This month I gave myself a smaller TBR although three of the books where quite long Drums Of Autumn is over 1000 pages and The Forgotten Garden almost 700 pages!
Yet this month a really really enjoyed reading and got lost in lots of wonderful stories! I read seven books and am delighted with that.
I did try start Drums at the start of November but just wasn't in the right mind for it, so I decided to start with a light festive read....never to early for Christmas right?!
This one was okay nothing special and didn't once make me feel all warm and cosy inside like festive reads should. Some of Ashley's Christmas offerings can be misleading the cover and blurb suggest a festive read all set at Christmas, this wasn't the case literally only the last five pages are set at Christmas. It took me about 80 pages to actually get into the story and start to like any of the lead characters.
Tabby gets herself mixed up in a work scam not going to the police about it and talking about it to the wrong people gets her time in prison! While in prison she realises her boyfriend is a loser, and an idiot why it took her so long to realise this surprises me! While in prison she meets lovely Mercy who wants her to come work at her Christmas Cracker Mill.
What I had a problem with was how quickly the start of the book moved, before we even get to know Tabby, her fiance or friends she is locked up in prison. Prison life is skimmed over until she is released, living and working with Mercy, because of this it made it hard for me to connect with the character of Tabby. However I loved Mercy she is a good Samaritan with a kind warm heart but a brilliant business mind, she was definitely my favourite character. Her nephew Randal was another character hard to connect to he has a bimbo girl friend who I don't think he loves at all just arm candy for him through out the book.
I did like the cracker factory crew all the mix match characters where very funny! It was an okay read but I wouldn't class it as a Christmas read!
The Forgotten Garden~Kate Morton
I love a good Kate Morton book and when she get gets it right she can take the reader on an amazing adventure full of secrets and lies! This stops a little short of being a five star read for me, its about 100 pages too long and towards the end I felt it a little drawn out.
It has all the things to make it a great Gothic read, for me it basically reads as an adult version of The Secret Garden, it has the large eerie estate full of secrets, the weak and ill child living in the estate and the long lost orphaned cousin who brings the people and estate back to life
The book has three female voices in three different eras Eliza in the 1900's Nell in the 1970's and Cassandra in 2000's
Cassandra has travel to England from her home in Australia as her Grandmother Nell left her an old cottage in her will. A cottage that Cassandra knew nothing about as she didn't even know her Grandmother had ever come to England. It turns out there was alot about her Grandmother that she didn't know! Nell in the 70's is finding out things about her self that even she never knew, she is close to find who the Authoress is, the woman who put her on the boat to Australia.
This is a book to devour in long sittings! I read in over the course of four days and found it hard to put down. While I really loved the characters of Eliza and Nell I thought Morton didn't spend as much time with Cassandra so found her character hard to connect with. Cassandra has her own tragic past so I would of liked for her character to have more depth and would of liked to have seen an epilogue for her.
Like I stated earlier I do think this book is about 100 pages too long but the story makes up for it. It's a beautiful Gothic page turner which the reader will devour.
The Christmas Party~Carole Matthews
This book wasn't on my TBR this month but I fancied something light to read after reading The Forgotten Garden and picked this up. I loved this book it was like a big Christmas hug and I read it in a day!!
This book is basically about what happens at Fossil Oil's Christmas Party, set around the Christmas party, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It was such fun to read and it worked really well. I can't really say much without giving away everything but it's mostly centered around Louise a single Mum who has recently started working with Fossil Oil. She loves working there with one exception her manager Tyler is a womanizer he has been making passes, coping feels although Louise has made it clear she is not interested in him in the slightest!
Tyler is at the party with his stunning if somewhat bored wife Kirsten, also at the party are Fossil Oil exec Lance who seems to have a bit of a drink problem and his American wife Melissa. Louise's work friend Karen is fun but very drunk, so Louise is relieved when Fossil Oil hunky hot shot Josh Wallace turns out to be down to earth and genuine he saves her from a night of boredom with Tyler leering at her.
