

When the police show up one night looking for Evan, he begs Julia to run with him, convincing her that Monica is still alive. Julia agrees to go, never guessing where he’s really from.

Julia is a 16yo school kid who hates her life.  Six months ago she was in a car crash with her late best friend, and now she just wants to be left alone.  School is doing nothing for her, she's failing all her classes because she cannot see the point anymore, so she is given an ultimatum - have a tutor and catch up or leave for remedial school.

Evan is the most popular boy at school, and he volunteers to tutor Julia. As they become close, it appears that they were destined to be together after some unexplained coincidences. However, all is not as it seems.  As the police start to chase Evan, he wants to know if Julia will trust him and come home with him.

I read both these books in a couple of days, so it makes sense for me to review them together. 

As always, these are really well written by Swank.  I've read a fair few of her books now, and I always look forward to reading them as I get totally immersed into the new worlds. This book isn't as hard hitting as some YA that I've read - there's no sex, no swearing and mild violence - but that doesn't make it less enjoyable.  As I was reading through, I kept wanting to discover what was next for our heroes.

The ending of the second book allows for scope for future books, though I think the author has done well to leave it there.  If you enjoy sci fi, and enjoy these books, you may also enjoy the classic 90s TV series, Sliders.

The Cat who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa

The Cat who Saved Books was chosen by my Book Club, and it is a really sweet read.

The blurb says:

"Natsuki Books was a tiny second-hand bookshop on the edge of town. Inside, towering shelves reached the ceiling, every one crammed full of wonderful books. Rintaro Natsuki loved this space that his grandfather had created. He spent many happy hours there, reading whatever he liked. It was the perfect refuge for a boy who tended to be something of a recluse.

After the death of his grandfather, Rintaro is devastated and alone. It seems he will have to close the shop. Then, a talking tabby cat called Tiger appears and asks Rintaro for help. The cat needs a book lover to join him on a mission. This odd couple will go on three magical adventures to save books from people who have imprisoned, mistreated and betrayed them. Finally, there is one last rescue that Rintaro must attempt alone . . ."

Rintaro is a boy who lived with his grandfather and spent many hours in the bookshop, reading and helping the loyal customers.  After the death of the grandfather, Rintaro turns inwards even more and even stops going to school, thinking nobody would miss him.  A relative comes to help sort things out and prepares Rintaro for leaving the bookshop and going to live with her.  Before Rintaro can close the shop and leave, he meets a talking cat who needs help with rescuing books from their current sad fates.

This is not the type of book I would have chosen myself, but it was really engaging.  Even though I read it after translation to English, the translator kept some of the Japanese words, which helped the book remain in the setting it should.  I liked the development of the character of Rintaro as the book progresses, and seeing how he deals with his grief.  There are only a few characters in this book, and they all add something to the story.  The ending, too, was fitting to the story and I came away very glad that I had read it.

I'd say this book is suitable for any age.  I can imagine a child from 7upwards enjoying being read this book, and from 10+ enjoying reading it themselves.  As a 40yo woman I enjoyed it too.  A short, sweet story.

 

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

A friend lent this book to me last year.  As it's a paperbook, I had it on pause for a long while.  I tend to read kindle books, as I find it more comfortable reading the kindle when lying down, than lying with a book.  Not only that, I can carry multiple electronic books around with me, without needing a ginormous rucksack!  I do read paper books when I'm in the car, however.  Assuming it's light enough to read, that is, I always have a paper book with me in case, God forbid, my kindle runs out of charge and I have nothing to read! A different friend lends me various (paper book) biographies to read, so I had to wait until I finished that book, before slipping this fiction inbetween Joe Lycett (read) and Jo Brand (to read).

I started reading this book in the car, whilst picking up my girls from school, and I was hooked from almost the first page.  As such, when I got home, rather than leaving it in the car as I normally would, I took it out and read it all evening until it was finished.  I couldn't put it down.

The blurb for The Kiss Quotient says:

"A heartwarming and refreshing debut novel that proves one thing: there's not enough data in the world to predict what will make your heart tick.

It's high time for Stella Lane to settle down and find a husband - or so her mother tells her. This is no easy task for a wealthy, successful woman like Stella, who also happens to have Asperger's. Analyzing data is easy; handling the awkwardness of one-on-one dates is hard. To overcome her lack of dating experience, Stella decides to hire a male escort to teach her how to be a good girlfriend.

Faced with mounting bills, Michael decides to use his good looks and charm to make extra cash on the side. He has a very firm no repeat customer policy, but he's tempted to bend that rule when Stella approaches him with an unconventional proposal.

The more time they spend together, the harder Michael falls for this disarming woman with a beautiful mind, and Stella discovers that love defies logic."

This book is simply amazing.  You can tell the author is autistic as the protagonist's portrayal is spot on.  I'm not one to get emotional at books (admittedly I don't often read "harrowing" books, unlike my sister who actively chooses them, but then can only read 1 chapter at a time as it's too emotionally intense), but this is the first book I have cried at.  I don't want to give too much away, but there is a scene in the middle of the book where Stella meets Michael's family for dinner, and it is painful reading because it is so close to home.

The book itself is really sweet.  It's not suitable for young teens, as it does describe sex in detail, but it is not tacky <cough>50 shades<cough> at all.  It fits in with the story and the trusting, but logical, nature of Stella.  It's a book about what sex should be (note, I'm not saying that it should be with a male escort, lol): consensual, sensual, erotic and enjoyed.

Highly recommend.

 

Joined a Book Club!

I have recently joined a book club.  And I do mean recently!  Though I joined the online group (to find out what to read) at the end of last year, yesterday was the first meeting that I could attend. 

