Coral Sinclair is a young woman making the journey back to her childhood home, Mpingo, in Kenya following her father’s death. Travelling from England she meets a stranger she can’t help but feel an emotional pull towards, but when she reaches Mpingo she starts hearing rumours about the stranger, Rafe, and how he may have been connected to her father’s death. However, Coral can’t help but become entranced with Rafe, despite all the warnings she receives to not trust him.

Burning Embers is a typical romance. It is set in 1970, as change is starting to happen in Africa, but when there is still a society of rich white people, all with their servants and plantations. Coral is a naive 25 year old who is aware of the changes, but doesn’t seem to be aware of how the changes will affect her life if she were to stay in Kenya which is her plan. Instead, she becomes wound up with Rafe de Monfort, a handsome man with a very complicated and dark past.
To me this book felt a little bland as there is nothing unexpected in the slightest, though it could be argued that’s a trait of the genre.

One thing I really liked about Burning Embers was the attention to detail. The author, Hannah Fielding, includes a lot of descriptions which means the reader can envisage this world that most of us would not get to experience otherwise (one reason I love reading). The characters were a little more two dimensional than I would have liked, but nevertheless they do have believable characteristics (if somewhat exaggerated) and have enough back story to be realistic; I don’t think the novel suffered because of it.

One thing I would especially have liked to see would be more of how the political and social climates of the time affected Coral and her ‘yaha’ (nanny) Aluna, but it was only alluded to and not a main part of the story.

The majority of the book is told from Coral’s point of view, though there are the occasional sections in Rafe’s which, for me, made the book a little less interesting as I wanted to discover and learn about him along with the main character. There is plenty of rumours and women, so it is easy to see why Coral is wary of Rafe, though I admit that other than her sexual attraction to him, I couldn’t work out why they were destined for one another, but that’s just my opinion.

In general, this book wasn’t anything special, though it was enjoyable. I would recommend it to anyone who loves exotic romances, and those who enjoy trying to work out the truth amidst the lies, rumours and assumptions.

[Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

I have been hearing a lot about the TV series ‘A Game of Thrones’ recently. Being me, I decided to read at least the first book before watching it. Honestly, I don’t think I’ll be reading any more of them, though I am still hoping to watch the show.

To me, I just didn’t find the plotline(s) that interesting. A Game of Thrones is set in a fictional world that is very reminiscent of the middle age – with Lords and knights, etc. I’m still a bit hazy on what actually happened in the book; to be honest, I found it quite boring to read as it’s very long-winded, with very little action happening til the end of the book.

There are a lot of characters, but I was surprised that it didn’t take me long to know them all (or at as each section is headed with who it’s about, it’s fairly easy to follow what is happening to whom (though not necessarily where). I expect that if I did choose to continue reading, I would become more invested in some of the characters, but as there were so many, it was impossible to really get to know any individual character well enough to care about them.

While this book wasn’t my cup of tea, I can see why it appeals to so many people. There is backstabbing and secrets and valour, as well as a very intrinsic history which makes the world and its inhabitants believable.

I expect you will like this book if you enjoy high fantasy epics (though I love The Lord of the Rings so I can’t go by that alone), and are interested in the world of Kings and Queens, Lords and Ladies, and the battle between all of them for titles.

This review is cross-posted on Captivated by Books.

Pagford is a small town where everyone knows everyone else, and gossip is hard to miss. When Barry Fairbrother unexpectedly dies, everyone is affected, especially as this means there is a ‘casual vacancy’ on the town Parish Council. Told through the viewpoints of a few families, we are shown how politics can change the face of a town, even when everyone is simply trying to live their lives.

I admit I didn’t know much about The Casual Vacancy before I picked it up, other than who the author is (I think everyone can relate to that), and that it was full of profanity. Due to having heard a lot about the latter, I was expecting to be hit in the face with swear words, but honestly, I barely characters, and therefore blend naturally into the storytelling. For me, this was a huge bonus as I don’t have an issue with swearing, as long as it is not used purely to be controversial, which I don’t believe it was in the this book.

There are quite a lot of characters, yet I didn’t have any trouble knowing who was who (a couple of times I had to stop and think when a parent uses the first name of their teenage ‘Stuart’, but everyone else refers to him as ‘fats’.) While this story could probably have been told with fewer characters, I actually enjoyed being able to see multiple points of view throughout the narrative, and therefore felt more understanding of almost all the characters.

