Audiobook Review - The Man In Black

Collection of short stories, all written by one author, can go one of two ways: really well or really bad?

But when I heard of The Man in Black and Other Stories by Elly Griffiths, I got ver excited. She's a crime author I keep saying I will try and she seemed to explode during the COVID lockdown, but I've only read one of her books - The Postscript Murders - and I had plans to do more. But life got in the way and I kept putting it off. Until Man in Black was up for preorder... 

Title and Author: The Man in Black And Other Stories by Elly Griffiths

Publisher: Quercus

Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Audiobook Bought

Buy From (Affilate): uk.bookshop.org

In this collection of 19 short stories, Elly dips her toes into crime short stories, following a mix of characters her readers know and love (Ruth Galloway, DS Harbinder Kaur, Max Mesphisto, even a grown-up Justice Jones and Ruth Galloway's cat, Flint).

4 Weeks of Summer - The Lost and the Found

This was last month's Bookish Brits Book Club Book of the Month (you might have seen my review clips on the channel), but here I am, writing it up to the best of my abilities, so bear with me while I get all my thoughts and feels into this post.

Faith's whole life has been dominated by her older sister, Laurel's, disappearance. Faith was four and Laurel was six, and Faith has known no difference. The media storm around her family and herself as she grew up, saw her parents split up and trying to deal with so called friends.

Thirteen years ago, Laurel was snatched. And now... now, she has come back.

The happy ever after everyone hoped for and wanted. But what happens next? And why is Faith suddenly feeling isolated and paranoid?

Now, I have read all bar one of Cat Clarke's books and I have really enjoyed reading them. I love Cat's writing style, where she makes you sped through the book while writing from a character who you might not be so thrilled to spend time with. And this book is no different to her others. Fast pace and you will speed through the pages. I read this with 5 days (four, technically as I had a day off playing with Bagheera and spending time with my other half!) so the pacing is good and strong.

However - yes, there is a however. And it's a big however from me. As someone who reads quite a bit of crime thrillers (and watches a heck of a lot of crime TV dramas), I felt that this book was very predictable. I knew where the story was going to go almost from the word go. And it annoyed me that I guessed correctly where the story was going. It made me like the book less.

But saying that though, the last few pages redeemed the book for me. It became, in a sense, the most important part of the book, the last 3 or so pages.

While it might have been my fave Cat Clarke, it was a fast addictive read.

GoodRead - Undone

As you guys are probably aware, I am a a bit of a Cat Clarke fan. So, if you are expecting a non-bias review... er... you might want to go somewhere else.

Actually, I nearly didn't review Undone. Alice from Quercus tried to send me Undone several times before I got it (third times the charm!). I think either the previous parcel got lost in the post, the postman's a Cat Clarke fan too or my family and other half bribed the postman to "lose" my mail if it looks booky.

Anyway, Undone. Jem has been in love with her best friend, Kai, since she first met him. The fact he's gay makes things kinda difficult, but she's getting over that. And then something unspeakable happens: Kai's outed on the internet. And Kai kills himself.

Jem is beside herself. Her best friend died. She can't see a way forward. Until she decides to find out who posted that video, and make them pay in the cruelest way possible...

I feel like I've been saying this a lot about this book: this is Cat's most powerful book to date. She doesn't flinch away from the subject matter - grief, homophobia, bullying, discrimination, suicide, the damages of lies just to name a few - so if you don't like reading about these, stay away from this book. But Cat seems to get under Jem's skin while writing and, though she does things in her act of revenge I can't forgive for (not gonna spoil), you kinda understood what drove Jem to do the things she did in the extreme ways she did.

Jem's grief speaks volumes and when you get to read Kai's letters to Jem... I know book bloggers who have read this book and have sobbed while reading Kai's letters. I got kinda choked up over Kai's March and July. So, yeah... unless you have a heart made of stone or sold your emotions on eBay, you will probably cry or feel on the verge of crying. You have been warned.

There is something that might bother some of you guys (apart from the possible crying) is the language. While swear words don't bother me (and I think Cat gets wayward teens better than anyone - maybe Hollyoaks should hire her as head scriptwriter...), I sense it might bother some of you. So, if you have issues on swearing and underage sex (amongs other things), you might want to avoid.

While I guessed one twist early on, Cat nails it with the twists that follow at a stupid pace.

Unflinching, uncomfortable at times yet unputdownable. This is Cat Clarke's best novel to date.




