three-marks

From the Publisher’s Desk: The Girls

30th August 2016 by Gemma 3 Comments

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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On The Nightstand: Maestra

27th May 2016 by Gemma 1 Comment

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 …

From the Publisher’s Desk: Dandy Gilver & the Unpleasantness in the Ballroom

19th May 2016 by Gemma Leave a Comment

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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From the Publisher’s Desk: Eligible

18th April 2016 by Gemma 2 Comments

I am a massive Pride and Prejudice fan. I first read it when I was 10 or 11, then read Jane Eyre after that, so both are very close to my heart. I have re-read the former more though, and although I cannot count myself a Janeite (I did not even know of The Austen Project until recently), I had resolved to start acquiring multiple editions of the Austen novel.

As I may have already mentioned on another post about a Jane Eyre retelling, I am very apprehensive of them because of another modern adaptation of a classic that I have read which turned out to be thoroughly unpleasant. But I cannot not read this book; no, I had to read it despite any misgivings.

Eligible is the fourth Austen novel in The Austen Project by The Borough Press. This time it is Curtis Sittenfeld who has been commissioned to adapt the story, and she is known for writing women’s literature (or chick lit, as it’s been called). Her most popular book appears to be Prep, followed by American Wife and Sisterland. She was born in Cincinnati, and a graduate of Stanford University and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop¹.

I am not familiar with any of Sittenfeld’s other books, but those two aforementioned facts about her feature heavily in Eligible….

On The Nightstand: A Gathering of Shadows

14th April 2016 by Gemma Leave a Comment

A Gathering of Shadows is the sequel A Darker Shade of Magic written by V.E. Schwab. It also appears to be the second in a series of three books¹, because three is a magical number (also refer to recent popular book and movie success The Hunger Games, and somewhat less successful Divergent series).

It picks up from the end of the last book, four months after Kell and Lila parted ways in Red London. Kell has no idea where Lila is or what has happened to her; he just assumes she has gone off to board a ship to explore more of the world as she had told him she wanted to do. Meanwhile, he is slowly unravelling being cooped up inside the castle, his movements limited and monitored by the king due to the events in the previous book.

And now here I must cut off the rest of the post with a warning: there will be a few spoilers underneath, at least regarding character development. I will still try to keep most of the plot unmentioned.

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