NEXT OF KIN

TITLE: NEXT OF KIN

AUTHOR: JOHN BOYNE

Date: 07/11/2012

Grade: 4.5

Details: Received from Black Swan Books

              Through Book Geeks

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When his uncle dies, Owen Montignac is convinced that he stands to inherit the extensive estate. After all, it is a Montignac tradition that only males inherit, and with Owen’s only surviving cousin being Stella there is no doubt about what will be found in the will. Except that his uncle does manage to surprise Owen. Stella inherits everything  with Owen getting absolutely nothing.

To say that Owen is disappointed would be a gross understatement. After all, his father was the older brother and should have been in charge of the estate. The fact that he was disowned by Owen’s grandfather doesn’t change anything in the young man’s mind, and neither does the fact that his uncle took him in after his parents died when he was only five. But Owen has bigger problems than just the injustice he is facing; he owes a small fortune in gambling debts to a very dangerous man and unless he can come up with a way to repay the full amount in seven months he may well find himself in mortal danger.

The year is 1936 and while Owen is facing the personal tragedy his life has turned into, the rest of England is mesmerised by what is going on with their new King and the American woman he has fallen in love with. When the King’s and Owen’s dilemmas find each other, an evil and dangerous plot is executed; a plot which may well mean a shameful death for an innocent young man.

Let me start by saying that this is a very well written book. John Boyne has a way with words that makes his characters come alive on the page. But more than that, this story is written in such a way that the pages almost turn themselves. There is always something happening, and even the moments and characters which at first seem to have little or nothing to do with the plot suddenly turnout to be pivotal to the story. It is only very slowly that the reader finds out the full extent of what is going on in this book, and even when it seems that the full story has been revealed, there are one or two further shocks in store.

This in an ingenious and rather horrifying story. It is proof of just how accomplished an author John Boyne is that he manages to write a book with a completely despicable main character without alienating the reader. In fact I found myself fascinated by Owen Montignac. This character was so delusional, so full of himself and so good at justifying his evil deeds that at times I was tempted to believe he wasn’t bad at all. And just when I had convinced myself that Owen was indeed pure evil, there would be a small action through which he redeemed himself a little bit.

If you’re the sort of reader who likes the good being rewarded while the bad get their just desserts, this probably isn’t the book for you. Evil triumphs and drags innocent bystanders down as it goes. Those who are evil make fascinating characters though, and the way the various plots tie together is ingenious. What makes this a real chiller of a story is the fact that it is so very easy to imagine something like this happening. The lengths people are prepared to go to in order to get what they think they are entitled to are unimaginable and all that happens in this book is just about convincing enough to make it realistic.

For me this was a fascinating historical novel by an author who has yet to disappoint me.

THE PLEASURES OF WINTER & A TOUCH OF WINTER

TITLE: THE PLEASURES OF WINTER
AUTHOR: EVIE HUNTER
Pages: 400
Date: 04/11/2012
Grade: 4-
Details: Received from Penguin
            Through NetGalley
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Reporter Abbie Marshall is in Honduras looking into the drugs-trade and its links with American government officials. Her investigations haven’t gone unnoticed though and when she needs to leave the country in a hurry her only way out is to hitch a ride on a private jet carrying Hollywood A-lister Jack Winter. Abbie isn’t one to be impressed by either fame or beauty but Mr. Winter takes her breath away. His magnetic attractiveness combined with his provocative attitude intrigue and confuse her, stirring feelings inside her that are as unsettling as they are unwelcome. When the plane crashes in a rainforest, Abbie, Jack and two other passengers face a grueling and dangerous journey back to civilization. And although Abbie is impressed with Jack’s expertise when it comes to surviving in the inhospitable environment, she is determined not to give in to the feelings he awakens in her. That changes when a reckless act on her part enrages Jack and he drags Abbie in to a cave where he shows her what happens to women who don’t obey his orders. Jack’s actions and her reaction to it leave Abbie confused and her carefully maintained private life in shatters.
One broken engagement later, Abbie is determined to find out more about this secret side to her nature, the one that was awakened during her time in the cave with Jack. It is a search that will reunite her with the Irish heart-throb. But the path ahead of Abbie and Jack is anything but smooth. With Jack determined never to get seriously involved with anyone after a shocking betrayal in his past and Abbie insecure about what she wants and needs, it is only a matter of time before the actor’s past catches up with their present, endangering the future they were so very carefully heading towards.

