BookBucket

Not A Sound by Heather Gudenkauf

Description

“I’m going to die tonight. But I won’t go quietly.”

When a tragic accident leaves nurse Amelia Winn deaf, she spirals into a depression that ultimately causes her to lose everything that matters – her job, her husband, David, and her stepdaughter, Nora. Now, two years later and with the help of her hearing dog, Stitch, she is finally getting back on her feet. But when she discovers the body of a fellow nurse in the dense bush by the river, deep in the woods near her cabin, she is plunged into a disturbing mystery that could shatter the carefully reconstructed pieces of her life all over again.

As clues begin to surface, Amelia finds herself swept into an investigation that hits all too close to home. But how much is she willing to risk in order to uncover the truth and bring a killer to justice?

And how do you catch a killer when you can’t hear him coming?

My thoughts

I was excited to read this book as I had seen good reviews. And I wasn’t disappointed!

Amelia is a truly flawed character – but she’s done her time as a victim and is now putting her shattered life back together. Finding the body of a once close friend in the river where she paddle boards to fight against the demon of alcoholism, Amelia finds herself thrust into the centre of the murder investigation.

I liked Amelia. She’s ballsy and determined and fiercely independent, yet has a vulnerable side that she doesn’t like people to see. Having lost her hearing in an accident, Amelia has fought her way back to recovery the hard way via alcoholism, but now that she has hit rock bottom she can now start climbing back up. Equally I loved her service dog, Stitch, who only responds to commands spoken in Czech – and only when he’s in the mood.

The story is good and the writing keeps it interesting. I loved the setting of Amelia’s cabin and the surrounding terrain and the author’s descriptions made it easy to visualise everything that was happening and where. The wintry backdrop gave an added dollop of danger. Amelia’s disability was well written and added an extra dimension to the danger she found herself in. Everything tied up well at the end and I am going to look for this author’s other books.

Finding Hemingway by Ken Dortzbach

Description

Hyper-focused, overachieving New York lawyer Callie McGraw has six months between jobs and a hefty severance check when she is called to Spain by Ernest Hemingway. She begins packing her bags for the sun-kissed streets that night. Starting in Barcelona, Callie embarks on a six-month escapade of a lifetime, a whirlwind of Spanish food, wine, art and dancing, with a revolving cast of friends and lovers keeping her company in each new locale. Callie’s next cocktail is never far away, but Hemingway knows her secrets, the demons that plague her deep down. With each mysterious call and each enigmatic clue, Hemingway challenges her to open herself to laughter, passion and love. Ultimately, he defies Callie to face her greatest fears and embrace life on her own terms.

My thoughts

I wanted to like this book so much. The premise appealed to me and I really liked the idea of Callie, the main character, being independent enough to travel to Spain for six months alone. I started off enjoying the book and the writing is good. But then it lost momentum. Callie met Trevor, also drifting, and struck up a very strange relationship where he followed her lead completely while Callie seemed to rate him very low, judging by the number of faults she found with him. The story itself felt as though it was drifting – from bar to bar and cafe to cafe with brief interludes to sight see or sleep at the hotel. At this point I was still enjoying the book while I was reading it, but I wasn’t feeling any need to get back to it as soon as possible. Then Callie met Claudio – who quite frankly was too good to be true – and around the 40% mark is where the book lost me. Callie turned into an unlikeable diva, overreacting to ridiculous things but we were expected to believe that the men around her thought she was wonderful! Once I stopped liking Callie it made it difficult for me to enjoy the book, despite the good writing, because I really need to like or at least relate to or sympathise with the main character in some way.

Scarlet Odyssey by C.T. Rwizi

Description

Magic is women’s work; war is men’s. But in the coming battle, none of that will matter.

Men do not become mystics. They become warriors. But eighteen-year-old Salo has never been good at conforming to his tribe’s expectations. For as long as he can remember, he has loved books and magic in a culture where such things are considered unmanly. Despite it being sacrilege, Salo has worked on a magical device in secret that will awaken his latent magical powers. And when his village is attacked by a cruel enchantress, Salo knows that it is time to take action.

Salo’s queen is surprisingly accepting of his desire to be a mystic, but she will not allow him to stay in the tribe. Instead, she sends Salo on a quest. The quest will take him thousands of miles north to the Jungle City, the political heart of the continent. There he must gather information on a growing threat to his tribe.

