It Starts with a Fish by Emily Kemme

 It Starts with a Fish is a collection of blog posts detailing events or even non-events in the author’s life. It’s a random amalgamation of experiences running from 2015 to 2020 and covers family, pets, friends, and everyday occurrences.

 

While I thank the author for the clean script grammar- and punctuation-wise, I must confess I did not finish the book. It’s very rare that I don’t finish one, especially one to review. However, about forty pages before the end, I had to give up.

 

This is not a reflection on the posts themselves, it was the amalgamation into one book that did it for me. As blog posts, these work very well as they are a glimpse into the author’s life and can be read and savoured as posted. Altogether, however, they felt like too much information all at once. I was hoping for more humour or life lessons, and maybe if these were read weekly or monthly, the “telling” of experiences would work for the reader. But this felt more like a diary. If I knew the author, this might have been different, but I guess I didn’t feel the personal connection and the posts didn’t resonate with me. Another reason the book didn’t feel right was that info was repeated. For example, if the stories were read when posted, the author may have to remind the reader of family names or other info just to bring them back to where the previous post left off. Here, reading the posts one after the other, you’d have the reader reminded each time of a family name or the fact that a certain person played this role in the family.

 

I commend the author on putting so much of herself out there for the world to see, but the format was not enough for me to hold my interest.

 

Thanks to NetGalley and Loudhailer Books for the opportunity to review the book.

Love the Dark Days by Ira Mathur

Written as a memoir and yet so much more, this story follows Poppet, a child of mixed Hindu and Muslim religion, who begins childhood living with her sister Angel and Burrimummy (grandmother). It’s a story of growing up unwanted, the prejudices against those seen as inferior, and the struggle to find an identity when no one has prepared her for life. It shows the complexities of flawed generations and the influence seemingly small decisions or actions have. The story shares a poignant look at a life that could have gone a number of ways and the choices the author faced (or had no control over) to end up where she is now. A vivid and fascinating journey that is well-written and plunges you so deeply into scenes sometimes that it is difficult to come back to the present.  

 

I found this story quite difficult to read – for a number of reasons. In the beginning, when we are introduced to Poppet and her situation, it’s hard to understand how people are treated in certain ways or spoken to as they are for things not of their doing. Then, as the story continues, the interactions with Derek Walcott (while I understand help to move the story and explain her motivations) stop the flow of the story every now and then. You’d find yourself immersed in a part and the next chapter, when about Derek Walcott, would bring you out of the era you were in. Then the journey through her moving, college, and marriage left a very sour taste in my mouth – through no fault of her own. The interactions and conversations were heavy, and while there may be some who understand the history and feel the parts were normal, to me the lack of respect threw me and made me feel quite ill for a while after finishing the book. So in that respect, the author has done a tremendous job in getting the reader right into the situations.

 

Burrimummy was brought across as a character able to be hated and pitied. She was so caught up in her past that she couldn’t see changing times and changing choices and only felt validated by her possessions, connections, and perceived superiority over others. Poppet’s mummy had the redeeming feature of choice – and a backbone to go with it. Otherwise, her reliance on physical looks as validation and constant socialising in dances and visits made for a character without much substance.

 

Poppet’s struggles through life played on my mind for days. Trying to fit in as a child of mixed religion and where lighter skin than hers is preferred in post-colonial patriarchal India. Trying to fit in in the West Indies where emphasis is placed on different values. Trying to fit in in London in a modern society where she is wholly unprepared to be herself. At times, it even felt as though she was fighting the wrong fights.

 

The photos at the end of the book helped to cement how the reader envisaged the characters and settings (especially what Burrimummy looked like when she was younger), but what was missing for me though, was the connection between who and where the author is now to the last pieces of information we had. The ending felt rushed and left me asking for more information.  

 

I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy this book, and at times I didn’t. But it left something with me. Something that made me hug my family closer, something that made me feel for those whose stories I don’t know, and something that made me motivated to do and be better.

 

Thank you to Loudhailer Books and NetGalley for a copy of the book to review.

