Review: Assassin by Tara Moss [Jan]

Makedde Vanderwall went to Europe on a case in the last book and discovered a hit man after her, sent by the wealthy, powerful Cavanaugh family.  Now she’s missing, presumed dead by her loved ones and enemies.  She managed to kill the hit man and take over his life though.  Now she’s discovered a high price on her head and knows every hit man in Europe will be after her.  Besides, she has unfinished business with the Cavanaugh’s......

Andy Flynn, Mak’s former boyfriend, is heading up a criminal profiling unit and trying to adjust to life without her.  He’s chasing a sadistic murderer with similarities to the ‘Stiletto Killer’ and back in Sydney.  Then Mak reappears, with a laptop implicating the Cavanaugh’s in murder.  She’s determined to bring them down and needs Andy’s help.

Tightly plotted and with a lot of action, this book keeps you breathlessly reading in anticipation of finding out what happens next.  The ending was perfect.  Loved it.  It was a good ending to the series as well, with everything wrapped up nicely.  I had read the first in the Mak Vanderwall series but not the rest.  I was quickly able to follow the plot as Tara Moss gives enough back-story to enable you to understand what’s been happening, without causing the story to halt.


Title: Assassin
Author: Tara Moss
Published: HarperCollins, 2012
Series: Book 5 in Makedde Vanderwall
Reviewer: Jan

Grammys 2014: The big winners

The Grammy's where on this past weekend! I'm sure you already knew that though what with NZ's very own Lorde winning 2 awards! If you're interested in who else won big on Grammy night then read on my friend.

Kacey Musgraves

Kacey Musgraves is thebombdotcom! I was so super excited when she won Best Country Song fro Merry Go Round and Best Country Album for Same Trailer, Different Park. This was so well deserved; Kacey is a brilliant song writer and her songs are so original and interesting. I think the fact that Kacey won over some of the more accomplished and well known nominees is a sign that the Grammy voters are ready for some more diverse and, dare I say, liberal content in country music.

Lorde

Yeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah guuuuurl. No doubt that you already know that Lorde won 2 Grammys this year for Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance. We're all so super proud of her! It's so cool to watch her and her producer Joel Little go up there and represent NZ and even cooler to see the super proud look on her Mum's face! She didn't win any for her album Pure Heroine but it is brilliant so make sure you give it a listen.

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

I have so much respect for Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. It's so cool to see musicians who understand the responsibility and power they have to make positive changes in the world. During their performance of Same Love at the Grammys, 33 couples got married by Queen Latifah in the aisles of the audience! It was so cool to watch and when I saw Keith Urban crying at the end my little heart couldn't take it! If I had gotten married during that song I would start every conversation for the rest of my life with 'Beyonce was at my wedding'.

Macklemore won 4 awards including Best New Artist. 

Daft Punk

Daft Punk cleaned up at the Grammys this year winning 4 trophies including Record of the Year and Album of the Year. Daft Punk are still pretty cool/terrifying so if you get a chance to listen to their new album Random Access Memories please do, I like it but I cant get past the fact that I think my girl Taylor should've won album of the year for Red. Whatevs, it's cool. The Grammys were so much fun to watch that I vote that they air the awards on New Zealand TV every year! If you get a chance also make sure you check out the Performances by Pink, Beyonce and Taylor Swift because they are particularly cool.

Review: Graham Henry - Final Word by Bob Howitt [Jan]

The autobiography of a remarkable man, this book gives us a look at the background and life of an interesting coach.  It begins with his schooling and how he became a PE teacher, and then charts his career coaching voluntarily until rugby turned professional.  He’s a man who does things his way and isn’t afraid to tell authority where to go.

This is a well written, enjoyable story of a remarkable man and a life t hat has been lived to the fullest.  An ordinary bloke, Graham Henry as given all to succeed and encouraged others to realise their dreams.  This is an intimate look at an inspiring man who tries his best and demands it of others.

It was really interesting to get a glimpse of the mentality of professional sportspeople and the best and worst aspects of games of rugby.  He doesn’t make excuses for losses, instead explaining why he thought they happened.  Not a rugby fan, I skimmed the rugby talk but enough stayed with me to prove interesting.  I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed this book.  Bob Howitt did a good job as co-writer and there were little snippets of dry humour throughout.


Title: Graham Henry: Final Word
Author: Bob Howitt
Published: HarperCollins, 2012
Reviewer: Jan

Reading But Not As You Know It...

Picking a best book of the year or even a selection of best books is actually kind of hard, partially because I read so much and partially because 2013 was the year I veered a little - okay make that a lot - from traditional books.

