Completely worth the effort, because it’s really really good. Very enjoyable.

I’ve since learned that it started life as a webcomic (and indeed is still available and continues to be published online.) and this first graphic novel, covers the first six ‘issues’ of the story.



Creator Lora Innes writes and illustrates the tale of 17-year-old Beatrice “Bea” Whaley, a student who begins having vivid dreams about a brave and handsome soldier named Alan Warren… a member of an elite group known as Knowlton’s Rangers that fought during the Revolutionary War. Prone to keeping her head in the clouds, Bea welcomes her nightly adventures in 1776; filled with danger and romance they give her much to muse about the next day. But it is not long before Beatrice questions whether her dreams are simply dreams or something more…

– Publisher’s Blurb

I’ll admit from the start I know next to nothing about the Revolutionary Wars or their more well-known characters, but from everything I’ve read, this series has been praised for its historical accuracy, whilst still telling its own story.

One of the reasons I found this such an entertaining read is the nuggets of history revealed as we journey through Bea’s dreams, and sassy/fun portrayal of her typical high school daytime life. Each ‘life’ feels real and natural, with the artwork matching the story and dialogue.

I particularity like the way she’s still very much the same person when she’s ‘in the past’, as when she is chatting about her long-standing ‘crush’ over the lunch table. It makes for some great scenes. Especially when she tries to use information she’s learned in her real life to affect the past.

IDW have done a great job of putting this collection together, and as you would expect from a GN the colours and artwork are crisp and bright, and it’d certainly be worth owing a copy. But the really, good thing is you don’t have to wait to find out what happens next and how past and present continue to mingle, because this was and still is a webcomic as well, so you can fire up your favourite browser and continue the story with barely a pause!

So, if you’ll excuse me I’ll do just that!

Buy: The Dreamer: The Consequence of Nathan Hale (Pt. 1) by Lora Innes from The Book Depository.

Do you have a favourite webcomic you’d love to see published as a graphic novel/comic?

Related posts:

1. Review: Slow Storm by Danica Novgorodoff
2. Review: Fables #1 Legends in Exile by Bill Willingham
3. Review: The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns by Elizabeth Leiknes

Law student Lex Trent’s world is inhabited by fearsome magicians, ageing crones and a menagerie of Gods and Goddesses. And while Lex is seemingly dedicated to his legal studies he’s always enjoyed a challenge – which is why he leads a double life as the notorious cat burglar ‘The Shadowman’ who has been (luckily) evading capture for years.

But Lex’s luck is about to run out because the Goddess of Fortune has selected him to be her player in the highly dangerous Games. Losing is not an option for Lex (particularly as it so often involves dying) but can he really win each of the perilous rounds? Given that the reward for doing so is money, fame and glory – all things that Lex is quite keen on – he’s going to do whatever it takes to make sure he will… and he’s certainly got good experience of cheating.

– Publishers Blurb

Given that the billing this one has been receiving comparing it to Terry Pratchett among others (which is a bit like comparing it to Shakespeare in this house!) this one had a lot to live up to.

While there are a few Pratchette-esq turns of phrase, it’s not really a comparison that suits. It’s a comic fantasy, yes, but it is one that can stand on it’s own two feet.

The imaginative world Alex Bell has created is packed with the weird and wonderful. Vindictive conjurers, old crones, a retirement village for fairy-godmothers and Gods that take human form and walk the world to meddle in their followers lives!

I’ll be honest, it wasn’t quite as unputdownable as I was hoping, but this is a really fun read, and much of that is down to the character of Lex, who is fantastic creation and a completely unrepenting scoundrel! Every time you think he might have ‘grown’-some and shown some sign of being a better person, he does something to show you just how wrong you are.

Twelve-year-old boys are absolutely going to love Lex and his antics!

Lex Trent versus The Gods is published by Headline and is in shops now.

Other Reviews to Consider

BookZone | The Book Smugglers |

Buy: Lex Trent versus The Gods by Alex Bell, from The Book Depository.

This book was supplied by the publisher for the purposes of review.

Don’t forget you have a chance to win one of three SIGNED copies of this really fun YA comic fantasy. It’s really easy to enter, and there are two ways to win!

Related posts:

1. Review: Freaks by Annette Curtis Klause
2. Review: Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
3. Review: The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns by Elizabeth Leiknes

When Will meets Alice, he can’t believe his luck. She’s smart, sexy and, much to Will’s surprise, in love with him.

Alice brings meaning to his urban existence. But true love never came easy and soon devotion leads Will to something darker.