We meet monthly, reading 2 books each month, and meet in the local pub to discuss and chat.  This is right up my alley!  December's books (which I will get around to reviewing eventually) were The Christmas Bookshop and Falling, both of which were a really good read in their respective genres.

This month we are going to read Pride and Prejudice (which I have already read and probably won't reread, tbh), and The Cat Who Saved Books.  I like that I am reading books that I probably would not have picked up and chosen to read, and also that I have some accountability (as well as some adult time in the pub!).  It's wet and windy here, so I'm driving there, but in the summer, I look forward to walking and enjoying a beer or two whilst talking about books.

This is also the perfect time for me to remind you that I'm on Goodreads and StoryGraph as Musings of a Middle-aged Mum, in case you wanted to follow me there too.

Conjure The Storm Boxset by Rachel Redding

Conjure the Storm is one of the boxsets I bought to read whilst my eldest was in hospital for her heart surgery.

The blurb says:

Witches? Magic? 

Secret organizations that have existed for hundreds of years? 

It's all just fairy tales, right?

Or is it?

In this captivating Urban Fantasy serial, we're swept into the world of Catrin Geddings. Catrin is just an ordinary girl. An ordinary girl whose thoughts can sometimes stop the rain or move the clouds. Nothing extravagant, just something she does. Or so she thinks.

Until a strange man shows up in a coffee shop. A stranger that belongs to a secret organization she's never heard of, that's out to see her dead. 

Catrin's mother, a respected Druid, finally reveals the source of Catrin's powers to her. And where she must go to hone those powers to protect herself and everyone she holds dear.

Can a simple girl from the border of Wales and England become strong enough to go against a powerful secret organization?

Will Catrin be able to consciously control powers she's been using without even thinking? Or will she and her family become the next victims of the evil Vanators.

Be swept away into this fascinating world where myth and reality mingle into fantasy. Or is it?

Catrin is a Welsh young adult who discovers that there is a secret organisation or Vanators after her due to her abilities.  Whilst she is aware of witchcraft, her mother is a druid after all, up until now, it is not something she has been interested in.  Catrin, however, gets thrown in the deepend and moves, with her best friend Roxy, to live with relatives in America who hope to teach her how to control her abilities and protect herself, with the ultimate aim of ending the feud with the Vanators.

This book is aimed at YA audience, and I think they'd find it more amazing than I did.  That's not to say I didn't like it, on the contrary I liked the storyline, which was predictable in an easy-to-read way, and at the end of each 'book' within the boxset, I wanted to continue to find out what happened next.

What I disliked about it, and these are probably just petty things, so feel free to ignore:
- that is was separate books - this is totally unnecessary, imo, and had I just the first book, I probably wouldn't have bought the rest of the series, which would have been a shame since I did enjoy the story.
- the (im)maturity of the writing.  I've tried (admittedly very briefly) to find information about the author, but couldn't find anything.  If this were a first novel set, then I will take back this criticism, because I certainly couldn't do better! I, however, would have prefered the writing to be a bit richer and a bit deeper.  It all seemed superficial, but again, that could be because it's targetted to the YA audience.
- I am also under the impression that she is American, because some of her "English" things are off.  For example, not many people in the UK go to university in their home town and live at home; nor am I aware of any universties that hold their graduation ceremony on the football (soccer) field - English weather just isn't predictable enough for that! 

Overall, I am glad I read the book.  Whilst it being over 600 pages long (for the boxset of 5 books) it is very quick and easy to read, only taking me 3 days to get through it.  The ending gives space for further books in the series (I haven't looked to see if they are already available) if you wanted more.

Playing Dirty by Andrew R Williams

 Playing Dirty is part of a series of books, but I read it as a standalone.

The blurb says:

"Honey Pursamon has a brief - and the file of names is huge!

Set the honey trap! Lure the opposition into bed, get lurid photos and destroy them, one by one!

The Slash and Byrne Progressive Party want to take over the House of Commons, starting with a sleazy sex scandal code-named Operation Trouser Snake. Slash & Byrne also organise a gas attack on Parliament. Who will survive?

Using Ambronootrop to make their members more intelligent and to move along the evolution of the human race, S&B will stoop to new depths."

I actually really enjoyed it. It's very gripping, and very easy to read. Initially I found it a little tricky to keep all the characters straight in my head, but that sorted itself out swiftly enough. I liked all the intricacy and duplicity in the plot. 

Given the prologue, I would have liked Angela to get some kind of revenge/see the downfall of S&B party, but I'm guessing that will be in later books. I didn't feel lost because I hadn't read Superior.  However, I would recommend reading Jim's Revenge and then Superior before reading this one, as the context helps.

Overall, my only disappointment is that the rest of the series hasn't been written yet, and I want to know what happens next!

My Books of 2022

 Happy New Year!

And thank you for letting me have the last year off blogging.  I'll update you all with everything eventually, but for now lets concentrate on the most important things: Books!

I actually read 52 books (1 isn't currently on goodreads), though there were two books that I confess that I didn't finish.  I decided that life it soo short to persevere with books that are either too slow or too boring, when there is so much more out there that I want to read!

I should also say, that though I am going to separate out all the books that I have read this year below, the links won't work until I have written up the reviews.  And I know that some of you are still waiting for the reviews of the books that I read in 2021.  Hopefully, now that I have a bit more time (she says, on the first bank holiday of the year), I'll get around to catching up and filling those in too.

