Girls on Fire by Robin Wasserman

Girls on Fire
By Robin Wasserman
Published by Little Brown (5 May 2016)
ISBN: 978-1408707104

Publisher's description

Girls on Fire tells the story of Hannah and Lacey and their obsessive teenage female friendship so passionately violent it bloodies the very sunset its protagonists insist on riding into, together, at any cost. Opening with a suicide whose aftermath brings good girl Hannah together with the town's bad girl, Lacey, the two bring their combined wills to bear on the community in which they live; unconcerned by the mounting discomfort that their lust for chaos and rebellion causes the inhabitants of their parochial small town, they think they are invulnerable.

But Lacey has a secret, about life before her better half, and it's a secret that will change everything...

My verdict
Wow - Girls on Fire is one of those books that's actually hard to review because you can't really describe how you feel about it in words. This book will remain with me for a long time, due to its
beautiful intense writing and thought-provoking powerful plot.

Girls on Fire is the story of two 17-year-old girls in a small town. Hannah Dexter leads a quiet life until she meets the town's bad girl Lacey. As she comes out of her shell, changing her name to Dex, her new best friend Lacey shows her the darker side of the teenage years.

This is a fast-paced passionate book, narrated mainly by 'Dex' and Lacey. It isn't an easy read, but it's certainly an addictive one. Prepare to be amazed, totally engrossed and shocked as the book touches on disturbing issues such as drugs, bullying, suicide and satanism.

Girls on Fire is likely to leave you feeling exhausted and emotionally drained. The author has the most amazing talent of describing EVERYTHING in the most vivid and hard-hitting language. It's really difficult to explain, so you'll just have to read it to find out.

I received an Advance Reader Copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Lost Ocean Colouring Book by Johanna Basford

Lost Ocean: An Inky Adventure and Colouring book
By Johanna Basford
Published by Virgin Books/Ebury Publishing (22 October 2015)
ISBN: 978-0753557150

My verdict

Lost Ocean is a beautiful colouring book with stunning pictures on an ocean theme (as expected). This is my first Johanna Basford book so I can't compare it to her previous books, but I will certainly be looking out for more of her work.

The pages are double sided, so my suggestion is that you don't use any pens that may bleed through (e.g. Sharpies). There is a double-sided four-page spread at the end of the book to pull out. There's an adventure theme all the way through, with pictures to find as you colour in the pages.

The pictures are exquisitely drawn, with minute detail in places. You need very fine pens and well-sharpened pencils. Each page certainly kept me amused for hours.

Work in progress 1
I'm colouring this with a mixture of Staedtler triplus colour pens, Staedtler Fineliners, Stabilo point88 pens and Uni-ball Signo Sparkling Gel Ink Rollerball pens. None of the pens can be seen through the page.

Work in progress 2
This is the last colouring page of the book, other than the pull out spread. I'm using WHSmith colour pencils and also Faber Castell Polycromos pencils. Not that many of the pages include mermaids, shipwrecks or treasure - most of them focus on fish, shells and other forms of sea life - which is why I chose this.

I do feel that some of the pictures could have taken up more space on the page, as there's quite a bit of white space. A couple of mandalas had large gaps in the middle, making them look a bit empty. I'm sure that someone with artistic talent could fill them in their their own drawings and pictures. I may even have a go myself.

Examples of more pages to colour, to give you an idea of the variety and detail:

I was very excited to receive an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Nowhere Child by Rachel Abbott

Nowhere Child
By Rachel Abbott
Published by Black Dot Publishing (14 October 2015)

Publisher's description

Someone is looking for Tasha. But does she want to be found?

Eight months ago Tasha Joseph ran away, and her stepmother, Emma, has been searching for her ever since. She is desperate to give Tasha the home and security she deserves.

The problem is, Emma isn’t the only one looking for Tasha. The police are keen to find her too. She could be a vital witness in a criminal trial, and DCI Tom Douglas has a team constantly on the lookout for her. But Tasha remains hidden, and nobody appears to have seen her.

Suddenly, the stakes are raised. Somebody is offering money – a lot of money – for information about Tasha’s whereabouts.

Tom and Emma know they have never been closer to finding the young girl. But they also recognise that she has never been closer to danger. Can they find her first?

She can run – but for how long can she hide?

My verdict
I really enjoyed Rachel Abbott's Stranger Child. And although I didn't feel the ending left me hanging, I certainly wanted to know more about what happened to the characters afterwards. So I was excited to read Nowhere Child, a novella that ties up all the loose ends perfectly.

In Nowhere Child, we meet Tasha eight months after Stranger Child ends. This short book is cram-packed with tension, suspense and intrigue, as we follow her story. It's lovely to come back to familiar characters, as well as some new ones. The book is well-written and the characters are all well-developed. The story feels very real and it was difficult to put it down.

This novella is definitely one for fans of Rachel Abbott and Stranger Child. It's difficult for me to know whether this could be read as a standalone, but it certainly reads as a complete story in itself.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Being Patricia Cornwell's Editor - Depraved Heart BLOG TOUR

I am delighted to be today's stop on the BLOG TOUR for Patricia Cornwell's Depraved Heart, which was published on 22nd October 2015 by HarperCollins.

