Book Review: Scared to Death by Rachel Amphlett

 

Scared to Death by Rachel Amphlett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Scared to Death is the first book in the Detective Kay Hunter series. The story pulled me in from the very beginning. The suspense is gripping and each scene is vividly described making the events spine-chillingly real.

DS Kay Hunter is dedicated. She doesn’t dwell on the problems in her life and the backstory tells us she has plenty of personal problems she could be dwelling on.
It’s a nice change to have a detective that’s not a divorced alcoholic. The reader is not heaped with Hunter’s personal life. We are just given a few snippets here and there to let you know a bit about her, she was bullied at school, gets annoyed by her mother and sister and has a loving supportive partner. The story focuses mainly on the case at hand.

The pace is fast. The chapters are short and precise which makes this book an easy, quick read but not easy to read as there are quite a few skin crawling adrenaline pumping moments.

The killer has a troubled background but the reader is never urged to feel sorry for him. The victims are kept slightly detached although they are not completely innocent themselves.

If you enjoy adrenaline pumping action and suspense I highly recommend “Scared to Death.”

I was provided with an ERC from the author to read and review.

Book Review: Knife & Fork by Gita V Reddy

 

Knife and Fork by Gita V. Reddy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Bholu, an inquisitive monkey, decides to leave the forest to seek adventure in the city. He sees many wondrous things and, after watching a little girl eating in her garden, he learns to eat with a knife and fork. He returns to the forest and brags about what he has seen and his new manners. He is now arrogant and thinks he is superior to the other monkeys. His friends soon tire of his bragging and he finds eating with a knife and fork in the forest very difficult. Bholu is now very lonely, sad and hungry. A wise old monkey tells him it is better to be as a monkey should be. Don’t try to be what you are not, just be yourself.

Reddy’s short simply written chapter books help encourage the transition from beginner readers to more advanced readers. For reluctant readers the length will make it easier for them to finish a book. Younger readers will also be encouraged to read a page or two with the rest read to them.
The full series has books in different genres to give children a wide taste of stories.

The story was fun and the imagery was vivid. The moral of not being arrogant and just being yourself was easy to understand for small children.

Recommended for: 3 years plus – read to me
5 years plus – read alone

Book Review: Yousuf's Everyday Adventures "Beautifully Different" by Dana Salim

 

Beautifully Different by Dana Salim
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Beautifully Different is the second book in Dana Salim’s Yousuf’s Everyday Adventure series.

The story opens with Yousuf playing with blocks on the floor with his father. He asks his father why people are different. He goes on to say that some children at school are picked on because they are different. His dad suggests they play the imagination game. Yousuf closes his eyes and the game begins. Dad directs the game and his part of the story is in rhyme. He adds in little problems that Yousuf must find solutions to, so it’s not only dad’s imagination but also Yousuf’s that’s directing the story.

Yousuf is in a land of beautiful flowers, all different shapes and colours. The weeds come to scare them away. Yousuf needs to help the flowers unite and chase the weeds away.

I read this story to a 3 and 4 year old. They loved the story and the big bright illustrations and asked straight away for the story again.
Me: How did Yousuf get to the Island?
3yo: The birds took him (she took the story literally)
4yo: In a dream

Me: What was your favourite part of the story?
3yo: The flowers
4yo: chasing the yucky weeds away.

Recommended for 4+ preschool, Kindergarten age when they become more aware of the people around them and better understand the concept of imagination.

Beautifully Different is a book we will definitely be reading again and again.

With my thanks to the author for my copy to read to the children.

Book Review: All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda

 

All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

All the Missing Girls is the first in a new series by Megan Miranda who has written several books for Young Adults. This is her first book for adults.

Nic returns home to Cooley Ridge to help her brother ready the family home for sale. Their father is suffering dementia and now in a nursing home. The sale of the house is required to pay mounting bills. Once Nic arrived home it was like never leaving and the memories came flooding back. She’d left the town 10 years ago after her friend Corrine disappeared without a trace. Two weeks on and Annaleise Carter goes missing, swallowed up by the woods, just like Corrine.

