The Scroll by K.B. Hoyle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

THE SCROLL is the penultimate book in THE GATEWAY series by K.B. Hoyle.

What can I say? This is the best book yet.

Ms Hoyle has built a fascinating world full of rich characters and an exciting adventure tale full of mystery, hope, despair, complicated relationships and terror.

Seventeen year old Darcy returns to Alitheia with her five companions Sam, Amelia, Perry, Lewis and Dean, each Sunday afternoon during their shared annual family holiday. This year is no exception.

In Alitheia we meet old friends and new and Darcy and her crew face dangers both foretold and un-looked-for

I won't offer any spoilers, but I will say this is a hair-raising, rollicking tale. It has none of the slight pacing problems of some of its prequels, nor are there too many literary devices delivering unexpected outcomes.

My favourite of the series so far and I cannot wait for the finale. .

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Some things matter ...

Too Much Dark Matter, Too Little Gray by Mike Robinson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As daunting as it is to be the first reviewer on Goodreads, I shall try to do this justice!


Thank you Curiosity Quills Publishing for the opportunity to read an eARC of this book, in return for an honest review. In all honesty, I really enjoyed this collection.

Mike Robinson has drawn together a crisp little collection of short stories, all with a slightly unsettling theme. Thanks to this book, I don't think I will be able to walk through night-darkened city streets, or smugly take my solipsism for granted, for a while. This compendium contains 19 delicious offerings, each serving up a slice of a universe where things are just a little bit ... wrong. I love a good collection of short stories, and generally find a few favourites and at least one dud per collection - but not this time. Some were admittedly stronger than others, but, all in all, Mr Robinson has put together a sound collection of really top-notch stories, without any drag. I would recommend this collection to fans of the Twilight Zone, or anyone who suspects, deep down, that the world is not really exactly what they tell you it is - whoever "they" are.

Bring me more Mike Robinson, please.

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Women in spaaaaaace ....

Dream of Time by Nancy J. Price
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I am always interested in a time travel novel - perhaps I still hold out hope that a lonely alien in a blue telephone box will appear in my garden and sweep me away to a life of grand adventure, then bring me back home in time for tea. Or not. I digress.

I enjoyed this story, despite the fairly substantial plot holes and occasionally turgid pace. Robin, a thirty-something single mother with two young daughters awakens one day to find herself living in Victorian-era San Francisco as a 20 year old immigrant girl (Jennie) with a comfortable fortune. The victim of 'a nasty fall', she is confined to a hospital until she makes a fairly astounding recovery, and returns 'home'. During her recovery she alternates between her sick bed by day, and her 'real life' by night. In essence, she dream her alternate realities.

The story revolves around Jennie/Robin's journey to right some wrongs, most of which are wrought by Jennie's ex-Fiancé and regular con-man Walter. In this quest she is aided by a young policeman Travis, with whom Jennie develops a mutual case of insta-love. Travis' ex-Fiancée Maggie (who has conveniently taken up with Walter) provides some essential plot devices (spurring jealous, wearing bonnets, allowing her hair to be brushed by lonely charges to win their love) as well.

The characters are a bit thin (viz Jennie's sister who rocks up, hands over some jewels and departs) and the circumstances a little implausible (a 20 year old woman in Victorian society who lives unchaparoned, has no household servants and shacks up with a policeman with whom she has at least daily unprotected sex but manages not to become pregnant, yet still gets invited over to tea by the neighbourhood ladies' whist club??), but somehow, the story draws you in.

A good solid three stars, but no more. Sharpened up a little and a few plot and character developments, and it might merit more. The premise is sound and the writing (where it doesn't lapse into historical or pedestrian narrative) is interesting enough to keep you interested. There isn't too much cloying prose, and the plot has sufficient mystery to keep you interested.

As an aside, I would DEFINITELY recommend some psychiatric support for a robin - there are a range of issues she needs to sort out for her own sanity - and she should take a bit more notice of her children from time to time.

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Don't drink the water ...

The Scourge by A.G. Henley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I started this book mid-evening and struggled a bit with the first chapter or so - almost giving up and drifting off to sleep. Next minute it is 0130 am and I need to get to sleep or I'm never going to get up for work in the morning! This is just one of those stories that creeps up on you, knocks you on the head and ties you up so you never want to leave

The Scourge is a very character-driven tale. Certainly, there's plenty of action but the real depth comes from some well-crafted characterisation. I was also happy with the wordsmithing (is that a word?). I was impressed by The way AG Henley was able to describe a technicolour world through the blinded eyes of a sightless central protagonist (Fenn). The attention to detail was lovely - including the use of auditory and olfactory clues, as well as visual to describe the world around Fenn. You get a full detail of every little thing Fenn encounters, not only through her sharp senses but also through the eyes of those around her.

Oh, there are also zombies. Not always a selling point for me- I have a very low horror threshold, as a rule. However, the zombie hordes pretty much worked for me in this one!