The Bird Room is a candid, funny and joyous portrait of love and desire in the modern age.

– Publishers Blurb

This is not a book I would normally pick up off the shelves so I’m thankful to the publisher, Canongate and the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program for sending it to me.

Unfortunately I didn’t really enjoy it.

Whilst at times it is funny, but ultimately reading it is a fairly cold experience. Most of the characters are not particularly likeable or easy to care for and for someone like myself, who gets the best from a novel, when I love the characters I’m reading about, it’s always difficult connect with these ‘difficult’ characters.

Still, as I said earlier, there are moments, when the characters and the situations they get themselves in are quite funny, and the writing is sharp and easy to read.

There’s also a non-linear structure to the novel, which jumps about in time and storylines occasionally and I did think that this worked well and suited the story, using the two main plot-lines to contrast and reflect on each other, whilst never quite showing you the full picture.

For those that like to avoid such things, there’s a fair bit of sex going on in the book, but none of it particular titillating or sexy, for the most part there’s an uncomfortableness about it – for both the reader and the participants.

If you enjoy stylish explorations of obsession and dysfunctional relationships, and have less of a need to like your characters than I do, you’ll definitely get an awful lot more from this obviously cleverly written novel than I was able to.

Verdict: Decent – but not for me.

My copy of The Bird Room by Chris Killen, was provided to me, for free, as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.

Buy: The Bird Room from The Book Depository

Related posts:

1. Review: My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger
2. Review: The Magicians by Lev Grossman
3. Review: The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns by Elizabeth Leiknes

And he’s getting blamed for it. But it’s not him who’s writing strange things on shopping lists and fences. It’s not him who smashes bottles and pours tea in the Vicar’s lap. It’s a ghost – honestly.

Thomas Kempe the apothecary has returned and he wants James to be his apprentice. No one else believes in ghosts. It’s up to James to get rid of him. Or he’ll have no pocket money or pudding ever again.

From the Publisher’s Blurb

My Thoughts

I hadn’t heard of either the book or the author, until Nymeth’s review a few weeks ago, it sounded a perfect book to read during R.I.P. IV and there was a copy available on Bookmooch, so home a copy came!

I finished this one about two weeks ago, and I’m pleased I left it until now to review it. I was initially a little disappointed with it. The story really didn’t grab me. However as I’ve been mulling this review over, I’ve warmed to it’s easy nostalgia a bit more. It reminds me a lot of the type of book I read as a young boy.

The style, plot and character types all hark back to a different style of children’s and young adult books than I have read in recent years, and I suppose that a little of where my initial disappointment came from. Now thinking back on it, it was a pleasant return to my youth. And there were a lot of nice touches sprinkled throughout from the initial humour at Kempe’s grumpy attitude through to the sorta-sadness you feel for his growing bewilderment at the modern world.

But in the end, while I did enjoy it, and I certainly like it more than I thought I did, it’s not going to become any more that that. Just a decent and enjoyable read.

[rating:3/5]

I had a couple of passages marked to quote, but it turns out there the same one Nymeth quoted, so I’ll just encourage to to go read her review but I will quote this one about the town library, because how could you not like it!

In the children’s section every book had the appearance of having been well and truly read, or even, in the case of books for very young children, partially eaten. It was a satisfactory place: familiar, yet inexhaustibly surprising, homely but exotic in its offerings. To plunge into its gloomy entrance was like opening a grocery box and finding it full of Christmas presents.

Buy, The Ghost of Thomas Kempe, from The Book Depository.

Related posts:

1. The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi
2. The End of Mr. Y ~ Scarlett Thomas
3. Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman

My Most Excellent Year, follows three friends, T.C. Alé and Augie, through their junior year of high school. Their most excellent year. It’s a year of change, discovery and growth for all of them.

All three friends feature in the novel prominently, each taking turns to narrate the story, but the pin which they revolve around is Anthony “T.C.” Keller. Fourteen years old and living with his widowed father T.C hasn’t yet fully overcome his mother’s death, but still attacks life with a positive attitude.

Augie Hwong is his best friend, he and T.C adopted each other as ‘brothers’ almost as soon as they met, so much so in fact that, they refer to each others parents as pop, & mom and dad!

Together they draw Alejandra Perez aka Alé, exchange student and daughter of an ambassador, who despite her heritage is quite capable of insulting an entire nation into their friendship and together the three end up having a truly remarkable year.

