Love in Between

Hey there, it's Lydia here. I'm really happy to be posting on the blog again, as you can see you'll be hearing from a member of our eccentric trilogy team once a week! This week I'll be discussing Love in Between by Mercy Jane Porquez Ballesteros.

Love in Between is a collection of classic and contemporary poems. It is inspired by the works of William Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe, both are my greatest influences. The short stories reveal a lot about human relationships, the concept of love, and how humans behave in it. This book will appeal to readers interested in contemporary romance and young adult fiction. It is inspired by the different emotions of love, for love manifests itself in many forms. At times, it can only be conveyed through words, exploring life’s lessons and suppressed passions. (Description from the author)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Love-Between-Mercy-Porquez-Ballesteros-ebook/dp/B076Y56M94/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1537277078&sr=8-3&keywords=love+in+between

Before I properly begin my review, poetry is an extremely personal form, in which everyone writes and interprets in many innovative ways. Each author is credited for expressing themselves no matter of anyones judgement or opinion.

The collection of poems and short stories addresses the romantic themes of: heaven, truth, heartbreak, jealousy, Godly love and life after love. While being a sucker for romantic fiction myself I read this collection with anticipation and eagerness. The book is separated by two sections, in which poetry presents itself first and the short stories second.

The author's poetry drew me in very rapidly, with her use of creative imagery and descriptive techniques, as well as some dialogue amongst her stanzas which I found very refreshing. Her use of Shakespearean dialect created a sense of nostalgia from when I studied many of Shakespeare's sonnets during my GCSE's and A Levels. The author greatly illustrates that 21st century writers are still influenced by the works of Shakespeare. However, like all collections of fiction, not every piece will be liked. I found that some poems were very similar in style, structure and content. That while some stanza's were very complex, others were rather simplistic and monotonous. Some poems had a lyrical flow that reached a satisfying conclusion, while within others I felt slightly lost when I met its ending.

While reading the second half of the book, I was presented with a similar reaction. The author presented some interesting introductions within her six short stories; creating a setting that both looked back into some characters pasts, while they reflected on their present emotions and surroundings. However I felt that the stories focused too much on the plot and not enough on the language that would express the characters complex feelings. This presented the characters to be rather flat and static.

My two favourite poems from the book are 'Midnight Flower' and 'For once, My Knight'. Both have a beautiful Romantic style, through the use of rich pastoral imagery which represent the speakers deep emotions. Although, what I enjoyed most was how both poems explore the truthfulness of love, whether that be about the innocence and honesty of love or the lack of truth it emits.

I lastly felt that within both the poems and stories there was a rigid sense of heterosexuality. There was heavy focus on the physical features and attraction between the characters, yet, they were always between a man and woman. It would be more appealing to see a more gender neutral atmosphere, so all people of all sexualities may find their romantic experience within the language.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys getting lost within the lyrical garden of poetry and atmosphere of love.

You should also take a look at other books published by Mercy Jane Porquez Ballesteros; these include 'A Taste of Revenge' and 'Poems of Love & Short Stories', in which can all be found on Amazon. You can also find her on her website www.mjaneballesteros.com and on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/mjane207/.

Caina

Hello! Hope you’re all doing well, it’s Heather here, posting a quick review on the crime novel Caina by Joe Albanese. Many thanks to the author for sending me a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Information

Author: Joe Albanese

Published: May 2018

Publisher: Mockingbird Lane Press

Length: 174 pages

Brief Description (from Amazon)

Twins tend to be closer than typical siblings. They often share a bond that is oftentimes unexplainable.*

For some reason that bond didn’t apply to Grant and Lee Tolan. Grant was always the responsible one. Lee, on the other hand, was always in trouble and in jail, self-destructing to the point the twins hadn’t seen or spoken in years.

In trouble with the Irish mob who wanted him sleeping with the fishes, finding Grant dead of an apparent suicide, Lee did the only thing that made sense. He switched identities.

Instead of making life easier, Lee is plunged into a world the Irish and Italian crime families, the Mexican cartel and the DEA. Pitting one against the other, Lee enlists the help of friends to save his own life. He will need a miracle.

But Grant’s secret is the biggest shock of all for Lee and he must re-evaluate his entire life.

*Maureen Healy, author of Growing Happy Kids.

