Top Ten Tuesday - Holiday Gift Guide; 10 Books I'd Buy My Mother

Stay Dead by Jessie Keane

The Wronged - Kimberley Chambers

Wrongful Death - Lydia La Plante

Snatched - Mandasue Heller

Betrayal - Martina Cole

In The Morning I'll Be Gone - Adrian McKinty

The Redbreast - Jo Nesbø

Perfidia - James Ellroy

The Thicket - Joe R. Lansdale

When Will There Be Good News? - Kate Atkinson

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke And The Bookish

The Easy Way Out - Steven Amsterdam

Synopsis:

If you could help someone in pain, would you?

Evan is a nurse, a suicide assistant. His job is legal . . . just. He's the one at the hospital who hands out the last drink to those who ask for it.

Evan's friends don't know what he does during the day. His mother, Viv, doesn't know what he's up to at night. And his supervisor suspects there may be trouble ahead.

As he helps one patient after another die, Evan pushes against legality, his own morality and the best intentions of those closest to him, discovering that his own path will be neither quick nor painless.

He knows what he has to do.

In this powerful novel, award-winning author Steven Amsterdam challenges readers to face the most taboo and heart breaking of dilemmas. Would you help someone end their life?  

Review:

Evan is a nurse, and he knows that he’s a good at it, he really does care! However, in his new role, he isn’t saving lives, he’s helping to end them. The book is all about what is called assistant suicide or assisted dying. Evan finds himself working as a dying assistant in a hospital as part of a pilot project. His job has him being present at the suicide of terminally ill patients, going through a script that ensures the procedure passes as legal before handing them their last drink containing a suicide drug. The in their last moments he must stand by to make sure all goes smoothly, and answering the questions of family members who may be present during their loved ones last moments.

Evan has a complicated work life, but he also has a complicated personal life. His mother has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and the prognosis is not good. Evan's father committed suicide when he was a young boy, which may explain part of his fascination with death and assisted suicide. And his sex life is complex, involving a tangled relationship with a male couple. But things get even more complicated when his mother goes missing.

Steven Amsterdam handles the controversial topic sensitively, Evan, the main character comes across as a likeable guy, his mother Viv is a little more of a complex character I found her more difficult to figure out and like. There are some quite detailed sex scenes between Evan and the male couple he's involved with that I could have done without reading in such detail. Evan pushes against the legal boundaries and his own mortality as points throughout the book but after all he is just helping those who are eligible to, die a peaceful death.

Overall it was a great read, but definitely is not a light one. Assisted suicide is a very touchy subject but the book covered it well and really got the emotions going. Evan was a great character and handled everything better than I would have. It's and easy 5/5 from me without any doubt a very touching book and something I would recommend everyone read to further understand assisted suicide and the struggles of Parkinson's.

Thank you to Netgalley and Steven for allowing me to have a copy of the book in return for a honest review.

Top Ten Tuesday - What I'm Thankful For

1.The family I have, even though they do get to me most of the time, they support me when they can and provide me with what I need when I need it.

2.My friends, I don't have many of them but the ones I have are great supporters and can always be counted upon to make me laugh, fill me in on gossip and make me an all around happy person.

3.The food I get to eat, this may sound a little bit of a weird one but I know that some people are not always guaranteed a 2-3 square meals a day and that gets to me because households all over the world waste a lot of food but yet people all over the world can not get access to 2-3 meals a day.

4. The Clothes on my back, even though you're likely to see me in black skinny jeans and the same band shirts and hoodie and shirts, I'm thankful that I get to have more than two lots of clothing. Much like the food part some people struggle with getting access to clean and new clothing, this is why any clothing I no longer want or do not wear are washed and taken to a store where there are weighed and given to charities that distribute them to places where they are needed.

5. The music I listen to, I know this may sound a little weird too but the music is an outcome of months of hard work and to be able to listen to a part of someone that can bring me and other people together is such a great thing.

6. Books, okay this is slightly book related but I'm thankful for having access to a piece of a creative person, much like the music point its hard work that the person has wanted to share with other people. I love books with all of my heart.

7. The weather, okay so this is by far a weird one especially coming from someone in the UK, The weather helps things grow, brings happiness to people and even though it gets cold and rainy here, there is something about the smell of the rain and the atmosphere that I just love and am Thankful for.