While this book is, in a sense, about politics, it is more an example of British social structure within a small town. However, saying that, the main problem I had with this book (and why I didn’t give it 5 stars) was that I couldn’t really relate to the social viewpoints and experiences of any of the characters. Of course, it would be impossible to have lived every version, and that is one reason why I enjoy reading – because it allows us an internal view of other people – but I couldn’t really find anything to relate to with anyone, which kind of made them feel more like stock characters, even though they were more than 2-d versions. I’m not exactly sure why I felt so unattached, but it did ruin the overall affect of the book, in my opinion. Personally I feel The Casual Vacancy would work better as a film.

The book was fairly enjoyable, though I felt the ending was a little contrived. J. K. Rowling kept the style everyone enjoys in Harry Potter (simple and easy to read), and I certainly feel more confident in wanting to read more of books, and hope she continues to create unique content.

I would recommend this to anyone looking for something that puts the current social and political climate into perspective for individuals. However, I feel that it could also be enjoyed by anyone wishing to expand their understanding of how certain events can affect everyone around them, either directly and indirectly. As stated, this book does contain profanity, as well as addressing things such as drug use, rape and underage sex – if these themes aren’t to your taste, you probably won’t enjoy the book as much.

This review is also published on .

I expect a lot of people will have heard of the Netflix series ‘Orange is the New Black’, and I totally agree that it’s worth the hype. But being me, of course I then had to go and read the memoir that it is based on.

If you expect the book to be in any way similar to the series, you will be very disappointed. The ‘Orange is the New Black’ series is about as close to the book as ‘Sex and the City’ series is to the compilation of newspaper columns with the same name; in other words, not very close at all. Other than the main character Piper Kerman, the only other obvious aspect of the book in the series is that it takes place in a woman’s prison in America. Of course there are a few recognizable characteristics in certain characters, but as much of it was changed from real life to the book to protect people’s identities, the characters in the show are presumably nothing like their real life counter-parts.

The fact that the book and series aren’t the same did tarnish my reading experience, though I think the book in itself is an okay read. If you want a realistic view of a woman’s prison, the book is the way to go. If you want a greatly exaggerated and exciting version, the series ticks those boxes. Basically, if you are looking for the enjoyment factor I would say skip the book altogether and sign up to Netflix (the £5.99 a month is worth it just for this series, and you get the first month free anyway).

But this is supposed to be a review of the book. Piper Kerman does have the ability to write with what seems like complete honesty – unfortunately that isn’t particularly rare in this style of book. Honestly, other than the interest of what a singular prison experience is like (although she does compare it to a few other places she was held towards the end), ‘Orange is the New Black’ is neither exciting nor relatable-to (at least for me). It felt more like a school essay trying to convince us of the problems with the American prison system; problems that most of us are already well aware of.

One thing I did enjoy about this book, was the different types of relationships Kerman formed with others – with her fiancé, her family, his family, the prison guards and of course, the other inmates. For me, the emotions and thoughts that these relationships create in Kerman are the highlight of ‘Orange is the New Black’, and does give way to some character development – though not as much as I would have liked to see. The majority of this development is how Kerman becomes aware of how drugs can change and ruin people’s lives, and her questioning the system in place to deal with those people drugs affect.

Overall, this book was alright, but as mentioned before, the previous viewing of the series (of which I can’t wait for the next series) ruined my reading experience. I wouldn’t recommend this book unless you are looking for an insider’s view of prison, particularly relating to drugs.

[Disclaimer: I am not being sponsored for this review.]

Despite the fact that Christmas is my favourite time of year, I very rarely read fictional books about the season. However, when I saw The Christmas Cookie Club, I knew I had to give it a try, and I’m very glad I did.

The first thing that struck me was the fact that each chapter is preceded by a cookie recipe, and to begin with those chapters seem to focus on the character whose cookie it is. As you get further into the story and learn about all twelve of the women in the club, the chapters become less focused on one particular character.

There wasn’t really much of a plot, but as we get further into the book the more back story we discover about each woman, and how being a member of the Christmas cookie club has or is changing their lives. While some heavy issues are included in the novel, none of them were delved into deeply and so the book easily keeps the feel of a light and easy read to enjoy over the holidays.

One thing I’m unsure whether I liked or not was the description and information about each ingredient between the chapters. While I found it interesting, it didn’t seem to support the main character’s story or characterisation, and generally took me out of the closeness the women have with one another in the group.

Overall this is a book I feel I could read again (and I hope to try a few of the recipes), and is a very enjoyable festive read. I would recommend it to anyone looking for stories about female friendship and want something that will give them hope with a little Christmassy spirit.