Reviews | But I Smile Anyway...

Glimpses By Hugh W. Roberts – Book Review

12 Feb 2017 24 Comments

by Ritu in Reviews, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Book Review, Glimpses, Hugh w Roberts, Hugh's news and views

Glimpses by [Roberts, Hugh W.]

I was extremely excited to read that Huggable Hugh was publishing his very first set of short stories! When the release date came, I quickly downloaded it onto my Kindle to read, then I was pleasantly surprised to receive a copy in the post from Hugh himself!

Me and my signed copy!

(Yes I am wearing Reindeer deely boppers… it was the week before we broke up for Christmas holidays. The kids love them!)

It was a book I literally devoured in two sittings, so much fun did I have reading the different tales! (I would have done it in one, but you know, life gets in the way of my enjoyment sometimes!)

Twenty-eight fantastic short stories all labelled with their genre so you can move back and forth, depending on your mood!

If you follow Hugh’s blog, you may have remembered his mini serial called The Truth App. Well, that is featured, all improved and in one go. It’s a cracking read, especially if you are a Bloggers Bash goer!

I loved the four-part Wedding Murder Mystery, but my favourite was the Ticket to ‘Where’ story, labelled as Science Fiction. It had a little romance in there to ease my romantic heart!

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

And my Amazon Review

If you are anything like me, you love to read, but life really doesn’t give you the time to actually sit and devour book after book…
This is where short stories come in, and if you were to purchase this collection, you wouldn’t be disappointed!
Roberts, the author, has crafted a selection of tales to satisfy pretty much everyone… except the very young! From horror, to mystery, to romance and reminiscing, there is a tale (or 5) for everyone.
I really enjoyed reading these stories, and despite me never having time to read, I finished this volume of stories within two days!
Looking forward to a second collection soon… hint hint!!!

Buy your very own copy by clicking here!

And if you are interested, Hugh has a great competition running to do with the book. To enter, click here, but it ends on the 28th February so you need to be quick!

Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children – A Review of the Book and Movie

12 Feb 2017 50 Comments

by Ritu in Reviews, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Book Review, Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Chilldren, Ransom Riggs

Have you read a book, and just been desperate to see the film? Or vice versa?

Well, that happened to me with this book!

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children, #1)

This sort of genre has not really floated my boat to be honest before, but something pulled me to want to download the series to see what the fuss was about. The film looked intriguing so I thought it would be good to read the fiction first!

It was slow moving at first, but once I got my head around the plot, and the characters, and what was happening, I was glued to my Kindle!

The worlds and character types that are created by fantasy fiction authors astound me! I know I like to write, but I could never make these kinds of worlds up, and link things back and forth like they do!

At the end I was thirsty to know what was going to happen next, so was glad that I already had Hollow City, the sequel, ready on my Kindle, to read straight away!

Hollow City (Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children, #2)

I reviewed it simply on Goodreads:

I downloaded this series of books, having heard intriguing things about it. The fact that a movie was coming out was also a catalyst.
It seems I may have been converted to YA fiction!
I found the story a little hard to get into, but once I had read the first couple of chapters, I was hooked.
The peculiar characters, the development of Jacob and his character, were all excellently done.
The introductions of Hollows, Wights and Ymbrynes add further twists and turns to the plot!
I don’t want to ruin any of the story but I was glad of the ending, knowing that there was more to come!
There were a few times where I totally got confused, so had to go back and reread pages, but that may have been more me being tired, rather than the writing!
If you are a YA fan, then I highly recommend the book.
Part way through Hollow City already!

Now to the movie…

I downloaded the movie today to watch with my son. I know it is rated 12, and he is eleven, but he’s pretty good with these kinds of films.

And I’ll start by telling you that he enjoyed it. He was a little freaked at the beginning, but after I explained a little of the back plot, he sat back and got into it!

Now for me… It didn’t take long for me to start getting really agitated with the filmmakers! I know there is that old chestnut called ‘Creative License’ but really? To have actually swapped the ‘gifts’ from one main character to another?

By gifts, I mean that each peculiar child has some gift or another, be it levitation, or invisibility, the power to see into the future, or a strange mouth in the back of her head. These ‘gifts’ make the characters who they are in the book, and from the offset, in the movie, they swap the main Peculiar, Emma’s gift with Olive’s! Enough to get any reader’s hackles rising!

Obviously, a lot was cut and rewritten (Boy was it rewritten! The whole ending fabricated by Tim Burton’s script writers!) so if you watched it as a stand-alone film, with no intention to read the books, then that was fine.

