Wednesday Spotlight | The Time Key by E.L. Durant

About the Book:

On a school trip to historic Minerva Hall, popular troublemaker Luke Morgan, and loner Chyna Blue, are reluctantly thrust together in the hope that each will be a positive influence on the other. But then they are drawn through a painting and travel back in time.

With only their twenty-first century wits, and a few modern day gadgets to help them, they must outwit a relentless Persian soldier, evade a mountain lion, and escape slave traders. They also have to learn to get along in order to trace a route home.

Then, a mysterious Samurai warrior informs them that the multiverse behind the paintings is much more complicated and far-reaching than they could ever have imagined, and that their destiny is not what they had once presumed. 

Buy your Kindle copies at Amazon or Amazon UK.

About the Author:

I write for no other reason than I enjoy it deeply. I like the challenge of making a story work. I get a thrill from tinkering with the structure, of creating characters that I care about, and of manipulating a plot that unravels unpredictably, yet logically. I like to write myself into a corner and then see how I can escape. To me, writing is a puzzle I like to spend my time trying to solve.

When my children were small and I used to read to them, they had their favourites. Bizarrely, my son used to like a Ladybird book about Florence Nightingale, I never understood that. But my daughter preferred me to freestyle new stories to her, and The Time Key grew from there. Originally the Princess of Sarcasm, I wanted to find out if I could pull together the different worlds we used to create together and solve the puzzle of writing for a different age group.

My greatest thrill in life now, is seeing my children enrich their lives through books, and I like to think I played my part in that. It’s a presumed legacy that gives me a greater sense of achievement than anything I might create. I would much rather my headstone read ‘he was a good father’ than ‘he wrote books’.

For more information, please visit the author's website.

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2015 Reading Challenge | December

So, here we are. December finally caught up with us. Days are already filled with listing, planning, shopping, and gift wrapping. I'm still hoping to include reading on that list.

Here's what I read last November:

• Still Life with Bread Crumbs by Anna Quindlen - 5/5 stars - I love the tone of the narration, and I simply breezed through this.
• The Undoing by Averil Dean - 3.5/5 stars - Surprised by how good this book was. I just wished for a better intro. Book release on the 29th this month.
• Alternative Alamat  edited by Paolo Chikiamco - 3/5 stars - TFG's book for November, which we happened to discuss last FilReaderCon. This is an average rating. I should probably write a comprehensive review on which stories I liked best and which I don't. 
• The Forbidden Wish by Jessica Khoury - 4/5 stars - I was granted to take a sneak preview, and I am looking forward to its release on February 2016.

And that concludes my Reading Challenge for 2015 of 70 books. Although, I was not able to read Winter People like I planned last month; and I've put both The Invention of Wings (64%) and The Golem and the Jinni (68%) on hold. I'm still thinking of finding ways to finish them within the year.

Before I go, allow me to be the first to greet you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year ahead!

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Sneak Peek Review | THE FORBIDDEN WISH by Jessica Khoury

  

• February 23, 2016, 
• Razorbill

I have this unspoken love for reimagined fairy tales, myths, and legends. So when NetGalley offered a sneak preview of this book, I took it without any hesitation.

This is a retelling of Alladin, narrated from the Genie’s point of view. Finally, the genie was given a history, a backstory that goes beyond the Lamp. Ms. Khoury’s added twists are really intriguing. After reading the first eight chapters, I can readily say that she has a very cohesive plot. A lot has been put together to plausibly answer some millennial-old questions without losing any of the magical elements that made Alladin a beloved story for all time.

A few cleaning up, here and there, and this book is ready to go. Something great and exciting to look forward coming February 2016.

Book details:

Title:  The Forbidden Wish

Author:  Jessica Khoury

Publication: February 23, 2016; by Razorbill

Genre:  YA Fiction / Fantasy

Rating:  ★★★★

*Thanks to NetGalley and Razorbill for the preview.

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Wednesday Spotlight | The Call of Gelduur by Jack Alriksson

About the Book:

Meet Ivar Skullcleaver. Lovely lad. He likes to read. Plunder. Slaughter. Shamelessly manipulate friends and foes. And he's the hero of this lighthearted fantasy adventure. 

Start your journey in the mysterious islands of Norrland, embark on an adorable pillaging cruise, sail bravely through a fierce storm and reach the island-kingdom of Ingorle... shipwrecked and defenseless. But don't worry, it's not that bad. Not yet. Not until the soldiers of Ingorle turn you into a slave and send you up north to defend their borders from a hidden threat that only reveal itself moments before killing the beholder in a very rude way. Now it's truly bad. So, again, don't worry. It should get better. Especially since the hidden threat strikes and...OK, that's enough for spoilers. Read the book! 

SOUNDS INTERESTING, BUT WHAT DO I ACTUALLY GET? 
- A delightful adventure in a fantasy world inspired by a Europe at the dawn of the Viking Age ;
- A story of conquest, vengeance, friendship, bravery and subtle manipulation ;
- Battles. An obscene amount of battles. Land battles, sea battles, sieges, duels, slaughter, a bit of torture (not much, though. The author is not very fond of it), basically every act that can be performed by upstanding pirates, cutthroats and murderers ;
- A war of wits. Because wars are not won simply by hurling soldiers at the enemy ;
- A big and happy smile on the cover, just to brighten your day :) ;
- Plenty of twists and unexpected turns of events that are overcome with the most powerful form of magic. The magic of the mind ;
- Definitely not the "you must love the hero because I've made him so unbelievably perfect and you must hate the antagonists because they're bad in such a cheap way" approach. Definitely not that. Feel free to love or hate the characters based on your own morality. Or lack of;
- A bit of humor and a lighthearted story. Just because the characters are busy slaughtering each other doesn't mean the tone of the novel has to be dead serious. 

