12/31/2016

Goodbye 2016 – Welcome New Year 2017

This time, since the year has only a few hours left before 2017 starts, I will do a bit of a different wrap-up. The year is nearly over, and I will reflect on what moved me, the blog and all the things that came along with it and how I am planning on starting the New Year 2017.

Like every year December was a very stressful month. Christmas time is always kind of busy, everyone turns completely nuts and all that is pressed into two weeks when people start realizing, that Christmas Eve is just around the corner. Don´t know why that is, but this year was no exception. In fact, it was worse than ever before.

Is it only me, or is time really flying? Where has the year been? It seems like yesterday that I heard the bells ringing for 2016 and the beautiful firework was lighting up the sky. Well, a few hours to go and it will be happening again. I only hope that the New Year will bring a lot more positive things than the old one brought bad ones. After the past few days, I am really under the impression that this was - when it comes to certain things - the worst year ever.

But the past twelve months have brought me a lot of good things as well. I think especially of all the new authors I could discover throughout the year - among them the debut author Abbie Roads. With her, I shared a lot of firsts. Thanks to her I won my first giveaway; got a signed ARC she sent me by mail across the Atlantic (authors usually don´t do this!) and I received a beautiful card from her – handwritten! Her Fatal Dreams Trilogy is a must-read for every lover of the dark contemporary romance.

Or Sara Humphreys who rocked me with her fantastic McGuire Brothers series, the lovely Sarah Morgan with her beautiful Christmas Story or Marie Force who brought me right back into the breathtaking mountains of Vermont. To name only a few. A lot of wonderful memories showed up in my mind and I enjoyed reading those books very much.

Oh yes, this year was in many ways great - especially when it comes to me & participating in giveaways. I never won so many books and gorgeous swag than I have this past twelve months. I started being part of release tours, signed up for various challenges and met many new people around the globe. AND not to forget the reading!

Believe it or not, but I never read so many books during a year as I did in 2016. At least I can´t remember. I read one hundred and eleven books. In numbers: 111. In Germany, it is called a repdigit. With a total of 40.315 pages. Don´t worry I will not bother you with other numbers. I just wanted to share that *smile*

Oh yes, I know that there are readers who read twice as much as I did. But for me that number is huge and I won´t probably be able to repeat that.

2017 will be the year of changes. But not the kind you would probably expect. I just want to turn a few things around, give little things a little twist and look more after myself. More than I did until now. Some things you have to accept. Some things you just can´t change even if you would love to but not everything is in your power.

But that is okay. I can live with that knowledge, and do my best to stay healthy, well and will live every day to the fullest. I have some really great friends I am thankful for and yes books will still be a great part of my life, even in 2017. And I will continue writing reviews about them and share them on my blog and other places in the World Wide Web; but not the way I used to.

Sometimes you have to stop wondering about things and see if you can change something for yourself without losing the benefit of others.

So I am looking very much forward to what 2017 will bring. And with that, I am closing 2016 and wish you all a great day, a wonderful safe and happy night and we see us (hopefully) safe and sound in the New Year!

Happy New Year

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12/31/2016

2017 New Release Challenge – Sign-Up

I am soooo excited! After the 2016 New Release Challenge was such fun and I reached not one but all possible goals, I decided to go on another round with this challenge. So I am signing- up for it again (which I am doing with this post now) and hope that it´ll be as much fun to do as the last was. I am planning on reading books like I do every year so the next year won´t be any different from this current one. But I fear that I won´t be able to go beyond the second level since I know that I won´t have quite as much time to read as I did during the past year. Though despite that, I still will be reading and reviewing.

The challenge will be hosted again by Lexxie at (un)Conventional Bookviews and Stormi at Books, Movies, Reviews! Oh My!

There is only one thing I want to add (to avoid any misunderstandings). I handle this blog and my reviews in English, but the books I read are mostly German books, which means – for this challenge – that the German translation is published in 2017. And I will be reading some English books, too. And the ones I will use for this challenge are of course released in 2017.

