Love, War & Florence

Love and War by Alex Preston is set in Florence immediately before and during the Second World War. Esmond Lowndes is the poster boy for the British Union of Fascists. He has been sent to Florence in disgrace for a misdemeanour at Cambridge, to set up a radio station to strengthen ties between the two countries Fascist Parties.

As war looms on the horizon Alex forms friendships, falls in love and meets Carita, the head of the Florence Fascists. slowly he begins to see that Fascism may not be the answer to his countries problems and when war breaks out he has to choose a side to be on - the Fascists or the Resistance.

I found the first part of the book hard going, Esmond is not the most likeable of characters but as the novel progresses he starts to come out from the his father's shadow and shows what he is truly made of. Combining explosions, love, food, car chases, violence and a host of characters - some real, such as Alice Keppel and Ezra Pound, and some fictitious, this book does grow on you. You will have to persevere through the pre-war section which I did find hard-going. Florence during the war and the wok of the Italian Resistance is fascinating.

Reading it on a Kindle made the sections where the author made use of postcards, letters and scripts from the radio station difficult to follow.

An interesting slant on war and fascism.

This title was given free by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

The Highwayman re-imagined for the 21st Century

Glimpse by Kendra Leighton takes its inspiration from the poem The Higwayman by Alfred Noyes.
Liz is a 17 year old haunted by the fact she cannot remember anything before her 10th birthday. She had been in an accident which killed her mother and left her father traumatised with grief. She is struggling with her own grief and being bullied for her 'glimpses' of unexplained sights and sounds which no-one else can see and leave her shaking with fear.

When she inherits her mother's old home new opportunities present themselves, she is able to start over at a new school where no-one knows her and she can be 'normal'. But life is never that simple!

She meets a boy called Zachary and feels a connection to him that cannot be real, as she tries to help him come to terms with his own loss and longing for his Bess, Liz starts to unravel the secrets of her own past.

If you like ghost stories with a romantic, gothic edge this is the book for you. It is a quick read and offers a satisfying if slightly predictable conclusion but a good read and a great use of a popular poem updated to the the 21st century

This book was given free by Net galley in exchange for an honest review

Take back the skies by Lucy Saxon

This first novel by a young writer is a fast paced exciting fantasy adventure which is aimed at the dystopian fans but has a slightly younger feel to it than the Collins and Westerfeld novels.

Cat is 14 years old and virtually an orphan. Her mother is dying and her father is abusive. She regularly escapes from her family compound to explore her city but on discovering she is to be married to a boy she despises, she disguises herself as a boy and stows away on a trade ship with a kindly crew. Discovering that the world outside the only place she has ever know is not a war-torn demoralised place as depicted at home on the news, opens her eyes to new possibilities. So far so good. But in the space of a week Cat goes from a runaway to a leader of a rebellion and the story jars at this point. How has a 14 year old girl been able to persuade a group of seasoned smugglers to rise up and lead a rebellion? The romance between her and the moody older teenage boy on the ship is predictable.

There is a core of a good story here but I think the fact that this was written by the author when she was 16 shows. The timeline of the story is unrealistic, some of the events jar. Cat needed to be slightly older, the timeline needed more attention to make it a more realistic story arc. There are a lot of good ideas in this story but they needed more work. The writer is apparently planning a series of books set on this world, which has huge potential if she doesn't rush the plot and character development. Find out more about Lucy here: http://takebacktheskies.co.uk/

I also had a copy courtesy of Netgalley where some of the letters of the words were missing - especially fs. This sometimes made reading it difficult - or diicult in the case of this book!

Due for publication on 5th June 2014.

This title was provided free by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Murder and Mendelssohn

This is latest title by Kerry Greenwood in the series of books starring Phyrne Fisher, the 1920s Australian private detective. I haven't read any of these before  but had seen some of the episodes on the TV series. The book is  more graphic and less saccharine then the TV series. I enjoyed the book but there felt that there was some disjointment between the two crimes that are at the centre of the story. One involves the murder of a conductor of a choir about to perform Mendelssohn's Elijah, whilst the second involves the attempted murder of a speaker on the Art of Detection. It felt like two stories being shoehorned together and they didn't quite fit that and they should have been 2 short stories. Having not read any of the author's previous books in this series I can't say if this is her way of writing or if this is a one-off.

Apart from that I did enjoy the book, Phyrne is an engaging and believable character and the 1920s setting, with the shadow of World War 1 and its impact on survivors reminds us that the Roaring Twenties was a period when people tried to forget what they had lived through.

If you like your crime stories with a good sense of time and place and a slightly darker edge (but not that dark) this is a series for you - but the books are not the same as the TV series!

This title was provided free by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Riot by Sarah Mussi

I have to admit this book grabbed me from the opening pages and I raced through it! It was a thoroughly enjoyable, fast paced read which challenges you to think as well.
Set in a present day Britain similar enough to ours to be recognisable but with a darker and more dystopian slant. The government has decided to introduce a new law that all school leavers will be forcibly sterilised as soon as they leave school if they are not going into education or employment. The country is seemingly overpopulated and the welfare budget is spiralling out of control.
The country is on the march as more and more people take to the streets to protest against this and as the marches spread so does the violence. In light of this martial law is on the point of being declared. In this midst of this is Tia organising the marches from the deep web and trying to stop the outbreaks of violence.
During one particular violent march things take a turn for the worse and Tia finds herself injured and relying on Cobain, who seems to be a the root of the violence.
Over the space of a few days and before the new law can be introduced these two try to stop the law and find out who is behind the violence.
With echoes of Nazi Germany and the popular dystopian novels this book is an easy but thought provoking read and is highly recommended.
How far would you go for your rights?

This book was given free by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

The geography of you and me

I had read The statistical probability of love at first sight by Jennifer E, Smith and enjoyed it, so was looking forward to reading this second title.
Owen and Lucy meet by chance during a blackout in New York in the height of summer, a chance encounter changes their lives as those few hours spent together impact on decision they make over the next year. The story moves backwards and forwards as Owen crosses America with his father by car and Lucy moves around Europe with her family. They keep in touch by postcard an old-fashioned form of communication in this day of instant communication and this device goes some way to making the story a little too contrived.
It is an engaging story, well told, but I could pick it up and put it down and not worry. There was never not a sense that everything would be alright in the end.  A good summer read which would appeal to readers of romances but, unfortunately, a somewhat forgettable book.
This book was given free by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

The Worst Girlfriend in the World

The latest title from Sarra Manning is about Franny & Alice, friends through thick and thin and now about to be separated for the first time, as Alice stays on at school to do A Levels and Franny goes to College to study Fashion. The two girls could not be more different with Franny appearing to be shy and quiet next to her more outgoing friend who has the reputation for being 'the worst girlfriend in the world' in their small town for her love 'em and leave 'em attitude to boys. Franny is finding life difficult: her mother is sick, her father is on the road all the time and both sisters have left her to cope with their mother. Going to College proves to be an eye-opener for Franny and she gradually starts to come out of her shell. This leads to Alice becoming jealous of Franny's new found confidence and sets her sights on the boy Franny has had a crush on for years. Will the two best friends fall out and become enemies ....over a boy!
The story is somewhat predictable but Sarra Manning has created believable characters and a well-plotted story. This will appeal to her many fans as her story moves along at a fair pace and has many comic as well as a few darker moments. A good read!