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Friday, 26 November 2010

Review: The Tree Goddess by Tom Raimbault


When Tom first sent me a message saying would you like to have a look at my novel, my thought was, I’ll have a read of the first couple of chapters and then tell him it’s not for me, for some reason, I don’t know why the title of ‘The Tree Goddess’ just didn’t seem to appeal to me, however after going to sleep at 2am having read the first 50 pages I was intrigued and wanted to read more.

I liked the way that at the beginning he explains where the inspiration for the novel came from and the fact that it was originally separate short stories to go on a blog, and I also liked the way it was divided into sections which all interlinked. Following the introductions the storyline quickly got going, and it was easy to get into, it is well written and fairly fast paced, I liked the little commentary asides along the way too.

The book was descriptive and I could picture the image of the Tree Goddess, and I loved the detailing of the scenery around Mapleview. At one point I could almost smell the coffee in the coffee house! The characters and their backgrounds were also described well and I found I had an instant liking to the main character Mary and at times was willing her on. If I’m honest though there were a couple of scenes in the book which to me were extremely weird and slightly disturbing, had it not been for those then I would have enjoyed it more, having said that I still continued reading the book as I needed to find out how it ended, and on the subject of the ending it left me thinking – is there going to be a sequel? As I think there is still unfinished business that is left to read.

To find out more about Tom visit: https://sites.google.com/site/tomraimbaultwritings/ and to buy his novel visit: http://tomraimbaultbooks.blogspot.com/2010/09/tree-goddess.html

Tuesday, 23 November 2010

Review: My Name Is Death by Alan Cass


My Name Is Death by Alan Cass

This is a fast paced supernatural thriller which starts at speed and just accelerates!!

Here’s a brief outline of the book:

Ray Kennedy is a police officer in a small town, with big problems. He is himself no stranger to that knock at the door, to the collision of worlds awaiting and the devastation left behind. Some call it the Chaos Theory, Ray calls it life. Four years ago he gazed through the blood stained, patterned glass of his own front door, and listened to the frantic cries of a colleague, ‘She just ran out.’ it had been their wedding anniversary. Now it was something more. With four years of pain in his rear view mirror, it is the night of Halloween and once again, there is terrible news to be delivered. Twins Chad and Brandon Rose have been forced off the road at speed, leaving Chad in a coma, and Brandon dead. Sadly, the words bare no real meaning to Ray, at least not yet. But it is with growing momentum with which he discovers that this is no ordinary family, these were no ordinary siblings, and their attempted murder not without motive. Plagued by visions and voices too intense to be ignored, he sets off on a journey of self discovery, and is soon left wishing he hadn’t.
Just how far does the spiritual bond between twins actually go? Ray Kennedy is about to find out. Chaos has a new theory, his name is Brandon Rose. His name, is Death.

So Here Goes . . .

From the very first chapter I was instantly drawn in, eager to carry on reading and not wanting to stop, this is one of those books that at every opportunity – even if it’s just a page you pick up and read. I instantly found that I was engrossed in the book and felt that I was alongside the characters.

Because I was so involved ‘alongside’ the characters, I felt myself going through a whole range of emotions, feeling sorry for them, willing them on, anger, I even found myself in tears at the end, there were times though when I found myself literally laughing out loud, and by no means is this a comedy, it is simply just written so true to life that you can visualise the scenes that have been written, and to me being able to visualise it just makes it even more powerful. I love nothing better than being lost in a good book.

As the story unfolded I soon realised that everything was not as it seemed and it’s one of those books that has you guessing along the way, I usually find that when I read a book and guess who the bad guy is my instincts are usually right, however this time I was miles away from the answer. As I was reading the line that ‘revealed all’ I gasped out loud and then re-read it several times in disbelief!!

This book has been written with passion and you can tell because that passion comes across on the pages, I can honestly say that even if supernatural thrillers aren’t your preferred genre – I would still pick up this book and give it I go, I’d say 99% of people will read this with the same gusto I did – I just HAD to finish it to know what happened!

I am already (impatiently) waiting for Alan’s next novel!

To find out more about Alan visit www.alancass.co.uk and to purchase My Name Is Death visit http://www.authorhouse.co.uk/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-000378179


Wednesday, 10 November 2010

My First Review

So I’ve decided that seen as I’ve discovered blogging thanks to my friend it’s only fair that my first book review should be of his book.

Now you may think that because he’s my friend and because I’m helping to promote it that my review is going to be more of a ‘sell’ than a review, however when he first gave it to me to read it was purely as a reader and that is what my review will be; a review of a book by a reader

Tuesday, 2 November 2010

Hello

Ok, so I thought I'd start with a little bit about me and why I've decided I want to blog:
So about me, I'm 25 and have always loved reading, I just seem to devour books and I will read any genre as long as the book grips me, if a book doesn't grip me in the first couple of chapters then it probably won't get read by me!
Why I've decided I want to blog; recently I've been helping a friend who has just self published his debut novel to promote his book and I have come across some fab book blogs and thought to myself - I want one!! So here goes here's my book blog, I hope you enjoy it!!
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