What Are Friends For? by Lizzie O'Hagan

So, the set-up is a little complicated to explain but simple to follow when you're reading. Eve's flatmate Becky is unlucky in love so Eve ends up "helping" her profile on a dating website, to the point of choosing the date and helping out with the conversation. Max finds himself in a similar situation with his friend Tom. So Max and Eve pretending to be Becky and Tom strike up an online conversation whilst in the real world Becky and Tom go on the dates. What could possibly go wrong?

The story is told in alternating viewpoints between Eve and Max and is also written in the present tense - a style I usually hate but you do reach a point where there is such a sense of inevitable impending disaster that the use of present tense works.

For the first hundred pages I really liked this story, it had snappy dialogue, funny lines...

"I think it makes us sound like a double act. Maxy and Pads, putting the fun in fund-raising..."

"Dude, it makes us sound like a sanitary product,"

...quirky friends and an interesting premise. It was written in a comedy of errors style and I wanted to know how everything was going to end. Inevitably Eve and Max would be found out...but when and how bad would it be?

There were also some quite clever and subtle moments in the writing which I thought worked well. The fact that both Eve and Max are reading Far From the Madding Crowd at the beginning of the story. Eve saying that Becky is like a Disney princess before they got Tangled and Brave.

Unfortunately at about 100 pages in, the tone shifted and became more serious (I feel like this wasn't the book I signed up for) suddenly Eve is hiding letters from her absent, alcoholic father and Max is caught up in unresolved feelings of guilt and regret about his grandmother. Then Eve starts making Notes to Self on every other page - on page 208 she does it twice. And as it goes on, I find I care less and less about the characters and the long awaited revelation of Max and Eve's duplicity.

I actually end up feeling quite sorry for Becky and Tom who seem to be there mainly to illustrate how shallow they are compared to Eve and Max. The other thing that annoyed me was that if Max and Eve are so clever why at page 112 when it's clearly starting to get completely out of hand, that they are unable to see it. I thought it required a level of disbelief on the part of the reader that isn't realistic. 

Also, be aware this book spoils the plot of David Nicholl's One Day, which I hadn't yet read.

Overall - there were some funny moments and some clever dialogue and I'm sure it will appeal to a lot of people but for me the end didn't live up to the promise of the beginning.

(I've graded it a C- because when the dialogue and character's are working (more so in the beginning) I really enjoyed. But this is one of those books where by the time I got to the end, I hated it).

(I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for a review).

Fifty Fifty by Steve Cavanagh

I picked this book because it was a Between the Covers book choice and bonus it was on special offer for Kindle.

The premise is simple but interesting. Frank Avellino has been murdered; both of his daughters were in the house at the time; each accuses the other of the crime; who is guilty and who is innocent?

I didn't realise when I chose this book that it's part of an ongoing series featuring the attorney, Eddie Flynn. However, you do not need to have read the preceding books this stands perfectly well on it's own. I don't want to give away any spoilers so I will keep it to a general what I liked and what I didn't.

What I liked. It was a compulsive read, there were several occasions when I just wanted to go to the end of the book and find out who had done it (though this was partly due to the slow pacing in places). You do desperately want to know who did what and are they going to get away with it. All the main characters were well drawn specifically Eddie and his team, and the opposing attorneys. (I'm not including Sofia and Alexandra (the two sisters) in this praise because I think they were left deliberately vague to increase the mystery.

I loved Kate the opposing attorney, in some ways I found her developing story the most interesting part. 

What I didn't like. Some of it was so contrived and obvious. It felt like the author was shouting "Look over here! Look over here! See this clue that I'm showing you." There is nothing subtle about the herrings and red herrings on display. The only thing is that you don't know if it's a bluff or double-bluff or a triple-bluff until you get to the end. Whilst you are reading you are filing this information away, aware at the same time that you could be being pointed in the wrong direction.

Also the sections where the killer is trying to cover their tracks by killing any potential witnesses got increasingly ridiculous.

I think the trouble with it being so heavy-handed rather than subtle, is that at the end there is no incentive to re-read the book to see how everything actually fitted together. So it's a book that's compulsive whilst you're reading it but at the end, that's it, it's finished. There is no longevity for the story, other than introducing new characters to the series.

So onto my criteria for whether I thought it was a good story - did it make me laugh?; did it make me cry?; did it make me think?; could I put it down?

It didn't make me laugh, it didn't make me cry.I don't feel it challenged my brain that much but it was a page-turner. There is one section where the killer is going to someone's house to kill them and you don't know whose house they are going to but it flips between potential victims and you are almost screaming at the book - "Don't answer the door!" 

Overall - it's okay and I think it's worth reading. I would be interested in reading other Eddie Flynn books based on this, but I have no need to read this one again now I know what happened.

Far From the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

Yes, it's more 19th Century literature. :) After Germinal, I thought I'd share one of the books I'd enjoyed.

I'd never read Hardy before starting this course, I think I had it in my head that he was one of these writers that killed all his characters off. (If you haven't guessed, at the moment, everybody dying at the end of the book is not one of my favourite plot developments - kind of ironic as I've just started reading Game of Thrones.)

