'In the Vanishing Hour' by Sarah Beth Martin | Book Review ★★★★☆

The best parts of historical fiction are the ones that take us back to a certain time and a certain place. We get to learn more about what people wore, how they thought and what the atmosphere was like during that time. For me, historical fiction doesn't even need to be centred around major historical events, I'm just looking for glimpses into the past. When I picked up Sarah Beth Martin's In the Vanishing Hour, it was with this in mind - I was captivated by the idea of twin mysteries set in a small Massachusetts town in the early 1950s and 1970s.

Frances Adams is haunted by the death of her brother Mac in 1951. He was just a teenager when he drowned in the Charles River and Frances cannot escape the weight of his loss. When she gets a job as a window dresser in a department store, Frances meets model Gwen who invites her into a world of fashion, lights, fragrance and colour. It is a world where Frances can reinvent herself and become so much more than the sister of a dead brother.

When tragedy strikes again, Frances is drawn into a web of mysteries that will force her to confront not only her own past and that of her family, but also the secrets that Gwen sought to solve.

With hints of fern, teal and emerald in the book cover, In the Vanishing Hour is a whole mood. I loved being immersed in the heady days of late-50s fashions, propriety and women's aspirations to enter the workforce and be something more. This was contrasted with the yellow brown aesthetic of the early 70s, with a decidedly more laid-back vibe tinged with edges of regret.

Throughout the novel, Sarah Beth Martin digs deep into the impact of the events that haunt us, the mysteries that weigh us down and the impossible task of moving forward in a world that you never imagined for yourself.

I enjoyed In the Vanishing Hour both as a mystery and as a work of historical fiction. Mystery thrillers are no longer my bag, which is strange given that I read every Kellerman and Cornwell back in the day, but the mystery here was interesting and poignant enough to keep me interested with a lesser emphasis on danger and none of the gory details.

For a vivid and mysterious journey through time, I give In the Vanishing Hour an excellent four out of five stars.

★★★★☆

I received an electronic copy of this graphic novel from Book Sirens. I will always provide an honest review, whether books are provided to me or purchased by me

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'Black Butterflies' by Priscilla Morris - A Tale of Survival and Loss During the Siege of Sarajevo ★★★★★

I've finished Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris. I wanted to say 'finally finished' but I realise that it only took me two weeks to read. I have a bad habit of not finishing books on Bosnia. After studying both the war and genocide, and visiting Mostar and Sarajevo, I find the topic quite harrowing and exhausting because I know what's coming. Somehow I managed to push through with this novel but I'm quite depleted.

This is going to be a case of the book being far, far better than my review because I'm battling to separate this excellent book from all the emotions it's provoked in me.

Black Butterflies is superb. It is a fictional account by Priscilla Morris but she explains in the afterword that the characters are based on members of her own family, specifically her great-uncle and her maternal grandparents. The book is exceptionally well-researched and transports the reader to the siege of Sarajevo amid the Bosnian War.

Zora Kočović is an artist living in the cosmopolitan, multi-cultural city of Sarajevo when war breaks out and the city is placed under siege on 5 April 1992. Her husband Franjo is able to escape with Zora's mother to live with their daughter in England but Zora decides to stay behind, to continue her work as an artist and teacher and to look after both their home and her mother's apartment.

It is a decision with dire consequences.

Black Butterflies takes place in the first year of the Siege of Sarajevo and delves into the hunger, cold and desperation of Sarajevans as both water and electricity supplies are cut off, food and water become scarce, and Serbs relentlessly shell the city. We spend endless days with Zora and her neighbours as the seasons bleed into one another and the friends encounter unfathomable losses.

Morris does such a good job of fleshing out the characters of the book, weaving their various nationalities into their stories as we meet the Serbs, Croats and Muslims that lived in Sarajevo before the war (Morris explains that she does not use the term 'Bosniak' in the book as she does not believe that it would have been used by Zora in Sarajevo in 1992. This corresponds with reports that the term emerged in the mid-1990s).

Zora makes daily visits to the Vijećnica (City Hall) and Baščaršija (the old bazaar), she muses about bridges and the connections between people, and she works to resolve the often painful memories from her childhood.

Black Butterflies is a rare gem that combines historical events with deep character study. I loved, and lived, every minute of this book.

Lasting 1425 days (over 3 years and 10 months), the siege of Sarajevo remains the longest siege of a major city in modern history. The scale of deprivation and loss endured by Sarajevans during that time is unfathomable but their determination and resourcefulness equally admirable . I love that Morris chose to write about these events and look forward to more of her work.

I give Black Butterflies a superb five out of five stars and recommend to fans of historic fiction.

★★★★★

I received an electronic copy of this graphic novel from Book Sirens. I will always provide an honest review, whether books are provided to me or purchased by me

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A Stunning Post-Apocalyptic Debut: 'Moths' by Jane Hennigan, narrated by Juanita McMahon

There's something about certain dystopian or post-apocalyptic novels that draws me in, keeps me reading into the quiet hours of night and doesn't let me go until I'm finished. I knew I had to read Jane Hennigan's Moths when a fellow Goodreads reviewer John recommended it, stating that it was going onto his list of favourite dystopian novels alongside a favourite of mine A Boy, His Dog and the End of the World. I went in with such high expectations - usually a bad idea - but in this case, my impossible expectations were exceeded.