I enjoyed this book. It is a nice combination of romance and erotica with a little bit of mystery and suspense thrown in. Both Abbie and Jack were well established as characters and went through some development. I wasn’t sure how I felt about Abbie; for me there were too many, conflicting sides to her character. Why would an independent woman, refusing to be intimidated by work-related danger be such a walk-over when it comes to her family and private life? As for Jack, well he appears to be a bit of a stereo-type; a bad-boy, drop dead gorgeous, womanizing Irish actor with a dark and mysterious side. But, I did enjoy the interaction between these two characters and the way in which both of them were taken by surprise by their reactions to each other and the feelings and needs they experienced.

Evie Hunter is the pen name for two Irish authors (Eileen Gormley and Caroline McCall) who decided to work together after discovering a common love for erotica. I haven’t read anything by either of these authors, but that may change. If the standard of this book is anything to go by these are two writers who are very well versed in their craft. The writing flowed easily, the reading was smooth and the story was very well paced. And even if I’ll never get around to checking out the individual authors I know I will be keeping an eye out for other books by their alter-ego.

In short, this is an erotic love story about two unlikely characters being thrown together against the odds and discovering that they are made for each other, and as such it works very well.

A bonus story:

While I was reading the Pleasures of Winter I came across a short sequel to this book, which I promptly downloaded.

In A Touch of Winter Abbie and Jack have been together for a year, but Abbie still lives in New York – and travels the world in pursuit of stories – while Jack is based in L.A. and often away of film shoots. When Abbie returns a day early from one of her trips she discovers Jack in the playroom with another, tied up, woman. Furious Abbie storms away and it will take all of Jacks verbal and physical powers to convince Abbie of the fact that what she saw wasn’t what she thought and that they are meant to be together. 

This was an intriguing, hot and charming addition to the original story and provided a proper end to the story of Abbie and Jack.

BEYOND SHAME

TITLE: BEYOND SHAME

AUTHOR: KIT ROCHA

Pages: 354

Date: 01/11/2012

Grade: 4+

Details: No. 1 Beyond

            Received from Author

            Through NetGalley

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From the author’s website:

“A dangerous world of sex, lust and violence…

All Noelle Cunningham has ever wanted is a life beyond–beyond the walls of Eden, where only the righteous are allowed to remain, and beyond her stiflingly restrictive existence as a councilman’s daughter. But only ruins lie outside the City, remnants of a society destroyed by solar storms decades earlier.

The sectors surrounding Eden house the corrupt, the criminal–men like Jasper McCray, bootlegger and cage fighter. Jas clawed his way up from nothing to stand at the right hand of Sector Four’s ruthless leader, Dallas, and he’ll defend the O’Kane gang with his life. But no fight ever prepared him for the exiled City girl who falls at his feet.

Her innocence is undeniable, but so is their intense sexual attraction, and soon they’re crossing every boundary Noelle barely knew she had. But if she wants to belong to Jas, first she’ll have to open herself to the gang, and to a world where passion is power, and freedom is found in submission.”

I enjoyed this dystopian erotic romance. It came with interesting characters, a nice story, a fascinating setting and lots of hot sexual exploits. What’s not to like? It would be easy to categorize this story as little more than explicit erotic scenes, but that would be doing the book a huge disservice. The authors have created real and multi-facetted characters and move them through a plot-line that forces them to take a hard look at themselves, at their feelings and what they really want. 