With that cleared some rules about this challenge. Not working without them and so that you know what you´re signing up for – in case you want to join the club *smile*

The 2017 New Release Challenge is a year-long challenge in which we aim to read books released in 2017. Lexxie at (un)Conventional Bookviews will host this challenge together with Stormi at Books, Movies, Reviews! Oh My!. There will be monthly update posts, and each quarter – the end of March, end of June, end of September and in December, there will be a giveaway with the update as well.

Lexxie and Stormi have also created a Facebook Group for the 2016 New Release Challenge, to have a place where we can keep up with each other, cheer each other on, ask questions, and get to know each other better. It is also a place where we can help each other to find even more new releases. That group works for the 2017 New Release Challenge too. So make sure to step in and have some fun along the way …

The Rules For The 2017 New Release Challenge Are Simple

• Books have to be released and reviewed in 2017.
• Other challenges can be used as well, if you are participating in the Netgalley / Edelweiß challenge or in the COYER challenge, books can count towards more than one challenge, as long as the ones you use for the 2017 New Release Challenge qualify to the other rules.
• The minimum length for a book to qualify is 100 pages, it can be in any format, though, physical, e-book, ARC or audiobook.
• The New Book Release Challenge is open from January 1st through December 31st 2017, and sign ups are open until February 15th 2017.
• You don´t have to be a blogger to participate, you can link to your review on Goodreads or Booklikes instead – so don´t be shy!

There Are Five Levels In The New Release Challenge

1. 1-30 books per year – New Release Newbie
2. 31-60 books per year – New Release Pro - my goal
3. 61-100 books per year – New Release Veteran
4. 101-200 books per year – New Release Enthusiast
5. 200+ books per year – New Release Obsessed

To sign up, please link your sign-up post in the linky on (un)Conventional Bookviews, and there you´ll find some more details too …

Happy reading

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12/31/2016

Stacking The Shelves #37 - Bought, Borrowed & Bagged #21

Stacking The Shelves is hosted by Tynga´s Reviews and is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical stores or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts, and of course ebooks! I am also connecting with Bought Borrowed & Bagged in homage of Barron´s Books & Baubles from Karen Marie Moning´s smash hit series, Fever, hosted by Braine at Talk Supe.

Since my pre-ordered books which were actually scheduled for this month to be released, are apparently undeliverable, I am posting my last STS & BBB for this year with only one book. I won it in a giveaway during a yearlong challenge in a forum which is the German counterpart to Goodreads.

Won Giveaway

Happy reading

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12/30/2016

Sternenwald by Julie Heiland

This novel is the last installment in a trilogy. A trilogy that actually got no name. The first time I heard of the author was in 2014 when I got asked if I would be interested in reading and reviewing some books the publisher had planned to release the following year. I don´t know anymore if it was the cover that made me pick it or the synopsis on the publisher´s website. Either way, I only know for sure that I had no idea that it was meant to be a trilogy. I don´t know for sure, to be honest, if I would have picked it if I´d known it. But I was curious back then, so why not? Julie Heiland was at that time a completely new author to me. And today, after I´ve read the third and last book of this nameless trilogy I know that the style, the writer has, is not for me.

Sternenwald*

by Julie Heiland
Wald Trilogy #3
Publisher Fischer FJB on May 25, 2016
Genre Children 14+
Pages 383
Format Hardcover
Source Publisher

Goodreads

✶✶

“You need a plan. You need someone who helps you. Only that way you have a chance!” Their escape has failed. Emilian is missing. Everything is full of blood. Robin wants to go back, wants to free him from the force of the Tauren. But as she runs through the forest, suddenly someone jumps on her. A stranger. And he does not want to kill her, he wants to protect her. Robin realizes that she can only break the power of the Tauren and help Emilian and the Leonen with the help of the other star nations. But she is running out of time. Her powers wane visibly …

“Give up, Robin. You will not escape me.” Still Robin can hear Birkaras´ whisper and Emilian´s screams. But even if Robin wants nothing else than to liberate Emilian immediately from the violence of her father, she knows, that she can´t make it on her own and that she needs help. Who will be at her side?