You will notice that some of these books are from my recent A-Z Challenge but that I haven't finished this list.  That's because, when my daughter was going in for her heart surgery, I made sure to download a load of free boxsets.  As they are currently on my kindle, these are what I have been going through more recently.  And I have recently joined my local book club, so I'll be reading two 'random' books each month too.  The first meeting I'm attending is tomorrow, so wish me luck!

So here is the list of books that I read in 2022, though I may have the order slightly wrong in some places. 
For those who prefer visuals, there is a picture below.

Fiction:

• Exodus by Andreas Christensen
• Aurora by Andreas Christensen
• Genesis by Andreas Christensen
• When the Smoke Clears by Lynette Eason
• When a Heart Stops by Lynette Eason
• When a Secret Kills by Lynette Eason
• American Gods by Neil Gaiman
• Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
• The Monarch of the Glen by Neil Gaiman
• Black Dog by Neil Gaiman
• The Last Safe Place by Ninie Hammon
• The Crown of Thorns by Ian C P Irvine
• Hidden byt Megg Jensen
• The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
• A Single Step by Georgia Rose
• Reckoning by Megg Jensen
• Hunted by Megg Jensen
• Before The Dawn by Georgia Rose
• The Wedding Pact Boxset by Denise Grover Swank
• Wicked Words by M J Scott
• Patterns in the Dark by Lindsay Buroker
• Pale-Eyed Mage by Jennifer Ealey
• Torn by O M Faure
• Untied by O M Faure
• Chosen by O M Faure
• Thicker than Water by Georgia Rose
• Soul Blade by Lindsay Buroker
• Dragon Blood 1-3 Boxsetby Lindsay Buroker
• Shattered Past by Lindsay Buroker
• Oaths by Lindsay Buroker
• Raptor by Lindsay Buroker
• The Fowl Proposal by Lindsay Buroker
• Heritage of Power Boxset by Lindsay Buroker
• Playing Dirty by Andrew R Williams
• The Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan
• Falling by T J Newman
• Jim's Revenge by Andrew R Williams
• Superior by Andrew R Williams
• Andalusia by David Harvey
• The Dark Insite by Solomon Carter
• The Singapore Grip by J G Ferrell

Non-Fiction:

• English Legal System by Emily Finch and Stefan Fafinski
• Legal Profession - Is it for you? by V Charles Ward
• Watching Neighbours Twice a Day by Josh Widdicombe
• Helping your Child with a Physical Health Condition
• Older and Wider by Jenny Eclair
• Parsnips: Buttered by Joe Lycett
• Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Christian Inspirational:

• The Secret Message of Jesus by Brian D McLaren
• Jesus Feminist by Sarah Bessey
• The Message: New Testament by Eugene H Peterson

Weightloss Update

Or more truthfully, that should be a weight gain update.

I wasn't losing weight despite seeing my Personal Trainer twice a week, and then December hit.  That means watching every Christmas film on Netflix, and then attempting (and failing) to watch every Christmas film on My5.  In fact, I typed "christmas" into the My5 search, and was going through all the Christmas films in alphabetical order.  As they show a film every afternoon, the list was updating every day, and I purposely did not go back to watch the films that had been added after I passed that letter.  Even still, I only managed to get to the end of the letter C.  (There are sooooo many films that are called either "A Christmas in... " or "Christmas in... "!)  Added to that was possibly excessive mince pie consumption (can you blame me?! Mmmmmm.... Mince pies.....) my weight increased to the highest weight I've been ever.  Surprisingly, though, I did not gain much from Christmas and New Year's themselves, and I started January at a whopping 104.7kg.  Any my progress photos, which I won't scare you with, actually look worse than when I started with my PT back in April. Yikes. 

I did already have a plan for the new year to meal prep.  My husband and I had become aware that we had regressed into buying takeaways when we cba to cook or worse, we wanted to cook but had time constraints or we hadn't defrosted anything in time.  I already owned one meal prep book, but it didn't really teach how to do it, beyond being a recipe book, so I asked for a book for Christmas: Low Calorie Meal Prep Cookbook.

I started following the weekly meal guides - the first week was breakfast only, the second week was breakfasts and lunch, the third week (this week) is breakfast, lunch and dinner, and weeks 4, 5 and 6 all have breakfast, lunch, dinner and a snack planned.  I have had to purchase some more containers for storage, and my fridges are now full at the start of each week.

The foods in the book are actually really tasty.  I have learned that supermarket fruit and veg don't actually last a week when prepped, which is a shame as it means I need to do a mid-week prep for the fresh food.  And it takes aaaaages on a Sunday afternoon, but as my PT pointed out to me, that I would be spending at least that much time during the week making breakfast, lunch and dinner every day.

Some examples of the meals I've been eating include Veggie Quiche Bento Boxes, Tuna and Hummus Wrap, Tropical Smoothie, and Chicken and White Bean Chilli.  Though my 3 favourite meals, so far, have been swiftly demolished before I've had a chance to take a photograph: Southwestern Black-bean Quesadilla, Chicken and Gnocchi Soup and Honey-Sriracha Chicken with Noodles. Yum.

I've also started using My Fitness Pal again, to record my calorie intake, and I've signed up to a 4-week bootcamp in February. Incredibly, I am seeing weightloss already!  I am weighing myself on a Monday morning (so I will restart the weekly updates) and over the first 2 weeks of eating these meals, I have lost 3 kilograms!  My PT said to challenge myself and aim for getting below 100kg by the end of January - and I thought that was a bit optimistic, tbh.  But, I seem to be on track at the moment! As expected, I lost more weight the first week, than in the second, and we have to wait until next Monday to see what this third week has done for me.  I have started drinking tea again (vanilla flavour rooibos - delicious) with a couple of drops of stevia, to satisfy my sweet tooth, and I've been having one of those 10calorie jellies as a dessert after dinner.  I haven't been depriving myself, and have actually had a takeaway every week in January, I've just tried to be sensible about it - eg choosing tandoori chicken with vegetable side dishes, rather than my usual tikka massala, pilau rice and peshwari naan.  And I've managed to have the odd glass of alcohol (red wine, or even a baileys) if it fits within my calorie allowance.  (My calorie allowance is currently 1500kcals in MFP because I have set it up to aim to lose 0.5kg/week.)

