Colin Walsh - Kala

We used to be such a force, back then when she was still with us. What happened to her?
In the seaside town of Kinlough three old friends are thrown together for the first time in years. They – Helen, Joe and Mush – were part of an original group of six inseparable teenagers in the summer of 2003, with motherless, reckless Kala Lanann as their group’s white-hot centre. Soon after that summer’s peak, Kala disappeared without a trace.
Now it’s fifteen years later. Human remains have been discovered in the woods. Two more girls have gone missing. As past and present begin to collide, the estranged friends are forced to confront their own complicity in the events that led to Kala’s disappearance…

Comment: This is another book I was given for my birthday. Again, I had not heard of the author nor of the book before, even though I was told it was quite successful in the UK. The fact it has a mystery was probably what made me eager to try it.

In this story we meet a cast of characters that, in the west part of Ireland, is coming together for a wedding. In the meantime, the remains of a body are found and everyone believes it could be Kala, a teenager who went missing fifteen years ago. Everyone has secrets, but some surely are more dangerous to be revealed than others, and that is why that when two teenagers go missing now, the case is compared to that of the missing Kala. Could it be that there is a connection to the two situations? What happened to Kala? What are some people hiding that could lead to knowing what happened to Kala and to the missing girls now?

I will start right away by saying that this story felt to me more a character study than an actual mystery. Yes, we have a missing girl fifteen years ago, and two more now but the writing style and the the narrative choice is more indicative of the story of the three narrators - Helen, Joe and Mush - than of what should be related to the mysteries. Yes, there is something to be said about those, but I would not consider this to be a real mystery novel; it's more a literary one which happens to include a crime investigation.

The story is alternated told by three narrators, each one of them in the first person. Things begun with the upcoming wedding of Helen's father to Mush's aunt, the mother of the teenage twins who go missing throughout the story. We learn that Helen, Mush, Joe, the missing Kala and two others (Aidan and Aiofe) used to be a close group of friends when they were teenagers too, and everything in their lives changed the year Kala went missing. Now that Helen and Joe are back for the wedding - Mush never left - there's a weird vibe in the air and since Helen freelances as a journalist, she decides to investigate what happened to Kala all those years ago.

I think the idea is quite interesting and the fact this is set in western Ireland also gave a great cultural and geographical background to the events. I think I would have appreciated this a lot more if the narration had been in third person, though. Sadly to me, I've found the "voices" of the three narrators to be annoying, in the sense everything they think/say is cluttered among lots and lots of reminiscence monologues and memories. I get it; this is how we connect their teenage lives and what they were doing the year Kala went missing to who they are now. But it's still annoying.

I also disliked immensely that their thoughts also seem muddled by what I see as their character flaws: Helen always thinks she isn't as important to her family, Mush keeps himself from changing his life by making excuses, and Joe irritatingly thinks in second person! His POV is always something like this "you keep thinking, you were doing, you are this" etc, which I suppose is a way to demonstrate how outside of himself he is and why he is a alcoholic. I get it, it's innovative writing, but it's also very annoying to read.

These things mean that, for me, the story with such an intriguing mystery - it is so, deep down - gets lost in the middle of elements I feel didn't add much to what the plot should focus on. I now tell myself that perhaps the author should have written two different stories, each with a different main intention. I struggled with the writing for the most part, so much that even when some things were being shared/explained/revealed, they lost importance because I was annoyed and/or distracted by secondary stuff.

I should also say that there is some content that got on my nerves. When the main characters, as teenagers, discover a secret related to activities a bunch of people were hiding, I've found it to be distasteful. This eventually leads to Kala's disappearance and when the explanation is revealed, it's actually an interesting angle on life in a part of Ireland where economy certainly wasn't great. I must applaud the author to mix up several Irish elements so well, but at the end, when I think about my enjoyment of this story, there wasn't much to it.

I would have preferred the story to focus on Kala and why she went missing, and in the investigation of it in the present day, as well as how Helen would go from one information to the next. If all the extras were to be removed, this part of the story is quite exciting, but then all the unappealing characters, all their muddled thoughts and the disarray of how these elements were mixed up kind of diminished the power of the actual plot. This did feel average to me in the end. I've liked some things, I've disliked many others and I don't know if I'd want to read a book with the same writing style.

Grade: 5/10

Julie Owen Moylan - 73 Dove Street

West London, 1958. 73 Dove Street is a shabby house in a shabby street.
But this boarding house’s attic room suits newcomer Edie Budd very well. It’s somewhere to hide.
Tommie, on the second floor, is up in Soho every night. There’s a man she’s pursuing – whether he wants her or not.
Landlady Phyllis has thrown out her cheating husband. She’s burned his belongings in the street. Sometimes there’s no going back.
Three survivors living under one roof. Each alone nursing their secret hurts – and hopes. Because opening your heart could save or destroy you . . .

Comment: This is another book I've added months ago because I got interested in the blurb and in the promise of a story about three women who lived in a shared house in the 50s. The fact this is described as "emotionally gripping" and that the GR average is high despite the low amount of reviews convinced me.

In this story Edie, a woman who clearly hides something, is about to enter the house on 73 Dove Street, a place she hopes will be hidden enough to let her think for a while so she can make a decision on whether to leave London for all, or not. She is welcomed by Phyllis, the landlady, who also seems to be in an agitated state, especially after throwing out her cheating husband. The only other tenant in the house is Tommy, a young girl who works as a companion for an older lady and who has this weird obsession with a man she sees sometimes and whom she hopes might want her to be his girlfriend instead of just a casual lover. The lives of these three surely will mix but are their respective secrets too much for a small house?

I assume the author wrote this with the intention of mixing up an historical setting with a slight mystery vibe. Each main character has a secret or does things in a way that is mysterious and the reader doesn't get to know what from the start. Or, at least, I could say that the intention was that but if at the same time we are given some clues about their actions, some things become more obvious than others.