What is also impressive is the professionalism of the galley. For a self-published novel, a debut at that, this book is not only beautifully written but also very well edited. I didn't find a single error to distract me from my reading experience.

I have a few issues with the pacing of the book, and I am dubious about the ending - I won't spoil it, but am unsure how to reconcile a few things there (the water, the water!!). I felt there were a couple of thin spots in the plot where it could have maybe benefitted from some patchwork, but, all in all, it is a solid novel and I will look for the sequel.

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Time tangle

Dream of Time by Nancy J. Price
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I am always interested in a time travel novel - perhaps I still hold out hope that a lonely alien in a blue telephone box will appear in my garden and sweep me away to a life of grand adventure, then bring me back home in time for tea. Or not. I digress.

I enjoyed this story, despite the fairly substantial plot holes and occasionally turgid pace. Robin, a thirty-something single mother with two young daughters awakens one day to find herself living in Victorian-era San Francisco as a 20 year old immigrant girl (Jennie) with a comfortable fortune. The victim of 'a nasty fall', she is confined to a hospital until she makes a fairly astounding recovery, and returns 'home'. During her recovery she alternates between her sick bed by day, and her 'real life' by night. In essence, she dream her alternate realities.

The story revolves around Jennie/Robin's journey to right some wrongs, most of which are wrought by Jennie's ex-Fiancé and regular con-man Walter. In this quest she is aided by a young policeman Travis, with whom Jennie develops a mutual case of insta-love. Travis' ex-Fiancée Maggie (who has conveniently taken up with Walter) provides some essential plot devices (spurring jealous, wearing bonnets, allowing her hair to be brushed by lonely charges to win their love) as well.

The characters are a bit thin (viz Jennie's sister who rocks up, hands over some jewels and departs) and the circumstances a little implausible (a 20 year old woman in Victorian society who lives unchaparoned, has no household servants and shacks up with a policeman with whom she has at least daily unprotected sex but manages not to become pregnant, yet still gets invited over to tea by the neighbourhood ladies' whist club??), but somehow, the story draws you in.

A good solid three stars, but no more. Sharpened up a little and a few plot and character developments, and it might merit more. The premise is sound and the writing (where it doesn't lapse into historical or pedestrian narrative) is interesting enough to keep you interested. There isn't too much cloying prose, and the plot has sufficient mystery to keep you interested.

As an aside, I would DEFINITELY recommend some psychiatric support for a robin - there are a range of issues she needs to sort out for her own sanity - and she should take a bit more notice of her children from time to time.

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Mortal?

Mortality by Kellie Sheridan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

OK, so it's official ... I am no longer a Zombie-fiction virgin.

MORTALITY was my first, and it may not be my last. I don't usually go for tales of the disintegrating undead - vampires possibly, at a pinch ... but I've not before felt the compulsion to wander into stagger-and-lurch-ville.

I think I followed a 'read now' link from a NetGalley e-mail extolling the virtues of newly available eARCS ... yes, I am that easily led!

Enough about me, and more about the novel!

Pleasantly surprised.

This is a solid little read. We have an alternating First Person POV and the separate stories come together in a fairly satisfying way. Both our heroines are interesting, flawed (but working on it), and they each have a voice so don't suffer the fate of similar protagonists in other novels who can't seem to decide what voice to speak with when they're on centre stage. There's enough men around to make life interesting, the love triangle (while inexplicable) isn't too egregious or long-lived, the parents aren't insufferable (although they're all very absent) and the pace is okay -a little patchy, but that's okay ...

I liked it. I didn't love it, but I liked it.

I was a little bit worried the story would focus on the Herculean feats of a small über-mädchen combatting the shuffling hordes. I mean, how much depth can you get in a novel about kill-or-be-killed when your enemy is icky and slow and stupid and trying to eat you? There isn't much honour in slaughtering such a foe, is there. However, there is a little twist where one of the characters turns that premise on its ear. I really enjoyed Ms Sheridan's fresh perspective on this. Very inventive.

All in all, I'd be interested to read more in this series. Well done.

I doubt I'll convert to becoming a born again zombie book reader, but this one was with the risk of trying something new. Thank you NetGalley and Kellie Sheridan for letting me read so successfully outside my comfort zone.

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Family matters.

Matters Familiar by E.G. Fabricant
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love me a good collection of short stories, and that is what E.G. Fabricant has given us in MATTERS FAMILIAR.

A collection of 12 contemporary stories, each exploring an aspect of family relationships. This anthology gives us glimpses of the different ways we parent - Fabricant dishes up, in one tale a helicopter parent whose very attention threatens to stifle her child's development, in another he gives us a mother too paralysed by loss and fear to provide any meaningful emotional structure to her son. We explore the relationships between siblings and cousins, between friends and team-mates.

This is an anthology dedicated to the ties that bind, holding a mirror up to the way we live our lives and the people with whom we populate them - some by choice, others through the obligations of blood.

I enjoyed this collection very much. Thank you.

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