Review of the Loney by Andrew Micheal Hurley

I was looking forward to reading this book after seeing the number of awards it had been awarded. I was sure I was in for a treat but I was left feeling a little flat and disappointed.

The description of the setting is truly unsettling and you really get the shivers as you imagine yourself on the shore of the Loney.  It really feels that the end of the world as we know it.  Moorgates is a house out of a horror film and to spend the night there would give you nightmares for the rest of your life. With the background tales of the children dying from TB and the old taxidermist that inherited the house but then left overnight leaving his hoard of stiffed animals. It's creepy.  The characters that still live at Loney are just as unsettling and chilling and you really wouldn't want to meet any of them on a dark night.  However, the story just didn't go anywhere and I must admit to finding chapter after chapter of just plodding on and the story not really developing.

There is a strong religious theme running through this as the family go on a visit to the shrine at Loney to seek out a cure for their mute son.  Here is where the confusion began for me.  I wasn't sure what was wrong with him apart from the fact that he didn't speak.  The two brothers were very close but I always got the impression that Andrew (or Hanny, another confusion) as he is often referred to is the younger of the two but as the story ends It would appear that he is actually the older, I think,  To be honest, I'm still unsure.

The other characters were a little on the cliche side for me.  The seriously religious mother, the over-powering vicar that loses his faith and the mousey Ms Blunt,  The sinister characters that live at Loney are very much in the background and although you get the sense that they are sinister there is no clearing up as to what their story really is and who they really are apart from a group of strange men.

The story just seems to end.  The narrator is a little erratic and although at the start you get the feeling that he is the normal character he appears to be as insane as the rest of them.  The story wraps up quickly in the final few pages and I was left feeling very disappointed.

I can see how the book as won the awards with the atmospheric setting and the beautiful descriptive writing but for me the characters and the story fell a little short of the mark.

Where have the years gone?

I can't believe that I now officially have a teenager.  My baby girl seems to have grown up over night and is now a beautiful young lady both inside and out.

My children are growing before my eyes and it won't be long before they both tower over me.

I had stupidly always thought that as my children grew older I would start getting more time back to myself,  I was wrong, so very very wrong.  They take up more of my time just in a very different way.

I remember when I first started writing this blog by 7,30 pm most nights I could be logged onto my laptop with both children snuggled up in bed and fast asleep.  I also recall that back in those days I was so tired by that time due to the broken nights of sleep that I had endured and the very early 5.30 am wake up calls that it was a struggle to motivate myself but I did find some reserves of energy left to write.

Nowadays, it's home from work, sort the tea and then out to whatever club we have on from Football to Musical Theatre there is always something going on.  I usually cram my food shopping around their clubs then home, showered, books, homework, spellings and whatever else we have on.  Most nights it's at the earliest 9.30 pm bed time and by then I am literally good for nothing but curling up with my book, where I manage a chapter at most, before sleep takes me. There is very little time in the day left to write and by the time the kids are snuggled up and settled I am closely following them planning the hectic schedule for the following day. The motivation to write is a million miles away.

Would I have it anyway? Not a chance. 

Procrastination at it's best

I made a deal with myself that once I got the kids back to school after the long six weeks holiday I was going to make every Friday my day.  A day to get stuck into my writing and really concentrate on editing the numerous stories I have drafted out and done nothing with.

Week one, I failed.  Instead of sitting down and writing I decided to go shopping for my daughters upcoming birthday presents.  Well, that was a job I needed to do.  Not satisfied with a day of shopping I then decided to decorate the said daughters bedroom.  It was a room that I've been promising her I would do for over a year but did I have to do it right now? No. That pretty much took up a whole three days and not a word was written.

Week two, I have failed again.  With the bedroom looking all clean and fresh I decided that the rest of the house needed a good deep clean so that pretty much took another full day and for my free Friday well, I've just pretty much wasted it on doing nothing much at all.  I sat down with my book and a coffee and pretty much sat on the sofa all afternoon. 

That's what you call procrastination at it's best.

Review of Murder Mile by Lynda La Plante

Everything that you expect in a La Plante book and more.  I love the character of Jane Tennison and in this book she gets herself into more close scrapes.  As the body count ramps up Jane is flat out hunting down the killer but are her and her fellow detectives heading down the wrong path?