I actually got this book for the promise of the boarding house element. I figure it would be a place for the characters to find each other, to start friendships perhaps, to have a place where they could fee safe... well, a more romanticized idea of what a boarding house could be I suppose, and the title is even the house's address, but it turns out that the house wasn't that important after all, in the big scheme of things. It is a location where the three main characters meet and stay but in my opinion it never went beyond that.

The story is focused on the three ladies. The chapters are in third person, alternated between the POV of each one of them. This means we get to follow them in their daily tasks and thoughts, and this allows the reader to have an inkling on their personalities and behavior. I should say that I didn't finish the book with this sense of having spent time with incredible characters, although I can't really explain if this happened because I feel the characters weren't that interesting/developed or because the author wanted so much to give the idea of mystery that she overlooked the characterization.

Edie is a woman running from something. Immediately we assume from a crime, especially since she carries with her a huge amount of money. Edie seems to be the main character and, interwoven with the main narrative, we have plenty of chapters set in a previous time, such as five years before, then four, then two, then months and so on. These past chapters are all about Edie, and a picture comes to life, she married but her husband was abusive and this certainly made me sympathetic towards her, but by this time I was already a little disappointed with how the story was being told and I definitely didn't find it "emotionally gripping" as is described.

The issue to me is that none of the main characters are truly likable and that is due to the writing. Things happen in a fluid way and the author's "voice" is competent but it's not engaging to me. If these had been other characters the story line wouldn't change. Besides, although this is a period story, set at a time where certain situations were that way - mainly the social expectations on women and how limited their lives and choices were - I still wanted them to overcome the problems or evolve emotionally and it felt as if this didn't really happen. I also disliked some of their behavior, even if it was acceptable for the time.

Edie doesn't seem to be an easy character to like for lack of characterization, in my opinion. That she married someone who ended up being very different I cannot fault her for, but the author could have written her development differently. As for Phyllis, the landlady, her "path" takes her to a point in which she welcomes her husband back, after they have a serious conversation about their past - we discover they lost a son at war - and it seems they will stay together, despite his infidelity. Tommy, however, is even more difficult to describe. She seems to be a very ambiguous person and not as seemingly worried about her future. I also had this idea because she seemed to be a little promiscuous and I can't understand why. Her obsession with a specific man never felt explained to me either.

Anyway, I was not very impressed with the story but I was still curious to know what would happen regarding Edie's situation. Some interesting news are shared and I thought the author did leave a bit of a twist for the end but then... when things get to a highly stressful moment in the plot, and Tommy somehow ends up helping Edie, and she finally finds courage to leave London, the way the author wrote the final two chapters was just.... let me simply say this isn't a movie by M. Night Shyamalan where the end is shocking. If the author wanted to write things in a way that is meant to be provocative, for me that failed and I only felt frustration.

Well, it was one more experience... books are like this, some are what they promise, others not exactly.

I would think twice about trying other things by the author, but who knows...

Grade: 5/10

Kris Tualla - A Woman of Choice

The Missouri Territory, 1819...
A woman is viciously betrayed and abandoned by her unfaithful husband.
She is rescued by a widower uninterested in love. In desperation, she becomes engaged to his best friend.
One woman, three very different men. Life is about choices.

Comment: This is one of those books that somehow seems intriguing enough after a review or even a simple comment somewhere and now I have no idea what exactly made me want to read it but I keep going back to the idea this would be time travel...really no idea why I thought this. 

In this historical story we meet Nicolas Hansen and his friend Rikard as they are riding their horses and they suddenly find what seems to be a bunch of cloth but it turns out to be a woman in a very dire situation. They help the woman and Nicolas takes her to his house, where his servants help taking care of her. When she wakes up she can't say her name, she doesn't remember what happened to her so everyone decides on call her her Sydney. As time goes by and Sydney tries to be useful she and Nicolas become close and they even think of becoming more than that, but they still don't know who Sydney really is and if she is married. After some attempts to find something with the little clues Sydney feels are real, such as recognizing names of certain locations, perhaps they will find who she is... but what if the truth is too impossible for their desired happiness?

I had not heard of this author before starting this book and while her style wasn't totally bad for my personal preferences, I cannot say I am a fan of this book. Perhaps it's only this book and all her others won't make me feel this way, but I don't know if I'll try to prove myself wrong anytime soon. I actually enjoyed the story as a whole and even graded this 3 stars on GR, but now that I've started writing this, the more my mind wandered into a specific situation in the story, which is making me feel mad. Thus, a downgrade to two stars.

I'll include spoilers!

This is an historical set in the territories of what is now Missouri, in 1819. I assume the author researched this and all the other more historical elements used, but it's not one of those stories where everything is as accurate as it should. This rarely bothers me in fiction, but I suppose some readers would find the choice of using specific historical information and some "liberty" in how to use it a bit off. Still, the focus seems to be more on the plot/romance and not as much in the context, although there are times where that also influences what happens.

I was happy enough with the way things were developing. Sydney having amnesia made for an interesting situation, and I liked the secondary characters. Most people were friendly and understanding about her situation, except a neighbor, who had her sights on Nicolas. I feel the story would lead into a cute romance, she and Nicolas would find out they were in love, etc, and this did happen, with a few conflicts on the way, but everything was going on in a very predictable but still entertaining way. I think the romance development wasn't as great as it could, but it was fine.

Then, some situations are introduced to add drama, to highlight the difficulty of Sydney not remembering her past and why would this also affect the protagonists' decisions in how to act towards one another, but a few clues were made to be obvious for the reader where things would go. And, it really wasn't surprising to me to discover Sydney was, indeed, married, and that she had lost her memory due to a traumatic episode. But then, I got really, really mad and thinking about this is why I downgraded the book.

Basically, Sydney, whose real name is Siobhan, has a father and lived in a certain city and then married a man but her marriage wasn't a happy one. We find out that her husband had a lover, a male one at that and Sydney is so incredibly disgusted when she finds her husband kissing his lover one day that she screams and the shock propels her husband to try to placate her and somehow he ends up pushing her, she falls into a river or something, and later on washes up near Nicolas' estate. I mean! 