8. I'm thankful for great smells, this is a little weird but to be able to smell good things can put me in a good mood when I really need to be in a good mood.

9. My Part Time Job, its given me a level of independence, confidence and friendship. To work in retail tends to get bad reviews but I like that I've had the opportunity to work with the staff I do and to give customers a great experience.

10. My pets, okay so I have 2 dogs and a fish, they have me thankful because like most of the things on this list, they supply me with happiness when I need it, the dogs keep me warm and give good company when they're with me on the sofa, the fish when I'm in my room. Although they are a lot of work to keep healthy and such, it's all worth it in the end.

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke And The Bookish

Caged - Onaiza Khan

Synopsis:

"Keep your mind right, put your body in action and let your spirit guide you.”

These are the words keeping her sane after her husband takes her from India and into isolation in northern Canada. But after three months with only a servant, a television and the screams of another captive keeping her company, she begins to lose touch with reality - even forgetting her own name.
With the help of an unexpected ally, she discovers an inner strength and powers previously unknown; changing her perspective and realigning her past, present and future.

Review:

Our protagonist Noor, is being held by her husband, she hasn't left the house in 3 months, and longs to be free. Her days are consistent, the routine she is used to is suddenly broken when her captor begins to break It in unusual was that seem nice  us but make our character weary which turns my feeling of the actions being nice into being suspicious. After all he has beaten and abused her over her time as his prisoner.

After her routine is broken in small, subtle ways she finds the other human who she has been hearing being tortured and abused. However he is kept differently to her, Noor finds him chained to a chair and in the dark. To anyone normal this is suspicious.
In short they both plot escape, and it works, but she has moments of panic as to whether she can actually trust him, or will she find herself worse of. It turns out that all is not as it seems and it causes Noor to call in toe question the whole 3 months she was held captive in her own home by her husband Daniel.

I felt really odd about this book, at the beginning I was really into it, there was a beautiful and well described dream scene which really had me interested but pretty much everything from there on out wasn't exactly brilliant. The plot itself was actually a very smart and cunning one, you're lead to believe one thing when in fact its something, not entirely but somewhat different. I felt like the story was rushed, that the ending was important and you were needed to get there urgently. The book has potential, it really does, I really thought I'd be absorbed into this book and have emotions and connections to the places and people but I didn't, I felt very little towards each character, I just didn't click with them and I was unable to care for them as much as I usually would.

Its classed as a supernatural thriller, psychological thriller but I'm not really sure I feel comfortable using those genres with this book. I mean it works as s psychological thriller I suppose, but I don't feel like it really emphasised the psychological state of Norah's character.

I really appreciate receiving a copy of this book and that I was asked for an honest review. For those who like fast pace books that you can get through really quickly his is one for you. Though I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would I give this book a 3 out of 5 and I wish Onaiza all the best with the success of Caged and all of her projects in the future.

INKITT LAUNCHES IOS APP

Inkitt empowers readers and publishers to discover world’s next best sellers

In less than 2 years from launch, Inkitt has attracted over 700,000 unique readers: the iOS app will give book lovers and publishers greater access to Inkitt’s digital library of over 80,000 stories by up-and-coming authors.

BERLIN, NOVEMBER 16, 2016: Inkitt, the world’s first algorithm-based book publisher, is introducing an iOS app for iPhone and iPad available to readers globally today.

“As more people read digitally we want to make it easier and faster for people to access great literature wherever they are, whether on the go or relaxing at home,” says Inkitt’s Founder and CEO, Ali Albazaz. “Inkitt’s iOS app will better enable emerging authors to share their work with test readership groups and give readers globally the opportunity to turn the page on one of the world’s

next best sellers.”

Key features include:

• Access to 80,000 stories in every genre: fantasy, sci-fi, romance, thriller, horror, adventure, action and more
• Personalized suggestions: hand-picked novels based on reader’s preferences
• App customization according to user preferences (e.g. font size, colors)
• Online/Offline: readers can save novels to their offline library to access them without an internet connection

Beyond being a platform connecting authors and readers, Inkitt has developed an in-house algorithm that analyzes reading behavior to determine if a novel has the potential to become a bestseller. Using this unique data-driven approach, Inkitt aims to help emerging writers achieve their dreams of getting published by becoming a point of reference for publishers looking to uncover the world’s next best sellers.

