The Well of Lost Plots

The Well of Lost Plots is the third book in the book lover’s fantasy series Thursday Next by Jasper Fforde.

Though it’s been said that these books stand well on their own – I still STRONGLY recommend reading them in order. That means The Eyre Affair first, Lost in a Good Book second and THEN The Well of Lost Plots.

To avoid any potential spoilers for the first two books, I also recommend not reading this review unless you’ve read the prior novels. Deal?

After burning some serious bridges at her Spec Ops-27 Literary Detective job, being pursued by the power-mad Goliath Corporation and continuing to carry the child of a husband that no longer exists, Thursday had to get away.

Where better to get away than inside a book?

Being one of the rare individuals that has entered BookWorld as a non-fictional character, Thursday has been granted permission to participate in the Character Exchange program – allowing a character in the unpublished Caversham Heights go on holiday while Thursday steps in to take her place for, presumably, the next year.

While taking care of herself and her unborn child, her Jurisfiction mentor, Miss Havisham, will continue to teach her the ways of book jumping and book monitoring, as well.

Despite getting cozy in her temporary home, Thursday soon finds out that the hackneyed, pulp mystery mess that is Caversham Heights is up for potential salvage – which is when BookWorld hawks plot devices, characters, etc., on the black market of the Well of Lost Plots.

On top of that, a murderer is targeting Jurisfiction personnel.

So much for rest and relaxation!

Oh, Jasper Fforde!

It’s relatively rare that you are utterly floored by originality. Fforde manages to do that to me. I mean, WOW!

The Well of Lost Plots is truly ingenious – ready for multiple re-reads to fully understand this complex, intricate, fascinating world called BookWorld.

It’s stuffed full of bookish creatures, wondrous rules, clever laws and actions and oh-so-much wittiness! There’s humor, suspense, mystery!

This really is a world as multifaceted, imaginative, involving, entertaining and DIFFERENT as a Harry Potter type of environment. I am a tough one to get to compare to Harry Potter – but the Thursday Next series definitely steps up the game.

Too much fun – yet extremely intelligent, demanding attention and memory to fully enjoy The Well of Lost Plots – I am overcome with the desire to read the whole series RIGHT AWAY.

Thank you, Jasper Fforde!!!

Strongly, strongly recommended!

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Book Review - If I Stay

Title: If I Stay
Author: Gayle Forman
Series: If I Stay (Book 1)
Publisher: Doubleday
Release Date: 7th May 2009
ISBN13: 9780385616201

Synopsis
For seventeen-year-old Mia, surrounded by a wonderful family, friends and a gorgeous boyfriend decisions might seem tough, but they're all about a future full of music and love, a future that's brimming with hope.
But life can change in an instant.
A cold February morning . . . a snowy road . . . and suddenly all of Mia's choices are gone. Except one.
As alone as she'll ever be, Mia must make the most difficult choice of all.
Gripping, heartrending and ultimately life-affirming, If I Stay will make you appreciate all that you have, all that you've lost - and all that might be. 

My Review
I have heard a lot about this book over the years and always wanted to read it but never really made the time for it. Then I saw a movie trailer for it that looked really good and I knew I just had to read it. In the end I actually listened to this on audiobook - I always have one in my car and with studying and work at the moment I don't have as much time to read books for fun so utilizing my time in the car is the best way to discover more stories. I am going to review it as normal though as I am reivewing the story and content not the audio presentation - although I will say quickly that the narrator was very good and really presented the story well, the accent and emotion in her speech was just amazing.