I lived, breathed and slept Moths in the two weeks that I listened to it and might have flown through it sooner had I been reading it. I took long lunch time walks out on the marsh as I listened to this dark tale about nature gone wrong, knowing that I needed to draw it out for as long as possible. I didn’t want to finish this book, could think of little else in those two weeks and needed to know what would come next.

Moths is set about forty years into our future, following a catastrophic time when the tiny toxic threads of a previously unknown species of moths begins to kill men or fill them with uncontrollable, murderous rage. Society breaks down, systems fail, changes are made to ensure that both men and women can survive in this strange new world. Most of all, sacrifices are made and controls put in place to ensure that men are not exposed to the unrelenting threat of moth fibres that permeate the entire world.

The future world of Moths is a deeply horrifying place but I’m hesitant to go into details of the structures and practices because I want other readers to go in as blind as possible, to experiences the twists and reveals as I did. I can say that it is at once feminist and misanthropic, that it reminded me of both The Handmaids Tale and The Testaments and that I’ll be reading both Vox and The Power now due to favourable comparisons with those books.

I can also say confidently that it is unique and inventive enough to stand out in the world of dystopian fiction and that, like John, I will be adding this to my list of favourite dystopian books ever. I am absolutely thrilled that the sequel Toxxic is coming out in July!

I felt that Hennigan portrayed the effects of long-term institutionalisation very well as well as the consequential infantalisation of those who are incarcerated, how decades of medication would render them as empty shells. I didn’t quite agree with the complete breakdown of the electric grid, mobile grid and internet but it is clear that this is an issue that will divide dystopian writers and fans for ages to come. Just how much will society collapse following a catastrophe?

I listened to Moths narrated by Juanita McMahon on Audiobooks.com. Juanita’s narration was superb and absolutely contributed to my enjoyment of Moths. I liked how she changed her voice for each of the characters, making them distinctive and nuanced. I definitely recommend listening to this one on audiobook.

I give Moths a superb five out of five stars and recommend it to all fans of dystopian, post-apocalyptic fiction. I cannot wait for the release of Toxxic and will be following Jane Hennigan's writing career with great interest.

★★★★★

I was gifted a copy of the audiobook by the author Jane Hennigan. I will always give an honest and true review no matter whether booked are gifted or purchased by me.

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'Every Variable of Us' - the gritty YA debut from Charles A Bush ★★★★★

Authors often share their thoughts at the end of contemporary YA novels, explaining why the issues were important to them and the inspiration for their writing. It's interesting that Charles A Bush chose to share those thoughts at the beginning of Every Variable of Us. The reader knows, from the outset, to expect depictions of racism, homophobia, poverty and crime from the onset but they also understand why he wrote this novel.

Every Variable of Us is one of the most gritty novels I've read in years. It goes places The Hate U Give didn't dare to tread and explores the life of a severely underprivileged Philly teenager as she experiences the loss of her future and navigates her sexuality.

Alexis Duncan is a star basketball player on her way to a college scholarship. Rising above her mother's drug addiction and a life in and out of foster homes, Alexis is set to escape the confines of her upbringing and become a superstar. That is until she is shot in a gang shooting. Barely able to walk properly, Alexis needs to explore other options for college admission, and fast, before she becomes another statistic.

Alexis makes the shocking (to her) discovery that sports is not the only way to get college scholarships and she joins the school STEM team as a reserve. Has she got what it takes to go from jock to swot? More importantly, who is the enigmatic Aamani Chakrabarti and why is Alexis developing feelings for her?

I related on so many levels to this novel and it might help to explain why. I spent time in care and absolutely thought I had no future after school until I was made aware of the possibility of a scholarship to university which changed my life. The descriptions of poverty, neglect, parental drug abuse, the contradictory experience in care homes, and living on the street were especially authentic in Every Variable of Us and very well researched. The chaos that Alexis experienced on an every day basis is a chaos that is familiar to many children living in poverty.

Bush also explores life in gangs and the allure and often inevitability of gang membership amongst deprived teens. While Every Variable of Us is about Alexis and Aamani, it is also about Britt, Alexis's best friend who shared Alexis's past but not her future.

Every Variable of Us features a diverse range of characters including a Black sportsgirl protagonist, bisexual and gay teens, a Muslim girl and a neurodivergent boy. I appreciated seeing underprivileged teens on page as books often focus on unattainably privileged and wealthy teens.

It wasn't always easy to read Every Variable of Us and this is why Bush's foreword was especially well placed. With on-page racism and homophobia, including significant slurs, I had to stop and think whether these words were appropriate in this novel. I feel that the depictions were realistic and that characters displayed character growth in moving on from these positions, or moving on from those who continued to hold them.

I give Every Variable of Us a superb five out of five stars and recommend to fans of Angie Thomas, Jewell Parker Rhodes and Brandy Colbert. I cannot wait to see what Bush writes next.

