Wednesday 21 August 2019

What The Heart Knows by Regina Puckett


What the Heart Knows by Regina Puckett
Published by Punk And Sissy in May 2014.

How I got this book:
Took advantage of a free offer on Amazon

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


After escaping a rape attempt, Emily hides away in her old family home until her sister’s best friend fakes a health crises to lure her into visiting him at his country estate. It doesn’t take long for Emily to tell Bill about her fears and the two of them finally admit to loving the other for years. It sounds like a happy ending - but nothing is ever that easy.

Bill and Emily travel from the small towns of Tennessee, to the beautiful beaches of North Carolina and then to the bright lights of New York City, as he tries to protect her from a merciless predator. Emily has it all until she slips up and makes a terrible mistake. Her unfortunate decision tears her and Bill apart. Now she’s left to face her attacker by herself, but more importantly, she has to face a life without Bill’s love. 

This review was first blogged on Stephanie Jane in April 2016.
What The Heart Knows is the third in a series of romance books about the Warren family. I haven't read either of the previous two but, other than a few moments when I wasn't sure who new minor characters were, this didn't have a negative impact on my understanding of the story. At the beginning, our protagonist Emily is being talked about behind her back as her sister tries to drum up help from a family friend, an artist called Bill. Everyone is very concerned because the normally outgoing Emily has rushed to her childhood home, holed herself up in her bedroom and is behaving very strangely. It turns out that she was recently attacked and is suffering both nightmares and trauma as well as shame and embarrassment. Fortunately Bill manages to get her to talk about what happened and her brother, conveniently a policeman, sets wheels in motion to arrest Emily's attacker.

In rediscovering her trust in Bill, Emily also re-ignites her buried love for him. At the same time, Bill begins to admit his love for her and their agonising over whether or not they really are destined to be together makes up most of the book. Most of their thoughts are reported in the third person and I found this getting quite dull as the loops were repeated. Also Puckett has most of her action happen off the page which slows the narrative pace right down. For example, at one point Emily and Bill are shopping for an elegant dress for a gallery event. Turn the page and something huge happened at that party, but we readers are completely in the dark until Emily gives a brief resume to her sister before starting to wonder, at length, if Bill really is the man for her after all - again! This 'missing out' occurs repeatedly at pivotal moments and I found it very annoying. The only real time suspense is when Emily's attacker predictably reappears, but here his dialogue is so over the top, it completely ruins any sense of danger.

I admit am not a fan of romance novels. However, as What The Heart Knows featured Emily's attack so prominently in its synopsis I had hoped this story would be more about a woman overcoming her ordeal and less of a will-they-won't-they tease. Emily and Bill both seem nice enough people, if overly indecisive and lousy communicators(!), but there really wasn't enough depth here to draw me into their lives.


Etsy Find!
by Sue Double Yew in
London, England

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Tuesday 13 August 2019

D.E.M. - Deus Ex Machina by Lee Ness


D.E.M. - Deus Ex Machina by Lee Ness
Self published in the UK in February 2015.

Featured in Cover Characteristics: Eyes

How I got this book:
I received a copy from the author in exchange for my honest review

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The email pinged again. The attachment was a picture of the door to her flat. She reeled. Clasping her hand to her mouth as she retched again.
“It was never about the money, Rachel. It was always about you. I could use someone with your skills. I’ll be in touch. I know where you live. D.E.M.”

No good turn goes unpunished!

When Rachel is spurred to use her computing skills to find an abducted boy, she has no idea that it will bring her to the attention of an anonymous vigilante. Is the vigilante what he seems and what does he want with Rachel? 

Rachel is coerced by the mysterious D.E.M. to carry out hacking on seemingly innocuous companies, helped by her friends Deborah, Cam and Cam’s ill-tempered boss, Dave. 

As she gets drawn deeper into their world, she tries to find out more, only to put herself and her friends in grave danger. 

When she finally realises that the mysterious D.E.M. isn’t a vigilante at all, Rachel is in a race against time to save her friends and prevent an escalation in the war between Israel and Palestine.

I first published this book review on my Stephanie Jane blog.

The first thing that struck me about Deus Ex Machina is its eyecatching cover which, I learned, is also the work of Lee Ness. It's a great image.

This novel doesn't waste any time with scene setting in its early pages, instead leaping straight into the action as we meet our heroine, Rachel, working her cybermagic to entrap a child abductor. I liked Rachel very much. She is witty and skilled at her occupation, doesn't play the docile female, and also has realistic flaws. Her relationship with Cam was always believable, although I did think their banter was overdone. Practically every remark contained an innuendo making it more Carry On than 24. (A lot of films and tv series' get namechecked which is fun to spot.) I feel that this is just as much a book for female readers as male, primarily due to the well-drawn female characters.

I don't have much idea how accurately the actual hacking was portrayed so just happily took everything at face value and went along with the thrilling ride. Deus Ex Machina has great pace throughout, only slowed a little by the political arguments and this was vital to the plot so excusable. Supporting character Dave adds a nice edge, particularly in the second half.

There were quite a few typos etc. which distracted my attention and I think I would have liked to have more time to 'meet' Rachel initially. Light descriptions meant my impressions of locations were always generic, rather than specific to this tale, and the concluding scenes felt rushed. However, I enjoyed the book and would read more books by Ness.