Story

Robin is the daughter of Birkaras, the cruel and reckless leader of the Taurin. A regulars as bloodthirsty and ready to murder whenever they like whatever they like as you can´t even imagine. Her mother was born as a Leonin, a peaceful and very down to nature regulars who only want to live in peace. Now, almost eighteen years later Robin has to fight for her life because her father wants her death – the only way for him to stay alive. But his life comes with a murderous price. And when Robin finally figures out how they are bound together, what she has to do to end it, her way of fighting him off is completely different from what he was told over all those years and in what he believed.

Style

Some parts of this story are told from the first-person perspective by Robin, others from the figural point of view from various other characters. A way of telling a story that can be nice to read, but in this case, it is a bit confusing. 

Julie Heiland´s writing style is dull, her tone dry and her sentences mostly very short. Familiar with the term staccato?; because that is exactly how it reads. There is no question that the author as a very unique fantasy. Robin´s world seems very ancient, like in the middle age and at the same time as if she was living in the world we know today. There are some different tribes; every one of them has its own magic, its own way to live. The tribe of the Leonen, the ones Robin was born into, is very down to earth and very, very poor – and kind of a slave to the tribe of the Taurin.

I mentioned a bit earlier, that the author´s style was not for me, despite the fact that she obviously has a very unique fantasy. I believe that the author had all the perfect things in her head to write a great story – she only didn´t use it. At some point, I thought for Christ´s sake how boring can it get? Why am I reading this? There were some logical mistakes, some scenes that didn´t make sense at all and I literally had to force myself to stay focused. 

Characters

You will find all kinds of figures in this novel. Some of them are good, some of them are boring, some of them are reckless and cruel and some of them are cowards. All of them are described by their actions or the lack of it.

Robin is a young woman that started out as a strong and very independent character. She was strong-willed, knew her way around the forest, how to hunt and had times in which she disputed anything and everything. She included. But she never was insecure or scared. In this last book, she has become a weak and very insecure young person. A person that runs off without thinking or even having a plan the second she has a nightmare about her family. She doesn´t want to tell the love of her life, Emilian, the truth, that she is dying only because she wants him to spend the last time she has as easygoing as possible. An intention that can be everything but good. 

Conclusion

With Sternenwald I read a novel that wasn´t for me. This book would have been enough with only half of its pages. I can´t really recommend it, as sad as it is. And it gets even sadder, when I say, that the best of it is the cover. 

Happy reading

*At the time of the review, the book was only available in the German language.

Julie Heiland

Julie Heiland, born 1991, lives nearby Munich. She studied journalism. Parallel she made an acting and rhetoric apprenticeship and played in some TV films. 

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12/30/2016

The Silent Dead by Tetsuya Honda

The summary sounded very intriguing and the cover was not like what I usually see when it comes to a book of the crime or thriller genre. And the fact, that the author is one of Japan´s bestselling authors made me even more curious. So I read it and here is my review. This book is the first I´ve read by the author. And to be honest I am not sure if I will continue with this series. Yes, it was very interesting to see how things are handled in Japan and how the mentality is there. But in the end, the author couldn´t live up to the expectations I had because of the summary.

The Silent Dead*

by Tetsuya Honda
Reiko Himekawa Series #1
Publisher Macmillan Publishers on May 17, 2016
Genre Thriller
Pages 304
Format Hardcover
Source Publisher

Goodreads

✶✶✶½

When a body wrapped in a blue plastic tarp and tied up with twine is discovered near the bushes near a quiet suburban Tokyo neighborhood, Lt. Reiko Himekawa and her squad take the case. The victim was slaughtered brutally – his wounds are bizarre, and no one can figure out the “what” or the “why” of this crime. At age twenty-nine, Reiko Himekawa of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police´s Homicide Division is young to have been made lieutenant, particularly because she lacks any kind of political or family connections. Despite barriers created by age, gender, and lack of connections, she is mentally tough, oblivious to danger, and has an impressive ability to solve crimes. Reiko makes a discovery that leads the police to uncover eleven other bodies, all wrapped in the same sort of plastic. Few of the bodies are identifiable, but the ones that are have no connection to each other. The only possible clue is a long shot lead to a website spoken only in whispers on the Internet, something on the dark web known as “Strawberry Night”. But while she is hunting the killer, the killer is hunting her … and she may very well have been marked as the next victim. 

