The Fate of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

The Critiquing Chemist

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Rate: 5/5

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Medium: Book

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Initial Note:

First and foremost, TheFate of the Tearling represents an incredibly exciting first for the Critiquing Chemist, having been the first requested book to be sent to me by a publisher! I have to thank all of my fellow bloggers for supporting the Critiquing Chemist in the last year, thereby allowing me to achieve one of my dreams/bucket list items I’ve had since I was in my teens that has always seemed fundamentally impossible.

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Overview (No Spoilers): TheFate of the Tearling is the eagerly anticipated, concluding novel of The Queen of the Tearling trilogy. As often happens upon obtaining the last book in a well loved trilogy, I find myself dreading actually opening the novel in question for the fear that the author will have run out of steam or feel rushed/pressured, as such producing an uninspired finale, e.g…

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Photographs of Starting a New Page

Kristen Twardowski

Reading should belong to everyone, but often we only think of how books relate to ourselves. Steve McCurry is working to bridge that gap and show how much reading can connect disparate people.

McCurry, one of the leaders in modern photography, has published a series of images called “On Reading”. He compiled the series from his almost four decades of traveling, and each image depicts a reader from somewhere around the world.

I’ve shared a few of my favorites below. They include readers from Tibet, Mandalay, Yemen, Ethiopia, and other places.

If you are interested in seeing more, you can check out Steve McCurry’s website or purchase a published version of the “On Reading” collection via Amazon. McCurry has done great work through his photography and through his nonprofit, ImagineAsia, which works to provide education resources and opportunities to children in Afghanistan. If his images speak to you, I…

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The Girl You Lost by Kathryn Croft: psychological page-turner

Eighteen years ago, Simone Porter’s six-month-old daughter, Helena, was abducted. Simone and husband, Matt, have slowly rebuilt their shattered lives, but the pain at losing their child has never left them. Then a young woman, Grace, appears out of the blue and tells Simone she has information about her stolen baby. But just who is Grace – and can Simone trust her?

When Grace herself disappears, Simone becomes embroiled in a desperate search for her baby and the woman who has vital clues about her whereabouts. Simone is inching closer to the truth but it’ll take her into dangerous and disturbing territory.

My review:

A good page-turning read and I very much liked the main character, Simone. However, as other reviews have said, there are so many books like this now that the ‘female in jeopardy’ novel is probably rather old-fashioned. Also, I worked out the twist a third of the way through so the ending was no surprise, and on a really picky note, I don’t think you can draw blood from trying to stab someone with car keys but I’m not prepared to put this to the test, LOL!

However, still a good quick read and I will probably try this author again.

Anne Brooke Books

Brilliant Book Titles #74

South Dublin Reads

Happy New Year and welcome back to Ballyroan Reads! Did you have a nice Christmas? And how was your New Year? Hopefully, you got lots of nice presents, but if not, well here’s a Brilliant Book Title!

You can reserve a copy online at South Dublin Libraries’ catalogue here.

Blurb:
This is a story about you.

It is the history of who you are and how you came to be. It is unique to you, as it is to each of the 100 billion modern humans who have ever drawn breath. But it is also our collective story, because in every one of our genomes we each carry the history of our species – births, deaths, disease, war, famine, migration and a lot of sex.

Since scientists first read the human genome in 2001 it has been subject to all sorts of claims, counterclaims and myths. In fact…

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Friday: Faerie Quote

Book Haul: December

bookowly

December has not been a month in which I purchased many books, because I was too occupied with the searching and making of gifts which left little to no time for book purchasing. Actually most of the books I bought were in the last days of the year with great hopes for the next one.

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Books of the Year 2016 – Part 2

South Dublin Reads

Hello again all! I’m sure you are all Christmassed out by now so here’s the 2nd part of our Books of the Year feature. We have eight contributors and Part 1 highlighted our first four picks out of the books we reviewed this year. Here’s the remaining four.

