Tuesday 24 December 2013

Maureen and the Big One by Jonathan Hill

Maureen's latest outing takes her to Blackpool for a weekend.  She's not impressed with her first impressions of the B & B she's booked into.

Maureen is still a walking disaster, but with each expedition she sets out on, we get to see more and more of what makes her tick and I get to like her more and more.  This story has a greater depth to it than the previous stories and I liked that.

Here's to more Maureen.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GEA55WI/?tag=jookuf-21


Sunday 22 December 2013

Wolf by the Ears by Lexi Revellian

Another book by Lexi Revellian and another genre for her to be listed under.  This time it's the "wrong place, wrong time" mystery genre.  Tyger gets a cleaning job at a very rich Russian's house, then gets mixed up in his affairs.

As usual with this author's works, the story is well written and well paced.  there's friendship, romance, chases, murder, bad guys and good guys.

I enjoyed this story.  It wasn't over-the-top with heroics, it was one girl against the bad guys, doing the best she can.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00H7IM0FG/?tag=jookuf-21


Sunday 15 December 2013

Off The KUF Volume 2

This is the second collection of stories from the KUForum authors.  A handful of them are available elsewhere, but most of them were new to me (and I devour books by KUF authors).

You get a lot for your measly £2. Over 300 pages.  30 stories by 29 authors, of varying lengths.  Some are drabbles (100 word long stories) and some are much longer reads that you'd probably spend 77p on just the one.

As with any collection of stories there are some you like more than others.  With this, I liked practically all of them and didn't dislike any.

This collection is value for money and I will be looking out for longer works from quite a few of these authors.



Thursday 12 December 2013

Hide in Time by Anna Faversham

This was an interesting story that I was dragged into from reading the sample.  In fact I was on holidays with over 80 books loaded onto my kindle to choose from, but once I started reading this, I knew I had to get it to finish it.

Part time travel, part historical romance, part mystery, this was a very enjoyable read.  The back and forth between time periods gave the story a different edge to a normal romance. 

I think this is a very solid start for a new author.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00A3E925M/?tag=jookuf-21



Wednesday 11 December 2013

The Four Seasons Quest by Cecilia Peartree

This is the second book in the Oliver Quest series. Flora and Oliver are officially a couple, but love doesn't run smoothly for them.  Not when family members are being murdered and Flora is haunted by her past.

This series is set in post war London, and the countryside.  It is a gentle read - not withstanding the murders, muggings and beatings - and is set at a much gentler pace than people nowadays are used to.  Checking that someone's OK means a half day train journey, phoning someone means sending someone else to get them to a neighbour's phone.  I found this story just a bit slower than the previous one.

This is, however, a very enjoyable read, both in the story and the telling of it.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00FOVZU32/?tag=jookuf-21


Tuesday 3 December 2013

An Odder Quintet by Michael Brookes

This is a selection of 5 slightly abnormal stories.  As with the author's other books and short stories, his twisted mind shows.  Whilst not X-rated, they have a creepy, tenseness to them.
In saying they are short stories, they have a meatiness to them.

I liked the first story the best.  An evil prisoner enters an experiment that would be hell for most people.  All the stories are very enjoyable.  The fourth one is similar to one in the first collection and is just the radio talk of a group of soldiers stuck inside a house that isn't what it seems.  Whilst not my favourite, the tension was certainly ramped up with each call.

A decent collection indeed.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00ERCTCJM/?ref=jookuf-21


Sunday 1 December 2013

Seesaw II by Rosen Trevithick

Like Rosen Trevithick's first anthology, Seesaw, this is a collection of novellas, short stories and flash fiction.  I read some of the stories elsewhere as they are available as standalone books and in the KUForum anthology Off the Kuf volume 1, however this set of stories goes well with the author's ups and downs of her writing and her life.

The stand out piece for me is 'My Granny Writes Erotica'.  This is a wonderfully funny story of a granny needing to raise money and deciding her book can be published on kindle.  

The first story 'A Stormy Afternoon in Falmouth Harbour' is edge of your seat stuff and makes you not want to put the book down.

The flash fiction pieces work well as they kind of follow on from each other and when you get to the next one you have to read it.

I'm not really a fan of Trolls, but this was readable in that you get the human version of the story in 'The Other Father' which is quite a powerful piece, then the Troll version which was interesting in a writing way to me rather than a troll story way.

Even if you've read one or two of the pieces of this anthology elsewhere, you get a lot of story for your money in this anthology.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00FX1Q8XY/?ref=jookuf-21