Tag Archives: Contemporary

Isobel Avens Returns to Stepney in the Spring by M. John Harrison

Book Review, , , ,
Overview
Image result for black feathers ellen datlow book cover

Title: Isobel Avens Returns to Stepney in the Spring
Author: M. John Harrison
In: Black Feathers (Ellen Datlow)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Horror, Mental health
Dates read: 12th April 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Pegasus Books Ltd.
Year: 2017
5th sentence, 74th page: London was as quiet as a nursing home corridor.

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Synopsis

China loves Isobel. But Isobel is aiming for something higher. Something that might end their lives together and create a new world view.

Thoughts

This story made me think of anorexia and other eating disorders. Although the storyline features Isobel Avens trying to turn into a bird, her constant weight loss and wish to be something else has serious echoes of an eating disorder. It made me incredibly uncomfortable reading this too, especially since I know a lot of women who have suffered with such horrible body issues…

Unrequited love is a bitch. And honesty, I think it’s what shifts this story into the horror realm for me. It feels like one of the more terrifying things that anyone can experience… China gives his everything to Isobel. And yet, at the end of the tale, that is not enough and he must find a way to either move on in life or be miserable forever…

 <- The Secret of Flight ReviewA Little Bird Told Me Review ->
Image source: Amazon

My Eye Is A Button On Your Dress by Hanan al-Shaykh

Book Review, , ,
Overview

Title: My Eye Is A Button On Your Dress
Author: Hanan al-Shaykh
In: I Am Heathcliff (Kate Mosse)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Twisted romance
Dates read: 1st April 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Borough Press
Year: 2018
5th sentence, 74th page: He’s always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being.

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Synopsis

She’s received a letter from a man she hasn’t seen for years. One that she thought was lost to her forever. But, when she returns to her home for a happily ever after, she realises that not everything is as it seems…

Thoughts

I actually thought that this story was going to have a happy ending. Completely expected it, and actually looked forward to it. And then all of my hopes came crashing down at the end. It was actually kind of a sinister ending and one that left the story open to many, many possibilities. It was just… uncomfortable and really quite dark.

I haven’t really read any stories that feature Arabic culture and are written by people from this part of the world. It’s something that just hasn’t shown up on my radar, and I haven’t really gone searching for it either. So it was kind of nice and interesting to read a story set in this reality. Especially when it is in a collection based upon an English classic. A great way to show how universal themes can be carried across a variety of cultural realities.

Although this story deals with a culture and worldly view that I don’t understand at all, it was still completely relatable. This short story took the same themes that I am familiar with and bought them into a different world, sweeping me along with them.

 <- Kit ReviewThe Cord Review ->
Image source: Harper Collins Publishers

The Key to Happiness by Gwyn Cready

Book Review, , ,
Overview
Image result for the mammoth book of time travel romance book cover

Title: The Key to Happiness
Author: Gwyn Cready
In: The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance (Trisha Telep)
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Romance, Time travel
Dates read: 11th April 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Robinson
Year: 2009
5th sentence, 74th page: Kate nodded and shook P.J.’s hand.

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Synopsis

Kate thinks she’s met the man of her dreams, but then a visitor from the future comes and asks her to make the ultimate sacrifice. Could he be the key to her true happily ever after?

Thoughts

This didn’t quite go the way I had expected. I was expecting Patrick to be Kate’s lover and to try to stop her from being attacked or something horrible on the night that he returns to visit her. Maybe I’ve just been watching far too many crime shows. So it was kind of nice to find that that wasn’t the tale of this at all. That it was a far sweeter, simpler and more beautiful story than I had ever expected.

For the first story in a collection of time travel romances, this was a great way to start off the collection. Not only is the setting of a wedding a fantastic way to set a romance vibe, but it was also a soft and gentle version of time travel. Rather than travelling back or forwards hundreds and thousands of years, but a mere thirty-odd. The softness and relativity of this travel is a great way to ease you into time travelling, something that I honestly haven’t had much to do with yet, and not a genre that I would even claim to know much about. But now I can’t wait to find out more.

 <- The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance ReviewMacDuff’s Secret Review ->
Image source: Goodreads

Friday Night at St. Cecilia’s by Ellen Klages

Book Review, , , ,
Overview
Image result for coyote road book cover

Title: Friday Night at St. Cecilia’s
Author: Ellen Klages
In: The Coyote Road (Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling)
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Easy reading, Tricksters
Dates read: 1st April 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Short story
Publisher: Firebird Fantasy
Year: 2007
5th sentence, 74th page: She looked at the light switch across the room, but didn’t bother turning it on.

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Synopsis

Friday night at St. Cecilia’s means a night of board games and companionship for Rachel and Addie. But, when Queen Mabe decides to up the stakes, traditional board games become far more complex, and a whole lot more dangerous.

Thoughts

Game nights were kind of a big thing in my family when I was younger. Actually, they’re still kind of a big thing, although I’m not around as much to play now. They were always a great way to spend time together in a fun way. And, since we’re all more than a little competitive, a very fun, not to mention loud way to spend the night. So, a short story that features board games that I grew up playing and a trickster… it’s the kind of story that I was always going to love.

