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Book Review – Break the Fall

/ Eleanor Jane / Leave a comment

When Hachette Children’s Books sent me a review copy of Break the Fall by Jennifer Iacopelli (several months ago) I had never heard of it.  I knew immediately that I wanted to read it though.  A young adult book about gymnastics?  Yes please!

So much so that I abandoned all my reading plans for that evening and started it straight away.  I love watching gymnastics and have always wished that I was flexible enough to actually do it.  This was my chance to pretend to be a part of that world

Publisher’s Blurb

The only thing seventeen-year-old Audrey Lee dreams about is swinging her way to Olympic glory.  Nothing is going to stop her, not even the agony in her back.  Every spasm and ache will be worth it once she has that gold medal around her neck.

But none of her training prepares her for her coach being led away in handcuffs, accused by a fellow gymnast of the unthinkable.  No one knows what, or who to believe and Audrey’s teammates go into meltdown.

As the Olympic torch closes in, Audrey has no idea who to trust, let alone what life holds after her final dismount.  The only thing she can do is hope that in the end, belief in herself and what’s left of her team, will be enough for gold.

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I was immediately sucked in to the tension of competition and after that I just didn’t want to stop reading.  I stayed up way past my bedtime because I really wantd to know what happened to these girls.

Of course, for me this book was all about the gymnastics and I lived every moment of the competiions and training.  However, I did also like the way the accusation of the unthinkable was handled.  I am always wary of too much teenage angst in books (just because as an adult it can infuriate me) but that wasn’t an issue for me here.  I thought the girls handled the situation very well, whilst still being believable teenagers.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  It made me think of a more modern, more adult Noel Streatfeild book – a book about a specific interest but with a great plot as well.  Streatfeild always makes me want to rush out and conquer whichever sport or interest I happen to be reading about and this gave me that same feeling.  I will certainly be trying Iacopelli’s previous books about tennis.

Thank you very much to Hachette for the review copy.

Book Details

Break the Fall by Jennifer Iacopelli

Published 20th February 2020 by Hachette Children’s Group

ISBN: 9781444953244

RRP: £7.99

Book Review – Eliza and Her Monsters

/ Eleanor Jane / Leave a comment

Last year I went through a spate of reading books about people who love books, or fandom in general.  In trying to find more to feed my obsession I came across Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia and immediately ordered a copy.  Of course, by the time it arrived I had moved on to other books and so it has sat on my shelf for several months waiting for its moment.

This week the time came.  I wanted something to read at bedtime, my book club book was not enthralling me and I was only one chapter into The Three Musketeers so that hadn’t gripped me yet either.  Eliza was calling to me from the shelf so I snatched her up and settled down.

Publisher’s Blurb

In the real world, Eliza Mirk is shy, weird, and friendless.  Online, Eliza is LadyConstellation, anonymous creator of a popular webcomic called Monstrous Sea.  With millions of followers and fans throughout the world, Eliza’s persona is popular.  Eliza can’t imagine enjoying the real world as much as she loves her digital community.

Then Wallace Warland transfers to her school and Eliza begins to wonder if a life offline might be worthwhile.  But when Eliza’s secret is accidentally shared with the world, everything she’s built—her story, her relationship with Wallace, and even her sanity — begins to fall apart.

I immediately loved this book.  It is wonderful to have a character with whom you can identify and Eliza was that for me.  I too felt like an outsider at school, although not to the same extent – and my escape was into books not creating a famous webcomic.

Wallace too was a wonderfully drawn character and I found myself rooting for them both – I really cared how their story turned out.  The downside of that was that I stayed awake far too late reading it.  However, I had a day off on Monday and I allowed myself the luxury of spending the morning curled up in a blanket with the book.  It was glorious.

This was a warm hug of a book about finding something you love and doing it – something we should all remember.  I made a note of several quotes but I particularly loved this one

If you want the motivation back, you must feed it.  Feed it everything.  Books, television, movies, paintings, stage plays, real-life experience.  Sometimes feeding simply means working, working through nonmotivation, working even when you hate it.

We create art for many reasons – wealth, fame, love, admiration – but I find the one thing that produces the best results is desire.  When you want the thing you’re creating, the beauty of it will shine through, even if the details aren’t all in order.  Desire is the fuel of creators, and when we have that, motivation will come in its wake.

I was quite bereft when I finished this book – I so badly wanted to spend more time with Eliza and Wallace.  Please – recommend more books like this!

