Book Review: The Absolutist by John Boyne

“In that direction only pain lies.”

It is September 1919: twenty-one-year-old Tristan Sadler takes a train from London to Norwich to deliver a package of letters to the sister of Will Bancroft, the man he fought alongside during the Great War.

But the letters are not the real reason for Tristan’s visit. He can no longer keep a secret and has finally found the courage to unburden himself of it. As Tristan recounts the horrific details of what to him became a senseless war, he also speaks of his friendship with Will – from their first meeting on the training grounds at Aldershot to their farewell in the trenches of northern France. The intensity of their bond brought Tristan happiness and self-discovery as well as confusion and unbearable pain.

The Absolutist is a masterful tale of passion, jealousy, heroism, and betrayal set in one of the most gruesome trenches of France during World War I. This novel will keep readers on the edge of their seats until its most extraordinary and unexpected conclusion, and will stay with them long after they’ve turned the last page.

Book Review: Something Happened To Ali Greenleaf

Ali Greenleaf and Blythe Jensen couldn’t be more different. Ali is sweet, bitingly funny, and just a little naive. Blythe is beautiful, terrifying, and the most popular girl in school. They’ve never even talked to each other, until a party when Ali decides she’ll finally make her move on Sean Nessel, her longtime crush, and the soccer team’s superstar. But Sean pushes Ali farther than she wants to go. When she resists–he rapes her.

Blythe sees Ali when she runs from the party, everyone sees her. And Blythe knows something happened with Sean, she knows how he treats girls. Even so, she’s his best friend, his confidant. When he begs her to help him, she can’t resist.

So Blythe befriends Ali in her attempt to make things right with Sean, bringing Ali into a circle of ruthless popular girls, and sharing her own dark secrets. Despite the betrayal at the heart of their relationship, they see each other, in a way no one ever has before.

In her searing, empowering debut novel, Hayley Krischer tells the story of what happened that night, and how it shaped Ali and Blythe forever. Both girls are survivors in their own ways, and while their experiences are different, and their friendship might not be built to last, it’s one that helps each of them find a way forward on their own terms.

Book Review: Lovely War by Julie Berry

It’s 1917, and World War I is at its zenith when Hazel and James first catch sight of each other at a London party. She’s a shy and talented pianist; he’s a newly minted soldier with dreams of becoming an architect. When they fall in love, it’s immediate and deep–and cut short when James is shipped off to the killing fields.
Aubrey Edwards is also headed toward the trenches. A gifted musician who’s played Carnegie Hall, he’s a member of the 15th New York Infantry, an all-African-American regiment being sent to Europe to help end the Great War. Love is the last thing on his mind. But that’s before he meets Colette Fournier, a Belgian chanteuse who’s already survived unspeakable tragedy at the hands of the Germans.

Thirty years after these four lovers’ fates collide, the Greek goddess Aphrodite tells their stories to her husband, Hephaestus, and her lover, Ares, in a luxe Manhattan hotel room at the height of World War II. She seeks to answer the age-old question: Why are Love and War eternally drawn to one another? But her quest for a conclusion that will satisfy her jealous husband uncovers a multi-threaded tale of prejudice, trauma, and music and reveals that War is no match for the power of Love. 

Book Review: Three Women

All Lina wanted was to be desired. How did she end up in a marriage with two children and a husband who wouldn’t touch her?

All Maggie wanted was to be understood. How did she end up in a relationship with her teacher and then in court, a hated pariah in her small town?

All Sloane wanted was to be admired. How did she end up a sexual object of men, including her husband, who liked to watch her have sex with other men and women?

Three Women is a record of unmet needs, unspoken thoughts, disappointments, hopes and unrelenting obsessions.

Book Review: A Ladder to the Sky

If you look hard enough, you can find stories pretty much anywhere. They don’t even have to be your own. Or so would-be writer Maurice Swift decides very early on in his career. A chance encounter in a Berlin hotel with celebrated novelist Erich Ackermann gives him an opportunity to ingratiate himself with someone more powerful than him. For Erich is lonely, and he has a story to tell. Whether or not he should do so is another matter entirely. Once Maurice has made his name, he sets off in pursuit of other people’s stories. He doesn’t care where he finds them – or to whom they belong – as long as they help him rise to the top. Stories will make him famous but they will also make him beg, borrow and steal. They may even make him do worse.

Book Review: If We Were Villains

Oliver Marks has just served ten years in jail – for a murder he may or may not have committed. On the day he’s released, he’s greeted by the man who put him in prison. Detective Colborne is retiring, but before he does, he wants to know what really happened a decade ago. As one of seven young actors studying Shakespeare at an elite arts college, Oliver and his friends play the same roles onstage and off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingenue, extra. But when the casting changes, and the secondary characters usurp the stars, the plays spill dangerously over into life, and one of them is found dead. The rest face their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, and themselves, that they are blameless.

ARC Review: Serious Moonlight

  ★★★★☆

Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett

Release Date: 16th April

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Length: 432 pages

This was an exceptional mix of romance, mystery and lots of fun stuff. This is my first Jenn Bennett book, but it’s not going to be the last because of how unique her characters are and how much she cares about the development of each of them.

Women’s Fiction Prize Challenge (Part 1)

Hello, darlings! It’s Marta and I’m back with the post I’ve promised you about Women’s Prize for Fiction. I’ve been oblivious about this award for a huge part of my life (I’m ashamed of it, really), but I thought I’d make up for this by trying to read most of the books on the longlist before the results come up in June.

I’ll update you while I make progress on my TBR – I hope to write a review for each book or at least some mini reviews if I’m going to binge-read them.

There are 16 books on that list, I’ve already read one – Circe by Madeline Miller – you can find my review here. It’s one of my favorite books of all the time, so if the other books on the list are on that level, well… I’m going to be very happy.

I’m going to tell you a little bit about what I’ve gathered from the blurbs of those books, what my expectations are and maybe I’ll persuade you to read some of the books on the list as well!

Let’s get right into it!

Book Review: Finding Baba Yaga

 

Hello, everyone! It’s Marta and I’m back with a book review that I promised you a while ago on a great Russian-inspired novel in verse called Finding Baba Yaga.

★★★★☆

This book is definitely haunting, it has the perfect atmosphere for a retelling of Russian mythology. I will be frank with you, I didn’t know a lot about Baba Yaga prior to reading this book. I’ve always been interested in Russian mythology, but I’m a bit intimidated by it and Russian literature as a whole. But this book managed to make me very interested in Baba Yaga and I will probably read more books on this mythological figure because of Finding Baba Yaga.

Cover Reveal: Whispers of Shadow & Flame

Today we have the cover reveal tour for book 2 in L. Penelope’s Earthsinger Chronicles, Whispers of Shadow & Flame.

A while ago, I wrote a review for the first book in the series, Song of Blood & Stone, which you can find here. It was a book I really enjoyed and I’d really recommend it if you’re looking for a romantic fantasy book.

Song of Blood & Stone, was named one of TIME Magazine’s top 10 fantasy books of 2018! Check out the cover reveal and giveaway below!

Title: Whispers of Shadow & Flame (Earthsinger Chronicles, Book 2)
Author: L. Penelope
Published by: St. Martin’s Press
Release Date: October 1, 2019
Genre: Fantasy