Story

Reiko is single and her work means everything to her. When she is confronted with a dead body and the fact, that something isn´t right in the picture she sees right in front of her, she starts to look around and to get all the pieces of the puzzle together. But she is watched very closely by some of her team members. Not everyone is happy that she does the job she does.

Style

The author´s writing style is clear, he shows the Japanese world in a very open and direct way and some scenes are very obscene. You see things happen that would bring you here in Europe right into a courtroom for sexual harassment. 

The story starts from the first-person perspective of the bad guy and changes into the personal perspective of Reiko and her colleagues. Parted into five parts you get a really good picture of the way how the police work in Japan, how the hierarchy works and that women are not equal to men, no matter what they do. Honor is everything in this world and sometimes the power of the unknown and danger is more arousing than anything else.

Characters

The picture of women, the author created with his main figure, was not really mine. Yes, she is described as a tough woman, as a female who has to fight, to be accepted by her male colleagues. But there was not much to see of her being as tough as told in the summary. And Reiko seems to find some perverse pleasure in the way how some of her male colleagues behave in front of her. She slaps them right into their faces during she´s having lunch with them, seems to enjoy that one of them becomes very obtrusive and is almost sexually harassing her. On the other hand, she has to deal with her own demons. She got raped in a very brutal way and the shadow of that is still haunting her. 

All in all, it was very interesting to watch how the author brought her to life, how he created all his figures and the way he presented them is new and therefore different – which is good.

Conclusion

When I only put that book down to its thriller and psychological finesse then it was a really good book. But I couldn´t really connect with the main figure or the others. Sure, I am not very familiar with the way how men and women live in Japan and treat each other, but for me, grown-up in the western hemisphere it was a bit too strange.

Happy reading

*I read the German edition new release by Fischer TB on November 24, 2016. 

Tetsuya Honda

Tetsuya Honda is one of Japan´s best-selling authors with the ongoing crime series featuring Reiko Himekawa, a Homicide Detective with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police. The series has sold roughly 4 million copies in Japan and is the basis for two TV mini-series, a TV special, and a major theatrical motion picture. So far there are four books in this series. Honda lives in Tokyo.

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12/24/2016

Merry Christmas

Christmas time is a special time. And I don´t mean the Christmas shopping or that we do a lot of baking and decorating. No, I mean the special spirit that comes along during those weeks and days.

When you go upstairs to the attic or downstairs to the basement to get all those boxes filled with decoration stuff, window pictures, and Christmas lights and all the memories come up. When you go out to get your tree and the whole house starts to smell after gingerbread, cinnamon, apples, marzipan, and pine.

During those weeks I like to revel in the memories I have from that time when I lived in the US. I still have the pictures and when I see all the snow, and how the kids have grown into grown-ups since then it is always a mix of emotions I go through. Oh yes, that was one very special Christmas time.

Here in Europe mean those days, at least for me, a lot of celebrations. My father celebrates a few days before Christmas Eve his birthday and the entire family comes together to have coffee and see each other. It is as much fun as it is exhausting. Pleasure as much as it is kind of stressful *smile*

On Christmas Eve some of us do the cooking and some of us – mostly my father and me - decorate the tree.  Besides the usual decorating we wrap every year little sweet stuff (mostly chocolates) into fine silk paper and hang it with a golden or silver thread all over the tree.  Together with the lights, the bowls, the other silver threads and the little wood figures it always looks beautiful.