I can assume this is realistic for a woman in this period who had been sheltered to not even consider such a thing, but I can't tell if what annoyed me here was the way this was written (it's implied her husband was guiltier of having a male lover than of just the betrayal) or that the author found this to be a necessary situation to use in her story. Why not because he was violent? Why not a female lover as it was certainly more likely? I feel annoyed that the idea of homosexuality is so abhorrent, even if this is an historical. But then, why use some historical aspects so realistically and others not? If it's a matter of convenience for a specific story, then the decision is unfair.

Anyway, this annoyed, but then very quickly Nicolas finds a way for Sydney to sign a paper accepting divorce, he blackmails the husband with the fear of denouncing him, then things move on and at some point Nicolas rejects the other woman who was interested in him. As expected, she gets revenge, but also this is more or less quickly solved. By this time in the story Sydney had already discovered she was pregnant, from the only time she was with Nicolas, then again we have his inner fears in play, since he had lost his wife and a son when she was giving birth, and the drama keeps on.

I should say this was an entertaining story, despite the problems, and why I felt interested anyhow, in reading until the end. I was already convinced this was only going to be average to me, because there were elements, even more than the one I was more annoyed at, I feel should/could have been done better, but then, closer to the end, after some hints and apparently innocent conversations about Nicolas' family heritage in Norway, we discover he is a prince. Yes, a prince in Norway! I mean, a Scandinavian prince living in the wild territories in Missouri (I should add that at some point he had also gone hunting, as he does every year, with some Indian "friends", so an accepting guy he certainly was) is quite an idea...

There was also some talk on slaves and I even went on to search when was the American Civil War just to check Nicolas, whose state doesn't have slaves, and his friend Rikard who does, would not go into war. This clearly doesn't happen in 1819 but I had a feeling it might be something for a later book. Investigating this book and the series and other things by the author, tells me things go on towards other ideas and settings, but I don't think I will want to follow those adventures.

Grade: 4/10

Jayne Castle - Dark Light

Reporter Sierra McIntyre's stories on Crystal City's ghost hunters—and their mysterious guild—have earned her tabloid a bit of respect. It helps that she has her incredible intuition to fall back on. Especially when she interviews Ghost Hunter Guild Boss John Fontana about the disappearances of retired, homeless hunters.
Sierra doesn't want to trust the physically and psychically powerful man, but her senses—and her pet dust bunny, Elvis—give her the green light. To uncover the conspiracy within his own organisation, Fontana proposes . . . marriage. And though it's purely a business arrangement, there is nothing pure about the attraction that sizzles between them.

Comment: This is the fifth installment in the Harmony series by author Jayne Castle. I've read the first book in the series back in 2012, so it's been slow going, but this is, to me, one of those series that I know I can count on to be readable, entertaining and I don't feel pressure to gobble it up too quickly.

In this fifth story, the focus is now on Crystal City and how reporter Sierra McIntyre is determined to write exposes on subjects the readers of the tabloid she works for aren't used to. Still, some people take her work seriously, in particular Guild Boss Joe Fontana, and he decides to make her an offer which is going to be useful for them to unite efforts and discover what has been happening to some previous ghost hunters who were homeless and now disappeared. At first Sierra doesn't see the interest in this partnership, but she has Intuition, a skill to help her distinguish well intended people from those who might not be as good, and her Intuition does give her her some warnings about Joe, but surprisingly she only feels good vibrations from him...

As I've said before in other comments, reading a story in this series feels like returning to a familiar place and checking up on friends and see how things are going. I will be honest and say I barely remember the exact plots in each book, I can remember some recurrent issues,such as the ghost hunting thing and the world's "rules", but the rest is all mixed up now in my head. Still, as I kept reading and familiar elements were again mentioned, I've recognized them and that made things easier and familiar again.

The plot is quite simple and the author doesn't complicate things with too many elements. Basically Joe and Sierra are interested in discovering what is happening to the missing people and perhaps that can have a connection to the shady business Joe is suspicious of, within the Guild. The Guild is like an association which takes care of the ghost hunting and everything associated with it, and Joe is the most recent appointed Boss in Crystal, after the previous one was proven corrupted. Sierra also wants to investigate the Guild further, thus why they join efforts.

I should say that the Guild isn't seen as such a great thing by many characters, but it's something that also helps with many important situations, mostly related to issues that are pertinent to this world. This means Sierra doesn't have a positive bias about Joe's role as the boss, but since she has an Intuition that seems sharper than most people would consider, she can pretty much feel he is a good person and that he will be an adequate partner in this investigation. As for the need to have a marriage of convenience, I can understand why if I bear in mind the rules of this world, but it was still a "forced" tactic by the author to make these two be close together.

The romance isn't anything special, to be fair. It does follow the usual patterns in these stories, a lot of the characters' feelings are more inferred or shared as if fulfilled, and the reader doesn't see every single scene that leads them to admit or accept them as everlasting. I would not say this bad as it is, because a lot can be gained from simply follow their path and their reaction to even secondary things. But for a new reader who might want something more solid, I suppose the romance does feel weak.

The obvious fascinating element here, besides the world building of this futurist/alternative world in which humans traveled through some kind of dimensional curtain into a new planet, is how the characters are portrayed and if they are likable. I did like Sierra and Joe as a couple, but the scenes between them, romantically speaking, weren't many and the author certainly has the skill to do better. Individually, it felt as if we saw more of Joe or his personality and past. I think I finished the story with a good idea about who he is and his moral value.

As for Sierra, she is a "do-gooder" as Joe believes and she was disillusioned by a past relationship in which the man wanted her for her Intuition and not as much for herself. Since she and Joe also come from slightly different backgrounds, I hoped we see more interactions between them and their respective families. Well, due to plot reasons, more hers, and that didn't happen. I wonder if future books might include characters related to her, but if not this was definitely an element the author could have done better.

All this said, I liked the idea of the story and I'm used to it so many things just feel recognizable enough for me to enjoy the story without focusing too much on details. Still, I'd have liked more effort and more focus on personal details instead of only plot related stuff.