★★★★★

Every Variable of Us is released by North Star Editions on 1 March 2022 and is available to purchase on Amazon (affiliate link; I will receive a small commission if you purchase using this link at no extra cost to you).

I received an electronic copy of this graphic novel from Netgalley. I will always provide an honest review, whether books are provided to me or purchased by me

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A Creepy Short Story Collection: 'A Cold Christmas and the Darkest of Winters' edited by Rasta Musick ★★★★☆

I recently discovered that I like spooky short stories and in keeping with a 'horror is not only for Halloween' theme, I picked up the A Cold Christmas and the Darkest of Winters short story collection. The byline says it all - Ho ho uh-oh. A collection of darkly weird winter and Christmas tales - I was definitely in the right place.

A Cold Christmas and the Darkest of Winters is probably the most eclectic and diverse collection of short stories that I've read. Tied together by the theme of Christmas or winter, that is pretty much all they have in common with tales spanning multiple centuries, locations and realms, from the realistic to the fantastic.

It is this that makes the anthology uniquely readable. With each story taking about 20 minutes to read, you can pick up this collection any time you have some time to kill, be it at the doctor's office, waiting in a queue or, if you're especially brave, alone in the dark at 3am.

I don't want to spoil the collection but three tales stood out for me. "Patient, Marley" by T. War Powers Tilden was a very cool Ray Bradbury-esque story with a great twist cat the end; "The Heart of Winter" by Archita Mittra was a very clever little Hansel & Gretal-type tale which again has an unexpected outcome; and the story I was most looking forward to, "Copper Snow" by Zoë Markham was a fantastically gruesome tale that might be best avoided by those with a fear of clowns.

(As a lover of all things clown however, I can confirm that the combination of comical clown shoes with a classic Harlequin suit was truly frightening!)

I enjoyed A Cold Christmas and the Darkest of Winters and give it four out of five stars. Recommended to fans of diverse and spooky fiction.

★★★★☆

A Cold Christmas and the Darkest of Winters, edited by Rasta Musick and published by Cinnabar Moth Publishing, is available to buy on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com (note: both these links are affiliate links; I will receive a small commission if you purchase using these links at no extra cost to you).

I received an electronic copy of this novel for the purposes of this review. I will always provide an honest review, whether books are provided to me or purchased by me.

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Ben Housden's Superb Debut 'Thunderpaws and the Tower of London' (Nature's Claw # 1) ★★★★☆

I had a suspicion, from the very first minute I heard about Thunderpaws and the Tower of London, that we are onto something special. I genuinely believe this might be the next great British phenomenon, the children's series to travel around the world and set young minds alight. I'd love to see this series come to life on the big screen and think it would be perfect as an animated series.

Teufel (pronounced Two-Full and translated from the German 'Devil') is a very proud cat of a very nice vicar. He lives a nice, boring life in Devon until one day his world turns upside down. All of a sudden, Teufel is transported to the Tower of London where his vicar is now a chaplain and there are more ghosts than he can shake a catnip tree at. Oh, and there are big, fat ravens too.

In time, Teufel, or Thunderpaws to those who know his clumsy ways, will learn that the ravens of the Tower of London are not to be touched but not before he has a wild adventure that takes him to Battersea Park, St Dunstan-in-the-East and Big Ben, all the while saving London and the world from the biggest threat yet.

There is a lot to love about Thunderpaws and the Tower of London. The print edition is absolutely exquisite with text doodles and beautiful colour illustrations by Japanese illustrator MonoKubo. If you're buying this book for Kindle, do ensure that you open it on the Kindle app from time to time to see those illustrations.

If, like me, your two major loves in life are cats and London, you're in for a real treat with Thunderpaws and the Tower of London. I really enjoyed the depiction of Thunderpaws as a snarky, teenage boy. I have a much-beloved 15-year-old boycat Seth, an old man now but very much master of his kingdom back in the day; he could be the white-and-black cousin of Thunderpaws, and author Ben Housden captured that big attitude perfectly. He's clearly been owned by a cat or two in his time.

Any good London-based tale will teach you a thing or two about our history and Thunderpaws and the Tower of London is jam-packed full of ghosts and historical figures, especially those who met their demise at the Tower. Speaking of ghosts, there is a whole host of ghost cats and wise mice, heroic rats and misunderstood polar bears.

Ben Housden states that Thunderpaws and the Tower of London is suitable for readers aged 9 to 90. As a seeker of superior middle grade and young adult fiction, would I recommend this book specifically to readers aged 9 to 15? Absolutely. It's funny and silly, with enough cat farts and manipulative miaows to keep most readers entertained.

My only complaint was that much of the book was heavily plot-driven, which can make for slow reading. The story really ramps up towards the end though and we see Teufel's character begin to develop. As I often do at the end of series, I may well revise my rating up once I've read the sequel.

For being the most original book I've read this year, I give Thunderpaws and the Tower of London an excellent four out of five stars and recommend to everybody, especially fans of Rivers of London, A Street Cat Named Bob, A Darker Shade of Magic and The Infernal Devices.

★★★★☆

I received an electronic copy of this novel for the purposes of this review. I will always provide an honest review, whether books are provided to me or purchased by me.

