Book Review | But I Smile Anyway...

Book Review – Ewan Pendle And The White Wraith by Shaun Hume

31 May 2017 8 Comments

by Ritu in Reviews, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Book Review, Ewan Pendle and the White Wraith, Shaun Hume

Recently I was contacted by a fellow author, Shaun Hume, with regards to reading and reviewing his book.

Now I am no professional reviewer by any means, but I was happy to lend my humble opinion. I decided that I would purchase my own copy of the book, (we all need to support each other, and then I would not feel obliged to give a glowing review, if I didn’t feel it was deserving) and it went on my rather long TBR pile.

After struggling with Americal Pastoral, I didn’t want another big read straight away, and my Kindle told me initially that this book would take me 9 hours to read!

Ewan Pendle and The White Wraith by Shaun Hume is compared to Harry Potter, and I haven’t read that series because it never interested me. That wasn’t going to stop me. After taking a chance on Shelley Wilson’s Guardians series, which was YA fiction, and loving it, I was up for a new challenge!

Reading the blurb at the back, I felt tempted to give it a go.

Ewan Pendle was weird. Really weird. At least, that’s what everyone told him. Then again, being able to see monsters that no one else could wasn’t exactly normal …

Thinking he has been moved off to live with his eleventh foster family, Ewan is instead told he is a Lenitnes, one of an ancient race of peoples who can alone see the real ‘Creatures’ which inhabit the earth. He is taken in by Enola, the mysterious sword carrying Grand Master of Firedrake Lyceum, a labyrinth of halls and rooms in the middle of London where other children, just like Ewan, go to learn the ways of the Creatures.

Ewan Pendle and the White Wraith by [Hume, Shaun]

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I am not usually one for this genre of writing. I haven’t even read the Harry Potter series, so when I decided to purchase this book as an opener to this genre, it was with trepidation.
Ewan Pendle is a young child, moved from foster placement to foster placement, with nowhere to call his home. Seeing ‘creatures’ didn’t really help endear him to his foster carers either.
During his move to the next carer, he finds himself with a strange woman, Enola, who escorts him to the Firedrake Lyceum, where he learns that he has a skill for seeing creatures and he is not alone.
Here we enter the world of Lenitnes, Vilmhieds, White Wraiths and the Masters of this secret institution. Ewan meets new friends, and new enemies, and embarks on an adventure to solve a mystery that is ongoing through the book.
I won’t go into the story too much, but what I will say is that I was actually really drawn into the story. Hume uses great skill to release snippets of information which goad you on to want to read more and find out what will happen next. Who were his parents? Is the White Wraith really dead? Are the Masters all really ‘good’?
When it ended, I was a little sad that the sequel was not already there for me to read straight away!
If you are a Harry Potter fan, I can see this being a good choice of read for you! If you aren’t or you haven’t read it, try this first! It was a great read!

Reviewed on Amazon and Goodreads.

If you are interested in taking a chance on Ewan, purchase from Amazon by clicking here!

Shaun, I will be waiting Book 2!

Book Review – Do Not Wash Hands In Plates: Elephant frenzy, parathas, temples, palaces, monkeys…and the kindness of Indian strangers – Barb Taub

30 May 2017 14 Comments

by Ritu in Reviews, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Barb Taub, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Book Review, Elephant frenzy, monkeys...and the kindness of Indian strangers, palaces, parathas, temples

Last year at the Bloggers Bash, I was lucky enough to meet many wonderful bloggers, and Barb Taub was one of them. I was even more happy to have won a competition of hers where I was given a custom made bracelet to go with her new book in the Null City series.

She is hilarious in her blog posts, and I highly recommend a visit over there for many giggles!

I found that she had written a travel book about her trip to India, Do Not Wash Hands In Plates: Elephant frenzy, parathas, temples, palaces, monkeys…and the kindness of Indian strangers , and well, I just had to buy it! It has taken me a while to get round to reading it, but read it I have, and oh what fun!!!

Do Not Wash Hands In Plates: Elephant frenzy, parathas, temples, palaces, monkeys...and the kindness of Indian strangers by [Taub, Barb]

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

What a delicious recount of what was a most memorable trip to India by Barb Taub and her friends. Being an Indian myself, I relished in the thoughts of many a situation that we consider normal, but which, for Taub, would have been most alien!
Saying that, as an British Indian, I have seen far less of my Motherland than Taub and her friends!
Taub’s recounts are hilarious, and each page is peppered with the delicacies that they encountered along the way, proving, once and for all, that India is one of the most hospitable countries out there, with an abundance of yummy food at every corner, literally. Parathas…? YUM!”
Reading about how they encountered the driving there (I too travel in a car with my fingers in front of my eyes when we visit family there!) and crossing roads in busy Mumbai (same in Delhi and Ludhiana!) brought back funny memories of past trips.
If you are looking for a quick pick me up, with laughter at every turn, this is your book!

Buy your copy here!

Book Review – How I Changed My Life In A Year by Shelley Wilson

11 Apr 2017 16 Comments

by Ritu in Reviews, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Book Review, Changes, Lifestyle, Motivational, Shelley Wilson

How I Changed My Life In a Year: One Woman's Mission To Lose Weight, Get Fit, Beat Her Demons, And Find Happiness ...In Twelve Easy Steps!

Ever wanted to change something and thought it was just too much hard work?
Ever wanted to make a difference, but found the task too daunting?
Well, then you need to dip into this great book!
I’m not one for ‘self-help’ books per se, but was intrigued to read this personal account of how author Shelley Wilson turned her life around within a year.
A year.
It may sound like a long time to actually make the changes, but in the grand scheme of things, a year isn’t that long really, and considering she made not one, but twelve changes in that time, kudos to her!
Broken down into manageable weekly chunks, Shelley Wilson made her plan, and stuck to it, with great results!
I enjoyed it so much I read it in one day! And it has given me the motivation to make changes, starting small, and aiming big!

My Amazon review for Shelley’s motivational book.

Buy it here!

Did I mention she is a YA Fantasy author too. I reviewed her series here, if it’s of interest to you.

shelley-wilson

Here is Shelley’s Author blog: www.shelleywilsonauthor.com

Her lifestyle and motivational blog can be found at www.myresolutionchallenge.blogspot.com

Find Shelley on Twitter – @ShelleyWilson72

Visit Shelley’s Author Page here

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! ⭐⭐⭐