PS - I don't normally do this, but as this book deals with issues that I think need addressing, I feel have to write this. So, if any of the issues in this book affect you, please contact one of the following as I think these are very helpful:

The Samaritians (UK) - http://www.samaritans.org/
Childline (UK) - http://www.childline.org.uk/
Stonewall (UK) - http://www.stonewall.org.uk/
The Trevor Project (US) - http://www.thetrevorproject.org/

GoodRead - The Christmas Bake Off

Is it that time of year again? Yes, my blogger reading chums, Christmas is next week! NEXT WEEK! Am I the only one a little bit scared about this fact? No? Just me... ok. Well, to get you guys in the mood, I am going to read this Free (at the time of writing this review) eNovella, The Christmas Bake Off.

The only reason I discovered this was because another book blogger - Stacey from Pretty Books (Blog & Tumblr) - tweeted that she downloaded this book and my instant thought was The Great British Bake Off and knew I had to download it.

In the small town of Skipley village, Christmas is round the corner. And this means one thing: the Christmas Bake Off! And the whole village is involved... Kate enters the Bake Off as she dreams of baking stardom. Rachel enters to prove that she's more than a stay-at-home mum. John enters to impress the woman he loves. Bea enters just because she enters cooking.

So, when sabotage is discovered, everyone wonders who would go that far?

This is a really fast Christmas read. I read this within half an hour, but it was a fun (and free) Christmas read. And it made me hungry for biscuits, which was good as there was two biscuits recipes so I sense I will be baking in the coming few days... Anyway, I think this will get you ready for the Christmas build up. If not that, then for the food...!

Book Trailer for Cat Clarke's UNDONE!

Revealed yesterday on Wondrous Reads, the book trailer for the latest Cat Clarke's, Undone, has been unveiled. And, from the trailer, this is going to be Cat's most powerful work to date.

So, guys, reactions? Do you love it or not? I can't wait for the book myself, so this just adds fuel to the fire. Bring on the end of January 2013! 

UNDONE Cover Reveal!

As you guys know, I LOVE Cat Clarke! LOVE HER! So, when I was asked to Quercus earlier this year for a tiny reveal over Undone, OF COURSE I WENT! We were show a draft of the cover but told not to tell anyone about it as it still needed to be finalised.

But this morning, the bloggers who went were sent an email with the FINAL cover and told to share with the world. So, ladies and gentlemen, here is the cover for Cat's new novel, Undone!

Isn't it great?! Very different from Cat's previous covers but just as stunning. So different and there's always something new about it every time I look at it. And here, thanks to my lovely friend Laura (aka Sisterspooky who posted this moments ago) is a quick summary!

Jem Halliday is in love with her gay best friend.

Not exactly ideal, but she's learning to live with it.
Then the unspeakable happens.
Kai is outed online...and he kills himself.

Jem knows nothing she can say or do will bring him back.
But she wants to know who was responsible.
And she wants to take them down...

A searing story of love, revenge and betrayal
from a bestselling author,
UNDONE will take your breath away. 

Oh my God! This is going to be GREAT! From the little bit Cat read to us at the event (which was barely anything, in my honest opinion. I wanted more, damnit!), this will be her most powerful and her most heartbreaking book to date. And I can not wait! 

My thanks to Alice at Quercus for the cover and Laura for the summary! And Cat for writing this book! 

GoodRead - Torn

As you guys probably know, I love Cat Clarke's debut novel, Entangled. So, when Cat did a competition to win an ARC for her second novel, Torn, I jumped on it, giving her a song that gave the sense of impending doom (Requirm For A Tower). And, somehow, I won it. So, I got a copy of Torn SUPER EARLY (and signed with lovely words).

And yet I only just read it? Why, I hear you shout at your computer screens. Why? Well, two reasons. Reason number one: It got lost in my huge To Read Pile (one of the many faults with being a book blogger [I admit it, at last! I am a book blogger!] is you get loads of books to read. I'm not complaining, but you kinda lose track of the books you want to read and then you half forget till Twitter shouts out you). And the second reason: I loved Entangled and I didn't want to read this and go "Oh, ok. That ruins it. Thanks, Cat!".

So, when I was invited to Quercus for the unveiling of the cover of Cat's third novel, Undone, I apologised to Cat (again) and promised to read it. I forgot to tell her I decided later that evening that Torn would be my next read...

Let's chat story! Alice goes on a school trip to Scotland and she's fearing the worse. But that's nothing compared to her finding out she's sharing a cabin with Tara, queen of mean. So, when Tara and her groupies do something, Alice's best friend, Cass, decides to teach Tara a lesson she'll never forget. She ropes in social outcast, Polly, and moody emo, Rae, into her plans. But when it goes too far, all four girls must face living with the guilt with what they done...

Now, I'm pretty sure some of you are going "This sounds like Pretty Little Liars". It's not. Seriously, it's not. This is dark, twisted and gritty UK YA fiction at its best. It isn't ashamed to show teenagers is a light where, yes, they make mistakes, chicken out, get horny, swear, drink and question themselves. And Alice does a lot of questioning herself...