We put our gifts under the tree after we arrived at my parent´s place and you can watch the gift pile grow every time a member of my family arrives. This is actually a very fun time during this day since those, who are already there start to think about what could be in this gift box or the other. And because we are not allowed to touch all those gifts, not before we had dinner, we snack from the tree, eat Christmas cookies, have coffee or tea and get us up to date about the things that had happened in our lives since we saw us the last time. And believe me, there is a lot of chatter, giggling, and laughter on that day and during the others.

After dinner, we gather in the living room and start our gift-giving. Each gift is given personally to the one it is meant for and every year it is fun to watch how the faces change from anxious expectation into joy and laughter when they finally have unpacked their gifts.

During the holidays this tree is the favorite background for my nieces and nephews to take a lot of pictures and since we have our tree in a corner between the living room and dining room - that area is sometimes a bit crowded *smile*

So this is a little insight into the way how we celebrate those days. I don´t know how you spend your holidays, but no matter how you will celebrate – I wish you and your loved ones all a happy and reflective time full of light, laughter, joy, and peace.

Merry Christmas to all of you

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12/24/2016

Stacking The Shelves #36 - Bought, Borrowed & Bagged #20

Stacking The Shelves is hosted by Tynga´s Reviews and is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical stores or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks! I am also connecting with Bought Borrowed & Bagged in homage of Barron´s Books & Baubles from Karen Marie Moning´s smash hit series, Fever, hosted by Braine at Talk Supe.

The past week was a busy one with my father´s birthday celebration, I had my share of anger and the weather kind of knocked me out. I didn´t get done as much reading as I would have liked to, and some books I thought would arrive, haven´t.

So no bought books this week, but one GREAT NEWS:

I got the approval from a German publisher to review Sandra Brown´s Mean Streak (German title: Sanfte Rache) – which I am freaking happy about. My blog is still a small one, though this means a lot to me!

Reviewer Copy

In the Witchlands, there are almost as many types of magic as there are ways to get in trouble – as two desperate young women know all too well. Safiya is a Truthwitch, able to discern truth from lie. It´s a powerful magic that many would kill to have on their side, especially amongst the nobility to which Safi was born. So Safi must keep her gift hidden, lest she be used as a pawn in the struggle between empires. Iseult, a Treadwitch, can see the invisible ties that bind and entangle the lives around her – but she cannot see the bonds that touch her own heart. Her unlikely friendship with Safi has taken her from life as an outcast into one of reckless adventure, where she is a cool, wary balance to Safiya´s hotheaded impulsiveness. Safiya and Iseult want to be free to live their own lives, but war is coming to the Witchlands. With the help of the cunning Prince Merik (a Witch and privateer) and the hindrance of a Bloodwitch bent on revenge, the friends must fight emperors, princes, and mercenaries alike, who will stop at nothing to get their hands on a Truthwitch.

When forced to choose between safety with the dragon organization Talon and being hunted forever as an outcast, Ember Hill chose to stand with Riley and his band of rogue dragons rather than become an assassin for Talon. She´s lost any contact with her twin brother, Dante, a Talon devotee, as well as Garret, the former enemy soldier who challenged her beliefs about her human side. As Ember and Riley hide and regroup to fight another day, Garret journeys alone to the United Kingdom, birthplace of the ancient and secret Order of St. George, to spy on his former brothers and uncover deadly and shocking secrets that will shake the foundations of dragons and dragon-slayers alike and place them all in imminent danger as Talon´s new order rises.

