#463 ~ The Glassblower

The Glassblower by Petra Durst-Benning

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

#Book 1 in the Series



I wasn't sure what to expect with this one, I don't usually pick foreign authors with translations.

The cover originally drew me in, and as I do the odd bit of glass lampwork there was no harm, I thought, in giving it a go - after all I could just use the 'Return' button if this Unlimited Kindle offering and I didn't get on.

It was a little sluggish at the beginning, but after that turned into a delightful offering. It isn't all light stuff contained in this book, there were dark under-tones; it certainly wasn't as clear as the glass the girls work with. The author has also left strands behind to be woven (or better still embroidered) into future work, which I am very much looking forward to picking up.

The subject matter is a worthy one, that of the empowerment of women; the author dealt with it well, but there was still room for a little bit of growth and playing around with the darkness offered, especially with the strand about the wholesaler. I am hoping that she will play around more with this more in the coming books.

I docked-off 1 star for the use of 'gotten' throughout the book. If you can write well, and this author certainly can, then there is no excuse for using it. That word is a disgusting plague on the written word. A shame, as that took the score to 4 stars rather than 5.

The good, the bad and the ugly

Apart from "gotten" there was nothing truly ugly in this book, and there didn't appear to be an blatant errors.

The good, though were things like this passage:

"... they called them "plum-cake days".  All summer long the songbirds had trilled in the pear tree outside the kitchen window but they were gone now.  The only sound these days was that of a blackbird chirruping or the high piping of a lark, and soon the mists would fall and silence even these."  (Durst-Benning, P (2003 - translated version 2014) Page 7).

The cover image, was also beautiful, which I believe was designed by Marc Cohen (see link below to Amazon page if you require more details on this).

Bibliography

Durst-Benning, P 'The Glassblower', 2003 Ullstein, Germany (2014 Translated from German by Willcocks, S AmazonCrossng, Country Unknown

Book was purchased via Kindle Unlimited HERE.

Happy reading.

Hugs

Kay 

xoxo

#462 ~ Merely a Mister

Merely A Mister by Sherry Lynn Ferguson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

#Book 3 in Regency Trilogy



Finally, my wait and see attitude to this author has proved vindicated.

Yes, there is no doubt that her writing style still remains changeable within a work, but there were only a couple of times in this current read.

I was, additionally, delighted that she ramped up the content. I really loved the progress of true love with Myles and Anne, and it was a very pretty scene at the end between the two ... it brought a tear to my eye (and I am a fairly hardened reader!).

On my blog under 'The good, the bad an the ugly' I have done into a little more detail about things that annoy me about her style, if anybody is interested.

Other than that, I still believe that she does hold promise of a higher rating. What I require from her are more baddies, twists and turns and conflict. Not everybody is capable, but I strongly feel she really is. O look forward to furthering our writer/reader relationship in the future - I would love to say great things of her.

For now, a very solid 4 star rating.

The good, the bad and the ugly

For those who are perhaps of the English persuasion, it might be difficult to comprehend what I mean by style with regard to this author's writing.

She does really well to stick to an authentic historical language, without tending towards the Ye Olde Worlde, but dips in and out of it at times with Americanism.

I don't tend to cite many examples of this, but as examples here a couple:

Query:

"Anne dear, you do look tired," Vera said in the light of the entry" (Ferguson, SL Location 1091).

Reasoning behind my query:

I would strongly argue that 'entry' is not really appropriately used here, and feel that it would be more commonly used in the North American language, rather than Regency England.  It would have been better to express this as hallway rather than entry.  

It may feel a really small criticism, but it can - and certainly does in my case - grate against the nerves.  Easily solved by solid and authentic research.  Given this might prove problematic, but there are always other to discuss this with by email.

Query:

"Mr Myles stood outside by the tiny front gate, just steps from the stoop."

Reasoning behind my query:

'Stoop' is another North American term, it is a 'door step' her in England.