The story is told from Mia's point of view and gives you a look into her life. Her dad used to play drums in a band, her mum is a cool rock chick, her little brother is 10 years younger than her but totally sweet and the apple of her eye. Mia herself plays Cello and is a fairly quite young lady. Then we have Adam her boyfriend who plays guitar in a band that is just becoming successful. Life seems to be going well, finally working out and exciting things are coming up. But then everything turns upside down. Everything gets shut for a snow day, but it's actually only a light covering, so Mia, her brother and parents decide to go out for a drive, maybe to visit some friends.
That's when it happens. In a horrendous road accident Mia discovers her parents have been killed on impact and she isn't sure where her brother is. She then discovers her own body and realizes that she is having some strange out of body experience. She can see and hear everything, she can open doors and move around but no one else can see, hear or feel her. She now has to choose, does she give up the fight and move on to join her parents wherever they may have gone - if there is a beyond. Or should she stay and face life, a life without her family but with the possibility of a future.
The story alternates between Mia's progress in hospital and her out of body experiences and her recounting times throughout her life - first meeting Adam, learning the Cello, family events, etc.
I found this book to be very powerful, right from the start I was hooked and wanted to know more. I found Mia to be a very well developed character and I immediately liked her. The writing punches you in the gut and wraps itself around your brain - refusing to let go, taking your breath away, absorbing you totally and I loved it. 
I would find myself leaving early so I could sit in my car for a few extra minutes each time just so I could hear more of the story, not wanting to get out. And then I would be desperate to get back into my car to hear more later, and it would stay with me. I would find myself thinking about it and wondering what would happen next. 
It's a very sensitive subject and quite disturbing in parts but very well dealt with and very moving and it really just makes you feel. I was involved in Mia's story, and I had to know what would happen to her.
I am now desperate to read book 2 and find out where she goes next and what comes of everything. I just can't get over this book, it really has moved me. It's amazing and the writing is just incredible. 
I will definitely be seeing the film too - I just hope it can live up to the book, which will be hard.

My Rating

 
   

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Book Promo - The Lebrus Stone

Title: The Lebrus Stone

Author: Miriam KhanGenre: YA Paranormal Romance

Blurb:

When eighteen-year-old orphan, Crystal Valdez, accepts an invitation to the small town of Blacksville, West Virginia, she hopes to have a summer to remember and a chance to learn more about her parents, to also get to know the family she never knew existed.
But the Lockes begin to act strange and erratic; eerie movements in the night fuel her vivid and gruesome nightmares. To complicate her summer further, she becomes attracted to the menacing yet handsome Cray Locke: her none blood related cousin.
He seems determined to keep his distance. The only bonus to her trip seems to be the housekeeper and gardener.
And when a local informs Crystal of the secrets buried at Thorncrest Manor, the kind consisting of a forbidden relationship and a war between hidden worlds, and witchcraft, she must decide whom to trust. Even if it means leaving behind those she has come to love.

“I was compelled to keep reading. It was brilliant.”
"I can't put my finger on it. But there is something about Crystal that makes you want to keep reading her story. I ate a whole bag of Haribos whilst reading the first few chapters without realising. I was that engrossed."
“A really great book like this gives you that feeling.”
“Cray being cast as a cold yet lust worthy hero who was just as broken was nailed.”
“I couldn’t put it down. I needed to know what happened.”
“Cray is delicious, manly, wanted by many, and a guy who know how to play the game.”
“Cray is at times a douche, but in a way he needs to be. It makes a woman want to know what makes a guy like him tick.”
"The writing, at times, is almost reminiscent of authors such as Daphne Du Maurier."
"A writer who seems to have a fine ear for dialogue. Every character seems to have a distinct voice."
"The descriptions are excellent. Very vivid. Some may think it slows the reading, but I love it." 

Author Bio

Miriam is from Cheshire, England and a family of six siblings. Her love for creativity led to acting at her local theatre before being a lead vocalist in rock bands. During those years, she often found solace penning her thoughts and feelings through lyrics or poetry. She chose not to continue singing in 2006, and two years later she woke up with the idea for The Lebrus Stone and began typing. revising and editing it for the next six years. She is now eager to see what readers will think.

Author Links:
Blog: miriamkhannovels.blogspot.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9793155.Miriam_Khan

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100007806765011&fref=ts

Buy Link:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Lebrus-Stone-Miriam-Khan-ebook/dp/B00QCR4C0E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417637292&sr=8-1&keywords=the+lebrus+stone

PLAYLIST

Sweet Sacrifice – Evanescence

Weight of the World – Evanescence

Lithium – Evanescence

Like You – Evanescence

All that I’m living for – Evanescence

Good Enough – Evanescence

Where will you go? – Evanescence

Farther Away – Evanescence

Missing – Evanescence

Adam Lambert – Sleepwalker

Adam Lambert – Aftermath

Adam Lambert – What do you want from me?

Three Days Grace – Never too late.

Our Lady Peace – Not Enough

Our Lady Peace – Somewhere out there.

Our Lady Peace – Are you sad?

Linkin Park – What I’ve done

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Angelic Upstart

Angelic Upstart is a YA contemporary fantasy – and third book in the Alex Trueman trilogy – by Martin Dukes.

To fully appreciate and enjoy this trilogy, I strongly recommend reading these books in order. First there is Caught in a Moment and then Worm Winds of Zanzibar.

