Nowhere is Home by Thomas Priestly.

This novel is about homeless guys in Leeds. It really gets the point over of what it is like to have nowhere that you can call your home. This lack of a home alters the whole perspective of the characters in this book. The feeling of being lost within a city and society is very well described. This book showed great promise of showing the other world within our cities and what it is like for the guys involved.

However, as a novel, this book is very disappointing. Although Thomas nicely tells of the misery of the homeless, his story telling skills and writing are very poor.

The story drags along and is about as much fun as waiting for a bus in the rain. It is a dreary tale of no hope, hanging about with other homeless people, drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes.  I did not develop an empathy for the characters and there was no real plot to this story as it just muddled along. There was not a lot of action and nothing special happened. The ending was simply a tale of how people eventually move on.

Thomas's writing style is very poor. This book rambles on and on about nothing of great value. The spelling is shocking and nobody has bothered to proof read the text. Time and time again Thomas writes "been" instead of "being". His grammar is childish and the sentences can be over long. There is no structure to this book and without warning he switches from the viewpoint of Clarence to his son Trevor. This is not an easy book to follow as Thomas rambles on from one character to another without a proper break.

I did not enjoy reading Nowhere is Home and found it a drag. It did not live up to it's promise and the bad grammar and spelling really annoyed me. I got no joy from reading this book and it failed to entertain or enlighten me. I will vote this book the minimum score of 1 star as I feel that Secondary school children could do far, far better.

Nowhere is Home is available as a 408 KB Amazon Kindle eBook which was written in 2013.

Made a Killing by Zach Abrams.

Follow DCI Alex Warren and his team as they try to catch a murderer in Glasgow. This is a typical crime thriller done in the style of the successful television series The Bill. This novel is not just about the solving of a murder but also the lives of the many characters involved. Zach's character development is very good and I liked the lead character Alex.

I enjoyed reading this novel as there was plenty of detail and a good plot. I liked the feel of the story and it developed into a very entertaining read. The mix of police work and everyday life worked very well, making this tale realistic. I liked the way Zach suggested to the reader who the main suspect was as the story progressed. The ending was a surprise until the murderer filled in the blanks.

I think Made a Killing is a good book which I will vote 4 stars and I like Zach's style of writing. He is an author to watch and I look forward to his next book. This novel was written in 2012 and is available as a 375 KB Amazon Kindle eBook.

Killer Clown by Mike Rogers.

This is a short story prelude of 136 KB to encourage readers to buy the full novel, The Killer Clowns. This is Jessie's tale of how she became a killer clown. It is a brief coffee time read, so you can guess what the novel will involve.

Mike Rogers sets the scene very well as Jessie turns from being a quiet teenager into something else. As a teaser to buy the full novel, it does exactly what it should. Mike can tell a good tale and this short story proves it.

This is a horror story and lovers of this genre should enjoy it and the follow on novel. It is an okay read with nothing special, as it is done in a B movie style. I will vote it 3 stars as it brightened up my coffee break but I will not be buying the full novel.

Lime by Melda Beaty.

This is a first person narrative of a black woman, of Ethiopian descent, with a British accent, living in Chicago who becomes a Supermodel. She is called Lime because her eyes are green in colour.

The aim of this book is to highlight abuse and violence against women. Melda Beaty starts off her book when Lime goes to hospital to visit her bestfriend AJ, who has been brutally attacked by an ex-boyfriend. This alerts the reader to the very real problem of violence against women. Then the story goes back in time before Lime becomes a model and she is working for an accountant. From here it becomes a regular tale of a woman who has a dream to become a model and is successful in her quest. Lime is taken on as a model and she becomes famous. This is now a story of fame, glamour, money and success. Lime even picks up an Airline pilot as a boyfriend. The story rolls on to the part when AJ is attacked, her recovery and Lime's attempts to help her and other victims of domestic violence.

Violence against women is wrong and I appreciate how Melda is using her novel to bring about social change. I fully support her aims but I found this book a disappointment. I did not like the structure Melda used, going back in time is one of my pet hates. Lime was written in an light reading, holiday book, magazine article style. Everything goes well for Lime and she is so lucky. Lime travels the world and has money coming out of her ears. I found this fame and glamour a real turn off. I did not develop an empathy for Lime.

As a campaign for women's rights, this book is okay and does it's job. But as a regular novel, Lime is a POOR read. Everything is in place for Lime to be successful in everything she tries to do. She has good friends and family who open doors for her. All the detail is already there for Lime to be the admirable heroine. Things are just so convenient for Lime that it is plain sailing for her all the way.

When I got to the end of this novel, I felt a little betrayed. I was left with the strong feeling that I had ploughed through a lenghty resource of human rights campaign literature that was disguised as a regular novel. The plot was nothing out of the ordinary and the writing was not special. The characters were there to help the campaign and were from tick box stereotype bingo. Lime was a disappointing POOR read that I will only vote 2 stars.

This novel was written in 2012 and is available as a 434 KB Amazon Kindle eBook.