(https://www.amazon.co.uk/Caina-Joe-Albanese/dp/1643167847)

Review

Anyone familiar with Dante’s Inferno may already associate the word Caina with the Ninth Circle of Hell and, more specifically, treachery against kindred. That pretty much sums up the main plot. Despite being twins, Lee absolutely loathes his law-abiding brother Grant. However, after discovering his corpse, Lee finds himself impersonating Grant and realises that he may not have been as much of a goody-two-shoes as Lee had anticipated. 

As a person, I don’t know if Lee and I would have been besties. He’s irrationally bitter over his brother’s success, immature, totally unsympathetic, spends too much time dallying about in illegal matters and is generally very selfish and rude, though I appreciate how much he cared for Angela and Clare. However, as a character, I found him refreshing. I cannot count the number of crime novels and shows centred around yet another random busybody that feels like meddling in something that has nothing to do with them but, despite their complete and utter lack of experience or qualification, are granted access to the crime scene and solve the entire thing in less than a week. Or that good old detective with a long, swishing coat and ominous tone laced with sarcasm. To be fair, I normally rave about how wonderful these characters are (the nosy meddlers and very-serious detectives feel like family) despite the blatant stereotypes but nonetheless, Lee was a welcome change of perspective. 

The flow of the plot was good. I never thought I’d encounter a character that would come across their (admittedly estranged) identical twin brother’s body and, rather than grieve, pretend the corpse was their own to trick a gang and take on the deceased brother’s identity without thinking it far-fetched but this proved to be an exception. It’s like a twisted, criminal version of The Pretty One. Lee is just so… Lee that I have no issue with the plot here. However, I did find the excess of gangs a bit much. Personally, I’d have preferred just one or two gangs with more focus on each member of the gang and their background. Instead, the reader relies on a brief description of the majority ethnic group of each gang and the names of the most important members, which can get a little confusing towards the end. The highlight of the plot for me has to be the ending. Albanese really built the everything up well and I was concerned I’d be disappointed but found myself pleasantly surprised. My main question to the author is whether a sequel is on the horizon? I feel like the ending lends itself to another book and I certainly wouldn’t protest reading another novel in Lee’s narrative voice.

I found there were very occasional typos, like a few haphazard speech marks that must have been missed over the editing period, but there weren’t enough for this to be an issue when reading. I also thought the cover of the novel perhaps a bit too dark and serious looking for a crime comedy but looked very smart even so. Aside from that, the formatting was good – the font was slightly larger than average, making it a joy to read, the blurb describes the novel perfectly etc. 

Albanese's strongest skill in this novel would have to be his creative use of perspective. I've already mentioned how interesting Lee was as a narrator, but I haven't spoken much about Grant. We learn so much about Grant without even meeting him when he's alive. He comes across as a hard-working and loving man and I found it quite endearing how he cared about Lee and tried to support him despite Lee's stubborn dislike of him. Naturally I found it irksome how Lee showed very little sympathy towards poor Eric, who was clearly close to Grant, but again, that's just... Lee. Overall, I did enjoy this book despite the slight confusion over the numerous gangs.

That’s it for today, folks. Let me know what you think of Caina if you’ve read it. I’ll be back next month with a review for a memoir on addiction.

The Secret Countess

Hello! Helen here, for the very first time. I’ll be talking about one of my absolute favourite pieces of children’s literature this time – a book that never fails to make me laugh and cry, even now, on what must be the 11^th reread.

Book: The Secret Countess

Author: Eva Ibbotson

Blurb: (from the 2015 Macmillan children’s books print) When revolution tears Russia apart, Anna abandons her identity and homeland for a safe haven in England. She finds shelter there, working as a servant in an aristocratic household, her luxurious past now just a distant memory – until she falls in love with the young Earl of Westerholme, and risks revealing her secret.

( https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Countess-Eva-Ibbotson/dp/1447280105/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1537102020&sr=8-1&keywords=the+secret+countess )

Set against the backdrop of a war-torn and shell-shocked Europe, The Secret Countess is ultimately a tale of survival and love, even after the destruction and horror of the First World War. Like many of the Russian aristocracy, the Countess Anna Granzinsky fled St Petersburg in 1917 with her family, and eventually made her way to London. Determined not to trespass on the hospitality of her old governess, Anna takes the position of a housemaid at the stately Mersham Manor despite her total lack of experience, all the while hiding her true title. Once there, she meets a host of charming and eccentric characters – such as the orderly Butler, Cyril Proom; the Dowager Countess, who communes with the spirits of those long deceased; and of course, the Earl himself.