So, that's where we are. I was 101.7kg on Monday, and I hope I will continue to lose weight, get fitter and get healthier.

My books of 2021

 

Last year, I set myself the target of reading 50 books, which I hit.  I think I've actually read a couple more than 52, as I still (sorry!) have some reviews to write up, and I don't always add them to Goodreads if I haven't done the review.  If you are a Goodreads user, feel free to click this link to follow me there too.

This next year, I've set myself the even more modest target of 24 books in a year.  This is because I barely wait whilst the girls are dancing anymore, so I have less time to read actually structured into my week.  I also (before last week) hadn't read anything since about October.  I had less free time, and in December you have to watch as many made-for-TV crappy Christmas movies as you can.  It's the law.

Here's a pictorial summary of all the reading I did last year, and I'll give a link to each review below.

Fiction

• The Dark Side of the Sun by Terry Pratchett
  
• Red White and Blues by Rysa Walker
  
• Ember by Jessica Sorensen
  
• Forgotten by Don and Stephanie Prichard
  
• Genesis Code by Eliza Green
  
• Happiness is a Smoking Gun by Alaine Allister
  
• I Spy, I Saw Her Die by Ian C. P. Irvine
  
• Juliette and the Monday ManDates by Becky Doughty
  
• Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
  
• Catriona by Robert Louis Stevenson
  
• The Legacy of the Key by S L Morgan
  
• Mouse Tails by Sonny Collins
  
• Nocturne by Kat Ross (The Fourth Talisman Series)
  
• Out of a Dream by Rosemary Hines
  
• Pancakes and Corpses by Agatha Frost
  
• Quantum by Patricia Cornwell
• Rift by Andreas Christensen
  
• Season of Hope by Dayo Benson
  
• Taste by Mary E Twomey
  
• Ugly Girl by Mary E Twomey
  
• The Vine Witch by Luanne G Smith
  
• The Wave at Hanging Rock by Gregg Dunnett
  
• Yesterday by Amanda Tru
  
• Meadowlark by Melanie Abrams
• Brainrush by Richard Bard

Non-Fiction

• Trim Healthy Mama Plan by Barrett and Allison
  
• I Can Make You Thin by Paul McKenna
  
• The Diet Trap Solution by Beck & Beck
  
• The Obesity Code by Jason Fung
  

Christian Inspirational

• Women Rising by Meghan Tschanz
  
• Finding Intimacy With Jesus Made Simple by Matthew Robert Payne
  

I'm Back!

Hello my lovelies, how are you all?  

Ok, if you follow my facebook page I said my first post this year would be about books, but I've decided to give a brief overview about everything instead. And if you don't follow my facebook page, why on earth not?? Tut, tut, tut. 😜 Here's the link again, so you have no excuse: https://www.facebook.com/MusingsMiddleagedMum

So, I purposely had a break for Christmas, and it was needed.  I've come back this year feeling refreshed and ready to go.  Last week, however, I went to get ready for my first tutorial and my my computer had died.

Not only did the Automatic Repair not work, it wouldn't move off this screen.  I cancelled my tutorials and left it to my techy husband (they do have their uses, lol).  He used some techy magic to recover most of my files, but he couldn't get windows to work.  We wiped everything, started again, and windows still wouldn't work.  He even installed Linux, and even that operating system wouldn't work.  The hard disk was dead as dead can be.

After having to handwrite a comparison spreadsheet (I'm not joking, I am that geeky, and it took two A4 pages), I decided upon and bought a new laptop. Yey!  There are a couple of snags* with it, that I'm sure will be able to be sorted quickly, but overall I'm really pleased with it.
* There is automatically a background noise remover thingy on the microphone, which would be great, except now it stops my headset working with zoom when tutoring.  The only way to bypass is to not use my headset, so all my tutees are rewarded with sounds of my dogs barking in the background.  Should be a simple fix; husband will look at it later.

* Everything on my laptop is automatically saving to One Drive.  I use One Drive for music and photos, but all my large tutoring or Ed Free documents, I do not need nor want saving all the time.  It means I'm getting lots of notifications saying One Drive is full, and adverts where I can buy infinite (nearly) space for only £££ each month.  Again, a simple fix, but I'm ignoring it for now.

What's new with me? Well, yesterday was 20 years since I asked my (now) husband to go out with me.  Very forward of me, but he was/is shyer than me, if you can believe such a thing. Actually, if you know me now, you probably can believe it, but 20 years ago I was a mouse in comparison.  I thought he fancied me, and asked a couple of my friends a few months earlier, and they said that I was just imagining it, and he was just a good friend.  Anyway, in the January, we went back to uni and there was a party a friend of a friend was throwing and we tagged along.  We got drunk enough for me to ask him if he fancied me and for him to say yes - and then I ignored it and continued with the party!  It wasn't until I couldn't sleep that night, because everything was rolling around my head, that I went up to his room and asked him to go out with me, and then went back downstairs to go to sleep. I then didn't see him for 24hrs, because I was at a football match, and wasn't sure if he would remember or if he thought it was a mistake or what.  Ancient history it is, as we're now married, 17 years this coming August, with 2 kids, 2 dogs, and still happy.

