Claude's Christmas Adventure by Sophie Pembroke.

Okay, hands up, I was drawn to this book by it’s cover depicting Claude, a French Bulldog. At home we have a little dog called Charlie and he is a Pug X Shih Tzu, so this book would be very easy for me to relate to.

Claude is left behind when his family go away for Christmas which makes for a good starting point for this novel. It is told from 4 points of view, Charlie the French Bulldog, Daisy a busy mother and Charlie’s owner, Jack the local postman and Holly a neighbour.

I enjoyed reading this novel which is centered around the theme of belonging. It explores the needs of both dogs and people to belong to homes, families and communities. It is a very soft and warm book that is full of love and has a strong whiff of romance too! I found it to be a light, fluffy and bright read. It is well written with no bad language or steamy sex and is suitable for readers of all ages.

I liked how Sophie used the 4 character points of view to tell her story. This structure gave her tale a lovely perspective and promoted great empathy for each character. I found the romance gentle and wished the story would work out well for everyone. Sophie described the behaviour and character of Claude very well indeed. Having owned a similar dog for 4 years, Sophie has got the doggy bits of her story spot on!

I found Claude’s Christmas Adventure to be a very pleasant read. It gave me good happy feelings and I felt warm and cosy throughout. It is a feel good book, perfect for holiday reading or times when you do not want a challenging or gritty read but a novel to wash over you gently with ripples of love. So it gets 4 stars from me for being a GOOD read and a packet of Gingerbread for my dog please!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher HarperCollins UK for giving me a copy of this book on the understanding that I provide an honest review.

So to finish off this review on my blog is NOT a picture of the book but of Charlie, our pet who is a 4 year old Pug X Shih Tzu.

Selection Day by Aravind Adiga.

From the slums of Mumbai, a father strongly encourages his two sons to excel at cricket and become selected for the team.

Aravind puts the reader in the picture about modern day life in India and you get the feel of Mumbai with the contrasts between the slums and the flash wealthy parts. I enjoyed the local colour and the reflections of the father who had moved from a rural Indian village to the vibrant city of Mumbai.

But this story is a drag and very ordinary. It has your usual hopes of the father, sibling rivalry between two brothers, the challenges of teenage years, growing up, finding your way into adulthood and your sexuality. Yes folks, I found Selection Day to be regular soap opera fodder. Think EastEnders moves to Mumbai to see the relatives on an extended holiday. Don’t be put off by the boring sport of cricket as this is as relevant as one character having a stall on Walford Market.

Aravind won the Man Booker Prize in 2008 for his novel The White Tiger which I thought was an okay 3 star read. But I found Selection Day to be a POOR read and a big disappointment. I did not get pleasure from reading this novel. I did not find it entertaining. Okay it did not bore the pants off me about cricket as this was only a tiny bit of this sorry novel. I did not develop an empathy for the father or his two sons. There wasn’t even some spicy sex to liven things up. Even the handling of the differences between the Hindu and Muslim faiths was tame. So sorry Aravind, Selection Day only gets 2 stars from me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Scribner for giving me a copy of this book on the understanding that I provide an honest review.

Selection Day is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook and was written in 2016.

Dark Water by Robert Bryndza.

A body is found in dark water at Hayes Quarry on the outskirts of London. DCI Erika Foster wants to investigate in this 3rd book of the series.

I have not read a Robert Bryndza novel before and this novel can be read as a stand-alone. It got my attention straight away and I thought how can Erika solve a case with so very little to go on? I liked how the reader was learning all about the area etc at the same pace as Erika and her team. Robert told his story in such a way that I felt I was part of the team in the incident room. What was nice was that as the story unfolds, I felt that the case could not be solved because of the lack of evidence and the fact the body was dumped 26 years ago. How could anyone solve a case so old? But Erika was determined that she could solve the case.

The plot was very good and the pace spot on. What I really liked was the balance of the story. I felt as though I was living and working alongside the detectives. It has a lovely mix of working and personal life with wonderful characterisation. It nicely played on popular ignorance and prejudices. There was also some well placed workplace humour which further added to your feeling of being there.

Dark Water is a powerful and emotional story. I found it a very rewarding read and between reading sessions I would think about the characters as though it was a true life breaking news story. This book delivers on my appetite for a gritty and entertaining read. I was impressed by the quality of writing and the research that had gone into this novel to make it so realistic.

I can find nothing wrong with Dark Water and it’s content fulfilled my desire for a good read from my drug of choice. Dark Water gets the top score of 5 stars from me and I shall be very happy to read the other books in the series.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Bookouture for giving me a copy of this book on the understanding that I provide an honest review.

Dark Water is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook and was written in 2016.

Painless by Derek Ciccone.

Carolyn is a 4 year old girl with a very rare inherited genetic disorder called CIPA - Congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis. This means that she does not feel pain, hence the title of this novel. Throw into the mix a secret organisation which wants to exploit this condition and we have the makings of this far fetched thriller.

This is Derek’s debut novel and he clearly tries very hard. The plot develops at a steady place with lots of back story and positive character development. The workings of the secret organisation are cleverly written with lots of grey areas making you wonder who the good guys are and who are rogues.

So the basic idea of this novel is rather good but I found this novel to be just an okay 3 star read. Although the building blocks were there the story was told with a very heavy overuse of cliches. One or two trusted cliches would have been okay but this was constant through the dialogue between characters. It was like watching an episode of Catchphrase on television.

Also although the plot was good, the action was very far fetched. Yes, the general public can be quite altruistic but never going so far out of their way like these characters! Then there is the violence and the lack of morality to consider.

Altogether I found Painless to be a 3 star okay read. It did not excel in anyway. If it was a television drama, it would be one that just washes over you. Readers want a little more from their reading pleasure rather than finishing the book and thinking that was okay.

Painless is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook and was first published in 2009.

The Evil Indie Author by Luis Samways.

In this short book, Luis tells you all you need to know about being an Indie Author through the Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing platform.

I really enjoyed reading this book because of his frankness. It is not a get-rich-quick guide but a down to earth business plan. Luis is not writing about fame, fortune or celebrity but the idea of earning a living wage from writing books. He writes with great passion about writing every working day to develop a catalogue of books that will trickle an income to provide a salary similar to any other day job. It is this down to earth realism that is so attractive about this book. He is not talking about mega-riches but a living wage every month for a writer who writes every day.

When you read a regular novel, you should get a good feeling at the end. This book is no different because at the end you come away with the reassurance that should your day job come to a sudden end, there is another field that you could step into to earn a living wage.

So for me this book worked in 2 ways, a fall back job option plus the joy of reading about an imaginative and fulfilling keyboard based working life where you are the boss. Luis gets his message across loud and clear in this short book that was a pleasure to read. Okay, he does rant a little but this book certainly made me think. I found this a refreshing 5 star read and although I am happy in my day job, tapping out this review on my Chromebook does make me wonder!

The Evil Indie Author is available as an Amazon Kindle eBook and was written in 2015.