Dr. Emory Charbonneau, a pediatrician and marathon runner, disappears on a mountain road in North Carolina. By the time her husband Jeff, miffed over a recent argument, reports her missing, the trail has grown cold. Literally. Fog and ice encapsulate the mountainous wilderness and paralyze the search for her. While police suspect Jeff of “instant divorce”, Emory, suffering from an unexplained head injury, regains consciousness and finds herself the captive of a man whose violent past is so dark that he won´t even tell her his name. She´s determined to escape him, and willing to take any risks necessary to survive. Unexpectedly, however, the two have a dangerous encounter with people who adhere to a code of justice all their own. At the center of the dispute is a desperate young woman whom Emory can´t turn her back on, even if it means breaking the law. Wrong becomes right at the hands of the man who strikes fear, but also sparks passion. As her husband´s deception is revealed, and the FBI closes in on her captor, Emory begins to wonder if the man with no name is in fact, her rescuer from those who wish her dead – and from heartbreak.

Happy reading

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12/23/2016

Happy Blog Birthday!

I can´t believe that one year is already over and my blog is celebrating its FIRST BIRTHDAY! Wooohooo!
And what exciting, exhausting and stress full months those were!

Today, one year ago, on December 23, 2015; I hit the publish button and launched Gone With The Books.
Born out of the need to give my international friends a place where they would be able to read my reviews and where I was pretty much in control about everything.




Now, one year later, I can hardly believe that twelve months have gone by and that this blog has become my little success.

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12/22/2016

Upcoming New Releases December

Okay, I am a bit late with this list this month, but like every month there are some book new releases for December too. I am looking very much forward to their release date and some of them are already pre-ordered or on my wishlist or already at my shelves.

My list contains book new releases for Germany, the US, and the UK which I am very interested in. It can be that you will see some titles in my list that are already being published abroad but will hit the German bookstores only by now. To my utter surprise, I have this month way more original US/UK titles than German new releases - and my TBR is growing, and growing, and, yes you guessed it right: growing! Well, shouldn´t surprise me, right? Right! What would a book crazy person like me do without new books – being bored like hell!

Don´t know which of them I will be able to read before the year ends, not to mention buying them or getting them as a reviewer´s copy. But I have the plan and hope that I can use the Christmas break to read some of those books from my huge pile. Since most of our publishers here use that time of year to do intern stuff and wrap up the past few months, they don´t process any book requests around Christmas and New Year´s Eve. Because of that, it seems the perfect time to make some progress on those books I have already on my mountain high pile. Hopefully, the one or the other book will make it into my hands and right before my eyes - and if not this year, then certainly during the next year *laugh*

Okay, now enough of the talking. My list for December:

English New Releases

Island Of Glass by Nora Roberts

Hunt The Dawn by Abbie Roads

This Is Our Song by Samantha Chase

Blood Vow by J. R. Ward

Hissy Fit by Mary Kay Andrews

German New Releases

 

 

Mean Streak by Sandra Brown (Sanfte Rache)

Happy reading

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12/21/2016

Waiting On Wednesday #30 – Crown Of Three-A Kingdom Rises by J. D. Rinehart

is a weekly event hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine. This meme is a place that spotlights upcoming releases that we´re eagerly anticipating with pure joy.

Yes, I admit it I like to read books that are written especially for children. No matter what age they are.

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12/17/2016

Stacking The Shelves #35 - Bought, Borrowed & Bagged #19

Stacking The Shelves is hosted by Tynga´s Reviews and is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical stores or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts, and of course ebooks! I am also connecting with Bought Borrowed & Bagged in homage of Barron´s Books & Baubles from Karen Marie Moning´s smash hit series, Fever, hosted by Braine at Talk Supe.

The past week was not as usual around this time of year. The weather is like in April, on one day rain and strong winds, the next bright sunshine, the next a mix of rain, sun and fog and the next it goes back to cold and windy. Not what you would expect from a winter day shortly before Christmas. Under normal circumstances, I would have listed here a few more books as bought, but some of my pre-ordered books are still on their way to Europe. So this time my STS is kind of short – again …

Bought Book

Reviewer Copy

Happy reading

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12/17/2016

Saving Grace-Bis Dein Tod Uns Scheidet by B. A. Paris

The cover was the first thing that caught my attention. The color combination, the different prints the cover shows and of course the back text made me very interested in reading this thriller. And it was so worth it. This is one of the books, where the original (Behind Closed Doors) and the German edition were published within a few months from each other. And after I´ve read it, I didn´t wonder anymore why the timeframe between publishing the original and the edition I´ve read had been that close. This is a great debut thriller!

