Corylus Books Tour: Black Storms by Teresa Solana translated by Peter Bush

Since their launch, only few years ago, Corylus Books maintained a very interesting line of authors whose works meet thriller investigations on the background of complex political contexts. Their latest, Black Storms, by catalan author Teresa Solana, translated by Peter Bush continue this trend, with a surprising story about wounds of events that happened almost one century ago.

When a sick, retired professor is killed, no one may have figure out exactly the reason of the crime. Tasked with solving the case, detective Norma Forester is challenged to focus her super power - and activate her family background references as well. Thus, she will be able to trace the roots of the crime to the Spanish Civil War, where her grandfather belonged to the International Brigades.

Short yet atmospheric and with characters of deep personal and sociological complexity, Black Storms was a fascinating read. I am passionate about how politics and history may alter our everyday lives therefore, the reading inspired me a lot to think about those fine borders when our lives may be shaped by other people´s decisions and histories. I particularly loved Norma, a complex character with a family story bigger than herself. 

For anyone interested about Spanish history, particularly the Civil War, Black Storms is a good introduction, adding that human layer of knowledge that we may miss when we are reading just cold historical facts and figure.

A recommended read if you love a good thriller written in a very smart political key. I am definitely interested in reading more by Solana.

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Rachel´s Random Resources: In Italy for Love by Leonie Mack

Broken-hearted and financially broken as well, Julia is just consumed by her Italian dream. As she arrived from Australia few years ago, and fell in love with Luca, she did not expect such a dramatic ending. She even bought together with him a B&B that right now is just another display of her failure. Having enough of still living with her ex, without any financial perspective in sight and very reluctant to ask for the help of her parents - she is 27, after all - she heads to an olive farm to start working and recover her self esteem. And, as expected, she is about to meet love again and perhaps start a new beginning.

In Italy for Love by Leonie Mack is as predictable as life can be. It is possible to meet love when you expected less as it is also predictable to head up for a change when everything you tried before proved wrong. Therefore, we are delighted with a relatable and emotional story, set in a delightful place on Earth.

Don´t take me wrong. There may be love stories leaving you completely destroyed and afraid to start anything anew. But for the average of people, life may just go on and on and being open for a new life is just the mindset that maybe, hopefully, will attract the right people around you. That´s the spirit of In Italy for Love and a reason why I am happy to recommend it to anyone looking to a soothing weekend read. 

Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Random Things Tours: The Peacock and the Sparrow by I.S.Berry

The end of the Cold War challenges not only the geopolitical balance of power, but also dramatically changes the literary spy thriller narratives. Decades after, the world, the literary one too, still tries to recover after the shock, but personally I see here a lot of positive influences.

The struggle between ´Bad Guys´ and ´Good Guys´ turned many of the thrillers into very predictable stories, although seasoned sometimes with some spectacular changes of perspective and defections. What the ´New World´ allows now, is a narrative beyond those stereotypical matrix which makes the reading so relatable and the creativity in so much demand. Also, very important, it focuses on geographical areas and countries that before were just used as an arena or pretext for loudly displaying the bipolar confrontations. 

And who else may know better those new perspectives than a CIA operative? I.S.Berry, the author of the stellar spy debut that I had the pleasure to be offered to read and review was, among others, in charge with clandestine service operations throughout the Middle East and South Asia. The Peacock and the Sparrow - a parabole which is explained in the book for those curious to grab the book and start reading it right now, you will not regret it - is a complex narrative, where spy life is revealed in its multi-faceted ways. 

Set in Bahrain, during the latest times of political unrest, it features Shane Collins, a CIA-case officer caught in the net of intrigues, bureaucratic opportunism and professional habits that may shape his personality so strongly that even when he is dreaming of love, is thinking about the object of his love in terms of ´target´. 

The Peacock and the Sparrow is a spy thriller that although priviledges the action and spy challenges, allows a generous space to psychological introspection and the myseries - without a ´t´ - of secret agents. There are no heroes or villains, rather doing a job sometimes bigger than life.

