Reading in the Greenhouse: A Few Reviews.

I’ve been reading a few books by fellow Greenhouse authors – In fact both myself and Ruth Steven have set ourselves the challenge of trying to read ALL the books by our fellow Greenhouse authors, but so far I’ve only managed three.

A Dog called Homeless by Sarah Lean

 

My name is Cally Louise Fisher and I haven't spoken for thirty-one days. Talking doesn’t always make things happen, however much you want them to.

Cally Fisher saw her mum bright and real and alive. But no one believes her, so Cally’s stopped talking.

 

A mysterious wolfhound always seems to be there when her mum appears and now he’s started following her everywhere. But how can Cally convince anyone that Mum is still with them, or persuade Dad that the huge silver-grey dog is their last link with her?

This is a wonderful book aimed at children in the 8-12 age group. I found it deeply moving and yet uplifting at the same time. It is beautifully and sensitively written. I dare you not to cry. A strong recommend.

Fracture by Megan Miranda

 

 

By the time seventeen-year-old Delaney Maxwell is pulled out of the icy waters of a frozen lake, her heart has stopped beating. She is in a coma and officially dead. But Delaney pulls through. How? Doctors are mystified. Outwardly she has completely recovered. But Delaney knows something is very wrong. Pulled by sensations she can't control, she finds herself drawn to the dying. Is her brain predicting death or causing it? Then Delaney meets Troy Varga, who lost his whole family in a car accident and emerged from a coma with the same powers as Delaney. At last she's found a kindred spirit who'll understand what she's going through. But Delaney soon discovers that Troy's motives aren't quite what she thought. Is their gift a miracle, a freak of nature - or something much more frightening?

 

Oooh – if that hasn’t sent chills up your spine nothing will! This is a thriller that keeps you guessing, right until the end. Great stuff, and the bleak winter backdrop makes for an atmospheric setting.

 

The Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan

 

Armed with a suitcase and an old laundry bag filled with clothes, Kasienka and her mother head for England. Life is lonely for Kasienka. At home her mother's heart is breaking and at school friends are scarce. But when someone special swims into her life, Kasienka learns that there might be more than one way for her to stay afloat.

This book is absolutely stunning. I’ve never read anything like it. I wasn’t sure at first how a book written entirely in poetry would work – but this really does. It’s a delightful and touching story.

Forest Folk

They were there, amongst the trees, watching me. Shadowy people, almost not there, standing on the marshy ground between the birch and ash. Forest Folk.

Bunting and Sailing Boats

The games are in full swing and the country is caught up in Olympic fever. Down here on the coast the atmosphere is electric.

 

The boats in the harbour are decked out with bunting and out in the bay the racers skim over the swell, their sails sporting their nation’s colours.

 

There are bands playing on the harbourside, and on the beach two large screens make sure we don’t miss out on any of the action.

I’m impressed with how well organised everything is, and how much there is to see and do.

Even the weather is hinting at summer! (Just hinting mind – this is Britain, after all)

The Lost Village

“That’s the Medieval Village of West Ringstead,” said the man as I passed. He was standing in the long grass beside the footpath staring out across a field, wild white hair and sun bronzed skin. “It was destroyed by the plague in the 14^th Century.”

My husband gave him and odd look and hurried on past, but I paused and looked in the direction that he was pointing. The field was a wide grassy meadow and over on the far side I could see a series of humps and bumps. I’d never noticed them before.

“If you stand on them you can see the layout of the village, the streets, the houses,” the man continued. “But there’s a fence here now.” He prodded the barbed wire with the tip of one finger.

There was something forlorn about those grassy mounds, and I couldn’t help wondering about the people who lived there, and how they must have felt as the plague took hold.

When I got home I tried to find out a bit more about this village. I found it is mentioned in the Doomsday Book. I also found another explanation for what happened to it – a rumor that the village was destroyed by French pirates, who kidnapped all the women and children and took them away. J

Which explanation do you prefer?

Review: Weymouth Bound by Paul Weston

Set in 1800, Weymouth Bound is the story of Jack Stone, whose life is changed forever when his ship, the Cicely, is boarded by the French when on passage to Weymouth. Jack discovers that the Cicely's capture is the opening move in a French scheme to strike at the heart of the British establishment, and that he must do his best to ensure that the plot does not succeed.

I picked up a copy of this in my local independent bookshop – Imagine Books, attracted by the cover and nautical flavour. It’s published by Roving Press which I know is a great little publisher specialising in local interest books.

I really enjoyed reading this. The author clearly knows his naval warfare and the scenes on the ship were not only historically fascinating but I could almost taste the salt and feel the roll of the deck as I read. If you are a fan of all things nautical you’ll love this – and even if you’re not it’s a cracking good story.

I couldn’t help wondering at the amount of research that must have gone into this. The whole thing felt really authentic and I learned an awful lot about shipping circa 1800. The descriptions of the London docks and of life aboard ship made me feel as if I was really there, living it with Jack.

In fact reading this put me in mind of Monsarrat’s ‘The cruel Sea’, or Melville’s ‘Moby Dick’ (only without the bits about whale anatomy), which I also loved for all the same reasons.
I do hope we see more of Jack Stone.

Christmas in July

Have your seen this amazing opportunity?

A few months ago Ruth Lauren Steven and Michelle Krys opened the doors to children’s authors with a chance to jump the slushpile and receive feedback from an agent.

Well this time they’ve gone one better!

This time there are ten – yes you heard me TEN agents involved and the doors are open to pretty much all genres!

But don’t take my word for it! Head over to Ruth’s blog and check it out for yourself!

Christmas in July

Me and My Kindle

My new kindle arrived the other day.

I haven’t had a kindle before. I have a kindle app on my ipad, and when I got it I downloaded a couple of books – loads of those wonderful old Victorian novels are available for free – but I never got round to actually reading anything on it (too many other potential uses).

So I linked up my shiny new kindle to my Amazon account and was pleasantly surprised to find all my earlier downloads were there for me. I also downloaded a couple of other books. After meeting Babs Morton at the Brympton Festival I’d been meaning to read her novel, Mrs Jones. So I downloaded that one first. And then I saw that MG Harris’s The Descendant, was available for free download – so on that one went as well.

Am I looking forward to reading these on my kindle? You bet!

Do I think the advent of the e-book means the death of print? No, of course not. Print will always have a place.

And will having a kindle change my reading habits? Not at all. The books I read will be the same – it’s only the format that’s different.

So tell me – what do you think of your kindle? How has it affected you as a reader?