Renee at It’s Book Talk began the Throwback Thursday meme as a way to share old favourites, as well as books that have been waiting on the ‘to be read’ pile for however long, and are finally getting an airing. I have seen posts on Between the Lines and  Alison Williams Writing and I shall be sharing old favourites using this hashtag.

Plundering the Romance Novel, very honestly subtitled – A really awful, truly terrible, very, very, bad romance – is a delight to read, enjoy, and being a parody take none too seriously. Check out the catchy quote on the cover too – excellent!

Our hero, Stormy Raven Steel Vanderbilt Von Devreaux, Captain V.D. for short, is taken aback when the (obviously stunningly beautiful) woman aboard his pirate ship is not behaving as he expected from all he had read in the romance heroine handbook. Rather than being aloof and appearing not to be interested in him she is actually flirting and denying him his conquest…and that is just the start.

This is a joyful read full of pointless exposition and inconsistencies aplenty that will have you chuckling along one minute and nodding wryly another as Martin astutely exposes every romantic cliché there is. Here’s a snippet…

‘”My eyes!” he wailed, “my beautiful eyes of some unidentified and yet sexy colour that drives women mad with desire! They shall never recover!”

The old man wrapped himself in a bed linen that was conveniently placed nearby and surveyed his unusual guest. “I see you have returned by boy. I don’t blame you.”

Captain V.D. raised his eyebrows. “Sir, she is a woman. This is your daughter that I have returned. For this kind act of mercy, I expect you shall reward me handsomely,“ he demanded, with a glint of whatever causes glints in his eye.’

Whichever bit I chose can’t do justice to the humour that runs throughout this short and entertaining book that I really enjoyed. Chapters 4-6 and 11-12 are inspired and after the epilogue you of course get a peek at the sequel which is of course completely different from this book.

To find out much, much more click on a link….

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The post #ThrowbackThursday ~ Plundering the Romance Novel by Ionia Martin #spoof definitely #fakenews #humour appeared first on Georgia Rose Books.

Renee at It’s Book Talk began the Throwback Thursday meme as a way to share old favourites, as well as books that have been waiting on the ‘to be read’ pile for however long, and are finally getting an airing. I have seen posts on Between the Lines and  Alison Williams Writing and I shall be sharing old favourites using this hashtag.

Carla is a book that will stay with me for a long time*. The mark of great storytelling for me is whether or not I can leave the characters whilst I’m reading and my emotions after I’ve finished the book. If I say that I read this in less than a day and I didn’t want it to end you get the picture.

I rooted for John, I loved Carla, it made me cry and I was left feeling bereft (this is always a good thing!). The characters were wonderfully drawn and the detail of the darker aspects of John and his history so knowledgeable and assured I trusted Barry completely. Truly brilliant writing in a style I love and I shall definitely be reading more from this author.

*This it turns out is an understatement…I only have to turn to that opening page to want to read it all over again…and wish it was for the first time.

And because I know you’ll all want your own copy…

Amazon UK

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The post #ThrowbackThursday ~ Carla by Mark Barry @GreenWizard62 #psychological appeared first on Georgia Rose Books.

Renee at It’s Book Talk began the Throwback Thursday meme as a way to share old favourites, as well as books that have been waiting on the ‘to be read’ pile for however long, and are finally getting an airing. I have seen posts on Between the Lines and  Alison Williams Writing and I shall be sharing old favourites using this hashtag.

The post #ThrowbackThursday ~ The Black Banner by Helen Hart @SilverWoodBooks appeared first on Georgia Rose Books.

Renee at It’s Book Talk began the Throwback Thursday meme as a way to share old favourites, as well as books that have been waiting on the ‘to be read’ pile for however long, and are finally getting an airing. I have seen posts on Between the Lines and  Alison Williams Writing and I shall be sharing old favourites using this hashtag.

Pattern of Shadows is a truly wonderful book. Beautifully written this romantic yet heartbreaking love story flows at a perfect pace throughout. I started off thinking one thing only to find my preconceptions wrong as Barrow skilfully leads you through this tale of life at the end of WWII for one young woman, Mary, and her family.

Barrow’s characters are fully rounded and very real and I quickly grew attached feeling empathy for them in the situations they faced throughout this satisfying story. Not wanting this one to end I was delighted to find that, though a complete story in itself, it is the first in a trilogy and I immediately bought the second part. The final instalment is on the way. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys well written and gripping storytelling by an excellent author.

This review was originally posted on the 10 May 2014

The all important purchase links!