On the way to the city, he is joined by three fellow outcasts: a shunned female warrior, a mysterious nomad, and a deadly assassin. But they’re being hunted by the same enchantress who attacked Salo’s village. She may hold the key to Salo’s awakening—and his redemption.

My thoughts

This is a very impressive debut that doesn’t feel like a debut. The story is sophisticated and really well thought out and executed. It is told from several points of view, but the characters are introduced slowly so that you get to know each one and it doesn’t become confusing. There are also several different story arcs happening and again it is done so well that it is easy to keep track of them. My only criticism is that I wish I had known going in that it is the first in a series. I like to be prepared, but this is not a criticism of the book in any way and I enjoyed it so much that I will be looking out for the next one to be released.

Crossing The Line by Isabella Muir

Book Description:

Tragic accident or cold-blooded murder?

Retired Italian detective, Giuseppe Bianchi, travels to England to escape one tragic death, when he comes face-to-face with another. When the body of a teenager is found on a Sussex beach, Giuseppe is drawn to the case – a case with no witnesses, and a case about which no one is prepared to talk.

National news reports of a missing twelve-year-old in Manchester spark fear across the nation. The phrase ‘stranger-danger’ filters into public consciousness. Local reporter, Christina Rossi, already has concerns about her local community. Families are not as close-knit as they first appear.

As the sea mist drifts in and darkness descends, can Giuseppe and Christina discover the truth and prevent another tragedy?

Crossing the Line is the perfect summer read for everyone who loves Agatha Christie style twists and turns, with a Mediterranean flavour. Imagine the charismatic Italian police series, Montalbano, combined with those TV favourites set in the 1960s – Endeavour, George Gently and Call the Midwife.

‘A dashing Italian detective. A very English mystery. What more could you want?’ – Christoffer Petersen – bestselling Greenland crime and thriller author.

My thoughts:

This is a genre, an era, and a setting that appeal to me so there was a lot to like about this book.

The main character of Guiseppe, a retired Italian police detective visiting his cousin in a small seaside community in England, is very likeable. As his train is arriving it stops due to an accident. A teenage boy is dead. Guiseppe can’t help himself. He has to know whether it was an accident or something more sinister.

In addition to Guiseppe there is Christina, his cousin’s daughter who is an aspiring journalist at a time when women who worked were more likely to be typists and telephonists. She and Guiseppe form a mutually beneficial partnership to investigate the boy’s death.

There are other threads running through the book too, which I expect will be picked up and developed in future books – Marco’s past; Christina’s complicated relationship with Tony; and I hope we haven’t seen the last of Sean or Pearce.

The twists were a little too well signposted and I guessed them all, but everything that needed to be wrapped up did so nicely, and the things that weren’t leave a nice sense of anticipation for the next book.

The Sea Gate by Jane Johnson

Description

One house, two women, a lifetime of secrets…

Following the death of her mother, Becky begins the sad task of sorting through her empty flat. Starting with the letters piling up on the doormat, she finds an envelope post-marked from Cornwall. In it is a letter that will change her life forever. A desperate plea from her mother’s elderly cousin, Olivia, to help save her beloved home.

Becky arrives at Chynalls to find the beautiful old house crumbling into the ground, and Olivia stuck in hospital with no hope of being discharged until her home is made habitable.

Though daunted by the enormity of the task, Becky sets to work. But as she peels back the layers of paint, plaster and grime, she uncovers secrets buried for more than seventy years. Secrets from a time when Olivia was young, the Second World War was raging, and danger and romance lurked round every corner…

The Sea Gate is a sweeping, spellbinding novel about the lives of two very different women, and the secrets that bind them together.

My thoughts:

We meet cantankerous Olivia in the present day when she is 90 and in hospital with a broken leg. She has written to Becky’s mother asking (demanding!) assistance to get her large, old-fashioned house up to social services standards so that she can be safely discharged home. Becky, grieving for her mother who has just passed away and seeing the request as an opportunity to escape her current situation, responds in her mother’s place and discovers that the house holds both sinister intrigue and danger.
By way of a dual timeline we learn Olivia’s backstory from when she was 16 years old onward, and the secrets slowly reveal themselves.
This is an engrossing story which contained mystery, love (both lost and found), complex relationships and new beginnings, all intertwined with a characterful house set in beautiful Cornwall.
And a special mention has to go to the foul-mouthed parrot who brought unexpected bursts of humour and warmth through his larger-than-life personality.