I have started reading again - hurray! I don't think I had read anything seriously since about October.  I tend not to read much in December, because it's tacky Christmas movie season, but I had missed reading.  I don't have as much time to read as previously, only an hour on a Saturday of dedicated reading time (except when/if I read a good book, and it takes over my life for a few days), but I'm glad to have started reading regularly again.

And I've started calorie counting.  After hitting my heaviest weight ever after Christmas, I am properly tracking my food in MFP and have been meal prepping. I'm only on week 2, so it's not an established habit yet, but I have lost weight already, which keeps me motivated.

I'm going to my first naturist/clothing optional event for what seems like forever tonight.  Covid, of course, has stopped everything, but theatres are starting to reopen, so my husband and I are going to a clothing optional showing tonight, so that will be fun.

What's not new with me? Still tutoring maths.  Still involved in the home ed world.  Still have my personal trainer twice a week. Still going to church. Still ferrying the girls to dance every night of the week. Still me.

And that's about it!  I hope you all had a good Christmas and New years.  I did.  And that you are well xx

Yesterday by Amanda Tru

This is the last book in my A-Z Challenge (yes, I'm aware it is only Y, but I'm trying not to buy more books until I have finished all the ones I already have, lol).

The blurb says: 

Her yesterday was five years ago. What will her tomorrow bring?

When HANNAH KRAEGER saves a family injured in a car accident, she has no idea she has changed events in the past. Waking the next morning, Hannah discovers her yesterday was really five years ago.

Each trip Hannah takes through time changes the timeline and her own life. With help from DR. SETH MCALLISTER, Hannah must unravel the mystery of why she time travels and who she actually is before the strange ability costs her future, the man she loves, and even her life.

What I found interesting about this time travel book is that the time travel is not instantaneous.  What I mean, is that when Hannah finds herself back in time, the timeline she left continues so to those around her it looks like she has run away or left.  It also means that she ages at the correct rate for her personal timeline, rather than living life in the past, coming back to the present/future and have aged for no reason to her friends and family.

This book is a sweet romance with a time travel twist. I'm not sure whether to class it as Fantasy or SciFi since the time travel is not because of a machine but because of divine intervention - so I've labelled it as both on the side. >>>

I did enjoy this book.  I liked trying to work out how the stories of the different characters interacted.  I liked seeing whether the romance between Hannah and Seth would blossom and how it was impacted due to her changing things in the past.  It's a nice book.

The Wave at Hanging Rock by Gregg Dunnett

 

The Wave at Hanging Rock is my W in my A-Z Challenge.

The blurb says:

Natalie, a young doctor, sees her perfect life shattered when her husband is lost at sea. Everyone believes it’s a tragic accident. But a mysterious phone call prompts her to think otherwise. She sets out on a search for the truth.

Jesse, a schoolboy, is moved half way around the world when his father is blown up in a science experiment gone wrong. 

Two seemingly unconnected tales. But how they come together will have you turning the pages late into the night. And the twist at the end will leave you reeling.

This is a really good book.  It is a bit of a slow burner to begin with, and you randomly flip between each story, but there is enough going on in each of the separate stories to keep you wanting to know what will happen next. 

It is a psychological drama and a mystery and is very cleverly written.  I enjoy it when I'm reading a book, and I think a character is particularly clever (as opposed to having a lot of qualifications, if that difference makes sense?).  I'm keeping this review shorter than usual because I don't want to give anything away.

Definitely recommend it.

The Vine Witch by Luanne G Smith

 

I have to be honest, I thought this was going to be a kids' book, but I was wrong.  The very start of the book is odd, because the protagonist is in the body of a toad who as to eat it's own shedded skin in order to defeat the magic that has cursed it.

The blurb says:

A young witch emerges from a curse to find her world upended in this gripping fantasy set in turn-of-the-century France.

For centuries, the vineyards at Château Renard have depended on the talent of their vine witches, whose spells help create the world-renowned wine of the Chanceaux Valley. Then the skill of divining harvests fell into ruin when sorcière Elena Boureanu was blindsided by a curse. Now, after breaking the spell that confined her to the shallows of a marshland and weakened her magic, Elena is struggling to return to her former life. And the vineyard she was destined to inherit is now in the possession of a handsome stranger.

Vigneron Jean-Paul Martel naively favors science over superstition, and he certainly doesn’t endorse the locals’ belief in witches. But Elena knows a hex when she sees one, and the vineyard is covered in them. To stay on and help the vines recover, she’ll have to hide her true identity, along with her plans for revenge against whoever stole seven winters of her life. And she won’t rest until she can defy the evil powers that are still a threat to herself, Jean-Paul, and the ancient vine-witch legacy in the rolling hills of the Chanceaux Valley.

I did enjoy this book.  It is written really well, and though I wouldn't say I'm particularly interested in historical France, nor wine-making, nor even this type of fantasy (modern fairy tales), it kept my interest, and I wanted to know what happened next.  There is even a twist at the end of the book that I didn't see coming.

This book is the start of a series, but I read and enjoyed it as a standalone.

 

And another month goes by...

 I'm reminded of the song from Come From Away that sings "And then another, and then another, and then..."

TLDR: 

So this past month, we have had covid in the house, we have had a dance festival, we have had uncertainty around DD1's surgery, we have had exhaustion from school, we have had good days out over half term, we have eaten too much and not exercised enough, though I have exercised some.  I have watched a fair bit of TV and not read much (which tbh hasn't helped my MH much) because I know how far behind I am of the reviews of books that I have read over the summer, and I'm behind on my paid work too.  

