Escape To Gettis...And Love - Gerri Bowen

I was lucky enough to receive an e-book copy of Escape To Gettis...And Love direct from the author Gerri Bowen in exchange for an honest review.

I haven't read many historical fiction books, though I'm not entirely sure what genre of book this is, I'd possibly categorize it as contemporary historical fiction. Though that may sound odd, it works out really well and I really enjoyed it. The reason I'd say this description is because instead of a modern woman going back in time somewhere, there is a historical man (and others) that come to the modern time. I have to say that I think this was a lot more interesting for me than the other way around.

I don't really want to go into too much detail about the actual story as a) I don't want to give any spoilers and b) I feel you should read it yourself and discover what happens as it happens. I will say however that there were two characters who were particularly interesting, Koozie and Dromo, who apparently appear in another book called Love's Blood (but you do not need to read that first to read this) and I think that I will have to pick that up too just to read more about them because of just how amazing they are.

The absolute number one thing I love about this book is that the main character is an older woman who is a bit of a badass but can cook too. She is also a mother and grandmother which I don't think I've ever come across before. She's a young grandmother, but a grandmother all the same. I also love the sense of family throughout the book, it's so nice to see such a close knit family and group of friends that will literally do anything for each other,

There is such a mix of things that goes on in this book that you would think that it may be just too much and everything may just get lost, but the way Gerri Bowen has written it all, it just works so well and flows beautifully. I am glad though that there is a glossary of the creatures and beings that pop up in the book as there are some that I had never heard of at all before, so it was good to get a description.

The only thing I would say that I struggled with, was that there were so many characters that at times, I wasn't 100% who was who meaning I had to flick back just to confirm who certain people were, All the characters were brilliant and had their own personality but there were just so many of them it was hard to keep track.

Ooh I will also just mention quickly that at the beginning of each chapter there is a little intro that gives hints about what will happen in the chapter, I thought this was really nice and I enjoyed finding out what it meant as I read through.

I started this book on the 11th of December 2015 and I finished it on the 17th of December 2015.
I gave this book 4 stars on Goodreads.

Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn (Contains spoilers)

I finally got around to picking up one of this years biggest reads and I've been amazingly good and managed to miss any and all spoilers about Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. I tend not to read a hugely hyped books as soon as they come out (unless it is something I've been waiting for) and I read them when the hubbub has died down and then I can make my own decision about it without being influenced by other peoples excitement.

Things started off well when I saw that it was written in dual diary entry format as I like that style of writing as I feel like it reads quickly and I always just want to read that next bit to see what the other person thought. Sadly from then on out it's all down hill from there.

None of the characters, main or side are nice people in any way. I can't remember a single good person throughout the whole book. This lead me to really not caring one way or another about anyone and I barely remember anyones name as they really didn't matter to me. Both the main characters, Amy and Nick are both just awful people. Neither of them have any notable redeemable features and I really just hated them right from the start of the book.

The story itself is kind of beyond belief and though I've not seen a single spoiler about the book, I still had guessed what had happened I think from chapter two, it was really that obvious. The more I read the more I kept saying to myself "REALLY?" but I kept thinking that maybe it would get better, so may people seem to love this book, maybe I just haven't got to it yet, Let me say, it did not get better it just got more and more ridiculous.

There will be some spoilers in this paragraph so if you don't know anything and don't want to spoil yourself, skip to the next paragraph. The ending really just finished me off for this book, it is so unbelievable I just wanted to launch the book across the room (but I'm nice to books so I didn't do that). There is no comeuppance for all the bad stuff, wasting police time, murder, defamation of character etc. which really left a bad taste in my mouth and then the fact that Nick would give up everything to be with such a.....I have no word that I would type to describe Amy....and to knowingly put a child through that kind of life. Fair enough if he was planning to stay till the child was born and then take them away from her, but to actually knowingly stay with that kind of person and subject your child to it is not something a loving parent would do.

The one thing I will not take away from this book is that it is really well written and it was easy to read. That is the only reason I have given the book two stars instead of one, Sadly I do not understand the hype and it's not one I will be recommending to anyone any time soon.

I started this book on the 26th of October 2015 and finished it on the 30th of October 2015.
I gave this book 2 stars on Goodreads.

The Girl With The Blue Umbrella - Heather Awad

I was extremely lucky to receive an e-book copy of The Girl With The Blue Umbrella directly from the author/poet Heather Awad in exchange for an honest review.

