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

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