South Of The Buttonwood Tree by Heather Webber

Description
USA Today bestselling author Heather Webber’s South of the Buttonwood Tree is a captivating blend of magical realism, heartwarming romance, and small-town Southern charm.
Blue Bishop has a knack for finding lost things. While growing up in charming small-town Buttonwood, Alabama, she’s happened across lost wallets, jewelry, pets, her wandering neighbor, and sometimes, trouble. No one is more surprised than Blue, however, when she comes across an abandoned newborn baby in the woods, just south of a very special buttonwood tree.
Sarah Grace Landreneau Fulton is at a crossroads. She has always tried so hard to do the right thing, but her own mother would disown her if she ever learned half of Sarah Grace’s secrets.
The unexpected discovery of the newborn baby girl will alter Blue’s and Sarah Grace’s lives forever. Both women must fight for what they truly want in life and for who they love. In doing so, they uncover long-held secrets that reveal exactly who they really are—and what they’re willing to sacrifice in the name of family.

My thoughts:

This book was like a hug to read.

In the Alabama town of Buttonwood, the surname Bishop is synonymous with dishonesty and violence. Blue Bishop lost all three of her brothers to violence, her father walked away from his family, and her mother sank into a depression after those losses and also died, leaving Blue to raise her little sister. Blue is trying hard to rise above the ‘curse’ of the Bishop name and desperate to be a mother. When she finds a newborn baby in the woods it seems her wishes have been granted, but this is the catalyst for layers of town secrets to start being exposed leading to some astonishing and life changing revelations.

I fell completely in love with the characters in this book, and the setting of small town Alabama was described so well that I could hear the accents and visualise the woods and the homes and the town.

The one criticism I had was that in the first chapter it wasn’t made clear on Blue’s age, ethnicity, or even what era the book was set in so I couldn’t immediately ground myself into the story. But once I had those fixed I absolutely loved this magical story and all the characters in it!

Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth

Description

Fifteen years ago, five ordinary teenagers were singled out by a prophecy to take down an impossibly powerful entity wreaking havoc across North America. He was known as the Dark One, and his weapon of choice—catastrophic events known as Drains—leveled cities and claimed thousands of lives. Chosen Ones, as the teens were known, gave everything they had to defeat him.

After the Dark One fell, the world went back to normal . . . for everyone but them. After all, what do you do when you’re the most famous people on Earth, your only education was in magical destruction, and your purpose in life is now fulfilled?

Of the five, Sloane has had the hardest time adjusting. Everyone else blames the PTSD—and her huge attitude problem—but really, she’s hiding secrets from them . . . secrets that keep her tied to the past and alienate her from the only four people in the world who understand her.

On the tenth anniversary of the Dark One’s defeat, something unthinkable happens: one of the Chosen Ones dies. When the others gather for the funeral, they discover the Dark One’s ultimate goal was much bigger than they, the government, or even prophecy could have foretold—bigger than the world itself.

And this time, fighting back might take more than Sloane has to give.

My Thoughts:

This is a genre I particularly like when it is written for adults, but despite being marketed as the author’s first adult fantasy this still felt like a YA novel due to the short, simple paragraphs, dialogue and fast pacing. It also had the feel of a sequel despite being the first book in a series.

I really enjoyed the premise of a group of adults who achieved hero status in their teens and ten years later are struggling with the consequences of their experiences. Between them they suffer from PTSD, addiction, anxiety and trust issues. The first part of the book deals with this aspect of their lives. Sloane in particular is complex and fascinating. I would have liked to see a lot more of Albie’s character, as he and Sloane were the most affected by previous events due to a shared trauma.

The story slowed down a little for me at the start of the second part, but then picked up the pace again quickly, introducing us to two more characters: the mysterious and charismatic Mox, and Ziva who – like Albie – I would have liked to know more about. Once I hit Part Three I couldn’t put the book down!

The storyline itself was interesting and I loved the twists that went into the character development of the main players. I’m looking forward to seeing how the development continues in the next book,

The Shapeless Unease by Samantha Harvey

Description:

In 2016, Samantha Harvey began to lose sleep. She tried everything to appease her wakefulness: from medication to therapy, changes in her diet to changes in her living arrangements. Nothing seemed to help.

