From The Review Pile (52)

From the Review Pile is a meme hosted by Stepping Out of the Page every Thursday.

The aim of this meme is to showcase books that you've received for review (or if you don't receive review books, any book that you own and really want to read/review) but haven't yet got around to reading, in order to give the book some extra publicity.

I know that a lot of you have a huge pile of books that you want to read/review, but it understandably takes a while to get around to reading them all - here you can give a book (or two!) some of the publicity that it deserves, even if you haven't read it yet!

-----------------------------------

This week, I'm going to showcase Split Second!

This is a book that I was sent quite a while ago but unfortunately never got around to reading - however, after revisiting the synopsis, I know that it's something that I could potentially find really, really good! I love the sound of this one, so I will have to remember to get to it sometime soon!

Split Second by Cath Staincliffe

323 Pages

Published July 2012 by Robinson

A winter's evening and a trio of unruly youths board a bus and gang up on teenager Luke Donnelly, hurling abuse and threatening to kill him. The bus is full but no one intervenes until Jason Barnes, a young student, challenges the youths. Luke seizes the chance to run off the bus but his attackers follow. 
Andrew Barnes is dragged from the shower by his wife Valerie: there's a fight in the front garden and Jason's trying to break it up. Andrew rushes to help and the assailants flee. Jason shouts to his father to phone an ambulance - Luke is badly hurt. Minutes later Jason collapses in their living room, he has been stabbed. The blow proves fatal. 
Valerie and Andrew are devastated by the loss of their only child, and react in very different ways to their grief. Valerie wants justice, revenge even, but Andrew is desperate to find some meaning in Jason's sacrifice. Luke survived the assault thanks to Jason's actions, but is in a coma. 
As his marriage disintegrates, Andrew secretly visits Luke and his mother Louise and a fragile friendship develops. Meanwhile the press begin to paint a picture of Luke as a less than innocent victim and raise questions about the cost of Jason's heroism. 
One of the offenders confesses to the attacks and shows remorse while the others plead not guilty. Conflicting accounts emerge during the trial. With some parties prepared to lie, the matter of uncovering what really happened is far from straightforward, and the jury's verdict hard to predict. A novel that explores the issue of whether to intervene or look the other way and the fall-out from either decision. 
" Split Second" tackles questions of bravery, fear and kindness and depicts the human impact of violent crime.

666 Park Avenue (666 Park Avenue #1)

666 Park Avenue (666 Park Avenue #1) by Gabriella Pierce

Paperback, 336 pages

Published 2nd August 2012 by Constable & Robinson

My shelves: adult-fiction, arc-or-review, better-than-expected, books-i-own, chick-lit, cover-appeal, currently-reading, magic, magical-realism, read-in-2012, series-or-companions

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

Jane thought she was living a fairy tale. Now she has to contend with burgeoning magical powers and a soon-to-be mother-in-law who is a witch ... literally Welcome to New York City, where the socialites are witches.

Jane Boyle has been living a fairy tale. When her boyfriend Malcolm proposes, Jane can't believe her luck and decides to leave her Paris-based job as a fledgling architect and make a new start with him in New York. But when Malcolm introduces Jane to the esteemed Doran clan, one of Manhattan's most feared and revered families, Jane's fairy tale takes a darker turn. Now Jane must struggle with newfound magical abilities and the threat of those who will stop at nothing to get them.

Welcome to 666 Park Avenue...

Buy this book:

The Book Depository / Amazon (US/INT) / Amazon UK

My thanks go to Constable & Robinson for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.

Before I was asked if I'd like a copy of 666 Park Avenue for review, I had never heard of the book. Thankfully, I was introduced to this very interesting, contemporary book series and I'm happy to see more people reading it. This book deserves a whole load of popularity - it's fun, it's captivating and it's truly addictive! This is a new, exciting trilogy and is definitely something to keep your eye on!

The first instalment in this trilogy introduces us to Jane Boyle, a young woman living in France who is quickly swept off her feet by a very well-off american man named Malcolm Doran. Unfortunately, not everything is as perfect as it first appears - when visiting her caring grandmother to tell her the news, she discovers her dead, leaving behind only a note and a powerful ring which opens up a world of magic and witchcraft. When Jane and Malcolm arrive in New York City, lots of strange things begin to happen and she realises that she's not the only one who holds supernatural powers. It was very interesting to see  how things unfolded in this book and the discoveries were fascinating. I also really enjoyed seeing how Jane adapted to her new-found powers. Though this an easy to read, chick-lit type book, I thought that the magical plot was very impressive.

