My Book Review Rating: 6 stars – this novel will make think about how you value yourself and the people around you and the price you place on your freedom.

When I picked up the press release for The Unit I almost put the book to the bottom of my review pile – a previous reviewer had described it as: “Orwellian horrors in Xanadu on Xanax – creepily profound and most provocative.” Talk about putting me off as a reader! But I picked it up, and I’m glad I did, for this is one of the most thought-provoking books I’ve ever read (hence the elusive 6 star rating). And actually – now I’ve read the book – that description is pretty accurate!

The novel is written from the perspective of Dorrit Weger, a childless writer who lives alone with her dog and is close to the poverty line. On her 50th birthday she is taken to a special unit – a reserve unit for biological material – where she must live out the rest of her life. These units have been set up to cater for dispensable people – women aged 50 and men aged 60 – who are childless or don’t have a job which contributes to society. These people don’t have anyone who loves or needs them and aren’t considered useful to society, so they serve the community by undergoing various tests and studies – imagine animal testing performed on people. Eventually they donate organs to the needed citizens – those who are loved, raise children and contribute to the economic growth of society – who need organs from healthy bodies to survive.

The unit itself is a beautiful facility, with shops and restaurants, a fitness facility and a huge winter garden and the dispensables are well looked after and are encouraged to forge relationships with their peers.

This novel is beautifully written from the perspective of Dorrit and is a rich and riveting read – it also prompts many questions. What value do we place on our lives and the lives of others? Are those people who choose to raise children really the only worthy people in society?

The Unit has echos of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go – though I much preferred this novel. If you are looking for ideas for your book club then you should definitely add this to your list; I suggest you stock up on snacks before your meeting though as I suspect the issues and questions raised by Holmqvist could fuel hours of discussion!

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The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist

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My book review rating: 5 stars – this book is heart-warming and thought-provoking and one I will definitely read again

The Change Artist tells the story of Fran Freeman, a woman who has spent her whole life trying to please her father, and finds herself on a journey to the other side of the world, in search of a sister she never knew she had and the answers she needs to understand her father’s past and clear his name in a legal case.

From modern day Vancouver, Rieger takes us on a journey back to the 1930s in Vienna, into Germany in wartime and then across the Sahara Desert as Fran uncovers the secrets of her father’s past. This is a beautiful novel of love and family, of war and tragedy and people struggling for survival. It’s heartbreaking but inspiring and reminds us all that life is what we make it, and that our stories live on through our loved ones.

Last year I read a few books about the Holocaust but this one looks at the atrocity from a whole new angle; in writing The Change Artist, Carla Rieger delivers a beautiful story woven by a compelling storyteller which will teach you things you may not have known about our history, make you think about the way you lead your life, and remind you that life and family are precious and should not be taken for granted. You should add it to your bookshelf today.

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The Change Artist by Carla Rieger

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I’ve never been a fan of horrors -- in movie or literary form -- so when Sarah asked me to read Worst Nightmares by Shane Briant I was reluctant, but since she’d sent me so many great books this year to review I decided that it was time to step outside my comfort zone and give it a try.

I settled down with the Prologue and almost gave up right away -- the book kicks off with a girl scratching all the skin off of her skull because she believes that insects are crawling inside her head :shudder:

In chapter one we’re introduced to the main character -- Dermot Nolan -- an award-winning author who is now suffering from writer’s block. Coming home one day Nolan finds a down and out stuffing a dirty envelope into his mail box -- and envelope containing a novel filled with grisly murders -- which the author wants Nolan to publish.

Just as I was starting to become intrigued chapter two brought more gruesome murder, with spiders and scorpions…

At this point I admit I gave up -- and started reading Stephenie Meyer’s The Host!

Now if I had bought this book from the store, or borrowed it from the library -- I would have taken it back. But as I was sent it to review I felt obliged to do just that, and I can’t really review a book based on a prologue and two chapters, so I decided I had better get stuck back in.

At this point I need to confess to Mr Briant that I figured out that in the early chapters every other one saw someone meeting a grisly end at the hands of the Dream Healer -- so I started to skip them! I have nothing bad to say about the story or the writing -- those chapters were just too scary for me to read!

By chapter 13 Nolan’s wife was trying to get him to pass the down and out’s novel off as his own piece of work -- and I was hooked. [And back to reading every chapter ]

If you can get handle the terror chapters this book is fast paced and full of twists and turns. Briant keeps you guessing all the way through about the identity of the Dream Healer and the origins of the grisly novel. I figured out ‘who did it’ some way before the end -- but Briant still managed to throw in some twists that I didn’t see coming.

I have to say that if this is what Briant comes up with for his debut novel I can’t wait to read his second (although thinking about it, it might be more scary than this one!). I’d be willing to wager that it will be appearing on a movie screen near you in the not to distant future too.

If you’re willing to be kept awake at night then you definitely need to read Worst Nightmares by Shane Briant -- treat yourself to a copy today!

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Worst Nightmares by Shane Briant

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My book review rating: 5 stars – unique, funny, enjoyable – the perfect way to while away a Sunday afternoon

When Crossed Wires by Rosie Thornton landed on my doormat I thought it looked like the perfect book to accompany me on my week at the beach – and I wasn’t wrong. Once I picked up this unique and funny novel I couldn’t put it down! The lighthearted tale of two strangers looking for love sums up the trials and tribulations of single parenthood and shows how easy it is to assume you know what someone is thinking when really you don’t have a clue!

Peter and Mina ‘meet’ when Peter manages to crash his car into a tree stump and calls the insurance company where Mina works to report the damage. Over a period of months they strike up a telephone relationship, sharing the details of their daily lives while never having met in person.