The plot itself is rather predictable for an older reader, and fits the ‘Boy meets Girl’ trope to a T. It is, of course, a children’s book, and a certain amount of leeway is allowed here – not that Ibbotson needs it in the slightest. Any predictability is completely overshadowed by the witty and engaging prose style that Ibbotson implements so successfully in all of her literature. Her characters leap off the page in all their idiosyncratic glory, and it is impossible not to fall in love with Anna as she muddles her way gracefully through the stiff rules of the English country estate – something very familiar from countless episodes of Downton Abby. Even the villain of the piece is completely alive and as hateable as Dolores Umbridge herself, and the romance is entirely magical.

For a children’s book, The Secret Countess touches on a surprising amount of the issues that cropped up after the First World War. PTSD, the isolation of refugees and the loss of their national identity, the value of duty, and even the insidious tendrils of white supremacy and ableism that would eventually fuel the ideological foundation of Hitler’s Third Reich are all included – but in a way a child can understand, without compromising innocence or becoming a subliminal political agenda. Instead, the themes of the book focus on kindness, love, and finding a home somewhere you might not expect. Not surprising, considering Ibbotson’s own hurried escape to England after the Nazis came to power in Austria.

Full of joy and humanity, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who needs to smile more, not just the children it is aimed at. The dramatic climax alone will have you humming the Valse des Fleurs for days on end.

Two Spells by Mark Morrison

Hello everyone! We're officially back from our long hiatus and I, Shani, will be kicking our blog off with a review for the wonderful fantasy novel Two Spells by Mark Morrison.

Two Spells focuses on Sarah and Jon, twin brother and sister, and their journey to discover their magic. The twins are unaware that they possess any power until their mother takes them on a family trip to Wales, where they meet their grandparents who they haven't properly met before (which I found slightly odd). Their grandparents tell them all about the magic in their family and where it originates from. An aspect of the novel which I really enjoyed was the way that Morrison set his story in Wales, particularly the way that he describes the landscape, and how he paints the mystical library of Two Spells, the place where Sarah's grandparents stole an enchanted book and gained access to their magic. Two Spells is the mythical place that readers, such as myself, dreamt about as children. Not only is it described as an elegant yet ancient building, but it also has an air of mystery and fear associated with it whenever Morrison mentions it. From the very beginning of the novel Morrison does a fabulous job of creating a sense of anticipation surrounding Two Spells, embedding fear but curiosity in both Sarah and Jon, thus causing the same reaction from the reader. The mythological side of the novel was also intriguing and I thoroughly enjoyed how Morrison created such an intricate history for library of Two Spells.

The dynamic between Sarah and Jon reminded me of my own dynamic with my siblings, fighting one minute and protecting each other the next. It was very humbling to see that the twins had an typical sibling relationship rather than just having either a hateful relationship or a loving one like some novels do. Whilst it is true that these types of relationships do exist between siblings, it was refreshing to see that Morrison went with a normal dynamic. I enjoyed the characters of Sarah's grandparents as well, though at the beginning they frustrated me slightly because they were all giving the reader tidbits of information about Two Spells and the family's magic, however the family dynamic between all four characters was heartwarming to see.

One criticism I have for the novel is the ending and the amount of characters that Morrison introduces in a short space of time. For a children's novel there were a number of characters who are suddenly thrust into the novel towards the very end, which isn't always a bad thing, but in my opinion I felt that there were too many new names and personalities to learn about in a very short space of time. Had the characters been introduced at an earlier point in the novel it probably wouldn't confuse the reader as much, however, throwing the characters in last minute does cause some confusion.

The novel ends on a cliffhanger, which I will definitely will not spoil as I suggest you all go and read the novel for yourselves, that sets up the next novel. This novel is the first in a series so though I wasn't a huge fan of what happened at the denounement, I understand why Morrison has chosen to end his novel in this particular way as it sets up a plot line for the next novel.

Overall, I did enjoy Two Spells and would recommend it to fans of Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, and The Chronicles of Narnia as the fantasy element of the novel is fantastic. Praise to Morrison for creating a fantastical fictional world for children to bask in once more.

If you're interested in reading Two Spells the link to Morrison's amazon page is here, you can order the paper back for £7.99 or read a free copy of it through the kindle edition: https://www.amazon.co.uk/TwoSpells-Mark-Morrison-ebook/dp/B079ZBBSPM/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1536492101&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=Two+Spells+Mark+Morrison