Stone Rider - David Hofmeyr

I rated this book 7/10
First published in July 2015

Adam Stone wants freedom and peace. He wants a chance to escape Blackwater, the dust-bowl desert town he grew up in. Most of all, he wants the beautiful Sadie Blood. Alongside Sadie and the dangerous outsider Kane, Adam will ride the Blackwater Trail in a brutal race that will test them all, body and soul. Only the strongest will survive.

The prize? A one-way ticket to Sky-Base and unimaginable luxury.

And for a chance at this new life, Adam will risk everything.

Stone Rider is a little like a mix between Death Race, Mad Max and with a dash of Elysium thrown in for good measure. 

It features bikes (though the spelling "bykes" was probably unnecessary) and plenty of bloodshed, and is the kind of YA novel that I wish I had thought up. Right up my street!

Hofmeyr's writing style is simple - the sentences are short and the descriptions are fairly minimal. It took me a little while to get used to this, but eventually the short sentences lend themselves to quick and brutal action scenes that keep the pages turning.

I wasn't keen on Adam as a main protagonist - he is a modest and shy orphan, with exceptional riding skills that don't really come across as well as they probably could in the book. He blacks out whenever there is a hint of danger and avoids violence at all costs. The only female in the book is drawn to him despite him being characterless - I like Sadie though, she's very well represented. Kane has to be my favourite character however, and Hofmeyr has really put some thought and understanding into the background of this strange teenager; given him plenty of grit.

Overall a great read that I would recommend without any reservations. Full of friendship, action and full on racing!

(Thank you to Penguin Random House for the proof copy)

Available at Waterstones

The Confectioner's Tale - Laura Madeleine

I rated this 6/10...

At the famous Patisserie Clermont in Paris, 1909, a chance encounter with the owner's daughter has given one young man a glimpse into a life he never knew existed: of sweet cream and melted chocolate, golden caramel and powdered sugar, of pastry light as air.

But it is not just the art of confectionery that holds him captive, and soon a forbidden love affair begins.

Almost eighty years later, an academic discovers a hidden photograph of her grandfather as a young man with two people she has never seen before. Scrawled on the back of the picture are the words 'Forgive me'. Unable to resist the mystery behind it, she begins to unravel the story of two star-crossed lovers and one irrevocable betrayal.

Laura transports us back and forth between Paris in 1910 and Cambridge in 1988.

It's a book of two halves interlinked, the Parisian story and description is beautiful; well written, dramatic and full of the sensory marvels of a French Patisserie. These parts of the book would get 8 out of 10 from me. The three central characters are well written and charming: Jeanne is the daughter of the wealthy businessman who owns Patisserie Clermont, Gui is an ambitious young railroad worker looking for something more. Throw a new friend Jim into the mix with a backdrop of choux pastry and macarons, and there is the perfect set up for an easy holiday read that will be perfect for trips to Paris.

The other half of the story, set in England, is not quite as magnificent and could have been cut out altogether. Towards the end you will find yourself skipping through these parts to get to Paris, and it feels a bit like filler to pad out the scandal that happens in France. You can happily read the story without hearing from Petra as she tries to work out what big secret her grandfather was ashamed of all those years ago.

All in all, 'The Confectioner's Tale' is a wonderful debut for anybody that wants to be whipped up into a historic, Parisian tale of powdered sugar and forbidden romance.

Available at Waterstones

The Story of a New Name - Elena Ferrante

I rated this 10/10...

The second book, following 2012’s acclaimed My Brilliant Friend, featuring the two friends Lila and Elena. The two protagonists are now in their twenties. Marriage appears to have imprisoned Lila. Meanwhile, Elena continues her journey of self-discovery. The two young women share a complex and evolving bond that brings them close at times, and drives them apart at others. 

The Neapolitan Series is absorbing, dramatic, perfect...

I loved the first book in this series and was lucky to be sent the second from the publisher in exchange for honest feedback.

The Neapolitan series makes for compulsive reading - once you learn a little about Elena and Lila as children, you're in it for the long haul. The second book 'The Story of a New Name' follows the girls as they are grown up and take different paths in life - finding themselves seeking each other out on occasion despite their mixed feelings towards each other. They are both adults now and still they are destined to compete emotionally, leading to very turbulent scenes.

A market place in Naples, 1950s

Elena and Lila's lives continue through marriage, affairs, university and motherhood - with their on and off friendship being the backdrop of it all. Throw in a beach holiday with star crossed romance and you have a rich saga that is so difficult to tear away from.

I am particularly drawn to the narrator, Elena - she is still struggling to 'find' herself and to accept herself for who she is; she compares herself to other women and other students often - easily influenced by those who are more successful than she is or may seem to have more going for them in their lives than she has. Ferrante expertly mirrors the turmoil that a lot of young people have in accepting themselves and moving on.

The book is full of whirlwind drama and unstable characters, and Ferrante writes with a power and intimacy that brings the grit of every day 50s and 60s Naples to life. The realism and depth of the situations that the characters find themselves in suggest to me that Ferrante uses a lot of personal experience to write her novels. Well worth a read and it's perfect for summer - start at book 1 'My Brilliant Friend'.

(Thank you to Turnaround UK for the reading copy.)

@turnarounduk

Available at Waterstones

The Cake Shop in the Garden - Carole Matthews

I rated this 3/10...

Can Fay find the strength to make a life-changing decision - even if it means giving up the thing she loves the most? Life, love and family are about to collide in The Cake Shop in the Garden.

Slow, old fashioned summer read with good sub-characters.

Very much outside of my comfort zone, but I really wanted to try and read something light and summery as my brain was overloaded with other bits and pieces. I loved the idea and decided that this would be a nice one to read in the sunshine.

I didn't mind that Matthews had created a really twee concept - Fay runs a cafe in her home by the canal and sells cakes from the narrowboat that she inherited from her late father. I thought that maybe there would have been more emphasis on the baking, sights and smells of the cafe. It would have been nice for recipes to be inserted into the novel as you read through it, particularly as Mary Berry has left her endorsement on the front cover. However, despite the lack of description, we still get a feel for the idyllic surroundings that Fay is tied down to.

The issue that I had with this book was that the main protagonists were really weak and fairly one dimensional. Fay is a very naive 44 year old who is going on 70 and thinks that her life is over - and the man that's caught her eye - Danny - is much younger than her, has left his busy business lifestyle and friends for the quiet life of the canal (for a reason not really explained properly) and it just isn't believable.

The sub-characters were more interesting and were much more well rounded, which was nice. I enjoyed reading about Stan, and even Anthony (who is supposed to be a dull character) had more to him than Fay which I'm sure wasn't intentional. 

In all it was a slow, easy summer read without much to it which was what I expected. 

 Available at Waterstones