Category: Uk - Alyce Caswell - Author

Alyce Caswell - Author

Travel Without Quarantine

29/3/2021

Marriage Unarranged by Ritu Bhathal

Aashi should be preparing for the most exciting day of her life, but her wedding dreams are in tatters after she discovers her husband-to-be has cheated. Now she must cancel everything - except, perhaps, the trip she had planned to take to India with her best friend and her brothers. Aashi may find herself there...and she may also find true love.

I loved this!! Not only did it provide some desperately-needed armchair travel, it was a delightful read that kept me hooked way past my bedtime. Of course, I enjoyed the romantic pairings, exploring the "sights", the sprinkling of melodrama (never outstaying its welcome) - but mostly I enjoyed reading about Aashi and Arjun together. I desperately need this book to be turned into a movie.

Appearances Can Be Deceiving

14/2/2021

At First Sight by Hannah Sunderland

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

TW: suicide ideation

Nell works at a mental health crisis line and has to take some tough calls. What she doesn't expect is to receive a call from a stranger she had a chance encounter with at a cafe. Drawn to Charlie, she wants more than he seems capable of giving - can they overcome his past? And does time really heal all wounds?

Such an unexpectedly raw and powerful book. Characters you can't help but love (and you also love to laugh at some of their interactions) and a journey of healing that feels genuine. This really isn't what the cover suggests it to be. Sure, it's romance, but it's so realistic and heartfelt. I would advise, however, that you don't read this during a depressive episode - not my smartest idea, admittedly.

Vampires and Superheroes oh my

16/1/2021

The Labyrinth Index (The Laundry Files #9)
by Charles Stross

The United Kingdom is currently being run by an elder god, but it seems things are worse across the pond because most people there have forgotten the President exists. Enter Mhari, a vampire(?) who is being sent with a bunch of her colleagues to see if they can't help out the stricken US of A. Very weird things happen. Cthulu is involved.

I never, in my life, expected to stumble across a book that was a chaotic merging of Doctor Who, James Bond and Lovecraft. But it's definitely the most entertaining book to have emerged from that bargain box I bought last year. I did find it a little too choppy though, since the scenes were all arranged out of order (which can be a fun literary device, but I am so very tired and that state of being isn't likely to change soon). Jim and Mhari were a delight. This whole thing felt like a fever dream. I do think I liked it, however.

Solid but Same-y

6/1/2021

The God Tattoo (Twilight Reign)
by Tom Lloyd

This is a collection of stories set in the Twilight Reign universe, dodging through genres including fantasy, crime drama and gothic horror.

Admittedly, I'm not familiar with the series or the author, this being yet another book from the fabled bargain box that I bought. I think this is a pretty solid collection, but I'm not tempted to try out the rest of the series - mostly because I am so very tried of fantasy novels set in a male-dominated society. Given the lack of decent female characters in his collection (and the way they were written), I don't think I would enjoy Lloyd's other books.

Post-Apocalypse Now

5/1/2021

Mara and Dann (Mara and Dann #1)
by Doris Lessing

Mara and Dann are taken from their family and are then rescued, but danger from those who know them better than they know themselves continues to stalk them throughout their lives and the great journey North. Marching at their heels is swift, cruel and unrelenting climate change. Thousands of years in the future, some things change - but most things stay the same.

What a fascinating book this was. At first I thought "oh dear, this was in that bargain box for reason", but then I got used to the style of writing - which befits the type of book this is. Part epic, part folktale, part philosophical (mostly about civilisation and human nature), part mystery, part love story, part adventure... it really transcends the post-apocalyptic genre. I don't think any other book I've read set in humanity's future is anywhere near this good or this thoughtful.

Up in Smoke

30/12/2020

Dreaming in Smoke by Tricia Sullivan

Kalypso was bred to assist colonists from Earth who came to T'nane, thinking that the atmosphere would be stable and habitable. To fix what they call the Oxygen Problem, they use Dreaming to sort through data and come up with conclusions - but so far to no avail. Kalypso's assistance in a Dreaming gone wrong will... result in stuff. I don't know.

Lately I've been disappointed by books that have a great premise, but suffer from poor execution. This is one of those. The world-building was chaotic, confusing - and just boring. The writing itself wasn't fluid or decent, so I wasn't able to power through the worst scenes. As a result, this might be one of the worst novels I've ever forced myself to finish. And I did want to like it when I first cracked it open.

What Happens on Mars

14/12/2020

No Way (Frank Kitteridge #2)
by S. J. Morden

Frank was never supposed to survive. Frank was supposed to be conveniently culled by XO, the corporation that promised NASA a base on Mars built by robots (not actual human beings, much less convicted criminals). Now he's the only one left of his crew, a survivor, a murderer, and the sole inhabitant of a planet far, far from home. But XO's secrets run deep. And Frank might not be as alone as he thinks.

I'd never heard of this series and this book came my way via a box of bargain books. But I definitely want to check out the first instalment after this, even knowing how things went. No Way is like a darker version of The Martian, with a bit of Moon sprinkled in. I was hooked from the blurb, if I'm honest, and I'm sure there are flaws, but I just had too much fun reading this book to care. Frank is so easy to root for. XO is so easy to find disturbing and evil. What's more, I could easily envision this happening at some point.

Golden Child vs. Scapegoat

8/6/2020

We Are Family by Nicola Gill

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Laura and Jess are sisters. They are also polar opposites who have always been divided by their differences and the favour of their mother. Now orphans, Laura and Jess have an opportunity to repair things - or to let their insecurities continue to drive them apart.

Gill has created very sympathetic characters who feel very real, like the type of women you'd run into on your way to the shops. This books shows how tangled and complex female relationships can be, no matter if they're with siblings, parents, friends or the mother of a schoolyard bully. Grief is also dealt with every well here and I'd easily have given this five stars without the last couple of chapters.

The ending comes across as rushed and the fallout of a large revelation occurs "off-screen". We don't get to see it ourselves (or the various other "events" that we're told about rather rapidly), which is disappointing.