Making It – The Rock ‘n’ Roll Diaries by Jamie Scallion

Making It by Jamie Scallion
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the kind of book I wanted to read when I was a ‘young adult’. In the 80s we had ‘Sweet Valley High’ and Judy Blume tomes (not that I am criticising Ms Blume – I was a big fan and my copy of ‘Forever’ always fell open on ‘certain pages’) but nothing about Rock n Roll … nothing about boys in tight trousers playing guitars.
The band in the book are diverse, like most rock bands are. They are a mish-mash of YA character types who come together to create a sound that rocks the scene. Much in the same way as I have seen many bands do before.
I read this with a wry grin on my face as I photographed and loved Officer Kicks for many years. Although I didn’t see the boys I know in the characters in the books there are moments I’m sure were reaped from real life!
This novel is essential for any boy or girl who wants to venture into the world of rock and I loved it.
Good work Jamie – when’s the next one out?

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The Key to Erebus – Emma V. Leech and Rosin O’Connor

The Key to Erebus by Emma V. Leech

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A few years ago a girl came onto the scene called Buffy. Buffy killed vampires. She had a best friend who was a witch. Her friend who was a witch dated a werewolf. Buffy may have killed vampires but she also went out with two. She had a sister who was a ‘key’. Her other friend, Xander, went out with a demon.

If you have read The Key To Erebus all of this will sound VERY familiar.

There is nothing new, ground-breaking or at all exciting about this novel. It is vampire romance schtick by numbers. The emasculation of male vampires in popular culture recently has gone from the unique (Angel and Spike) to the ridiculous (Edward Cullen and Corvus) and this novel suffers greatly for it.

Although it is not original, the storyline to this novel has some promise. A young woman returns to France and discovers the world isn’t quite as she thought it was. So far so good. When she faces the ‘supes’ for the first time you really feel that there is some potential. But the love story that unfolds between Lehanne and her vampire lover is simply annoying. It’s going well, it’s going well … ahhhh … she throws a strop again. It’s going well, it’s going well … ahhh … strop time. Now, you’d expect the leader of a family, ancient vampire etc. etc. to just tell her to sod right off and find someone else to annoy but NO. When did male vampires become SO pathetic?

And don’t even start me on the almost self-referential nod to Twilight. It was as if the authors decided that if they mentioned it no-one could accuse them of running behind on the coat-tails of this flawed but successful series of books.

Oh I know I’m sounding cruel and unkind, and to be fair I probably am. Afterall I didn’t abandon the book, in fact I carried on reading right to the end (but couldn’t bring myself to read the ‘exclusive sneak preview of the second book’) so I must have enjoyed something about it.

So what did I like? I thought Ines was an interesting character but it was too convenient that she kept ‘popping off’ and ‘disappearing’ when things were getting tough as it allowed the romance to blossom.
Rodney is adorable and I think I would only read the second book to find out more about him.
I loved the fact that the book was set in France also.

So there you go, that’s it for me, no more vampire romances unless an author agrees to allow the male vampire to keep his balls in tact.

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Book Review – City of Darkness (City of Mystery #1) – Kim Wright

City of Darkness by Kim Wright

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

When I saw this book being offered for free on Kindle Users Forum I was really excited. I SO wanted to love this book. I’ve lived in London over half of my life and am fascinated with this city – especially during the Victorian era. Like a lot of people, I am also slightly fascinated by the Ripper murders. So this book should have been perfect for me.

The good bit – I managed to finish it! So that’s not a bad thing because I often stop reading a book as soon as it starts annoying me. However there were elements of this book that kept me reading. Most of the characters were engaging enough to make me want to find out more about them and I like to read books that explore that era and the murders.

Unfortunately I can’t give this book more than 2 stars (‘it was ok’) because there were a couple of things that really irritated me about it.

Firstly the inconsistencies in the dialogue. Sometimes it felt as if the characters were in Victorian London and others they were sitting in Starbucks in 21st Century USA. A writer needs to give their characters a consistent voice and vernacular for you to believe them and engage with them, unfortunately I didn’t feel as though this was true.

Secondly, and this may seem petty to some, the Americanisms of the language really got to me after a while. I know that this book must have been researched so why did the author use ‘sidewalk’, ‘trash’ and describe people as traveling ‘blocks’? If I was reading a book set in America then fine, but Victorian London?

This was an interesting premise and the ‘real’ Ripper in the story surprised me (although we all know it’s Tumblety right?). So it was ok. Just that. Ok.

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Book Review – Safe House by Chris Ewan

Safe House by Chris Ewan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I occasionally read thrillers because I find them quite easy to read, they’re generally ‘page-turners’ and don’t tax you too much. Safe House is definitely such a book. I picked this up on Amazon Kindle in its 20p deal – you can’t really complain can you?

Set on the Isle of Man, home of the TT races, this compelling British thriller twists and turns until it gives itself back ache. And that’s my only criticism of it. There are TOO many twists and turns to the point where you don’t trust the representation of any character because you know they will end up being someone else.

Saying that, I enjoyed it, it romped and raced along and I would happily read another thriller by this writer.

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Book Review – The List of 7 by Mark Frost

The List of 7 by Mark Frost

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It’s not often you stumble upon a book that totally sucks you in and ticks all of the right buttons straight away. The List of 7 did that for me.

Sherlock Holmes – TICK
Occult themes – TICK
Victorian setting – TICK
Jack the Ripper – TICK
Egyptology – TICK
Spiritualism – TICK
Zombies, vampires and other monsters – TICK

It felt that this book was written for me – I’m such a selfish reader.

The basic premise is that Arthur Conan Doyle’s life is threatened following attendance at a seance; invited by a woman who wants his help. Jack Sparks rescues Doyle and warns him against the dark forces that are stalking him. What unfolds is a manic rush around the country escaping ‘the grey hoods’ and trying to solve the mystery of the 7.

If you know anything about the era, Conan Doyle, Sherlock or Jack the Ripper some of the ‘revelations’ in the book will not surprise you, but you will feel quite canny in solving some of the riddles.

The only thing that really irked me while reading this book was the American spellings of words. A book that is so steeped in English culture and history should be written using the English spellings. I know, this is really picky, but I’M really picky!

Other than that – if you enjoy a good romp, love Sherlock Holmes and enjoy your mysteries to have an esoteric edge read this. You won’t regret it.

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