It has been a long time since I picked up a poetry book, I don't read it very often but when I do, I usually enjoy it thoroughly. The style I'm used to is definitely the classic format that rhymes and/or uses the iambic pentameter, the kind of stuff you read in school for your English class. This collection of poetry is an extremely fresh and modern way of writing poetry and it works beautifully. I will own up to the fact it took me a couple of reads at first to get the "rhythm" of each poem, but that is due to my lack of experience in reading modern poetry rather than the way it is written. The poems are all exceptionally well written and they all tell a story which I loved.

Out of the 62 poems, there were a few that stood out to me and are ones that I will come back to time and time again to read and remind myself of certain feelings or thoughts. The poem "When I'm Bored" I really identified with the people watching and making up stories about them, as I said in my review of The Haunting Of Hill House I really identified with Eleanor because she made stories up about things as she was driving and I felt the same thing again while reading this poem.

"At The Parade" really captures the festivity of a parade, but my absolute favourite line is "...she knows I'm taking pictures, saving memories" This feels like it was written about me, I love to photograph pretty much everything and I feel it's my way of making sure we don't forget things that have happened or that we have seen, so describing it as saving memories is just perfect.

"Too Much Noise" is just perfect, I'm going to save it at that page and every time someone asks why I like to sit in silence I'm just going to show it to them and let Heather explain far more eloquently than I ever could. I think out of the whole collection this is my favourite poem as it speaks to me on a personal level.

"Blue Angels" is fantastically well written and descriptive, so much so you feel as if you are they lying on the sands too and watching all the things going on and enjoying the experience. This poem is really upbeat and you can almost feel the heat of summer while reading it.

The last poem I want to specifically mention by title, is "Skipping Class" It is heartbreaking and it feels so very personal and the emotions are so raw you feel voyeuristic while reading this, looking in from the outside on someone's pain and wishing that you could do something about it.

Overall I really enjoyed this collection and as I said, there are poems that I will come back to over time to read again. As in all collections though there are some poems that I liked less than others, not that I didn't like them, as they were all written so well and the subjects were all ones that people can relate to in one way or the other, but that I just preferred the others.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone with a passing interest in poetry, especially if you'd always wanted to try reading poetry but maybe weren't sure where to start or you just wanted more contemporary topics to read about.

I read and completed this on the 24th of November 2015.
I gave this book 4 stars on Goodreads.

November 2015 Book Round Up

November has been a very funny month for me and reading. Everything seems to have taken me ages to get through and I've just had no motivation at all. As you can tell from my list most of what I've read has been very short too. This isn't to say that I haven't enjoyed what I have managed to read, in particular I'll give a mention to Yonder (A Southern Haunting #1) by LeeAnne Hansen as I'm still thinking about it now and I can't wait for the next book. I've also been behind on my reviews and blogs but I'm hoping to catch up on them all in the next few days.

The books I read in November are as follows, though I am also still working my way through War and Peace (slowly, though far quicker now I have a buddy!) and Showcase: World's Finest which I will hopefully finish in the next couple of days.
Book 1 - Seriously Mum, Where's That Donkey? The Photos! by Alan Parks - 3 Stars
Book 2 - Yonder (A Southern Haunting #1) by LeeAnne Hansen - 5 Stars
Book 3 - Chef Maurice and a Spot of Truffle by J.A. Lang - 4 Stars
Book 4 - Yogscast: The Diggy Diggy Book by the Yogscast - 5 Stars
Book 5 - Death of a Dapper Snowman by Angela Pepper - 5 Stars
Book 6 - Death Comes eCalling by Leslie O'Kane - 4 Stars
Book 7 - The Girl With The Blue Umbrella by Heather Awad - 4 Stars

Now onto the future, I have actually been planning blogs that I want to do and having ideas that I'm excited about sharing! I am going to try and be a lot more organised about when I blog so it is more regular and I may even try some sort of loose schedule, but we'll see how that goes. One thing that you can look forward to, is once I've finished cataloguing and organising my book shelves I will be letting you take a peek at them, possibly even in video form!

That's all from me this month, I hope to bring you a far bigger round up at the end of December. If you don't already you can follow me @NerdishMum on Twitter so you can tell me what you're currently reading or if you've read any of the books that I've read this month.

Yonder (A Southern Haunting #1) - LeeAnne Hansen

I was lucky enough to receive an e-book copy of Yonder (A Southern Haunting #1) direct from the author LeeAnne Hansen in exchange for an honest review.

Before I get into my review proper, I would just like to say that I think I have found one of my favourite quotes ever, on page 45 the main character Isabel says "There's nothing like the smell of old books. They smell like memories" This is just such a true statement, I think I'm actually going to make myself a bookmark with this on it.