This is a recommended book for anyone looking for a well-paced, extremely insightful thriller set in Bahrain, eye-opening in a very different literary way.

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usuall, my own

The Apartment on Calle Uruguay by Zachary Lazar

A - relatively short - novel about love, acceptance and reinventing yourself in exil circumstances, The Apartment on Calle Uruguay by Zachary Lazar is beautifully written. It is not easy to define what really means a beautiful prose, as the tastes may differ from one person to another, but for sure one knows how to recognize it. In my case, beautiful writing means a story that reminds us about the importance of humanity in us all, particularly kindness.

Christopher Bell, the narrator, is a painter fighting creative block, self-refugiated in a house near the forest, meets Anna, a journalist who fled Venezuela occasionally in the US, looking for some job opportunities. As she will return to Mexico, where her family took refuge, they realize, both of them, that they can give a chance to their story. 

It is a love story that grows slowly, but who was not meant to be exactly a love story. It is one of those random encounters that are able to be born only when both participants do give love a chance. Stories that in normal circumstances may sound impossible, they are happening under specific conditions. Exile, for instance, make as feel different. From outside, as a reader, you feel as you are the companion of the characters for a short amount of time, being left behind as soon as the story advances and eventually ends.

Both Christopher and Anna do try to accept their new identities, or are already familiar with the change of them. Christopher, for instance, is born in Israel and childood memories do return in his present life, he is but not one in ´the right way´ (whatever it may mean): ´I wouldn´t be alive if there wasn´t such a thing as Israel (...) But I´m not Israeli in a way anyone there would even recognize´. 

As he decides to follow Anna in Mexico, starting anew without necessarily a plan, he is facing his own choices, trying to find way to organise the past while distantly making sense of his new realities: ´Sometimes my life in Mexico didn´t feel real, just as mypast life in the US seldom felt real anymore´.

It was my first literary encounter with this writer, and I am sure not the only one. The Apartment on Calle Uruguay is a very fine kind of writing, kind and elegantly emotional. I wish I can write more such books.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Orenda Books Tour: Dark as Night by Lilja Sigurðardóttir translated by Lorenza Garcia

 

Lilja Sigurðardóttir is an author I had the chance to get to know via the fantastic book tours for Orenda Books and the series are just getting better and better. The continuation of Cold As Hell, Red as Blood and White as Snow, Dark as Night translated by Lorenza Garcia features again characters like detectives Áróra and Daniel, but the story takes a very unexpected turn.

Detective Áróra is still looking to find out what happened to her sister Isafold, while trying to have an active life which includes some bodybuilding side activities as well. But out of nowhere, a child claims being her sister´s incarnation. Daniel, on his side, is finding out that his neighbour may need to leave the country in a hurry, but as a professional, he simply cannot accept that it is not something more hiding in the lines of the intempestive departure.

Told from four perspectives, the story is unexpected and delving deep into the darkness of human life and brain. Well-paced, it allows the reader to get used with the characters and the many details of the story, through short chapters and a clear story line.

From arm deals to reincarnation and drag queens, there is hardly something that really escape the careful construction of the story. Personally, I felt fascinated about the narrative, and very curious to see where and especially how it ends. The characters are very relatable, with the mixture between good and evil that characterizes every one of us, but the measure of their difference is how they react in real life, especially in very difficult situations.

I don´t know if the series will continue, but I wish it will, because after reading the books from the series, you may really feel invested into the characters. 

Dark as Night is another extraordinary example of the strength of Sigurðardóttir´s writing. 

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own.

Rachel´s Random Resources: The Honeymoon by Gemma Rogers

Planning your honeymoon after a much awaited wedding day, makes you think about a world of dreams and fairy tales. Ignorance is a bliss, until your world is shattered into pieces, in a fraction of a second. 