I would of liked a bit more of an epilogue to find out what happened next in the new year but not wanting a book to end is aways a good sign! It was a wonderful festive read with good characters who the reader can really care for, even characters that where only in a page or two like Louise's Dad came across really well. It was a different Christmas read and yet the warmth and Christmas spirit really came through. I definitely recommend this to anyone who loves to curl up with a nice festive book.
The Night Circus~Erin Morgenstern
To be really honest I am not sure how I felt about this book! The start of it I loved, the middle of it I liked, the ending I disliked! After all the booktube raving and hype about this book I was disappointed with the actually book itself.
It is beautifully written, with rich full characters especially the characters who occupied the circus, the descriptions are beautiful at the start but the book does get a bit bogged down with them later.
Celia and Marco are pitted together by two great magicians they are binded by magic from childhood to compete in a great magic duel. Neither know who there opponent is, until years later when Celia is hired by Marco to be in a new special unusual circus. The two fall passionately in love and there lies the problem!
I felt like I kept waiting for this book to start, when was this fearsome magic duel going to happen! SPOILER ALERT.......it never does! Instead Celia and Marco make tents in the circus for each other Ice Gardens, Wishing Trees and a Cloud Maze all for a love they know can never happen! The author keeps tells us how much they love each other, without the reader feeling it, for me the whole love story felt very flat. Some of the characters like Celia's Father and mentor was meant to come across as mysterious for me he just weird and annoying!
While the writing and descriptions are stunning, the story is very slow paced and the book is lacking. It is very much a case of style over substance.
In Order To Live~Yeonmi Park
This is my nod to nonfiction November this wasn't on my TBR but I was on a reading roll and enjoy it so much that I picked this up toward the end of the month. My cousin is really interested in all things Korean she gave me this book and said I should read it. I had so many other books to read this month that my Dad actually borrowed it off me to read, he read it in two days and recommend I read soon, so I did!
This is a harrowing read, and horrible to think things like this go on in this day and age.
It was hard to read some of the North Korean things without thinking this must of been in a different century but when Park remembers the great famine 1994-1998 and snow of 2004 it's hard to digest. The harsh conditions of North Korea is known in the Western World no matter how much there government deny it. Yet it is hard reading about these conditions for someone who is ready to do all most anything to get out of the country. Little did Yeonmi know that much worse was waiting for her across the borders in China. There her Mother and her where sold into a horrific human trafficking ring, the horrors she has witness and lived through and she is only in her early twenties.
It's a gripping book and I read it in a couple of days but also hard to read as this is someones life story and Yeonmi Park is truly a survivor.
Drums Of Autumn (Outlander Series Book 4)~Diana Gabaldon
This book was the first in the Outlander series that I struggled with, I started at the start of November read almost 250 pages and put it down. I know after reading the first three books that Gabaldon can be a little slow paced in places, but literally nothing happened to keep me hooked within the first 200 pages of these book! Like all Gabaldon books this is a mammoth book with almost 1,200 pages so I was a bit intimidated by the size of this book and how I felt about not being gripped by the story
So I put it down and read lots of different books and came back to it towards the end of the month and I am glad I did!! While this wasn't my favourite of the series and I thought it was about 400 pages too long, it did have its good sometimes excellent moments.
SPOILERS AHEAD
What I loved was the settling of the wild lands of America in the 18th century. I loved some of the new characters Stephen Bonnet, Jocasta Fraser, Nayawenne, Rollo and Lizzie where all new characters I loved. Of course the old classics are there, the bulk of the book is about Claire and Jamie making a new life, in the new world but to be honest that part of the storyline is quite slow. For me Roger and Brianna where the ones I wanted more of especially in the first part of the book.When Brianna finds information about her parents in the future which shocks her, she secretly begins to make plans to travel through the stones to be with them. I can't say much without giving the plot away but I did like the first half of Roger and Brianna's love story but I don't think Gabaldon gave them enough time together for the reader to really get to know them before the time jump. The second part of there love story annoyed and frustrated me because it would of all been settled if they both had an adult conversation, instead of a misunderstanding that takes up alot of the book!
