Friday 10 May 2019

In The Sun by Mixie Plum + #Giveaway


In The Sun by Mixie Plum
Published in America by Boom Publishing on the 28th March 2019.

One of my 2019 New Release Challenge reads.

How I got this book:
Received a review copy from the author

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



A novella inspired from a life lived; almost lost, & lived again.

In The Sun is one of those books that seemed straightforward while I was reading it, but which kept me thinking long after I had finished. At just over eighty pages, this novella packs a lot of emotion into a slim volume. It's about a life lived in the shadows of severe depression and the almost-loss of that life to suicide. What was most disturbing for me as a reader (and Mixie talks about this in the introduction so it isn't a spoiler!) was the not knowing at which point fictional Mixie takes over from her real life counterpart. The book reads as an autobiography, which essentially it is, up to a point, but it's also a novella because Mixie chose to commit suicide fictionally in order to try and heal her real self. The result is In The Sun.

I would certainly recommend this book to non-depressive readers wanting a deeper understanding of how it feels to live with depression. It might also be useful to sufferers, but I'm wary of that recommendation because I don't have the expertise to make such a judgment.

Meet the Author

Mixie Plum's first memory of storytelling is from age six, where she told a terrific tale of her fellow first grade tots~It was not liked. Luckily, that did not stop her and she hasn't stopped writing since. Now, at age forty, she's finally trying to get it all out there and share her whimsical words. She hopes you enjoy them.

Author links:

YouTube ~ Instagram

And now it's time for the Giveaway!

The prize is a signed paperback of In The Sun sent directly to the winner by Mixie Plum. The giveaway is open internationally until midnight, UK time, on the 24th May.

Entry is by way of the Gleam widget below. Gleam will ask for your e-mail address. I will need the winner's email address in order to contact them. I will then need to ask for their postal address so Mixie can send out the prize.


In The Sun by Mixie Plum signed PB giveaway



Etsy Find!
by Colour Your Life Club in
Swansea, Wales

Click pic to visit Etsy Shop


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Books by Mixie Plum / Novellas / Books from America

Sunday 5 May 2019

The Devil's Gorge by Dora Ilieva


The Devil's Gorge by Dora Ilieva
Self published in Canada in October 2014.

My seventh Book With A Vegetarian Character.

How I got this book:
Received a review copy from the publisher via NetGalley

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Sam, a University of Toronto History student, receives a letter informing him that he has inherited some property in Bulgaria, the country of his parents. Somewhat reluctantly, he decides to go there accompanied by his best friend Ben, a charming young man with a flair for languages and adventure.

In the country of his parents Sam comes face to face with a different reality which gives rise to a series of uncanny dreams and questions about his own identity. The short, pleasant trip the two friends were envisaging turns into a whirlwind of encounters which take them to the site of one the most sacred Thracian cities and throw them in the pursuit of a relic of world-changing importance and into the arms of the beautiful and mysterious Ana.

The Devil's Gorge is an entertaining adventure novel, vaguely in the Indiana Jones mould, in which a pair of naive Canadian students find themselves embroiled in a race against time to save a mythical artefact from falling into the wrong hands. It's not the most original of plotlines and twists are usually telegraphed obviously enough ahead of time to not be particularly surprising, however the aspect of this novel that kept me reading was in its portrayals of Bulgarian locations and culture. Bulgaria isn't that far away in global terms, but its Soviet-controlled past means that life there was very different to the UK and I had no idea of the rich Thracian history in this region. The Orpheus myth is central to this tale and I am now inspired to find out more about his story than just the Eurydice myth I already knew.

I did find The Devil's Gorge slow going for most of the story. It is very much an indie publication with rather more proofreading errors than I was happy with and the dialogue is often clunky with characters speaking to each other in a bizarrely formal style that took some getting used to! I did start to worry in the last few chapters when there seemed to be a lot story still to be told and a rapidly dwindling number of pages in which to tell it. My fear of an abrupt cliffhanger was fortunately not grounded, but I felt the climax of the adventure was ridiculously rushed after such a meandering set up. I don't regret having chosen to download The Devil's Gorge from NetGalley, but would like to see it edited and polished before I would widely recommend it to other readers.


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Books by Dora Ilieva / Thrillers / Books from Bulgaria

Friday 3 May 2019

Salads That Satisfy by Aysegul Sanford + #FreeBook


Salads That Satisfy by Aysegul Sanford
Published in America by Foolproof Living in 2018.

How I got this book:
Signed up to the author's weekly newsletter

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



15 vegetarian salads recipes.
Your foolproof guide to making salads a part of your every meal.

I don't usually review freebie reward downloads, but I feel that Salads That Satisfy is particularly well put together and is a nice little resource for this time of year. It's already starting to warm up on our riverbank causing my mind to think towards lighter meals rather than winter comfort foods. I am quite a confident cook in certain areas, but salads have never been my forte so I was keen to pick up new ideas. In this guide, Sanford gives clear recipes for fifteen elegant vegetarian and vegan salads, most of which draw on her Turkish family roots for their inspiration. Sanford now lives in America so there's also that interesting fusion. The recipes include cold and warm meals, traditional staples and up-to-date ideas.

At the time of writing I've made the Sweet Potato Salad and the Tabbouleh and was impressed with both. (I veganised the call for feta with this fab Simple Vegan tofu marinade). I think I will probably try a few more of Sanford's recipes as they are written and will also use her recommended ingredient combinations as a starting point for my own summer creations. I'm feeling inspired!


Search Lit Flits for more:
Books by Aysegul Sanford / Food and cookery books / Books from Turkey