The storyteller of The Honeymoon by Gemma Rogers is catching her soon-to-be-husband busy with his best friend´s wife. She may run away, on that much awaited honeymoon, trying to start again, while enjoying the beautiful Creta. But how she was thinking everything will go as planned? As her ´husband´ arrives, it is not only the denial of everything that happened that shocked her, but the revelation that he may have much more to hide.

Given my previous reading experience with Gemma Rogers´ books I don´t hesitate any single moment when she publishes a new title. The Honeymoon takes the reader to unexpected places, highly emotional and thrilling. As expected, it builds an ambiance of fear and mistrust, with some very surprising twists.

I loved this book and refused to do anything until I reached the end of the story. I liked especially how it explores the issue of trust and accountability, but also how complicate it is sometimes to spot sociopaths and why it is risky for your mental and even pyhsical integrity to do so.

A recommended book to anyone looking to explore a very human topic in a very eventful thrilling story setting.

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Mother for Dinner by Shalom Auslander

´I´ll never understand the fascination we humans have with tradition (...)´.

Some books are meant to be controversial and I love controversy. But some controversies are more controversial than the other. And so are my thoughts.

I´ve read other books by Shalom Auslander - most of them, actually - and his humour is of a completely other level. And so is his writing, which I enjoy, no matter how far his insurection against norms and how far the limits of his writing reality are pushed. What I always appreciate is the way in which he translates a serious, normative discourse into a very ridiculous context.

Seventh Seltzer, the seventh son of a prestigious Cannibal-American - Can-Am - family, faced with the challenge of following an old tradition - or rejecting it: eating your close relatives upon death. As his mother, Mudd. dies from overdose with Whoppers, together with his brothers - from 1 onwards, minus Sixth deceased -  and sister - Zero, as she does not count - he may need to confront the ancient tradition. Or rather to follow it, despite his alienation and emancipation as a successful editor, with a wife and a daughter that do not have any idea about his secret Cannibal identity.

This book is a perfect grotesque satire about identity at any price, tradition and most political correct vagueness. It is a short novel, but the story is very consistent using every single bit to operate the deconstruction of almost any fancy concept. 

Auslander really enjoys writing it and there are so many subtle references of many Jewish law complex interpretations - Auslander grew up in the traditional environment of the conservative Jewish neighbourhood of Monsey in NYC, but broke up with religion. All those particularities are however switched to refer to any traditional mindset.

So far so good, but the downside of everything is the graphic description of cannibalistic feast on Mudd, consumed by her own children - condition to receive $100,000 short from $500,000, each. A mater of taste, after all. A serious incentive to maintain tradition from one generation to another.

I would love to read Auslander´s latest, a memoir published this year, which maybe will explain this temptation to extreme grotesque.

Rating: 2.5 stars

 

Random Things Tours: An Irishman in Northern Mesopotamia by Nicholas Mackey

 

Travel has an extraordinary power of changing souls and minds. Some may be ironic about all those tourists invading places, and some may even doubt that the fast travel will ever change someone fundamentally, but I have a mind of my own. I believe that even we may not clearly identify the immediate changes, on the long term, it opens the minds and hearts towards the world.

A multi-disciplinary personality, a Trinity College natural science graduate, poet and photographer among others, Nicholas Mackey is exploring South-East Türkiye, a place of millenary memory and culture. His journey through the layers of history and civilisation is beautifully shared as a diary, illustrated with pictures that may complete and share the experience. 

Images and words create a bridge alongside the reader him or herself is invited to cross, opening up to new worlds, raising curiosity and questions. It is an admirable testimony of a curious mind.

If you are looking for a different way to look at travel writing, An Irishman in Northern Mesopotamia is a recommended book. It may also inspire aspiring travel writers and photographers, both in terms of inspiration but also as a call to go explore the world in the most unexpected places.

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Orenda Books Tour: The Burning Stones by Antti Tuomainen translated by David Hackston

It´s no secret my admiration for everything Orenda Books publishes, but some authors are more equal that the others on my reading cards. Like Antti Tuomainen, whose Rabbit Trilogy always bring smile on my face, every time I remember about the characters and the dark humour. 