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Blog Tour & Review: The Arcane by Andrew S French (The Arcane # 1) ★★★★☆

They say you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover; 'they' being the type of people who clearly don't read books because I always judge books by their covers. Case in point, I knew I was going to read Andrew S. French's The Arcane the minute I saw that cover, James Helps's design is exquisite and perfect for this book. The good news? I really enjoyed the story too.

Sixteen-year-old child prodigy Alice is studying biology, physics and mathematics at Teesside University when her logical, carefully-curated world of science is turned upside-down. In the course of one particularly life-threatening evening, she learns that the twin-sister-she-never-knew-she-had kills monsters. Cue record scratch.

Part one of the Arcane duology, The Arcane is a young adult, urban fantasy set in the UK. If you're a fan of Supernatural, Buffy, Lucifer or Doctor Who, you'll feel very comfortable with an all-star cast that includes vampires, werewolves, angels, demons and an unexpected encounter with Medusa. There's even some timey-wimey, space travel stuff to add to the madness. I'm definitely not going to spoil more of the story because it was enjoyable letting it unfold. Suffice to say, discovering you have an identical twins raises questions.

The Arcane is a lot of fun. I really appreciated that each twin had a unique voice and personality. It was amusing seeing Alice desperately trying to frame everything she was seeing within logic and science, despite the increasing evidence that physics had left the building. I also loved the pop culture references and the song titles for chapter names.

The only problem I have with The Arcane was that unforgivable cliffhanger. I haven't scrambled that quickly for a sequel in years! The good news, dear reader, is that both The Arcane and sequel The Arcane Identity are out now to buy. I suggest you buy them together. For a wild rollercoaster ride of a book, paranormal shenanigans and making me crave more, I give The Arcane an excellent four out of five stars.

★★★★☆

 

The Arcane Blog Tour

I'm taking part in The Arcane blog tour. Definitely visit the other blogs on the tour for more reviews and other snippets.

I received an electronic copy of this novel for the purposes of this review. I will always provide an honest review, whether books are provided to me or purchased by me.

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Friendship and Intrigue Across the Berlin Wall: 'The Boy Behind the Wall' by Maximilian Jones ★★★★★

August 2021: I'm sitting beside the pool on a long-awaited summer holiday and I cannot lie, it's bliss. I feel so fortunate to finally be away from gloomy, cold England where summer 2021 never seemed to arrive. I've decided that historical fiction is my pick of holiday genre for the week and The Boy Behind the Wall, debut YA novel by Maximillian Jones, is my first book.

Releasing on Welbeck Kids on 14 October 2021 and set in the 1960s, The Boy Behind the Wall is about two boys, Harry and Jakob, living on the West and East sides of the Berlin Wall respectively. The boys become penpals after Harry sends a helium balloon over the wall with two notes attached. The balloon is shot down, of course, but the notes find their way into Jakob's hands.

So begins a tale of friendship, mystery and sabotage set during the fraught and dark times of divided Berlin. The action is non-stop from the very first page and this book is near impossible to put down.

Perhaps the best thing about The Boy Behind the Wall is the characters that Jakob and Harry meet along the way and the stories they have to tell. There is the comic store owner who tells Harry about how Jews were treated during the war and the cafe owner who tells Jakob about his time in the resistance. Throughout the novel is the notion that a society on the losing end of a world war was further brutalised by an authoritarian regime.

I remember watching with incredulity as the Berlin Wall came down. Now The Boy Behind the Wall can give YA readers a glimpse of what it was like to live during that time and how it felt for a thousands of people whose families were torn apart when the wall went up.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Boy Behind the Wall and give it a superb five out of five stars. I recommend to fans of historical YA as well as those who love a good spy thriller.

★★★★★

I was intrigued about the identity of author Maximilian Jones and have discovered that the author is fictional! From the LoveReading4Schools website:

Welbeck Flame and Tibor Jones have collaborated to develop this book with a talented team of writers, including two German editors, who work collaboratively with a dynamic and creative approach echoing the TV script-writing model. The Boy Behind the Wall, and its sequel publishing in 2022, will be published under the fictional author name Maximillian Jones.

The Boy Behind the Wall is available to pre-order on Amazon and Bookshop.org (note: both these links are affiliate links; I will receive a small commission if you purchase using these links at no extra cost to you).

I received an electronic copy of this novel for the purposes of this review. I will always provide an honest review, whether books are provided to me or purchased by me.

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Nikki Barthelmess's 'Everything Within and In Between' ★★★☆☆ | Book Review

And the prize for the most flawed narrator of the year goes to: Ri Fernández. A strange way to start a review, I know, but I spent a fair bit of Nikki Barthelmess's Everything Within and In Between actively disliking the main character and despairing over her constant lies, tendency to jump to conclusions and refusal to communicate with those closest to her. I wasn't sure where the story was going for much of the book when suddenly, Barthelmess wraps it all together to deliver a solid ending.

Ri Fernández's grandmother wants her to live the American dream, to succeed in the world and enjoy the privilege that passing for white can bring her. The only problem is that Ri is desperate to reclaim her Mexican heritage and to rekindle her relationship with the mother who abandoned her.

