Last Monday, I did not post a review, but today I am posting one of my most controversial and opinionated reviews yet.
I have many mixed emotions about this book with many stronger ones developing within the last 30 pages of this novel, where it really started to pick up and provide a certain sense of enlightenment as to where the story had been leading.
Their love knows no limits – but the further you go, the more dangers there are. Love becomes obsession and lust becomes control. A riveting thriller in the tradition of Girl on the Train andBefore I Go to Sleep.
… fear swam beneath her, baring its teeth, telling her lies …
World-famous freediver Storm Hisray hits Grace Cain like a bolt from the blue. Instantly smitten, she abandons her life in the city to follow him to his idyllic Pacific island. There he teaches Grace the ways of the deep, and she learns to sink to unimaginable depths on one single breath. As their world narrows to the two of them, she learns, too, the exquisite pleasures of her body – but also that Storm hides as many secrets as the sea.
As he pushes Grace further and further beyond her limits – both in and out of the water – her resistance grows, but so does Storm’s need to control her. With a secret of her own to protect, Grace starts to realise that she is in deeper and more dangerous water than she has ever imagined possible.
Brilliant, mesmerising, incendiary and haunting, Storm and Grace explores the dazzling thrill of the deep, and the terrors that lie in its shadows.
It is nearing finals time, which that means ultimate procrastination and because of this I am currently coming out of my dreaded book slump.
Ever since I started uni three months ago I have only started two books; Nevernight by Jay Kristoff, which I am putting on hold; and Somewhere in the Shallow Sea by Dennis Macaraeg which I am so close to finishing. Because of this, I need help choosing my next read.
I have a ton of books that have been sent to me over the past few months that I am yet to read, but I really can’t chose which ones to read first! Below are the books and their release dates, please leave a comment below with the title of which book you would like me to read and review next.
Set against the construction of the Eiffel Tower, this novel charts the relationship between a young Scottish widow and a French engineer who, despite constraints of class and wealth, fall in love.
In February 1887, Caitriona Wallace and Émile Nouguier meet in a hot air balloon, floating high above Paris, France–a moment of pure possibility. But back on firm ground, their vastly different social strata become clear. Cait is a widow who because of her precarious financial situation is forced to chaperone two wealthy Scottish charges. Émile is expected to take on the bourgeois stability of his family’s business and choose a suitable wife. As the Eiffel Tower rises, a marvel of steel and air and light, the subject of extreme controversy and a symbol of the future, Cait and Émile must decide what their love is worth.
Seamlessly weaving historical detail and vivid invention, Beatrice Colin evokes the revolutionary time in which Cait and Émile live–one of corsets and secret trysts, duels and Bohemian independence, strict tradition and Impressionist experimentation. To Capture What We Cannot Keep, stylish, provocative, and shimmering, raises probing questions about a woman’s place in that world, the overarching reach of class distinctions, and the sacrifices love requires of us all.
I am back Bookaholics, and there is no better way to make a comeback than to upload a review on one of my favourite books of all time! These are the hardest reviews to write because I want to just ramble on and on about all the good bits that I loved so so much, but I can’t; because I want you all to read it and I don’t want to spoil the book for any of you!
Just so you know, I received this book – and many others – from Allen & Unwin Publishers and the books I have been receiving them have been exceptional. The storylines becoming increasingly more captivating with every book I read, and it’s becoming harder and harder to chose which book I want to call my favourite (so far it’s between this one and The Edge Of Everything).
I don’t believe I have anything else to say other than please have an open mind while reading my review and do not let the blurb or my review deter you from reading this book as your opinion is the only one that matters. Also the writing is the most beautiful thing I have ever read!
Goodreads Summary:
‘The creative sisterhood of Little Women, the social scandal of Edith Wharton and the courtship mishaps of Jane Austen . . . The Fifth Avenue Artists Society is a delightful, and at times touching, tale of Gilded Age society and creative ambition with an inspiring heroine.’ New York Daily News
The Bronx, 1891. Virginia Loftin, the boldest of four artistic sisters in a family living in genteel poverty, knows what she wants most: to become a celebrated novelist despite her gender, and to marry Charlie, the boy next door and her first love.
When Charlie instead proposes to a woman from a wealthy family, Ginny is devastated; shutting out her family, she holes up in her room and turns their story into fiction, obsessively rewriting a better ending. Though she works with newfound intensity, literary success eludes her-until she attends an elite salon hosted at her brother’s friend John Hopper’s Fifth Avenue mansion. Among painters, musicians, actors, and writers, Ginny returns to herself, even blooming under the handsome, enigmatic John’s increasingly romantic attentions.
But just as she and her siblings have become swept up in the society, Charlie throws himself back into her path, and Ginny learns that the salon’s bright lights may be obscuring some dark shadows. Torn between two worlds that aren’t quite as she’d imagined them, Ginny will realise how high the stakes are for her family, her writing, and her chance at love.
Novella, December’s Wish was published in 2013.
This is the re-release as a full length novel and re-titled Third Time Lucky
After a disastrous marriage, December Doyle is back in her home town of Christmas Creek, trying to pick up the pieces of her life to start again. She’s also on a mission to help breathe new life into the town, so the last thing she needs is trouble.
Bad boy Seth Hunter has also returned to Christmas Creek, and trouble is his middle name. Wrongly convicted of a serious crime in his youth, Seth is now a successful businessman, but his plans for the town are very different to December’s.
As teenagers, December and Seth were madly in love, and seeing each other again reawakens old feelings. But will Seth be able to overcome his destructive anger about the past, and can December conquer her fear of heartbreak to make it third time lucky?
By the bestselling author of Second Chance Town, this wonderful novel is about betrayal, ambition and the power of forgiveness and love.
Today the theme is blue, because I have some amazing Gemina news to share with you!
Last night I went to the Victorian State Library to attend the Book Launch for Gemina by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman. I forced my dad to come along with me and he (surprisingly) enjoyed the event.