And Cat isn't afraid to write dark scenes where you feel uncomfortable. Like in Entangled, she throws these scenes at us and, while we fidget a little in our seats, you still keep reading.

What I found the most interesting about this book, is that Cat doesn't go down the normal route. The book's main story has been done time and time again, but Cat tackles it differently. She focuses on the guilt that these characters have to deal with. Alice has the guilt slowly eating up inside herself and starts seeing Tara, even though that's impossible. Cass tries to control the situation. Polly, if anything, seems to enjoy and feed off her guilt. And Rae goes more into herself...

I do have a few things that niggled at me. Alice mentioning her weight every now and then was one thing. Every now and then, she would say something about her weight and it made me want to shake her. There were other times I wanted to dive into the book and shake Alice because of reasons that, at the time of writing this, has gone straight out of my head. But I know that there were occasions I was going "What are you doing?! TELL SOMEONE, FOR GOD'S SACK!"

While this might not be as amazing as Entangled (which I still love), Cat Clarke has proven as being one of the voice for dark, gritty UK YA fiction (and we need more of this!). I can not WAIT for her next novel, Undone, which I heard is her most personnel and most heartbreaking read to wait, which shall be interesting, because, as I told Cat, I have never cried reading a book before so the gauntlet is thrown. BRING IT ON, CAT!

PS - the Andrew in the Acknowledgements. That's ME! *Kermit Flails* SO HAPPY! I'M IN A BOOK!!! (Yes, I know a quote of mine was used in Tiger's Voyage by Colleen Houck but there's something wonderful about being in an author's acknowledgements, so Cat, if you're reading this, thank you.

PPS - Also, for a while before I read this, I always heard Torn by Natalie Imbruglia when I thought of this book, and I didn't want the song to be linked to the book. I just couldn't handle it! And, as you can see below, my song choices aren't Torn by Natalie Imbruglia (but there is a song by her) so HAHA!

GoodRead - Tomorrow When The War Began

Imagine you and several of your friends went camping for several days, only to return home after several days to discover that your town, maybe your whole country, has been invaded. What would you do? Run away and hide? Or would you stand up and fight?

That was the choice that Ellie and her group of friends face in Tomorrow When The War Began.

Niamh from Quercus kindly gave me a copy of this book after chatting to her about the film's trailer and chatting about one of Quercus' authors, Cat Clarke. As you do. So, when I received it, after some teething problems, I was reading the amazing Divergent! So, when I sat down and read this, I was worried it wouldn't live up to the hype (well, the quiet hype. It was mostly from my two friends from Australia – Bianca and Rhianna – got excited when I saw the trailer and chatted about. And they gave me some info over the series:- TWTWB was written in 1995 [knew that – and if you didn't, you get that feeling while reading. No mentions of mobile phones or Facebook], how some schools in Australia teach this series in schools, the people of Australia love this book series [although the sequel to the series – the Ellie Chronicles – is beyond awful and should be avoided at ALL COSTS!]. And the film had these two split).

And this book did feel Australia. I know that sounds weird but this book felt Australia. With the slang, the landscapes and other little things, this book felt Australia. In a good way. I would love to visit Australia (and I am a bit of a sucker for Neighbours and Home & Away [don't tell anyone, though!]) and this book gave me a nice feel for the outback...

I did have problems with this book. I am going to admit it. For me, it took a few chapters (five. Maybe six.) to get to the main event – the characters discovering that their had been invaded. And then, they seem to accept the whole situation a little too quickly for my taste. But, I suppose, in a situation like this, you have to get to grips of what's happening very quickly.

Another problem I had was that there were times in this book when it felt like “The First Book In A Series”. It felt like it was setting the foundations to the series.

But what I do like about this book is that it's a book about war. It doesn't shy away from the horrors and the ideas that war is devastating and, because of that, you question your morality. What makes you good? If you do something bad, does that make you evil? In a time so terrible, is it wrong to fall in love? You question your moral compass and, because of that, this book has an edge. I like the fact that the questions are always there and it takes times before the characters sit down and figure it out. I sense this will keep coming up throughout the series...

This is a book about war – it's not pre-dystopia, as some reviewers have said. To me, this is a book about war and survival. Imagine the Hunger Games before the Hunger Games were ever created.

What I found interesting (tiny side note) is that the enemy – the Invaders – were never identified. You don't know where they come from. Are they a enemy? Or an ally? And, because of this, it makes the book more creepy and more realistic. This could happen in real life – isn't that a scary thought?

So, my reactions to the book: I like it. I didn't love it, but I would like to see where this story goes and one of my Australian book spies says that there was a twist in the third book in the series – The Third Day, The Frost (this series just has cool titles!) - that affects the series in a huge, emotional way. *rubs hands with glee* I can't wait!



(Yes, random song choice. It helped with the start of the novel where our characters began to realise the true horror of it all!)