This novel is heartwarming and funny at the same time – I found myself sighing one minute and laughing out loud the next. One of my favourite scenes was where Peter’s children recount the tale of how they play table tennis with the baby sitter – but because she’s so much older than them she has to play with a saucepan instead of a bat

If you’re looking for a great novel to escape in, with believable and likable characters, a bit of romance and a not so predictable ending then you should definitely read Crossed Wires by Rosie Thornton.

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Crossed Wires by Rosie Thornton

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When I first picked up The Host by Stephenie Meyer I have to admit to being a little confused – from the world of Vampires in the Twilight Saga we now move to alien life forms invading earth… yes, Meyer has gone sci-fi!

The premise is that Earth has been invaded by an alien race of ‘Souls’; lifeforms that are implanted into the host lifeforms found on a planet. Wanderer is the invading Soul who is implanted into the body of Melanie Stryder. Named for the number of lives she has lead on different planets Wanderer soon realises that Melanie isn’t like any other host – she lives on inside her body – the body that they now share.

As humans are wiped out, to be replaced by the new alien race, the Wanderer and Melanie go on a search for Melanie’s boyfriend and brother.

Are you confused? I was – but if you stick with it you soon get caught up in a whirlwind novel as the Wanderer discovers the best and worst of human attributes and learns to fall in love with a different life form.

The Host by Stephenie Meyer has got aliens, love triangles, anger, envy, intrigue… what more could you want from a novel? Get yourself a copy today – you won’t regret it

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The Host: A Novel by Stephenie Meyer

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Here’s the picks:

Past Imperfect Overall Rating:   Retail Price: $13.17 Amazon Price: $13.17	Guernica: A Novel Overall Rating:   Retail Price: $26.00 Amazon Price: $17.16
Mr Toppit Export Ed Overall Rating:   Retail Price: Varies based on product options Amazon Price: $23.43	The Great Lover Overall Rating:   Retail Price: $13.17 Amazon Price: $13.09
The Senator's Wife (Vintage Contemporaries) Overall Rating:   Retail Price: $14.95 Amazon Price: $10.17	The Piano Teacher: A Novel Overall Rating:   Retail Price: $25.95 Amazon Price: $17.13
Palace Council (Vintage Contemporaries) Overall Rating:   Retail Price: $15.00 Amazon Price: $10.20

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The Richard and Judy Book Club Reveals Summer Reads 2009

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Another Twilight Gift for a Twilight Fan – Twilight Journals

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Check out more details – and reviews of Breaking Dawn – lower down the page.

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Breaking Dawn Special Edition Announced (The Twilight Saga)

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The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes

Overall Rating:

Retail Price: $13.95

Amazon Price: $10.94

My Book Review Rating: 5 stars – the book had me on the edge of my seat from the first word to the last.

Here in the UK this book is called The Lost Daughter - and it has a gorgeous red cover that just called to me from the shelf at the supermarket. Although only recently published here it seems this book was released in the States back in 2006 under the label The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes. How’s that for confusing? I have to say, I prefer the UK title better!

I’ve been laid up with a throat infection these past few days and was looking for something to cheer me up and pass the time so I picked up The Lost Daughter, and pretty much devoured it in two sittings. The message on the back cover says “For fans of Jodi Picoult, this is a must read” and they weren’t wrong.

Chamberlain tells the story from the angle of two different characters as we are introduced to CeeCee Wilkes, a sixteen year old girl who falls in love with an older man who then abuses her trust and puts her in a dangerous situation. Forced into the middle of a kidnap attempt which goes horrible wrong Cee Cee is forced to flee the town and change her identity. As time goes by she settles in to her new life, falls in love again and raises a family. All is well until 30 years later the man whom she was so in love with at the tender age of 16 is sentenced to death for a crime only she knows he didn’t commit. She is then faced with a heart-breaking decision. To tell the truth and shatter the lives of her much-loved family. Or keep a secret that will send an innocent man to the grave.

It’s riveting stuff and a real page-turner. I’ll be heading to Amazon to look up some of her other novels as soon as I’ve published this!

Breaking the Silence

Overall Rating:

 

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Seller: Amazon

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Secrets She Left Behind

Overall Rating:

 

Total Customer Reviews: (8)

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The Bay at Midnight

Overall Rating:

 

Total Customer Reviews: (13)

Seller: Amazon

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The Lost Daughter (The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes) by Diane Chamberlain

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My book review rating: 5 stars – an enjoyable read and an insight into the world of ancient mysticism.

Take a look at this book cover and tell me it’s not just asking to be picked up and read? I love books with covers that call to me, especially when they turn out to be a really good read! The Keeper of Light and Dust is a novel based around martial arts – not something I’ve ever been interested in before, but Mostert does an excellent job of making the characters believable and pulling you head first into what is an amazing story.

Mia Lockhart is a martial artist and a tattooist by day – but by night she is a protector, a Keeper, whose role it is to keep fighters safe as they head into the ring. When her charges begin to die in mysterious circumstances days after their fights Mia begins to realise that something is not quite right. Before long she comes face to face with a modern-day vampire, a Thief who is not looking for blood but immortality – and when her childhood friend Nick is next up in the ring Mia does what she has to in order to keep him safe.

This is a fast paced thriller with an intricate plot full of twists and turns that will keep you guessing right up until the last page. I can highly recommend it and will definitely be seeking out a copy of Mostert’s previous novel Season of the Witch.

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Keeper of Light and Dust by Natasha Mostert

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