Book Details

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

Publisher: Harper Collins

ISBN: 9780062290144

RRP: £7.99

On Reading Six of Crows

/ Eleanor Jane / Leave a comment

I am very late to the Six of Crows party.  I have heard people raving about the books for years but for some reason I never picked them up.

Then somebody shared a quote from Leigh Bardugo’s latest book which made me sit up and think, ‘Oh that’s clever!’  I was drawn to the books but thought that although the books set in the Grishaverse don’t exactly follow on from one another, it would be better to start at the beginning.  I realise now of course that actually the first book written was Shadow and Bone but Six of Crows was the one which drew me in.

I was very pleased to be given a copy for Christmas and couldn’t wait to get started.  It took me a little while to get into it – I don’t read a huge amount of fantasy so I’m not used to learning about a brand new world and its magic.  Pretty soon though I was hooked and I raced through it.

In fact, it was so gripping that I finished it one evening and went straight out in the morning to buy book two – Crooked Kingdom.  I just had to know what happened next and for those few hours in between I felt bereft.

The book has a great plot which is full of surprising twists and turns.  The thing I loved most about it though was the characters – how they interacted with each other and the way there was so much more to them than just the main plot.  They all had their own sub plots and motives, plus intriguing backstories which came out gradually through the books.

Obviously, I loved these books.  The only question is – do I go back and read the Grisha trilogy next or move on to King of Scars?

A Year of Reading

/ Eleanor Jane / Leave a comment

I’m a little late with my round up of last year’s reading because I wanted to post about Christmas last week.  It is still nice to reflect on the year though so better late than never!

2019 was a good reading year for me.  I’m not overly driven by numbers – it is much more important for me to feel that I have been enjoying my reading.  There were a couple of times when I got bogged down in a book I didn’t much like and which really slowed down my reading but on the whole I can say that I read a lot of books I loved. Most of the time I just wanted to get back to my books.

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That being said, I do know that I read 128 books last year – of which 16 were re-reads – which was a big jump up on the 91 of the year before.  Of course, part of that is because I listened to 44 audio books – up from 14 in 2018.  That definitely helped!

I am not at all good at picking favourites – they change so much depending on my mood.  There are a few which stick in my mind though – I loved Alan Bradley’s The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Holly Jackson’s A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder and Waverley by Walter Scott.  Hallie Rubenhold’s Five was fascinating and I was completely hooked by it.

As for reading resolutions for the new year, I have stopped setting myself firm reading lists as for me they creates too much pressure and stop me enjoying the books so much.  The only resolution I really have is to read the books which bring me joy.  I so much loved reading my cosy books over Christmas that I want to carry on doing the same all year round and not pressure myself into reading books I think I ought to read.  That sounds like a pretty good year to me.

Cosy Comforting Christmas

/ Eleanor Jane

Christmas reading time is here! One of my favourite things about Christmas is the long, dark evenings which can be spent in front of the fire with a board game or a book. It is just so cosy and wonderful.

It has to be the right kind of books though and I have made a tentative stack of books I may read over the next few weeks. Or possibly not. The whole point is to read exactly what I want and what makes me happy.

Most Christmases I try to read lots of my favourite children’s Christmas stories but this year not all of the books are obviously Christmassy. Some of them do have hidden Christmas scenes – I am reading What Katy Did at School primarily for the wonderful Christmas box the girls receive – but what I really want right now are cosy comfort reads. In fact, I have been looking forward to these books for weeks – which makes me think that perhaps I should read more of them throughout the year!

I have just finished reading Daddy-Long-Legs (I still love it as much as I ever did) and have moved on to Katy which I have not read for years. I know I am going to thoroughly enjoy the next few weeks!

Do you have Christmas reading (or other) traditions? I would love to hear them.

Book Review – Once Upon a River

/ Eleanor Jane / Leave a comment

My book club’s choice for our last meeting was Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield.  It was not a book I would have necessarily chosen for myself but several of the other members were raving about it so I was certainly intrigued and looking forward to reading it.

Publisher’s Blurb

On a dark midwinter’s night in an ancient inn on the Thames, the regulars are entertaining themselves by telling stories when the door bursts open and in steps an injured stranger.  In his arms is the drowned corpse of a child.
Hours later, the dead girl stirs, takes a breath and returns to life.

Is it a miracle?

Is it magic?

And who does the little girl belong to?

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I found that I was somewhat ambivalent about this book.  I did enjoy it and I think it is well written.  I really liked the characters (especially Rita and Mr Daunt) and I was rooting for them to have a happy ending.  The mixture of science and folklore was interesting too and I spent some time trying to figure out how fantastical the story was – the author’s note at the end explained a lot!