When Ri begins taking Spanish classes at school, it sets her on course for a collision with her grandmother but also opens her eyes to the micro-aggressions and outright racism encountered by her Mexican friends and family.

Will Ri be able to navigate her messy relationships and feelings without losing everybody she loves?

This is a difficult novel to rate because I didn't enjoy it for the first three-quarters of the book and, as mentioned above, I did not like the protagonist. I was also confused by the timing in the story and couldn't quite understand - apart from the author telling us that it was happening - why situations with Ri's sudden love interest and best friend were escalating as quickly as they were. The situation seemed to go from zero to stratospheric in three days.

I also have specific concerns with the depiction of substance abuse in the novel, including cocaine. This is based entirely on my experience with teen addiction but I prefer substance-abuse themes in YA novels to be more cautionary. I did appreciate that Ri came to realise the dangers of her actions based on her predisposition towards addiction.

Nevertheless, something kept me going to the end and I'm glad I finished. I enjoyed how the various storylines were resolved and especially appreciated the character development of Ri and her best friend.

With trigger warnings for racism, prejudice, micro-aggressions, on-page drug abuse, alcoholism and parental abandonment, I give Everything Within and In Between an okay three out of five stars. As an adult, I enjoyed the outcome of the story but I'd recommend that parents and teachers engage in deeper discussions on the substance abuse present in the book.

Everything Within and In Between has been released to coincide with National Hispanic Heritage Month in the United States.

★★★☆☆

Everything Within and In Between is available on Amazon and Bookshop.org (note: both these links are affiliate links; I will receive a small commission if you purchase using these links at no extra cost to you).

I received an electronic copy of this novel for the purposes of this review. I will always provide an honest review, whether books are provided to me or purchased by me.

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Blog Tour / Review: 'Slanted and Disenchanted' by Lisa Czarina Michaud ★★★★☆

The grand theme of my summer holiday 2021 was historic fiction but this third novel is a little controversial. The blurb told me it was set in the 90s which could count as 'historic' but in reality, Lisa Czarina Michaud's Slanted and Disenchanted was set between 1999 and 2001. Does an era that is only 20 years past count as historic? Given that I lived (and loved) during this time (our 20th wedding anniversary is coming up), I'm going to class this one as 'nostalgic fiction' instead. That makes sense anyway because the pandemic has been a huge driver of our current fixation with nostalgia.

I'm going to dive right in and talk about when this novel was set and what it means for today's readers. Slanted and Disenchanted is definitely a New Adult novel and is set around the time of 9/11. With the 20th anniversary commemorations of that dark day taking place last week, it was really interesting reading this novel and noticing the similarities to the world today. Twenty years ago, the world changed overnight and those entering adulthood were suddenly faced with a completely alien and unwelcoming world where tensions were high and suspicions rife. Sound familiar?

It's safe to say that Michaud absolutely succeeds in transporting the reader back to that time because I basically lived the early 00s and the Generation X experience for the four days it took me to read the novel.

Slanted and Disenchanted is about Carla and Pete and how they form a band and take a road trip across America in the months after 9/11. It's about music and deciding what to do when college isn't for you; about finding yourself and accepting parts of your identity that others might not accept. Mostly, it's about taking ownership of your destiny in a crazy, uncertain world.

There is so much to unpack in this novel and I didn't realise that I suffered from GenX trauma until it began spilling out on the page. I was more a latchkey, too-much-freedom kind of GenXer but I absolutely recognised Carla's mother in many of my friends' parents.

Note: given the time period, our protagonists could strictly be called Millennials but given the number of phone boxes in the book plus Carla's mother and Pete's distrust of electronic communication, I'm going to go with Generation X.

It's always difficult to review a book that takes you through every emotion possible but I enjoyed this road trip novel across the States during an incredible difficult period in history. We like to say times were simpler before but they certainly haven't been that way this millennium.

For the music and the open road, for a time before smart phones and the end of Generation X, I give Slanted and Disenchanted an excellent four out of five stars.

★★★★☆

Slanted and Disenchanted is available on Amazon (note: this link is an affiliate link; I will receive a small commission if you purchase using these links at no extra cost to you).

I received an electronic copy of this novel for the purposes of this review. I will always provide an honest review, whether books are provided to me or purchased by me.

Slanted and Disenchanted Blog Tour

I'm taking part in the Slanted and Disenchanted blog tour with Rachel's Random Resources. Definitely visit the other blogs on the tour for interviews, excerpts and more.

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An Epic Tale of War and Loss: 'The Spanish Girl' by Jules Hayes ★★★★☆

I'm so pleased I chose historic fiction as my theme for my holiday away in Spain. My second read is especially relevant as I've chosen Jules Hayes's The Spanish Girl, a historic novel spanning both the Spanish Civil War in the 30s and the death of Franco and subsequent rise of the Basque separatist movement in the 70s.

I initially believed that The Spanish Girl wasn't for me, incorrectly believing it to be a light romance novel. Granted, I'd sought out that exact genre due to suggestions from other readers on how to overcome my pandemic reading slump, but The Spanish Girl exceeded my expectations in every way.

