Beneath the Keep (The Queen of the Tearling, #0), by Erika Johansen

Format: e-ARC, 420 pages

Publisher: Random House UK, Transworld Publishers

Published: 11 February 2021

ISBN: 9781787632356

Genre: General Fiction (Adult), Sci Fi and Fantasy, Teens and YA

Back cover blurb: In a world far in the future, society in the Tearling has reverted to feudalism.

Evil forces have converged to ensure that the rich and powerful stay in control while the poor are plunged into ever-greater depths of suffering. The only hope is a prophecy, whispered about among the poor, that a True Queen will rise up and save the kingdom from succumbing completely to despotism.

But, none of this affects the Mace. We meet the Mace in the beginning of his life, when he is enslaved as a paid fighter in the Creche, the clandestine and sinister underworld beneath the kingdom. The decrepit Creche is the only home Mace has ever known.

Meanwhile in the Keep and in the countryside, some of the same villains at play in the Mace’s world are inciting ever-escalating class conflict. Princess Elyssa must decide if she should align herself with her mother the Queen, or join the socialist rebellion group Blue Horizon, which has captured her heart. As the people rioting across the countryside decide Elyssa holds the key to the Kingdom’s future, she is running out of time to make her choice–and to outrun those who hope to make it for her.

When the Mace must leave the Creche for the first time in his life, his own fate intertwines with the prophecy of the princess and the battles of country peasants uniting in mutiny, and everything changes. The hope that Elyssa represented may be snuffed out by dark magic, and the Mace finds himself called into the service of something bigger than himself — a fight for a better world.

My review: I’ve always loved the Mace, and this new book from Erika Johansen – a prequel to her Tearling trilogy set in the period just before Queen Kelsea’s birth – gives us his origin story, from a childhood in the Creche to years in the ring as a child fighter and then his introduction to the Queen’s Guard. At the same time, we get to see Kelsea’s mother’s descent into madness, and all the evil machinations of the high-born classes and the desperation of those forced to live below them.

In her author’s note, Johansen makes it clear she is making a political statement about the haves and have-nots, and many times I appreciated when she made a sly dig at the recent US political turmoil.

As with the other books in the series, I must state that, although categorised as YA fiction, the subject matter really isn’t for children or for the fainthearted. Paedophilia and rape are ongoing themes, and there are some very gory, stomach-churning descriptions. Scenes in the Creche just broke my heart and I could picture them clearly because of Johansen’s amazing writing.

Many fans were upset at the ending of the third Tearling book, but with this prequel I see an exciting new beginning and very much hope we will see more from the time of Kelsea’s childhood.

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

My rating: 4/5

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Uncommon Type: Some Stories, by Tom Hanks

Format: e-ARC, 416 pages

Publisher: Random House UK

Published: October 17, 2017

ISBN: 9781785151514

Genre: General Fiction (Adult)

Back cover blurb: A collection of seventeen wonderful short stories showing that two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks is as talented a writer as he is an actor.

A hectic, funny sexual affair between two best friends. A World War II veteran dealing with his emotional and physical scars. A second-rate actor plunged into sudden stardom and a whirlwind press junket. A small-town newspaper columnist with old-fashioned views of the modern world. A woman adjusting to life in a new neighborhood after her divorce. Four friends going to the moon and back in a rocket ship constructed in the backyard. A teenage surfer stumbling into his father’s secret life.

These are just some of the people and situations that Tom Hanks explores in his first work of fiction, a collection of stories that dissects, with great affection, humour, and insight, the human condition and all its foibles. The stories are linked by one thing: in each of them, a typewriter plays a part, sometimes minor, sometimes central. To many, typewriters represent a level of craftsmanship, beauty and individuality that is harder and harder to find in the modern world. In his stories, Mr Hanks gracefully reaches that typewriter-worthy level.

Known for his honesty and sensitivity as an actor, Mr Hanks brings both those characteristics to his writing. Alternatingly whimsical, moving and occasionally melancholy, Uncommon Type is a book that will delight as well as surprise his millions of fans. It also establishes him as a welcome and wonderful new voice in contemporary fiction, a voice that perceptively delves beneath the surface of friendships, families, love and normal, everyday behaviour.