And...surprise, Tuomainen is back, with a fresh thriller set in a sauna with an inspiring name: Steam Devil. The Burning Stones, translated from Finnish by David Hackston, is smart, with hilarious yet very complex and thoughtful character and a sauna to die for. Sauna, a national treasure in Finland, which explain its vital role in the story. 

As the new boss of a new sauna company is literally burned to death because someone turned up the temperature - what a genius premise for a crime novel - the police is trying to figure out who the culprit is. And, especially, what motivated him or her to such a dramatic decision. And for the police, and not only, a name sounds like a possible solution: an employee of the company, Anni Korpinen. As the list o suspects may dangerously lead to her name, Anni is forced to find out soonner than the police who and why is actually behind the crime.

It´s a delightful intelligence story which is very atmospheric, as it creates the right Finnish ambiance allowing the reader to fully immerse in the environment. And, as usual in Tuomainen books, there is more to the story than the dark humour, but through this hilarious door there is so much to discover about human nature and its motivation.

A recommended read to any smart reader of crime stories.

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Random Things Tours: The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins

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Paula Hawkins seems to be an author that once one starts discovering, it is very hard to give up on. From her first book I got to read until her latest and fourth novel, The Blue Hour, there are so many interesting turns her written took.

Compared to her other books, The Blue Hour is not only a very enigmatic psychological thriller, but it equally shed light into human psyche in a very introspective deep way. Jealously, obsession with fame, loneliness there are such strong feelings reflected through the thoughts and actions of the characters. As in a Greek tragedy, such an overflow of strong emotions may not promise any good.

As people start talking that one work of the late Vanessa Chapman may include a human bone, there are more and more curious people that would love to find out more about it. The only person that may be knowledgeable in this respect is her former friend and companion Grace who is the only resident of a Scottish island, that can be reached in more than ten hours from the mainland. 

The crime track is balanced by the psychological introspection which also allows other messages to slide, like for instance the discussion about power and art and the extent of which may play a role in some facts maybe committed by some of the characters.

I personally appreciated the pace of the story, allowing to unfold both details about the characters and shocking episodes. It kept me very involved from the first until the last page, fully enjoying both the revelations and psychological introspection.

I dare to say that The Blue Hour is one of Hawkins´ best to date, but let´s wait a bit more until her next one.

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

 

Friedrichstrasse 19/The Berliners by Emma Harding

´Moving pictures are Berlin´s gift to the world - never forget that´.

It is not happening every day to read a book by a non-German author, who not even live in Berlin, set in a trans-historical Berlin and keep following the story until the very end.

The Berliners or in my version of the book, Friedrichstraße 19, is following the fragments of life of individuals who happened to live in the same building. There are six separate stories, with six separate voices, set in different times - 1909, 1986, 1948, 2019 etc. - whose destinies meet, directly or symbolically.

The structure of the novel is very interesting: the stories are very atmospheric, inter-twinned, falling one after the other, in a flowing structure that slides almost as a movie. I liked the ideas of following what remains when times are gone, how people do connect in the city beheeve, particularly in cities with such a complex history like Berlin. Not all stories are equal though, and the brevity of the book affects at different extents the quality and clarity of the novel, but as a literary experiment, it is a partial success.

From the local authentic point of view, the novel is very well researched and do recreates times and ambiances with a knowledgeable touch. 

As a Berliner by adoption I enjoy the story and the setting, and I recommend it to anyone interesting to reflect about the human networks that connects anonymous lives in the entrails of the big city.

Rating: 3.5 stars

PS: I also have a YouTube channel, feel free to follow for more bookish inspiration: https://www.youtube.com/@WildWritingLife

Random Things Tours: The Identity Enigma by Lis McDermott

 

3 couples, six friends, so many mysteries unsolved.