If you haven’t read them yet, to prevent being spoiled – don’t read this review! Instead, click on those titles to begin reading about Alex Trueman’s adventures!

I’m trusting that the only bibliophiles still reading are caught up with the series…

Returning to normalcy is not as easy as you’d think.

Not for Alex.

After first spending a horrific, mind-bending time in the time-frozen world of Intersticia and then an alternate version of Zanzibar, not to mention the angelic realm of Elysium, normalcy is, well, boring…

Plus, he’s been encouraged to cease using his abilities.

While his friends adapt back to their reality, Alex struggles – and eventually gets involved with a mysterious, fascinating archangel named Nathaniel.

Where the other archangels have forbidden Alex from using his powers, Nathaniel is helping him to hone them.

Before he knows it, Alex is spending almost all of his time with Nathaniel and learning captivating things.

However, it is this very friendship that may risk the survival of their world…

Oh my!!!

Angelic Upstart was… WOW!

Initially I was irritated with Alex – some decisions he makes early on are rather poor and thoughtless – yet also based in a psychologically understandable place.

But when the elements of the plot come together – oh my gosh this is a HORROR STORY!!!

Without giving anything away, I will say that Angelic Upstart is a very effective, disturbing, mesmerizing, thought-provoking novel that keeps going where you don’t think it will go. Martin Dukes doesn’t hold back the punches here, people!

A captivating, twisty, dark, intelligent final entry – terrible, terrible things happen in Angelic Upstart. It features what may be on the most psychotic, terrifying villains I’ve ever read!

It’s a hefty book full of character development, suspense and a fully rounded plot that left me feeling that it all worked together from book one to book three – this is an epic feeling novel!

And when those last few pages were completed I was left with goose bumps! It was not an expected, predictable end – it surprised and touched me!

Angelic Upstart is a memorable conclusion to an imaginative, sharp trilogy that will most certainly be re-read!

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Lost in a Good Book

Lost in a Good Book is an adult fantasy, sci-fi, bibliophile’s dream by Jasper Fforde. It is also the second book in the Thursday Next series – the first of which was The Eyre Affair, read my review here.

Truly these books transcend genres and are just stunning achievements in creativity and surrealism.

I strongly, strongly recommend reading The Eyre Affair before Lost in a Good Book. Deal???

Thursday – renowned Special Operative in literary detection - is happily married and resting after a duel to the death with dangerous criminal and murderer Acheron Hades.

Yet the massive Goliath Corporation – with far too many strongholds in the government – has not forgotten how Thursday entered Jane Eyre to accomplish her feat. Nor have they forgotten to pursue the means of doing so themselves.

In order to blackmail Thursday into releasing one of their errant employees – Jack Schitt – from the The Raven, Goliath eradicates someone Thursday loves dearly – leaving her as the only remaining person with the memory of their ever having lived.

Desperate to regain the existence of this person, Thursday works to figure out how she can enter another book without her genius uncle’s Prose Portal.

However, Thursday will soon find out that within the tomes of millions of novels lies the secret world of Jurisfiction – and Miss Havisham has been waiting for her…

Wow – what a mind bender!!!

Jasper Fforde has taken the brilliance of The Eyre Affair and increased it tenfold here!

Lost in a Good Book is startlingly, refreshingly unique and inventive!

It takes an already alternative 1980s England setting and mixes in a brand new world WITHIN books that is so much fun – and SO unpredictable!!!

You never quite know where the plot is going to take you – but it is equally, funny, suspenseful, fascinating and almost exhausting (in a positive way) in its new concepts and environments.

And – as a bibliophile – the idea of book jumping and the “realness” of fictional characters are beyond awesome!

There is so much detail, so much intelligence and cleverness I don’t even know where to start.

I’m ready for book three!!!

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The Rules of Survival

The Rules of Survival is a YA contemporary novel by Nancy Werlin.

A life of tension and walking on eggshells is all Matt and his younger sisters are used to as their daily lives dramatically shift with their mother’s violent, startling mood swings.

As the oldest, Matt has learned to attempt to pull the attention on him when their mother turns more erratically aggressive, but it does not always work. Sometimes Callie or the little one Emmy end up being the victims – either when he’s not there to stop her… or when she’s too determined to be distracted.

It’s a life of fear and survival – every second of every day.

When Matt sees a man named Murdoch protect a young child from an abusive father in a public place, a part of him soars with a hope he long thought was dead.

Could this man – this man that had the courage to stand up to that steely-eyed father – help them too?

