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I read a lot of books and I write about them on here. Mummy Geek is sometimes a guest blogger....people seem to love her.....Oh and you can find me on Twitter.....@book_geek_says. Shortlisted for Blog of the Year by the 2015 Love Stories Awards...THANK YOU!!

Monday 31 March 2014

Review: Barracuda

Price: £ 12.99
Publisher: Atlantic Books

Danny wants to be the best, the fastest and an Olympian. Swimming means everything to him. However, he can't take the pressure it seems.

I'm going to say it straight off the mark, I was a bit pissed off with Danny and his constant hate for life and his complaining and rage. I found him a totally annoying dick. However, the other characters were pretty darn awesome, his parents, Demet and siblings in particular. Danny was just horrid and at times repulsive and grotesque. I don't know if we were meant to feel sorry for him, but I can safely say I didn't, I felt nothing but disdain and at times I really wanted to hurt him.

I preferred the narrative parts that were post incident rather than pre. There is only so much about swimming I can enjoy. The post incident bits were far more interesting and tortured and I found myself swept away by them. Also, as soon as the incident was revealed, some of the momentum was lost for me as I kinda felt that the whole book until that point was building up to it. After it kind of fizzled out a touch.

It was an interesting read but I don't think I found it as absorbing and compelling as The Slap, CT's other novel that I've read which I totally adored and even enjoyed the TV adaptation of. But, if you are a CT fan give it a go none the less!

Happy Reading

Book Geek
:-s



Thursday 20 March 2014

Review: Glaze

Price: Not yet released
Publisher: Self published but in a fancy way

Petri is 15 and she wants nothing more than to get on the Glaze network. But, as things go a little bit wrong, she discovers that there maybe could be nothing worse.

Bloody hell I love KC!!! I love her, I love Petri and I bloody love Ethan!!! Also Logan! What amazing characters all round in this stonking novel. Petri is a total babe and I love her. I think I love her because she has an odd name, and is a ginge like me, as well as the fact that she takes no shit, but is also sensitive and admits when she needs help. Ethan is awesome, he wants to do right in the world and help, but still has a bit of an edge about him. Max, well what can I say about him, an awesome character...but I will say no more as I want to give nothing away!

The story is obviously set in the future, but the concept, technology and time make it a future that can easily be imagined. Especially when you have google glasses etc these days. That makes the whole thing rather scary also. Scary as this really could possibly happen. That can be more terrifying than the supernatural, not can be actually, is!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It had me gripped, it got me thinking about technology and the future, it got me thinking about control, will and power. But, it also had me whisked away to an amazing place of intrigue, plot, mystery and control that I am now finding pretty hard to let go of!

If you are a YA fan, KC fan or just a book fan, pick this up as soon as it is out!

Happy Reading

Book Geek
:-D

Wednesday 19 March 2014

Review: Leading Man

Price: £ 7.99
Publishers: Phoenix Fiction

I fully admit that when I laid eyes on this book I judged it by its cover and thought...oh dear god! But, I actually rather enjoyed it.

Max is a US celeb journalist for a magazine and his life hasn't really worked out how he'd like it too. This is the story of him, written by him.

Max is a decent enough bloke, I kinda liked him. I liked the fictional celebs that were developed for the book, but I can't help but think that some of them were based on actual real people seeing as BS is an entertainment journo himself! It would be interesting to know how much is based on his real life experiences and real people.

I will admit that I wasn't totally gripped by this book. When I put it down, I was happy to leave it there and didn't ever think about getting back to it. But, when I did pick the book back up I enjoyed it none the less.

I'd like to hope that this book is a comment on fame and celebrity and people's perceptions of it and why it is around in the first place. Maybe I'm reading too much in to it, but you never know, I could be right on this occasion.

A light hearted read, with some undertones (I hope) that shouldn't be judged by its cover. Give it a shot if you fancy it. It's rather decent.

Happy Reading

Book Geek
:-p

Monday 17 March 2014

Holmes Challenge: The Hound of The Baskervilles

Sooooo, I've been ploughing on with the challenge I have set myself and I'm rather enjoying it!

I read the Hound a good few years ago, and to be honest, I don't remember a thing about it! I remembered the Sherlock adaptation, so maybe that had clouded my memory of the book.

Anyway. It was a fun story, and slightly different from the others. Watson is however totally getting on my tits. I am starting to think he is a bit of a misogynistic and opinionated knob. I'd like him to sod off to be honest.