Grade: 6/10

Elizabeth Hoyt - To Desire a Devil

Reynaud St. Aubyn has spent the last seven years in hellish captivity. Now half mad with fever he bursts into his ancestral home and demands his due. Can this wild-looking man truly be the last earl's heir, thought murdered by Indians years ago?
Beatrice Corning, the niece of the present earl, is a proper English miss. But she has a No real man has ever excited her more than the handsome youth in the portrait in her uncle's home. Suddenly, that very man is here, in the flesh-and luring her into his bed.
Only Beatrice can see past Reynaud's savagery to the noble man inside. For his part, Reynaud is drawn to this lovely lady, even as he is suspicious of her loyalty to her uncle. But can Beatrice's love tame a man who will stop at nothing to regain his title-even if it means sacrificing her innocence?

Comment: This is the final installment in the Legend of Four Soldiers by author Elizabeth Hoyt, and makes the end of another series finished.

In this story we finally learn what happened to Reynaud St Aubyn, a fellow soldier and friend of the previous three protagonists, who has been the subject of some speculation throughout those other books. In truth, Reynaud was enslaved by the Indian tribe where he has been for all this time and the evidence if his death, as seen by others, was meant to deceive his friends. Now, after finally being able to escape, he is back in England and wants to get his life back and that includes his house. 

The problem is that now someone else has his title and money but he plans on doing what he can to recover what he is owned, including using the help of his "cousin" Beatrice, who has been the host for Uncle Reginald, the current earl. In fact he and Beatrice aren't related by blood, for Beatrice's parents have died and they were related to Uncle Reginald's wife. But, perhaps this situation is for the better and Reynaud has a chance to use Beatrice as a way to prove Reginald doesn't have good intentions, although he would not count on liking Beatrice so much...

To be fair, there isn't much more to this story than the actual need to see the end of a main story line and the punishment of the person responsible for the soldiers being ambushed in the colonies, which resulted in their torture and enslavement and that still affects the all now. If not for this, I cannot say this was the most spectacular story written by the author, for she has written other books I liked a lot more. Still, it made for an entertaining story and that was enough for me.

Reynaud is back to England after a gruesome experience, one that certainly left him with what we now call PTSD and this colors his actions and reactions to everything, even simple things. In fact, such a traumatic experience - we learn the severity of it as the plot moves along - would probably affect him even more than what we see, but this being a romance novel, of course he "recovers" rather quickly and the romantic interest speeds things along. It's not as if we don't see a bit of a realistic reaction to what happened to him, he is often irascible and quick to react violently, but I bet in real life, the "path to recovery" would be as simple.

The story is focused on two main elements, Reynaud's recovery and adaptation to his old/new life and the search for the traitor, the person who caused them all to been tortured. There is an expected correlation between these events now, for Reynaud's return might mean he will say or remember something which the traitor could not avoid. The goal was not to make this a real mystery investigation, for we learn who the traitor is very easily - after three books with this debate... - and when we learn why he acted that way, the explanation is incredibly simple and proof of a lack of empathy.

Since this part of the story happens in a very predictable way, the focus is often on the romance. I've found this couple, Reynaud and Beatrice, to be rather meh. They had known each other before Reynaud went to war, and we are told Beatrice would see his portrait and dream about him... Alright... this is a way for their "connection" to have more bases than what it should, and for me it wasn't enough. I mean, it was fine to see them interact and the circumstances make for a quicker than usual relationship, but even bearing this in mind, I wasn't sold on their romance. It was the type of romance that had to have the usual features of an historical romance but in a way I've found unconvincing and a bit too anachronistic.

Of course that at some point, conveniently closer to the end, they realize they are it for one another and I feel happy for them, but I didn't feel their match as something destined, if the characters had been others, the result would have been the same. It was clearly a lot more interesting to see them interact with others, to see new dynamics or the re-establishing of old ones, namely Reynaud's friendship with Jasper (hero book #2), at least it was so for me.

With their romantic relationship now an everlasting one, the traitor caught and old life habits back to their place, there isn't much more to say about these characters and where their lives might lead them to. I'm the type of reader who likes to imagine the character's lives even after the stories are finished, especially if it's a book or world I really felt part of myself, but in this case, while I feel glad things ended up good, that was pretty much it.

Grade: 7/10

Avon Gale & Piper Vaughn - Goalie Interference

Ryu Mori has had a stellar season as goalie for the Atlanta Venom. So when he’s called into management’s office, he’s expecting to hear he’s the new starting goalie for the team, not that some new guy—an incredibly hot, annoyingly bratty rookie—is here to compete for his spot.
Not everyone gets to play in the best league in the world. Emmitt Armstrong knows that, and he’s not about to waste the opportunity after grinding his way from the bottom to the top. If the Venom is looking for a meek, mild-mannered pushover, they’ve got the wrong guy.
Ryu doesn’t want to admit the other goalie’s smart mouth turns him on. Beating Armstrong at practice feels good, sure, but there are other, more fun ways to shut his rival up.
In this league, it’s winner takes all. But there’s more to life than winning, and if Emmitt and Ryu can get past their egos and competitive natures, they might just discover they work better as partners than they ever imagined possible.

Comment: This is the second book in the Hat Trick trilogy by authors Avon Gale and Piper Vaughn. As I've said before, I've enjoyed books by Avon Gale and I also liked the previous book in this trilogy, thus why I'm reading the remaining stories.

In this second installment we meet Emmitt Armstrong, or "Army", a new goalie for the Atlanta Venom, and he is very eager to prove his worth. He knows Ryu Mori is the likely started but Army wants to be the best he can, even if that means being at odds with his fellow goalkeeper, who seems to be a rather rigid guy. However, as train and time go by, it seems there's more to their animosity than simply professional competition, and eventually they become more than co workers, so to say.

