Author: jus_de_fruit

After the Armistice Ball by Catriona McPherson

Posted February 12, 2014 by jus_de_fruit in Crime, Guest Posts / 1 Comment

Title: After the Armistice Ball (Goodreads)
Author: Catriona McPherson
Series: Dandy Gilver #1
Published: Carroll & Graf, 2005
Pages: 303
Genres: Crime
My Copy: Paperback

Buy: Amazon, Book Depository (or visit your local Indie bookstore)

The Duffy Family claim their diamonds have been stolen while visiting the Esslemont’s for the Armistice Ball. Mrs. Esslemont asks Dandy Gilver to use her skills of snooping and gossiping to investigate this further. It is Scotland in 1923 and it seems a world vastly different to my own. I think a good book can make you feel included in these unfamiliar places, but for most of the book, I felt like a foreign observer.

I never really enjoyed the protagonist Dandy Gilver. My husband will frequently remind me that you don’t need to like the characters to enjoy a book, and while I partly agree, my distaste towards Dandy definitely impacted on my enjoyment of this book. The reason I picked up this book is because I love the concept of the ladies of the 1920s solving crimes. I thoroughly enjoy Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries on TV, though I’ve yet to read the books myself. Maybe my expectations were just too high. The only character I truly enjoyed was Dandy’s Lady’s maid who was so full of sass and pretentiousness, that I wish she featured more in this story.

Throughout the book, I always felt like I knew what was going to happen before the characters themselves. I would be expecting some sort of twist, because surely it can’t be that obvious, but pages later, Dandy and friends come to the realization that I had already had. The only time when something didn’t seem obvious was in the final chapter. I can’t even say what it is without some major spoiler alerts. But they make this discovery during the investigation and someone asks about the person connected to it, and Dandy just says “Isn’t it obvious?” and then the person she is with realizes as well. But I’ve never worked that out. If anyone has read it, please tell me the answer? Did I miss something during the book when I got bored and started skimming? By the end of the book, I don’t care who stole the diamonds, but I do want to know the answer to this question. I have tried google, and I haven’t found a confirmed answer.

I have read in some reviews that this series gets better as it goes along. Maybe the author needed some time to find her feet as she developed the characters, but I don’t feel the need to be part of this world again and will be giving the rest of the series a miss.

Guest Review: The Flavours of Love by Dorothy Koomson

Posted January 27, 2014 by jus_de_fruit in Crime, Guest Posts, Thriller / 0 Comments

Title: The Flavours of Love (Goodreads)
Author: Dorothy Koomson
Published: Quercus, 2013
Pages: 429
Genres: Crime, Thriller
My Copy: Paperback

Buy: Amazon, Book Depository (or visit your local Indie bookstore)

I came across this book at the bookshop while looking for Christmas presents for my husband. He was with me at the time and saw my reaction when I read the synopsis on the back. Cooking and murder and secrets! So much that interested me. The Flavours of Love tells the story of Saffron Mackleroy and her family after the murder of her husband 18 months earlier. The killer of her husband has started sending letters to Saffron to make her aware that she is being watched. And on top of all that, she has all the usual family drama to deal with. Her teenage daughter has some very confronting issues to deal with, the younger son is withdrawing from life, her husband’s aunt has been asked to leave her nursing home. This story is more than just about trying to solve a murder; it’s about how to survive life.

Dorothy Koomson’s writing was very compelling. I was mesmerized from the first chapter and at the end of the night, I had to force myself to put the book down to get some sleep, as I knew I wouldn’t ever find a place I would willingly stop. It was so great to get to Friday night and know I could stay up as late as I wanted and power through the last half of the book. It was after 4am when I got to bed, knowing the family was safe again after Joel’s killer had been caught.

This book could have easily just focused on the murder aspect, but it incorporated so many other things. It gave me so much to reflect upon about my own relationships and how I might cope in a similar circumstance but I hope I never have to find out. Losing the love of your life would be devastating, but then you have to send the kids back to school, return to work, keep paying bills. Life goes on and doesn’t slow down when tragedy strikes. And there are all those little things, the little neuroses that your spouse would be able to talk you through, and to suddenly lose that voice of reason and do things you might not have done in the past. So many little things that we take for granted in the normality of our lives.