Positives:

DD1 came 3rd in her Tap Solo at the dance festival.

DD1 & DD2 came 1st in their Caberet Group dance at the festival.

I have gone on some runs when I've not seen my PT, and am s...l...o...w...l...y increasing in speed.  Still nearly an hour to run (and walk) 5Km, but under an hour nonetheless.

I have watched my first Christmas film of the season.

Despite being fully booked and not advertising at all, I am still getting enquiries about maths tuition.

My house is slowly becoming more organised.

I am trying to catch up on reviews a couple at a time.

Ugly Girl by Mary E Twomey

 Ugly Girl is U in my A-Z of Fiction Titles challenge.

Having read a few of Mary E Twomey's books before, and indeed having just finished reading Taste, I knew I would get engrossed by this book almost immediately, so took a little while (maybe a week, lol) before delving in and starting this series.

Rosie is an ordinary girl.  She lived with her Aunt after her parents died in a car crash when she was small, and her best friend Judah was the only person to look past her spots, scars and hunched back.  Living the best life she can, she goes to college by day and enjoys being a pool shark in the evening.
One evening, however, Rosie loses her beloved necklace, and all of a sudden her world begins to change.  No longer is she ugly and ignored, but she gets kidnapped and taken far away.

The blurb says:

When a grizzled stranger crashes into her life and lifts the concealment that has marred her face since childhood, Rosie Avalon leaves everything she knows behind. Pulled into a realm teeming with magical creatures, Rosie must navigate this new, broken world while avoiding capture by the evil queen, who knows there’s more to Rosie than meets the eye.

Bastien is an Untouchable, feared and shunned by all but a handful of elite warriors. His realm has been ravaged by the evil queen’s reign, but he will stop at nothing to save the land he loves, even if it means pushing Rosie past her breaking point.

Thrust into a quest that threatens to destroy her family, Rosie’s path is clear: she must sacrifice all she holds dear to save a world on the brink of collapse, and hope she doesn’t lose herself along the way.

This 14 book series is split into three parts Books 1-7, 8-11, and 12-14, and it is possible to read one part and take a break before reading the next, however, I wouldn't suggest starting midway through (eg at book 8) without having read the earlier books.

These books are set in between Common (ie Earth) and Avalon (another dimension, where there is magic and magical creatures).  Rosie learns that, though her Aunt is her Aunt, her parents are not dead, but live in Avalon, and her mother is the evil queen, Morgan Le Fae.  There is romance, intrigue, battle, a fair bit of feminism too.  Having read Taste immediately before, some of the magical powers I have seen before, but it's to a lesser or greater degree and doesn't really impact the story.

I did really like these books - you'd be unsurprised to know that I read all 14 straight off, without a break, then had to take a break afterwards as I allowed time for me to grieve leaving their world and reconnecting with my own.

And another month goes by...

So, I'm still seeing my PT twice a week.  My weight was still going up, and I almost hit 100kilos, which I've never been before.  But, I am still decreasing my size, and have even dropped a bra size when I got measured recently.

As sexy as I look in a bra and a pair of shorts (not!), I am pleased that even *I* can see that my back-fat is going, and I now have a waist again.

Both my girls are now in school, as DD2 recently started year 7.  She does enjoy it, but is very tired.  Having gone from needing 10-12 hours sleep a night, to having to leave the house at 7.30am, return near 5, then rush straight to dance lessons and often doesn't get home aain until 9.30 or 10pm, is a bit of a shock for her.

As schools have gone back, I'm tutoring again now.  My days have changed this year, so I work Tuesday mornings, Wednesday mornings and Thursday afternoons.  I don't have much free time, though, as I'm still involved with Home Education locally, nationally and politically.  (Ok, I don't know if 'politically' makes any sense in that sentence, but the rhythm made me feel like it needed a third thing there.)

I am trying to read too, but that has slowed somewhat.  As I don't need to wait at dance in the evenings anymore, I don't have as much time to read.  Also, in the few gaps I've had during the day, I have had a bit of a TV binge, watching non-kids TV during the day! Very exciting.  I have recently watched Sex Eduction, Love on the Spectrum, Motherland, and I was getting into Making a Murderer, until my husband joined me one day, and now I'm 'not allowed' to watch it without him.  Yet, since then, we haven't watched it together at all, so if he's not careful I'm going to continue watching it and just not tell him, lol.

And yes, I am aware that I haven't caught up with the book reviews I said I would write a month ago.  Despite everything I've written here (and this feels like a lot to me), I've even more things going on.

DD1 has been having mini absence seizures/blackouts for a while, though she didn't tell me that they had become frequent until last October.  I told her to keep a diary in case it was related to what she had been eating or time of the month or anything like that, and we made an appointment to see the GP.  Fast forward to February, and we were referred to hospital to see a neurologist and to have an EEG.  As part of this, they gave DD1 a general health check and discovered she had a heart murmur.  Not a big surprise or concern as my husband had one when he was little, but they referred us for an ECG.  And another.  And an echo.  And a heart consultant who told use they would be bringing in the big-guns from a nearby city to look at her heart, because she has a hole in her heart.  As you can imagine, this was a bit of a shock, given she was 13yo at the time, fit as a fiddle, loads of dance, and zero symptoms (breathlessness, fatigue, palpatations or enlargement of the heart).