Ryu Mori doesn't come from such a warm family as other players and his cultural background isn't also one for demonstration of affection. Still, he starts to care for Army and might even think he could be happy with him, but the truth is they are both vying for the same job here, and Ryu still has this need to be the best, so his parents can recognize his efforts. It seems complicated, but proximity and understanding from Army might go a long way...or will the game push them apart after all?

For me, this book is pretty much at the same level as the previous one. I liked it and I liked reading about the characters but there are still some elements I'd change to better suit my preferences. Despite this I had a good time reading and it was one of those books where one turns the pages effortlessly.

The story starts when the hockey season is about to start and Army has a call to let him know the Venom wants him, and he is very happy to think he will play in the main league of hockey. Army is an interesting character, confident in himself but as so many people, he still feels he needs his father's approval. This is a bit tricky because his father was a successful football player, and he wanted Army to follow his steps, but Army preferred hockey, his true passion, even though a Black player in a sport which doesn't have much inclusion might make it more difficult for him.

Playing for the Venom is everything he wanted and when the coaches decide that he, a newcomer, and Ryu Mori, a more seasoned player, will play in tandem, he is even happier, for he believes this is the chance to prove he deserves to be the starter. Things with Mori start off a little badly, because Mori is hard to read and seems to not be very receptive to competition. Of course, this is just the beginning to a relationship that starts as casual and will develop into something more serious.

Mori is certainly a more introverted character but I could sympathize with some of his thoughts. I think the cultural part of him being Japanese and how people from different countries/cultures wasn't such a big deal in the overall story but it does add to why his personality is more contained. I still think that, as with Army, his need to still show his parents he is doing well and being successful plays a bigger role in his decisions than culture. Of course this means he isn't as demonstrative and isn't bubbly; some readers have said he seems to lack personality but to me this wasn't an issue.

I liked the pace of the story, the authors have, again, managed to convey time passing and things moving on in a good enough way to make me feel things were evolving. Nevertheless, the development of the relationship between Army and Mori was a little too quick. I know they start of as only "co workers with benefits" but I kind of hoped to see more scenes where things between them were obviously changing romantically, and not just because they talked on the phone about serious matters. I understand the constrictions of their work and that they were in the public eye a lot, but... I can't explain well, but this part, the romance, could have been better.

The biggest conflict comes later on, as expected, when things are stressful and at a decisive moment for the team. I think the fact they were thinking professionally was only an excuse for what they decide to do and if they were already committed at this point, perhaps they should have talked more, but I can also accept the pressure in such situation would be a lot (if one compares with real life possibilities in the same scenario). Of course, the resolution for the issues are quickly solved, there's a HEA and everything is fine, which only adds to the lack of real importance of these supposed issues.

Although Mori isn't the most demonstrative of characters in public, his relationship with Army has interesting and cute moments in private, besides the sexual part, and I was happy for them in general.

I'll look for to finish the trilogy next month.

Grade: 7/10

Amanda Peters - The Berry Pickers

On a hot day in 1960s Maine, six-year-old Joe watches his little sister Ruthie, sitting on her favourite rock at the edge of the blueberry fields, while their family, Mi’kmaq people from Nova Scotia, pick fruit. That afternoon, Ruthie vanishes without a trace. As the last person to see her, Joe will be forever haunted by grief, guilt, and the agony of imagining how his life could have been.
In an affluent suburb nearby, Norma is growing up as the only child of unhappy parents. She is smart, precocious, and bursting with questions she isn’t allowed to ask – questions about her missing baby photos; questions about her dark skin; questions about the strange, vivid dreams of campfires and warm embraces that return night after night. Norma senses there are things her parents aren’t telling her, but it will take decades to unravel the secrets they have kept buried since she was a little girl.
The Berry Pickers is an exquisitely moving story of unrelenting hope, unwavering love, and the power of family – even in the face of grief and betrayal.

Comment: This book caught my attention months ago and I've suggested to my usual buddy reading friend that maybe it could be an interesting book for us to try. Late October was when we could slot it.

In this short novel (around 300 pages more less, in my ebook edition) we meet a family that, in the 60s, comes from Nova Scotia to Maine every summer to pick berries. They are of Indian origin and are used to be seen as different but their family is a close one. Everything changes one day, when the youngest of five siblings, Ruthie, vanishes, and no one finds her, not even the police feels interested in doing something to help. As the years go by, the rest of the family needs to adapt to this situation, but it's especially hard on Joe, the one youngest before Ruthie, who feels he should have paid attention to her. At the same time, a young child named Norma lives with her parents in a very controlled environment which she accepts because she is loved, although she does have these vivid dreams where she is part of a different family...

Well, this story was perfect for a crying fest. I say this in the good sense, though, because while it was incredible sad it was also great to read. The story is incredibly emotional, very, very poignant and if there is something I'd change is the fact the reunion of Ruthie with her family happened so late that they couldn't all enjoy it for longer.

This is the first book I try by the author and had no expectations on the writing but I was positively surprised, the writing is fluid, conveys enough to make the reader be in the right mood and while certain plot issues were a bit predictable, I still had a good time reading, if I think about the reading experience. It's also the author's debit, which makes her accomplishment even more gratifying. I liked this book and I liked turning the pages, but I'll be honest, I don't know if I would re-read it because it's sad and some things happen that didn't have to - I can't tell if they were used to increase the unfairness of things, thus adding some drama, or if the author didn't want to "loose" the vibe.

I liked knowing the family: the parents and the five children, Ben, Mae, Charlie, Joe and Ruthie who might be poor and part of a so-called minority, but were happy together and had a strong base with values and beliefs that made them all good people. You know, characters you just can't help but root for, and perhaps even know in real life if that was possible. Of course something would happen and Ruthie vanishes. It's not a spoiler since it happens in the first chapters, but Ruthie is actually taken by a white woman so she can raise her as her own child.