I would like to welcome Julia Wisdom, publisher at HarperCollins to tell us what it's like to be Patricia Cornwell's editor.

Being Patricia Cornwell’s Editor

By Julia Wisdom, Publisher, HarperCollins

Back in the 20^th century – 1990, to be precise – when I was a young, impressionable and inexperienced editor, I read a debut thriller by an author called Patricia Cornwell.  The title was POST MORTEM and it was quite unlike anything I’d read before.  The central character, Medical Examiner Dr Kay Scarpetta, was completely original and I found her fascinating; the forensic detail felt precise and totally believable (in fact, as I’ve subsequently learnt, the forensics in all Cornwell’s books are 100% accurate); the story held me in a vicelike grip … And most of all it terrified me. No other thriller I’d read before had had such a powerful effect.  It channelled my scariest nightmare and it made me change two of the ways I behaved (to this day I still follow those practices). 

Patricia went on to become a household name and a global phenomenon.  I couldn’t even begin to guess how many millions of copies she’s sold worldwide, but I’ve never met anyone who hasn’t heard of her. Or her remarkable creation, Dr Kay Scarpetta. 

It seemed unlikely I’d ever become her editor but two years ago that’s exactly what happened.  Well, OK, that was quite a scary prospect. How to edit and successfully publish Patricia Cornwell?  Fortunately I’m surrounded by a highly professional, imaginative team of people from all the publishing disciplines – marketing and publicity through to design through to sales – and we had great fun brainstorming ‘the essence of Patricia Cornwell’. We decided she was the First and the Best in the field of Forensic-based thrillers; that she was the ‘Expert in Death’. I learnt all sorts of things about Patricia, perhaps most interestingly that she practises what she writes: she road-tests the forensics technologies in her books; she can fly helicopters, scuba dive, shoot; she is a forensic consultant and much more.

So far it’s been a blast.  The challenge has been to grow her already considerable readership, to reach those places not previously reached before, to be creative around the sorts of marketing employed – in both our hardback campaigns so far we’ve tried to use truly innovative digital advertising  – and our cover approaches.   

And most importantly the books remain powerful and disturbing, clever and suspenseful, surprising and twisty.  I’m not so inexperienced now, and I’ve read a great many thrillers since first opening POST MORTEM … but the ending of DEPRAVED HEART still had the power to frighten me out of my wits. 

Your chance to meet Patricia Cornwell

This November, there are two events to meet Patricia Cornwell…. One in Manchester and one in London. Follow these links to buy tickets:

London

http://www.goodhousekeeping.co.uk/lifestyle/gh-events-and-whats-on/patricia-cornwell

Manchester
https://www.waterstones.com/events/an-evening-with-patricia-cornwell/manchester-deansgate

Depraved Heart
By Patricia Cornwell
Published by Harper Collins (22 October 2015)
ISBN: 978-0007552467

Publisher's description

Dr. Kay Scarpetta is working a suspicious death scene in Cambridge, Massachusetts when an emergency alert sounds on her phone with a surveillance film of her genius niece Lucy taken almost twenty years ago. The film clip and then others sent soon after raise dangerous legal implications that increasingly isolate Scarpetta and leave her not knowing where to turn – not to her FBI husband Benton Wesley or her investigative partner Pete Marino. Not even Lucy.

Scarpetta is now launched into intensely psychological odyssey that includes the mysterious death of a Hollywood mogul’s daughter, aircraft wreckage on the bottom of the sea in the Bermuda Triangle, a grisly gift left in the back of a crime scene truck, and videos from the past that threaten to destroy Scarpetta’s entire world and everyone she loves.

My Everything by Katie Marsh

My Everything
By Katie Marsh
Published by Hodder (27 August 2015)
ISBN: 978-1473613638

Publisher's description

On the day Hannah is finally going to tell her husband she's leaving him, he has a stroke . . . and life changes in an instant.

Tom's only 32. Now he can't walk or cut up his own food, let alone use his phone or take her in his arms. And Hannah's trapped. She knows she has to care for her husband, the very same man she was ready to walk away from.

But with the time and fresh perspective he's been given, Tom re-evaluates his life, and becomes determined to save his marriage. Can he once again become the man his wife fell in love with, or has he left it too late?

My verdict

I loved My Everything. It's highly thought provoking - one of those 'what if' books that feels very real and touches your heart.

The night before Hannah plans to leave her husband Tom, he suffers a devastating stroke at the age of 32. Hannah has to rethink her plans - all her hopes and dreams are shattered in a moment. She feels that she can't leave Tom at a time when he needs her most.

My Everything is an intriguing and believable story that's written with great tenderness. It switches between Hannah and Tom's past and present, showing how their relationship changed over time. They fell out of love - is it possible to fall back into it? Can they, and their relationship, change again, as Tom makes that long journey back to health? Or is it time for both of them to move on?

The book is beautifully written and I didn't want it to end. This is a story about guilt, love, regret, friendship and hope. It's about pursuing your dreams and following your heart - finding out who are you and not letting others define you. It's one of those books that makes you think about your own life - whether you're achieving your own dreams and, if not, what you can do about it. You never know what's in store.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.