Broken Monsters

By Lauren Beukes

[She's never hunted a killer as deadly.

Something strange is happening in Detroit. Hybrid bodies

are turning up, half-animal, half-human. For Detective

Gabi Versado, they are the work of a twisted monster

who surpasses even 'Murder City's' most brutal criminals.

And he's only just begun...

For failed artist Clayton Broom, they are his greatest

work. Life destroyed his dreams, so now he's found

new ones. The question is, can Gabi find him before the

person she loves most is drawn into his nightmare?]

I didn't actually expect to enjoy this as much as I did. Right from the start it was darkly intriguing. 

At first I didn't enjoy the chapters jumping from character to character but, by the end, I saw how effective this was. It really enabled the story to be built up from all angles and for us as an audience to slowly put the pieces together of what was happening. 

This wasn't a book where you have to figure out who the killer was because it's stated in the blurb for God's sake; it's what he does to his victims and the way the other character's stories are interwoven. It was beautiful.

Even though some of the characters had flaws, and major ones at that, I quite liked them all which is unusual. There's normally at least one person I detest, but not with this book.

Detective Versado was a great character, a struggling single mum who is a very good cop but is struggling to balance it all.

Jonno Haim and Clayton Broom were other interesting characters along with the Detective's daughter and her best friend. 

I see now that they all had something "broken" about them, whether it be to do with something in their past or a part of their mental health. It was a very unique story.

One thing that slightly - and I mean slightly here - let it down was the ending. 

I'm not going to divulge any details (although this explanation could get very confusing without them) but it all suddenly went very surreal and almost supernatural. 

It was quite a confusing read in those last chapters but it also worked well for the stability for two of the characters deteriorating mental health. I'm sure that's what it was linked to, but other characters were affected as well towards the end which made me think the whole book had something supernatural to it.

It's not that supernatural is a problem, more that I didn't quite get what was fully going on. The whole art scene interwoven throughout touches on the surreal aspect and I think it's explained as to why the other characters were affected but even they didn't seem too sure in their closing statements.

A great read though and one I'd be sure to pick up again.

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Fevre Dream

By George R R Martin

[Abner Marsh has had his dearest wish come true - he has built the Fevre Dream,
the finest steamship ever to sail the Mississippi. Abner hopes to race the boat
some day, but his partner is making it hard for him to realise his ambition.
Joshua York put up the money for the Fevre Dream, but now rumours have
started about the company he keeps, his odd eating habits and strange hours.
As the Dream sails the great river, it leaves in its wake one too many dark tales,
until Abner is forced to face down the man who helped his dreams become reality.]

This was meant to go up last night but we seemed to be having wifi issues and you know me, still not scheduling my posts yet. 

Whoops. But here it is, the review for a George R R Martin book that isn't Game of Thrones!

Hm. I thought George R R Martin and vampires would be a good mix considering his other fantasy works. 

Alas, I was mistaken.

I really wanted to like Fevre Dream but I just wasn't taken with it.

I loved the characters. Abner was great, stubborn, set in his old ways, but loyal and courageous. 

Joshua was a true gentleman (apart from the one minor fact that he's a vampire), he sticks to his cause through and through no matter how tough it gets. 

And then there's Julian. Pure evil and a power-hungry bully. They were all written so well, that is definitely one thing Martin does extremely well - character development!

The plot though, I wasn't sure about. I can't put my finger on it, but something was just off. 

There were some great tense moments in amongst all of the river-boating stuff. 

Maybe it was the period it was set in? Or maybe it just wasn't like any other vampire novels I've ever read before. 

But the quiet moments didn't make me want to keep reading, I found myself getting a little bored if I'm honest.

The setting on the river and the slave plantations were pretty interesting though. The imagery was fantastic incorporating all of the corruption and power battles.

Bit of a weird one overall.



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What I'm Loving Right Now

For the last few weeks now, I've left it until the last possible minute to write these posts, I've taken pretty much three weeks off of running with going back home a couple of times and I seem to have lost all motivation of writing again.

Maybe it's because it's the end of summer and as the colder weather starts to creep back in I'm feeling a different kind of lazy.

The summer lazy is understandable, it's warm, you're sleepy, it's nice to just lounge in the sun, etcetera etcetera.

But this kind of lazy is just a tiredness in which I can't find the motivation to do anything. 

I've been powering through One Tree Hill again and they've just graduated high school and it's gone on to being four years later and it just astounds me that the majority of them can have their dreams come true so quickly. (I know it's just a TV show but it makes me want to work a little harder for my dream).

I really really want to be a writer, someone who writes incredible novels that people want to pick up and read, maybe even a bestseller. But, although I've written one novel (and am still in the process of editing it), I'm terrified it won't be good enough.

Like, there are so many stories and books out there that why would anyone decide to choose mine to read?

I don't know what to do, so I keep reading for inspiration.

I may start writing snippets that come into my head on here - unrelated to my book, just peaks into other stories I may expand on in the future.

I'm too scared of what others may think, but I also need opinions and giving it to my friends and family to read is one thing, but they're obviously going to be biased.

A couple of posts ago I wrote about facing your fears, and this is one I've yet to overcome.

Anyway, rambling aside, here are the things I've been loving recently:

Images From Pinterest

1. TV - The Musketeers, The Strain, Containment, Stranger Things - I just think TV has gotten so much better of late. I loved the final season of The Musketeers, it obviously wasn't the most realistic of endings but I wouldn't have exactly been happy if they'd killed anyone else off! Containment and Stranger Things are two new series I've been trying and they are so so good right now. I think with both of them I have about three episodes left of each! The Strain has also just re-started for it's third season and I have to say, it is so tense and gripping. I LOVE IT. (I seem to have a weird obsession with virus-y type programmes of late).

2. iPhone SE - I upgraded a few days ago, and although it looks exactly the same as my 5S, it is rose gold and has way more space for my photos. IOS 10 is also amazing. Me and Adeel have pretty much been conversing in GIFs alone of late, it's hilarious.

3. Fred Perry shoes - I wanted some new white plimsol-like trainers for ages and I saw this cute pair on ASOS. They weren't by any means cheap, and they are definitely a little dirtier now, but they're cute and I can wear them with anything.

4. Driving - I'm slowly gaining my confidence with driving again. I keep getting sudden urges to drive a bit further than just around the block or to Tescos, but I'm not entirely sure where to go. I need a proper destination and to set up my phone so that I can use it as a SatNav before I try anything too far!

5. My boyfriend - It's coming up to our four year anniversary and I'm mega excited. Not because we've planned anything special yet or anything, just because it means we will have gotten past the point last time in the relationship where we couldn't figure out how to go further. (Plus it's been four years ago around this time that we met each other for the first time! Eek.)

6. My friends - since spending time at home and being able to see my friends again (and getting my car), I've been thinking about trying to see them all a bit more. It's so difficult us all living so far apart, but hopefully the car will help with that. It's great to spend time with them, it makes me feel like I'm not alone, even just texting them. (I've been feeling very lonely of late and I'm not sure why.)

7. Working on my future - I've been at my job now, officially, for just coming up to a year (it's been a bit longer if you include work experience and interning too). We've just had our annual review things and I've been looking at new places to live and trying to get back into my writing again. It's a slow process but the future is looking bright, I hope :)