These examples (and many others throughout the book) may feel a really small criticism, but it can - and certainly does in my case - grate against the nerves, and spoils anything with promise.

They are easily solved by solid and authentic research.  Given this might prove problematic, but there are always other to discuss this with by email.

Bibliography

Fergusion, SL 'Merely a Mister' October 2013 Montlake Romanc, Country of publication Unknown

Kindle Unlimited HERE.

Happy reading.

Hugs

Kay xoxo

#461 ~ Major Lord David

Major Lord David by Sherry Lynn Ferguson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I am beginning to realise that this author has a decent approach, but is inconsistent with style.

I am fairly sure that with a it more work on staying in a consistent style and language, and a little bit further conflict for characters, she could easily develop to a solid 4, or even 5 star writer.

She's playing safe, and it is annoying. I grade this read, a 3 star, could try harder.  I keep reading, and praying at some point she will pick up the gauntlet and run with it.

The good, the bad and the ugly

See the above, if nothing else this author is consistently inconsistent.

#460 ~ Quiet Meg

Quiet Meg by Sherry Lynn Ferguson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I am afraid that it was fairly mediocre overall. 

There were mistakes in punctuation. It also dipped in and out of the slightly more formal language, just like the previous book I reviewed by this author.

However, I did like the ending. It rounded off at a decent pace, and was satisfactory; it warrants three stars due to the ending, otherwise it would have only reached two.

The good, the bad and the ugly:

Too hot today to be bothered to complete this section for this current read.

Something that has occurred to me for future reviews is the fact that I should make sure I reference the quotes differently.  In future I will change the layout, but inevitably it will make the section longer.

Click HERE for link to book on Amazon.co.uk.


Happy reading.

Hugs

xoxox

#459 ~ Lord Sidley's Last Season

Lord Sidley's Last Season by Sherry Lynn Ferguson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a reasonable attempt at fairly accurate historical writing, a la Georgette Heyer, but failed somewhat in its attempt; a bit like the Curate's egg, it was good and bad in places. I hasten to add not all the time, it seemed to go in fits and starts, especially it seems around 80 to 90% when the pleasing set of the language took a nose dive. After that, it seemed to go up a notch or two. However, the ending was going along fairly well, but then just seemed to finish, and then was rushed right at the very, very end.

I therefore deducted 1 star for the erratic behaviour. I was delighted to find that 'gotten' did not appear to the best of my knowledge, and therefore no stars lost for that. Additionally, there was a matter of the 'House Guard' which felt a little uncomfortably expressed (more details on my blog) which coloured my view of the overall rating.

I have downloaded some of the author's other titles to see how they measure up, and for this title I have awarded 3 stars; give it a go and see how you get on with it.

The good, the bag and the ugly:


Loc  1535:  I am by no means an expert, but I do have a little knowledge of the Household Division, and was not really sure about the expression  'House Guard' at this location.  I would be fascinated to find out if I am wrong about it being incorrect to express it thus.  Even better, I would delighted to be proved wrong.  I haven't the time to do the research now, but if anybody can put me right on this please get in touch.

Happy reading.

Hugs

Kay
xoxox

#3 ~ Scribblings of Freya

I've been playing around with Haiku again:

Fill Your House for Free

Kirstie A's style on our TV

Junk to style devine

(c) Freya Thorne

I will need to do a lot of them over the coming months, so bear with me whilst I hone the skill.

Freya

xoxo

#2 ~ Scribblings of Freya

This time it's a Haiku (published on Facebook 6/8/2015)

Travel Haiku:

When train door slams shut

Town dust flies away with green peace

My heart has come home

(C) Freya Thorne

#458 ~ The Reluctant Lady

The Reluctant Lady: A Regency Historical Romance by Kate Morrell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

:

Book #1 of the Gentleman of Chirstopher's Series




I was expecting a slightly trashy romance novel, like so many on Amazon, but was pleasantly surprised. There wasn't a 'gotten' in sight, which is in itself a lovely and refreshing change. No need to deduct any stars therefore for lack of imagination the the side of the writer. I did deduct one for one or two slight grammatical errors around the family retainers', Mr and Mrs Cope and Mr and Mrs Coley, it was a silly mistake, especially given that two editors' have also been given credit. That having been said, on the whole it was a well written piece of work.

