Author Archives: Emma @ The Stacked Shelf

Chrysler Szarlan’s ‘The Hawley Book of the Dead’

Posted on by

photoReve Dyer and her husband Jeremy run a successful magic act in Vegas – until the day that a bullet trick goes horribly wrong, leaving Jeremy dead and Reve suspected of his murder. But as Reve attempts to comfort her grieving family, burned photographs of her and her three daughters going about their daily lives start to appear. Fearing for their safety, Reve flees home to Hawley Five Corners.

A village abandoned by its inhabitants during the 1920’s, Hawley Five Corners offers a safe haven. But Hawley Five Corners is haunted by secrets, rumours and unnatural disappearances, and being back in the place of her ancestors raises more questions that Reve isn’t yet ready to face. For the women in Reve’s family each possess a magical gift – an ability to find lost things, to heal or in Reve’s case, to disappear, temporarily slipping behind the veil between worlds. The more time that Reve and her daughters spend in the village, the more they start to understand their personal history and the mysterious powers of the Hawley Book of the Dead. Continue reading →

Joelle Charbonneau’s ‘Independent Study’

Posted on by

Independent StudyIn the follow up to ‘The Testing’, Cia has made it to the University. Having taken the exams that will determine the future of their careers in the United Commonwealth, Cia and the other successful testing candidates now have a whole new set of challenges to face.

Cia’s memories of her first Testing have been erased, but as she prepares for her initiation into her class, disturbing flashbacks make her question the University and all it stands for. With her dreams full of suspicions about what happens to students that fail to live up to the University idea of its ideal candidate, she is thrown into a dizzying round of intense studying, ruthless initiation processes and cut-throat competition.

When she learns about a group of rebels working against the government officials in charge of the University, Cia has to choose whether to risk her life, and the lives of the people that she cares about, by joining their cause. But who can she trust? And who is doing everything they can to make sure she’ll fail? Continue reading →

‘The Rosie Effect’ by Graeme Simsion

Posted on by

The Rosie Effect‘The Rosie Effect’ is the sequel to Graeme Simsion’s 2013 hit novel ‘The Rosie Project’, which sold over a million copies across the world.

Following the success of ‘The Wife Project’, Don and Rosie have moved to New York. Don’s adjusting to life with fewer routines, he’s made some new friends and when it comes to being in a relationship, he seems to have it cracked. But then Rosie falls pregnant, and Don’s perfectly ordered life is turned upside down. The result? Meltdown.

And so begins the Baby Project. As Don struggles to adapt to the idea of becoming a parent, it seems the things that made Rosie fall in love with him in the first place are the things that might just make him too much to handle as the father of her child. Don tries and tests everything he can to prepare for the birth of his child and to live up to Rosie’s expectations – with sometimes hilarious effects – but will it be enough to save his marriage.

Told entirely from Don’s point of view, his complete reliance on the literal and the logical make for a truly entertaining read. Continue reading →

Going interactive

Posted on by

In a world that is increasingly technology focussed, it’s no surprise that publishers are exploring new ways to become more interactive and to engage with readers. Dedicated websites supporting specific books and authors have long been used as a way of communicating with an audience online, but new innovations are springing up all the time.

‘Dead Man’s Time’ by Peter James is one such book. It includes an interesting new interactive feature that allows readers to use Blippar to access an interactive world straught from their smartphone app. Readers can then explore real locations where scenes of the book are set, following the characters’ progress as they read.

This is definitely one way of bringing books into the technological world, but will it gain authors any more readers? At the moment, this is more of an added bonus for people that have already bought the book than a necessity for winning over potential fans. I’d also be interested to see how many people use the feature. Are we meant to be using it to enrich the reading experience as we go along – pausing in the middle of a chapter to check out this virtual world? Or is it intended more as a novelty for fans to explore after we’ve finished – like J.K. Rowling’s Pottermore?

Ultimately, I think that including features like this will become increasingly common, as more and more people come to expect them, but in my opinion, it will probably be a while before this starts to have any real effect on sales.

‘The 5th Wave’ by Rick Yancy

Posted on by

Rick Yancy’s ‘The 5th Wave’ is part of a new trend of Y/A books that feature alien invasions and their impact on the human race. But there are no little green men in the book – there’s just a faceless enemy who is cleverer and more ruthless than any that we’ve imagined before.

Invasion books are usually characterised by groups of people banding together to make war on the enemy. But here – the enemy is not there to fight. They’ve been making their move from far away, effectively clearing the earth ahead of making it their home. Humans are, as the main character points out, nothing more than cockroaches to them – an infestation to be snuffed out as effectively and efficiently as possible. This happens over five ‘waves’ – featuring everything from infectious diseases to forced natural disasters to our own human paranoia – which paint a terrifying picture of how human life could be completely decimated.

Cassie is one of the few that have survived. She’s on her own, hiding out in the woods in a desperate bid for survival. Her only plan is to find her little brother and make sure he’s safe. After she’s shot in the leg, she’s taken in by fellow survivor, Evan. But even as she starts to develop feelings for him, she starts to suspect that he is more than what he seems. Continue reading →

Victoria Hislop’s ‘The Sunrise’

Posted on by

The SunriseWhen I was lucky enough to get my hands on a copy of Victoria Hislop’s latest novel ‘The Sunrise’, I knew it was going to be good. I’ve loved all of her three previous novels, and this was no exception.