Instead I have been reading  fanfic. Lots and lots of fanfic.  Which I adore.  Still that doesn't mean that I haven given up reading more traditional and accepted stories.  But even these I have been doing in slightly less traditional means.

Because e-books and audio dramas ARE THE BEST.  Like REALLY.  I have become a major convert.

One, because with e-books I can store hundreds and hundreds of books on one little device.  No more lugging around bags bursting to the seams with books - well not as much.  Instead I can pop in all the stories, books, music and audios that I could possibly get through on a device the size of a paperback.

Two, multi tasker that I am, I can now do housework, exercise, even do my work all while getting my latest story fix courtesy of all the audio dramas I now have.

Bliss.  Utter bliss.

So instead of giving you my best of best books for 2013 here are my picks for best stories.  Because really they are all one and the same. 

A series of murders [compact disc] : a Charles Paris mystery / by Simon Brett.

I adore Bill Nighy.  But I really adore him in these series of audio dramas done by the BBC.  Wonderfully funny as well as being detective stories, Nighy is glorious as Charles Paris, a sometimes actor, a womaniser, a man who drinks and smokes too much who seems to have a knack for getting involved in solving murders.  If only they would turn these into a TV series with him starring in them my life would be complete (well almost...)

Cabin pressure. The complete series 4 [compact disc] / written by John Finnemore.

I love Benedict Cumberbatch but that's not the only reason that I choose this as one of my favourites of the year.  After all any audio that makes you laugh so hard that it causes you to shoot drink out of your nose has got to be a winner... Trust me you just have to give these a go.

  Dark Eyes: An 8th Doctor Who Adventure

Sadly we don't have these at Auckland Libraries (hint hint hint to any audio selectors) but don't let that put your off in trying to hunt them down because they are well worth it.  If you had any doubts about Paul McGann as the 8th Doctor Who then listening to all the Big Finish audio dramas will completely change your mind. 

Pines / Blake Crouch

Thrillerly, sci-fiing Pines is one of those books where you just didn't see it coming.  Even better the sequel is now out AND it's being turned into a TV series, though I'm not getting my hopes up as they'll probably ruin the book completely.  As they do...

 Sleepwalkers / Tom Grieves

Another thrillerly, sci-fiing story. I'm sensing a pattern here but that's okay I often find that I tend to go through trends with my story intakes.

Wool / Hugh Howey

An online sensation that resulted in a book deal and a movie deal, Wool is the first in a series and is just my kind of thing.  Science fiction rules (as it should) and 2013 was the year of some great science fiction books.

And there you have it. Six stories that stayed in my head.  Not necessarily the best books of the year but ones that I enjoyed along with a huge range of others.  So why not check the above out as well as these other titles that I enjoyed through 2013.

City of Bones / Cassandra Clare
The Maze Runner / James Dashner
Best Served Cold / Joe Abercrombie
The Fault In Our Stars / John Green

Review: Lost Voices by Christopher Koch [Jan]

Set in Tasmania this book has three parts, telling the stories of Hugh Dixon, a school boy in the 50’s; his great great grandfather Martin’s adventures with a notorious bushranger in the 1800’s; and a return to Hugh as he makes a life in the 70s.

The first part is rather slow, telling us about Hugh’s best friend, his desire to be an artist, and his meeting with his great uncle Walter, an acclaimed lawyer, in order to get a favour for his father.  Walter creates a bond with Hugh, encouraging him to follow his dream of being an artist and acting as a mentor, introducing him to literature and new ideas.  This lays the ground work for the next chapter in Hugh’s life and introduces Martin, a relative Walter has long admired.

Martin longs to be a writer, rebelling against his father’s wish he be a gentleman farmer.  The setting is Tasmania in the 1800s, when it served as a penal colony for British convicts.  Liam Dalton escapes his prison sentence and returns to the gang of his fellow bushranger, the legendary Luke Wilson.  On his way there, he meets Martin who persuades him to take him to Luke and see if he’ll let him write down his life story for a newspaper.  Martin stays for a while in the utopian paradise Luke Wilson has created before the actions of an evil person force him out.
Jumping forward in time, Hugh’s story resumes.  Having left school, he works as a photo retoucher for a newspaper.  He reconnects with his childhood best friend and they are on their way to achieving their dreams of being artists. Then an evil person appears to shatter those dreams.  Hugh asks another favour of Walter, to help his best friend.

After a slow start, the plot heats up and more action occurs.  I’m glad I didn’t give up reading as this is a good book.  The contrast of good and evils is shown, and interesting questions are raised, such as can there ever be a utopia?  A thought provoking book, much different from my usual reads!


Title: Lost Voices
Author: Christopher Koch
Published: HarperCollins, 2012
Reviewer: Jan