While I was dying... by Natacha Troubetzkoi.

Follow Nicki in this first person narrative about a young woman finding her way in life. She has many pitfalls along the way as she tries to establish a name for herself.

This book showed promise as her story unfolds but I found her tale quite tedious. It was like one of those telephone calls when a woman is droning on about the little problems in her life and you wish she would end her call. The story does move on from one job or relationship to another but I never gained any empathy for Nicki. This whole book was quite dull and it was not an entertaining read. Nothing much exciting happened although Nicki did travel quite a lot. For all the glamour that Nicki was involved with, her tale did not have any sparkle. Even the sex she had was described as though she went to the shops!

While I was dying… was a drag for me to read through. I did not like the structure as you knew from the prologue that she was going to die and this tale was her looking back on her life. I took nothing away from this book as I was rather bored. I am a fan of first person narratives but this book left me cold. The attitude was shallow and the dialogue between characters was poor. This book was a big disappointment for me, so I can only vote it 2 stars as it was such a poor read.

While I was dying… is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook and was written in 2014.

The Villager by Matt Kruze.

This novella is a British thriller about a suspicious stranger who comes into a rural village. Is he up to no good? Can our resident protect the village against any potential threat posed by this visitor?

What follows is a cat and mouse game where both men use their skills in a classic, hunter and the hunted. Matt has written his story in what he calls “parts” rather than chapters. However these parts do not form logical breaks as the next part continues on the same day! There is plenty of tension in this story as the plot unfolds. The action is quick and snappy which makes for a thrilling read.

Matt does use a lot of obscure words in his book making the average reader do a lot of tapping to bring up the dictionary definition. He appears to be trying hard to raise his game by using an extensive vocabulary but I do not feel that a thriller of this type needs these obscure words. I got the feeling he had been on a creative writing course and was ticking the boxes as the story went on.

I found The Villager to be an okay read in the way that it was entertaining. It did not have an attitude though and the writing was quite sterile. His style was of a magazine story writer, giving you the feel this was a throwaway book. I finished this story and thought it was average, a pleasant read that I will vote the middle score of 3 stars.

The Villager is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook and was written in 2013.

Tiger Hills by Sarita Mandanna.

This novel is set in Coorg, Southern India and runs from 1878 to 1940. It is a cross generational love story told in the third person. It is not a slushy romance but a story that explores the gripping emotion of love. This is a book that men can enjoy because Sarita understands just how people form loving bonds. Through the story the foundation of love is explained with the characters as they grow wiser with age. There is no explicit sex in this novel but lots of emotional turmoil.

Sarita’s writing is top quality, it is difficult to believe this is her debut novel. Her vocabulary is huge and her prose is very educated. Her book enables the reader to escape their everyday life, go back in time and to a country they may never have been to. You do not need to have travelled to India or be conversant with the culture. Sarita gently guides you through the rich landscape of Coorg, often described as the ‘Scotland of India” as she details the culture and Hindu traditions.

All the characters are well developed but at a natural pace. The love slowly grows, this is not whirlwind romance but something deeper and stronger. You feel for the characters and wish them well. You feel sorry for all the setbacks they encounter and appreciate their point of view. As a reader you take on a grandfatherly role and wish the younger offspring had the benefit of your experience and can understand the love that bonds us all.

Tiger Hills is a pleasure to read, it is one of those books that you can escape so easily into. It is a wonderfully crafted reading experience and because the timeline spans over 60 years, you feel as though you have lived in India with the characters and your home is in Coorg. The story is not claustrophobic because of the many characters and you feel as though you are part of the community. Many love stories are tightly woven around 2 or 3 characters but the beauty of Tiger Hills is the love that is shared through generations and the landscape. It is not the simple girl meets boy love but a greater and far deeper love that people develop as they grow older. Sarita really understands how love develops and how people have to deal with the pitfalls that life throws at them. This book is so easy to relate to because of how the characters develop a fondness and love for others, that you remember how you felt about past loves of your life. This is not just about love for other people but also for landscapes and animals. Many times through the book I have felt tears coming on and the desire to cry at the book “No! No!”.

Tiger Hills is a very moving book and when I finished it, I felt as though I had a lifetime experience of raising a family and cultivating a coffee plantation in Coorg. I put the book down and stroke Charlie the Pug, my pet dog and remember Nancy the Malabar squirrel and another tear comes to my eye. Sarita has written a wonderful novel and I have no reservations about voting it the top score of 5 stars. There is nothing I can find wrong with her book, the editing is spot on and she ticks all the boxes.

Tiger Hills was written in 2010 and has 593 pages. It was one of the novels featured in The TV Book Club on Channel 4 television in the UK during 2011.

Unleashed by Emily Kimelman.

Joy breaks up with her boyfriend, loses her job in the coffee shop and is looking for a fresh start. She gets a dog who she calls Blue and manages to find work as a dog walker. Then the fun begins as Joy has exciting adventures around New York.

Unleashed is easy reading, it is not a top crime thriller novel but something to pass the time with. It is a first person narrative but is written in the style of a television soap opera. The dialogue between characters is very good and witty. Joy is a colourful and lively person, a young woman with lots of attitude. The plot however is very far fetched and this lack of reality spoils this story.

Emily has a game plan and this book is the start of her series. You get to the end when the subtitle of Sydney Rye is introduced. This is cheap hype and you are left with nothing more than B-Movie content. I consider Unleashed to be an okay, 3 star read and it is worth nothing more.

Unleashed is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook and was written in 2011.