The Shapeless Unease is Harvey’s darkly funny and deeply intelligent anatomy of her insomnia, an immersive interior monologue of a year without one of the most basic human needs. Original and profound, and narrated with a lucid breathlessness, this is a startlingly insightful exploration of memory, writing and influence, death and the will to survive, from “this generation’s Virginia Woolf” (Telegraph).

My Thoughts:

This has been an incredibly difficult book for me to rate because, although I can tell the concept and writing is quite brilliant, it just wasn’t my taste.

I was initially drawn to the stunning cover art, and then when I read that it was about insomnia I was instantly hooked as I have been medically diagnosed with that myself. But although I certainly relate to the nocturnal mind wandering, which does indeed take me to some weird places, mine is of such a different nature that I couldn’t relate to this book. One passage describing the post mortem breaking down of her cousin’s body after burial was a little too detailed for me. Perhaps I’m more squeamish than I thought!

I’ve gone for the middle road in my rating because, although this book isn’t for me, I think it may be perfect for others.

What Lies Between Us by John Marrs

Description

Nina can never forgive Maggie for what she did. And she can never let her leave.

They say every house has its secrets, and the house that Maggie and Nina have shared for so long is no different. Except that these secrets are not buried in the past.

Every other night, Maggie and Nina have dinner together. When they are finished, Nina helps Maggie back to her room in the attic, and into the heavy chain that keeps her there. Because Maggie has done things to Nina that can’t ever be forgiven, and now she is paying the price.

But there are many things about the past that Nina doesn’t know, and Maggie is going to keep it that way—even if it kills her.

Because in this house, the truth is more dangerous than lies.

My Thoughts:

Oh my word. I’m sitting here absolutely speechless having just finished reading this. This book had me hooked from page one and didn’t let up. I read it in one sitting because Nina and Maggie are such complex characters and their lives are so incredibly warped that I had to keep turning the pages to see what was going to happen next. We learn at the very beginning that they are mother and daughter sharing a house, but with the unusual circumstance of Maggie being chained so that she can’t leave. The story flits back and forth in time and between both Nina’s and Maggie’s points of view, slowly unraveling the hows and whys of how they arrived at their current situation, but thanks to the clear chapter headers it was never confusing. I always knew who was narrating and the timeline. The twists and turns and curveballs just kept coming but there’s no way of expanding on that without risking spoilers. I’ve been a fan of John Marrs since the first book of his that I read and they just keep getting better!

Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead by Olga Tokarczuk

Description:

One of Poland’s most imaginative and lyrical writers, Olga Tokarczuk presents us with a detective story with a twist in DRIVE YOUR PLOW OVER THE BONES OF THE DEAD. After her two dogs go missing and members of the local hunting club are found murdered, teacher and animal rights activist Janina Duszejko becomes involved in the ensuing investigation. Part magic realism, part detective story, DRIVE YOUR PLOW OVER THE BONES OF THE DEAD is suspenseful and entertaining reimagining of the genre interwoven with poignant and insightful commentaries on our perceptions of madness, marginalised people and animal rights.

My thoughts:

On the surface this is a murder mystery. Very little delving reveals layers of social commentary.

The narrator is a woman in her 60’s, Mrs Duszejko, a teacher of English at the local school in a rural Polish setting near the Czech border. She also caretakes the empty houses of the seasonal visitors to the area and translates William Blake in her spare time. She is also passionate about animal rights and an enthusiastic amateur astrologist, although her methodology and accuracy are very questionable. After the murders of three hunters she attempts to insert herself into the investigations by writing letters to the police, theorising that the victims were all killed by animals as revenge for the animals they hunted and backing her claims with her astrology findings.

I have to say that I initially found everything confusing. Was there some credibility to her claims? Where were her Little Girls? Was she hiding something? … Was the narrator merely eccentric or completely mad?

The beautiful writing kept me reading, as well as a developing affection for this very odd woman.

“With his help, the tree trunks revealed their secrets to me. The most ordinary stumps turned out to be entire kingdoms of Creatures that bored corridors and passages, and laid their precious eggs there. The larvae may not have been beautiful, but I was moved by their sense of trust – they entrusted their lives to the trees, without imagining that these huge, immobile Creatures are essentially very fragile, and wholly dependent on the will of people too.”

Slowly but surely the story started coming together. I guessed a good part of the reveal, but by then it didn’t matter because the telling was so clever and darkly humorous and slyly perceptive that I just wanted to keep reading right to the very satisfying end.