Gronk: A Monster's Story Volume 1 - a comic by Katie Cook

Synopsis

Gronk is a monster... and not a very good one. 

Gronk tells the tale of a young monster who has turned her back on monsterdom (mostly because no one found her scary) and has become fascinated with humans. 

She moves in with her human friend Dale and her pets Kitty and Harli, a 160 lb. Newfoundland Dale wants to declare as a dependent to the IRS. 

Enjoy the first installment from this popular kids webcomic in a wonderful, full-color collection!

Review

Lovely, sweet and amusing, Gronk is an inventive comic and the art and words depict a great sense of humour and fun. Gronk is a lovely monster who isn't interested in scaring anyone; instead she enjoys company, friendship and adventure, and she finds all this when she meets Dale and accepts her kind invitation to move in with her and her pets Kitty the cat and Harli the dog. 

One of my favourite pages was the one where Gronk gets in the cardboard box with Kitty the cat, and her imagination conjures up some great scenes that are sketched out. I love Harli the dog. It's sixty pages, I enjoyed reading the whole book in one sitting - it collates the episodes shared via the original webcomic. The original wonderful black and white illustrations have been coloured for this book by Kevin Minor. 

Gronk features likeable characters, and includes references to Harry Potter and other popular culture. I'm sure children will love it, and adults too - I did.

The website for the original webcomic is here: Gronk Comic

Digital review copy via netgalley.

Walk Me Home - Catherine Ryan Hyde

This moving story had me intrigued and asking questions straight away; who are Carly and Jen, why are they walking such a long way, just the two of them, so young? What has happened? Who is Teddy and why is Carly so determined that he is the one to help them?

Sisters Carly, 16, and Jen, 12, have set off from New Mexico and are trying to get to Teddy in California. They soon become hungry and tired, and it becomes increasingly difficult for them to continue and to stay safe and not risk it being discovered that they are on the run alone together; the threat of being taken in by the authorities and potentially separated keeps them walking and reluctant to reveal the reality of their situation to anyone. 

Then the novel takes a step back further in time, a few months earlier, and we meet Teddy, their mother's ex-boyfriend, and we meet the girls' mother, and their recent past slowly reveals itself. The sisters have had a difficult, unsettled childhood and experienced much disappointment; and now their world has been turned upside down. They travel so many miles, struggling along together, desperate and starving at times, and as I read, I feared for them, but I was also heartened by the kindnesses that they encountered from people too. 

It is primarily Carly whose thoughts we follow, and it's a very emotional as well as physical endurance test that she goes through on her journey. It is very clear that she has lost her trust in others and lost her belief in her self, and her self worth; she has convinced herself that she doesn't matter and that 'everyone likes Jen better'.  As I read, I willed things to change for the better for Carly because she had been so strong, I didn't blame her for having lost trust in people because of her past treatment, but she needed to take the risk of trusting again; the story illustrates how sometimes we have a new, unexpected chance for happiness in life and it is the ability to let go of fear and accept this chance, to take the risk of trusting again, that we need. This was such an important theme running through this story; who can the girls trust and believe in, who has their real interests and welfare at heart, who isn't all that they seem to be, and who cares more than they realise. 

I've really enjoyed novels by Catherine Ryan Hyde in the past and I found in this new book the same warm-hearted and honest portrayal of people who find themselves facing the challenge of coping with huge difficulties and setbacks in their lives that I have admired before. She creates rounded characters, and the relationships they share feel very real; I cared about the sisters. The author has sensitively and thoughtfully incorporated a little of Native American culture into this story, and created two special characters in particular that I would love to meet. The sense of place was well conveyed, and this setting was important too, the intense heat of the desert landscape adding to the struggle as the girls were walking. 

I liked the author’s note at the end of the book that clarified an aspect of the story that I had wondered about whilst reading. I think this novel would be really enjoyed by young adult and adult readers. 

I felt this was an engrossing, well-paced story about being honest with yourself and having to admit to the truth, and learning to accept kindness from unexpected places. It is about loss, loyalty, truth, courage, and the hard decisions people have to make, the strength we have to find sometimes even when we are only a young age.  