I was kind of expecting Rachel to learn some kind of lesson throughout this story. After all, she starts out as a very rebellious young woman in a catholic boarding school. Who is in detention. This is exactly the kind of not-on-the-right-path character that tends to need a bit of adjustment. But, it doesn’t really happen. Rather, her rebellion just leads her on a very fun and interesting adventure. And it is one that is full of nostalgia and humour. An easy read that made me think of all the times with my family. And all of the board games in my cupboard.

 <- A Tale for the Short Days ReviewThe Fortune-Teller Review ->
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The Secret of Flight by A. C. Wise

Book Review, , ,
Overview
Image result for black feathers ellen datlow book cover

Title: The Secret of Flight
Author: A.C. Wise
In: Black Feathers (Ellen Datlow)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Horror
Dates read: 29th March 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Pegasus Books Ltd.
Year: 2017
5th sentence, 74th page: POLICEMAN startles and falls back.

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Synopsis

The secrets held in a play and its play house continue to haunt the director fifty years after the lead actress disappears. As the letters and the play unfold, so do the secrets that have been kept hidden over the years.

Thoughts

There are some short stories that tell a tale, start at the beginning and end at the end. Then there are short stories like this one. They are so open ended you’re not sure if you’ve missed something. So different and convoluted that no matter how many times I read it, I won’t feel like I have accessed all of the information.

There is something about plays and theatres that inspire a level of horror that you don’t find in many other settings. I’m not entirely sure why, maybe it is the juxtaposition between the light and gaudy front and the dark and twisty back. The level of secrecy that is inspired by having a backstage in which an actors’ transformation can occur. Whatever it is, it manages to situate feelings and tales of horror beautifully. And helps to twist this horror into one of tragedy and loss.

The secrets of the actors’ change echo the secrets of her life. The ways in which the starlings haunt the directors every moment make things vaguer and vaguer, more and more intense.

 <- Pigeon from Hell ReviewIsobel Avens Returns to Stepney in the Spring Review ->
Image source: Amazon

Kit by Juno Dawson

Book Review, , ,
Overview

Title: Kit
Author: Juno Dawson
In: I Am Heathcliff (Kate Mosse)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Twisted romance
Dates read: 29th March 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Borough Press
Year: 2018
5th sentence, 74th page: I went to speak to my hairdresser, and said I wanted a radical change, something a bit rock chick, but nothing needy.

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Synopsis

Catherine thinks she’s found the man of her dreams… but he just doesn’t seem to notice her. So she decides to become Kit.

Thoughts

I really wasn’t expecting to like this story so much. After all, I’ve found all of the stories in the I Am Heathcliff collection so far powerful and fascinating… but not what I would call enjoyable. They’re all pretty twisted and convoluted…but this one wasn’t really. Alright, it was still what I would consider twisted romance, because it wasn’t really anything romantic or healthy at all. But it didn’t leave me feeling both ill and confused. It just left me smiling in a slightly bemused sort of way.

This story might feature an adult woman, but for me, it was very reminiscent of some of my teenage friends. Those girls that developed a crush on a guy and then proceeded to change everything about themselves to make him like them. It never worked, just like in this short story, but it was such a recurrent theme throughout our lives that reading this story was almost nostalgic in a way. Especially considering the fact that this didn’t lead to horror and prolonged torture, in the last moments Kit herself realises her stupidity and starts to move on.

 <- Five Stages, Five Sites ReviewMy Eye is a Button On Your Dress Review ->
Image source: Harper Collins Publishers

Moon, and Memory, and Muchness by Katherine Vaz

Book Review, , , ,
Overview
Image result for mad hatters and march hares ellen datlow book cover

Title: Moon, and Memory, and Muchness
Author: Katherine Vaz
In: Mad Hatters and March Hares (Ellen Datlow)
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Family, Horror
Dates read: 29th March 2019
Pace: Slow, Medium, Fast
Format: Short story
Publisher: Tor
Year: 2017
5th sentence, 74th page: It’s itself, with its own intensifications.

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Synopsis

Alicia was lost to her years ago, but in the world she’s created of Wonderland, her mother might be able to find her replacement. But at what cost?

Thoughts

This was both an incredibly sad and an incredibly creepy short story. Which kind of matches with the whole Alice in Wonderland theme. It’s a bit of a creepy story when you really think about some of the things that have happened. It’s definitely nostalgic, and more than a little sad at moments. Especially when Alice is looking for her muchness. A bit like the woman in this story.

I can think of nothing worse than raising and loving a child, only for her to be taken away from you way too early. Especially in a quite horrific and dreadful manner. Which meant that I had so much sympathy for the lead voice throughout this story. The fact that what she eventually decided to do was somewhat horrible and something I could never conceive of, yet, I still felt sympathy for her… well, it made this into one powerful story.

There is a moment from the original that sticks with me in this rendition. One that I want to return to… the treatment of the dormouse by the mad hatter and march hare. I don’t remember it being this horrific, but when compared to the attack on a young girl… it becomes something which certainly inspires a little horror.