Mark’s pick:
I picked Patience by Daniel Clowes, because I’m still thinking about it after all this time. It’s just a perfectly constructed, beautiful and sad story, told in bright clear panels. His best work so far, by a mile (and that’s saying something)
[Mark’s original review is here]

Mairead’s pick:
Out of all the books I’ve read this year, Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett stands out the most. Exquisitely written and a book full of love that I will certainly read again.
[Mairead’s original review is here]

Michael’s pick:
My book of the year is My Name is…

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Amazon paperback bonanza!

All my Kindle ebooks are now available as paperbacks at Amazon at very good prices – the link is this one and is also as below:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B0034PAO0Y

This is the range of books you can find on Amazon in paperback (as well as Kindle versions):

London thrillers (A Dangerous Man, Maloney’s Law and The Bones of Summer)

Romantic fiction (Pink Champagne and Apple Juice, The Old Bags’ Sex Club, How To Marry Your Husband)

Crime fiction (Thorn in The Flesh, The Gangster’s Wife)

Literary fiction (The Apple Picker’s Daughter)

Fantasy fiction (The Gifting, Hallsfoot’s Battle, The Executioner’s Cane – AKA The Gathandrian Trilogy – and The Taming of The Hawk)

Gay fiction (The Hit List, The Dangerous Delaneys and Me, The Beginning of Knowledge, The Paranormal Detection Agency, Where You Hurt The Most, and a host of others)

Religious fiction (The Prayer Seeker)

Short story collections (Dancing with Lions, The Singing Road)

Prayer book (Dear God It’s All Gone Horribly Wrong)

Poetry collections (A Stranger’s Table, Salt and Gold)

Non-fiction (A Year in The Allotment, Tales from The Typeface)

Children’s fiction (The Origami Nun, Queen of the Fluffy Pens – both under my pseudonym, Lori Olding)

Happy browsing!

Anne Brooke Books
Gay Reads UK
The Gathandrian Trilogy Site
Biblical Fiction Site
Lori Olding

Holding by Graham Norton: old-fashioned charm in a page-turning read

The remote Irish village of Duneen has known little drama; and yet its inhabitants are troubled. Sergeant PJ Collins hasn’t always been this overweight; mother of­ two Brid Riordan hasn’t always been an alcoholic; and elegant Evelyn Ross hasn’t always felt that her life was a total waste.

So when human remains are discovered on an old farm, suspected to be that of Tommy Burke – a former­ love of both Brid and Evelyn – the village’s dark past begins to unravel. As the frustrated PJ struggles to solve a genuine case for the first time in his life, he unearths a community’s worth of anger and resentments, secrets and regret.

Darkly comic, touching and at times profoundly sad. Graham Norton employs his acerbic wit to breathe life into a host of loveable characters, and explore – with searing honesty – the complexities and contradictions that make us human.

My review:

A well written and interesting debut novel from Graham Norton. The characters are well portrayed and very sympathetic, and the small village setting is beautifully described. There’s an old-fashioned feel about it – particularly in the way that setting tends to be described before we get to the character in each chapter – but that itself has charm and doesn’t negate the page-turning quality of the story. The ending was very satisfying indeed.

Anne Brooke Books

Books of the Year 2016 – Part 1

South Dublin Reads

Happy Holidays!

Today is the first of two posts (with the second out on the 29th Dec) that highlight our favourite books out of those we reviewed in the past year. We’ve eight contributors, so this first post has the first four.

Lucy’s pick:
My book of the year is “Dissolution” by C. J. Sansom because it seamlessly combines meticulous research with a gripping murder and wonderful writing.  It was my introduction to a series of books which I have enjoyed immensely.
[Lucy’s original review is here]

Eleanor’s pick:
My favourite book this year was “Unbreak My Heart” by Nicole Jacquelyn. I think the reason why it was my favourite was because even now 7 months after reading it I can feel it. It was such a heart wrenching book that had me crying most of the way through. When a book can bring that emotion out of you…

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