Published by Black Swan, July 18th 2013

Thanks very much to the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance ebook copy of this novel via netgalley. 

You can visit the author's website here find her on facebook here or follow her on twitter @cryanhyde

Rubbernecker - Belinda Bauer

‘Rubberneckers. Desperate for a glimpse of death.’

This is a cracking crime novel from Belinda Bauer. Patrick is a complex and yet rather endearing character who has Asperger’s syndrome. He has gone to University to study anatomy in order to try and solve his quest with regard to the death of his father when Patrick was a young boy. His father’s death left a hole in his life. He doesn’t get on well with his mother and she in turn struggles to deal with him.

The novel is also partly set in a neurological ward and we have as one of the narrators one of the people in a coma; he is struggling to muster up any communication that can be understood by the people watching him, those wanting him to return to life; this gives us a unique and fascinating viewpoint on events, and I felt this was a very clever device to use within the story. Another viewpoint is the selfish lazy nurse who was out for herself, this introduced another angle to events in the ward.

Patrick becomes intrigued about the cause of death of the body his group is working on dissecting in his anatomy class. Unlike most of the other students who are studying medicine and saving lives, Patrick has a specific quest which makes him singularly interested in anatomy as a means to answering the question which has dominated his thoughts since his father left his life. ‘He didn’t care what made people work. He was only interested in what happened whey they stopped…’

Patrick’s curiosity and determination is what drives the story forward. He slowly begins to find a new interest in his life, a new goal to solve the fresh mystery he has uncovered. He also developes a little in his interactions with people, such as with compassionate fellow student Meg, despite the boundaries and limitations of behaviour and understanding of others that his condition dictates.

There are so many wonderfully satisfying episodes in the plot which I wish I could write about but I can’t mention them here because they need to be discovered and savoured as you read.

The bringing together of the story arc of the whole novel from beginning to end was very cleverly done and something which I thought about at the end as all the revelations were complete. I loved the way the narrative is structured. Each character feels believable and compelling, and each of their individual parts of the story are so cleverly brought to a conclusion which integrates into the book as a whole.

There is some deliciously dark humour; at times I was laughing an awful lot and wondering whether I should really be laughing at these things, but the way Belinda Bauer writes these events is so clever, combining the gruesome with the ridiculous and mundane to superb effect.

There is genuine terror, suspense and intrigue throughout and I couldn’t read this book fast enough.

A brilliant read, a cracking and inventive mystery, cleverly written and darkly funny, and a standout book of the year so far. 

Published by Bantam Press on 31st January 2013

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an ebook of this novel to read and review in advance of publication.

You can follow news about the author on twitter @BelindaBauer

A Lady Cyclist's Guide to Kashgar - Suzanne Joinson

'Bicycles are rarely seen here, and a woman riding one is simply unimaginable.'

It is 1923, and Evangeline (Eva) English, her sister Elizabeth (Lizzie) and their companion Millicent Frost are trained missionaries who have traveled to Kashgar, East Turkestan, to spread the message of Christianity. Lizzie and Millicent are driven by their religious beliefs, whereas Eva, with her 'glorious, green BSA Lady's Roadster bicycle', has other motives for wanting to be part of the trip, capturing her experiences in writing, and hoping to write A Lady Cyclist's Guide to Kashgar and have her guide published...'and I shall sub-title it, 'How I Stole Amongst the Missionaries.' It shall be my own personal observations, filled with insights about the Moslems. I intend to spy upon the women, fascinating in their floating garb; and the landscape: these great, monotonous plains; and I shall sit upon my two wheels and feel the grit of the desert and move about the streets as if flying.' As we meet them, they have just happened upon a young girl in the desert, only 10 or 11, who is giving birth, and they help her. However, the local people are against what they have done, and they take them in whilst deciding the fate of the three women. The women hope that they can gain funds to free themselves.