However, it wasn’t a book which made me really want to pick it up each time.  I can’t really articulate why either – as I said, I did enjoy the story.  I think I was letting it flow over me instead of being really invested in it.

The other members of my book club loved it though.  So much so that I thought we were going to have a very short meeting indeed – we don’t tend to have a lot to say when everybody likes a book!  Luckily though we did find tthings to talk about and it was a great meeting.

I would still recommend Once Upon a River to others – it is a good book, I just wasn’t in quite the right frame of mind to really love it.  That was just me though and shouldn’t be held against the book. The weather, however, was perfect – absolutely pouring rain which really added to the atmosphere of the book!

Book Details

Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield

Publisher: Transworld

ISBN: 9781784163631

RRP: £8.99

Book Review – A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder

/ Eleanor Jane / Leave a comment

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is a book which has been intriguing me ever since I first saw it.  It has sat in the young adult section of the bookshop for months, looking at me and clearly needing me to read it.  Eventually the right time came along and I treated myself to a copy.

Publisher’s Blurb

The case is closed.  Five years ago, schoolgirl Andie Bell was murdered by Sal Singh.  The police know he did it.  Everyone in town knows he did it.

But having grown up in the same small town that was consumed by the crime, Pippa Fitz-Amobi isn’t so sure.  When she chooses the case as the topic for her final project, she starts to uncover secrets that someone in town desperately wants to stay hidden.  And if the real killer is still out there, how far will they go to keep Pip from the truth . . . ?

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This book was everything I had hoped it would be.  I was completely gripped by the story and read it long into the night – well past my bedtime!  I just had to know what happened next and I have to confess that the solution did take me by surprise.

I thought the book was very well written and I particularly appreciated the low levels of teenage angst.  No longer being a teenager myself, I do often find myself infuriated by the behaviour of teenagers in books.  That was most definitely not the case here and I have recommended this book to several ‘proper’ grown-ups who have also loved it.

I have also just heard about the sequel which is due out next year and I cannot wait!

Book Details

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

Publisher: Egmont Publishing

ISBN: 9781405293181

RRP: £7.99

Micro Libraries

/ Eleanor Jane / Leave a comment

Like most of you (I imagine!) I am constantly on the look out for book shops.  The lure of a book shop is almost irresistible and I love to find new ones to explore.

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Some of my favourite finds though have been the mini book exchanges and charity book shops which seem to have been popping up in more and more places recently.  Not only are they unexpected, they are often very beautiful as well.

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How lovely is this?!

I have seen several in old phone boxes too which I love.  The only trouble is that unless I know when I leave the house that I will find one I very rarely have a book with me which I can swap – only the one I am actually reading.  Still, that just means another trip to find some books and that’s not really a hardship!

Autumn Reading

/ Eleanor Jane / 2 Comments

I quite often find that my reading slows down over the summer. There is just so much to do outside and I have been particularly busy this summer – see my alter ego Gadding About with Galahad if you want to know why!

Not that I haven’t been reading – I have made a reasonable dent in the TBR shelves I showed you in July (ten books read) as well as several extra ones I snuck in. It is just that I wasn’t reading as much as I would have liked.

However, the onset of autumn always makes me want to read. It’s partly all the back to school stuff in the shops and partly the long dark evenings when a blanket and a book by the fire seem like the most wonderful idea. Either way, I’m hoping to read a great many more books over the next few months!

Brilliant Book Festival

/ Eleanor Jane / Leave a comment

As I mentioned in my last post, last week was the Appledore Book Festival.  Not only was I at the book fair, I was also working at the festival itself which meant that I got to spend an entire week by the sea talking to people about books.  It was wonderful.

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Added to that, I also got to meet many authors which is always fun.  It was particularly lovely to meet Tim Waterstone – who was one of only a very small handful of authors to come across and introduce himself to me.  I was utterly charmed and of course I bought his book.

Another highlight was the event for Hazel Prior and her book Ellie and the Harp Maker.  It was held in a little café and as well as talking about harps and writing she read some passages from the book interspersed with harp music.  It was a delightful event – not least because she got the entire audience singing a song about how books are cool.

Books, books, books

Books are cool!

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I also ate a lot of cake.  This was peanut butter and jelly cake and it was amazing!

I had a wonderful week.  It was hard work – almost twice as many hours as normal – and I am now exhausted but Appledore is always one of my favourite weeks of the year and I wouldn’t have missed it for anything.