The Spanish Girl begins in December 1937, at the height of the Spanish civil war, with a young boy witnessing the horrific murder of a mother and newborn baby. The reader is swiftly transported to Bilbao, Spain in May 1976 where journalist Isabella prepares to meet with a member of the Basque nationalist movement.

Isabella soon learns of an incredible personal connection between the people she is meeting and her own mother who disappeared before Isabella ever met her. Told through alternating timelines between the 30s and 70s, we learn of the full story of Isabella's parents and how she comes to learn about her own true history.

There is definitely romance in The Spanish Girl but if romance isn't really your thing (it's not really mine as a stand-alone genre) I believe that the epic story between these pages would appeal nonetheless.

This the the second novel I've read about Franco's Spain, the first being Ruta Sepetys's excellent historic novel The Fountains of Silence. Both novels have served to make me thirsty to learn more about Spain in the 20th century, which makes sense seeing as I spend so much time here.

The Spanish Girl is a rich and powerful novel, invoking the sights and aromas of Spain with vivid descriptions of its music, geography and food. The vibrancy and colour of this beautiful country is juxtaposed with the horror and violence of the Spanish civil war, fascism and terrorism, all of which is brought to life by Hayes's impressive research.

For bringing to life two pivotal moments in Spain's history, I give The Spanish Girl an excellent four out of five stars and recommend to lovers of historical fiction, especially non-WWII history. Don't get me wrong, I've read a lot of WWII history myself but steer towards non-fiction accounts of WWII lately.

★★★★☆

I received an electronic copy of this novel from Netgalley. I will always provide an honest review, whether books are provided to me or purchased by me.

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Lyrical Yet Brutal: Morowa Yejidé's 'Creatures of Passage' - Book Review ★★★★★

One of the absolute truths about judging novels is that a review can in no way adequately capture a book and this is never more true than in Morowa Yejidé's incredible Creatures of Passage. Compared to Toni Morrison's Beloved, Creatures of Passage is a beautifully written, lyrical novel that deals with exceptionally heavy topics. As such, it must come with trigger warnings for child rape, murder, grief, racism, slavery and genocide.

Creatures of Passage is a tale about several lives torn apart by the actions of men. Nephthys Kinwell has been floating through life, cast adrift by the unexplained murder of her twin brother Osiris and burdened by the unbearable inertia of one.

Her alcohol-soaked existence is disturbed by the arrival at her front door of her great-nephew Dash. Dash has been plagued by visions of something he witnessed at school and he has been holding conversations with a ghost on the banks of the Anacostia River. It will take Nephthys longer to figure it out than the reader, but Dash is in grave danger.

Critical to Creatures of Passage is a magical realism that is so well written that the reader can't help but suspend disbelief. Of course magic, ghosts and post-life experiences are real in a novel that puzzles together the whole of existence in 1970s Washington DC from ancient cultures, through genocide, slavery, Jim Crow and racism, to murder and child abuse.

Creatures of Passage is a brutal read and I can understand why readers might feel unable to complete it. It raises the question of how do you talk about child sexual abuse, especially in fiction? In her unflinching style, Yejidé digs deep into the planning, intention, manipulation and delusion of the paedophile. These are not accidental events but a planned assault against a vulnerable individual. I once found myself in the crosshairs of such a person and despite my own trauma and triggers, I carried on reading to access that insight.

While this is but one topic in Creatures of Passage, Yejidé treats all of the other topics with a similar brutality. It's been a while since I've highlighted passages with such regularity in a fiction novel, moved as I was by the concepts and writing.

"And there would be latter-day nationalists and citizen circles and patriots, who from the forgotten fiefdoms of the territories heard the claxon bells of an orange-skinned king"

"And here Rosetta stopped, panting and dizzy, because she knew - as all the abused do - that there were no nouns or verbs or grammatical constructs to describe the depths of her outrage and pain"

I give Creatures of Passage a superb five out of five stars. This book stopped me in my tracks, causing an existential discomfort and making me contemplate the sheer unfairness of it all. Recommended for fans of literature that pushes the reader to contemplate the big issues.

★★★★★

Creatures of Passage is available on Amazon and Bookshop.org (note: both these links are affiliate links; I will receive a small commission if you purchase using these links at no extra cost to you).

I received an electronic copy of this novel for the purposes of this review. I will always provide an honest review, whether books are provided to me or purchased by me.

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Blog Tour / Review: Darren Shan's 'Archibald Lox' Volume 2: Archibald Lox and the Kidnapped Prince

I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the ARCHIBALD LOX VOLUME 2: ARCHIBALD LOX AND THE KIDNAPPED PRINCE by Darren Shan Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!

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About the Books

Title: ARCHIBALD LOX AND THE FORGOTTEN CRYPT (Archibald Lox #4)

Author: Darren Shan

Pub. Date: July 1, 2021

Publisher: Home of the Damned Ltd

Formats: Paperback, eBook

Pages: 144

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD

When a couple of assassins catch up with Archie, he's forced to flee to the Merge in search of friendship and safety.