Jen and Lukas do plan to spend some quality time in Stockholm with Kyra and Nils, two journalist friends. But Lukas receives a call about an unexpected accident his good friend Cole suffered while on a work assignment in Ethiopia. Friendship overcomes the fun and he and his wife are coming back home to support Cole´s wife. Cole is recovering slowly, but it looks like his old self is lost too and everything looks very suspicious for Lukas. Will Kyra and Nils reveal what exactly happened with Cole, using their journalistic flair and imagination?

The Identity Enigma by writer and coach Lis McDermott was a surprise for me. While exploring various aspects of human experience and friendship, it also creates an unexpected story, with turns of situations and unexpected revelations. It allows us, the readers, to keep guessing over and over again until the end of the story. Particularly this featurer keeps the reader involved and engaged, by exploring the quest for truth set on a very interesting net of both friendship and deception. A meeting of sort between appearances and truth, an identity enigma that will lead to shocking circumstances.

Personally, I was also impressed by the characters, relatable and authentic, in their search for friendship and empathy. They did not feel like fictional, but as real persons one may encounter in real life.

This book made me curious about this author and I am definitely interested in exploring more of her books in the near future.

Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Rachel´s Random Resources: You Had Me at Château by Portia MacIntosh

As the dark hours are getting longer and I am longing for the rays of sun, my best comfort is offered by the beautiful books I am reading and reviewing. And what can warm more your soul and life than a cute romantic comedy.

I had the chance to read and review Portia Macintosh only few months before, also in the middle of the neverending winter, and was delighted about it, therefore I just couldn´t resist to meet her characters again. This time, I upgraded my literary stay with at a castel. 

The bestseller You Had Me at Château is a delicious comedy, which involves a writer looking for some spicy inspiration, a dangerously handsome love triangle and...of course, a castle. As Amber Page is faced with a slow down in her literary career, a retreat at a castle may bring her more quiet inspiration that may bring back her literary success. But instead of enjoying her stay in the French Alps, she may become the spicy story she was looking for. 

I loved her writing and the turn of situations, that are sweet yet unexpected. Amber Page is a charming and charismatic character, and very hilarious situations. Indeed, writers can be a lot of fun in addition to romance. I liked that the main characters are also writers, which makes the story even funnier, as one may think about how someone living for the words may behave as a real person in a real life setting.

If you are looking to read something completely uplifting, this book is a recommended read. It will spice your life up and will keep the smile on your face for many hours to come.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Random Things Tours: Good Fortune by CK Chau

There are many modern versions of Pride&Prejudice by Jane Austen, and most probably there will continue to be. Some are successful, some are just for the sake of the comparison and the fame by association with a centuries-old story of love and deceit. Personally, I am not a huge fan of the book, but I acknowledge the universal message. 

Hence, I was not surprised to read one of its newest literary renditions, in the story shared in Good Fortune, the debut novel of Chinese-American writer C.K.Chau. Published last year, the book was few months ago released in paperback.

The story is retold into the money language of NY Chinese communities. Elizabeth, a complex and largely relatable character is getting entangled with Darcy Wong, a charismatic investor, apparently decide to make a good use of his Hong Kong money. 

The main narrative follows the Jane Austen format - which make it at times pretty predictable - while creating at the same time a very complex framing of cultural and class clash, cultural identity and family tree-related responsibilities. By far, the ways in which the long cast of characters is integrating the complex web of obligations, responsibilities and desire for adventure, was the most interesting part of the story.

Good Fortune is a recommended read if you are interested in contemporary stories with a strong identity layer. With a smart spin, it convinced even the least sympathizers of Jane Austen novels to keep reading until the end, enjoying both the humour and the serious social and identity questions.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

The Orchard by Kristina Gorcheva-Newberry

´We were different people, burnished by years, distance, and grief. We were our own nesting dolls, a person inside a person, a family inside a family´.

There are not too many coming-of-age novels in English, set during the so-called ´perestroika times´, at the end of the Soviet Union, when Gorbatchev opened up progressively the Soviet society to the world. A time of change, challenge and illusion.