The story is told in the first person by Nic, but we can see she is not telling it all, she is always guarded, holding back. (The unreliable narrator is a tried and true formula and Miranda uses it well in this story).
Written in reverse chronological order from day 15 down to day 1 you really need to be paying attention with this twisty, breath-holding mystery which will have you second guessing all the way through.
As the police start investigating the disappearance of Annaleise, Nic is still haunted by the disappearance of best friend Corrine 10 years earlier and goes over the details leading up to the event where personalities are laid bare and long held secrets divulged.

I love a mystery where you are so sure that you have it all worked out and then BAM, you learn you had it all wrong.

All the Missing Girls is a hauntingly compelling story written around the eerie backdrop of the woods of Cooley Ridge.

This is a story you will want to read over again as soon as you’ve finished the last page.

I received a review copy from the publisher.

Book Review: Slow Horses (Slough House #1) by Mick Herron

 

Slow Horses by Mick Herron
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Slow Horses is Herron’s first book in the Slough House series, recently re-released in conjunction with the release of book 4, Spook Street.

After a mission gone terribly wrong River Cartwright is sent to Slough House, a place where tasks that didn’t matter were preformed by people that didn’t care. Where alongside a pre-digital overflow of paperwork, a post-useful crew of misfits can be stored and left to gather dust.

The story is told with a wry wit, in metaphors, retrospect and hypotheticals with plenty of laugh out loud moments and dark humour.

Slow Horses is an introduction to the main characters, the cast outs, at Slough House and their boss Jackson Lamb. The characterization is brilliant as Herron brings together a mismatched bunch of has-beens, loners that haven’t quite given up on the hope of one day returning to Regents Park.

Under all the character development is a great plot with backstabbing, twists, conspiracy theories, double crossing and buck passing. It’s compelling and edgy and pulls the story along with a rush of adrenaline as the pace quickens and events spiral out of control.

Wanting to read more of Jackson Lamb and his Slough House crew will be difficult to resist.

Book Review: Jorie and the Magic Stones by A.H. Richardson

 

Jorie and the Magic Stones by A.H. Richardson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Jorie and the Magic Stones is the first in a children’s fantasy series by A H Richardson. Nine year old Jorie comes from boarding school to live with her Great Aunt Letitia (Aunt Letty to Jorie). She is a lovely, bright, talkative girl, confident inquisitive and has a vivid imagination.
Rufus lives with his eccentric Grandfather on the property next door. Being the only children close by Jorie and Rufus soon become firm friends.
After finding a book of dragons and magic hidden under the floorboards Jorie soon learns that she is the “child with the hair of fire” that must find the magic stones and save Cabrynthius.

Perfectly written for the target audience of 6 – 12 years with descriptive, straightforward writing, short chapters and a few unusual words thrown in to extend a child’s vocabulary.
The two children make a great pairing with Jorie as the believer, adventurer and a risk taker. Rufus is the logical one, the sceptic, more cautious but comes through and shows true bravery when needed.
The children will encounter both good and evil in their venture and there is danger aplenty. There is a lot to learn about friendship and loyalty, problem solving and decision making. I loved Jorie’s resilience – Rufus calls her a witch and Jorie just laughs it off saying that’s just silly.

The ending gave me a giggle, wrapping book one up well but also leaving an opening for the next adventure.

A delightful story and highly recommended.

Book Review: The Kingdom of Oceana by Mitchell Charles

 

The Kingdom of Oceana by Mitchell Charles
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Kingdom of Oceana is a Young Adult Fantasy set in Hawaii 500 years in the past when the people and the sea-life lived in harmony. Each respecting and protecting the other. A time when myths rule and magic abounds!
When greed and sibling rivalry divide the islands and a dark magic infects the sea they must unite to fight a common enemy. But will it be in detriment of the whole island or will the rulers see the way before it’s too late.

This is an action packed story full of legend, history, myth, magic, danger, jealousy and a touch of romance.
I’ve rated at 11+ as there is a bit of violence involved although it is not too graphic and good does triumph over evil eventually.

Well plotted and beautifully described the scenes come alive as if watching them on the big screen. An immersive story of destiny that will hold the attention of both adult and child alike.

Suitable for 11 years plus.