My review: I love typewriters. So does Tom Hanks, so this book seemed like something right up my alley. Starting out, though, I wasn’t so sure. I really didn’t like the first couple of tales, but it did get better as it went along. Some stories had only a tenuous connection to typewriters, but the ones that mentioned them a lot were my favourites and reminded me of the old ones I used in my journalism career and at home. Hanks uses his experiences in film to flavour the stories with astronauts, WW2 soldiers, pilots, and of course actors, but the overall feel is one of nostalgia. The best of the collection are “A Special Weekend”, “Welcome to Mars”, “The Past is Important to Us” and “Steve Wong is Perfect.” This collection makes me want to get the old portable out and bang out a letter.

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

My rating: 3.5/5

 

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All That Is Lost Between Us, by Sara Foster

Format: e-ARC, 368 pages

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Australia

Published: 1 February 2016

ISBN: 9781925184785

Genre: General Fiction (Adult)

Back cover blurb: A mother’s worst fears. A daughter in distress. A family falling apart.

Seventeen-year-old Georgia has a secret – one that is isolating her from everyone she loves. She is desperate to tell her best friend, but Sophia is ignoring her, and she doesn’t know why. Before she can find out, Sophia is left fighting for her life after a hit and run, with Georgia a traumatised witness.

As a school psychologist, Georgia’s mother, Anya, should be used to dealing with scared adolescents. However, it’s very different when the girl who needs help is your own child. Meanwhile, Georgia’s father, Callum, is wracked with a guilt he can’t share – and when her younger brother, Zac, stumbles on an unlikely truth, the family relationships begin to implode.

Georgia’s secret is about to go viral, leaving her in terrible danger. Can the family rise above the lies they have told and fight for what matters most of all?

The lies we tell for love are the most dangerous of all.

Set against the stark, rugged beauty of England’s Lake District, All That is Lost Between Us is a timeless thriller with a modern twist.

My review: This is one of those books that makes you feel grateful your own family is not as dysfunctional as this. The characters here are all pretty awful, but at the same time very realistic. I understood the mother’s want to hover over her teenagers and her sadness at their growing apart, but at the same time she was stifling. The mystery relationship was obvious to me – I was reminded of Riley Redgate’s Seven Ways We Lie because the setup is almost identical – and the red herring side story was a little weird. Overall, just okay.

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

My rating: 3.5/5

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We All Begin As Strangers, by Harriet Cummings

Format: e-ARC, 315 pages

Publisher: Hachette Australia

Published: 26 April 2017

ISBN: 9781409169055

Genre: Mystery & Thrillers

Back cover blurb: How well do you really know your neighbours?

In the small English village of Heathcote the temperatures are rising as summer sets in, as is the sense of unease. It started with small things at first – a perfume bottle being moved, a photograph left behind in someone’s house. Harmless enough. But now Anna is missing.

As the search for Anna gathers pace, suspicion grows and secrets are revealed. Surely one of the villagers can’t be responsible? But then how well do you really know what’s going on behind closed doors…

Praise for WE ALL BEGIN AS STRANGERS – a quirky, darkly atmospheric mystery:
‘Suspense, plot twists and drama make this an exciting read to the very read’ THE POOL

‘A dazzling debut…beautifully plotted, fantastically written and compellingly strange’ DAILY MAIL

My review: Really enjoyed this book told from five POVs about a village under siege from a mysterious burglar who breaks into people’s houses but often doesn’t take anything. It’s based on a true story, although one much more sinister, and reminded me a lot of the Broadchurch TV series, where everyone in the village is a suspect and vigilantes run amok. The different POVs remind us that everyone has secrets they keep from their neighbours, often for good reason. All the characters’ POVs were touching and I really felt badly for how each one was treated. A very good debut novel.

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

My rating: 4/5

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The Office Christmas Party, by Aimee Duffy

Format: e-ARC, 289 pages

Publisher: HarperImpulse

Published: 24 November 2017

ISBN: 9780008197254

Genre: General Fiction (Adult)

Back cover blurb: Natalie Taylor and Dean Fletcher are serial Christmas party crashers. But when they start crashing the same parties, the mittens are off!