I loved learning about the love that Saffron and Joel shared with little flashback scenes to their life together, while they were dating and married. There is so much magic in this book amongst all the tragedy and drama that is revealed between the pages. I wasn’t really sure of the genre to class this book as when I started it, but wanted to include it in my Literary Exploration Challenge. I eventually settled on Thriller, because I certainly felt thrilled all the way through it as all the secrets were unraveled.

I don’t think I’d ever heard of Dorothy Koomson before, but she is now firmly planted on my radar and I will be hunting down her other books to read.

This is a guest post by Mary; not only is she my wonderful wife, she is also my editor and helps moderate the Literary Exploration group on Goodreads. Big thanks to her for this post and everything she does to help me with this blog.

Guest Review: Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures

Posted November 14, 2013 by jus_de_fruit in Guest Posts, Historical Fiction / 2 Comments

Title: Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures (Goodreads)
Author: Emma Straub
Published: Pan Macmillan, 2012
Pages: 256
Genres: Historical Fiction
My Copy: Paperback

Buy: Amazon, Book Depository, Kindle (or visit your local Indie bookstore)

I haven’t found much time to read in recent times. This book has been with me for a while, but I’ve now finished reading it. I never felt like this book was a compulsive page-turner, but it was something enjoyable and familiar that I could easily pick up and return to in the rare times of quiet that I can spend reading.

I don’t feel this book ever had any form of climax; as the title suggests, this book is about life. Laura Lamont, originally Elsa Emerson, grows up in Wisconsin, but eventually finds her way to Hollywood and becomes an actress, wins an Oscar, falls in love, has some children. It could be the story of any woman, although most of us probably lack an Oscar. Beyond the backdrop of Hollywood, this story is pretty ordinary. I found it easily to relate to Laura at different stages in her life.

I think this story is really about the roles we play in our lives. Daughter, Sister, Friend, Lover, Wife, Mother, Grandmother. Life constantly changes us. I think that the acting aspects may have just highlighted these changes more. Laura becomes quite famous, and struggles when she starts to disappear from the public eye. We are constantly changing, becoming different versions of ourselves, to fit the life that happens around us. Sometimes we yearn for the past, other times we look to the future, and there are even moments of contentment where we are happy just where we are in this moment.

I imagine this book would make a great holiday read, or like me, something that is easy to return to when other things are overtaking your life.

The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton

Posted February 3, 2013 by jus_de_fruit in Crime, Guest Posts, Historical Fiction / 0 Comments

Title: The Secret Keeper (Goodreads)
Author: Kate Morton
Published: Allen & Unwin, 2012
Pages: 592
Genres: Crime, Historical Fiction
My Copy: ARC from Publisher

Buy: Amazon, Book Depository (or visit your local Indie bookstore)

There are two categories of good books. The ones that introduce you to worlds that absorb you and you never want to leave and you find yourself slowing down towards the end, so you never have to finish the book. The other is the sort of book that compels you through the pages as fast as possible so you can discover the answer to the question that has been left burning inside you throughout that journey. The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton falls into the latter of those categories.

I started this book at a time when I wasn’t really feeling the need to read anything. Tired and exhausted after work, it felt like too much energy to even pick up a book. I did eventually, and very quickly I was captured by the mystery in this book.

Like A Lady’s Cyclist Guide to Kashgar, this is a book that covers more than one generation and the stories that link them together. Once again, I am left pondering the lives of my parents and grandparents and how the decisions they made may be influencing me now without me even realizing it. I wonder about the adventures of my own mum before she became a mother, because as her child it’s difficult to imagine her even existing without me as her daughter.

The Secret Keeper tells the story of Laurel Nicolson, who at 16 witnesses her mother commit a violent crime, which is barely spoken of again. As her mother approaches the end of her life fifty year later, suffering with dementia, Laurel realizes this is her last chance to find out the truth of that moment. The story flips between Laurel’s own investigations as well the story as lived by her mother during the war in the 1940s. Slowly, the characters fall into place, the connections become clear and a beautiful story is weaved.

I did predict how it would end before it got there, but I was still filled with uncertainty as to whether I was correct. The story could have taken any number of turns and I raced through the pages to find what the truth of the situation actually was. Kate Morton has done an amazing job with this story and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys mystery, romance and historical fiction.