Anyway, we saw the big-gun heart consultant, who did another ECG and echo (which incidentally, is really interesting, as the computor automatically colours the blood blue and red depending on whether the blood has been oxygenised or not).  She confirmed that the hole in the heart is nothing to do with the mini blackouts DD1 had been having, and because the EEG was clear, they (the hospital) are not following that up at the moment.  However, DD1 does not have a hole in her heart - she has two plus a leaky valve! (It's a partial AVSD for anyone who wants to google it.) Due to where the holes are located, they cannot go up the leg/groin to close it, but she will need open heart surgery.  But, it isn't urgent, because she has no other symptoms, so don't worry about it too much.  It's a fairly straightforward procedure, etc etc, and just has to be done before she becomes an adult, as if left unfixed, it could cause massive problems when she's in her 20s and 30s.

Then over the summer we had a virtual consulatation with a surgeon, who said they expected surgery to be in October!  DD1 would have to be in hospital for at least a week, at least a month off school, at least 3 months off dancing.  All of a sudden this became very real!  Due to dance festivals finally starting up again (and the enxt one being in October) we have asked for the surgery to be postponed until the summer term, but we will follow the guidance of the consultant.  Meanwhile, DD1 has had even more hospital appointments, and had to wear a 24hr heart monitor, and been asked to participate in research before/after surgery, so my suspician is that it will be sooner, rather than later.

Oh, and we have got a second dog, Luna.

A-Z Challenge 2021 Fiction Authors

So here is my new A-Z Challenge by authors, and this time I won't be filling in the letters that I'm missing.

A - Meadowlark by Melanie Abrams

B - Brainrush by Richard Bard

C - Exodus by Andreas Christensen

D - Thicker Than Blood by C J Darlington

E - When the Smoke Clears by Lynette Eason

F - The Singapore Grip by T G Farrell

G - The American Gods Quartet by Neil Gaiman

H - The Last Safe Place by Ninie Hammon

I - The Messiah Conspiracy by Ian C P Irvine

J - Hidden by Megg Jensen

K - Earth - Last Santuary by Christian Kallias

L - Heaven by Mur Lafferty

M - The Wedding List by Autumn MacArthur

N - A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

O - Daygo's Fury by John F O'Sullivan

P - Mr Rook by Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

R - Where the Shadows Lie by Michael Ridpath

S - The Phoenix Conspiracy by Richard L Sanders

T - Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

V - The Time Traveller's Almanac by Ann & Jeff Vandermeer

W - Daughters of the Lake by Wendy Webb

Y - To Fear the Dawn by Sean Young

Z - The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruis Zafron

(Note: If it turns out that some of these listed either are non-fiction or I have previously read them and forgot whilst making this list, I will change them for books I haven't yet read.)

Taste by Mary E Twomey

Another book by Mary E Twomey, and another series that I got hooked on - this time I read all 9 books in under a week!

Taste follows the life of October Grace.  She works as a nurse in a prison, lives with OCD and an obsession with cleaning, and has a dysfunctional relationship with her hoarding mother.  Out of the blue, her mother announces her engagement to an English gentleman, Ezra, and October and her brother Ollie prepare to meet the man willing to take on their mother.  In Ezra's house, October cannot cope with her mother's charade, and runs to the bathroom to wash her hands again.  Whilst there, October accidentally overhears Ezra's family talking about her, specifically whether she is the one they've been looking for...

The blurb says:

Just when correctional nurse October Grace has a handle on her stressful job and taking care of her mentally ill mother, a shifter king and a potential vampire mate plunge her into a foreign land that’s on the brink of starvation. Now, with a ticking clock and a target on her back, October takes up the mantle of becoming one of the rare Omens who can bring hope to a dying world.

Mason and Von remain by her side to shield the national treasure while she sacrifices herself to reap the souls that will feed the nations of Terraway. As the death toll rises daily, October finds herself tangled up in a cutthroat world where fairytale creatures run wild… and every day is a new bloody battle.

Given that I bought and read the whole series, it's obviously I liked it, so I'll start this review by saying what I didn't like: the chapter titles.  Such a small thing, I know, but I found they gave away what was about to happen, so I had to train myself to not read them as I was going through this book.

This book as a fantasy, so there are many fantastical creatures in addition to the humans: vampires, shape-shifters, mermen, Goblins, and reverse centaurs amongst them.  It is set between Terraway and Earth (or Topside), and only a few people from each Terraway country can port between the two.  Unfortunately, Terraway is in the grip of the evil Sama, who despite being banished to an undisclosed island, still manages to cause terror in the nations through starvation and famine.  Terraway needs to stop its scorching suns, so that their food can grow, but because a magical stone has been hidden Topside, the only way to keep the heat of the suns in check is for Omens to reap a soul for Topside for each nation, every day.  Until now, only Ezra's daughter Mariang has been able to reap souls, but fortunately for Terraway, October is about to be awakened...

It is YA.  There is copious amounts of kissing and snogging between October and almost all the male characters, but no sex scenes.  The closest to a sex scene is the occasional spicy dream that October has, but even these would be suitable for a teen to read. In the later books there is reference to rape (though the specifics are not described) and as has been hinted, October is polyamorous.  

I like the way Mary E Twomey writes about the psychological side of October's personality, the impact of her neglectful mother, the impact of growing up not knowing her father, and essentially being parented by her older brother and sister.  Despite all the trauma and underprivilege of growing up in a trailer park, October has made it on her own two feet. And because some of the characters are English, I liked how Twomey includes English dialect (though to me, they are just normal words, lol) - who doesn't use 'hence' in a sentence?? The only minor criticism here is the use of "mates" and "knickers".  Whilst an English person would call someone "mate" or refer to their "mates", you wouldn't actually say to a group of friends "hey mates", rather in this circumstance you'd say "hey guys" (where guy refers to male and female friends).  Similarly, "knickers" are specifically female underwear, a bloke would wear "pants" (though I do understand the confusion with Americans calling trousers, pants) or depending on the type of pants, you'd call them Boxers or Y-Fronts. 