The book is set in the 40's and is about Isabel who is called home from New York due to the death of her father and then becomes intertwined in amorous advances from two of her brothers childhood friends, Benjamin and Charles. All the while she is haunted by a young boy, but why?

The book is rich in details about the time period from the war to the coming out balls. You get the feeling of it being a simpler time right on the cusp of change. It all sets the tone nicely for the story about Isabel.

I really liked Isabel, she's a strong female character who for the most part knows what she wants. She does frustrate me at points with how young she seems, but if you look at the kind of childhood she had and how women were seen in this time, it does make sense. Charles is just awful and pompous and I didn't like him right from the beginning! He is just far too smarmy for my taste, Benjamin however seems to be a southern gentleman who makes the occasional goof. I really liked Benjamin and as you can imagine I was rooting for him throughout the story. The romance is done really well and it didn't feel tacky which is the reason I very rarely read romance books, the romance in Yonder felt real to me. I also have to point out that the love scene is beautifully done, very sensual and I didn't feel embarrassed reading it.

The haunting starts off subtle almost and then it becomes more intense and blatant as time passes. I loved how you could be enjoying a nice simple scene and then all of a sudden the child - Eli, appears and something happens. Isabel is the only one who can see him and she needs to figure out what he wants or what she can do to help him. When you find out who he is (I'm not saying as I don't want to give any spoilers because you need to go read this yourself!) and his story, my heart broke. It was so well written and so well thought out, it takes you by surprise and rips your heart out at the same time.

My only "complaints" - are slightly spoilery but nothing too much, stop reading now though if you want to know nothing and start again on the next paragraph - are that I wanted to find out what Charles and Isabel's fathers had done to Samantha (I can guess to a point but would like to know the details) and I wanted to know the reason that Isabel's father had disowned her brother Doug. I really would like to know the answers to these questions, but I may get lucky and they get answered in the next book.

I thoroughly loved this and I am looking forward to the second book already. If you haven't read this yet, you need to go and try it. Thank you to LeeAnne for allowing me the pleasure of reading her book.

I started reading Yonder on the 31st of October 2015 and finished it on the 9th of November 2015
I gave Yonder 5 stars on Goodreads

October 2015 Book Round Up

Ooof I am so behind! I've been very busy, I've been on holiday and I've also been busy reading a book for an author before being sent to the publisher which has been an interesting but time consuming experience. It feels like I didn't read much in October but I definitely read some interesting books.

Book 1 - Batgirl/Robin: Year One by Chuck Dixon - 5 Stars
Book 2 - Black Butler, Vol. 9 by Yana Toboso - 5 Stars
Book 3 - Death Note: Black Edition, Vol. 1 by Tsugumi Ohba - 5 Stars
Book 4 - The Tales of Beedle The Bard by J.K. Rowling - 3 Stars
Book 5 - Half Lies by Sally Green - 4 Stars
Book 6 - Cyclops, Vol. 1: Starstruck by Greg Rucka - 5 Stars
Book 7 - Infinite Crisis: Fight For The Multiverse by Dan Abnett - 4 Stars
Book 8 - A Death In The Family: A Detective Kubu Mystery by Michael Stanley - 4.5 Stars
Book 9 - Black Butler, Vol. 10 by Yana Toboso - 5 Stars
Book 10 - Black Butler, Vol 11 by Yana Tobos - 5 Stars
Book 11 - Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn - 2 Stars

I'm hoping to be back blogging regularly from this week onwards and I have two reviews in the process and coming out in the next couple of days. I may also blog about the decision I have made about War and Peace so keep a look out for that.

What is everyone else reading at the moment?

My Review of A Death In The Family

I received an advance e-book copy of A Death in the Family by Michael Stanley directly from the author in exchange for an honest review.

A Death in the Family is the fifth outing for Detective Kubu and is written by Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip (known together as Michael Stanley). I always find it mind boggling when more than one person has written a book as to how they can get on and make their ideas work together and yet these two are on their fifth book.