Guest Post: Venting about Stephanie Plum

Posted October 15, 2012 by jus_de_fruit in Guest Posts / 0 Comments

Outside of the fantasy genre, I’m not sure if there are many series of books that have last as long as Stephanie Plum by Janet Evanovich. Currently at 18 books, I assume there is more to come.

I found this series after high school sometime. I don’t remember how I first got into it, but I started at Hot Six. I loved Stephanie and quickly sought out the beginning of the series, and bought the rest as they became available.

Stephanie Plum was fun and witty. She was trying to find her place in the world amidst her troubles with work, her well-meaning family and trying to decide which man was right for her. She felt like someone I could relate to, because she wasn’t that different to me, except that her car was blown up and her life was a bit more interesting because of that.

The series started in 1995 with One for the Money, so the series has now spanned 17 years. Perhaps Stephanie is in some sort of time warp where she doesn’t age. Perhaps it’s like the Simpsons; when that show first started I was the same age as Bart, and as I’ve grown up, he hasn’t. Maybe that’s what happened with Stephanie. Perhaps she’s still in her early 20s. I’m not sure. I don’t know if there have been any mention of birthdays.

I just finished Smokin’ Seventeen. I no longer feel the need to race out as soon as the book is released and devour it the day I buy it. This one has been sitting in my house for over a year and I just never got around to it. Explosive Eighteen has also been out for a while, but I’m not sure if I’ll ever read it.

Since I started reading the series, I have suffered through a few disappointing jobs before finding my dream job; had my fair share of relationship drama before getting married; had a continually changing relationship with my parents as they begin to respect me more as an adult and not just as their child. I don’t think my life is any less boring because of that, and I don’t think it would hurt to see something like that happen in this series.

Stephanie is still in the same place. Still in the same love triangle, still in the same job despite all her complaints, still causing her parents stress as she continually has her life threatened. Maybe she doesn’t like being a bounty hunter, but surely at some point, she could get some firearm training so she isn’t so afraid to take her gun out of the cookie jar. As interesting a choice Morelli and Ranger make, surely at some point her friends have to let her know to stop playing them. If it takes this long for you to choose who you want, perhaps neither of them are for you.

I defended the series for too long. So many people said that it had become boring, but I stuck at it for a while. Now it feels like I’m saying goodbye to an old friend whose life is just taking a different path to me. She’s stuck in a place that I’ve long moved on from. It used to be charming, but now it’s tiresome.

I would love to see some growth from Stephanie Plum, and if Janet Evanovich was to write it, I’d probably be drawn back into the series, but for now, I think I’m done.

Guest Review: No Sex in the City

Posted September 27, 2012 by jus_de_fruit in Chick Lit, Guest Posts / 0 Comments

Title: No Sex in the City (Goodreads)
Author: Randa Abdel-Fattah
Published: Pan Macmillan, 2012
Pages: 400
Genres: Chick Lit
My Copy: ARC from Publisher

Buy: Book Depository (or visit your local Indie bookstore)

I read a bit of chick-lit in my early to late twenties. It was fun to read and didn’t require much brainpower. It was easy to relate to, as a young woman experiencing a similar, yet more toned down, sort of life. My tastes may have changed in recent years. Apart from Stephanie Plum, I’m not sure the last time I read a book that fell into the chick-lit genre. Now I seem to go after historical time travelling romances. I think I lost the ability to relate with those young women trying to find Mr Right and it started to get a bit mundane, although I suppose I could still enjoy it. My husband’s taste in books may have also redirected my attentions.

I heard about No Sex in the City when I heard an interview with Randa Abdel-Fattah on the radio. I was fascinated by her stories of parent arranged dating and was intrigued. It’s something completely different to my own life experience. I did once ask my dad who he would pick if arranged marriages were a thing of our culture, and after hearing his choice, I was pretty glad that wasn’t a thing.

Randa Abdel-Fattah is an Australian born Muslim of Palestinian and Egyptian heritage who seems to have achieved quite a bit in her life working as a human rights advocate and has an interest in interfaith dialogue. These interests come through in this book, as the characters are a mix of faiths. The main character Esma is a Muslim and her best friends who form the No Sex in the City club are a Greek Orthodox, a Jew and a Hindu. An interesting combination.