The story then moves to London in the present day, and we meet Frieda as she returns home after travelling for many months, as part of her work researching the youth of the Islamic world. She discovers a man sleeping outside her door, and shows kindness towards him. The next day she finds beautiful images of birds drawn on the wall outside her home. She is in an unsatisfactory relationship with a married man. We learn that the stranger is called Tayeb, and he used to be a filmmaker in his homeland of Yemen, but is now in a difficult position due an incident that happened to him in London. Frieda inherits the contents of a flat from a lady she doesn't recall ever having known. There she discovers intriguing items from the past, and an unlikely and unexpected friendship grows between Frieda and Tayeb as they both look to their futures. Frieda has had an unusual upbringing and the inheritance she has received will cause her to revisit past times.

The author has transported us to another world, describing its exotic colours, the foods, the people, and conveying the atmosphere the women find themselves in, as two different cultures with different traditions and lifestyles come together. It was intriguing to discover how the relationships between the three women changed and developed as more of their individual personalities are revealed to the reader; Eva experiencing feelings of loneliness, and becoming increasingly distanced from Lizzie and Millicent, whose 'friendship was so thick and tight.' Of course this is all viewed through the eyes of Eva in the passages she has recorded in her journal. She ponders why she writes; 'Perhaps I write it for sense. I write it for cohesion, I suppose, to understand the progression that must occur in the layering of different selves that create a life.' The parts of the novel narrated by Eva are prefaced with wonderful short extracts from a book entitled Bicycling for Ladies, by Maria E. Ward, from 1896. 

Overall I liked this fascinating debut novel; I felt that whilst reading I was able to take a step into the past, and experience with Eva some dangerous, unfamiliar places, and felt tension as I read on, wondering what would happen to these courageous, independent women, how would their stories end? Although admittedly it took me a little while to get into the story fully at first, I grew more interested in the story involving Frieda and Tayeb as it gathered momentum, and I enjoyed Eva's journal entries more once the story had progressed a little. 

The author moves the story along nicely between the dual strands of narrative, historical and modern day, and links them cleverly together, slowly revealing the connections between Eva and Frieda, and combining to deliver an intriguing and satisfying read as a whole. If you, like me, enjoy novels with this dual time frame structure, and which combining historical and present-day stories to compelling effect, you may well enjoy this book. 

Thank you very much to Netgalley and to the publisher for the chance to read and give an honest review of an advance egalley of this novel.

Published by Bloomsbury


There's a website about the book here.

Suzanne Joinson works in the literature department of the British Council, specializing in the Middle East, North Africa, and China, and she is the Arts Council-funded writer-in-residence at Shoreham Airport in the UK. Her personal blog can be found online at http://delicatelittlebirds.wordpress.com, and she tweets at @suzyjoinson. Visit her Web site at www.suzannejoinson.com.

Below is a video featuring the author discussing this novel.

One Breath Away - Heather Gudenkauf

'All the hard work she invested in creating a warm welcoming environment, destroyed by this terrible man.'

This contemporary novel follows five people all linked by the chilling events of one day in the small town of Broken Branch, Iowa, when a gunman enters an elementary school. Five narrators who are all linked by the events tell us about the day through their eyes, each giving a different perspective, and we find out a little about each of their backgrounds too, which allows us to learn about them, and relate this to how they are behaving now, on this day. As the snow falls, the rest of the town can only sit and wait.

Police officer Meg Barrett, farmer Will Thwaite, his thirteen-year-old granddaughter Augie Baker, and Evelyn Oliver, the teacher trapped in her classroom with her pupils and the gunman, recount what is happening around them, and then the final narrator is Holly, who is mother to Augie and her younger brother P. J., and who is in hospital across the country recovering from the effects of a terrible accidental fire. 

This is an emotional, captivating story of everyday lives and relationships interrupted by one terrifying moment. The tension builds as the story progresses. The author conveys the worries of those waiting to hear any news from the school. I found myself thinking about who the gunman could be, and what his motivation was. There is suspicion and speculation as to his identity by those closely involved. Through what we slowly learn about these characters' pasts, the author introduces several possible candidates who could be the gunman. Anxious parents and friends wait, desperate for news, but little is forthcoming. For policewoman Meg, this is frustrating: 'I feel at loose ends; the little information I have is fragmented and disjointed, doesn't make sense.' The reader is kept on edge for most of the novel as to how the events will conclude.