Noelle, the main character gets evicted from her secluded, restricted and completely controlled but privileged live because of her desires and curiosity. In the world where she ends up sex is both a life-force and the most common currency, and she is slowly, but very securely introduced to that world; a world she appears to be made for, so closely do her desires resemble her new daily life. Raised in an environment where feelings were discouraged and frowned upon, Noelle has to learn to recognise and accept the emotions sweeping through her mind and body, just as she has to figure out a way of interpreting and understanding what those around her might be feeling and hiding behind stoic faces. 

And Jasper faces a similar journey. Not used to caring about another person almost more than he does about himself, this hard man finds himself facing decisions more frightening than anything else in his violent life . Learning to trust that others know what they want and need and allowing them to live according to those needs is the hardest thing he has ever had to do in his far from easy life, but also the only way to happiness. 

There are more fascinating characters in this story like Dallas O’Kane, the leader of the gang, ruling his sector with an iron hand and Lexi, the free-spirited girl who obviously belongs with Dallas but refuses to submit to the man who is enthralled by her. I would have loved to read more about their story, but I understand this is the first book in a series and guess I will have to wait for one of the sequels before I get to know them better. And I find myself eagerly looking forward to those sequels because there is a lot more story to tell and a lot more conflict to be resolved.

THE BLIND GODDESS

TITLE: THE BLIND GODDESS

AUTHOR: ANNE HOLT

Pages: 343

Date: 30/10/2012

Grade: 4.5

Details: no. 1 Hanne Wilhelmsen

            Received from Atlantic Books

            Through Good Reads

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Karen, a corporate lawyer, discovers a body while walking her dog. The man, who will be indentified as a drug dealer, has been battered to death. Hours later a young Dutch man is found wondering through the streets of Oslo, covered in blood. The Dutch student is taken into custody but refuses to speak and will only accept legal representation if it comes from the lawyer who found the body. When five days later a shady criminal lawyer is murdered the two crimes don’t seem to be related. But Detective Inspector Hanne Wilhelmsen suspects otherwise and her instincts are rarely wrong. When she discovers that the murdered lawyer had defended the murdered drug dealer she has been vindicated and now Hanne and her colleagues have a real case to investigate. But it is a case without any real leads and far more questions than answers. And when another drug dealer is killed while in prison, Hanne is attacked in work and the Dutch student scared into insanity it becomes apparent that the investigators are up against powerful forces. Forces that are willing to do almost anything to keep their network and motives secret.

This is my second encounter with a mystery by Anne Holt and I have to say I am impressed. Like “1222” this is a well plotted and very well written book. The mystery, which appears straightforward enough, gets more complicated as the story proceeds. The reader is given more then enough insight into what is going on to keep up with the investigators and at times has access to a bit more information than the characters in the book. Don’t let that fool you into thinking that you know what is going on though, nothing is as clear-cut as it might appear and the author has a few surprises in store for the reader.

I really appreciated how realistic this description of an investigation was. The reader gets completely swept up in how frustrating proper police procedure can be for the investigators. No shortcuts are taken in this book, coincidences and suspicions are not enough to warrant an arrest. The investigators have to dig and dig deeper in order to find the evidence they need to act against those they suspect. And evidence is hard to come by.

There is a very nice balance between the crimes, the investigation and the private lives of the various characters in this book. We learn enough about the characters to take an interest in them and their well-being while those details never interrupt the flow of the story or the unravelling of the mystery.

It is interesting to discover that Anne Holt is a former minister of justice in Norway. Reading this book with that knowledge in the back of your mind does make you wonder what exactly is going on at government level, how much is going on behind the scenes that we, the public, are never supposed to find out about.

It seems that I have managed to find myself another must read mystery author and I’m looking forward to reading the 6 titles between this one and 1222 and get the rest of Hanne’s story as well as the undoubtedly excellent mysteries. 

REFLECTED IN YOU

TITLE: REFLECTED IN YOU

AUTHOR: SYLVIA DAY

Pages: 357

Date: 28/10/2012

Grade: 4+

Details: no. 2 Crossfire

            Received from Penguin Books

            Through Book Geeks

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“He was my drug, and I had no desire to kick the habit.”