Back in April, Inkitt announced the signing of the platform’s first algorithm-chosen novel, Bright Star, a Young Adult fantasy novel written by Texan author Erin Swan and signed for publication with Tor Books. Since July, Inkitt has published another 3 novels: Catalyst Moon: Incursion by Lauren L. Garcia (Fantasy), Just Juliet by Charlotte Reagan (YA Romance) and I Was A Bitch by Emily Ruben (YA Romance Mystery). Both Just Juliet and I Was A Bitch became bestellers in their respective categories upon launch.

Inkitt’s iOS app was released in beta in Australia and Canada earlier this year and is now available for download globally here

About Inkitt

Introducing Inkitt for iOS: Read great novels by up-and-coming authors on your iPhone and iPad from Inkitt - The Hipster's Library on Vimeo.
On the surface, Inkitt is a platform where budding writers can share their novels and inquisitive readers can unearth fresh content. But under the hood, we are democratizing publishing: Inkitt is built on an algorithm which analyzes reading patterns to predict future bestsellers. Using this unique data- and readers-driven approach to uncover highly addictive stories, Inkitt’s goal is to remove the middle person so that a blockbuster book is never rejected by a publishing house again. In other words, if readers love it, Inkitt publishes it.

All information provided by;

MEDIA CONTACT

eleanna@inkitt.com

Top Ten Tuesday - All Time Favoutire Movies of 2016

    Suicide Squad

X-men Apocalypse

The BFG

The Conjuring 2

The Purge: Election Year

Miss Peregrines Home For Peculiar Children

Alice Through The Looking Glass

Deadpool

Zootopia

The Legend Of Tarzan

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke And The Bookish

The Two O'clock Boy - Mark Hill

Synopsis:

TWO CHILDHOOD FRIENDS...ONE BECAME A DETECTIVE...ONE BECAME A KILLER...

One night changed their lives
Thirty years ago, the Longacre Children's Home stood on a London street where once-grand Victorian homes lay derelict. There its children lived in terror of Gordon Tallis, the home's manager.

Cries in the fire and smoke
Then Connor Laird arrived: a frighteningly intense boy who quickly became Tallis' favourite criminal helper. Soon after, destruction befell the Longacre, and the facts of that night have lain buried ...until today.

A truth both must hide
Now, a mysterious figure, the Two O'Clock Boy, is killing all who grew up there, one by one. DI Ray Drake will do whatever it take to stop the murders - but he will go even further to cover up the truth.

Discover the gripping, twist-filled start to a fantastic new London-set crime thriller series starring morally corrupt DI Ray Drake - the perfect new addiction for fans of Luther.

Review:

I don't quite know where to start with this except for with the statement. This completely blew my mind.

Kenny Overton is a petty criminal trying to do right. He has a job working the night shifts in a supermarket and is trying his best to do the right thing to make up for a life made up of mistakes and bad choices, but it is a life of which begun in a grim and poor children’s home many years ago. But someone doesn’t want to give Kenny the second chance he wants. Someone has been watching him all this time, waiting for the right moment to make him pay for all he has done in his past, to deny him of his happy ending. And the time has come.

When DI Ray Drake and the newly promoted DS Flick Crowley are called out to the scene of a brutal multiple murder, they sense that it is not going to be a straight-forward case. Three members of one family are slaughtered, the fourth escaping only by having left his phone at home that night. But who would want to kill them all, and in such a personal and gruesome way?

Drake knows instinctively that this is a message. That secrets which have laid buried for years are about to be exposed. Secrets which link back to the Longacre Children’s home, its manager, Gordon Tallis and one of the former residents, Connor Laird – a boy who harboured such anger and intensity within, that he terrified anyone he ever met.

With Drake fearing for his family’s safety and with the knowledge that so much depends on keeping the truth hidden, he knows he needs to find a way to prevent Crowley from following her instincts and investigating the children’s home with its ill-fated history and residents. But the killer, the ‘Two O’Clock Boy’, begins to taunt Drake, reminding him that no matter how much he denies it, their pasts, and their futures, are linked. The killer wants the secrets exposed and the question Drake has to ask himself is – how far is he willing go to stop the murders, protect his daughter and cover up the truth?