Ruthie disappearing has an effect on the whole family, especially on Joe. There are only two narrators of the book, we have alternated chapters in Joe and Norma/Ruthie's POV and as we switch between them we get to see where they are as they get older. Through Joe's POV we also learn of what happens to the family and I must say it was a bit sad and frustrating to read about moments which I wanted to change, that I think didn't have to be so terrible.... still, choices and destiny or whatever one wants to believe in, should not be enough to justify some actions, and Joe goes on to be a kind of a "lone wolf" guy when he's an adult. I also wish this didn't have to be so.

I felt connected to these characters. Often readers criticize books because this is a missing element, but here I've felt the opposite. I wanted so badly for the family to be reunited and when they do, there are already some facts which cannot be changed. This made the road to the end of the book a bit bittersweet but still so rewarding, because following the characters through their lives, knowing about good and bad things, knowing they became people that are considerate but who also suffered losses and that no one is perfect...well, it was a good journey.

There are things the reader knows from the start, so I should say the end isn't a surprise but it still made me cry and cry... The author certainly knows how to create the perfect atmosphere to make the story emotional and heartfelt. Again, some details are not that necessary the way I see things; I think a few more happy situations would have elevated this to a higher grade for me. Also, let if be said there are several situations which might be triggering for some readers. I think the kidnapping and what it might mean culturally are elements that would require a lot more debate, so I'll simply say that the goal was to focus the attention on the two narrators.

I suppose I could say a lot more, but not without spoilers, such is the cohesion of this book. I liked it a lot and will definitely look for other things by this author in the future. I see her most recent book is a collection of stories... I'll have to mentally prepare when I finally get it, because I just know it will be bittersweet as well.

Grade: 8/10

Emma Hinds - The Knowing

Powerful, intoxicating and full of suspense. The Knowing is a darkly spellbinding novel about a girl fighting for her survival in the decaying criminal underworlds.
Whilst working as a living canvas for an abusive tattoo artist, Flora meets Minnie, an enigmatic circus performer who offers her love and refuge in an opulent townhouse, home to the menacing Mr Chester Merton. Flora earns her keep reading tarot cards for his guests whilst struggling to harness her gift, the Knowing - an ability to summon the dead. Caught in a dark love triangle between Minnie and Chester, Flora begins to unravel the secrets inside their house. Then at her first public séance, Flora hears the spirit of a murdered boy prostitute and exposes his killer, setting off a train of events which put her life at risk.
The Knowing is a stunning debut inspired by real historical characters including Maud Wagner, one of the first known female tattoo artists, New York gang the Dead Rabbits, and characters from PT Barnum's circus.

Comment: I was given this book for my birthday. I had never heard of the author and, if not for it being gifted, I would not look for it on purpose. One of the labels is "gothic" and now I regret the package didn't arrive sooner, for it might have been a suitable choice for this month's TBR Challenge post.

In this story, set in the 19th century, we meet Flora, a young woman who lives in the slums in New York with Jordan, a man who uses her body as a canvas for his tattoo business. Flora is an orphan, one of many children left on their own and this is the only life she feels she deserves. Things change when she meets Minnie, a circus performer who promises her a new life if she follows her to a better part of the city. 

Flora has the Knowing, which is the ability to see ghosts and feel things and with her skill as a card reader, she has one of her feelings and believes leaving Jordan is her best chance. However, when she arrives at the address Minnie gave her, she finds a group of people who will expect her to perform her card readings and Chester Merton, the house's owner, seems to be too focused on her tattoos. Could it be that Flora only exchanged a prison for another? What will happen after she lets the Knowing out one time as she reads the cards to a noble man who murdered a lover?

This story is definitely a bit darker than what I usually prefer and while the book isn't long, I cannot say I was dazzled by the development. The writing isn't bad, and in fact I did appreciate the concise way certain things were presented, but... does it mean anything if I don't like what happens to the characters?

The set up of this story is very depressing, imagining all those people suffering, going through problems and poverty and the demands of gang-like groups that controlled everyone's lives and money... there is something to be said for contemporary stories where, at least, people have some social rights, or for historical romances where we only see the better part of wealthy people's days. This said, I was hopeful that Flora's change and her circumstances would lead her to something better.

Flora is a card reader but she also does tattoos, which she learned from Jordan, the man who "owns" her. This is terrible situation for Flora and I can understand why she decided to take a chance and accept Minnie's offer. The blurb makes it seem that by doing this, Flora will be part of a love triangle of sorts with Minnie and Chester but the reality is that Minnie can't make as many decisions as she implied and Chester is not simply this dark and kinky guy, he is truly deplorable and if I had some romance expectations, they were immediately over.

It can be quite disappointing to see the story is actually more about dealing with problems and surviving terrible odds. This is life, whether in the 19th century or now, but it's not usually a theme in novels I tend to look for. I think the friend who gave this to me probably didn't investigate the book that much! Still, it's inspiring to try new things and I was eager to give the book a chance, thus why I've invested my hopes in Flora but as her days go on and she gets more tangled up with Minnie's influence to perform as a way to gain enough freedom to leave one day, the more the sense of doom seemed to seep in through the story.

As expected, one day the Knowing is something Flora can't control and she talks more than she should. This means the higher ups want revenge on her and she and Minnie, along with three servants of Chester's house, end up leaving New York to England. I thought this would be a new opportunity for them but things don't go any better there and Chester's money does take him further than they imagined. At this point, I was already a little tired of seeing Flora go through so many issues and it felt as if any happiness or positive life was out of her reach. Then, something seems to happen out of the blue between her and another character and I was a little disappointed. It seemed as if the author didn't really plan on developing the characters that much and the notion they, well mostly Flora, should learn/evolve/make better decisions was not truly accomplished.

When the story ends, one can see what happens as something good enough, especially after some terrible situations Flora and the others go through. I can't tell if I wanted more of this Knowing business so that Flora could control this or use it for a chance at a better life, or if I would have been happier with her having a good life now or something to give her stability or dignity at least... I confess I wasn't too keen on the darker aspects and actively disliked that most characters were unpleasant. I also did not see the need for her to be attracted to Minnie either.