Taste was T in my A-Z of Fiction Titles.  Unfortunately (or fortunately) for me, my U is also by Mary E Twomey (Ugly Girl) and is also the start of a series.  I am forcing myself to take at least a week's break from reading so I can bet back to the real world a bit and do all the stuff I've been neglecting, before I dive headfirst into yet another absorbing word.

Season of Hope by Dayo Benson

After a dystopian thriller, what better than a cosy Christmas chick-lit to remind me of all that is well in the world?

The blurb says:

Last Christmas, Robyn Kellett was distraught because her fiancé broke up with her. This Christmas promises to be even worse as Chad Ryder, the man she loved as a naïve eighteen-year old, resurfaces with an invitation to come to a university reunion in Blackpool. Robyn’s only hope of having a merry Christmas is the mysterious man she talks to every night online. They have a date for Christmas Eve, and Robyn hopes he’s as perfect in real life as he seems on the Internet.

Chad Ryder needs Robyn to come to Blackpool. It’s the only chance he has to win her heart before she finds out that the man she’s been falling in love with online for the past six months is none other than him.

At Blackpool, Robyn is infuriated by all of Chad’s efforts to win her heart, and Chad is frustrated with her constant resistance. As Christmas Eve draws near, Chad hopes for forgiveness for his deception, and Robyn hopes for the man of her dreams.

Will either of them get what they want?

I do like Dayo Benson as an author, having got introduced to her writing through Searchlight, the first in the paranormal Crystal series.

Season of Hope is a short romance that is set in the UK, and follows the story of Robyn as she psyches herself up for her university reunion.  Having recently separated from her fiancé, and knowing that her teenage crush is going to be there, Robyn is thankful that she can confide in her online confidant.

It is light, it is predictable, it is Christmassy - everything you want from a seasonal chick lit. 😊

Rift by Andreas Christensen

 

As I read a lot of free kindle books, many are self-published, and many are the result of writing competitions.  When that happens, I find it interesting to see how common starting points can result in totally differing books.  Now, I don't know if that has happened with Rift, but there are definite initial similarities to The Hunger Games: Once a year a group of newly graduated (from High School) students get selected for Service to the State.  The students don't get a choice in where they serve, or whether they serve, but get taken from their home towns and villages for the greater good.

The blurb says:

In the ruins of what was once North America lays the Covenant, a nation forged by the iron will of the Moon people, who descended from their dusty refuge on the Moon after the Fall. The Moon people are wealthy, ruled by a strong government who protects its citizens from the dangers from outside their borders. Their greatest achievement is having learned the secret of immortality, and every citizen has the opportunity to live nearly forever if they choose to, a life of riches and abundance.

The English are the descendants of the original inhabitants of this place, and they live very different lives from that of the Moon people. They only live to serve the greater good, and citizenship is something few have the opportunity to earn. At the age of fifty all non-citizens are subjected to mandatory euthanasia. In order to maintain a sustainable society, they are told.

Every year a number of girls and boys at the age of eighteen are selected for Service to the State. The brightest and most talented are sent to become Students. The strong, the fighters and the athletes become Janissaries, a band of soldiers protecting the northern border from the enemies of the Covenant. The Wardens, a secretive organization known to operate far to the west, near the Rift, which makes up the border to the wastelands, sometimes choses one or two initiates, but nobody knows what becomes of them. And then there is the Corpus, where the whip rules and backs are bent.

Those who complete their Service, may become citizens. And although they will never be equal to the Moon people, they will have access to all the riches and opportunities granted by the Covenant leadership to its citizens.

As Sue is nearing Selection Day, she secretly hopes to be chosen, despite having to leave her mother and brother behind. She doesn't crave glory or wealth though. A man or woman with citizen status can do a lot of good, and although few return to their home towns, Sue hopes to return to give her family a better life on the other side of Service.

But the Covenant is rotten to the core, and as she begins to learn its secrets, Sue must question everything she has always taken for granted. Soon she will find herself in dire peril, for she has seen the truth and there will be no turning back after that...

This science fiction dystopian trilogy is set more than two centuries after the events of Exodus, in a future dystopian society forged from the ashes of global disaster.

Yeah yeah, I know that my two favourite genres are SciFi and dystopia, so when I come across a book that starts a series I will get absorbed and buy the whole series.  I know that it will be of no surprise to you to discover that has happened again, and I ended up buying and reading Covenant and Legacy too, but it had to be done - honest!!

So, Rift follows the story of Sue.  She is well educated and wants to go into Service so she can eventually become a Citizen and help her family have a better life.  She becomes an initiate to the Janissaries - military service designed to keep the English and the Moon people safe from the French and other outsiders, thankful to have avoided service to the Corpus - chain gangs used to mine the earth for raw materials often resulting in illness and death.

During her time with the Janissaries, Sue becomes captured by the French and is treated humanely in a hospital - nothing like the monsters and imagery that she has been fed with.  She discovers more corruption and starts to question everything to do with the Covenant and the Moon people - the saviours and masters of the English.

An amazing series.  The author is really good at conveying the emotion, thrilling, cliff-hangers and menace as you get your head around this future dystopia for Earth. Loved it.

I hadn't actually realised that this series is a sequel to The Exodus Trilogy, and not having the previous knowledge, did not distract from this series at all.  I have added the previous series to my wishlist.