The book is full of so many plot lines, but yet it never feels overwhelmed. It’s a story about first loves. T.C. and Alé are falling in love and enjoying playing the game enough not to rush things. Augie is discovering something about himself that everyone else already knows, he’s gay, and he too is falling in love with fellow student, Andy Wexler. (There’s a fantastic scene, where he asks his dad for advice on love, and it’s only as he leaves the room, his dad realises that his son has just “come out” and neither of them noticed (note, his dad already knew of course, so the incident amuses him))

It’s also a story about being passionate about life, enjoying it to the full and holding firm to your beliefs, T.C. fights to clear a long dead Baseball player’s name and Alé and T.C. launch a campaign to restore a Baseball diamond at the Manzanar National Historic Site that goes all the way to congress!

And then T.C. befriends an orphan, a little six year old deaf boy called Hucky, in whom as T.C. gets to know him, sees something of himself at the same age. Some of the adults are worried that he’ll soon grow bored with playing big brother, and ditch the boy, but as T.C’s pop proudly observes, when T.C. commits to something, he commits with all his heart. In the end, Augie and T.C teach the boy all about being six, and he becomes as much apart of he extended family as anyone else.

See, what I mean by being a packed story? But it works, and works fantastically! It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed a book so thoroughly. It’s an utter delight to read, from start to finish, the journal entries and IMs from the three teens, the occasional email from the adults, that form the story, combine perfectly. T.C’s entries addressed to his dead mother telling her about his life, often tug at even the hardest of heartstrings! The story is packed with humour and the flirtations between T.C’s dad and his advisor at high school are responsible for some real laugh out loud moments.

Okay, enough gushing from me, or I’ll be going on all day.

[rating:5/5]

My Most Excellent Year, of course won the recent, Nerds Heart YA tournament, you can check out the reviews that got it there and even more below.

• Valentina (Round 1)
• Heather (Round 2)
• Nicole (Round 3)
• Nymeth and Chris (Final)
• GreenBeenTeenQueen
• worducopia

Buy, My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger, from The Book Depository.

Related posts:

1. So Much to Tell You by John Marsden
2. Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman
3. Review: After the Moment by Garret Freymann-Weyr

About the Book

Emma Morley and Dexter Meyhew, meet properly for the first time on the 15th July 1988, the night of their graduation from University.

We meet them again, on the same day each year for the next twenty years.

Each chapter of the book, covers Emma and Dexter’s lives on that day, following their lives, loves and tribulations, and more importantly their enduring friendship.

You see, Emma and Dexter have one of those friendships, that is so strong and deep it is often to the detriment of others in their lives.

In fact, maybe the should just get together and be done with it?

My Thoughts

I only finished this book the other night, and have plenty of books I should be reviewing first, but well it was just too tempting to post a review on the day this book takes please each year. The 15th July.

Tony Parsons on the front cover, says that this is:

“A totally brilliant book.”

I agree whole-heartedly! The characters are wonderful, likeable (even when they’re slipping off the rails and you want to smack them upside the head!) and well formed, and the setting is just perfect, you can recognise each year perfectly. Anybody that has lived though the eighties, nineties and in to the noughties will find much to reminisce and laugh about (not to mention cringe!)

The twenty year romance (for despite what the two protagonists might believe, that is what it is) is perfectly handled, and thankfully it never descends into a melodramatic will they/won’t they see-saw dragged out over twenty years, the story is as much about their lives as it is about when/if they get together.

Now I can’t really talk about the next bit without spoilers, so feel feel to skip the next couple of paragraphs.

**Spoiler Alert**

Emma and Dexter’s friendship is one of the most satisfying things in the book, as a reader you know they have never got together is that they wouldn’t last two minutes if they did. Until the time is right that is. When they do get together it is for a heart-breakingly short period of time. Because only a few short years after their marriage, Emma unfortunately has a fatal accident.

Which is heartbreaking enough as it is, but what really tugs at the heart-strings and for me, makes the book. Is the final three years the book covers. Each of these follow Dexter as he struggles with the anniversary of his wife’s death, and is interposed with looking back at that first day they met, and how the friendship started.

I’m not ashamed to say, that I read these late few chapters with a huge lump in my throat.

**End Spoiler Alert**

One Day, is at times moving, funny and sad, and then you’ll turn the page and laugh your face off! Highly, Highly recommended.

[rating:5/5]

Book Trailer

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About the Book

Miyuki Woodward, lover of pints and Pot Noodles, has been spending holidays in the same Welsh seaside town for years. She loves the wet walks, she loves The Anchor and most of all she loves the pub-quiz.