 I've never read a Kubu book before but the synopsis sounded great and was exactly what I was in the mood for reading, When the weather turns cooler and autumn arrives, I love a good crime book. This book centres around the murder of Kubu's father and murders related to a mine expansion in a small town called Shoshong. We follow Kubu as he deals with the grief of losing his father and trying to keep away from that investigation (and failing) while trying to concentrate on the murder of an official and the troubles in Shoshong,

The story was really well written and full of twists and turns which worked perfectly without feeling shoehorned or pasted together. The characters are all really well formed and I really loved Kubu, he felt very real and you felt his emotions with him. His relationship with his family and his mother is portrayed beautifully as well and it was nice to see a strong family that loved each other and got on with each other, Seeing a detective with a wife and family that was together was really good to see for a change, I think my favourite character however is Jacob Mabaku, the Director of the Botswana CID. He is exactly the kind of boss you want, someone who respects you but is willing to put you in your place when it's needed. He came across as a really nice man but a complete badass,

Before reading this my knowledge of Botswana was a complete zero. Throughout the book I learnt so much about the country and about its culture, and it incredibly interesting. I felt that all the cultural references and explanations fit smoothly into a crime novel and it really gave a sense of the country the book is set in. I also think the fact the Kubu in Setswana (one of the languages spoken in Botswana) means hippopotamus is fantastic, it fits the character so perfectly, I definitely want to look into finding out more about this part of Africa in the future.

My only niggle about the book is that the bad guy felt a little stereotypical or cardboard cutout - actually I think I might go with panto villain, I wanted to scream "he's behind you" a few times. But really this doesn't take away from how well the rest of the book is written and how well thought out and plotted the storyline is.

Overall a really interesting and enjoyable read that I would recommend to anyone even if like me you haven't read a Detective Kubu book before, you can very easily just jump in on this book. I personally will also be seeking out the earlier books to read in the future.

A Death in the Family is out on October 27th 2015.

I started this book on the 11th of October and finished it on the 19th of October 2015
I gave this book 4.5 Stars on Goodreads

It's a kind of magic - My review of The Tales of Beedle the Bard

The last book I read before making my decision about giving up my 2015 Reading Challenge was for the Popsugar reading challenge for the "a book with magic" topic and the book I had chosen was The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling. I chose this book as though I have read all the Harry Potter books I had never got around to reading this and thought that this would be the perfect opportunity.

I'll own up to the fact I generally dislike reading introductions to books and for the most part I skip them or just skim read for the important information, but as this book was so short I figured I would read the whole thing, I'm glad I did as I really enjoyed the explanation of the similarities and differences between muggle and magical fairy tales.

I enjoyed each tale for its own merits and I liked the fact that they were similar to Grimm's fairy tales as I re read the whole collection in the past year. I think my favourite was either the The Warlock's Hairy Heart for its Edgar Allen Poe feel to it or The Fountain of Fair Fortune for the moral it tells.

Personally I don't feel the notes from Dumbledor add anything to the tales at all and I could have done without these and had another couple of tales instead. I did however like the likeness that Beedle the Bard is supposed to be a magical Brothers Grimm writer, whereas Beatrix Bloxam is the magical Disney retelling stories without any of the darkness and filling them with sweetness and light,

Overall this is a very nice book and it was all for charity so definitely a worthwhile read, but for me it was just very average and didn't capture the same of magic that we all know and love in the Harry Potter series.

I started reading this book on the 10th of October 2015 and finished it on the 11th October 2015
I gave this book 3 stars on Goodreads

An Update on my 2015 Reading Challenge

At the beginning of the year I decided that I was going to participate in both the Book Riot Read Harder challenge and the PopSugar Ultimate Reading challenge as I believed that it would widen my horizons and book choices. I made a list of all the books I wanted to read to accomplish this and spent time considering what would be the best choices for me.

I was really excited by the whole thing and at the start I flew through quite a few of the books on my list, but as I got further into the year, I just wasn't in the mood to read the choices of books that I had made so I changed up some of my original choices with books that I did want to read but that still fit the challenge criteria. As more time went on the books I wanted to read no longer fit under any of the criteria to fit on my challenge list and I started to begrudge reading any of them, even though I do want to read them all, just not at this point in time. Because of this I went into a reading slump for a couple of months which was tough to get through.

So I've made a decision, I'm not going to be completing my 2015 Reading Challenge that I set for myself, I have hit my target of how many books I wanted to read this year (100) and I have thoroughly enjoyed, for the most part, the books I have read. I'm doing this so that I can carry on enjoying my reading experience which is the most important thing to me. I have found that this sort of challenge just doesn't work for me as I found it very restrictive, which is the complete opposite of the reason I was doing it in the first place. This is also the reason that I don't set monthly tbr lists as I never know what genre I'm going to be in the mood for. I do still think that it's a great way for people to expand their reading experience it is just not for me.

If I do read any books that fit in before the end of the year, I'll definitely still blog about them and update my list, but if not, I really don't mind. If you'd like to see how I did, click here for my original 2015 Reading Challenge post.

Have you ever participated in a reading challenge? How did you find it?

My Review of Sigmund Shaw: A Steampunk Adventure

I received an e-copy of Sigmund Shaw: A Steampunk Adventure directly from the author Mark C. King in return for an honest review. Thank you Mark.