The novel is fast-paced, the narrative voice shifts regularly between the five characters, and the sections are all fairly short, until at one point we have as little as a paragraph or two from one character, then we skip straight to another. This occurs as the story is at its most uncertain moment, and adds to the tension for the reader.

The main characters are all convincing and well-drawn, each with their own individual concerns already playing on their minds, these anxieties then being compounded by the shocking events of this day. It's fascinating to see how each character reacts in this awful situation. I kept wondering what would happen next, and I was thinking about the story even when I'd put the book down. 

Published by Harlequin Mira on June 19th 2012 (US) and Mira on July 6th 2012 (UK)


Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance ebook copy of this novel to read and review. 


4/5

The Lifeboat - Charlotte Rogan

'I wondered, not for the first time, if some of life's tragedy arose when people put themselves in situations they were not by nature suited for.'

It is 1914, and newly married Grace Winter, aged 22, and her wealthy husband Henry are on board the Empress Alexandra and destined for New York, having set sail from Liverpool. Then tragedy strikes the ship in the form of an explosion, and in the chaos that ensues, Henry secures a place for Grace on one of the lifeboats being launched. Primarily through journal entries which are made retrospectively, at the behest of her lawyers whilst she is imprisoned awaiting trial, Grace recounts to us her memories of the twenty one days she spent on board Lifeboat 14, which left the ill-fated Empress Alexandra carrying 39 people. 

The tumultuous relationships that ensue between those on board the lifeboat are gradually revealed to us. There is one crew member from the ship on board the lifeboat, Mr Hardie, who seems to naturally take charge of them at first, after all, 'he knew about this world of water.' The passengers on the lifeboat at first hope to 'preserve civility'. However, the diverse personalities on board the lifeboat don't remain calm and compliant for long though, and there are numerous clashes and disagreements as the people realise the severity of their situation on the open seas, and the terrible decisions that will have to be made, as the lifeboat is clearly over capacity.

Grace was a first-class passenger on board the ship, enjoying all the luxuries that such a status offered to her. She recalls dining at the Captain's table, where the talk was of war amongst the men, and of weddings amongst the women. Grace recollects how she met Henry, and how she might otherwise have had a very different destiny had she not married him, as she reveals her background to us, and the sadness that lies therein. 

This is a compelling story, which had me wondering what would happen to Grace, and how life on the lifeboat would change over the days those on board spent on it. I wondered how reliable a narrator Grace is, and what would befall her. How do people behave under such physical and psychological strain, enduring such a terrifying ordeal? On the surface this is a story of tragedy and survival, but it goes deeper, and explores human nature, memory, and morality, and it leaves you with much to ponder.

Another read for me from the Waterstones 11 selection for 2012, and another impressive debut.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher Little, Brown and Company for an ebook proof edition of this novel to read and review.

Trapeze (The Girl Who Fell From the Sky) - Simon Mawer

Please note: this novel is entitled Trapeze in the US and The Girl Who Fell From the Sky in the UK.

'Figures skulk in the shadows of her imagination. Are they watching her, even now?'

Marian Sutro is recruited by the British in 1941 to work in France during World War Two. Marian previously lived in Geneva, but is now in England working in the WAAF, and as a native French speaker, she is selected to be trained and sent to work undercover in the South-West of France. In addition to the duties she is trained to undertake for the Special Operations Executive, she is given an additional secret assignment. She has happy memories of France from the past, of holidays and friends including Clement Pelletier, a research physicist. Before leaving for France she visits her brother Ned, also a physicist. We see her as she undergoes the numerous varied and rigorous training exercises, during which time she meets others who may play a part in her future, including Benoit. She learns 'how to blend in and how to fade away, how to see without ever being seen.' Then, she is dropped into occupied France by parachute, where her identity becomes Anne-Marie Laroche. When Marian has cause to head for Paris, she finds it is a different place from the one she remembers; it is changed, 'tarnished... this strange city that is a simulacrum of the Paris that she knew' and it is 'riddled with spies.' I will not discuss much more of the plot, as this would spoil it for future readers. 