‘The Sunrise’ is set in Cyprus, and more specifically in the ill-fated coastal resort of Famagusta, on the eve of civil war between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. To give the novel some context, the year of 1974 saw Famagusta transform from a thriving tourist destination to a ghost town, as some 40,000 people abandoned their homes and fled in the wake of an advancing Turkish army. An area of the city, known as Varosha, remains barricaded off to this day. The war created hundreds of thousands of refugees – many of whom were left with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

In Hislop’s novel, Savvas Papacosta and his wife Aphroditi have built the Sunrise hotel to be bigger and better than any other hotel in Famagusta. The epitome of luxury, no expense has been spared to create the ultimate holiday destination. Despite growing tensions outside of the tourist resort, Savvas is determined to continue expanding and harbours ambitions of building a grand hotel empire along the beach. Continue reading →

Getting to the bottom of fan fiction

Posted on by

In general, I’m not a reader of fan fiction. But I am a fan of Hugh Howey, and when I saw that he was encouraging writers to set their own stories within the universes that he creates, I thought I would take the plunge and give it a go.

Howey famously became a household name after self-publishing his ‘Silo’ series and signing a unique print only deal with a publisher. Since then, he’s given his permission for indie authors and fans to write stories based in his fictional worlds, and encouraged them to sell their work on Amazon for a profit.

I recently read ‘Dunes of Danvar’, a piece of fan fiction written by indie fantasy author Michael Bunker, which is set against the backdrop of Howie’s ‘Sand’. It’s a short, three part story that introduces new characters to the mix, although it follows roughly the same timeline established by Howie.

The characters are well developed in a relatively short space of time, and because the world is already established, Bunker doesn’t have to dedicate too much time to building up the back story – he can jump right into the action. It’s this fast pace that keeps ‘Dunes of Danvar’ feeling fresh and exciting. He mixes the familiar with the new in a way that feels entirely natural and it really does help to make the fictional universe feel more real. Continue reading →

‘The String Diaries’ by Stephen Lloyd Jones

Posted on by

String diariesThe best mystery novels keep adding twist after twist.
The best thrillers ramp up the tension and don’t let us go until we turn the last page.
The best supernatural stories include just a pinch of horror to keep us on the edge of our seats.

Stephen Lloyd Jones’ ‘The String Diaries’ was a perfect fusion of all three.

From the moment this book started, with our protagonist driving on a dark, remote road, trying to escape from a nameless but clearly dangerous pursuer, the bar was set high.

Hannah, along with her husband and her young daughter, is on the run from an enemy that has stalked her family across generations. He has the power to change his appearance at will and to speak in other people’s voices, and he is unswerving in his desire to hunt down Hannah as he has her predecessors.

From a remote farmhouse in Wales to a library in Oxford and a masquerade ball in nineteenth century Hungary, Stephen Lloyd Jones creates a thoroughly convincing story of an ancient hidden race, a spurned son and a dangerous obsession that won’t die. Continue reading →

‘The Ties that Bind’ by Erin Kelly

Posted on by

The Ties that BindFleeing a bad relationship, struggling true crime journalist Luke runs to Brighton. Soon, he unwittingly stumbles across a story that has the potential to completely turn his career around. Joss Grand, now an upstanding business man and property owner, was once an infamous racketeer who ruled Brighton with an iron fist.

As he delves further into Grand’s murky past, and into the unsolved murder of his right hand man in the 1960’s, Luke soon finds himself increasingly over his head. His attempts to find the perfect story have stirred up old secrets that some people would prefer to leave buried. Someone is watching his every move, and it’s impossible to know who to trust. But by the time that Luke finds out just how high the stakes are, it’s too late.

There’s no doubt that Erin Kelly has a talent for writing skilful, well-structured mysteries, and this is no exception. It starts off quite slowly but then all of a sudden it picks up the pace and throws in a few curveballs to keep you guessing. The suspense gradually builds as the novel progresses and the twist at the end

My main problem with this book was that Luke wasn’t the most likeable main character. It was incredibly frustrating to watch his relationship with Jem develop. He then spends most of the book distrusting and ignoring his friends, whinging in self-pity when anything goes wrong and being wilfully stupid whenever the opportunity arises. Continue reading →

‘We Were Liars’ by E. Lockhart

Posted on by

We Were LiarsFrom the outside, they are the perfect family. Blond and tall with a strong chin and a strong tennis serve, they are the Sinclair’s and they stick together.

Since she was a child, Cadence Sinclair has spent every summer on her grandfather’s private island. Each year, she spends her days inseparable from her cousins, Mirren and Johnny, and Gat, the nephew of a family friend. Surrounded by boats, beaches and wealth, it seems like nothing will ever go wrong. But in the heat of the summer, tensions brew.

Now 17, Cady is recovering from an accident. But she has no recollection of what happened. In fact, she has very few memories of an entire summer spent on the island. With her family keeping secrets from her, Cady returns to the island in an attempt to uncover the truth about events.

To say much more about the plot of this book would ruin it entirely for anyone that hasn’t already read it, which makes it quite hard to review! Over the course of the book, we’re shown how Gat’s friendship with the cousins and his presence on the island forces the family members to examine themselves from the outside. As they grow older, Cady, Mirren and Johnny gradually become aware of what the darker side of being a Sinclair entails, and what the family is willing to do to keep their positions. Continue reading →