All in all, this was an interesting novel, very different from my usual, and some things were intriguing, but I got the feeling the author started string, has a good vision but the more things went on, the less control she had on what was being added, to the point a lot of things in this short book made it confusing. Since I disliked some elements, this wasn't as surprisingly positive as I hoped for.

Grade: 5/10

Mini-Comments

Recently, I've read two more books by Portuguese authors. Both weren't big books, actually around 200 pages each, more or less, and I figured they would be quickish reads. Both books are fiction as well and I brought them from the library.

Mãe, Doce Mar by João Pinto Coelho, which is literally translated as "mother, sweet sea", is the story of Noah, who discovers who his mother was when he was 12, after being in an orphanage and in foster care. He now needs to know how to adapt to this new life, but everything twists again when they go have some holidays in Cape Cod and he meets Frank, an eccentric Jesuit priest, someone who is also part of his mother's past.

I liked this novel, as I had liked one other by the author I had tried, and his writing is very competent and likable and I was easily drawn into Noah's life. The book is divided into parts, where we get to see how everything - and every main character - is connected and the impact of revelations done as the story moves along. It's true some things are surprisingly told, but once the big picture is obvious, I have to say this book turns out to be a lot more dramatic than what I anticipated. There's also this vibe of "meant to be" which can seem rather dark here. Some events are definitely emotionally draining to contemplate.

I liked this one and I'll certainly try other things by the author if they become available.

Grade: 8/10

O Diabo by Gonçalo M. Tavares, which literally translates as "the devil", is a metaphorical tale centered on the image of the devil. Here, the devil is a character from the imaginary of many tales and myths and legends and the author uses him as the leading figure in a story where we can see how the devil might be thought to be everywhere.

This is the first book I try by this author and it seems I've chosen the wrong book to start, because this is part of a series, loosely connected it seems, on mythology. The writing is good and very, very clever, but I must confess I was not a fan of this book. 

When it starts it seems the author picked the characters of the children of the last czar in Russia and we follow them in mundane situations with the devil always around. At first, I thought the book would be an allegory on this moment of History and what it entailed but then, as the story moves along I've started to feel more and more lost. Many other situations and allusions appear and start being part of the more or less linear development but it gets to a point I had no idea anymore what I was reading. If the goal was for the reader to recognize elements of real life events and see them through a more mythical/dreamlike/fairy tale type of story, then I failed miserably.

I might try another book by the author, not in this "world" so I can have something else to compare the writing at least.

Grade: 3/10

Menna Van Praag - The Dress Shop of Dreams

Since her parents’ mysterious deaths many years ago, scientist Cora Sparks has spent her days in the safety of her university lab or at her grandmother Etta’s dress shop. Tucked away on a winding Cambridge street, Etta’s charming tiny store appears quite ordinary to passersby, but the colorfully vibrant racks of beaded silks, delicate laces, and jewel-toned velvets hold bewitching With just a few stitches from Etta’s needle, these gorgeous gowns have the power to free a woman’s deepest desires.Etta’s dearest wish is to work her magic on her granddaughter. Cora’s studious, unromantic eye has overlooked Walt, the shy bookseller who has been in love with her forever. Determined not to allow Cora to miss her chance at happiness, Etta sews a tiny stitch into Walt’s collar, hoping to give him the courage to confess his feelings to Cora. But magic spells—like true love—can go awry. After Walt is spurred into action, Etta realizes she’s set in motion a series of astonishing events that will transform Cora’s life in extraordinary and unexpected ways.

Comment: I got interested in this author since she writes magical realism and this is a type of story I tend to appreciate. I was actually more drawn into another story by the author, but it happened that this one became available and now, for a topic in a challenge I'm doing, it suited perfectly.

In this story we meet Etta, who has a quaint dress shop and a special magic of her own, and how she tries to help her costumers find the best dress to suit their needs. Although Etta can't help herself, she has done the possible to help others and now she feels it's time to help her granddaughter Cora, a scientist who had always said no to love. Etta knows the bookshop owner nearby, Walt, has loved Cora for many years and when he finally finds courage to say something, Cora can't understand what she is rejecting. Then, Walter decides to try to find someone else and he replies to Milly, a fan of his night BBC reading broadcast. However, several mix ups keep happening and it seems Cora and Walter might not be destined after all, especially when Cora is so determined to find out what truly happened when her parents died. Is there any hope for them?

I really wanted to love this story. Before I even started the first page, I was already anticipating loving this and when that turned out to be different from my expectations, of course I felt a little disappointed. It's really a pity because the elements are all there, the vibe too, but the writing didn't fully convince me.

I like magical realism stories, mostly, for the imagery and the layers one can see through lines. I also love that certain aspects of the magical elements seem kind of destined, kind of established and no matter what the characters do, there's always a bit of hope that something broader and special cannot be dismissed when things are about to have a conclusion. The magic in families or in houses or in something about the characters always makes me eager to see how it will affect the characters and/or their decisions.

These things dazzled me in other magical realism stories I've tried before and, more or less, that was also what I found here. The magic was in beliefs, of course, and in Etta's ability to sew a little thread in the dresses and how that would somehow find a way into the costumers' hearts or needs. I also liked the idea that the dress shop would have beautiful dresses, all somehow also meant to be for specific people. In a way, I think the author did convey the magic aspect rather well, it was not something too obvious or too out there that I wouldn't be able to see how it could be seen as special.

I think, however, that the writing as a whole wasn't done in the best way possible. The story is almost all written in a very simplistic way, and the reader doesn't need to guess things, everything is shared in a very quiet and unassuming way. I feel the author didn't really manage to add personality to her characters beyond what was being described. I've failed to see layers, to see development, to see dynamics which would make me eager to read what they would do next. Some passages were a bit boring.

The characters were all a little dull, to be fair. Their lives weren't larger than life and I can certainly accept this, the cozier side of their lives, but I wanted more gravitas for the plot or for how they all interacted.