The Patient's List by James Caine

 The Patient’s List is a standalone psychological thriller.

Newly married Dr Rina Kent couldn’t be happier. She has a gorgeous husband, Jonas, loves her job as a psychiatrist at Holy Saints, and is just about to leave for her honeymoon.

With only a half-day of work ahead of her, Rina is packed and ready. But Rina is a little concerned about one of her patients, Jenny, as she had only just started opening up and her behaviour that day seemed to be regressing to her previous depressed and suicidal state.

As Rina leaves the hospital to fetch some files, Jenny manages to launch herself through a window. Straight onto Jonas’s car. And Rina realises she could have prevented it if she had reported the loose table Jenny was standing near.

A year later and Rina’s life has turned around. Having not gone on her honeymoon as she blamed herself for Jenny’s death, her marriage then unravelled and her work is suffering. She will only take on “easy” cases as she doesn’t feel confident enough to deal with others, and prefers to work late at night, keeping to herself.

Then Amy Deaver is brought in. After being suspected of trying to kill herself, Amy, who is autistic and non-verbal, will not communicate with anyone in any way. On one of Rina’s late shifts, Amy sneaks out of her room and, on finding Rina in the hospital gym, whispers a list of names to her. The last name on the list is her ex-husband’s. Then she says, “Say nothing.”

With Amy refusing to say another word, what is Rina supposed to do with the list?

 

I had high hopes for this story, as the premise sounded very intriguing. However, I struggled to feel for any of the characters as they were all remarkably unlikeable and the story very slow with things being repeated unnecessarily.

I found the characters flip-flopped a lot. The people at the hospital seemed to have no empathy for their patients, and the way they treated and spoke to each other was very harsh. They also seemed to have no issue speaking badly about each other. But then suddenly they would act like best friends. This happens with the detective’s character, too.

Spoilers ahead:

Some parts of the story seemed very out of place. The introduction of the rhyme went nowhere and didn’t create the connection necessary between Amy and Rina. Rina, too, seemed very “able” to put her detective hat on and investigate dangerous scenes, all the while completely ignoring what the real detective was telling her not to do. She outright lies about where she is going and has been and then lands up having to explain it all anyway, which seemed like a complete waste of time.

The fireplace poker… Phyllis used it to kill Marie but when Rina goes to her house the poker is not there. And then the poker is found at the bed when Jonas is hurt and the police think Phyllis hit him. Why the emphasis on the empty poker holder only for it to come back into the story?

The money issue… Jonas says they have the money. Why on earth would they have a bag of cash buried? This is money that has been embezzled from the new building, so why is it in cash? How did the four of them work together to do the embezzling? And how did Amy know where it was buried at Rina’s house to be able to dig it up?

One glaring question I had was: Why would Amy tell Rina the names on the list? Why her in particular? She hadn’t made a communication connection with her and her mom had told her not to say anything to anyone, so why go and tell Rina?

There were a few grammatical mistakes in the book but nothing to make the reader pause too long. I think if some of the characters were worked on and the story tightened a little, this could be a really good book.

 

Thanks to the author and Voracious Readers Only for a review copy.

Playing Doctor Part Three by John Lawrence

Exhausted! That’s how I felt after reading this book. Chaos ruled in book one and when the hilarity continued in book two, I figured book three would be sedate and the shenanigans would be over. Boy, was I wrong! Book three was just as crazy, and I truly have no idea how he managed to fit so much into each day.

Book three tracks Doctor John in his third year of residency and we follow a conflicted year (After all this time in medicine he decided he might rather go into acting!) that should be easier as he has the theory and practise under his belt, but proves to be the opposite as he blanks in a code blue and continually questions himself about whether his decisions are correct.

Having done a few crazy long shifts in my time, I have the utmost respect for doctors and how they can continue to make such important decisions on a 33-hour shift. Especially in the ER with gunshot wounds, faces going through glass tables, kids accidentally getting hurt, and sutures that continually break. Even more so when dealing with patients that demand to be seen when their “emergency” is nowhere near serious.