I have never read a steampunk book before, but I have always wanted to delve into that world and see what all the fuss is about. I love the Victorian time period and I'm intrigued by the machinery and fashion relating to steampunk so I thought it would be a good fit of genre for me. Sigmund Shaw I feel was a perfect book for me to read first!

I want to start off by saying just how much I absolutely adore the character of Sigmund, he is just such a nice guy and its so nice to see. Yes he has faults and he has done things that aren't right, but he has done them for the right reasons and in ways to cause as little hurt to people as possible. He is a good brother, uncle, brother in law and friend. Sigmund will put the people he loves first at all times he is just so selfless and he'll do whatever needs doing to get the job done. I feel he has been written so well that I have become really attached to him while reading his story.

I do also like a lot (if not all) of the other characters, Sarah is a badass, Harry is a sweetheart and I love Holmes and the fact he is annoyed by his name (nice touch!). I feel they are all well thought out and written beautifully so that they all stand out with their own personality and are not just 2 dimensional.

The story is fantastic from the start and I was gripped from page 1. Sigmund is asked to do something that will possibly help his niece walk for the first time and what follows is a story of adventure, mystery, murder and war. The writing is fast paced but you never lose what is happening and everything is shown and not told. I didn't see the end coming till not long before Sigmund and his crew figured it out themselves, so King kept me guessing for a long time and I followed the twists and turns at the same time as the characters.

The machines that are brought out towards the end of the book are amazingly described and I could picture perfectly these mammoth war and flying machines. I actually also preferred reading the battles using this kind of weaponry than your typical gun, tank etc. In some books that have war scenes I tend to skip over the fighting as it can sometimes be confusing and sometimes it can be boring, but the fights in this book didn't fall into either category.

I only really have one ever so small criticism of this book and that is when Sigmund and his crew have figured things out, they go to tell someone of importance (I'm being vague to avoid spoilers) and then they explain in full everything that has transpired up until that point. I remembered and had understood already everything that they then explained and I feel it could have been left at the characters explained while the important person listened in disbelief or some such before asking questions. But that is just my opinion and it didn't take away any of my enjoyment of the story.

Overall a fantastic book and I feel lucky to have been asked to read this. I recommend that you read this book even if you're not a steampunk fan but you enjoy a good mystery and crime drama. I look forward to reading more both from this author and from the genre in the future.

And one last thing I started reading this book on the 30th of July and finished reading it on the 19th of September. The only reason it took this long was due to the fact it was an e-book, I only have my Nook at the side of my bed and I don't use it every night. Had I had my hands on a paper book I would have read this in one or two sittings at the most because I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I gave this book 5 stars on Goodreads

September 2015 Book Round Up

As soon as there was a chill in the air I immediately wanted to start reading crime thrillers and psychological mysteries etc, so my YA and fantasy were put to one side so I could indulge in what I class as my guilty pleasure (though you should never feel guilty about what you read). I haven't got much reading done this month as the Nerdish family has been very busy but I've managed to sneak in quite a few graphic novels/trade paper backs and I finally read the first Sword Art Online book which the hubby has been wanting me to read. I haven't changed the format of my round up this month, but look forward to seeing something different at the end of October!

Book 1 - You by Caroline Kepnes - 3 Stars
Book 2 - Black Butler, Vol 6 by Yana Toboso - 5 Stars
Book 3 - Batgirl, Volume 2: The Flood by Bryan Q. Miller - 4 Stars
Book 4 - Remember Me This Way by Sabine Durrant - 5 Stars
Book 5 - Sword Art Online: Aincrad, Vol. 1 by Reki Kawahara - 5 Stars
Book 6 - Iron Fist: The Living Weapon, Vol. 1: Rage by Kaare Andrews - 2 Stars
Book 7 - Sigmund Shaw:  A Steampunk Adventure by Mark C. King - 4.5 Stars
Book 8 - Action Comics, Vol 1: Superman and the Men of Steel by Grant Morrison - 3 Stars
Book 9 - Siege by Brian Michael Bendis - 4 Stars
Book 10 - Winter Soldier, Vol. 1: The Longest Winter by Ed Brubaker - 5 Stars
Book 11 - Black Butler, Vol 7 by Yana Toboso - 5 Stars
Book 12 - Black Butler, Vol 8 by Yana Toboso - 4 Stars
Book 13 - The Winter Soldier, Vol. 1: The Longest Winter by Ed Brubaker - 5 Stars

What books have you been reading in September? Do you have a TBR for October? Let me know, I'm always happy to talk books.