Apart from that it was of a decent length, with decently written characters and quite a taking plot. So, minus the deduction of 1 star above (see my blog for details), it was a four star read. I will be looking forward to other titles by this author. I did wonder if she was English or American, but think perhaps the standard, and fact that she has a very natural Heyer'esque style, the former is probably true.

Errors and Annoyances

Loc 1579: "The next morning the Coley's rose ..." - Coleys'.

Loc 1587: " ... with the Coleys ..." - Coleys'.

Loc 3570:  "The Cope's they sleep". - Copes'.

Loc 3581:  " ... to prevent the Cope's from interferring". - Copes'.

Loc 3609:  "... what had happened to the Copes, ..." - Copes'.

Loc 6848:  "... that he might savour her sweet scent one more, before ..." - is there a word missing?

Series title:  The Gentlemen of Christopher's series? - not sure that is correct all.

Happy reading.

Hugs

Kay xoxo

#457 - The Soul Conductor

The Soul Conductor by Clair Susann Evans

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was really interested to read a debut novel from a fellow Open University Student, who had done the Creative Writing Module, and I wasn't disappointed at all with the quality of the writing.

It was, apart from one or two teeny tiny errors in the text that I cam across (detailed below) of a really high quality. The plot was original and kept my interest right to the very end. There was a conclusion, but it wasn't an outright happy ending ... in itself that is a refreshing change, as quite a lot of authors feel the need to wrap it up with a big bow, which can detract from the work as a whole.

There are still left questions unanswered, and hopefully there will be a follow up novel to move it on. Although I feel that Clair has it in her to really ramp up the writing and add more layers of twists and turns to create a truly stunning read.

High recommended.


I did stumble across the following errors on the Kindle file:

Loc 265:  As his body convulsed with of pain from ...

Loc 943:  ... pulled him along behind one of armoured horses ...

Loc 1331:  ... but the water for him bring up.

Loc 1737:  ... stayed in such good spirits and talk about it in such a carefree ...

Loc 1839:  ... trickled back his throat and ...

Loc 4772:  His heart leaped in expectation (I'm not sure about this one, I think it should be leapt).

Loc 5260:  ... Kilora agrees me very much.


As I said, they are minor, minor things, and definitely do not detract from a superb reading experience.  It is truly heartening to find an author that does not feel the need to use 'gotten', and for this alone I would have added a further star if the quality had not, in fact, been as exceptional as it turned out - it was a full on 5 star read.


Hugs, and happy reading


Kay

#456 - The Turn of the Screw

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

My rating: 

4 of 5 stars

Recently in my Uni group there was a discussion about whether some books have narration that specifically sets out to deceive the reader. This book was one on a list of 5 that it was felt did just that.

I had never read it before, but was aware of an Opera based on the book, which although I had not seen I had heard discussed.

Although I was aware that the narrator may try to deceive me, I was a little dubious that I would, indeed even notice that that was what was happening.

The book is skilfully written, and at the finish I did indeed have the strong feeling that the narrator did not only seek to deceive, but probably was fully aware of much, much more of the circumstances, and deliberately set out to side-track, divert and subvert my understanding of the whole, and there fore certainly stands up to its reputation.

Happy reading.

Kay

Book just started: The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

It's part of a discussion that we've been having on Unreliable Narrators.

xoxox

#455 - Call of the Kiwi

Call of the Kiwi by Sarah Lark

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The conclusion to the 'Land of the Long White Cloud' Family saga by Sarah Lark. Although I have to admit I took the easy way out and listened to the audio version that came along with my Kindle Unlimited copy.