As his skills develop, he opens a gateway to a long-forgotten crypt, where ancient secrets are revealed.

In a city of ice, the greatest gropsters of the six realms have assembled for a legendary Tourney, but a small group of plotters are more interested in kidnapping...

Book four of the Archibald Lox series by Darren Shan, the New York Times bestselling author of Cirque Du Freak and Lord Loss.

This is the first of three books in VOLUME TWO of the series.

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Title:  ARCHIBALD LOX AND THE SLIDES OF BON REPELL (Archibald Lox #5)

Author: Darren Shan

Pub. Date: August 3, 2021

Publisher: Home of the Damned Ltd

Formats: Paperback, eBook

Pages: 197

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, B&N, iBooks, Kobo

The Tourney has kicked off, and it's the biggest draw in the Merge.

Archie has a ticket to every match, and is soon caught up in the excitement.

But when a scheming king sets his sights on the young locksmith, all thoughts of grop are swiftly forgotten, and Archie might fight for his freedom and his sanity...

Book five of the Archibald Lox series by Darren Shan, the New York Times bestselling author of Cirque Du Freak and Lord Loss.

This is the second of three books in VOLUME TWO of the series.

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Title:  ARCHIBALD LOX AND THE RUBICON DICTATE (Archibald Lox #6)

Author: Darren Shan

Pub. Date: September 1, 2021

Publisher: Home of the Damned Ltd

Formats: Paperback, eBook

Pages: 211

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, iBooks, Kobo

The kidnapping of a prince shocks the Merge and turns the Tourney on its head.

In New York, a desperate Archie and Inez play a cunning game of chess with the fates.

But if they are to force a checkmate, they must travel to the heart of an enemy empire and face down the rulers of a merciless realm...

Book six of the Archibald Lox series by Darren Shan, the New York Times bestselling author of Cirque Du Freak and Lord Loss.

This is the third of three books in VOLUME TWO of the series.

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Grab Volume 1 Now!

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Addicted to Media reviews

It's no secret that I'm a fan of this series. Click through below for links to all previous reviews.

Archibald Lox and the Bridge Between Worlds (Archibald Lox #1)

Archibald Lox and the Empress of Suanpan (Archibald Lox #2)

Archibald Lox and the Vote of Alignment (Archibald Lox #3)

Archibald Lox and the Forgotten Crypt (Archibald Lox #4)

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Archibald Lox and the Bridge Between Worlds

Excerpt

I focus on the people crossing the bridge. Many are tourists. A few joggers pant past. Men and women in business suits march by, talking loudly on their phones. Foreign students on school trips.

And then I spot the girl.

She’s my sort of age, darker skinned than me. She has black hair cut short, and wide brown eyes, dressed in plain cream trousers and a red, long-sleeved top. Her boots are navy, scuffed and stained with dry mud.

She comes running along the bridge in a panic, stops near where I’m standing and starts grimacing bizarrely. Her nose twitches, her lips gurn, her eyebrows shoot up and down, her tongue flickers out and around.

At first I think she’s pulling faces at me and I open my mouth to snap at her, but then she throws a worried – no, terrified – glance backwards, and I realise she hasn’t even noticed me.

Two men are striding towards us. They’re dressed in white suits, white shoes and white ties. One is black, the other pale like me. Both are bald, except for a curved, thin strip of white hair that arcs across their foreheads, the tips of the crescents pointing towards the backs of their heads.

The pale man is holding a long, narrow knife, the sort they called a stiletto in the old days. The darker man is carrying an axe, swinging it through the air in short, menacing strokes.

It’s clear that the men are chasing the girl and will kill her if they catch her. The girl gulps, then pulls more faces. She’s staring at the paving slabs. I want to cry out and warn her of the danger, but she’s obviously aware of the threat. I can’t understand why she isn’t fleeing, why she’s drawn to a halt and is wasting precious time pulling those ridiculous faces.

I think about intervening – I could tug the girl away from the onrushing men and help her escape – but I’m rigid with fear, breathing shallowly, eyes wide, shocked by what’s happening.

When the men are several metres away, a couple of slabs in the bridge shimmer and a hole yawns open. I think it’s a trick of the light, so I do a double take, but it’s definitely a hole, a gap where a moment before there had been solid stone.

With a victorious yelp, the girl throws herself into the hole. The men’s faces twist with rage and they pick up speed, but the girl yells something, and in an instant the slabs are back in place.

The hole is gone.

The bridge is solid again.

The girl has disappeared.

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Darren Shan

Darren Shan is a globally bestselling author who broke onto the fantasy/horror scene with Cirque Du Freak in January 2000. He has published more than fifty books, for children and adults, including the 10-book Demonata series and 12-book Zom-B series. Cirque Du Freak was adapted into a major Hollywood movie and it was recently announced that the Electric Shadow Company and Fantastic Films have teamed up to adapt his Zom-B series for television. Shan’s books have sold more than thirty million copies worldwide, in 40 countries and 32 languages. He has topped the bestseller charts in the US, UK, Ireland, Japan, and elsewhere. He lives in a small village in Ireland, with his wife and children.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon

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Note: this post contains affiliate links. I will earn a small commission from your purchase at no extra cost to you.

