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FALLING IN SNOW BY MARY-ROSE MACCOLL

30/10/2015

49 Comments

 
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A vivid and compelling story of love, war and secrets, set against the backdrop of WWI France. 'In the beginning, it was the summers I remembered - long warm days under the palest blue skies, the cornflowers and forget-me-nots lining the road through the Lys forest, the buzz of insects going about their work, Violet telling me lies.' Iris is getting old. A widow, her days are spent living quietly and worrying about her granddaughter, Grace, a headstrong young doctor. It's a small sort of life. But one day an invitation comes for Iris through the post to a reunion in France, where she served in a hospital during WWI. Determined to go, Iris is overcome by the memories of the past, when as a shy, naive young woman she followed her fifteen-year-old brother, Tom, to France in 1914 intending to bring him home. On her way to find Tom, Iris comes across the charismatic Miss Ivens, who is setting up a field hospital in the old abbey of Royaumont, north of Paris. Putting her fears aside, Iris decides to stay at Royaumont, and it is there that she truly comes of age, finding her capability and her strength, discovering her passion for medicine, making friends with the vivacious Violet and falling in love. But war is a brutal thing, and when the ultimate tragedy happens, there is a terrible price that Iris has to pay, a price that will echo down the generations. A moving and uplifting novel about the small, unsung acts of heroism of which love makes us capable.

This novel takes you on a journey to the past in France and Australia during World War I, as you read from an Australian viewpoint.

Iris is a young Australian nurse who travels to World War I in France in hopes of returning home with her fifteen-year-old brother, who had run away to fight the war against his father’s wishes. During her journey to retrieve him, she comes across a young physician who convinces her to stay and lend a helping hand in the founding of an army hospitable entirely run by females. She decides to help, believing it would better her chances of finding her brother. Soon Iris finds herself caught up in all the commotion as she finds herself now a nurse and an administrator at the new hospitable. There she sees the consequences of war and the great impacts it afflicts.

Sixty years after the War, Iris receives an invitation inviting her to come back to France to celebrate their 60th anniversary As Iris reads through the letter, we follow her into a journey of the past as she relieves her time as a nurse and decides to go back, even though some painful memories await her. With her granddaughter Grace along her side, we as readers as see the dynamic contracts of both their lives, and what Iris will do to protect her family. Both their stories became intertwined in unexpected ways.

I enjoyed how the novel constantly shifted from the present to the past, as Iris recalls the past at the near end of her days. It was interesting to view what it was like during World War I for the women who served as nurses and doctors in the era of World War I. It was also just as intriguing to learn that during those times, there happened to be a hospitable run merely by women, out on the Western Front. The history and experiences were well written and made you want to find out more of what really happened back then.
***I received a copy of this book in return for an honest and unbiased review***
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Mary-Rose MacColl is an Australian writer whose first novel, No Safe Place, was runner-up in the 1995 Australian Vogel literary award. Her first non-fiction book, The Birth Wars, was a finalist in the 2009 Walkley Awards. In Falling Snow (October 2012), Mary-Rose's fourth novel, tells the largely unknown story of a small group of Scottish women who ran a field hospital for France in World War I in an old abbey. MacColl holds degrees in journalism and creative writing and lives between Brisbane, Australia and Banff, Canada with her husband and son.


In Falling Snow by Mary-Rose MacColl
49 Comments

BROKEN SKIES BY THERESA KAY

15/10/2015

55 Comments

 
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In seventeen-year-old Jax Mitchell's world, humans are nearly extinct and alien settlers have arrived.

Until recently, the E’rikon have remained segregated in their city and ignored the few humans who have tried to engage them… but now they have taken Jax’s brother. To rescue him, she forms an uneasy alliance with a teenage E’rikon left stranded in the woods. She agrees to guide him to the city if he sneaks her past the human-proof barrier. Too bad it’s not that simple.

Jax, who cannot stand to be touched, finds that she’s drawn to the alien boy with bright green hair and jewel-like scales on his back. And he’s equally affected by her, the courageous redhead with haunted eyes. But she doesn’t know the alien’s true motives and he has no idea that she is much more than she seems.

With the aliens and the humans at odds, the connection forming between the two teens has consequences. What started off as a rescue mission sets a chain of events in motion which threatens not only the remaining humans and the growing alien society, but Earth itself.

This novel was beyond phenomenal and breathtaking! There was never a dull moment as I enthusiastically consumed the pages one after the other. The story line is addictive as you fall into a new world. I adored how Theresa Kay sets her story in a dystopian world mixed with science fiction.

In a world where humans are almost extinct, they co-existed with the aliens: E’rikon. But it is they own fault for their near extinction after the Collapse in which a biological weapon killed over ninety percent of the world’s population. The E’rikon leave the humans alone to do their own bidding's and do not mix with them. That is until Jax and her twin brother Jace come face to face with the E’rikon and Jace in naively kidnapped by the aliens. But one of the E’rikon; Lir has been left behind. Wittingly Jax strikes a deal with the green haired boy. If she helps Lir find his way back to the city, he must help her get past the barrier surrounding the Erikon’s home so she may rescue her brother and bring him to safety. She will stop at nothing to get him back, even if it means to die trying.

This novel was written solely from Jax’s point of view as she wisp us into her world. Throughout the novel her character develops and grows as she fights her emotional ordeals that were cause from her being traumatised prior to the setting. Due to her ordeals, she is fearful of others touching her except for her brother Jace, with whom she has a really strong bond with. As she travels with Lir, she slowly becomes comfortable enough for him to touch her without her having a panic attack.

Then there was Lir… I mean who doesn’t love an alien who hogs all the best dolls? His character was intriguing as I was fascinated with his hair, his eyes, and even his back as he had scales running up and done his backbone. I loved his motives, and finding out each new secret he was willing to unshed as the story progressed.

Broken Skies is a hidden gem in disguise, and I highly recommend this gripping novel. It is a story of survival that is heavily action packed and overall a fantastic well-written story. I believe that those who loved the Lux series by Jennifer L. Armentrout and The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey will enjoy this novel immensely. This is definitely a series that I must continue as I adored every moment. I have so many unanswered questions that I’d like to see in the sequel Fractured Suns as I look forward to exploring how Jax and Lir’s relationship develops. 

***I received a copy of this book in return for an honest and unbiased review***
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The only person she knows who had a subscription to Writer's Digest at eleven and was always excited to write research papers, Theresa has been putting words to paper since a young age. Living in the mountains of central Virginia with her husband and two kids, she works as a paralegal by day, binges on Netflix at night and finds bits of time in between reading almost everything she can get her hands on and laundry to craft stories that tend to feature broken characters in sci-fi or paranormal worlds, with a touch of romance thrown in for good measure.

She's constantly lost in one fictional universe or another and is a self-proclaimed “fangirl” who loves being sucked in to new books or TV shows. Theresa originally wanted to write horror novels as an ode to her childhood passion for Stephen King novels, but between her internal Muse’s ramblings and the constant praise for her sci-fi pieces from her writer’s group – The Rebel Writers – she knew she should stick with what was working.


Broken Skies by Theresa Kay:
BOOK 1: Broken Skies
BOOK 2: Fractured Suns
BOOK 3: Shattered Stars
55 Comments

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