‘The Two O’Clock Boy’ is an extraordinary piece of work from author Mark Hill. Moving between the present day investigations and weeks in 1984 after Connor Laird first went to Longacre, Hill gives the reader a thrill, a ride full of twists and shocks. It brings up the questions of are the characters simply victims of their past, driven to poor life choices by a difficult and abusive start in life? or is it merely an excuse to justify their crimes? What is it that creates a criminal? A killer? it really gets you thinking about the answers to all of these questions and to begin with you have your mind set on the path the story is going to take but with me it went nowhere close and nearing the end I was pretty much re thinking all of the events and trying to figure it all out before I got to see if I was right or wrong.

The killer known as the ‘Two O’Clock Boy’ is an emotionally complex character. As his past is slowly comes out to the reader, you are put in a strange position where you feel a little sympathy for him as you do for all of those who he targets. What happens at the home is something which does make victims of them all emotionally and, ultimately, physically. Whether as a result you can forgive his actions or not is really up to the reader and how they feel about it all.The truth is complicated and isn't easy to simply condemn. For sure Hill’s writing messed with my emotions to a point where I couldn’t really,truly hate him, no matter what, and yet I still feared the execution of his plans.

When it comes to Ray Drake, you have an almost impossible character. A guy who doesn't really like to be a hero. He is driven by love for his family, and the need to keep them safe, which you can't help but respect. I can honestly say that I didn’t know how to feel about him. I liked his character at first, but as the story unfolded I found myself wondering how he was involved and what it was that the killer had over him. I didn’t trust him, then his past was unveiled, scene by scene, he became bit by little bit an even more complicated character. My feelings mirrored those of his partner DS Crowley; confused by Drake’s change in character, his determination to avoid the truth and to derail the investigation. He shocked me and made me go gah! in frustration. But I still liked him. A lot. I wanted to hate his character but found myself rooting for him instead.

Flick Crowley is a well written character. She has her own demons to battle, a poor relationship with her father and a is over reliant upon her sister, she is a very likeable character, I took to her almost immediately. Willed and determined she follows her gut and carries on with her investigations, in spite of Drake and l see her being a character with so much to give and more way for her to develop. She is certainly no pushover and a strong believer in acting on instinct. You can’t help but like her. Well I couldn't help liking her.

The writing is paced, the tension gradually builds up until the dramatic end as, chapter by chapter, more of the past and motivations are revealed. The twists in the story, the deception, are so well hidden that I didn’t see the majority of them coming until they were staring me right in the face. I thought I knew, but I was so very, very wrong. The thrill of the chase, the developing sense of danger, all driven by a truly great narrative, making this a literal page turner. And the ending just blew me further away than the rest of the book already had.

The murders are grizzly, the perpetrator without remorse and the protagonist divisive.I was pushed to keep reading. I wanted to learn all of the secrets of each character and the identity of The Two O'clock Boy and try to understand why the killer was so hell bent on such a vicious revenge. I want to know what the heck happens next for Drake and Crowley. What they have been though is definitely going to make for an interesting and complex dynamic in future books. I can't wait. its most definitely a 5/5. I must get a physical copy just so I can revisit it and experience the whole thing all over again. I received a free copy of the book from Netgalley in return I should give an honest review.

Top Ten Tuesday - Books I've Added To My To-Be-Read List Lately

What I'm basically going to do is list all the books I have that I want to read as soon as possible.

Esper Files - Egan Brass

Cardiac - Jeffrey Monaghan

The Unadjusteds - Marisa Blagden

The Rest Of Us Jist Live Here - Patrick Ness 

Atlantis Gene Trilogy - A.G.Riddle

Always With Love - Giovanna Fletcher

Maze Runner Series - James Dashner

Am I Normal Yet and How Hard Can Love Be? - Holly Bourne

On The Other Side - Carrie Hope Fletcher

Eden Summer - Liz Flanagan

The Girl on The Train - Paula Hawkins

Books 7-10 in the True Blood/Sookie Stackhouse series - Charlaine Harris

New Guard - Robert Muchamore

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke And The Bookish.