I loved this novel. It is an extremely engaging literary historical thriller. It is, at its heart, the story of a young woman placed in a very dangerous situation, all the while trying to understand her confused, complicated emotions towards two men, and comprehend the nuggets of scientific knowledge she has regarding nothing less than a possible future threat to man. Although Marion is a fictional character, women like her did undertake such missions as is noted at the start of the novel, so the story is very much grounded in fact. I found it an exciting book right down to the very last page and I didn't want it to end - it is a thrilling, fast-paced denouement, which I read with a quickened heartbeat! The author really sets a scene well, he conveys the mood and atmosphere of the times, and I could frequently feel the tension whilst reading. He has created compelling characters and a memorable adventure story which pulled me in; I cared deeply about what would happen to Marion, 'the daring young girl on the flying trapeze', after what she had been through, she has such guts and courage, and yet is so vulnerable. The prose is beautiful, and I was very moved by this story. This is definitely one of my books of the year so far.

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Published by Other Press on 1st May 2012
(and by Little, Brown in the UK on 3rd May 2012)

Thanks go to Netgalley and the publisher for the ebook review copy of this novel.

You can visit the author's website here to find out more and he is also on twitter @smamawer

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The Good Father - Diane Chamberlain

'You could block things from your mind for years at a time. You could make them go away because you know that if you let them in, the pain could nearly kill you.'

As this novel begins, we meet Travis Brown and his little daughter Bella. Travis has had a run of bad luck, losing his regular work in construction and also losing his home. It leaves him in desperate need of a new job, but despite his searches, there is little available, and as a result, he ultimately takes on a role against his better judgement, simply because he sees no other way out, and it will mean he can earn enough money to try and make a difference to their lives. Travis is in his early twenties and raising his little girl alone, without her mother Robin. He is the most prominent good father of the novel's title, and he cherishes Bella; everything he does is driven by his love for her and his need to care for her and bring her up well. When he meets Erin, a kind lady who he deems trustworthy and who takes an instant liking to Bella as they meet each morning in the coffee shop, he decides to trust her with the most precious thing he has. 

I really liked the structure of this novel. Three narrators, Travis, Robin and Erin, and the author alternates between them to give us three different views of events. The starting point is a glimpse into the future, and it was interesting to then be taken back into the past, knowing that this scene was coming up, and seeing it from different viewpoints. Gradually, the past is revealed and we find out about Erin's own huge private tragedy, we discover the romance that Travis and Robin shared when they were younger, and we learn how and why Robin couldn't keep her own daughter or be involved in her upbringing. All three of them have personal battles to overcome, and are forced to confront the things that frighten them the most, or hold them back, in order to take back control of their own lives. The narrative builds to a tense climax as events come to a head.

I enjoyed this story. It is character driven, but equally the plot is riveting too. I was keen to find out how things would progress for all three of the main characters. The writer evidently carefully depicted the relationship between Travis and his father, and Robin and her father too, and brought these into the story; I think Travis's relationship with his father influenced how well he cared for Bella. Travis tells us: 'My father'd never broken a promise to me, and I remembered how that felt, knowing I could always trust him no matter what.' Back when Robin and Travis were together, the closeness of Travis and his father is noticed by her too, and we learn of another man who fits the novel's title: 'I loved my own father and I would have said we were close, but Travis's father was almost like a best friend to him. A really, really good father.' Robin Robin's relationship with her potential future sister-in-law Alissa is also well constructed and allows for Robin's changing perception of herself and the admission to herself of her true feelings. 

I think Diane Chamberlain really is a consistently good writer, creating readable, engrossing stories about relationships and families, life and love, and she creates believable, flawed characters that the reader really comes to care about and root for. I always look forward to reading her books, and haven't been disappointed by one yet. 

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Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the the advance e-copy of this novel to read and give an honest review.


Published by Mira Books in the UK, e-book edition 24 April 2012, paperback 1 June 2012.


You can visit Diane Chamberlain's website here  and follow her on twitter @D_Chamberlain


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