HURR-DURR! 
You mean "I'm still unconvinced"? Then buy it "ironically". In fact, buy it "ironically" for everyone you know. There's your chance to make a change! Fight for your beliefs! Come the revolution and all that.                                                                             

Get your copies now from Amazon, Smashwords, and Kobo.

About the Author:

Jack Alriksson is the famous writer of the even-more-famous-yet-unknown The Norrland Saga, a series currently consisting of one book. Because he is a lazybone and won't finish the second one. Besides, he's also working on a series of books for children, since a frightening hulk who writes about bloody Viking-inspired warriors is the perfect man for job - or so he thinks. And people let him think that 'cause, as stated previously, he's big and scary.

Seriously speaking (even though he hardly does that), Jack practices the black art of satire journalism every now and then and is a staunch believer in the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Except for when he believes in Pizza and Beer.

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Book Review | THE UNDOING by Averil Dean

     

December 29, 2015
Mira

THE UNDOING is a psychological thriller based on a familiar subject, relationship. This is the story of three people who blurred the lines between family, friends, and lovers. A relationship that started on the common need for belongingness, with hopes of enduring anything together, but ended in a tragedy born of jealousy and deft manipulation.

Five years after the murders, Julian Moss returned to the Blackbird Hotel to kill himself.

I had a hard start with this novel. The introduction was interesting -the suicide, the spoiler, and the quote from The Raven- but it’s not arresting enough to hold me completely. I guess it came from my reading too much crime and mystery novels. So, I'm glad that my will as a finisher ruled over, or I would not have known that this is quite good. I am pointing that out because, with the plot adopted by the author, the reader needs to be totally in the zone from the very beginning to lure her easily into the next chapter. The unique timeline of this novel moves from the present to the past, until everything was sorted out slowly, but accurately, into a complete story. I think it’s the greatest characteristic of this book, which is a waste if not given a concrete introduction and the reader giving up on it after 2-5 pages in.

Nevertheless, Ms. Dean wrote a solid story, the reader realized after sticking with it. It has all the fine points and sequence vital to a slowly building suspense that did not rob this reader of her imagination. Likewise, the characters were fully substantiated. Like the location, tethering on the edge of a mountainside, the characters are always on the border of breaking and catapulting. The flaws and secrets disturbingly roll-off, one after another. Nothing is predictable. No one knows where the next twist will hit, only that it hits like a bus!

THE UNDOING is Ms. Averil Dean’s 4^th novel.

Book Details:

Title:  The Undoing

Author:  Averil Dean

Publication:  December 29, 2015, Mira

Genre:  Fiction / Psychological Thriller

Rating: 3.5 / 5 stars

*Thanks to Mira for providing the e-galley of this book in exchange for this honest review.

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Wednesday Spotlight | The Book Daniel by Mat Ridley

About the Book:

Daniel Stein is having the worst day of his life. The last day of his life, in fact. And things are only going to get worse for him tomorrow.

Death is only the beginning for Dan. Waking up to find that his wife, Joanna, has also been killed is bad enough, but then Dan also finds a sword shoved into his hand, and is told that the only way he's ever going to get to Jo—and Heaven—is if he does as God tells him and fights against the forces of Satan's army.

But demons are the least of Dan's problems in the afterlife. There's also his hatred of God to contend with.

And Dan is pretty sure that God hates him right back.

Welcome to Purgatory.

Get your copies from Amazon now.

About the Author:

Mat Ridley was born and bred in England, where he studied hard to become a biochemist, but then decided to jump ship and work with computers and theologians instead. In between days at the office, he enjoys journeying far and wide in his imagination, and published his debut novel, The Book of Daniel, in 2015. He looks forward to publishing many more. He still lives in England.

You can find out more about Mat Ridley here.

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HOME by Marilynne Robinson

Somewhere, Nowhere

     

Home takes us back to the characters of Gilead, viewed from a different angle. While Gilead was told from the perspective of Rev. John Ames, a Congregationalist Pastor, Home is told by Glory Boughton, Rev. William Boughton’s youngest daughter.

I’ve read this back in June, but somehow my thoughts kept coming back to it every time I start a new book. It seems ridiculous, I know since I’ve been convincing myself that I cannot, hard as I try, review every book I read. Yet, somehow those thoughts persist.  I love Home because it was painfully beautiful, and I find that words fail me to adequately describe it. So I ask myself, “How do I come back to something so painful?”

Jack Boughton, despite his self-loathing, is far braver. He dragged himself back home, where both memories of pain and joy have an unsettling consequence on him. He came back to a dying father, who for two decades had been grieving for his son’s return; and to a sister brokenhearted by her own failed attempt at life. Being the black sheep of the family, Jack is totally convinced that he can never redeem himself in the eyes of anyone he's known at home or in town. He is constantly troubled by his past mistakes and his low appraisal of himself. And being so, he is no help to both his father and sister.

There's so much to be grateful for, words are poor things.

Redemption is always a troubling theme. Yet, Robinson took it and laid it out flat for us to examine closely. Using the rustic familial relationship, mixed with the old religion, and a good helping of guilt made it utterly acute. She is a master of human observation. She put into words human emotions and instinct that is difficult to convey. Her accurate description of how the Boughtons tiptoed around each other, their guarded exercise of grace, and careful mincing of words clearly describe familial love on trying grounds.

HOME is slow and deliberate. There’s not much action, really, except for the dishwashing and gardening. There are no earth-shattering events, no monumental dramas, but I held on to every moment, maybe because every moment is filled with emotions -plain and eloquent.

Book details:

Title:  HOME

Author:  Marilynne Robinson

Publication:  September 2, 2008; Farrar, Straus, and Giroux

Genre:  Fiction

Rating:  ★★★★★

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