Paris by Starlight by Robert Dinsdale

 

Every city has its own magic...

Every night on their long journey to Paris from their troubled homeland, Levon's grandmother has read to them from a very special book. Called The Nocturne, it is a book full of fairy stories and the heroic adventures of their people who generations before chose to live by starlight.

And with every story that Levon's grandmother tells them in their new home, the desire to live as their ancestors did grows. And that is when the magic begins...

Nobody can explain why nocturnal water dogs start appearing at the heels of every citizen of Paris-by-Starlight like the loyal retainers they once were. There are suddenly night finches in the skies and the city is transforming: the Eiffel Tower lit up by strange ethereal flowers that drink in the light of the moon.

But not everyone in Paris is won over by the spectacle of Paris-by-Starlight. There are always those that fear the other, the unexplained, the strangers in our midst. How long can the magic of night rub up against the ordinariness of day? How long can two worlds occupy the same streets and squares before there is an outright war?

This was our Tsundoku Squad Book Group read for February. We were all really excited to read this, especially as January’s choice wasn’t good at all. We didn’t enjoy this one a massive deal more to tell you the truth, it ended up with one star more than Januarys read.

The book started off quite well, with beautiful descriptions which dragged us into the magic of the story. Paris by Night sounded amazing, and I could really picture the place, full of beauty, and the flowers sounded gorgeous. I honestly fell quite in love with it during the first section. 

The main character is Isabelle. She sets off to Paris in search for her Dad who left when she was young.  She meets a young girl who ends up taking her to her family, which is where Isabelle meets Levon. They fall in love quickly and Isabelle stays with the family. They don’t speak the same language but Isabelle learns to speak like them and learns their ways of life. They come from the old country, where they escaped war. They tell of their stories, their lands, their ways of life including living by night. They follow the stories and beliefs in The Nocturne. It’s all ver beautiful, until the people of Paris start to dislike the people of the night, and it turn very bad with things being damaged intentionally and people being hurt. 

The book started to trail off a bit with too much description, and after a while it took so much away from the story. Isabelle and Levon also quickly got irritating in their relationship for me, and I ended up not being a big fan. There was also too many characters and I started not to remember who was who.

Although this book started off well, I didn’t hate it but was glad I finished but the end. 

I gave this book 3 ½ stars, which I had to round up to 4 on Goodreads, as I felt it didn’t deserve a 3.

Tsundoku Squad gave it a collecive 3 stars 

Check out our group review over on Em’s blog here: https://emandherbooks.com/2021/02/28/paris-by-starlight-robert-dinsdale-spoilers/

First Line Friday 5.3.21

 

Hey!

First Line Friday to a day, which is a meme hosted by Hoarding Books. You post the first line (or lines if you mus haha), from your current read, or the nearest book to you right now. Here’s mine this week, it’s from Bright Burning Things by Lisa Harding.

There she is, lethal and irresistible, my high-kicking side kick, and there goes that minx of a song, ‘Impossibly Beautiful’, and there is  the sky so high and the light so bright and the sand warm velvet beneath the soles of my bare feet, and here comes the rush, an intense feeling of connection with all that is right and good with this world: my son’s sticky hand in mine as he stares at the sky, my dog trotting alongside, his black coat glinting in the sunlight.

The Fractured Globe by Angela Fish

 

Nature? Nurture? Or just plain luck?

Single mums, Tia and Kay, meet when their sons are born on the same day.

Tia is a product of the welfare system but wants a better life for her son. Her entrapment by her manipulative and controlling boyfriend in the world of drink, drugs, crime and enforced prostitution suggests otherwise. Is she a ‘born devil’ or can she change and break free?

Kay comes from a stable home but sacrifices it all, initially, to live her own kind of life.

Overshadowed by betrayals, mistakes, regrets, and the mystery of an abandoned child, their paths – and those of their families – run parallel or criss-cross over twenty-five years.

Can determination and the power of the snow globe offer a chance of happiness?

I was exited to be part of this blog tour and read The Fractured Globe. It is a different book to what I’ve read before, laid out over 25 years and each chapter is a different year. Each chapter is broken down into parts and each part is told from a different point of view. It’s full of close calls, near misses, and a lot of intertwined stories.

Tia and Kay are the main characters, I liked them both and felt so sorry for them for different reasons. Kay’s character was the more sensible of the 2, but still has had troubles and is struggling to find her feet living alone with a newborn baby. Tia has lived a life full of trouble, abuse and more. My heart went out to her massively, and poor baby Luke had no idea what a normal life and family was.

There is a strong storyline of physical, sexual and mental abuse, and drug and alcohol addiction in the book, so be warned before you read it if these are triggers. At times I did feel it was a bit much, but it added to how bad things can be and how easy it is for someone in that position to find themselves not being able to get out of it. 

It was strange to see the differences between the girls lives, as they grew up and the boys grew up, how one hing can turn your life around in either a good way or bad way. The story does pan 25 years so we see big changes in a small amount of words if that makes sense. I do think the book could have been a little longer and put more in, but it worked. It was nice to see the boys growing up and not only be focused on them as babies.

There was one thing which bugged me a little and that was how many times people saw someone but couldn’t place where they recognised them. Like one of the girls would see a family member down the street and not be able to place where they know them from. Apart from that I thought this was a really good story and I finished the last 70% in almost a day.