This year, following an act of raw creativity involving some cans of gold spray paint, Miyuki will take part in the most turbulent events the village has seen since Tall Mr Hughes returned from the pub toilet without remembering to button up.

My Thoughts

Isn’t it great when an impulse buy works out? I picked up this one on a bit of a bookish day out a few weeks ago, when I went to have a nosey about a couple of local books stores I’d not been to before and spotted it on one of the tables.

I’d never heard of the author before, nor did I really have any idea what it was about.

Thankfully it turned out to be a wonderful read, and one of those perfect Sunday afternoon kind-a-reads.

It’s not as laugh-out-loud funny, as the book blurb would suggest, but that’s not really the point, this is a lovely cosy read (the title perfectly captures the warmth and feeling in this book) that for nearly all of the book, just fills you with a lovely warm feeling.

Miyuki, and her friends in the village are a wonderful quirky group of people, and the two weeks we spend with them, are two weeks a lot of people would love to spend.

There’s a certain amount of repetition to Miyuki’s days, but that just adds to the cosy feeling, and this builds until Rhodes utterly breaks your heart, I’m not going to say how or why or when, you’re going to need to read this one yourself to find out!

[rating:4.5/5]

Other Reviews to Consider

• Valentina

Related posts:

1. Review: One Day by David Nicholls
2. Review: Hey Nostradamus! by Douglas Coupland
3. Review: After the Moment by Garret Freymann-Weyr

Who can you trust when you can’t even trust yourself?

Benton Kirby’s life hasn’t exactly gone to plan. This is hardly surprising, however, as he never really had one in the first place. Armed with a philosophy degree, a dead fiancé, a brother who drives death around London in his black cab, and a girlfriend with a history of suicidal pets, Benton – ambitionless and emotionally disengaged – embarks, for no apparent reason, on an affair with a beautiful, sexually adventurous, Korean virgin.

Following a strange snowballing of even stranger events, he finds himself, at last, exactly not where he ever imagined he would be, up a tree at night in the park with a hedgehog.

My Thoughts

Okay, I admit it. I bought the book because of the title. I mean, who could resist a title like that?

Then there was the blurb from Douglas Coupland on the cover.

It’s totally f**king brilliant.I love it.

Did I mention the cover? It’s a brilliant one. There are lots of little figures on, above and in each of the letters, and once you start reading the book, you realise that the entire story is laid out there on the first thing you see, one of my favourite covers for a long time.

And then there is that wonderfully surreal sounding synopsis.

Everything about it, screamed BUY ME! I’m a 5 star read.

Unfortunately, it never really lives up to it’s potential. There are parts of it that work, they’re moving, eccentric and incredibly funny, but then, there are even more bits which go absolutely nowhere, and do nothing for the narrative. An example would be Benton’s brother’s cab passenger, much could be done with it, and yet it only really comes in to play just the once. And even worse, it descends in to puerile and needless sexual bawdiness.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been guilty of the odd puerile comment myself , so it wasn’t that I was offended by it, it just felt, however, like it was there simply for titillation.

I also never liked the main character enough – he does some fairly reprehensible acts – to actually really care what happened to him at the end.

But as I say – just in case it seems like I’m only pointing out what didn’t work – there is some decent writing in there as well, it’s has a irreverent prose and was enjoyable enough that I’ll be looking out from this author in the future.

[rating:2.5/5]

So, have you, ever bought a book, purely on the basis of it’s title? And did it live up to it?

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Lucy Burns wants a normal life: friends, love, and a family of her own. And she could have it all if only she could break free from the job she hates.

That job? Facilitator to hell.

And her boss is a real devil.

At the age of eleven, to save her sister’s life, Lucy writes a desperate letter to “To Whom It May Concern,” but when He writes back, Lucy is bound for life. There are perks, sure—she’s ageless, she’s beautiful, and she can eat as much chocolate as she wants and never get fat—but there are also consequences.

She can never see her family again.

She can never have a boyfriend.

She must spend her life leading sinners to their demise.

After nineteen years of doing the Devil’s dirty work, Lucy wants out, but it all seems hopeless until Teddy Nightingale, her easy listening music idol, gives her the answer: a little-known loophole.

If she succeeds, Lucy gets love, happiness, and everything she ever really wanted. But the consequences? They’re considerably worse than death. To make it through, Lucy must decide what is evil and what is good, what is right and what is wrong, and if, in the end, there’s ever any way to truly know.

