Better late than never, eh? And I’m only 4 days late with this post, so it’s not that bad…not as bad as those outfit photos from two weeks ago that are still waiting to go up! Anyway, this month hasn’t been as productive for reading, as you can probably tell. The book I started off the month with just seemed to trudge on for ages and get me behind. I’m also adding in a short story that I read, but you’ll get to the details of that in a minute 😉 So, here we go again!
Outcast by Rosemary Sutcliff – 6.5/10 – This is a difficult one to rate – while there were aspects that I really enjoyed, I found the story dragged quite a lot. Beric, the only survivor of a Roman shipwreck on the coast of Britain, is adopted by a family in an ancient tribe. At first he is taken in and accepted by the tribe, but is cast out when he reaches a certain age. The story follows his life as an outcast, and the long series of misfortunes that happen to him. I obviously enjoyed all the Roman aspects of it, as well as the ancient Britain life, but it seemed to take too long to get anywhere. But overall, a good read if you’re interested in history.
My Two Lives by Jan Hunter – 7/10 – I can’t quite remember where I came across this book, but I remember reading that it was written by someone local to me, and had mentions of my area, so I had a look at the blurb and decided to try it out. Again, another difficult to rate one, because it was a good story, but the writing style wasn’t what I’d usually go for. Jill, an ordinary teacher going through a divorce, finds herself in what appears to be a scenario where she has been temporarily thrown back in time as a Victorian governess, her ‘second’ life featuring people she recognises from real life. I do like a good supernatural thriller, so finding out what was going on was interesting, but I did find some parts a bit less than interesting (not boring, just that I wanted to get past them and find out what was happening).
The Wishing Thread by Lisa Van Allen – 7.5/10 – This was a bit more of my thing in books. The Van Ripper family have always lived in a tumbling down house in the ‘bad’ part of town, knitting spells in wool for people. After the three sisters’ aunt and adoptive mother, Mariah, passes away, the house is left to the sisters, only one of whom wants to keep it. The story follows the daily battles between the sisters in unusual circumstances and a final fight to keep their home. It was a really good story with magic woven into a normal setting.
Millie’s Day Out by Lucy Elizabeth Foster – I feel like I should put 10/10 here, but maybe I’m being biased…although I’m probably not, she’s that good of a writer 🙂 I should clarify…this is a short story written by one of my friends! She’s actually one of Charley’s friends from uni, but I’ve got to know her well recently too. I don’t think I can really say much, because it’s a short story, but it is so beautifully written and a really touching story. It’s available for Kindle for only £2.03 on Amazon too, so you might as well get it – it’s definitely worth the read 🙂
Love,
