LATEST REVIEWS

What’s new at Write Note Reviews? Once again my to-review bookshelf is sagging – if it could speak, I’m sure there would be some choice words directed at me. And not, “Gee, what great books you’ve got here. Your taste is impeccable” or even “What were you thinking getting that book?”. I’m thinking the words would be more of the unmentionable variety. Anyway, here’s a look at some of the books I’ve reviewed in the last few weeks (there are loads more on the site):

All the reviews can be found on the site (use the search feature and sometimes you do have to scroll down the page) but here are snippets from the most recent:

How to Be a Good Wife by Emma Chapman

Every now and then, along comes a book that takes you out of your comfort zone, but wills you to keep reading. That’s what How to Be a Good Wife by Emma Chapman was for me – a book full of tension and questions that swept me up and into the story, depositing me at the end with more questions and a lingering uncertainty. “What just happened there?”, I asked at the end, feeling like I’d been scooped up by a dumper of a wave and dumped hurly-burly on the sand (and wanting to go back for more). Read more.

Grace Grows by Shelle Sumners

As we all know, best-laid plans sometimes fall by the wayside when life gets in the way.Grace Grows is a fun and engaging novel based on the premise that, to paraphrase John Lennon, “life is what happens when you’re busy making plans”. While the concept is nothing new, the book delivers an old idea with a fresh approach that makes it highly readable. Read more.

Ghostman by Roger Hobbs

The bar was set high for Ghostman: “Oceans Eleven meets Catch Me if You Can meets Lee Child”. That’s a tough call. Would it live up to the hype? That’s the question I asked when I picked up Roger Hobbs’ debut thriller to review. As a Lee Child fan, I had high expectations so I was looking for something special. What I found was a book that hooked me in from the start and kept me on tenterhooks through to the end. The hype was spot on. Read more.

Paper Chains by Nicola Moriarty

Have you ever lost your sense of self? Been so worn down emotionally by life in all its surprises and challenges that you don’t know how to find you amid all the darkness? I have. And my guess is you have too. Or will one day. No matter how strong you are, there are always moments when your self-worth fractures and you wonder how you can feel good about being you again. Susanna Freymark’s own experiences of losing and finding herself were the inspiration behind her novel Losing February. What she delivers is at times confronting and evocative, but despite the strong and sometimes disturbing images, it’s a strangely addictive read. Read more.

Mandi from That Book You Like and I have been looking at ways to share some of our reading experiences – we both have huge reading lists! From time to time, Mandi will speak for a book at Write Note Reviews and I will share the occasional review with her at TBYL (by the way, check out her online bookstore – it’s great).I’m happy to share Mandi’s review of Katharine Howell’s recent novel Web of Deceit (Pan Macmillan). I’ve read several of Katharine’s crime novels and really enjoyed them.

I’ve discovered a little something about myself – much to my surprise, I quite like crime fiction. 

Up until now, I thought that the few crime novels that I’d read and enjoyed had been a bit of a fluke. I read Kathryn Fox’s Cold Grave last year and loved it, and earlier, thoroughly enjoyed The Siren’s Sting, by Miranda Darling. I thought they must just have been particularly good examples of the genre. I’ve since read others, and enjoyed them equally.

And now, I’ve just finished reading Web of Deceit,by Katherine Howell (Pan Macmillan) and found myself unable to put it down, I was enthralled by the mystery and entertained by the action. I couldn’t wait for the truth to be revealed…

So on reflection, I think it’s fair to say that a pattern has emerged. I really like crime fiction, and in particular those that have a ‘specialty’ to which the author can write authentically from personal, professional experience. In this case, Katherine Howell is a former paramedic and brings to the story all the drama, trauma and heroism that the work of a paramedic involves.

For Mandi’s  full review, click here.