-Etta is a sweet older lady and, of course, she has a hidden story, which becomes obvious as soon as we have an inkling of it. I don't suppose the author wanted to keep mysteries ongoing, but the way she presented things made for a very bland reading. I liked Etta and her desire to help Cora and others, but there weren't any layers to her personality;

- Cora is a scientist who needs to see Walt likes her, but why he does and why she will at the end are never things I saw developed in a believable way;

-Walter is a sweet man but not very wise, and while his attempt to forget Cora and try to find something in common with Milly isn't that bad, he seemed too oblivious to Milly's needs;

- Milly seemed only interested in having a family and she was pretty much a mary-sue type of character, reading about her was a little tiring.

There are other secondary characters who play a role in the big scheme of things but I've never felt they were all a functioning unit, as if they had to be the ones part of this novel. The writing style was very much in the present tense, in what they were doing this moment and without room for consistent and deep dynamics between everyone, the story stalled and felt as if a beginner writer was first learning how to write. I'm certainly being harsh here, since I don't even write myself, but it felt so. I think the potential was lost, honestly, and this story could have been much stronger if it had been written differently.

I think the fact that there were so many POVs and situations to pay attention to made the magical realism details feel trivial and I felt sad over this, for it was the element I was more interested in. This, added to what I already said about the writing made reading this novel less exciting than what I wanted. There's a HEA as one would expect, that's true, but not as amazingly done as I assume the author wanted...

I will still read the other book I have by the author to compare. I hope that one is better.

Grade: 5/10

Amy Daws - Challenge

He’s her patient. She’s his doctor. They shouldn’t. But God, do they want to. Camden Harris, the famously hot, hulk of a footballer is laid up in a London hospital. But his busted knee doesn’t stop him from running his well-practiced game on Indie Porter—his redheaded spitfire of a doctor. She’s not his type, not even close. But she could be the perfect distraction from the soul-crushing damage this injury could cost him. Indie’s tired of her naivety putting a target on her back. As a gifted child, she’s let her education take the front seat her whole life. But a fling with a footballer like Camden might be just what she needs to grab life by the balls. And he could be the perfect guy for the plan she’s been sitting on for over two years. But when feelings make a final play, there’s no amount of medicine that can heal the damage to their hearts.

Comment: I can't remember why this one was in the pile but it probably has something do to with it being a sports romance in which the sport is soccer (or football as we say in my country). This sport is not the most common in romance sports but it is the sport I'm most familiar with since it's the main sport in my region of the world. I don't know all the rules but I understand it in general, I have this club I'm a fan of and I even watch games on TV of other clubs.

In this story we meet Camden Harris, a soccer player in a UK team who dreams of reaching the Premier League. Camden has a twin brother and three other brothers and they are known well enough to mean the media sometimes follows them. One day Camden has a problem with his knee and is rushed to the hospital where he meets dr Indie Porter. they seem to immediately be attracted to one another but Indie knows she shouldn't start anything for several reasons. Still, their feelings seem to progress very quickly but there's the patient/doctor issue and there's the problem of Camden's knee, which might cause him to not go as far in his career as he dreamed of. What will happen when work and health and emotions aren't as easy to deal with as they imagined?

This was the first book I tried by the author and I didn't end up being a fan. Perhaps this isn't the author's best work, perhaps not even the best in this series but what I've found here did not captivate me at all to, purposely, go on and perhaps tray again.

Once more, this is the type of romance novel which is told in first person in alternated chapters between the hero and the heroine. They are still young (in their 20s) which could count for some of their immaturity but he is a person who has a short-timed career, and she is a supposed genius who graduated young and that surely means intelligence. I have to wonder if youth here is the only reason why these characters would act so unlike grown-ups in relation to serious issues, and how they disregard certain things for s«the sake of attraction - at least until they admit they are falling in love.

Camden is a typical NA hero: sure of himself, knows he is attractive, likes to play soccer but in his downtime likes to hook up with women, has a pretty laid back life and his main worries, according to how the story developed, are mainly if he can reach his potential in the Premier League one day. I can certainly understand this goal of his, but as for his behavior and personality...he seems very one dimensional, with a mind track on only soccer and women and this made him look very unappealing to me. I wasn't that eager to root for him, let's say.

The heroine is a genius, graduated quickly, wants to help others, has parents who aren't around, and she dreams of one day having someone to love her. She is also a virgin who wants to have some experience with a bad boy before she is to find her perfect man, and her attraction to Camden seems to fit all the boxes, but of course she needs to not be his doctor first. This is more complicated then what it would seem because she wants to participate in the innovative surgery her boss will perform on Camden. Youth and a past without much structure might justify many things but I just cannot fully like a heroine who isn't a real professional.

Yes, this is a fantasy of a romance, in real life things might not be this way, especially with the fear of legal and libel cases suing people, but I was incredibly put off by how unprofessional these characters behaved. Both if them, although Indie's seem more obvious because she is the doctor who should know better, but Camden was pushy and didn't want to respect the situation they were both in. I think that I would accept this lack of professionalism more if nothing had happened between them until they were no longer patient/doctor, but the way things happened, I just could not be distracted.

The writing was quite juvenile and I can imagine this was probably the main reason for the way things happened. The first person narrative is glaring as not being suitable for this story because the sequence of thoughts these two had made them so ridiculous... if the story had been in third person, perhaps things would have been more interesting and it would have been easier or more pleasant, to discover the characters' inner layers. But no, everything was so... weakly presented.

As expected, a lot of the story is actually focused on how they can be together, how much sex could they have while still being only "friends with benefits" and should they meet here or there, would they do this or that... the soccer talk wasn't much and always related to Camden's knee so that part was a little disappointing. Then, there's also Indie's boss at the hospital, well the senior doctor who is taking care of Camden's case and who seems to harass her... one more element to add to the mix of unprofessional decisions which had been going on... and things just stopped being gripping. I was easily distracted by other things to do, I skipped a few paragraphs here and there until the end....

It was quite a task to finish this. Not everything is awful, but I was not convinced by these characters. Anyway, this did not work out for me as I hoped. I see there are more books, one for each Harris brother, but I don't plan on continuing with the series.

Grade: 4/10