What makes this book so relatable is how the author doesn’t gloss over the good, the bad, or the ugly. Infected abscesses, rashes, emergency births, kids with objects up their noses, and circumcisions are all on the table. We empathise with him as he deals with depressed or addicted patients. We cheer as he tries to get urology patients to admit that the main reason they came in was for Viagra. And we laugh as he regales us with stories of things that happened to him while not in the hospital. Here I’ll hint at manscaping, a rather nasty cut in the nether regions, a bag clip, and a blood spurt that made Vesuvius look weak.

A few punctuation gremlins crept in this time, but were not overly obvious enough to stop the flow of reading. The book is well written, and the style makes it personable, especially as he allows us into his relationships and we fall in and out of love with him. Thank you, Doctor John, for the ride!

Thanks to Reedsy Discovery and the author for the opportunity to review the book.

www.reedsy.com/discovery

Firestone: A Tale of the Eternal Stones Book One by Ryan Carriere

 

A Tale of the Eternal Stones: Firestone is the first in a fantasy series aimed at absolutely any age group that enjoys a good fantasy story.

 

Two stories run parallel to each other and are sure to meet up sometime within the series. On one side you have Sephonei, who has been forced into becoming a Crystal Hunter (with the barest of training), and who has set off with Ku-aya and Abil to find an eternal stone from a cavern just outside Atlantea.

 

On the other side, you have Roeg, who lives with the Great Spirit Clan but is an outsider as he was brought in as a child and looks different to everyone else. While battling to find his place within the clan, Roeg is given a quest by his adopted father and the shaman of the clan to go to the King of Gnomes, who will help him find the Land of Darkness. Along with his clanmates Tsisa and Ookum, Roeg will embark on a perilous journey to battle a fire demon and find the meaning of the firestone he carries.

 

However, the Crystal Hunters are after the same stone and their paths are on the verge of colliding…

 

First, I must apologise to the author for taking this long to write a review of the book. I only recently found it again after hardware crashed and burned and a promise is a promise! 

 

I enjoyed the book tremendously. I suspect the author has ties to South Africa as the terms “eish” and “kuk (kak)” were all too familiar! And I suspect the gnome bread had its roots in a rusk?

 

I liked how Sephonei was coming into her own, and no longer the scared child she started off as. Her quick thinking and abilities to understand her aura reading made her an excellent empath. Ku-aya was needed to ground the trio and Abil was just a nasty piece of work. However, I battled to understand their use of language sometimes with dialect words like fistler, and when I saw “yaa” my mind automatically said it was spelt incorrectly.

 

Roeg’s side spoke more to me as I felt transported along with his “growth” story and how he felt he didn’t belong anywhere, to showing his courage and being an integral part of saving the day. He showed that trying and trying again was what was needed and his empathy I think will somehow integrate with Sephonei’s. Tsisa’s bravery was fun but foolish, and I enjoyed Ookum’s perseverance in trying to find his place in the world.

 

I was intrigued by the mythical creatures, and Sephonei’s recordings of them in her journal, including the sketches. There were, however, a few grammar and punctuation errors that stopped me a couple of times within the script. Overall, a fantastic read and since the story ends in a place open for the next chapter, I look forward to reading the next one!

 

Thanks to the author for the opportunity to review the book (albeit eventually!).

Crazy on You by Christen Bensten

Crazy on You is a psychological thriller and a sad take on what jealousy and the “If only I hads” will push a person to.

 

Olivia has had a bit of a rough start. Having cared for an abusive father until he died, and still looking after a mentally ill mother has skewed her outlook on life somewhat. She knows the perfect life is out there for her. She just needs a few things to make it right.

 

She and her husband live in one of the smaller houses in Huntwood Valley. With wealth and possessions she can only aspire to. When Olivia becomes a mother, she is sure this will be exactly what she needs to make her life perfect. But being a new mother is not easy, and Olivia is battling to cope. All she has is her husband and he is often out at work. Desperate to stop feeling invisible and needing support, Olivia reaches out to three mothers in the same situation and forms a group. Charlotte has a husband in the political arena who seems very absent from their relationship, Claire and her wife are lawyers and Claire is wrestling with her own demons about keeping safe, and Beth has everything that Olivia could wish for. All three are wealthier, coping with their newborns better, and seem to have it together compare to Olivia.