But if like me, you read the book, then I fear you would feel that the film did the book little justice. The book gives huge scope for the sequel, and the next instalment of the story, where I can already say that the characters are fleshed out even more, and the story taken deeper, but the movie puts a full stop at the end, not an ellipse.

If they ever decided to make part two, there would have to be a whole lot more rewriting, and it wouldn’t really be the same story!

So there you have it.

The book great.

The film on it’s own, good.

The film, after reading the book, beyond frustrating!!!!

4 stars for the book! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

3 stars for the movie! ⭐⭐⭐

Book Review – The Guardian Series by Shelley Wilson

29 Jan 2017 29 Comments

by Ritu in Reviews, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, review, Shelley Wilson, The Guardian Series, YA Fiction

I have to honestly say I am generally one for fluffy fiction. I like to lose myself in a cocoon of comedy and romance. Life is harsh enough anyway. Why read serious fiction?

And why even try Young Adult books? I am 41 for crying out loud!

But, as I have been doing for the last year or so, I downloaded a book (or three!) of an unfamiliar genre, as the author had become a good blog pal. I wasn’t sure whether it would be my thing but unless you try, you’ll never know!

And boy was I glad!

I was transported into the mystical world of faes and witches, water sprites and dragons, and adventure. Lots of adventure! The principle character Amber, a normal (or so she thought!) teenage girl, propelled into the realms of the folk she always scoffed at the reality of. And imagine the shock of finding out she was actually one of them too!

Sure it took me a couple of chapters to initially get into the first one, but once I was hooked, that’s it. My whole weekend was devoted to devouring this series of books!

I have already told the kids, who love a bit of Enid Blyton and her Fairy folk, that this will be a set of books for them to read when they are a little older!

guard-1

My Amazon and Goodreads review – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Young Adult fiction is most definitely not my chosen genre of reading material, but at the recommendation of a friend, I downloaded this book onto my Kindle.
Well, what can I say?
I finished it within a couple of sittings, which for me is pretty good going as I don’t have much time to read!
The author, Shelley Wilson has created some likeable characters, and ones you really want to hate, and moves us through a magical mystery tour of witches, faeries, oracles, necromancers and all sorts of mythical fairy folk!
Once I had read the first couple of chapters, I was hooked, and rooting for our principle character Amber, who goes from normal teenage girl, to someone who possesses amazing hidden powers as the book progresses.
The romance aspect was there, and the climax was almost reached too soon!
I am so glad I already have the sequel ready on my Kindle!
A light, but deep read, if you know what I mean!

Click here ➡ Guardians Of The Dead – Book 1 to buy

guard-2

My Amazon and Goodreads review – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Having only just finished the first book in the series that very morning, the story was fresh in my mind, and i was so glad that I already had the second downloaded, and ready to read.
I wasn’t disappointed in the least!
What twists and turns Amber and her own little magical army have to face in order to save the day… or do they???
I loved every moment of it, so much so, that I finished it in one day! It was indeed ‘unputdownable’!
The character development that is associated with a sequel was there, the budding romances, the adventure…it was great!
I have already told my children, who love End Blyton and the Fairy Folk, that when they are just a tad older, they should read this!
Number 3 is calling me!

Click here ➡ Guardians Of The Sky – Book 2 to buy

guard-3

My Amazon and Goodreads review – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Did I enjoy it? Understatement of the year!
I have just devoured this three part series over this weekend and I have thoroughly enjoyed it.
Following the story of Amber and her friends and family, and the young teenager’s journey of discovery of her mystical powers was strangely addictive!
This volume showed Amber swaying between the Dark and Light Side (no, I’m not talking about Star Wars!) of her powers, and there are times when the twists and turns of the plot really leave you wondering which way the story will go!
Each sequel did the job of recapping briefly on the previous tales, to fill the reader in on the story, and the characters are beautifully described, growing more and more ‘real’ with each sequel.
Sucking me deep into the mystical world of Faes, Witches, Necromancers, Dragons, Sea Serpents and other worldly realms, I can honestly say I was dreaming about magic when I slept in between reading!
Well done Shelley Wilson! A brilliant Trilogy! I wonder… are we to expect any more…? What does the future hold for Amber and her friends?

Click here ➡ Guardians Of The Lost Lands – Book 3 to buy

shelley-wilson

Shelley is a fellow Brummie lass, though not by birth. She is a mum, and has a cat too! Her work is not just limited to YA fiction but she writes inspirational, self-help and motivational non-fiction books too!

I have one of those on my Kindle already to read too!

Visit Shelley’s Author Page here

Visit Shelley’s blog here