This book exudes joy, life, resilience and hope Everything, from the gorgeous cover, bright orange and with terrific typography and evocative artwork, to the wonderful fish cartoon that tumbles down the pages as they are flicked, is beautifully presented. And the important thing, the story on the pages contained within, is just as wonderfully fabulous….
Category: Reviewing
NetGalley#02: “The Girl Who Wouldn’t Die” by Marnie Riches
This was a review copy kindly provided by the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. When bombs rip through Amsterdam, English student Georgina “George” McKenzie becomes embroiled in the hunt for those responsible. In doing so, she places herself, her student friends and those she cares for into danger. I…
NetGalley#01: “Street Art Santiago” by Lord K2
This was a review copy kindly provided by the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. This is a beautiful book. The design and layout is exquisite; the typography used and the photographs, not just of the street art but of the street artists at work too, are wonderful. My only…
LR#26: “A Line Of Blood” by Ben McPherson
An intense, psychological thriller; a gripping and absorbing debut from an exciting new British author. Alex and his son, eleven year old Max, find their next-door neighbour dead in his bathtub. The suspected suicide soon turns into a murder investigation as the police turn their interest towards Millicent, Alex’s wife. How well did Millicent really…
LR#25: “When We Were Friends” by Tina Seskis
Anyone seen Spinal Tap? Yes? Then you’ll be familiar with the “Put it up to eleven” quote. This book, for me, is in that vein. Don’t bother looking at the bottom of my review to see how many moustaches I give it…I’ll tell you now, it gets six out of five. The story is of…
LR#24: “The Silence of the Sea” by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir
A fab read, intelligently written and well paced. A cracker. A luxury yacht sets sail from Lisbon with three crew members and a family of four on board. It is not seen or heard from again until it crashes into Reykjavik harbour; its crew and passengers are not on board. Thóra Gudmundsdóttir, a lawyer, is…
LR#20: “The Life I Left Behind” by Colette McBeth
A cleverly constructed novel told from two interesting viewpoints with a pulsating ending. Melody, attacked and left for dead, is struggling to rebuild her life in the years following the assault. Then, soon after her attacker is released from prison another young woman, Eve, is discovered dead. Both attacks bear the same hallmarks and Melody…
LR#19: “Our Vinnie” by Julie Shaw
As a fan of the city’s football team and living just outside the area, I had high hopes for this Bradford based book. After this brilliant debut from Julie Shaw, my expectations for the second and third in the series are higher than the town hall clock in Bradford’s Centenary Square. This was an exhilarating…
LR#18: “No Safe House” by Linwood Barclay
You may recall my earlier review of “No Time For Goodbye” in which I said I was looking forward to the follow up book, well, here it is. And what a cracking read this one is; a fantastic tale which I devoured within a few days spent on sun kissed beaches. This book picks up…
LR#17: “The Crimson Ribbon” by Katherine Clements
This is the tale of a young servant girl in the household of Oliver Cromwell. Ruth Flowers, after seeing her mother hanged as a witch by a hysterical mob of her townsfolk, is sent, for hers and the Cromwell’s safety, to live with the Poole family in London. There she meets Lizzie Poole and, enraptured…
LR#16: “Honeyville” by Daisy Waugh
What a read! What an absolute sheer delight. I was gripped by this tale right from the initial words, which, to me, are reminiscent of the first line of “Rebecca”. The first chapter introduces us to Dora and Max as they meet for the first time after 20 years, the author drops in some very…
LR#16: “Honeyville” by Daisy Waugh
Friday, September 19. I dropped my copy of this magnificent read into the bathroom sink last night. The sink contained a bundle of clothes that were soaking….as are the edges of the book now. Still, wet or dry, this is an ace book. Am currently part way through. I love the proposed cover too. Very…
LR#15: “No Time For Goodbye” by Linwood Barclay
The great thing about being a reviewer for Love Reading is that you the selection of books on offer makes you choose authors and genres that are new to you or that you have not yet got around to reading. Such is the case for this book by Linwood Barclay. He is an author whose…
LR#14: “I Can’t Begin To Tell You…” by Elizabeth Buchan
This is a thrilling read and I was fully hooked from the initial pages. Set in wartime Denmark, it tells the tale of Kay, a British woman living on her husbands’ country estate. War and the Nazi occupiers encroach ever more on her privileged lifestyle and she must soon make decisions that will impact on…
Gavin Dimmock. Writer. 