As much as she loves Christmas, after her mother’s death, events planner Nat can’t face the jolly season anymore. So to get her festive hit she crashes everyone else’s party. It’s a sweet gig, until she meets her competition, tech empire millionaire, Dean, under the mistletoe…!

When it comes to relationships, Dean doesn’t do serious—being left at the altar will do that to a guy. So when he meets feisty Nat, the first woman in ten years to pique his interest, he’s tempted to break his one-night rule…just for the holidays!

Nat and Dean might get more than they bargained for in their stockings this Christmas!

My review: Of course I could see what was going to happen a mile off, but I still enjoyed this light, funny romance about a pair of Christmas party crashers who go from enemies to lovers. I really liked Dean’s POV, especially his relationship with his brother, and his mother was absolutely vile. Natalie was harder to like because I didn’t get the whole aversion to Christmas thing, but her banter was witty and I could easily see this as a Bridget Jones type festive film.

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

My rating: 4/5

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Artemis, by Andy Weir

Format: e-ARC, 384 pages

Publisher: Del Rey

Published: November 14, 2017

ISBN: 9780091956943

Genre: General Fiction (Adult), Sci Fi & Fantasy

Back cover blurb: Jazz Bashara is a criminal.

Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you’re not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you’ve got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent.

Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down. But pulling off the impossible is just the start of Jazz’s problems, as she learns that she’s stepped square into a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself – and that now, her only chance at survival lies in a gambit even more unlikely than the first.

My review: Confession: I never read The Martian, I only saw the film, but I enjoyed that very much. This wasn’t as much fun and I wasn’t as invested in Jazz as a character to care what happened to her. I actually think Jazz sounded more like a man at times than a Saudi Arabian woman, especially the comment about peeing in the shower. The whole moonbase thing is a great concept, and of course there is science-y stuff for Africa here – lol, the moon is even run by Kenya because of its prime launch position on Earth’s equator – but I can’t say I was gripped.

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

My rating: 3/5

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The Hating Game, by Sally Thorne

Format: e-ARC, 363 pages

Publisher: Hachette Australia

Published: August 9, 2016

ISBN: 9780349414256

Genre: General Fiction (Adult)

Back cover blurb: NEMESIS (n)

1) An opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome
2) A person’s undoing
3) Joshua Templeman
Lucy Hutton has always been certain that the nice girl can get the corner office. She prides herself on being loved by everyone at work – except for imposing, impeccably attired Joshua Templeman.
Trapped in a shared office, they’ve become entrenched in an addictive, never-ending game of one-upmanship. There’s the Staring Game, The Mirror Game, The HR Game. Lucy can’t let Joshua beat her at anything – especially when a huge promotion is on offer.
If Lucy wins, she’ll be Joshua’s boss. If she loses, she’ll resign. So why is she questioning herself? Maybe she doesn’t hate him. And just maybe, he doesn’t hate her either. Or maybe this is just another game . . .

My review: The Hating Game is one of those books from which you resent real life taking you away. Many times I had to put it down to go and do RL stuff, only to find myself muttering “Joshua Templeman…” I loved the snarky banter, and the swoons were many. Nothing came as a surprise, as I was paying attention and could see where things were going, but I loved it all nonetheless. I think Sally Thorne is about to become my latest auto-buy author. When I started this I was unaware she was someone who had been recommended to me often by friends in an online writing community, so I shouldn’t have been surprised that it was fantastic. I highly recommend, and will be keeping a keen eye out for Thorne’s next project.

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

My rating: 5/5

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The Unfortunate Decisions of Dahlia Moss, by Max Wirestone

Format: e-ARC, 313 pages

Publisher: Redhook Books

Published: October 20, 2015

ISBN: 9780316385978

Genre: General Fiction (Adult)

Back cover blurb: For anyone who has ever geeked out about something and for fans of The Guild, New Girl, Scott Pilgrim, Big Bang Theory, Veronica Mars.