Esma is trying to find the right man to settle down with, but at 28 her family are feeling a bit desperate, but Esma knows what she wants and doesn’t feel the need to settle for anything less. Pressure from work colleagues tell her that perhaps she should just give up, play the field a bit and see what she likes but she’s pretty set on sharing her first kiss with her husband on their wedding day.

As a young Christian woman who was reading chick-lit back in the day, there was quite a bit of falling into bed with strangers that may or may not be Mr Right. I suppose it is a reflection of the society that we live in, and quite a few young women are able to relate, but I found this book so refreshing for not being afraid to illustrate the life of a young woman living a life of chastity. The book isn’t completely prudish, as other characters choose different paths, but this is who Esma is, and she isn’t going to apologise for that. Even though the main character is a Muslim, I’d probably recommend this to Christian women as well, as they probably get disillusioned by the way certain media portrays sex.

The book is quite easy to read and completes the check list usually found in all the others of this genre. There are problems at work and within her family that she needs to overcome, and there is a bit of a love triangle that is developed. We also get to follow the stories of her three friends as they also have their own experience of dating.

It doesn’t finish with a typical happily ever after for all the characters but you can’t help but feel that it’s all for the best. I really enjoyed journeying with this group of young women who all seemed to know what they wanted out of life and never felt the need to settle for less. I’d probably even read more if this book was turned into a series, as I found the characters to be very likeable.

Guest Review: A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar

Posted September 21, 2012 by jus_de_fruit in Contemporary, Guest Posts / 0 Comments

Title: A Lady Cyclist's Guide to Kashgar (Goodreads)
Author: Suzanne Joinson
Published: Bloomsbury, 2012
Pages: 384
Genres: Contemporary
My Copy: ARC from Publisher

Buy: Amazon, Book Depository (or visit your local Indie bookstore)

Last month, I was walking past our local indie bookshop, and outside they had a blackboard that listed some of the new releases they had in stock. A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar was one of those, and the title drew me in. I had no idea what it was about and had heard nothing about it leading up to the release, but perhaps it was the mention of some foreign city that I’ll never likely experience myself. I went in to try and find a copy to learn more about it, but I couldn’t find it, and then got distracted looking at other things. Then it showed up at our house in one of those parcels of books my husband regularly receives, so I knew I had to read it.

A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar tells the story of a couple of people. In 1923, it tells the story of Evangeline English who arrives in Kashgar in disguise as a Christian missionary, as a way to protect her sister who had decided to become an evangelist. Inspired by the travels of Richard Burton, she decides to write a similar book, of which the title of this book comes from. With her bicycle as her own real sense of freedom, the reality of living in Kashgar never seems to meet the romanticised adventure in her mind. Her relationship with her sister changes, as Evangline tries to guard her from things that Lizzie doesn’t want to avoid.

In the present day, we have Frieda, who is at her crossroads in her life. Her job working with Islamic youth in various Middle Eastern countries causes her to be out of town a lot so her friendships have withered. She’s in a dead end relationship with a married man. She then gets a letter saying an old woman has died and she’s the next of kin and she should come clear the house. Tayab is a refugee from Yemen, living in England with an expired visa and is on the run. Their encounter of each other lead their lives on a new course, both having to confront some major issues in their lives.

Suzanne Joinson’s debut novel alternates between 1923 and the present day. Each time, I felt like I was longing to find out what was happening in the other story. As the story comes together, you realise that both the stories are connected and it left me thinking about how the actions of people in generations before mine have affected the choices I may make now without me even knowing. There is no real way to know how the lives of people we’ve never met unconsciously affect our decision making today.

As a Christian, I found the missionary aspect interesting. Full of people filled with faults, which I suppose is an accurate reflection of any church. Some trying to do the right thing, some trying to make amends for their own wrongs, and some on power trips trying to control others, whatever the risk. It seemed to be written very matter-of-factly and I don’t think it was in a pro- or anti-Christian way. I appreciated that.

I enjoyed this book; the story was beautifully written and can take you to a time and place not normally experienced by us.