My Thoughts

First off, I’d like to thank  Harrison Demchick from at Bancroft Press for sending me this copy for review, from the first contact through a friendly email conversation, I have been thoroughly impressed, they could show a lot of the larger press’ a thing or two, about the right way to go about these things – but that is a story for another post I think!

Anyway, my thoughts on this book? Well for one it has definite leanings towards chick-lit, which is definitely not a genre I normally gravitate towards… But it looked a lot of fun, and Harrison convinced me it was (see their approach works!) so I decided that while it wasn’t my normal cup-of-tea, I’d give it a go.

And I’m mostly glad I did. It’s light, frothy and fun, and I did enjoy it. I just would have like a little more substance from it though, the job Lucy has to do, and what she has to do to escape it, should cause her a few more qualms than actually it does. Don’t get me wrong, she does have qualms, and what she has to do isn’t glossed over, I wanted to see her wrestle with her conciousness a little more, but that’s just me, and it would have been a different kind of book if she had.

So, I do however, recognise that isn’t really what the book is setting out to do. It’s meant to be light, frothy, fun and  escapist, and it succeeds in that very well, with some laugh-out-loud funny scenes (the party she hosts for the neighbourhood women comes to mind!), and in Lucy, a very likeable character, who you can’t help but want things to turn out well for, and really, sometimes that’s all you need from a book to enjoy it.

[rating:3.5/5]

Other Reviews to Consider

• Ex-Libris
• Bookwormmom
• Cindy’s Love of Books
• Wendy’s Minding Spot
• Trashonista
• Cheryl’s Book Nook
• Alpha Heroes
• The Good the Bad and the Unread

The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns, is released today 16th June by Bancroft Books, and is available from all good bookshops, including The Book Depository (with FREE! Worldwide Delivery) but keep reading to find out how you can win a copy.

Giveaway!

That’s right I am going to give my copy of this fun book, to one lucky reader of my blog, there are lots of ways to enter and it is open worldwide.

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2. Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
3. The Death and Life of Charlie St Cloud ~ Ben Sherwood

My name is Owen Birnbaum, and I’m probably fatter than you are.

In the interests of full disclosure, my review copy was supplied by the author.

Twelve year old Owen Birnbaun, is a genius and a brilliant inventor. But he’s also a fatty, probably the fattest kid in his school in fact, and he has to suffer daily humiliation of name calling and bullying, from both his fellow students and his Gym teacher (why is it always the Gym teacher? )

But more importantly someone is steeling Owen’s Oreos!

Owen must navigate the daily hell that is the Martha Doxie School, while also solving the mystery of the cookie thief, and completing his Nemesis project.

You see, there is another mystery Owen needs to solve. Something dreadful happened almost two years ago, and Owen believes that his invention, Nemesis, is the only way to unlock what happened.

Of course, Owen can’t see the wood, for the trees, and Owen must discover that sometimes the answer is in the here and now, not the past, and no matter that he is 57% fatter than the national average, when it comes to it Owen Birnbaun’s heart is far bigger!

I wasn’t sure what I was going to make of this one, when Ellen emailed me to ask if I wanted to review it, I’ve not read a lot of what is classed as middle-grad fiction, even though I have read tonnes of young adult stuff, but the plot intrigued me, and I thought the cover was fantastic, so I agreed to give it a go.

I’m so glad I did. Owen, is a wonderful self-depreciating character, and I loved getting to know him and his sarcastic wit. while following his journey, as he finally starts to put the events of the last two years behind him, and regains the belief in himself to move forward.

The reason for why Owen is searching for answers, comes with a sucker punch of a revelation at around the mid point of the story, and Ellen Potter makes a fantastic job of making sure this informs the story rather than overwhelming it. The revelation itself, only makes you feel for and like Owen even more. Desptie his worries he is obviously a fabulous brother.

Thankfully, while there are lessons for Owen and the reader to learn (about making assumptions about people – the story line about Mason Ragg the kid, Owen first suspects is stealing his Oreo’s perfectly captures the ill-informed rumour mills that schools can be) it never slips into issue mode, and concentrates on telling Owen’s tale.

Pitched perfectly for the 9-12 year old market, it will be enjoyed by many others too, I’m sure.

[rating:3.5/5]

Find out More!

• EllenPotter.com
• Ellen on Twitter
• Publisher’s Page

Awards and Nominations

• Junior Library Guild Sring Selection (2009)

Other Reviews to Consider:

• Becky’s Book Reviews
• A Kids Review @ Books on the Brain
• Booking Mama

Slob, by Ellen Potter will be released on May 14th, 2009.

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