Meet Dahlia Moss, the reigning queen of unfortunate decision-making in the St. Louis area. She is unemployed, broke, and on her last bowl of ramen. But that’s all about to change. Before Dahlia can make her life any messier on her own she’s offered a job. A job that she’s woefully under-qualified for. A job that will lead her to a murder, an MMORPG, and possibly a fella (or two?).

My review: It has taken me forever to finish this, even though it was laugh-out-loud funny. I loved the wit and pop culture references, but about a third of the way through I suspected I wasn’t a big enough geek to actually get a lot of the in-jokes. I don’t game online or do cosplay or LARPing, and so the intricacies of Zoth had me a bit befuddled. However, after putting it down for a while, I decided to not get so bogged down in the lore and instead treat this as a snarky detective story, and then I just raced through it. Dahlia is a heroine you can’t help rooting for , and I’m so glad there’s going to be a sequel so I can see more of Nate and Detective Shuler.

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

My rating: 4/5

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Die Of Shame, by Mark Billingham

Format: e-ARC, 448 pages

Publisher: Grove Atlantic

Published: June 7, 2016

ISBN: 9780802125255

Genre: General Fiction (Adult)

Back cover blurb: From British thriller master Mark Billingham, a recent finalist for the Crime Writers’ Association Dagger in the Library, Die of Shame is a chilling story of addiction, subterfuge, and murder.

Every Monday evening, six people gather in a smart North London house to talk about shame. A respected doctor, a well-heeled housewife, a young male prostitute . . . they could not be more different. All they have in common is a history of addiction. But when one of the group is murdered, it quickly becomes apparent that someone else in that circle is responsible. The investigation is hampered by the strict confidentiality that binds these individuals and their therapist together, which makes things difficult for Detective Inspector Nicola Tanner, a woman who can appreciate the desire to keep personal matters private. If she is to find the killer, she will need to use less obvious means. The question is: What could be shameful enough to cost someone their life? And how do you find the truth when secrets, lies, and denial are second nature to all of your suspects?

My review: My sister has been recommending Mark Billingham to me for a while, so I jumped at the chance to get this ARC when it popped up on Netgalley. And I was not disappointed. This standalone story introduces us to an addiction therapy group full of interesting, well-crafted characters. I was gripped from the outset, and although there were many twists and red herrings, I was satisfied my suspicions were confirmed in the end. In fact, that ending was one of those wonderful “gotcha” moments that make a reader grin, knowing the crime will not go unpunished.

Billingham’s experience as a TV writer shows, and I can easily see this as an excellent British crime drama. I hope we’ll see more of DI Nicola Tanner and her interesting colleagues in future. Meanwhile, I’m definitely going back to read Billingham’s earlier works. My sister was right.

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

My rating: 5/5

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The Rejected Writers’ Book Club, by Suzanne Kelman

Format: e-ARC, 261 pages

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing

Published: March 29, 2016

ISBN: 9781503934146

Genre: Women’s Fiction, General Fiction (Adult)

Back cover blurb: Librarian Janet Johnson is puzzled when she is invited—and practically dragged—to her first meeting of the Rejected Writers’ Book Club. This quirky group of women would much rather celebrate one another’s rejected manuscripts over cups of tea and slices of lemon cake than actually publish a book. But good friends are exactly what Janet needs after moving to the small town of Southlea Bay, Washington. Just as the ladies are about to raise a teacup to their five hundredth rejection letter, they receive bad news that could destroy one member’s reputation—and disband the group forever. To save the club, Janet joins her fellow writers on a wild road trip to San Francisco in search of the local publisher who holds the key to a long-buried secret. As they race to the finish line, they’ll face their fears—landslides, haunted houses, handsome strangers, ungrateful children—and have the time of their lives.

My review: I picked up this book purely based on the gorgeous cover, and the best way to describe its contents would be “cosy.” After a slow start, I really rather enjoyed the club’s road trip adventures, and Grace’s story at the end was lovely. The characters were all great, except Stacey, who was just a spoilt brat. I couldn’t help feeling, also, that Janet came across as much older than forty-something, especially given her husband’s favourite song was “Chattanooga Choo Choo.”

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

My rating: 4/5

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