 <- The Flame After the Candle ReviewRun, Rabbit, Run Review ->
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The Ripper Legacy by John Moralee

Book Review, , , ,
Overview
Image result for the mammoth book of jack the ripper stories book cover

Title: The Ripper Legacy
Author: John Moralee
In: The Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper Stories (Maxim Jakubowski)
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Crime, Horror
Dates read: 7th March 2019
Pace: Fast
Format: Short story
Publisher: Robinson
Year: 2015
5th sentence, 74th page: OK.

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Synopsis

A Jack the Ripper conference is faced with a horrible tragedy. Has Jack the Ripper returned? And with a vengeance?

Thoughts

This story was intense. I thought that the lead female was going to get offed pretty quickly. After all, it starts with her having an affair. And Jack the Ripper went after promiscuous women… it seemed like a pretty potent parallel. But that really wasn’t the case.

This short story bought the shock and horror aspect of Jack the Ripper into a more modern day context. After all, the Butcher of Baker Street has always seemed terrifying, but it happened so long ago and the villain is definitely dead, so it’s not all that scary except as an indication of the depravities of humanity. Yet, creating a modern-day massacre and having a group obsessed with the Ripper involved in this… it made me understand a little more what the people of Whitechapel must have felt when their halls were being stalked.

I always enjoy a contemporary telling of a tale that is familiar. Whether it is through history or fairy tales, the themes and ideas that are displayed in the original come to the forefront and take over. In an amazingly beautiful and, in this case, incredibly terrifying way.

 <- Martha ReviewBlue Serge Review ->
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The Springfield Swans by Caroline Stevermer and Ryan Edmonds

Book Review, , , , ,
Overview
Image result for snow white, blood red book cover

Title: The Springfield Swans
Author: Caroline Stevermer & Ryan Edmonds
In: Snow White, Blood Red (Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling)
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Easy reading, Fairy tales
Dates read: 5th March 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Short story
Publisher: Signet
Year: 1993
5th sentence, 74th page: Well, spite of that, things went pretty well there in Springfield for some years.

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Synopsis

An obsession with baseball and an angry stepmother turns seven brothers into swans before they can play on the team and win the season.

Thoughts

This is the first comfortable story that I’ve read in Snow White, Blood Red for a little while. Most of the stories in this collection highlight the sexual component of some very well known fairy tales and make it far more twisted than is necessary. This one on the other hand, gives a modern day retelling to an old classic (I’ve not read the original, but I have read another story based on this fairy tale).

Now, I’m Australian, so I have no idea about baseball. At all. I don’t think I ever even played it in high school PE. Yet, I always love mentions of the sport in stories. Maybe I should add some baseball biographies to my wishlist… which made this retelling of a story tale using this past time kind of fun. And so much more relatable and innocent. After all, there is nothing more fun than playing sport with your family and they do all get a happily ever after…

 <- The Changelings ReviewTroll Bridge Review ->
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Seeing is Believing by Erin McCarthy

Book Review, , , ,
Overview
Image result for seeing is believing erin mccarthy book cover

Title: Seeing is Believing
Author: Erin McCarthy
Series: Cuttersville #3
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Contemporary romance, Romance
Dates read: 24th – 26th January 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Novel
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Year: 2013
5th sentence, 74th page: “I like Brady,” he mom said.

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Synopsis

Cuttersville, Ohio is full of ghosts, and they all want Piper Tucker’s help. One guy in town just wants Piper.

Ever since Piper Tucker was yougn she wanted to be like everyone else, but her uncanny ability to see ghosts always put her on the other side of normal. And the apparitions are showing up now more than ever, desperately seeking help. But what can she possibly do for them? They’ve already been dead for years. Besides, she has a personal concern of her own right now. A real flesh and blood concern – named Brady.

He’s Piper’s childhood crush, and no sooner is he back in town than their sparks start giving off heat. For Brady, it’s hard not to notice the sexy young woman Piper’s become, or forget the special gift she had as a girl. And right now it could come in handy, because a long-forgotten murder has been keeping a restless spirit from finding peace. All Piper and Brady have to do is solve the crime to put the specter to rest. But the passion brewing between them is just as restless, and could prove twice as dangerous.

Thoughts

I’m kind of sad that this is the ending to the series. I’ve been enjoying Cuttersville so much over the past few weeks. And now it is over… I’ll just have to find another series to sink my teeth into next I suppose. And this was such a great and fitting end to this sweet romance series as well. Piper is so much sweeter and more huggable than the other women featured. And I love that you have watched her and Brady grow up a little over the preceding books.

Although there are ghostly interventions and influences over the other Cuttersville stories, this is the first one in which there is a really intense spiritual storyline. I love the fact that an intense ghost story was mixed in with a beautiful and sweet romance. It’s not a mix that I’ve seen often, and it is one that I both loved and never wanted to put down.

I loved the simplicity and beauty of this sweet romance. And it worked even better, because I read it while I was plagued with a migraine. The easy read meant that it was hard to put down and easy to lose track of time throughout the pages. So easy that I spent an entire morning feeling my heart melt while I was avoiding study. And now I have to get back to it and catch up on the mountain of work that has been sitting there…

 <- Abby’s Christmas Spirit ReviewA Date With the Other Side Review ->
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