Another Space in Time

This is mainstream romance. Jennings writes in a traditional long style, taking care to build his characters, and draw the reader deep into their lives. The "heroic doctor" is very much the centre of the story, playing a handsome but needy romantic. Briana is the centre of surgeon Michael's, attention, a young beauty that appears to be too good to be true. That was almost the story! Both Michael and Briana are amongst the over-rich of affluent society America. Both though are "the right sort", generous with their skills, time and money. Michael's role as Good Samaritan heads the relationship towards disaster. Remember though, this is classic romance. Flight Surgeon is a book for the leisurely holiday, or the long weekends unwind. Some of it was a little too schmaltzy for my taste, and some of the build was a touch long; but overall I really enjoyed it, and I know that regular readers of romance will love this book. The sex is more about good hands than...

This beautifully written book is full of inventiveness, emotion, and clever re-examinations of a host of fantasy ideas. This is a modern adult fairy story, which draws on so many classic themes and cultural tales that it is difficult to guess which ones were originally uppermost in Alayan's mind. It is not that we need to de-construct to enjoy the story; it is simply that as a writer I cannot stop myself wondering from where the spark came. What we do need to do, if cynical adults, is to re-construct some aspects of our childish selves. After all, this is a fairy story in which wooden puppets can talk. Remember back to when Pinocchio seemed plausible. Now get on with finding your own way onto the train with Oliver and Sophie. Alayan enables us to see a complex world through the eyes of the variably innocent and naïve, whilst at the same time she avoids creating a childish story. Her fairy tale grows out of what is already a fantasy world, one a dimension away from our own, and t...

This is a Bookpleasures review  http://goo.gl/nSmFQ  of a Amazon book  http://www.amazon.com/The-Downs-Being-Dead-ebook/dp/B0086QBAMC This is a very inventive and truly speculative science fiction drama, which kept me interested from page one to the final word. The plot works very well, provided of course one is prepared to temporarily take on-board the very speculative premise. The idea that one may be able to exist, be a ghost, between the realm of the living and the kingdom of God or oblivion, works well enough for me. Cornelius has some unusual "explanations" for some behaviours that actually fit well to many theories about the subconscious and psychotic illness. You will be missing the enjoyment of a great story if you can't embrace the idea that out of body experiences may be portends of the future, rather than just the dying illusions of oxygen starved minds. The revival of tissues from cryogenic suspension has already been shown to work. It may not be long bef...

http://www.amazon.com/The-Wake-Dragon-Steampunk-ebook/dp/B0080UVQIW This was my first Steampunk novel; immediately I'm wondering my neglect. Hawkins writing is good enough that I was unaware of reading, as the words flowed so effortlessly into the adventure. Some writers can make me feel I'm watching film, I felt that. Hawkins crafts a wonderful adventure out of her genre inspired distortion of 19th Century History. We read about a fictitious battle for wealth, conducted by industry, traders and outright crooks. In particular we observe a battle for the trade in opium and other nefarious goods between all parties from the huge East India Company, down to the lowest of pirates. We are not though, as history would lead us to expect, at sea. We are in the skies above East Anglia, London, Cornwall and eventually Paris. Pirates in airships and other inventively interpreted steam age technologies add a magical layer to Victoriana. Imagine Montgolfier balloons with wooden...

http://www.amazon.com/Unhinged-ebook/dp/B0056IPCSQ If I didn't read the news regularly I would have found it hard to believe the sick minds and warped thinking described in this very disturbing thriller. I won't be relocating, to the book's setting of New Orleans, anytime soon. This isn't one for the tourist board. To be honest, I didn't really take to any of the characters, even the ones I assume we are meant to like. Of course, I had weaved my own detail into the various players. As with most well written fright literature the worst visions come from our own imaginations as much as directly from the crafted words. Findorff manipulates our view, forcing us to pry the dark recesses of our own minds. As I have said I don't much like the owner of the narrative voice, Decland. But to qualify that, I wanted him to win, if only in order to save the lives of the small army of his unfortunate ex-girlfriends. My opinion, almost to the last page, was that Decland w...

http://www.amazon.com/Spanish-Helmet-Matthew-Cameron-ebook/dp/B00537SKMA Scowen has created a very exciting story from the mix of "evidence", hypothesis, and hyperbole that is the history of New Zealand before 1769. The alternating chapters of possible 16th Century Spanish discovery and an equally plausible present day story are knitted together very well. As with history everywhere, the most easily accessible "truths" come from amongst the records of the victorious and not from those of the defeated. Taking this factor into account this fiction builds a believable plot. I loved the way Scowen blended together the "known" and the theoretical in creating this realistically paced thriller. He wasted little of his wide cultural experiences either, as he even weaves in some recently acquired knowledge of Switzerland. I include here a paragraph of background to help those unfamiliar with New Zealand gain a feel for this book's foundations. I would be di...

http://www.amazon.com/Born-a-Refugee-ebook/dp/B003A4IEFG This is a deep, rich, poignant and profoundly humanistic book. It is also one of the best "political" books I have ever read. The central thesis, a family that could be any one's neighbours anywhere of Earth, except that they are struggling against the crush of a "foreign" military occupation, living between Jerusalem and Ramallah, is brilliantly constructed. Whilst telling one extended family's story Hallaj very cleverly keeps the reader linked to the massive historical waves convulsing the nowadays lands of Abraham. The chosen device, the start of chapter historic, headline, quote, works very well. Haaaj is a very good reader of people. Her characters are totally believable, and her understanding of the issues facing stateless people walking their own ancestors' lands seems to an outsider to be sharp and profound. Politicians who really care for the pursuit of peace should read this book,...