Amazon UK

Amazon US

The post #ThrowbackThursday ~ Pattern of Shadows by Judith Barrow @judithbarrow77 #WWII #familydrama appeared first on Georgia Rose Books.

Renee at It’s Book Talk began the Throwback Thursday meme as a way to share old favourites, as well as books that have been waiting on the ‘to be read’ pile for however long, and are finally getting an airing. I have seen posts on Between the Lines and  Alison Williams Writing and I shall be sharing old favourites using this hashtag.

Until now I had viewed the Null City books from a bit of a distance thinking that I don’t really do fantasy, let along urban fantasy – whatever that may mean – and I’m certainly not YA so these can’t be for me. Right? Wrong…how wrong could I be? I was hooked from the moment I read this:-

‘Hope flares each morning in the tiny flash of a second before Lette touches that first thing. And destroys it.’

Lette (short for Roulette, fabulous name!) is our heroine here and she has a pretty tough time from the moment she hits 13 and inherits the family ‘gift’ where whatever she touches each day changes form. Some days this is great, diamond rings and opals appear alongside cup cakes for example, on other days life becomes precarious when her touch causes things to levitate or explode. Lette learns to cope. She wears vinyl gloves all the time to protect others and isolates herself to live alone. Stefan arrives in her life one day encouraging her to come with him to Null City where they can live a normal life. Stefan, you see, has his own family legacy he is trying to escape from and for a brief time Lette is able to experience the blossoming of a romance. The ‘cure’ of Null City doesn’t go to plan for Lette and she has to move on making another contact with Rag, an ex-angel with boundary issues, along the way.

I can’t begin to tell you how entertaining this book is. I’ve loved Taub’s writing on her blog for a while now, it’s perceptive and witty and this book is no different. A strong, beautiful heroine (who doesn’t see herself as that) with a superpower that is both humorous and heart-breaking, an original story, handsome hero’s with their own tragic pasts, a hopeful but ultimately doomed romance and plenty of action…oh and there’s an evil cat, George, …what more could you want in a book!

You can get it here:-

Amazon UK

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The post #ThrowbackThursday ~ Don’t Touch by Barb Taub @barbtaub #bookreview #urbanfantasy appeared first on Georgia Rose Books.

Renee at It’s Book Talk began the Throwback Thursday meme as a way to share old favourites, as well as books that have been waiting on the ‘to be read’ pile for however long, and are finally getting an airing. I have seen posts on Between the Lines and  Alison Williams Writing and I shall be sharing old favourites using this hashtag.

I know my memory is appalling but I don’t believe I’ve read any post-apocalyptic books before, always imagining them to be full of zombies which have never tended to be that scary to me as they seem to move so slowly I’m pretty sure I could get away from them. So although this book was recommended to me I approached it with some trepidation. What I found however was a post-apocalyptic world made far scarier because of its normality. I’ve never failed to be surprised, or rather horrified, at the way communities can turn on one another in times of trouble and I could really see this story being the way it would go should such a virus hit the world.

This story is set in Northern Ireland which is devastated, like many other countries before it, when the Quang-Tri Flu spreads like…well, like the flu only this flu kills anyone who contracts it. There are a few who are immune for whatever reason and gradually these individuals come together in various forever changed communities.

Bobby, a Canadian (and not a Yank as he has to keep reminding everyone) from whose perspective this is written is a great character. He’s in Northern Ireland after marrying Sally and to all outward appearances is tough and heroic, a leader, of sorts, amongst the band of survivors he finds around him but we get to see his inner fears and sorrows at the loss and sadness created by this tragic virus.

Violence breaks out, often brutally, both from those in charge as well as those just struggling to survive. Desperation for water, food and medicine grows as supplies run out and finding safe places to shelter becomes an issue. Some give up whilst others take advantage of the situation but there are some who meet the challenges of this bleak new world with regret for what they have to do in order to survive.

John Privilege’s writing is wonderfully descriptive without being overly so, ‘On her bad days I would sit with her and stroke her hair and whisper to her as she hung her head and wept, heart-sore and lost. She would look at me, her dark eyes full of tears, her mouth curling into a quivering smile, her cool hand on my face.’ Beautiful.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, would definitely recommend it to all who enjoy good writing and solid storytelling and I look forward to seeing what Mr Privilege produces next.

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The post #ThrowbackThursday ~ The Turning of the World by John Privilege @BeardyJohn #bookreview #dystopian #postapocalyptic appeared first on Georgia Rose Books.