The last time I did this was back in August — how much do I fail on this? *laughs* At least this is my blog, so I am free to do what I please with it, and this time, instead of listing out the books I’ve read and bought for the month, it’ll have mini reviews of some books I’ve read but don’t have much to say about to warrant one whole post. I mean, surely, you do not want to click on a post that contains a whopping five sentences (or even less) about a book!
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Scarlett and Tella are sisters living on Trisda, a tiny island in the far corners of the Meridian Empire, with dreams of escaping their miserable life of being with their harsh and unloving father. It’s not exactly easy when he’s the most powerful man and the governor of their little isle, and despite being arranged to marry a man she has never met, Scarlett believes it’s the only way to become free from their father.
Not until she gets an invitation to come to Caraval, the carnival-slash-game-slash-show, where the audience is not just a group of sitting guests, but can active participants in the spectacle. Scarlett has always dreamed of going, especially since whoever wins the game gets granted a wish as a prize, and this is her only alternative for freedom — or she can get married. With the help of a mysterious man, Tella gets Scarlett and herself off from Trisda only to be kidnapped by Caraval’s gamemaster, Legend. The game, it turns out, is a race to find Tella, and Scarlett has to be an active participant, or risk losing her sister. It can get very immersive in Caraval, and Scarlett is finding it difficult to delineate between game and reality. Is it truly all just for show, or are the stakes for real?
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Who has not heard of this book? Written by Emma Cline, her debut novel The Girls has been dubbed as the book to read this summer, and even the UK cover starkly reflects the idea of summertime — sun-streaked hair, loose summer dresses, and bright blue skies. One of the ladies from a book club I’m part of actually took it along as one of her beach reads!
Unfortunately, if your definition of a beach read does not involve cults and murders, then you might prefer to not bring this book along. On top of this, if your idea of a holiday read does not involve a lot of introspection and analysing and should, instead, contain quick-paced plotting, then I might suggest scheduling The Girls for another time.
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Maestra is billed as the “most shocking thriller of the year”, which I thought was a bit early to say considering it came out very early this year in March. Although who am I to say, since The Girl on the Train came out in January 2015 and still seems to be doing relatively well in the market? Maestra did get picked up for a movie much quicker than The Girl on the Train did, and it will be an easier sell — the book does contain sex, money, and murder, and isn’t that easily marketable?
Originally released in the UK by independent publisher Zaffre (an imprint of Bonnier Publishing), Maestra is written by L. S. Hilton, an Oxford graduate of English who also studied Art History in Florence and Paris. From my Google research, I can deduce that she is more widely known for her historical fiction and biographies which are published as being written by Lisa Hilton. Her Maestra pseudonym was taken under the advisement of its publisher, to separate her historical reputation from this erotic thriller1.
I have not read her other books, but again, we can surmise that the woman has had practise in the art of writing with the seven or so previously published books in her list of works. I point this out because Maestra will be and is already often compared to the infamous Fifty Shades of Grey because of its erotic content, but I find this a disservice to the book …
Dandy Gilver & the Unpleasantness in the Ballroom is a book of the mystery genre, written by Catriona McPherson. Set in Glasgow in 1932, Dandy and her detective partner Alec Osborne are immersed in the world of competitive ballroom dancing as they uncover secrets, deal with rivalries, and, of course, death threats.
Firstly — I must admit that I have not heard of Dandy Gilver prior to getting this paperback*. As it turns out, this is the tenth book in the series, with another one coming out July of this year in the UK. So while I am ignorant of these books until recently, they are undoubtedly popular.
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