This book kept me awake into the early hours trying to figure out who the killer was and the many twists and turns left me coming up blank until finally the killer is revealed.

I've loved the previous books in the Tennison series and can't wait to find out what path Jane will take next.

This is a definite gritty crime book with none of the modern technology that seems to make life that little bit easier nowadays.  This is about trawling through the evidence and knocking on doors.  Jane still has to battle to make her mark in this world of men (That's just how it was back in the 70's) but Jane pulls out all the stops and despite the many knock backs cracks the case.

Jane takes the rule book and bends it with a fierce tenacity to do the right thing and get the results, no matter what the cost.

Brilliant read.

Pigeon on the loose

I've had a bit of a dramatic Monday afternoon.  I was at work for 7.30 am this morning and by 3 pm I was home with my shift over, the food shopping done and all put away plus the house tidied up.  There for only one thing for it, a sit down with a coffee and a biscuit.  A little half hour chill before I started the tea.

No sooner had a sat down when there was a whooshing of air and a flapping of wings. Over my head flew a pigeon. Yep, an actual live big fat pigeon had dared to enter my house uninvited.  He'd obviously got lost and decided to pay us a little visit. He'd flown through my open french doors and crashed head first into my firmly closed living room window.  He was in such a panic, flapping and throwing itself around that it managed to become firmly tangled in my front vertical blind.

Leaping from my chair I hastily slammed all the doors shut to prevent it moving further through my house.  I am an animal lover but no way did I want our visitor flying all over the house.  By this point the kids had come running into the room to see what all the commotion was about and were almost falling hysterically to the floor with fits of laughter.

My first attempt to help it to leave was to open the side window and help it to step calmly back outside but my little pigeon had other ideas and opted to wedge itself more firmly in the blinds.  Taking a deep breath, (I have to admit to letting out a few girly little shrieks when it unexpectedly flapped a me) I finally had it in a nice firm hold and was able to transport it outside where he was released back into the garden and happily flew away to sit on the roof opposite. I'm fairly sure it had a good old laugh at me.

Firmly closing the door I headed back inside to clear up the nice little pile of bird poop and hover up the numerous loose feathers all over the living room floor.  Ironically by the time I managed to return to my coffee it had turned rather cold and got tipped down the sink.I  was feeling anything but chilled.

It gave us all a bit of excitement of a what would have been a routine boring Monday afternoon.

Review - Girls of the Great War by Freda Lightfoot

I purchased this is a Kindle Daily Deal and wasn't left disappointed.  I do usually prefer a book that is a little grittier and darker but it was an enjoyable read all the same.

This book folllows the journey of Cecily and her sister Merryn as they deal with their super star mother, Queenie.  Queenie is obnoxious, demanding and mostly unlikeable. The family hit on hard times during the war and find themselves heading over to the front line in France to boost the morale of the troops and entertain with their music hall singalongs and plays.  There is of course, heartbreak, drama, love and loss but despite a few scrapes they return at the end of the war back to blightly with another set of challenges to face.

The back story to Queenie's bad attitude and temperament is revealed and you can't help but start to feel sorry for this characters pain.  Merryn settles into becoming a mother herself and we travel with her through her disastrous marriage and Cecily, who is determined to stay single due to the loss of the loves of her life, is heading once again down the path of romance.

This is a twisty story that keeps you reading well into the night.

It's been four years!!!

I cannot believe that it has been four years since I have written a post on here.  I have failed in my mission. 

But, that is going to change.  I have to admit I am having a bit of a mid life crisis.  It's my big 40 next year and I haven't achieved anything like what I set out to do.  I am determined that I have to change that.  My one big love in my life (apart from my children) is reading and writing. That is going to be the big focus of this blog.  I have debated whether to write this blog off and start a total fresh but it's got fond memories and I need to inject some new life into here.

My focus is going to be mainly book reviews to start with and along the way my trials of being a published writer.  I have lots of pieces that I have started and never finished and little confidence that what I write is much good so next to nothing has been sent off for possible publication.  Well, starting soon I am going to be sending out work, posting snippets of my writing and hopefully my goal of being published before the dreaded 40 will be achieved.