Saving Grace-Bis Dein Tod Uns Scheidet*

by B. A. Paris
Original Title Behind Closed Doors
Publisher Blanvalet on November 21, 2016
Genre Thriller
Pages 349
Format Softcover
Source Publisher

Goodreads

✶✶✶✶½

Grace and Jack Angel are the perfect couple. The 33-year-old is warm-hearted, caring, and beautiful. Jack looks good, is charming and fights as a well-respected lawyer for the rights of mistreated women. But should one ever trust perfection? Why, for example, can Grace eat so much at dinner parties and never puts on any weight? And why surrounds a high fence the beautiful house of the two? But if you want to ask Grace about that, you realize that she is never alone. Because Jack is always – really always – at her side …

Story

Grace is in heaven. Jack is the man of her dreams. Charming, handsome, successful, kind and he seems to love her younger sister, too. In fact, he does everything to make her life happy and easy. Until the first dark clouds arise. Her sister has an accident on her wedding day and Grace has to choose for the first time between her and Jack. Her decision is the first of many wrong decisions. Within no time she has to learn, that Jack isn´t the man she thought he´d be. And a fight about life, feelings, and survival begins.

Style

Right from the beginning, you can feel the danger that comes through every sentence, every word and every movement the figures do. You can´t really grab it, but it is there. The atmosphere is threatening, and the story has a certain mood.

This thriller is told from Grace´s perspective and lets you dive deep into a relationship where evil rules. The book is parted into two lines of action. One plays in the present and shows how Grace´s marriage really is, the other in the past, where you get to know from chapter to chapter who everything started. In the end, the perspective switches and you can sense that something bad had happened but you are seeing only what happens in the present. That gives you a really interesting view and lets you feel how the protagonist feels at that particular moment. 

B. A. Paris has a very intense writing style. Her tone is very calm, very silent and her words are to the point. She doesn´t need to write long sentences or give you many details. You know almost by instinct what she is talking about and what she wants you to see.

Characters

Jack is pure evil. Oh yes, he does look like a god and he, for sure, knows how to use his charm to get what he wants the way he wants it. But behind his perfect façade lies a man you don´t even want to meet in your worst nightmares. And when Grace finally sees who he really is and when she learns the story that is behind all of it, she is as shocked as the reader. The author brings the character of Jack to paper with a sensitive instinct for details, with the right amount of danger and threat to make very clear: Beauty is not always what she seems to be at first sight. 

Grace is a smart, strong and very beautiful woman. She is perfect in Jack´s eyes. But she has one Ass inside her sleeve that Jack didn´t see coming.

Conclusion

Afterward, I felt kind of anxious. This book wasn’t at all what I had expected. Sure, when reading a new author, you always hope that there will be something different. Especially when you read an author in a genre you usually read a lot. But B. A. Paris managed to surprise me in a positive way. This won´t be the last book I´ve read by her, that is for sure. Read! 

Happy reading

*This book was kindly provided to me by Blanvalet in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Thank you. Therefore you see the cover of the German edition is shown first in this review. This on the right side is the UK/US/CDN cover.

B.A. Paris

B.A. Paris grew up in England but has spent most of her adult life in France. She has worked both in finance and as a teacher and has five daughters. Behind Closed Doors is her first novel.

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12/10/2016

Stacking The Shelves #34 - Bought, Borrowed & Bagged #18

Stacking The Shelves is hosted by Tynga´s Reviews and is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical stores or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts, and of course ebooks! I am also connecting with Bought Borrowed & Bagged in homage of Barron´s Books & Baubles from Karen Marie Moning´s smash hit series, Fever, hosted by Braine at Talk Supe.