Cat Clarke's Title Reveal!!!

I am turning into a Cat Clarke mascot, aren't I? After speed reading Entangled because of a last minute invite to her Book Launch Party (and adoring the book), meeting her (awesome), and then having random twiter conversations with her (one of my faves was us plotting character deaths! Happy bunch, aren't we?), Cat revealed on Twitter a few days ago the title of the book she's writing now.

She revealed it earlier that day at a school talk she was doing (what a scoop for that school's newspaper!), and now am going to tell you lot, in case you don't know.

Cat's second novel will be called ... *drumroll please*... TORN.

Do you like it? I LOVE it myself. I am quite excited to read what this is about!

But my first reaction, after the "OMG! Wow!" reaction was the below...



Yep, I thought of Natalie Imbruglia. Maybe she will become the book's Theme Song...?

Also, I never showed you the trailer for Entangled so here it is. The song used was created by Massive Dog and, if you like, you can download it FREE!!! Go to http://www.massivedog.com/music and download Entangled.

Cat Clarke's Launch Party

I was invited to a launch party for a debut novel, Entangled, by Cat Clarke that happened last night.



It was so cool!

Before the event, I met up with Sya from Mountain of Insteads and Lauren from I Was A Teenage Book Geek. Now, I have been Twitter-friendly with Sya for a while, but it was lovely to meet her in the flesh! Both were lovely and, because they were friendly and made me feel completely at ease, I beg you to check their blogs!

So, when the three of us turned up at the launch party, it was FULL! Loads of people turned up! And I bumped into Book Bloggers I met once before at the Atom Books Bloggers Event. I met Liz from My Favourite Books & Sarah from Feeling Fictional again and I met new bloggers. I met Carly from Writing From The Tub, Caroline from Portrait of a Woman.

There were, also, some authors there. As well as Cat herself (who I hugged! She's awesome!), there was Michelle Harrison (who I got a bit starstruck over and, because of that, I stayed away. If I did go up to her, I would have probably come across like some crazy!) & another debut author, Karen Mahoney, who I chatted to later that evening. I love her laugh! Also, the model who was on the cover of Entangled came! A "Surprise Surprise" guest!

Actually, I have a story about Karen Mahoney. When I first entered the party and bumped into Liz, she silently pointed to a woman who had her back to me. "That's Karen Mahoney," she whispered. My reaction: "Shout up!" and Liz must have seen the giddiness/hyperness in my eyes and said, quickly, "Don't hug her from behind! She's a Londoner and will beat you up!"

It was a really cool night and I really think you should read it! Go on... you know you want to...

I got a few pictures (see below), but Sarah from Feeling Fictional or @sarahreviews took loads and they look MEGA professional! And, yes, there is a photo of me. *sobs* Click here to see them!

GoodRead - Entangled

When Grace wakes up in a white room with a table, pens and paper, she has no idea how she got there. Or why she's in there.

Slowly, Grace pours her tangled, messed-up life down onto paper, she's forced to face up to everything that she's tried so hard to forget. Her friendship with Sal and her falling in love with Nat. But something is missing. Something that's too painful to remember. Something that unravelled her. What happened that was so bad that pushed Grace to a dangerous limit? And, more importantly, why is she trapped in this room?

I think I discovered this book randomly on Twitter – oh, Twitter! I love you lately with you recommending books to me! - and, after getting a WHSmith Giftcard as an early Christmas present, I picked this up (with a copy of Maggie Stiefvater's Lament and Brenna Yovanoff's The Replacement [I was in 2 minds to get this book or My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent]) and decided to put it to my (already huge) To Be Read pile. After I finished my last book, The 13th Treasures by Michelle Harrison (not reviewing that yet! Soon, but not yet), I randomly picked it up and read. And fell quickly under the book's dark charms.

Now, there are reviews out there that some people have is that, within the first few pages, they found Grace rather hard work in liking, but I liked her. She was, to me, an typical angry teenager. But the more I read, the more I saw past the angry and the guard she put up and saw the fragile girl underneath.

Now, there are something I want to warn you. This touches on tough subjects. I knew for a while that Entangled raises the issue of self-harm, but it's not a just a “self-harm” book, but it's more. Scratch the surface of this book, and you see that there is a lot of issues and questions raised. It was like reading a storyline out of Hollyoaks. Maybe the author, Cat Clarke, should work with them...

People, I might be meeting Cat Clarke and I can say to her how much I liked/loved the book! And how I am waiting her next book impatiently...

*

WOW! How much does that sound like a book review! flinches away Let's ruin this image I have of myself with some music I seemed to always be listening to while I was madly reading/devouring this book... (and there was a LOT!)











(Note to self: Must do a "Books and Their Theme Songs" blog soon...)