I really liked Jane - it was easy to relate with her and to sympathise with her. I think that most people will find it easy to put themselves in her shoes whilst reading this book. I did find her to be a little bit of a pushover at times, but thankfully she did stand up for herself at points. I can't really blame her for being a pushover when it came to her mother-in-law to be, Lynne, though as she was really quite terrifying! The Doran family are an extremely complicated bunch, and I can't wait to get to learn even more about them in the next two books. I really loved meeting all of the members of their clan (however awful they were!) and seeing how they interacted with both Jane and each other member of the family. Without giving too much away, I particularly loved  reading about the issues of Malcolm and his siblings. 

This was different to many other paranormal books that I've read. This book is aimed towards the adult market, rather than young adult but it could be easily be enjoyed by either of these age groups. Though 666 Park Avenue certainly does have a main paranormal element to it, it is also a quite contemporary book and will be enjoyed by those who like chick-lit. I think that this would be an ideal book to give to someone who usually reads realistic fiction but who is willing to give paranormal a try, or vice versa. I think that it's fantastic that there's a book to bridge this gap. I really enjoyed this book and I am very excited to progress onto the second in this trilogy!

French Lessons

French Lessons by Ellen Sussman

Paperback, 242 pages

Expected Publication: 5th July 2012 Canvas

My shelves: adult-fiction, arc-or-review, better-than-expected, books-i-own, chick-lit, cover-appeal, cultural, read-in-2012, realistic-fiction, to-be-reviewed

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

A single day in Paris changes the lives of three Americans as they each set off to explore the city with a French tutor, learning about language, love, and loss as their lives intersect in surprising ways.

Josie, Riley, and Jeremy have come to the City of Light for different reasons: Josie, a young high school teacher, arrives in hopes of healing a broken heart. Riley, a spirited but lonely expat housewife, struggles to feel connected to her husband and her new country. And Jeremy, the reserved husband of a renowned actress, is accompanying his wife on a film shoot, yet he feels distant from her world.

As they meet with their tutors—Josie with Nico, a sensitive poet; Riley with Phillippe, a shameless flirt; and Jeremy with the consummately beautiful Chantal—each succumbs to unexpected passion and unpredictable adventures. Yet as they traverse Paris’s grand boulevards and intimate, winding streets, they uncover surprising secrets about one another—and come to understand long-buried truths about themselves.

Buy this book:

The Book Depository / Amazon (US/INT) / Amazon UK

My thanks go to Canvas for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely love France, especially the beautiful city of Paris, and so when I was asked to participate in a blog tour for French Lessons, I jumped at the chance! Whilst the majority of books I read are aimed towards young adults, I certainly am not opposed to reading adult fiction and this made a nice change for me.

On initial inspection of this book, I thought that it'd be a quick, fun piece of chick-lit - but how wrong was I! This book will fit into the chick-lit genre, but it felt like so much more. The novel is surprisingly sophisticated and definitely has a certain edge to it over other similar novels. The format of this book is different to the norm and it really made it stand out to me. Though this is the first book by Ellen Sussman that I have read, I'm sure it won't be the last - her writing is unique and it is clear that she has talent.

 The story is split into separate parts, revolving around three french tutors and their adult students. Nico tutors Josie, Phillippe tutors Riley and Chantal tutors Jeremy. There are three separate stories which explore the relationships of the couples as they travel through the city - we even get to see little maps of the places they go, alongside fantastic illustrations, which was a fantastic extra touch! There is not much of a plot as such, but rather the book is made interesting by the characters which it introduces us to and everything weaves together perfectly. 

When we're first introduced to the tutors, I instantly had the desire to learn more about them and I really wanted to delve deep into the story! My favourite pairing, by far, was Nico and Josie - it was really interesting to read about both of their stories and to see how they interacted. If the whole book had been about that one couple, I definitely wouldn't have been disappointed! However, we were also introduced to Phillippe who tutored Riley. When we first saw Phillippe quite briefly, I thought that he'd be my sure favourite, but unfortunately as we got to learn more about him, he quickly became my least favourite character - though this is not to say that he didn't fit in with the story. His personality worked perfectly in allowing the story to progress. The final story between Chantal and Jeremy felt the most developed and natural to me - although it wasn't very long, the emotions, connections and memories of the characters seemed very complex.

All in all, this book wasn't what I expected - it certainly exceeded expectations. This is a cultured, refined, sensual (sometimes verging on erotic) story that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to adult readers, in particular those who want to read some lovely wring and escape into the city of love.