Emma's Bookish Lifestyle

Fire Damage by Kate Medina My rating: 3 of 5 stars This is a psycholigical thriller kindly received from Netgalley for a fair and honest review. Jessie is a psychologist working within the Army when she is asked to council a disturbed 4 year old boy after his father returns from Afghanistan with severe burns. Sami refers to himself as "The Girl" and is in constant fear of "The Shadowman", could this be his father? Ben Callen is a former patient of Jessie and MP investigating a death in Afghanistan when his case converges with Jessie's. This book jumps in feet first with its plot based character development and with the initial introduction draws you in with your concern for Sami, the tension building with each new turn of events. Although this book was easy to read it did feel at times formulaic and somewhat lacking in originality (especially for the beginning of a new series). I often wonder why these types of books have to b...

The Fatal Tree by Jake Arnott My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book is based on real life characters of the 18th Century. Elizabeth Lyon "Edgeware Bess" is portrayed with a fictional backstory however, she was indeed a prostitute and a thief during these times in London and was well acquainted with the Black Lion Pub, Jonathan Wild "The Thief Taker" and Jack Sheppard. Jonathan Wild was notorious for working both sides of the law and eventually was handed over by his own men for his duplicity. Jack Sheppard grew up in a workhouse with his mother after his fathers death before taking on an apprenticeship in his fathers trade of Carpentry. What is unique about this book is the language, the back of the book has a useful glossary of terms for the slang used however, I found it extremely easy to work out the meanings and it never stopped or stilted the path of the story. The story itself is based around actual events noted in the archives ...

The Night Watch by Sarah Waters My rating: 3 of 5 stars First of all I would like to begin by saying I enjoyed Sarah Walters writing style and the format in which she wrote this plot backwards from the end to the beginning, the descriptive prose made you feel part of the atmosphere of the story. The only thing I struggled with was the pacing of the story, for me I much preferred the pace of the third and final part of the book, at times throughout the rest of the book I felt I had to compel myself to return back to it. The main characters left me feeling somewhat flat and lacked a personality within their roles of the story which meant at times it was hard to empathise with the circumstances they were finding themselves in. There were a number of areas however, that did interest me and which I wish had been looked into with more depth. I enjoyed the bits involving Kay's involvement in the Ambulance Service during the bombings of London, I actuall...

The Man In The Picture by Susan Hill My rating: 3 of 5 stars This is the first ghost story from Susan Hill I have read, and although I know many of you would have said to start with The Women in Black I wanted to see what a lesser spoken about story was about. The title of the story pretty much lays out the premise for this book however, I was blown away by the beauty of the writing, slowly drawing me in and pulling me along with the tale of the Venetian oil painting scene and the effect of attracting people to it and to hold on to it. This story is 145 pages long and therefore goes at a fair pace to tell the tale, at first from Theo a Cambridge professor to his friend Oliver and then from Oliver to his wife Anne and the effect. I did enjoy it however, I did not find this either spine tingling or foreboding as I would have hoped therefore I have given it 3*. I have a number of her other books and will continue to expand my reading of Susan Hill as I ...

5. carnival Unlike many of the other members of the sideshow, I didn’t have a specific job. My mom was a fortune- teller, Gideon did a magic show, Zeke had his tigers, Brendon and his family did acrobatics, Seth was a strongman. My best friend Roxie Smith was in two acts— she helped out Zeke, and did a peepshow revue with two other girls. I had no talent. No special ability, making me essentially a roadie. I did what was needed of me, which usually involved helping set up and take down, and various menial tasks. I cleaned the tiger cages and emptied out latrines when I had to. It wasn’t a glamorous job, but it was crucial to our way of life. Since Roxie worked with the tigers, Mahilā actually tolerated her. Roxie was helping me clean out the tiger cage they traveled in. The cage was open to a fenced-in enclosure Seth had built, so the tigers could roam as they pleased. Safēda lounged in the grass, the sun shining brightly on her white fur. Whenever we stopped, Safēda seemed ...

1.      Your characters are sent into the Hunger Games. Who wins? 1.      Your characters are sent into the Hunger Games. Who wins? If it’s just the characters from FREEKS, and only one could win, I would put my money on Luka or maybe Roxie. Luka because he can heal from injuries, which gives him a crazy advantage, but Roxie is smart and she’s a survivor. Plus, she has the power of pyrokinesis, which I think I would come in handy in a battle to the death. 2.      What do you listen to while you write? Or do you prefer silence? I almost always listen to music when I write, unless I’m writing a really difficult scene. Sometimes the silence helps me focus, but most of the time, I prefer music. For FREEKS, I got to make a really fun 80's playlist, so I especially enjoyed working to that. 3. What is the most embarrassing thing you’ve looked up in the name of research – or what do you think the gover...

1. premonitions   My feet rested against the dashboard of the Winnebago as we lumbered down the road, the second vehicle in a small caravan of beat-up trailers and motorhomes. The sun hadn’t completely risen yet, but it was light enough that I could see outside. Not that there was much to see. The bridge stretched on for miles across Lake Tristeaux, and I could see nothing but the water around us, looking gray in the early morning light. The AC had gone out sometime in Texas, and we wouldn’t have the money to fix it until after this stint in Caudry, if we were lucky. I’d cracked the window, and despite the chill, the air felt thick with humidity. That’s why I never liked traveling to the southeastern part of the country—too humid and too many bugs. But we took the work that we got, and after a long dry spell waiting in Oklahoma for something to come up, I was grateful for this. We all were. If we hadn’t gotten the recommendation to Caudry, I’m not sure what we would’ve d...