Hannah Morgan-Lewis
More LGTBQ+ than the slash fic I often read. This is a serious, often bittersweet romantic novel from the point of view of Frank, a man who has never got over a romantic attachment for a friend and Julio, who is Frank's housemate since he divorced. Poor Frank is in a rather woeful state, locking himself up in his house avoiding Julio, so he is thrown into confusion when Jonathan turns up in his life again planning a wedding to his evil boyfriend Marcus who utterly hates Frank. Julio on the other hand is busy crushing on Marcus at his yoga classes unaware that Marcus is engaged. As a favour for Frank, Julio pretends to be his boyfriend to Jonathan and Marcus.
I liked the characters in this book and the way that the plot kept me guessing, I thought that the first person narrative worked well in the way that the characters were not necessarily what Frank and Julio thought they were. They are all very human and every one of them does things that they are ashamed of (or should be ashamed of!). I loved the way that Frank and Julio grew as people. This is not an explicit book, but I didn't feel like it needed it, this is a beautifully told story.
Book 6. James's friend Like, who is gay, gets kidnapped after trying to impress his father in Russia. James is so busy mopping about Ryan he doesn't actually notice Like going missing. The kidnapper is a straight Russian mafioso with a grudge against Luke's father, a wealthy scumbag. At first, Like is subjected to beatings and starvation, but Roman realises that he can use Luke to get to his father so moves him to his room. This is not a book I'd put in the angst category, not after reading Sloane's stuff. Roman is surpringly open minded for a homophobic Russian mafioso and encourages Luke to stop thinking about who he should be to please his father. I loved the way Roman and Luke blossom in this book, Roman allows Luke to express his flamboyant side and Luke makes Roman care. However, if dub con is not your thing, or you object to Like looking like a teenager (although he's 23) then this won't be for you.
Number 4 in the series. Gabe's brother, Tristan is also a top football player at the same club, but he's gay (although hiding it because of his career). Jared's friend Zach is the straight physio assigned to help him, but Tristan is having none of it. He's the enfant terrible of the football club who treats Gabe and his poor assistant like dirt. Zach on the other hand has an open relationship with his fiancé and no intention of putting up with Tristan's nonsense. In the course of the physio they discover that Tristan enjoys being spanked and Zach enjoys spanking him, which was very hot. I probably would have liked more spanking! Zach develops a kind of obsession which he is advised to ‘get out of system' by actually having sex with Tristan which is a rather bad idea. Unethical physio and poor advice aside, I enjoyed it, particularly the introduction of Zach's family. And Tristan does grow as a person.
Number 5 is another slow burner. Gay, closed James has been friends with Zach's brother Ryan forever. Born into a privileged family, he fears to tell his parents about his sexuality and has to watch his best friend and obsession Ryan kissing his girlfriend in front of him. They have a weird relationship where Ryan has a thing about cuddling James like a Teddy bear, but thinks of James as his brother. Poor old James spends much of the book moping, and Ryan's poor girlfriend gets dumped so that James won't stop being Ryan's friend. I have to say, Ryan was right be freaked out by some of James's antics, although at the same time he probably should have let James go or at least stop with the physical stuff if they were going to have a platonic friendship. All that anger and freaking out about the sexual stuff didn't do either of them any good.
This book explores little events in history and people who may have been forgotten due to other people being credited with their achievements. The author uses a breezy style, short chapters and plenty of illustrations, making it appealing for readers in search of a light book that can be dipped in an out of. However, for more serious readers and for those in search of the verified fact I wouldn't recommend it as checking the sources at the end I found them mainly to consist of Wikipedia articles and top ten lists from other internet sites. There were some interesting articles but others I knew about or had already read as being refuted elsewhere. A good idea for a book, and certainly use ideas but don't just rehash other articles in your own style without additional research.
Based on Buddhist ideas, this is a deeply philosophical novel that I found rather too intelligent for its own good. The narrative style is unusual in that it diverges in the three narratives, showing different paths that the characters could have taken, which can be a little confusing. All of the narratives are concerning men struggling with homosexuality but I though the author's approach was reminiscent of the kind of morality type novels where the reader is warned that relationships of this kind can only come to a bad or unhappy end! Certainly the relationships are described in the most unerotic ways and skimmed over as much as possible. I found myself getting frustrated by all the padding - too many characters, lack of focus on plot and characters. I think there are much better litfic books out there which are more readable and less likely to make you feel dense and unsatisfied by the end!
A unique novel in the way that some of it is told from the point of view of a tiger, which I thought was very well done. I loved Polly Clark's last book Larchfield and I think she should be far better known. Her books are beautifully written, full of lyrical, poetic language but still completely readable.