“I’m caught up with you, Eva.” With his head tilted back, Gideon pulled me down for the sweetest of kisses, his firm lips moving gently beneath mine. “I’d kill for you,” he whispered, “give up everything I own for you . . . but I won’t give you up.”

And so the story of Eva and Gideon, which started in “Bared to You”, continues. Magnetically drawn together yet incapable of communicating and trusting each other they stumble along, moving from sexual bliss to emotional breakdown and back again. Both carry deep and debilitating pain from the past. And while Eva shares her pain with Gideon she is full of insecurities and finds it impossible to trust him. Gideon, on the other hand, can’t talk about that which hurts him most or anything else emotionally charged. And his silence fuels all of Eva’s doubts and insecurities, making her doubt herself and their future as a couple. They are working on it though, going to relationship counseling and making allowances for each other. A blissful and very erotic weekend by the seaside seems to bring them much closer together only for Gideon to almost completely withdraw from Eva. Suddenly he misses meetings with her, is photographed out and about with his former fiancé and while he claims not to want to lose her, Eva can’t help but feel that she’s being side-lined. Will Eva discovering why Gideon is behaving the way he is bring these two desperate souls back together, or will it break them apart forever?

There is actually a lot more happening in this book but sharing more of the story-line would involve huge spoilers, so I won’t. Because the story is told only from Eva’s perspective the reader has as little idea why her lover is behaving the way he is as she does which enhances the tension in the story and turns it almost into a mystery at times. I wouldn’t want to spoil that for any reader.

I feel a bit ambivalent about this story. There were a lot of times I felt totally frustrated with the characters. This book is almost an object lesson in what not to look for in a relationship, you could almost call it a cautionary tale. These two characters couldn’t be more wrong for each other if they tried, and yet they so obviously belong together. It is a very confusing situation for the reader because you no longer know what to wish for, what a happy ending would actually look like. It does make for a fascinating roller-coaster of a reading experience though. I was turning the pages compulsively, in a rush to find out what would happen next, how a situation would resolve itself or what on earth might be going on.

This is a well written book, an easy and smooth read. It is also a book with characters that come alive on the pages, characters with depth and development. And that is not just true for Eva and Gideon. There are other characters on the side-lines who play just enough of a role in the story to turn this into more than just a sensual, if troubled, romance. And those minor characters also make it possible for the reader to come to a better understanding of the troubled lovers.

This book is dedicated to Nora Roberts and on at least one occasion while reading this book I was strongly reminded of Eve Dallas, the main character in the mysteries she writes as J.D. Robb. When Eva asks Gideon if there is any part of New York he doesn’t at least partially own, the words might as well have come from Eve Dallas’ mouth as she addresses her own billionaire, Roarke.

In short I would describe this as a fascinating - at times frustrating -, sexy and gripping story. I’m looking forward to May when “Entwined in You” will be published and I will be able to find out how it is all going to end

BROKEN HARBOUR

TITLE: BROKEN HARBOUR

AUTHOR: TANA FRENCH

Pages: 533

Date: 25/10/2012

Grade: 5+

Details: no. 4 Dublin Mystery

Library

The scene is gruesome and heartbreaking. Upstairs two young children, a girl and a boy, are found dead, probably smothered. Downstairs is a bloodbath with in the middle the children’s parents, both with multiple stab wounds. The father has also died but the mother is barely alive and rushed to hospital. The case is given to Detective Mick “Scorcher” Kennedy who is teamed up with rookie Detective Richie Curran. Kennedy has something to prove. Although he has an almost perfect record his last case didn’t work out as planned and this case, if he solves it to everybody’s satisfaction, should restore his reputation. And there is no reason why things shouldn’t work out for him. Kennedy is a man who controls his life and himself completely and up to the smallest details.

Except that this is one case he should probably have passed on to somebody else. The scene of the horrendous crime is in a half finished housing estate called Brian’s Town in the middle of nowhere. Years ago, when Scorcher was a teenager, the area was known as Broken Harbour and he and his family used to spend two weeks there, every summer. Those holidays were the happiest times in Scorcher’s life until the day tragedy struck. A tragedy that still haunts Scorcher’s life every single day.