Four teenagers, the main characters of the emotional debut novel by Kristina Gorcheva-Newberry, The Orchard - title inspired by the famous play of Chekhov The Cherry Orchard - are growing up in times of trouble. Like everyone else, they are surviving political turmoils and economic restrictions - particularly food-related, while dreaming about far away lands. Their parents and grand-parents, generations who survived the terrible WWII, especially the Leningrad blockade.

´My parents never talked about love, only duty -to one´s family and to one´s country´.

Anya - the storyteller - together with Milka, and their boyfriends, Lopatin and Trifomov, do swim through the waves of change. A team of troubled teengers trying to make sense of their lives, their political context and the world of the adults in general. Gorcheva-Newberry is very careful to notice the switch between emotions, and do also generously includes descriptions that may create a special atmosphere of the book, allowing the story to develop in different descriptive directions. The Russian/Soviet literary and musical references are also detailed, allowing to recreate the intellectual ambiance as well.

Hence, the grief that we may resent together with Anya, as she is experiencing the loss of Milka, and other people who laid the ground of her further life as an adult. 

In many respects, The Orchard is hard to qualify clearly as a coming-of-age story. I will rather prefer to consider it as simply a book about delicate souls hit by fate. 

This book drained me emotionally, but in a very good sense, as it confirmed that we can relate to the same biological way in so many similar yet diverse ways.

Rating: 4.5 stars

PS: I also have a YouTube channel, feel free to follow for more bookish inspiration: https://www.youtube.com/@WildWritingLife

Rachel´s Random Resources Book Tour: Maggie´s Red Circus Bus by Sue Wickstead

 

As much as I enjoy the sophistication of adults books, once in a while, I am spending hours just in company of children books. Those books do have that directness and genuine energy that does not compare to any complex story for adults. 

Award-winning author Sue Wickstead, an author I´ve previously featured on my blog, took me back to the world of children books with her latest Maggie´s Red Circus Bus. Inspired by a true story, it features a group of children getting ready for a special circus performance after the summer vacation. It is that kind of spontaneous excitment only children can share, when they are together preparing for something new and extraordinary.

The story looks like an episode in the life of the children, exclusively focused on covering the story, through very relatable and colourful illustrations, and very smart dialogues complementing the background story. We may not have been feed too much information about the participants, just enough to understand the main steps of the plot.

Maggie´s Red Circus Bus is a recommended read for preteens, either native English speakers or learning the language. The children can read it themselves, try to build a little theatre scene or just listen while they parents are reading it. Either way, it will bring light and a fun into both children and adult´s lives.

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own

Colored Television by Danzy Senna

´Novel writing was too much´.

Jane, the main protagonist of latest novvel by Danzy Senna, Colored Television, is writer, the daughter of a white mother and a black father, divorced now, and has two children, with a black abstract painter. Moving from the East to the West coast, she is enjoying house sitting expensive mansions, this time in a posh neighbourhood in LA. She has dreams on her own, purchasing a house in a diverse fancy neighbourhood with the money from a book contract. A book that her beloved husband called ´mulatto War and Peace´, but it seems he is the only one who really appreciated the result of her almost a decade of writing.

Senna who is sharing a similar background - except that her husband, Percival Everett is a writer and she is quite successful herself - but all those details instead of complicating the general framework, it only allows the narrative to suit the framework in a smooth way. Colored Television is a novel about ambitions, class dreams of bourgeois-intellectuals and over intensive identity politics. The intensity and frequence of a wish make it desirable, an objective in itself. One writes a book or a plot for the status - social and financial - it brings. Thus, it doesn´t matter if you are a novelist or a screenwriter. Fame guarantees a stable future, a tenure, money to send your children to private schools, that house with a pool.

Although I feel tired by books about identity politics - and nothing more - Colored Television is so ironically smart that is worth reading it even only for the intelligent fun. Despite being moderatelly critic; after all, who will refuse the chance of a fancy mansion? Intellectuals need to enjoy life too, isn´t it?

Rating: 3 stars

PS: I also have a YouTube channel, feel free to follow for more bookish inspiration: https://www.youtube.com/@WildWritingLife