Frieda has had to leave her job researching bonobos after a horrific attack. She is still very much healing and not functioning properly. She takes a job as a zookeeper and proves herself competent enough to work with the tigers, much to the disgust of a male co-worker who is obsessed with the tigers and treats her horrifically.She takes care of the Empress, an injured tiger and comes to respect her and to heal in her own way.
In the wilds of Russia, Tomas lives an unhappy life on a nature conservation with his father. They live in the middle of nowhere where they track tigers in the hope of gaining support from Putin. He is disturbed to find that poachers have killed the male tiger and there appears to be a woman living in the forest.
The characters are beautifully, humanely drawn and I loved the way the author told the tiger parts of the novel. The descriptions of the animals and of the wilds of Russia are very well described and it was obvious that Clark had done a huge amount of research about tigers and their habitat.
Difficult topics are sensitively handled, the author had obviously researched thoroughly. There is a great deal of angst, but maybe this is not the book for you if you are looking for lots of explicit sexy times. I thought it was good but maybe a bit too long.
I received a free copy of this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Originally published in 1976, this is a reissue from Saper Books available on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited. You can tell from reading how history books have evolved over the past 44 years to a more narrative and people driven style as this is quite a serious academic book driven by meticulously researched statistics. This can be quite dry for the casual reader but would provide an invaluable resource for people looking to complete a history course or research a particular area of the country, especially as Hoskins provides a comprehensive list of all the books and articles he used along with excellent footnotes. Some fascinating points raised about the living standards of the period. Hoskins contrasts the reigns of Henry VII, Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, finding Henry VIII very much to be a selfish profligate obsessed with building expensive palaces and fighting useless wars, driving the country into poverty and wasting the lives of the male population sent overseas to fight. I give it 4 stars overall for the research.
Didn't quite ‘get' this one, found it a bit difficult to follow the plot. Descriptions of characters were good though, and I appreciate it's innovation for the period it was written.
Having recently read The Spirit of Grace, the first book in this series, I thought that book two improved on the author's style. Although the plot is still filled, she seemed to have slowed down and focussed a little more on the characters, particularly Sarah Bennett, who is a great heroine. She is independent yet fits in with the role of women during the period (World War II). The paranormal element of Sarah hearing crying was integrated well and I thought the setting of the private psychiatric hospital with the doctor who is obsessed with the occult was good, and I particularly liked what the author did with Minna, a patient of the hospital who is frightened that a dead man is returning for revenge. If I had a criticism, it would be that I thought the denouemont was a little rushed. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series though.
Hazel Lavery was an American socialite who married the artist Sir John Lavery and became a supporter of Irish Independence. This novel focuses on her relationship with the Irish freedom fighter, Michael Collins. Most of the novel is split between the stories of Hazel and of Kitty Kiernan, an Irish friend of Collins who supports him and eventually becomes his girlfriend. I found the Kitty parts of the book at the beginning stronger than the Hazel parts, as her survival in an Ireland torn apart by civil war and crowded by the Black and Tans was far more interesting than Hazel's life of a spoilt socialite everybody admires who has conceived an interest in the Irish Civil War. Going into great detail about her past too slowed the narrative down somewhat. However, if you are reading this to find out about Hazel or even if you found her a more sympathetic character than I did, you might find this interesting. The novel is populated with historical people such as Lloyd George and Winston Churchill as well as the Irish freedom fighters. I thought that it seemed well researched too.
Reading the first part I wished that maybe the author would put down the thesaurus during the dialog. I thought the constant use of adjectives and adverbs got a little irritating and made the writing seem a little less polished. People are constantly smiling to themselves. However, this did seem to be a little less obvious as the book went on. I also thought the author overused the plot device of people reading letters they'd found or even leaving letters on desks for people to read, makes you wonder if they had any thought of privacy. I was not entirely convinced by Hazel's relationship with Michael either, to me it seemed to come out of the blue.
Overall, I thought the author chose a good subject for a novel and had done some good work researching the subject. I found that after a slightly shaky start, I mostly enjoyed reading it.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a voluntary review.
Really engaging history of propaganda focused mainly on the UK and the US. I felt like I learned a lot from this and it was written in a readable narrative style. However, I find the lack of footnotes a bit odd. I know this is probably not meant as being too academic, and maybe it's not as important in the US, but to me a history book that just has a bibliography is somehow less trustworthy as you can't check up so easily on original sources. Nevertheless, if you want to learn about the devious art of black propaganda, this is a great place to start.
Recently widowed opera singer and nightclub owner Penelope Harris has recently left Singapore to return to her family in prohibition era New York. Unfortunately, she's been followed by her husband's mistress who is hell bent on making her life as difficult as possible. With a cast of many colourful characters and filled with snappy dialogue, I found this a decent mystery. Penelope herself has hidden depths and not everything about her is as it seems. I thought she was a well written character in the way that the author gradually reveals her back story.