As the two detectives start their investigation the solution appears to be simple enough. After all, all the evidence points towards a tragic but not uncommon domestic tragedy. But things are never that clear cut, and even when Scorcher thinks he has got the case solved his new partner has enough doubts to keep them digging for more evidence. It isn’t long before what started out as a murder investigation turns into a morality tale in which it becomes ever harder to figure out what the right thing to do might be. And with this case hitting so close to home and his private life getting more complicated Scorcher is losing the control he has worked so hard to achieve and maintain.

This is the fourth Dublin mystery by Tana French and like its predecessors it is a masterpiece. Well plotted, exquisitely written and with characters who are realistic and easy to sympathise with she has once again given the reader a book that is fascinating and almost impossible to put down.

French has taken Ireland and Dublin as it is right now. The story puts the reader in the middle of the current recession, in one of the many ghost-estates that litter the country and provide visible proof of past greed and current desperation. She has taken one perfectly normal and hard-working family and shows how events out of their control destroy the lives they worked so hard to create, taking their dreams down as well, until their lives have turned into something they don’t recognise anymore and evil creeps in.

The author leads the reader through an investigation where the twists and turns all make perfect sense. None of the suggested solutions come out of the blue and every suggested scenario makes as much sense as the previous one. When the solution is at last revealed it comes as a shock and a surprise, but not because it is unimaginable. It is all too believable that the all characters in this book would act the way they do and that is the reason that this is not only an imaginative mystery but also a thoroughly heart-breaking tale of the times we live in.

Part of me wishes that Tana French would write faster because I’m always eagerly anticipating her next book. A bigger part of me is glad she doesn’t though; the quality of these books is so high that I have to be grateful that she takes her time to give me an unforgettable story every single time.

SEVEN DAY LOAN / THE GIFT

TITLE: SEVEN DAY LOAN

AUTHOR: TIFFANY REISZ

Pages: 41

Date: 21/10/2012

Grade: 5

Details: The Original Sinners 0.5

Own on Kindle

I don't usually write reviews for the short stories I read. Too much hard work when the reviewing could easily take longer than reading the book/story did. But, every rule has its exceptions, and this is one of them.

In this story, which takes place several years before "The Siren" starts, Soren has to go to Rome for a week and decides to loan the twenty-three year old Eleanor to Daniel, a friend of his. Daniel lives in a huge estate in New England, a place he hasn't left for over three years, since his beloved wife died. As a trained submissive Eleanor will do anything her master tells her to do, even if it means giving herself to a complete stranger, but that doesn't mean she has to like it. Over the course of a very cold week Eleanor will draw the very attractive Daniel out if his self-imposed shell. When the week draws to a close Daniel and Eleanor are closer than they could ever have expected. But while Eleanor has come to care for the man a lot, her heart belongs elsewhere. When she has to leave again she can only hope that she has given Daniel enough for him to start living again.

There is so much to love about this story. First of all, of course, there are the characters. Eleanor is a wonderful character, a submissive with a strong backbone and a smart mouth and mind. Daniel is fascinating, and the transformation he goes through over the course of seven days (or 41 pages) is inspirational. But there is more. While this is a very erotic (and dare I say it, hot) story, this is a story with real content and characters you just have to care for. I loved the fact that Daniel is a librarian with a deep love for books and an obsession when it comes to the way in which his books are organised.

 
Tiffany Reisz knows how to write and how to do it well. Her characters have become so real for me that I wouldn't be surprised if I ran into them. I miss Soren, Eleanor and all the others when I'm not reading about them and find them popping into my thoughts regularly. The dialogue sparkles and the stories are well thought out.

While this is not a story (or series) for everyone I find myself very grateful to have discovered Tiffany Reisz and the kinky and oh so wonderful world she has created with The Original Sinners.


Update: this story has now been re-released as The Gift.