There isn't much of Fergus in this book but Ian and his huge new guard dog Rollo are brilliant and I loved reading about them.
It was great to read about Lord John and William again, Lord John is a bit of a hero in my opinion in this book. Stephen Bonnet had the premise of being a brilliant evil but cheeky villain yet he is glossed over but I don't think we have seen the last of him. I am looking forward to see who gets cast for him for the TV show when the time comes.
Jamie Fraser was once my dream boat husband material but in the past two books this has changed, yet he still has his moments. There are some beautiful moments between him and the women in his life but for most of the book there is an misunderstand in which he is mixed up in and he acts like a complete idiot. He is very violent and hot headed in this book, which make him a quite unlikable character at times. He is very unlike the kind, caring sweet, clever man in the first two books.
While I did like parts of this book it didn't connect with me in a way the others did. I never had that hold my breath moment like in the others. I felt it drawn out and badly edited my edition was over 1000 pages I think it could of been edited down to 700/800 pages and it would have been more than enough. This book doesn't end on a cliffhanger and I wonder where the story can go next.
Make A Christmas Wish~Julia Williams
I managed to fit in this festive book in the last few days of November
This wasn't on my TBR but I was glad I picked it up and got through it in two days
I am not sure if it was because I read a book a few months ago with similar themes you can read the review of Time To Say Goodbye
here but I just couldn't connect with this book
Livvy the main character finds out before Christmas that her beloved husband has been having an affair distracted she walks straight into a car in a supermarket car park. She is killed almost instantly but she is too annoyed with, herself, hubby and God to pass over, instead she stays frozen to the spot where she died, until she realises she can now haunt her husband, his new girlfriend and to some extend her son.
The theme is easy enough to spot this is a different take on the classic A Christmas Carol, with her spirit guide giving her glimpses of Christmas pasts, present and future. Yet the characters where very unlikeable Livvy was annoying, so wrapped up in her own pain, never seeing how hard this all was on her autistic son. I did like how it was written in different characters perspective and the writing itself was very good. I did enjoy Williams writing style and the idea of the story but the characters was not strong enough. If you are looking for a different take on a Christmas book maybe this might be the one for you, but it wasn't my cup of tea!
What Paul Has Been Reading This Month~
The Lost Word~Michael Crichton
The Lost World is the sequel to the hugely successful book Jurassic Park, as with the first movie / book comparison there are many differences in this novel. The most obvious is the character of Richard Levine, a genius millionaire who has become obsessed with the stories coming from Costa Rica of large lizards. Richard Levine is a single minded man who is almost villainous in his drive to expose the truth to the world. He is accompanied on his journey by Ian Malcom from the first novel, Sarah Harding, Jack Thorne, Eddie Carr and two sneaky kids Arby and Kelly. The story takes off when the group find out that Richard Levine goes missing on one of the islands, Ian, Jack and Eddie set off to find him with 2 stowaways in Arby and Kelly while Sarah makes her way from Africa. The group however are not alone on this journey as they are being shadowed by Lewis Dodgson, a ruthless villain that unlike the group sees these creatures as commodities to be exploited.
The scenes presented in this book are fast paced and frightening with a lot of the deaths more akin to an episode of The Walking Dead than Spielberg. The best part about this novel is not what is described by Crichton but more what is implied, he will describe a sound and allow your imagination to run wild before confirming your worst fears.
As I said in my last review, it is shame that we may never see this story on the big screen but maybe one day a TV executive may have the wisdom to bring us this and its predecessor to the small screen.
HBO I eagerly await your decision….
What Oisìn Has Been Reading This Month~
Never Ask A Dinosaur To Dinner~Gareth Edwards & Guy Parker-Rees
Oisìn totally fell in love with this book, he thinks its so funny
A funny rhyming tale of why you should ask different animals to your house
and why there is a reason a Teddy Bear is the best thing to cuddle at bedtime
So that's what this family have been reading this month!
How about you?