Now, this may be the case for Hardy's other novels, but not here.

So the plot - Bathsheba Everdene has three suitors - a shepherd (Gabriel Oak), a farmer (Boldwood) and a soldier (Troy). The story follows the events over the course of a farming year.

This was actually a really easy read, and in some ways the plot reminded me of a soap opera. Even the dialogue

"...she has her faults," said Gabriel..."And the greatest of them is - well, what it is always."
"Beating people down; ay, 'tis so."
"O no."
"What, then?"
Gabriel,...glanced back to where he had witnessed her performance over the hedge, and said, "Vanity."

You've got adultery, death, madness, reversal of fortune, in some ways the plot wouldn't be out of place on Emmerdale. And from the start you are rooting for Gabriel to end up with the girl, even though Bathsheba does treat him badly.

There's a point at the beginning of the story, when Gabriel's fortunes take a turn for the worse, that I knew what was coming up, I anticipated it - and even said "Oh no!" out loud whilst reading. (Apart from anything else because I'm a dog lover) It had the inevitability of watching a car crash. You could see what was going to happen but there was no way of stopping it. I think the phrase "You bitch." also escaped my mouth later on. I think this is the only book on the course (so far) where I got so involved with what was happening on the page.

So as much as I wouldn't recommend Germinal as a first 19th Century novel, I would recommend Far From the Madding Crowd.

Germinal by Emile Zola

I'm reading quite a bit of nineteenth century fiction at the moment, as I'm studying for an English lit. degree. So may as well post my thoughts here, just in case any of you are tempted by 19th century novels. Spoilers will ensue.

Man goes to work at a mine, tries to set up a union, things get out of hand, lots of people die, the situation reverts to what it was before he turned up (only worse).

This is the one book of the course (so far) that I have hated, and really resented that I've had to take time out from reading something that I may have enjoyed.

I can appreciate it as a literature  - if I have to. I can see what the experiment is - the characters having to follow this predetermined genetic pathway. But Gods it is depressing and really not the sort of thing I want to read at the moment. I also don't believe that everything always has to end badly, that people (characters) have no redeeming characteristics.

Whilst I can appreciate it as literature, as a story it has perhaps a handful of redeemable characters and all you can say about them is that they're not as bad as the rest. Most everybody dies - including the animals - some characters are lucky and just die, others get raped or castrated first.

Just not how I want to spend my limited reading time.

Master and God by Lindsey Davis

I read this a while ago, actually have read quite a few books over the past months. This one I received as an ARC.

I must confess I am a big fan of the Falco "detective" series (set in Rome a few years earlier during the rule of Vespasian) also written by Lindsey Davis but had never read any of her historical novels before. And I had a slightly mixed response to Master and God.

Set during the rule of the Emperor Domitian, Master and God charts his rule through the eyes of two of his subjects - Gaius, a Praetorian Guard, and Hairdresser Flavia Lucilla. Now I'm pretty sure that the idea here is that because we are experiencing events through the eyes of two "ordinary" characters that we feel the terror of Domitian's rule more acutely than we otherwise would. However, I'm not sure I ever felt the threat and terror of Domitian as much as I needed to. I knew that the ordinary people were living in dangerous times because I was told, but I didn't get a complete sense of underlying fear - it was a time of disappearances where the wrong word could mean the end of your life but it felt a little safer than I think it needed to. You know how when you watch a television series every week and you know that even when the main characters are in dire peril they are still somehow going to survive - this had a similar feel. Maybe this was also because the parts which focus on Domitian are somewhat drier, so I didn't feel he was as present as perhaps he should have been in the story. Even when he wasn't 'on page' I feel that I should have had more of a sense of the threat of his presence.

What worked for me most were the characters of the ordinary people. Lindsey Davis has a brilliant way of getting you into the heads of her characters and making them real, partly I think through her ability to write colloquially which makes you feel as if you are there. I felt invested in the relationship that gradually developed between Gaius and Lucilla. They were very much two people caught up in situations that were beyond their control that they just had to make the best of. I think that where it didn't work for me as an historical novel, it absolutely worked as a story of two people from different worlds gradually coming together in a strong relationship. Lindsey Davis has a way of writing characters so that the reader appreciates not only what they say and do, but also what their motivations are, how they are thinking and how they judge the situations in which they find themselves.

'I respect you.'
'Don't insult me. You are a disgrace, Vinius.'
'So my wives tell me.'
She stormed off. The dog, who knew how to make choices, slunk after her.'

These are flawed people but they are all the more compelling because of that. Overall then, I very much enjoyed the book and would definitely try another historical novel by Lindsey Davis, though I think my first love will always be the Falco series. I think she makes the Roman era come alive and if you haven't read her work before I would definitely recommend it.