 

So Olivia begins the “If only I hads” game in her quest for the perfect life. Little by little she becomes more and more interfering in Beth’s life, trying to make her the invaluable friend while doing everything she can to isolate Beth. Her persistent and uninvited visits, calls, texts, and emails become obsessive, and the three mothers are trying to pull away.

 

But Olivia knows what she wants to make her life perfect, and no one will stand in her way…

 

The book starts with the end, so the author skilfully draws you in from the first chapter and makes you aware that something epic will finish the story. I was fascinated/horrified by Olivia’s deeds and thought processes. The problems she went through as a new mom were intense and certainly give the reader pause to try to empathise with her, but her selfish actions were dreadful.

 

I enjoyed the friends’ stories as they showed the real issues behind the facades you see and how everyone faces hardships of varying degrees. It is scary that there are people like Olivia who only see the perfect façade and think that in order to have it, they need to take it and not make their own way in life.

 

I do agree that the events leading up to the finale were a bit suspect as I’m sure they wouldn’t have been allowed to slide like that, but just the depths to which Olivia was prepared to go (and believed was right) was crazy.

 

The book was written with an easy flow and definitely had you saying: “just one more chapter”. No major editorial mistakes interrupted the reading and the author had a fabulous way of describing scenes in such a rich manner that you felt as though you were in the room or even experiencing the emotions the character felt. I look forward to more by this author!  

Soulstealer Book Two by Shane Bouleware

The once mighty Ordo Solis – the Order of the Sun – has lost its following. Created to fight a demon who inhabited people and ate the souls of its victims, it no longer wields the power it had. People don’t believe the demon exists anymore. So, the American chapter of the Order now only consists of two members. Yes, two members in the form of Steven and Jeff, who still keep up traditions and faithfully watch the Raptor Gatekeeper each night for one hour in the hopes of clues to catch the demon.

 

But Jeff is struggling with keeping his commitment to his day job, his Order work, and spending time with his wife and daughter. And Steven feels he needs a holiday. Maybe permanently. They decide to watch one last viewing together, when they notice a person approaching the Gatekeeper. It’s almost like he knows the secret signal, but not quite.

 

With the Raptors, Unas, and Sanhe cults still out there and waiting for the Soulstealer’s return, there is a huge task awaiting Ordo Solis as the cults have no mercy and will stop at nothing to defend him. Unfortunately, Steven is about to find out the depths they will go to. After teaming up with Adeline from the European chapter, they land up going to different countries and working with different Orders. Orders who have had so little to do over the years that they have forgotten traditions. Most don’t believe the Bane is back and others just don’t know what to do. Steven takes matters into his own hands and, with evidence he has cleverly hidden, he plans to use someone with influence who will present the evidence as valid and back it. Will the government agree with this ruse, or will he and his evidence disappear without a trace?

 

The Soulstealer is able to siphon millions of souls at a time. But working out where and when he will attack leaves a whole planet to keep an eye on. This ancient evil will take a lot to beat… 

 

This is a very clever “side-story” in that it is written in the same time frame as the first book but from a different character’s perspective so we get to see how the other side felt about what happened and how they dealt with it. The books fit together so well and a side-by-side comparison will remind you of many small details you may have forgotten.

 

Steven is not your average hero, and the author allows you to feel his frustration and cheer when he defies orders in order to put plans in motion. In book one, you feel empathy for the Soulstealer as you understand the reasons why he is forced to do what he does, yet in book two you can feel the pain that his actions caused. Characters that were only briefly mentioned in book one now have their time to shine as you understand their role in the big picture.

 

The author has a lovely fluid style of writing and while there were a few small punctuation mistakes, they were not enough to play a major distraction. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, both in the manner of construction and the content, and am keen to see the direction the story will go.

 

Thanks to Reedsy Discovery and the author for an advance copy…