I had at first thought that it was an electronic voice, but realised eventually that this was an incorrect impression. There were little things with it that I found annoying, such as 'said' pronounced 'sad' and sometimes no the correct intonation. However, on the whole it was enjoyable, and meant that I could bust through it quite quickly.

As far as the writing was concerned, it was probably the most harrowing of the three books. Although with the writing of Miss Lark I do find that whilst it's generally a good story told fairly well, the characters lack a little in texture and depth.

I do believe, however, that they are translations, and am perfectly willing to accept that this be a consequence of not reading it in the original, and thus authentic, voice of the writer themselves.

Apart from that I haven't any real criticism; thus, 4 star rating.

Hugs

Kay

xoxo

A perfect property

can often form what you find pleasing as an adult, such as this house:

This house is pleasing in so many ways, in fact it fits the almost to the letter the ideal of the place to live.  It needs a Victorian Wooden Conservatory with a patterned tiled floor to the left-hand side, but apart from that it's perfect.

Close to the church with the bells ringing on a late summer evening, the heady smell of Coxes Orange Pippin Apples and a tough naughty pony trotting by.

That could well be because it actually is the house I remember from my childhood, minus the Victorian Conservatory that seems to have gone now.

xoxo

#454 ~ Song of the Spirits

Song of the Spirits by Sarha Lark

My Rating 4 out of 5

This is the second book in the saga of 'Land of the Long White Cloud'

Overall, it was really enjoyable and the characters stories moved on.  At times though, it is a little mechanical and lacking texture, but it could well be that its a translation of the original.

That having been said, it's still well worth a read, and I have just downloaded the third book in the series.

There was probably the odd mistake in there too, but I'm so pleased to be back reading for pleasure again after my degree module last year has taken up so much of my time with all the academic reading I needed to do.

 I have cracked and gone down the Kindle Unlimited route, and am looking forward to taking advantage of the audio track.  At least this way I can listen to it at work and not feel I am drowning in an academic sea.

Have a good day, and happy reading.

Freya Thorne, Author

Hi all

I thought I'd share some of my scribblings here on the blog ..., Toodles Book Club has kindly let me move in as a roomie until I get a home of my own.

First though, let me introduce myself.

I'm Freya Thorne and am undertaking the A215 Creative Writing Module with this Open University this coming academic year in the hope that it will kick start the many novels hanging around in my head.  My favourite genre is historical romance, but it's going to be all about extending myself with this module, and so it could well be anything from crime to chicklit to poetry that will be coming to a keyboard during my year.

Some of my free writing I can share, and some has to wait until the module has finished. I'll also try to share extracts from the novel as I go along.

A writer's lot is not always a happy one with words sometimes insisting on being dragged slowly and painfully from the depths, and at other times springing fully formed with no apparent assistance from me ... hopefully it will be an entertaining journey.


Hugs

Fraya

xoxoxox

#453 ~ The Burial of Thebes

The Burial at Thebes: A Version of Sophocles' Antigone by Seamus Heaney

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A year ago I would have laughed heartily and long if anyone had told me I'd give one of the Classics A 5 star review.

It is one of the book's on the Open University AA100 The Arts past and present module, and I had been ambivalent at best, so when my Amazon package arrived I just thought it would be a quick flick through. How wrong could one girl be?

From the first word I was hooked. Seamus Heaney has done the most excellent job of making this Classic readable, and more importantly understandable and interesting.

I can't wait to get a deeper understanding of the text as my course goes on.




View all my reviews

#452 ~ New Beginnings

New Beginnings by Fern Britton

My rating: 4 of 5 stars








Reading time at the moment is a precious, precious thing, and therefore I was surprised to find out that this book by Fern Britton was 400 pages long; it seemed like a quick read.

I'm not suggesting or one moment that the quality was tip-top/first class/top drawer, but it was sufficiently okay.