(Hopefully not too bad for my first review back

Dead Beat - Jim Butcher

I actually finished this back in January, but hadn't got round to writing a review - have a couple of other reviews that are waiting to be written like this one. I know I read this back in January because it's the book I read to get me out of my reading funk, and the note I wrote at the beginning of my A4 piece of paper says - sometimes you have to go back to go forward - it probably felt really deep at the time.

Dead Beat is the seventh (I think) in the Harry Dresden series by Jim Butcher. I stalled out on this series because I was reading the US published books and then a UK publisher picked them up and publishing order and everything went kablooey.

I hate when that happens.

Anyway, this one is all about necromancers. If my feeble memory (and badly written notes) of what I read in January is anything to go by. Mavra (the very nasty vampire) is blackmailing Harry into getting something called the Word of Kemmler for her. If he doesn't do it, she's going to drop his friend Karrin (the policewoman) in the shit. So Harry agrees. Unfortunately he's not the only one after the Word, and the six other necromancers, who are also after it, don't have such noble motives as saving their friends from a metaphoric pile of poo.

This was one series that I always intended to get back to reading. I'd been slightly worried that I wouldn't remember the story so far, but Jim Butcher manages to weave in the relevant bits of plot you need to know from previous books without it feeling exposition heavy.

There are so many things I love about this book, but what has to stand out most is the brilliant dialogue and how the characters spark off each other.

I love the fact that Harry and Thomas (his half-brother) are now living together. Their relationship isn't smooth sailing, little things irritate Harry (who has probably been living on his own for too long) but he has a deep concern for Thomas.

'You want to talk?'
'If I did , I'd be talking.'

I'm very interested to see how this develops over the coming books, especially as Thomas feels he is doomed. But the sibling relationship is not completely bleak, there are positive aspects to having your brother live with you.

'...How are you as a sounding board?'
'I can look interested and nod at appropriate moments,' he said.

I also think the scene where Butters mistakes them for lovers rather than siblings is quite amusing.

Special mention has to go to Mouse the dog and Butters the Medical Examiner. Mouse is just a phenomena, is he something more or is he just a dog. And Butters is a very human being who ends up in the middle of the conflict between Harry and the necromancers. He's not brave, he's something of a coward in fact, but ultimately he has to deal with the situation in which he finds himself.

One other thing I must mention - but not in too much detail as I don't want to spoil it - is how the relationship Harry has with his father is developed here. In a book which is very much concerned with necromancy and the raising of the dead, the scenes which take place between Harry and his father are very moving and beautifully written.

As regards continuing arcs, the figure of Lasciel the fallen angel is a prominent part of the book. I have to admit this is a part of the story that hasn't stuck too well in my memory. But I found her to be quite chilling and more than able to cut Harry down to size with a few well chosen words.

She regarded ne steadily and said, 'You aren't nearly as funny as you think you are.'

She doesn't appear often but when she does Jim Butcher manages to pull off (in her) a perfect combination of charm and menace.

This book is pretty much a non-stop action ride, with blistering dialogue and great characters. When you read a lot of urban fantasy it can lose its impact but this book reminds me why I love the genre so much. Recommended - but you need to read the preceding books in the series first.

The Girl Who Played With Fire - Stieg Larsson

Apologies if this turns into a bit of a ramble. I feel slightly out of my depth having this as one of the first books I talk about after having a few weeks off. But I've got to start somewhere.

Before I wrote about this book I looked back at my (not review) of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - which was quite short and sweet. I think this post maybe slightly longer. It picks up a few months after The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the main story begins with Lisbeth on the island of Grenada. What she doesn't realise is that whilst she's away her enemies are organising themselves and pretty soon she's going to find herself wanted for a murder that she didn't commit.

Again with it being such a popular book it's just some of my ideas after finishing it. Like the first book in the Millennium Trilogy I found it pretty compulsive reading once I got past the prologue. (I think if I hadn't read the first book I wouldn't have bothered with this one. I thought the prologue was gratuitous. And again I found the misogyny to be not pleasant reading. I'm not sure whether I'd buy these books (I've been lent these copies by a friend). Having said that, I do think the both books 1 and 2 are probably very re-readable. If only to appreciate on a second read through how everything is so intricately connected together.

One of my favourite things about this book (at least the first part anyway) was how Lisbeth developed a fascination with mathematics. I thought this was a very interesting aspect of her character which allowed us to get more inside her head and see how she thought things through. This fell by the wayside a little when she got back to Sweden and the murder part of the storyline took over. And I still don't get what her realisation about Fermat's theorem was towards the end of the book - which is a little frustrating.

I think especially in the beginning of the book, when Salander is off the page I find my attention wandering slightly, but it's very interesting to see how the various unconnected strands start to work their way together. That's one of the things I've come to appreciate in watching Scandinavian television (thank you BBC).

Favourite quote:-

But she wished she had had the guts to go up to him and say hello. Or possibly break off his legs, she wasn't sure which.

I think she is without doubt one of the most striking female characters to emerge in a long time. How strong she is, how rigid, but also how vulnerable.

I don't think I'll be reading Book 3 for a while. I need a bit of a break and a change of genre but I definitely want to see how it all ends up.