Thanks for asking me to join in on the tour and as always thank you for the advanced e-copy for review.

About Angela Fish: Angela worked in medical research, electronic and electrical engineering, and administration. In her mid-thirties, she decided to change direction and returned to university to study Humanities, specialising in Literature and Creative Writing. She then completed an MPhil (Literature) focussing on how women writers in Wales, between 1850 and 1950, portrayed their female characters. Following this, Angela joined the staff the University of Glamorgan where, in 2000, she set up and directed The Wales Centre for Intergenerational Practice. As well as providing training and advice, she worked with local schools and communities, over a period of ten years, to improve communication between the generations. She has been in demand, nationally and internationally, as a conference presenter and an invited speaker in her field.  

 

Her publications include non-fiction, short stories, poetry, and fiction for children. The Fractured Globe is her first full-length novel and explores the nature/nurture question through the lives of two single mums, their sons, and families, over twenty-five years. This debate, together with an interest in mythology and magic, has significantly influenced her writing.

 

Angela is a member of The Society of Authors [SoA], and the SoA Children's Writers and Illustrators Group.

 

She lives in south Wales.

 

 

Social Media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/angelaEfish

Facebook: www.facebook.com/AngelaFishAuthor

Website: www.angela-fish.com

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Angela-Fish/e/B01MPXRE8F?ref_=dbs_p_ebk_r00_abau_000000

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14428605.Angela_Fish?from_search=true&from_srp=true

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/uthors/angela-fish

 

 

Purchase Links:

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/3iLhPRl

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/39Y9JAP

 

 

Publishing Information:

Published in paperback and digital formats by Darkstroke Books on 3rd December 2020

You can find Damp Pebbles on Twitter @damppebbles. Instagram @damppebbles, Facebook @damppebblesblogtours

WWW Wednesday

 

Hello again! Time for another WWW Wednesday.

WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by Taking on a World of Worlds and means 3 things: What are you currently reading? What have you recently finished reading? And What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

At the moment I’m reading 2 books. Our Tsundoku Squad March read which is The Islanders by S.V. Leonard. I’ve read this weeks part and so far so good!! We shall discuss on Saturday. I’m still not much further in with Breaking and Mending either.

What have you recently finished reading?

I have recently finished My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell. My view was up yesterday. Great book. I also read together by Luke Adam Hawker which is just gorgeous. I devoured The last 300 or so pages of The Lip yesterday as it was so good I couldn’t put it down!! its one you need to look out for!

What do you think you’ll read next?

Next up I think will be Bright Burning Things by Lisa Harding which I’m very excited to read. Also Damage by Caitlin Wahrer, and The Last  House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward.

See you next week guys!

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

All he did was fall in love with me and the world turned him into a monster.

An era-defining novel about the relationship between a fifteen-year-old girl and her teacher.

Vanessa Wye was fifteen-years-old when she first had sex with her English teacher.

She is now thirty-two and in the storm of allegations against powerful men in 2017, the teacher, Jacob Strane, has just been accused of sexual abuse by another former student.

Vanessa is horrified by this news, because she is quite certain that the relationship she had with Strane wasn't abuse. It was love. She's sure of that.

Forced to rethink her past, to revisit everything that happened, Vanessa has to redefine the great love story of her life - her great sexual awakening - as rape. Now she must deal with the possibility that she might be a victim, and just one of many.

Nuanced, uncomfortable, bold and powerful, My Dark Vanessa goes straight to the heart of some of the most complex issues our age.

Trigger Warnings: Abuse, underage sex, teacher/student relationship. Rape, mental health.

This book has been sitting on my kindle for quite a while now and I’ve been building myself up to read it. I picked it up last week without giving it a second thought and just started to read. It doesn’t start you off easy, you know it’s going to get a bit dark after only the first chapter. It starts with Vanessa on the phone to Strane, she’s an adult now, and it shocked me to read she was talking to him when the blurb is quite obvious with what happens. 

The relationship between Strane and Vanessa is a very strange one, it’s one based on cohersion and grooming. Vanessa is infatuated with her teacher, loves the attention, and thinks its all alright what’s happening. We know it isn’t. They push the boundaries and take big chances on not getting caught, and here is more than one occasion when someone should have known and said something, but don’t. 

It has big mental health issues going on with Vanessa as she is older, and it shows exactly how things like this aren’t ever over after they are ‘over’. My heart went out to her massively.

This is the way this goes still today, and many children/young adults are in the same situation. There are a lot of hard to read parts and I had to stop a few times, so be warned it’s is not an easy read at all. I don’t have much else I can say about this except it’s a very powerful read, got 5 stars from me. And although it isn’t easy, it’s something that needs to be told, and has been done in a really good piece of writing.

Buy it, read it, understand it. 

March ARC Madness

 It’s March!! Already! I feel like February flew over. 

This month I am going to try to read only ARCs and proofs, as I have a huge backlog of them and I’m starting to get book guilt leaving them all there. So I’ve made a template for myself and I’m going to tick them all off as I read. Hopefully I will get through a few of them and will improve my netgalley ratio, and my guilt haha!

I wonder how many I can get through? 

Let’s see in 31 days time eh?!