Totally love Sherlock and I am of course imagining him looking like Benedict. Always thought of him as an older chap when I had read bits in the past. This evidently shows the power of TV and suggestion  wins quite a lot of the time.

One thing I will comment on that I noticed was the complete lack of mention of Mary. She was alllll over The Sign of Four (yes, I know she was a main character) but also, her and Watson were getting it all on. How come she has totally disappeared in the Hound??? ACD why have you been so inconsistent here? Am I being too picky?

Anyway, totally enjoyed reading this Holmes adventure, even if Watson is a bit of a dick!

Happy Reading

Book Geek
:-)

Tuesday 11 March 2014

Review: Dead Stars; Part 1

Price: ebook £ 2.49
Publisher: self

This is the third book in The Emaneska series and you can see what I thought of the first two GLORIOUS reads here and here. For P1 we are still in the same world, we still have the same characters, but it's 15 years later and everything is all dark and twisty.

Farden continues to be the glorious twisty, dark and morbid mage you have always loved and he's getting even more moody! COME ON FARDEN! D&T are now bringing up the Arkathedral and I bloody love them still too. Yet, bad forces have appeared and things are not going all as planned now. Farden needs to come back to kick some seriously strong arse!

Once again I loved the narrative, loved the snippets of old scriptures from the world of the book and I loved the flash backs to the Nine. There is more going on with those dudes than meets the eye and I hope that P2 will answer the millions of questions that I have....if it doesn't then BG is in major TROUBLE!

I really don't want to say too much about this book as if you haven't read the other two I don't want to spoil anything. 

I command you alllllllll to read these books now. It's a great world to be thrown in to with some AMAZING characters and if you love magic, adventure and a bloody good quest style series this is defo for you. BG really is a talented young man indeed! (however, I'm not 100% sure how young he is now as we all age...unless we have a certain set of magic armour).

Happy Reading

Book Geek
:-D

Tuesday 4 March 2014

Review: The First Rule of Survival

Publisher: CR Crime
Price: £ 7.99

So, word on the street is that this is going to be THE book of the summer for crime fans. In South Africa, 7 years ago, three boys went missing without a trace. Now, seven years later, some things have happened that cause a whole new world of light to be shed on the case and DeVries is on it.

When I picked this book up, I read page 1 and 2 and it took me a few hours to feel like picking it up again. I'm not sure why to be honest as the blurb had the book sounding pretty good, as did its back story and potential hopes of the big time. Anyway, in the beginning I was rather in to this book. A mysterious case, unexplained deaths and disappearances as well as racial tensions and a main character that was a total dick, but one I could love.

However, about 100 pages before the end I started to get a bit annoyed as it seemed like the conclusion was being rushed and perps etc were being seemingly plucked from thin air. It felt a bit like the author thought he should finish the book and just picked the end at random. But, thankfully, there is more explanation within the last 25 pages of the book. However, why leave it so late and let me get so bloody annoyed??

The final few pages were awesome. They were unexpected and showed you, to an extent, the futility that can be behind staying on the straight and narrow. Sometimes, you do have to go rogue to get the answers you want.

As I said, with characters, DeVries is a messed up bad boy cop who I now love. February was a decent chap and some of the others at the top of the police were total bellends who I hate. Also, the perps and suspects were suitably hideous and big slime balls.

A crime novel in a different setting, (haven't really read much set in SA), so that was interesting as there was context and tangents not just related to the crime story in hand. If you do get annoyed, persist as the final few pages are rather hard hitters.

Happy Reading

Book Geek
:-D


Monday 3 March 2014

Holmes Challenge: The Sign of Four

Well, well, well, it seems that I am rather enjoying this challenge I have set myself. I didn't really know much about the plot of The Sign of Four and I think that helped me enjoy it alllllll the more.

It was good to see where Mary comes in to the whole story. However her and Watson fall 'in love' far too quickly for my liking, but I suppose that was the way in the days of yore. I did go off Watson a little bit, and I can't quite put my finger on why. Sherlock is a total dude and I love his mentalness in general. His quirkyness is delightful!

The story itself was pretty good and interesting. There is a distinct formula for the stories, that I have indeed noticed already, whoop for my keen eye!

I dunno what else to say really. I enjoyed it, I'm enjoying seeing relationships form between the characters and well, that's it.

I have read the Hound of the Bs before, but in the spirit of the challenge I'm going to read it again in the order the books were intended.

Happy Reading

Book Geek
:-)