Guess I was a pretty good girl. I only purchased two books! And stayed under 20 Bucks – how good is that?! I have to admit, that I haven´t finished the Dagger series by J. R. Ward after I´ve read the first three books. But when I saw the offer to get Blood Vow at a very low price and believe me, that price was unbelievable low for a new release hardcover, I just couldn´t resist and thought I give it another try. Maybe this series will haunt me more. You´ll never know. Though I still have to get the first one of that series *laugh*.

Bought Book

Happy reading

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12/10/2016

The Sprite Sisters A Wisdom Of Owls by Sheridan Winn

A couple of years ago I found the first four books of this beautiful series at my library and fell in love with their covers. Since then I waited every year for the author to publish a new story about The Sprite Sisters and their magical life at Cantrip Towers. This series is a huge success in Germany and for me, as a grown-up, it is still a pleasure to read them. The love of a family, caring about each other, trust, friendship, loyalty and some family traditions. All those things are very important, if not the most valuable things in the world – especially in our times …

The Sprite Sisters-A Wisdom Of Owls*

by Sheridan Winn
The Sprite Sisters #9
Translation Katrin Weingran
Vignette Franziska Harvey
Publisher Fischer KJB on August 25, 2016
Genre Children 8+
Pages 302
Format Hardcover
Source Publisher

Goodreads

✶✶✶✶

Four sisters against a dark menace. The magical secret of Flame, Marina, Flora and Sky is in danger! Sarah Stringer, the new school secretary tries with every means to make life difficult for the girls and to get behind how their magic works. Sarah receives support from her nephews, the mysterious twins Oliver and Simon. But why do they care about the sisters? Despite the help of unexpected side, Flame, Marina, Flora and Sky get into a mean ambush.

Story

The school´s new secretary is giving the Cantrip sisters a rough time. She seems to feel what they are and tries at every chance she gets to trick them. Danger is in the air whenever the Cantrip sisters have to walk into the office. But why? The girls have done nothing to her and still they feel something is terribly wrong.

Style

I love the way how Sheridan Winn describes the world and daily life the Cantrip sisters are living in and having. Yes, I´ve read them all, and even as a grown-up woman, I am hooked by them. 

The author has a very nice way and writes with lots of warmth about the Cantrip family, their home, animals and how they protect each other. Her language is simple but wonderful and the stories are always very magical, with the right amount of adventure and love. And you should probably know that not all of the family members do have that magical power. Only the sisters know about it and their grandmother. The rest doesn´t believe in it. So whenever their home is in danger, the girls have to do their magic in secret. This brings a beautiful kind of tension into the books and makes you want more. It is quite nice to see how the sisters grow up, how they become teenage girls, what that means to the family and how they have to deal with the fact that they are not allowed to tell anyone outside the family about their magic. 

Characters

For Marina and Flame, the two eldest Cantrip sisters it becomes more and more difficult to hide what they are from their friends. And since they have boyfriends, it is even more, a problem for them.

Sky, the youngest, has to deal with the fact, that her sisters are now going to a different school and that she can only see them during the weekend. Something she doesn´t really like. She is a very smart little girl and has some powers you won´t expect.

Sheridan Winn created some wonderful and very strong characters, along with a warm-hearted grandmother, a mother who denies that magic even exists and a father who does everything for his girls. He always wonders what is going on around him and probably feels that there is more to his girls but the ordinary.

Conclusion

Again a nice book, though I missed the usual charm, wit, and humor a bit the other books had. But nonetheless a wonderful read for little children. 

Happy reading

*At the time of the review, the book was only available in the German language so I can´t provide a UK/US cover.

Sheridan Winn

Sheridan Winn lives in Norwich, England. She is a freelance journalist and divides her time between freelance work and book writing. When she was six years old, her family moved to a big, rambling house in the country. Littlewood House became the inspiration for Sprite Towers. She worked for The Times, The Guardian and became 2012 a self-publisher when she bought back the rights for her series The Sprite Sisters. The author has two grown-up children and a grand-daughter. She has a keen interest in the Arts, film and finds walking in the countryside a good way to think up ideas.

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