What let this down for me somewhat was that for a period mystery, the author focuses largely on the dialogue and doesn't spend a great deal of time on the descriptions of place and period (although I did enjoy her descriptions of the clothes at the party). Although I understand that it needed pace as well, I am a greedy reader who loves period atmosphere and I wanted some lavish descriptions of a decadent prohibition party. However, this may not bother other readers. The author had obviously done her research, particularly about Singapore and opera. I think that a prequel about her time in Singapore would be an interesting read as well as her planned sequel.
I received an advanced review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Got very frustrated with the total lack of plot in this one. As a reader, a few sex scenes and a lot of smug fluffy bits about how lucky they felt finding each other is not enough to make a readable book, especially as I didn't find the characters particularly memorable in the first place. I didn't find that the end made me want to read further either.
Billed as literary fiction, this is rather a difficult book to both categorise and review as I am not sure what effect the writer was going for. Told from the point of view of Charles, who is initially shocked when his sexually liberated wife Melody suggests that they should join a swinging club; I was under the impression that this was going to be a funny, sexy romp. However, there were some obvious issues with this. I think on reflection this was more a family drama about two parents going through a bit of a mid life crisis with some humour and swinging thrown in.
Before I start, I think I should mention that I am a fairly unshockable reader of sex scenes, especially m/m. Bisexuality, swinging and bdsm in literature are unlikely to shock me.
Firstly, I can't say that the humour in the book really did it for me, especially the subplot about an irritating toy that the son owns. Secondly, the biggest flaw for me from the point of view of a book about swinging is that I didn't find the sex scenes erotic or that well written. It almost felt like the author was a little self conscious about writing about sex and often sex scenes ended abruptly and moved to another location right in the middle. Language used is not that erotic and constantly interrupted by Charles's internal smug middle class commentary: ‘he put his penis into her vagina watching Diane licking Melody's clitorus. He was glad that Diane put out the expensive scented candles as it showed how much she cared.' The sex is not overtly explicit to me, a bit of mild bdsm and role play but not in much detail. I found that there isn't a sufficient build up to make it that erotic. Melody is keen to the point of obsession that Charles tries out bisexuality, and I found her urgings quite unpleasant at times as I think if this was written from the pov of a man wanting a woman to try out bisexuality despite her reluctance, readers would find it morally repugnant. He never really explicitly consents to it, just kind of goes with the flow and it's mostly glossed over.
I thought that Charles was quite a well drawn character and the observations about his inner life are well written as are the parts about his relationship with Melody and his family and how they are affected by the swinging well done. The characters are mostly sympathic, but can feel a bit smug at times as they swan around buying expensive champagne and admiring the beautiful bodies of the sexy people they are about to sleep with. Melody and the women who join them are continually admiring each others' shoes and jewellery. The plot drifts around as a series of incidences rather than an overarching plot, possibly to make it a bit more lifelike.
Maybe I would find this a more enjoyable book if I was interested in swinging, as it was I found it a rather frustrating read.
I received a free advanced review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.
A surreal commentary on the vanity of writers and literary prizes, also on the nature of death (although this is too close of black humour to become morbid or depressing). The novel centres on the aspirations of three unnamed authors competing for a prize. I thought this novel was clever and an enjoyable read.
I loved the protagonist in this book. Although Kate is a highly accomplished agent, she's also written as being quite human and flawed and having to deal with the usual difficulties of family life alongside a job that forces her to make difficult decisions. The book is really well plotted and the author obviously has an in depth knowledge of international relations and of the different places Kate visits. An exciting read too.
A cosy short seasonal novella. Liked the characters and I enjoyed how the author integrated the magical elements. It had some wonderful Christmas descriptions of snuggling up in front of the fire, snow, massive Christmas trees and most importantly festive food and drink! If you love the forced to share a bed trope or the kind of book that makes you feel all warm and snuggly and festive you'll probably love this one!
I thought that the plot was really good, if you like the pretending to be lovers trope, this is an ideal book, and I liked the adventure and sense of peril.
Good development of the characters and their budding relationship, secrets are revealed in a natural way and the sex is hot!
However, as I reader I could tell this was the opening to a series as my goodness were there a lot of characters introduced! Between army buddies, family members, consultants and Ukrainian mafiosa I got a bit confused as to who was who at times, and I would definitely need to reread it when I read the next in the series. Nevertheless, I would seek out more books by the author as it was an enjoyable read.
I received a free advance review copy and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
First an admission. It took me a while and a few goes before I appreciated Wuthering Heights. I still can't describe myself as a massive fan, but I will fiercely defend Emily Bronte as the writer.
