Tampa - Alissa Nutting

I rated this book 8/10
First published September 2013

Celeste Price is an eighth-grade English teacher in suburban Tampa. She is attractive. She drives a red Corvette. Her husband, Ford, is rich, square-jawed and devoted to her. But Celeste has a secret. She has a singular sexual obsession - fourteen-year-old boys. It is a craving she pursues with sociopathic meticulousness and forethought.

Within weeks of her first term at a new school, Celeste has lured the charmingly modest Jack Patrick into her web - car rides after dark, rendezvous at Jack's house while his single father works the late shift, and body-slamming encounters in Celeste's empty classroom between periods. It is bliss.

With crackling, stampeding, rampantly sexualized prose, Tampa is a grand, satirical, serio-comic examination of desire and a scorching literary debut.

Horrific, vulgar and completely fascinating...

An absolute horror of a read that is all the more effective because it is written in first person perspective through the eyes of the most cold and calculated woman I've ever stumbled across in a novel. Celeste is a complete sociopath and has no understanding of the effects that her behaviour has on other people - it doesn't even enter her thoughts at any point in the book. Celeste exists only to satisfy her own desires - and the book spares no graphic detail in how she goes about this.

A lot more shocking than expected, Tampa is often compared to Lolita. Except for the subject matter being about an adult attracted to minors, there are no other sticking points. Tampa wrecks your head entirely, leaves you no room to sympathise with Celeste at all, and leads you into a car crash of a tale. There's no subtlety and this won't be a timeless classic on everybody's 'must read' list.

Absorbing and repulsive at once, Alissa Nutting's style is big and bold and doesn't hold back.

Available in Waterstones

The Martian - David Weir

I rated this book 9/10
First published February 2014

I’m stranded on Mars.

I have no way to communicate with Earth.

I’m in a Habitat designed to last 31 days.

If the Oxygenator breaks down, I’ll suffocate. If the Water Reclaimer breaks down, I’ll die of thirst. If the Hab breaches, I’ll just kind of explode. If none of those things happen, I’ll eventually run out of food and starve to death.

So yeah. I’m screwed.

A bold, tense tale of survival on Mars.

What a brilliant read! Mark Watney finds himself stranded on Mars as the rest of his team presume him dead and make their get away from the Red Planet without him. Reporting via journal/blogging entries, we follow Watney's desperate (and often witty) struggle to survive everything that the planet throws at him. Weir uses such realistic terms to describe Watney's daily trials, that it's hard not to believe that this could be a real issue in the not so distant future. 

Strong characters, laced with humour and full of suspense; this is a fast and addictive page turner to put on your reading list.

I absolutely can't wait until the film starring Matt Damon is released in October. 
The advert for it looks pretty spot on so far...

Available at Waterstones

Red Queen - Victoria Aveyard

I rated this book 6/10
First published in February 2015

The poverty stricken Reds are commoners, living under the rule of the Silvers, elite warriors with god-like powers. To Mare Barrow, a 17-year-old Red girl from The Stilts, it looks like nothing will ever change. Mare finds herself working in the Silver Palace, at the centre of those she hates the most. She quickly discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy Silver control.
But power is a dangerous game. And in this world divided by blood, who will win?

An interesting power struggle set in a well-built dystopia...

I found myself really enjoying this book at first. The world-building is wonderful - red blooded slum dwellers are held down by the silver blooded nobility; who have different powers, and those with the stronger powers hold the higher chairs in society. It reads much like political and social satire, and the imbalance of power between the two classes could be a lesson for young adults and teens that decide to pick it up.

But, it was all knocked down a peg or two by the insta-love that everyone seems to feel for the protagonist; by the 'betrayal' of a character that every reader will have spotted as deceptive from act 1; and by the strange whirlwind of an ending that didn't make much sense because one or two characters make really odd decisions. It also looks as if the title of the book has given the game away before you even read the first page.

I'm glad that this is book one of a trilogy however, because I think that there is a lot of potential in some of the ideas Aveyard puts to us, and in some of the relationships that are formed between the main characters. Aveyard's writing style is good - descriptive and full of action. A book for teens that I could safely recommend.

Thank you to Orion Books for the reading copy in exchange for R&R

Available at Waterstones 

Burnt Tongues - Chuck Palahniuk

I rated this book 8/10
First published in July 2014

Burnt Tongues is a collection of transgressive stories selected by a rigorous nomination and vetting process and hand-selected by Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club, as the best of The Cult workshop, his official fan website.

These stories run the gamut from horrific and fantastic to humorous and touching, but each leaves a lasting impression.

Some may say even a scar.

Quick, sick and addictive tales...

A collection of twisted short stories, collated and edited by Chuck Palahniuk. As expected, anything that Palahniuk puts his name to is going to be dark, disturbing and should be approached with caution!

This book is nowhere near as disgusting as 'Haunted' by the man himself, but the stories all have the ability to make you recoil in horror. At one point (somewhere near the middle) I had to put the book down for a few hours and collect myself (I think it involved a chicken satay stick...). There were one or two more tame additions that allowed time to breathe - and one story near the end I skipped altogether because it just wasn't interesting. The last tale is as good as the first, and will definitely leave a lasting impression!

Chuck Palahniuk's introduction was very interesting, in particular the quote "Young people want mirrors. Older people want art." The more I think about his comments on reading and re-reading, and growing to love the impression of a book that you didn't enjoy when you actually read it; the more I believe his comments to be true.

If you like the bizarre fiction that Palahniuk throws at us, then you're going to like the short works that he's pulled together for us here too.

Available at Waterstones

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