I was intrigued to see how a fairly well known Z list celeb would handle the change to writer ... they all seem to be doing it don't they? ... and was actually pleasantly surprised.

I can't say that I would actively seek out more of her work, but if I ever get the chance to lounge by a pool, this would be the kind of un-demanding read that would make a perfect read a bit, sip a bit, read a bit more.


Product details

400 pages; Kindle Download; Contemporary, Romance

I borrowed an electronic copy from my local Library and used Overdrive to read it on Baby (Kindle Fire HD).


The good ... the bad ... the ugly

Good:  With a Kindle fire, borrowing ebooks from the local library is a breeze with the Overdrive app.  However, it does limit features such as bookmarking.

The standard of grammar was acceptable.

Bad:  Nothing outright bad I am pleased to report.

Ugly:  A few formatting errors, for example missing capital letters at the start of chapters etc.  Not many.

Happy reading.

Kay

#451 - Bitten ~ Anna Wolfe

Bitten by Anna Wolfe

My rating: 1 of 5 stars








Sorry, not for me, I didn't even manage to make it past the first chapter.

It gave the impression of a poorly written fan fiction, and left me colder than a witch's backdoor step.

My reading time is precious recently, and it failed to inspire.



Product Details

It featured as a DSOA pick in early'ish 2013; Kindle download.



The Good ... the bad ... and the ugly

Failing to inspire the use of reading time as it did, I can't comment.


Happy reading.

Hugs


Kay

#450 ~ In the Land of the Long White Cloud

In the Land of the Long White Cloud by Sarah Lark

My rating: 4 of 5 stars







Even though I've been an Amazon Prime Member so some time, this was my first ever book borrowed from the library there.

All in all quite enjoyable. I understand this is a translated version of a German novel, and the one that that disappointed me was the Americanism of the translation. The writing itself was of a fairly decent standard, and that let it down a bit.

Even within the bounds of the historical setting, there was a margin for a bit more spice and pop.

The plot most of the way through went at a nice pace, but the end was a little disappointing; I hate the sudden fall off a cliff with no real dramatic conclusion, and that's what I got with this one.

The sudden ending apart, it was left so that a sequel could be written I believe.

4 stars from me.



Product Details

I borrowed my copy from Amazon Prime, but you can pick up a Kindle download HERE for £3.99.

Fiction, Historical, Family Saga, Romance
666 Pages
Amazon Crossing (2012)
German novel translated into English


The good ... the bad .... the ugly

In the ugly corner:

I abhor the Americanisation of historical novels, it's purely a person thing, and if you've read my blog for any length of time you will realise that the main bug bear is "gotten" ... it's sloppy and lazy!  Therefore my greatest disappointment was the amount of time it was used through out this book - I counted at least 28 (and there could well have been more.

My other constant bug bear is missing connectives, such as go get go, go wash ... it harnesses up my annoyance and whips it through the village at a break-neck gallop.

In the good corner:

One lone little word ... 'gracile '(Loc 4754).

In the bad corner:

Loc 316: '.. the sheep's heads sank once more ...' - sheeps' heads.

Loc 407: 'Gwyneira's handwork never resulted in anything ...' - handiwork.

Loc 681 x 2: 'fraternity' - it's England for goodness sakes, fraternities simply don't exist.

Loc 920: 'Gwyneira appeared to be taking the whole thing in stride.' - her stride.

Loc 1091: 'OK?' - it's an historical novel, I seriously doubt okay would have been uttered, but would be suitably impressed should somebody prove me wrong.

Loc 1091: 'the help' - uck, servants is far more appropriate for historical novels.

Loc 1481: 'feel Elizabeth up' - inappropriate use in a novel like this, but that's just my personal opinion.

Loc 1611: 'ship's sirens wail' - I had inferred that this was a sailing ship, and therefore a bell would have been more accurate possibly?

Loc 1753: '... of her riding dress riding up, ...' - never a good idea to repeat a word in such quick succession.  I feel that riding habit would have been more appropriate.