Emma Tennant's Heathcliffe's Tale did sound like the kind of book I love, as I enjoyed reading her Pride and Prejudice spin off when I was first getting into Austen. However, I found this book did a great disservice both to the source material and to the Bronte family.
Wriiten in the 18th century style, this is the tale of Henry Newby, who visits Haworth Parsonage on a mission to find the elusive Ellis Bell, along the way finding fragments of original manuscripts which tell additional parts of the story of Heathcliffe and also illuminate who may have written the manuscript and their inspiration. It is all very confused and confusing and places Bramwell, the brother of Emily Bronte in the forefront of candidates for the author of the novel. I'd heard of the theory of Bramwell as the author previously, and wasn't really impressed, I'm afraid I was even more disappointed that a female author placed him as the author. There is little sense of the family in the book anyway, at the point it's set Charlotte is elsewhere and the other Brontes have all died aside from Patrick and the servant. Worse still, the novel is supposedly inspired by a potential incestuous relationship between Emily and Bramwell and the found manuscript includes and explanation whereby Heathcliffe is the bastard son of Mr Earnshaw and Cathy his incestuous daughter by Catherine! I thought this aspect was sensationalised and unnecessary. The relationship is already forbidden by way of the class differences and the fact that Heathcliffe's parentage is unknown, he can have an interesting backstory and motivation without it being incestuous and Emily can be as passionate and complicated as Bramwell, enough to write WH especially without making the backstory all about ‘Byronic' passions between her and her brother.
I found Nelly Dean by Alison Case a much better exploration of the world of WH.
I thought this was a great idea, the story of how a blind music master makes his way in Georgian London. The book is populated with a cast of good characters including rogues and people from the musical theatre where Tom works. The author is obviously very knowledgeable with the musical background, and brings the colourful world to light with both fictional and real characters (Handel puts in an appearance). I thought the historical background was well researched and liked the use of the historical slang, although I found that this didn't detract from the story or how easy it was to understand. Tom has a variety of adventures, and whilst his blindness is handled sensitively, it doesn't prevent him from living a full life. If I had one criticism, it's that sometimes it felt like this was a series of loosely connected incidents rather than having an overarching plot. It seemed to go off on a tangent at some points. Otherwise, this was an enjoyable read.
I received an advanced review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Really not for me at all.
Panto villain Sinclair decides to get back at a man who swindled him out of some money by having an affair with his ex-girlfriend Elena, the world's most innocent, childlike and youngest exotic dancer; becoming obsessed with possesing her in the process. None of the characters in this book have a personality, they are just stereotypes - the naive girl, the gangster, the charming rogue, even Elena's strip club friend the tart with the heart. Sinclair has no motive for killing people and no fear of retribution or from the police, violence is just a casual thing with no meaning as we don't care about the characters he kills. She is used by all the male characters to get what they want and she's frequently described in terms of being small and young. The worst thing is that she is described as being turned on by the thought he's a gangster. I found this book really disappointing. I don't think it works as a thriller, it's more of a romance but it doesn't work as that either as the sex scenes are brief and full of bad language. I am not sure if the readers are supposed to pity Eleanor for getting into the situation or envy her for the lavish lifestyle (which like Anastasia Steele she shuns anyway). All I know is that she has no agency whatsoever. He just has to look at her and she caves.
I received a free advanced review copy from booksirens and leave this review voluntarily.
I thought the editor chose these stories well, a number on different themes. If you like traditional/historical gothic stories with shocking mysteries, ghosts, plotting families and tangled love stories you will probably enjoy this. Many of the stories are quite long, separated into different chapters but I thought this allowed them to more in depth. I enjoyed seeing another side to Louisa May Alcott and would probably read more if they were available.
I received an advanced review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Part of the popular dual timeline genre where the past is discovered in the present, this is set in Ireland in 1949 and the present day. In 1949, Violet Ward, her husband and her young daughter move to a small village where she is reviled as she has written a scandalous play that is banned due to its religious content. The author really captures the small town ‘holier than thou' mentality where poor Violet and her daughter feel threatened by the locals and can't do anything to improve the situation. Things get worse as Sylvia, the daughter, discovers some nasty letters.
In the present day, Emily O'Connor buys a mysterious house but her mother is upset by it and she can't understand why. Some really good descriptions of the house and how it's been left as it was.
The story mainly focuses on Violet and I think this was a good decision as I thought this was well told and interesting. The modern day parts are briefer, but the book was a satisfying length and pace. If I had a criticism, it would be that I thought Sylvia's mysterious illness was a bit over dramatic and not sufficiently explained, but overall this was an enjoyable novel.
I received an advanced copy of this book for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.