Matt knows it’s time to take action…

It’s been a while since I’ve read a Nancy Werlin novel but my prior experiences have been very positive. I’ve read The Killer’s Cousin, Locked Inside, Black Mirror and Double Helix – all of which were amazing, as I recall.

The Rules of Survival was no exception.

In fact, it was much more than that.

This is a harrowing, disturbing, edgy depiction of children in a state of constant trepidation with a mother frighteningly unstable and downright terrifying. The portrayal is never over the top and the narration, which is of Matt telling his youngest sister Emmy about this time of their lives via a written letter, feels very, very real.

With how tired and busy I am after working hard all week, it’s been a while since I’ve read an entire book in one sitting. But that’s what happened with The Rules of Survival – I devoured the whole thing, which is admittedly only 250 pages – in one Saturday afternoon.

Why? Because it is horrifying, gripping, nerve-wracking and impossible to put down due to the investment in these poor children – and the need to know what is going to happen.

By the end I was wowed by how enormously, powerfully touching and memorable The Rules of Survival was.

Strongly, strongly recommended.

My interest in Nancy Werlin has been reignited, no doubt.

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Book Review - Girl With All the Gifts

Title: The Girl With All The Gifts
Author: M.R. Carey
Publisher: Orbit
Release Date: 14 Jan 2014
ISBN-13: 978-0356502731

Synopsis
Melanie is a very special girl. Dr Caldwell calls her "our little genius."
Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don't like her. She jokes that she won't bite, but they don't laugh.
Melanie loves school. She loves learning about spelling and sums and the world outside the classroom and the children's cells. She tells her favorite teacher all the things she'll do when she grows up. Melanie doesn't know why this makes Miss Justineau look sad.  

My Review
I saw this on a display in my local book shop and thought it looked good, I had a quick read of the blurb and was intrigued so I went and ordered a copy from the library. I wouldn't say this was my usual sort of read but I have got quite into the whole paranormal genre and thought this may be good. 
I started to read it about a month ago and found myself getting into the story, it was a bit of a strange story and I as intrigued by the set up. The story starts in a base where kids are strapped to big wheelchairs and wheeled into a classroom every day, they are then locked into cells at night. 
This is a dystopian paranormal with a vampire twist. Set in the future, the world has been taken over by 'Hungries' - human mutations that basically have turned feral and eat humans, and once you are bitten you either become a Hungry or they eat you to death. The children are test subjects, brought in as young hungries to see if they can adapt, learn and also to be used as experiments. 
I found the start of the story interesting but I have to admit that it was also a bit slow, I kept waiting for something to happen and then I had to put the book down to do a Uni assignment and just didn't pick it up again for a while.
Turns out, I put it down right before it all gets exciting, I picked it up yesterday to do a bit more reading, to see if it was worth finishing and suddenly i was like 'whoa', the base gets attacked by Hungries and 'Junkies' -  humans who have learnt to survive and hunt in the wild and avoid the Hungries.
In the base there is one particular child that stands out - Melanie, she seems to be exceptionally bright and in control of her emotions and she gets on very well with her teacher - Miss Justineau. They form a special bond and they escape together during the attack, along with Sergeant Parks, Doctor Caldwell and another soldier called Callagher. Together they try to escape and make their way to another safe base, but running into all sorts of trouble on the way.

The book really picked up it's pace about halfway through and I found myself reading through quickly and not wanting to put it down, I wanted to know what would happen to these people and actually felt like I got to know them. Like I was part of their group. Melanie in particular was very interesting and unique and I like the way she was presented and grew as a character. She was very well written.
The group dynamics is also well set out, and although the people don't all get on, they learn how to survive with each other.

This book is actually set in my local area, Bedford and surrounding villages are mentioned and then they move into London districts. This was quite cool as it meant I could actually visualize some of the places and imagine it playing out. When Bedford was mentioned I actually gasped and got a bit excited. This added a bit of texture to the novel for me, made it feel more real.

The only down for me was that the ending isn't complete - it doesn't come to a conclusion as such but it does hint at what is to come. I don't know if there are plans for a sequeal, but as it was it left me a little bit disappointed. But only a little. Overall i really did enjoy the book and would recommend it to fans of distopian, paranormal horror.
I would give a word of caution though  - some bits are a bit gruesome and even made me look away or curl my nose in disgust. There are some fairly graphic descriptions and a lot of blood mentioned.

But overall a really enjoyable read, worth checking out.

My Rating

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