Loc 1814: 'Still she could not bring herself greet the group ...' to greet the group.

Loc 2131:  'She should rest up ...' - she should rest would be sufficient.

Loc 2506:  '... you needed more money than what could be earned from whales or sheep.' - what is superfluous.

Loc 2528: 'Drapes ...' - drapes is an quintessentially American word.

Loc 2864: 'cute' - mmm, not sure about use of that particular word - it was used in early 18th century to describe somebody clever or shrewd, but I'm unsure when it because acceptable to use it in the form suggested here.

Loc 3082: 'centimeters' - imperial measurements would have been used in colony.

Loc 3229: 'black-tie wedding suit' - ouch, morning suits are worn for weddings, but not sure if that would have been the form at that time, I am certainly sure it wouldn't have been 'black-tie'.

Loc 3740: 'They're gross ...' - Americanism.

Loc 3872: ' ... had to acclimate ...' - acclimatize.

Loc 4784:  'Gwyneira called for Kiri to have her clean the breakfast table.' - ...called for Kiri to clear the breakfast table.

Loc 6247: 'acclimate' - acclimatize.

Loc 6552: 'On Monday David took Lucas along to work construction ...' - more unattractive Americanisation.

Loc 6665: ' ... and Lucas had to ride back a ways to find a way up and over.' - Lucas had to ride back to find a way up and over.

Loc 7022: 'You had a long ride.' - you have had a long ride.

Loc 7107: ' ... galloping around the yard.' - a yard is a paved area, a paddock or field is appropriate.

A long list, with a few things missed off due to boredom!

Happy reading.

Hugs

Kay

#449 Blue Fire and Ice

Blue Fire and Ice (Land’s Tale, #1) by Alan Skinner

My rating: 4 of 5 stars





Land's Tale Book #1




I would say that this is a book perfect for the age 12 upwards market, even moving into adult reading.

On the whole it was simply written, but had a fairly decent pace and voice to it.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that it's got the bones of a film lurking in there ... much like Game of Thrones laid down the foundation for adaptation to the screen, I could seriously see this doing the same things.

Every story is made better by the inclusion of a bear, and then when you add in the unpredictability of the mix, it pretty much would have it all for a screen writer to run with.

This is certainly a book I think I will recommend to my 11 year old God Daughter, as a decent read.



Product Details

Another DSOA from about this time last year, when it was free to download.  At this current time it's available HERE for £1.84 as a Kindle download - actually, that's really a fairly decent price.

336 Pages
Sibling Press
Fiction, Fantasy, Magic, Mystery, Adventure, Family Reading
Aimed at the over 10 market up to adult reading


The Good ... the bad ... and the ugly

Kudos for the fact that the writing was simple, and of a decent quality - actually something that is proving quite rare.

In the ugly section were a few a handful of missing conjunctions.

The bad were a few errors/bug bears:

Loc 530:  '... quite worn out from trying to make Beadledom a look a little brighter.' - look a little brighter.

Loc 534:  'I'm sure they are very clever but I don't why anybody ...' - know why.

Loc 1099: 'I would love to have you come, ...' - I would love to have you, or I would love you to come.

Loc 1116: 'She so hoped she was.' - the so is superfluous.

Loc 2362:  '... making the sea the only way leave the Land.' - way to leave the Land.

Loc 3023: 'Dot had offered hers to a young mother cradling a young baby in her arms.' - no need to use 'young' twice.  A baby is by definition young!

Loc 3853:  'I will not be burden!' - be a burden.

Loc 3858:  'Standing back from them all, she watch as Copper took ...' - watched.

Loc 3920: 'Her hands searched for the Dot as she ...' - delete 'the'.

Loc 5437: '... no larger than a crickle ball.' - I'm not sure if this should be 'cricket' ball, or in fact there is a came called 'Crickle' in the Land.


Happy reading.

Hugs

Kay