Pastime Pleasures #6 – Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Posted May 2, 2014 by Charlotte in Pastime Pleasures / 0 Comments
Pastime Pleasures #6 – Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Welcome to my  feature, Pastime Pleasures, posted every other Friday. Today is the turn of Stardust by Neil Gaiman. Here I will look at books that have given me great pleasure in the past. These are books I can read over and over again. The only rule is that the book must have been published five or more years ago.   Similar to the wonderful Sabriel (but written nearly a decade later) the world in Stardust is split, between the magical and the ‘normal world’, by a wall. On one side  is a society based on Victorian sentiments. While on the other magic rules and the price of goods is not what you always suspect. Tristan decides to find a fallen star to prove his love for the local beauty but his quest is fraught with danger, and will he come back a changed man? Gaiman does a fantastic job of convincing the reader that the land of Fairie is a real place, after all it could be Scotland, couldn’t it? He also adds a bit of everything into the tale […]

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Monthly Round-up! April 2014

Posted April 30, 2014 by Charlotte in Monthly Round-up! / 0 Comments
Monthly Round-up! April 2014

Monthly Round-up, linking everything that has happened in the last month, posted on the last day of said month. This Round-up April 2014. So I have just over a month until I finish my degree! Not sure what I want to do next year, I really want to keep studying but maybe it’s better that I ‘get in the real world’… So I have to say I am quite busy at the moment, what with two essays in next Tuesday and exams only four weeks away. I’ve already woken up in cold sweats trying to desperately remember everything to do with criminal law, and maybe finally come to grips with trusts and quantification – although let’s be honest who am I kidding. Luckily for me in land law my lecturer said that you can see land law in Pride and Prejudice – so the fact I know the book really well with help me in my exam right? OK let’s be honest, can I just skip May and go straight into June? Preferable the 2nd June so I don’t have to do my criminal […]

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Review: First Impression by Pauline Creeden

Posted April 30, 2014 by Charlotte in Reviews / 0 Comments
Review: First Impression by Pauline Creeden

I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.First Impression by Pauline Creeden Series: Shadow Maven #1 Published by AltWit Press on March 31, 2014 Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery, Young Adult Pages: 176 Format: E-Arc Source: Netgalley Buy on Amazon Goodreads Chira Kelly thought she didn’t need anyone…until she met Ben. Because of one ugly rumor, Chira lives as an outcast at her school. Which is fine with her, because she works better alone. Always has, always will. And at least she has her one and only true friend, Tasha. When Tasha insists that they join a group to visit a possibly haunted abandoned old schoolhouse, she’s wary, but joins her friend. Because of that decision, their lives are in jeopardy as a malevolent spirit targets the group. Tragedies and accidents pick them off one by one, and Chira finds herself drawn to the one person who can see the truth. But can he protect her? So I’m not really […]

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Review: Things We Never Say by Sheila O’Flanagan

Posted April 25, 2014 by Charlotte in Reviews / 0 Comments
Review: Things We Never Say by Sheila O’Flanagan

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.Things We Never Say by Sheila O’Flanagan Published by Headline on June 17, 2014 Genres: Chick-lit, Contemporary, Fiction Pages: 504 Format: Paperback Source: Publisher Buy on Amazon Goodreads Sheila O’Flanagan’s unputdownable bestseller THINGS WE NEVER SAY is a must-read for fans of Marian Keyes and Veronica Henry. The things we never say: A daughter doesn’t say how she feels about the past… A husband is afraid to say that selling the house his wife loves is the only option… A woman hasn’t said that even though they live thousands of miles apart, this man is always on her mind… If those things were said, the results could be life-changing. As Abbey – and a whole family she knew nothing of – are about to find out in this warm-hearted, thought-provoking and touching novel. To begin Things We Never Say there are three flashback scenes which introduce to us three, separate, unrelated characters. And […]

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Review: The Quick by Lauren Owen

Posted April 23, 2014 by Charlotte in Reviews / 0 Comments
Review: The Quick by Lauren Owen

I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.The Quick by Lauren Owen Published by Random House on June 17, 2014 Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Historical, Thriller Pages: 523 Format: E-Arc Source: Netgalley Buy on Amazon Goodreads An astonishing debut, a novel of epic scope and suspense that conjures up all the magic and menace of Victorian London  London, 1892: James Norbury, a shy would-be poet newly down from Oxford, finds lodging with a charming young aristocrat. Through this new friendship, he is introduced to the drawing-rooms of high society, and finds love in an unexpected quarter. Then, suddenly, he vanishes without a trace. Unnerved, his sister, Charlotte, sets out from their crumbling country estate determined to find him. In the sinister, labyrinthine city that greets her, she uncovers a secret world at the margins populated by unforgettable characters: a female rope walker turned vigilante, a street urchin with a deadly secret, and the chilling “Doctor Knife.” But the answer to […]

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