Etsy Find!
by A Quarter Past Eight in
Huddersfield, England

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Sunday 11 August 2019

Indian Tales by Rudyard Kipling


Indian Tales: 36 Short Stories by Rudyard Kipling
Stories written in the 1880s.

How I got this book:
Downloaded the ebook from ForgottenBooks

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


A classic collection of 36 short stories by Rudyard Kipling, including the following:
"The Finest Story in the World", With the Main Guard, Wee Willie Winkie, The Rout of the White Hussars, At Twenty-two, The Courting of Dinah Shadd, The Story of Muhammad Din, In Flood Time, My Own True Ghost Story, The Big Drunk Draf', By Word of Mouth, The Drums of the Fore and Aft, The Sending of Dana Da, On the City Wall, The Broken-link Handicap, On Greenhow Hill, To Be Filed for Reference, The Man Who Would Be King, The Gate of the Hundred Sorrows, The Incarnation of Krishna Mulvaney, His Majesty the King, The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes, In the House of Suddhoo, Black Jack, The Taking of Lungtungpen, The Phantom Rickshaw, On the Strength of a Likeness, Private Learoyd's Story, Wressley of the Foreign Office, The Solid Muldoon, The Three Musketeers, Beyond the Pale, The God from the Machine, The Daughter of the Regiment, The Madness of Private Ortheris, L'Envoi.

This is one of my 'vintage' reviews, transferred over from Stephanie Jane:
I've given up! After repeatedly returning to this ForgottenBooks short story collection for over a month, I just don't want to try any more. I know that Indian Tales is probably very much 'of its time' but the attitudes then are so different to today and I don't even think that the writing is up to Kipling's standard elsewhere. Too much gung ho militarism, racism and male chauvinism, and very little actually about India which was what I wanted to read in the first place.


Etsy Find!
by Literary Tea Company in
Broadstairs, England

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Saturday 3 August 2019

Blue Tide Rising by Clare Stevens + #Giveaway


Blue Tide Rising by Clare Stevens
Published in the UK by Inspired Quill on the 15th March 2019.

One of my 2019 New Release Challenge reads, a Book With Vegan Characters and a 2019 COYER Summer Hunt read

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

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“Somewhere in me a scream is rising, but I contain it. Just.”

Diazepam-fogged Amy isn’t the best person to investigate an unexplained death, but she’s the only one Jay can get through to. On the run from her troubled past and controlling older (ex) lover, she winds up on a Welsh eco farm where she starts to rebuild her life, grounded by the earth and healed by the salt air. But it isn’t just her inner self that she manages to uncover. There are living ghosts at Môr Tawel, and they’re as loud as the waters crashing over the shingle on the beach.

Amy’s new life has just started, and she’s already running out of time.

Magical realism is one of my favourite genres and I have read great novels in this vein from South America, Africa and Asia, but don't remember having the opportunity to read a British example before so I was delighted when Clare Stevens offered me a review copy of Blue Tide Rising. The story begins with Amy Blue in a grotty Manchester bedsit apartment, barely keeping a grip on her distorted reality through a diazepam haze. I loved Stevens' portrayal of the Balmoral Street community and the way these people interact, looking out for each other to the best of their abilities. Stevens has a great eye for authentic detail allowing me to clearly envisage all the characters and locations. When Amy first encounters a gorgeous blond man standing at the end of her bed, she feels drawn to trust him, but his uncanny knowledge of her innermost thoughts cannot easily be explained.

Amy is a memorable creation with whom I found I could strongly empathise. Her chequered past has left her vulnerable and isolated, and in desperate need of a safe haven. The Welsh farm, Mor Tawel, is just such a place for her and is somewhere I would love to discover myself if it really exists! A place of darkness as well as potential recuperation for Amy, I was intrigued by its contrasts. Amy is often not sure where the reality line is drawn and Stevens frequently had me wondering too. I did think that perhaps poor Rita had too many burdens thrust upon her, but the development of relationships at Mor Tawel is sensitively done and always felt genuine to me.

Blue Tide Rising is a timely novel of mental health issues, of understanding when to cease blaming ourselves for other people's actions, and of finding a safe home - however out of the ordinary that place may seem. While I loved the otherworldly narrative thread, this novel is strongly rooted in a recognizably British reality so I think even readers who aren't magical realism fans would enjoy this accomplished debut.

Meet the Author

Clare Stevens is a journalist and author who grew up in the wilds of Somerset but has lived most of her adult life in Nottingham. Her preferred writing time is first thing in the morning when still half in dreamland. She describes her writing as ‘thoughtful escapism’. Blue Tide Rising is her first novel.

When not writing she can be found heading off for weekends in Whitby, her spiritual home, or trying to learn piano. She runs a half marathon once a decade.

Website ~ Twitter

And now it's time for the Giveaway!

The prize is a Kindle copy of Blue Tide Rising by Clare Stevens.
Open until the 17th August to anyone who can receive an Amazon UK gifted ebook.

Blue Tide Rising by Clare Stevens ebook giveaway

This giveaway is not connected with the author or Amazon. I will personally be gifting a copy of the ebook to the giveaway winner because I loved it so much!
The giveaway closes at midnight (UK time) on the 17th August and I will pick a winner on the 18th. That winner will have three days to respond to my email otherwise the prize will be forfeit. And, yes, I Will be checking that the winning entrant actually completed the winning task!




Etsy Find!
by French Found Treasures in
Carhaix, France

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Books by Clare Stevens / Contemporary fiction / Books from England