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Giveaway Details

1 winner will receive a $10 Amazon GC, International.

3 winners will receive ebooks of ARCHIBALD LOX VOLUME 2, International.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Tour Schedule

Week One:

8/2/2021	Two Chicks on Books	Excerpt
8/2/2021	Jaimerockstarbooktours	Instagram Post
8/3/2021	The Momma Spot	Guest Post
8/3/2021	The Momma Spot	Instagram Post
8/4/2021	BookHounds YA	Guest Post
8/4/2021	BookHounds	Instagram Post
8/5/2021	#BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee Blog	Excerpt
8/5/2021	#BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee Blog	Instagram Post
8/6/2021	Rajiv's Reviews	Review
8/6/2021	Kelly Smith Reviews	Review

Week Two:

8/9/2021	@pagesofyellow	Review
8/9/2021	More Books Please blog	Review
8/10/2021	Mocha Girls Read	Guest Post
8/10/2021	Mocha Girls Read	Instagram Post
8/11/2021	Addicted to Media	Review/Excerpt
8/11/2021	Reveal + Review	Review
8/12/2021	TLC Book Nook	Excerpt
8/12/2021	Jaime's World	Excerpt
8/13/2021	popthebutterfly	Review
8/13/2021	popthebutterfly	Instagram Post

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Charlotte Nicole Davis's Incredible Debut 'The Good Luck Girls' | Audiobook Review ★★★★★

How do I love this book? Let me count the ways.

One. The narrator Jeanette Illidge is absolutely brilliant, capturing each of the many characters' voices with individuality and distinction.

Two. This is a steampunkish, speculative, fantastical novel set in an alternative Wild West where dustbloods, whose shadows were torn from them generations ago, remain indentured and vulnerable to being sold into sexual servitude.

Three. It's a great adventure story where five girls embark of a journey of escape across a landscape littered with 'vengeants' (think savage spectres) and mercenaries known as 'raveners'. Their ultimate goal is to remove their delicate yet brutal neck tattoos that define them as Welcome Girls.

Four. That cover is exquisite as is the US cover.

Five. Diversity. This is a book about five girls who get to head a Western adventure and engage in capers from chases to bank heists. Main character Aster is a seventeen-year-old, dark skinned, formidable young woman who will do anything to protect her sister Clem. The book also features the sweetest queer couple who I will stan for the rest of time.

Six. Despite the high capers, the book deals with several heavy issues with trigger warnings for rape, sexual slavery and discussion of suicide.

Seven. The sequel comes out on 10 August 2021 and I cannot wait.

I give The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis a superb five out of five stars and recommend to fans of YA, steampunk and kick-ass girls.

★★★★★

Support local bookshops and visit the Addicted to Media YA Fiction Bookshop to see my recommendations. All links and widgets in this post are affiliate links. I will earn a small commission from your purchase at no extra cost to you.

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Camryn Garrett's 'Full Disclosure': A Novel About an HIV Positive Teen ★★★☆☆

This is a book that battled with its desire to write portray an HIV positive teen in an accepting, affirmative manner while simultaneously realising that a book without conflict would be too neatly wrapped up. So the drama is created by introducing a blackmail plot with an extremely underdeveloped antagonist. We learn nothing about why this character would make the moral decisions he makes.

Full Disclosure is a book about an HIV positive student who has to move schools after her HIV status is discovered and her life made an bearable. There is so much to love about this book including the information that we learn about living with HIV, the normalisation of the experience, the idea that you can live a full life with HIV and that there are precautions you can take to ensure that the disease isn't passed along to those around you.

There are two things that somewhat marred another fantastic diverse interesting novel. The first is that the main character is awful. She creates drama with there is none, she treats her friends terribly and she is a remarkably selfish young woman. The second is that despite the main character being awful there is a rather lovely but unlikely scenario that her friends and her boyfriend are all fabulously accepting of her HIV status when she tells them and they offer her unconditional support. It simply didn't seem statistically probable that everyone would've been so accepting, the more likely scenario being that her friends would've been burnt by her terrible behaviour and somehow hit back at her.

I am a terrible fiction writer. I know this because when I was 15 we had to write a novel for school. I wrote a story about a girl who has a car accident and while she recovers in hospital, her estranged parents reunite and fix their marriage. My teacher told me it was the worst book she had ever read. She said it was a fantastical story and that life just didn't work like that. That's how I felt about this novel.

As mentioned in the intro, there is a thread throughout the novel of the main character being threatened by letters to out her HIV status if she doesn't leave her boyfriend. I thought the theme was very much under-developed and the resolution very dissatisfactory. Although, even though we didn't get to know the perpetrator's motives, his reaction was the most likely in the novel. People suck in real life.

I can see what the author was trying to do. She was trying to create an HIV story that reflected the positivity of having an HIV experience rather than simply focusing on the negativity and the scary things. And I think there could have been ways to express that positivity and to express how HIV positive people can show agency and competency in the management of their condition, without creating a fairytale where everybody was supportive except for the evil jealous boy next door.

I give Full Disclosure an okay three out of five stars.

★★★☆☆

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